The Mailmare And I

Chapters

An Unexpected Meeting
Getting To Know Her
In Her Defense
The Night Where Everything Changed
First Date
The Next Step
The Question
A Hard Night
A Promise Made
Manehattan
Confessions
Operation(s)
Aftermath And Return
Epilogue
A Realization

An Unexpected Meeting

I never knew what to expect when I moved into Ponyville. Being the new pony in town is always a scary experience, at least in my humble opinion. Upon first moving in however, I got more than a few enjoyable welcomes. The folk seemed nice, I received a surprisingly inventive song from an easily excitable pink pony, and my new place was comfortable and, for the lack of better words, quite lovely. It was much better than my original place, which was an apartment in Manehattan, a city where it was all hustle and bustle, rarely any quiet moments.

In The Big Apple, I was a Journalist for the Equestrian Sun Times, not the paper with the best reputation, I must admit, but a job was a job. My job was writing articles. Some were about the state of Equestria, which was my least favorite topic, as my editors always wanted me to go more on the tragic side of things. Other times, I did informational pieces, about what’s the best play or film to see, or the restaurant of the week. What I really enjoyed, most of all, was writing stories. Every so often, my editor would allow me to write a short story, of any genre. Those were the articles I would get the most praise for. The genres I would come back to the most, were adventure, mystery, and even comedy. I always liked humor, though not many ponies were aware I even had a sense of it. I mainly kept to myself, never really stood out amongst the crowd, but I hoped that my writing would do that for me.

Even so, I always wanted to be an actual writer. Rather that write articles or shorts, I wanted to write full length books, plays, even a movie every now and again, it didn’t matter. I felt like my purpose was to tell stories, if my cutie mark was any indication. I was good at it, but I felt that I could be better, as most writers normally feel. If I just moved to someplace quieter; and that's where Ponyville came in. It was hard to think with that giant metropolis producing so much noise. A change of scenery was exactly the thing I needed to write the story I was meant to write; the one that would finally get me into the pantheons of the greats.

The only problem was, what would I write about that could span a novel, or at the very least, something in the double digit page count? A tale of witchcraft, and wizardry? How many books have been released about that one fellow, Starswirl The Bearded? I lost count. Maybe a story of pirates, sailing the seas, in search for treasure? Nah, too predictable. What about a love story? I tapped my hoof to my chin for a while, thinking about this possible scenario. The problem was, my experiences on the subject were…..less than stellar. To write a love story, without even knowing the basic principles of the emotion would be a boneheaded move on my part. I thought about other possibilities, writing down ideas, and throwing them away as quickly as I wrote them. My trash bin was full of rejected ideas within days of moving in.

As the days went on, my rations were beginning to wane, the ideas in my head were few, and I soon realized that I hadn’t even been outside ever since I moved in. As much as I liked the quiet, it was beginning to feel too quiet. I hadn’t spoken to anypony in weeks, and I was sure they had already considered me a weird anti-social hermit.

I had enough, I had to go outside. Maybe the fresh air will clear my head, and I’d be writing that masterpiece in no time.

I was barely three hoofs out of the door when I heard a voice call out to me.

“WATCH OUT!” the feminine voice said.

I had no time to do just that, as I was immediately knocked down by a grey Pegasus, her blond hair smothering my face, and my glasses fell off, landing somewhere on the ground below. Not exactly my ideal morning start.

“Oh my gosh! Are you okay, Mister?” she said, in a bubbly voice.

“Ouch! What in the hay is your problem?!” I yelled, pushing her off of me. As I got up, and found my glasses, after a brief search, I got a good look at the assailant. What I saw, was a very upset looking mare, staring at the ground in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry” she said timidly. “I didn’t mean to…”

She looked at me, but not entirely; I noticed that one of her eyes was off. While her left was looking right at me, the right seemed like it was looking at whatever was above me. I gasped in horror, afraid that our impact had given her irreversible damage. I don’t think I took it well, at all.

“SWEET CELESTIA! DID I…”

She knew what I was referring too, and immediately interrupted my shocked state.

“No, it’s fine! My eyes are always like this! Please, stop screaming!”

I stopped, embarrassed by my outburst. I shut my mouth quickly, to avoid any more yelling. Any ponies that stopped to look at me went back to what they were doing.

“I sometimes have trouble seeing, and it messes up my flying. It won’t happen again, I don’t think.”

“Don’t…don’t worry about it.” I said, feeling bad for my initial rudeness. Then again, the last thing I expected to happen to me was to get tackled to the ground. “A-are you okay otherwise?” I asked, bringing all of my attention off her eye, and strictly on her well-being. I may have been knocked down, but she was the one who crashed. Even though I was still a little annoyed, I couldn’t ignore that this mailmare might have been injured.

Upon my question, her ears perked up, followed by her head. She smiled.

“Yes! I’m fine, thank you! I’ve been through worse, believe me! Hey, are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before!”

Her quick change in attitude surprised me. I didn’t know somepony could go from sad to happy so quickly, but she managed to do it without missing a beat.

“I’ve been here for a few weeks. But, this is my first time outside since moving in.”

“Oh, now I REALLY feel bad for crashing into you. I’ll make it up to you. Hey! Do you like muffins?”

“What?”

“Muffins! You bake em’ and eat em’! They’re really good! Unless you bake em’ with dirt, or earthworms, then they wouldn’t be good muffins at all! I remember when---”

Her manner of speech was so rapid-fire, that I had to stop her quick before she went on a tangent. I put my hoof up to interrupt her.

“I know what muffins are. But yeah, muffins are good.”

"That's perfect!" she yelled with enthusiasm.

Suddenly, she grabbed me, and shoved me over to a place called Sugar Cube Corner, the bakery owned by who I would know to be the Cake family. The strength on her could give even the strongest stallion a run for his bits.

Within seconds, we were in the bakery. A nice pony, named Mrs. Cake, greeted us with a warm welcome.

“Hello, Derpy! Fancy seeing you here!” Mrs. Cake said with glee.

Derpy? That was her name? A strange name, I must admit.

“Who’s your friend?” she continued.

“This is the new pony that moved in! I crashed into the poor colt when making my rounds, so I’m apologizing with a muffin!”

“Oh? Don’t you make muffins at home? They’re much better than mine.”

“Don’t be so modest, Mrs. Cake! I haven’t had time to bake, ever since I’ve been working overtime at the post office.”

“That’s a shame. You shouldn’t be working so hard, you’ll get exhausted!”

“Nonsense, I’m as energetic as ever!” she said with a great deal of confidence. I believed every word of that statement.

In a flash, Derpy pushed me over to the muffin display. There were all kinds of tasty looking treats to be found. I turned to look at her, and she nodded with a great deal of speed, excited at the prospect of giving me my first Ponyville muffin. I suddenly felt the urge to make a good impression on her, as if I myself wanted to make up for the fact that I was being a jerk to her earlier.

I made my choice.

“That one looks good.” I said, pointing at the blueberry muffin.

Mrs. Cake placed the muffin on the table, while Derpy paid for it. I tried to pay for it myself, but she wouldn’t have any of it. As I looked at the muffin, I see Derpy looking at me with absolute giddiness.

“Go on!” she said, anticipating my first bite.

I took a bite of the muffin. Saying it tasted good, would be putting it rather mildly. The perfect mixture of blueberries, and the sweetness of it all swirled in my mouth. A smile crept on my face, while Derpy opened her mouth with excitement, letting out a gasp.

“He likes it! I’m so happy!” she shouted, clapping her hooves together.

Suddenly, the watch around her hoof beeps. She gasps again, this time in shock.

“Oh my gosh! I’m late! I got to go!”

She rushed out the door, narrowly avoiding the frame, which could have left a nasty bump on her head. She was so fast, I thought I was going to witness one of those Sonic Rainbooms I’ve been hearing so much about. Alas, it was not meant to be.

I sat there in Sugar Cube Corner, shell-shocked by the encounter. I’ve met some eccentric ponies where I came from, but I’ve never met anypony quite like Derpy. In some strange, inexplicable way, I quite enjoyed meeting her. After what was the quietest few weeks of my life, maybe all I needed was a jolt to the cerebellum. It was certainly the most exciting thing that has happened to me in this town thus far.

I figured that that would be the last time I would spend any time with her, thinking that if we ever saw each other again, it would be nothing more than a passing “hello” and “goodbye.”

That’s okay, though. I needed more time to write.

Getting To Know Her

The next day, around the afternoon, I heard a knock at my door. Not expecting anypony, I looked out the window to see who it could be. To my surprise, I saw Derpy standing at the door, with a smile, and holding a box in her mouth by its straps.

I opened the door, and she immediately gave me a muffled greeting before I could say a word.

“Hechhhhlllooo!”

“What?” I could vaguely hear what she was saying.

She put the box down.

“I said ‘hello!’”

“Oh…hi. How are you?”

“I’m fine! Thanks for asking! What about you?”

“Alright, I guess. What’s with the box?”

Derpy pushes the box over to me with her hoof.

“I kind of felt bad for leaving you like that, so I wanted to make it up to you. It’s a box of blueberry muffins, from Sugar Cube Corner! Freshly baked!”

That was the second time she wanted to make it up to me. I should’ve been the one making it up to her. The trouble was that I had no idea what I could do.

“Derpy, you really didn’t have to…”

“No, I wanted to.” she said happily. “It’s the least I can do.”

I looked at the box with a smirk. Nopony has ever given me anything in a long, long time, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the gesture.

“Well, thank you.” I said, bringing the box closer to me.I noticed the bag of mail strapped to her waist. Then, I remembered what she said to Mrs. Cake yesterday, and I became curious. “So, you’re a Mailmare, huh?” I asked, figuring it was a good a time as any to get to know her, before she took off again.

“Yep. I deliver the mail to the citizens of Ponyville every day. Except Sundays, of course; then I can rest!”

“It must be a hard job, delivering all the mail by yourself.”

As if I told a hilarious joke, Derpy busted out with an infectious laugh, catching me completely off guard.

“I’m not the only mailmare out there, silly!”

“Of course, how stupid of me.” I chuckled, almost meeting my face with my hoof for making such a dumb assumption. “Still, I can’t imagine it being very easy.”

“Eh, it’s not so bad. I get the heavy package every now and then, and I do get a little clumsy sometimes. One time, I accidentally dropped a shipment on somepony. My boss didn’t like that.”

“Oh my, was the pony okay?”

“She was fine. But I was still yelled at. I don’t like it when ponies are mad at me.”

She looked down at the ground again, remembering what I first said to her.

“Yeah, about that; I’m really sorry…”

“It’s fine. It’s just….my eyes….well, you know.”

“No, really.” I responded, assuring her, “I truly am sorry.”

That gentle smile of hers began to slowly creep back on to her face, until her watch suddenly beeped, breaking the moment. She looked at it and sighed, disappointed.

“I have to go. I’ll see you later, okay?” she unfurled her wings, and was getting ready for takeoff when…

“Wait!” I yelled. She stopped at the last possible second. “There wouldn’t happen to be any mail for me, would there?”

“Oh, my gosh! I’m so rude!” she said, “I don’t even know your name!”

I told her my name, and she dug through her mailbag for any letters. I don’t know why I had her do that, a part of me knew that there was nothing in there for me. Maybe I just wanted to see if anypony cared that I was out of town, or maybe…I just wanted her to stay longer.

“Nope, nothing. Sorry about that.” she apologized.

“It’s perfectly fine, really. Maybe next time, right?”

“That’s the spirit! I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomor…”

Before I could fully respond, she took off to the skies in a flash.

And just like that, she was gone. I brought the box of muffins inside. Opening up the box, alongside the fresh smell of blueberry muffins, there was a note, made with a red crayon.

It read: “I’m sorry. Let’s be friends.”

The days went on like that. Every afternoon, I would get knock on my door, every afternoon, it would be Derpy. Sometimes with a box of muffins, sometimes just to talk. The more she came over, the more I enjoyed her visits.

It took me a while to gain some common sense, and finally ask Derpy to come inside the house. It was headed for the winter season, and I figured she’d like a cup of tea, or hot chocolate. I’d tell her about my time in Manehattan, my career, and the stories I would write in the Equestrian Sun Times. She’s never read them, but I kept all of the papers featuring my stories in the closet. On the days where she had extra time, I would read them to her, and she would look at me with the same kind of wonder a young filly would when you read them a bed time story.

It became apparent to me as I pulled out each paper, that my stories would get longer, and more elaborate. I feared that Derpy wouldn’t understand some of it, but every time I would glance at her face, her amazement never ceased.

One particular afternoon, after reading a pretty long story, I was fully prepared to see her get up and leave, like she always did. But, she didn’t…she stayed.

“Read me another one!” she told me, her hooves locked on to her cheeks, awaiting my next tale. Rummaging to the next paper, I realized that the story that came next was even longer than the last.

“I don’t know.” I said, unsure that she would want to hear it that day, “This one is pretty lengthy, and I don’t want you to get in trouble at work.”

Most of my short stories would always extend to either a half a page, to a full one. The one I pulled out happened to be a two page article, and The Equestrian Sun Times were notorious for having large pages of text. If it were any other paper, it would have been three to four pages easy.

She slipped her watch off, tossing it on the couch behind her, without any care in the world.

“Everypony can wait a couple extra minutes.”

One Sunday afternoon, on a day where she didn’t have a job to worry about, she asked me to come outside with her. I had nothing else to do; my story ideas were getting smaller by the days, so I accepted. She gave me a tour of Ponyville, along with a mandatory stop to Sugar Cube Corner, and told me all about the town, and the citizens. Though you wouldn’t know it by the way she looked, or the way she talked, she was very knowledgeable and observant of all the ponies around her. Her viewpoint of the world was naive and innocent, but I found that to be one of her many endearing qualities.

She told me stories of her life growing up with her disability, how she could never afford to see a doctor to find if her condition was ever treatable, and that she has learned to live with it over time.

She was so trusting of me, that she told me her real name, which was Ditzy Doo. She was made fun of when she was younger, saying that her eyes were derped, and the name “Derpy” stuck. Eventually, she came to accept it, and very few ponies around town are even aware of her real name anymore.

She also explained the origin of her cutie mark, which she made me swear not to tell anypony about. A shame too, it’s a pretty funny story.

The week after, we took another stroll, and I learned that Derpy had a family. Visiting the Ponyville Elementary School, she introduced me to her sister, Dinky Doo. Even though she was a unicorn, the resemblance was easy to spot, but her eyes were as straight as a ruler. Derpy told me how they lost their parents in a tragic accident, when Dinky was just a foal. Due to her condition, she was considered unfit to become Dinky’s guardian, despite being siblings. The story she told was sad, and even brought a tear to my eye. Derpy never found out, though, I managed to hide it from her rather successfully.

Dinky was sweet and caring, a perfect sister if I ever saw one. She wasn’t mean, or rude, or made fun of Derpy, she looked upon her sister with love and affection. Watching them interact, laugh, and play, it was clear to me how much they’ve missed each other in their times apart.

That day, I saw Derpy in her purest form. While she may have been almost as old as me, she was just a foal at heart. In some ways, in many ways, I wished that she would never have to grow up, she was wonderful, just the way that she was.

I was surprised how much I knew about her during my stay. We had become exceptionally close, and always have made a note to spend time with each other, not every day, but so often, you couldn’t see one without the other. I adored her company, and she adored mine. We couldn’t have been more different when we first met, but now we were the best of friends.

Because of all the time I spent with her, my writing sessions started to become less and less frequent. But, I didn’t care; it was nice to have a friend to talk to.

In Her Defense

The last two months flew by in the blink of an eye, and I had settled into my routine. My fridge was packed with muffins of various flavors, and my desk had less crumpled papers. I made some attempt to write, but I could barely stay still for more than five minutes.

However, one day, something felt off. She usually arrived at noon, but there was no knock on my door. I looked out the window, and she wasn’t there. Where could she have been? The only time I wouldn’t normally see her were Sundays, but it was definitely a Monday. I shrugged it off, thinking that she had a busy day, and didn’t have time to see me. Understandable, she told me about the days she would have to work extra hours.

Two days had passed since then. No Derpy, no note, no nothing. I began to worry. Was she okay? Was she sick? My thoughts feared the worst. I tried to convince myself that I was overreacting, but something felt like it was eating away at my consciousness.

I had enough of waiting. I went straight to the Post Office to see if she was there. Upon walking in, I find a big stallion, an intimidating looking fellow. This must have been the boss she was talking about. I wouldn’t want to be yelled at by this guy either.

“Excuse me?” I asked him.

He turned to me, spitting tobacco into a spittoon.

“Whaddya want? Can’t you see I’m busy?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“I didn’t mean to bother you, but is Derpy here? I haven’t seen her for a few days.”

He leaned over to my face. I got to say, I was afraid he’d beat me up.

“What’s Derpy to you?”

“I’m a friend of hers, and I was worried. Is she okay?”

“A friend? I didn’t know she had any friends.”

My hesitance to talk to him soon became impatience. I didn’t have the time to listen to him talk about her lack of friends, as unfortunate as that was.

“I am a friend. So, do you mind?” I asked, this time, with more demand in my voice.

He paused. He then looked at me, as if he knew me.

“Wait a second…” he realized, “You’re the colt she won’t shut up about! Probably the reason why she’s late for her shifts sometimes, too! If I had half a mind…”

I had enough of this. I got in his face, staring him down. I’ve never done this before, and deep down, I thought the day would end with me getting beaten up by this massive stallion.

“Yes, I’m the colt she’s talking about. I’m the one who has been spending time with her, and I’m the one who has made her late for her shifts. I apologize for the last part, but I don’t have time for your little intimidation game, either tell me if she’s okay, or I’ll find somepony else who can.”

I mentally prepared myself for the punch that I was so sure would come. Thankfully, that punch never came to pass. Instead, he spit another glob of tobacco into the spittoon, and turned away from me.

“Okay.” he said, “I believe you. Got to say, you’re braver than I figured.”

I sighed, happy that I wasn’t going to receive the beating of a lifetime.

“So, can you help me?” He still hadn’t told me anything, yet.

“Yeah, she’s called in sick for the past couple days. Must be one heck of a cold. I never thought of her as the sickly type. I guess when it hits, it hits hard.”

So, she was sick. While I was relieved it was nothing worse than that, I still wanted to see her, maybe see if I could make her feel better.

“Thank you. Can you tell me her address? I just want to say hi, and wish her well.”

“Sure thing, kid. Give me a moment.”

His attitude towards me was much friendlier than it was not a couple minutes ago. It was a good thing he was being cooperative, I would have hated to see what would have transpired if the opposite happened.

In a matter of moments, he gave me her address, and I was on my way to see her.

I found her house with no problem. As a gift, I bought her a bouquet of roses. I didn’t know what kind of flowers she liked, she never once told me about it during our hangouts, but I hoped she would at least appreciate the generosity. It was a fairly nice looking house, once you get past the cracks on the walls, and the slightly fogged windows.

I walked up the steps, roses in my mouth, happy they were de-thorned, and knocked on the door.

“Go away!” she yelled, anger in her voice.

Derpy’s angry? What happened? Who would make her so mad? I put the roses down quickly.

“Derpy, it’s me!”

A pause. I heard the hoofsteps to the door. The nearby curtains moved. I saw Derpy look through the window, back at me. She gasped and immediately ducked down.

“I can’t see you today. Can you come back later?” she said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, but I haven’t seen you for a few days. I asked your boss where you were, and he told me you were sick.”

“You saw my boss?”

“Yeah, he was pretty intimidating; I could see why you’d be afraid of him being mad. Look, I feel awkward about having a conversation with a door, so can I see you, please?”

“I-I don’t want you getting sick.”

“I’m very resistant to illness. I’ll take my chances.” I lied. Any hint of sickness, and I could have a stuffed nose faster that you could say ‘muffin’. I still wanted to see her.

Seconds pass, and the door finally opens, but just a crack. I could only see her left eye, and a bit of her mane protruding from the crack.

“I bought these for you.” I picked the roses back up.

“H-how did you know roses were my favorite?” Her eye widens.

I paused. I didn’t know. I couldn’t give her a coherent answer with the flowers in my mouth. Thinking for a moment, I shrugged my shoulders. Finally, she opened the door just enough for me to enter. She hung her head down; as if she was hiding something.

The inside was quite a bit nicer than the outside, from what I could see. The curtains were covering most of the light; so even the things I could see, it wasn’t much. Nevertheless, the place definitely was a fixer upper. Not perfect, but livable. However, her living quarters were the last thing on my mind that moment. I placed the roses into a nearby vase, and put some water from the sink into it. As I stepped back from the vase, Derpy stepped in, smelling the roses.

“These are nice. Thanks.” she says, finding the smell to be a comfort. She walked passed me to sit on the couch. Not wanting to be rude, I sat next to her. She looked at me with a hint of regret in the still only visible left eye. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you the past couple days. You must have been worried.”

“Well, only a little.” I smirked, hiding the fact that I was being overdramatic for the time she was gone, “But, at least you’re okay.” She remained silent. Something was wrong; I could feel it in my gut. “You...are okay? Right?”

She doesn’t say anything. All she did, was slowly shake her head, signifying that no, she wasn't alright.

“You're….not sick, are you?” I asked, now with more worry in my voice than ever. She nodded just as slowly as before, trying not to cry. On instinct, I tried to put my hoof on her shoulder.

“Derpy, what’s….” She instantly flinched at my slightest tap, afraid to let me touch her. “What’s the matter?”

“If..." she pauses, hesitant about what to say next, "If I show you…you promise you won’t get mad?”

“About what? What is it?”

“Please, promise me.”

“Okay, fine. I promise.”

She got up from the couch and walked over to the curtains. Slowly, she opened them up. The light of the sun shines through the window, showing herself to me. My jaw nearly detached itself from me when I looked upon her appearance. I was in shock to find parts of her body covered in bandages, her right wing wrapped up in gauze, her right eye black, and she had a cut on her lip that was slowly healing. It looked like she applied the bandages herself.

I wasn’t mad. I was furious.

“What happened?! Who did this?!” I yelled. She flinched again.

“Y-you promised.”

I tried to calm down, but the thought of somepony hurting my closest friend made my blood boil.

“I’m sorry. Tell me what happened.” I said, attempting to sound gentle, but the anger in my voice was still ever so present.

Her once cheerful voice stuttered with fear.

“T-there are these colts outside of Ponyville. I pass them every day on my routes. They make fun of me, and call me names. I tried to ignore them. A few days ago, they got tired of me ignoring them. They threw rocks at me, knocked me out of the sky. It……it really hurt.” she began to cry. Every ounce of my being wanted to hold her, but I was afraid she would turn me away again. “Before I knew it, I ran as fast as I could back to my house. Afraid that they would come back to hurt me again.”

“Where are they?” I asked sternly.

She escorted me to the colts hang out spot. It took a while to get there, as she was scared, not only for herself, but for me. There I saw them; there were four of them. They were big, bigger than me, and way bigger than Derpy. I watched them, talking, and laughing, picturing them hurting her, they were probably laughing then too.

“Wait here.” I told her.

She grabbed my foreleg, trying to hold me back.

“No. Please, it’s okay. Let’s just go.”

“I’m not going anywhere. It’ll be fine. Trust me.”

I gave her a gentle smile, trying my best to calm her. Slowly, she let me go. I walked towards the four colts. I didn’t care that they were bigger than me, what I told Derpy was the truth, I was going to make sure that she wouldn’t be bothered by these punks again, even if it meant that I was going to get hurt in the process.

One of the colts saw me coming, and also saw Derpy.

“Hey look, guys! The retard brought a friend!”

I didn’t even give him the time of day. In an instant, I decked him in the face with my right hoof. Before I could give a second punch, they all ganged up on me, delivering blow after blow. I had little to no experience in fighting, it wasn’t my style. Their punches hurt, a lot. They knocked off my glasses, stomping on them as they continued to knock me around. The thing was, I was too angry to care. In an instant, I bucked one in the face, knocking his teeth out, along with him. I headbutted another, and gave another my left and right hooves. There was one left, he was scared, and I was still extraordinarily mad. I tackled him down to the ground, and hit em’ hard till he pleaded.

“No! Enough! I’m sorry!” he shouted in pain, his front teeth missing.

“If I EVER find out that you’ve hurt her again, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA!”

I raise my hoof to deliver another blow.

“No! Wait! Okay! We’ll leave her alone! Just let us go! We won’t tell anypony about this!”

It took all of me to not hit him again. I could have done worse, I SHOULD have done worse, but that wouldn’t have made me any better than they were.

“Be sure you don’t.” Was the last thing I told him before I let him go.

He woke his friends up, and they all galloped in fear.

The moment they made their exit, the adrenaline coursing through my body wore off, and the pain began to set in. I realized that I was bloodied and beaten, my right eye felt swollen, and my glasses destroyed. It turned out that my day didn’t end with me getting beaten up by a massive stallion, but me getting beaten up by four big colts. Not sure which one I would have preferred.

I wobbled and fell to the ground. Derpy ran to me, held me in her forelegs, trying to keep me awake. I could see that she was happy, but she was crying. Out of joy, or out of sadness, I didn’t know. I brought my hoof to her face, wiping away the tears, caressing her cheek.

There were no words between us; all she did was embrace me. It was nice, to be held by another. It was relaxing…almost too relaxing. I slipped out of consciousness within seconds.

The Night Where Everything Changed

The cloudy evening fell, and I arrived at her house right on time. I had no idea what she had planned for me, and all I could think about was what I was going to say to her. Should I tell her about how I felt? How do I tell her? But, the scariest thought I had was; how was she was going to react? What if she doesn’t like what she hears, and doesn’t want to see me anymore? She was the only real friend I had in this town, and I couldn’t bear to lose her.

I took a deep breath and walked to the door. As I knocked on it, the door opened up; it was unlocked. Inside was dim, not unlike the last time I came to the house, but one thing was different; there was light coming from the kitchen.

“Derpy?” I called out to her.

“In here.” I hear her voice coming from the kitchen.

I walked inside, to find her standing in the middle of the floor, smiling at me. I noticed that her mane, normally unkempt, was now straight, shiny, and very pretty. She was like an angel, an angel with a crooked eye, but I’ve known her for so long, that I’ve never taken notice of that anymore. Her left wing is unfurled, covering my view of the kitchen table.

“Wow.” I said, “You look….great.”

She chuckled in nervousness. “Oh, it’s nothing, just…something I wanted to do.”

“So, what’s going on?”

She retracted her wing, revealing a blueberry muffin with a lit candle in it, on the table.

“Surprise!” she yelled, “Happy Birthday!”

My jaw dropped. I forgot my own birthday.

“It’s my birthday?”

“It’s the 23rd, silly! Of course, it’s your birthday!”

I looked at the nearby calendar. She was right.

“I…..I completely forgot…..” I told her, embarrassed.

“It’s okay! I didn’t! Come, sit down!”

She pushed me over to the table. Seeing her happy personality return made me feel warm inside.

“Make a wish!” she tells me, motioning to the candle.

I closed my eyes, thinking long and hard about my wish. Finally, I blew out the candle. She clapped her hooves together with delight.

“Yay! Now, take a bite.”

I remove the candle from the muffin. Derpy leans forward towards me, waiting for my first bite. I couldn’t help but recall the similarities from tonight, and our first meeting.

I take a bite of the muffin. As I chewed, there was something different. This was not a muffin from Sugar Cube Corner. It was better. I cannot describe what exactly made this muffin better, but believe me when I say that it was nothing I have ever tasted in my life.

“This….this is amazing! Where did you get it?”

“I made it myself!” she proudly exclaimed.

“Really?!” I was shocked.

“That was the reason why I had to leave the hospital early, why I didn’t see you for a week. I haven’t made muffins in a while, and I wanted it to be perfect. Is it alright?”

“Derpy…it’s magnificent.”

Derpy blushed. Even redder than it was when I saw her blush at the hospital. She was close to me now, so close that I can smell the lemon scent emanating from her mane. It was different than her normal scent; in fact, it normally wasn’t much of a scent at all.

I felt myself getting closer to her, prepared to kiss her, but then…she backed away from me. I didn’t know if she knew what I was going to do, or not, but she backed herself all the way to the drawers behind her. She hung her head down, hiding her crimson red cheeks from my sight.

“So…what did you wish for?” she asked me.

I stood from my sitting position. Slowly, I walked over to her, meeting her close. It was now or never. She looked at me wide eyed, yet curious about what I was going to do next.

“Wh…what is it?” she said, softly.

I didn’t know what to say to her, without sounding like one of those silly romance novels I’ve read, so I decided just to show her.

As I leaned forward, I could hear her heart racing, and truthfully, so was mine. I closed my eyes as my lips hovered over hers, until finally meeting them for a soft, gentle kiss.

Seconds passed, and I parted from her. She stared at me; so still, you could almost mistake her for a stone statue. As I leaned in to kiss her again, she met me halfway. Our lips were locked for a few priceless moments; moments that I wished could have lasted forever. But then, I felt my cheeks getting wet, wet with tears. Suddenly, Derpy forcefully pushed me away from her.

I saw tears roll down her face. She was crying, her voice cracked with every word spoken.

“No….no, no, no no…..” she said, “W-why? Why me?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

"Why not?"

“No, we can’t…. I can’t do this!”

"What do you mean, you can't?"

“I…I don’t deserve you. You’ve been so nice to me, and this has all been wonderful, but you deserve somepony….better than me.”

I tried to get close to her. I extended my hoof to her shoulder, but she recoiled away from me, scared of my very touch. It was like that day all over again.

“Don’t…” she said, “I don’t want your sympathy.”

“What are you talking about?

“Don’t lie! I know what the others have been saying about me. Every day, I hear ‘oh, look at that clumsy Derpy!’ and ‘I wonder what she’ll crash into next?’, and it’s all true! I am clumsy, and I do get hurt a lot! I’m not smart, or talented, or…beautiful. If they find out that we…what will they think? What will they say?”

“I don’t care what they think!”

“But, I do!”

“Isn’t what I think about you enough?”

“No….yes…I don’t know. I’m so confused!”

An awkward pause falls upon the room. I had to say something, something that’ll make her see how I feel about her.

“Derpy, I l…” The words almost get out before she interrupts me.

“Just go…please. Leave me alone.” she said.

My heart felt as if it was ripped from my body. It was the reaction I was hoping she wouldn’t have. I felt like I completely ruined not only a perfectly good birthday, but a wonderful relationship with this amazing mare. I was ready to go back home, and proceed to bang my worthless head against a wall for being so impossibly stupid.

“Okay.” I complied, “I’ll…see you when I see you.” My voice sounded almost dead. I wasn’t myself anymore. I was heartbroken.

I opened the door to find that it had started to rain. It was going to be a long walk home, and I wasn’t looking forward to getting sick from the cold. What I wouldn’t have given at that moment to be a unicorn with teleportation powers.

I walked out the door, into the pouring rain. The storm seemed to get heavier with each step I took in the mud. I was drenched in water within seconds of being outside.

Suddenly, amidst the booming thunder, I heard Derpy’s voice call out to me.

“WAIT!” she shouted, “DON’T GO!”

I whipped back around to see her running towards me. Her beautiful, straight mane was soaked, her hooves covered in mud, and even so, I could see the tears were pouring from her now, on the verge of a breakdown.

“I’m sorry…” she tearfully said, “I don’t want to lose you. You’re the only friend I have.”

“That’s not true.” I replied, “You have your sister.”

“I know, but…” she paused, struggling to get the words out of her mouth. “I don’t love her…like I love you.”

That sinking feeling in my heart became a lump in my throat. My eyes widened, and my mouth was agape. Did she say that she loved me? Did I hear that correctly?

“You…you love me?” I asked, still in disbelief. I thought I was only hearing was I wanted to hear. Even though I was completely and totally in love with her, to hear her say it first, shocked me to my very core.

She slowly nodded her head, a small but noticeable smirk forming on her face.

“Then, why so hesitant?”

She paused for a couple more seconds before replying, “I’m afraid.”

“Afraid of what?”

“That I’ll mess it up. That I’ll say something, or do something that will make you not want me anymore. That you’ll leave and…”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I wrapped my forelegs around her, holding her as tight as I possibly could. She made no attempt to push me away, and she put her forelegs around me, holding me just as tight.

We were both massively drenched from the rain, and I could feel a cold coming on, but the feeling of her in my forelegs was simply indescribable. I wouldn’t have traded this moment for anything in all of Equestria.

I brushed her mane with my hoof, as she looked into my eyes.

“Nothing you do, can make me leave you.” I tell her, with as much love as I could bring to my voice, without sounding completely mushy. “I will never leave you. No matter what.”

“Y-you promise?”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly…”

Suddenly, she grabs hold of me, and kisses me as hard as she could. We embrace one another as our kisses become more passionate. We stop; both breathing heavily as we look at one another. As our breathing began to calm, I held her close to me.

“It’s raining. We’re probably going to get sick.” she tells me.

“I know.” I chuckled, “But that was worth it.”

“Your house is pretty far. Do you want to stay with me tonight?” she asks.

“I thought you’d never ask.” I quickly replied.

We practically ran back into the house as quick as a lightning bolt. The ceiling was leaking in various areas, and we put pots and pans down as fast as we could. Unfortunately, we didn’t dry ourselves beforehand, and the floor was all wet from our soaked bodies, which got a pretty good laugh from the both of us.

After getting a hot fire going, we placed towels everywhere we stood, and dried each other off, with Derpy wiping a towel over me, and vice versa. We never broke eye contact, like the simple action of drying ourselves from the rain was somehow a sensual act. Once we were done, we dropped our now wet towels, and got close to one another. We proceeded to engage in a romantic embrace, and slowly fell to the floor.

“I don’t want to disappoint you…” she said, after a small series of kisses, “But…do you mind if we keep it like this for tonight?” It took me a while to get what she was saying. “I don’t think I’m ready for…”

She didn’t have to say another word. You can doubt me all you like, but I wasn’t bothered by her wish in the slightest. She wasn’t ready to take that step, and I respected her decision.

“Don’t worry.” I said, “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“Thank you.” she said, holding me tight.

I never slept in another pony’s bed before, and especially not a bed belonging to one that I had romantic feelings for. Being in Derpy’s bed was a definite step up from that hospital bed I had the misfortune of sleeping in. Not only was it a hundred times more comfortable, but the mare that I loved was sleeping next to me.

All through the night, Derpy rested her head on my chest, and her hooves were wrapped around me in a snug grip. Every time I would move, it would get tighter, refusing to let me go. I couldn’t help but smile, even if the grip was a little too tight for my liking. I didn’t mind. She was happy…and so was I.

“Derpy?” I checked to see if she was awake.

“Mmmhmmm?” she replied groggily. She was half asleep at this point.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Hmmmmmwhat?”

“Why did you keep seeing me, after we met? I know you said you felt bad, but it was almost every day. Not that I minded but…..”

I shut my mouth before I went into an unnecessary monologue, and waited for a response.

Silence. It went on for so long, I figured she fell back to sleep. Then, she replied.

“You…..seemed lonely."

She had no idea how right she was. For most of my life, I was very alone. I didn’t have many friends, and my family was never there for me when I would need them the most. Derpy, the pony that everypony thought was a silly klutz, saw right through me the moment we laid eyes on each other.

A tear ran down my cheek as I kissed the top of her head.

“Not anymore.” I said, “Not anymore.”

First Date

The morning came, and the clouds dissipated. The storm that had plagued the night had passed. I awoke to find myself in the same position I was in when I slept; on my back, and Derpy still gripping my body. I gently caressed her face, waking her up. She slowly opened her eyes, and looked up to me, smiling.

“Good morning.” she said to me, “Did you sleep okay?”

“I slept just fine.” I replied, “Yourself?”

She yawned, but her smile never left.

“Very well, thank you.” She rested her head on my chest, like she did before.

“How about I make some breakfast?” I asked her.

She loosened her grip of me, resting a hoof on my chest.

“Are you sure? I don’t have much.”

“I’ll manage.”

Looking through her kitchen, I found everything that I needed to make a good breakfast. There were eggs, flower, various fruits, and my birthday muffin, which hadn’t been touched since the single bite I took of it last night. It luckily survived the storm. Interestingly enough, the kitchen was one of the few places that didn’t have leaks in the ceiling. “Not much” she said? What I saw was a feast.

In what amounted to mere minutes, I made a plate of scrambled eggs, cut up some strawberries, and split my muffin into two, with the bitten side given to myself, of course.

Derpy walked into the kitchen as I set up the table, wrapped in a blanket, avoiding any water filled pots on the way in. Her eyes widened at the food that I prepared.

“Wow!” she gasped, “You did all this?”

“I may not be a five star chef, but I can make a mean scrambled egg breakfast.”

She giggled that wonderful giggle as she sat down.

As we ate, I made occasional glances at her taking a bite of the eggs. She reveled in every bite; I was glad. At first, I thought she was being nice, but then I saw her looking at my egg plate, with that familiar look of somepony wanting more. I gladly gave her what was left. The fruit and muffin half more than made up for it.

Derpy wanted to clean the dishes, but I would have none of it. She spent the last couple months doing things for me, keeping me company, and making me feel wanted, that it was now my turn to do things for her.

I was finishing cleaning up, when I turned to see her still at the table. Her face in deep thought.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just….” she paused.

“It’s just what?”

Her silence was palpable, like she was trying to form her thoughts.

“Now that we…kissed, and slept together, and you made me breakfast, does that mean we’re…” she paused one more time before delivering the final word, “Together?”

“Of course!” I chuckled, “We wouldn’t have done all that if we weren’t going to be together.”

“Does that mean we’re dating too?” she asked enthusiastically, with a wide smile.

“Exactly!” I replied, attempting to mimic the same amount of enthusiasm. As enthusiastic as I was, I could never match her.

Suddenly, she went silent again, looking very confused.

“So…” she trails off, “What do ponies do on dates?”

Before I could say a word, I went silent as well. The confusion she had on her face made its way onto mine.

“I…have no idea. I’ve never dated before, to be honest.”

“I guess that means we’ll find out together, right?” she smiled; undeterred by my admission.

“Right!” I said, putting my hoof down on the table. She found my determination rather amusing.

We walked into town, spending most of the day watching other ponies; ones that were in relationships, or what looked like relationships. You might call it voyeurism, we called it research. We found a couple subjects in town to watch, but none more so than in the more common hang out place for dating ponies; the park. There, we saw others having picnics, cuddling, nuzzling their noses together like they were Eskiponies.

Picnics in the park, we could do, but that bit with the noses looked rather strange to us. Giving it a try, Derpy and I nuzzled our noses together, doing our best to mimic our subjects.

"This is very strange." she said.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what the big deal is."

"Actually, this kind of tickles!" she chuckles.

I could feel a sneeze coming on any second, so I pulled away out of fear that Derpy would be blasted by any possible snot. I was right, I sneezed a powerful one into my arm.

"Celestia bless you!" Derpy laughed.

In the end though, our most valuable finding was that this dating thing actually wasn’t all that different to when Derpy was giving me a tour of the town, albeit with fewer stops, and with more romantic intentions.

As we watched a couple, whilst hiding in the bushes, we came to a conclusion.

“I think I could get the hang of this.” I confidently told her.

“Me too. It doesn’t look too bad.”

“What doesn’t look too bad?” A deep southern voice said behind us.

Shocked, we stood up to look at the source of the voice. Behind us, was a big red stallion, with a halved apple for a cutie mark, staring at us with the mother of all stares. I had no idea what to do or say, but just then, Derpy called him by his name.

“Big Macintosh?!” she said, “What are you doing here?”

His name was Big Macintosh? The stallion certainly lived up to the name. He was tall, muscular, almost made me feel inferior to him.

“I could ask you the same thing, ya two snoopers. What are ya’ll doin’, spyin’ on a couple ponies?”

“Well…uh…you see…” was all I could say before…

“I’m sorry Big Mac…” Derpy interjected. “You see this here is my coltfriend and we’re not really knowledgeable on the subject of dating so we decided to spend the day walking around town to see what dating was actually like and now we have and think we’re ready unless you have some dating advice for us maybe?”

She said it so fast, that she didn't make any attempt to pause, or add commas to her massive run on sentence.

Big Macintosh was wide eyed, like a massive bombshell that just rocked his world was dropped.

“He’s…your coltfriend?” he quietly said.

He was quiet for a few moments. I didn’t know what he was thinking during that time. Suddenly, he grabbed us both, embracing us at the same time.

“Congratulations!” he happily yelled.

His grip was unbearably tight. I couldn’t breathe.

“Big Mac…” I gasped for air. He let us go.

“I’m sorry. Don’t know my own strength sometimes.”

“It’s…” I wheezed. “…quite alright.”

Big Macintosh chuckled, but then his face got serious.

“Alright, now listen here, mister. Ya better treat her right, now. Ya hear?”

I quickly nodded. I had no intention of mistreating her, but I had to respond quickly, or risk getting on this stallion's bad side.

“Now here’s what ya do. Ya take her to a nice restaurant, preferably with candles and nice music, and get whatever she wants. It doesn’t matter how much it is, you get it! You’ll find plenty in Canterlot. Nod if ya understand me.”

I do so.

"Good. What are ya standin' around for? Get moving!"

“Big Mac, I didn’t know you were dating somepony. Who is it?” Derpy wondered.

Big Macintosh became shifty eyed before responding with an “Umm…” and then galloping away.

That was a strange encounter. Still, if that's was what I needed to do, I guess that was as good advice as any.

We had our first date that very night. I took her to a nice restaurant in Canterlot, just as Big Mac told me to. It was called the Fleur De Lis, owned by somepony named Fancypants. Being a restaurant in Canterlot, Derpy and I attempted to dress in less than casual wear. I put on my nicest tie, while she wore a simple white dress, which looked very good on her. Upon entering however, the place was still more than enough to make us feel a little out of place in. The ponies around us wore such fantastic suits and dresses; we thought we accidentally stumbled into the Grand Galloping Galla.

The pony that seated us wasn’t too pleased with our attire, but he led us to our table nonetheless. We could feel the eyes of others staring at us. I was about to stare at them back, but I fought myself not to. We were there to have a good time, and it was best not to spoil it.

I admit, the table was nice, and there actually were candles on it. I wondered if this was the exact place Big Macintosh was talking about.

“I think we’re a little underdressed.” she whispered to me after we were seated. “I’m amazed we were even allowed in.”

“I know. Next thing you know, Princess Celestia is going to walk in.” I whispered back to her, who responded with a quiet laugh.

“I feel like everypony is staring at us.” she looked around to confirm her suspicions.

I placed my hoof on hers, drawing her attention back to me.

“Let them stare.” I said, “Then, they can see how beautiful you are.”

She lightly slapped my hoof away, laughing as she did it.

“Stop it, you.” she coyly said.

The Waiter showed up in a matter of moments, unaware of our little conversation. He was polite, and nonjudgmental, something that we both hoped he would be. He treated us like any of the more debonair ponies in the restaurant. It was a nice contrast to the pony that seated us, and crowd that was still making occasional glances at us.

In all fairness, despite the price, the food was delicious. I would say it was worth every bit, but I was certain the bill would take out more than half of the bits in my pouch.

Halfway through our meal, a white stallion, with a moustache and a monocle in his eye, stopped at our table.

“Good evening.” he said, with all the grace a fancy pony such as himself would say, “How are you two? I trust the food is to your liking?”

“It’s fantastic.” I replied.

“Very good. I was passing through, and I couldn’t help but notice that others were giving brief looks at you two. I say, are you ponies famous, or something?”

Both Derpy and I blushed. I wished that was the reason they were staring at us, but from their looks, that definitely wasn't the case.

“As wonderful as that would be..." I replied to him, "I think it might be because we’re from Ponyville.”

The name of the town brought a smile to the stallion's face. This wasn't the first time he's heard of Ponyville.

“Ponyville?!” he said with glee, “It’s so nice to see ponies from that town. Just last week, a red stallion came by with a lovely earth pony who was a teacher at the school there. What was her name?”

As he mumbled the possible names of the mysterious mare that accompanied Big Mac, Derpy quietly said…

“I’m sorry, Mister.”

He was broken from his thoughts to look at Derpy. His kind and gentle expression showed that he was never once bothered by her eye. A welcome sight, indeed.

“My darling, for what?”

“That we’re a bit…not fancy looking.”

“It’s perfectly fine, dear." he chuckled, "It’s rather refreshing, if I do say so myself. In fact, it’s nice that you’re wearing something simple, rather than some of the monstrosities I’ve seen. You look positively radiant!” he turned to me, “Young Colt, doesn’t she look radiant?”

I didn’t need a second thought to answer that question.

“Every day.” I said.

“Ah, young love. It’s very rare to see nowadays. Well, continue your meal, before I overstay my welcome.”

“It was nice to meet you Mister…?” I paused, waiting for the name.

“It’s Fancypants. And likewise, young colt.” he said as he walked away.

Derpy and I looked at each other, wide eyed in surprise and shock. That was THE Fancypants, talking to us!

The moment of elation didn’t last, once the bill came in. As great as the food was, the price almost made me have a heart attack. Still, I had enough to pay for it.

Derpy offered to chip in, but like the dishes at her house, I wouldn’t let her.

“You paid for my first muffin.” I said, “It’s my turn.”

“That muffin didn’t cost 50 bits.” she replied back.

“True. I hate to see how much dessert would cost.”

We didn’t want to find out. After paying the bill, along with a nice tip for the Waiter, we headed out the door, and back to Ponyville, where the food was cheaper, especially dessert.

You’re probably thinking that we made a stop at Sugar Cube Corner, but we didn't get back to Ponyville around the ten o' clock hour, and they closed at nine. Instead, we stopped at a stand of delicious looking apple treats, commandeered by a particularly energetic cowpony.

“Howdy!” she said with a manic energy, despite the late night, “What’ll it be?”

She had the same southern drawl as Big Macintosh, and an apple related cutie mark. Could they be related? I wanted to ask, but decided not to, for one reason or another.

“Hi, Applejack!” said Derpy, “What do you have?”

Applejack was more than happy to run down the list of goodies in the stand.

“Well, I’m glad you asked, Derpy! We got apple fritters, apple pie, apple tarts, apple dumplins, apple crisps, apple tumblers, apple cupcakes, apple muffins, or if ya like, just plain ol’ apples.”

We were both sure that we missed half the things she said, and that was all I can remember.

We ended up getting an apple pie. As Applejack packed it up, she glanced up at me, then back at Derpy.

“Ya know, I gotta ask. Who is yer new friend?”

Derpy giggles. “Oh, he’s not my friend…he’s my coltfriend!”

Coltfriend. It was the second time she called me that, but now, it was the word heard all around Ponyville. As amazing as it seems, everypony around us stopped. Even Applejack, who was almost through with packing up the apple pie.

“Come again?” she asked, after what was seconds of silence.

“He’s my coltfriend!” Derpy said happily, as she tossed a few bits on the stand, taking the boxed pie by its straps.

“Chhhhhank yooouuuuuu!” she muffled, as we headed off.

"I was going to pay for that." I told her.

"Nonthense! I gotch it!"

It was then, that we noticed the other ponies looking at us. The cat was officially out of the bag.

“Didch I thay thomething?”

The Next Step

The word about Derpy and I spread around Ponyville as fast as a sudden plague of cutie pox. What started out as rumors soon became hard facts, when citizens saw us walking through town together, like a couple would. We weren’t fully aware of the town’s interest in us, until one day, when I was walking Derpy to work; we saw everypony in our direction, staring at us, like we were an elaborate parade float. Both of us were caught off guard by this, none more so than Derpy. While I was simply confused, she was more than a little embarrassed. I didn’t know a pony’s romantic relationships were cause for townsfolk to be nosier than they were before.

We couldn’t go anywhere without the eyes of Ponyville watching our every move. Dates became uncomfortable experiences, walks became like scenes in those creepy horror movies where the happy couple gets killed by some slash happy stallion in a hockey mask, only without the killing bit. I wouldn’t be writing this if that happened. We were the talk of the town. Heck, I was expecting us to end up in the paper. Thankfully, that never happened, which certainly shocked me.

Even so, despite all that, our enjoyment of each other never waned. It was simply just an obstacle to get past. After a couple weeks, the talk, and subsequently the stalking, became less and less frequent. We were able to go outside without somepony pointing at us, shouting “There they are!”, or seeing the big eyes of multiple ponies watching us through the bushes in the park.

We weren’t always together, as we did have our days apart. It was getting really busy in the summer season, and Derpy worked longer hours than usual at the post office. I wouldn’t see her for days at a time, and even when I did, she would be exhausted. I decided that I procrastinated enough, and started writing again. It wasn’t easy; I started out like I did when I first moved into town, my brain filled with bad ideas, and trash bin filled with crumbled papers containing those bad ideas.

Slowly, but surely, I got back into the swing of things when it came to writing stories. From my time outside, I was able to concoct tales inspired by those around me. I would take great care to change names, and to exaggerate situations, just on the chance that somepony here reads the paper. What I wouldn’t write however, was anything about my personal life. I figured for now, what I was experiencing, was between me and Derpy.

In a couple weeks, I wrote over a dozen stories in different genres. I still couldn’t get a bead on writing that love story, but I didn’t think I had to, considering that I was currently living one. I wrote a small adventure serial, very much inspired by those fantastic Daring Do novels that I’ve read; six chapters in all. I even wrote a horror story the paper could publish when Nightmare Night rolled around, which was actually inspired by the time my and Derpy were being followed around by the town. Only, the townsponies in the story were flesh eating zombies. I even wrote a small review for Sugar Cube Corner for good measure, praising their delicious treats of all kinds.

I sent every story I could write out as fast as I could. I had been away from the paper for a few months, and I hoped they didn’t forget about me. Sure enough, only a few days passed when I got a letter from my editor in chief. Not only did the paper miss my contributions, but they loved my stories. They were going to post each one every other day, and I would get commission for each paper sold, like I always did when I wrote for them. Bits weren’t that important to me. Being with the Equestrian Sun Times for years, I had more than enough bits to cover for myself for many more, but it was nice nonetheless. Maybe I could use the extra money for something special.

Derpy was happy for me; she even made me a celebratory muffin. Lemon was the flavor; I quite enjoyed it, like always.

We were as happy as we ever could be, but I felt something was missing. Derpy and I had officially been together for over a month, and our time together had been more that fantastic. Our time apart from each other during the busy season made me realize that, I could barely get by without seeing her lovely face greeting me in the mornings, the long walks together, and the picnics in the park. Yes, we actually started doing that recently, when we had a day off.

I was starting to feel like taking our relationship to the next level. Before you say what you’re thinking, it’s probably not that.

One Sunday night, at her house, we sat in the living room watching an old movie, when I asked her the question that had been on my mind for days:

“How do you feel about living together?” I said, rather casually.

She looked at me in confusion. Her good eye looking at me, and the other seemingly looking at the movie. She thought about my question for what felt like minutes.

“But…” she replied, “My house can’t support the both of us. You have so much stuff and…”

“No, not here.” I interrupted, grinning at the same time. “I meant at my house. There’s a ton of room; more than enough for your things, no cracks in the ceiling, and, it’s closer to your work, so you don’t have to wake up so early.”

“I...I don’t want to be a bother.” she quietly said.

“What do you mean?” I laughed in disbelief. “I would love to have you at my house! I’ll even toss out the oven in my kitchen, and replace it with yours. I know how much you love that thing.”

She smiles, silently chuckling.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

She thought for another minute before answering.

“Okay. Let’s do it.” She had fire in her voice. She was more than game. All things considered, that was easier than I thought. Now, all we had to do was move her things, and we’re just two ponies. We were going to need some help.

Asking around town for some good strong ponies to assist us in the move, the townsfolk pointed in one direction, and that direction was towards a large farm called Sweet Apple Acres, where the Apple Family worked. I told that they were loyal ponies, and would assist in any heavy lifting.

While Derpy made her rounds at work, I went to Sweet Apple Acres on my own. Upon arriving, I saw Applejack bucking some apples off a tree. Her kicks were strong, powerful, just what I needed for the move. Not only that, but I saw Big Macintosh there too! I knew it! They were related! Or they were married, and just happened to have apple related cutie marks…I didn’t know.

“Big Macintosh!” I greeted him first. Applejack looked very intent on knocking those apples off the tree, and I didn't want to bother her.

Big Mac however, looked at me with all smiles.

“It’s good to see ya again!” Big Mac yelled, “Lil’ sis! It’s Derpy’s colfriend…" he stopped, completely forgetting my name. "What’s yer name again?” He then asked.

I told him my name again. He swore he wasn’t going to forget it again, making a solemn swear that I came to know as the "Pinkie Swear", which is weird, since we ponies don't have pinkies, unlike those Minotaurs that I see every once in a while.

Just so you know, he forgets my name about four more times in the future.

Applejack stopped her applebucking, and walked over to us drenched in sweat. So, she was Big Mac’s sister. I was so glad I didn’t make a fool out of myself and assumed she was his wife or something, that would have been an awkward situation for everypony involved.

“Hey, I remember you.” Applejack said, “What brings you to our farm?”

“I asked Derpy to move in with me.”

“Congratulations!” Big Mac hugged me with the same amount of pressure he used to hug me when we met. It was too much.

“Ack...please…let me go.” I said, as I simultaneously gasped for air. He does so.

“Sorry…again.” he taps his hoof on the ground, embarrassed for nearly suffocating me a second time.

"It's....okay....happens...to all of us...." I managed to cough out, which provided Applejack with a great deal of amusement.

“That’s great and all, but why tell us?” Applejack asked.

“I asked around who can help me out on such short notice, and the townsfolk recommended you.”

“Well, ain’t that nice of them?” Applejack grinned, filled with pride, “When do you want us to start?”

“Tomorrow, if possible. If you’re busy, we can…”

“No problem!” Big Mac interjected, “We can do it, right Sis?”

“Hay yeah! We’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early!” She spit into her hoof, and reached it out to me.

At first, I looked at the saliva covered hoof with hesitation, but then, without thinking, I spit into my hoof and met hers. It was weird, but I didn’t care at this point.

To say I was ecstatic, would be putting it ever so lightly.

The next morning, Derpy took time off of work to help me and the two Apple Family members out. We removed the furniture, a couple bookshelves filled with cookbooks on making muffins, and of course, her ever so reliable oven. Her stuff was heavy, but with the extra hooves, we were able to move it all out by the time the afternoon rolled around.

As we moved all the stuff into the wagon, which required all of us to pull, I spotted Derpy standing in front of her now empty house. All that remained was the welcome mat on the front doorstep. I walked to her slowly, to see her looking upon the house with sadness.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I had a lot of memories of this place. Some good, some bad. Even so…I’m going to miss it.”

I wrap my hoof around her shoulder, comforting her, bringing her close to me. She looked at me and smiled.

“Are you sure that I can stay at your place?”

“Nothing will make me happier.” I replied.

She leaned up and gently kissed me on the lips.

“Then, let’s get going.” She said, as she grabbed the welcome mat, throwing it into the wagon.

We joined Applejack and Big Mac at the front of the wagon, and rode her items all the way over to my house, where it took mere hours to move her things in.

I was grateful for the Apple siblings’ help. From then on, they became our good friends.

Derpy’s first night in my house was an interesting experience. She was experiencing what I was back when I first slept in her bed. She looked upon my bed with unease, not sure if it was going to be as comfortable as her old bed. I offered to replace my mattress with hers, as we still had it downstairs, but she was adamant that she could do it.

She climbed in, and draped the covers over her, as she got closer to me. It was amusing to see her trying to find her groove, making herself comfortable.

Like we always did when I slept at her place, she held onto my body like it was a large pillow, resting her head upon my chest. Even though we had done this for a while, I never got tired of it.

“How do you like the bed?” I finally asked her.

“It’s…interesting.” she said, “It might take some time getting used to.”

I paused for a few moments, feeling her once again slightly move around on the bed.

“Okay.” I said, “We’ll replace the mattress with yours tomorrow.”

We both shared a laugh. I admit, her mattress was much more comfortable than mine.

“Thank you.” she said, as her eyes became heavier with sleep.

We kissed each other good night, as we spent our first night together living under one roof.

The Question

A month had passed since Derpy has moved in with me. The busy summer season has dwindled, and Derpy’s overtime at the Post Office had become less and less frequent. The time was approaching to not only her birthday, but to the day where it officially became almost six months since I first laid eyes on her. Actually, six months since her hair collided with my face, but that’s minor semantics at work. I didn’t know what to do, or even get her for the occasion. A nice dinner? A pet? Or…maybe….

“Hello?” Derpy said, as she entered the house, pulling me away from my thoughts.

“I’m in the office.” I called out from my writer’s room. Derpy bought me a brand new table that was perfect for writing. A welcome change from the living room table, which made my back ache something fierce. I moved the table to a previously empty room, now home to Derpy’s bookshelves and my writing desk.

Derpy walked into the office, she looked tired, and I didn’t blame her. It was around seven o’clock in the evening, and she had a particularly long day at work. She came into work much earlier than normal, and stayed there for even longer. She came over to me, greeting me with a peck on the cheek.

“Good evening.” she half smiled, “How are you?”

“I’m good. What about you?”

“Eh, don’t ask.” she chuckled, “How was your day? Write any good stories?”

“I’m currently working on one, right now.” I replied, “But, it needs a bit of finesse.”

I looked over at her and notice something on the side of her neck. A scratch. It was fresh.

“What happened?” I pointed out the injury.

She didn’t need to look; she knew what I was talking about.

“Oh, that. It’s nothing. Just got too close to a tree branch, that’s all.”

“You should get that cleaned up.”

“I know.”

“I just don’t want it to get infected.”

“Don’t worry! I’ve done this before!” she struck an annoyed tone, which threw me for a loop. I could see her feeling bad the moment she said it, and I was feeling bad for sounding like a parent talking to a filly.

“I’m sorry.” I talked first, “I didn’t mean to sound like I was trying to baby you.”

“No, no!” she stammered, “It’s okay, really. You were just trying to help. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I just had a long day, and I’m really tired.”

I got up, and gave her a welcoming hug. She relaxed into it. I almost thought she was going to fall asleep, but then she put her forelegs around me.

“I’m glad you’re home.” I said.

“Me too.”

She let me go, and went to the bathroom to clean up.

Now that we’re together, the thought of her getting hurt on the job, or anywhere for that matter, began to scare me more than it ever has. I knew that she was as careful as she could be, but the way she told me about her condition, and how she saw, made me worry. Maybe I was overreacting, maybe I was just being a nervous nelly, but even so…it was always at the back of my mind.

It was a Saturday morning, and Derpy got time off from work, due to her overtime. We paid her sister Dinky a visit. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her, and we figured that since I was with Derpy, she had to know.

We first met Dinky’s foster parents. They were nice folk, very respective of Derpy, and looked like they gave Dinky the same amount of care and attention normal parents should. Dinky herself was happy to see us, and wanted to spend the day with us at the park, where there was a carnival being held to celebrate the coming of fall. It took a little convincing, but Dinky’s foster parents agreed to let us take her, on the condition that all eyes would be on her. I made the “Pinkie Swear” that Big Macintosh showed me a while back, and they knew exactly what I was doing. I was so enthusiastic about it, I nearly poked my eye out, if it wasn't for my glasses protecting my corneas.

We made it to the Carnival, which covered nearly the entire area of the previously quiet and serene park. Walkways were packed with ponies, games, and rides. Both Derpy and Dinky were positively ecstatic with energy, and ran all around the area. I had trouble keeping up with them, they were so fast.

“Come on, slowpoke!” Derpy yelled to me, carrying Dinky on her back as she started to fly over the massive crowd.

“Easy for you to say!” I yelled back, “You’re a Pegasus!”

Derpy and Dinky came back down to meet me, chuckling at my nearly out of breath state.

“You need to get out more.” Derpy said, as she kissed me on my forehead.

“I know…I’m a bit out of shape.” I panted out.

Derpy and Dinky thankfully stayed on the ground for most of the day. I felt bad for slowing them down, but any apologies were greeted with assuring pats on the head. They were having fun, which was all that mattered, and so was I.

We did a lot of things at the Carnival. We rode the spinning teacups, knocked a fisherpony into the shark tank, and ate all the cotton candy we could ever want. This was turning out to be a perfect day. No worries, no nothing.

The last spot to go to was the Ferris wheel, where Dinky jumped for joy.

“I wanna go on that!” she yelled.

I put her on my back as we approached the ride. Derpy stayed behind.

“You’re not coming?” I asked.

“Nah.” she said, “I can fly; it’s nothing new for me. Besides, it’ll give you and Dinky time to talk. Maybe you can discuss what to get me for my birthday.” Dinky promptly bonked the top of my head in response, laughing as she did it.

“I’ll see what I can do.” I smiled.

We got on the ride, and we were up and away as soon as the doors closed. I watched Derpy as she watched me back, before heading to one of the activity stands. From where I was, it looked like the ball toss game.

Dinky sat across from me, looking out at the scenery, lightly swaying the capsule back in forth. It was then I remembered that I hadn’t been on a ride like this since I was a colt myself. Then, I remembered why I hadn’t been on a ride like this since I was a colt. I hated heights. Imagine that, an Earth Pony dating a Pegasus, and I have a fear of heights. I tried to hide it from Dinky, but she looked at me, giggling. She saw right through me, a talent that she shared with her sister.

“You don’t like heights, do you?” she inquired with a smile.

“It’s not that I don’t like heights it’s…” The capsule rocked, pausing my sentence. “Yeah…I don’t like heights.”

Dinky smirked. “It’s okay, I’m not a fan of heights either.”

“But, you let Der…” I had to stop myself. I was so used to calling her Derpy, that I almost forgot what her real name was. “…Ditzy…fly you around.”

“I trust my sister. This…less so.”

I was caught off guard by the maturity in Dinky’s voice. The playful, foal-like pony down below became a filly wise beyond her years, up in the sky.

“I’m glad that you’re with her. I’ve never seen her so happy. Not since our parents were…still alive.” She looked down; the issue of their parents will always be a sensitive subject. I didn’t question it. “What about your parents? Are they….”

“No, they’re around. Just not for me. I haven’t spoken to them since I moved here. I haven’t gotten a letter, so I guess they just don’t care.”

“I’m sorry.” she replied.

Was I really having an adult conversation with a filly? The Ferris wheel stopped at the very top. I looked down at the bottom. Big mistake. I had to say something to get my mind off the thought of falling to my doom.

“You seem really mature for your age.” I said, voicing my curiosity to her.

“My foster family has me reading a lot. I can go up to a ninth grade level; best in my class.”

“Wow. Impressive.”

“I've been reading so much, that I haven't had the time to do things like this. I really am having fun with you guys. Plus, bonking you on the head was pretty funny.” she chuckled at that last part.

"Yeah." I rubbed my head, "You got me good back there."

“I want to ask you something, though. Do you promise not to get mad?” Her tone of voice was getting serious.

"I promise." I assured her. She was definitely Derpy's sister, she asked me the same thing that day when i fought those colts. This didn't look like a situation where I would get my flanked kicked, though, so it was already a plus.

I leaned in, giving her every ounce of my attention.

“What is it?”

“You’ve been with Ditzy for a long time, now. I just want to ask…do you love her?”

I leaned back quickly at the question, giving the capsule a little shake. I saw the look on her face change when I did that, seemingly interpreting my lean back as my way of saying “no”.

“Do you love her, or not?” she asked again with a disappointed frown.

“Yes, I do! Of course I do!” I replied, “I was just…caught off guard by the question.”

She smirked for all of a second. Her next question was troubling her, I could tell by the look on her face. It was the same look I had when I was on my way to Derpy’s house the night I admitted my feelings to her.

“I was…just wondering…if maybe…you can…..” she paused for an extraordinarily long time, “…fix her?”

The Ferris wheel started moving again.

My mind was no longer on the ground, but on Dinky’s question. Fix Derpy? What did she mean by that? I didn’t know that she was even broken to begin with. Before I could respond to the question, Dinky pointed to her left eye. It was then, I knew what she meant. She wanted me to cure Derpy of her condition, to make her normal.

“But…she’s happy the way she is.” I said.

“She’s happy when she’s with you, but not with herself.” she tells me, “I don’t blame you for not noticing, she hides it very well.”

“You’re talking like I’m some sort of toolpony, who can just replace her eye like it’s a lightbulb. I don’t even know if there is a cure.”

“Her condition has been a burden on her, for her whole life.”

“That’s not true.” I retorted, “Without it, we never would have met. I would still be that recluse nopony talked to. A writer without a story.”

“That’s one good thing. Does one good thing balance out a lifetime of pain?”

I was silent. We were almost to the bottom.

“Please…” Dinky eyes began to swell with tears, “I want you to help her.”

The Ferris Wheel stopped at the bottom.

“I…I don’t know if I can.” I replied as the door opened.

Derpy was there on the other side. She heard the last thing I said.

“Can what?” Derpy asked.

I looked back to Dinky, her look of sadness was completely gone. She was back to her cheerful state in the blink of an eye. It took me a couple seconds to do the same thing.

“C-Can get her that stuffed Ursa Minor at the ball toss. I’m really bad at that game.”

Derpy smiled.

“You can’t be as bad as I am! Come on, give it a try!”

“Okay. Let’s do it!” I proudly said, as I exited the capsule.

Dinky hopped onto Derpy’s back as we headed for the gaming area of the carnival. We shared one last look with each other, it was one of understanding. I wasn’t mad at her for bringing up Derpy’s disability, far from it. She spoke to me like I was some kind of savior, begging me on her hooves and knees to rid Derpy of the affliction that has caused her to be an outcast from most of the community.

What was in the back of my mind was now at the very front. It wasn’t going to go away; it wasn’t going to stop…unless I did something about it.

A Hard Night

For the next two weeks, Dinky’s request hung over my head like a row of giant neon signs in Las Pegasus, and instead of a different sign every time you pass, it’s the exact same one over and over again. I couldn’t tell Derpy what Dinky asked of me, how could I? For all I knew, she wouldn’t believe me, tell me that her sister wouldn’t say such things, call me a liar, and THAT wasn’t even the worst case scenario in my highly negative mind. But, what if she did believe me? Would she think that Dinky thought she was ugly? Would she think that I thought she was ugly? My mind spun so completely out of control that I couldn’t even think straight! I barely ate, I barely slept, and I couldn’t write anything resembling a coherent sentence on a piece of paper! What do I do?!

Just then, I heard the door slam shut, and Derpy ran past my office, straight into the bathroom, shutting the door in the blink of an eye. I heard the shower running, and the faintest sound of her crying.

“Derpy?” I called out. No answer.

I got up from my chair, and headed to the bathroom door. The sounds of her sobbing became louder as I got closer.

“Derpy?” I knocked on the door.

“Don’t come in!” she shouted, “I don’t want you to see me like this!”

Hearing that, I had to know what was wrong. Slowly, I opened the door. There she was, kneeled down in the shower. I couldn’t see her face, but looking at the bottom of the tub…I saw blood.

Rushing to her, she turned to me, revealing a cut above her right eye.

“Derpy! What happened?!” I yelled as I started cleaning her wound.

“I…I was leaving the Apple Farm, when I got dizzy. I hit an apple tree on my way out.”

“Did any of them see this?”

Derpy shook her head.

“I told you I didn’t want you to come in here. Now you’re mad.”

“I’m not mad, I’m worried!”

“Well, don’t worry about it! I’ll be fine!”

“This is a bad cut; I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Before I could leave, she latched onto my foreleg, bringing me back down to her. I could see the tears pouring from her eyes.

“No!” she said, “I don’t want to go to the hospital. It’s okay. I’ve been through worse.”

“Worse?” my eyes widened, “Worse than this? I can’t just stand by and watch you get hurt!”

I tried to leave again, and she forces me back down. There was no stopping her.

“Please…” she pleaded, “Don’t go…”

As I looked upon her eyes, I sighed. Against my better judgment, I did not leave. I put my hoof on her cheek, and kissed her under the running water.

“I’m not going anywhere.” I reassured her.

I gave in to her wish. I didn’t take her to the hospital, even though I wanted to. Instead, I helped cleaned the wound, applied the bandage, and she went back to her cheerful self. It was hard for me to see her like this, but a thought went through my mind; if she wasn’t happy with herself, why would she be so reluctant to see a doctor? Was it denial? Stubbornness maybe? I honestly didn’t know.

The next couple weeks were better. No accidents, no wounds; she came home on time, with that familiar smile that I loved. Her cut healed quickly, and didn’t leave any mark. I was relieved, thinking that the wound was much worse when I first saw it. Maybe I was being over-dramatic, maybe things would be okay, after all.

Then came…that night.

I’ve played this event many times in my head, trying to figure out how I was going to write this. This is easily the hardest part of the story to tell. Remembering every little detail, every emotion that I felt, every tear dropped, makes me fall to pieces. It was the event that ended up being the catalyst to everything that would happen from then on out, and it all started for me…after it happened.

It was nighttime, around three o’ clock. I was fast asleep in bed, and I assumed Derpy was right beside me. Then, I was broken out of my slumber by a loud noise. That noise was the sound of something falling down the stairs, but it wasn’t something…it was somepony.

I looked to the side of the bed where Derpy would be, but she wasn’t there. Then, as the thought hit me like a speeding train, I bolted out of the bed and headed downstairs. That’s when I saw her…Derpy was lying on her side, bleeding, barely moving, in pain.

“Derpy!” I screamed. I ran down the stairs so fast, I almost fell down myself.

I kneeled to her; she was going in and out of consciousness, every touch from my hoof brought winces of pain to her face.

“I…I fell…” was all she could muster.

This was it; I couldn’t ignore this any more than I already have.

“I’m taking you to the hospital, right now!” I told her. She didn’t resist. I used all of my might to put her on my back. She screamed something terrible. I could only imagine the excruciating pain she must have been in. I did all I could to fight back the tears that were desperately trying to break out of my eyes. I had to be strong for her, I couldn’t falter.

I rushed out the door, not even bothering to close it, and ran as fast I could to Ponyville General. The groans from Derpy were getting weaker, she was slipping out of consciousness.

“Stay with me!” I said. We were getting close.

I burst through the front door so hard, I nearly knocked it off its hinges, shocking the staff inside. Nurse Redheart was the first to see us.

“What in the name of Celestia?!” she yelled.

“Nurse Redheart! Derpy’s had an accident!” I turned her to face them, and they saw her on my back.

Redheart and the other Nurses gasped in shock, immediately rushing to her aid, taking her off my back, and onto a gurney. Derpy was out, she didn’t respond to the movement, she didn’t respond to anything. The Doctor came out, applying a ventilator to Derpy’s muzzle.

“Can you hear me, Miss?” he said to her, “What happened?”

Nothing. She doesn't answer.

“She told me she fell!” I replied for her.

“We’re bringing her to the ER, STAT!” he shouted as they disappeared behind two great swinging doors.

I tried to follow, but Redheart stopped me. She used a great deal of strength to hold me back.

“We need you to stay here!” she said.

“No! I have to see if she’s okay! I have to…”

She pushed me all the way to against the wall. I struggled and struggled, but I couldn’t get away from her grip.

"Let go of me! Let go of me, please! I have....I have to....."

The words were barely coming out of my mouth.

“She’ll be fine! They are taking care of her as we speak! I need you to calm down…now…”

Soon, I stopped struggling. I did not move anymore.

“Easy….easy…” her voice became softer, more gentle, “That’s it.”

My strength was gone, I couldn’t hold back anymore. Tears ran down my face like a waterfall. Redheart let me go, and I immediately fell to the ground, breaking down in the hardest cry I’ve ever experienced. Redheart knelt down to my level, rubbing her hoof on my back, trying to comfort me.

“It’s okay…” she said, “It’ll all be okay…”

A feeling washed over me as I lay there; the feeling that I failed. That I failed Dinky. But most of all, that I failed Derpy. I was too reluctant, too stupid to act upon Dinky’s wish to help her sister sooner. I thought it would get better, that I wouldn’t need to find her a cure, but I was wrong. I let my ignorance get the best of me, and now she was in the emergency room, and I had no idea what state she was in. This was entirely my fault, and if she died, it would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Nurse Redheart never left my side for the entire duration, offering me water as I waited for the results. Like I said before, she does her job marvelously well. As day began to break, the Emergency Room doors opened, and the Doctor passed through. I got up and walked to him the moment I saw him.

“How is she? What’s wrong?” I said, in rapid succession.

“She’s stable. We had to give her a sedative to help her relax. She was in a lot of pain.”

“Will she be okay?”

“She looks to have taken a pretty bad fall. Along with the bruises she sustained, her left leg was fractured, and her right wing was broken in five places.”

Hearing the news made me want to cry again.

“She’ll have to stay at the hospital for a couple days…” he continued, “And then we’ll release her in your care. She’ll need to stay home for another week after that.”

“Can I see her?” I asked.

“She’s resting now, in intensive care. I don’t think it’s a good idea, at the moment.”

“Please. It’ll only be for a second. I just want to see her.”

The Doctor reluctantly got out of my way.

Walking into the intensive care ward, I prepared myself for the worst. Even though he told me of her injuries, my imagination ran wild with what I would see. Finally, I saw her, her wing and leg in a cast, the ventilator still in her mouth, and a heart monitor attached to her chest; she was out like a light. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw her.

I walked to the side of her bed, looking over her. A single tear fell from my face and onto her cheek.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered to her. She couldn’t hear me, but I kept talking. “I’m so sorry, Derpy. I’ll make you better. I promise.”

I kissed her on the top of her head. No movement, no indication that she was aware of what was happening. With no other choice, I left the hospital, letting her rest until I returned for her.

A Promise Made

The morning sun shone brightly that day, and all the ponies were out and about, blissfully unaware of the events that transpired during the night. I walked through town, paying no mind to those around me. Any greeting I received was only replied with a halfhearted “Hi” on my part, and attempts to ask me what was wrong, were ignored entirely.

I walked back into my home, finally closing the door after all the time it was open. Thankfully, Ponyville was such a peaceful community, that nopony came in to steal anything. I never had that luxury in Manehattan.

Manehattan. A city of big business. A city with almost anything a pony could want.

That’s when it hit me; Manehattan is home to plenty of doctors, maybe I could find one who can help Derpy! I began to plan, map out all the places I could go to find what I was looking for. I started packing, already getting prepared for my trip. But, I couldn’t go now. I had to be there when she got out of the hospital. When the time would come to go, what would I tell her? I couldn’t tell her the truth, who knows how she would react? I wanted to be honest with her, but for the time being…I had to lie. I told myself that if I found help, that I would tell her, and if I didn’t, I would say nothing. That seemed reasonable enough.

Further preparations would have to wait however, as there was one more thing I had to do before she woke up.

I arrived at Sweet Apple Acres when the afternoon hour chimed on the clock. Everypony appeared to be inside, beating the heat on this particularly hot day.

When I knocked on the door, it immediately flung open, with three fillies running past me in excitement. It was so sudden; I nearly tripped over them, and fell. I regained my balance, however, only to nearly walk head first into a magenta colored mare coming out the door. She yelped in shock, not expecting me to be there. I nearly jumped back myself.

“Oh dear! I almost ran into you!” she said.

“It’s quite alright.”

“Wait, do I know you?” she said, as she looked at me with a look of familiarity. A few moments of awkward stares, and she got it.

“You’re the one that’s dating Derpy! I knew I recognized you!”

I tried my best to give her a nice grin, even as my thoughts drifted back to Derpy in the hospital bed.

“I don’t even know your name, what was it?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m looking for Big Macintosh. Is he here?”

“Of course.” she turned her head to the interior of the house. “Big Mac! That colt that’s living with Derpy is here!”

As soon as she finished her call, Big Mac came into view. As soon as he saw me, he smiled that friendly smile and walked to me and this mystery mare. Once again, he forgot my name. He never was very good with remembering my name, but it was okay.

“Oh, what are my manners?” Big Mac said as he turned to the mare next to him. “This here is Cheerliee, she’s a teacher at Ponyville Elementary.”

A teacher? It was then I remembered back when Fancypants talked of Big Mac coming to his restaurant with a teacher. So, this was the pony Big Mac was too shy to talk about.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said to her. She responded with a simple nod.

“Likewise.” she turned to Big Mac, “I’m going to take the girls out. See you later?”

“Of course.” He said, giving her a nice friendly smile.

As Cheerilee took the three eager fillies out of our sight, Big Mac looked back at me, confused.

“If everything okay?”

“No.” I shook my head. I paused, trying to find the right way to say the news. Throwing caution to the wind, I said “Derpy’s in the hospital.”

Big Mac took a step back in shock. It took a bit for him to compose himself.

“Is she alright?”

“The Doctors says she’ll be okay, but she took a bad fall. It’ll be a week before she’s better.”

“Oh my. What about you? Are you alright?” He asked. I appreciated his concern.

“I’ll be alright. I’m actually here to ask you a favor, if you’re not busy.”

“No, I’m not busy at all today. What is it?”

“I need help bringing the bed downstairs.”

He closed the door as quick as a whistle, and followed me to the house. I didn’t need to convince him any further than that.

When we started bringing the bed down, I told him what happened. I told the story I best I could without going into tears, but I could see the sadness on Big Mac’s face as the tale progressed. The bed itself was awfully heavy, I never had to move it before, and I was ever so thankful for Big Mac’s assistance. We moved it into my study room, which had more than enough room for the bed, provided we moved my desk elsewhere. Ultimately, the desk was moved upstairs.

“Thanks, Big Mac. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Ya probably would have broken your back. That bed was heavier than two wagons full of apples!”

"No doubt about that." I had my first chuckle in what felt like ages, "So, Cheerliee. She seems nice."

"Yeah..." he trails.

"What's up?"

"She actually came over today to break up."

"Ohh..." I felt awkward now. "But you two seemed so nice together."

"Yeah, but we both decided it wasn't going to work. Don't worry bout me, it was entirely mutual. We're still friends. Just not....FRIENDS friends."

"That's too bad. I'm sure you'll be alright."

"Ah hope so. Got a hoedown coming in a couple weeks, and ah hope to meet some nice mare there."

"That's the spirit!" I laugh. It felt good to get something else on my mind, after what had transpired. However, as soon as I thought that, I instantly became down again.

Before Big Mac could leave, he noticed my packed bags in the living room. Eyebrow raised, he turned back to me.

“Ya goin’ somewhere?”

“Yes. When Derpy comes back home, I’m going to Manehattan.”

“What are ya going to be doing in Manehattan, that’s more important than Derpy?” His voice sounded judgmental, as if I was abandoning Derpy for something less important. I couldn’t lie to him; there was no getting passed this, not unless I told the truth.

“Can you keep a secret, Big Mac?”

“You ain’t seeing another Mare, are ya?!” he shouted. I had to quell that fast, before he got real mad.

“No! No, nothing like that! I would never do that!” I said. He calmed down, but was still suspicious. “But please, if I tell you, do you promise not to tell anypony, especially Derpy?”

Big Mac had to think about this, and I could empathize with him. He had no idea what I was going to tell him, it could have been anything. Of course, I was no mind reader; I could only imagine the scenarios that were playing in that head of his. He then turned to me with a smirk and said…

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” That Pinkie Swear again, it had become engrained in my memory for so long, that I still have no idea who came up with it. There was no time to question that, as there were bigger issues to attend to.

“I’m going to Manehattan to find a doctor for Derpy.”

“Whadda mean? We have doctors here.”

“No, not that kind of doctor, an Eye Doctor.”

“You…you’re gonna fix her?”

“I’m going to try.”

“What…what if ya can’t?”

That question stung me more than I thought it would. I had considered what would happen if such a case occurred, but having somepony else ask me about it made me realize the risks I was taking. I thought that I would be able to handle it, just take it in stride, come back home, and never speak of it, but now…

“I…” my voice started to crack, “I don’t want to think about it. I can’t fail her, Big Mac. I just want to see her happy. I love her so much that I…”

I felt a hoof on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw Big Mac was close to me, smiling. Just then, he hugged me, but it wasn’t one of his usual hugs that would end with me loosing oxygen, but it was a gentle, comforting hug, not unlike one that a colt would give to a brother.

“She’s lucky to have ya, ya know? Not many ponies out there are doin what you’re doin. I’m proud of you, whatever happens.”

He let go of me, his reassuring smile still on his face. I wiped whatever tears I had on my face off, though the wet spots on my coat still remained.

“Thanks.” I said, “If it’s not too much trouble, can you check up on her every now and again when I’m gone?”

“Of course ah will.” he answered.

He left soon after. He didn’t know it, but even though he had a tendency to forget my name, I always thought of him as a big brother. The closest thing to family that I ever had.

After letting Derpy’s boss know of the situation, I returned to the hospital by the time the sun went down. Nurse Redheart said that Derpy was still asleep, but she had stabilized a great deal. They moved her to the recovery wing of the hospital, where she got her separate room. Not wanting to leave her for the night, I asked Redheart if I could stay with Derpy. She allowed it with no reservations.

Walking into her room, I saw that she no longer had that ventilator in her mouth, nor the heart monitor attached to her. She was sleeping peacefully. I sat by her, resting my head on the side of the bed to find comfort. Unfortunately, I could feel that their beds hadn’t improved since the last time I was at the hospital. At least Derpy looked comfortable.

I couldn’t get much sleep, due to bouts of watching Derpy’s condition, and fighting the uncomfortable bed, but whatever sleep I did get couldn’t have lasted more than a couple hours. When morning was rearing its head once again, I saw Derpy slowly begin to wake up. I kept my eyes on her, until she finally opened her eyes to see me. She smiled.

“Hey…” she weakly said.

“Hi.” Seeing her smile was a sight I loved seeing.

She looked around the room, surprised to see her surroundings.

“Where am I?”

“You’re at the hospital.” I told her, “You’ve been asleep for more than a day.”

“A day?” She tried to get up, but winced in pain at her injuries. None of this was familiar to her.

“Why is my wing bandaged?” she asked, before noticing the leg cast. She looked back at me with a look of confusion and panic. “What happened to me?”

“You fell down the stairs the other night. You fractured your leg, and broke your wing. The Doctor said you’re going to be fine in a few days.”

She buried her face in her hooves.

“Awww, I’m going to miss so much work! What is my boss going to say?”

“It’s all taken care of. He’s aware of what’s happened.”

She sighed. Looking back towards me, she placed her hoof onto mine.

“Are you okay?” she asked me with more concern for myself, than her.

“You gave me a bit of a scare. But I’ll be okay.”

She leaned to me, fighting the pain to give me a gentle kiss on the lips. As much as I would normally welcome a kiss such as that, the thought of my journey to Manehattan was still on the mind. She noticed.

“What’s the matter?”

“I…um…” I thought about what story I had to tell. She had a gift for seeing through me, and I had to make this story convincing. “I have to go away for a little while.”

She placed her hoof on my shoulder, trying to hold me down from leaving, as if I was going to leave her right then and there.

“Was it something I did? I messed this up, didn’t I?” her voice began to crack.

“It’s not that!” I quickly replied, “I got a letter from my editor at the Equestrian Sun Times. He wants to meet with me to discuss something.”

“Oh…” she said, embarrassed at her little outburst. “What does he want?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully, it’s something good.”

“When do you have to leave?”

“Tomorrow, after I bring you back home.”

She looked down at her bed, noticeably upset.

“Don’t worry. It’ll only be for a few days, and Big Mac said he’ll check up on you every now and again.”

“Okay…” she said timidly, “Are you sure it’s not something I did?”

“Absolutely positive.” I said convincingly.

She attempted to lean forward to me again, but I decided to meet her halfway. I did not want her to be in more pain than she already was. I embraced her, and she embraced me. I held her as tight as I could, as it would be a while before I could do it again.

“I’m going to miss you.” she said, as I could feel a tear fall on my shoulder.

“I’m going to miss you more.”

“I hope the news you receive is good.”

“……………Me too.”

Manehattan

The next day, Derpy was free to go. I escorted her slowly back to the house; it had been a while since she stood and walked. She was amazed by the new layout of the house, even more so when I told her it was only Big Mac and Myself that did the moving. Naturally, she apologized for us having to move things on account of her, but it was never an issue for me. I assured her that it’ll all be for the best, and that she shouldn’t worry so much.

We went to work with placing her medicine in easy to remember spots, and comfortable positions for her to sleep in. She mentioned that her bed at the hospital was extremely uncomfortable, which made me laugh more than it probably should have. During this entire process, she never took her eyes off me, as if to savor the last moments she would see me before I left. I noticed this almost immediately, yet paid no mind to it, my priorities were to make sure she would be safe and secure when I was gone.

“I wish I could go with you.” she told me.

“Me too, but the Doctor was explicit with having you stay here.” In truth, I probably could have brought her along, if what I told her I would be doing in the city was actually true.

We tried to sleep the way we always slept together in the night, but her injuries prevented her from holding on to me. I even tried switching roles, but once again, her injuries got in the way of me holding her. Though we slept in the same bed, we were more separate, than we were together. In the middle of the night, I heard her faintly sobbing, and all I could do was to put my hoof on her shoulder. It wasn’t much, but she found some comfort out of it.

Day broke, and it was time to leave. Big Mac came to the house to help Derpy follow me to the Train Station. Like always, I was grateful for his assistance.

We arrived at the station ten minutes before departure, which was enough time to say my goodbyes to the both of them. I said goodbye to Big Mac first. I took him aside, so Derpy wouldn’t hear us.

“Make sure to check up on her, when I’m gone.” I told him, just to be sure.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be safe.” he said with gusto. I didn’t doubt him for a second.

“I’ll make it up to you somehow. Maybe I could help your family with the next Applebucking Season.”

Big Mac chuckled as he slapped me on the back with great force. It hurt.

“There’s no need. I just hope ya find what ya lookin’ for.”

“I hope so too.”

I gave Big Mac a light hug, before we walked over to Derpy. Before I could say a word, she embraced me with a surprising amount of speed, unleashing a flurry of kisses on the cheek and mouth. I almost fell down in astonishment.

“Be careful!” I said, “You’re going to get hurt!”

Not that I didn’t welcome the bevy of affection I was getting, but I could tell this was hurting her.

“I don’t care!” she said, in tears.

“It’ll only be a few days, I promise.”

“Just be back in time for my birthday, okay? And get me a present if you haven’t gotten one already.”

“Your birthday isn’t for another few weeks.”

“I know, but if you’re not back by then, I’ll….”

I interrupted her with a soft, gentle kiss. For a few moments, her worries were gone, and so were mine. The clock above the station rang. It was time to go. I separated myself from her, and went on board the train.

Walking into the nearly empty train car, I looked outside and found my car was right next to Derpy and Big Mac.

Big Mac noticed me first, and pointed Derpy to my direction. The both waved goodbye, and I returned the gesture. The train started to move. As it was making its way out, Derpy tried to chase it. Her limp wasn’t doing her any favors. She reached the edge of the station, and I realized something; something that I never told her. I ran as fast as I could to the end of the train, opened the back door, looked straight at Derpy, and yelled at the top of my lungs, with all the pride in the world…

“I LOVE YOU!”

Even from the distance I was now in, I could see her smile.

“I LOVE YOU TOO!” I heard her call out. It was all I needed to help me last the next few days without her.

I arrived in the city of Manehattan within a few hours. It had been so long since I visited the city I grew up in, that I almost didn’t recognize it. Gone was the quiet calm of Ponyville, and replaced with magic powered cars, and fillies screaming newspaper headlines. I did not miss this place one bit.

The old apartment I used to live in was still intact, but it was no longer mine. I was sure that it was now taken by somepony who enjoyed the noise of the city, or somepony like me, who merely tolerated it.

I checked into a nearby hotel, I had the extra bits, so I figured I’d get something nice. It was a pretty decent room, with room service, and a variety of films to watch on the television, some less…appropriate than others, but it came with the territory. The previous tenant forgot to throw away his service bill by the table. With curiosity, I took a peek. Not only was the price through the roof, but the films he watched were definitely in the ‘not safe for fillies’ category. I threw away the paper as fast as I possibly could.

So here I was, miles away from home, with only my thoughts, my bits, and my bag full of essentials. It was time to roam around.

The memories of Manehattan slowly came back to me, as I spent the first day walking around the city. I recognized various places that I went to, the restaurants, the desert shops, the theaters. I tried out a muffin inside one of the bakeries; it was alright, but inferior to the muffin’s at Sugar Cube Corner, and definitely pales in comparison to the muffins Derpy made. Pretty soon, I made my way around Manehattan like I did before I moved away. I also made a few extra stops to pick up a few things, before heading out of the shopping district.

The next day, I started my search for a professional eye doctor. The first hospital was no help, only specializing in standard medical procedures. The same went for the next two that followed. On the last one, a Nurse was kind enough to direct me to a place, whose specialty was eye surgery. It was a place I’ve haven’t heard before called Crystal Clear, which was unexpectedly located around where I stayed at. I facehoofed myself for missing it, and then thanked the Nurse for her assistance…along with apologizing for bearing witness to my self-inflicted face assault.

It was time for the moment of truth. I didn’t bother going back to the hotel to rest, now that I’ve found the only possible solution, I had to know now rather than later.

There it was, Crystal Clear, in bright blue letters. I can’t believe I even missed this, the sign was so flashy. Of course, with a flashy sign, could mean this place was not the real deal. Nevertheless, I walked inside.

The place was nearly barren, in terms of actual patients. The actual lobby was very nice, very clean, and at the end was a pretty little unicorn receptionist, who noticed me walking in.

“Can I help you?” she said, as I walked over to her.

“Actually, I was wondering if this place could help me.”

“If you want an appointment for magic eye surgery, there’s a bit of a wait.” She says, taking note of my glasses.

“No, not for me. It’s for somepony else. Is there a Doctor I can talk to, right now?”

"Where is this other pony?"

"Please. I just need somepony to talk to."

She started at me with an inconvenienced stare. She then picked up the nearby phone with her magic, dialing a number. After a few moments of waiting for an answer, she talks into it.

“I’m sorry Ma’am, but there’s somepony who wants to talk about a possible appointment.” she pauses. “Not with him, with somepony else.” another pause, "I told him that, but he looks adamant about seeing somepony." another pause, she then chuckles. “Okay.”

She hangs up the phone.

“Doctor Eagle Eyes will see you. She’s down the hall, to your right, you can’t miss her.”

“Eagle Eyes?” I questioned.

“Down, the hall, to your right.” she reiterated, annoyed with me.

I did as she asked. Soon, I saw the door marked ‘Eagle Eye M.D.’. Opening, I was surprised to see that this Dr. Eagle Eyes was a Griffon. My past experiences with Griffons weren’t the most pleasant. However, I wasn’t going to let that cloud my judgment. She looked at me and smiled; the first time I’ve ever seen a Griffon smile.

“Hello.” she spoke first, “I’m Dr. Eagle Eyes. The name’s a little on the nose, I know, but it was the name I was given. Please, have a seat.”

I sat down and introduced myself. She inspects my eyes, namely my glasses, complimenting the design.

“Are you sure you don’t want magic eye surgery? I can fix your vision in no time.”

“Not today. I’m here to inquire about a possible appointment with somepony else. My marefriend.”

“Why isn’t she here, right now?”

“She doesn’t know that I’m here. If she did, I don’t think I would be sitting here right now.”

“What seems to be the trouble with her?”

I reached into my small bag to pull out a few pictures of Derpy and I, back when we started dating. They were very beautiful pictures of us, mainly in the park, playing around. I separated the pictures by the best ones that only contained her, making her eyes easy to see, and gave them to Eagle Eyes. As she took them, I noted her talons; they looked sharp, maybe even enough to perform surgery with. However, she handled the pictures with delicacy. She smiled at each successive picture.

“She’s very pretty.” she said, “You photograph really well. What’s her name?”

“Her name is Ditzy Doo, but she’s more commonly known as Derpy.”

“No doubt, due to her eye?”

“Exactly.”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“Since she’s not here, what can you tell me about her condition? Can she see out of it?”

“I think so. It’s something she’s had for most of her life, and it has been affecting her performance at work, and at home. She says that she loses her balance, gets dizzy, and sometimes forgets her sense of direction. She’s been prone to accidents…the last one was really bad.”

She could see the sadness in my eyes.

“From the way you speak of her, it sounds like you care about her a lot.”

“I do. I want her to be happy, and if that means I have to give you all my bits, then I will.”

“I admire your determination, I really do. Unfortunately, I cannot accurately diagnose a possible patient, who is not present here.” she says, as she gives back the pictures. "I'm sorry."

I put them back in my bag, ready to leave the room. It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but I was also expecting it.

“It's okay.” I said, “I’m sorry for…”

“I’m not finished, young colt.” My head perked up. “Despite this, from what I can see from the pictures, I have a pretty good idea what she might have…and it’s treatable.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth from hearing the news.

“However, it’s only a chance. She could have an advanced version of the disease, or something else entirely, and it might require some heavy surgery. Still, in order to give an exact diagnosis, I need her here. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes! If it means that she’ll be cured, I can do that!”

“Good. I’m going to mark you as a special appointment. When you’re ready to come back, with Ditzy Doo, I’ll be here.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Don’t thank me yet. Just bring her here.”

“Yes, yes I will! Thank you again!” I yelled, as I ran out the door.

I was happy. It might have been just a chance, but it was better than nothing at all. I galloped back to the hotel, jumped on the bed like an excited filly that just got his first candy bar. I think I might have over done it just a little bit.

After the series of jumps, I lied on the bed, excited...ecstatic…and then…scared.

I thought the hard part was over. Now, I had to go back to Ponyville, and tell her the truth.

Confessions

I wish I could tell you that during the entire train ride back to Ponyville, I was nothing more than happy to tell Derpy the news, but that would be wrong. Yes, I left Manehattan earlier than I initially scheduled. Yes, she will be happy to see me, but for how long? I was a colt full of questions in my head, and today was no different. Like I have always done before giving unexpected news, I predict all the bad things that could come to pass. I’m very negative, not a great personality trait to have.

The train made it to the station in about the same time it took to get to Manehattan. Nopony was there to greet me, nor did I expect anypony to. I wanted to surprise Derpy with my early arrival, just before I broke the news to her.

Only a few citizens took notice of my return, Applejack greeted me as I walked through town; Mrs. Cake threw me a friendly wave, and that pink pony who I met when I first came to town, bounced up and down, excited to see me return. I didn’t even know her name, but it was nice to be welcomed back, made me feel more at home than I already was.

I made it home. On the outside, the place looked as clean as it ever did. I even noticed that there was now a small garden of roses where there used to be a patch of dirt before. Big Mac, or maybe Derpy must have planted those there. Roses were her favorite after all, and I doubt Big Mac knew that. I have to say that it did complement the exterior of the house more than I expected, when looking at the big picture. I then realized that I was dilly dallying. I should be in there, greeting her, and confessing my lie to her. I took a deep breath, and walked right in.

Nothing. Quiet. It didn’t look like anypony was home.

“Hello?” I called out. Silence. “Derpy?”

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a plate dropping on the floor in the kitchen. In an instant, I see her, Derpy, her wing still bandaged, but her leg no longer in a cast, hurrying into the living room to see me.

“Y-you’re home!” She squealed with joy. She ran to me, and wrapped her forelegs around me. The embrace was almost as strong as Big Mac’s, but way more comfortable, and less life threatening. She kissed me as rapidly as she did when I left just a couple days ago. “I can’t believe you’re here! I wasn’t expecting you for another day or so!”

“I decided to come home a bit early. Sorry for not telling you ahead of time.”

“No! It’s great! Sorry for breaking one of the plates. I think it was one of yours.”

“It’s fine, I assure you. We have plenty.”

Derpy turned away from me to pick the pieces of the broken plate up, sweeping them into a floor pan.

“Actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” I wasted no time to tell her what I was truly up to, “It’s about Manehattan.”

“Oh right! I almost forgot to ask…” she said, “What was the meeting about?”

“That’s the thing…there was no meeting.” Derpy stopped collecting the plate shards, turning to me with a bewildered look on her face. “I never saw my editor.”

“W-what are you talking about?” she replied, “You went to see your editor about some news, that’s why you went.”

“No…it wasn’t. I went to see a doctor.”

“Why? Did you get sick? Is that why you missed your meeting?”

“No, Derpy. There was no meeting. I lied to you.”

Derpy stepped back, crushing the plate shards even further. The look of love on her face was becoming something else; a combination of confusion…and anger.

“Y-You lied to me? Why would you do that? Why was seeing a doctor so secretive, that you had to lie to me about it?”

“Because I didn’t see the doctor for me, I saw one for you.” She raised an eyebrow the moment I said that. It was now the time to come clean. “Her name is Doctor Eagle Eyes, and she specializes in corrective eye surgery. I told her about you, and showed her some pictures, but she can’t make a full diagnosis unless she sees you soon. But, she says that there is a chance to make you better. I wanted to tell you what I was up to before I left, but I was worried you’d say no. I’m really sorry.”

Nothing. No words. Just a cold stare.

“You…want to fix me?” she said. No emotion in the voice.

I didn’t know how to answer that. The way she said “fix”, implied that I was unhappy with her appearance. Still, I couldn’t lie to her more than I have.

“…Yes.” I replied quietly. Her eyes began to water with tears. She was angry with me. She went right up to me, and slapped me across the face. I recoiled back from the slap, and looked right at her. She had nothing to say to me. She pushed past me and was heading for the door. “Derpy!” I cried out, catching up to her before she made her way out.

“Don’t talk to me!” She yelled. In seconds, she stormed out of the house. I chased after her. She was walking out of town, in a familiar direction.

“Where are you going?” I yelled after her.

“I’m going home!”

“Your home is here!”

“No! My REAL home! Away from you!”

“Will you just wait a second, and let me explain myself?”

She stopped and turned around quickly. Her look was that of somepony ready to unleash a barrage of hate on some poor soul.

“Fine!” she yells, “Tell me! Why do you want to fix me?!” Her screams catch the attention of nearby ponies. We were beginning to gather a small crowd of interested citizens.

“It’s not that I WANT to. It’s just…” I paused. I took a chance. “Dinky was concerned about your condition, and…” I felt bad for bringing Dinky into the conversation, but she had to know.

“Dinky?!” she interrupted, “She loves me! She would never say that! How dare you blame your lies on her?!”

“I would never lie about your sister! She’s great! I’m telling you the truth!”

“Even so, you could have disagreed! Not go all the way to Manehattan behind my back!”

“I did disagree with her! It’s just…”

“It’s just what? What is it?! Why did you lie to me?! Did you ever consider that I’m happy with who I am?! It was you who taught me not to care what anypony thought!”

“I know I did! But, if you please…”

“Tell me something! Were you lying to me when you said I was beautiful?”

“No..”

“Was this some kind of plan? To get me to think that you loved me, and then try to turn me into a normal mare?”

“No!”

“Then what is it?! Why do you want to fix me?!”

“I CAN’T LOSE YOU!” I screamed. She stopped with the questions. In fact, she just stopped talking. She watched me as I kneeled to the ground, sobbing, begging her to stay. She kneeled to my level, facing me, looking me in the eyes.

“What do you mean?” she said, “What do you mean by ‘lose me’?”

I told her everything. Everything that I have told you that had been racing through my head for the past few weeks, I poured it all out. How I was afraid for her, afraid that one day, she would be injured beyond my care. How I wasn’t willing to accept that she needed help, even after Dinky pleaded to me that day on the Ferris wheel, and then seeing for myself the night Derpy had her accident. I told her how I stayed up all night in the hospital, scared that she was going to die, and that I would have never forgiven myself if she did. I threw in many apologies, asking her to forgive me if I sounded selfish.

During this whole speech, she watched my every move, heard my every word. I couldn’t tell if she was still mad, or even upset, there was nothing on her face. She was a very expressive mare, and seeing her with nothing on her face was breaking my heart. The other ponies couldn’t take their eyes off of us, but I couldn’t even think about them at this point.

When I was done, she didn’t say a word. I sat there, waiting for a response. I was expecting her to walk away, never to talk to me again. I looked to the ground, shutting my eyes tight, unable to bear it if this ended poorly. But then, I felt a foreleg wrap around me, and my chin resting on a shoulder. Opening my eyes, I was resting on Derpy’s shoulder. She was hugging me. When I moved my head to a more comfortable position, she hugged me tighter; knowing that I found out it was her. I could feel her tears pouring on my shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” she said, her voice breaking. “I didn’t mean to…”

I returned her hug with mine. Her voice became sobs.

“No…” I said, “I’m the one who lied to you. You have every reason to hate me, right now.”

“I…I don’t hate you.”

The crowd dissipated, now that things were mostly right.

“When do you want to leave?” she asked quietly. I looked at her, surprised.

“You…you want to go?”

“Yes.” she replied, a smirk creeping on her face. “Dinky was right about me, you know. She has a habit of knowing what I’m feeling.”

“It’s a talent that both of you share.” I nuzzled my cheek onto hers.

“You didn’t answer my question.” she continued, “When do you want to leave?”

“Only when you want to.”

“Tomorrow…if that’s okay.” she replied, after seconds of thinking.

We went back into the house shortly afterwards.

That night, we lied in bed like we always had, but neither of us could sleep, neither of us could relax. All we could think about was what will happen when we arrived at Manehattan.

“What will happen if she says she can’t help?”

“I don’t know.” I said. “I guess…we’ll just have to be more careful from then on.”

“Will you still love me if I looked like this forever?”

“What are you talking about?” I was flabbergasted. “I’ve never stopped loving you. Even if you accidentally destroyed town hall, I would still love you!”

“Ummm…..” she mumbled. I looked at her, and her face said it all to me.

“You didn’t destroy town hall, already, did you?”

“It happened a long time ago!” Derpy admitted. “It was an accident!”

I hugged her even tighter, laughing at the image I had in my head of her knocking over the top of the tower.

“Oh, Derpy!” I giggled. Kissing the top of her head.

“It wasn’t funny! Not at the time, anyway…”

As she imagine whatever scenario actually played out, she started to chuckle.

“Can I ask you a question?” she inquired.

“You can ask me anything.”

“Do you think…” her pause was long. I could feel her swallow her breath in a big gulp. “Do you think our foals will look like me?”

My heart beat quickly and loudly. Foals? I never thought about having foals. She heard my rapid heartbeat, and started to stammer.

“I-I mean hypothetically!” she tried to say, “I wasn’t trying to say I wanted foals now, or that I was trying to pressure you or anything, I was just wondering if maybe someday that---oh Celestia, I’m messing this up, aren’t I?” She buried her face in my coat.

“No, no, no!” I said, holding her face to mine, “You’re not messing anything up!” She began to calm. “The truth is…” I continued, “I never really thought about it. I don't exactly think of myself as the fatherly type.”

“Why not? You’ve been so good with Dinky. Any foal would be lucky to have you as their dad.”

“Thank you.” I blushed, “But…my father wasn’t exactly the greatest role model. Neither of my parents were. I’m afraid that if we had a foal of our own, I would follow in those hoofsteps.”

“That’s not true. I think you’d make a great dad.”

“Well, I’d think you’d make a great Mom.”

“Oh really?” Derpy laughed, “The mother that knocks over buildings with her big rump?”

“I don’t know, that sounds pretty awesome to me.”

Derpy playfully smacked my chest in response.

“So you do think I have a big rump, eh?” she says slyly.

“Never! Anypony who says that is crazy…or jealous. Besides, I’m the one with the big rump around here.”

“Not at all!” she said, beginning to blush. “It’s perfectly fine.”

“How did we go from talking about fillies, to the size of our flanks?”

We paused. Simultaneously, we started laughing. This was indeed a strange conversation, but it was at least getting our minds off of what we would be doing the next day. We were relaxed now, more comfortable than we were minutes ago.

"I don't know." she said, "But, I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

I then felt Derpy getting closer to me, moving up my chest to meet my face. She hovered her lips over mine, before planting a soft and lengthy kiss. As she parted from me, I saw her give me a look that was all too familiar. A look I hadn't seen since the night we first slept together.

“I…I think I’m ready.”

She didn’t have to say another word. I knew what she meant.

Operation(s)

A new day was upon us. The sun was shining brightly through the window by the bed, and right into my eyes. I was the first to wake up. I found myself huddled behind Derpy, with my forelegs wrapped around her back, resting on her chest. I watched her sleep peacefully, as I remembered the unforgettable night we just shared together. As I brushed my hoof on her mane, her eyes slowly opened up, and yawned at the morning sun. She looked up at me staring down at her. She smiled.

“Good morning.” she said, still groggy from the sleep.

“How are you?” I asked.

“I’m fine.” she replied. As she rolls over to face me, a wince falls upon her. It’s her still bandaged wing. I stop her from moving. “It’s alright.” she says.. “It comes and goes.”

“Are you ready for today?”

“I think so.” she hesitates, “I’m a little nervous.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” she yawns again, “Oh my, I’m still a bit sleepy.”

“The first train doesn’t leave for another hour. We could stay in bed a little longer, if you like.”

“Can we now?” she said, in a playful tone of voice. “Well, I guess maybe a couple more minutes couldn’t hurt.”

I make my way on top of her as we kissed. We were getting into it until…

Knock knock. Somepony was at the door.

I ignored it at first, thinking it could probably be a door to door sales pony.

Knock knock. We heard it again.

“There’s somepony at the door.” Derpy said, breaking away from our kiss. I sighed in frustration, forcefully removing myself from the bed, much to Derpy’s amusement.

I opened the door soon after, to see Big Mac on the other side. His eyes widen, not expecting to see me so soon.

“YOU’RE BACK!” He yelled in happiness. He was about the give me one of his death hugs, when he stopped himself. Instead, he gave me a simple pat on the mane. I chuckled at that.

“It’s good to see you, Big Mac.”

“Likewise mah friend. When did ya get back?”

“Just yesterday.”

“Morning Big Macintosh!” Derpy yelled from the bedroom.

“Morning Miss Hooves!” He looks behind me to see her, but she wasn’t there. “Where is she?”

“She’s in bed. We had a bit of a long night.”

“Oh.” Big Mac thinks for a few moments, and he comes to a sudden realization. I don’t think it was possible, but his cheeks became redder than usual. “Oh! My apologies, I didn’t mean ta…”

“Big Mac, it’s okay.”

“So, did ya find what you were looking fer?” he asked quietly.

“There’s no need to be silent. I told her everything. To answer your question, I did.”

“That’s great! When are ya two returning to Manehattan?”

“Later today.”

“Today?” he sounded disappointed, “But ya'll just got back!”

“I know. But we shouldn’t be gone too long.”

“Awww…okay. I guess I leave you two ta pack.”

Before he could leave, I tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn back around.

“Big Mac? Thank you, for taking care of Derpy, when I was away.”

“Eeeeyup!” he said, “That’s what friends are for, right?”

He gave me another head pat, as he then trotted away. It was nice seeing him again. I never asked him about the rose garden in the front, but I guess there was no real need to ask. We had bigger matters to attend to. It didn’t take long for Derpy to get out of bed and pack her things, just in case we had to stay in the city longer than expected. I made my classic egg breakfast, which we both gobbled down without breaking a sweat. In less than a half hour, we were out the door, and ready to go to Manehattan.

The return trip was much nicer than the initial one, mainly because I wasn’t alone this time around. I could see that Derpy was still nervous, but would always smile, and dismiss it whenever I would question it. She put on an extremely brave face, which was rather admirable.

We arrived in Manehattan in what felt like a short while. Derpy looked around, unfamiliar with the city around her. She saw that the things I told her about the city back in Ponyville, were entirely true. The crowds, the noise, everything. She stepped off the train, barely able to cope with the change of location; I took the liberty of carrying both her luggage and mine on my back, so she could get as comfortable as possible, as we made our way to the hotel. We stayed at the same hotel that I was at merely a couple days ago, due to it being so close to the Crystal Clear clinic. Heck, for a second, I thought it was the same exact room, until a quick glace in the trash showed no sign of that ominous receipt that I found on my first visit. Of course, it was probably taken out by the Maid when I left.

“How do you like the view?” I asked, seeing Derpy look out the window.

“It’s really high.”

“Really? Farther up than you’ve flown before?”

“Much farther.” she nodded. Carefully, she backed away from the window

Derpy chose not to see the doctor on the day we arrived. Instead, she opted to take a bath, and spend the rest of the day in the hotel. I wanted to give her all the time she needed, in no way wanting to rush things. We spent the night watching some bad movies on the television. We had a few laughs, sure, but I could still see the distressed look on her face, no matter how well she tried to hide it. I could feel her shaking, as we slept in bed. She wasn’t cold, but she was scared. I held her close as much as I could, which subsided her shakes, but only by a little.

Derpy woke me up early the next morning, practically forcing me out of my slumber; she was shaking the bed so hard. When I opened my eyes, I saw that she was already prepared to go.

“Somepony looks ready.” I said.

“I felt bad for not going yesterday so I wanted to get up as early as possible.” she said in a quick manner. I look behind her to see a tray which held a cup, and a pot full of coffee.

“I didn’t know you drank coffee.”

“I don’t. I just went to the café downstairs and asked ‘hey what’s the best way of waking up?’ and the guy there gave me this tray of coffee so I drank it and it tasted funny but I kept drinking it and now I’m ready to go so let’s go go go go go!” She said with such quickness, that once again, her statement had a severe lack of commas.

She bounced up and down the hallway, as I trudged my way through it to get to the elevator. The ride down was similarly bouncy, so was walking through the lobby, with the other ponies watching us, namely her, as we made our way out.

It wasn’t until we were at the front door of Crystal Clear, that the coffee’s effects on her began to subside. She held her head, dizzy from the rush that she received. Looking up, she saw the sign to the place, and let out a loud gulp.

“This is it, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yes, it is. Moment of truth.” I said, as I put my foreleg around her, “You ready?”

She looked at me, then back at the front door, then back to me again. After playing the back and forth game for a while, she smiles.

“Let’s do it.” she said, Her fears extinguished in a three word sentence.

We were led into Eagle Eyes’ office, and waited for her to arrive. Every so often, I would glance at Derpy, no longer was the look of nervousness on her face like the day before, but a combination of determination, and anxiety. She tapped her hoof on the floor in a rapid pace; one could assume a woodpecker was in the room with us.

Not fifteen minutes had passed, and Eagle Eyes came in. Derpy stopped with the tapping, and sat back, like she wasn’t doing anything. The good Doctor greeted me, telling me it was nice to see me again, before turning her attention to Derpy.

“You must be Ditzy Doo. It’s so nice to meet you.” she said, shaking Derpy’s hoof. “If you don’t mind me saying, but the pictures that were shown to me do you no justice.”

“Umm…thanks.” Derpy blushed. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re wondering how we’re going to go about this.” Eagle Eyes wasted no time to get into the procedure. “First, we’re going to do a series of tests, a couple x-rays, and finally and eye exam. It will all be completely painless, so you don’t have to worry about shots. Afterwards, I’m going to evaluate what would be the best course of action. Is that all clear, Ditzy?”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Please, just call me Eagle Eyes.”

“Can you come with me?” Derpy turned to me and asked. I wasn’t going to say no. I tend to keep my promises.

I stayed with her for every test that she went through. From a ‘follow the light’ test, to reading letters on a board from a distance, Derpy tried it all. As each test passed by, distress returned. It was hard to keep her still during the x-ray, she was shaking so much. Eagle Eyes was trying her best to calm her, but she was too skittish to continue. When she looked away, I took the opportunity to calm Derpy the way I knew how, by planting a small, romantic kiss on her lips. In an instant, she calmed down, and the Doctor was none the wiser.

It took nearly half the day to get through the tests and the exams, and we were right back where we started at the end of it; in Eagle Eyes office.

“You were great.” I assured Derpy.

“I was getting so scared. Thank you for staying.”

“I told you, I’m staying with you every step of the way.”

As she smiled back at me, Eagle Eyes returned with the results. As she sat down by her office table, we both noticed the same thing; Eagle Eyes didn’t look happy.

“What’s the matter?” Derpy was the first to ask.

“The results were…what I was afraid of.”

“Please…” Derpy said, “Don’t hold back.”

“It appears that, from the x-rays, you suffer from a very rare birth defect, where your right eye is deformed, misshapen to the point where it’s not possible to do any corrective surgery.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“If we try to remove or lessen the problem areas of her eye; it will quote on quote 'heal itself', and be restored to what it initially was.”

“What…what are the options?” asked Derpy, "ARE there any options?"

“There are three options. Either leave it the way it is now, remove it completely, or…a transplant.”

“A transplant?”

“We remove your eye, and replace it with a donor. This one is risky. I’ve done it before, but it’s a special case. Finding a donor is the hardest part. It could take weeks, maybe months for somepony to...”

“I’ll do it.” I quickly interrupted. The two of them looked at me, but I paid attention more to the look of fright on Derpy’s face. “I’ll give you my eye.” I don't know what scared her more; that I had volunteered to give her my right eye, or that I said it with no second thoughts whatsoever.

“W-what?” Derpy said, “But…you can’t!”

“She’s right.” Eagle Eyes continued, “Aside from the defect, her eyes have perfect vision. In order for it to work, I’d have to perform surgery on your eye to make it suitable for her, and that will cost more…”

“Bits don’t matter to me. I can afford it.” I told the truth. With all the work I had done in the past few months, I had more than enough.

“It’s your call, Ditzy.”

I looked at Derpy, with all the sincerity I could muster. I knew she wanted to say no, and I didn’t blame her. This was a risky operation, one that could very well end with both of us missing an eye, but I was going to do whatever it took to make her happy, and she knew that just by looking at me.

“O-Okay.” she said to Eagle Eyes.

“Alright. I’ll get the paperwork, and we’ll start tomorrow…unless you want more time to prepare.”

“No. Tomorrow is fine.”

“Okay.” Eagle Eyes left, and Derpy looked at me. Whatever worries she had about herself were directly placed on me.

“It’s okay.” I told her, “This is why I have two eyes.”

She chuckled, but only slightly. I could see a single tear go down her cheek as she rested her head onto mine.

That night, she embraced me tighter than she ever had before as we rested back at the hotel.

“Can’t sleep?” I asked her.

“No. You?”

“Me neither.”

“What if something goes wrong and we both have one eye?” A plausible question.

“Well, I hear there’s an opening in the pirate business.”

Derpy loudly laughs in response. I hadn’t heard her laugh like that in a long time. Considering the situation, it was refreshing.

“That’s not funny!” she said, still laughing.

“Then why are you laughing?” I asked her, her laugh taking hold of me, causing me to laugh as well.

“I don’t know…” she calmed down. After a couple moments of silence, she said “So, who would be the captain?”

“Obviously, you would be the captain.”

“No, I’m too dumb to be the captain.”

“You are many things Derpy Hooves, dumb is not one of them. You would be the captain, and I would be your loyal first mate.”

“So, you would get to do whatever I asked of you?”

“Exactly. Whatever you like.”

Derpy liked this idea. From the look of things, a little too much.

“What would our ships’ name be?” She soon asked.

“That’s a tough one.” I said, thinking about possible names. “How about the SS Muffin Maker?”

“That’s a silly name!” she disagreed.

“It was either that, or the SS Big Rump.”

“You said I didn’t have a big rump!” She lunged at me playfully. We tussled in the bed, pretending to fight, but we were laughing hysterically, having a good time. We both were aware, though, that this was a distraction of the events to come. I rolled on top of her, staring into her eyes, as her left stared into mine.

“Whatever happens tomorrow…you know that I’ll always love you, right?”

She caressed my cheek, as she gave me a long passionate kiss.

“You’re giving me an eye tomorrow; I don’t need any more proof that you love me.”

“Still, I wanted you to know that.”

“Trust me. I know.”

The next day was more of a blur than anything else. We woke up, and immediately got ready for the operation. We walked to the clinic, greeting Eagle Eyes, who was already there and waiting for us.

“We’re going to put you under first.” She told me. “Once your eye is in top condition, we will then start on you.” She said to Derpy. “This is the last time you two are going to see each other until the end of the operations, so..." She backed away a bit, giving us room to ourselves. Derpy, on cue, embraced me, and I embraced her.

"It'll all be okay." I told her, "It'll only be a few hours."

"I'm still going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." I struggled to separate myself from her. She wiped the tears from her face, as I followed Eagle Eyes to the operating room.

I laid on the milky white table, as Eagle Eyes put a ventilator on my muzzle.

"I want you to count backwards from ten."

I do so. As the sleeping gas filled my lungs, I thought about Derpy, like I always tended to do. I thought about the things I said to her, and the time I spent with her. This is normally what ponies would think about if they were going to die, last thoughts and everything, but I told myself that I was going to get through this. That when I awaken, I will spend the rest of my life with her.

Of all the great gestures I could have done to show her that I loved her more than life itself, this was probably the best one.

The moment I hit "one", I was out like a light. Whatever happened next, was all in fate's hands...Eagle Eyes' too.

Aftermath And Return

I awoke in a cold room. The walls were white, and the floor was dark grey. I recognized the type of room with no problem; this was a hospital room. My right eye had a bandage over it, as I touched the bandage with my hoof, I sighed, not out of annoyance, as sighs are usually associated with, but out of relief. That relief was soon halted when I pressed further, and realized that without a right eye, whatever was left hurt a lot. Kind of stupid to do so on retrospect, but that’s how it went; one moment you’re going into an operation, the next, you’re poking at your now empty eye socket like a moron.

Looking around the room, it was dark; either the lights were off, or it was night time. Did the operation really take that long? I hoped Derpy was okay; maybe she’s still being treated, Eagle Eyes did have to make my right eye as perfect as Derpy’s left. I will give this room one thing though, the bed was extremely comfortable, compared to Ponyville General’s beds.

The door at the end of room opened, and out came Eagle Eyes. She saw that I was awake, and walked over to my bed.

“You’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Like I just lost an eye, Doc.”

“I assume so.” she chuckled, “How are you otherwise?”

“Where’s Ditzy?” I asked, choosing to stick with Derpy’s real name when speaking to the Doctor. “Is she okay? Did the operation…”

“She’s fine.” Eagle Eyes interrupted, “The operation went by smoothly. There were no complications.”

“Oh, thank Celestia.” I sunk back into my bed, more relaxed than I was before. “Where is she now?”

“She’s in recovery, still asleep. We just finished the operation with her only an hour ago. We won’t know the results until morning.”

Morning. So it was nighttime.

“Can I see her? I want to be there when she wakes up.”

“The effects of the anesthesia might affect your walking ability. I could get a wheelchair.”

“No, I can do this.”

I couldn’t. The moment my hooves hit the bottom, the numbness took hold, and I stumbled onto the floor, face first. Though I couldn’t see her, I imagined Eagle Eyes was laughing on the inside at the sight of my flank in the air.

“On second thought, a wheelchair sounds nice.” I said, after removing my face from the floor.

I was wheeled into Derpy’s room, after a couple of tries getting my still numb self in the chair. For an instant, I was reminded of the time I saw her in the hospital room after the accident. I had to tell myself that this wasn’t the case here. The look on her face while she slept wasn’t one of pain, but of calm and peacefulness. The Nurse pushed my chair over to the side of the bed, allowing me to hold her left hoof with mine.

“Would you like a blanket for the night?” The Nurse asked me. I nodded my head.

I never left Derpy’s side the entire night. Like our previous experience with a hospital, I rested my head on the side of the bed, careful not to sleep on the side of my head where there is now no eye. Even only sleeping on a partial section of the bed was comfortable.

As morning approached, I felt the touch of a hoof grazing the top of my mane. I lift my head up to see Derpy, with a tired smile, looking at me.

“Hey.” she said, in good spirits, “What time is it?”

I looked at the window to see the sun rising.

“It’s morning.”

“How long have you been here?”

“The entire night.” I see her bandage around her eye. “Hey…” I chuckled. “We’re bandage buddies.”

It took a bit for her to remember, but soon, she was able to recall her saying that to me when I was in the hospital. Just like me though, it was difficult to laugh, the effects of the anesthetics still wearing her down.

“Did it work?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We’ll know soon enough.”

She seemed parched, so I got her some water. In a couple hours, the medication wore off, and she was back to normal. Well, as normal as she could be, since she was unsure about the results of the surgery.

Once it was fully morning, Eagle Eyes came into the room.

“Ah, both of you are awake, good. How are we feeling, Ditzy?”

“I feel okay. Just a little anxious, that’s all.”

“That’s quite normal, considering your condition. Enough time has passed since the operation for the transfer to take effect. Would you like me to open the bandages?”

“…Y-yes.” Derpy hesitated. She held on to my hoof. If she had fingers, I’d imagine she’d be gripping it tightly.

“Close your eye, Ditzy. I’m going to cut open the bandage.” Derpy does so.

Eagle Eyes cut the cloth using one of her talons. Slowly and carefully, she unwrapped the bandage layer by layer. The anticipation was killing both of us. Finally, the bandage was fully unwrapped, and off Derpy’s head.

“Okay Ditzy, I want you to open your eyes…slowly.”

Derpy nods in response, but she’s stalling. After a long pause, she slowly opens her eyes.

“Gently…gently…” Eagle Eyes went on.

Her eyes are fully open. Derpy gasps as tears begin to well up in her eyes.

The operation…was a success. Her eyes were as straight as an arrow now, and she could see normally. The difference to her was instantaneous. She gently tapped at the bottom of her eye, still in disbelief that it worked.

“I want a mirror, now!” she demanded. Eagle Eyes was quick to hold a mirror to Derpy. She looked carefully at her new eye. She examined the results, looking at how straight it was. Tears are pouring out of her eyes. She looked back to me. “What do you think?”

I admired her new look. On the left, was her normal, blonde colored eye, on the right, was my dark blue eye. I didn’t think anything of my eyes when I would look at them in the mirror, as I never thought I was much to look at to begin with, but seeing it on her was positively stunning.

“You look…gorgeous.” I said. Derpy took hold of me and kissed me hard.

“Thank you!” she said, saying it again and again between kisses. Eagle Eyes was happy to see the results end up favorably, but she had to separate us out of our kissing frenzy.

“Okay, okay, settle down.” she said. “There’s still one more thing we have to discuss.”

“I’ll give you the bits by tomorrow.” I told her, assuming it was about the currency.

“No, it’s about your situation.”

“What do you mean?” I wondered.

“We can’t have you walk around with an empty eye socket for everypony to see. So, would you like an eye patch, or a glass eye?”

The choice was easy for me.

“Eye patch, definitely.” Me and Derpy laughed at that, while Eagle Eyes understandably didn’t get the reference.

Within another day, we were let go from the Hospital. I paid Eagle Eyes in full for the operations, plus a little something extra for her willingness to help us out.

We journeyed back to Ponyville, ecstatic to tell our friends the news. I admired Derpy's eyes, while she couldn't take her eyes off of my new look. I was now wearing an eye patch, and glasses over my other eye.

"Are you sure you didn't want her fixing the other eye?" she asked.

"Nah, I think I look pretty cool as a nerdy pirate. Don't you think?"

"I think you look handsome." she said. I blushed. I've never been called handsome before.

Even after all that, though, I could see that Derpy was still nervous.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her, “Aren’t you excited?”

“Of course, I am.” she said, “I just don’t know how the others are going to react. I’ve had this condition for so long, that I…”

I silenced her, putting my hoof over her mouth.

“They’re going to love you. I know it.”

We arrived at the station. Like at Manehattan, I opted to carry both bags, but Derpy decided to carry her own. As we were making our way back, we got a few turned heads.

“Is that Derpy Hooves?” One pony sitting oddly on a bench said.

“It sure looks like her.” Another said.

“There’s something different about her. Did she do something with her mane?”

More and more, we had turned heads. More and more, the same question about the identity of Derpy was uttered. We were barely halfway to the house, when we turned to see a crowd has gathered behind us. Derpy looked down, embarrassed, thinking everypony is judging her in a negative fashion.

Just then, out of the crowd came Dinky. She walked up to her sister, slowly, taking in her new appearance in stride. When she reached Derpy, she looked into her repaired eyes, with all the curiosity that could be seen in a filly.

“Ditzy?” she said. Derpy nodded her head. “You’re beautiful.”

Dinky hugged her sister tightly, with all the love she could ever have for her. Dinky looked at me, and my eye patch, knowing what I did to help her.

“Thank you.” she told me. I simply nodded in acceptance.

Then, Big Mac came bursting from the crowd. Seeing us, seeing Derpy’s new look, as well as mine.

“You’re back!” He yelled.

He ran to us, and hugged all three of us simultaneously. That was the death hug that I missed.

“We missed you too…Big Mac…” I wheezed. “Now…please…”

He let go. We had a good laugh at that.

In the couple weeks that followed, we were once again the talk of the town. Rumors spread about how Derpy was cured of her condition, and how my eye replaced hers. Some were more fantastical, saying that we encountered a witch in the Everfree Forest, and made some kind of deal at a great price. Some were more horrifying, with them thinking that Derpy was mad at me, so decided to rip my eye out, and perform the surgery herself. I told them the real story, but the rumors still were the more popular ones, I guess a story without magic or violence was less interesting to them.

As for Derpy, she was happier than she ever was. Her work had improved exponentially, and the amount of accidents went from frequent, to none at all. I started my writing again, and during my breaks, I read up on Derpy’s cookbooks, seeing if I could try my hoof at making muffins. It turned out to be harder than I thought, especially with no more depth perception.

I tasted the muffins myself; it started off horribly, but got better and better with each passing attempt. Derpy was there to help with any burns that I had; now I was the clumsy one, and she was the one fixing me.

Then came…her birthday.

Yeah, I know I just sounded ominous in that sentence, but trust me; it’s not that kind of story.

Her Birthday fell on a Tuesday, a day where she had work. I had all the time I needed to prepare. I worked hard on her meal, dessert, and present, and I wasn’t going to blow it.

She came home late, around seven, when she saw me at the table, patiently waiting for her.

“I’m so sorry.” she said, “I had a big delivery today.”

“It’s okay.” I assured her. “Happy Birthday.” I kissed her on the cheek. She gasped.

“Oh my…I completely forgot about my birthday.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t. Sit down.” The similarities to my birthday were astounding.

Derpy sat down at the table. Since I didn’t have a wing, I had to cover her meal with a cloth. I uncovered it to reveal the first thing I had ever made for her, my famous scrambled egg breakfast. She clapped her hooves with delight.

“I’ve missed your scrambled eggs!” she announced. She dug right in. When she was finished, it was time for her dessert.

I placed the plate down, and uncovered a blueberry muffin.

“You made me a muffin?” she said, wide eyed in surprise.

“It wasn’t easy, due to being a terrible cook with no depth perception.” I joked. “Be honest with me, don’t hold anything back.”

She took a bite out of the muffin. She slowly took in every bite. She didn’t vomit, so that was already a good sign. After what felt like minutes of chewing, she swallowed the muffin chunk. Thinking for a couple more moments, she said…

“That was…really good!”

“I told you to be honest with me.”

“No! I really am! It was good!”

“But not as good as yours, though.”

“Well…no.” We both laughed. I appreciated her honesty. “But you’re getting there, I swear!”

“Okay. I want you to close your eyes for this one. It’s time for your present.”

“A present? Please, what you’ve given me already was more than enough.”

She motions to her eye.

“Not to me. Close your eyes.”

She does so. Chuckling at the thought of what it could be.

“No peeking”

“I’m not.”

I trot upstairs into my office, and pull a box out of my desk. Trotting back down, I nearly trip, but I managed to get my footing okay. I placed the box down. She still had her eyes closed.

“Okay, now open them.”

She opened her eyes to look at the box. It was the same box that she gave me after our first meeting.

“More muffins?” she inquired.

“Open it up.”

She opens up the box. Her eyes widen, wider than they have ever been since I have known her. Inside the box…was a wedding band.

“Is…is this…?” She can’t believe it.

“I was going to give it to you on our one year anniversary…but I thought tonight would be better.”

Her eyes water, crying tears of joy.

“How…when did you get this?”

“When I first went to Manehattan. I figured if I didn’t find anypony there to help, I didn’t want to leave empty hooved.”

Full apology, dear reader. I didn't want to reveal that I got her a wedding band when I was in Manehattan. Besides, if you knew where the story was going to go, where would the fun be in getting there?

“So…even before…?”

“Yes. Even before.” I kneeled before her. Her tears came quickly, she knew what was coming. “Ditzy Doo…” She smiled; this is the first time I’ve called her by her real name. “The past year with you…has been the greatest experience I have ever been through. We had our good times, and bad, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in all of Equestria. Now, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

Her mouth was agape, but her smile remained. She was stunned, and speechless. Suddenly, she stammered, like she thought she said something, but realizing she didn’t.

“YES!” she shouted, “Sweet Celestia, yes! Of course I’ll marry you! Oh my gosh!”

She lunged, embracing my so hard, we both fell toppled onto the floor. She was laughing at our current position, but still in tears. We kissed passionately, until finally, we simply just laid there. She was still on top of me, not a bad position to be in, I must admit. We looked into each others eyes, as if doing so for the very first time.

“I love you.” she says, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too. With all of my heart.”

She placed her head on my chest, and rested there, listening to my heartbeat, and then falling to sleep in a matter of minutes. I carried her over to bed, and placed her gently on her side. I moved up behind her, and embraced her. I put the wedding band on her hoof, and kissed the top of her mane, before going to sleep, myself.

It was the best sleep I ever had in my entire life.

Epilogue

We were married a couple weeks after that. It was a small wedding, not as extravagant as other weddings, but it didn’t need to be that. We were married in a chapel, where the priest said his words with great conviction. Ditzy wrote her own vows, and I wrote mine. Big Mac was my Best Colt, since I didn’t have a Best Mare lying around anywhere. Almost every pony in town was there to see the wedding. We were told it was the biggest turnout that was only rivaled by a wedding in Canterlot, that somehow resulted in a war with creatures called Changelings, not quite sure what happened there. I was happy no such events occurred on our wedding day, but I appreciated the remark. Our vows were beautiful, and reduced both of us to tears, but since this is the epilogue, I’d best not disclose what they were.

It’s been over a year now, since we’ve been married. I don’t know what year you are reading this, but that’s the time it’s been at the moment of this writing. I quit my job at the Equestrian Sun Times, and moved my business to Ponyville, where I now run the Ponyville Confidential, after the previous manager quit, due to it being a gossip column. I've turned it into a full fledged paper, with reviews, articles, and short stories. I still write shorts and editorials every now and again, but I’ve given the job to better, more talented ponies who work there. I've never been a leader before, and I do admit, my first day on the job was a scary experience, but when it all came down to it, I couldn't have imagined a better career.

Just a couple days ago, we got the news that Ditzy is pregnant, and she’s due in about ten months. We’re currently arguing about if the foal is going to be male or female. I think it’s going to be a boy. We discussed what would happen if the foal had the same condition that befell her, but I assured her that no matter what, the foal will be loved with everything that we have. We haven't even come up with a name, yet. I'm giving the honor to Ditzy, as I think I would be horrible with names.

As for Ditzy, she still works at the post office; still delivering mail one house at a time. To see her come home every day, happy, healthy, and without injury makes my heart flutter every time. She has gotten much more popular, with her fixed eye, making some new friends, having new guests at the house on the weekends. I even had to fight off some interested colts and stallions trying to woo her away from me. No worries, it didn't end in violence. She would get a kick out of the new-found attention, but she would tell them that she was in love with me, and nothing could change that. Besides, I had something that no other colt or stallion had, I loved her even before she was cured.

Many ponies, Ditzy included, have asked me constantly one question that became easier to answer over time; why? Why her? Why did I fall for such a clumsy mare, with a bad eye, and a simple mind? Their words, not mine, I can assure you. Why, against all odds, did I go out of my way to make her happy, and healthy? And most importantly, why did I marry her, and am now about to become a father to a foal that I have conceived with her?

Every time this has been asked to me, I always respond the same way. Sure, I could tell them how wonderful she is, how beautiful I thought she was, even well before the operation, how every day I spend with her is a blessing in and of itself. I could tell them all of that, but I chose to answer the question in the simplest way possible; with a chuckle, sometime a laugh, and tell them the same answer I always give, the same answer I gave to her the night I first told her how I felt, the first time I revealed to her that I was in love with her. Only two words, but very powerful. Two words that defined our very relationship;

Why not?

A Realization

I woke up to find myself in a hospital bed, with bandages all over my body, and a patch over my right eye. My vision was blurred, I couldn’t see much without my glasses, and those were utterly destroyed by my encounter with the colts. I saw what appeared to be Derpy, properly bandaged, looming over the right side of my bed, waiting for me to awaken. Looking a little closer, I could definitely see that it was her. She looked down at me, noticing that I was now awake. Her un-bandaged eye widens in happiness.

“Nurse Redheart! He’s awake!”

Immediately, a white nurse pony, whom I assumed to be this Nurse Redheart, loomed in on the left side. Both a look of relief and annoyance fell on her face.

“Thank Celestia! What were you thinking? Making this poor mare drag your sorry flank over here?”

I couldn’t say much at the time, the only things that could come out of my mouth, were a series of incomprehensible grumbles.

“Don’t break a sweat; it was only a rhetorical question. You’re on some pain medication, so you might be a little out of it for a few minutes. Understand? Just nod if you understand what I’m saying.”

I nodded. Redheart glanced at Derpy, then back at me. She laughed.

“That’s funny. You two have almost the same amount of bandages as each other.”

It was true. We both had injuries on our right eye, and more or less, the same spots on our bodies. The only difference was her wing, as I am just a regular earth pony.

“You hear that? We’re bandage buddies!” Derpy happily yells, getting close to me as she says it.

I laughed at her statement, and laughing while still incredibly injured made my sides hurt bad. The medication wasn’t exactly helping; all it was doing was making me drowsy, and preventing me from having an actual conversation with her. Nevertheless, I was surprised at the dark sense of humor that developed from her. I think she was just trying to make herself feel better, and I admired her for that.

Redheart wasn’t laughing. She shook her head, and left me and Derpy alone.

“Crazy ponies.” she said to herself as she walked away from my vision.

“Don’t listen to Redheart. It wasn’t any trouble getting you here. Honest.”

She chuckled to herself, probably remembering some amusing shenanigan that she encountered when dragging my reckless self over to the hospital. Then, her cheeks had a soft bit of red on them. She was blushing! I had never seen her blush before until that day. It was…cute.

“I want to thank you…” she said softly, “…for standing up for me. No pony has ever done that for me before.”

She looked around the hospital room, as if to make sure nopony else was looking. She leaned in close to me.

She whispered to me “I don’t know if you’ll remember this, but…”

In a swift motion, she kissed me on the cheek. If I wasn’t so injured, and still coming out of consciousness, I imagine my face would be glowing a bright crimson. It was a moment I was never going to forget.

Within the hour, I regained full consciousness, but Derpy didn’t stay with me for long at the hospital after that. She told me she had something to take care of, and that it was important.

I offered to walk her home, but Redheart forbade me from leaving for the night. No matter how much I pleaded, she wouldn’t let me leave. I’ll give her this, she may have been stubborn as a mule, but she did her job extremely well.

Nevertheless, I had no choice, but to let Derpy go.

That night in the hospital was the most unpleasant I had in Ponyville. I was in pain, the place smelled funny, I was surrounded by a closed curtain, with no view of the outside, and worse, my bed was uncomfortable. I was so used to soft fluffy beds, that the rough bed that I was in now made my wounds on my body feel even worse.

But then, I filled my thoughts with Derpy, and thinking that those moments I spent with her were the best I have had during my time here. These thoughts managed to subside the intense pain I was in. I remembered the stories I told her, the frequent muffin baskets she brought, and the bubbly personality that I found so charming.

Then, something dawned on me. That something was a feeling, a feeling that I never have felt in all of my brief existence.

“I’m….I’m in love with her.” I said to myself. “I’m in love….with Derpy!”

“That’s great, now shut up!” The patient in the bed next to me yelled.

I had no idea there was anypony else in the room. I couldn’t see anything because of that dang curtain. Now here I was, in an uncomfortable hospital bed, letting out an admission to whoever else was in the room with me. To say I was embarrassed was the understatement of the decade.

“S-sorry.” I whispered, slinking back into the bed.

The morning came, and Redheart let me go, explaining that I should keep the bandages on for a couple days. Walking home was fairly difficult; either from the bandage on my eye, that without my glasses, my vision was less than perfect, or the fact that I was still on pain medication, my sense of balance was all off during the long walk home. Luckily, it was still early in the day, and the town wasn’t packed with ponies that I would risk bumping into.

With a few close calls, I was able to get home relatively safely. Walking inside, the first thing I did was to go back to my soft, comfortable bed, and collapsed on to it, like it was the greatest thing in all of Equestria. I think I slept for the rest of the day.

The days passed, and I was getting better. The cuts were healing, and I was able to open my swollen eye, though just a little bit. I didn’t see Derpy during those days, and the thought crossed my mind that those colts went after her for revenge. I blocked all of that out, thinking that she wanted me to rest.

A full week passed, and my injuries were almost fully healed. My eye was no longer swollen, but still darkened, and my cuts and bruises were fading. The first thing I did was go back to the post office, hoping to surprise Derpy. She wasn’t there, but her boss told me that she’d been arriving every day, tired. I was relieved that she was okay, but I did wonder what had been making her so tired. Even though it was possible that my encounter with him had made him more polite, I’m pretty sure his good mood had been because Derpy was coming in to work on time.

Arriving back at the house, before I could open the door, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Hchhhello…”

I turn around to see Derpy, all smiles, and fully healed, with an envelope in her mouth. I wanted to tell her right there how I felt about her, but I stopped myself from saying anything I could have possibly regretted saying.

She motions me to take the envelope in her mouth, which I do so.

“Don’t open it until I leave, okay?”

“Uh, sure.” is all I replied with. It was the only thing I could reply with.

She nodded and flew away. It was good to see her wing had healed up nicely. I watched her leave until she is out of my field of vision.

Immediately, upon entering my home, I opened the envelope. Inside was a note, once again written in red crayon. “Come by the house at 7 for a surprise!” it said, followed by a crudely drawn smiley face.