I'm Addicted to the Madness

"What, are you stupid?!" Shouted the mare behind the counter of an apple stand, her customer flinching at the outburst, "Can't you even count? It's two bits per apple! You have five apples!"

The grey Pegasus trembled as she fumbled with her bits on the counter, trying to figure out how much she owed the apple vendor. Tears were starting to well up in her crossed golden-yellow eyes, as she became aware that other ponies in the market had turned to see what the commotion was. The pegasus decided to just push all of her bits to the mare.

"NO! There are five bits here! You need ten!" The mare behind the counter shouted.

"I not has any more..." The Pegasus sniffled, her ears drooping.

"Then you don't get five apples! You can only afford two!" The vendor shouted in exasperation.

"B-but... I not will be able to come to Ponyville for another week..." Replied the Pegasus, "Derpy don't live in town, Derpy live away and needs food to last the week..."

"Looks like you're going hungry then, huh?" Snapped the vendor, smacking Derpy's bits at her and taking back the apples, "And learn how to speak, you idiot! Go away!"

Derpy bit her lip as tears slid down her face, but kept her head down to try and hide them from the ponies who were watching. She scooped her money back into her saddle bag and turned away from the stand, but ran right into a green mare. She looked up into the kind hazel eyes of SugarCube Corner's tea specialist, Apple Snow.

"Hey there, Ditzy!" Apple Snow cooed with a gentle smile.

Derpy had rarely spoken to Apple Snow face to face, but knew of her family's contributions to the town.

Apple Snow slightly tilted her head, "What's wrong? Ain't got enough bits for your trip?" Derpy nodded, her cheeks growing hot with embarrassment and humiliation. Apple Snow smiled sweetly, "Tell ya what. Why don't ya come back with me to Sweet Apple Acres and I'll get you set up with all the apples you need. Sound good?"

"Okay." Replied Derpy softly, feeling a bit more confident.

As she followed Apple Snow, she glanced back at the angry vendor, who actually looked disappointed that Apple Snow had come to Derpy's rescue.

Once at the farm, Derpy noticed six ponies, a stallion, a young dragon, and a filly sitting on a red and white checkered blanket under a large apple tree. The group noticed Apple Snow walking toward them, and all waved, but a bright pink pony bounced right up to greet her.

"Hi Snowie!" She squeaked happily, "Where you been?" Then she notices Derpy behind Snow, "OOH! Who is this?"

"Pinkie, you remember Derpy Hooves, right?" Apple Snow smiled, ruffling Derpy's blonde mane affectionately, "She's the one who eats the most muffins at your parties."

"OH! I remember you!" Pinkie grinned, clapping her hooves, and Derpy smiled shyly, "I remember my party a few weeks ago when you accidentally knocked the punch bowl over and it fell on your head and then I was like OOH! And I took another bowl and put it on my head and we wore them for the rest of the party!!" Pinkie Pie took a deep breath when she finished talking, panting slightly from lack of breath.

"I knocked-ed the bowl over on by accident," Derpy admitted shamefully, hoping Pinkie wasn't mad.

"And that's what made it fun!" Pinkie squeaked in reply. She turned back to Apple Snow, "So watcha doing? Is Derpy hanging out with us today?"

"The apple vendor was harassing her..." Apple Snow sighed with a frown, "It seems she didn't have enough bits to buy the apples she needed, so I said I'd giver her some of ours."

"WHAT?! No pony is mean to my friends and gets away with it!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, and she actually made to walk into town.
But Apple Snow threw an arm out to catch her, "Woah, slow down, it's alright. I took care of it. Besides, our apples are much more fresh than the ones that mean mare sells. She gets them from a different farm."

Derpy noticed that the rest of the group behind Pinkie Pie were watching the three of them curiously.

"Well don't go yet! Have some fun with us for a bit!" Pinkie smiled excitedly, "We're having a picnic!"

Derpy smiled, still a bit shy, and nodded as she followed Pinkie Pie and Apple Snow to the blanket.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash smiled, standing and approaching Derpy, "I know you! It's... Ditzy, right?"

"Derpy." The grey Pegasus corrected.

"Right!" Dash replied, gently punching Derpy's shoulder, "I notice you helping out Pegasi sometimes."

"I try." Derpy answered, pulling her ears back again, "But Derpy don't fly so good, so sometimes Derpy makes wrong."

Rainbow Dash frowned, having never heard Derpy speak before. She now understood quite a few mishaps during Pegasi duties, "Well," She said, a bit more slowly,"Everypony has some things they're better at than other things..."

Pinkie Pie hopped behind Derpy and started pushing against her rump to move her closer to the others. Derpy resisted slightly, her hooves scratching the dirt as she was forced forward. Rainbow Dash sprinted over to the rest of her friends and whispered something to them quickly, which made their faces fall, and they looked uncomfortable. Pinkie and Apple Snow encouraged Derpy to sit on the blanket, which she did, nervous around the others.

"Hello, Derpy." Rarity greeted, speaking with more pronounced enunciation, "My name is Rarity, this is Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Fluttershy. She's a Pegasus like you."

"Hello," The latter three greeted in unison.

"And this is Big McIntosh, my eldest cousin." Apple Snow smiled, gesturing to the red stallion, who waved, "And you've met Applejack, of course." Applejack waved, "And my youngest and most lovable cousin, Apple Bloom."

"Nice to meet ya!" Apple Bloom greeted with a smile, and unlike the others, she didn't bother to change the pace of her speech, "We've got lots of food in our picnic basket, help yourself!"

Derpy smiled widely, having not eaten anything all day, and she dug into the basket to find something.

"Apple Bloom, can I talk to ya for a sec?" Applejack asked with a frown.

Apple Bloom began to look concerned. The filly followed the orange mare away from the tree and close to the barn.

"What's up?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well, Derpy... See, Derpy ain't like most ponies." Applejack explained, "She doesn't... Understand some things, and ya got to watch how ya talk to her."

"What do you mean?" Apple Bloom tilted her head slightly

"Uh... Try to talk a bit slower and use more simple words." Applejack suggested.

"Why?" Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack frowned deeply, knowing that Apple Bloom was too young to understand some of the less fortunate things in the world, "Because she... She, uh..."

"Apple Bloom!" Came Pinkie Pie's voice, and the trio of Apples looked back at their friends, "Come see what Derpy can do!"

Forgetting the conversation with her sister, Apple Bloom galloped back to the picnic, causing Applejack to let out an indignant sigh and slowly followed. Pinkie Pie was cheering as Derpy balanced an apple on her muzzle, her little tongue sticking out in concentration.

"That's awesome!" Apple Bloom cried, and she took another apple to try it herself, but failed.

Soon, both she and Pinkie were attempting Derpy's trick, but their apples just kept falling back to the blanket. After dropping her apple about ten times, Pinkie Pie laughed.

"I can bake, I can play a bunch of instruments at once, and I can throw parties." She said with a defeated smile, "but I cannot balance things on my nose."

"Welp, I ain't gettin my Cutie Mark this way." Apple Bloom smiled, taking a bite from her own apple.

"I not good at lot of things, but I still do some things." Derpy smiled, also eating the fruit she had been balancing.

"So, Derpy..." Rarity spoke up tentatively, and Derpy's crossed eyes rested on her as she chewed, "Where do you live?"

"I not live in Ponyville." Derpy replied, her mouth still full, which made Rarity cringe, "I live far out in a little house, but I can see Ponyville from my window, and I really like Ponyville."

"Why don't you live in Ponyville?" Twilight asked, a slight frown on her face.

"I not can has much money." Derpy continued, "I has the house from the nice doctors that took care of me when I was a filly."

"Doctors?" asked Twilight, but before Derpy could elaborate, there was another voice that called, "Apple Bloom!"

They looked around and saw two more fillies, one a white Unicorn, and the other an orange Pegasus.

"Hey guys!" Apple Bloom smiled, standing to greet her friends. The young Pegasus waved at Rainbow Dash, blushing slightly, and Dash gave her a wide grin in return.

"Guess who we just saw in the park." Sweetie Belle smiled, joining their picnic.

"Who?" Apple Bloom inquired.

"Silver Spoon." Scootaloo answered.

"So?"

"She was crying." Sweetie Belle explained, "We couldn't help but ask what was wrong, and she wasn't even mean to us when she said she hasn't seen Diamond Tiara in three days. She hasn't even been home, and her parents called the police. There's a search party and everything."

Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom exchanged glances, and they both smiled briefly. Apple Snow noticed this and quietly raised a brow.

"I'm sure she's fine." said Apple Bloom. "She's probably just... I dunno, doin somethin evil, I reckon."

"But she's never away from Silver Spoon," Scootaloo contradicted.

"Relax." Pinkie smiled sweetly, and she dug into the picnic basket, pulling out a small box. When she opened it, Derpy saw three very pretty cupcakes. "Have a cupcake!"

A tiny snicker came from Apple Bloom, but no pony noticed except for Derpy, who tilted her head at the cupcakes, and Apple Snow, who decided to stay quiet and smile. The two fillies each took one and bit into them, a smile immediately playing their faces.

"Gosh, Pinkie Pie." Scootaloo cheered happily, "Your cupcakes are the best in Equestria."

"Hey Derpy, you want the last one?" Pinkie asked, holding the box to her.

Derpy immediately shoved her face into the box, scarfing the pastry in seconds.

"MMM!!" She exclaimed, frosting all over her face, "This is yummy yummy! I usually like muffins, but this is yummy yummy!"

"Fantasterific! I'll make you a batch of muffins some time!" Pinkie smiled cheerfully.

Twilight tapped Pinkie Pie on the shoulder and whispered into her ear, "Hey, Pinkie..." She said kindly, "Maybe you should bring your energy level down a tad? Not speak so quickly...?"

"Why would I do that?" Squeaked Pinkie loudly, and Twilight flinched. Pinkie returned her attention to Derpy, "Hey Derpy, wanna play tag?"

"Yeah!" Derpy exclaimed excitedly.

"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, you can play too!" The three fillies happily followed Pinkie and Derpy into a part of the field that didn't have as many trees. The rest of the group watched momentarily before anypony spoke.

"I didn't realize that Derpy was..." said Rainbow Dash in an unsure tone.

"I thought maybe she was just clumsy," said Rarity. "Though her eyes should've been a clue."

"Guys, there's nothing wrong with her," Apple Snow frowned sternly.

"She talks like a foal does when they first learn to talk," argued Spike.

"Doesn't mean she's less of a pony!" Snapped Apple Snow.

"Ee-yup." Agreed Big Mac.

"That's very true." Rarity nodded, "Maybe we just have to get to know her a little better."

"Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom seem to just adore her." Applejack noticed.

"I'm a little worried about them not really understanding Derpy's condition," Twilight added, "I mean... It's as if they don't see the difference..."

Apple Snow looked at the playing fillies and ponies. A smile grew on her face, "There isn't."

After playing tag for about thirty minutes, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, and Derpy flopped in the grass on their backs, laughing and breathing heavily. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were panting just as hard, but Sweetie Belle noticed the sun beginning to set.

"Uh-oh!" She gasped, "I've got to get home or mom and dad will be sore!"

"Me too!" Scootaloo added.

And they both said their goodbyes to the other three, before running to the others to bid farewell to them too.

"That was a blast." Apple Bloom giggled, "I've never played tag with more than two."

"Run run run, fun fun fun!" Pinkie Pie squealed, flailing her arms and legs.

Derpy, however, had replaced her jubilance with concern, "Why do everypony talk slow at Derpy?" She asked softly.

The other two blinked, rolling to lay on their stomachs.

"Dunno." Apple Bloom replied, "Maybe they were afraid you wouldn't like them."

"But everypony talks real slow at me." Derpy continued, "All the time. And sometimes they laugh when I not tell joke, and sometimes they laugh at me when I fly into stuff. I don't fly so good 'cause I don't see so good."

"We all just want to be your friends!" Pinkie Pie giggled, but Derpy still looked distraught.

"I thought they wanted to be friends before too." Derpy explained, "But I see them laugh, but not how you and Apple Bloom laugh. I think they don't want friends with me at all." They all fell silent for a few seconds before Derpy asked, "Am I stupid?"

"What the hay makes you think that?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed in shock.

"Derpy, you're not stupid, you just think differently!" Pinkie answered, "Some ponies just don't understand. Sometimes I get laughed at when I'm trying to be serious. No pony takes me seriously when there's a real problem, and I can tell the difference between nice laughter and mean laughter."

"And me and my friends get bullied for being Blank Flanks." Apple Bloom added, nodding at her flank, "But no matter what, we don't give up. You're not any different than anypony else, but we're all still special in our own way."

"But if anypony gives you trouble..." Pinkie angrily added, "I'll pop them a new one!"

Derpy's smile returned, her worries fading away. Apple Snow, who was still watching the trio of ponies, smiled in relief. She was happy that Derpy was able to find a friend that understands her.