More Than Meets The Eye

by Bandit Blue

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Limestone Pie, Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dinky Hooves, Romance
Length: 7874

Ditzy is very clumsy, kind, bubbly, sweet and caring but she certainly is no fool.

For most of her life, Ditzy had low self-esteem due to her lazy eye. An unfortunate condition simply because of the attention it brought her, it had little to no impact on her actual sight.

A few stallions came to take advantage of Ditzy's kindness and low self-esteem, praying on her insecurities just to get a night of fun. Those days however are gone since one of these nights of fun led to the birth of Ditzy's most precious treasure, her daughter Dinky.

Despite being extremely clumsy, she knew she was a good pony, a good friend, and did her best to be the best mother she could. And since Dinky was born, Ditzy had come to terms with her eye condition and self-esteem. Or so she thought. As it turns out, traumas can be ignored, but they don't magically disappear.

Published 2021-01-08 01:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-04-03 08:59:45 UTC

Chapter 1

Ditzy sat down alone on a table on Sugarcube Corner, enjoying some varied muffins in glee while taking a quick brunch break from delivering the mail. Her mailbag sat on the chair besides her as she ate. The place was rather empty due to being a weekday morning, only a couple of other ponies were there, both also alone, one reading a book and another the newspaper while drinking coffee. Ditzy was delighted in the delicious muffins she was eating as well as a cool morning breeze that hit her, it was a perfect morning so far.

She then saw a semi familiar face coming out of Sugarcube Corner. It was an earth pony stallion with a white coat who had a mane made with 2 tones of blue, one lighter and one darker, he had an abacus as a cutie mark and dark blue eyes. That stallion's name was Snowfall Delight. She had delivered him his mail and briefly talked to him a few times, and he insisted she'd refer to him as just Snowfall instead of Mr. Delight, which she could understand why.

Snowfall was wearing saddlebags and looked surprised and nervous upon seeing Ditzy, who in turn smiled and waved at him. Snowfall recomposed himself and approached Ditzy.

"Morning, Ditzy. Taking a muffin break?"

She nodded and replied with her mouth full. "Humhum! Do you want one?" Snowfall gave her a kind smile and refused.

"No thanks, the Cakes made sure to stuff me with treats while I was helping them with their books."

"I didn't know they had a book problem. They need new recipe books?"

"It's uh... Money books actually, to keep track of their earnings and expenses and all that. They were having a little trouble getting it organized so I offered to help. But it's no biggie, they just had to write a few lists basically, their business is blooming so they kind of lost track between that, taking care of their foals and... a lot of property damage for some reason..."

"Oh, I'm happy to hear they're doing well! As for the property damage... I might have contributed to that a few times." Ditzy blushed and giggled a little feeling embarrassed.

"Crash landings?" Snowfall smiled back as he asked.

"Pretty much, I just don't understand what went wrong until after I hit the ground."

"Don't beat yourself up, I'm sure If I had wings I'd crash in all sorts of things. I tend to space out when thinking and walking, so I hit more doors and lamp posts than I care to admit." Snowfall blushed and averted his gaze with a little smile on his face."

"Thanks, Snowfall, It's nice to know someone who understands, although I doubt you'd ever caused any property damage and sent somepony to the hospital." Ditzy averted her gaze giving away her discomfort.

"I... I sent myself to the hospital once, my nose wouldn't stop bleeding after I hit a wall. Does that count?"

"Hmm... I don't know but I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope it wasn't anything serious." Ditzy's discomfort vanished as she giggled at the stallion's remark.

"Don't worry, I recovered." Snowfall was still blushing and once again averting his gaze to the sky and brushing the back of his mane with one of his forehooves.

"That's good." She giggled again. Her laughter sounded like music to clearly infatuated stallion. "Well, I'd love to stay a little longer but I'm afraid I have to go back to work. I hope I see you around." Right after finishing her sentence, Ditzy looked confused and totally spaced out.

"Ditzy? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just that I remembered, I think I have a letter for you!" Ditzy grabbed her mail saddle and placed it on the table before starting rummaging through it. "Aha, I knew I saw your name earlier, here you go!" Ditzy happily handed the letter to Snowfall, who only after a seconds of grabbing it he knew what was inside. Ditzy was almost ready to leave when she heard Snowfall call her name.

"Wait, Ditzy. Uh..." Snowfall opened the envelope and took out it's contents. "These are tickets for a Wonderbolts flight show in Canterlot, I got them last week and I was wonder-"

"No thanks, I'm good."

"Uuh... But you didn't even let me finish what-"

"It's okay, I don't need to. You saw a mare you thought you could prey on because of her disability and that you could take her to bed with an expensive gift. I know a lot of stallions like you, I should've known, you came here gloating about helping the cakes, trying to pass as some kind of good guy, thinking I would fall for you."

"Wha... What? Disability? There's not at all what I was-"

"Save it, "Mr. Delight". I'm not stupid. I bet you think of yourself as a nice guy but here you are, trying to take advantage of the first mare you assume has low self-esteem within your gaze. Get some help, creep." Ditzy's speech and sudden personality change left Snowfall thunderstruck, with his mouth half open and unable to say anything. Right before taking off she made one last remark. "Have fun at the show, I hear Canterlot has a lot of cheap whores, you can take one with you. Actually, it's better you stay away from all mares altogether, otherwise I'd feel bad for them."

Averting her gaze from the stallion, Ditzy got up, took a few steps from the table and flew off into the sky. Snowfall was still in shock when he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Oof, Brother, that was hard to watch. But she's right, you can't just take advantage of the disabled like that, I mean, you've got to have standards." The voice came from a stallion sitting on one of the tables, apparently reading the newspaper. He watched Snowfall's expression turn into a scowl as Snowfall moved towards him slowly. With each step Snowfall took in his direction made him ever more afraid of the white stallion approaching.

"Common, now, guy. You're not resorting to aggression just because of that comment are you?" The stallion tried to smile as he stated that, but once Snowfall was close enough, he saw his eyes. His scowl made very little light able to bounce of his eyes, making them look like the eyes of a dead pony. The stallion was cold sweating as Snowfall stopped right besides him, his muzzle standing right above his. The stallion froze with fear.

"Who's disabled?"

"Wh... What? The mare you were talking to!"

"What's her disability then?"

"You... you didn't see it? You didn't see her eyes?"

"You've just made 3 mistakes, "Brother." First, you assumed I was taking advantage of somepony, second, to talk down to somepony you absolutely don't know and third... You're very wrong about what a disability is. You know, I would push your head down on this table so hard that it would break not only the table but the hard floor beneath it as well, and then I would break both of your legs just to show you what a real disability looks like. You're not the only one who made mistakes though. That mare was mistaken about one thing, I don't think I'm nice, I know I'm not, I'm trying really hard to be. That and the fact that the owners are very kind people that I don't want for one of them to have to clean your blood off the floor. Good thing you have that newspaper, "Brother.", I wouldn't want for them to clean your piss either."

The sitting stallion quickly looked down to see if the white earth pony was telling the truth or messing with him. The truth made him dart away in embarrassment and fear and tears streamed down his eyes. Snowfall watched him run away and felt guilty, he facehooved in visible regret. He took the newspaper the stallion was reading and placed it over the pool of urine on the floor, trying his best to avoid touching it directly. After doing so he sighted and started walking away but once again heard a voice behind him.

"I don't know what she has been through to treat you like that and despite the sad display of psychopathy just now, you probably didn't deserve it. I've never seen somepony get so brutally rejected."

The raspy voice came from a pale purple mare with a gray short mane and very bright lime colored eyes. Snowfall was caught off guard by the mare’s beauty. He blushed before responding. "W-What's it to you?"

"Nothing really, I just felt sorry for you. Just... Better luck next time."

"She felt sorry for me too, that's why I thought... Whatever, I'm done with this."

"Not the first time, huh? But if you think all mare's are the same, I suppose I don't have to feel bad for you for cleaning somepony else's piss off the floor, especially when there's a working hose a few feet away from it." The mare smirked at the stallion with a huge, almost devious smile as he gazed at said hose in disbelief. "You're angry so I'll let it slide. I don't think I could've came up with such a graphic threat like that myself."

"It comes naturally, I'm angry but what you saw it's just who I am. She was right about me being rotten. She's better off without me and I'm probably better off without her, I never thought she could be so mean."

"Ugh! Self pity, much? That's really attractive." She had struck a nerve, the stallion opened his mouth wide to speak but no words came out as one of his eyes twitched nervously. "She obviously went through some rough stuff, dude, are you so dense you can't see that?" Snowfall closed his mouth and recollected himself and he pondered the mare's words. "Plus, if you're such a rotten guy, why did you bother cleaning that guy's piss? It was as hilarious as it was painful to watch."

"You... you watched me the whole time and waited until I was done to tell me there was a hose I could use right next to me?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm a little rotten myself." She smiled at him with amusement. This mare couldn't confuse him more. Was she trying to comfort him? Was she flirting? Was she just a sadist? Who was she and why was she so attractive? Snowfall took a deep breath and continued walking away, deciding it was better to just ignore her.

"HEY!" Snowfall looked behind to see the mare walking towards him with an angry face, that somehow looked natural for her. "Don't leave while I'm talking to you, Mr. Big Bad Guy." Snowfall sighted and turned towards her.

"What do you want, lady?"

"Since you're not going out with her, would you wanna, I don't don't know, grab dinner with me or something." She tried to hide her embarrassment but her blush gave it away. Snowfall was shocked. That was one of the last things he would’ve expected to hear from the mare.

"Are you asking me on a date?"

"Shut up, you're up for it or not?" She crossed her arms, looked away blushing even more and pouted. A few seconds of silence passed before she moved her eyes to see the stallion staring in confusion, which made her even more embarrassed and a "Go big or go home" thought made her say what would later she consider the stupider words that had ever left her mouth. "Wh- Who knows, you might even get lucky."

"You... you just saw my heart get ripped to shreds by a mare I've been infatuated with for months and then make a pony piss himself in fear, and your reaction is to ask me on a date?"

"What?! You're available, not a wussy, very considerate, not a lazy loaf and not... the worst looking stallion around..." The mare started the sentence shouting in anger but her voice was about inaudible by the end of it as she went from staring the stallion right in the face back to averting her gaze with her cheeks now more red than purple.

"I see. You are planning to kill me."

"What?! Are you missing a screw in your head?! Do you know how hard it was for me to come here and say all this crap?!" Once again Snowfall was surprised, but this time his expression quickly saddened over the guilt he felt after realizing the mare's feelings.

"Look... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you but I don't even know who you are and you caught me at a really bad time for reasons you saw yourself."

"Ugh. It's fine. You're right, I put you in a rough spot. I'm Limestone."

"I'm Snow-"

"Snowfall, I know. I'm staying at Sugarcube Corner, I was there all morning. I guess you were too focused on working on their books you didn't even realize I walked past you several times."

"Thank Celestia."

"Huh?!"

"Oh, uh... I don't mean that in a bad way it's just that you would've been a distraction, the bad type." Limestone stared at Snowfall in disbelief. "I didn't mean that, I meant the distraction wouldn't be the bad bad type but the good bad type, wait, that's not it." After staring at her with his mouth open for a few moments he became stiff, gazed at nowhere and shouted in a most robotic manner. "I FIND YOU VERY ATTRACTIVE!" He maintained his pose, blushing heavily.

"Why are you screaming that, you doofus?!" She whispered while feeling extremely embarrassed. "Make up your mind, you wanna go out with me or not?"

"Okay, okay, geez. Listen, Limestone. I really want to say yes but I just can't. But just so you know it's not because of you. I can't explain it, you're a little aggressive but it's cute, you sound... honest. You've been weirdly kind to me after seeing, well, all that and heck, you're super cute. This might be stupid of me to ask but... can I maybe... take a raincheck on that dinner?"

Limestone was still blushing, glad to hear the compliments but she was a little deflated by Snowfall's answer. "Yeah... sure, I understand..."

"I'm... just really confused right now. Feels like I'm drowning a little, I don't know what to think. You made me more confused but you also made me feel better, I really want to get to know you even if it's just as a friend, but I'm..." Limestone made a gentle smile.

"Drowning. I get it. I'm glad I was right about you, unlike the blonde you turned me down carefully, you worry about other ponies feelings and whatnot. It was nice to meet you, Snowfall. You better not take long on that raincheck, though." Limestone approached Snowfall and kissed his cheek, who froze in place blushing and in shock. "A mare like me never stays single for long." She then turned away and went back towards Sugarcube Corner, blushing heavily and cursing every word of what she had just said.

"Nice to meet you too, Limestone. See you around?" Limestone just waved a hoof without looking back. She felt happy despite her embarrassment. She was going to leave Ponyville in the morning, she could postpone that a little just in case. She blamed herself for getting her hopes high. ("What if he said yes and the date went well, what was I expecting? That'd he'd follow me to the rock farms or ask me to move in with him after one date? It's better this way.") She thought to herself. She also thought about Ditzy. She didn't like Ditzy. She thought she'd made Ditzy a visit before leaving Ponyville.

Chapter 2

In the dusk hours of the day, Limestone found herself in front of a small, two story high house in a calm street in Ponyville. She found this house by first asking a few ponies where a gray coated, blonde, mail mare lived. Two out of the three ponies she asked had no idea who she was talking about until, with an annoyed expression, she said: "The mare with a lazy eye."

"Oh! You mean Derpy!" Either pony said, before pointing her in the right direction.

Limestone knocked on the door. Suddenly she felt nervous and questioned herself. "Wait, what the heck am I doing here?" Before she could fall into desperation and run away, the door opened, but there was no one in sight.

"Hum... Hello?" Limestone quickly looked down at the source of the voice. It came from a little unicorn filly with a gray-ish purple coat and yellow mane, she quickly resembled her of the gray mail mare. "A sister? A daughter?" The thoughts quickly passed through her made as she looked surprised with her mouth slightly opened. She shook her head quickly to regain her composure.

"Hey there, little Filly. I'm looking for the mail mare, she looks quite a lot like you. Does she live here?"

"Oh, that's my mom! Just a sec." The filly walked away slowly. "Mooooom! Somepony's at the door looking for you."

Ditzy's heart skipped a beat. "Oh no, what did I did this time." She thought as she flew out of the kitchen towards the door. "Thanks honey!" She found a pale purple mare with wide eyes staring in confusion. She made a nervous smile and greeted the mare. "Hey there, how can I help you?"

"Umm... I'm Limestone... I'm a... friend! Yes, I'm a friend of Snow-"

"You're Pinkie Pie's Sister!" Ditzy said, her fake smile turning with a legitimate one.

"Yeah. Wait, how did you know that?!"

"Pinkie made sure I knew in detail each of her sisters, so I would deliver their mail correctly, even though your place is not in my route." Ditzy giggled.

"Yeah, that does sound like Pinkie all right." Limestone smiled a little as the levity calmed her nerves down a little.

"Hum... I think it's more because I'm known to... make some inaccurate deliveries sometimes." Ditzy giggled lightly in embarrassment.

"it's not you. Pinkie is just intense like that, trust me, never ask to see her family photos." In a rare moment, Limestone found herself giggling again.

"Thanks, Limestone. That's actually good to hear. But... was there a reason you were looking for me?"

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about this morning. Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all, I was just cleaning some dishes, please come in." Ditzy made way for Limestone to come in. She walked inside and saw the little filly from before in the living room, laid on the ground, holding a pencil using her magic and drawing on a journal happily.

"That little filly, is she your..."

"She's my daughter Dinky. Dinky, come say hello!" The little filly attention shifted to the stranger and she got up and walked towards her. "This is Limestone, she's Pinkie Pie's sister." The filly eyes widened and her mouth opened wide before quickly shifting her expression to a confused one.

"But you look nothing like Pinkie Pie, are you adopted?"

"Dinky!" Her mother shouted, embarrassed by her daughter's words. Her embarrassment didn't last long as Limestone burst in laughter.

"I know, right?! Thank Celestia for that." Limestone laughed some more as Dinky was happily confused and Ditzy giggled nervously. "Ah... That was a good one, but no, we're blood sisters. Nice to meet you, Dinky."

"Okay, Dinky. Why don't you go upstairs and do your homework?"

"I already did it."

"Ok... How about reading a book?"

"I already read all the ones I have and the library is probably closed by now."

"Hmm... How about practicing your magic?" Dinky's eyes widened and glowed.

"CAN I USE THE ALARM CLOCK?! I PROMISE I'LL PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AS IT WAS!"

"Ugh, fine. But if it doesn't work afterwards, the new one is coming out of your allowance, ok?" Dinky sprinted out of the room and went up stairs with a huge smile.

"Bye, Limestone! Nice to meet you!" She then disappeared and a door slam echoed through the house. "Soooorry!" Limestone giggled trying to laugh out loud.

"Sorry about that." Ditzy giggled nervously once more.

"Don't be sorry, she's adorable and full of energy."

"Thanks, she's my little sunshine. So, do you want some tea or... snacks?" Ditzy said making her way into the kitchen, Limestone following behind her.

"Nah, thanks. I'm good." Limestone saw a table with a few chairs. "Mind if I sit down, though?"

"No, of course, please do." Ditzy said as she sat herself across Limestone. "So, what did you want to talk about? Did I make a wrong delivery again?"

"Actually It's about Snowfall and the things you said to him this morning..." Both mares averted their gazes and any levity that was in the air was killed in that moment.

"Oh... Is he your friend or...?"

"Um... Kinda of. Being honest I came here to tear you a new one because of how you spoke to him but I wasn't expecting... well, you being a mother caught me off guard. And.. I might have been a little jealous."

"I see... I don't know what to say but... you're better off without those types. You're a very pretty mare, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding someone better."

"What do you mean by "those types"? Did he do something to you or someone you know?"

"Well, no but I know his kind very well..."

"What do you even mean by that?!"

"..." Ditzy looked sad and words escaped her mind.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout."

"It's okay, it's not that."

"Well... You don't owe me anything so it's okay if you don't wanna talk. But I think you should apologize to Snowfall. A simple "No." would've been enough, you broke his heart pretty hard."

"Ugh... It's probably just an act to make others feel bad for him."

"I'm pretty sure that's not the case."

"How can you be sure? Trust me, males are pretty good liars."

"Well, it's just that after you left a dumb pony tried to make him feel better by insulting you and he got so angry by that he made the stallion piss himself in public for starters."

"That's... He was probably just lashing out his anger on the stranger. Just because he didn't get what he wanted as easily as he thought he would."

"Well, he also rejected me when I asked him out a little after that."

"Oh... Well... That's probably because you're not his type."

"Excuse me?!"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean it like that! You see, you're super confident and beautiful, those types like weak mares with no confidence so that they can take advantage of them."

"Why would he like you then?" Ditzy was dumbfounded by Limestone's question.

"Whah? What? What do you mean?!"

"You tore him a new one, if that's not confidence or strength then I don't know what is. You clearly can take care of yourself and on the beauty scale I'm sure you got me beat."

"Humm... No disrespect but... are you blind?" Ditzy said while pointing a hoof to her slow drifting eye.

"You got a lazy eye, yeah. What's the big deal? Do you see yourself as ugly in the mirror because of it?"

"No! But it is... was a big deal..."

"Was?"

"In the past... I didn't have any confidence because of it. I was constantly made fun of because of it and when a stallion showed interest in me... I was always overjoyed." Ditzy's eyes filled with tears as she looked down to try to hide it. "Only for them to use me and throw me away every time. And every time I thought it was going to be different only to get my heart broken again."

"I'm sorry, Derpy. I didn't think about that." Limestone averted her gaze feeling guilty and dumb for making the gray mare relieve such bad emotions. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! What was I thinking coming here?" She thought.

"It's okay. It was a blessing in disguise. If it weren't for that I wouldn't have had Dinky, she's my everything and I don't need anypony but her. After she was born I promised I would never be taken advantage of again."

"Does her father-"

"He knows, but he's never ever getting near her."

"Don't you think she would want to meet him someday?" Ditzy just pouted with tears in her eyes. "Look, just because a few... many... most stallions are like that, doesn't mean all of them are and it's ok if you don't wanna be with anyone but I still think you owe Snowfall an apology."

"Because he's one of the good guys?" Ditzy spoke in an unusually angry tone almost as if mocking Limestone, who in turn giggled and had an evil grin on her face.

"No, I wouldn't call him "nice", but at least he's honest. Honest enough to know he's not nice and dumb enough to have believed he was the things you said he were." Ditzy opened her mouth to say something but once again words escaped her grasp. "And you don't have to go out with him or anything, just an apology would be enough I think. But I've gotta say, he really seems to like you for some reason, he mentioned something about you feeling sorry for him... Anyway, I'd hate to pass a chance like that. I'm hoping you do because I have no issue with being the bad mare and you would be pushing him straight into my hooves."

"I..." Limestone waited a few seconds for Ditzy to continue, but she didn't. Limestone got up and started walking towards the door. Ditzy quickly got up and followed upon realizing.

"Thanks for having me, Derpy. I'm sorry that you've been through with what you've been through. I loved your little filly so much and as gross as it is to admit it made me feel like having one of my own." She giggled and after a brief moment so did Ditzy.

"It has some hard moments but I can easily say every second of them is worth it. Being a mom is... I can't explain it. I just feel like it's the best thing in the world." Ditzy giggled a little more while Limestone smiled.

"Well, I should be going. I would love to be your friend, Derpy, but I think until further notice we're rivals." Ditzy giggled again.

"I don't think I can win this fight against you."

"Hum... The gorgeous and sweet blonde mare, with honey golden eyes and the guy already likes her or the aggressive, rough voiced, butch mare, who lives on a rock farm? I don't like my chances." Ditzy laughed.

"What are you talking about? Your voice is a little raspy, sure, but I think it's charming. Not to mention you're super pretty and you have super pretty bright lime eyes!"

"Woah there sister!" Limestone gave a little shoulder push on Ditzy. "If you're interested, that's fine, but don't cut the line!" Both mares laughed out loud in unison for a good while. "It was nice meeting you, Derpy."

"Same here, Limestone. Sorry I was so rough on your friend, I guess I really could’ve just said no. I'll go to his place tomorrow and apologize. I guess I was somewhat of a meanie wasn't I?" Ditzy had her nervous smile on once again.

"You were, but it's okay, everyone makes mistakes. If Snowflake says something mean to you, let me know, I'll break him in half. Tell Dinky I said bye. Hopefully we'll see each other around." Ditzy laughed a little more.

"Thanks, Limestone. Will do!" Limestone was halfway through the door while she stopped and stood still. Ditzy was confused. Limestone turned around and looked at her.

"Just out of curiosity, how many stallions have you rejected like that?"

Ditzy smiled nervously with several sweat drops running down her face.

Chapter 3

It was a Sunday morning. Dinky was out playing with her friends, so Ditzy made her way to Snowfall's. Ditzy took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a couple of seconds she heard a voice shouting, "Coming!", after a few seconds the white stallion opened the door and was shocked to see who knocked. He snapped out of his shocked state but was still left a little woozy from the surprise. "Ditzy! Uh... Hey... Mail delivery?"

"No, no. No mail on sundays, right?" Ditzy told him with a little forced smile before averting her gaze to the ground and slowly brushing her left leg with her right hoof.

"Oh yeah, right. I forgot it was sunday for a second. So... what's up?" Snowfall had spent the last day almost entirely thinking about how angry he was at Dinky, the fact that another mare asked him out even inflated his ego, further feeding reasons for him to be angry at her. Usually he'd be quickly to blame himself, but this time he barely did anything wrong if anything at all, well, at least not to Dinky, he did make a Grown Stallion wet himself in public, and Limestone was proof of that. But still when face to face with her his anger seemed to dissipate at once, the mare that he supposedly knew and the one that screamed at him seemed completely different. And being a male he couldn't help but get lost in the beauty of the filly in his doorstep, even further lowering his guard.

"It's about yesterday, do you mind if I come in for a couple of minutes?" Snowfall knew the sheer destructive power this mare had either on accident and now on purpose, how could she make herself so adorable doing the most mundane things in one moment and bulldozing through his heart in another? At least he knew, or rather hoped that she wasn't there for more bulldozing, judging by her body language and tone.

"Uh... Sure, come in." Snowfall cleared the passage for Ditzy and she went inside to his living room. She found it very tidy, but lacking décor, charm and color. There were no pictures, paintings, plants, ornaments, just plain furniture and a few books on a single shelf, the books didn't even fill the entire shelf, some were stacked on top of each other and others leaned on the stacks. Snowfall closed the door behind her as she studied his living room. "Make yourself at home, can I get you some water or tea?" He was going to offer more, but he remembered what happened the last time he was about to offer her something a little out of the ordinary, so he decided to stop at the ordinary.

"No, it's fine. I don't want to take much of your time. I just came to... apologize for how I acted yesterday." Snowfall's eyes went wide for a second once more, he was getting a straight out apology? "Your friend came by yesterday and we talked for a while, it was-"

"Wait, my friend?"

"Yeah, Limestone."

"Oh, her, uh... I suppose we are somewhat friends, I guess. Wait, she went to your house?!"

"She did, she wasn't happy about the way I treated you and she talked some sense into me."

"I had no idea. I guess she did feel really bad for me yesterday, a lot more than I thought if she went to the house because of it. I didn't think there would be a day where a mare I barely knew, would’ve stood up for me." Snowfall gave an honest laugh at the news.

"Barely knew? She said you were friends." Ditzy's mood quickly started to change as her previous bashfulness started to turn into a serious expression. Snowfall took notice and was quickly to try to remedy the situation.

"We sorta are, but we only met yesterday after you left Sugarcube Corner. We talked for a bit then and uh... sorted a few things out."

"Oh... Wait, she asked you the same day you've met her?!?"

"H-How do you know about that?!" Snowfall's white cheeks shone red as he blushed heavily.

"She told me so, scumbag! You're aren't friends at all, she just has a crush on you!"

"Scumbag?! Why Am I-" Snowfall's anger came back as suddenly as it had left earlier. For a moment he had a devilish scowl on his face, but he quickly took a deep breath and held a neutral expression, he moved to take a seat on his couch as he continued his retort in a calm manner but with a stern tone. "As of now, Ditzy, she is a better friend to me that you ever were." While he sat on his couch, he kept his gaze still, away from Ditzy's direction. "And maybe she forgot to mention, I turned her down yesterday because the mare I like turned out to be a crazy brute and stomped my heart to the ground. Props to you by the way, on picking up I liked you, I thought I was being smooth, but then again I don't think I was ever smooth in my entire life. By Celestia, I shouldn't have turned Limestone down yesterday, if I didn't, she wouldn't have gone to your house yesterday and all three of us would probably be having a better morning. If that's all you had to say you can leave and be at peace, I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

It had been a few years since Ditzy had received such a cold shoulder. She broke a lot of stuff and made a lot of ponies angry on a weekly basis, but even the ones that got angry at her didn't make her feel like a villain. She broke stuff on accident, they understood that, she went along with "Derpy", because she felt it as other ponies at least understood she didn't break things on purpose, she wasn't a bad pony. But this wasn't Derpy, the loving klutz with a drifting eye, this was Ditzy Doo, the mare. No depth perception or daydreaming excuses this time, no hard wind throwing her off balance, no distraction in sight. She always felt bad when she broke things on accident, she had no idea breaking something on purpose would be so much worse. The feeling consumed her as she struggled to talk.

"I... I didn't mean to say that, I'm so sorry. Limestone was very kind to me yesterday I don't know why I got mad, I'm so sorry." Ditzy's sat on the floor as her eyes were tearing up and she started to struggle to wipe the tears away with the back of her hooves. Snowfall gazed at her and felt a little bad, but his anger didn't let up, he opened his mouth but was unable to talk. "I came here to say I was sorry for the way I treated you yesterday, I had no reason to distrust you and even then I could've just said no. I said horrible things, I'm sorry." Ditzy look at the floor as stream of tears fell down from her eyes, she covered them with with her hooves as she sobbed.

For a brief moment when she was again trying to wipe out the tears, she spotted a cloth near her face. She focused on it and saw the Stallion offering her a towel as he looked away. She carefully took the towel from his hoof, wiped her tears from her face and thanked him in a low voice, still gazing down. "You weren't all wrong." The stallion said in a sad tone.

"Huh?"

"Yesterday you called me rotten. You weren't wrong. You did have a reason not to trust me, you just didn't know it. Maybe you felt it. That's why it hurt much more than it should've, you were right, I knew you were."

"What... Why would you be rotten, you always been terribly kind to me, even now when-"

"I'm a criminal."

"What?!?" Ditzy fell backwards in surprise.

"The reason why I moved to Ponyville, it's because pretty much every pony there hates my guts. I never wanted it to be like that but one thing led to another, suddenly my life was in danger and next thing I knew I arrived here on a rainy day. I was crushed, lost and sad. Suddenly a mare approached me and asked me if I was alright, if I needed any help, I dismissed her and before she left she gave me a muffin. I wasn't able to see her face, I only saw her gray colt and heard her kind voice. I tried to get my act together and I realized that mare was at my door delivering my mail." Ditzy got up and beckoned away from the Stallion slowly.

"What did you do in Canterlot?" Ditzy was sure he was about to show his real form, a changeling. But he didn't, he simply kept talking.

"I was a blank flank for a long time, the ponies who didn't make fun of me, pretended I didn't exist. Except bad ponies in the Canterlot mafia, doesn't matter to them if you don't have a cutie mark or a leg, any extra hooves that they could use hate to control was good for them. I fit the bill perfectly. And to make things worse, I got my cutie mark when I was helping them with their finances." Derpy looked at his cutie mark for a second and then back at him.

"I thought... You were good at math."

"I'm okay at it, I'm great with money. So much so, I developed way more efficient ways to launder the money they extorted from other ponies, way better ways to hide their frauds, I tripled their profit. I went from a zero to hero, well, zero to villain."

"Why did you leave then?" Ditzy was still a little afraid of him but her anger was bulking up once more, he was a scumbag after all.

"I had to. Because of me, the Canterlot Court wasn't able to convict anypony on there. I made sure there were no traces, no evidences and the other guys made sure... There were not witnesses." Ditzy's eyes went wide as she stared at the stallion and kept slowly beckoning away towards the door. "Everypony knew who the blank flank turned mastermind was... Nopony knew who Snowfall was. They didn't knew how scared I was, they didn't care when I asked for help, they didn't mind that I could barely eat after seeing how they kept a pony's mouth shut just in case it knew something. To them I'll always be White Lines, the mobster, and now I honestly couldn't care less what those pricks in Canterlot think of me, they deserve pretty much every bad thing that's coming to them. But I'm not White Lines, I'm Snowfall Bliss. So I told them I was leaving, usually nopony gets to leave alive, but I made sure that If I gone down, they would all go down with me or worst. I was White Lines for the last time, so they'd remember what I was capable of."

Ditzy stood still, she was confused. She was no criminal but she related with Snowfall, she even came to think what would happen if she were born in Canterlot and not Ponyville, would've she gone the same path? Her thoughts were broken by stallion, talking once more.

"I wanted to come to Ponyville when I was still a blank flank, but I had no money and nopony wanted to employ a blank flank no matter how hard I promised to work. When I was able to come to Ponyville, I was lost, I didn't think there was redemption for me no matter what I did, even if I somehow found happiness I wouldn't deserve it. Until a mare in the rain gave me a muffin." After a few seconds of silence, Ditzy was able to talk.

"I... I-"

"Was right. I'm rotten... I'll always be."

"No, you're not."

"Pity now won't do much. You don't need to feel bad, Ditzy. I don't."

"I'm not and you're lying. If you didn't feel bad about being bad you'd still be in Canterlot and you wouldn't mind being rotten." Snowfall looked at her for the first time since her outburst, a little surprised by the mare's words.

"I... I-"

"Have a lot to atone for probably, but you're not rotten. You are trying to be better and you should keep trying, and you should do the right thing and turn yourself in."

"Ditzy, they'd kill me the first chance they get, inside or outside the prison, it wouldn't matter. And even if I hadn't prevented many convictions, they'd always find more stupid ponies like me to do their work for them. The Canterlot Elite that pretended I didn't exist, in the end, were literally the same ponies who run the organized crime and a few of them even worked on the Canterlot Court. I'm aware of my part in their crimes but I don't think I deserve the death penalty for it."

"Well... Don't they have... The protection of witnesses thing or something?"

"It's a gamble. Even if I manage to talk to Celestia herself before someone saw me in Canterlot, my new identity and location was going to be written somewhere, and it wouldn't be a stretch of imagination to think someone from the mafia would have access to it and an 'accident' killed me a couple of months after. The truth is, they only let me go because the boss liked me. I don't have evidence to put a fourth of them in jail and even if I did, it would matter. I'm a rotten fruit, Canterlot is a rotten tree."

"Well... You can't just commit crimes and get away with it, you have to atone for it somehow!"

"In Canterlot you can, depending on who you are. And I'm trying to atone for what I did... Every way I’m able to. Working for free, cleaning up the streets, helping ponies in need, heck, I even go play with sick foals in the hospital when I can, and hospitals really gross me out."

"A real Equestrian Hero..."

"I- I didn't say that, I said I'm trying to atone for what I did however I can."

"Yeah, sorry. I guess in your position there's not much you can do besides that, if Canterlot is as bad as you say at least and you're not just chickening out." After hearing this, Snowfall had an unamused look on his face. He moved to a table near the kitchen entrance, got an envelope and went to Ditzy. She recognized the package, it was the one she had given him yesterday.

"Yesterday, before you... uh... Spoke your mind about me, I was going to-"

"Ask me out on a date to see the Wonderbolts with you, I remember, sorry but the answer is still no. Not because you're rotten, I'm actually sorry for calling you that, but because I barely know you and you just told me you used to be a dangerous gangster."

"First of all, I never said I was a dangerous gangster, I was the financial chief for a criminal organization for a while, I was the money nerd to them, second of all, how could I ask you out on date to see the Wonderbolts, in Canterlot?"

"Uh... With a disguise?" Ditzy smirked with a blush.

"I wasn't going to ask you out, I was going to give you the tickets so you could take Ditzy."

"Well... It makes sense now but yesterday... Nevermind."

"Don't worry, I wasn't trying to buy you out like you said but I was trying to make you think I was cool, and kind or whatever. I was eventually going to ask you out if things went how I planned. But it's fine, I did what I did so in your place I wouldn't want to be with me either. But please take the tickets, I have no use for them and you and Dinky can have a fun day in Canterlot." Ditzy reluctantly took the tickets from Snowfall with a smile.

"Thanks, Snowfall. The truth is, I'm very defensive in the love department because like you, I was taken advantage of for things outside my control and my own naiveté, that's why I lashed out at you yesterday. I thought I was over it but I clearly wasn't, and Limestone had to point out to me how clear it was that I wasn't. I'm sure Dinky will love the gift." Ditzy went towards the door and opened it, preparing to leave.

"I hope you both do. I guess I'll see you around?"

"Why did you tell me all that?"

"Huh?"

"About your life, about Canterlot."

"I... am not sure, actually. I guess... I rather you hate me than to see you crying for me?" Snowfall blushed as he made a cheeky smile.

"You could've lied and taken advantage of me."

"I guess I could, huh?"

"But you didn't, you outed yourself completely and if you didn't I would've had no idea."

"Well, I suppose so. But I think I would eventually tell you about it if we ever got serious and all."

"I could use an honest stallion in my life I think, even if he has somewhat of a dark past." Snowfall blushed heavily as his mouth was faster than his brain for a moment.

"I also made a guy wet himself in fear yesterday!" Ditzy laughed at the embarrassed and tensed up stallion.

"Yeah, Limestone may have mentioned it yesterday."

"Jeez, I guess the only thing she didn't tell you is that used to be a dangerous gangster. Which by the way, you're the only pony in town who knows, if you could maybe keep it a secret until you find a way to fix things that'd be swell." Ditzy kept smiling, she was happy that Snowfall hadn't told Limestone about his life for some reason she couldn't quite figure out but it didn't matter, because for the first time she felt real confidence. She felt okay with a stallion fawning over her again.

"No problem, money Nerd. Next time you talk to me and maybe ask me on a date, I'll try not to snap at you. I might even say yes." Snowfall couldn't help but to blush and avert his gaze. Ditzy walked outside but before she could take off, Snowfall called for her.

"Hey, Ditzy!" She turned her head to look at him. "I always wanted to tell you this so I guess I'll do it now... You're beautiful, and so are your amazing golden amber eyes!"

"I know." Ditzy answered with a kind smile before taking off.

Author's Note

I might write a sequel with a Ditzy route and one with a Limestone route. Time will tell.