Inconsiderate

Derpy walked shakily out of the bakery, avoiding eye contact – which was hard for her anyway – with other ponies. Her head was pounding – she had taken more damage than she liked to admit – and it hurt when she looked at the sky. She had to see... Nope, Rainbow Dash wasn’t around. She’s probably at home, Derpy thought bitterly. I wonder if she’s realised what she’s done yet. Lowering her head to the ground and letting out a huge sigh, she crouched and straightened, flapped her wings a few times, preparing to fly. Closing her eyes, she gritted her teeth and, with a huge flap of her wings, she took off. Her wings quivered. She opened her eyes. Spying a cloud, she headed for it, tucking her legs to her belly and trying her best to ignore her headache. With a powerful thrust of her wings, she covered a surprisingly large amount of the distance between her and the cloud when suddenly she collided with something yellow... no, green... pink?

“Fluttershy!” Derpy gasped. “I’m so sorry!” Her eyes unfocussed as the gentle yellow pegasus went spinning across the sky, tipping the contents of a basket all over Derpy.

Frogs landed all over the grey pegasus, and the new excessive weight caused Derpy to plummet to the ground at a manic speed. Her wings failed her; they simply caused her to zigzag haphazardly. She threw her head upwards to look desperately at Fluttershy, who was treading air with her hooves over her mouth, watching uselessly as her frog-covered friend fell to the ground. Suddenly, she blinked, removed her hooves from her mouth and whistled.

Angel appeared almost instantly with a huge net. He adopted a smug look as Derpy and frogs fell into it, bouncing slightly. Derpy’s eyes focussed. “What?”

Angel’s smug look disintegrated, to be replaced by a frustrated one. He pointed to himself, then at the net, then at himself again.

“Oh. Thanks a lot, Angel.” Derpy’s eyes strayed again. A lot of things seemed to be appearing out of nowhere today.

Fluttershy swooped down and scooped Angel into a hug. “Thank you so much! Who’s a good bunny?”

Angel rolled his eyes and returned the embrace.

Derpy stood up and climbed out of the net. “Do you have the basket, Fluttershy?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s over there.” The pale yellow mare released Angel and pointed. Following the direction, Derpy suddenly realised she’d dropped her muffin at some point. She made a face and picked up the basket. I’ll get another one some other time, she thought.

“Come on, froggies!” Fluttershy called softly, carefully urging the green amphibians back into the basket with her nose and wings. Once they were all in, the gentle mare turned to Derpy and lowered her head. “If you don’t mind me saying so, Derpy, you seem rather... distracted...” she closed her eyes tightly.

“Oh.” Derpy sighed. “Yes, I suppose...” Her eye wandered to the ground.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, opening her eyes and lifting her head slightly.

Derpy sat down heavily. “I... I didn’t tell Pinkie Pie...”

“You can tell me,” Fluttershy assured her. “If you want to,” she added hastily.

Derpy took a deep breath. “Rainbow Dash shouted at me.” She shut her eyes.

“Oh, my!” Fluttershy squeaked. “I know she can be... headstrong, but... Wh- what did she say?”

Derpy was silent for a moment. “Can we speak someplace else?”

“Of course.” The lemon-coloured mare nodded. “How about my cottage?” she suggested. “If that’s alright.”

“Um, yes. It’s this way, right?” Derpy asked, wandering off towards the path.

“Uhh, Derpy, no, it’s... the other way... I mean you were right, you can, um, get to it from the path...”

“There’s no need to pretend I was right,” Derpy smiled. “I’m used to it.”

Seeming reassured, Fluttershy took the lead and followed the path to her home.

Regaining her usual shy demeanour once they entered the cottage, Fluttershy let her candy floss hair fall back into her face. “If... if you don't mind me saying so, Derpy, you must have been pretty distracted because... Well, I wasn't flying fast at all, and I was being really careful and... Eep!”

Fluttershy squeaked, her hooves flying towards her mouth. “Oh! I'm... I’m so sorry! I'm such a loudmouth...!”

Derpy sighed, her eyes watering as she thought back to the incident. “It’s okay, Fluttershy. I'm not myself today.” The blue-grey mare shifted on her fellow pegasus’ couch, letting out a squeal of alarm as she knocked a lamp off the side table.

“Oh, it’s okay.” Fluttershy gave a nervous smile. “It’s a very sturdy lamp.”

“That’s good.” Derpy gave a weak smile. She shook her head slightly. “Rainbow Dash...”

Fluttershy waited patiently.

“She called me... inconsiderate.” Derpy brought her hooves to her face. “It sounds so silly now, but it really hurt...”

Derpy’s timid friend let out a quiet gasp. “Rainbow called you inconsiderate?” She shook her head. “Dashie...”

The grey pegasus battled hard against tears. She was not going to succumb again, like she had in Sugarcube Corner. She would not put that pressure on her friend.

“Well, Rainbow can’t call you that!” Fluttershy exclaimed, standing up suddenly and stamping a hoof against the floor. “You’ve never been inconsiderate in your life! You spend every moment of every day trying to be nice and helpful to other ponies! You’re the least selfish and most considerate pony I know!”

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

“Oh...” Fluttershy shrank back with a squeak as she processed her outburst, hiding behind her mane. “I’m sorry. I’m being a loudmouth again...”

“No, that was really nice.” Derpy smiled. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”

The shy mare straightened. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, good.”

Derpy flexed her wings, knocking the lamp off the side table again. This time, however, she caught it and flipped it back up with her hind leg. She blinked in surprise. “That’s the most graceful thing I’ve ever done.”

“I’m sure you’ve done things like that before...” Fluttershy attempted.

Derpy tilted her head. “Well, I’ll be going now, Fluttershy. See you around.” She headed for the door.

“Bye, Derpy!” Fluttershy called as her blue-grey friend flew away upside down.