Chapters Chapter 1: Pinkie Pie and Trampolines
Derpy Hooves hummed a tune as she flew, one hoof resting against the fluffy white cloud in front of her. They grey pegasus was not known for her singing voice, but Derpy honestly couldn't care less what other ponies thought. She was used to their puzzled, perhaps even disgusted, stares.
Contrary to most ponies' beliefs, Derpy was not oblivious. She was not stupid. In fact, she was remarkably intelligent: an imaginative and creative pony, the only reason she appeared dumb was because her head was always in the clouds - sometimes literally. She liked to muse. She was always thinking up some new adventure. Derpy was, overall, a pleasant pony.
Derpy shook her head. She had drifted into one of her trances again. Blinking her golden eyes, she once again focussed on the task at hand: clearing the sky. That way, Rainbow Dash and the others can take a break! I know how much Dashie loves her breaks!
Humming once again, Derpy continued to push the cloud. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going to put it, though; perhaps she would fly to Cloudsdale and donate? Or perhaps she could give it to Rainbow Dash for a nap. I wonder how much time Rainbow spends napping on her breaks? Probably most of them! She gave a little giggle, earning an inquisitive look from Raindrops, who was working nearby. “You okay, Derpy?” the jasmine mare asked, her face quizzical.
“Oh, yes. I was just wondering how long Rainbow Dash naps for!” she giggled again.
“I see.” Raindrops smiled and flew away with a small, wispy cloud.
A sudden collision brought her to an abrupt halt. Frowning, Derpy pushed harder, wondering if there could be another cloud blocking her way. Unable to straighten her eyes due to frustration, Derpy gritted her teeth and pushed as hard as she could.
She only realised that whatever was in the way was not a cloud when her eyes straightened and a rainbow mane appeared through the fluffy steam, followed by a mare’s face that looked strangely like Dashie’s. But it can’t be Rainbow! Derpy thought, lifting a hoof to her mouth as one eye strayed to the ground once more. Confused, she tried hard to make sense. Rainbow is cyan. This mare is... red.
Whoever this mare was, she was shouting. Shouting at Derpy. Shaking the tufts of cloud out of her ears, Derpy listened.
“IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA, WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID AND INCONSIDERATE?!” Rainbow Dash screamed.
This mare was Dashie.
Dashie had just called her inconsiderate. Inconsiderate! Derpy could handle moronic, idiotic and even retarded, but ‘inconsiderate’ cut right through to her core. She stared at Dashie for a moment, then at Ponyville far below. The grey Pegasus took one tear-filled glance at her cyan ‘friend’ before speeding away, her streaming eyes shut tight. She dove into a blind descent, passionate sobs shuddering through her body.
“Derpy? Are you okay?”
Derpy groaned and opened her eyes. They focussed on the pink pony standing over her: Derpy’s old friend, Pinkie Pie.
“I’m fine.” Her eye instantly wandered as soon as she was aware who she was with. She was lying on a settee, a plump pillow behind her head and a light blanket over her body.
“You were diving! It was incredible!” Pinkie squeaked with a little bounce. But then her features creased and her eyes took on a sudden look of concern. “But you must have blacked out midair, because you didn’t pick up and start flying again or anything. You nearly crashed. I had my trampoline, though, so you just bounced against that... Does anything hurt?” She cocked her head.
Derpy shrugged. “Not really,” she said, flexing her wings.
“What happened?” Pinkie asked, taking a plate of blueberry muffins from Mrs Cake, who had appeared at the door, and balancing them on her nose.
Derpy stiffened. “Rainbow...”
“Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked, flipping a muffin to Derpy. The grey pegasus caught it, nodded and took a bite, chewing slowly as she tried to recall the day’s events.
Her chewing slowed. Her eyes widened and she dropped the muffin.
“Derpy? Don’t you like Mrs Cake’s muffins?” Pinkie Pie enquired, knowing that Derpy loved all muffins. It would take a truly vile cake to turn Derpy away.
Tears welled up in Derpy’s eyes. “Dashie... She yelled at me. She... She...”
Unable to hold it back any longer, Derpy Hooves’ tears spilled forth. Sobbing into the blanket, she pulled it over her head and writhed.
“Oh, Derpy, Derpy!” Pinkie wailed. “Don’t cry! Tears are contagious!” She wiped a fat drop of saltwater away from her own eye with a hoof. “Did Rainbow upset you?”
Her head appearing from under the blanket, Derpy nodded, gasping for air.
“That’s it, Derpy. Deep breaths, you’ll be fine.” Pinkie sat down on the floor, one hoof stroking her friend’s yellow mane.
Derpy wept for what seemed like days. All this time, Pinkie was desperately worried about Derpy, and a rare fury was building in her chest, tying her heart into a knot and tightening it with every tear her friend shed.
“I’m sorry,” Derpy Hooves sniffled through sobs.
“Cry all you need to. I’m here for you,” Pinkie Pie assured her.
Derpy shifted her forelegs and propped herself up. Wiping her snotty muzzle on a hoof she stared at Pinkie Pie, her eyes puffy and sore.
“Thank you, Pinkie... but...” she sniffed. “I have to get back to my job.” She wiggled around underneath the blanket and tried to find her hoofing, but Pinkie placed her hoof on her friend’s and gave her a determined look. “What did Dashie say to you?” she asked firmly.
Derpy shook her head and took the remains of her muffin between her teeth. “Thnmks,” she mumbled around the cakey goodness.
Pinkie Pie stood up and tried to follow her grey friend, but Derpy folded her wings sharply. Taking the hint, Pinkie plonked herself down on the floor. Her mane deflated as watched the pegasus go, tears welling in her big blue eyes.
Chapter 2: Angel and Frogs
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.
Crash.
Derpy’s third collision of the day brought her cheerful, heartened flight to an abrupt, undesired halt. The bluish mare lifted her head from the straw with a rustle, shaking the dry stalks out of her blonde hair. She was greeted by a pair of rather astonished farm ponies, busy with the harvesting of Applebuck Season.
The first to respond was the rusty red stallion, Big Macintosh. He leaned down and helped the dazed pegasus out of the haystack.
“Y’alright, sugarcube?”
The familiar voice was unmistakable, but Derpy still felt the need to affirm her assumption.
“Applejack?” she asked, straightening her eyes.
“It’s me,” came the response.
Derpy blinked a few times, adjusting her eyesight. A warm yellow-orange mare stood over her; Derpy’s soft amber-yellow eyes met with bright, friendly green ones.
“Oh, Celestia – did I crash again?” She held a hoof to her head and sighed.
“Looks like it,” Applejack pushed Derpy’s shoulder gently with a hoof. “You look a li’l disoriented. You ‘kay?”
“I’m fine,” Derpy responded with a nod. She glanced at Big Macintosh; he was staring at her rather unnervingly.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Applejack decided, nudging Derpy towards the barn entrance and leading her through, her warm orange shoulder leaning against Derpy’s grey one, providing support and reassurance for the somewhat confused pegasus.
“Alright, we have to get that hay out of your hair,” Applejack announced as they entered the Apple family’s house. Big Macintosh wandered in after them and blinked slowly as Applejack trotted upstairs to her room. Derpy inadvertently found herself staring at Granny Smith, who was asleep in her rocking chair, mumbling incoherently.
“Um,” Derpy murmured. Her head nodded slightly as her eye strayed, and she grit her teeth.
“I’m back!” Applejack called from the landing, a hairbrush between her teeth. Derpy shook her head, sending hay flying everywhere. AJ just rolled her eyes and began to brush Derpy’s yellow-blonde mane, ridding it of dust and stalks of hay.
“I’m okay, I can do it myself,” Derpy mumbled.
“No, no, sugarcube,” Applejack said firmly. “You’re still a little dazed. Leave it to me.”
Derpy stuck out her lower lip and plonked her rump on the floor.
“Don’t pout,” AJ scolded, but there was a trace of laughter in her vibrant green eyes. The ditzy pegasus stared at the wall and sneezed, drawing a snort of laughter from Applejack.
“Your mane will need a wash,” the orange earth pony informed Derpy seriously, “but it’s not very noticeable now.” She grinned.
“Um, okay, thank you!” Derpy squeaked happily, springing to her hooves and nearly backing straight into Big Macintosh. He stepped back without a word as Derpy apologised, a light blush painted across her cheeks.
“Now just you wait one second, Derpy. What made you crash like that?” Applejack questioned.
“Oh, er, I guess I was just distracted –”
“Is something wrong? You don’t often fly low at all,” Applejack pressed. Her warm gaze suddenly seemed a lot more hostile; it felt as though she was reading Derpy, trying to find out whatever the problem was.
“No, really, I...” Derpy paused. I told Fluttershy, and her reply made me feel nice. I’m not feeling so great after that crash, so maybe if I tell Applejack... She took a deep breath. “Rainbow Dash yelled at me,” she blurted out quickly, squeezing her eyes shut.
Applejack was silent for a moment. “What did she say?” she asked finally.
“Apparently, I’m stupid and... inconsiderate.” Derpy winced.
“Inconsiderate?” Applejack echoed, staring into space for a few seconds before stamping a hoof. “Well, in Celestia’s name you are far from inconsiderate!” She sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “I’ll talk to her, okay, sugarcube?”
“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that!” Derpy squealed, her hooves covering her mouth. “I don’t want to hurt Rainbow!”
“Don’t worry about it, Derpy. It’s about time that goshdarn filly thought about what comes out of her mouth.” Applejack’s eyes opened in a flash of determined green. She took off her hat, saluted with it in her hoof and shoved it back on her head, pushing past Big Macintosh and trotting off down the path.
Derpy blinked, watching her go with a confused expression upon her face. “I haven’t seen her like that before. Have you?” she asked, the question directed at Big Mac.
“Eeyup.”
“Applejack!” Derpy called desperately, avoiding apple trees by mere centimetres as she flew dangerously fast through Sweetapple Acres. “Applejack, wait!”
“What is it?” Applejack sounded irritated as Derpy finally caught up to her, managing to fly straight along the path and focus on the orange mare beside her.
“Please, don’t talk to Dashie yet!” she begged, veering off to one side suddenly and nearly grazing her flank on the rough bark of a nearby tree.
“Why in the heavens not?” Applejack demanded fiercely.
“Please, AJ, I just need to talk to some others first,” Derpy pleaded.
Applejack came to a sudden halt – Derpy swore she heard her orange hooves skid. The pegasus yelped as she flipped over in the air in an attempt to stop alongside her and landed on her back, sliding a small distance away from the stubborn earth pony.
“I’m coming with you,” she informed Derpy, trotting along the path at a much more controlled pace.
“Um, okay,” Derpy agreed, rolling over and getting to her hooves. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Derpy shook out a foreleg, upsetting the dust that clung to her coat and sending it skyward in an almost amusing cloud. She giggled, pausing to watch it float towards the clouds – and then, with a sudden realisation, she lowered her head and began walking again. Rainbow’s up there somewhere.
“Keep up,” Applejack called from ahead. Derpy fluttered her wings a little, more or less making up the distance between them. The dirt country path made way to Ponyville’s typical roads, and Derpy tilted her head as she looked down a side road.
“Hey, isn’t that Rarity’s place?” she remarked, just as Applejack reached the turning. The earth pony nodded, waltzed down the street and pounded on a certain white unicorn’s door.
