Fear and Doubt Clip Wings

NOTE FROM AUTHOR: OH MY GOD, sorry it's taken so long to get another chapter out for you guys! UGH, my internet's been down and I finally got it back up. Anyway, over the time period its been down I've had time to brainstorm about how I should go about introducing that character I mentioned last time! Anyway, here we go. :D
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Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye as she and her friends finished laughing. Their Sunday brunch was turning out well and just as funny as usual. Rainbow Dash's eyes were wet from laughing so hard at something she'd seen another pony in the restaurant do, and making fun of them had made her friends laugh until they were sobbing and their stomachs hurt.

"Like, what the hell is she on?" Rainbow's voice cracked as she leaned back in her chair. A snort erupted from Pinkie Pie as she tried to hold back her laughter.

Rarity was laughing too, but she looked uncomfortable. "Rainbow, you shouldn't make fun of her." She glanced over her shoulder at the grey Pegasus pony they'd been watching. "There's something wrong with her, we shouldn't be laughing."

Rainbow sniffed and she sat back up. "Yeah, I guess. But hey, her eyes were wide open and she ran into the salad bar, surely that's not something you can just watch and not get a kick out of, right?"

Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Its okay to find it humorous, but not to the level of trying to make Pinkie Pie wet herself." The Unicorn's gaze shot to the pink Earth Pony, who was near tears again.

While the two argued, Fluttershy was contemplating about how she would tell her friends about what she and Mac did. As far as she knew, she was the second to the last one to lose her virginity, next to Twilight. She picked up her water and sipped it as she thought. Perhaps she should just say it, just let it out. "So, on Thursday, Mac and I..." No. How about, "You know how you girls have been asking questions about when Mac and I..." No.. Sighing inwardly, she made up her mind. She'd just get out into the open. She cleared her throat loudly as she set her water back down. The other five mares stopped chatting to look at her. Rarity gave her an encouraging nod. "What is it, dear?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Well, you girls know that picnic that Mac and I went on a few days ago?"

The ponies nodded. "Well... After a couple of glasses of wine, we uh..." her voice trailed off, and she felt her cheeks get warm.

Pinkie tilted her head. "Youuuu?" she stretched out the word.

"We ha- had..." she stammered. She squeaked as she was faced with five pairs of curious eyes.

Suddenly Rarity's dark blue gaze seemed to clear as she began to put the pieces together. "Oh. OHHH!" her voice raised an octave and giggled happily. "Fluttershy, darling! You mean..." she lowered her voice when she noticed others staring at her. "...sex?" She squealed again when her friend nodded.

Twilight's purple eyes were awe-struck, Pinkie's eyes had gained a mischievous glint.

Rainbow's gaze was softer, however. "And? Did you like it?"

Fluttershy giggled. "Y-yes. He was so sweet, and romantic. It was... nice."

Applejack sat up. "My brother? Sweet and romantic? Psh, not from what Ah heard from the farm."

Fluttershy felt a cold sweat break on her forehead. "Y-you.. You heard us?!" she whispered.

While the other five ponies looked at the farmer in shock, Applejack nodded. "Well, I heard one 'a ya. Some squealing, and Ah ain't never heard my borther squeal."

Fluttershy's cheeks flushed and she sat back, hiding as best she could behind her long mane. "Oh my."

Rainbow scoffed. "So what? It's nothing to be ashamed about. You cashed in your v-card and you made a bit of noise. No biggie. Hell, I'm surprised you had the courage to do it, Flutters."

"Excuse me?" Fluttershy jumped at a deep voice from behind her. She was faced with hazel eyes that were... crossed? Lazy? Oh shit, shit shit! It was the mare she and her friends had been laughing at! She felt her cheeks grow hot and she heard Rainbow suck in air from behind her.

"Um... hello." Fluttershy stammered.

"Are you Fluttershy?" the grey Pegasus asked.

Is she talking to me? Her eyes keep moving around, I can't tell... "Um, yes."

"My name is Derpy Hooves." She said, and she didn't flinch when Twilight began coughing beside her. She let her focus fall from Derpy as she looked at her friend. Pinkie was hitting her on the back. A small teacup was wrapped in a pink aurora as the lavender Unicorn levitated it. When she was done, she cleared her throat and blushed as she looked at Fluttershy and mouthed the word "Sorry".

Turning her attention back to the stranger, she saw that the mare was trying her best to look directly at her. "You may find this hard to believe, but your mother, Fallenfeather... She saved me."

Fluttershy sat across from Derpy with a cup of tea between her hooves on the patio of the restaurant. "So, tell me again how my mother... saved you?"

Derpy nodded and set down her own cup. "Yes, you see, when I was a baby I had this... rare Pegasus disease."

Fluttershy nodded in understanding. "What was it?"

Derpy shook her head, her pale yellow mane swishing with it. "It has no name, that's how rare it is. It develops inside the womb, and unfortunately I was one of the few Pegasi in the history of Equestria to contract it." The mare scoffed. "Figures. Anyway, its results were few. Heart failure, one kidney, and well," she gestured to her eyes with a hoof.

"A couple days after I was born, the doctors had told my parents that there were no available hearts for me, none healthy enough, anyway. About a month later, I was living on a ventilator, eating out of a tube. My parents were about to pull the plug when we got some news. A Pegasus by the name of Fallenfeather had just died, and while the rest of her insides had been sliced into oblvion, her heart was still intact." Fluttershy lifted her head when she heard her mother's name.

Derpy smiled. "I had the surgery a few days later. My disease wore off, but my eyes were left the way they were, they just couldn't be fixed. Not that I mind, I see fine. Well, what I think is fine. When I ran into the salad bar today, I was so humiliated. I used to get teased a lot in school because of my eyes. Ponies would call me 'retard'. My IQ is at 160, I don't think that means I'm retarded. I just can't see right is all."

Fluttershy frowned. "Can you focus them at all?"

Derpy nodded. "Sometimes they just focus on their own, and for a brief moment I feel normal," she smiled a small, sad smile. "Like nothing is wrong with me, ya know?"

Fluttershy could feel her eyes tearing up by now. "But then, they just go back to how they always are and I'm the same Derpy Hooves that I've always been." She shrugged. "Life goes on I guess. You just gotta take whatever life gives ya and use it 'til it's last mile, am I right?" She laughed ans she lifted her cup again, chugging the rest down.

Fluttershy smiled. "I'm glad that my mother helped somepony out there. She died as she lived, helping others at her own expense." Her smile faltered as she remembered all the nights she'd been sent to Rainbow's, when she found out what her father had been doing to her mother. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and she blinked them away. When she looked back up, Derpy was frowning at her, and she reached across and embraced the older mare in a tight hug.

Fluttershy hugged back, pressing her face into her new friend's mane. When they pulled apart, she could see tears in Derpy's eyes as well. "How did you know what I was feeling?" she asked, wiping away a tear.

Derpy stood in her chair, revealing her Cutie Mark. "Bubbles?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, well yeah. Bubbles. My special talent is Psychology. When ponies start feeling down, their eyes are the things that tell it before the words out of their mouths do. Like bubbles. You can tell a bubble is about to pop by looking at how it expands as it reach higher and higher into the atmosphere. And then..." Derpy's hooves separated to emphasize her words. "...pop" "Eyes are like bubbles, Fluttershy. The more feelings that well up inside, the more you can tell about what's about to spew when they pop. Whether it be happiness or sadness, that's something an experienced psychiatrist like myself can tell."

Fluttershy thought for a moment, trying to see sense in what the grey mare was saying to her.

Derpy could see the concentration in the yellow Pegasus' aqua-marine gaze and smiled. "The more you think about it, the less sense it'll make. It'll come to ya. It'll pop."