A Year of Derpy

by Sleepy Panda

April

Finally, she came alone again. No other ponies to draw my attention away from her.

She came rather early today, and by rather, I mean extremely.

The sun hadn't even risen yet and there she was, lying peacefully on that same bench, her silky blond tail dangling off of the edge and lightly brushing against the ground.

Or maybe she was laying restlessly. I couldn't tell. It was too dark out and my eyes hadn't adjusted yet. After all, I'd have missed her coming here if I hadn't woken up from a nightmare and looked out into the lovely park area to gain some comfort from the moon and the light it cast onto the flowers that were just starting to bloom. Nature is something I've always appreciated. It seems to me that ponies these days rarely ever take time out of their busy days to just stop, look around, and enjoy the wonders of the world around them. I think that might be one of the things that draws me to Derpy—seeing her take a day out of every month to simply enjoy the outside world fills me with peace and happiness, and hope that maybe ponykind can once again learn to take pleasure in nature. Lying there on the bench as she was, her figure a silhouette against the dim lights, it was easy to see that she was a mare with an eye for nature's beauty. She was one with nature, and such a wonderful element at that.

Whether she was peaceful or restless, she was definitely lying on the bench, and I was in my normal position, hidden among the dense shrubbery, observing as usual—or trying to, anyway. It really was awfully dark out, and the lamppost wasn't doing much to illuminate the area.

Why must Derpy always choose the coldest of days to go to the park? It may have been spring, but it still felt like winter. As this part of town wasn't frequented often, the weatherponies didn't put as much effort forth into ensuring that this area was warm.

It would've been even colder if it weren't for Derpy. Her smile could warm me up on the most frigid of days.

Of course, that meant absolutely nothing right now, as I couldn't actually see her.

Since watching was out of the question, I settled on listening. I closed my eyes and perked my ears up, sitting down and immersing myself in the sounds around me—the wind as it rustled the leaves of the trees, the occasional early-rising bird tweeting its song, and, if I listened hard enough, the soft sounds of Derpy's breaths.

Or maybe that was just more wind.

I sat there for a while, content with listening to my surroundings, until I noticed a light shining through my closed eyelids. I opened my eyes and smiled, looking up at the warm colors of the sun as it started to peek out from beyond the horizon and paint the dark sky with red, gold, and all shades in between.

Sunrise, the birth of a new day.

The rising sun painted the sky with oranges and yellows, finally casting a much-needed warm glow onto the earth.

Derpy yawned, stretching her hooves out on the bench and rotating her neck to get the kinks out. The movement drew my attention back to her, and I couldn't help but smile. The glow of the rising sun brought out the golden hue in her hair, making it shine brilliantly. It lit up the area, finally allowing me to see her. Her messy mane, her soft coat, her delicate lashes, and the... bruise on her cheek.

A bruise. How had she gotten hurt? Oh. Oh no. Not good at all. Did he…? I clenched my teeth and was just about to storm away to murder whoever inflicted that injury upon her, but then I forced myself to calm down and think rationally. Any number of things could've caused that bruise, if it was even a bruise at all. It could just have easily been a shadow or a smudge of dirt.

And then she touched it, and she flinched, and I found my suspicion confirmed. Smudges of dirt aren't painful to the touch. I shivered, and this time it was not from the cold bite of the wind.

I suppose she could've fallen, right? Or maybe she had a flying accident or something of the sort. Yes, that's a possibility. I remember being a colt and dropping a textbook on my face. Teachers pulled me out of class because they saw the bruise on my jawline and assumed I was being abused. That's probably what happened with Derpy. No need to draw conclusions here.

My love looked up, suddenly, ears perked up as she heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching. I heard them too. Then the hoofsteps turned a corner, and the owner of them became visible. It was that greedy, good for nothing snotbag, who should go and eat a—

I mean, it was Thunderlane. Same thing.

"Hey babe." He smirked as he swaggered over to my beautiful gray mare and sat down next to her, draping a hoof around her shoulders and tickling her muzzle with a wingtip. To my annoyance, it actually drew a smile out of her. I gagged a little, but composed myself, furrowing my brow and making myself still as a statue. Have you ever tried sitting back and doing absolutely nothing while you see a stomach-churning scenario unfold in front of your eyes? No? Well, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. It feels as if the turn of the Earth is moving wrong in some way, like the whole universe has a fault in the system. Nothing in that moment is okay.

"Hey Thunderlane," she said softly, managing a weak smile. Her smile said that she was happy to see him, but underneath that façade, I could see the deeper feelings she held. The way she held her body, tense, defensive, bordering on cringing away from him. The slight tremble of her hooves and the twitch in her wings gave it away—fear; fear of the stallion that supposedly loved her. I wonder, why did she not leave him? Was she clinging on to the thread of hope that perhaps he was genuine and that this was what love is like? Was she afraid he'd get angry and hurt her even more? I mean, no, there was no proof that he’d hit her… I’m still drawing conclusions. Overreacting. Even if he didn’t hit her, he was still a despicable pony, and I can’t understand why Derpy would stay with him. Maybe it was because of Rumble. I wouldn't be surprised if she was struggling through this hell just so that Rumble wouldn't be left alone with his older brother. The poor mare is way too sweet for her own good sometimes.

Somehow, that dense sack of manure actually picked up on her body language, and he frowned. "You okay?" he asked, almost sounding like he actually cared. Almost.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Derpy turned to him and smiled, and I flinched back as the her face caught the light again and illuminated the bruises on her face.

"Is that...?" Thunderlane's face shifted from an expression of false concern to one of genuine horror. Wait, he didn't know? I shook my head, trying to make sense of my thoughts. But did he not cause the bruises?

"It's mascara." A curt reply, and she turned her head away. "I... dropped it this morning. On my face. It's no big deal, honestly."

"You don't wear mascara. I know you, Derpy... you hate makeup." Thunderlane gulped as a long silence stretched between them. "I hit you, didn't I?" he suddenly burst out. It was less of a question than a statement, and I felt my body tense up so much that it hurt. Wait, what? Oh, I knew it! I was right about this bastard. So much for overreacting and drawing inaccurate conclusions.

"You were upset and you acted in the heat of the moment. You didn't mean to hurt me."

"No, but I did hurt you, and that's unforgivable." Thunderlane gave Derpy a pitied frown, gingerly touching her cheek with such a light touch it seemed he had mistaken her for a house made out of cards, doomed to fall and become no more at even the slightest of touches.

Derpy, however, pushed away his hoof and gave him a sharp glare that made it clear she was stronger than he thought she was. "But you apologized, and that's what counts." I could've sworn an annoyed expression flickered across his face as he realized she wasn't as damaged as he'd assumed, but if the expression was there, it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"Does it really? Do you really forgive me?"

"No." Another long pause, stretched out for seemingly forever, made me realize that my back was starting to hurt, and then I looked down at my hooves and saw that I was leaning forward quite a lot to get a better view. Hastily, I adjusted my position to be better suited for observing the scene discreetly and comfortably, and settled down just in time to hear Thunderlane's reply.

"That's what I thought. I—"

"I think I need to be alone right now," Derpy cut in, and the stallion's ears drooped with disappointment. No, not disappointment. He was angry again. What right did he even have to be angry? Why, if I could, I would go over there and—well, no, not a good idea. I sighed and relaxed from my fighting stance. No fighting today. Maybe another day, though. It sure would be satisfying.

"I understand," he finally said, releasing the breath he'd been holding, and with it, most of the anger. "I'll see you tonight at dinner, okay?" Derpy nodded, and Thunderlane gave her one last pitied look before walking off, with much less swagger in his step than when he had first arrived. Could it be that he actually felt bad?

...No, probably not.

His hoofsteps faded away, and Derpy sighed, running a hoof through her mane and flicking her tail in agitation. I relaxed and leaned back on my haunches, wiping away the beads of sweat on my forehead. Yes, even in the freezing cold weather, I was sweating. It's probably a sign that I'm too emotionally invested in this whole ordeal, but how could I not be? My heart was hers, so I shared her heartache.

Yawning, Derpy rubbed her eyes, and it took great effort for me not to let out a yawn of my own. “An apology means nothing if he keeps doing it again and again,” she muttered to herself. “I don’t think he even said sorry this time… just forgive me. Yeah, as if.” She snorted, hopping off of the park bench to pace around, head held high in defiance.

A surge of pride hit me, and I found my cheeks sore as my mouth forced itself into a wide grin. My beautiful mare, staying strong despite her challenges, not letting the bruise on her cheek show on her personality.

Something told me she isn’t going to put up with Thunderlane’s behavior for much longer. When that day comes… I imagine it’ll be the best day of both of our lives.

I couldn’t wait.

Comments

[GeekySonic]

This story is back. Yay!

[VitalSpark]

Yay! April! I really enjoy this story and look forward to the longer, more complex chapters.

Also, the word counts make me happy.

[Old Diggy]

This is going to be interesting, especially since this is from the MC's perception of the events taking place so any amount of it could be biased towards his PoV instead of what's really happening.

[Sleepy Panda]

7604849 You seem very observant. I don't think everyone has caught onto that yet as I've only been subtly hinting at it.

[Old Diggy]

7604886 I've read a story (on fanfiction.net) that had a similar thing going on by using the First Person PoV to twist the readers perception of the events without them realizing (though they only used it to give a reason as to why the MC didn't realize someones feelings for them).
You are only the second person I've ever seen use it, if I hadn't read that story before this I probably never would have noticed, you did a great job being subtle about it.

[Sleepy Panda]

7604977 Thank you. I just love the whole concept of the narrator not being entirely reliable with what they tell the audience. I've found it's fun to write as well.

[CoffeeMinion]

Glad to see this back! I also got some serious stalker vibes from April. I think I had kind of wondered before what the narrator was up to, but it seemed a lot less obvious that he was stalking.

Of course stalking's not good on the one hoof, but on the other hoof it could make for some interesting interactions in the later months...

[Sleepy Panda]

7606362 I have some ideas in mind for how the story will progress. Next chapter will probably be focused more on who exactly our narrator is.

[the_Doc]

Love it, can't wait for the next chapter!

[Meta Four]

Interesting. Still not entirely sure what's really going on, but it's nice to see that Derpy isn't as weak or helpless as the narrator assumed.