//------------------------------//
// When will the Sun Rise? (Derpy) 
// Story: Tangled Wings 
// by Short-tale 
//------------------------------//

I woke up in my bed to find out it was still dark. It happens sometimes. I set the alarm and then get so excited about waking up for work that I wake up really early. 

I decided to go back to sleep. But I couldn’t for some reason. I was too fidgety. It felt like I slept so long. Sometimes that happens too. I fall asleep for what seems like a long time but it’s only a short time. 

Instead I got up. Luna’s moon was shining brighter than ever, and it almost felt like it was a blue tinted day. I hoped the day would be nice and that I could see my new girlfriend Princess Twilight Sparkle. 

I still couldn’t believe she made me her special somepony. Me, Derpy Hooves, dating the most beautiful pony in the world. It made me want to rush over there and see her just cause I could. She might even be excited to see me. 

But it was dark and late, I had already woken her up late for our second date. She said she didn’t mind but she looked so stiff and cold. I should have warmed her more, or made her a sweater. I wasn’t good at making sweaters though, the yarn always wrapped around my hooves and tied them together. I don’t know how. Doc Whooves said he couldn’t figure out how I did it either and he’s super smart. Almost as smart as Twilight. Or was he smarter?

All the thoughts about Twilight made me want to see her more. I didn’t want to be a bother but aren’t girlfriends allowed to be around each other a lot? I never was one before so I wasn’t sure. 

I checked the clock, maybe it wasn’t that late and Twilight would like a morning wake up call, or a hug. The clock said 8:30 in the morning. I bonked it a bit. If it was right it wouldn’t be dark and I would be late for work. The bonking didn’t make it say anything else. 

Maybe I should go to see Twilight and ask her what time it really was. That’s a good reason to see her. Twilight loved helping her friends, maybe she would love to help her girlfriend too. 

I walked outside and saw a bunch of ponies already up and walking around. Maybe their clocks were broken too. Some sort of clock villain that made the clocks tell the wrong time could be lurking around. Maybe it was the Time Bandit and she stole the time between late and really early. Twilight needed to know. 

I flapped my wings and took off into a tree. Then jumped into the air from one of the branches, luckily I didn’t hurt myself much this time. I soared through the air until the castle was really big. It happened so fast I nearly smashed into it. Luckily I swung out of the way and looked for a place to land. 

There was already a crowd gathered by the steps with Spike standing in front of them. Did they know about the Time Bandit too? Did Twilight already know? I decided to land in the back of the crowd but I missed.

“Twilight and the others are handling it. Right now it’s best if you all go- aaaa!” I heard Spike say as I sped past him. He jumped out of the way as I smashed into the steps. It happened when I got excited, my speed came back before I could remember I had it and threw me into things. 

“Derpy! Are you ok?” Spike asked, holding his little claw out for me. He was so nice. 

“I’m not hurt.” I told him as my back legs bent back in front of my face and pulled me on to my front ones again. 

“Well that’s good. I guess you noticed the sun hasn’t risen yet either.” He looked at all the beautiful stars in the sky and I wondered if anypony else had ever tried flying to them like I did. 

I looked around, shaking the blurriness from my eyes and focused on the little dragon. The crowd was leaving after I arrived, I wondered if they were happy about Spike’s speech or did I do something wrong again.

“It’s really dark, Spike,” I said looking around. 

“The sun was supposed to be up by now. Luna’s trying to put the moon in a good position to reflect the most light, but it’s not the same.” Spike rubbed the back of his head.

“Oh! I forgot! We have to tell Twilight about this! It could be the Time Bandit!” Maybe she stole Princess Celestia’s time and that’s why she was still asleep. We could both go to Canterlot and wake her up. Like heroes do. 

“She knows Derpy. She and the rest of the girls left for Canterlot a few hours ago. She sent a letter back telling me Celestia has some magical illness. The gang is trying to fight it.” Spike sat down on the steps, looking kind of sad. 

“Are you ok?” I didn’t like seeing any pony sad. Especially one of Twilight’s friends. 

“Yeah, just another adventure I’m not there for. I’m also worried about Twilight and the others. You must be worried too now that Twilight is your girlfriend.” He looked up at me, his eyes were filled with sad lonely thoughts. Well, they looked kind of like that. 

“I… I guess I am…” I never thought of this part before. Twilight and her friends always go off to fight and leave their loved ones behind. I was Twilight’s special somepony and I couldn’t help her at all. “What do we do now Spike? I-I never thought of how scary it is knowing she’s fighting somewhere far away.”

“Well, normally I start cleaning the castle. That way it looks beautiful when they come back. They normally don’t notice but it helps me focus on something else. But.. now I have a friend to wait with. Did you want to wait together?” The idea of it made him spring back to his feet.

“Of course!” I couldn’t wait until Twilight came back. She would see me and Spike waiting for her. I would be part of the team. Not the big team that fights but Team Twilight, the team that supports the Princess in between her fights. 

Spike nodded and we walked into the castle together. The assistant and the girlfriend, Twilight’s favorite ponies …er friends. 

“What should we do, Spike?” I bounced a little in excitement at my first Twilight worry party. 

“Uhh well, we could bake a… No, that's a bad idea. We could clean the… That won’t work, you could break it. Do you play games at all?” Spike changed directions on me a few times then started moving to a calm looking room.

“I love games. What game?! Maybe a game where we guess what game we’re playing?” It was my favorite game that Doc and I played a lot. He would pick a game and we would start to play it, then I had to guess what the game was. Sometimes I had to do that a few times. 

“Have you ever played Og-“ Spike stopped speaking as a soft tapping echoed through the castle. I checked my hooves to make sure I didn’t do it. “Sounds like somepony knocking.”

“Is it Twilight?! Is she back?! I have to tell her about the Time Bandit!” I started excitedly towards the door, but tripped on the carpet and fell into a vase. It didn’t break but I noticed it had the first flowers I gave her. She displayed them! 

“You have to watch where you’re going. If it was Twilight she wouldn’t knock. And be careful those are her favorite flowers.” He helped me out of the vase and we walked back to the door together.

“Probably another pony who just noticed the sun is missing.” He said, and opened the door. It wasn’t just another pony. It was Lily Valley, one of Roseluck’s friends. 

“Lily!” I said as I wrapped her up in my hooves. She was always so squishy, not as soft as Twilight but rounder squishy. Doc told me not to tell her that though. 

“Hi Lily,” Spike said with a wave, “I already told everypony what was going on. I haven’t heard anything new.”

“I know Spike, I just saw Derpy come in and .. thought maybe I should join you.” Her face got really red. Maybe she liked Spike and I could help her tell him!

“Oh! I didn’t know you were Derpy’s friend too.” Spike can be so dense sometimes. 

“Well I am, but that’s not why I’m here.” She looked around like a ninja was going to jump on her. I made sure there weren’t ninjas around. They could be very sneaky. 

“Oh? Uh, what brings you here then?” Spike dumbly asked. I was about to tell him when I remembered Doc said it was wrong to tell other ponies’ secrets. 

“Well, you see…” She paused and I felt my heart beating at a million miles an hour. This was the moment, the-tell-somepony-they-like-them moment. “I’m dating...  one of Twilight’s friends. I thought it would be nice to wait with Derpy and you.”

Oops, I was wrong. It’s a good thing I didn’t say anything. Poor Spike, having his heart crushed like that. Wait, Spike didn’t know what I was thinking. I guessed he’ll be ok.

“You’re dating one of the six?!” Spike cried like there was a fire. I looked around but there wasn’t. Somepony should tell him it’s not nice to scare other ponies like that. 

“Y-yes. We started dating not too long after Twilight and Derpy got together. I don’t know if she wants everypony to know yet. But… can I join you anyway?” Lily looked really upset and worried. She was part of our team, girlfriends of the brave six team, and Spike. 

“Sure, I guess. But won’t we find out who it is when they get back?” Spike waved her in and we started walking again towards that room. 

“Probably, but I couldn’t just wait by myself. I’m sure she’ll understand when I tell her.” Lily still looked around like she was going to get in trouble, I patted her back. No pony that’s friends with Twilight would get mad at something like this. 

“So either of you girls ever play Ogres and Oubliettes?” 





I was nearly done filling out the special test to be a healing Pegasus when the door opened to the castle. I knew what that meant. I was off like a bolt of lightning, my speed taking me again down the hallway. I glomped the form there happily.

“Welcome home, Twilight!” I said, snuggling the pony. She was harder than before, and much bigger. It was like snuggling a fuzzy stone statue. She was also bright red. So much had changed. 

“Eeeeer nope.” Twilight said in her new voice. 

“Hi Big Mac,” Spike said behind me. “Derpy, Big Mac comes to play O&O with me when he’s worried about his sister. It’s not Twilight.”

“Oh…” I said and slid off the large stallion. I turned red too. 

“Ready to play?” Spike asked, shaking the dice in his hand. 

“Eeeeeyup!” 





“Derpy that spell is for healing players not the wall! How do you keep crashing into things in a game?!” Spike was mad. I looked away feeling dumb, I don’t know why he kept telling me I hit the wall. All I did was roll dice and he said there was a wall.

“Oh sorry,” Spike said in a softer voice. “I know you’re new, please don’t-“

The wind rushed around the outside of the castle. It sounded like a train or a… fast wind. Maybe a lost tornado? But it found its way to the castle door. Then it knocked. 

I quickly got up but felt a claw on my hoof. “It’s not her, Derpy. I’ll go see who it is.”

“I’ll help!” I said, determined to be useful. 

We walked back towards the door and I heard some ponies arguing. Well maybe not arguing but somepony was shouting. It didn’t sound like she was mad, just loud.

Spike opened the door and I couldn’t believe it. It was my old friend and fellow racer Spitfire. She was all dressed up in the Wonderbolt uniform with her goggles and everything. I hugged her.

“Spitfire! I haven’t seen you since we were foals!” I said, squeezing the tough pony in front of me. 

“Oh.. hi Derpy. Yeah, long time no see.” She sounded a lot more gruffer than she used to be. Like she shouted a lot. “I’m kind of here to see you.”

“You are?! Why?” I couldn’t think of any reason she would need to see me. I didn’t drop her packages or anything. Wasn’t I supposed to work today? Oh well, it was a crisis. 

“Well I knew you were dating Twilight and uh I kind of am in a similar situation..,”

“You’re dating Twilight too?!” At first I was mad but I should have known that some pony like Twilight would need some pony smarter than me to talk to. I wish she’d told me. I decided to be calm and forgiving. I didn’t really want to be mad at either of them. “Welcome to the-“

“No! Not Twilight!” Spitfire shouted. I felt scared and relieved at the same time. “One of her friends.”

“Seems like a lot of the group started dating recently, can you say who?” Spike asked, a twinkle of something sneaky in his eye.

“I don’t think she’s told anypony about us yet. So I’d rather not… and what do you mean a lot of the group? I only knew about Derpy and Twilight. Is that why this other pony is hanging out by the door?” Spitfire pointed to a blue unicorn with a star covered hat and cape. She looked down at us like we were small measly ponies to her. Though she was a pony too so I didn’t understand why she did that. 

“Well, well, Spike, we meet again,” the hat wearing pony said.

“Uhh I live here Trixie, so it’s not that big a surprise. Starlight isn’t here. I’m not sure where she is.” I hadn’t met Starlight yet, except that time I crashed into her when she opened the door to the castle as I was about to land. Now that I think about it the hat pony is the one that caught me.

“Trixie isn’t here to see Starlight. She’s off with Maud somewhere, I don’t want to think about that. Trixie’s here because uhh.. she uhh.. felt like it.” The magical mare turned pretty red.

“You’re dating one of six aren’t you?” I asked excitedly. I was getting good at this. More girlfriends of my girlfriend’s friends. 

“Maybe, Trixie won’t kiss and tell. But her special somepony is probably our saving Equestria right now so Trixie needs a distraction.” Trixie said Trixie a lot. I wondered if she kept forgetting her name and had to remind herself. That would be awful to keep forgetting like that. 

“Come in Trixie, but just so you know you’re not the only special somepony here.” Spike sighed, opening the door further. 

“Just the greatest and most powerful,” she said, strutting past me and Spitfire. 

“Our team is getting bigger!” I smiled at the thought of a little family built around the adventure group’s loved ones. Like belonging to a special club that only six of us can be a part of. And Spike. 

Spike started looking around outside. It was still dark out and the stars shone like jewels or Hearth’s Warming lights. It had been a long time and no sun or the friend group. Should I be worried now? I didn’t know. 

“Well let’s get ba-“ Spike started to say but something big landed on the steps next to us. It was a scary looking griffin. She looked like she hated us and all the castle stood for. 

“Gilda? What are- never mind. Congrats on your relationship. Come join the others.” The dragon waved to the mean looking bird cat and I followed slowly behind. 

So many ponies loved this group and these were the ponies the group loved back. I couldn’t really understand why I was here? I knew Twilight was my girlfriend but why me? There were so many other choices. 

“Ogres and Oubliettes? You guys play that?! “ Gilda said as we walked back inside. “I could never find enough..  I mean what a lame game. But I guess I could try it.”

For a griffin that hated the game she knew a lot of the rules. Maybe she really hated it and read all of it so she could hate it more. She still made a griffin that could move things with her mind which Spike didn’t know was playable. Gilda showed him some rules in the back and he said it was ok.

“So is anyone going to address the elephant in the room?” Spitfire said to the room. 

I looked around but I could see any elephants at all. I worried that my old friend got hurt somehow. Maybe she hit her head during a trick, that’s why she saw things that weren’t there. I couldn’t imagine getting hurt like that. 

“You want to know who is here for who don’t you?” Spike said with a satisfied look. 

“I’m here for Twilight.” I said, sometimes ponies forget. 

“We know,” Lilly sighed, but looked at the others with nervousness. “I’m not sure my girlfriend .., er pony I’m seeing likes her business known.” 

“Well, we’re going to find out when they get back.” Spitfire rolled the dice then sighed. “So much for my fury attack.”

“Well if you’re all going to be pansies I’ll go first,” Gilda said, looking at us like we were stupid or weak. “But I doubt you’d need me to tell you.”

“Ahh, I thought so.” Spike rolled his turn and knocked over one of the skeletons in front of our group. 

“Who?!” I asked. 

“Rainbow Dash.” Spike said, handing me the dice. “They’ve been friends for a long time. I wondered if they would finally get together.” 

“Are you saying it was that obvious?” Gilda looked like she was going to punch my friend. I put my wings out between them. “Ha ha ha! Of course it was! We’ve had a thing going on since flight school. Everyone could see that, even dense Dash. I wasn’t going to hit him, Derpy. It was just a joke.”

“Ohh ha ha ha ha!” I laughed but I didn’t really get the joke. Maybe dense Dash was the joke. No pony else laughed with me so I stopped.

“I want to try and guess the others.” Spike said, with a strange look. “How about we ask one question each and see who can guess first? Though I think we’re missing one.” 

“Huh there’s six of us here...” Spitfire put her sheet down. I was confused if we were playing a new game or was this part of the skeleton battle? Maybe a riddle in the middle of a battle of the dead?

“Big Mac is here for the game,” Spike said with a wave of his hand. Big Mac looked at his sheet even closer. I really thought glasses would be easy to get even for a farm pony. 

“Well, I don’t mind too much.” My good flower friend said, putting down her sheet too. “Does anyone else have any objections?”

“Trixie fears nothing! So no objections here.” Trixie rolled her dice. “Yes! My wizard defeats the dead king and rescues Princess Schmabby. Now she runs off with her!”

“Princess Schmabby only has eyes for Garbunkle!” Spike was quick to shout.

“That’s before she met the great and powerful Shmixie!” 

“You know you should really talk to Gabby.” Gilda poked Spike in the tummy and got a grumpy look. I know I don’t like being poked there either. 

“Ok, I’ll ask first.” Spike looked like a judge or game show contestant. Maybe it was a game show now. “I can guess Lilly… and we know Gilda. But Spitfire is a bit of a mystery. I would have guessed Rainbow Dash but she’s already dating Gilda. Unless she’s…”

“No. It’s not Crash! I don’t date subordinates.” The Wonderbolt crossed her fore hooves. 

“How did you meet her then?” the contestant asked. 

“Through Crash. She brought her to one of the Wonderbolt functions and well, she was so cute I couldn’t leave her alone. Might have made an ass of myself but she didn’t seem to mind.” Spitfire got really red. It was kind of funny seeing somepony like her look embarrassed. “I asked her out then, but she didn’t think the timing was right. I was shocked when she said she would a few weeks ago.”

“Huh, that’s the same time my girlfriend asked me,” Lily said, placing a hoof on her chin. “Said she had her eye on me for a while and it just felt like the right time now.”

“The mare that loves Trixie also finally got the courage to ask then. It was so romantic that Trixie couldn’t say no.” 

“Hmmm.. ” Spike said to his hand. “Ok first dates from all of you, go.”

“She invited me to a rock and roll concert! Then we bounced around like idiots! It was great.” Gilda had a different idea of great than I had. It sounded loud and weird. No pony wanted to be an idiot, or I didn’t think they did.

“I was taken to a field and we had a picnic. She made a lot of food and I couldn’t finish it all.” Spitfire puffed her chest out, like an excited pigeon. I wondered if she would strut like one later. 

“Applejack,” Spike spat out as she finished. Spitfire  nodded.

“My date was similar but we were served by animals. It was a little freaky at first but I got used to it.” Lily looked a little bashful about it. 

“Awwwww,.” I couldn’t help myself. It sounded so cute. 
 
“Has to be Fluttershy!” Spike snapped his fingers in excitement when Lily nodded. “I know my friends. Now you... it’s either Rarity or Pinkie Pie…” His finger pointed to the Trixie staring at the game board.

“Trixie was treated like the goddess she is. Massages, Rarity did my mane. Then we danced the rest of the party. After that we had a long talk. Seems she was enthralled by the sexy and seductive Trixie and I wasn’t even trying.”

“So you’re dating Rarity?” Spike’s eyes were huge. I think he froze, because I tapped him and he just fell over.

“No, Rarity just did my mane. The entire party was just to ask me out! Finally somepony that understands the greatness that is Trixie.” Trixie stood up like we were supposed to cheer and clap. I started to but no pony else did. I slowed down and looked around as if somepony else had. 

“Oh thank goodness, you’re dating Pinkie. I’m sorry but you and Rarity together would just be too weird.” Spike stood up a little greener in his purple cheeks. 

Then Spike’s face fell and he grew pale. He looked like he discovered his ice cream had run away when he wasn’t looking. I hated when that happened. “Rarity… no pony is dating her. She’s going to feel awful when she gets back to all these girlfriends and no one is there to make her feel special. “

The rest of us looked a little sad. Leaving a pony out is awful. Especially since there was so much love being found, how had Rarity been skipped over? 

“Oh the sun’s rising!” Lily pointed at the slight glow of orange that lit the landscape. It was the prettiest thing I’d seen that wasn’t Twilight. The sky, clouds and trees glowed like they were on fire but a good fire. Then the large sun peeked out, painting the sky in blues, pinks and purples. 

The seven of us watched and sighed in happiness. It meant our girlfriends were ok and saved us all again. I hoped they would be back soon. It was nice being a part of this team but I was starting to miss Twilight with all the date talk. 

“There they are!” Lilly pointed to a balloon in the sky with the heroes all inside. I stood up to fly to them but felt a hoof on my shoulder. “I think it might be best to meet them all together.”

“It sounds like something they would appreciate.” Spitfire stood with the rest of us, and we walked towards the doors of the castle. Together, like a team. The girlfriend team. 

I looked around as we walked to the entrance but I didn’t see Spike or Big Mac. Were they cleaning up from our game? Maybe I should help them but Twilight and the others would be there soon. 

Luckily they reappeared from a different hallway with Spike in a better color. Big Mac looked a little pale though. I wondered if he was able to give more color to Spike somehow.

The door opened and light poured in from the new rising sun. We waited for our sweet hearts together. I couldn’t make out who it was that came in first so I fought the urge to rush to them. 

“I never want to see magical snot again!” It was Rainbow Dash, good thing I held back. 

“It’s unlikely the Princess will be infected again after all the protection spells I put up. I- oh!” Twilight came in next and froze as she saw us all, smiling in relief. “Spike? Why are they all here?”

“Twilight!” I could hold back anymore. I rushed to hug her and hung on as she tried not to fall down, but failed. 

“Oh hi Derpy! I didn’t know you’d be waiting for me. I was reading that couples do that after a while but I didn’t think we got that far on the dating schedule.” Twilight looked up at me, red faced as I happily nuzzled her. 

“Silly Twilight, I’ll always wait for you.” I hugged her with my wings and helped her off the ground. We stood there wrapped up together as the rest of the team welcomed their loved ones in their own ways. 

I watched as Spitfire and Applejack broke off, both looking redder than Big Mac. “Guess the cow’s out of the barn now huh?” the farm pony said with a nod to my friends. 

“If that means everypony knows we’re dating then yes.” Spitfire snickered and placed a wing in the farm pony’s back. 

Pinkie and Trixe were much more lovey. I watched the party pony walk up to her great and powerful partner. 

“You may hold Trixie’s h- oooof!” Pinkie ducked under the magician’s hoof, picked her up like a stuffed animal and spun her around. 

Lily and Fluttershy just held hooves looking like they weren’t used to all this happiness, while Rainbow Dash and Gilda started wrestling. I think they were wrestling or some sort of mouth war. Wouldn’t the griffon’s beak hurt your lips doing that? 

I saw Rarity looking around too, like the world betrayed her. “You -you all found girlfriends and didn’t tell me?! Well except Pinkie I helped with that. It’s a scandal! How could you do this to me? You know how much I love love stories!”

Rarity watched with a pale face and I couldn’t help but feel horrible. She was left all alone. I wanted to feel so happy with all my new friends but with a pony left out all I could think of was how I felt when that happened to me. 

“Fluttershy I didn’t even know you were interested in Lilly. Rainbow and Gilda I saw from a mile away but Spitfire and AJ? How did that even happen? If-if I hadn’t done the same thing I would be most furious you know!” Rarity gave them all stern looks as she walked to Big Mac and wrapped her hooves around him. 

“Oh don’t make that face, darling, I was going to tell them.” Rarity spoke so softly to the large pony, I felt a scary feeling in my body. “Well since everypony else has a relationship I suppose I should tell you that Big Mac and I have one too.”

She beamed like she won a prize and that prize looked down at the floor. I looked around but I couldn’t see Spike anywhere. 

I whispered in Twilight’s ear. “I think we should check on Spike. He’s the only one without a girlfriend… or boyfriend.”

Twilight shook her head and looked at me. “Sorry, what did you say? I was worried about Spike. He’s the only one without a girlfriend.” 

“Pppppfftt…” I snickered. “Let’s go see him.”

We walked together, our wings touching, and found the little dragon picking up the game. I silently started helping him then Twilight joined in. We all quietly picked up the little figures and dice. 

Finally Twilight broke the silence. “You ok, Spike?”

“Yeah, I didn’t see Rarity and Big Mac coming, that's for sure. But they aren’t too bad a match… I guess. He told me before you came in. Honestly there’s someone else I like. I think it’s time I tell her.” Spike sighed. “I’ll do it soon. Oh Derpy?”

“Yeah?” I was drawn into the different figures. They were so cute, especially the little skeletons. 

“When Twilight is this tired she needs sleep, but she tends to sleepwalk. Somepony should hug her while she sleeps to make sure she stays in bed.”

“Who did you have in mind?” I asked, though the thought of somepony else in bed with Twilight made me feel uncomfortable. I started to feel angry and hurt at the same time, like I wanted to hold on to Twilight more than anything.

“You! You’re her girlfriend and that’s definitely a girlfriend thing.” Spike sighed and pointed at Twilight with a head twitch. I think, or he had pain there. 

“Y-you don’t have to do that,” Twilight said, her mane getting all frizzy. “I don’t need to be held down, just returned to bed a few times.”

“Will it help you?” I looked back and forth between the two friends. “I will do it if it helps!”

“It might… I guess it couldn’t hurt.” The princess put her hoof out to me and I happily took it. Spike gave me a thumbs up. I laughed a little. I didn’t need a thumbs up just for grabbing her hoof. 

The bed was huge! Twilight could fit all her friends in it if she wanted. The princess climbed in looking more worn out then I’d seen her, even after I woke her up in the middle of the night. It must have been a hard battle. She closed her eyes and I wrapped my hooves and wings around her. There was no way she was getting up.