To say Derpy Hooves, a gray furred Pegasus most known for her crossed golden eyes, was surprised was a bit of an understatement—okay, maybe more than that.
So much was it so that she needed a smoke and felt a headache coming on now as her younger unicorn sister, Dinky Doo, held one of the biggest smiles a filly could muster at her older sister, who had to keep from rubbing her forehead with her forehooves.
“I did great, right, Ditzy? Didn't I do great?” Dinky spoke. Dinky resembled her older sister with her short blond mane and tail and a soft shade of gray—although hers was a lighter shade—and had big yellow eyes that always made her look as innocent and sweet as she was.
The gray mare heaved an audible sigh hearing her little sister's nickname for her before looking at the stallion; an Earth Pony to be exact, with a brown saddle bag on his back that was soaked to the bone because of the large heavy downpour in Ponyville that would be happening for four days straight.
The stallion before her was quite handsome, she had to admit. His coat and short mane were both nearly the same shade of brown, as well as his long, mesmerizing eyes. With an hourglass Cutie Mark on his flank, he smiled sheepishly at the mare standing in front of him, before a hacking cough forced him to break eye contact.
Derpy scowled. She hated when her sister did something without letting her know. Of course, it would make sense to help somepony out when such awful weather was in the town and was the only sensible thing to do as her younger sister was not heartless. She had never been raised to be such, unlike herself, who learned a bit late to never just trust somepony just because they smiled at you.
She had been forced into the streets by her parents because she had hung out with the wrong crowd during Flight School.
Smoking, drinking, doing drugs, she knew that Gilda the Griffon and Rainbow Dash. along with a few other ponies that she was with, were never a good choice, but she had ignored it and paid the ultimate price because of it. Getting kicked out and almost being with a foal twice but having a miscarriage on both was her luck with her being so young—that was when she was at the age of seventeen, and now she was twenty one years old.
Of course she regrets it, but because of her crossed eyes that she had since birth, many ponies would not take her seriously. Her so called ‘friends’ never gave a shit about her, save for Rainbow Dash, who helped her get her mail job and bring her to Ponyville, but Derpy was still on edge and angry with what the cyan mare put her through and what she had allowed of herself.
Her parents had died two years before on a train ride to visit the Crystal Kingdom, and she had been forced to take care of younger sister, who while young, was very, very brave and had accepted their parents death. The same couldn't be said for Derpy, who had gotten drunk and cried her eyes out for two weeks before she had accepted it.
Now, now she had to make the choice of helping this grown stallion, who might have caught a cold or worse because he had been too stupid to stay out of the rain.
“Thank, thank you, fair lady. I did not expect such hospitably from such a young-"
“Cut the bullshit. What kind of adult goes out into the rain when this damn town's been warned it would be raining for four days?” Derpy interrupted harshly as the stallion cringe from her cruel tone.
“Um….I apologize, allow me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Whooves, you may just call me Doctor if you wish. I have just come into this town from a train ride from Dodge Junction, where I had been working with a young mare who deals with cherries. I've been saving up enough bits to move here and have not been given the chance to look at a place to stay, for obvious reasons. Though I have been out in the hard falling rain for three hours now and did not get the news until the last second, I’m truly sorry, Miss.”
Derpy blinked in a hint of sympathy before her eyes hardened. She used her right wing to grab a Diseased Stallion cigarette from her right ear and her tail to grab a lone match near her kitchen table. Lighting the match before doing the same with the tobacco, she inhaled deeply before exhaling out gray smoke from her nose then sat down on the floor.
Closing her eyes, she opened them again to see her sister and the Doctor staring at her, silently asking her to speak. She sighed then said with a fake smile, “Derpy. Derpy Hooves, and this is my little sister Dinky. Look, trust me, it’s going to be tough out there once the rain stops. Sorry about your saddle bag and your health, but to tell the truth, you only entered day one of this downpour, so you are not going to be able to get a chance at finding a house, let alone a damn job until it’s over, Doctor.” Her tone was as soft as she could before she blew a large gray cloud of smoke from her nose, to which the stallion waved away with a forehoof and coughed.
“I understand, Miss Hooves, and I do not mean to be much of a bother. But if I could be so kind to ask for a bit of-"
“No.”
“Sis…come on, look at him. He’s soaked, and he has nowhere else to go. We can’t be so cruel to just send him back out into the rain. It’s freezing,” Dinky defended the Doctor, causing him to blink in surprise from the young filly’s angry tone.
But Derpy had had enough. No one gave a shit about her when she was thrown out; no one but Rainbow Dash, though that was only to redeem herself from the guilt that clawed at her heart, and they both knew that.
So why should she lend a hoof to a grown stallion who she did not even know? For all she knew, this bastard could be a murderer.
“Dinky, that’s enough, go to your room. Let grown ponies talk alone,” Derpy growled at her younger sister while taking a longer drag of her smoke. She blew it out of the right side of her mouth.
“But—”
“Now!” Derpy shouted.
The small, scared filly ran up to her room, tears running down her face. The mare then turned her eyes towards the Doctor, who pawed at the floor nervously.
“Miss Hooves, honestly, I mean no—”
“Shut it! Listen, I know it’s a bit harsh and cruel for me to do this, but I’m having a harder time taking care of me and my sister. We don’t got enough for a damn stallion, who was too bucking stupid to not know what the weather was going to be in the town he was going to ahead of time. Life’s tough; oh well.” Derpy voice as cold as ice as she spoke. She used her tail to take her smoke out and put it out,and then she got up from the floor and walked towards the stallion. He gulped, a bit afraid of the mare with her crossed golden eyes in front of him. The left eye looked right at him, with the right sliding to the side as neither held any pity towards the male in front of her.
“Miss Hooves, please if you just—”
“And stop calling me Miss Hooves, damn it. I am not my mother,” Derpy snapped, causing the Doctor to cut off his words before he continued with a nervous breath.
“Derpy, please... I have the bits to repay you, I can help you—”
“I don’t need your bucking HELP!” Derpy shouted.
The Doctor froze again fearfully. He waited a total of five minutes before speaking again. “I... I meant no disrespect, honest. But I could get very sick out in that freezing rain. I could die from hypothermia. Please, all I’m asking is for a few days of rest, no more. I could pay you for your help, if you wish, and will only eat what you make and sleep where you wish; nothing more, I swear,” he said softly.
She turned her head away, thinking hard. Finally, she took another deep breath before replying, “Fine, four days only. No more. Try anything with me and my sister, and I’ll kick your ass and send you to the hospital, and that’s not a threat; it’s a promise. Got it, Doc?” she spat with malice as the Doctor allowed a small smile to grace his face before he nodded.
“Good. Now take off your damn saddle bag and go take a shower. You stink. But first, go get me my smokes from my room. After your shower and my smoke, we are going to lay down some ground rules. Towels are upstairs in the hallway to the left in the closet, shower is to the right, so don’t get lost. Bring me my smokes quick, Doc, which should be on my dresser to the left, my door being the same way,” Derpy instructed bitterly.
The Doctor saluted with a forehoof, trotting out the kitchen to the stairs. Derpy sighed loudly. What the buck had she just gotten herself into?