//------------------------------// // Day Two: Praying to silent Gods // Story: Melting a cold heart // by Inferno demon Dash //------------------------------// By day two, Doctor Whooves honestly did not know how to feel about this mare whose house he was staying in. Last night, after she had her smoke and he his shower, she had let down some rather blunt, if a bit cruel, ground rules. *Flashback* “One: Don’t go for a snack, or eat anything that the two of us are not eating. I don’t need your damn bits, and we don’t waste food in this house, got that?” Derpy growled while holding a bottle of red wine in her left wing. The Doctor nodded. “Two: We will be stuck in this bucking house for four days, so don’t just think you can do whatever the buck you want. If you’re bored, go hang out with my twelve year old sister if you must, but don’t be entering our rooms or shit. You’re sleeping on the couch. Got that, Doc?” she sneered. The stallion accepted this, for thought that was fair. After all, this was not his house, so he had no say of anything. He adjusted his brown saddle bag and stood up straighter to pay more attention to her. She took a long drink from the bottle before burping loudly and narrowing her eyes at her guest. “Three: Don’t ever, EVER, touch my drink or smokes. Do that and I’ll kill you. I’m not kidding, Doctor Whooves. You hear ME?” She shouted her last words due to being a bit buzzed from the alcohol as the Doctor nodded his head roughly, hoping he would not have a whiplash later for it. Derpy snorted before putting down her bottle and getting a cigarette from her packet on the kitchen table while the Doctor sat across from her. Setting off a match with her tail, she lit her second smoke for the night before inhaling and blowing the gray smoke out her mouth. She grinned darkly in amusement as the stallion before her coughed. “Derpy, I would never smoke. Being in the farm I was, it would have affected my lungs and body to the point were it would ruin my chance at the cherry farm if I had continued such a habit. And besides, it’s addicting, wasting bits and health,” he answered, glaring at the mare that rolled her eyes but did not comment. “And besides, why can we not just spend a bit of time getting to know one another. We are adults and-” “And what? You thought you could watch me get drunk, then get me in bed and tap this? You stallions are all the same,” she grunted in annoyance. The Doctor frowned, hating how she just jumped to conclusions. “NO! Derpy, I meant that we could maybe play some cards, listen to the radio, talk, you know... get to know one another. I’ll even have a glass or two of wine ,with your permission, if you don’t wish to drink alone,” he stated calmly. The mare narrowed her eyes, trying to keep her thoughts from the last time a stallion had gotten drunk with her and ended up on his couch with him. She hated being taken advantage of, but it was her own fault for trusting the bastard. “No, no drinking with me... look, you want to ‘hang out’ with me, then I guess we can play some cards or some shit, but don’t expect me to just start crying on your bucking shoulder as you demand to hear my damn life story, Doc,” she said harshly. He could do nothing more than nod. *Flash back ends* Doctor Whooves learned that Derpy Hooves was no sad, feel-sorry-for-herself kind of mare who needed a stallion in her life. Something about her past would never allow it, and while he admired her independence, her way of speaking was a bit too cruel for a normal pony. He wanted to know her, but how could that happen when she wanted nothing to do with him? As such, there was nothing for the three to do all day. So after Dinky played in her room, Derpy drank while listening to the radio about the Wonderbolts re-run races and smoked every two hours or so, and the Doctor looked at magazines about houses or jobs that he would need to look for after the storm was over, Derpy got started on dinner early, it being four p.m. The Doctor was looking at quite a cheap apartment near Sugarcube Corner for only six hundreds bits that had a kitchen, abate small, living room, one bed room and bath. It utilities included with rent, and he thought that was very reasonable with him only having one thousands bits. Also, he did not find any other better offer in the newspaper when he smelt the amazing cooking of boiled carrots, cabbage in a pot with corn, mashed potatoes and brown gravy being made by the owner of the house. His stomach growling loudly as he chuckled. “Dinky, TIME FOR DINNER!” Derpy shouted to the filly upstairs who had muffled a reply in return. She rolled her eyes and turned her head to her guest. He walked into the kitchen while she was cutting the carrots on a cutting board with careful forehooves and a short knife. She then moved to the cabbage, the corn already cooking in the green pot with the boiling water. Her long blond tail stirred the brown gravy in the pot with a wooden spoon across from her as it then switched to the potatoes on the stove. Her wings were very gentle to set three plates on the table to the left of her while she ignored the stallion who stood awkwardly in the kitchen. “Um….would you like some help?” he asked with a cough. She gave him a blank look before narrowing her eyes. “Does it look like I do, Doc? Wash your hooves then sit your ass down. You might buck my hard cooking up with your cherry ‘skills'. Be sure to get three glasses from the cabinet to your left,” she mocked with a harsh chuckle. The Doctor grimaced, but did as he was ordered. He saw Dinky rush down stairs with a crayon drawing in her mouth. She set it on the table before going to wash her hooves and then sat on the chair after using her forehooves to push her self-up to it. She smiled at the Doctor with a proud grin, and he got water for all three of them in the glasses; with Derpy’s permission, of course. “Look what I drew, Doctor,” she said, pushing the child made drawing towards the stallion. He looked it over with a small smile. It was a picture of her with her sister and two other, bigger, and older looking ponies in it with a sun shining above alongside clouds and a blue sky. Green grass with pretty flowers was drawn below their hooves with two small trees to the left of them. “That's really good Dinky. Who are the other two ponies?” he asked softly as the young filly’s smile slowly disappeared into a sad frown. “Our mom and dad. They died in a train ride to the Crystal Empire two years ago and –” Her voice was stopped by a loud bang on the table in front of them, making the two jump. Turning, they saw the crossed but angered eyes of Derpy glaring at her sister. She set the pot of soup then mashed potatoes with gravy before them. “Enough Dinky. It’s time to eat, so stop letting our guest know of something that does not concern him,” she ordered in a dark tone. Dinky broke eye contact with her sister and did not reply. “Doctor, would you like to say grace?” the filly asked in a small voice. She ignored her sister's annoyed grimace and looked at the stallion with wide, innocent eyes. He allowed a small smile to appear on his snout. He turned towards Derpy, who rolled her eyes. “Something wrong, Derpy?” he asked with a hint of annoyance. “Did I say something was wrong? Say your damn prayers with her, and let’s eat already. I did not waste all this hard work just for it to turn cold,” she snapped causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion and a bit of surprise. “Don’t you want to join us?” he questioned. She was about to open her mouth, no doubt to swear or tell him to mind his own business, before her sister answered his question for her. “Ditzy does not believe in the Gods. She never wants to pray for our meals or before bed,” Dinky said in a sad tone. The Doctor to look at the mare in shock. “You don’t believe in the Gods, Derpy? Celestia, Luna, Cadance, any of them? Even Discord? You don’t go to church on Sunday, either?” he asked with his mouth and eyes opened wide. “No, I don’t believe in your damn Gods, Doctor. I would expect that you being a stallion of ‘medicine’ would understand, but I guess not. Why the buck should I waste my time praying to immortals who did not do shit as I struggled all through my school years, or watched my drunk father beat on my mother then come and beat on me when I was just seven years old? “Why the buck should I care about them, when they don’t give a damn about ME!” Derpy shouted with tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. She wiped them away with a hoof and scowled at the two to dare question her. “Miss… Derpy. I know it’s hard to believe but the Gods are there for us. Princess Celestia and Luna are as real as you and me, so is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. We don’t have to bow and pray to them but we can at least-” “Look, Doctor, if you want to tell all that to my sister as you two pray for your meal which I made all by myself and as you go to bed, be my guest. But don’t you dare try to tell me what I can and can’t believe in, in MY own house, understand?!” Derpy screamed at the stallion, who backed his body away farther from the cruel mare as he swallowed then nodded. Dinky neared having tears in her eyes as she put her forehooves together, bowed her head and prayed to which ever Goddess would listen to the little filly, the Doctor doing the same. Derpy rolled her eyes and began eating her hard worked meal. “Thank you Celestia, for this stay. Thank you for this food. Bless our friends and our family in the Gods name we pray, amen,” she ended with a small smile then wiped her tiny tears away with a hoof. She, along with the Doctor, who had opened his eyes, began to eat. After supper, in which Dinky was washing the dishes as punishment for questioning her sister, the Doctor walked into the living room and saw Derpy lying on the tan colored couch that was his bed. At the moment, she was smoking a cigarette, and she let out a deep sigh. He was very cautious to not anger her as he spoke his words carefully, “You know, I understand that you don’t like doing certain things your sister does being grown, but don’t you think you can humor her? She’s still your sister, after all, and only a filly.” He spoke softly to her while sitting on the other side of the couch trying to get as much space as he could because she was laying on it. Derpy opened one eye while blowing out a cloud of gray smoke from the left side of her mouth. She then removed the tobacco with her tail to speak calmly. “You don’t understand what life was like for us, Doc. You could never understand. I’m teaching her to stand up on her own four hooves, to not be weak and worthless around a stallion like my mother. You don’t get what our lives were like, so don’t try, cherry boy,” she grumbled. She rolled over and put her four hooves on the ground, taking one last drag of her smoke before putting it out on an ashtray to the right of her, along with the long brown table on where it rested. “Then maybe I can understand if you let me,” he argued back to the mare. She smiled a small smile and let out a deep breath. “Don’t count on it, Doc... don’t count on it,” she answered as she went upstairs to get to sleep wishing that she could go to work. But for the next two days, no ponies could even work outside like her job required, so she could not escape her annoying and religious guest. The Doctor frowned, watching her walk up the stairs to her room. He heaved in a deep breath and looked at the small, gray filly that had finished the dishes and stood before the stallion with a small smile. “Doctor, would you mind praying with me tonight? I don’t want my sister’s soul to go to Tartarus,” she said softly . The stallion chuckled softly then nodded. Resting his front hooves on the table along with Dinky, he closed his eyes and prayed to Princess Luna for Derpy Hooves's soul. He did not know how, but he would do what he could to heal the mare from her dark past and cold, cruel heart, though it would take some time. After their prayer, Dinky thanked the Doctor and went to bed. He laid on the couch he had been assigned, and with his long blue blanket wrapped around him, along with a small tan pillow, closed his eyes. He soon drifted to sleep, wondering what it was that could cause such a beautiful mare to act as harsh as a timberwolf.