//------------------------------// // The first meeting // Story: I'll never forget // by Johnfreemanwepon //------------------------------// The first meeting Early one morning, a morning that was seemingly like every other morning, Dinky woke up and was immediately shocked by a crisp, clean smell; unlike the normal, sweet smell of cooking muffins. Worried, Dinky walked into her mother's room. Soon after she entered, she smiled at what she saw- Derpy Hooves, her beloved mother, lying asleep on her bed, dreaming, with a smile plastered on her face. 'Better to let her sleep, she looks so peaceful!' thought Dinky, 'But what's she dreaming about that is making her smile?' she wondered. 'No matter, I should just go begin making some muffins for when she wakes up.' With that, she walked out of the room. *** It was a bright spring day, and Derpy was delivering her packages like normal- with one exception. She was carrying a package heavier than anything else she had delivered before- it felt like it was filled with statues from the royal gardens in Canterlot! But that would be silly, nopony would ever trust the mail service with something that important.... Would they? Even so, nopony would trust HER to carry them. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the stallion she was about to run into until she was already on the ground, and, looking around, she saw a purple unicorn laying near her. “Omygosh I'm so sorry!” said Derpy, fully expecting a tongue lashing just like she always recieved from her boss “Please don't be mad!” Much to her surprise, the stallion simply smiled. “Why would I be mad? If I were carrying such an apparently heavy load, I'd be hard pressed to stay in a straight line, much less avoid people. Speaking of which, would you like some help?” said the stallion, in what Derpy thought sounded more sincere than anything she ever heard from anypony but her own mother. Finally noticing that she was spacing out again, she shook her head and said “Umm.. No thanks... but would you mind helping me find where I am supposed to deliver this package? I don't recognize the address...” Staring at the address for a few seconds, the stallion replied “Hmm... I think I know this address, but I'd have to walk there to remember. Follow me.” Derpy followed him for a few blocks until he stopped, and she knocked on the door. After some time, she mused “Oh, I guess they aren't home...” The stallion replied, “Here, let me try” and reached over to unlock the door with a key he produced from his pockets. He smiled when he saw Derpy's shocked reaction. “You can't just go around unlocking people's houses like that!” exclaimed a horrified Derpy, “That's just rude!” The stallion laughed in reply, before answering “It's my house you silly filly! Anyway, how would you like to come in? If this order is what I think it is, we're in for a real treat.” Reluctantly, Derpy agreed to come inside- wondering, the whole time, why she trusted this stallion; he sure was nicer to her than most ponies, but is that really a reason to trust him? Shrugging this off, she walked inside after the stallion whom she now knew as Charity (fitting, all things considered) due to the tag on the package. Once they were inside, Charity immediately went to work on opening the package, quickly but carefully. Derpy caught herself staring at the way he methodically opened the package- her eyes even went straight watching him! He caught her and smiled when she blushed, holding back a laugh. Eventually, he turned to her and said “I'm finished.” Opening the box, he satisfied her curiosity as to what took up so much room and weight. He took a box out of the package- it read: muffin making machine. She stared quizzically as Charity took the box into the kitchen, and after a few moments, he poked his head back in before saying, “Are you coming?” Derpy quickly followed him into the kitchen and asked “What are you going to do with that?” “Make muffins, of course!” "Oh...” replied Derpy, silently cursing herself for her ignorance. Ignoring the troubled expression on her face, he set up the machine and took out some flour and butter before turning and asking “What type of muffins do you like?” Derpy was sligtly taken aback from this question, before recovering and saying “Oh... I've never really had too many muffins before... but I guess poppy seed muffins- that was the first muffin I ever tried and the poppy seeds felt like little bubbles popping in my mouth!” giggling as she finished that sentence, before blushing at the smile that Charity was giving her. “Poppy seeds it is then! They're over in that cupboard-” he said, pointing to a cupboard on the other side of the kitchen “- on the second shelf. Bring them over here while I make the batter” As she walked over, it was Charity's turn to stare- he had never met a mare so pretty, or so eager to please others. He thought it was absolutely fantastic. Derpy, feeling like she was being watched, looked over at Charity, who blushed and looked away quickly, turning to the machine and pouring in a cup of flour, adding it to the bowl before adding a teaspoon of vanilla and a stick of butter, which had softened due to the warm temperature filling the room from his oven that they had preheated beforehand. After adding the poppy seeds, they poured the batter into a cupcake tray that Derpy had placed cupcake papers in. After all this was done, they sat down with a glass of apple juice for them both, which happened to be Derpy's favorite. After she was finished, she glanced reluctantly at the clock, saying “I have to finish my deliveries soon, but it was really nice meeting you...” “Nonsense!” replied Charity; “I'd be a jerk to let you do all that work by yourself! The muffins have to sit some time to cool anyway, so I'll help you deliver the mail.” Judging by the shocked expression on her face, Derpy had obviously never been treated this nicely before. After a few awkward moments of silence between them, she finally replied “You'd really do that for me?” “Of course. What are friends for?” said Charity with a tone that made Derpy feel giddy inside. “F-friends? Oh, yes of course! Yeah! Let's get to it!” said Derpy with a renewed sense of happiness and a huge smile on her face that was as infectuous as the plague, but in a good way, before she and Charity both split up the mail and sped out the door, with a determination unlike anything seen in pony history. *** Dinky walked back into her mother's room to see her smiling even wider, nearly from ear to ear, and decided it was still not a good idea to wake her. She walked out of the room and started preparing more food for breakfast. If she had more time, why not do something to repay her kind mother with even more surprises? She sighed as she walked into the kitchen again and pulled out some oranges for orange juice. 'Momma's favorite' she thought, 'besides apple juice, of course,' but whenever she served that, Derpy always seemed to be on the verge of tears, as if the juice was someone she dearly missed with every fiber of her being. Best not to subject her to that kind of thing when she was sleeping so peacefully and dreaming such good things. *** Back at Charity's house, after delivering the mail in what seemed like a record time even compared Derpy's father, hooves down the fastest mail pony in the past century. They walked in just as the buzzer on the oven started to sound. “Perfect timing!” commented Charity, smiling at Derpy's rambling about how fast they delivered the mail together. “Wha? Oh yeah! Muffins!” said Derpy, with an edge of excitement still in her voice. Together, they walked into the kitchen and pulled out a perfect batch of muffins, eliciting a single word from both parties- “Muuuuuuffins!” Sitting down on the couch and chair, respectively, with a plate of steaming hot muffins and fresh glasses of apple juice in front of them, they began to talk, and quickly lost track of time, until Derpy casually glanced out of the window and noticed the light fading- quickly “Omygosh! I need to get home! I have to wake up really early tomorrow!” She said, before remembering that tomorrow was Sunday- the day she got to stay home. Before Charity started looking to sad, she said “Oh wait, tomorrow is Sunday- I can stay a bit longer I guess...” Charity quickly perked up at this news, saying; “Well, we're gonna need more muffins then, won't we?” “Race ya to the kitchen!” exclaimed Derpy. “You're on!” said Charity, laughing at the sudden outburst. It was a good laugh, not a teasing one like Derpy was used to from ponies she thought were her friends. They ran into the kitchen and quickly started making more muffins, before talking more and then making more muffins, the cycle repeating all night. *** Dinky was working on the rest of the breakfast items, before hearing a single word came from her mother's room- “Muuuuuuuffins....” Dinky walked in, expecting Derpy's eyes to be crossed, and her to be happily smiling at her, before giving Dinky her morning hug. What she saw, however, was completely unexpected; Derpy was still asleep with the same smile on her face. *** Waking with a start, Derpy found herself still at Charity's home- with a cover over her and Charity working quietly in the kitchen preparing a breakfast of orange juice, pancakes and, of course, muffins. Smiling, Derpy pretended to still be asleep, listening intently to the tune Charity was humming quietly- it was in ¾ time, with a tempo resembling a waltz played at a formal event such as the gala. For some strange reason, Derpy couldn't get the thought of dancing with him out of her head, and she nearly blushed before noticing him standing over her, trying to think of a way to wake her without startling her. To save him trouble, she pretended she was waking up, fluttering her eyes until they were fully open. She smiled at the stallion standing above her. He returned the smile, asking her, “Sleep well?” “Yes, very” she responded truthfully. She really had slept well, the couch wasn't particularly comfortable, but the thought of being near a stallion who was so nice to her had her sleeping like a baby in no time flat. “Good. I have some breakfast ready for you, if you'd like to stay” he replied with kindness. Seeing as she had nowhere to be right now, she answered “I would love to stay.” However, she really wanted to say “I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now;” even though she really didn't understand why. She felt... comfortable around Charity, for some reason; as if she had known him her entire life instead of just 1 day. She dismissed this as she followed him into the kitchen, being careful to not stare. Once they were in the kitchen, he directed her to a table that had two places set- as if he had known all along that she would stay. Derpy smiled at this, sitting down to a big plate with some of the best food she had seen in a while; (mailmares don't exactly get payed the most out of any job in Equestria...) she smiled again at her fortune of finding such a nice pony who wanted to be her friend. As they dug in, Charity started some conversation, asking how she liked her job. She answered these questions truthfully, because she knew she wouldn't be put under scrutiny by him. However, one question desperately bit at her the entire time she was talking to him- how he knew so much about her. Finally asking this, he blushed and responded: “Well.... I kinda... I see you around town a lot, and you always seem so happy- but I never really see you having much fun or hanging out with friends. I figured they must have just lived in Cloudsdale, but then...” Derpy gulped, remembering, suddenly, the incident Charity was about to mention. “But then I saw you being pushed around by that pony while you were on your daily rounds- I heard what he called you and I saw how sad you got. I don't know why, but seeing you sad hit me harder than anything I have seen in my life. I knew I needed to get to know you, so I could make sure you stayed the happy, carefree pony I came to admire. I ordered package after package of random junk, and took daily walks around Ponyville at around the time the mail was delivered, until one day, I at last saw you walking with a package that was similar in size to something I ordered. That day was yesterday. I bumped into YOU, see, because I wanted to be able to talk to you- to help you. I knew I needed to get closer to this happy-go-lucky pony I saw being pushed around because of the fact her eyes are crooked;” he then quickly added “mostly” because as soon as he looked up, he saw that her eyes had gone straight and that she had a surprised look on her face. Eventually, she broke the silence and said: “You.... you've been trying to talk to me all this time? But why couldn't I recognize the address?” Charity blushed a bit at her saying it so... plainly. He said “I... I've kinda asked a bunch of my friends to take the packages for a while- I told them they were gifts. Eventually, they asked me why I was sending them all this, and when I came clean they told me I should have them delivered to my house instead. I eventually broke down and agreed, ordering packages to be sent to my house through the mail service. You've delivered a couple of packages to my friends before, but I never had the courage to 'accidentally' bump into you for that whole time. I... I guess I was just scared, but I finally got enough courage when you were delivering the muffin maker to my house. When I bumped into you, it was almost an accident- I was about to move out of the way at the last second, but, well....” “I closed the gap” said Derpy, with finality. “You closed the gap,” repeated Charity, nodding. Derpy didn't know whether to smile, or to run away- either of them seemed appropriate at the time. Suddenly, something popped into her mind that infuriated her. Suddenly, she spouted "So... This whole time... you just felt sorry for me? That's the only reason you wanted to talk to me?” “WHAT? No! Not at all! … Well maybe a bit... But that's not the only reason!” it didn't matter- at that, she stood up, suddenly her expression was unfathomable. She walked out the door quietly, leaving the breakfast behind on the table. “I did it... because I love you...” said Charity, quietly and after he was sure she was out of earshot. *** On the way home from Charity's, Derpy was seething- but she didn't show it. She had her dorky smile on her face that she always had. 'Gee, Charity said he liked that about me. He said it made him happy to see that there were ponies who took their troubles in stride... more or less.' suddenly, she snapped at herself- 'Stop thinking about him! He's just like all the others- seeing you as someone who can't fend for themselves at all! Just keep smiling, and keep walking- we'll be home soon, and then we can cry... or, maybe, yell our head off.' Even as she thought that, she felt a sharp pain of regret run through her like a knife through butter. 'I shouldn't have just walked out of there like that... What if he really didn't mean it the way it sounded?' As she said this, a scowl came across her face before she ran into a light yellow pegasis- she recognized her as Fluttershy from Junior Speedsters Flight camp, as she was always getting teased as well as Derpy. Fluttershy saw her scowl and said “Oh... Hi Derpy... I didn't see you there.... umm... if you don't mind me asking.. what's wrong?” Derpy replied- a little to harshly- “Nothing's the matter! I'm FINE!” it was only after she said this that she noticed how mean she sounded. Fluttershy squeaked and backed away, saying “Oh... I'm sorry... I'll just... you know, go now...” Feeling like a total jerk, Derpy quickly said “No, forget it, I'm sorry- I didn't mean to sound so mad.... Anyway, I was just mad at this stallion I met- Charity, I think... and I stormed out because he told me that he wanted to get to know me because he felt sorry for me.... Just like all those OTHER ponies that really just thought I was dumb.” “Oh, you met Charity? Strange, that doesn't sound like him at all.... He's so kind and caring and... oh, he's a really great friend... are you sure he's who you met?” Derpy pondered this- he really was very nice to her earlier... he even gave her a blanket when she fell asleep on his sofa... After a short while, Derpy said “Well... He was really nice. He invited me in and made us muffins, and then he helped me deliver my mail.... He even called me his friend- and... Oh horseapples, I just stormed out on him for NO reason! I need to go back right away! He's probably really sad that his friend ran away from him while she was so mad... listen, thanks for letting me vent, Fluttershy- I have to go apologize!!” “Oh... uh.. that's nice... I'll see you around Derpy...” *** Dinky finished squeezing enough orange juice for two, and strained it because they both didn't like a lot of pulp. She went on to making the pancakes- another fixture Derpy really liked. Eating them made her look forlorn, but she still always liked eating them. She heard soft sobbing noises coming from her mother's room, but she believed that it would be better to just keep cooking- if she had woken up, it would be a good idea to have her wake up to a happy Dinky and an excellent breakfast. This rarely happened, but when it did, it happened on Sundays. Dinky never really knew why. *** Derpy flew into Charity's window, not even bothering to knock. “Charity?” she called, hoping he would respond. She saw a note on his coffee table next to a box of muffins. The note read: "Dear Derpy, I'm really sorry I made you mad at me, and I'm especially sorry that I made you feel like I patronized you. I'm.... out for now, so you can either wait for me or come looking for me. Your friend always, Charity." Derpy teared up and read that second to last line over and over again 'Dear Celestia,' she thought. 'What have I done?' Without giving the muffins another thought, she sped out the window and started looking for Charity like a madmare. *** After several hours of searching, Derpy finally gave up and returned to Charity's house with a sad look on her face and her nose crinkled up. “You look adorable when you're sad” a familiar voice said from behind her. She spun around to see the source of the voice, seeing the tired looking smile on his face and the tear in his eye. She suddenly felt the urge to hug him, so she did. Seconds turned to minutes, and after nearly an hour, she finally let him go. “I see that you've forgiven me” he said, with the ghost of tears still hanging on his face. “Forgive you? For what? If anything, YOU should be the one mad at ME.” He smiled sympathetically, and said “I can't stay mad at you.” He leaned in for a hug, which Derpy gladly accepted. They both started to tear up in each others' arms. After some time, Derpy said “but can you ever forgive me? I acted so horribly- I'm no better than the bullies...” "Don't say that. You are not, and NEVER will be, as bad as them. I've seen people killed by their antics. You are lucky." She looked into his eyes, and Charity could swear hers were shimmering. It was perfect. She was here, in his arms... Before she could say another word, Charity tilted her head up and kissed her, out of impulse. She was surprised at first, and was tensed- she slowly eased up as the kiss went on. Derpy was speechless. She hadn't ever kissed a stallion before, and the sensation was unlike anything she expected. Instead of talking, Charity just stared into her with a gentle smile. He had gotten his point across, for the most part. Eventually, Charity decided how he was going to word “Derpy, the reason I bumped into you..... It wasn't just because I felt sorry for you. I did it because I... I was just so angry at how you were being treated. It... I.... I did it because..... I love you, Derpy Hooves. Nothing can, and nothing will ever change that.” She remained silent for a long time- so long that he began to tear up, thinking she had rejected him- before she finally said: “I..... I love you too, Charity.... I don't really know how, but it seems like I always have... nopony had ever even tried to be that nice to me before... Unless they felt sorry for me. I was just bracing myself for something... something I hoped never came. I thought it had, so I tried so hard to just run away. Fluttershy saw how mad I was, and She told me it didn't sound like you at all... and I know she wouldn't lie to me, Charity... so I.... I just felt so terrible....” He wiped her tears off with his hoof, and kissed her again. After she stopped crying, he pulled away and said "Derpy, you are a very sensitive pony. You know when others are hurt, and you try to help them- a very admirable trait, if I say so myself." She sniffled. Even though she had been so terrible to him, he still tried to make her feel better. After the events of the last few hours, they were both very tired and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. She yawned. Here was as good a place as any for her to stay, and it sure was comfortable. They fell asleep in each others arms. To be continued.