Whistling cheerfully to herself, hooves clip-clopping along the stone Ponyville roads, a youthful grey pegasus mare, one wing resting lovingly on the messenger bag at her side, was nearing the end of her delivery route. The midmorning sun was warm on her back and set her pale yellow mane ashimmer as she went. One last package to deliver and her duties were done for the day, but she wasn’t in any hurry-- she enjoyed her job.
The day was bright and many ponies were out for a stroll throughout the town. The breeze was nice on her fur and when no one was looking, she would flap her wings and bounce just a little ways into the air before landing, skipping, down the road. Out since sunrise, her final delivery today took her just across the street from her own home to the house of a pink earth pony named Daisy, her Cutie Mark matching her name exactly. Her neighbour’s house was decorated with an abundance of well kept, beautiful and fragrant flowers. The pony in question, sporting a pretty white sunhat atop her green, curled mane, was watering the flowerbox next to her door as the pegasus approached.
“Daisy, I have something for you today,” she said.
Daisy turned and smiled, and placed her watering can on the ground, saying, “Good morning, Derpy! Nice day, isn’t it?”
“Beautiful,” she agreed with a smile and a nod; she steadied the blue mailmare’s cap on her head with one wing while opening her bag with the other and reaching inside to pull out a small parcel.
“Oh! I’ve been waiting for this,” the mare said happily as she accepted it, smiling wide. “Thanks!”
“You’re welcome,” Derpy said, unable to help a grin.
Every package received with a smile made the pegasus’s heart soar.
As Daisy turned to bring her package inside, Derpy crossed the street back towards her own home, a bit smaller than some of the others on the street, and a little less decorative, but hers nevertheless and, if she did say so herself, cozy to boot. She trotted inside with a bounce in her step, savoring the scent of her own baking from much earlier still lingering in the hallway, but no sooner had she closed the door behind her and hung her hat up on a hook on the wall, she heard a metallic clink behind her. She turned, surprised to see a deep purple flier with a strangely accurate and detailed shooting star on it settling onto the floor before the golden mail slot in the door. Curious, she picked it up and read,
Dear friend, this is an invitation to join in a once in a decade event. Tonight, a large meteor shower will be visible over Ponyville. If you are interested in attending, please come to an open meeting today at noon. Hope to see you there!
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.
Beside the signature was a little seal of a six pointed star surrounded by five other, smaller stars. Derpy stared at the note and tilted her ears back and forth, and then trotted into her living room quickly to check the small clock on her wall. Almost noon, but not quite. She took a moment to ponder whether she was willing to stay up that late or not, and then wondered if she even wanted to go. Taking a glance around her room, she wondered if there was anything else she’d rather be doing that evening. Not really, it seemed. Though her bookshelves were full, not a single book was bordered with dust and her turntable needed repair due to overuse. The house was bright and welcoming, the blue couches comfortable and warm, but it felt too empty. The grey mare felt the cool ache of loneliness for a moment; took a deep breath and smiled to herself. It would be good to spend some time with other ponies outside of her job. She sighed and trotted to her bathroom to check the mirror. First, she turned in a circle checking her fur, especially over the mark of bubbles on her flank. She flattened the ruffled section of her mane and frowned at herself in the mirror steadily, even as one eye began to drift off in the other direction just a little. It wasn’t anything she could help really, and she could see with it-- could see almost completely behind her on the left side of her body while still looking straight with the other eye. It made depth perception a little difficult, but it had proved useful more than once. Nonetheless, it struck her with a sense of shame and she finally looked away from the mirror, unable to hold her own gaze, but she took a deep breath and straightened up as she turned out of the room.
Gotta keep going up, Derpy, she told herself. No use moping about something you can’t fix.
Derpy headed back out into the warm sunlight once more, tail wagging and wings flared in the breeze. She was a little surprised to see other ponies emerging from their homes as well, some with the purple flier clutched close, others chatting with family members or friends. A few pegasi flapped by overhead, soaring comfortably in the breeze. Derpy fluttered her wings, eyes brightening, wanting to join, but she quickly pulled back as she noticed a passing earth pony eye her skeptically before trotting on. She gulped: she knew exactly what he was thinking. Nonetheless, Derpy continued on her way, and despite the slight dejection, found a bounce in her step once more as the warm wind brushed through her mane.
Soon, she came upon town hall. The square before it was almost filled to the brim with ponies; it seemed like the whole town was there. Squinting and peering through the crowd, she could see a light mulberry coloured unicorn standing on the porch outside town hall, looking out above the many heads. Her mane and tail were long and straight-- a little in disarray, though-- dark blue with a single streak each of purple and pink. That was Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn who had sent the note. Derpy hadn’t really personally encountered her much, but she knew she was the personal student of Equestria’s ruler, Princess Celestia, along with one of the six who had saved everything many times through use of a special magic called the Elements of Harmony. Derpy was always a little surprised that she seemed so normal, even though her circumstances were rather extraordinary.
Twilight blew her forelock from her face and began to speak, but though Derpy strained her ears forward, she couldn’t hear. Curious, and cautious, the pegasus spread her wings and glided up the group just a little and hovered in place.
“I’d like to make this a bit of an event,” Twilight Sparkle was saying from her spot, “and, as such, I have a list of preparations I’d like some volunteers for.”
The unicorn’s bright pink magic glowed and produced a long list of parchment and a quill from seemingly nowhere; Twilight cleared her throat.
“We need some tables and benches brought up the hill, will anyone be able to help Applejack with that?”
Derpy saw a few hooves shoot up into the air and Twilight said a bright, “Wonderful!”
A second voice from an unseen mare with a bit of a southern drawl to it added, “Thank ya’ll kindly. I have most of the stuff back at the barn.”
“Rarity will be providing decorations, but if anyone would like to help--” Twilight continued, and was immediately greeted with more raised hooves, “Great! Now if a few pegasi could help Rainbow Dash keep the sky clear for tonight--”
A cerulean pegasus marked with a cloud and blue, red and yellow lightning bolt on her flank hopped up beside Twilight, tossing her bright, rainbow-coloured mane from her face as she did and she peered intently at the pegasi hovering around, as Derpy was. She couldn’t help but drop down into the crowd below a little awkwardly. Things hadn’t gone so well the last time she had ‘helped’ Rainbow Dash out.
“Just come if you’re fast,” the blue pegasus announced. “Thanks.”
It was a little hard for Derpy to see now, but she stood on the tips of her hooves; she saw Twilight grin and say, “All right! This is going to be very exciting, Ponyville! Remember, these meteors only pass us once every ten years. Try not to miss it, and I’ll see you at the top of the hill tonight!”
The crowd began to disperse almost immediately and Derpy followed, but in her peripherals noticed Twilight flip her list, looked alarmed and squealed, “How could I forget?!”
Derpy turned curiously and watched as the purple unicorn rubbed her forehead, saying, “I can’t believe...” and shaking her head.
A few other ponies stood, curious, as Twilight called, “Everypony, wait a minute!” though none but those already stopped seemed to hear. The unicorn sighed and looked around at the few of them.
“None of you happen to be able to bake, by any chance?” she asked.
A few of the mares headed away, a stallion awkwardly at the front saying, “Nope, sorry Twilight.”
The unicorn looked dejected and her ears drooped, but Derpy shyly flitted up to the porch.
“Um, Twilight,” she said, “I... I can bake.”
Twilight’s ears perked and her eyes widened, and she almost barked, “Really?!” When Derpy nodded, Twilight jumped down and grabbed her by the shoulders, asking, “Would you be willing to give Pinkie Pie a hoof with the food for tonight?”
“Um... Yeah, okay,” she said.
“Ooh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Twilight exclaimed in a hurry, “You can meet up with her at Sugarcube Corner. Thank you so much, uh...”
She paused and tilted her head, and then smiled, a little embarrassed.
“It’s Derpy Hooves, right?”
“Yeah,” Derpy said with a nod, and Twilight smiled wide.
“Well then, Derpy, thank you very much. See you tonight!”
She trotted off with an air of utter satisfaction and the pegasus couldn’t help a smile. She rolled her eyes and got on her way to Sugarcube Corner.
---
Sugarcube Corner was the name of the local bakery. It stood tall and vibrant just beyond vegetable and fruit carts a few blocks away from town hall. The place was like a giant, expertly-iced gingerbread house, trim like fluffy frosting over a chocolate-shingled roof, with a cupcake tower and pink-and-white candy canes framing the door. It always smelled like cake and cinnamon passing by there, and never failed to make Derpy hungry.
She pushed in past the rose coloured door, ears perking to the chime of a bell as she entered. There wasn’t a pony within view, but Derpy could hear bright, cheerful humming in the back and so, carefully, edged up to the main counter and peeked around, asking, “Pinkie Pie?” The pegasus barely had time to blink before a fully pink mare, curly and flamboyant mane squished down under a chef’s hat, appeared at the counter. Her fur was sprinkled with flour, partially obscuring her Cutie Mark of three balloons in blue and yellow; her blue eyes were bright as she grinned.
“Hellllooooo! How can I help you?” she said cheerfully.
“Hi, I’m Derp-”
“Derpy Hooves, of course! I know your name, silly!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, beaming, and leaned across the counter, resting her cheek on a hoof. “What can Pinkie do for you today?”
“Actually, Twilight asked me to come help you with the food for tonight,” Derpy said a bit shyly.
The pink mare seemed to jump and let out a long, loud gasp so sudden that Derpy thought she might have offended her, but Pinkie Pie was beaming quickly and reached across the counter to grasp Derpy by the shoulders.
“This is great!” she squealed.
She pulled the pegasus forward, and before she knew it, Derpy was in the kitchen a chef’s hat being plopped onto her head.
The counters were lined with trays of cupcakes with bright purple and blue icing; any space not taken by the trays was covered in loose flour and mixing bowls.
“So!” Pinkie said. “What do you want to make? We can make just about anything here!”
She hopped around the room, producing cake pans and baking sheets from cupboards that didn’t even look large enough to hold them.
“We can make cakes, pies, cupcakes-- but we do already have a lot of cupcakes, but like I always say, you can never have enough cupcakes. We could even makes muffins, or cookies, or scones!” The pink pony stared at Derpy with wide eyes. “Have you ever had a scone?”
“N-No, I don’t think so,” the pegasus replied, and Pinkie beamed.
“Neither have I, but I bet they’re scrumptious!”
Derpy couldn’t help a bit of a snicker and she nodded, and then cast a glance around the kitchen and then pointed to the cupboards.
“Mind if I take a look around?”
“Take as many looks you want!” Pinkie replied with a grin.
Derpy nodded and trotted around, checking in cabinets for more spices and ingredients, and then turned to Pinkie curiously.
“Would you be up for muffins? I’m pretty good at making them,” she said.
“Ooh, okay!” Pinkie replied, and was almost instantly a pink blur around the room, clearing a space on the counter laying out the regular ingredients gleefully. Derpy reached into a cabinet for cinnamon and vanilla, and said, “I also need apples, carrots, coconut and cream cheese.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” exclaimed the mare, and to Derpy’s surprise, all that she listed was laid out on the table by the time she had turned around.
She couldn’t help an “oh!” of surprise as Pinkie Pie stood beside the counter with her chest puffed out proudly. The pegasus couldn’t help a laugh; Pinkie Pie was a strange pony, no doubt about it, but her enthusiasm was contagious and before long the two were excitedly chopping apples and carrots, dumping ingredients into the bowl and taking turns mixing.
“This already smells good!” Pinkie decided. “Where did you get this recipe?”
“One of my old cookbooks,” Derpy said; she began to lay out muffin trays and, to her surprise, Pinkie dashed by, leaving a neat, precise path of paper muffin cups, and a second pass blobbed an even amount of batter into each.
Derpy was impressed, though she supposed it was to be expected from a pony who worked at Sugarcube Corner. She fluffed her wings happily and steadied her hat on her head as she mixed sugar and cream cheese together and put it in a piping bag.
“Are you going to ice the muffins?” Pinkie asked. “Wouldn’t that make them kind of like cupcakes? That’s exciting!”
“Not quite,” the pegasus said, and the other mare’s ears drooped a bit and she looked disappointed.
“Wait, Pinkie, wait!” Derpy laughed, “Watch!”
Lifting off and making a concentrated effort not to veer, she piped the sweetened cream cheese right onto the batter, one by one, and then waved a hoof at Pinkie Pie to get the bowl and spoon, saying, “Now put a blob on top!”
The pink mare’s eyes widened and she licked her lips eagerly, saying, “Mmm! Cream cheese inside! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“You do it for cupcakes, why not muffins?” Derpy agreed, nodding and laughing.
Pinkie Pie dashed around, dolloping a spoonful of batter on top of each cream cheese muffin as the pegasus flitted about with the piping bag and soon enough the pegasus was racing to stay ahead while Pinkie Pie rushed to keep up. They were done in record time, piling in tray after tray into the over to bake.
The sudden lull in action was almost jarring as the two ponies plopped down to sit on the kitchen floor. Derpy took a deep breath, her wings ruffling and cast a glance at Pinkie. The other pony was splattered with specs of batter, but before Derpy could point it out, Pinkie pointed to the pegasus’s cheek and grinned, saying, “Flour.” Derpy smiled embarrassedly and wiped her face on the back of her hoof. She took off her hat, smoothed her mane, and then pointed to a blob on Pinkie’s snout.
“Batter.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened and she stuck out her tongue, licking up the batter on her face and giggling. She took off her hat as well and blew some flour from the top before giving Derpy a huge grin.
“I didn’t know you were a baker,” she said. “We should do this more often.”
The pegasus was taken aback and she felt her heart flutter. It had been so long since she had been personally invited to-- Derpy nodded and her eyes brightened, giving the pink mare a smile.
“I’d love that.”
“Great!” Pinkie exclaimed; she grabbed Derpy’s hoof and shook it so exuberantly that the pegasus felt like her brain was rattling, “It’s a date! Well, a date without a date, but once we choose a date, we’re all set!”
“Thanks, Pinkie Pie,” she replied.
The pink pony was up on her hooves and bouncing around the kitchen in an instant, saying, “You’re welcome!” in a singsong voice as she returned to the counter, “Now for the cakes!”
“Cakes?” Derpy repeated, surprised.
“Yep! Chocolate cake, cherry cake, carrot cake, vanilla custard cake, coffee cake, pancakes-”
“All of those?” the pegasus asked as she got up; she was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, especially as Pinkie nodded.
“Of course!”
Derpy took a deep breath; she picked up her hat, squished it onto her head and said, “Let’s do this.”
---
The sun had set on Ponyville by the time Derpy Hooves and Pinkie Pie were done in the kitchen; it was quite a sight to behold. Placed carefully on carts, cakes iced to perfection by a surprisingly meticulous Pinkie Pie stood tall amongst trays of cupcakes, muffins and platefuls of pancakes. Outside, Pinkie easily hitched herself to a cart and looked at Derpy expectantly to do the same.
“You coming?” she asked.
Derpy looked at the cart and gulped, feeling almost precarious on her own hooves.
“Oh, uh... yeah, of course, just... I think I forgot something inside,” the pegasus fibbed. “You go on without me.”
She took a step back and Pinkie merely shrugged, saying, “Suit yourself!” and bouncing away. Derpy cringed, but somehow the layered cakes the pony guided behind her seemed to say in place. She blew out a sigh of relief and eyed her own cart up and down awkwardly.
I can do it, she assured herself. Eyes forward and don’t get distracted, and I’ll be fine.
She took a deep breath and flittered to the front of the cart, folding her forelimbs to her chest and looking at it closely, double checking that, at least, nothing was falling out before she started. When she was satisfied, she alit, but perhaps a little too quickly. Her heart dropped as she felt her hoof catch and she lurched forward. She uttered a panicked, “No!” even as she roughly bumped the cart and it creaked backwards and, to her horror, began to roll.
Cursing herself, Derpy lifted off and bolted after the cart as fast as she could. It was going-- going much faster than she had anticipated along a slight incline down the road. She flapped faster, trying to keep focused, trying to keep her eye from wandering, but she was already getting dizzy. She pressed her ears back and glared forward, reaching her hooves out to try to grab the front, hoping to Celestia that that top layer of the chocolate cake wouldn’t go flying off.
Her eyes were starting to water and she stretched forward, gulping. She flapped her wings hard, only to veer sideways despite her best efforts. She squealed and tried to correct, banking downwards and nearly skimming the stone below.
Almost there. Alllmost--!
Bright pink suddenly upset her gaze and she fumbled, a hoof skidding on the ground; she was sent into an awkward, tumbling crash against the cart. She let out a squeal, eyes watering with pain as she sat back and rubbed her head, surprised to see what she had been chasing encased in a bright pink glow of magic and held completely steady. Even more startling was when the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, mane groomed and ears perked high, poked her head around the other side, purple eyes wide as she leaned in and asked, “Oh my gosh, are you okay?”
“I, uh...”
Derpy rubbed her head and winced, and Twilight quickly trotted around the cart and helped her to her hooves. The pegasus’s ears drooped, as did her posture and she muttered out a, “I just don’t... I... I tripped and hit it, and-”
“It’s okay,” Twilight assured her sympathetically, and gestured to the desserts: miraculously, they were all still standing. “No harm done, Derpy.”
Derpy blew out a sigh of relief and muttered, “Thanks,” just as the scampering of clawed feet drew the unicorn’s attention.
“Twilight, what’s going on?” a young male voice inquired. “What happened?”
Around the cart came a small, dragon, purple-scaled with a green ridge of spikes down the center of his head and back, jogging quite quickly. His arms were laden with books and star maps, and he looked between Twilight and Derpy, his bright green eyes narrowed curiously.
“Nothing, Spike, it’s fine,” Twilight assured him. “We just had a little accident with the cart.”
She smiled and Spike looked between the two, his eyes focusing on Derpy. The pegasus smiled embarrassedly and said, “My bad. Thanks for the help, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Not a problem at all,” she said. “This all looks delicious. You and Pinkie made this?”
Derpy nodded and Twilight smiled widely; Spike looked at the cart curiously and after just a moment, licked his lips, eyes wide and bright.
“That looks great!” he said.
“There’s more with Pinkie Pie,” Derpy added, finally wiping her eyes.
“Guess we better get to the hill, then,” Twilight decided.
Derpy nodded and moved to hitch herself to the cart, only to have pink flash across her eyes. She wobbled, dazed, but when her vision settled, she was floored: she was surrounded now by a mess of other ponies near a set up of benches and tables, along with long, purple banners with glittering stars strewn all along them as if pulled from the sky itself. Twilight trotted off, a smile on her face and with Spike at her heels like nothing had happened, but Derpy dropped onto her rump clumsily, rubbing her head.
She was roused almost instantly, though, pink hooves lifting her up as she was squeezed into a tight, quick hug as Pinkie squealed, “There you are! Hitched a ride with Twilight, huh? Great idea!” The pony grinned widely at her and released, only to trot to the cart and pull it with her easily to join her own. It was a little ways past the tables, and ponies were already gathering to take some of the sweet treats. Though her head still hurt, Derpy’s heart swelled a little to see the smiling faces as ponies tried some of the food. She supposed the work had been worth it.
Derpy ruffled her wings happily and, finally, cast her gaze skyward. The night sky was almost violet and vibrant, with not a cloud to be seen and bright stars twinkling so wonderfully that the pegasus couldn’t bring herself to look away. Before she knew it, she had spread her wings wide; she caught herself, but let her feathers test the air nonetheless. She wanted to be up there but dared not take off. Half of Ponyville was on this hill, and for a once-in-a-decade event-- she didn’t want to crash into anything and make a mess of it for the others. Even so, she stretched her wings high up and then folded them close: it made her feel a little bit better.
She trotted across the grassy hill and took one of the muffins they had made earlier to snack on; a mare near the carts, yellow with a curly orange mane and a Cutie Mark of carrots to match, waved to her and said, “Great job, Derpy, the food is great!”
Derpy blushed and replied with a pleased and cheerful, “Thank you,” before continuing to take a walk around the festivities. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves so far. She took a seat on the hill a little ways away from the main event, letting her mind drift as she looked at the stars. A few ponies passed behind her, trotting excitedly up the hill to join the group. She was only snapped out of it as an elegant grey mare marked with a purple treble clef approached her, tossing her long, dark mane over her shoulder and steadying a cello case she carried on her back.
“Excuse me, might you point me in the direction of a Miss Twilight Sparkle?” the mare asked.
Derpy stared at her blankly for just a moment before turning to look at the crowd. She spotted Twilight with Pinkie Pie and a few other ponies just a little ways away. Along with her, chatting and laughing, were Rainbow Dash and a beautiful, pale grey unicorn, with a delicately curled purple mane and tail and a Cutie Mark of three blue crystals, named Rarity; she pointed them out quickly.
“Thank you,” the mare said with a nod, and trotted to meet with the unicorn.
Derpy watched curiously as the mare approached Twilight and introduced herself as Octavia. The purple unicorn beamed and shook her hoof gratefully, though her friends looked at her with puzzlement, and though out of the loop, Derpy did as well.
“I hired Octavia to give us a little bit of background music for tonight,” the unicorn said proudly. “She’s an excellent cellist, and bassist as well. She was at the Grand Galloping Gala, remember?”
“Oooh, I remember you!” exclaimed Pinkie.
The grey mare looked back at her rather stoically and replied, “And I, you.”
“Um, bit of a problem,” Rainbow Dash said a bit awkwardly. “Pinkie and I... We sort of... asked somepony else to do music too. Since you were so busy and all.”
The purple unicorn looked shocked and blurted, “Who?” and, with a grin, Pinkie darted into the crowd and emerged again with a yellow-white unicorn with a black Cutie Mark of two bridged eighth notes, eyes disguised under bright purple sunglasses. She brushed her wild, cobalt and cerulean mane out of her face as the other mare shoved her forwards. Derpy couldn’t help a snicker as Octavia, Twilight and Rarity looked a combination of baffled and surprised.
“Oh, hey Octy,” the new, pale unicorn said.
“Vinyl,” Octavia replied curtly.
“Oh good, you know each other!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Um, well, that’s great, you guys,” Twilight said awkwardly, “but I was thinking classical would go well with tonight.”
“But what about some cool electronic jams?” Rainbow insisted, elbowing Pinkie, who agreed with a nod. “That sounds really space-y.”
“You can’t be serious,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes. “This event is supposed to be elegant, Rainbow Dash, not... that. No offense.”
“None taken?” Vinyl replied a bit blankly, looking around the group.
“Oh, come on, Twilight,” the blue pegasus insisted, “you want this to be cool, right? No offense, Octavia.”
“Well, look, we need to pick one-” Twilight began.
Derpy couldn’t help but cut in with a quiet, “Why not both?” The six ponies looked at her in confusion and she felt herself blush.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said, “but... can’t they both play?”
They said nothing for a little while and the pegasus started to wish she hadn’t said a word, but before she knew it, Vinyl Scratch was grinning at Octavia.
“Mash-ups, eh? We can do that,” she said. “We went to music college together, we used to do that all the time.”
“Indeed,” Octavia agreed. “It shan’t be an issue.”
“Oh... Oh! Good! Great!” Twilight exclaimed. “If you could just get set up-”
“Got it covered, T,” the pale unicorn assured her, trotting off with a grin on her face.
“T?” Twilight repeated, raising her eyebrows as the two musicians left the group.
Pinkie and Rainbow Dash began to snicker and the pegasus flew to Derpy, saying, “Great idea, you eavesdropper,” with a wink. The grey pegasus smiled and shrugged, not really willing to admit she had meant they should take turns. She didn’t mind either way, though.
---
Night darkened and soon enough music began to echo over the hilltop; an interesting mix of classical and synth that really did sound “space-y”. Even Rarity seemed pleased. Derpy kept her spot, swaying, her ears perked and a smile on her face as she listened to the music, nibbling on a muffin quietly and watching the sky. Trickles of light were becoming visible and, within seconds, Twilight Sparkle’s voice rang out over the crowd loud and clear.
“The meteor shower will be visible in a minute and thirty-three seconds as I’m finished speaking. Look up, everypony!”
Derpy didn’t even have to be told once. Though the group gathered closer to Twilight, the pegasus didn’t move; didn’t want to get in anypony’s way. She counted the seconds and, precisely when Twilight had said, the sky lit up.
The sound of the crowd was in awe, and Derpy knew she was gawking. Streaks of flaming light sped through the sky, shining; cutting through the darkness as if it were merely a piece of cloth masking the sun. The meteor trails were soon alight with colour as well, radiating electric blues and brilliant golds against the backdrop of night. It made the pegasus’s heart drop and she felt herself beaming so much that her cheeks hurt. Tearing her eyes away was hard, but she did simply to observe the others, their faces set aglow by the light from deep space, their smiles and eyes bright. It made Derpy smile even wider. It was wonderful.
Half the town sat and stared in awed wonder for a good long while. Derpy had no idea how long she had been sitting in place, but the meteors were mesmerizing, and even through it all, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch still played on, a scene that felt completely outside of time. The pegasus’s tail wagged and her wings spread, reveling in the feeling. Only when the light finally began to dim and the meteors came only in small streams did the group begin to disperse back around the celebration area to sit or to eat, and some even to dance. Derpy caught a glimpse of Twilight from afar: the unicorn looked absolutely radiant with happiness and the pegasus felt very glad for her. She wondered how long Twilight had been planning this.
Derpy felt her stomach rumble and her cheeks pinked, and she got up, stretching her legs and wings that felt a bit atingle with pins and needles. Turning to crack her neck also had her notice something a little strange in the far off sky, though. In her wide peripherals, she noticed a small trail of dark against the night; this wasn’t alight like the meteors, though. It looked almost like smoke, trailing down to settle just outside the other edge of Ponyville. Curious, the pegasus turned around, squinting to get a better look, but the blue had vanished. Frowning with confusion, she tilted her head and was about to shrug it off when she felt a bit of a rumble through her hooves. She heard a few other ponies let out surprised sounds, but there was no commotion otherwise.
Derpy felt a spike of worry, drawing back involuntarily as she spotted a small, upwards spiral of what was definitely smoke from the other side of town. Turning back to the crowd, she was a little surprised that no one else seemed to notice. She gulped, still able to see it in the dark behind her and looked around to find Twilight. She spotted her smiling widely and chatting with the timid, yellow pegasus named Fluttershy who had her face half-hidden beneath her long, pale pink mane and a half asleep, white rabbit flopped over her back. She looked so happy that Derpy didn’t want to bother her. Nevertheless, she gulped and trotted up to the two. Before she could say a word, Twilight spotted her.
“Oh, hi! Hasn’t the night been just spectacular?”
She was beaming just about as bright as the stars. Derpy smiled and nodded, and the other pegasus turned to her and gave her a small smile.
“Hello, Derpy Hooves,” she said quietly. “Have you been having a good time?”
“I’ve been having a great time,” Derpy assured her, and then turned to the unicorn with her ears drooping apologetically. “I’m going to have to cut out a little early though-- I have work tomorrow morning. I just wanted to thank you for putting together something so nice for everypony.”
“Oh! Well, thank you for coming, and for your help!” Twilight replied.
The pegasus smiled and nodded, and then flared her wings, turned, and took off, pushing down a little guilt for the fib she had told.
Derpy tried not to rush, knowing her own accident-prone nature was often exacerbated by speed. Though anxiety had settled in her, she flapped her wings steadily, flying high across town. The wind made it easy to glide; she took a deep breath to steady her nerves and dipped a wing down so she dropped into a controlled, wide downwards spiral. Whatever had occurred was down below in a small clearing roofed by a canopy of branches from the trees rimming it, though the smoke was billowing up from a large, broken hole in the branches. Derpy squinted through, but past the shadows and smoke, it was incredibly hard to see what was really down there. The scent made her heart thud with panic and she gulped and, very cautiously, descended.
She had to backtrack just a little, unwilling to risk diving through the gap in the branches and she landed, stumbling just a little, on the grass just beyond the trees on the same side as town. She wondered if, perhaps, one of the meteors had crashed here. Looking up at the sky, it seemed much darker now; no more trails of light brightened the night. Gulping, she peered through the shadows and sighed, shifting on her hoofs for a moment, and then elected to investigate more closely. If it was a meteor, surely Twilight Sparkle would be interested.
Ears perked and alert, Derpy trotted through the trees, taking only a couple of minutes to reach the clearing from the ground. As the space opened before her, Derpy was met with a strange sight: faint smoke trails ebbed from a the entrance to a small cave that Derpy hadn’t seen from the the air. The scent stung her nose and she cringed, wings flaring; a sudden shuffle of movement caught her eye and she and Derpy reared backwards in alarm. When she steadied herself and took a deep breath, up on the tips of her hooves, she edged closer to the source of the movement with much trepidation.
To her surprise, there was a stallion sprawled in the grass on his side, his pale greyish-brown fur marred with dirt and his brown, scruffy mane in disarray. Derpy edged in closer, her mind racing with questions, but before she could even try to draw his attention, he began to shift and let out a quiet groan. The pegasus jumped and, her wings flaring wide, she hurried in closer, saying a quick and worried, “Hey!”
The stallion looked stunned, dazed, his eyes glossy and tearing as he struggled on the ground, unable to get his legs under himself. Derpy let out a quick, “Dear Celestia!” under her breath and knelt down before him, asking, “Hey, mister, are you okay?! Did something hit you?”
“I... I... don’t know,” the pony admitted.
His voice was a little strange, bearing an accent she didn’t quite recognize-- it sounded like that of Trottingham, almost, but a little smoother and had a tinge of something else she couldn’t place. He looked up at her with big, blue watery eyes and asked, softly, “Can you help me?”
Derpy couldn’t even fathom saying anything but, “Of course.” He looked relieved and she quickly added, “Can you get up? Do you need to go to the hospital?” The stallion’s limbs wobbled a little as he tried to get them under himself, but he could barely do a thing.
“I... I can’t walk,” he whimpered.
The pegasus bit her lip and slid her body up beside him and pulled his front limbs over her back. He let out a surprised, “Oh!” and she said, “Can you get up there?” He grimaced and, slowly, wormed his way over her back and, taking a deep breath, she stood. He was heavy-- heavier than she had expected, but she pretended it didn’t bother her and slowly began on her way back to town. Through her fur, she felt the stallion’s heartbeat. It was much too rushed, erratic, and it made her worry all the more.
“Do you know what happened?” she asked.
He shook his head and mumbled, “No,” but then quietly added, “Thank you. Are you sure you can-?”
“Y-Yeah, no worries,” she assured him.
Going was slow, and it hurt as well, but Derpy wasn’t even close to giving up. Clip-clopping across the bridge back into town with the stallion over her back was a huge relief, even though the hospital was still a little ways away. He was quiet now, though his breathing was ragged. Derpy could see him a little in her peripherals; he looked a bit sick.
“H-Hey,” she said, drawing his attention, “stay with me, okay? What’s your name?”
“My... My name?” he repeated, frowning a little. “I... Hmm... That is a good question, my friend.”
Derpy cringed, but before she could say another word, he perked up just a little and asked, “And you? What’s your name?”
“Oh! I’m Derpy Hooves. Or... You can just call me Derpy, that’s probably better,” she said.
“Derpy,” he repeated tiredly as he closed his eyes. “That’s a cute name.”
The pegasus smiled shyly, trying not to ruffle her wings in a pleased sort of way, instead holding them out sideways a little for balance as she crossed another small, stone bridge.
After just another moment, Derpy paused unwittingly, her ears twitching to the sound of distant voices; two, mares, coming closer in the darkness. The grey mare recognized the ponies quickly, one by her distinct rainbow mane and the other by the cowboy hat perched atop her head. Rainbow Dash fluttered above, snickering about something to do with the dragon that lived in the library whilst Applejack, the orange mare marked with three red apples on her flank, trotted below, blowing a strand of her blond mane from her face with a faint smile on her lips-- that is, until she noticed her. She paused in her steps, letting out an, “Uh,” as Rainbow Dash continued.
“Hey, Derpy,” before doing a double take and blurting, “Are you carrying somepony?”
“Y-Yeah,” Derpy replied a bit shyly, and the two ponies were with her in an instant.
“Who is he?” the other pegasus asked, but Derpy merely shook her head, ears drooping, and Rainbow folded her forelimbs to her chest, demanding, “You didn’t crash into him, did you?”
“No,” Derpy replied quickly.
Applejack let out a sharp, “Rainbow!” before turning a concerned eye on the stallion across Derpy’s back.
“Do you need some help with him, sugarcube?”
“I’ll be fine,” the pegasus insisted. “I’m just taking him to the hospital.”
She pointed, casting her gaze off in the distance; she could just barely see the silhouette of the hospital from where she stood. Her stomach dropped and she felt her knees go weak, but she tried to stay steady, even as the stallion seemed to weigh her down like a pile of sandbags. Both ponies looked at her skeptically, and Rainbow Dash sighed, holding out her forelimbs and beckoning to her, saying, “C’mon, give him here, I’ll fly him over in a flash.”
“What if you crash?” Applejack asked.
“What? I won’t crash,” the pegasus scoffed, and then motioned in an arc with her hoof. “I’ll just fly him over there real quick, no biggie.”
“I’m not sure that quick is what that pony needs,” Applejack said. “Steady seems much safer.”
She raised her eyebrow at the blue pegasus, who looked a little annoyed for a second before throwing up her hooves and saying, “Yeah, okay. Fine. I was just about to head home anyway. Later, A.J. Good luck, Derpy.”
Applejack smiled a little and then slid up beside Derpy, insisting, “I’ll carry him for you.” She had taken him onto her shoulders before Derpy could even protest, but with the weight gone, she couldn’t help a long, relieved sigh. The orange mare started on her way, carrying the stallion with almost no effort; Derpy was a little jealous and, though feeling utterly weak, trotted to keep up.
“If you don’t mind me askin’,” Applejack said, “how did you come across this... uh...”
She looked back at the stallion as if search for a name, but Derpy couldn’t answer the question she didn’t ask.
“He was hurt at the edge of the woods near the other end of town,” the pegasus replied. “He asked for help so I thought taking him to the hospital would be best.”
“And you don’t know how it happened? Do you know who he is?”
“No, I asked him his name and he said he didn’t know either.”
“Didn’t know his own name...” Applejack mused; she seemed troubled.
Derpy’s ears drooped low and she cast her gaze back at the unconscious stallion. His face was fixed in a grimace and Derpy’s heart went out to him. He looked like he was in pain. She didn’t take her eyes off him, even when she stumbled over a few rocks along the way-- at least, not until she heard Applejack say, “Well, will you look at that.”
Cautiously, Derpy looked ahead and was surprised to see that they were almost at the hospital and waiting in front was a tired, worried looking white mare, a nurse from the hospital, her pale pink mane back in a rough bun beside a gurney right outside the door. She pushed it a bit closer to meet them, staring at them intently through the dark.
“Applejack, is that you?” she asked. “And Derpy Hooves? What happened?”
“Not entirely sure,” Applejack replied, and she looked at Derpy with concern, asking a worried, “Well?”
“I just found this stallion lying on the ground outside of town,” she said, and hurriedly, the nurse pushed her gurney up to Applejack and gently helped pull the stallion onto it. “He said he couldn’t walk and couldn’t remember his name.”
“Rainbow Dash mentioned-- Oh my... What happened?” the nurse asked worriedly.
The grey pegasus was taken aback, but felt a little warmed to hear Rainbow Dash had been by.
“I’m not sure,” Derpy admitted, her ears drooping low. “Do you think one of the meteors could have crashed on him?”
“Sounds unlikely,” the white mare replied; she pulled a blanket up over the stallion. “Is he from town? Has anypony seen him around at all?”
“Not me,” Applejack said, and Derpy shook her head.
“Maybe just a traveler,” the white mare said quietly.
Applejack agreed, “I guess that could be it.”
Derpy bit her lip and her ears flopped downwards and she stared at the stallion; she jumped despite herself when the stallion shifted on the gurney a little and opened his eyes. He looked between the three mares with confusion and Applejack gave him a sympathetic smile.
“Don’t you worry, sugarcube, Nurse Redheart here’s gonna take good care of you,” she assured him gently.
The stallion looked between them curiously and nodded, though his eyes settled on Derpy and he said a tired, “Thank you.”
The pegasus’s eyes widened and she raised one front hoof, pawing the air a little as she said, “Hey, you’re gonna be okay now. If you need anything, just send for me, okay? Derpy Hooves, okay?” He blinked at her blankly for a moment and, for the first time, she saw him smile just a little and he nodded before flopping a bit more naturally down on the gurney.
“Just relax,” Redheart told him gently, and with careful hooves, began to wheel him away towards the hospital.
Derpy’s heart went out to the stallion as she watched him go. She couldn’t help but worry about him and her mind raced, wondering what in the world had happened to him. Was it even possible for a falling space rock to have hit him? Perhaps he was just a sick traveller. She was jarred from her thoughts, however, as Applejack elbowed her lightly in the side.
“That’s mighty big of you,” she said. “He’s not even really your responsibility.”
“I found him. I sort of feel like he is,” Derpy admitted.
She was surprised when the orange mare smiled at her, saying, “I’m sure I’d feel the same.”
She patted her on the shoulder and went to leave; she stopped and said, “Let me know how this turns out, y’hear?” Derpy nodded.
“Thanks for the help,” she said.
Applejack nodded and tipped her hat before walking off down the road.
Derpy sighed and looked back at the hospital, shifting on her hooves. She grimaced, but wasn’t sure what else she could do now. Sighing, tired, she rubbed her forehead-- it still hurt a little-- and then spread her wings, lifted off, and headed for home.
---
The streets of Ponyville were dark and quiet as Derpy headed home. Though usually she would revel in the cool, night wind running through her feathers, she couldn’t tear her mind away from the stranger in the hospital. She landed at her doorstep with only a small fumble and trotted tiredly inside. The house was dark and silent, and Derpy’s ears drooped. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes.
Who are you?
She folded her wings in tight and, rubbing her brow again, wandered through the front hall and up the stairs to her bedroom. She went straight to bed that night, wrapped snuggly in a pale blue blanket, wondering about the stranger in the clearing until sleep took her.
---
“- it figures. He was a total mess.”
“And no identification? Nothing?”
“Not a single thing. The ponies who found him didn’t even know. Isn’t there anything we can do?”
Ears twitched back and forth and slowly, the dark faded away to reveal two somethings talking in a white hallway. Furry bodies, cute, round heads with pointy ears, and long hoofed legs. One white; a second, yellow.
How interesting! he thought with a smile.
The yellow one sighed deeply and said, “I can have somepony bring a photo around soon. I just need to check a few things.” The white one nodded, sighed, and turned around to suddenly look shocked.
“You’re awake!” she exclaimed a bit shrilly.
“Yes, absolutely I am! Hope this isn’t too odd, but might I ask what you are?”
He felt a little rude asking, but he honestly hadn’t a clue. The white creature was clearly taken aback and she said, a bit confused, “I’m a... a pony. An earth pony. So are you.”
“An earth pony? Fancy that! What’s your name?”
“I’m... Nurse Redheart, I’m looking after you here-”
“At the hospital?” he asked.
“Yes, Ponyville hospital.”
The light brown earth pony, a little confused, tilted his head back and forth, and then rubbed his brow tiredly with a hoof.
“An earth pony at Ponyville hospital,” he repeated. “All right. Fair enough. Do you know my name?”
“No,” Redheart replied, and gently asked, “Do you?”
“Haven’t a clue,” he replied.
He wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t bother him too much. He pointed down the hall at the receding form of the other pony and said, “What’s he? He’s like you, but with a horn. Is he still a pony?”
“Yes. A unicorn,” the nurse replied.
She trotted to his side and rested a hoof against his forehead and then, gently, probed his skull. The stallion tilted his head a little to allow her greater access on the side she was inspecting.
“Are you feeling any pain?” she asked
“Not really. What about with wings?” he wondered.
Nurse Redheart pulled back to stare at him square in the face, eyebrow raised. He smiled back at her innocently and she sighed, muttering, “You really don’t know, huh?” He smiled, shrugged, and shook his head.
“A pegasus.”
“The grey one with wings is called a pegasus?”
“Grey one?” the mare repeated, confused.
The stallion stared at her blankly and wondered why he had said grey. He frowned and thought back, trying to recall, until she flashed through his memory. Blurry, grey, and with golden-yellow eyes, but sweet and helpful. The grey one with wings-- a pegasus.
“Yes,” the stallion replied, and smiled. “A grey pegasus helped me here.”
Redheart nodded and smiled a little, saying, “At least you remember that.” The stallion’s face brightened proudly and and he looked around, blinking in the light and taking in the room.
The walls were white and clean in his small room, and he sat in a bed covered by teal blankets. The curtains blocking the windows to the left of him matched them almost exactly, and he saw a fan stuck to the ceiling above him. It all felt a bit foreign, but he supposed it wasn’t too bad. The setting seemed friendly enough, and it smelled fresh and lively outside. The stallion felt his tail wagging on its own accord and he grinned to himself as the nurse checked a chart on the front of his bed. As she did, he stretched out his forelimbs before him, looking, pleased, at his light brown fur, though he felt a little damp. Perhaps they had bathed him for some reason? It didn’t much matter to him.
“Was I injured quite badly?” he asked.
“Heavy bruising over most of your chest and flanks, but nothing broken or dislocated, sir,” the nurse replied as she flipped through his chart, “and you were absolutely covered in mud.”
She replaced the chart in its holder and looked at him intently with her pale blue eyes.
“Now that you’re awake, I’d like to do a few more basic tests, if that’s alright with you,” she said. “The most pressing matter is that memory loss of yours.”
“It’s not too bad,” the stallion said with a shrug.
The mare replied with an expression that simply said, Seriously? before she reminded him, “You didn’t even remember you were a pony, sir.”
“That’s true,” he said with a laugh, “but I suppose what I meant is that I don’t mind all that much. In fact, this is sort of exciting for me.”
He grinned; the nurse didn’t seem nearly as enthusiastic and she turned to the hallway, saying, “I’ll be right back. Please don’t try to get up.”
The stallion was fine to stay still for now, and she was back within the minute with a small, white bag of equipment emblazoned with a small, red medical cross with a pink heart in each corner. It took the stallion a moment to realize that she had the same mark on her flanks and on the small, white cap she wore. He wondered what it meant. Perhaps the hospital’s logo, identifying her as a nurse?
As he wondered about it, she produced a tiny light and drew it close, shining it in his face. It was bright and stung a little, but he said nothing and she soon replaced the light with her hoof. The stallion watched the hoof pass back and forth before his eyes, and then the nurse checked inside his ears. It tickled and he couldn’t help a giggle and an apologetic smile. The white mare pulled back and then pulled a stethoscope forward and pressed it to his chest. He watched her curiously and she frowned, drew back and stared at the instrument for a moment before trying again, listening closely.
“Is something wrong?” the stallion asked curiously.
“How are you feeling?” Nurse Redheart asked, frowning with concern as she pulled back. “Any shortness of breath, weakness, chest pains?”
The stallion stared at her blankly for a second as he analyzed how he was feeling, and then shook his head.
“No. I’m a bit sore in some places, but I feel quite good otherwise,” he replied cheerfully.
The nurse looked a little confused, frowned, and said, “You have a very irregular heartbeat. I’m not sure what’s causing it. I should get the doctor-”
“Can you actually get that little grey pegasus? What’s her name? Derpy, I think she said,” the stallion interjected with an innocent smile on his face. “I’d like to talk to her now that I’m properly awake.”
“Derpy Hooves?” Nurse Redheart asked, seeming a bit perplexed, but she nodded and turned to head from the room. “I’ll send for her. I’ll also get the doctor to come see you.”
“Fine with me,” the stallion replied brightly.
Within seconds after she had gone, the stallion was breathtakingly bored. He leaned back in the quiet of the room for a moment, a rear hoof slipping out from under the covers as he tried to get comfortable. A few more minutes with no doctor appearing and the stallion was getting a little impatient. He felt fine and he really wanted to properly meet that pegasus. He kept seeing her face on the backs of his lids, a little blurred in his memory. In fact, thinking back on it, she was the first thing he remembered. He wasn’t sure why, or where his memory had gone; even if he had even had memories before that, but he supposed he must have-- either way, it felt important somehow.
A bit awkwardly, the stallion slipped out of bed and onto his hooves. He stumbled for a moment, knees weak and shaky. His hooves felt awkward and he almost slipped on the tile as he tried to take a step. He flailed around a little to get his balance, took a deep breath and tried to at least slide himself around the room. That didn’t work too well either and he was quickly acquainted with the specs of dirt on the tiled floor. Snorting at himself, he scrabbled on the tile to get his hooves under him and stood. He felt strange though, felt like he wanted more where his hooves were, but he brushed it off and took his first wobbly steps around the room. His legs felt weak and tired, but it wasn’t too bad. He peeked down the hallway from the open door; he still saw no one and, with a shrug, began a slow, careful walk down the hallway.
A sudden glimpse of another figure startled him still and he jumped with surprise, only to notice the other pony mimic him exactly. It took him a moment to realize that it was a mirror in a small room to his right. Relieved, he laughed at himself and curiously walked into the room. It had a weigh-station, a sink and a counter with some jars of swabs and other small resources inside along with the mirror, which he stood before curiously. His face was foreign to him, but it wasn’t unpleasant to discover it. He put a hoof to his cheek, squishing it carefully and then rubbed along his snout curiously.
“Well, would you look at that,” he said to himself, blue eyes brightening and ears perking up.
His eyes were drawn to the movement and he tilted his head from side to side, watching his ears with a grin on his face. His mane, however, perplexed him. It didn’t seem quite right, slicked back as it was. Sticking his tongue out a bit as he frowned and raised a hoof up, he messed around with it a little until a little of the forelock spiked forward a little and the rest was like a crest spiked backwards down his neck. He recognized something about that, though, and he grinned to himself and said, “Much better!” brightly.
He turned in place, inspecting his light brown fur and snickering at the sight of his tail, but he paused upon seeing the mark of an hourglass on his flank. Curiously, he poked it, wondering what it was and where it had come from. In the midst of his contemplation, he heard hoofsteps in the hall and curiously leaned out of the room to check; he was a little pleased to see Nurse Redheart, though she looked surprised to see him.
“Sir, what are you doing up?” she asked.
“Just taking a peek around,” he said, trotting out to greet her-- he felt a little more confident on his hooves now-- and he turned and pointed at the hourglass on his flank. “This mark on my rump, what is it? Have I been branded by someone?”
“What?” the nurse asked blankly. “You don’t remember what your Cutie Mark is?”
“My what mark?” the stallion asked in confusion.
“Your Cutie Mark,” Redheart repeated, and then put her hoof gently across his brow. “Your memory loss must be greater than I thought.”
“But what is a-?”
“It’s a mark you earn once you’ve discovered your special talent,” the mare explained with a sigh. “Is any of this ringing a bell?”
“Special talent?” he asked. “And mine is an hourglass? Perhaps making hourglasses? Or time? Telling time, wasting time, using my time wisely? Does the fact that it’s equally full to the top on both sides mean anything?”
Nurse Redheart stared at him, at a loss, before shaking her head, regretfully saying, “I can’t give you answers.”
“Ah, well that’s okay,” the stallion replied with a shrug, giving her a smile, “I’m feeling much better now. What should I do?”
“Go back to bed for now,” the nurse said gently. “I’ve sent an orderly to find your friend, and Doctor Stable will be with you shortly.”
“Do I have to?”
“You really should, sir.”
The stallion shrugged and nodded, trotting back to his room and plopping down on the bed. He was satisfied, so long as the grey pegasus would be coming to visit. Maybe she had some answers for him. Maybe not. Either way, he wanted to thank her.
---
A sharp, heavy knocking on wood roused Derpy from an unhappy slumber. She blinked groggily up at her ceiling, clutching her blankets to her, hoping it had just been part of a dream. Her body jolted at a second round of knocks and, sighing, tired, Derpy rolled out of bed and flopped to the floor. She shook her head to try to straighten her eyes out and then trotted to the window and opened the blue, weathered curtains wide. Squinting in the light, she pushed the window open with a creak and peered down to see a grey-blue stallion with a short, white mane and garbed in a white coat at her front door.
“Sorry, I’ll just be a minute,” Derpy called down.
She ducked back in, covering a yawn with her hoof before she trotted, steadying herself against the wall, down the stairs and to the front door. When she opened it, the stallion there looked her up and down curiously.
“Are you Miss Derpy Hooves?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm, that’s me,” she said; she was desperately trying not to yawn.
“A pony at the hospital is asking for you,” he said. “Don’t know who he is, but he’s asked for you by name.”
Derpy’s stomach dropped. She wasn’t sleepy any longer.
“Is he okay?” she demanded quickly.
“So, you know him?” the stallion asked.
“Sort of,” Derpy replied, “I’ll go right away.”
She had spread her wings and was off before the other pony could even ask her to wait.
Today, Derpy didn’t care much for looking good in front of other ponies. She banked a little strangely and veered in directions she didn’t mean to, but she was focussed on the hospital and, nonetheless, ended up there without any incident. Her breath short, she hurried inside and up to a reception desk right at the door where a pale pink pony, purple and white streaked mane up in a bun sat. Derpy trotted up quickly and said, “Um, sorry, excuse me,” rather quickly, but before she could say another word, the mare looked at her, eyes widening with concern.
“Checking in?” she asked worriedly.
“What? Uh, no,” Derpy replied, confused. “No. I’m here for... Um... There’s a brown stallion here who can’t remember his name, he asked to see me.”
“Stallion who-? Oh! Him!” the mare exclaimed. “You must be Derpy Hooves. Terribly sorry. Come with me.”
The mare led Derpy down a hallway to her right, rounded a corner and continue to the end, where there was a closed door with the number 13 on it. Gently, she knocked and then poked her head inside.
“Are you finished yet, Doctor?” she asked.
A male voice replied with a, “Might as well be."
“I have a miss Derpy Hooves to see him.”
She pulled her head out of the room and Derpy backed off to give her some space. She turned and was quickly followed out by a yellow unicorn stallion with a short, brown mane who was frowning with puzzlement past his glasses. They left without a word to her, and, a bit nervously, Derpy edged inside the room.
She was met with an infinitely more lively stallion than she had seen the night before, sitting on the teal hospital blankets in front of her. His fur was clean and his mane, though it seemed purposefully a little messy, looked much better than before. She couldn’t explain it; she was too relieved for words to see that he had made it through the night. His eyes were clear and blue and bright, and he stared at her, wide-eyed, for just a moment before he began to beam.
“You!” he said, “You really came!”
“Well... yeah, of course I did, you asked for me,” she replied a bit shyly.
“Yes, of course... Of course!”
He laughed and slid off the bed, though he wobbled and slipped a little-- Derpy rushed to his side and held him steady with a wing.
“Why, thank you very much,” he replied brightly, and to her surprise, he gave her a quick, warm hug. “You’re very helpful.”
“Uh... You’re welcome,” Derpy replied a little shyly, her cheeks flushing pink.
She waited until he was steady on his hooves before backing away, but to her surprise, he stared at her wings, utterly intrigued.
“So you can fly, then?” he asked.
“Yeah,” the pegasus replied. “Not... Not super well, but I can.”
“A pegasus who can’t fly well,” he repeated, eyes widening.
Derpy’s heart sunk and her ears drooped, and she wondered for just a moment if she had made a mistake, but to her surprise, the stallion smiled at her, ears perking high.
“Now that makes you very interesting.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” she replied quietly.
“Nonsense! Of course it does,” he assured her, and he hopped back and forth on his hooves a little. “Want to take a walk?”
“I dunno, are you sure you’re okay, mister?” she asked worriedly.
“Mister?” he repeated, seeming to completely miss the rest of her comment. “Mister seems too formal. Call me... hmm... call me...”
He tilted his ears back and forth and frowned, wracking his brain, and then his ears drooped a little and he laughed at himself, mumbling, “I guess now is one of those situations when having a name matters, isn’t it? Oh well.” He shrugged and grinned at her, but she looked worried.
“Anyway!” he said brightly, before she could say a word. “I wanted to thank you for last night. You really helped me out and I appreciate it very much.”
Again, Derpy was taken back and she smiled just a little, saying, “At least you look a lot better than you did.”
“I know!” he agreed, and he spun in place, jovial but still a little awkward. “Look, shiny, soft fur, a fun little tail, and this!”
He pointed to his Cutie Mark, a gold-based hourglass, full almost to the brim on both sides and stopped spinning, wobbling a little dizzily.
“This! I have no idea what this is for, but I kind of like it, what do you think?”
“You... You don’t know what your Cutie Mark is for?” Derpy asked.
Her heart sunk as he shook his head, but he didn’t seem perturbed even a little, like he didn’t even understand its significance. That fact made Derpy even more uneasy for him, but he seemed not to notice at all as he peered around her and said, “Bubbles! How nice! Does everyone have one?”
“What? Oh,” Derpy said, snapped out of thought, “most ponies get them when they’re young, so... eventually, yes.”
The stallion’s tail wagged and he said, “That’s so interesting!” He spun in place again and Derpy was worried for a moment that he would fall over, but this time he stopped when he faced her, grinning and he said, “Thank you for indulging me, Derpy Hooves. You’re lovely.”
“Uh... thank you,” she said, a little confused
“No, thank you! Do you mind if we keep talking?”
“No, I don’t mind,” she assured him, and then gave him a smile, “I said to get in touch with me if you needed anything, didn’t I?”
He perked up and his tail wagged quite quickly. He looked around, and then trotted to the window, a little more confident on his hooves now, and opened the curtains wide. He cringed in the bright sunlight, but stared out in awe for a moment before quickly beckoning Derpy in close. Curiously, she moved in beside him and looked outside. There was nothing spectacular, just a grassy fields and some trees. She looked at the pony with her brows raised, but he merely beamed, saying, “It’s so green!” excitedly. Derpy tilted her head.
“You’re acting like you’ve never seen grass before.”
He shrugged and grinned.
“Maybe I haven’t. C’mon, Miss Derpy, let’s go outside!”
He bounded away, wobbly, but with a bounce in his step and Derp whirled on him, calling, “Wait!” even though he was halfway down the hallway to the main lobby.
“Come on, Derpy Hooves! Outside! Let’s go!” he called back.
Derpy looked after him helplessly, sighed, and then trotted after him, saying, “Just be careful,” as she matched his pace.
“I will be,” he assured her.
The pink mare was absent from the reception desk, so the two ponies slipped out the front door unnoticed. The brown stallion stopped in his tracks as soon as the breeze hit him. His fur bristled and his ears perked up high, his head tilting in the direction of the wind. Derpy watched him curiously as he straightened and sniffed the air gently, and then he shot her a grin.
“This is lovely,” he said. “Thanks for coming with me.”
“Oh, well, you’re welcome,” the pegasus said with a small smile.
She ruffled her wings in the breeze and, beside her, the stallion began cautiously down the dirt road, looking all around him as he went. Derpy trotted for just a moment to keep pace, but he stopped again abruptly, looked at the grass, and then wandered over and plopped down contentedly. He grinned at Derpy and patted the grass beside him, and a little shyly, she sat down too.
“I was just wondering,” he said, peering at her intently, “do you know me?”
“No,” the pegasus replied a bit apologetically.
“Hmm...” he said, rubbing his chin. “Well that’s unfortunate. But you just found me on the ground, right? Where was that?”
Derpy pointed straight ahead, saying, “All the way at the other end of town. Just a few minutes outside of town, actually.”
“Really?” he said. “Can you take me there?”
“Once you’re all better, of course,” Derpy assured him. “I can take you all around Ponyville, if you’d like.”
The look on his face said that he didn’t really want to wait, but he sighed, smiled a little and nodded.
“Thank you. I’d like that,” he said. “Do you happen to know why I was there?”
“Not a clue,” Derpy replied, and gave him a tired smile, “I was going to ask you.”
The stallion laughed and shook his head, lying down on his belly and crossing his hooves, pushing his snout into the grass. He sniffed deeply and smiled to himself; Derpy tilted her head to the side and watched him curiously.
He certainly was odd, but she sort of liked his enthusiasm about everything. He looked up with wide eyes as a small group of birds flittered above and he pointed at them, asking, “What are those?”
“Birds,” Derpy replied.
“They have wings like you do.”
He smiled brightly and then laughed, looking embarrassed, “Sorry, I don’t mean to ask so much of you.”
“I don’t mind,” Derpy assured him quickly. “You really didn’t recognize a bird?”
“No, I didn’t even know what I was,” he laughed.
Derpy stared at him blankly for a moment, but when his face revealed nothing more, she asked a straight, “Seriously?” He nodded.
“You seriously didn’t know you were a pony?” she asked.
“Seriously. I didn’t.”
Derpy leaned back, frowned a little, and said, “huh,” a bit blankly. She didn’t know what to make of the news at all. She didn’t understand how he was in such high spirits with his mind so obviously scrambled. Hesitating for a moment, she put a gentle hoof to his shoulder, saying, “You okay? With not remembering, I mean.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I don’t know what I’m missing,” he said, sticking his tongue out jokingly.
“But what if you have a family, or friends out there worried about you?”
“Hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted. “But if that were the case, why would I be out there alone? I didn’t have anything with me, right?”
“That’s true,” Derpy admitted.
She sighed, her ears twitching back and forth as she wondered about where he could have come from, and what was wrong with him. She was roused from thought, though, when she heart a female voice shrilly call, “Sir!” from behind them.
Stretching the view of one eye, she was startled to see Nurse Redheart rushing from the hospital to meet them as the stallion turned to give her a smile.
“Hello!” he said.
“We were worried sick,” Redheart said sharply.“Come back inside. We need to take your photo and you should not be...! You don’t want to exacerbate your condition, do you?”
“Honestly, I feel fine,” he insisted, but Derpy gave him a look of worry, her heart sinking.
“What condition?” she asked.
“It’s nothing--” he began
“He has an irregular heartbeat," the nurse said, cutting him off. “It’s not nothing, it could be very serious.”
Derpy gulped and felt a chill run down her spine, and immediately she got up and lifted the stallion by his shoulders.
“I didn’t know,” she said quietly; apologetically.
He snickered and replied with a bright, “Because I didn’t tell you.”
“You should go back inside,” she insisted.
“Will you come visit again?”
“I promise I will.”
The stallion grinned, ears perking and he asked, almost timidly, “Would you...? Would you mind, maybe, thinking of a name for me?”
“What?” Derpy replied a bit blankly, but before the stallion could say another word, Nurse Redheart circled him.
“You can talk with Miss Derpy again tomorrow, okay? Come on inside, now.”
“Oh, fine. But I really am okay,” he insisted, though he let her lead him away anyway. “See you later, Derpy Hooves!”
Derpy waved at him until the hospital doors closed behind him.
Alone again, Derpy took a deep breath, only now, in the quiet, realizing that her own heartbeat was frantic. Could it have been something to do with his irregular heart that had caused the nameless stallion’s condition? Worry made her feel cold all through her bones and she bit her lip, but tried to think of the positive. He was at the hospital now, and they would take good care of him. She still felt like he was her responsibility, and was surprised to find herself feeling a little protective of him. However, the thought that he wanted wanted her to name him made her giggle despite herself. Her wings fluffed and flared, and she took off into the sky and circled in a calm glide. After a moment, she decided she should keep her word to Applejack from the night before. The warm, rising current above town carried her up and her heart soared with her, and she circled again, flying in a loop and heading towards Applejack’s place just outside of town, Sweet Apple Acres.
It didn’t take long, gliding over town to come upon the hilly, beautiful orchards that Applejack and her family tended almost all year round. Weaving in the wind, Derpy’s eyes scanned for a pony she recognized amongst the trees below. She inevitably veered off course, but tilting her wings in the wind, she dipped a bit lower and saw a spec of orange below through the branches and leaves.
“Applejack?” she called.
After just a moment, she heard, “Down here, sugarcube!” and, quickly, Derpy banked low, narrowly missing the treetops, and then dropped down between two trees, making a quick landing a few feet away from Applejack. The orange mare was standing near a large basket of freshly bucked apples and gave her a smile.
“Hey there, Derpy Hooves!” she said brightly as she trotted up to meet her, “What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to thank you again for the help last night,” the pegasus replied. “That stallion-- he’s okay, now. I just thought I’d let you know. And... Yeah, thank you very much.”
“Well shucks, Derpy, it was nothing,” the mare said, smiling bashfully. “Glad to be of help!”
She put a hoof to the pegasus’s shoulder and tilted her head, giving her a sympathetic smile.
“Have trouble sleepin', sugarcube?” she asked.
Derpy was startled and tried to read Applejack’s face to figure out how she knew-- it only took a moment for the pegasus to remember she hadn’t cleaned up at all this morning. She smiled embarrassedly and rubbed one eye with a hoof, and then smoothed her mane out a little as she said, “Yeah, I guess I was kind of worried most of the night.”
“That’s awful sweet of you,” Applejack said with a smile, though suddenly her ears perked up high and she held up a hoof. “Wait just a sec.”
Considerate as ever, Applejack gently tossed three apples to Derpy’s right side. She caught them in a wing, but before she could even ask, Applejack said, “These are as fresh as they come! They’ll perk you right up!” She grinned with a certain sense pride and Derpy clutched the apples close.
“Thank you so much!”
Derpy was touched, and Applejack shot her a wink as the pegasus shifted the apples to one her right forelimb. Applejack’s expression changed rather quickly, though, as her gaze was drawn upwards by a small shift in the light. Derpy’s eyes followed hers; she turned and was surprised to see dark, black clouds drifting in slowly from the distance.
“Huh, Rainbow Dash didn’t say a thing about rain today,” the orange mare said with a puzzled frown, rubbing her head under her hat.
Derpy hadn’t heard anything about rain either.
“That is weird,” she agreed.
Applejack sighed and blew a bit of her mane from her face.
“Well... Guess I better start packing it in, if that’s the case,” she said.
“Oh! Do you need any help?” Derpy asked, but Applejack quickly shook her head.
“That’s sweet of you, but you should probably get home. Don’t want to be out flyin’ in that.”
She nodded at the blackened cloud and Derpy couldn’t help but agree. She lifted off just a little, clutching the apples close and said, “Thanks again.”
“Anytime,” Applejack replied with a tip of her hat.
The air felt heavy and prickly with electricity as Derpy took off, even though the dark storm clouds were still a little ways away. It was odd for her not to have been given any notice about a storm being brought in.
She hurried home on careful wings, trying not to worry and pondering a bit absently over some names for the brown stallion-- Hourglass? Time Glass? Sand something? -- and went inside, trying not to drop her apples. She found a notice in her front hall and bent to take it, but she was surprised to see it wasn’t about the weather. Instead, it was a work request for her to fly to Cloudsdale tomorrow and deliver some parcels to Ponyville. Derpy wagged her tail and brought the note in with her to the kitchen. A trip to the floating, cloud city of Cloudsdale was always exciting for her.
She ruffled her wings, pleased, and put two apples on the kitchen counter, taking a bite out of the third and wandering to the bathroom. One look at herself and she knew exactly what Applejack had been talking about. She stretched one of the dark circles under her eyes with a hoof and laughed tiredly at herself. She quickly washed her face and straightened her mane, but was suddenly struck with a deep sense of embarrassment. She was surprised that the stallion at the hospital hadn’t said a word about how bad she looked. She snickered again despite herself and shook her head, muttering, “Oh, Derpy, you goof.”
She went back to the living room, moving her turntable off the desk to the sofa and shoved an armchair across the room to sit at. Paper and pencil took a little while to find, but once she did, she settled down in the armchair comfortably and began to jot down name ideas. She hoped none of them were too silly.
---
At the hospital, the next few rounds of tests were taking too long for the brown stallion’s tastes. They mostly amounted to taking some specially enchanted pictures, explained to see through the skin and just to the skeleton. They explained they were looking for any fractures they may have missed, but they didn’t find a thing. In fact, the photos seemed to have malfunctioned; the nameless stallion’s bones appeared much too dense. Doctor Stable had no explanation, and even after several repeats the problem wouldn’t clear. The brown stallion didn’t mind. He could only assure them so many times that he felt fine.
The nurse took a few ordinary photos as well; told him they were to send out between cities to see if anyone recognized him. He supposed someone must, somewhere beyond Ponyville. However, he didn’t want to wait and find out. As nice as the nurses were to him, he couldn’t wait to explore the town, and spending more time with Derpy Hooves was also a happy prospect. He was curious about her; curious about what she knew, and curious as well about what she would name him. He hoped she had taken him seriously when he had asked.
Sitting in the bed, bored again, he wiggled his back hooves in the air, staring out the window beside him. The sky was getting a little dark with clouds as the day pressed on, and he watched the sky change curiously. He didn’t pay much mind as Nurse Redheart entered his room again, at least not until she said, “I can’t believe these pictures.” The stallion looked at her curiously; she was holding another set of the photos of his skeleton-- his skull, more specifically-- and she showed them to him. Once more, the bones seemed much too thick.
“This can’t be accurate, can it?” she asked. “You wouldn’t know if you have any condition, I suppose.”
“Sorry,” the stallion replied with an embarrassed smile.
She sighed and said, “We’d like to keep you here for observation for a few days.”
“A few days?” he repeated, eyes widening. “But--”
“It’s for your own good.”
She looked at him sternly and he slumped, nodding. The nurse’s face softened and she gave him a sympathetic smile before she left the room, closing the door gently.
The stallion bit his lip and, after a few moments of quiet, slipped out of bed and edged to the door. He leaned his ear up close to it cautiously, though didn’t hear anything but very distant hoofbeats. He grinned to himself and rushed away to the window. He flipped a simple latch, pushed, and it was open. His tail wagged and, with a hop, he shoved his front half through the window and tumbled out onto the grass below.
Grinning from ear to ear, the stallion righted himself and looked around. As Derpy had pointed out, the town was just down the road. His legs were still a little weak, but he was getting faster; he trotted down the path and into town as quickly as he could. With the wind blowing though his mane and the sweet air in his nose, he walked with a bounce in his step.
The town rose up past the hills to greet him soon enough. The buildings, tall and friendly, were strange to him but he liked them nonetheless. Other ponies roamed the streets, cheerful, chatting, and as he pressed inwards into town, shopping as well. Eyes wide, the stallion looked with the utmost curiosity at stands in a market selling food the likes of which he had never seen. Everything was so brightly coloured and vibrant that it made his spirits soar just by looking. He wanted to meet every pony he saw, learn about their ‘Cutie Mark’ and ask the name of every food at every stand. He didn’t want to do it without Derpy, though.
In fact--!
The brown stallion glanced around quickly and picked out the closest pony to him, a yellow, winged pony with a pale pink mane that was long over one side of her head and a long, whimsical tail, standing at a stand and inspecting small, red objects that smelled very sweet. He trotted up to her quickly and said, “Hello!” brightly. To his surprise, she yelped and jumped, whirling, wings flaring as she stood nervously on the tips of her hooves. Her cyan eyes were wide and panicked, and the stallion smiled apologetically.
“So sorry to startle you!” he said, tilting his head. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” the pegasus squeaked, taking a deep breath and she seemed to relax just a little. “Wh-What did you-? Um... Sorry, was I in your way?”
“Not at all!” he assured her. “I was wondering if you happened to know another pegasus named Derpy Hooves? I don’t seem to know where she lives.”
“D-Derpy Hooves?” the yellow pegasus repeated, confused.
She relaxed a little more and said, “What do you need Derpy Hooves for?”
“She’s my friend,” he replied, ears perking, “But I can’t seem to find her.”
“She just left you?”
“Oh, no, I just got out of the hospital.”
The pegasus’s eyes widened and she drooped a little, her wings pressing in tightly to her side. She said, very softly, “Follow me. If, um... If you don’t mind,” and began to walk from the market. Happily, the stallion followed behind her, and she lead him to the edge of a market and pointed up the road that seemed to continue for a while between two rows of houses.
“If I remember right, she lives near a corner street,” she said, “that way, a small house on the left side. Across from a house with tons of pretty flowers.”
“Ah!” he said, “Thank you very much!”
He gave her a quick hug before bouncing off on his way, not noticing at all that the yellow pegasus had frozen with utter shock to the spot.
It didn’t take long at all for the brown stallion to come upon a small home that he recognized immediately as Derpy’s, mostly because he could see her through the open window as she sat at a small desk, writing.
“Hey, Derpy Hooves!” he called.
Derpy looked up from her work with shock and her eyes locked with his through the window. Her jaw dropped while he grinned and waved at her.
Stunned, Derpy rushed from her seat to the front door and threw it open, demanding, “What are you doing here?!” worriedly.
“I came to see you, obviously,” he said, sticking his tongue out at her.
“Well, yeah, but what are you doing out of the hospital?” she asked, “You can’t have been discharged already!”
“No, they kept trying to take magic photos of my bones and then saying they weren’t working,” he tried to explain. “The photos, I mean. So I got bored. I went out the window.”
Derpy gawked at him and put a hoof to her forehead.
“You have to go back,” she said tiredly.
“Why? They’re not getting anything new figured out,” he said, tilting his head. “It’s been hours.”
“It’s not just that,” Derpy said, shaking her head, and worry tugged at her heart. “They said there was something wrong with you. I just don’t want you to get sick out here.”
“I’m fine,” he assured her, “Can I come in?”
Derpy didn’t know what to say. She would love for him to stay a little, but her caution overtook her wants.
“No, you have to go back,” she said.
She darted back inside, and though her heart thudded with guilt, she closed the door tightly.
“Aw, come on, Derpy Hooves!” he said, knocking with his hoof. “What are you doing? Can’t we at least talk for a little?”
She grimaced and shook her head to herself and hurried away from the door and back to the living room. The stallion hopped up to the window and the pegasus sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“Go back to the hospital!” she insisted.
“Aw, c’mon, just let me in for a little while,” he said, grinning through the window.
Derpy rolled her eyes and closed it gently, saying, “Please go back,” as she did. She turned back to her list, but was startled by warm breath through her mane. She turned, wide eyed and cried out a “Gah!” as she saw the stallion leaning over her, blue eyes wide, bright and curious. He yelped and jumped back as a reply.
"How did you get in here?!” she demanded.
“Not entirely sure,” he said a bit absently. “Are those my names? Are you really coming up with names for me?”
“Well yeah, you asked me to, right?” Derpy said a little shyly.
She felt herself blush as she regained herself, but the stallion’s face lit up and he grinned widely, his tail wagging enthusiastically.
“Brilliant! Well? What have you thought of?”
Derpy pulled the list off her desk and felt a sudden sting of embarrassment; she wondered if he would like them. She hoped he wouldn’t think it was stupid. Hesitating, she fumbled a little and said, “There’s... There’s quite a few.”
“Start with your favourite,” he said.
“Oh, well... I liked ‘Time Turner’ best-”
“Perfect,” the stallion replied immediately.
Derpy stared at him blankly and he smiled back; she pointed to her list a bit awkwardly.
“Seriously?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Time Turner. I like it. I like that quite a bit, actually,” he said, and then announced rather proudly, “I’m Time Turner!”
He paused, ears twitching and perking up, and then he nodded.
“Perfect,” he said again. “Thank you very much, Miss Derpy!”
Derpy stared at him for a while again and then sighed, rolled her eyes and smiled, crinkling her list between her hooves.
“Time Turner it is.”
The stallion smiled cheerfully, his tail wagging, and he leaned forward towards her, inclining his head.
“Do I really have to go back to the hospital?”
She tapped her cheek as she considered it and he pouted, ears drooping, and finally, Derpy caved.
“No, you can... I guess you can stay here,” she said, “but just watch yourself, I don’t want that heart thing of yours coming back to bite you on the rear. First sign that something’s going wrong and you go straight back, okay?”
Time Turner beamed and hopped up and down excitedly, saying, “Thank you!!” loudly. Derpy smiled tiredly and rubbed her brow before slipping out of her chair and stretching her wings. He watched with much interest and she left, heading for the kitchen-- he followed closely.
She grabbed one of the shiny, red apples from the counter and offered it to him. He cautiously took it and sniffed it, then licked it and made a crinkly face at the taste of the peel.
“It’s an apple,” Derpy said. “A fruit. Grows on trees. You have to bite into it. Ringing any bells?”
“Just a little,” he admitted. “Not specifics, just the food on trees parts.”
He took a bite of it a bit awkwardly and then let out a pleased, surprised, “Mmmm!” Derpy grinned and started looking through the kitchen, fishing around for the remnants of the muffins she had baked yesterday morning.
“It’s from the farm just outside of town. Applejack-- the pony who helped me carry you to the hospital-- her family grows them. Best apples in Equestria.”
“Equestria...” Time Turner repeated.
He turned the name over in his head. It wasn’t familiar at all. He took another bite of the apple, a bit more confidently now. Aside from the peel, he really liked it.
“Thank you for this,” he said.
“No problem,” she said; she found them in the fridge and she carefully held one out to him. “You must be hungry.”
He looked at it curiously, and then looked at her as he took it, asking, “And this is?”
“A muffin. Baked. Um... Kind of sweet. I really like them,” she said with a shrug. “Hope you do, too.”
“Thanks,” he said again; he finished off the apple quickly before taking the muffin.
Derpy traded it for the apple core to put in the trash and Time Turner tried the muffin tentatively. His eyes lit up immediately.
“I like this even better than the apple!” he said brightly.
Derpy couldn’t help a grin and she said, “Great!” and then cast a glance out the window. That large cloud was starting to shade the streets, and the pegasus supposed it really was planned for today. The others wouldn’t have let it stay so long otherwise.
“Want to take a look around town before it starts raining?” she asked.
“That sounds perfect!” Time Turner agreed.
Derpy grabbed her messenger bag and a small bag of bits before the two ponies headed back outside. The street was mostly clear, though across the road, Daisy was setting up little parasols over her delicate flowers. Time Turner was alert and bouncy on his hooves now as Derpy took him around town. The pegasus thought it was funny how quickly he had relearned to walk after whatever had happened; it made her smile. As the day grew a little darker, she took the brown stallion all around town, pointing out the market and Sugarcube Corner, town hall, the library, and even took him down a few of the less interesting side streets at his insistence. He wasn’t super chatty at first, spending most of his time staring at his surroundings with utter amazement and curiosity. Derpy named anything he couldn’t for him, pointing out butterflies, frogs, fish and all the foods at the market as well.
Time Turner was very pleased with the development, his brain sorting and filing all the new words he was learning. Strange, wonderful creatures were all around him in this place. Derpy, especially, fascinated him. The pegasi were interesting to him-- their wings were a whole extra set of limbs that the other ponies didn’t have. They didn’t even have a substitute. Her eyes also drew his attention. When he looked at the other ponies, he saw both eyes work together, but with Derpy, instead, her left one often moved independently. He wondered, a bit worriedly, if it were an injury of some kind. He hoped it wasn’t his fault.
As the sun started to set, the dark clouds overhead weren’t breaking up, which seemed to perturb his new friend and they began to head home, with Derpy promising to take him around more in the future. It wasn’t until they were almost back at her house when Time Turner decided to ask, “Derpy?”
She replied with a casual, “Hmm?”, and the stallion almost felt guilty for asking, but he gulped and did so anyway.
“Your eye-?”
Derpy felt a twinge of shame and irritation, and she replied with a quick, “What about it?” The stallion tilted his head one way, and then the other, letting his ears flop.
“I didn’t do that, did I?” he asked worriedly.
Derpy had to stop in her tracks and she looked at him, wide-eyed and baffled.
“Why would you-? No. No, I was born with it.”
“Oh. Okay. I’m sorry, I was just worried that I might have... struck you, or something, in my sleep,” he said. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes, and he smiled shyly.
“Sorry. Just wanted to be sure. It’s just that no other ponies have it,” he said.
“Yeah,” Derpy agreed, though she was starting to feel a bit self-conscious. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Oh! Okay, sure,” Time Turner said, and repeated, “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” she assured him.
They reached home quickly and, with Time Turner following her like a curious foal, she made a quick dinner of fruit salad for them as night set in. His constant questions had calmed a bit, and he was finally starting to get tired. She wasn’t surprised at all to see the stallion flop like a sack of potatoes once she had gotten him acquainted with the sofa and a thick, warm blanket.
Derpy felt much the same. She had had a very odd night, and an even odder day. Sleep, she decided, would be a wonderful idea, especially since she had work early the next morning. Stretching her wings up, Derpy went to the windows and made sure they were all closed, and then shut the curtains after taking a peek outside. The storm clouds were still there, but not a drop of rain had been shed. She hoped it wasn’t an early arrival that was scheduled for tomorrow. Flying through thunderheads could be fun, but it was also quite dangerous. She yawned and headed upstairs to bed, closing those curtains as well and flopped onto her mattress. She was asleep within seconds.
---
Derpy Hooves awoke the next morning to the a sound like distant thunder with the horrible, sinking feeling that she had overslept. She rolled out of bed quickly and, blinking sleep from her eyes, grabbed her messenger bag and threw it over her shoulder swiftly, rushing to the kitchen to check the clock. She grimaced as she saw that she was absolutely right. With an, “oh no, oh no, oh no,” she rushed around the house, gathering her things and trying to find her hat.
In the living room, Time Turner stirred and opened his eyes groggily to watch her as she looked around the chair she had moved and down the hall.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m late for work and I can’t find my hat,” she said a bit shrilly, “Have you seen it? It’s... blue, with a visor and a little gold shield shape on the front.”
The other pony stared at her blankly and shook his head; the pegasus bit her lip and scratched her head, peeking out into the hallway, saying, “I could’ve sworn I put it th-” before a rumble through the ground sent her stumbling and flopping to the floor.
“Earthquake?” she whinnied.
In the living room, Time Turner leapt up immediately and stood precariously on the back of the couch in alarm. A second rumble sent him toppling from his perch, but he was up again in an instant as Derpy stumbled into the the room. Hurrying on wobbly legs, the stallion checked out the window past the curtains. Derpy heaved herself up off the ground and saw his eyes widen and his jaw dropped and he took a hesitant step back.
“I think it might be best you don’t go to work today, Miss Derpy,” he said.
“What? Why?” she asked blankly.
Gulping, Time Turner cautiously pulled back the curtains and stepped back with cautious slowness to his steps.
The window was blocked completely by what looked like a wall of thick, crackly grey stone-- that is, until it blinked, a huge, emerald, reptilian eye staring in, pupil dilating as it stared into the room. Derpy’s whole body froze and she felt like she could just faint dead away on the spot. Whatever it was staring in at them lifted up, a huge head and the lower jaw following-- a rumble like an earthquake trailed behind and, before she knew it, Time Turner grabbed one of her hooves to pull her from the room. She thought she heard him shout, “Run!”, and they did.
They ran like their tails were on fire, just as the front of Derpy’s house collapsed with the force of a rockslide pounding it inward.