//------------------------------// // Day four: Party from memories // Story: Melting a cold heart // by Inferno demon Dash //------------------------------// By day four, Doctor Whooves had known as much about Derpy Hooves as he could; while cold, she was as gentle as she could be to her little sister. As much as a smart mouth she was, she showed a softer side to those she cared about. She often told the Doctor about her friends like Carrot Top, whose real name was Golden Harvest and Berry Punch, who, as she often got drunk, was as much role model to her little sister, Piña Colada, as she could. “I don’t have many friends. You can see why, obviously, but for those that are, I try to be there for them if they are there for me,” Derpy Hooves said in a calmer voice than usual to the Doctor while drinking from an entire bottle of hard cider. The Apple family, she had informed him, started bottling the alcohol on request of Princess Celestia. Derpy was drunk—shit-faced was perhaps the better term—which was why she was ‘pouring her heart out’ to the Doctor on the evening of the third day after he had his talk with Dinky. The two sat on the couch while she talked. Her first intention was to get a cigarette in her drunken state, but she had changed direction and sat by the Doctor who was reading from a magazine about decent designs of wallpaper and curtains—once he had gotten the apartment, of course—and she started to just talk. The Doctor listened to her words with high intent, ignoring her breath as she got close to his own to make her point and hoping he got the point, even though she would not remember her words. She told him of everything from her past: getting addicted to drugs with a pure white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane every Friday, letting Rarity or even Fluttershy take care of Dinky while Derpy snorted cocaine and got drunk with the mare, sometimes even having Rainbow Dash come over and try to stop her from continuing down her dark path. That often ended in a physical fight that Derpy won in her hazed state, the fourth time they fought even forcing Vinyl Scratch to kick her out of her house due to destroying much of her home in the brawl. “After I got kicked out, I understood finally what Rainbow was trying to tell me; that I was hurting my sister emotionally and mentally, if not physically. I was hurting the only pony that would always be there for me… I was becoming just like my father.” Derpy sniffed, her ego wounded. With a hiccup, she turned away from the stallion before he could lay a hoof in comfort her. The Pegasus used her tail to grab a cigarette, putting it in her mouth before grabbing a match and lighting it. Lighting the smoke, she inhaled deeply before she exhaled out her nose, her eyes closed as the Doctor saw a single tear slide down her left eye. Wiping her eye with a hoof, Derpy rolled over, landing on her wooden floor. With a sigh, she said, “So after that, I gave it up, as much as I could. My soul will never be pure like my sister’s. I’ll always have sin, but at least I’ll do the best I can to always be there for my only family. Thanks, Doc… I guess you can do more than just be a lazy, dumb ass stallion. I’m going to bed; you can have the rest of the cider, if you want,” she whispered and turned away, her tail swishing slowly before she walked up the stairs. While she had not allowed the Doctor to say one word, he had been there for her in her time of need. Certainly that meant something, right? The Doctor looked at the little amount of cider the mare left him and ignored it, his mind wandering with how lucky he was. He had found the Gods, they have saved his soul and he had never wished to get into the drugs that Derpy herself had. He was fine with a drink every once in a while, but never had as much as the Pegasus herself. With a loud sigh, he put the blanket over himself and drifted off to sleep, praying to Princess Luna in her realm above that maybe one day, Derpy could finally get rid of her dark past that followed her with every hoof step she took. The next morning was one that surprised the stallion; not by what Derpy was exactly doing, but by what she was creating before his eyes. He had woken up later then he expected and saw the gray furred mare making muffins, her tongue out in constriction and her eyes narrowed as she whisked the batter to make oat muffins, a freshly made batch of red velvet with cream cheese swirled atop them. There were six in all and another of carrot to the side of her, cooling off. Her eyes—well, her right to be exact—looking at him in annoyance as her left slid upwards, she scowled. While she turned back to her batter, the Doctor’s mind flashed back to the night before and her heartfelt confession of guilt, which chained her soul from finding peace with herself or love, for that matter. “What, you want to say something, or just stand there like an idiot?” her snarling voice snapped him out of his mental thoughts, making him sigh. Well, it’s clear she does not remember our conversation. A shame, really, but she was drunk, he thought before slowly trotting up to her, looking at the desserts she prepared. For what purpose was unclear to him, though. “It’s nice to see you cooking again,” he spoke up, wincing and slightly cursing himself for the way he said it as her face looked up in anger, her teeth gritting before she spat. “Why? You think all mares should only be in the kitchen making food for you to have or in the bedroom for you to impregnate and take care of your babies? Buck you!” she hissed. He stepped back in shock, used to her rage, but he had not meant to insult her. He had only meant to tell her she was doing a good job, though she had taken it the wrong way. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to insult you, and no, I do not think the same as many stallions. I know that all mares can do just the same as stallions, I only mean-” “Doc, if you’re here to just watch me bake like some sort of damn stalker, then get out of my kitchen. Otherwise, shut the buck up and go get the Blueberry mix and help me. I’m not going to have you stand there while I cook; you’ll just get on my nerves,” she demanded, and he went to do as ordered and helped her prepare the next batch for the oven. Fifteen minutes of silence was all that was in the house before the stallion took a chance and decided to speak, choosing his words carefully to not offend Derpy. “So… what's with all the muffins?” he asked cautiously. The mare ignored him for a few seconds. Derpy poured her mix into six separate muffins slots and put the gray tray in the oven. After that, she walked over and got the dry banana mix, two eggs, milk, and she watched the bowl she had used before mixing the ingredients and making the new batch of muffins. “For a party Rainbow Dash is having to celebrate her relationship with Applejack. You’ll meet them later after the damn storm is over, which should be in a few hours. Apparently they have confessed their love to each other for a while, but Rainbow wanted to wait until after the storm to have the party. I get paid by the Cake family for bringing this and more muffins to their shop, so you know… a few more bits are always a good thing, right?” she replied causing the Doctor to nod with a smile as the two worked in silence for a half an hour. After making three more trays of the same type, they washed their hooves then sat down. They each tried one, Derpy taking a red velvet and the Doctor, blueberry while drinking milk. Derpy lit a cigarette and blew the gray smoke away from the stallion, which surprised him. “Thanks for the help, Doc; it would have taken me an hour to make them by myself,” Derpy said shyly. For once, her cold nature gone, replaced by a gentler, almost sweeter voice, nearly causing the Doctor to choke on his muffin. He swallowed, though, as he looked at the mare, who glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. She inhaled and exhaled her cigarette from her nose. “You're… you're welcome, um, Derpy,” he answered, a bit uncomfortable with the almost caring way Derpy Hooves was speaking to him, silently wondering if the mare was drunk again. “You’re welcome… just don’t get used to it, Doc,” Derpy added in her more usual, snippy tone, before putting out her cigarette in the ashtray on the table and getting off her chair, finishing her muffin and milk. Using her tail to grab the glass and deposing it in the sink, she walked out of the kitchen. The Doctor sighed, and with a smile, ate the rest of his muffin. He was able to put his own glass in the sink before a small gray furred filly entered his vision and caused him to grin. “Oh, muffins!” Dinky squealed before taking one of the red velvet and taking a bite. With a large smile, she licked the cream cheese that had appeared on her snout and looked at the stallion in front of her. “Hi, Doctor Whooves,” the filly said with joy before she ate the rest of her snack and walked back to her room. The Doctor followed her out the kitchen, looking to see Derpy on his ‘bed’ taking a nap. He chuckled. A knock at the door made him jump. He walked to it, and upon opening it, saw a cyan furred mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail, and magenta colored eyes. With a lighting rainbow colored Cutie Mark on her flank, she must have been Rainbow Dash, the mare Derpy and Dinky talked about a few times. “Oh, hey, you must be new in town. Name's Rainbow Dash, who are you?” she asked in a blunt manner causing the Doctor to frown before announcing his name, in which the mare only nodded, looking as if she did not really care. “Hey, is Derpy Hooves here?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hint of impatience The Doctor did not like the mare’s tone, but he supposed he was not one to judge seeing as how Derpy acted towards him all the time. “Yes, one second,” he replied, walking towards the mare in question, who was snoring lightly before he gently poked her with a hoof. “Derpy, Derpy wake up… there is somepony here to see you,” he whispered to wake the mare. Derpy opened her eyes and glared at him, then got up. With a yawn, she walked towards the open door through which Rainbow Dash was waiting. “Oh, hey Derpy. What’s going on-?” “What do you want, Rainbow?” Derpy growled, annoyed that her sleep had been put on pause by the mare who, though as helpful as she had been to provide her with a job and help her settle in her house, even going as far as stopping her from her drug abuse, annoyed her the most. “I… I was sent here to tell you that the storm is over, and if you got the muffins the Cakes needed for the party, you know the one celebrating mine and Applejack’s rel-” “Yeah, I know about it, and the muffins are ready. Storms over you say? Finally. Now I can kick that bastard stallion out of my house,” Derpy cheered with a dark smile, making the rainbow mare a bit uncomfortable as she rubbed her left arm with her right hoof. “Um, yeah, I guess that’s great news. Anyway-” “Party’s at four, like you and Pinkie Pie both told me… three times to be exact, I know. So I’ll see you then,” Derpy interrupted rudely. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes in irritation. “Well yeah, the party, too, but what I mean to ask-” “The stallion is none of your business, Dash, so Dinky and I will see you at four, alright? Bye,” she spat, closing the door, but not before hearing Rainbow Dash ask if she can borrow a cigarette, which the gray Pegasus ignored with a roll of her eyes. “Asshole,” Rainbow Dash whispered with a snort. She opened her wings, flapping them out wide, then flew into the now open and clear sky, a huge change from the horrible storm that both Mayor Mare and Princess Celestia ordered down to Ponyville and many other towns across Equestria. As Rainbow Dash flew throughout the clear blue sky, which shone with the Goddess of the Sun’s bright, orange star, she thought of the dark past that she had had with Derpy herself. She understood a bit of why she had felt so much resentment and malice from the Pegasus that she had known for the past ten years, her mind flashing back to an important day that changed her view on her ‘friend’. *Flash Back* It was the twenty-first birthday of Thunderlane; a black furred male Pegasus with amber eyes, and a blue/sliver mane and tail. He was the current coltfriend of Derpy Hooves, who was seventeen during the time, and with no surprise, she was smoking a cigarette as he drank a plastic cup of apple vodka, holding it in his right wing. Derpy laughed as Thunderlane whispered something into her left ear, making her roll his eyes with a smile when Rainbow Dash, with her current creature friend, Gilda the female griffon, walked over to them. “What up, Derp? Hey, Thunder… happy birthday, little boy.” Rainbow Dash laughed, obviously tipsy, causing the stallion to laugh. “Hey, Dash. Been hitting the liquor a bit too hard, don’t you think?” he asked. The mare scoffed before looking over to her friend, who stole a plastic cup of grape vodka from another mare Pegasus before chugging all of it and tossing it behind her, hitting a drunk stallion in the head. “Nah, Dashie is still good to go a few more rounds before she falls asleep on a lighting cloud like last time,” she sneered. The blue mare turned to her, giving her an evil glare before turning to Derpy, who had put out her cigarette on the floor, knowing that nopony or creature would care. Derpy laughed as Gilda starting to mock Rainbow Dash behind her back, the poor Pegasus having no clue. Derpy was not hearing a word the mare was saying to her when a mare rudely slammed into her right shoulder, causing her to stumble into Rainbow Dash. She turned, seeing the spiked blue/silver mane and tail of Cloudchaser. A mare with pale Persian blue coat and rose colored eyes, she hated Derpy since she had gotten into a relationship with Thunderlane a month ago, but never physically confronting her... until now it seemed. Derpy's eyes narrowed, her left glaring at the mare in question while her right slid to the left of her, observing Cloudchaser, who was hanging around with her sister, Flitter, whose Cutie Mark Derpy could never determine, nor did she care, though she knew that Cloudchaser had the sun with a single cloud in front of it. Derpy knew of such because she always flashed her flank in front of Derpy’s face as if to say, Your boy doesn’t know what he’s missing out on. This made her either ignore her, gritting in teeth in rage, or to make her want to slap the grin off her cocky face, as if the blue furred whore was really even a challenge compared to Derpy’s own body. But now, now she had enough of all the shit the bitch was putting her through. She took three steps forward towards the mare, but she felt a yellow talon on her left shoulder. Derpy turned to see the usually drunk and encouraging of fights griffon shake her head. “She’s not worth it, Derp. Just ignore her, seriously,” she warned her, only her talon was slapped aside by the cold mare. “Stay out of this, Gilda. This is personal. I’m so sick and tired of her shit. If she wants to start something, then I’ll oblige to her sense of jealously,” Derpy snarled, ignoring Thunderlane’s protest to leave it alone, and moving through the crowd of drunken teenagers. With a snort of warm, exhaled air, Derpy’s rage only increased as she stood behind the mare of her frustration. She tapped her shoulder with a hoof, and Cloudchaser turned around, annoyed to be pulled away from her friends because of somepony she may not know. “What do you want you-?” These were the mare’s only words before a sharp hooked right hoof flew hard into her jaw, forcing her to stumble back from the blow. Her jaw aching with pain she did not think was possible, she moved her mouth to make sure it was not broken. She opened her eyes and stared at the pony who dared to physically assault her as she looked at the enraged face of Derpy Hooves. Cloudchaser winced in pain from her bruised jaw, and she narrowed her eyes in anger and shock. “Derpy?!” she shouted, the noise from the party drowning out her words. However, those near the two heard her words and quickly formed a crowd over the ‘drunken’ fighting mares, making bets on who of the two would win. “You have a problem with me now that I got your attention, bitch?!” Derpy shouted before flapping her wings, quickly lifting into the air. She dove fast towards her opponent, who had no time to open her wings and lift into the air, let alone dodge, when Derpy’s forehooves smashed into her chest, throwing her into a priceless mirror that hung on Thunderlane’s parents wall. The injured mare slammed back first into the wall, her back and sides covered with long, sharp shards of glass as she dropped to the floor, her spine and flank bleeding, which Cloudchaser ignored, standing on her four hooves. She wobbled a bit from the pieces of embedded glass in her coat. With a growl, Cloudchaser ran towards Derpy and threw a fast speed swing towards her, hitting her hard in the cheek. Derpy grunted as pain registered in her face, and with a second’s hesitation, uppercutted Cloudchaser in the chin. Then she quickly turned and stabbed her two rear hooves into her chest, throwing her hard into the living room table which broke upon the sudden weight, the shards in her back slicing open her wounds even more, but she barely noticed. Cloudchaser could not even lift her head before Derpy flew over her and pounding her face hard with her hooves, showing no mercy nor restraint towards her attacks. Cloudchaser’s nose, lips and left eye were bleeding. However, she finally found the strength to pound her left back hoof into Derpy’s stomach and pounded her in the face with both front hooves, the gray furred mare getting a black right eye and her bottom lip splitting open. Blood from Derpy's lip spilled onto Cloudchaser’s chest fur, but Derpy did not notice her wounds and continued to beat the living shit out of her enemy. “Get off her. Leave her alone, you crazy, jealous bitch!” Flitter shouted, trying to help her sister, but Derpy was having none of it. “Get the buck away from me!” she screamed and back hoofed the mare in the face with her right front hoof, forcing her to stumble back to dodge the blow and trip on a discarded bottle of grape vodka. Cloudchaser's head impacted against a nearby small table stand, blood slowly dripping from the heavily inflected wound. Her friends tried to help her and her sister, but the enraged Derpy paid nopony any attention before she flapped her wings, lifting herself and a near unconscious Cloudchaser into the air. Derpy threw her harshly into a mobile speaker of the DJ Pegasus. She showed no guilt, as she witnessed the mare getting fried by the thousands of volts of electricity. Cloudchaser was barely breathing after the fight was finished. Derpy breathed hard and glared anypony, threatening any of them to lay a hoof on her as she landed onto the clouded floor. Cloudchaser friends helped the near death pony from the large speaker. Derpy’s body finally realized the pain she had. She held a hoof to her head then turned to go to her friends, ignoring the DJ, a stallion whose name she did not know who was demanding she pay for repairs to his beautiful system. She took three, painful steps to her friends when Thunderlane’s body blocked her own. She smiled, blood dripping from her mouth. However, his eyes were narrowed and his mouth set in an angered frown, making her frown, as well, but in confusion. “You know what your problem is, Derpy Hooves? You think you can take on everything in all Equestria by yourself. You don’t give a shit what comes your way just as long as you can settle it by violence,” he growled, his eyes shifting to Cloudchaser’s body. Her friends were flying to get her to the hospital before they went to her sister, whose friends were trying to do the same. “Thunderlane, I-“ “No, you know what? We’re through. You don’t give a shit about anypony but yourself, and with the road you’re going now, you never will. It’s over, Derpy; have a nice bucking life,” Thunderlane said coarsely. He flapped his wings to chase after Cloudchaser, no doubt to comfort her. This made Derpy sniff then wince as she felt a headache creep into her head. Derpy frowned. She did not mean for any of this to happen; she was just tired of Cloudchaser’s mocking and jealous nature. She did not want things to go this far. She lifted her head as Rainbow Dash and Gilda walked towards her. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed in her rage, and she slapped Derpy in the face hard, the mare herself not even feeling the blow through her depressed thought. “You happy now, bitch? Huh, are you BUCKING HAPPY NOW?” Rainbow Dash screamed into her face, about to hit her again but was stopped by Gilda, who shook her head. Derpy sighed loudly, wincing again as a long line of blood ran down her nose. “You got a cigarette?” she asked quietly. Gilda threw her some nicotine before shaking her head, her eyes filled with pity and shame for the mare before tossing her a long match. “Come on, Rainbow, let’s go smoke some Hay Weed, try to get this party going a bit more. I suggest you leave, Derp, before you cause any more damage to anypony else,” Gilda growled lightly. Derpy only nodded as she took the cigarette and match in her tail and walked away towards the front door. There, a butter furred mare with a pink mane and tail was just now entering, her eyes widening around the house as she saw the destruction caused by one mare. “Hey, Flutters, come for the party?” Derpy whispered, watching Fluttershy look up and see Derpy’s injuries, her eyes holding shock and pity for whatever happened to the mare. “O… oh, Derpy! Yes, I… I got here a bit late. I’m sorry-” “It’s alright, Shy. Party seems to be over anyway… and yes, Dash is here. She’s over by the Hay Weed smokers in the back. Have fun trying to sweet talk her, and don’t worry, you’ll get her one day. Just do what I said and be yourself,” Derpy interrupted her in a small voice, not wanting to get into her wounds with the mare. Derpy Hooves was the only one who knew that Fluttershy had a crush on her best friend, Rainbow Dash, but swore to never tell. She tried to help the mare, but to no avail. With Fluttershy’s very shy nature, and with Gilda, it made it five times harder for Derpy to help, but still… she did what she could. Excusing herself from her friend and ignoring the mare’s quite protest to allow her to help, Derpy stepped into the cold, clear sky. As the ponies still at the party were doing what they could to get back into swing, she took her cigarette in her mouth from her tail then lit the match, igniting the nicotine before inhaling deeply then exhaling out the right side of her mouth. She was lost in deep thoughts of her wounds, her break up with Thunderlane, her abandonment from her friends, and even feeling a tad guilty on almost killing Cloudchaser and her sister. With an angered snort, Derpy swore that she would never let anypony but family get so close to her again—maybe Fluttershy, but she was an exception. She did not need anypony else, and she did not want anypony else. Call it pride, and a very bad case of it, but Derpy had had enough of allowing ponies to walk over her because of her eyes or messing up on a test or such. She was done. “Buck, everypony else. If I want something done, I’m doing it myself… nopony else will mock me again,” she growled to herself before stretching out her wings and lifting into the air. She flew towards her house, where her life would forever change because of her harsh actions. *End of flash back* Rainbow Dash sighed loudly as her mind was reeled from the past to reality. She was helping clear clouds with the other Pegasi around her, hoping to be with her marefiend, Applejack and to be with her best friends at the party. She knew that while Fluttershy had a long time crush on her, yet she had found love in Rarity; and still to her knowledge had a crush on the white furred mare, Rainbow honestly hoped that the two would date soon though it would never be as long as Rainbow Dash and Applejack themselves, who only been together for a month. “Seems like nothing can keep Derpy from her past or her sins; not her friends, her drugs or even her family… is her soul really doomed to Tartarus because of her actions?” she whispered to herself. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, hoping to have a cigarette before she met up with Applejack. Turning, she used her rear hooves to dissolve the cloud in front of her, her mind still on her lost, cruel friend’s soul.