//------------------------------// // Nothing Wrong // Story: My First New Year's Alone // by fic Write Off //------------------------------// “Are you sure you’re ok with me leaving you here? I could take you along, you know.” a goldenrod earth pony sternly asked the pony in front of her. A grey pegasus saluted in return, grinning. “Don’t worry, Carrot Top! I can take care of myself!” She didn’t seem convinced. She stared directly at the young grey mare’s eyes. Only one of them happened to stare back, the other slowly drifted off to the side. Her tone grew darker as she spoke. “Derpy, when I get back, if this house isn’t like it is now...” “I get pie?” The pegasus interrupted, smiling weakly, hoping that as the answer. Carrot Top blinked, trying to comprehend the inner workings of her friend’s mind. “...I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Please try not to destroy anything while I’m gone, please?” She got a second salute in response. “Yes sir!” The orange-maned mare forced out a smile, fearing the absolute worst. “Alright...bye, Derpy...” Shaking her head, she threw her saddlebags over her back and walked out into the snow outside, leaving the house and on her way to her destination. The pegasus, now alone in the house, started humming off-key as she wandered around the empty household. She flopped onto the couch in deep thought. “Hm...what to do now?” She closed her eyes, contemplating her options. Opening her eyes, she clapped her hooves together and sat up. “Ooh! Food! I’ll make food for myself! That’s a good idea!” Hopping up and flapping her wings, she hovered to the kitchen and opened the fridge door and scanned its contents. “Hm...cookies, cake, carrots, muffins, chocolate, oh! Leftover soup! That’s easy to heat up for a midnight meal!” Taking the container out of the fridge, the pegasus dropped it on the counter. “Ok, Carrot Top usually heats soup on the stove for...10 minutes at 300 degrees...So it would take 5 minutes at 600!” Bounding up and down, Derpy zipped over to the stove and turned the knob. With the fire lit, she slid the container over the flame and left it there to heat up. “I can totally take care of myself!” the mare boasted to herself, eyes shut in pride as she left the kitchen. “What time is it until New Year’s?” she wondered aloud. Turning her head, one of her golden eyes glanced at the clock. “11 o’ clock? Maybe I have time to get some things to celebrate!” So the pegasus scavenged the home for anything her friend had left behind for her. She searched through every nook and cranny for anything fit for a celebration. After a few minutes, she managed to gather a pair of glasses with the new year as the frames, a party horn with a plastic coiled strip, and a blue striped party hat. She placed her findings on the ground and examined it. “Hm...It’s a start, but there must be something more...” The mare put on the party hat in place of a thinking cap and put a hoof to her chin with furrowed brows. “Where else would Carrot Top hide her things?” Suddenly, a goofy grin found her way onto her face as an invisible light bulb went off over her head. “Ooh! I know!” Derpy started making her way upstairs, only to freeze halfway up. “Oh! Wait!” The pegasus did a complete 180 and rushed back to the kitchen. Galloping back as fast as her hooves could carry her, she slid into the kitchen and hastily grabbed the container off the stove. “Whew! That was close! Now I can enjoy my soup!” Wings flapping, she made her way to the dining room and sat down with her meal in front of her. She smiled to herself before sloppily slurping the soup she served. “Mmm...This is so good!” She rubbed her belly, satisfied by the food. Derpy grinned, ready to down more of the heated meal as she brought her mouth to her food once more. When she finally finished licking her bowl dry save for her saliva, she patted her now full tummy. “Mmm! That was delicious!” Derpy exclaimed. Putting the bowl in her hooves, she was on her way back to the kitchen when she sniffed the air. Something smelled odd, yet familiar to the mailmare. She scrunched her nose as she tried to identify the scent. “Is that smoke?” Derpy pondered. She continued to sniff, looking for the source. Letting her nose lead, she started wandering around the house. The search eventually led her to the kitchen, as she finally found the origin of the smoky scent. The pony’s gold pupils shrank as she realized what she saw. “The kitchen’s on fire!” Carrot Top knocked on the wooden door, waiting for somepony to answer. She felt nervous. Not because of the place she was going, but of the place she left. She was hoping with all her might that everything was ok. A magenta earth pony opened the door to greet the pony outside. “Ah! Carrot Top! Come in! Come in! Happy New Year!” She gestured for her to come inside. Carrot Top flashed a smile while she made her way in. “Hello, Cheerilee. Happy New Year to you too!” The teacher started to point at various areas in the house. “The food and drinks are over there, and karaoke is over there. Have fun!” And with that, she walked into another room. The pony glanced around the scene. Many ponies were either eating or mingling, each one enjoying themselves in their own way. The mare began to feel guilty that she left her friend at home. “Hey, it’s Carrot Top! Over here!” A group of ponies called. She looked over and saw several of her friends huddled in a group. Without hesitation, she waved to them before joining them. “Hi girls! Happy New Year to you all!” The mare greeted. “Well Happy New Year to you too!” A plum pony replied, handing Carrot a cup filled with cider. “Come on, drink up!” Carrot Top smiled at her friends, tentatively taking a sip of cider. “I’m sure Derpy’s fine...” she thought to herself. The young grey mare screamed in panic at the blazing inferno in front of her. She started hyperventilating, her hooves bouncing up and down in fear. “Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no this is bad this is bad this is very very very very very very very bad!” Her heart was now pounding as fast as it could pound as Derpy desperately tried to find a solution. The fire’s origin was the stove that was accidentally left on. The open flame had set ablaze several foods and wooden utensils that were sprawled on the counter. It continued to grow out of control by each passing second. Derpy tried to get to the sink to try extinguishing the blaze with water, but it was of no use. The fire was much too close to the sink, making approaching it extremely impossible. Derpy needed to find another solution quickly, or she would have burned the whole house down. “Oh no no no no no no no no no! Carrot Top will smother me for this! Wait! Smother... Smother! That’s it! I’ll smother the flames! ...But with what?” Before she could finish the thought, the flames licked her coat, causing her to flee upstairs in a panic. "Eeek!" “...That’s when he pulls it out. And then he says to me. “Hey, why do I have to pay you? So that’s when I said ‘What, did you think I was doing this for free?’” The group crowded in the corner started laughing at the end of the story. “Oh, Berry. You always tell the best stories.” A blue unicorn complemented. “I know, don’t I always?” Berry chuckled, chugging down another cup of cider. Carrot Top was laughing, but it seemed to come out forced and awkwardly. She brushed the sweat off her forehead before looking around. A lavender pegasus turned to the apprehensive partier. “Hey, Carrot Top. What’s wrong? Aren’t you having fun?” “I-It’s nothing, Cloud Kicker,” The pony replied. “I-I just feel a little nervous is all...” “Nervous? About what? Come on, relax! It’s New Year’s Eve! Live a little, will ya?” Berry interjected, giving Carrot Top a playful jab in the shoulder. “Alright, alright...” was her only response, followed by another sip of cider. She just couldn’t focus on having fun when her primary concern was on the house, and how much damage Derpy could be doing to it. “Gotta find something. Something. Something. Anything. Oh this is very bad. This is very very very bad bad bad bad bad!” The wall-eyed pony yelled to herself as she grabbed the bed sheets from Carrot Top’s bed and brought them downstairs. “Gotta put it out. Gotta put it out. No no no no no no no this is very very bad!” She screamed as she placed the sheet over part of the blaze and started pressing down on it. Derpy winced in pain, but her adrenaline forced her to keep going to put out the kitchen fire. “Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no! It’s still going! Gotta find something else! Anything anything else!” Derpy rushed up to Carrot Top’s bedroom and grabbed the pillows. Flying back to the kitchen, she slammed the pillows down onto the blaze in a desperate attempt to put the fire out. After several minutes and several burned bed sheets and pillows, the fire was out, and Derpy could rest. “That... that was too close.” Derpy slowly placed all of Carrot Top’s bedroom items back where they were before. “...She won’t notice...I hope.” She smiled sheepishly. It was a long shot, but it might work. She sighed in triumph. She did it. She walked to the living room and yawned. She looked at the charred kitchen. She winced as she got a sponge that wasn’t burned to clean up. “And so that’s why I can never eat daisies again.” Carrot Top finished. Each of her friends widened her eyes in surprise as they expressed their own interest. “I never knew that about you...” “There is no way that’s true!” “That explains everything.” Berry slung her hoof around Carrot Top’s shoulder. “You know, you’re a really, really good storyteller. Hah.” Carrot Top could tell she was intoxicated. Everypony could tell she was intoxicated. “Er...thanks a lot, Berry.” “Hey, come here, you. Gimmie a kiss. I love ya...” Berry slurred out as she puckered her lips. Carrot Top slowly pushed her away. “Er...maybe later.” Cloud Kicker stepped up to her. “Are you sure you’re ok?” Carrot Top sighed. “Well, it’s just...Derpy’s in the house alone...I just hope she doesn’t destroy the house.” The plum pony, now hiccupping, interjected again. “Ah, come on. Stop your worrying! It’ll all be fine! *HIC!* Ahhaa...” “Whew...It’s done...” Derpy wiped the sweat off her forehead before falling onto the couch. Outside, the shouting of ‘Happy New Year’ could be heard throughout Ponyville. All the exhausted pegasus could do was put the party horn in her mouth and weakly blow as she lost all her energy and passed out. “Derpy, I’m home!” The front door opened, and the grey pegasus’s friend entered with a smile. “Huh? What?” Derpy slowly awoke, eyes barely able to keep open. “Well, I must say I’m impressed. You managed to keep the house in very good condition! I think you deserve a reward.” The pony yawned. “R-right after a quick nap.” As Carrot Top walked up to her bedroom, Derpy smacked her lips and managed to smile. The thought of a reward made her feel warm with happiness. But memories of last night slowly came back to her as her eyes widened with fear. “...Derpy? What in the name of Equestria happened to my bed?” “I can explain!”