“What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you do anything right?” These were the words that Derpy had been hearing all her life, ponies always seemed to find something that she had done wrong, and they just wouldn’t let up on her for it. And now here she was, being yelled at once again by somepony.
She had made a simple and honest mistake, accidentally handing Dr. Whooves somepony else’s mail instead of his own. Of course, this wasn’t the first time, but he seemed to be angrier than usual.
“You’re worthless! Why do they even let you work as a mailmare? You always bring me somepony else’s mail.” Dr. Whooves continued to shout at her as she sulked down with a remorseful look on her face. Why does everypony always yell at me? I don’t mean to mess everything up, I’m trying my best! I wish I could just be normal, then I wouldn’t have these stupid eyes, and my stupid self always doing stupid things. Why can’t I be normal?
It was true, all Derpy’s life, she had wanted nothing more than to just be like everypony else. Her mother had told her that she was special, and she should be glad that she is different. The fillies at school, however, made her think otherwise. There wasn’t a day that went by when she wasn’t constantly teased for her eyes.
“I-I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to..” Derpy tried to explain that it was all just a mistake, but she knew it wouldn’t work. She had tried to explain last time, and the time before that, both to no avail.
“No you’re not. If you were sorry you wouldn’t have done this in the first place.” It seemed Dr. Whooves was keen on making Derpy feel as bad about this as he possibly could.
“I’m sorry..it was all a mistake. I promise it won’t hap-” But Dr. Whooves wouldn’t listen, he cut her off mid sentence. “Don’t promise me anything! You won’t remember it.”
“I..I...” Derpy desperately searched for words to explain. She just wanted this to end. She had been scolded more than her fair share of times already. She would do anything at this point just to make it stop. Only one thing came to mind. When she was back in grade school, somepony who was a regular bully to her got physical for a change. He pushed Derpy down, and started kicking her. Derpy had never been in a fight before, and thus, didn’t know what to do. She tried to get up and defend herself, but other ponies just shoved her back down and joined in on the assault. Eventually a teacher came to break up the fight. When she got home her mother had told her that if anything like that ever happens again, she should hit them back twice as hard. A few days later, a different classmate hit her, and Derpy remembered what her mother had told her. So she hit him back, right in the muzzle. He instantly ran off. She felt good, almost powerful at this. It was definitely better being on this side of the bullying.
Derpy wondered if she should hit the doctor, or just yell back at him. It seemed a better option to do a bit of both. So she decided to do just that. Although Dr. Whooves continued to yell at Derpy, she couldn’t hear anything he was saying. Right now, she was focused on one thing, and that was to get payback. She looked up at his angry, still shouting face, and popped him right in the muzzle, just as she had done to that filly so many years ago.
At this, Dr. Whooves was immediately taken back, he had no idea how to respond. But before he could even think of what to do next, he was tackled to the ground by a certain enraged pegasus. Dr. Whooves and Derpy tumbled a few feet into the former’s home. Derpy glared at the doctor, a look of pure anger and built up pain on her face.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! Just because I’m different doesn’t mean you just get to bully me whenever I make a mistake!” Derpy shouted a bit louder than she had wanted to, but paid no attention to it. At this sudden outburst, Dr. Whooves truly didn’t know what to do. Nopony had ever yelled at him before, and he wasn’t sure how to react.
After a few moments of silence, Derpy decided to continue her tantrum. “You just think you’re so special, don’t you? All because you make a lot of money. Let me tell you something, you’re not. What kind of pony treats somepony like you do just because of a few mistakes? Do you have any idea what that makes me feel like?”
The doctor was completely shocked, not only had he never seen Derpy act like this, he had never seen anypony acting this way before. After a moment or two, Derpy’s words sunk in, and they hit him, hard. He hadn’t realized he had been so cruel to Derpy. She had never done anything to him, on purpose at least. The sorrow in her eyes when he had been screaming at her now registered in his mind. How could he have been so cruel? She didn’t deserve this.
“I-I’m so sorry! I had no idea...” Dr. Whooves searched for a way to apologize to the mailpony, but he had no words to describe how horrible he felt right now. This was all so sudden, he didn’t know what he said had been taken to heart by Derpy. But looking back, how could she have not?
Derpy hadn’t expected that type of reaction from the doctor. He almost sounded sincere. What if he really is sorry? The look on his face told Derpy just that. Still, she wasn’t quite finished yet. He still had no idea what he’d put her through.
“Yeah, I’ll bet you are. I’m sure you’re just saying that so I’ll leave and not rub off my worthlessness on you, right?” Derpy said that with such hatred. She hadn’t meant to, she didn’t hate the doctor, she was just upset with him for the time being.
Each word struck Dr. Whooves right in the heart, he truly felt remorse for treating Derpy in such a barbaric way. He started to feel an unusual feeling in his throat. It was like something was stopping him from breathing, he also felt something wet running down his cheeks. He was crying! The doctor hadn’t cried since he was a child, and almost forgot what it felt like. He tried to speak, to tell Derpy how sorry he was, but no words left his lips. So he just lay there, unsure of what to do. Hoping he would somehow find a way to express his remorse to the grey mare.
As soon as Derpy saw the doctor was crying, she knew she had gone too far. She tried to jump off of him, but ended up stumbling and knocking over a lamp setting on a table near the front door. She almost anticipated the doctor to switch back to his angrier state and start screaming at her again, though she was surprised to see no such thing happen. She looked back over to where he had been laying to find him still there, looking up at her with such sorrowful eyes. Derpy stared at him for a brief moment before bolting out of his house and taking off towards the sky.