The first train arrived in Ponyville around midday. He departed quickly, having not brought any luggage with him, he headed straight for his sister’s house. Guessing he would be staying there the next few days. He didn’t know where much anything was in this town. As it was he hoped he could remember where Ditzy lived. Nearly a year… he hadn’t seen her in nearly a year.
It took him a while, but he found her house. He still had a key, not that it was locked. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign. That she always left it unlocked. He’d heard Ponyville was a good town, little-to-no crime, but still. Or it could just be that it had been left unlocked from what had happened yesterday. He still wasn’t entirely clear on the details of that.
There was a third possibility though. One that he didn’t think of. The one that was what happened. “Can I help you?” a yellow-coated mare with a curly orange mane asked as he stepped into the house. She looked a little concerned but not at all surprised. “Are you with social services too?” she continued. She was an earth pony and had three carrots for a Cutie Mark.
“N-no. I’m uh, looking for Ditzy. She lives… or lived here. I think. Am I at the right place?” he stammered. It was completely possible he’d accidently walked into the wrong house. That was until he heard…
“Uncy Written!” Dinky yelled as she ran up to him and leapt into a hug. At least she remembered him, and she was still as cheerful as ever, despite whatever had happened to her mother.
“’Uncy Written’? So… you’re Derpy’s brother then?” the mare asked.
“Yes, I’m her brother. Written Script. May I ask who you are?” he replied sternly. This mare he’d barely met had the audacity to insult his sister not only in front of him but in front of her daughter with that nickname ‘Derpy’.
“I’m Carrot Top. Derpy’s best friend. You heard about what happened I take it. If you haven’t guessed already, yes, this is Derpy’s place and…
“Stop saying that!” he blurted out. “Stop insulting my sister to my face! You sound apathetic, so why would you mock her like that?!”
Carrot Top was taken aback by his outburst. Unfortunately the first thing she thought was the perhaps metal illness ran in the family and this stallion wasn’t 100% there as well. This diffidently wasn’t the best first impression either of them they could make. After a moment of looking at each other weirdly she realized what he meant. He’d called her Ditzy, she’d called her Derpy.
“Dinky, what’s your mummy’s name?”
“Derpy Whooves, silly. Don’t you remember?” she said without hesitation.
“I’m sorry if I offended you, but that’s her name to us. She introduced herself to me as Derpy years ago. Like I said, I’m her best friend. I have been for years.” Carrot Top explained herself. It sounded right. Last time he’d visited, Ditzy had seems a lot more aloof about her name, even referring to herself as being a bit ‘derpy’ at times. To introduce herself to Carrot top as ‘Derpy’ a few years ago. Well… she had been better with her condition, perhaps she’d learnt to laugh about it, to help with it.
“Oh, well, I’m sorry if I startled you too. Do you live here too?”
“No. I heard about what happened. I went and got Dinky first thing this morning. Uh, Dinky? Would you go play with your toys for a moment. I need to talk with your uncle.” Carrot Top said, turning and looking at Dinky with a smile.
“Ok. Can Uncy play with us when you’re done, Carry?”
“Of course he can.” Carrot Top replied before Dinky ran off back into her room where she’d been before. A moment passed as both’s eyes followed her back there and then listened to the childish sound effects of toys being played with. “She doesn’t need to hear this.”
“I agree. I do though. She’s been doing fine, what happened?”
“She hurt herself again. Badly.” Derpy was depressed. She was a little slow and didn’t have the best eyes. Her vision was 20/-20 and as such she’d been teased growing up. Something had gotten to her. It just grew from there. “I, I usually try to keep her in check. I’ve helped her with her problems a lot. But I wasn’t there when that jerk started calling her retarded, among other things.”
“Was it that rainbow’d pegasus? I’ve heard about her and seen her…”
“Rainbow Dash? No. I mean yeah, she’s a jerk but their actually quite close friends. She can be crude but she’d never hurt that filly. It was just some no good mud-pony. And… before I even knew anything had happened, I was told she was in the hospital. I couldn’t see her yesterday and I spent all of last night working to get to see Dinky. I don’t want to see her go into the system, but there’s only so much me and the program can do.”
“Program?” he asked. He wasn’t surprised there was some sort of program helping out his sister, the question was which?
“Big Sister Society. Dinky has a ‘big sister’ who does stuff with her some times. Derpy works a lot to keep them afloat and can’t always do everything with her. So, her big sister Sparkle hangs out with her. Takes her to places like Cantalot Gardens, enters contests and just acts like a sorta second mother to her. It’s only her word that let Dinky come with me. We’re… we’re meant to be packing her stuff to take back… but I… I can’t let that happen to her.” Carrot Top said, trying to hold back tears.
Derpy was Dinky’s mother, Sparkle was dinky’s big sister, and Carrot Top was… Carrot Top was half way between both. “I won’t let that happen." Written assured the mare. "I’ve come here to take custody of her. I’m sure this Sparkle cares about her but it’s better she’s with family.” he said as he put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Th-thanks. You, you should stay here, I’ll go let them know Derpy’s family has come. I’m sure they’ll, they’ll understand.” she replied as a few tears escaped. She leant against his hoof for a moment before pulling herself away and facing towards Dinky’s room “Dinky, I’m going out for a while. Your uncle’s going to be taking care of you until I get back, ok?”
“Ok Carry.” she called back. Carrot Top turned back towards him and let out a sigh. She picked herself back up and put a smile on.
“Thank you for this.” she said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can… probably with paper work and Sparkle.” before she walked off and out the door, closing and locking it behind her.
