[Morning of Day 31]
At a homely cottage forged from an oak tree on the border of the Everfree Forest, spring reigned supreme. The sun shone down from its domain of aquamarine, undimmed by the passing of fluffy white clouds. Patches of multicolored flowers swayed in the gentle breeze, nourished by the clear waters of a babbling brook. Birds twittered in the trees, hares scampered across the fields, and a confused Rainbow Dash hovered outside the window of the cottage's second-story bedroom.
"Are you serious?" asked the cyan pegasus mare. "You're really gonna leave me hangin'?"
Derpy Hooves sat on the checker-patterned comforter of the bed just inside and gazed up at Rainbow Dash with half-lidded eyes.
"Hush, Spike! We can't let Pinkie know we're here, remember?"
"Someone's gonna fall, something's gonna fall! Run for your lives!"
Derpy shook her head and blinked hard. The flashes came to her now whenever she tried to think, and they made less sense than ever. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I just don't feel up to working on the roof today."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Aw, come on. I know you're bummed about what happened last night, but we're so close to being done. Can't you just give it a try?"
Derpy opened her mouth to respond . . .
"While y'all here, ya' feel like bobbin' for an apple?"
. . . but the offending thought caused her to simply twitch instead.
Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. "I mean, are you scared or somethin'? Half the royal army is cruising through the Everfree, the sheriff's department is out in force, and you'll be hangin' with the fastest flyin' fighter in Equestria." She punched at thin air for emphasis. "Come on, what could possibly go—"
"I just don't know what went wrong."
"Yeah. It's a mystery."
Derpy squinted. "Wait, what did you just say?"
Rainbow titled her head to the side. "Um, what could possibly get through all that and hurt you?"
Derpy Hooves groaned and flopped down on her stomach. "I'm serious, Rainbow Dash. I don't feel good."
"I can't believe that Princess Celestia chose us to put on the most important play of the season!"
Derpy grabbed a nearby pillow and pulled it over her ears.
Rainbow Dash sighed and looked away. "I get it, Derps—I really do. I just don't know how else to cheer you up. I've never seen you this down before and it . . ." She winced. "Really makes my head hurt."
"Maybe we should both take the day off," suggested Derpy from underneath the pillow.
"Yeah," Rainbow replied, her expression uncertain and forlorn. "So, I guess I'll see you later then?"
Derpy nodded.
Rainbow Dash turned to leave but paused long enough to say over her shoulder, "Seriously, I hope you get to feelin' better, kiddo."
The flap of powerful wings and the sound of rushing air told Derpy that Rainbow had at last departed. She breathed a sigh of relief—the flashes seemed to subside in the cyan pegasus's wake. Relative peace and quiet descended over the room, emptied even of the animals that normally occupied its many birdhouses and cubbyholes. Derpy wanted to drown herself in the silence, to not do or say or think anything at all. A part of her even longed for her old apartment, much to her surprise.
Derpy flipped the pillow over and rested her chin on the cool fabric. Every bit of what had happened in the Dream World—as she'd decided to call it—absolutely baffled her, and her inability to understand scared her even more. It all felt so far beyond her that she didn't even want to try to understand it, much less wait in silence on some stranger to reveal the truth at her own whim. Derpy felt a headache coming on. Why was any of this even happening to her?
"You really think you're innocent, don't you?"
"Tell me something then: where is Rainbow Dash?"
What a stupid question, thought Derpy. She was right here.
"Oh dear, I don't think I can do this after all."
Derpy's ears pricked up and swiveled toward the closed entryway across the room. The conversation taking place just outside clearly wasn't meant for her to hear, but . . .
"Now that's not like you, honeybun. When the goin' gets rough, you show 'em your stuff!"
"Um, are you sure that's how it goes?"
"Instead of tryin' to stall, why not give it your all?"
Derpy Hooves grimaced. She'd met the owners of this cottage when she and Spike had arrived last night. They clearly meant well, but something about these two rubbed Derpy the wrong way.
"Did you even see her eyes? How am I supposed to help her if I can't even look straight at her?"
Derpy's frown grew exponentially.
"Okay, enough's enough. On three, sunshine. One, two . . ."
The door burst open to reveal the pegasus mare named Fluttershy, who stumbled into the room with a breakfast tray barely held in place on her back. She flashed an uneasy smile and struggled to regain her footing. "Oh! Good morning, Miss Derpy Hooves." The deep cyan of her eyes stood out against the pastel colors of her pink mane and pale yellow coat, even moreso now as they shifted back and forth in a reflexive search for an escape route. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah," lied Derpy.
"Oh good," replied Fluttershy as she sidled forward. "I mean, if you hadn't gotten a good night's sleep then I . . ." She stopped in place for a moment, her face a mask of worried confusion. "Oh, I don't know what I'd do. Maybe give you a glass of warm milk?"
Derpy raised an eyebrow. She didn't credit herself as a good judge of character, but this mare was clearly trying too hard.
Fluttershy shook her head, causing a tiny golden bell that she wore on her on her left ear to jingle. "That's beside the point, I guess. Here." She walked up to the bedside and deftly slid an ornate wooden food tray onto the comforter. "I made some breakfast for you. Are you hungry?"
Derpy eyeballed the meal. "No," she answered. The steaming hot redcurrant pancakes and crisp apple juice might have seemed appetizing on any other morning. However, her growing headache and the awkwardness of her new benefactor combined to kill Derpy's appetite.
"Oh dear," gasped Fluttershy. "I thought these were your favorite. Did I make them wrong?"
"Rainbow Dash's favorite," Derpy muttered around her pillow.
Fluttershy looked at the floor. "R-right, I knew that." She looked back up sheepishly. "Does that mean you don't like them?"
Derpy sighed. "It's not that. I just—"
"How could I be so inconsiderate?" Fluttershy interrupted. With a flap of her wings she ascended onto the bed, touching down so gracefully that Derpy barely felt a thing. She did feel it, however, when Fluttershy began rubbing her side. "Is it your tummy? Do you need some medicine?"
Derpy recoiled from the touch and sat up straight against the headboard. "No! I just . . ." She cringed. That movement had not been good for the pain in her head. "I just . . ."
Fluttershy sat down on the comforter. "This is about last night, isn't it?" A very fake smile spread across her face. "Well, I don't think you've got anything to worry about. There's lots of big and tough royal knights out there, the sheriff and his deputies actually got out their batons for once, and—"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it," moaned Derpy with a hoof to her forehead. "I'm safe as can be. Now all I have to do is wait around for everypony else to do stuff for me." She stuck the hoof up in the air and waved it around. "Whoop-te-doo. Even if they catch Screw Loose, that just means I go right back to being Ponyville's big screw-up and having everypony help me with that instead." She grabbed the pillow once more and hugged it. "I don't know why I even bother. I try hard to fix one problem and a worse one pops up before I'm even done with the first. What's the use?"
Fluttershy looked genuinely taken aback. "N-now you're just being a Negative Nancy." She got up and walked toward her charge with an outstretched hoof, concerned by the way Derpy had been holding her head a moment before. "You'll never feel better if you keep thinking like that. So something bad happened last night and caught you by surprise—who's to say that something good won't do the same today?"
At that moment, Derpy felt the acute sensation of a white-hot stake being driven into her skull.
~