Twilight looked around, but none of the pegasi above her were even glancing in her direction. She had caught a few of them discreetly looking her way when she called up to them, but most ignored the unicorn's calls. They knew exactly what she was going to ask of them, and they were obviously avoiding her just as Rainbow had been.
"Just forget it, Twilight," Spike said after Twilight called up to them a few more times, pleading with them to come down and talk to her.
She clicked her tongue and sighed. "I can't, Spike. I really, really, really need to finish that census report, and I can't do it if I can't talk to them!"
"Well, you tried. I bet Princess Celestia will be grateful for that-"
Twilight whipped around on the dragon, "But I want to know what's going on! Don't you?"
"Me? No."
That made Twilight roll her eyes, "Of course not, but that doesn't change the fact that I still want to know what's going on. I mean wouldn't you want to know who your parents are?"
"Not really. I've got all the family I need with you, Twilight." Spike blushed a little after he said it, "I mean... uh..."
Twilight nuzzled the little dragon, who pushed her away reluctantly. He didn't want anypony to see him being nuzzled like that, but at the same time he loved it. Suppressing a giggle, Twilight nudged the little dragon gently, "Let's go home and eat breakfast... or brunch."
At that, Spike's eyes lit up, "Great! We can continue where we left off!"
As the two walked into their home, Spike ran into the kitchen to resume making his pancakes, while Twilight walked over to her huge stack of books looking to find anything insightful over what she had just learned. There had to be something there, or maybe even in Canterlot's libraries. Did she have the kind of time to take a quick trip and explore the archives over there? She glanced at the calendar hanging in an alcove on the far side of the wall over a small drawer and saw that she could not spare the days. If only she had realized just how complex this was sooner, she could have planned it better.
A gentle knocking from her door distracted Twilight from her train of thought. She walked over and opened it revealing two uneven golden eyes staring under a blue brimmed hat.
"Hi, Twilight!"
"Hi, Derpy."
"Here's your mail."
Twilight took the small package from the mailmare and was about to close the door it when suddenly it dawned on her. Derpy was a pegasus! She whipped around and grabbed the grey mare's tail before she got a chance to spread her wings.
"Derpy, would you mind talking to me for a few minutes?" Twilight asked with her mouth full.
A bemused Derpy smiled at Twilight, "Okay."
The two mares walked inside her library and Twilight pulled up two chairs with her magic and asked for the pegasus to sit down. She did so happily looking around. Twilight realized that this was the first time that Derpy had actually been inside the library.
"So."
"So," Derpy replied smiling happily.
"Um... as you know, I'm taking the census for Ponyville..."
"You are? That's great!" Derpy said still smiling happily.
"Do you mind if I asked you a couple questions?"
"Nope."
"Okay. Um... first things first, what is your full name?"
"Derpy Hooves," the gray mare smiled.
"And the names of your parents?" she asked.
"Dunno," Derpy said, still with a smile on her face. She shrugged, "My parents threw me away when I was a filly."
"You mean gave you away?"
Derpy thought about it for a second, then shook her head, "No. They threw me away. I was put inside it."
"Inside what?" Twilight asked.
"It. You know, it?"
"It?"
"Yeah!" Derpy smiled again.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was utterly confused. "What is 'it'?"
"The... um... the... um... what's it called?" Derpy patted her chin deep in thought. Then she shrugged, "Can't remember. I just know that it is a very, very, very bad place. When they threw me I remember that I felt cold and hot and hungry."
"Then what happened?" Twilight asked, she had never really asked Derpy about her past before.
She beamed a happy smile, "Mama Cupcake! She found me and took me home, where she made me delicious cupcakes!"
Unable to fully comprehend the pegasus, Twilight played along, "Mama Cupcake? So... she's your mother?"
"Yeah!"
"I thought you said you didn't know who your parents were."
At that Derpy sighed, "Mama Cupcake isn't my parent. She's my mommy, but she said that my birth mommy didn't want me, that's why she threw me into it. Mama Cupcake had a lot of children like me, so I have a lot of brothers and sisters! We all love each other very, very much, but they are all over the place now."
If Twilight thought she was lost before, she was completely left in the dark after what Derpy had said. "Um... where is Mama Cupcake now?"
Derpy eyes widened, "You wanna go visit? I was gonna go this weekend. You wanna come?"
Twilight thought about it for a moment. If she was going to go with Derpy this weekend, she'd miss Celestia's deadline. That was completely out of the question. She would need to go sooner. "I can't this weekend, Derpy. Can we go... tomorrow instead?"
"Tomorrow? Well..." Derpy thought about it. "I could ask Mr. Zippy to cover for me... he does owe me..."
For some reason, Twilight held her breath, not wanting to spoil Derpy's thought process. After a moment the gray pegasus nodded.
"Okay, I'll ask Mr. Zippy if he can deliver the letters tomorrow, then we can go visit Mama Cupcake."
"Where does Mama Cupcake live, Derpy?"
"Under Cloudsdale, silly. Everypony knows that."
"Under?" Truth be told, she never thought about it.