The sky was turning burnt orange and several clouds were starting to silhouette against the sky as the sun set on the horizon. A warm evening breeze blew through the sky, encouraging ponies to come out and enjoy the evening. Several pegasi could be seen flying all throughout the sky; some were trying to get home for the evening, while others were out playing with their friends. It was just another beautiful evening in Cloudsdale. One pegasus in particular was flying rather clumsily and quickly through the air.
The pegasus was a gray mare with a smooth blonde mane and tail. She had yellow, crossed eyes and bubbles as her cutie mark. Her name was Derpy; Derpy Hooves. Some, however, preferred to call her “other” names. Tonight, instead of flying home with a smile on her face, the smile was replaced with a frown. She had trouble not flying into things as she flew, if she wasn’t closing her eyes trying to force back tears, the tears would just fill in her eyes blurring her vision. After what happened today, she just wanted to get home and forget everything.
Just a few hours ago at the weather factory, she had accidentally put snow in the rainclouds and rain in the snow clouds…again, which caused the production of clouds to come to a complete stop and put the factory behind schedule…again. Her manager had had just enough and snapped; he yelled at her in his office for what seemed like an eternity. When she left her boss’s office, she could feel the heavy weight of her co-workers judgmental stares as she walked, staring at the floor. But even though all of this was going on, she didn’t cry in front of her co-workers; not one tear drop; at least not until she started to think on her way home.
What made her tear up if the first place was the fact that everything that everypony said to her when she was a filly was coming true. Her classmates, her “friends,” even some of her family said that she was never going to be able to do anything because she was so accident prone. In their opinion, she was useless, pathetic, and she would never be able to amount to anything in her life. But what really made Derpy start to cry was the realization that she had nopony to talk to when she would get home. Nopony would be there with an open shoulder to cry on. Nopony would be there to listen to her; who would tell her that they are with her and that she could get through this. She was alone.
Derpy finally made it home. It was a nice two-story house built on some clouds, floating high above the ground. She walked in, locked the door behind her and went straight to bed, completely ignoring the fact that it was dinner time. She walked up the steps slowly, her head hanging just a few inches from hitting the steps and her wings dragging along the stairs. She went to her room and collapsed in her cloud-like bed, doing a face plant into her pillow in the process.
Her bedroom was decently sized. Her bed was one the East side of her room, pushed against the wall. On the North side was a door that led to a balcony; this provided the perfect view of Canterlot and Ponyville. She hadn’t been to Ponyville yet because she has been so busy at the factory, but she always wanted to visit the town. Maybe even move there. At least she could start over. The West side had a closet with different outfits in it, one of which was a spare uniform for the weather factory. The South side of the room had two doors: one led to a hallway and the other led to a bathroom. There were two windows on either side of the balcony doors and one open window above her bed.
Derpy lay in her bed, bundled under her blankets. Muffled sobbing could be heard coming from her face, which was still buried in her pillow. “Stupid, Worthless, Meaningless.” These and other “names” that were given to her kept repeating themselves over and over in her head. The more they lasted, the harder and longer she cried. “No,” she finally whispered. “It-it’s not true…”