Things had not gone well for Twilight that evening. After returning to the party alone she informed her friends of what had happened. As to be expected they were surprised at Derpy’s reaction and were unsure on how to handle this situation.
“I could go past her place and throw her a teeny tiiiny party for one.” Pinkie suggested seriously and frowned as she saw Rarity roll her eyes.
“Not everything can be solved with a party, Darling.” Rarity didn’t want to possibly agitate the already distressed Derpy any further.
“Well do you have any better ideas?” Pinkie seemed to be genuinely offended by Rarity’s statement that a party would not work.
“I think we should tell Rainbow Dash. She seems to know her better than any of us and might be better suited to talk to her. I fear if we all try to interfere that we might cause more harm than good.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement to Rarity’s idea. Pinkie seemed still to be leaning towards the party plan of hers. The friends turned to Twilight who was still visibly upset from the events earlier.
“I….I think you are right. We should ask Rainbow Dash for help. Let’s wait until she returns to the party here.” Twilight decided and gulped down a cup of punch.
They waited until the last of the guests had left and finally gave up on waiting for Rainbow Dash returning. After a brief discussion they agreed that they would inform the pegasus first thing tomorrow morning. None of them found sleep easily that night, least of which was Twilight who kept berating herself.
____________________________________________________________________
Morning came faster than she had expected and with dark rings under her eyes she sat at her upstairs window keeping an eye out for the cyan weatherpony. Spike brought her a steaming hot cup of coffee that she greedily downed in almost one gulp. It burned her tongue slightly, but managed to wake her up some more. When it became apparent that Rainbow Dash would not come flying by Twilight decided to intercept the pegasus during her work.
An hour later Twilight stood underneath Rainbow Dash’s cloudhome calling her. She had not seen her during the morning hours and was now contemplating teleporting up to Rainbow’s home. After a few minutes she decided against her plan, knowing that if Rainbow Dash were home she would immediately answer Twilight’s call. That left one place Twilight had not checked yet and where she might find some answers. She headed back towards Ponyville and wondered if she needed a special permission to enter the office of the weather management.
To Twilight’s surprise she didn’t need any kind of permit to enter the office areas of Ponyville’s town hall. The pony sitting behind the receptionist’s desk pointed her politely in the right direction and soon Twilight found herself climbing up the stairs to the top floor. Too little sleep and no real breakfast made the climb more strenuous then it should have been. With deep breaths she stood at the top of the stairs and collected herself before trotting towards the office of Ponyville’s weather team. She saw that the door was open so she entered after knocking once on the doorframe.
Her first impression of the office was feeling underwhelmed at the décor. She had imagined complex diagrams and weather patterns all over the walls with shelves full of books about weather phenomenon or guide books on how to deal with storms or strong winds. Apart from the whiteboard that had indeed some of the weather patterns that Twilight had expected nothing else really stood out.
“Whaddya think, Flitter? Should I put in a few blue streaks in my mane? Light blue or dark blue? Hmmm…maybe purple…” Twilight jumped a bit at the voice coming from the lone sofa. Closer inspection revealed a pegasus lying on her back reading a magazine about mane and tail stylings. The very light pink coat that was almost white, green and pink striped mane and tail identified her as Blossomforth, one of the pegasi from the weather team. She was facing away from Twilight and did not realize that it wasn’t one of the staff she had addressed. Twilight cleared her throat loud enough to make herself noticed. Blossomforth craned her neck around to see who was there, eyes widening as she saw that it wasn’t who she thought it was.
“Oh, hi!” she turned over onto her side and flicked the magazine she was reading on the table in front of her. With pegasus born agility she quickly rolled off the couch onto her hooves.
“Can I help you?” Blossomforth asked and gave Twilight a smile.
“Is Rainbow Dash around?” the unicorn asked hoping that the mare in question was in another room maybe or still out doing her duties.
“No sorry. She left for Cloudsdale this morning. Some kind of three day seminar that sounds really boring.” Blossomforth explained not even trying to hide her dislike for boring seminars from her voice.
“If it’s about the weather I can gladly help.” She continued and held a hoof to her chest.
“No, it’s not about the weather. I just needed some help from Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said and silently cursed the timing of her friend having to leave and Derpy’s situation.
“Well can I help?” the pegasus kindly offered her help, but Twilight did not want to involve anymore ponies. She shook her head and politely declined before heading out of the office. Blossomforth shrugged and flopped down on the couch again after grabbing the magazine she had been reading earlier.
“Perhaps streaks of dark red….” She mused to herself and soon forgot about her visitor.
Twilight sighed as she left the office and sighed once more as she stood at the top of the stairs. The trek down would be easier, but still not too nice on an empty stomach. Halfway down the stairs she heard raised voices coming from a nearby double set of doors. A small sign next to the doors identified it as the office of Mayor Mare. Twilight felt it to be impolite to listen in on something that did not concern her so she tried to hurry past as fast as possible. She was just about to pass the door as it slammed open in front of her, narrowly missing her head by mere millimeters. Out of reflex she jumped back and pressed herself against the wall, thanks to the bad lighting she remained unseen by the pony that came through the doors.
“No, I will not leave this matter alone, Mayor! She has defiled my beautiful home and I want compensation for the damages done!” Twilight identified the enraged stallion as Filthy Rich. The angry tone of his voice seemed strangely familiar, but she could not place where she had heard it before.
“You do not have any proof that it was her who did that, until you do I shall not be doing anything about this matter.” The Mayor replied from within her office, her tone indicating that she was less than amused about whatever Filthy Rich had seen her about.
“Do yourself a favor and fire that damn nuisance. Otherwise it may reflect badly come next election, if you catch my drift.” Without waiting for a reply he hoofed the doors closed and stomped his way down the stairs. Twilight remained pressed against the wall until she could no longer hear his hoofsteps. Then she quickly made her exit, briefly wondering who it had been they were arguing about. She shook her head clear of those thoughts, as she had enough problems for now with Derpy.
Twilight decided to try and talk to Derpy herself once more. Her visit to the post office led to the concerning information that Derpy had left a message saying she was sick for the rest of the week. A visit at Derpy’s home revealed no trace of the mare. During lunch time Twilight informed her friends of what she had learned this morning. Each of them said they would try and talk to Derpy and see if they could clear the situation. However none of them had any luck getting into contact with the mare.
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Wednesday afternoon arrived and an increasingly worried Twilight was pacing about in her library. Spike had tried to get Twilight away from her thoughts on Derpy, but Twilight could sometimes be just as stubborn as a mule, especially if it was about something she felt guilty about. The dragon hoped that Rainbow Dash would return quickly and put an end to all the worries. As he was dusting in the upstairs bedroom he saw the familiar streak of rainbow colors in the sky, heralding the arrival of Rainbow Dash. His silent prayers seemed to have been answered, as a test he wished for a bowl of ice cream. That prayer seemed to be silently ignored, so he turned his attention back to dusting.
As per usual Rainbow Dash did not bother using the front door and opted instead for the nearest open window. She hoped that Twilight had found out more about the mysterious author of the Daring Do book series and with any luck might even know who it is. The pegasus found the unicorn in the main room of the library.
“Hey, Twilight! How’s it going? Found anything yet?” she asked while landing behind Twilight. When Twilight turned around to face her, she nearly jumped back into the air. The unicorn looked massively tired and stressed out. Rainbow Dash had to force herself to stay put as Twilight practically launched herself at her and pulling her into a hug.
“Thank goodness you are back! Things haven’t been going well here.” Twilight moaned and released the pegasus from her grasp.
“So I am guessing you had no luck finding our author?” Rainbow Dash asked, but already knew the answer judging by the facial expression of the mare opposite her.
“There was an incident at the party.” Twilight gave a quick recap of the events of that evening including the exchange at Derpy’s home.
“Oh, for crying out loud….” Rainbow Dash facehoofed and sighed. “For such a smart pony you sure do some stupid things.”
Twilight didn’t know what hurt more, the fact that Rainbow Dash of all ponies was chastising her or that she was right. She turned away and began flipping absent mindedly through the pile of books on a nearby table.
“The girls tried talking to her. Rarity and Applejack went by her house and tried to talk to her, but she didn’t answer. Pinkie went inside uninvited and couldn’t find her anywhere. Fluttershy saw her yesterday, but was too afraid to talk to her, because she didn’t want to make her even more upset.” Twilight kept on flipping through the books, when suddenly something caught her eye. A puzzle piece that had been missing suddenly had appeared right in front of her and she had been too blind to see it before.
She had flipped backwards through a Daring Do novel and was now looking at the first page or to be more precise she was looking at the first words printed on that page.
Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet a D.D. novel.
“How could I be so stupid.” Twilight groaned as her mind connected all the dots she had about the author.
“That’s what I said.” Rainbow Dash interjected and motioned for her to continue. “What about Derpy?”
“She’s the author!” Twilight nearly yelled and spun around to face her friend.
“Are you sure?” Rainbow Dash was highly skeptical about Twilight’s assumption considering the state the mare seemed to currently be in.
“Yes! Look…the D.D. here. I always thought that meant Daring Do, but it is actually Ditzy Doo.” Twilight frowned at her friend when it became apparent that she had trouble believing her.
“There’s more! She had been here before I came to Ponyville, she knew you from being part of the weather team on occasion. The amount of books in her place although she does not read much and her bubbles with stories in them! Her telling her parents bedtime stories when she was little! And Pinkie mentioning seeing a typewriter in one of her rooms! Uuuuuurgh! It is so obvious!”
Twilight stomped the ground with a hoof out of frustration that she had not seen the signs earlier. Rainbow Dash watched her for a moment in silence, seemingly going through the new revelations she had just received.
“So you really think it’s her?” Twilight nodded at the question. “And it just so happens to be the pony that you have now upset and can’t talk to anymore…..”
Twilight avoided her friends scolding look and stared down at her front hooves. “It was all just a misunderstanding. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be telling that. Let’s go and fix this mess right now!” Twilight didn’t get a chance to protest as Rainbow Dash grabbed her from behind around her chest and jumped into air. The unicorn barely had enough time to tuck in her legs before they passed through the window.
______________________________________________________________________
With blinding speed they were now darting between houses on the way to Derpy’s home. Twilight didn’t even have time to scream or voice any other sound of distress at the impromptu flying session. She couldn’t tell if her weight influenced the pegasus ability to fly in any way. Soon enough they touched down in front of the home of the mailmare, something Twilight was grateful for. She doubted she would ever get used to flying.
Rainbow Dash let go of Twilight and immediately knocked on the front door. After no response came from inside she took a few steps back to see if a window might be open. Twilight stopped Rainbow Dash from flying up and entering the house.
“You can’t just fly in uninvited! It’s bad enough that Pinkie Pie went in earlier, but was lucky she wasn’t caught.” Twilight readied a spell to grab Rainbow Dash by the tail if she did still try to fly up.
“Looks like that won’t be necessary anyway.” Rainbow Dash said and pointed a hoof towards a grey pegasus that just had trotted around the corner of the house. Derpy looked at her unexpected guests with surprise. She trotted up to them, Twilight noticing that the grey mare didn’t seem to be angry at either of them. Twilight saw that as a good sign.
“What are you doing here?” Derpy asked and managed to keep an eye on each of the visitors at the same time. Her voice was without malice instead having a slightly sad undertone.
“We know you wrote the Daring Do novels!” Rainbow Dash blurted out before Twilight could say anything. Derpy’s eyes widened at the statement and she quickly opened the front door of her house, afterwards ushering the two others mares inside.
“How did you find out?” she asked slightly panicked.
“Rainbow Dash noticed it first that whoever was writing those stories had to live here and know all of us, as the characters had our traits. I figured it out just a few moments ago by piecing together the clues I had.” Twilight explained being somewhat confused at the apparent horror that the mailmare was now feeling.
“Please, please, please don’t tell anypony.” Derpy finally pleaded after remaining stunned for a few moments.
“So it is true? You really did write those stories?” Rainbow Dash asked before Twilight could say anything further. Derpy merely nodded at Rainbow’s question.
“So Daring Do was made by you with me in mind?”
“Yes.” Derpy said weakly and laid down in front of the other two mares. She put her forehooves together and started to plead with the rainbow maned pegasus. “Please don’t be angry! I didn’t mean any harm by doing that.”
Confused Rainbow Dash looked over to Twilight who merely looked back just as confused.
“Why would I be angry? I am Daring Do! You made me even more awesome than I already was!” Rainbow Dash said and hovered up a bit to strike a pose of awesomeness. An impressive feat considering that the already rather narrow hallway also had two other ponies in it.
“Technically she has a part of you, Applejack and Fluttershy.” Twilight felt the need to point out that fact.
“You figured that out?” Derpy asked from her position on the floor.
“Once we knew what to look for, we found plenty of signs and references.” Twilight explained. “Why are you hiding the fact away that you are such an accomplished writer?”
“Yeah! You have written the greatest book series in all of history!” Rainbow Dash added with a grin. Twilight felt her ear twitch and had to fight down the urge to argue that particular point with her friend.
“I…I don’t want anypony to know that I wrote those.” Derpy slowly rose from the floor and tried to avoid eye contact with the other two ponies, which wasn’t that easy as one eye always seemed to focus on one or the other pony. In the end she simply shut her eyes.
“Why not? You have an amazing talent and even managed to get a pony like Rainbow Dash into reading.” Twilight gave Derpy an encouraging smile, the gesture was lost however as she still had her eyes closed.
“I should be offended by that,” Rainbow Dash frowned at the unicorn from above. “But she is right. Without your amazing book I never would have enjoyed reading. I bet if you told ponies that you write those books they would invite you to all kinds of parties.”
“That’s just it!” Derpy said and looked at Rainbow Dash who finally stopped her hovering and landed beside Twilight again.
“Huh? You don’t like parties?” Rainbow Dash guessed and looked over to the unicorn beside her, hoping she understood what Derpy was hinting at. Twilight merely shrugged.
“It’s not just the parties. It’s everything about that….thing….” Derpy thought for a moment on how to explain herself. “Do you remember the Grand Galloping Gala that you attended?”
Rainbow Dash and Twilight shared a painful expression at the memories from that evening. It had both been their first and last attendance at the Gala.
“I mean the one where you destroyed the ballroom.” Derpy explained further.
“How do you know about that?” Twilight asked somewhat surprised as the events from that evening had not been told in too much detail in public.
“I was there.” Derpy casually admitted causing both of the other ponies jaws dropping open.
“Y…you were? But where, I didn’t see you anywhere.” Rainbow Dash tried to think back to the Gala, but all she could really remember was her frustration at not being able to talk to the Wonderbolts and the damage that had been done to the ballroom.
“I was in the Wonderbolts VIP section of the party.” Derpy had been close enough to witness Rainbow’s heroic display of saving Soarin’s pie and the invitation extended to her by Spitfire to hang out with them.
“Really? That is awesome! Why wouldn’t you want that more often?” Rainbow Dash would gladly use any opportunity to hang out with the Wonderbolts.
“Because it’s fake.” Derpy said and after seeing the surprise on the other mare’s faces felt she needed to explain that in more detail.
“It’s all fake. The smiles, the laughter, the politeness, just….everything. Yes, they are nice to me once they hear that I am some important pony from a big publishing company, but they just do that to gain something for themselves. They don’t care about me, just how I could help them get ahead in life. And I do not want to be part of that fake world, I want ponies to like me for who I am and not for what I have done.”
Derpy watched the other mare’s reaction and saw that they almost unnoticeably nodded in agreement with her. It seemed as if they could relate or at the very least understand what she was trying to say.
“Well you have that here, right?” Rainbow Dash admired Ponyville for its friendly welcoming nature, so very unlike Cloudsdale where she had grown up. “Ponies that like you for who you are I mean.”
Rainbow Dash’s smile slowly vanished as Derpy simply stared at her for a moment in silence.
“Right?” The cyan pegasus looked sideways at Twilight hoping she would back her up, the unicorn however seemed to be stuck in her own thoughts for the moment. Derpy broke her silence with a heavy sigh.
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but things have changed.” Derpy made a point by purposely not looking at Twilight, which was a somewhat impressive feat considering that her eyes rarely did what she wanted them to do.
The unicorn did pick up on the hidden meaning immediately.
“I never meant to call you out or draw attention to you.” Twilight began to try and explain her actions. Derpy cut her off however before she could elaborate.
“I know that. I know what you wanted to try and do for me and I appreciate it. I may have overreacted a bit when you came by later that evening. Sorry about that. It just…it just brought back memories from before.” Derpy sighed and fought back old memories from surfacing.
“Then you know that there are ponies here that care about you.” Twilight carefully said using the pause that had followed Derpy’s previous explanation.
“Yes, I know. I also know that things have been set in motion now. It always starts with just one pony calling me out. Soon others will join in and then I am nothing more than the village idiot. I don’t want that feeling again.”
“Hey! You will never be the village idiot as long as I am here!” Rainbow Dash piped in and caused both mare’s to look at her silently for a few moments, before she realized what she had said. “Ok that sounded kinda wrong, but you know what I meant.”
Derpy actually gave the other pegasus a small smile. It felt like the first smile in ages to the mailmare.
“I know and I want to thank you Rainbow Dash. You were the only pony who treated me like any other pony from the very first day I arrived. You never held back telling me off when I messed things up. It was refreshing in a way.”
Rainbow Dash gave Derpy and awkward smile. It had been indeed true that Rainbow Dash had treated the other mare like every other pony she knew, but that was mainly in part of her being too self-obsessed in the past to even notice if there may have been anything different about the other ponies. Something that had changed considerably once Twilight had made her appearance in Ponyville and befriended the pegasus.
“I will miss that.” Derpy said and looked to her right into the living room.
“Miss that? I won’t change if that’s what you are afraid of.” Rainbow Dash shot a look to Twilight beside her who merely shrugged.
“I am leaving.” The short sentence uttered by the grey mare caused the others to do a double take.
“Leaving? What? Why? Nononono….listen if it’s about us finding out about you writing the Daring Do stuff, then we will Pinkie Promise right now never to tell another pony.” Without waiting for an answer Rainbow Dash went through the motions and said the words. She gave Twilight an angry glare that prompted the unicorn to do the same.
“It’s not that. I just don’t want things to go really bad before I leave. Rather I leave when it is still peaceful and not to an angry or mean crowd.” Derpy trotted into the living room and picked up her saddlebags that were lying on the couch.
“When do you intend to leave?” Twilight asked hoping to maybe use the time left to convince the mailmare to stay.
“Right now actually.” Derpy replied and carefully slipped her saddlebags on. “I just have returned from the Mayor’s office to give in my resignation. My things will be packed up as soon as I have found another place to stay. I just came here to pick up my bags with my ticket.”
Derpy turned and trotted past the two mares in the hallway. Without any further explanation she opened the front door and stepped outside leaving two very confused ponies behind. Quickly they spun around and followed the departing mare.
____________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash and Twilight followed her in silence for a while, unsure of what to say to try and make her rethink things. Derpy did not look back once, but was well aware of being followed. She did not want to make this any more difficult that it already was for her, even if she did not show it.
The sight of three saddened ponies slowly making their way towards the train station did not go unnoticed, especially by four ponies who were sitting nearby and enjoying a break in their daily activities. The pink one of the group saw the trio first.
“Hey look! It’s Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Ditzy!” Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof towards the mentioned ponies. “Huh, I wonder why they all look so sad. Well, I guess I’ll have to do something about that!”
“Pinkie, wait!” Rarity’s attempt at keeping the pink pony seated was feeble at best. Somehow she managed to slip from her seat to under the table and was soon bouncing towards the three ponies before Rarity had even managed to move a hoof.
“I guess we had better make sure she doesn’t throw another party.” Rarity sighed and followed Pinkie Pie with Applejack and Fluttershy in tow.
“Hey girls! Why the sad frown? Anything I can do to turn that upside down?” Pinkie chirped and hopped from one mare to the other.
“Derpy is leaving.” Rainbow Dash mumbled, still trying to think any something she could do.
“What? Why?” Pinkie’s bouncing stopped and she fell into a trot beside Twilight. The remaining friends joined them and had heard what Rainbow Dash had said.
“Leaving? Darling, why do you want to leave?” Rarity looked over to Twilight hoping for an answer.
“It isn’t important. I just have to leave.” Derpy answered instead without looking back.
“Didn’t you like the muffin I made you?” Pinkie seemed genuinely concerned now. Her smile had been replaced by a frown of her own.
“She is leaving, because she doesn’t feel that this is the place for her anymore.” Twilight’s explanation lacked any details, but there wasn’t any time to go into them. Besides that she wasn’t comfortable to talk about that in public and didn’t want to say anything that Derpy might not want others to know.
“But…but if you leave then who will be my muffin taster for new flavors? You are the bestest best expert on muffins!” Rarity rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s concern.
“Do you have to leave? I…uhm…I hope you change your mind. My animal friends like you when you deliver my mail and you never mix it up either.” Fluttershy’s attempt at convincing Derpy to stay was almost inaudible.
“Ya sure about what’cha doin’, sugarcube?” Applejack said after it was apparent that Derpy would not answer either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie. “Don’t ya like it here? Ah heard ya plenty of times sayin’ how much ya liked Sweet Apple Acres durin’ the spring. If there was somethin’ that we did or didn’t do ya can tell us.”
“Miss Do!” Mayor Mare came trotting up from the side joining the six friends following Derpy. The mailmare however did not stop and just continued her course.
“Miss Do! I just found your letter of resignation on my desk.” Four ponies looked at each other with surprise, while Rainbow Dash and Twilight carefully listened to what the Mayor was about to say.
“Is it about the pay? You have never said anything about wanting a raise before and I would gladly discuss it with you.” Derpy shook her head at the Mayor’s question.
Bits had never been an issue for Derpy. The royalties from her books most likely made her the second richest pony in Ponyville. Something she had hidden very well from others. She had even paid for the damages done by her to the town hall a while back, anonymously of course as not to draw attention to her.
“Then is it about the accusations leveled at you?” The Mayor asked causing Rainbow Dash’s ears to perk up.
“Accusations? What accusations?” She wanted to know and suddenly had a bad feeling.
“Filthy Rich had accused her of defiling his house and property.” Rainbow Dash winced at the Mayor’s response.
“Sweetie Belle told me about that. She kept laughing at that the entire day.” Rarity said and could not help a little smile forming on her lips.
“He did what? Ah think Ah should have a little talk with him. The Apples don’t like to do business with ponies that are uncivil to others.” Applejack made a mental note to pay him a visit later that day.
“It doesn’t matter and that’s not the reason.” Derpy finally said and blocked out the rest of everything said to her on the last bit of the way.
The train was already there and ready to depart when she arrived. Behind her the voices had become louder and more pleading. She even thought she had heard Pinkie Pie try and persuade her to stay with a song. Derpy wasn’t sure however as everything had blended together in a constant drone of noise. Here at the train station she shook her head clear and finally was able to hear the voices clearly again.
“Now listen ya’ll. If she wants ta leave it’s her decision. She is a grown mare and capable of deciding what’s right fer her. None of us can to anythin’ about it.” Derpy mentally thanked Applejack for backing her up. The silence that followed was only interrupted by the conductors call to board the train.
Wordlessly Derpy entered and stood motionless. She felt as if she should at least say thank you to the few ponies that had decided to escort her to the station. As she turned around to face them she was greeted with something she had never reckoned with.
She had expected to see Rainbow Dash with her friends and maybe the Mayor. Instead she now faced a sea of sad faces. It seemed half of Ponyville had somehow heard of her leaving and had joined her slow trek across the town. All of them seemed to be saddened that she would go and never return. It was no wonder that the voices had been so jumbled if everypony had tried to talk to her at the same time. Derpy’s mouth dropped open and she had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing thing.
Just as she was about to say something the door’s slammed shut.
__________________________________________________________________
As the train slowly picked up speed and departed from Ponyville’s station a crowd of ponies watched it leave in silence.
“This sucks!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed finally and heard a few ponies agree with her.
“It’s her choice Rainbow.” Applejack said, but silently agreed with her pegasus friend.
The train pulled out of the station leaving just a plume of dust behind. Once it had settled a lone figure could be seen sitting on the other side of the tracks. It took a moment before anypony noticed it, but once they did a chorus arose from the assembled mass of ponies.
“Derpy!” they cheered in unison and beamed a smile at the sheepishly grinning pegasus sitting opposite them. Derpy had jumped out the window in the next carriage while the train was still standing.
Hesitantly she flew over to the waiting ponies and felt herself on the receiving end of a Pinkie strength hug. “I am soooo happy you decided to stay!” The pink pony happily said and squeezed a little harder, leaving no air in Derpy’s lungs to reply.
“Ease off now Pinkie. Give the girl some air.” Applejack needed all of her own strength to break Pinkie’s hold.
Derpy wanted to say thank you and that she wasn’t sure why she felt the need to leave. As things turned out a reminder was also amongst the assembled ponies. The only one of them that had been not sad at all to see her leave.
“Can’t you do anything right?” Filthy Rich snarled from quite a few paces away from the crowd. “Are you even too dumb to get on a train and leave? Leaving was the only good idea you most likely ever had by the way.”
“Hey! You better watch what you say there pal!” Rainbow Dash flared her wings open in anger nearly hitting Rarity in the process. The fashionista carefully stepped away from her friend. Before Rainbow Dash could do anything rash Applejack cut her off first.
“Ah was meanin’ to talk to ya! Ah might be inclined to rethink our business agreement come next Zap-Apple harvest. Don’t think it would set well for us Apple’s doing business with the likes of a pony that’s so uncivil towards others.” Applejack gave the business pony a hard glare, yet he didn’t even flinch.
“You would really defend the likes of her? A pony who would defile my home and beautiful garden with toilet paper?” Filthy Rich asked and pointed an accusatory hoof at the now once again crestfallen grey pegasus.
“You bet we would defend one of our friends!” Rainbow Dash flew up a few feet into the air to emphasize her point. “And she didn’t do it! I did!”
Filthy Rich glared daggers at the hovering pegasus. Then much to his and Rainbow Dash’s surprise another voice spoke up.
“Yeah! She didn’t do it! I did it!” Rainbow Dash looked down in confusion to see who had spoken up. A mint green unicorn mare stood up and grinned at the furious looking Filthy Rich.
Bon Bon stood next to the vocal Lyra and smirked. Then she slung a foreleg around her friend’s neck before shouting: “It was me! I did it!”
“No, I did it!” Colgate joined in.
“We did it!” Even the Spa Sisters had joined the crowd on the station. Soon more and more ponies joined in each claiming that they were the culprits.
“No, you guys! I really did do it!” Rainbow Dash’s protest went under in the chorus of ponies clearly joining the side of Derpy. Rainbow Dash landed back where she had been standing.
“What’s going on?” she asked nopony in particular.
“Seems to me as if the ponies are willing to defend their friend.” Twilight Sparkle said and could not help but smile at the event going on all around her.
With a huff Filthy Rich decided to leave and was sent off with loud cheering.
“Seems his accusation will not be any further issue.” Mayor Mare could not hide her smile as she turned to the now dumbfounded Derpy. “I have to get back to the office. Oh and I think I may have accidentally lost your resignation.”
Derpy smiled at the Mayor and her friends all around her. For the first time in a very long time she suddenly felt as if she had a place to belong.
“So I take it that you will not be leaving anytime soon?” Twilight asked while stepping up next to her.
“I think I will stay home.” Derpy answered with a wide grin.