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// The Sea of Griffons 
// Story: Drip Drop 
// by Silver Thread 
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For hours, she had swum through the waters with ease; but time had made her wings stiff, as it would the legs of a working pony or the weather-ponies up in Cloudsdale. Leaving the tourmaline seas, she collapsed graciously on the warm sands of the sunset. The sky now ranged from the kindest orange to a deep azure, as nightfall slowly overcame the beach. Thankfully the quartz grains upon which she spread her wings were still warm with captured sunlight, and aided in drying her sea-soaked feathers.

The utter silence beside the soft ebb and flow of the waves stirred Derpy's mind to go to darker places than she would have hoped. Memories of names and failed tasks fogged her mind, and made her shudder for more reasons than her simply being chilled. The drying process was slow, but necessary; for a pony cannot fly with wet wings.

As her cat-like yellow eyes made out faint stars twinkling into existence, she recalled how she found this place. Despite her rebellious eyes, she could see fairly well, only having problems when it came to depth perception. She would very rarely head to the library, which before Twilight Sparkle was under different ownership. The librarian allowed her in with understanding, being one of few ponies well-read enough to realize aesthetic "flaws" often made for wiser ponies. Also, being one of the few ponies to actually come to read her books garnered her respect in the librarian's eyes.

When Derpy first came to the library, she had just left Cloudsdale after realizing it simply wasn't the place for her. She had not yet found her special talent, and it was yet another thing the others would poke fun at her for. Social interactions were awkward at best, and though she tried her best to put on a happy face, they would attribute it to her being "her derpy self". 

What no one seems to realize was that she was on par with the smarter ponies when it came to knowledge, more-so because she had to hide away often to escape their teasing. In her time she would read, she would listen, and above all she would observe. In the case of Derpy, she took all of the unkind things other ponies did to heart, to know what not to do to others. She never wanted anyone to feel like she had to every day.

In the library, Derpy had begun to learn about things she would have never been exposed to otherwise. The mare learned of the thrills of spelunking, the mysteries of the living forest, and the curiosities of the sea.

Now, thinking about it, she realized not all of these things would be suited for a pony like her. When she pondered cave-diving, she thought of her footing and immediately realized it'd be a death-trap. The forest would be a similar situation, with low-hanging branches coming up sooner than expected due to her poor coordination. When it came to the sea, however...something clicked.

Water was something ponies were familiar with for weather and drinking, but not for swimming. Swimming was for the lesser creatures, in general. Very little of the oceanic areas of the world were explored, simply due to the way ponies were built. Ponies needed air, they were built for the land, not for navigating the wide expanses of the sea. Derpy, though, thought a wide, open area with no obstacles would be the perfect place for an accident-prone pegasus like her to explore.

She returned the next day and looked through maps of Equestria, and instead of looking at the named landmasses, she looked at the edges. The labels for the water were less-than-helpful, with no actual place names stated, just warnings of Griffons and Dragons. But it was something. She found the nearest area, apparently between two towns, located near where the Griffons would travel to Equestria from their homelands. This "Sea of Griffons" would be her next stop.

A cold wind chilled her back from her memories, as Derpy realized that night had fallen. Luna's beautiful Moon shone over the water, sparkles of white dancing before her. The pegasus rolled over and shook off the sand stuck in her mane, wings stretching. It was time for her to return home...or...where she called home. A place she wished she could be welcomed.

With one last look at the Sea of Griffons, she took off towards Ponyville, hoping her troubles would be left behind with the sands.