The sun peeked through the window, right into Derpy’s eyes. She struggled to stay asleep but Celestia didn’t seem to want to allow it. She opened her eyes and looked around, recalling that she had fallen asleep in her daughters bed with her. She looked down and spotted Dinky snuggled up close to her mother, hugging her as best as she could with her little legs. Derpy couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight, but as much as she wanted to stay right here with her little girl she knew they had to get up soon so she could get to work… “Sweety, it’s time to get up…”
“Mer… It’s too early… I’m too comfy…” she mumbled, snuggling in closer in an attempt to hide from the sun.
Her adorableness won the battle… Derpy held her close and smiled, letting her rest for a bit longer…
Of course they both regretted it later, both dashing out the door with a bagel in their mouths as they rushing toward the school. Derpy dropped off her little girl at school and kissed her goodbye before heading toward the post office.
She saw a few other Pegasus ponies flying away from the post office, all carrying their owns bags of mail. she couldn’t help but notice there seemed to be two more than they normally released… It must’ve been a heavy news day. She tried to remember if there was a holiday soon or if there was some sort of promotion going on in town… nothing came to mind, so she didn’t worry about it. Instead she rushed right in, giving everyone a smile.
“Oh, Derpy!” A unicorn organizing a pile of letters called her over, “The boss wanted to speak with you, it seems urgent.” Derpy couldn’t imagine why on earth the boss would want to speak with her before work… but she was too happy to ask questions, so she quickly popped her head into his office.
“You wanted to see me Sir?” she asked curiously.
The boss had a grim look on his face when Derpy appeared, “Yeah, Come on in Derpy, we need to talk…” he explained, ushering her in.
She blinked, now feeling nervous. His grim look slowly peeled away the happiness that had built up around her the day before. She pulled herself inside and shut the door, taking a seat quietly in front of his desk.
“Derpy, You know we all really like you… We’ve grown to like you around here. You’re like family.” She knew that all the nice words he was throwing out were merely an attempt to soften the blow that was about to come, “but we’re also a business, and we have to make our patrons happy…”
Derpy felt a chill run down her spine… all the happiness had peeled away, allowing her to remember the anger she felt yesterday…. But even that peeled away, revealing her fear deep inside her… “S-sir, I can explain-“
“You don’t have to Derpy…” he wave his hoof, stopping her from speaking, “She brought in the torn note with your hoofprint on it… I read it, and yes, it was a horrible HORRIBLE thing for her to write, not to mention read right in front of you…”
“Than you know she’s a mean old witch!” she spat out without much thought, her anguish beginning to take over her.
“Yes, she’s a horrible pony being whom should’ve been wiped from this planet a long time ago, BUT… That doesn’t mean you can go on a rampage in her home and throw her packages around…” She could see that everything that he was about to do was hard for him. Derpy could see it in his eyes that he hated what was going on, “Derpy I have to give you some time off… a month or so, maybe more… just until this whole thing blows over… or the old lady keels over, whichever happens first.”
“B-but sir! I need this job! I can’t take that much time off! I can’t afford it!” She was desperate for another way around this, “Please! Can’t you just not give me any of her deliveries?”
“She’s caused trouble in the past, I tried that once with another pony and she raised heck when she saw the I just moved the pony over to another route.”he sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hoof. His lips twisted painfully as he tried to express what needed to be said, “Derpy, believe me, I don’t want to do this, you’re one of the best here, and frankly I need the best around considering how much the Unicorn Postal Service is cutting into our business with their teleportation spells… But if she raises heck in town it’ll hurt us, and we can’t afford it…” he took a deep breath and sighed, resting his chin on his hoof. He looked down at the torn note and flicked it off the end of the table into the garbage pail, not wanting to have any way of seeing the horrible note ever again, “I’ll give you a week of reduced salary to help you by until you find another job to take over… but my hooves are tied… there’s nothing I can do to help you right now…”
Derpy bit her lip, trying to control herself. She felt her eye welling up with tears, but she just nodded. There just didn’t seem to be any other way for him, “I understand… Thank you…” she slowly exited the door, heading out with her head hung low. She let her wings unfurl and slowly lifted herself up. She hoped that she might get to see a few scenes at the studio to help cheer her up.
At the studio it was pretty quiet; a couple of unicorns were setting up some sort of contraption on wheels for the next episode, and two twins were nearby going over lines together. She couldn’t help but imagine them being barbers or something from their clothes, and a brief thought of how cute the mustached one looked crossed her mind, but she didn’t keep that though long. Derpy searched for the director, or at least someone she was familiar with. Soon she spotted Big Mac. She knew it would be unlikely to see him around unless Applejack was around too, but she needed some social interaction right now, and he always seemed friendly. She trotted up him nervously, hoping he wouldn’t mind the conversation, “Hello Macintosh, it’s good to see you.”
Big Mac turned, seeing the grey pony looking up at him, “It’s wonderful to see you as well, Derpy. How are you?” he spoke a little slowly, making sure he picked the right words in the unfamiliar language.
“oh well… I’m okay I suppose…” she knew she was lying, but she couldn’t just run up to someone and burst into tears about losing her job.
Big Mac didn’t notice the tinge of pain in her voice, so he just shrugged, “I am okay too. I’m practicing my lines for the next episode… heh, I think you had more lines in your one show than I’ve had since I started!” he laughed a little, his hearty cheerfulness got Derpy a little bit happier than before.
“Heh, oh I doubt that… I hear you’ve got an episode based around you coming up soon!” she added with a big smile. “You’ll have plenty of lines then.”
“Oh, yes… this is going to be hard…” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, “So many new words I’ve never come across before… What exactly is a ‘schmooky wookum’?”
Derpy couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt to use the strange pet name. She recalled the synopsis for the episode saying that Mac falls in love with the teacher in the show, “I have no idea, Mac,” she giggled at the thought of him saying such a thing, “it’s just some silly little thing lovers say to one another.”
Big Mac seemed to grow a thoughtful expression, the cogs and sprockets in his head turning quickly, “Hm, alright… I think I’m going to go try it and see how well it works…” he turned away and began to walk off to another part of the stage, looking around for Applejack.
Derpy took in a breath, letting it out slowly. The little interaction certainly made her feel better about her job, although she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. She didn’t have a special somepony, very few guys seemed to want to stick around once her eye issue became apparent. She considered contacts to help hide it, but she never had the money for a prescription.
“What am I thinking? I have Dinky! She’s all the love I need!” her own words gave her some strength, although not much…
“Derpy! How’re you doing?” Motion Picture called out to her, walking her way, “What brings you here? You don’t have any scenes scheduled for today…”
“Oh, well, I um… I was hoping to clear my head.” She said simply, rubbing the back of her head.
Motion sensed something off, “Clear your head? Is something wrong?”
She couldn’t help but wonder if she was so easy to read… everyone seemed to know when something was wrong with her. “I just… I just got fired from my postmare job…”
Motion’s eyes widened, “Oh no! I’m so sorry! What happened?”
“Well… the other day… one of my regulars started saying bad things about Dinky… and I… well…” she didn’t really want to continue on with how she acted. Looking back it was very embarrassing and very unlike her.
She didn’t need to say anything else, Motion just nodded, “I understand… Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find more work somewhere… And you still have plenty of scenes to do with us! We’ve got you scheduled for little bits and pieces in a couple of upcoming episodes, I’ll make sure you get the list, okay?”
Derpy smiled at Motion Picture. He was such a kind stallion… now if only he was a bit younger. “Thank you Mr Picture. I really appreciate it.”
“It’s no problem at all Derpy… and maybe I’ll ask around, see if anyone knows anyplace that’s hiring at the moment.”
“OH! Thank you! I’d really appreciate it… although I suppose I have plenty of time to go around looking...” She went through the streets of town in her head, trying to get ideas of stores and other businesses that needed some help…
“Alright, well why don’t you head on out and get looking? If you’d like you can use me as a reference! I’ll be sure to put in a good word for y-“
“Mr Picture!” one of the ponies in the marketing department rushed over to him, “Mr Picture we may have a-… Oh, Hey uh… Hey there Derpy…” The pony bit her lip, shifting awkwardly, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt…”
“No no, it’s okay, I think we were about finished… Were we?” He turned to Derpy to make sure she didn’t have anything else to say.
“Yup! Thank you again Mr Picture!” She bounced away with a little smile on her face, although she couldn’t help but feel concerned for the issue that the marketing pony wanted to bring up… but she was too happy to concern herself with it.
Applejack walked over to Motion Picture, laughing hysterically, “Hey Motion! Didja hear what Macintosh just said to m-…”
She noticed the grim look on Motion Pictures face as he spoke with the marketing pony, giving her a nod. He listened quietly to the marketing pony as she explained the situation… He turned to look over his shoulder, seeing Derpy bounding away happily… he had a grim look on his face, reaching up to rub his eyes with his hoof, “Just… just keep an eye out for anymore letters and emails… We’ll see how this thing plays out… if we have to, I’ll fix it…” the marketing pony nodded and left, giving Applejack time to approach him.
“Hey Motion, what’s up?” Applejack knew the look couldn’t be good.
He shook his head, “Could be nothing… or it could be really bad… we just have to wait and see…”
Derpy bounced around happily, looking for any signs that a store was hiring… preferably a ‘now hiring’ sign… To her luck she spotted one in the window of a small bakery. She quickly headed inside and looked around. The shelves and glass display case were fairly bare, but it was still early in the morning. The smell of pastries and sweet cream in the kitchen filled the air, sending her into waves of delight. She quietly headed to the counter and tapped the bell, hoping that she wasn’t disturbing anypony.
“Just a moment!” called out a voice from the back kitchen. Derpy could hear the sound of rushing water in the back just before a purple earth pony came out, drying her hooves on a towel, “Hello! How can I help you?”
“Well, I was hoping to find some employment! I use to love baking- er, well I still do… but I was hoping I could talk to you about the position you have available!” She seemed eager and very willing to work in any way she could. She focused hard on her eye, keeping it straight while they talked, hoping to make a good first impression
“Oh! That’s wonderful! I was really hoping for an extra hoof around here… I’ve been getting a lot of orders lately and my husband is out on business… and with my son studying all the time I can never seem to get anything done.” She let out a little laugh.
“Well I would be happy to help! I’ve been baking for years now, and I work well under pressure! I’ve been told I’m especially good at baking muffins, hehe…”
“Really? Y’know I’ve been baking for years now and all of a sudden just a few days ago I get a ton of orders for muffins from a dozen different customers… I have absolutely no idea why… I mentioned it to my son, but he just laughed… I don’t understand him sometimes…”
Derpy blinked, feeling a connection coming through… a few days ago her character got her first line, the character who has been known for loving muffins (thanks to a single line) And now ponies were wanting muffins? Seemed strange, but she had seen stranger things. “Kids, will we ever understand them?”
The mare giggled, “Oh you must have one too.”
“Yup!” she smiled, proud of the fact that she had a daughter, “A little girl, just started school recently.”
“Oh that’s wonderful! My boy just started up college, studying some computer sciency stuff, I don’t really get it myself…” suddenly the room sounded like a stampede was running through it, “Oh, here he comes now!” She said as if the noise was the norm in her bakery.
Down the steps a young stallion rushed down, short mane, a bit spike up, with a set of saddlebags on his back, “Hey Mom, I’m heading out to study with the guys, gonna grab a snack, what have you got baked this-“ There was an audible squeak as his hooves came to a sudden stop on the floor. He turned to Derpy, staring wide eyed at her. He quickly looked at her flank, seeing the familiar bubble cutie mark. His jaw dropped suddenly, “You’re… You’re Derpy Hooves! aren’t you?”
Derpy blinked, just as surprised as he was at the situation. She noticed his saddlebags had a very familiar lightning bolt design for the buckle, one that Rainbow Dash would be proud of. “You must be a Bro-“ in an instant she saw his pupils grow, and his eyes flick towards his mother… She must not know yet… “A fan.”
The young man sighed, glad that she didn’t give away the secret… “Yeah! I am! A big fan! All my friends are! Wow! I can’t believe you’re here!”
His mother seemed confused, looking between Derpy and her son, “I’m sorry, but what’s going on?”
Derpy looked at the stallion, hoping he would explain…
He took a moment to gather his thoughts, trying to find the right way to tell her, “Well, she’s one this uh… show that I like… she’s a background character, but she’s kind of got a cult following…”
“Oh! I see, how fun! It must be fun on the set.” She smiled at Derpy, seemingly interested in her work.
“Oh it is, but unfortunately I don’t get many scenes, so I’m usually not there that often… I need a more stable position.”
“Wait,” the Brony interrupted, “You want a job here?” She nodded quickly in his response, “Mom, you HAVE to hire her! She’s awesome! I guarantee you’ll get LOADS of business if she’s working here!”
His mother blinked, unsure of why this pony was so famous. She turned back to Derpy, examining her for a moment, “You’re not a stripper or something in this show, are you?”
The boy blushed, “WHAT? NO! She’s not a stripper! She’s just an actress! Why would you even say that?”
The mother seemed a bit embarrassed now, speaking before thinking, “Sorry, I’m just a little confused as to how a background character is so popular with you and your friends. I know what you college boys think about when you’re not studying…”
His cheeks burned bright red, contrast to his deep blue coat, “Well she’s not a stripper! Gah! You’re so embarrassing mom!” The boy rubbed the back of his head, looking back to Derpy, “Sorry about that, Miss…”
Derpy had a little pink in her cheeks, but she just laughed it off, “Heh, I’m not complaining. I take it as a compliment! It means I still have a good figure, hehe…”
“Heh, yeah, I suppose that’s true.” He laughed as well before thoughts started to link together in a horrible way, “Not that I was paying any attention to your figure… or anything… um…” The room suddenly got awkwardly quiet…
Then a ding from the back signaled the mother that something was finished, “Oh! Cake is done! We’ll have to talk more later Miss Derpy. Come back around 8 and we’ll talk about you coming in to work, okay?”
“Okay! Thank you so much! Oh, what was your name, ma’am?”
“Oh, yes, I’m Sprinkles, and my son here is Collin.” She finished the introductions before rushing to the back, “Sorry I can’t see you out!”
Collin turned back to Derpy, smiling, “It’s so cool to meet you Derpy!”
“Heh, it’s really cool to meet a brony, Collin…” she replied with just as much enthusiasm as he had, “I don’t think anyone’s ever recognized me outside of the studio…”
“I’m surprised! There are lots of bronies in town that I know of… in fact I’m gonna go tell them that I got to meet you, heh… Oh, um… one thing… I noticed your uh… um…” he didn’t seem to know how to ask the question properly… so he just said it bluntly, “Is your eye really messed up? Or is it just for the show?”
Derpy wasn’t sure how to feel about the question, but she simply relaxed her muscles in her eye, allowing it to trail off a bit, giving her the signature ‘derp’ look.
“Ah! There we go! I’m sorry, I was just wondering, it looked normal and I just wasn’t sure… I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s part of why we like you!...” he suddenly got quiet, his head sinking a bit, “I hope I didn’t offend you by asking…”
She smiled, walking over and ruffling his hair, “Why would I be mad at a fan? You’re awesome, and it was just a question, nothing to be ashamed about…”
He looked up, smiling at her, “Thanks… I need to head out, my friends are waiting. I can’t wait to tell them about this!” he quickly grabbed a cookie from the display and rushed out the front door with a huge spring in his step. Derpy couldn’t help but smile, letting him run off while she looked through town a bit longer.
She talked with a few ponies over the course of the day, but nothing turned up as good as the bakery. She decided to head over to the school to pick up her daughter, even though it was a little early.
She waited outside of the schoolhouse with a few other parents. As they waited for their kids they chatted amongst themselves about this and that, Derpy merely stayed off to the side, not one to really converse with the others. The school bell rang and the children rushed outside. The ones that didn’t meet up with their parents went off to the playground. Dinky was running to try and get to the merry-go-round first, but Derpy called out to her, “Dinky! Over here sweety!”
Dinky skidded to a halt, turning around, “Mom! You’re off early!”
She smiled awkwardly, “Yeah… I am… you ready to head on home?”
“Yeah! Let’s go!” She quickly hopped into her saddlebag, getting comfortable before Derpy lifted up into the sky, heading towards their little home.
Along the way, a thought came to mind, “Sweety, you wanna try and learn to fly today?”
Dinky’s eyes widened at the suggestion, her heart pounding with anticipation, “YEAH! Please please please PLEEEAASE!”
“heh, okay, okay… Let’s find ourselves a nice fluffy cloud to practice on…”
Derpy happily trained her little girl in the ways of flying, being sure to keep her in a safe position while she practiced. Slowly but surely they made progress, but more importantly the two were bonding. A mother and daughter spending quality time together, building up a wonderful relationship that would last a lifetime…