//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Paying the Tab // by NoteSoup //------------------------------// Derpy was making her way over to her neighbor Berry Punches house. She knew how Berry would sometimes bring home stallions after a night of drinking and sometimes make "noise". However, to make alot of noise doing 'that' was a bit too much for a 2:30 in the afternoon. To think that she had to have her husband, the Doctor take her baby Dinky out to town so that she wouldn't hear was a bit too much. When the noises stopped she had decided to head over there and talk some sense into that hungover mare. Derpy knocked on the door three times, being firm but not aggressive with it, she didn't want to appear angry or anything. When the door started to crack slowly she saw Berry Punch with a rather pleased smile upon her face. Obviously she had been having a rather good time over there. "Well good morning or day Derpy, I'm not really sure which," Berry said nonchalaltly. It was obvious she was trying to hide something... or somepony. "And good afternoon to you Berry, it is only 2:30 after all." Derpy started in a some what frustrated tone. "I'll keep it short, I know that you are a grown mare and all and you can have stallions over, but would you please not make so much noise when you buck and try not to do it in the afternoon." Berry was caught off guard. So off guard that she began to blush heavily in her cheeks. She would have stayed there had it not been for the presence of the other mare in front of her. "I'm sorry Derpy, I've just had a long night, but I met somepony special and am so happy so I kind of..." Berry paused for a short length of time. "Lost control of myself." "Listen, I understand what you've been going through, but you really shouldn't be doing that in the afternoon anyways." Derpy finally let a smile creep onto her face. "But I heard you found yourself a nice stallion, care to fill in the details?" "Oh well... he's really, really kind and thanks to him I made it home safely last night." Berry now felt a smile come on herself. "And thanks to him, I'll be able to keep my house, well our house now, considering he'll be staying with me for the time being." Derpy was kind of shocked by the response she got. She only moved in with the Doctor after about eight months, but Berry did it in only about a day. Talk about fast. "Um... are you sure you aren't taking this a little fast?" Derpy inquired. "Well I can see how this looks, but... it's kind of hard to understand." Berry sat on her haunches, holding the door open in one hoof while using the other to rub her neck. "You see, he's a little uh... not shy but..." She paused to think of the proper word. "Introverted." "That doesn't explain this though." Derpy deadpanned. "Well yes but, he kind of has his reasons for it, and I don't think that many of the other townsfolk are going to really take to take him in, so I figured that if I'm going to be dating then I should probably make sure that he can stay in the same time." Berry explained while pausing a few times to think of the proper point to make. Derpy though, didn't quite get the explanation. "Why would they not take to him so kindly. Is he disfigured or something?" Derpy tried to put two and two together. "Oh no, he's actually pretty handsome if you can get past his um..." Berry paused and waved on hoof through the air trying to come up with the right word. "Cultural attributes." "Wait... is he a zebra! Berry you know they practice witchcraft!" Derpy seemed to be scared of the thought of a zebra next door. "Oh no no no, he's well-" "Why don't you just show her," came a deep voice from behind Berry. Derpy looked on with a sense of shock. Although she did feel somewhat relieved when she heard his voice; it didn't have an accent so it obviously wasn't zebrican. Still, she was now very curious to see what the stranger looked like. "Okay Derpy just promise not to get scared." Berry had a solemn look on her face. "Okay, I promise." Derpy now felt a little scared. Berry Punch stepped out of the way of the door and towards the wall behind the door. It was dark in the house so all she saw at first was the tall and a little slender stallion standing in the hall. He began to move forward and slowly Derpy could make out his deep blue fur, his blonde and orange. As he moved closer and her eyes came into more focus she saw his broad chin his fangs... wait a minute fangs! Derpy now saw exactly why Berry was talking the way she was. He not only had fangs but bat wings and his eyes... oh how his eyes reminded her of the terrors of nightmare night she would often come across. "Vampony!!!" Derpy shouted as she let her fright take hold. She did what a pegasi normally feels that kind of threat, she flew as fast as she could upwards and didn't even pay attention to the light porch light hanging just above her head. Sound Ray saw the wall-eyed mare do as so many had done before, except she didn't exactly succeed in her task and she took out the light bulb of the porch light with her head. He quickly rushed to her and began to help her up. "I'm sorry Derpy, I probably should have been more descriptive." Sound Ray explained. Berry was now stepping up from the floor after Derpy's scream. Still having a hangover made her very susceptible to loud noises and it was only just starting to loose it's traces when Derpy screamed. "Ow Derpy, you do know I have a hangover, right?" Berry questioned Derpy with intent to scold her later for that. "I'm sorry, I should have listened. I mean, when you said not to get scared..." Derpy paused in light of her head ache and couldn't think of a better way to continue."I should have listened." Derpy held her head in her hooves and rubbed them into her temples to try and make her headache go away, when she felt a warm blanket-like item wrap itself around her. Taking a glance she saw that it was his bat-like wings wrapping around her to add to the hug she was being given. Now she really felt bad. Not only had she yelled when Berry still had a hangover, crashed and broke Berry's porch light, but also down right insulted a pony who was able to put that beside him and comfort her when she hurt herself. I should have known better... especially since I've also been in that situation myself. Derpy's head still hurt, but now she felt better. "No fur off my neck, and don't think that you're bad because of it." Ray now felt the smile creep back onto his face. "You definitely weren't the worst I've had to put up with." Derpy honestly didn't know how to feel about that. She was for one, impressed by the stallions ability to forgive somepony so quickly. However, she also felt really bad for how she was never able to forgive the ponies who made fun of her for her eyes. It made her feel bad, but it also made her understand how it must have been equally, if not even harder for him than her. It made her gain a hint of a smile through her headache as she was led inside and to the couch where she sat with Berry and Sound Ray. "I guess I should go ahead and say just how sorry I am, I know just how it feels to be outcasted like that." Derpy let out a sigh and continued. "I really shouldn't have been near as quick to judge." "Oh and I'm sorry to you too Berry, I shouldn't have yelled like that while you had a hangover." Derpy added to the sentence. Berry just shrugged and decided to let Sound Ray continue since he was the bigger victim in this case. "Like my father once said, 'You can't take everything so seriously... it'll be the death of you' " Sound Ray let out a light hearted smile. "When did your dad tell you that?" Berry questioned Sound Ray. "Actually, he never told me that, those were his dying words." Ray then added to the statement. "He died about three months before I was born." "Oh that's terrible, how did he die?" Derpy asked him. "He was crushed by a falling piano, he died laughing at just how dumb it was." Derpy and Berry felt a little confused and a little sad. Derpy felt now that she would never look at one of those famous cartoons with the movers who dropped falling safes and pianos at hilarious times. Sound Ray saw the melancholy in their face and let out a light chuckle. "Don't worry, I felt sad when I heard it too, but when my mom began to crack up and laugh really hard I realized just how funny it actually was." Sound Ray didn't feel as though his topic came across well enough, but he figured he still got the point across. "Well um... I guess that's alright." Berry punch was now very confused. She had never seen somepony laugh at something like that. "Oh and before you all get the wrong idea, I am not technically a vampony... I just have to drink alot of fruit juice." Sound Ray then felt he had something else to say. "Oh and Berry, You may find that you are now having a severe lack of juice in your fridge, which I will replenish next chance I get." Berry felt slightly hurt, but she would put him up to his word and let him refill his stock, although he probably didn't find any of her good stuff. So at least there was that. "Um can I ask exactly what you are called then?" Derpy asked and then decided to bring up another question. "It's not a bat-pony... is it?" "That's actually a derogatory term for what I'm called. No, we're actually called Thestral ponies." Sound Ray explained to them while holding back his prejudices just like every other time. "Well that's good to know. At least I wont call you that anymore and I can correct others." Derpy now said with a hint of more confidence. "Would you mind telling me a little more about yourself, I haven't really even heard muuch about you yet?" Berry Punch now questioned with a child-like curiosity. "Well, I spent the first half of my childhood in Canterlot, the second in a small town just on the other side of the mountain so that my mom could easily fly to work. Both of my parents are thestral, although my mom usually wears the apparel to disguise herself." Sound Ray began to list off more extraneous information about himself. "I first began to play saxophone and later discovered my talent for it about a month later. Then when I joined the guard as a musician I discovered my aptitude for marching as well. I quit about ten months ago to become a musician on the road and play music the way I feel I should." Sound Ray paused and put a hoof to his chin. "Other than that there isn't much else to know about me that you wont find out while I'm here." The three of them began to talk for about a half hour or so. ~~~ Doctor Whooves began to walk back home after about forty five minutes or so. It gave Derpy plenty of time to go over to Berry's house and talk some sense into her and her lover. It wasn't too often that Berry brought home a stallion, but when she did she almost never made that much noise or bucked in the afternoon. When the Doctor came home he discovered that Derpy still wasn't home. He began to wonder why she would need to spend so much time at Berry's. Dinky began to feel a little restless when she was still being carried to Berry's house instead of her house where her toys and her mommy should have been. Her restlessness didn't go unnoticed though. "Don't worry Dinky, we'll find mommy yet." It was obvious that you could hear his accent. The Doctor found himself at Berry's door where for some reason there were fragments of a light bulb all over the porch. Oh well, it just added to the questions that he would have later. With three quick knocks he announced his presence. Several moments passed before the door opened and exposed Berry Punch once again to the light of day. "Well hello there Doctor." Berry greeted him in a very cheery tone before turning to the younger unicorn laying on his back. "And hello to you too little Dinky Doo." Berry again inquired eliciting a giggle from the little foal. "Hello there Berry, is uh, Derpy over here by any chance?" He asked Berry in a surprised way, he hadn't anticipated how happy she would be. "Well yes actually, she's right over here... come on in." Berry invited the Doctor in and led him to the living room. When they got to the center room in the house, he gazed upon his wife who was sitting in a chair and talking to another pony on the couch. After exchanging a glance with his wife he turned to look at the pony she was talking to. He immediately proceeded to hold Dinky as far away from the stallion as possible while jumping on a table. "Vampony!!!" He shouted loud, causing Dinky to cringe and get scared from the yelling. She didn't understand what was happening; all she saw was the neat looking stallion on the couch talking to mommy. Of course he was weird, but she just thought that it was really interesting and made her curious of what he was exactly. No sooner she thought that when her mommy dived up slapping her daddy in the face and grabbing her all in the same move. It really amazed her at how her mom could be so fast and yet still have her funny eyes. "Honey, are you mad! You cant just jump on a table while holding our daughter! That's just dangerous!!" Derpy yelled exasperatedly while holding Dinky close to her. It was now Berry's turn to get angry at the stallion on her table. "Really, why can't people just act sane and just talk to him first." The Doctor was now properly flustered; but that didn't mean he didn't have a thought of his own to say. "Berry, I need to speak to you." The doctor ushered her out of the room and up the stairs. "In private." Once her bedroom door was closed he began to fully let loose his mind. "Now Berry, I know that you have a different taste in stallions... but this is ridiculous!" Berry was now really angry at him, but he cut her off just as her mouth opened to respond. "I mean, a vampony, that is not only weird, but down right dangerous! I've traveled all over Equestria for much of my life, solving problems, but I have never, ever, seen a vampony!" Again the furious Berry was about to respond when she was cut off not by the Doctor, but by the door. "Will you stop yelling right now Doctor! You are not only upsetting, but scaring Dinky!" Derpy wasn't often angry, but when she was... she knew how to be scary. "But he-" "Don't even start with me! You have been in here for two minutes, haven't said a word too him, and yet, you just go a ahead and chew out a very nice, and sensitive stallion!!!" The doctor was now fully hushed and felt shame run through him for being so transparent to the issue. However, something didn't sit right with him. "W-where's Dinky?" Before Derpy could respond he dashed downstairs as fast as he could to the hall way before the living room. Only then did he hear, singing? It was different though. It was a deep voice singing a long note that could only be discerned as saying 'hi ho'; but it wasn't what one would expect that to be said like. It didn't sound like an exclaimed yelling of it, but a very peaceful sounding song that one would hear in those spaghetti westerns, while the cowpony wandered off into the desert. He turned to the mares behind him to get answers and met the dissapointed face of his wife. "Sound Ray has been singing to our daughter to calm her down while you yelled at berry." Derpy explained and then looked back up at her husband. "I would apologize before you say any more." Now the Doctor saw exactly what he had done wrong. He turned to the living room and slowly made his way in. What he saw was really crazy; the bat pony, Sound Ray, he thought his name was, was now cradling his sleeping daughter between his fore legs while he finished the song. When he entered, he was about to talk and the Sound ray put a hoof up to his lips and made a shush sound to make sure the doctor was silent. "I'm so sorry Sound, I haven't been here for five minutes and already I've hurt your feelings and made my daughter cry." He said in a sort of pleading tone. "Could you ever forgive me?" Sound Ray now smiled with a pleased look. "Of course, after all, you definately aren't the worst I've gotten from other ponies." He paused. "Oh, and please just call me Ray. Sound was my grandfather." The Doctor now felt really bad, if he wasn't the worst by far, then what was. However, he still felt good that his apology was accepted. Smiling he made his way over towards Sound Ray and nuzzled his daughter. ~~~ "Alright, come by and visit again soon." Berry told their leaving guests before heading back inside to her new special somepony. She hopped up onto the couch and snuggled under his neck. When she opened her eyes again, it was because he had kissed the top of her head. "I think things are finally looking up for us." Sound Ray said while looking out the window towards the now dark outside. "You know, I think I'm gonna like it here." Berry now put a leg around her stallion and continued to snuggle. "I'm glad you like it. It does get lonely when I'm all by myself in this big, dark house." Berry said the last part of her sentence in a pleading manner in order to elicit a fake sympathy from him. Sound Ray saw this and responded by putting his head down to hers and gave her a deep and loving kiss. It went on for a while before he picked her up suddenly and causing Berry began to giggle uncontrollably. Sound Ray flew himself and her up to her, no wait, their bedroom. When they entered Berry again wouldn't stop giggling. As he shut the door the giggling became sort of pleasured laughter and then later... some rather pleasing sounds came from Berry. This continued for a short while, but quieter than before. Thus, not waking the neighbors again.