Derpy Hooves and her daughter were finally taking a vacation for the week in Canterlot for the summer. The mailmare from Ponyville has at last earned enough to take her daughter and herself to the capital to unwind.
“Whoa, careful mommy,” Dinky lit up her horn to catch the cold treat from her mother’s waffle cone. She had to not because it almost fell off, but knowing her mother, she knew it was a little difficult to walk on three hooves while holding something in one hoof. Derpy couldn't help it when her eyes were not exactly like other ponies; being clumsy was in her nature.
“Thanks, muffin,” Derpy said. They were headed back to their hotel, or at least, the only hotel that they could afford in an expensive city such as Canterlot. It wasn't one of those badly managed, run down kind where the rooms for rent sacrificed cleanliness for affordability. It was the ones that were comfortable but not necessarily luxurious.
Dinky nuzzled her mother’s shoulder, “Thanks for taking me here Mommy. Canterlot is really pretty.”
Despite knowing how much it’s costing them, Derpy agreed. “It really is. How’s your chocolate, peanut butter cone?”
“I love it- hey!” Dinky was nearly shoved as a couple of the royal guards galloped right past her. “What’s up with them? That’s gotta be the third time we've seen them since we left.”
“I’m sure they’re just doing… guard, stuff.” Derpy walked on a little bit until she realized that she didn't hear her daughter’s hoofsteps. “Dinky?” she turned around to find her daughter had stopped a little while back, looking down a dark alleyway. “Dinky, come on, get away from there, it’s not safe.”
“You hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Come over here,” she said. Derpy obeyed and went over to where her daughter was to hear the sound of someone crying. But the sound of it, this wasn't the cry of a full grown pony but someone much younger. There was a sense of concern and caution as Derpy walked into the alleyway with her daughter following close behind.
The sound, as it turned out, came behind a couple of garbage cans. Derpy and Dinky found a slender creature in pajamas that was crying its eyes out. “Are you an animal, vegetable, or mineral?” Derpy asked which caused the creature to jump in surprise. It was so unexpected that the pegasus’s wings opened up in shock, causing her to tumble backward into some cardboard boxes. Dinky went to her mother to find that her mother’s ice creamed upended on her head.
“Sorry!” the creature apologized as Dinky looked back to find it was standing on its hind legs. If Dinky didn't know better, she would say that by the long hair and voice the thing was a filly. She saw the expression on its face turn from regret to confusion when she heard the unicorn’s mother laughing.
“It’s okay,” Derpy said as she got back up. “I’m pretty much used to things like that happening to me.” She took hold of a nearby newspaper to wipe the ice cream off her head. “Besides, I was almost done with my ice cream anyway.”
“Are you alright, um… what was your name?” Dinky asked, taking a step closer to the creature.
“Lauren.”
Dinky looked to her ice cream and offered it to Lauren, “You want some?” Lauren took hold of the cone that was enveloped in yellow light, only for it to disappear in her hand.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Derpy asked.
“Just…” Lauren used her free arm to wipe away her tears. “I just got yelled at.”
“Why? What happened?”
She sniffed before she could say, “I made someone really mad at me all because I was with a friend, and we were going to get donuts real quick, but she came in and yelled at me and… now she hates me.”
“Oh sweetie,” Derpy opened up one of her wings to Lauren. “Come on, let’s get out of here and back to our hotel.” She and her daughter lead her out of the dark alleyway and back onto the street. “Our hotel isn't too far from here.”
Now in the light, Lauren got a better look at the gray-blond pegasus. “Why are your eyes like that?” she asked.
“Huh?”
“That one eye is up here and the other-”
“Oh! That. I was born like this.”
“Really? I’m sorry.”
“Eh, I’m fine. I can still see, only, not as good as everypony else. But just because I have a disability, doesn't mean that I can't be as good as everypony else.”
“Yeah,” Dinky piped up. “Mommy is good at a lot of things! Like delivering the mail, baking muffins, helping me with my homework, and… and everything.”
“Yeah, I may be different from other ponies, but that doesn't mean it’s a bad thing. There are a lot of good things to come out of something as weird as I am.”
“Really?” Lauren asked. “So, it isn't weird that I may be a girl, but I like some of the stuff my brothers are into. Like my older brother’s comics or the shows, they watch like Transformers or G.I. Joe?”
“Uh… sure! Whatever that means. Here we are,” Derpy said as they neared the entrance of their hotel. As they entered the lobby, Derpy added, “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure we get you back to your mother.”
“What?” The three of them stopped when Lauren asked that question.
“Your mother, that’s who you ran away from right?” Derpy asked. But as fortune had it, as they were entering the lobby, a certain green unicorn with a golden lyre as her cutie mark came down the stairs to the lobby.
This unicorn had to do a double, triple, quadruple take at what she was seeing. Her golden eyes widen as she took in at what was standing in the middle of the lobby. She could hardly believe herself that what she was seeing was real.
So, she went up to Lauren.
“Ar-Are you real?” she asked in anticipation. Lauren looked at the unicorn who spoke.
“Uh, yeah?” and before she could say anything else, she was encased in a green aura being lifted off the ground. “Hey!” but the unicorn ignored her cries of protest as she bounced her way up the stairs, down a hallway to a particular door.
“Bonnie! Open up! This proves it! I’m not crazy!”
“Put me down!” Lauren demanded.