Derpy seemed to be the only one smiling as they walked along the ever dangerous Widow's Walk, though Rainbow Dash was putting on a confident air, not wanting to be outshined by the walleyed mailmare. But the Elements felt uneasy on the dangerous path, putting up with it for Derpy's sake, though Fluttershy and Rarity cringed every time a rock fell or rolled down a slope, and Pinkie's laughter was rather low so she wouldn't disturb any loose shale or gravel.
Derpy wasn't bothered at all, she'd been in more serious situations with her doctor friend, though she didn't tell many about that anymore. They just laughed at her like she had been telling a joke. The Doctor wasn't a joke, nor was his wonderful blue, bigger-on-the-inside box. Sometimes, if he was extra-positive that it was safe, they'd bring along Amethyst and Dinky. Derpy still laughed at the memory of Amethyst's first reaction upon seeing the TARDIS and traveling through time and space. She had thought it was just a story for Dinky, but then that blue box appeared in their living room and they wound up having exotic muffins (to describe them would be a crime) on a distant moon on the other side of the universe. He returned for birthdays and holidays as well as random days in between. He was practically a father to the two, and it saddened Derpy to know that he potentially could never settle down.
Twilight was the first to break the silence, curious about this place. "So, Derpy, you, uh, come here often?"
"At least once a week," Derpy said, looking back with an infectious smile, "though I don't allow Amethyst or Dinky to come, it'd be too dangerous for them. It's just something I like to do, nostalgia. Or is nostalgia something you only come around to after long periods of time? Or is nostalgia just something you have to remember something by? Which is it, Princess Twilight?"
Twilight paused a moment in thought. Nostalgia wasn't something she was well acquainted with, she wanted to learn, meaning she looked for new things and unfamiliar things to study and know, not reminiscing on subjects. Keepsakes she had, but they were hardly examples of nostalgic fondness, merely memories. Nostalgia was unfamiliar to her, and she made a mental note to study it later.
"I... don't... know," Twilight said thoughtfully. "I'm going to look that up later."
"Oh," Derpy responded with a shrug as she leapt over a rock without even looking at it.
The others paused for a moment at that. She had been looking back at Twilight the whole time Twilight had been in thought, and she had leapt over that rock with practiced ease. She knew this path better than any of them could have thought possible. Here her clumsiness seemed to be dissolved and there was an almost impeccable grace in her steps.
"Have you noticed something, I don't know, different about Derpy?" Rainbow Dash whispered to the others.
Rarity nodded her head. "Yes, it would appear she's a completely different pony here. You don't suppose her clumsiness is all an act, do you?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, how could you even think that? She probably just knows this path really well and is being extra careful. There's a reason its called Widow's Walk, you know."
"Or Widower's," Applejack said after she accidentally stirred up a loose stone and it went tumbled over the edge to jagged rocks below where it shattered.
"We're not even married," Rainbow Dash said with a snort.
"Well maybe some of us hope to be one day," Rarity snapped, then immediate slapped hoof over her mouth with a squeak. "Er, that is, what I meant was, well... you know, a mare does like to think..."
"Oh, gotch yerself some stallion already picked out, eh?" Applejack grinned slyly while giving Rarity a playful jab in the ribs.
"W-well...," Rarity pursed her lips as the other five (well Fluttershy was more just smiling in sweet amusement) began to give her similar grins.
"So, who is he?" Rainbow Dash asked with a sideways glance.
"Someone we know?" Twilight asked.
"Can I throw an engagement party?" Pinkie asked excitedly. "It's been a while since I've thrown one."
"He-he's not, you know... scary and mean, r-right," Fluttershy asked shyly.
"Would ya like Big Mac to keep an eye on 'im to make sure he ain't seein' other girls?" Apple jested convincingly.
"What? No," Rarity defended obstinately against Applejack.
"Oooh, so you do have one," Rainbow Dash couldn't help but chuckle as Rarity's cheeks started turned bright red.
"C'mon, now, sugarcube, we're all friends here," Applejack said with a playful roll of her eyes, "ya can tell us, ya were gonna tell at some point anyhow weren'tcha?"
Rarity held her breath a moment and then let it out in a long sigh of defeat. "Oh, alright, fine. Just as long as you promise not to say anything until we're sure it's a... 'thing' as the average pony says."
"Oh, alright, we promise," Twilight said. The others all nodded in agreement and leaned in to listen.
A loud scream split the heavens just before Rarity spoke the name, and made the others shriek in surprise.
"DERPY," they all shouted in unison and began to move quickly along the path, ignoring the dangers so they could come to the aid of the friend, who had gone on without them and was out of sight around a corner.
As soon as they rounded the corner they saw another corner further up ahead that Derpy must have gone around, and they rushed forward to go around that one, and then froze at the sight in front of them. There was a pile of rocks and dirt, blood, and a badly mangled pegasus mare in the mix. Derpy was standing a few feet away from the wreckage, screaming for somepony to come and help.
"Derpy, are you okay?" Twilight asked, wrapping a wing around the mailmare as she surveyed the carnage.
"Who cares," Derpy shuddered, pulling away from Twilight and approaching the landslide. "We have to help them, come on, let's dig them out."
"Derpy," Twilight said in as calm a tone as she could. "She's dead."
"I know she is,"Derpy said, scowling and starting to get angry, "But there's someone else in that pile... listen."
They all became very quiet after hearing Derpy's revelation, and as they listened, they heard a faint whimpering coming from within. With a gasp the others started forward, only to be caught in Twilight's magic.
"Wait, we can't just dig into there," she scolded them kindly. "If we do it wrong it could collapse on itself. We have to think this through and be careful."
The others all nodded in understanding.
"Now," Twilight cleared her throat. "Rainbow Dash, Derpy and Fluttershy, since your the lightest you will try and remove the smaller stuff in top."
"You hot it, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said with a salute.
"Applejack, Pinkie Pie, you'll try and remove the bigger stuff around the edges. But remember, if there's a rock on top of it, or if it stuck, don't move it or else it could collapse."
"You got it, sugarcube."
"Okie-dokie, Twilight."
"Rarity."
"Yes darling?"
"You and I will use our magic to help stabilize the pile to help keep it from crouching whoever's inside. Can you do that?"
"As seamstress it's rule," Rarity said a determined nod.
And so it began, an agonizingly long bit of delicate work. Derpy, Applejack and Fluttershy would periodically call out encouragement to whoever was inside the pile. Applejack and Pinkie Pie first worked to free the dead mare and delicately drag her away to lay her on some grass. But ass soon as they moved her they found another dead pegasus, a stallion this time. They delicately dug him out and laid him next to whom they assumed to be his wife.
Though this ordeal was affecting all of them, Derpy appeared to be almost traumatized. Her face was wet with sweat and tears as she did he best with her walleyes, but it was slower and harder work for her than the other two pegusi. Twilight soon took notice of this.
"Derpy, you should stop and rest for a bit."
Derpy glared at her. "No. I'm not useless, I can help."
"We know your not useless darling," Rarity pleaded, also seeing to strain on Derpy's body, "but this is hard work, and you clearly need a rest."
But Derpy was adamant. "But what if it's a little filly or a colt trapped inside? None of you are mothers, so you don't know what it's like as one who has given birth to think about a little foal getting hurt. I won't stop until he or she sees sunlight again. Who knows how long it's been since this accident. I won't stop. I wont, I WONT, I WOOONNT."
Everyone backed off as Derpy, with a sudden surge of adrenaline and maternal chemicals tore a crater in the pile, sending rocks and dirt in all directions, and creating a large cloud of dust. Everyone gasped as they heard falling rocks and derbis, but couldn't see Derpy anymore. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to create a wind to dispel the dust and reveal a collapsed pile with no sign of the mailmare.
"DERPY," they all shouted at once, suddenly afraid. She was nowhere in sight. Pinkie's mane deflated as she hyperventilated, Fluttershy began crying in fear, Rainbow Dash was looking everywhere in hopes of seeing her, Rarity and Applejack were just gaping at the sight, and Twilight was beginning to panic.
The center of where the pile of rocks and dirt used be suddenly bulged upwards and a large flat stone tilted upwards as Derpy, dirt cascading off of her like water, pressed her back against it with her eyes closed and her face full of rage. Beneath her, between her hooves was a small, badly injured colt. With a final angry scream, Derpy forced the rock to fall the other way and then she dropped herself around the little colt, gently licking away the dirt from its body and stroking it softly.
"No harm is going to come to you ever again," Derpy said in a soft maternal voice as she turned her head to spit the dirt over the edge of the cliff.
The others all approached, their faces full of shock at the incredible display of strength and maternal affection she was showing. Derpy then noticed the others and smiled weakly.
"Wow, Derpy," Twilight began. "Th-that was..."
"Amazing," Rainbow Dash shouted enthusiastically with a flip in mid air.
"Really, dear, who knew you had... whatever that was in you," Rarity commended with a slow nod of her head.
"I thought only Earth ponies were that strong," Pinkie Pie said, her mane poofed out again.
Derpy rose and, ever so gently, picked up the colt, who was now unconscious. "He's badly hurt, I'm taking him to the hospital. Can you tell Amethyst and Dinky I might be home late?"
Twilight nodded. "Okay, Derpy, we can do that."
"Why don't you let me take him," Rainbow Dash offered. "I can fly faster than anypony here."
Derpy shook her head. "No. Going too fast would hurt him. Besides, I know how to hold little foals."
Rainbow Dash conceded with a nod. They all watched as Derpy took off, heading in an amazingly straight line for the hospital. Then they turned their attention to the too dead pegusi. TWilight took them in her magic and gently lifted them off the ground.
"Rarity, Fluttershy, we'll take these two back with us. Rainbow Dash, you fly ahead and contact the proper authorities. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, stay here and see if you can't find anything else that might give us a clue as to who they were."
Rainbow took off, Applejack and Pinkie Pie did their duty with sober clarity, and the three mares began the slow, cautious trek out of Widow's Walk. As the went their separate ways, Twilight began to wonder if Derpy had really always been so clumsy and absentminded.