//------------------------------// // chapter 10 // Story: Midnight Hooves in Ponyville // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// year 11, 34th day- My return to Ponyville has been low key, for the most part. I have intentionally kept a low profile, and avoided all but a few ponies, in an attempt to keep the fact that I've come back a secret. Most Ponies would be horrified to learn that such a scarred, disfigured monster such as myself lived amongst them. These fears were realized when Ditzy had a visit from an unexpected guest, a little over a week after my unexpected return. She had come to help prepare for Dinky's return from Canterlot for school break. Needless to say, she was not pleased to see me. "Derpy, what in the name of Celestia is he doing here?" She shrieked the moment she saw me. "He'll be a bad influence on Dinky!" I Groaned- Amethyst Hooves... my little sister (Nicknamed Sparkler by the townsfolk, I believe). Star and I have never gotten along, even when we were children. She always thought I had my head too far into the clouds, and I believed her to be far too practical. It was a relief to both of us that I went off to the academy, and she went off to be raised by relatives. We rarely spoke to each other after that, and she even refused my invitation to come to Ditzy's and I's wedding. Imagine my surprise, them, when I discovered that she had moved to Ponyville shortly after my departure, to help Ditzy raise Dinky, and "clean up her brother's mess, that he had made and run away from." She had become like an older sister to my daughter while she was growing up, instead of an Aunt... always being Dinky's 'best friend' when Ditzy had to discipline her. Dinky and Star Sparkle were so much like sisters, that they even competed in the sisterhooves social together every year. "Derpy, he simply has to go!" My idiot sister told her, stamping her hoof with a whinny. "I will ne-e-e-e-igh-ver let Dinky stay here with my creep of a brother!" "Amethyst, he's my husband." Ditzy replied gently, but matter of factly. "And Dinky's father. Princess Celestia pardoned him." "I still don't trust him." Amethyst grumbled, shaking her mane. "Sister." I snorted in a warning tone, my horn and jewel eye glowing. "I would not suggest you attempt to separate me from my family." I knew she would back down. Amethyst has very strong magic of her own (Ditzy told me she would often project an illusion of herself watching the Sisterhooves Social race from the bleachers, even while participating in the race itself, to confuse other ponies). But no Unicorn in this town, save Twilight Sparkle herself, would stand a chance against my rainbow of darkness-tainted power. Quaking, Amethyst slowly moved towards the door. "Mark my words, Derpy... you'll regret letting him back into your life!" She vanished out the door, and galloped away quickly. Ditzy gave me a worried look, but then smiled when she saw I was looking back. Foolish sister, I would never do anything to hurt my family. Does she think I am some kind of monster? And why do I ask myself questions to which I already know the answer? ... year 11, 75th day- She hates me. Dinky Doo... my own little girl... hates me. I suppose I should have seen this coming. Dinky has grown up for years exposed to my sisters tall tales about me... I'm not surprised all the poisonous lies she's fed my daughter has affected he opinion of me. But I never expected the level of fear and revulsion I was treated to, when I first saw Dinky again. Her mother and Sparkler brought my little girl home, and my sister immediately left. As Dinky and Ditzy came in the door, Dinky was surprised to see the door to my study- a door that had been closed her whole life- open. When she went over to investigate, my daughter and I set eyes on each other for the first time in over seven years. "M-momma. W-who is this?" "Dinky Doo, I'd like you to meet your father." We stared at each other for a few moments, and she took a step back. That first reunion with a filly I had not seen since she was a foal was... awkward, to say the least. Since then Dinky has been giving me a wide breadth whenever we are in the same room. I know she sees me as an intruder into her home life- the only world, outside of school, that she has ever known. And her jealously of how much of her mother's attention I'm taking away from her. So I keep to myself, in my study, whenever she's at home. I've even offered to my wife to sleep down on the couch while Dinky is at home, but Ditzy won't have it. "Give her some time, Middy! She'll come around." Will she, my dear? How can she ever accept such a scarred abomination as a part of her family? I've often times heard her outside my study window, telling her friends about my 'evil eye'. She will never have any positive feelings towards me, and will only tolerate my presence for her mother's sake. So this is what it feels like to be a stranger in your own home... to be despised by the very ponies that you are supposed to be closest to. year 11, 124th day- Today most of ponyville learned of the fact that I had returned, despite my best efforts to conceal it. I had mostly been traveling around town while invisible, using a spell to remain hidden from sight as I traveled around during the daytime. All anypony else had heard were rumors, and everpony dismissed Dinky's warning of the 'evil pony in her house' as the imagination of a little filly. But when I accidentally bumped into another unicorn in the town sqaure, I lost my concentration, and my invisibility spell flickered out. I quickly galloped away, as shrieks of surprise filled the town square. It was not long, before confirmation of my presence in Ponyville soon spread throughout ponyville. Ditzy had told me that Ponyville had changed, had become more tolerant. But I knew that the nature of Ponykind does not change. It is only a matter of time before they form a mob, and come after the freakish, scarred, one-eyed unicorn. She, Big Mac, and Mr. Breezy might be on my side, but can they stand against an entire angry town full of ponies? They say that being cast out of the herd, will drive even the strongest-willed pony mad with grief. I can concur this statement, as my solitude is more painful that any physical wound could ever be. The herd has indeed cast me out, and I have never felt so alone as I do now.