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// III. Reminiscence 
// Story: Derp on Over the Rainbow 
// by Death_Brony 
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Hello again Amico. I'm off work today and I have nothing better to do, so I decided to write to you. Not sure what I should write about, though. There really isn't much that I can write about. 

Well, one thing I'm excited about is that Dinky is finally coming back home. She's been over at Twist's for about three days now. I can't wait to hear what fun things they did. Dinky always summarizes her trips to Twist's house. They always seem to find some fun thing to do. I guess that comes with being young. 

I remember when I was her age. Ah, the fun things me, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy did as little fillies. I remember this one time, before my eyes got messed up, when we pulled a prank on our flight instructor during Flight School. It was hilarious!

This is how it went: Me and Fluttershy were distracting the instructor, Papermoon, with a new trick we had learned. Rainbow Dash had caught a stray thundercloud earlier that day and had snuck it behind Papermoon. As he was congratulating me and Fluttershy, Rainbow bucked the thundercloud and ZAP! Papermoon had a sore flank for weeks! 

I remember Fluttershy feeling bad for him after that, too. She was never one for pranks. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Fluttershy is still fun to be around, and was when she was younger. 

While I'm on the topic of Fluttershy, I must admit that I spent more time with her than Rainbow Dash before the accident. That's probably because after Rainbow got her cutie mark, she was quite famous among the pegasi. And the fact that Fluttershy started to hang out more on the ground after that also might have something to do with it. 

I liked the ground when I was young. Mostly because it was something new and alien to me. I mean, I had spent my entire life in the clouds until Fluttershy invited me to come down to the ground with her one day. 

That was a very interesting day. Fluttershy came knocking on my door on a particularly bright day. Notice how I said my door. My aunt had died a few months before Rainbow and Flutters (That's my nickname for her) got their cutie marks. I owned the house, but didn't live alone. My neighbors, whom I would always go to when my Aunt was drunk, took care of me then.

Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked again. Flutters came over to my house and explained to me the wonders of the ground. I was a bit sketchy at first. I mean, the ground wasn't exactly something we young fillies were used to yet. But after much persuasion on Fluttershy's part, I agreed to come along. 

It didn't take very long for us to get to the ground. Flutters landed near a thick tree by a river. This was later hollowed out and is now her home. 

I admit that I was a bit scared of the ground at first. I hovered a few feet above the ground for a little while. Flutters didn't seem to mind. She introduced me to her animal friends and gave me a little tour of the area around where her house now is. I don't remember when I overcame my fear of the ground, but halfway through her tour, I found myself walking rather than flying. 

I grew very fond of the ground after that day. It was just so.... different. Me and Flutters spent a lot of time on the ground. We never really went anywhere but that one spot. I mean, we were still pretty young. We didn't risk exploring. Or rather, I didn't because Fluttershy never wanted to.

Another great moment I had as a filly was when I myself got my cutie mark. This happened after the accident. A lot of ponies ask me what my special talent is. I understand them not understanding, though. 'I mean, what kind of talent has anything to do with bubbles?' you might ask. Well, I'll tell you.

My special talent isn't really much of a talent, really. You see, my cutie mark is a stream of seven bubbles. They symbolize what I am. If you were to explain to somepony what a bubble is, they wouldn't understand. Bubbles are a wonder of nature. Kind of like me! I'm different than most ponies. I'm... special.

That's what my special talent is: being special. Like I said, it isn't much of a talent. But it makes me proud to be.... well, me! Anyways, let me tell you the story of how I actually got my cutie mark.



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It had been about a week after the accident that changed my eyes. I had to stay at the hospital for a while because it was hard coping with crossed eyes. But like I said before, that's a story for another time. 

Well, after I had learned to at least walk straight, my doctor let me take walks into Ponyville (where the hospital was). I made the mistake of walking straight through the town square, where most ponies hung out. Many ponies saw me and immediately stopped what they were doing.

They all stared at me like I was some freak. Some of the more immature ponies even made fun of me. I'll be honest here. Most of the time, I ended up running back to the hospital and crying my eyes out. 

This went on for about a month. I had to keep going back to the hospital for check-ups and such, but I had already bought my own house on the outskirts of Ponyville, where I live now. I was a bit paranoid back then, and didn't want to show my face in Cloudsdale. I had already gotten used to the taunts some ponies still threw at me. I decided they were just doing so because it's how some ponies deal with difference. 

But one day, this one pony's comment really got to me. It was totally uncalled for and rude in every way.

I was minding my own business, shopping for ingredients for a new muffin recipe I had come across, when I ran right into a stallion named Filthy Rich. I hadn't seen him because I was looking in my saddlebag with one eye while the other was focused on the ground. 

When I bumped into him, he fell over and I tripped, falling right on top of him. I was nice about it. I got up, helped him up, and apologized like ten times. He looked at me like I was some kind of animal the entire time. He looked at with a disgusted face and said, "Don't touch me, you peasant! Do you know who I am? I am the richest pony in Ponyville! I do not need some cross-eyed freak getting in my way!"

He then pushed me out of his way and continued walking like the whole ordeal had never occurred. It didn't affect me right away, but when I got home, I lied in bed and thought about it. I didn't get any sleep that night.

The next morning I stayed home and thought about it some more. Filthy had called me a cross-eyed freak and a peasant. He thought he was better than me because he was rich and he had straight eyes. He had called me special. Was that what I was destined to be? 'Special'? Not the special in a good way, but special as in different... Special as in mentally different... 

It made me cry knowing that other ponies thought of me that way. But then I had an epiphany. No, that's not the right word. I suddenly realized something. So yea, I had an epiphany. I realized that I was special, and there wasn't anything I could do to change that. I would be special for as long as I lived, and I was proud of that. I realized that being special was what I was good at.

That's when it arrived. My cutie mark. After so much time. I was quite old to be a blank flank, mostly because I never knew what I was good at. But when my cutie mark appeared, I wasn't ecstatic like most ponies are when they get theirs. I was proud. Proud to be who I am.

And to this day, I am proud to be special. I'm proud to be the ditsy pony I am. I'm proud to be.... Derpy.

Your dear friend,
Ditzy  'Derpy' Doo



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