The cloudy evening fell, and I arrived at her house right on time. I had no idea what she had planned for me, and all I could think about was what I was going to say to her. Should I tell her about how I felt? How do I tell her? But, the scariest thought I had was; how was she was going to react? What if she doesn’t like what she hears, and doesn’t want to see me anymore? She was the only real friend I had in this town, and I couldn’t bear to lose her.
I took a deep breath and walked to the door. As I knocked on it, the door opened up; it was unlocked. Inside was dim, not unlike the last time I came to the house, but one thing was different; there was light coming from the kitchen.
“Derpy?” I called out to her.
“In here.” I hear her voice coming from the kitchen.
I walked inside, to find her standing in the middle of the floor, smiling at me. I noticed that her mane, normally unkempt, was now straight, shiny, and very pretty. She was like an angel, an angel with a crooked eye, but I’ve known her for so long, that I’ve never taken notice of that anymore. Her left wing is unfurled, covering my view of the kitchen table.
“Wow.” I said, “You look….great.”
She chuckled in nervousness. “Oh, it’s nothing, just…something I wanted to do.”
“So, what’s going on?”
She retracted her wing, revealing a blueberry muffin with a lit candle in it, on the table.
“Surprise!” she yelled, “Happy Birthday!”
My jaw dropped. I forgot my own birthday.
“It’s my birthday?”
“It’s the 23rd, silly! Of course, it’s your birthday!”
I looked at the nearby calendar. She was right.
“I…..I completely forgot…..” I told her, embarrassed.
“It’s okay! I didn’t! Come, sit down!”
She pushed me over to the table. Seeing her happy personality return made me feel warm inside.
“Make a wish!” she tells me, motioning to the candle.
I closed my eyes, thinking long and hard about my wish. Finally, I blew out the candle. She clapped her hooves together with delight.
“Yay! Now, take a bite.”
I remove the candle from the muffin. Derpy leans forward towards me, waiting for my first bite. I couldn’t help but recall the similarities from tonight, and our first meeting.
I take a bite of the muffin. As I chewed, there was something different. This was not a muffin from Sugar Cube Corner. It was better. I cannot describe what exactly made this muffin better, but believe me when I say that it was nothing I have ever tasted in my life.
“This….this is amazing! Where did you get it?”
“I made it myself!” she proudly exclaimed.
“Really?!” I was shocked.
“That was the reason why I had to leave the hospital early, why I didn’t see you for a week. I haven’t made muffins in a while, and I wanted it to be perfect. Is it alright?”
“Derpy…it’s magnificent.”
Derpy blushed. Even redder than it was when I saw her blush at the hospital. She was close to me now, so close that I can smell the lemon scent emanating from her mane. It was different than her normal scent; in fact, it normally wasn’t much of a scent at all.
I felt myself getting closer to her, prepared to kiss her, but then…she backed away from me. I didn’t know if she knew what I was going to do, or not, but she backed herself all the way to the drawers behind her. She hung her head down, hiding her crimson red cheeks from my sight.
“So…what did you wish for?” she asked me.
I stood from my sitting position. Slowly, I walked over to her, meeting her close. It was now or never. She looked at me wide eyed, yet curious about what I was going to do next.
“Wh…what is it?” she said, softly.
I didn’t know what to say to her, without sounding like one of those silly romance novels I’ve read, so I decided just to show her.
As I leaned forward, I could hear her heart racing, and truthfully, so was mine. I closed my eyes as my lips hovered over hers, until finally meeting them for a soft, gentle kiss.
Seconds passed, and I parted from her. She stared at me; so still, you could almost mistake her for a stone statue. As I leaned in to kiss her again, she met me halfway. Our lips were locked for a few priceless moments; moments that I wished could have lasted forever. But then, I felt my cheeks getting wet, wet with tears. Suddenly, Derpy forcefully pushed me away from her.
I saw tears roll down her face. She was crying, her voice cracked with every word spoken.
“No….no, no, no no…..” she said, “W-why? Why me?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
"Why not?"
“No, we can’t…. I can’t do this!”
"What do you mean, you can't?"
“I…I don’t deserve you. You’ve been so nice to me, and this has all been wonderful, but you deserve somepony….better than me.”
I tried to get close to her. I extended my hoof to her shoulder, but she recoiled away from me, scared of my very touch. It was like that day all over again.
“Don’t…” she said, “I don’t want your sympathy.”
“What are you talking about?
“Don’t lie! I know what the others have been saying about me. Every day, I hear ‘oh, look at that clumsy Derpy!’ and ‘I wonder what she’ll crash into next?’, and it’s all true! I am clumsy, and I do get hurt a lot! I’m not smart, or talented, or…beautiful. If they find out that we…what will they think? What will they say?”
“I don’t care what they think!”
“But, I do!”
“Isn’t what I think about you enough?”
“No….yes…I don’t know. I’m so confused!”
An awkward pause falls upon the room. I had to say something, something that’ll make her see how I feel about her.
“Derpy, I l…” The words almost get out before she interrupts me.
“Just go…please. Leave me alone.” she said.
My heart felt as if it was ripped from my body. It was the reaction I was hoping she wouldn’t have. I felt like I completely ruined not only a perfectly good birthday, but a wonderful relationship with this amazing mare. I was ready to go back home, and proceed to bang my worthless head against a wall for being so impossibly stupid.
“Okay.” I complied, “I’ll…see you when I see you.” My voice sounded almost dead. I wasn’t myself anymore. I was heartbroken.
I opened the door to find that it had started to rain. It was going to be a long walk home, and I wasn’t looking forward to getting sick from the cold. What I wouldn’t have given at that moment to be a unicorn with teleportation powers.
I walked out the door, into the pouring rain. The storm seemed to get heavier with each step I took in the mud. I was drenched in water within seconds of being outside.
Suddenly, amidst the booming thunder, I heard Derpy’s voice call out to me.
“WAIT!” she shouted, “DON’T GO!”
I whipped back around to see her running towards me. Her beautiful, straight mane was soaked, her hooves covered in mud, and even so, I could see the tears were pouring from her now, on the verge of a breakdown.
“I’m sorry…” she tearfully said, “I don’t want to lose you. You’re the only friend I have.”
“That’s not true.” I replied, “You have your sister.”
“I know, but…” she paused, struggling to get the words out of her mouth. “I don’t love her…like I love you.”
That sinking feeling in my heart became a lump in my throat. My eyes widened, and my mouth was agape. Did she say that she loved me? Did I hear that correctly?
“You…you love me?” I asked, still in disbelief. I thought I was only hearing was I wanted to hear. Even though I was completely and totally in love with her, to hear her say it first, shocked me to my very core.
She slowly nodded her head, a small but noticeable smirk forming on her face.
“Then, why so hesitant?”
She paused for a couple more seconds before replying, “I’m afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That I’ll mess it up. That I’ll say something, or do something that will make you not want me anymore. That you’ll leave and…”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I wrapped my forelegs around her, holding her as tight as I possibly could. She made no attempt to push me away, and she put her forelegs around me, holding me just as tight.
We were both massively drenched from the rain, and I could feel a cold coming on, but the feeling of her in my forelegs was simply indescribable. I wouldn’t have traded this moment for anything in all of Equestria.
I brushed her mane with my hoof, as she looked into my eyes.
“Nothing you do, can make me leave you.” I tell her, with as much love as I could bring to my voice, without sounding completely mushy. “I will never leave you. No matter what.”
“Y-you promise?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly…”
Suddenly, she grabs hold of me, and kisses me as hard as she could. We embrace one another as our kisses become more passionate. We stop; both breathing heavily as we look at one another. As our breathing began to calm, I held her close to me.
“It’s raining. We’re probably going to get sick.” she tells me.
“I know.” I chuckled, “But that was worth it.”
“Your house is pretty far. Do you want to stay with me tonight?” she asks.
“I thought you’d never ask.” I quickly replied.
We practically ran back into the house as quick as a lightning bolt. The ceiling was leaking in various areas, and we put pots and pans down as fast as we could. Unfortunately, we didn’t dry ourselves beforehand, and the floor was all wet from our soaked bodies, which got a pretty good laugh from the both of us.
After getting a hot fire going, we placed towels everywhere we stood, and dried each other off, with Derpy wiping a towel over me, and vice versa. We never broke eye contact, like the simple action of drying ourselves from the rain was somehow a sensual act. Once we were done, we dropped our now wet towels, and got close to one another. We proceeded to engage in a romantic embrace, and slowly fell to the floor.
“I don’t want to disappoint you…” she said, after a small series of kisses, “But…do you mind if we keep it like this for tonight?” It took me a while to get what she was saying. “I don’t think I’m ready for…”
She didn’t have to say another word. You can doubt me all you like, but I wasn’t bothered by her wish in the slightest. She wasn’t ready to take that step, and I respected her decision.
“Don’t worry.” I said, “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
“Thank you.” she said, holding me tight.
I never slept in another pony’s bed before, and especially not a bed belonging to one that I had romantic feelings for. Being in Derpy’s bed was a definite step up from that hospital bed I had the misfortune of sleeping in. Not only was it a hundred times more comfortable, but the mare that I loved was sleeping next to me.
All through the night, Derpy rested her head on my chest, and her hooves were wrapped around me in a snug grip. Every time I would move, it would get tighter, refusing to let me go. I couldn’t help but smile, even if the grip was a little too tight for my liking. I didn’t mind. She was happy…and so was I.
“Derpy?” I checked to see if she was awake.
“Mmmhmmm?” she replied groggily. She was half asleep at this point.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Hmmmmmwhat?”
“Why did you keep seeing me, after we met? I know you said you felt bad, but it was almost every day. Not that I minded but…..”
I shut my mouth before I went into an unnecessary monologue, and waited for a response.
Silence. It went on for so long, I figured she fell back to sleep. Then, she replied.
“You…..seemed lonely."
She had no idea how right she was. For most of my life, I was very alone. I didn’t have many friends, and my family was never there for me when I would need them the most. Derpy, the pony that everypony thought was a silly klutz, saw right through me the moment we laid eyes on each other.
A tear ran down my cheek as I kissed the top of her head.
“Not anymore.” I said, “Not anymore.”