Smiles for Derpy Hooves

by Pony Sigma

Smiles

“My name is Pinkie Pie, and I am here to say: I’m gonna make you smile and I will brighten up your day!”

~

If Pinkie Pie had one rule, it was that nopony was allowed to cry. Unless they were happy, of course. But Derpy Hooves didn’t look like she was happy. The unpredictable pegasus mare lay on the grass in the shadow of the gazebo in the park, sobbing quietly. Pinkie was confused: it was such a beautiful day, so why would anypony be sad? She skipped over to Derpy, put on her biggest, brightest smile, and said:
“Hi Derpy! What’s up?”
“Oh, hey, Pinkie,” Derpy sniffed. Pinkie Pie skipped around in a circle.
“What’re you doing here on a nice day like this?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you. You’d laugh at me!” Derpy replied, burying her head in her hooves.
“Well of course I’d laugh, silly, that’s what I do!” A few moments passed, and Pinkie realized that possibly that was not the type of laughter Derpy meant. And then she remembered seeing some of the young fillies pointing and laughing at the pegasus as she flew overhead on her mail route. When Derpy dropped a package and had to fly down to retrieve it, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had mocked her clumsy flying. Cheerilee had taken them aside and spoken to them afterwards, but it seemed the incident had already done its damage on the normally happy pegasus.
“Ooooh, you think I’d tease you?” Pinkie said, sitting down next to Derpy, “Of course not! I’m your friend, and friends don’t tease friends!”
“My friend? Nopony’s ever wanted to be my friend,” Derpy burbled, but her ears perked up
and she lifted her head off the ground. “What do friends do?”
“All sorts of things!” Pinkie jumped up and began bouncing in place. “Play games, run races, have parties, tell jokes, eat cupcakes-”
“Cupcakes?” Derpy looked up at Pinkie, her odd eyes suddenly bright and happy again.
“Sure! Do you like cupcakes? I like cupcakes!”
“I like muffins!” Derpy cheered, standing up. She looked at Pinkie Pie’s bouncing, her eyes bobbing to follow the motion. Then she jumped into the air, imitating the pink pony’s bounce. Bouncing on the ground was different from bouncing on clouds, Derpy thought. She decided it was fun.
“Can you make muffins?”
“Yup! We can make them together! Follow me!” Pinkie bounced off towards Sugar Cube Corner, Derpy Hooves skipping behind her, a wide smile on her face.