Rainbow Dash and Derpy have been friends for a long time. However, somewhere along the lines...
Rainbow Dash and Derpy have been friends for a long time. However, somewhere along the lines, Derpy finds it best to reveal a secret she has hidden from Rainbow Dash for a long time, only to end up regretting it, and from that point on, ends up getting herself in more trouble than she had expected...
Derpy and Rainbow Dash wandered down the street, Dash, as proud as she was of her wings, obviously soaring above, Derpy seeming to rather be more ground-borne, traversing the ground below her, both smiling, laughing, sharing their stories of the day. It hadn't been much like any other, obviously. Most could probably even call it dull, though, they enjoyed one another's company, hence they cared little for others opinion
"Hahaha! That was awesome!" Dash complimented Derpy. They had been practicing flying, and even as Derpy might not have been the most cordinated of flyers, Dash would've never had the heart to tell her, and even a single loop was enough to get her clapping. Derpy, praised by whom was possibly the best flyer in all of Equestria, couldn't help but blush at the compliments. She had hidden the crush she had on Dash for over a year, and she was always overjoyed to be accompanied by Dash, Dash simply trying to be a good friend.
"I guess we'll have to part here" Dash smiles to Derpy, rubbing Derpy's mane in a friendly manner. "Don't you go try anything too reckless, haha." Derpy nodded, rubbing her arm, looking to the ground, remembering what had happened the last time she had trained alone. She ended up breaking her left front hoove, though, she was rather happy with it, having awoken to Dash sleeping next to the hospital bed. She snickered. "Promise." Dash gave a wave, before she flew up into her own sky-house, Derpy wandering off.
"What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?" She sighs, scratching the back of her head. "Oh, there's Twilight Sparkle. Maybe she'll want to hang out?" No, Twilight was running an errand, and completely ignored Derpy, running straight past her, probably eager to read yet another book. It was as far as Derpy's guess went, anyhow. Disappointed that she was still stuck to being bored, she flew off, up high into the skies, laying down on a cloud she eventually came across. On her back, she stared up into the blue skies, a sunny day indeed.
"Will I ever tell her? CAN I? What will she think? Will she hate me?" A tear fell. A little filly below got it shot straight to her nose, staring up at the cloud, ignoring it, figuring it was probably just a rain drop. "Of course she will hate me... Heck, we've been childhood friends and I tell her I love her? She's probably got a crush on one of the guys anyways..." She puts her hoove in front of her face, her eyes shutting, falling asleep rather quickly, despite it being broad daylight.
Nighttime came before she was awokened. Not by herself, but rather, Dash flying above her. "Hey Derpy, you okay? That cloud's probably going to disperse soon, so... Yeah, would be nice if you went home. I don't mean t-" she was interrupted by Derpy. "It's fine, don't worry too much about it. Yeah, I should probably return home..." Derpy's heart raced through her chest. "Should I tell her? Should I tell her?" was her only repetetive thought, going through her mind over and over.
A minute of silence commenced, before Dash broke Derpy's train of thoughts. "Yeah... I'll just be heading back then" she said, while rubbing the back of her head. Derpy sighed, feeling like she had made Dash uncomfortable. "Yeah... Bye..." Derpy stuttered, before flying off in the direction of her house. As they had gotten out of sound's range of one another, Dash sighed to herself. "Jeesh, what's with that girl all of a sudden? She's been acting so weird late-" below her, she heard someone calling. "Who're you talking to?" Twilight shouted. Dash flew to the ground, quickly bypassing one cloud after another.
As she soared right above the ground, she told Twilight about Derpy's weird behaviour. Twilight snickered, waving goodbye as she wandered off with a "It's probably nothing" quote. "She's right... I'm probably overthinking things." Dash thought to herself, before flying off, humming something that could probably translate to 'Dash is awesome, Dash is fast, Dash is awesome, Dash is fast" and with her motive, rather than Derpy back in her mind, she flew off to her house, falling asleep for the remainder of the night, not waking until the sun rose from the cliffs to the far east.
Stretching out wide, she yawned, the sun hitting her eyes causing her awakening. Flying out of bed, and into the kitchen of the house, she grabbed a few carrots, and a glass of water, throwing it down the gap, being as fast an eater as she was a flyer. Just as she was about to fly out into the sky, the moment she passed the outer door, and into Ponyville, Derpy stood there.
Dash flew back and gasped for air. "Holy crap!" she blurted out. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Derpy took a step back. "Sorry, sorry! I just... Came... To tell you something" Each word Derpy said became a little more silent than the last, Dash struggling to catch all the words. "Well, what is it?" Dash had never seen Derpy react like this, so she struggled to keep her excitement down, expecting for it to be something super awesome. "I... I..." Derpy swalloed deep, continuing. "I love you..."
Dash's stare went completely blank, her jaw as long as it had ever been. Derpy blushed, though her stare was sadened. Not a single sign of joy. She had hoped to see Dash's smile, though there was none. Eventually, the tension loosened, and Dash resumed to her normal happy self. "It's okay Derpy..." She walked up to Derpy, patting Derpy's head. "It's okay... But... I'm sorry, I don't... Y'know, feel like that..." Derpy nodded, smiled and flew off. Dash could only stutter, making no actual words. It wasn't hard to miss that Derpy had been disappointed, and quite likely extremely sad, but Dash wasn't one for speeches, so she simply let Derpy fly off, now feeling extremely terrible, going back inside and laying on the bed, not caring to move.
Derpy, flying off, had barely been able to keep her tears at bay before she left. They now roamed down her cheeks, glad she was out of sight. "Damn it, DAMN IT! Why did I tell him? Why, why, why, why, why, why?!?" She hit herself in the head in pure regret, still flying. Twilight, wanting to talk to Derpy to get to the bottom of her recent behaviour, tried to shout for Derpy, but to no avail. She was ignored, and all she could do, was start sprinting.
Fluttershy was close by, and as Twilight ran past, her look catching Fluttershy's attention, Fluttershy set out to run alongside Twilight. "What's wrong?" she muttered. Twilight replied by telling her what Dash had told Twilight, and that Derpy was now soaring away, not even responding to her name being called. Fluttershy nodded, hugging around Twilight before flying up high, and after Derpy.
Though, Derpy's hatred for herself drove her to fly away, faster than Fluttershy, needing not only to carry herself, but also Twilight. "Drop me off and fly after her please.. You may only be good with animals, but friends stick together, so go get her!" Fluttershy hestitated, but went down to the ground and dropped off Twilight, flying off, after Derpy. Though, just as she seemed to catch up, another pegasus, a male came and snatched her out of the air. Fluttershy wasn't even making any competition, not even in the slightest, and all she could do, was watch the pegasus take her away.
She flew back to Ponyville, though, past Twilight, and directly to Dash's house, knocking at the window. No response. She saw Dash laying in the bed, though Dash hadn't even cared to respond. Fluttershy knew it was an emergency, and bursted through the front door, and to the bedroom. "Dash, DASH!" Fluttershy yelled. "What?..." Dash responded, saying it in a carefree tone. "Someone has kidnapped Derpy!" Dash shot from the bed, passing past Fluttershy, not even caring to hear if Fluttershy might have known the location. She flew past everything she could possibly hope to make out to be a possible location for the kidnapper's hide out.
"This is all my damn faulth! If only I hadn't denied her... She wouldn't have flewn off! Damn it, damn it, damn it!" She was now the one ending up crying. The guilt was eating her up. She shook her head. "No, Can't give up! Must find her!" Dash kept on searching for many hours, though, eventually returned to the village, meeting Fluttershy, who was sighing upon the sight of Dash.
"If you'd have only waited, I could've told you which direction they flew over to..." Dash blushed, feeling rather stupid, rubbing her hoove, looking to the ground. "Hehe... Ooops?" Fluttershy continued. "Well, if you really want to find her..." she spoke, pointing towards the sunset which was now approaching. "But you should probably wait until morning. It's getting awfully da-" She hadn't even gotten close to finishing the sentence before she saw Dash flying off in the direction Fluttershy had sent her.
Dash hadn't a care for day or night. "Who knows what might've happened to Derpy?" She flew until the moon rose high on the skies, over the forest she was currently above. Smoke.
She flew as fast as she could down to the source, and soon, within her sight, rested a cabin, well-lit, though surprisly hard to make out, even in night time. "No wonder I missed it." Dash peeked inside the closest window of the log cabin, near the door. No sight of her. "Maybe it's no-" she dove quickly into a bush, hearing voices.
Two. A large and muscular brown pegasus pony, just slightly smaller than Princess Celestia, as well as a considerably smaller pony without wings. No cutie mark? Though, based on the appearance of the critter, it might not have been quite as shocking. Nope. The tail had simply been blocking it. Eyes as red as blood, the pony's hair as fuzzed up as ever, the body twitches he did every once in a while causing her to want to say "Creepy" though, even as much as she wanted to just rush at them, she kept quiet as she saw he had a butcher's knife for a cutie mark.
This could not be good. Not even in the slightest. "Kehehe... That weird pony sure brings something new to our collection, don't you think?" the smaller one said, in a rather high-pitched voice, causing her to want to shut her ears, though, she made sure to keep quiet, at least for the time being. The larger one, having a bag that muffled screams, bore a cutie mark that shaped a weight. "Hurr Hurr... Sure does" he said, with a deep-toned voice, looking down at the smaller one, his words half-muffled by the rope that kept the bag in place on his back.
"Must... Resist... Urge..." She was fighting herself on the inside, mentally. They wandered inside the house, slamming the door shut behind them. Dash snuck up to the window as soon as they had gone within, seeing one of them throwing the bag onto a chair, tying it solidly, making sure for whatever it was, not to move. Ripping off the top part, revealing Derpy's head, Dash bit her hoove to keep her cool. "Resist... Resist..."
She boiled over, it was too much. One of them had flung their hoove right at Derpy, knocking her out. "That should teach the lit-" He didn't get further before Dash had shot through the window, starteling both of the males, Derpy unconcious. Glass shot in every direction, and as the two of them covered their faces, she grabbed Derpy, flying off with both her, and the chair, though just as she believed she was out of danger, even tasting the fresh air outside, her tail was caught by the teeth of the pegasus.
"Going somewhere?" the smaller one said
He yoinked her back in, along with Derpy.
"A-ah-ah. I don't think so"
Dash, disgusted and angered, spit the smaller one in the face, hitting him right in the eye, though, she could neither escape, nor move very much, or even oppose much of a threat. The pegasus had stepped on top of her, forcing her to the ground. "Wow, this is an even bigger treat than the other one. Let's get rid of her." Dash, feeling helpless, shouted and struggled, squirming below the grip of the bigger one, refusing to watch her friend 'taken care of'.
"No, no, no no! This is my faulth! Derpy's going to die because I fucked up! No, no, no..."
She was too shocked to even cry, laying there, emotionless. The smaller one grabbed a kitchen knife from a table not too far away. He wandered over Derpy.
"Nooooooooo!"
The knife was raised, though, before he could resume to lower it, she bit the hoove of the bigger one, allowing to get loose, and flew before the knife, it lunging deep into her right wing. She whinced, though stayed strong, grabbing a nearby vase, knocking it over the head of the smaller one.
"Wake up Derpy. Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!"
She shook Derpy, hoping for just a singular reaction. She got one. It wasn't from her screaming, it was from the blood of her wing splashing over Derpy's face, probably resembling water. She bit off the ropes, though no sooner had she allowed Derpy her freedom, than had she gotten knocked in the head by the bigger of the two. The smaller one was still passed out, though Derpy, in fright, flew off, past the bigger one, screaming and crying, racing away from the hut, having no specific target, just a steady pace away from it. Then it came to her realization.
If she left Dash, it would probably mean the end of her. "What do I do?" Though, Derpy wasn't much of a fighter, hence, she did only what she thought was right, and following the flow of the moon's slow pace, she flew after it, and down to Ponyville. Nobody was awake. Every door she knocked at remained silent. "Help, help!" Derpy shouted. "Just... Someone..." Her voice got more faint. She felt all hope was lost. She laid down on the ground, putting her hooves in front of her face.
"Dash is going to die... And there's nothing I can do..."
Either her voice was heard from someone above, or she was extra-ordinarily lucky. None of the other 5 of the group duo had rested. Twilight smiled, poking Derpy a few times with her horn. "You there? What's wrong?"
Derpy's eyes shut open, as she stood on all four once more. At first, she spoke too fast for the other 5 to understand even a single word, though they eventually calmed her enough to make sense of some of her words, at the very least. As it had been cleared out, they ran towards the hills once more. "Hu..." *Gasp* "Rry..." Derpy stuttered out, the flight one way having drained all her energy.
"We're running as fast as we can Derpy" Twilight blurted out. "My poor hoves can't go any faster" Rarity complained. "This is going to be super mega awesome super fun!" Everyone else gave Pinkie Pie an awkward stare. "What? It's adventure, isn't it?" They sighed and laughed amongst one another. Derpy stayed strong, with the little energy she had, she kept on bearing forward.
It took about an hour until they reached the log cabin. Derpy, having no more energy, fell flat to the ground, gasping for air as best as she could, looking to the others. "Sorry... You'll have to go get her... I... Can't go on for now..." she wheezed.
They nodded, and ran over to the cabin, knocking in the door. They weren't greeted with a delightful sight.
The two stood over Dash, one holding a knife that was stained in blood, the other chuckling at the blood that had been spilt. Dash was knocked over, and had several cuts all over her body. None too severe, but she was no longer consious, having passed out from the pain. "No, NO, NO!" The lot of them jumped the two. Even as the Pegasus might've been stronger than a single one, three of them brought him down to the ground without much effort.
The smaller one, now scared, dropped the knife to the ground, and was overthrown by Applejack and Pinkie Pie, being the two left available. Both were roped down, and as they loosened the ropes Dash had been tied up to, Derpy came storming through the door, catching Dash before she fell to the ground, too relaxed to even keep her balance.
She barely opened her eyes, to stare at Derpy. "S-So sorry..." she managed to say, and Derpy didn't even know Dash had passed out as she started saying it was okay, and trying to apologize back. They got back to Ponyville, and the doors that Derpy had knocked on stood open as they returned. Everyone had been looking for the 'prankster' that had awokened them, though their thoughts raced in other directions as the group came back with a badly wounded Dash.
Time passed at the hospital, and the only thing Dash could remember since after she freed Derpy, was 6 extremely happy faces in front of a hospital bed. She tried getting up, but her body aching caught her by surprise, and she laid back down.
"So... What happened?" Was the only thing she could ask, coughing lightly
"Well... You nearly got laid on thin ice for being a hero."
"What, you mean I'm a hero? Aweso-Ouch..." She had raised her hooves in excitement, only to lower them, accidently nudging her left wing, that being where the wound had been most severe.
The others laughed. Aside from a single one, who had her eyes filled with Tears. She stood further in the background, not daring to come forth until the others made room for her. "Yeah... You were a hero... I ran for help... If only I had brought you with me when I ran! I'm so sorry!" her cheeks now formed rivers of tears. She wanted to hug Dash, but the nurse had prohibited it, Dash being covered in too many wounds, meaning avoid all physical contact if possible
Though, Dash hadn't heard such, and for that reason, she reached out her hooves to Derpy. Derpy shook her head, refusing. "C'mere or I will promise you regret it!" she snickered. Derpy nodded, and slowly made her way over, gently placing her hooves around Dash. Dash placed her hooves firmly around Derpy, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry... If I hadn't reacted like I did..."
"I-It's okay..." Derpy stuttered, still crying.
Dash parted the hug, ignoring the immediate pain that shot through her body, and placed her lips on Derpy's face. "I know I can't truly love you, but will a kiss at least make you happy?" Derpy, in shock, looked to the others, feeling she had made a huge mistake, though the others simply smiled and laughed, friendly. "I didn't mean... I don't know... I-" Twilight placed her hoove onto Derpy's mouth, silencing her.
"Don't worry Derpy. We won't judge you. And your secret is safe with us. We promise. Right guys?"
Everyone nodded, agreeing with Twilight.
Again, she teared up, hugging Twilight, before everyone else closed up as well, hugging her.
"Hey, don't leave me hanging! I'm the hero after all!" Dash shouted. Everyone looked to Dash, first with a rather confused face, then laughing. She laughed as well, and they all got close, hugging her gently, one by one, before backing off. A tear fell from Dash's cheek this time.
"What's wrong? Feeling a bit of emotion?" Twilight snickered. "There's that... And then there's all these hugs that have killed my body. Someone mind calling the doctor for a painkiller?"
Still in recovery, it was barely that the nurses had even left her out of the hospital before Rainbow Dash was practically soaring in the sky, had they not made sure to restrain her wings until further ado. Derpy, still rather embarrased by what had recently happened, simply couldn't comment on Rainbow's behaviour, and walked down at the ground next to her crush, making sure not to cause any envy on Dash's lack of ability to take flight.
An awkward set of silence going over half an hour passed as they wandered past one building after another, neither speaking nor taking much time to exchange looks aside from when they were certain the other didn't look, quick to turn their head aways the moment their eyes met. Eventually, they came to Rainbow Dash's house, and with a nervous wave, Derpy prepared to take flight off as she had helped Rainbow Dash to the door. Right as she was about to fly off though, with a deep swallow, Dash grabbed Derpy by the back of her hoove, pulling her down on the cloud-flooring that shaped the outside of the house.
"I... Uhm... Well... After that most recent episode... I don't want you to fly off completely unsafe so... Sleeping over at my place sound nice?"
Derpy blushed, making sure to look away as she did, but puffing her cheeks a few times, she managed to calm herself once more as she finally braved herself to look into Dash's eyes. No more than for half a second before she immediately closed them, shaking her head rapidly with a shy, nearly silent and stuttered.
"Y-Yes."
Rainbow Dash hadn't caught the words, but the nod gave her enough of an idea to make out exactly what Derpy said.
With that, she turned around and wandered in through the door, giving a curious look as Derpy remained outside and hooved to the ground.
"Well... What are you waiting for?"
Derpy sighed as she tried to fill herself with confidence. "Are you sure you want me inside your house after what I told you?"
"We've known each other for so long. If you were really going to try something, you probably would've a very long time ago, haha." Dash replied.
It hadn't struck Derpy, but it couldn't possibly be any more true than as Rainbow Dash had just stated.
Satisfied with that thought in her head, Derpy suddenly felt like sticking her nose high into the sky, now much more confident it was nothing more than a sleep-over without even the slightest possible chance of something happening that might break the friendship between the two.
Time passed as they laughed about stories of previous events they shared with each other, dinner and games being played over the course of the day, before the moon finally set upon the sky, and night closed in at a rapid pace, soon covering all of Equestria in a beautiful gracened dark pattern, the house remaining half-lit from a few burning candles that soon blew out as well as bed time came for the two.
This was going to be the biggest challenge, and Derpy knew it all too well, feeling both her stomach tickle and scrunge at the thought of Rainbow Dash sleeping and all the opportunities that might offer themselves for a kiss or snuggle.
"Well, I'm going to head to bed. You'll have to use the couch. The doctor told me I must avoid as much physical contact as I possibly can until my body heals up, okay?"
With a frown, Derpy nodded as she watched Dash walk in through a door, into her bedroom, a few minutes passing before a silent snore escaped through the shut door.
Derpy, having settled for sleeping on a cloud shaped much like a couch laid on her back, putting one hoove over her face, the other hanging down along the side of the couch, as she tried forcing herself to sleep.
"C'mon Derpy, you can do this..." She whispered to herself, rolling around on the couch and as time passed, so did the swaps of positions in hopes of a better chance of falling asleep.
No luck. A full hour passed and she didn't feel the least bit more asleep than when she had first started. Rainbow Dash was sleeping so close to her. It would be so easy to steal a kiss. But would it be right? Would it even mean anything? Derpy laid to the floor, shivering as she put both her hooves over her face. If it hadn't been for the fact that the flooring was made from clouds, she'd probably have awokened Dash from her nervous moving around, and for that, Derpy was more than just thankful.
Though, what would it matter? She knew that if she kept this going, she'd be up through the remainder of the night, and that Dash would know she had stayed up, and probably get suspicious as to what had happened. Oh the horrors. "What will she think of me? Christ, she must think I'm addicted to her or something!" Rolling around on the floor this time, she kept squirming in a scared state.
"Just a kiss... Just a kiss and I'll go back to sleep. She won't even know..." Derpy agreed with herself.
Just a kiss would be plenty to get her to sleep either ways, this much she was quite certain of. Sneaking off down through the hallway that made the house, she made sure to open the cloud door as stealthily as she possibly could. Made from clouds or not, the wind it creates may very well be enough to cause just what needed to awaken Dash.
The door slid up as peacefully as she could've ever dreamt off. Had it not been for the circumstances, Derpy might as well have been dancing the succes dance around a samba hat. Making her way over the flooring, nearly without as much as a sound, the clouds providing the soft padding she needed. A ninja's dream when sneaking around, possibly. Nervously, and extremely carefully, nearly shaking, she approached the bed, to notice Rainbow Dash sleeping as peacefully as ever, only squirming about every once in a while.
"Take that you filthy dragon!" She shouted so loud she could've probably awokened herself, practically kicking off the end of her bed, before she went back to her peaceful state of sleep,
Derpy nearly having had a heart attack from the sudden shout, her heart beating through her chest as she once again approached Dash's bed after taking some distance from the sudden shout, prepared to run out as soon as Dash's eyes started moving. Nothing. The silence emerged in the room, and soon, not even a gasp of wind howled outside the window.
This was the time to make the approach. Sneaking over to the bed, she soon hovered her head directly above Dash's, her lips practically touching Rainbow Dash's as she gently lowered her head more, the first touch making Derpy blush in a frenzy of joy, their lips soon pressing towards one anothers. Derpy had closed her eyes as she had dived into the kiss, too delighted to even think straight anymore.
Her heart might as well have exploded the very instant her eyes opened, because she was staring at a widely awake Dash, flying straight into the roof, now both blushing, frightened and practically crying as she landed down at the ground with a *plop*. No sooner had Dash managed to get up, than had Derpy set for the door. It had shut itself and Derpy hadn't even noticed, and before she managed to even open it, Dash had already tackled Derpy to the ground.
"You're not running off and getting yourself into more trouble, ya hear me?!?"
Derpy, feeling her eyes practically tearing up, nodded without so much as any intent to even listen, wanting to just disperse from existance that very moment.
"Jeesh! I swear, one of these days you'll really get yourself killed for flying off because you think you messed up somehow..."
Allowing for Derpy to stand up, as soon as she stood on all four, Dash placed her fronthooves on Derpy's shoulders.
"Listen... I KNOW you felt you really flipped over on this one... And that you taking a kiss as you please wasn't right..."
By now, Dash had already lost eye contact with Derpy, as Derpy's stare had wandered off to the ground, not even daring to look anywhere near Dash, let alone her eyes. Though, with a few rounds of shaking, Dash finally got Derpy's attention yet again. "But trust me... It's not wrong to want a kiss from someone you love, okay? If you couldn't sleep because you wanted a kiss, you could've just simply asked. So... Please stop crying... If I give you a kiss, will you promise to have a good night's sleep and not worry your head too much?"
Again Derpy's cheeks stood ablaze as she blushed, her tears having come to a halt from the sudden shock and with an excited nod, her lips yet again found Dash's in a quick, gentle kiss.
Without so much as a word said past that, Derpy wandered off, out of the room, and as soon as she was out of sight from Dash, she jumped about, silently but joyfully, her grin as wide as ever as she found her couch, this time not even getting much past a comfortable position before she had already found herself in sleepy land.
Morning dawned, and soon the two of them both were eating breakfest. There were no need for words to be said, not until Derpy decided it was time to leave. Being morning, and lots of active ponies outside, Dash knew there were no need for worries about a safe route home, and the only words they exchanged before Derpy left were 'Bye', both seeming rather happy, each for their individual reasonings.
Many a weeks had passed since the sleepover, and lives had been lived as normal as they had before, aside from Derpy now feeling brim enough to give Dash a stare every once in a while, knowing there probably wasn't much of a disapproval, not after the night at the very least. They might not engage in activities Derpy could've wished for, but she got her occasional kiss to be satisfied. It didn't mean much more than a simple kiss to Rainbow Dash, so the issue wasn't only small, it was insignifficant, and if it meant she wasn't going to have her sleep interrupted by someone taking ninja kisses, she could live with it like any other daily chore.
She had been flying wildly about, the time she had to sit idly by going to reading Daring Do's many adventures, something which only made her more pumped about taking flight as soon as she could, doing hard-headed stunts most would've stopped her from doing, had they known it was upcoming.
Though, it hadn't passed her attention that Derpy seemed to somewhat have an off-set mind, absent or possibly just sorrow-filled.
Curiosity got the better of her, and she had always been one for heading into things strong-minded.
Spotting the gray pony walking along the road, still with eyes that easily revealed her lack for a relaxed postiture, Rainbow Dash soared down alongside her, as they walked down the street, to the many who waved and greeted with a 'hello', getting one in return as they went back to whatever they were doing.
"So... You've been following me around for a little while. What seems to be the problem?" Derpy stared to the Cyan-coloured pony wandering next to her with a worried expression.
"That's my line!" She replied with an upright rudened tone.
Derpy took a step back, the worry turning to fear as she tried to make herself as small as possible, but to no avail as Dash stood above her and stared down with a suspicious stare.
"You've been downing for so long. Fat chance you're completely okay!"
The eyes of the gray one wandered in each their direction, making her best attempt to make neither face Dash, but to no avail, only making her end up putting both hooves over each one.
"I'm ........... You know.......... And ......... Because.........."
Derpy was whispering. There wasn't much of a chance to even catch much more past those words, and half-way through, Cyan hooves stomped at the ground.
"My eyes? My eyes, okay?!? They are NOT okay! They are not okay..." From an outburst of a yell to a silent whimper, she remained laying on the floor.
By now, the two of them had drawn quite a bit of attention to themselves from the surrounding ponies, some whispering, others pointing. As soon as a laughter came from the back of the crowd, a young male, brown, not even having gotten his cutie mark, found himself to the ground with a set of angry blue hooves on his chest.
"Don't you dare..."
Silence emerged.
Nobody dared say anything, neither point, laugh nor talk.
Getting off the defenseless child who found his mother, crying, Rainbow Dash wandered off to help the sulking pony off the ground as they wandered off, away from the others.
-------------------------------------------
It took quite a bit of time before Derpy even dared lift her head from the ground and finally meet the other's stare whom had planted it upon the eye which had somewhat looked up, much to Derpy's dismay.
Out of sight from everyone else, the question practically fell out of her mouth, this being exactly what the poor lazy-eye'd pony wanted to fly off to avoid, though, knowing she wasn't even nearly as quick as the questioner, it would be pointless.
"What's not okay about them? Sure, they're not even, but is that a reason to fret about it?"
"You have no idea..." Derpy replied, once again giving the ground her attention.
"Well, if I have no idea, why don't you just tell me?" She insisted.
A few minutes, no words. The suspicious stare continued to eat on the poor pony as she finally gave in to the tension.
"Fine, fine, I'll tell you! Just don't stare at me like that!"
"That's more like it" She got in a reply, followed by a gentle giggle.
And so, the explanation came about how it was part of the cause Derpy was such a clutz, the reason why people hadn't always gone along with her as well as the other kids, and the reason she often got stares and whispers, something she had gotten quite used to. It was the fact that her depth of perception was so off which caused her to mess up things just about anyone could've so easily otherwise done, let alone the fact that she had trouble being taken seriously when one eye was staring in the skies. The reasonings went on and on, along with stories about how she had messed up, but her rambling was halted as a hoove pressed to her mouth, as to silence her.
"It seems to me that it's more a problem than I at first thought."
Having finally halted the ranting, Dash found her jaw with her hoove, rubbing it a few times while looking to the sky, trying to figure a solution, or something to say, perhaps to make it seem less bad.
"Oh, I know! Maybe Zecora can brew up something that will help you with the eye!"
Derpy rubbed her hooves towards one another. She had never actually spoken to Zecora, and it was a frightening thought to approach someone whom had bad rumours about herself, having not familiared herself with the side everyone else knew of.
She was reassured after hearing about Zecora's actual personality, and although worried, she trusted her loved one more than anything else.
-------------------------------------------
She managed to surpress the urge to fly off as soon as they made their approach towards the hut which shaped the Zebra's home.
Smoke came from a window. Lots of it.
The two ponies running over in worry, soon stood at the window without much chance to even get in, the smoke practically choking the two of them as they tried to make out what was happening on the inside. Unable to see through their eyes, now tear-filled from the thick cloudy black smoke, they made their approach to the door instead, in hopes of getting inside. As they did, their faces were shocked.
The shock soon turned to laughter though, as they saw Zecora with a half-bombed hut, things having flewn everywhere, masks and jars alike, some broken glass, though nothing major, the Zebra seeming more a pony than she ever had before, her hair knocked down and her body completely black, aside from a pair of eyes sticking out from the mess.
It took some time cleaning up every last bit, getting the masks in place and cleaning up shards from broken jars. Though, with the help of the two ponies, it stood nearly as good as new.
"What a surprise, a shocker indeed. Your worried faces carries something I need to heed?" Zecora went along in her general mysterious tone.
"N-Not exactly..." Derpy rubbed the back of her mane with her hoove, rather nervous to go on.
It wasn't very hard to tell that she was nervous, though with a cyan hoove bumped into her, she took a deep breath, finally managing to go on, though still nervously stuttering just about every word.
"W-Well... You see... My eyes..." She stopped, barely able to keep going through a deep swallow. "They are... An issue... A-And... I was hoping just maybe... You could help?"
She took a look back at the rainbow-maned pony next to her, and got a reassuring nod that she had done well.
Though, the Zebra in front of her had a rather shocked expression. It went calm in the matter of seconds, followed by an equally calm tone.
"Help you I can not. Though, maybe a tip I've got? Far from here, yes quite a fare. You can find your solution, but please beware. Danger lures behind every corner, every wall. Some small, some monsters very tall. But size is not your greatest consern. For over the mountain of fire you may burn."
She pulled out what seemed like a dusty old scroll, removing a strap that kept it from unfolding itself, then rolled it out over the table, revealing a route, quite likely to take days.
The two were set to find a solution to the mellow eyes that refused to go in the same direction at the same time, so with a determined mind, they thanked Zecora before flying off, back to the sky-house that belonged to the cyan one.
"So, what did you make of Zecora's tale? Do you think she's right? That we should set out for this journey?"
Derpy was enjoying the fluffy cushion that made the floor, using it as a form of chair, watching a rainbow of colors flare forth and back with the impatient mare who had trouble standing still.
"Hmmmm...."
Rainbow wasn't paying attention at all, and she seemed more focused on the floor, deep in thought, than she even remotely considered the aspect that there were others with focus on the subject.
"Hmmm... Oh! Oh, sorry... This really does seem like a great opportunity, but... And I'm not one who says no to challenges! Oh no, bring them on! I'll go on this for the excitement alone!" She spoke with a sturdy tone, and at the end of her sentence, she put one hoof to her chest, her head held high, her other stomping ferociously at the soft flooring below.
"However... How can we be sure it works? I mean, we've got all sorts of magic out there, so what makes some form of special place capable of making you..." She found herself unable to continue the sentence, not quite sure how to formulate it, a certain purple mare popping up in her head that would probably help her finish.
The conclusion ended up becoming nothing more than words in the wind, drifting off as she once again resumed with a new attempt.
"How do we know a cure exist out there, exactly? I mean, the odds of something magic is incapable of solving would probably mean that it's little more than a rumour"
There came a few 'Uhm' from a rather patient mare, but she was abrubtly interrupted every time she tried to speak, eventually leaving her succumbing to her own self-deprivation.
"It's fine Derpy, nobody wants to hear you talk anyways..."
She immediately raised her head though, as she found herself face-to-face with a pair of huge eyes trying to get contact with her own yellow ones.
"Are you okay? You seem a bit... Troubled...."
An immediate light of hope jumped striaght into her again, and with her cheeks faintly tainted with a light crimson tone, she nodded.
"I think... If we have the opportunity to go do this, we should! There's nothing to lose right? And you DID say you wanted to go, JUST for the thrill..."
One awkwardly sheepish grin formed onto the gray face, knowing she had Rainbow Dash right where she wanted her.
"O-Of course I did!" Was the best reply the cyan mare could manage to bring out, as she stood slightly back with Derpy's approaching face, one hoof yet again upon her chest, the other three used to keep her balanced, as she was leaning backwards.
"So... We're going to explore the 'Maretans'. Infamous for danger and thrills for any daring mare or stallion!" She started wandering about again, though this time, with much more exciited eyes to follow her about.
Not only was it an opportunity to a possible solution, but it also left the two of them out in the open for many days. Oh the opportunities!
It was hard to miss that remaining sheepish grin, though if anyone could do it, it was the deep-in-thought pondering mare that kept walking back and forth.
She had probably already figured out a strategy and spoken of other threats, as well as Zecora's map, whom they had been given a solidly drawn copy of, but every word she said slid in one ear and out the other of the grinning pony that was too lost in her own thoughts about the journey and their alone-time.
"So... We'll be leaving in the morning then! I'll be sure to pack anything I need, and if you need to get something, it's still early enough to catch the shops! I'll even borrow you a few bits if you need to!"
Suddenly, Derpy snapped out of her own fantasy world, and back into reality, realising that there were still a few things left on the task list.
"Oh, and for tonight, you can crash at my place. We're both heading out tomorrow, after all"
Derpy was baffled upon the offer, and without many words, with her already wandering thoughts, she immediately threw her hooves in the air and started half-spasming, speaking inaudibly, though was silenced by a friendly kiss on the cheek by Rainbow.
"Silly... We don't have to take it all at once. Let's just get to packing for now, okay?" The cyan's kiss and words immediately calmed the otherwise near-insane mare, and packing and shopping came along as the day passed.
Night eventually came, and with Derpy acquiring yet another kiss, this time more for the good night than anything, with the days ahead, she felt no need to interrupt a certain sleep pattern of someone else, enjoying her own little space, her thoughts wandering about on the little fantasy world that would make The journey.
