It was a lovely stormy morning in Ponyville, as bolts of lightning flashed across the sky, and some looked like they were aimed at the ground. Bolts of yellow, white and white-blue raced, as water poured from the clouds above heavily. There was so much rain falling that there were few ponies that were adventurous enough to venture outdoors for any reason. The market stalls were closed, as there would not be anypony that would want to do business in a deluge.
However, ponies still needed to get their mail sent and delivered, irregardless of the weather, scheduled by the weather ponies or no. Mail ponies had specially water repelling mailbags for days such as these, when they had to be out in the rain, no matter what.
One grey pegasus mailmare wore a basic light custard yellow poncho, with different fabric muffins sewn on it at irregular intervals by her little Muffin, Dinky. Sparkler had helped Dinky to waterproof the muffin decals, and even though it might not please other ponies, Derpy Hooves was inordinately proud of her beloved poncho.
Though, Derpy didn’t smile as much on rainy days, since there were a lot less ponies out and about, even though she knew everypony on her route by name and face, even if she wasn’t privy to all the minutia of their lives. Still, she took satisfaction in doing her job well, and how capable she was.
She’d just finished with delivering the last of her mail, when five male ponies surrounded her, not quite yet stallions, but neither colts either. Each sported a cruel smile. “So, the wall-eyed freak still lives among us. Your very existence is a mockery and shame to the entire pony race! What if what you have is contagious! Other ponies could catch your freaky eyes! Why don’t you do us all a favor and kill yourself! No pony wants you! No pony likes you.” The leader, a dark charcoal coated stallion with a silvery cropped top mane, and three diamond studs in his left ear spewed his hurtful propoganda, the others agreeing with him.
“No! T-that’s not true! Ponies do like me! You’re lying!”
The lead stallion hit her with his right hoof, making her see stars, and feeling her cheek start to swell.
“It’s true! Rainbow Dash seemed eager enough to get rid of you, with all the damage you did to City Hall! And let’s not forget all that furniture you dropped upon Princess Twilight. You’re even a danger to yourself! Or did you forget the lightning that hit you when you were jumping up and down on a thundercloud!?” The leader sneered, and spat in her face. “I’m surprised that your daughter is even alive, and certainly that she isn’t crippled in some way!”
Some distance away, a light violet unicorn filly saw what was happening and dashed off to the Golden Oaks Library.
{10 minutes later}
“Hey! Get away from her!” Applejack cried, bucking the leader in his sides, so that everypony assembled could hear the sickening crack as his ribs could not withstand the force of her buck.
The leader hobbled away, his lackeys following to make sure that he made it into Ponyville Hospital.
“Are you alright darling?” Rarity inquired, her eyes roaming over Derpy’s poncho.
“Mommy!” Dinky cried, tearfully nuzzing her mother, and seeing the ugly purple bruise on her cheek.
“Oh goodness. We should really get some ice on your cheek. Come with me to my cottage, and I’ll get some ice for your cheek.” Fluttershy gently said, escorting the beaten mailmare to her cottage.
{Later at Fluttershy’s Cottage}
Derpy gasped out in pain, as the biting cold of the ice, wrapped in a hoofkerchief was placed upon her cheek by Fluttershy.
Suddenly, Derpy started sobbing at the care and concern that these seven ponies were showing her.
“I hate my eyes!”
“Uh, why do you say that Derpy?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Because ponies assume I’m slow or mentally retarded just because my eyes are skewed! Plus it negatively affects my distance perception, which makes me extremely clumsy. Those stallion ponies even thought that they might get it because they didn’t know whether or not it was contagious!” Derpy stomped a rear hoof in anger. “They even told me that you wanted to get rid of me, because of the damage that I’d done to City Hall, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “Um, yeah; about that. I’m sorry if you saw it that way. I—I just don’t know how to deal with you Derpy.” Derpy gave a sobbing laugh, fresh tears streaming down her face. “Treat me like any pony with a brain, and not some sort of retarded burden on society. I’m a pony, just like your friends. When hurtful things are said to me, my heart aches. When I am cut, I bleed the same red blood. When my friends succeed, I feel joy and happiness for them. Only my eyes are the obvious thing wrong with me. My mind, my heart is fully capable as any other pony.”
“I love you, Mommy! You’re the best Mommy for me!” Dinky cried, hugging her mother around her mother’s barrel, ever mindful of her horn.
“I love you too, my precious Muffin.” She leaned down, and placed a tender, loving kiss on her daughter’s forehead, just above her horn.
“Hee hee! That tickles Mommy!” Dinky giggled.
Twilight Sparkle came and sat before Derpy. “I’d like to be your friend, Derpy.” Her voice was soft-spoken, as she watched the tender moment of a mother and her daughter. “I’d like that, Princess Twilight.” Derpy replied, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“I—I’d like to be your friend as well. I-if that’s alright with you.” Fluttershy peeked at Derpy from behind her mane.
“I’m already friends with you, but I’ll try to hang with you more often, Derpy!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing around Derpy, excitedly.
“I’m busy until sundown, but if you want to hang out for a bit afterwards, feel free to drop by the farm.” Applejack invited, inclining her head in a brief nod in her direction.
“Do feel free to drop by the Boutique after business hours, if you’d like pleasant company and elegant tea, Darling.” Rarity offered.
“And I can train your body until you won’t crash as much. But I gotta warn you, my regimen is tough, and not for the faint of heart!” Rainbow boastfully offered.
Derpy wiped her tears with her fetlocks, and genuinely smiled. “Yes! I’d like to be friends with all of you!”
“Hey! You know what we should totally do to inaugurate our friendship? Eat muffins at Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie cheered.
“That’s a great idea Pinkie! Come on girls, let us go!” Twilight cried excitedly, as friends both familiar and newly made followed the Princess of Friendship, to the cozy, cheerful atmosphere of Sugarcube Corner.
It would be a day to go down in Muffin History, as Sugarcube Corner’s muffin sales rose 400% that day.
Derpy smiled, waving to the ponies she knew by face and name. Many were genuinely nice ponies, even if they didn’t spend any time with her. While she wished she could hate them for their avoidance of spending any time longer than the couple of minutes it took to be given their mail, Derpy just didn’t have it in her.
“I’d probably be uncomfortable hanging with a pony who has eyes like mine.” She said sadly, moving towards the next house to continue her rounds.
{Elsewhere in Ponyville}
A certain pink pony party planner for Ponyville felt her body get the pony pimples, before her right foreleg twitched and her ears alternated in flattening against her head. Pinkie’s mane deflated. “Oh no! Somepony is smiling, but not really feeling it!” Pinkie wanted to go cheer that pony up, she really did, but she had the obligations and responsibilities that her job demanded of her, and it wouldn’t be right to just up an leave on the Cakes. So she continued to toil, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead and body, as she mixed, beat and rolled dough, or poured the dough into molds or cake pans. Pinkie zipping from one pastry project to the next. “Cheer up, whoever you are.” Pinkie uttered softly in a sad voice.
{Later after work: Derpy}
The mailmare, having finished with her deliveries returned home, dropping her mailbag at her house, hanging it upon a coat rack. Once she had done so, she turned around, trudging with her head hung low in the direction of Ponyville’s school. She found a comfortable place in the grass outside the schoolyard, and laid her head down and closed her eyes while waiting for her daughter Dinky to be released from school.
Her ear twitched, as she heard the ringing of the bell, as the cacophony of excited foals greeted her ears. She smelled the comforting scent of her daughter as she felt Dinky nuzzle her. “Mommy? Is there something wrong?”
Derpy smiled sadly at her daughter. “Mommy’s just feeling sad, my sweet Muffin.”
“Why, Mommy?” Dinky tilted her head cutely to the side, her large eyes expressive with curiosity and incomprehension. “Don’t be sad Mommy, or you’ll make me feel sad. I might even cry!” The small light violet coated unicorn filly looked tearfully at her precious Mommy.
Derpy slowly got to her hooves, her body feeling sluggish and heavy to her. Like her sadness was sapping her strength and energy.
Dinky stayed near her Mommy, looking at her with worry. She wanted her mommy to cheer up, but she was too concerned about her Mommy to leave her and seek help.
She opened the door for her Mommy, and walked by her side, watching her climb into bed, and sigh heavily..
Dinky tapped the side of her hoof against her head, wracking her brain for how she might help her Mommy. Then the gloomy look on the filly’s face vanished like fog before the summer sun, a look of hope replacing the gloomy sadness that had been there before.
Soon the front door opened and slammed shut as Dinky went to get the smartest pony she could think of, and who was smarter than Princess Twilight?
{~45 minutes later}
The voice of Equestria’s newest princess drifted up the stairway and underneath the crack at the bottom of Derpy’s door. “She’s in her bedroom, right?”
A rapping sound resounded through Derpy’s door. “Derpy, can I come in? It is I, Twilight Sparkle.”
A loud sigh could be heard on the other side of the door, followed by several moments of silence. “Sure.”
The creaking of the door signaled the door being turned on its hinges. Twilight’s voice came much closer, as Derpy felt her bed give a little, beneath the added weight of Dinky, as her daughter laid near her Mommy, looking up at Derpy with worry in her large expressive eyes.
“Why are you feeling sad, Derpy? Don’t you know you’re worrying Dinky?”
“I know I’m worrying her! But I can’t help feeling how I feel.” Derpy snapped angrily at Twilight.
“—I don’t believe that. I don’t think there’s anything one can’t do, if they strive for it and want it bad enough.”
“Why do you care?” Derpy’s voice oozed with hurt. “Nopony wants to be friends with the pony with abnormal eyes.”
“Have you ever thought about putting forth the effort to make friends? If they’re not making the first move, then shouldn’t you make the first move?”
“What?” Derpy’s voice sounded incredulous. The problem wasn’t with her! The problem was with other ponies, Tartarus damn it!
“Instead of waiting for something to happen, why not put forth some effort to make it happen?”
“The problem isn’t with me! The problem is with those other ponies!” Derpy shouted back, angry. How dare she, how dare she imply that the fault was somehow hers.
“Are you sure? Either you can stay here and wallow in your depression and sadness, or you can take your own destiny in your hoof, and make choices for your happiness. The choice, in the end, will be yours. But if you make the wrong choice, I might have to judge you unfit to continue raising Dinky, and give her to someone who will raise properly and care for her.”
“Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!” Derpy yelled, her eyes glaring at Twilight, her wings spread, and her stance splayed.
“—Think about what I’ve said.” Twilight replied, before closing the door behind her.
A few moments later. the splintering crack could be heard, as a horseshoe impacted with the door, an enraged scream coming from Derpy’s room.
Dinky curled up, making herself as small as possible, frightened as she’d never seen her Mommy this mad before.
“Don’t let her take me away Mommy.” Dinky sobbed quietly.
“Don’t worry Muffin. Mommy won’t let this beat her. I love you, my precious muffin.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
Derpy got back onto the bed, and curled up around her daughter, before using her wing to pull the blankets over the both of them, as the sweet embrace of slumber took both mother and daughter.
The familiar sight of Ponyville’s local mailmare could be seen humming happily as her wing opened the lid on her mailbag, and her muzzle briefly vanished into the sack’s depths, as she removed the mail for the ponies in the house before whose mailbox she stood. Her other wing pulled open the mailbox’s door, as she stuffed the mail within the container. And finally she turned the flag down, having picked up what outgoing mail had been retrieved from the mailbox, prior to her delivering their inbound mail. Parcel Post, her boss, had given her an unusual way of delivering her mail. Because instead of delivering parcels along with paper mail, he had her deliver all of her paper mail first before coming back to deliver the parcels.
“I don’t get it.” Derpy muttered. “It just seems so incredibly inefficient and time-consuming to make two trips on one delivery route, instead of one trip. I could get done so much earlier if he’d just let me take parcels with the paper mail.” She waved to Octavia Melody, who had briefly paused from watering a lovely plot of Yellow Tulips, Passion flowers and Orange Blossoms to wave to her. “Maybe I should talk with him about it after work.”
Much of her shift passed without any mishaps or anything really notable happening. Well, aside from one event that brightened her day. Derpy smiled, as she recalled the memory.
{Earlier that day}
”Hiya Derpy!” Pinkie called cheerfully from Pokey Oaks Memorial Park, a picnic basket jostled unmercifully upon the bounding pink pony’s back.
”Hi Pinkie, are you going on a picnic?”
"Of course! The girls are bringing their favorite picnic treats, and I’m bringing my favorite Triple Fudge Caramel Delights. I had a feeling that I might run into you, and I packed a muffin just for you! You like Lemon Poppy, right?”
Derpy began salivating just at the mention of a Sugarcube Corner muffin. They weren’t as good as hers, but muffin making was a serious business. She couldn’t lower her opinion of the ponies that worked there, for making a plethora of pastries and baked goods. ”Do I ever! My love for muffins is unmatched!”
Pinkie giggled, and set the picnic basket on the ground before sticking her muzzle into the basket, before pulling out a paper plate with the muffin placed on it.
Derpy reverently took the plate on her right hoof, as her large golden eyes staring at the delectable treat before her eyes, and she took a large whiff, smelling the faint citrusy aroma of the lemon juice that had been used. Her smile grew larger, before she took a dainty bite of the tantalising pastry, rolling the puffy golden muffin bit around on her tongue, as she savored the tart lemony flavor, but relishing the crunch the poppy seed provided. "Mmm! ‘Anks ‘Inkie!"
Pinkie giggled, ecstatic that her friend was enjoying her treat so much. ”You’re welcome, silly filly! See you later Derpy!”
Pinkie closed her picnic basket lid, before returning it to its former position on her back, as Pinkie merrily bounded off in the direction of the park, leaving Derpy to blissfully savor her muffiny delight.
{Back in the present}
Derpy entered the post office though the employees only entrance and went directly to her boss’ office.
“Mister Parcel, Sir?” Derpy asked, her voice low, both in volume and her vocal range.
“What is it Derpy?” The elderly yellow-brown stallion asked, not even peering over his bifocals, as he continued to scan, sign and stamp the paperwork that constantly littered his desk.
“Well, it’s just, I’d like to deliver the parcels with the paper mail, sir. The current arrangement takes twice as long, and doubles the distance that I’d otherwise travel.”
“I’m just trying to make things less awkward, heavy and reduce the likelihood of parcels getting damaged. If you think you can handle both, then by all means. But if I get a complaint from anypony about you damaging the contents of their parcel, then we go back to the current arrangement.”
“Yes Sir!” Derpy agreed, her volume increased and her voice higher on her vocal range, expressing her excitement.
{The next day}
It was near the end of her shift, and she only had about a quarter remaining of the mail and parcels she had started with, when she placed a package marked fragile on her back, as she trotted to the house to deliver the parcel. Pipsqueak, running from Snips, Snails, and Featherweight; all wearing bandanas around their heads collided with her, and Derpy could only watch in horror, as she heard the tinkling cacophony of the contents of the parcel being broken.
“Oops. I’m sorry Miss Derpy.”
Derpy didn’t respond, tears welling up in her eyes, as a strangled sob sounded from the distraught mailmare.
Pipsqueak, sad and not knowing how he could make things better ran off, the other colts hot on his hocks.
Derpy felt a hoof draw her into a hug, as she peered through watery eyes and seeing the light grey coat of Rarity, her eyes expressive with sympathy and compassion, her mulberry colored mane framing her face in stylish curls.
“I saw the whole thing Darling. It wasn’t your fault.”
“T-that won’t change the fact that I’ll have to go back to delivering the parcels and paper mail separately once Mister Rich learns that his parcel got damaged and that I was the mail pony responsible for the delivery.” Derpy sobbed, her tears matting Rarity’s coat.
“I’ll go with you for the rest of your route, and we can explain what happened to your boss.”
“O-okay.” Derpy replied, still looking dejected.
She knocked on the door, placing the parcel on the ground. When nopony answered, she left the package and continued with the remainder of her route, and though she didn’t show it, she was immensely grateful for Rarity’s company.
{After work}
“—And that’s why we have you deliver the parcels separately!” Parcel scolded the mailmare, whose eyes began to issue tears afresh.
“It wasn’t her fault, Mister Parcel. It was just a freak accident.” Rarity attempted to placate the enraged elderly stallion.
“A freak accident that’s going to come out of our insurance!” Parcel yelled in frustration.
“Mister Parcel! Can’t you see that she feels terrible enough about it already!? It wasn’t even her fault! Must you make her feel worse than she already feels?” Rarity reasoned.
“How she feels! How she feels! What about how I feel! Now we have to spend our insurance money to fix this mess. She was the mail pony responsible for delivering the parcel undamaged! I don’t even want to deal with you, Derpy. I’ve had to clean up too many of your messes already. Break another parcel, and you can start looking for another job.” The stallion swiveled in his chair, the high back of the chair greeting their vision, indicating that this meeting was over.
Derpy let herself be herded into Rarity’s house, lying on the comfortable chaise longue as Rarity went about making dinner for her guest and herself.
“Don’t worry Derpy. You’re a kind and cheerful pony, and that’s an attractive quality in a pony. I’m sure that even if you were to be fired, you can easily find another job.” Rarity tried to cheer Derpy up.
A bowl of vegetable soup floated over to Derpy, who balanced it on one hoof, while using her other hoof to grasp the spoon and ladle the soup into her muzzle.
“But I love delivering the mail. I love seeing the ponies on my route and greeting them, or just even watching them live their lives. I don’t want a different job!”
Rarity glanced at the clock, surprised at how much time had passed.
“I’d like it if you’d stay the night. Hopefully things will not seem quite as bleak with the arrival of a new day.”
“Thanks Miss Rarity.” Derpy murmured.
“Rarity, darling. Friends don’t let titles create distance between them.” Rarity responded.
“Y-you really want to be my friend?” Derpy asked, her voice wavering slightly, as if she didn’t believe what she was hearing.
“But of course, darling. I’ve only observed you from afar, but I think that from what I’ve seen, you’re not only a mare worth knowing, but to have as a friend as well.”
“Thanks, Rarity.”
“Think nothing of it Derpy.” Rarity smiled, levitating the empty bowls and dirty silverware down into her kitchen, placing them in the sink to be washed later. She clambered into the bed with her new friend, and let the sweet embrace of sleep grip them.
Derpy hummed in the shower, cleaning herself up for her interview later that morning. The calendar had Post Office Interview at 9:00 A.M. circled in a bright red highlighter marker. “Ooh, I really hope they’ll hire me. I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t get this job. I certainly don’t want the Equestrian Social Services branch in Ponyville to decide that I’m incapable of caring for my precious Muffin.” Derpy muttered to herself, as she relished in the hot water pelting her body, the heat seeping through her pelt, relaxing her taut muscles somewhat. She lathered her loofah with her favorite scented Head and Hocks shampoo. Rainy Evergreen Forest, it actually smelled like a wet evergreen forest would smell after a rain, but without the stickiness of the sap, prickliness of the needles, or the dangers of being in a forest in a storm. She then soaped up her mane and tail, lathering both of them, until they felt like the softest and smoothest spun gold silk.
She dried her mane, tail and coat off, and briefly contemplated a breakfast of muffins. The derped-eye mare sighed, opting to not eat breakfast, considering that if she didn’t get this job, she’d have to eat less, just so that Dinky wouldn’t go hungry. “I’m too nervous to be hungry.” She rationalized. She brushed her teeth with Colgate’s Fresh Mint toothpaste, and washed the foamy cleanser out of her mouth. She then swirled some of Barnyard Bargain’s brand mint flavored mouthwash, before going to her bedroom to don on some interview clothes.
She selected a smart looking creamy colored blouse, fumbling a few times with the buttons, before getting them to all thread through their respective holes, then she selected a cinnamon reddish-brown overcoat, wriggling her wings through the holes needed for pegasi clothing and buttoning the overcoat in the front. She looked at herself in the mirror, trying to decide if there was anything else she might want to do before she head out for her interview. She pinned back the unruly bangs of her mane with a cherry blossom decaled hair clip, three small blossoms interspaced evenly on the hairclip, the petals almost hiding the metallic base they were attatched to.
“Alright, time to go.” Derpy pep talked to herself, a resolved and determined glint in her eyes.
{Later, towards the end of the interview}
Parcel Post, looked over her application for employment, as he dispassionately continued. “And finally Miss Hooves; why should we hire you as a mail pony for Ponyville Post Office?”
“Well, I really enjoy interacting with other ponies and I feel that their experience with the Post Office and its mail ponies ought to be a positive and pleasant experience. Like getting to see a friend or a good neighbor.”
“I’ve talked with your previous employers and while they spoke well of your work ethics, I’m informed that you have a concerning amount of mishaps and accidents. The ponies of Ponyville’s Post Office, frequently deliver fragile mail. It’s really concerning for me as a prospective employer.”
Derpy closed her eyes, awaiting a rejection for her application for employment. The silence seemed to last for minutes, hours, weeks even, though it really had been only several minutes.
“But well, just because you’re clumsy, I don’t see anything else that could be problematic in hiring you. You’re medical results indicated that you weren’t taking illegal substances, and the physical tests shows a pony at the peak of her health. So let me be the first to welcome you to the team, Miss Derpy Hooves.”
Derpy woodenly shook the elderly stallion’s hoof, still disbelieving that she had an actual job! “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Of course, Miss Hooves. You will arrive here at six sharp to begin your route. And I think you should deliver the parcels separately from the paper mail.”
“Yes Sir!” Derpy agreed, just grateful to even have a job, not knowing the trials and tribulations which lay ahead of her.
{The next day}
“Okay, here is a map with your route highlighted. Once you’re finished with delivering the paper mail, come back for the parcels and deliver them too.” Parcel Post instructed, settling a pair of mailbags over her flanks.
“Of course! You can count on me, Mister Post, Sir!” Derpy saluted.
“Just Parcel is fine, Miss Hooves. Also, I’ve never served in the Equestrian Guards, so there’s no need to salute me.”
“Okay.” She trotted down, as she started on her new mail route.”
{Later, about midafternoon}
Derpy was struggling to help move some parcels that a Mister Filthy Rich had ordered, and unable to right the cart in time, the parcels slipped out of the back of the delivery wagon.
Cries of pain and agony could be heard from Twilight Sparkle, as she was hit with a flowerpot, then an anvil, then a cart full of haybales and finally an upright piano.
Derpy quickly landed the cart. “Quick, go to the hospital, and tell them to bring the emergency wagon!” She informed the other pegasus mare, Bon Voyage, who wasted no time flying as quickly to the hospital as she could.
Derpy, meanwhile moved to remove the debris from the poor unfortunate pony beneath. The wrecked piano wasn’t too difficult for the mare to move, nor were the cart or haybales. She ended up using a leverage with a rock and a plank of wood to topple the anvil from off of Miss Twilight. She swept aside the broken pottery and dirt from atop Twilight’s mane, the unconscious mare lying in a perfect indent of her body. “Ooh, where are those EMTs? Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
Just as she finished saying this, the medical wagon showed up, a pair of EMT pegasi unhitching themselves from the emergency cart. “What happened?” Cosmic, a pegasus stallion inquired.
“We were moving some parcels for delivery to Mister Filthy Rich, when the wagon became unstable, and the parcels hit Miss Twilight! She was hit with a flowerpot first, then an anvil, then a cart full of haybales, and finally an upright piano!”
“Hoo boy. Alright Great Scott! Let’s get her on the stretcher, and to Ponyville Hospital A.S.A.P!” Cosmic cried.
“Yes!” Great Scott replied, before opening the back of the wagon and pulling out a stretcher.
“Aright, let’s just slide it under her, moving from the back to her front.” Cosmic instructed.
“You just want to get a glimpse of her plot.” Great Scott teased.
“... .” Cosmic deadpanned. “Yes, I like to fuck recently deceased mare plots. No, you moron, I’m trying to save her life!”
“Luna’s teats, sorry!” Great Scott apologized, regretting his attempt at humor. The two EMTs slid the stretcher beneath Twilight and gently loaded her onto the emergency wagon. One of them rotating what looked like pole clamps, to ensure that the stretcher didn’t move. Then he also reharnessed himself to the wagon, and soon they were on their way to the hospital.
“I should let Spike know and inform Twilight’s closest friends.” Derpy muttered, downcast that her mishap had hurt a nice pony, well any pony for that matter. Derpy did like how Twilight was always quick to suggest a story book that was appropriate to Dinky’s reading level.
{Later}
It was nearly sundown when Derpy had finished her parcel deliveries, delayed briefly due to informing Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity that Twilight had been sent to the hospital. Then she came home, finding Dinky doing her homework, and she put together a jiffy meal of sandwiches and Au Gratin flavored hay chips.
“Dinner’s ready, Muffin!”
“Okay Mommy!” Dinky replied, putting her homework materials back into her saddlebags. Noticing her mother’s dejected appearance, she asked. “What’s wrong Mommy?”
“I hurt a pony today. I didn’t mean to, but it still happened.” Derpy replied, after taking a bite from her hay bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.
“Did that pony die?” Dinky asked worriedly.
“I- I don’t know yet, Muffin.” Derpy replied. “I’m going to go to the hospital to visit her after supper. Do you mind coming with me, Dinky?”
“No. I hope she feels better soon.” Dinky replied.
{Later at the Hospital}
“You! How dare you show your face around here after what you did to Twilight!” Rainbow Dash roared, getting up in Derpy’s face, and pressing her forehead against Derpy’s in a show of aggression.
“I never intended to hurt her! Please, believe me. The last thing I wanted was for anypony to get hurt!” Derpy cried, tears starting to stream down her muzzle.
“Oh sure. An apology will make it all better!” Rainbow Dash cried angrily.
“Hush now, Rainbow Dash! Can’t you see that she feels terrible enough as it is?” Rarity admonished, her magic enveloping the brash pegasus and placing her a few hooflengths away.
“Aren’t you upset that Twilight’s hurt because of her?” Rainbow argued.
“No, because it was an accident, Rainbow Dash. I’m sad that Twilight was hurt, and I do hope that Derpy will have learned her limits and not try to move more than she is able. But it was an honest mistake. Kind of like when you damage windows and houses, because you can’t stick a landing. We know you don’t mean to do it on purpose, darling. The scale might be larger on this, or maybe it’s more personal because it’s happening to a friend, but that doesn’t change that they were unintended accidents.”
“You just had to bring that up, didn’t you?” Rainbow Dash pouted, crossing her forelegs and turning her back to Rarity.
“I’m just making a point Rainbow Dash. Nopony’s perfect. Ponies make mistakes. It’s important that we learn to forgive each other when we messed up. Derpy messed up, but she didn’t have malicious intents when the accident happened.” Rarity explained to her rainbow-maned friend.
“Don’t you care that Twilight’s hurt?” Rainbow Dash groused.
“I do, darling. I’m sorry that she’s hurt. But I’m not going to make a pony that already feels terrible about hurting our friend feel even worse by holding a grudge against her.” Rarity reasoned.
“Ugh! Fine. I’m sorry for making you feel bad, Derpy.”
“I forgive you, Rainbow Dash. Forgive me for hurting Twilight.” Derpy hung her head before Rainbow Dash, in a gesture of remorse and regret.
“Cheer up, Mommy!” Dinky nuzzled her mother, trying to make her feel better.”
“Thanks Dinky.” She smiled gently, before becoming serious once again. She looked to Applejack. “Have you heard any news? Will she be alright?” Applejack shifted, looking uncomfortable.
“The doctors want to keep here for awhile, because from their examination, she’s suffering from severe traumatic brain injuries.” Fluttershy spoke up, seeing that Applejack didn’t feel too comfortable about telling Derpy about the harm she’d caused to Twilight.
“Oh no.” Derpy covered her mouth with both of her forehooves, her eyes widening in shock.
“You should totally stay with us! We can sleep here at the hospital and throw Twilight a ‘get well soon’ party!” Pinkie cheered.
“Would you girls mind if I stayed with you?” The other five mares shaking their heads. “No.” They replied, nearly simultaneously.
Derpy, feeling exhausted, reclined in one of the hospital chairs, while Dinky curled up in her forelegs, and it wasn’t too long before a group of mares joined them in slumber. Waiting with hope that their friend would make a full recovery.
“Miss?” Ditzy reacted to the man's voice by tilting her head slightly, willing her woozy vision to focus on him. Rain and fog obscured the window, making it impossible to see the figure lurking beyond clearly. “Miss, are you all right?” His voice sounded strained, which wasn't all that unusual under the circumstances.
As far as she could see, wrecked cars filled the road; horns were honking, irate drivers reprimanded each other, the injured cried. Ditzy continued to grip the steering wheel, her greyish hands turning white under the pressure, panting heavily. Something cold twisted in her stomach, and for a second she feared that she had sustained some injury beyond the minor bumps and bruises she'd received from being knocked around the tiny cabin.
After a couple of moments and a series of deep breaths, some semblance of sanity was restored to her and she rolled down the window. “I'm fine, thank you,” she replied, shivering as the biting cold got in. Despite her reassurances, she couldn't stop shaking – not just because of the frigid temperature – and the urge to be violently ill overwhelmed her.
The man looked at her curiously, perhaps noting how her skin had paled, or the one-handed death grip she was maintaining on the wheel. “There's a cafe that's just a short walk from here. Maybe you should call your folks or something?”
Ditzy nodded. She didn't want to leave the car, but neither did she want to stay inside it. The accident had been a blur of wild colours, twisting shapes and discordant noise, caused by a mixture of terrible driving conditions and rush hour traffic. No one was really to blame for it, but all the same she felt responsible for all those vehicles she'd collided with while trying to get out of the way.
Grabbing her jacket and bag, Ditzy exited her parents' battered car and took stock of the damage; both fenders were crumpled, the headlights smashed, and the bumper was hanging at a listless angle. It could've been so much worse, but that was small comfort to the girl as she trudged along the muddy path to the cafe. A few others were heading in the same direction. She tried not to think too much about how badly her body ached. Most of it was just down to shock, she guessed.
The cafe was a haven of light and life, and Ditzy felt almost instantly better to be out of the cold; it was decorated in a retro-style that was all the rage out in the sticks, and she felt bad about the dirt she was dragging in on to the nice, clean check-pattern floor. Her blonde hair fell in ragged rat-tails, clinging to her face and neck, her blue shirt and green skirt were soaked-through, and she could no longer feel her hands. She sank gratefully into a maroon-coloured bench, closed her eyes and tried to relax.
“Can I help you, sugarcube?” a waitress asked, taking quick note of Ditzy's bedraggled appearance and looking down at her sympathetically.
“Oh, uh,” replied Ditzy, trying to force her scattered thoughts into some kind of cohesion. She had to force her chattering teeth to be still while she spoke. “Um, could I make a 'phone call?”
“Sure. There's a 'phone just to the side of the cash register,” said the waitress. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Er, a hot chocolate, please.”
“Comin' right up.”
After the waitress moved off to take someone else's order, Ditzy ambled over to the 'phone. Who do I call? Her parents were out of town on business, most of her friends were otherwise engaged due to the … her mental checklist came to an abrupt halt and she was just about to sit back down in defeat when another name sprang to mind. Quickly, she dialled the number before she lost her nerve.
“Hello?” came a soft, sleepy voice.
“Fluttershy, it's Ditzy. Um, I'm sorry to bother you so late, but uh, I've been in accident and I was wondering if you'd be able to … come over.”
“Oh, dear,” said Fluttershy, empathy and concern radiating through the 'phone line. “Are you all right? Where are you?”
“I'm fine,” replied Ditzy, the knot in her stomach abating somewhat at hearing the warmth of Fluttershy. If she wanted to, she could probably calm a storm with just a few sweet words. “Uh, I'm at this cafe just off route forty-two. It's near the interchange for Ponyville.”
“Got it,” said Fluttershy. “I'll be there as soon as I can. Are you sure you're okay, though?”
“I am. I'll see you in a bit.” Ditzy placed the 'phone back on the hook and let out a sigh. It had been a while since she'd seen Fluttershy on anything other than a professional basis; they had been good friends at school, but they'd drifted apart when their lives had taken them to very different places.
It was barely twenty minutes later that Fluttershy arrived in that dinky little hybrid of hers; Ditzy didn't even wait for the girl with the light yellow skin and luxuriant pink hair to get through the door, instead she immediately embraced her at the threshold.
Uncertainly, awkwardly, Fluttershy reciprocated, allowing Ditzy to sob into her shoulder. “What happened?” she asked, running a hand through her sodden blonde mane. Ditzy led her to the booth she had been waiting at, where two steaming hot chocolates sat next to what looked to be like a slice of home-made apple pie. She nudged one of the mugs over to Fluttershy and started talking hurriedly. “I, uh, there was a mix-up at the sorting office today. The manager insisted on blaming me, even though it wasn't my fault, and after work I just drove off without really paying attention to where I was going. It started raining and I couldn't see, and … the car just came out of nowhere! I did my best to get out of the way, but I ended up hitting several more.” With a shaky hand, she took her mug and sipped at the drink.
Her belly couldn't even contemplate the apple pie at the moment, despite the rich cinnamon scent causing her taste buds to tingle in anticipation.
Fluttershy listened sympathetically, wishing that there was more that she could do than just lending a supportive ear. “I'm sorry for what happened, but you shouldn't blame yourself. I don't think anyone was seriously hurt in the accident, and most of the cars that were able to were moving off by the time I arrived. As for work … you'll just have to make your manager listen to you when you say that what happened wasn't your fault.”
“I wish I could be more like you,” Ditzy said. “Ever since you got with Rainbow Dash and the others, you've been more … confident, centred. Remember what you were like back in school? So shy that you couldn't even tell someone your name?”
“I remember.” Fluttershy smiled at the memory, only for the first time realising how much she'd changed over the years thanks to the efforts of her friends. That timid person was still a part of her, but Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, all of them, had forced her to understand that if she wanted something in life she was going to have to take it. Her face darkened and she hesitantly looked at her old friend. “I left you behind.”
“You didn't. It's what happens.” Ditzy wasn't at all sure she was masking her bitterness, but she didn't much care. “You meet new people, you lose track of the old ones.” “I didn't want to lose you,” said Fluttershy, unexpectedly angry at the accusation. “I tried to keep you in my life, tried to make time for you, but you were always off doing something else. We had nothing in common.” She forced herself to calm down; there was no point in dredging up all this nonsense from the past, especially not when she was here on a mission of mercy. “D'you need a lift home?”
“I think the car'll be up to the journey,” Ditzy said quietly, annoyed at herself for berating her old friend the way she had. Fluttershy was out here at her request after all. “I just … needed someone to be here and I thought of you. Funny, huh?” There was no humour in her voice at all.
“Yeah. Funny.”
“Shall we go?” asked Ditzy. “Or d'you want to split the pie?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I'm good, thank you.”
Together, they left the cafe and headed to Ditzy's car; Fluttershy winced at the damage, but Ditzy appeared to be correct in her assessment that it would at least make the trip home. “I really do appreciate you comin' all the way out here for me,” Ditzy said, lowering her head until she was hidden under a mass of blonde locks.
“You're welcome,” said Fluttershy dismissively.
“And I'm sorry for … well, I'm just sorry. For everything.”
“Me, too. You're right. I should've been a better friend to you.” Without even realising she was doing it, Fluttershy's hand reached out to take Ditzy's. It was still cold, and she tried to impart some of her heat by rubbing the fingers gently with her own. “You were-” Fluttershy's cheeks turned a bright shade of red. “You were always really important to me, and I should've done better to let you know that.”
Ditzy pulled away from Fluttershy's touch; not because she wanted to, but because it was stirring up a lot of old feelings that were probably best kept buried. “I should really get going,” she said under her breath. “I have to be up early for work in the morning. And I need to think about what I'm gonna say to my boss.”
“Will you call me tomorrow, please?” asked Fluttershy, almost pleadingly. “I'd like a chance to properly catch up with you.”
Soft yellow eyes met dazzling blue ones. It was a stare that was impossible to ignore. “I'd like that very much,” said Ditzy, and she meant it. Meeting Fluttershy again like this, after all this time, had inspired something within her; she wasn't one for believing in fate or anything like that, but perhaps there was more at work here than simply needing someone to talk to. “Tomorrow. After I sort things out at work. I promise.”
Fluttershy smiled. “I look forward to it.” As Ditzy entered her car, she added, “Have a safe trip back.”
Ditzy merely rolled her eyes and smiled her first genuine smile of the day. Maybe they could be friends again? Maybe … the way Fluttershy had taken her hand, there was the possibility that there could be more than just friendship in their future.
I just don't know what went wrong.