Bubbles Stained With Tears: A Derpy Story
The morning sun was bright and beautiful. There was a cool summer breeze in the air. Derpy spread her wings and jumped off the cloud she was standing on. She loved the feel of the air flowing through her wings. This was what she lived for: the freedom of the open air, and the smell of flowers in the morning air.
Every time she flew through the sky it was always like the first time. It always made her happy. The sky was her domain. This was her destiny, to fly free of her earthly cage. Her cutie mark of Bubbles embodied that destiny. Bubbles were free to go wherever they wished, just like she could. There was nothing that could hold her back.
Derpy stretched her wings further and soared upward. When she was in the air like this she could truly be herself. Nothing to worry about, but which winds to fly on. She soon reached the upper limits of the sky and sighed. This was what she had wanted.
She just floated there for a time, between the heavens and the earth. Time seemed to stand still. She wished she could stay up here forever, even though she knew that she couldn’t. Eventually she would need to go back to her cloud home.
Derpy looked up and saw that the sun had moved further across the sky. Her time was up. She tilted her head forward and tucked her wings in slightly. The air began to rush through her feathers as she dove downwards. Her speed kept increasing as she grew closer and closer to the ground.
Soon, the ground was just a short distance away. As she approached, she tilted her wings upwards. The earth quickly receded below her, as she flapped her wings. There was a smile on her face as she spiraled toward her cloud home. Soaring through the sky was always the best way to wake up in the morning.
A short time later she landed in front of her cloud home. She sighed in contentment as she opened her front door. As she walked into the kitchen she saw that her mother, Ditzy Doo, was sitting at the table. Plates stacked with muffins and pancakes sat in the middle of the table.
Ditzy smiled at her daughter and said, “Good morning, sugar cube. Did you enjoy your morning flight?”
Derpy smiled at her mom as she sat at the table. “Good morning to you too. Do you even have to ask? I always enjoy my morning flight,” Derpy said. Then she grabbed a muffin off the table and took a small bite.
As Derpy continued to eat the muffin, her dad Cloudcutter, walked into the room. He sat down at the table and grabbed a muffin. Then he said, “Morning everyone.’
Derpy, and her mom both said, “Good morning,” at the same time.
Cloudcutter then said, “Today’s the big day. Do you think you’re ready for the race, sugar cube?”
Derpy smiled at her dad and said, “I’ve been practicing for months now. There isn’t a pegasus that can keep up with me.”
“I like that confidence. Reminds me of when I was young. I used to win every race that I entered too. Just remember to be a good sport. It’s not about winning, it’s about having fun,” Cluoudcutter said.
Derpy finished eating her muffin and said, “I know dad. To me it doesn’t matter if I win. I just want to fly. It’s too bad that I can’t stay up in the sky forever.”
Cloudcutter nodded and said, “Haha, I taught you well. You’ll do fine in this race.” Then he continued to eat his muffin.
A short time later Ditzy said, “Oh would you look at the that, it’s almost time. Shall we head out?”
Derpy nodded excitedly and said, “What are we waiting for, let’s go.” She then got up and left through the front door. Her parents followed her through the door a second later. The three of them took to the sky, with Derpy in the lead.
Cloudcutter looked at Ditzy and said, “I’m glad that she’s so excited, but it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with her. She really is very skilled at flying.”
Ditzy laughed and said, “Yes, she sure does love flying.” As she said this, the race track came into view. The three of them landed in front of the registration desk. Derpy stepped forward and told the pony behind the desk her name. The pony wrote Derpy’s name down on clipboard and said, “You’re competitor number seven. Put this sticker on and be at the starting line in five minutes.”
Derpy took the sticker and placed it over her cutie mark. Then she followed her parents to the stands. A moment later Ditzy said, “Good luck sugar cube. We’ll be rooting for you.”
Derpy smiled at her parents and said, “See you later mom and dad. I love you.”
Cloudcutter and Ditzy both said, “Love you too,” at the same time. Then the two of them turned away to find seats.
Derpy walked away from the stands and joined the other competitors waiting by the starting line. Several of the foals waved to her and smiled. She waved back at them. As Derpy stood waiting at the starting line, she failed to notice that one of the racers had a frown on her face.
The racer’s name was Lightning Dust. She glared at Derpy as Derpy stood there with a broad smile on her face. That smile was starting to annoy Lightning Dust. She had seen it every time Derpy had beaten her in a race. Lighting Dust knew that she was better than Depry and that she was the one who deserved to be smiling like that. This time she was going to be the one to win, no matter what it took.
Several minutes later the race announcer began to speak through a microphone. “Fillies and gentlecolts welcome to Cloudsdale and the Best Young Flyers Race. This race is a very special race. It’s the last one of the season. The current champ Derpy, number seven, has won every previous race.” Derpy’s cheeks blushed with embarrassment at the mention of her name and Lightning Dust gritted her teeth.
“Will she keep her title of best young flyer, or will someone else take it away from her. Let’s find out. Racers take your positions at the starting line,” the announcer said.
As Derpy took her position at the starting line, she heard her parents cheering her name. She looked for them in the crowed and smiled at them. This was going to be a fun race. No matter what happened she would enjoy herself.
Lightning Dust didn’t look into the crowed to see if her parents were cheering her on. She had eyes for only one pony, Derpy. No matter what, she wasn’t going to lose this race.
The announcer said, “Is every racer ready? On your marks, get set, go!” A buzzer sounded at the same time.
Derpy lunged forward with all of her might. Wind rushed past her face as she surged ahead. A huge smile spread across her face. This was what she wanted; to fly through the air without a care in the world. Nothing could ever replace this feeling.
Derpy barely noticed as she became the leader in just the first few seconds of the race. That meant nothing to her. Her wings flapped as she rode through the air. Whenever she flew, it felt like she had become a part of the sky. It was an incredible feeling, that she wouldn’t trade for the world.
Lightning Dust put as much strength into her wings as she could. She had a scowl on her face as she watched Derpy continue to move ahead of her. How could Derpy still be ahead of her? After all of the practice that Lightning Dust had done over the last few months, she should have been faster. It just wasn’t fair. She should be the one in the lead.
Lightning Dust bit her lip in frustration as Derpy effortlessly rounded the first corner of the track. How did Derpy make it look so easy? It seemed like she was born to win. Lightning dust growled to herself. She wasn’t going to let Derpy get away with this. She flapped her wings with everything she had, struggling to catch up.
Derpy’s wings cut through the air as she rounded the track again. The wind rushed through her feathers. She was now on her fifth and final lap. This didn’t matter to her though. She was in her own little world as she rounded the last corner of the track. She failed to notice that Lightning Dust was just a few feet behind her.
Lightning Dust’s wings were sore as she struggled to keep up with Derpy. No matter how fast she went, Derpy was always ahead of her. It was starting to frustrate her. She wasn’t going to let Derpy win this time. This was her time to shine, not Derpy’s.
With her remaining strength Lightning Dust angrily surged forward. A second later she pulled along Derpy’s side, but she was still slightly behind Depry. In an act of desperation Lightning Dust swerved toward Derpy to try and throw her off course. She overshot her target and wound up ramming hard into Derpy’s side. Lightning Dust quickly righted herself and rushed on ahead, not caring about what happened to Derpy as she careened off of the track. It was Lightning Dust’s time to win.
Derpy let out a grunt as the air was knocked out of her lungs. The force of Lightning Dust’s tackle threw her off course at high speed. Derpy lost control of her flight. A few seconds later she saw the stands approaching rapidly. She was going too fast to turn away. Derpy crashed into the stands with a loud bang.
As Derpy came to a stop, Lightning Dust raced across the finish line. Lightning Dust had finally won, but when she turned back to look at the crowd she scowled. No one cheered her victory, instead everypony was rushing to the aid of Derpy. Why wasn’t anyone paying attention to her? She was the one who had won the race, not Derpy.
Derpy felt pain all over, but the worst was her head. It felt like it was on fire. As the pain intensified she heard noises from all around her. She struggled to open her eyes to see what was going on. What she saw confused her.
Both of her parents stood above her with worried looks on their faces. Strangely though, there were two sets of her parents. Before Derpy could figure out what was going on an immense amount of pain shot through her body all at once. She was forced to close her eyes as the pain made her lose consciousness.
_____
Derpy was awakened by a light creaking sound. She tried to open her eyes but couldn’t. That’s when she realized that she had something wrapped around her forehead. It felt like some kind of bandage. She wondered what was going on, until she remembered the race and the crash.
Derpy tried to remember what had happened after that, but wasn’t able to. As her thoughts bounced around her head she heard the creaking sound again. It was a comforting sound for some reason. Derpy wanted to find out what the sound was, so she reached her hoof up to her face to try and remove the bandage from her head.
As soon as her hoof neared her head, the creaking sound stopped. “Oh, your finally awake. I’m so happy. I was so worried about you, sugar cube. Don’t try to remove that bandage. The doctors said that it needs to stay on for several more days,” Ditzy said.
Derpy felt reassured by the sound of her mom’s voice. She let her hoof fall back to her side. Then she asked, “What happened mom? The last thing I remember is flying in the race. Where am I now? What’s going on?”
Ditzy let out a small sigh as she stood up and walked toward her daughter. She placed her hoof on her daughter’s arm. Then she said, “During the race you crashed into the stands. You were banged up pretty bad. You were brought to the hospital. The doctors said that you’re going to make a speedy recovery.”
Derpy could hear the sadness in her mother’s voice. It almost sounded like she was trying to hide something from her. “Is that all that happened? Why do you sound so worried mom? Everything’s going to be okay, right?” Derpy asked
There was a small catch in Ditzy’s throat as she said, “I — your —.” She was cut off as Cloudcutter approached the bed and said, “Derpy, there’s something that we need to tell you. When you crashed into the stands, you — you hit your head pretty hard. The doctors are afraid that you may have received some permanent damage.” There was a pause as her dad touched her arm.
“What kind of damage? Why do you sound so frightened daddy?” Derpy asked.
Derpy could feel her dad’s hooves shaking as he said, “It’s your eyes Depry. They’re — they’re not going to work the way that you’re used to. You might not have very good control of your eye muscles.”
“What does that mean? I’ll still be able to see and fly, right?”
“The doctors aren’t very sure what will happen. There’s a chance that it might not affect you at all,” her dad said, trying to sound calm.
“If it’s not a problem, why are you so upset?” Derpy asked.
“There’s — a chance that you may not have very good coordination in the future. It might prevent you from flying the way that you’re used to. I’m so sorry,” her dad said. Then he began to sob, her mother soon joining him.
Derpy felt their hot tears landing on her as their sobs began to intensify. Her heart felt like it was breaking. She didn’t want to see her parents sad like this. It left a deep ache inside of her. She wanted to make them happy again but didn’t know how. She reached out her hoof and touched one of her parents and said, “I don’t want you to cry for me. Please stop. Don’t cry, it will be okay mom and dad.”
Her mom let out a small sigh and said, “I’m so glad to see your taking this so well. Your right, let’s not dwell on that, right now. How about we get some fresh air? The doctor said that we can put you in a wheel chair and give you a ride around the hospital. It’ll do us some good to leave this room. What do you say, sugar cube?”
Derpy nodded her head and said, “ok.”
A short time later Derpy was being pushed around the hospital in a wheel chair. Her dad was the one pushing her while her mom walked right next to them. Occasionally one of her parents would say something about their surroundings. It was comforting to know that her parents were by her side.
Derpy was saddened when the tour ended, but the doctor said that she needed to rest. When Derpy was back in her bed it did not take her long to fall back to sleep. The day’s events had been hard on her and she didn’t realize how tired she was.
____
Derpy was sitting up in her hospital bed a few days later. The doctor was standing next to her as he said, “Alright Derpy, it’s time to remove the bandage. Are you ready?”
Derpy nodded her head and said, “Yes.”
The doctor slowly removed the bandage from Derpy’s eyes. Once the bandage was gone Derpy opened her eyes. She blinked several times as her eyes got used to the lights around her. What she saw confused her.
It was like she was seeing two different versions of the room. Her right eye was pointed upward and her left eye was pointed downwards. She shook her head and blinked several times to try and clear her vision, but it had no effect. Her vision of the room stayed the same.
“Are you alright, sugar cube?” Ditzy said in a concerned voice.
Derpy tried to focus her eyes on her mom, but wasn’t able to. Instead she tilted her head at an odd angle to get a better look at her. It was a weird way to see something, but it was the best that she could do. “I’m alright mom. It’s just hard to focus my eyes, though I think I can get used to it,” Derpy said.
A tear rolled down Ditzy’s cheek as she said, “Oh sugar cube, I’m so sorry.”
CloudCutter had a scowl on his face as he said, “I’m going to talk to the parents of the pony that did this to you. She needs to give you an apology. What she did was unforgivable.”
Derpy looked from her mom to her dad and felt sad for them. “Don’t feel bad mom and dad. I’m not mad at Lightning Dust. What happened is all in the past. I just want to get out of this bed and go for a fly,” Derpy said.
The doctor shook his head and said, “I know that you’re impatient, but you might want to take things slowly. It may be hard for you to fly the way you’re used to. I recommend that you be careful if you plan on flying. How about we go for a walk and see how you can handle that.”
With that the doctor helped Derpy out of the bed. Derpy stood next to the bed, getting used to standing on her feet again. She then took a step forward. Her eyes made the room look crooked to her. It made her steps very unsteady.
When she took a second step, she stumbled a little bit and her parents worriedly rushed to her side. They steadied her with their hooves. Derpy looked at the two of them and said, “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me. I can do this. Just give me some time to get used to it.”
Her parents reluctantly backed away. Derpy took another step forward. This time she was a little steadier on her hooves. It was difficult at first, but she soon became accustomed to the new way she saw things.
After a day of walking practice the hospital let Derpy go home. Outside of the hospital Derpy stretched her wings. Before she was ready to take flight, her mom said, “Are you sure that you’re ready to fly? We can get a pegasus chariot to take you home. It would much safer.”
Derpy looked at her mom and shook her head. “I know that you’re worried about me mom, but I must do this,” Derpy said.
Her mom reluctantly nodded her head and said, “ok.”
Derpy flexed her wings and prepared to jump into the sky. A second later she was airborne. It felt wonderful to be in the air again. As she ascended higher and higher she enjoyed the feel of the wind in her feathers.
When she had gotten to a good cruising height she looked at the horizon and attempted to level off her flight. This proved to be far more difficult then she had thought it would be. The horizon looked tilted to her. Instead of ending up level with the horizon, she had tilted her head forward.
Derpy started to dive downwards toward the ground. She let out a small gasp of air as she attempted to pull out of the steep dive. As she neared the ground she was able pull up, but she overcorrected and wound up climbing steeply into the sky.
Her wings became strained as she climbed higher. She tilted herself forward and was able to stop her ascent. This time she was able to line herself up with the horizon. She let out a small sigh as she calmly flapped her wings.
A second later her mom and dad were flying on either side of Derpy. “Oh my, are you alright? Do you need help to land?” Ditzy said.
Derpy looked at her mom and said, “I’m fine mom. I just had a little difficulty. I’ll get better with some practice. I can get home safely, don’t worry mom.”
Ditzy smiled and said, “I know you’re excited, but you should be more careful.”
Derpy smiled back at her mom as she continued to fly forward. “Please stop worrying about me so much. I can fly just fine, though I may not be flying in any races any time soon,” Derpy said.
“I’m your mom, it’s my job to worry. That’s never going to change,” Ditzy said.
A short time later the three of them landed in the yard of their cloud home. Derpy landed unsteadily on her hooves, nearly falling over. It had been an enjoyable flight for her but she missed not being able to soar through the sky like she used to.
“Well I bet that you can’t wait to have some muffins. Why don’t you sit at the table and relax? I’ll make some muffins for you,” Ditzy said.
Depry smiled and said, “You know me so well mom. Thank you so much.” Derpy walked into the house and sat at the kitchen table. She watched her mom as she prepared some muffins for her. It didn’t matter to her that she couldn’t see very well. She was happy to just be with her parents.
____
Several months later Derpy and her parents were landing in front of the stands of the Cloudsdale race track. Both of her parents gave her hugs. Then her mom said, “Are you sure that you want to enter this race? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“I want to fly in this race. Not because I want to win, but because I want to have fun,” Derpy said.
Ditzy smiled and said, “I love you, sugar cube. Good luck.”
Derpy smiled back and said, “I love you too, mom.” Then she walked away. She stopped by the starting line to wait for the race to start. One of the other racers caught her attention. Lightning Dust was standing nervously off to the side.
Derpy decided to walk over to her. Lightning Dust looked into Derpy’s eyes for a second, then she quickly looked down. There was a look of guilt in lightning Dust’s eyes. Derpy hated to see Lightning Dust like this. She knew that Lightning Dust had never meant to hurt her. Derpy reached out to Lightning Dust and gave her a hug.
Lightning Dust gasped in shock. “What are you doing?” she asked in a confused tone.
Derpy stepped back and smiled at Lightning Dust. “I forgive you,” she said.
Lightning Dust just stared blankly at Derpy before she said, “You forgive me? But why?”
“Because you didn’t mean to hurt me. What you did was wrong, but that doesn’t mean that I have to be mad at you. The way I see it there are two options on the table. Either I can be miserable about what happened to me, ruining all of the fun times in life, or I can just keep moving forward. Life’s far too short, and I’d rather spend my time having fun than being angry all the time. So, how about we forget the past and move on to a brighter future,” Derpy said with the brightest smile that she could give.
A small tear rolled down Lightning Dust’s cheek. She sighed and said, “Thank you.”
A short time later the announcer said, “Fillies and gentlecolts welcome to Cloudsdale and the Best Young Flyers Race. Racers take your positions at the starting line.”
Derpy stretched her wings and prepared to fly. There was a giant smile on her face. This was what she lived for. There was nothing in the world that she would rather do.
Once all of the racers were at the starting line the announcer said, “Racers, are you ready? On your marks, get set, go!”
Derpy spread her wings and surged forward. It didn’t matter to her that she had difficultly flying straight. She was going to have fun no matter what happened. All she wanted in life was to fly. The sky was forever her domain.