DAH 2.0

Tasks of a Voice

Written by SparkCloud

Derpy Hooves is having a bad day. That afternoon, while moving some furniture, she dropped a piano on Twilight Sparkle's head. It was an accident, of course, but that didn't stop her boss from being mad about it, and it certainly didn't prevent him from giving her a two hour lecture over how to carry a piano. But, this wasn't the worst part of her day. The worst part is that she is now fighting for her life and an Element of Harmony against an evil, giant, angry, magical being bent on conquering the entirety of Equestria. But, she isn't alone in this struggle. Before I get to far ahead of myself, I should probably start over at the beginning...

<><><> 

It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds left to drift lazily through the sky. Derpy Hooves stretched and yawned. She thought about how busy her day was going to be. She was supposed to help Fluttershy with a frog problem she was having. The little guys were a bit to good at catching on to what the "birds and the bees" meant and now they were overpopulating their pond. Later that afternoon she was going help move some furniture, a piano, and a small tuba for a party Pinkie Pie was having to celebrate something or another, as always.

Fluttershy! Quickly Derpy squinted and looked directly at the sun to see what time it was. She groaned and let out a little "Oh no,"  as she realized that it was already a few hours past dawn. She was supposed to have met Fluttershy at the pond hours ago! She quickly hopped out of bed and galloped out the door towards Fluttershy's cottage beside the Everfree forest.

Derpy arrived at Fluttershy's house only to find she wasn't there. She must have already left for the pond. Now, Derpy Hooves was in a bit of a predicament. Fluttershy never told her where the pond was. She had been counting on Derpy to make it on time.

Derpy Hooves looked off toward the Everfree forest and then off toward the village of Ponyville. She felt as if something, most likely instinct, was telling her to go into the forest. Derpy Hooves galloped off, trusting her instinct.

It only took a few minutes of unguided wandering for Derpy Hooves to become completely and hopelessly lost. She plopped down on a mosh-covered stump feeling annoyed and mad at herself for being such a ditzy mess. Derpy Hooves slowly stood up and decided to find her way back to Ponyville. As she walked she mumbled to herself. "At least I'll be able to apologize to Fluttershy once she gets back. She would understand. She's always so kind and helpful."

Just then she came upon a slightly round, faintly glowing stone in a shaded clearing among the dark trees. The stone was covered in many layers of moss and looked extremely worn and weathered. Curious, Derpy went up to it and laid a hoof on the mysterious stone. Immediately a burst of bright whitish-gray light issued forth from the rock. She quickly jumped back, blinded. 

"Hello young pony," said a voice, warm, friendly, and distinctly British.

Derpy blinked rapidly and looked around for the source of the noise. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"I have much planned for you. You might not be aware, but there is a seventh Element of Harmony out there, somewhere, in Equestria. It is your task, little Derpy Hooves, to find this element and bring it back 'ere. Without it, Equestria will fall into darkness and despair by tomorrow! I'm sending you forth to go find it now. Good luck!" And with another flash of light, Derpy Hooves regained her vision and fainted.

<><><>

Derpy Hooves awoke with a start. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds providing the perfect amount of shade. Derpy looked around, feeling a sense of deja vu. She was even more bewildered when she heard a familiar British voice say, "Oh, glad to see your finally up. How are you feeling? Do you feel like you might fall over dead?" 

Derpy Hooves shook her head and replied with a simple, "No."

The voice let out a long sigh of relief. "That's good," the voice says,"I wasn't sure it would work." 

Derpy gave an inquisitive look to nowhere in particular. "What wouldn't work, Mr. Voice?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I sent you back in time to give you a bit of a head start. I mean, come on. Only giving you one night to save Equestria? What was I thinking? So, I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be better to give her a whole day?' So here you are, here I am, and here is Equestria at the beginning of day. Now get going, your damsel in distress is waiting!"

Derpy gave another inquisitive glance toward the general direction of the bodiless voice.

"Ah, ok, that soared over your head. Never mind, just go save Equestria!"

With another bright flash of light, Derpy appeared in front of a small house just outside the Everfree forest. She thought the house looked familiar. Where had she seen it before? The door opened slowly and out trotted Fluttershy.

"Oh, hey Derpy Hooves, you made it!" said Fluttershy in a hushed yet excited voice. "I wasn't sure if you were going to come. Your not the most organized pony, you know," she said, blushing. 

Derpy Hooves gave her an apologetic look. "Yea..."

How was she going to tell Fluttershy she can't help out today? Will she be mad -that is, if Fluttershy can get mad- that she wouldn't be able to help out with the frogs? 

Derpy didn't need to think up an answer because Fluttershy spoke first. "So, now that your here, are you ready to go rescue some poor little frogs? The pond we're moving them to is just beyond Ponyville. It's a wonderful little boggy place, they're going to enjoy it there. It's going to take all morning to fly all of them over there." Suddenly, a startled look comes across the yellow ponies face. "Oh! I hope we don't leave any of them behind. That would be terrible! Would they be able to forgive me?" She kept up her worried mumbling as she quickly trotted toward the  frog's current dwellings.

Derpy Hooves, hoping Fluttershy was to occupied with worrying about the frogs, decided to leave quickly and quietly. She needed to be saving Equestria, not saving frogs!

But wait, how was she supposed to go about saving Equestria? She didn't even know what the seventh element was. She didn't even know what an "Element of Harmony" was!

Just then, Derpy Hooves was struck with one of her very, very, very, rare moments of inspiration. Well, rare at least for her. She had a plan. To the library!

<><><><><>

Derpy Hooves quickly looked up at the sun to see what time it was. She let out a small gasp of dismay. It was already almost noon, her day was half gone. She hanover clue on how she would have be able to get this all sorted out before tomorrow. With a flurry of hooves, Derpy galloped off toward the library. 

Once she got to the library, she burst through the door and came sliding to a halt. Her wild running had stirred up a small gust, which brought in a small cloud of dust and  toppled over a number of neatly stacked books as it followed the frantic mare in.

"Um. May I help you?" questioned a slightly annoyed Twilight Sparkle, who had just finished stacking the books which were so rudely toppled.

"Um, yeah Twilight! I was looking for a book!"

"Oh," Twilight raised her head out of the sea of books that covered the floor.

Derpy looked around and realized the mess she had caused. "Oh, I'm so sorry Twilight! I'll help you pick these up."

"No!" Twilight shouted before she could stop herself. She, like everypony, had either experienced first hoof or heard legend of the clumsiness and recklessness of Derpy Hooves. "I mean, no. Spike can help me, he sometimes gets bored and shelving books always gives him something to do." But he doesn't always like it. Twilight was smart enough to keep that thought to herself.

Derpy nodded her head. "Ok then!" She looked around for a second time, momentarily forgetting her original reason for coming here. She quickly remembered. "So, Twilight, I'm looking for a book."

Twilight restrained herself from rolling her eyes and politely replied, "Well, what book are you looking for? Anything specific?"

"Yeah," the pony replied as she eyed the scattered books on the floor. "I'm looking for something over element thingys."

"Element thingys." Twilight repeated dumbly. It's Derpy being Derpy. "I'm guessing your talking about the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah! That sounds right." Derpy looked around engrossed in the numerous shelves that still had books on them. "Hm... I think it would be a big book..."

She quickly dashed from shelf to shelf, from bookcase to bookcase, looking for something on the Elements of Harmony. Her reckless flying, as well as the wind caused by her wings, caused all of the remaining books fall to the floor. 

"Here," Twilight sighed and pointed to an empty chair. "Just sit down over there and let me find it."

Derpy nodded in agreement. She was getting nowhere and it was better to let somepony who knew how a library worked to handle it.

"So, Derpy, do you need any other books?" Twilight didn't know very much about Derpy Hooves, except what she heard from other ponies. She had only seen her on random unimportant occasions and was curious to know more about the mysterious pony.

The gray pony's eyes kept spinning around the room as if they were searching for something and nothing at the same time. "Nope."

"How about a book on furniture moving. I know your going to be helping out with Pinkie's party today moving furniture."

"Nope."

Book talk was getting her nowhere. Twilight decided to change tactics.

"How's everything going? I heard from Fluttershy that you tried out for the weather team?"

Derpy nodded.

"How'd it go?"

"Well, I thought I was pretty good with the weather, but Rainbow Dash said I was terrible."

"What happened?"

Ditzy looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Well, I shocked Rainbow Dash on the flank with a storm cloud twice. I think."

Twilight hardly contained a laugh as she imagined RD's shock at the occurrence, both literally and figuratively.

"Well, at least it you didn't destroy Town Hall or anything."

"Yeah, thanks Twilight. I did get a job from Rainbow Dash, though. She told me that in my free time I should keep a look out for cotton candy clouds. So, that's what I do!"

Derpy turned her head and looked out one of the tree library's oddly circular windows. She saw the sun setting and was instantly reminded of the book and how important it was.

"Hey! Twilight have you found-"

A book surrounded by a purply pink aura floated before Derpy's eyes.

"Here it is, Derpy! 'The Last Thousand Years: A History.' It has everything you could ever need to know about anything."

"Thanks Twilight, your a real friend!" and with that, Derpy turned around and trotted out the door. Another look at the quickly setting sun spurred her into a gallop.

"Huh, that pony is so weird. I wonder why she needed that book..." Twilight shrugged, turned to get back to work, and was confronted with a mountain of books. She let out a long sigh. "This is going to be a long night"

Once back at her house, Derpy started reading "'The Last Thousand Years: A History." At least, she attempted to. Normally the only books she read contained a lot of colorful pictures. This book only had grainy photographs and cryptic charts. But, she pressed on and eventually found a segment concerning what she was searching for:

"Long ago, the Elements of Harmony where created by the beloved princess Celestia to protect the lands of Equestria from a great evil. Whenever trouble arose, six ponies were chosen by the element that represented them best to protect Equestria. Now, the first element was..."

Derpy blinked. "Is that it?" She turned to the next page, which didn't offer any further explanation. She then turned the book upside down, but this was even less helpful.

"What happened to the seventh element? This book only talked about six!" She reread the passage numerous times to be sure she hadn't missed anything. She hadn't. Bummed, she closed the book and chanced a glance outside. It was nearly dark, and there was only a small orange sliver of the sun barely staying above the horizon. The day was almost over. and she was still no closer to finding the seventh element. If anything, it seemed further away.

"Well! That didn't go over well, not well at all!"

Derpy jumped a couple feet into the air out of fright. She landed with a grumpy expression on her face. "Why'd you have to go and scare me like that?"

"I'm sorry, I just came to check on how your doing. So, am I right in saying you've gotten next to nowhere?"

Derpy nodded glumly in agreement. "That's right, Mr. Voice..."

"Oh don't be such a downer, I know you'll think of something! If you keep your head up I just know you'll be able to figure this out by the end of the day! You just need to use some of that ol' Derpy intuition which helped you find me!"

Derpy was captivated and moved by the voice's encouraging words. "Wow, you sound really sure of yourself, Mr. Voice."

Derpy trotted off in a random direction, trusting her intuition, as the voice had told her to. Her intuition led her to Ponyville.

When Derpy arrived at the far out outskirts of Ponyville, she was amazed. All around her were fields of flowing grass, leaves swaying slightly in the cool breeze, and lakes shining in the rising light of a full moon. This was the furthest from home she had ever been, at least on foot. She had only been out of Ponyville a few other times when she was tasked with bringing the birds back from the south. From that high up she couldn't really view anything on the ground up close and personal.

Enlivened by the joy of discovering the unknown, Derpy decided to not follow the path, and instead, cut across one of the fields toward the Everfree forest. She still had a few hours before it would be midnight and the day would be over. Luckily, she would be able to explore under the light of the full moon. She skipped through the field toward the forest and arrived within only a few minutes.

"At this speed," Derpy thought, "I'll be able to search for this element thingy. I might even find it tonight!"

Once she got to the Everfree forest, traversing the rough and overgrown terrain was another story. All the tree roots that stuck up made it easy for Deepy to trip on them at her speedy pace. She fell down a few times before finally deciding that a she should probably go at a slower, more cautious, trot.

At last, she broke through the trees and came out upon a cliff overlooking the leafy expanse of the forest. She was amazed with how far out the trees stretched into the distance. The endless forest pressed out toward the very edge of the fading blue horizon. She sat down and was mesmerized by the full moon's steady rising for what seemed like hours. 

As she stared, her eyelids drooped lower and lower over her eyes, until she awoke to a flash of light. She looked to her left and right, not sure where the flash came from. Then, she glanced up, where an even more amazing sight met her gaze. 

"Wow..." was all the astonished mare could barely utter.

There above her shown millions of stars in a multitude of colors. Her jaw dropped in awe as something else in the celestial body caught her eye. There, above her head, was the biggest and most beautiful meteor shower of the past thousand years. She was captivated by the blazing and falling stars long into the night.

It was now well past Derpy's bed time and this was the first time she had been outside so late. With all that she had witnessed in the sky this night, she knew it wouldn't be the last time, either.

Something seemed to stir within Derpy. She felt a oneness with everything around her. She smiled faintly and fell off into a deep, and very fitful, sleep, as the stars echoed her smile back to her.

<><><><><>

Derpy sat up, breathing heavy. It was a bright, warm spring day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds left to drift lazily through the sky.

Derpy let out a groan and fell onto the floor beside her bed. She sighed, "Whata weird dream..." When she attempted to stand she found herself entangled in her blankets.

"Glad to see ya up and at it early!" said a cheerful voice.

 If she hadn't been snared in her blankets, Derpy would have jumped at least ten feet into the air.

"Erm, well, actually up and at it before noon! Don't worry yourself, I know you'll have some sort of success today!" the voice said cheerfully.

"So it wasn't a dream?" Derpy struggled to unwrap herself from the blanket. "What day is it? Has Equestria been taken over by the evil?!"

Oh, no!" chuckled the voice. "Not yet anyways. I sent you back again to the first day I met you. So, today is the same day it was before you fell asleep last night under the stars. Now, you've missed half the day already, so you have a lot of catching up to do!"

Even though she didn't share in the voice's enthusiasm, Derpy knew that it was right; she needed to get going. Equestria was waiting for her. She finished up untangling herself after only a few minutes more and then she was out the door and on the hunt again.

She slowly made her way out of her house, all the while thinking up ways she could find the seventh element, that is, if it even existed. Her plans became more and more outlandish until she finally decided to go and ask around Ponyville for advice on the matter. She really didn't think she would find out anything useful, but it was better than nothing.

First, she went to the library, where she quickly took the book on elements hoping Twilight didn't need to use it any time soon. Next, her wanderings, or possibly her cravings for a muffin, led her to Sugarcube Corner where she saw Pinkie Pie through the window, hopping around humming a wild and happy tune. Derpy hadn't talked to Pinkie Pie very much, but on the few occasions she had, Pinkie seemed very random. The seventh element and the job thrust upon her by the voice were like just the kind of thing Pinkie Pie would know about.

Derpy opened the door to a slight tingling of bells. Quicker than Derpy could blink or even say hello, Pinkie Pie was right in front of her with a huge smile on her face. 

Pinkie Pie took a huge breath and then said, "Hiya Derpy! What have you been up to? I hope your ready for the party! There's going to be cake and icecream and dancing and more cake and smaller cakes and rainbow cakes and spotted cakes and-" Pinkie Pie took another deep breath and continued "-and magic cakes enchanted by Twilight that float around singing and-"

Derpy let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. While magical singing cakes did sound fun, she had more pressing matters to tend to. Pinkie stopped mid-sentence and grew serious. Cocking her head she said, "Are you all right Derpy? You look kind of tired. You also look serious, and your never serious when I've seen you. I hope you'll be able to bring the stuff I asked for for the party tonight. That tuba was going to come in handy and the birdcage was-"

Derpy put one of her hooves up over Pinkie's mouth, shushing her. Pinkie stared at Derpy, curious, and tried saying something.

"Mhumt mwish mwit?"

Derpy took the book about elements she "borrowed" from the library and opened it up to the page in question. "I was wondering if you knew anything about this here."

Pinkie Pie glanced down at the book, eyes going back and forth quickly as she read, "Long ago, the Elements of Harmony where created by the beloved princess Celestia to protect the lands of Equestria from a great evil. Whenever trouble arose, six ponies were chosen-"

She jumped back exclaiming, "Hey! I know what those are! My friends and I used them to take down Nightmare Moon! Now that pony was scary! You see, she all big and powerful and glowy..."

Derpy nodded her head.

"So if you already knew that, why'd you come to me? That's all I know about them. Actually, they were also pretty pretty. And shiny." Pinkies eyes lit up as a thought crosses the pink pony's mind, "Hey! You would probably have better luck talking to Twilight. She knows more than anypony about anypony and anything."

Derpy interrupted, "Actually, I was wondering if you knew anything about a seventh element."

Pinkie let out a gasp and Derpy moved her ears forward to hear what Pinkie Pie knew about the seventh element.

"I forgot I left some cakes in the oven! And I need to frost them for tonight!"

And with those very unhelpful words, Pinkie was off. Derpy followed her into the kitchen to see Pinkie madly scrambling around, taking cakes out of ovens at an astounding rate. Derpy decided that her friend needed some help preparing, so she set about frosting a small chocolate cake.

A little while later, Derpy topped off her cake with a small white spiral. She looked over and saw Pinkie Pie adding the finishing touches to a masterfully iced cake. Behind that cake stood eight others each frosted just as superbly as the next. Pinkie hopped over and then looked at Derpy's cake.

"What a pretty cake! You should have gotten a cutie mark for cake decorating!" Then she glanced at Derpy's cutie mark and said, "What is your cutie mark anyway? It kinda looks like raindrops, or tears. Are you a sad, Derpy?" And then, before Derpy could respond, she continued, "Cause if you are I could throw you a fell better party!"

Derpy shook her head and looked at her flank for a while. She then shrugged, "Im not really sure what it is. I got it a while ago and i don't remember what happened. It must have been when I was really young."  She turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie, who was still admiring Derpy's cake, and, possibly considering eating it.

"So, Pinkie, I was wondering what you know about the seventh element."

Another gasp left Derpy wondering what other something Pinkie must have left somewhere in an oven. Instead, Derpy got an actual answer to her question. " The seventh element! Now why would anypony want that? It disappeared centuries ago! Here's how it happened..."

Quickly, Derpy plopped down in front of Pinkie Pie to hear what exciting story she would tell. For some reason unknown to anypony, Pinkie Pie had the urge to sing about it instead of doing what normal ponies do: talk. Her song went something like this to the wonderous tune of "Oh Susana."

"Well a long long long long time ago, Equestria was at peace. Till a mean mean mean mean dragon came, by the name of Drake the Flame. He was big big big and giant and angry as a rock, then he ate the elements of harmony 'cause he thought they were bierocks. Celestia in a great panic got a very bright idea, she found a way to bring then back, so everyone could cheer. She found a brand new element, the exact one which you seek, and used it's power to unify the elements deceased. With their strong strong strong strong strong might, the poor dragon Drake lost his flame and evil bite! With the elements back and everything well, the seventh one faded away away away away far from Equestria, so they tell."

Pinkie Pie breathed in deep breath, " And that's the story of how I got my cutie mark!"

Pinkie Pie went back to party decorating leaving Derpy to sift through and piece together the song she had just heard. Derpy stared off into the distance, impressed, confused, and a bit more than a bit confused. The main idea of the song seemed to be that the seventh element somehow brought back to other six elements from they're uncomfortable place in a dragon's belly.

Derpy was glad that, at last, she had made some significant progress. She now positively and without a doubt sure that the element was real. She bought a muffin, thanked Pinkie, and trotted out into the streets of Ponyville.

<><><><><>

Derpy was becoming annoyed. Her realization that the seventh element was in fact real had spurred her on to keep searching. But, after a few more hours of doing so, she still hadn't found anything useful. Thus, Derpy was annoyed. She decided to head back her house and try again tomorrow. Or would it be today? Either way, Derpy was tired and just wanted to sleep.

When she was warm and snuggled deep in her covers, a new idea came to her. Tomorrow she would go and talk to Princess Celestia herself! Surely she would have some knowledge of what happened to the seventh element after it's disappearance. With a smile on her face, Derpy drifted of knowing tomorrow would be a great day.

Derpy awoke in her bed. It was a bright and warm day. The weather ponies really had done a great job on the weather. The skies were clear except for a few smaller clouds left to drift lazily through the sky.

Derpy got out of bed and stretched, all the while humming a merry tune. Today she was going to see the Princess. Today she was going to find the seventh element. Today she was going to save Equestria!

She trotted over to her closet to pick out a dress that would be appropriate for a visit to the royal castle. With a frown, she realized that all her dresses weren't fit for even one of Pinkie's parties, much less for Canterlot. Some where moth-eaten while others went out of shoe years ago. She needed something new with flair and grandeur. Something that Rarity could and would make for her.

She quickly left her house and flew off towards the Carousel Boutique. Once she arrived, she slid to a halt and knocked.

Derpy could hear a voice, slightly muffled, say, "Come in!"

Derpy opened the door and was surprised to find Rarity was nowhere in sight. In the middle of the room was a pile of clothes and fabrics reaching to the top of the ceiling.

From inside the pile, Derpy heard a voice say, " Well, who is it and what do you want? I'm slightly busy now so if it's a dress you seek, I wont be able to make one today. I have to get all these dresses sown,packaged up, and shipped off to Seasonvale by tomorrow. They're for a big musical showing there, you see."

Derpy slightly crestfallen, went over to the pile and pulled away the clothes. Underneath, she saw Rarity, feverishly working on the hem of a blue and white dress. 

Rarity looked up and said, "Oh, it's you Derpy Hooves! Its been ages since I saw you last in here! Just recently I finished a dress that I thought would look absolutely gorgeous on you!" She put a hoof to her chin and continued, "Hm... Now where did I put it? Over by the door? No, no, not there... Hm..." Then she exclaimed, "Oh, that's right! I put it over on the chair by the window. I was just admiring how the jewels flashed in the sunlight! I really do think it would look just amazing on you; why don't you try it on?"

Spurred on by Rarity's request, Derpy did as she suggested. The dress was a plain-looking light-yellow dress. The Derpy saw the rows of yellow diamonds encircling the neck and hooves. A few short minutes later, she had the dress on. Derpy trotted over to the mirror, head held high. When she looked in the mirror, she knew the dress was made for her.

Rarity, who had just somehow managed to extracted herself from the cavernous pile of clothes, agreed, "Oh wasn't I right! That dress just fits you perfectly! Here, since I'm so busy and you where such a polite customer, you can have it for free. Just make sure you stop in now and again so you can try on some more dress ideas I have. You would really do well as a model, you know." she commented in a matter-of-fact voice.

Derpy thanked her for the dress and pranced out of Rarity's feeling at least twenty percent more regal than she had before. Now, onto Canterlot and a meeting with the Princess!