It was probably the winter mornings that Derpy Hooves loved the most.

True, it was freezing, but just the pure natural beauty made up for that. Words couldn't describe the unbridled joy she felt from a simple stroll through Ponyville park on an icy winter morning. She would listen with pleasure as the frost-coated grass gave away beneath her hooves with a satisfying 'crunch' every time she took a step and watched in awe as the sun slowly rose over the distant Cloudsdale mountains, sending rays of purest light cascading across the surrounding valleys, illuminating each individual speck of snow and making them all glitter like thousands of minuscule diamonds.

Despite the fact that she had lived in both Ponyville and Cloudsdale over her life, she had actually been born in Neighbury, a small, old-fashioned village on the outskirts of Trottingham. Derpy and her family hadn't lived there very long due to the fact that her father found a better job as a weather monitor in Cloudsdale, but she could remember those days she spent lazily playing in the picturesque fields as the happiest of her life. Ponies like her old school friend Rainbow Dash would claim that these memories were soppy and soft, but that was just Dash for you.

"Oh crap!" she suddenly thought "I'm late for Applejack's send-off for the rodeo!" with one last admiring look at the stunning view spread out before her, she turned to leave. "I hope I don't mess everything up again."
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Throughout the day it had slowly grown warmer, until eventually it seemed as if it was the middle of spring rather than early winter. Rainbow Dash and Derpy had decided to make the most of the sudden change in weather and were both sitting at one of the tables outside Sugarcube Corner watching the world pass on by.

"So Dash, do you think Applejack's gonna do well in the rodeo?"

"Well duh, of course she's going to win, she's Applejack! If there's anypony in Equestria who's more of a raw, apple-bucking cowgirl then I'll eat my wings!"

"I guess you're right there. Hey, didn't you two date a few years back?"

Rainbow Dash suddenly became very tense and flustered "It was only a weird college experience! It meant nothing! I'm straight! I'm straight!"

Derpy laughed, she could never get enough of messing with the speedster's head "I know that Dash, you just act so hilarious when I bring that up!" A a hostile yet somehow slightly friendly scowl was all that she received in response.

"Well are you coming to her surprise party?" Dash asked, trying to clear away the tension.

"Nah, I have a class then."

Dash raised an eyebrow "What are those classes that you go to anyway?"

"Oh it's just classes to help my concentration and brainpower. I hate the damn things but I've had to go ever since I was a kid because of my... condition."

"Well I don't think you need those classes. You might not be quite on the same level as other ponies, but in my opinion you're just as smart as other ponies, you just can't show it very well."

"Wow Dash... that really means a lot to me."

"Hey, no problem! Sorry, but I gotta go, urgent weather duty calls. See ya later Derps!"

"Bye Dash!" Derpy watched as one of her closest friends flew off into the clouds and smiled, it was ponies like Dash that really made her feel good about herself, she was lucky.

Throughout her entire life, Derpy had never been alienated for being slightly different. When she first arrived in Ponyville after completing school in Cloudsdale, she'd obviously been treated quite patronizingly, all the mares in town had tried to befriend her because they saw her as a charity case. But after a while the entire town had come to recognize her for not being nearly as incompetent as they had previously thought. Within a couple of weeks Derpy managed to build up a very high amount of adoration from her fellows for her optimism and just general good attitude towards life. She was pretty much considered the town's official mascot by now.

"Derpy! Can you come here please, we need to have a talk!"

Derpy turned in her seat to see Mayor Mare waving at her from across the town square. She buried her face in her hooves "Crap. Is she still pissed at me?" she trotted reluctantly over to where the mayor was waiting and bowed her head "Are you still mad at me for messing up Applejack's send-off?"

Mayor Mare chuckled warmly in reply "Oh don't worry, you're not in any kind of trouble, everypony makes mistakes. I was just wondering if you were available for a special event that's happening next week, preferably Wednesday?"

"Yeah I'm free on Wednesday, but for what?"

"Ponyville Elementary is having it's annual 'Ponyville History Day'. Basically what happens is that they have different citizens who are related to ponies that played an important part in Ponyville history, and they talk about them, give an interesting presentation. And I believe that you're related to Admiral Hooves, the soldier who saved Ponyville in the Great Equestrian War? Isn't that partly why you moved here?"

"Yeah," Derpy smiled with pride "my great-grandfather was a real hero!"

"That's exactly why Cheerilee has requested you."

"So... what do I have to do for this 'Ponyville History Day'?"

"Just do some research on your great-grandfather, then find a way to present it interestingly, the aim of this event is to get the local foals more excited about history."

"I'm pretty sure I can do that."

"Great! It's at 1pm on Wednesday. I'll be attending as well, so I hope to see you there!"

"Don't worry Miss Mayor, I'll make sure to work hard!"

"There's a good girl."
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I know that this is a tragedy/dark story and not much has happened yet, but shit's probably going to get real by the second or third chapter

Derpy lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead, but she just couldn't get comfortable. She had lain on her stomach, her side and her back; none had helped. The sudden burst of warm weather was gone and there was a stron winter chill that had managed to seep through her walls and cause her to shiver like a newborn puppy, she had so far lost all feeling in her hooves. She could hear the distant hooting of owls drifting from the Everfree Forest. As Derpy watched shadows drift and dance across her bedroom, memories came flooding back.

"Keep still my little muffin! You're getting your bows in a tangle!"

"Mom! Don't call me muffin, it's embarrassing! And these bows make me look like a little filly."

"But you love muffins! Plus you seem to be forgetting the fact that you are a little filly"

"Yeah, but I mean a really little filly. Like a baby or something!"

Derpy sat at the kitchen table of her family's home in Neighbury squirming uncomfortably whilst her mother tried to dot her mane and tail with as many ribbons and bows as was physically possible. It was the first day of school, an event that she had been dreading for months. For the past two years she had been home-schooled, but now it was time to (as her father often said), become a mature young mare and face the real world.

"Mom?" Derpy asked nervously.

"What is it?"

Her ears drooped "I'm scared."

"What could you possibly be scared of?"

"Well what if they laugh at me? What if they pick on me because I'm different? What if-"

Her rant was cut off by a warm embrace from her mother "Oh muffin, they won't pick on you! Do you really think that me and your father would send you to a school full of bullies? I'm sure that you'll have a wonderful time and make lots of friends! Now I think I'm done with your mane, go have a look in the mirror and tell me what you think."

Sickeningly cute was the only phrase that she could come up with. Her mane and tail were both dotted all over with bows. Her strange eyes and stubby wings further assisted the image of heart-attack-inducing cuteness.

"You're so adorable!" her mother squealed in delight "That school better have a steady supply of Insulin!"

"Mom! Embarrassing!"

"Sorry muffin."
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Derpy wandered uncertainly through the schoolyard. Most of the foals around her were lazily chatting and fooling around in the summer sun, waiting for school to begin, but she could still feel several pairs of eyes following her progress. It wasn't surprising though, she was the new girl, and everypony had the right to stare at the new girl.

The bell rang and things suddenly became a flurry of activity. She was pushed and shoved out of the way as hoards of foals began to stream into the school building. Deciding to blend in with the crowd, she followed a large clique of fillies her age that were heading for a small doorway that lead to classroom 7J. With a strong sense of foreboding, she entered the classroom.

All of the other pupils were already sat at their desks when Derpy entered, so they immediately stared at her the moment she was in view; the teacher smiled widely.

"Oh, you must be miss Hooves!" she turned to face her students "Class, this is Derpy Hooves. She's been home-schooled for the pat few years and this is her first time in a real school, so I want you all to be nice to her!" near the back of the classroom a chubby colt raised his hoof.

"What is it?" the teacher inquired.

"What's wrong with her eyes? They're all weird."

"I think it will be best for Derpy to answer that question."

"Well..." Derpy murmured nervously as the foals began to stare at her with even more fascination "ever since I was a baby, I've had this weird thing with my brain that means I can't do things like maths as well as other ponies. It affects my eyes as well, but I'm not really sure how that works, my mom says that it's very complicated an I'll probably understand it better when I get older."

"Very interesting, now will you please find a seat and we can get this lesson started!"

She located an old, graffitied desk inbetween a brown Pegasus filly with a flowing amber mane and the colt who had asked about her eyes earlier. Neither seemed very interested in her and had their attention focused on the sums the teacher was writing on the blackboard. "Okay," she thought to herself "so far so good, things are going fine so far, just try to not draw any attention to yourself."

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Derpy sat on a small bench in the far-off corner of the schoolyard taking deep breaths and forcing herself not to cry. Her mane was a mess, her bows were askew and her coat was dripping with mud. A few minutes earlier the chubby colt and several of his friends had approached her. They called her 'retarded' and 'freak', said that her bows made her look like an ugly old doll then shoved her into a mud puddle. She could still hear them laughing.

"Are you okay Derpy?"

Confused, she turned to face a large group of fillies who had ventured over from the jungle gym to her secluded corner. One of them was the redheaded Pegasus who sat next to her, but she didn't recognise the others.

"I'm okay I guess."

"Please don't pay any attention to those dumb bullies, they're just a bunch of jerks. I like your bows, they make you look really pretty."

"Oh... thanks."

"Do you want to come and play with us? You survive best here if you have a group of friends."

"Uhhh... okay!"

"Great! We're playing tag, do you want to be 'it'?"

"Yeah!"
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The moon was high in the sky and it was way past midnight and Derpy had given up any hope of getting to sleep and was sitting on the edge of her bed flipping through several old photo albums. The very last page showed a faded image of her college graduation ceremony. In the photo she had Cinder Spark (the redheaded Pegasus filly from her school in Neighbury) trapped in a grapple hug, both of them waving diplomas triumphantly in the air. She smiled warmly and slid the album back into it's place on the shelf. She needed to get to sleep, there was much research to do tomorrow.
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I've found a picture that basically shows my version of filly Derpy (just envision it with more bows.)

Author's note: Arsenio is a Greek name, it means 'masculine'.
Calanthia is a Greek name, it means 'beautiful flower'.
Danica is a Slavic name which means 'morning star'.
Leon is a Greek name which means 'brave as a lion'.
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"Wow Derpy, you're certainly here early!" Twilight said happily, not seeming at all deterred by the fact that she had just been woken up at 5am in the morning.

"I'm pretty surprised too," Derpy replied "but I have a whole ton of research to do!"

"On what?"

"Well Ponyville Elementary's having it's annual history day, and Mayor Mare asked me if I could give a presentation on my great-grandfather who was a soldier who saved Ponyville during Great War Of Equestria. I barely know anything about him apart from that, so I have a ton of work to do."

Twilight's eyes lit up with excitement "Wait a minute... you're related to Arsenio Hooves?"

"Yep!"

"THE Arsenio Hooves?"

"Well I was last time I checked."

"This is amazing!" Twilight squealed. She grabbed Derpy firmly by the hoof and dragged her into the library "I can't believe that I have Arsenio Hooves' great-grandaughter right here in my library! The moment I settled into life here I started researching everything about Ponyville, and Arsenio sounded fascinating! I'm definitely coming to that history day. I do already know everything there is to know about that brave soldier, but I'm looking forward to how you're presenting your information! Help yourself to as many books as you like and if you want anything to eat or drink just ask Spike, you need plenty of energy for this all this research!"

Twilight said all of this very fast and Derpy's brain was practically spinning by the time the hyped up librarian had shoved her down into a seat at a quiet desk hidden away at the back of the library and showered her with every single book on Ponyville history in the entire library. She sat for a while, letting her brain recover from the rabid nerd attack that she had just received, then opened one of the many books that had been lain out in front of her and began to read.

Of all the wars that have raged across our fair land, the Great War was probably one of the worst. It left thousands of soldiers dead and hundreds of others injured. It took many decades for the Equestrian citizens to truly recover, and even now, haunting reminders of the many terrible battles still remain.

Before the Great War, Equestria had been in a state of peace and harmony for many, many years; but hidden beneath the Utopian atmosphere, tensions were rising. The creatures of the Everfree forest were becoming restless and angry. They believed that the ponies and other Equestrian citizens were becoming far too powerful and superior. The forest-dwellers had to fight to stay alive and hunt if they wanted to eat, but the ponyfolk had the advantage of modern inventions like shops, real houses and endless supplies of food. Eventually, then tension reached a breaking point and a group of violent forest spirits attacked and destroyed a defenceless village that was situated next to the Everfree.

Princess Celestia, who was at the time still recovering from having to banish her sister to the moon, reacted to the attack immediately. Not wishing to start a war, she sent two ambassadors into the Everfree to try and convince the monsters and spirits to make peace with Equestria. They were both killed on the spot. Reluctantly, Celestia retaliated by sending her army into the forest where they destroyed the evil spirits, but all this succeeded in doing was angering the Everfree creatures even further.

And so the Great War of Equestria began. There were thousands of losses on both sides, many Equestrian cities an towns were ravaged by the fierce battles that were fought, and at the same time, much of the Everfree had been burnt down. For a long period of time there seemed to be no clear winner and many feared that the war would last for much longer and eventually ruin the entire country. But everything changed when one brave warrior arose during the most violent battle in Equestrian history.

The battle for Ponville was by far the worst battle ever recorded in Equestrian history. Thousands were killed on both sides and hundreds of others were gravely wounded. Despite the fact that Ponyville has never been considered as important as other Equestrian towns and cities, the result of the fight would still greatly effect the outcome of the war. During the battle, it seemed as if the forest-dwellers would be victorious and many Equestrians lost hope, but then a new soldier who had remained unnoticed throughout the entire fight stepped in. His name was Arsenio Hooves. He exhibited skills and extreme bravery that had never been seen before. The forest spirits didn't know what had hit them. Arsenio fought bravely and his success gave his fellow soldiers the courage to fight once again. Eventually, the spirits were defeated and the Equestrians were victorious.

One month later, the forest-dwellers surrendered and peace was once again restored to our fair land. Arsenio was celebrated as the stallion who ended the war and became a national hero. He married the beautiful Pegasus Calanthia and she gave birth to two healthy foals, Leon and Danica. There is a war memorial that bears his name in Ponyville that has been there for over 70 years.

Derpy turned the page to find a detailed family tree of the Hooves family. Arsenio and Calanthia were in the middle and she could see her name at the bottom. But what really caught her attention was the picture of Danica, her grandmother. She looked very normal aside from the fact that her eyes were facing off in different directions.

She grinned "So that's where I got my disability from!" she exclaimed. Derpy lifted herself from the desk and ran up to Twilight who was sorting through her collection of encyclopedias.

"Hey Twilight, do you have anything about Danica Hooves?"

"You mean Arsenio's daughter?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Well I found this in the attic when I first arrived here from Canterlot, but I've never read it. Maybe you'll find it of interest." she handed Derpy a faded old notebook that was obviously over twenty years old and covered in scratches and stains.

"Thanks Twilight!" she trotted back over to her desk, set the notebook down and read the title.

Danica's diary
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(Sorry if my version of Equestrian history ruined your headcanon.)

Okay, one thing I want to say is thanks a ton for all the upvotes and favorites, this has been my most popular story so far. But I'm here to talk about something more serious.
This fic has gotten some negative comments and downvotes just because in the first chapter, Derpy says that Rainbow Dash and Applejack used to date in college. I've had quite a few complaints over that one teeny-tiny piece of shipping, and my only reaction is:

There are literally thousands of ship-fics out there that you could get mad about, but you instead choose my story which only contains ONE. FUCKING. REFERENCE. I mean seriously? There's going to be no more shipping throughout the entire story and all I did was slip in one reference, I don't even like AppleDash that much, I just wanted to see what the reaction was.

If you don't like shipping, then don't rant on about how my entire fanfic was ruined by the one sneaky reference and just ignore it!

As for all the people who have reviewed this positively, I only have one thing to say to you guys:

Derpy approves.

I'm not completely sure what I'm supposed to write in here. Dad says that it'll help my stress levels, but I don't see how writing down what happens to me is going to help with that. I love dad, he's the greatest father ever and always does what's best for me. He sometimes even sneaks me out of town at night and we both go to the old army training ground and he shows me how to fight. I keep trying to tell him that he'll be in big trouble if anyone finds out because, in Equestria, mares aren't allowed to become soldiers or anything like that. Mom always say that we have to learn to act like proper ladies, get a husband, have foals and look pretty (I never know if she's being sarcastic or not.)

Derpy tutted "What a male-dominated culture!"

Leon is the only other pony who knows anything about what dad secretly teaches me at night, and he obviously isn't happy about it. He says that it's useless to show a girl how to fight because she'll never have to use those skills and dad should be taking time to teach him those things instead of me. The problem with that is the fact that Leon already goes to army training camp so he already knows everything about senseless violence.

School ended for the summer yesterday, but it doesn't feel like a holiday. Equestria's still recovering from the war and there are campaigns and posters urging everypony to chip in and help restore the land to its former glory. So for the next few weeks almost every single resident of this goddamn town is going to be slaving away at repairing buildings, growing a ton of food and just generally working ourselves into a stupor. I don't really mind though, I'll do anything just to get away from that hellhole of a school I'm forced to go to. Girls and boys got to separate schools these days. I go to a school which is basically one big home economics class with a bunch of other mares whilst Leon attends this weird army place where he's taught maths, how to defend himself and fight, subjects that are important.

I hate the every single mare in my class. They've been brainwashed by the anti-feminist traditions that were formed after the war and all they care about is their looks and nabbing a rich husband, I sometimes feel like the only one who has any brainpower left (aside from dad.) They won't even let mares help out with any form of physical work, we're kept at home all day to wash, clean and cook, it's a fucking nightmare.

Nobody here gives a buck about me. It's not because I'm female, it's because of my mental disability. Dad loves me no matter what, Leon's okay but he can be a bit nasty at times, mom tries to act like she cares, but she treats me like a filly and I can tell that she's disappointed in me. I'm segregated from the rest of the class... kind of. I'm not properly rejected, but whenever there's a group project or something like that I'm left on my own, even the teacher doesn't seem to like me.

Dad says that we're going to Ponyville next week to see the grand unveiling of his statue to celebrate his victory in the Great War, so at least I'll get a chance to escape for a while. There's only one problem; I'll probably have to spend the entire time we're there meeting important ponies, not saying anything, looking cute and being treated like an incompetent foal. It's kind of a mixed bag.

So... I guess that's everything for today, so... bye I guess. The last thing I have to say is that I'm crap at endings.

"You're definitely enjoying your book I see!"

Derpy nearly hit the ceiling when the long period of silence that she had been engulfed in was suddenly loudly interrupted by a grinning Twilight.

"What?.... Oh yeah, I'm really enjoying it!"

"Great! So many ponies these days take the fact that they're mentally disabled as an excuse never to read."

"Yeah, that's terrible. Hey, can I borrow this?" she asked gesturing to the notebook.

"Sure! Usually I don't let anypony borrow something if it isn't a real book, but as long as it's for research I'm perfectly fine with it."

"Thanks Twilight! Do you know what time it is?"

"Uhhh... I think it's around 7am, why do you want to know?"

"I'm gonna go ask Dash if I can rehearse my history day presentation to her."

"Good luck with that, you know she hates anything educational."

"Doesn't she like Daring Do?"

"Yeah well books about a fictional Pegasus fighting fictional monsters in fictional locations aren't exactly educational."

"I guess so, but I'm still going to try. I'd better be going, bye Twilight."

"Bye Derpy!"

Navigating her way through Spike, a large group of teenage mares who were giggling over a dirty romance novel and Twilight's legendary 'Leaning Tower of Learning' (which was just the name she had given to a large pile of almost impossibly boring books that nopony wanted to read) and left, with Danica's diary clenched firmly in her mouth.

Derpy wasn't sure why she was so obsessed with the diary. Maybe it was because she was fascinated with learning about a time that was completely different to her own, maybe she just liked Danica, but either way, she was only concerned about reading the notebook once again.

"Wait," she thought "is it a bit weird that I'm a full grown mare with not much of a social life who's become enthralled with the diary of a young, mentally disabled filly?... nah."
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Author's note: At first I was only planning for this to be a few chapters long, but I've come up with a completely different plotline, so this is going to get a lot longer. Enjoy!

Warning: There's going to be quite a lot of violence in the later chapters, so if you don't like violent situations I suggest that you stop reading.