Derpy woke up the next morning, on her humble, small-sized bed. She'd usually get up at 8 o' clock, but the formality of Princess Celestia's welcome party was enough to get her out of bed two hours earlier. Derpy wondered why she didn't get any blankets when she got to sleep yesterday night. It was a pretty cold night, after all. One does not simply go to bed on a cold night without any blankets. She then realized she was still wearing the dress she got from Rarity.

  "Neat!", commented Derpy. "It's pretty and comfy at the same time!"

  Derpy jumped out of her house, pulling a few badly-planned stunts in the turquoise sky.

  "Wake up, everybody! It's a beautiful Summer day!", yelled Derpy, with joy in her voice.

  "We're in the middle of Winter.", said Pinkie Pie, who was taking a nice walk around town. "Oh, I forgot to say hi. Hi, Derpy!"

  "Hey, Pinkie. Rarity made the perfect dress for me! Do you like it?"

  "It looks perfect on you!... or maybe it's the other way around, I don't know... but you still look perfect in it!"

  "Hee-hee, thanks... hey, I forgot to ask you--"

  "When's the welcome party?"

  "Yeah."

  "We still got five hours... why did you wake up so early anyway?"

  "Heheh... I'm usually not invited to such a formal event like Princess Celestia's welcoming party. I'm starting to feel so important, now that I'm finally being recognized as a true citizen of Ponyville!"

  "... you know, I'm the one who took care of the whole party. It was me who decided to invite you."

  "Really?... thank you so much. I'm glad to see that somepony likes me for who I am. I can't say I'm the brightest crayon in the box."

  "No problem at all! In fact, that's exactly why I think you're so funny and... likeable."

  "Heh... so what do we do now?"

  "I know! We could be the very very very first ones to arrive at the party! Then we can greet every single pony that arrives after us!"

  "Nice idea."

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  Pinkie unlocked the door, and skipped into the building while Derpy slowly walked in, with awe-filled reverence toward the wonderful decorations that infested the place.

  "You really put a lot of work into this...", commented Derpy, admiring the table tops and subtle yet attractive banners around the main one.

  "Yeah... Rarity and Twilight helped me out.", said Pinkie Pie, looking at her work results with a proud smile.

  "Nice."

  Pinkie remained silent for what felt like five minutes, admiring her and her friends' beautiful works. She then snapped out of it, and she turned to her side to see Derpy standing completely still. Her confused eyes were wider than usual. All of that along with the cutest smile, with the innocence of a small little foal.

  "... you know...", said Pinkie, trying to break the silence, but still with a quiet tone. "... we don't usually go for this level of perfect and beautiful. However, this isn't just anypony's party. This is Princess Celestia's party. We know how special she is, especially Twilight. I bet she's going to be proud of us."

  Derpy decided to just move her head up and down, as if agreeing to what Pinkie said.

  "Hello?", said a young boy's voice. "Anypony home?"

  "Oop!", said Pinkie Pie, snapping back to her party self. "Hello, Spike! Hello, Twilight!"

  "What are you doing here so early?", asked Twilight, coming in along with Spike.

  "Derpy got out of bed too early, so we decided to be the very very very first ones to arrive!"

  "... she seems to be in some kind of trance.", said Spike. Derpy was still sitting in place, with the same expression as before. Same wide eyes, same innocent smile.

  "That's really common along the ones with her syndrome.", said Twilight. "I'll need a bucket of water."

  "One bucket of water incoming!", said Spike, before getting his way blocked by Pinkie Pie's hoof.

  "Gee, guys, no need to use extreme methods.", said Pinkie, shaking Derpy's shoulder for a few seconds.

  "Huh?", said Derpy, snapping back into reality. "Oh... oh, hey, Twilight. How are you?"

  "Good.", said Twilight. "Try not to go into those trances too often. It really creeps ponies out."

  "Oop!", said Pinkie at the sight of new guests. "Hello, Applejack, Rarity!"

  "Howdy.", said Applejack.

  "Hello.", said Rarity. "It seems you're enjoying your new dress, Derpy."

  "Oh yeah.", said Derpy, nodding joyfully. "It's really pretty, and comfy as well!"

  "Glad I could help."

  "What time is it again?", asked Spike.

  "Would you look at that?", said Pinkie Pie, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. "It's almost time for the party to start!"

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  "Twilight, this party is quite delightful, as last year's.", said Princess Celestia, as she drank another cup of tea. "However, I'm spotting a rather cheerful character that you didn't introduce me to yet."

  "Oh, you mean Derpy Hooves?", said Twilight. "Yeah, I don't think you've seen her before."

  Derpy was playing with a dustball on the corner, like a small child.

  "She looks rather... different... unusual, I'd say."

  "Well, she does have a mental problem which seems to affect her intelligence."

  "I see... she seems really happy, though."

  "Princess Celestia!", said the Mayor, coming to the Princess's other side. "I just want to say, I'm thrilled by your visit here!"

  "No problem. It seems to me that things are going really well too. Congratulations on that."

  "It's not easy, I'll tell you..."

  While they talked, Derpy was still busy playing with that dustball. She eventually bumped into Pinkie Pie, who wasn't doing anything too relevant, either.

  "Oh, hey, Derpy.", said Pinkie Pie. "Great party, isn't it?"

  "Yeah?", said Derpy, still playing with her dustball. "I didn't notice much of it."

  "Twilight is afraid that you might cause some nasty trouble, but look at you. You wouldn't hurt a single fly, would you?"

  "I guess not."

  "Hey! Let's play a game of dustball!"

  "Cool! Okay, let's see... what are the rules?"

  "We'll make up the rules as we play. It's kinda like Calvinball."

  "Okay."

  Derpy and Pinkie started playing with the dustball, running around the building like two little kids. It was a really cute sight, actually.

  "While not that intelligent...", said Princess Celestia. "... she still seems to be highly sociable."

  "Well, it's Pinkie Pie.", said Twilight. "She wants to be friends with everypony."

  "Yes, but I can still see something beyond her crossed eyes. She looks like a nice friend to have... what does she do for a living?"

  "She's had a lot of jobs, actually. Her longest one was mail delivery."

  "Interesting... does she face a lot of prejudice? One with a syndrome like that usually faces a lot of it."

  "Sometimes... not a big deal."

  "It's always a big deal."

  "Heh, well, you know what I mean."

  "This is fun!", said Derpy, as she played with the dustball, along with Pinkie Pie.

  "Derpy, you should watch your step.", said Pinkie Pie. "There's not too much space in the place we're in now."

  Derpy didn't hear her. They just kept playing with the dustball... until Derpy bumped into something. She had bumped into it with a rather significant force. That something felt wooden-like, and was imagined to be just part of the decoration. Derpy tried to focus her sight on it, before Pinkie Pie jumped at her, bringing her to the floor. Next thing they knew, there was a loud noise, and dust could be seen everywhere.

  "... what was that?", asked Derpy, before the dust had settled down to reveal the scene of a complete disaster. A few wooden columns were brought down, and everypony looked scared as heck.

  "Nopony's hurt!", warned Fluttershy after a few seconds of silence.

  "Good.", said the Mayor, looking frustrated. "Now, who's responsible for this atrocity?"

  Derpy, oblivious as usual, raised her hoof in shame.

  "I see.", said the Mayor. "Ditzy Doo, I sentence you to one week in house arrest!"

  "Okay...", whispered Derpy in a shameful tone.

  "It's not that bad.", whispered Pinkie Pie, in kind of a sadder tone.

  "Well, now.", said Princess Celestia, after thinking about the situation. "I'm afraid this will have to be done."

  "What are you talking about?", said Twilight.

  "Ditzy Doo, I am going to have to banish you from the fair city of Ponyville."

  This shocked a few ponies, especially the Mane 6 and Derpy herself. The other ones were looking kind of frustrated, or even angry at the gray-coated mare.

  "WHAT?!", exclaimed Derpy. "But... but... but why?!"

  "Princess Celestia...", said Twilight.

  "I know what I'm doing, Twilight.", said the Princess. "This has to be done, for the safety of the population."

  Derpy was slowly tearing up, before she flew away as fast as she could, crying her child's heart out.

  "No!", exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "Don't listen to her! Come back!"

  "See?", said Rarity. "That's why we shouldn't have invited her. Something like this was bound to happen."

  "Princess, why would you do that?", asked Twilight in awe.

  "Trust me, Twilight.", said the Princess. "You will see where I'm going with this." Next Chapter: Movin' Out Estimated time remaining: 38 Minutes