It was a beautiful morning. Twilight was taking a casual walk around town, while the sky was light blue and the birds were singing like usual. Something felt different, though. It felt like something was missing in that whole scenario. Something that made the whole scenery a tad more pleasant to look at. "Oh well.", she thought.

  "Hey there, Twilight.", said Pinkie Pie, coming out of nowhere... but still in a sad tone. "Something missing here, huh?"

  "Where did you come from?", asked Twilight, before realizing that her friend needed help. "... what's wrong?"

  "Nothing that I can't handle... by myself."

  "Come on, that's not the Pinkie Pie I know. Maybe I can help you."

  "... you know how every morning, the sky would turn light blue, the birds would sing their song, and a certain blonde pegasus would fly around like a young child? AHEM... that is, before Celestia kicked her out, of course."

  "... Pinkie, do I smell some miss-you blues around here?"

  "More like greys... but yeah."

  "Pinkie, I want you to know that I'm feeling the same thing as you. We all are... not as much as you, but still. I don't know why Princess Celestia would do such a cruel thing to such an innocent pony like Derpy Hooves."

  "Yeah... it sucks, really."

  Pinkie kicked a nearby rock on the ground, demonstrating unhappiness.

  "Pinkie, I'm rather impressed by how much you support Derpy.", said Twilight, with an analyzing look. "Sure, you're friends with everypony and all... but you seem to be much closer to her than the others. Almost to the point of... loving her."

  "Haha, nay. It's just a really strong friendship, that's all."

  "What do you like about her? Just curious."

  "Oh, you know... she's always smiling, she's funny, wise, childish, creative, talented, and so beautiful--"

  "Gotcha."

  "Haha, darn it... okay, I may like her a little more than usual... but that's it."

  "I talked about it with Rainbow Dash before, and she had the same answer. Come on, don't be shy."

  "... fine. You're right. But let's not talk about that right now."

  "You know... I think we should try to get her back, since we all miss her that much."

  "Yeah, but how are we going to do that?"

  "Isn't it obvious? We'll go after her, tell her we miss her and she gets back."

  "What about Princess Celestia? She'll be really mad at you, and maybe she'll punish you good."

  "We'll just prove her wrong. I don't want to do this, but I demand a good reason for her to do such cruelty."

  "Twilight, are you saying you're going to break Celestia's rule and then fight her wits, just so we can be happy again?"

  "In a word... yes."

  Pinkie Pie hugged Twilight with all of her pride.

  "Thank you!", exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

  "Just one will do just fine.", joked Twilight.

  "Do I hear that you're bringing Derpy back?", asked Rarity, who was conveniently walking by.

  "Yeah!", said Pinkie Pie.

  "May I come along? I feel sorry for what happened at the party, and I feel like that blue dress I made for her symbolizes our friendship."

  "You can come along.", said Twilight. "Now, Pinkie, where did Derpy go?"

  "When I last saw her, she went on that road over there."

  "The road to Canterlot?", asked Rarity. "What is she going to do there?"

  "After what happened two days ago...", said Twilight. "... she'd figure that every single town that isn't Ponyville would be a better place."

  "Let's save Derpy!", said Pinkie Pie. "On to Canterlot!"

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  "Wake up.", said a familiar voice to Derpy, who had fallen asleep on a different park bench.

  "Huh...", mumbled Derpy. "... wha... what? Where am I?"

  The voice turned out to come from Petherick himself. The sun was already up in the sky an hour ago.

  "You just fell asleep ten minutes after our conversation!", said Pete, while laughing innocently, like an old guy. "Weren't you going to Canterlot or some similar place?"

  "Oh. Right! I'm off to Canterlot!"

  "Heheheh... good luck!"

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  Another hour later, Derpy arrived at Canterlot, having never been so tired before. There was a sign at the city gates that said "Welcome to Canterlot. Population: 27,000."

  As she wandered along the confusing pathing, she could spot a few sneaky-lookers here and there. She then sighed, reminding herself that she looked way different than the others.

  After a few information requests here and there, Derpy sat on another park bench, trying to figure out where to start things up. She sure wasn't used to moving out to a whole new town like that. At least she could get back to the start, to try and not bring chaos to some formal event again. Of course, that would mean no more playing around like a foal. Also, no more flying freely through the skies, since she didn't know if the Canterlot folks would approve of that. No more acting stupid just to have fun. It would look like she's trying to get attention, and that's not something she would want them to think of her. Derpy sighed, as the nightmare of a serious life was about to start, and it wasn't going to end any sooner.

  "Everything okay?", asked a gentlecolt's voice. Derpy looked up to see a gentle-looking stallion (Fancypants) staring weird at her. There was a whitish-pink unicorn next to him (Fleur-de-Lis).

  "Yeah...", sighed Derpy. "... actually, no. I'm new here, you know, and I don't have any place to go. Could you help me find a home?"

  "Aww...", said Fleur-de-Lis. "... such a poor little homeless mare. We'll help you find a home, if you tell us your name."

  "I'm Ditzy Doo... but my old friends would call me Derpy Hooves, because of these crossed eyes."

  "Poor thing..."

  "Come with us.", said Fancypants. "We'll show you the modernest city of Canterlot." Next Chapter: Play Us a Song, You're the Cross-Eyed Mare Estimated time remaining: 27 Minutes