Chapter 2

With a thump she landed, Ponyville resting in front of her. Derpy ignored the pony that greeted her and instead marched towards the settlement, wings spread out to prevent any other pony getting too close. Still smirking she made her way into town.

"What's the rush?" asked Sweetie Belle as she hopped along, trying to keep up with Apple Bloom. Scootaloo led the group forwards. "You said nothing had happened!"

"Well…something might have happened with Derpy," said Apple Bloom.

"Derpy? Where was she? And what exactly does 'something' mean?"

"We can't be expected to keep track of everything," groaned Scootaloo, not yet wanting to admit she had played a role in what had happened.

"Derpy just sounded a little…off," said Apple Bloom. More than a little off to Apple Bloom- even though she had only said a few words she had sounded very mean- far meaner then she would ever have thought Derpy could sound. As they raced to Ponyville Apple Bloom found that she just couldn't ignore the worried feeling in her gut. Some ponies could have off days, grumpy days- but never Derpy Hooves.

"So what exactly are we trying to do? Scootaloo? Apple Bloom?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Just trying to find Derpy for now," said Scootaloo. "I'll try and think over what we should do next when we find her."

"Don'tcha mean we'll try something?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Sure- if you have any ideas," came the reply.

"I might have some!" protested Apple Bloom.

"What are we expecting to find?" asked Sweetie Belle interrupting before any argument could start.

"Hopefully not chaos."

As Ponyville came into view of the fillies Apple Bloom took a deep breath of relief. All seemed fine in town, the buildings were all in place, the ponies were milling around, and there was a crowd and pile of muffins outside the cake shop-

"Uh-oh," muttered Scootaloo as she spotted it too.

A newly introduced stand by the Cake family yesterday, the small confectionary and sample stall was now just a pile of wood, in worse shape than even Scootaloo's contraption. The pony who had been running it (Apple Bloom her yet to meet her) must have had a nasty start to their first day working outside for the Cake family. As the cutie mark crusaders rushed forwards they could see her sitting on the ground, looking flushed and a bit perplexed. Some of the crowd were helping her to her hooves.

"What happened?" asked Apple Bloom, certain she already knew the answer.

"Oh it was awful, awful!" said Bon Bon dramatically, one of the bystanders.

"She was just standing there, selling muffins and cakes, with a smile on her face when- when she appeared!"

"She?" Please don't be Derpy, please don't be Derpy.

"Derpy Hooves just landed right in front of her, gave her a mean stare and grabbed some muffins straight from the counter."

"And then what?" asked Scootaloo hesitantly.

"Well she started ringing up the price for the muffins when Derpy laughed at her and kicked away one of the wooden legs. As the whole thing collapsed she just flew off munching on muffins."

"I told you that Derpy Hooves just wasn't good news," said a male blue stallion from the crowd. "She just destroys everything she touches- and now it looks like she does it deliberately!"

The gathering ponies chattered among themselves at such a statement. To Apple Bloom's immense relief many of the ponies seemed to disagree with his statement- but not as many as she would have expected.

"Wow I can't believe Derpy would do that, even though I don't know her well enough so I wouldn't really know what to expect but I wouldn't expect her to do that!" said Pinkie Pie who had left the shop to see what was happening.

"Well…maybe it was some kind of imposter?" suggested Apple Bloom, hoping to deflect some attention away from Derpy, if only for a short time.

"I'd recognize her anywhere!" said the blue stallion.

"Well her eyes did look a bit different," said Bon Bon in defence of the idea. "They weren't you know…well looking in slightly different directions."

Pinkie gasped: "You don't think there really is a Derpy imposter do you? Why would anypony want to be all impostery?"

"Maybe somepony is trying to replace all of us!" called out a panicky voice from the crowd.

"Oooo who do you think would play me?" asked Pinkie, the only crowd member not startled or unimpressed with the suggestion.

"Don't worry we'll try and figure out what's going on," said Scootaloo in her most leaderly sounding voice. "You stay here and take care of her."

"Oh you sound cool Scootaloo," said Pinkie. "So bold and in control, almost like you know what's happening!"

Apple Bloom was suddenly aware of a growing number of suspicious looks in their direction. She found herself mentally asking Scootaloo to say it was time to go- it would probably be a good idea to get out of-

"Well we should be going then," said Scootaloo, laughing uncomfortably. "We have games to play…and other stuff- filly stuff."

"Oooo have fun girls!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah have fun," said the blue stallion suspiciously.

Scootaloo smiled and led the group away from the crowd at a quick pace, Sweetie Belle barely keeping up. Sweetie Belle still looked puzzled, while the guilty looks on her friend's faces obviously gave away that they were somehow involved in what Derpy had done. By contrast the young unicorn pony looked positively innocent.

Waiting until they were alone again Sweetie Belle finally spoke: "So just what exactly happened anyway?"

Apple Bloom waited for Scootaloo to start speaking and was shocked to suddenly find her friend had instead turned to her to speak.

"Go on, tell her Apple Bloom."

If looks could kill, Scootaloo would at least not be flying for a while (if she could in the first place).

"Well then," started Apple Bloom before breaking into a rushed speech: "When you went in the wood thing Derpy landed and we spoke and then you did that magic thing and that hit Derpy and then she crashed and then all of this happened."

"What?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Technically it's probably your fault, what with the magic," said Scootaloo, sounding as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"My fault?" asked Sweetie Belle. "You were the pony that build that mirror thing and told me to use it! You said it was science and would work!" she added, her voice occasionally breaking.

"Now now lets not go blaming anypony," said Scootaloo. "What's important is finding Derpy. Right?"

For the second time in a minute Scootaloo was greeted with a filly death stare.