Sinking
Two days later, Derpy was careening through a pale blue sky, searching for a certain rainbow-maned leader of the weather crew, when she flew straight into an updraft and spun out of control.
As the ground rushed up to meet her, she tried to right herself, beating her wings as hard as possible. But with one of her eyes fixed on the approaching ground and the other darting about, trying to find something –anything- to help her gain a point of reference for which way was up and which way was bound to result in blinding pain, she completely missed the scraggly cloud hanging low over the park.
The impact of her body colliding with the wisps of water vapor should have stopped her descent, but she was Derpy Hooves and instead of a bouncy landing, she plunged straight through the cloud.
As the cloud broke apart, little tufts of white swirling away into the sky, Derpy had the incongruous thought that her own body was about to break apart in much the same way and she wondered – Did it hurt the cloud as much as it was about to hurt her?
She didn’t have the chance to find out; her impact was lessened as she hit the pond, shattering the serene stillness of its glassy surface.
Then she sank.
Drifting towards the mucky bottom, she floundered helplessly, flailing both her legs and her wings in an attempt to right herself and break through the surface of the water. Somewhere above her, the sky beckoned brightly blue, contorting itself in odd ways – No, that was only the effect of the rippling water that was slowly suffocating her, because she could seem to neither gain purchase on the bottom of the pond nor propel herself to the top.
For a moment, she was certain she was going to drown.
Already experiencing the strange weightless sensation of being suspended in water, she felt even more disoriented when something suddenly lifted her, dragging her out of the pond and through the reeds to the muddy shore, where she was deposited, coughing and gasping for air.
“Geez, you’re heavy.” A brash voice sounded from somewhere up above her and Derpy forced her eyes open and up, taking in the sight of Rainbow Dash hovering above her, trying to mask worry with a grumpy scowl. “Lay off the muffins, wouldja?”
“Rainbow…” All Derpy could do was lay there, flopped on her back, chest heaving as she greedily sucked in air, “…Dash?” There must have been some bitter irony in the fact that the pony who saved her from certain doom was the very pony she had been rushing to locate, thusly indirectly causing her crash.
The scowl melted away into something akin to an awkward, relieved smile as Derpy spoke, dispelling Rainbow’s fears that she was seriously injured. “That was one heck of a bellyflop, Derpy.” She blurted out, trying to further ease the heavy atmosphere that had fallen over the park during the grey pegasus’ plummet to earth.
There was a burst of giggles somewhere to her left and Derpy attempted to turn her head towards the sound, only to whimper in pain, sinking back limply into the mud. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t see the culprits; she knew it was Flitter and Cloudchaser, simply by the cadence of their laughter. Not only was she sometimes assigned to work with them, they were Thunderlane’s friends and the four of them sometimes socialized, though Derpy suspected they didn’t like her much.
She pointedly ignored them, pushing herself up with a grunt of pain. “Rainbow Dash…” Her head hurt, her mane was full of mud, and she suddenly found herself shivering uncontrollably, “I…I need a day off this week.”
“I think you need more than one day off.” Rainbow Dash frowned in the direction of the still-laughing twins, then looked back down at the soggy heap of Derpy, “Seriously, that was a nasty crash.”
“I…” Sitting up fully, Derpy wrapped her forelegs around herself, trying unsuccessfully to stop the uncontrollable tremors that shook her body. Instead, she coughed again, hunching forwards miserably. “I’ll be okay. I cr-crash…all the time.”
“We know!” Cloudchaser trilled, tossing back her wild mane and pounding her front hooves against the ground a few times.
“We see it all the time!” Flitter interjected, the words tripping out on another burst of laughter.
“That one was just-”
“-bucking spectacular!”
“Will you two get the hay outta here!” Rainbow Dash snapped, stomping a hoof on the ground and flaring her wings angrily. Though there was little love lost between Derpy and Rainbow herself, and though she was sometimes an insensitive jerk, Rainbow couldn’t believe the twins would be so malicious as to tease the unfortunate mare after she nearly drowned. “If you’re not going to do anything helpful, you might as well get lost.”
“But!” Flitter’s mouth hung open as she gaped at Rainbow Dash. Beside her, Cloudchaser was prancing anxiously in place, eyes wide. “What about-”
“Now!” Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof to the ground again for emphasis, shooting a dark look in their direction. She hadn’t been super-excited about hanging out with those two gossips anyway –though it was her own fault, for agreeing to it- not when she had better things to do, like practice and napping. Flitter and Cloudchaser were good enough at their jobs and had some decent flying skills, but their constant giggling and chatter and teasing of everypony really wore her already limited patience thin.
And to see them laughing at Derpy when she crashed…
It didn’t matter that she’d promised to teach them some sweet moves. Making fun of somepony who was hurt was a total deal breaker.
She watched as the two took off, heads together, probably already grumbling to one another about Rainbow breaking her promise and Derpy wrecking things, when really, all Derpy had managed to wreck was herself.
Speaking of…
Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at the other pegasus crumpled on the ground. Derpy had folded in on herself, forelegs wrapped around her middle, doubled over at the waist. Her head was bowed, face hidden behind a curtain of mud-soaked mane, her shoulders shaking. Her wings sagged behind her, so laden with pond water she couldn’t fold them properly.
“You won’t tell Thunderlane, will you?” Her voice came from somewhere beneath her hair, small and forlorn.
“That you crashed?” Rainbow blinked down at her, face screwed up in confusion. Why wouldn’t Derpy want to tell him? It wasn’t like Thunderlane had never seen her crash before or that he would think any less of her for it. In fact, he’d probably fuss over her until she felt better. “No, I won’t. But, uh, I don’t think you’ll be able to hide it from him.”
“No…” It wasn’t that. It wasn’t that at all. Derpy would have liked nothing more at that moment than a hot bubble bath and a good snuggle, but those were still a ways away – Getting home was going to be a chore. “I mean about Flitter and Cloudchaser. He’ll be so mad at them…”
“He should be mad at them!” Was Rainbow really hearing what she thought she heard? Was Derpy really worrying about the twins after they’d been laughing right in her face?
At her tone, Derpy visibly flinched, her wings twitching. “But they’re his friends…” She whispered.
“And you’re his special somepony, aren’t you?” Rainbow demanded, leaning over and pushing Derpy’s sopping mane out of her face to look her in the eye. She was a little startled to find both the grey mare’s eyes focused on her, wide and frightened, and then realized…Derpy had been through enough already without her making things worse. “…Sorry,” She muttered, turning away from that bright golden gaze, “It’s just…If Thunderlane cares about you, he shouldn’t be letting his friends make fun of you, you know?”
Derpy said nothing.
“He should be telling them to shove it,” Rainbow continued, still all fired up, “because if his friends aren’t gonna accept that he cares about you and junk, they aren’t really his friends.” She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much; she and Derpy weren’t on the best terms themselves. More often than not, the grey mare accidentally caused disasters that created more work for Rainbow, leaving her flustered and annoyed. But it was just…Derpy looked so discouraged and she was usually so bouncy and cheerful.
And a part of her was really, really mad at Thunderlane for letting his friends treat her like that to begin with.
“He doesn’t.” Derpy finally said, her voice still soft and sad, “They don’t do it when he’s around…” And it was true; nopony teased her when Thunderlane was present. They saved it for when she was alone, or at work, because they all knew he would never stand for it. Because they knew she would never say anything about it. “He doesn’t really know how mean some of them are and…and I dunno.”
“Then you need to stand up for yourself, girl!”
“Rainbow Dash…” Derpy shook her head slowly. She felt nothing more than tired at the moment, a kind of tired that had absolutely nothing to do with the crash and everything to do with the weight of the world. “I just…can’t. I already cause enough trouble. I don’t wanna make any more problems for anypony.”
“Your feelings aren’t a problem, Derpy.” Rainbow replied quietly, sitting herself down next to the forlorn mare and leaning in to make eye contact a second time, “And nopony should be making you feel bad on purpose. It’s just…so not cool.”
“Everypony seems to think it’s okay.” Derpy didn’t even sound angry or bitter about this; if anything, she simply seemed resigned to her fate as the village’s laughingstock. “Even when things aren’t my fault or when I do things right…Somepony still says something and then I get laughed at.” She sighed, lowering her head again, “And I don’t understand why.”
It flashed across Rainbow Dash’s mind unbidden, the thought that there was a lot Derpy didn’t understand. But she chased the thought away as quick as it came, because that simply wasn’t fair. As crazy as Derpy made her, Rainbow was well aware that the other pegasus wasn’t as stupid as everypony thought.
“They’re just jealous.” Rainbow scoffed, waving a hoof dismissively, “That’s totally the kind of thing lame-os do when they want to make somepony else feel bad so they can feel better.”
Derpy gave her a look, a look which clearly read ‘are you out of your mind?’
“What the hay have they got to be jealous about?” She really had no idea why Rainbow would think such a thing and really, really hoped the other mare wasn’t just saying it. But honestly, she could think of nothing about her that would inspire envy in other ponies.
Rainbow Dash looked her up and down, taking in every last detail about the other mare. Under the mud and pond yuck, there was a very interesting mare indeed, one who had been many places and tried many things. And if Rainbow were being completely honest, when she wasn’t busy being weird, Derpy was kind of cute, in an innocent, Fluttershy-ish way, with her wide amber eyes, feathery mane, and –usually- squeaky clean coat. “You’re…not like other ponies.” She said slowly, a thoughtful frown playing across her face, “You don’t really do things because everypony else is. You just do things that make you happy and you know what? A lot of other ponies are really scared to just be themselves. You’re not and…that’s pretty cool.”
There was a long, awkward silence as Derpy stared at Rainbow Dash, trying to figure out if she was being serious or not. She looked serious, and though Rainbow wasn’t known to be particularly noble or selfless, she was in the habit of sometimes blurting out the first thing that came to mind, no matter how devastating her words might be.
“You think I’m cool.” She finally said, voice flat, “You. Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash thinks I’m cool.” She couldn’t believe it. Didn’t really want to believe it, because if she did, it would throw off her entire view of the world.
“Well…Kinda.” Rainbow’s frown intensified, her eyes clouding over too, “Is it really that hard to believe?”
“Yes!” It was disconcerting, two ponies telling Derpy she was cool within as many days. How could anypony possibly believe such a thing? It was impossible, and yet…Rumble and Rainbow Dash were the least likely ponies to be poking fun at her about this, because the both of them were bluntly honest.
Rainbow Dash stood, offering Derpy a hoof. “Look…It’s not something I really can explain.” She tossed her mane back over her shoulder, hauling the other mare to her feet, “Coolness is just one of those things; you’ve either got it or you don’t. And you, surprisingly, have got it. Because you’re you.” She paused, eyeing Derpy for a moment as if uncertain the grey pegasus was able to stand under her own volition. “…Or something.”
“Thanks,” It still made little to no sense, but Derpy had long ago learned that sometimes the best way to live life was to just roll with it, “I think.”
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A new chapter of my new favorite fanfic was just what the doctor ordered.
Go rainbow dash!
20% cooler.
Thank you for the upload! Woohoo!
Hmm... Rainbow not being a selfish jerkwad for once. We'll see how long that lasts.
1524776
Isn't that what the doctor always recommends? LOL; it always does wonders for me!
1524888
Rainbow Dash makes everything awesome. Wait 'til you see what she does next chapter
1524904
It lasts long enough. As I said to rad, she keeps up her awesomeness next chapter~
Yay new chapter, for a moment there I thought it was going to turn into a RainDerp shipp, Hope you update more soon though
1527813
Oh no, my ship is here to stay! I am a strong believer in Rainbow Dash's gay love for Applejack, so even if I wasn't so in love with my obscure Thunderhooves, I would not ship Rainbow with anypony else
1528093I like your conviction, Here have a lick
though keep up the good work zavarish
1528203
No no; Rainbow should be licking AJ
I am very firm in my shipping. It takes a lot to change my mind! u_u
1528220HAR! I see what you did there, I prefer a good TwiLuna/moon shipp thyself, though I hope you are not sad when they pair Rainbow up with the mystery "stallion" in Season three though, >_> we must "pursuade" the writers to change there minds about that....
1528253
I hate when a show makes canon ships. It ruins things for us fans :C
I used to kind of, like, hate Twilight (due to some one annoying I know RPing her), but I've decided that her shipped with Luna makes her acceptable and fun
1528284Da I do not like cossplaying as Ponies unless they can actually become ponies, otherwise i consider it Heresy
Well, that was kind of a roller coaster for Derpy. Bellyflops into a pond and nearly drowns, is made fun of for it, then is told she's cool by the living ponification of Coolness? The poor girl's going to end up with some kind of mental whiplash if that keeps up.
Yay for rainbowdash XD... though tis an interesting turn.
1598436
Rainbow Dash is a little bit less of a jerk than she probably should be, but...I actually think she'd prefer working with somepony who is in awe of her rather than a couple ponies who brag just as much as she does
when The Rainbow Dash tell you you're cool; thats when you know that you're awesome.
threadbombing.com/data/media/22/Chuck_Norris_Approves.gif
Me: "I like Dashie in this story and Derpy Is SO AWSOME!! oh Cranberry please make a" "Pinkie shut up! you are getting anoying!" *humph* " you are no fun Pinkemena
It's no fault of the story's, but I don't think I can keep going. Flitter and Cloudchaser, two of my top favorite ponies, being such antagonists is hard for me to deal with. lol
I could carry on in the hopes that they get to develop past it or whatnot, but bleh. I don't feel up to risking it. Thumbs up for the Thunderderp ship, though. I enjoy what little I've seen of their relationship.