We're Gonna Get There Soon

by Cranberry Muffin

Words

Notes: In honor of my completing over 20,000 words of this fanfic today, I decided to give all of you wonderful ponies another chapter tonight :)

Enjoy!

-

With the unexpected free time on her hooves, Derpy told Rumble she would meet him after school the next day so they could do something fun.

‘Something fun’ could have been anything from getting a snack to visiting the library for a book to winging off on an adventure, which was their code for a flight or walk to someplace interesting. Rumble was never quite sure what the ‘something fun’ would be – and neither was Derpy; half the time she picked something out on the fly.

She was thinking ice cream that day, the special ice cream that Banana Split only made at certain times of year, the kind with the little flecks of spearmint leaves mixed right in. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but it was the kind of warm, sunny weather that made a pony crave ice cream and that special mint flavor had always been a favorite of theirs.

And besides…When did anypony ever need a reason for ice cream?

It was hard to wait patiently outside the schoolhouse. Derpy wasn’t generally one to be still, especially when there was fun to be had. She had forced herself to settle under a tree to wait, trying to pass the time by finding pictures in the few puffy clouds dotting the sky. It was hard, though, to stay focused with the prospect of fun looming ahead and the fifteen or so minutes she had to wait for the bell seemed like eternity.

But at last three o’clock came and with it a flurry of activity from the schoolhouse. Derpy stumbled to her feet, nearly falling back over in the process. Her wings fluttered excitedly, seemingly propelling her forwards of their own accord, and she forced her eyes to focus, searching the crowd of foals for Rumble.

“Derpy!” He spotted her first as he galloped out of the building, a few other small pegasi hot on his tail. He was beaming happily, eyes huge and shining as he hurried along.

Derpy felt her heart swell with happiness; it was so amazing to know that there were ponies who cared about her and were happy to see her. She waved a hoof, careening over the yard, oblivious to the schoolponies beneath her who squawked and hurried away, lest they be hurt if she crashed. “Hey Rumble!” She grinned, prancing a little in the air, “Ready to go have some fun?”

“Actually…” His smile wavered for a second and he glanced behind him at his friends, “Chip said he heard from Scootaloo that Rainbow Dash is gonna be practicing some new tricks over the meadow and everypony knows she’s the greatest flyer in Ponyville so we” -He indicated his friends with a wave of a hoof- “wanna go watch. Is it okay if I go with them? I’ll still be home by dinnertime and we can do something fun tomorrow…”

She felt her heart sink and her own smile flickered away for a moment, though she forced it firmly back in place. It wasn’t often that Rumble asked for anything and though he looked excited, his eyes were lit with worry, too -- Though she wasn’t sure of what sort. Was he worried she would say no? That she would be hurt that he wanted to do something else? That he would miss Rainbow’s fabulous stunts? She couldn’t tell.

But she also couldn’t deny him the chance to have fun with his friends; that would be selfish and she just didn’t have it in her to be self-centered. “Sure, go ahead,” She tried to keep up her normal cheery tone, but after the last few days and how fragile she’d been feeling, it was hard, “I’ll see if I can find Raindrops or something and see you at home later.”

“Thanks Derpy!” Rumble plowed forwards, tackling her in an exuberant hug that sent the almost-always-unsteady mare sprawling belly-up on the ground. Then he was gone, flying off with his friends, before she even managed to pick herself up and dust herself off and so much as call out a goodbye.

She remained there for a long moment, slightly dazed, one eye focused on the ground behind her, the other wandering up to gaze at the sky vaguely in the direction Rumble had flown.

It was mirthless giggling that brought Derpy back from her stupor and she rolled over, shaking blades of grass from her wings and looking about for the source of the laughter. Two snooty-looking fillies –the type her parents’ friends would have been likely to bring into the world- were trotting by, noses in the air, tails swishing. They weren’t even trying to disguise their snickers and she frowned after them, giving her head a little shake before dropping her gaze back to the ground beneath her hooves.

“Oh my…”

A soft voice behind her caused Derpy’s head to lift once more and she turned to find Cheerilee standing a few feet away, pale blue eyes lit with concern. “Are you all right, Derpy?” She questioned, head tilted to one side as she peered at the other mare.

Derpy nodded. “I didn’t crash.” She muttered, “Rumble tackled me…” She had met Cheerilee only a few other times, when things were going on at the school, and didn’t think the teacher was likely to tease her, but, well, sometimes…She just couldn’t help being defensive.

“I know.” Cheerilee smiled kindly, taking a step closer. “And I also know he’s quite strong for such a small colt, which is why I wanted to know if you’re okay.”

“Yeah…” The grey pegasus sighed, gently folding her wings back at her sides, “I’m kinda used to much worse…” She gave her head another little shake, trying to tame her messy mane, or at least get it out of her eyes. “And he’s hugged me like that before.”

The other mare eyed her thoughtfully for a moment, taking the time to really look at Derpy. Though they’d spent time in each other’s presence before, they’d never really spoken beyond exchanging pleasantries and, really, all Cheerilee knew of Derpy was what she heard from Rumble and through gossip.

Despite the random blades of grass stuck in her hair and the ruffled look of her feathers, she didn’t really appear to be the walking disaster other ponies made her out to be. She had a pleasant face, with foalish features and guileless eyes and even though she was looking in two different directions at once, she seemed perfectly normal.

And besides that, what Rumble had said was true: Derpy wasn’t really invited many places around town and hardly anypony really knew her beyond stereotypes and blather. If Rumble was to be believed, there was much more to the weather mare than met the eye and Cheerilee –who as a teacher had an innate thirst for knowledge- suddenly found herself wanting to know Derpy better, if only to see for herself what there was to learn about the other pony.

“Say…” Though a small part of her whispered that she might regret this, Cheerilee found herself speaking again, intent on asking Derpy to spend some time with her, “I was about to head off for an afternoon cup of tea. Would you like to join me?”

Derpy blinked, swiveling her gaze to rest solely on the teacher. So unused to being asked places with anypony other than Thunderlane or Raindrops, it took her a moment to register what Cheerilee had said. Then she smiled, eyes sparkling. “Yeah…I got nothing to do now that Rumble’s off with his friends.”

-

“Hey Rumble?”

At the question, the aforementioned colt dragged his gaze away from the sky where Rainbow Dash was in the midst of a double barrel roll through a ring of clouds and turned to look at Tornado Bolt, who was peering at him with a curious look on her face, pale green eyes lit with curiosity.

He tipped his head, peering right back at her, a little annoyed at being distracted from the performance. “What?”

“You weren’t really gonna hang out with Derpy Hooves, were you?”

Rumble blinked at her, not quite understanding. “Well…Yeah. I was. But you guys asked me to come with you,” He glanced over his shoulder at Chip Mint and Rainy Feather, who were cheering enthusiastically over some stunt Rainbow had pulled, “and Derpy knows I’ll do stuff with her later.”

Tornado wrinkled her nose, snorting a little in disgust. “Why would you want to?” She made a face, sticking out her tongue and rolling her eyes in an attempt at imitating Derpy’s wall-eyed stare, “She’s so stupid!”

Rumble’s eyes went wide and he felt a strange clenching feeling in his heart. He knew –from things he’d seen and wasn’t supposed to overhear- that other ponies made fun of Derpy all the time, but he’d never heard firsthoof as anypony insulted her. He didn’t even really understand why they made fun of her. Sure she was weird sometimes, but no weirder than any other pony. “She is not!” He blurted out, feeling his face heat with anger, “She’s the specialest pony ever!”

“I know she is.” Tornado snickered, rearing back a little and flexing her wings, “I saw her crash in the park the other day. You gotta be pretty special to fall through a cloud! And what’s wrong with her eyes? Why can’t she fly right? My mom says something’s really, really wrong with her.”

“No!” The little colt backed up a step, eyes still impossibly wide, heart pounding, “There’s nothing wrong with Derpy! She’s just like everypony else!” He felt a familiar prickle in the back of his eyes and blinked back tears, trying to be as brave as possible and defend his friend, “She works really hard and does her best, just like every other pony in Ponyville and it’s not fair that everypony is so mean to her.”

“All she does is mess stuff up.” The purple-maned filly scoffed, swishing her tail as a mean-looking smile crossed her face, “My mom said she got kicked outta Cloudsdale and no other pegasus has ever been kicked outta Cloudsdale before.”

“Shut up, Tornado!” Rainy Feather spoke up, suddenly appearing at Rumble’s side and putting a foreleg around his trembling shoulders, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, like always.”

“Yuh-huh!”

“No, you…”

They continued arguing, but their heated words were lost to Rumble as he pulled away from Rainy and took a few steps back, vision blurred by tears. Whoever said words could never hurt was dead wrong; the things Tornado Bolt had said weren’t even directed at him, yet he still felt like he’d been trampled by a stampede of angry buffalo. Was this how Derpy felt every day? She always seemed so happy, but if this was how other ponies treated her…

Her heart must have hurt as much as his did right then.

“You’ll see!” He turned back to the quarrelling fillies, interrupting their argument with his blurted out words, “When Derpy comes to school for Family Appreciation Day, you’re gonna see how wrong you are about her and how special she really is.” He sniffled, swiping angrily at his eyes, “The good kinda special.” That said, the grey colt galloped off, intent on finding Derpy and giving her the biggest hug in the world.

Comments

[-Brutus]

You go Rumble!

[RadBunny]

yaaaaay rumble!

[moguera]

Nice. Rumble's a sweet colt to support Derpy like that. But you need to be careful about putting people on a pedestal like that in front of your friends. The thing about hype is that everyone's expectations are different, so unless Derpy whips out one heck of a doozy on Family Appreciation Day, she could very well end up in the Backlash Zone.

[Seether00]

Go Rumble!!

[Cranberry Muffin]

1536810

Ah, but Rumble doesn't know that, being he's just a child. He's of the belief that everypony will like Derpy as much as he does, if they just give her a chance.

But don't worry; we ARE cooking up a good story over here.

[Autism Man]

Moar nao please

[Late Registrator]

No matter which fic I read, Rumble is always an awesome colt.

[NOLA_Paul]

mememaker.net/static/images/memes/298145.jpg

[Nightshade Dawn]

I really feal sad for Rumble man Tornado I is a jerk

[Father Figure]

That filly would make a great cupcake...

[Leapingriver]

hoooolly-
where is this tornado, who is she! I'm gonna go and give her a piece of my mind- er fist- she dare insult DERPY!!!!!! and where's her mother; she can have two pieces of my mind.
god the feels, right in the freakin' feels
now I'm scared what's going to happen on Family Appreciation Day? they're not going to boo her away are they? I hope not, please oh please, not to Derpy. she's already fragile as it is, I can't see her broken, it will obliterate what's left of my poor poor abused heart
and Rumble is soo sweet! I want him as my child, he's the perfect child. dang, his parents are so lucky to have such a caring kid

[ThePowerOfDerpCompelsYou]

2066275 That... is VERY creepy.