Rainbow Dash tumbled through a tree to the grassy ground below in a multicolored ball of blue feathers, rainbow mane, and green leaves. She caught her breath and scrambled to her hooves, checking herself over for injuries. No, she was fine, just a bit ruffled. She glanced back and forth across the field on the edge of Ponyville; luckily nopony had seen her embarrassing fall. Scowling, she picked twigs and bits of cloudstuff out of her wings and glared up at the cloud that had knocked her out of the sky. Since when were clouds that hard? At least she had been trying a fairly simple stunt, and not something like the Sonic Rainboom where a crash like that could have seriously hurt her. Still, it shouldn't have happened. That cloud shouldn't have been there. Dash shook the remaining debris from her feathers and flew up to investigate.
She prodded the offending cloud with a hoof; it felt solid, like her house back in Cloudsdale. Not a typical weather cloud at all. What dumb featherbrain let this drift away? she thought, puzzled. Nopony else was in sight; nopony else to take responsibility for the stray cloud. Rainbow Dash sighed, and, deciding she wasn't likely to get an answer, began to push the cloud back up to the Pegasi hometown. There goes my practice time, she thought with an annoyed toss of her mane. Hope I get something outta this.
Halfway to Cloudsdale, she was interrupted by a familiar grey-and-yellow shape fluttering towards her from the airborne city.
“Rainbow Dash! My house blew away!”
Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I've noticed.” She punched the chunk of cloud. Of course it was Derpy Hooves. Who else would but the scatterbrained pegasus would forget to secure her house? She was lucky it hadn't drifted away before.
“You found some of it!” Derpy's unfocused gold eyes went wide, and she smiled, “Thank you!”
“Yeah, whatever. You think you can get this back home?” Dash shoved the cloud towards Derpy. The pegasus might be clumsy, but she wasn't weak; she easily measured 10 wingpower...when she could fly straight . She had to be pretty strong to carry heavy packages all over Ponyville every day, and pretty fast to get them delivered in time. Anyway, Rainbow Dash didn't want to bother with that cloud any longer than she had to; she had stunts to practice!
“I don't know...” Dash moved aside, and Derpy slammed herself into the cloud. The springy surface gave in, rebounding with equal force and sending her flying backwards. The pegasus quickly recovered and fluttered back.
“Nah, that won't work,” Dash said, “Clouds don't like that. You've got to be steady.” She demonstrated, and the cloud moved easily.
“Ooh! Can you do it fast?” Derpy asked, one eye on Dash and the other on the cloud.
Rainbow Dash rose to the challenge. “Fast” didn't normally mix well with construction clouds, but if anypony could do it... She laughed.
“You're lookin' at fast, girl. Of course I can!” Dash stretched out her legs one by one, tossed her mane, and rushed at the cloud. Predictably, she rebounded from the surface just as Derpy had. She growled as she beat her wings and stabilized her tumbling body. She was Rainbow Dash, she could clear the sky in ten seconds flat! A dumb cloud wasn't going to defeat her! She tried a second time, and again bounced off the stubbornly unmoving cloud. This wasn’t going to work.
“You okay?” Derpy asked, tilting her head and looking at Dash.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just get this back as soon as we can,” Rainbow Dash positioned her hooves on the cloud. “You take that side and I’ll take this side.”
“Okay!” Derpy said, flying in to grab her side of the cloud. Together, the two pegasi pushed the chunk of cloud towards Cloudsdale.
“So what’re you doing up in Cloudsdale, Derpy? I don’t see you around often.”
“My house in Ponyville's getting fixed! Dinky said she wanted to see the city, so we're staying here for a while!” Derpy answered, excitedly, “So I got Twilight Sparkle to show her a cloud-walking spell, and we moved up there last week!”
Rainbow Dash recalled that Derpy's home had indeed been overrun in a recent bunny stampede—the second stampede that year, in fact.
“That’s cool. Have you made any new friends? There are some really great ponies up there,” Dash told her, happy to be having a conversation that didn’t revolve around muffins or problems Derpy had caused.
“Well,” the grey pegasus screwed up her eyes and thought, “not really. Ponies don’t seem to want to talk to me,” Derpy finished sadly.
Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment. Suddenly, she felt guilty. Many ponies, including herself, did try to avoid Derpy. The accident-prone pegasus tended to make others uncomfortable, and it wasn’t just because of her clumsy flying or unusual eyes. It wasn’t easy to talk to Derpy: she’d sometimes get confused at sarcasm, and if you got her on one of her favorite topics, it was very hard to get her to be quiet again. Of course, there were some ponies, like Pinkie Pie, who would happily listen with seemingly endless patience, but those were few and far between. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to Dash that Derpy might feel lonely or left out.
“They probably just...were busy,” Rainbow Dash lied. “Maybe I can introduce you to some rockin’ ponies.”
“Yeah! That's great!” Derpy smiled, enthusiastic; she seemed to have forgotten the earlier part of the conversation.
Ahead of the ponies, the white horizon of the cloud city came into view.
Up on the disk of the city, racers chased each other along the outside edge, tails and manes streaming behind them. The weather factory's tower churned out a steady stream of rainclouds, each quickly collected by teams of pegasi. Rainbow Dash was glad this was her day off; it looked like they were preparing for a large storm, one that would need the weather teams' attention all afternoon.
Dash and Derpy rose above the highest level of cloud surface. Dash maneuvered their cloud block around a rainbowfall; she avoided the colorful cascade, but Derpy flew through it, splashing her flank and tail with multicolored liquid. She cheerfully shook this off, unbothered.
“Over there, Rainbow Dash! My house is over there!” Derpy announced, pointing a hoof towards the rim of the city. Pointing where Dash could see two beds and a few shelves standing incongruously amid cloud walls that had drifted far from their appropriate positions.
Not the best part of town...Dash thought as they approached. Derpy's house—or what was left of it— was on the edge of a cloudbank, out of the way of other ponies. Odd, because back in Ponyville Derpy hadn't lived too far for the town center. Here, it seemed, either she hadn't tried to get a place in the city proper, or she hadn't been able to.
The pegasi moved the cloud block over the remains of Derpy's house and flew down.
“I tied it down! I know I did!” Derpy said, looking around.
“Are all your things still here?” Dash asked. Derpy counted, nodding her head at each number as she did so.
“Yup!” she confirmed.
“Well, that's good.” Dash rubbed her head. “I don't see what could have happened.”
The sound of snickering came from behind a cloudbank. Rainbow Dash bristled and turned to look as Cloudchaser and Flitter gave each other a high-five and attempted to fly away.
“Hey! Get back here!” Dash yelled, her eyes narrowing, “Did you do this?” She hovered over to the pegasi twins and stared them down, waiting for the answer to her question.
Cloudchaser fluffed her elaborate white mane with a hoof, looking off into the distance haughtily. “So what if we did? She doesn't belong here anyway.” She bounced into the air and started to fly away.
“You get over here and say that to my face!”
Derpy started to back away at Dash's angry tones. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” she squeaked.
“You just stay there and let me take care of these brats,” Dash called back.
“We're leaving, sheesh. Didn't think you'd get so worked up over a prank,” Flitter said, and the two flew off before Dash could stop them. She pounded the ground with a hoof, raising puffs of cloud into the air. She looked back at Derpy, who was staring after the twins, tilting her head.
“If they come back, I'll pummel them,” Dash growled. She flew up to the floating bit of cloud wall and kicked it down to the surface, following it with the other pieces. Once the small house was reconstructed,she landed on the edge of the cloudbank.
“C'mon. We're going to see Twilight.”
Seven ponies and a dragon were gathered in Twilight Sparkle's library. Rarity lay on an embroidered cushion she had conjured up, and Twilight amidst a pile of books. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat on a soft blue blanket while Pinkie Pie skipped around the perimeter of the room. Sitting by a bookcase, Applejack and Derpy Hooves worked their way though a pile of apple muffins. Pinkie had brought the treats, of course: a basket of chocolate chip cookies covered with a checkered cloth, along with a bag of other sweets fresh from the bakery. Spike perched on the balcony munching a cookie, several doughnuts strung on his tail.
It had been Fluttershy's idea to gather the six friends. Rainbow Dash, deciding some advice from her closest friend could be helpful, had detoured to Fluttershy's cottage on the way back from Cloudsdale. It had been fairly easy to find the others; all had chosen to relax on the day off from work and so were available to talk.
“So what's goin' on that ya called us all here for, Twi?” Applejack asked through a mouthful of muffin.
“Well, it seems that some ponies aren't being very nice to Derpy Hooves,” Twilight replied, only to be interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“ 'Not very nice,' Twilight? They were wrecking her house! That's gotta be, like, against the law or something!”
“That's the strange thing,” the unicorn said, “I did some research as soon as you told me what was going on. The law's not really clear on that.” A slim blue book with the image of a cloud next to a judge's gavel embossed on the cover drifted up from a jumble of other volumes. It opened midair and flipped through a couple pages.
“There's rules against theft and property destruction...but, well...”
“What's wrong, darling?” Rarity said when Twilight trailed off. Behind her, Pinkie Pie stopped jumping around and sat down to listen, pushing the white unicorn aside to get a place on the cushion. Rarity glared at her and shoved her away. The pink pony pouted and sat on the floor, snatching a cookie from the pile of snacks and eating it in one bite.
“Derpy's not a Cloudsdale resident,” Twilight said, “I don't think we could get anything done about this...”
“Oh, that's just great. Now what can we do, other than beating those jerks up?” Dash complained, standing up and shaking her feathers. Beside her, Fluttershy looked up with concern.
“Oh no! Don't do that!” Derpy squeaked, alarmed, dropping her muffin, “I don't want anypony to get hurt!”
“Calm down, dear, she doesn't really mean it, do you, Rainbow?” Rarity assured the pegasus, who sat back down again. Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Well I don't think we need to mess with no laws,” Applejack put in, “Hows about she just stay in town until her house is fixed? Ponies here at least try to be friendly.”
“Oh, yes!” Fluttershy agreed. “And it's much safer! I just can't stand the idea of little Dinky up there in the clouds! She could fall!” The sensitive yellow pegasus shivered at this thought and bunched up her blanket in her hooves.
“Those are good points,” Twilight began, looking at each of her friends who had spoken. “So-” She got no further.
Pinkie's left ear shot up and she gasped. “That means somepony's waiting for somepony else!” She jumped up, staring around the library, as if she'd find the cause of her Pinkie Sense among the books. Twilight sighed, but didn't object; she had long ago learned to accept the strange pink pony's erratic behavior.
“I need to pick Dinky up from school!” Derpy said. She stood up and started to leave.
“Can you come back here afterwards?” Twilight asked, “We should have something arranged by then.”
The departing pegasus looked back. “Okay!” she called.
Once she had left, Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash.
“I didn't really want to say this while Derpy was around, but why are you so intent on helping her, Rainbow? I thought you were annoyed by her.”
“Whudd'ya mean, Rarity?” Dash answered, indignant, “Of course I'll help her! Element of Loyalty, ya know?” She pounded the floor with a hoof. “I just wish those brats would get what's coming to them.”
“I think it's a wonderful thing you're doing!” Fluttershy praised her, standing up to nuzzle her friend. Dash returned the cuddle. This might be a simple matter for the yellow pegasus—her Element always guided her to help others, and that was all she wanted. Dash had other things to do than worry about clumsy Derpy all day. She had tricks to practice, clouds to clear! But just the thought of those bullies hurting anypony got her hackles up. She couldn't just ignore it.
“By the way,” Twilight asked, cutting short Dash's thoughts, “when did Flitter and Cloudchaser move to Cloudsdale?”
“When they decided Ponyville wasn't fashionable enough,” Dash snorted. She remembered; she'd had to hear the twins complaining nearly every day on weather patrol before they decided to move shortly after the rainwater tornado project. They'd also complained for days after the tornado about not breaking the record. Dash had been just happy that Fluttershy had worked up the courage to help.
Applejack had been looking thoughtful all through this exchange, ever since Derpy left. She stared at the pile of muffins, considering her thoughts.
“Twilight,” she said, looking up, “Why don't ya ask Derpy what she wants to do? Sure, she ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she can think for herself. She might do crazy stuff sometimes, like trying to get all those rampagin' rabbits to plant her garden for her-” some of the others rolled their eyes at the memory, “-but don't she deserve a say in all this?”
“We should consider her feelings,” Fluttershy agreed.
“But we can organize it so much better...” Twilight broke off the idea at a look from Applejack. She was silent for a moment. Finally, she spoke.
“You're right, Applejack,” she admitted, her ears drooping briefly.
“So we'll ask her when she gets back,” Applejack finished.
It wasn't long before Derpy returned, young Dinky bouncing along behind her. At the sight of the purple filly, Pinkie Pie jumped up to play, pulling a large red ball out of seemingly nowhere and launching it into the air with her nose. The little unicorn ran after the ball and bounced it off her horn back towards Pinkie.
“Derpy, dear, “ Rarity called, “we'd like to talk to you. Can you come over here, please? The-” she looked at Pinkie, deep in a game of bounce-the-ball with Dinky, and coughed “-children can play outside.”
Pinkie Pie looked up.
“Sure thing!” She led Dinky outside the library, where they continued their game.
“Now,” Rarity said as the door closed, shifting her position on her cushion to get more comfortable, “something must be done, of course, about this dreadful situation you're in!”
“We're thinking you might want to stay in Ponyville for the time being,” Twilight continued.
“I like Ponyville! Everypony's so nice and fun!” Derpy exclaimed.
“And Dinky could be near all her friends from school...” Fluttershy added.
“That's settled then,” Twilight said, pounding a hoof on a pile of books and succeeding in raising a cloud of dust. She sneezed, and Derpy laughed.
“Now the question is where's she gonna live,” Applejack reminded them.
“That's easy!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who had somehow managed to get back inside without anypony noticing. Dinky sat beside her, eating a cookie. “She'll stay with one of us! And then she can help me at the bakery!” Pinkie jumped up and down in excitement, causing Derpy to do the same.
“Yes!” she squeaked, “I can make muffins and stay with my friends! Can I stay with you, Rainbow Dash? Because you're so awesome!”
Dash was shocked. “What? Me?” She hadn't expected that. Sure, Derpy often asked things without considering what the other pony thought, but never to Dash herself.
A moment later she registered the compliment. “Yeah, I am pretty cool, aren't I?” She flexed a muscle. Twilight brought a hoof to her face in exasperation.
“Well, Rainbow?” Rarity prompted.
Dash froze, moving her eyes back and forth from Derpy to each of her friends and back again.
“But I live in the sky!” she protested.
“Dash, sugarcube, it's a cloud,” Applejack said, “You can move it.”
“But...but that'll take a lot of effort! I'm busy!”
“Come on, Dashie, It'll be a really nice thing to do...” Fluttershy pleaded, looking to her friend.
They were right. It wouldn't really be too much hassle to move her cloud house closer to the ground, and Derpy really did seem to want to stay there... And if Fluttershy wanted it...
“Fine.” Dash sighed. “C'mon, Derpy, we'll get everything set up.” She gestured for Derpy and Dinky to follow her out of the library. She gave one last glance at her friends.
“Tomorrow, we're dealing with Cloudchaser and Flitter.” she promised, before taking wing towards her house at the edge of Ponyville.
