Stowaways and Escapees
Several days had gone by since Derpy’s “renovation” fiasco and by the end of Thursday, both she and Don had just about had it being bored; Don, being bored at school, and Derpy, being bored at home. To remedy this, he left some of his text books behind, although he wasn’t sure she would read them, but it was something to say the least.
Since most of Don’s books varied in size, the difficulty of page turning also varied. On smaller books, she didn’t have much trouble, just flicking the pages with little effort. On larger books however, she would lift a single page, and push with her fore-hooves and walk across until the page’s weight would take over and fall.
The contents of the books were interesting to say the least. Depictions of battles, diagrams, and portraits of other humans who wore fancy hats and clothes. Some of them reminded her of Rarity’s boutique. When he was around, she asked Don how old some of the pictures were and he told her they were at least a few hundred years old. If these pictures were that old, she figured she might not want to tell Rarity that her fashion sense was off by at least two centuries. If she heard that, she might go into a pit of despair she would never get out of.
-
“I told you, until I can figure out a way to hide you, you’re not going with me anywhere!” He said with frustration.
“But it’s so boring here, and I already looked at all the pictures in your books!”
“Haven’t you tried reading them? They’re chock full of information and stories.”
“But the letters are too big and sometimes it’s really hard to turn the pages.”
He sighed, “Sweet Jesus, give me patience…”
“I said the answer is no. And I’m sticking to that until I have an idea, plus, after tomorrow, I’ll be home for two days since it’s the weekend. We’ll think of something then, okay?”
She only folder her hooves together and turned away from Don. “Fine.” She said giving out a small huff.
“Good, now can we please go to sleep? I still have to wake up early whether I like it or not.”
Derpy laid there thinking about her predicament. All she wanted to do was help Don in whatever way she could, but he wasn’t letting her. Was there something he was trying to hide from her? He said that people just wouldn’t understand having a pegasus flying about his head, but would it really be that bad? She thought for a moment before finally deciding that she would go to school with him tomorrow. But how would she go without him noticing? This was something she would need to figure out in the morning.
-
Morning came all to quickly for Don again and he woke up feeling tired. “Please still be really early…” he pleaded with whatever deity was listening.
Her turned and looked at his clock, it read “5:59”. “All of my hate…” he whispered to the time piece. He laid there a couple of more seconds before finally summoning up the energy to get up. He was careful not to disturb or fall on Derpy as he went to go get ready for school.
Derpy however, was already awake and was deciding on where to hide. She thought about hiding in one of his side pockets on his pants, but the thought of him reaching in and finding out where she was put that idea down. She may be clumsy, but she wasn’t stupid. She kept pondering on where to hide when her eyes finally rested on his backpack.
His bag reminded her of the saddle-bags back home except much larger and appeared to be a little more spacious too. She figured she could hide away in there while still being relatively comfortable. She was about to make her move when Don came back into the room. He grabbed his wallet and keys along with this phone then moved over to his backpack and opened it up to switch out books for the day.
He stood up and pondered for a moment, thinking about what he was forgetting. He snapped his fingers and left the room again. Derpy took this opportunity and made her move. She carefully slid from under the blanket, keeping the little dome she made intact, and quickly flew towards his backpack. She looked it over taking note of the numerous pockets on it wondering which one to hide in when suddenly she heard his footsteps get closer and quickly flew into the main storage pocket.
He returned and slid his notebook into his backpack before zipping it up and heaving it over his shoulder. As he walked out, he stopped at the doorway and looked back at the bed.
“Bye Derpy, I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he paused and looked down, “I’m sorry I couldn’t take you with me.” He said quietly.
He opened the door to his parent’s room slightly. “Taking off mom, be back later this afternoon.”
There was a brief shuffle, “Okay, see you after I get home from work.” Came the reply.
He closed the door and headed out towards his car.
He sighed, sitting in the driver’s seat for a couple of seconds. “Another day, another boring time at school…” He thought before turning on the car.
Derpy felt the rumble of the engine coming to life and figured that Don was ready to start his journey to school. She heard something click and something else seemingly drop into place. She stood atop one of his books and looked through a small hole where he didn’t thoroughly close the zipper. She saw what appeared to be the interior of a carriage except a lot sleeker and sturdy looking, very futuristic according to Equestrian standards.
The sudden movements of the car made the books shift and made her roll around inside the bag. This continued on for a few minutes before the ride became smooth. In fact, the ride was so smooth that the sounds of the road began to make her feel drowsy. Soon enough, she let out a yawn and slowly curled into a ball and began to sleep.
After some time, there was a sudden jolt which made her wake up with a start. The rumbling stopped and she heard a door open. Don must have arrived to school by now. It was time to see what kind of world he had beyond his house walls.
-
He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder and adjusted the straps and took note of the weight.
“I wonder why I keep buying these books for class. It’s not like we ever use them anyways.” He thought. “I swear, professors insist that we get them and what do we do? Not use them. Ever. Whoever invented college text books must have been one hell of a scam artist.”
He made one last check of his pockets to make sure he had everything. “Maybe I should have become famous, then I wouldn’t have to go to college. Oh, who am I kidding, the last thing I need is someone or groups of people following me around everywhere.”
“Yeah, that would be weird.”
-
She felt Don walking, and took this chance to take her first glimpse of the outside. Before her was a whole different world. There were many buildings like the big cities back in Equestria, however there was something different about them. It wasn’t their architecture but the sort of the ambiance they gave off. Whatever it was, it certainly made her curious. Of course, being only three inches tall, one would be amazed by such a sight anyway.
They passed through buildings and under canopies and eventually made their way through the Student Union. She had retreated back into the backpack and watched everything through the small window the bag provided. She really wanted to keep her head out, but Don’s warning on how people would react was still fresh in her mind.
She became distracted when he started walking past a small shop the union had, and noticed that there were muffins on one of the racks. She gave out a small gasp and looked harder, however, her view was quickly becoming obscured due to Don’s speed.
She reached out a hoof towards the pastries, “Muffins…” she said slightly saddened, “I’ll be back for you…”
-
He sat down in the lounge; he was the first one there, he always was. But there was something about the quiet time before the hustle and bustle of the day that was soothing to him. He set his bag down and sat on one of the sofas,
“Silence is golden.” He thought taking in the tranquility. He was about to doze off when a sudden thought hit him.
“Shoot, I should get outta here before- “
“Hey man, you ready to see awesome??” Came the all too familiar voice of Lewis.
“FFFFUUUUUUUUU-“ Don mentally screamed but then he had an idea. “Oh, Hey man, I got an exam to study for so-“
Lewis only waved a hand, “And nothing helps you study more than binge watching shows. Its scientifically proven you know.”
“I don’t think that’s how science works.” Don said flatly.
-
Derpy poked her head out of the backpack again. She noticed she was inside another room now and was surrounded by tables and other gigantic furniture. She scanned the area and came to the conclusion it was empty enough to venture a bit, but not too far from the safe confines of the backpack. She crawled through the hole she peered from and tumbled down into a sitting position. She sat there disoriented from the fall before shaking her head and dismissing the current discombobulation.
She spread out her wings letting out a small grunt as she felt her muscles stretch after being confined for a better portion of the morning. She then did some pre-flight stretches before exploring.
After her light calisthenics, she decided to take a better look around the room. There were large cushioned chairs, sofas off to one side, and tables presumably used for eating and whatever other multipurpose tasks. She began to question why Don didn’t let her come in the first place since there were all sorts of nooks and crannies to hide in.
Just then a door swung open which caused her to jump and quickly hide in the bag again. She peered out and saw two other humans walk by.
“On second thought, maybe I should stay near Don’s bag. I don’t feel like getting stepped on.” She said to herself. She supposed she could’ve just flown out of the way, but that alone could bring her unwanted attention.
She spent the next hour exploring the general area staying hidden within the shadows of the furniture all the while staying within a safe distance of the backpack. Each time someone would come in, she would quickly dart towards the bag and hide.
Eventually, she heard a familiar voice;
“Well, I gotta go man, it’s class time.” Don said.
“Oh hey, how about that, sorry man, and you needed to study for that test, but you know, once you get me going about IV’s and move sets, it’s hard to stop me.” Lewis said.
“Test? Oh, right, the test, yeah, about that, it got canceled.”
Lewis recoiled in confusion, “What? How would you know? You didn’t check anything while you were poorly defending Paras.”
There was a brief moment of awkward silence. “I still think Paras is a good-“
“No, it’s not. I’m killing this dream right now. But you never answered my question about-“
“Well, gotta go, that test isn’t gonna fill itself out y’know so I’ll be seeing you around.”
Derpy jumped back into Don’s bag just as he made his way over. She felt herself being lifted off the ground and onto his back again. She felt him travel for a couple of minutes before she peeked out again. She gasped when she saw hundreds of humans walking about and going to various places. This was a much different picture than it was an hour before with the campus quiet and dead, but now full of life and noise.
-
He entered one of the buildings again and rounded through the hallways to his designated classroom.
He set down his bag and sighed, “Hooray, History of Mexico, now I get to hear about more terrible things the Spanish did to the indigenous people of its land. I wonder what we’ll hear about this time? Forcefully taking property? Racial Oppression? Both? Find out this and more this week on History Channel!”
“Now that’s popcorn worthy.”
He put his head in his hand, “Could this day possibly get any worse?” Just then his professor walked in.
-
“Good Morning Class,” He said. There were a few uncharismatic good mornings in response. “Well, it seems as if no one got any sleep last night, what a shame, and here I thought I would have an exciting lecture.”
He opened his briefcase and brought out some notes, “Now, where we last left off, we were discussing the Enconmienda System and how the Spanish immediately cut off the head of the native governments and put on their own ‘head’ of government…”
Don made a small grimace at the colorful analogy the professor had used, but he didn’t expect anything less from the history professors around this college. They were a strange bunch; a little TOO excited about their own fields. Then again, that was the entire liberal arts college was like that.
He dismissed the thought and unzipped his backpack
“SURPRISE!” Derpy yelled while standing on her hind legs and waving her forehooves.
“WHAT THE FU-“ Don clasped his mouth and bag shut and looked around. The entire class and the professor were looking at him, and he could’ve sworn they were shooting daggers as well.
He sat there in awkward silence and gave a visible gulp trying to quickly think of something.
“Uh, Well… um… there’s a…you see… I… have… It’s kinda… theres…Spider… in bag…”
The whole class still only stared at him waiting for a coherent explanation.
“E-excuse me!” Don said while getting up and quickly exiting the classroom.
-
He ran towards a bathroom kicking open the door. He made a quick scan to see if anyone was there before opening the bag and Derpy flew out.
“DERPY WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! I TOLD YOU TO STAY HOME!” Don yelled.
“I was bored and I wanted to see what you did during the day!” She replied.
“What if someone sees you?! Do you realize what kind of consequences there would be?!”
He froze immediately when her heard a toilet flush and a door open. He turned and looked only to see someone staring at him with a completely bewildered face at what he was seeing. The only thing that Don could think about were two words:
“Oh crap…”