Truth and Reality
Several days had passed since the moist-towelette incident and Don tried his best to forget about it, but it would haunt him for the rest of his life. As he sat in class, he tried his best to stay awake and take notes only to find himself dozing off only to be awaked by the sudden jerk of gravity on his head.
“I really need to stay awake but it’s so BORING.”
He looked over at Derpy who was looking around the class as well as keeping her ears forward towards the professor.
He continued to painstakingly listen to the lecture. It wasn’t that the professor himself was boring, but more that the content of the lesson was. He was lucky that the professor didn’t have a monotone voice like some others did.
Actually, if he could describe the professor’s voice, it would be in a “as a matter-of-factly staccato voice”. Which in turn played into Don’s belief that this particular person was a little TOO into their field, much like some of the other college professors. He noticed that most of them were either crazy, or monotonous, there was no in-between.
He still hadn’t decided which was better.
“The Spanish sought to expand their colonies by seeking out the boundaries of the new world.” The professor said.
Don glanced down at Derpy again and noticed she was fully engrossed in the lecture. This was probably the first time another being would learn about human history and expansion into other lands; this had to be special moment or something to somebody somewhere.
“However, they didn’t account for how large the continent was nor did they count on getting lost along the way as well,”
Don scribbled something into his notes vaguely reiterating what the professor just said.
“Subsequently, their supplies dwindled and one of the first things to be consumed in desperation, unfortunately, was their faithful steeds.”
“WHAT?!”
Don froze at Derpy’s sudden outburst. He looked down at her and found she was standing and had a scowl on her face.
“Sweet Baby Jesus have mercy, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” he mentally shouted at the professor.
She was dumbfounded by what she just heard.
“How could they do such a thing?! And to such innocent ponies?!” She said as she stared into Don’s face, her rage plain as day.
“HOW COULD THEY?!”
He sat there unsure of what to do. He shifted his eyes around the room as if looking for somebody to help him with the current dilemma.
“Can we please discuss this later?” He asked in a low gritted tone.
“NO! THEY WERE HARDWORKING AND LOYAL AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS?! THEY GET EATEN!” She yelled.
He sank into his seat as Derpy continued to assault him by demanding answers. It was then the professor looked up and noticed Don’s uncomfortable look.
“Oh my, is everything alright over there?” He asked.
“Not…exactly?” Don replied while tugging at the collar of his shirt.
“What seems to be the problem Señor Lacson? Is the eating of equines not sitting well with you?”
“Um, you could say that…” Don said while Derpy was still in his face yelling.
“Oh my, well this isn’t the first time something like this happened in history, in fact, in some cultures-“
“NOT HELPING!” Don yelled and quickly grabbed Derpy from midair.
“Um, I need to excuse myself for a moment.” He continued before getting out of his seat and quickly leaving the room.
“Well, that was certainly interesting,” The professor said, “I’ve never had a student be that disturbed before by this particular bit of information. Perhaps I should direct him to Student Psychological and Counseling Services…”
-
Don burst into the restroom again and made a quick sweep of the room to make sure no one was in there before releasing Derpy.
“Okay, listen,” he said while pinching the bridge of his nose, “I understand that humans eating horses is a huge shock to you, but I want you to know that I find that completely disgusting and I don’t support such a thing.”
He was greeted with silence. He looked around slightly confused.
“Where’d you go?” he asked.
He continued visually searching the room before resting his eyes behind the water faucet. He saw Derpy trying to hide from him, albeit vainly, behind the metal fixture where she clutched it and eyed him with fear and anger. He also noticed that she was shaking too.
“You’re not going to eat me are you?”
“Come on out, I wouldn’t dream of eating you nor would I allow anyone else to eat you. I promise.” He said while sighing.
“Pinkie Promise?” she asked a bit apprehensively.
“Please don’t make me do that oath.” He said.
“Then I’m not moving.”
The two stood there for a full minute staring each other down.
“Don, you’re in a Mexican Standoff with a three-inch tall pegasus in the men’s room, I don’t think you can go any lower from here on out.”
He let out a frustrated growl.
“Alright fine…Cross my heart, hope to fly, and stick a cupcake in my eye.” He said while doing the motions.
There was a sudden flush and a stall door swung open. A student came into a view and washed his hands and noticed the shocked Don holding his hand over his right eye.
“Nice, a Pinkie Promise. Brohoof.” Was all the student said and fist bumped Don and left.
“What...just happened?”
-
The rest of the day progressed as it usually did and before long the two were on their way back to Don’s house. They sat in silence for a while before Derpy decided to speak up.
“Don, I notice that you sleep a lot in your classes, why is that?” She asked.
He thought for a moment, while keeping his gaze on the road.
“I guess it’s because I’m tired. I do wake up at six every morning.”
She pondered this for a moment and nodded,
“Yeah, but you also don’t take very good notes either, what happens you take a test?”
This particular question hit home a bit for him, as he quickly had a flashback of every test he took throughout his entire school career.
“I…usually either barely passed or failed.” He said after a few seconds of silence.
“Why?”
“I… don’t know, I guess it’s because I don’t have very good study habits, I never really developed them.”
She continued to press further,
“And why is that?”
He continued to think further into his earlier years before speaking.
“Can we not talk about this? That’s something I’d rather not discuss.”
She only pressed on,
“C’mon there has to be a reason for that, I mean, everybody loves to learn. Back home, all the little fillies and colts run towards the school and can’t wait for the day to start-“
“BECAUSE I DIDN’T CARE ALRIGHT?!” He yelled.
Derpy was shocked at the sudden outburst.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to constantly be badgered to do better when all I wanted to do was just be a kid?!” He said staring straight ahead before continuing,
“You have great potential Don, why are you wasting a bright mind like yours on games and comics?” He said in a semi-mocking tone.
He let out a frustrated sigh and continued,
“My parents didn’t realize that forcing me to do such things would only drive me further away from my education.”
“And you didn’t tell them anything?” She asked.
“They wouldn’t have listened to me otherwise. I’m just a kid, what would I know?” He said.
There was a full minute of silence.
“But you know what hurt the most…?” he said in a low tone.
She looked up at him and noticed all the frustration in his eyes.
“What?” she asked.
“That I wasn’t good enough.”
“That’s not true…”
“Then what else is it then? I come home with a C on an assignment, and I thought I did alright, and you know what I’m told? ‘Why don’t you get a B next time?’… I guess that wasn’t good enough. Which was fair. It was a C.”
“Well…”
“And then I’d come home with a B and then I’d get told ‘Why don’t you shoot for an A?’…I guess my B wasn’t good enough.”
“I don’t-“
“And then I’d finally come home with an A. DAMN. A. AND YOU KNOW WHAT I GET TOLD?!‘WHY DON’T YOU GO FOR A PERFECT SCORE?!’ I GUESS MY ‘A’ WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH.”
Silence from Derpy.
“At that point, I got in my head that if I wasn’t going to be good enough…why would I bother trying….” He said defeated.
More silence.
“Then the punishments came in for not doing well. They took everything from me. TV, games, pretty much everything you could think of.”
“I’m…sorry…”
“There was one thing they couldn’t take from me though…”
“What was that…?”
“They couldn’t take my imagination. I learned how to use it during that time. How to dream, cultivate ideas, think differently.”
She listened intently.
“But…” he stopped.
“But what?”
“I couldn’t bring my ideas to life.”
She understood now. Even though he had made it to college and was doing well enough to stay afloat, it was this very regret along with all the weight from what happened to him before that was holding him back.
“I had no skills Derpy. I couldn’t draw, write stories. I didn’t have any of those talents. Which is probably why I chose a field that does a lot of research papers. Just quote somebody else, give them credit and you do just fine.”
There was a moment of silence between the two as she processed all that was just said while he relived some painful memories.
“I’m going to help you Don.” She said quietly.
“Hmm?”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
“You may not have skills to do any of the things you like, but I’m going to help you be the best student you can!” she said triumphantly.“I’ll help you by improving your study habits and keeping awake in class.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary-“
“Of course it’s necessary! I promised I would help you and I will!”
“What have I got myself into?”