Friday.
It was invariably the most popular day among the younger residents of Ponyville and Cheerilee didn’t have to wonder why.
It wasn’t unusual, come Friday at three-fifteen, for a miniature stampede to erupt in the schoolhouse as her students pushed and shoved one another in a bid to reach the door –and the freedom of a weekend- first.
Cheerilee didn’t mind the thundering of tiny hooves or the hurried goodbyes she received as the bell signaled dismissal. She knew their exuberance at leaving didn’t reflect poorly on her abilities as a teacher. It was simply that school was school and no matter how fun she made it, the vast majority of colts and fillies would rather have a life that was all play and no work.
And as the crush of students made their way out the door and into the sunshine, Cheerilee would take the time to tidy up her classroom, picking up stray papers, sweeping the floor, reshelving books -- All those mundane things that needed to be done come the end of the week. The exodus of students and the cleaning were simply routine things that had happened every Friday since Cheerilee took her post as school teacher.
“…Miss Cheerilee?”
What was unusual was turning to find Rumble still standing beside his desk, pawing nervously at the floor.
Rumble was one of her best students. Not because he was particularly academically inclined, but because he was a hard worker who asked thoughtful questions and turned in all his assignments on time. Though usually quiet, he did get rambunctious from time to time –like the time he’d flown in so wound after an exciting kickball game during recess that he’d crashed into the wall opposite the door- but mostly, he was a dear who never gave her any trouble.
He had also never stayed after class for any reason.
Cheerilee smiled warmly, setting the book in her mouth on her desk. “Is there something I can help you with, Rumble?” She asked, taking a step towards the seemingly nervous colt. He had glanced up at her, but only briefly; his eyes were darting around the room and he continued to shuffle awkwardly.
“I was wondering…” He murmured, one hoof rising to scratch at the back of his neck, his little wings twitching a bit, “Um, it’s my turn for Family Appreciation Day next week…Can I bring somepony who’s not really family but kind of like family?”
“Like who?” Cheerilee wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but whatever it was, it wasn’t that. Thunderlane had been a shoo-in for Family Appreciation Day the previous school year and with the way Rumble went on and on about his big brother, she’d been expecting a repeat appearance by the weather pony.
Rumble was quiet for a moment, still fidgeting. “Um…Derpy.” He finally answered, looking up at Cheerilee, wide-eyed and hopeful.
“Derpy?” The mare blinked, taken a bit aback. Why in Equestria would he…?
“Yeah…She, um, she’s kinda like family.” The words tumbled out in a rush, Rumble attempting to explain why he wanted to bring the goofy, clumsy pegasus to speak to the class. “She’s lived at our house for over three years and she’s been Thunderlane’s special somepony since last winter…And she’s just…really cool, Miss Cheerilee, only nopony knows it ‘cause nopony ever pays much attention to her except to make fun of her or get annoyed when she screws up.” He dropped his gaze back to the wooden slats of the floor, shoulders hunching a bit, ears flattened, “And it’s, I dunno, not really fair. Especially since she doesn’t have her own family here and never gets to do things like this…”
“Rumble.”
At the sound of his name, the colt glanced back up, not sure what to expect. Catching sight of the warm, wide smile gracing his teacher’s face, Rumble relaxed, sitting back on his haunches and offering a questioning smile of his own.
“I think it’s a fine idea.” Cheerilee continued. And really, she did. The fact that Rumble so selflessly thought of another pony said a lot for his character, not to mention the fact that, well, he was right. Nopony bothered much with the incredibly awkward Derpy and she didn’t often get invited anywhere due to fear that she would inadvertently wreck something. “And I suppose I can allow honorary family members to attend, especially since Thunderlane came last year.”
“And my mom and dad are kinda boring.” Rumble reminded her, nodding sagely. The previous year, there had been no question of who to invite. The colt idolized his big brother, whom he saw as one of the coolest, fastest, most amazing pegasi in the world. His mom and dad, on the other hoof…Well, they were just his mom and dad.
Though she tried not to, Cheerilee couldn’t help smiling at that. What was it they said? Out of the mouths of foals…
“But Derpy’s not!” Rumble plowed on, gaining enthusiasm with every word, his grin widening, “She’s been so many places and done lots of neat stuff. And she’s really good at telling stories and her stories always got other stories inside ‘em. And I really just…” Here he paused, expression folding down into something more thoughtful, one ear flicked back, “I want other ponies to get to know her like me and Thunderlane and Mom and Dad do. I think they’ll like her if they’d just give her a chance.”
“So ask her, then.” Cheerilee’s expression softened, her heart warming at the thought. Rumble really was a sweet little colt and his determination to help his friend was admirable. “The worst she could do is say no.”
-
When Rumble arrived at home later that afternoon, he found Derpy plopped on the porch.
She was sitting on her rump, forelegs planted solidly on the wooden floorboards. One of her hind legs was splayed out at an odd angle, though she didn’t seem too uncomfortable in such an awkward position. In fact, she didn’t seem aware of much at all; her gaze was fixed off in some odd direction, her head canted to the side.
Rumble, used to her peculiarities by then, simply followed her gaze, noticing for the first time the dark clouds gathering in the distance.
Then he shrugged, trotting up the two steps separating him from the porch. “Hey Derpy,” Sometimes, Rumble had a hard time approaching her; sometimes she had a strange, magical quality about her that he hated to disturb. It was much easier to talk to her when Thunderlane was around and she was more focused, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Thunderlane?”
She half-looked at him, her other eye still fixed on the dark swirl of storm clouds amassed on the horizon. “Working.” Her voice was low, sing-song, and she raised a hoof in a vague gesture, “There’s a storm tonight. Storm team’s on overtime and Thunderlane is busy prepping the clouds.” She smiled, a small, secret smile, still not turning to look fully at Rumble. “Gonna be a doozy of a storm.”
“…Oh.” Rumble wasn’t quite sure what to do. He knew she loved storms; she always parked herself somewhere with an unobstructed view, especially when there was lightning involved. The colt wasn’t quite sure why she enjoyed a raging squall so much – Personally, he found lightning a bit frightening, though he would never admit it. But Derpy was fascinated by the process of creating a storm – a job she was rarely pulled for because nopony wanted her too close to a fully-charged storm cloud.
Talking to her would be hard with the distraction of the weather.
Rumble crossed the porch, sat by her -quiet for a moment- and just watched her. All of her attention was once again riveted on the distant clouds, her posture suddenly ramrod straight as a tongue of lightning licked at the treetops.
And then came the rain, creating a dark curtain in the distance. It would be a while before the storm team got all of the clouds situated over town, but storm clouds were touchy and often let loose before they were fully in place.
Rumble glanced over at the dark mass of clouds, trying to understand what Derpy saw in the gloomy weather.
When he unconsciously jumped at another flash of lightning and a boom of thunder, she leaned over, placing a hoof around his shoulders and drawing the little colt close to her side.
“It’s okay.” She said simply, taking a moment to look away from the storm on the horizon and down at him.
He returned her gaze, blinking grey-violet eyes up at her. Then he looked away, ashamed, a blush rising in his cheeks. It was his family’s business, making storms, and he hated the fact that the end results scared him. He’d never told anypony about his fear of thunder and lightning – Somehow, Derpy just knew.
She smiled at the back of his head, snuggling him even closer. “I’m not gonna tell anypony, you know.” And really, she wouldn’t. Everypony had their weaknesses and Derpy was not one to exploit somepony else’s shortcomings. “It can be our secret.”
Rumble remained quiet for a moment, leaning into her side. She was warm –she was always warm- and smelled fresh, like bubble bath. And she was the best snuggler he had ever met, hooves down. Even better than his mom, who had always cuddled with him when he was little.
Sometimes, when she was doing strange things, he wondered why Thunderlane liked her so much.
At times like these, however, Rumble knew why his brother had taken so well to the clumsy, kind-hearted mare.
“Derpy?” Feeling comfortable nestled at her side –as well as certain he had her attention for the moment- he broke the silence that had fallen over them, thinking it was the right time to ask her about Family Appreciation Day. “Will you come to school with me next week?”
She cocked her head, a confused look crossing her face, one brow quirking upwards. “Why?”
“For Family Appreciation Day…” He mumbled, shyly looking away. He was close enough to her to hide his face in her wing, pressing his muzzle into her downy feathers. “I want you to come and talk to my class.”
There was a long silence and if he had looked, Rumble would have been able to see to near-comical width of her eyes, her mouth hanging open in surprise. Nopony ever invited Derpy to do anything remotely important, like speak to a class of foals with bright futures. The majority of the townsponies seemed to be in some unspoken agreement about her ability to handle things well – namely that she was incapable of such a thing. Because of that, she was rarely asked to participate in town events that were invite-only.
“…Really?” Her voice was a whisper, her eyes still wide. It didn’t matter that she’d been spending more and more time with the family proper since she and Thunderlane had started dating – Derpy had never imagined anypony might consider her a part of their family. “You want…me? Why?”
He pulled away at that, backing up to look at her fully, eyes sparkling. “Why wouldn’t I?” He wriggled a little, excited, “You’re awesome! And if you talk to my class, they’ll all know so too! If you come and tell everypony one of your really neat stories, they’re all gonna see that you’re really, really cool.”
“…” There was another very long pause as Derpy continued blinking, just staring down at the eager colt, mouth still hanging open. How could he think…? There was no way! She knew what some of the other ponies said about her. She even knew that some of them had been giving Thunderlane a hard time about her, because what would a dependable, hard-working stallion want with clumsy, accident-prone her? Not that she necessarily thought they were right, but…Nopony would mistake her for awesome. “…I’m not cool.” She finally managed to squeak out.
“I think you are!” Rumble stated firmly, brows drawing together, a frown tugging the corners of his mouth downwards, “You’re really special, Derpy. And I just want all those other ponies to know it too.”
He sounded so sure of himself; so confident. But how could he know a thing like that for sure when she herself was so uncertain?
All of her life, other ponies had been poking fun at her. Her parents, her schoolmates, her neighbors, even most of her so-called friends…Her absolute, one-hundred-percent certainty that everypony merely tolerated her was the reason she’d left Cloudsdale in the first place; no matter how friendly other pegasi had appeared, she’d always harbored suspicions that they were laughing at her behind her back.
Her parents –both prominent members of the Weather Control Bureau- had been the worst, always picking, picking, picking at her. They had never come right out and said she was a disappointment, but Derpy was smarter than everypony assumed. She could easily see the looks they exchanged when she brought home less than satisfactory marks on school papers. She understood the hidden meaning behind their words; things like “you can do better next time” really meant “you didn’t do well enough this time.” And when she had just barely qualified for a position in the weather factory’s packing and distribution department…Derpy swore she’d heard the sound of her mother’s heart shattering.
For all of their money and influence in Cloudsdale, Diamond Dust and Cloud Burst had not been able to give their only child the things she really needed. While Derpy had never been lacking in possessions, her parents had failed to provide her with support and attention and even a decent name. And with each time she had disappointed them, her self-confidence had waned, leaving her an uncertain mare who often tripped herself up.
Derpy had tried –she really had!- to live up to their expectations and make them proud. And though she had discovered many things she was good at, they could never measure up to her mother’s graceful flight capabilities or her father’s confident leadership. She was too awkward, too slow, too fluff-brained.
Life in Cloudsdale had been almost unbearable for the clumsy pegasus and she’d taken it upon herself to leave.
And that was how –three and nearly-a-half years later- she found herself here, in Ponyville, sitting on a wooden porch, an expectant colt looking up at her hopefully.
“Please?” Rumble was giving her the big, shiny puppy-dog eyes that only the most adorable of foals could ever pull off.
She sighed, glancing once again off into the direction of the wall of clouds approaching the town. Watching the storm unfold suddenly held no appeal, because somewhere beyond that grey curtain was Cloudsdale, and somewhere beyond that…
She shook her head a little, attempting to banish her own stormy thoughts and forcing both her eyes to look the same way, down at Rumble. “…I’ll think about it.”