//------------------------------// // Once Upon a Time... // Story: We're Gonna Get There Soon // by Cranberry Muffin //------------------------------// The entryway was big, compared to that of the old house, and especially in the eyes of the tiny grey pegasus glancing around, wide-eyed. When her dad had said they were moving to a new house, she had never imagined something quite so big and stately, though it shouldn’t have surprised her, knowing her mother’s taste in, well, everything. This house, the filly knew, was what her mother had always envisioned. Her father, always ambitious, had just recently been promoted to head of the storm department at the Weather Control Bureau. Instead of the supervisory position he’d already been in, he was given control of the entire department, overseeing others who held his former position and making sure all storms were shipped and implemented in a timely fashion. He was responsible for tracking the storm quality of all villages, boroughs and cities Cloudsdale provided for. It was a very important job and with the promotion there had been a very substantial pay increase. Cloud Burst had taken the opportunity to move his small family to a very large house in the premier neighborhood of Cloudsdale. Upon arrival at the new home, he’d waited just long enough for the movers to settle his roll top desk in his study, then disappeared into the room himself with a carton of files from the office. His wife was busy conferring with both the movers and the interior decorator at the same time, bellowing directions at the former and twittering excitedly with the latter. Now that she was finally where she wanted to be, in her dream house, everything had to be perfect and just so. She was rushing everywhere, making sure boxes were delivered to the proper rooms; that furniture was arranged just so. And yet, despite the flurry of activity around her, Diamond Dust looked perfectly groomed and composed as always. Their daughter was left alone, pretty much forgotten. Surprisingly, she didn’t mind. With her parents occupied, the little filly was left to explore the cavernous cloud house on her own, trotting slowly through the white halls and peeking in to rooms. Almost everywhere in the house there was activity; the movers hurrying around to take care of her mother’s things, her mother a whorl of dignified energy, inspecting the rooms, the interior decorator trailing behind her, pausing now and again to jot notes on a clipboard. Her mother was half-ignoring the decorator as well, sometimes stopping to snap at a mover who wasn’t working quite up to her standards. The decorator looked torn between excitement at such a big job and terror at the thought of possibly upsetting Diamond Dust. The filly, knowing full well that she needed to stay out from underhoof, easily found the room that was to be hers; the room now home to childish things that only fleetingly held her interest, her picture books, her soft bed and favorite blanket, and more toys than a single foal could ever need. Everything was still packed in boxes and she knew her parents –busy with their own projects- wouldn’t think to come help her unpack, so she set to the task herself. She stepped fully into the room, heading for the nearest box and nosing it open. Inside was her bedding, soft, warm sheets and a downy comforter. Those things, she knew, would be best left for the end, just in case she accidentally made a mess with anything else. Instead, she moved on, and began the task of sorting through her toys and deciding which she would still play with and which could be buried in the bottom of her toy chest. Her books were sorted with care, arranged almost neatly on the shelf – As neat as she could get them, in any case. After making her bed to the best of her ability –the sheets were somewhat lopsided- she stopped to catch her breath, taking a moment to look out the rounded window at the sprawling neighborhood she now lived in. The rest of the houses were all just as big and one even had a fancy rainbow fountain in front. It was a very different place from where they had lived before, but she knew…Nothing would change. Sighing, the filly flopped on her haphazardly-made bed, burrowing under the blanket and waiting for sleep to claim her. ~~ “Wait…Your family is rich?” Derpy’s eyes slid open at the incredulous voice from somewhere in the back of the room. She glanced about, searching for the source of the question and finding it came from the very same purple-maned pegasus filly who’d been passing the note as she began her tale. “My parents are.” She confirmed, both eyes fixed fully on the ash-colored face of the filly, “But that isn’t really important to the story, ‘cause I learned early on that money isn’t the answer to everything.” The filly frowned, brows knitting. She looked like she was about to say something else, but Derpy quietly continued, effectively silencing her. “My parents have a lot of money, yes. And they got me lots of stuff, too. They gave me everything they thought a little pony might want, ‘cept for the thing I needed most. They didn’t spend much time with me and they didn’t try to help me at all. They were ashamed of my weaknesses and instead of spending their bits to help me deal with my problems, they showered me with toys and left me mostly on my own.” She rose, then, trotting down the row of desks, until she stood right before the little pegasus who’d questioned her. She was a tomboyish little thing, her dark mane cropped short, and she looked tough, like the type who would only need a push in the wrong direction to become a bully. And though Derpy knew that she shouldn’t judge others on appearance, she couldn’t help but think this filly looked the part of the schoolyard tormentor. When their eyes met, the filly snorted a little. “I’d be happy with toys and stuff.” She scoffed, turning up her nose and folding her forelegs atop her desk. “I’d have been happier with parents who had time for me.” Derpy just shook her head, thinking for a moment about how someday the little pony would realize there were things more important in life than just ‘stuff’. “But you know? In the end, it was okay, because I found something way better.” ~~ The next morning dawned much like every other morning in Cloudsdale, different only for one reason: It was the filly’s first day at her new flight school. It was a better school than her old one; nicer, private, and with higher expectations. The other students came from this affluent neighborhood; all of them had money and good breeding. They came from families of strong flyers, influential bloodlines and important positions in Cloudsdale. She knew her parents had high hopes, a fact that left her extremely nervous. She wasn’t a strong flyer, nor was she an exceptional student. In fact, her flying was mostly cockeyed and loopy; she even sometimes had trouble staying aloft. And when she did manage to remain in the air, it took all of her focus to remain in the air; if her lazy eye wandered, she was bound to crash. And her academic skills were mediocre at best. It often took her longer than the average foal to figure out the mathematics and physics necessary for smooth flight. And she didn’t really understand the science behind the elements that fueled Equestria’s seasons, though she was decent enough at practice labs to create the weather. She knew she was going to leave her parents just as disappointed at this fancy school as she had at her old one. And with that thought weighing heavy on her mind, she stepped out the front door, pretty much unaware of her surroundings, setting her up perfectly for the events that were about to unfold. Instead of the usual pale robin’s egg blue sky that greeted most residents of Cloudsdale, she was met with a blur of snowy white and blinding lemony-yellow, a blur comprised of flailing limbs, curly hair, and frantically flapping wings that greeted her with an exuberant “HIIIII!” Startled, the grey filly fell with a gentle thud on her rump, sending up a puff of clouds. She stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the stranger, who had stopped moving long enough to be identified as another filly about her own age, one with big, violet eyes and a mass of curly mane and tail in a peculiar almost-green shade of yellow. “Hi!” She squeaked happily, prancing in place before the bewildered grey filly, wings fluttering. She was a bundle of energy and excitement, her skinny limbs flailing nonstop. “You’re the new foal, right? My dad knows your dad from work and he said there’d be a foal my age moving in and I’ve been soooooo excited ‘cause nopony else from my class lives here and all my brothers and sisters are older and boring and I’m Surprise what’s your name?” ~~ “Hold up a sec!” This time it was Scootaloo who spoke, breaking the flow of the story and causing all eyes to swivel in her direction as she practically leapt on top of her desk, “Are you talking about the Surprise? Like, the Wonderbolt?” Derpy grinned, unfurling her wings and ruffling them a bit, not at all bothering to make even an attempt at hiding her pride. It wasn’t everyday a pony could claim to know a Wonderbolt and she was certain nopony had ever expected her to know one personally. “The one and only.” She paused, letting that fact sink in, glancing once again about the room and this time delighting in the disbelief lighting the faces of the schoolponies. “Of course, when I met Surprise, she was a long, long way from being a Wonderbolt.” A ripple of excited chatter broke out through the room, the foals all squealing with delight and wonder. One voice, however, rose above the rest, that of a pink filly with a delicate crown sitting atop her mane. “I don’t believe that.” She said flatly, “Surprise is…she’s somepony. She’s rich and famous and amazingly talented. And you’re just a nopony. I don’t believe you really know her.” Derpy was quiet for a moment, taking in those words and nodding slowly. She let the snooty foal finish, watching silently as the filly’s pink muzzle turned upwards. This was the same filly who had laughed with her friend the other day as Derpy lay dazed in the grass; the same breed of filly she had just told Rumble he should ignore. “Nopony is born great; we all start out the same, small and helpless,” She replied, tone mild, “It’s actions and words that make you somepony, not how or where you were born. Surprise is famous because she’s worked hard to get there. She didn’t get where she is by treating other ponies like they were garbage and she didn’t get her amazing talent because she was born into money.” “And besides,” She went on, smiling, eyes slipping shut again as she thought about all of the fun and excitement the white pegasus had brought in to her life, “I went to the Grand Galloping Gala and hung out in the VIP area. I was in the Best Young Flyers Competition. I even got invited to the royal wedding in Canterlot. How do you think I did all those things? My mom and dad certainly didn’t invite me…It was Surprise.” ~~ In the midst of trying to process the dizzying pace of the words flowing from Surprise’s mouth, the little filly suddenly realized her foreleg was being pumped up and down in an exuberant hoofshake and that she should probably say something, given that Surprise was beaming at her expectantly. “Hi…” Her voice -one of the many things she was constantly teased about, because it was somewhat stuffy and coltish- was quiet and she lowered her head, mumbling down at the clouds beneath her hooves, “’M Derpy.” She braced herself for laughter, the laughter that always came, because her voice was all wrong for a filly and other foals teased her accordingly. She didn’t talk often in front of others, choosing instead to simply fade into the background. Or once they learned it, other small ponies often made fun of the unfortunate name her parents had bestowed upon her. Or –worst of all- they snickered about her wandering gaze, her unsteady gait, her awkward flying. Anything and everything about her had been fair game at her old school; the other students had been merciless in their teasing. No laughter came, however, and it caught her off guard when Surprise gave her a shove, propelling her up and off in the direction she assumed the flight school was in. Her head lifted, eyes flying open as she floundered in the air for a moment, her stronger eye focused on Surprise. The other filly was beaming, eyes sparkling like twin amethysts in the morning sun. “C’mon,” She chirped, "you can fly to school with me!” And with that, Surprise looped around, dipping under Derpy and pushing her back upright, then grabbed her by the hoof, leaving the bewildered grey filly with no choice but to pump her wings in an effort to keep up with her as she flew.