//------------------------------// // Stand // Story: We're Gonna Get There Soon // by Cranberry Muffin //------------------------------// Sunday night, Derpy was early to the Weather Crew team meeting She had no real reason to, other than she wanted to be there to see Rainbow Dash before anypony else came and she knew the blue mare was prone to show up early. Twilight had drilled it into her head that, as the boss, she needed to be prepared for the meetings and apparently the lesson had stuck. Rainbow could often be found lounging around on a sofa in the meeting room come Sunday evenings, rereading the night’s agenda and munching on leftover snacks. And sure enough, when Derpy poked her head through the door to the meeting room, Rainbow was sprawled on the couch, chewing on something crunchy-sounding and shuffling through a stack of papers. But she wasn’t alone. The grey mare had forgotten to take into account the fact that it was close enough to meeting time for that Sunday’s snack provider to be there, setting up the snack table. Dust Devil, the very same Pegasus who’d been perusing Gingerbread’s goods the day before, was puttering around with a bowl of multicolored corn chips and some kind of brownish dip, inspecting the chips and picking out a couple broken ones, giving the dip a stir, and generally fidgeting with the containers of food, almost as if she were nervous about something. That was a feeling which Derpy could fully appreciate. Snack duty was nerve-racking, because everypony loved to eat and nopony wanted to eat a less-than-satisfactory snack. Both of them looked up at the sound of Derpy’s hooffalls as she entered the room, glancing hesitantly back and forth between them. “Hey, Derpy.” Across the room, Rainbow Dash spared her the briefest glance before turning her attention back to the sheaf of papers in her hooves. Dust Devil, on the other hoof, stopped what she was doing, turning fully to face the other mare. Derpy blinked, taking an uncertain step backwards as Dust Devil advanced towards her, an unreadable expression on her face. She didn’t really know the other mare at all; they’d never been assigned any work together and Derpy mostly kept to herself, both during work and her time off. And the non-expression on Dust Devil’s face was making her uneasy. “Derpy…” The slate-colored pegasus had a kind of low, throaty voice that suited her dull colors, and though her fuchsia eyes were hooded, they held a certain glimmer that suggested she was a mare who enjoyed excitement, “You got a minute?” The grey mare’s head bobbed, blonde mane bouncing around her face. She wasn’t sure what could come of this, but found herself curious – Had Dust Devil heard about her friendship with Surprise? Did she have some ulterior motive, knowing Derpy was close with a Wonderbolt? Or was it something else? Dust Devil sighed, sitting on her haunches, ears pasting themselves back against her skull. She exhaled, blowing a puff of her tangled, cottony mane out of her eyes. “Look…This isn’t easy to say,” she began, pausing and shaking her head a little, as if uncertain what exactly she wanted to say, “but, um, I heard my kid’s been talking smack about you and I wanted to say I’m sorry about that.” She lifted a hoof, scratching sheepishly at the back of her neck, her gaze focused somewhere to the side. “I…I’ll make sure she’s, um, not quite so misinformed in the future.” Derpy blinked, peering uncertainly at the other mare. She’d had no idea Dust Devil even had a special somepony, let alone a foal, and she suddenly couldn’t help but wonder if the filly in question was one of the schoolponies she’d spoken to the previous week. “Uh…That’s okay?” She replied softly, not sure what the other pegasus expected her to say, “I mean…foals say stuff they don’t really mean or understand…right?” “No, it’s…It’s really not okay.” Dust Devil’s shoulders sagged and she looked even further away, muttering, “Because she heard most of the…stuff from me.” “I…” Derpy was at a loss for words, just staring at the other mare, her heart once again plummeting. Everything that had been good suddenly seemed to evaporate, shrinking down to nothing at Dust Devil’s quiet admission. How had nothing changed at all, when everything had been changing so much? “I don’t…understand…” But really, she did. It was the same prejudice she’d faced nearly every day of her life, with somepony assuming things and spreading rumors, not bothering to find out the truth or care about the feelings of the pony being whispered about. Derpy shouldn’t have been surprised any more that it happened, but, somehow, she still was, every time. “Why…Why would you do something like that?” The grey mare continued, staring hard enough to draw Dust Devil’s gaze back up. When their eyes locked, the other pony looked surprised to find both of Derpy’s fixed squarely on her. “Why would you talk about me, like I’ll never find out?” “Well…” Dust Devil’s naturally quiet voice was even lower when she answered. She wanted to look away again, but found herself completely unable to; Derpy’s honey eyes were captivating, the intelligence behind her awkward gaze apparent, now that she was actually looking at the other pony. “Because I never thought you’d find out…” She replied lamely. More ponies were beginning to arrive then, crowding noisily through the door, ready to cast about for favorite seats and claim spaces for the different work teams. Derpy and Dust Devil were still close enough to the entryway that they were noticed almost immediately, and though the pre-meeting moments were usually lively and somewhat rowdy, an unusual hush fell over the crowd at the sight of the two greyish mares, one hunched and miserable looking, the other surprisingly confrontational. Derpy paid them no mind. Or perhaps she hadn’t even really registered their presence; she was so focused on figuring out why everypony talked about her rather than to her. For so many years, she had stood quietly by while other ponies made fun of her and it was neither right nor fair – What had she ever done to deserve it? Nothing. And she was done simply remaining idle while other ponies made her life difficult. She frowned at Dust Devil, brows drawing together, a look of utmost annoyance on her face. “My eyes might be a little weird, but my ears work just fine, you know.” At that, the room went utterly, completely silent. Derpy lifted her head, turning then to look over the cluster of pegasi behind her. Some of them were familiar, being the ponies she worked with every day, some were strangers whom she knew only as other weather ponies, and all of them were looking at her, expressions ranging from shame to surprise on their faces. “I know what everypony says about me,” Derpy’s voice cut through the heavy silence, and though she wanted nothing more than to slink away from the watchful eyes of the crowd, she hitched up her chin, forcing herself to stand tall and face them all, “that I’m clumsy and stupid and can’t do anything right. But that isn’t really true. I work really, really hard like all of you do. Maybe even harder than some of you, because I know I have to keep myself from making mistakes. I know I’m not perfect and that I have accidents sometimes. I know sometimes you all have to work harder when I goof up. But I don’t mean to do those things and everypony making fun of me and acting like I don’t realize when I mess up isn’t going to help. It’s…it’s not okay for you to talk about me like that, when you wouldn’t want anypony talking about you like that!” The silence returned with a vengeance then, as Derpy let her words drop off to nothing. Everypony was staring at her still, most of their eyes wide with shock, which left her surprised. How had they not realized that -though she was uncoordinated, slow, unique- she was no different from the rest of them? That she still heard and understood their cruel words; still felt the same feelings they experienced every day? Were they truly that stupid, that they thought her disabilities left her unable to understand that they made fun of her? How could they possibly think that she was stupid, when they were the ones who didn’t even understand that they were hurting her? Nopony spoke, and though it began quietly, the applause sounded thunderous from the very start. Derpy couldn’t see who began it –it started somewhere in the back of the room- though she suspected it was Raindrops who was stamping her hooves against the floor enthusiastically. But then, suddenly, something incredible happened, as other ponies –both friends and ponies she barely knew alike- joined in the applause, the sound of pounding hooves echoing through the room. Derpy glanced around, wide-eyed, taking in smiles and pride on the faces of her friends, approval lighting the eyes of other ponies, excitement sweeping through the room. Blossomforth was near the front of the crowd, beaming, her bangs bouncing across her forehead as she stomped her hooves against the floor, and there suddenly was Raindrops pushing her way through the throng to the front, a pleased smile on her face. Derpy grinned back at them, eyes dancing, and bowed with a little flourish. Behind her, somepony cleared their throat and she turned to find Rainbow Dash, who was slumped casually against the doorframe, a smug smile on her face. “Yeah, we’re all glad Derpy’s back and feeling better,” Rainbow had a way of making herself seem loud, even without really raising her voice, and as she spoke, the applause trailed off, “Much better, it seems.” She paused long enough to grin at the grey pony, ruffling her thin mane, then looked back at the rest of the weather pegasi, “But we really do need to get down to business.” As the rest of the ponies scattered, once again taking up the quest of locating prime seating and preparing for the meeting, Derpy blushed a little, ducking her head and pawing at the floor. Beside her, Rainbow Dash gave her a little nudge, that same smug-ish smile still on her face. “You did good, kid.” - “I can’t believe you said all that stuff.” “Why not?” It was much later that same evening and a small cluster of the Weather Crew was gathered in Blossomforth’s livingroom, relaxing and munching on caramel corn and drinking hot cocoa. Derpy looked up from her mug at Sunlight’s words, blinking at the stallion, head tipped to the side. She didn’t really know Sunlight at all, beyond the fact that he was Blossomforth’s constant work partner and the other mare sometimes talked about him. The two apparently worked really well together, because Rainbow Dash almost always assigned them duty together, usually assignments that involved checking wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, and temperature. Sunlight’s flying capabilities were poor -he was more directionally oriented than Derpy, but his wing power was weak- and he had a more scientific mind than a practical. Usually, Blossomforth was sent out to gather readings from the weather equipment around town -barometers, thermometers, weathervanes- which was later all documented in the town records, a job which Sunlight greatly enjoyed doing. Apparently, the history of Ponyville’s weather fascinated him. From what Blossomforth had said in the past, he was a quiet pony who spent more time in the field than socializing. He enjoyed tracking and charting wind currents -which Blossomforth found “Boring with a capital B“- and cloud watching, both activities that required a lot of patience and stillness, things his partner didn’t really have much of. She had summed it up once that he was “a nice pony, if a little dull,” a fact which Derpy was finding herself willing to agree with. It appeared he was also shy as well, if his reaction to her little outburst at the meeting was any indication. “’Cause I would never be that, um, cocky.” Sunlight frowned, pressing a hoof against his mouth thoughtfully, “Just thinking about saying something like that in front of everypony is making me nervous.” “You’re nervous, like, all the time.” Blossomforth interrupted, grinning at Sunlight from where she was sprawled on her stomach on a somewhat lumpy beanbag chair. She tossed a handful of caramel corn into the air, stretching up gracefully to catch the falling kernels in her mouth. The yellow stallion made a face back at her, rolling his pale eyes dramatically. He was slouched on the couch, looking more at home than Derpy expected, given the fact that he was always jittery. But then…It seemed that he and Blossomforth were close, no matter how dull she claimed he was, which left Derpy suspecting that they spent a lot of time together outside of work, even though Blossomforth tended to prefer more athletic, active pursuits. “Really,” He went on, ignoring his partner, “How did you manage to say all that stuff?” “I just…” Derpy began, the words trailing off as she frowned, glancing at Thunderlane, who was nestled beside her on a floor cushion. He ran a soothing hoof up her left foreleg, giving her a reassuring smile, and she leaned into his side, content to draw strength from him -- She had used up most of her reserve at the meeting. “I got tired of hearing it. I guess…I got really sick of hearing ponies talk about me like I don’t understand or hear the mean words, ‘cause I do…And I don’t want to feel the way they make me feel any more.” “It’s about time!” Raindrops piped up from the other end of the couch, leaning forwards eagerly, her long, teal mane sliding over her shoulder, shaggy bangs half-covering her eyes. She had been paging through a gossip rag, looking at blurry pictures that may or may not have been of the Wonderbolts out of uniform, but the conversation had caught her attention, and she dramatically tossed the magazine aside. “You put up with all that bucking nonsense for way too long. I’m really glad you stood up for yourself.” “…I am too.” The grey mare ducked her head, smiling shyly down at Blossomforth‘s pale pink shag carpet, “It was really hard, but…It was time.” She couldn’t really explain how or why the time had suddenly been right – How had it taken so long for it to be the perfect moment for her to confront her rude coworkers? She couldn’t explain, because she didn’t understand it herself. In the past, she had been far too afraid of criticism and humiliation to stand up for herself, but somehow… Somehow, lately, she felt like somepony different…Somepony she barely even recognized at times. Somepony better. “And I’m glad I have all of you guys to help me out and stuff.” Derpy glanced back up, her usually annoying vision working to her advantage so she could see all four of the other ponies in the room at once, “I never woulda been able to make it this far without friends…” She paused, a thoughtful look crossing her face, “And it woulda been even better if you guys had been in Cloudsdale with me and Surprise.” “Speaking of Surprise…” Raindrops reached to scoop up the discarded magazine and began pawing through it earnestly, searching for something, “When are we going to meet her?” She was speeding through the pages so fast, she shot right by whatever it was she’d been looking for, which left her backtracking a couple pages. “And does she” -she flipped the magazine around, displaying a clearly posed shot of Surprise with a giant powdered sugar donut between her hooves and a list of ‘Surprise‘s Top Ten Guilty Pleasures’- “really like carrot juice popsicles dipped in chocolate?” “I sent her a letter a couple days ago, inviting her for a visit.” The grey mare replied, a dazzling smile playing across her face. Even at the mere thought of Surprise coming to Ponyville, excitement was welling in her heart. She hadn’t seen the other pegasus in a very long time and she’d never been able to introduce her old friend to her new friends. “It’ll depend on her schedule and when she can get time off to come, but…I’m sure she will as soon as she can.” Surprise loved excitement and adventure, and traveling to Ponyville was sure to result in both. “And yeah, she really does like choco-carrot popsicles. They were her favorite thing to eat when we were fillies. I think she liked it mostly ‘cause it grossed her brother Rime out.” Raindrops wrinkled her nose, a disgusted look crossing her face. “That grosses me out.” She punctuated the sentence with a gesture akin to gagging herself, complete with sound effects, then flopped over limply on the couch, tongue hanging out. “But…” She popped back up, a bright smile once again on her face, blue eyes shining keenly, “I am super excited about her coming to visit!” 　 “Me too!” Blossomforth squealed, rolling around gleefully on the beanbag chair. She flailed all her limbs wildly for a moment, the anticipation of meeting a Wonderbolt apparently too much to handle. “We’ll have to plan something special, when we find out when she’s coming.” “And have a sleepover!” Thunderlane rolled his eyes at their antics, giving Sunlight a look of mock-exasperation and mouthing the word ‘mares’ at the other stallion, who simply smiled faintly in return, though he was edging as far away from a then-bouncing Raindrops. Derpy, with her cock-eyed gaze, caught her special somepony’s look and elbowed him in the side, giggling at her friends. “Surprise’d like that,” she confirmed, “a lot.”