I awoke to the sound of Mrs. Storm calling everypony to breakfast. I was excited to see my new friend. She was standing out in front of her cabin, waiting for me to come out. We were friends, that much was clear to me now.
We both went to breakfast and stood in the long line. The lunch mare gave us matching trays of toast, eggs, and fried potatoes. There was, sitting on the side for each of us, a muffin. Derpy and I sat down at the first table and I noticed right away that she dug into her muffin.
“I take it you like muffins,” I say.
“I luff muffins!” she said, a bit falling out of her mouth. I couldn’t help but laugh, and she laughed right along with me. I started on my eggs and potatoes. I never really cared for toast. To me, it was perfectly good bread burnt to a crisp. Derpy finished her muffin and looked longingly at mine. I traced her gaze several times to make sure she was actually looking at my muffin and not anything else on my tray that I would be more willing to give away. Like that toast. I hate toast.
With a sigh, I resigned trying to figure out anything else she was looking at, for it was certainly my muffin. “Do you want my muffin?”
“Can I?”
“Sure.” She grabbed it so quick I had hoped she took my toast with it. She munched on the muffin as I finished my potatoes and what I wanted of my eggs. Disappointingly, there was still toast on my plate.
Derpy didn’t touch anything else on her plate, not the eggs, not the potatoes, and not the toast. I didn’t really blame her for not touching her toast; it was pure black. We both took our trays up to the line where everyone else was standing and put them on a conveyor belt that took them out of sight. We wandered outside into the bright sunlight. Mrs. Storm was beckoning her charges over to her. Derpy and I went over.
“Oh look, it’s Blank Flank and Cross-Eyed,” said one of the fillies.
“I knew the mismatches would find each other,” said another.
“Hey there,” I said, trying to give an air of authority, “I don’t appreciate what you’re saying about me and Derpy.”
“She’s Derpy alright, have you seen those eyes?”
“I bet she’s got an intelligence to match her expression!”
“Would you all stop?” I commanded.
“What are you going to do about it, Sky Bolt?” Thunderstorm asked, appearing behind us. “I don’t think you have the guts to make me stop it.”
“Don’t try me—“
“Please,” Derpy said softly, putting a hoof to my mouth, “you don’t need to do this.”
“I just can’t let them treat my only friend that way!” I assert.
“I don’t want them doing it to my only friend either. I just know that this won’t solve anything.”
“So what’s it going to be, Sky Bolt? Are you going to make me stop?”
The look I was getting from Derpy told me that nothing was really going to please her save for me actually stopping and walking the other way. It was aggravating me. Thunderstorm, as I was fully realizing now, was a complete bully. There was no excusing him now. Back when we were in school, I figured he picked on me because that’s what friends did. They had laughs together. This, though, was going too far.
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore, Thunderstorm. I’ve had enough of you.” I spun the other way and walked toward Mrs. Storm. Derpy gave me a soft smile as she realized I had listened to her. It was hard, and I knew there would come a time where I couldn’t just turn the other cheek. There was only so much patience a pony could have, and most of mine was worn away when I was in the schoolhouse back in Cloudsdale with Thunderstorm and the other foals.
“Those ponies will always be mean to us; it’s just how they are.” I gave Derpy a forced smile which she saw right through. “I can tell you’re not too happy about what I asked you to do.”
“Of course not! They’re being mean bullies! We can’t just let them rule us like that, Derpy!”
She plopped her plot on the ground and gave me a stern look. “Please, for me?”
She was my only friend in the world, how could I let her down? She was genuinely asking me to do something for her. I could tell she wanted nothing more than a friend, and I knew that feeling. I knew that feeling so well.
My first day at school was so alienating. All the other foals knew somepony else in the schoolhouse. I was, on the other hand, alone. It wasn’t from my parents secluding me—quite the opposite. I was tired of all the company they tried to bring over to play with me. They never seemed to have any interests in common, and they never seemed to really care for me. I figured that there was some filly in all of Cloudsdale that needed a friend, but as I found out on the first day, there was already so many bonds. I had cried myself to sleep that night.
My parents always worried about me, and how I never seemed to make any friends. They tried introducing me to other foals; I just never seemed to get along with any of them. They just didn’t understand me. My peers were never very interesting to me.
They tried later to get me in extracurricular activities to give me something to have in common with other fillies. I tried orchestra in Canterlot one summer. There was a filly there—she played cello—who I tried to befriend before she dismissed me as a Pegasus Ruffian. There was hoofball. That was a joke. I ended up disqualified because I used my wings.
Then there was band camp. I’m not reliving that story.
I was called so many things by the many doctors and other ponies. ‘Antisocial,’ ‘shy,’ ‘selfish.’ I just had never found somepony that would make me happy, somepony that had caring in their hearts. It seemed that all the ponies I met in Cloudsdale had their own interests in mind But that wasn’t the case with Derpy. She had asked me to stop because it would benefit both of us, not just her. She was my friend.
I watched her blonde hair flow in the soft zephyr that blew across the mountaintop as Mrs. Storm gathered her charges. She watched out over the lake in the middle of the mountaintop. Mrs. Storm was rushing past, gathering foals. Derpy turned her gaze to the grass.
“What are you thinking about, Derpy?”
“I was thinking…” she gave out a sigh, “you’re the first friend I have ever had. I just hope that I never lose you.”
“You’re really the first friend that I ever had, too.”
We shared a hug that lasted until Mrs. Storm called out to us to come join the group. We headed to the diving platform in the clouds that I saw on my first day. I began to get nervous at the prospect of diving off the tall platform. Certainly I was going to make a fool of myself.
First was a filly named Alto Cirrus. She had a white coat and a pink mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a music symbol of some kind that reminded me of the letter B. She climbed the staircase so as to not tire out her wings getting up to the top. She got up there, then froze. Despite having volunteered to do this the previous day, she was nervous with all the foals watching her now.
“I… I don’t think I can do it!” she called out.
“Come on, Alto!” Mrs. Storm encouraged, “There’s nothing stopping you! Some of her friends called out to her too. With all this sudden support, she inched slowly up to the edge of the platform. Looking down, she was visibly shaken. Her wings were stuck to her side, and she was trying to back up and down the staircase.
“You can do it!” I called out. I figured if I could, I would help. Derpy smiled at my actions, then called out her encouragement to the nervous filly as well. The foal was visible lightened, but still not quite enough to warrant an attempt at jumping off the board.
“I… don’t want to…” she said. “I think I want to go back home!”
Some of the bullies snickered. “A Pegasus afraid of heights!”
I gave a glare toward them before Derpy gave me a look that stopped me.
“Alright, Alto, I’m coming up to get you.” Mrs. Storm flew up and retrieved Alto before sending up another volunteer. One of the bullies who had snickered at Alto took his moment. He was named North Breeze. His coat was green and his mane a deep scarlet. On his flank was a cutie mark consisting of three clouds in the wind. He trotted confidently—bordering on arrogantly—up the stairs. He walked up to the front of the diving board and looked down.
With a leap, he was plummeting toward the clouds. He quickly maneuvered into a dive before opening his wings when he reached terminal velocity. He came down fast and a little too much so. He tried to open his wings to pull up, but ended up hip deep, buried in the clouds. Most of the class took this chance to laugh at him. Derpy and I, both knowing how it felt to be the one laughed at, tried our hardest to contain ourselves, though we both agreed it was rather funny.
Mrs. Storm pulled the disgruntled North Breeze out of the clouds and patched them up for the next pony. No one wanted to be the next foal up to try to embarrass themselves. I gave Derpy one look and raised my hoof.
“Are you sure you want to, Sky Bolt?”
“Yes, I am.” I begin the long trek up the stairs. They seemed to stretch on forever. I figured the activity would be over before I got to the top with how far it was up. Derpy let out a loud cheer for me, and I hardened my resolved. Succeed or fail, I would make a lasting impression on Derpy.
I finally made it up to the top of the diving board and I let the view overwhelm me. I could understand why Alto was afraid of the height. It was a long, long plummet down into clouds, which may be soft and fluffy, but they don’t exactly inspire confidence as a stop to your fall. With a shout of encouragement from Derpy Hooves, I proceeded to the edge of the diving board.
I could see the whole camp from here. It seemed like everypony was tiny from my perch atop the diving board. It wasn’t the fear of falling I had now, I was a Pegasus. It was the fear of being embarrassed. I’m sure that, ultimately, was what froze Alto up here.
“You can do it, Sky Bolt!” Derpy called, her voice carried up here, but only barely. I flapped my wings a couple of times to warm them up. This was going to be my judgment in Derpy’s eyes. What I did here would probably affect how she saw me for the rest of our friendship. I breathed in one last time, and I dove. With a flap of wings, I was falling fast. I rocketed toward the clouds with almost breakneck speed and I could hear the gasps from the ponies beneath as I approached the floor. I opened up my wings and tried to pull up, but I was falling too fast and I didn’t bury myself, headfirst, into the cloud, I landed flat on my stomach.
“Ow!” cried most of the crowd, “that had to hurt!” It certainly did. While I was sure there was no permanent damage from my collision with the clouds, I was sure that it hurt a lot more than just about anything I had ever felt before. I roll on my back and rub my belly gently. It was sore to the touch. Derpy rushed over to my side, as did Mrs. Cloud.
“Are you okay, Sky Bolt?” Mrs. Storm asked. I looked at the face of my one true friend, whose face confirmed my earlier presumptions: she did, in fact, care for me.
“I am now.”
Mrs. Storm insisted that I go to the infirmary, which she explained to me was the place where the doctors would look at me. Derpy volunteered to walk with me over there.
“That was amazing!” she said. “You were so brave!”
“And stupid,” I say, rubbing my belly again.
“I thought it was amazing.”She gave me a wide smile. “Hey,” she said, looking deep into my eyes.
“Yeah?” I didn’t know what she could possibly want as she stopped shy of the door of the infirmary.
“I want to try something,” she said, “I’ve seen my mom and dad do it.”
“What is that?”
“I don’t know what it’s called,” she said, “they never told me. They only seem to do it when they don’t think I’m looking.”
“Well,” I say. “I guess we can try.”
She gave me a smile before pressing her lips to mine. I didn’t know what was going on, but I supposed it was a sign of friendship, and it seemed she thought the same thing. There was a good feeling inside me as we awkwardly held our lips together. I couldn’t help it, but my wings suddenly unfolded and stood straight up. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them to fold back down. She pulled back and our eyes met. I noticed that her wings also were sticking straight up.
“That…”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, looking down and poking her hoof at the ground. “I just thought… you know, it was a sign of friendship.”
“I liked it, Derpy. I really did.” The smile returned to her face as she held her head up. The nurse Pegasus came out of the infirmary and walked me inside. Derpy smiled and waved until I could no longer see her.
The nurses were okay. They rubbed an ointment into my skin and that made it feel better. They were saying that it was amazing that I had managed to do such a thing, that in all their years of working in the infirmary of the Flight Camp, that was certainly a first. I didn’t know whether to be proud of it, or embarrassed, but Derpy liked it. I figured if my only friend liked it, then it had to be a good thing.
The nurses walked me out at lunch time, and Derpy was waiting excitedly for me at the front of the Mess Hall. She ran up and gave me a big hug before leading me inside for lunch. It was a lily sandwich today. Like always, I offered my muffin to Derpy, who ate it without a second thought. It’s not that I didn’t like muffins; it’s just that she seemed to like them more.
I wondered most of the time I was lying in the bed in the infirmary about what had happened between Derpy and I before I had gone in there. I had never really witnessed anything like this. She said her parents did it when they thought she wasn’t looking. Perhaps my parents did too. I would have to write home and ask them about it tonight.
Mrs. Storm gathered us by the cloud crafting area. This was something I had wanted to do since I saw it. Cloud crafting was my father’s profession—he could build just about anything out of clouds. Once, he built an entire house for somepony. He told me that if I studied real hard, I could do it too.
It turned out that I was no good at the math. Or the science. But I was good with the art. That was about it, though some of the other foals in my class thought it was stupid. And worthless. I figured out later, after my father had it put on the mantle for at least two weeks (long enough for me to make something else) that it was perfect as I could ever get.
The other ponies in my class called me this weird word. Naïve. I don’t even know what it means, but since most of the other ponies called me it, it must have been something bad. Though, the teachers never stopped them, so it couldn’t have been too bad. I once asked my dad about the word, but he said it wasn’t true. I wasn’t naïve, I was just… different.
I took a tuft of cloud from the start and began molding it. It was a great feeling to be doing something that I was so familiar with. The cloud was fluffy and soft, almost as soft as my fur. I loved the feel of clouds in my hoofs. I shaped and pressed, then it hit me. I knew exactly what I was going to make. I wrapped around the bottom to make it round with a smaller bottom and larger top. Then I fluffed up the very top and gave it a nice texture. When I was done, I was looking at a white, cloud version of my best friend’s favorite snack.
“That’s so cute!” Derpy said. She loved it! That was perfect! The smile on her face was infectious. I found myself with a smile just as wide, and just as bright. The bully ponies looked at me with glaring eyes.
“Look, it’s a muffin. How unoriginal.”
“Wow, I bet the next thing he’ll make is an impression of a cloud.”
“It must have taken him years to learn how to make something like that. Too bad that was the first thing I ever cloud-crafted.”
“Stop!” Derpy said. “It is a great muffin.” She tried to keep her eyes in synch, but the right one kept drifting off. “I love it very much.” She picked up the cloud muffin and held it close to her chest. “How dare you make fun of such a great idea.”
This was finally the time when Mrs. Storm stepped into the fight. “Now fillies and colts, what Sky Bolt did here was actually very impressive. I’d like to see all of you create something so precious.” Another staff Pegasus came in and beckoned Mrs. Storm out of the area, just far enough that she couldn’t hear the whispers that all the bully ponies were giving us.
“He’s so thick he couldn’t even swoop.”
“She’s got to be kidding us, girls, she thinks that’s precious?”
“How’s the belly? You’re so embarrassed you can’t blush anymore on your face?”
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. I knew what was going to come next. It always did. Water began collecting in my eyes and I ran off, straight past Mrs. Storm and through the camp.