Wednesday afternoon was rather uneventful. All we did was practice agility. None of us were particularly good at it, constantly colliding and burying ourselves into the clouds. Derpy and I kept neck and neck until we both plowed face-first into the fourth obstacle. We both ended up laughing almost uncontrollably.
When the staff members pulled us out of the obstacle, we were still laughing heartily. The staff members gave us amused smiles, and Derpy found that worth smiling about. We both knew we weren’t going to be the best fliers in Equestria, but we sure decided that we would have a good time trying to see how good we were.
We were having fun and being carefree for most of the afternoon, but It was always the fourth obstacle that got us. It was a small little cornering trial, where you had to weave between walls and make sharp turns to make it through. Derpy and I were always running into it.
Just before dinner, though, there was a large gathering of foals near the center of camp. I didn’t know what was going on, and neither did Derpy. We both wandered into the crowd and realized what was going on. There was a gray stallion descending from the sky with a large saddlebag stuffed full of something. Derpy’s eyes lit up when she saw the stallion.
“Bolt! That’s—“ she said excitedly, “That’s my father!” I remembered that she told me she hadn’t seen him for quite a while, and when she talked about him, she seemed very fond of him. She darted up toward the front of the pack, and when she landed, she started bouncing animatedly.
Her father landed on the podium and a pony with a megaphone called out over the crowd: “Mail Call! Proceed to the center of camp to collect your mail!”
Derpy was the first in line. When she trotted up to see her father, he gave her a long look. “Could it be?”
“Daddy?”
“Ditzy Doo!” he said, wrapping his forelegs around her. They were both smiling wide and holding each other close. “Sorry, Ditzy, but I don’t have much time to talk. I have to deliver all the mail here to the campers.”
“I want to introduce you to my first friend!” she declared, pointing to me. “He’s so nice and awesome!” She smiled bright as she described the events that had led up to today. She smiled wider and wider as she got farther and farther through the story. Mr. Doo handed out letters to each of the colts and fillies that came up to meet him. As I watched him hand out the letters, I noticed that Derpy got her looks from her father. She was a blond-maned, gray-coated Pegasus. The only true difference between them was the fact that Mr. Doo was a grown stallion and she was a filly.
As the crowd began to thin out, and Mr. Doo’s bags began to empty, he turned back to Derpy. “Well, Ditzy,” he said with a slightly sad tone, “I’m just about finished here.” He smiled. “I’m glad you finally found a coltfriend to make you happy.”
The look on Derpy’s face spoke volumes even if her voice carried no words. What did ‘coltfriend’ even mean? Her cheeks grew bright red and her smile turned from genuine happy to very nervous. It was more of a smile one gave when someone revealed something they didn’t want revealed. This concerned me. What was it about the word ‘coltfriend’ that Derpy didn’t want associated between us? Was it a bad thing? Was it something that the others would poke fun at?
“Daddy!” she finally said.
“Oh, was I not supposed to say that?”
There she was again, poking her hoof in the ground. The last few fillies and colts came up and got their mail. There were two letters left in there, one addressed to me, from my parents, and one for Derpy, from her mother.
“Here you go, kiddo. Love you lots, my little princess.” He took off and flew off into the distance. Derpy held a sad expression on her face. She held her letter under her left wing. I put my wing around her as we walk into the Mess Hall for dinner.
I knew something was wrong when she didn’t even touch her muffin. Alto tried to give her the muffin on her tray, but she wouldn’t have it. She began to let loose some tears. I felt so bad that she was like this. I wanted to see her smile again. What even made her so sad?
“Derpy?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said. She never let her gaze leave the floor.
“This doesn’t look like ‘fine,’” Alto said. “Are you sad because of your dad leaving?”
This seemed to be the problem. Derpy hung her head even lower, and her whole body heaved with a loud sob.
“Oh look,” North Breeze said.
“Oh, great,” I say to Alto, “this pony.”
“Hey look, the Dunce is crying!”
“Hey, do something for your fillyfriend, Sky Bolt,” Thunderstorm said, coming over from his table.
“Fillyfriend? What does that even mean?” All these eyes on me from all different directions made me more nervous than I had ever been in my entire life. It seemed like all the eyes in the place were watching me and what I would do next. I panicked. I ran out of the Mess and straight to the cabin. From the sounds behind me, Derpy and Alto followed close behind.
My nose was so covered in tears when I got back to the cabin that I could hardly read the letter that my parents had sent me. I looked out the window, hoping to see Derpy, but she wasn’t present in the window. Instead, there was Alto, who was giving me a big shrug and sinking out of my view.
I worried about Derpy. I had never seen her this sad. I hoped that she would be alright. She was my best friend, and if I lost her as a friend… I couldn’t think about what would happen to me. She was my first friend. She was my friend when nopony else ever wanted to be my friend. There was this pit in my chest as I thought about what would happen if Derpy left my life. It would feel like there was a piece of me missing, something that I didn’t ever want gone from my life.
This had to be the truest expression of friendship.
I had finally cleared my eyes up enough to read the letter. My mother had written it, I could recognize the writing.
Hey there, sweetie! Your father and I were so happy to hear that you found yourself a fillyfriend! I hope she’s cute! As for what you were asking about, that was a kiss. It’s something two ponies share when they’re in love.
And yes, your father and I do it too. (There was a little smiley pony drawn in here)
Have fun the rest of your stay at camp! We can’t wait to hear from you about this filly!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
Love? What did that even mean? How could I be in love if I didn’t even know what in the hay it meant! I know I sent that in the last letter! They must have not got it yet. I was so hopelessly confused by all that was going on. First, there was Derpy, and how sad she inexplicably was. Then there was this letter from my parents. I was so confused.
My confusion stayed with me as I closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep before any other pony came into the cabin.
The next morning, Derpy was eating again, but she still seemed sad. Alto reported that she had tried consoling her through the night. It wasn’t any use, but I took some comfort in the fact that she was eating again.
With Derpy still in her melancholy, we headed out to a part of the camp I hadn’t seen on my little round-about the first day. Here was a nasty looking set of obstacles. I watched as all these moving clouds darted about, controlled by instructors.
“Today’s activity is to train your reactions,” Mrs. Storm said, “and Cloud Wing will be your instructor.”
“Welcome to Reaction Training,” said Cloud Wing, whose uniform I recognized immediately. It was another Wonderbolt. “Do I have any volunteers to try this course?”
North Breeze was the first to volunteer. He stood up, stretched out his green wings, and took off. He was around the first cloud in a matter of seconds, and through the rings toward the second turn. When he went to go around the second turn, though, one of the instructors bucked a cloud in front of him, trapping him so that only his face poked out the other side.
“Rushing headlong into things is a Pegasus’s enemy,” said Cloud Wing. “In order to be a successful flyer, you need to be able to adapt to the changing conditions of your flight.” He stretched out indigo wings and his messy blue hair rustled with the wind. “You need to be especially aware of these changes when you hope to be as good as a Wonderbolt, which I have no doubt that any one of you could do, if you practiced enough.” He smiled. “Now, I want each of you to give it a try, come on, don’t be shy.”
Alto’s sister, Strata, went up to the front of the line. “Watch this, fillies and colts, I’ll show you how a real flyer does things.” She took off, just slightly slower than North Breeze, around the first bend. She made it around and through the rings to the second bend. When she went around the second bend, the instructor again bucked out the cloud, but she didn’t slam into it, instead, she managed to hover behind it as it scooted across her path. She then took off again. She weaved through the rings of the third leg, giving out a triumphant cry as she flew fast enough to outpace the next instructor deploying a cloud. She turned her head to look at all of us when it finally caught up to her. She slammed into another cloud, positioned carefully by another instructor.
“Arrogance is another downfall of Pegasi,” the Wonderbolt said.
“What does arrogance mean?” asked one of the fillies.
“Arrogance is when a pony is so sure of him or herself that they don’t care at all for others, often going so far as to make them feel bad.”
A collective ‘oh!’ moved through the crowd.
“Next foal!” Cloud Wing said, pointing to the nervous white-and-pink filly standing next to me. She gave a little squeak as all the eyes turned to her.
“Good luck, Alto,” I said.
“I’m going to need it.”
She flapped her white wings and rose above the group of foals. She wasn’t a fast flyer. It took her a while to get around the first two bends, and when the first instructor kicked out the cloud, she was able to fly around it. The agility was easy at her leisurely pace, and she squealed as the second cloud zipped in front of her. She continued on, flying around the third cloud, and around the third bend. Now on the home stretch, she smiled. That was when the sound of thunder echoed behind her. Everypony, except the Wonderbolt before us and Mrs. Storm jumped nearly high enough to be considered flying. Alto flew faster than before, making it almost to the end of the course when she collided with one last cloud inches before reaching the finish line.
Her face was poking out the other end, and I could see that it was turning as pink as her mane again. The instructor pulled her free and let her fly down to the rest of us before resetting in his almost imperceptible trap.
“Fear cannot rule you if you’re going to be a great flyer. Often times when you’re out in the weather, there will be lightning and thunder. You cannot let it get to you. Especially when you’re a Wonderbolt.” He walked around the cloud. “My older son, Soarin’, is not too much younger than you. He understands the importance of reactions. Perhaps, to the fault of all else,” he mumbled something about how this filly Soarin’ knew was always distracting him from learning all the rest of what he had to teach him with this silly competition to be the future captain of the Wonderbolts. “My point is that if you put your mind to it, anypony can learn to react properly to any stimulus.”
“What’s a stim… stimu… whatever you said?”
“A stimulus is anything that gets you to react.”
Another collective ‘oh’ came across the crowd.
“Okay, you,” he said, pointing at Derpy. Derpy looked back at him with her sad eyes. “You should go next.”
“I guess,” she said, taking wing.
“Come on, Derpy!” I shout out to her.
“Let’s go, Derpy!” Alto called.
With a teary eye, she looked back at us. It seemed like something clicked in her. Her look of melancholy turned to a look of determination. “You can do it, Derpy!” Alto and I called in Unison.
Derpy took off as fast as she could fly, which was somewhere between Strata and Alto’s speeds. She rounded the first bend, cleared all the rings of the second bend, and when she got to the first trap, she flew up and over it. There was something to be said about the grace she had in the air despite her disagreeing eyes. She darted back and forth through the agility section, and beat the second trap. The third cloud whizzed inches from the tip of her nose. With a glide, she was around the third bend into the home stretch. When the lightning sounded, most of the ponies on the cloud jumped. Derpy, who was visibly startled, only faltered a small before speeding up again, pulling back to a hover just before she would have crashed into the last cloud. Triumphantly, she crossed the finish line.
North Breeze and Strata Cirrus were slack-jawed from watching that. It was clear that they had severely underestimated the pony before them. I figured that would solve the problems we were having with them bullying us.
She landed, with a smile across her face, next to Alto and I.
“What changed with you, Derpy,” Alto asked, “you were so sad before, and now…”
“I realized something,” she said, “I don’t need my father anymore.” She gave a little trot around the two of us. “I realized that I have friends.” She had a tear in her eyes, and a smile on her face. This was confusing. Weren’t tears a sign of sadness?
“Why are you sad still?”
“They aren’t tears of sadness,” Alto said softly, “they’re tears of joy.”
“What?”
“I figured something out, Bolt,” Derpy said, “I…” she hesitated. In the meantime, one of the other fillies had taken to the course and buried herself in the first trap. “I think I might, maybe, I don’t really know…”
“What?”
“Really, really like you.”
“You mean, love, don’t you, Derpy?” Alto said.
“What does that even mean?” I ask.
“Love is really hard to describe,” Alto pondered for a minute, “I suppose it’s when two ponies are such good friends that they want to spend their lives together. I mean, my parents are always saying ‘I’m so glad I get to spend the rest of my life with you,’ or ‘you will always be my love.’” She gave a kind of shrug.
“Yeah, I love you, Sky Bolt,” Derpy said, offering a hug, which I would always gladly accept.
We watched as all the other foals tried to get through the obstacle course. I was guiltily enjoying watching all the others get stuck in the clouds until the Wonderbolt pointed at me. I gasped and backed up instinctively as all eyes were on me. I turned to my friends, who both gave me words of encouragement, before taking off down the course.
I rounded the first corner, and through the rings to the second, where I remembered the first trap. I stopped just short of hitting it with my face. The agility portion wasn’t too hard, and I was just shy of hitting the second cloud, too. The third cloud wasn’t a trick at all, since it was in front of me the whole time. The third turn was easy. When the lightning struck behind me, I panicked like Alto had, and zoomed down the course, only to fall into the same trap that she had. When they plucked me out of the cloud, I hung my head and sunk back into my place by Alto and Derpy.
“There’s nothing wrong with a little spirit. Sure, you didn’t make it, young colt, but you have to understand that everypony makes mistakes. That’s how we grow and learn. By making mistakes, and soon after learning from them, we become better ponies in every aspect.” Cloud Wing tried cheering me up, but he couldn’t do it. Sure, it was exciting to be talking to a Wonderbolt, but I only wanted the attention of the ponies I knew and trusted.
We ate our regular dinner, headed to the cabins and had our usual good night, waving at each other from our respective windows. I saw that Derpy cuddled with her Muffin, and Alto seemed a little sad. I knew what I was going to do the next time I got some cloud crafting time.
With a smile on my face, I rolled over in bed. I was certainly surprised when Thunderstorm trotted into the room and went to bed without a word. The words Derpy had said to me earlier stuck in my mind: “I love you, Sky Bolt.”
“I love you too, Derpy Hooves,” I said under my breath before I fell to sleep.