//------------------------------// // Entertainment // Story: The Art Of Falling // by Fire-Dash //------------------------------// Rainbow's Journal May 2nd Alright, continuing where I left off. So last night, just as I was starting to write down what happened, the nurse came by. I wasn't really paying attention but I think she said something like, “is it okay if we open up the curtain here? Your roommate doesn't like closed spaces.” I still had a pencil in my mouth (my hooves weren't really up to the task), so all I could do was grunt. I guess she took that to mean, “go ahead.” The curtain was thrown open and the nurse walked over to the pony in the other bed. At a glance, I could see it was a mare, light grey coat with a blond mane. I wouldn't have paid her any attention if I hadn't realized that I knew that mare. She was the mail carrier. The one who was always screwing up ponies' letters, getting names wrong, and flying in the wrong direction. I knew she wasn't like other ponies, but I guess I always assumed she could learn if she tried. I've gotten pretty impatient with her before. Sometimes she helps with banners for town meetings or celebrations, and I'm usually stuck with her. She could never just do something. You had to show her a thousand times and supervise to make sure nopony ended up hurt. When the nurse left, the mare turned her gaze to me (well, half of it. She has a wall-eye and can't really control where it goes). “Hi, Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed in a kind of muffled voice, as though she were trying to speak under water. I put down the pencil and turned to look at her. It seemed she'd gotten pretty beat-up in the storm as well. She had a dislocated shoulder, broken hip and a fractured wing. She wasn't quite as bad as me, but I'm pretty sure she hadn't smashed into the ground at the speed of sound. After a moment of just staring, I figured I should probably say something back. “Hey,” I muttered, still examining her. “Did you, um... did you fall?” Stupid question, I know. But it felt too awkward to leave the conversation at “hey”. She tilted her head. “I had to get all the letters done or Boss would be mad.” I raised an eyebrow. “So you tried to deliver them in the storm?” She nodded. “Yup! And I only lost one. Boss will be very happy with me and he won't fire me like he said.” “Why would he fire you?” I asked, getting a little impatient. I really just wanted to start writing. She frowned, looking down. “He says I'm too dumb to do the job. That he might have to 'drop me'. I thought that meant he'd have to drop me from the sky, so I told him I could fly pretty good and I prob'ly wouldn't fall, but he said 'no'. He said that meant 'fire' and 'fire' didn't have anything to do with real fire. It meant I'd have to stop. An' he wouldn't pay me anymore.” “Ah,” was all I said. “I try really hard to learn,” she continued, ignorant of my disinterest. “I know all the letters in the alphabet but I can't write so good. That's why teachers always got so mad at me.” Now that sparked my interest. “Wait. You wanted to learn? Why didn't your parents help?” I know it sounds awful, but I really thought she just never paid attention. We went to the same elementary school and I remember she was always doodling on her papers, folding them up, humming or muttering to anypony who'd listen (and some who wouldn't). One time she was even caught eating pencil shavings from her sharpener. I mean, I was never the best student, but at least I paid enough attention to pass. And my dad was always giving me lectures and tutoring me on the things I didn't understand. I thought Derpy just never tried. Her forehead wrinkled and she looked off to the side, like it was a real effort to just remember. She muttered a few things about how her father tried but she couldn't remember why it wasn't working. I didn't know how to respond so I just murmured “I'm sorry” and gave her a sympathetic look. What else was there to do? “Why are you sorry?” she asked me. “I've got lots of friends! I'm really lucky.” We didn't talk after that but it did get me thinking. I started wondering about what kind of pony Derpy really was. I mean, I hardly know her. Maybe I was too quick to judge. Maybe. Well, I've got plenty of time to get to know her now. Seeing on how we're both stuck in the hospital together. I have to go now. Breakfast just rolled in. Derpy's still asleep, but I'm sure she'll be up soon. I guess I could try talking to her again later. * * * Well, today was pretty uneventful. Twilight came to visit for a bit but couldn't stay long. She said Celestia needed her for something but she didn't tell me what it was. She did give me a Daring Do book to read, though. The newest one just came out. Daring Do and The Legend of The Dawn Stone. (Could the title be any longer?) It looks pretty interesting. New quest, lots of action, new characters, conflicts, etc. After Twilight left, I was reading the excerpt on the back when Derpy asked a very sudden question. “Are you a good reader?” I blinked, looking up. “Huh?” “Can you read good?” she asked again, eyes bright. I shrugged. “I guess so. I never used to like it, though. I thought it was just for eggheads and bookworms. But ever since Twilight introduced me to Daring Do, I've been hooked.” I paused. “Can you read well?” Derpy frowned and looked away. “I know a few words but the longer sent'nces are hard. An' big words just look like jumbly letters. But I can read the easy books. The ones with pictures.” “Oh,” I said, absently flipping through a few pages. “This book doesn't have pictures.” She was still staring at it, though. She had such a longing in her eyes. I had to give her a chance. “But, um, would you like to see it anyway?” She beamed, nodding vigorously. “Oh, yes, please!” I leaned over the bed as far as I could, balancing against the guardrail on my stomach. I managed to toss the book over with my right foreleg, the one that had been dislocated and didn't have a cast. The book flew over to the small table beside her bed, knocking over a glass of orange juice and plopping down in a pile of scrambled eggs (apparently, she likes breakfast for dinner, and won't eat anything other than muffins in the morning. The nurses didn't argue). I cringed. Okay, so throwing hard objects while you're in pain: not a good idea. Luckily, Derpy managed to salvage the book before any of the eggs or juice got into the pages. She wiped the cover off on her sheets and opened to a random page. Tilting her head so her focused eye was closer to the paper, she squinted, following the lines with her hoof and mouthing some of the words. She seemed to have at least some idea of what was written there, though it looked like her problem had a lot to do with vision as well. “This book is hard,” she groaned, flopping back down in her bed. “You must be really smart.” I shrugged. I'm not normally one to deny a compliment—any compliment, but I didn't really know what to say to that. “Um... I dunno,” I mumbled, searching my mind for a topic to switch over to. I'm not bad with meeting new ponies, but Derpy was different. I mean, I'd met her before, I just hadn't actually tried to have a conversation with her. I guess she seemed pretty happy. I don't think anything I could have said would've upset her. Problem was, I didn't have the slightest idea what we could even talk about. She wouldn't have read anything more than foals' books, she doesn't have a weather job and I doubted she could race. So what? I was sure we had nothing in common. That is, until she asked a very surprising question. “Do you like the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash?” I blinked. “What?” She tilted her head, her wonky, amber eyes open wider than anything. “The Wonderbolts! They fly really high an' really fast and look really, really cool!” As she was speaking, she made swooping motions with her forelegs, miming upward climbs and deep dives, spirals, loops and whirls. She was so enthusiastic, it almost got me excited too. “Of course I know who they are. In fact, I'm trying to become one.” I gave her a questioning look. “I didn't know you liked them.” She nodded rapidly and smiled, bearing more teeth than pony-possible. “I looove the Wonderbolts! I like to watch when they go around in all those twisty-loops. An' the circles. An' the big, scary dives—“ “Nose-dives?” I asked with a grin. I'm the best at nose-dives. I practised forever to get it right, and twice I nearly smashed right into the ground. But I kept at it, never giving up, and now I can pull up from a direct drop two inches from the ground without straining my wings. I will be a Wonderbolt. “You should watch me sometime. I'm awesome at nose-dives.” Of course, I'm still stuck in this bed for Celestia-knows-how-long, so I can't do much now. Derpy did a little bounce on her mattress, wincing slightly at the pain in her hip. Her eyes were wide as ever and her lips were still drawn back in that impossible grin. “I've seen you!” she exclaimed, seeming way too excited over the matter. Everypony's seen me. All you have to do is look up. “You make all the pretty colours in the sky!” Her under-watery tones made her run-together, excited words sound muffled and unclear. I'm pretty sure I got what she said, though. I nodded. “Yep, that's me. Just your friendly neighbourhood Rainbow Dash, always willing to please a crowd.” I tried to sit up and give a little bow but all I managed was a sort of awkward sweeping motion with my hoof and a jerk forward. Well, close enough. She gave another bounce and laughed. She's got this spontaneous, loud, kind of foalish laugh. I'll admit, I was taken aback by it at first, but I got used to it after a while. She laughs a lot. And I mean a lot. Even at things that don't really seem that funny. Like a bad pun or an obvious punchline. It's like every joke is new to her. We talked for hours. Her topics were pretty random (even more random than Pinkie, I swear), but the conversations were entertaining, at least. Derpy's probably the last pony in the world I'd expect to strike up an interesting conversation with, but she's actually kinda cool. I mean, she likes the Wonderbolts. How could anypony who likes the Wonderbolts not be cool? Well, at any rate, she's the only one here I have to talk to, besides the boring nurses. I've got my book, my journal and Derpy to keep me sane for a while. And I guess that's not so bad. For now, at least.