Lipo

by SanityCheck8080

Every So Often, Y

Dash was bored. Her heart thudded, an occurrence that rattled her chest. She was also on edge. So far, the day had been unusually normal, and had excluded the danger of some of her recent adventures, such as deadly falls or savage beasts. She would have thought a day off from marvelous feats would be fun, but boy, was she wrong.

The usual crowd had come together for an outdoor lunch, blankets and baskets and all. The day was wonderful, as the sun managed to peek around the few clouds and shower golden rays upon the faces of those below. A cool breeze blew gently across the meadow where the foodstuffs they had brought were placed, the temperature just perfect. There was a chorus of soft tweets from the treetops above them.

Dash hated all of that. What was the purpose of an excellent day such as today, when you couldn't use the breeze as a harness, to push yourself faster through the sky? Today owned the best weather they'd had for years (totally not a hyperbole), so why be wasteful and lounge around on the ground? There were ants all over the place, and the grass was somewhat damp from the bad weather of yesterday.

Also, she wanted to test out her new glasses. She would rarely wear them around others, of course. But when she was alone, just out for a fly, as the bumps of land passed below her, she would play a game of sorts. She would place her glasses over her eyes, and attempt to spot objects below. She would see how long would go by before she spotted a cow, or a pond, or a cactus, or even a pony. By use of her new sort-of laser eyes, she could see so much farther than ever before! Oh, wow. She sounded comparable to a salespony.

There were so many other tasks she could have completed, too, had she not been burdened by the duty of a party of sorts. She could have... done her laundry! Well, that would have only taken several moments (she had few clothes, after all). She could have... cleaned her plates! Well, actually, the ones she used were paper. There was probably some chore that could have been completed, any chore, had she not attended the dumb bash. She could have even shampooed her mane! Actually that would have bored her.

So yes, Dash wanted to fly away and leave her company, sure to leave a cloud of dust after her. Was that what happened? No. She stayed put. The factors weren't exactly the same as a monster attack, but she felt bound to stay by her crew nonetheless. She would seem to be a jerk, should she just take off out of nowhere. She was hungry, anyway.

She wolfed down a bowl of potato salad, two watermelon wedges, and a cob of corn. She then proceeded to wash the food down by use of a cup of lemonade. Then another. She had no concern for the bugs that had marched onto the blanket. The others stared at her.

"What?" she asked, mouth full of grapes, mostly green, except for one purple one that had somehow snuck through.

"The rest of us haven't even started, and you just ate half the food."

"No way that was half! My stomach hasn't even argued yet!"

The rest laughed, and began to chow down on assorted snacks. Dash was elated when a huge cake was pulled out of the basket. There were three flavors: Carrot, strawberry, and succulent, succulent red velvet. Dash was on her fourth chunk when she began to query: Why? Why have a monarchy when the leader would never succumb to death? What would the town do when a flood happened?

She went on to name query after query, each one more goofy than the last. What has Fluttershy used as food for the meat-eaters all along? Why were doorknobs created? Who does the research for math textbooks? What was the purpose of souls? Was she even ever really awake?!

"Yo, Dash. You okay? You seemed to blank out there. Your eyes just stared at space."

She thought about that. Was she okay? She seemed to have a lot more problems and errors and mess-ups recently than what she usually had. Or was she always that bad? She groaned wordlessly. At least others cared enough to ask. That made her feel a tad better.

She thought about every other occupant of town. They all had real jobs. They prepared food, they made houses, sold goods. What was she good for? She could fly fast. She could make a day somewhat less awful when she moved the clouds. Maybe that was enough. She assumed at least one pony cared about the weather. Actually, weather was useful! The plants use the sun and water to grow, and clouds affected the amount of those plants got! How had that not occurred to her before? She took off her glasses and began to clean them suddenly.

"Yeah. Hunky-dory." She grabbed another lump of cake and choked the wad down, her glasses once more on her face. "See?" She got an unsure look. She began a search for more desserts, eager to lose her spot as the central focus.

"Okay then. Carry on."

Dash flashed a fake happy look, and managed to complete the event sans catastrophe. She had learned a valuable lesson. You shouldn't go on free of wonder, but rather embrace your subjects of ponder. She now knew how you could change your whole demeanor, should you ask yourself, every so often, why?

Thoughts of happy days and monsters and shampoo and marshmallows and mares who have your back made a pretty dance through her head as she ate yet another fragment of cake. Cake that she and her pals would share. Together.