• Published 22nd Oct 2012
  • 4,583 Views, 431 Comments

We're Gonna Get There Soon - Cranberry Muffin



Derpy, haven't you ever heard the saying that 'friends are the family you choose for yourself'?

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Whisper

"I'm really proud of you, you know."


It was much later in the day; the stars were already out and twinkling cheerfully in the velvety night sky. while the moon overhead bathed two grey pegasi in a silvery-soft glow.


Thunderlane and Derpy had retreated to a quiet hillside on the very edge of Ponyville. It was a place that was calm and peaceful, where the beauty of nature went largely undisturbed. Solitary and untouched, with lush grass, it was a place Derpy had discovered shortly after her arrival in the little village, when she had been feeling overwhelmed by the newness of her surroundings. Since then, it had become an escape; a place to which she retreated when she needed to be alone with her thoughts, much in the way that Surprise had used the Cloudiseum.


She had shared it with Thunderlane even before they started dating, thinking that perhaps he too might appreciate a spot where a pony could sit and think uninterrupted.


"Yeah?" She was nestled at his side, lazily watching the distant lights of Ponyville, "Why?"


He turned to nuzzle into her baby-soft mane, reveling in her familiar scent. She smelled of soap and clean linen, the fresh scent he'd come to associate wholly with her. "Because." The answer was a fairly straightforward one, though he still found it hard to put into words, "Because you, ya know, put yourself out there. I know it's kinda hard for you to talk about Cloudsdale and your family, and I think it's cool that you went and did it anyway. It's like...I dunno. I know you think you're not brave, but I think that was totally brave."


"I'm not brave." But she was smiling all the same, leaning further into his side and resting her head against his shoulder. She was silent for a moment, just enjoying the feel of his muscular frame close against her, safe and warm. Thunderlane was solid and dependable; he had seen her through some of her lowest moments since she'd met him, championing her all the while, and she loved him all the more for it. "I just...couldn't disappoint Rumble, you know? He wanted me to come so badly and I couldn't really tell any old story. It had to be that one." To her, it really was that simple. Rumble had asked her to come and she wasn't going to say no.


"I still think you're brave, no matter how you feel about it." A light breeze blew, ruffling through both their manes, and Thunderlane tucked his wing more securely around Derpy, shielding her from the chill, "But, um, I was wondering...Why haven't you ever mentioned Surprise before?"


Derpy remained quiet again, taking a moment to gaze out upon both Ponyville and the spattering of stars. What was the real answer to that question? Why had she kept Surprise a secret for so long?


It wasn't that she didn't want to share her best friend with the world; that had already happened. No, it was more that... "When I first started really meeting other ponies here, Surprise had just been announced as a new member of the Wonderbolts. She was on the brink of being famous and even though she was still brand new, everypony was buzzing about her. If other ponies found out that I'm her friend..." She trailed off, shaking her head a little as if she couldn't bear the thought that had crossed her mind, "I want to be liked 'cause of who I am, Thunderlane. Not 'cause of who I'm friends with."

She lapsed back into silence, a silence he didn't bother to break. What she had said made sense enough; she would have been extremely popular for all the wrong reasons if the townsponies heard she knew a Wonderbolt. It never really would have been true friendship, but rather something hollow and superficial, as everypony tried to use her to get to Surprise.


"I want you to meet her." Derpy said suddenly, pulling back to look up at him, "I know she'd love you. You've got awesome wing power."


"And that's the only reason?" He teased, grinning playfully at her through the darkness.


"You're cute, too," She returned the grin, cheeky, eyes sparkling in the moonlight, "but she already knows that."


"...What?" He jerked back in surprise, the blush suddenly heating his face hidden by both his dark coat and the darkness of the night.


"I told her allllll about you!" Derpy giggled at the flummoxed look on his face, taking a few seconds to savor the immense pleasure that came with teasing him. It was fun; a kind of fun she hadn't really been able to have with anypony since she left Surprise and Cloudsdale. He was kind of shy and easily flustered, which made teasing him even more entertaining. And usually, she couldn't tease anypony, because they were too busy teasing her. "You don't really think I'd go without telling my best friend about my special somepony, do you?"


Thunderlane considered that, silent for a moment and still trying to control his blush. There really was no good reason for her not to talk about him, except for the part where he wasn't super special so what was even the point in bragging? "Guess I shouldn't be surprised," he finally shot back, though the jibe was sort of half-hearted, "'Cause I know you mares like to gossip."


That earned him a Look and he grinned again, not at all daunted. There hadn't been a time when either of them was significantly annoyed with the other in the few years they'd known each other. She was too easy-going and let everything roll right off her, whether it was good-natured teasing or otherwise. And he enjoyed a mare with a playful spirit -- Who wanted a damsel in distress or a prim and proper lady when you could have a rump-kicking adventurer who rarely took herself too seriously?


She rolled her good eye, returning the smile and curling closer. The autumn night was growing increasingly cooler and Thunderlane -always snuggly- was a good source of warmth.


"I invited her here." Derpy abruptly said, again breaking the spell of silence that had fallen over them as she settled in at his side, "I dropped a letter for her at the post after I left the school this morning."


"You don't think it's a bad idea?" He glanced down at her, uncertainty lighting his amber eyes, "You're suddenly going to become Miss Popularity if Surprise shows up here."


"It'll be okay." She lowered her gaze, peering through the darkness at the twinkling streetlights of the sleepy village below, "It's time. I've been in Ponyville long enough to know who's my friend and who's not. And the only ponies who think I'm be dumb enough not to realize why they suddenly want to be my friend are the ones who'd never been my friends to begin with. I think I can handle it..." Her voice lowered a bit and she looked back up at him, a small frown playing across her face, "I hope I can handle it."


He gave her a reassuring nuzzle, pressing his nose against one of her velvety soft ears. "I think we can make sure it's okay. You got me and Raindrops and Blossomforth to look out for you, right?" Even as he said it, he was aware that it was a pitifully small amount of friends, especially since the state of her friendship with Blossomforth was still questionable. And it struck him then, how sad it was, that this warm, beautiful pony at his side had so few that she could turn to and depend on.


"And Cheerilee, too, I think." She said softly, a smile once again lighting her face, "I think we're kind of friends now. We were talking about maybe having lunch together on the weekend or something. And she said she would talk to Dinky's dad about me maybe spending time with her, since she seemed to like me." She still hadn't figured out why exactly the unicorn filly had taken such a shine to her, but had set aside those puzzling thoughts. They could and would keep for another day.


"That's great." Thunderlane rested their foreheads together, gazing into her honey-colored eyes, "You're really something, you know?" There really was an incredibly lot to be proud of, when it came to her. Derpy was by no means a confident mare; she had come to Ponyville broken and uncertain, her spirits low and her self-confidence almost nonexistent. And yet, that had never stopped her smile; she always put her best foot forward and tried her hardest to be who and what she needed to be.


And given the burdens she had shouldered predominantly on her own –and he knew, now, just how heavy that weight had been- without ever crumbling, she was probably the strongest pony he had ever met.

“That’s really sweet of you to say, Thunderlane.” Derpy lowered her lashes, though she didn’t break his gaze. She liked the warmth of his eyes; the way he looked at her, rather than through her, like most other ponies. “But I’m just me.”


“And you are amazing.” He replied solemnly, in a voice that would brook no argument. It didn’t surprise him in the slightest that she didn’t quite understand just how special she was; there hadn’t been many ponies who told her so, after all. And she wasn’t the kind of mare who played herself up or made herself out to be something bigger than she actually was, which was part of what he found so incredibly endearing about her.


After years of the twins and their bragging and boasting, she was like a breath of fresh air on a stifling day.


She had been so guarded in the beginning; so shy and uncertain, and her awkward-yet-quiet ways had been enough capture his interest from the very start. She was so different from the mares he already knew. The twins were loud, rambunctious and lively. And while Blossomforth was a little more reserved, she was by no means quiet.


But Derpy…When she had stumbled –literally!- in to his life, he hadn’t been sure what to make of her. He’d never really encountered a pony so withdrawn and world-weary as she had appeared; never spent time around anypony who’d had a hard life. He hadn’t really been sure what to make of her, in the beginning; she was simply the strange, solitary mare who lived in the attic and was slowly learning how to handle weather duty around the town. Hardly anypony came around the house looking for her –only Raindrops, and even her presence was scarce, because the grey mare kept mostly to herself, those first months- and though she was friendly in her quiet, unobtrusive way, Derpy spoke rarely of her life before Ponyville and the Weather Crew.


She had intrigued Thunderlane from the beginning, from the very first second in which their eyes had met across the living room, as she had pushed herself up from a trip over the carpet, never breaking his gaze, though he had wanted to look away, embarrassed on her behalf.


He hadn’t known it consciously but rather somewhere deep in his heart that she was something special; somepony well worth knowing.


And her actions over the past few days had done nothing to diminish that thought.


“You’re amazing,” he repeated, “and I love you so much.” He punctuated the affection by pressing a soft kiss against the very tip of her nose, eliciting a giggle as she shied away.


He sometimes said things like that so easily, and Derpy didn’t always know how to respond. She still wasn’t used to talking about the secret things in her heart, even after knowing Thunderlane for a decent amount of time. And worse still, some small part of her was afraid; she was constantly afraid on some level, even if she didn’t always realize it. There was always that chance that something could happen, something that would ruin the happiness she had worked so hard to build.


But she didn’t think anything bad would happen, not with the way warmth curled through her heart each time he uttered those magical words. She was safe with Thunderlane; he was somepony who cared for her and wanted only the best to happen in her life. He had always treated her kindly, even in the beginning when they barely knew one another, and his family had welcomed her with both open arms and open hearts, touching her heart in a way no other ponies ever had, not even Surprise.


Derpy tilted her gaze up towards the stars once more, stealing a glance at Thunderlane out of the corner of one eye. He had lapsed back into silence, though he was still watching her, and she felt her face heat under his gaze.


Feeling shy once more, she turned her full attention to the sky, trying to connect the stars and piece together the story they told. Luna’s night was beautiful, from the pale glow of the moon to the velvety star-sown sky, and the sight of it had often calmed her. The night was tranquil in its fathomless infinity and the idea that there were things much bigger than her problems had always been a comfort.


And there, watching the twinkling lights of the heavens, tucked securely at Thunderlane’s side and safe in the knowledge that she was loved, she felt the last vestiges of self-doubt and fear lifting from her, swirling away into the dark vastness of the night. Her life had been changing so much, so quickly, over the course of the past few days that it was utterly overwhelming, but she knew then that she would be okay, come whatever may, because she had the most wonderful special somepony in the world.


“…Thunderlane?” She leaned against him, using his larger frame as a shield against the gentle chill of the night.


“Hmm?” He shifted a little, tucking a powerful wing more fully around her, and leaning in to nuzzle affectionately against her ear. He loved moments like this, where they were alone and cozy, where nothing bad in the world could touch them. She was at her most beautiful in those peaceful times, when she was relaxed and open and so perfectly herself.


“Thunderlane, I…” Despite the sudden air of calm that had descended upon her, Derpy was still having a hard time with those words. She wanted to say them; wanted to tell him that he, too, was loved, that her heart was full. But the words stuck in her throat, unable to break free.


“Hey…” Sensing her distress, he turned, lifting a hoof to gently touch her cheek, “It’s okay.” He wasn’t sure what exactly was troubling her, though he had his suspicions. Some words were just hard to say and he, being a bit shy himself, understood that.


She leaned into the caress, eyes sliding shut, the beautiful tapestry of stars disappearing from view. She took a deep breath in an attempt to gather that last needed bit of courage, and when she opened them again, both eyes were fixed on his face, her honey gaze unwavering. “I love you, too.” When she spoke, the words came on a whisper, carried by the gentle wind through the night, to be lost on the world below them, but only after finding a home in his heart.


He smiled softly, leaning in to kiss her. “I know,” he whispered back. And he did know; he had for a long time, because some words never needed to be spoken.