Making the World Bearable
For a week, I sat next to Cloudchaser in class down at Baltimare Junior High School. I wanted to sit somewhere besides next to the air conditioning unit for a change.
Upon first sight, I thought that Cloudchaser was just another mare in the school, obsessed with fashion (her white mane was tied in a different way every day) and stallions (why else would she be content with sitting by me?). But Cloudchaser was different. She was eccentric for one reason: she always carried a set of inspirational quotes with her, wherever she went. One day I asked her about them, after no communication and out of sheer boredom, and she got really serious and said, "I hope to make the world bearable." I thought she was kidding, until the end of the week rolled around.
On Friday, we had just been dismissed when a loud shriek of pain could be heard somewhere near the back of the hallway. Teachers and staff didn't do anything about bullying - it was up to the students, as a way of learning responsibility. Way to go, administration.
Cloudchaser found me in the hallway, shocked by the noise and rather confused. She insisted on "checking things out", as she called it. I didn't have anything better to do, so I followed her to the source of the noise.
We ended up in a lone passageway, staring at a bruised and battered Derpy Hooves.
Cloudchaser immediately whipped out her set of quotes, searching through them with the level of intensity that a grown stallion would apply to such a task as moving a large carriage. I groaned and said, "Look, there isn't any time for quotes! We gotta help this mare!"
She wasn't listening. "Shut up for a minute, everyone! I'm trying to find it!"
Find what, I didn't know, but I let her keep searching as I scooted a little closer to the injured mare. "Hey, you okay?"
"Why are you helping me?" Derpy Hooves asked me. "No one ever cared this much about me before."
I couldn't answer for fear of coming across as a jerk. I didn't even know who I would be exacting revenge on if I so wished. Luckily, I was saved by a loud shout of triumph from my acquaintance.
"Hah! Got it!" Cloudchaser cried as she grasped one of the index cards with both wings. "Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."
Derpy stared at her, transfixed. For a minute, I thought she was even more worried - but then, she smiled. Nothing more, no thanks, no response except a smile.
That was all Cloudchaser needed, or so it seemed. "Ms. Hooves, follow me! We're going to the nurse's office!"
Derpy stood shakily, still smiling at Cloudchaser, and followed her. I caught up with her and whispered, "What was the quote for?"
She stopped suddenly and met my eyes. "It made the world bearable for her. I could tell." She then continued walking, not stopping until we reached the nurse's office. Luckily, staff had to wait an extra thirty minutes after the students had left, so the nurse was still there. I decided to go straight home after that; I had always been a bit nervous around medical business, after all.
The weekend passed without so much as a flutter in activity. My parents were in Las Pegasus, visiting relatives, and Rumble was at summer camp; my parents trusted me enough to leave me home alone. I was usually bored on weekends, but this was a different kind of boredom. I just couldn't put the same amount of energy into the things I normally did on weekends. I didn't want to admit it, but hanging around Cloudchaser for as much as half an hour had already changed my view of the world around me. I desperately wished for something to happen, but nothing came up.
When Monday rolled around, I noticed that Derpy had healed well enough so that her bruises weren't visible anymore; I smiled at her in the hall and she grinned back. I also noticed that Cloudchaser was late to homeroom. I figured she had probably been enlightening some poor student, not even hearing the bell ring.
She sat down on the other side of the room from me. A shame, really. I wanted to get to know her better, but I didn't have any other classes with her besides fourth period, right before lunch.
That wasn't what was eating at me, though. A folded piece of stationary had materialized on my desk. After determining it was definitely from Cloudchaser (based on the crude drawing of a bandaged mare on the side facing me), I teased the corner open with my teeth. In a barely legible scrawl, it read:
"The world will hear your words but feel your attitude."
I hurriedly stuffed the note in my desk and looked across the room both ways to make sure no one had seen me read it - I really didn't want anyone to think it was a love letter. That's when I noticed Cloudchaser staring at me pointedly. I nodded at her, smiling, and she looked away.
At lunch that day she sat beside me. "Heya, Thunderlane."
"What do you want, Cloudchaser?" I tried to sound annoyed, but apparently she felt my real attitude, just like the quote said.
"I know you want to get to know me better," she began, "but I can't have anyone distracting me from my studies. You know how important they are to me - "
"Actually, I don't..." I offered, but she wasn't listening.
" - and anyways, I figured, what better way than to talk with you over lunch? So that's what I'm doing now!"
"OK, then," I said, resigned to my fate. "So, what do you want to know?"
"What do you think makes the world bearable?"
And so began our long friendship.
