At least, one mare believes in me.
Most ponies don't get me. Just because I have the name Sunshower Raindrops and have raindrops for a cutie mark (or as Vinyl Scratch calls it "having raindrops tattooed on my ass") makes anypony automatically assume that I will rain on their parade and bring a bad day.
I try to keep a smile on my face and go on about my day like another pony would. But the fact remains when it seems to me that everypony quickly darts out of my way, whether I be working on the weather up in Cloudsdale, or doing my weekly shopping down in the Ponyville Market.
They made me feel so alone, like a foal separated from its mother with no sense of security.
Even the weather team I work for treats me like I am the one pony who should be avoided. They always gave me the jobs that were farthest away from the first workspace. I was separated by at least a few miles. Even after I got finished with whatever weather formation needed working on, they would just fly away to some unknown destination, without even asking me if I would like to join.
It's days like this that haunt me. It's days like this why I resort to the few pills I have in my medicine cabinet. It's days like this why somedays I don't even get out of bed and try to face the new day.
It's the fact that they will keep treating me this way.
Today was the second day in a row that I decided that there was a much better place for me buried underneath my covers. There was just something so welcoming and inviting about how much more friendlier they were. They would soak up how much I talked about my feelings and grant me somewhat of a better silence. I knew I was talking to inanimate objects, but these objects seemed to understand my feelings better than other ponies.
"Rainy! Mail's here!"
Ah, that's the only other reason I wear a smile on my face. The mailmare, or as I know her as, Derpy Hooves. She was somewhat in the same boat as me, in the sense that she understood my feelings. Derpy was partly ignored by other ponies as well, just because her eyes never seemed to focus in the same direction.
The difference between me and her was the fact that she was able to continue on with her day, probably due to her daughter, Dinky, who I see sometimes nestled in the mailbag (and almost wound up on my front porch a time or three. Dinky never seemed to really mind, though.).
Begrudgingly, I escaped my warmth and security as I made my way forwards, not really bothering to brush my mane or my coat. I saw no real desire to do so, determined to get back to my plan for today.
"Rainy!" Derpy called out, using the nickname she had given me when she first delivered my mail a few weeks ago. "I got a special delivery for you!"
It took me a few minutes to cross what felt like the vast expanse of my living room. There was some furniture placed in it, but most of it never really got used. I really never saw the use of so much furniture, especially if everypony wanted to avoid me to the ends of Equestria.
I somewhat harshly opened the door, narrowly avoiding hitting Derpy in the face. The mare must have cat-like reflexes because she nimbly jumped backwards and somehow not spilling any of the mail.
"Awww.....is poor Rainy have a bad day?" Derpy asked, in the tone of voice she uses to cheer up Dinky. Dinky would normally have smiled, but I did not, however.
"Yes." I grumbled, raising a hoof to snatch the mail out of Depry's out-raised hoof. I stole a quick glance through them. Bills, bills, junk mail, more bills, more junk mail, and so on and so forth.
"Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?" Derpy asked, genuine concern in her voice.
That question caught me off-guard. "What?" I asked, not even sure that I had heard those words right.
"I said, is there anything I can do to cheer you up, Rainy? You're always so down on yourself, it hurts me to see a pony like that around here."
I did hear that right.
"Derpy...." I began.
"I'm here for you, Rainy. I want you to know that. Besides, I left a little surprise for you."
"A surprise?"
Derpy instantly looked like she had accidentally ate something sour. "I wasn't even supposed to say that. My bad."
"Derpy. It's all right."
"You must think I'm a total idiot right now."
"No, you aren't." I replied. "We all make mistakes."
Derpy's face instantly lit up like the star atop a Hearth Warming's tree. "Awww....Thank you, Rainy!"
I couldn't resist. I cracked my own smile. "You're welcome."
"Anyway, I've got the rest of this mail to deliver, but I want you to know that I'm there for you. We don't need a Miss Grumpy Hooves around here now, do we?" Derpy asked, smiling at her own joke.
"No, we do not."
"Bye, Rainy!" And with a wave of her hoof, she took off into the air, narrowly missing hitting another pegasus on her way out.
'Oh, Derpy, Derpy, Derpy. You are so random. I thought to myself.
I walked back inside my house, already feeling a bit better about myself. I don't know what it was exactly, but Derpy got me to feeling better by some unknown method.
I closed the door and sat down on the nearest piece of living room furniture I could find. Taking another glance through what would most likely wind up somewhere else (it was amazing how fast I could throw a letter and hit some random pony on the head), I noticed something a little bit smaller than the pile of envelopes.
I picked it up out of the pile. It was a small bag, and it looked like it could only hold a few items in it. Curious, I opened it up and peered into the depths. There was a small pile of chocolate chip cookies and a note on top of it. The note was slightly burnt, and the text on it looked like she had written it while flying.
It said:
Dear Raindrops,
I've noticed that you seem a bit sadder than other ponies. While I am no detective, I figured that you needed to be cheered up. So after talking it through with Dinky (and some borrowing of supplies from Sugarcube Corner ((who knew Pinkie Pie could run THAT fast?)), I decided to try to bake something to put a smile on your face. So, please, enjoy and I hope you have a wonderful day.
Derpy
She cared about me. She genuinely cared about me.
Taking one of the cookies from the bag and eating it, I noticed how almost perfect it was. Sure, they were burnt some, but there was something about having them after hearing that Derpy is looking out for me that made me overcome that.
After eating a few of the cookies (I was saving those for later), I think my mood lifted. I set about brushing my coat and mane, proceeded to clean my house to the point where it looked like I cleaned it more than that once. I kept replaying Derpy's words in my mind, and the more they were replayed, the more I began to believe them.
Soon, there was another knock on my door. I opened it up and there was Derpy on the other side of the threshold.
"Hi, Derpy." I said.
"Hi, Rainy!" she replied, still as happy as she looked everyday.
"You know, I never got to say thank you, Derpy." I told her.
"My name's Derpy, not Thank You Derpy." she said, instantly smiling at her own joke.
I laughed. There was still something in the way she talked that confirmed the fact that she cared about me.
"Somepony looks better." Derpy said, wrapping me up in a hug. "I know you could, Rainy."
"It's all thanks to you, Derpy." I said, returning her hug.
She tightened up her hug ever so slightly. "It's so much better to see it as a happy, smiling pony. Anyway, I got in touch with some other ponies and they promise not to treat you so badly."
"Thank you."
"Hey, it was the least that I could do."
"No, Derpy. You did so much more than I could accomplish on my own. You made me realize that it takes more than myself to fix my own problems. You made sure that you tried to lift up my spirits. And you finally succeeded."
"Hey, that's what friends for, Rainy."
I smiled. "Exactly."
Author's Note
Never underestimate the power of a true friendship.
