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                     The Little Things                     
                    -by Backslasherton-                    
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                         The Rain                          
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The Rain
For most, the morning was a time to enjoy the outside before the afternoon sun grew too hot, or to get ready for the day’s work after a night’s rest. For some, it was time to enjoy a little bit of the day before going to bed, having worked through the night. And for the rare one or two ponies, it was a time for both. For Twilight Sparkle, she often found herself switching between the two on any given day of the week.
Today, she enjoyed the morning in the latter way. She’d started sorting through her recent notes the night before, and found they weren’t up to her usual standards. So, instead, she rewrote them all into an anthology of research for her future reference, alphabetized by topic underneath subject matter, of course.
It had taken quite a bit of time, but she finally got them brought up to how she wanted them. Glancing through the nearby window, though, she saw that it was no longer the late-night study session she’d planned for and was greeted by a late-morning rain shower. Checking the weather schedule, she saw that the rain was scheduled to last until late into the evening.
Yawning, Twilight stood back from her desk. She glanced up at the second level of her bedroom and saw the rise and fall of Spike’s breathing in his bed. She smiled and walked downstairs as softly as she could, blowing out the candle on the side of her desk. The ambient light from the windows lit the room up enough for her to make her way around.
Coming down the stairs, she looked out into the library’s main room. The bookshelves were all neatly arranged, the book drop off was emptied, and the lights were out. Just as she’d left it last night. The only thing different was the front door was open. Twilight smiled.
Sitting on the front steps was Ponyville’s latest and strangest resident, Ryan Wilson. He stared out into the streets of Ponyville, a serene look on his face as there was a soft rumble of thunder in the distance.
The click of Twilight’s hooves was almost drowned out by the drone of the rain, but not completely, and Ryan turned around as she neared, and smiled at her. Twilight smiled back.
“Good morning, Ryan. Enjoying the rain?” She greeted.
“Very much,” he nodded, moving aside to make room for her. She sat down next to him.
The two settled in, enjoying the quiet. Twilight followed his eyes, looking out into the town. The sun had risen enough that the light that made it through the clouds lit the town a dull grey. There were a few ponies here and there under umbrellas or awnings taking shelter from the rain and in the sky, a few weather pegasi patroled, making sure none of the storm clouds got too out of hand. Another low rumble echoed across the valley.
“You’ve been up all night, haven’t you?”
Twilight blushed.
“Yes,” She nodded. Ryan chuckled softly.
“Enjoy yourself?”
“I did,” Twilight nodded, “All my notes are finally sorted and ready for me to study.”
Ryan chuckled again, shaking his head.
“Glad to hear it.”
Ryan took a deep breath and sighed, his eyes still looking out onto the town. Twilight watched him. While she still considered herself a novice at best when it came to reading human emotions, she’d picked up a few of Ryan’s tells.
For example, she noticed that he wasn’t blinking very much, if at all, meaning he was thinking about something. She looked down at his pants and could tell he’d been there a while, given how much the rain had splashed onto his jeans. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, and followed his lead, staring into the town as she thought how best to word her question.
“Something on your mind Ryan?” Twilight asked. He shrugged.
“Not really. Just thinking.”
“About what? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
“I dunno,” Another shrug, “I guess it’s… home?”
Twilight felt a stab to her heart, and her ears dropped.
“O-Oh,” She said sadly, “I’m sorry, Ryan. I’m still trying to figure out how you came here in the first place, but I promi-”
“No, no, don’t worry about it, Twilight,” Ryan waved a hand, “I know you’re working on it, and like I said: there’s no rush. Take your time,” he shook his head.
“I know that’s what you said, but still, I know you must miss your family and friends and your life back home.”
To Twilight’s surprise, Ryan chuckled softly.
“Twilight, I’m fine. Really. You do your thing, I trust you. Even if you don’t get anything, I’ve still got a hell of a life here, and plenty of friends to live it with.”
“Okay,” She nodded. Ryan grinned.
“Good,” he shrugged, “Besides, that’s not what I meant, anyway.”
Ryan laughed softly at Twilight’s blush as she became more embarrassed.
“O-oh. Well, what did you mean?”
“I was thinking about the rain, and how it reminded me of growing up.”
Twilight perked up at this. She was always eager to hear about Ryan’s childhood.
“Did it rain a lot where you live?”
“No,” Ryan laughed. Then, he shook his head as he seemed to remember something else, “Well, sometimes it could, but other times not so much,” he explained. “When I was really young, we had a real bad drought. Well, my dad says it wasn’t as bad as I remember it being, but all I remember as a kid growing up was hearing how we were in a drought, and how everything was all brown and dying in the heat because we had no rain and we were setting heat records and records for how long between rain we’d gotten, and so on.”
“Oh, that’s because you don’t have weather teams, right?”
“Well, I think it’s more because we can’t control the weather period, Twilight,” Ryan grinned.
“...Right,” Twilight frowned, “I always forget that.”
“Well, I imagine it’s easy to forget that someone else’s basic laws of the universe function differently than yours,” Ryan joked.
“Controlling weather is hardly a ‘law of the universe’, Ryan. Besides, didn’t you tell me that your country did manage to control the weather at one point?”
“Seeding clouds in Laos during the Vietnam War is hardly controlling the weather. Besides, I think I also told you about Project Stormfury, which didn’t work.”
“That’s only fifty-percent, which is inconclusive.”
Ryan laughed and shook his head.
“You’re right Twilight. Unfortunately for you, that’s all I remember of that particular episode, so that’s all you’re getting out of me.”
“Episode?” Twilight frowned. “Oh! That’s from those people you were telling me about, right?”
“Citation Needed, yeah. It was a web show on YouTube.”
“Oh Celestia, imagine everything we could learn if we had that ‘YouTube’ service here.”
Ryan burst out laughing, far harder than he had before. Twilight frowned.
“What?” She asked.
“Oh, I’m just imagining all you could learn off YouTube.”
“Well, you were telling me all about Mr. Tom Scott and that Crash Course group. This ‘YouTube’ sounds like a wonderful educational resource.”
“But Twilight, that’s not what it’s for,” Ryan said, his laughter finally slowing, “Like I’ve told you before, it’s a video-sharing service that a very small amount of people make educational videos for. A much, much, much large portion of people make just random garbage or gaming Let’s Plays. Or a Vlog about stuff no one cares about.”
“...A what?”
“It’s a…” Ryan shook his head, “Y’know what? Just… don’t worry about it.”
Ryan turned back to the rain in front of him and sighed.
“Anyway,” he started, “What I was trying to say, was that we were in a drought, right?” Twilight nodded, and he continued, “So whenever it rained, I knew it was a good thing. That meant the drought would get better. And when we heard the rain, we’d go out to the front porch and sit here just like this and watch the rain for a little bit,” he smiled.
Twilight felt another stab of guilt as she saw the pain in his eyes. Despite what he said, she knew he missed his home and his family. She just nodded, and smiled with him, watching the rain.
“But y’know what my favorite part is?” he asked her, “The noises.”
“Of the rain?”
Ryan nodded.
“Yup. Here, just close your eyes and listen for a minute.”
Twilight was confused but did as he said and closed her eyes. Initially, the rain was just white noise to her. A wall of sound with no real discernable characteristics. But then, as her breathing slowed, the sounds separated.
She heard the raindrops hitting the cobblestones. The thousands of tiny splashes around her, and the rain that ran down the roofs and pooled up before sliding off the edge. Together, they sounded like the crackle of a log in a fireplace.
Then there were the much softer splashes as the leaves above them were showered on. The many layers of leaves meant very little rain got through, but she could hear and sometimes feel when the water occasionally made it through the tree.
“Can you hear it now?” She heard Ryan say next to her.
She nodded. There was another rumble of thunder, this one much more distant. She heard it roll through the valley and down the streets. She could hear it echo off the mountains in the distance.
There were even a few animals she could hear in there. Squirrels running about the trees as they scrambled between cover. She could hear a bird nearby, splashing about as it bathed itself in a puddle.
She took a deep breath. It was cool outside, and the smell of the rain filled her nostrils. She’d never really noticed it before, but she liked it. It smelled fresh and new.
And then the wind blew, rustling the leaves and shaking loose the water that had stuck to the leaves, and it sounded like the rain doubled as it all splashed to the street below. She could feel some of the nearby droplets splash onto her. She smiled.
“Thank you, Ryan” She opened her eyes and faced him.
He grinned at her and tilted his head.
“What for?”
“For sharing this with me,” Twilight said, “I’ve never really stopped to enjoy the rain before. Usually, I just plan to be inside all day studying.”
“Well, thank you for listening,” he turned back to the rain, “It’s these little moments that I stop and just relax, y’know?” he let his eyelids fall, “And when I close my eyes, you sort of forget everything. There’s no jobs, no taxes, no chores, shopping… anything. There’s just the rain,” Another rumble of thunder. “I think if, back on Earth, a few more people just stopped every so often and enjoyed the Earth as it is… I think things would be a lot more like they are here.”
“Well, we have our fair share of problems, Ryan.”
“Maybe,” he grinned, “But I don’t imagine thermonuclear war is very high on the list, is it?”
“I guess not,” Twilight grinned back.
“And that’s what I love about here. It’s just… peaceful. Everything is. Well,” he chuckled, “Except when you girls go off and shoot rainbow lasers at some baddies. But even then, it’s not like anyone really gets too badly hurt. Not like back home.”
Twilight waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. She looked up at him and smiled. It almost looked like he’d fallen asleep sitting up. But the smile on his face betrayed the truth.
Twilight followed his lead, and turned to the town, closing her eyes. Though neither of them spoke, Twilight couldn’t hear any silence this time. Only the rain.
Author's Note
Nothing serious here, just something I may update as I think of prompts.
More often than not recently, I find myself up late at night wanting to write, but not always about my main stories. So, here's the product. A semi-self insert slice of life... thing.
As I said, I'll update this story as I make content, but it's not something I'm gonna focus on. Hope you all enjoy.