The Most Daring Pony Around
Rolling Thunder adjusted her bruised wing awkwardly as she moped her way through the muddy streets of Ponyville. Though she was the most thrill-seeking stunt pony in Equestria, she worried this newest trick was too much for even her. The sling on her side seemed to agree. That, and she never had the chance to practice. Weather ponies weren’t exactly willing to conjure lightning storms on command just for some pegasus to fly through them.
So she had been chasing storms around Equestria in her mission to find the perfect practice spots. Until she got wind of another big weather plan, she’d do the two most important things she could do: train and rest. Ponyville wasn’t a bad spot to do either, so she figured she’d stay in town for a week or two before heading up to Canterlot and taking advantage of their more-informed weather tables. Right now, though, she needed to satiate the appetite she had worked up during the afternoon of exertion.
A blur and a crash broke Rolling Thunder out of her thoughts. She jumped back from the flower boxes next to her. What was left of them. Potting soil, wood splinters, and yellow petals covered the gray pegasus mare who had fallen out of the sky. The gray mare sat, brushed the dirt and mud out of her blonde mane, and grinned sheepishly at Rolling Thunder. Then she just got up and held out her hoof like nothing had happened.
She was so cool.
“Hi!” the mare said in a sing-song voice. “I’m sorry about that.”
Rolling Thunder leapt forward at the opportunity to shake her hoof. “Don’t worry about it; you’re right! I’m Rolling Thunder.”
“I’m Derpy!” She grinned.
Rolling Thunder nodded absently. She had found herself mesmerized by Derpy’s shifting, wall-eyed gaze. Those golden eyes drew her in more than any tornado could. She cleared her throat and snapped her attention back to the conversation at hand. “I saw you crash there,” she said. She gestured at her sling. “You know, I do my own fair share of thrill-seeking.”
“Oh, yeah.” Derpy laughed. “I always end up crashing. I think I’m just not any good.”
“Not any good?” Rolling Thunder smirked. “What makes a flier ‘good’? Doing it the same way as everypony else? We’re the real fliers here, and we work harder than anypony else because of it.”
Derpy smiled, and Rolling Thunder beamed. She had always been insecure about her stunts, too. Having the ability to help a new stunt pony with her self-esteem made her heart swell, especially when she was helping a mare this obviously sweet.
“Alright!” Rolling Thunder said. “I’m going to get some food at Cafe Hay. Want to come with? We can talk about our routines.”
Derpy focused her eyes on Rolling Thunder. “I’d love to!”
Rolling Thunder happily trotted through the muddy streets the rest of the way to the cafe, and Derpy flapped along by her side. Hopefully Derpy didn’t notice her stealing glances at her eyes, but they were just so entrancing. She couldn’t look away; she almost ran straight into the door when they approached. Derpy went inside as Rolling Thunder rinsed off her hooves, and she noticed that her hooves were shaking. It happened to her a lot when she was anxious, but she didn’t feel upset at all.
“So!” Rolling Thunder slammed her hoof onto the table Derpy had been seated at. “Tell me about what you do!”
“Oh, I just do things and things happen. I think I mess a lot of stuff up, though.”
Rolling Thunder put her hoof on Derpy’s shoulder. “Don’t say that. It’s not easy doing things differently, but it’s worth it.”
There wasn’t any response.
“How about I help you out?” Rolling Thunder ventured again. “We could meet up and go flying somewhere private. I could show you some real routines; more than anypony around here could.”
“That’d be great,” Derpy said, “but all the good flying spots will be crowded now that the storm is over.”
Maybe all the boring spots.
***
Rolling Thunder looked down the cliff face and smirked. Her sling lay draped on one of the moss-covered boulders that littered the drab mountainside, and the buildings of Ponyville lay sprawled as dots across the ground far below. She flexed her wings, winked at Derpy, and threw herself back-first off the edge.
The trick was simple enough: dive straight at the ground, weave between some sharp rocks, and pull up at the last moment. She dodged and weaved around the first few rocks flawlessly. Mechanically. She hated that. She pulled up abruptly for a loop around a jagged outcropping and felt her bad wing clip the side.
When the pain subsided, she was starting at a pattern of white and blue covered in blurry green splotches. She was vaguely aware of a gray patch of color entering and exiting her vision, then of a sing-song voice calling her name.
“Ah!” Rolling Thunder sat up and clutched her injured wing.
Derpy landed next to her and focused her eyes on Rolling Thunder. "Did you hurt yourself?"
“I’m doing alright. I really won’t be able to fly for a while, huh?”
A flash of recollection passed over Derpy’s face, and she jumped a few paces away to where she had set Rolling Thunder’s sling. She fumbled with it in her mouth as she fastened it to Rolling Thunder’s side. For once in her life, Rolling Thunder was patient.
“There!” Derpy stepped back from her lopsided work.
“Thanks heaps, Derpy," Rolling Thunder said. "See? It happens to me too; don't think you're a bad stunt pony because you crash."
Derpy blinked. "What?"
"You feel bad because you always crash! Any true stunt pony crashes all the time!"
Derpy was silent for a moment as Rolling Thunder marveled at her ability to help her new friend.
"I'm a mailmare," Derpy said.
Well, she wasn't expecting that.
"As your day job," Rollinng Thunder said.
"It's my only job."
Rolling Thunder's mouth twitched as the realization dawned on her, and she burst out laughing when it finally hit.
"Are you okay?" Derpy asked.
"Aye," Rolling Thunder said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I thought I'd make you feel better by taking you out here."
"I had a great time." Derpy put her wing on Rolling Thunder's back. "I'd like to do this again sometime."
"Sure thing. Maybe I can make a stunt pony out of you yet."
"Okay! It's a date!"
Rolling Thunder watched Derpy walk away, her mouth twitching as the realization dawned on her.
