Chapter 13
-Remembering-

Derpy pressed her muzzle against the glass peering curiously at the hats displayed on the other side. Dawn had yet to break fully over the horizon, the sky awash with ever brightening pinks and oranges of varying hues. The shop was still closed given the early hour, but Derpy hadn't been able to sleep any longer her mind aflutter with thoughts.

With a sigh the mare stepped away from the window. Her mail bag was heavy with the bits she had not yet spent, and though it was available she still had trepidations about spending it on herself. Perhaps she could repay the kindness Rarity had shown her, but there was nothing worthy of that mares friendship, and next to her own designs everything just looked too...plain.

Derpy winced as her stomach let out a loud gurgle of hunger. She folded her ears back and cast her gaze around her, breathing a sigh of relief only when she was sure nopony had been around to hear it. With a flush of embarrassment Derpy flapped her wings and took to the sky in search of someplace quiet to quell her hunger.

--

Soarin sat on a small cloud floating just outside the outskirts of Ponyville, lingering just beyond the boundaries of the Everfree forest. The breeze blew through his mane, as his thoughts wandered toward semi forgotten memories. He'd spent the last week regaining large chunks of it due to some helpful memory recanting spells from Twilight Sparkle and some intense one on one time with his own thoughts.

"Soarin get your flank in gear! Those clouds aren't going to clear themselves!" Rainbow shouted from her position several yards away. Pegasi flitted about the sky above Ponyville, the blue pegasus and the former wonderbolt being the only two not currently stomping and smashing clouds of various consistencies.

Soarin got to his hooves and stomped half heartedly at the dark clouds spongy surface. It easily resisted the pressure he forced upon it. He spent several minutes poking at it unenthusiastically before slumping down, his hooves dangling over the edge . He scanned the earth below ignoring Rainbow Dash's continued shouts, a thin smile tugging at his lips. She reminded him of Spitfire, though a younger more brash version.

The stallion continued to watch the ground even as Rainbow Dash alighted beside him. She was quiet for a few moments before she spoke to him. "Is everything alright Soarin?" She muttered, seeming uncomfortable with the question. or maybe with asking it.

"How much do you know about the Wonderbolts Dash?" He didn't look at the blue mare as he spoke but someplace far off in the distance. His eyes were vacant, as if he were lost in a memory. When the mare answered in the childish way he had come to expect, calling the Wonderbolts speedy and agile trick ponies mostly, he found himself a little turned off. "The Wonderbolts are a branch of the Royal Equestrian Military Dash, the air force division to be exact." He explained. “they perform for the crowds as a show of strength and skill, but at the heart of them is their purpose. They were formed as a means to protect Equestria in the event of a crisis.”

He sounded sure about this more so than with anything he'd remembered thus far. "Most ponies spend their whole lives training to get in while others..." His voice trailed off and he hesitated before continuing. "Others are forced in."

Rainbow Dash wrinkled her brow. "What do you mean... forced?"

"Military school Dash." He answered flatly. "I didn't become a Wonderbolt because I wanted to. I became a Wonderbolt because the only other option was...well, there was no other option. Not for me."

“Why tell me this?” Rainbow Dash muttered her face falling. Had she been wrong? Her whole life had been dedicated to the pursuit of Wonderbolts fame. She had wanted to join the nations best stunt team not a military organization. She kicked forlornly at a tuft of cloud, easily breaking it off , the thin dark wisps dissipating.

The stallion watched the tuft of cloud vanish. A smile crossed his face, small at first but growing as he seemed to come to a decision. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing for the Gala?”

--

Soarin stared forlornly at a thin wisp of cloud between his hooves. The floor was cold beneath his flanks, but less than the dark stare he received from the warden, a burly strapping mare with piercing green eyes, as she passed by. The colt hung his head his locks of navy blue mane concealing the hurt deep within his eyes. The door opened and he dared look up, more on impulse than want. His lower lip trembled and he opened his mouth but not a sound came out. There wasn't time to utter any words as the gurney carrying the young filly speed past.. It quickly disappeared behind a second set of doors.

"Nothing to say?" The warden huffed striding forward, a pompous air about her. The colt glanced up, tears pricking behind his green eyes, his lower lip trembling. "You'll find an apology in time." She murmured after a moment. "They always do."

--

Derpy shuffled nervously as Rarity's aura of blue magic lit around the ribbon of the hat box she had brought with her. Her eyes flew around the room landing on the various hat's the fashionable pony had strewn about the shop. She didn't know if they were ones the mare had made, or ones she had bought but a sudden urge to tear the box away from her friend seized her gut. She glanced to the floor once more forcing her eyes to look elsewhere but at Rarity's face as she pulled the lid off the box.

A squeal of delight pierced the air as Rarity pulled the hat from the box and placed it on her head. Derpy chanced a glance up to find a smile brimmed across Rarity's muzzle. “Why Derpy, wherever did you find such an exquisite hat?”

The gray mare smiled. “You like it?”

“I love it darling.” The unicorn exclaimed gleefully. Her face fell for a moment from delight to confusion. “But whatever made you think to get me a gift? Surely you do not think you owe me for the one you misplaced?”

Derpy bit her lip and nodded a bit shamefully. Rarity draped the small pegasus in a tight hug, before releasing her to ogle once more a her reflection. “Friends do not owe each other gift for those given, though I do so appreciate the sentiment darling.”

Derpy had thought the hat a bit to gaudy when she had first spotted it, but when she thought back to those she had seen around carousel boutique, and those she had seen the unicorn wear before, she knew that no amount of feathers or flowers would be too much. Indeed this hat had far too many of both but the color was what suited the mare far more than the design.

“Since you are here I've made one minor adjustment to that gown I've been designing. Would you care to try it on once more?” Rarity perked at the smile Derpy tried to hide at the thought of trying on the dress. “The gala is only a few days away , have you made any progress asking you know who?”

A faint blush colored Derpy's cheeks and she shook her head mournfully. In truth she hadn't spoken to Soarin for days, even going so far as avoiding him entirely. She couldn't risk messing up now. There were so many things that could go wrong., the least of which was Rainbow Dash who seemed to be doing everything she could to steal Soarin's attention away. Derpy did not think it was any sort of romantic interest, more of a 'I want what you want', but that was enough to stall the gray mare's attempts.

And it wasn't as if Soarin wasn't benefiting from all the time he was spending with Dash. He was beginning to look like the old Soarin, the determined handsome pony she saw on the cover of that issue of Cosmare Rainbow Dash hid at Twilight's place.

“Can you help me talk to him?” Derpy found herself speaking before she was even aware of doing so. The unicorn's babble, her discussion about the alterations she had made to the dress, stopped short as she gave her undivided attention to the troubled pegasus. “It's just that, I don't know very much about him. What do I say?”

Rarity gave the pony a soft smile ruffling her mane. “I have an idea.”

Author's Note

Apologies are in order for the length of time it has taken to get a new chapter out.
No excuses but for the fact that life just gets in the way...

Till next time...