“Out of all those who faded into the background, these two stood out.”
Raindrops had just come home from the Wonderbolt Academy, or at least stage one of it. She still had to get the letter to find out if she was the lucky pony to move on to further join the Wonderbolt team. She had promised Derpy that they would meet up once she was back, as always to deliver the mail together.
She reached her destination, Sugarcube Corner. Raindrop’s love for baguette, along with Derpy’s passionate love for muffins, made this bakery the perfect place to meet up and eat before they joined for work. She walked in the candy-styled door, smelling the mixture of sweets and her wet fur, giving her an odd pleasure.
There she was, Derpy Hooves, sitting in a booth with her muffins all laid out in front of her, waiting for her dear friend.
“Raindrops!” Derpy yelled, forgetting the muffins in front of her, excited to see her friend, and flew out of the booth to greet her friend with a hug. She slammed into Raindrops with enough force to knock her down.
“Hey, you two!” Mrs. Cake called, “Careful, I don’t need any accidents happening in my shop!”
“Sorry, Mrs. Cake.” They apologized in unison, as always.
Raindrops walked up to the counter, ready to order her usual bread. “I’ll take the usual.”
“Don’t you two have anything else you’d like to eat?”
“Not really.” Mrs. Cake went into the back, grabbing the fresh bread from an oven, as she was accustomed to their routine too. “Here you go,” she said, holding out the loaf of bread.
“Thanks,” Raindrops gave over the normal amount of bits, taking her order over to the booth with Derpy.
“So, you get that letter back from the academy?” Derpy asked, smashing a muffin into her mouth, savoring it as if it were life to her.
“Wouldn’t you be the pony to know that before me?” They laughed, enjoying the time they had left together. Raindrops bit down into her bread and just like Derpy, she savoured each bite, slowly she started to devour the sweet bread.
“I guess you’re right, Rainy, maybe we’ll find it in a bag today. I can’t wait to see that you got in!” Derpy finished the last of her muffins, leaving only crumbs in their former place. “You going to finish that, or you want to get started?”
Raindrops put the half eaten baguette in her pack, swallowing the bits she still had in her mouth. “Let’s go.”
They walked out of Sugarcube Corner, thanking Mrs. Cake for her services.
“Alright, heres your half,” Derpy said, hoofing over a stack of letters. “We’ll meet back in the market when we’re done, right?”
“You know it! I can’t wait to go flying with you again.” Raindrops bolted into the sky, wanting to get done as quickly as she could to spend as much time with Derpy that she could. It was a swift job, seeing as both only had to do half the work. Raindrops got done delivering her mail much faster than Derpy, as Derpy was a troubled flyer, but that only made her more fun as a pony. It was a challenge, not a gift.
Raindrops landed in the market, having one last letter to delivery, which was for Derpy, nonetheless. She decided to buy some much needed food while she waited on her special pony friend, using the few bits she had left from the Sugarcube Corner baguette.
“Howdy, Raindrops!” Applejack said, placing fresh apples on her market stand.
“Hey, Applejack, you got any green apples in stock?”
“Ah sure do, ya making something special with ‘em?”
“You could say that,” Raindrops handed over a few bits to receive her heavenly apples.
“Thank ya kindly for the business.”
She went and sat down at a nearby bench, the usual bench that she and Derpy would talk at in Ponyville. Finally, after half an hour of waiting, the flight-challenged pegasus had landed down in the market.
“Derpy!” Raindrops called, running towards her friend with the letter in her mouth. “I got a letter for you,” but with it in her mouth it came out much less comprehensible . Raindrops took the letter out of her mouth, failing to reproduce what she attempted to say, and gave it to Derpy.
“A letter?” Derpy sounded surprised, even though she was the primary mailmare for the local community, she never really did receive letters every week, making them a rare item for her to be addressed with.
Derpy took the letter, opening it with her teeth. “So, what’s it say?”
She didn’t respond to the question, dodging it with the next subject at hoof. “Let’s just head to the pond, you ready, Rainy?”
“I am always ready with you around.”
They took off into the sky, Raindrops did her flight tricks in front of Derpy, not to show off or be rude, but to impress. Derpy loved the flight progression of Raindrops, as she could not get further with her own skill. She had flown sharp loops in the sky at great speed, twirling through clouds making them burst out shots of rain.
They landed next to the pond, the sky filled with pegasi preparing for the night’s much needed shower over Ponyville. Derpy immediately tossed off her mailbag. She splashed herself into the cool water of the pond, unraveling the troubles she carried from the day’s work.
“You coming in?” Derpy asked, spitting water from her mouth back into the pond.
“Yeah, just a second.” Raindrops grabbed the mailbag off of her back, only to notice something common in it, but not at this time. What’s this? She thought to herself, looking at the letter she had forgotten to deliver. She picked the letter out of the bag, looking at who it was addressed to be delivered to; it was for herself. She set it back in the bag, joining Derpy in the fun of the pond.
They splashed each other, spatting water bursts in their own form of friendly warfare. They held competitions against one another: holding breath the longest, how high they can make their splashes go, fastest swimmer. They continued this play for an hour or so.
“Want to head into the woods now?” Derpy suggested. “I think I saw a few flying squirrels a bit ago.”
“You sure, Derpy, remember the timberwolves are out this season.” Raindrops reminded, but still Derpy continued with her suggestion.
“It’ll be fun!”
“Alright.” Derpy ran into the woods, Raindrops followed after grabbing her mailbag, careful not to forget about it just as Derpy probably would have.
The forest was dark, gloomy, but overall happy for some odd reason. Of all the Equestrian seasons, this one was the most morbid to be wandering, especially in the forests surrounding Ponyville.
“Derpy, where’d you go?” Raindrops flew through the trees, searching for her beloved friend.
Her voice came back as if she were hiding from something. “Over here,” Derpy whispered from the tree branches of a nearby oak.
“What are you doing up there?”
“Shh!” Derpy hissed. “Get up here, now!”
“Alright...?” Raindrops flew up to Derpy, snuggling herself comfortably into the tree. “Derpy, what are we doing up here?”
“Do you know where we are, Rainy?” The question left Raindrops confused, as she thought of this tree as any other. “This tree... This is where we first met.”
***
“You’re nothing but a mistake! You can’t even fly!” The griffin chanted her harsh words over and over. They made Derpy cry, even though she had this happen to her so much that she began developing a resistance to the hate. But hate is still hate, and hate hurts.
“Just leave me alone!” Derpy screamed.
“What’s wrong, Derpy, mommy leave you? You shouldn’t be here, you and that Fluttershy shouldn’t even call yourselves pegasi.” Tears rolled down Derpy’s left eye. “Why do you even bother staying here?” The griffon swatted her tail at Derpy, turning around to empty her presence from Derpy.
Derpy got up from the cloud that housed as Derpy’s sanctuary, as if it were a pure sanctuary. She started herself for the edge, preparing herself for her decent. And so she fell.
There were a few ponies around where Derpy had jumped, barely any of them noticed or gave a care to check on the young flier.
She fell down, down into the earth, into the forest surrounding Ponyville. She crashed hard into a tree, but she didn’t care, she just wanted away from Cloudsdale.
Crack.
The tree branch that she landed on had broken itself under the force of her fall, but it fell into two other branches, keeping it from the ground below. Derpy was filled with pain, but she was always filled with pain but this pain... this pain was physical...
And then it happened, a voice from a stranger appeared.
“H-Hello...?”
***
“I remember it... I think about it everyday I spend with you. Can’t believe how far we’ve gone.”
“Yeah, it’s been fun while it las-” Derpy was cut off by the rumbling from the bushes below, a growl formed.
“Ti-Timberwolves!” Raindrops was paralyzed in fear, even though she could just fly away, the sight of these terrible creatures had always been a nightmare. The wolf heard her scream, turning its attention up at the two pegasi in the tree.
“Raindrops, what are you doing?” Derpy yelled as the wolf began clawing its way up the tree. “Rainy!” Derpy shook her friend, sending her into a confused and dazed reality. The timberwolf had made its way to the altitude of the others. Derpy quickly pushed Raindrops out of the tree, fearing about her shocking paralysis.
Raindrops fell on her head, sending her out of paralysis but into a deep slumber. The screams of Derpy were all that she heard when it happened.
Raindrops awoke hours later, nopony in sight, not even Derpy. She bolted out of the forest, trying to save herself from any future danger. The rain was still heavy at the time, as they needed it to keep downpouring from the drought caused by lazy weather teams last season.
She was certain that she would go and find Derpy at home, out of curiosity, she decided now it was time to open the lone letter that she had received, the same letter that had been laying in her mailbag all this time. She opened it with ease, expecting it to hold her dreams written down inside.
Dear Raindrops,
I thank you for your effort at the academy, your speed and agility are great, but they are not what we are looking for. Amongst the training committee, we have discussed all the pegasi that have attended, and though we will not reveal those who passed the training camp, we are sorry to officially tell you that you will not be moving on to the next stage of the camp. Your speed is above average, and where as you can dodge many obstacles quickly, move rainclouds quickly, you are still not the top of the class. You however made a great wing-pony considering who your lead was, we want to congratulate you on your hard work and dedication to becoming a Wonderbolt. If you wish, you can try again the first stage next time we hold recruitment, which we are undecided on that right now. You may keep your uniform, and your silver badge if you wish, we will not collect them unless you do not wish for them to stay in your possession. I do sincerely apologize for this bad news, but it is my job. I’m not happy with the things I have to do, but this is final.
- Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts, Head Trainer for the Wonderbolt Academy.
She stared at the letter, unable to grasp the reality of her dream being crushed. Raindrops, the sweet pegasus of Ponyville, being rejected from the one thing she promised she would do.
She placed the letter down in the dirt, the rain had quickly transformed it into a pile of mush. No other pony loved the spring as Raindrops did: she embraced the rain, loved it, lived for it. It was the only non-living thing that gave her joy, that gave her purpose.
Even though she was sad, being rejected from her dream, she had a promise to keep. Raindrops bolted into the sky, still miserable from the letter, causing her to fly off-average. A normal pegasus would fly above the clouds, where they do not affect pegasi flying, but Raindrops was different.
She raced for the home of Derpy, hoping for her friend to be there. She landed outside the muffin palace, as Derpy always called it that. Opening the door, she found it dark inside. Raindrops ran straight to Derpy’s bedroom, assuming she would be lying there, sleeping. Again, she opened another door.
“Rainy...” Derpy whispered, a faded tone in her voice.
“Derpy, are you alright? I... I... You just disappeared!” Raindrops freaked.
“Rainy... please...” Derpy held out a letter, the exact letter that she had read earlier today.
Raindrops took the letter, preparing herself for whatever Derpy wanted to tell her. The letter was filled with reasons of why she was offensive for being herself, why she wasn’t fit for life, it had been signed with a strange sign, the Hasbro Logo.
“Derpy?” Raindrops asked, confused by the letter.
“I-I don’t want to g-” Her body started to fade, like fire without air, she was gone within seconds, the bed had become empty. Tears rolled down the eyes of Raindrops, unable to cope with what had just happened.
Hoofsteps arose from the hallway, a reassuring sign.
