Of Bubbles and Books

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Derpy returned home after shopping for groceries. It may have surprised some ponies that she would buy normal everyday food, because she had a reputation of being obsessed with muffins. While true that she rated muffins the highest on her favorite food scale, she also full well knew that one could not survive on them alone. Besides that a muffin a day could hardly be justified as being obsessed with them.

She managed the way from her front door to the kitchen without dropping or spilling any of her supplies. A feat she smiled at while carefully putting her shopping bags on the floor. She hummed a tune while unpacking and stowing away her purchased goods. She decided to have a relaxing bath and then later go out for a stroll through Ponyville. While the mornings were chilly, the afternoons still had some warmth in them and she planned to make the best of it. Soon the leaves would turn from green to red and shortly thereafter the running of the leaves would take place. Derpy disliked the bare trees and very much preferred them with leaves. But some things just were a part of life and could not be avoided.

Winter and with it snow would soon follow, after the trees had been stripped of their leaves. She didn’t mind the cold and rather enjoyed walking through the snow. The crunching sound under her hooves being the only sound in the early mornings was oddly comforting. After winter of course came spring or to be more precise Winter Wrap-up Day. Derpy enjoyed that day most of all days in the entire year. Everypony worked together to bring spring to the country and sung songs while doing it. She may have messed up on occasion with the job she was tasked with, like flying north instead of south to pick up the birds, but those were only minor hiccups. Seeing everything bloom and the animals wake up from their hibernation was a lot of fun.

Spring however was far away and for now she would enjoy a nice hot bath. Before turning to go into her bathroom she took one of the apples she had just bought. With it in her mouth she trotted upstairs still humming the tune from before. She started the bath and after adjusting the temperature she sat back on her haunches and watched the water fill up the tub. After a moment she decided to add the mix for bubbles. Nothing was better than a bubble bath in her opinion.

She took a bite out of the apple and enjoyed the flavor. Applejack always said that her apples were the best in Equestria and from where Derpy was sitting that was most certainly true. She briefly thought about her earlier encounter with the farmpony during her visit to the market. Applejack always had a lot of customers, but she still took the time to ask how each and every one was and exchange a few more lines of pleasantries. Unlike other vendors who asked the same question, Applejack genuinely seemed to what to know how the ponies were doing. Derpy liked Applejack and enjoyed delivering mail to Sweet Apple Acres, especially in spring when all the apple trees were blooming. It was a shame that she didn’t know her any better, but the farmpony was almost always busy with her work and rarely seemed to have time for other things.

Derpy finished eating the apple, core and everything, at the right time to stop the water pouring into the tub. Without hesitation she stepped into the warm soothing liquid not being able to stop herself from grinning. Carefully she sat down and blew a few of the bubbles up into the air. Giggling like a filly she swatted a few of them around and watched them float around the bathroom before silently popping away into nothing. She took a deep breath and submerged herself into the mountains of bubbles before diving deeper into the water. After a few seconds she resurfaced with a grin and laid down on her back.

Any outside viewer would have only been able to see the foam with thousands of bubbles apart from one grey muzzle poking out at one end of the tub. Derpy felt something bump into her left foreleg and carefully lifted up the foreign object. It was her mailmare’s cap that she must have forgotten to take off. With a shrug she put it back on her head, it could do with a wash anyway.

After a while she turned on her side and lifted her flank out of the water. Since she was a filly she would always play the same game everytime she had a bubble bath. Her golden uneven eyes surveyed the foam looking for just the right sized bubbles. One by one she found the right sizes to match the bubbles of her cutie mark. She turned on her back again and smiled and the blissful moment. It had been a good day today.

________________________________________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle levitated a plate of biscuits over to the table where two of her best friends were sitting. It had been a slow day for the librarian thus far. Apart from the mailmare and Rainbow Dash no other ponies had come to the library. She knew that once the weather turned dreary plenty of ponies would come by to lend books. It didn’t really bother her as it gave her more time for her studies.

Currently Fluttershy and Applejack were her guests. Fluttershy had come by like she did every Saturday late afternoon for some biscuits and tea. Applejack had only just arrived and was grateful to be off her hooves for a moment.

“Boy, Ah tell ya. This time of the month ponies go crazy for the last of the apples we got fer sale.” She said while rubbing her aching legs. “Don’t help none that we also gotta buck all of the rest of the apples in the orchard fer cider making. Ain’t got a minutes peace ‘round this time of the year.”

“Do you need help?” Twilight asked and gave a meaningful look towards the farmpony.

“Nah, we can manage.” Applejack chuckled. “And yes, if we would need help Ah wouldn’t mind asking fer it. Ah learned my lesson Twilight, thanks.”

Applejack wolfed down a biscuit whole and smiled at the lavender unicorn who returned the smile.

“It is a very busy time for the animals as well.” Fluttershy spoke softly, even more than usual since she was in a library after all. “Now begins the time where they have to gather food for the winter.”

“Well do you need any help with that?” Twilight asked, although her expertise with animals was not all that helpful in reality.

“Oh no, thank you very much for asking. The animals can take care of most of the stuff themselves, I just supervise them and help the ones that are having problems finding food.” Fluttershy explained and daintily nibbled on a biscuit.

“Ah brought back the book that Granny Smith was reading.” Applejack said while nosing open her saddle bags beside her. “Ah am to say thanks and that she really enjoyed it.”

Twilight took the book from the orange mare with her magical energy and hovered it over to Spike who was currently sitting in a corner reading a comic book.

“Would you mind putting that back for me once you are finished?” she asked while sitting down at the table.

“Sure thing, Twilight. Just a couple more pages and I will get right on that.” The dragon said not tearing his eyes away from his preferred alternative to books.

“Would you like me to find another similar book for Granny Smith to read?” the unicorn asked and poured herself a cup of tea.

“Sure thing. Ah bet she would enjoy another good tale to read. Mind you Ah might not be able to return it so fast. What with the cider makin’ and all.”

“Not a problem. You can take all the time you need.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

Just as Applejack had thanked her friend the front door opened and another unicorn stepped inside the library.

“Hello darlings.” Rarity greeted and quietly closed the door behind her. Spike immediately dropped his comic book and was at her side in a flash.

“Anything I can do for you?” he eagerly asked.

“Thank you Spike, but I need a favor from Twilight. So very kind of you to ask though.” She gently stroked over his head causing the dragon to almost float up in the air.

She trotted over to her seated friends and took a seat between Fluttershy and Twilight.

“What kind of a favor do you need from me?” Twilight asked and offered a cup of tea to the newest arrival. Rarity gladly accepted the offered drink.

“I was hoping you might be able to teach me a spell. One for stain removal to be precise.”

“Hehe…lemme guess. This wouldn’t have to have somethin’ ta do with the crusaders currently staying at yer place would it?” Applejack gave her a knowing look.

“How did you figure that out?” Rarity deadpanned.

“Any specific stains that would need removal?” Twilight asked and was well aware of Spike standing at attention behind her.

“Well, yesterday they came back covered in tree sap. How they always manage to do that is a mystery, especially considering that they were rock climbing. Today they went out to the lake to get their cutie marks in waterskiing. Oh I can just see all the muddy hoofprints all over my pristine polished floor.” Rarity lifted a foreleg in melodramatic fashion to her forehead.

Before Twilight could say anything Spike already had zoomed off to the bookshelves grabbing select tomes for spells that may be useful for Rarity’s problem. He hoped that his efforts would not go unnoticed by the white unicorn.

“Well if those fillies are too much fer ya, Ah guess Ah could take them fer the rest of the weekend.” Applejack offered.

“Nonsense, darling. I admit they can be a hooffull at times, but I do enjoy having them around when they are not quite so destructive. Besides I am happy that Sweetie Belle has somepony to play with, that way I can put the finishing touches on the dresses I am currently making for our little invitation to Princess Celestia’s garden party next week.” Rarity’s face lit up as a thought occurred to her.

“You girls wouldn’t happen to need new dresses for that occasion would you?” she asked eagerly. While the last time she had offered to make them dresses had turned out to be a rather taxing experience, she loved to create new fashion and jumped on any opportunity to design new things.

“Thanks Rarity, but my dress you made for the Galloping Gala is perfectly suited for that invitation.” Twilight said and glanced over the first few tomes that Spike had brought her.

“I’ll be wearing my dress from the Gala too.” Fluttershy happily said and smiled her small smile.

“And you, Applejack?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah’ll just wear my usual duds.” She casually remarked and snickered at the resulting shocked expression on Rarity’s face. “Ah’m just kiddin’. Ah’ll wear my Gala dress and yes it doesn’t have a scratch on it.”

“I trust you will be wearing the correct chapeau to go with it?”

“Yes, Ah’ll wear the fancy hat ya made with it.”

Rarity still seemed a bit disappointed at a missed opportunity to create new fashion. Then again it did give her more time to create a stunning ensemble for herself.

____________________________________________________________________

Twilight had skimmed through all of the books Spike had brought her, but could not find a suitable spell. It occurred to her that she had one or two books upstairs on her bedside table, perhaps one of them had a useful spell. She got up from the table and left her friends chatting amongst themselves. Spike meanwhile had begun to sort back the books into the shelves he had taken them from.

Upstairs Twilight skimmed through the books on her bedside table, both of them not revealing anything useful. This bugged her more than she would admit to anypony. There most certainly was a spell for stain removal that she was sure of. Then why was it not amongst her books here in the library? It seemed as if she would have to order some more books. Before she could head back downstairs a sudden shout from outside drifted in through her open window. She paused and listened.

“There you are! We have something to discuss!” a stallions voice boomed up to the window. An angry stallion Twilight corrected mentally.

She heard something hitting the ground with a –Thud- and a jingling sound of broken glass or some other fragile material.

“What is this?” the stallion demanded to know.

“I… I don’t know.” A mares voice answered. Twilight vaguely recognized the voice but could not place it at the moment.

“This disgraceful package is the one you delivered this morning. Just look at the state of it!” The stallion was berating the mailmare from this morning. Twilight looked out of her window, but could not see them.

“My darling daughter was in tears when she found out that it was broken. As soon as my butler informed me of what happened we came here and we demand an explanation!”

“I…I…” the mare stammered.

“Is that all you can say?”

“It wasn’t broken when I delivered it.” The mare barely managed to squeak out.

“Don’t lie to me. My faithful servant told me that it was broken the moment he picked it up, but before he could do anything you had already left in a hurry!”

“N…no! It wasn’t my fault.”

“You are a disgrace to the fine Equestrian Postal Service!”

“Hey! Look my father in the eye when he is talking to you. Or can’t you even do that properly?” a third voice joined the argument, this one belonging to a filly.

“I shall be issuing a formal complaint on Monday. Somepony with your obvious deficiencies should not work in a field where careful handling is required! Take this broken piece of trash back home with you. Let it be a reminder of your incompetence.”

Twilight stood frozen for a moment, unable to move at the pure venom she had heard from another pony being spat in the face of the mailmare. Only when she saw the grey mare coming into view from around the corner of her library did she regain her ability to move. The pegasus mare was walking slowly towards what Twilight assumed would be the direction of her home. Her head hung low to the ground, ears folded back and a beaten and battered package on her back.

With a flash of magic Twilight teleported down a few meters away from the mare as not to scare her.

“I heard what happened. Are you ok?” she asked with concern obvious in her voice. The mailmare did not look up, but simply continued her slow walk towards her destination.

“Look, I know it’s none of my business, but if there is something I can do to help please tell me.” She said while trotting up next to the pegasus.

“Leave me alone.” The mare muttered and ignored the unicorn beside her.

“That wasn’t right what that stallion just said. Please I just want to help.” Twilight was almost pleading now, her heart aching for the obviously hurt pegasus.

“Please….just let me be.” She muttered again and shifted the package from her back into her forelegs. Without warning she took to the skies leaving a saddened Twilight behind.

___________________________________________________________________

Reluctantly Twilight walked back to the Library. She wished she could have seen who the stallion was that had so heinously berated the poor mare so she could give him a piece of her mind. Clueless as how to handle this situation she entered the library via the front door, much to the surprise of her friends who had just moments before seen her walk up the stairs.

“Twilight? What’s the matter?” Rarity asked voicing the concern of the others when they saw the unicorns troubled expression.

“I just heard somepony say really awful things to our mailmare.” She explained with a sigh.

“Derpy? An’ just what did he say to her?” Applejack wanted to know.

“He blamed her for a broken item that she had delivered.” She looked at her friends not really sure of how to put the next part into word. “Then he continued to say that somepony like her with her obvious deficiencies shouldn’t be working as a mailmare.”

The reaction of her friends was pretty much that what she had expected. Rarity looked disgusted, Fluttershy looked sad and Applejack was obviously getting angry.

“He said what!? Did ya see who said that? Ah really want to teach him a thing or two about manners.” Twilight shook her head in response. “Well did ya recognize the voice?” again Twilight shook her head. “Darn it!”

“Where did she go?” Fluttershy asked.

“She just flew off. She said she wanted to be left alone.”

“Well we have to respect her wishes.” Rarity voiced her opinion. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t do something for her later of course.”

“Well I guess we could go to her place later and see how she is doing.” Twilight offered. The others nodded their agreement. “Does anypony know where she lives?”

The ponies in question looked at each other hoping one of them would know the answer. It was apparent that none of them knew her address.

“Now what?” Twilight asked. “I guess I’ll just have to find somepony who knows where she lives. I’ll be right back.”

Twilight had kept looking at her friends while blindly trotting towards the front door. Thus she did not notice it opening just before she had reached it. The pony coming in crashed into Twilight and both of them went down in a tumble of legs. Twilight opened one eye and was confused at the sight before her. She was looking at the ceiling but something was floating down on top of her. Confetti!
Her head spun around to look at the pony she had bumped into and her vision suddenly filled with pinkness.

“Heya Twilight! Watcha doing?” Pinkie asked with a giggle snort and hugged the surprised unicorn. Celestia must have sent her here, if anypony would know the address of Derpy’s home it would be Pinkie Pie as she knew everypony in Ponyville.

“Pinkie! Am I glad you are here.”

“Well that’s superiffic. I just came here because I know that Fluttershy is always here around this time on Saturdays and on top of that Applejack and Rarity are here as well, so we can all do something super fun fun together, although Rainbow Dash isn’t here right now that doesn’t mean that she won’t turn up later maybe or we could of course go and get her before we mmpf mbml mhpf fmmf mmmmblmmpf.” Twilight dared not remove her hoof from Pinkie muzzle. The pink pony was still talking although it must be apparent even to her that she could not be understood anymore.

“Pinkie, stop! I need your help.” Twilight said with a bit of force behind her voice. The mumbling soon stopped and Pinkie nodded her head once.

“Sure thing, Twilight! What do you want me to do?” she asked cheerfully and bounced in place.

“Do you know where Derpy lives?” Twilight asked relieved that Pinkie was paying attention and not being all over the place for once.

Pinkie Pie stopped her bouncing and looked at Twilight with a puzzled expression. “Who’s that?”

“Really?” Twilight asked more to herself, but could see the same question going through everyone of her friends minds at the same time.

Pinkie Pie gasped with excitement “Is there a new pony in town? Who is it? I haven’t done my Welcome to Ponyville song in a long time and this time I’ll be extra careful not to put the confetti in the oven and the batter in the cannons.”

“The mailmare? You don’t know our mailmare?” Twilight thought it to be impossible that Pinkie Pie of all ponies could not know every single one of the town’s residents.

“Oooooh, her name isn’t Derpy, silly.”

“It…..isn’t?” Twilight looked over to her friends who seemed just as confused.

“No it’s Ditzy. Ditzy Doo. Likes muffins, has her birthday in spring, also really likes that season, but can make excellent snowponies in the winter. Her favorite color is…” Twilight interrupted the babbling pony.

“Well why does everypony call her Derpy?” she asked no one in particular.

“I don’t call her that.” Pinkie interjected.

“Well why does everypony else except Pinkie call her Derpy?”

“Ah don’t know. Ah have always known her as Derpy.” Applejack said and glanced over to the other ponies at the table.

“Maybe she is using an alias. Perhaps she does not want her real name to be known. What if she is some kind of royalty living here amongst us humble ponies. Or maybe she took on a new name when her love of her life left her before going on some kind of important mission.”

“Ya read way too many of them romance novels, Rarity” Applejack interrupted the fashionista’s active imagination.

“Or….or maybe ponies say that because of her eyes? Wouldn’t that just be awful? And we were all doing it as well.” Fluttershy hid behind her mane at the thought of doing something cruel.

“Do you really think that could be?” Twilight asked, but received no more than a muffled squeak from Fluttershy.

“Well you could ask her of course.” Pinkie offered.

“Do you know where Ditzy lives?”

“Yeah, of course. She lives in that house on the east side of Ponyville next to the well. That big yellow house.”

“Thanks, Pinkie! Now all that we have to think about is what to do.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Pinkie asked with a smile.

Twilight didn’t want to go into details so she gave the pink pony the short version. “Ditzy is really sad right now and wanted to be left alone. We want to cheer her up later, but are not sure how.”

“Oh, I know!” Pinkie nearly yelled and bounced high into the air.

“Betcha she’ll say party.” Applejack whispered to Rarity.

“I never bet against a sure thing like that.” Rarity whispered back.

“A Party!” both previously whispering ponies rolled their eyes. “A good party can always cheer a pony up.”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. Technically Pinkie Pie was correct. Her parties always were able to make the guests feel better and leave with a smile on their faces.

“Perhaps that’s not a bad idea. Do you think you could prepare one on such short notice?”

“Hey…you are talking to the best party planner in all of Equestria! Of course I can set one up for this evening.” Pinkie Pie was positively giddy at the prospect of hosting another party. It had been a full three days without one after all.

“Party? For whom?” a new voice joined the assembled ponies.

Twilight looked over to the top of the stairs and frowned at the new arrival. It was obvious that Rainbow Dash had flown in through the open window upstairs instead of using the front door.

“An open window is not an invitation to come inside Rainbow Dash.” Twilight mumbled just loud enough to be heard by the pegasus.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I have something really important to discuss with you. First however I want to know what this party is all about.”

“Our mailmare had a rather unpleasant experience a few moments ago and we want to throw her a party to cheer her up.” Twilight explained and jumped reflexively a few meters back when Rainbow Dash flew right up to her face.

“Derpy? What happened?” the hovering pegasus demanded to know.

“You know that isn’t her real name?” Twilight asked, but didn’t reckon with Rainbow Dash’s reply.

“Yeah, it’s Ditzy. What happened Twilight?”

“How do you know her real name? And why do you then call her Derpy?” Twilight was taken aback slightly.

“Because that’s what she asked me to call her. Never asked why as it’s none of my business. And I know her real name, because she is a backup weatherpony in case of emergencies. I am in charge of the weather teams here in Ponyville and that includes handling the payroll. Her name turned up there. Now I am asking only once more…..what happened?”

Twilight shrunk back a bit. For some reason Rainbow Dash was getting angrier by the minute, even more than Applejack had been a while ago. In her best interest she quickly told the blue pagasus what had happened and in doing so also informed Pinkie of all that had happened in detail.

Rainbow Dash hovered in midair chewing the inside of her cheek while in deep thought.

“So you want to throw her a party to make her feel better.” Twilight nodded even if that wasn’t really a question.

“Do the party tomorrow evening. I’ll have a talk with her today.” Rainbow Dash finally said and landed on the floor.

“Why not do the party today? It’s super easy for me to setup you know.” Pinkie had been silent until now.

“Trust me. She wouldn’t come if it’s today. And you wouldn’t make her feel better by surprising her at her place. Just set up the party some other place for tomorrow evening. Like here in the library.” Rainbow Dash said in a tone that left no room for discussion.

“And don’t center the party around her either. Just do a regular one and invite a few ponies, maybe at some point you could give her something nice to make her feel better.”

“You seem to know her rather well.” Rarity chimed in.

“More than the rest of you it seems.” There was a hard undertone to Rainbow Dash’s last statement.

Unsure on how to react to that the others merely looked somewhat sheepish, except for Pinkie Pie who seemed lost in thought. Most likely she was already setting up the entire party in her head.

“I am actually here for something important.” Rainbow Dash decided to change the subject and turned to Twilight. “Have you read the book?”

“The book? Oh, you mean the Daring….no I haven’t. Is it good?”

“Yeah it’s good, but that isn’t the problem. You need to read that book!”

Twilight just looked at her rainbow maned friend perplexed for a moment. “Have you finished it already?”

“No, I am about three quarters through. I can’t explain it, but you have to read this book before I can talk about it. Otherwise you wouldn’t believe me or understand.”

“Three quarters….you are reading it very fast. I guess I’ll start reading it as soon as I am finished with my current….studies…err…” Twilight trailed off and suddenly felt uneasy because of the look that Rainbow Dash was giving her.

“No, no. You have to read this book now.” With a quick flap of her wings Rainbow Dash covered the distance between her and Twilight. With a small yelp the unicorn tried to back away.

“Read. The. Book.” Rainbow Dash punctuated each word with a jab into the lavender pony’s chest, causing her to fall onto her haunches at the last jab.

“Ok.” Twilight managed to squeak out while giving the other pony a very forced grin.

Rainbow Dash nodded once and turned away seemingly reading herself for takeoff. She paused for a moment and finally rubbed her chin with a hoof.

“You mind if I borrow some scrolls, ink and a quill? I may have to do some research.” She finally said and looked back at Twilight, who was still trying to maintain her grin.

Without answering she merely pointed over to a table near the staircase where she kept a small supply of the items that Rainbow Dash had so surprisingly asked for.

“Thanks! See you guys tomorrow.” The pegasus said after taking what she needed. Once again she decided not to use the front door and rather flew upstairs again out the window.

For nearly a minute nopony and no dragon moved a muscle. Twilight still was sitting on the floor, but had replaced the grin with an expression of pure confusion. A quick glance over to her friends showed the same reaction on their faces to the events that had just transpired.

“What jus’ happened?” Applejack finally spoke and looked around, for a moment wondering if maybe Discord was lurking nearby.

“Ahem. Seems like our athletic friend has taken a liking to books, quite like dear Twilight in fact. Maybe a case of the apprentice surpassing the master? Or maybe the monster she has created coming back to haunt her?” Rarity said with a smirk.

“Rainbow Dash isn’t a monster. She’s just very passionate about the things she likes.” Fluttershy quietly objected to Rarity’s statement.

“Of course I did not mean that literally, darling.”

“So…err…what are ya going to do now, sugercube?” Applejack asked still not sure that this wasn’t just a prank by Rainbow Dash.

“I guess I am going to read a book.” Twilight finally said and got up.

_____________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash carefully put down the supplies she had borrow from Twilight onto her living room table. She could almost feel the physical pull from the open book resting on the couch in front of her. Before she could tackle that mystery, she still had to take care of a more important issue.

The travel from her home to Derpy’s home took a few minutes. Rainbow Dash had only been here twice before, both times asking Derpy to help out with the weather when a number of her team had fallen ill. She knocked three times and patiently waited for the grey mailmare to answer the door.

She began to doubt if Derpy was home when nothing happened. Just as she was about to knock again the door opened a crack and she could see the vague outlines of Derpy’s face.

“Rainbow Dash?” the grey mare sounded as if she had been crying.

“Hey, Derpy! Mind if I come in?” she gave her a warm smile hoping not to talk to the mare through the door. The less ponies saw them the better. After a silent minute of thought the grey pegasus stepped back and let the door swing slowly open. Rainbow Dash took the invitation and stepped inside, quietly closing the door after she entered.

Derpy’s home was different to other pony’s homes, mainly because of the lack of furniture. The small hallway just had one small mirror with a rack next to it. A wet blue cap currently the only thing hanging on it. On the left an open doorway led into the living room. A single skyblue couch being the only mentionable large piece of furniture apart from bookshelves filled to the brim.

Rainbow Dash followed the grey mare into the kitchen. Of all rooms that Rainbow Dash had seen this was the most normal. A large kitchen unit and a medium sized table with two chairs took away most of the space. A large potted plant stood in one corner and was almost high enough to reach the ceiling.

Derpy continued doing that what she had been doing before her visitor had arrived, namely doing the dishes.

“Is another pony on your team sick?” she asked with a tight voice.

“No, actually I am here because of you. I heard you had a bit of trouble not long ago.” Derpy froze at Rainbow’s words.

“Why are you here?” she quietly asked still not moving or turning around.

“To get your side of things. All I know is that Twilight overheard you being treated badly by some jerk.” Rainbow Dash sat down on the floor, ignoring the chairs at the table. “What happened?”

“Why do you want to know?” the question was almost a whisper.

“’Cause you’re on my team and a friend. And when somepony is mean to one of my friends I want to know why.” Rainbow Dash stated calmly and watched the other mare carefully, trying to read her current state.

Derpy sighed before answering. “He said I broke his delivery.” She used a wing to point at a package lying on the table, something that Rainbow Dash had failed to notice while entering.

“Did you?” she had to ask. The necessary question provoked a reaction in the previously unmoving mare. Derpy spun around looking Rainbow Dash in the eyes for the first time since she had entered. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy, telltale signs of having cried not long ago.

“No I didn’t! I am always very careful when transporting fragile things and don’t fly when delivering them.” The plate she had been cleaning and was holding in her front hoof slipped from her grasp, shattering into pieces on the floor. New tears sprung from the grey mares golden eyes as she looked down at the broken plate.

“I swear I didn’t break it.” The last statement dissolved into a sob. Derpy sat down in front of the shards trying to fight back her tears. Rainbow Dash got up and carefully avoided the debris while moving next to the other mare. Sitting now next to her she carefully draped her wing over the other pegasus’ back in a sign of friendship and trust.

“I believe you.” She said and gave Derpy a small squeeze with her wing.

“Y…you do?” the mailmare glanced sideways at the cyan pony beside her.

“Of course I do. You break things every once in a while. It happens. But every time you do that, you always come forward and say you did it. Remember the time you accidentally demolished town hall? You flew to the Mayor and told her what had happened before anypony else even thought of doing that. Shows you’re not afraid to take that responsibility. And breaking stuff happens, me being a bit of an expert of that subject myself. Can’t tell you how many windows and roofs I have damaged while practicing my stunts. I bet I made the ponies rich that had to repair all the stuff I have broken in the past.” Derpy sniffled a bit, but now at least had a small smile forming on her lips. Rainbow Dash waited for a moment before pressing on.

“I don’t think that breaking something would get you so upset. Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?”

Derpy rubbed away a couple of tears with her hoof before nodding. With a deep shuddering breath she began to retell the events of the day.

“Well I had to deliver that package to Diamond Tiara, Filthy Rich’s daughter.” Rainbow Dash frowned at the mentioning of that little brat. Ever since spending more time with Scootaloo she had heard some of the things she did while at school or when interacting with other fillies and colts. Although Rainbow Dash had never met her in person, she already had an intense dislike for the mean little bully.

“I carried the package under my wing the entire time. Once I arrived the butler opened the door and took it off me. I didn’t bump into anything or drop it once. He signed the receipt and I flew off.”

So the butler did it, how cliché.

“Later I was just walking around when Filthy and his Daughter found me outside of the library. He accused me of breaking the contents and said he would complain to the postal service about me.” Rainbow Dash had listened carefully, but could not shake the feeling that Derpy had not told her everything.

“And that made you upset? That he would complain about you?”

Hesitantly the grey mare shook her head. Seemingly trying to collect herself before continuing.

“She said something mean to me and he said that somepony like me shouldn’t be working in such a job. A pony with my deficiencies….” Derpy did not finish the sentence and turned to look at Rainbow Dash with her wall eyed eyes letting them finish the sentence for themselves.

Rainbow Dash’s mood was now hovering between disgusted and thoroughly pissed, yet she swallowed her initial response down in favor of a more calm approach.

“What deficiencies? All I see is a mare who always puts her heart into her job or when helping with weather duty. All they have is a lot of money. They have way more deficiencies than you ever could have. Don’t listen to what they say, it’s just a load of horseapples and if they do something like that again, you come and tell me.”

“It just felt like being back in my old town all over again.” Derpy murmured more to herself than to Rainbow Dash.

“That’s why you came here?” To Rainbow’s shame she did not know all that much about Derpy’s time before coming to Ponyville and she carefully tried to learn a bit more about her.

“Yes. It started there also with one pony who called me out, because of my…well you know. And soon more and more joined in, so I left and came here. Before that I lived in another city, with the same results. And a few more before that. I….I thought it might be different here.”

“Hey, it is different here. You always get one bad apple in a barrel. And yes, I just quoted Applejack. Don’t tell her.” Rainbow nudged Derpy slightly in the side, causing the mare to give her a small smile.

“Thanks, Rainbow.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” Rainbow Dash decided to shift the conversation to tomorrow evening. “Pinkie is doing another party tomorrow evening at Twilight’s library. Why don’t you come by and hang with some nice ponies?”

Derpy frowned at the idea, her current mood not really suitable for parties.

“I bet Pinkie will bring a fresh batch of muffins to snack on.” Rainbow Dash teased.

“Yeah…I guess I could come for a little while.” Derpy finally gave in at the prospect of muffins and nice ponies.

“That’s the spirit!”

____________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash helped Derpy sweep up the broken plate and after checking that the grey Pegasus was feeling better she said her goodbyes and left. The sun had already set as she took to the skies. Instead of flying home she decided to pay the Rich estate a little visit. Slowly she hovered above and kept an eye open for anypony on the grounds. After she was sure that nopony was to be seen, she thought of a way to get a little payback for Derpy.

In front of the house she recognized the family’s carriage. A white and golden monstrosity that they used on Sunday’s to drive into town or to one of the lakes. It just so happened that tomorrow was Sunday so they would surely what to go for their little ride. Perhaps there was a way to use it somehow to cause a little commotion for the butler.

She landed a few feet away. Her hooves hit the ground with a squelching sound. Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof into the moonlight and saw it was covered in mud. With a devilish smirk appearing on her lips a plan formed in her head and she began scooping up more mud in her hooves. After a couple of minutes her job was done and the previously immaculate carriage was now streaked with mud.

Step one complete.

Silently she took off towards taking a detour towards her home via the lakes. Thanks to her natural flying ability she was able to fly over the surface of the calm lake close enough to drag her hooves through the water. Once they were clean she made her way home. She still had the rest of a book to finish and some research to do.

Chapter 3

Rainbow Dash let out a yawn as she awoke on Sunday morning. Last night’s events had kept her up far longer than usual. Thankfully she did not have to work today and could sleep a bit longer. While stretching her limbs she thought of the plans for today.

The first thing on her mind was the latest Daring Do book and what she had discovered. After re-reading several passages in the older books she was sure to be on to something. Now she needed Twilight to help her piece the puzzle together. Knowing the lavender unicorn she would have most likely finished the book around the same time as Rainbow Dash, even though she had started much later.

Before going to the library she still had business to take care of at the Rich family’s mansion. So that would be her first task of the day. With a grunt she got up and trotted towards her bathroom.

A quick shower, a quick (but healthy) breakfast, feeding Tank and gathering her research material in her saddlebags was all she did, before heading out of her home three quarters of an hour after waking up. She flew past Twilight’s home, but merely hid her saddlebags in the branches before speeding of to her first destination.

Using clouds as cover she carefully hopped from one to another and remained unseen by the ponies on the ground in front of the luxurious mansion. Once she was close enough she dug a small hole in the cloud and used it to observe what was going on down below.

The butler had just finished cleaning the carriage and dropped the cloth he had used into a large bucket full of muddy water. He wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and took the time to polish a few more shiny elements of the vehicle to perfection.

Rainbow Dash would have flown down to knock some manners into him, but the presence of another stallion made her wait for a better moment. The aforementioned stallion was currently slipping into the harness in front of the carriage. No doubt he was the one that would pull it wherever the Rich’s wanted to travel to today. He was a light brown earthpony with an orange mane and tail. Even from her point of view she could tell that he was muscular and bore an expression of extreme grumpiness.

For a while nothing happened and Rainbow Dash toyed with the idea of coming back later. Then the stallions exchanged a few words and the butler moved towards the house after hiding the bucket behind a statue of a mare standing in an oyster. Her eyes lingered on the bucket for a few moments before watching the butler again. A plan was beginning to form.

Once he entered the building, she took the chance and swooped down silently. With some effort she managed to pick up the full bucket and carefully began flying towards the carriage as quietly as possible. To her luck the doors were currently open, all that she needed to avoid was being seen by the pony in the harness. She was sure that her flapping could be heard, yet he just kept staring straight ahead.

A quick glance inside the carriage revealed that it was empty. The floor was layered with a thick red carpet matching the color of the plush seat in the back that could easily seat four ponies. Without hesitating she landed inside, even though it was a tight fit to get the bucket through the doors.

She looked out of the window in front and saw that the stallion still had not moved an inch. For a moment she thought she saw his ear twitch, but it could just have been her imagination. Unceremoniously she began dumping the muddy water on to the seat. The red material greedily soaked up the fluid and dirt. Rainbow Dash made sure to cover the entire seat before diving out the door opposite the one she had entered. She put the bucket down beside the left rear wheel and decided to crawl under the carriage to see what would happen next.

Just as she had whipped her tail out of view the massive front doors of the mansion opened and the owners emerged followed by the butler.

Trotting in front was Diamond Tiara wearing an elaborate dress that matched her pink coat. No doubt it was supposed to make her look like a princess, but all Rainbow Dash could see was a spoiled brat. Following her were her parents, Flithy Rich and his wife Trophy. It was fairly obvious that Diamond Tiara had more of her mother than her father, as she was almost a copy of the mare behind her except for the hair. Trophy’s hair was straight, while Diamond’s had curls.

Rainbow Dash pressed herself further into the shadows hoping that none of them would accidentally look under the carriage. They were now right beside the vehicle and Rainbow Dash heard them talking.

“You can expect us to be back from our trip at one o’clock. Please see to it that the staff has our meals ready on time this time. Not like last Sunday where we had to wait for fifteen minutes.” Filthy Rich said to his butler, who bowed his head in acknowledgment.

Diamond Tiara climbed into the carriage and her little hoofsteps could be heard by Rainbow Dash almost directly below her. The pegasus heard a grunt from inside as the filly jumped on to the seat, then she heard a loud squelching sound.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”

Rainbow Dash folded her ears down at the sudden alarmingly high pitched shriek.

“Oh dear Celestia! This is horrible!” Trophy wailed as Diamond Tiara bolted out from the carriage. Her pink dress was now thoroughly stained with wet muddy water. It had even coated her mane, causing it to drape over her face.

“My precious!” Trophy gasped and theatrically fainted over her stunned husbands back.

“Get it off! Get it off!” Diamond Tiara kept frantically repeating and skipped from hoof to hoof. After seeing that no help would come from the stunned adults, she ran off back into the mansion.

It took a few seconds for Filthy Rich to come to his senses. Angrily he turned to his butler.

“What is this incompetence?! I thought I had given you crystal clear instructions to clean our carriage this morning.” He was now just a few inches away from his butler’s face, who shrunk away from his angry employer. “We shall have a talk about this later. See to it that his mess is cleaned up immediately!”

With those words Filthy Rich began carefully trotting back to his mansion with his unconscious wife draped across his back. The butler stared after them with wide eyes. Once they were out of sight he composed himself a bit and rounded on the stallion in front of the carriage.

“What happened here!?” he snarled at the driver.

“I don’t know.” the driver casually replied.

“You didn’t see anything? How can that be? You are just a few feet away!”

“As you know I am expressively forbidden to look back into the carriage at all times, as per Filthy Rich’s instructions.” He answered and took off the harness, as it was obvious that the ride had been cancelled for now.

“Get out of my sight.” The butler hissed at him. Rainbow Dash watched as the driver stepped away from the carriage and made his way over to the living quarters for the staff. He glanced back and locked eyes with her for a brief moment. Then he winked at her before trotting off at a leisurely pace.

Guess not all ponies here are total flankheads.

Rainbow Dash waited until he was out of sight, all the time listening to the mutterings of the butler. When she was sure to be alone with him she crawled out from under the carriage and walked up behind him.

“Not so much fun is it?” she said causing the butler to spin around with shock plainly visible in his face.

“Wh….what?” he stammered.

“Taking the blame for something you didn’t do.” Rainbow Dash slowly advanced on him, while he began to back up.

“What are you talking about? What are you doing here?”

“I think you know what I mean. That package yesterday wasn’t broken when it was delivered, was it?” He backed up into the side of the carriage and Rainbow Dash stopped her advance when she was merely a legs length away from him.

“Th…that? The mailmare broke it and sped off before I could stop her.” His eyes darted left and right hoping to find somepony to come to his aid.

“That’s a lie and you know it! I bet you didn’t want any trouble so you pinned it on her to get away with it. Am I right?”

Any defiance he might have had up until this point melted away like butter in the hot sun. Instead of answering he sighed and nodded.

“Oof!” the air in his lungs was violently expelled as Rainbow Dash lurched forward and pinned him to the side of the carriage with her forelegs against his chest. She leaned in close enough for their muzzles to almost touch and with fire in her eyes.

“If I ever catch you blaming others for your mistakes again, we are going to have a little talk.” Her voice was almost a growl as she spoke.

Without waiting for an answer she let go of the butler and took off, leaving the butler still leaning against the carriage. After a few moments he regained his composure somewhat and silently vowed not to cross paths with that crazy mare every again.

_________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash took her time flying to the library, trying to get down from her adrenalin fueled high. It still ticked her off that he had done such a thing. She was no saint herself and was the first to admit it. In the past she had tried both successfully and unsuccessfully to hide mistakes she had done, but never once did it even occur to her to blame somepony else for them. In her book that was lower than low and she simply could not idly stand by when one of her friends was blamed. She felt as if she had gotten her point across and her anger had vanished when she reached the library.

The cyan pegasus circled the large tree a few times after retrieving her saddlebag from the branches. To her surprise every window was barred with a small note on the outside. Intrigued she took one of the notes and read it out loud.

“Use the front door, Rainbow Dash.” She scoffed at the piece of paper in her hooves. “Doors are so overrated.”

With no options left she landed at the front door and entered. She was greeted with the usual sight, namely Twilight sitting at her reading desk flipping through a book. The unicorn glanced up and smirked at her friend.

“I see you found my note.”

“Yeah, very funny. If you had wings you wouldn’t like using doors either.” The pegasus said and trotted over to where her friend was sitting.

“I doubt that will ever happen.” Twilight said and closed the book she had been looking at.

“Did you read the book?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes, I did just like you insisted. Finished it last night.” Twilight looked at the pegasus, genuinely intrigued what had caused Rainbow Dash to act the way she did yesterday.

“And?” there was a hopeful spark in Rainbow’s eyes.

“It’s good and I enjoyed reading it. It may not be on par with some of the other books in the series, but still it was definitely one of the better ones. I thought the idea of giving Daring Do a sidekick was going to be a bad idea, but the author certainly managed to make her interesting enough to not be annoying. Overall I would give that book a nine out of ten.”

Rainbow Dash waited a few seconds hoping that Twilight would continue her assessment of the book. It was apparent however that the unicorn had no more to add to it.

“And you didn’t notice anything?” Rainbow Dash finally asked.

“Like what?” Twilight gave her a confused look.

“Like her sidekick? Like the evil ones in the story?”

“What are you implying? I can’t follow.”

“There us, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said and flared her wings to make her point.

“Excuse me?”

“The sidekick for example. Books McStyle is a mash up of you, Rarity and Pinkie Pie.”

“Errr…I think you might be reading a bit too much into that fictional character.” Twilight emphasized the fictional part. “She doesn’t sound anything like me, Rarity or Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh yeah? Listen to this.” Rainbow Dash took out one of her research papers from last night. She scrolled through her written points for a bit, before putting them aside and flipping open the Daring Do novel to the page she had noted.

“Daring Do flung herself against the ancient rusted doors with all her might. The rusted and worn hinges snapped under the force of the adventurer. Dust bellowed out of the room beyond as the door she had hit slammed down onto the ground. Coughing she made her way inside illuminating the way with a magic crystal. Behind her Books McStyle recoiled slightly from the cloud of dust, but followed her friend into the ancient room that nopony had seen for thousands of years.

“Look at this, Books! This must have been a library a long time ago. Check out all these scrolls here.” Daring Do said and shone her light at the nearest wall. Huge shelves came into view, packed to the brim with scrolls and tomes of unknown origin.

Books McStyle let out a gasp of joy at the sight. Daring Do suddenly felt the weight of her companion on her back. Seemingly out of nowhere she had climbed on top of the adventurer and now began hopping on her back, all the while giggling like a filly in a candyshop.

“This is simply astounding! These surely must hold all kinds of interesting secrets and forbidden knowledge! Oh I can’t wait to read all of them! If only it weren’t so dark and filthy here.” Books cast a glance at her adventuring outfit she had made for herself. It was already in bad shape so a few specks of dust wouldn’t matter all that much.”

Rainbow Dash stopped reading the passage from the book and looked at Twilight while smirking. Twilight gave her a flat stare in return.

“I am not obsessed with books.” she stated and gave a little snort of contempt at that idea.

“Oh, before I forget. I heard that they found a scroll during a dig near Las Pegasus. Apparently it might be a lost scroll from Starswirl the Bearded.” Rainbow Dash casually remarked.

“What? Really? Ooooooh….where were they digging? Did they find anything else? Is it still there or is it being transferred someplace else? How did you hear about it?” Twilight was now excitedly skipping in place. Her sudden enthusiasm died down as she saw the big grin on Rainbow’s face.

“Very funny.” she glared at her pegasus friend.

“What was that with you and books just now?” Rainbow Dash teased.

“Yes, fine….I get excited sometimes about knowledge. Is that such a bad thing?”

“Of course not. Just maybe sometimes a bit creepy.”

“Hmpf. There wasn’t really a dig at Las Pegasus was there?” Twilight hopefully asked.

“Nope. I just made that up. But don’t you see what I am trying to get you to see?”

Twilight sort of could see where Rainbow Dash might have valid points.

“You know that might just be a coincidence? That you are just reading us three into that character?”

“Really? Books McStyle is obsessed with books and stuff like that. She always dressed for the occasion and has a few prissy moments. And she does random stuff like Pinkie always does as well. A bit of a big coincidence if you ask me.”

“Well….” before Twilight could elaborate Rainbow Dash cut her off.

“And what about the villains! Half snake, half pony and can shapeshift into any kind of inanimate object to cause chaos in the name of their ruler, the evil Chaosette who takes pleasure in that? That’s just a mix up of Discord and the changelings.”

“Those events are pretty much public knowledge. Anypony could have taken those events as an inspiration.” Twilight objected.

“Ok, then just look at the timeline. The Daring Do book before this one was released just after you came to Ponyville. This latest one was released after you have been here for a while and we all became friends. And all of a sudden Daring Do gets a sidekick that just so happens to have some of your traits.”

“Could still just be a coincidence.” Twilight objected, but began feeling a bit unsure of herself.

“Then what about this and this is the best part. Daring Do is me.” Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings and barely managed to not strike a heroic pose.

“Really?” Twilight stated flatly and raised an eyebrow.

“Just look at her.” Rainbow Dash held up a book so Twilight could see the cover. “She looks just like me, except for the colors of her coat, tail and mane, the cutie mark is different of course. She even has my eyes.”

Twilight could indeed see the resemblance and had noticed it in the past, but merely put it off as her imagination.

“These books have been published for some time now. Why hasn’t anypony else come forward with these connections?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I guess besides you and me not a lot of ponies read these stories.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I doubt that. The Daring Do series has been a major success in the past.”

“Well perhaps it’s one of those things were you don’t see what’s right in front of you the entire time.” Rainbow Dash tried to explain and Twilight gave her credit for making a valid point.

“I read all of the books and only now did I see the connection. I spent last evening and a lot of the night going through older books to see if I was right.” Rainbow continued. “Looking back it is pretty obvious that Daring Do is a mash up of me, Applejack and Fluttershy. Mostly me of course.”

Twilight could not help but laugh.

“Fluttershy? Are you serious?” One look at her friends face did indeed confirm that she was serious.

“Several of the books mention Daring Do sneezing really softly. That’s Fluttershy right there. If I sneeze you know it’s me.”

“And Applejack?”

“I think I sneeze louder than her, but she also does not sneeze softly.”

“I meant her connection to Daring.”

“Oh. In the flashback sequence of the fifth book we learn that Daring grew up on her family’s farm. That’s where she discovered her cutie mark for adventuring.”

Slowly puzzle pieces clicked together in Twilight’s mind.

“And we know that Daring is very honest. And she nursed that manticore back to health in the fourth book before rescuing it’s young ones. I don’t believe it, but you might actually have a point Rainbow Dash.” Twilight’s mind was now racing to remember everything she had read about Daring Do.

“Well I might do something like that too.” Rainbow Dash huffed.

“But why you three? And why us three now?” Twilight asked.

“I thought about that as well. Before you came to Ponyville I didn’t really hang out with a lot of ponies. Except Fluttershy and every once in a while Applejack. I kinda always thought that Pinkie was a bit too strange and Rarity was only interested in dresses and stuff like that. Only after you came here did I actually hang out with all of you more and I am guessing that the author wants us to be together in the books as well.”

“You may be right.” Twilight gasped. “Do you know what this means?”

“Yeah, that I am even more awesome than I had thought!” Rainbow Dash grinned wide.

“It means we have an award winning author perhaps living here in Ponyville!” Twilight ignored her friends previous thought on the matter.

“So…. Who do you think it is?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Chapter 4

The afternoon went by in a hurry.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle had been going over the pegasus' notes on similarities between them and the events in the Daring Do novels. Twilight soon added more things to the steadily growing list that Rainbow Dash had missed. It did indeed seem that the author had used them as inspiration.

Spike had taken the opportunity to spend some time outside and had left the two mares with their research. He did not know what they were actually researching, but the welcome break from his duties would not go unwasted. In the end he spent the afternoon eating icecream and napping in the park, after it became clear that Rarity had her hooves full with the crusaders.

Twilight had taken a moment, where Rainbow went out to fetch something to eat for them, to mark this and the previous day in her calendar. She felt that the events so far had to be noted down somewhere. For Rainbow Dash of all ponies to demand that she should read a book and then do research on her own was most certainly a noteworthy turn of events.

After eating the food that Rainbow Dash had picked up from the restaurant, they turned back to their research. Currently both were compiling a list of ponies that might be the author.

“Well…that brings us to thirty seven.” Twilight said and released the quill from her magical grasp.

“What about the Sofa’s and Quill’s clerk?” Rainbow Dash suggested while examining the stack of novels in front of her.

“Thirty eight then.” She added the name to her list.

“Kinda dumb that the author never put his name anywhere in the book. That would have made it easier to find him….or her.” Rainbow Dash sprawled out on the floor using a small stack of books as an impromptu pillow.

“I guess he or she wants to stay anonymous.” Twilight went back over the list and found a name mentioned twice. She scribbled out one of them.

“But why do that? If it would be me writing those stories I would love the attention they would bring me.”

“Some ponies just don’t like the attention as much as you do Rainbow Dash.” Twilight flinched as her pegasus friend suddenly bolted upright.

“Do you think it could be Fluttershy?” she asked.

“Well she doesn’t like the attention that’s for sure. I don’t think she writes or even knows of Daring Do.” Twilight said halfheartedly.

“Or what if it isn’t a he or she, but an it?”

“I don’t follow. An it? As in not a pony?”

“Yeah. Perhaps its one of Fluttershy’s animal friends. Perhaps even that bunny.”

“And you think Fluttershy wouldn’t notice? What am I saying….it won’t be the bunny.”

“You know what rhymes with bunny? FUNNY!” a sudden third voice joined in, causing both mares to jump at the unexpected interruption.

A loud bang echoed through the library and Rainbow Dash suddenly found herself covered in streamers. She glanced over to Twilight who fared no better and had her equal share of streamers covering her frame.

“Pinkie!” Twilight removed some of the offending material from her face. “What are you doing with your party cannon here in the library?”

“Setting up the party of course!” Pinkie happily explained and fired off another round that hit the table they were sitting at and inexplicably covered it with a tablecloth and an empty punchbowl along with several stacks of paper cups. Twilight would one day have to get her hooves on that cannon to see how it actually worked.

“Party? Oh right.” The unicorn glanced over to the clock on the wall and saw that the scheduled party was about to take place in less than an hour.

“You need any help setting up?” Twilight asked while removing the streamers from her mane.

“The rest of my supplies are outside. You could bring them inside if you want.” Pinkie answered while carefully aiming her cannon at a wall. Then she punched the button and with a loud bang a glob of cake batter shot from the barrel, coating the wall in a thick layer.

“Oopsie. Seems like I mixed the ingredients up again.”

Twilight gave the sheepishly grinning party pony an angry glare. Using her magic she collected the books from her earlier studying and carefully filed them away on an empty shelf.

“I guess I’ll be cleaning up then, before the party starts.” She grumbled and kept glaring daggers at Pinkie, who now was licking some of the batter from the wall.

“Okie, dokie, lokie! Should we leave this here for the guests?” Pinkie seemed to be serious about her suggestion. “It would save a lot of space if we just coated the walls with food. That way we could have more games for ponies to play. Oh or how about we coat the ceiling with the food? Then if a pony is hungry they would just have to look up and open their mouths. Hmmm…but how to keep it up without falling down all the time.”

Twilight decided to intervene before her plans got any more ludicrous.

“Just a regular normal party, Pinkie. Any experiments of that nature you can do during one of your special themed parties.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief as the pink pony stopped her musings and happily turned her attention on decorating the room.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile had taken it upon herself to bring in the supplies form outside. How Pinkie Pie had managed to bring four tables, a huge trunk full of party games and several saddlebags worth of balloons here all by herself remained a mystery.

She was just about to bring in the last table as a familiar voice spoke up behind her.

“Hey, Boss.” Thunderlane said and landed beside his superior.

“What’s up Thunderlane? You here for the party?” she asked and stopped her efforts with the table.

“No, sorry. I promised Rumble to go out flying with him later.” He answered and nosed open one of his saddlebags. The letter he retrieved from within was open and bore the logo of Cloudsdale’s Weather Factory. “I got this by mistake I think. It’s addressed to me, but the letter inside is meant for you.”

Rainbow Dash took the letter from his hoof and began reading.

“Dear Rainbow Dash, we hereby invite you to the mandatory seminar of autonomous water collection methods. Please be in the…bla bla bla. Oh great, that’s tomorrow.” Rainbow Dash groaned at the prospect of having to sit through a boring seminar. “And it’s for three days. Ugh!”

“Sorry, Boss.” Thunderlane could easily sympathize with his boss. A three day seminar meant sitting still and paying attention for something most likely very boring.

“Can’t be helped I guess. At least Cloudsdale is close at the moment. So I won’t have to leave today and can still get there on time if I leave in the morning. Could you do me a favor?” she asked and stuck the letter back into its envelope.

“Sure thing! What do you need?”

“Could you take care of the weather assignments for those three days? If it’s not much to do you can divide my sector amongst the team. Otherwise recruit one of the backup weatherponies from the list. You know which list I mean?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, we can handle things until you get back.” Thunderlane gave her a confident smile.

“Thanks.” Rainbow Dash gave him a hoofbump in return and turned back to her task of bringing in the last table.

“Have fun at the seminar!” Thunderlane said as he went airborne.

“I won’t.” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk.

_________________________________________________________________

Preparations went smoothly and soon the library had transformed into a party zone. Twilight had sent most of the time covering up the shelves of books out of fear they might be stained during the festivities. Rainbow Dash circled under the ceiling and put a few balloons in place, while Pinkie Pie set up the last game for the evening.

“And now the party can start!” she said with a trademark smile. “Aaaaand I thought of a perfect little pick me up for our guest of honor.”

“And what might that be?” Twilight asked a bit unsure of whether she really wanted to know.

“Well she loves muffins, so I am going to make her a huuuuge muffin later on. That does mean I have to leave the party for a while, but I am sure you can manage.” Pinkie ignored the unamused stare that Twilight gave her while she patted her head with a hoof. “The first guests should be arriving riiiight about now!”

As if on cue the front door opened and a pink maned yellow head peaked inside.

“I…uhm…am I too early? I could come back later if you want?” Fluttershy timidly asked. Before anypony could answer her she was slowly shoved inside by pony behind her.

Applejack ignored the weak protests from her friend and made her way inside with her. A somewhat impressive feat as she also was carrying a barrel on her back at the same time.

“Howdy! Guess we are right on time.” Applejack gave her friends a tired smile. “Ah brought a barrel of our special cider fer the occasion.” With practiced moves she hefted the barrel from her back onto the floor.

“The special special cider?” Rainbow Dash asked with a greedy glint in her eyes as she landed beside the barrel.

“Yup, the adults only variety.” The farmpony replied with a smirk.

“Awwww….and I have to be up early on Monday.” Rainbow Dash pouted causing the mare beside her to chuckle.

“Are you ok Applejack? You seem kind of tired.” Twilight asked noting the dark rings underneath the orange mare’s eyes.

“We had a bit of trouble at the farm last night. A timberwolf got inside the barn and we spent all night trying to chase it back to the forest. By the time we were finished it was day already, so we jus’ continued on with the harvest.” Applejack explained and yawned.

“Oh my. How did it get in?”

“Busted part of the fence. We fixed that real quick, right when we found it. Guess it musta broken during the last storm.” She reported and rolled the barrel over to a table in the corner.

“Perhaps I could find some kind of warding spell to keep them away.” Twilight said more to herself.

“That would be mighty kind of ya. Ah am just happy none of the fillies were there, they most likely would have wanted to get their cutie marks in wolf catching or somethin’ like that.”

_____________________________________________________________________

It didn’t take long for more and more ponies to show up and soon the library was bustling with activity. One of the later arrivals was a grey pegasus mare who seemed uneasy as she entered the party zone. Before she could have a look around her field of vision became pink.

“Hiya! Sooooo happy you could make it!” Pinkie happily chirped and gave the pegasus a quick hug, that left the mare catching her breath. “Have fun and enjoy the party!” she said and bounced over to the next late arrival.

Derpy casually walked over to a table decked out in treats. To her disappointment there were no muffins to be seen anywhere. So she opted to have a slice of pie instead. A few ponies greeted her, but otherwise did not interrupt her walk towards a table in the corner. Here she could eat in peace and observe what was happening.

She was surprised to see that the decoration on the table was in fact the head of Berry Punch, who was resting face down on the surface. After careful prodding of the mare, who hiccupped once in return, she shrugged and ate her pie.

Applejack was watching of the cutie mark crusaders who were playing a board game of sorts. She looked like she was beginning to fall asleep. Derpy briefly wondered what had tired her out so much, assuming it must have had something to do with her work on the farm. Her gaze shifted over to two ponies in another section of the party. Rarity and Fluttershy were having a discussion.

“Oh I am so excited to visit Canterlot again.” Rarity said to her companion.

“Do…do you think a lot of ponies will be there?” The pegasus asked, looking rather nervous at the prospect. Indeed she did not seem all that happy to be here at this party, as large crowds made her uneasy.

“At Celestia’s garden party? Of course my Dear. It is the grandest of all parties, next to the Grand Galloping Gala of course.”

“Oh my….”

“Mind you, it is more of a private gathering of the most important ponies in Equestria. So I assume that there will be less in attendance.”

“That sounds much better.” A small smile briefly appeared on Fluttershy’s lips.

“Then again, those that will be there will no doubt scrutinize every single step you take and judge you mercilessly for any missteps.” Rarity thought back to Fancy Pants party a while back. While that had turned out alright, she was very well aware that had it not been for his intervention things would have taken a nasty turn. The social elite was indeed akin to piranhas that had sniffed out a drop of blood, in their case a drop of social misstep, and would tear into them with rabid fever.

“And we will be in the company of a lot of politicians if I understood Twilight correctly. They can also be quite the nuisance.” Rarity drank a bit of her punch levitating in front of her.

“No doubt that oaf Blueblood will be there as well.” she scrunched up her nose at the thought. “But I bet it will be a grand event nevertheless.”

“S…so there won’t be anypony nice there?” Fluttershy meekly asked.

“Well Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor will be attending. So that’s at least two ponies you know that are nice. And of course Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur De Lis will be there as well. You remember them from the garden party we crashed during Twilight’s birthday?”

“Yes, but I also remember a lot of angry ponies there.”

“Don’t worry about them. I am sure only a few of them will be there.” Rarity informed her shy friend.

“Only a few? Why?” Fluttershy asked out of curiosity.

“They are scared.” Rarity finished her drink and set the empty cup down.

“S…scared?” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide.

“Yes. After the Canterlot Royal Wedding this is the next big social gathering. Since the changeling Queen and her minions never have been found there is of course an element of uncertainty of when they might return. An event such as this would be a good place to strike, what with all important ponies being present.”

“Changelings? Strike?” Fluttershy had barely managed to squeak out those two words and was now shaking.

Rarity shot an angry glare across the room to Rainbow Dash, who was stuffing her face with some cake. The pegasus made sure that Rarity would see her gluttonous display.

“I hope that goes straight to your hips.” Rarity grumbled under her breath and made show of looking away from the now grinning cyan mare.

“I would not worry too much, my Dear. After all the ponies responsible for halting the changelings will be present and I am sure Princess Celestia would not let something like that happen again.” Rarity reassured her shaking friend.

“Then again I wonder if she has the time to check all ponies, specifically the staff. Hmm do you think changelings might be able to change into other species as well? Such as larger animals or such?” The last sentence caused any resolve the pegasus had to evaporate. She tried to hide behind a larger potted plant.

“I am not going to that party!” she squeaked and tried to bury her head in the soil.

“Oh come now Fluttershy, was it something I said?” Rarity asked with concern, oblivious to the effect of her previous thoughts on the looming garden party.

Derpy watched the strange behavior of Fluttershy from across the room. Obviously the fashionista had said something to the frightened pegasus that now made her bury herself in the pot of a large plant. She watched as the white unicorn tried unsuccessfully to coax her out of her chosen hiding place. The mare next to Derpy hiccupped once more, but otherwise remained motionless.

_________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash had finished off eating the large slice of cake and to her glee she saw the desired effect it had on Rarity. She had learned her lesson of pranking Rarity the hard way, but that did not stop her from teasing the fashionista every once in a while. Briefly she toyed with the idea of having just a small cup of cider, but knew that it most probably wouldn’t end with just one. Any further thoughts on the matter were halted anyway as she heard the sound of small hoofsteps beside her.

“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said with a small flutter of her wings.

“Hey there, Squirt. Having fun?” Rainbow Dash asked and ruffled the filly’s mane with a hoof. She giggled in return, but it was obvious from her shuffling of her hooves that she had something on her mind.

“Yeah, uhm… could I ask you something? In private?” the little filly looked around making sure that nopony had heard her request.

“Of course.” Rainbow was intrigued to what the filly had to say. “Let’s go on the balcony.”

Together they made their way upstairs, Rainbow Dash opting to walk instead of fly. It had become second nature to her to walk everywhere with her number one fan and little sister, as long as she could not yet fly. Once outside Rainbow Dash greedily inhaled the fresh cool air.

“So…what’s up?” she said and settled onto her haunches in front of the orange filly.

“Errr…I heard you were going to the garden party.” Scootaloo began with an unsure smile.

“That thing? I bet that will be soooo boring, hanging around stuffy snobby ponies all the time. As I heard there won’t even be any of the Wonderbolts there either. If I had the choice I wouldn’t even go, but being the Element of Loyalty and all, I guess I have to go.” Rainbow Dash explained fully aware of the fillies reactions to her words.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want to go the either if I were you.” She shakily replied and rubbed her foreleg with her hoof. “That sounds totally uncool.”

Rainbow Dash knew full well what the filly was playing at and couldn’t help but give her a lopsided grin.

“That’s too bad that you think that way. ‘Cause I was planning to take you along.”

Instantly the filly’s demeanor changed from semi-disappointment to exuberant excitement.

“Really? You want to take me to Canterlot?” her little wings buzzed with joy.

“Of course. Rarity and Applejack are taking their little sisters along and it wouldn’t be fair if I couldn’t take mine, would it?” She smiled as Scootaloo lurched forward to give her a big hug.

“Thank you!” the little filly smiled at her big sister with large eyes.

They remained in the hug for a moment, when Rainbow Dash had an idea.

“We haven’t been out flying lately. It’s still early so what do you say about going out for a spin?”

“That would be awesome!” Scootaloo hopped in place for a moment happy as could be.

“Cool, just wait here. I’ll tell somepony inside that we are heading out.” Rainbow Dash left the filly on the balcony and rejoined the party. After briefly scanning the attending ponies and grabbing her saddlebags from the corner, she decided to tell Applejack about her plans with Scootaloo.

The orange farmpony was barely able to keep her eyes open while watching Sweetie Belle and Applebloom play their little board game.

“Hey, AJ. Me and the Squirt will head out for a bit of flying together. I’ll drop her off at home once we are done. Can you tell the others if anypony asks?”

“Mmmh? Whazzat? Oh…uh yeah Ah’ll tell em.” Applejack managed a weak smile. “Ya two have fun.”

“Are you ok, AJ? You don’t seem too hot at the moment.” Rainbow Dash asked with concern, full well remembering the events that had happened the last time the orange earthpony had been so tired.

“Yeh, don’t ya worry none. Ah’m fine.” Applejack’s reply was slightly slurred. Rainbow Dash bent down to the fillies playing on the floor.

“Could you two keep an eye out for AJ? Make sure she doesn’t fall asleep or do something crazy?”

“Sure thing Rainbow Dash! Ya can’t count on us!” Applebloom said and gave the mare a quick salute.

“Say good night to Scootaloo from us.” Sweetie Belle chimed in before the pegasus left them to take care of Applejack and their board game.

On the balcony a little orange purple maned filly was anxiously zipping about awaiting the return of Rainbow Dash. In an imitation of Pinkie Pie she bounced in place as her idol trotted on to the balcony.

“Ready for some fun?” she asked with a wide smile.

“You bet!”

“Then climb aboard the fun express!” Rainbow Dash said and bent down to allow the filly to climb onto her back. Once she was in position and felt the little forelegs get a grasp around her neck, Rainbow Dash flared her wings open and with powerful flaps took off into the sky.

____________________________________________________________________

Derpy had watched Rainbow Dash disappear upstairs with Scootaloo and then moments later seen her return. She watched her exchange words with a very tired looking Applejack and then going back upstairs after briefly talking to the two fillies on the floor. That was the last she saw of Rainbow Dash that evening.

The relationship that Rainbow Dash had with Scootaloo puzzled her somewhat. As far as she knew they weren’t related in any way and up until a few months ago rather distant. Obviously something had changed between them that she wasn’t aware of.

She took note of Twilight near the doorway to the kitchen. The unicorn seemed a little off somehow, as if she had something that preoccupied her thoughts and did not let her focus on the party. Pinkie Pie came bouncing over to the lavender mare and briefly chatted with her. Then faster than Derpy could blink the pink party pony zoomed out the front door at high speed. She had long ago stopped questioning Pinkie eccentric behavior and kept her eye on Twilight, while the other eye lazily gazed along the wall to her right.

___________________________________________________________________

“What did Pinkie Pie say?” Spike asked while holding a corncob at arm’s length. With a quick breath of dragonfire he popped the corn and collected it in a bucket underneath. This was the task given to him by Twilight to help with the party.

“Hmm? Oh, she just went to sugar cube corner.” Twilight kept a sharp eye out for Cheerilee in the crowd of ponies. The teacher was top of the list of possible suspects of ponies that might be the mysterious author of the Daring Do books. After an initial chat with the mare she had begun avoiding Twilight afterwards. This was highly suspicious in Twilight’s book and only made her more determined to corner the mare and interview her further.

“Why? Did she forget something?” Spike asked and began salting the finished bucket of popcorn.

“Mmmhm.” Twilight hummed and craned her neck up to spot her target.

“Are you even listening to me?” Spike raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Yes, you do that.” Twilight murmured.

“So, it’s ok if I eat a tub of ice cream for dinner?” Spike tried to see if Twilight was paying any attention to him.

“Yes, that’s nice.” Apparently she did not. Spike hopped down from the small stool he had used to reach the kitchen counter and made a bee line to the icebox. Just in case Twilight did catch on to what he had asked he wanted to get a few spoonfuls of ice cream into his belly. His fears were for nothing however, for when he turned away from his rummaging in the icebox the purple unicorn had left her position at the door.

Twilight circled the room almost like a shark looking out for her prey. She had briefly spotted Cheerilee ducking behind another pony out of her sight while she had waited by the kitchen doorway. The teacher was obviously avoiding her and Twilight wanted to know why that was. Amidst the ponies partying a game of cat and mouse took place.

___________________________________________________________________

High up above Ponyville Rainbow Dash and her passenger landed on a cloud to watch the sunset. Their flight together had been relatively short, but fun all the same. Scootaloo had kept egging Rainbow Dash on to fly faster and do more loopings, requests that the cyan pegasus gladly fulfilled. The little filly slid off the larger mare’s back onto the cloud, her little wings still buzzing from the rush of flying.

Side by side they laid down on their bellies and watched the sun paint the landscape beneath them in a soft orange glow. Rainbow Dash rested her head on the cloud and lazily let her eyes wander over the houses down below.

“How was your crusading this weekend?” she asked Scootaloo, who was doing the same as her idol.

“It was fun. We tried rock climbing and deep sea fishing.” She reported and pressed her muzzle in the soft cloud.

“No luck with your cutie mark?” Rainbow Dash asked although she already knew the answer. The filly lift her head to look at her blank flank and simply sighed a no.

“Don’t worry, Squirt. I bet you will have an awesome cutie mark one day. Way more cooler than rock climbing or deep sea fishing. How did you try for that anyway?”

“We tied a bit of string to a long stick and went to the lake.” Scootaloo explained and rested her head back on the cloud.

“So…like fishing?” Rainbow Dash enquired.

“It was a really long piece of string. And a longer stick of course.”

“Of course.” Rainbow Dash repeated and hid her smirk in the cloud. “Catch anything?”

“Nah. I said we should have used bait or at least a hook. Just tying a rock to the end didn’t really help all that much.” Scootaloo explained and prodded the cloud a bit with her right hoof.

“In the end we decided to try our hoof at building a mudcastle.” The filly continued. Rainbow Dash could not help but laugh a bit.

“I bet Rarity was fond of that idea.” The cyan mare snickered at the thought of muddy hoofprints all through her boutique.

“She totally flipped out for a moment. Couldn’t even make a sound, but just made some kind of wheezing noise. For a moment we thought we broke her.” Scootaloo giggled along with the larger mare beside her.

“But we made it up to her later, after we cleaned the mess we made.”

“How did you do that?” Rainbow Dash wanted to know.

“We had to help her make dresses.” Scootaloo said and folded her ears back. That had been an activity she did not enjoy.

“Like sewing and stuff?” Rainbow Dash’s knowledge about dressmaking started at sewing and ended there as well.

“We just had to stand still as models, while she did all the work. She made me wear this really girly froo-frooey dress.” Scootaloo scrunched up her nose at the memory of having to stand still for hours on end.

“Didn’t like the dress? That’s bad news, Squirt. ‘Cause that’s the one you’re supposed to wear at the garden party.” Out of the corner of her eye she watched the filly’s eyes widen with surprise.

“You mean you are giving me that dress?” she asked and failed miserably at concealing her joy.

“Rarity is. She insisted to make you each a dress to wear and keep for future occasions like that.” Rainbow Dash explained and shifted onto her side.

“Really? Just like that?” Scootaloo seemed genuinely surprised.

“She is the Element of Generosity for a reason, you know?” the larger mare gave the small filly beside her a smile.

“That’s…wow…that’s just more than I have ever…” she trailed off at the end, at a loss for words.

They remained lying side by side until the sun finally set. Scootaloo kept smiling all the time, while Rainbow Dash simply looked down below at the houses. An idea popped into her head as her gaze shifted to the large mansion of the Rich family. Her head shot up from the resting position and she turned to the filly beside her.

“Say, Scoot….how’d you feel about covering Diamond Tiara’s house in toilet paper?” Rainbow Dash put on her most innocent looking face possible. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, but could not keep a smile from forming on her lips.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah. You in or not?”

“You bet I’m in. Right now?”

“Need to get the paper first and of course we have to prepare ourselves for that mission.” Rainbow Dash stood up and lowered her front half to allow Scootaloo to climb on.

“Prepare ourselves? What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked while she gripped Rainbow Dash around the neck.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Rainbow Dash answered with a lopsided grin and took to the skies.

_________________________________________________________________

The party was not going well for the grey pegasus. She had briefly ventured out to other tables to procure some more food or drink, every time trying to strike up a conversation with ponies near her. While they did greet her and gave her a friendly smile, they were all wrapped up in their own discussions with other ponies. In the end Derpy always returned back to the table with the unconscious Berry Punch. At least the drunken passed out mare was not avoiding her, a feeling she picked up from the others in the room.

She sat with drooped ears at the table and nibbled at her third slice of pie. Out of the corner of her left eye she spotted Twilight Sparkle heading her way. The unicorn had managed to catch Cheerilee a few moments earlier and seemed to have a very animated discussion with her. A loud snore from Applejack had distracted Twilight and the other mare had taken the chance and fled somewhere else. Now it seemed as if the unicorn was back on the hunt.

She smiled briefly at Derpy when she arrived at the table. Without warning she thrust her head under the tablecloth and pulled back after not finding her target.

“Enjoying the party?” Twilight asked, but kept looking all over the place instead of focusing on the pony she had asked. Derpy decided to answer honestly.

“No I am not. As a matter of fact I am feeling rather left out.” She gave the unicorn an expectant look.

“That’s great. Happy to hear that.” Twilight said and trotted off to the next possible hiding spot, obviously not having heard a word the pegasus had said.

Derpy sighed and took another bite of the pie in front of her. Berry Punch hiccupped once.
“You said it.” Derpy answered her, letting her head hang moments later as she realized that had been the most meaningful discussion she had all evening.

__________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash landed with Scootaloo on her back in front of Town Hall. Luckily she had packed the keys to the place earlier when gathering her research for Twilight. She unlocked the big front doors and ushered the little filly inside once she had hopped off Rainbow Dash’s back.

“What are we doing here?” the filly whispered in the dark reception area.

“Supplies, Scoots. No need to whisper, we are all alone here.” Rainbow Dash closed the doors and trotted past the filly up the stairs to their right. Without hesitating and not wanting to be left alone in the dark empty room Scootaloo followed her up the flight of stairs.

She was breathing heavily once they reached the top floor. As to be expected Rainbow Dash wasn’t breathing heavily and most likely saw the trek up the stairs as just a warm up. Accompanied by Scootaloo’s sound of breathing and their muffled hoofsteps on carpet they arrived at a plain door. Scootaloo could not read the little sign attached to the door, but figured Rainbow Dash would tell her eventually. She was still uneasy about being here, as the upstairs areas were meant only for ponies who worked here.

Rainbow Dash unlocked the door and switched on the light in the room. The sudden change in brightness blinded the filly for a moment and she stumbled with a hoof raised in front of her eyes into the room. After a while her eyes had adjusted and she looked at the surprisingly large room she was now standing in.

“What is this place?” she asked and looked over to Rainbow Dash who had sat down behind a desk. The cyan mare spread her forelegs in a wide gesture and gave Scootaloo a trademark grin.

“This is Ponyville’s weather team headquarters. Feel free to look around.” Rainbow Dash began opening the drawers of the desk and rummaged around in them looking for something.

Scootaloo sat down in the middle of the room and looked once around the room. She had wondered sometimes before what the weather team’s workplace looked like. As usual in these type of situations her imagination had been a lot better than reality.

A large window dominated the outside wall and was big enough to let a pegasus fly in with ease. Left and right of the window were several lockers that had seen better times in the past, but looked sturdy and robust enough to last a few more decades. She briefly scanned the names on the lockers.

Flitter, Blossomforth, Cloud Kicker, Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash.

The other five lockers in the corner also had names on them, but the light did not quite reach all the way so she turned her attention away from them. A small two seater couch with a beaten up coffee table in front of it also had seen better days. The dark brown material had rips in it and Scootaloo could see a bunch of feathers of all colors stuck between the cushions. A few magazines were scattered over the table. Next to the couch a small refrigerator hummed. Judging by the state of the other furniture she decided not to have a look inside. On top of the refrigerator an old coffee maker had its place. Years of coffee stains had turned the previously white top of the refrigerator into a dark brown surface.

A small niche followed outfitted with a sink and a small surface to prepare things. An open packet of sugar lumps was currently the only thing on the surface. The wall above the sink had an open rack fixed to it with ten large mugs waiting to be used. After careful inspection she saw that each mug had a spoon in it and were surprisingly clean.

Scootaloo gave the mostly empty bookshelf next to the sink only a quick glance. The three books she could spot seemed to be uninteresting. The door through which they had entered came next. Beside it was a hat stand with one long lime green scarf hanging from it. Judging by the coat of dust covering it, it rarely saw any use or the owner simply forgot it was here.

Next was the desk that Rainbow Dash was rummaging through, a light brown simple but sturdy desk. The same kind of desk that almost all governmental institutions seemed to have. All Scootaloo could currently see of Rainbow Dash were her wings and her mane bobbing up and down as she dug around in the drawers. The surface of the desk was painfully bare. One notepad, a couple of pens and a small lamp seemed lost on the large surface. Behind the desk and the single boring chair that Rainbow Dash had ignored, hung a selection of posters. A few movie posters, one Wonderbolt poster and a few postcards plastered the wall and would have brought some color to the place, but the colors were faded from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and everything seemed to blend into various shades of brown.

The only bit of color in the room seemed to concentrate on one side of it. On the opposite wall from where the couch stood was a large whiteboard covered in squiqqles and lines that made no sense to the young filly. To the left of it was a rather large bulletin board and to the right of it was a single unmarked door. All that was between the door and the lockers was a single paper basket filled to the brim with crumpled up balls of paper. Scootaloo decided to inspect the bulletin board more closely as it was the only interesting thing here.

It turned out to be less interesting then she had thought it would be. A couple of memo’s about sudden weather changes that deviated from the schedule, two notices to keep an eye out for lost items during weather patrol and a picture of the weather team standing side by side and grinning into the camera. What did catch her eye was a drawn picture that she recognized immediately.

“Hey, that’s the picture I drew for you a few weeks ago.” Rainbow Dash froze for a moment before looking over to the filly. Slightly embarrassed she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Yeah. I thought it might make this place a bit nicer and I….well…kinda wanted something here from you as well.” Rainbow Dash had a distinct pink coloring of her cheeks at this point. “Kinda sappy huh?”

“Kinda, but in a good way.” Scootaloo smiled at the larger mare, who returned it and continued going through the drawers.

“Come on, come on….I know you are here somewhere.” She mumbled to herself.

“What are you looking for?” Scootaloo asked and hopped up onto the chair behind Rainbow Dash.

“I am looking for….aaaaaaHA! I am looking for this!” Rainbow Dash proudly held the item towards the filly. It was a laminated badge indicating that Rainbow Dash was Ponyville’s captain of the weather team. Birthdate, and various other numbers littered the small piece of plastic. What made Scootaloo laugh out loud was the small picture of Rainbow Dash. Never before had she seen her with such a bored expression.

“Hey…don’t laugh. It’s mandatory for all employees to look as bored as possible when taking these pictures. Only then do they believe that you work for the government.” She explained and nudged the filly playfully in the side.

“What do we need that for if we are toilet papering a house?” Scootaloo asked and stopped her giggling for a moment.

“I need this for Monday. I have to attend a three day seminar in Cloudsdale and they’ll only let me in if I wear this thing.” Rainbow Dash explained and put the badge into a special compartment in her saddlebag. She glanced inside and trotted over to her locker. With practiced moves she unlocked her locker without even looking. Carefully she placed her research notes from the study session with Twilight into it. She would need all the space she could get for the plans of the evening.

Once the bags were empty she shut the locker again. The letter that Thunderlane had given her she tucked under her wing and trotted up to the whiteboard. What had just been weird symbols to Scootaloo, were complex weather diagrams to Rainbow Dash. A quick look revealed that the forecast for the next few days would not involve anything complicated. Unless something massive came in from the Everfree Forest her team would be able to manage the weather without her for those three days.

She trotted over to the bulletin board and pinned the letter to it to inform her team of where she was in case Thunderlane somehow forgot. Scootaloo followed her movements closely and hopped from the chair when the cyan pegasus opened the previously closed door. A glance inside revealed that it was a bathroom with a shower.

“Catch!” Rainbow Dash said and lobbed a roll of toilet paper to the filly who jumped up and caught it without any problems. She threw two more which Scootaloo caught with ease. They continued their little game until Scootaloo was sitting beside ten rolls.

“I think that will be enough.” Rainbow Dash said and rejoined Scootaloo in the office.

“Isn’t anypony going to miss these?” the filly asked and pointed to the items in question with a hoof.

“Nah. This is a government building, Scoot, and if there is one thing a government building will never be short of, its toilet paper.” Rainbow Dash explained much to the filly’s confusion. In the end she shrugged it off and helped her stow the items into the saddlebags.

Together they left the office and finally the building proper, Scootaloo patiently waiting beside Rainbow Dash while she locked the doors back up. She climbed on Rainbow Dash’s back when asked and were once again flying above Ponyville on course to the pegasus’ cloudhome.

Chapter 5

Twilight’s hunt for the teacher was momentarily halted when she reached Rarity. The sight of the white unicorn talking to a potted plant was enough to snap her out of her increasingly frantic and obsessed search.

“Rarity? What are you doing talking to my plant?” she asked with concern for her friend’s mental stability, which was ironic as her own mental state left much to be desired at the present time and moment.

“I might have voiced my opinions on the upcoming festivities in Canterlot in perhaps too much detail. Especially on security and possible changeling attacks.” Embarrassed the fashionista scraped a hoof over the floor and gave Twilight an apologetic smile.

“To my plant? And why is it shivering?” Twilight was thoroughly confused.

“Not to the plant directly. My words were directed at its current occupant.” Rarity explained and pointed a hoof towards the bit of pink tail sticking out from underneath the plant.

“I’m not coming out.” An almost inaudible protest came from within the pot.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight’s ear twitched. Rarity saw the sign and decided to calm down the lavender unicorn before she might have another episode.

“Don’t worry, darling. I am sure I can persuade Fluttershy to come out and join us for this party and the next one in Canterlot. It’s nothing you have to worry about.” Rarity put on her most charming smile. “Relax, my dear and enjoy the party. You seem a little stressed if I might so bold to say.”

“Can’t relax right now. Have to find teacher.” Twilight turned away from Rarity and the potted Fluttershy. It was not her topmost concern right now and would eventually deal with it later if the need be.

_____________________________________________________________________

She had just begun her third circle around the room when she was approached by Applebloom. The filly carefully tapped Twilight’s foreleg to get her attention and shrunk away at the manic facial expression that the unicorn wore.

“Uh, Twilight are ya ok?” the filly asked unsure whether she really wanted to know.

“Of course, little one. And I’ll be much better once I find your teacher.” Twilight suddenly shifted her gaze over to the table with the punch bowl on top. She swore she had just seen the tablecloth move a bit.

“Ah just wanted to tell ya that we’re takin Applejack home. She just fell asleep again an’ ya’ll remember what happened the last time she was so tired.” Applebloom explained and saw in the corner of her eye Sweetie Belle do the same with Rarity.

“Yes, yes. You do that, Scootaloo.” Twilight was not paying any attention.

“Ah’m Applebloom.” The filly tried to correct her.

“Yes, that’s nice.” Twilight left the confused filly standing where she was and decided to sneak up on the moving tablecloth.

Applebloom shrugged and trotted over to Applejack. Together with Sweetie Belle she carefully guided the half asleep farmpony out of the library. They just passed the table Derpy was sitting at, when Applejack briefly woke up a bit more.

“Heya Derpy. Sorry Ah can’t stay for yer party.” She apologized to the now perplexed looking mare.
The fillies pushed Applejack along and towards the front door.

“Did you know that Twilight has a talking plant here?” Sweetie Belle asked Applebloom.

“Really? Ah have ta have a look at that sometime. What did it say?”

“It said it doesn’t want to go outside.”

“Must be an indoor plant then.” Applebloom mused and shut the door behind them once they were through.

Derpy had followed them with her gaze and now kept looking at the closed door.

“My party? Why is this my party?” she asked herself aloud.

“Sho itsh you.” Came a slurred reply from the left of her, which made her jump a bit and flare her wings out in surprise. Berry Punch had rolled her head on the side and was now looking at her with glazed over eyes.

“Yooouuuuu are the shpeshial pony that Twilly Shpargl wash talking about.” She let out a small giggle. Derpy leaned in closer to the drunken mare.

“What do you mean?” she asked slowly to get through the drunken haze that the mare beside her was obviously in. “I’m not special.”

“Yesh you are. Theresh four of you right now. Thatsh really shpeshial, normally theresh only three or two of the other poniesh.”

Derpy blinked, trying to make sense of what the pony had slurred. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Twilight Sparkle had been there when Flithy Rich had said those mean things for her, was this her way of trying to make her feel better. By throwing a party for the “special” pony?

“Are you sure she meant me?” Derpy asked hoping that Berry Punch was merely rambling nonsense.

“Yesh. She shaid that thish wash a shurprishe party for a very shpeshial pony and that we shouldn’t shay anything to her.” She opened both eyes and looked at the stunned pegasus. “Pleashe don’t tell yourshelf that, otherwishe it’sh not a shurprishe anymore.”

Derpy suddenly felt very uncomfortable amongst the partying ponies. She jerked back as Berry Punch suddenly sat upright.

“I needsh more shider! Half a barrel washn’t nearly enough!” she proclaimed, flopped over onto her side and made clear that she would not partake in any more drinking with a loud snore. Derpy looked at the sleeping mare with one eye, while the other seemed drawn to the ponies not too far from her enjoying the party. She suddenly felt the need to leave.

____________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash had arrived at her home with Scootaloo only a few moments ago. After a quick search through her wardrobe she had hoofed the filly a black suit, very similar to the one she had used during a break in at the hospital a while back, and told her to put it on.

She had just finished slipping into her second black suit as Scootaloo spoke up.

“It’s too big.” The filly stated and Rainbow Dash turned around to see if anything could be done to make it fit better. The sight that greeted her must have been the most adorable thing she had seen in a very long time.

Scootaloo had not been lying when she said it was too big for her. In fact she only needed to wear the top half of Rainbow Dash's black stealth suit to cover her entire body while sitting. The fillies head was too small to fill out the suit and making it look more like a hoodie. Her ears barely managed to fill out half of the available space, causing the fabric to flop down over her ears. The rest of the hoodie covered her eyes completely and reached down onto the top of her nose. The visible orange muzzle was not looking too thrilled at her current outfit.

Rainbow Dash almost managed to stifle a giggle, the noise making Scootaloo tilt her head back until she was able to peek out from underneath the hood and give the now giggling mare an angry glare. The effect was the total opposite however as the larger pegasus could not stop herself from smiling.

“I think you may be right about the size.” She said while walking over to the sitting filly. “I think we’ll just forget about the bottom half and leave the hood down.”

After a brief moment of thought, Rainbow Dash went over to her dresser and rummaged through the bottom drawer. It only took a couple of seconds until she had found what she was looking for, a purple scarf. She then used it as a belt for Scootaloo, tying down the top around her belly.

“Now you can run without getting tangled up in the fabric.” Rainbow Dash pulled down the hoodie and ruffled Scootaloo’s mane. “We’ll have to ask Rarity to make you one of these sometime.”

“What about the sleeves?” Scootaloo held up a foreleg, the far too long sleeves had been pulled up as far as possible and gave her a rather poofy appearance.

“Leave ‘em like that. Unless you can’t move properly.”

Scootaloo decided to test her maneuverability and ran a few laps around the room, ducking, jumping and weaving around the furniture. With a big grin on her face she stopped in front of Rainbow Dash.

“It works.” She happily said.

“So I saw. Shall we begin with our plan?” Rainbow Dash asked and put on her saddlebags once more.

“Yeah!” the filly’s enthusiasm was infectious and Rainbow Dash could not wipe the mad grin from her own face as they flew towards the Rich’s mansion.

_________________________________________________________________

Cheerilee was currently hiding under a table from Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn had hinted at her knowing things that Cheerilee rather wanted to keep to herself. She also had successfully managed to block any attempts by the teacher to leave the party. Either she had blocked the way out by standing in the way or by monitoring the doors and windows, so Cheerilee had decided to wait it out under the table. The large tablecloth reached all the way to the floor and hid her well or so she had hoped.

“Hello Cheerilee!” Twilight whispered into the teacher’s ear. Startled the magenta mare tried to stand up and as a result banged her head hard against the underside of the table. The punchbowl on top made a little jump.

Cheerilee briefly contemplated her chances if she just ran out from under the table and out the front door. Something told her she would never make, so she resigned herself to her fate. She faced the unicorn beside her and sighed.

“Hello Twilight.” She said solemnly.

“Enjoying the party? Good! Could I maybe ask you something?” Twilight did not wait for a response and slid a bit closer to the teacher. “I just remembered you telling me earlier that you took writing classes when you were younger. Something like that stays with you for quite some time am I right?”

“What do you want?” Cheerliee was tired of guessing what the unicorn was playing at. Better to get this entire business over and done with.

“Written any books lately?” Twilight asked and had that forced smile on her face that made clear that she would not be letting it go anytime soon.

“Please don’t tell anypony.” Cheerilee asked and let her head hang low in defeat.

“Don’t worry your secret is safe with me.” Twilight promised and bent her head closer to Cheerilee’s.

“I write books under the pseudonym of Cherry Popper.” Cheerilee quietly whispered.

“Cherry Popper…..wait what? Those romance novels?” Twilight’s manic grin was now replaced by a surprised expression. “Those….rather detailed romance novels?” A blush crept into her cheeks.

“You know them?” it now was Cheerilee’s turn to ask a question.

“I…errr… might have read one or two of them.” The blush intensified.

“Then you understand why I don’t want anypony to know that I write those during the summer break. If the parents of my students would find out that their teacher writes such risqué things I might lose my job.” Cheerliee explained and gave Twilight a pleading look.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony about this, but…you haven’t written anything else lately?” Twilight asked trying to ignore her burning cheeks.

“Like what?” Cheerilee asked in turn.

“Like a Daring Do novel?” Twilight’s question caused the teacher to give a small snort of amusement.

“If I were the author of those books you can be assured that I wouldn’t hide that fact away. Those are bestsellers and something to be proud of. I bet I would get invited to all kinds of V.I.P. parties….” Cheerilee drifted off into a fantasy world of her own. Twilight reluctantly had to bring her back into the real world.

“Well thanks for telling me. Sorry if I might have been a little nosy.” Twilight shuffled out from underneath the table.

“A little nosy….” Cheerilee murmured and also left her former hiding place. Since the threat of the unicorn had been averted, she now maybe could enjoy the rest of this party.

Twilight brushed a bit of dust from her coat, trying at the same time to hide the last remnants of her blush. The blush was however what drew the attention of two mares that had watched with some speculation on their part why Twilight and Cheerilee had been under the table. They both drew the same conclusion, albeit the false one.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Twilight looked around and glanced over to where Bon Bon and Lyra were standing by a shelf. Both of them flashed Twilight a smile that seemed to imply something the librarian failed to understand. Then Lyra winked once before turning away with Bon Bon and casually trott over to a snack table. Twilight misunderstood the wink and came to a very different conclusion about its meaning.

I bet she knows that I am looking for the author. Judging by that wink she might know something and I have to find out what it is.

Before Twilight could act on her suspicions a pink pony beside her suddenly pulled her away towards the kitchen. Any protest she tried to voice was cut off as a muffin was jammed into her mouth. The pastry was still very warm, fluffy and incredibly tasty.

“Weeeeeelllll? Whadd’ya think Twilight?” Pinkie chirped and for once was not hopping or bouncing in place due to a large tray on her back.

“Wow, Pinkie these are fantastic.” Any thoughts about authors, romance novels, mint green unicorns or anything else were obliterated by the culinary delight that Pinkie Pie had created. It also brought Twilight back to the original task and meaning of this party.

“Did you make some more of these?” she asked Pinkie, who in return smiled and pointed to a large muffin about the size of a pony’s head on the kitchen table and to the tray on her back.

“That one over there is made for Ditzy and only Ditzy!” Pinkie underlined the sentence with a wild look that made her almost as frightening as Twilight had been all evening. The unicorn shrunk back from the party pony.

“That one is just for her, got it.” Twilight replied and sighed with relief as an instant later the old smiling Pinkie was back.

“Aaaaaand here are samples for everypony.” She said and set down the tray on to the floor. Twilight resisted the temptation to eat another. She could eat another one later after they had given their guest her surprise.

“Then let’s get this show on the road. Will you bring the muffin?” Pinkie was already standing beside her with the muffin wrapped in a bow and ready to be given away. Twilight wisely decided not to ask how the earthpony had done that so fast.

With Pinkie following close behind she made her way to the center of the room. Using a burst of magic she quickly shut down the music.

“May I have your attention everypony!” Twilight said and thanks to a quick spell could briefly overpower the discussions happening all around the room. When she was sure to have everypony’s attention she let the magic from her spell dissipate and cleared her throat.

“I would like this moment to welcome our special guest of honor for this evening.” Twilight beamed at the assembled ponies. “Just think of this as a way of us saying thank you for all your hard work in Ponyville. Please stomp your hooves for Ditzy….errr I mean Derpy!”

The assembled ponies did as requested and stomped on the floor. They were still stomping a minute later. By the ninety second mark the stomping lost some of its participants. And finally at the two minute mark nopony was stomping anymore as it became apparent that Derpy would not be making an appearance.

Twilight looked over the crowd of ponies to see for herself. Then she briefly checked the other rooms of the library including the bathroom, but there was no trace of a grey Pegasus mare with bubbles for her cutie mark.

“She’s gone.” Twilight told the waiting ponies. “Didn’t anypony see her leave?”

The attendees looked at each other and shrugged. None of them had seen Derpy leave and in some cases did not even remember her being there in the first place. Twilight let her head hang.

“Well….enjoy the rest of the party I guess.” She said and made her way past a very sheepish looking Lyra and Bon Bon. Her idea of interviewing Lyra briefly surfaced, but she pulled that thought back down for now. Twilight joined her friends in the corner of the room.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash and Applejack?” she asked when noticing her absent friends.

“I was under the impression that you knew. Applejack left because she kept falling asleep and Rainbow Dash left with Scootaloo to do something. At least that’s all that Sweetie Belle told me.” Rarity informed her friend.

“Well did any of you notice Ditzy leave?”

“Sorry, Darling. I was busy talking with Fluttershy and that got out of hoof….slightly.” Rarity admitted and looked embarrassed.

“I..uhm..sorry I overreacted and used your plant as a hiding spot.” Fluttershy quietly added and looked equally embarrassed.

“I was out baking the muffins. I told you to keep an eye out for her to make sure she was in the room when we would give her the surprise.” Pinkie had indeed asked that of Twilight, but the unicorn had been preoccupied by her search.

“Sorry. I was wrapped up in my own thing for too long this evening.” Twilight let her head hang low with the ears folded back. It had been a very easy task that Pinkie had given her, but she hadn’t even heard her ask her.

“Well, I guess she went home. We could relocate the party to her place I guess.” Pinkie suggested and would have begun packing up the decorations, food and guests at the same time if not for Twilight, who held her in place with her magic.

“No. Rainbow Dash said something about her not liking things like that. Maybe this crowd was too much for her and that’s why she left. I’ll go over to her place with her gift and see if she won’t join us.” Twilight released Pinkie and grabbed the muffin instead. After giving her friends the instruction to try and keep the party going for a bit longer she headed out.

________________________________________________________________

Two pegasi were perched high up on a cloud above the Rich family’s mansion planning their assault. After an initial flyby they had seen that the family seemed to be in a living room of sorts that faced out of the back of the house. None of the staff could be seen however and that made things complicated.

“Do you want to go back?” Scootaloo whispered to Rainbow Dash beside her. The mare shook her head and carefully watched the windows below.

“Nah, I think they may be asleep or out. If we are quiet and fast we can still pull this off.” She turned to the filly.

“You ready?” A mad grin and a quick buzz of her wings was all the answer she needed. Rainbow Dash grabbed the small pegasus around the waist and dropped off the cloud. Only a bit more than a pony’s height from the ground away did she open her wings and stop their freefall. Scootaloo had to fight the urge to yell with excitement at the stunt they had just performed. Had she been alone or with another pegasus she would have been terrified, but when Rainbow Dash did stunts like that she always felt perfectly safe and enjoyed the thrill and rush of adrenalin. They glided behind a statue of a large bit on a pedestal and touched down on the ground. Rainbow Dash peeked around the side of the statue and checked to see if they had been spotted. The house remained dark and quiet.

“Ok, Squirt. You take care of the….things here in the garden and I’ll take care of the house. If you think you have been spotted run hide here and I’ll come and pick you up.” She divided the rolls of toilet paper amongst them. Scootaloo casually toyed with one roll by tossing it from one hoof to the other. She was eager to get started.

“Shall we begin?” Rainbow Dash asked and gave her partner in pranking a big smile. The filly nodded in return and flashed her own smile at the larger mare.

“Then let’s go!” the pegasi darted off in different directions. One flew up above the house, while the smaller one began launching the roll of toilet paper over the nearest ornament.

Fifteen minutes later it was over. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were back up on the cloud trying not to laugh out loud at the sight below them. Scootaloo had done a good job mummifying as many lawn ornaments and statues as possible, while Rainbow Dash had covered most of the front of the house in streams of toilet paper. She briefly considered bringing a raincloud here to soak the paper, but decided against it in the end. Messing around with clouds would point in the direction of a pegasus and that could eventually lead to her and Scootaloo. Leaving it the way it was increased the number of potential pranksters to basically the entire town.

“Kinda annoying that I can’t be here tomorrow to see their reaction.” Rainbow Dash moaned.

“Oh right, you’re in Cloudsdale for a few days. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out and tell you what happened when you get back.” Scootaloo gave her big sister a salute.

“Just don’t be too nosy otherwise they might get suspicious.” Rainbow Dash ruffled the filly’s mane with a hoof and stood up. “Come on. It’s getting late and I have to be up early in the morning. I’ll fly you home.”

Scootaloo did not have to be told twice and hopped on Rainbow Dash’s back. Little orange forelegs wrapped themselves around the cyan neck. A flap of the powerful wings later and they were airborne. Too soon did they arrive at Ponyville’s orphanage, then again it was always too soon for Scootaloo when they stopped flying together.

“Well…here we are, Squirt.” Rainbow Dash lowered herself a bit to enable the filly to hop off her back easier.

“Thanks. I really had fun this weekend. Too bad we had to miss some of the party though.”

“There will be plenty more Pinkie Pie parties in the future, don’t worry. I doubt they even noticed we had left.” Rainbow Dash watched as Scootaloo began to take off the outfit that she had given her. She stopped the filly’s efforts with a hoof on her shoulder.

“Keep it, Scoots. It suits you.” She said and earned a smile in return. They said their goodbyes and Rainbow Dash waited for Scootaloo to enter the orphanage before departing to her own home. Tired and happy the pegasus flopped down on her bed and fell asleep very fast.

___________________________________________________________________

Twilight knocked three times on the front door of Derpy’s home. She had thought about how to get the pegasus back to the party. The best course of action seemed to be to ask her why she had left in the first place, maybe learning a bit more about the mare in the process. She shifted the large wrapped up muffin on her back around nervously and tried to remember when it would be polite to knock again. She was certain to have read a book about that at some point.

Before she could knock again the door opened and Twilight found herself face to face with a surprised looking Derpy.

“May I come in?” Twilight asked and gave the other mare a small smile. For a moment the pegasus hesitated, but then seemed to relent and opened the door fully.

“Please, come in.” Twilight stepped inside past the grey mare. Derpy closed the door behind them and trotted past the unicorn.

“I am just in the middle of doing the dishes. Hope you don’t mind.” She said and continued on into the kitchen. Twilight followed her moments later, on the way there taking note of her surroundings.

The lack of furniture confused her for a moment, but as she spotted the large bookshelves in the living room her she forgot about the lack of seating opportunities apart from the couch.

“You like to read?” she asked Derpy.

“No, I don’t read all that much.” The answer confused Twilight even more. Why would she then have so many books if she doesn’t read?

Derpy continued washing the dishes, they were the same dishes that she was washing when Rainbow Dash had visited her. She briefly wondered if she would ever manage to clean them without being interrupted. The soapy water produced plenty of bubbles, one large specimen floated upwards and hovered briefly in front of her face. Reflexively she blew it upwards a bit more and made it dance towards the ceiling. Twilight carefully put the large muffin on the kitchen table and watched the bubble’s journey to the ceiling with fascination.

“Is that why you have bubbles as a cutie mark?” Twilight asked carefully hoping not to offend the mare by her direct question. Derpy watched the bubble burst upon contact with the ceiling, a little smile had crept onto her lips during the ascent.

“No, my cutie mark has nothing to do with bubbles like that one.” Derpy glanced over to Twilight for a moment before turning her attention back to the soapy water. “My dad once said I had bubbles in my head and shortly thereafter I got my mark.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Twilight’s ears had folded back and she was uneasy having asked the question in the first place. It did not sound like something nice being said to her, coupled with the fact that she was clumsy left Twilight wondering if she had a nice childhood when growing up.

Derpy guessed correctly what Twilight had been thinking. She did not know why she didn’t just leave it at that. Perhaps her need to talk with somepony or anypony after the disappointing party played a role in it. She always kept information about herself or her family close and did not share it easily.

“It’s not like that. I always had my head someplace else, always thinking and daydreaming about all kinds of things. More often than not I would get into trouble because of that. Bumping into other ponies or walls and signs. Once I wasn’t paying attention and walked out into the road in….a big city.” Derpy did not want to share where she had grown up at the time and moment.

“I caused a lot of damage and was scared and ashamed of what I had done. That evening my dad came into my room after he had heard me cry. He asked me why I was crying and I asked him what was wrong with me. He smiled at me and told me my head is full of bubbles. Each one containing a story for me alone to see.” Derpy smiled at the memory.

“He suggested I should burst a bubble, releasing what was inside for the rest of the world to see. My mom soon insisted that I told them what was inside them and I soon was the one telling my parents bedtime stories.”

“They sound like nice ponies.” Twilight said and was somewhat relieved to see the Pegasus smile.

“They were.” Derpy agreed and seemed lost in memories for a moment. It took Twilight a moment to realize what she had said.

“Were? Oh, I am sorry.” The unicorn let her head hang again. She actually wanted to avoid subjects that might make the grey mare uncomfortable.

“It’s ok. They had a long and good life, but time catches up with everypony at some point.” Derpy explained with a small sigh.

“You look so young.” Twilight commented and was indeed surprised to learn that Derpy’s parents had apparently passed on due to old age.

“They were told that they were too old to have any foals. To everyponies surprise they then had me. The pregnancy was not without….problems, but in the end it all turned out well.” Derpy turned her attention away from the dishes in front of her and looked over her shoulder at the patiently waiting unicorn sitting beside her table.

“Why are you here, Twilight?” she asked and veered the topic of discussion away from her parents. Talking or thinking about her parents always ended up with her remembering things that she rather wanted to forget like the things that had forced her to move to other cities with her parents.

“Well, you left the party early and we didn’t get the chance to give you our gift.” Twilight pointed a hoof at the large muffin on the table.

“A gift? It isn’t my birthday.” Derpy glanced over to the muffin with one eye, while the other remained focused on Twilight.

“We know. I just thought you could do with a party after being treated so meanly by that stallion. We wanted to show our support for you.” Derpy felt a smile creep onto her face, mirroring that of the unicorn in front of her.

“You are a very special pony and we are there for you.” Twilight continued, her smile turning forced as she saw the mood of Derpy suddenly sour considerably.

“Special?” Unwillingly memories of other cities and other ponies came flooding back into Derpy’s mind. She had been down this road many times before and her emotions came bubbling to the surface.

“Is that where this is going? You telling me that I am a very special pony and start treating me like a raw egg? Treating me as if there is something wrong with me?” Derpy did not hide her anger and stomped towards the now very uneasy unicorn, who cautiously took a few steps back.

“No, no, you don’t understand….” Twilight tried to calm her down, but was interrupted by the grey mare.

“I’m not stupid if that’s what you are implying. I have been in this situation before, you know. And I know how this always ends. One pony calls me out on my differences and soon others do the same. You even threw a party to draw attention to it, something that I have always been trying to avoid. Thanks a lot!” Derpy flared her wings open in anger. Twilight kept walking backwards down the hallway, every word she tried to say was cut off before she could voice it.

“All I wanted was to have a home where ponies left me in peace or maybe even treat me like everypony else. From Fillydelphia to Mareami and Detrot it has always been the same. Ponies avoiding me or even being hostile towards me thinking I have some kind of infectious disease. Here they didn’t do those things and for the most part just ignored me. Thanks to you that will change now won’t it?” Twilight found herself pressed up against the front door.

“Now you have drawn attention to the clumsy freak with the defective eyes!” Derpy shoved Twilight to the side of the door. With a quick yank on the doorknob she opened it and again roughly shoved Twilight through the open door.

“JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” Derpy slammed the door in the lavender unicorns face, narrowly avoiding hitting her. Twilight remained sitting there for a few minutes, unable to speak or move at the words she had just received.

“It was a misunderstanding.” She quietly said to the door and felt tears trying to break free. Twilight had never been the cause of upsetting a pony that much and it gnawed at her. With a heavy sigh she turned to slowly head back to her library. There was nothing she could say or do now to clarify the situation and she needed the advice of her friends on this matter.

Derpy sat in the hallway breathing heavily. With considerable effort she folded her wings back and took a few deep breaths. After a while all that was left was a feeling of numbness. She had been through this thing countless times before and at times had cried bitter tears. The tears had dried up long ago, she had no more to shed on this matter that seemed to follow her everywhere she went.

After walking back into the kitchen she briefly considered finishing the dishes, but she saw no point anymore in doing so. The path she was on now she knew by heart and knew what would happen next. She gave the muffin a quick look before heading off towards the bedroom.

For the first time a muffin was left uneaten in the Hooves’ household.

Chapter 6

Things had not gone well for Twilight that evening. After returning to the party alone she informed her friends of what had happened. As to be expected they were surprised at Derpy’s reaction and were unsure on how to handle this situation.

“I could go past her place and throw her a teeny tiiiny party for one.” Pinkie suggested seriously and frowned as she saw Rarity roll her eyes.

“Not everything can be solved with a party, Darling.” Rarity didn’t want to possibly agitate the already distressed Derpy any further.

“Well do you have any better ideas?” Pinkie seemed to be genuinely offended by Rarity’s statement that a party would not work.

“I think we should tell Rainbow Dash. She seems to know her better than any of us and might be better suited to talk to her. I fear if we all try to interfere that we might cause more harm than good.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement to Rarity’s idea. Pinkie seemed still to be leaning towards the party plan of hers. The friends turned to Twilight who was still visibly upset from the events earlier.

“I….I think you are right. We should ask Rainbow Dash for help. Let’s wait until she returns to the party here.” Twilight decided and gulped down a cup of punch.

They waited until the last of the guests had left and finally gave up on waiting for Rainbow Dash returning. After a brief discussion they agreed that they would inform the pegasus first thing tomorrow morning. None of them found sleep easily that night, least of which was Twilight who kept berating herself.

____________________________________________________________________

Morning came faster than she had expected and with dark rings under her eyes she sat at her upstairs window keeping an eye out for the cyan weatherpony. Spike brought her a steaming hot cup of coffee that she greedily downed in almost one gulp. It burned her tongue slightly, but managed to wake her up some more. When it became apparent that Rainbow Dash would not come flying by Twilight decided to intercept the pegasus during her work.

An hour later Twilight stood underneath Rainbow Dash’s cloudhome calling her. She had not seen her during the morning hours and was now contemplating teleporting up to Rainbow’s home. After a few minutes she decided against her plan, knowing that if Rainbow Dash were home she would immediately answer Twilight’s call. That left one place Twilight had not checked yet and where she might find some answers. She headed back towards Ponyville and wondered if she needed a special permission to enter the office of the weather management.

To Twilight’s surprise she didn’t need any kind of permit to enter the office areas of Ponyville’s town hall. The pony sitting behind the receptionist’s desk pointed her politely in the right direction and soon Twilight found herself climbing up the stairs to the top floor. Too little sleep and no real breakfast made the climb more strenuous then it should have been. With deep breaths she stood at the top of the stairs and collected herself before trotting towards the office of Ponyville’s weather team. She saw that the door was open so she entered after knocking once on the doorframe.

Her first impression of the office was feeling underwhelmed at the décor. She had imagined complex diagrams and weather patterns all over the walls with shelves full of books about weather phenomenon or guide books on how to deal with storms or strong winds. Apart from the whiteboard that had indeed some of the weather patterns that Twilight had expected nothing else really stood out.

“Whaddya think, Flitter? Should I put in a few blue streaks in my mane? Light blue or dark blue? Hmmm…maybe purple…” Twilight jumped a bit at the voice coming from the lone sofa. Closer inspection revealed a pegasus lying on her back reading a magazine about mane and tail stylings. The very light pink coat that was almost white, green and pink striped mane and tail identified her as Blossomforth, one of the pegasi from the weather team. She was facing away from Twilight and did not realize that it wasn’t one of the staff she had addressed. Twilight cleared her throat loud enough to make herself noticed. Blossomforth craned her neck around to see who was there, eyes widening as she saw that it wasn’t who she thought it was.

“Oh, hi!” she turned over onto her side and flicked the magazine she was reading on the table in front of her. With pegasus born agility she quickly rolled off the couch onto her hooves.

“Can I help you?” Blossomforth asked and gave Twilight a smile.

“Is Rainbow Dash around?” the unicorn asked hoping that the mare in question was in another room maybe or still out doing her duties.

“No sorry. She left for Cloudsdale this morning. Some kind of three day seminar that sounds really boring.” Blossomforth explained not even trying to hide her dislike for boring seminars from her voice.

“If it’s about the weather I can gladly help.” She continued and held a hoof to her chest.

“No, it’s not about the weather. I just needed some help from Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said and silently cursed the timing of her friend having to leave and Derpy’s situation.

“Well can I help?” the pegasus kindly offered her help, but Twilight did not want to involve anymore ponies. She shook her head and politely declined before heading out of the office. Blossomforth shrugged and flopped down on the couch again after grabbing the magazine she had been reading earlier.

“Perhaps streaks of dark red….” She mused to herself and soon forgot about her visitor.

Twilight sighed as she left the office and sighed once more as she stood at the top of the stairs. The trek down would be easier, but still not too nice on an empty stomach. Halfway down the stairs she heard raised voices coming from a nearby double set of doors. A small sign next to the doors identified it as the office of Mayor Mare. Twilight felt it to be impolite to listen in on something that did not concern her so she tried to hurry past as fast as possible. She was just about to pass the door as it slammed open in front of her, narrowly missing her head by mere millimeters. Out of reflex she jumped back and pressed herself against the wall, thanks to the bad lighting she remained unseen by the pony that came through the doors.

“No, I will not leave this matter alone, Mayor! She has defiled my beautiful home and I want compensation for the damages done!” Twilight identified the enraged stallion as Filthy Rich. The angry tone of his voice seemed strangely familiar, but she could not place where she had heard it before.

“You do not have any proof that it was her who did that, until you do I shall not be doing anything about this matter.” The Mayor replied from within her office, her tone indicating that she was less than amused about whatever Filthy Rich had seen her about.

“Do yourself a favor and fire that damn nuisance. Otherwise it may reflect badly come next election, if you catch my drift.” Without waiting for a reply he hoofed the doors closed and stomped his way down the stairs. Twilight remained pressed against the wall until she could no longer hear his hoofsteps. Then she quickly made her exit, briefly wondering who it had been they were arguing about. She shook her head clear of those thoughts, as she had enough problems for now with Derpy.

Twilight decided to try and talk to Derpy herself once more. Her visit to the post office led to the concerning information that Derpy had left a message saying she was sick for the rest of the week. A visit at Derpy’s home revealed no trace of the mare. During lunch time Twilight informed her friends of what she had learned this morning. Each of them said they would try and talk to Derpy and see if they could clear the situation. However none of them had any luck getting into contact with the mare.

_________________________________________________________________

Wednesday afternoon arrived and an increasingly worried Twilight was pacing about in her library. Spike had tried to get Twilight away from her thoughts on Derpy, but Twilight could sometimes be just as stubborn as a mule, especially if it was about something she felt guilty about. The dragon hoped that Rainbow Dash would return quickly and put an end to all the worries. As he was dusting in the upstairs bedroom he saw the familiar streak of rainbow colors in the sky, heralding the arrival of Rainbow Dash. His silent prayers seemed to have been answered, as a test he wished for a bowl of ice cream. That prayer seemed to be silently ignored, so he turned his attention back to dusting.

As per usual Rainbow Dash did not bother using the front door and opted instead for the nearest open window. She hoped that Twilight had found out more about the mysterious author of the Daring Do book series and with any luck might even know who it is. The pegasus found the unicorn in the main room of the library.

“Hey, Twilight! How’s it going? Found anything yet?” she asked while landing behind Twilight. When Twilight turned around to face her, she nearly jumped back into the air. The unicorn looked massively tired and stressed out. Rainbow Dash had to force herself to stay put as Twilight practically launched herself at her and pulling her into a hug.

“Thank goodness you are back! Things haven’t been going well here.” Twilight moaned and released the pegasus from her grasp.

“So I am guessing you had no luck finding our author?” Rainbow Dash asked, but already knew the answer judging by the facial expression of the mare opposite her.

“There was an incident at the party.” Twilight gave a quick recap of the events of that evening including the exchange at Derpy’s home.

“Oh, for crying out loud….” Rainbow Dash facehoofed and sighed. “For such a smart pony you sure do some stupid things.”

Twilight didn’t know what hurt more, the fact that Rainbow Dash of all ponies was chastising her or that she was right. She turned away and began flipping absent mindedly through the pile of books on a nearby table.

“The girls tried talking to her. Rarity and Applejack went by her house and tried to talk to her, but she didn’t answer. Pinkie went inside uninvited and couldn’t find her anywhere. Fluttershy saw her yesterday, but was too afraid to talk to her, because she didn’t want to make her even more upset.” Twilight kept on flipping through the books, when suddenly something caught her eye. A puzzle piece that had been missing suddenly had appeared right in front of her and she had been too blind to see it before.

She had flipped backwards through a Daring Do novel and was now looking at the first page or to be more precise she was looking at the first words printed on that page.

Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet a D.D. novel.

“How could I be so stupid.” Twilight groaned as her mind connected all the dots she had about the author.

“That’s what I said.” Rainbow Dash interjected and motioned for her to continue. “What about Derpy?”

“She’s the author!” Twilight nearly yelled and spun around to face her friend.

“Are you sure?” Rainbow Dash was highly skeptical about Twilight’s assumption considering the state the mare seemed to currently be in.

“Yes! Look…the D.D. here. I always thought that meant Daring Do, but it is actually Ditzy Doo.” Twilight frowned at her friend when it became apparent that she had trouble believing her.

“There’s more! She had been here before I came to Ponyville, she knew you from being part of the weather team on occasion. The amount of books in her place although she does not read much and her bubbles with stories in them! Her telling her parents bedtime stories when she was little! And Pinkie mentioning seeing a typewriter in one of her rooms! Uuuuuurgh! It is so obvious!”

Twilight stomped the ground with a hoof out of frustration that she had not seen the signs earlier. Rainbow Dash watched her for a moment in silence, seemingly going through the new revelations she had just received.

“So you really think it’s her?” Twilight nodded at the question. “And it just so happens to be the pony that you have now upset and can’t talk to anymore…..”

Twilight avoided her friends scolding look and stared down at her front hooves. “It was all just a misunderstanding. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be telling that. Let’s go and fix this mess right now!” Twilight didn’t get a chance to protest as Rainbow Dash grabbed her from behind around her chest and jumped into air. The unicorn barely had enough time to tuck in her legs before they passed through the window.

______________________________________________________________________

With blinding speed they were now darting between houses on the way to Derpy’s home. Twilight didn’t even have time to scream or voice any other sound of distress at the impromptu flying session. She couldn’t tell if her weight influenced the pegasus ability to fly in any way. Soon enough they touched down in front of the home of the mailmare, something Twilight was grateful for. She doubted she would ever get used to flying.

Rainbow Dash let go of Twilight and immediately knocked on the front door. After no response came from inside she took a few steps back to see if a window might be open. Twilight stopped Rainbow Dash from flying up and entering the house.

“You can’t just fly in uninvited! It’s bad enough that Pinkie Pie went in earlier, but was lucky she wasn’t caught.” Twilight readied a spell to grab Rainbow Dash by the tail if she did still try to fly up.

“Looks like that won’t be necessary anyway.” Rainbow Dash said and pointed a hoof towards a grey pegasus that just had trotted around the corner of the house. Derpy looked at her unexpected guests with surprise. She trotted up to them, Twilight noticing that the grey mare didn’t seem to be angry at either of them. Twilight saw that as a good sign.

“What are you doing here?” Derpy asked and managed to keep an eye on each of the visitors at the same time. Her voice was without malice instead having a slightly sad undertone.

“We know you wrote the Daring Do novels!” Rainbow Dash blurted out before Twilight could say anything. Derpy’s eyes widened at the statement and she quickly opened the front door of her house, afterwards ushering the two others mares inside.

“How did you find out?” she asked slightly panicked.

“Rainbow Dash noticed it first that whoever was writing those stories had to live here and know all of us, as the characters had our traits. I figured it out just a few moments ago by piecing together the clues I had.” Twilight explained being somewhat confused at the apparent horror that the mailmare was now feeling.

“Please, please, please don’t tell anypony.” Derpy finally pleaded after remaining stunned for a few moments.

“So it is true? You really did write those stories?” Rainbow Dash asked before Twilight could say anything further. Derpy merely nodded at Rainbow’s question.

“So Daring Do was made by you with me in mind?”

“Yes.” Derpy said weakly and laid down in front of the other two mares. She put her forehooves together and started to plead with the rainbow maned pegasus. “Please don’t be angry! I didn’t mean any harm by doing that.”

Confused Rainbow Dash looked over to Twilight who merely looked back just as confused.

“Why would I be angry? I am Daring Do! You made me even more awesome than I already was!” Rainbow Dash said and hovered up a bit to strike a pose of awesomeness. An impressive feat considering that the already rather narrow hallway also had two other ponies in it.

“Technically she has a part of you, Applejack and Fluttershy.” Twilight felt the need to point out that fact.

“You figured that out?” Derpy asked from her position on the floor.

“Once we knew what to look for, we found plenty of signs and references.” Twilight explained. “Why are you hiding the fact away that you are such an accomplished writer?”

“Yeah! You have written the greatest book series in all of history!” Rainbow Dash added with a grin. Twilight felt her ear twitch and had to fight down the urge to argue that particular point with her friend.

“I…I don’t want anypony to know that I wrote those.” Derpy slowly rose from the floor and tried to avoid eye contact with the other two ponies, which wasn’t that easy as one eye always seemed to focus on one or the other pony. In the end she simply shut her eyes.

“Why not? You have an amazing talent and even managed to get a pony like Rainbow Dash into reading.” Twilight gave Derpy an encouraging smile, the gesture was lost however as she still had her eyes closed.

“I should be offended by that,” Rainbow Dash frowned at the unicorn from above. “But she is right. Without your amazing book I never would have enjoyed reading. I bet if you told ponies that you write those books they would invite you to all kinds of parties.”

“That’s just it!” Derpy said and looked at Rainbow Dash who finally stopped her hovering and landed beside Twilight again.

“Huh? You don’t like parties?” Rainbow Dash guessed and looked over to the unicorn beside her, hoping she understood what Derpy was hinting at. Twilight merely shrugged.

“It’s not just the parties. It’s everything about that….thing….” Derpy thought for a moment on how to explain herself. “Do you remember the Grand Galloping Gala that you attended?”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight shared a painful expression at the memories from that evening. It had both been their first and last attendance at the Gala.

“I mean the one where you destroyed the ballroom.” Derpy explained further.

“How do you know about that?” Twilight asked somewhat surprised as the events from that evening had not been told in too much detail in public.

“I was there.” Derpy casually admitted causing both of the other ponies jaws dropping open.

“Y…you were? But where, I didn’t see you anywhere.” Rainbow Dash tried to think back to the Gala, but all she could really remember was her frustration at not being able to talk to the Wonderbolts and the damage that had been done to the ballroom.

“I was in the Wonderbolts VIP section of the party.” Derpy had been close enough to witness Rainbow’s heroic display of saving Soarin’s pie and the invitation extended to her by Spitfire to hang out with them.

“Really? That is awesome! Why wouldn’t you want that more often?” Rainbow Dash would gladly use any opportunity to hang out with the Wonderbolts.

“Because it’s fake.” Derpy said and after seeing the surprise on the other mare’s faces felt she needed to explain that in more detail.

“It’s all fake. The smiles, the laughter, the politeness, just….everything. Yes, they are nice to me once they hear that I am some important pony from a big publishing company, but they just do that to gain something for themselves. They don’t care about me, just how I could help them get ahead in life. And I do not want to be part of that fake world, I want ponies to like me for who I am and not for what I have done.”

Derpy watched the other mare’s reaction and saw that they almost unnoticeably nodded in agreement with her. It seemed as if they could relate or at the very least understand what she was trying to say.

“Well you have that here, right?” Rainbow Dash admired Ponyville for its friendly welcoming nature, so very unlike Cloudsdale where she had grown up. “Ponies that like you for who you are I mean.”

Rainbow Dash’s smile slowly vanished as Derpy simply stared at her for a moment in silence.

“Right?” The cyan pegasus looked sideways at Twilight hoping she would back her up, the unicorn however seemed to be stuck in her own thoughts for the moment. Derpy broke her silence with a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but things have changed.” Derpy made a point by purposely not looking at Twilight, which was a somewhat impressive feat considering that her eyes rarely did what she wanted them to do.

The unicorn did pick up on the hidden meaning immediately.

“I never meant to call you out or draw attention to you.” Twilight began to try and explain her actions. Derpy cut her off however before she could elaborate.

“I know that. I know what you wanted to try and do for me and I appreciate it. I may have overreacted a bit when you came by later that evening. Sorry about that. It just…it just brought back memories from before.” Derpy sighed and fought back old memories from surfacing.

“Then you know that there are ponies here that care about you.” Twilight carefully said using the pause that had followed Derpy’s previous explanation.

“Yes, I know. I also know that things have been set in motion now. It always starts with just one pony calling me out. Soon others will join in and then I am nothing more than the village idiot. I don’t want that feeling again.”

“Hey! You will never be the village idiot as long as I am here!” Rainbow Dash piped in and caused both mare’s to look at her silently for a few moments, before she realized what she had said. “Ok that sounded kinda wrong, but you know what I meant.”

Derpy actually gave the other pegasus a small smile. It felt like the first smile in ages to the mailmare.

“I know and I want to thank you Rainbow Dash. You were the only pony who treated me like any other pony from the very first day I arrived. You never held back telling me off when I messed things up. It was refreshing in a way.”

Rainbow Dash gave Derpy and awkward smile. It had been indeed true that Rainbow Dash had treated the other mare like every other pony she knew, but that was mainly in part of her being too self-obsessed in the past to even notice if there may have been anything different about the other ponies. Something that had changed considerably once Twilight had made her appearance in Ponyville and befriended the pegasus.

“I will miss that.” Derpy said and looked to her right into the living room.

“Miss that? I won’t change if that’s what you are afraid of.” Rainbow Dash shot a look to Twilight beside her who merely shrugged.

“I am leaving.” The short sentence uttered by the grey mare caused the others to do a double take.

“Leaving? What? Why? Nononono….listen if it’s about us finding out about you writing the Daring Do stuff, then we will Pinkie Promise right now never to tell another pony.” Without waiting for an answer Rainbow Dash went through the motions and said the words. She gave Twilight an angry glare that prompted the unicorn to do the same.

“It’s not that. I just don’t want things to go really bad before I leave. Rather I leave when it is still peaceful and not to an angry or mean crowd.” Derpy trotted into the living room and picked up her saddlebags that were lying on the couch.

“When do you intend to leave?” Twilight asked hoping to maybe use the time left to convince the mailmare to stay.

“Right now actually.” Derpy replied and carefully slipped her saddlebags on. “I just have returned from the Mayor’s office to give in my resignation. My things will be packed up as soon as I have found another place to stay. I just came here to pick up my bags with my ticket.”

Derpy turned and trotted past the two mares in the hallway. Without any further explanation she opened the front door and stepped outside leaving two very confused ponies behind. Quickly they spun around and followed the departing mare.

____________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash and Twilight followed her in silence for a while, unsure of what to say to try and make her rethink things. Derpy did not look back once, but was well aware of being followed. She did not want to make this any more difficult that it already was for her, even if she did not show it.

The sight of three saddened ponies slowly making their way towards the train station did not go unnoticed, especially by four ponies who were sitting nearby and enjoying a break in their daily activities. The pink one of the group saw the trio first.

“Hey look! It’s Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Ditzy!” Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof towards the mentioned ponies. “Huh, I wonder why they all look so sad. Well, I guess I’ll have to do something about that!”

“Pinkie, wait!” Rarity’s attempt at keeping the pink pony seated was feeble at best. Somehow she managed to slip from her seat to under the table and was soon bouncing towards the three ponies before Rarity had even managed to move a hoof.

“I guess we had better make sure she doesn’t throw another party.” Rarity sighed and followed Pinkie Pie with Applejack and Fluttershy in tow.

“Hey girls! Why the sad frown? Anything I can do to turn that upside down?” Pinkie chirped and hopped from one mare to the other.

“Derpy is leaving.” Rainbow Dash mumbled, still trying to think any something she could do.

“What? Why?” Pinkie’s bouncing stopped and she fell into a trot beside Twilight. The remaining friends joined them and had heard what Rainbow Dash had said.

“Leaving? Darling, why do you want to leave?” Rarity looked over to Twilight hoping for an answer.

“It isn’t important. I just have to leave.” Derpy answered instead without looking back.

“Didn’t you like the muffin I made you?” Pinkie seemed genuinely concerned now. Her smile had been replaced by a frown of her own.

“She is leaving, because she doesn’t feel that this is the place for her anymore.” Twilight’s explanation lacked any details, but there wasn’t any time to go into them. Besides that she wasn’t comfortable to talk about that in public and didn’t want to say anything that Derpy might not want others to know.

“But…but if you leave then who will be my muffin taster for new flavors? You are the bestest best expert on muffins!” Rarity rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s concern.

“Do you have to leave? I…uhm…I hope you change your mind. My animal friends like you when you deliver my mail and you never mix it up either.” Fluttershy’s attempt at convincing Derpy to stay was almost inaudible.

“Ya sure about what’cha doin’, sugarcube?” Applejack said after it was apparent that Derpy would not answer either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie. “Don’t ya like it here? Ah heard ya plenty of times sayin’ how much ya liked Sweet Apple Acres durin’ the spring. If there was somethin’ that we did or didn’t do ya can tell us.”

“Miss Do!” Mayor Mare came trotting up from the side joining the six friends following Derpy. The mailmare however did not stop and just continued her course.

“Miss Do! I just found your letter of resignation on my desk.” Four ponies looked at each other with surprise, while Rainbow Dash and Twilight carefully listened to what the Mayor was about to say.

“Is it about the pay? You have never said anything about wanting a raise before and I would gladly discuss it with you.” Derpy shook her head at the Mayor’s question.

Bits had never been an issue for Derpy. The royalties from her books most likely made her the second richest pony in Ponyville. Something she had hidden very well from others. She had even paid for the damages done by her to the town hall a while back, anonymously of course as not to draw attention to her.

“Then is it about the accusations leveled at you?” The Mayor asked causing Rainbow Dash’s ears to perk up.

“Accusations? What accusations?” She wanted to know and suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Filthy Rich had accused her of defiling his house and property.” Rainbow Dash winced at the Mayor’s response.

“Sweetie Belle told me about that. She kept laughing at that the entire day.” Rarity said and could not help a little smile forming on her lips.

“He did what? Ah think Ah should have a little talk with him. The Apples don’t like to do business with ponies that are uncivil to others.” Applejack made a mental note to pay him a visit later that day.

“It doesn’t matter and that’s not the reason.” Derpy finally said and blocked out the rest of everything said to her on the last bit of the way.

The train was already there and ready to depart when she arrived. Behind her the voices had become louder and more pleading. She even thought she had heard Pinkie Pie try and persuade her to stay with a song. Derpy wasn’t sure however as everything had blended together in a constant drone of noise. Here at the train station she shook her head clear and finally was able to hear the voices clearly again.

“Now listen ya’ll. If she wants ta leave it’s her decision. She is a grown mare and capable of deciding what’s right fer her. None of us can to anythin’ about it.” Derpy mentally thanked Applejack for backing her up. The silence that followed was only interrupted by the conductors call to board the train.

Wordlessly Derpy entered and stood motionless. She felt as if she should at least say thank you to the few ponies that had decided to escort her to the station. As she turned around to face them she was greeted with something she had never reckoned with.

She had expected to see Rainbow Dash with her friends and maybe the Mayor. Instead she now faced a sea of sad faces. It seemed half of Ponyville had somehow heard of her leaving and had joined her slow trek across the town. All of them seemed to be saddened that she would go and never return. It was no wonder that the voices had been so jumbled if everypony had tried to talk to her at the same time. Derpy’s mouth dropped open and she had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing thing.

Just as she was about to say something the door’s slammed shut.

__________________________________________________________________

As the train slowly picked up speed and departed from Ponyville’s station a crowd of ponies watched it leave in silence.

“This sucks!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed finally and heard a few ponies agree with her.

“It’s her choice Rainbow.” Applejack said, but silently agreed with her pegasus friend.

The train pulled out of the station leaving just a plume of dust behind. Once it had settled a lone figure could be seen sitting on the other side of the tracks. It took a moment before anypony noticed it, but once they did a chorus arose from the assembled mass of ponies.

“Derpy!” they cheered in unison and beamed a smile at the sheepishly grinning pegasus sitting opposite them. Derpy had jumped out the window in the next carriage while the train was still standing.

Hesitantly she flew over to the waiting ponies and felt herself on the receiving end of a Pinkie strength hug. “I am soooo happy you decided to stay!” The pink pony happily said and squeezed a little harder, leaving no air in Derpy’s lungs to reply.

“Ease off now Pinkie. Give the girl some air.” Applejack needed all of her own strength to break Pinkie’s hold.

Derpy wanted to say thank you and that she wasn’t sure why she felt the need to leave. As things turned out a reminder was also amongst the assembled ponies. The only one of them that had been not sad at all to see her leave.

“Can’t you do anything right?” Filthy Rich snarled from quite a few paces away from the crowd. “Are you even too dumb to get on a train and leave? Leaving was the only good idea you most likely ever had by the way.”

“Hey! You better watch what you say there pal!” Rainbow Dash flared her wings open in anger nearly hitting Rarity in the process. The fashionista carefully stepped away from her friend. Before Rainbow Dash could do anything rash Applejack cut her off first.

“Ah was meanin’ to talk to ya! Ah might be inclined to rethink our business agreement come next Zap-Apple harvest. Don’t think it would set well for us Apple’s doing business with the likes of a pony that’s so uncivil towards others.” Applejack gave the business pony a hard glare, yet he didn’t even flinch.

“You would really defend the likes of her? A pony who would defile my home and beautiful garden with toilet paper?” Filthy Rich asked and pointed an accusatory hoof at the now once again crestfallen grey pegasus.

“You bet we would defend one of our friends!” Rainbow Dash flew up a few feet into the air to emphasize her point. “And she didn’t do it! I did!”

Filthy Rich glared daggers at the hovering pegasus. Then much to his and Rainbow Dash’s surprise another voice spoke up.

“Yeah! She didn’t do it! I did it!” Rainbow Dash looked down in confusion to see who had spoken up. A mint green unicorn mare stood up and grinned at the furious looking Filthy Rich.

Bon Bon stood next to the vocal Lyra and smirked. Then she slung a foreleg around her friend’s neck before shouting: “It was me! I did it!”

“No, I did it!” Colgate joined in.

“We did it!” Even the Spa Sisters had joined the crowd on the station. Soon more and more ponies joined in each claiming that they were the culprits.

“No, you guys! I really did do it!” Rainbow Dash’s protest went under in the chorus of ponies clearly joining the side of Derpy. Rainbow Dash landed back where she had been standing.

“What’s going on?” she asked nopony in particular.

“Seems to me as if the ponies are willing to defend their friend.” Twilight Sparkle said and could not help but smile at the event going on all around her.

With a huff Filthy Rich decided to leave and was sent off with loud cheering.

“Seems his accusation will not be any further issue.” Mayor Mare could not hide her smile as she turned to the now dumbfounded Derpy. “I have to get back to the office. Oh and I think I may have accidentally lost your resignation.”

Derpy smiled at the Mayor and her friends all around her. For the first time in a very long time she suddenly felt as if she had a place to belong.

“So I take it that you will not be leaving anytime soon?” Twilight asked while stepping up next to her.

“I think I will stay home.” Derpy answered with a wide grin.

Author's Note

First of all I want to say “Thank You” to everybody that liked, faved and left a comment.

I am sorry for not responding to the comments, but time is something that I seem to be lacking constantly. I really, really, really enjoy reading every single comment you leave.

As for this last chapter….well it went through a ton of rewrites. Especially the beginning had various incarnations, but it always seemed too much somehow.

Looking back it does seem like a bit of a patchwork job, but I think I got what I wanted from this story. Maybe once I have no new ideas I will rewrite it, but until then there are plenty of stories to come first.

Speaking of which: Stay tuned for a CMC story coming up soon.

Chapter 1

Saturday morning, the early hours.

The grey pegasus mare entered Ponyville’s post office. After a few moments of blindly fumbling around with one hoof she found the lightswitch on the wall next to the door. It was Fall in Equestria and the early morning breeze sent a chill through the open door.

The pegasus did not mind the chill as her coat kept her warm in far colder weather. She blinked a few times to adjust to the sudden brightness in the small office. Her golden wall eyed gaze focused on the task before her. In the corner of the room her already packed saddle bags were waiting, packed to the brim with mail for the residents of this quiet peaceful town. They had been packed the day before by the post master. A kind elderly earth pony stallion named Stamps. He took care of all the business in the office and made sure to sort the incoming mail. All the pegasus had to do was to deliver the mail, something she liked doing very much.

Sometimes she would deliver mail to other cities as well if it was important and had to arrive at its destination on time. That she did not like doing all that much, as the larger cities often confused the mare and made her lose her way. The relatively small town of Ponyville was much easier to navigate.

She grunted in surprise as she lifted her saddle bags off the floor. They were much heavier than before. Confused she opened them and looked inside. Two large parcels were crammed in amongst the letters and cards. Carefully she took them out at looked at the address that they were meant for. One was for Rainbow Dash, the other for Twilight Sparkle.

The mailmare put them back and mentally went through her route. It was best if she delivered the parcels first, that way she would not tire out so soon. With a happy smile she closed her bags once more and turned around to begin her day and promptly smacked her head against the wooden beam in the middle of the room. Like she did every morning. Thankfully Stamps had tied a pillow around the beam, after it became clear that the mailmare was accident prone and seemed to often drift off into her own world not paying attention to her surroundings.

She shook her head a few times to refocus on the task before her and left the office. Then she entered again and switched off the light. Outside she smiled at the accomplishment of remembering to switch off the light and flared her wings open. With strong flaps the grey mare gained altitude and took course for the cloudhome of Rainbow Dash.

_________________________________________________________________________

In said cloudhome the multicolor maned resident was just finishing her early morning breakfast. Cornflakes, milk and the last of the strawberries she had left. Ever since Scootaloo had been staying with her every once in a while she had upgraded her morning breakfast from Pop-Tarts to something more healthy. This was a Scootaloo-free weekend, the filly was staying at Rarity’s with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Strangely Rainbow Dash found the silent morning a bit too silent. She mused over the fact that she had grown accustomed to the sounds that the filly had brought into her silent home.

Before she could dwell of that thought any longer the unmistakable sound of something impacting a cloud snapped her out of her musings. She glanced over to the table to see if Tank was still sitting there. Indeed the tortoise was there slowly munching on a piece of cucumber. She looked out of the window thinking that a rouge cloud may have been blown into her house by a gust of wind. The slowly brightening day outside revealed no wind whatsoever and the clouds that were there just hung in the sky like tufts of cotton. Puzzled Rainbow Dash perked her ears up awaiting any further noises. After a few seconds she heard something that could have been a grunt. Rainbow Dash left her bowl in the sink and trotted out of the kitchen into the living room.

Perhaps something had fallen over or the spells that enabled her furniture to stand on clouds had somehow failed. A quick glance revealed nothing out of the ordinary and she then carefully scanned the walls in case she had missed anything.

Wonderbolt poster, bookshelf, front door, Derpy’s head, scarf rack, another Wonderbolt poster….wait what?

Rainbow Dash looked back to the front door. Indeed there next to it a sheepishly grinning grey head with a blonde mane was looking at her. The golden eyes blinking and looking in different directions at the same time.

“Oopsie! Hello Rainbow Dash!” Derpy exclaimed with her usual cheerful tone.

“Derpy? What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked while trotting over to the new wall ornament. She was not really worried that the mailmare could have been hurt. From her own experience she knew full well that impacting a cloud did not hurt and was more like falling into a very comfy pillow. Yet she still asked: “Are you ok?”

“I think I’m stuck.”

With a chuckle Rainbow Dash opened her front door and went outside to help the trapped mare. She wrapped her forelegs around the other ponies rump and pulled. With a muffled –Whoof- she managed to pull her free at the cost of some the wall breaking up.

Derpy shook her head clear and glanced over to the gaping hole in the wall. Saddened she folded her ears back and let her head hang low.

“I’m sorry about that Rainbow Dash. I kinda misjudged the landing.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it.” The cyan Pegasus replied and put a hoof on the mailmares shoulder while giving her a friendly smile. “It’s just a bit of cloud. I can fix that in ten seconds flat.”

Derpy smiled at the other mare, feeling better that she did not cause any serious damage.

“So what brings you up here anyway? You usually just drop my mail by my mailbox on the ground.” Rainbow Dash inquired while measuring up the hole in her wall. Her experience with clouds told her that she would only need one medium sized cloud to patch up the hole.

“Oh! I have a special delivery for you today.” Derpy said and opened one of her saddlebags. With a little bit of effort she pulled free one of the parcels.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide at the sight. She knew full well what that book shaped parcel was and what book was inside. Something she had been waiting for a long time. None other than the latest Daring Do story.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” Slightly startling Derpy she snatched the parcel from her hooves and could not wait to start reading. She zoomed back inside and carefully placed it onto the living room table. “Ok, ok, ok…. I need something to snack on, something to drink and then I can get this party started!” she said to herself while hopping in place from sheer excitement.

“Uhm… I still need you to sign this, Rainbow Dash!” Derpy said while holding up a piece of paper for Rainbow Dash to sign and confirm that she had received her delivery.

“Yeah, sure.” The cyan Pegasus quickly signed the receipt and flew into her kitchen to prepare for her reading session.

Derpy carefully placed the signed receipt into her saddlebag and left Rainbow Dash alone with her delivery. With a smile she took off and headed towards the towns library. She would deliver the mail for the houses that were on her way there and hopefully Twilight Sparkle would be up by the time she arrived.

Meanwhile a positively giddy Rainbow Dash was hopping around in her kitchen unsure of where to begin with preparing for her day of reading. As she looked out of the window she froze in mid-hop. It suddenly dawned on her that she still had to work today. With a loud groan she halted her preparations and with a longing look at the still wrapped book she knew that it would have to wait. Of all days today also was supposed to be a day with slight rain in specific areas. That meant she could not simply smash all clouds in record time, but instead had to reposition them in their needed locations. Other ponies might have cut corners, but not Rainbow Dash. With a sigh she left her home through the hole in the wall and took off to her sector of the sky. She had a job to do and she sure as hay took her duties seriously. The prospect of settling down with a hopefully awesome book made her smile as she took hold of the first cloud and ferried it towards Sweet Apple Acres.

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Derpy arrived at the library at around eight o’clock. On her way she had not encountered any ponies apart from Rainbow Dash of course. It was the weekend after all and most ponies only got up at around this time. Her landing this time was more controlled meaning that she only crashed into the bush outside of the library and not into the library itself. Carefully she got up and brushed a few remnants of the bush out of her mane before knocking.

Twilight Sparkle had just sat down with a book about the theories of impractical magic, hoping to find a way to turn them into practical magic, when she heard the knock at the door. A quick glance at the clock on the wall told her that it was too early for anypony interested in getting a book. If it had been any emergency the knocking would have been more frantic she assumed.

“Spike? Could you get that please?”

“Seriously?” the dragon said in a flat voice. Twilight looked over to her number one assistant and then looked up to where the dragon currently was. On top of a long ladder the purple dragon was dangerously balancing himself and a large stack of books that needed to be filed away.

Twilight gave a small chuckle. “I’ll get that then.”

The friendly smiling face that greeted her when she opened the door was not one she had reckoned with.

“Delivery for Twilight Sparkle!” Derpy happily exclaimed and held the announced item towards Twilight. The unicorn only shortly glanced at the parcel and immediately knew that it was a book. Which one however was a mystery as she frequently ordered new books.

“Thanks… you.” Twilight suddenly realized that she didn’t even know the mailmares name who currently was looking at her with one eye while the other seemed oddly interested at something above the doorframe. Before she had time to ask the mare held a receipt towards Twilight and asked for a signature. She signed the paper as asked and took hold of the parcel in her magic.

“Have a nice day!” Derpy said and took off on her route, not giving Twilight a chance to ask her anything.

“Err… you too!” she called out to the Pegasus who turned a bit in midair and waved at the unicorn standing in the doorway.

Twilight closed the door and deposited the parcel on the table in the center of the room. Spike would take care of unwrapping it later. She would have done it, but her studies on her current book came first.

“Who was it?” Spike asked, still putting away books into the topmost shelf.

“Just the mailmare.” Twilight stopped and looked over to Spike. With a burst of magic she held the ladder in place making Spike’s job a bit easier.

“Oh. Thanks Twilight! What did she want?”

“Just dropped off a book. We can look at it later, but first I have to get back to my studies.” With that she sat down in front of her opened book and carefully took a sip of tea from her nearby cup. In the back of her mind the question about the mailmares name briefly surfaced, but she ignored it for now as studies came first. She would ask Spike about her name later.

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Derpy trotted from one mailbox to the next on her final route. Overall the day had not been bad, even though it had started raining in a few locations. She had not talked to anypony apart from Rainbow Dash and very briefly Twilight Sparkle. Other ponies she met merely said “Thanks.” or “Good morning.” to her before going about their business. Derpy didn’t mind. At least they were friendly to her, not like some ponies in other cities she had lived in. Here in Ponyville they left her in peace and didn't judge her. Like Pinkie Pie who always had a muffin ready for her to pick up around her breakfast break. Or like Fluttershy who true to her name was rather shy, but always had some kind words for Derpy when she brought her the subscription of Pet Care Monthly.

Her mind still wandering around in the events of this morning she did not realize until it was too late. With a –Thud- she slammed into the door of the post office. It happened all the time that she was so lost in her thoughts that she became oblivious to her surroundings. Groggily she shook her head and carefully opened the door.

“Thought it might have been you.” The old stallion said with a chuckle as Derpy entered the office.

“Hiya Stamps! Anything exciting happen?” she asked and shook off her saddle bags and carefully put them back into the corner where she picked them up from that morning. And just like that morning she slammed her head against the wooden beam again while turning around.

“I think I am going to have to put a bigger pillow there. Are you ok?” he asked with concern.

“Yeah, sure!” Derpy replied while trying to focus her eyes on the stallion, currently the right one was looking at the ceiling and the left at the floor. After a brief shake of her head they very briefly both looked at Stamps, before the left one decided to look over to the far wall.

The old stallion was used to her unique eyes and paid no attention to them anymore. In the beginning he was unsure how she would be able to do her job with her visual problems, but after a while he knew that she was the right mare for the job.

“Well I have received another package just a few moments ago. An express delivery for Diamond Tiara. I think you had better put on your cap for that delivery.” He explained and pointed a hoof towards a parcel the size of a fillies head. Stickers indicating that the contents were fragile were plastered all around.

Derpy took the small blue cap with the logo of Equestrias Postal Service off the hook next to the door and put it on. She sighed at the prospect of having to deliver something to the Filthy Rich household. They were not the nicest of ponies in this otherwise friendly town. Carefully she took the package in her hooves and stuck it under a wing. Fragile things she rather delivered on hoof than flying.

“I’ll deliver this then and call it a day.” She said and gave Stamps a friendly smile which he returned.

“You do that. Have a nice weekend Derpy.” He called out to her as she left the building. With a steady trot she made her way towards the home of the Rich family.

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A blur of cyan sped across the skies of Ponyville trailing a multicolored trail behind it. Its target was the cloudhome on the edge of town. Rainbow Dash slowed down suddenly as she remembered that she still had a huge gaping hole in the wall of her home. Scanning around she saw a perfectly sized cloud that could be used to fix the damage. Nopony would be missing that cloud out here so she didn’t have second thoughts about taking it. At a slower speed she took off again towards her home pushing the cloud ahead of her.

Using her skills she condensed the cloud into a more solid state and pressed it into the hole. With quick movements of her hooves she mixed the new cloud into the old clouds that composed her home. The entire process had taken exactly ten seconds. With no further obstacles in her way she entered her home and raced to the parcel on the table. She held it aloft with her forelegs like Daring Do would do with a relic she had found in another dungeon. It was at this moment that her attention drifted to the name on the parcel indicating who the recipient was.

Twilight Sparkle.

“Nooooooooooooooooooo!”

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For the second time that day a cyan blur raced across the skies of Ponyville. This time it was heading towards the library.

Rainbow Dash eyed her destination carefully as she zoomed towards it, looking for an open window she could use as an entrance. Unfortunately all of them were closed, so she had to resort to the much less cooler way of entering Twilight’s home via the front door. A quick series of knocks on the front door later, she now was pacing in front of the building hoping that she was right with her assumption that Derpy simply had switched the deliveries by accident and that Twilight now had her precious book. She was just about to assault the door once more with a series of knocks when it swung open.

“Hey Rainbow Dash.” Spike greeted the mare with a surprised look on his face. “You know that during the opening hours you can simply come in without having to knock, right?”

Rainbow Dash gave him a blank stare.

“Opening hours? You have that?” her knowledge of the library’s function was sketchy at best. For her it was just the place Twilight and Spike lived at. She knew that ponies could borrow books here, but she had thought they just came by whenever they needed something and didn’t think they had to do that at specific times.

“Is Twilight here?” she asked and peered past the small dragon.

“Of course. Come in and make yourself at home. Twilight should be in the kitchen.”

Rainbow Dash simply jumped over the dragon and quickly trotted towards the kitchen, the parcel she had brought carefully clamped under a wing. The Pegasus found her friend in the middle of preparing a fresh batch of herbal tea. Carefully Twilight scooped out the herbs with a small sieve. She gave the Pegasus a friendly smile as soon as she spotted her coming in the kitchen.

“Hello Rainbow Dash! What brings you here?”

“My wings of course!” the Pegasus mare chuckled at her lame joke. “Did you receive a parcel by any chance this morning?”

“Yes I did. It’s on the table in the main room. I didn’t have the chance to open it yet. Why do you ask?”

“I think there may have been a mix up. ‘Cause I have a parcel here addressed to you.” She explained and nudged her head towards the mentioned object currently still under her wing.

“Oh? Well these things happen. Let’s have a look and see if you are right.” Grabbing the now finished pot of tea in her magic, Twilight walked past Rainbow Dash into the main room. Carefully she put down the pot on the table in the center of the room and picked up the still wrapped book instead. A quick glance confirmed Rainbow’s suspicions.

“You are right. Seems like I got your delivery by mistake.” With blinding speed two cyan hooves darted forward and snatched the parcel from Twilight’s magical grip. Startled the unicorn backed up a few paces and raised a questioning eyebrow at the joyous expression on her friends face.

“Awesome! Here is your parcel.” Rainbow Dash said and quickly put the other package from under her wing onto the table. “Can’t talk, gotta do something really really important.”

Without giving Twilight a chance to reply her rainbow maned friend dashed past Spike and out the front door.

“She could have closed the door after using it.” He grumbled and walked towards the open door. “What was that all about?”

Twilight did not reply, but smiled instead. From the top of her head she could only think of one thing that would make her friend so excited about a book shaped delivery. She contemplated briefly whether she should stop her current studies for a bit of light reading with an adventure novel about Daring Do, but then decided that her studies came first. With that in mind she left it up to her assistant to unwrap the parcel and after pouring herself a cup of freshly brewed tea, she sat back down at her reading place and focused her attention of the open book in front of her.

Rainbow Dash arrived back at her home in record time. She quickly prepared some snacks for herself and for Tank before returning to her couch in the living room.

“Ok Rainbow, now it’s time!” she said and rubbed her front hooves together in anticipation. “I have snacks, drinks, plenty of light and all the time I need.” Carefully she reached towards the wrapped book in front of her. Just like before she held it aloft like a sacred relic. She checked the name on the parcel and confirmed that it was indeed hers.

“And now….it’s time for the unveiling! DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAAA!” with one swift motion she ripped the brown paper wrapping off. Her eyes grew double in size while her lips curled upwards into a huge smile. She was almost salivating at the object in her hooves.

“Daring Do and the Mystery of Snake Mountain!” she remained frozen for a moment in time, wanting to savor the anticipation of diving into the possibly best book ever, in her opinion at least.
“So…awesome…”

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Derpy arrived at the mansion of Filthy Rich. The ridiculous lawn ornaments scattered about the gigantic garden made her roll her eyes, more so than they usually did anyway. She disliked the obvious display of money about the entire place. It sent an obvious message, that of being better off than anypony else in this town. The same message was lived by the residents of this estate. Derpy hoped not having to deal with them directly. While she did not really have all that much to do with the family, she still disliked their attitude towards other ponies. Carefully she pressed the doorbell and patiently waited. After a minute the door opened and revealed the butler of the Rich family, a yellow stallion unicorn with slicked back black hair and wearing a suit of some kind. He eyed the mailmare with a bored expression.

“Can I help you?” he asked in a monotone voice.

“Delivery for Diamond Tiara!” Derpy said cheerfully and very carefully put the package down in front of the butler. Without another word he signed the receipt and after picking up the package in his magical grip, slammed the door in Derpy’s face.

“Yeah…have a nice day yourself.” Derpy said to the closed door in an annoyed tone. Her spirits rose however once she realized that her job for the day was now over. That meant she could go and do her shopping for groceries now or relax in a nice hot bath. Maybe she could go and pick up a fresh batch of muffins from Sugarcube Corner. As various scenarios played out in her mind she did not pay any attention to where she was going and crashed into one of the garish lawn ornaments.

Other ponies sometimes would put a hot pink flamingo in their gardens. This ornament was also a flamingo, but unlike the others not made out of pink plastic but rather solid gold. Derpy shook her head clear and continued shaking it out of plain dislike for the obvious display of wealth. Focusing back on her plans for the day, she left the Rich’s family estate and flew into town.

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Meanwhile inside the huge mansion the butler scrunched up his nose at the package in his magical grasp. No doubt it would be another massively overpriced tiara or something of that sort. Another thing he would have to polish daily to appease the masters of the house. With a small amount of disgust he levitated it over to the table in the foyer. Not paying too much attention to what he was doing he simply dropped the package onto the table. Something shattered inside.

In wide eyed shock he carefully picked it up again and tilted it. Judging by the sounds emanating from within whatever had been inside was now in various pieces. He was glad that he was currently alone in the mansion and nopony had seen or heard his mistake. He carefully placed it back on the table deciding to claim that it had already arrived in this condition. The mailmare had a reputation of destruction after all and it was better to blame her instead of having his flawless reputation stained by this blunder. Not sparing it any further thought he went back to prepare for the return of his employers.