It was a fine morning in equestria, but not all was well. Only one pony could sense it, or at least, that's how it seemed to the gray pegasus. Something was wrong, and she intended to find out what. It had all started earlier that day, when Derpy woke from a restful, dreamless sleep and set out for work, only to find that the regional post office had opened exactly 31 seconds late. That in itself was suspicious, but when the mare who pushed the envelopes across to her wasn't the same as the usual one, Derpy's mail sense tingled. Studying the mare more closely, she saw fear in her eyes. Fear, and anger. Then, the fear faded as the mare's irritation made itself evident.
“Ever heard of personal space, Derpy?” the mare had said as she backed away. Something was definitely wrong; there had been at least two inches between their faces.
“Where is Stampsigner?” Derpy had asked. When the mare said rather angrily that she had called in sick, Derpy shrugged as she turned back to go outside. As she flew away, the post office's blue door slammed shut behind her.
Her first delivery was to the Golden Oaks library, where a certain pony with stars on her flanks lived. As she pushed the eight inch wide book-shaped box into the four inch wide mailbox, Twilight stepped out from the library. Noticing Derpy, she trotted over, a smile on her face.
“You know that's not going to work, right?”
Derpy had looked at her, puzzled. A box of this size could easily fit in the mail. If Twilight, the smartest pony in the world said otherwise, then something was very seriously wrong. Unsure of what to do, she simply gave the box to Twilight and went on her way. Her next delivery took her deep into the Everfree Forest, where a strange pony who was covered with stripes lived. Derpy was certain that they were actually terrible scars, but Zecora always laughed when she asked how she got them. Normally, Zecora was outside and waiting for her when she arrived, but not today. Today, Derpy landed without being greeted by the scarred pony. This was a problem, because Zecora didn't actually use a mailbox.
Uncertainly, Derpy knocked on the door. When Zecora finally peeked out, she seemed surprised to see her there.
“Derpy, I see you have a package for me, but today you are early to the Everfree,” she had finally said after studying her for a moment. Derpy was puzzled by this; she had been right on time, if not slightly late. Something had definitely been changed in the grand scheme of things, but she still had no idea what. Zecora stood there in her doorway, waiting patiently while Derpy processed this.
“Do you wish to talk a while, or shall I take that phial?”
She gave the package, marked 'fragile: do not drop' and 'volatile contents: handle with care' over to the strange pony, and, after wishing her a nice day, flew away to make her next delivery. While flying over the town, she looked out over the ponies going about their business, and noticed several peculiar things. For one, Bon Bon was sitting all alone on one bench, while Lyra was across the way from her on another. Those two always sat together, unless they had been fighting, but neither looked angry. Later on, she noticed Roseluck helping Carrot Top with her garden, which wouldn't usually have been odd, except that Roseluck had no watering can, and seemed quite distracted.
As Derpy went about her business, she noticed several more oddities throughout the day. Ponies often seemed distracted or zoned-out, while many others did things outside of their normal routine. Had they just been occasional things, she wouldn't have given them a second thought, but today, there were too many coincidences to discount. With only one letter left in her bag, she flew north to deliver it. Oddly, it was addressed to Princess Celestia, who's mail usually came from a different regional office. Discounting it as nothing more than a filing error, she set out to deliver it. She could've just brought it back to the office and had it sent back to the proper region, but she knew that would take awhile, and She was sure the princess wouldn't want to be kept waiting. After all, she was nothing if not a mailmare, and she intended to push the envelope of customer service. As she flew, she pondered all of the oddities of the morning, but couldn't find an explanation. Why were ponies acting so odd? She knew there had to be a reason for it, but what it was, she couldn't fathom. When she finally arrived at the doors to Canterlot Castle, the guards stopped her, one a little slower than the other. There was definitely something wrong. These guards were trained at the Royal Defense Academy, and were supposed to be very precise with such things. As they checked the package, she studied the guard. He seemed alright, but there was a tired look to his eyes, and he turned to cough as she watched.
“Well, it looks official. Go in in, Mrs. Hooves. I'm sorry you had to fly all this way just to deliver what's probably some silly legal papers. Though why it says 'perishable' on it is beyond me. Anyway, go on it.” the other guard finally said, while the tired-looking one raised his eyebrow at her staring.
“You know the way, right? I don't want you getting lost like last time.”
“Oh, of course I do,” She had responded, before disappearing into the maze of marble that was the castle interior.
Now, half an hour later, she was lost again. She had followed the instructions written on her hoof to the letter, but rather than being in the throne room as she should've been, she was in a strange part of the castle, decorated with moons and stars on the tapestries, instead of the typical sun on a red background. Puzzled, she glanced back at the directions written on her hoof, and her confusion multiplied. She could've sworn she had taken a left at the gigantic armored statue, then a right at the dancing pony fountain, so why was she here?
Her confusion would have to wait, it seemed, because a sudden commotion from down the hall and around a corner derailed her train of thought. Peeking around the corner, she was quite suddenly knocked from her hooves by a wall of dark blue. Normally, she would have commented on the rudeness of such an action, but looking up as she prepared to speak, she held her tongue. In front of her stood Princess Luna, looking extremely frazzled and exhausted. Scratches and dents marred her royal regalia, and as she stood there, wheezing, she also seemed rather distraught.
“Terribly sorry, Derpy, but have you seen any guards around?
“No, I haven't, why? Is it because I'm lost aga--”
“No, no, nothing like that. I need to find one before that thing catches up to me again.”
“What thing?” Derpy asked, glancing down the hall Luna had just come from.
“A manticore.”
“A manty-corn? What's that?”
“Manticore. Honestly, I'm surprised you've never heard of one. They live in the wilds all around Ponyville. Anyway, it's not a normal one. It's some kind of 'Nightmare' manticore, and I cannot best it on my own. I've been fighting it all night. Worse, every time I hit it, it changes my magic into a bad dream and sends it to Tia knows where. Thankfully, the beast cannot fly. I managed to get it locked in a room, but--”
A crash sounded down the hall, as a large and particularly sturdy looking set of doors were knocked from their hinges, shattering in the process. Then, a strange creature burst from the billowing dust. It was massive, almost as big as the armored statue she had passed, and it seemed to be made from several different creatures. The head of a lion faced the pair and roared. Luna, for her part, turned to face the monstrous creature, ready to defend herself.
“You had best open that box, Derpy. This isn't a creature you can outrun.”
“But it's for Celestia!” Derpy protested. “I can't open something for a princess!”
“You can if another princess asks you to, now please do.”
Weighing the decision, Derpy decided it best to open the box. Meanwhile, the manticore began charging. Luna fired several bolts of magic at the creature, but they hardly seemed to slow it.
“Okay, Luna, I opened it, but it's just a... Well, I don't know what it is.”
“A banana! Perfect. Quick, peel it!”
“Okay. Now what?”
“Put the peel on the ground. Right there, yes. Good, now get ready to run on my signal.” The manticore was dangerously close now, and Derpy could feel the pounding of it's feet through the stone floor.
“Ready? Now! Run!” The ponies split, one going left and one going right. The manticore tried to chase Luna, but as it turned, it's foot landed squarely on the peel. It roared again as it slid across the landing, then crashed through the window. Roaring in pain, it fell away out of sight. Derpy approached the shattered window warily, while Luna was more weary in her step.
“Is it gone?”
“For now. That's a long fall, but with the lake at the bottom of the cliff, hardly dangerous for a creature like that. It will be back, but we will be ready. Thank you, Derpy. Now, all I have to do is figure out where all those bad dreams went.”
“Actually, I think I know. All the ponies in Ponyville seemed off today, and one of the guards too. I think they all had bad dreams.”
“You may be right, Derpy. Thank you. Now, which one of us is going to explain this to my dear sister?”
“What, the manty-corn?”
“No,” Luna said, chuckling wearily. “The banana.”
