What You Deserve

It was evening, almost dusk, by the time the Ponyville's station would expect the train from Fillydelphia to arrive. Sparkler sighed, sitting back on her haunches with an unamused expression as her baby sister bounced in circles. Each time she fell, her hooves would strike the wooden platform with a harsh CLOMP, before she bounced up again, completing yet another revolution around her sister.

The elder unicorn rubbed her muzzle gently, the corners of her mouth turning down and eyes tightening a little bit as she felt the earth shudder beneath the approaching train. Finally. She'd only agreed to watch her sister and keep an eye out for her mother's new employee out of a filial sense of obligation, that and she loved her sister and mother. Maybe not this much.

She was utterly unphased when the engine rolled to a stop, whipping up wind that tousled her short-cropped rakish violet mane. Her hoof snapped out to the side, halting the hopping filly dead in her tracks and holding her still as the platform filled with ponies exiting the train. The younger sister froze and began inspecting the passerby. Both knew exactly who they were looking for, a pegasus mare by the name of Lightning Dust. They had been told she was distinctive enough they'd recognize her on sight.

Almost immediately Dinky began a line of patter, her attention flicking from one unfamiliar pony, arguing with her sister over which one it could possibly be. All of the sudden, Sparkler cried out and grabbed for her sister in her telekinesis a second too late as the worst possible thing occurred.

Dinky screamed out, "WONDERBOLTS HOODIE, THREE O' CLOCK!", and launched herself into a diving tackle at the pony in particular. Like their mother, one would be surprised by their density, so it was no real surprise that the turquoise mare was bowled off her hooves and slammed into the platform with a sharp thud.

And then, since this was Ponyville, the unintelligible shout spooked the crowd, and everything exploded.

Lightning Dust had awoken around four by her estimation, pushing aside the empty coffee mug on the tray in front of her. She'd had a little coffee to sober up, and napped maybe an hour. Weeks of overwork, overstress, too little food, too little sleep, and enough alcohol to kill a bull elephant took its toll on the poor pegasus. She had become prone to falling asleep if she sat or stood still for too long at a stretch.

With a small grumble, she stretched out of her seat, retrieving her duffle bag from the luggage rack over her head, slinging it across her shoulders and over her satchel. She entertained the thought of having another, better cup of coffee at the shop she'd seen attached to the platform, and then maybe a little sightseeing before going to meet with her new employer. She was still early, anyhow.

She managed a smile for the station attendant who punched her ticket, before joining the crowd filtering off of the train and melting off of the wooden platform into the town proper. She gave a snort at what she could see. So much for the new Princess living here, and what the newspapers had been saying about Ponyville being the next boomtown. Boom? More like backwater. She sniggered under her breath at the thought, weaving unsteadily through the crowd.

She was a little underweight from malnutrition, but she stood head and withers over most of the other ponies, mostly unicorns. She frowned at the errant thought that always flitted over her mind whenever her height was brought up. Her father's disgusted glances, comments of why she needed to act like a stallion, wasn't it enough she looked like one? She sighed a little and scuffed her hoof momentarily across the boards of the platform.

She never had a chance, never heard it coming, as a screaming ball of hurt collided with her midsection, the pegasus' head slamming into the ground with a harsh thud and a yelp of pain.

When she came to, she was laying on her back. Her whole body hurt, like she'd been on the recieving end of a stampede, her head ached where she'd hit the floor. The stationmaster was leaned over her, but she saw two unicorns she didn't recognize. One looked angry, the other looked sheepish. A small blonde-maned filly with eyes just a few shades off from her own and coat of a gray-purple, and an elder with a two-toned violet mane, a pale magenta coat, and purple eyes.

Lightning Dust slowly sat up, rubbing her head a little bit before rolling onto her stomach, getting wobbly legs underneath herself and hefting her duffle bag yet again. She didn't quite know what had occurred, but she wasn't sticking around to find out, since she automatically assumed it was her fault. Someone was angry, after all.

She had barely made it three steps when she realized the smaller of the two unicorns was keeping pace with her, blinking when the filly cut in front of her. She tilted her head, wings flaring slightly as she realized she was being carefully examined, before...

"AREYOUAWONDERBOLT!? THATLOOKSJUSTLIKETHELICENSEDPRACTICEUNIFORMTHATRAINBOWDASHCAMEHOMEWITHLASTYEAR."

It took her a full moment to parse, before she sighed and looked down at the ground, beginning to walk again. "Maybe in a different life, kid. It reminds me of mistakes I've made, so I kept it."

The kid was trotting next to her again, and now the other pony was flanking her on her other side. She huffed irritatedly, bandaged wing flaring out as she snorted, freezing again. "Hey, what gives?"

The older mare watched her for a moment, lips pursed. "Your name wouldn't happen to be... what was it... Lightning Dust, would it?"

That caused her to recoil. Her legs tightened like springs, and she grimaced a little bit as she looked around for the quickest way out of the area. "Yyyeah... Why? You heard I made an ass out of myself, you're going to laugh at me too?" Just like a screwhead, always horning in as soon as they could find something to press.

The mare smiled broadly, which surprised the hell out of her. Suddenly Lightning was confronted with a hoof thrust out before her. "Well... Let me be the first to welcome you to Ponyville, although Pinkie Pie will probably have my hide for stealing it from her. I'm Sparkler, and that's my sister Dinky. Our mom got word from her friend Rainy Days in Fillydelphia, saying you'd be coming to work for her today."

"We're here to pick you up from the train station and make sure you feel at home before going to meet our mama," the little one chimed in.

Lightning was certainly nonplussed; so much so she was almost minused. She shook her head a little bit and relaxed the tension in her leg muscles, folding her wings tightly against her sides as she looked between the two. "I was under the impression I was meeting with a pegasus for some reason. No offense." She wasn't sure how comfortable she felt working under a unicorn... every horner supervisor she'd ever had felt themselves a little too closely removed from Canterlot and forgot they weren't royalty.

"Our mama is a pegasus," deadpan, again from the younger one. She was starting to grow on her, in fact both of these fillies were. She smiled a little bit and looked over her shoulder at her bags.

"Shouldn't I settle in at a hotel or something first...?" Lightning's eyebrows furrowed when she was met with shaking heads and wide smiles.

This time the older one commented. She rather liked the unicorn's voice, it was brash and self-assured. She was even pretty, as well... "Nope, our mom was pretty adamant about not letting you rent from anyone here but her. She's got a spare room already set aside for you, said something about out of towners being taken advantage of here." She shrugged a little bit. "You'll find that Ponyville is a nice place, real friendly. Or go crazy from stupid stuff happening weekly."

That last-second substitution of a curse was much too quick. Lightning's eyes narrowed a little bit as she turned to start following the pair, her ears twitching a little bit as she watched Sparkler's tail and hips sway with each step.

It only took them about twenty minutes for the sisters to bring their charge home to their mother, the blonde-maned gray pegasus looking up from the book she was reading to a pale sky-blue filly whose mane carried a lighter variation of Sparkler's own colors. One golden eye remained down on the book, the other inspecting the mares and filly that trotted in. Sparkler was very aware of Lightning's eyes on her, and was duly flattered... but not blind- she could see the mare was intoxicated.

The filly wriggled up from the sofa and dashed across the room, leaping onto her mother with a loud giggle, the elder unicorn throwing forelegs around her daughter as she rolled onto her back with her. Lightning's eyebrow raised a little bit, and she paled at the eyes of the other pegasus scrutinizing her. She knew that look. That look burned, and her eyes stung as she thought of the last time she'd seen it.

The filly's hooves crunched in the snow, boots cutting holes through the drift as she trotted up to her grandparents' small home. Her mane loosed the white as she shook her head, knocking on the door and calling out before trotting inside the house, and the warmth.

"Ahoj!"

"Dobrý den, Blesk Prach! Pojďte dovnitř, pojďte dovnitř!" The deep, gruff voice of her grandfather Burácení Prasklina - Thunder Cracker to the Equestrians, called out as the stallion himself scooped her up. That piercing, eagle gaze of his looked her over when he set her down, measuring her against his barrel and declaring her a mare...

She shook her head in the present, before taking a small breath. "So uhm. Rainy Days said you would have a job for me delivering... packages and mail and stuff." She was suddenly nervous. Why was she so nervous?

Haltingly, and then faster, her voice oddly cracked and warbling. "Doo. Ditzy Doo's my... name. Yes, I have an... aperture- opening, and Rainy had only good things to say." The mare sounded cheerful. Lightning Dust couldn't believe her luck.

Then her nose twitched, catching the unmistakable scent of... carp. Knedlick. Home. They must have gotten a lot more information about her from Rainy. Fatigue caught up with her as she dropped right where she stood, hitting the ground. The last thing she thought of was how pathetic she must look, fainting before her new employer and surely crying...