What You Deserve

When Lightning awoke, she was stretched out on the sofa with a cool cloth on her forehead. Dizzily she rolled off, shaking her head a little bit to clear it, beginning to come down from her buzz. A glass of water rested in front of her on the coffee table and she downed it greedily, feeling rather thirsty.

She smiled as she took in the room, the clutter of knicknacks on the shelves across the room. She suddenly became aware of eyes on her and frowned, brilliant orange eyes scanning her surroundings before spotting a pair of unicorns leaning around the corner. She scowled for a moment and shakily rose to her hooves, trotting towards them. Intent on speaking her mind clearly about being stared at like that.

She winced and folded her ears down, recoiling when near-identical voices screamed out as the fillies bolted off.

"Gram-" "-Mama!" "She's-" "-awake!"

Her head reeled, and she slowly stood back up with care so she wouldn't fall again. Clicking hooves grabbed her attention, before her chin was lifted by a gray hoof. She looked up, her eyes meeting cheerful golden ones not too far removed from her own. The left drifted a little, before snapping back into full attention. There was no judgement in that glance, just a warm smile.

Dusty couldn't help but think she'd met this mare before. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she rested her hoof over the older mare's, slowly lowering it back down to the floor. The other mare gently tugged the mare with her, a coy smirk folding her features as she lead the brash flier to the table, even going as far as pulling out her chair for her. Dinner was simple; pickled beets, baked carp, mashed potatoes, plenty of rich gravy and of course knedliky. She carefully soaked up a little bit of gravy with a bit of the steamed bun, finding everything just like her Sainted grandmother would have made.

She found herself book-ended between the foals that had screamed at her, who were now asking questions and talking faster than even she could follow, arguing behind her back and making a general nuisance of themselves. The matron of the family, the gray pegasus, clopped her hoof against the table and cleared her throat before returning to her meal. The two fillies took a collective deep breath before asking questions at a more reasonable pace.

The purple one went first. "Are you here to help my mama with work?"

That was an easy question to answer. "Yes, my old boss Rainy thought she could use me here."

The blue one went second, with a much harder question. "Will you sign my Wonderbolts card?"

A small rectangle of cardboard settled on the table next to her plate. She frowned at the picture, which depicted a scowling turquoise pegasus. She took a deep breath and slid the card away. "Maybe after supper, kid." She didn't want to look at her rookie card anymore. She used to have a copy, it had tickled her silly to see it. Now however it was just a reminder of bad memories.

The fillies apparently realized that she wasn't much of a conversationalist, and left her alone for the remainder of the meal. Dusty helped clean up, intent on being a conscientious houseguest. Or tenant. Or employee. She wasn't sure how it was going to work out just yet. The gray mare smiled at her as they stood side by side at the sink, washing dishes. She returned the small smile as they finished up, letting the water out of the sink and drying her hooves.

A couple hours later, Lightning Dust was sitting in a small room with Ditzy Doo as she learned the mare's name was, painstakingly creating a route for the next morning and sorting out the mail for ease of delivery. She had a map of the town open, and had drawn what she felt would be the most efficient flight path on it, with the letters arranged and banded so that each packet of letters could be dropped at each stop without slowing down too much.

"I've been looking for helpers for quite a while," the other mare began carefully, "but nopony seems to want to work for me because of my... disability."

Lightning gave a snort, and shrugged as she sorted through the last stack of letters. It really was a painstaking process, and required a little more hoof dexterity than she could summon at the current moment. "I've worked for worse managers than you, I'm sure. A lazy eye might be a little creepy to some shallow ponies, but it's actually pretty cute."

Ditzy sniggered a little bit and rubbed her muzzle, shaking her head as she buckled her own saddlebags up ready for the morning. Lightning's face turned all colors of red as the mare's hooves splayed her own forelegs and prodded along her barrel, before trotting off to a closet. Dusty canted her head, chewing her lower lip slightly as the mare returned with a jacket on a hanger in her teeth and a pair of boxes on her hip.

The first fit her snugly while remaining maneuverable, and she rather liked the stylish shade of blue. The boxes proved to contain a flat-topped cap that rested between her ears and slicked down her rakish mane, and a set of winged ponyshoes that also fit nicely and she rather liked. For the first time in a year, Dusty smiled as she inspected herself in the mirror, a real honest to Mothers smile. She posed, cocking a Warden-may-care smirk, before removing the clothes carefully and launching herself into a full, tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you... I can't ever repay you for this."

The other mare smiled a little bit and ruffled the mare's mane. "No need. I know what it's like, I've been working delivering the mail for years now. I've watched this town grow into something beautiful, and I know you'll only add to it." She settled back on her haunches when she was released. "I knew your grandfather, too. Lot of Equestrians shed a tear when he passed. Celestia herself went into mourning for a full year, and ponies were concerned the Wonderbolts Derby would never be held again."

Lightning fought back a small tear, shaking her head a little bit as she took up her uniform. "Thanks, Ditzy. I'll try my best. It's what he would have wanted."

Ditzy shook her head a little bit and tapped the mare on the chest. "He was a good colt. He's proud of you, I'm sure. Just because you have gone astray doesn't mean anything. Love from a parent or grandparent is forever."

Dusty unpacked, staring down at the rookie card that had been left on her nightstand. She mulled over the mare's words in her mind, coupling them with what Rainy had said about doing this for herself. She didn't need to make her father proud, the only person whose opinion mattered was her own. She stared for a long minute... and signed her name with a flourish and a small doodle of her cutie mark.

"Good morning race fans, and welcome back to the Canterlot 500! We experienced a little bit of a delay earlier in the race due to a collision that lead to only a few racers being able to continue the race, but it looks like those lucky few are ready to restart."

Young Lightning Dust sat in the stands, wings flared wide and making enough noise for ten fillies her size, plus two full-grown stallions. The pegasus on the lineup wearing a black jumpsuit heard her calling and waved his hoof over his head with a Warden-may-care smirk crossing his features. He appeared calm, ready to restart the race.

"Good thing, too. Looks like we're going to get washed out if the race doesn't finish up soon," murmured her mother into her ear. She was worried, her husband stood next to his father on the lineup and was antsily tapping his hooves in place.

With a wave of the green flag, the racers took off sprinting. There wasn't much left of the race, and after a short break everypony was racing all out. Grandfather was in third place, but she wasn't worried. He never lost. The patter of the commentators faded out of her mind as it started to rain...