Twilight Sparkle heard the bang of her mailbox slamming shut and looked up from her book. The princess teleported outside her castle and eagerly emptied her mailbox with her magic, sorting everything into neat little piles as she went.
"Fan mail, fan mail, a party invitation from Pinkie, fan mail, a new book, more fan mail-" She paused as she stared at a small, book sized box in front of her. "New book?" She stared into space, a blank look on her face as she tried to remember when exactly she had ordered a new book.
"That's the newest Daring Do novel that came out on Tuesday," said a voice from behind her. Twilight jumped and turned around fast.
Derpy the mailmare was standing in front of her, looking frustrated as she tried to stuff letters into a overflowing bag. It wasn't working very well. The wind kept blowing the envelopes away, and Derpy kept chasing after them trying to catch them.
Twilight quickly used her magic to put the mail back in Derpy's bag. When the chaotic swirling cloud of mail cleared away, Derpy was still standing there, smiling at the new princess with her funny cross eyed stare.
Twilight thought that was honestly very creepy. There were never any ponies like Derpy at all in Canterlot, only rich incredibly smart unicorns that could all do magic perfectly. Handicaps like Derpy being cross-eyed or Scootaloo not being able to fly were unheard of in Equestria's capital. Even after spending five amazing years in Ponyville, she still didn't really know how to act around her.
"Um...hi Derpy..." Twilight avoided eye contact with the pegasus. "I have to go now, you know...read my new book!" She put on a very fake smile and started to walk back inside her castle.
"Ok!" Derpy said cheerfully and took off into the sunny morning sky. "Enjoy the book!"
The mailmare started flying away, but Twilight stopped and stared after her. Derpy's cutie mark was...circles. No. Bubbles? What?
This was a problem Twilight couldn't leave unsolved. She just had to know.
"Derpy!" the alicorn called. Derpy turned around and flew back to Twilight.
"What?"
"How did you get your cutie mark?"
Derpy grinned and landed in front of her.
"The story goes like this..."
8 year old Derpy ran out of Cloudsdale Flight School surrounded by a crowd of tiny pegasi eager to start whatever fun things they had planned for the afternoon. Derpy took off into the sky, her blonde mane blowing in the wind. Huge grey storm clouds swirled overhead.
Derpy loved storms, while many fillies and colts hid under their beds when thunder came, Derpy just laughed because her daddy was one of the ponies making the thunder. Derpy liked storms because that meant she would get to do fun things with mommy like make muffins.
Derpy landed in her yard and noticed there was a large cardboard box on the porch. It was kind of soggy but Derpy didn't care. What mattered was the large piece of plastic sticking out of it. Excited, she ran to the box and pulled out the plastic. It was bubble wrap. Bubble Wrap was Derpy's favourite.
Suddenly, Derpy heard somepony yell, and then a poof sound, like a cloud breaking.
