Derpy Delivery

Derpy Hooves struggled to lift herself over the ledge. Her forelegs strained to bear her weight as she pulled herself up and dragged herself quite unceremoniously along the ground, seeking a safe distance from the edge. She lay panting for a few moments – letting the pain burn itself from her muscles – and took the moment to admire her accomplishment. At last she was at the top. There had been struggles, and there had been plenty of derps along the way. But here she was; the intrepid explorer victorious at last. The ground was soft, springy even – certainly not made of gravel. She found strength once again and raised herself with triumph. The pegasus pulled some of the soft material from the mountain’s surface and took a sampling bite. Satisfied with its contents, she opened up her mailbag and from its depths pulled out a flagpole; complete with a gray triangular flag adorned with a set of seven bubbles. As the flag flapped gracefully in the wind, she jammed the pole into the spongy surface of the mountain.

“I, the Great and Powerful Derpy Hooves, claim this great muffin mountain for Derpopolis, and dub this mountain…er..uh…Muffin Mountain!” Derpy chirped. Suddenly there were dozens – no, hundreds – of cheering ponies. Their great, roaring applause were only matched by the flashes of cameras capturing this glorious moment for all of Equestria to see. The camera flashes were bright, and becoming more frequent, to the point that they began to blind the mailmare. Derpy Hooves took in a last breath of triumph as the entire world around her faded to white, and felt warm sun on her face.

Derpy stirred a bit, before finally opening her eyes and accepting consciousness. She raised her forelegs above her head, extended her wings and gave a great big stretch coupled with a soft yawn. The patchy blankets slowly slid off the bed, revealing the seven bubbles adorning her flank. When her stretching was finished, she sat up gently rubbing her eyes, and then leaned over to open the curtains. The sunlight poured into her bedroom full force. The warmth seemed to permeate Derpy’s very soul, and she took a moment enjoy the peacefulness before hopping up and happily trotting over to the bathroom.

While humming her favorite tune, Derpy Hooves grabbed her brush and began brushing her blonde mane, her gray coat and her teeth before she realized that hairbrushes were for hair and toothbrushes were for teeth, and decided to revise her hygiene strategy with a giggle. Upon exiting the washroom, she turned on the record player. Derpy pulled out two records from the rack, pausing to decide which one would be good to start the day: the classical orchestral music of the famed earth pony musician Octavia, or the driving bass-heavy beats of the techno guru Vinyl Scratch. At last she concluded that neither could match the mood she was going for, and instead opted for a record by her own personal friend and roommate Lyra Heartstrings, whose light lyre melodies, coupled with acoustic guitar filled the pegasus with a sense of calm joy. She gently placed the needle on the spinning album and smiled as the perky music filled the air.

The mare trotted down the hall, stopping by her roommates’ bedroom. “Good morning Lyra and Bon Bon!” she cheered happily.

Lyra slowly sat upright and Bon Bon stirred. “Oh my Celestia, what time is it?” Lyra asked groggily.

Bon Bon peaked through her heavy eyelids at the clock on the bedside table. “Ugggghhhhh, it’s five-thirty in the morning.”

“Derpy, what kind of a pony are you? The sun’s barely up” complained the aquamarine unicorn.

“Agggghhh, she’s a morning pony!” Bon Bon groaned, as if Derpy were some sort of monster.

“Let’s just go back to bed, babe.”

“Splendid idea,” Bon Bon sighed to her marefriend, who sank back into the covers to cuddle with the cream colored earth pony.

“Good morning, Derpy” Lyra said at last to their gray colored friend.

“Yea, good morning.”

Derpy giggled. “I’ll have breakfast ready for when you sleepyheads finally get out of bed.”

“Thank…you…” a now half-conscious Bon Bon replied before succumbing to splendid sleep once again.

After finishing the pancakes and placing them on a plate ready for Lyra and Bon Bon – minus the one she managed to flip clear over her head and onto the floor, which she ate herself as to save anypony else the trouble – she flipped her mailbag over her back and headed out the door.

Outside, Derpy was met with a delightful morning atmosphere. The air was still cool from the night before and the birds were chirping happily. Above, a few of the other pegasus ponies were already clearing the sky for the day ahead. Ponies were tending to their gardens and trotting happily to their jobs. Derpy stretched her wings and gave a gentle hop from the ground. She took to the air and when she reached a satisfying altitude over the houses of Ponyville, started gliding to her destination. Beneath her, the fillies were already out playing – not a surprising sight considering that this was a beautiful summer day, perfect for the childhood adventure. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were racing along the ground using only their forelegs in an attempt to earn circus-pony cutie marks.

At last, Derpy reached her destination. Right on the edge of the town square was her own place of work: the Ponyville Post Office. It wasn’t the grandest place to work, but it was like home to Derpy. Having only a cutie mark that exemplified her own bubbliness, she didn’t really have any great talents. But when the post office was the first place to actually accept an application from the ditzy pegasus, she vowed to give her job one hundred percent effort. It may have been a humble career, but she took pride in knowing that she was a productive member of her community instead of just a burden. Mail was important!

Below, a fellow employee lazily walked up to the door. Derpy glided down beside the mare and landed next to her. The gold colored pegasus sporting an aquamarine mane and a trio of water droplets as a cutie mark turned to talk to Derpy.

“Morning Derpy.”

“Good morning Raindrops!”

“You seem pretty chipper today. Were there extra marshmallows in your cereal this morning?”

Derpy, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm, responded happily, “Nope! It’s just a beautiful day,” Raindrops put a hoof to her face. “And I can’t wait to deliver ponies their mail.” Derpy smiled.

“Ugh. I can’t believe you actually like this job,” said Raindrops as they entered the door to the post office. They entered another door on the side of the room to make their way to the back of the building.

“I like seeing the happy faces of ponies when they get gifts and letters and stuff.” talking about it just made Derpy more and more excited to get the day started.

“Yes, until you give them their bills. Granny Smith at Sweet Apple Acres actually threw a horse shoe at me the other day, did you know that? Sweet apples my flank! A huge one too.” Raindrops spread her hooves apart to demonstrate the size of it. “It must have belonged to that big hunky stallion they got workin’ on that apple farm…” she sighed, twirling her mane with a hoof.

Derpy untied the stacks of mail waiting inside the mailroom, and began stuffing envelopes inside her mailbag. “I can take the deliveries to the Apple farm from now on if you want me to Raindrops. Granny Smith knows me a little bit better.”

“Deal,” replied Raindrops, stuffing a hoofful of envelopes addressed to Sweet Apple Acres inside Derpy’s bag “The profit from their latest shipment is in here. I don’t even care if it’s good news or bad news. Whether they have a profitable year or don’t, it’s all on your saddle now. I’m not taking any more shoes to the head. Although I will miss getting to wink at that hunk of a farmer.” Raindrops playfully hoofed Derpy in the side. “Speaking of hunky stallions, when are you gonna find yourself a colt, hm?”

Derpy’s face reddened. “Oh um…well you know I don’t have much time for colts anyway…” she trailed off, trying to hide her face.

“Oh come on! There’s gotta be somepony out there who’s caught your eye!” Derpy turned redder than a tomato.

“Not at the moment…”

Raindrops gave a disappointed “Hmph” at missing out on potential gossip. “Well when you dooo find somepony, don’t hesitate to let me know. I can be your wingmare!” she said as she extended her wings swiftly, startling Derpy and sending her toppling over a stack of mail.

Derpy giggled at her own clumsiness. “Derp!” she chirped, crossing her eyes in her usual way when she did something silly.

The sun now hung higher above the horizon, and Derpy was making her way through the morning rounds of mail. With a mailbag full of envelopes, she soared just over the houses. She enjoyed flying close to the ground instead of high up in the air so she could be close to her beloved town. Ponyville was small, but there was still plenty of hustle and bustle in everyday life. And it could be said that there was never a dull day there. Derpy had been born and raised in Ponyville, and had rarely ventured out of it to another town. The only other place she had lived was Cloudsdale for flight school.

“Hey Derpy!.....Derpy!....Deeeerrrrpppyyyy, heeeeeey!” In her daydreaming, Derpy had not noticed the young filly running along the ground beneath her, calling her name. She waved from above before gliding down to meet the young pony.

“Hi Dinky! Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” Derpy said playfully while mussing up Dinky’s hair. The filly was almost a spitting image of Derpy, save for the slight change in coat color and the fact that Dinky was a unicorn and not a pegasus. Dinky looked up to Derpy Hooves in a similar way that Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash.

“No school silly! It’s summer!” Dinky chirped, hopping into the air with glee.

Derpy looked around at the weather and said “Oh huh, I guess it is!” before giggling with the filly beside her. Derpy turned and continued making her way to the Apple farm, and Dinky followed beside her, having to gallop to keep up with Derpy.

“So didja hear? My idea was chosen for the school play! We’re gonna start rehearsing it next week!” Dinky cheered.

“Wow! That’s great Dinky! What was the play about?”

“It’s gonna be about this one pony who goes to Manehattan, and learns a bunch of new stuff, and learns to be friends with all different types of ponies there! And it’s gonna be a comedy!” Dinky yelled, her excitement overpowering her volume control.

“Wow that sounds like a great idea!” Derpy pointed to Dinky’s flank. “Maybe you’ll get a playwriting cutie mark or something.”

The filly turned to examine her flank turning around and around to get a look. “Wow, ya mean it?!”

“Or maybe you’ll be an actor pony!”

Dinky hopped about around Derpy and said, “Or…or maybe an opera pony!” Derpy stood on her hind legs and pretended to sing the high note of an opera, causing Dinky to enter a fit of bubbly giggling.

The pair continued playing together on the road; hopping around each other, imitating famous actor ponies, and pretending to be celebrities. After a while, they neared the gate of Sweet Apple Acres at last.

“Well, Dinky, you should head back now. It’s lunch time, and I bet your mom already has sandwiches made sitting ready for you,” Derpy said while hopping into the air and taking flight.

“Okay Derpy. I’ll see ya later!” Dinky chirped before turning and galloping back towards the center of town.

Derpy stepped up to the front porch of the Apple family home and gave the door a few knocks. She waited for a few moments, admiring the humble home. She turned around and gazed down the steps toward the lawn and the road leading back to Ponyville. Derpy breathed in the sweet air, enjoying the atmosphere.

A caramel colored earth pony with a brown mane opened the door behind her, and coughed to get the mare’s attention. When she turned around, the colt stiffened.

“Uh…” Derpy stammered, feeling her face grow warm. She expected someone who lived at the farm to open the door. The pony in front of her, she knew lived next to the Carousel Boutique, and that his name was Caramel.

“Yes?” Caramel said after a moment.

“I…um…I have mail” She turned to show the mailbag strapped over her back.

“Oh…uh…come in I guess.” Caramel stepped to the side allowing Derpy inside.

A few moments passed without words. Derpy did her best to hide her red face from the colt and pretended to admire the interior decorations of the Apple family home. She noticed Caramel standing stiff as a board. Derpy knew that not everyone in town had a very high opinion of her. There had been times when she’d been called names behind her back. Most ponies thought there was something wrong with her. Her clumsiness and spacey nature had earned her the attitude, not to mention the occasions she would go wall-eyed when she was spaced out. Derpy never minded other ponies’ attitude toward her however, because she knew that the ponies that actually knew her didn’t seem to have any problem being her friends. Lyra, Bon Bon, Raindrops, and Dinky saw past the cross-eyed exterior.

But Derpy knew that not all ponies would be so friendly, and Caramel was the prime example. For some reason, every time she was near him he would tense up. Caramel hardly ever spoke a word to her and acted as if he didn’t know her at all. When they passed on the street, he would look straight ahead and ignore her, or turn his head away altogether. A few times she had tried to wave out of friendliness, but was always met with a straight-ahead stare, so she gave up.

Eventually, Derpy started hiding from Caramel altogether, instead opting for stealing a glance of him at a distance. She knew he was a friendly pony, and helped his neighbors out on several occasions – even going so far as to help pull a carriage for his neighbor Rarity all the way to Canterlot for the Grand Galloping Gala.

Suddenly, Derpy became conscious of her spacing out, causing her eyes to split into different directions, and quickly snapped them back forward, praying Caramel hadn’t seen. If he had, he didn’t show it. Derpy realized that they had just been standing there for a while now and asked, “Um…so…who do I give the mail to?” Caramel was a cousin to the Apple family, and must have been visiting. But she wasn’t sure whether he took their mail or not.

“Oh. Uhh…gr- GRANNY!” he shouted up the stairs. No reply. “GRANNY!” he hollered louder this time.

After a few more moments, Granny Smith called back “What?!”

“Der- ah, the mail pony’s here!”

“What?!”

“MAIL’S HERE GRANNY!” he yelled up the stairs, turning a bit red with what Derpy believed to be the strain of yelling.

“Ohhh! Tell her if she flirts with my Big Macintosh again, I’ll throw another horseshoe at her head!” Granny Smith shouted down the stairs.

Caramel’s blush instantly faded as all the blood drained from his face, causing him to turn pale. Derpy would have noticed had she not been trying to hide her own blush as well.

“That darned mailmare, always tryin’ to flirt with every stallion that walks by!” Granny Smith stepped around the corner at the top of the stairs.

After a few more painfully awkward moments, the old lime green earth pony slowly climbed down the stairs and met the pair inside the kitchen. “Well, uh. I’m gonna go see what Big Mac’s doing,” Caramel said, walking quickly to the door. Derpy presumed he wanted to get away from her as fast as possible.

“Oh, it’s just you, Derpy. I thought you were that darned Raindrops again.” Granny Smith said in relief. “Hi…Derpy…how…are…you?” she said slowly to the blonde pegasus.

Derpy tilted her head a bit, unsure of why Granny Smith was talking so funny. “I’m good! I have mail for you!”

“That’s…nice...What…is…it?”

“Um. It’s…about…your…latest…apple…shipment,” Derpy replied, playing along with Granny’s manner of speech. She opened the mailbag with her teeth and pulled out a letter. “Hrr yrr gmph,” the muffled mailmare said, giving Granny Smith the letter.

“Okey, dokey. Now, let’s see what it says,” Granny said before tearing at the envelope with her lips. Having no teeth made it difficult. As she struggled with the letter, Derpy noticed the horse shoe lying on the counter next to elderly lime-colored pony. Derpy’s heart rate grew, fearing that she too would suffer from Granny Smith’s rage as Raindrops had.

At last Granny Smith – somehow – managed to open the envelope and began perusing the documents in her hooves. A bead of sweat trickled down Derpy’s forehead, and she felt her heart thumping harder in her chest. She backed away from Granny as slowly as possible while the old mare scanned for profit numbers.

“Oh, well look at that. We did pretty well this season.” Derpy let out a relieved sigh. “See…Derpy?...We…did…good…thank…you!”

“No problem Granny Smith!” Derpy chirped as she headed to the door. “Have a nice day!”

“You…too…Derpy!” Derpy exited the door and took flight down the road to Ponyville. Granny Smith remained in the kitchen. “What a nice pony. Maybe if she were a little smarter, I’d let her date Big Macintosh,” Granny mumbled. Suddenly her ears perked up, listening to a nonexistent noise. She hollered, “MACINTOSH! ARE YOU TALKIN’ TO THAT RAINDROPS AGAIN?! WHERE’S MAH HITTIN’ SHOE?!”

Outside the Apple home, amongst the apple trees, Derpy floated back to Ponyville. Ahead, she saw Caramel sitting against one of the apple trees, holding a sunflower. She watched as he plucked the petals off the flower one by one. His brown mane blew gently in the soft breeze. Derpy observed as his sky blue eyes stared transfixed on the petals of the flower. He appeared to be mumbling something, but Derpy couldn’t hear. She didn’t realize she stopped moving forward and was just floating there, staring at this oblivious earth pony.

With the flower close to his face, eyes almost crossed to keep it in focus, Caramel pulled off the final petal. Behind the petal, he refocused and finally saw Derpy watching him. He shot up from the ground and stuffed the remainder of the sunflower in his mouth.

“Snack,” Caramel blurted after swallowing the flower almost whole. He turned and galloped away. Derpy’s heart sank as he ran away from her yet again, and her face grew hot with the realization that she had been staring at him. Shaking her head to cast off her embarrassment, she continued on toward Ponyville.

“Dear Princess Celestia

Sometimes, a pony may find that they don’t have certain talents or abilities that they wish they could have. But I’ve learned that hard work, perseverance, and believing in yourself can help you be great at whatever you want to accomplish. And that sometimes, it’s not the talented ponies that succeed, but instead it’s the ponies without the talent, for they are the ones who have to put in the hard work, dedication, and passion into what they do. And with those things, a pony can never fail.

-Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle”

“So, you really think that you could do better magic if you weren’t as talented as you are?” Spike asked.

“Well, I can’t lie, I am glad my magic is working like normal again,” Twilight Sparkle replied to her assistant, “but I did learn some valuable lessons this week. I’ll never take my magic for granted again!”

Spike giggled. “I’ll send this to the princess right away!”

“Yes please Spike,” Twilight began, before being interrupted by the doorbell. “Oh, that might be my new textbooks! Can you go get that for me while I go fix up lunch?”

“Sure thing, Twi!” Spike said as Twilight turned toward the kitchen.

Derpy Hooves dragged the box along the ground, switching strategies for getting the massive thing moving. The cardboard box was as big as Derpy Hooves herself and felt like it was full of lead. She tried carrying it, but was far too much of a strain for her wings and truthfully, she couldn’t even stay aloft with the package weighing her down. Then the mailmare tried dragging it along the ground behind her, and then attempted to drag it while walking backwards. Finally she opted for just pushing it forward. It was a slow pace, but at least she was able to get the thing moving. She pushed it two feet at a time, taking several seconds in between to catch her breath. Nopony could deny that she didn’t work hard at her job.

Eventually, Derpy managed to get the box in front of the library. She gave a great heave and slid the package another few feet before collapsing and trying to catch her breath.

“Just…a…few…more…feet…” Derpy said in between gasps for air. She heard somepony talking through the open window in the library, but couldn’t hear it over her own panting. The pegaus hopped back to her hooves and readied herself for one final push. Pushing her head against the cardboard and her hooves against the tiled sidewalk, she struggled to move the heavy package forward. Derpy frantically flapped her wings to help give her a little extra forward momentum. At last the box gave in and slid the last few feet up to the door of the library.

Filled with triumph, Derpy ignored the exhaustion and got ready to ring the doorbell. Inside the window she heard somepony talking again.

“I’ll send this to the Princess right away!”

“Yes please, Spike,” Derpy pressed the button on the doorbell. ““Oh, that might be my new textbooks! Can you go get that for me while I go fix up lunch?”

“Sure thing, Twi!”

The front door swung open to reveal a small, purple baby dragon holding a rolled up scroll. Derpy had met Spike a few times before, mostly when delivering mail to the library. His eyes grew wide upon discovering the size of the box. “Is this whole thing…filled with books?” Spike asked the mailmare, who nodded gravely.

“Oh, jeez! Lemme help you with that, Derpy!” Spike hurried out the door, and set the scroll by the path. The pony and the dragon positioned themselves behind the behemoth of a package and slid it over the door threshold into the library. Derpy noted how much easier it was with two pushing it instead of herself. At last the box was inside the tree-building and spike used his claw to cut open the wrapping tape and opened the box. He picked up a few of the books and made to go set them on the shelves. “I can handle these from here, thanks for delivering this Derpy! It couldn’t have been fun pushing this thing all the way from the post office.”

Derpy waved his comment away, “No problem! It was fun! Bye Spike, have a nice day.”

“You too, Derpy!”

With her mission accomplished, Derpy happily trotted out of the library and closed the door behind her while Spike occupied himself with the books. She took a few more steps before stopping. There, in the lawn beside the path, was a scroll – the scroll Spike was holding when he opened the door.

“What’s this for?” Derpy wondered aloud. Then she recalled hearing Spike say something before she rang the doorbell. His words floated through her head like a mystical voice from the heavens.

I’ll send this to the Princess right away!

“Was this…what he was…”

I’ll send this to the Princess right away…

“Could this be something that…”

To the Princess…

“…I have to…”

Right away…

“Wait. This probably isn’t a map to Muffin Mountain. Maybe I should just give it back to Spike…” Derpy trotted back up to the door.

“WAIT! He said that he needed to send it to the Princess! Right away! Twilight is Princess Celestia’s student!” Derpy face-hoofed at her silliness before giggling, “Hee hee, Derp! Spike was at the door with it because he wanted me to deliver it!”

Derpy gazed at the scroll in her hoof. This scroll was meant to be sent to Princess Celestia, all the way in Canterlot. The mailmare boggled at the responsibility she held in her hoof. An urgent letter to Princess Celestia! She had to show this to Boxxy Brown right away!

“Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown!” Derpy called urgently into the back room. Behind a desk was Boxxy Brown, a burly pegasus with a brown coat. He glared up at Derpy from the papers strewn across his desk. Letting out an annoyed sigh, he threw a file onto the desk.

“What is it now Derpy?” he said with a gruff voice.

“Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown!”

“SPIT IT OUT DERPY!” Derpy showed him the scroll. Boxxy cocked his head to the side in confusion. “What’s that?”

“Twilight wants it delivered to Princess Celestia! It’s urgent!”

Boxxy stared at the paper. “Well it certainly does look fancy enough.” He noted the red ribbon tied around the scroll, and the golden Canterlot seal attached to it. It was much more sophisticated than anything else they delivered. “So this thing’s gotta go to the Princess?” Derpy nodded. “Well we’ll just put it on the next chariot to Canterlot then,” Boxxy said as he tossed the scroll aside into a large bag of mail.

“No!” Derpy cried as she dived to catch it. She shot back up to her hooves. “This is URGENT though! Somepony has to deliver it right away!”

“Who? Everypony’s busy all week…” Boxxy trailed off. “Well, maybe…” Derpy tilted her head. The gruff colt wrapped a foreleg around her shoulder. “Why don’t you take it, Derpy?”

“Me?” Derpy asked, pointing a hoof at herself tentatively.

“Yeaaah, sure. It would definitely get you out of my hair- er, I mean…I need a dedicated mailpony like you to get the job done.” He winked slyly.

“Well…uhh…I don’t know…Canterlot is really far away…and I’ve never been out of Ponyville…” Derpy’s voice grew quiet and trailed off.

“Ohhh don’t worry about it. And besides, this is an urgent delivery remember? No time to waste, Derpy!”

“But…do you really think I can do it?”

“Suuuure! Of course you can! Now get out there and deliver that letter!” Derpy’s boss said as he shoved the scroll into her hooves and shoved her out the door. “Now go make the Ponyville Postal Service proud!”

After her boss slammed the door shut behind her, Derpy sat on the ground and looked at the scroll. “Well, a delivery does need delivering’ed. Maybe I can do it!” cheered Derpy before hopping up off the ground and taking flight. She flew back home as fast as she could.

Inside the living room, the lights were turned off and the curtains on the windows were shut. The only source of light was a quietly cackling fireplace, giving off a warm aura on the room. In front of the fireplace was an intricate Appleoosan rug, and on the rug were two ponies sharing the warmth of the fire. One mare, an aquamarine unicorn with a white and light blue mane, lay on her back and used her magic to pluck the strings of a floating lyre – which incidentally was her cutie mark as well. The cream-colored pony, whose swirling pink and blue mane lay draped over the other mare’s chest, closed her eyes as she enjoyed the warmth of the fire and the soft melody that her marefriend was playing.

“Oh, Lyra…I do enjoy your songs so much,” Bon Bon whispered to Lyra.

“I sure hope you do. You are my muse after all…” Lyra responded with a wink.

Bon Bon blushed. “What could I possibly do to inspire such a talented musician as yourself?”

“Everything you do, Bon Bon. Everything you are. Your beautiful mane, the way you giggle like a schoolfilly sometimes, those gorgeous bright blue eyes of yours…” Bon Bon blushed further. “And I just love the cutie mark on that flank of yours…not to mention the flank itself…” Lyra whispered coyly.

“Oh my flank inspires you does it…” Lyra nodded meekly, looking up at the earth pony. “Well maybe we could take this little conversation to the bedroom and I could…inspire you…some more…” this time, it was Lyra’s turn to blush.

The pair moved their faces closer, and shut their eyes. Their minds and their hearts raced in unison and their senses burned with heat, both from the fireplace and the blood rushing to their blushed faces. Lyra placed a hoof on the back of Bon Bon’s neck and pulled her closer. As they felt their hearts pumping in their chests their lips finally-

“LYRA AND BON BON!” Derpy hollered as she burst through the front door, casting a bright ray of sunlight upon the intimate pair. Lyra screamed in surprise and jumped to her hooves, sending Bon Bon flying over the couch. Derpy stopped and tilted her head. “What were you two doing?”

“SHE WAS HELPING ME WRITE A SONG! Don’t you knock Derpy?!” Lyra yelled, her aquamarine face turning red as a tomato.

“But this is urgent! Twilight Sparkle gave me a scroll and I have to deliver it to Princess Celestia right away!”

“Ugggghhh, that wasn’t very fun,” complained Bon Bon as she reappeared from behind the couch, rubbing the side of her head.

“Oh gosh! I’m sorry!” Lyra rushed to her marefriend and Derpy dashed up to her room to grab her things.

The couple went to the foot of the stairs and Bon Bon called up to Derpy, who she could see was frantically flying around and flinging things across her room. “Just what exactly are you doing now, Derpy?”

Derpy poked her head outside the door frame. “I’m packing! I’m going to Canterlot to take this letter to Princess Celestia!”

Lyra and Bon Bon exchanged glances. “Are you sure that’s to the Princess, Derpy?” Bon Bon asked the pegasus.

“Of course it is! Spike said he would send it to the Princess right away and then gave it to me, who else is gonna deliver it??”

“Well, you better hurry. The next train to Canterlot is leaving in like 10 minutes,” interjected Lyra, looking at the elaborate grandfather clock near the foot of the stairs.

From upstairs the couple heard an alarmed gasp. Derpy launched out of the bedroom and zoomed back into the living room, causing the wind she created to mess up Bon Bon’s perfectly swirled mane. “Then I haven’t a moment to lose!” Derpy cheered.

“Well uh, good luck Derpy,” Lyra said, giving the mailmare a hug.

Bon Bon hugged her as well. “We’ll miss you!” she said. Derpy opened the door and waved her final goodbyes to the pair, and took flight off into the blue sky.

Lyra shut the door and pushed the lock firmly in place with an emphasized “CLICK!” She looked at Bon Bon’s disheveled hair and gave a sly glance to the earth pony. “Nice mane…I must say I find it quite…” Bon Bon blushed. “…Inspiring.”

Caramel trotted up to the house, his heart beating fast and his stomach doing flips inside him. He sucked in a deep breath of air and gave the door three quick knocks before finally exhaling.

“GAH! What is it now?!” Somepony inside cried.

“At least they knocked this time.”

Caramel heard a loud furious “CLICK” from the doorknob and the door swung open. An annoyed aquamarine unicorn stood staring at him, who grunted through her teeth at the colt.

“Can I help you?”

“Uh…h-hi, is um D-Derpy here?” Caramel managed to stammer. A few beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

“Oh wow. You like, just missed her. Sorry dude.” Lyra shrugged.

“Perhaps you could t-tell me where she went off to?”

“She just left for Canterlot.”

Caramel lowered his head. “Oh. Do you know when she might be back?” Lyra shrugged again. “Okay, thank you for your time,” Caramel said half-heartedly before walking away with his head down. Lyra quickly shut the door followed by the sound of another “CLICK” Caramel plopped his flank down on the sidewalk and let out a deep, disappointed sigh.