Raindrops opened the door and stepped outside of her house. My first day in Ponyville and working at the post office, she thought as she walked. But this is just ‘till I meet somepony who will help me discover my real special talent.
She trotted for a while before suddenly hearing somepony yelling from behind her, “I’m late! I’m late!”
Raindrops turned around to see a blur of colors flying towards her. Before she could react, it ran straight into her and swiftly knocked her to the ground.
"Sorry, you okay?" A gray pegasus grinned at her sheepishly as she sat on Raindrops.
“Y-Yeah.” Raindrops looked to the unfamiliar pony’s face. “H-huh? Y-your eyes! That fall was worse than I thought!” A look of fright came over Raindrops’ face. The strange pony’s eyes were facing opposite directions. “Are you okay? Does it hurt? Do you need a doctor?”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. This just happens sometimes,” she said in a calm voice.
“Well, if you’re sure you’re fine, then I guess that I can be on my way,” Raindrops, who wanted to leave very quickly, got out from under her and started to trot off. Raindrops’ pale-golden face and turquoise mane were dusted with dirt.
The blonde pegasus galloped in front of Raindrops. “Where are you going?”
“To my new job at the post office,” said Raindrops, backing away in fear that Derpy might run her over again.
“The post office? That’s where I work.” She held out her mail bag for Raindrops to see. It was a bit worn and was covered with a few patches. “Does this mean you’re the new mail mare?” She jumped up and down in excitement.
“Yeah.”
“Say, if we’re gonna work together, I better introduce myself. My name’s Derpy. What’s yours?”
“Raindrops.”
“We better get going Raindrops, we’re gonna to be late.”
When Raindrops and Derpy arrived at the post office they saw a large brown pegasus pony with an angry look on his face.
“Uh oh!” said Derpy as panic struck her face.
“You’re late, Derpy! I’ll forgive you this time, since you brought the new recruit. Show her the ropes while you two deliver this package,” the angry pony said. He set down a package the size of a bread box in front of the post office. “If I find out that you broke this one, Derpy, then you’re fired!” The thought of finally giving Derpy the sack made him smile a little.
Raindrops went over to pick up the box. “That’ll get that idiot out of my mane for a while,” she heard him say to himself as he went back into his office. Derpy face drooped as she looked at the ground.
“Derpy?” Raindrops tilted her head a little.
"Because of my eyes, some ponies aren’t very nice to me.”
“I won’t be mean to you, Derpy.” Raindrops put her front hoof on Derpy’s shoulder.
Derpy perked up and said, “Okay, let’s go deliver that package.” Raindrops lifted the front flap of Derpy’s mail bag open and dropped the box in.
As they trotted along, Derpy tried to read the address on the package while wearing her mail bag as a helmet. Raindrops, worried that Derpy might hurt herself, rushed to clear a path for her.
“It says this is for somepony named Firecracker Burst in Vanhoover.”
“Vanhoover? I took a vacation there once. Starting here in Ponyville, it’s past the Everfree Forest,” said Raindrops.
“Let’s go!” Derpy, the bag still on her head, got ready to take off.
“Ahh, wait Derpy!” Raindrops went infront of Derpy to stop her. “Don’t you think we should go there on hoof?”
“Why? We’ll get there faster if we fly,” Derpy said, removing the bag from her head.
“Uh.” Raindrops looked away from Derpy. “If we go there on hoof we can get to know each other better,” she said, grinning, hoping that Derpy would agree. And traveling on the ground will be safer, she thought.
“Huh? Okay.”
“Let’s go home for supplies and meet at the edge of the Everfree Forest when we’re ready.”
Raindrops set off for the Everfree Forest after she had finished packing. Derpy had gotten there first and was waiting for her, a goofy look covered her face.
“Hey, Raindrops! I’m ready!” Derpy shouted over to Raindrops. One of her eyes looked at Raindrops while the other followed a butterfly.
Raindrops galloped over to Derpy and asked, “Hey, Derpy, what did you bring?”
“Muffins!” Derpy replied, a beaming smile on her face. “Don’t worry, some of them are bran.”
“Y-you brought more than just muffins, right?” Raindrops said surprised.
“Of course I did,” Derpy replied.
Raindrops sighed with relief.
“I wouldn’t forget the package.”
“Oh well,” Raindrops said in a disappointed voice. “I should have enough equipment to share. Let’s go.”
A few minutes in, Raindrops asked, “Have you ever been to the Everfree Forest before, Derpy? I only know it from looking at maps.”
“A few times. My mommy even took me here once when I was little. Everypony else is too scared to come here for some reason.”
“R-r-really?” Raindrops asked in a frightened voice as she looked around. The clouds and the trees blocked most of the sunlight. Fear struck her face. In every bush she saw the eyes of prowling, hungry wild animals. Her knees felt like butter as she trotted. She heard a sudden snapping sound under her hoof. “AHH!” Raindrops leapt behind Derpy. “What was that?” said Raindrops. Derpy didn’t move while Raindrops cowered in fear behind her. Eventually, Raindrops looked beneath her, revealing a broken stick beneath her hoof.
“Let’s get going, Derpy,” said Raindrops, with a foolish look on her face.
As they trotted deeper into the Everfree Forest, it got harder for Raindrops to see. Ahead, she heard some creature breathing as if they needed a tissue. “Derpy, I don’t think that we’re alone.” The noise got louder with each step. “Be careful, Derpy,” Raindrops whispered.
“Ahh, my hoof!” Derpy cried in pain and fell on her flank.
"What happened?" Raindrops asked, her voice high and tight as she peered around in the dim light of the forest. "Did you step on some—” Raindrops looked up to see that Derpy hadn’t stepped on a snake, but the tail of a cockatrice. ”AH! Derpy, run!" Raindrops quickly covered her eyes with one of her front legs while Derpy didn’t say anything. She could hear the flapping of wings and clucking. But slowly, the noise quieted down.
What should I do, Raindrops thought. Is Derpy alive? Did she scare off the cockatrice, or did it just run out of victims?
“Derpy, are you okay? Have you been turned to stone?” Raindrops was terrified.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” She turned and faced Raindrops. “Why would I be a stone?”
Raindrops moved her hoof to see that the cockatrice was gone and Derpy’s pupils were facing the left and right at the same time.
“Well, I heard that those chicken-snake-birds can turn ponies into stone if you look one in the-” Realization dawned upon her. “Eye.”
“I’ll try to remember if I see one again,” Derpy said, continuing on. Raindrops followed, her head lowered in shame.
After several hours of silent trekking, Derpy suddenly burst out. “I’m hungry.” Wait, I brought muffins, she thought. “Muffin Time!” She reached into her saddle bags and lifted a muffin on her hoof.
“Shh, Derpy, I don’t know what’s—” Before she could finish a small animal leaped out of a bush. Raindrops was about to leap behind Derpy again, but stopped when she discovered that it was only a raccoon. “Oh, it’s safe.”
The raccoon swiftly jumped at Derpy and stole the muffin she was holding.
“Muffin, come back!” Derpy said, chasing after it.
“Ahh wait, Derpy!” Raindrops called as she took off after her. The raccoon and Derpy twisted and turned around each tree as they ran. Dodging the trees was difficult for Raindrops and Derpy got farther away with every one. Eventually, she was out of sight. Raindrops stopped and hovered in mid-air. She looked in every direction for Derpy, but she couldn’t find her. Panic struck her face as she realized that she was lost and alone.
“Muffin!” Raindrops suddenly heard. She flew toward the source of the cry. When she came to it, she saw Derpy collapsed against a nearby tree, exhausted, breathing like she had just finished a marathon. Tears had welled up in her eyes.
Raindrops reached into Derpy’s saddle bags and took out a muffin. “Don’t cry, Derpy, look.”
“Muffin!” Derpy got up and ate the muffin in one bite. This one’s mine, she thought.
After taking a short rest for a snack, they got up and continued their expedition. Once they had traveled a short distance, Derpy stopped and said, “The edge of the forest!” The duo cantered over to the last tree at the edge of the forest. A few feet ahead, the ground started to slope upwards.
Derpy stepped out of the forest and said, “Raindrops?”
“Huh, what is it, Derpy?” said Raindrops in a puzzled voice.
“No, it’s raining.” Derpy pointed to the sky.
Raindrops looked to the sky. At first she didn’t notice anything, but soon she felt a few drops of rain fall on her face. Raindrops had a choice to make. She looked to the mountain; it would take a few hours to climb. She looked back to the Everfree Forest, the scariest place she had ever been in her entire life. They could either climb the mountain, which probably didn’t have anything too scary living on it or they could go back into the forest and try to go around the mountain. The choice was obvious for Raindrops.
“Let’s go, Derpy,” said Raindrops, as she started to ascend the mountain. The bushes along the path brushed against her legs while she walked.
“Hey, Derpy, could you tell me about Ponyville?” Raindrops asked.
“It’s a very nice town. I know everypony there because of my job. After work, I usually go to Sugarcube Corner for some muffins. They have the best muffins in all of Ponyville. The blueberry muffins are my favorite. But I like them all.
“And after the New Year celebration ends, somepony always tries to trick everypony into starting the Winter Wrap Up celebration early. But the mayor would never let it happen with how much the fillies and colts enjoy playing in the snow—Wah!” The wet rocks under Derpy’s hooves started to tumble. She suddenly slipped and fell from a steeper part of the mountain.
“Derpy!” Raindrops raced towards the edge, her heart leaping out of her chest.
“Even some of the older ponies play in the snow sometimes.” Derpy said, flying back over to Raindrops.
“Derpy, you can fly?!” Raindrops’ face was covered in shock.
“Of course I can fly. After all, I am a unicorn. No, wait.” Derpy scratched her head.
“But earlier today, when you crashed into me—”
“That mostly happens when I’m in a hurry or something. As I was saying, the pony that usually tries to start Winter Wrap Up early always ends up covered in snowballs. I can’t aim so good, so I just try to stay away after the other ponies start throwing them.”
Raindrops’ heart started to calm down. She decided to wait to tell Derpy the real reason why they were travelling on hoof.
The rain started to die down, as the two ponies finally reached the top. A fierce breeze blew at them. “It’s getting dark, Derpy, we should set up camp,” said Raindrops.
“I’ll start a campfire,” said Derpy.
“Ahh! Wait Derpy, I’ll light it,” said Raindrops, worried that her new friend would set the mountain on fire.
“Huh? Okay.” Derpy found a spot that didn’t have any bushes around and made a pile of dead branches. Raindrops took a matchbox out of her saddle bag, griped it in her teeth, struck it, and dropped it on the branches. The flame grew larger as the wood burned. “Fire!” said Derpy. Once the warmth of the campfire hit them, they laid down in front of it. “Lucky it stopped raining, huh Raindrops?”
“Y-yeah. I’m going to sleep now, Derpy,” Raindrops said just before collapsing in exhaustion.
“Okay, good night.” They each pulled their blankets up.
Late into the night, Raindrops woke as Derpy crawled under her blanket. Raindrops was all groggy when she looked at Derpy. “It’s cold,” Derpy whispered. Behind her, smoke rose from the pile of burnt sticks that remained from their campfire. Derpy threw her blanket on top of the other one.
Normally when Raindrops wakes up in the middle of the night, she has an awful time trying to get back to sleep. But she found it easy with the warmth of Derpy’s soft body right next to her.
The light from the morning sun prematurely ended Raindrops' slumber. Derpy was still sleeping soundly as another cold gust of wind blew at the two ponies. Brr, I guess I’ll stay here, thought Raindrops.
A short time later, Derpy finally opened her eyes, yawned, and said, “Morning, Raindrops.” She stood up and started stretching.
“Morning, Derpy.” Raindrops got up, folded up their blankets, and stuffed them into her saddle bags. Derpy kicked some dirt onto the remains of the campfire.
When they finished packing everything up, Derpy said, ”Let’s go, Raindrops,” and trotted over to the slope down the other side of the mountain. When they got there Derpy turned around and started cantering backwards.
“Ahh, Derpy wait. That’s dangerous.” Raindrops held out her hooves against her friend.
“Don’t worry, Raindrops, I’ve done this before. It’s easier this way,” replied Derpy.
The trip down the mountain was much faster than going up. When they finally reached the other side Derpy said, “Come on, Raindrops, let’s go.”
“Hold on, my legs hurt,” said Raindrops, sitting on a nearby rock.
As the two mail mares went in to town, they witnessed a team of pegasi moving a large storm cloud over a field of crops. But before the crops could get enough rain, the cloud flew over to the mountain that Derpy and Raindrops had just climbed. The pegasi flew away with disappointed looks on their faces.
A unicorn mare with a cyan coat and a mane of fiery orange and yellow was sitting on the doorstep of her house. She looked up at the sky with a depressed look in her eyes and sighed.
“Umm... is your name Firecracker Burst?” Raindrops asked as she trotted up. She had pulled her saddle bags over her flank, embarrassed that it was blank.
“Yeah,” she replied.
“I have a package for you,” Raindrops said, while Derpy, with a goofy look on her face, carried the box on her head.
Firecracker grinned wildly. She lifted the box with her magic and without any warning, made it burst into flames. Raindrops jaw dropped and Derpy clapped her hooves as if she was watching a fireworks show.
“Relax,” Firecracker reassured. The flame went out and the ashes fell to the ground revealing a bottle with a gray substance inside. “My special talent is controlling fire.”
“Oh, the inside burnt up too!” Derpy exclaimed.
“Nah, it’s just powder,” said Firecracker. “I told an acquaintance of mine in Ponyville about the problem our town has and she said she would send help.” Firecracker cleared her throat.
“A while back we discovered that somepony cursed the mountain over there so that it would steal any rain clouds that got near it. So I sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle, a pony I met once at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She told me that she would look into it. And now she sent me this!” Firecracker opened the bottle, sparks shot out of it. “Magic powder!”
Firecracker had given some of the powder to one of the Vanhoover weather ponies to dust a raincloud with. She brought a cloud over and dropped the powder on it. Firecracker stared at the cloud. First a few drops of rain fell. Then more rain and more until it was pouring. “It’s not moving. It’s not moving! Hey everypony, the cloud’s not moving!”
The villagers opened their windows, hoping what she said was true. When they found that it was, they dashed out of their houses and started dancing and shouting for joy.
Raindrops looked around and saw how happy all of them were. The thought of delivering mail for the rest of her life, seeing happy faces like theirs every day, made her smile.
“C’mon, let’s go inside before we get completely soaked,” Firecracker offered. As Raindrops and Derpy came through the door, Firecracker said, “Would you like to take a bath while you wait for the rain to stop?”
“Why?” Raindrops asked.
“Well, you’re covered in dirt.”
Raindrops looked at herself; the trip had left her coat covered in a thin layer of soil and her hair filled with a number of leaves and twigs. “Uh, okay.”
Firecracker led her to the bathroom and opened the door. “The clean towels are in the closet for when you finish.” After Raindrops walked in Firecracker closed the door behind her. Raindrops dropped her saddle bags to the floor. She twisted the bathtub faucet and made sure that the temperature was just right. When the tub was full, she stepped in and sat down. I finally have a chance to relax, she thought.
Without warning, she heard the door slam open. “Oh! There’s the bathtub,” Derpy said, standing in the doorway.
“Huh?! Derpy?!” Raindrops said, with a surprised look on her face.
“I looked everywhere and couldn’t find another one. Can I share yours?”
“Huh? Okay.” Raindrops said, looking down.
As Derpy tried to get in, she slipped and fell with a splash. After lifting her head out of the water, she chuckled and sat down next to her friend. She took a bottle of shampoo and squeezed some into her mane.
Once Derpy got a nice lather in her hair, Raindrops suddenly said, “Derpy, I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Derpy stopped rubbing her hooves in her hair.
“Before when I said I wanted to deliver the package on hoof, it was really because I was scarred to fly with you. But I know now that I was wrong and that you can fly well.”
“It’s okay.” Derpy put her hoof on Raindrops’ shoulder. ”I had a great time. I hope we get to go outside of Ponyville again sometime.”
“Yeah, I’d like that too,” said Raindrops. Relieved that her apology was accepted, she grabbed a bar of soap and started washing up.
After they finished their bath, Raindrops started to get out of the tub.
“Rain,” said Derpy, her eyes widened.
“Huh? Yeah, I guess the rain might have stopped by now,” Raindrops said, just getting to the door.
“No, rain!” Derpy said in excitement and pointed to Raindrops’ flank. Instead of the usual solid color, Raindrops’ behind had a mark in the shape of three raindrops.
“My cutie mark!” she said in surprise. Somepony did help me find my special talent, she thought. “Derpy!” She ran over to Derpy, who had just put her hooves on the floor, hugged her, and started crying.
Derpy hugged her back and said, “There, there. You’re cutie mark isn’t that bad.”
“No Derpy, I’m crying because I’m so happy. I love my cutie mark.” Once she stopped crying they let go and left the bathroom.
Firecracker was sitting in the kitchen, snacking on pickled peppers, when she saw the two mail mares come. “The cloud moved away from my house and over to the crops, so it stopped raining,” she said.
"Okay,” said Raindrops, “we better get going then.”
“I won’t forget you girls,” Firecracker said.
"We won’t forget you ether,” said Raindrops as she opened the door.
The two ponies stepped outside and took off. Now that they were flying, the return trip was a little faster and by the time they came to Raindrops house it was getting dark.
“Goodnight, Raindrops.”
“Goodnight, Derpy.” Raindrops opened the front door to her house.
“See you tomorow!” Derpy said as she took to the air.
Raindrops flew upstairs and got ready for bed.
I can’t wait to go to work tomorrow and see Derpy again, Raindrops thought as she lay down. I didn’t think that she would be the one to help me find my special talent. Or that my special talent would be in the postal service. I thought that I would just deliver mail for a while before I found something better. It’s weird that my cutie mark is just like my name. Rain doesn’t have a lot to do with the postal service, but I guess it’s like that old saying. ‘Nether rain, nor sleet, nor...’ How did the rest of it go?
