Limits

-Chapter 2-
-Conflict-

Twilight Sparkle smiled and waved her thanks to the Cakes as she left Sugarcube Corner, a box of honey glazed donuts in a small box on her back. Spike would be delighted to find she had included one for him, encrusted in bright red rubies as per request. She could only guess where the bakers hid them, smiling wryly at thought of the mayhem that would occur should Rarity ever find out they kept a stash of jewels for Spikes consumption.

The purple unicorn was in a lively mood; not unexpected considering the large shipment of new books she had been waiting for was due to arrive today. As she continued down the road lost in thought she couldn’t help but notice Rainbow Dash and the wall eyed mail mare, struggling over a large brown satchel. Twilight recognized the emblem on the bag as that of the Ponyville Postal Service.

“Just give me my mail Derpy!” Rainbow Dash shouted struggling to pull the bag away from the fiercely adamant grey pony.

“It’s not your turn!” The mail mare snapped back, persistent and merciless in her fight to keep the satchel away from Rainbow Dash. She glared viciously at her opponent, her eyes perfectly focused; a rarer sight than the normally contented mare skirmishing with anypony for, well, any reason.

The pair was attracting an ever increasing crowd and though she wouldn’t admit it out loud Twilight was amused by the scuffle. Never the less she couldn’t just stand by and watch the two mares fight over something as simple as mail.

“Pardon me. Excuse me.” Twilight said as she gently shoved her way to the center of the gathered crowd. She opened her mouth to speak but at that moment the strap to the mail bag snapped sending Derpy and Rainbow Dash flying in opposing directions. The grey mail mare slammed into the purple unicorn with enough force to send her several feet back, the pair landing in an awkward and uncomfortable tangle of limbs.

The blue pegasus in the meantime had managed to catch herself in the air, floating contentedly several feet above the crowd, a huge smile on her face as she rummaged through Derpy’s mailbag. Letter after letter quickly gathered below her, absently discarded as the frantic pony sought out one item in particular.

“Where is it?” She cried turning the mailbag upside down and shaking it fervently hoping something more would fall out. Nothing did.

“I told you it’s not your turn!” Derpy said flying awkwardly up to grab the bag away from the confused pony. Just as quickly she flew back down and began to gather the discarded letters, shoving them back into the satchel.

The puzzled Rainbow Dash continued to mumble to herself as Twilight levitated the last letter to the once again wall eyed mail mare, her fiercely narrowed eyes making the condition even more awkward to observe. “Are you alright?”

The mare nodded, a slow smile replacing the frown on her lips.

Twilight was curious as to the state of her own delivery. She knew it wasn’t small enough to fit in the satchel, but with all Derpy had been through on account of Rainbow Dash’s impatience, it somehow felt wrong to ask about it. Before she could think of a polite way to inquire, the gray mail mare leapt into the cloudless blue sky, the incident all but forgotten.

--

Spike stared distraughtly at the box of crushed donuts, his being in a particularly nasty state. Twilight had managed to group together enough of the pieces to pass around equally when her friends arrived, but was still lamenting the fact that they had been destroyed in the first place. The culprit hovered in the other room, an apprehensive frown on her face. The purple mare had attempted to ask several times what was so important that she would resort to such a brash display of hostility, but had gotten nothing except incoherent ramblings.

There was a knock on the door which Twilight quickly moved to answer. When she opened it she was expecting to find somepony waiting but found instead a large brown crate bearing the words 'fragile' and 'important' in tattered red lettering. On top of the box was a magazine addressed to Rainbow Dash alongside a single grey feather accidentally lost in Derpy’s attempt to remain unseen.

Twilight frowned as she carried the box and the magazine inside. This was what all the fuss had been about? As the naturally curious unicorn looked it over she grew more and more perplexed. It was a mare’s magazine, something along the lines of what she imagined Rarity would read then hide under her mattress.

A blush quickly rose to the normally astute mares face as she skimmed the headlines, not to mention the cover image depicting a rather attractive pegasus stallion only vaguely familiar to the purple unicorn.

“Are you okay Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked noticing her friends crimson red countenance from across the room.

“I didn’t know you read Cosmare.” Twilight said tentatively. Rainbow Dash’s eyes flew wide as she realized Twilight had inadvertently learned one of her most embarrassing secrets. She quickly snatched the magazine away, trying and failing to hide the blush rising to her own face.

“I…I don’t.” She answered quickly, stumbling over her own tongue. “It’s just that well, I…I got it for the pictures…of the Wonderbolts. It's a special...issue...”

Rainbow rubbed a hoof nervously across her mane hoping Twilight’s lack of knowledge about the magazines actual contents, was convincing enough. “You won’t tell anypony?”

“N…No.” Twilight stammered, her left eyes twitching involuntarily. An awkward silence hung for several drawn out moments before Twilight turned her attention to her own mail. More importantly she was able to distract herself in such a way that, for the time being at least, she was able to forget about the racy magazine, and the fact that it had been delivered to Rainbow Dash.

--

Floating on a small tuft of cloud some miles away Derpy Hooves was nursing a loose tooth. It wasn’t visible when she smiled or spoke, being a molar at the very back of her jaw, but nevertheless it hurt something fierce. She nudged it with tongue every so often, hoping it was only her imagination but the sharp reply of pain each time the touched it left no doubts.

At her side sat the broken mailbag, the strap snapped in two, a small pile of bits resting just on top. She hoped it would be enough to get the satchel fixed or else she’d have to carry it in her mouth which, considering her injured tooth was an uncomfortable proposition. The wall eyed mail mare gave a discontented sigh before snuggling down into the fluffy cloud and closing her eyes.

Tomorrow will be better. The pegasus told herself as the last rays of Celestia’s sun faded beyond the distant horizon.