Limits

Soarin casually munched on a muffin, his third in a matter of minutes. He’d wandered around Ponyville for a while, surprised he was having so much difficulty finding the park considering the size of the town, and the fact that he’d woken there that morning. He was used to much larger cities, Cloudsdale especially, considering if memory served him right it was where he spent a majority of his time.

“What are you doing on the ground?” A faintly familiar voice shouted startling Soarin who choked painfully on a chunk of muffin as he reflexively swallowed. The rainbow colored weather pony he was looking for settled on the ground in front of him, a suspicious and happy glint in her magenta eyes. “The boss pony wants these clouds cleared pronto!”

Dim ripples of thunder accompanied by weak flashes of lightning emphasized her comment as a bundle of storm cloud floated casually overhead. Soarin swallowed the lump of pastry on which he’d choked before grinning and flaring his wings as much as he was able. The mare’s unusual anger fell into an expression of pity. “Oh…”

He looked haggard and worn, his eyes watching her with only the impression of remembrance. She had never seen him out of uniform and now that she had it was all she could do to stop from staring. Despite the state of his injuries he was toned and lean, every bit the athletic daredevil she knew him to be, but his cheery playful disposition had been replaced by a questioning vacancy that left her puzzled.

“So am I excused?” He asked noticing her lingering gaze with more than a fair bit of confusion and uncertainty pulling her back to the present, the fan girl smile remaining. She had a very pretty smile he remembered vaguely as a flutter of memory broke through the fog clouding his mind. She mimicked his smile in reply to his question hiding her embarrassment with a witty retort. “You bust outta the hospital or something?”

The clouds overhead were forgotten as her curiosity got the better of her. Only the occasional rumble of faint thunder reminded her that she had a job she was effectively neglecting.

“Maybe...” He said with a withered shrug. “I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember what?” She answered as if his forgetting everything was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “How do you forget something that leaves you looking like that?” Rainbow continued skeptically gesturing to the stallion’s injured body. His pale coat was unable to hide the patch of dark bruising coloring the skin across his chest, not to mention the state of his wings. It was amazing he’d managed to get airborne at all.

“I uh, hit my head,” He answered. “And everything’s a bit hazy. How do you know me?”

“You don’t remember that either?” She realized disappointingly.

“Maybe, vaguely...” He answered slowly. He hadn’t forgotten completely, his memory of her was unclear at best but it was far more prominent than that of his inability to fly, or that of the grey mare he’d woken beside that morning.

“You are Rainbow Dash aren’t you?” The mare smiled eagerly for all the wrong reasons. “The pink pony at the bakery said you could help me find somepony.” Soarin continued changing the subject as he remembered his motive for seeking out the vibrantly colored pony.

--

Derpy Hooves made her way across Ponyville ducking into bushes and hiding behind trees. Her eyes flitted everywhere, watching the ground and the sky simultaneously, which for her wasn’t a difficult task normally. Trying to do so purposely however turned out to be more difficult than she anticipated and more than once had landed her on the wrong side of an irate pony. She suspected half the reason was because how late she was in delivering the mail, it was nearing dusk, the sky painted in ever darkening shades of yellow and pink.

She smiled lightly to herself as she enjoyed the sensation of flight, her deliveries all made, the weight of her empty mail bag resting lightly against her flank. The rhinestones shimmered faintly in the dying light of day and her conversation with Rarity came to mind.

With a somewhat awkward landing she trotted the remaining distance to the post office. She nudged the door open with a hoof surprised to find the lobby vacant, until she remembered the late hour. With a flick of her tail she trotted toward the back rooms, where the mail was sorted before delivery to the various cities and towns including and surrounding Ponyville. A sliver of light traced along the floor and after a moment of pondering she followed where it led.

A well worn door hung slightly ajar at the back of a short hallway. She crept up to it, as quietly as possible, cringing each time her hooves touched the floor. Holding her breath she leaned towards it, intending to look through the crack but her eyes weren’t cooperating. After a moment of twisting and fidgeting she managed to get her right eye on an even enough keel to peer in, but the act involved leaning on the door itself, which held for but a moment before it swung inwards depositing the eavesdropping mare into the room.

“Miss Hooves?” A deep grumbling voice spoke sounding mildly surprised.

“Post Master!” Derpy said a bit louder than she had intended as she scrambled to her hooves. “I…I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to fall in…”

“You’re back awfully late Miss Hooves.” The large brown stallion said lightly a smile touching his lips. “No trouble I hope?”

“Oh, um…no, that is, not related to the mail, sir.” The mare managed to say, cringing at how fickle it sounded once voiced. She was surprised she’d managed to say anything at all given how intimidating her boss could be by simply standing there much less when he chose to also speak.

“About this ‘falling in’ as you so put it,’ He began stepping out from behind his desk, “I’ve been meaning to speak with you about your recent performance.”

Derpy bit her lip dolefully her shoulders slumping. The stallion’s softened gaze went unnoticed as the mares eyes were currently looking at the floor beneath her hooves and a small bookshelf set against the wall to her right. A broad hoof on her shoulder brought her attention, and one of her eyes, to the stallion standing in front of her. “It seems there have been some complaints.”

“That’s bad…” The grey pony muttered sadly rubbing her eyes with a hoof until they settled properly.

“Yes complaints are normally a bad thing however,” The stallion went on his tone brightening considerably. “I have also received some considerable insight concerning how well you perform under pressure, compliments of a ‘dear friend’.”

“What does that mean?” Derpy asked blatantly not understanding the implication of the stallion’s words.

“It means Miss Hooves,” The stallion said reaching into his desk and pulling out a considerably sized envelope. “That you have earned a bonus and a bit of vacation as it were.”

“A vacation?” Derpy murmured in disbelief her ears lying flat. She took a step back ignorant of the envelope lying on the desktop. Vacation meant time off and time off meant… “You’re firing me?”

The stallions face fell as he realized the mare had misunderstood. “How long have you worked for us Miss Hooves?”

Derpy thought a moment before answering. “Three years sir.”

“…And in all that time have you once not gotten a package where it was meant to go?” He asked. The mail mare shook her head. She prided herself on her record of correct deliveries, not the speed at which she delivered them. “Now, I’m giving you two weeks, paid leave. I expect you back bright and early once that time has passed. Do you understand?”

Derpy nodded meekly accepting the envelope with a bit of hesitance before turning to leave the office. She paused at the door, her ears still flat, her shoulders still slumped. She glanced back at her boss, insecurity written on her face. “So, I’m not fired?”

“No Miss Hooves,” the stallion said with an appeasing smile. “Two weeks, then I expect you back bright eyed and smiling.”

The slightly confused and somewhat relieved mail mare alighted gently on the remains of a cloud, thankful that the previously trapped lightning had dissipated. She cast her gaze toward the horizon where the last traces of daylight slipped below the distant mountains. Within moments the stars had begun to emerge as Luna scattered them across the dark sky in wake of a nearly full moon.

Creating a comfortable pony sized crater in the cloud she dug into her mailbag smiling lightly at the envelope full of bits before bypassing it and pulling out the Grand Galloping Gala pamphlet Rarity had given her that afternoon.

Echoes of phantom laughter nearly stopped her as she was reminded of yet another misnomer ponies lumped in with her impairment; she couldn’t read. It wasn’t that she couldn’t read but rather the fact that holding her eyes at an even keel for extended periods of time, in this case the act of reading anything longer than a short article, caused terrible headaches.

Pushing past the memories she immersed herself in the words and pictures before the daylight could retreat fully, replacing the bodies of mares with her own as she imagined herself where they had been. A smile grew on her face as her imagination ran free; whisking her away to the kind of place she’d only dreamed about.

She shook her head violently however scattering the daydream as she found herself implanting that handsome colt into the fantasy with her. Still a smile graced her lips at the idea. Maybe she should talk to him like Rarity suggested?

Maybe…

A sudden breeze pulled the pamphlet from her hooves, and with a cry she dove after it, grasping uselessly at it with her teeth and hooves, but the breeze was relentless and in a matter of moments with the continued tug the phantom wind carried it across the sky and out of Derpy’s reach. (6)