Derpy returned home after shopping for groceries. It may have surprised some ponies that she would buy normal everyday food, because she had a reputation of being obsessed with muffins. While true that she rated muffins the highest on her favorite food scale, she also full well knew that one could not survive on them alone. Besides that a muffin a day could hardly be justified as being obsessed with them.
She managed the way from her front door to the kitchen without dropping or spilling any of her supplies. A feat she smiled at while carefully putting her shopping bags on the floor. She hummed a tune while unpacking and stowing away her purchased goods. She decided to have a relaxing bath and then later go out for a stroll through Ponyville. While the mornings were chilly, the afternoons still had some warmth in them and she planned to make the best of it. Soon the leaves would turn from green to red and shortly thereafter the running of the leaves would take place. Derpy disliked the bare trees and very much preferred them with leaves. But some things just were a part of life and could not be avoided.
Winter and with it snow would soon follow, after the trees had been stripped of their leaves. She didn’t mind the cold and rather enjoyed walking through the snow. The crunching sound under her hooves being the only sound in the early mornings was oddly comforting. After winter of course came spring or to be more precise Winter Wrap-up Day. Derpy enjoyed that day most of all days in the entire year. Everypony worked together to bring spring to the country and sung songs while doing it. She may have messed up on occasion with the job she was tasked with, like flying north instead of south to pick up the birds, but those were only minor hiccups. Seeing everything bloom and the animals wake up from their hibernation was a lot of fun.
Spring however was far away and for now she would enjoy a nice hot bath. Before turning to go into her bathroom she took one of the apples she had just bought. With it in her mouth she trotted upstairs still humming the tune from before. She started the bath and after adjusting the temperature she sat back on her haunches and watched the water fill up the tub. After a moment she decided to add the mix for bubbles. Nothing was better than a bubble bath in her opinion.
She took a bite out of the apple and enjoyed the flavor. Applejack always said that her apples were the best in Equestria and from where Derpy was sitting that was most certainly true. She briefly thought about her earlier encounter with the farmpony during her visit to the market. Applejack always had a lot of customers, but she still took the time to ask how each and every one was and exchange a few more lines of pleasantries. Unlike other vendors who asked the same question, Applejack genuinely seemed to what to know how the ponies were doing. Derpy liked Applejack and enjoyed delivering mail to Sweet Apple Acres, especially in spring when all the apple trees were blooming. It was a shame that she didn’t know her any better, but the farmpony was almost always busy with her work and rarely seemed to have time for other things.
Derpy finished eating the apple, core and everything, at the right time to stop the water pouring into the tub. Without hesitation she stepped into the warm soothing liquid not being able to stop herself from grinning. Carefully she sat down and blew a few of the bubbles up into the air. Giggling like a filly she swatted a few of them around and watched them float around the bathroom before silently popping away into nothing. She took a deep breath and submerged herself into the mountains of bubbles before diving deeper into the water. After a few seconds she resurfaced with a grin and laid down on her back.
Any outside viewer would have only been able to see the foam with thousands of bubbles apart from one grey muzzle poking out at one end of the tub. Derpy felt something bump into her left foreleg and carefully lifted up the foreign object. It was her mailmare’s cap that she must have forgotten to take off. With a shrug she put it back on her head, it could do with a wash anyway.
After a while she turned on her side and lifted her flank out of the water. Since she was a filly she would always play the same game everytime she had a bubble bath. Her golden uneven eyes surveyed the foam looking for just the right sized bubbles. One by one she found the right sizes to match the bubbles of her cutie mark. She turned on her back again and smiled and the blissful moment. It had been a good day today.
________________________________________________________________________
Twilight Sparkle levitated a plate of biscuits over to the table where two of her best friends were sitting. It had been a slow day for the librarian thus far. Apart from the mailmare and Rainbow Dash no other ponies had come to the library. She knew that once the weather turned dreary plenty of ponies would come by to lend books. It didn’t really bother her as it gave her more time for her studies.
Currently Fluttershy and Applejack were her guests. Fluttershy had come by like she did every Saturday late afternoon for some biscuits and tea. Applejack had only just arrived and was grateful to be off her hooves for a moment.
“Boy, Ah tell ya. This time of the month ponies go crazy for the last of the apples we got fer sale.” She said while rubbing her aching legs. “Don’t help none that we also gotta buck all of the rest of the apples in the orchard fer cider making. Ain’t got a minutes peace ‘round this time of the year.”
“Do you need help?” Twilight asked and gave a meaningful look towards the farmpony.
“Nah, we can manage.” Applejack chuckled. “And yes, if we would need help Ah wouldn’t mind asking fer it. Ah learned my lesson Twilight, thanks.”
Applejack wolfed down a biscuit whole and smiled at the lavender unicorn who returned the smile.
“It is a very busy time for the animals as well.” Fluttershy spoke softly, even more than usual since she was in a library after all. “Now begins the time where they have to gather food for the winter.”
“Well do you need any help with that?” Twilight asked, although her expertise with animals was not all that helpful in reality.
“Oh no, thank you very much for asking. The animals can take care of most of the stuff themselves, I just supervise them and help the ones that are having problems finding food.” Fluttershy explained and daintily nibbled on a biscuit.
“Ah brought back the book that Granny Smith was reading.” Applejack said while nosing open her saddle bags beside her. “Ah am to say thanks and that she really enjoyed it.”
Twilight took the book from the orange mare with her magical energy and hovered it over to Spike who was currently sitting in a corner reading a comic book.
“Would you mind putting that back for me once you are finished?” she asked while sitting down at the table.
“Sure thing, Twilight. Just a couple more pages and I will get right on that.” The dragon said not tearing his eyes away from his preferred alternative to books.
“Would you like me to find another similar book for Granny Smith to read?” the unicorn asked and poured herself a cup of tea.
“Sure thing. Ah bet she would enjoy another good tale to read. Mind you Ah might not be able to return it so fast. What with the cider makin’ and all.”
“Not a problem. You can take all the time you need.”
“Thanks, Twilight.”
Just as Applejack had thanked her friend the front door opened and another unicorn stepped inside the library.
“Hello darlings.” Rarity greeted and quietly closed the door behind her. Spike immediately dropped his comic book and was at her side in a flash.
“Anything I can do for you?” he eagerly asked.
“Thank you Spike, but I need a favor from Twilight. So very kind of you to ask though.” She gently stroked over his head causing the dragon to almost float up in the air.
She trotted over to her seated friends and took a seat between Fluttershy and Twilight.
“What kind of a favor do you need from me?” Twilight asked and offered a cup of tea to the newest arrival. Rarity gladly accepted the offered drink.
“I was hoping you might be able to teach me a spell. One for stain removal to be precise.”
“Hehe…lemme guess. This wouldn’t have to have somethin’ ta do with the crusaders currently staying at yer place would it?” Applejack gave her a knowing look.
“How did you figure that out?” Rarity deadpanned.
“Any specific stains that would need removal?” Twilight asked and was well aware of Spike standing at attention behind her.
“Well, yesterday they came back covered in tree sap. How they always manage to do that is a mystery, especially considering that they were rock climbing. Today they went out to the lake to get their cutie marks in waterskiing. Oh I can just see all the muddy hoofprints all over my pristine polished floor.” Rarity lifted a foreleg in melodramatic fashion to her forehead.
Before Twilight could say anything Spike already had zoomed off to the bookshelves grabbing select tomes for spells that may be useful for Rarity’s problem. He hoped that his efforts would not go unnoticed by the white unicorn.
“Well if those fillies are too much fer ya, Ah guess Ah could take them fer the rest of the weekend.” Applejack offered.
“Nonsense, darling. I admit they can be a hooffull at times, but I do enjoy having them around when they are not quite so destructive. Besides I am happy that Sweetie Belle has somepony to play with, that way I can put the finishing touches on the dresses I am currently making for our little invitation to Princess Celestia’s garden party next week.” Rarity’s face lit up as a thought occurred to her.
“You girls wouldn’t happen to need new dresses for that occasion would you?” she asked eagerly. While the last time she had offered to make them dresses had turned out to be a rather taxing experience, she loved to create new fashion and jumped on any opportunity to design new things.
“Thanks Rarity, but my dress you made for the Galloping Gala is perfectly suited for that invitation.” Twilight said and glanced over the first few tomes that Spike had brought her.
“I’ll be wearing my dress from the Gala too.” Fluttershy happily said and smiled her small smile.
“And you, Applejack?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Ah’ll just wear my usual duds.” She casually remarked and snickered at the resulting shocked expression on Rarity’s face. “Ah’m just kiddin’. Ah’ll wear my Gala dress and yes it doesn’t have a scratch on it.”
“I trust you will be wearing the correct chapeau to go with it?”
“Yes, Ah’ll wear the fancy hat ya made with it.”
Rarity still seemed a bit disappointed at a missed opportunity to create new fashion. Then again it did give her more time to create a stunning ensemble for herself.
____________________________________________________________________
Twilight had skimmed through all of the books Spike had brought her, but could not find a suitable spell. It occurred to her that she had one or two books upstairs on her bedside table, perhaps one of them had a useful spell. She got up from the table and left her friends chatting amongst themselves. Spike meanwhile had begun to sort back the books into the shelves he had taken them from.
Upstairs Twilight skimmed through the books on her bedside table, both of them not revealing anything useful. This bugged her more than she would admit to anypony. There most certainly was a spell for stain removal that she was sure of. Then why was it not amongst her books here in the library? It seemed as if she would have to order some more books. Before she could head back downstairs a sudden shout from outside drifted in through her open window. She paused and listened.
“There you are! We have something to discuss!” a stallions voice boomed up to the window. An angry stallion Twilight corrected mentally.
She heard something hitting the ground with a –Thud- and a jingling sound of broken glass or some other fragile material.
“What is this?” the stallion demanded to know.
“I… I don’t know.” A mares voice answered. Twilight vaguely recognized the voice but could not place it at the moment.
“This disgraceful package is the one you delivered this morning. Just look at the state of it!” The stallion was berating the mailmare from this morning. Twilight looked out of her window, but could not see them.
“My darling daughter was in tears when she found out that it was broken. As soon as my butler informed me of what happened we came here and we demand an explanation!”
“I…I…” the mare stammered.
“Is that all you can say?”
“It wasn’t broken when I delivered it.” The mare barely managed to squeak out.
“Don’t lie to me. My faithful servant told me that it was broken the moment he picked it up, but before he could do anything you had already left in a hurry!”
“N…no! It wasn’t my fault.”
“You are a disgrace to the fine Equestrian Postal Service!”
“Hey! Look my father in the eye when he is talking to you. Or can’t you even do that properly?” a third voice joined the argument, this one belonging to a filly.
“I shall be issuing a formal complaint on Monday. Somepony with your obvious deficiencies should not work in a field where careful handling is required! Take this broken piece of trash back home with you. Let it be a reminder of your incompetence.”
Twilight stood frozen for a moment, unable to move at the pure venom she had heard from another pony being spat in the face of the mailmare. Only when she saw the grey mare coming into view from around the corner of her library did she regain her ability to move. The pegasus mare was walking slowly towards what Twilight assumed would be the direction of her home. Her head hung low to the ground, ears folded back and a beaten and battered package on her back.
With a flash of magic Twilight teleported down a few meters away from the mare as not to scare her.
“I heard what happened. Are you ok?” she asked with concern obvious in her voice. The mailmare did not look up, but simply continued her slow walk towards her destination.
“Look, I know it’s none of my business, but if there is something I can do to help please tell me.” She said while trotting up next to the pegasus.
“Leave me alone.” The mare muttered and ignored the unicorn beside her.
“That wasn’t right what that stallion just said. Please I just want to help.” Twilight was almost pleading now, her heart aching for the obviously hurt pegasus.
“Please….just let me be.” She muttered again and shifted the package from her back into her forelegs. Without warning she took to the skies leaving a saddened Twilight behind.
___________________________________________________________________
Reluctantly Twilight walked back to the Library. She wished she could have seen who the stallion was that had so heinously berated the poor mare so she could give him a piece of her mind. Clueless as how to handle this situation she entered the library via the front door, much to the surprise of her friends who had just moments before seen her walk up the stairs.
“Twilight? What’s the matter?” Rarity asked voicing the concern of the others when they saw the unicorns troubled expression.
“I just heard somepony say really awful things to our mailmare.” She explained with a sigh.
“Derpy? An’ just what did he say to her?” Applejack wanted to know.
“He blamed her for a broken item that she had delivered.” She looked at her friends not really sure of how to put the next part into word. “Then he continued to say that somepony like her with her obvious deficiencies shouldn’t be working as a mailmare.”
The reaction of her friends was pretty much that what she had expected. Rarity looked disgusted, Fluttershy looked sad and Applejack was obviously getting angry.
“He said what!? Did ya see who said that? Ah really want to teach him a thing or two about manners.” Twilight shook her head in response. “Well did ya recognize the voice?” again Twilight shook her head. “Darn it!”
“Where did she go?” Fluttershy asked.
“She just flew off. She said she wanted to be left alone.”
“Well we have to respect her wishes.” Rarity voiced her opinion. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t do something for her later of course.”
“Well I guess we could go to her place later and see how she is doing.” Twilight offered. The others nodded their agreement. “Does anypony know where she lives?”
The ponies in question looked at each other hoping one of them would know the answer. It was apparent that none of them knew her address.
“Now what?” Twilight asked. “I guess I’ll just have to find somepony who knows where she lives. I’ll be right back.”
Twilight had kept looking at her friends while blindly trotting towards the front door. Thus she did not notice it opening just before she had reached it. The pony coming in crashed into Twilight and both of them went down in a tumble of legs. Twilight opened one eye and was confused at the sight before her. She was looking at the ceiling but something was floating down on top of her. Confetti!
Her head spun around to look at the pony she had bumped into and her vision suddenly filled with pinkness.
“Heya Twilight! Watcha doing?” Pinkie asked with a giggle snort and hugged the surprised unicorn. Celestia must have sent her here, if anypony would know the address of Derpy’s home it would be Pinkie Pie as she knew everypony in Ponyville.
“Pinkie! Am I glad you are here.”
“Well that’s superiffic. I just came here because I know that Fluttershy is always here around this time on Saturdays and on top of that Applejack and Rarity are here as well, so we can all do something super fun fun together, although Rainbow Dash isn’t here right now that doesn’t mean that she won’t turn up later maybe or we could of course go and get her before we mmpf mbml mhpf fmmf mmmmblmmpf.” Twilight dared not remove her hoof from Pinkie muzzle. The pink pony was still talking although it must be apparent even to her that she could not be understood anymore.
“Pinkie, stop! I need your help.” Twilight said with a bit of force behind her voice. The mumbling soon stopped and Pinkie nodded her head once.
“Sure thing, Twilight! What do you want me to do?” she asked cheerfully and bounced in place.
“Do you know where Derpy lives?” Twilight asked relieved that Pinkie was paying attention and not being all over the place for once.
Pinkie Pie stopped her bouncing and looked at Twilight with a puzzled expression. “Who’s that?”
“Really?” Twilight asked more to herself, but could see the same question going through everyone of her friends minds at the same time.
Pinkie Pie gasped with excitement “Is there a new pony in town? Who is it? I haven’t done my Welcome to Ponyville song in a long time and this time I’ll be extra careful not to put the confetti in the oven and the batter in the cannons.”
“The mailmare? You don’t know our mailmare?” Twilight thought it to be impossible that Pinkie Pie of all ponies could not know every single one of the town’s residents.
“Oooooh, her name isn’t Derpy, silly.”
“It…..isn’t?” Twilight looked over to her friends who seemed just as confused.
“No it’s Ditzy. Ditzy Doo. Likes muffins, has her birthday in spring, also really likes that season, but can make excellent snowponies in the winter. Her favorite color is…” Twilight interrupted the babbling pony.
“Well why does everypony call her Derpy?” she asked no one in particular.
“I don’t call her that.” Pinkie interjected.
“Well why does everypony else except Pinkie call her Derpy?”
“Ah don’t know. Ah have always known her as Derpy.” Applejack said and glanced over to the other ponies at the table.
“Maybe she is using an alias. Perhaps she does not want her real name to be known. What if she is some kind of royalty living here amongst us humble ponies. Or maybe she took on a new name when her love of her life left her before going on some kind of important mission.”
“Ya read way too many of them romance novels, Rarity” Applejack interrupted the fashionista’s active imagination.
“Or….or maybe ponies say that because of her eyes? Wouldn’t that just be awful? And we were all doing it as well.” Fluttershy hid behind her mane at the thought of doing something cruel.
“Do you really think that could be?” Twilight asked, but received no more than a muffled squeak from Fluttershy.
“Well you could ask her of course.” Pinkie offered.
“Do you know where Ditzy lives?”
“Yeah, of course. She lives in that house on the east side of Ponyville next to the well. That big yellow house.”
“Thanks, Pinkie! Now all that we have to think about is what to do.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Pinkie asked with a smile.
Twilight didn’t want to go into details so she gave the pink pony the short version. “Ditzy is really sad right now and wanted to be left alone. We want to cheer her up later, but are not sure how.”
“Oh, I know!” Pinkie nearly yelled and bounced high into the air.
“Betcha she’ll say party.” Applejack whispered to Rarity.
“I never bet against a sure thing like that.” Rarity whispered back.
“A Party!” both previously whispering ponies rolled their eyes. “A good party can always cheer a pony up.”
Twilight thought about it for a moment. Technically Pinkie Pie was correct. Her parties always were able to make the guests feel better and leave with a smile on their faces.
“Perhaps that’s not a bad idea. Do you think you could prepare one on such short notice?”
“Hey…you are talking to the best party planner in all of Equestria! Of course I can set one up for this evening.” Pinkie Pie was positively giddy at the prospect of hosting another party. It had been a full three days without one after all.
“Party? For whom?” a new voice joined the assembled ponies.
Twilight looked over to the top of the stairs and frowned at the new arrival. It was obvious that Rainbow Dash had flown in through the open window upstairs instead of using the front door.
“An open window is not an invitation to come inside Rainbow Dash.” Twilight mumbled just loud enough to be heard by the pegasus.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I have something really important to discuss with you. First however I want to know what this party is all about.”
“Our mailmare had a rather unpleasant experience a few moments ago and we want to throw her a party to cheer her up.” Twilight explained and jumped reflexively a few meters back when Rainbow Dash flew right up to her face.
“Derpy? What happened?” the hovering pegasus demanded to know.
“You know that isn’t her real name?” Twilight asked, but didn’t reckon with Rainbow Dash’s reply.
“Yeah, it’s Ditzy. What happened Twilight?”
“How do you know her real name? And why do you then call her Derpy?” Twilight was taken aback slightly.
“Because that’s what she asked me to call her. Never asked why as it’s none of my business. And I know her real name, because she is a backup weatherpony in case of emergencies. I am in charge of the weather teams here in Ponyville and that includes handling the payroll. Her name turned up there. Now I am asking only once more…..what happened?”
Twilight shrunk back a bit. For some reason Rainbow Dash was getting angrier by the minute, even more than Applejack had been a while ago. In her best interest she quickly told the blue pagasus what had happened and in doing so also informed Pinkie of all that had happened in detail.
Rainbow Dash hovered in midair chewing the inside of her cheek while in deep thought.
“So you want to throw her a party to make her feel better.” Twilight nodded even if that wasn’t really a question.
“Do the party tomorrow evening. I’ll have a talk with her today.” Rainbow Dash finally said and landed on the floor.
“Why not do the party today? It’s super easy for me to setup you know.” Pinkie had been silent until now.
“Trust me. She wouldn’t come if it’s today. And you wouldn’t make her feel better by surprising her at her place. Just set up the party some other place for tomorrow evening. Like here in the library.” Rainbow Dash said in a tone that left no room for discussion.
“And don’t center the party around her either. Just do a regular one and invite a few ponies, maybe at some point you could give her something nice to make her feel better.”
“You seem to know her rather well.” Rarity chimed in.
“More than the rest of you it seems.” There was a hard undertone to Rainbow Dash’s last statement.
Unsure on how to react to that the others merely looked somewhat sheepish, except for Pinkie Pie who seemed lost in thought. Most likely she was already setting up the entire party in her head.
“I am actually here for something important.” Rainbow Dash decided to change the subject and turned to Twilight. “Have you read the book?”
“The book? Oh, you mean the Daring….no I haven’t. Is it good?”
“Yeah it’s good, but that isn’t the problem. You need to read that book!”
Twilight just looked at her rainbow maned friend perplexed for a moment. “Have you finished it already?”
“No, I am about three quarters through. I can’t explain it, but you have to read this book before I can talk about it. Otherwise you wouldn’t believe me or understand.”
“Three quarters….you are reading it very fast. I guess I’ll start reading it as soon as I am finished with my current….studies…err…” Twilight trailed off and suddenly felt uneasy because of the look that Rainbow Dash was giving her.
“No, no. You have to read this book now.” With a quick flap of her wings Rainbow Dash covered the distance between her and Twilight. With a small yelp the unicorn tried to back away.
“Read. The. Book.” Rainbow Dash punctuated each word with a jab into the lavender pony’s chest, causing her to fall onto her haunches at the last jab.
“Ok.” Twilight managed to squeak out while giving the other pony a very forced grin.
Rainbow Dash nodded once and turned away seemingly reading herself for takeoff. She paused for a moment and finally rubbed her chin with a hoof.
“You mind if I borrow some scrolls, ink and a quill? I may have to do some research.” She finally said and looked back at Twilight, who was still trying to maintain her grin.
Without answering she merely pointed over to a table near the staircase where she kept a small supply of the items that Rainbow Dash had so surprisingly asked for.
“Thanks! See you guys tomorrow.” The pegasus said after taking what she needed. Once again she decided not to use the front door and rather flew upstairs again out the window.
For nearly a minute nopony and no dragon moved a muscle. Twilight still was sitting on the floor, but had replaced the grin with an expression of pure confusion. A quick glance over to her friends showed the same reaction on their faces to the events that had just transpired.
“What jus’ happened?” Applejack finally spoke and looked around, for a moment wondering if maybe Discord was lurking nearby.
“Ahem. Seems like our athletic friend has taken a liking to books, quite like dear Twilight in fact. Maybe a case of the apprentice surpassing the master? Or maybe the monster she has created coming back to haunt her?” Rarity said with a smirk.
“Rainbow Dash isn’t a monster. She’s just very passionate about the things she likes.” Fluttershy quietly objected to Rarity’s statement.
“Of course I did not mean that literally, darling.”
“So…err…what are ya going to do now, sugercube?” Applejack asked still not sure that this wasn’t just a prank by Rainbow Dash.
“I guess I am going to read a book.” Twilight finally said and got up.
_____________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash carefully put down the supplies she had borrow from Twilight onto her living room table. She could almost feel the physical pull from the open book resting on the couch in front of her. Before she could tackle that mystery, she still had to take care of a more important issue.
The travel from her home to Derpy’s home took a few minutes. Rainbow Dash had only been here twice before, both times asking Derpy to help out with the weather when a number of her team had fallen ill. She knocked three times and patiently waited for the grey mailmare to answer the door.
She began to doubt if Derpy was home when nothing happened. Just as she was about to knock again the door opened a crack and she could see the vague outlines of Derpy’s face.
“Rainbow Dash?” the grey mare sounded as if she had been crying.
“Hey, Derpy! Mind if I come in?” she gave her a warm smile hoping not to talk to the mare through the door. The less ponies saw them the better. After a silent minute of thought the grey pegasus stepped back and let the door swing slowly open. Rainbow Dash took the invitation and stepped inside, quietly closing the door after she entered.
Derpy’s home was different to other pony’s homes, mainly because of the lack of furniture. The small hallway just had one small mirror with a rack next to it. A wet blue cap currently the only thing hanging on it. On the left an open doorway led into the living room. A single skyblue couch being the only mentionable large piece of furniture apart from bookshelves filled to the brim.
Rainbow Dash followed the grey mare into the kitchen. Of all rooms that Rainbow Dash had seen this was the most normal. A large kitchen unit and a medium sized table with two chairs took away most of the space. A large potted plant stood in one corner and was almost high enough to reach the ceiling.
Derpy continued doing that what she had been doing before her visitor had arrived, namely doing the dishes.
“Is another pony on your team sick?” she asked with a tight voice.
“No, actually I am here because of you. I heard you had a bit of trouble not long ago.” Derpy froze at Rainbow’s words.
“Why are you here?” she quietly asked still not moving or turning around.
“To get your side of things. All I know is that Twilight overheard you being treated badly by some jerk.” Rainbow Dash sat down on the floor, ignoring the chairs at the table. “What happened?”
“Why do you want to know?” the question was almost a whisper.
“’Cause you’re on my team and a friend. And when somepony is mean to one of my friends I want to know why.” Rainbow Dash stated calmly and watched the other mare carefully, trying to read her current state.
Derpy sighed before answering. “He said I broke his delivery.” She used a wing to point at a package lying on the table, something that Rainbow Dash had failed to notice while entering.
“Did you?” she had to ask. The necessary question provoked a reaction in the previously unmoving mare. Derpy spun around looking Rainbow Dash in the eyes for the first time since she had entered. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy, telltale signs of having cried not long ago.
“No I didn’t! I am always very careful when transporting fragile things and don’t fly when delivering them.” The plate she had been cleaning and was holding in her front hoof slipped from her grasp, shattering into pieces on the floor. New tears sprung from the grey mares golden eyes as she looked down at the broken plate.
“I swear I didn’t break it.” The last statement dissolved into a sob. Derpy sat down in front of the shards trying to fight back her tears. Rainbow Dash got up and carefully avoided the debris while moving next to the other mare. Sitting now next to her she carefully draped her wing over the other pegasus’ back in a sign of friendship and trust.
“I believe you.” She said and gave Derpy a small squeeze with her wing.
“Y…you do?” the mailmare glanced sideways at the cyan pony beside her.
“Of course I do. You break things every once in a while. It happens. But every time you do that, you always come forward and say you did it. Remember the time you accidentally demolished town hall? You flew to the Mayor and told her what had happened before anypony else even thought of doing that. Shows you’re not afraid to take that responsibility. And breaking stuff happens, me being a bit of an expert of that subject myself. Can’t tell you how many windows and roofs I have damaged while practicing my stunts. I bet I made the ponies rich that had to repair all the stuff I have broken in the past.” Derpy sniffled a bit, but now at least had a small smile forming on her lips. Rainbow Dash waited for a moment before pressing on.
“I don’t think that breaking something would get you so upset. Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?”
Derpy rubbed away a couple of tears with her hoof before nodding. With a deep shuddering breath she began to retell the events of the day.
“Well I had to deliver that package to Diamond Tiara, Filthy Rich’s daughter.” Rainbow Dash frowned at the mentioning of that little brat. Ever since spending more time with Scootaloo she had heard some of the things she did while at school or when interacting with other fillies and colts. Although Rainbow Dash had never met her in person, she already had an intense dislike for the mean little bully.
“I carried the package under my wing the entire time. Once I arrived the butler opened the door and took it off me. I didn’t bump into anything or drop it once. He signed the receipt and I flew off.”
So the butler did it, how cliché.
“Later I was just walking around when Filthy and his Daughter found me outside of the library. He accused me of breaking the contents and said he would complain to the postal service about me.” Rainbow Dash had listened carefully, but could not shake the feeling that Derpy had not told her everything.
“And that made you upset? That he would complain about you?”
Hesitantly the grey mare shook her head. Seemingly trying to collect herself before continuing.
“She said something mean to me and he said that somepony like me shouldn’t be working in such a job. A pony with my deficiencies….” Derpy did not finish the sentence and turned to look at Rainbow Dash with her wall eyed eyes letting them finish the sentence for themselves.
Rainbow Dash’s mood was now hovering between disgusted and thoroughly pissed, yet she swallowed her initial response down in favor of a more calm approach.
“What deficiencies? All I see is a mare who always puts her heart into her job or when helping with weather duty. All they have is a lot of money. They have way more deficiencies than you ever could have. Don’t listen to what they say, it’s just a load of horseapples and if they do something like that again, you come and tell me.”
“It just felt like being back in my old town all over again.” Derpy murmured more to herself than to Rainbow Dash.
“That’s why you came here?” To Rainbow’s shame she did not know all that much about Derpy’s time before coming to Ponyville and she carefully tried to learn a bit more about her.
“Yes. It started there also with one pony who called me out, because of my…well you know. And soon more and more joined in, so I left and came here. Before that I lived in another city, with the same results. And a few more before that. I….I thought it might be different here.”
“Hey, it is different here. You always get one bad apple in a barrel. And yes, I just quoted Applejack. Don’t tell her.” Rainbow nudged Derpy slightly in the side, causing the mare to give her a small smile.
“Thanks, Rainbow.”
“That’s what friends are for, right?” Rainbow Dash decided to shift the conversation to tomorrow evening. “Pinkie is doing another party tomorrow evening at Twilight’s library. Why don’t you come by and hang with some nice ponies?”
Derpy frowned at the idea, her current mood not really suitable for parties.
“I bet Pinkie will bring a fresh batch of muffins to snack on.” Rainbow Dash teased.
“Yeah…I guess I could come for a little while.” Derpy finally gave in at the prospect of muffins and nice ponies.
“That’s the spirit!”
____________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash helped Derpy sweep up the broken plate and after checking that the grey Pegasus was feeling better she said her goodbyes and left. The sun had already set as she took to the skies. Instead of flying home she decided to pay the Rich estate a little visit. Slowly she hovered above and kept an eye open for anypony on the grounds. After she was sure that nopony was to be seen, she thought of a way to get a little payback for Derpy.
In front of the house she recognized the family’s carriage. A white and golden monstrosity that they used on Sunday’s to drive into town or to one of the lakes. It just so happened that tomorrow was Sunday so they would surely what to go for their little ride. Perhaps there was a way to use it somehow to cause a little commotion for the butler.
She landed a few feet away. Her hooves hit the ground with a squelching sound. Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof into the moonlight and saw it was covered in mud. With a devilish smirk appearing on her lips a plan formed in her head and she began scooping up more mud in her hooves. After a couple of minutes her job was done and the previously immaculate carriage was now streaked with mud.
Step one complete.
Silently she took off towards taking a detour towards her home via the lakes. Thanks to her natural flying ability she was able to fly over the surface of the calm lake close enough to drag her hooves through the water. Once they were clean she made her way home. She still had the rest of a book to finish and some research to do.