The morning began much as any other for Derpy. Her alarm went off at 6:30, giving her plenty of time to make Dinky breakfast before school. She stretched her legs, yawned, and trotted to the bathroom to attend to her morning toilet.
Then she leaned over the toilet and vomited her guts out. That was definitely NOT part of her daily routine.
As she helplessly emptied her stomach, Derpy tried to figure out what was wrong. Had she had some bad hay the night before? Was she contagious? A voice from the doorway interrupted her thoughts, however. “Mommy, are you okay? I heard some funny noises...”
Derpy looked up, eyes bloodshot and even less focused than usual, to see young Dinky Hooves standing in the bathroom doorway. Derpy tried to say something comforting, but all that came out was another round of retching. She was afraid that Dinky’s reaction would be fear, but the young filly surprised her.
“AWESOME!” cried the young unicorn. “Now’s my chance! Wait right here mom, I’ll be right back!” With that, Dinky ran off downstairs, and began loudly thumping about in the living room. Although Derpy didn’t know quite what was going on, she had an inkling. She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a note on it, trying to ignore the waves of nausea still washing over her.
A few minutes later, Dinky returned, this time carrying Derpy’s mailsack. “Don’t worry, mom! I’m gonna be a mailpony just like you, and now you can stay home and rest! I’ll be extra-careful, don’t worry!”
Rather than argue, Derpy gave her daughter a big hug. “I’m sure everything will be fine. Now you’d better hurry to the post office, Silver Scroll will be waiting for me.”
Dinky nodded and rushed out the door. “This’ll be so great! I’ll let her know you’re sick, and then I’ll do your route, and then maybe next time we can both do it together!”
Derpy smiled and waved at Dinky’s retreating figure. She could imagine what would happen when the little pony showed up at Scroll’s office with her note pinned to her back. “Dear Scroll,” Derpy had written, “I’m too sick to come in today. Please make sure Dinky gets to school on time? I don’t think she’s had breakfast yet—if you could get her something from Sugarcube Corner, I’ll pay you back tomorrow. -Derpy.” She felt a little guilty about passing off the job of letting Dinky down on her boss, but another wave of cramps dispelled those thoughts. She was too sick to deal with Dinky right now.
Slowly making her way downstairs, Derpy put on a pot of tea. It was the only thing she felt she could stomach. A grin crossed her face as she realized that this would be the first time she’d missed a day of work in over three years. Walking over to the couch, she lay down and tried her best to enjoy her impromptu vacation.