There was no celebrating when Dice Squadron arrived back. Bretton's eyes were almost glued to the floor, unable to raise his head as he passed by the same techs and ponies he'd bragged to earlier. The interior of the moon looked the same but defeat hung in the air like an invisible fog, filling the space from floor to ceiling. Out of respect for his friend, Gary made no chiding remarks, chastised Brett not about his transparent demeanor as he led them back to the control room.
The control room itself was a bit different. The level of activity had increased, though not by much. It had gone from casually frantic movement to hurried frantic, not quite panic but overdrive. Ponies and droids worked faster to relay information and were a bit louder in doing so. The biggest difference, however, was that most of the display monitors now displayed Equestria and the newly-reinforced blockade above the planet. A few of the displays even showed replays of the battle, the transports being destroyed from cameras mounted on their Y-Wings.
Bretton couldn't bring himself to look up. He and the rest of the squad filed out once again in front of Spitfire's command chair. They saluted, with Brett being the last to do so.
"That's about... six months' worth of supplies," Spitfire said. "For Ponyville, Canterlot and Cloudsdale. Not an ounce of it salvageable."
"Yes, ma'am," Brett said, his voice not hiding a single bit of his disappointment.
"This has set back a lot of our plans," she continued, still not turning to face them. "Not entirely your fault, of course. Bad time for additional reinforcements to jump in."
"Reinforcements?" Gary asked. "I thought those were the same cruisers from before."
Spitfire finally turned around. "We're still not entirely sure on that. Regardless, three transports have been lost and we're looking at a new blockade. I'm not sure Dice Squadron was the safe bet you promised me."
That hit home with Brett. "I... yes, ma'am. I understand."
"We're going to have to reevaluate using just three M9 Y-Wings for blockade busting and escort duty. I know this was your run, Macer, but our risk didn't pay off. It's back to the drawing board," Spitfire said, spinning around again. "You did good getting through those TIEs and your flight status is still green. Just going to take us a bit longer to deal with that blockade. Again, not entirely your fault, Dice."
"I know, ma'am. Thank you."
"We're gonna go through this again and when we're ready, we'll let you know. Dismissed."
They turned around and filed out of the control room. When they returned to their quarters, there would be no free beverages or cakes waiting for them like there had been at Sugar Cube Corner. They walked, now all of them with their heads a bit lower back through the halls of the moon base.
"Heya guys," Derpy said as they passed by.
"Hey Derpy..."
"Hey Derpy," they said. And this time, the mare turned around and flew back to them.
"You guys okay? You don't sound all right."
"Our last mission didn't go over so well," Brett said.
"Awww, what went wrong? Do you know?" she asked.
"The blockade got reinforced at the last second, took out our transports," Gary explained. "The worst possible timing."
Brett nodded. "Now we won't be able to make the next delivery. It sucks."
Derpy gasped. "What?! You can't make a delivery?!" She flew into Brett's face. "What was it?! I can take it with me on my next run! It's no problem, honest!"
"Derpy! STOP!" Brett yelled. "THAT'S MY FACE!!" She unlatched from his head and he took a moment to readjust his hair and his trademark thick mustache.
"Sorry! But really, you guyyyyysss! If you have something to deliver, that means you gotta deliver it!" Derpy exclaimed. "Just imagine those ponies waiting for their stuff!"
"We know, Derpy," Jana said. "Believe me, when know."
"But we can't get through that blockade," Tovin said. "Not without the supplies turning into swiss cheese."
"It's okay, I can take 'em!" Derpy said proudly.
Gary smiled. "Derpy, we appreciate the sentiment, really."
"But that blockade would turn you into swiss cheese. No offense."
She batted away the notion bashfully. "Nah, not a chance. I'm an official postmare! They can't stop me from delivering the mail!"
Brett lowered his head. He put a hand on the gray mare's shoulder. "Derpy, we love you, all of us. But there's no way those supplies could make it through that blockade."
Derpy's head lowered as well. "Oh... okay," she said, sadly. She turned around and walked away.
It was almost heartbreaking to watch her go. "We'll get 'em through next time, Derpy."
"Okay then..." she said, sadness still in her voice. She turned the corner heading back to the hangar. "I guess I'll tell everypony in Ponyville their packages will arrive late."
The squad looked at each other. "Everypony in Ponyville?!" they exclaimed. In a flurry, they all ran to catch up with her.
"Derpy!!!" Brett yelled.
"Yeah?"
"Derpy," Brett said, him and his squad catching their breaths, "you're still going back to Ponyville? Is that what you said?"
She looked towards the magcon field in the distance. "Well, yeah. I still have a few deliveries to make and-"
"Wait," they stopped her, "you mean you're going back through the blockade?"
"Did you get through the blockade the first time? When we first broke it?" Gary asked.
She giggled. "Of course I did, sillies! How else do you think ponies get their mail?"
The pilots all shared an expression of disbelief, which they then exchanged with one another.
"Derpy, how exactly did get through the blockade?"
She giggled again. "I flew through it! Like you guys with your starshippy thingies. 'cept I have wings! And my mailbag."
Brett shook his head in disbelief yet again. "You fly from the moon to Equestria-"
"And sometimes from Equestria back to the moon."
"-with your wings?"
"And my mailbag." She said happily. "And I've had to get past those blockadey-guys like... a guzabamillion times already!"
"Guzabamillion?" Gary asked. "I'm pretty sure that's not a real number."
"Haha, I know," Derpy admitted. "But, I mean a lot. I've had to go back and fourth a lot of times, now. You guys sure you don't need me to deliver anything?"
They looked at each other one more time, a plan forming between their eyes. "Derpy, you think we could come along for one of your deliveries?"
"Sure!" Derpy said, delighted. "And afterward, we can get muffins!"