The window in the room was partly open, so, rising above the clatter of plates and silverware, the music continued to waft outside, bringing its sweet joy to everypony there.
Or, rather, to the one pony who was there.
Special Delivery had dropped his bag and his cap right beneath the window, and was in the middle of picking them up and putting them back on himself. In the cold night, he looked up and saw where the music was coming from—that window showing a little glimpse of a room radiating with pleasant words and mirthful laughter.
He looked back down, let out a sigh, opened his wings.
The mailpony was then in flight, taking leave of Manehattan, soaring higher than those supertowers.
Back in the Cloudsdale Post Office, those big lights were on again, flooding the facility with their brightness.
Perhaps it was too bright, since Special Delivery covered his eyes at almost being blinded by shiny metal tables. "Who turned up the lights?!"
"You want me to turn it down?!" he heard a co-worker shout out, not able to see her.
"Yeah, turn it down!"
"Oh, OK!"
He heard a few wing flaps.
Felt and saw the red in his blocked vision cooled and curbed.
Removed the hooves from his eyes.
Seeing everything inside better—the white walls, the tall and many windows, the mail trays, bags and sacks, and more mail and packages for sorting and delivery. He could also breathe easier, remembering that recognizable scent of the post office—the scent of fresh papers.
He saw Helia, that fellow freckled mailmare in her blue postal uniform, standing by the light dial.
It was still nighttime as the two lone mailponies sorted a mess of mail on the table, arranging and disarranging and re-arranging the various letters and packages into this or that pocket or opening in differently marked bags. One was marked "Mail Zone 1", another was marked "Mail Zone 2", and so on.
Through the windows was a vista of Cloudsdale at night. The buildings around them were sleep, tucked in the darkness of their rooms and the gentle glow of the rare streetlight. No one was walking on or flying above the streets—not a single pony to acknowledge these diligent postal workers. Hollow was the outside.
As the racket of papers striking each other in sorting confusion reverberated a bit throughout the open, spacious room.
"You know what?" Special Delivery spoke, looking at Helia working beside him.
Helia turned her head, her blue eyes meeting his green. "What?"
He looked back at the mass of mail before him. "Derpy."
Helia paused, touching her tidy golden mane as her smile flew away. "You miss her, don't you?"
Special Delivery nodded. "I do miss her. She's a mare unlike any other...the only mare I would ever want to the spend the rest of my life with."
Helia did her best to cover up a giggle. "Really, now? I knew you became best friends, but I didn't know you fell in love with Derpy!" She rested a hoof on her cheek, eyeing the stallion with more curiosity than before. "This is all of a sudden!...unless you two have been hiding it!" and pointed at him with a hoof implicating him with that serious act of infatuation.
He nodded again. "But, it's true. Even after the mix-up when she became a soldier by an accident from the office...she's never lost that bubbly personality, especially with this demanding war going on." Cracked a smile. "She's quite the rarity."
Helia failed to stifle her next giggle. "I'm assuming you just got back from sending mail to another rarity, hm?"
Special Delivery rolled his eyes, keeping calm. "Yeah, I know what you mean. But, Rarity aside...Derpy always smiles, always has that look in her eyes that tells you everything's going to be alright."
Helia sighed though happy. "Good for her. I wish we could all be like her—optimistic all the way."
The two now half-finished with sorting, the mass now a little smaller and the bags a little fatter.
"Yeah, I wish we were," said Special Delivery.
"Do you also wish you were together?" Helia asked, teasing.
He lightly shoved her away. "Come on, Helia! Don't be like that to me!"
"What am I gonna do, Special Delivery? Just stand here and do nothing about what you revealed tonight?" Laughed at it while putting another letter into another bag's pocket. "You know how Cloudsdale sees her and romantic interests—she's pretty much not the type. Once they figure out her secret lover, the whole town will be twice as ready for the new year! They'll be clamoring to get her back and put her on leave just to see the two of you—"
"Don't say it!" Special Delivery yelled with a touch of laughter. "Don't you say it, Helia!"
Helia snorted, concealed her nose but not her growing grin. "When they see the two of you...kiss!"
Special Delivery shouted and smiled, close to throwing the mail down to the floor.
Helia placed a hoof up to her chin, watching him act immature. "Aww! You look so adorable when you're so glad thinking of her! Just you wait! I'll tell everypony in the morning, and they'll bring Derpy back! When she sees you...!"
Special Delivery then picked himself up—faced Helia straight at the eyes. "I shouldn't have done that! Why did I let my guard down, let myself slip like that?!"
"It's better they know right away!"
Special Delivery groaned and covered his face with his two hooves, yet still smiling.
"Or, wait...what about a last-minute surprise? Like, thirty minutes before midnight, I'll bring Derpy to the park! She's scheduled to be on leave today anyway, and she'll be on her way at about ten in the evening, so..."
Helia smirked.
Special Delivery shook his head. "Don't do this to me, Helia!"
Leaving the mail a bit behind schedule, having rested on that table for a minute too many.
A cloud park was like a park except it was made out of clouds.
Among the several cloud parks in Cloudsdale, this one looked typical. Trimmed clouds substituted for trimmed grass, cloud paths took the place of dirt paths. There were no cloud trees here, though—a sampling of real trees were present, growing on special cloud soil along with several regular flowers like dandelions and roses which ended up submerging the park into a fragrant atmosphere. Over there was a clean pond, its blue color blending in with the slight blue tint of the clouds surrounding it. Add the benches and tables, the columns and pillars, the fountains as well, and one would get a good picture of this lovely cloud park.
But, it was New Year's Eve. No matter how well groomed the park was for the great moment, for that grand moment to kick off the new year, nopony really minded the park's beautification. Instead, they merely crowded together at the park, briefly admiring the streamers and balloons and confetti around them before turning to their own attractions and amusements.
Here, a small team of pegasus chefs mustered up bowls of food, pouring them out to huge plastic containers on a long table where hungry ponies would fly in line and take up their servings to their plates. There, a group was setting up the fireworks display, cautioning the curious to stay away from the dangerous rockets and bombs marked with stripes and polka dots. By the fountain, a band performed a variety of songs for the audience either dancing around to the beat or just within the vicinity—guitars, drum, bass and triangle mixing well to provide much-needed entertainment.
As Special Delivery and Helia flew beside each other to the park, they could see a number of interesting characters there. At one of the dining tables ate Spitfire and her parents, chowing down on carrot and tomato salad doused in vinegar—most of the other Wonderbolts having a full table to themselves and not in uniform, with Soarin chomping his pie very loudly and very impolitely to the abashment of his buddies while wearing a thin shirt sporting leafy designs. Near each other by the trees were Mr. and Mrs. Shy, the father single-hoofedly flattening the cloudy ground of the park to make the entire environs flat and even, and the mother tending to the flowers there with the assistance of a helpful Sunshower and a whiny Fluffy Clouds who kept ranting about how he "should be paid back for all the service I've done to the Wonderbolts, but, no, I think there's something political about it—yes, definitely something political about it! Is it because I'm thinner than the rest of them? They're so vain! Look, I'll show them vain when I do loops in the air while wearing a blazer! And then..."
Needless to say, Mrs. Shy and Sunshower were more than irked by his behavior, so they carried themselves and the flowers to another spot while he was not looking.
Speaking of Mr. and Mrs. Shy—back to the dining area, there were some Wonderbolts aside from Spitfire who were not present at the Wonderbolt table. One of them was Rainbow Dash who had a table and several plates to herself along with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Maud Pie with their own food. In the face of squalls, sputters, singing—despite all of that, the four of them got into conversation under the night, under the moon's last run for the year.
"So, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy spoke, nervous while wearing a couple first aid bags slung around her, "wh-what really happened back in Manehattan earlier with y-you and the Pies?" Then, nervously studied the two Earth ponies present with their ruffled manes and their healing facial scars.
Rainbow brought out a mini-broom and cleaned her mechanical wing that way with a hoof. "Well, it started when Pinkie suggested we go to a bakery and buy lots of sweets for dessert tonight. It went along just fine for a while, but then her daughters went down and that's when the trouble started."
Maud blinked.
"You see, Fluttershy, it turns out that Maud here—" motioned a hoof to her "—apparently used force on one of them a while back, and that didn't go so well for her sister. She tried to hurt Maud, then had to stay the rest of the morning in Juveniles' Penitentiary. It doesn't take a genius to figure out...what's her name?" Tapped her chin in thought. "Right—Maud hurt Rarity a while back when Radar was still alive. The baker got very nervous, Rarity's Dad was scared of us, and Rarity herself...well, she was just silent." She scratched her head. "She's only a uniform pony, working at Seamstress Factory down the street."
"W-Was she nice to you?" Fluttershy asked, stammering.
Rainbow twirled a hoof around. "She's nice enough. Has a very fancy accent—didn't expect that from a menial worker."
"I imagine we'd be the best of friends!" Pinkie said, raising a mug of orange juice to the air. "Me and Rarity...the dynamic duo!"
"Uh, a-aren't you and Rainbow Dash the d-dynamic duo?" Fluttershy pointed out in worry, shifting looks between the two of them.
"No, silly!" She grabbed Maud and Rainbow by the necks pulling them over the table and their plates. "We're the dynamic trio!"
Maud expressed a dull "Ow" at the pull.
Rainbow flapped her wings and hovered out of Pinkie's grip, floated back to her seat.
The band still playing, the food still sizzling, the spectacle still in preparation.
Pinkie, Maud, and Rainbow resumed chowing down on their food which included topping-filled pizza, creamy churros, crunchy pecan pies, sweet berry salads, hot cinnamon rolls, scrumptious hayburgers, garnished carrot dogs, and smooth pudding of either chocolate or vanilla.
With Fluttershy using her fork to pick on her food, chaos continuing around her as ponies chatted in line, as pegasi flew overhead, and as latecomers greeted their friends and family with warm greetings and hugs.
Rainbow stopped, gave Fluttershy a look. "You better eat your food. Everypony here saved up for this very night! After this, it's back to the rations for them and back to the front for us."
Fluttershy gulped. "Oh, uh, s-sorry, Dash. It's just..."
"Spit it out, Fluttershy," Rainbow said, scowling at her. "Don't keep me waiting."
Fluttershy's lips trembled, letting out a quiet burr. "W-Well...when I think of...everything—" shuddered, trying to hide half of her face behind her long mane "—it's t-terrifying! Seeing them h-hurt each other like that...it's w-worse when y-you're right there! I-If only we c-could find a way to stop and talk about it over some t-tea—"
"There you go again with your dreaming, Flutters," Rainbow said, gruff, putting down her fork. "You know it doesn't work like that and you've known it for months—you're just repeating the same things over and over again. Be proud you're not killing anypony already."
"B-But, it consumes me, Rainbow," Fluttershy said, clasping her head and rocking herself about. "I help a poor soldier back up on his hooves, and he takes down a few more Crystals." Paused, eyes wide open as if staring at a million miles. "D-Did I just become...an accomplice to murder?"
Rainbow stretched a hoof to her shoulder. "Fluttershy, I know what we do isn't exactly good, but what else can we do? We can't just sit here and let a dictator rule over Equestria. We gotta do what we gotta do."
"But, I don't like what we...gotta do."
"So do I," Rainbow replied, pointing to herself, "but you don't see me complaining."
"B-But—"
"We'd be here all night if you keep telling me excuses, Fluttershy," Rainbow broke in, irritated. "You better enjoy your meal because this might be your last one at home."
Fluttershy gasped. "My last?! You think I'm going to die out there?!"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You asked that question a hundred times, and the answer is 'Maybe'."
Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy by the neck, smiling at her. "But, with us, you're guaranteed to not die! At least, not dying alone!"
Rainbow let out a chuckle, seeing shivering Fluttershy's morbid expression. "If there's one thing going for us, it's that if we die, we'll die together as friends!"
Pinkie grinned. "What she said!"
Fluttershy gulped. "I hope I could patch all of us in time if we do get hurt."
"We will get hurt!" Rainbow said.
Pinkie sighed. "Not this again."
Maud continued eating her food.
Then, from outside the park, a shout:
"It's your love, Special Delivery! Hey! She's here!"
"Are you trying to embarrass me in front of Cloudsdale, Helia?!"
All eyes turned their way to the park's entrance.
Over there, by the sidewalk separating road from grass—or just more clouds as the case may be—Helia pulled Special Delivery right before Derpy.
Derpy, that blonde mare without a smidge of conflict on her figure, wearing a mailbag like Special Delivery's.
The two of them looking at each other, right in front of each other.
Special Delivery blushing, eyes flitting as they gazed upon her.
Derpy giggled, looking at him with her uneven yellow eyes. "It's so nice of you to tell everypony right before the new year! It's very romantic!"
Most of the crowd there gathered closer, closer to the romantic pair beside a Helia trying to cover up her snickering, much of the noise dying down and reduced to mere rumors barely audible to the mailponies themselves.
Special Delivery gulped again, facing a drawn audience.
"The two of you are lovers?!" a voice cried out from the crowd.
Rainbow laughed, flapping above the crowd with both wings. "Wow! I didn't expect Derpy to have a crush on anypony! Makes sense 'cause you're both mailponies."
Special Delivery held up his hooves, casting a furious glance at Helia before turning back to the crowd. "Look, everypony! I can explain! This isn't what it looks like!"
Derpy hugged him.
He froze right there. Petrified.
"Aww! You're so cute when you try to keep all of it a secret!" Derpy said in her delicate voice. "But, it's not a secret anymore—I don't like hiding it, really, so it's good!"
The crowd erupted into cheer and applause at Derpy's confession.
Special Delivery gulped a third time, blushing redder, facing everyone with sweaty cheeks.
Seething, gritting his teeth.
Tearing at his mane.
"What's the use of keeping the disguise up?!" he shouted.
Faced Derpy.
Smiled.
Both of them smiling.
Under the moon, under the lights of the park.
"Derpy," he began in a shaky yet tender tone, "we...we've been doing this for a long time now...giving each other gifts, hanging out with each other while making sure no one was watching, even resorting to burning our love letters when ponies started getting suspicious. But...I should learn to be thankful for letting a certain other mailmare let this happen—" giving her a short, easy-to-miss glower before turning back to Derpy with those whimsical eyes "—to let Cloudsdale finally realize that...we're in a relationship, hopefully one that will last until our deaths do us part."
Everypony else gasped, even Helia who put her wing to her mouth in shock.
Special Delivery held Derpy's face with his wing.
Derpy held his face with her wing.
Their smiles becoming ever dreamier, their eyes becoming ever shinier.
Under the moon, under the park lights.
As a guitarist strummed a soft romantic melody.
"That's...that's very kind of you!" Derpy said, beaming, her eyes focused on him. "I enjoyed the time we spent by real lakes and not fake ones! And how I had to carry you back home when you slept all of a sudden!"
Special Delivery blushed as he was assailed by good-natured laughter from the side.
"You're a stallion with hooves always on the ground...down-to-earth, even though you're a pegasus. I can't count how many times you did your best to protect me from doing dangerous things...and, I really miss you!"
The crowd let out a resounding "Aww!" at that, with Helia joining in as if to jokingly spite that stallion now on quite the hot seat.
"When I was over there, I did my job, but it was hard to not think about you, Special Delivery. It was terrible out there—all that fighting and waiting and fighting again! I couldn't stand it, but I knew, as long as you were your good old mailpony self, then I figured the time would fly by very fast. And, time flew and it's already..."
Derpy glanced at the crowd.
Who looked back at her odd.
"Uh, what time is it?"
Pinkie ran out of the audience, took out a pocket watch, and opened it up.
Screamed.
Causing some to plug their ears.
"It's one minute 'till the new year!" Pinkie declared, getting her hooves up and running. "Time waits for no pony!"
And Pinkie went, appeared by the rockets and the other fireworks, tied them up together to one fuse, lit it up, and let the spark zoom through.
The crowd scattered to and fro, here and there throughout the park—yes, even the chefs, the pyrotechnicians, and the band—with some sitting down and others standing up, talking in whispers as they waited with bated breath for the sky to light up.
"Pinkie!" Rainbow yelled, flying and then landing right beside her. "Are you out of your mind?! You're supposed to let the fireworks crew—"
"Nah!" Pinkie said with a wave of her hoof. "They're totally harmless! I read the safety warnings, memorized all firework handling precautions beforehoof, and even got my own safety glasses!"
Pinkie then put on her thick safety glasses.
Took out her pocket watch.
Hearing the crowd restless.
"Can we do a countdown?!" she heard someone cry out.
Pinkie's ears perked up at that. "Why, yes, stranger! We should do that! We're at...twelve seconds in, so—ten! Nine!"
As ponies stood straight up, more than a few anxiously watching the spark rush through the absurdly long fuse, following along with Pinkie's countdown.
"Eight! Seven! Six! Five!"
As more and more joined in, as more and more raised their voice and their volume.
"Four! Three! Two!"
The spark split up into multiple sparks, each going to their respective fireworks.
All looking up toward the sky.
"One!"
Boom!
What a spectacle it was up there in the sky, to see such a parade of lights flash through the dark night and break the gloom of the time. Cracks and cackles, pops and fizzles, bursts and snaps and whacks—a jumble of explosions, stormy explosions that shook the cloudy ground the ponies stood on. Everything below became a battle between light and dark, where bright and shade challenged each other and fell to second-long scuffles as colors changed from blue to red, from red to green, from green to yellow, from yellow to a mix of other colors which became confused with yet more and yet less—and thus, all of Cloudsdale became a little home of silhouettes dancing in the night, figures of ponies flickering in and out of view before another firework would set them back into vision, back into the light.
If one would cast a quick look by the park's entrance in this brilliant anarchy of celebration, one would see, before this batch of fireworks dissolved, Derpy and Special Delivery embracing each other, speaking enchanting inanities into their ears as they drowned in the commotion of lights, colors, and blasts.
So began another new year.