//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Pegasus Found // Story: Mailpony Rules // by Pyromanecer //------------------------------// Mailpony Rules Chapter 1 by Pyromanecer As Ditzy Doo skipped down the rainy streets of Ponyville, she couldn’t help humming happily to herself. She loved this part of town; it was as close to the Everfree Forest as Ponyville got, and it smelled rich and earthy. Tonight, it smelled especially wonderful, as the rain brought forth a wonderful array of loamy scents. I love the rain, thought Ditzy, smiling through her drenched hair, which had flopped over her eyes, one of which was still rebelliously pointing in an odd direction. She, of course, knew that there would be a storm this evening. None of the weather in Ponyville was a surprise; it was all carefully scheduled and maintained by the pegasi. Ditzy, however, didn’t take part in the weatherworks. She was a mailmare, and quite proud of the fact. It had been quite a nice day. Ditzy’s boss, a sour old pony who had somehow managed to grow 5-o’clock shadow (a secret he refused to share), must have finally discovered which side of the bed was the right one, and had also been miraculously un-grumpy the entire day. Ditzy’s mailbag had been record-breakingly light, so she had had almost an entire afternoon to do what she pleased. She had been smiling so much she was surprised her face didn’t hurt. As she passed by a gap in the houses, though, she abruptly halted. It was as if a strange scent had wafted in her direction; she suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to run towards the Everfree Forest and search for something. Ditzy knew what this was. My mail sense is tingling! she thought as she dashed towards the treeline, entire being focused on the strange task her letter-based psychic powers had provided her. She didn’t know what she was doing, but, whatever it was, it had to be important. Mailpony senses didn’t go off for silly things. As she neared the threshold where Ponyville ended and the forest began, she started looking around for whatever she had to be searching for. Like any pony, she was reluctant to go into the forest, being taught since she was a foal that it was a dangerous place. However, her sudden impulse seemed to toss her normal fear out the window and brought her to the very edge of the trees. Looking frantically around, eyes searching two locations at once, she spotted something that stood out among the greens and browns of the muddy forest background. A gray pegasus stallion, coat slightly darker than her own, lay sprawled near one of the trees, a nasty looking gash on his head. Galloping over, she contemplated what to do. #C8C8C8, Ditzy thought, and then shook her head. Bah, numbers and letters. What should I do? This pony needs a doctor! But the doctor’s office is across town, and I don’t think I can carry him that far. Ditzy shook her head again, this time in frustration. Think, think, what’s close by? Bakery, fruit stand, hat shop, houses… Ditzy perked up. Houses! My house! I could carry him to my house, and then go get the doctor! Course of action decided, she flopped the pegasus over her back like a saddlebag and ran as quickly, but also as smoothly, as possible in the general direction of her house. ~~~ Panting, Ditzy finally arrived at her dwelling. It wasn’t a large house, but it wasn’t a small one either. It was fairly pretty and neat looking, maybe something you would see in the background of a postcard. Two story and white walls, it was functional, livable, and quite pleasing to see after a long day at work. Ditzy, however, was not concerned with how nice her house looked at the moment. The dripping-wet pegasus burst through the door, much to the surprise of her daughter, who had been snoozing on the couch in front of the fireplace. “Mama!” Dinky cried, delighted to see her mother. The small, blue-gray unicorn jumped off the sofa and trotted over to the doorway. “You’re back! And you’re all we-“ Dinky cut herself off, seeing the stranger draped over her mother’s back. “Who is-“ “Just a minute, Muffin.” Ditzy soothed, laying the unconscious colt on the couch where Dinky had been lying a moment ago. She turned back towards her daughter to find her tilting her head, blonde mane flopped over, and looking at her with a clear question in her big yellow eyes. One eye looking at her, the other still looking in the vague direction of the couch, Ditzy spoke. “Now Dinky, mommy has to go away for a few more minutes to get someone.” Seeing the sadness in her daughter’s eyes, Ditzy amended “But I have a job for you.” Dinky perked back up. “I need you to watch over this pony, make sure that he doesn’t fall or hurt himself, OK?” “’Kay!” Dinky answered, the most adorably serious expression on her face. She walked over to the couch and sat down in front of it, watching the comatose pony with much the same intensity that a hawk looks for prey. “Good girl.” said Ditzy, allowing herself a small smile, and turned back to the door. Taking a deep breath, she galloped back out into the rain. Hey, it’s not like she could get any wetter. ~~~ Ten minutes later, the storm having gotten much worse, Ditzy ran back inside, accompanied by a surprisingly-dry Nurse Redcross. Dinky had dutifully not moved from her position near the couch, but she immediately jumped up when she heard her mother’s hooves on the wooden floor. “You’re back!” Dinky exclaimed, running over to Ditzy, while Redcross immediately brought her medical supplies over to the unconscious pegasus. Ditzy wrapped her forelimbs around her daughter. “Good job, Muffin.” Ditzy praised, hugging Dinky. Ditzy held the unicorn at arm’s length and looked at her. Dinky’s mouth opened wide and she yawned hard enough to make a manticore jealous. Ditzy grinned slightly and raised one eyebrow. “Dinky, are you sleepy?” Ditzy asked. Dinky shook her head tiredly. “No, mum, I’m fine.” she said. But her body betrayed her and she let loose another loud yawn. “It’s past your bedtime, Muffin. Go on, off to bed.” Dinky tried to roll her eyes, but only got halfway through before her eyelids drooped and ruined the gesture. “Fine...” Dinky said with as much world-weariness as she could muster (which wasn’t much). As she dragged her hooves to her room, Ditzy turned back to the nurse, one eye still watching her daughter. Now that she wasn’t running through the rain, she could get a closer look at the stranger. As she noticed before, his coat was a darker shade of gray than hers. His ragged mane was dark blue, and his tail looked like it would be fairly strait if it wasn’t currently full of twigs and mud. The word "streamlined" came to mind as she took in his general appearance. His cutie mark was a storm cloud on top of two stylized wind gusts, and his wings looked very powerful, used to flying long distances. He would look quite nice after a little grooming, Ditzy thought. Pity he was covered in forest. While Redcross worked, Ditzy sat down with her back to the fireplace, steam rising off her in columns as she dried off from her mad dashes across rain-soaked Ponyville. About twenty minutes later, the nurse looked like she had finished. The colt now had a bandage adorning his head and his left forelimb. She walked over to a now-dry Ditzy Doo, and prepared to give a diagnosis. “Well, Miss Doo, it looks like your friend was caught out in the storm over the Everfree Forest.” Ditzy did her best impersonation of someone rolling their eyes. “He appears to have sustained a head injury, possibly a small concussion, and his forelimb appears to have a slight sprain. All in all, nothing too serious. He is a very lucky pony.” Ditzy breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good,” she said. She didn’t know this colt, but it was the general nature of Ponyvilleians to care for those in need. “One more thing,” Nurse Redcross began, suddenly looking apprehensive. “In this storm, it would be risky to try and move him to the hospital…” Ditzy waved her hoof in the air in a gesture of dismissal. “Don’t worry about it. He can stay here; it’s no problem.” Redcross visibly relaxed. “Thanks for that. Anyways, he might be slightly, um…” Redcross looked awkwardly at Ditzy for the second time in as many minutes. “…cross-eyed when he wakes up, but that is normal for head trauma patients. It is also best that he stays off that leg of his for a while. Someone will come over tomorrow morning to check up on him, alright?” “OK,” Ditzy answered. Nurse Redcross wished her luck and walked out the door, an umbrella popping out of her nurse hat. One of Ditzy’s eyes watched her close the door, and she turned back to the stranger on her couch. Ditzy decided that it would be best if somepony was there to greet him if he woke up in the night, so she curled up on the rug in the center of the room. The rug was quite soft, and with the fire at her back, her position was quite comfortable. Ditzy’s off-kilter eyes soon closed, and she drifted off into a peaceful slumber ~~~ The next morning, Ditzy was preparing breakfast. Dinky, in the manner of small children, was wide awake at such an early hour. The unicorn was sitting at the kitchen table, rocking back and forth in her special chair, watching her mother stir a pot on the stove. “What’re we having, mum?” Dinky asked cheerily, if a little impatiently. Ditzy smiled. “Oatmeal, Muffin.” she replied, apron rustling as she half-turned to her daughter. “It will be done soon.” “Yay!” Dinky loved oatmeal. At that moment, a groan arose from the parlour. Both ponies immediately froze, heads turned toward the direction of the noise. When the sound repeated itself a few seconds later, the two immediately dashed off into the other room, breakfast forgotten. The colt was still lying on the sofa, but his eyes were scrunched up and it looked like he was trying to sit up. Ditzy moved close to the stranger, Dinky close behind and hopping up and down to try and get a better view. The colt eventually managed to roll himself over so that all four legs were beneath him. Hearing the rhythmic thuds of Dinky's bouncing, he blearily turned his head in that direction and opened his eyes. They were the same dark blue as his mane and, as the nurse predicted, pointing in two separate directions. “He looks like you, mama!” Dinky whispered. Ditzy quickly shushed her. Blinded by the sudden influx of morning light coming from the window, he immediately squinted. Seeing Ditzy’s vague shape, he tried his best to look at her with his glazed eyes. “…hello?” he croaked. My, he did sound like he went a round with a boulder and lost. “Hello. “ Ditzy replied. “W-where am I?” His stutter attested to his groggy and disoriented state. “You are in my house, in Ponyville. My name is Ditzy Doo, and this is my daughter Dinky.” Dinky punctuated this with an enthusiastic wave. “Who are you?” “Ponyville…?” he muttered, then shook his head. The action seemed to clear his mind a bit. “M-my name is Tempest Rider.” He paused. “You have pretty eyes.” Ditzy flinched slightly. She wasn’t used to people talking about her eyes, much less complimenting them. Redcross’s nervousness mentioning the fact that the then-unconscious Tempest Rider would wake up cross-eyed was testament to the fact that ponies felt uncomfortable talking about her unusual wall-eyed visage. Something which, incidentally, Ditzy didn't understand at all. “Erm, thank you?” Ditzy ventured. “...What?” The mare shook her head. His mind was obviously still muddled. “If you don’t mind, could you tell us why you were unconscious at the edge of the Everfree Forest?” “F-Forest?” Tempest Rider squinted. “I was... delivering a package...” At this, he reached down to his haunches, as if trying to find something. When his search failed, his head whipped around, eyes wide. “M-my mailbag!” “Mailbag?” “Mailbag?” Dinky repeated, “Mama has a mailbag because she’s a mailpony! Are you a mailpony too?” Tempest didn’t answer, as he was too busy hyperventilating and searching his immediate area for the missing bag. Ditzy understood his panic completely. One of the first lessons they drilled into you during mailpony training was to never lose your mailbag. It was Rule #1. To lose your bag meant that all the irreplaceable letters inside would be lost, or worse, read by someone other than their intended recipient. As far as other mailponies were concerned, coworkers who lost their mail were the lowest of the low. Some even thought that Princess Luna had been banished to the moon for misplacing Celestia’s personal mail. So it was completely understandable why Tempest Rider looked like he was contemplating tearing open her couch to try and find the bag. “Hey, calm down, calm down..” Ditzy soothed. Tempest turned and looked at her. “No no no nononono.” he babbled, very un-soothed. “I-I have to find my bag, or else, or else...” Tempest Rider’s pupils dilated as his mind struggled to come up with a gruesome enough scenario. Ditzy took this opportunity to put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I do understand. I’m a mailpony too.” she said, thumping her chest with her free hoof for emphasis. Tempest Rider looked surprised, then hopeful. “You- you are?” “I just said that!” Dinky pouted. “Then, you can help me find my bag!” Tempest tried to get to his hooves, but Ditzy gently, albeit firmly, pushed him back down with the leg she had yet to take off his shoulder. “Oh, no. You are not going anywhere with that leg, mister.” said Ditzy, adopting the tone she used when Dinky was being stubborn. “Nurse Redheart said you need to stay off that until it heals. I can go find your bag for you; I have a pretty good idea of where it is.” Tempest Rider looked reluctant to hand over responsibility of his bag over to someone else, even another mailpony, but, sensing this mare wasn’t going to budge, relented. He sat back down on the couch, his crooked eyes still showing worry. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.” Ditzy told him, trying to cheer him up. At that, she turned around and headed towards the door, off to the place where she originally found the comatose Tempest Rider. Before she could begin her journey, though, she was stopped by a certain unicorn filly. “Mama mama can I come with? I want to help too!” Dinky shouted, bouncing high enough to be eye-level with her mother. She looked so adorably eager that Ditzy almost caved immediately. “No, Muf-” Ditzy began, but hesitated. She couldn’t take Dinky with her to the Everfree Forest, but she couldn’t just leave her daughter her with a stranger! An injured stranger, she reminded herself. An injured, concussed, cross-eyed, mailpony stranger. Dinky should be safe. “No Muffin.” Ditzy finished. Anticipating her disappointment this time, she tactfully added, “I have a more important job for you. Remember what I told you yesterday?" Dinky paused for thought. “Stop chewing on the chair legs?” “After that.” “Um... Oh! Watch over the pony on our couch!” Ditzy smiled. “Exactly. I need you to that that again, OK?” Enthusiastic nods. “Good.” The mailmare trotted outside and, as an afterthought, called back over her shoulder, “Remember, he has to stay off that leg!” The last thing she saw before closing the door was one confused looking pegasus and one determined looking unicorn filly looking at each other. ~~~ Tempest Rider had never been more confused in his life. He had woken up in a strange home, with strange ponies, and a strange throbbing headache. And now one of the ponies had left to find his mailbag, leaving her daughter to watch over him. A daughter who was now staring at him in the most unsettling manner he had ever seen. Tempest decided to try his hoof at conversation. Anything to end the impromptu staring contest he was now in. “Hello?” No points for originality there. “Hi!” Dinky immediately answered, exchanging her surprisingly-menacing stare for a bright smile. “So... you live here?” Tempest asked, marginally more at ease. “Uh-huh! With my mama! She’s a mailpony! You’re a mailpony too, right?” "Yes, I am.” “Cool!” With that the conversation seemed to lull. It was considerably better than before, seeing as Dinky was now smiling at him instead of staring, but Tempest still felt uncomfortable. Here he was, sitting in a room with a filly he had never met. Forced proximity to strange young children was always awkward, and now Tempest was aware of the fact that being bandaged and concussed did nothing to make the situation any better. Quite the opposite, in fact. Trying to think of something to talk about, he sniffed. “Erm, what’s that smell?” ~~~ “C’mon, I know you’re here somewhere.” Ditzy spoke to thin air. She had returned to the site where she originally found Tempest Rider, hoping to find the pegasus’s bag amongst the general forest debris. The mare was currently searching intently, eyes examining two places at once. Several minutes later, however, she had begun to lose hope. The mailbag refused to reveal itself to her, and it was becoming increasingly aggravating. Ditzy knew that if the mailbag wasn’t here then it was in the Everfree Forest, and she was extremely nervous even being this close to the local terror. Suddenly, one of Ditzy’s eyes spotted something; a spot of brown amongst a marginally-less brown background. Rushing over to the spot, she found a sturdy pair of saddlebags emblazoned with the symbol of the Equestria Pony Postal Service. Looking closer, she found, in messy mouth-writing, “Property of Tempest Rider” written on the bottom of one of the bags. If these aren’t his bags, then I’m a tree. she thought. And I am most certainly am not a tree. ~~~ Not five minutes later (hooray for wings!), Ditzy arrived at her house, saddlebags in tow. As soon as she entered the parlour, however, she immediately noticed two problems. One, Tempest Rider was no longer on the couch, and two, she could not see Dinky. Before Ditzy could contemplate what that meant, though, one of the problems resolved itself. She could see Dinky; the filly was visible through the doorway into the kitchen, sitting on her special chair and smiling at something her mother couldn’t see. Cautiously, Ditzy walked over and set the bags on the table, then proceeded to the kitchen. She was greeted with a rather unexpected sight. Dinky was still sitting at the kitchen table, but at the oven, standing on his hind legs, was Tempest Rider. The stallion was wearing her apron, looking almost comical. He was stirring a pot of what Ditzy recognized as the oatmeal she had been cooking earlier. With a start, she realized she had never actually turned the stove off. Hearing her hoofsteps, he turned his head to look at her, revealing his eyes were no longer crossed. The two stared at each other, neither saying a word. Deciding he should break the ice, Tempest opened his mouth first. “What? The oatmeal was burning.” At this point, Ditzy was wondering if she had ever had a stranger day. No, she thought, I haven't.