//------------------------------// // A Day With the Mailmare // Story: Widget // by funkyferret //------------------------------// A Day With the Mailmare On a hill overlooking the quiet town of Ponyville, a pair of figures sat in the grass. The early morning sunlight cut through the crisp fall air, revealing a grey pegasus with a yellow mane, as well as a strange, green, pony-like creature with a golden mane and large dragon wings. The pegasus had a whistle hanging around her neck, while the wyrmkin had a strange device strapped to its her back. The student and her coach were engrossed in their conversation. Today, they were having a lesson on how to fly upside-down. The pegasus assured her student it was a lot of fun. She was bursting with excitement, grinning from ear to ear. The wyrmkin, however, still had her doubts. ---------------------- "Umm, Miss Doo, are you sure this is a good idea?" Widget asked. Ditzy "Derpy Hooves" Doo nodded. "Sure thing!" she said. "This is how I learned how to fly." The wyrmkin sighed and looked at the muffin hanging in front of her. It was tied to a bent rod she had belted around her middle. "Could we at least use a gemstone?" she asked. The walleyed pegasus looked confused. "What could be better than muffins?" "Umm... nothing of course!" the wyrmkin amended hastily. In the two weeks since she had begun her flight training with Miss Doo, she had learned a very valuable lesson. One does not insult muffins in the grey pony's presence. The pegasus grinned. "Okay," she said. "Now, get the muffin!" She blew her whistle. Widget launched herself into the air. She chased the muffin through the sky, fore-paws out as she reached for her prize. It continued to float just out of reach. Widget growled to herself and quickened her pace. The increasing air flow brought the pastry closer and closer until... "I got it!" she yelled. She then promptly crashed into a tree. Ears ringing, she sat up. She stuffed the slightly squashed baked good into her mouth, grinning at the sound of the other mare's applause. "Woohoo!" Ditzy yelled, applauding. "That was great. You're amazing. You've mastered flying a lot faster than I did!" Widget brushed herself off. Swallowing the remains of her hard earned prize, she trotted over to meet her mentor. "That's because I had a great coach," she said, laughing quietly. The pegasus blushed happily. She looked down at one of her fore-legs. Ditzy gasped. "Oh no!" she said, "I'm going to be late for work! I've got a ton of mail to deliver." Widget had never understood how drawing a picture of a wristwatch on one's leg would be adequate in keeping track of time. She didn't really try to think about it too hard though. It was just one of the things that made Ditzy interesting to be around. Learning from the mare had been a lot of fun. She was a little disappointed that their time training together was over. The wyrmkin wanted to spend more time with her coach. Her face brightened suddenly as the perfect solution came to mind. "Miss Doo," she said. "Now that I've mastered flying, can I come with you? I've always been impressed that you have such a big responsibility. I want to watch you work." "Really?" the pegasus asked, rubbing her chin in confusion. "The only pony who has ever wanted to watch me before was my daughter, Dinky. She likes to ride in the mailbags. The Doctor asked about my job, but he never wanted to watch me. Are you sure?" Widget nodded enthusiastically. "I want to watch," she said, "I can even help, if you'll let me." Ditzy Doo grinned at her pupil. "Sure thing," she said. "This will be fun!" Widget shifted uncomfortably as she waited outside the post office. She was excited to begin her day with Ditzy. She bounced up and down impatiently. "Whatcha doing, Widgy?" a voice behind her asked. A pink pony was suddenly standing in front of her. Widget jumped. "Ack!" she said. "Don't scare me like that Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie giggled. "Okie dokie!" she chirped. "Sooo.... Whatcha doing?" "I'm waiting for Miss Doo," she said. "Why?" the party pony asked, "Are you expecting a super special delivery?" "No. I'm going to follow her on her mail route today. She said I can help her with her work." Widget declared proudly. "Ooooh!" Pinkie gushed. "That's sounds like positively crasherific fun! I'd like to come too, but I have baking to do. Bye-bye Widgy! Say hi to Derpy for me!" She vanished in a cloud of dust. Widget was left wondering why delivering the mail would be "crasherific" in the first place. Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Ditzy, who was now wearing her mail bags. She was carrying a package in her mouth. She even had a spare set of mailbags for Widget. The mailmare waited while Widget put them on. Widget nodded to the grey mare to show she was ready. The pegasus motioned to her to follow, and the wyrmkin was happy to oblige. She flapped her wings and joined the grey pony in the air. Together the headed off to complete the important task of delivering the town's mail. The first stop of the day was Rairity's boutique. The package Ditzy was carrying was apparently a special item the fashionista had ordered from Canterlot. The pegasus wanted to get rid of it first so she could talk without dropping it. This had already happened once on the way over, as she tried to answer one of the wyrmkin's questions. Luckily, the pony the box fell on didn't seem to be too hurt. Widget watched with interest as her mentor somehow managed to shove the large box through the mail slot in Rarity's door. It seemed Pinkie Pie wasn't the only one in town to disobey the laws of physics. Widget had stopped worrying about it some time ago. She chocked it up to being the work of magic, and thus not worth bothering with. Widget couldn't cast spells. And besides, she would never understand that crazy conjuring stuff anyways. "Ok," Ditzy said after she had finished "delivering" the package. "Now I think there are a couple of those magazines Rarity likes in here too." She began to fish around in her mail satchel. "What sort of magazines?" Widget asked. "I'm not really sure," the mailmare replied as she stuffed the magazines in the slot. "They always have these pictures of ponies in weird outfits." She showed one of the magazines to the wyrmkin. Widget cocked her head, staring at the magazine cover in confusion. The outfit the pony in the picture was wearing looked very uncomfortable. "I guess she just has... unusual tastes," Widget said finally. Ditzy nodded, and the magazine in question joined the others already in the mail slot. "Next up is Sugarcube Corner," she said. Widget frowned, "Aren't there closer houses?" she asked. "Well sure," Ditzy said, "but they don't have muffins." Widget couldn't argue with that logic. She followed the mailmare towards the bakery. Inside Sugarcube corner, Pinkie Pie was doing business with her friend Twilight Sparkle. Spike had tagged along to look at the baked goods. "Okie Dokie! Here's that box of cupcakes you wanted for the picnic today, Twilight," the pink mare said, placing a large pink box of cupcakes on the counter. "Thanks Pinkie," Twilight replied, examining the box's contents. She smiled. "These look as delicious as always." The bell chimed behind her as the grey pegasus and the green wyrmkin walked into the shop. ---------------------- "Muffins!" the grey pegasus yelled, dashing to the counter. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth in anticipation. "Sure thing, Derpy," Pinkie Pie said, giggling. "I'll go get them from the back. Go ahead and have a seat." The pegasus dashed to a table and immediately began to fidget impatiently. The wyrmkin was in less of a rush. She stopped to greet the librarian and her assistant. "Hi Twilight! Hi Spike!" she said gleefully. "Hello Widget," Twilight said. Spike waved at the wyrmkin, then returned to pressing his face against the glass on the bakery display case. "You sure are up early," Widget said. Twilight nodded. "The girls and I are having a picnic today in the park," she said. "This might be the last chance we get before the weather gets too cold for it." She looked at the wyrmkin. "Do you want to come?" she asked, "I'm sure the girls won't mind. There's bound to be enough food for an extra guest." Widget shook her head. "No thanks," she stated. "Now that I'm done with my flying lessons, I'm going to follow Miss Doo around today. She said she would let me watch how she delivers all the mail in Ponyville! She's even going to let me help. I think we will stop by the library later, so I'll see you then." The wyrmkin pointed to the grey mare, who was greedily devouring the large stack of muffins that Pinkie had brought her. Widget grinned at her former tutor's antics. Widget turned back to face Twilight, who seemed to be in an odd mood. The unicorn's eye twitched. "W-well that's nice," she said quickly. "Come on, Spike!" She grabbed the baby dragon with her magic and dumped him on her back. She then levitated the box of cupcakes and headed for the door. "Aww come on, Twilight," Spike said, "I was still looking. I thought you said we had some time in the schedule still." "Not now Spike!" the unicorn stated. Her mane looked frazzled for some reason. "We have to hurry and strengthen the force field around the library!" Widget frowned. Twilight had mentioned this force field of hers before. Ever since the number of ponies crashing into the library had increased, Twilight had put up a force field around it to avoid further incidents. It had been working fine up until now, so why would she need to strengthen it? Widget decided that train of thought wouldn't lead to any helpful answers. She shrugged and went over to join Ditzy for muffins. Hopefully, she could snag a few without loosing a claw. "Hey! My flowerpots!" the cream colored mare with the red mane complained. She was leaning out of the second story window of her home to study the two intruders who had crashed into her house. Widget and Ditzy untangled themselves from the remains of what used to be a planter on her windowsill. "Whoops!" Ditzy said, "Sorry about your flowerpots, Rose." "I'm sorry," Widget said guiltily. The florist ground her teeth, then smiled. "T-that's alright girls," she said. "I can buy new ones... again." "Ok then! Here's your mail!" Ditzy said pleasantly as she gave the earth pony a letter. The recipient looked at it. She sighed suddenly. "Derpy, this letter is addressed to Daisy," she said. The mailmare snatched the letter back and squinted at it. "Whoops!" she said, "I guess you're right! Sorry about that. Let's go, Widget." ---------------------- The pegasus and the wyrmkin flew off. Rose watched them go for a moment. Then she slammed her face against the window ledge, ignoring the dirt that stuck to her mane. "Urgh," she muttered to herself. The day continued on. Widget found it exciting instead of monotonous. Ditzy Doo had a way of keeping things interesting. For instance, bouncing off the barrier to Twilight's house had turned out to be a lot of fun. They decided they had to repeat it a few times. The librarian seemed to be upset about something when they finally delivered her mail. Ditzy assured her that the unicorn had that same expression on her face fairly often. It must have come from too much studying. Widget was glad that Twlight was going to be taking time off to go on a picnic. She certainly looked like she needed the break. "Why does she work herself so hard?" the wyrmkin asked on their way to their next stop. Ditzy shrugged. "I dunno. She takes her work way too seriously. She really needs to lighten up and have more fun." Widget thought back to the time Twilight had yelled at her for setting off explosives near the library. She nodded in agreement. "You're right," she said, "Maybe you should try coaching her next." "Oh boy! That sounds like fun!" Ditzy exclaimed cheerfully, "Maybe I can show her how to deliver papers! It's my favorite part." She grabbed a newspaper from her satchel and threw it at the house below them. It landed in a bush. "Darn, just missed." "Can I try?" Widget begged. "Sure!" the mailmare said, handing her a paper. "You can do the next house." Widget gripped the paper tightly. The wyrmkin slowly pulled her arm back, ready to launch. She aimed her throw carefully. "And... launch!" Widget yelled. The paper flew through the air. It crashed into a window, shattering the lower pane of glass. "Aww... " Widget said. Her face fell. The grey pegasus patted her back. "Don't worry," she said, "You'll get it eventually." Ditzy was right. By the end of the day, she had improved to the point of hitting the proper door about half the time. Widget was very pleased with herself. Ditzy seemed to enjoy it as well. She applauded happily whenever the wyrmkin made a successful shot. The end of the day came much too quickly for them. They soon found both of their saddle bags were empty, so the two of them back at the post office. "That was a lot of fun," Widget said. "Yeah," Ditzy agreed, "We should do it again sometime. Maybe you can even be an honorary mailmare!" "NO!" yelled a number of voices at once. Widget looked around in confusion. All the ponies on the street had stopped what they were doing. They were all staring at her. Widget shrunk in on herself. A middle-aged, light brown pony with a grey mane approached them. She had a cutie mark that looked like a clock with really long hands. The wyrmkin had no idea who she was. "What's going on Miss Mare?" Ditzy asked. Widget gulped. She didn't realize this pony was so important! What was going on? Was this pony going to throw her out or something? "W-well dear," Mayor Mare said, "It's just that I received more complaints than usual today. It seems that Ponyville isn't... ready for the two of you to be working together." Widget sighed. "It's because I'm not a pony, right?" she said flatly. The mayor looked surprised. "Oh, no! That's not it at all," the mayor said hastily. "It's just that the property damage for today is more than double what Ditzy usually causes. Expenses have increased since you started... er, 'helping'." Widget sighed with relief. "Oh, is that all?" The earth pony blinked. "Er, um yes," she stuttered, "I-i'm glad you understand. It's what's best for Ponyville you know." Widget and Ditzy nodded glumly. The mayor smiled at them. "I'm glad you understand," she said. The busy pony left to return to her previous obligations. The rest of the watching ponies also returned to their own tasks as well. Widget looked at Ditzy. "I-I guess I can't come with you anymore," she said. A single tear rolled down her face. The grey pegasus patted her gently. "There, there," she said, "Even if you can't join me on my job, we can still have fun together." "R-really?" Widget asked. "Sure," Ditzy Doo said, "I want to introduce you to Dinky and the Doctor. You should get along with them great. Let's go, we need to go pick-up Dinky from school. I can't wait for you to meet her. We can go on an outing together. Maybe I can even get the doctor out of his box long enough to come along, too." The wyrmkin smiled. She had made a new friend, one who was really good at making her laugh. "Maybe I can teach you about inventing," she said, "or maybe explosives!" "Oh boy! That sounds like fun!" Ditzy said. ---------------------- Off in the shadows, the purple unicorn that had been watching the two of them talk began to bang her head against the nearby wall repeatedly.