//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Sandy Hooves and "Sea"-sons Greetings // by Darkblaze15 //------------------------------// The sun eventually made its way fully across the late afternoon Equestrian sky, marking its descent below the horizon as evening set into this Hearth's Warming Eve. While most everypony gradually vacated the seaside premises throughout the latter part of the afternoon, still a few stragglers remained soaking in the last bit of Hearth's Warming sun, including Derpy and Dinky Hooves. The pair of pegasi, both thoroughly winded from their active day of holiday fun, spent the last of their time on the beach lying together in tropical bliss. Dinky snuggled up comfortingly beside her mother, who busied herself with brushing and smoothing out the filly's damp coat with gentle hooves. "Well, this certainly was a fun day, wasn’t it my little Dinky Doo?" Derpy asked, her hoof swishing away a stray lock of hair from her daughter's face. "Oh, this has been great, Mom!" Dinky responded, a slight hint of fatigue in her voice, "Are you sure we have to leave so soon, though?" Derpy smiled teasingly, "What, a whole day playing on the beach wasn't enough for you?" She nuzzled Dinky's cheek, eliciting some soft giggling from the filly, "Besides, we didn't bring anything to stay the night out here, and wouldn't you rather enjoy Hearth's Warming Day in the comfort of our own home?" Dinky sighed dejectedly, "Yeah, I suppose so, though I vote to make this a yearly tradition moving forward!" she added, crossing her forelegs in an annoyed but adorable pout. Derpy giggled at her daughter's antics, "Heh, no arguments there, my sweet," she responded as the two of them prepared to pack up their belongings while silently reminiscing over their day of fun in the sun. Amidst these happy thoughts, however, Derpy grew solemn, feeling the slightest hints of regret nagging at the back of her mind as she thought about all the ponies along her mail route. They would have been expecting to receive any last-minute holiday mail by this point, everypony counting on her to deliver the services she had been entrusted with upon first accepting her position as mailmare. Even though there had been times when she was unable to perform her duties and others needed to step in for her, Derpy always held issue with relinquishing control over her own mail route. Delivering the ponies' mail and packages by hoof herself provided Derpy with the visual confirmation that the pony in question received and was satisfied with their mail, which the wall-eyed mailmare cherished with each delivery. Despite her lingering doubts, Derpy could do nothing at the moment except have faith in her coworkers' ability to pull through on their end while she focused on herself for a change. "I sure hope everypony got what they needed without me being around to help today," Derpy thought to herself as she and Dinky continued wrapping up their belongings. Just as they were about to finish packing and head home, however, Derpy heard somepony calling out to them from a little ways off. The mailmare twisted her head around in search of the mystery voice until she noticed Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon trotting towards them, the couple arm-in-arm and seemingly enjoying an evening stroll along the cool sandy beach. "Hey Derpy!" Lyra greeted, waving a friendly hoof in their direction. "Oh, hello Lyra; hi Bon Bon!" Derpy returned the greeting, suppressing her mildly shocked reaction upon their arrival, "Didn’t expect to see you two here, as well, I thought you usually spent the holidays with your relatives?" she inquired. "Yeah, but most of our families ended up traveling for the holidays this year," Bon Bon replied nonchalantly, "so we figured we’d treat ourselves to some warmth and sunshine for a change." "And it looks like we weren’t the only ones with that same idea!" Lyra added with a sly wink towards the grey pegasus, who giggled in response. "You’re right there, Lyra," Derpy stated, "Definitely took some encouragement on both yours and everypony else's advice," she added, gesturing to indicate the rest of the ponies who offered suggestions the other night, "but I figured it was as good a time as any for me to call out for this year's holiday." "Good for you, girl, you deserve the break!" Bon Bon commented, "You sure picked the right day to come out here, thank Celestia the Cloudsdale pegasi are keeping the wintry weather far enough away from these shores," she added with a shudder, looking off to the distance in Ponyville's general direction and thinking about the storm currently surrounding it. "I know, right?! We had so much fun today!" Dinky exclaimed, bounding over to the mares to offer her own recollection of the day's activities. "We played in the water, then Mom got tired so she came back here and I went to build a sand castle with these other fillies, and then Mom got untired and came over, so we played in the sand a little bit longer, and then—" she continued to babble until Derpy deliberately but gently silenced her with a hoof to the filly's mouth. "Alright, sweetie, I’m sure Lyra and Bon Bon get the picture," Derpy stated gently, smiling cheekily at her daughter. Lyra giggled and leaned down, tousling Dinky's mane playfully, "Sounds like you gals sure had a fun and relaxing day!" She smiled warmly before standing back up and turning towards Derpy again, "So, what’re your plans for the rest of the night?" she asked innocently. "Well, I wasn't able to book accommodations for us on such last-minute notice," Derpy explained, a slight twinge of regret to her voice, "so were just about to head back to celebrate Hearth’s Warming at home…" "Um, I don’t think that would be wise!" Bon Bon interjected before seemingly catching herself from revealing information. "Uh, I-I heard that the weather pegasi were trying to calm that storm brewing over Ponyville, but it’s only gotten worse, so any attempt to get back into town could be dangerous for a mare and filly like yourselves," she warned ominously. "Y-Yeah, and besides, it's getting too late to be traveling that far anyways," Lyra added hastily, gesturing for the pegasi to follow her, "You can come stay with us for the night, we’ve got plenty of room in our cabana for you to join us!" "Ooh, sounds like fun!" Dinky exclaimed, turning to her mother, "Can we stay, Mom? Can we, can we, pleeease?" she pleaded, gazing up at Derpy with wide, sparkling eyes, prompting the motherly mailmare to falter under the intensity of her daughter's puppy-dog stare. "I, well, uh..." Derpy stammered before eventually caving in with a deep sigh, "Oh, I suppose we could stay the night, then." While Dinky celebrated by skipping and bouncing all around them, Derpy looked to the other mares in company, her eyes brimming with gratitude and warmth, "Thank you, Lyra and Bon Bon, we really appreciate the offer." The two mares nodded, offering a friendly smile in acknowledgement as they led the pegasi pair up from the sandy shore and towards the rows of cabana tents set between the beach and looming dunes behind. While walking along the boardwalk between tents, Derpy heard various other groups of ponies partaking in what must be their own Hearth's Warming holiday celebrations set beside the sea. The four ponies eventually approached a rather large tent located towards the end of the boardwalk; as they got closer, Derpy realized she could hear several murmuring voices emanating from within the fabric structure. Originally assuming Lyra and Bon Bon had vacationed to the beach by themselves, the mailmare was perplexed by the fact that there seemed to be an entire crowd milling around in the couple's tent with them. She grew even more puzzled when, as they were about to turn the corner into the cabana, the voices started whispering and hushing one another in rapid succession. "If Lyra and Bon Bon said their families were traveling for the holidays, then who could possible be—" "SURPRISE!!!" Derpy's thought was swiftly interrupted as they rounded the corner into the cabana and were immediately met with an incredible sight laid out before them. There were indeed many ponies in attendance, but the mailmare quickly realized that the attendees were all Ponyville residents from her own mail route. Matilda Donkey stood front and center with husband Cranky Doodle beside her while the three florist ponies Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily Valley were off to the side finishing some festive centerpieces. Doctor Hooves and Amethyst Star were towards the back of the cabana next to a beautifully decorated tree while Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody sat behind their respective musical instruments of choice. Even the spa pony twins, Aloe and Lotus Blossom, were in attendance, looking just as excited as everypony else to see Derpy there. The stunned mailmare was rendered speechless for a moment or two, trying to take in everything at once while failing to understand the significance behind such a gathering. As she gazed around the cabana at the congregation before her, more details became apparent to her, from the sizable mount of wrapped presents nestled underneath the tree to the veritable banquet of holiday goodies laid out on the surrounding tables. "W-Wha…um, h-hi everypony," Derpy greeted, feeling unsure of how else to respond, "I, um…i-it’s nice to see you?" "Wonderful to see you, as well, old friend!" Doctor Hooves exclaimed earnestly. "We’re so happy you took our advice and decided to come out here for Hearth’s Warming, dear!" Matilda smiled warmly. Derpy merely looked around, still feeling wildly confused by the ordeal, "Um, t-thank you, b-but…what exactly are you all doing out here?" Octavia stepped forward to address the perplexed pegasus, "Why, we’re here to celebrate you, love!" she answered, her alabaster associate nodding in silent agreement behind her DJ table setup. Derpy gasped with shock, "M-Me?! B-But…why?" she asked, now desperate for answers. "Allow us to explain, Derpy," Lyra began, scratching the back of her neck and acting a bit uncharacteristically sheepish, "You see, we’ve…actually been planning this for a while now." "We’ve seen how tough mail delivery can be for you sometimes," Roseluck chimed in, "especially around this time of year…" "…But you’ve always pushed through the toughest of conditions and circumstances to ensure all of us get our mail safely and on time," Doctor Hooves added. "You put yourself through so much just to put a smile on other pony’s faces when they receive their mail while not expecting or receiving anything in return," Octavia remarked, continuing to tune her signature cello. "You work so hard to make everypony here happy through your work," Matilda smiled endearingly, "that we wanted to work out a way to give back to you this holiday!" Derpy gasped again, taken aback by the sudden realization that this whole event had been orchestrated in celebration of her. "Oh, r-really?" she stammered, unsure of how to take the news, "B-But, how did you manage to—" "Well, we actually couldn’t have done it without this little filly," Lyra commented, stepping forward with Dinky Doo in hoof and guiding her to stand next to Matilda. Dinky, not quite used to being the sudden spotlight of attention in a crowd of ponies, shyly shrunk back as Derpy gazed down upon her daughter, mouth agape in disbelief. "We had to find a way to coordinate your plans and actions to account for this surprise without talking to you directly," Lyra continued, "so naturally, we thought to get Dinky here involved, who agreed almost instantly!" "She knew how much this would mean to you, so she agreed to keep all this a secret from you," Matilda said. Derpy stared intently at her daughter, her expression not betraying much emotion as Dinky merely sat awkwardly until her mother spoke up again. "So, Dinky, did you..." she began, "Did you do all of this by yourself? "Well, not entirely on my own," Dinky admitted, "I actually got a lotta help from Amethyst who managed to pull everypony here tonight!" Amethyst Star puffed out her chest proudly with recognition, "They don’t call me the “best organizer in Ponyville” for nothing, after all!" she commented, earning a couple of chuckles in response. "We booked this cabana well in advance to make sure we could get everything ready and in place. We even talked to your boss and employees about our plan ahead of time, and they were more than willing to give you the time off that you deserve!" "It was actually Dinky's idea to have us "encourage" you to take a vacation down to the beach," Bon Bon explained, "We needed a way to get you down here covertly, and Dinky thought it might work better hearing it from everypony here rather than just her asking you," she added, to which the filly nodded in acknowledgement. "From there, it was merely a matter of getting everypony out here and setting things up while Dinky kept you busy and distracted out on the beach until the moment was right!" Lyra finished with a flourish. "I…I…" Derpy was rendered speechless once again in awe of the lengths everypony took to grant her this special holiday surprise. Any thoughts or even slight feelings of anger or betrayal towards the deceit and secrecy that went into this venture were immediately extinguished by the supportive and loving gazes of the ponies gathered before her. She felt proud and delighted over having gotten to know and become close friends with such generous ponies throughout her many years of postal service, thinking back to how fulfilling giving back to her community made her feel. Derpy looked around at her surroundings once again, admiring all the decorations and holiday wonder spread throughout, until her gaze landed back upon the joy of her life: her little Dinky Doo, sitting silently and fidgeting with her hooves. She trotted over to her daughter, eyes brimming with sparkling tears, and endearingly lifted the filly's chin up with her hoof to look her in her brilliant golden eyes. "Y-You did all this," Derpy said quietly, choking up with emotion, "b-bringing everypony together…f-for m-me?" Dinky smiled, feeling on the verge of spilling some tears herself at seeing her mother so happy, "W-Well, yeah, of course. You work harder than anypony I know, Mom, especially around the holidays," she commented, "And not just when you're working, but also to keep me entertained and happy at home. I...I just wanted to give back to you for all that you've done for me over the years." Derpy's breath hitched with a small sob as she pulled Dinky into a tight but loving embrace with her forelegs, her whole body trembling with joy as the dam behind her eyes finally broke. "And we wanted to show you how much we care for you and appreciate what you do for us every day, my dear," Matilda added, patting the emotional mailmare on her back comfortingly. "Indeed, Happy Hearth’s Warming to you, Derpy Hooves!" Lyra exclaimed, followed by similar remarks of celebration from everypony else as they gathered closer into a large, heartfelt group hug. Derpy's sobs eventually subsided, replaced with a silent but revered appreciation for the generosity and compassion shown by all the ponies around her. Following the grand reveal and subsequent group hug, the night's festivities eventually got underway, starting with everypony raising a glass in celebration and honor of Derpy's countless hours of service and hard work. They then resorted to milling around the tables in small groups, engaging in small talk and getting into the holiday mood by enjoying the various sweets and treats laid out. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody provided some subtle musical accompaniment throughout the night, blending a mixture of orchestral and soft techno vibes into a somewhat classical but contemporary sound. At one point during the festivities, Aloe and Lotus approached Derpy and Dinky, promising the both of them an extended, relaxing massage session before leaving for home. As Derpy looked around at everypony gathered in the cabana, she allowed her doubts and worries regarding her absence in Ponyville to fully slip away, electing to just go with the flow and enjoy the company of those who cared about her just as much as she did for them.