Chapter 6
Ever since that loss a few days ago, Amelia had to let off some steam by going for a run every morning, just like she did back on her own planet. She would start off by jogging down the path to Ponyville, swing by the tree house, pass the bakery, through the market, over the bridge and stop at an open field on the outskirts of Ponyville. However, when she did her exercises, she noticed a few things about her new body. She was quicker on her feet, her senses heightened considerably and had better control of her balance, add that to the body she once had, and Amelia felt like she was at her peak fitness.
Thankfully as she jogged along the street, pacing herself with each step, she had the pleasure of listening to her music through her EarPods from her old world, her steps matching with the beat. That’s how she kept her tempo, the fast flow of her music making her speed past ponies. Amelia’s style of music was aggressive, the flow fast and the beat booming in her ears. Along with the beat, the lyrics kept her drive going. The lyrics being egotistical, demonic, motivational, violent and… *cough, cough* lewd, Amelia dreads the day Fluttershy would catch her listening to such music but, it’s the type of music that puts her in the zone to excise and to block everything else out around her, the music she would listen to before a game of football.
As Amelia was running by, she couldn’t help but notice that a certain mail-mare in her uniform was not looking where she was going as she was busy nosing at the letter she was holding. Her eyes were going googly once again, the blond-maned mare trying to focus on the address. Before Amelia could call out to the Toffee player, Derpy bumped into Mrs Cake who was holding a white box. The two mares fell to the floor, Mrs Cake dropping the box that had a birthday cake inside, ruining the base and mixture while the grey pegasus mare dropped all the mail. Amelia winced at the contact.
That’s not good…
Amelia paused her music and placed her EarPods in their case as she rushed over. "Derpy! Y'alright, love?" Amelia asked with concern, giving Derpy a helping hand up. Derpy rubbed the back of her head softly, looking up to see the sky-blue pegasus looking down at her with worry, Derpy smiled up at her cheerfully, her cheeks rose from embarrassment.
“Yep! I’ll be okay!” Derpy said, getting up on her feet.
“Oh no!” Said the cake baker, looking over the ruined cake splattered all over the floor. “Do I have enough to make another?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Mrs Cake. I didn’t mean to ruin your hard work.” Derpy quickly apologised, putting her two hands together as she was hoping for forgiveness. Seeing who wasted hours of her time, Mrs Cake glared and snarled, making Derpy’s ears flatten.
“Just watch where you are going!” The blue earth pony said with a side eye, picking up the remains of the cake and box before walking back to where she came from. Amelia narrowed her eyes.
That wasn't nice! I better sort her out now!
“Hey! She didn’t mean to bump into you, y’know!” Amelia barked, her arms wide in protest.
“No, it’s okay. I should have watched where I was going.” Derpy said, placing a hand on Amelia’s shoulder. Amelia turned around to ask why but, she saw that all the mail that Derpy had was flying away. Amelia gasped.
“Derpy! Your mail!” Amelia exclaimed, pointing at all the travelling letters. It took a few seconds to pick up the surrounding letters that the wind didn’t catch, and a few minutes to get the ones that had flown away, but when it came to catching the last one, the letter decided that it didn’t want to get caught.
“There! The last one!” Derpy pointed, watching as the letter flopped away.
"Well, come on then, let's get it!” Amelia charged away, leaving Derpy in the dust as she trailed behind. Amelia thought she had caught it when the letter flapped onto the ground, lunging forward into a dive to land on top of it, but in the last second, the wind grabbed it away in a different direction, making Amelia face-plant into the dirt and for Derpy to overtake the downed pegasus.
Derpy scrambled for the letter, coming close each time but, the wind dribbled the letter left and right each time, skipping passed random ponies, going in between the legs, around the ponies and even over their heads! It was like watching an invisible Messi dribble in a crowded area with the letter! It was impossible to get!
When the letter flew to an isolated area of the street, looking to land gracefully, Derpy knew for sure that she would get the runaway mail finally. However, a wagon came out of nowhere and nearly hit Derpy directly until it screeched to a stop, inches away from her, making Derpy freeze up and for her heart to stop completely. Derpy didn’t freeze for long however as she saw the wind carry the letter off once again, she started to run after it.
“Hey! Watch it!” The fella riding the wagon called out, raising his fist.
“Sorry!” Derpy called back, looking over her shoulder. That’s when Derpy — yet again — ran into something as it dripped all down her uniform, she had to pause and look down for a second, seeing her uniform drenched in water, a cup by her feet. She looked back and saw that she had knocked a cup of water out of somepony’s hand.
“Hey!”
“Sorry!” Derpy said once again, deciding to chase the letter was more important. Derpy continued to chase the letter, using her wings to go a little bit faster. When the wind decided to turn the corner, Derpy followed without hesitation. When Derpy turned the corner, she nearly got tangled with a group of dogs on leeches, being walked by Fluttershy who had a shocked look on her face.
“Oh my.” Fluttershy said softly.
“Sorry!” Derpy said, running passed the shocked pegasus. However, the running grey mare was enough to excite the dogs on leashes as they tugged on the leashes, trying to chase the grey pegasus.
“Wait, stop it, guys! We are supposed—“
Fluttershy couldn’t finish her sentence as with one synchronised pull, Fluttershy lost her grip on the handle on the lead, making all the dogs bark and scamper after the running Derpy
“Stop! Bad boys! BAD BOYS!” Fluttershy shouted, running after the dogs she was supposed to walk. Amelia turned the corner just before seeing the chase of a lifetime, her face dirtied by the soil her face met a few seconds ago.
“Bleedin’ ‘ell, all this fuss ova one bleedin' lettah?" Amelia huffed, her cardio reaching her limit as she was on a run before this incident. Nevertheless, she pushed on and continued to race after the letter. She caught up to Fluttershy in a jiffy, Fluttershy huffing and puffing for air heavily. “Hi, Fluttershy! Bye, Fluttershy!” Amelia said, showing her pace to the yellow pegasus.
“Wait! Stop the dogs!” Fluttershy called out, already spent from the 200-meter sprint. Amelia looked over her shoulder, seeing that Fluttershy had stopped, her hands on her knees. Amelia's world started to slow, everything going in slow motion.
I could try and stop the dogs for Fluttershy considering she couldn’t catch up! Plus, I can’t leave Fluttershy to chase the dogs on her own, she couldn’t last that long. Surely Derpy could catch the last letter… Right?
But…
The dogs are chasing Derpy. If I help Derpy catch the letter, the dogs will stop too. That being said, I don’t know how long I can last with most of my energy spent. Could I catch the letter before my stamina depletes?
You choose!
Stop the dogs. None-cannon.
Or…
Stop the letter. Cannon.