The sun hung high in the sky, displaying the time of day to be noon. It had been nearly half a week since a stampede of cows had nearly trampled Ponyville.
A few days before, Lyra had awoken to a loud rumbling accompanied by the shaking of her bed.
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After getting up and leaving the house, she could make out the faint outline of something in the distance. A thick cloud of dust kept the unicorn mare from seeing what it really was, but it was definitely a large group.
She stood staring in bewilderment for a few moments before a cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash flew up and identified it as a stampede. Lyra got to know Rainbow as one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends and the local pony in charge of the weather. She was an interesting one to say the least, but she got the job done. Not even a second after her announcing the mob of cows, ponies were running about like there was no tomorrow (There did end up being a tomorrow). Lyra herself was one of these ponies. Though Ponyville was not exactly the largest of cities, she still had not memorised the locations of all of her friends’ houses, so during the panic she resorted to running back and forth in order to locate her comrades and reassure their safety.
She had passed by Bon Bon in the street a few times, but she seemed to be otherwise occupied, muttering something about 'being late due to the mindless yammering of a certain unicorn keeping her from getting any sleep'. Lyra wondered what that meant. Bon Bon could be so silly sometimes.
Then came a marvelous stroke of luck. "Look there!" called Rainbow Dash, pointing off to one side. As the stampede came ever closer a pony could be seen in the distance. It was hard to see, but it looked to be none other than Ponyville's local apple farmer and current proprietor of Sweet Apple Acres. She was an honest and hardworking pony that nearly everypony in town knew. In fact it was from her apple stand that Bon Bon would buy apples for their breakfast each week.
The stetson wearing pony charged up next to the stampeding cattle. Next to her was a small brown and white dog. Together Lyra could see them successfully herd the cattle, turning them just short of a bridge that lead over a stream and into Ponyville. They steered to the side parallel to the stream before stopping. Ponies slowly stopped their useless panicking. Two of Lyra's friends soon trotted up next to her. Derpy Hooves and Octavia each smiled and began stomping their hooves to cheer for the heroic cowpony.
"That was amazing." Derpy lept in the air and did a quick flip. "I can't believe she saved Ponyville all by herself."
"Yes, it certainly was interesting," Octavia said.
"It really was. Everypony in Ponyville must know her." Lyra said, "Which reminds me, I barely know anypony or anything about Ponyville. I know I've been living here for just over a week, but I have yet to get an official tour of Ponyville."
Derpy’s face lit with glee. “Oh, oh, I can tour you! I know this place like the back of my hoof!” She lept up, hovering in the air for about half a second before falling flat on her face. She looked up at her two acquaintances with her wall-eyes swirling about. They looked down at the grey pegasus in confusion.
“I... Find that a bit of an overstatement,” Octavia remarked. Lyra was inclined to agree, though she did not express it.
“Why? I’ve lived here as far as I can remember. Trust me, I know every square inch of Ponyville.”
“It’s just that... You don’t seem like one to be the best with directions,” she responded.
“Of course I am! I’m a delivery mare! How else would I get things to the right recipients? I mean, I got Applejack her jewel-encrusted slippers and Rarity her new plow just this morning. I should be able to give somepony a measly little tour, right?”
Wrong.
Octavia stared awkwardly at Derpy, who slowly began to realize her error. The smile she wore turned into a frown. “Oh..." She quickly recovered and said "Well, that's just a minor mix-up, I'll fix it lickety-split!"
She turned around to fix her delivery problem and ran face first into a pole that held up a pink banner. She wobbled slightly to the left and took off, speeding away.
Lyra and Octavia stood there smiling until Derpy got out of sight.
"I should probably tell her that she never gets her deliveries right, shouldn't I?" Lyra asked.
"Absolutely not."
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Today, the day Ponyville would hold an award ceremony in honour of Applejack, was also the day that Derpy Hooves was supposedly going to give Lyra her official tour of Ponyville. The unicorn slept soundly in her bed, Bon Bon doing the same in the room opposite of hers. A smile on her face showed that she was having a delightful dream that she never wanted to wake up from.
Tap tap tap.
She groaned and turned over. She sighed. The paradise that was her dream land had been penetrated by reality. Facing her clock she saw that the time did not comply with the time Bon Bon normally forcibly woke her up, and Bon Bon kept to a strict schedule. That meant something was up.
The mare pulled the sheets off of herself and stood up to see what was wrong. The door was closed. She opened it, but Bon Bon was nowhere to be seen. Strange, she thought. Tap tap tap.
The tapping had not come from the bedroom door, but from the other side of the room. She turned around to see Derpy hovering just outside of her window. She tapped and smiled.
Lyra trotted over and opened up the window. "Derpy, what are you doing? It's six in the morning," she asked.
"Well Lyra, if we're going to get through the whole town and have time to go to Applejack's award ceremony, we're going to have to leave right now."
The bags under Lyra's eyes pulled heavily, screaming for her to go back to sleep. "Can't this wait a little longer Derpy?"
"Nnope," she responded. "You need to be up and out that door right now."
The door opened. Though she normally went to get Lyra a bit later on, Bon Bon woke early each morning, and was wide awake. "What is happening he- Oh, Derpy Hooves. What are you doing here? Though I appreciate you waking Lyra for me, I am slightly confused as to why."
Derpy flew inside. "I'm giving Lyra an official tour of Ponyville today, and we need to leave as soon as possible to fit in everything, so I woke her up bright and early." They looked to Lyra, who was fast asleep on the wood floor. Funny thing about floors (especially wooden ones) is that while they are normally uncomfortable to sleep on, the more tired you are the more comfortable they become. It is almost a scientific principle. The wooden floor comfortability factor.
They looked back to each other. "That's a fantastic idea," Bon Bon remarked. "In fact, I think I should come with you two." Derpy agreed with her. The pegasus and earth pony left the room, but returned soon after to retrieve their slumbering friend.
CRASH! BANG! BOOM!
"Sorry, my bad!" came the voice of Derpy Hooves.
"Ouch..." Lyra grumbled.
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"...And that was Ponyville General Hospital!" Derpy exclaimed. Instead of thinking of Lyra's small injury as a waste of time, they used it to their advantage by incorperating it into the tour. Lyra now had a black eye and a bandage wrapped around her head. It was a nice hospital, and Doctor Needles seemed like a nice stallion, but her current lack of enthusiasm stemmed from the little incident that morning.
Bon Bon and Derpy happily trotted on either side of her, smiling in delight. The unicorn held her head low to the ground as the walked along the sand path to their next destination. "Bon Bon, the map and list please?" Derpy asked.
"Certainly," she responded. She passed both pieces of paper to Derpy.
"Now let's see..." mumbled the grey pegasus. "We were originally supposed to go from your house to the library and from the library to the quill and sofa store, but we got sidetracked to the hospital, which doesn't leave much time before we go to town hall..." Deep in thought, she failed to notice that she was about to walk straight into a deeply dug ditch. Lyra's eyes widened in alarm. She quickly fired up her magic and levitated a wooden board across. Derpy trotted over it. The bandaged unicorn sighed in relief.
Derpy reached the end of the plank, stepping on it with her hind hoof. The leverage raised the back end and hit a tree. From a part of the tree hanging over Lyra fell a nut. She looked up. "Oh no." A plethora of nuts rained down on her, burying her in a large pile. One last nut dropped down on the mound.
"Aha, I have it!" Derpy exclaimed. "Next stop is the market." Lyra dug herself out only to be snatched up by her pegasus friend. "Come on Lyra," she said, "Stop messing around!"
Ugh, thought Lyra. This is going to be a long day.