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// 1. Special Delivery 
// Story: Not Fast Enough 
// by EquusStorm 
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Rainbow Dash shot across the sky high above Ponyville, as Celestia's sun peeked over the horizon. It was a lovely clear day, perfect for flying. Although, for the rainbow-maned pegasus, any day was perfect for flying. This one would be no different. "Aww yeah! It should be illegal to not get up here and soar on a day like this!" Her blue and yellow flight suit glistened in the morning rays as she dipped and dived through the endless blue. An awesome day for training, and we've got a great early start. It's gonna be a good day!

Well below, inside a small cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, lay another pegasus pony - a tan-coloured stallion with a long black stringy mane. Unlike Dashie, this pony was until moments ago sound asleep, rather irked at the sudden intrusion of the daylight through the worn-out shutters in his equally worn-out adobe. "Ugg... there's no reason to be up so early." He slowly raised himself out of bed, stretching his wings and mentally preparing himself for another day. Another day, just like any other old day. It's going to be a long day.

As the sky filled with light, the residents of the sleepy little town began their morning routine. An orange earth pony wearing her trademark hat was well into her morning round of bucking fresh apples off the trees on the family orchard. An exquisitely-groomed violet and white unicorn left her boutique with a shipment of freshly sewn outfits embroidered with the logo of the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra. A grey pegasus with a light yellow mane, decked in Ponvyille Post uniform, happily received the package as she began her own morning rounds.

At the little ramshackle cottage outside of downtown, Stratus Deck sat at his breakfast table staring into a fresh cup of coffee, trying to pick out his reflection in the dark liquid. Might as well get up and around. A knock on the door sent ripples through the murky visage. "All right, all right, coming." Better be important, at this hour, he thought to himself. He opened the door to reveal Ponyville's cheerful mailmare and package deliverer, Ms. Derpy Hooves. "Hi Stratus Deck!" The bubbly pony began, her demeanor bright enough to lift even the most sullen spirits, "I have some mail for you!"

Stratus Deck couldn't help but grin as she fetched a small load of envelopes from her mailbag. How a pegasus could be able to expertly sort and deliver letters with such precision using only their hooves and mouth (and a little unicorn magic back at the post office) is a story for another day, but the mare was quite good at her task. She handed him his mail and bid him a good day, flying away immediately thereafter to continue her rounds. "You too, Derpy. Have a good one."

Once back inside, he lay his mail down on the table, preparing to sort through whatever bills and junk mail had found its way to his house today. Overdue notice, sale advertisement for Davenport's, extend your wings three inches in just four weeks, the latest tax code changes bulletin for the fifth time, a magazine subscrip... hey wait. He stopped, noting the address on the last one. It wasn't for him. Rather, the address on the envelope seemed instead to belong to the residence of Rainbow Dash. No mailmare is perfect. "Well at least I have an excuse to get my day started, by giving this to Dash." The stallion still had several hours before he began the day shift at one of Ponyville's mid-range cafes. And besides, it was a pretty decent day out. No harm in doing a little walking.

The streets were bustling with activity. A lively pink earth pony was happily bounding down the street carrying a bag loaded with party supplies, and apparently a cannon of some sort. A young dragon dutifully toting around a checklist followed a lavendar unicorn towards the local marketplace. A blue-and-white unicorn entered Ponyville Dentistry, switching the 'closed' sign to 'open.' The small town seemed to have the activity of a city five times its size, yet retained its small-town charm and down-home friendliness. Stratus Deck was quite satisfied living here, rather than his old cloud home outside Marecedonia. Besides, being down on the ground so much helped keep his mind off... her. No, no, it's water under the bridge. It's in the past. Focus. Letter delivery.

After a few minor distractions - who could resist a free sample of the Cakes' amazing new cupcake flavor? - he found himself staring up at a veritable cloud mansion streaming with rainbow waterfalls - the home of his old friend Rainbow Dash. The two were several years apart in age, but as he worked as a counselor in flight school after his graduation, he used to hang out with her a lot when she was taking classes. That had been years, though, and the two now only really spoke in passing, with the occasional jest and the reminisince of older days. She had taken to the sky, and he had settled on the ground, meaning they didn't see each other that much anyway. But clearly, the two were still friends. He hadn't spoken to her in months, now, though, and actually began to realise how much he missed his old friend. Gotta catch up with her one of these days and see how things are going. But today he had a reason to show up - and as he spread his wings and flew straight up to her home, he wondered if his old pal was at home or busy doing what more normal, active pegasi do on clear mild days such as this.

"Hey there Deck!" As he whirled his head in the direction of the familiar raspy voice, he saw the cyan pegasus racing towards him. She landed on the cloud deck in front of her home that he had settled on. "What brings you to the clouds this morning?"

Placing the letter on his hoof, to free his teeth for conversation, he replied, "Oh, Dash, hey there. Long time no see!" 
As she walked towards him, he continued, "I'm just here to fix a little mail mix-up this morning. I got something here addressed to you by mistake."

A sudden gust knocked the piece of mail out of his hoof, sending it tumbling downwards through the sky. Before he could even react, Rainbow Dash had already taken off from a complete standstill and snatched the wayward envelope. He had always been in awe of her skill and speed.

"Wow. That was incredible."

"Haha, oh that's nothing. Thanks for delivering the mail though! Derpy sometimes sends me the wrong mail too." Looking at the subscription offer that was apparently important enough to fly all the way to her house to deliver, she threw it on the cloud beside her. "Heh, you came all the way just to deliver junk mail? You sure you don't have another reason you stopped by?"

"Well, I mean, I hoped you'd be home - we haven't chatted in a while!" With a smile, he continued, "So what's going on? Enjoying this nice weather?"

"Yeah! My team and I got up extra early to clear the clouds out of the sky." Scanning the sky, not a cloud in sight, she returned the question. "What've you been up to? Still working at the cafe?"

"Yup, five days a week. I had some time to kill this morning though, so I decided to get up and around."

"Well you need to get up and around more! Gotta keep those wings in shape!"

"Heh, I'll never be able to do the kind of things you do with that strong pair of wings right there, though."

"Pfft! Haha, you're a crack-up. That move right there was nothing! You ought to see me in training!"

"Training eh?" He had pretended not to notice her flight suit, hoping to avoid any difficult questions. This was not to be, however.

"Yeah! I think I told you before, a few times even, but I'm a lead pony on the Blue Team in last year's inductees to the Wonderbolts! My lifelong dream is finally coming true!" She positively beamed, truly proud of having gotten in the exclusive aerial performance team last season. She loved to tell anypony that would listen about her success, especially old friends.

"Oh... yeah, you told me. I remember it." He traced the cloud below his hoof, causing a few small puffs of cloud matter to drift lazily around his leg.

Dash could never understand his apparent lack of enthusiasm for the Wonderbolts. They were elites! The best Pegasi aerialists in Equestria! How not cool could they possibly not be? And especially now that she was on the team. "Ah. I see." Now a bit less enthusiastic, and quite curious, she looked right into his eyes. "You know, I've always wondered why you didn't seem all that excited about the Wonderbolts. I mean, I know that nopony is a bigger fan of them than I am so I'm a little more crazy about them than other ponies, but still, every time I bring them up, you hang your head and try to change the subject. Why's that?" Slightly saddened, she added, "...or, you know, the least you could do is be happy for me, finally getting to do what I've always dreamed. We're friends right?"

"Oh, I mean definitely, I'm very happy that you got in," he smiled reassuringly, "but you know that crazy acrobatic skill is just something you're way better and than me, so it's hard for me to get as excited as you do over these things."

"Well thanks," she replied, "but I still don't know what you have against the Wonderbolts. You used to be obsessed with them back in Flight School."

"I don't have anything against them. I just... it's all in the past, but... I don't wanna talk about it." Abruptly ending the conversation, he took off in a near nose-dive back towards the ground. 

Dash was quite confused and a bit put off. But she could try to pry his secrets out of him sometime else - as she was only returning home to check the mail and maybe grab a quick snack, it was time to get back to training.