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// So Many Thoughts to Say... 
// Story: The Sound of Mind 
// by BloomBoy06 
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	Even though Ditzy Doo would always deliver packages and mail, she would always receive something in return: ridicule.  Whether early or late, and some days, even on time, she would always be told off over something she had no control over.
Case in point, the other day.  She had a few letters for Golden Grape, a resident of Ponyville, a town she always loved to visit.  They were all addressed from somepony named Firecracker Burst; Ditzy would normally not notice return addresses of private residences, but she seemed to have remembered this path of letters from the months of what could only be described as love letters.  Although she would never peek into anypony’s mail, she remained curious as to what its contents really were.
Normally, she would place any mail in the appropriate mailbox, but despite being a solo house, Golden Grape only had a mail slot on his front door.  Ditzy approached the porch, and even though she placed the letters in the slot, she still sought to knock on the door.  She was always somepony who adored conversation, and after a few fraps upon the door, she waited for a response. 
Easily, she waited a minute, but she believed he must have been in the bathroom or something. Having waited long enough and not heard anything, she hollered toward the perceived inside, opening the mail slot, “Have a nice day, sir,” and proceeded outward toward her remaining route.
Before prepping her wings for a soft, low flight, the voice of a strong, yellow colt poked out from behind a slight door opening, “Thanks, mailpony.”
Ditzy retracted her wings, and peered around.  She recognized this colt and vice versa, but she wanted to remind him of the formalities of friendship, “Sorry, Golden Grape, I hope you didn’t forget my name.”
“Of course I didn’t, Derpy.”
Ditzy wanted to retort, but his blue friend came out from the television room and intervened, “Hey Gold, is it old crosseyes again?”
“I tell you,” she replied, “I can see fine. The vision’s been corrected.”
That comment could have been spoken to the clouds themselves by the way Golden responded, “Yep, that’s her. Dumped an entire moving truck on Twilight last year.”
“And I’ve told you ever since, the company took partial blame for that. Sure I dropped the flower pot, but you can’t blame me nor Raindrops for all that.  The balance for that thing was off from the start, and it only corrected itself after the piano fell.”
That didn’t stop the two so-called stallions from taunting in their manner, “Derpy, Derpy, so stupid and quirky.”
“Just stop it! It’s not like I’ve done any of the same actions,” yet she stayed grounded for reasons even she didn’t know.
She could tell those two were stirring up trouble to make fun of her again.  They took advantage of the unwritten law of songs, do not interrupt, no matter how wrong or demeaning.  Thus, they proceeded to chant their insults*:

Derpy, Derpy, with your eyes askew
Flight dismayed into a crash
Too often the skull was bashed
Derpy, Derpy, whatever should we do?
We should run her out of town
So we never see her ‘round
Derpy, Derpy, better leave us be.

Added to that was the sing-song laughter of dismay toward the grey pegasus, and she decided to use those wings to her advantage. Although she darted up toward the sky, she felt that even her fastest pace would remain outrun by their jest.  To her, the lowest level of clouds was just enough. She debated a thick layer of fog in addition to mask the clouds to block their sight, but realized that the layer of clouds had been thicker than usual. Not to mention that a team of five pegasai would be needed to simply fog up a pond, so Ditzy figured finishing off her two remaining deliveries would make the  best method to eventually avoid torment’s return.
A nice town-cloud niche of a house was the second-to-last destination of the afternoon, to an old friend she’d grown close to over the years. Ditzy rang the doorbell, which chimed its tune that Ditzy strangely didn’t recognize; perhaps the previous chime had lost is charm, but either way it provided a welcome distraction from the day. As she gazed around, her eyes – both of them – focused on the clearer upward sky. Despite the layer protecting the view of the ground, the sky above was a typically blue. The only reason Ditzy Doo skewed her head to the side was due to the cirrus clouds. It never made sense to have added clouds if nopony could see them. Ditzy had to wonder if – 
“Glad to see both of your eyes are gazing off in the same direction,” a yellow-coated pony jested. Apparently, Ditzy had been astray in her thoughts, and failed to see a friendly pegasus on the other end.
Snapping back to the now open door, she replied, “Hey, Raindrops! What’s your new doorbell about, anyway? New one I take it?”
“Of course. It’s set to the opening chorus of ‘Winter Wrap-Up’.”
“Winter what?”
“Wait, were you here at the end of last winter?”
After some light thinking, Ditzy remembered, “I think that was the time I left Ponyville to fetch the southern birds.”
“Okay, that would explain it. Apparently, there was a whole impromptu number where everypony sang and danced to that tune. I had no idea what I was singing, so I just lip-synced my time on camera. Got featured on the news and all that. Sorry you had to miss out, but at least you returned with the southern birds.”
While her attempt at encouragement to her friend was appreciated, it seemed to spiral Ditzy into a crummy mood, “Don’t be sorry. I mean, it’s not like I was told the direction I was heading in was wrong. I had a compass they knew was defunct, yet they insisted on me using it anyway. I should thank the griffons who stopped me before I went too far North. On my journey back southward, THEY had the nerve to say that it was all MY fault!! Not just that either! I’m tired of when-”
“It happened again today, didn’t it?” the friend calmly intervened.
For a moment, Ditzy remained silent, but she knew Raindrops had been the only pony she’d vented such things out to before, “It was Golden Grape again. I know he’s not the only pony to have done it, but it keeps happening and happening and – well, you get the point. But if it wasn’t for flight camp…” Tears weren’t falling, but her friend wouldn’t have known from the clenched eyes of Ditzy’s anguish.
“There’s nothing you could have done,” soothed the pegasus, “It wasn’t your fault. Sorry for being abrupt in changing the subject, but was there a reason you came here for aside from telling me of your troubles?”
She’d nearly forgotten. Of course, when you’re trying to cope with hurtful memories, duties tend to fall low on that list, “My fault there, just a letter,” she mentioned, poking her head in the saddle bag briefly to pull out a letter.
Though it wasn’t packaged in any special envelope, Raindrops was quite pleased with the return address, “Thank, Ditzy! I’ve been waiting for a reply from the Wonderbolts for the longest time.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember you mentioning something about the academy and whatnot,” although Ditzy was still dismayed, her anger heavily diminished as she pondered the letter of her friend, “what is it about though?”
“If it is what I think,” as she ripped the envelope for its contents, “it’s their reply to my application to become a member of the official team that I sent after the academy.”
“How much does it cost to, you know, apply?” there was some hope in her voice at a favorable answer.
“Well, it was included in the cost of the academy, so…”
“Oh…never mind then,” came the sighing reply, realizing another potential opt-out to positive attention was out of her reach.
As the letter was first read, Raindrops vocally read the letter for the minor public audience:

	Dear Raindrops, 
We have taken the liberty of reviewing your post-academy application, and would like to congratulate you on what 	you have done during your time. Unfortunately, as you are well aware, numerous other candidates with a higher level of qualification. As great of a candidate as you would be at this time, the Wonderbolts are not in need of the services you would provideto us. We will keep your application on file in case new openings arrive, and we are grateful that you have advanced as far as you have in the ranks of the Wonderbolts.

Stay Strong,
Captain Spitfire

“Oh, well,” the weatherpony merrily sighed, “Guess I’ll just go to my day job again tomorrow.”
“Quite sorry about that, I feel bad for you, Rainy.”
“What’s there to be sorry about?” she asked in confusion, “I figured that I may not have had a shot anyway, but I figured I may as well, if for no other reason than to see how it goes. I’ll admit, it kind of pains me to see rejection, though it’s not as bad as when stallions do it.”
At least Ditzy could chuckle at that, “I suppose that’s true.”
“Any other deliveries before you’re done with the day? The sky’s starting to turn red from the sunset, shouldn’t that mean you’re done?”
Ditzy pulled the final two letters from her mail bag with her wings, “Just these two, both for Rainbow Dash.”
“Would it be too intrusive to know who’s sending her letters?”
“As long as you don’t open it,” Ditzy jested, “One’s from Soarin’ and the other’s from the academy itself. I figure the two must be related somehow, but I’m not sure how.”
“Ah, I don’t need to peek in, it must be her acceptance letter into the Wonderbolts, you remember all I've told you about what she did at the academy. She must have been admitted, though I’ll admit, Soarin’s letter’s got me a little curious. Has he sent anything before?”
“I’m not supposed to keep track of mail in that manner,” Ditzy admitted, but faltered, “though he doesn’t usually send out mail to many ponies. As for Rainbow, haven’t seen any mail aside from bills delivered to her; an occasional letter from Pinkie Pie here and there, but not many in return.”
“Must be because they always hang out together,” Raindrops pondered, “Rainbow always seems so tame compared to Pinkie, but at least her thoughts can fit in one sentence.”
“I suppose. You…wouldn’t happen to know where she is, though, would you? I was looking for her in the morning, but couldn’t find her, not even at her house.”
“Try again,” came the hopeful advice, “but I’m of no help either. Haven’t seen her at all today, said she was sick and didn’t come in with the other weatherponies. I suppose that’s partly why we haven’t cleared all the clouds, though.”
Taking the sign to look down as a cue, she noticed that the clouds, though growing lighter, still surrounded the downward direction, “I best be heading off to find her. I may just stay up here because I’ve already checked below in Ponyville, so I may as well check above Ponyville and in Cloudsdale.”
“But what if she’s elsewhere?”
“My general area doesn’t include outside those areas. I’ll wait until tomorrow if I can’t find her.” After prepping her wings, she saluted her friend and bid farewell, “I hope to catch you soon, but I must head out before supper time,” and the final waves of both parties made the departure official. Ditzy flapped her wings and flew onward to find the lost pegasus; It musn’t be too hard to find somepony with that many colors, she pondered.
Looking up to the sky, she noticed the cirrus cloud again. Looking diagonally upward, the new scene perplexed her. These weren’t the type of clouds that appeared on a habitual basis. What Ditzy saw was the thinnest type of cloud, yet she recalled the only instance she had ever been that high in the skies. As a filly, her parents brought her up to a different cirrus cloud, but as amazing as Ditzy believed it to be, she remembered her parents were much more somber about the visit. She never recalled the exact reason for the trip, but it had been after the recent passing of her grandfather. In retrospect, she regretted not having cared as much, but she gathered that it had been better in her parents’ minds that she remained as innocent as she had over the years.
The cross-eyed pegasus had to shake her head at the multiple paths her mind had crossed. She had been pondering the morbid thoughts too often recently, Golden Grape’s torment was not the only instance, nor the only pony to have done it. There were too many ponies who had put unjust blame and false blame upon her. The town hall had been in need of repairs well before Applejack’s send-off for the rodeo, and many calls for its restoration had been made well before that day. Rainbow Dash was actually the pony who gave Ditzy the position in the first place to help decorate the Town Hall. Sure, she had attracted a storm cloud, but at least she attempted to clear it. 
Apologizing to most of the ponies didn’t work, Rainbow Dash was the only one to listen. Granted, most of the times, she didn’t reply, but at least the belief was moreso, ‘Derpy being Derpy’ as opposed to the ‘Derpy! Stop being Derpy! We Hate You!’ response that was typical on her end. She was grateful for what Rainbow did, but would be more grateful if she could find her. So she continued to scan the cloudscape…
…that was, until she got top-swiped by a multi-colored dart.