//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: It's Not Easy, Being Orange // by Show Stopper //------------------------------// The sun still hadn’t risen when the first alarm clock went off in Ponyville. Ditzy Doo quickly turned it off, not wanting it to wake her two daughters. She slowly got out of bed, groaning and stretching. “Well,” she whispered cheerfully to herself, “another day!” She quietly and quickly made her way downstairs and to the mail room and began the usual morning ritual of sorting the day’s mail. Ditzy loved this time of day, a quiet, peaceful time to relax and prepare for whatever the day would throw at her. As she sorted the mail, she was happy to see some letters for several of her friends and made a mental note to bring each of them a tray of home baked muffins. She was also delighted as she discovered something truly unusual: a letter for her! Nopony in Ponyville wrote to her since she saw practically everypony every day anyway, but this letter wasn’t from Ponyville. Ditzy broke from her sorting to open the letter from Trottingham. Dear Ditzy Doo, Thank you so much for accepting my application and for your generous offer of a job. I accept! I leave Trottingham today and so I should be in Ponyville around noon tomorrow. I promise to work hard and learn the route quickly, and I thank you again for this job and your generosity! Sincerely, Autumn Breeze Ditzy chuckled as she read. “Good luck learning the route,” she whispered, bemused. “In a small town like this, it changes every day. Hm. This was written yesterday, so she should be getting here today.” She looked up at the small pile of mail. “Good thing the load is small today. I should be able to be done by noon.” She went to her back door and opened it to find two packages on her back porch. "Only two for today,” she whispered happily to herself as she pulled them inside and placed them next to her mailbag. “The light one’s for Bon Bon. Must be all of those Prench candies that she ordered. Heavy one’s for Twilight. Must be more books.” She shook her head, amused. “I swear,” she said, walking into the kitchen to start making breakfast. “That mare gets a new order of books every week!” She heard a couple of alarms go off upstairs a while later, and wasn’t surprised when only a fuchsia unicorn walked down the stairs. “Morning, Mom,” she muttered, slumping down at the table. “Good morning, Amethyst,” Ditzy replied, flipping another flapjack onto a teetering stack. “Is your sister planning on joining us anytime soon?” Amethyst smirked. “The flapjack is mightier than the sword,” she replied. “She’ll smell them soon enough.” Ditzy laughed lightly. “Autumn Breeze wrote back,” she said. Amethyst's head immediately shot up from where it had been resting on the table. “The pegasus from Trottingham?” Ditzy nodded. “She accepted the job! She should be here sometime today.” Amethyst sighed in relief. “Good,” she said firmly. “Ponyville is getting bigger, and you need help. You’re bogged down most days. Speaking of which, how’s today’s load? “Small,” answered Ditzy, flipping one last flapjack onto the stack, “and only two packages, both along the rout.” She carried the flapjacks to the table. Setting them down, she looked up the stairs, confused. “I’m surprised that she isn’t down yet,” she commented. “She was up late last night,” explained Amethyst. “She had a lot of homework to do.” Ditzy raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “She told me she didn’t have any.” Amethyst giggled. “She’d say anything to get out and play with her friends. If you ask me,” she continued, whispering conspiratorially, “I think she has a crush on one of them.” They heard hoofsteps on the stairs. Ditzy grinned evilly. “One way to find out,” she whispered back. A young filly came down into the kitchen, gray coat and blond mane the exact same shades as her mother’s. “Morning, Amy!” she said, sitting down at the table. “Morning, Mommy!” “Good morning, Dinky,” said Ditzy, still wearing her evil grin. “So who’s the coltfriend?” Dinky turned beet red and her jaw dropped. Amethyst smirked. “I knew it!” she said triumphantly. “So, who is it? I bet it’s Pipsqueek!” “Don’t be silly, Amethyst,” said Ditzy casually, ignoring the deepening flush on her youngest daughter’s face. “He has eyes only for Scootaloo. Is it Featherweight?” “N-no!” stammered Dinky. “It’s not! I mean, I don’t have one!” “Could it be that Finish Line?” asked Amethyst. “After all, you just couldn’t stop talking about how he did in the roller derby.” “Or maybe it’s Tender Taps,” pressed Ditzy. “A lot of your friends like him.” “I don’t have a coltfriend!” said Dinky, a little more desperately this time. “It’s Snips or Snails,” said Amethyst, “isn’t it?” “ARE YOU CRAZY! EW, NO!” “It couldn’t be a fillyfriend, could it?” asked Ditzy. “MOM!!!” “Only joking, Little Muffin,” said Ditzy. “Well, that’s all I can really think of, unless of course it’s Rumble.” Dinky’s blush deepened instantly. Ditzy and Amethyst grinned at each other. “Oh, this is perfect!” cried Amethyst. “I know,” smirked Ditzy. “After all, Thunder Lane has been giving you the eye for years.” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “Not that. Thunder Lane’s been giving everypony the eye for years, and I do mean everypony. I meant that Flitter and Cloudchaser have been wanting to foalsit Dinky for months. I’m sure that they’d love to supervise a playdate. Oh, Dinky and Rumble sitting in a tree, H-O-L-D-I-N-G.” Ditzy and Dinky raised eyebrows. “Holding?” asked Ditzy. “You know, hooves,” explained Amethyst. “They’re way too young to be kissing.” “I don’t know,” said Ditzy as Dinky buried her face in her hooves, “I was kissing colts when I was her age.” Amethyst smirked. “And you had me when you were how young?” Ditzy laughed. “Point taken. I’ll have to let Miss Cheerilee know about this. Can’t have the young lovers sneaking off at recess for some face-to-face time.” “Mommy!” Dinky whined. Ditzy laughed and started dishing up flapjacks. “By the way, do you remember me talking about that pegasus from Trottingham?” She asked. Dinky nodded, eager to move the conversation away from Rumble. “You mean Autumn Wind?” “Autumn Breeze,” corrected Ditzy. “Well, she’s going to be working here at the Post Office. The only problem is, she doesn’t have a place to stay.” “Oh,” said Dinky. “She’s not going to stay here?” “Where would she sleep?” asked Amethyst. “We only have three bedrooms.” “Hm,” thought Dinky. Suddenly her eyes lit up. “Oh! I know!” she said. “I can share Amethyst’s room and she can have mine!” Amethyst grinned. “That sounds like a great idea, Dinky! Mom, are you OK with that?” Ditzy laughed warmly. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.” Dinky quickly scarfed down her flapjacks and rushed upstairs to start moving her stuff into Amethyst’s room. “That went well,” said Amethyst once Dinky was out of earshot. “I thought she’d resist more.” “That’s the trick with children,” said Ditzy. “You have to let them think that it was all their idea.” “Good to know.” Amethyst finished her flapjacks and stood. “Well, I’m off to work. See you later.” Ditzy just nodded, her mouth full of flapjack. By the time Dinky realized that her bed, dresser, and toy chest were too big for her to move by herself, Ditzy had finished breakfast, washed the dishes, and was pulling her mailbag up around her neck. “We’ll take care of the furniture later, Dinky,” she said. “It’s time for school.” Dinky nodded and grabbed her schoolbag. They left the house together, both of them excited for the day ahead.