Lightning Dust glided above the small town of Ponyville, taking in a long, refreshing breath of upper-atmosphere air to wake herself up. It was way too early in the morning to even consider being awake. Celestia’s sun had only just crested above the horizon after all. However, Lightning had to get up early, mainly because she was an idiot.
It hadn’t been until last night that she realized she’d bolted out of Derpy’s home without learning when she was supposed to show up for work. Upon realizing that, she had forced her self out of bed early in the morning, shoved her last two chocolate chip muffins in her mouth, and rocketed out of her front door.
Now she was looking down with intense focus. Her vision, tempered to unconsciously search for details from years of aerial practice, was set on finding the post office. Just another thing she had forgotten to find out from Derpy before leaving.
“Bucking fantastic,” she muttered to herself. “I don’t even know where to go, on top of when to be there. At this rate, I’ll be employee of the month in no time.”
After a few more minutes of searching, Lightning finally settled on a building that appeared to be post office. She came to this glorious assumption due the image of giant envelope on the front of the building.
This was actually a trend she had been noticing about Ponyville. In Cloudsdale, buildings were identified usually by cloudscrawl, a method of imprinting words onto each fluffy, white building and then freezing the rainwater in the clouds in order to make the impressions last. Obviously, Lightning realized cloudscrawl was more or less useless to ponies living on the ground, but she had assumed that they would just write words on the buildings instead.
Apparently that option was far too logical for the denizens of Ponyville. Aside from a post office, Lightning had already found a restaurant marked with a giant hayburger and soda, and a bowling alley represented by bowling balls and pins.
She landed in front of the post office still thinking about the asinine signs of Ponyville. In actuality, they were hardly anything more than an slight annoyance to Dust. The reason she was dwelling on it for probably longer than she should, was because it was change: something she wasn’t used to, and something that – coincidentally – had been happening a lot lately.
Her green hoof pushed the glass door of the post office. It didn’t budge.
Lightning sighed. “Locked.” She turned, let her back hit the door, and slid down onto the ground. “Great. Just great. Celestia knows how long I’ll be sitting here now.”
“Not long,” a cheerful and familiar voice told her.
Whipping her head around, Lightning saw Derpy standing right beside her wearing a goofy grin on her face.
“Hey,” Lightning said her voice a mixture of sleepiness and happiness.
Derpy squinted her eyes as the rising sun beamed light into her face. “Why are you here so early?”
“Oh you know,” Lightning said with fake casualness. “Just wanted to get here early… Show my enthusiasm… and stuff…”
“You didn’t know when to come, did you?” Derpy asked.
Offering a sheepish grin she replied, “Nope.”
With a humored smile, Derpy revealed her key to the post office. Lightning scooted aside as her friend began unlocking the door.
“For the record,” Derpy told her. “We start at eight thirty everyday, well, except Sundays and Thursdays.”
“Oh, okay,” Lightning said as she mentally filed that away. “So why are you here so early?”
The door clicked open and Derpy pushed. “I always try to get here first. It gives me a chance to get a pot of coffee started for everypony and make the schedule for the day.” She walked in, Lightning not far behind.
“That’s pretty nice of you.”
“Thanks,” Derpy said with a smile. The lights were flipped on and revealed the interior of the post office. Lightning had never been inside one before, but she guessed this would be what the typical post building would be like. “Follow me.”
Derpy led her behind the counter and toward a door marked: Employees Only. Lightning felt a smidge of pride knowing that she was allowed back there. Derpy unlocked this door and allowed her to step through first.
“Welcome to the break room,” Derpy said proudly. Dust glanced around, examining the simplistic décor and furniture of the tiny room. There were a set of lockers at the back and near them was a counter with a lone coffee pot sitting on it. Directly in front of that sat a table with a few chairs, and to the left was another table – only this one was different. It was upholstered with a green fuzzy material and had several colored balls on it. The mere sight of it confused Dust.
“What the hay is that?” She asked, pointing to it.
“Oh, that’s our pool table,” Derpy replied, walking towards the lockers.
“That doesn’t look like any pool I’ve ever seen,” Lightning retorted, causing her friend to giggle furiously. “What?”
“Come on,” Derpy said. “We’ve got to get you a mailmare’s uniform.”
At the word uniform, Lightning’s mind immediately thought of her Wonderbolt’s uniform. The one she’d never be able to genuinely wear again. She cringed inwardly.
Don’t focus on that, Lightning thought. Just focus on something else, like Derpy. Her friend was currently bending over to open the lock. Her plot was coincidentally – and probably unnecessarily – arched high into the air because of this.
… Okay, don’t focus on Derpy then. Lightning quickly shifted her gaze to the coffee pot, and stared it down until the click of the lock opening was heard.
“Got it.” Derpy smiled. She reached in and pulled out some neatly folded clothes and a brown saddlebag. Extending them to Lightning she said, “This is Raindrop’s uniform. She’s on maternity leave right now, so you can use hers until we can order a one for you.”
“Thanks,” Lightning said, taking the uniform. Derpy reached back into the locker and grabbed her own uniform.
The gray mare slid the navy blue vest on and buttoned it with ease, and followed up with her saddlebag and matching navy hat. Lightning tried to duplicate the action, but found increased resistance from the brass buttons on her vest.
“Need some help?” Derpy offered, seeing her struggle.
“Yeah,” Lightning admitted. “I’m not used to buttons.”
Her friend moved close, and with her hooves she dexterously began fixing the vest. “It takes a lot of practice unless you have magic,” she explained. “Honestly, I think unicorns invented them just to buck us over.” Her hoof brushed against Lightning’s chest lightly as she finished. Her gray face bloomed red and she backed up. “T-there, all done.”
“Thanks,” Lightning said without noticing the blush. She put on the saddlebag and set the hat on the top of her head, pushing the front of her wavy, golden mane outward slightly. “How do I look?”
“Adorable,” Derpy said with absolutely no hesitation. Then she went ridged, realizing what she’d just called her friend.
“Uh…” Lightning responded. “Why did you just…”
“Because… uh,” Derpy said, attempting to recover quickly. “Good friends call each other adorable all the time. Yeah, that’s it.”
“Oh,” Lightning replied. “Then… you look adorable too… I guess?”
Derpy blushed even harder, but turned away so Lightning wouldn’t notice. “Thanks. Hey, I’m gonna get some coffee ready for the other mailmare’s and then we should get to work.”
“Okay, but you should know I not really familiar with the layout of Ponyville. I don’t think that’ll help my mail delivering abilities.”
“Relax,” Derpy told her, preparing the coffee. “I'll help you out and show you around for your first few days. That is, if you don’t mind working closely with me.”
“Not at all,” Lightning affirmed with a smile. She was actually kind of excited to get started.
“How the hell do you carry all these things?” Lightning whined. She hovered low to the ground, her bags stuffed full of envelopes and packages. “It’s like I’m holding a bucking anvil!”
“Quit your complaining,” Derpy reprimanded. “I gave you the lighter of the two loads.”
Dust grunted in reply. They had barely begun, but she was already having second thoughts about being a mailmare. “Can we stop and rest for a minute?” She pleaded.
Derpy glanced back at her friend with an expression that held absolutely no pity. “We’ve only done three houses so far.”
“I know, but my back is starting to hurt, and the corners of these packages keep poking my sides.”
“Boo hoo,” Derpy teased. “We aren’t stopping till it’s lunchtime.”
“How long is that?”
“Four hours… maybe five.”
“Buck my life.”
Derpy giggled, and flapped her wings to gain some elevation. “Oh come on, with all the training you say you’ve done I expected better than this.”
Lightning attempted to catch up with Derpy’s altitude, but was too weighed down. “That was speed training, and it didn’t involve lifting eighty pounds of paper and cardboard for hours at a time.” Another corner jabbed her side. “Oww,” she hissed.
Swooping back down, Derpy seemed to take pity on her friend. “All right fine, how about we deliver all the big packages first. That ought to lighten your load.”
Lightning nodded gratefully. She reached into her saddlebag and grabbed out the fiendish box that just poked her. “This one says it’s going to somepony named Rarity at Carousel Boutique.”
“Oh yeah, I know where that is. And lucky for you it’s not far either.” Derpy motioned for her to follow and then began to fly down a new street.
Lightning took note of the sigh that said Mane Street as she passed. She was slowly building a map of Ponyville in her head. Seeing as how Dust was going to be a mailmare indefinitely – though at the current rate she might just quit today – she felt it was a good idea to learn her way around.
Derpy was weaving further ahead of her, the bulky load of the mailbags apparently not affecting her. Lightning struggled to keep up with the gray mare, only to have another package from hell stab into her sides.
Eventually Derpy came to a halt in front of a fancy looking building. Dust’s wings were begging for a break by the time she arrived and she landed on the ground.
“Here we are,” Derpy said.
“Great,” Lightning replied. She went straight over to the mailbox, and began to open it.
“Uh, Lightning I don’t think the package will fit,” Derpy told her.
As Dust began to jam the package in, only to find that it was too wide. She glanced back and saw her pegasus friend smirking.
“Shut up,” Lightning told her. She rotated her focus back to the package. “All it needs… is a little… fetlock grease…” Lightning pushed harder with each breath. The corners of the package bent around the edge as it was forced into the tiny mailbox. She could practically feel Derpy wincing at the sight, but pressed on.
When the package hit the back end of the mailbox, Lightning was satisfied, and closed the lid. It popped open again, as the very edge of the package was sticking out. Grunting, Lightning tried to close it several more times only to be met with the same results. Frustrated, she slammed the lid shut as hard as she could, hearing a satisfying snap as the mailbox was closed. Gingerly, she propped the little flag on the side to the up position.
“There,” she said, dusting off her hooves. “Flawless delivery.”
“I’d hate to see what the flawed ones look like,” Derpy muttered. After earning a look from her friend she amended the statement. “It’s only your first day, Lightning. You’ll get better.”
“Hopefully,” Lightning said. “It would suck if you had to fire me.”
“Uh-huh,” Derpy agreed. “Anyways, we should move along. There’s still a ton of mail to deliver.
“You’re telling me,” Lightning said, maneuvering into takeoff position. A new package attacked her ribs. “Ow! Son of a bi-”
The lid on the mailbox popped back open with a defying clink.
She whipped her head at the insolent beast and glared at it angrily. “Oh, buck you,” she hissed at it. When Lightning turned back around she saw Derpy holding her hoof to her mouth. That, coupled with a red face and a snort, let Lightning know her friend was barely suppressing a laugh. Lowering her eyelids, Lightning said, “Let’s just keep moving.”
The following couple of hours showed remarkable improvements in her mail delivering skills. At the very least, there were no more encounters with resilient mailboxes from hell. Lightning even began getting used to the weight of the mailbags – though the fact that they were getting lighter after each stop may have contributed to that.
They saw several ponies that Derpy recognized on their journey, and though only waves and basic pleasantries were exchanged, Derpy promised to introduce Lightning around when they weren’t on duty.
“So what’s our next stop?” Dust asked, on the ground. Both mares had shifted to walking, because even with lighter mailbags, earlier had really worn them out.
Derpy glanced at the next few letters. “It’s Time Turner’s place.”
“Nice. We should say hi while we’re there,” Lightning suggested.
Her friend nodded. “Yeah, I haven’t seen him since Saturday, so it’ be nice to check up on him. I hope he’s not overworking himself again.”
“Is that normal for him?” Lightning asked. Derpy ruefully nodded.
“I wish it wasn’t. He really needs to socialize more. We’re some of his only friends, and I can’t even remember the last time he went on a date.”
“I bet Rider wouldn’t mind filling that slot,” Lightning joked. The two mares erupted in laughter as they kept walking.
“Actually, truth be told I don’t know if Time Turner swings that way,” Derpy said. “I’ve never seen him go for a stallion before, but in all honesty I’ve never seen him go for anypony before.”
“You never asked him?” Lightning inquired.
“No. I mean, you don’t just ask somepony what their sexuality is.”
“Fair enough. I kinda feel bad for Rider though. If he makes a move and finds out Time doesn’t like stallions…”
“Oh Celestia, that would be so awkward.” Derpy agreed. She stopped walking then, and Lightning looked around. They were standing in front of a single story building that had a large clock right above the front door. Looking through some of the windows, Lightning saw a variety of watches and timepieces decorating the inside.
“Turner’s place?” she guessed.
“Turner’s place,” Derpy confirmed. She went up and pounded on the door with her hoof. “Hey workaholic, open up!”
“It’s unlocked,” a muffled grunt from inside told them.
Derpy pushed open the door and the two of them walked in. Time Turner was standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by glass cases filled with watches of all sorts.
Turner himself looked like he hadn’t slept or bathed since Saturday. His hair was unkempt and tasseled, and signs of stubble were poking from his lower jaw. His green tie was crumpled and dangling from his neck loosely. His eyes were slightly red, and dark circles hung from his eyes, likely formed from exhaustion. Currently he was bent over with a small tool in his mouth winding up a watch.
“Should I be horrified at the sight I’m seeing?” Lightning asked under her breath.
“This is just a typical Monday for him,” Derpy informed her. “Trust me, I’ve seen worse.”
“Are you done talking about my appearance?” Time Turner asked as he spat out the tool. Both Lightning and Derpy forced sheepish smiles, realizing he’d overheard. “So what’s up?”
“Mail delivery,” Derpy said, setting his envelopes on a nearby table filled with – surprisingly – more clocks. “Also I came to check and make sure you hadn’t died in the last few days.”
“My appreciation is staggering,” Time deadpanned. “And how are you Lightning? The job of a mailmare treating you well?”
“Eh, it’s a’ight,” Dust said, doing her best to sound laid back and cool. The three of them dissolved into light-hearted laughter instead. “In all seriousness though, I think it’s pretty cool.”
“Despite the fact that you lost of fight with a mailbox?” Derpy slyly said. Turner snorted back some laughter. Lightning’s cheeks erupted red.
“I did not lose a fight with a mailbox!” Lightning shouted through her embarrassment.
“Well you certainly didn’t win,” Derpy retorted. Lightning huffed.
“You know, I was starting to forget how much fun you two are to be around,” Turner admits. “We should all hang out more.”
“How about tonight, then?” Derpy suggested. “The Dizzy Weasel is open on Mondays, I think.”
“You want to go drinking on a weeknight?” Turner asked, baffled.
“Yeah, we kinda have work tomorrow,” Lightning interjected.
“And you have a six-year-old at home,” Turner added.
Derpy rolled her out of sync eyes. “We don’t have to get drunk every time we go to a bar.”
“Blasphemy!” Lightning declared.
“I’m serious,” Derpy continued. “It’ll be nice to just hang out some more. We can even stop by Rider’s place after our shift and invite him along.”
Turner’s eyes darted to the side momentarily. “Yeah sure,” he said with some hesitation.
Noticing this, Lightning pounced on the opportunity. “What’s the matter Turner? You worried that the next time you see Rider he’ll call you sexy again?”
Derpy giggled, and the chestnut stallion’s ears tinted red.
“Or,” Lightning amended. “Are you worried that he won’t?”
Both mare’s arched their eyebrows at this question, curious to what Turner’s answer might be. He opened his mouth, paused, and said, “I’ll see you tonight I suppose.”
“Aw, come one, answer the damn question,” Lightning demanded.
Time Turner returned to his work, ignoring the fact that she had spoken. After a few more pokes and prods, the two mares decided to leave Time’s ego alone and left his shop.
“So, The Dizzy Weasel,” Lightning said. “That wasn’t the name of the gay bar in Cloudsdale was it?”
“No, it’s called The Lickety Split,” Derpy told her. “The Dizzy Weasel is just a small pub across town.”
“Okay, I guess that makes more sense, what with Time’s lack of wings and all.”
To this Derpy nodded. Around the same time Lightning’s stomach gave a hearty rumble.
“About ready for lunch?” Derpy asked. Another rumbling noise answered the question. “Alright then.” Derpy smiled. “But let’s try to knock out one more delivery before we do.”
“Fine,” Lightning reluctantly agreed.
Derpy reached inside her mailbag. “Huh,” she said. “Looks like there’s one more package in here.” She pulled it out. It was small, around the size of a book, but it was in a small brown box, so she couldn’t be sure.
“Who’s it for?” Lightning asked, eager to get the delivery out of the way. Derpy checked the tag.
“It says it’s for Rainbow Dash.”
Lightning froze in her tracks upon hearing the name. She blinked rapidly, unsure if she had heard right. Derpy took note of her friend’s hooves being spontaneously glued to the dirt.
“You okay?” She gently prodded, slipping the box back into her bag.
“That depends…” Lightning said slowly. “W-who was it you said we need to take the package to?”
“Her name’s Rainbow Dash,” Derpy said merrily, continuing to walk. “She’s actually an old acquaintance of mine, back when we worked on the weather team together.”
Lightning didn’t reply; she was in a state of disbelief.
“You know, I think you’ll like her,” Derpy said, looking back. “The two of you are so… similar… Lightning, are you coming?
“Huh?” She replied. “Oh, right.” Unfurling her wings, Lightning slowly flew to catch up to her friend.
Derpy started talking again, probably reminiscing about her time on the weather team with Dash. Lightning was not listening in the slightest; her brain was having a minor panic attack.
Buck. Buck. Buck. Buck, she internally screamed. Okay, calm down. It’s not the end of the world, alright? You just have to deliver mail to the pony who basically stole your position and crushed your dreams. She let that sink in for a moment. Damnit, it is the end of the world.
Lightning briefly toyed with the idea of bailing. She was certainly fast enough to disappear before Derpy noticed, but it was a bad idea. Not only would it probably cost Lightning her job, but Derpy would not doubt take it personally and then their friendship would be in jeopardy.
Just tough it out, Lightning thought to herself. You can do this. In fact, she’s probably still at the Academy… Great, like I needed to think about that. Bottom line, she isn’t home.
“We’re here.” Derpy words broke through Lightning’s arguably thick skull.
“Huh?” Lightning asked, suddenly taking in her surroundings. There wasn’t a building around for another twenty yards.
“We’re here,” Derpy reiterated. “This is Rainbow Dash’s home.”
Despite inwardly cringing at the sound of her name, Lightning managed to say, “But… there’s no house or mailbox or… anything.”
The gray pegasus next to her giggled, then pointed skyward. Arching her neck back, Lightning saw the last thing she expected to see near the ground.
“A cloud house?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yep,” Derpy replied.
“I had know idea you could get one so far from Cloudsdale,” Lightning admitted.
“It is pretty rare,” Derpy told her. “Dash could only afford it after some big promotion on the Weather Team.
Does everypony on this planet have a nicer place than me?
“Let’s just deliver this thing and get some food,” she said, trying to move quickly.
“Sure, we can-” Derpy suddenly stopped, one of her eyes catching sight of something. Lightning glanced in that direction. A blue pegasus was flying towards them, a rainbow trail following her.
Recognition slapped Lightning across the face.
Oh hell no!
“Uh, hey Derpy?” she asked, desperate to get out before Rainbow Dash saw her. “Can I uh… take a real quick break?”
Her friend blinked in confusion. “But we’re just about to go to lunch, why would you…”
“Smoke break!” Lightning interjected. “I… uh… really need a smoke break.” She started inching away, a cold sweat had formed on her forehead. Dash was almost on top of them.
“But you don’t smoke,” Derpy perplexedly said.
“I’m about to start,” she declared. Lightning turned and bolted, leaving Derpy behind.
She didn’t stop running until she had rounded the nearest corner. While she exhaled a shaky breath of relief, Lightning pressed her back against the nearest building.
“I’m sorry Derpy,” she whispered. Then, “I’m a bucking coward.”
It wasn’t like she had much of a choice though. If Dash had seen her, she would have definitely made a scene. That was the last thing Lightning needed when she was trying to get her life back on track. Not to mention Derpy would probably hate her if she knew the full truth regarding her expulsion.
I made the best choice possible, Lightning thought. Besides, it wasn’t actually running away. I’m just taking a smoke break… without any smoking…
She tried in vain to console herself using that thought as she waited for Derpy to finish the delivery.
Derpy watched as Lightning ran away for her “smoke break”. She wasn’t even sure what to make of it.
“Was it something I said?” she murmured to herself. It couldn’t have been, unless offering somepony lunch was considered a social taboo in Cloudsdale or something. Though given Lightning's appetite she severely doubted the pegasus would've been upset about getting food. So what could it have been?
The corner of her eye saw Rainbow Dash land on her cloud home and she was reminded of the package she had to deliver.
I’ll ask Lightning what was up at lunch, she decided. Unfurling her wings, Derpy flew up to Rainbow’s home, and landed with soft clouds beneath her hooves.
“Hey Rainbow,” she called out. The blue pegasus had been about to go inside, but she turned around when she heard Derpy’s voice.
“Hi Derpy,” she said, flying over. Derpy noticed that Dash was wearing a blue and yellow uniform. A Wonderbolt’s uniform, she realized. Just like Lightning’s…
“You got some mail for me?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, just a package. I think it’s a book.”
“No way!” The rainbow pegasus exploded with happiness. “It must be the new Daring Do! Now I’m glad I got the next few days off from the Academy.”
“Academy?” Derpy inquired. Suddenly the oh-so-obvious pieces snapped together. “That’s right! You’re in the Wonderbolt’s Academy, aren’t you?”
“Yup,” Dash said, still dripping with pride over her accomplishment. “We’re out for two days right now cause the ‘Bolts had a special mission to do, but once they get back we’re going to be training hardcore for the rest of the month.”
“Sounds cool,” Derpy said, reaching back into her mailbag. “You know, I recently met a pony who was in the Academy.”
“Was?” Dash asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, she… had to leave,” Derpy vaguely said. “But you probably got a chance to meet her. Her name’s Lightning Dust.”
Rainbow Dash’s entire demeanor changed upon hearing that name. Her relaxed, devil-may-care posture suddenly tensed, and her eyes narrowed.
“Lightning Dust?” she asked, checking to be sure.
“Yup, that’s her name,” Derpy concurred. “We’ve gotten to be great friends over the past few days. She’s fun, fast, and so cute and-”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow Dash said. She placed a hoof on the gray pegasus’ shoulder. “Derpy listen to me. Lightning Dust is not the kind of pony you want to associate with.”
“W-what?” Derpy asked.
“She’s bad news,” Rainbow said. “As well as reckless and self obsessed. I don’t know how close you think you are to her, but it’s best if you back out now.”
“Excuse me?” Derpy exclaimed, her blood curdling with sudden anger. “Just who do you think you are to say something like that? Lightning Dust is already one of my closest friends, and she is nothing like what you just described.”
“Do you even know what she did?” Dash asked, not wanting to be backed into a corner. “Do you know why Spitfire had to kick her out of the Academy?”
Derpy hesitated for a single moment, realizing that she didn’t know that piece of information. Noticing this, Rainbow got a smug sort of look on her face. It practically caused Derpy’s vision to turn red.
“I don’t care what you say!” she shouted in return. “I may not know why she was kicked out, but I doubt you even know her side of the story. And besides, Lightning is amazing and wonderful and hilarious and I really, really like her!”
She yanked out Rainbow’s book and threw it over the side of the clouds without a second of hesitation. “So get your own mail from now on, you jerk!”
Derpy jumped off the cloud and flew to the ground, leaving a stunned Rainbow Dash in her wake. Once she landed, Derpy ran off in the direction Lightning had disappeared. She found the aqua-marine mare propped up against a wall.
“Hey,” Lightning said. Upon noticing Derpy’s post-shouting face she asked. “Are you mad at me?”
“No,” Derpy said. “I’m not mad at you. I just… Let’s go get some lunch. I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Okay, sure,” Lightning said without a pause. “I think I saw a restaurant on my way into town, let's head there.” She began walking, fueled by hunger. Derpy followed, but she was feeling conflicted.
For the first time she found herself wondering why Dust had been expelled from the Academy, and couldn't help but think of some horrible reasons why it happened. Nevertheless, she followed her friend, hoping answers would come after they had full stomachs, and her head was a little clearer.