Derpy set her near-empty mailbag down behind the post office counter. Her partner for the day, Rainbowshine, stretched out a little bit.
“I’m going to lunch,” she informed Derpy. A nod was the only response offered. Rainbowshine was out the door before too long, leaving Derpy alone.
The gray pegasus was wondering if it had been the right move to schedule Dust with some other pony today. She wanted to be around Lightning so badly, but knew that might not be the best idea right now. After all, the last thing Derpy wanted was to say something stupid during a love struck daze, and then lose her friend because of it.
“I can’t believe she’s not looking for a relationship,” Derpy murmured to herself. How could she not be? If I went through what she did, I know I’d want somepony to cuddle with. But according to Rider, it’s the truth. Until the day Lightning did decide she wanted a marefriend, Derpy would need to be patient.
She groaned internally at the thought.
Patience was not something Derpy was good at. Like, at all.
Every molecule of her was demanding she hunt down Lightning and kiss ever inch of her gorgeous aqua-marine body; the temptation was starting to get to her.
A sharp pounding cut into her thoughts. A headache had lingered with Derpy all day since she woke up, a reminder never to drink too much.
“I need coffee,” she groaned. She went to the break room, well aware that a pot of coffee should be finished. Hopefully, the other mailmares hadn’t drained it all by now.
Pushing open the door, Derpy’s heart accelerated. Lightning Dust was the first thing she saw in the room. She froze, and considered turning around and running off.
“Hey Derpy,” Lightning said, followed by a slow sip from a coffee mug.
Crap, she’d been spotted. “Hi Lightning,” Derpy replied, walking all the way in. As much as she probably shouldn’t be around her friend right now, the gray mare didn’t want to think of an excuse to leave. “I just need to grab some coffee.”
“Ooh,” Lightning winced. Derpy glanced at the coffee mug in Lightning’s hoof, and the empty pot on the counter. What had happened was blatantly obvious.
Her ears folded down. “Oh, well that’s okay, I can just–”
“Here,” Lightning extended her hoof, offering the cup to Derpy. “You probably have a headache worse than mine.”
Derpy couldn’t believe it. Her hungover friend was offering her the last of the coffee? If it was possible, the urge to kiss her became stronger, and Derpy barely fought it down.
“Thanks,” she said, accepting the cup. She placed her lips right where Lightning’s had been and took a long, slow sip of the brown substance. It helped assuage her pain immensely. “So, how was working with Blosomforth?”
“She was all right,” Lightning said. “I think I prefer you though.”
Derpy’s cheeks went crimson, and she hid it by sipping her coffee. “W-well, we’ll probably rotate back to being partners soon.”
Lightning smiled at the thought, then turned her attention elsewhere. “Oh hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you about this pool table thingy.” She indicated the fuzzy green table at the edge of the room.
“What about it?” Derpy asked.
Lightning’s eyes darted around. “Could you… show me how to play?”
“Of course!” she said.
Derpy gave Lightning her cup to hold, and then crossed to the pool table. She retrieved the multicolored balls from their pockets with ease and set them in the center of the table. Lightning watched with curiosity as Derpy pulled a small plastic triangle from underneath the table and organized all the balls into it. The cue ball was set shortly after and the gray mare grabbed a few pool cues from a rack on the wall.
Lightning took a chug from the coffee and then put the mug off to the side as Derpy offered her a pool cue.
“It’s not a hard game to play, but it definitely takes time to master,” Derpy began as she positioned her cue in line with the white ball. With a well-practiced strike, Derpy propelled the cue ball into the pile. With a clank the technicolored orbs bounced around the table, and the number two ball sank into a corner pocket.
As she played, Derpy began explaining the rules of the game. She made sure to preform a visual action after each sentence, filling up the pockets as she did so. Lightning nodded understandingly as she learned, right up until Derpy sank the eight ball.
“And I win,” the grey mare declared.
Lightning blinked in shock. “Wait… I didn’t even get a turn!”
Derpy looked down at the pool table to see all of Lightning’s striped balls to still be in play. She blushed and giggled. “Oops. Sorry, I sometimes forget that I’m so good at this.”
“I’ll say,” Dust marveled.
“Here let’s set it up for a real round, and this time, you break.” Derpy reset the table, this time with the help of Lightning who was looking eager to play.
When they finished Lightning attempted to duplicate Derpy’s original stance. Derpy took a slow sip from the coffee mug as she watched, leaving only the last few drops in case her friend wanted some more. With a steady breath Lightning lined the pool cue up with the white sphere in front of her, pulled back, and then pushed the cue forward.
Her body recoiled and she winced, throwing her aim off and causing the tip bounced off the top of the cue ball and sent it rolling all of two inches forward.
“Dammit!” she said.
“Relax Lightning,” Derpy consoled her. “It was great. Better than my first attempt at least. She unconsciously glanced at the yet-to-be fixed window on the other side of the room. A circular hole stared back at her.
“Thanks. I don’t know what I was expecting honestly. There was no way I’d get it on the first try.”
“Your problem was all in the technique. Here, let me help you.” Derpy put the coffee down for a moment and moved behind Lightning. She used her foreleg to adjust Lightning’s hoof at the edge of the cue. Her cheeks lit on fire as she realized their hooves were touching. Luckily, it went unnoticed by her oblivious friend and she continued talking.
“See, if you use your hoof to keep it in place, it won’t slip up.” Derpy took a chance and place her other hoof in line with Lightning’s toward the rear of the pool cue. They were practically hugging now, or doing whatever the equivalent of spooning while standing was. Her scarlet face was well hidden as she guided Lightning to hitting the cue ball again, this time sending it slamming into the pile and scattering the rest.
“Awesome Derpy, we did it!”
“Mmhmm,” Derpy hummed, her snout partially buried in Lightning’s golden mane. Unfortunately, Lightning showed signs of movement, and Derpy had to break away from their quasi-hug to let her friend stand on all fours again. Lightning winced as she returned to her pose.
“Something wrong?” Derpy asked.
“Yeah, my back’s been killing me. My mailbag today had twice as many packages today.”
“Oh,” Derpy whispered empathetically. She remembered a time when her back couldn’t take the strain of the mailbag either. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. “You know, I could give you a back rub if you want.”
“You mean, like a massage?” Lightning asked curiously.
“Yeah, they feel amazing. I’m sure it’ll help your back.”
“Okay then, sure,” Lightning said with growing enthusiasm. She turned and sat down, allowing Derpy full access to her back.
Without wasting time, Derpy immediately placed her hooves onto Lightning’s back and rubbed slowly. It took a few seconds, but Lightning moaned with pleasure.
“Feel good?” Derpy asked, pressing into the sore muscles.
“Hell yeah,” Lightning responded.
Derpy continued to rub her friend’s back gleefully, feeling all the more happy that she was able to help Lightning Dust feel better.
Rainbow Dash gingerly nudged opened the post office door. She wasn’t sure if she would be welcome, but didn’t want to wait outside hoping to catch the mare she was looking for. Seeing nopony inside, Dash walked in casually.
She was looking for Derpy. After their falling out yesterday, Dash had felt kind of bad. Upsetting Derpy was the last thing she wanted to do, but had ended up being the only thing she did at the time.
Clearly, the gray mare had a soft spot for Lightning Dust, and was bent on defending her. Dash could understand loyalty like that, and merely wanted to clear the air with Derpy. After all, she was do back at the Wonderbolt’s Academy tomorrow, so now might be her only shot for a while.
Only problem was, she couldn’t find Derpy anywhere. After checking around Ponyville and asking a few mailmares, she was finally directed here, only to find an empty lobby.
“Great,” Dash muttered, resigning herself to have a talk with Derpy sometime when she got back. As she walked out, her ears flicked upon hearing a soft, almost inaudible moan. Dash froze, and heard it again a few seconds later.
She followed the peculiar sound all the way up to a door labeled for employees. Out of blunt curiosity, Dash pressed her ear to the door and listened.
“Holy crap Derpy, this feels amazing!” That voice… it belonged to Lightning Dust!
What in the hay is she doing here? Dash asked internally. And why is she with Derpy?
“See, I told you,” the bubbly voice of a familiar mailmare replied. More pleasured moans – from Lightning Dust undoubtedly – reverberated outward.
“Can you go a little lower?”
“Sure.” There was a brief pause, and then the moaning suddenly grew louder.
“Oh Sweet Celestia! That is the spot, right there! Don’t stop!”
Dash’s cheeks flushed as she suddenly had a very good guess as to what was happening behind that door. She backed away quickly, stumbling as she did.
I can’t believe… Derpy and Lightning are… holy Luna, what the buck?
Without so much as a second glance back, Dash darted from the post office, her embarrassment about being an interloper on such a private moment propelling her.
As she flew off, Dash knew she was going to have to postpone talking with Derpy.