//------------------------------// // A Very Important Delivery // Story: The Mystery of a New World // by Fanthrose //------------------------------// Chapter 23 It had been two weeks since the party, and things have calmed down. For the first couple days were things between AJ and Pinkie were tense to say the least. Pinkie wasn’t completely convinced that AJ had forgiven her no matter how much Applejack tried to convince her otherwise. She constantly visited the farm to try to help him in any way that she could, and even threw a party in his honor. During the party, AJ pulled her aside so the two of them could talk in private. ******************** The party has been going full blast for a little while now. While most were having fun, one indigo unicorn wasn’t exactly having much fun. He was sitting by himself near the refreshments table. “What’s wrong sugarcube? Ain’t ya havin’ fun?” asked Applejack as she came up besides AJ. AJ sighed. “Not really. I just can’t get into it.” “It’s Pinkie, ain’t it?” Applejack asked already knowing the answer. AJ nodded. “I think it’s time the two of us have a talk.” “It’s probably a good idea. Do ya want me ta go get’er?” “No, I’ll do it.” AJ got up and walked over the Pinkie who was busy dancing with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “Hey AJ, I thought you’d never come and join the fun!” she said. “Pinkie, can I talk to you for a minute?” A bright smile grew on Pinkie’s face. “Of course!” She stopped dancing and waited for AJ to start speaking. “In private please?” AJ asked as he motioned to the kitchen with his head. Pinkie nodded enthusiastically and bounced ahead of AJ into the kitchen. “So, what did you want to talk about?” AJ sighed. “I think you already know.” The smile on Pinkie’s face wavered for a split second before falling back into place. “I don’t know what you’re talking about silly.” “Pinkie, I know you. You are not a stupid pony. You can be a bit strange and hard to figure out at times, but you’re far from stupid.” The smile slowly fell from her face and was replaced with a sad frown. Her hair deflated slightly. The two of them sat there silently for a minute. “Pinkie, please just tell me what’s going on. First you come over every day and help me with my work at the farm. Then you give me all those free cupcakes, and now this party. Why have you been giving me all this special treatment?” “Because if I don’t, how will you know that I’m really, truly sorry for what I did,” she said ending her sentence with a sniffle. AJ’s eyes widened a little bit. “Is that what this is about?” Pinkie nodded. “Pinkie, I don’t blame you for anything that happened. Everything that happened was my fault.” Pinkie shook her head. “No it wasn’t. Everything happened because I wouldn’t let it go. I shouldn’t have kept trying to push you into drinking the punch.” A tear started rolling its way down her cheek. AJ wiped the tear away and hugged Pinkie with a smile. “What do I have to do to prove to you that I’m not mad, hmm?” Pinkie sniffled again before returning the hug. “Can we…can we just stay like this for a little bit?” “Of course we can.” ******************** Since then the two of them seem to be spending a bit more time together than they used to. Everypony, especially Ditzy, noticed this, and the rumors began to spread. About a week later AJ went to Sugarcube Corner to curb his sweet tooth. Ditzy had insisted on joining him, claiming she needed more muffins. ******************** “I’m not saying that you’re lying, but didn’t you just get some muffins the other day?” AJ asked Ditzy. “Uhh yes, but…” Ditzy needed to think of something quick. “But we had guests! Yeah that’s it, guests, and the guests ate all the muffins and now we need more,” she said with a sheepish smile. AJ wasn’t convinced. He knew something was up, but he didn’t know what. “Mmhm.” They both passed through the door and were greeted by the sight of Pinkie bringing a big tray of cookies out to the display case. After she was done doing that, she looked up to see the two ponies at the door. “Hey you two!” “Hey Pinkie,” AJ said with a bright smile. “Yea, hey,” Ditzy said with much less enthusiasm. She was lightly glaring at the pink pony. Pinkie either didn’t notice, or just completely ignored it. “So, what can I get for you two?” AJ started looking at all the mouthwatering sweets that were displayed. “Hmm, those cookies look good, but so do those cupcakes. And over here we have this cake.” As AJ looked through the display case, Ditzy kept her eyes on Pinkie. ‘What does she got that I don’t?’ she thought to herself. ‘Is it the eyes? I thought he liked my eyes. Maybe he just likes pink. Maybe I could go and…’ Ditzy’s thoughts were interrupted when the door behind them flew open with a rainbow trail. “Pinkie, I have the BEST idea for a prank! We cover Applejack with a bucket of molasses and pour feathers all over her! Her reaction will be priceless!” It was then that she noticed the other two ponies right in front of her on the ground. “Oh, hey. You won’t tell Applejack, will you?” “I guess not. It does sound like it would be pretty funny,” AJ said with a hoof to his chin. “Awesome!” Rainbow flew down next to AJ. “So, are you here to ask out Pinkie?” she asked teasingly as she nudged him in the side. “E-excuse me?” AJ asked with a blush. “Oh come on, we’ve all seen you spending all this time with Pinkie lately,” Rainbow said matter-of-factly. “Frankly I’m kinda surprised. I thought you had a thing for Ditzy here.” Ditzy’s anger was starting to elevate. ‘So did I,’ she thought to herself. AJ just stared blankly at Rainbow for a few seconds. He and Pinkie looked at each other, then back to Rainbow before the two of them burst out laughing. Both Ditzy and Rainbow stared at them. “Hey, what’s so funny?” Dash demanded. Pinkie was the first to recover. “We’re not in love with each other Dashie!” “You’re not?” Ditzy asked in a hopeful voice. “Of course not,” AJ said as he wiped a tear out of his eye. “Don’t get me wrong I do love Pinkie, just not in that way. She’s more like the sister I wish I had.” “Didn’t you say you had a sister?” asked Dash. AJ sighed. “Yes, but she isn’t exactly what you’d call a good sister. The less said about her, the better.” Dash just shrugged and went to talk to Pinkie about her prank. Ditzy on the other hoof looked like a weight had just been lifted off her shoulders. Her posture became more confident as she began trotting towards the door. “Hey Ditzy, I thought you were going to get more muffins?” AJ asked. Ditzy turned to reveal the big smile on her face. “Oh, I have plenty at home. I’ll talk to you later.” ******************** At this moment AJ and Twilight were in the Ponyville park, away from the other ponies, practicing magic. In fear that AJ’s constant explosions would burn down her poor library, Twilight suggested they try someplace else. Most of AJ’s body was covered in black, singed hair due to the multiple colorful explosions he’s already set off when failing a spell. “Well, it seems like I’ve mastered the art of blowing myself up,” AJ said, coughing up a puff of black smoke. “I am going to need a bath after this.” “I just don’t understand why your spells keep exploding on you like that. It looked like you were doing everything right.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Maybe teleporting is something you can’t do. It IS an advanced spell after all.” Twilight’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Wait a minute, I think I got it. Why didn’t I think of this before?” “Think of what before?” AJ asked. “Try building up some energy at the tip of your horn again.” AJ stared blankly at Twilight. “So you want me to blow myself up again?” “Just trust me,” Twilight said with a determined smile. AJ sighed and did as he was told. He felt the, what was becoming very familiar, explosive energy build up at the tip of his horn. The orb of energy grew to the size of a baseball before stopping. AJ knew what going to happen next. “Umm, Twilight?” “Alright, now fire it into the sky!” she shouted. “Do what now?!” AJ asked with wide eyes. “You heard me!” Not wanting to get blown up again, AJ clenched his eyes and forced the magic outward. The orb shot from his horn into the sky with a loud whistling sound where it exploded in a rainbow of colors. Oohs and aahs could be heard from some of the ponies in the general vicinity. AJ just stared at the explosion as it dwindled away. “Aha!” said Twilight. “Firework magic, I knew it!” “There’s magic for that type of thing?” “Mmhm. Think back to Trixie’s magic show. She did it pretty often. You didn’t think she was using actual fireworks, did you?” “You mean she wasn’t?” AJ said under his breath. “All this time we thought you’ve been failing at all those spells. You weren’t failing, you’ve just been doing a completely different spell without even knowing it,” she explained with a smile. “From how often it happened you must be quite the natural at that type of magic. Why don’t you try it again?” “Umm, sure I guess.” Once again AJ began building up energy at the tip of his horn. Seeing that he was going to do it again, a small crowd began forming around the two of them. AJ was just about finished making the ball of energy when he heard a different kind of boom. “What was…” He stopped when he looked to his right. He saw a pink blur careening straight at him at break neck speeds. “OH SWEET JESU…” He was cut off as his world became engulfed in pink. The pink blur hit AJ in the straight in the face; sending him flying. This caused him to unintentionally fire off the ball of magic into the crowd. All the ponies in the area scattered to avoid the spell. After Twilight got off the ground, she looked over to see AJ sprawled out on the ground on his back with a certain pink pony lying on top of him. She blushed slightly when she ran up to them and noticed the compromising position they were lying in. “Pinkie, what’s going on? Why were you flying through the air like some sort of cannon ball?” Pinkie sat up and shook her head. “Oh, hey Twilight! I was busy crawling into my party cannon!” she said with a giant smile on her face. “What in Celestia’s name were you doing inside your party cannon?” Twilight asked. “Cleaning it of course! You really need to get in there if you want to clean it just right. Naughty little Gummy must have fired it while I was still EEEEEEP!!!” Pinkie squealed and leapt into the air as AJ began squirming beneath her rump. He took a long, loud inhale after Pinkie got off of him. “AIIIIR!!!” he yelled before going into a coughing fit. “Sweet, sweet air!” Pinkie landed next to Twilight. She still had a big smile, but she was instinctively holding her tail up to her body. “Oopsy doopsy, sorry AJ! Didn’t know you were down there!” “Don’t…” He stopped to cough for a second. “Don’t worry about it.” “Why were you cleaning the cannon anyway?” Twilight asked. “For the party of course!” Pinkie said as her smile grew. “We have a pony moving in today and he needs a party!” A smile started growing on Twilight’s face. “I didn’t know somepony was moving to Ponyville today? Do you know where he’s living?” “Mmhm. Come on, I’ll introduce you to him!” Without waiting for an answer Pinkie started bouncing away from the two of them. Twilight turned to AJ. “Should we follow her?” AJ shrugged. “Sure, why not. I didn’t have any other plans today.” AJ brushed as much of the burned hair off his body as he could, and the two of them followed Pinkie. ******************** The house Pinkie was leading them to wasn’t too far from where they were. It only took them about five minutes from leaving the park before they saw the house in question. A few piles of boxes could be seen stacked in front of the building, and the pegasus moving team could be seen taking off. In front of the house stood two stallions, and a mare. The mare was an earth pony with a dark brown coat with a two tone light brown and electric blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a house. The stallion was a pegasus with a black coat with a charcoal black mane and tail. His cutie mark was a pick axe striking a gold vein. The second stallion was somepony AJ had become very familiar with during the time he spent in the hospital with Ditzy and Dinky. “Tenderhoof sweetie, are you sure you’re up for this?” asked the mare. Dr Whooves laughed. “Please mother, it’s Trotsworth now. Had it changed a few years back when I still lived in Trottingham. It’s much more fun to say. Not to mention it’s more manly, and makes me sound, dare I say it, rugged and sexy. Come now; say it with me, Trotsworth!” The other stallion shook his head and chuckled. “Well whatever you’re calling yourself now, are you sure he’ll be alright here?” Dr. Whooves smiled. “The ponies here are friendly, the air is crisp and clean, and the food is fresh from the source,” he finished by pointing a hoof in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. “I’m just worried that this will be too big a change for him,” Estelle said. Dr. Whooves waved his hoof at his mom. “Nonsense, I’m sure he’ll be just fine.” “Hey Dr. Whooves, what’s up?” AJ said as the three of them reached the house. Dr. Whooves and his parents turned their heads to see the approaching ponies. “Ah, it’s good to see you three. Mother, father, allow me to introduce you to Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and one of Ponyville’s stranger citizens, AJ.” “Hey!” “It’s nice to meet you all,” said Dusty. He did a double take when his vision moved to AJ. “Why are you covered in burnt hair?” AJ took another look at himself. He hadn’t gotten as much of the burnt hair off of his body as he had thought. “Umm, I had a bit of a mishap earlier when casting a spell.” “Oh, that must have been what all those explosions were!” Dr. Whooves said with a bright smile on his face. “Umm, yea,” AJ said as he rubbed the back of his head. “So anyway, who’s moving in with you?” “My little brother. My parents think it would be easier for him to finish his schooling in a smaller town. Less things to scar him.” He put a hoof to his chin. “Especially after he, oh how did mother put that, ‘ran into some crazy, psycho pony who dragged him halfway across Canterlot to find some crush,’ or what ever.” “He was absolutely SCARRED by the experience!” Estelle shouted, overacting in a way that would give Rarity a run for her money. Dusty groaned and facehoofed. “The boy was fine. He was just a little late getting home is all,” Dusty corrected. AJ stared at the three of them with a blank stare for a few seconds before turning to Dr. Whooves again. “You’re brother wouldn’t happen to be named…” AJ stopped when he saw a familiar pony walk out of the house. “Shadow?!” “Eeep!” Shadow dove into the box he was about to pick up. “Yup, that’s Shadow alright,” AJ said with a small grin on his face. “AJ, you know this pony?” Twilight questioned with a hint of doubt in her voice. “Of course, he’s the pony who helped me find Ditzy that one day in Canterlot.” Shadow poked his eyes out from the box he was in. He slowly removed himself from the box, ignoring the baseball cap that found its way onto his head when he dove into the box. “Oh, h-hello Mr. AJ.” “Wait, you’re the crazy pony who did this?!” Estelle shouted. She wrapped Shadow in a big, nurturing hug. “You’re the crazy pony who traumatized my precious Shadow Breeze?! My poor baby will never be the same because of you, you horrible, horrible pony!” AJ put his hooves up in defense. “Hey, all I did was tell him what I was doing. He’s the one who offered to help me.” Estelle glared at AJ. “Moooom, I’m fine,” Shadow said as he wiggled himself out of the hug. “Estelle, give it a rest. He’s clearly alright,” Dusty said as he put a hoof on her shoulder. “Who knows, if things like that happen more often maybe he’ll open up a little more and stop being so shy.” “But he’s only 17,” Estelle said in her defense. “He still needs his mommy.” “Next year he’ll know the sting of adulthood, and then he’ll be thrust into the real world. Living here should help him ease into that a bit better.” Estelle looked unsure. “I don’t know.” “Trust me mother,” Dr. Whooves said as he wrapped a hoof around Shadow’s neck. “Living here with me will do wonders for him.” “Well, I can see you’re all having a family moment right now. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take a bath to get rid of the smell of burnt hair.” AJ said his goodbyes and headed back to the farm. Twilight and Pinkie did the same. The latter of which dropping an ‘inconspicuous’ hint that something would be happening later at Sugarcube Corner. Dr. Whooves, who still had his leg around Shadow’s neck, gave his parents a big smile. “Well, we should probably let Shadow here unpack his things.” “Okay, don’t be afraid to contact us if you ever want to come home honey,” Estelle said as she gave Shadow another hug. “Don’t give your brother too hard of a time now,” Dusty said as he tussled Shadow’s mane. “I won’t,” Shadow said as he fixed his mane. “Well it was good to see you two again,” Dr. Whooves said as he put his leg around Shadow again. “Hope you have a nice ride back to Canterlot.” Dusty and Estelle waved goodbye as they climbed into the taxi. “Well little brother, we should get you unpacked.” “Can’t we get some dinner first? I’m kinda hungry.” “Nonsense! The sooner we get this done, the better! Allons-y!” ******************** “Coooooffeeeee,” moaned Ditzy as she dragged herself through the door of the Ponyville post office. She woke up this morning to find that they had absolutely no coffee in the house. This proved to be problematic as she needed to get done with her route quickly today. As she got into the employee only area, she immediately headed straight for the break room. When she entered the door the smell of freshly brewed coffee immediately hit her nose. A tired smile slowly grew on her face. “Coffee.” Ditzy walked over to the coffee maker and had to keep herself from drinking straight from the pot. As Ditzy poured a cup of life giving elixir, Written Script, Boxxy Brown’s assistant, walked into the room. “Ah Ditzy Doo, good to see you’re here. Boxxy’s been looking for you.” “But…but coffee,” whined Ditzy. Written Script scratched the back of his head. “Well I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you drank your coffee while you talk to him." Ditzy smiled before taking a big sip of her coffee and lazily floated out of the room. By the time she had gotten to Boxxy’s office, she was already starting to feel more awake due to the caffeine that was now running through her system. She knocked on the door and poked her head through. “You wanted to see me sir?” Boxxy looked up from his desk and smiled. “Good, you’re here. Come in and sit down Ditzy, we need to talk.” In her tired mind, the first thought that came to Ditzy’s head was that she had done something wrong. She sat down in the chair. “Is something wrong? Am I in trouble?” Boxxy shook his head. “No, you’re not in trouble. Actually, I need your help. We have a package that needs to be picked up from Manehattan and delivered to the Castle in Canterlot, and we need you to do this. Airheart already agreed to take your mail rout today.” Ditzy woke up pretty quickly after hearing this. “Isn’t this more of Raindrops type of thing?!” “She’s out with the feather flu. You’re the only other pony here who has any real experience with something this big, and we can’t afford anything to go wrong.” “B-but something like this will take all day! I have to be home by at least noon so Dinky’s not home alone!” pleaded Ditzy. “Don’t you have what’s her name to watch her for you?” Boxxy asked with a hoof to his chin. Ditzy shook her head. “Sparkler’s busy all day, and Carrot’s going to be visiting her parent’s in Las Pegasus for a couple of days. She’s able to stay until noon, but if she waits any longer she’ll miss her train.” “Hmmm.” Boxxy thought for a minute. Then it came to him. “How about this. You do this for me, and I’ll let you go out there and find somepony who can foalsit for the day.” Ditzy took the proposition in. If she did this, she wouldn’t need to worry about Dinky being alone for any amount of time, Carrot could be on the train without the worry of being late, and Boxxy would have his pony for this job. It was a win-win situation for everypony. “I suppose that would work.” Boxxy smiled again. “Then it’s settled. Just come back when you found somepony.” Ditzy turned with a slight smile. “Thanks boss, I’ll be back ASAP.” With that Ditzy flew out the door.” ******************** ‘Crap, crap, shit, crap!’ Ditzy thought to herself. She had been trying and failing to find a foalsitter for the past hour. She was starting to worry that she would have to go back and tell Boxxy she couldn’t do it. ‘Ok Ditzy, lets think about this. Cheerilee has a conference to attend, Twilight is going to be busy studying all day, Fluttershy had been dragged away by Rainbow Dash to watch her practice…’ The list went on. She was quickly running out of ponies to ask. ‘I could always ask AJ, but I think he has to work today, but I’m out of choices.’ She eventually made the decision to give AJ a shot. She quickly flew to the farm seeing that Big Mac has already gotten started. She landed on the porch and knocked on the door. She shifted from side to side in anticipation. The door opened to reveal Applejack standing on the other side. “Hey there sugarcube. What can Ah do fer ya?” “Could you get AJ please? I REALLY need to talk to him.” Applejack smiled. “No problem.” She turned into the house. “Hey AJ, Ditzy’s here ta talk with ya!” AJ could be seen coming down the stairs. “Hey Ditzy, what’s up?” In her desperation to get all the information out, Ditzy did her best impression of Pinkie Pie. “AJ, I need your help! This morning I went into work only to find out that they need me to go to Manehatton to pick up a package, and take it to Canterlot and it’s going to take all day, and I don’t have anypony to look after Dinky so she’ll be left home alone, and I’ve been looking all over for somepony to foalsit Dinky, and everypony’s to busy, like Cheerilee’s got a conference, and Twilight’s studying, and…” “Breathe Ditzy!” AJ yelled, interrupting Ditzy. Ditzy took a long draw of air to calm herself down. “Now tell me, what did you need my help with?” “I need a foalsitter for Dinky today, would you be able to do it?” she asked with pleading eyes. AJ thought for a few seconds. “I’d be more than happy to do it, but I don’t have off till later today. Sorry Ditzy.” He didn’t want to say no, but he didn’t really have much of a choice. Ditzy started to deflate as tears started to well up in her eyes. “Now hold on there pardner,” Applejack said. “Ditzy, it sounds like ya need a foalsitter pretty badly, right?” Ditzy nodded. “Well, why don’t ya just take yer day off t’day then?” she said as she turned to AJ. “You’d let me do that?” AJ asked. Applejack smiled and nodded. He turned to Ditzy with a smile. “Well, looks like I’m open today after all.” “You mean you’ll do it?” Ditzy asked with a smile. “Mmhm. I always used to have fun babysitting. It’s been awhile since…” Ditzy cut him off by leaping forward and wrapping her legs around him in a hug. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me! I’m so happy I could just…” She lifted her head and kissed AJ on the cheek. “Come on!” AJ just stood there stunned in the doorway as Ditzy flew off towards Ponyville. His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open, and his cheeks were flushed. His expression slowly changed from one of shock to a goofy smile as he watched the bluish gray pegasus fly further and further away. He completely failed to notice Applejack waving her foreleg in front of his eyes. “Hey, sugarcube. You still alive in there?” She jabbed him in the side. He turned to Applejack, holding the same goofy look. “Huh?” “You realize she left an’ is probably wonderin’ why ya ain’t followin’er, right?” AJ stood there for a few seconds letting what Applejack just said work its way into his currently dulled mind. His eyes shot open. “SHIT!!!” He bolted from the doorway down the path to Ponyville. ******************** It didn’t take AJ too long to catch up with Ditzy. They both kept up a good pace until they finally got to her house. “Carrot, good news!” “Ditzy? What are you doing home?” Carrot asked as she came out of the kitchen. She was making a snack for herself for the trip to Las Pegasus. “I thought you had to work?” “Mommy’s home early today! Yaaaay!” Dinky shouted as she hopped out of the living room. “I do, but Boxxy gave me a different job today that’s going to take me all day to finish.” “What?!” Carrot shouted. “Ditzy, I can’t stay all day! The train leaves at noon, and…” “That’s what the good news is,” Ditzy said cutting her off. “AJ here said he would foalsit Dinky for the day. You’re free to leave when ever you want now.” “What, really?” “Yup, I am here to serve,” AJ said as he jokingly bowed down, eliciting a giggle from Dinky. Carrot let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia. Mom and dad would have been devastated if I missed the reunion this year.” She turned to Dinky. “That sound okay to you Dinky? Would you like AJ to foalsit you today?” “I like Mr. AJ, he’s funny.” Carrot turned back to Ditzy and AJ. “Well, that settles it I guess. AJ will…” “And mommy really likes him too.” “Does she now? And how do you know that?” Carrot asked with an evil grin on her face. “She talks in her sleep sometimes. Sometimes I hear her talking about kissing, and dancing, and…” “Oh look at the time!” Ditzy said with a bright blush on her face. She desperately wanted to cut off Dinky. “I should really be getting back to work before Boxxy thinks I ditched him.” She scooped Dinky up and gave her a great big hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow my little muffin. Be good for AJ.” She kissed her on the forehead. “Yes mommy.” She hugged Ditzy back. Ditzy placed her daughter back on the floor and watched her hop back into the living room. She turned to AJ. “Thanks again for doing this for me.” “Not a problem. This will be easy.” Ditzy gave him another quick hug before flying out the door. “Well this is a relief,” Carrot said as she started walking back into the kitchen. “I have a couple hours before I need to leave yet, but you’re free to make yourself at home.” AJ decided to follow Dinky into the living room. “So, what’cha doing in here.” “My Little Sea Pony is about to start! It’s my favorite show!” Dinky said with a bright smile. “Is it now?” AJ looked at the TV as the show started. As the opening scene played it seemed like the typical show for kids, and then the theme song started. ‘SHOO BE DO! SHOO SHOO BE DO!’ AJ watched in horror as the theme continued. He could feel it drilling itself into his head; embedding itself in the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind, ensuring that it would never be forgotten. ‘Celestia help me,’ he thought to himself. The entire time Dinky was bobbing back and forth; singing along as she did. It would have been the most adorable thing AJ had ever seen…if it wasn’t for that damned song. When the first commercial hit Dinky turned to AJ with a big smile. “Mr. AJ?” AJ chuckled. “Just AJ please. What’s up?” “Do you like my mommy?” He did not expect that question. “Of course I like your mom. She’s friendly, she’s funny…” “No, do you LIKE, like my mommy?” she asked in a completely innocent voice. AJ’s eyes shot open as he looked to the kitchen where he could hear Carrot Top laughing. He looked back to Dinky who was wearing an innocent smile. A blush started to show on AJ’s face. ‘Okay, maybe this won’t be as easy as I thought.’ ******************** Considering how late she had started Ditzy was making good time. After she got back to the post office, Boxxy had given her the assignment and sent her out. After pushing herself it had only taken her two and a half hours to make it to Manehatton. She walked into the post office with a smile. Then she was stopped almost immediately when she bumped into somepony. “Hey, watch where you’re goin’ I’m standin’ here!” the pony said in a Neightalian accent. Ditzy looked ahead of her and followed the long, winding line of ponies in front of her. “Oh come on!” She turned to see a mare chewing some bubble gum who worked at the post office a little ways to the side. She left the line to talk to her. “Excuse me.” “Can I help you?” the pony asked in an un-interested tone; not even bothering to look up. “Yea, I’m from the Ponyville post office and I’m here to pick up a package and deliver it to Canterlot.” She pulled out a piece of paper from her bags and showed it to the mare. The mare looked up at the paper for a minute before looking back down. “Pickups are at the front desk.” “But…isn’t there a different pick up spot since this is a special delivery to the castle?” Ditzy hopefully asked. The mare blew a bubble. “Nope.” Ditzy deflated slightly. She turned to see that the line was even longer than before. “Today’s going to suck,” she groaned out. ******************** AJ had just finished washing the dishes. Before she left, Carrot had made him and Dinky lunch as a thanks for foalsitting. After eating Dinky had gone upstairs to play with her dolls. “She can really cook. I’ll have to remember to ask Carrot for that recipe.” Putting the last plate away, he was about to go upstairs to check on Dinky when he heard a knock on the door. “Who could that be?” Opening the door he saw Big Mac and Apple Bloom at the door. “Hey, what’s up?” Big Mac smiled and nodded. During these last couple months in Equestria AJ learned that it’s his way of silently saying hello. “We were wonderin’ if ya would be able ta watch Apple Bloom fer th’ day.” “Umm, I don’t see why not. Something wrong?” Big Mac was about to answer, but Apple Bloom cut him off. “Ah’m bored! Sweetie Belle’s at’er parent’s house, an’ Scootaloo’s grounded fer two more weeks! Ah figured th’ two of us could at least think of ideas fer when we can go crusadin’ again.” AJ put a hoof to his chin. “I suppose we could do that, but only if Dinky can join us. It wouldn’t be fair to leave her out of this.” “Ah guess that’s fair,” Apple Bloom said as she walked past AJ. AJ waited until she was out of range before leaning close to Big Mac. “So you’re dumping her on me because she was annoying you, right?” Big Mac chuckled a bit. “Eeyup.” AJ laughed back. “Just wanted to make that clear.” “Ah’ll be back ta pick’er up later t’night.” “Alright. I’ll see you then.” AJ smiled and waved as Big Mac started to walk away. As AJ closed the door he cringed as he heard something shatter in the living room. He turned away from the door. “Apple Bloom? What was that?” “Winona did it!” He put a hoof to his forehead and sighed. “Yup, definitely harder than I thought.” ******************** Ditzy just glared straight ahead. She had sat in that line for two hours; watching as ponies took their sweet time using the one, AND ONLY ONE, pen that was left out for use. She could have sworn that one pony took twenty minutes alone just to finish a single check. ‘Mental note, get more pens for the Ponyville post office.’ She was so busy complaining to herself about the one pen that she didn’t even realize it was finally her turn. “Miss? Are you alright?” came a cheerful, masculine voice. “Huh? Is…is it really my turn?” she asked. “Mmhm! What can I do for you today?” The teal unicorn stallion asked. Ditzy had to keep herself from breaking out in tears as she pulled out the piece of paper and showed it to him. “Ah, so you’re the pony we were expecting from Ponyville.” His bright smile faltered a bit. “Why didn’t you just come into the back?” The smile immediately fell from Ditzy’s face. “W-what?” “Oh, didn’t you know? All you needed to do is show this to one of the employees here and we would have had you on your way in no time.” Ditzy’s eyes started to separate as her right eye began twitching. “B-b-but that mare over there said I had to stay in this line!” The stallion looked over to the vibrant red Earth pony with the pink and yellow mane working on the other side of the room. “Oh Fire Ball? She’s such a nice pony. Though she’s been working here longer than I have. I’m not sure how she could have gotten it wrong. Oh well, everypony has their off days, right?” He said with a bright smile. He turned back and looked back at the piece of paper. “Uh oh.” Ditzy was afraid to ask. “Uh oh? What’s uh oh?” He turned it around to show Ditzy. “It seems like something’s a bit off here. If you’d just go over there and fix it we can get you on your way,” he said as he pointed to the table with the pen. “Fix it?” asked about ready to tear up again. She looked over to the table. There was a line of at least ten ponies waiting to use the one pen. She lowered her head and started trembling. “Miss? Are you alright?” Ditzy threw her forelegs up into the air and screamed. “FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU…” ******************** After they had managed to calm Ditzy down and keep her from going postal, she was lead into the back by the manager. “I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience. It seems I’ll have to have a talk with Fire Ball about how things are done around here. Once she’s out of the hospital that is.” In her blind rage Ditzy had gotten a hold of Fire Ball and piledrived her through a table. Ditzy had kept her head down in embarrassment ever since. “Sorry for breaking your table.” “No worries. We needed a new one anyway. I think that one has been here since this building was built,” he said with a hoof to his chin. “Well anyways, you have a package to deliver, and I think you’ve been here long enough.” Ditzy was lead into the back where tons of unshipped boxes sat. Looking at the paper he led her through the maze. “Ah, here we are.” Ditzy looked at the box in awe. It was at least two times bigger than she was, maybe more. “This is it?!” “Yup. We have a cart ready just outside to help transfer it to Canterlot.” He looked over to two buff stallions just sitting around. They weren’t as big as Big Mac, but they were still bigger than most ponies. He clapped his hooves together. “Alright boys, load’er up! Chop, chop!” Ditzy watched as the two muscle bound stallions had trouble moving the box. “What the heck is in this thing?” “No idea.” After the stallions managed to get the box into the cart they helped Ditzy get hooked up. “At least I can finally be on my way to Canterlot.” “Yes, and once again I am terribly sorry for wasting your time like that,” the manager said. “Well, I hope you have a safe journey.” Ditzy nodded. It was about 1:00 P.M. and she was happy to finally be on her way. Or at least she would have if the box didn’t weigh a ton and kept her from getting off the ground. Since flying had failed, she tried just pulling it. The only thing she accomplished was digging a hole in the dirt beneath her hooves. “Umm, would you like some help?” “A small push would be nice.” ******************** It was about 9:00 P.M. when Big Mac knocked on the door to Carrot’s house. He waited for a few seconds before knocking again. After doing this for about a minute he decided to open the door and poked his head in. “Anypony home?” He heard that the TV was on in the living room, but nopony was answering. “AJ? Ah’m here ta pick up Apple Bloom.” He walked into the house and made his way into the living room. The sight in front of him brought a smile to his face. On the floor in front of the TV, curled up on a pillow was AJ. He was fast asleep. Curled up next to him, being hugged up to his body by his left fore leg, slept Dinky with a smile on her face. Lying on his neck and head slept Apple Bloom, using his mane as a pillow. In front of AJ was a notebook with a bunch of crusading ideas written on it. Big Mac didn’t have the heart to wake them up. Instead he grabbed the blanket that was lying on the couch and draped it over AJ. He grabbed the notebook, flipped to the next page, and, using the light from the TV, wrote AJ a note telling him to just bring Apple Bloom home with him the next day. After finishing the note, he placed the notebook back in front of AJ. He then took off AJ’s glasses so they wouldn’t get broken during the night and placed them on the table next to the couch before turning off the TV. Once he was happy with how thing were he left as quietly as he could. ******************** The clock read 11:17 when Ditzy finally reached the castle. By this point she was practically dragging herself on her belly to get any further. When she reached the castle gates, she promptly collapsed under her own weight. She was approached by two guards. “State your business,” said the one on the left. “D…Ditzy Doo…Ponyville post…office…delivery,” she managed to get out between breaths. The guards looked at Ditzy, then at the box. “Alright, go on in,” said the one on the right.” Ditzy attempted to stand, but her legs felt like wet noodles after dragging that giant box for ten hours. “Can’t…move…feel…dead.” She then felt the harness on her back lift from her body. Using what strength she had left she moved her head up to see Celestia; a golden glow surrounding her horn. “Ditzy Doo, it’s good to see you again.” Ditzy just gurgled something incomprehensible. Celestia giggled and lifted Ditzy onto her back. “You must be absolutely exhausted. Why don’t you come inside and rest while I go tell…” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Luna came blowing through the doors behind Celestia. “IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE!!! NOODLE WILL BE SO HAPPY HE NOW HAS A BED!!!” Luna picked up the giant box with her magic like it was nothing and ran back into the castle. Celestia stood there blinking for a second before giggling at her sister. She turned back to Ditzy who had already passed out on her back. ‘Maybe it’s best she didn’t know that was all for a pet bed.’ she said to herself as she walked back into the castle. ******************** Celestia leaned back in the tub. Luna had told her that she deserved the day off and opted to take all her duties for the day. At this moment she was talking with the heads of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory about where they were going to get the water for the clouds next. “Oh Luna, you’re such a great sister.” Luna may like to have fun, but when it came to running Equestria; there was no better pony to rule with. She dunked her head down in the bath for a minute before resurfacing; her head and mane covered in pink suds. “I love baths. There’s no better way to relax than a nice, long…” “TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” “Luna?!” Celestia jumped out of the bath and dashed out of her room. She had to put on the breaks when she noticed Luna standing in the hallway outside her room. “Luna! What’s wrong?! Are you hurt?! Is the castle under attack?! Is…” Luna interrupted her by shoving something in her face. Celestia stared at it for a second before it registered in her head. “Is that an anteater?” Luna had the biggest, brightest smile Celestia had ever seen on a pony. She was bouncing up and down in excitement. “Isn’t he adorable?!” Celestia continued to stare. “Umm, yes, yes he is, but where did you find it?” “The weather ponies and I were walking through the gardens as we spoke! When we passed under a tree I felt something fall onto my back! I looked back to see this little guy! Can I keep him?!” “Keep him?” Celestia asked. “You mean like a pet?” Luna nodded vigorously. Celestia blinked a few times before smiling. “I don’t see why not. But you must make sure you…” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” squealed Luna as she hugged the anteater to her chest. “I’M GOING TO CALL HIM NOODLE!!!” She dashed down the hall to her room. Celestia just watched the trail of smoke left in Luna’s wake for a minute before she heard a voice behind her. “Umm, Princess?” Celestia turned to see Green Sea, one of her personal helpers, behind her. Celestia liked her because she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind about anything and everything. She refused to be afraid of both her and her sister Luna. “I must say, I like the new look you’re sporting today. Very scandalous. Wet manes are definitely in this year.” Confused Celestia looked herself over. Her coat was completely drenched. Her once ethereal mane and tail were both soaked and matted down against her body. She still had soap suds in both her mane and tail. With a light blush Celestia ran back into her room and slammed the door. **************************************** ((God damn does it feel good to be writing this again :D Before anyone asks, when it comes to anything age related, I’m going to use the ages for the US since that’s where I live, and those are the laws I’m most familiar with. Like you’re not an adult until your 18, or you can’t legally drink until 21. My little pony © Hasbro Friendship is magic © Lauren Faust))