//------------------------------// // Atypical Morning // Story: Mail Call // by BlazzingInferno //------------------------------// Thunderlane soared over Ponyville’s rooftops. The big clock over town hall was just about to finish chiming in the hour. In a few seconds he’d officially be late for work, although that didn’t really matter when his boss was sleeping in. He could spot a few of the other weather pegasi in the clouds over town hall, and knew exactly what they’d say when he arrived: “You’re late, Thunderlane. You go get Rainbow Dash.” He banked to the left, quickly losing sight of town hall in favor of Rainbow’s home. Pounding on her door would be more productive than trying to convince somepony else to do it. Ten minutes and three knocking sessions later, he began to wonder if she was even alive. “Rainbow? You’re late for cloud duty!” He sighed and shook his head. “For the third time this week…” At least her doorstep was a nice enough place to wait. No matter what anypony thought of Rainbow Dash, there was one indisputable point: being the captain of the weather team paid well. Instead of an earth-bound cottage, she had a little patch of Cloudsdale all to herself, complete with rainbow waterfalls. This was the home of a pegasus with real taste in architecture. Finally he heard signs of life. It sounded like pots and pans clattering around in the kitchen. He knocked again. “Rainbow?” “The weather can wait five more minutes! I’m not busting clouds on an empty stomach again.” “Could I… uh… could I come in?” “Sure, just watch your hooves.” He wasn’t sure what she meant. Not until he opened the door, at least. The front room’s floor was covered in everything from old Wonderbolts posters to older, and dirtier, flight suits. “Rainbow, this place is filthy. How do you live like this?” A rainbow-hued blur rushed past him, sweeping up the junk in her forelegs and whisking it off to another room. She was back a second later, grinning sheepishly. “Heh, yeah, sorry. Kinda got carried away looking for my lucky horseshoe last night. Most of my friends aren’t even pegasi, so most of the time I don’t think about cleaning the place up.” A shadow fell across him as another pony approached the door. He turned to see the mail mare with a stack of letters in her grasp. “Hi, Ditzy.” “Hey, Thunderlane. I’ve got some mail here for—” There was another crash of pans from the kitchen as Rainbow resumed her original task. “Just leave ’em on the counter, Ditzy. I’ve gotta find something to eat so we can get cloud busting. Oh, did I get anything from Wonderbolt HQ?” Ditzy flipped through the stack of letters. “Hmm… Oh, is this it?” She waved a pink envelope overhead. Rainbow zoomed over and grabbed it. “Bleh, no. The Wonderbolts would never use pink to… what is this? It’s got all these hearts on it.” Her wings slowed and, for the first time since Thunderlane arrived, she touched down on the floor. Ditzy hovered over her and read the front. “Is it addressed to someone else? I… kind of mix up the mail… a lot.” Thunderlane tried not to roll his eyes. “We know…” Rainbow tore open the side and pulled out an equally pink page. “Nah, it’s for me and everything, but there’s no return address. Let’s see what it says… What the?” She held the letter out in front of her. “ ‘Dear Rainbow Dash, you’re the fastest pegasus I know, and the most beautiful too. I’ll write again soon.’ That’s all it says!” Ditzy giggled. “Somepony has a secret admirer!” Rainbow shoved the letter into Thunderlane’s hooves. “Do you recognize that hoofwriting?” “Uh—” She hovered directly over him, staring him down with a glower that could turn storm clouds white. “ ’cause if you do I wanna know! What’s the deal with this pony? Are they scared of me or something?” At the moment he wouldn’t blame them. “It… uh… it sounds like they like you. Sounds pretty simple.” She snatched the letter back. “Well… why’d they have to tell me like this? Maybe they should just fly up here and tell me to my face.” Ditzy sighed. “Aw, but the secret is the romantic part. It could be anypony.” Rainbow crumpled up the letter and crossed her forelegs. “Yeah, probably somepony that’s totally lame.” Ditzy flew over to Thunderlane and tapped him on the head. “You never know. Pretend it’s Thunderlane, for example.” His eyes went wide. “What, me?” “Sure! Like I said, it could be anypony.” “But… uh, why use me?” “Isn’t Rainbow a beautiful pegasus?” “Well, she is… but—” Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, I know your hoofwriting. It’s not you.” Ditzy sighed. “That’s not the point, Rainbow. Just pretend it was for a second, wouldn’t you want to hear more of what he has to say? Wouldn’t you want to give him a chance?” Rainbow stared them down for nearly a minute. Her fiery gaze slowly morphed into wide-eyed fear, followed by a blush. Finally her wings kicked in and she herded them out the door. “Tell the rest of the weather team I’m gonna be late. I’m… I’m sick, yeah. Achoo!” Ditzy tried to take one last look at her before the door slammed shut. “But what about the letter? What if you get another one?” “I… I have to think about it. Don’t you two have somewhere else to be? Get to busting those clouds and delivering that mail already!” Thunderlane and Ditzy stood on the front porch, listening to what sounded like Rainbow dumping the contents of her pantry on the floor. He flicked a wing across the back of her head and sighed. “Did you really have to use me as the example?” “Hey, it was completely hypothetical. Besides, she didn’t say no, did she?” He stared at her smile, and slowly gained one of his own. “Thanks for writing the letter out for me.” She giggled. “No problem.”