It came from Golden Oaks

by Exelzior

Delivery

Delivery

It was an unusually hot summer day in Ponyville, the absolute worst kind of heat anypony could imagine. The sun shone brightly and the air was moist. It was so hot that looking at something for too long it would make it start to appear wavy, and sometimes one wouldn’t be able to know if one had started seeing mirages or not. The whole town lay quiet, as practically every inhabitant had taken to one of the many small rivers and lakes around town. The only ones who seemed to enjoy this situation were the salesponies around town, as most of them had suddenly abandoned their usual job of selling fruits or vegetables and taken up selling ice cream, lemonade, or anything that would cool ponies down. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had even had a limited success selling ice cubes, until their stash melted away, and they had soon given up on those cutie marks.

Even at Sweet Apple Acres, which usually kept very active, things were going slow. Down by the river that ran through one of the orchards, six ponies lay sprawled across the grass in the shade from the apple trees. Applejack had invited her friends to relax at her place, and had stocked up a large supply of ice-cold cider to get them to come. Now they all lay in the soft grass, bodies heaving, trying desperately to stave of the murderous heat.

“Oh, it’s so hot I can barely think,” Twilight muttered and glanced upwards at the tree she lay under, “I never imagined that it could get so hot in these parts.”

“I hear you darling,” came Rarity’s voice from a few feet away, as she lay sprawled on her back resting her head on a sweat drenched pillow. “Not that I mind a little bit of warmth on a summer’s day, but this is just too much.” she said with a heavy sigh and gulped down a mouthful of cider.

“Yeah, we’ve got sum heat Ah’m tellin’ ya” Applejack chipped in from her spot right beside the tree, “If the princess keep this up mah orchard’s gonna burn up soon enough. Ah swear, if she wasn’t the ruler of Equestria Ah’d give her a piece of my mind,” She said and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Twilight just sighed, but she didn’t say anything. Celestia only raised and lowered the sun after all, she couldn’t possibly control how hot it was. At least Twilight thought so. Slowly she dragged herself off the ground and made her way to the stream where Pinkie Pie lay by the shore. The usually up and going pink pony was just lying there with her snout almost touching the water, her poofy mane all straightened out, as she looked at her reflection in it. Occasionally she’d stretch out her tongue and lap some water, making Twilight wonder why she wouldn’t just jump in.

“How’s it going there, Pinkie?” Twilight said half-heartedly as she stepped into the water. She shivered a little as the cold stream enveloped her hooves, but at the same time she felt incredibly relieved. Pinkie didn’t move, she just lay there glancing at Twilight.

“How do you think it’s going? It’s so darn hot and moist my hair can’t even stay up, and no pony wants to party. And I don’t have the energy to host a party even if they wanted to.” Pinkie said in an unusually downbeat tone. Twilight just rolled her eyes and walked further into the stream until the water touched her belly. Slowly she lowered herself, taking it inch by inch until the stream enveloped her completely, before standing back up again, dripping wet.

“How’s the water, Twi?” came Rainbow Dash’s voice from up a tree. Twilight looked up towards the apple tree her friends were resting beneath and saw Dash lying on a branch with a weak smile, trying to cool herself with a bottle of cider.

“Why don’t you jump in and find out?” Twilight shot back with a slight grin on her face. Normally she wasn’t playful, but for some reason this heat made her somewhat irrational, and act out in ways she normally wouldn’t. She figured living in Ponyville for so long had somehow made changes in her, not that she minded it.

“It’s too hot, I can’t move,” Dash whined, sounding like a schoolfilly that didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. Twilight just rolled her eyes again and lit up her horn, enveloping Rainbow Dash in a purple aura. Before the cyan mare could react, Twilight yanked her out of the tree and dropped her in the water. Dash came up only microseconds later, gasping from the sudden chill. “Whoa, since when did you grow a pair Twilight?”

Twilight just smirked. “Well, I’m supposed to be the smart one in this group, and you’re all being stupid and not coming in the water to cool off with me, so I guess I’m just being sensible,” She said, still looking at Dash’s shocked expression. She glanced over at Applejack and Rarity, whom where just staring at her with slightly mixed expressions. She smirked at them. Applejack leaned over to Rarity and whispered into her ear, never taking her eyes off Twilight.

“Whaddaya think’s gotten into ‘er, Rarity? ‘S it her time o’ th’ month or sumthin?”

“I don’t think so darling, I guess the weather must’ve gotten to her.” Rarity said before taking another sip of cider. “Although I must admit, it would feel nice with a cold bath right about now, heck, your little river is starting to look quite inviting.” She added with a smirk.

“Really? Ah thought ya’ll couldn’t set yer hoof in water unless it came out of a tap?”

“Oh please Applejack, I may be a prude sometimes but I’m not THAT sensitive. Besides, have you taken a look at me lately? I’m already drenched anyway, so a little untreated water isn’t going to make it any worse,” she stuck back at the farmpony and wiped her forehead again, getting it covered in glistening sweat.

Applejack just started at Rarity for a moment, her confused expression slowly growing into a slightly more sinister one. She smiled devilishly. “Oh is that so, miss priss? Then maybe ya’ll won’t mind me doin’ this then?” she said, and before Rarity could react Applejack scooped her up on her back and started running, making a leap into the air and landing with a splash right in the middle of the river. They both broke the surface only seconds later, Rarity gasping for air and screaming her lungs out at the same time.

“You’re a dead mare Applejack!” she yelled and splashed some water in the farmers face before lunging at her. It didn’t take long for Twilight and Rainbow Dash to get in on their little fun time, and soon the four of them were engaged in a strange mixture of a wrestling match and a pool party. Pinkie Pie just watched them from her spot, feeling too heavy to even lift her head, the heat weighing down on her like an invisible anvil. Still, her friends looked like they were having fun, maybe she should join them.

Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted when Applejack landed just a few feet away from her, creating a huge splash that drenched the pink pony from head to hoof. If Pinkie wasn’t soaked before she certainly was now, her mane draped over her head with only her snout sticking out. Every one of her friends suddenly froze in place and looked at Pinkie. They didn’t know what to expect out of her. The party pony tried and failed to blow a stray hair out of her face, her normally smiling mouth fixed in a frown.

“It’s on.”

With another mighty splash of water Pinkie joined her friends, going wild with splashes and spitting mouthfuls of water at them. They all kept at it for a few minutes before they noticed that something was still missing from the picture. They all stopped for a while and glanced over towards the trees again until they caught Fluttershy still sitting slightly behind one of them, looking at them with big eyes, her face slightly covered by her mane.

“Come on Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “The water’s great!”

Fluttershy just shrunk back a little, trying to make herself seem smaller. “Oh, um, I-I think I’ll be better off here, you girls have fun though,” she said in her usual timid voice. The other five ponies sighed in unison.

“Come on Flutters, get out from under that tree an’ come join us! You’ll enjoy it, Ah promise!” Applejack cheered, which only caused Fluttershy to back of even more, curling up into a pink and yellow ball as she desperately tried to make herself invisible.

“You two obviously don’t know how to do it properly,” Rarity said, glancing over at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “You have to be delicate, like this. Observe,” She added, giving the two mares a slight smirk as she walked closer to the shore. “Fluttershy, darling, there’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of,” Rarity cooed in a honey like voice, “We simply don’t want to make you feel left out is all. Now what do you say, won’t you join us, I promise you will enjoy it.”

Fluttershy poked her head out a little as Rarity spoke. Out of all her friends, Rarity was probably the one Fluttershy trusted most, seeing as how they met each week at them local spa, and the white mare always seemed to respect Fluttershy’s shyness. Although there had been the occasional moment where Rarity had taken advantage of her, Fluttershy still felt safe around the fashionista. Slowly she made her way out of her hiding spot, approaching Rarity in the same way a foal would approach a stranger for the first time. Rarity just watched Fluttershy with a kind expression, but once the shy Pegasus had almost made it down to the water her eyes became slightly wicked, and a small grin spread across her lips. Fluttershy didn’t notice until it was too late.

“Now! Nab her!” Rarity yelled as Twilight’s purple aura enveloped the startled Pegasus and dragged her into the water, dropping her in the circle of friends waiting for her. They all resumed their water fight, laughing merrily along the way. All of them except Flutterhy of course, whom was scared half to death already, not helped by the frantic motions around her. Her eyes darted from side to side as she tried to find an escape route, her pulse quickening by the second. She could not believe how her friends could act this way towards her. Were they even her friends anymore? Maybe the entire town had been overrun by changelings during the night, and they’d left her alive just to torment her?

The more Fluttershy thought the wilder her imagination ran and she started panicking, desperately trying to push aside the others, whom just kept pulling her back, trying to get her into the mood. It wasn’t working. Seeing no options for herself, Fluttershy was just about to accept her fate, whatever it was, when she noticed someone approaching. Seeing a way out of this madness she mustered all the strength she could, which was a lot despite what she always thought about herself, and forced herself out of the cluster of moving bodies and hooves, scattering her friends in the process like a set of bowling pins. Running frantically she darted towards the pony standing on the shore and got behind them, cowering like a foal behind its mother. She was shivering, mainly from the cold water, and slowly glanced up towards the pony she was hiding behind. Her fearful gaze was met by a pair of golden, slightly misaligned eyes.

“Um, Fluttershy, are you alright?” Derpy asked curiously, looking at the cream-colored Pegasus with a slightly confused look on her face.

“No! No I’m not alright! I think my friends are possessed! Or worse!” Fluttershy yelled between breaths, almost causing Derpy to step back. The grey mare looked at Fluttershy for a moment before turning towards the other five ponies.

“Ehh, girls, may I ask what exactly you’re doing scaring this poor Pegasus like that?”

Twilight and her friends all looked a bit dumbfounded, most of them were starting to blush furiously. Not only from Derpy probably having seen them act like a bunch of crazies, but also from being lectured by the mailmare on account of having scared Fluttershy half to death.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry you had to see that, Derpy,” Twilight quickly blurted out, “I-I don’t know what came over us, we were just having fun and, oh gosh, I’m so, so sorry Fluttershy,” she added, finally noticing the yellow pegasus still in hiding behind the mailmare. “We just got carried away, we didn’t mean to hurt you, things just got out of hand, right guys?” she said, looking at her friends who all nodded, heads hung in shame. Rarity especially had developed a nice shade of red, looking like she was about to have a mental breakdown, eyes darting back and forth. She’d been the one who’d coaxed Fluttershy on, and right now she just wished to sink into the muddy river bottom just to escape this situation.

Derpt just watched the five with mild amusement, knowing she’d probably just caught them at a bad moment. She wasn’t too familiar with any of them, though Rainbow Dash she knew a little about, since both of them were pegasi. Besides her though, not so much. Derpy knew their names and such, but apart from the occasional greeting in the street or running into one another at one of Pinkie Pie’s parties she didn’t know very much about them. She stepped closer, feeling Fluttershy tug on her tail, though she ignored it.

“Oh, I think we’ll be fine,” Derpy said with a smile as the five ponies slowly made their way to the shore, none of them wanting to meet her gaze. They were all still blushing, apart from Pinkie, who’d regained her usual happiness and was happily skimping along with a bright smile on her face. “Actually I just came here to see Twilight,” the mailmare continued, “I went to the library first and Spike told me you’d gone here, and when I got to the farm Applejack’s brother told me where you were,” Derpy said still smiling, her forehead dripping with sweat. She took of her postal hat and waved it against her face, trying to cool down a bit to no avail.

“Oh, well, I’ll be right with you then.” Twilight said and got out of the river. She quickly shook the water out of her fur and magically straightened out her mane before going up to Derpy whom just watched in silence. “So, what did you want to see me for?”

Derpy didn’t answer at first and opened up one of her saddlebags that looked overly stuffed, pulling out a large brown package and a letter. “These arrived at the office today, I thought I should deliver them to you in person,” Derpy said and handed Twilight the package. The unicorn grabbed it in her teeth and was a bit shocked over just how heavy the thing was. She carefully put it down on the ground and looked at it curiously.

“Are you sure this is for me, Derpy? I can’t remember ordering anything,”

“Be that as it may, it has your name and address written on it, and I’m willing to bet the letter is part of it as well.” Derpy said rather matter of factly, “I’m just delivering, it’s not my business what it is.”

Twilight just looked at the mysterious package for a while and shrugged a bit. She decided not to delve any further into the matter for the moment. “Well, I’ll just take it home and see what it is I suppose,” She said in a neutral tone, “Thanks for bringing it to me Derpy.”

“Don’t mention it, just doing my job. Someone has to make sure ponies get their mail even when the weather is killing just about everyone,” Derpy said with a chuckle and wiped her forehead again.

“Wait, you’re doing this all on your own?” Twilight asked and raised an eyebrow at the grey pegasus, “What about the rest of the mailponies, shouldn’t they be out delivering as well?”

Derpy just sighed and smiled. “They should, but the boss decided today was just too hot for work and let everyone off. I wouldn’t have it, I’d just hate for somepony to have to wait for an important letter or package. Plus, they pay me extra, not much, but I really need all the bits I can get right now,” she added. Twilight just looked at Derpy curiously.

“Are you having money problems or something?” Twilight asked cautiously, “Not that I mean to pry or anything!” she quickly added. Derpy just smiled at the purple unicorn.

“No, I just need them for this one,” She said and patted her belly. Twilight suddenly noticed that Derpy seemed considerably larger than usual, and so did her friends whom were all starting to encircle Derpy, finally snapping out of their shame. Even Fluttershy finally made her way out from behind the grey mailmare, though she still kept an eye on her friends, just in case any of them would sprout fangs.

“Is that what I think it is?” Rarity asked with a hint of overjoy in her voice.

“Sure is,” Derpy said with a sly smile, “Time Turner and I finally got things working. Soon we’ll be adding another little one to our herd,” The grey mare said and patted her belly again.

Twilight and her friends all encircled Derpy, each one talking louder than the other, offering words of congratulations and pats on the back. Derpy blushed slightly, she wasn’t used to getting this much attention, but she didn’t mind either. It felt nice to be in the center of attention once in a while.

“Soooo, may I ask, Derpy, is it a filly or a colt?” Rarity cooed. Derpy just snickered.

“Don’t know, I want it to be a surprise. And before any of you ask, I don’t know what species it’ll be either,” she added when she noticed Rarity was about to break out another question.

“How is Dinky handling it?” Twilight asked, “I bet she’s excited to become a big sister.”

Derpy chuckled heartily. “Oh she hasn’t been able to keep her hooves on the ground for about a month now. She’s so excited she can barely sleep at night, much to our dismay,” She added with another laugh.

“An’ how’s Time Turner doin’?” Applejack asked. “Ah bet he’s practically climbin’ the walls ‘t this point.”

“Pretty much. Ever since the doctor confirmed it he’s been doing everything to prepare, and he’s been just wonderful, even when he stresses out completely,” Everypony laughed heartily, except Fluttershy whom merely hummed, all of them having their own inner picture of a panicked Time Turner. Derpy smiled and put her postal hat back on.

“Well, it was nice to chit chat for a while, but I really must be getting back to work. Other ponies need their mail too you know,” Derpy said before turning tail.

“Hold on there Derpy, I’m coming with ya. No way I’m gonna let Ponyville’s only working mailmare do the delivering on her own on a day like this,” Rainbow Dash piped up, taking to the air and hovering beside Derpy.

“Oh, that’s, that’s very kind of you Rainbow Dash, but I don’t want you leaving your friends just to help me out. I’ll be fine,” Derpy said, waving her hoof a little.

“Hell no, I’m not leaving a fellow pegasus behind. I’m the element of Loyalty for Celly’s sake, and not just to these guys, but to all of Ponyville. Now give me a saddlebag and let me help,” The cyan mare said, putting a hoof on Derpy’s lips before the mailmare could say anything else. “In fact, both Fluttershy and I’ll help you out, won’t we Flutters?” Rainbow added, startling Fluttershy a bit. The yellow mare just hid behind her mane, but she wouldn’t dare go against Rainbow Dash’s wishes. She nodded a little.

“S-Sure, we’ll help you Derpy,” She said meekly, joining the grey mare and grabbed a saddlebag in her mouth. Rainbow did the same, and soon enough they were flying towards Ponyville.

“See ya guys later, ‘kay!?” Rainbow shouted back at her friends, waving a hoof before she and the other pegasi vanished out of sight. The rest of the ponies just stood there for a moment before Applejack broke the silence.

“Well, guess Ah’d better get goin’ as well. It’s almost time fer lunch anyway, an’ Granny’s gonna be mighty crossed with me if Ah don’t give ‘er a hoof in the kitchen,” she said and picked up her hat, “Anyone wanna join up, we can always set the table fer ya.”

Her friends all shook their heads slightly.

“Thanks for the offer dear, but I really must head home as well,” Rarity said, “I have some dresses I want to work on. Another time maybe?” she added with a smile. Applejack huffed a little, but didn’t make a fuss of it.

“Sure, another time then,” she said, “What about you two?” she asked, turning to Twilight and Pinkie.

“No thanks AJ, I must head home as well. Spike is probably waiting for me, plus, I really want to see what’s in this package that Derpy brought,” Twilight said, patting the box with a hoof.

“And I’ve got some super delicious twenty-flavored-super-sticky-leftover-bubblegum-cake from last Tuesday, home in the fridge, and I really wanna get home to that before somepony else does, so see ya!” Pinkie blurted out before taking of, vanishing in a pink blur. Applejack didn’t even have time to react before the pink mare was out of sight. She just sighed and put her hat on.

“That’s our Pinkie,” she muttered and started walking, followed by Twilight and Rarity. Eventually the farmhouse came into view and they parted, the two unicorns heading down towards Ponyville while Applejack went home. Once they reached the town center, Twilight and Rarity said their goodbyes and went separate ways, with Twilight headed for the Golden Oaks library. The doorbell chimed as she stepped inside and put the heavy brown package next to the coat hanger.

“Spike! I’m back! Are you in here?” she called out, hearing some clattering in the kitchen. As she stepped into the room she was taken aback by just how much of a mess the whole place was. The fridge was open, though completely empty, and the floor was littered with empty ice cream buckets, melted ice cream leaking out of some of them leaving large sticky stains. Twilight facehoofed hard and groaned, this was NOT the kind of welcome she wanted, especially on a day like this that was already unbearable. Angrily she stepped into the room and went for the cupboard under the sink, and once she opened it Spike tumbled out of his hiding place. She looked down at him with a stern expression.

“Well, what have you got to say about this, huh?” She asked angrily, never taking her eyes of her dragon assistant. Spike didn’t look up at her, and he didn’t dare speaking. He knew she’d caught him red handed, and that he wasn’t going to be able to lie himself out of this one. He still gave it a shot though, hoping in vain that she’d fall for it.

“W-Well, the fridge broke, and I thought it’d be a waste to let it all just melt away…” he said half-heartedly, trying his best not to catch a glimpse of Twilight’s face. The unicorn just huffed.

“Very clever mister, you really expect me to fall for that? You know I can tell it when you lie, Spike, and it’s not the least bit amusing,” she said and shook her head disapprovingly. Spike didn’t move, he just lay there and took it. He hated it whenever Twilight got angry with him, it happened so rarely, but when it did it always hit him hard. Slowly he raised his head and met Twilight’s gaze with tears in his eyes. The unicorn’s eyes didn’t show any trace of sympathy in them.

“I-I’m sorry Twi, it was just so hot in here, and I figured you wouldn’t notice if I took some of it. But it was just so good, and I couldn’t stop myself once I had that first taste, and it all just went downhill from there. I was going to clean everything up before you got home, but then I heard you calling out and got scared and…and, oh please don’t send me away! Please forgive me, I promise I’ll never do anything like this ever again!” the little dragon cried out, tears streaming from his eyes as he hugged Twilight’s forelegs.

Twilight’s anger vanished as quickly as it had come, being replaced by a sudden rush of guilt as Spike hugged her legs, leaving wet patches in her fur. She didn’t say anything at first, but after a few minutes of Spike sobbing into her she finally opened her mouth.

“Spike, I, I’m not going to send you anywhere. I mean, sure I’m upset with you, but I’d never do anything like that, why would you even think something like that? Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you like that, it wasn’t the right thing to do,” she put a hoof under his chin and looked him deep in the eyes, “I’m not going to send you away Spike, and I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

The little dragon just looked into Twilight’s purple eyes, still sniffing a bit.

“Promise?”

Twilight just sighed and shook her head before embracing Spike in an affectionate hug. “Promise,” she said before letting him go. She looked down at him with a smile on her face, “But you’re still cleaning this mess up. When you’re done, come see me in my studies, I’ll need your help,” she said and went for the door. She stopped and looked back at him one last time before leaving the room, “And no more ice cream for a week, you hear me?” she said, closing the door behind her leaving Spike a little dumbfounded, but still happy. He grabbed a broom and sighed happily.