Derpy Hooves: Dragon Slayer

by Yellowcardpony

Undelivered Mail

Chapter 2: Undelivered Mail

The sun was on the last legs of its journey for the day. Light was just beginning to fade, signally to everypony that it was time to start packing up for the night. Those who had brought food started to pack up what remained and made plans for where to spend the night. The crowd of onlookers and those who simply enjoyed the food began to head back to their own homes for the night.

On the outskirts of town a white unicorn wearing a brown duster stood outside a small simple house. He looked at a notebook as it hovered in front of him and reviewed the notes he had written. The faint orange glow of his magic surrounded the notepad as he turned the pages. He flipped through the pages until it came to one that had a series of numbers and an address written on it.

Five Forty Five Brook rd. Lowering the notebook the unicorn looked at the numbers on the poorly built wooden mailbox in front of the house.

Five Forth Five, he read, this was the house the ponies in town had told him she lived. Even though all his notes seemed to point to this address, he looked at the little home with crooked shutters and peeling paint. This place looked too small and neglected to be the home he was looking for.

Well if I’m going to get this done, I might as well do it before I lose daylight, he thought. Slowly he walked up the small path to the front door. He paused for a moment looking at the faded brown door before reaching out with a hoof and knocking.

The unicorn stood for a moment listening for the sound of movement from inside. A few moments passed without an answer to the door and he heard no sound or saw any signs that anyone was home. Frowning he knocked once more a little harder.

Once again he waited and received no response. Frustrated he turned his attention to the little window next to the door. Carefully he peered at the smudged pane of glass hoping to see someone inside. He had spent most of the day running around town trying to find this place and now no one seemed to be home.

Or had the ponies in town given him misleading information on purpose to hide the resident? He wondered. Feeling fed up, he looked at the old oak door once more. Maybe I’ll just try once more, he thought.

Moving back up to the door he reached out to knock, but as his hoof was about to hit he paused over the door latch. Suddenly his frustration converted into into bravery and he reached for the door handle instead. A light touch on the handle revealed that the door was not locked.

There was a rusty clank as the door mechanism unlatched and a creaking sound as the hinges parted allowing the door to slowly open.

The last rays of sunlight spilled through the open door, but they were barely enough to light the inside of the home. The unicorn took one step inside and cautiously looked around.

The interior was that of a small living space and kitchen combined, in the far corner he could make out a doorway into a bedroom and on the other side a smaller door that was the bathroom. The home had the basics inside with no decorations or adornments of any type.

“Hello?” he said quietly. After a moment of pure silence he gave it another try much louder. “Is anyone here? I have a delivery,” he called out taking another step inside. Still no reply or sound came.

The white unicorn’s heart sank in defeat. He had spent all day on a wild goose chase it seemed. Feeling confident no one was home, he made his way into the kitchen a little farther. He had to be sure if he had wasted all his time coming out here.

Concentrating he lit up the tip of his horn with a small sphere of orange magic. The orange glow was enough to illuminate the room in front of him. He made sure he was not allowing his horn to shine too bright to avoid catching the attention of anyone outside.

The unicorn slowly wondered around the small house examining things. To his disappointment it seemed his first impression of the mostly bare home, was correct. Other than a few dented pots and pans laying on the stove and some simple children’s toys in the corner, there was nothing in the home that would help him identify who lived here, or if anypony lived here at all.

He had just turned his attention to the small bedroom in the back when suddenly the front door slammed behind him. Startled he almost tripped as he turned around.

“What are you doing in here?” a voice said threateningly.

The unicorn looked through the dim light, he was not able to make out who was there, but he knew it was most likely the owner of the homestead.

“Ah, I have a delivery,” he said trying not to sound nervous.

“Why didn’t you just put it in the mailbox then?” the voice said.

The unicorn listened carefully as he slowly moved towards the door. The voice was feminine but there seemed to be a coldness to the tone. “Well I have special instructions to personally give it to the recipient,” he explained as he was gradually allowing more light to come from his horn. “At this address.”

“Did your instructions say to just go right inside as well?”

The unicorn didn’t reply right away, instead he took another step forward and increased the light until the room was light enough he could see the grey Pegasus standing in the doorway. “I’m sorry I didn’t think anyone actually lived here, the town ponies were not very helpful,” he explained as he felt a wave of relief, as he recognized the pony before him as Derpy Hooves, the so called town fool.

“Well I live here,” Derpy said looking cross as she stared at the unfamiliar unicorn.

“I am really sorry,” The unicorn continued. “I’ve have an urgent letter for Delphina Ray, have you seen her?”

“At this address?” Derpy said with a sudden softer and confused tone.

“Yes of course,” The unicorn replied. He took a few more steps closer as he began to open his saddle bag with magic.

“She isn’t here,” Derpy said. “But you can give the letter to me, I will get it to her,” she added as she reached towards the mailbag.

Startled by the sudden movement the unicorn hopped back and sealed the bag up quickly. He glared at the Pegasus for a moment, upset that she would try to take his bag like that.

“Look, this letter is to be given to Delphina directly by me, I can’t leave it to anyone,” He explained keeping himself calm.

“She won’t be back for a while, I will get it to her, I’m a Mailmare around here you know,” Derpy said smiling innocently.

“Yes I heard, you deliver letters on the weekends,” the unicorn said. He watched as Derpy nodded happily. “Well then as a mailmare you must understand that I cannot leave a confidential letter with just anyone, it has to be to the addressee.

Derpy frowned for a second before smiling again.

“She is my roommate, she won’t be back for a while, you can trust me to get it to her.”

The unicorn shook his head.

“How long will she be? I’ll just have to wait.”

“Hours, days, could be weeks,” Derpy said as she took a few steps towards the unicorn.

In response he turned his back on the blonde pony and began to pace around the room thinking.

“Come on now, Derpy, can you give me a more realistic time? Where is she?”

Derpy watched as the white colt wondered back and forth through her living room.

“Well she doesn’t always tell me where she is going and sometimes I don’t see her for weeks. She makes trips into the Everfree forest to do all kinds of things.”

The unicorn was passively listening as he wondered into the bedroom. He was trying to decide if he should ask to stay here, or if he should try to hunt down Delphina elsewhere. While he was thinking he suddenly noticed something… The bedroom was far too small for there to be a roommate situation going on, there was one little bed tucked into the corner of the room and no signs of any other kind of bedding.

“You say she is your roommate?” he asked curiously as he emerged from the bedroom. Looking around the room he did not see Derpy anymore and he heard no response either. “Derpy?” he asked again as he increased his light spell to its maximum.

Enough orange light filled the room to light up every corner. To his surprise, the grey Pegasus was nowhere to be seen. He opened his mouth to call her name again, but he stopped. Suddenly he felt a shiver go up his spine as if he knew something was wrong with this whole situation. He had been warned when he picked up this assignment and now those warnings were playing in his head.

"Beware, Delphina is no ordinary pony, she is far more dangerous than you can imagine," the voice said in his head. Before he had time to think something landed on his back hitting him hard.

He bucked with all his might but the weight knocked him to the floor, before he could react something was strung over his head from behind and wrapped around his neck.

From the ground he strained with all his might but he was pinned down. Looking over his shoulder he could make out somepony on top of him, the same pony who was tightly wrapping something around his neck.

“Stop,” he managed to gasp out.

“Stop struggling then,” a familiar voice said from on top of him. Against his better judgment, he obeyed and laid still.

He cringed and gritted his teeth as he felt the cool metal chain drag across his throat. A few awkward tugs and pushes later he heard a click of metal, and then the weight on top of him was lifted. At the same time the little remaining light from his horn went out.

Before the unicorn could decide what to do, a voice called to him in the dark. “Stay,” it commanded. With the shock of everything wearing off, he was able to place the voice. It was Derpy’s, but the tone was no longer simple and friendly. It was now serious and threatening,

“What’s going on?” he asked looking into the darkness of the kitchen. He concentrated for a moment to recast his light spell, but nothing happened. “Derpy?”

“Sit still,” she replied as some clanking sounds came from her direction. A moment later a beam of light filled the room as a small lantern came to life.

Derpy stood in the middle of the room now with the lantern sitting on the floor in front of her. The white unicorn looked on as a large shadow of the Pegasus with wings fully spread was cast on the fall wall like a demon in the night.

More focused now, he caught a glimpse of the front door that was still slightly open. Thinking of his options, he began to get up in order to make a run for it.

As the unicorn began to stand, Derpy moved in on him in a flash. She delivered a swift kick to his back leg sweeping it out and knocking him off balance causing him to stumble back to the floor. She followed it up with another kick to his midsection.

The white unicorn let out a wail of surprise and pain at the sudden attack. He lay on the floor with tears in his eyes unable to breathe for a moment.

Derpy took a step back and looked down at the colt with scorn in her eyes. “I told you to stay there,” she scolded.

“What did you do to Delphina, where is she?” the unicorn coughed as he began to suck in air again. He looked up into Derpy’s eyes. Her brilliant yellow eyes, that were staring back at him perfectly straight.

Straight? Her eyes were perfect suddenly, he thought. Then a realization came to him. Something he had not thought about, but it seemed to make sense now. “You are Delphina,” He said calmly.

Derpy responded with a sigh as she turned her back to the unicorn. “I figured as much,” she snorted. “You couldn’t have just put the letter in my mailbox; you had to go around town asking about Delphina and about Five Forty Five Brook rd.”

“Who are you?” he asked feeling the need to know for sure.

The grey mare slowly walked over to the front door and pushed it shut. After feeling confident it was closed tightly she turned around and faced her captive. “I am Delphina Ray,” she announced. “And who might you be?”

“Balefren Vivid,” he said quietly as he looked at the fire in the pegasus’s eyes.

“Well Balefren, you sure haven’t lived up to your name so far; you fool of a delivery pony, what do I do with you now?”

Reminded about the delivery Balefren looked around for his saddlebag. “I have a letter for you Delphina,” he said trying to sound professional and not unnerved.

“Yes I know, I already took it from your bag,” she said as she produced the letter in her hoof. Pinning the letter to the floor with her hoof she moved her head past it in a flash that left the top of the letter open. Balefren took note of what looked like a glint of metal in her mouth.

“So you were pretending to be Derpy Hooves…” the unicorn said to himself.

“I am Derpy Hooves, she is my alter ego in a sense,” Delphina said as she slid the exposed letter out of the envelope and began to read it.

“And I wasn’t supposed to know that,” Balefren continued reasoning with himself.

“That is also correct,” Delphina said looking up from the letter. “It is very important that everypony here only knows me as the simple, clumsy and harmless mare.”

Balefren sat in silence as the grey mane read the letter. He didn’t know what to say next. He thought about begging for forgiveness or swearing to keep her secret, but all the while his eyes wondered back over to the door. Escape seemed like the best option, he could get out, make a run for it and get back to Trottingham.

The Postmaster had warned him not to tangle with Delphina Ray. He spoke of the mysterious and dangerous reputation she had with the underground in Trottingham. "Find where she lives and drop that letter off!" His boss’s voice said in his head. "Ponies who meet her tend to go missing afterward."

But instead he wanted to be adventurous and meet the mysterious mare face to face. “Damnit,” he whispered to himself cursing his foolishness. Now he sat questioning his fate as he watched Delphina read the letter he had brought her.

“Vivid,” Delphina said looking up at the unicorn. “Do you know what the contents of this letter are?”

“No ma'am. To look at another’s mail would betray my duty as a mail pony." Delphina gave him a skeptical stare looking into his eyes intently for a moment, before a smile came to her face.

“Well good, you did something right,” she said sounding almost cheerful. It was almost as though the light hearted Derpy was back.

Balefren spared no time to try to exploit her change in mood. “So now that you have it, can I go? I have business back in Trottingham.”

“Sure, you can go,” Derpy said still smiling. Balefren sat motionless for a moment wondering if she really meant it. He watched as Drepy swiftly scooped up the letter and tucked it into her saddle bag. Feeling a sense of relief the white unicorn got to his feet. As he rose he felt the metal chain object bounce around his heck. He realized had forgotten about it!

“One thing,” Derpy said as she moved in front of him and blocked his path. “That necklace you’re wearing is mine, and no one in Ponyville can ever know about me.”

“That’s two things,” Balefren said feeling anxious.

“Regardless,” she said pointing a hoof at the black and gold colored chain around the unicorn’s neck.

“You put it on me! You can have it back, I don’t want it,” Balefren said in defense as he reached for the necklace. As he made contact with the small chain a sudden jolt of pain shot through his hoof. It was like a blast of electric fire. “Ouch!” he cried as he quickly let go of the jewelry.

“You can’t take it off like that,” Delphina explained. The next step seemed obvious now to Balefren and he wanted this thing off. He concentrated with his magic to lift the necklace off. His horn began to glow orange, but then the light faded just as quickly as it came.

“What did you do?” he cried out starting to feel panic. He thought back to earlier when he tried to use his light spell and it no longer worked either.

“You can’t take it off like that either,” Delphina said. “That amulet is a magic poriferan, one of three forged by King Solaris himself over a thousand years ago, from a rock of sky.”

Balefren looked at the pegasus confused and frustrated.

“Poriferan?

"Like a sponge, a magic sponge."

"Why did you put it on me then?” he said as his legs started to shake.

“Getting upset will not help your situation,” Delphina warned. She watched as the unicorn took a deep breath and collect himself. “Good, now I do need it back,” she added once he appeared calm.

“Why did you put this on me?” Balefren asked again.

“I needed to test it, and you gave me a reason to do so."

“Delivering mail?”

“You broke into my house, as far as I knew you were an assassin."

“What?!” Balefren said surprised. “Why would I be an assassin?”

“I told you I have to keep my identity a secret, I have enemies in many places.”

“Ok so how do I get this off?” the unicorn said trying to look down at the amulet around his neck.

“It’s easy, there are two ways,” Delphina said moving closer. “One is that it can be easily taken off of your dead corpse.”

Balefren took a step back startled; Delphina followed him backing him into the corner of the kitchen. The unicorn’s horn lit up again briefly as he desperately tried to cast a spell to get himself out of his situation, but once again the orange magic around his horn faded.

Delphina grinned at the attempts, and that the magic amulet was working as designed.

“The other way is for the pony that placed it around your neck, to take it off,” She said smiling.

Balefren breathed a sigh of relief, but it was not enough to slow his racing heart. “You’re not going to kill me?” he asked.

“Well there is the other matter of keeping my secret,” she reminded taking another step closer.

“Take your necklace then, I’ll never talk to anyone,” Balefren promised.

“Not yet,” Derpy said smiling. “There is a better way for both of us I think.”

Balefren was now sitting on his hunches with his back against the cupboard as he once again saw the mare’s expressions change to the innocent looking Derpy Hooves. He watched as the pegasus turned around and began to trot into the little bedroom.

“The letter you gave me requires me to go on a trip,” Derpy said as she entered the bedroom and out of Balefren’s sight. He could hear rummaging sounds as drawers and items were hastily being moved around. “You will accompany me, you will do as I say and what I need, once I’m done I will take my necklace back and set you free far from Ponyville."

With the grey pegasus in the other room, Balefren Vivid spared no time, getting to his feet he made a run for the front door. He only heard the part about having him come with her on a trip before he made it to the door latch. Working the handling quickly he unlatched and opened the door. Without looking back the unicorn began to run for his life into the summer night. On his way out he regretted not kicking over the lantern to aid in his escape.

Derpy came out of her bedroom with a pair of saddle bags in her teeth stuffed full of clothing and items. She carefully placed the bags on the floor and with a grin she looked at the open front door. Calmly she used a fronthoof to pick up the bags and toss them on her back. She strained for a moment at the extra weight, and then gave a little hop using her wings to lift herself into the air. Slowly she made her way across the room pausing for a moment to pick up the lantern with her mouth. Still moving at a calm pace Derpy flew through the doorway and into the night.

A circle of light floated slowly down the patch from Derpy’s house. The grey mare floated along peacefully looking for her new assistant as she thought of him. She had not gone far when she made out the familiar looking shape of the white unicorn. He was lying on the ground in a small ditch at the roads edge. He is pretty vivid, she thought to herself, maybe he will live up to his name she added mentally laughing.

Balefren lay in the dirt having been struck by an agonizing pain from around his neck as he ran from the house, leaving him stunned. He was just recovering from the shock when he saw the soft glow from the lantern floating down the path towards him. He cursed to himself as he knew that it was Delphina coming and she must have planned on this.

“Hey there Vivid, you must be really itching to go,” Derpy said as she placed the lantern down. Balefren slowly began to get to his feet. “No need to frown, this will be good for you,” Derpy said looking at the big frown that spread across the unicorn’s face. “Stand still,” she warned as she flew just above him and tilted herself skillfully so that the extra saddle bags to fell directly onto his back.

Balefren’s legs buckled under the surprise weight, but he quickly stood tall against it. Derpy landed in front of him and picked the lantern back up. Holding the light in his direction she inspected the battered unicorn.

Balefren was a mess, his brown cloak was torn and disheveled, his flank and legs were covered in dirt and he slightly swayed from side to side as if he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Derpy shook her head, she hadn’t thought about it, but the unicorn had been traveling all day and had spent hours searching around town for her. Thinking about it made her suddenly feel tired as well. She carefully took the lantern into one of her hooves as she opened her mouth to yawn.

“What now?” Balefren started to say as he watched Derpy yawn. He opened his mouth to ask another question but found himself starting to yawn as well.

“On second thought,” Derpy said as she looked up at the stars. “We should rest and set out at first light tomorrow.”

“Where are we going?” Balefren asked in mid yawn.

“Rest up and you’ll see,” Derpy said as she flew to his side. “Let me help you with those,” she said as she reached down to lifted the saddle bags back off of the colt. Carefully she laid them down in the ditch.

Now realizing how tired he was, Balefren didn’t care about anything else anymore. “Where do I sleep, your house is small.”

“It’s not safe there anymore. You better sleep in the ditch out here,” Derpy said. Balefren opened to his mouth to question this, but Derpy put a hoof to his mouth to hush him. “You’ve been spreading my name all over town, who knows who could have heard about Delphina living out here. So lay down here and sleep. I will be back at dawn.”

Too tired to argue or question things further Balefren laid down using the corner of one of the saddle bags as a pillow. As he went prone he would have seemed to have disappeared from anyone looking from the roadside. Sleeping outside was nothing new for him; long trips often required it, although his preference was still to have a roof over his head.

“Alright, I will see you in a bit, don’t try to go any farther or the necklace will zap you again,” Derpy warned as she picked the lantern back up and began to fly back to her home.