Author's Notes:

Thanks again to pierro118 for wanting to read about a follow-up to a certain event in an earlier chapter. The pony we see today will also be back next week, so fans of her will get their fill!

Upon arrival in Karyn’s apartment that day, Derpy evinced a calm and relaxed manner that Karyn had missed in her. If anything, she looked younger that day, like the pony that Karyn knew from the show. Indeed, to Karyn it had appeared that a few strands of her mane had turned gray, although with her coat already being gray it was hard to tell. But now she was fully blonde again, the dark circles had gone from her eyes, and she was breathing easier.

“Good morning,”

“Morning to you. Thank you, no coffee today.”

Karyn took her own cup and let the rest warm in the pot. “You look well-rested, so I can understand. What’s up?”

“Dinky’s doing really well. I’m starting to think that she’ll make a full recovery, or at least good enough to get by.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’m so glad to hear it.”

“Yes, she can cast spells just about all day now. She needs to recharge at night, but she’s sleeping most of the time anyway. Here, let me help you with that.” Derpy took the toast out of the toaster right as it popped.

“So she’s pretty much there?”

“She’s still doing her exercises with Colgate, though. The question remains whether she’ll be able to stop and not lose anything.”

Karyn saw that this was a double question, asking both whether her magical biology would suffer for it as well as whether Dinky’s character would cause any more lapses.

“Well, I’m glad that she’s coming along and that you’re so happy about it. Though I wonder that you don’t want coffee anyway.”

“I’m as awake as I need to be.”

“Yes, but just to warm you up.” Karyn pointed to the window. Although there was no snow on the ground, the trees had gone fully bare and the wind gave proof of how cold it was outside.

“I see, but we’re inside.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to put the heat up too high. Gayle doesn’t make me pay for utilities, because she’s nicer than I have any right to expect, but at the same time I don’t want to abuse that and run up her bills. Just like when I lived with my folks. I think that all parents want to cut their budgets through heat energy, and keep the thermostat low. Well, as soon as I move out on my own I’m setting it where I want and forgetting about the cost.”

“You could just put on a sweater,” said Derpy, then looked at Karyn. “Oh, you did.”

“Yes, but my face is still cold.”

“You need a furry coat like mine. In the meantime, you have your coffee.”

Karyn acknowledged this with a sip.

“Although now that we’ve talked about it,” Derpy continued, “I guess I am a little cold. But what I’d like is some hot chocolate. I never got my snack from last week.”

“Let me see if I have some.”

“I mean, that’ll do, but what I really want is for it to be summer when we can just go play outside.”

Karyn had a laugh at that. “It would be nice. Do you want to wrap up winter for us, then go right past spring and make it summer?”

“Oh, I could never do all that on my own! Besides, there isn’t a whole lot I could do today. The sky’s already clear of clouds. It’s just cold.”

“Yeah, it’s a bunch of northern air that came down. Very dry, very cold. But no snow, which I like.”

Derpy was still following her own thread of conversation. “When summer does come, we’ll have to go back to the water park. That was a lot of fun. The spray as I hit the pool coming down the slide, all the little beads of water on my feathers. I miss that.”

“You could do it now if you want to freeze.”

“No, thanks. Thanks,” Derpy said as Karyn handed her the hot chocolate that she had found and made. “Come to think of it...”

“Yes?”

“You remember Rainbow Dash was going to make her own version of the water park in Equestria?”

It took Karyn a while to call it up from memory, and it was still fuzzy. “A little. Why?”

“Because she hasn’t been around Ponyville lately. I was wondering if maybe she was working on getting it ready.”

“We went all through last summer and I never thought about it. I wonder if she didn’t give up the idea. Rainbow can be rather flighty, you know.”

Derpy gave a long stare. Karyn realized that by using the word flighty, she probably confused Derpy. Derpy realized that Karyn was worried about having confused her. Then Karyn saw Derpy’s understanding, which she was about to say that she had. And Derpy saw that Karyn saw this. So in the end neither of them had to say anything, and the odd choice of word passed without incident.

“I’d like to go and check it out nonetheless.”

“That does sound like a good idea, especially if Rainbow hasn’t been around. You’ll want to find out what’s been going on with her.”

Derpy nodded. “I mean, it’s not like she hasn’t been around at all. She’s been there for weather jobs. But not as much as usual.”

“No, I completely agree. Go out to where the site was. Maybe you’ll find her there and if not, you can at least find out what happened with the project.”

“Cool. Let’s go.”

Derpy got up and went for her saddlebag. “Wait, you mean now?” said Karyn.

“Well, yeah. It’s not like I’m going to have time during the week. Besides, I don’t want to go outside today.”

“But won’t it be just as cold in Equestria?”

“Nah. We’ll go for height and be close to the sun. Remember, it’s a long flight to Las Pegasus.”

Karyn wasn’t sure of Derpy’s view of temperatures, and she took her coat anyway as she got on Derpy’s back. As she’d predicted, the air in Equestria was just as cold, and the rays of the sun only made whichever part they fell on feel like she was getting a sunburn. Karyn had to change positions frequently and shield her face with her gloves.

Derpy didn’t stop home but kept up a steady pace toward the western city. Karyn would much have preferred to stop and rest on occasion, but Derpy didn’t ask her. It reminded her of the long car trips that she would sometimes take with her parents. She had heard that it was a point of pride to be able to make such trips without stopping, but to her view it was the kind of machismo that she had none of.

But her discomfort was hidden from Derpy, who on even the coldest day could find relief in a flight above the clouds. It happened from time to time that she would get so wrapped up in a thought of her own that her single-mindedness made her unaware of how it affected others.

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Karyn held her tongue about it. Still, she was glad when Derpy finally put down in the town of Las Pegasus. And for all that she hoped to keep it hidden, she could not resist shaking out her muscles and asking, “Is there any place we can get inside and warm?”

“Sure. Let’s find a cafe or pub or something.”

They found a building that was a hybrid of the two establishments that Derpy had suggested, not serving liquor but done up in the fashion of a rustic lodge, complete with knotty wood tables and, to Karyn’s delight, a large and blazing hearth. To this she moved, but held up when she saw a familiar tri-colored mane.

She was cautious, since she knew that other ponies had multicolored manes—Holly Dash, for instance, though only seen a few times, had a pastel pattern very similar. So she walked around until she saw the face and was sure.

“Rainbow Dash! Good to see you!”

“Hey! Karyn!”

Derpy had been making for the counter where food and drinks could be ordered, still in search of a long-delayed snack, but upon hearing Rainbow’s voice detoured back to where Karyn and she were.

“Rainbow, hi! I’m glad we found you out here, since you’re the reason we came.”

This was met with curiosity, so Derpy explained that they were reminiscing about the plans for the water park.

Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, I’d hoped to get it up and running by last summer, but there were a lot more problems than I anticipated. But it gave me a lot of excuses to fly from Ponyville to Las Pegasus.”

Karyn realized that that would be ideal for someone who liked flying the way Rainbow did. “So where are you now with the project?”

“I’m focused on it more, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. I want to open up for the summer, but it’s going to be tight.”

Derpy sat down next to her. “Can we go out and see the site?”

Whether Rainbow noticed Karyn’s reaction or was just comfortable, she said, “Sure, let’s just hang out here for a few more minutes.”

Derpy went for drinks, and Karyn huddled by the fire to warm up. Rainbow made them stay for a half hour until Karyn was fully warmed up before she started out to the edge of town. Although there was plenty of space between the different parts of the park, there wasn’t much wind that day.

It was a new sensation for Karyn to be in such a large and open area without any other people. The walkways could be seen for all their width; somehow, being travelled made a road look narrower. The structures that would be the rides hung there like more conventional buildings.

None of which was to say that Karyn didn’t like it. It gave her the feeling that she enjoyed, of something new, waiting to be used, like when she turned on a computer for the first time or took a pause in her car before starting a long trip. She didn’t know whether Rainbow would be able to complete the project, but if it was done, she wanted to be at the opening.

One advantage of pegasus weather control was that there was no worries about winterizing the equipment, but at one end, quite visible, was a tower covered in a white tarp. Karyn led the two ponies over to it, curious. From her view it was the tallest structure in the park.

“What’s that?”

Rainbow trotted up with some pride. “That’s my secret, and my personal invention. They might have it on Earth, but I came up with it on my own.”

“Ooh,” said Derpy. “What is it?”

Karyn blushed for her friend. “Didn’t you hear? It’s a secret. Sorry, Rainbow, you don’t need to tell us.”

“Nah, I don’t mind, since it’s you guys. Plus anypony could figure it out with a little thought. It’s a slide, just like all the others, except it’s going to be straight. And tall. One of the tallest structures in Equestria, in fact. Ponies will climb a high ladder and then shoot down as fast as possible. It’s a way for me to let everypony feel just a little bit like me. And who wouldn’t want that?”

Karyn thought that this was the typical egotism that you had to get used to when dealing with Rainbow Dash, but Derpy was fascinated and flew to the top of the structure to look down. “Wow, this is impressive. I think that even some pegasi are going to want to go on this one.”

“Yeah, I’m going to have to have some stuff for them to do. Most of the regular rides will just be similar to when a pegasus flies. That was my idea behind this one. And it was probably what stopped me from opening last year. I couldn’t get this done in time. If I had really wanted to, I could have had it half-working and let ponies in.”

Derpy flew back and caught the last part of what Rainbow had said. “What stopped you? It seems like this should have been the first thing you’d build, since it’s straight and therefore easier.”

“Well, you might remember that I said I was building everything out of metal. The problem was that it wouldn’t hold together with this structure. I needed it to be one solid piece. It’s kind of complicated engineering.”

“Can you explain?”

Rainbow looked sorry she’d mentioned it, and started to answer, but Karyn said, “She could have bolted it together out of several plates of metal, but then you’d slide into the bolts and hurt your backside. So she needs it to be a single piece. But a single piece of metal that big would buckle, and even if you supported it constantly, it would warp over time and fracture because of the stress put on it.”

“Oh! I get it.”

Karyn was happy to get that reaction, since she had made up the entire explanation. “So how are you going to fix the problem?”

Rainbow looked up at the structure and stuck out her chest. “Found a different building material. Wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you. Come on, I’ll show you.”

They advance up to the structure. At the bottom, of course, was the landing pool, and beyond that the tarp, but Rainbow pulled up a corner to show them how it was built. The material was white and firm, and Karyn thought that Rainbow had indeed found fiberglass in Equestria. She found it very curious and reached out to touch it, but her hand went right through. “I don’t get it.”

“This is hardened cloud, cloudstuff that’s had all the water drained out from it.”

“But then nothing should be left.”

Both ponies looked at her as though she had said something silly, which she supposed she had. Derpy responded. “If it was just water, then it wouldn’t be white. It would be clear. But I’ve never heard of getting rid of the water and leaving the white.”

“And how are Earth ponies and unicorns going to use it when it’s cloud?”

Rainbow dropped the tarp. “We have the spell that lets them walk on clouds. We use one that only lasts a minute so it can be reused many times.”

Karyn nodded, accepting her answer. She assumed that the talk of dry clouds would be over her head.

“What has to be done,” Rainbow was explaining, “is to get most of the water out initially by drying it out while keeping it spread. But then you’ve got to leave it out in the sun for a long time. Years, really. The longer you leave it out the stronger it gets, but you also lose a little each year. So a piece this big was really hard to find. I think they laid it down over fifty years ago.”

Derpy stared. “That’s incredible. How could anypony make something like that, knowing that nopony could use it for fifty years.”

“It’s like wine on Earth,” said Karyn, “and maybe here too. You have to age it because of the chemical processes. It’s not magical, but the longer the better. For the most part. I think it’s really complicated as to how long you should let it age.”

“Yeah, well, believe you me, this is aged since forever,” said Rainbow. “At least since before Princess Luna returned.”

Derpy put her hooves up against the tarp and felt the strength. “How do you know?”

“That’s what I’m annoyed about. See, I figured that I would just go get the stuff and be done with it. If they say that it’s been there for fifty years, I trust them. Then I did the calculations for how strong it is and how strong it needs to be and was ready to go ahead. But—“

Karyn raised an eyebrow. “You did the calculations?”

“I had them done. Same thing. What I was saying is that the town of Las Pegasus came in and said I had to prove that it met certain standards. Pain in my flank.”

Derpy nodded, since both of them came from the relatively ungoverned part of Equestria, but Karyn said, “I think it’s a good idea. Makes sure that everypony’s safe before someone gets hurt. That’s better than after.”

“But nopony’s going to get hurt. I had to get a unicorn who knew how to cast an age-detection spell to come out here and scan it. And you know what he said? That’s it’s exactly as old as they told me it was. So it’s wasted bits.”

Derpy perked up her ears, and while both Karyn and Rainbow noticed, they couldn’t tell why. And so they left her alone, going on talking about further plans for the park. For maybe five minutes they chatted idly before Derpy said, “That’s it!”

Karyn turned back to her. “Yes?”

“I had to work my memory really hard this time. Rainbow, you said there was a unicorn who ran an age-testing spell?”

“Yeah, he came out here and made sure—“

“Can you tell me where to find him?”

“I guess, but we might not have to.”

Derpy got a bit indignant. “No, because I have something I need tested. It’s important we find out its age to help. It’s a letter that we don’t know who it belongs to.” She told the story of how she found the letter in the Earth post office and made it her quest to deliver it at last.

It was left to Karyn to fill in the last detail. “One of the things we thought about doing was seeing if we couldn’t get a date on the letter. There are some ways to do that on Earth, but I wasn’t sure how good they were. But if we can seek out a unicorn who can do it magically, so much the better.”

Rainbow held up her hoof. “But what I was trying to say is that we don’t need to find the unicorn. He gave me one of those portable spells that you came up with, Derpy. Seems it’s a sort of perk he throws in to make us think we’re getting something extra for all we have to spend. So if you can bring the letter here, or I bring the spell to Ponyville, we can do the test.”

Derpy flipped open her saddlebag. “And what I was going to say is that I brought the letter with me, because I put it in here last time and never took it out.”

“Oh, cool. I’m a little curious myself. Let’s see what we can do.” The letter was instantly produced, but they had to follow Rainbow to a shack which served as the office for the park, at least for now. “It’s kind of slapped together, and I’ll probably build a different one when I’m up and running. Sorry about the mess.”

Papers and spare construction material littered the floor, and Karyn turned Derpy around so she wouldn’t have to see. A quick search led to Rainbow emerging with a spell similar to what Derpy used.

Derpy looked at it. “But how is it going to tell us the age? Does it work like a speaker? Or will it print it out on a card?”

“I don’t know. The unicorn just said he knew and certified it. Let’s turn it on and see.”

With her typical boldness, Rainbow took the letter from Derpy and put it on the ground, then wore the spell like a gauntlet and fired.

“Well?” asked Derpy.

“It’s twenty years old.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know. Here, try it.”

Derpy took it and made the same gesture. “Hey, it is!”

Karyn, for all her time around magic, was still skeptical, but Derpy extended the spell to her. She always found the form factor awkward, but they were made for ponies after all. She spread her hand and turned while pointing at the letter. Not knowing what to do, she listened for a voice in her head. But it was an entirely different sensation, closer to deja vu. She almost saw the letter being written and sealed in the envelope, but all that faded away and what she was left with was a sense of distance. Just as one would remember a birthday or an anniversary, Karyn “remembered” that the letter was made twenty years ago.

“You see it, right?” asked Rainbow. “It’s not something that you can describe. But at least now we know.”

“We do.” Karyn paused. “How does that help?”

“I don’t know,” Derpy said as she slid the letter gently back into place. “But it’s information. We’ll think of something else soon. Meanwhile, thanks a lot, Rainbow, for showing us around. We’re going to want to be here when it opens. We’re going to get going. Long flight back, you know.”

“I sure do. I’ll come with you, since there’s no more to be done around here today.”

She tossed the spell back in the shack, to Derpy’s consternation, and took off for the skies. Derpy preferred to prepare for a flight slowly, and besides, she had Karyn to carry. By the time they were fully airborne and heading for Ponyville, all they could see of Rainbow was the hint of blue that was the longest strands of her tail, barely a contrast against the darkening sky.