“CRASH!” the sound of a thunder, and yelling pegasi caught her attention. Dash pivoted towards the sound and saw the new lead weather pony Thunderlane along with several other members of the weather patrol surrounding a botched storm cloud and an apologetic looking gray mare.

“What’s going on here?” Dash asked, pushing her way through the circle of pegasi who were shocked to see their old captain; “I said-”

Thunderlane was the first to shake off his confusion, “We were preparing for a class C storm for tomorrow night. We were a short on hooves and so we hired Derpy on as an extra. All she needed to do was bring these storm clouds across town and help lay them out in the grid, but now;” Thunderlane gestured to twisted clouds beneath them, morphing together into one giant storm cloud that would be difficult to break apart without getting electrocuted. For safety reasons the entire blob would need to be towed away from the town, (slowly or else it would discharge lightning), then pegasi with special safety gear would need to pry it apart into smaller clouds. If they tried to use it as it was; one or two streets would be flooded while the rest of the town would go dry.

“I’ll help.” Volunteered Rainbow Dash.

“Thanks.” Thunderlane’s face lit up, still confused at his old captain’s presence; he turned back to Derpy, “Go on, get out of here.” Derpy’s ears drooped again and she began slowly gliding away.

“If, Derpy helps me.” Added Rainbow.

Derpy’s ears perked up

Moving the cloud mass over the reservoir, (so any leakage wouldn’t go to waste,) had been surprisingly easy; enough that Rainbow almost thought Derpy might be pulling her share of the weight. Bit by bit, the cloud was unraveled and separated by the two mares; pushing off workable chunks of cloud for tomorrow’s storm. The entire time; Dash worked in silence, trying to think of one kind thing she could say, and plan some kind of an apology, while Derpy hummed some idiotic yet captivating tune that sounded like it had come from a different planet.

“Did you get your mail?” asked Derpy finally after they had almost finished unraveling the rain cloud.

“Yea.”

“Was it too late by the time you got it?”

“…It turned out fine.”

“I’m really sorry about that; I really didn't mean to drop your mail and if I hadn't gotten lost I would have been there a lot sooner, it was just so hard to find you."

“It’s alright.” They returned to their work in silence and then just as Dash was pulling apart the last cloud, an idea began scratching at her mind that some numbers weren’t adding up. Cadance hadn’t come to see Storm until late in the morning and Derpy… Rainbow tried to bat the idea away for its sheer audacity, but it escaped out her mouth anyway, "After you got the letter from Celestia… how long did it take you to find us?"

Derpy thought for a moment and then shrugged, "About two hours I guess, maybe two and a half."

Dash wanted to laugh, cry and scream in frustration all in the same instant; it was a ten hour train ride from Canterlot to Ponyville, it took the Wonderbolts four hours to reach Ponyville from Canterlot, and it took Rainbow Dash at least three... if she knew exactly where she was going. "That's… pretty fast."

"It is?"

"Yeah; do you always fly that fast?"

"No, but when something’s really important I can go a lot faster then I usually do and if something’s really, really important I can do a Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom."

"A what?"

"A Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom, it's something that happens when I go really fast, my mane and tail will start leaving behind all this light, but then I'll look back to see it but then I can't see where I'm going and I crash into a cloud and then I hear this really loud sound like thunder that hurts my ears."

"... Have you ever shown anyone your Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom."

"Yes, well no, I mean, I've tried! I need all my concentration to do it and when people watch me I think about them and so then I can't do it and then they all call me a liar. I tried it at the best young fliers competition one year, and I was really excited cause I could do it whenever I was practicing and thought I was ready, but then I forgot what number I was and when I got called up I got scared cause I wasn't ready and then failed again. I thought I was number fifteen, when I was really number six!"

A faint memory started kicking Rainbow at the back of the head. She knew it was there but wasn’t sure what it was; she turned around to try and find it but another question distracted her; “Why were you trying to win the best fliers competition?”

Derpy put her head down; “You’d think it was silly.”

“Try me.”

“I-I wanted to join the Wonderbolts.” Said Derpy turning pink around the ears.

“I… don’t think that would have been a good idea.”

“Because I’m too clumsy?”

Because the Wonderbolts aren’t worthy of you! Because even after having sustained injuries none of them could imagine, you’re still the fastest friggen pegasus in Equestria! And you don’t even know it! You’re faster than me; and you don’t know it! “… I don’t think you would have liked it there; they’re not really that great.”

“Is that why you left?”

“Yup.”

Derpy nodded understandingly; “I thought so, I saw you the few times that you came back to Ponyville after your became a Wonderbolt; you never seemed happy just… angry.”

Dash remembered their last meeting, letting her anger at the rest of the Wonderbolts out on Derpy; “I’m sorry I yelled at you when you lost the letter from The Princess… I’m sorry for all of it… everything mean I’ve ever said about you.”

Derpy didn’t say anything for a while; for a moment Dash felt strangely worried that Derpy wouldn’t accept her apology, but when she looked over Derpy was looking away from her, with one salty tear dripped down Derpy’s face, telling Rainbow everything she needed to know about the insults she’d given had hurt her over the years. “I forgive you.” she whispered.

Dash savored the moment, but it got awkward really fast and she tried to think of something else to say, pouncing on the first thing that came into her mind; “How long have you been able to do your Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t… I don’t remember the first half of my life, OK!” From the way Derpy said that, Dash felt she must have touched on a nerve and had just led the conversation into being dangerous; Dash wouldn’t have said anymore but Derpy kept going. “In my earliest memories I was already grown up, living in Cloudsdale in some kind of retirement village; but someone was teaching me about how to fly and giving me an education. For a while I tried going to school, even though I would be going with foals; but I got teased a lot. There were a lot of ponies who made fun of me because of my eyes, or my voice, or because I was clumsy who told me that I should go away and never come back, and sometimes I almost felt like doing it but… there were always the letters.”

“Letters?”

Derpy nodded furiously, “Yea, the letters. I kept on getting hundreds and hundreds of letters from all over Equestria, of people telling me they liked me and that I was cool. Some of the letters even came with presents attached, but they never said who was sending them or where they were from. For a while I thought that everyone did that so I started doing it too, writing encouraging messages and sending those to random addresses, or saving my money and sending them to people I had never met, hoping they enjoyed surprise gifts as much as I did.”

“Wow, that’s… generous.”

"When I graduated school I knew that I wanted to be a mail mare. I thought the post office was this wonderful, magical place where everyone acted so much nicer to each other then they do face to face; and because I knew how much joy these surprise gifts gave me and I wanted to be a part of giving that joy to everyone else.

So I followed my dream and became a mail-mare, but guess what I found? Most people weren’t even willing to help the people they did know, let alone the ones they didn’t. But this didn’t stop me. If anything it made me more eager to encourage people because I realized that no one else would; but it did make me curious about who was sending me all these packages. Several times I’ve tried to use my contacts at the post office to track down these friends I never met so I could thank them, but the stamps only said the post office and city they were from, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Trottingham, Canterlot, Cloudsdale and some places that aren’t even in Equestria, but never a name or an address that I could track it to.

It's weird, it’s like there's an entire Derpy Hooves fan club out there with people from all over the world who are spying on me, all the time; but I have NO idea who they are or where they come from! There’s probably one of them listening to us right now!” Derpy swiveled and broke open a cloud floating by, as if she expected to see a masked conspirator hiding in it with a microphone or notepad. When nothing came out but a few tufts of cloud Derpy sneezed, checked under her cloud, in case the enigmatic spy had shifted, and then settled back onto her cloud with a huff. “There’s one of them somewhere around here, I just know it.” Derpy turned and eyed Rainbow Dash suspiciously for a moment then shook her head as her wary scowl reverted to its trademark smile.

Dash was doing her best to hide the smirk that was burrowing into the sides of her mouth; “Let’s say you did find whoever it was that had been spying on you, what would you say to them?”

“I’d tell them to stop following me!”

Dash was taken back; “You really don’t like being followed that much?”

“No.” said Derpy shaking her head, “It’s not that. I’m sure that whoever has been watching me has a good reason. It would be pretty weird for them to spy on me for this long if they were just bored; and if they were planning on hurting me or kidnapping me or harvesting me for organs, I’m sure that they would have done it a long time ago.”

“…So do you just not like them following you because it makes you uncomfortable?”

“No, it’s not that either. I owe my whole life to them. If it wasn’t for them I would have never become a mail mare or started making muffins; and if I never done that, I would have never gotten lost and met the Doctor and if it wasn’t for him I would never have had Dinky. I wouldn’t even have my name! Whoever they are, they’ve given me a job, a home, a family, and I’ll always be grateful to them for that.”

“Then why don’t you want these people following you around anymore if they’re helping you so much?”

“Because I don’t need their help anymore!” Asserted Derpy firmly, “I used to, there was a time when if it wasn’t for them I probably would have just disappeared forever, but I’m safe now and I don’t need them; but there are lots of other people who do. I travel a lot, and in every pl-city I visit I see people who need help. I do what I can, but I’m just one pony. I don’t understand why people from all over the world seem more interested in giving me things, a lot of which I can’t even use, instead of helping the people who really do need it. It makes me feel guilty.”

Rainbow sat for a long minute in silence; startled at Derpy’s revelation. When Derpy had first started talking about secret followers, all Rainbow had been thinking about was how awesome it would be getting all those presents, and about how she’d revel in the attention, milking it for all it was worth… like how when Scootaloo had made a fan club for her… a filly she taught to be dismissive and rejective towards Derpy. Derpy had been better than she was; even now, Derpy’s only thought was how she could use what she had to help others. Slowly; as the sun began to set, something else began dawning on Rainbow Dash.

Derpy had never changed.

Derpy could never turn back into Denorious; that was impossible because Derpy had never stopped being Denorious, not even for an instant. The reason why Denorious was so special, why all the Rangers had loved her was not because she was fast or smart or strong; the thing that made Denorious who she was was that she always thought of every other pony before she thought of herself. That was what made her Denorious and that part of her was still there. The only thing that had changed; the only difference her injuries had made, was that in the forest the Rangers had realized how special she was, had given her the respect she deserved and had followed her; now, in Ponyville, she was ridiculed and rejected for things that weren’t even her fault.

Dash began feeling waves of guilt come over her about all the years she had wasted dreaming about joining the Wonderbolts, when she could have been being friends with Derpy. It occurred to her that after having lived in the same town as Derpy for nearly ten years; this was the first time she had ever listened to her for more than a few sentences… and now this may have to be her last time. Tomorrow, she was officially a Ranger, and to contact Denorious would be strictly forbidden; but Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but wonder how much better she might be now if she had spent more time with Derpy.

As Rainbow Dash finally took leave around sunset, she took one final look over her shoulder which revealed a noble pegasus pony, glimmering silver and gold in the last rays of the setting sun.

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