Farewell and Hello

Ditzy looked at the town clock and noted the time was a quarter to five. The night before, she had packed for both herself and her daughter. Dinky was now sleeping peacefully in Twilight's library and Ditzy was set to begin her delivery job. Pressing herself to the door the grey mare opened the door to the post office and walked to her boss' office. In front of the door to Pressing Order's office she saw a bag with a note on it.

Derpy, here are the sandals to deliver to Stalliongrad. Best of luck, and don't drop them.

-Pressing

With a sigh, Ditzy tucked the package into her saddlebag, nestling it amongst a scarf she had packed for when she got to the colder climes of the Stalliongrad frontier. Stepping back outside, she scanned the skies. Above her the sky had taken a grey overtone that matched her coat. The town was quiet in the predawn hours, and a gentle breeze blew through the houses creating a gentle whistling sound. The pegasus put one hoof in front of the other, and was off into the air with a leap.

~~~

Prince Blueblood was sitting outside the carriage as his servants were packing his bags onto the roof of the carriage. One servant was pressing himself against a bag. Blueblood had recalled storing stationery in that particular trunk. Exertion showed clearly on the colt's wiry frame and he pushed himself against the bag trying to move it a few more inches. Gathering his magic, Blueblood gave the bag a nudge, sending it the last few inches over the rail and giving the wiry colt a break. Before the colt could glance around, Blueblood buried his nose deeper into his book, and adjusted the distracting magazine that concealed it.

A few minutes later the carriage driver, a large brown earth pony, walked to the Prince and bowed. "Your Majesty, all your bags are aboard, we are ready to depart when you are."

With a huff, Blueblood stood up and entered the carriage. Given no additional input, the driver hitched himself to the carriage beside his three teammates and began up the road north out of Canterlot.

~~~

Dinky awoke with a yawn. The library was relatively quiet, but the young filly could hear shuffling downstairs. She stood up and stretched her legs before hopping down from the guest bed. The grey filly walked down the hall to the stairs, noting several bookshelves of Twilight's personal collection. Glancing over to a mahogany shelf, she gasped in delight as she saw her favorite series of books, The Smartiepants Adventures; the foal began gathering the books with her magic and walked down the stairs. The unicorn filly could hear a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen. Dinky plucked a book out of the literary bolus she had formed and began reading.

The door to the kitchen opened and Spike stepped out with some toast on a plate; seeing the pile of books, the purple dragon spoke. "Hey, Twilight, shouldn't you set down those books while you're reading?"

Stepping out from behind the couch that had obstructed his view, Spike stared at what he saw. There, in the middle of the floor was Dinky, gently rocking back and forth as she read Twilight's favorite childhood collection of books. Over the years, the Ponyville librarian had gathered every single one of the books: all one hundred and thirty seven of them, each a small novela meant to be read to fillies and colts of age five through seven rather than read by the little ones themselves.

"Uh... Dinky?" Spike stated confusedly. Woah, I've only ever seen Twilight bother hauling that many books at once with magic.

Dinky continued reading until she reached the end of her page. By then, the large mound of books had been organized into a single stack. Dinky then performed an action which elicited Spike to scream: she folded the page’s corner to mark where she was in the book.

"WAH! Don't do that!" Spike yelled.

With a start, Dinky released her magical hold on her tower of books and the literary ziggurat fell a full foot from midair, causing the stack to cascade outwards in a pile. Seeing the mess she had caused, Dinky looked up at Spike and started tearing up.

"What's wrong? W-why did you yell at me?" the foal asked.

"Yelling? I wasn't yelling–" Spike tried to speak but then Dinky began to cry fully, lowering her head and continuing her lamentations. Spike heard a panicked clopping down the stairs and Twilight saw Dinky crying next to her entire Smartiepants Adventures collection.

"What happened?" Twilight asked frantically.

"She was reading books, and then she dog-eared a page, and when I asked what she was doing she started crying!" Spike responded, worry for the filly and himself clearly showing on his face.

Twilight trotted up to the filly and lowered her head so her eyes were level with Dinky's. "Shh... Dinky, its alright, nopony is angry with you."

The unicorn filly sniffed and looked up at the purple mare. "You're not? But why did he yell at me?"

With this, Twilight turned to Spike with eyebrows raised in curiosity. Spike spun a foot in a circle over the floor as he responded. "I may have raised my voice a little bit, but I was just worried about the book being damaged."

Twilight turned to Dinky and picked up a book that was separate from the others; sure enough, a page had been folded inwards. "Dinky, you shouldn't fold the pages of a book like that," Twilight said, in as a calm a voice as she could muster.

"I'm sorry," was all Dinky could say.

Levitating over a bookmark Twilight continued. "Here, take this, you can use it to keep your place in your book." Dinky raised her head to see the laminated slip of paper, adorned with the Equestrian flag.

"Thank you," Dinky said.

"Now, I'll just gather up these other books and put them back upstairs. When you want another book, you can put that one back and get another one, okay?" the purple mare offered and Dinky raised her head.

"Can I help clean up?" the filly inquired.

"Certainly Dinky. Here take this book and carry–" Twilight was interrupted when a magical field enveloped the book she had indicated and was lifted up by Dinky. Smiling, Twilight said, "Thank you," and turned around. Twilight gave a gasp when she saw the pile of books behind her was floating as well. Dinky walked by and the respectable literary haul followed neatly behind her, as Twilight followed with her mouth ajar. Dinky set the pile beside the bookshelf and then began lifting items out individually, sliding them into the shelf. The lavender mare walked up to Dinky and sat beside her. "Dinky..."

Dinky slid in one more book and looked at Twilight. "Yes?"

"How often do you carry that much weight?"

"All the time, sometimes I rearrange furniture so mommy's less likely to hurt herself when her strabismus acts up."

"She makes you move couches and tables!?" Twilight gasped.

"No, I do it because I want to help her. She doesn't make me," Dinky replied.

"But doesn't it hurt to move that much weight at once?" the purple unicorn asked of the grey.

"No," Dinky replied and continued sliding books into the shelf. Twilight noticed the books had no order to their arrangement and winced.

When Dinky was finished she stood up and asked Twilight, "Can I have breakfast now?"

"Of course Dinky, I'll be right down." As the blonde-maned filly went downstairs, Twilight was left with her thoughts. No wonder Ditzy wanted me to take care of Dinky, she's got more magic than I thought. Wait... she didn't even stumble over saying strabismus. With that thought in mind, Twilight stepped downstairs and found Dinky eating her toast eagerly in the kitchen.

Sitting across from her Twilight asked Dinky, "Dinky, you know that word you used when we talked earlier? Strabismus?"

"Yes?"

"Where did you learn it?"

"I read it in a book mommy gave me, and I heard you use it when her eyes went funny last night."

Twilight levitated a bowl, spoon, cereal and milk over to herself, all she could say was, "huh." As Twilight prepared her cereal, all she could think of was how difficult it must have been for Ditzy to raise a unicorn such as Dinky.

~~~

Prince Blueblood had half his reading done by the afternoon. The alicorn stallion placed his book to the side and looked out the window. Ah, much prettier than Las Pegasus. Less ponies too.

Blueblood stared at the sheer cliff face that was looming over the side of the carriage, reaching up to the sky above to a sharp spire. They were on a soft incline heading to the high altitude steppes of northern Equestria. The heavens were a clear blue; whatever the light of the sun touched became slightly warmed, including Blueblood's cheek.

"Driver!" Blueblood called out in a flat, non-pompous voice. "How are we coming along?"

The brown lead stallion turned his head and yelled back, "We'll reach Edmaneton in the late evening. We can find an inn there, Your Majesty."

"That sounds quite fine." Blueblood withdrew his head back into the carriage slightly and smiled as he returned to enjoying the scenery.

All around him, foothills covered with pine forests stretched as far as the eye could see. This was a beautiful place, Blueblood knew. What he did not know was that had he chosen to look out the other window, he might have noticed a grey and blonde dot streaking slowly across the sky.

~~~

Ditzy was gliding at a swift pace, the noonday sun was high overhead; she had caught a thermal, a column of warm rising air, and was lifted an extra hundred feet into the air. She wiggled slightly to adjust her saddle bags; at this rate she would make it to Edmaneton by late afternoon. At least being a pegasus means I can fly to Stalliongrad, provided my lazy eye doesn't act up. Ditzy scanned the trees far below, keen eyes temporarily able to distinguish individual branches. Her vision swept over the view below and came to note a carriage on a road far to her left. The dull-colored pegasus could make out that it was fancy and large, with white paint and highlights of various pastel colors. Without paying it any heed, Ditzy turned her head back to the horizon; her left eye however, was quite enamored with its position and kept its lock on the carriage.

This alone would have left Ditzy irritated, as she would have to land until the episode passed. Northern weather near the mountains was a fickle thing, however, and a powerful cross breeze flipped the mare over and destroyed any semblance of orientation she had. Trying to right herself, Ditzy closed an eye and started basing her movements on just the one that was left open.

Without depth perception though, the grey pegasus had new problems to contend with. She strained her wing muscles to level herself out and attempt to escape the powerful aerial currents. The wind buffeted the mare as she began losing altitude and nearly entering a freefall.  Wincing in concentration, she finally exited the cross wind that had blown her off course. She opened both eyes just in time to be dashed into a road. She fell unconscious to the sound of earth ponies yelling.

~~~

Blueblood was enjoying the view when the carriage leader shouted. The vehicle came to an abrupt stop, and momentum slammed Blueblood's head to the door frame as his hooves lost their grip. When the passing dizziness settled, he opened the carriage door and leapt out.

"What is the meaning of this? I demand to know why we have stopped!" The prince stopped when he saw a grey, blonde maned pegasus lying prone on the ground, her wing bent at an unnatural angle. Grey coat, blonde mane? And a pegasus no less, no arrangements to send a mare to meet me indeed. Blueblood huffed and sat glaring at the mare as two of the carriage pullers started tending to her.

The leader walked up to Blueblood and gave an answer to the prince's former inquiries. "We were just going along when this mare slammed into the ground just in front of the carriage, full kilter. Near as I can tell, she's lucky its just her wing that was broken."

"Hey, boss!" a colt called out from beneath the carriage, "the front axle is broken!"

"Oh, fie! Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but let me see if I can fix it." Casting his glance upwards before leaving, the stallion added, "Might be a good time for a snack if we're stopped."

Prince Blueblood returned his gaze to the grey mare, who had begun to stir. When she tried flexing her wing, the pegasus cried out in pain. The voice is different, auntie 'Tia is slipping, Blueblood thought. If Celestia did send this mare, she wouldn't have had her crash that badly; auntie would never willingly hurt her subjects. No ridiculous clothes either, not a lady-in-waiting.

Prince Blueblood stood up and walked over to the mare and looked at her. "You, peasant. What is your name, and from where do you hail?"

"Ditzy Doo, I'm from Ponyville." The grey mare opened her eyes and saw Prince Blueblood standing over her, the very picture of noble fury. Oh no, I can't get delayed for my delivery! Dinky is counting on me! "I'm sorry about delaying you, sir, but I really have to make this delivery." Ditzy stood up and her saddlebag rubbed against her broken wing. "Agh!" The mare yelled, slipped out of the straps in a panic and ran face first into Blueblood's chest.

The earth pony crew gave a collective gasp. This lout had just delayed their prince, and then struck him! They turned to Blueblood, expecting an outburst from the prince.

All he did was stare at the grey mare and ask, "Do you know who I am?"

"Uhhhhhh.... no?"

Blueblood looked to the earth ponies and stated flatly, "Give her some water, and get the carriage fixed."

With that the white stallion walked back to the carriage where the lead driver was still looking at the axle. Noticing the prince out of the corner of his eyes, the stallion sidled out from underneath the trashed axle. "Its torn to pieces sir, if I'm going to make a repair, I'd have to find a sapling that's the right shape. I don't have the tools to craft an axle from just any tree."

"Find one and have the carriage fixed by tomorrow. We can make camp for tonight, and we still have plenty of time to get to Stalliongrad." Blueblood sighed, shaking his head. He then lifted his head again. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Old Trail, sir," the stallion replied.

"Good luck, Old Trail, come back soon," the prince said.

Old Trail nodded, but when he turned around a confused expression spread on his face. Were those... manners? From the prince? Shaking his head slightly the earth pony set off to his task, scanning the forest for a suitable sapling.

Prince Blueblood walked to the rest of the group. He saw the mare had finished drinking and was nursing her injured wing.

"You, mare, what were you doing out here?" he asked.

"I was delivering a package to Stalliongrad."

Blueblood's ears flipped back. Auntie is getting clever with her arrangements, but she wouldn't have had crashed that badly if it wasn't an accident.

Blueblood turned to a colt. "Check her bags."

Obliging, the colt rummaged through the contents: scarf, some food and spare bits, water, map, and a sack with the city name 'Stalliongrad' printed on it. The colt brought the bag over and emptied its contents, and several pairs of sandals rolled out.

Ditzy gave a sigh of relief when the last one stopped moving on the ground, not one pair managed to roll away and become lost.

Sandals? In the cold north? Blueblood thought. That doesn't make sense. Genuine injury from the crash. Making a delivery, but of an utterly useless item.

Ditzy raised her head and asked, "Can I, uh... gather up the sandals? Uh...?"

"Prince Blueblood, nephew to Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia," Blueblood said, intuiting the mare’s question, "and yes, you may."

With that, Ditzy glanced around before gathering the sandals. With a momentary pause, she went behind the carriage. Blueblood turned around without a second thought. Then he heard the snap of bones being set and a muffled cry. When Blueblood went to look at the mare, she was unconscious again, her wing set straight.

No daughter of Canterlot would do that. She's no recommendation from auntie, Blueblood thought.