Rain was commonplace in Ponyville.

Scheduled times for it were set at regular intervals, of course, as the crops—mostly consisting of apple trees in Sweet Apple Acres—needed the water. However, sometimes, there were scheduling errors, and the mix up caused different places to close down for one reason or another due to the bad weather.

One of those that didn‘t, was Ponyville’s post office.

Its policy (created by none other than Darling Doo) forced employees to work even in bad weather, as such, many of the new recruits resigned whenever their first rainy day came around. A day just like that had been going on, and just like that, many of the workers that had stayed were forced into overtime just to be able to deliver the mail, one of the ponies being Ditzy Doo, who at the moment, flew from house to house, getting the mail through the new route forced upon her.

It was a tough job, but she didn’t complain; after all, she had finally gotten a good opportunity, and she wasn’t going to waste it, her thoughts filled with her plan as she flew through the horrid weather, until she finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres.

Knock, Knock

She knocked twice, awaiting impatiently as the water hit her. Despite her rather fast delivery, she had forgotten her coat in the post office, and had to resolve herself to rushing to finish faster, maybe even avoid the cold mistress she was tempting.

Knock, Knock she knocked harder.

“I’ma coming, jeez!” came a southern voice from behind the door, the sound of locks were heard, and the door opened, revealing Applejack with a cooking apron on.

“Huh? Derpy?” she eyed her from top to bottom, noticing her wet coat and mane. “What do you think you are doing out here in this weather?” she asked, not looking away from her drenched form.

“Well, it’s company policy to leave no piece of mail undelivered, so. here I am!” she smiled gingerly, reaching into her sealed bags, taking out a few packages along with some letters and hoofed them to Applejack.

“Ah’ appreciate that you came with this weather,” AJ looked outside, noticing hail start to fall. “But Ah’ can’t let you go with this rain. Come on in for a bit, drink some cocoa; made enough to warn twenty ponies!” she headed inside first, Ditzy tentatively following behind. "Grab a towel from the back of the door, we usually get caught in rain when out on the fields, so we always keep a few spares for some quick drying," after drying herself, she continued into the kitchen, where Applejack waited along with the familiar faces of her sister, brother, and grandmother who were sitting around a big table. The whole kitchen looked modest, something that Ditzy found strange, seeing how the Apples were some of the richest ponies in town.

“Well, darn tooting! We have a visitor in this weather? Do Ah’ know you from somewhere? You look familiar…” the elderly pony said holding her hoof over her chin.

“She is the mail mare, Granny, you’ve received the mail from her multiple times,” Applejack explained half-laughing. “Now, you just make yourself at home, Derpy, I’ll get you some cocoa right now.”

As time passed with nothing but silence, Applejack began the conversation. “So Derpy, how have you been? Ah’ haven’t seen you since… well, the train station event,“ she began, trying to be subtle about it.

“Oh, well, I’m good, I didn’t break anything,“ she half-joked. Applejack grinned satisfied, hoofing her a cup. "Thank you."

“Glad to hear it.”

“Ah’ feel I’m missing something in that story,” said a grimacing Applebloom, disliking being left out of the conversation.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just an accident that happened, nothing unusual!” said Ditzy. Applebloom stared suspiciously, but asked no more, to her relief.

The group continued their small chat as they drank their cocoa, laughing as they passed the time comfortably, it had been nearly twenty minutes when Ditzy finally spoke up.

“This has been fun, but I must go.”

“Aww, do you have to?” asked Applebloom sadly.

“Y-yes. Sorry, but I have to head back to work,” she explained to her, reminding her of the reason for her visit. “But before I go, I’ve been wondering about something for a few days now. May I, Applejack?“

“Go ahead Derpy, we don’t bite,” replied Applejack playfully.

“Well… Have you seen John? He didn’t arrive with you girls in the train last week, is he still back in Canterlot?” Applejack’s curt demeanor did a complete 180 as she did a spit take, splashing Big Mac with the remains of cocoa and spit, her eyes shifting from side to side suspiciously.

“Aaah! Applejack!” he got on his hooves and ran to the restroom, the sounds of disgust audible as he ran.

“S-sorry, Big Mac!” She turned to Ditzy again. “Um, yeah! H-he is! And so sorry that you’ve gotta go, by the way, thanks for-a-coming!” Applejack began, pushing Ditzy until she had made it out of the door.

“Oh, okay…” Derpy replied looking bummed. “Well, I’m going to finish my shift and then go talk to Spike, I saw him walking around town yesterday, maybe he can tell me…”

“Um… Yeah, that could work, but er… Don’t forget to finish your shift!” Applejack said sounding nearly desperate.

“I wouldn’t dream of it! Anyway, thank you so much for the cocoa, and take care you all! Goodbye!” said Ditzy as she flew into the storm once more, the Apples watching as she dodged a tree on her way back to town.

“… Applebloom, get mah coat, please, Ah’ have to head into town.”

~~~~~

"Huff, huff"

Applejack ran as fast as she could, cursing as the now hail filled storm hit her often, she had also been limping thanks to the amount of tripping caused by the muddy ground.

“Horse apples!”

She beamed as Golden Oaks came into sight, she bit her lip slightly and ran faster, reaching the door and knocking. One knock, Two knocks. Seven times she knocked, and the door creaked open, revealing Spike looking surprised at her drenched appearance.

“Applejack? What’s the matter? What are you doing here? You are all drenched!”

“I need to go in, please,” she pleaded right away.

“Applejack, I thought John was angry with y-“

“I know! But this is important! I need to tell hi-" she stopped and looked around before looking back at him. "You, something!“ Spike seemed to think it over for a bit, but he finally let her in without inquiring any more, closing the door afterwards and locking it.

…

“Now… I wait…” Ditzy said as she laid patiently in a nearby bush, keeping herself warn with her no longer forgotten coat on .

“Sorry about this, Applejack,” she said apologetically to herself, impatiently waiting for her to leave once more, it had been going all according to her plan. 'What are you hiding?' she asked for the umpteenth time, her hoof had been forced after days of patient waiting, and she would not take it any more.

It happened a week ago.

News of the element’s feats in the Crystal Empire had reached Ponyville quite fast, the mail ponies having received the news first thanks to their ease in gathering information, news that only concerned the elements; John hadn’t been included in them.

With the worst in mind, Ditzy had headed for the train station the day of their arrival, unfortunately, when she arrived at the station, she only found five ponies and Spike getting off the train, with no sign of either Twilight or John around. After waiting for another train, hoping for a late boarding, she had no such luck, and with a heavy heart, gave up for the day, hoping the following would give her some news.

“Hey Fluttershy, here is your mail!” she said in practiced enthusiasm the next day after arriving at her cottage, delivering her mail while she watered her flowers.

“Oh, thank you so much, Derpy!” she took hold of the letter with her snout and shoved it to the side of her wing.

“Um, hey Fluttershy, I was wondering if you know where John and Twilight are? I haven‘t seen them here yet, so I‘m a bit worried,” Fluttershy froze in place as she took the question and turned to Derpy with a look of panic.

“Oh, w-well, they were busy in Canterlot, s-so, they had to stay longer!” she had told her, and to her credit, had sounded as nervous as she usually did, the lie hidden by her usual shy demeanor.

That is until Derpy had had enough of it, and had chosen to march straight to the tree house after the 7th day of waiting to get some answers out of Spike. Unfortunately, rain had decided to put a damper in her plans, but thanks to a stroke of luck, she had managed to device a new plan.

A vaguely thought out plan.

And yet, a plan that was currently in motion and actually working.

“Come on…” she had waited in the bush for half an hour, and no sign of Applejack could be seen.

“-nks, Spike, I’ll keep it in mind, now I gotta gallop back home, Granny was a bit peeved by my decision to come, so I’ll see ya, little fella,” Ditzy ducked her head back in the bush as Applejack exited the library, avoiding her gaze.

“Bye Applejack, and don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye.”

“Thank you, Spike. Catch ya later, and, well, take care of her,” Spike stared silently as she ran through the rain once more -that thankfully- had died down by then, leaving only a light drizzle. Spike waved after her as she disappeared into the buildings and went back inside, the sounds of the locks audible from Ditzy’s position.

“Finally!” she waited for a minute before reaching for the door, she put her hoof on the wood and recalled Applejack’s knocking motion, repeating it in the same fashion. To her fortune, the sound of the door unlocking was audible on the other side.

“Applejack? What are you doing back he- Ack!” Spike didn’t have time to react as Ditzy made her way in uninvited, she flew over Spike and stayed there as he called for her.

“What the!? Derpy! What are you doing!? You can’t be here! And I just finished talking to Applejack too!”

“I’m not leaving! You are hiding something about John and Twilight! A-and I’m here to find out what that is!” she replied, trying her best to keep herself from backing down, she was on a mission she would see through to the end.

“Grr…” growling was all Spike could do in response.

“Spike, close the door, you are letting the rain in, geez,” came the voice from another room, the figure of John appearing from a hallway with a book under his pit.

“John! What are you do-”

“Just close the door, Spike, please. She won’t leave anyway,” Spike begrudgingly did as he was told, while John walked closer to the now shocked Ditzy, evidenced by her mouth hanging open.

“Um… You okay there, Ditzy?” John asked as Ditzy struggled for words, and as the flapping of her wings slowed, lowering her she flew back to the ground. As soon as she had touched the floor, she jumped at John wrapping him up in a bone crushing hug that instantly left him breathless. “Ditzy…” he managed with some of the air he still had in his lungs. “you are crushing me augh…” she realized this and let him go, causing John to fall to the ground, breathing heavily.

“Sorry… I’m just glad you are okay! And what’s going on?” she apologized sheepishly before completely doing a 180. “And why didn‘t you tell me you came back?” John looked uncomfortable as Ditzy awkwardly interrogated him, scratching the back of his neck trying to come up with a response.

“Things… Happened. Stuff that’s out of our control for the moment, so I haven’t been able to do much leaving, or talking… Or anything for that matter,” he let out an awkward laugh. Ditzy simply remained silent.

“I’m… gonna be in the kitchen if you need me, but I‘d rather you didn‘t,” said Spike who left unnoticed by either of them as they stared at each other.

“Sorry, I’ve been sort of busy for the past week…”

“You were here from the get-go!?” she exclaimed in an angry tone. “Have you been hiding all this time?” she added, John cursed at his lack of discretion.

“Well.. Yes, I was, well…”

“He was taking care of me, is there a problem with that, Ditzy?” both turned to the side to find Twilight Sparkle peeking her head from the hallway, a cynical look on her face.

“Oh, Twilight! I’m glad you are oka-” both said at the same time before she interrupted them.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but you need to go. Now,” she said pointing to Ditzy, she only returned a confused stare.

“W-what? Why?” she asked, her previous confidence now completely gone, Twilight ignored the question and continued.

“I'll let your 'visit' slide this time, and I think you are smart enough to know not to mention us at all out there, wouldn’t want something bad to happen, would we?” Ditzy gulped, thanks not only to Twilight’s straight to the point attitude that brought a chill to her spine, but due to her stare that would give Fluttershy a run for her bits.

“W-we’ll talk later then, John?” he gave her a sad smile and intended to approach her, but before any of them knew it, she had headed for the door and flown away, leaving a trail of smoke where she had just been sitting.

“Ditzy…” he turned to Twilight with an irritated look. “Twilight, that was uncalled for, she was just worried!”

“Of course she was,” she replied arrogantly. “Besides, she didn’t really have to leave, I mean, there isn’t much that I can do to make her leave in the first place, is there?” she headed for the kitchen and stood next to the counter for a bit before growling and reaching up with her hoof, grabbing a bottle from deep inside the storage spot. “Didn’t think I would ever take this, but I guess now is a better time than any,” she half-laughed, looking at the bottle as if it were a foreign thing.

“What is that bottle?” John asked, giving the bottle a wary look.

“Care to give me a hand?” she asked, ignoring his question. She threw the bottle at him, John barely managing to catch it before it had hit his face. He stared daggers at Twilight, relieved that the to-be accident had been avoided, and he looked at the label in the bottle, trying to read the inscriptions with no luck.

“Pegasus dialect, I suppose… i haven't gotten to this yet.”

“Are you going to try to read it? Or are you going to open it for me?” Twilight asked snidely. John rolled his eyes and did as he was told, setting it down on the table while Twilight approached it with a glass in hoof, proceeding to serve herself a drink.

“What is that anyway?” he asked confused.

“Well, from what your world told me about ‘slang‘… This is booze; specifically ‘heavy peach cider,” she set the glass on the table and chugged the bottle down with forced gulps.

“Twilight!” horrified, John swiped it away from her, looking at the now half-empty bottle.

“Oh, don’t worry, I *hic* saved you some…” she pointed to the glass and stumbled, the apparent strength of the drink already destroying the little tolerance she’d had, falling into John's arms.

“What the hell!? Spike, get in here!”

“W-what is it?” Spike asked, staring nervously at the scene in front of him.

“Send a letter to Celestia, we might have to have her come here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, plea-”

“Don’t!” he turned his head back to Twilight who had a terrified look on her face, the mere thought of Celestia seeing her in her current state instantly sobering her up.

“Please, don’t send her a letter, I don’t want her to see me in this… Pathetic state,” she dislodged herself from John’s arms and lazily walked to the couch back in the lobby, where she laid down on her side, her face hidden by the couch’s pillows.

“Twilight…” John followed her back outside, sitting on the edge of the couch where her hooves rested by.

“G- go away!” she said covering her face, trying to shut John out completely.

“Twilight, look, I know what you are going through!" mere seconds passed, as Twilight shook, the thought of her crying once more causing him to let her be.

“No! You don’t!" she yelled suddenly. "You aren’t the one who lost their bucking magic!” John flinched at her tone, her face holding a look of disgust, her rage and sorrow completely overriding her sensible side.

“Okay, yes, you are right, but Twilight, I mean,” he began awkwardly, he got on his feet and eyed her with worry; her mane was a mess once more, even her coat was off in places.

“What? Are you going to tell me that it will all be okay? That I’ll recover my magic? Well, guess what? WE DON’T BUCKING KNOW THAT! And you are probably going to tell me that I still have my intellect, that I’m still the intelligent pony that everypony knows, huh!?” John stared wide-eyed. Her perceptive mind having already figured out the speech he was about to give her. His ammo having run out, he remained silent. “I thought so. Now, let me add something else that your pretty little head didn’t think of,” she wiped away her falling tears, jumping off the couch and giving John a cold stare, one that seemed to look past him and beyond.

“I am the Element of Magic. I am the one pony who specializes on Magic. Or rather, I used to be,” she began breathing heavily, visibly struggling to keep up her rant. “I have no more magic, the one thing that made me special, my TALENT! Gone!”

“Twilight, I…” he tried to counter, but stopped. Nothing he could have said could have helped her situation.

“Now you see, John,” she took a few steps towards him, her eyes looking hollow, a haziness over them that wasn‘t there before. “Sometimes, words aren’t enough to solve our problems. I guess our worlds aren't that much different after all,” she turned around quickly, the end of her tail hitting John’s face, causing him to wince in pain. “Welcome to real life. Now, leave me alone.”

She galloped pass the hallway and headed upstairs, the sound of the slamming restroom door echoing in the house.

“…”

“John…” Spike approached him and put a claw on his leg. “Sorry about that, I guess she was being a bit mean...” John gave him a deadpan stare. “Er… Okay, a GREAT deal of mean, sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Spike, from the way I see it, she finally accepted what happened,” reminders of her actions of the day before ran through his head, it hadn’t been pretty fun for none of the ponies involved.

And still, Twilight had the worst of it.

“Well, at least it wasn‘t as bad as yesterday‘s breakdown… I guess that helped me to avoid crying this time,” John looked at Spike as if he were reading his mind. "Now excuse me, John, I have chores to do," he said, leaving the scene, quickly making his way to the room he now slept in on his own.

"Spike..." John thought running Twilight's words through his head. He felt hurt by the way she'd yelled at him, but he found himself realizing something then.

“Despite all of this, I can’t help but wonder… Why don’t I feel sorry for her?”

Back in Canterlot, things had quieted down, the excitement over the newly re-found Crystal Empire in the backs of everypony’s minds, celebrations had since died down days before, and all had returned to their usual habitual way.

As such, it was a normal break day, Celestia stayed in her room after a long day, working with a book on her magical grasp, beads of sweat adorned her face as she seemed to stare intently at it, her eyes twitching, as if upset with an unseen force.

Her concentration was cut short as a scroll spontaneously appeared in front of her, causing her to fall off her bed unceremoniously.

"4,342 days without falling off the bed, bummer, another 5677 and I would have had a new record."

“Well, it appears that I am done studying the book for today,” she sighed, she gazed upon the rolled scroll on the floor, recognizing the Golden Oaks seal and picking it up, she opened it, and read its contents, wistfully sighing at the end.

“… Oh, Twilight…” a bright light shone from behind her and she turned around.

“What in the?” the book she had been reading had begun shining brightly, she picked it up, and looked at the first page, finding a few words inscribed.

“But… How?” she proceeded to read the words in the book and gasped as she went along.

“Greetings, if you are reading this, you are probably Celestia.

If it wasn‘t obvious enough this is Starswirl, so…
How you doing, my cotton candy-marsh-”

No more words were read as the book was thrown aside, smashing against the wall and falling with a miserable thud, Celestia stared at the book with a boorish expression and picked it back up, setting it down next to her bed, she headed for the door in a quick pace, but not before looking back one more time.

“Even after death, you can’t remain from calling me that, huh, you old fart?” she closed the door, and left for her sister's room.

Author's Notes:

Notes 21 - 5/11/18

Wow, this was such a harsh chapter. I really don't recall what I was going through in life at the time, but this really bummed out to read. I guess it was what I was going for, but I feel my bitterness here.