It was surprisingly quiet in the house of Derpy Hooves. The gray pegasus was home alone (Dinky being at a sleepover), and she was not moving with any great urgency, which significantly reduced the number of inevitable mishaps.

What Derpy Hooves lacked in dexterity, she more than made up for in patience and diligence. Ever so carefully, she gathered the dishes and carried them into the kitchen to clean them out. Derpy enjoyed washing dishes, actually. There was something relaxing about plunging her hooves into a tub of warm water and scrubbing. Better yet, the soap made wonderful bubbles that were quite fun to play with. Some of the larger ones were almost as big as a bit; when she saw these, she would pause completely to watch, transfixed.

At last, the dishes were squeaky clean and ready to be dried. Twilight had been so kind as to enchant the dishes to be extra-hard to break. This had been a goddessend to Derpy, whose china bills were taking a considerable chunk out of her salary. Derpy didn't like drying dishes as much as she liked washing them, but she knew that a pony had to get the job done.

As she put the dishes back into the cabinet, there was a bright flash of lightning, followed by a deafening crack of thunder. Derpy let out a little shriek. All pegasi had a natural connection to the weather, even if they weren't explicitly weather ponies, but Derpy had never really liked thunderstorms.

Outside, rain was starting to come down. Derpy collected herself and finished putting up the dishes. Trotting back into the dining room, she picked up the tablecloth with her mouth and started to fold it up. The rain was pouring in earnest now, and more booms echoed through the night.

Some merchant ponies spoke of foreign lands where ponies made stupendous art from no more than folded pieces of paper. However, these had nothing on Derpy's creation, a strange, malformed mountain of cloth that somehow bore an uncanny resemblance to Princess Celestia. Satisfied with her work, she packed it into the closet.

Suddenly, there came a weak knock on the door. Who would be here at this hour? Derpy's only expected visitor for the night had already departed.

Still, Derpy was nothing if not friendly, and she would have welcomed a full-grown dragon into her home if he was out in the rain.

"Hello!" she exclaimed, throwing the door wide.

"H-h-h-h-hi!" came the stuttered reply.

Derpy's mouth fell open in shock, and both her eyes focused on the pony in front of her. "Are you okay?"

Trixie said nothing. Her mane was soaked, and she was shivering violently.

"Come inside!" cried Derpy. Trixie grinned weakly and trotted into the hallway.

Derpy then went straight to the next order of business. "I have some towels! I'll go get 'em."

Trixie nodded as Derpy turned around and, in an attempt to be quick, took flight. There were several distant bangs, and the walls shook from the impact of a collision. At last, Derpy returned, seemingly no worse for wear.

"Thank y-" Trixie began but was cut off by Derpy, who unceremoniously dumped the towles onto her and began vigorously drying her off. Trixie spluttered indignantly, but Derpy was unyielding. At last, the unicorn stood relatively dry, albeit with hair on end and a very bedraggled mane.

"Are you okay now?" asked Derpy. Trixie nodded. Derpy smiled, and continued, "It's really raining hard out there. I guess you couldn't make it home?"

"Well, I could have just cast a rain-warding spell," said Trixie, switching automatically into image-defense mode. Derpy gasped in awe. "You're so good with magic," she said in admiration. But then she frowned and asked, "But then why'd you come back here?"

"Well, I, uh . . ." said Trixie, her eyes darting back and forth. "I was just, um . . ."

"Was it the thunder?" said Derpy sagely. "Thunder's scary. I wouldn't want to be outside either."

Trixie looked insulted. "It wasn't the thunder! I'm not scared of thunder! I'm not scared of anythi-"

However, the weather continued to conspire against Trixie, for at that moment there was a flash of lightning not far away, followed by an earsplitting crack of thunder. She jumped six feet in the air and stayed there, clinging to the top of the open door.

She remained there, gripping desperately and silently praying that the storm would end soon so she could leave with what remained of her pride.

She heard the flutter of wings, and she felt gentle hooves scooping her up and carrying her away.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Trixie mumbled.

"Of course not," said Derpy, smiling at her.

Then she looked up and directed her full attention to making it through the approaching door frame. It took extreme amounts of concentration, but she miraculously managed to float through without anything more than a little bump to her left wing.

Then Trixie found herself abruptly deposited on an enormous and unbelievably fluffy bed. Derpy herself landed a few seconds later and wrapped Trixie in a strong embrace.

Trixie began to reciprocate before remembering her dignity. "You're too kind, but I don't need this," she said to Derpy, who wearing a bemused smile. "I was a little startled, perhaps, but it's nothing I can't handle. In fact, I think I'll just be-"

There was another crack of thunder, and Derpy suddenly found herself short of breath as Trixie clung to her with all her might.

"-Staying right here," said Derpy. Trixie opened her mouth, but Derpy gave her a knowing look and her protests were instantly stifled.

They stayed like that for a long time; exactly how long, neither of them knew, but that wasn't important. What was important was that when the sound of thunder came, Derpy was always right there, warm and soft and protecting.

Eventually, the rain slackened to a drizzle, and the storm died away. Trixie opened her mouth once again, hesitant to break the peaceful silence.

"I really enjoyed dinner," she said at last.

"Me too," said Derpy.

Trixie pushed on. "So, um, maybe do you think we could do it again some time, maybe when it's not raining so we could, I dunno, go on a picnic or go someplace nice or-"

She was silenced by a kiss.

"I'd love that," said Derpy.

Trixie smiled and nothing more was said before fatigue crept into the room and left both of them sleeping soundly, still cuddled together, dreaming of each other.

Author's Notes:

I guess you'd call Trixie/Derpy shipping 'Derxie'? I dunno. All that matters is that it's adorable.