Chapter 0:01 The Map

"DERPY!" A big booming voiced called out. The whole post office shook like an earthquake, sending all the thirty year old dust clumps in the rafters falling on top of pony heads bellow.

"Y-yes?" A timid voice replied.

For a few minutes there was silence. But a tension was felt by everyone; the blond timid pegasus mare and the three customers on the other side of the desk. The blond mare felt herself getting sweaty and a bit of a nervous breakdown about to avalanche down upon her. She didn't know what she did, but her boss wasn't happy.

"GET. IN. HERE. NOW." Her bossed called from behind the closed door of his office.

"Um… Y-yes sir. Right away Mr. Ink" The mare squeaked back.

She cowered a little and slowly looked at the three customers that had gathered in the lobby. They all looked at her with wide eyes and shocked faces.

"I'm uh… Sor-sorry about the noise. I-if you-you'll excuse m-me." She said to them and immediately broke eye contact. The last thing she wanted was to drag this on, and let them look at her eyes anymore than she wanted.

She slowly walked down the paper covered counter line to the little gate separating the packaging station from the lobby. She stopped in front of the little gate, and gazed at the big door directly across that lead into Mr. Ink's office. The door might as well been the gate to Hades, she knew going through would lead to suffering.

"Ok, j-just… Open the little gate…" She said quietly to herself and raised a hoof. She lightly pulled the gate towards her and it spun open.

"Walk through…" She said to reassure herself. She slowly trotted through the little gate and nervously smiled. She had just about made it when the gate swung back and smacked her right in the flank. She was launched forward and crashed on her stomach.

"Ma'am are you ok?" One of the customers asked. She couldn't hear them though. All she felt was a dull pain on her chin and chest where she fell, mixed in with some embarrassment.

She slowly sat up and rubbed her chin. "Oopsie… I-I'm all good."

"Be careful next time." Another customer said.

"I will." She said and smiled, rather grimly, but tried to pass it off as cheerful. No one seemed to buy it. Eyebrows were raised and another awkward silence filled the room. She slowly stood up and looked at the door to her boss's office.

The door was still waiting for her. No matter how much she didn't want to go and open it, she knew she had to.

After finally getting a tiny ounce of courage she slowly walked to the door. Again, she stood silently in thought. Unsure of how to go about it. Just waltz in? Maybe knock first? Open the door and stick her head in? Ask if Mr. Ink wants a muffin before they begin?

"DERPY!" Mr. Ink thundered.

She jumped back and almost fell on her flank. "Y-yes sir! Sorry s-sir! C-coming!"

She grabbed the doorknob, opened the door and jumped in as quickly as she could.

"THE DOOR DERPY!" Her boss thundered again.

"R-right!" She squeaked. She quickly closed the door, putting a divide between them and the customers in the lobby.

"Do you know why I've called you to my office Derpy?" Mr. Ink asked. He sat above her on his raised ancient brown desk in shadows cast by one burning candle on the wall. His chubby white furred face was almost covered by a big sloppy stack of papers sitting on his desk.

She felt very uncomfortable anytime she had to go into Mr. Ink's office. It was dingy with only one candle going, and dusty. Pictures of young atractive unicorn mares were all stapled on his walls emphasizing that her boss was a bit of a creep.

"Um… Mr. Ink, my name i-isn't Derpy. I-its Ditzy sir." She said and put her head down.

Mr. Ink raised an eyebrow. "I don't recall asking what your name is."

"S-sorry." Ditzy said with her head still down.

"Look at me WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

Ditzy put her head up and looked at him. She was trying hard to fight it, but she could feel tears start to form.

"I called you in my office today because I've been getting a lot of complaints lately, that you, having been breaking a lot of packages and delivering mail to the wrong addresses." Mr. Ink snapped.

Ditzy's voice was caught, she wanted to speak but no words came out. She had accidently broken a few packages here and there, but nothing too bad. And some mail had gone to the wrong recipients. But she had always apologized, offered a muffin and for the most part things were always good. But there had been some very upset ponies.

"Because of you, I've got ponies breathing down my neck and making my life harder than it needs to be. You think I asked for this!?"

"Mr. Ink I'm sorry." Ditzy managed to say.

"You're what? You're sorry!?" Mr. Ink asked irritably. "Sorry doesn't cut it. We've lost customers and we've been given a bad name. Because of you, we're no longer Ponyville's quaint little post office that you can trust. We're Ponyville's shabby post office where your mail might be delivered to the wrong place, and your packages might be broken."

Ditzy felt some tears roll down her cheeks. She felt her ears drop. His words hung over her, they were the truth. No amount of lying to herself could convince her otherwise.

"Mr. Ink I-"

"You are lazy, unorthodox and clumsy. You are a simpleton with a child's brain." Mr. Ink said.

Ditzy fell to her flank. Tears were pouring out now. Mr. Ink's words were a stab at her soul. Her head felt fuzzy and things were slowly starting to spin.

"Ditzy," Mr. Ink started. He exhaled and looked to his right at one of his unicorn mare posters. "I'm tired. I'm tired of covering your flank. I'm tired of you breaking things. I'm tired of your clumsiness. I'm tired of your muffins. I'm tired of your friend Doctor Whooves always popping in. I'm tired of your weird eyes. I'm tired of you."

Ditzy raised her head to look at him. How could he pile so much on her with no remorse?

"You're fired."

Those two words, they almost didn't sound real at first. She thought maybe she'd just got so caught up in the vocal butchering that she'd lost it and actually heard she'd been fired. Her heart was beating fast and her emotions were a bit wild with all the tears and insults.

"W-what?" She asked.

"Ditzy, you're fired." Mr. Ink said again. This time he looked her right in the face.

The room was quiet. The candle flickered. Ditzy sat in silence.

"Mr. Ink! No! No no no!" She cried and got up. "No please! Give me one more chance please don't fire me!"

Mr. Ink looked at her crying, weird yellow wall eyes in disgust. "No. This is not a debate. You are fired."

She could barely talk let alone think. Too much was going on and she just felt bad and not sure what to say or do. She felt a little sick.

"Please!"

"NO! GET OUT OF HERE YOU FREAK! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU IN HERE AGAIN!" Mr. Ink screamed from atop his wooden mountain.

Ditzy sat in the dark on her bed, rubbing her eyes. She had left the post office and flew home. She passed ponies and buildings without stopping. The world outside wasn't one she wanted to see. She wanted to be as far away from it as possible. So she had gone home, locked the door and sat in bed. While in bed she had completely and utterly cried until she could no more. Mr. Ink had bullied her to a breaking point, which would be with her for a while.

"It's not my fault…" She said quietly to herself. No one was there but she felt like she just had to say the words to help herself. "I try to be good and look on the bright side of things. I try… But it's not my fault. I'm clumsy and a bit of a screw up, but so is every pony else. No one's perfect. I'm not a freak. My eyes aren't that bad. They don't bother most ponies. They-they don't bother me."

She said that, but then wondered if she doubted it. My eyes don't bother me, right?

Ditzy threw her hooves up to her head and fell on her back. She rolled onto her side, then the other side. She was restless and had to go do something. She jumped out of bed and paced the dark room.

Mr. Ink's words had cut her deep. She felt as if part of her, through all of his nastiness, had fallen out and died on the floor of his dirty office. She wouldn't be able to easily forget about this, but she could try to move forward.

"I got fired…" She said to herself. "And I need a job. Where are they hiring?"

She wished now that she had someone to talk to, someone to help her speak her mind and just listen. Normally the Doctor would be the one to listen and Carrot Top might be the one to offer advice. Nowadays though the Doctor would pop in at work and chat or they'd go get lunch somewhere together. Carrot Top had gotten busy with work as of late and had sort of fallen out with Ditzy.

"Ok, I need more friends it seems." She said and nervously smiled. She stopped. "Oh! I could talk to Twilight Sparkle. She might even have a job I can do. I could be her royal guard!"

Ditzy beamed in her dark chamber. "That's what I'll do! I'll talk to Twilight tomorrow and get a job!"

She was happy again, even if for a little while. Her spark of hope and happiness had developed into a flame that spread throughout. She happily danced about her room.

GURGLE!

She stopped her dancing and looked at her stomach. "Oh, that was you roaring. Hmm… It appears I am hungry."

Out of the bedroom she trotted down the hall to the kitchen. In contrast to her room that was dark, the kitchen just next to the front door, was bright and lively. The window's curtains were open letting the natural warm golden glow of the sun shine in on her humble kitchen. The counters were highlighted with pink and blue paint and situated to be on both walls with the refrigerator in the middle against the wall. She had loved the bright colors at Sugarcube Corner so she had taken a few notes when designing the kitchen.

Ditzy smiled at the sight. "Now, to figure out what to give my tummy."

She stretched her wings out and began to hover. She slowly glided over to the fridge and grabbed the handle. She opened the door and frowned at the sight. Her fridge was empty, nothing in sight to eat.

"Oops. I guess I forgot to get groceries." She said and gently landed on her hooves.

She looked around at her cupboards trying to remember if she had any snacks or food hidden away in them.

"I guess I should go out and buy some food…" She said as she found nothing to eat in her barren cupboards.

Before she could go out however, something happened. Her lovely light kitchen was suddenly and slightly darkened by an unknown force. She looked around confused as to what had caused the light change. She looked to the window and saw the source. A piece of paper was stuck to the window outside.

"Must've been blown by the wind." She said, smiled goofily and shrugged.

She trotted over to the front door and opened it. Ponyville was peaceful down the Townhall stretch. She looked at the Mayor's office. It was cream colored with pink windows, pink pillars and a pink pointed roof. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The stretch Ditzy lived in was shaped around Townhall in a half circle. Her home was right across from Townhall.

Ditzy looked up at the roof and giggly silently. Not my best moment. Jumping up and down on a storm cloud causing bolts of lightning to shoot crazy and destroy the roof. And my big flank breaking a hole in the roof.

Ditzy giggled a bit more and looked around. Ponies she knew all walked around going about their business. She waved a few times and they waved back. She loved Ponyville. It was nice and it had always been nice. She always felt safe here.

"Now then… Mr. Paper I don't remember inviting you to my house." She said and walked over to her window. The piece of paper was brown and dirty. The wind had smacked it against her window and it had stuck there.

Ditzy looked around but no one was nearby. She reached up with a hoof and grabbed the piece of paper. She flipped it over and gasped. On the back was a map. It was crude and hastily drawn, but clearly a map.

"I don't get it." Ditzy said. She turned the map sideways and her head sideways too. She could see structures and a black trail to follow. The trail started in a half circle of structures and ventured west through more structures, what she could make out as trees and finally stopped at a lone structure.

Ditzy followed the trail over and over again. I still don't get it…

She sighed and dropped the paper. She turned to look at Town hall again. She walked up to the edge of her porch and decided to gaze. Town hall still stood there since she last looked. She didn't know why she wanted to look again, but she looked. It still stood in the middle of a half circle of houses.

"Wait…" Ditzy said. She spun around and grabbed the map. "The map… And town hall…Match up perfectly…"

She didn't know what to make of it at first. Was there some sort of treasure hidden away from the rest of Equestria waiting to be found by whoever had this map?

"If there is treasure…" She said quietly and smiled. "I'M GOING TO BE RICH!" She yelled out loud. She gasped and quickly put a hoof over her mouth. She looked around but no pony had been around to hear.

She sighed in relief and looked at herself in her front window's reflection. Her eyes caught her first attention. Golden yellow, and always no matter where she looked pointing in different directions. Ponies always assumed that she couldn't see clearly and that was why she was so clumsy. That was untrue though, despite the look of her eyes, she could see perfectly fine. She just happened to be clumsy. Her mane and tail matched her eyes with a golden yellow color. Her fur on the other hoof, was not her favourite. She sometimes wished she had more colorful fur like Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, but she had gotten used to her plain gre fur.

"Tomorrow," She began to tell her reflection. "I'm setting out, to find this treasure."

She smiled and stuck her tongue out at herself.

GRUMBLE!

"Oh… Whoops sorry tummy. I forgot you were hungry."