Author: I'm beginning to feel my imagination flow being blocked by beavers building a wooden block there; my writing will take a hit as a side effect but I'm used to it.

Chapter 5: Distracted.

As the day went on Derpy was wondering where Dolly got to. She had finished her conversation with Marehute with a promise to talk some more, afterwards she wandered up the stairs of the inn, listening as they creaked slightly under her weight. When she got to the upstairs hallway she saw Twilight standing outside the door to their room talking to it.

Apparently Trixie had dashed into their room and locked the door, Derpy hadn't a clue what was going on but she was sure it had to do with the book sticking out of Twilights bag that was about magic. Derpy was going to say something about the crying Trixie situation but Zecora trotted up to her humming happily distracting her. Zecora seeing Twilight was busy with trying to get into their room turned around and happily hummed as she trotted away followed by a curious Derpy, how can she be so happy with everything that's going on? The group seemed to be falling apart in front of her and she didn't know how everyone ended up the way they did, Trixie was distraught over something, Zecora was too cheerful to be normal, Twilight had been humiliated earlier this morning and it wasn't any surprise that Dolly disappeared to who knows where.

()

Dolly was fluttering about as well as she could on her slightly singed wings, her back may have taken the brunt of the incendiary balloons and she was luckily not paraplegic with the C Four getting sprayed everywhere. She could still flutter through the air sticking close to the ground in case her wings failed her, as she spotted Mangora Mountain her wings snapped to her side against her will. After landing carefully on her three legs she backed up a few feet; staying off her broken leg, until her wings were once again working.

Dolly looked at the mountain before her in the distance thinking of the smart bastard who made it impossible for winged creatures to simply fly up and stop whatever was going on too easily. This being or whatever it was had a pretty good set up for defensible territory, probably used the Mangora Mountain Orb Weavers as a natural deterrent, not to mention how cold it was up there and what all else that would be in the way.

Looking at this side of the mountain she knew she wouldn't be climbing it from here, she turned back and started heading back for Hippolytus, they'd need to pick up some special gear for traversing the mountain because whatever had taken over the Wargs was not just going to let them waltz on up the mountain without a fight.

Given that her head wasn't a constant throbbing migraine from constant danger, she was able to sense the creature before it could sneak up and pounce on her and its danger was that of a minor threat being moved by a humongous threat or so her aching head told her. The ugly beast was about half the size of a manticore, quite frankly Dolly was glad that she could still fly well enough to get into a tree, she didn't feel like getting into a scrap right now.

The one creature roared and its solid red glowing eyes narrowed up at her in apparent anger that it missed by lunging out at thin air. Its fangs and tusks were thick and slightly brown from the blood that had dried on it, its fur was a dirty and mottled brown never having been washed, its smell even from Dolly's position ten feet off the ground in a tree was horrid like rotting flesh and it wasn't normal at all.

There was only one Warg here and they never traveled alone, ever. Staring at the creature with her right eye she had an idea as to what this was all about.

"Know this, I'm coming for you and there is nothing you can do to stop me. You've messed with the wrong mailing system whoever you are; this is one pony you shouldn't have gotten angry buster and no amount of might and magic will put me down till I'm sure you won't mess with my friends and or our mailing services again." Dolly was sure the message got through to whoever was controlling the warg, its eyes slowly stopped glowing and turned a dull yellow, the warg looked confused for a moment before it shot off looking for its own kind.

Dolly had a smug smirk on her lips. Sure it was going to be hell reaching whoever did all this and it was going to undoubtedly be more dangerous than the Kobold, she liked a good challenge.

Honestly the Kobold caught Dolly by surprise, not to mention that it was armed and armored, but they handled it well enough without any permanent damage and possibly minor scarring that could be fixed with healing magic from a professional.

Dolly was ready to deal with anything; she knew what her current team was capable of and they'd do well to remember what they themselves were capable of, hopefully Trixie was in a good mood for a pep talk or what Dolly thought amounted to a pep talk and she was on her way back to Hippolytus to pick up her order from the blacksmith.

()

That creature grey coated with black and white hair thought it was so smart, it couldn't be stopped and the mail would falter, the world will be silenced! There would be no more communication! No more flying! It would not be defeated, though it was unsure how the creature knew it was controlling the warg, it would be more careful in the future. It wasn't powerful enough yet to remember its name yet.

It did wonder how the ninja ponies it had under its control were quickly losing to a single mail delivery pony that seemed to have a narcolepsy problems, that one fool still thought he was running the show and that would change when the time was right.

()

Dixie was having a good morning as she made her way to Sugar Cube Corner, flapping her wings gently she set down in front of the store and wandered in, she turned to the kitchen area hearing some noises come from in there.

"Pinkie, are you in here?" Wandering into the store Dixie noticed Pinkie stirring a large bubbling pot with a blue fruity smelling liquid inside of it, she looked up at Dixie eyes wide that she had been caught brewing this stuff and it was a good thing people always compared it to normal punch or else every single pony would know what this stuff actually was.

"Um could you hold that thought for a teensy weensy little moment Dixie? I've got to pour this stuff into some bottles before it's too late." Moving away from the pot Pinkie came back with what looked like a bunch of funnels and she started place several glass bottles down each with a funnel inside.

She then carefully poured the liquid from the pot into each bottle, after she was done pouring out all the liquid she corked the bottles and then placed them on the counter before turning to Dixie.

"Hi Dixie, what brings you here…" Pinkie seemed kind of sheepish to be caught in the middle of mixing some special drinks for the construction ponies in Canterlot, special order by Celestia herself as Ditzy was causing and promptly fixing as many injuries as she made. Celestia was going to call a halt to the project, one reason was that the construction ponies needed a break, the second being her sister had a play date with Ditzy Doo of all people and they were coming into ponyville early in the evening for a nice visit to the spa.

()

"Another Pinkie Pie interruption… wait a minute, I'm interrupting myself. Oh this is so silly. Look at me I'm all frozen in time and space and stuff, I wonder if I draw on my face with a marker will I have a mustache or will it disappear when time restarts." Pinkie was standing in front of the grayed background with herself and Dixie; she had a smile on her face as she pulled out a marker.

"Well there's only one way to find out before I get to why I'm interrupting myself which is quite hard to do as there shouldn't be two of me existing at one time. Then again it has happened before when I got stuck on a random time traveling adventure or one of those many world saving paradoxes I have going. Those are always fun and a blast like a party." Of course the giggling Pinkie would do this there is no other way to get her curious mind off of something until she's managed to accomplish it in some fashion. She took out a black marker and started drawing a thick hanging mustache on her face, before she took out a remote and hit it twice. The first press changed the background to a black screen and the second put up a three dimensional representation of a bottle filled with blue liquid.

"While not exactly a Pinkie Pie product, but it is something I sell and I consider it special product zero zero three. It is called a GAG healing potion! Drink an entire bottle of this stuff and it will cure you of exhaustion, it'll restore a Unicorns magical potential to full and injuries will just knit themselves all back together. It's one of my hardest to make products and its also expensive even getting the ingredients." Pinkie was smiling as for this product there was almost no downside to it, no icky violence related uses at all.

"Well yes, there is a downside to the product. You can only drink one in a week and otherwise drinking a second one could just make you sick for a week, also another flaw is it won't cure diseases but it'll help fight sicknesses, well that is unless you drink a second bottle within a week of the first." Pinkie should probably explain what the letters GAG stands for and stop bouncing around like a foal on a sugar rush.

"Oh yeah that's a part of why it's called a GAG healing potion. It stands for 'Greatly Ascending Guffaws' healing potion, it is a bit slimy going down but it tastes great unlike most medicines and it doesn't need the spoonful of sugar like I do. Besides as everyone knows laughter is the very best medicine and I can pack it into a small bottle, the laughter is a harmless side effect but it helps the pain go away." And this has been another Pinkie interruption with your smiling and bouncy host.

This has been Pinkmina Diane Pie turning Giggles into Laughter since she was a little filly.

()

Dixie had only blinked and a second later Pinkie had a droopy mustache on her face from out of nowhere. She has learned to accept that Pinkie always had weird things going on around her, but even that was stretched like her imagination and at seeing a mustache instantly grow on her face in the blink of her eyes. She has already seen Ditzy do some pretty strange things but that kind of makes it understandable why she never wins the crazy pony of the year award, Pinkie was too nuts to attempt to defeat in that department. Poor Ditzy still tries though. Dixie blinked herself back to the present and couldn't help but stare at Pinkie as she shook her head.

"Oh, um did you know there was a mustache on your face?" Seeing the look on Dixie's face Pinkie reaches up to her face with a hoof and felt the bushy hairs on the tip of her nose and she looked down at them.

"Huh, that's so cool I didn't know I could do that to myself! I'll have to remember later to come back and give myself this mustache again though." Pinkie notice Dixie giving her a quirked eye and she just gave her a bright cheery smile. Dixie shrugged it off as Pinkie being herself.

"Right, anyway, I came here to talk about an idea I was going to bring up with the rest of our four mare mailing team and I figured you'd help me with something since you're technically part of the team. After I tell you the idea could you please keep it a secret until I gather the other three together and maybe Dolly to run the idea past them." Dixie was nervous; Pinkie just put a hoof on her back and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, now tell me what the secret is and I'll keep it FOREVER! So tell me what this idea is and I'll see what I can do, I'll give it my best and even more to help you, as your one of my many great friends. Everyone in Ponyville has asked me for help at least one time or another I'm just surprised they all think Applejack is the most reliable pony over me, but I guess you can't win them all." Pinkie only received a slightly impish smile from Dixie before she started talking. Pinkie; by the time she was done, was smiling so wide you could almost see her mind running through a thousand party related scenarios that this would cause.

()

Derpy sat at the table looking glum before a muffin covered in hot sauce was shoved to her; she sat up instantly and pounced on the cornbread muffin much to Marehute's amusement as she watched Derpy's wings shoot straight out and become stiff. Derpy blushed and smiled sheepishly with her eyes looking off in opposite directions, Marehute never met a pony so cuddly looking or so easy to tease as apparently muffins had an aphrodisiac effect on the mail mare.

"Now there's a happy if embarrassed customer, do you want to talk some more?" Marehute knew she really shouldn't be thinking of her daughters right now, but Derpy made it impossible for her to see anything but a daughter she never had and she's had three already.

"Okay, I forgot to ask you this before but are you related to a griffin named Gilda by any chance?" Derpy didn't know what happened but she heard a squeal and she had a face full of warm inviting feathers a second later, she was being hugged by Marehute.

"OH! You're a friend of my little GG! Oh I knew you were cute when I heard about you from her, so you're the muffin munching maniac she talked about. " She carefully got Derpy on the floor and started tickling her belly causing her to squirm and giggle. She finally gave Derpy some mercy after a few minutes and let her up from the ground.

"You're her mother? Well could you tell me why she seemed so, 'spirited', when I met her?" Derpy noticed the change in Marehute's demeanor it was a lot sadder.

"Well she was always a wildfire my little GG and well, she got wilder when her father passed away. She took after him a lot and he was friendly griffin to all; don't get me wrong, but it did more damage to Gilda than it did to her sisters who don't even remember him. It was just a good thing I managed to warn her not to try and integrate into regular griffin society and that was the one thing she actually listened to me about." Marehute sighed and sat down at the table patting a spot beside her with a talon causing Derpy took a seat and listened munching more of the muffin she had been given.

"I told her several reasons why she couldn't be with other griffins outside our village. One was because she refuses to eat meat, at all. Two she has an herbivores diet and it would take quick notice among griffins that don't like hippogriffs or those with mixed blood. With the thought that they would have hurt one of my babies I made sure she understood what some unfriendly griffins were capable of. Other than her eating habits and smelling like a hippogriff she was as boisterous and combative as any other griffin. She was just restless in our boring old village, farming mud peppers and she really doesn't like spicy things to begin with. Spicy foods gives her dragons breathe like that poor unicorn. So I eventually gave my daughter a way out into the world and had her go to Cloudsdale with some help from Dolly calling in a favor, she was entered into a flight school in an exchange student program, how Dolly managed that I'll never know. That was where I heard she made a friend; she wasn't very good at making friends around here, so I was surprised she could have found someone so fast out there. Strangely it was a pony she wrote to me about a lot and how harsh some of the outside world was too her because of the constant suspicion that she'd eat some pony. After a while I stopped hearing from her, but I've had Dolly keeping tabs on her from beginning so I knew she was doing okay if a little rough. About a month ago before the mail stopped coming and the wargs started attacking I've been getting all kinds of new letters from my hatchling; she seemed much happier and even has a job, apparently a lot of ponies have accepted her and I couldn't be more pleased to hear about it." Marehute sighed to herself as she put a talon under her beak; she stared into space leaning on the table.

"Hmmm… Marehute are you pining about those wayward daughters of yours again! You should learn to stop worrying and let them fly from the nest how they please." Looking to their right Marehute and Derpy looked to a grizzled old looking hippogriff as he trots into the room. He had a long thick grey beard hanging from his beak, his bodies color was a dark purple, he wore a simple pair of spectacles and his pony mark was of a grandfather clock.

"Horus you old coot, can't I at least worry about how my hatchlings are doing? I know at least two of my daughters are sticking together and doing well for themselves and the other is living with ponies in relative peace." Marehute obviously had something against Horus as he stood there staring at her with a slight smile playing across his ancient beak.

"Hmmm… Yes and you never move on from wanting to always hear from them, your too protective of them huffy tufts." Horus received an angry glare from Marehute and he just cackled at her for it. Seeing Marehute's discomfort Derpy decided to intervene and since this Horus guy was old, he could probably tell her more about Hippolytus and maybe even Dolly.

Marehute only knew of Dolly as a friend that once used to deliver their mail, she really didn't question the red coated mare all too much about her life except to pester her for some adventure stories or what she was going to do next. Marehute didn't really pry too far into Dolly's life; she was probably too polite to do so and Dolly must have appreciated that.

One interesting thing she learned was that apparently Gilda didn't really have much of a friendship with Dolly from the way said griffin with a rather surprising background had talked about her while they were delivering an all important 'package' to Canterlot. It was where Gilda had helped them deliver it after beating the tar out of some Wonderbolts who took it from them.

"Excuse me sir, but how did this village get started?" Derpy saw the look of relief in Marehute's eyes that she was drawing Horus's attention away and mouthed that she'd get Derpy some more muffins later, she carefully backed out of the room as Horus started his tale.

"Hmmm… it was a little over five hundred years ago when…" What followed was a rather droning lecture of griffins, a war with magical beasts in the mountains and the aftermath of those who were proclaimed the wingless that eventually started the hippogriff population. Not to mention a copious amount of mail pony involvement where fighting and delivering messages were key to solving a war that would have dragged far more innocence into the fray. It was a rather engrossing story if it weren't for the storytellers' voice trying to put poor Derpy to sleep.

()

"Come on Trixie, talk to me what did I do wrong this time? What reason do you have to get cross with me now?" Twilight still heard crying, but it was muffled and she her hooves weren't idle she kept pacing around outside the simple door, one she could simply use magic to open it forcefully and enter the room. Trixie knew that, Twilight knew that and if they both knew it, why hadn't Twilight done it yet?

"You did nothing wrong. NOW GO AWAY." Trixie on the other side of the door actually felt bad for yelling at her but she didn't want to relive those memories. She kept her face dug into a pillow and weeping.

"Trixie do you want to talk about it, no pony can herd alone forever you know. After what happened to you when you broke down and clung to Dolly, I really think you could use a friend right now." Twilight stopped at the door and she heard Trixie softly mutter something barely audible behind the door.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you." Twilight flicked her mane with her front left hoof very nervously worried about Trixie's health.

"I SAID I DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!" Trixie's shout caused Twilight to back up and stand there for a moment listening to Trixie weep before she tried to say otherwise.

"Come on you can't mean that. What about Dolly she took the time to ask for your help and she cared for you, you certainly didn't look bad for someone who was in the Everfree Forest for a while surviving on wild grass." Twilight gestured with her front right hoof before putting it to her forehead realizing Trixie couldn't physically see her gestures.

"She reminds me of my mother" Trixie sounded as broken as she was when she snuggled herself into Dolly's side after she miraculously fell out of the sky after that explosion. "I don't want to remember, but none of you will stop reminding me of her and it hurts so much."

"Will you please let me in Trixie? You may not believe me but I'm your friend too and this is something you need to let out." There was an audible click and the door swung open, looking into the room Twilight could see Trixie had pulled her hat tightly over her head and a diminishing glow emanated from underneath it. Twilight moved up to the bed and got on top of it with Trixie and pulled her into a gentle hug from behind and Trixie didn't react violently to the contact.

"Thank… you…" Trixie needed more hugs, but more importantly "I want to talk to Dolly."

"Can you talk to me? I don't know where she is right now, but talking to any pony is better than no pony." Twilight didn't mind how compromising the position looked it was something she'd do for any friend and Trixie needed some pony right now.

"My name is Trixie Magnifico… my father was the first to go… and mother was with me covered in her blood, her coat turned red and she held on to me for as long as she could manage... it was red and she..." Trixie's pained voice and fresh stream of tears coming from her hat was cause for concern.

Twilight didn't know what to say to that and she now knew why Trixie acted the way she did, apparently Dolly's naturally red coat reminded her of her dying mother. Plus the book Twilight had gotten was written by a Magnolia Magnifico, she felt horrible for drudging up bad memories by accident but the spells in the books seemed like Trixie's thing and she didn't know it would cause this.

"Start from as far back as you can remember and take it slowly Trixie; I'm here for you try to start with happy memories first if it makes it easier for you." Twilight nuzzled Trixie, but it wasn't an affectionate nuzzle but it was calming. Books couldn't teach Twilight how to comfort a friend; though reading a psychology book did help, she has to do what she felt was right in her heart.

"Well when I was a little foal, we had a small home and we were happy… I think I can remember the taste of my first strawberry and how my mother teased me with it…" Trixie eased into the comfort hug and started to let out some long held back steam.

()

Rainbow Dash hadn't luckily seen any of her friends all morning, that thing she imagined with Pinkie Pie while she was screaming with a pillow over her head yesterday just made her feel like blushing. She couldn't have possibly imagined cuddling Pinkie to herself like that or that afterwards she made Pinkie so horribly sad by rejecting her, it was all just a dream.

Right now she was going to try to make friends with a colt, she needed far more then Big Mac who was friendly but not a flyer like she was. She needed to talk with someone who knew how to fly and who better then a long distance flyer?

Long distance couriers always went to directly where they were to deliver too, short distance couriers who got a long distance mission usually ended up carrying several different stacks of mail from several different places. Short distance couriers were to junction through several places picking up and dropping off mail where needed, but a long distance courier always carried first class special urgent delivery mail and they had a lot of tricks and evasive maneuvers for any kind of dangerous situation.

With all this in mind Rainbow hoped she could learn something new to help further her goal of becoming a Wonderbolt, she would probably be the only Wonderbolt stationed in Ponyville or she would want to be stationed in Ponyville at the least.

After stopping at the reception area for the hospital she was given directions to a room where she saw a much healthier looking injured white and brown coated colt laying on his back, his mane was a lighter shade of brown and despite his wings being as messed up as the rest of him but he looked to be in good spirits.

"Hey, are you Spaniel? My name's Rainbow Dash. I was kind of wondering if you know of a Pegasus named Dolly. I mean considering you're a mail courier and every pony talked about how you came into Ponyville." Rainbow was really curious and excited to finally branch out into having a colt for a friend territory just so people would stop with all the background rumors about her nature. If only she knew it would make them worse, but that's a different story.

"Pleased to meet you Miss Dash, yes I'm Spaniel, Spaniel C. Arro rated third top long distance flyer in the mailing services of Equestria. Yes, I also know of Dolly, anyone who's been in the mailing service long enough knows her and she was something special when it came to delivering mail before she dropped that and became a dispatcher, though I wouldn't honestly know why. Dolly was a darn good at freelancing; but she was an even better mail pony. Anyway, yeah I came into Ponyville on a few broken bones, a bunch of contusions and more than a bad deep cut or two. I'm perfectly fine otherwise despite the blood loss, so what is it you wanted to talk to me about and how do you know Dolly?" Sparro was actually glad to have someone to talk, he was breathing much better and staying awake longer then he had been yesterday

"Oh, I just wanted to chat with you, you know, learn a bit about a colt down on his luck and maybe make a new friend, pick up a few flying tricks or training methods… what's this freelancing thing you mentioned?" Rainbow didn't honestly know what freelancing is and if she knew it could have helped her get into the Wonderbolts faster she would have jumped the bandwagon years ago and never have met her good friends. Simply put, a few Wonderbolts were high grade freelancers until they found a permanent job in patrolling the airways between towns, villages and cities. Any prospective freelancer to join the illustrious Wonderbolts would receive a run through of a training program on etiquette, formation flying, aerial maneuvers and combat tactics.

"You're a friend of Dolly's and you seriously don't know what… well freelancing is basically doing odd jobs that could be as simple as fixing a kitchen sink or as dangerous as fighting a giant monster. Mail Ponies freelance because the mail systems are not always going to be busy year round, so we get odd jobs in many different places and we pick up as many skills as we can so we can prepare for anything on top of the actual job of delivering the mail." Spaniel saw the questioning look in Rainbow Dash's eyes; he figured it was about fixing kitchen sinks being a useful skill in the mailing service.

"I can understand fighting monsters, but what does fixing a kitchen sink have to do with delivering the mail?" Rainbow just had to know, because she couldn't think of one thing about fixing a kitchen sink that would be useful in mail delivering.

"A lot actually, if you're the one delivering the kitchen sink, it comes up way too often with the words 'and the kitchen sink' in our line of work. You're better off not asking about it, besides why the interest in learning training methods? Didn't you win the best young flyers competition in Cloudsdale?" Spaniel might not have been able to move much, but he thought Rainbow Dash was rather pretty and full of natural charm, then again he saw all mares as beautiful and always ridiculously out of his league. He even found the Dolly beautiful, even while she was a bloody mess; most of the time it wasn't necessarily her blood, which was usually the case after she got back from a rather vicious freelance mission. It was to note that multiple ponies in the mail delivery system have seen her take on large tasks while in varying states of injury and delivering the mail, one only had to wonder why she was so dedicated about the mail and getting nearly hospitalized every step of the way. Spaniel was pretty sure Artsy Tartsy could paint a joke about it if given enough reason too.

"Well, yeah, but hey I'm trying to get into the Wonderbolts so I have to learn all kinds of neat tricks. I've even thought of becoming an equestrian guard once to pursue my goal, but they seem too stuffy and silent for my taste." Rainbow Dash hovered around Spaniels bed doing small loops in the air and rolling every now and then. Spaniel smiled at Rainbow; there were several avenues for being scouted for the Wonderbolts and he guess that the pony in front of him took to stunt flying even if that wasn't the best method it was applicable because you needed to know how to pull off insane maneuvers or to take risks.

"Have you met any of the Wonderbolts? I happen to know the leader Spitfire and I'm not sure you did after you saved her from that nasty fall, I had urgent mail to deliver into griffin territory before I could watch the aftermath and Celestia…" Spaniel couldn't get any further because Rainbow Dash shook the shock out of head and she made a girlish squeal, one that she would deny to ever having done later because it wasn't cool. Spaniel had just gotten twenty percent cooler in front of her eyes; he was like an instant gold mine of Wonderbolt knowledge. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard for Rainbow to make friends with a colt after all.

"YOU KNOW SPITFIRE! HOW, TELL ME PLEASE." Rainbow was in Spaniel's face and he made as small a motion as he could to give him some breathing room. Doing so, Spaniel noticed Rainbow's eyes were almost sparkling and it complimented her mane a lot to smile like that, but he didn't see any spark between them and he mentally sighed. Maybe he should look into other long distance flyers for a prospective relationship, some pony particularly interested in a long distance one while he was at it.

"I'm a long distance courier; I have to sometimes find her squad and maybe a few others wherever they happen to be flying, I usually find them in dangerous situations. Her squad's headquarters might get a lot of fan mail, but there are special occasions where a mail pony has to deliver an urgent message to them personally. Last time I had to do that I ended up fighting flying monkeys with fez's and little red jackets; it was just a lucky coincidence that a house fell randomly out of the sky and took care of most of them. " Spaniel and Rainbow Dash would continue to converse, a strong friendship was forged between the two but it would not advance beyond that, though Rainbow would learn a lot about long distance endurance flying. She even got some info on the tricks Spitfire could do but has never actually seen them before and they sounded radical, she didn't know the leader could set her body on fire with air friction to become a flying fireball or that her suit was especially tailored for such a tactic.

()

Derpy sat wide eyed, the history of how the Hippogriffs started was a rather sad one, magical beastly creatures that ripped the wings from a griffins back to graft them to their own magically. That wasn't the worst of it but it certainly got a war rolling and long lasting relatively peaceful relations between ponies and griffins. Derpy didn't even begin to know how it would feel to have your wings physically ripped from your back while you were awake and aware through the whole process not to mention watching as creatures implanted a part of yourself on their bodies with magic. Thank goodness that Celestia set a hoof down on those creatures and that Pegasus wings were usually too small to be worth stealing, Celestia was the only pony that probably had wings the size of a griffins at that point in time anyway. Those beasts did something else entirely to ponies and it wasn't very pleasant to hear about either, Derpy certainly didn't like the sound of Chimera's that Horus had spoken of and she liked it even less that the victims were entirely aware of what they had become but could do nothing to stop themselves.

"Hmmm… it wasn't a very great age to be a fighter, but nowadays those kinds of things are just silly myths and legends. I say forget the whole lot of that and stick to the present where everything is rather… pleasant, for the most part except those nasty creatures prowling around here at night. I'm tired young one I'll shall give the guards their orders for tonight and then retire, I need my rest." The old geezer of a hippogriff said as he slowly ambled away from Derpy who had a worried look on her face and her wings quivered slightly. She knew better than anyone that legends always had a lot of truth to them, how else would she and Dipsy have met the great pumpkin otherwise? Dipsy was half asleep when it happened but she did vouch it had in fact happened.

It was almost into the eve of lunch time and Derpy still hadn't seen any of the others, walking out of the dining nook into the foyer she saw Zecora sitting in one of the chairs and just smiling to herself in a freakish kind of way that didn't fit her nature or her face for that matter. Derpy could swear the other members of DERP were all going bonkers, especially Trixie when she went into a childish kind of mindset. Speaking of which time to go check up on her and make sure she at least gets a muffin or was at the least feeling better.

Derpy had a regular plastic wrapped muffin and not one of those zesty wing popping ones that made her feel wonderful when she bit into it, she saw that Twilight wasn't outside the door and moved to open and as she did she heard a voice inside.

"Now tell me what happened to you after that…" Apparently Twilight was still being all level headed like she was with her friends and entirely supportive to whatever Trixie had told her so far, Derpy cracked the door open and kept her wrapped muffin at hoof remembering that it was almost lunch time.

Despite her desire to have said muffin Derpy would wait until after she asked if Trixie wanted it to eat it, looking into the room she saw a nice site before her eyes. It was solemn and tearful Trixie being cuddled by Twilight and it didn't look very compromising at all. The book on magic was left laying on a nightstand nearby.

"I was basically all alone in the world. I guess I have been for a long time even after I came to Ponyville showing off like I always do, I think my mark is more about my need to grab attention from others than my actual special talents." Trixie's statement even though sad was unwarranted and Derpy was going to make it truly known what she was good at and she'd make Trixie happy with a smile and a muffin. She had a plan! Like always when she had a plan everyone around would listen to what she had to say, Trixie thought she was lonely but she's not alone and with her plan Trixie would listen to her.

Derpy has never given up on a friend before and Trixie was in front of her and required priority mail service via her, the delivery was happiness and it was a contagious thing all mail deliverers wished they could deliver every day. Thus Derpy barged into the room all smiles and carrying the wrapped muffin in her mouth.

It kind of startled Twilight removed her hooves from around Trixie's chest and Trixie herself lifted her head at hearing the door slam open. Derpy zipped right into the room with a great smile and pushing a muffin to her as she laid there on the bed that had a rather familiar comfort about it. Looking up into that simple wall eyed smileTrixie couldn't help but feel much better. Trixie accepted the muffin that was being offered; Derpy seemed kind of simple in some ways and there was nothing wrong with that at all.

"You mark is not about grabbing attention Trixie even though it's a waving wand and motion does grab attention. Your mark means possibilities and having lots of them for each speck of magic that sprinkles off that wand on your flank. Now come on it's almost lunch time and I want to see if they can get Twilight to breathe fire with mild hot sauce again." Derpy was being motivational and she got Trixie to laugh, even Twilight was laughing despite her furious blush. Derpy bumped into Trixie flapping her wings trying to push Trixie out of the bed and she was laughing the entire time as she got up and Twilight was standing at her side with a smiling Derpy making silly faces for her.

Now that Trixie really thought about it being great and powerful was one of many a possibilities for her; however, she had only acted like she was. What she truly needed to do was figure out the possibilities she missed in the pursuit of making herself into something she wasn't, looking at the magic book she figured it was the first step she picked it up with her horn glowing and she looked to Twilight who gave her a small smile.

As they made their way down the stairs Derpy had an idea, no one led DERP so that means they were all leaders… so it was time to call a team meeting! They would have to wait until Dolly got back though before they could really discuss anything, they all had their problems and Derpy wanted to crack them and set them all out in the open. She was good at keeping it together better than most other ponies and she had survived a muffin nightmare, they could tell her anything and it wouldn't be as bad as Ponyville running completely out of muffins which was the second most horrifying thing that could happen to her with the first being losing all her friends.

"MEETING!" Derpy shouted out loud causing Trixie who was behind her on the stairs to tumble into Derpy hovering above the stairs and then they both tumbled into Twilight and they all came to a thunderous crash at the bottom of the stairs. Derpy has not been having a good time with stairs or even chairs recently.

"Derpy, please tell me, why did you do that?" Twilight sounded slightly cross and Derpy who was on top of her gave a silly smile and Trixie laughed as she was on top of the pile.

"I have an idea, for a meeting. Since none of us are leaders we can all call one, right?" Twilight blinked as she tried to untangle herself from the mass of hooves they formed and eventually Trixie got off them and they managed to pull themselves together. A Hippogriff walked up to them and gave a hearty laugh and a smiling beak.

"Watch that first step down, it's a doozy." Then the hippogriff who they noticed as one of the guards from the previous night meandered his way up the stairs chuckling.

The three ponies managed to organize themselves and made their way into the foyer to see Zecora still being creepy with the smile almost like a statue that was breathing.

"Zecora, are you alright? You seem strange and how long have you been sitting there?" Twilight couldn't put a hoof on it but Zecora seemed too happy to be normal. Trixie and Derpy shared a look wondering if she had been sitting quietly in the foyer all this time.

"I'm am most fine, my friends of pony kind. I have just been smiling with style, for I have been sitting here for quite a while." Zecora seemed so chipper; it had Twilight giving her a confused look.

Twilight looked back at both Derpy and Trixie, their response was to shrug at her with their hooves up in the air.

"I can't believe it wasn't only the ponies in Ponyville that were crazy, anyway we're about to start a late lunch and Derpy brought up a good point and wants to hold a meeting with all of DERP members present. So if you could please join us Zecora, if you're not too busy doing whatever it is your doing." Twilight got a nod from the zebra and she got up but her smile was ever prevalent on her face.

"Of course Twilight my friend, it is my presence I shall lend." The way Zecora continued to smile as she followed them to a dining table was rather disconcerting, but Marehute was about to start cooking a late lunch and they really couldn't worry about it too much. They had things to discuss, important or not they had to talk about what their direction was. Where they were going and what were they trying to currently achieve, they still had plenty of time to explore the rest of the town.

As they made for the table in the dining room where several tables and locals spent their time eating, they all sat down and looking to Derpy. Derpy didn't know where to begin, but since she was leader of the meeting she figured it was up to her to come up with a topic and she had one I mind. Though they were still waiting for Dolly, Derpy had a few things she could talk about that didn't require her presence.

"So, what was that crying about Trixie and what does it have to do with the magic book Twilight put in her bag before coming down here?" Derpy saw Trixie sigh before she started up the story of her past once again; it wasn't much of a secret. Telling the story to Twilight made it easier for her to get it out even more.

()

Marehute had to get back to the inn to prepare lunch as she was a tad behind, her guests changed her schedule slightly with the early morning romp through town and then Dolly goes missing, but she wasn't missing for long.

Marehute was behind Dolly talking to her in an excited manner; only Dolly wasn't listening as she already picked her stuff up from the Blacksmith. Her order wasn't the most difficult in the world to make and the blacksmith finished it faster then she thought he could, it was only about one in the afternoon.

Dolly had a sheath strapped to her back and hanging over her front left shoulder, inside the sheath was a hilt sticking out within range of her mouth to quickly pull out whatever the weapon was. On her two front legs were two plates of thick metal one each leg acting as bracers that were made for blocking incoming attacks and technically they were miniature flexible shields that didn't clank together as she walked letting her know the blacksmith did a good job. The two plates of metal on both legs covering the front of her legs and her front shoulders

"MARE', settle down. I'm not going to fight the wargs." Dolly certainly could have fooled her with her armored legs and a weapon strapped between her wings.

"Okay then, tell me you didn't ask the blacksmith for a weapon and those leg guards. I don't enjoy watching you come in injured you know." Marehute only receive a hoof for her to quiet down.

"The weapon I asked for, but I certainly didn't ask for the armoring, that was his idea." Dolly received a pair of rolled eyes in her direction.

"Of course it was, because only you would go into a fight with less then you really need and I guess he forced your hoof." Marehute eyed the weapon not sure what it was, the sheath was perfectly round and slightly loose, she really hoped it wasn't what she thought it was with the octagonal guard on the handle.

"I'm not fighting, I'm retreating and if the wargs happen to give chase then that's on me." Dolly received a scoff from Marehute, as if she hadn't ever retreated before.

"Seriously, I'm not going to fight the wargs unless they give chase to me and I'll be traveling fast and low to the ground when I set out tonight." Marehute opened the door to the Chipotle Inn waiting for Dolly to limp in; the bandages covering her left eye could be removed soon. Dolly's hind leg however, would have to remain splinted for whatever it is the crazy mare was going to be doing soon.

"How about we get those bandages off your eye so you can see and then we'll discuss how you'll be running from wargs instead of charging straight towards them. You've got me curious now." Marehute saw Dolly smirk and she really disliked that smirk, Dolly had a plan already and she didn't like that the plan would involve her friend being in worse conditions if she had her way. Sure Marehute can joke about Dolly being injured by betting on her to be injured every time she comes to Hippolytus, but she seriously didn't like the mare being so rash all the time in the name of the mailing system.

()

After having a nice lunch with Luna, Ditzy and her took off for Ponyville.

Ditzy liked Luna and apparently the princess wasn't so easily scared by her bizarre antics or even the thing with the explosive mud to bring down another construction project house. The construction crew was highly baffled when Ditzy explained how explosive mud would easily take down their newest design.

They; the construction crew, finally got a break from the ensuing madness Ditzy brought to their lives when Celestia walked up with an entourage smiling. She had all the workers line up and get a bottle of something to drink. The solar princess told them to specifically drink all of it and they listened, they were in laughing and or giggling fits as they were let off the project for some time to recuperate.

Celestia knew Luna wanted to spend time with Ditzy; it was good for both of them to interact and Canterlot's construction ponies' health. Especially if they all were able to relax for a while, before experimenting more to find a structurally sound building. They were making leaps and bounds in that area with how to make structures survive anything less than Ditzy herself. Celesia had watched them take off wistfully happy for her sister having another friend when the other was out there being dragged through dangerous territory with Dolly.

It wasn't long before Luna found that Ditzy wasn't a very good flyer, if her zigzagging and looping patterns weren't a visual cue that the pony never flied quite right. Soon Luna had a happily cheering Ditzy sitting on her transformed back, Luna had taking up a new bigger form one that was a lot brighter like the light of the moon and her mane sparkled with stars in its light blue hue.

"Jet zippy Luna, we are almost pear." Luna had learn to expect Ditzy's speech mannerisms and they were almost entirely on purpose or so the princess of the night had deduced given that Ditzy was crazy pony that somehow found exploding mud. Luna had even asked her sister before they took off if there was even such a thing as exploding mud and Celestia looked as baffled as she had when Ditzy was explaining it, which still didn't make that much sense given who was trying to explain it.

"Yes, I and Celestia don't have to worry about friction and as long as you're on me we'll get there in no time at all." Luna was proud of her new bizarre friend, no matter how strange or scary she is.

"Um… will you poly forms from distracting crowns in the armada of raisins?" Ditzy could speak as ludicrously as she could, but no matter how hard she tried Luna for some reason always understood her.

"Oh, right… thanks for reminding me, I can't just waltz into Ponyville looking like this, nor can I use my normal form as I will be recognized too easily. I'll need to come up with a disguise; I don't need ponies treating me like Celestia, I don't need flank kissers mind you and I'll be cross with you Ditzy if you ever start kissing mine because I..." After the past thousand years of flank kissing, Luna understood why Celestia had a plan for someone to take her down if necessary; she'd likely solar flare if she didn't have anyone who'd treat her like a normal pony. Looking at her back she saw a sheepish looking Ditzy about to kiss her on the flank and gave her a flat angry stare as Ditzy sat straight up and smiled a less manic looking smile.

"Were you about to literally kiss my flank, you're crazy Ditzy but I didn't think you were that crazy." Luna then let out a hearty chuckle, while Ditzy rubbed the back her head with a hoof as they set down outside Ponyville and Ditzy flapped her wings getting off of Luna's back as she transformed into a average aged mare that almost looked like her normal form except slight changes to her mark and hair color. She had change her mane and tail to a purplish blond, she altered her mark to look like a bubble with a crescent shape floating inside and her coat changed to a dark grey color as her horn became invisible.

"Blinking, Ditzy wondered what name Luna would come up with, as she took on the form like that of her three other acquaintances in the mailing business. She wondered if her name would start with a D, as most of her mailing team aside from substitute dispatcher Pinkie name begins with the letter D. Then again the letter P if rotated becomes a d. Did I leave the oven on before I left for Canterlot? If so I should really stop by Dipsy's house to turn it off." Ditzy was actually saying that out loud and Luna started laughing, the blond pony just found amazing ways to surprise her such as just spontaneously narrating herself.

"Ditzy just call me Dusky Dancer, now let's get to the spa I can't wait to talk about nocturnal animals with Fluttershy, my sister has told me so much about Twilight and her friends." Luna had an excited look on her face as she dragged Ditzy down the road with one of her wings wrapped around the confusing pony's waist.

Fluttershy was in for a surprise when they reached the spa; she was wearing a fashionable yellow and pink cloak. Her friend Rarity however had a most horrible reaction to seeing Ditzy, she ran in the opposite direction screaming.

"Hey Fluttershy It's me Luna, just call me Dusky. What's her problem?" Luna took in Fluttershy's timid nature and let her disguise drop for a minute before putting it back up to assure Fluttershy as to who she was.

"Oh, um… Ditzy destroyed her boutique a while ago and even after it was rebuilt she still hasn't been the same every time she spots her. What is she doing here by the way princess? If you don't mind me asking and if it's alright." Fluttershy scuffed the ground slightly with her front left hoof and hid behind her mane and cloak.

"None of that princess stuff please, we're friends. Well you said you always went to the spa with a friend so I brought one of mine too, she agreed to come and well I'm paying. Do you think we should wait for your friend to come back? Or do we go looking for her." Before Luna could get an answer Rarity charged right on back.

"I don't care if Ditzy is around I'm going to the spa no matter what with my friend and… oh hello there what's your name and why is she still here?" Rarity was doing something Fluttershy was known for doing, she was taking cover behind her Pegasus friend while sending Ditzy angry looks. Ditzy just stood there cross eyed and waiting for them to enter the spa not really caring about the situation, she recently remembered spas do mud baths and she happened to love mud, thus she was set for the evening.

"OH… Rarity, you remember when I told you about some other ponies joining us well…" Fluttershy turned her head to Luna and Ditzy, Luna took a bow and smiled politely while Ditzy had a butterfly fly up her nose causing her to sneeze and a house down the street collapsed. Rarity continued to cower behind Fluttershy, this spa visit wouldn't be normal as she could already tell.

"O…okay… just make sure that Ditzy doesn't come near me, I still have nightmares about it and please be a dear to remind me that I have to leave early to go hunt some gems for Spike." Rarity finally moved out from behind Fluttershy, but she was still very wary of the most destructive pony in Ponyville. Well most destructive aside from Twilight with her magic, Rainbow Dash when she was more reckless than usual, Applejack while tired and Pinkie when one of her balloons inexplicably explodes violently which causes her to urge everyone to exit the party room for a moment with a frantic look on her face.

Nothing bad had happened at the spa and they all had a reasonably good time, except for the fact that Ditzy wouldn't stop hogging all the warm mud in the mud bathing area and she partook slinging some of it as well. Luna and Ditzy would later get a hotel so Luna could spend some more time in Ponyville.

()

Twilight found out a lot of stuff about Trixie, she had to admit she didn't know much of a pony from first appearances. Right now they were sitting side by side at the dining table going over the first spell in book she had gotten from Simari. They were still waiting for lunch as it seemed Marehute was busy elsewhere.

"I don't get it, what good would summoning flowers be to anyone? Sure you could eat them, but it's barely worth the effort or the magic it takes to get them, not much of a trick really." Trixie received a quirked eye from Twilight and decided that maybe there was a thing to summoning flowers that could be of use to them.

"Depends on the flowers you summon my friend, some flowers are strong enough to bring some creatures to their end." Both the unicorns turned to look at the smiling zebra; they shuddered at the same time wondering if she'll go back to being normal. Twilight took a moment to look at Derpy who was staring off into space and balancing a hoof file on her nose, before turning back to Trixie to give her an idea as to how useful the spell could be.

"If I could cast spells like that I'd summon some Poison Joke, those flowers will affect almost any pony and the side effects could be helpful if they are affecting any aggressors and if you're careful with them not to get poisoned yourself." Turning to the doorway from the foyer Twilight and Trixie saw Dolly come in with Marehute; they took note of what Dolly had on her legs.

Dolly had the front of her front legs armored strapped tightly down and what looked to be a sword strapped across her back hanging to the left side of her face, her wings flared slightly showing her back was doing a bit better if still burnt, the left side of her face had three long scars running along it and her eye was relatively unscathed in the damage, plus her mane was back to the way it used to be almost hanging into the right side of her face.

Dolly's hind right leg however was still splinted, she didn't look half bad and seemed to give off a dark appearance which was offset by her currently soft grey eyes as she wandered up to their table and carefully sat down, her leg was obviously still an issue and she shouldn't be walking around on it.

"Right, what'll you be having, sorry for the wait but some pony has a strange plan in her head and who knows what she's going to do this time, not that she has plenty of friends who are worried about her here." Marehute was huffy even if she cared about Dolly; she took their orders with her feathers slightly ruffled and gave one last look to Dolly before shaking her head and stepping into the kitchen.

"I would like to call DERP to a meeting!" Derpy said flipping her hoof file off her nose and placing it into her bag. Derpy seemed unaffected by the warrior visage Dolly gave off, whereas Twilight and Trixie looked slightly worried. Zecora was unreadable as she was still not breaking that smile on her face.

"Well okay then, Derpy is who speaks first as she called meeting and what topic are we starting off with and make it quick because I've got plans. Also could some pony tell me what is wrong with Zecora and do any of you know where I can get some of whatever she's having?" Dolly said it with a blank tone almost completely without emotion receiving a few giggles in response for her pass at Zecora's constantly smiling face.

Derpy could tell that things were not all quite bright around Hippolytus if those warg things continued to attack. Dolly obviously wanted to do something akin to fighting them judging by the way she was currently equipped not to mention all the neat stuff she got from Pinkie that did cool spy things. It was a surprise that Twilight hasn't immediately tried to force anything out of Dolly about it yet or she was just really resisting the urge too.

"I want to hear what you're going to do first, before we get to other topics." Derpy got a simple smile from Dolly.

(End chapter)

Edit note: Did the best I could yet I know there are still plenty of mistakes to be had in my writing.