Anthology of Dziad

by dziadek1990

A bad day

Author's Note:

My very first MLP:FiM fanfic I've written & shared.

Originally submitted on 2011-12-04 on DeviantART here.

Twilight felt exhausted; the last ten hours of trying to figure out Pinkie's 'Pinkie Sense' haven't been forgotten yet by her sore body. Keeping her head low, she was slowly walking in the general direction of her house, trying to avoid ponies that were laughing and enjoying the sunny weather with their friends; she really wasn't in the mood and suspected that dealing with them would only make her more frustrated.

Her mood suddenly picked up, when she remembered about the very interesting book she had bought recently. Her walk quickly became springier, and less forced, as she grew giddy, looking forward to the moment when she will finally get her hooves on it and once again sink into the story she fell in love with.

Not even five minutes have passed before her daydreaming was cut short: surprised by a loud noise, Twilight panicked and accidentally ran into a lamp post, getting stunned for a good few seconds. When she came to her senses, she heard the noise repeat itself again and again, and realized it was some frustrated mare's angry shouts, coming from the front of a house, whose side she was now standing at.

"FIT, DARN YOU! WHY THE HAY WON'T YOU FIT?!"

The voice sounded familiar. Twilight rounded the corner of the building to see its owner, whose words now must've been heard by everypony in a thousand-foot radius – and they were; as soon as she passed the corner, she noticed a dozen-or-so other curious ponies looking in unison at a grey pegasus that was apparently wrestling with a piano.

Twilight did a double take; she realized that the foul-mouthed, blond-maned pegasus was actually trying to fit the piano through a door… its wide side facing forwards, which was almost twice as wide as the doorframe.

Seeing her derped eyes, she knew it was Ditzy Doo, a mail-pony that she has already met on number of occasions, mainly while receiving the many books she ordered.

The small crowd – that kept growing with every passing second – didn't even try to help her; they just watched her: some of them with looks of concern on their faces, but most of them with wide, amused grins. One mother that was passing with her children covered their ears from another wave of crude insults that came from the now-furious mare.

Ditzy finally looked at the gathering, apparently unable to ignore its presence any longer. She addressed it, trying to remain calm, with little success:

"And you: why the hay are you just standing there? I could've used some help over here!"

Twilight caught herself staring at Ditzy along with the others. She felt embarrassed for she silently criticized the crowd's behavior in her head, while she was doing the same. Ponies reacted to Ditzy's question with a murmur of voices; a few walked away, and another few tried to do something about it, but apparently didn't feel bold enough, so they continued their – now sheepish – stance. Ditzy squinted her eyes in further anger.

"BUCK YOU! I DON'T NEED ANY HELP ANYWAY!"

She pressed her back legs on the piano and strained her muscles. Her front legs slipped and she ended up landing on her face.

"DARN IT!" she shouted more in anger than in pain, and started spitting out the dirt that got into her mouth.

"Hey Ditzy, maybe I can help?"

The pegasus stopped spitting and looked up at Twilight with a confused look on her face.

"Do I know you?" she asked, her eyebrow crooked.

"… Oh! Um, yes, I mean – you might not remember me, but you're delivering me the books I order on a regular basis, and…"

"Ah, right: The Bookworm. God only knows how many times I strained my back from carrying those massive tomes. Girl, do you want me to get osteoporosis before I hit 30?"

Twilight stopped herself from explaining Ditzy what osteoporosis actually is.

"No… but I can help you with that piano, if you want."

She, too tried to ignore the crowd; being under the stares of a few dozen ponies made her feel uneasy. Ditzy, still thinking about Twilight's offer, seemed not to notice this.

"Help all you want, but you should know that the owner of this house is an idiot; he assured me that the piano is just the right size to fit through the door… right size my flank, if you ask me…"

She snorted sarcastically and gave the piano a little kick with her back leg.

"Um…" Twilight wondered how to tell Ditzy about her little mistake without insulting her; coming up with no ideas, she raised the slightly-damaged piano with her magic, rotated it 90 degrees, and levitated it gently into the house. Ditzy was watching this, slack-jawed and her eyes wide. She stood like that for nearly a minute – then she finally spoke:

"…Oh no, please don't tell me that I… oh GOD!!!"

Ditzy lied on the ground with her face buried in her hooves. She couldn't hide her blushing, though, which was clearly visible despite the gray fuzz covering her muzzle.

"… -oh-god-oh-god-oh-god-oh-god-…"

Twilight glared at the ponies that were still watching. She tried asking them politely to leave Ditzy alone; only a few ponies left, reluctantly. The second time, she tried to sound more firmly, and gave them an order to leave… with little success. Seeing Ditzy's borderline embarrassment and the crowd's lack of tact, she finally lost her patience.

Her horn started to glow with a purple light that a moment later wrapped itself around her neck and jaw. She opened her mouth, took a deep breath and…

"FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA, LEAVE HER ALONE!!!"

Twilight's magically enhanced voice exploded with force that sent spectators' manes flapping, as if they were caught in a strong wind. They were in such a shock, that it took them ten seconds of stunned silence before they finally came to their senses and slowly walked away, trying to pretend that nothing has happened.

"Thank you," she whispered when the last of the ponies disappeared behind the corner. She turned to the pegasus, that was still on the ground, gaping at her with wide-opened eyes. Her jaw was once more hanging low, giving Twilight a nice view of her tonsils.

Twilight's mind was still drifting around the book that she so much craved to read, but she didn't want to leave Ditzy like this. Feeling a bit awkward, she tried to help the mail-pony get back on her hooves.

"So… who ordered that piano?" she didn't really care about the answer; she just asked the question to take Ditzy's mind off recent events. I'll just make sure she'll be alright, and then off to my QUIET house, to read in solitude, she thought.

Ditzy looked at her weird, brooding over the question for a while, before answering:
"Dunno… some brown colt with a hourglass cutie mark. Can't really remember the name."

"Oh? Well that's too bad… Where is he?"

"Dunno where he is, but I do know he's not here. I was just supposed to arrive here and deliver the piano inside and be done with it."

"He left the door unlocked or did he leave the keys under the doormat, or something?"

"Nah; neither," she replied. "His roommate let me in."

She looked at one of the upper windows of the house. Twilight followed her gaze and noticed a blue mare with a short mane divided into two stripes of different colors: white and blue. She was apparently observing them for the entire time, amused curiosity visible on her face.

"Bitch…" said Ditzy, while glaring at her nemesis for another few seconds and then turned to Twilight:
"She opened the door for me and didn't lift a hoof to help me since. She perfectly knew about my… mistake, and yet did not say a word to correct me and save me all this embarrassment. She just chuckled – I had no idea what it meant at the time. Then the crowd started showing up. You know the rest of the story."

"So, you have any other things to deliver?" asked Twilight, feeling no need to talk any longer, knowing that Ditzy will be all right. By this point her book was practically calling out for her in her head: 'Read me, God dammit!'

"That was the very last delivery – and thank God, because I do not think I could withstand one more adventure today… just few hours ago I accidentally dropped other piano, an anvil and another few things while helping with their air transport… I hear they landed on some poor mare… I mean OUCH! Can you imagine that? Thankfully I also heard she's fine now, so there's that."

Not as fine as I'd like to be, Twilight thought, that painful event still fresh in her mind.

"So… I guess you'd like to go home now and rest, right?"

"Well DUH!" Ditzy said sarcastically and blushed slightly a moment later.

"I mean… sorry if I seem rude to you, but you know… had a really friggin' bad day, and… you know how it goes."

"Yes, I do. So… see ya!" Twilight waved her hoof and started to turn around…

"WAIT!"

Twilight got startled for the second time in the last few minutes, but managed this time not to collide with anything. She turned around, seeing one of Ditzy's eyes focused on her, while the other was still glaring at the hated mare in the window.

"It feels kinda awkward, but I just never really remembered the recipient name section on your mail, even though I must've delivered already dozens of books to you, and I know you only as 'The Bookworm'… Do you mind telling me your name?"

Twilight's racing heart started calming down; for a moment she expected something more… serious.

"No, not at all," she answered, "My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"It was nice to have met you, Twilight," said Ditzy and reached out with her hoof.

Twilight looked at it, then at Ditzy's crazy eyes, her face beaming with gratitude, which in turn made HER smile.

"Yeah," she said and shook Ditzy's hoof, for a few seconds completely forgetting about the beloved book waiting for her at home.

"It was nice to meet you as well."