Birds chirped happily in the trees that morning, as they did every day since winter had been wrapped up; ahead of time for once, too. They swooped from their lofty nests and descended upon the sticks that still lay upon the soggy earth from the previous night's rain. The still-fresh shower that happened overnight had thrown the tell-tale scent of dew into the air, as well as a few unlucky worms for the birds to feast upon and continue the circle of life.
However, many ponies in the small town of Ponyville remained asleep, even as their monarch laboured to usher in the day for them. Yet, despite its small size, the rural farming village had its own fair share of early risers, including a lone mare that dwelled within a modest home near the town's heart. The sound of those morning birds and the smell of the fresh dew wafted in through her still-open window, gently rousing her from her dreams.
The gray mare moaned and raised a hoof to cover her face as a particularly noisy bird flew into her room and chirped loudly in her ear. As much as she wanted to remain in her soft, warm bed, she was a mare of duty, so no matter how much she wished otherwise, she pulled herself up and tore off the sheets. With its job complete, the little bird quickly flew out of her window to continue on its route, as she had to do herself. Picking up the comb from her bedside table, the blonde pony gave it a quick run through her mane before trotting out the door.
By choice or duty, she was a morning mare through and through, even if she risked a dangerous fall near the bottom of her stairs, where the morning sun had the vexing habit of trying to blind her and make her tumble down the remainder. She shielded her amber eyes with a wing to negate it almost completely, which was a good thing, since she noticed she needed to preen herself soon. Of course, it would have to wait as she was running late enough as it was.
Checking her internal schedule, she still had enough time for a quick breakfast before she had to be out the door, but was quickly sidetracked by what she saw on the table. It was a book she had left out the night before, 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', written by none other than the remarkable Burning Jewels, who lived over a hundred years ago and spoke of marvels yet to be realized. She smiled at her own expense: how could she have left such a classic out in the open like that?
Quickly gathering it in her mouth, the Pegasus mare took flight and quickly glided into her, admittedly small, private library. She would have to remedy that situation soon: hopefully today, if her plan would permit it. Ponyville did not have a very big bookstore and what it did have was generic fiction and romance novellas; nothing she found palatable, at least. Of course, there was always the library, but she had become too nervous to venture near it ever since the new librarian took up residence.
But enough of my own problems, she quietly chided herself. There was still work to be done, and she was teetering dangerously close to being tardy. So, to remedy the situation, she made herself a quick bowl of Hay O's and trotted out the door. With a quick flourish of her wing, she scooped her blue mailpony's hat off the rack and bound out the door with a chipper smile on her face and locked the door behind her. Sure, the town was safe from the likes of thieves, but one could never be too careful.
Of course, a career in the Royal Equestrian Postal Service was not the first choice she would have chosen as a filly, but it required very little talking nor any special training other than a small crash course on postal codes and ethics, like not tampering or opening another pony's mail. Truth be told, it was menial work that was beneath her, but no pony would ever believe that, so she kept her grievances to herself. Besides, she had grown accustomed and even partial towards her duties.
With a quick flick of her wings, the gray mare flew up into the sky, the bubbles upon her flank gleaming along with the dew upon the emerald grass in the early morning light. There was nothing quite like the crisp air early in the morning to wake her up, even in the depths of winter when she ran the risk of frostbite. She could spend hours up in the open sky, stopping only to rest on the occasional cloud, if she were not so dedicated.
She landed in front of the Ponyville Post office, slowing her landing gait into a trot as she rounded the building to enter the back door. It was a small building emblazoned with the symbol of the Royal Postal Service: a letter with a blue stamp bearing the royal seal. Yet, despite its size, they managed to get through the task of collecting, sorting and distributing the mail every weekday sans mandatory holidays.
The bell above her head dinged gently as she opened the door. "Morning, Derpy!" chirped the newest member of the team. She was an earth pony who sported a lavender coat and a bubblegum pink mane that gracefully cascaded down her head and onto her shoulders. Upon her flank was the image of a speeding letter, hinting at her apparent love for the postal system and expedient delivery. Derpy Hooves smiled back and waved to the new pony. She had yet to learn her name, but it was something akin to Fairybelle.
"Pickles fly!" the blonde Pegasus replied before her face dropped. She always had trouble controlling what nonsense spewed out of her mouth, and when she was coherent, it was usually in the most deluded, dull-witted tone imaginable. It was no secret to her that most of the ponies in town held her in contempt and spoke in whispers; calling her stupid, or even retarded. Sadly, she had become all too used to the names and their condescending attitude.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Derpy!" Fairybelle covered her mouth as a giggling fit subsided. "It's just that you say the funniest things sometimes! No hard feelings?" The blonde Pegasus shrugged her off and trotted over to her locker to put her lunch away and get ready for her shift. Although she had only been in town a few days, the new girl had been exposed to the rumor mills already.
How could she ever hope to approach the resident librarian on the same intellectual level?
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
Regardless of her earlier encounter, be it boundless optimism or naiveté on her part, Derpy decided to go through with her initial plan. Ever since her first extremely brief encounter with the new librarian, she had felt the spark of two kindred spirits interacting. While the unicorn was more of a scholar to her experience and intuition, she felt the pair of them together could make a formidable intellectual force. Perhaps, fantasy of fantasies, she could help her find a way to dispel her galling curse?
Her saddle bags began to dig into her back as the mare went about her early morning route to collect the daily mail. Among the usual stack of letters was a package from Bon-bon to her mare friend Lyra Heartstrings. The smell of chocolate lingered in her muzzle form when she stuck her head in the mailbox to receive the package, making her stomach grumble in protest. Perhaps she could grab a muffin during her lunch break?
However, as she trotted along her route, haunting butterflies began to flutter around in the depth of her stomach, cooling her hooves about her plan. It would be so easy to just accept her letters and say nothing. On Wednesdays, the librarian would almost always send out a letter to Canterlot: possibly friends or family since she had heard through the grapevine that she was native to the capital city.
Eventually, the enigmatic library peeked out from between buildings and trees the closer she got, weaving in between throngs of ponies, mostly parents and foals heading to school. A couple of them greeted the blonde Pegasus, to which she would smile and raise a hoof in greeting. She liked foals, if only because they could not make fun of an adult, or did not understand what their parents called her... yet.
Derpy bit her lip as she slowly approached the giant tree that housed Ponyville's library within. It still amazed her how big the tree was, never mind that it could still live while being essentially hollow inside. Either a powerful unicorn enchanted the plant, or it was a building turned into a tree. Regardless of the circumstance, it was still quite an impressive sight, even if most did not give it a second glance as they passed.
She raised her hoof tentatively to the door, since the library did not have a mailbox outside for her to open anonymously. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door in a pattern the librarian would recognize. At first, she was a little nervous that she had not heard, or that she had no mail to send out that day as it took her longer than usual to reply. "Just a minute!" a voice cried out some seconds after her knocks.
"Oh, Hello," the lavender pony replied with a smile on her face after sticking her head out the door. "Sorry about the delay, but Spike was being his usual UNPRODUCTIVE self," she added while throwing a look of spite back inside to a point hidden by the door frame.
"I haven't eaten yet, Twilight! What do you expect?" a voice from beyond whined.
The purple unicorn shook her head and rolled her eyes as she sighed, clearly frustrated, but doing her best to shrug it off. "Boys," she remarked flatly before turning to grab some letters from a side table by the door. Derpy grabbed the letters from the unicorn's magical hold with her teeth and carefully tucked them into a sleeve in her mailbag. Her apprehension began to mount as she started to linger at the door. She had planned to run early for this, but the window was tight.
Derpy scuffed her hoof against the ground and bit her lower lip as the pressure began to mount. It was always a struggle to try and force the words out of her mouth, and even then there was no guarantee she could do it without sounding like a total moron. Twilight, meanwhile, stepped back nervously, as it looked like the mailmare was about to have some sort of attack. "Are... you okay?" she asked with apprehension.
"I... Icicles like fish!" she blurted out at random. Her eyes widened in shock and she covered her mouth with her hoof, trying desperately to get it out just one more time. "Kelp tickles fairies in a glen!"
"Er... okay..." Twilight trailed as she regarded the pony in front of her. Derpy's expectations dropped as she saw the mixture of sympathy and revolt in her eyes as she spoke, clearly off-put by her inane outbursts. "Well... I'm sure you have a lot of work to do, and I JUST remembered this fascinating book I found this morning that I really should get started so see you later!"
With a flick of her neck and wave of magic, the door slammed into her face as softly as it could, making the blond mare's ears droop and head drop as she realized what had just occurred. If she did not hear or accept the rumors before, she sure did now after that disaster. Why was it that whenever she just wanted to talk to a pony, she could never do so on her terms?
It took all of Derpy's willpower to stop herself from crying right on the spot. Instead, she summoned all of her courage and trudged away from the library. It was incredibly unfair that her STUPID disability kept her from making friends and stopped ponies from seeing the kind of mare she was underneath. Every time I try to talk to others, even when I wish to only help, it always ends in disaster. Why am I cursed so? Regardless of her own demons, she reminded herself that she had a job to do, and neither rain, nor hail, nor dark of night could keep a mailpony from her appointed rounds. No matter how much she wanted to crawl under something and weep.
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
Derpy paused outside of the door into the postal office and sighed. Despite trying her best to remain aloof, the disaster with Twilight had affected her and her daily routine. Looking at the clock tower in the nearby square, she could tell she was at least five minutes late and her boss was an absolute stickler for punctuality. He once reduced a mare to tears on her first day for going down the wrong street and turning up a quarter hour late for sorting. So, her hopes not high for getting away, what would it hurt to pause a few seconds to clean herself up?
"Derpy!" the brown, grizzled stallion chided the moment she stepped in the door. "You're late, you confound featherbrain! Do you even understand the concept of being on time, you idiot!? Now the sorters have five minutes less to do their work, thanks to you!"
"Kumquats," she muttered apologetically to her boss as she walked into the back room. He did have a point, even if he was not the most sensitive stallion around. She dropped her bag off at the sorting tables and quickly deposited her uniform into her locker, since it would be an hour and a half until they were ready to deliver.
Normally, she would take her own packed lunch and eat in the breakroom. However, she did not think she could suffer the slings and arrows of their condescending glares and exclusion of her from any conversation. Besides, there was only one thing that could get her through the day, and she had neglected to pack one in her lunch. She took a deep breath when she stepped outside to savour the early spring scent in the air, calming her down so she could go out in public without being too obvious about how upset she was.
Her destination was a haven in times both good and bad. As well, it boasted itself as the residence of a mare who could cheer up anypony, no matter how sad they were, even if they did not know it. Sugarcube Corner dominated the square it sat in, being the only building in all of Ponyville that appeared to be made of gingerbread and candy. In the back of her mind, she felt sorry if there were ponies that could not eat sweets and lived nearby.
The building was swamped with other like-minded mares and colts, hoping to drop off some hard-earned bits during their lunch for a treat. The proprietors were happily swamped, even with their hired hoof running around like a chicken with her head cut off. "Oh, hey Derpy!" she smiled at the sight of one of her limitless friends while trying to balance a stack of boxes filled with cupcakes. "I'll be with you in a second, okay? Woah!" She stumbled forward, catching herself in the nick of time.
With either great luck, or great skill, the pink party pony landed the boxes on top of the counter and in their correct places. "Well, that was lucky! So, what kind of muffin can I get for you today? We have some blueberry, chocolate, hay and whole wheat that are fresh and ready to go!" Although normally a bit of an extroverted motor mouth, Pinkie Pie still knew when to keep her mouth shut and get down to business.
Derpy considered her options for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "Bumblefoot, turkey."
Pinkie smiled in that radiant, toothy grin that made her famous in the small town. It was like a weapon of mass uplifting, as even something so minimal could raise Derpy's spirits, even if only just a little bit. "Okie dokie! I had a feeling you'd be over today, so I saved one especially for you!"
If there was one saving grace about Ponyville it was this mare. Pinkie Pike not only had infinite tenacity and a desire to see everyone happy, but she was probably the only pony in all of Equestria who could understand her murmurings and knew that, beneath the surface, she was not mentally deficient. Sure, the gray Pegasus could be clumsy and uncoordinated, but the pink mare could see what others did not. Derpy had tried to employ her as a translator of sorts, but they would shrug it off as Pinkie inserting words into her mouth for sport.
"Here you go, Derpy! I hope I put... enough... on? Are you okay?" she spoke as she gazed into her amber eyes. The blond Pegasus could tell they were not 'derped' as everypony call it, so the reason for the stare mystified her. "You look sorta sad," she added, sealing the deal in stone.
Derpy looked away, suddenly taking interest in a cabinet beyond the tangled poof of bubblegum pink mane. She did not want to lie to her, especially if she figured it out so quickly. So, without naming names she decided to vent a little bit of her frustration. "Lions nest in spring while bees sting on the dot. Light sinks in the cupcake sea."
"Oh," the pink pony spoke in realization. "Well... she can be a fuddy-duddy like that, but Twilight is an okay mare when you get to know her! You've just gotta try a different approach!" Derpy's mouth drooped as she went, somehow able to tell exactly who she was referring to based on the scant details provided. How she did so was a mystery, but she had learned long ago not to question 'Pinkie Logic' as she called it. "Even if you made a complete embarrassing disaster of the first try, you still have the second one to make up for it! Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but the muffin is on me!"
After futilely debating with the pink pony on the ethics of being given free merchandise just because she felt she needed it, Derpy trotted out of the store with the free muffin in her bag. Although she had plenty of time before she had to be back, she went straight back to work, as the infectious optimism had her feeling like she could take on anything! However, her advice still bounced around in her brain. She knew she would have to find a new approach to communicate with Twilight, but...how was she going to do it?
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
A couple of days later, the blonde Pegasus sat in the breakroom during her lunch with a carefully opened letter and a sheet of paper in front of her. While it was normally a felony to open another pony's mail, she had received written consent from a stallion on her route to do so, but only for when letters from his sibling in Huffington came into the office.
To put it kindly, his brother's writing was akin to a drunken chicken who had found a pen and a pad to make a mess on. Only she could translate the... unique state of the writing if only because it reminded her about herself in a way. While on the surface it looked like an affront to the Equestrian language, it actually had the fluidity and depth one would find in poetry. With a simple flourish of the last letter, she carefully resealed the envelope and placed it into her bag.
"DERPY!" her boss called out. "Your route is finished! Come and collect your letters, on the double!" Securing her carrier onto her back, she glided into the next room where a large stack of letters sat on a desk. About a dozen ponies sat behind a single long table, looking at addresses on the letters before sorting them by town, or by neighbourhood for delivery. She carefully picked up a bunch of letters for her area and placed them in her bag since the stack was too big to grab them all at once.
Weighed down by two full saddlebags of mail, flying was more difficult for her, even if it was the most efficient means of locomotion most of the time. The energy needed to take off and land the number of times required would leave her burned out after her shift. So, she usually handled the first few buildings on the ground. Then, when she was not weighed down so much, she would fly at the end of her route.
Overall, it was a fairly normal afternoon, which thankfully did not include the library. It had only been a couple of days since the disastrous meeting, so she tried to keep her distance as much as possible until she could come up with a plan 'B'. That is, of course, if even having a second plan would do any good after what had happened the last time.
Eventually, she came upon the house owned by the pony who allowed her to read and translate the mail from his brother, knocking happily on his door since he worked as a night guard at the hospital. The door opened to a sleepy brown stallion with an askew black mane and the mark of a flashlight upon his flank. "Oh. Afternoon, Derpy," he yawned as he rubbed some sleep out of his eyes. "I guess I have a letter from my brother if you're here?"
"Fish paste," she replied before burying her muzzle into her bag and pulled out the letter, complete with her translations. He smiled and grabbed the letter from her with his teeth, gingerly pulling the paper away from her. He opened it right there and smiled at both versions of the letter inside the envelope.
"You know..." he spoke as he admired the effort. "You have a real talent for writing, Ms. Hooves. I love my brother dearly, but he could not write to save his life. Yet, here you are able to understand him and let the brilliance he hides on paper shine through. Thank you again for taking the time to do this."
In that beaming face and those kind words, an epiphany washed over the amber-eyed Pegasus. Of course! Why hadn't I have thought of it before! I'm so stupid! She smiled back at the wonderful, inspirational stallion, although he would never know why. With a quick wave, she walked away with her head held high, giddy with excitement over her newest idea. She would have a bit of time to prepare too, so she could properly deal with the situation!
Suddenly, she was quite looking forward to her next encounter with Twilight Sparkle.
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
A week to the day after the disaster of a first impression, the dutiful mailmare was going at full steam once more with a bright smile plastered on her face. This time, instead of butterflies, an air of confidence surrounded her, allowing her to go through with her secondary plan without fear of ridicule from the lavender pony. The solution was so simple that she was surprised that it did not make it to the cut as her initial plan.
However, the mare had not shown up that morning when she knocked on her door to receive her mail. Either she was out, or had nothing going out, but either way, her plan would succeed. So, taking a deep breath, she broke from her afternoon route to drop off what she needed to, walking towards the library at a brisk pace, or else face reprimand from her boss again.
Coming to the door, she knocked diligently upon the wooden surface, right in the middle of the candle painting. What a candle had to do with a library stumped the Pegasus, but she ignored it for the moment as the sound of hooves upon wood thundered inside. The door suddenly opened to reveal a frazzled and visibly annoyed Twilight Sparkle. Her mane was a mess and there were bags under her twitching eyes. "WHAT IS IT!?" she shouted the instant she opened the door, making the mailmare's ears ring.
"Oh... Sorry about that," the mare apologized as she realized she was shouting at an innocent bystander.
"Jellyfish!" Derpy chirped happily before reaching into her bag to produce her mail. She had to barter a little with the pony who usually handled Twilight's stop, but she managed to get it for the day in exchange for a week's supply of her famous muffins.
"Don't you usually take my outgoing mail?" she questioned as her magic grabbed a hold over the items in her mouth. "Thank you, regardless." Without another word, the Pegasus was on her way, tail happily swishing back and forth as she walked with a light canter. "It must be nice to be such a simple pony," the scholar remarked as she shut the door and checked on her mail.
Among the stack of papers, the mare found her long-awaited issue of 'Magic Monthly Magazine' as well as a letter from family she did not get the chance to visit or talk to very often. However, among the pile was a curious letter with her name in writing over the front. "Why is Princess Celestia sending me letters through the mail?" she asked before she could get a proper look at the envelope. It bore no sending or return address or stamps. Only her name and a Royal Equestrian Postal Services seal on the flap were on it.
Intrigued, she placed all of her other letters onto her side table by the sign out desk and walked into the kitchen so she could be more comfortable to read. Turning a tiny bit of her aura into a blade, she cut open the seal and pulled out the letter. In that moment, she realized that it could not be from the princess, since the structure of the cursive writing had more emphasis on swoops over tall lettering.
"Miss Twilight Sparkle," the letter started.
"I would like to take this time to apologize for my abysmal behaviour last Wednesday. I believe I gave you the wrong impression: that of an imbecile who can only speak in inane outbursts. As you might have guessed by now, this is not the case, even if most of the town believes so. In fact, I simply wanted to invite you to Mr. Shakes last Saturday afternoon to talk and get to know one another, as I have heard that you are quite the bibliophile; a hobby we share.
Nevertheless, to explain my conduct, I experience a mental block in my vocal abilities that renders me unable to utter much more then random gibberish save for 'muffin' and its plural form, 'muffins'. In addition, I possess a curious pair of lazy eyes that tend to drift to opposite corners. The local expression for this occurrence is to say that my eyes have become 'derped,' in reference to my name.
I have yearned for some time to converse with an intellectual equal such as yourself: however, communication may be an issue between us given the above. I realized that after our initial meeting last week and have sought a compromise. In short, should you wish to meet, you could talk to me normally and I would bring along a pad and pen in order to write my innermost thoughts. It is not something I would do with anypony, but I have grown to admire you in a platonic capacity.
If you are interested, please intercept me on my route tomorrow, or leave a visible token on your door. To conclude this missive, I would simply like to apologize for startling you, as you seemed to be when I first spoke. Please, forgive me.
Hoping to converse soon,
Derpy Hooves"
Twilight had to reread the letter a couple of time to comprehend it, not that it was difficult, but because she could not bring herself to believe Derpy of all ponies had written it. From all she had heard and seen, she was not the smartest of ponies in town, to put it politely. So how could she write a letter as fluent, comprehensive and articulate as this? Her mind quickly came to a logical conclusion: it was actually a more intelligent friend of hers who wrote the letter for her, as a joke.
Of course, there was the possibility that she was telling the truth and that she was actually a lot smarter then she let on. If she could see her write, and if it was exactly like the letter in composition and content, then she would give her the benefit of the doubt. For now, however, she had a meddlesome baby dragon to deal with, which she had forgotten by her sudden knock on the door. "Hold it, mister!" she spoke as she saw his tail in a crack on the door. "You're still in trouble."
~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~
That Saturday, there was a moderate, cooling breeze that rolled through town in the afternoon, which carried the crisp whispers of a winter past. It was the kind of day where wearing a scarf or boots would make a pony too hot, but going without would be too cold. Thankfully, having thick scales meant that differences in temperature were simply a comfort issue. That is, if he was not immersed in freezing cold water while taking a nap.
Speaking of his favourite pastime, Twilight's engagement with the mailmare gave him the prime opportunity to squeeze one in since nopony really came into the library anyway. So, the minute she left, he had found a nice place to curl up, near an open window and under a layer of blankets. Occasionally, a strong gust of wind would blow in and cause him to turn over in his sleep.
"Oh, Rarity..." he muttered, "Worry not, for Sir Spike is here to save you from the evil dragon." A smile crept upon his face as the white pony embraced him, their lips about to make contact when a loud noise ripped him from his fantasy. "Uhh... who has the nerve?" he asked to himself as he tried to settle back in.
"Spike!" sounded a shout from a familiar voice. "Spike, can you come down?"
The baby dragon muttered darkly as he unwrapped himself from his nest of blankets. "It's supposed to be our day off, doesn't she know I like to NAP on those?" With half-lidded eyes and a weary trudge, he left the bedroom and slowly walked down the stairs, hoping it would be obvious to her just how annoyed he was. "Yeah? What do you want, Twi?"
"Could you please take a letter?" she asked politely, probably having received the hint. Spike walked over to the drawer where she kept the quill, ink and parchment. Out of the corner of his eye, he could not help but notice the curious look on her face. He had never seen her make such an expression before, but she looked ashamed, humiliated and slightly envious. Of course, he could have been mistaken.
With a quill and parchment in hand, he threw himself onto a plush pillow for guests to read on. "Okay, shoot!" he replied with his tools at the ready. Just because he was annoyed did not mean he could neglect his duties to his oldest and dearest friend.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
Building on a previous letter about never judging a book by its cover, I have learned that the same can apply to a pony you think you know. You never truly know a pony until you sit down with them and get to really talk to them and learn their interests. Sometimes, you might be pleasantly surprised at what you find that they keep other ponies from seeing, or what others cannot see without it being pointed out to them.
On a more personal note, I also learned that there are many types of intelligence and just because one is smart in certain matters, it does not necessarily give them the right to look down upon others of a different kind of intelligence.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle."
--- The End ---
