It’s 6 AM and the Celestia’s sun is starting to get high in the sky. While I may have just gotten out of bed, that doesn’t mean I have exactly been awake for hours. Today is the day I’m expecting a package. About six weeks ago, I ordered a telescope in mail so I can start my stargazing. Ever since I overheard some ponies talk about the joys of stargazing, I’ve been interested in giving it a shot. I picked up some books about the hobby from the library (rather, when we still had one in Ponyville), and it seemed to interest me.
I trotted by the window to peer outside the window to look at my mailbox. Nothing was out there, despite the sound of the noisy birds trying to let Equestria that it was morning. I should know better, the mail doesn’t come bright and early right in the morning. Perhaps I’m just excited to start the new hobby to break up the dullness and laziness in my life.
Out of the corner of my eye, I did see somepony coming towards my home. I took a few steps toward the door and stepped out. And that’s when I saw her. It was a mailmare, but not one I’ve ever seen near my house. She had a blonde mane and a great coat. She had her uniform and bag on for the postal service, but what really drew my attention was her eyes. They seemed off, crooked even.
She was humming a tune, something playful and bouncy. It certainly matched her demeanor, happy and sunny as that yellow orb in the sky. It looked like you could tell her that Discord had turned all clothing into living creatures and she would be excited that she could make a new friend.
At my mailbox, she started to dig into her mailbag as I trotted close to her.
“Hello!” she exclaimed as she saw me.
“Hello,” I returned the pleasantry.
“I brought you the mail!” She continued to dig into her bag as if it was a portal to another dimension.
I just cut right to the chase, “Any packages?”
“Packages? Packages?” the mailmare said aloud. She stopped digging and raised her hoof up to her head and tapped it as if it would help her think. “Nope! Sorry, no packages for this address today.”
“Oh, alright,” I replied with a touch of sadness, “Well, I did say four to six weeks for delivery and what not.” After reassuring myself, I did bring up another question, “By the way, I haven’t seen you around here before. What happened to good ol’ Stamps?”
The mail envoy replied with a bright smile, “He’s dead!”
“What?!”
“That is, he is dead to the Ponyville Postal Service, as he got a better job at the central processing plant for all of Equestria’s mail,” she clarified, “It’s a really neat job and we had a large going away party for him.”
I was a little confused why she would use such a phrase to describe the promotion. I shook myself back to reality. “So he’s no longer here, huh?”
“And that means I’m your new mailmare!”
“Nice to meet you,” I said as I raised my hoof up to shake with her’s. Our hooves touched and we shaked. I knew it was rude, and I honestly tried my hardest not to, but I couldn’t help but stare at her crooked eye. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything out of politeness or not wanting to embarrass me. Either way, I was thankful she didn’t.
Our hooves separated and she pulled out a few letters from her bag. “I do still have some mail for you.”
I took the letters from her, thanking her. I glanced over it and it seemed to be nothing of real importance.
“Well, I still have a lot of mail to deliver,” she made a motion to her overloaded bag, “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Yes, of course. Thank you, ma’am.”
She continued humming her harmony as if she hadn’t even stopped and continued down the dirt road to the next mailbox.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early to rise with Celestia’s sun. I wanted to meet with that mailmare again. There was something about her that caught my attention. Perhaps it was that weird looking eye of her’s. Maybe her radiant disposition was nice to be around. Or maybe I’m just really selfish and want that telescope I ordered.
With a cup of coffee in my hooves, I sat down on the stoop of my house and waited. The air was nippy, but the sun was doing it’s job and warming up all of the land. It was nice being outside and waiting for the mail. The birds were singing and some of the forest critters wandering around. It was kind of magical in it’s own way. If my lethargy had it's way, I wouldn't be able to enjoy such niceness.
Before, I knew it, I had drunk all my coffee and it was 10 AM. This is really odd considering she stopped by my house yesterday bright and early. Perhaps yesterday was just a fluke, I thought to myself, the mail isn’t supposed to arrive right at the crack of dawn. What kind of business model would that be? Besides, gold ol’ Stamps always took his time delivering mail because he liked to stop and talk. I guess I would just be fine getting my mail later in the evening after work.
My body drained and soul exhausted from the long hours at work, I was surprised I found myself even trotting home as Luna’s moon started to peek from behind the horizon. Nevertheless, the thought of getting home and sprawling out on my bed drove me to keep going. Sometimes, being lazy is what kept me going at work.
With my home in view, I sense of relief washed over me. I would have forgotten about my mailbox if I didn’t brush up against it on my way towards the front door.
Right, the package, I thought to myself, it should be here now.
I opened the mailbox to find it empty.
“Really?” I said aloud to nopony.
It really didn’t add up. It was almost nightfall and the mail still hasn’t arrived. Did they forget me again? Did the new mailmare make a mistake?
“Or maybe I didn’t get anything. After all, I’m such a popular pony that I live all the way out here in the boondocks,” I sarcastically said to myself.
While I did want to continue my own conversation, my body didn’t want to have any part of it. The tired and overworked muscles in my body carried me toward the front door. That was, until I heard something from behind me:
“Omigosh! Wait!”
Turning around, I see that grey mailmare from yesterday. She looked disorganized and struggling with her bag of mail. I hurried over to help her in case she tripped, despite the protesting of my body. She stopped at the mailbox to catch her breath. Between the panting, I could see that she still had that same smile from yesterday.
“Are you okay?” I asked, offering a helping hoof.
Raising her head, she smiled a smile that would light up the darkest nights. While everything else about the situation might have given the impression that she was worried about the delay in the mail or even a reprimand for the mistake, her smile said that she was still happy and even enjoying all of it.
“Uh-huh! I’m great! Sorry, I’m running late today!” she said with a bounce in her voice.
Her smile was infectious, as I found myself smiling. Most likely it was at her saying she was okay.
“I do have some mail for you today,” she said as she pulled out another batch of letters. No package, however.
“Oh, thank you, ma’am,”
“Oh, you don’t have to call me ‘ma’am’, I’m just a simple mailpony!”
I really didn’t know how to reply to that. “Well, thank you for delivering my mail. May I ask why you we’re late?”
With a smile, he explained, “It’s kinda funny since I grabbed the wrong mailbag for my first route this morning and I delivered all of the mail to the wrong addresses! I had to go back and get that mail to deliver it properly and then go back. I just didn’t see it was the wrong bag! That’s what happens when you have a lazy eye!”
I looked right at her, particularly at her aforementioned lazy eye, “Goodness, sounds like you had a very rough day. Would you like a glass of water or something?”
“It’s okay! I still have some more mail to deliver before the end of the night.” She adjusted the bag on her body as if to brace herself for galloping. “See you tomorrow!” As quickly as she came, the grey mailmare disappeared down the road to the next house to deliver the mail.
I watched her disappear before I turned my attention to the few stars starting to peek through the dark night sky. Eventually, I finally went inside.
I had to wake up early for work the next morning, so I couldn’t wait around for that strange yet engaging envoy of the postal service. Unsurprisingly, work drained me physically, mentally, and emotionally. Upon arriving home, I checked the mail to see that it hadn’t arrived yet. My first guess was that something like yesterday happened and didn’t think too much of it. With half-interest, I read a book, waiting for that mailmare to arrive. She didn’t. I went to sleep.
The next day was the same. Wake up. Coffee. Work. Exhaustion. Long trot home through the night. Arrival with no mail in sight. I was somewhat expecting it. I went inside and started to read about the stars again. I wanted to be able to look up at the sky and observe the distant stars.
My silent reading was broken up by a knock at the door. Upon opening the door, I found the grey mailmare standing in the cold night with that bright smile she always was wearing.
“Hello!” She didn’t wait for me to say anything.
“Oh, hey there.”
Out of seemingly nowhere, she pulled out a box “Look what I found!”
It took me a moment to take notice, but it was the very same box that I ordered so long ago. “My package! What took it so long?”
The mailmare answered my rhetorical question, “I found it hiding in our post office! I feel so bad I didn’t get it to you sooner! That’s why I wanted to make a special delivery for it! Ta-da!”
I took the box from her and double checked the addresses, confirming it was what I had ordered.
“What’s inside? A care-package from your family?”
I wanted to respond to the second half of her statement truthfully, but I held my tongue. “It’s a telescope I ordered about a month and a half ago. I’ve been wanting to take up stargazing as a hobby.”
“Stargazing?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ve wanted to start looking up at the stars and get into astronomy. I just think it’s so interesting taking a look at all of the stars up there, like in a big arena in the sky. It’s just so vast up there and I want to take a look at the universe beyond Equestria. I wanted to try it out and break out of the monotony of my boring and dull life.” I stopped and remembered what I just said and then apologized, “Sorry, I know that sounds really dumb.”
“I don’t think it’s dumb. I like the stars,” her smile was warm.
I smiled back. It took me a moment to realize I was genuinely smiling at her.
She then continued on, “So, I saw that you don’t get much mail, do you?”
I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to blatantly say that she was right, and that I didn’t have much in the way of friends. “I….don’t really write to anypony….”
“Maybe I can be your penpal?”
This puzzled me. “Don’t you work for the postal service?”
“That makes it more fun!”
I was silent.
Her manner changed from the happy-go-lucky that I have come to expect from this mailmare to a serious but welcoming attitude, “I know what it’s like to not smile, and all I really want to do is make ponies smile. I might just be your mailmare, but I also want to be your friend!”
Her words gave me goosebumps, partly because it was cold outside, but mostly because a pony wanted to go out of their way to be my friend. Because they were worried about me. They cared about me.
I could only respond with one word: “Really?”
“Really really,” her smile beamed.
I smiled back and looked at the package and then back to her. “Would you like to come in and open my telescope with me?”
“Sure!”
I stepped aside and invited her inside my home.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
END