//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Caretaker // by Zauberelefant //------------------------------// "And the pony in this house is called Star Gazer and his cutie mark is a big glass machine on three legs", Derpy explains as you get to a tall house with an unusually flat roof, "And he said that the machine is called a telescope and it means that his special talent is looking at stars. And then I said that that's a really good special talent because the stars are pretty and looking at them is fun and that made him laugh and he said that he also does things that are more complicated than just looking." Derpy's story makes you wonder what Astronomy would be like in a world where the movement of the stars is governed by two magical horse princesses but you doubt that she would be able to give you a good explanation. Anyways, apparently now finished with her story Derpy opens up her bag and starts looking through it, stopping at the letter S for Stirrup Street. She retrieves the relevant letters, and after making sure that the address on them indeed matches up with the house in front of her, she puts them into the mailbox. With a small smile on her face Derpy closes her bag again, happily trotting towards the next house. Though there is still a lot of mail left for Derpy to deliver, she has already made quite a bit of progress. Skydancer said that the letters have been piling up recently because Derpy didn't show up for work which is why her workload is extra heavy today, but honestly it's not so bad. While you wouldn't exactly describe it as mentally challenging, walking around Ponyville with Derpy has been pretty nice so far. For almost every pony in town Derpy can tell you their name and some sort of anecdote, and to be honest you're kind of impressed by that because you didn't expect her to have such a good memory when it comes to ponies. Even brief, seemingly insignificant conversations she seems to be remembering quite well, though you get the impression that Derpy is a little biased in her retelling. For instance you sometimes feel like she's talking about other ponies as if she was good friends with them even when it sounds to you like she hardly knows them. Also you think she's overemphasizing the parts where she feels like she did something wrong, often explaining in great detail the circumstances that led to her mistake and stressing how she didn't mean to do any harm. Despite that, the overall impression you get from her retellings is quite positive. It's clear that she enjoys her work, even when according to Skydancer she's not doing a very good job. You're not sure if she's aware of it, but every time Derpy gets to put a letter into a mailbox she has this overly happy smile on her face, like it's the greatest thing in the world. The only thing even greater to her seems to be when one of the ponies comes out of their house and Derpy gets to give them their mail personally. When the ponies thank her for the delivery, even if it's just a small matter out of obligation, it seems to be the absolute highlight of Derpy's day. Seeing how diligently she does her job, it made you wonder why she of all ponies would be so careless as to lose to the mail. You have asked her about it and she said that she sometimes loses a few letters or packages when she falls down. Apparently the mail spills from her saddlebags and when she then picks it up again some of it is missing. However, so far nothing even close to that has been happening during her delivery. Derpy has been very careful when handling the mail, making sure that she closes her saddlebags properly every time she has to open them. Unless there's something wrong with the saddlebags themselves you don't see why the mail would be spilling out of them even if Derpy were to fall down, which also hasn't been happening so far. You could kind of see it happening earlier when she was in a hurry to get to work, but right now she doesn't seem like she's at a greater risk of getting into an accident than any other pony. Sure, she's a little clumsy, but she more than makes up for it by being extra careful with anything she does. You suppose if nothing goes wrong and Derpy doesn't lose any more mail that's good too, but you'd really like to get to the bottom of this. When Derpy gets to the next house and opens her saddlebag though, she suddenly stops what she's doing and looks at you with a big smile. "Look, Anon", she says with an excited flutter of her wings, "my friends are coming." Her friends? You turn around and spot a group of colts, galloping towards the two of you at full speed. Ah, so she wasn't actually looking at you; It's a little hard to tell with her eyes. You didn't know that Derpy is friends with a group of colts, but then again you've only met her yesterday. The colts soon reach Derpy and you, gathering around the former in a tight group. They're being obnoxiously loud, though that can probably be expected. Annoying children are still annoying children even if they're magical horses. Though you're not overly fond of this kind of company, Derpy seems to be seeing things more positively. In fact, she seems to be quite happy to be standing right at the center of the group, her wings unfolded from her excitement. Occasionally one of the colts bumps into one of her wings, though Derpy doesn't seem to mind. Rather, she seems to be enjoying the contact, deliberately moving her wings so that they brush against the colts as much as possible. You're sure that if not for her disability, Derpy would make a great mother. However, as he's circling Derpy, one of the colts suddenly takes a sharp turn, slamming into Derpy's side at full force. The sudden, unexpected hit throws her off balance and after a brief second where she futilely flaps her wings in an attempt to stay upright, Derpy falls to the ground. With her mail bag still open from before there is nothing to stop it from spilling its contents all over the streets of Ponyville, forming a small pile next to Derpy's fallen form. Immediately there is a shift in the colts' movement; Previously their attention seemed to have been on Derpy, but not a second after she fell down they are already descending upon the small pile of mail next to her, picking up single letters and packages with their mouths. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?", you yell at the top of your lungs as your veins are flooded with red hot anger. The colts freeze at your yelling, and when they see your hulking form running towards them, they quickly drop whatever they're holding and flee. One of the colts, however, doesn't drop the package he has stolen, instead trying to get away with it. "Give that back, you little shit!", you yell as you run after him, quickly catching up to him thanks to your much longer legs. Apparently realizing his predicament, the colt quickly flicks his head, throwing the package at your head. Instinctively you stop and try to catch it with your hands, almost tripping from the sudden change in movement and giving the colt a head start. When you finally manage to overcome the surprise attack the colt has already run out of sight and into a nearby alleyway. There's no way you're gonna catch him now. You forcibly take a deep breath in an attempt to calm yourself down. Even if you did catch that colt, there is no point to it now. He abandoned the package and beating up children is probably not a good idea even if they're little assholes. Also, more importantly, you turn towards Derpy who is still lying on the ground. She's groaning in pain, apparently still disoriented from the fall. You help her get up and find that apart from a bruise on her leg, Derpy luckily seems to be fine. When she sees the mail still lying on the ground next to her, her eyes go wide with panic and she scrambles to put it back into her bag. You hand her the package that that colt tried to steal earlier, and as soon as Derpy has collected all of the mail she starts counting it, lowly murmuring the numbers as she goes along. As you watch her sit there, nervously checking whether all of the mail is still there you get a very bad suspicion as to how Derpy normally tends to 'lose' her mail. Once she is done counting Derpy closes her bag with a relieved sigh. "I didn't lose any mail this time." This time. Derpy seems to notice your rather somber mood and looks at you in confusion. "What's wrong?", she asks. "Derpy", you say slowly and carefully, "I don't think you've been losing the mail. I think someone has been stealing it." "S-stealing it?", Derpy asks, audibly shocked by the suggestion, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure", you say, suppressing a sigh at her cluelessness, "I saw it happen, or rather, almost happen." In retrospect, maybe you shouldn't have immediately told her about it. Derpy seems to think those colts are her friends so you don't think telling her the truth will go over very well. "Who...?", Derpy asks without finishing the sentence, but you fully understand what it is that she wants to know. There is no turning back now. "Those colts that you've called your friends, they're the ones who did it." After taking a second to understand what exactly it is that you're saying, Derpy gives you a doubtful look. "They wouldn't do that", she says with furrowed brows, "Stealing is really mean and they're my friends." "They're not your friends", you reply, "They're the ones that made you fall down because they wanted to steal your mail." "But they didn't do it on purpose! They're always apologizing to me and they say that they didn't mean to do it and that they're just stupid retards and that they just can't help it. And then they always help me look for the mail and they always have really good ideas where it could be. And one of them said he's really glad that I'm friends with him because he's a retard and retards never have any friends." Derpy's tone of voice is becoming increasingly aggressive. How can she be so fucking dense? She's literally been pushed around by those colts without even realizing it and now she thinks you're the bad guy. "Those colts are not your friends", you repeat, trying not to let your frustration slip into your voice, "Have you ever lost your mail when you didn't run into them?" You're taking guesses here but you don't think you're wrong. "No, but-" "And when they told you where to look for the mail, did you ever find anything?" "No, but I-" "So who else could it possibly be?" "I don't know", Derpy stammers as she holds her head with her hooves as if to hold all these thoughts in. The sight reminds you that she's not your opponent, but the victim of this whole thing. You kneel down to her level and look into her eyes with all the sincerity you can muster. "Listen", you say as you put a hand onto her shoulder, "I want to help you. There are bad ponies that hurt you and steal your mail and you don't even know about it and that makes me feel sad. And I need to tell you about it because I don't want you to get hurt anymore." "But-", Derpy stutters desperately, "But they said that we're friends." You suppress a sigh. "I know, but when they said that they've been lying to you. They just told you they're your friends so you wouldn't find out about how they've actually been stealing your mail all along. Think about it, would a really mean pony that steals your mail not also be mean enough to lie to you?" Derpy stares off into the distance for a short while and you get the feeling that she really does think about what you've just told her. Eventually she looks back at you with tears in her eyes. "Are you sure?" You've never heard someone sounding more uncertain in your entire life. "Yes, I'm sure." At you confirmation Derpy squeezes her eyes shut tightly, causing the tears to finally flow freely. "Why?", she asks, "I never did anything mean to them." "I know", you gently whisper to her as you pull her into a hug.