The next morning dawned cloudy and cold, just as Bright Eyes had predicted, but she was out of bed before the sun had even risen. With frost still on the windows and Celestia's time not even begun yet, she slid out of bed, brushing her mane and readying herself for her daily route. Through rain, sleet, snow and hail, nothing would stop the ponies' mail! But before she left their home, Bright Eyes poked her head into Honey Muffin's room, watching her sleep peacefully for a moment before ducking back out. She felt a little bad, just leaving Honey Muffin alone every day like this; she was new in town, and even though she didn't really need Bright Eyes' help anymore, she still fretted over her.
Bright Eyes had never had anyone to fret over before. She'd never really had anyone hang around long enough for her to even get to know, except Mom of course. And when she - she of all people, the most productive mailpony but most ignored townspony - had been selected for the honor of showing her around - oh, it was indescribable! She was scared, of course, of sharing a house with someone after so many years of living completely alone. But she was excited, too, more excited than afraid. She had never had anyone to protect, or keep safe, but she knew that she would be good at it, she just knew. Just like she knew she was good at delivering the mail, she would be good at this too.
She alighted on the rooftop of the Pony Express building promptly at 4:55, leaving her just enough time to slide down the Bright Eyes-sized tunnel that poked out of the top of the building. It was a little sooty, but that was just because the slide hadn't been cleaned in awhile. She arrived in the main mail room exactly on schedule, precisely three minutes before she was supposed to be there, her good eye roving around the room to look for her work station. It tended to move, if you didn't keep an eye on it just so; one day it had been next to the window, and then it had moved to beside the slide! Why they lit the slide on fire she would never understand, but it certainly kept things warm.
Luckily for Bright Eyes, today her mail desk was next to the slide, and she hopped into her seat just as the lead mailmare stepped into the room, hefting several large bags over her brawny shoulders. But before Bright Eyes could trot to help her with sorting along with the other ponies, the mare stopped her.
"Ey, Bright. You got a special delivery today, gotta go talk to a peg fella outside." The mare whuffed, giving her tail a sharp little snap in that direction as the other pegasi clustered around her, busily divvying up the mail by quadrants.
Bright Eyes blinked at her for half a moment, then took off for the front door a little slowly, uncertain about this. She had done some special deliveries in the past - usually for the ponies who needed things done fast! - but this didn't sound like any of the ponies from town that she knew. And he certainly didn't look like anyone she knew, either. Pony feathers, she barely knew any boy ponies at all, so the fact that she didn't recognize him didn't immediately register in her brain. But the armor was something she'd never seen on any pony in Ponyville, and it made her a little afraid. His hair was all pushed up and spiky, like a brush, not like Big Mac's hair. His hair was nice and soft, he'd let her touch it once. This looked .. weird.
"Mailpony, here are your packages to be delivered." The stallion spoke in sharp, clipped tones, not meeting her eyes, or even her good one. He stared straight ahead, and his wing gave one little jerk towards the pile of boxes that had been piled next to the little cart he pulled.
Oh, that was a lovely cart. Despite her duty, Bright Eyes found herself drawn to the intricate, filigreed vehicle, all white and gold and shiny-bright even in the dim beams of the barely-risen sun. Before she'd quite realized what she was doing, she had inched over to it, completely unaware of the stallion's eyes on her as she drifted a little loopily to the cart behind him. It was small, just big enough for one pony to ride in, but he'd arrived alone. This must have been where the boxes were carried in on, he couldn't have carried them all otherwise. Goodness, look at all that detail, even on the inside of it! Even if no one would ever see it, it was swirly and golden and so very pretty. Bright Eyes wasn't sure she had ever seen anything so pretty before, in all her life.
Her eyes slowly followed the heaviest of the filigreed swirls from where they circled around the gold-and-white wheels, their spokes elegant and tapering, up to where the swirls became well-oiled straps of leather connecting to the stallion's armor. Golden and shimmering, it protected his back, shoulders and legs, with the helmet as a separate piece up top. And that was hair sticking out of it, wasn't it? It was blue, just like his tail, so it must have been his own hair. How had he gotten it to be all brushy like that inside his helmet? Did he have a special brush? Maybe he did, but it must be a soft brush, because his hair still felt so soft, like a broom made out of - pony hair, or bunny fluff, or something soft like that. Maybe he used a special soap to -
"Excuse me. Mailpony." The stallion asked, his voice a little strangled as he stared up at Bright Eyes in confused distress, the closest a palace guard would ever allow himself to become. "The packages?" He asked the blue pony currently hovering above him, stroking his mane with a vague, far-off gaze in her eyes, neither of which focused on him.
Bright Eyes' good eye abruptly zoomed in on his face, meeting his confused gaze, then quickly whisked away again as she pulled back, bringing herself back to the ground with a little backwards-inside-out-loop. "Right right. Thanks for the boxes." And with that, she wrestled her four legs around the first one and took off into the air, looping a little to her left as she zoomed out of sight.
A few streets passed before Bright Eyes realized that she hadn't checked the address on the first box, and so she settled herself down onto an empty patch of pavement to examine it. With great surprise (once she managed to translate the loopy, swirly writing used), she recognized the address as her own, although it was addressed to "Miss Honey Muffin," instead of Miss Bright Eyes. She wasn't sure if she even could be a 'miss,' but she knew Honey Muffin must be one; it said so on the box! But why did Honey Muffin have so many boxes coming to her? It just didn't make sense. But it wasn't her job to dissect the mail she delivered, so Bright Eyes simply lifted the box into the air once more, heading for home.
The boxes were fairly heavy, but to a practiced mailmare like her, the weight wasn't difficult at all. She made the four trips back and forth between her home and the post office without any delay, and by the time she'd delivered the last box, Honey Muffin had woken up and taken off to parts unknown. Well, she wasn't home, so the least Bright Eyes could do would be to take the boxes to her room for her!
The second part of her delivery went even quicker than the first, but after the first four boxes had been stacked up in her room, things began to get a little dicey. She eventually gave up on attempting to stack them all vertically, since they were starting to wobble quite a bit. But just as she settled the fifth box onto the floor, her back hoof nudged the pile, ever so slightly, in the spot where she couldn't see behind her. Like a stallion who had drunk too much, the pile of boxes shuddered, and slowly tumbled down, bouncing over one another. Bright Eyes attempted to catch as many as she could, their blunted edges dragging against her forelegs sharply, but she couldn't save the very top box as it tumbled behind her. It bounced once, twice, then the top finally gave way, popping open as piles of scrolls spilled out of it and onto the floor.
Panicked, Bright Eyes fluttered over the floor, hurriedly scooping the scores of scrolls back into their box. A few of the scrolls had rolled open, so she tried to re-roll those as she went. It was difficult for a pony with very low depth perception to pick up all of the scrolls, but she worked as quickly as she could, not wanting to upset Honey Muffin with the mess.
Then, as she was returning the last stragglers to their box, her askew eye lit on something familiar in one of the scrolls she was re-rolling. Slowly, she brought her good eye over to examine it, loath to break the sacred Mailpony's Code. But she hadn't opened it, had she? And besides, the scroll was about her, and there was no crime in reading something about her, was there? Her good eye quickly scanned over the line she had seen her name in, promising herself not to read anything more than what was about her.
... Derpy Hooves, who seems to be something of a recluse in the town, has a reputation of varying degrees amongst the other Ponyville population. "That girl ain't got nothin' 'tween her ears," was one notable quote, which seemed to be verified by the other members of town. The general consensus is that she is mentally incapable of caring for herself, which is all the more reason why your decision to send me here as her guardian was a wise one, Your Majesty. I will do my best with what base intelligence is there, but I must warn you that my recommendation might be for a group home for her, where she can be treated as the filly her mind believes her to be for the rest of her natural life. Although my aid would certainly help her, I could not provide her the twenty-four hour care she would obviously have need -
"Bright Eyes?"
The voice drew Bright Eyes' good eye away from the scroll suddenly, landing on the mare who stood in the door way. Honey Muffin smiled at her, with the same smile she'd been smiling for the last few months, needles and brambles tangled in her mane. A smile of friendship, or of pity?
"Bright Eyes, what's going on? I went out to get some pinecones for us to decorate... what's all this?" She asked slowly, her eyes flicking over the scrolls, her eyes widening as she realized what she was seeing. Her eyes found the scroll under Bright Eyes' hooves last of all, and she darted forward, grabbing the scroll with her teeth, as if removing it from her sight could make Bright Eyes forget what she'd seen. She tossed it into the box without even looking at it, confirming Bright Eyes' suspicion. "Why were you looking at my mail?"
"What was that?" Bright Eyes asked softly, her gaze dark in the one eye that fixed on Honey Muffin, the other wandering somewhere else as usual.
"It was - it was nothing. You don't have to worry about it. It's just - letters from home, in Canterlot." Honey Muffin lied, hoping that Bright Eyes' delayed reading ability hadn't afforded her the time to figure out the basis of the scroll. What were the chances that the first scroll she picked up would mention her explicitly, right?
"I'm not disabled, Honey Muffin. I'm not stupid." Bright Eyes said softly, her gaze fixed on her roommate. "You can't lie to me like I'm a filly."
"I didn't - okay, I was lying, but - I don't think you're stupid! I just didn't want to -" Honey Muffin began, stumbling over her words.
"You said you would do the best with my 'base intelligence.' That I was more of a filly because I was so damaged - in my brain. I'm not damaged." She said steadily, her scowl darkening and darkening until Honey Muffin feared she might burst out yelling, or screaming, or something hysterical and so very unfamiliar to the quiet pony she had gotten to know. But even as she waited for the volcano to erupt, the smallest of tears found its way down Bright Eyes' grey-blue cheek, and just like that, all of the fight went out of her. Her eyes were still narrowed, but now they were dark with hurt, not anger, and her wings drooped at her sides limply as her ears fell to half-mast.
"Bright Eyes, I didn't mean-"
"I'm not damaged. I did just fine by myself." Bright Eyes said suddenly, her words punctuated by a soft, sudden gulp, tears gathering in her yellow eyes. "I don't need you to babysit me anymore, Honey M-Mu-Muffin." And with that, she took off at a gallop, pushing past Honey Muffin and disappearing out the front door.
"Bright Eyes, wait!" Honey Muffin cried out, galloping after her, but it was no use; by the time she'd gotten to the front door, Bright Eyes was gone.