Ditzy Doo loved her job. Most of the time, anyways. She didn’t like how it kept her from seeing her daughter off to school in the mornings, and money was always a little tight, but it wasn’t the end of the world. It was one of the only professions that Ditzy could think of where her incredible memory was a real advantage. And sure, she might have been a little clumsy, or slower than the other mailponies thanks to her eyes, but she still loved her job.
But that didn’t stop ponies from talking. And because Ditzy went over many parts of Ponyville every day, she heard them. Another thing that she didn’t particularly like about her job. She could hear them saying how it was a wonder that she hadn’t been fired yet, the half-hearted objections from other ponies that she was just trying her best to provide for Dinky and that it surely wasn’t her fault about her eyes (which was true. Ditzy couldn’t remember how her eyes had gotten misaligned. All she could remember was anger and something blue moving very fast. And lots of yelling). She’d only dropped that load with the piano and anvil that one time, and that job had been a favour to a friend. And she hadn’t misdelivered the mail in months-she could name at least four other mailponies who regularly mixed up some of their mail.
But gossip was a fickle thing, and ponies had a habit of remembering the bad things a little easier than the good. And Ditzy had made more than a few mistakes. She’d always apologised, and done her best to clean up after her mess, but sometimes that didn’t help.
It was another clear morning in Ponyville, and Ditzy was on her usual round when she heard them. It was the usual joking (and entirely unoriginal) set of insults regarding her and her flying ability, and how they should all duck before she went out of control again. Her flying style might have been a little unsteady, but she hadn’t crashed into anything for the last seven months, which was a new personal record. Rainbow Dash crashed more often than Ditzy did, but nopony mocked her for it these days.
But as Ditzy flew over the ponies insulting and making fun of her, she heard a scratchy voice start yelling at them. With some difficulty, she glanced down, and saw Rainbow Dash glaring at two pegasi and pointing at the sky, telling them to get back to their actual weather duties. Ditzy refocused her eyes on the horizon with a smile, knowing that Rainbow Dash was standing up for her. But then again, Rainbow Dash had always been super-supportive to Ditzy, the incident with the town hall that one time being the sole exception.
As Ditzy flew on, over the market place, she saw and heard Carrot Top defending her from a pair of bullies, tossing the week-old carrots at them like darts. She saw the occasional pony glance up at her, and give her a wave. Pinkie Pie tossed a muffin up so that all Ditzy had to do was open her mouth at the right time and bite down on it. She knew that ponies would talk about her, and her sometimes lacklustre and shaky flying, or her eyes, but most days, it didn’t bother her.
Because Ditzy had the most wonderful daughter she could ever ask for, and she knew that her boss liked her work more than most ponies with perfectly aligned eyes and perfectly coordinated limbs, and she knew that she had friends who would stand up for her.
And so Ditzy smiled, and sailed over the top of the ponies talking below her.