Unashamed
Fanfic by Admiralcubie
Bright Eyes, the mailmare of Ponyville, was just an ordinary mare— well, other than her eyes of course, and her language. But that didn’t stop her from faithfully flying her mail route everyday. Whether in wind, snow, or rain, the citizens of Ponyville knew that they could always count on her to deliver their mail. And so it was that upon returning one day to the Ponyville branch of the Equestrian Postal Service, Bright Eyes was surprised to see a note on her desk summoning her down to the postmaster’s office. Nopony was ever called down by personal invitation to the postmaster’s office unless they were getting ‘released’ from their job as a postal worker and even though the postmaster was a good friend of Bright’s, she worried about this all the way to his office.
“Hard times?” asked Bright as she entered the office.
The postmaster looked up and gave Bright eyes a friendly smile. “No, Bright, there’s not an emergency.”
Bright Eyes looked worriedly at the postmaster. There could only be one thing he was summoning her here for then.
“You’re not getting ‘released’ either,” said the postmaster quickly at seeing the worried look on Bright’s face. Bright Eyes was visibly relieved as the postmaster went on: “I just have a special package for you to deliver.” He paused. “The thing is, it’s in CloudsDale— three days from here.”
Bright Eyes frowned. “Muffins?”
“I’m sure Ms. Sparkle would be more than happy to take Dinky for a little while.”
“Train wreck?”
The postmaster chuckled. “No, I wouldn’t worry about Dinky causing a problem— she loves to read and she would be staying in a library.”
Bright Eyes thought about this for a second and then grabbed the package from the postmaster’s desk.
The postmaster was visibly relieved. “Thanks, Bright. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
Bright Eyes stowed the package away in her EPS bag and nodded at the postmaster before exiting the room— and crashing into two passing stallions.
“Hey, watch it!”
“Guilty muffin,” said Bright, excusing herself.
“Guilty what? Hey!” The stallions eyes widened in recognition of the grey pony. “Look, it’s that retard they told us about— what’s her name? Derpy Hooves!” He snorted in laughter as his friend stopped to see what was going on. His friend started laughing too.
“Derpy Hooves! What a retard...”
Bright Eyes felt a tear trickle down the side of her face as she heard the two stallions call her by her mean nickname and laugh at her. All the ponies in Ponyville were so nice; it had been a long time since she had been called that by anypony and it brought back memories she had worked long to get rid of...
***
Bright Eyes is a little filly again. She's in intense pain. She looks over to her concerned-looking parents and asks them if she's dying. Her father hesitates and can't choke out an answer through his tears. Her mother reassures Bright that she'll be fine. This is enough for Bright and she falls into a deep peaceful sleep.
***
Bright waves goodbye to all the nice ponies in gowns as she leaves the funny-smelling building with the big red plus sign— she knows the plus sign from her time at school. Bright loves school. There are all sorts of colts and fillies for her to play with there.
Her parents take her to her favorite restaurant and they don't even say no when Bright asks if they can order the dessert. They're all just happy to be together as a family. Bright is happy.
***
Bright is saying her prayers like all the good fillies do before they go to bed. She doesn't actually know why she does it and she thinks it's kinda funny to talk to imaginary ponies, but she just imagines she's talking to Pepper, her stuffed pony friend, and then she doesn't feel so silly anymore. Her parents say that she is actually talking to a nice pony who lives in a place higher than even the pegasii can fly. They say that he's the princess’s daddy and that he's watching Bright to help keep her safe. She stands up after prayer and goes to find her daddy. He's supposed to read her a bedtime story and Bright has a special one in mind for tonight. She's walking down the hall to where she can hear her parents talking. Everything looks funny and she tries to turn into the room but accidentally runs into the wall instead and blacks out.
***
Bright is in the funny-smelling building with the red plus sign again, she can hear her parents talking to a stallion called “Doctor Whoof” in the room next door. The two rooms are only separated by a thin curtain and she can hear them talking about her “depth perception.” She doesn't know what that means, so she just lays in the bed quietly and wishes she had Pepper with her. She's scared because she can only see from one eye and it makes her nervous. She talks to Celestia's daddy again. She asks him to help her eye get better and to help mommy and daddy not be so sad all the time.
***
Bright is older now. She found out that she had a brain tumor which had paralyzed the right side of her face. It made it so that she can't see very well out of her right eye and she has a hard time saying certain words, so she's developed her own type of vocabulary that's easier for her to use. Sometimes the other ponies at school make fun of her, though. They call her 'Derpy Hooves' now. It used to make her cry but she's used to it now.
***
Bright Eyes stands over her mother’s casket. Nopony showed up to the funeral except for her and the undertaker. Her father died about a year ago and though her parents were well-liked ponies, no one showed up at their funerals because they're all afraid of Bright. They say she's mentally unstable and worry about their safety around her. Bright thinks it's stupid to be afraid of someone just because you don't understand them, but in a way she's glad— everypony just leaves her alone and she prefers it that way. She stopped talking to the pony she now knows as God. She doesn't believe any loving, caring creature like a 'god' would allow her family to suffer so much. She doesn't say prayer that night.
***
Bright Eyes moved from her previous home to a small town called Ponyville. She likes it in Ponyville because all the ponies there are nice to her and she even has a job! Her parents would be proud to see her now. She's the towns mailmare.
***
Bright Eyes looked over at the two stallions in front of her. The postmaster is now walking towards them angrily but she stops him.
“Red light,” she says to the post master, she smiles at the two stallions and walks past them. “Good day.” She smiles at the postmaster. She's not ashamed of who she is; Bright Eyes, the mailmare of Ponyville, is just an ordinary mare— well, other than her eyes of course, and her language.