Derpy closed the door behind herself with a sigh. "Glad that's over." Her shift was complete. She turned towards home and began a slow walk. "Long day." But she had smiled. She smiled at the thought of it. She had done her job, and that was good. She took pleasure in doing it well. When she messed up...

Her smile wavered.

She did mess up. It happened too often. She never tried to mess up. It just kinda happened once in a while. "Today was not like that," she reminded herself. She focused and got everypony what they wanted. She was a good mailmare.

She was a good pony. She shook her head as she walked. "So what if I'm a little clumsy?" There were bigger crimes out there, and she always did her best to fix whatever mess she did make. That made it better, right?

Her doctor thought so.

She let out a weary sigh, thinking of Time Tuner. "Where are you?"

"Where is who?" Derpy jumped with shock as Bon Bon matched her pace and walked with her. "Is your shift finished?"

Derpy took a step or two away from Bon Bon, trying to slide away, but Bon Bon easily met her pace. "Oh, uh, hello Miss Bon Bon."

"No need to be so formal." Bon Bon waved it away. "We're friends, Bon Bon will do." She lowered her dark glasses. "You aren't being followed, are you?"

Derpy looked left and right, then up into the sky. "I don't think so. Why?"

"Good." Bon Bon threw a leg over Derpy's withers and pulled the mare closer. "We need to talk, nothing serious, just two pals, chatting."

"O-oh." Derpy tried to relax herself. "Just two friends, um, so... what's up?"

Bon Bon extracted a wrapped candy with her free forehoof and stuffs it into Derpy's available mouth. "Try my newest candy. It's sour and sweet in just the right balance."

Derpy ran her tongue over the wrapper and undid it, spitting out the spent paper without it ever leaving her mouth before. "Mmm." It was pretty good as candy went. "Just the right amount of tang," she happily agreed. Maybe she had read Bon Bon entirely wrong before? "Thanks for sharing."

Bon Bon nodded as she pulled off her big black glasses and slipped them away. "What are friends for? Derpy, my mare, sorry for being all creepy before." She smiled sweetly at her friend. "I was being a real heel."

Derpy raised an ear as something inside her clicked. She was being played, or an attempt was being made. Ponies often assumed she was stupid because she was clumsy. The two were not related. Bon Bon was talking nice for a reason. "Oh, don't worry about it," lied Derpy, waving it away like a faint foul odor. "Today's been quite a day!"

"You don't say? It must be hard, keeping all that mail in order." Bon Bon bumped against Derpy gently. "Let's forget all about that work stuff. Plenty of time for that during work, right?"

Derpy flashed a false smile. "Right! Hey, thanks for the candy, but I really should get home."

"What's the rush?" Bon Bon lifted her shoulders. "You waiting on someone?"

"N-no! I just promised myself I'd clean after work, and I really want to get that done."

Bon Bon nudged the pegasus in the chest. "It's your lucky day. I'll meet you at your house with a little backup. We'll make your house shine." She trotted away without waiting for a reply.

Derpy let out a small sigh. That had not gone exactly as she had envisioned it. She lifted into the sky and sailed home. She would have guests, like it or not.

Time Turner felt the sweat running cold. The dance never seemed to end. Guilty was a skilled dancer, and she really was trying to draw him into the fun of the occasion. He didn't begrudge her attempt, but the bumping and jostling... The constant motion and press of all the ponies around him were growing agitating. He wasn't angry with them, but it was draining and he needed to get away.

"Were you enjoying the punch too hard before ah showed up?" asked Guilty as she leaned forward towards Time. "You're lookin' just a pinch drawn, sugar."

Time smiled as best he could, but he could feel it. The skin didn't slide just as it should. It was like he was wearing a mask of himself. "I-I... yes, sorry, pardon me!" He turned from her and dove through the crowd, giving many 'sorry's and 'pardon me's on his way through.

When he broke free, he burst into a run away from the crowd. He may have heard Guilty behind him, but he was far too distracted to be sure.

In a wild gallop, he reached his home. The dance was a faded and distant light, and so was his remaining control. With a trembling hoof, he tried to pull out his keys, but he couldn't get them in his pocket, at least until he heard the jangle of the keys hitting the ground. He grabbed them with fingers he hadn't had a moment before and quickly threw himself inside, slamming the door behind him.

"Too close," he sighed to himself. Why had he even thought it could work with Derpy?

The tension began to ebb. He was finally alone. The darkness soothed him, and the quiet calmed him. He pushed off the door and advanced slowly, feeling out with his hands before he ran into anything. He found his couch and collapsed across it. "What a day..."

He was a human again. That was alright. He stretched out wide across the soft fabric, letting the tension flow away. "You'd think I'd get used to this," he muttered to himself, but he never did. How could he? Even born into the situation, he was the strange one in a country of ponies. He was the odd one out.

He reached out a hand, gazing at it in the dim light. Fingers were nice, useful, and didn't have so much hair to get caught in things. They were sensitive too. He could feel so much just pressing them against things that a pony could miss with their hooves. He wondered if other fingered races felt the same way?

Minotaurs and diamond dogs were both furred, so he had a hard time imagining they could feel just as well through their pelt. Dragons just had scales. Did scales 'feel'? He frowned a little bit as he mused on it. If he could, he'd just ask Spike, Twilight's little dragon. He was small and harmless, but he didn't want to blow his secret, and there weren't many innocent ways to ask that question.

He could envision it, himself asking, "Hey, Spike, how sensitive are your fingers?"

Time Tuner gave a rueful chuckle at the imagined scenario.

He rolled off the couch and hit the ground on hooves. He was calm enough to return to his other self. He was a pony, and that was also alright. "If only it was a switch." Like a light switch, just something he could flick on demand.

Much of the time, it was. But stress and time in one form made the other form anxious to come out. He liked both forms, if only they'd stay put until he called them. "Blast it all." He kicked at the dark ground before moving to his fridge. Stressful or not, the day had built a powerful hunger in him he planned to sate.

Derpy flew about her house, trying to straighten up. She jumped when a knocking startled her. "Coming!" She knew who it was, or had a pretty good idea. Putting on a big smile, she zipped to the door. She miscalculated the distance by one precious inch and bumped against it with an oof.

The door swung open, glowing with Lyra's magic. "Hey, we knocked first," she said in a jovial tone. "How's it going, Derpster?"

Bon Bon was standing beside her. "As promised. Lyra and I are here to help clean up with you."

Lyra blinked. "Wait, what? I thought we were going out to eat?"

Bon Bon laughed nervously. "We are. After we help our dear friend clean her house."

Lyra leaned in towards Derpy, offering a hoof out to help Derpy up. "Sorry if we caught you by surprise."

Derpy nodded to Lyra. "Nice to see you, Lyra. How are things?" She gave her a genuine smile. She could not remember much to be upset with Lyra about. "You really don't have to help me clean. I have it under control."

Lyra grinned at her roomate. "See? Let's go get--"

Bon Bon popped a hoof in Lyra's mouth, silencing her. "We're going to be good friends and help out, because that's what friends do."

Lyra pulled herself back from the hoof and licked her lips. "Hey, did you do that to Muffins today?" Derpy and Bon Bon glowed in unison, and Lyra just laughed. "It's a bad habit, Bonnie. You really should let ponies finish what they're saying." She trotted past Derpy. "Let's clean a house."

Derpy ducked aside, then waved into her house. "Come on in," she offered towards Bon Bon. With Lyra already inside, keeping out Bon Bon felt silly. "I was already cleaning before you showed up."

Bon Bon trotted past Derpy, her eyes darting about with a sharp look. "You have a nice place, just the right size for one pony. Lyra?"

"Yeah?" Lyra turned to look over her shoulder.

"You take the front and I'll get the back and we'll meet in the middle."

"Sure thing, Bonnie." Lyra gave a firm salute and giggled as she advanced towards the front of the house.

Derpy closed the door lightly, looking between her two guests as they vanished in either direction. Fortunately for her, she could watch them both until they were gone, her eyes picking a pony each for that moment. "Um..." She wondered which she should be with. She decided she trusted Lyra to just clean and lifted into the air, zipping after Bon Bon.

Bon Bon trotted easily until she was just out of sight, then made a quick darting gallop into Derpy's room. "There has to be something here," she muttered to herself as she began rooting through the piles of paper that were strewn on Derpy's dresser. She barely had time to leaf through them when Derpy arrived. "Oh! Hey, you really should organize these," she noted with a big smile. "Need any help with that? I'm an expert at organizing papers. I mean, not as good as Princess Twilight, but who is?"

Derpy landed beside Bon Bon, putting a hoof gently on the papers. "I can handle these, thanks. Could you sort my dolls?" She pointed to a great pile of various plush-filled animals that smiled from around the room. "They really need to be sorted out, and maybe a few washed."

Bon Bon's smile stretched wider, forced as it was. "Oh, sure. I'm glad to... help." She stepped past Derpy towards the first of the dolls, a grinning lion that was about six inches long. "Hello there, Mister King."

"How'd you know his name?" Derpy perked an ear at Bon Bon with amazed eyes.

"He's a lion." She held up the plush in her hooves. "Kings of the jungle? He's also cute." She ruffled the flaps of fabric that made up the lion's mane.

Derpy burst into soft giggles. "That's his name though, Mister King." She pointed at a hippo. "She's Miss Petunia, and that's Quick Streak." She pointed at an earth pony plush with racing fires sewn into its outfit. "Do you have dolls? I bet you don't."

Bon Bon huffed softly. "I just have one... but it's my absolute favorite. It's... a little stupid. I mean, it's not an animal or a pony..."

Derpy perked up, "Don't say that. If it's your doll, it can't be stupid. What is it?"

Bon Bon smiled gently. "It's a big wrapped candy. I hug it when I'm alone."

Derpy burst into soft laughter, which drew a deep frown from Bon Bon. "No no! I'm not laughing at you! That's too cute! I wanna see it!"

Author's Notes:

Derpy sees a sensitive side hiding under Bon Bon's gruff exterior, and it looks fluffy and filled with plush.

Want this story updated faster? Want to get your own story written? Want to just support the author in his writing? Join the atreon!

Join my discord to chat!