Doctor Whooves: Night of the ShadowFright

Ditzy had spent the night at the hospital.

She said it wasn't necessary but Nurse Red Heart insisted that she get bed rest.  The burns were fairly mild but her going on about shadow monsters and colts with magic blue flashlights led the medical pony to the conclusion that her patient had suffered a hallucinogenic episode due to too much smoke inhalation.  So at Ponyville General she stayed.  Fortunately the nurse was kind enough to send word to Carrot Top, informing her of the situation.  Her friend immediately rushed to the Hospital, little Dinky in tow.  Then came the rush of questions and outpouring of concern and Ditzy insisting that she was fine and for the umpteenth time that night, told what happened at the Post Office.

She tactfully omitted the bits about the Doctor and the creature, not only because nopony believed her so far, but because she was beginning to question her recollection of events herself.  So the version she related to her daughter and friend was much shorter and far less exciting than the one she had related to the paramedics and doctors and nurses.

"I just got through sorting the mail when all of a sudden the power went out. I went to check the fuse box and when that didn't work, I tried the back-up generator.  That thing was so old and rusted I guess it overloaded. Next thing I know, everything's on fire."

"How'd you get out Mama?" asked Dinky, her eyes wide.

"A..." Ditzy hesitated.  "A doctor happened to be passing by and saw the fire. He must've heard me calling for help and ran into the building to rescue me."

"What a stallion!" sighed Carrot Top dreamily.  Ditzy and Dinky smiled and rolled their eyes.  Carrot Top was a level-headed no-nonsense type mare, but she was really a school-filly at heart who dreamed of finding some dashing prince to sweep her off her hooves. "You didn't happen to get his address did you? I'd like to ahem thank him properly."

"Sorry Carrot," shrugged Ditzy. "Once the paramedics and the fire brigade showed up he left." Leaving me holding the bag, she added bitterly.

Soon after that, Nurse Red Heart informed them that visiting hours were over, Dinky hugged her mother tightly and followed after Carrot Top, leaving Ditzy alone in the hospital bed.  She tried to sleep but visions of the writhing nightmare of darkness appeared whenever she closed her eyes.  Instead she stared at the ceiling wondering what she was going to do.

Even if the Doctor and the monster were real, she had no way of proving it.  Mr. Delivery would fire her and no doubt sue her for the damages.  Wouldn't be the first time Ditzy had faced unemployment.  Before becoming a mailmare, she had been part of a professional moving crew, until a little...mishap, involving an anvil and a piano and some hapless unicorn's head.  She was let go soon after that incident.  Before that she had tried going into business herself as a muffin salespony.  Her muffins sold well, but unfortunately her little booth couldn't compete with Sugar Cube Corner.  She had to file for bankruptcy soon after.  And before that, well, she was able to be a full-time mom since Fix-it was still...

Ditzy buried her face in her pillow and wept.  It wasn't often she allowed herself tears, she had to stay strong for her daughter's sake, but every so often, when she was alone, and the world gave her those scant moments to withdraw into herself, she opened the floodgates and had a good cry.

She missed him!

She missed him so much!

Dinky couldn't even remember him, she was so small when he passed.

Everything was an uphill struggle just to make ends meet.

She tries her best, and Carrot Top helps where she can but everything always seems to go wrong, from her job to her child she always manages to mess up.  The only things she ever got right was meeting Fix-it and helping the Doctor, and she wasn't even sure the latter was real anymore.

Eventually the tears ceased their flow and her hiccupping sobs subsided. Soon morning would come, she would be released from the hospital to face the world with her head held high and a smile on her face.  She'd start searching for a job and trying to make things right with her daughter.  She would put this whole strange, terrifying night behind her.  But, for now at least, she could allow herself to be weak.

* * *

Meanwhile over by the schoolyard, a brown stallion was glaring in profound annoyance at a square patch of crushed grass where he had left a blue police barn.

* * *

Dinky rummaged under her bed for her old camera.  When she was younger, she had entertained the idea of becoming a famous Hollow Wood director, but then she discovered Log-O's(TM), and in all the miniature model building she forgot all about Plan 10 From Beneath Equestria.  She eventually found it in an old hatbox alongside an old Buckaroo Bea doll, an unfinished poem and some rocks she had thought were interesting when she was going through her geology phase.  The camera was dusty from years of disuse, and the lens was chipped, but it still had good film in it.

She was on her way to Applebloom's.  By herself. She asked permission. Sort of.  Her mother had returned home earlier that morning.  Her wings were still bandaged and she was advised to refrain from flight for a week or two, but she was otherwise her happy bubbly self...and somewhat stoned on pain meds.  Apparently her chart had gotten mixed up with a patient suffering from horsentary.  Fortunately she was able to find her way home, stumbled up the steps to the room she shared with Dinky and collapsed into her bed.  When Dinky asked if it was oaky to make her way to Sweet Apple Acres, Ditzy gave her consent.  Or rather, she said something down the lines of "Urble burble smulz..."

She felt a pang of guilt, both for deceiving her mother and for leaving her to sleep off the effects of the mistaken medication, but she knew this was something she had to do. For as long as she could remember she was known only as the daughter of the village idiot.  She was tired of the snickering, the mutterings, and the looks that were equal parts pity and contempt.

She knew for certain if she could make friends then maybe ponies wouldn't talk mean about her much.  Maybe, with time, if they could see how normal Dinky was  ponies wouldn't talk mean about her mother.  Ditzy Doo was a good mother, and she was going to prove it...by venturing outside without permission, going to a condemned mansion without supervision, all while the whole town was in an uproar over a missing filly.  Okay so it wasn't a perfect plan but she was committed to it and by Celestia she was going to follow through.

After blowing the dust off the camera, she was on her way to Sweet Apple Acres.  It was on the other side of town, past the boutique run by Sweetie Belle's older sister and beyond the lake that fed the brook which cut through the orchard, but in a small village like Ponyville it was still well within trotting distance.  This still, unfortunately, gave Dinky's mind time to sift through all the possible scenarios where everything could go wrong.  What if she dropped her camera? What if she didn't film right? What if she said something wrong and the Cutie Mark Crusaders hated her?  Or, worst of all, what if her mom showed up?

Before she knew it she was hyperventilating.  She needed to think of something relaxing: clouds: thunder, lightning, Mama bouncing, property damage.  No.  Birds: north in the summer, south in the winter, east when Mama read the map upside down last Winter Wrap-up.  No.  Brook: babbling, cool, water.  Hello, what's this?

Dinky bent down to examine a curious mushroom that had sprouted along the bank of the stream.  It was of an unusual coloring, cherry red with white polka dots.  She loved coming across unusual things such as this.  A shame she hadn't brought one of her sample jars.  After a moment's consideration she decided to film it.  True it wouldn't be a vey exciting film, but at the very least she would be able to examine it later.

After several minutes she got the distinct feeling she was being watched.  She shrugged it off and instead zoomed in on the green caterpillar that had crawled atop the cap of the mushroom and perched there for a spell as though tuckered out from the exertion of the climb.

"Do you see its long nose and chin?" inquired a voice behind her.  With a yelp, dinky dropped the camera and whirled around to face a tall, brown earth pony stallion, with an hourglass cutiemark and a dark unkempt mane.  He took little notice of the startled filly and continued to stare at the insect with a childish grin on his face.

"At least, they look like a nose and chin don't you think? But they're actually two of its legs. You know a caterpillar has got an abundance of legs. It's a wonder they don't stumble all over the place. I mean I've only got the four and I'm constantly tripping over myself."  He blinked his blue eyes before focusing them on Dinky.  "Sorry, got carried away. I ramble. Bad habit of mine. What did you say your name was?"

Dinky glared suspiciously at the stranger. "I didn't."

"Didn't what?" the stallion asked.

"Say my name."

"Well," huffed the brown pony nonplussed.  "I can't very well do that if I don't know your name, now can I?"

The little unicorn's mouth hung open, rendered flabbergasted, but she shook her head and attempted to regain control of the conversation.

"I'm sorry," she said evenly.  "But Mama says I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."  And I've never met anyone as strange as you, she silently added. Then she recalled the time Pinkie Pie randomly broke into song and everypony joined into a fully choreographed musical number that nopony practiced or rehearsed for and nopony ever mentioned again once it was over.  Well, almost anyone.

The strange stallion appeared to give this some thought.  "That's actually very sound advice. Little fillies shouldn't go around talking to strangers. Who knows who they might be? Who knows what they might be? However, I have to wonder, how is it possible to make friends in a world full of strangers?"

Dinky blinked at this.

"What I'm saying is, everypony one meets starts off as a stranger to them until they get to know them, so in order to have friends you have to make friends out of strangers.  That is, unless somepony wants to be a hermit all their life. Come to think of it, that doesn't really work either, as hermits are notorious for being privy to secret knowledge and every hero, adventurer, or inquisitive seventh son of a seventh son would come knocking on their door. That's why it's useful to have a home that moves, though, in my case, it does have the disadvantage of being misplaced at the moment. You haven't seen a blue box by any chance? About this tall? So wide?"

Dinky had nothing to say to this diatribe, so she silently shook her head.

"Drat," muttered the stallion distractedly. "I suppose I'll have to find alternative lodgings for the duration of this investigation. Left my tachyon detector on board the TARDIS too. Right next to the food hydrator. Or was it the thermo-detonator? Always getting those two mixed up I am. Anyway, love to stay and chat about caterpillars and whatnot but I must be going. Ta."

The gray unicorn filly, transfixed throughout the entire spiel, shook her self again and blurted. "Dinky."

The stallion turned. "Beg pardon?"

"My name," she repeated shyly. "It's Dinky."

The stallion grinned brightly. "Very nice to meet you Dinky. I am the Doctor."

"Doctor what?"

"If you like."

In spite of herself, Dinky giggled. "You really are weird."

"Normal is grossly overrated in my opinion," chuckled the Doctor, his blue eyes twinkling merrily.  "Never touch the stuff myself. In any event, best of luck on your caterpillar documentary."

"I wasn't filming the caterpillar. I was filming the mushroom."

"As I said before, 'normal' is overrated."

"I just wanted to get a good look at it so I can study it later," explained Dinky.  She couldn't decide whether or not the Doctor was making fun of her, but she somewhat rankled at the unspoken "weird" comment the stallion may or may not have made at her expense.  "I'm actually going to meet some frie..." she stopped herself before she finished saying "friends".  While the Crusaders were very friendly Dinky wasn't certain if calling them her friends would be presumptuous.  After all, she'd never had any friends before except maybe Mama and Auntie Carrot. And of course her foalsitter, Amethyst.

"Just some fillies I know," Dinky finished hurriedly, avoiding meeting the Doctor's eye.

"Nice fillies?" prompted the stallion.

Dinky gave a noncommittal shrug.

Almost as though sensing her unease, the Doctor smiled warmly. "Don't worry so much," he said softly.  "Friends have a way of finding you in unexpected ways in the most unexpected of places. All you can do is be who you are and hope they'll take you as is. I'll let you in on a little secret though, everypony has their quirks and eccentricities. A lot of them try to hide it for fear of what others might think about them. Did you know that Galloppeo was a huge fan of Clopernicus? Collected everything from signed portraits to busts, supposed hoof clippings, anything he could get his hooves on. Major fancolt. He was absolutely mortified someone might find out. Swore me to secrecy he did..."

The brown stallion stopped short.  "...whoops. Um, forget I said anything. The point is, the very best ones not only embrace their own strange wonderfulness, but celebrate it when they find it in others. After all, can you imagine how dull the world would be if we were all the same? As though we were all rendered from a limited number of templates and slapped with a different paintjob to cover up our sameness? Of course that's just ridiculous."

Dinky finally raised her eyes to meet the Doctor's.  "But...but what if they don't like me?"

The Doctor grinned, fishing out a wallet, "Well, that's their loss then, isn't it? Because I happen to be a certified  judge of character, and yours just so happens to be the very best I've seen today."  He unfolded the wallet and presented a white sheet of paper for the little filly's inspection.

"Lost: one blue box," Dinky read.  "If found, please contact The Doctor. Location: likely running from something eldritch and terrible."

The Doctor hastily folded the paper and put it away. "Sorry, a might bit preoccupied. Interfering with the psychic interface. The point is your a sweet clever girl."

"You only just learned my name," protested the little unicorn. "How can you know if I'm sweet or clever?"

The stallion's grin returned. "Well, cleverness is the sister of curiosity I always say. Most ponies wouldn't give an odd-looking fungus a second thought, and look at you. Filming it for further study. And as for sweet, well, you took time out of your busy day to chat with an old codger like me."

Dinky didn't think he looked all that old, but it was hardly the strangest thing he had said throughout their exchange, and it actually did make her feel a bit better.

"You know Doctor," said Dinky, feeling a smile tug at the corners of her mouth.  "If you need a place to stay, you could rent a room at Auntie Carrot's.  It's just down the street from Sugar Cube Corner."

"Well, Miss Dinky, that seems a capital idea. Thank you for the directions."

"Thank you for the chat," the little filly returned with a smile.  "Hope you find your box."

"Not to worry, she'll turn up," the Doctor chuckled.  "She always does."

They turned and walked in opposite directions.  Then the brown stallion suddenly whirled around and called after Dinky, "Oh, I almost forgot, don't go anywhere without a torch."

"A torch?" repeated Dinky, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"A torch. A lantern. A light."

"Why?" questioned the little unicorn.

"Just promise me," said the Doctor. His jovial tone from before was gone, replaced with a grimness that Dinky had never seen before on a pony's face.  "Bad things wait for careless foals in the dark."

"O-okay," stammered the gray filly. "I promise."

"Good-O!" said the Doctor, clopping his hooves, all smiles once more.  "Now that that's settled off you go, have a lovely time with your friends."

Dinky waved goodbye to the departing Doctor and continued on her way towards the orchards of the Apple Farm, shaking her head in confusion all the way.