Chatterlips in the cellar

Three months later

Chatterlips just couldn't stop looking at the doll in the corner of the cellar. It had been there this morning out of the blue, who had put it there? There were two boxes in the room as well but Chatterlips knew that that those were there before.

The next day he returns with a doll of his own. The old doll from when he was a colt, it was the only possession he was able to salvage from his junked stuff.

"Oh Tina, this is going to be the best fun ever," Chatterlips said to his favorite doll tucked under his arm. Talky Tina only smiled vacantly in her usual fashion.

Chatterlips loved children but had been told that a case of the mumps in his teenage years had made the prospect of fatherhood unlikely for him. He had been devastated by the diagnosis, but in his dreams he had envisioned marriage to a mare with a child or children and the hopes of fulfillment as a stepfather.

One by one Chatterlip's moments ticked by, and finally it was time for the party to begin. Chatterlips grabbed the doll from the corner and he gave a cry of delight.

Inspecting it, it was a very lifelike doll with soft brown curls and a sweet smile. There a special button on the doll's backside that would make the doll cry 'mama' and wave her forelegs and kick her back legs. The doll's name was Wonderful Wendy, and although she couldn't talk like Tina, she could do so much more than Tina could. She could cry, laugh, and even wet her diaper. Chatterlips thought that she was wonderful. "Thank you so much, mysterious universe," he said, kissing each doll on the cheek.

Chatterlips was engrossed in Wonderful Wendy. Then he remembered he had left his other doll on the steps. He walked over and picked it up and looked at it. Absentmindedly, he pulled the string that made her talk. "My name is Talky Tina, and I don't think I like you very much" she said. Chatterlips was startled but recovered quickly. "Well that's too bad, because I happen to love little fillies," he said, gently lying the doll back down.

As the days passed, Chatterlips and his new doll Wendy had a lot of fun together. When off duty Chatterlips took Wendy with him everywhere he went and showed her all the places in town. Wendy slept with him in bed every night. At first he kept both Tina and Wendy in bed with him, but then it seemed like the bed was too crowded, so he started leaving Tina on the shelf for the night.

One day it occurred to him that he hadn't really played with Tina in a while. He picked Tina up and pulled her string, expecting her to say "My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much" like she usually did, but this time the doll didn't say anything at all.

"Are you all right, Tina?" Chatterlips asked, pulling the string again. Tina still didn't say anything. Chatterlips felt so sad. He decided to be as nice as he could be to Tina from now on in hopes that Tina would start talking to him again.

That night Chatterlips was getting ready for bed and couldn't find Wendy. He had looked everywhere in the inn for her and was starting to panic. He knew that he couldn't sleep until he knew where Wendy was.

He was just about to give up and go back to search his room again when the innkeeper asked him, "Chatterlips, why did you throw your new doll away?" Chatterlips saw Wendy in his hooves. Her mane looked sticky.

"I didn't throw her away! I've been looking all over for her!" Chatterlips exclaimed.

"How did she end up in the trash can then?" the innkeeper asked softly. Chatterlips could see the hurt in his eyes and she could hear the hurt in his voice. He felt terrible and wished that he could make the innkeeper believe him.

"I don't know! Honestly I don't!"

"All right then," the keeper said gently, handing the doll to him. Chatterlips took Wendy into the bathroom and tried his best to clean her up. Then he took Wendy back to the room with him. Talky Tina sat waiting for him in her usual spot. But was that a wicked gleam in Tina's eye?

Several days later Chatterlips was in the cellar guarding when he heard a scream from outside. Startled, Chatterlips went up the stairs, and in a few moments a pony appeared with a towel wrapped around his hoof. He left a trail of big drops of blood behind him.

Chatterlips was alarmed. "Oh, mister, what happened?" he asked.

"I was doing some work out back and I was sure I had turned the saw off when all of a sudden it came back on again by itself! I think I might be needing a stich or two."

Chatterlips anxiously unwrapped the towel from around his hoof to see the damage. Luckily, his hoof was still attached, but there was a huge gash in the side.

"Oh, I'm going to have to have you take me to the doctor pony," the pony said. "You better go use the bathroom first because it's a little bit of a walk."

"Can I take Tina and Wendy too, please?"

The pony gazed at him. "Only if you come right away."

Chatterlips ran down the steps, snatched up Wendy, and looked in vain for Tina.

"Oh man, I can't find Tina anywhere!" he cried.

"There's a doll behind the building right next to where I keep my tools," the injured pony said. "Chatterlips, were you playing with her behind the hall?"

"No!" Chatterlips was shocked.

There wasn't time to fetch Tina before heading to the doctor, so only Wendy went along. The pony and Chatterlips had to sit in the waiting room for several hours, then the pony's injured hoof was stitched up, and it was after dark when Chatterlips was allowed to leave. Chatterlips went upstairs to his room to get ready for bed. To his surprise, Talky Tina was back in her usual spot on the shelf. Chatterlips picked the doll up.

"Tina, did you make that pony hurt his hoof?" He pulled the string, and an evil laugh came out of the doll. Enraged, Chatterlips flung her to the floor. "You shouldn't have done that, Tina! That was a nice pony! I think he's probably the best dad in the whole world!"

From the floor Chatterlips could hear the doll's piping voice. "You shouldn't have done that, Chatterlips."

It was autumn and the leaves were falling from the trees. When it got cold enough Chatterlips doused a pile of socks with gasoline and threw a match on top. He wouldn't let Wendy help with that part because it was too dangerous.

"It's getting chillly out here," Chatterlips said to himself. "Why didn't I bring a coat? Maybe I should get one..."

He decided to real quick, heading for the inn.

As soon as Chatterlips entered his room he noticed that it smelled funny. He barely had time to notice since at that instant he tripped over Talky Tina, who was lying right in the doorway, and slammed his head into the bedpost. Unconscious, he slumped to the floor.

A few minutes later the innkeeper was wondering why Chatterlips wasn't back with his jacket yet. At the same time he noticed the black smoke coming from upstairs.

"Oh my God, Chatterlip's still in there!" he screamed.

In a few moments a fire truck and ambulance had both arrived. The innkeeper and Chatterlips both had to be taken out of town to the nearest hospital and treated for smoke inhalation, and Chatterlips had also suffered a minor concussion, but neither one of them had suffered any permanent damage.

Six months later

Chatterlips now lived in another inn, but the innkeeper had had to move. All the furniture, clothing, appliances, toys, dolls, and everything else had been completely destroyed in the fire, so he had had to start all over again from scratch in accumulating material possessions. Chatterlips had no other possessions. Much more important to them was the fact that they had both survived and that none of them had suffered any permanent injury.

The construction crew had come to clear away the charred and blackened remains of a devastating fire. One of the men,  Hammerhooves, thought he saw what looked like part of a doll leg sticking out from under a piece of debris. He moved the debris and to his amazement, there lay a filly doll in what appeared to be nearly perfect condition. With a good cleaning up to remove the black smudge she would be as good as new. He would take her home to his own little filly, Lemonhearts, who loved dolls. He noticed a string on her side and pulled it to see what would happen. "My name is Talky Tina, and I love you very much," the doll said. With a grin the construction worker tucked her under his foreleg and continued with his work, thinking to himself how thrilled Lemonhearts would be to see her new doll.