It was a good day for Ditzy.
Well, actually, everyday was a good day! No such thing as bad days when you couldn’t see them. It was important to always look for the good, even in the small things, but especially to ignore the bad in the larger ones. But then that made this an extra special good day.
It showed as she jumped lightly from cloud to cloud, bobbing her head with each skip. One of her eyes saw the ponies beneath her scrambling away. They must have been happy about something too to be moving that fast.
Cranky and Matilda had forgiven her for getting the invitation wrong, and thanked her for bringing such amazing flowers to the wedding. Ditzy remembered how she wrapped them both in a tight hug, glad that they thought so well of her again. She could remember them hugging her back, pulling at her forelegs, affectionately gasping for breath.
She did have to let go when Cranky’s wig came off. He didn’t seem very happy about it. It was a good thing he accepted her apology, otherwise it would have made this day less good. That would be almost bad, but not quite! Not while she was skipping across the houses back to-
Ditzy’s world was suddenly spun as she found herself falling through the air. The gray pegasus had just enough time to recognize the familiar feeling of weightlessness and dizziness before she felt her body slam into something below.
“Whoops,” was the first word she let out, her mismatched gaze staring upward into the sky. “My bad,” she let out again, rolling over as she did so. She knew she didn’t land on the ground. The ground was usually pretty hard. What she landed on felt softer, and a little squishy as well. It even smelled nice. She twisted her head, blonde mane falling as her golden eyes looked at the object in two different ways.
“Oooooh, the flowers,” Ditzy spoke at the now crushed display of petals and stems. Large lightly colored petals fluttered around her, though the majority of them were bent and crushed in what remained of the cart they were carried in. She tilted her head, wondering lightly why there were flowers out here at all.
“No! All our flowers!” Ditzy’s ears perked at the familiar cry. She had heard it just earlier today. She turned her head to see a trio of mares running towards her. They didn’t look happy. “Those were for Cranky and Matilda’s wedding! They were done at an express rate!”
“Now we’ll never get them there in time!” Another one yelled out. To Ditzy, she didn’t look happy either. “How will they have a wedding without flowers?! The horror, the horror!” Ditzy’s ears perked at the question. Her smile grew with it. She knew how to fix this!
“Don’t worry,” she spoke to the trio with a large grin. Smiles made everything better. “The wedding is already over! I switched your flowers for something else. No one noticed!” The mares continued to stare at her, frozen in what Ditzy knew had to be delight. She loved making other ponies feel better.
“The wedding is over?” The third one asked now. She wasn’t smiling yet, but Ditzy knew it wouldn’t be long. “But what did they replace our flowers with?”
“Flameless Fireworks,” the gray pegasus returned. “They were amazing. They were glowing and colorful and easy to stack together and when Cranky and Matilda kissed, exploded into the air!” Ditzy raised her hooves as she spoke, leaning back with the motion. She reached a good height, before falling backwards again. But it was okay, she was telling a story.
“Flameless… fireworks?” One of the mares spoke up. She sounded confused by the name. That was alright. Confusion just meant curiosity, and like Ditzy always said, it was never a bad thing to learn something new. “But… where did those come from? How will we be able to compete with them? Is anyone going to want to buy flowers for weddings again?”
“No more flower bouquets for weddings?” The second mare spoke again. Ditzy watched them all exchange a look, one that the gray pegasus looked like worry. That wasn’t right. They should be happy to know that they’ll have less work to do now. “The horror, the horror!”
She then watched as the three fell to the ground in a slump. She tilted her head, making sure her mismatched gaze wasn’t deceiving her. This seemed familiar to her. IT did happen earlier today, she remembered that. It was right after the she got the idea for what to replace the flowers with.
It was a good thing the Doctor let her borrow the Flameless Fireworks for the wedding, otherwise she might not have been able to give these mares the good news, or give Cranky and Matilda a show for the wedding, or make-up for getting the invitations, or…
“Oh! I didn’t thank Doctor yet for the Flameless Fireworks!” Ditzy spoke aloud. Realization hitting her like the barn door she forgot to open. And it was true, she had forgotten about thanking the Doctor. She was just so happy to see that the fireworks came out well and he was there in his nice scarf as well. He really did deserve a thank you. “I better go thank him right away.”
With that, the mare spread her wings, taking off for her friend’s house with haste. No sooner was she in the air than did she see the ponies down the street quickly moving their carts and wagons out of the way. They all had such eager faces, biting their lips and closing their eyes as they moved fast as the wind. It only took a few seconds before she had a clear route for her to maneuver through. She smiled openly at the show.
They were all clearing a path for her to get to the Doctor’s house!
“I knew today was a good day!” Ditzy cheered as she flexed her wings, letting her take off into the air. Her gray wings beat as she moved forward, her mismatched gaze keeping careful track of the way in front of and around her. She could see all the ponies keeping a tight hold on their things, making sure she didn’t run into them. They were all so kind.
“Nothing’s stopping me from thanking the Doctor now.”
Three carts, a billboard, and some tree branches later, Ditzy was in front of her long-time friend’s home, still the same as she had seen it this morning. That was good, because it meant she wouldn’t have any trouble finding him inside. It would be pretty hard to thank him if she couldn’t find him.
Ditzy opened the door to his home, remembering him asking her to make herself at home whenever she came by. The inside of the Doctor’s home was just the way she remembered it, from a few hours ago.
The same mess of notes and papers scattered around, the same tall metal trashcans with large rods sticking out, the same large statues of the human pegasi, the same wall filled with metal screwdrivers with a large sign above them reading ‘Sonic’, and of course, the same blue phone-booth sitting in the corner of room. Ditzy did wonder about that, but The Doctor always gave her some explanation about tardar sauce, or something like that. She didn’t know what that meant, but that was okay.
Besides, she wasn’t here to see his old toys, she was here to thank him for the Flameless Fireworks! She couldn’t forget that, no matter how many pretty toys or cool models she saw. She had to remain focused. She had to thank him for helping her, otherwise her day would be less good. Not bad, but not as great as it could be. It was important to always try and make a day great.
“Hello! Doctor?” Ditzy called into the house, trotting forward as she did so. She wasn’t surprised to not hear a response back. He was probably focused on something really big. He usually was. “Hello? I’m here to thank you for the Flameless Fireworks!”
She walked out of the foyer and towards another familiar door. It was the one she and the Doctor usually walked through, like this morning. He was in there a lot, so it made sense that he would be now. She put her hoof on the door handle, twisting it lightly.
She opened it up to enter a room full of light.
Her mismatched golden eyes widened as her jaw dropped, staring at the room she had entered. The room was surrounded in glowing lights, so many different colors of the, too. The entire wall in front of her was covered with the lights, from as low as her hooves to as high as either of her eyes could see. She saw lots of gold and blue and green and pink, she even saw some red, too.
The way the lights were all grouped together, glowing like the stars she showed Dinky, it made Ditzy think of picture books she read when she was a foal. The colors so vivid and true that they were better than any of the words on the page. Each one was just so pretty that she could have stared at them for hours on end. That actually sounded like a good idea.
They were just so… nice to look at. They were like flowers that seemed to have drank too much sun, as Rose had once told her flowers did. It looked like they were letting out what they couldn’t handle, and it made their colors only prettier for it. But if they looked like flowers, but they weren’t actually flowers, that meant that they were something else.
“Oh, Flameless Fireworks!” Ditzy spoke aloud as she realized what she was staring at. Her wings beat as her smile grew again, removing the slack jawed expression she had adorned. “That’s a lot of Flameless Fireworks. A whole lot!”
“Hello? Is someone there?” Ditzy blinked at the voice. She turned around, looking back through the door. She saw in the doorway the stallion she was looking for. He saw her as well. “Why Ditzy, is that you? I didn’t expect to see you so presently following the matrimony ceremony.” Yup, big words, that was the Doctor.
“Hello Doctor!” The gray pegasus called to the stallion as if he were across town, and not half a room’s length away. “I was just looking for you. You’re usually in here working with sciencey things.” One of her golden eyes saw him cough into his hoof, trotting lightly into the room.
“Yes, well, not an entirely incorrect statement. The majority of my time is spent within my laboratory.” He loved big words like Ditzy loved muffins. She just knew he was agreeing with her. That was all that really mattered. “But currently I was preparing a new experiment, one to accelerate the recombination of the molecules necessary to form a hybridization between-” Ditzy felt her eyes slowly drift apart as he continued to speak. Not unusual for their interactions.
One of her eyes drifted to the nearby table, filled with papers like it usually was. It must have made it difficult to dine on. But she also saw something else. She had never seen them before, so that made them new. She trotted over to the table, letting her head swing down and look at this new object.
It was a hat, an odd one at that. It had a ribbon wrapped around the top of it and the end extended all the way around it. It looked like a smaller version of the hats that Rarity liked to wear. But those were big and poofy and really colorful. This was much shorter and only a few different colors of grass.
It did look comfortable though. Ditzy bit the end of it, flipping it into the air and letting it land on her head. She felt the top of the hat land on her head, shifting riskily up there. It didn’t feel right, but she realized that was because there weren’t any holes for her ears to come out of. It made it really uncomfortable
“Oh, terribly sorry about the hat,” Ditzy heard the Doctor say. Not a moment later did she feel the hat being taken off of her head, the stallion setting it back on the table. “Found it with the scarf. Quaint, but improper to adorn headwear when attending an indoor public gathering. Gives the impression that you are introverted and prefer-” More big words. He sounded happy though, that was good.
The gray mare’s eyes slowly began to separate again, looking around the room as the Doctor continued to speak. This time, however, she landed on something she already had seen. Actually, it was what was making the room so bright. The Flameless Fireworks!
“Doctor, why are you making more of these?” Ditzy spun her head as she spoke the words. The colors made the room kinda dizzy. Not the spinning, she was used to spinning, usually after hitting something else. But the colors were very pretty…
“An excellent question, my dear Ms. Doo,” the brown stallion replied. Ditzy heard him jump down from his table and trot over to her. “I’ve been in a bit of a pickle financially as of late. Selling a few odds and ends to make the month’s quota.” That didn’t sound good. Was that bad then?
“But! As luck would have it, the wedding gave me just the idea I needed for the troubles. And lo and beholds, the production of the Flameless Fireworks began. Promptly as it was.” Well that sounded good. Much better than sounding bad. “I believe I’ll have enough to pursue a few of the more risky ventures in my catalogue. Apparently most places charge extra for ‘volatile’ chemicals. Rubbish if you ask me. But beggars can’t be choosers, not while science eagerly awaits at the door.” Ditzy turned her head to the entrance she came in from.
“There’s someone at the door?” It was a good question. As far as her eyes could see, there was no one there. Even the doctor looked confused. He bit his lip head turning left and right around his now really bright workshop. “Oh, did they come in already?”
“Quite so they did!” The Doctor responded back, swinging one of his fore hooves as he did so. Was he trying to hit something? “Science has taken residency in my abode and has brought in a new roommate to help pay for the rent. Her name is none other than Necessity, the mother of Invention!”
“Wow!” Ditzy spoke with amazement, wings flapping lightly at the words. “She sounds like a really cool pony, can I meet her?” The gray pegasus was only hair length away from the Doctor when she asked, trotting up to him as she posed the question. She had to make sure she heard him, and it was always easier to hear things close by.
“Well, um…” The stallion let out, looking around as he did so. Why? Did he lose track of Necessity? That wasn’t good. “Perhaps I can introduce you to the work they have been helping me with. I only just found out currently that the stability of the Flameless Fireworks was increased by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow.” Ditzy didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded smart. That meant it was a good thing, at least for her friend. He seemed to love all the timey wimey sciencey things like that.
The Doctor made his way over to one of the walls of Flameless Fireworks talking a lot about his science things. She didn’t know what he was saying, but that was okay. He knew what he meant, and that was enough for a lot of ponies. But why was she here again?
It was important, she could remember that. It was about earlier today. Not the missing letters, not the wedding, not her flying. But it was something like that… maybe… it had to do with food, no flowers. Right! Flowers, but she didn’t have flowers. Instead she had-
“Oh, Doctor!” Ditzy spoke loudly again jumping over to him with her wings flapping again. One of her eyes saw the brightness of the wall full of Flameless Fireworks. The other saw the stallion quickly turn towards her.
Both saw herself crashing into him, sending the duo into a pile on the floor.
This wasn’t new to Ditzy, crashing into things, that is. That was good, at least she thought it was. Good enough that she didn’t hear the Doctor complaining about his papers all over the room or his suddenly flipped table and chairs. She did it once at the restaurant and the waiter got really mad at her. That was bad. However, the Doctor didn’t say anything against the sudden clatter.
Ditzy shook her head, good at recovering from falls. She looked down with her mismatched eyes, seeing the Doctor just beneath her. He was staring back up at her, still as a cloud without the weather ponies managing it. His eyes were so wide that Ditzy was worried he was hurt. She was about to ask so when she noticed something out of one of her eyes.
The room was getting brighter. Really bright, but colorful, too. There were a lot of colors suddenly lighting up the ground beneath them, making the Doctor’s brown coat look like a funny amount of other colors as well. But what was making them?
She looked up, seeing the Flameless Fireworks across all the walls suddenly glowing very brightly. They looked like colored glass when the sun shined through them, making the room a funny amount of different colors. That was good. But… didn’t that mean they were about to go ignite like they did at the wedding?
“Hey, are those Flameless Fireworks about to go off again?” Ditzy tilted her head to make sure. It wasn’t always easy to see. But no matter which way her head bent, she kept seeing the colors becoming brighter and brighter.
Her golden eyes looked down, seeing the Doctor beneath her staring back up with wide eyes. His fore hooves were at his sides, pinned by her own. He didn’t seem to mind though. In fact, he looked a little happy, with his brown coat lighting up as well. There was yellow and blue and green and violet and orange and- why was the Doctor looking so red?
“Wait a minute,” she sluggishly spoke, narrowing her mismatched eyes at the stallion beneath her. “Are you going to light on fire, too? You’re getting bright just like the Flameless Fireworks.” She watched the Doctor tilt his head, looking up at something that wasn’t her. His coat was getting brighter. Maybe he really was going to catch on fire. That was bad!
“N-No!” The doctor suddenly shouted, shooting out from beneath Ditzy before she knew he was gone. She landed on the ground again, shaking her head to right herself. She fell twice by only moving once. She remembered Princess Twilight calling that impressive before. But Ditzy focused on the Doctor right now.
He was standing in front of her, leaning over and breathing heavily. Maybe he really was hurt. That would make it her fault. That was bad, really bad. It was never a good thing to hurt a friend, even on accident.
“Are you okay Doctor? Are you hurt?” Ditzy asked, her lips already turning down in a frown. She tried to smile, but she couldn’t smile if she might have hurt her friend. “I’m sorry if you are.”
“What? No! Goodness no!” The stallion spoke back quickly. “I-I was merely worried that the Flameless Fireworks would ignite and we would be forced to run from my home. Never a good thing to run from one’s own home.” He was right, that wasn’t a good thing. So then… that meant he must be alright.
The Doctor turned around, looking at something Ditzy didn’t recognize. She only knew it gave out a lot of paper with a bunch of zigzagging lines on it. It must have been important, because the Doctor was staring at it really seriously. His tongue even stuck out intensely. That meant a pony was being focused. Or maybe he was just working on something.
He must have been working hard on it, because the Flameless Fireworks began to slowly dim around Ditzy. She thought she was losing her eyesight at first, the brightness of the room suddenly dropping so steeply. That was a very bad thing! But thankfully that wasn’t true. The lights just weren’t as bright. That wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.
“Ah,” The Doctor spoke again, looking at the walls of the colorful Flameless Fireworks as well. The machine wasn’t moving anymore. Was that a good thing? “Well it appears we won’t have to flee from the abode. Generous news. Hate to tell anyone to run, least of all either of us.” Running was usually a bad thing. Ditzy could only remember running when she was late or something was chasing her. It was usually the first one though. Time was hard to keep track of.
She remembered one time she had forgotten to deliver a letter to Appleoosa, so she had to fly really far and fast for that one. There wasn’t much else to remember from that, other than that she was banned from the town for property damage. That happened a lot, so it couldn’t be all bad. But another time, Ditzy remembered being behind delivering a cake to a birthday party down the road. That one turned out okay, because Pinkie Pie was prepared for anything. She even had muffins! But Ditzy had to focus, this was important.
“Doctor!” She called to the stallion again, who turned to look at her. “I wanted to talk to you about the Flameless Fireworks!” He blinked at her, his head looking up at the walls of the colorful glowing balls. They were pretty and fun to stare at.
“Great whickering chestnuts!” The Doctor called out himself. “I nearly forgot about that myself.” Forgot about what? Ditzy was here to thank him for the Flameless Fireworks. What did he forget? One of the gray pegasus’s eyes watched him reach for something behind a large metal box. The box had a lot of bright lights and buttons on it. They did look like they would be fun to press…
Ditzy only got as far as one hoof forward before the Doctor returned from behind the button machine, something dangling in his jaws. She knew it was a basket, the same kind of basket she used to carry her lunches and extra mail in. That was a nice basket. But what was even better than the basket was what was inside of it.
“Muffins!” Ditzy spoke with excitement, her golden eyes sparkling as she saw the many tasty treats sitting in the pocket of the basket. She could see a blueberry one, a raspberry one, an oatmeal one, a raisin one, an oatmeal raisin blueberry special one, and even a rainbow one! There were so many different muffins and they all looked so delicious.
She watched them with excitement as the Doctor set the basket on the floor. Ditzy was on it like a cat to a toy mouse, her head twisting left and right to get a better picture of the delicious treats.
“I’m glad to see I was spot on with my choice of gift,” the Doctor spoke above her. She looked up at him, twisting her head. Why was she getting a gift from him? It wasn’t her birthday, not for another fifty-eight days. She liked to keep track. “Please consider it a modest form of gratitude from me to you.” Ditzy blinked.
“Thanks for what?” She asked, looking up at him with a curious look. She didn’t know why he had to thank her. She was here to thank him. She knew that that seemed to be right. But he only laughed, the same way she knew the Doctor to laugh. Shutting his eyes and tilting his head.
“Oh, Ms. Doo,” the Doctor spoke. “Were it not for your ingenious reconciling of the absence of flowers at the wedding, I would have never pieced together the necessary element for the combination reaction of the Flameless Fireworks. Now, I have a new item I can make and sell in large quantities to earn back a steady stipend! Offering someone a means of income is near top tier on the list of reasons for offering appreciation from one pony to another.”
There were a lot of big words in there, making Ditzy space out more than a few times, but she believed she got the meaning of them. He was thanking her for finding him a new job, or part-time job, or class, maybe just bits. She did understand that she helped him with that last one. That was good, really good!
Ditzy smiled as she realized that. Helping one pony find a job that fit their Cutie Mark was a really nice thing to do. And if she understood the Doctor, enough that is, that was exactly what she just did. That was wonderful.
“I’m glad to help!” Ditzy spoke proudly, saluting the Doctor with a bright smile. He returned the grin, nodding as well. The gray pegasus didn’t waste another moment before she latched her jaw on the handle of the basket, lifting it up and turning towards the door.
She was looking forward to chomping down on the muffins. They made an excellent meal, and snack, dessert too. If she was really careful, she could even let them be used for lunch and breakfast! That would make any deal really good! Nothing made a day better than eating a tasty muffin, everypony knew that.
But still, something about that wasn’t right...
Ditzy’s hoof falls slowed as she approached the door, her head twisting as she thought of what could possibly not be here. She had her muffins. She had spoken to the Doctor. He had even thanked her for the help. Maybe… Maybe that was it.
The Doctor gave her the flameless flowers for the wedding. Then, he gave her muffins for helping her. That wasn’t right. Ditzy wasn’t good at math, but counting was important. He helped her twice and she helped him once. That wasn’t good. She had to do something to make it better, otherwise the day would only end at alright. This had to be a good day.
Ditzy frowned, basket of muffins in her jaw. That wasn’t good. She wasn’t supposed to frown when she had muffins. It didn’t make sense. She was Ditzy “Muffins” Doo. She had to do something, something that the Doctor would be happy with. But what could she give him?
The muffins were from him, and she knew from Rarity that it was impolite to return a gift. Maybe she could help him with the flameless flowers? Probably not. She knew they were pretty, but he knew how to make them. He already looked good in his scarf, so she couldn’t give him something to wear. But then, Ditzy had an idea.
Pinkie Pie told her about it, after she had delivered letters about one of her parties. She was saying that it was a nice thing to do for a pony, especially when they were feeling down. She said that it was a great way to make a pony go from pouty faces to beaming grins. That was a good thing, and Pinkie Pie knew a lot about other ponies. Everyone in Ponyville knew that. Still, it made her a little nervous...
“Dctr,” Ditzy poorly spoke, still holding the basket. She set it down, scraping her tongue against her teeth to get rid of the unpleasant bark taste. Nowhere near as good as the muffins inside. “Doctor,” she called again, trotting up to him. She smiled, of course, she had to smile before she made someone else smile.
“Yes Ditzy, how may I help you-” The stallion was cut off mid-sentence.
Ditzy firmly planted her lips against his.
She felt the Doctor freeze at the contact, something that Pinkie said was common. It usually meant they were surprised, but surprises were almost always a good thing! So the longer the surprise lasted, the better it was. With that infallible logic in the front of her mind, Ditzy pushed harder against the Doctor’s lips, determined to make this the best thank you she could.
He didn’t do much at first, but then the gray pegasus felt him push back, lightly, but enough that she knew it was okay. Pinkie said that if they did it was okay. But she did also say that when they did it was time to stop. She didn’t want to call her friend wrong. She did know a lot about how to make other ponies happy.
Ditzy leaned back away from the Doctor, looking at him with a wide grin. Both of her mismatched eyes saw him staring back at her, his eyes wide as they were when they had fallen on the floor. According to Pinkie, that was a good thing. The wider the gaze, the happier they were.
“Yup! Very happy!” Ditzy confirmed proudly.
Turning away, the gray mare skipped from the store, already looking forward to doing the same across the clouds on her way back home. Not before she grabbed her basket of muffins, however. She was looking forward to having those. Especially the oatmeal raisin. Healthy and delicious!
She skipped as she trotted from the home, happy that she had made her day really great. She fixed her mistake with the letters, gave Cranky and Matilda a wedding to remember, helped the Doctor with his Flameless Fireworks, remembered to thank him, and even got a new basket of muffins! The gray pegasus knew Dinky would love to have them.
Ditzy shut the door to the Doctor’s home as she left, remembering that it was always polite to shut the door to a home you left. She heard the latch shut, nodding cheerily at it. She was all set to go home and enjoy her muffins now!
She skipped down the road, feeling giddy with anticipation inside. Ditzy was so excited she could even hear the fireworks going off in her head, booming above her in colorful displays of rainbow hues. It must have been quite the show, because even the ponies around her were staring up at the sky, making oh’s and ah’s at what they were watching.
That was definitely a good thing!
