Episode 18: Dr. Whooves on the Daily Show

Throughout history there had always been some debate over who knew Zenith the most and who he in turn considered to be his closest companion. The pool of candidates was a small one as he was never one to have lots of acquaintances, he always said he had colleagues not friends. Many thought it might have been Twilight since they were blood related and she knew him and indeed took care of him for all of his childhood and very early adulthood, but later in life it was a well established fact that he hated her.

Most assumed it was Dr. Whooves since they were very close both as companions and intellectual equals. They may have only known each other for a little under a decade but Zenith had gone on record as saying that Whooves was the only person he considered both a friend on an mental and personal level. Other colleagues might have earned their share of cold respectability out of him but Whooves was like family.

Though taking this into consideration a decent argument could be made on behalf of his changeling sidekick Ginger who literally knew him since the day he was born and spent her life looking after him through several personas that she would adopt at almost a weekly basis. It got to the point where, back when he worked at University, his co-workers were surprised when he didn’t have a new assistant.

As to be expected from her species, throughout Zenith’s life Ginger took the role of many different forms. When he was a child she helped look after him as a Castle guard slash babysitter, when he returned to spread his newly founded idea she left the Castle as a top ranking knight to be his assistant, later in his adulthood they were for a brief moment lovers, when he was exiled she moved to Ponyville and did errands for him as sort of live in maid, and now in his advanced age she was his handler like in a nursing home.

No one knew that she had been serving him for all these years through a combination of skillful acting as her shape shifting, thus fueling the idea that Zenith could never get close to anyone when in fact he’d been with the same pony for several decades.

This of course meant that she understood him on a level that others didn’t, mostly because she was the only one he’d allow to be close to him. But on some rare occasions Zenith would find himself opening up to her on some issues, again mostly by proxy. But throughout the years Ginger liked to flatter herself by believing that rather than out of convenience he would open up to her about certain matters out of a mutual bond the two had.

There was no way Zenith would ever admit to such a thing but deep down Ginger knew that despite his gruff and cranky attitude he had a soft spot for her and even cherished their lifelong friendship. She knew this because just as she made him promise to never reveal her identity as a Changeling he in turn also made her promise to never tell anyone something about himself, something that he only told her and nopony else, not even Whooves, and would forever go down in history as their little secret.

And it was this very secret that was going through her head when Whooves came to visit the two of them. She wanted to talk about it but refused to do so until after he left, which he did when Zenith gave him a sample of his Clausus cure.

Since she barely knew him Ginger opted to limit her salutations to a simple hoofshake before Whooves was escorted to the front door by Zenith, the two of them reminiscing as they weaved in and out of boxes filled with old documents that littered the house. It took but only a few minutes before Zenith returned to the tiny library where Ginger was already pouring him another helping of tea.

“Oh that Whooves, may he never change!” Zenith said with the biggest smile on his face that Ginger could ever remember seeing. She was a bit jealous but at the same time glad to see her friend looking so happy as he took his seat, ready to continue where they left off.  “Aaaaaah... now then, where was I before we were so wonderfully interrupted... ah right! So… I noticed you went ahead and started a new flower bed in my front yard. What kind of flowers are you planting this time Ginger?”

As if he was preparing himself for her riveting response Zenith leaned back in his chair and took a long sip of his tea. Rather than answer Ginger just glared at him like a wife staring at her paramour because he forgot their anniversary. Eventually she let out a long and annoyed sounding sigh while shaking her head.

“Really Zenny?” she asked while he gave her a questioning look. “A zoo?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked in a confused tone that, in his old age, Ginger was quite used to hearing.

“You’re still telling that old lie?” she asked.

“What, you’re referring to the story I told to Whooves when he asked about Clausus?” he guessed. “Okay okay so maybe I embellished a few details here and there. So maybe on that day the parasprite exhibit wasn’t open yet but I assure you that--”

“Oh drop it Zenny, we both know what really happened that day!” she claimed which only made him continue to play ignorant.

“Hmph!” he grunted as he looked to his side at an interesting stack of books. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh I know you do!” she continued. “And I know why you don’t want anypony else to know.”

Despite his friend’s interrogation Zenith decided to take another sip of his tea while looking everywhere but into her eyes, which was very much unlike him. Usually he would have retaliated but the fact that he was allowing himself to be subjected to this was uncharacteristic of him.

“Zenny... Zenny!” Ginger called out, but was still being ignored which made her a bit upset. “Zenith Sparkle you look at me when I’m talking to you!”

Being referred to by his full name, which contained the name of his mother, always got his attention, and not in a good way. Ignoring that a pony his age shouldn’t suddenly burst into spontaneous movement, Zenith turned his head to lock angry eyes with his friend who was one of the few he’d allow to get away with saying what she just said.

“Good... now that I have your attention I think it’s time you came clean with your true feelings,” she advised.

“Again... I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he sneered as he began to breathe angrily through his snout.

“Oh really,” Ginger said. “Well then, allow me to refresh your memory.”

Crossing his legs nervously, Zenith again turned his head to the side and began humming to himself like a madman in an attempt to distract himself. Unlike before Ginger was alright with his hollow attempt to ignore him, because this time she knew she had his undivided attention.

“It was a particularly dreary sunday night and you were working on some pamphlets and your new book,” she began. “Back then you weren’t as famous as you are now so you did most of your work at home. Residents of Canterlot still doubted you were the same pony who circulated those free texts back when you were in hiding while others didn’t trust you since you were a runaway royal. Your connections were short so I helped you set appointments and pass out your literature.”

“You... were a big help back then,” Zenith admitted. “Back then you were known as what again?”

“When I made contact with you for the first time since your return? I was a red, blue, and green Earthpony called ‘Polygon’” she answered. “I was originally disguised as a Unicorn but you told me to lose the horn if I wanted to work for you... but that’s besides the point! Don’t try to change the subject!”

Seeing through his plan, Zenith went right back to avoiding eye contact while grumbling to himself angrily.

“It was on that day that you were given an invitation to go to the Castle, something which you got fairly often since your return but always turned down since you never wanted to see your mother again. It had been a week after the attack on the Castle by Retchstrike and you wanted to finish your new article on the subject as quickly as possible,” Ginger continued. “But this invitation was unlike any other. Instead of an officially sealed envelop hoof delivered by a messenger you were approached at your front door by your sisters Horizon, Meridian, and Nadir as well as many royal guards escorting them; they insisted that you come with them.”

Despite his never wanting to remember this Zenith was all too familiar with the day in question as was Ginger herself.

“You refused at first but they eventually convinced you and instructed me to stay behind and mind the house. I did just that and even managed to print out fresh copies of your latest manuscript as a surprise for when you returned,” she continued. “But despite your saying so you didn’t return... least not right away like we both planned. When you arrived it was early the next morning, you came looking shell shocked and pale faced. When I asked what was wrong you said nothing and locked yourself in your lab.”

“I’m not hearing this,” Zenith said as he closed his eyes to try and block out the memories.

“I thought nothing of it at first but then what followed terrified me. You started to scream and holler like a pony being tortured. When I forced my way into your lab I saw you wildly destroying lab equipment after lab equipment and flipping over tables,” she explained, the scene still vivid in her mind after all these years. “I thought you had gone crazy so I tackled you to the ground till you agreed to calm down. Once that had happened your new found anger went away and was replaced by something I hadn’t seen you do since the day you were born... you were crying. And do you know why you were crying that day?”

Of course Zenith knew but he wasn’t going to even try to answer.

“You were crying because as you told me that day... your mother, Princess Twilight Sparkle, was going to die,” Ginger revealed. “According to you when you went to the Castle your mother was in a comatose state and she wasn’t waking up.”

“That’s... you’re wrong,” Zenith said. “This never happened, ask anypony!”

“Oh well of course nopony would think this is true... because the Castle covered this up from the public because they thought it would cause a panic. But they told you... in fact on that day they told you that while fighting Retchstrike your mother had sustained a devastating injury when she stopped that madpony from destroying the past,” Ginger continued. “He had actually opened a portal to the past but Twilight managed to absorb it before he could use it... but by doing so it had caused her to fall ill... from a little known disease called Clausus.”

Like before Zenith was avoiding his friend by turning away, but this time he did so to hide the tears welling up in his eyes. In his old age he had trouble remembering many things but this was not one of them.

“Of course they tried nearly everything to cure her but the Castle was out of ideas. Out of respect for family they summoned you that day to inform you of her condition before going public as well as their intentions on what to do with her,” she added. “Since there was no hope of curing her she would suffer for all eternity since as an Alicorn she could not die. So in a humane gesture they made plans of easing her pain by stripping her of her immortality so she could pass on.”

“They... they were going to take her away from...” Zenith said, feeling like he was falling but not actually going anywhere. “Just like father.”

“I know Zenny dear, I know. But you were smarter than them and you weren’t going to let that happen,” she went on to say. “Again you looked as if you had gone crazy only this time you had a purpose. On that day you worked tirelessly for hours on end, skipping important meetings, and shunning away potential clients who came to visit, all in the name of saving your mother.”

The very thought made Zenith want to vomit. To steady himself he tried to drink more of his tea, unaware that he was out. Leaning over to help, Ginger poured him a new cup before continuing.

“It took you seven hours but you did it... you used all your knowledge to come up with a cure. Of course you couldn't just go back to the Castle and give it to your mother ooooh no, not you. You then proceeded to run into the streets like a raving lunatic, proclaiming that you had done the impossible,” Ginge recounted. “Once you had enough passing ponies to take notice you brought out a sick pony that you had me wheel in beforehand. A local child who had a weaker case of Clausus... and it was there that you shocked the world by demonstrating that you had indeed found a cure.”

This was actually a detail that Zenith remembered quite clearly but for all the wrong reasons. He had some connections in the local hospital as well as the local media. He invited the two to witness his miracle cure which boosted his popularity and fame considerably. He was still struggling to get the word out of his ideas and theories but after it was clear how intelligent he was, in that he discovered this cure, support came rushing in like never before.

This was one of the major turning points in his career upon his return. Twilight’s near death was the best thing that could have happened to him from a career point of view.

“Of course since the Castle didn’t want word to get out that Twilight was so vulnerable they never revealed what happened and you were too eager to make up a story about how you invented the cure on a whim,” Ginger said. “But you also released the formula for this cure to the world saying that you wanted everypony to be cured... but in fact you did this so Twilight would also benefit.”

“You... you don’t know what you’re saying,” Zenith said as he slowly began to brush his hair back. “I Zenith… I… I discovered the cure one day when I went to the local zoo. I saw a paraspite exhibit and wondered why, even though they could eat anything, the creatures would only--”

“Oh will you just let it go already!” Ginger barked. “Face it! What you did was something truly beautiful and benevolent. Something from your heart rather than your mind!”

“But that is not how everypony else will see it now is it!?” he yelled back. “As far as myself, the world, the history books, those in the Castle, and the government of which you reside yourself under are concerned I created that cure for the public and with the power of science!”

“And yet... you and I both know how wrong that is. You know you like to talk about how everything you did was for the advancement of Earthponies, science, and our race as a whole and for most of your life this has been the case. You have done so much for our generation and endured so much pain in your life and yet you can’t accept that just once you did something purely for yourself,” Ginger tried to get him to understand. “It’s time you realized that you created something incredible... a cure to a disease that was thought to be incurable not out of scientific integrity, not by a yearning to advance modern medicine, not out of a desire to see Earthponies as equals, and not fueled by an intellectual need to change the world, but out of pure emotional instinct. I’m a Changeling, I know a lot about the power of love and that’s what helped get you where you are today... not scientific discovery but love... the love I know you have for your moth--”

“ENOUGH!” Zenith yelled as he slammed his cane against the table. “I will hear no more of this!”

A strong silence was all that was left as Zenith calmly leaned forward to pick up the broken half of his cane which layed next to his chair.

“Ginger, I invited you over to sample my new tea and talk about your new garden bed,” he said. “If you mention my mother one more time I’ll have to ask you to leave! SO... I’ll ask you again... What kind of flowers are you planting this time?”

Saddened by how he still refused to open up about his less than stable relationship with his mother, Ginger was still somewhat happy to see that at least he was more willing to, to some degree, talk about the issue. When she first met him he was even worse and would often talk about how he wished she was gone so he could continue his work without fear of being hindered.

Throughout his life she had always tried to get him to change his ways and accept that his mother wasn’t as evil as he always thought she was. When he was younger the mere mention of her name would warrant him throwing something at you, but nowadays he found himself more willing to talk about her. He even at one point almost thought about accepting an invitation to the Castle that he got every month. Of course he didn’t go.

This may not sound like much progress at all but that never stopped Ginger from trying. She had known him all his life and was determined to see to it that she’d stay with him till his very last. And until then she never once gave up on trying to make him as happy as possible, which she believed could be attained by making him realize his feelings for his family which included Twilight.

This felt like an impossible task even to her, but she vowed to never stop trying. She loved him that much.

“Oh Zenith.” She sighed with a weak smile on her face. “You’ll never change.”

“What was that?” Zenith said, only half paying attention as he tried to fix his cane.

“I said tulips...” Ginger answered as Zenith gave her a tired look. “... I’m planting tulips.”