An Everlasting Sickness

   This world is full of surprises. This world is also full of sadness, but things can turn different ways with how you interpret it. I believe that mystery is what this world is all about, because solving a mystery can bring you to some pretty beautiful things.

   I'm Derpy Hooves, and I live a life that isn't full of those beautiful things. I'm the local mailmare of a town called Ponyville, and because of my weird crossed eyes, ponies seem to... expect less from me. It was a birth defect. When I was born, something went wrong with my right eye, and so it crosses when I don't focus to keep it straight. Because of that, it's also hard to see straight, so I seem to crash or become clumsy because of it. Ponies just don't understand that it's not my fault, but I don't care. It's not like I haven't got used to it already.

   When I was little and living in Cloudsdale, it was almost the same thing, but worse. I was a straight A student in my academic classes, but I still crashed my flight classes, so I was bullied. They called me things that made me feel like trash, and they even physically bullied me when no one was looking, but I kept my ground. Work hard, get bullied, work even harder. That's what I kept doing, and I made it out of my classes as top student in academics. The only thing that really made me sad was how throughout all those years, no one ever tried to stand up for me. Well, only one did. Her name was Carrot Top, and she did it once, and we became friends for a week or two, and then she moved.

   After finishing school, I decided that Cloudsdale had too many negative memories for me, so I moved out. And that's when I found the lovely Ponyville. It was a friendly and tight-knit town, and they had a job for a pegasus mailmare open. I moved to there, and I've been living in Ponyville ever since.

   The ponies here in Ponyville seem are nicer then any other ponies I've ever seen. They say hi to me, they thank me for giving their mail, and they don't even get mad when I crash into any of their property. It was the perfect place, and I love it. It's been two years since I moved in, and I'm known as a loyal citizen now.

   For me, nothing out of the ordinary happens. My days usually go as this: I wake up, get ready for my job, do my job, go to a bakery to eat, go home, get ready for the next day. I'm not the mare that gets too many surprises or mysteries, but  in a harsh Fall day, that's when the day happened. The day, where in my opinion, my life started.

   It was dark and raining, and I was walking home to a regular Friday night. My home presided in a place that was a little far from the usual Ponyville crowd, and it was just along the line where the Everfree Forest was. I started to hear thunder crackling, and my mane and coat started to get really wet, so I started walking faster. And that's when I heard it.

   A weird sound, almost like an alarm going off. Then a big crashing sound, all coming from the forest. I wanted to get home as quick as I could, but I knew that I couldn't just let that somepony stay in the woods injured if it was somepony.

   I walked slowly into the edge, looking through the leaves and branches and trees that surrounded me.

   "Hello!" I screamed. "Is anypony there? Is somepony hurt?"

   I looked around more and saw that my search was going nowhere. Maybe it was the thunder that I heard, or a new alarm that let the weather ponies know that their job were done. I was about to turn around and leave, before I saw him on the corner of my eye.

   It was a stallion. A brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark, unconscious and lying on the wet dirt. I gasped and went up to him, and when he didn't reply, I took all night to get him to the safety of my house. What was this strange stallion doing in the Everfree Forest, and why was he unconscious?

   After three hours, he finally woke up. It was about three in the morning, but I didn't care. I was staring at him worryingly the whole time. I finally had the chance to talk to him.

   "Hello. Are you okay?" I asked him.

   "What... What happened?" He was still barely conscious, but at least he could talk. He tried to get up.

   "Hey, hey. Take it easy there. I found you knocked out at the edge of the Everfree Forest, heh. You should be the one telling me what happened."

   "I... I don't know. Where am I?"

   "You're in my living room. I carried you here after I found you. I'm Derpy, by the way. Derpy Hooves. Who are you?"

   "I'm... I'm... The Doctor."

   "Doctor...?"

   "The Doctor."

   "Umm... Okay. So you don't remember what happened? What's the last thing you remember?"

   "I... I don't... I don't know." He fell asleep after saying that.

   I guess I had to wait until morning to get to meet him some more. I got myself a blanket, laid down at the other couch, and fell asleep too.

   I woke up to the Saturday afternoon to see that the strange stallion was just waking up too. He blinked a couple times, looked at me, then smiled with his eyes still scrunched up.

   "Good morning, Ms.Hooves... You're a pony. And from what I remember, you can talk. A talking pony, what about that." He said in happy toned voice. It was almost as if he had an accent, like he came from somewhere else.

   "Umm... Yeah. Okay...? Good morning. Do you remember your name or what happened yet?"

   "I don't remember what happened, but my name is The Doctor."

   "The Doctor? Doctor who? What's your actual name?"

   "Just The Doctor."

   "Hmm. Okay. Well, Doctor, is it okay if I take you to the doctor today?"

   "You're going to take me to myself?"

   I chuckled. "No, I mean the local doctor."

   "Ahh. The local doctor. Where are we, exactly?"

   "My house, Mr.Doctor sir."

   "No, I mean where where. And it's just Doctor."

   "Oh, okay Doctor. And Ponyville."

   "Ponyville? Of what country?"

   "Umm... Equestria, sir."

   "Oh... Wow! Equestria and ponies! This day is splendid!" He got up from my couch to fall onto the floor. "Wow, I'm a pony! This is great!"

   I picked him up and put him back to the couch. "Why is that great? You seem surprised that you're a pony." I giggled at the way he looked. He looked almost like a kid who just found out about Nightmare Night.

   "Well it is!"

   "Why?"

   "I don't know! Is everyone ponies?"

   "Everyone? What kind of word is that? And yes, everypony in Ponyville are ponies. Well, to the exception of a dragon named Spike, a couple cows, and a couple mules that live around the area."

   "Wow! Everypony! That sounds funny on my tongue. Everypony, everypony, everypony!"

   I giggled again. What was this stallion doing?

   "One more question, Ms.Hooves."

   "Yes?"

   "How do you walk as a pony?"

   After teaching the Doctor how to walk, I learned that when he said he doesn't remember anything, he literally meant everything. We got out of my house and trotted towards the hospital.

   As he walked out the door while stumbling, he looked at the scenery and said, "Wow! What a fine place Ponyville is!"

   "Yes it is, Doctor."

   We started walking to the more local places in town, and that's when he started asking me things.

   "So, Ms.Hooves," He started to say.

   "You can just call me Derpy."

   "Oh, okay! So Derpy, I can't help but notice these symbols on each of our behinds. What are these exactly?"

   "Oh! They're cutie marks. They are a special mark you receive when you find your special talent or personality. Mine is bubbles because my parents used to always say I had a bubbly personality. Yours seem to be an hourglass. Maybe you had a job in time or something."

   "Wow! That's amazing!  Also, why is it that you have wings, but I don't seem to have them?

   "That's because I'm a pegasus and your an earth pony. You see, pegasi have wings, earth ponies have stronger bones, and unicorns have horns. You don't remember anything, don't you?"

   "No I do not, Derpy! All I remember is that I'm The Doctor." He smiled and flapped his ears, which caused him to look up in amazement.

   "Wow! I can move my ears! And I have hair!" He put his hoof up to feel his mane and ears and stumbled a bit from balancing on just three hooves. I managed to lean him on me so he could feel his head.

   "This is fantastic!" He said happily. Then his smile started to fade a little bit. "I don't know why, but I'm sad that I'm not a ginger."

   We were just a few minutes away from the local hospital, and the rest of the conversation had been silent. That was until he asked me a few more things.

   "Derpy, I can't help but notice. Why is your right eye..."

   "Oh, I don't want to talk about it. It's... It's a birth defect."

   "Oh. I'm quite sorry for bringing such a thing up. And I also forgot to mention..."

   "Yes Doctor?"

   He looked at me and smiled. "Thank you for getting me out of the woods, Derpy."

   I smiled back and told him it was no problem. I don't know what it was, but there was something about his eyes that made me feel so... Cozy. It looked like his eyes were hundreds of years old, like he had seen things I couldn't imagine. Away from that, he also seemed... A bit lonely. How could I tell all of that from his blue eyes? I'm not even sure how.

   We got to the hospital and Doctor got to be checked with Nurse Redheart.

   "Hello! What's your name? I'm Nurse Redheart, I'll be doing your checkup today."

   "Hello! I'm The Doctor."

   "The Doctor huh? Doctor who?"

   "It's just The Doctor."

   Nurse Redheart looked at me and I just shrugged. I explained how I found him while he was still in the waiting room.

   "Okay, well, let me just do my regular checkup things before we get to questions."

   The white mare checked his pulse, made sure he didn't have a cold, then took her stethoscope to check his heartbeat. That's when her mouth hung open in confusion.

   "That... That's not possible... It sounds like... You have two hearts!"

   "Wow! Two hearts, eh? How does that work?"

   "What?!" I said, taking her stethoscope and listening. She was right! There were two beats simultaneously beating at the same time!

   The Doctor and I walked out of the hospital with Nurse Redheart waving goodbye.

   "Thank you, Nurse!" I said.

   "Don't thank me Derpy, I was happy to help. If it's just memory loss, his memory should come back soon. Away from that, just watch what he does. I've never seen a pony with two hearts before."

   "Okay! Bye Nurse Redheart!"

   "Thank you nurse!" The Doctor said too.

   She waved and went back inside the hospital.

   "Wow, so that was... Interesting."

   "Sure was, Derpy! So what are we going to do next? I have so much to ask, if that's alright."

   "That's good! And I have to send out some mail to some ponies... Want to come? Maybe you'll remember somepony we see."

   "That sounds fantastic! Allons-y!"

   "What's that?"

   "I don't know.. I think it means 'let's go' in some language..."

   "You are so weird, Doctor."

   "So you're the mailperson of Ponyville?" The Doctor asked me. Ever since I found him, he has been saying weird words like that.

   "Mailperson? It's called mailpony. And yup, I'm the mailmare around here!" I got my grey mail bag and cap and put it on.

   "That's wonderful! Let's go send some mail!"

   "Great! Let's see, my list today is Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Mr and Mrs Cake, Bon Bon and Lyra, and Colgate. Their houses aren't too far away from each other."

   "Wonderful! Well, let's get a move on. I'd love to see more of this Ponyville." He started to trot clumsily back to town.

   We walked through the colorful town and gave off mail to Colgate first. She didn't know who The Doctor was, so we continued on our path to giving mail.

   We stopped halfway through Ponyville to a brown one-story house by the market stalls.

   "Maybe Bon Bon and Lyra might know you. They're really popular, after all." I knocked on the door, and Lyra opened it with a yawn.

   "Oh, hey Derps." The mint-green pony said.

   "Good afternoon, Lyra. Here's your package and mail."

   "Thanks!" She looked back into her house, then looked back at me. "You're later than usual today. And you're not flying. Anything interesting happen this morning...?" She looked behind to see The Doctor smiling.

   "Oh. I just found this stallion injured in the Everfree Forest. His name is The Doctor. He doesn't remember anything. I was wondering if you or Bon Bon ever seen him before." I got out of her way and let her look at the The Doctor. She raised her eyebrow and put her hoof up to her chin.

   "Nope. Never seen him. Maybe Bon Bon has, though." She turned around. "BON BON!"

   After ten seconds, the candy cutie-marked mare peeked from behind the door sleepily. "What do you need?"

   "Have you ever seen this stallion? Derpy found him in the woods, and he doesn't remember anything."

   Bon Bon looked at him too. "No. I don't think so. And in the Everfree? Are you okay?"

   "Never better! I think." The Doctor replied with a smile.

   "Well, what's your name?"

   "The Doctor."

   "Hmm. Interesting... Nice to meet you Doctor!" Bon Bon let out a hoof for him to shake.

   "Nice to meet you t- WOAH!" He tried to take out one hoof so he could shake it, but fell down after losing his balance.

   "When I said he didn't remember anything, he literally forgot everything." I whispered to them. They looked at each other, then nodded slowly. "Well, we got to go give some more mail. See you two around!"

   "Bye Derpy and The Doctor!" They said in unison.

   The Doctor got up quickly. "Bye!"

   "So," The Doctor said while we began to walk to Pinkie Pie's house. "Are those two ponies... Sisters?"

   "Nope, their married."

   "Oh! So this society is equal to all marriages. Wonderful!"

   Again, this stallion is so strange.

   We walked for ten minutes until we were at the Golden Oaks library. He stared in amazement as he saw the brown oak tree.

   "Somebody- I mean somepony... Lives here!?"

   "Yes, Twilight Sparkle and Spike. They run the local library."

   "Amazing!"

   We walked in and saw Spike, dusting the books and drawers. We went up to the purple dragon.

   "Good afternoon, Spike! We got you and Twilight's mail."

   "Oh, hey Derpy! And hello..."

   The Doctor was too distracted from looking at all the books. I shoved him lightly.

   "Oh! I'm The Doctor."

   "Doctor? Of what?"

   "It's just The Doctor."

   "Huh. That's cool."

   "Spike!" Twilight screamed from the second floor. "Who's that?"

   "It's just Derpy and her friend! They have the mail!"

   The purple unicorn ran down the stairs joyously. "The mail!? Is the new edition of Daring Do finally here!?"

   "Yes maam." I pulled out the book and her other mail and gave it to her.

   "Oh wow! Thanks! Rainbow is going to freak out, heh. Oh, hello!" She looked at The Doctor. "Sorry, I don't seen to know who you are. I'm Twilight."

   "I'm The Doctor!"

   "Ooh, The Doctor of what?"

   "I'm not quite sure. It's just The Doctor."

   Twilight looked at me confusedly. I've been getting a lot of confused looks today.

   "Well then. Hello Doctor!"

   "Do you happen to know who he is?" I asked. "I found him in the woods last night, and he doesn't remember a thing."

   "Hmm." She looked at him again. "Not a clue. I'm sorry, Derpy. But I can give you some books on memory loss, if you'd like."

   "That would be great! Thanks Twilight!"

   After a couple minutes, Spike came back with a book called Memory Loss: The Facts About Forgetting and How to Remember Again.

   "Thank you!"

   "It wasn't a problem at all! Thank you for the mail."

   Before leaving out the door, I asked one more thing. "You don't happen to know anypony with two hearts, right?"

   "What?" She looked at me without a clue.

   "Nevermind. Let's go Doctor. Bye Twilight and Spike!"

   "Bye! See you next time!"

   The Doctor stopped walking and scrunched his eyes shut, like he had an instant headache.

   "Doctor, are you okay?!"

   "Yeah, yeah... I'm fine. Just a small migraine. Maybe memory is coming back." He shook it off and we continued to walk. I watched him in a cautionary way, in case something like that happened again.

   We walked for a couple minutes until we were to the front of Sugarcube Corner.

   "Okay, if there is anypony who'd know who you are, it would be Pinkie Pie. She knows everypony in Ponyville... Literally."

   "Fantastic! Let's go then."

   "You say fantastic a lot, don't you...?"

   We went inside the bakery and found Pinkie Pie working at the front desk. The pink mare gasped, rang the bell on the counter three times, then sped towards The Doctor and I?

   She gasped again. "DERPY! You came with the mail! You were really late today and I was like 'Derpy's never later' and so I check my bushes to make sure you didn't crash into any and so I just thought you got sick so I made this really nice card that I colored with only three crayons but you're here now with a stallion and you're not sick so I should have known that you'd just be late!" She gasped for air again. "I LOVE MAIL!"

   "Good afternoon Pinkie Pie! And yeah, sorry for being late today. I had a really long night last night and-"

   "This stallion!" Pinkie looked at The Doctor really closely. "How can this be... I don't know this stallion! Who is he? I know everypony in Ponyville..."

   "That's what we were going to ask." I chuckled at Pinkie. "He doesn't remember anything. I was going to ask you if you knew him."

   "Well no siree bob I don't know him... What's your name?" He looked at the Doctor.

   "The Doctor, Ms. Pie."

   "The Doctor, wow! That's a really cool name!" She looked at him some more, then gasped, then looked at him again, but with more seriousness. She looked into his eyes and gasped quietly. Her mouth was hung open. "Are you who I think you are? Are you... The Doctor?"

   I gasped too. "Oh! Do you know him?"

   The pink mare was completely serious now. She looked into his eyes one last time, then asked him in whispers.

   "Are you... The Doctor?"

   "Yes, I'm The Doctor."

   Her hair was starting to deflate. "Now, what are you doing here..." She grumbled to herself. "You don't remember anything, don't you?"

   The Doctor was now serious too. "No. What do you know?"

   She chuckled lightly, then looked back to him. "You're a very special pony to this universe. Heck, you're not even a pony... I can't help you right now. But come back when you're ready."

   I stared in awe. What was Pinkie Pie talking about? What did she mean when she said he wasn't a pony?

   Her hair popped back to it's regular style, and she smiled at me. "I'd like my mail please. Also, I'll take the Cakes mail too. Their getting some more sugar back at market stalls right now."

   "Umm... Here yah go. Thanks Pinkie..." I handed her all the mail, and The Doctor and I headed out in silence.

   "Oh, and Doctor!" She yelled out as we walked out.

   "Yes?"

   "It's almost time."

   Instantly, he grabbed at his head and winced in pain. I grabbed him confusedly and asked him what was wrong. He didn't know either.

   "I'm fine... I'm fine." He cooled down.

   "Come on, Doctor. It's starting to get dark." I looked at the sky. It was already almost sunset. Since it was Fall, the sun was going down early. "Let's get home."

   We got to my house from the edge of the Everfree just before the sunset was down. We got inside, sat down in the living room, and I got some food ready to eat with him.

   This was all a big surprise to me. I rarely had guests in my house, so I insisted that I'd try to cook something fancy for him. He said it wasn't a big deal, and since I was a horrible cook, I had to agree with him.

   Who would've known that I was letting this stallion, one that I just found in the woods and had no memory at all, live and eat in my house. It's hard for me to even figure that out! But I guess it can come from the things I know: He seems like a nice pony, he doesn't have anywhere else to go, and he seems lonely. How do I know that he is lonely, even if I've been with him for only a day? It's his eyes. It's something about them that's telling me something. I know it.

   "I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but do you want a muffin and some tea?" I grabbed the tray and set it down to the small table in my living room. He got off my dark green couch and sat on the brown-tiled floor to get a better look.

   "This is wonderful! Thank you, for everything, Derpy."

   As we ate, I took out the book Twilight gave me, and began to skim through it. There weren't a lot of things I weren't already trying to do, so I just put the book down and asked some of the details in it to The Doctor.

   "So, I've been looking through this book, and so I'll just try to do some of the things that it says." He nodded in agreement.

   "Let's see... So lately, your head has been hurting. What is the word or thing that you see whenever your head hurt?"

   He thought for a second, then shrugged. "I'm nawt shure..." He said with muffins still in his mouth.

   "Hmmm..." I thought for a second. "Time! Everytime somepony said something about time, your head hurt!"

   He winced for a second, and held on to his head. "Yes... I guess it is time."

   "Yes! It would make sense too since your cutie-mark is an hourglass and all... That's no help though. Next..." I skimmed through the book again. "Is there any friends you remember? Anypony you saw that caught your eye while we were walking around town."

   His smile turned to a grimace as he looked outside. "I... I have no friends. I can't remember a lot, but I know I had friends. And they all left."

   I knew it. I didn't know who he was, or what he went through, but I could tell he was lonely. The lonely doctor.

   "You... Have me. I can be your friend." He looked at me then smiled.

   "Thank you Derpy." He handed me a muffin, and I took it and ate it. It was blueberry, one of my favorites.

   We spent the rest of the night looking at the stars. He was so focused at looking at them, as if he knew every one.