Table Top Opens Up

My alarm went off, and I smacked it with a lazy hoof. Rolling around for a minute, I then stretched and got up. Another day, like any other, only this day I had a mission. And I had plenty of time to prepare for this evening. I had a goal set, and not even Celestia could hold me back. But first, I had to get through the day.

Thankfully with my tolerance for alcohol, my hangover was just a slight pounding in the back of my head, easily cured by a relaxing shower and an omelet breakfast big enough to feed two. I really should have forced myself to eat more the previous night. Not eating enough is probably worse than eating more than you should. Especially with plans to drink afterward…

After drying off, I went back to my room to gather the papers from last night, in case I needed a reminder later on if I tried to back out of doing as I had promised. I slipped them in my bag and got my clothes on, wrapping my scarf around my neck snugly. Today was supposed to be chilly, and I hate the cold. Thinking for a moment, I grabbed my fedora off its place, and set it on my head. Now my ears could be cozy on my way.

I made my way across town, not letting doubts clog my brain. Being positive would more than likely help me today. And I hoped that tonight I wouldn’t get outright rej- I cut off the thought before it could announce itself and plant the seeds of doubt in my mind. I was going to take Ditzy out and hang with her, we would have a good time, and when the right moment presents itself, I was going to tell her about my feelings. That was all that I needed to worry about, was making sure I told her at the right time.

I stopped by Sugarcube Corner on my way to work. As I walked in, the bell above jingled, and suddenly, right in front of me, was Pinkie Pie, where just a second ago nopony stood. This made me back up some and clutch at my chest. “Pinkie! You can’t just do that!” I felt a hint of what used to be my asthma trying to act up, so I closed my eyes and just took slow breaths. Opening my eyes, Pinkie was still there, grinning big and eyes shaking in excitement. “Um…” I was a little creeped out by how she was looking at me. “Can I help you, Pinkie?”

Suddenly, her expression changed as she snorted and laughed. “Oh, silly, don’t you know that’s MY line? You are in the store that I work at. But, more importantly,” she began to hop around me in a circle, “is what my Pinkie Sense told me! Table Top,  you’re going to tell somepony you love them!”

I lost my balance for a moment and my front crashed to the ground. How could she have known? “Pinkie,” I tried to right myself, grunting as I got up, “how did you know that?”

She stopped in front of me, then came right next to me, standing on her back legs, and threw a hoof around my neck. “You know, my Pinkie Sense! It told me somepony would be confessing feelings today, and when you walked in, the Sense skyrocketed! So I knew that it HAD to be YOU! Now, what can I do for our town’s favorite lovercolt?”

“Pinkie, I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t shout it out… It’s kinda personal, and I had to get myself pass-out drunk til I got the nerve to convince myself I needed to do this. So, please, until tomorrow, keep it to yourself?”

“Okie dokie lokie! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” she said as she went through the motions of her famous promise.

I sighed. I could at least trust her to keep it to herself. She was known all around to always keep hers, and sometimes other ponys’, secrets from being spilled. “I’ll have two of the XXXXtra Energy Cups, one in a thermos, and two of each of my usual muffins.”

Quicker than I could blink, she had everything together and put in their proper place; even, to my great surprise, one of my drinks in my hoof. How does she do that? “Umm, thanks Pinkie.” I got out the proper amount of bits and gave them to her. “I’ll just get to work now.”

“Have a super-fantastically-awesome day!” she yelled as I exited.

Sometimes, that mare made my mane stand on end. I did not envy Rarity at all to have Pinkie to deal with as well as the CMC fillies.

I made my way to the station, keeping my drink in my magic’s grip and pressed against my cheeks in turn to keep the chill away. Entering, I made my way to the hallway, but paused by the desk.

“Is my appointment here?” I asked our receptionist. Why couldn’t I remember her full name..?

“He’s here, waiting outside your station,” she replied, not looking up from the paperwork before her.

“Thank you.” That’s all I needed. I made my way back, checking the clocks to make sure I didn’t get there too early and have an awkward silence with my guest.

Outside my space stood a stallion, a little smaller than me, with a dark grey coat and brown mane and a tape recorder as his cutie mark. I opened the door and motioned him in behind me. We didn’t talk as I went about preparations, with a bit less music preparation, and made sure to put my bag where it could be accessed easily. I passed him the other drink, then offered him a muffin. He declined, and sipped at the drink. His reaction was hilarious, but I couldn’t laugh. He sputtered and tried to cough quietly as the time ticked home.

“And now, for the time I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for, here’s our resident Game Master and Equestria’s favorite nerd, heeeeere’s Table Top!”

Switching over, I took a breath. “Hello Chiiiiiiiiildren! This is Table Top, and guess what? It’s Friday! And you know what that means. I’ll be giving you a heads up on upcoming games and variants on roleplaying that you can give a try. But, first, I have a special surprise for all of you. You see, today I have a special guest. All the way from Manehattan, he’s a writer for a magazine that I’ve been subscribed to since I was a little colt, and he has graced my presence since I have been chosen to appear in next month’s issue of Equestria’s biggest gamer magazine, ‘The Equine Gamer’! Please help me in welcoming our honored guest, Special Report!”

Having already recovered from his coughing fit, Report lowered his mic to a comfortable spot. “Thank you, Table Top.” He had a nice voice, one you’d expect from someone who does a lot of interviews. “Believe me, the honor is all mine to finally be able to meet you. You’ve gotten quite a reputation in the gaming community. On air, you’ve helped get out names of games and companies that would have otherwise probably floundered if you hadn’t given them recognition, which made sales for those games go up tremendously! And your Sunday game reviews certainly have done their part as well.”

“Well, I don’t know about all that. I just give my opinion fairly for games. A lot of ponies don’t have the same opinions as I do, though, and there’s more ponies out there saying those games are trash. I highly doubt my opinion went so far.”

He waved a hoof in front of his face. “Nonsense. You have more listeners in Equestria than most others, especially thanks to satellite technology spreading the signal out, and ponies take your word to heart. Take Fridays, for example. Friday is now the day of the week when most games are purchased, and the average purchase is made after your talk.”

Needless to say, I was blushing profusely at the praise, and I decided now would be a good time to change the subject. “Well, thank you for your praise, but I believe we have an interview that we need to get into, or we’ll just spend your entire time praising me. Now, onto the questions!”

From there, the interview went as would be expected. Mainly questions about myself and my life, as well as how I got my cutie mark, my family, and, of course, if I have a special somepony. We went on, asking and answering for a good forty-five minutes.

“And lastly, one from our general staff that a lot were curious about: What game do you play no matter how much you already have played and beaten it?”

“Well, that’s easy, though it’s a tie between two, but they’re of the same series. That’d be Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Pegasus. Since you’ve listened to my show, you know I’m fond of the older songs present, and I thoroughly enjoy the humor in the games. As well, no matter how many times I play either one, I never come out the same in any kind of stats, equipment, or anything, and I think that’s what makes them such addictive games. Also, it does help that whenever I want to, I can just save, go through and kill everything without healing until I die just to let out stress, then reload to the save and go about like nothing happened. Or, I’ll start a new game in 3, make my way out of the vault, and as soon as I’m out head straight for Old Olney and face off against Deathclaws with only a BB gun and a 10mm handgun.”

This brought out a loud laugh from Special Report that lasted a good minute or two. Finally, he righted himself and wiped his eyes. “Well Table Top, I’ll say this is one of my more enjoyable interviews. I hope your day goes swell, and thank you for your time.”

“And thank you for doing this, Special Report. Have a safe trip back to Manehattan. And now, children, to say goodbye to our guest, I’ll put on a track from my favorite game, which so happens to also be a song that my father was very fond of. And now, ‘I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire’.”

I put the record on, then muted both mics. I shook Special Report’s hoof and said goodbye, then got back in my chair, ready to enjoy the rest of my shift.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the end, I was feeling pretty good about my day. I was definitely feeling a lot better than I normally would, and I had an amazing mare to meet up with.

I left, and made my way toward Ditzy’s home. It was on the outskirts of Ponyville, where it was relatively quiet all day. I knocked on the light blue door and waited. The door cracked open, but instead of Ditzy, a small unicorn answered.

“Oh, hello Dinky,” I said, patting her head. “Is your big sister in?”

“Um… yeah, she is, but she hasn’t been feeling good.” Dinky looked down, like she was saddened by this bit of information.

“Would it be alright for me to come in and see her?” My heart deflated a little. I had been hoping to take Ditzy out.

Dinky looked back inside for a moment, like she was inspecting something. Finally she looked at me, then said, “Please do, I think maybe you could help her.”

I nodded, then made my way in as Dinky stepped aside, then closed the door behind us. I made my way back towards Ditzy’s room, and knocked on her door, which had a sign that said “Ditzy” and was decorated with muffins.

I was leaning my ear against the door and was about to knock again, when I heard a faint “Come in” from somewhere on the other side. I opened the door slowly and came in. Her bedside lamp was on, and there she lay, her beautiful mane spread messily on her pillow. She was looking away, so I came in and shut the door behind me.

I came up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Dinky tells me you aren’t feeling well. What’s wrong, Ditzy?”

Slowly, she turned to me. My heart immediately fluttered, then died. She had been crying. I knew, I had seen that look on her face before, and she still had some tears coming from her eyes. Looking at me, her mouth opened a little, then her eyes shut a bit and she started crying harder, pulling me close. I ran my hooves through her mane and just held her there against me, letting her cry as hard as she could.

After what seemed like an eternity, her tears lessened and she lay limp as I hugged her gently and stroked her mane.

She mumbled something, so I stopped and helped her sit up. “What was that?” My voice was soft, but I heard the hitch it had.

“H-He’s gone,” she all but whispered. “The D-Doctor’s gone, and h-he w-w-won’t come back…” she sniffled, and I got a tissue and handed it to her. “He l-left me here, s-s-s-saying that it was t-t-too dangerous for me to g-go with him this time, and he s-s-sounded like he’s going f-forever…”

At that moment, I felt my heart shatter and flutter at the same time. On one hoof, here she was, with the Doctor gone, he couldn’t interfere. But on the other hoof, she was heartbroken. I couldn’t tell her, not tonight, it would be too inappropriate. I loved her, but I would not take advantage of her with her being in a vulnerable state.

But what do I say? I can’t tell her the hundreds of things going through my mind, like “He doesn’t deserve you”, or “I’d never leave you”… Sometimes, emotions really suck…

Thinking how nearly everything I could say would not help, I said the only thing that I could as I held her. “I’m sorry,” I said, barely above a whisper. “I’m so, so sorry…”

Tears fell from my eyes as my heart broke with a new realization: I can’t tell her, not now, not ever. She’ll always love the Doctor. I started crying harder as I said again, “I’m sorry….”