Table Top Opens Up

I awoke the next day above my covers, and Macey curled up at the hoof of my bed. She really was a cute puppy. I got up and went about my usual morning schedule, thinking I’d try to have a pleasant day at work, but, when passing my calendar, saw it was only Sunday. I didn’t go in until the next day.

Some time after my shower, Macey had gotten up and followed me into the kitchen, so I gave her a few more of the tofu dogs to eat, and realized I’d have to take her to Fluttershy. I had found Macey at the edge of the Everfree Forest, she might have had a disease or injury. I patted Macey on the head and told her, “Want to go visit a friend?”

Her curled tail wagged, I guess in the positive, so I left, with Macey close behind, and made my way to the cottage at the edge of town. Some ponies on the way gasped at first at the sight of Macey, but soon relaxed when they realized she was not a wolf.

Arriving at the cottage, I knocked softly and was answered immediately with a high-pitched “Eep!” followed by a soft, “C-coming!”. I stood patiently, petting Macey behind the ears. The door opened, and Fluttershy stuck just her head out to see who it was.

“Oh, hi Table T-.” Her eyes went wide, probably having seen Macey, and with a louder “Eep!” tried to go back inside. I caught her in my magic’s grasp.

“Hi, Fluttershy, I’d like to introduce you to my new puppy. Her name’s Macey, and if you’ll stop trying to run away for a second, you’ll see she’s a dog.” At the last word, she stopped trying to run in midair, and turned to look behind her to us. She noticeably relaxed upon seeing that Macey was, in fact, a dog.

She came up to Macey slowly and smiled. “Well, hello puppy, how are you? I haven’t seen you around Ponyville, are you new?” Macey just cocked her head to the side, then lifted one paw, and slowly, probably deliberately, put her paw on Fluttershy’s nose. This resulted in Fluttershy bursting out in giggles.

“Well, Fluttershy, I’m here this morning for your help. You see, I found Macey at the edge of the Everfree Forest last night, and I’d appreciate it if you could give her a quick checkup and sell me some dog food and other things so I can take care of her properly.”

She nodded and made her way inside her cottage, motioning for us to follow. Inside, some of her animal friends scurried away from Macey, but others were curious about her and came right up, sniffing and inspecting. Macey, in turn, would sniff the animals, and either nuzzle them, or give them a quick affectionate lick. It was good to see she was able to behave around other animals.

Clearing off her table of the few items that were there, Fluttershy came over and guided Macey onto it, and had her lay down. Fluttershy wasn’t as reserved as me when it came to inspecting Macey, but she had been around animals for her life, so I was sure she was used to it by a long time ago. She did a thorough examination, lifting Macey’s tail, legs, lips, and ears to make sure there were no injuries or signs of infections or sickness. She even looked at the collar around Macey’s neck.

As her examination concluded, Fluttershy got a pencil and some paper and jotted down some notes. Finally, she sat on her couch, and cleared her throat. “Well, Topsy, Macey is in really good health. Wherever she came from, she was well cared for. There are some oddities, though. For instance, her paws,” Fluttershy pointed to one of the front paws, and I inspected it, “have the extra appendages known as dewclaws removed. Normally, this would be the result of nature catching on them and them being torn off, resulting in nasty scars, but hers were removed surgically, something I haven’t seen before.

“As well, she’s had other surgery.” Fluttershy came down, and had Macey roll onto her back, her back legs opened to reveal her stomach. There was a faint line a few inches long going from in her fur to the softer, bald portion of her belly. “I’ve only seen this done for some upper city animals. She’s been fixed. This means,” she added, seeing my confusion, “that she can’t have puppies. But, on the plus side, you won’t have to worry about her going into heat.

“Now, for the final bit of information that’s really relevant: her age and the kind of dog she it. She seems to be a mix of the Great Pyrenees, and if I’m not mistaken, a Border Collie. That would explain her size, as well as her demeanor. As for her age, though, I’m quite surprised. I’d say she wouldn’t even be a year old. She’s a wonderful puppy, and she seems to have taken a liking to you.”

She jotted some more notes quickly, and set it down. She went about her house, gathering things, and I just stayed there, scratching Macey’s belly gently. Fluttershy made her way back with an impressive number of things. A large bag of dog food, a bed, two large bowls, a new leash and collar, and a few other things were on her back. I had to hoof it to her, she could be strong when it came to animals.

She transferred everything to my back – I wondered how she could carry this stuff, it was heavy! – and I placed a good amount of bits on her table, against her objections. I left and made my way back home, slowly, to get things set up for my friend. When I got there, I was surprised to find that, for once, Pinkie was standing in front of my door.

“Ello, Pinkie,” I said, making my way past her, carefully, to open my door. Opening it, I looked back. Pinkie actually had a serious look on her face.

“Topsy, can we talk? It’s about yesterday…” She kicked a hoof at the ground. I rolled my eyes, and said she could.

As she made her way in, a voice called out, “Hey, Tops, I need to talk to you!” I turned my head, and trotting my way was none other than Vinyl Scratch. I rolled my eyes. No doubt she was here for a status report on my situation. I just motioned her to go inside, and went in, closing the door.

Both my guests had settled in the living room, so I did my best to take my time and put things away, then putting out bowls of food and water for Macey. Sighing, I made my way into the living room, ready to face the proverbial firing squad.

Thankfully, when I got there, both mares were occupied with a puppy, who seemed to be smiling at the attention being paid to her. I sat down in my chair, and the attention was immediately switched to me. Both mares looked at each other, then at me. I sighed. “It’s okay, you can talk around each other. You both are probably here for the same reason… Vinyl, why don’t you go first?”

Vinyl raised her sunglasses, glaring me in the eye with her large, red eyes. I felt my soul go a little cold. “Did you finally tell Der- I mean, Ditzy, that you love her?”

“Why didn’t you call her Derpy?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head.

I felt anger welling inside me, though I tried to squash it. “Because,” I said, getting up. “Her Name,” I felt the fury building, “IS NOT,” I noticed my hair was turning red, and I was shouting, “DERPY!!!” A fire jumped up around me, and I felt a few hairs singe. A part of me noticed how Pinkie cowered, but I didn’t care at the moment.

The next moment, I received a hard smack of telekinesis, and the fire around me died. I blinked a few times, then noticed the pink mare cowering in the farthest corner of my couch. “I’m sorry, Pinkie…” I sat back down, resting my head on the hoofrest. Macey was in front of me, and she placed her head on the seat of the chair. I absent-mindedly petted her slowly. “’Derpy’ was the name that those damn bullies gave her, once her genetic disease kicked in and her eyes started losing focus, and she started getting clumsier. She only ever let me call her that, and I only would when joking, like when she’d call me a dork or geek. It just pisses me off that everypony knows her as ‘Derpy’ and not by her proper name.”

Pinkie had recovered, and she nodded. “I understand. I Pinkie Promise that from now on, I’ll call her Ditzy. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She did the motions, and at the end, she smiled a little. I smiled back. Anypony could count on Pinkie to hold true to a promise. My anger had been misplaced, anyway. It shouldn’t have been directed at her.

“Now, back to the matter at hoof,” Vinyl said, making us all focus. “Did you tell her?” She was glaring at me.

“No, I didn’t.”

She got up, suddenly. “So what was up with that just there? If you truly loved her, you would tell her, not pansy-ass it around, then get mad at ponies when you have no right to speak for Ditzy. What excuse have you got this time? Huh?”

I looked her in the eye, letting as much sadness as I could seep into my next words. “The Doctor left. I won’t take advantage of a mare with a broken heart.”

The dumbfounded look on her face would have been priceless, had the situation been any different. She took her seat and just sat, looking down.

Pinkie took this moment to chime in. “But, my Pinkie Sense told me that you DID, and that you weren’t rejected. I’m confused. My Pinkie Sense is never wrong. That’s why I was here yesterday to congratulate you. But how could you have told her when you didn’t?” Her ears folded down with worry.

“Maybe, for once, your sense was mistaken. I went to her house, she cried, and I cried, and we fell asleep. I didn’t say anything to her other than comforting words. I didn’t tell her I loved her, I didn’t make any move, I was just there, as her friend, to comfort her. And I have so many good reasons to tell her that I do… I’ve been in love with her for more years than I’d care to admit.”

Pinkie and Vinyl came up to me, and with Macey leading, I was given a hug from two ponies and a puppy.

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A few hours later, I was alone with my thoughts. It really was a conundrum, what Pinkie had said. My mind ran through a lot of different scenarios, but none of them were believable. I just had to chalk it up to her being wrong, and that things hadn’t really changed. But, I thought, I probably should go see Ditzy, to see how she was doing.

Telling Macey to stay and keep an eye on the house, I left, making my way to Ditzy’s house. Dinky should still be away at their parent’s house, so I decided I’d make the most of my time to be around Ditzy.

I knocked on the front door, and waited, deep in thought.

I was completely caught off guard when the door opened, and I was tackled in a hug of grey and blonde.

There we were, on the ground, her on top.

And she was kissing me.

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

In my dumbfounded, and elated, state, I didn’t realize as she pulled me inside and sat me on her couch, with me beside her. My mind was still trying to catch up with me when she kissed me again, lightly, but enough to send my brain flying off again.

“Whu…?” I couldn’t make a word.

Ditzy giggled, and nuzzled my muzzle lightly. “I was wondering when you’d come over again. I hoped it wouldn’t be too long, and here you are!”

Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts. “But, why did you kiss me..?”

She looked confused, then smiled. “Oh, that, well, I figured that, since you love me, and I’ve loved you for a long time, the feelings should come out!” She leaned over and kissed me again, which I finally responded to, though it was a little weak.

“How do you know?”

She giggled, and scooted closer. She reached a hoof under the edge of the couch, and pulled out a paper. A familiar piece of paper, that was folded. And had the words “YOU NEED TO TELL DITZY YOU LOVE HER!” written in my hoofwriting. Admittedly, during all my thinking of how Pinkie could be right, this was not a scenario I had foreseen.

“When you were over the other night, you fell asleep. I had to get up and get a drink, and I tripped over your bag. Some papers spilled out, and I was a little curious, so I took them with me to the kitchen where I could see. It took me a while to read them,” she began to blush deeply, “but when I realized what they meant, and when I got to the last page, I was just so happy…” She buried her face in her hooves.

“But,” I was really going to regret my next words, I just knew it… “What about the Doctor?”

Her blush disappeared, and she looked up and away from me. “I did love him. For the past few years, he was a lot of what I thought about, and the adventures we went on, they were amazing. But,” here, she looked at me, “I knew that I couldn’t love him forever. He told me about past companions, how something would happen, how some had loved him, and it always ended in tragedy. I knew that if I told him, or eventually, like what happened, he’d have to leave me behind for my safety. For that, I’ll always love him.”

My heart hurt at her words, I wished I could un-hear them.

Her next words, though, made my heart soar.

“But, you, Table Top,” she rested her head on my shoulder, “I’ve loved you since that first day. When I was bullied, you put yourself in harm’s way without a single thought. You were the only one who stuck up for me, for all those years, and even today. Telling people that my name is Ditzy and not Derpy. It’s always made my heart flutter.”

She nuzzled closer, and I kissed her muzzle while pulling her close. This felt right. My heart was hoping that if this were a dream, I’d never be allowed to wake up. My dreams, finally coming true, and all by a little accident of my Ditzy.

Well, not mine. Not yet.

“Ditzy Doo, will you be my marefriend?”

In response, she looked up and said, “Darling, kiss me.”