Table Top Opens Up

by Lathier

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad, Romance
Length: 22363

Table Top is a radio host and Nerd Extraordinaire, and he is in love with a certain mare.

Table Top has been in love with one mare since they were in school together, before he left for magic academy, and she for flight camp. He's a unicorn, specializing with Elemental and Illusionary spells, as well as mild Telepathy. He travels and plays DnD in addition to his radio show, giving the most realistic games ever. But due to his unrequited love, he has gotten bitter over the years, giving hard truths outside of his radio show. This is the story of him opening up and reliving his past.

This is my first story. Any feedback is appreciated, but I'm going to continue his story for a while.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-07 15:57:25 UTC

And Let Me Play Among the Stars

Four hours into my broadcast, it was time. I opened my door, allowing the DJ to enter and take a seat across from me. Her electric blue hair had its signature spike to it, and her ever present sunglasses slid down her nose as she took her seat. “And now, children, I’d like to introduce to you a very honored guest. Some of you may know her by her name, Vinyl Scratch, but most of Equestria knows her better by her stage name, DJ P0n-3. You know her by her wubs, but I know her in a different way. Isn’t that right, Vinyl?”

“Well, of course you do. We went to magic academy together.” She replied curtly.

“I mean other than that, of course. Would you like to tell our audience, or will I be given that pleasure?”

She laughed a little, then gushed, “I’ll tell them. You’re my DM, you run those AWESOME games. I’m proud to say on your show, that I’m a nerd as much as you. I play video games in my spare time, and once a week we gather our group together and go on epic quests! Though, I have to admit, I’ve tried playing with other DM’s, but it just gets boring. You pick the right music, you have that control of your voice, and what you can do with your telepathy makes me feel as if I were really there!”

I chuckled, “Well, cat’s out of the bag, no going back. You just admitted on air that you have a nerd side to you. Aren’t you afraid you’ll be picked on for it?”

“Not at all. In fact, I’m proud to say it. Well, I’ll admit, it was da… Daun…. Scary to say so before, but you’ve changed the scene. Now there’s plenty of nerds out there, and we don’t have to worry about bullies now that we’re all grown up.”

My mind briefly flashed back to the first time I protected Ditzy, and also how some ponies treat her now. Not quite as you think… “Well, of course. It’d be ridiculous if somepony just started bullying somepony of our age, especially with us being bigger, and especially us having more magic than back in schoolyard days. How has the night life been treating you?”

“Better now that most ponies are listening to my wubs. It sucked starting out, new kind of music, no actual re… Rev…. No places and no ponies knew what it was, so they just automatically didn’t like it. I have to give props to my first hang out that accepted me, or else I wouldn’t have met my producer!”

I laughed softly. “You know, Vinyl, you claim to be a nerd, yet you still have trouble with big words. Sorry for the teasing, it’s just a bit uncharacteristic.”

She blushed a little, then replied, “Yeah, I don’t know why, really. I know the words, and I know their meaning, it’s just that I go to say them, and the word just blanks outta my head. Especially with something that’s more stressful than what I’m used to. On gaming days and when I’m on stage, or even when I’m back home with Octy, I have no problems. But put me in an interview, even if we are friends, and I’ll start up with the blank headedness. You should know what I mean. I mean, when you’re here, on the radio, you’re all calm, collected, and kinda fun, but outside, you’re usually real bitter.” Here, she clamped her hooves over her mouth.

I chuckled a little darkly. “Well, that IS true. But I can’t be bitter towards my audience. They enjoy my show, and I give back to them. But sometimes a pony just gets handed a bad hand in one aspect of life. I get to do two things I love, create and play adventures with friends, and I get to share my love of music with a good part of Equestria. Not bad, most ponies would say. But in other aspects, I haven’t been so lucky.”

“This is about… HER… isn’t it?” She asked a little timidly.

I waved my hoof around, blowing the question off. “Don’t worry about that, Vinyl. Nopony wants to hear my sob story. And besides, we still have questions for YOU from our audience. Some ponies wrote in weeks in advance, and we’re also getting e-mails through the net. If you’d be so kind, we can start our Q and A for our dear audience.” I had to remain calm, and letting my emotions go wouldn’t help at all.

“Our first question,” I said, opening a scroll, “comes from one Rainbow Dash, of Cloudsdale, and she writes, ‘Dear Vinyl, how are you able to continuously party every night, then have time for friends, relationships, and also making so much awesome music? It’s a bit of a strain for me to juggle practicing with hanging out with all my friends, and I want to join the Wonderbolts, where I’d be famous. Just, how do you do it?’ Well, Vinyl, that definitely starts us off on an inquisitive note. Just how ARE you able to handle it all in your hooves?”

She hummed for a moment, tapping her hoof against her muzzle. “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know. It’s like, my body knows when I need rest. And I don’t party EVERY night. That’d be impossible. Nopony has that kinda stamina. I take strategic days off, and also have plans that I stick to. When I go out with Octy for a date, I make sure that there isn’t anything planned for today. And like I said earlier, I have one day a week set aside specifically for gaming where I blow off steam. As for creating music, though, that’s different. Sometimes, I’ll disappear off the club grid from a week to a few months, where I’m just creating. It puts on a strain, but I make enough new music to keep the bits coming in and nopony complains about my disappearance. I’d suggest you have your practice and play times planned out, but when you have that one stunt you REALLY want to pull off and perfect, just take the time to dedicate to it and party with your friends when it’s done! That way they don’t feel left out and you can keep getting better.”

“Well, well, that sounded really thought out and completely pulled outta your flank at the same time, Vinyl.”

“It kinda was,” she stated and ran her hoof through her mane, smiling shyly. “I’m not usually that insightful. I guess the right motivation came up so I had to perform up to the task.”

“Well, Rainbow Dash, I hope you were listening to that wonderful advise, but now, onto our next question!” I clicked on the inbox and scanned for a moment when I found one that didn’t have any offensive question. “Our next question is from the user name ‘Crossed_Heart1313’ and it asks: ‘Hi, Vinyl, you probably wouldn’t know me, but I know of your and Octavia’s relationship, and was wondering: How do you admit to somepony that you like them? I’ve had a crush for a long time, but I don’t know how to express that to them. When I’m around him I just get clumsy and don’t know what to say. Any help would be appreciated.”

Vinyl blushed profusely, and stammered a bit before clearing her throat. “Well, I knew I liked Octy when we started hanging out at our music school. We were both opposites, me with my modern, “machine music” as she’d call it, and her with her classical. I’d always be partying, not really doing my work, and she’d study her flank off, even though we both got good grades. But I had the hugest crush on her for years. We were roomies in our dorm, but we didn’t really socialize much. But once we graduated, we grew apart, though we still texted each other forever. But one day I was in Ponyville and spotted her, and I just knew I had to take my chance, so I went up to her and asked her if she’d have lunch then dinner with me. She agreed, and we started getting together more often. One day, I just knew I HAD to ask her, and she said YES! We’ve been together for a while now, and I’m so glad I talked to her that day. But anyway, enough of me gushing, I think we have more questions that are a bit more pressing, right Tops?” She looked over at me and knocked lightly on the table. “Tops? You alright bro?”

I cleared my throat quickly, “Ah, yeah Vinyl, just got a little carried away in your story. It was really sweet.” I swear I could hear my voice deadpanning. So, I took a swig of water and continued, trying to sound like I normally do. “Well, our next question comes from…”

While the questions were asked then answered, my mind drifted back to the gray furred mare of my dreams. I should probably take Vinyl’s advice on Friday, but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t pay attention to the rest of the questions or answers, lost in my own thoughts while making the right comment at the right place, asking once the answer was given, and just not really paying more attention than was barely needed.

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

An hour later, after the questions were done, some demos from her new tracks played, and a bit more goofing off on air, I bid Vinyl farewell. Once she was out the door, I quickly lit a new cig, taking a deep inhalation of the calming smoke before continuing my show.

“Well, children, that was a very nice interview. I was actually lucky for that, did you know? They had scheduled her for an earlier hour, but once she saw me on the schedule, she demanded I be the one to give the interview. Of course, the station managers fought it, but once I was told by Vinyl and started telling you all about her coming on, they couldn’t back down. But now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to put on some soothing jazz to make up to our elder audience for the amount of Dubtrot that you had to listen to, and to just mellow ourselves out. This hour is usually when you ponies will be sitting at home, playing your games or watching your television, just generally relaxing, so let old Table Top add to that.”

On that note, I turned on a gentle jazz song that would go on for a while, giving me time to breathe and think. Of course, my mind would return to her…

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

It was late, later than our parents would normally allow, but with us being each other’s friends, they wouldn’t complain. It’s not like we had very many other friends. The stars were starting to come out, as well as the moon. Ditzy and I lay by each other in the park, watching it come up.

“It’s so pretty,” Ditzy commented.

“It is, isn’t it.” Real blunt, Table… “But just imagine if there were more worlds out there. That by each star there was a new place to be found and explored with new creatures and experiences to be had… I’d like to at least see them.”

She looked at me. Her eyes had started to cross. It was a disease, they said, one that couldn’t be reversed since she had a severe case. Something about genetics having the right conditions to do something wrong to her eyes. Others just started picking on her more, but to me, it just made her even more adorable. Especially when they’d drift when she was in thought, like now.

She smiled suddenly, “I’d like that too! If you go someday, promise you’ll take me?”

I started blushing, then looked down and nodded. “Of course I would.”

She clapped her hooves together then hugged me, giggling. She scooted closer all of a sudden, and lay her head on my forehooves, yawning big. “You know that song your mom sings, Table?” I nodded. “Will you sing it for me? I like it, and I’m a little tired…”

“Of course I will.” I started singing low so only she could hear.

Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars

In other words, Hold my hand

In other words, Darling, kiss me

She started drifting off, yawning again and closing her eyes. She’d soon be asleep.

Fill my heart with joy, and let me play forever more

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore

She started breathing slower, a clear sign she was nearly asleep.

In other words, please be true

In other words, I love you

She was asleep by the last part. I knew she would be. But still, I nuzzled above her ear and whispered, “I love you.” I then activated my magic, picking her up gently and laying her on my back. Pegasi were light so I didn’t mind it much. I didn’t mind it at all because it was her there. I slowly walked to her home, making sure not to jostle her in her sleep.

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

Two and a half hours passed by, uneventful. It was time to sign off and make way for the next host in his booth. “Alright children, now here’s a tip: when playing a game with others, always be sensitive to the other players’ needs. If you have smokers, and you’re playing inside and you can’t stand the smell of that acrid tobacco, designate that after every so often, take a smoke break. They can get a little antsy after a while with no nicotine. And to those smokers, be polite, would you? Don’t throw the filters on the ground, and ask the host if they’re alright with you smoking inside before you light up. Well children, it’s that time again. Yes, it’s been eight hours, and it’s time for me to make way with our night guru, Night Beats. And you know what tomorrow is: my middle of the week day off. Don’t be sad children, you know I’ll be back Thursday to cheer you up again. Signing off for the night, this is Table Top, and you’ve been a wonderful audience. Take care, y’hear?”

With that, I turned off my mic and took off my headgear. I rubbed my eyes, then shut off my computer, all my equipment, and packed up the few essentials I’d need for the next day, namely my sheets, books, and flash drive for my DnD campaign. Making sure nothing was running, I left and made my way outside. The receptionist said farewell to me. Nice mare, too bad I didn't remember her name. Scarlet something..? Oh well. We never conversed, and she made herself sparse around the office, just doing what needed to be done, not socializing with anypony. For now, though, I was on a quest.

A quest to get some booze and food.

Let Me See What Spring is Like

I walked back home, full of food and booze, at a pleasant buzz due to the alcohol in my system. It didn’t take long to get back, my house was only a short walk from Sugarcube Corner. A pleasant little place, not much in room, but with a decent garden, where I grew my flowers and tea bushes for my cigs. As I walked in, I grabbed the bushels of dried herbs and flowers hanging just outside and brought them in. I had a train to catch in a few hours and a long night of travel, followed by plenty of hours of gaming. I needed to stock up.

I spent my time properly taking off the leaves before grinding them, then packing them within a small roller, which I then inserted the packed herbs into the cylindrical cigarette casing with a filter in place. I repeated the monotonous task over and over, being careful with how much I packed in, just focusing to stop any thoughts from crossing my mind. I knew where my mind would dwell, and there was plenty of time for that when I was alone on the train. For now, just roll.

As I finished packing my last cigarettes, for a total of 48 that would last me the next three days, I carefully packed them in silver cases, each containing 12. These went into pockets on my jacket, where they would stay til needed. I looked at my clock, and I still had about 30 minutes until I really needed to be heading to the station. Luckily, I knew where I could go at this time and get a few snacks for the road. So I donned my jacket and wrapped a scarf around my neck (it may not be cold, but it feels comfortable) and made my way to Sugarcube Corner.

I refrained from lighting a cigarette since I’d just be there in a minute and be out not long after, but instead put one behind my ear for the walk to the station. I got to the doors and went in, the bell jingling lightly. There weren’t many customers since it was already dark, but one certain pony was being as energetic as usual, making sure everyone had what they needed. The big ball of pink cotton candy hair bounced my way then stopped in front of me letting out a cheerful “Hi Topsy!” before going behind the counter.

“So Topsy, what can I get for you this evening?” Pinkie smiled in that goofy way that just makes anypony want to smile. I resisted that urge as best I could.

I failed. I smiled back at her. “Well, it’s Tuesday night, and I’ve got a train to catch to Fillydelphia, and decided I’d like a few snacks for the trip. Would you mind getting me three chocolate chip muffins and three banana nut muffins? To go, of course”

“Okie dokie lokie!” She bounced back into the kitchen and in a moment brought out my order, as well as an extra banana nut muffin on top, which she placed on the counter. “Extra one’s on me! A snack now means you can enjoy these ones slower and spread them out!”

I chuckled. She knows my habits when it comes to my favorite food. “Thanks Pinkie. You’re a good mare, and you’ll make somepony happy one day.”

She laughed loudly, snorting a little, then answered “Well, I TRY to, but Rarity is always so picky and consumed with her work, and I try to help her when I can, but usually it backfires and I’ve made a mess or done something wrong and she gets angry at me, but it’s alright because she’ll apologize once she’s calmed down for getting angry and I apologize to her for messing things up and then we kiss and then-“

I shoved my hoof in her mouth before she could go any further. “Pinkie, 2 simple rules, if you please? 1, you shouldn’t discuss your private life openly in public, some ponies may not take it in stride as it just you being you; and 2, breathe every once in a while when you talk, ok? You can say a lot more that way.” She nodded her head and I took my hoof away, then grabbed my muffin with the other hoof, taking a quick bite. “Mmmm, delicious. How is it that they always seem like they just came out of the oven? You were back there just a second, these couldn’t have been waiting.”

“That’s a secret!” She giggled and came around, patting my back. “Have a safe trip, alright? I hear Fillydelphia will be a bit colder. But you’re always wearing your jacket and scarf, so you should be alright!”

I lifted my muffins into my bags and nodded at her, dropping the bits I owed on the counter, leaving enough to cover the extra. “Thanks for the snacks Pinkie. See you on Thursday if I see you.”

I exited the building and sighed. That mare just has a talent at making people smile, even when they don’t want to. I’d prefer to keep it where only Ditzy could make me smile, as always.

I made my way down to the train station, paid for my ticket, and waited for the train to arrive. My mind drifted to the baked goods I had brought with me. My favorite food of all, chocolate chip muffins and banana nut muffins. Truth be told, I hated them once. But that was long ago. The train crawled into the station, and I boarded, finding a nice secluded booth where I could lay and rest before the next day’s activities. As luck would have it, I dreamed about Ditzy. Of course I would.

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

It was my first day at the new school. My mom and I had just moved to a town called Ponyville, much to my dismay. I had no friends, and I didn’t know this place. It scared me. The teacher, I couldn’t remember her name, introduced me to the class, telling them I had just moved from Fillydelphia. I got a seat in the middle of the class. It wasn’t assigned, but if I made any friends at recess I’d be more than welcome to switch seats. That didn’t happen, though.

Through the day, I showed my smarts, answering questions easily, even in my most hated subject, math. By the time recess came around, I already had the class calling me a geek and teacher’s pet. I didn’t let it bother me. They didn’t come up to me directly, so I couldn’t care what they thought. Just meant that I’d be alone again…

That was when I saw her the first time. A colt was cornering her against the school’s wall. I couldn’t let someone be bullied right in front of me, so I went up to them. As I got closer, I heard what he was saying.

“What are you gonna do, retard? Gonna break something then act like you didn’t mean to do it? Well?” He was getting closer to her. I couldn’t stand it, so I did what I could. I walked between them, pushing him aside while grabbing her hoof and walked away. It didn’t go quite as planned as he turned and shouted, “HEY, GEEK, where the buck do you think you’re going?”

That was it. Anger flared up inside me. I dropped the mare’s hoof and stomped over to the colt. He was a little taller than me, but that didn’t matter. I glared at him, sending whatever negative feelings I could through eye contact and drew myself up to make myself seem bigger.

Then I smiled and poked him in the chest, saying, “I’m a Nerd, not a geek, please get it correct.” I walked away and got next to the mare, taking her hoof in mine again and walking to a tree to sit down.

She looked at the ground then at me, then back to the ground. After a few minutes, she looked directly at me. “Thank you for that.”

I looked back in her eyes, feeling a smile, a genuine smile, crawl onto my face. “It was nothing. Can I have your name? I’m Table Top, and I’m new.”

She glanced around a bit. She was nervous, and absolutely adorable. “Umm… My name is Ditzy Doo Hooves, but ponies around here call me Derpy. I’m not very… umm… well I’m a bit clumsy and I break things often.”

I extended a hoof out to her. “Well, I don’t have much to break, so I don’t see why we can’t hang out.”

She looked at me a little confused for a second, then grinned goofily, and I felt something in my chest flutter a little. She took my hoof in hers for a moment then hugged me.

I blushed a bit, then cleared my throat, “Well, that wasn’t really called for, but I’m sure friends hug… Thanks Ditzy.”

We sat in the shade of the tree until the bell rang for us to come back inside for the last bit of lessons. Instead of the seat I was given, I moved beside Ditzy, at the back of the class. It went on uneventful until the last lesson. “And now,” the teacher proclaimed, “We’ll learn a little geometry, about shapes and how they can add up.”

I groaned. This wasn’t something I knew at all. I hated any math that I didn’t already know. It just got so complicated. Beside me, though, Ditzy was all bright eyes. I leaned across and whispered, “How can you like this stuff?”

She looked at me a moment, confused, then smiled, “Because it’s fun! And with shapes, you can make other shapes! See?” she showed me her paper where she had twenty triangles drawn out in a weird pattern. Then she cut them out along the lines, keeping the triangles connected, then with some folding made it into a ball.

I stared at it, amazed. It was so simple yet so complex, so symmetrical, and beautiful. “How do you do that?” I asked.

“Here, I’ll show you!” She grinned again and showed me equations and math problems. I was a little confused, but I started to get a hang of it. I learned more from this mare that ponies of our class had labeled a “retard” than years of advanced classes had attempted to teach me. I lost interest in the work and took to just watching her, her eyes, mane, and mouth moving as she worked and explained to me how lots of things could be figured out with numbers.

The bell rang suddenly, snapping me out of my reverie. We exited slowly, me and Ditzy being the last in line to leave. We chatted lightly until we got out to the school yard. “I’m glad that I met you Ditzy. You know, you’ve taught me more than adults have attempted to for years!”

She clapped her hooves together, saying “Yay!” with a big goofy smile on her face that infected me. At that time, my stomach decided to give a big growl, making me blush profusely.

“Sorry, sorry, I forgot to get my lunch…”

She looked lost in thought for a moment then brightened. “I have two muffins if you wanna share them!” She beamed at me. I hated muffins, they were always dry and stale and didn’t taste good. But I couldn’t say no to her.

“Alright, let’s just get a spot to sit down at…”

We got to a bench and sat down. She opened her saddle bags and extracted two perfect-looking muffins. “One’s chocolate chip and the other is banana nut! Which would you like?”

I ran a hoof through my mane slowly, feeling a little awkward. I didn’t want to disappoint her. “How’s about we just split both?” Her eyes widened and she laughed for a second, then quickly broke both muffins in half, handing me half of each one. I gulped, dreading this moment. I didn’t want to eat them because I knew what was in store for me, but if I didn’t eat them, she’d be sad… Without much grace, I bit off a little bit form the banana nut one, and my eyes shot open.

Instead of being dry and stale and tasteless, this muffin was rich, moist, and the banana and nuts were actually present in the taste. I took a bite out of the chocolate chip one, and it was the same moistness, with dark chocolate chips turning to goo as soon as I bit into them. These had to be the two most delicious things I had ever eaten.

I gobbled them down quickly and turned to look at Ditzy. She had a pleased smile on her face, having watched me wolf down her muffins. “Who made these?” I had to know, these were culinary perfection!

“I did, of course,” she responded with a giggle and a bite of her muffin.

I sat dumbfounded on the bench as she finished off her muffins and got down. I got down a moment after, having needed a moment to regain my senses. “Well Table Top, I need to get home, mommy and daddy will be worried if I’m late.” She hugged me gently.

“I guess I should head home too. Mom will want to know how my day went. I’ll see you tomorrow, same spot?”

She nodded her head and gave me one last hug, then turned and walked away toward her house.

I may have been young at the time, but I knew, I had started to fall for that little filly.

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

I woke up from my nap, sighing while I stretched. Nopony had come into the car, so I was still alone. I’ll always be alone, of course, that’s how life works. You never get the mare of your dreams, you can get a decent job, but you can’t come home to the one thing you want more than anything else. And ponies wonder why I’m bitter. I’m bitter because life always sucks no matter what because there’s just one aspect that will pass you by. Some get lucky, but the rest of us have to deal with it on our own.

Resting my head against the window, I look out the one opposite me, looking at the moon, almost completely hidden, just a sliver of light left. Ah, what the hay, I’ll catch a little more shut eye. It’ll still be a while until the train is in the proper station.

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

Mom always hummed that tune around me. I knew most of the words, but she didn’t sing them all. Ditzy was over for dinner and mom was busy around the kitchen, getting the last of the food ready. She watched my mom intently and listened close. Finally, mom brought our plates and set them down in front of us and herself, taking a seat across from me and Ditzy.

A few bites into the meal, Ditzy looked at mom, and asked quite bluntly, “What’s that song you were humming?”

Mom looked a little startled, not having expected a question out of air like that.

“Well, little one, I’ll tell you about a wonderful stallion: little Tops’s father. He was a big unicorn, and had the same coat and mane as little Tops has. Oh, and his eyes! You see, Table Top is the spitting image of my husband, Turn Table. But,” mom looked down, saddening, “when Table here was only two, Turn was in an accident which took him from us. But whenever I’m sad or lonely,” she looked up, holding back tears, “I sing that song to myself. It was our song, and he wrote it for me. He made a lot of money from it when I told him to let it be published, but it’s always our special song. Would you like to hear it, little one?”

Ditzy nodded her head eagerly, a few tears dripping down her face, and mom began to sing.

Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars…

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

I woke up as the train pulled into the station, dawn breaking out the window. I gathered my things and departed the train on cramped legs before stretching them out while walking to my destination. Fillydelphia was big in standing to Ponyville, but couldn’t live up to the big city of Manehattan. I still had quite a walk, though. I needed to get out of the business district and get to rural area, and that takes some travel time. Doesn’t matter, I need to walk off that sleep.

An hour later I finally made it out of the business districts (wouldn’t have taken so long if I were going faster than walking), and stopped to get a quick carrot dog. Another 20 minutes passed with me walking, and finally I arrived at my destination. A large house with plenty of space and a bland fence out front disguised what was inside.

I knocked on the door and waited. The door opened after half a minute, and I made my way in and down into the basement. Swords, staves, axes, maces, and props of all kind aligned the walls, as well as posters and a book shelf dedicated to the different versions of our game, as well as other types of roleplaying games.

All five of them were there already, character sheets out, dice at the ready. But this is my domain. I pulled out my laptop, letting it start up while I plugged the surround sound speaker system into the laptop, and got out my chosen books, notes, papers, dice, and most importantly, the recorder, set in place in the middle of the table. I cracked my neck, got a chosen song for background, and got a cig out, putting it in my mouth and lighting it with my magic, only before it lit, the paper it was housed in turned black as night. I took a deep drag, feeling the smoke in my lungs as I focused my magic. I exhaled, releasing more smoke that could have possibly been in my lungs, which spread above us all in a thin layer that somehow obscured the ceiling from view. With a flick of magic, the record button was pressed, and we began.

On Jupiter and Mars

It was late, still Wednesday, when I returned to Ponyville. I was weak from lack of food, and definitely was feeling the hours I had spent barely doing much than gaming. Still, I was getting paid for it, so I could deal. Plus, that particular group always made things… interesting…

On auto-pilot, I made my way home. Sugarcube Corner was already closed, so I’d have to wait until I was home to get any food in my stomach. And then, a nice soothing bath would complete my night. The thought alone was alluring enough that I didn’t notice how long it took to get to my house. Entering it, I felt something was… off… The door had been unlocked, and a light was on. I set my bags down and made my way toward that light. I heard light humming, definitely feminine.

Entering my living room, I saw her. She had headphones on, so I came up behind her and pulled one off as I got near her ear and whispered, “Ello Vinyl.”

I laughed as she screamed and jumped from her spot, her spikey hair somehow getting spikier. I sat down in my chair across from the couch as she calmed down and got back to sitting in her spot, taking her headphones off completely. I looked in her eyes. “What do I owe the honor for this evening?”

She shrugged and settled down, “I felt like paying you a visit after yesterday, and Octy is in Canterlot for a gig, so I came over. I remembered where you leave your spare key, so I came in and got comfy. How’d the gaming go?”

I sighed, setting my hoof against my head, “It went alright, interesting as usual, but as usual I forgot to eat much anything. Amazingly, I made six muffins last for fifteen hours, and only had two energy drinks.”

“Sounds like a fun time. Though not as fun as what we used to do, eh?” She waggled her eyebrows then laughed.

I groaned loudly. “You promised not to bring that up again.”

“What? We only dated for six months, nothing to be ashamed of. I had fun, you had fun, and we came out as friends after it was over. Definitely not bad.” She got up and stretched. “Come on, I’ll help you fix up something. I’m a little hungry too.”

I rose slowly, following her to my kitchen, and we got out some tofu dogs to make quickly. She had a thoughtful look on her face, but I didn’t want to pry. If Vinyl had something to say, she’d say it when she wants to, not before. I just seasoned the dogs, turning them over and over, getting the film on the outside perfect where it’d crunch when bitten into.

“How long have you been in love with Derpy?”

I’m pretty sure I fell right then. Of all things, I didn’t expect that. I had to take a moment and regain my composure, but it was a little difficult with the swarm of butterflies now in my stomach. I thought a moment, not that I needed to, but to give the few seconds of silence to compose myself better.

“I’ve loved her since the first day I met her. I didn’t know at first, I was too young to realize, but as the years went, I felt more for her, and a few weeks before I got my Cutie Mark, I admitted it to myself. Even when we grew up and I had to go to magic school and she had to go to flight academy, I didn’t stop loving her.”

She furrowed her brow as I put our dogs on buns, then sprinkled cheese over mine. Finally, she took off her sunglasses and stared at me until I looked back at her and into her eyes. I braced myself…

“Why haven’t you told her? All these years, you’ve been friends with her, you’ve had plenty of chances, I’m sure, and I know you still talk to her. So, why?”

I pushed my dogs around then stopped, drooped my head, and sighed. I wasn’t hungry any more… “I never wanted to ruin it. I’m a bit selfish, I know, but I didn’t want to lose her. I just know if I had asked her out it would’ve gone wrong. I’d still be who I am today, only less from the broken heart… I’ve been her friend the longest, and I can’t stand the thought of losing her…” I felt tears welling at my eyes, but I held them back. Vinyl came up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder, then made me look at her.

Staring deep in my eyes, she stated, “You’re an idiot. You can’t know that for sure.”

I broke away, using magic as well as physical force. I couldn’t look anypony in the eye at this time. “But I do know. That Doctor guy…. She’s head over hooves for him. She would have left me for him. And if I tried to ask her out now, she wouldn’t leave him for me, so there’s no use… I can’t deal with the pain some days. I just want to curl up and let life pass me by. I’m scared. I hope I sleep through Friday so I don’t have to see her…”

Vinyl looked at me, then forcefully brought my head back facing her. She reared back, then WHAM! Slammed her head into mine, making me drop down in pain and dizziness. She rubbed her head, then shook it off. “Bucking idiot, you CANNOT KNOW FOR SURE! You never took a chance from some made up reasoning of ‘What If’s! Do you know how nervous I was when I asked out Octy? I was a wreck for months before! But I went through with it! And I’m still with her!”

I stood up slowly, careful where I placed my hooves. “Sure, you can say I delayed it because of the ‘What If’s, but I know reality, and not everypony gets to be with the pony of their dreams. You’re lucky, you know. You love Octavia, and you can see her every day. I can see Ditzy every other day, depending on her route. But, if she’s happy, I’ll be alright… I get to spend time with her here and there, like I will Friday, but she has someone she spends her time with… and that makes her happy, so I won’t interfere…”

Vinyl facehoofed, then grabbed one of her dogs and chomped on it, probably to keep herself from grinding her teeth in frustration. Then, she came over and hit the back of my head. “You’re real dense, you know?” she said through the food still in her mouth. She swallowed quickly, then poked my chest. “You’re letting life pass you by, and the mare you love is out there, probably waiting for you, YOU DON’T KNOW! Friday, just try to get some things straight in your head, because this shit doesn’t suit you.” She calmed down a little, taking a breath. “Just don’t screw up, alright.” She turned around and left the kitchen with her dogs. I looked at mine for a moment, then put them in the fridge and going back to the living room where Vinyl had reclaimed her seat, munching away.

I sat down, then rested my head on the hoofrest, feeling drained. “Hey,” Vinyl suddenly said, making me crack an eye open to look at her, “just don’t overthink it, alright? That’s always been your problem. Go with the flow every so often. You never know, because anything can happen. Derpy just may love you back.”

I sighed low. She wouldn’t relent. I got up and headed towards my bedroom. On my way, I came up next to Vinyl, and said, “Please, don’t call her Derpy. Her name is Ditzy.”

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

I woke up two hours before I needed to be at the radio station, so I went through my morning routine, showering, eating, then brushing teeth and mane and tail. Making sure nothing was wrong, I left my area, and stopped at the doorway to the living room. Vinyl was still there, snoring on my couch. I donned my jacket and scarf, grabbed my bags and left for work, but not before hearing a grumbled “Oc-ctyyyy” come from my living room.

Walking slowly, I made my way to Sugarcube Corner. My caffeine levels felt depleted, and only Pinkie’s special XXXXtra Energy Cup could get it back.

I opened the door to the bakery and had to fight the urge to leave. There at the counter was Ditzy, grabbing a large package, no doubt filled with muffins, and going to place it on her back. While her head was turned, she spotted me, giving me a large smile. She paid quickly and came up to me, nuzzling me gently. “Hi Table Top! I thought I wouldn’t see you til tomorrow!”

I nuzzled back a little, then stepped back, running a hoof through my mane. “Yeah, I did too, but after yesterday, I needed some energy boost, especially since I have an eight hour shift in a little while. How are things?”

She beamed at me, “They’ve been wonderful! I can’t go into much detail, there’s just so much, but the Doctor and me have been traveling lots! I got to see lots of fun places and meet new things! I wish you could’ve come along, you’d’ve seen some of the things you’ve been imagining!”

While that should’ve registered something in my mind, the only thing that stuck out, however, was “Doctor” and “traveling”. I felt a stone drop in my stomach and my breathing catch for a moment.

“I’m glad you’ve been having a good time. Well, I have to get going, so I should hurry up and get my order.” I went up to the counter, waiting for Pinkie to come to get my order after calling out an eat-in order to the crowd of ponies. A few seconds passed, and the bell above the door rang out. I knew Ditzy was gone.

“So, Mister Sad-Face, what can I do for you?”

I looked up, a little startled. I had completely forgotten I was somewhere public for a moment. I cleared my throat, “One XXXXtra Energy Cup please.”

Pinkie looked at me with one of her thoughtful frowns, rarely ever seen, and went about making my drink. A large cup had cream put in with a good helping of sugar, and then five shots of their strongest espresso were added, which was then shaken up and poured into a large heat-resistant cup. Her concoction finished, she placed it on the counter. I reached for it slowly and she drew it back.

I looked at her, confused. She smiled back, not one of her infectious ones, but one that was sympathetic. “You know, if you love her so much, you should tell her. Knowing is always better than being left confused in the dark.” She slid the cup across, saying, “No charge,” and went back to her work.

I left, cup in my magic’s grip, and didn’t pay attention to what was around me, completely on auto-pilot towards the station. Before entering I took a long drink, letting the bitter-sweet liquid cover my tongue and work into my system. I still had a good twenty minutes til I actually needed to be here, but I might as well make the most of my time. I entered, making my way back to my area, starting things up, making everything ready for the next eight hours.

I need to get myself ready for my audience, I thought to myself, smacking my cheeks lightly. I cleared my throat many times and kept drinking, feeling the caffeine rush through me, making me more aware, a little jittery, and very awake. I sent a silent thanks to Celestia for caffeine and it’s wonders, then counted the seconds to my show.

One minute left. I checked all my equipment, making sure every power button to make sure they were lit, signaling they were on. Forty-five seconds. Microphone working as well as headset, no crossed wires, nothing plugged into the wrong port. Thirty seconds. My breathing slowed as I controlled it, clearing my head as I counted.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

I flipped the switch, activating my mic the second my time began, and called out my signature: “Hello Chiiiiiiiildren!”

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

My shift was over, and I trudged back home slowly, my mind flooded with thoughts I tried so hard to keep back. Lately, ever since Tuesday, the world seemed conspired against me to make me think of Ditzy. I couldn’t complain too much, thinking of her had many different effects on me. But it always wound up to the same question: What if? I hated that question as much as I loved it. It gave me so many ideas, especially for the games I run, and it let me try new things. However, it also kept me back. Because of that question, I’ve never taken any real chances. I never expressed my feelings to the one mare I’ve dreamed of being with for years.

I decided, then, that the next day I would sort everything out, as Vinyl “suggested”. But for this night, I would forget, so I did something I’ve rarely ever done.

In a hidden compartment behind my original copies of every edition of Dungeons and Dragons books, I kept a full bottle of AppleJack Daniels. Pulling it out and getting a glass from my kitchen with a flick of magic, I undid the top and poured out a good amount. With another flicker of magic, my fireplace roared once with new fire until it became a steady flame. I sat down in my chair and started drinking, taking a large gulp for my beginning. The burning sensation started immediately, and I inhaled to increase it and let the alcohol permeate through my mouth and nose. Thereafter, I sipped slowly.

It wasn’t even eight o’clock when I reached the halfway point of the bottle. The alcohol was hitting me hard, since I had a light dinner before. But that was alright. The point of this was to forget, clear my head and think again. Just one more drink and I’d be there…

Draining the last of the whiskey in my cup I magicked a pen and paper to my table in front of me and began to write, about anything and everything that Ditzy and I had done together which made me love her more…

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

We were still classmates. After I had recognized my feelings for her, I was more wary around her. Of course, being careful was difficult when mom brought us to Manehattan and allowed us free reign of where to go. And where else would we go but a comic book store?

Ditzy and I were laughing, looking at figures, and reading comics. She was a little slower since her eyes had gotten worse, but she had started getting really adorable. When she thought real hard, her eyes would wander in different directions, but if she concentrated, she could focus her eyes to look forward for a few seconds.

After reading a bit, Ditzy got up and wandered over to some displays of figurines, then to a bookshelf. On it was something called “Dungeons and Dragons”, and she pulled a Player’s Guide off. She brought it over to me and tapped my shoulder. “Lookit what I found! This looks interesting!” She set it down as I put my comic back in its place, and then I flipped open the book.

Reading a little, I felt myself drawn to the book somehow. Then I went to the shelf again and brought back other books that went along with this one, Monster Manuals and Dungeon Master’s Hoofbook before me. I looked over images, read about characters, and how this game was to be played.

Suddenly, I remembered something. My mother had shown me books like these before, as well as some old papers. They had belonged to my father. He had played this game. She even had his old dice, made out of a kind of plastic and were all pastel colors. I began to imagine what his character looked like, and how it must have been fighting these monsters…

Funny, I was starting to feel a bit of a drain…

There were gasps from different directions, but one came from beside me, from Ditzy. She was looking above me. I looked at where she was, and immediately saw two figures, one a unicorn clad in cloth, horn shining, and the other a large black dragon, wings spread and maw gaping. Then, they moved, and they were fighting.

I suddenly felt dizzy and stumbled a little, falling into Ditzy. The images disappeared, and I leaned against Ditzy, shaking off the effects of the spell I had no idea I was casting. I stood back up after a moment, and another gasp came from Ditzy, followed by a quick squee of glee, as she hugged me. “You got your Cutie Mark!”

Confused, I looked around, trying to see my flank. There, where there had been nothing, were… Dice. One in the middle surrounded by six others, all of them different, all displaying numbers. The big one in the middle had a 20 on it, and the ones surrounding had 4, 6, 8, 0, 12, and 00. I went up to the register, where the owner of the store sat with a grin. “What can I do for ya, kid?” He seemed like he was really happy.

Suddenly self-conscious, I mumbled a little, then cleared my throat. “Um, could I h-have a s-s-set of dice t-to l-look at for a m-moment.”

His smile got bigger, somehow, and motioned to a display case. “Why not pick your own?”

Baffled, I stood there. A minute passed, and I finally moved, and looked into the case. More dice than I thought were necessary were sorted into different drawers. Finally, I started pointing and describing which ones I wanted. Then, I thought some back to the book. I got five more sets, three pre-packaged, and the other two hoof-chosen. The owner’s grin got even bigger as I went on. Once the six different sets were chosen and the loose ones placed in baggies, he set them on the counter, then leaned over, saying “Why don’t you go get those books as well?” to which I did so.

My mother, smiling at me, came to the counter and got out her purse, but the owner stopped her. “Whoa there, ma’am, no need to pay for this. This young stallion has a special gift for this game, and I feel he shouldn’t have to pay for that. Besides,” he looked at her purse, “it doesn’t look like you have enough to pay for all this. Just make sure he does good by them, y’hear?”

Mom got a little flustered and started thanking him. I walked back to Ditzy, who had a huge grin on her face, not unlike the owner had. I got up to her and she hugged me, then nuzzled me gently. “I’m glad I helped you find your talent, Topsy. I hope we can play together sometime!” She beamed at me and I leaned into her, nuzzling her neck. I sent a silent prayer out, thanking everything in the cosmos that I had the privilege to be friends with this amazing filly.

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

The memory played through my head over and over. Finally, I wrote down on the paper: “Ditzy and I become friends -> mom wants us to have a fun day, takes us to Manehattan -> Ditzy finds DnD book -> get Cutie Mark”. My mind had enough to work off from this. With little arrows pointing up or down, I made notes, such as mom having kept dad’s old stuff packed away, preferring not to have them out and damaged, so I wouldn’t have had the chance to get my Cutie Mark from home.

And if Ditzy hadn’t gotten the book, I never would have found it. I only ever looked at the Manega shelves, never at the roleplaying books. And if Ditzy hadn’t been my friend, mom wouldn’t have taken me all the way to Manehattan for a comic book store in the first place.

This all led to one conclusion: If I hadn’t have become friends with Ditzy, I wouldn’t have gotten my Cutie Mark. Sure, I have plenty of skills, like cooking or music, but none of those were my special talent.

I continued making lists, as well as off-lists where possibilities were listed, about anything and everything that was important that happened. I slowly drank the rest of my whiskey, finally finishing the bottle and lists by ten o’clock. At the end of the lists,

I got one more piece of paper, and using the pen, wrote in big letters: “YOU NEED TO TELL DITZY YOU LOVE HER!”, underlining “need”, “tell”, and “love”.

I folded the papers together, and got up, making my way slowly to the kitchen. I threw away the empty bottle of whiskey, put the glass in the sink, and made my way to my bedroom. I put my papers on the bedside table and crawled in. I started drifting off immediately while singing to myself.

Elsewhere:

The rhythmic whooshing sound wasn’t heard by anypony. With each whoosh, a big blue box with a light on top materialized more. When fully solid, the whooshing stopped, and a door opened up. Out stepped a grey pegasus mare, tears flowing down her face. Behind her, a brown stallion with a spikey mane stepped just outside.

“I’m sorry, Ditzy,” he all but whispered, just to where she could hear, “but it’s gotten too dangerous. I can’t take you with me anymore.” With that, he turned around and went back in his box. Seconds later, the whooshing came back, only this time fading in volume as the box vanished.

A/N: I do not condone heavy drinking. Even over three hours, an entire bottle of whiskey drunk by one person is too much. I only have this here because I do have a very high tolerance for alcohol and can contain it without the nasty side effects, and Table Top is a reflection of me as a pony. I urge everyone not to attempt this ever.

Side: The Doctor's Departure

A/N: As the title suggests, this is a side chapter. This explains what happened for the last moment of the last chapter. It also contains some of my personal thoughts on the Doctor in Equestria. Primarily, to answer one question: *Why?*

The inside of the Tardis shook three times, rather suddenly. But that was to be expected. The Tardis wasn’t always the smoothest form of travel. The ever-present whooshing it made as it traveled through time and space steadily decreased in volume. They had arrived at their destination.

The Doctor pranced around, happy with their latest victory. “Come Derpy, let’s away to Sugarcube Corner! I’m famished!” He trotted to the doors and opened them, taking a step out, then opened his eyes. ‘Huh,’ he thought to himself, ‘this isn’t Ponyville.’

Looking around, his stomach sank steadily. He was not in Ponyville at all. Instead, the Tardis had landed in the Royal Gardens.

He stuck his head back in and saw Derpy coming toward the door. “Um, Derpy,” he said, stopping her. “It looks like we have made a pit stop somewhere else for the moment. If you don’t mind, would you wait for me? I believe there is someone I must talk to.”

Derpy looked confused for a moment, but then, she smiled at him. “Of course, Doctor! Just don’t take long, I want a muffin soon.”

The Doctor nodded, then extracted himself from his beloved Tardis, closing the door. He turned around, then slowly walked toward a fountain that was visible just through an archway. The moon above was full, and lit his way as if just for him.

Passing under the archway, he looked around, then felt his hearts stop. Beside the fountain sat the Solar Regent, Princess Celestia, looking sadder than he had ever seen. Even slower, he made his way toward her, his hooves feeling heavier. Reaching her, he sat beside her. Being gentle, Celestia extended her wing and hugged him close with it.

“Hello, Doctor.” Celestia’s voice held more sadness than her posture had let be shown. “I’m sorry to have pulled you away from your return. But, there is something to discuss. A question you asked me, which I said I would answer in due time…” Her heart heavy, she looked him in the eyes, tears on the verge of spilling over. “Ask it again, good Doctor.”

He felt tears sting at his eyes, but he breathed slowly. “Why am I here, in Equestria?”

She smiled at him. “Good Doctor, it was because Equestria needed you. It was in danger that not I nor any of the Elements of Harmony could handle. But more importantly, I wanted to fulfill your wish.”

The Doctor cocked his head to the side, then asked, “What wish?”

“Do you not remember?” Celestia’s smile filled more with sadness as she closed her eyes. “You wished for your tenth life not to end just yet. You were afraid. That life had been kind and cruel to you, but you were not yet ready to part with it. Therefore, I did my best to grant it. However…” She wiped away tears now falling freely. “There was a condition, one I told you when we first met. Do you remember?”

Comprehension dawned on his face, but his ears drooped back from sadness. “As long as Equestria needed me, I’d be here…” He looked down at his hooves. “But, how can that be? I can’t have…”

Celestia nodded solemnly. “You have protected Equestria to the best of your abilities, made sure outside sources would not bother us until our time to join them has come, and have saved our world time and time again. But now… Now there are no threats remaining. I cannot hold you here any more. Already your next life is trying to come through.”

One of his ears perked up a little. “What do you mean?”

Celestia pointed a hoof at his neck, asking “Have you not realized the changes you have started showing? More than others, your choice of clothing has changed. You now favor a bow tie where before a straight neck tie was ever present upon you. Your next personality is trying to come through.”

Looking down at his attire, then back up, he didn’t know what to say, what to do. “But,” he started, then looked down. “But, what about Derpy?”

Celestias smile vanished as tears began to flow from her. She hugged him close, much as a mother would her youngest child. “You still have some time left, dear Doctor. But it is not much. The Tardis is locked to this time, you cannot go back, you cannot go forward. Until next I raise my sun, you will be allowed to stay, but come the first rays of dawn, you will be back on Earth, ready to regenerate into your new body, and have new adventures with new friends.” Celestia smiled again, closing her eyes, then resting her muzzle on the Doctor’s head. “We will miss you, all of Equestria, even those who know nothing of you. You are our hero and we all owe you more than we can possibly ever give.”

Unseen to him, her smile vanished and the tears came harder. It was all she could do to keep back from making sobbing sounds that would alert the Doctor to something being wrong. ‘We will miss you,’ she thought, ‘but you will not miss us…’

Composing herself and wiping her eyes free of tears, she used her soft wings to wipe his tears away. “Go now, Doctor, your friend waits for you to bring her home.”

Nodding, the Doctor turned, wiping his eyes and making himself ready for what he would have to do. He had hurt companions before, and he knew Derpy would hurt as much, if not more, than the others. He knew that she loved him, which means he had to make an excuse. She couldn’t know that he would be gone from her entire universe. That would hurt her more than anything…

He got back to the Tardis, and opened the door,  letting himself inside. He turned to the console and began working it, sending the Tardis to Ponyville.

As the Tardis faded, Celestia, still by the fountain, finally broke down. The Doctor was her oldest friend. When she brought him here a mere three years ago, he was already her friend for millennia. To her, it felt like saying goodbye to her own Sun. From then on, she resolved that no matter when the Doctor would show up in her future, she would make it so he would not encounter her. She could not bear to feel that pain through the eons ahead of the Equine Race.

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

The Doctor was sad, Derpy could see that. Why that was, she had no idea. He had gone for a few minutes being alright, but when he came back, he looked almost like he would start crying. Concerned, she went up to him and nuzzled his neck, something that would normally fluster and embarrass him. This time, though, he kept his forlorn look. Finally, she looked him square in the eye, asking, “Doctor, what’s wrong?”

He looked at her, at a loss. Finally, he had something to say that would hopefully hurt her the least. “Something has been brought to my attention. Something more dangerous than we’ve ever faced. I’m afraid I will need to go and take care of it.”

Looking a little confused, Derpy thought about it, then smiled. “Well, it’s nothing we can’t handle! I’m sure whatever it is, we can get through it!” She hoped he would cheer up at her encouragement.

The Doctor, however, sighed at her words. “This time,” he said after a pause, “there will be no ‘we.’ I can’t put you in danger this time, the consequences would be too much for me to bear. I’m going to drop you off in Ponyville.”

Frowning, Derpy’s eyes went in different directions for a moment. “But, you’ll be back, right?”

The Doctor swallowed and looked down. He couldn’t look her in the eyes for this lie to work.

“I don’t know. From what I was told, it will take a long time, and the Tardis is locked to correspond with this time for this event. Essentially, if a year were to pass there, a year would pass in Ponyville. And if I’m stuck there for a hundred… I wouldn’t be able to come back ever…”

Derpy was silent. And her silence was deafening.

The Doctor chanced a look up at her. Her eyes were completely unfocused and two streams of tears flowed down her face. She hiccupped, then asked, “T-then, w-why can’t I c-come w-with you? I-I don’t want t-to s-s-stay in P-Ponyville without you.”

The Doctor knew her heart was breaking. So were his hearts. “I can’t chance losing you, not ever. Knowing that you’ll be safe will give me hope of what to come back to…”

The Doctor looked to his console. They were close to Ponyville now… He took the Tardis in to land where nopony was.

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

The rhythmic whooshing sound wasn’t heard by anypony. With each whoosh, a big blue box with a light on top materialized more. When fully solid, the whooshing stopped, and a door opened up. Out stepped a grey pegasus mare, tears flowing down her face. Behind her, a brown stallion with a spikey mane stepped just outside.

“I’m sorry, Ditzy,” he all but whispered, just to where she could hear, “but it’s gotten too dangerous. I can’t take you with me anymore.” With that, he turned around and went back in his box. Seconds later, the whooshing came back, only this time fading in volume as the box vanished.

Getting up, Ditzy slowly made her way home.

When she reached home, she made her way to bed without turning on any lights. Vaguely, she was able to read the day on the clock beside her bed. ‘It’s Thursday… I guess tomorrow I go see Table Top.’

Just faintly, her heart gave a flutter.

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

The Doctor maneuvered his Tardis to the top of the mountain Canterlot was built upon, then set it down on a small ledge able to hold it in place. He opened the doors, facing east so he could watch his last sunrise in this magical land. Memories, of his time, all the ponies he had met and befriended, all the adventures he and Ditzy went on, began to flood to the forefront of his mind. He didn’t want to leave. But he had been here long enough to know, magic was not always under the user’s control. When a deadline was met, the magic knew to stop.

He smiled, immensely sad at what he had had to do, and missing Ditzy already. He pulled his hind legs up in front of him, then leaned forward and wrapped his forehooves around them, and set his head on his forelegs. He began to cry harder than ever.

He knew, in seconds, that the sun would be up and he would be gone forever from this land. So just this once, he let himself feel what he had denied himself for so long. Yelling out in his sadness, he screamed, “DITZY, I LO-“

In a flash of light, the Doctor and his Tardis were forced through time, space, dimensions, and universes, until it came into being above London, England.

In Other Words

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….”

Hold My Hand

I woke up in the middle of the night, my back and neck sore. Looking around, the moonlight coming in through the window showed somepony laying across me. Then, my heart did a somersault. It was Ditzy, laying on my belly with her hooves wrapped around my midsection. For a moment, I just let her be, but I soon found more discomfort. Having been caught in the moment hours earlier, I had not taken off my scarf nor my jacket, and the spot where Ditzy lay was pushing a button into the soft skin.

Not wanting to wake her, I used my magic and levitated her an inch above me, allowing me to quickly shed my clothing. I lay her back down, and thought of what had transpired, of the tears we had shed for both our broken hearts, and how my own heart was faring. I still loved her, and in that instant, I knew I always would. I would just never be able to express it. She was in love with another stallion, who was gone, but I felt sure her heart was set like mine: to pine for the one we love, but never be able to tell them.

I resigned myself to enjoy the rest of this night by being close to her, then help her the following day in whatever way I could. Before I could do this, though, I had to call somepony about prior arrangements. She would understand, though. One weekend without gaming wouldn’t make Luna angry… At least, I hoped.

I didn’t feel tired at all, and for the rest of the night, I watched over Ditzy. Sometimes, she would make a face as if she were troubled, and I’d pet her mane slowly, whispering that everything is alright in her ear, and she would return to her peaceful sleep again. A few times, she said something, but I couldn’t hear what they were, but I had a suspicion it had to do with him… But I diligently made sure she got plenty of rest at the cost of less sleep than I was used to. The things I do for love…

Finally, the window started getting less blue and more orange as Celestia’s sun began to climb over the horizon. It probably had to be eight o’clock, meaning Ditzy had been asleep for nearly twelve hours. I slowly shook her shoulder, partly to wake her up gently, but, honestly, mostly to feel her soft fur against my hoof. After a few minutes of shaking and saying “Ditzy, it’s time to get up” a few times in a normal voice, she began to stir. Finally, wiping the sleep from her eyes with one hoof, she leaned herself up on her other, pushing in against my ribs. She mumbled “I’m up” a few times, then opened her eyes and looked around.

When her eyes got to me, she stayed still for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, she jumped back, hovering in the air as she said, “Table Top! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to cry on you and fall asleep on you and use you as a pillow, though you make a nice pillow, and I’m sorry you had to see that, I lost track of time, I was trying to pull myself together for our get together, but you showed up earlier than I had thought and…” Her voice trailed off as I sat there with a small smile on my face. She was always so cute when she got flustered.

I got up and stretched, moving my head jerkily side to side, making it pop multiple times on each side, followed by an almost pleasurable-sounding moan as the stiffness disappeared. This followed by the systematic popping of all my legs as well as my back. I probably needed a visit to the spa after that night. That’s when the thought struck me.

“It’s alright, Ditzy,” I said, turning towards her as she came back down. “If you’d like, we have today that we can hang together. Just, let me have a little while first, alright?” She nodded, and I smiled at her. “I think after that night, you deserve to be pampered to help soothe your heart. How does a spa day sound? We can hang at my place after, and we’ll play some games. That sound like a plan?”

She thought for a moment, then nodded, saying, “Yeah, that sounds good. Dinky will be at our parents’ place for the weekend. I had thought to spend it…” She trailed off, then I saw tears form in her eyes.

I quickly went to her and hugged her, feeling a few sobs escape her as I rubbed her neck and back. “Shhh, it’ll be alright. I promise…”

She sobbed a few times, each one lessening. Then she mumbled into my neck, but it was close enough to my ear for me to hear. “Will the pain ever go away?”

Oh, Ditzy, if only you knew how many times I asked myself the same question ever since I knew I loved you. I answered as truthfully as I could. “I don’t know. It might, if you find somepony else… But, other than that, I think it’ll dull away, but it will always be present. Just, don’t think about it, alright?”

She nodded against me, then pulled back and nuzzled along my muzzle. I clenched my teeth a little to keep the blush from showing. Sometimes, white fur was a curse.

“Now, I need to go and prepare, so I’ll see you in… Two hours, at the spa, alright?”

She nodded and smiled at me, wiping the last stray tears away. “Thank you.”

I got my jacket and scarf on, then put my bag on my back, and headed out. There were three places I needed to visit. The first was the spa, to set up our appointment. Saturdays tended to have more traffic for the place, but with enough bits, you can get through anything. And with how much I saved, that wouldn’t be a problem.

Of course, I didn’t need to use bits. As soon as I walked in, the sisters Aloe and Lotus nearly fell on me, eager to cater to a celebrity (though, I never think of myself as one), but when I explained to them I needed it set for two hours later and that it was an emergency, they got into action, calling ponies that had appointments set for that time, asking if they’d like one earlier or rescheduled – free of charge, of course – for that opening. I smiled softly. The things some ponies do to suck up is amazing. But this was for the one mare that meant more to me than anything, so I was alright abusing my “power”.

With that taken care of, I made my way across town, coming up to the library. The sign on the door said OPEN, so I let myself in. What met me confused me.

Books flying everywhere, all encased in a purple haze, was the main scene, but what was odd was the cyan colored pegasus with rainbow mane and tail also in a purple haze, sitting on the far ceiling, book in hoof. And then, out of nowhere, a small dragon came running in with a pile of books in his arms that was three times his size.

“Twilight, these were all in the wrong place too!” Spike exclaimed to nowhere in particular. The books in his arms suddenly leaped in the air, enveloped in the magical aura.

Twilight Sparkle, librarian and protégé of Princess Celestia, strode in from an adjoining room, a list trailing behind her. She huffed loudly and angrily before bringing a quill to her to write on the list. She was rambling about “those fillies”, and I had a few guesses who she meant. Only three certain fillies had the special talent to get on somepony’s nerves like that.

“Need some help?” I asked, humorously, of course. I couldn’t stay here for long. But, upon hearing my voice, Twilight yelped, and all the books in her grasp came crashing down, including Rainbow Dash from her sitting place. Despite all the sadness I had been feeling, I couldn’t help but let out a huge laugh at the sight of a frightened Twilight, and a Dash that was now upside down in a pile of books, her head stuck in them with her wings rapidly flapping to get her out.

Spike came up to me, to which I held out a hoof. He made a fist, and bumped my hoof lightly. “Sup, Top? Haven’t seen you round here in a while.”

“Not much, just needing to look up a recipe for tonight. And to bother Twilight while she attempts to fix a Crusaders’ mess.”

Spike fell over and started rolling around, laughing. “I hear that. Look! She hasn’t moved!”

He was right. Twilight was standing in the same spot, with the same look on her face, as she looked at me. Rainbow, however, had gotten herself loose of her literary captors and went up to Twilight. Dash then waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s face, but this elicited no response. So, deciding it’d be the only way to get her attention, Dash grabbed Twilight’s head and gave her a full on kiss.

This had the desired effect, as Twilight jumped away and looked around, remembering what had happened. She sighed, then looked at me. Rainbow, however, was doing a poor job of not laughing at her marefriend.

“Hello, Table Top. What brings you to the library today?”

“Just needed to stop by and get a better look on a recipe that I scanned across. Looked interesting, but I’d like to put it to use tonight, so I need more detailed instructions.”

She sighed and visibly deflated. “Oh, thank Celestia. The Crusaders didn’t manage to get to the cuisine section during their tirade last night. You know where it is.”

Dash had recovered from her laughing fit and came over to me. “So, what’s the grand occasion? Gonna woo some mare into your bed tonight?” She waggled her eyebrows.

Her smile quickly vanished once the hardened look on my face made its way across. “Hardly.”

I pushed past her and into the cuisine section. I quickly found the book I needed, and wanting to have the task done quickly, used my magic to grab the book, paper, and a quill with ink over. The book in question I had used many times. It’s title was “East meets South: The Cajun/Asian Combination Cookbook”, and every recipe I had tried from it made my mouth burn in that pleasant way only truly spicy foods could attain, while keeping its flavors in full integrity.

Little did I know, I had an audience.

Twilight chimed up, “I’ve always wondered, why is it your magical aura doesn’t have a color? I mean, you can’t even see the magic sparkles.”

Why the question? Why today? “Think back to elementary magic studies, Twi. What do the colors usually get represented by?”

“Well, usually the pony’s color, or if they have a certain area that they use their magic for, such as Vinyl Scratch, who’s aura is a light blue because she uses telekinesis for her performances.”

“Exactly.” Ah, there was the recipe. Thankfully, years of playing roleplaying games had taught me to talk, read, and write all at once. “My main focus of magic deals with the mind, or more specifically, the connection of minds. However, thought has no color, meaning my general color for the aura would be no color at all. Of course, I specialize in Elemental magic, using plenty of them for my games.” I finished copying the recipe. It was simple, but had potential for great flavors. I turned to face Twilight. “In such cases, my aura changes to the color associated with that element.

“Air.” The tips of my mane became white, and there was a light gust of wind that I directed around Twilight. “Water.” I called some moisture in the air to form into a flat circle of moisture, while my mane changed to blue. “Earth.” The tips of my mane turned green, and branches began to grow from the floor. Earth was always draining for me. “And Fire.” I conjured a flame in front of me, and my mane changed to red. Fire was my favorite element to use. So simple, yet so wild.

I let the magic go, my mane going back to its natural black and got my recipe. I put the book back where it went, and went to leave.

Twilight was staring at me inquisitively, which made me stop in my tracks. Finally, she spoke. “I’ve never heard of anypony being able to change their aura color, not even Starswirl the Bearded, and he was probably the most powerful unicorn ever to exist. And telepathy… That’s powerful magic that even I can’t do.”

I shrugged. I didn’t really care. “I guess I’m special that way. Other than that, telekinesis, and the elements, I pretty much can’t use other magic. I once tried to teleport myself and cut off my tail. Those years of magic school were embarrassing.”

She seemed to like this answer. She moved out of my way, and I left, calling a quick goodbye to Rainbow and Spike.

Well, that had been more time that I had cared to spend. Luckily, I had all the ingredients needed for the meal, and I only needed to go to one more place before home. Back near the center of town, I entered the only alcohol providing shop in Ponyville. Behind the counter was a very bored – and slightly inebriated – looking Berry Punch. Seeing me, she perked up.

“Hi! Can I get you anything?” I must have been the first customer of the day. Of course, not many ponies buy alcohol early in the day.

“Yeah, I need something. A wine to go with a spicy meal, but also for a… Good friend of mine. See, she’s kinda upset and…”

“Oh, you mean Derpy? What’s wrong with her?” Berry looked rather concerned.

I, however, had to stifle the sudden anger that rose in me. I hated when ponies called her Derpy like it was her name. I only ever called her by that name when joking around. I clenched my teeth, and spoke as calmly as possible. “It’s kinda personal for her, and I’d like to help her cheer up. Any suggestions?”

Berry turned around and rummaged through some shelves, turning wine bottles over to read labels. Suddenly, a triumphant, but over-volumed “AH-HA!” came from her form, and she turned around and set a bottle on the counter.

“This bad boy is what you’re looking for. It’s a harder wine, perfect for spicy food, but has a hint of blueberry, which’ll compliment the food, and Derpy does like blueberry muffins above others, so I’m sure she’ll love it!”

I nodded, keeping my mouth shut.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

I thought to two nights previous. I needed to replenish my stash… But I also had a craving for the harder liquor made from sugar…

“A bottle of AppleJack Daniels, and the biggest, strongest bottle of rum you have.”

Berry whistled. “Someone’s looking to get hammered.” She turned around and first put the whiskey up on the counter by the wine, then went into the back room. A minute later, she came back with a bottle three times the size of the whiskey bottle filled with a dark amber liquid, with the logo “Captain Maregan’s” across the top with a pirate on front, standing on their rear legs and holding a cutlass in front of them. “Here you go, this stuff is 68% alcohol. Good for cooking, too, if you use it right.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course rum is good for cooking, and the higher the alcohol content, the more likely you’ll get that flavor into what you make.

I paid for the drinks and left, making my return home quick.

I had gotten in, turned on the lights, and put away my drinks in their places, the whiskey in its hiding spot, the wine in the fridge to chill until night, and the rum on the counter. Myself and Maregan would be getting acquainted later, and the next night, and the next…

Before I could head out, I needed to shower, if to just get the residue of the previous night from my coat. I still had an hour, so I could relax a little. Turning around, I headed into the living room, and as soon as I entered, Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere with her cannon. She pressed the button, and a sound not unlike one of Vinyl’s wubs drawn out came from it, accompanied by confetti and streamers and a banner that had not been there was behind her, spelling out “Congratulations”.

Before I could react, Pinkie was in my face gushing her glee. “Ohmygosh I’m so happy for you, you confessed! And to top it off, she didn’t say no and it’s a reason to celebrate, but I couldn’t get my friends, so I came to congratulate yo-“

I panted my hoof in her mouth. “Wrong. I didn’t confess anything, and I never will. There is no reason to celebrate.”

Pinkie looked extremely confused. After a few seconds, she reached up and pulled my hoof out of her mouth. “But, my Pinkie Sense didn’t say that. And it didn’t give me the negative sense for a confession…” Her brow furrowed deeply, confusion nearly making up her entire face.

“Don’t worry, Pinkie, sometimes we’re all wrong.”

She started sputtering as I pushed her toward, then out, my front door. “B-b-b-bu-b-b-but” the door closed behind her “my Pinkie Sense is never wrong…”

I walked back, not surprised that all the confetti, streamers, the cannon, and banner were gone. I had no idea how she pulled it off, but it’s better to just accept it and not ask questions.

I could finally shower in peace.

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

I had showered, then started preparations for dinner, taking out the tofu to drain juices in the fridge, and seasoned some vegetables to marinate. Then I left for the spa, arriving a few minutes before Ditzy did, and we got to the treatment.

Surprisingly, I found out that I had gotten the special treatment not for my fame, but because the sisters were gamers, and loyal fans. Of course, being sisters, they argued which games were better that one preferred but the other didn’t, and they looked to me for the deciding factor.

Ditzy got special treatment as well. She was rarely ever seen in the spa, and the sisters both delighted in making her giggle in that adorable way when she’s tickled. They made polite conversation with her as well, avoiding relationship conversations, and asked how we knew each other. We told them the tale, and they listened to it intently. They commended me for my courageous way of standing up for her, and said it was great that we kept our friendship alive even though we had years apart.

It was definitely pleasant, and I had almost forgotten my heartache.

Almost.

We were walking around, and wound up in the park, ready to just enjoy the afternoon. I called Luna on her cell, and explained to her that I probably wouldn’t be available the next day for gaming due to “unforeseen and unexpected complications.” She agreed to allow the day off from it in exchange for the next weekend we play for the entire weekend. I agreed; I knew Vinyl wouldn’t mind a day off during the weekend, and Luna said she’d talk to the others.

With all that I had needed done taken care of, I lay in the grass beside Ditzy and watched the clouds. Out of nowhere, a rainbow streak came into our field of view, careened downward, lost its handle at the last moment, and crashed and skidded along the ground. Rubbing her head, Rainbow Dash stood up and came toward me and Ditzy.

“Hey Tops, hey Derpy, sup?”

Why do these ponies insist on calling her that name? It always got under my fur.

“Just enjoying the day, Dashie,” Ditzy replied to her, being closer to Dash.

She smiled down at us. “You know, from up there you two looked like a nice couple.”

My heart stopped a moment, flipped, and restarted. Why is it things keep getting worse?

Ditzy blushed at the comment. “Well, we’ve been friends forever, we probably just always looked god together.” She started running a hoof through her mane, clearly embarrassed.

I got up and started walking away. I heard Ditzy apologize to Dash, and she came up by me. She nudged me a little as we made our way to my house. “She doesn’t know about what happened, Topsy. I don’t mind…” she trailed off, mumbling.

I wasn’t really paying attention. I probably should have, but I just wanted to get away from any more comments like that. I reached back and held her hoof, urging her to go faster. The contact sent a slight shudder down my spine.

We got to my home and we entered together. I led Ditzy – though I didn’t need to – to my game room, a third bedroom that had been optimized in equipment of a large LCD TV, several gaming systems, a computer, surround sound system, and posters and gadgets that promoted games and companies. My prized possession, an authentic, working Pip-Colt, still had the sticker on the screen of a winking colt, and was in a glass case to protect it.

We booted up whatever game system we wanted and played for the next few hours, constantly changing games and systems. Finally, dinner time rolled around, and I left to make the food.

Not long later, I came back in the room to find Ditzy looking through my movies. I set the food, plates, wine, and glasses down on the table in front of the couch, and Ditzy popped in a movie into the X-Box. It started up: The Princess Bride, one of our favorite movies. We ate, drank, and recited the movie word for word. Once the food was gone, we just sat and watched, until the movie ended.

We had continued drinking, Ditzy more so than I, and we were on the last glass for each of us. Ditzy looked at me and smiled, a blush on her cheek from the alcohol. She raised her glass. “A toast,” she said.

“What for?”

She thought for a moment, her eyes coming into focus instead of roaming. She looked at me in the eyes, and said, “For love.”

My heart sank. I knew it. She still loved him…

“And why for love?” The question left my mouth without me intending it to. I guess I had had more to drink than I had thought… Funny, I don’t remember breaking out the rum, and there’s no way wine could get me drunk.

Ditzy smiled wide, and giggled. “If it weren’t for love, well, then I wouldn’t be here right now!”

My heart almost wanted to be elated at that. But my mind told it not to get its hopes up. She said she had planned to go with him this weekend. If he hadn’t gone, she wouldn’t be here. That’s why she said it, I rationalized.

I raised my glass, and with a half-hearted, “For love,” we clinked glasses and drained  the last of the wine.

I looked at the digital clock above the entertainment system, and sighed at the time. It was near ten o’clock, and Ditzy should get home.

I helped Ditzy up, and walked her home, careful of her being inebriated. I wished that I had the courage to say something, to even kiss her cheek goodnight, but I was a coward. I only helped her home, said good night, and left.

I trudged through the silent streets of Ponyville, my mind whirring. I wasn’t even headed home, I just wanted to walk, so I did. I eventually got to the train station, so I turned around and walked more.

I got to the edge of the Everfree Forest in what seemed like record time, and sighed. My mind was restless. I guess it was time to go greet my new friend Maregan. I turned around, but as I was doing so, something caught my eye at the edge of the Everfree, and I turned back.

Sitting there was a large black wolf, a little smaller than a pony.

I started backing up, but it came toward me, its white teeth shining in the moonlight, and its tongue lolling in its mouth.

I was frozen. I was sure I was done for.

Until the wolf came up to me, and I realized my mistake: this was no wolf, but a dog. A very big dog.

I looked at this dog. It had a black coat all over, except for a little tuft of white on its chest, and it had big brown eyes, and it looked at me as if it recognized me. I reached out a hoof, and it came up to me and sniffed a moment, then began wagging its tail.

“You don’t have anywhere to go, do you fella? Come on, I’ll take care of you tonight.”

I turned around and started trotting back home. The black dog followed me, staying to my back right leg.

I opened the door and the dog went in ahead of me. Looking closer, its fur wasn’t in the least bit dirty. I went to the kitchen and got some food that I thought it’d be able to eat, meaning tofu dogs. I fed three to it and it wagged its tail harder. I smiled. It definitely was a cute puppy. I wondered how it had come to be at the Everfree Forest’s edge.

I grabbed my “friend” off the counter and a glass and went to the living room, taking a seat in my chair. The dog had followed me and sat in front of me, just looking. I wondered if it knew any tricks… I held out a hoof, bottom up, and said “Shake”. Immediately, the dog took its corresponding paw, brought the leg around in a circular motion, and placed the paw atop my hoof. For some reason, this made me grin like a schoolcolt.

“Lay down,” I said gently, and it did. I started wondering what it was, a boy or girl..? Oh well, I didn’t want to find out the embarrassing way.

I poured rum into the glass until it was half full and held it in a hoof. As soon as I decided to get a drink, the dog was standing right in front of me, and, using its muzzle, knocked the glass from my hand. I was stunned. The dog then looked at me as if to say “I DARE you to try that again”.

That’s when I noticed a piece of metal coming from the dog’s fur. I reached for it slowly, and pushed back fur to reveal a red fabric collar with two tags on it. The first one said “Macey”, followed by a ten-digit number. Well, that answered my gender question, but raised a new question. The number looked like it would be for a phone number, but it missed two numbers: the nation-designated number for the different races.

The second tag said “Macey-Mae Christie, Vaccinated for rabies virus on…”

That was a strange name. Yet, for some reason, it resonated through me. I leaned back, and got into the sitting position so my back was against the back of the chair.

Why did I do this?

My next action still confuses me…

I patted my chest.

In response, Macey jumped up with her forelegs, her hind ones getting closer to the chair. In the same, almost fluid motion, her front paws landed on my shoulders, and her paws did a gripping motion, pulling me forward as her head came to rest on my shoulder, her muzzle below my ear. My own forelegs wrapped around her, and I hugged her close, burying my nose in her thick black fur as I silently began to cry.

A/N: Macey is someone who was important to me. If you are interested in the story of Macey, you can go here to view my blog post about her.

Fly Me To the Moon

Why do you feed that horrid addiction? Why do you act so antisocial?

Why are you so *bitter*?

I’m tired of all the ponies constantly asking me these questions. I’m not antisocial, thank you very much. I have a group of friends and we get together every weekend to play games. I just don’t get along very well with others, since so many judge everypony…

And it’s not an addiction, I smoke an herb that helps me maintain my calm, and if you would stop and actually smell the smoke, it’s nothing like that horrendous tobacco. Plus, when I perform my illusions, it’s always best to have a medium to convey it through, and this so happens to perform adequately enough.

As for being bitter… Well, that’d take some explanation.

My name is Table Top, I’m a unicorn with a white coat and a black mane, though the tips of my mane change color depending on what element I use at the time, and I’ve been in love since that wonderful mare and I were in grade school, before I could perform much magic, and before she could fly.

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

Three colts formed a triangle around the little pegasus filly, each one throwing insults at her, kicking at her. I wish I had spotted it earlier. Recess was always the worst time during school for her. I ran in before the next one could kick out, standing before her with my horn sparking dangerously.

“Leave her alone, NOW!” I shouted out, lowering my head.

“Oh yeah? What’ll you do about it?” the lead colt snickered, kicking out at me this time. He was an earth pony, with a brown and white coat and blonde mane, and his kick almost landed at my eye.

“Yeah, why do you defend that retard?” the next one in line, an orange earth pony with a white mane, took his shot, which connected with my side, winding me for a second.

“She doesn’t deserve any mercy, even if it’s from a geek like you,” the third in line, a red pegasus with light red mane only making the situation worse.

I got up, the spark from my horn intensifying, and the tips of my hair turned red. Suddenly, three small fires erupted at the ground in front of the three bullies, making them rear back in surprise. “First of all, I am not a geek, I am a NERD, get it correct.” The fires gained in size a little. “Second, you three don’t deserve any kind of mercy for being mean to someone who didn’t do anything to you AT ALL.” The fires doubled in size at this point. “And LASTLY,” the fires combined in a circle around us “she is not a RETARD!” Three whiplashes of fire cracked at their hooves, causing them to run away.

I suddenly felt really exhausted. The fire died instantly, with barely a burnt blade of grass, and I collapsed. I turned to face the mare, and she had wonder in her eyes. Those beautiful, golden eyes. “Are you alright, Ditzy?”

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

I lit up my cig, inhaling the sweet tasting smoke deeply, and continued my trek to the local radio station. It was a Tuesday, so I had my show to do. 8 hours on the radio, answering mail, receiving mail, and playing music. My segment was liked so much, that there were barely any ads, except when I needed a break. Taking one last drag, I put out the cig and placed the remaining part behind my ear. I’d be able to finish it in my booth. I had a special guest this evening as well, a particularly well known DJ.

I looked up, watching the pegasi place rain clouds strategically for the light drizzle scheduled for after the market day was over, and there she was, coming toward the station. Her gray coat and blonde mane dropped every now and then. She never was very elegant when flying, but she was always adorable. She landed a few hooves away and walked up, going through her bag of mail and getting out a sizable stack. She was paying more attention to the mail and didn’t see me until she looked up. She gasped in recognition, her eyes going wild a moment.

“Table Top! It’s been forever!” She threw her forehooves around my neck in a tight hug and I giggled, smiling gently. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been doing rather fine, Ditzy. Do you tune into my show?”

“Yeah! I love that everypony has gotten more accepting of that nerd thing you do!” She grinned that huge, goofy grin that always made my heart skip a beat…

“It is, but it is sad to say there are still ponies out there that aren’t… fully accepting of everypony.” I patted her on the head gently, regretting my next words. “Unfortunately, I have to cut this reunion short, I have a show coming on air in a few and I need to prep my station.”

“Oh, okay! Well, here’s the station’s mail!” she handed me the stack, which I took into my magic aura. “Do well on your show! I’ll be listening once I get home.” She smiled and turned around, getting prepared to take flight.

“Want to meet up later?” I suddenly blurted out, then looked away, feeling my cheeks burn.

She turned back around and grinned again. “Sure, I’d love to! Friday alright with you?”

I nodded. “It’d be late though, since I have my show and all…”

“That’s alright, I don’t have any deliveries on Saturday!” She came up and hugged me then nuzzled me gently then took off, leaving me standing in front of the doors, grinning like a foal.

“Bye Ditzy” I called after her, then headed in. I handed the mail to the receptionist and made my way back to my booth, getting in and getting my music all together and in order, putting records in small stacks. I grabbed my headset and tossed it up, putting them on while I put my cig back in, and with a flicker of magic, lit it taking a deep drag as the last second of the previous host came up.

“And now, for all you nerds and followers of the epic, here’s your next host, a unicorn able to bring stories to life, the number one listened to broadcaster in this part of Equestria. Heeeeeere’s Table Top!”

With that, I exhaled the sweet smoke out, flipped the switch to my mic, and with a quick breath let out my catch phrase: “HELLO CHIIIILDREN! This is Table Top, Nerd Extraordinaire, and bringing you tunes to satisfy the older and newer generations! I have a particular guest tonight, a DJ unlike most, showing up in increasingly more clubs throughout Equestria, but more on that later. For now, I bring you our first song, dedicated to an old friend of mine. But this is a special song, and there will be no background music. Instead, I’ll grace your ears with a rarely heard sound: My own singing! For some of you faithful listeners out there, you know that in the few years I’ve been here, I occasionally give this gift when something nice happens in my life. Today just so happens to be one of those days, and I’m in a giving mood. So, children, without more delay, we start tonight’s journey! If you know this older song, feel free to sing along!

I cleared my throat, put out my cig, and took a small swig of water, preparing for just a few seconds. I didn’t want to leave my audience hanging for too long. Especially for this song, the one that I would sing with her at night, looking up at the moon and stars, imagining the worlds out there. I took a breath and started…

Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars…

Darling, Kiss Me

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.

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

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.”