The cold wind howled in the night, sending a shiver up Dinky Doo's spine. The days had passed by dreadfully slow during these cold winter months and she had grown rather restless from staying inside all day. Though, she couldn't complain because these were her favorite months of the year. Cold winter nights were the only time she could curl up with her mother next to their fireplace and feel the pleasant warmth around her. Perhaps warm in more than just one way.
This night, however, was different. The sky was darker and the blizzard outside raged to no end. It was times like these that made Dinky truly appreciate her warm home. Her gazing out into the incredible tundra was interrupted by a muffled voice coming from the main room in the house. Led by curiosity, Dinky tip-hoofed out of her room and leaned in to the hallway, trying to catch the muffled phrases as they echoed through the house.
"I've fixed the Tardis, Miss Hooves," said the Doctor in a cheery tone. "It took almost a whole year, not factoring in all those excursions you and I took."
Derpy smiled at the Doctor. "Well that's great and all but I didn't realize that there was something wrong with it."
"Of course there was something wrong with it. Why else would I still be in Equestria? Now that it's fixed I can finally return to London!" He said giddy with excitement.
Derpy's heart skipped a beat. "Wait a second... Are you saying that you're leaving?"
"Hehehe I know! It's so exciting! I can finally go back home! I wonder what's happened since I left? Oh and you know what else. BACON! I can finally eat something other than buttered muffins!"
"Hey! What's wrong with my muffins?"
The Doctor paused for a moment, realizing his fatal mistake. Quickly, he tried to steer the conversation away from the muffin minefield. "Oh Derpy, I didn't mean your muffins. I was talking about the muffins from sugarcube corner," the Doctor replied with a nervous tone in his voice.
"Doctor? You've never eaten at sugarcube corner. I've fed you everyday for eleven months..." An awkward silence hung in the air while the two ponies stared at each other.
"Well... Anyway, I must be going if I'm going to beat all that time-traffic. It's going to be rush-second any moment now." The Doctor turned around, heading to the door which led to the raging blizzard outside.
Derpy went pale. " B-but you can't go! Your not done here. There still might be something to save here in Equestria," Derpy yelled as her voice cracked.
The Doctor came to a halt. He spun around to face her. "Assistant, Ive done all that i can and from what I've seen, Equestria can handle its own problems."
Derpy paused for moment, taking time to respond.
"But Doctor... I don't want you to leave," Derpy said with a soft tone, barely audible from where Dinky was eavesdropping. " I want you to stay here... With me."
The Doctor reeled back, having realized what Derpy was saying to him. "Derpy... Ditzy Doo, I... I can't stay," he replied with caution," I have to go back."
Derpy stayed silent for a moment, trying her best to gaze at the doctor with both eyes. "I love you Doctor," she said blushing a bright red, "I've always loved you."
The doctor blushed and immediately turned away from her. "Please Miss Hooves, I'm sorry but I have to go back to London. I wish I could stay but I just can't. Please try to understand..."
"I don't want to understand!" she screamed, "I want you to stay here with me! You can't just leave!" Anger seemed to well up inside Derpy, exploding at the Doctor. "You gigantic... JERK!"
"Me? I'm the jerk? Your the one who's screaming!"
"After everything, you're just going to go back? Don't you like it here?" Her voice sounded more inquisitive than angry.
"Of course I like it here Derpy, but I don't belong here," the Doctor responded as he turned away from the mare, trying not to divulge his true feelings.
Derpy began to sob quietly, trying her best to contain the flood of emotion waiting to be set loose at the slightest pinch. The doctor looked up to find a slightly trembling gray pegasus. He leaned in closer to her and tapped her on the foreleg.
"Miss Doo?" he asked her.
Derpy slowly pulled her head up to find the Doctor's eyes gazing back a few inches from her own. Without thinking, she inched herself closer to him. The Doctor, inched in closer as well. Their lips met in the middle and the two held each other as tight as they could. Perhaps they were both afraid they would lose the other if they let go. For a few moments, nothing made any noise in the room except the crackling fireplace, the heat of which seemed to pale in comparison to the warmth given off by the two ponies.
The Doctor pulled away, allowing Derpy's head to drop to his warm chest. Though, just as she was about to close her eyes and lose herself in the rhythmic beating of what felt like more than just one heart, the warmth changed to the cool nothingness that permeated throughout the room. The Doctor turned around and walked to a large wooden door. He gathered his winter tie and tophat, opened the door, and greeted the winter tundra outside. The door shut and Derpy remained collapsed on the rug, overwhelmed by emotion.
Dinky, whom had witnessed the whole event, stayed in the hall, contemplating what had just occurred. "Why did the Doctor leave?" she thought. "Did he not love them?" The more she thought about it, the more she realized what had happened. She resolved that the Doctor didn't care for them. He was only using her mom as an assistant and a caretaker. He never cared for her, he just wanted a place to sleep and food to eat while he fixed his magic thingy. It was all a lie.
Dinky trotted into the living room, stopping over the sobbing pony on the floor.
"Mommy? Are you alright?" she asked startling Derpy.
"Oh sweety, I'm sorry," she replied with a snivel, "Why don't you go to bed and I'll be in to tuck you in."
Dinky looked at her mother with a look of concern. "Mommy? Do you want to make muffins with me?"
Derpy paused for a moment, gazing into the eyes of her filly. She did not reply, she simply nodded and got up slowly to her hooves. The filly wrapped her foreleg around her mother and the two embraced each other for a moment. Without speaking, they released each others holds and headed for the kitchen. Soon her home became filled with the sound of clattering muffin pans, laughter, and the sweet aroma of baked treats. After engorging a plethora of muffins, the two ponies returned to the living room, snuggling up to one and other in front of the fireplace. Soon, Dinky drifted off into a dream, resting beside the mother she loved more than anything in the world.
~~~
Dinky awoke to find the heat of flames licking her coat and the burning taste of smoke in the air. Panicking, she searched around for her mother, but to no avail. She found herself alone in her burning living room.
"Mommy?" she yelled as the burning in her throat tried to choke her. "Mommy, I'm scared!" She screamed and screamed but no answer returned. She was simply smothered with more smoke and a burning sensation that seemed to grow hotter by the second.
"M-mm-mmomy......" she coughed. "I- I'm s-scared...." Dinky fell to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. "P-please,".
Dinky began to feel a numbness swell in her chest as her breathing became short and far in between. Her eyelids slowly began to close and a blackness overwhelmed her. Soon, her mind drifted off into a strange slumber that somehow felt familiar but different at the same time. Her thinking became distant and Dinky finally let go...
~~~
The sky began to fade to darkness as the sun fell and the moon rose. Two gray ponies, one big and one small, sat silently on top of the snowy hill watching the majesty of Celestia's magic. The dark red that once filled the sky was replaced with an ebony blanket dotted with the twinkling of distant stars. The moon's luminescence glowed brighter than the heavenly bodies, becoming the central point of the night time mosaic. Soon the sky became still again, waiting for dawn to repaint its canvas for a new day.
"Mommy, will I ever be like you?" Dinky asked suddenly.
Derpy looked down at her filly, beaming her brightest smile. "Of course you can sweetie, anyone can me a mailmare if they try hard enough."
Dinky frowned at her mother, her breath visible in the frigid air. "No mommy, I meant will I ever be like YOU?"
Derpy paused for a moment. "Well' I don't think these eyes are hereditary, but you never know. I would say just eat your carrots and you'll be fine."
The filly giggled. "No mommy. I'm not talking about your eyes, I'm talking about your wings." Derpy ruffled her wings, looking at them as if she forgot they were there. She turned back towards the filly and the smile faded from her muzzle.
"Well, Dinky aren't you glad to be a unicorn? You can do magic, and you can levitate things, and ooh, you can even make fireworks!" The pegasus became more excited as she rattled off the abilities that her daughter would possess one day, losing the focus of the conversation.
"Being a unicorn is ok... I guess. But I want to be just like you one day. Then we can both deliver mail to ponies, and we can help clear the weather, and maybe you can even show me where you grew up in cloudsdale!" Derpy paused her own dream to look down at the filly. Dinky's eyes twinkled with the light being emitted from the moon. Her smile showed the happiness she gained from her own dreams as she bounced up and down happily.
Derpy sighed and turned away from her daughter. She was a strong mare, but she couldn't bear to hurt her daughter.
"What mommy? Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Derpy sat silently, contemplating her answer. "Of course it sounds like fun. I would like to do those things more than anything in the world." Derpy paused for a moment. "It's just that... Well, I'm a... and your..." Derpy was at a loss for words. Her filly just gazed back at her, beaming her pretty little smile. "Say, you said you've never been where I was born?"
Dinky nodded.
"Well, why don't we go in the morning. Just me and you. I'll fly you up and show you around. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Derpy gave a half-hearted smile, testing the response to her offer. What she didn't realize was the explosion of "YAYs" and WOO HOOs" she would be bombarded with afterward. The filly danced around her, giving off a warmth that melted Derpy's heart.
Derpy gave a small giggle. "It's settled then, we"ll leave tomorrow, bright and early. Now, we need to get back to the house. The Doctor said he needed to talk to me about something tonight."
"OOOH Doctor's got a crush on mommy!" The filly said teasingly.
"Oh Dinky," she said trying to hide her blushing cheeks. "Lets go home."
With that, the two ponies trotted down the hill, leaving behind the starry night.
~~~
"So will she be alright?" a muffled voice said from the other side of a door.
"She'll be fine," another voice replied. "It's good you brought her in when you did. Any longer and we wouldn't have been able to save her. You should be proud." The voice trailed off and Dinky could hear the sound of hooves trotting away. The doorknob began to jostle and the door creaked open. Dinky, unable to move, looked sideways to see the Doctor enter the room.
"Doctor!" she yelped from excitement, only to feel the sudden pain and burn encompass her body. The Doctor ran over to the bedside and looked her over.
"Lay still Dinky, you're in no shape to move around."
Dinky looked at the Doctor, tears forming in her red eyes. "You came back Doctor," she said "You really care for us." Her eyes released tears which streamed down her singed coat. "Now mommy won't be sad anymore." With all her will, she formed a small smile at the teary eyed doctor.
The Doctor shifted his gaze away, staring out the window above the hospital bed. He stifled a sob and turned back his gaze to the filly.
"Are you going to stay, Doctor?" she asked.
He only stared at her for a moment but began to answer in a slow, somber voice. "Of course I am Dinky, I'll never leave you. And I also wanted to ask you a question."
Dinky stared at him eager to answer anything he wanted to know.
"How would you like to be my assistant?"
~~~