“So, what next?” Derpy asked, munching on her blueberry muffin.
Though it was weeks old, Bonbon made the best muffins in all of Equestria. It should’ve gone stale at least a week ago, if not more. Bonbon had always been a baker protégée since birth. Both of her parents owned a candy shop somewhere in Manehatten. Bonbon wanted to try out her own business and wanted to get out of that noisy city, so she ran away when she was just a filly! The muffin was moist and spongy, the batter made light and fluffy. The blueberries added just a hint of sweet and sour at the same time and a splash of colour.
“Well, let’s check the book!” Kacoonis urged.
Derpy blushed as she rummaged through her saddlebags. She popped her head back up, the thick and moldy book in her muzzle. “Ugh, doesn’t that taste horrible?” The Doctor shrieked.
“Nah, just try not to lick it,” She mumbled, gently laying it down in the middle of the trio’s circle. “Ugh,” she muttered, her tongue lolling out. “And try not to talk whilst holding something,”
“Now let’s see here…” Kacoonis’ pearly white horn lit up and the book came to life. It flew up so it was eye-level with its puppet master and flipped open. Its pages quickly turned so that a slight breeze was created, causing the changeling’s rosy mane to ripple. “Ah, here,” Kacoonis cried with much pride. She slammed the book down onto the TARDIS floor and stuck her hoof on a legend. “The map please,” Derpy already had it ready in her mouth. “Thank you,” She tugged it out with a neon green aura and unrolled it so it was side-by-side with the volume.
“’There once lived an old emperor who was on the verge of death. He was quite a greedy ruler and treated his people poorly, taking away all their resources and keeping them for himself. One day, the local witch had enough of this. She told the selfish king that she could make him youthful again, so he could continue leading his life of luxury. He agreed and the next day, he was at her hut. None of the other nobles or guards was allowed anywhere close to the hut, for the witch said that it was quite a sacred and private ritual. The ceremony began. The king was told to close his eyes as the witch chanted before a bubbly green brew. The fire blazed in her eyes as she shoved the horrible king into the bubbling concoction. His skin and bones melted away and all that was left was a single shining pink gem. The witch hurriedly snatched it up, greed filling her heart. The gem enveloped her in a sickly black.’”
“Moral of the story, don’t be greedy,” Kacoonis muttered.
“Well there aren’t any clues as to where the gem is, huh?” The Doctor pondered out loud.
“Well, how do you know that we are looking for the gem?” Kacoonis asked.
“Well, I mean, it was an emerald last time and… I think there might be a pattern of some sort,” The stallion replied.
“Let’s see… where do most of the greedy ponies live?” The Doctor continued.
“Canterlot,” Derpy laughed. “Oh, but it could also be with a dragon, they do keep hoards of gems and gold. They can get really greedy, why I remember, this one time, Spike—“
“Spike?” The Doctor inquired.
“Oh, he’s just this baby dragon that lives in Ponyville with an annoying mare named Twilight—“
“Allons-y!” The Doctor shrieked. He ran up to the centre of the TARDIS and began pulling levers. He twisted consoles around and around, the blue box becoming shakier and shakier.
“W-w-will you stop saying that?” Kacoonis grumbled.
“No time for your anger Kacoonis, we must hurry!” He cried, leaping out of the doors of the time machine.
“Hey, we’re in my house…” Derpy trailed off, staring directly at a changeling drone. “AH!” She screamed, falling back.
“They’re still trapped,” Kacoonis explained, knocking on the force field. “We should… get them out of Ponyville or something. I don’t think you want them to stay here forever,”
“Kacoonis, how about you get rid of them; we’ll go see to this young dragon, huh?” The Doctor suggested.
“Er, okay… I understand you guys need your alone time,” She added smugly.
“Alone time… what?” He muttered.
Kacoonis rolled her eyes as her horn lit up. “Yeah, you probably want to go… it might get a bit crowded,”
“Yeah, come on Doctor,” Derpy tugged on his foreleg. They rushed out of her home, only to be stopped by Raindrops.
“I…I heard something… I came to check… Derpy?” Raindrops murmured with tears in her teal blue eyes. Her lips wavered as she stared longingly at her friend. “You’re back… you’re finally back!”
“Doctor…” Derpy muttered hesitantly, “How long were we gone?”
“A month since the last you came with the changelings!” Her best friend shrieked. “Why would you leave like that?”
“A month?! It’s only been a few days… Doctor?”
“Well… the TARDIS isn’t always accurate…” He trailed off.
“I’m really sorry Raindrops—“
“Sorry?! All of us were worried sick! How could you just leave without saying goodbye?!” Raindrops shrieked.
“I’m sorry Raindrops… I’ll be back. Right now, we have to do something important… Princess Celestia gave us a mission,”
“Princess Celestia! You went to Canterlot? Without me?!” the jasmine pony cried.
“Yeah… sorry… we gotta go… I’m really sorry,” Derpy murmured. She gave her friend a heartfelt hug before trotting away with the caramel coloured stallion.
“The Princess didn’t send us away on any mission,” The Doctor whispered.
“It wasn’t a total lie,” Derpy whispered back. “You never told me the TARDIS would take me away for a month!” She shout-whispered.
“I didn’t know myself,” He scream-whispered.
“Why… oh, we’re here,” They both stood before a large oaken tree with windows etched into the bark. Derpy trotted up to the crimson red door that led into the Golden Oaks Library. She knocked her soft grey hoof on the rough bark, and soon, the door opened itself.
“Uh, Derpy?” An adolescent voice called. Realising her mistake, Derpy quickly looked down to see a lavender coloured baby dragon bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Hiya Spike! Haven’t seen you in a while!” Derpy greeted, a pleasant smile spread across her face that would make anypony-or anydragon- just melt. She really was an attractive pony. Stallions would run head over heels for a mare like that… except for that… defect.
“Hey Derpy… Twilight says I’m not allowed to let you in the library… she says that you can’t even read the books with your… disability so it’s no use letting you in—“ He quickly covered his mouth with his dainty claws, grasping how much he let out.
“Ha, it’s okay, Spike. I’m not going to be reading… just saying I can— but the Doctor and I were just wondering if we could talk with you,” She grinned.
“With me?” He perked up. “Wait… Doctor?”
“Hullo there chap,” The Doctor ran up to the small reptile. “Why, it’s a dragon! That’s truly amazing Derpy!”
“Uh… sorry Derpy, but… I just had my yearly checkup last week! Yeah, last week! Sorry, gotta go, bye!” He quickly tried to shut the door, but Derpy stuck her hoof in between.
“Spike, he’s not that kind of Doctor. He’s just a normal pony,” the pegasus reassured.
“Well… Twilight’s in Canterlot for the day, so sure, we can talk!” He led the two ponies in through the foyer, which was really just a large library. He guided them through a door that was hidden behind a bookcase, revealing a neat little kitchen with a round chestnut table off to the side. “Here, take a seat,” He let the two sit down as he began grabbing things from various cabinets and placing them on a tray. The baby dragon carefully walked over with the platter with a teapot and three teacups resting atop. “Oh, almost forgot,” He quickly set the tray down and rushed to a pantry, where he pulled out a nice, big muffin. “I know how much you love these,”
“Thanks Spike!” Derpy acknowledged. The dragon smiled as he sat down, the wooden chair creaking.
“So… whaddya wanna talk about?” He poured the brown liquid into the cups, handing them out to each pony.
“Well… we were wondering if you could help us solve a puzzle,” The Doctor asked, sipping his chamomile tea.
“Oh, I’m not that great at that kinda stuff,” He shrugged off the Doctor, taking more sips of his tea.
“Oh, but Spike! We need you! Come on!” Derpy moaned through a mouthful of muffin.
“Sorry Derpy, but—“
“Please?” Spike glanced up from his teacup and found that he was staring directly into the golden unfocused eyes of the beautiful mare pouting before him. Her blonde mane shined in Celestia’s sun and the little pout was adorable. Two creatures in the room were actually thinking the exact same thing as they both stared at the mare.
“Fine,” he huffed. “Don’t tell Twilight though, ‘cause she’ll… never mind. Lemme see the puzzle,”
Derpy flipped open one of her saddlebags and pulled out the musty book. The yellow pages fluttered open as she lay down the book. “Here,” Derpy shoved the book before the reptile.
“A… fairy tale?” Spike inquired with a skeptical look on his face.
“Okay… don’t tell Twilight any of this… you swear?” Derpy eyed the walls which had nopony in them.
“Okay, I swear,”
Derpy shook her head, her golden locks brushing against Spike’s cheek. “Pinkie Promise,”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” He finished, pointing a claw to his eye.
“FOREVER!” A high pitched voice called. The bubbly pink mare of Pinkie Pie suddenly popped out from inside the teapot, the lid resting like a hat on her poofy hair. “Forever…” She whispered, shrinking back into the teapot.
“Why, a wall-breaker! Haven’t seen one of those in centuries!” The Doctor recollected. He quickly snatched the lid of the teapot off and chuckled into the tea. “Wall-breakers… my favorite kind of people!”
“Okay…” Derpy stared intensely into the youth’s eyes. “Princess Celestia told us of this place and gave us this map,” She pulled out the yellowing map. “We have to find this ancient thing using this map of Amare-azon. We figured out that the origins of the legends of Amare-azon correspond with the map, so we just have to use the specific myths as clues. We already did one with great results, we’re just stuck on this one,” She pointed to the one titled, ‘The Greedy King’.
Spike quickly scanned the story. “So… it’s a king and witch who get greedy… so what?”
“We believe that we need to look for the gem described in this story. Now, this is all about greed and jewels. So the Doctor and I were thinking, ‘Who’s greedy? Who loves gems?’ I’m sorry if this sounds racist in any way but, dragons. Dragons are known to keep hoards of jewels and— no offense— but I’m pretty sure they’re often greedy,”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Spike added. “But why do you need me?”
“Well… you’re a dragon… and…”
“We believe that you might know a thing or two about dragon hoards,” The Doctor leaned in on the pressured dragon, setting the top back on the steaming pot. Both of the ponies stared intensely at him.
“Er… you might want to go to Ghastly Gorge… there are a ton of dragons there. And I think that whoever found the gem would be keeping it safely. Whenever we hoard something, we usually know the history so we know its worth… they might have kept it really protected or something…”
“Thanks Spike!” Derpy pecked the young dragon on the cheek. “Now we gotta go!”
Spikes lavender began to turn rosy. “Er, be careful! It’s kinda d-dangerous, Derpy!” He called as they ran out of the library. Rubbing his cheek, Spike walked over to a mirror in the library. He stared at his blushing reflection. Spike, what are you doing? What would Twilight say? Liking that-that messed up pony?! But… she’s not messed up. She’s awesome. Why doesn’t Twilight like her? Spike, we don’t argue with Twilight. She’s always right. Besides, she’s an older mare, you already have your sights set on Sweetie Belle, and you don’t need to over complicate things. I mean, everypony loves the Spikester, but she’s probably with that stallion with the bowtie already…
***
“Well, Kacoonis doesn’t seem to be back yet,” Derpy examined the empty home. “I think it’s about lunch time. How about we grab a bite to eat?”
“I think you should with your… friends. They need you as much as you need them. It’s my fault you’ve been gone for a whole month. The TARDIS does that sometimes,”
Derpy flapped open her wing and cuddled the Doctor in a wing-hug, her right wing wrapped around his mid-section. “How ‘bout we all eat together, huh?”
***
“Oh Derpy, you simply must tell us why you have been gone for all this time!” Octavia exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence that had occurred as they all waited for their food to arrive.
“With a stranger at that,” Vinyl nodded her wild head towards the Doctor.
“The Doctor isn’t a stranger,” Derpy exclaimed with pride. “He’s my friend, I’m his companion,”
“We thought we lost you!” Bonbon cried with watery eyes. “I can’t believe you would just do that!”
“I… didn’t mean to. It was an accident, I swear! I’m really sorry—“
“Accident?! You call a month an accident?! You have to tell us what happened!” Raindrops shrieked. Realising her outburst, she shrunk down, hot tears streaming down her face. “We thought you would come back sooner. We let you go off on this… changeling thing, but not this! I remember you saying after the last batch of monsters that you’d be back ‘in a jiffy’. That didn’t happen. Derpy, I don’t know how to react. Angry? Happy? Relieved? What am I supposed to do, huh?”
“I’ve been… on a mission for the Princess,” Derpy muttered.
“I don’t believe you,” Lyra’s golden eyes were full of rage.
Each friend expressed a different face. Octavia full of curiosity, Vinyl skeptic, Bonbon full of sadness, Lyra angry, and Raindrops full of anger, relief, and pain. Derpy felt horrible to cause all these horrible reactions. She shied away in her hair, similar to a butter coloured pegasus she knew. “I have the documents… if you wanna see…”
“It’s all my fault,” The Doctor hung his head in shame. “I whisked her away, not thinking about the consequences of my actions. Derpy, you have every right to leave this little adventure and continue your normal, happy life. I’m just a distraction. A little pest. No one needs me. Nobody wants me. People always—“
“Stop!” Derpy shrieked. “I’m not going to leave you, I’m going to make sure that you’re never alone. I’m not going to abandon you—“
“Then why did you abandon us? We have known you for years; we’ve been your best friends for years. How long have you known this guy? Huh? A few weeks at best? Now you treat us like little pieces of trash and him like your best friend in the world! What happened?! How could you just throw me away?!” Raindrops hollered. Her eyes had turned bloodshot from the constant stream of tears. Her eyes were filled with fury and hatred. “Whatever, you can leave, for all I care. I don’t even mind if you burn up in Celestia’s sun, why, you can go to Tartarus and I still wouldn’t—“
“Enough,” The stallion muttered. “What kind of friends are you? Huh?”
Derpy held back the tear that began to form from Raindrops harsh words. Her best friend. “I… understand if you want me to… go to Tartarus. I understand. Come on Doctor, let’s go see if Kacoonis got back,” Derpy gently stood up and pushed back her chair. The Doctor slowly followed suit.
“Derpy,” The Doctor softly laid a hoof on her shoulder.
“Here,” Derpy placed a few bits on the table. “To pay for our meal,”
“Derpy, wait, I didn’t mean—“ Raindrops was cut off by the grey mare quickly opening her wings and zooming away, the Doctor clutching her leg. “What’s wrong with me?!” Raindrops clutched her head in her hooves.
“It’s not your fault. She should go to Tartarus for leaving us and running away with this… this Doctor,” Vinyl spat. “I’m sure she’ll be happy without—“
Oof!
A red circle was left on Vinyl’s white cheek. She toppled out of her seat and landed on her back, a grey mare seething with rage above her. “Now listen Vinyl Scratch, don’t you go saying things like this about Derpy. She is the sweetest pony any of us know and obviously didn’t mean to leave for that long. Based off of the way we’ve been treating her, she probably doesn’t even want to come back! So we better go and apologize. You know how sensitive she is. The Doctor must be the only pony she can trust with a cool level head, not to lash out on her like we did,” Octavia took a long sigh, her violet eyes gazing at the sky.
“Octavia… I’ve never seen you so mad,” The Disc Jockey muttered in admiration.
“Hopefully you’ll never have to, Vi,” Octavia smiled and helped the mare up to her hooves.
***
“Shh, it’s all right. Come on, be strong,” The Doctor cooed as he stroked the crying mare’s mane.
“I knew it!” She whimpered into the stallion’s chest. “I knew they didn’t want me!”
“Well, sometimes, people… well, ponies can do and say things they don’t really mean, especially when they’re confused or angry,”
Kacoonis stared down at the perfect scene before her with tenderness in her eye. Her form shifted as she slowly turned her head to the mirror resting on one of Derpy’s walls which had the little scene just past its corner. She stared deep into the eyes of the changeling that stood before her, her eyes deep and dark, keeping no soul. Who was this changeling? This venomous monster? A glint of red caught her eye and the creature glanced at the jewel that lay wrapped by the creature’s green-blue apparel.
Its jagged horn lit up and levitated the ruby up to eye level, peering into every face. In each it saw a story, a journey of how a changeling became a horse. Who am I? It sobbed. What am I? The monster of a changeling princess? A princess bride? A companion? The ruby clinked to the ground as the magical grasp released. Kacoonis slid to the floor, scorching tears streaming down her face.
“Kacoonis?” Derpy muttered, appearing from behind the wall corner. She kneeled down beside the jet black changeling, streaks of tears still visible on her grey face. She huddled close to Kacoonis and cuddled her in a wing-hug. The changeling continued to sob into Derpy, letting all the pent up identity issues gush out all at once.
“Who am I?” She cried. “What am I? What am I supposed to be? I—“
“Shh, It’s all right,” Derpy gulped, repeating the Doctor’s words. “Come on, be strong,”
The Doctor leaned in on the wall, watching his two companions, his two friends, finally create a bond.