Harmony groaned and sat up, blinking her eyes. She looked around her colorful bedroom, waiting for either Ditzy or the Doctor to come in. Thinking back to her... confrontation... with Twilight, she began to question her stability. After all, this wasn't the first time that this had happened. Maybe... Her thoughts were interrupted by the opening of a door.
"Good morning, sunshine," the Doctor said as he trotted in upon seeing her awake. "And how are we feeling today?" He had a cheerful grin on his face, as if something had actually gone right for once, or he had just heard a good joke.
"I've been better," Harmony replied. "How long was I out this time, and why?" She ruffled her wings, only to feel a slight shift that wasn't supposed to be there. Turning to look at them, she cried out at the pile of dandruff she was sitting in. "Aw, man! I forgot to clean up before going out! Oh, this is disgusting..." She reached up and felt her horn, which was in desperate need of filing, and her mane, which she though was a small bush at first.
The Doctor chuckled at her distress, deciding to ask about her wings when he was done explaining. "Well, you've only been unconscious for about a week, which is good, because we didn't know how long you'd be out. As for why... Your connection to the TARDIS was still a little bit unstable. I didn't want you to see any family or friends, because they'd want you to stay, but you would want to come back, and any emotional stress would disrupt the TARDIS, because of your psychic link, so she would try to knock out the source of her distress, being you. Now, normally, if she was distressed, she would teleport away, but that wouldn't break the link, oh no. So she needed to knock you out so that she could cope with your emotions better, until you calmed down enough to wake up."
Harmony blinked a couple of times and stared at the Doctor, taking it in. "I... Um... Has this happened before?"
"Nope. Came up with that explanation just now. Come on, we have some adventuring to do! Oh, and do you have that watch?" He looked a little sheepish at the last bit, having not wanted to disturb her bags.
"Um, yeah, here you go," she said, levitating the watch out of her saddlebag to rotate slowly in front of the Doctor. His eyes widened, and he involuntarily took a step back, muttering almost silently.
"No, no no no no no... This is very not good, this is very baaaaaaad..."
Looking at him curiously but saying nothing, reasoning that he would talk in good time, she said, "Now, take it and be out with you! I need to clean up."
"Um... You do know that we have bathrooms here, right," queried the Doctor, more than a little confused, but still taking the watch and stepping towards the door.
"Yes, I know that, but seeing as I've already made a mess here, I might as well finish the process, right? Now, OUT!" She blushed a little bit at her unexpected volume, but thought, Hey, it's his own fault he doesn't know. Preening is a private matter.
After he left, (or so she thought) she began nibbling at her wings, getting rid of all the dandruff and molting feathers. However, the Doctor was peeking in using his sonic screwdriver, curious as to what was going on. Seeing as it looked like an unpleasant task, he slipped back in.
"Need some help with tha-"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT NOW!!!!!!!!"
"Neeeeighhhhh okay, okay! I'm going and I'm staying out!" he retreated very quickly, not noticing that he had whinnied in fear, only to turn around and see a very amused Ditzy.
"Do I even wanna know," she asked, trying not to laugh at his utter failure.
Turning his hooves much as one wrings their hands, he stuttered. "W-well she said she had to clean up and she kept telling me to leave and so I peeked with the sonic and saw her cleaning her wings with her face and I thought she could use some help..." He trailed off at the gray mare's facehoof, wondering what he said wrong.
"She's preening her wings, you doofus! And, no, it isn't fun, but unless we do, we molt everywhere. I'm actually needing to do that myself, but I've been waiting to see if you needed any help, which I can see you do!" She rolled her eyes, continuing. "Preening your wings is a private thing, it's like, really really reeeeeeeeeally good friends, siblings, parents, and..." she trailed off at the Doctor's weird expression, but decided to continue. Clearing her throat, she said. "And couples, help with preening wings."
"I... I..." The Doctor had the weirdest, most bewildered and irritated expression upon his face at the moment, his face beet-red. As he thought about what he just did.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you didn't know. Just... Ask about these things, okay?" She touched the side of his face with her hoof, causing him to blush an even deeper shade of red. "You go see if you can find anything on pony customs, 'kay?"
He nodded, trudging off and grumbling about "silly pony customs," and Ditzy turned to knock on the door.
Satisfied that he was gone for good, Ditzy knocked on the door, earning a shout to "GO AWAY!" She sighed. "It's me. I was wondering if we could help each other with that?" There was silence from the bedroom.
"Come in," said a small (and slightly ashamed) voice.
Ditzy opened the door and stepped through, closing it behind her. She trotted over and sat on the bed next to Harmony. "Hey," said Ditzy.
"Hey," came a reply from between mouthfuls of feathers.
"Sorry about him. He doesn't know much about pegasai." She almost said ponies, but was unsure as to if the Doctor had told Harmony what he was, so she said pegasai instead.
"It's okay." The teenage filly looked up, the tips of her ears pink. "I... Sometimes wonder if I came from somewhere else, far away, where there's only alicorns." She sighed as Ditzy cocked her head and gave a perplexed look. "Well," she continued, "I feel different from other ponies, not just because of what I am, but because of who I am, and where I'm from." She looked down. "I just want to know why they tease me, when they know I could easily hurt them." She paused. "Sometimes I really want to." She shrank down into the bed, hiding in her wings. "Once, I did."
Not knowing what to do, Ditzy poked through the ruffled feathers with a hoof. "Sometimes, when we need to vent our anger, we take it out on other ponies. Sometimes it's because we're jealous of them. Maybe they have money, or a better home, or are more popular than we are. Maybe we want to put them down because it's easier than bringing ourselves up, especially if we're on our own." She was smiling down at Harmony now, who was looking up at her in some awe. "Sometimes, we don't do very nice things. We just need to let go of our anger, and our sadness, and embrace happiness so that it's easier to lift ourselves up. Because if all we do is put others down, they will drag you with them. You can never go up if all you know how to do is go down, and all you need is a pony willing to lend a helping hoof." She sat back up and reached out her hoof. "I want to bring you out of the dark hole of loneliness that you've fallen into."
Harmony came out from behind her wings, tears in her eyes, took the hoof, and hugged Ditzy tightly. "Thank you."