“Doctor!” Derpy bolted up in her bed, her muffin covered blanket falling off of her in the process. She had been having the same dream for a week. Velmenni Was there with her faceless pony machines. The Doctor was running toward something. Derpy couldn’t remember what else, just that he was in trouble. She realized after another few moments that it wasn’t real. She sighed. It always felt so real when it was happening. She remembered Velmenni the day after the doctor left, when the dream started. Her guilt over-rode her. With everything else that happened with the raccoons, she had completely forgotten about Velmenni. She was with the Doctor now. Derpy was certain the Doctor would help her.
She sat down to a nice muffin before getting ready for work. She was getting better day by day at mail delivery. Today, she would get to try her route on her own. She took a giant confident breath before heading out the door. Ponyville had been extremely quiet after the Doctor left. Derpy didn’t mind the quiet, but she still missed him terribly. She stopped a moment. “Oh, new art!” She grinned, trotting off to three new statues holding hands, looking out to the town. One was an Earth pony, one a unicorn, and the last a Pegasus. “Somepony must have moved this in place after I came home yesterday. I think o would remember it otherwise.” She mused. She shrugged, waving to other ponies who had taken notice of the new art. Once she got to the post office, she spoke to her coworkers. “Did everypony see the new art in the middle of town?”
“See it?” One pony rolled his eyes, “I was walking along, minding my own business when Mayor Mare trots next to me. ‘I didn’t approve a new art piece.’ She complained to me like out of nowhere, ‘the pony responsible had better move it, or I will find them and fine them!”
“My goodness. Sounds like Mayor Mare trotted out of the wrong side of the bed this morning!” Derpy admitted.
“There’s a rumor going around that Princess Celestia might choose our tiny town for the Summer Sun Celebration! Mayor Mare is terrified that one slip up will cost us the shot, so she’s way wound right, but you didn’t hear it from me.” A stallion winked as he walked out with his bag full of mail.
‘The Summer Sun Celebration? Here?!’ Derpy thought excitedly. She was so excited that she almost took the empty in box into her bag instead of her mail. She sighed at herself as she fixed her mistake, going to her job. The day went by spectacularly. Derpy was so proud of her wonderful work that she went out to celebrate with a warm batch of muffins at Sugar Cube corner. Pinkie was happy to see Derpy in such high spirits. She had been down In the dumps most of the week. Pinkie thought about asking about it. She wondered why the new Doctor decided to leave so soon. Maybe he was passing through? Maybe he forgot something back where he came from and had to go get it. There were lots of possibilities, but any time he was brought up, Derpy would smile a bit sadly. He was only around for about a day. What could have happened to get her like this? “Uh, Ditzy?”
“Hmmm?” Derpy looked up, face sprinkled with muffin crumbs.
Pinkie shook her head. “Uh...never mind.” She smiled.
Derpy shrugged, finishing the muffin before enjoying the rest of her day. She went home before night fell, getting ready for bed, when he noticed something about her uniform, “Wait. Where’s my mail pony hat? Oh, it must have fallen off my head at some point, and I didn’t even notice.” She sighed, “Okay, just retrace your steps, Ditzy. But...it’s so late. Maybe I should just get a new hat.” She considered before shaking her head, “no, that wouldn’t be professional. Hmmmm, okay, maybe it’s just back at work!” She decided, “I can take a quick look, and if it’s not there, I can check Sugar cube corner in the morning. Worse comes to worse, I can ask for a new one. It would be better if I try to find it first!” Her mind was set, and she galloped across the night back to the post office. On the way, she stopped in her tracks surprised. The three pony statue had vanished. “Wow, Mayor Mare doesn’t mess around!” She admitted. She went to her work. No hat. She sighed. Well, it was worth a shot. She shrugged, taking a walk back home. No pony was out at this time, and the town was quieter than Derpy had ever seen. She yawned deeply. Like everypony else, she had been up since the sun rose. It was hard to be up so late. She rubbed her eyes with the side of her hooves, looking towards the sky as she did so. The stars sprinkled the sky like glitter. It was something she had never paid much heed to, but it had taken on a new meaning to her now. To be the Doctor, to just pick a star and go visit a world there; the thought was mind-boggling. And somehow thinking about it, she then admired the sheer simplicity of the night. She smiled. It was beautiful. If she had the energy, she would love to stay out and enjoy an evening like this, but with working early most days, the chances of that were slim.
Derpy walked along the sidewalk. Distracted by the sea of diamonds above her, she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. She regained her balance after stumbling for a few moments. Once she was certain she was steady, she looked ahead. To her shock, one of the statues was back; the Pegasus, and it was standing on the sidewalk. “Okay, who’s the wise pony?” She asked. No answer. She looked around, expecting somepony to come out, laughing. The streets were dead silent. Her heart started to race. Her head jolted back to the Pegasus. It seemed closer than before.
“Don’t Be ridiculous, Ditzy Doo.” She said to herself, “sure you’ve seen some weird things, but statues can’t move!”
She refused to look away though. Home was the same way, so slowly, she inched closer to the statue. She kept one wonky eye on it. The other noticed something to the side. Her head turned on impulse, seeing the earth pony from the statue between the houses. She looked back to the Pegasus. It had definitely moved closer! Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest! She wanted to run, but if they were moving statues, then they could chase her...but. “Bet you can’t fly with concrete wings!” She decided, flying up as fast as her wings would carry her. She looked behind her. All three were staring at her. The unicorn that was nowhere to be seen a moment ago had a navy blue hue around its horn for a split second. She realized that she hadn’t moved much from the spot she started. Her heart dropped. They had magic too, and were pulling her back towards them! She got the feeling they couldn’t seem to do anything when she looked at them. Derpy turned around and immediately she was released from their spell. She flew backwards over the rooftops until the statues were nothing but tiny dots. She turned, and quickly flew home. She breathed once she was at her door.
She caught her breath. “Safe.” She thought, reaching for the door, but a gut instinct stopped her. She turned around, the three statues right behind her, “they’re like Pinkie Pie?!” She asked. She was stuck between three rock hard ponies and the door to her home where Amethyst was waiting. Amethyst! What would these statues do to her? Her eyes strained. They were chasing, but why?
“What do you want with us?!” She asked. The statues didn’t answer. She felt her eyes needing to blink. She wouldn’t be able to watch them forever! ‘Somepony help!’