//------------------------------// // What If it’s a Kind of Date? // Story: The Heart of a Derpy Ditzy // by Derpybrony890 //------------------------------// I waited outside near a streetlamp and began to grow worried, Doctor hadn't specifically said a time in which we should be meeting, but since he hasn’t come for me yet, I assumed it was later at night, earlier I told my parents that I would be going out, and of course, I was bombarded with curious looks (because I just can't have a normal life without everypony looking at me weirdly) but I soon explained that I was going with a friend, and they still seemed curious. After all, never in my life had I actually "gone out" after dark, so I guess I could understand their confusion, but thankfully they didn't tell me I couldn't go, so I left and everything seemed to go back to normal. I had skipped dinner (doubt anyone cared), and am now staying here waiting for my, What would be a better word than ‘date’, acquaintance? Chum? Maybe… I heard hoofsteps coming my way and I smiled as I saw the brown stallion walking over with a smile of his own. “Well it's about time,” I said making it look like I stayed here for the entire time he was away. “Hey, we never set a time on when we would be leaving,” “And whose fault is that mister timekeeper?” As my words entered his brain he wracked himself to come up with something else to say, but all I saw was a mouth that was struggling with his words. I laughed and went along my way waiting for him to follow. We left my home as the stars twinkled in the dim night sky, it looked like a nice clear night, perfect for anypony who wanted to come out to see the small town. We first went to a small place with a very sweet look, it had a gingerbread house exterior. The sign slowly swayed but it seemed like no wind was present. I noticed the lights were still on so this place was still open. I turned around and saw that Whooves was staring at the shop. He smiled at how silly this place looked, but I could see he was interested. “What is this place?” he asked as we entered the shop, a little bell rang implying that there were customers present. “This is SugarCube Corner, it's the best place for a nice treat, and they have some delicious muffins too,” I said, brightening my smile at the thought of having some delicious muffins, though he looked at me with confusion, “Sorry, I really like muffins,” I said with a sheepish smile. The Doctor just laughed and smiled at me, almost as if he understood what it was like to have an obsession with a type of food, it made me blush. We came up to the register where a menu hung over our heads for the many things they sold. I already knew what I wanted, but Doctor was having a hard time figuring out what he wanted, his face went closer to the menu and I laughed. He finally made a reassuring smile that meant he knew what he wanted. I rang the bell and not 0.23 seconds later a pink scurry came to the register and a hyperactive pink pony came up to us with a smile that looked extremely creepy. The only thing the mare was, was, pink. That’s all she was, a pink coat, a pink mane, pink, everything! The only thing that wasn't pink was her cutie mark, which was of three balloons of different colors. Still, she may have looked happy, but that smile did make me wish we chose something else to eat instead. I thought this was all she was going to do before an appropriate adult would come our way, but I was oh, so wrong. “Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie and I'm here to get you your order, I just came here because I was so bored with my life as a rock farmer and my parents told me that I could come here to fulfill my destiny.” the words escaped her mouth almost as fast as she had come out to greet us. I was about to ask her where Mrs. Cake was, but the only thing I could do was open my mouth before she had spoken once again. “No, wait! Don't speak, I already know who you are, your Derpy Doo, the mare who always thinks she is alone, but in reality, there is someone who does care for her and she realizes this later on, Oh! Let me guess, this is the colt who you fell in love with and finally realizing this you try your best to control your feelings but then…” “SHUT UP!” I had shouted, her words were so fast I had completely missed the part where she somehow knew about my feelings for Whooves. She stopped but still a smile crept on her face. I tried to calm down and hoped that Doctor wasn't thinking I was crazy, but in truth, I think he and I both knew who the crazy one was in here. I breathed in and let it out slowly before I spoke in a more tame voice. “I just want to order for myself, so could you please listen and not interrupt me for-” “Oh don't worry about that, I already told you what you want to order, let me go get it,” “But how do you already know-” I hadn't even seen her go away before she came back with the order that I wanted, my mouth stayed awestruck for the rest of the time. I left, still with the same expression I had, and left the Doctor to order. “You probably know what I want too, huh?” The Doctor had said. “Yep! You just want the sweet tea, kind of boring you know,” “That's exactly why I did it,” Once Pinkie came back with the sweet tea (a bit timider than before, but still faster than any worker I have ever seen) Doctor took out some bits but she just laid them back. “Nah, save those for the night out, this one’ll be on me,” The Doctor was about to say how she knew that we were having a ‘night out’, but strictly thought against it, and just walked back to where I was. We exited the shop but not before we heard the pink pony yell out to us, “Have a good date you two! See you later Doctor!” We looked back at her and then at each other and back again with pale faces, I think we both were a bit frightened after what we had just experienced, but I tried to keep a cool face, we went out far so she could not hear us before we laughed like little children. “I can't believe anypony could be that hyper!” I said in between my gasps “I don't think I have ever seen anypony like that before! How did she know almost everything!” the Doctor asked as we sat down near a nice picnic table at the park, and laughed some more. I ate my muffin like I did in the morning and noticed that Whooves hadn't drunk his tea yet, so when I was done with half of it. I looked at him and we stared at each other for a while in the starry night. I blushed and cleared my throat before indulging once again in my blueberry muffin. “So,” he said breaking the awkward silence between us, “Where were you thinking of going after this?” “Well there’s not much to do here, we probably should have come at an earlier time. Most things are closed... but a few bars are open if you’re up for it,” I was always told never to go into a bar until I am old enough, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the dancefloors aren’t underage as well. Though I would never step foot in one by myself, it would just be embarrassing, but still, if Whooves were up for it, I wouldn't want to let him down. “Nah, neither of us are old enough to drink any alcohol yet. And besides, I don't feel like going into an uncomfortable area,” “Well then I guess that’s it then, not much for us to see, I bet it is not like in a big town like Manehatten where you could go anywhere and have a good time,” “Not really, the city was too loud for me, I just like a nice place where I could read a book and have a restful sleep without the noises of ponies cheering or screaming. In fact, the day I came here, it already felt like a more quiet place. And I've been getting very good sleep ever since.” I let a small chuckle escape my mouth, when I had seen him in the hammock the night before, he looked so peaceful. thinking this, his face and everything, it made me think how fast everything had happened. It felt like it was so long ago yet it was only less than 24 hours! And he stayed with me through it all. I started to blush and did my best to hide it once my brain came back to reality. “Is there anywhere that you go here?” Doctor asked. I had to think about that, there isn’t anywhere I would go to Ponyville except home and my observatory. Then I thought about an area that I haven’t been to since I was twelve. I got up to where we were sitting and began to trot away I didn't even notice that it looked like I was just walking away from Whooves, but he followed me gradually. “Where are we going?” Doctor asked leaving me to stop and realize I hadn't said anything since he asked. “Well, it's someplace I think you’ll like.” My walk led me to some trees near a place that made Whooves stop and stare with wide eyes. “B-but th-tha-that's…” I looked back at him with confusion, it took me a while to see that this was, indeed… the Everfree Forest. Now I never was scared to go in there but at times… it did seem like it was a place to be afraid of. Though where I’m going, there is no danger, just somewhere to go to get away. “Yes, how do you know about this?” I asked. I know that everypony knows this place in Ponyville, but he hadn't been here that long had he? Whenever I heard of this place I was 4 years old, and I had known every part of Ponyville at that time! “Some of the ponies at school mentioned it, and when I asked my friends they all told me stories about the things that happen in there,” Whooves said shaking. I grew sorry for him, it wasn't his fault if he was told of some silly superstitions. Though, I remember what everypony told me when I asked about it. Still, it didn't make my mind wonder what goes on in there, “Oh, well don't worry, where we’re going, there won't be any timberwolves or cockatrices,” I said with a reassuring smile. “Are you sure?” “Positive!” It took a while, but soon he walked up to me and we made our trek through the dark forest. The trees covered out most of the lighting, which made it extremely dark to see anything, but I remember the path to take and hoped that Doctor could still see me. “Ditzy are you sure it was safe to come here in the dark? I can't even see my hooves!” the Doctor said in a panicked tone. “Don't worry, just follow the sound of my voice, we’re almost there,” I said trying to calm him down. It was cute that he was scared of the silly things going on around here. Yet I still felt bad that he didn't know. I slowed down and came up to support him. Being by my side all the time, it was easy to calm him down. And soon, his shaking body refracted, and finally stopped. After a few more minutes walking near the dark, we were found walking up a hill and could see a light that meant we were close to an opening. I smiled at the nostalgic feeling of my childhood. You could say that a role model told me about this place. And I will forever be grateful for her bringing me here. Soon the light was shining the brightest it could and a little path could be seen, I rushed to the top of a hill and looked to see what changed about it. Absolutely nothing. It was still the greatest sight the Everfree ever had. The trees seemed to be more lit with the bright moon shining over them as I looked down. The same oak lay in the spot where I loved to practice flying around. My role model would come over to watch me and give me words of her wisdom. I loved how she always made them into rhymes. The marking I put down for my initials D.D on the bark. I think the flowers even stayed the same, the same nest that held the majestic species of bird that Celestia herself has kept as a pet. It all brought me back. Back to a better time. Whooves came up soon and took notice of the place as well, he seemed much calmer than before, I even saw a little smile escape his lips. He sat down near the oak tree and I followed him. We sat in silence for a while as my eyes took notice of the beautiful sight of the stars. I looked around and found the Canis Major. I smiled with delight at the lines that connected to make something so astounding. I noticed that the silence was beginning to grow and looked to see that Doctor was doing the same thing. I looked to where he was and saw that he was staring at a constellation that I loved when I was younger “I see you're looking at Aries, a tremendous configuration mind you, I always was so fond of the name I wanted to be called that as a nickname.” Whooves looked at me with surprise, and then I felt just a tiny tiny bit cocky, but it was nice to see somepony interested in my taste. “What? Was it something I said,” “No, it's just… well, I knew you were good with stars and everything, but to just name a constellation without even having a second look… it's amazing! I bet you could name any constellation there is if I just pointed to the sky! You're bloody brilliant! He was getting a bit close but I didn't mind. It was so amusing to think that he cared about how well I am with the stars. I began to get really happy knowing that somepony actually cared about what I like! Maybe he knows what it's like too. “Well we all do have our interest, my with the stars, and you with time.” “Even still, you should put up your own club for stars and findings, I bet tons of ponies would love to see you talk all about the stars and what history the constellations are made of.” I frowned. It was true, I did think it would be fun for me to open up a club where we discuss the different kinds of stars that are out there and our theories for how they work. Still, the others look at me and just see sompony with an eye condition who doesn't know what to do in any circumstance. In fact… that's what happened the last time. “Oh, well I don't think that would be a good idea”, I said grimly. “Why ever not?” “Because I already tried it.” Silence took to our side as we were once again, into it. I knew he wouldn't ask, but I think he’ll want to hear it anyway. “It was my freshman year. I hadn’t known many of the ponies around Ponyville as it was, but here I thought I could finally find somepony who was like me. I never did. So while going around the halls one day, some pony tripped me, causing me to fall near a door that I soon became curious about, I thought it was just a storage room but I soon realized that it was an empty classroom! I wanted to have my own club for a few years then, and when I asked the principal he said yes! I thought there were going to be other ponies who knew what it was like to be in love with the stars, and I was surprised whenever there were a few ponies who actually came. However, after they figured out I was in charge, there were a few that didn't think I was suitable for being in charge of ‘such a smart club’. So some were holding a petition to see who would be better suited to run that club. And there was this colt who ran against me, and it was no contest… I lost. So now the ‘starry night’ club is being run by my opponent, leaving me out of the picture,” I try not to think of this much, but the look on Doctor Whoove’s face meant he cared, so it was ok for now. I looked back at the sky and smiled again, it may seem odd, but somehow I feel the entire universe comes to me when I just look up at the night sky. Something I knew Whooves would understand. He looked at me and I blushed, but I didn't seem to care at the moment, for I looked back at him, whereas my eyes began to move. I felt really embarrassed after that, but it was just the start. "Ditzy, you may be liable to not answer this, but I really am curious, not as to make fun of you, or to feel pity but-" "You want to know what happened to make my eyes this way?" I asked, knowing that this was going to be discussed once in our lives. "You don't have to answer! If it's too personal, but I would like to know, maybe it could even things out?" "Doctor, I would love to tell you the story, I really would. However, the problem with knowing is the fact that I don't. You see, my parents never did tell me how my eyes were this way, my biggest theory was that it was genetics and they just didn't feel like I was ready," "They don't think a seventeen-year-old is ready to handle the story of her eyes?" "Well, I don't know, maybe something bad happened and they were forced to keep quiet about it all? It doesn't matter, all I know is that these eyes have both ruined and saved my life," I looked down, it was always the toughest roads that I had to take by myself, no one wanted to help me, which was bad. However, I never was able to get in trouble with a gang or anything that could get me in suspension, which I guess was okay. All I knew was that Doctor was here, and if he likes my eyes then all I have to do is smile and hope that they will keep him satisfied. "I like them you know, they give out your character, and if other ponies don't like your character because of those eyes... then they don't deserve to look beyond them." I smiled brightly at that, I knew he would like them. It amazes me that such a pony could exist in my life. One second I felt like all I needed to be happy was to be alone, but now... now I really think I wouldn't be where I am without him. Soon the moment was over and I breathed a heavy sigh, these two days were quite a ride, it started out ok, then got into a fighting mood, then soon grew to a sad evening, leaving to a late night of truth and sorrow, and waking up awkward, then going back to a somewhat normal and yet very crazy evening. This sounds like a simple thing but in truth, it takes a lot of energy to do what we have done. I heard Whooves cough implying he wanted a subject change, so I let him give one. “So, how did you find this little place?” “I had somewhat of a role model bring me here, I was told to never come here, but deep down in my heart there was a voice calling me, and I decided one day to follow it. After a few minutes I got lost and scared, I noticed a small field of blue flowers and decided to walk to them to calm me down. my mom may have thought Daydream was going to be better at taking care of her plants (even though she can't even take care of anything that she would own), but she did tell me that flowers can calm your nerves when your the most distraught, so I took a whiff and found a pony who was somewhere out in the shadows, talking to me. And I thought about running from the pony, but she came to me instead with a concerned look, and I noticed she wasn't a pony at all! She was a zebra. And the way she spoke made her sound funny too.” 'I shall not ask of you, but you must not touch these flowers of blue, beware of the consequences and come with me, or suffer a fate that will be too funny,' I was still young, but I knew who to trust, and she sounded as much, so I followed her to her hut. 'Please make yourself at home, while I fix this problem of your own,' I sat down at a bed near a window, somehow it seemed brighter than before I entered, but I soon smelled a brew that made me wonder what she was making, and the minute I came up I grew suspicious. 'Do not take caution on this brew you see, for all you have to do is soak in for a minute or three.' I somehow knew I could trust her, so I came into the brew and floated in there for a few minutes before I could feel something inside of me move out, I didn't know what it was, but was strangely glad that whatever I felt came out. 'Who are you?' 'I am a zebra as you can tell, my name is Zecora and I make things to heal well,' While most may have thought that she made no sense, I strangely understood her and knew what she was saying, 'Oh, So you make potions to heal ponies or animals?' 'That is indeed correct, you are a smart filly who knows how to direct,' I got a little embarrassed after her compliment, not many knew me then and the rest just thought me a klutz. 'Now that you are good and well, you can go home and live to tell,' I grew sad, I thought about how I never had heard from her and how she was here all alone, then it dawned on me as to why. she must be rumored about too. That explains why she’s here all alone, with nopony, or zebra for that matter, she can rely on, maybe she could use a friend,. As I thought about it, I dried off quickly and went to her to hug her, she took it by surprise but soon joined in. 'Why do you stay here? In a place that is this scary to other ponies?’ I asked. ‘You see little stout, I need the herbs and ingredients to make my potions come out,’ ’Oh,' I had not thought that she would need a reason to stay here other than her just being lonely, I looked outside and begun to wonder, why does it look so scary, but feel safe? 'Do you think that this place is scary?’ I asked. Zecora looked at me with a small, but sweet, smile. ‘What you may think of as scary, is really barely. The trees and darkness may make us shiver, but you should look beyond what makes you quiver,’ She walked out of her hut and wanted me to follow her, we walked out of the dark wood and I saw a light that shined up, strangely I ran up, curious to see what may be on the top, and what I saw, made my mind go blank. I saw the trees, though they were covered with light, and the grass began to feel softer. An old tree with glorious flowers sat on top of everything, out of all the things I saw, it had to be my favorite. ‘You see now young mare; this forest has many wonders to share. Where there may be darkness underneath, you must go to the light to see the belief.’ ‘This place is incredible! How did you find it?’ ‘Along my travels, I stumbled upon this place, it amazed me that it brought a tear to my face,’ I had seldom believed that it was possible to find such a nice place like this, but at that time, I rarely wanted to leave. I looked around and noticed Zecora was sitting down, enjoying the sunbeam. I came near and rested next to her. 'Can I come over again?' 'Of course, it would please my heart if you would come and stay, but for now, I must take you home so your parents won't go astray,' And so she took me home, where my parents didn't even notice I was gone until Zecora came and got me, and I came back whenever I got the chance, I did it more in the summer, but now that I'm almost done with school, I haven't gotten a good chance to see her yet, she still comes out to Ponyville sometimes, but unfortunately the other ponies hideaway from her and act like she’s a witch, something that I wish would just go away, she's never helped by anypony and is having to dig up her own ingredients, my only hope is that somepony could just convince everyone else that she isn't a bad… anything!" “Why don't you do it?” Doctor Whooves asked, leaving me with an expression of a grimace. “Do you think I haven't already tried that!” I said in total anger, it made me mad when other ponies wouldn't give anypony who was different a chance. I breathed in and felt a hoof on my shoulder and look to see that it was (as if there was anypony else there) Whooves. “You are right, ponies shouldn’t judge you based on appearance, and I hope that someday you will convince these ponies that it doesn't matter what you look like, but how you act upon looking,” “But ponies can say that you look nice only to make themselves feel better about not being as ugly as you are,” “That doesn't necessarily mean everypony is a bad pony, it just means that they don't want you to get hurt,” “Still, they can say things in there head before speaking out the words,” “That's only because they don't want to hurt others feelings,” “And yet sometimes we need to be hurt or else we wouldn't ever feel like we mattered, just that we were somepony who everyone lied to,” It took a while for Doctor to answer our little conversation, and I wondered if I messed up again by saying the wrong thing, but I couldn't apologize before he spoke again. “Well, other ponies may be lying to you, but I want you to know that whenever I say something about your eyes, how beautiful and smart you are, how you make me feel better about myself and that I had a problem I'm glad to change, I mean it.” We both stared and smiled at each other, I grew warm and blushed a bit before taking a deep breath and laughing small. “Hey, do you want to do something ultra childish,” I said to lighten the mood. “Uh... sure…?” I got up and went to the end of the hill, where I plummeted down onto my belly and rolled myself to the edge. I tumbled and rolled down to the bottom, where it was still as dark as ever. Whooves noticed this and grew worried, he tried to see where I was but it was too dark after the moon stopped shining. “Ditzy are you alright!” he asked in a panicked mood, I laughed, and was going to say I was fine, but then he never would see how fun it is to tumble down a hill, especially at this height. “Why don’t you tumble and find out?” I shouted making him squirm. Soon he took this to consideration and fell onto his stomach as well and rolled down like me, only with screams and tons of ‘make it stop! Make it stop!’ I only laughed when he finally came down, I may not have been able to see well in the dark (or anytime for that matter), but I could see that he was a dizzy as my eyes. “Are you ok?” I said still chuckling a bit. “That depends… am I supposed to feel like the earth is sliding?” “Yes! That’s the excitement, that’s why I like doing this so much, many just say that it's childish and that I should stop, but it brings me joy whenever I have troubles in the real world,” Whooves was soon back to the way he was and smiled at me, I could see that he enjoyed this as much as I did, and it made me so happy. “Do… do you think we could do it again?” he asked as he got up, still a little dizzy from the effects. This made me even happier and I smiled as we got up again and tumbled down to the bottom laughing our heads off and doing it all over again, I got so dizzy I couldn’t help but wonder if the world was real or not! I have never had this much fun with anypony before in my life! Soon I thought we should stop because if I went any more, I would throw up and that wouldn't be so pretty. So, we negotiated that this would be the last time we rolled down the hill. We came up and sat down and smiled at each other before we rolled the tiniest bit and laughed as we kept tossing and turning around. Soon though, I felt a force that didn’t feel right. It started to hurt, and I realized that it was Doctor Whooves. We must've been too close and intertwined while we rolled down. It did hurt but felt better when we landed, though where we landed was not the greatest position. After the shock of our pain, I got up and realized what situation I was in. I saw the Doctor looking at me, but I noticed that he was very close. I came to realize that I was on top of him! I was going to get up but I couldn’t, I stayed there, blushing my ears off. That, however, wasn’t the problem, the problem was that the Doctor was blushing as well. And he wasn’t getting off or telling me to get off either! I felt a strange feeling inside of me that somehow felt right. It was a strange ‘right’ that I didn’t know was good or bad, but yet I could hear my heart beating so loud from my feelings of shock and love. It was bittersweet, but I could still feel something. And I knew Whooves could too. Though I stayed, I knew that this was so… bad! Shock hit me like lightning when I realized what I was doing, so I quickly got up and apologized as much as I could but I noticed that he wasn’t moving. So then it got to me that I may have broken him to shock. He just kept blushing and staying on the floor. I grew worried but relaxed when he got up and stared at me. I began to apologize some more but he just raised his hoof and said it was ok. We stayed quiet for a long time before we were out of the Everfree and into the moonlight. I didn’t know what to say, what do you say to that!? I knew I should just remain quiet and let him think it out, but still, he shouldn’t blame himself for the cause of the problem. “Um, Doctor?” I said meekly “Hm? Oh, what do you want Ditzy?” he (thankfully) replied. “I just want you to know, back there, with all the craziness that happened, that it was my fault it happened, I didn’t realize that with rolling down together at the same time it would make us smash together, and it was my fault that I didn’t move away from you earlier. I just don’t want you to blame yourself for anything that happened. And I hope you aren’t too embarrassed to be seen with me anymore.” He didn’t speak just yet as we entered my home, I just thanked him and was on my way before Whooves called to me. “Ditzy! Look, it's not that I blame you, or me, it's that I just didn’t know what to do. I mean you see this stuff in books (and the occasional fanfic) all the time but when it actually happens you don’t know what to do. I’m sorry that I didn’t ask you to move yet but, I just thought it was strange to see us in that situation, I hope that you don’t blame anyone but that edge of the hill where it all started,” I laughed a bit at his joke and smiled, he wasn’t mad, and he wasn’t embarrassed… much. I felt happy knowing that even in our most awkward moments, we can still be friends that have a good laugh. And that’s just what we did. After a few more minutes, we calmed down and looked at each other for a while. I liked him, I knew I did. And, as I went into my home (my parents didn’t notice at all, they were interested in hearing that Daydream was having a hard day of shopping with her mare friends), I slept happily thinking about a future that, for once, I really wish did come true.