//------------------------------// // A Lunch Date with the Doctor and his Advisor // Story: Sweetie and the Scientist // by TheDorkside99 //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle burst through the waiting room door and skidded to a halt. “Hey Rarity guess what? The doctor invited us to lunch today!” The waiting room was completely empty except for a few plastic chairs and half-open magazines sitting on end tables. “Where did she go?” “Are you Sweetie Belle?” asked the nurse behind the counter. She walked slowly to the window. The nurse handed her a folded piece of paper. “Your sister left you this note before she left.” Sweetie took the note and opened it. She read: Dearest sister, Something went wrong with the order this morning. I’m arranging for Fluttershy to pick you up after your appointment. Don’t leave the office until she gets there. Kisses. Sweetie closed the note and took a seat. “You’re gonna stay here?” asked the nurse. “Until someone picks me up,” she answered without looking up. The nurse shut the window and disappeared. She reappeared through the waiting room door and walked over to the exit. “Well, I’m going out to lunch so you’re gonna be here all by yourself, okay?” “Okay,” she whispered. The nurse yanked the door open and walked out, letting the door slam shut on its own. Sweetie Belle sighed and picked up a random magazine from the end table next to her. She began flipping through its pages paying no attention to the small dark text that whizzed by her eyes. She stopped at a picture of an old stallion dressed like a cowboy from a spaghetti western, a shiny sheriff’s badge beaming on his proud chest. His grin was wide and bright and he winked a friendly eye at Sweetie. He was holding up a bottle of medicine and underneath was written in big bold text was: Argaiv. Stick up for fun! “That’s so stupid,” she said. “What does that even mean?” She continued flipping until she reached the end of the magazine. She picked up another and did the same. When she was through with all the magazines on the table she looked up at the wall clock and gazed on the red second hand circling steadily over the numerals. One minute passed. Two minutes passed. Three. Ten. Twelve. Seventeen and a half. Nineteen and fifty nine seconds. The second hand stopped on the fifty ninth tick mark and jerked back and forth. Sweetie got up and walked over to the clock. She stood on the chair underneath and held up her hooves and retrieved the malfunctioning wall clock. She looked around the back and found the battery compartment. “Darn,” she said. “It’s closed with a screw.” She looked around for an abandoned screwdriver but her search was short. She decided the next best thing was to take matters to a more physical level. After repeated blows to the back, the second hand stopped moving altogether. “Great, I broke it.” “Actually my dear, it was failing before you even touched it.” The doctor took the clock from Sweetie’s hooves and opened the back with a small screwdriver. He replaced the battery then replaced the clock on the wall. “Does it always do that?” she asked. “Only when the battery is low. This is why I much prefer a clock that runs on gears and a pendulum rather than limited electricity.” “Like a grandfather clock?” “Yes, my dear scientist.” He scanned the empty waiting room. “I assume your sister had other matters to attend to.” “Yeah. Something went wrong with her order this morning or something. She will not be attending our lunch date this afternoon.” The doctor chuckled. “I see. Well then, shall we be on our way milady?” “I kinda can’t go either.” “Why not?” Sweetie Belle sighed. “Rarity sent someone to come get me so she can take me home.” “Who?” Before she could answer, Fluttershy opened the door and poked her head inside. She flashed a smile at the two. “Hello. May I come in?” “Of course Miss Fluttershy! You are always welcome here even on days when you needn’t be.” “Wait a sec. You know each other?” “Absolutely! Fluttershy comes in every weekend to serve as advisor to my practice.” “She gives you advice? On what?” “Why animal care of course! You see, I had a baby dragon as a patient not too long ago and I hadn’t the slightest idea how to help him. It made me realize that our fair town of Ponyville is home to more than just ponies. I decided to open my practice to all creatures and Fluttershy helps me with her incredible knowledge on different species of animal.” Fluttershy walked up to the two. “I hope I’m not disturbing anything serious doctor.” “Nonsense! Why I was just telling my dear scientist what a wonderful resource you are when it comes to animal medicine. Truly a bottomless well of refreshing knowledge!” Fluttershy blushed. “Oh doctor, you’re too kind.” “Would you care to join us for lunch today? We were just going to step out.” “Gee, that sounds wonderful. Unfortunately, I need to take Sweetie Belle to the Carousel Boutique where her sister lives.” The doctor thought for a moment. “The Carousel Boutique you say?” “That’s where my sister works,” added Sweetie Belle. “It’s the place with all the dresses and fashion stuff.” The doctor broke from his pensive pose with a thunderous clap. “Perfect! The Crisp Grove is right across the street from there. After a brief pleasant lunch, the two of you should meet with Rarity in no time at all.” Sweetie jumped. “That’s great! Whaddya say Fluttershy? Can we go?” Fluttershy shrugged. “I guess it’ll be okay. We won’t take long, will we doctor?” “Perish the thought my awesome advisor!” He picked out his coat from a closet near the front door. “Let us seize the day and seize the salads that await us! My stomach protests!” Laughing at his passionate plea, the two ponies followed to doctor out of the medical center and into the calm bustle of the lunch hour. “A week!? You said you could deliver it by tomorrow, not by next week!” The cross eyed mail mare scratched the back of her head as she scanned the details of the order on her clipboard. “I’m really sorry Miss Rarity, but according to this we were supposed to pick up one large order of dresses. You have a lot more than one large order on your kitchen table. It’s gonna take a lot longer to take everything to Manehatten.” “I don’t understand why it would take you longer.” The mail mare directed her upset customer’s attention to the open sky. “If I had known you had so many boxes of dresses, I would’ve brought my mail wagon with me.” “Then how on earth did you expect to take my order without your mail wagon?” “Well, I was gonna carry it myself.” “Alone!?” Rarity sighed. “Can’t you get a wagon out here to ship the order right now?” The mail mare flipped through her papers. “I guess I could go back to the station and get one over here, but it’ll cost you extra.” “But why!?” “Well, it’s like I said. You have a lot of boxes. You’ll have to pay extra shipping costs.” “But I specifically said it was a large order! Why should I be penalized when it was clearly your fault for misunderstanding?” “I can’t tell you exactly why there was a mistake in the order or even if there was one. All I know is that for one wagon load of boxes it’ll be twice the shipping cost.” “This is most unfair, but alright.” Rarity reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her wallet. “How much?” “A hundred bits please.” “One hundred bits!?” Rarity pulled out the money and thrust them towards the mail mare’s chest. “Fine, take it. Just get a wagon over here quickly. Those dresses need to get to Manehatten by tomorrow.” “Yes ma’am! Derpy is on her way!” And with that, the cheery mail mare left Carousel Boutique and took off into the noon sky towards the postal office. “I do hope she gets here soon,” Rarity said to herself. “I can’t allow some stupid mistake on her part tarnish my fashionable reputation. Imagine what my client would’ve said if his order wouldn’t have arrived for another week! Oh, I need a cup of hot tea!” Rarity went into the kitchen and opened a drawer where she kept a box of her favorite tea. It was empty. She looked into every other drawer to see if she had misplaced the box, but her search ended up empty hoofed. She thought maybe Sweetie knew where it was. “Sweetie Belle,” she called out. “Do you know where my box of Earl Hay tea is?” When no one answered her call, she slapped a hoof of remembrance on her powdered face. “Of course, she’s still at the doctor’s.” She looked at her wristwatch and read the time. Twelve thirty. “It’s been over an hour already. Where is Fluttershy with my sister?” She looked over at the empty box of tea and tossed it in the trash. “Maybe I can make a quick trip to The Crisp Grove to purchase another box. By the time I’m back, hopefully the wagon will be here and Sweetie too.” “Lunch is served,” announced the waiter. Fluttershy and the doctor picked up their forks and dove right into their salads. They shared a mutual smile as the garden fresh meal slid down their grateful throats. They reached for their napkins to wipe their faces and continued to enjoy their noonday meal. Sweetie Belle inspected the food in her plate carefully, trying to identify what every piece of vegetable was. “Oh most wonderful of tastes! I cannot resist such a well-crafted entrée of greens and croutons. Do you share the same sentiment, my dearest Fluttershy?” She swallowed her bite before answering. “Oh yes doctor. I especially enjoy the fact that everything is not only locally grown but grown organically.” The doctor raised his water glass and slugged down a hearty amount of refreshing drink. “Ah yes, tis a comforting fact to know that that which enters the body is also good for the body.” “I’ll be just as happy if I can figure out what this stuff is,” said Sweetie. She continued to poke around with her fork before letting it drop with a clank against the side of her plate. “I don’t think I ordered the right thing.” “Well, my dear scientist,” he began, picking up her plate and examining it closely. “It appears that you ordered a most exotic assortment of fruits and vegetables. Edamame, eggplant, papaya, shredded coconut, and almonds all drizzled with crumbly feta cheese and doused with a splash of Thousand Island dressing.” “Ooh, that sounds crazy,” added Fluttershy. “And yummy.” The unsatisfied patron sighed. “That’s what I get for ordering the ‘Surprise Salad’.” The doctor put Sweetie’s plate back and continued to eat. “So doctor, how are you doing with your animal patients?” asked Fluttershy. “All is well, Fluttershy Though I must present quite the conundrum to you.” He put his fork down and looked right at his attentive advisor. “The other day one of my patients brought in with her a pet alligator, a small cute fellow with large purple eyes. What was his name again?” “It kind of sounds like a pet alligator a close friend of mine keeps.” “Could it be the same one, my dearest advisor?” “I don’t know.” “What’s the name of the friend in question?” “Pinkie Pie.” “Yes, Pinkie Pie…” “She has a pet alligator named Gummy,” Sweetie chimed in. The doctor gave the table a spirited slap. “That’s the one! Anyways, I went through with the checkup and everything came out perfectly normal. However, I couldn’t figure out why the specimen had absolutely no teeth in his mouth to speak of. I know he’s very young but they should have grown in by now, am I right?” “Actually,” Fluttershy began. “Hatchlings are born with teeth already. Pinkie Pie found Gummy on the side of the road trying to bite off a piece of loose scrap metal when he broke off all his teeth.” “How dreadful!” the doctor exclaimed. “How does he eat, Fluttershy?” asked Sweetie, adding herself to the conversation. “Since alligators can only use their jaws to move their mouths up and down and not side to side, they can’t chew. They have to swallow their food whole.” “Therefore, as is the case with Gummy, it’s almost like he doesn’t need his teeth for consumption,” added the doctor. “If they can just swallow their food, then why have teeth in the first place?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Well, I would imagine that when he grows up and requires larger portions to satisfy his hunger he would utilize his sharp teeth to kill his prey on impact. Right, Fluttershy?” The animal expert nodded. “Not only that, but sometimes alligators will need to use their teeth to rip larger animals into smaller, easier to swallow pieces. Lucky for Gummy he has a caring owner who will feed him ready to swallow food that won’t require any biting or ripping.” “Wow, that’s neat!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle. The ponies turned their attention back to their meals when the youngest of the three came up with another question. “What would’ve happened to him if he were never discovered by Pinkie Pie?” The doctor picked up his napkin and wiped his muzzle clean. “Two things: Either Gummy would have adapted to his surroundings or he would have died.” “Adapted? What is that?” The doctor gave the floor to his animal advisor. “Well Sweetie, adaptation happens when an animal is faced with a situation which forces it to change its behavior. It’s kinda like how birds fly south for the winter because it gets too cold for them in their environment. They adapt to the cold by moving away from it to a warmer climate. Does that make sense?” The filly scratched her head. “I think so.” Her response prompted the quick thinking doctor to grab the salt bottle in front of Fluttershy. Once he removed the cap, he tipped it over Sweetie’s salad and poured the entire bottle over her untouched meal, leaving no fruit or vegetable unsalted. “Hey!” she protested. “What was that for?” “Oh I’m sorry,” he said in a mischievous tone. “But I thought you didn’t want your Surprise Salad.” “Not before, but I was starting to get hungry so I thought I would give it a try.” “Won’t a little salt make it a little more bearable for you?” “A little? This is a ton!” “So you won’t eat it?” “Not like this. I’ll get a major tummy ache if I ate all this salt.” The doctor raised the bottle and calculated the volume mentally. “Actually, you would die.” “Well that’s even worse.” The light bulb clicked on in Fluttershy’s mind as a smile formed on her once shocked face. “So what will do if you’re gonna eat it, Sweetie?” The bothered filly picked out a piece of papaya and began brushing the excess salt onto her napkin. “Isn’t it obvious? I have to brush off all this salt.” Once she got off all the salt she could, she placed the fruit in her mouth and began to chew slowly. The embedded saline crystals she could not remove attacked her palate with its salty flavor and her bitter expression brought soft chuckles to her older friends. “So, my dear scientist, what did you have to do in order to eat your meal without dying?” Sweetie swallowed her food hard. “I told you. I had to brush off all the salt before I ate it.” She grabbed her glass of water and drank down several gulps to wash out the saltiness from her mouth. When it finally hit her, she rammed down the glass hard on the table, a small amount falling out the side and wetting the tablecloth. “Wait a minute! I get it now! I had to change my behavior in order to eat my food! I had to adapt!” She looked at each of her friends who returned her triumphant grin with a proud smile. “Excellent work, my dear scientist,” said the doctor. Fluttershy offered her a light clap. “Hey, do ponies have to adapt like alligators do? I mean, besides having their salads covered completely by salt.” “Good question,” said the doctor. “You see, our ancestors were much larger and much stronger than we. They had to run fast and free to travel across long distances to find food and run away from fast predators like manticores and hydras. As we’ve become more civilized, however, we’ve lost our abilities to run from danger in favor of developing our brains for critical thinking to thrive in our highly industrialized environment.” “So, we’re not as fast anymore because we don’t have to run away as much?” “Exactly.” The doctor held up a hoof and pinched a small flab of sagging skin. “In fact, you could say we’ve traded our leanness for pudginess in the process.” “We’re like marshmallows,” added Fluttershy. The three ponies laughed at Fluttershy’s joke when they heard a clearing of the throat. “Who’s a marshmallow?” asked Rarity. Sweetie Belle slowly turned to face her sister and flashed a nervous grin. “Hey Rarity. What’s up?” Rarity cut to the chase. “Why aren’t you at home?” She turned to Fluttershy who hid her red face behind a menu. “And for that matter, why haven’t you taken her home yet?” “Don’t fault the two ladies my dear,” said the doctor. “I pressed upon them an irresistible invitation to lunch at the wonderful Crisp Grove. Please sit and join us.” “No thank you doctor. I just picked up what I came for and now I must return home. Come along Sweetie.” “Right now?” Rarity raised her voice. “Right now I should be at home waiting for the mail mare. You were supposed to be home way before ‘right now’.” “But I was learning something and…” “Learning? What did you learn today Sweetie? How to make your older sister angry? Well, you certainly secured an A+ for that! Now get your plot out of that chair and follow me home immediately!” Rarity turned and marched towards the Carousel Boutique. Her sister slithered out of her chair and followed, head hanging slightly. “So, that’s Rarity,” said the doctor, rubbing the top of his glass in slow circles. “Yes. Don’t take it the wrong way doctor. She’s just been having a hard day today. She’s really a nice and generous pony.” “Oh I’m sure. I’m sure”