//------------------------------//
// Ditzy Doo 
// Story: The Stallion Lost in Time 
// by InsignificantGryffindor 
//------------------------------//

 Ditzy waited patiently on the platform for the telltale sign of the train. The train would be arriving around noon, bringing something Ditzy has been waiting for weeks. The thought of this brought a heavy weight to her belly. She tapped her hoof to a steady beat. The waiting. Oh Celestia, the waiting.
The ticks of the clock distracted her from her weariness. The ponies around her milled about, lost in a blur. The busied themselves with their many responsibilities. They were guided along a path that they chose. But she, Ditzy Doo, was not. She was directed onto a new path. A path she wasn't ready for. She had to forget all her dreams in order to take care of her new responsibilities. 
Soon, the old train in front of her began to whistle. The ponies around stopped their dull activities and began to gather their things and leave, the buzz of their conversations reaching her ears. Their boring voices had of no interest to her. She was only focused on one thing. The ponies gathered on the train, their voices leaving the hollow station. She was left alone with her thoughts.
She felt the presence of the station as if it were herself. The worn colors of the station mimicked her mind and her body. The once vibrant colors of the station were her youth, the light browns and reds were once filled with joy. The aged windows were her eyes, dark and weary, devoid of any clarity. The creaky old floorboards were her body. The floorboards were once sturdy and strong, but now they groaned after years of accumulated weight on their backs. The station was only but a few decades old, and so was she. But after only twenty years of heartbreak, she felt nine-hundred years old.
Finally, at 12:06, the smoke spilled into the station. When the locomotive pulled in, Ditzy couldn't help but feel as if the bright colors of the train made the station obsolete. One by one, the ponies filed out of the florescent train. She flicked her eyes up at the train, her eyes spending only a few seconds on each face, searching for only one. The soft colors of the ponies's faces began to fade together as she rushed past the strangers. When she reached the back of the crowd, she was met with a small unicorn. The filly had a messy blonde mane, warm amber eyes, and a small lilac body. Her pale eyes fixed onto Ditzy, and she immediately perked up. She wrapped her hooves around Ditzy's neck and cried out in joy. "You came!"
Ditzy smiled fondly and hugged her back. She felt hot tears spill from her eyes as she clutched the filly. "Of course I came."

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The chime of the clock rang once more. At exactly 4:00, Ditzy sat in her living room, waiting once more that day. The steady tick of the clock was irritating beyond belief. She waited patiently for the newcomer, constantly glancing at the clock that hung above her couch. In the back of her mind, she thought that the tea might be getting cold.
She adjusted herself in her seat, laying on the soft fabrics, pondering the events that happened on that day. She had already flipped through her astronomy books, but her mind was elsewhere. She kept on thinking about Dinky and where she belonged. She blinked, her eyelids growing heavy. She let her mind wonder, soon letting the morbid ticks of the clock become a small lullaby for the gray pegasus. The cool fabrics of the sofa calmed her, and soon she was in a comatose state, dreaming  of the stars and planets. 
A knock came on the door. Ditzy jumped, falling off the couch and onto the floor. She quickly got off the ground and nearly tripped over her hooves as she reached the door. Opening it quickly, she groaned. Before her was a familiar yellow Earth Pony. Her green eyes were lit with friendliness as she chuckled, "It's good to see you, too, Derpy."
Ditzy did not react to Carrot's silly name. Everyone close to her called her this, and she had no problem with it. "I'm sorry, Carrot, it's just that... well, Dinky is here." she remarked, her tail flicking irritably. Carrot Top looked at the small pink jacket that hung on the coat hanger, and her eyebrows knitted together in worry. "How're you holding up?"
The gray mare sighed and fell on the couch. She touched her forehead with her hoof, rubbing it. "I'm worried about Dinky. She claims she's fine, but I can tell she's still sad about Cloud Kicker. And I can't blame her. Sometimes I think about her and all the good times we had and I..." she stopped as her eyes became wet.
Carrot Top frowned at her friend and sat beside her on the couch, resting a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Dinky will move on, and so will you. Yes, Cloud Kicker will be missed and cherished, but someday you will both move on. You'll both be happy." she reassured, a smile flickering on her muzzle.
Ditzy smiled at her friend and hugged her, feeling the tears slide down her cheek. "Thank you for your support, Carrot." 
She flinched as another knock came. Carrot Top moved off the couch, gave her an encouraging look, and glanced towards the door. "Well? Your future awaits, Miss Doo." She raised her hoof to the door.
Ditzy sighed again and slid off the couch. She fixed her mane, which was quite messy, and gave her friend a quick glance as she opened the door. There stood a heavy set unicorn mare with bright ginger hair. She carried a satchel that swung across her shoulder and a black notepad that showed many years of use. Her horn glowed as she scratched on her notepad. Ditzy smiled brightly at the stranger, saying, "Welcome!"
She expected at least a glance from the strange mare, but her eyes remained fixed on the little notepad. Ditzy looked from her notepad to the unicorn and awkwardly moved away from the door. "Er... would like to come in?"
The unicorn moved inside, wrenching her eyes away from her notepad and onto the small two-story home. She narrowed her red eyes, searching the room for some unknown item. When her gaze finally fell on the gray mare, Ditzy felt scared. What if she doesn't like me and sends Dinky away?
"Um... this is my friend Carrot Top." She flicked her ears towards the yellow Earth Pony, who was eyeing the unicorn with a suspicious look. The unicorn met her eyes and raised her chin. "Charmed," she greeted in a thick, deep voice.
"Likewise." Carrot Top did not stop eyeing the unicorn suspiciously. Finally, she turned to Ditzy, her suspicious glare gone. "Well, I'm going to see Written Script. I'll see you later Ditzy." Casting another quick glance at the unicorn, she left, grabbing her coat.
The unicorn looked at Ditzy again. The red gaze was making Ditzy uneasy, so she lifted the muffins she baked to the mare's eye level. "Uh... want a muffin?" she asked in a high pitch.
The mare's hostile glare disappeared and was replaced with an interested look. Her eyes flickered over the muffins. "Yes please!" She grabbed a muffin, devouring it in a mere second. She sat down on the small chair beside the sofa, the legs of the chair groaning under her weight. Ditzy sat on the couch beside her, pouring tea for both of them. As she poured the tea into the cups, she prayed silently to the princesses that the pot will not spill. She carefully put the teapot down, cursing her clumsiness as the teapot wobbled. 
When the mare had finished her muffins, she looked at Ditzy. "So..." she began, placing the platter on the coffee table in front of her. "About Dinky. I know your concern for her and your sister, Miss Doo, but you must understand that concern doesn't matter. We must know that you have the capability to care for a ten-year-old filly. We need to know about your income, your living quarters, if you're mature enough, and much more..." 
Ditzy set down the teacup she was drinking out of and turned to the mare. "I understand completely, Miss..."
"Flo. Mrs. Flo."
Ditzy cleared her throat. "Right, well, Mrs. Flo. I'll have you know that I am fully capable of taking care of Dinky. My friends and co-workers will agree with me. I have been working for the Ponyville Mail Carrier for two years now-"
"I'm sorry, but a mail company?" Mrs. Flo interrupted, eyes flashing.
Ditzy flinched. "Yes, well you see-"
"I'm sorry, Miss Doo, but you cannot possibly raise a filly on the income of a mailpony. You must think about changing your career so that you can pay for Dinky's needs. Raising a filly is hard, but raising a filly on such a low income id even harder. An average mailpony gets around 45,000 bits a year. That may be enough to support yourself, but it isn't enough to support yourself and a filly. Not to mention the fact that there are no health benefits for Dinky, only yourself."
Ditzy remained silent as she listened to the mare go on about the income and benefits of another job, a job she did not have interest in. She had been a mailpony since she got out of high school, and did not believe she could leave her friendly job for that of a boring office job. She gave the teacup a final sip before replying, "I still have money left over from my mother's inheritance. I can pay any extra expenses with the money my mother gave me when she died. I can easily handle the little filly with the money I earn and my mother's money."
Mrs. Flo nodded giving the aged notebook a few more scratches. She took a sip from her own teacup and continued on, "While we're on the subject of health... I have a question about your eyes, Miss Doo."
Ditzy frowned at this question. All her life, she had been ridiculed about her strange eyes. Many ponies think that she may be disabled and unworthy to do acts that a pony with regular eyes could do. She always tried harder than other ponies, desperately trying to prove she wasn't as useless as they thought she was. She had to prove that her eyes did not effect her. "What is it?" 
"I was wondering if... well, you could possibly get some sort of surgery for your-"
"My eyes don't effect me in any way shape or form!" she cried out in exasperation.
The heavyset unicorn looked at her in shock. 
Ditzy blinked and sighed at the unicorn. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have snapped. It's just my whole life I've been told I am unable to do things because of my strange eyes. I can assure you that I am prepared to take care of Dinky. My eyes don't effect how I live." 
"I see." Her answer was blunt, and Ditzy wondered if she had offended her with her sudden outburst. Flo continued to write in her notepad, Ditzy focused on the steady of scratches of her pen, hoping she was writing only good things about her. Finally, after what seemed like a decade, she looked up from her notepad. Her eyes shone warmly, giving Ditzy a sudden burst of hope. "I'm happy to tell you that the Equestrian Child Support services believes you are eligible for caring for Dinky. You seem to have a lovely home with a substantial income. Dinky could have a happy childhood here."
Dinky fluttered her wings in happiness. "Thank you so much! I promise I'll take good care of Dinky! I won't let you down!"
Mrs. Flo smiled warmly. "Don't forget I will be checking in on random times to make sure you truly are prepared for caring for a filly. You may be a diligent pony, but I don't know if you're a diligent guardian." She began to gather her things, slipping her notebook and pen into her satchel. She headed for the door, giving the young mare a inquisitive look. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
Ditzy sighed happily, feeling the worry drain from her. "Yes. I'm ready." Ditzy opened the door for the mare, and watched her step outside.
"Well, I'll see you around, Miss Doo. I'll be coming around soon, don't you worry." And with a final, challenging glance, the mare left.
Ditzy whooped as she closed door, leaping into the air and punching it. "Yes!" In her brief moment of ecstasy, the pegasus didn't notice she had knocked over a nearby vase. She swooped down and caught it, seconds before it hit the ground. She chuckled and smiled sheepishly. "Oops."


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A great colorful light blinded her. The bright colors careened around a large cloud, who seemed to be nesting bright, large stars. A light blue light seemed to meld together with a red light, creating a brilliant cascade of colors. The lights reflected on the fluffy cloud below it. There was a dark area below the dark cloud, splattered with smaller and dimmer stars. Ditzy realized with a shock that she was looking at a nebula. But how could this be? It was impossible to look at such thing without a powerful telescope. She stood on top of a strangely lit ground, looking with awe at this spectacle.
"You like it?" A Braytish voice behind her made her jump. She turned and saw a brown stallion. Lights danced around him in a playful manner, but she couldn't quite figure out what they were. "I figured since we're horses we'd go to the Horsehead Nebula. Can you believe it? Sixteen-hundred light years away from... what is your planet called again? It's certainly not Earth, considering you're all ponies. I really miss Earth and the humans. I wonder if this is some parallel dimension and humanoids don't exist? Maybe humans do exist, but on a different planet. That would be fun to find out. We should search around the universe and find out, shouldn't we? Maybe it's just another Earth, but with a different name. Or it could be Earth with a different location! Oh, this is brilliant. Over nine hundred years of galavanting about the universe and I cannot find Earth."
Ditzy stared at the strange stallion, open mouthed. Never before has she seen somepony talk so much. Well, except for Pinkie Pie. She listened to the talkative stallion, trying to decipher the words that came rapidly out of his mouth. A few times she heard the words "sonic screwdriver" or "dimension jump", but couldn't figure out what they mean. Finally, she just stopped trying. She couldn't understand why he would feel the need to talk so much. After many minutes of his interminable speech he asked, "What do you think?"
Ditzy blinked at the stallion, surprised that he even asked her something. "Uh... sure, I guess."
The stallion grinned broadly, and started to press buttons and push down levers she hadn't realized were there until now.  Suddenly she heard a loud whirring sound, and the room around her began to shake. She yelped in surprise and floated above the shaking room. "It's been a while since I've been there! Hope the Boodles haven't attacked again! That would mean a whole lot of trouble for us, but no matter! Allons-y!" he cried out before throwing down a lever.


Ditzy awoke. She lay on the couch, embracing the darkness of the living room after the bright and rather vivid dream she had. The dream still hung in her mind, especially that stallion. She couldn't help but feel affection towards him. Somepony has to be really lonely in order to talk that much. She chuckled at the antics of the strange pony, and wondered possibly if he existed. She shook her head and reminded herself that the stallion was just a product of her imagination. 
She breathed deeply before crawling off the couch. She looked up at the clock, it's pendulum swinging steadily. 12:34, it read. Groaning, she stretched her legs and wings before heading up the narrow stairs. She abruptly opened her bedroom door when she reached it. Going into dimly lit room, she fell upon her mattress. She breathed in the stuffy fabrics briefly, half exhausted. She crawled into the covers, practically purring at the warmth the fluffed up covers provided. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she noticed a dim light in the corner of her eye. Tentatively, she took off the warm covers and made her way to the light, no doubt caused by a flashlight under a blanket. It was obvious who was under it all.
"Dinky?"
The lavender filly lifted the blanket above her head. "Hi, Auntie Derpy..." she smiled shamefully at the older mare. She blinked up at her with big amber eyes, obviously trying to win her affection. On her lap was an old raggedy book.
Ditzy gave her a stern look. "What are you doing up so late?"
Dinky flashed an uneasy look at the book she was reading. "Well... I couldn't sleep so I decided to read..."
The mare frowned as she noticed a brief flash of sadness pass through the young filly's eyes. She knew her niece was still grieving Cloud Kicker. Only is she could make her happy again... "Hey, why don't we go back to your room? I can read you that book if you like."
Dinky gave her a weird look. "I'm almost eleven... I can read on my own." Her eyes travelled over the book before looking at her aunt. "Yeah. That would be nice." she added quietly.
Ditzy smiled at her and ruffled her mane with her hoof. "Come on, it'll be just like old times."
Dinky smiled at this while picking up her blanket and flashlight and heading towards her room. Ditzy quickly followed, holding the old book in her mouth, knowing exactly what the cover read. She entered her niece's room, smiling as she saw Dinky already was stuffed in the thick layers of the covers. Her eyes shone as Ditzy sat next to her on the bed. She flipped through the yellowed pages, looking at the worn out letters. Nostalgia flooded through her mind as she thought of all the nights her mother read this to her at night. "My mom used to read this to me at night, you know. I always made her read it. It's called The Stallion Lost in Time. There are many stories in this book, so I'll just start with the introduction."
She opened the cover, her eyes skimming over her little scribbled signature she made as a filly before starting, "There once was lonely stallion. No one truly knew his name, but he was always calling himself the Doctor. Now, this stallion had never practiced medicine, nor had ever been to a university. But the feats he performed were beyond anypony's capabilities. He could save a town from the parasprites, or save a whole planet from hostile aliens. And if he did, nopony ever noticed. Nopony knew, nopony saw, nopony thanked him.  He has saved millions of lives, and nopony so much as knew him. He was lonely.
The machine he travelled in allowed all of time and space to bend at his hooves. He travelled through galaxies, saving the lives of many. He had the ability to change history, but never did. His machine was his only friend on his lonely journey across the universe.
Once in a while, the stallion made friends. They would get friendly with him, and sometimes join him in his adventures, but in the end they would leave him. He could have a brief happiness with each of them, but then something could happen. The companion could get lost, and eventually forget him. They could leave him, and they could move on. They could die, leaving the Doctor sadder than ever before. But there is one thing the lonely Doctor could never do. He could never forget his friends.
And so on he would travel. Forever lost in in the intricate web of space, forever trying to find his purpose, forever trying to find that one being to say, 'Thank you.'" she stopped, getting lost in her own words. Ditzy noticed that Dinky had fallen asleep, her head resting on a soft pillow. She sighed, and kissed the filly's forehead. "Good night, little one."
She grabbed the rustic book, and left the room, her thoughts preoccupied by the lost stallion. Could it be the stallion in her dream, or it could it just be mere coincidence? Maybe her thoughts were preoccupied with the book she read as a child, so her mind formulated a dream? Maybe... just maybe... the stallion was real. She chuckled at such childish thoughts. Something so absurd couldn't be real. She put the book inside the bookcase in her room, and climbed into her adjacent bed. Her thoughts were filled to the brain with images of the brown stallion as the lonely Doctor as she fell asleep once more. 



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Ditzy took another sip of coffee. Slowly, but surely, the energy slowly drained into her again. The dreams she had that night plagued her mind, causing her to have a restless sleep. She dreamed of chaotic laughter and screaming, leaving her anxious and dazed when she awoke later that morning. It disturbed her, but she didn't let it get to her. After all, it was just a dream.
"Have you seen the paper today, Ditzy?" Carrot Top asked from across the table. Ditzy looked up, slightly surprised to see her friend sitting there.
"No, I haven't actually." Ditzy murmured, taking a large gulp of coffee.
Carrot Top looked at her from above the newspaper. "Well, apparently another pony has gone missing."
Ditzy set her mug on the table and looked at her with shock. "You're kidding me, right? That's the third one this week!"
Carrot Top nodded and took a bite of her muffin. "This time it was Fluttershy, you know... the shy pony who lives in the cottage down the road?"
She gasped. "That poor thing! She must be terrified! I hope nothing else has happened to her."
The yellow mare knitted her eyebrows. "This is suspicious. First, Pinkie Pie is taken from the Cakes's. Then Rainbow Dash has vanished, and now poor Fluttershy has been snatched. Oh, Celestia and Luna help them."
"Obviously someone is after the Elements of Harmony." Ditzy said as she took a bite out of an apple.
A loud munching sound was heard behind the newspaper. "That's definitely what the police believe. They posted guards all over Applejack and Rarity. Not to mention Princess Twilight."
The two sat in silence, mulling over the recent events. Ditzy took a sip of her coffee, thinking about Equestria. What would happen to Equestria now that half of the Elements of Harmony are isolated? Who was this unnamed suspect and why would he want to harm the Elements? What terrors could be unleashed on the peaceful Equestria?
"I should wake Dinky now, shouldn't I?" Ditzy left the table and floated up the stairs, thoughts filled with Equestria's destiny and how this could possibly effect Dinky and herself. When she came to Dinky's room she knocked on the door. "Come on, Dinky! It's time for school." She knocked again. When no answer came, she suspected that the filly was still asleep. "Dinky?"
She opened the bedroom door and immediately felt a blast of cool air. That's funny, she thought. The window wasn't open when I left here last night. Her belly began to writhe when she realized that the bed showed no sign of the filly sleeping peacefully. The covers of the bed were thrown awry, and the suitcase was torn open.
"Dinky, this isn't funny. Come out here, right now!" she tried to sound commanding, but her voice came out small and scared.
The window was wide open, the screen completely destroyed. Ditzy wished with all her heart that this was all a silly joke the unicorn was playing. But she knew Dinky wasn't like that. "Please, Dinky, don't do this..."
She continued to search the small room, desperately wanting the filly to pop out and surprise her auntie. After that, Ditzy would give her a muffin and watch her as she left for school. She would come back from school and need her help for some homework. She would happily help, and finally they would have some dinner with Carrot Top. This should happen. Nothing else.
Ditzy started pulling back the covers of the bed, on the verge of tears. Half of her knew that the little filly wouldn't be able to hide under the covers without her knowing it. She stopped throwing the covers about when her eyes rested on something dark on the sheets. Her heart stopped as she realized it was a patch of blood.
"Dinky!"