//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Ignoring the Obvious // Story: Dinky: A Filly That Is Loved // by vincent5000x //------------------------------// (o^o) Dinky kept her face buried in her stuffed Derpy. She had stopped paying attention to the things around her. All she knew was that she hadn't seen Derpy for hours. The pony with a horn had taken Dinky to a strange place. All around her, ponies of different sizes played and talked with one another. But Dinky didn't care as she stayed exactly where they placed her. Every now and then, she could hear other ponies around her, trying to get her attention. Some tried poking her, while other continued to call her name. One even tried to take the stuffed Derpy she had her face buried in, but was quickly scolded away. She didn't care about these other ponies. She knew that Derpy would come for her at any moment. All she had to do was wait for Derpy and they would go home and eat dinner. That was hours ago. Somepony had moved her to a small bed and had given her a bottle. But she wasn't going to sleep or eat until Derpy showed up. Only Derpy knew how much she liked to eat before going to sleep and only Derpy would slip her small pieces of muffin as a desert. But Derpy wasn't there, so all Dinky could do, was wait as she kept herself buried in her stuffed Derpy, forcing herself to stay awake. (-_-) Derpy watched in confusion as the medic talked to her father. Not only did she have no idea as to what was going on, but her father had dragged her to the nearest medical pony he could find. She couldn't help but look around the small room she was in. It seemed oddly familiar to her. "What do you mean by that," Derpy's father yelled at the medic, drawing Derpy's attention. Derpy was about to ask what was wrong, but the medic was quick to reply. They went into a strange explanation about Dissociative Amnesia. Saying something about stress causing memory loss. Derpy tried to pay attention, but a soft throbbing in the back of her head was making it hard to focus on what they were saying. "What in the name of Celestia are you talking about," Derpy yelled looking for an answer. But she was ignored as her father continued questioning the medic about Derpy's so called 'condition'. Whether it be about her eye's or her sudden change in attitude, the medic said it could all be a result of the amnesia. "CAN SOMEPONY ANSWER ME ALREADY," Derpy yelled, mostly at her father. Her father began to say something before the medic quickly whispered something into his ear. Derpy couldn't hear what they said, but whatever it was, caused a mixed look of worry and fear to appear on his face as he just stared at Derpy. "Fine then," Derpy said, a bit angry that nopony would answer her. "If you're not going to answer me, I'm going home. I have work tomorrow and want a early start." Making her way to the door, Derpy couldn't help but notice a small spot of red on the tile floor. She couldn't help but stare at it for a moment as the soft throbbing in the back of her head intensified for a second. But she quickly turned her attention back towards heading home for the night. She already had enough questions that nopony wanted to answer. (o^o) Dinky could feel the sunlight hit her body as morning arrived. She felt it slowly creep up her as she sat upright, her face buried in the stuffed Derpy. All she wanted was to hear Derpy's voice, giving her a warm good morning. But she had stayed up all night, and knew that Derpy wasn't there. "Dinky? What are you doing here," a voice seemed to echo from nearby. For a moment, Dinky thought it was Derpy, but quickly realized that the voice sounded nothing like Derpy's. She recognized the voice as that of Derpy's friend, Carrot Top. (-_-) Derpy couldn't imagine how her morning could get any worse. First, somepony had changed her alarm sound to a softer tone, which she ended up sleeping through. Then, when she went to check on her bits, she found out that she was missing a good chunk. "What in the hay happened to my bit's," Derpy yelled to nopony in particular. She doubted that anypony had taken them, but couldn't remember what she had done with them. In fact, she couldn't remember much of anything, and everything she could seemed to be a bit jumbled. Derpy couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with what the medic had said the night before. They kept talking about some kind of amnesia or something. But she couldn't help but wonder what it was she forgot. Doing a quick scan of her room, she noticed a few strange objects. But whenever she tried to make out what the things were, her gaze would shift away towards something else. "Oh buck," Derpy said to herself as she noticed the clock. She was running almost an hour late and needed to leave as soon as possible. Deciding she'd figure everything out after work, Derpy rushed out of her room and towards the houses front door. She began to worry when she didn't see her mail bags hanging on their hook. Relief spread over Derpy when she opened the front door and found her bags sitting inside her old red wagon. She couldn't figure out why her bags were in the wagon in the first place but quickly brushed aside the thought as she tried to pick them up. She was surprised to find out that they were attached to the wagons handle for some reason. Again, Derpy cursed at herself as she tried to pull the two apart from one another. But she quickly stopped when she heard a slight tearing noise. She decided to just take the wagon with her and use it to carry any packages she might need to deliver. Although, it meant she wouldn't be able to fly at all with the way it was attached. Derpy barely paid any attention to her surroundings as she made her way to the post office. She couldn't wait to get to work and forget about all the strange things happening around her. She could feel a slight throbbing in the back of her head and hoped it would subside as she focused on her work. "I thought I'd find you here," Shooting Star said, standing right outside the post office door. She looked horrible. He mane wasn't styled and it looked as if she had been awake all night. Derpy would of stopped to laugh at the way she looked if she wasn't already late enough for work. So she decided to just walk past her and continue into the post office. "Oh no you don't," Shooting star snapped as she blocked Derpy's path. "You're not going anywhere until you explain something to me." With that, Shooting Star pulled out a local newspaper from her saddlebag. The page it was turned to had a strange set of pictures. One was of the famous fashionista, Glittering Gem. Showing her being lead into the police station. Derpy couldn't help but feel a heavy throbbing in the back of her head. The other picture, was of Derpy holding a blurred out blob. Except for the blob, everything else in the photo was clear and easily definable. "Not only is your father a cop," Shooting Star began as she put the paper away. "But you were there when Glittering Gem was at our towns station." "And," Derpy snapped back, trying to get past her again. She could see her boss staring back at her through a nearby window. But Shooting Star wouldn't let her past. "What I wanted to know was," She began as she took a deep breath. "What the hay happened to her?!" (o^o) Dinky looked up at Carrot Top with hopeful eyes. She couldn't help but hope that she was there to bring her back to Derpy. Dinky tried her best to relay that she wanted Derpy, holding her stuffed Derpy out slightly. But the sudden look of shock on Carrot Top's face confused her. Dinky watched as she ran off down a nearby hallway, disappearing from sight. At first, she felt hopeful, believing that Carrot Top had understood her and had gone to get Derpy. But as time went on and the other ponies around her began to wake and talk about breakfast, Dinky realized that Carrot Top wasn't coming back. But she wasn't going to give up hope. She knew that at any moment, Derpy would walk into the room with a whole muffin for her. Then she would take her outside to the red wagon and they would spend the day together as Derpy delivered her mail and then they would. . .would. . .would . . . Dinky felt the tears running down her cheeks long before the first cry left her mouth. Her mind became clouded as fear and doubt swept through her mind. She didn't want to accept the fact that Derpy wasn't coming to get her. But as time went on, the only thing Dinky began to believe in was the terrible pain in her heart. (-_-) Derpy chuckled as she left a stunned Shooting Star standing outside. picking up the mail and packages she needed to deliver, She couldn't help but remember what she had told Shooting Star. When Shooting Star had asked what had happened to Glittering Gem, the image of the red stain had popped back into her head. She couldn't understand why it had, but decided it would make for a great prank on Shooting Star. She couldn't help but laugh as she remembered the look on her face when she told her that somepony had attacked her. Sending her to the hospital. Looking back behind her, she couldn't help but notice Shooting Star rereading the newspaper article, as if looking for a confirmation to Derpy's statement. "What did your friend ask you about," Derpy's boss asked as he passed Derpy another stack of letters. Derpy couldn't help but notice how he kept looking at her eyes with a strange stare. But she decided to ignore it as she told him about what Shooting Star had asked. At first, he made a comment about how he never would've thought Derpy would do such a thing. Then he told her about Shooting Star's little hobby. It turned out that she came every day to send fan mail to Glittering Gem, and on rare occasions, receive a response. Derpy couldn't help but give a evil grin as she listened to this new information. She never expected Shooting Star as a die hard fan girl. But she was definitely going to use that information in the future. As she turned to leave, Derpy thought she heard her boss ask something about a 'filly'. But she quickly brushed the thought away when she remembered that she was still late in getting her deliveries done. Again, she couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Shooting Star as she was going though several different papers, a look of fear and worry on her face. She couldn't help but enjoy seeing Shooting Star like that. "Its what you get for being such a bitch," Derpy whispered to herself as she set off on her deliveries. As she made her way towards her first stop though, a slight feeling of remorse pressed itself against the back of her mind. But she quickly pushed it aside as she continued down the street. Most of her deliveries went smoothly as she placed mail and packages in their mailboxes. But as shops began to open and more ponies began walking the streets, ponies she regularly met would ask her strange questions. All centered around something called 'Dinky'. She remembered her father mentioning it the night before, but had forgotten about it up until that point. She wanted to ask the ponies what this 'Dinky' was, but she didn't want to be late for her next delivery. She already had a bad feeling that she was going to have to work through lunch. But even as she continued delivering mail, strange things kept happening. Every now and then, a pony would stop and stare at her eyes as if something was wrong with them. Then, every now and then, a random pony would stop her and ask if they could have their mail. She couldn't help but remember the confused looks on their faces as told them all "No". It wasn't her fault they couldn't prove who they were, her job was to put the mail in the specified mailbox. After finishing her last delivery, Derpy made her way home. She was a little tired and wanted to take a nap. But as she made her way home, she was stopped by her friend Carrot Top. "Thank Celestia I found you," she said as she scooped Derpy into a big hug. "I was so worried when I saw Dinky at the orphanage with the stuffed pony you got her." "I got who for the what now," Derpy questioned. She tried her best to understand what Carrot Top had said, but a heavy throbbing in her head was making it hard to focus. "There’s no time to worry about that now," Carrot Top said as she released Derpy from her hug. "Your father told me everything. We need to get you back to your house as soon as possible." "Why? I spent the entire morning walking and my legs are killing me," Derpy complained. She wouldn't normally complain, but the wagon had been extra weight that she didn't want in the first place. "Besides, I was on my way home anyways." "Because the caseworker is at your house now," Carrot Top said as she turned and ran in the direction to Derpy's house. Derpy continued to walk as her friend stopped several feet in front of her. "Hurry up Derpy," she yelled back to her. "Calm down Golden Harvest," Derpy began. Derpy wasn't worried, caseworkers were always at her house, her father was a cop after all. "I'm going to let that one slide because of your amnesia," Carrot Top said, watching Derpy walk slowly. 'Please Derpy, we have to hurry." "Fine," Derpy said as she began to walk faster. She didn't move faster because Carrot Top had asked her to. The throbbing in her head had suddenly intensified and she wanted to get something for her head. But even as she got closer to home, all it did was get steadily worse.