It was barely an hour past lunch when Derpy Hooves went out of her room and down the stairs. She looked happily at her two daughters, Dinky and Sparkler, playing a board game and seemingly enjoying it. She began getting close, quietly so as to not interrupt their game.
"Sky...Two!" the younger, blonde-maned unicorn said.
"Aww, you found my Seagull!" the older, pink unicorn said as she removed a piece from her side of the board.
"Yay!" The little unicorn raised her forelegs in a triumphant pose.
"Hello girls!" Derpy said, now being close enough to them.
"Oh, hi mom!" Sparkler said.
Dinky hugged Derpy instead, the hug being returned quickly.
"Girls, I need to talk to you about something." Derpy sat down as her daughters listened. "Remember that, after I adopted Dinky, she wanted a big sister?"
"Yeah, that's when I came along!" Sparkler said as she put her foreleg around Dinky.
"Well...the thing is...Remember how, lately, you have been telling me that you want a daddy?" Derpy braced herself for the reaction she expected.
"OH MY GOSH, YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY THE DOCTOR?!" both younger ponies asked as they jumped excitedly, their eyes open as wide as their smiles.
Derpy blushed and smiled sheepishly. "Well, n-not exactly. I, I am just going to ask him out on a date, that's all. We-We'll see where it leads from that."
Despite their adoptive mother's answer, both Sparkler and Dinky still couldn't hide their excitement. "But mommy, the Doctor said he-" Dinky's mouth was covered by her big sister's hoof.
"When is this date?" Sparkler quickly asked.
"Um, I was going to invite him over for dinner tonight while you girls are at Ruby Pinch's party," Derpy replied.
"Oh right, the party! That's about two hours from now!" Sparkler said.
"Why when we are not here?" Dinky asked, her face showing a slight bit of sadness.
"Hey, Dinky, if we're not here that means that they get more privacy!" Sparkler replied.
"And?"
"It means that if they are alone with each other it means there's more chances of things working out!"
"OOH! I get it now!" Dinky happily said.
Her daughters talking only made Derpy feel nervous, happy, brave and confused at the same time.
***
"Have fun girls! Remember, do not touch the bottles or they can fall over and break and Berry Punch will get mad and I'll have to pay for them!" Derpy said to her daughters as they walked out the door.
"Gotcha! Good luck with the Doctor!" the younger ponies said. Once they thought they were out of Derpy's hearing range, they began hopping and chanting. "We are getting a daddy! We are getting a daddy!"
It turned out, however, they were not, and Derpy could still hear them. She merely shook her head with a smile and closed the door.
"Girls, I'm going out in ten minutes, how are things going on your end?"
Derpy was surprised to hear Vinyl's voice, then remembered she had her earrings on and decided to answer. "The girls just went to the party, I'm going to get the Doctor soon."
"Lyra went out to get snacks for tonight, everything's going good so far." Derpy was amazed at how clearly she could hear Bon Bon's voice.
"Alright, I'll catch you just before I leave," Vinyl said before the sounds from her end stopped, as well as Bon Bon's.
Derpy took a few deep breaths and opened her door. She walked out and closed it, then took to the skies and flew towards a hill, particularly towards a blue box on top of it. As she got closer, she could see how tiny and at the same time big it was. It was enough for a single pony to fit in, but she knew the Doctor lived in there. She landed in front of the blue box and knocked on the door. "Doctor? It's me, Ditzy!" she shouted. Shortly after, the door opened and a brown earth pony stallion came out to greet her.
"Why, hello, Ditzy!" the Doctor said. "Fancy meeting you today! I believed you would be spending the day off with your daughters."
"Well, they had a party to go to, so I was alone and, um..." Derpy blushed as she knew she had to ask the question. "I was thinking...Maybe...You could come over to my house for dinner tonight? If you aren't busy checking the town's clocks or travelling through time, that is!"
The Doctor laughed. "Oh, Ditzy, if I was, the TARDIS wouldn't be here right now. Ha, now about tonight..." The Doctor put a hoof to his chin, deep in thought. Derpy was ready for rejection but the Doctor was quick to nod. "Sure, let me go get my tie, alright?"
"Oh, take your time, Doctor!" Derpy said as she watched the Doctor go back inside the TARDIS. She sighed in relief knowing the Doctor agreed to the dinner. She tried to remember what her friends told her and an amazing coincidence happened as she heard Vinyl's voice.
"Girls, going out now, wish me luck!" Vinyl said quickly and almost whispering.
"Good luck, Scratch!" Derpy said at the same time as Bon Bon.
Not even a minute later, the Doctor came out wearing a green tie. "Well, I am ready now, Ditzy." He closed the TARDIS' door and looked at Derpy, both smiling at each other.
The two ponies left towards Derpy's house, the Doctor seemingly unaware of Derpy's intentions, and this was a good thing for her. The one thing she didn't want at the moment was for the Doctor to ruin her surprise. This was a surprise itself, she didn't know she was so confident, just that morning she was screaming in panic and hiding behind muffins for Celestia's sake. She hoped her friends were as confident as she was.
***
The feel in Derpy's house was friendly and cheerful. While the food was being cooked, Derpy and the Doctor were talking about any topic that came to mind. From the latest news in the Ponyville Express to how quickly Derpy delivered her latest package. The talking surely made Derpy feel less nervous, however it didn't make her possible coltfriend feel less hungry, and a low growling came from the Doctor's stomach.
"Oh, well this is embarrassing. Ditzy, do you have anything to eat before dinner, by any chance?" the Doctor asked while smiling awkwardly. It didn't feel right for him to ask for food before an arranged dinner, even if he knew Derpy didn't care.
"Of course, Doctor!" Derpy ran to a drawer and in less than a second she took out a plate of muffins and put it on the table. "Muffins! These are new, they are pear muffins!"
The Doctor's eyes opened wide and his face turned slightly paler. "Oh, pear muffins..."
"You don't like them?"
"Oh, no! No, it's NOTHING like that! Heh, I...Oh, it IS something!" The Doctor took a muffin and looked at it hesitantly. He heard Derpy happily munching on hers and he slowly got the muffin near his mouth. He swallowed and opened his mouth to take a bite of the muffin. He could feel Derpy looking at him, but to avoid letting her down, he took a big bite of the muffin. His face hardly showed any hints of enjoying the muffin as he ate it.
"D-Doctor...?" Derpy was worried something had gone wrong and moved closer to him.
"Mmm...! Muffins, they are very good...!" The Doctor said, still eating the muffin. "You can give them any flavor you want...they are good, like, blessed by Celestia good! Especially these....PEAR muffins! A very good idea!" He swallowed the muffin, finally, but his expression and pale color worsened. "...A very good idea that makes me sick!" The Doctor ran out of the room and to the nearest bathroom.
Derpy gasped and ran after the Doctor, only to find him with his face in the toilet as a really unpleasant sound came from him. "Doctor...you...you don't like pears?" she asked, afraid she had blown everything up. "Why didn't you tell me?!" She ran and sat next to him. "Why did you eat that muffin if you knew you wouldn't like it, Doctor?!"
"I...I thought that if I ate it quickly enough I would not notice...!" The Doctor went back to emptying his stomach thanks to his bold move. "Ditzy, please go get something...ANYTHING!"
"Right! Don't go regenerating on me!" Derpy ran out of the bathroom to look for any sort of medicine for the poor Doctor. Her search hadn't even begun when she heard her earth pony friend's voice.
"Um, girls? I got a problem!" Bon Bon didn't sound entirely fine either.
"You, don't, say?" Vinyl sarcastically replied. Maybe she was going through something worse.
"YOU have a problem? The Doctor needs a doctor!" Derpy said, oblivious to the irony of her phrase.
"What did you do, Derpy?" Vinyl asked.
While she liked her friends and trusted them with almost anything, she wasn't about to tell them she got the Doctor sick. "Nothing, I swear!"
"Derpy, please, what did you do?" Bon Bon asked, sounding calmer than before.
There was no point anymore, Derpy gave up and decided to come clean. "...I left some...bad muffins on the table and offered one to the Doctor."
"Oh, Derpy. Do you still have the candies I gave you when you got sick?" Bon Bon asked with a comforting tone.
"Oh, your Fix-it-all Candies! I love those things!" Vinyl said. "Derpy, if you got one, give it to the Doctor, he'll feel better than my fans during parties I'm invited to!" she added.
"I think I have one somewhere..." Derpy got to the kitchen quickly and began searching for the miracle candy. "What was your problem anyway, Bon Bon?"
"Oh, yeah. Lyra rented that movie with the puppets, and she took a break to go to the little fillies' room. But my problem is, I don't know if I want to keep watching this, I just looked over my shoulder to see if there wasn't any evil puppets behind me! What do I do?!" Bon Bon said desperately.
"Easy girl, easy! All you gotta do is-" Vinyl's voice was suddenly interrupted.
"Vinyl? Vinyl?! The puppets! The puppets got to her I tell you!" Bon Bon said with what sounded like an exaggerated fear in her voice.
Bon Bon's talking about evil puppets was ridiculous even to her, which made Derpy question her friend's grip of reality. "Bon Bon...?"
"All of you thought I was crazy, but now the movies are real! We are all doomed!" Bon Bon clearly wasn't in this reality.
Derpy rolled her eyes. "Bon Bon, you think Lyra is crazy, you are not acting any better yourself."
"She is obsessed with humans, I am obsessed with the safety of everypony! Totally different-" Bon Bon stopped talking and Derpy could hear what seemed to be Lyra's voice in the background. "It's Lyra! Derpy, go help the Doctor and I'll find a way to survive myself, I'll talk to you after the movie!" Bon Bon whispered before her voice was interrupted.
Derpy finally found the miracle candy made by Bon Bon. She rushed to the bathroom, only to find the door closed. She could hear the Doctor groaning inside and she began to panic.
Vinyl's voice was once again heard through the earrings. "Sorry about that, what's going-"
"No! Don't open that door!" Bon Bon yelled.
In her current state of panic, Derpy believed the yelling was directed at her, which only made her panic more. "But the Doctor is inside! I have to open it!"
"Derpy, I don't think she means you. Alright, I'll go all in soon." Vinyl said, apparently amused, before stopping again.
Derpy opened the door to find the Doctor lying on the floor. "Doctor! Eat this!" She put the candy inside the Doctor's mouth and made him eat it. True to what Bon Bon and Vinyl had said, the Doctor began to feel better instantly.
"My...Ditzy, that was...certainly interesting, to say the least!" the Doctor said before laughing. His laughter alone was enough to get Derpy herself to laugh.
***
Derpy had really outdone herself with the dinner. Cold carrot soup for appetizer, pan fried vegetables on a bed of lightly sautéed dandelions and light cider for the main course, and warm cocoa and strawberries for desert. She really had to thank her friend Carrot Top for letting her borrow a cooking book later. Even the Doctor was amazed, it was certainly more than enough to make up for the pear muffin incident.
Following Bon Bon's advice, Derpy talked about anything with the Doctor before it was time for the question. "I can't imagine life for the poor ponies without muffins from 3 centuries ago. It must have been a very, very boring life!"
"Oh, not at all, Ditzy! But I do agree, it was a tad bit boring compared to the present. Of course, for other reasons."
"What other reasons could there possibly be?"
"Well..." The Doctor paused, then shook his head. "Aye, let's leave it at the muffins for now."
Derpy waited until the dinner was definitely over, it was the time for her move. "Doctor...there...there is something I need to tell you." Her face turned red as her mind raced with thoughts.
"Oh, what is it, Ditzy?" The Doctor smiled slightly.
However, before Derpy could continue, the thoughts in her mind went downhill. Her daughters really wanted him to be their daddy, and Derpy really wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but would the Doctor agree to suddenly become the father of a pair of unicorns? He liked them, that was for sure, but did he love them? Did he even love her? Or did he just think of her as a dear friend? She couldn't take it anymore. "Do you...Doctor, I..." she tried to speak.
"Ditzy, are you alright?" the Doctor attempted to calm her down, to no avail.
"...I'm sorry, I'll be right back." Derpy ran to her room before even finishing the sentence, leaving the Doctor confused. She locked the door and lied down on her bed, about to cry.
"Hey girls, how did everything go?" Vinyl asked. She sounded tired, which made Derpy think things didn't work out for her either.
"Could have gone better. You?" Bon Bon said, sounding somewhat sad.
"I got attacked by squirrels...I...I couldn't do it...my plan didn't work out for me..." Vinyl's voice cracked.
Derpy couldn't bear to hear her friend like that. "I'm sure it can be fixed, Scratch," she said, trying to comfort Vinyl.
"I can't, Derpy, I'm too shy...enough about me, what happened to you?"
"I left to get one final spark of courage...I almost started crying before you called, I just can't get myself to say it!" Derpy now really began crying.
"Well, I just gave up. Trying to confess during horror movie night is not a good idea, at all." Bon Bon said with resignation.
Derpy couldn't believe this big plan had failed all of them. She thought that maybe they were really doomed to live loving somepony they could never confess to, before her friend was heard again. "Ok girls, last advice of the night. We are not going to bed tonight without having our love confessed or our hearts broken. Next chance you get, DO IT!" Vinyl shouted with reborn courage, it seemed, before nothing else was heard.
"What? Scratch? ...Scratch?!" Derpy tried to talk to Vinyl, but no sound was coming from Vinyl's end. "Oh my...Bon Bon? Are you there? Bon Bon?!" she asked desperately, but no sounds were coming from Bon Bon's end either.
Derpy took off her earrings. There was nothing else to do, was it? Her only option now was to confess to the Doctor. She remained silent, thinking about the worst case scenario over and over again. It was overwhelming, her poor heart couldn't take it anymore. Derpy was about to cry a sea of tears when she felt a pair of forelegs holding her and the body of a stallion being pressed against her back.
"Stop crying, Ditzy..." the Doctor whispered to her.
"D-Doctor? H-How did you get in here?" Derpy turned around to find herself face to face with the Doctor.
"I heard you crying from outside. The door was locked, so I had to use my Sonic Screwdriver. You can yell at me for destroying your privacy later, but I couldn't let you cry." The Doctor tenderly embraced Derpy, like a coltfriend to a marefriend. "Are you alright?"
"...Doctor...I need to tell you something...please don't hate me for this." Derpy summoned all of her courage to say the next words. "I...I sort of have a crush on-" The Doctor interrupted her placing a hoof on her mouth. He broke the embrace and looked her in her misaligned eyes with a serious expression. It was it, the Doctor was about to reject her. Derpy's eyes watered as she prepared for the words that would destroy her heart forever.
"Ditzy Doo, or, Derpy Hooves, don't say another word." The Doctor moved the hoof on Derpy's mouth to her chin. "...Not until after this." The Doctor leaned in and kissed Derpy on the lips, much to her surprise.
After the short kiss, Derpy's heart was both calm and on fire. She attempted to speak but no complete word left her mouth. It took her a good thirty seconds to recompose herself. "D-D-D-Did you just KISS me, Doctor?!" She smiled and giggled like a little filly.
"What? Me? No, I just pressed my lips against yours, my dear," the Doctor said, about to laugh. He couldn't laugh, however, because Derpy hugged him and made him fall to the bed with her.
"I love you, Doctor. You don't know how long I have wanted to say that."
"Oh, I can get an idea, Ditzy!" the Doctor replied, adding a soft laugh.
Derpy laughed and repeated the words "I love you" many times. "That was for all the times I didn't say it!"
The Doctor kissed her again before laughing. "Are you sure you got your math right?" he asked.
Derpy smiled and rolled her eyes. "I could do it all over again if you want!" she said before repeating the three words all over again, though this time she was interrupted by another kiss from the Doctor.
"Now, Ditzy, I think you got your point across."
It had been a wonderful evening. Despite some setbacks, the plan worked. Derpy could now finally enjoy her dream, and there was nothing else in the world she would ask for. The one thing left to do, however, was telling her friends of the plan's success, but she could do it the next morning. For now, she just wanted to have that perfect moment that had only been in her daydreams until that night.