//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: The Blue Box // Story: Derpy Meets The Doctor // by Heavyhauler75622 //------------------------------// Someplace, somewhere, sometime different, a creature felt the warm twinge of time being manipulated. If it had a nose to smell with, it would have sniffed the air, if air had been present. Lacking those particulars, it simply knew something had changed. Changed drastically. Forces manipulated on a quantum level, it started moving toward the warmth. Just as it picked up the trail, something else had come along. It smelled, or tasted, or felt, whatever, even better than the thing that had attracted its attention in the first place. As the creature slowed, the other else, barreling along, swept it up and pushed it in front, as it sped down the trail. The creature managed to stay in front and away from the fast-moving thing. Perhaps it was hunting, too. They were both following the same scent… There was a tearing, as the thing split into two. One went into one reality, the other continued to push the creature along into the other…where the trail had come from. Riding the wave, the creature thought of food to feed its hunger. Then the trail disappeared, and the thing started to slow in the reality and change direction. The creature wasn’t too concerned; starships did that all the time. It would simply take up the hunt once it reached whatever it was coming up on. It struck the ground. Quickly, in a species feared for its speed, it moved toward the smell of… The bear stared at the thing that had suddenly appeared. Nudging it, it sat immovable and inert. The bear watched it carefully, just in case it might attack. She slowly walked back down the road toward her house, as the thoughts raced around inside her head. She liked the guy, draconequus, demigod, whatever. Once you met him, you could figure it out pretty quick that the guy was a showoff; that he needed to awe an audience. If you even paid any attention to the amazing things he could do, he just gravitated to you. If you appreciated his mindset, the guy was so starved for attention; he’d latch on to you and pour his heart out. It was endearing, actually. Problem was, he was dangerous. Fluttershy had managed to muzzle him pretty effectively, but he had a driving need to encourage entropy. Derpy was convinced Discord was cracking under the constraints. Then she came along, helped him (sort of) torture Flutts’ rabbit, (now, hold on, Derpy; neither of you set the bomb inside that mailbox…you just made Angel own up for it), gave him some appreciation of his talent, and now, he had two friends. Her musings continued as she picked up her mail from her box and went to her door. Fluttershy was one thing. She had friends, acquaintances, interactions, but she went into Ponyville for those. Derpy’s friends frequently came to her house, because of Dinky. That was something entirely different. Discord was right down the road. Could everypony handle it if he came over unexpectedly? She unlocked the door, walked into the quiet home, setting her mail on her kitchen table. Unbuttoning the right epaulet of her jacket, she set the mailbag onto an empty chair next to the table, and then took out a plate and her favorite coffee cup from the cupboard. She then unbuttoned and removed the lunchbag. Pouring a cup of the still hot coffee, she plated the muffins, and started to eat her lunch. The muffins were the more normal bake shop kind from the chain store on the northwest side of Ponyville. Not as exacting as the Cake’s talented products, or the loving offerings she herself made, they weren’t all that bad for mass produced. She started on the last one, enjoying the quiet while she calmed her thinking down. Whatever the consequence, she was still happy about Discord’s friendsh… Vworp… Derpy sat up in her chair, her ears pricked up. What was that? Vworp…vworp… Like most of her species, Derpy was possessed with extraordinary hearing, and both her ears and her head swiveled, turned toward where the noise/sound was coming from... Vworp…Vworp…Vworp…Vworp…VWORP… There was no mistaking it now…the thing was in the backyard. She got up and went to the back door, curious… And with what sounded remarkably like two thumps against the ground, the sound suddenly stopped. Derpy hesitated. What if… “My house. My yard.” She took a deep breath…and tugged the door open. There, in the corner where the house and the coach house met, was a large, strange, blue box. Not only was it jarringly different in architecture than the usual thatched roof whitewashed design most homes and businesses in Ponyville had, it was a general mismatch to any style she was familiar with. She slowly walked up to it, then walked around. It was definitely blue, not cobalt, more royal in shade. There were windows, two on each side, but she couldn’t see anything when she tried to look in them. There was some sort of framed-in light at the top, and a banner sign ran around all four sides near it. Each side said the exact same thing: “police public call box”. “What the hay is a call box?” she said aloud. Ponyville had no ‘police’, there were a couple of constables, whose main function it seemed was to take reports, walk around on occasion and appear stern, and chase some of the more mischievous fillies and colts when they played hooky from school, or come to grips with the purloining of the high school senior class. Otherwise, they were pretty much around for decorative purposes. They did try to do things during a crisis, mostly try to evacuate anypony in the threat area, but by the time they got it organized, the crisis usually had moved on, abated, or met the Mane Six, to its predictable and fairly quick end. What she assumed passed for the ‘front’ of the thing had a pair of doors; some very odd smallish door handles, she supposed, that were obviously for something other than a pony to use, besides being mismatched and unevenly installed, a symbol on the right door that said, ‘St. John Ambulance’, and a small door inside the left one. It carried a sign. “Police telephone. Free for use of public. Advice and assistance obtainable immediately. Officers & cars respond to all calls. Pull to open,” Derpy read aloud from it. “Well…why not.” After she spent a few moments working at the edge of the small sign with her hoof, she managed to get in behind it to pull it open. And was confronted with a telephone handset on a cradle. Other than being of unusual design, it was very reminiscent of the one inside her own house. She picked it up, started to listen. The connection was open, she heard the same noise hers made when the line was ready for calls; the odd, hollow sound just before the dial tone kicked in, but it didn’t have any dial tone or ring the other end for the operator like it was supposed to. She tested it. “Hello? Hello?” Nothing. “HELLO? My name is Derpy. If anypony is there, could you please come to my house on General Delivery Route A, number 35? One of your boxes is here, and you need to come and get it. Hello? HELLO?” No answer. “Well that was a lie. No officer answered, not even one of those ‘cars’ things; they probably meant ‘cart’ anyway. Probably a misprint; and that isn’t giving me a lot of confidence, either. What the hay am I supposed to do with a blue box?” she said to herself, exasperated. It was right in the middle of their favorite grassy spot in the backyard, where she and Dinky liked to lay in the afternoon sun and read books. She hung up the handset in the cradle, shut the door a bit harder than was needed. She backed up, making the same disgusted face she had when confronted with raisins in her muffins. She HATED raisins. “Maybe I can get Discord to help me move this thing out of here, start making a few calls around to find the owner. Maybe some flyers. If not, it’s an interesting ornament, sorta, but it’s in the way where it is. If I put it over there on the left, I could always use it for storing stuff inside,” she considered. Awkwardly, she placed the tip of her hoof into as much of the door handle of the right door as she could. Those would be the first to go; replaced with some decent levers, and she’d make sure with Dinky’s help that they would be straight and even. She pulled on it. The door shifted slightly, but wouldn’t open. “Aw, for cryin out loud…” she then noticed the smallish, delicate lock on the door. “BATS! It’s locked?! Who hates me so much that they put some stupid blue box in my yard, and then lock it up?” she grumbled disgustedly. It was very obvious she was going to need help with the ridiculous thing. She stared at it balefully, even more put out then she was before. She was going to have to leave in a few minutes to bring back the picked-up mail, presort it, and get back before Dinky started home from school on the coach. She could walk home with her from the school if the timing worked out right. There just wasn’t enough time or circumstance to deal with this absurd thing at the moment. And she wasn’t all that comfortable just marching up the hill to play moving company so soon with Discord, either. It would keep until Sunday. Besides, those St. John Ambulance folks might catch on to their mistake, and come on their own to remove it. She went back inside her house and locked the back door, went to put all her kit back on, rinsing out the thermos and putting it all back together, then putting it into the lunchbag, which she carefully resealed. She strapped it on and cautiously re-buttoned the epaulet over the strap. She did the same thing with the mailbag next. Setting the plate and cup in the sink and the plastic bag from the muffins in the trash, she gave the kitchen a once over to see if it was picked up and neat. Satisfied, she left by the front door, re-locking it with her teeth, using the robust key she carried. A test push and pull to check, and then she was aloft, on her way back to the Post Office. If she has taken just a moment or two longer to circle above and watch, she would have seen something try to push the doors open from the inside of her backyard’s latest acquisition. Then abruptly, it stopped. Derpy landed right on her spot on the loading dock, and then started for the service entrance. On Time met her just inside. He had a worried look on his face. “What happened, Derpy?” Derpy almost blurted out that she just had a quick conversation with the Lord of Chaos and that everything was copacetic, but she had a feeling that wasn’t what On Time was worried about. She paused just inside the door and looked at him. “Nothing at all. What’s up, Chief?” On Time’s face was taking on an ashen hue. “You’re back almost two hours early.” “NO. Really? I hit all my stops, Chief. Look, my bag is almost full…” She showed him. Not only was it full of her pickups, but they had already been pre-sorted and bundled neatly by zone. All had proper postage, and none of the stamps had been cancelled yet. Exactly as she does it. Except… “Huh. When did I do the presort? I usually wait…” She looked at him. His color had returned, after his fear of a Derpy crash had been alleviated. In fact, he was becoming rather pleased with the situation. “Great! I’ll just take this,” he said, as he undid the epaulet and levitated the bag to the Mail Room. “Oh, and Derpy, you can clock out now if you want; I’ll put the adjustment on your hours in with the card as early route completion. You’ll get the full hours you were promised, just like the rules say.” “Uh, sure, Chief. Let me clean this thermos up, and I’ll do that.” She was a bit bewildered. “That’s fine. Super job today, you must have had tailwinds the whole way. Get your gear settled and get outta here, you nut! Go have some fun with your filly!” he chuckled as he left with a huge grin. “Sure, Chief…” She was brushing out the thermos in the break room, thinking about what just happened. There was no possible way she should be this early. In fact, that little morality play she and Discord forced upon Angel should have run her clock down tighter than usual. She glanced at the wall clock. One fifteen. She was way ahead of her pace. The absolute earliest she could complete the route on a light day put her close to two o’clock or so. On a heavy day, she frequently finished at two fifty, even three. This wasn’t all that heavy a day, but still… She finished with the thermos, rinsed it, then left it drying in the rack, along with its stopper and the lid. As she passed the time clock she punched out, and then went to change. Theoretically, she could have waited until she put the uniform and bag away, but her internal clock was so screwed up today… She was putting her gear away, when she paused…the whistle dangling from her hoof, interrupted mid-flight to its hook opposite her hat. “Discord…” It had to be him. Nothing else would explain it. The sneak shifted time for her, and against all his instincts and proclivities, actually instilled order in her mailbag, sorting her incoming into their proper bundles to save her even more time. She chuckled warmly. Have to hand it to the guy; it was another of his surprises, and a welcome one. She was going to get more time with Dinky! She finished in the locker room, then blasted outside to the dock, launching herself like RD did, snap-rolling as she gained altitude, a loud, “Woo-HOOO” in her wake… On Time laughed. The girl had her moods. She came in confused, washed and put away her stuff in the break room pensive, and now was rocketing away for the school overjoyed. Celestia help the stallion that married her. He shook his head, smiling, as he bent back to his paperwork. All thought about the blue box was forgotten in her head as she blasted off toward her little filly. The creature moved in fits and starts, as things came and went. None were suitable prey, as their perceptions wouldn’t generate the needed food to eat. The creature was infinitely patient, though. Each time it could, it moved its odd new appendages closer to its receptors, until it could once more seek the warm, flavorful trail that brought it here. It had a good idea where the thing had set down, but all the new energy around it was very confusing, and until it had studied the strange flavors and managed to eliminate them from the scent, it was wise to be cautious. Derpy backwinged and touched down right in front of the school. Even though she would have to wait, she was just too excited to find something to kill time with before school let out. In fact, it was taking an amazing amount of discipline on her part to not charge in and get her released early. Much as she wanted to have her back, Derpy realized Dinky needed her class time. She took to pacing back and forth in front of the school, nervously trotting a circle as she waited. “Can I help you, ma’am?” Derpy looked up from her hooves. It was one of the constables, “Officer…?” “Dibble, ma’am. Officer Dibble. Did you need help, ma’am?” “Oh, no, Officer Dibble. I’m Derpy; I’m the mailmare for Ponyville, and I just managed to finish delivery early. My daughter goes to this school, and I decided to pick her up and walk home together today.” “Oh, fine ma’am, but you’re going to have a bit of a wait. Did you need to go and do anything else?” he asked. “No, I’m fine…oh, wait. Who do I need to talk to about the blue box in my backyard?” she asked, suddenly remembering one of her other odd occurrences. “Blue box?” Dibble asked, confused. “Yes, sir. Somepony dropped a blue police box in my back yard by mistake today, I’m sure. Some sort of call box thingy, that the station responds with officers and something called ‘cars’?” Derpy asked. “Um…” he replied. “Does that mean ‘yes’, or ‘no’ Officer Dibble?” she asked, confused, peering intently at the constable. “No pony told me about any special ‘police public call box’, ma’am. Did you want to make a report on it?” The officer seemed eager to write all this stuff down. “Do you know of any ‘St. John Ambulance’, either?” she asked as well. “No, ma’am. Are you having some problems with them, too?” He seemed even more confused than she was. “No, it really isn’t a problem, sir. If it’s a joke by one of my friends, I’ll find out soon enough. If nopony is involved, you can come out later on and I’ll make a report. My place is a bit out of town, so it seems kinda silly to have somepony trot all the way out for a prank,” she said evenly. “Yes, ma’am. We appreciate your concern in this matter. Here’s my card,” he said professionally, handing her a business card, “…and if you have any other things to add, please let us know.” “Oh, okay, sure,” she replied matter of factly, taking it and slipping it into her mane. “I’ll do that.” He nodded, then suddenly, took off at a canter. “Snips! Snails! I see you both, trying to sneak back into class! Both of you, march over here!” Derpy watched him go. On a whim, she took the card back out, looked at it… The phone number on it was for the Town Hall exchange switchboard. The Constabulary didn’t even have a dedicated phone line. Their calls for service routed through the main PBX. She goggled at it, and then put it back away. The box wasn’t from here. It professed a direct line for the officers and ‘cars’ to respond on, not the operator in Town Hall. Another mystery. And Dibble had no idea about St. John Ambulance. There wasn’t any such organization in Ponyville. She should know; she delivered the mail here. It had to come from somewhere, didn’t it? Maybe it was going someplace important when it ended up in her backyard. Hopefully, the owner was already backtracking to find it…though it should have smashed to bits when it landed in her yard… She started pacing again…for a new reason, now.