Miss Doo knelt on her forelegs, nearly losing her blue cap as her body lowered. All was still this afternoon. She lifted her head, just so, staring with one crooked eye at the handsome pegasus behind the stable door. He was at the edge of his hooves. Waiting in apprehension. When would she make her move?
“Hup!”
Miss Doo took a short jump, and blew gently with her wings. On the breeze, the envelope stamped for this address wafted down the path to Sonny’s door. His eyes watched it like Miss Doo’s watched butterflies. And just as one, it neared his nose. He caught it in his teeth.
“Amazhing…!” he whispered through the parcel. “Ditzy Doo’s still got it! She never ceases to bewiler!”
“Thank you, thank you,” bowed Miss Doo. “I’ll be here all week!”
“Bravo!” he whistled. “I eagerly await you, the Fantastic Ditzy Doo! The Beautiful and Charming Ditzy Doo! The Lovely Mare, Ditzy Doo!” He called out his praises as the mail carrying mare walked and waved away.
Something pink flushed on her cheeks as she did so, a small and sweet smile rising shyly on her face.
“Hi, Amy!” waved Miss Doo from down the sidewalk. The young unicorn stifled a genuine smirk as she turned to re-enter the storefront of the Crystal Corner.
“Okay,” she said to Rarity, more at her service. “Here’s your delivery. You order these all the time, huh? What even are these?” Miss Doo hoofed a small box to its recipient, who lifted it with her magic.
“These are… just small gems,” Rarity began, scanning the details of the box. “And the other package, Ditzy Doo? I do recall that I ordered that two be delivered on every occasion.”
“Oh! Um…” Miss Doo dug her hoof through her bags. Nothing for Rarity. She removed them, and dove in with two hooves as her eyes crossed. “Um! I’m sorry, I guess I left it at the post office again…”
Rarity slid her eyes to her left, and bit her lip again. “Fiddlesticks. And you’re sure you cannot simply take them here next week?”
“Uh… well…” Miss Doo fuddled on her way back up. “Last time I tried to do that, I got in trouble… scheduled deliveries that aren’t made have to be picked up…”
“But I’ve no time today, Ditzy. I’m a busy mare. Can’t Amethyst pick it up on my behalf?”
Miss Doo shrank a bit further. “Um… no, the package is addressed to you, not Amy…”
Rarity sighed, somewhat melodramatically, like a bird. “I suppose I’ll have to make time for it then. Thank you, Miss Doo.”
“Sorry sorry sorry!” waved Miss Doo, now on her way. “I promise I’ll remember it next week, okay? That first time just set up a bad pattern!”
Of course, Rarity would not be so pressed for business as to have to pick up her late package this week if it were not that Miss Doo forgot the second package last week as well. She must really have been falling behind.
[hr[
“Try this one, Sonny!” Miss Doo produced a muffin.
two cups flour
tablespoon baking powder
half tablespoon salt
half cup melted chocolate
hoofful of chocolate chips
two and one half tablespoons sugar
one egg
three quarters cup milk
quarter cup butter
bake 360 degrees for twenty four minutes
Sonny Weathers knelt over the bottom of the stable door, and took a gentle bite of dessert from out of Miss Doo’s hooves. This startled the mare. The stallion, too, was shocked. “Gadzooks Ditzy Doo! That is something else! You always know how to make ‘em.”
“Well, I’ve uh… been writing things down, you know? Helps me remember the basic idea of how to do it and stuff.”
“Genius. Genius!” declared the shining pegasus. “You keep up the good work, Doo, okay?” He punctuated his words with a big bright smile. A smile that shone not unlike the sky. A big, goofy grin from his first ear to his next, a curling of the lips that showed light like an overcast day brought out the sun. Also, it was full of chocolate. Puddles of mud glistening in the day. Rain finally ended. Woes gone away.
Miss Doo smiled back. She smiled a lot around Sonny Weathers. “Thanks! I’ve been really trying my best to make it in Canterlot, you know? Thinks are tough, but I’m gonna manage! I know I can!”
Sonny shared with her a look of determination. “I know you can, too, Doo!”
They lingered.
They lingered a bit more before some hasty goodbye saw Miss Doo down the street. She held one hoof to her chest, to share the swiftness of her heart.
Miss Doo galloped fast as she could while carrying the heavy load for 414 Fifth street. Staggering on the sidewalk, her inertia nigh sent both her and her contents spilling to the ground if it were not for the able-bodied Maud Pie’s steady hoof.
“Careful. Those are fragile.”
“Maud! How much time do I have before you have to go back to work?”
Maud did not check a watch. “You have fourteen seconds.”
“Yesss!” cheered Miss Doo. But she did not have long. “Hi Maud, how are you? What’s up?” she asked with some haste.
“I have been doing better lately,” she delivered as usual. “But I might be re-evaluating some of my life goals.”
“Oh! That’s exciting! Like what?”
“Maybe I’ll take a class in History, get a Master’s alongside my Rocktorate.”
“That’s really cool Maud, I—“
“Time is up,” came her flat interruption. “I have to work now.”
Miss Doo called as Maud took her package inside. “Nice talking to you!” she said as the door closed. “One of these days, Maud Pie,” lifted her shaking and slightly vengeful hoof. “One of these days… we’re gonna have a real conversation. One of these days!”
The postmaster, hearing Ditzy Doo’s words, covered his ears roughly. Anger struck him. “Ditzy Doo…!” he shouted, voice coarse with wear. “Tell me you did not open another pony’s package!”
“Ah…! I….!” Miss Doo’s ears folded back. He was yelling at her. To that, her voice squeaked as if it was small. “I didn’t know, it, I, she said that she wasn’t gonna come back, and, and….! She said she wasn’t ever gonna be back and the packages just said ‘mouthwash’ and I… I had bad muffin breath and—!”
“No, Ditzy Doo,” he scolded. His eyes lurched forward, forcing contact with the mare’s. “Tell me you did not open another pony’s package.” His voice was stern. This was an order, not an exclamation.
Miss Doo darted her glance back and forth, breathing quickly. “I-I-I… I didn’t… open another pony’s package…?” she tried.
“Good answer,” sighed the postmaster. “Because Ditzy Doo, that would be a huge offense. And not only would a pony get fired for something like that. But she would also be sent to jail for up to five years.”
She gulped. Her knees were still trembling.
The postmaster circled behind his desk, lifting his body onto his chair. “You’re a good kid, Dizty Doo. The people ‘round here like your muffins.” He ruffled some through his papers. “I get complaints from all our mail carriers, but the one’s for you are a little too close to the wire. You’re late, you forget packages; you gotta step it up, okay? I’ve fired delinquents for less.”
“I… yes,” was her answer. Her downcast glance said otherwise.
“And hey. I got some compliments for you, too. But this job ain’t all sunshine and smiles. This is a warning, alright?”
“I will, sir!” she nodded. “I… this job is really important to me! I won’t squander it! I’ll try my best!”
“Good,” he spoke.
Ditzy Doo left his office, and he muttered beneath his breath.
“It’d better be enough…”
Miss Doo took the first hoofstep onto the gray concrete porch of 662 on ninth street. Usually, Sonny Weathers was here by now. She turned her head left, then right, mouth twisted with worry. Tentatively, with a pinch of optimism, she rapped on the crusted purple stable door.
Knock, knock.
“Ditzy Doo!” shouted Sonny Weathers. With a start, she flinched. The voice was distant. But it hadn’t come from beyond the door. “Ditzy Doo, up here!”
She took a few steps back, keeping her eyes high. Oh, there he was.
“Sonny Weathers!” she shouted back with a chuckle. “What are you doing on the roof, you goof!”
There was a pause. A comedic pause. “I thought I could see you coming better from here!”
“But why didn’t you!”
Again, a pause. “I fell asleep!”
“Pfffft…! Ha!” Miss Doo chuckled all the way through her answer. “Get down here, Sonny Weathers! Get your mail! I have places to be, you know!”
“Nuh-uh!” he called, hoof steps approaching the edge. “You said I’m the last one of the day! You have nowhere else to be. we could hang out all afternoon!” He peered over the edge at her.
“Okay, fine, you’re right.”
“Hey listen! I woke up at six in the morning and climbed onto my roof to watch for you for a reason.” He hopped down, ruffling his feathers and clonking his hooves on the porch. “A really really good reason!”
“My gosh Sonny Weathers, it’d better be really really good if you got up that early for it!” she teased, hiding a bit behind the folder he received every day. “Why would you get up so early?”
“In case you came early! Look look look, none of this hogwash is important right now! Listen, Doo!” Sonny Weathers put his nose forward, budging a bit into Miss Doo’s face. Miss Doo matched him, squinting in jest. This was not uncommon. “Our friendship has always been really important to me, and I think that it’s a real shame that we haven’t hung out since Cloudsdale!”
Miss Doo flinched a little, to compensate from her throbbing heart. Close encounters seldom lasted this long.
“And I know we have some weird history! But I’ve thought it over a whole lot and I think that another chance is a really good idea. All that stuff’s in the past now! We don’t have to be afraid of each other forever! We can still be friends!”
Miss Doo’s cheeks were getting hot. Sonny Weathers backed away, to bow his head properly.
“Oh, lovely Ditzy Doo,” he charaded. “Will you please have some dinner with me this weekend? I promise that it will be worth it, but it’s okay if you say no!”
Miss Doo rumbled. Not mumbled, as if she was struggling to speak, but rumbled, as if her insides were about to burst.
“SURE Sonny Weathers! I would love to!”
She had almost screamed. She almost screamed like a trumpet out of tune. And she spent the rest of the day with her lips quivering from it. Quivering and heated up from her excitement. All the way back to the post office, she was smiling as she trotted along. All the way back to Sonny’s house because she forgot where he said they were eating, she was humming to herself some nameless song. And all the way back home, closing the door with her backside, slumping to her haunches and sighing dreamily at the birds and bees hovering around her head, things were on the up and up and up and up and up for Ditzy Doo.
…
“My my,” Rarity grinned coyly from behind a teacup. “That sure is exciting hm? Who’d have thought Sonny Weathers would ask you out like this?”
Obviously, somepony had thought so.
“I don’t need yo sass, Rarity! Look, we’re just friends, okay? We want to be friends again. Friends go out to dinner all the time, they go out to dinner all the time!”
“Yo sass…?” Amy mocked. She mumbled a short swear to herself. “Why am I even here…” she wondered out the window.
Meanwhile, Rarity was sipping tea on Miss Doo’s couch while Miss Doo fumbled through the kitchen.
Two cups flour
“Oh of course, dear. Friends take part in many group activities. ‘Group activities’ indeed…” she trailed off as she finished her cup. It chirped quietly on the coffee table. She muttered. “I just hope it comes easy to you, Ditzy…”
Amethyst Star lit her horn, taking the pages of the scribe from the table. She read them, prying down the lines. As she got from the tops to the bottoms of pages, she began to organize them into their proper order.
Rarity stood. “Now, Ditzy Doo, how are you feeling, hm? Are you going to be alright, on this—“
“What should I wear??”
tablespoon baking powder
half tablespoon salt
tablespoon sugar
“I only have one dress and it’s really old and I don’t wanna seem old but it’s my only dress and we’re going someplace nice for some reason??”
another half tablespoon salt
one cup flour…?
“And he said he’d pay??? Should I still bring money??”
a fourth cup of flour
“Ditzy, dear, do settle down,” added Rarity. She came into the kitchen to settle the rowdy pegasus. “It’s all going to be alright. Have you never been out to dinner before, darling?”
Miss Doo settled her feathers. She took a deep breath, and added a few more ingredients.
one egg
one cup milk
quarter cup butter
“Not… not with a friend before! This is so much more pressure…!”
“Goodness, Ditzy, you displace everything, don’t you…”
“Hm? Excuse me?”
“Nothing, dear. Are these ready for the oven?”
“Oh! Yep let’s throw ‘em in!” Miss Doo opened the oven, and Rarity used her magic to slide the tray inside.
375 degrees
“Sorry, I sometimes bake when I’m stressed out. My mom and me used to do it all the time.”
That’s “My mom and I”.
Miss Doo continued, “I mean, I’m not that stressed out, I’m just really really excited because Sonny and I have been pals since flight camp and I really want to be friends with him again even after we… stopped… we stopped being friends but I think that things are really going to—“
“Ditzy Doo. Breathe, breathe. For heaven’s sake, I’ve never seen a pony so smitten…” She may have mumbled that last part. “Now, let us adjourn to your closet then. Thankfully, you have a friend in me who is an absolute savant with a needle. And I never leave home without it.”
Amy rolled her eyes as she heard the words. Still not caught up.
She stopped paying attention to the two giddy mares as they skipped to Miss Doo’s bedroom to refit her dress. Amethyst Star’s attention was on the pages of the scribe. “Can’t believe this trash paper still works. Shame that Ditzy... has been having some hard times lately. Still, I’ll bet this Sonny guy will be good for her. Help her out when she needs it.”
“But let’s see. You only write in short bursts now… some of these are close together but the latest ones are a lot further apart. Really far apart. You must be losing power without the rest of you.”
Rest?
“Oh, talking back now? Come on. Tell me, do you feel it? Like there’s another part of you out there, missing you? Magical objects like you tend to be really finicky, don’t they? And you, especially, you’ve gotta feel something.”
Oh.
Amethyst Star was very smart.
“Um… okay…”
Surely, there was somewhere she belonged.
She stared a moment at the loose pages, again baffled by their words. “What are you getting a—?”
“OW! Hey that tickles!” loudly from the other room.
“Darling, you are finished! Walk out, show Amethyst.”
Amy rolled her eyes, as she usually did. “This isn’t over,” she whispered as she brought up her head.
With some shortage of grace, Miss Doo’s hoof showed itself from behind her bedroom door. Following, the lovely mare skipped into the living room with a little “ta-da!”, her dress and feathers ruffling like leaves of grass. She smiled, and adjusted her hooves nervously. She realigned the natural part in her mane, now much smoother though cutely frayed still along the edges. She bounced when she spoke.
“Well? How do I look!”
Amethyst Star stifled a chuckle. “You look great, Ditzy Doo.”
“Just a quick refitting,” as Rarity followed. “As you wished for, Ditzy. But you simply must come to my boutique next time, darling. If you didn’t look so charming, I would not have dared to allow you out in such an old thing.”
“Hey, I like this dress! It’s really me, you know?”
“Of course, of course, and you shouldn’t have it any other way for an occasion like this.”
Ditzy Doo put her best hoof forward, raising it to the sky as the smile forming on her face made her cheeks tense. “Alright, Sonny Weathers. I’m ready! Let’s do this!”