Shadows into the Light

by Kagemoon

Pre-Party Prep

Jotting entered the strangely shaped Sugercube Corner ten minutes before the scheduled time for the party just in time to see Pinkie Pie leap from one end of the common room to the other, a colorful trail of streamers following in her wake. The decorations floated into perfect waves and seemed to magically attach themselves to the wall in unison.

“That’s impossible,” the unicorn grumbled.

Pinkie turned and smiled at him. “Oh, hi JT you’re early.”

Shaking the physics breaking performance from his mind Jotting plastered a smile on his own face. “I tend to do that a lot. Do you need any help?”

“Nope,” she said with a comical shake of her puffy hair. “I just finished. Snacks and drinks are over there on the table. I couldn’t get my friend Vinyl here tonight but I do have her new album so that’s okay. All my friends said they’d be coming to meet you and your friends tonight too.”

“That’s great Pinkie. I promised Rainbow Dash to sign one of my books for her and Twilight and I need to continue our conversation from earlier.”

The pink pony’s eyes widened and started to glimmer. “I knew you and Twilight would hit it off, you both like books.”

“Uh yeah, hit it off, that’s what we did, I guess,” Jotting said remembering his last meeting with Celestia’s student. “By the way Pinkie can you keep a secret?”

“I am the best at keeping secrets. I pinkie promise.”

“Pinkie whatis?” the confused unicorn asked.

“I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye that I won’t tell anyone your secret,” she pantomimed the actions in her limerick.

“Right,” Jotting was confused but realized he needed to trust her. “So, my friend ran into the mailmare, Ditzy, and he’s attracted to her now. I need info o0n said mare Miss. Pie.”

Pinkie’s eyes shimmered even more. “Really? That’s great. Okay I’ll help you out. Ditzy is a single mom, her filly’s name is Dinky and she’s a unicorn. Ditzy’s ex-husband was a pegasus and left because he thought she cheated on him, even though Ditzy’s dad was a unicorn too. She’s really nice, but because of her eyes and because she’s a bit clumsy everyone calls her Derpy, that’s really mean and I never call her that,”

Pinkie took a few deep breaths and continued. “She loves muffins, especially double chocolate chip ones. She likes Ocitavia and Lyra’s orchestra better than Vinyl Scratch, but that’s okay everyone has different taste in music. She works really, really, hard at being a mailmare and sometimes gets home late so she gets her neighbors the Flower Sisters to watch Dinky for her sometimes. Oh and you wouldn’t know it but she has really strong wing power, when Rainbow Dash was measuring every pegasus in Ponyville Ditzy got twelve wing power, when she went straight that is, she was really tired from delivering packages that day.”

A few more deep breaths. “She’s a really good cook, but loves taking Dinky to Hayfred’s restaurant for their hayfries, best hayfries in Ponyville by the way. She’s really smart and is always getting books from the library to read, she like romance novels by the way, I’m not sure if she’s read your books. Annnnd that’s everything useful I know.”

Jotting’s mind was still catching up with the second round of deep breaths. “How do you do that?”

“Lung capacity? Pinkie said still smiling.

“No, I mean recalling all that personal information without notes or anything.”

“Oh I try to learn as much as I can about my friends and everyone in Ponyville is my friend, so I know lots about everyone.”

Jotting continued to stare at the Element of Laughter as she double checked her decorations.

She’s not a pony, she’s a filing system come to life… with a tornado and Discord as parents.

“Well thanks Pinkie. All that will really help the Doctor,” he was finally able to say.

“Good, so I hooked up you and Twilight, the Doctor and Ditzy are in the works, now for Lethe,” the earth pony mumbled to herself.”

“Wait what?”

“Nothing, just shipping. It’s something I thought I’d try.”

“Shipping? Wait back up, me and Twilight?”

“Yep, I’m going to do my best to get the two of you together.”

Jotting knew how the Doctor felt at the café. “Pinkie, I’d like to get to know Twilight a bit more before someone decides we should be a couple.”

Pinkie seemed to ignore him. “Okay. So what kind of mares does Lethe like?”

“He doesn’t,” JT told her somehow getting caught in her matchmaking mood. “Lethe’s a coltcuddler. He likes stallions.”

“Ooooo, a challenge. That’s great. Let’s see, Big Mac’s definitely a no. Snips and Snails are too young,” she continued to ramble off a list of names JT presumed were single stallions. A sudden crash in the storefront ceased her musings. Jotting followed Pinkie toward the source of the noise to discover a cyan pegasus trying desperately to put the store’s door back on its hinges. Jotting used his magic to levitate the door back into it proper place, much to Rainbow Dash’s relief.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said as she dusted herself off. “I was going a bit too fast there and didn’t pull up in time.”

“That’s fine Dashie, you’re early anyway. It’s just you and JT right now, but everyone should be coming in soon,” Pinkie gave Dash a friendly hug.

“Great,” Rainbow reached into her side packs and pulled out a stack of books Jotting recognized as the entire collection of his first series. “You promised to sign some books for me, remember.”

Jotting couldn’t help but laugh. “I remember saying A book, but I’m flattered to see you really are a fan.” He levitated a pen off the nearby counter. “So what do you want it to say?”

As the Luna’s moon ascended in the sky a dark purple pegasus was on his third circuit over Ponyville’s airspace looking for the mare who was his mission objective for the night. He was about to double back when he spotted two grey shapes passing under a streetlight. A quick flyby identified a bubble cutie mark on the pegasus.

“Good evening ladies,” Lethe called down to the two mares as he landed next to Ditzy. “Going to the welcome party?”

Ditzy was shocked at the new arrival while Dinky hid behind her mother’s back leg. “Um, yes we are. I’m Ditzy this is my daughter Dinky,” she said motioning to the shy unicorn filly.

“Name’s Lethe, I’m one of the stallions being welcomed along with Jotting and the Doctor.”

At the mention of Hooves, Lethe noticed the mare relax a bit as a smile crossed her face. “Oh you’re one of the friends the Doctor met for dinner then?”

“Yep. He was on cloud nine when he showed up, said he met a nice mare in town who was coming to the party. I recognized you from his description immediately.”

Ditzy frowned slightly. “What did he say?” she asked.

Lethe noticed the change in demeanor and decided to steer away from the obvious. “He said you were a cute grey pegasus with a bubble cutie mark and a unicorn daughter.”

Ditzy smiled at this and blushed. “Um… thanks”

“Mommy, is this a nice pony?” a tiny voice asked barely above a whisper.

“Yes he is Dinky. He’s a friend of mommy’s new friend. They moved here together,” she told her daughter.

“Hi, I’m Dinky Doo,” the filly said coming out from behind her mother’s legs. “Are you mommy’s special somepony?”

Ditzy blushed even deeper as Lethe laughed at Dinky’s wide eyed curiosity. “Fraid not Dinky. Your mom met a much better looking stallion than me. Granted I’m not as socially awkward as him, but he’s a really good pony.”

“So Mr. Lethe, how did you meet Hooves?” Ditzy butted in trying to steer the conversation away from her possible relationship.

“We used to work at the same hospital,” he said without blinking an eye. It was true that the two often ran into each other in the Night Watch’s medical ward, even if they had worked a few missions together before actually both being stationed there.

“What about your author friend Pinkie was talking about? It makes since for two doctors to be friends, but what did he do get a really nasty paper cut?”

Lethe’s first meeting with Jotting ran through his head. Both were just out of shoe camp and were team up with a much more experienced agent while they investigated a Tirek Cult. The elder agent went down leaving the two green recruits alone against a mob crazy robed cultist. Lethe’s wing had been clipped by a magic bolt. He thought it was his final mission until his dark blue unicorn partner shielded him from the any further harm. Jotting was able to shield them both until backup arrived and captured all of the remaining cultist.

“He helped me out when I got a little over my head,” Lethe told the mare. “I introduced him to the Doctor not long after.”

“Do you give shots?” the curious filly asked finally fully emerging from behind he mom.

“Yes I do, but I’m so good at it I’ve never had a single pony tell me it hurt,” Lethe blatantly lied to Dinky. Even the strongest and most hardened Night Watch agents would weep and whine at the sight on a little needle.

“I don’t need any shots,” Dinky insisted. “Right Mommy?”

“That’s right. My little filly is healthy as a…” the remainder of the phase escaped her.

“I bet she is. So I have to ask, what do you think of Hooves?” Lethe asked Ditzy.

The mailmare blushed again. “At first I thought he was very mean, but then he brought me cookies as an apology. Is he really that bad at talking to other ponies?”

Lethe burst out laughing. “Oh yeah. He’s gotten us in a few fights at around Canterlot just by speaking his mind. No filter between his physiological analysis and his mouth. He just comes right out and says what he’s observed. He needs constant supervision around anyone not a friend or a patient.”

Suddenly Lethe remembered he was supposed to be touting the Doctor’s good attributes not telling Ditzy everything bad about him. He was about to correct himself but thought against it. If she didn’t get a heads up with Hooves’s worst attribute.

“Why is he like that? I mean he seems like such a nice stallion, but it seems a bit mean,” Ditzy said hanging her head.

Damage control time. Lethe thought to himself. “He had something to prove back in school. Hooves’s parents are both low class laborers and when some of his peers found out in first year medical school they never let him live it down. Most of those in Canterlot Med are either legacies or high ups. My parents are both in the medical field as a matter of fact. It gets a bit cliquish. To avoid ridicule Hooves threw himself into studying, got to the top of the class and kept going. Now his mind is constantly referencing the texts he read and is reading it back out loud when he observes something.”

“That sounds a little sad,” Ditzy said.

“It is. He only had a handful of real friends in Canterlot. Plenty of peers, but he aggravates most ponies trying to get to know him. JT and I just got used to his quirks.”

“Sounds familiar,” Ditzy whispered to herself.

“Mommy, mommy. There’s Sugercube Corner,” Dinky shouted while she hopped around her mother in a perfect representation of Pinkie Pie. “I hope there’s muffins.”

Ditzy smiled as she saw a nervous looking tan earth pony standing outside the shop’s doors, off to the side of the stream of ponies entering the party with a yellow flower in his mouth. Lethe smiled as he saw a dark blue shape duck around into the alley stealthily upon noticing the approaching group.

So far, so good

“Why am I so bloody nervous,” Hooves asked himself after JT had ducked back into the alley. “It’s a simple welcome party. I’ve been to plenty for new members. Buck up Hooves, remember all of the data Jotting gathered for you. You’re prepared for this. You won’t screw this up.”

Ditzy, Lethe, and a tiny grey unicorn stopped in front of him. With a sly smile Lethe excused himself and joined the herd of Ponies filing into Sugercube Corner. The Doctor knew his cheeks were flushed as he held out the tulip to his date.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I picked out something that reminded me of the color of your eyes,” the Doctor told Ditzy doing his best on to stutter.

Ditzy smiled and quickly ate the blossom of the flower. “I love tulips. Thanks Doctor. Oh, this is my daughter Dinky,” she motioned to the wide eyed filly.
Dinky’s face was a mixture of curiosity and unease. “Um, hi. Mommy didn’t say anything about you being pretty,” she whispered.

“Pretty huh?” the Doctor chuckled. “That’s only the second time I’ve been called that. Lethe had entirely too much wine the first time.”

“I think she meant handsome,” Ditzy corrected her daughter before realizing what she had implied. “I mean, she must think you look nice.” That wasn’t any better.

“It’s fine Ditzy, no need to pro… I mean you look very nice as well. Both of you.”

The inclusion of Dinky caused the filly to lose all trepidation and she moved between her mother and the Doctor. “Can we go inside now? I wanna see what treats Aunty Pinkie made for tonight.”

The Doctor nodded and motioned for the door. “That sounds like an excellent idea. After you my dears.”