Chapter 1
The sun rose slowly upwards, showering the ground with its rays that illuminated all it touched. The leaves lazily swayed as a gentle breeze passed over them, content with sitting there absorbing the light Celestia blessed them with. A few small clouds, created by those early rising Pegasus who felt it their duty to provide the other ponies with the occasional patch of shade to cover their early morning business, glided across the otherwise clear sky.
But soon enough, the sun creeping gradually higher in the sky, sunlight was cast across more and more of Ponyville, its gaze slowly and surely encroaching on the sleeping forms of the ponies all across town. The light splashed over the edges of a blonde mane that protruded from the sleeping form curled up under a large blanket. Her grey coat twitched as the light hit the half of her face that wasn’t buried in a pillow, an ear making a groggy attempt to block the light to no avail.
She let out a small grumble and rolled over, stretching in the process, that resulted in one hoof lying across her head and the corner of the cover flopping onto her muzzle. She lay there for a moment before stretching, her back letting out a few painful sounding clicks, followed by bringing a sleepy hoof up, rubbing her eye gently. She rubbed the sleep away before finally trying to sit up, shuffling under the blanket and pressing her back hooves against the bed, pushing herself onto her haunches. Her wings stretched out to both sides and the blanket shed from the grey mare like a cocoon, showing their full span before retracting them again, letting them sit neatly along her body.
After a rather disorganised sitting up, the tired mare finally decided to open her eyes. Sluggishly her eyelids parted, exposing her unadjusted eyes to the room that was slowly filling with light. The bright yellow irises contrasted against the rest of her features, which were very much filled with sleep, but with another final yawn she forced herself out of bed and onto the floor.
She pulled the door open and was immediately hit with a smell that her weary brain attempted to recognise. She knew the smell, but whatever aroma tickled her nostrils at this hour of the morning just wasn’t nameable. Sighing, the grey mare plodded forwards, uncombed mane falling to the sides of her head. Slowly she made her way down the hallway, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the somewhat brightened surroundings. Nose twitching, she took the somewhat confusing sent in and kicked her brain for not knowing what it was.
It smells so familiar... Hay, what can it be? I’m sure I know-
“Ditzy!”
Ditzy jumped, letting out a small cry, wings instinctively coming up to protect her face.
Opening one eye, she spotted the brown stallion half standing in front of her, a confused look on his face, his eyebrow raised. Blood rushed to her cheeks and they turned bright red, realising how silly she must look like this. Letting her wings relax, they fell back to her sides, attempting to compose herself.
“Don’t jump out at me like that Doctor!” Ditzy complained, frowning slightly. “It’s not nice to scare a tired mare.” A small mischievous smile crept across her face as they looked at each other, but she didn’t wish to stop the illusion that she was annoyed with him.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to!” The Doctor showed genuine worry on his face before looking at the ground, ashamed. “Sorry Ditzy...”
Ditzy let out a small chuckle, bouncing up next to him and brushing his mane with her forehead. “Oh Doctor, I was only teasing you, no need to feel bad!” He looked back up at her, being greeted by a massive grin on the grey mare’s face. He let a smile materialise as he met the shining yellow eyes of the caring but clumsy mailmare.
“Well, in which case, come on! I have something to show you, and I think you’ll like it!” he said in a sing-song tone, lifting his head back up high, before trotting away from where he had startled Ditzy. She followed, eager to find out what the Doctor had done for her. Could this be linked with the mystery smell that plagued her nostrils earlier?
As she rounded the corner, her bright yellow eyes lit up with delight, spotting the small tray with her favourite treat on it; muffins. Ditzy let out a slight squeal of delight before rushing over to the side and snatching one up with a hoof. They were obviously fresh as they were still warm and Ditzy took a small bite out of one, not entirely sure what to expect.
They weren’t bad muffins, that’s for sure! They weren’t great, but they weren’t bad.
Doctor watched, an amused grin on his face, as Ditzy tore her way through the muffin, leaving nothing but crumbs in the wrapper that fell flat in her hoof. She turned to him, brushing a few crumbs from around her mouth with a hoof.
“These are really good Doctor!” she beamed to the Doctor’s delight. A similar expression soon appeared across the brown stallion’s face.
“I’m glad you liked them! I mean, it’s the least I can do after you being so kind last night.” The Doctor let his grin subside into a small friendly smile, but Ditzy just looked at him with a hint of confusion.
“W-what do you mean?” the slightly concerned mare asked, dropping the muffin wrapper into her nearby bin.
The Doctor giggled slightly, before he met eyes with Ditzy once more and realised she was being serious. “Do you really not remember? It was at Miss Pinkie’s party!”
Ditzy rolled her eyes to the best of her ability before responding. “I remember that, silly! But, what do you mean, my being so kind last night?” It was then it struck her and her eyes suddenly became wide open. “And what are you doing in my house!?”
The Doctor trotted next to Ditzy as she began to panic, muttering different theories as to what she had forgotten about the night before, and placed his hooves on her shoulders. Immediately she fell silent, her head flicking forward to look into the Doctor’s deep blue eyes. After a moment, his serious expression turned to that of a comforting smile.
In that moment of silence, Ditzy stared, transfixed by the two pools of blue with an island of black in the centre.
“Ditzy Doo, you have nothing to worry about. Would you like me to tell you what you missed?” Ditzy nodded, her eyes still fixed on his, unmoving. “Okay, tell me what you remember first of all.”
As the Doctor removed his hooves from Ditzy’s shoulders, she blinked, her eyes flickering back to their normal walleyed positions. She blushed slightly, smiling sheepishly as he turned and began to walk to the table, pulling out a chair for Ditzy and himself.
“Well,” she said as she hopped up onto the chair, “I know that I was at the party. Uhhh…” she tapped the side of her head thoughtfully, trying to jog her memory. The Doctor waited patiently as the mare racked her brain. “It was all party-like, with Pinkie bouncing everywhere! Buuuuut… there was dancing and I was dancing with everypony… and then I was dancing with Rainbow Dash!” The mare clapped her hooves together at this memory, a grin covering her face. “Oh, then Dashie asked me if I wanted to take a break, so we went away and sat down at a table, and we had some cider and talked…”
The Doctor interrupted, a smirk crossing his face. “Ditzy, do you remember how much you were drinking with Miss Rainbow?” The mare slumped slightly and started tapping her head again.
“I… I can’t remember…” she looked slightly embarrassed by this. Usually she was sensible at parties, right?
“Well, I think you had a fair few drinks,” the Doctor chuckled, causing Ditzy to frown. “When you came over and found me, you were wobbling everywhere…”
Ditzy sat up immediately, eyes wide with a sudden panic. “I did what!?” She felt her cheeks become warm and her grey coat blossomed red. “B-but…” Her head sunk as she dug up the vague memory of her and Dash drinking.
“Come on Derpy, go talk to him! He’s just over there!”
“Dash, nooooooo! I’ll look siiillllyyyy…”
“Oh, come ON! You’re adorable when you’re drunk, just go talk to him, you’ll have him in your hooves in no time!”
“Well… I guess… Well, I’ll go talk then! Laters Dash!”
She sank in her chair, the red spreading until it covered her cheeks completely, the crimson shining through her grey coat with ease.
The Doctor laughed and shuffled his chair closer to Ditzy’s, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s fine Ditzy, I quite enjoyed your company! You were very chatty, and you needed some assistance standing upright…” he chuckled as the mare’s head sank down further. “But you made my evening the best one I’ve had in a while.”
Ditzy’s ears perked up as he said this, lifting her head slightly and looking at him through her messy mane, making sure her eyes were obscured but him still visible through her hair strands.
“W-why…?” She said nervously. Oh hay, I really hope I didn’t do anything stupid!
The Doctor smiled at her, causing her to blush even though he couldn’t see her big yellow eyes. “You were, as I said before, very kind! You dragged me out from my ‘little corner of boring’, as you called it,” this memory caused his smile to widen and to let out a small chuckle. “And you dragged me to meet ponies, drink, dance, and just have fun!” As he said these words, Ditzy lifted her head more, letting her mane fall away from her face. A smile was slowly creeping across her face, but the Doctor continued to speak. “It was thanks to you that I had a great evening if I’m honest. That is definitely the best party I’ve ever been to.”
Derpy almost exploded with delight, throwing her forelegs around the Doctor’s neck. It dawned on her what she had just done, but before she could let go of him, the Doctor had already reciprocated the gesture, his hooves meeting round Ditzy’s back. With this, Ditzy nuzzled the Doctor’s neck for a moment, before finally letting him go.
“T-thank you Doctor,” she sniffed, her smile subsiding and her eyes glowing with happiness. “Saying that… It meant a lot to me.”
“It’s always a pleasure, Ditzy!” the Doctor replied happily. He let out a smile, which was returned by Ditzy. Their eyes met once more, both of them mutually happy with the moment. Ditzy’s eyes flickered to looking in the same direction once more, her smile shrinking, but her happiness being none less.
Suddenly, a thought passed through her head and she held up a hoof between the two. “Wait.” The Doctor had a confused look on his face, but she continued.
“I understand all that stuff, Doctor…” she put her hoof down, looking up at him, a semi-stern yet slightly mischievous look on her face. “But that still doesn’t explain why you’re in my house.”
This time it was the Doctor’s turn to blush. He tried to think of a way to phrase his actions that still sounded dignified.
“Well, a gentlestallion such as myself couldn’t let a drunk mare like you walk home all by herself. So I thought I would walk you home, to make sure you got back okay. And once I got there, you fell asleep almost immediately, so I had to take you to your bed, and soon enough I discovered your sofa to be quite comfy…” He looked back at the mare, who sat there, silent, staring with those big, yellow eyes.
“Plus, well, you were rather cute, and… well…” He stopped as a hoof was placed on his lips, Ditzy smiling at him. He sounded incredibly awkward, but she thought it was cute. Ditzy didn’t share this thought, of course, but it was still there.
“I get the picture, Mister Gentlestallion,” she mocked, poking her tongue out at him as she jumped down from her chair. He laughed, jumping down after her and carefully plucked one of his muffins from the tray as he walked past it. “But still, you didn’t have to make me muffins.” Ditzy blushed slightly at that thought, although the Doctor couldn’t see it.
“Consider it a gift for how much of an amazing mare you are,” he replied, bowing slightly as Ditzy turned. She wasn’t sure what to say, left speechless for the moments following that. Her mouth moved as if it wanted to say something, but the words didn’t form.
“So, how about I leave you to get washed and brush your mane and I try to think of something nice to do today? We have the whole day ahead of us!”
Ditzy stopped with her seemingly random mouth movements and finally settled with a smile.
“Yes Doctor, that would be nice.” She grinned before turning around and bouncing off down the hallway to her room, swinging the door shut behind her. She almost threw herself onto her bed, erupting in fits of giggles.
He said I was cute!
She waved her hooves in the air in excitement, trying not to make too much noise so the Doctor wouldn’t hear her. After a moment of doing that, she shut her eyes and let a grin spread from cheek to cheek across her face.
Oh, but I better get ready if we’re going out somewhere!
She hopped up and went to find a brush that was most likely hidden somewhere around her room. But the excitement created by the compliment the Doctor gave stayed in her mind for the rest of that day.