Inspired by Jackleapp's Autumn

CLICK

She loved the noise the little door made when it closed. Every time she opened the box to put letters in, she would slide them in gently, close the box, and it would make a nice clicking sound. It was also fun when she got to meet the person getting the mail—they usually had something interesting to say—but that didn't happen often. She wanted to wait for the pony that lived there to come out, but she knew she didn’t have time to wait; she had to deliver mail to the entire town before school started.

It was the little filly's first job and she was so excited to get it done. Her daddy Alphie had given her the job. He was the head pony at the post office in town, and the most fun pony she knew. She had heard him talk about his family business for years at the dinner table, always coming home with some new exciting story about his job. She giggled every time he called it AMS instead of PMS. PMS meant Ponyville Mail service, she knew that, but she didn’t know what AMS meant. She would always ask him what the A stood for and he would always respond, “Alphie’s Mail Service”, with a big smile.

Now that she was old enough to leave the house without daddy, she was very excited to help out with delivering the mail. It was so much fun running around to everyponys’ houses, walking up to their door and dropping off a letter. She never knew what was in the letters, but the pony that opened it was always happy. Sometimes she even got little toys or treats from the ponies she delivered to.

She made her way down the steps. One house down, a lot more to go. She flapped her wings and fluttered along to the next house. Reaching into her mailbag, she pulled out the next envelope. As she trotted up the front steps to the house, the door suddenly opened to reveal a tall grey unicorn. He looked down at her and grinned.

"Oh, well hello there little miss, what have you got for me today?"
The filly looked back up at him with an adorable smile, holding out the letter with her mouth, and bouncing up and down with excitement. The unicorn's horn glowed and the letter floated up to him via magic.

"Thanks there squirt, and I've got something for you too." He floated a small cone-shaped object out to her. It was a bubble blowing cone. She’d never had one before, but she had always wanted one. Alphie just got her bottles of bubble soap with little sticks in them.

She always loved delivering to this house, in the one week she had been delivering his mail he had always had some sort of thank you gift for her. Squealing with delight, she accepted the little toy and promptly grabbed it between her teeth. As she blew through the little hole, lots of little bubbles began to float out from the other end. She continued blowing bubbles as she moved along to the next house, staring in wonder at the way they floated freely through the air. Sliding the next envelope into the mailbox, she closed the front with her nose, enjoying the click it made as the latch locked into place.

---

When she was all finished making deliveries, the little pegasus made her way back to the post office. She turned in her mailbag to a large walnut colored pegasus. Daddy.
"Hey, look who it is, it's little Ditzy Doo! Welcome back kid." The big pegasus waved her in with his hoof, ruffling her mane as she walked in. "Wait there kid, I'll get ya all done up in a jiff." He turned around and walked toward the back of the building. Ditzy Doo sat down and blew bubbles again.

Leaving her to her own devices, Alphonse trotted back toward the mailroom to put away Ditzy’s mailbag.
"Hey Al, why do you call her Ditzy Doo?" a young maroon pony asked when Alphonse got to the mailroom.
"Well because Macoun, she's the Doo's kid. Remember the two pegasi who used to help take care of the farm when you were little? Donnie... and Dilamena, wow that was one pretty mare."
"But why Ditzy, and what happened to them anyway?" Macoun asked.

"Well nopony really knows what happened to Donnie, he disappeared one day and never came back. Dilamena got sick later that year; we were barely able to save the baby. You woulda been a colt still. Such a shame, those were the two nicest ponies you ever met, always devoting any time they had to helping everypony in any way they could. They even made a very generous donation to help rebuild the town hall. Anyways, I'd promised Dilly I'd take care of the kid if anything ever happened to her, and ‘ditzy’ was the first sound she made when I took her home. She was just so cute; tiny little thing. So I just started calling her that; she seems to like it. The kid doesn't say much, but she sure has her parents' talent for helping people. When she wanted to help deliver mail to the ponies in Ponyville, how could I say no?"

He hung her mailbag up on the shelf, placed a few bits into a small pouch, and headed back to the front desk. The room was now filled with bubbles, which lazily drifted around on small air currents. He paused for a moment as he entered, taken aback by the sheer number of clear floating orbs. He flapped his wings, creating a breeze that swept them apart to clear the room. He sighed. Funny how so many see-through objects can still obstruct your vision. He blinked as one of them bumped into him and popped, spraying his face with bubble soap.

Alphonse spotted little Ditzy Doo in the corner where he'd left her, happily blowing into a little cone between her teeth, eyes closed in an enormous grin.
"Here ya go Ditzy, now go have fun." He handed the little pouch to the young filly, who took it in her mouth —allowing the bubble toy to hang around her neck— and headed off out the door giggling.

---

When Big Al handed her the pouch, Ditzy Doo took it happily and ran off out the door. There were all sorts of things she could do with the little gold coins she got for helping him deliver the mail. Today she was headed toward the new candy store that was opening downtown, to spend them there. The place was called Sugar Cube Corner, and it had the tastiest goodies. She could hardly contain her excitement as she raced along down the street.

When she got to the little shop and ran inside, she went right to the front counter and put her hooves up on the display case. So many yummy goodies. Her mouth watered and she wriggled with excitement as she stared down at all the sugary sweets. Lollipops, candied apples, candy canes, gumdrops, cupcakes, and on the side were some nice big muffins. She looked up at the Pony running the counter and tapped on the glass near the muffins with her hooves.

"Oh hello dear, would you like that?" the blue pony asked her, following her gaze. Ditzy nodded. The selected muffins were whisked off the shelf and placed in a brown paper bag. The paper bag was then passed to Ditzy Doo, who took it, and reached up to place two gold colored coins on the counter. The blue pony slid them into a drawer and smiled at her
"Thank you, enjoy the muffins dear."

She couldn't wait to devour them, and ran as fast as she could to the park, where she would enjoy her goodies like she did every week. Sitting down beneath her favorite tree by the pond, she ripped open the bag and looked between the three round muffins before her. Three? She had only paid for two. She decided not to worry about it and selected the one with the blueberries in it. It was delicious, so soft and bubbly on the inside, the little pockets of air inside the muffin tickled her tongue as she chewed. The blueberries were so moist and juicy. She gobbled up the yummy muffin happily.

After eating the other two muffins, she lay back and blew the rest of her bubbles out through the little toy the kind unicorn had given her. Realizing what time it was, she got up and turned to head back home, slamming straight into the tree. She shook her head to clear the dizziness, and continued on back toward the house.

When she got to her house, she ran inside to grab her things. It was the first day of school, and she didn't want to miss it. It was so exciting, she got to go meet all the other colts and fillies her age, and learn all sorts of exciting things about Ponyville. Grabbing her little saddlebag, she threw in an orange for later when she would want a snack, some notebooks, and a few quills to write with, as well as a bottle of bubble soap for when she was sure they would let her outside.

---

She was so excited when she got to school that she tripped over her own hooves when she ran through the door to her classroom. As her hooves slid out from under her, she fell in an awkward heap on the floor. Her face was pressed against the floor in such a way that she had trouble getting up. The entire class of colts and fillies burst out laughing.

She started laughing with them. It was fun to laugh, even if she didn’t know why everypony was laughing.
"Look at that derpy pegasus, she can't even stand on her own hooves." One colt called out.
"Uh DERP!" said another.
Ditzy managed to get back on her hooves, smiling at all the attention she was getting on her first day.
"What's wrong Derpy Hooves? So scared you can't even walk straight?"
Who was that filly talking to? That wasn’t her name.
"She's so stupid she can't even walk through a door without falling over."
"What a dope!"

One or two of those last words finally stuck with her. As she realized what was going on, Ditzy’s face grew hot and her eyes began to fill up with tears.
"Hey, cut it out!" a squeaky voice called out from beside her. Ditzy turned to see a small pink filly with curled pink poofy hair standing next to her, staring defiantly at the class.
"You guys are all just a bunch of big mean meanie pants. Leave her alone!"
Taking advantage of the sudden distraction, Ditzy turned and ran from the room as fast as her little legs could carry her, eyes shut tight as tears streamed down her face. She wished they would all just go away.

Tears blurred her vision as she ran, causing her to bump into several large objects along the way, stumbling over nearly everything in her path. Those fillies were so mean, she wasn’t stupid. A little clumsy maybe but she had always been like that. It wasn’t fair.

At some point her hooves had left the ground, and when her tears stopped, she found herself on the roof of the school. Not caring how she had gotten there, she pulled out her little bubble cone and began to blow bubbles. She had always loved the way they floated so freely on the breeze. They could just fly wherever they wanted to go, not a care in the world, and no mean colts and fillies to think about.

Watching the bubbles allowed her to relax; she could just let all of her troubles drift away in the wind. As she lay on her back, staring up at the little floating circles, she wished that she too could just fly away for awhile, up near the clouds, but her wings weren't quite strong enough yet. Someday they would be though, and she’d fly far away from Ponyville, so she could see the world.

"Are you okay there filly?" chirped a voice from behind her.
She rolled over to see the same pink filly who had defended her against the whole class. "You've been up here a really long time, everypony's really worried." Had she? She hadn’t noticed the time pass. Ditzy sat up, eyeing the pink pony.
"Hi, my names Pinkie Pie, what's your name?" Ditzy looked down, unsure of whether to respond or not. Pinkie Pie's face appeared under her downcast gaze.
"Aw come on, nopony likes a frowny face. Everything's fine, those meanies aren't gonna bother you anymore, don't you worry. Let's see a smile on that nice face of yours."

Ditzy looked up, forcing one cheek into a sort of half smile, then shifted her gaze up to the floating bubbles overhead. Pinkie Pie followed her eyes, looking up at the cloud of bubbles drifting away on the wind. They both stared for a good long while, untill the bubbles had drifted far out of sight.
“You came up here to blow bubbles? I usually come up here to play hide and seek, or just to watch other ponies run around. It’s a lot of fun, you should try it sometime.” Pinkie Pie said with a grin.

Ditzy couldn’t help but smile. Bewteen the bubbles and this pink filly, she was feeling a lot better.
"See, there's a smile." Pinkie Pie said, grinning really wide. “Doesn’t it feel really really great to smile?” she asked. Ditzy nodded, grinning further, and letting out a small giggle. “Well, we should get back to class before everypony really freaks out." Pinkie Pie said, getting up. “Come on.”

They were up really high, Ditzy couldn't figure out how she'd gotten up here. Pinkie Pie showed her the way down, and after several small drops and a light bounce, they were back on the ground. The way on and off of the school was just a simple hop, skip and jump between conveniently placed sections of the roof. It was actually surprising that none of the other fillies hadn’t found this way up to the roof before. As they walked into class, one of the colts who had bullied her earlier noticed and pointed at her.

"Hey look it's the d-" He stopped short as Pinkie snapped her head around and shot him a stern look. The pony who had made the remark jumped back a foot, leaning back and holding his foreleg in front of him defensively, with a frightened expression on his face.

Pinkie Pie smiled and trotted along back to her seat. Ditzy followed, feeling a lot better knowing her new friend could defend her. She took the empty chair next to Pinkie and looked up at the teacher in the front of the room. Pinkie helped fill her in on what she had missed before she arrived. Ditzy had, after all, gotten to school very late.

---

After school got out, Ditzy walked down the front steps to the school and turned toward home. she got about five paces before she was stopped by her pink filly friend.
"Hey, you still never told me your name, silly filly."
"Oh, um… it's Ditzy Doo" she responded.
"Well, Ditzy Doo, why don't you come over to my place and we'll throw a party! I love parties, they're the best way to make new friends."
"Um, okay" Ditzy replied.

They made their way across town, to a dirt road that led into some trees. It had begun to grow dark, and Ditzy looked up at the sky through the trees and noticed rain clouds covering the sun.
“Ooh it looks like it’s gonna rain,” Pinkie said, “Good thing this is an indoor party, we’ll be nice and dry. Not that a party in the rain wouldn’t be really fun either, I love playing in the rain. Rain, rain, rainy rain.” She began to sing a song she had clearly made up on the spot, about the rain.

The trees soon ended as they crossed over a bridge, and the road led up and along the side of a mountain. On their left was a rock wall, and not too far to the right as a cliff, that dropped off to the river below.
“Ooh look, there’s my house. Yay we’re almost there, now we can party!” As they came around a bend in the trail, Pinkie stopped singing to point out that her house had just come into view.

Pinkie lived on a farm, a rock farm to be more precise. She led Ditzy over to a tall silo out in one of the fields. It had been painted multiple shades of pink, with all sorts of candies and smiles all over it. She certainly liked pink. Inside there were lots of balloons and streamers everywhere, and a small assortment of cakes and goodies were on a table in the middle. Pinkie Pie selected a vinyl record from a stack by the wall, and placed it on a record player, which then began to produce a melody. It was a party theme.
“Come on, let’s party!” Pinkie Pie grabbed her by both front hooves and began to rock back and forth on her hind legs in a very bouncy and energetic fashion. She sure knew how to party.

A few minutes later, as the song ended, Ditzy had an idea.
“I think I have something that will make this party even better, Pinkie Pie”
“Oh really? Cool. What?” Ditzy reached into her bag and brought out her bottle of bubble solution, and two bubble wands.
“Bubbles!” she said, giggling.
“That sounds like a great idea!” her friend exclaimed.

She and Pinkie sat blowing bubbles for about an hour. Eventually they ran out, but the room was completely filled with them by that point. Ditzy stared up at all the little floating orbs, remembering how free she felt every time she did. They seemed so peaceful. If only she could just float away on the wind, or a cloud. That would make her so happy. As she thought about this, she realized that she didn’t have to worry about what the other colts and fillies thought of her, she always had a friend, and no matter how mean they got, she still had this bubbly escape.

Ditzy suddenly noticed a bright light coming from somewhere near her, she turned to see where it was coming from but it was gone in a flash. What was that? Pinkie Pie seemed not to notice. Shrugging, Ditzy turned to scratch at an itch on her flank... except it was different this time. Where normally there was just an empty blank space, etched into her skin were seven bubbles of all different sizes.

Her face lit up with joy at the realization of what had just happened. Warmth spread throughout her entire body, and her heart began beating faster than it ever had before, as the full impact of her realization finally hit her in one giant exclamation. SHE HAD HER CUTIE MARK!
“Oh Pinkie, look LOOK!” she squealed, gesturing to her flank as she jumped up and down in excitement. Pinkie Pie looked, and began to bounce up and down along with her.

“I’ve got to go show Daddy!” Ditzy squeaked, and ran off to find Alphie.
She could barely feel the ground, wet beneath her hooves as she raced back to the house. She couldn’t wait to show Alphie, he would be so proud of her. This was definitely the best day of her life! Unable to contain her joy, she out a squeal of delight, she giggled in excitement as she raced on through the rain.

Pain.

All she could feel was pain, everywhere. It hurt to move, so she just lay there, the running water soaking her mane. Hours passed. Where was she? She titled her head back, but this only caused more pain, and dizziness. How long had she been here? She tried unfolding her wings, only to cringe as this shot more pain throughout her body. Her face felt sticky, and her left eye was swollen shut. What had happened? She relaxed against the cold earth beneath her and passed out.

Something landed heavily just beside her. She tried to look over by just moving her eyes, because it hurt to move her head. Standing over her was a large dark brown Pegasus, with green jade colored eyes and a red orange mane. His eyes were filled with tears, as he stared down at her, his expression unreadable, a mixture of pain and happiness and horror. Gathering her up gingerly in his forelegs, he took off and flew away from the ground. “It’s okay Ditzy Doo, everything’s fine now, you’re safe. I'm gonna take you home now.”

Realizing the danger had passed, she relaxed into the strong arms of the pegasus carrying her, and passed out. She heard several voices through the void, in varying tones. Some seemed shocked or concerned, others angry or upset, some just curious. She didn’t know how much time passed as she heard all sorts of hoof beats, opening and closing doors, hurried conversation, loud beeps and whirs; a medley of sounds assaulted her ears as she slept.

---

“Is she alright? Can I see her?” Alphonse asked, trying to get around the white nurse pony who was blocking his way.
“She won’t wake up for another few hours at least, we’ve got her on narcotics so she can rest. You can see her when she wakes up.”
“Just tell me how she is please, I need to know my little angel is okay.” He pleaded, tears streaming from his eyes.

The nurse pony gave a sigh before continuing.
“There was extensive bruising across most of her body, and she suffered several bone fractures in both of her wings. One of her wings is completely broken. She also sustained multiple head injuries. It’s going to take a while to heal from all that and she’ll have to stay in bed for a few weeks at least, perhaps even a couple of months.”

He put his hooves on his head and sat down on the bench beside him. Weeks? Months? His poor little angel, broken.
“When can I see her?” he asked looking up at the nurse, who gave him a sympathetic look.
“You can wait here if you like, but it’s going to be a few hours at least, and we still have a few tests to run.”
“I’ll wait.” He responded flatly, sighing, “I can’t leave her now.”
His eyes began to droop before long; he had not slept since he found out she was missing.

It had been a normal evening. He had just wrapped up all the major deliveries and reorganized the mailroom. Locking up the place when he left, he headed home, anxious to hear how his little angel’s first day at school went. He had called out her name as he walked inside, but instead of the usual pounding of hoofsteps and the sight of her rushing to greet him, there was silence. He looked all around the house for her; under the stairs, behind the bookshelf, under her bed. He checked her room, the basement, everywhere. She was nowhere to be found.

He had gone to the school to see if there was some trouble there. The teacher informed him that she’d had a rough first day, but managed to make a friend. After asking where this friend lived, he thanked the teacher and hurried off toward the rock farm out on the outskirts of town, wings beating hard. Storm clouds loomed overhead, and it began raining. Upon arriving, he knocked on the door and was greeted by an old gray earth pony.
“Can I help you sir?”

“Yes, hello, my name is Alphonse Mailek. I’m looking for my daughter, Ditzy. She goes to school with Pinkie Pie. Can you tell me where I might find her? She wasn’t at home when I got back today.” He asked, quickly.
“Oh, that little filly is always bringing home new friends. She’s probably just out in the south field having a party in that pink clubhouse silo of hers.” He pointed with his hoof.

Alphonse thanked the old pony and swiftly took off flying in the direction he had indicated. By now it was pouring rain, making it difficult to see, but he managed to spot the pink silo and angled down to land in front of it. Music could be heard coming from the inside. He rapped on the door, and before long a small pink filly with thick curly hair opened it.
“Oh, a visitor! Have you come to join the party?”

He leaned down on his front hooves so that he was on her level.
“Actually I’m looking for my daughter Ditzy Doo, have you seen her?” he asked, smiling so as not to cause her alarm.
“Oh yeah I have, she ran off to find you a little while ago. You must have just missed her.”

No! She would have come straight to the post office or home if she wanted to see him. This was bad.

A clap of thunder shook the air.

“Sir?”

He jolted awake; The same white nurse pony from earlier was standing in front of him. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up.
“Sir, you can see her now.”

She led him down the hallway, making a few turns here and there. Eventually they came to a wooden door and she turned around and stopped him.
“She hasn’t woken up yet, we’ve only just taken her off the anesthetic.” He nodded, and went to move around her when she stopped him again.

“Sir, you should know, the injuries she received to her head caused extensive damage, the muscles controlling her left eye were almost completely torn, she’ll have difficulty moving it, and may struggle with depth perception. She also sustained massive blunt force trauma, we’ve had a unicorn look her over, but even with magic it’s difficult to tell anything at this point.” She exhaled slightly before continuing. ”Sir, she may not remember you. She may not even remember the accident at all.”

His heart stopped cold at those words. She wouldn’t… remember him?
“How bad-” he started, struggling to summon up any words at all. His throat knotted up and his breathing became heavy and labored.
“How bad is it?” he asked “her memory loss, how bad is it? How much will she be able to remember?” The nurse placed a hoof on his shoulder.
”It’s impossible to say at this point in time, her injuries were pretty severe. Her memories may return to her in time, but for now we can only hope.”

At long last she opened the door and allowed him to enter. He walked in slowly, afraid to see her in this state, but he had to; she was his angel, he had to be there for her. She was sleeping soundly on the bed, the white hospital sheets covered most of her small body. Her head was bandaged to the point where he could only see parts of her face. He sat down on the chair in the corner of the room and stared across at his precious angel on the bed. She had to be okay, she had to.

When she finally awoke, she found that she was no longer in the care of the one who had rescued her. She was in a bed, and she was bound up. Opening her eyes, she looked around, her mind racing. her eyes weren’t quite synced, making it difficult to focus clearly on anything, but she still managed to make out her surroundings.

She was lying on a completely white bed, which matched the color of the sheets, walls and ceiling. The only color came from the pile of cards on a small table just to her right. She wanted to jump off the bed but found she was too fatigued to do so. Her head was wrapped in bandages, as were her wings, and her upper chest. There was a thin tube running from her right foreleg to a bag of liquid that hung from a pole next to her bed. A metal box, just to the other side of the pole, emitted a short beep every second in a rhythmic fashion.

The door opened and a white earth pony wearing a white coat entered. She had a red cross symbol on her flank and wore a small white cap on her head. The earth pony walked over to the little beeping box on the right side of the bed and examined it, then looked up at the bag hanging from the pole.
“Ww” She struggled to speak; her throat was very dry. The earth pony looked down suddenly, upon hearing the noise.

“Oh, well look who’s awake.” The earth pony said, eyes wide and smiling.
“W-where am I?” she asked, barely able to hear her own voice.
“You’re in the hospital dear, we’re taking care of you.” The white pony replied.
“Oh, well that’s good.” she said, slowly.
“Well, we can take this out now,” the earth pony said, pulling the tube that ran from the bag of liquid out of her foreleg. “Would you like something to drink, perhaps some juice?”
“Yes please... my throat is kinda dry.” she replied.

The white pony left the room and closed the door. So she was in a hospital; she’d never been in a hospital before. Why was she in the hospital? What had happened to her? She found that she was too tired to think very much, and simply relaxed and went to sleep. Several minutes later the same white pony from earlier returned and handed her a juice box with a straw already inserted.

“Well here’s your juice, and we’ve contacted your legal guardian. He’s on his way to come see you.”
“Who?” She asked. She had no idea who or what the pony standing over her was talking about.
“Oh, you must just be tired, get some rest, he’ll be here soon.” The earth pony left again and closed the door.

That was weird; she didn’t know anypony. Who was that pony talking about? She took a sip of her juice. It tasted so sweet, just like cherries, and it felt so cool and refreshing as it ran down her throat, soothing the dry soreness she’d felt earlier. Before long, the door opened again and a rather large pegasus filed in behind the white earth pony. When he looked at her, his breathing stopped. He stared at her like she was some long lost treasure he’d been searching for his entire life, and now he’d found her. A few tears dripped from his eyes as he stood there, his mouth slightly open.

“Oh, Ditzy Doo thank Celestia you’re alright!” He ran over to her and leaned in to try to hug her. She pulled away from his embrace.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. His facial expression stiffened, as if he’d just been hit across the face.
“I... It’s me Alphonse... Alphie?” he said, looking at her hopefully. She shook her head.
“Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry”

He suddenly looked as if he’d just been stabbed in the chest.
“F-from the post office. I’ve raised you your whole life. You like helping me deliver mail to Ponyville.” She stared at him blankly.
“No I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else.”
“Don’t... don’t you remember me, Ditzy Doo?” he asked. A very worried expression hung on his face.
“Who?”

A river of tears began pouring down his cheeks.
“no, no no no NO! You’ve got to remember! You’ve got to be alright you’ve just got to!” He grabbed her by her shoulders and began shaking her lightly.
“Come on please remember! You’re Ditzy Doo! You’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to a daughter! I’ve raised you since you were a little filly, come one please just remember me!” The pony behind him put her hooves around his chest and pulled him away.

“I’m sorry sir, but for the safety of the patient I’m going to have to ask you to leave now.”
“No please don’t take me away from her! She just needs to remember me, please!.” He stared at her as he pulled against the earth pony, tears dripping from his chin.
“Please, you’ve just got to remember.” he pleaded, softly this time. She gazed back at him, wanting to ease his pain, but finding no recollection of anything he was trying to tell her.
“I’m sorry” she said.

He appeared once again to have just been stabbed, but was able to stay calm this time. The white earth pony led him out the door. He looked back at her longingly one time, before allowing the door to close behind him. She could hear loud sobs of anguish coming from the hallway. Just who was that big Pegasus? And why for all her efforts could she not remember who he was?

---

A few weeks went by; the pegasus never showed up again, but she kept receiving get well cards from a certain pony named Alphie. She had trouble remembering, but she thought that had been the pegasus’s name. The bandages were taken off her wings, and she could eat solid food, and the bruises on her body had long since healed, but she still couldn’t remember how they had gotten there.

She had gotten used to the split vision she seemed to have obtained. Her right eye would always focus on what she wanted it to but her left eye seemed to have a mind of its own. The two never seemed to want to cooperate, and it was often difficult to focus on anything, but she managed.

Her memory had also been getting better recently. She could now remember up to a day into the past. The doctors told her she was showing great signs of progress, whatever that meant. She could retain some information at the very least, but she still had no idea who that big pegasus was. It was a surprise she could remember him at all; it had been weeks and he was well outside of her short term memory.

“You have a visitor, Miss Doo,” came the sweet voice of the nurse pony. The door opened and a small pink filly walked in. She had brilliant pink hair, which was all puffed up and curly. On her flank were printed three balloons. The middle one was yellow and the other two were blue.

“Hiya filly, how you been?” The pink pony piped up. That voice... something about that voice seemed... almost familiar, like she’d heard it somewhere before.
“Um, I'm fine I guess, but I can’t seem to remember much.”
“Ooh, that’s not good, did you hit your head?” the little pony asked. She thought about it for a moment.
“Well... I’m not sure, I don’t remember.”
“Hmm that sure is a pickle, maybe somepony stole your brain!”

Her face grew sorrowful; the foal’s words seemed all too possible. Perhaps somepony had taken away her brain, or her memories at least. The little pony left, seeing that she was now feeling troubled. Why couldn’t she remember anypony? Who was that little filly? Who was the big pegasus who had visited her a few weeks ago?

After puzzling over it all day, she got a massive headache. Rolling over, she went to sleep, too exhausted to do anything. When she woke up, she noticed a small round bottle had been placed at the foot of her bed. Picking it up, she examined it and found that there were some words printed on it, but she couldn’t read them.

She fiddled with it for a bit, trying to figure out some way to open it. Finally she managed to twist off the cap, but it slipped out of her hooves and fell onto the floor. A clear liquid began spilling out all over the floor so she rolled off the bed to examine it. Upon hitting the floor she lost her grip on the slippery gooey stuff, and fell flat on her face.

‘Derpy Hooves!’

The name rang out clear in her head, in a kind of sneer she didn’t recognize at all. What was that? The door opened and a light blue nurse pony walked in.
“Oh dear are you alright!” She looked up and nodded
“Oh, come on, we’ll get you all cleaned up.” She was led out the door and down the hallway to the restroom. Using the sink, they washed off the sticky stuff and got her all dried off.
“There now, all better?” She nodded again.

As they were walking back to her room, she turned to the nurse pony.
“Who’s Derpy Hooves?”
The nurse pony stopped walking for a second, and then continued.
“I don’t know honey. Maybe you could tell me?” She shook her head.
“I don’t know who it is, but I heard it when I fell,” she said. The nurse pony looked concerned.
“Well, I’ll think about it, and I’ll let you know if I remember anything okay?”
“Okay,” she replied. The blue pony’s eye had seemed to close right on the word remember. Was that just a coincidence?

The nurse pony trotted off down the hallway, leaving her to re-enter the room herself. The gooey liquid had been cleaned up off the floor, and the now mostly empty bottle had been placed next to one of the legs of the bed. It wasn’t long before she got another visitor at her door. It was the pegasus.

Upon hearing the knock on the door, she looked over to see him standing in the doorway, clear as daylight, with a sad expression on his face. He walked in slowly, looking around the room as he moved over to the side of her bed.
“Hey there kiddo,” he said finally, taking a seat in the chair next to her bed.
“Hello again,” she replied. She felt so surreal, almost like looking into a dream. His eyes widened.

“You remember me?” he said, looking hopeful.
“Only that you were here a few weeks ago,” she answered. His expression fell.
“Oh” he said, sitting back. “I had hoped you might have finally remembered.” He fell silent, looking down at his hooves. After a long awkward silence, he let out a sigh, and began speaking.

“Listen um, I know it’s probably hard for you to understand, and I know you don’t remember, but I’m your adopted father. Your mother died when you were born and nopony really knows what happened to your real father. So I’ve been taking care of you ever since you were born. The reason you’re in here, as I’m sure you’ve been wondering, is because about three months ago, while you were coming back from Pinkie Pie’s house, you fell down into a ravine. It took me three days to find you. I was so worried when you didn’t come home that day. I searched everywhere.

Finally somepony thought to search near that ledge and I went to check. When I got there, you were... well, pretty beat up. I took you to the hospital and they ran a few tests. The reason you don’t remember me is because you suffered a really bad head injury, and it wiped out all of your long term memory. You were in a coma until a few weeks ago. They came to tell me you were awake, but when I got here you didn’t remember me at all.” The words felt like stones in his throat, each one as difficult to force out as the last. He sniffed as a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

“They, tell me you’re getting better at remembering things now. I came here hoping you might have regained some small memory of me. It took a lot; I almost didn’t come, but I just had to see you. You’re my little angel you know that?” He leaned over to hug her, smiling, as tears streamed down his face. She let him hug her, but didn’t hug back.
“I’m sorry, but I still have no idea who you are,” she said flatly.
“That’s ok kid,” he said, pulling her tighter into his embrace “That’s ok.”

The next day rolled around, and there was another knock on the door.
“Another filly is here to see you,” said the nurse excitedly, moving aside to reveal a small pink filly standing in the doorway. She held a brown paper bag in her mouth that carried with it the sweet scent of baked goods.

“Hey there filly, how you hangin’ out?” the little pony squeaked, tossing the bag up onto the bed and then climbing up. Something about this pony seemed oddly familiar.
“You, seem familiar. Were you here before?” she asked, scratching her head.
“Well yeah silly filly, I gave you the bubbles remember? I thought you’d enjoy watching them float around. My name’s Pinkie Pie. Mrs. Cake said I should bring you this muffin. She said you always used to love these.” Pinkie Pie; that name also sounded familiar.

Tearing open the bag, Pinkie Pie pulled out a nice warm freshly baked muffin, and passed it to her. As she took it in her hooves, the sweet aroma drifted up to her snout and she breathed in the tempting smell of blueberries. Blueberries. She took a bite of the muffin; it was amazing! From the soft chewy inside to the crispy outer crust, to the juicy berries within, the delicious flavors danced across her tongue, lighting up her taste buds.

Her eyes widened as she bit into the delicious dessert; something about this struck a sort of sensual deja vu. She reached over to the bag, and placed it over her head, giggling as she strangely recalled doing this before, under a tree in a park. Pinkie Pie giggled too.
“Haha you look silly like that.” She and Pinkie Pie laughed for a while, until she suddenly had a thought.

“Pinkie, do you know who Derpy Hooves is?” she asked. Pinkie stopped laughing immediately and looked back at her, a very worried expression on her face.
“Well... yeah, it’s you. Or at least, it’s what those mean fillies called you.”

Her.

Pinkie reached down and grabbed the bottle that she had found by her bed. Pulling out the little wand inside, she blew into it, causing a few bubbles to come flying off.

She watched as they floated around the room, almost entranced by the way they hovered so freely. this caused a spark of emotions to hit her, and she suddenly felt very elated.
“Derpy Hooves” she said, “So that’s my name. I like it.” Pinkie Pie blinked.
“Well, actually your name is Ditzy Doo. Derpy is just what some mean fillies started calling you when you fell as you walked into the classroom on your first day at school.”

Derpy looked at her.
“Pinkie, I don’t remember any of that. I’m not Ditzy Doo anymore. I’m going to call myself Derpy.”
Pinkie looked like she was about to cry, but instead just hugged her.
“Well I’m not going to call you Derpy, you’ll always be Ditzy Doo to me.” Pinke Pie said, letting go of her embrace.
“It’s okay Pinkie, I don’t mind. Really” Derpy replied. This time Pinkie Pie did cry. She reached over and hugged Pinkie Pie, as the tears rolled off her face.

“So, when are you getting out of here?” Pinkie asked when they broke out of their embrace.
“I don’t know” Derpy replied, “but we could ask the nurse.” She got off the bed and they trotted off down the hallway. Derpy stopped after just a few meters and turned to Pinkie Pie.
“Um, I’ve never been down this way before. do you know where you’re going?” Pinkie just smiled.
“Yup, come on it’s this way.” She beckoned with her hoof and turned left down the new hallway they had reached.

When they arrived in the main waiting room, the pony at the desk looked up at them.
“Checking out?” she asked gesturing to Derpy with her head.
“Actually, we were just coming to ask about that, when is she getting out of here?” Pinkie Pie asked. The light brown earth pony at the desk looked down at her papers for a moment before looking back at them.
“You’re good to go it seems. You were scheduled to be out of here today anyway. Your body is fully healed and your memory’s been improving enough that the doctors have determined that you can go.”

“Oh wow that’s so great, now we can go celebrate! Come on Ditzy Doo!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down in place a few times from pure excitement, before hopping toward the door. Derpy sighed.
“Pinkie, I don’t want you to call me that.” she said dejectedly. Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing. She turned and walked back over to Derpy, eyes watery
“But... you’ve always been Ditzy Doo to me. That’s what you told me your name was back when we first met. remember? We threw a party and blew bubbles, and that’s when that cutie mark appeared on your flank,” she said, eyes watering.

“That’s just it, I don’t remember.” Derpy replied solemnly. “I can’t remember anything before I woke up three weeks ago, and It’s a miracle I remember the doctors and nurses around here. I couldn’t even remember my own name for three weeks. I’m just going to forget you too, Pinkie. You’ve been a great friend to me, but I just need some time to figure out who I am.”

It was bound to happen eventually. Pinkie Pie’s lower lip had been trembling ever since she had first opened her mouth, and now her hair had begun to deflate as well. Derpy watched as Pinkie Pie’s fluffy mane, sank lower and lower, and got longer and straighter. It only took a few seconds upon her mane reaching its full length, for her to burst into tears.

Derpy was assaulted by an attack hug from Pinkie Pie and staggered back.
“I’ll never forget you,” she choked out between sobs. She took a step backward, staring intently into Derpy’s eyes, as though looking for something. Then after a second, she turned and ran from the hospital, without a second glance.

Derpy’s throat knotted up; she swallowed hard, before stepping forward toward the door. She barely got a few steps before she was stopped by the pony at the front desk.
“Hold up just a moment miss, the pony who was here yesterday left this for you.” She turned around to see the pony holding out a yellow envelope for her. “He said to give it to you when you left.” She took it walked over to the bench on the opposite wall. Sitting down, she opened the envelope and emptied the contents onto the space beside her.

Inside was a letter, and a small pouch. She couldn’t read the letter, but one of the nurse ponies who had been attending her for the past few weeks, happened to walk by at that moment, turned to her.
“Would you like me to read that to you dear?” she asked, indicating the letter. Derpy thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. The white pony sat down next to her, picked up the letter and began to read.

“Dear Ditzy Doo,

I don’t know whether or not you’ll be able to read this, but if not hopefully one of the kind nurses will help you. I know you don’t remember me, but you’ll always be my little angel, I’ll always want to be there for you, even if you don’t recognize me. I’ve enclosed a pouch with some bits in it so you can at least survive until you figure something out. If you’re ever in a jam, just stop by the local post office, and ask for Al. Always remember that you’re special, and you can be anything you want to be. You’ve grown into a fine young mare. Be strong and never give up hope, and never forget to smile, even on a cloudy day. I hope one day you might remember me, and decide to come back home. I’ll always be right here waiting with open arms. Good luck out there kid, I’ll be watching over you, like always.

Love Daddy”

Derpy could hardly hold back her tears. By the time the nurse pony had finished, they were dripping off of her chin and onto the floor. She glanced up at the white pony beside her, who smiled back with glossy eyes.
“Sounds like somepony loves you very much,” she said. Derpy nodded, sniffling. She leaned over and hugged the nurse pony, before carefully tucking the letter back into the envelope, gathering up the pouch, and heading out the door.

(Epilogue)

So the post office huh? That seemed simple enough. She cantered on between the many buildings surrounding her, her little foal in tow, gazing up at all the shops and colorful signs, spread throughout the little village.
“See Dinky, this place is called Ponyville. Mommy’s going to look for a job here so we can live here, won’t that be nice?” She looked down at her filly beside her. The small grey unicorn looked up at her with beautiful golden eyes. She let out a squeal of excitement and nodded her head furiously, a look of awe spread across her tiny features. “But first we need to find the local post office; do you think you could point it out for mommy?” The little filly nodded again, immediately shifting her gaze forward, her little eyes scanning every shop for the envelope symbol that was on every post office she’d been to.

As they turned a corner, Derpy felt a tug on her mane, and looked down. Her foal was pointing down the street as she stared up at her mother with a jubilant expression. Following the direction Dinky was pointing, sure enough, there was the post office, right at the end of the street. Picking her little filly up, Derpy held her tightly against her chest.

“Very very good. You make mommy proud.”
Dinky beamed. Spreading her wings, Derpy flew over to the end of the street, holding Dinky below her as if she too were flying. Derpy heard a squeal of excitement from her filly, and smiled, her heart beating ever stronger.

---

“Hey Al, could you bring in those other two mailbags that need to be sorted?”
Al jumped awake, blinking as a bubble floated past his face. He had been dreaming about her again, as he had every day since the day she’d left. He had wanted her to stay, but she didn’t remember him at all. She had stopped by the post office, following the instructions he’d left her in his letter, but didn’t recognize him.

“I’m sorry,” she had said, “but I don’t remember who you are, or who I am. I want to find out who I am, so I’m sorry, but this is goodbye.” It was the most she had ever said to him at one time. She had hugged him then; he could still feel her warm embrace, as well as the tears that had run down his face that day. He wished she would stay, but he knew he had to let her go, it was what she wanted.

“Yeah, hang on just a minute!” He called back; setting down the bubble wand he had been holding and heading out into the main room to grab the large bags of incoming mail that had just been delivered. He walked over and reached down to pick up the first one, when he heard the familiar jingle of the bell he’d hung on the door, that told him somepony had just walked in. He looked up to see a grey pegasus... with a yellow mane. His heart stopped cold and his blood froze in his veins, as he stared at her crossed eyes. She... she could not be real. Her eyes told him she had noticed his reaction. He struggled to speak.

“D-Ditzy Doo?” He asked finally. The smiling mare before him wrinkled her brow for a second, before responding.
“Um, I think so. I go by Derpy Hooves now, but I think that was my name once. I’m sorry, you’ll have to forgive me, my past is a bit blurry. I think I was in some sort of an accident as a filly,” she said. Her head moved suddenly, and she looked down. “Oh,” she laughed, “little Dinky wants to say hi” she said, lifting a small grey unicorn filly up onto the counter. He did a double take.

“Is this one yours?” he asked, eyes wide in surprise.
“Yeah, this little bundle of joy surprised me on my way through Canterlot a while back. Talk about a blessing in disguise, for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why I was gaining so much weight, but then she showed up,” she said, nuzzling her daughter as she finished.
“She’s the spitting image of her mother,” he said, beaming. She smiled.

“Well thank you, it’s been tough raising her by myself, but we’ve managed,” she said. “I had a job in Baltimare delivering letters, but work slowed down, and I lost the job. I came here following this letter I got from my dad when I was younger.” To his astonishment, she then produced the very letter he had written to her so long ago.

He took it gingerly in his hooves and examined it, barely able to hold back the tears as he read the letter he’d written on that fateful day. “At least I think it was my dad, I’ve always had it, but I don’t remember who gave it to me. I couldn’t read it at first myself, but my friend Mac helped me figure it out. Then he told me I should head to Ponyville, and that I could find this Al there, so here I am.”

He looked up from the letter, nodding. “Yeah, that’d be Macoun I’ll bet. Nice kid, he used to help me out around here, but he ran off after some mare a while back. Alphonse Mailek at your service,” he said, inclining his head.
“Oh so you’re Al,” she said. “You must have known my dad.”

That nearly did it, but he was able to maintain his composure.
“Yeah,” he said. “I knew him. Great pony, a pegasus like yourself, and one of the nicest ponies you ever met. He was always lending a hoof to anypony who needed it.”
“Well, it’s an honor to meet you then Mr. Mailek.” she said.

“Believe me, the pleasure is all mine, Miss Hooves.” he replied.
“Well in that case, do you have a job opening here? As I’ve said I just lost my old one in Baltimare, so I followed that letter here.”
Alphonse smiled.
“I thought you’d never ask, welcome to the team kid.” he said.

---

After she had filled out all the necessary papers, she asked him if he knew a good place she could stay.
“The Cakes own that house next to their sweet shop, but nopony’s set hoof in there for years. You might ask them if you could stay there. It’s right up the street, a delightful place called Sugarcube Corner, you can’t miss it.” he said.
“Thanks,” she replied. “Come on Dinky, let’s go find that sugar cube place.” She turned and ushered Dinky along with her out the door.

“Hey,” she heard Al call from behind her. She turned and acknowledged him.
“While you’re there, buy a muffin for you and the kid, I guarantee you’ll love it.” he said.
“Thanks, I’ll be sure to try that.” she said, smiling. She turned and headed out the door, little Dinky following happily along behind her.

They reached a large gingerbread house with a cupcake on top.
“This must be the place; I don’t see any other sweet shops around.” Derpy said, looking around. All the other buildings were quite plain. She trotted up the steps and in through the door. The smell of baked goods smacked her clear in the face as she walked in. This was definitely the place. As she cantered up to the counter, a bright pink pony popped up from behind it.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, what can I get you-” She stopped, eyes widening in shock. Pinkie Pie let out a huge gasp. “You’re new in town! I can tell because I’ve never seen you before, and I know everypony in Ponyville, and I mean every pony in Ponyville.” She reached down behind the counter and pulled out a big blue... cannon? Derpy jumped as Pinkie fired the canon, causing confetti to fly everywhere and balloons and streamers to appear almost from nowhere. “WELCOME!”

Dinky began to cry. Pinkie’s eyes widened again, as she suddenly noticed the little unicorn filly sitting behind Derpy.
“Oh no no no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize this little filly was back here. I know, how about this.” Pinkie grabbed her cheeks and pulled them back, making strange noises as she did. “Blehhhhh, come on, it’s okay filly. I know, have a muffin, they’re fresh out of the oven.”

Pinkie reached onto the counter, grabbing a warm muffin from the tray, and held it out to Dinky, who continued to wail.
“Shh-sh-sh, it’s all right Dinky, the loud noise is gone. Look, this nice pony is offering you a muffin.” Derpy hushed her filly in a sweet, kind, motherly voice. Dinky looked up, blinked, and promptly grabbed the muffin with her little mouth.

“Huh? Dinky, that name reminds me of somepony I used to know when I was just a filly. Ditzy Doo, she was fun, but she went away after a while.” Pinkie’s eyes drooped as she said this, but just as quickly as her smile had vanished; it reappeared as her face lit up with realization. “I know you, YOU’RE Ditzy Doo! We went to filly school together.” she exclaimed. “I work here now? Isn’t it great?”

Derpy sighed.
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember anypony I used to know, I think I was in an accident as a filly.”
Pinkie’s face fell.
“Oh, yeah that’s right,” she said, almost letting a tear drop. Then, perking up almost instantly, she went on, “So what brings you around here?”
“Well, I just got a job over at the post office, so now I just need a place for me and Dinky here to stay. Al said to see the Cakes over at Sugarcube Corner, so here I am.”

Pinkie immediately disappeared into the back of the store.
“Mrs. Cake! Mrs. Cake! Guess who it is!” She called. Pinkie came back with a blue pony following her, whose eyes widened when she saw Derpy.
“Well what do you know, it is you. How can I help you dear?” she said smiling.
“Al over at the post office says you have a house you’re not using, and I’ve been looking for someplace for me and my filly to stay.” Derpy replied.

The blue pony looked down at Dinky for a moment.
“Oh well isn’t she just adorable. Of course you can stay in that house. Sorry if it’s a little cluttered, we mostly use it for storage, but you can use it of course, and I’ll work out the issue with rent later.”
“Thank you very much.” Derpy said, smiling. “Come on Dinky, let’s go move into our new home” she said, beckoning for Dinky to follow her as she left.

The house wasn’t very large, but it was better than anything they’d had in Baltimare, and it had a second floor balcony that would overlook the street. The main room was full of piled boxes of old cooking supplies. Derpy set her heavily laden saddle bags on the floor with a thump, and stretched herself out, the weight on her back now gone.

She leaned over and rummaged through her saddlebag, coming up with a small bottle of bubble soap. Upon seeing this, Dinky began bouncing up and down in anticipation, giggling wildly. Derpy smiled.
“Yep, you know what this means. Let’s go to the park.” She grabbed a second bubble wand for Dinky, and they headed out the door.

When they got outside, Derpy looked around. Where was the park? She suddenly realized she had no idea where the park was in this town, if there even was one. It was a pretty small village after all, she just had to find an open area with trees. She looked down at Dinky, who stared back with shimmering eyes. Smiling, Derpy gathered up Dinky in her front hooves.

“Now don’t drop the bubbles Dinky, and hold on, this should be fun.” She spread her wings and took off above the small buildings. They were closer to the edge of town than she thought, she spotted a small pond in between some trees not too far away. It was just a short flight to the pond, but for Dinky it was the ride of a lifetime; she squealed in delight the second they left the ground, all the way to the waters edge.

As they touched down near the pond, Derpy let Dinky down softly and trotted over to the nearest tree and sat down. Dinky followed and prodded her with the little bottle of bubble soap, looking up at her hopefully. Derpy smiled, taking the bottle from her and opening it up.
“Okay Dinky, we’ll blow these now.” she said, pulling out the little wand inside, and passing it to Dinky.

The little filly took it in her mouth and shook her head around vigorously, creating a few small bubbles. Derpy chuckled and stretched one of her wings, articulating it carefully to create a small current of air past Dinky’s bubble wand, producing a steady stream of bubbles. When they ran out, Dinky gave the wand back to Derpy, who dipped it into the container of soap, and hoofed it back to Dinky.

When they had blown enough bubbles to create a whole cloud of them, Dinky crawled over to her mother and curled up between her legs. As her daughter went to sleep, Derpy began stroking her mane and gazed up at the clouds. They seemed so peaceful, floating freely on the breeze, just like the bubbles.

She reached over and picked up the bottle of bubble soap Dinky had dropped. No, those were for Dinky, she couldn’t use them all up here, they’d blown enough anyway. She set the bubbles down, sat back against the tree and closed her eyes, the cool autumn breeze blowing past her face. Dinky’s quiet breathing against her belly, began to lull her into a relaxing trance. Derpy wrapped her arms around her daughter and allowed herself to drift off into sleep.

---

“Ditzy Doo?”

She blinked a few times and looked down; Dinky was gone! Looking around, she quickly found her only a few feet to her left, standing next to...
“Jack!” She exclaimed, recognizing her friend. Only one pony she knew called her Ditzy Doo, well, griffin. He smiled.
“I was in the neighborhood and I spotted this little filly wandering towards town. I guessed you might be up by the pond so I brought her here.” He knew her so well. “What brings you two to Ponyville?” he asked.

“I might ask you the same question, ” she shot back, smirking, “Don’t you live in a huge cloud on the far side of those mountains over there?” she said, pointing with her hoof. He threw up his arms for a second.
“So I went on an adventure, and just happened to run into you. It’s not like I’m following you all over Equestria.” he said, chuckling.
“No,” She laughed, “It couldn’t be.”

“Actually I’m just passing through, I was visiting friends when I met you back in San Fransiscolt, and I’m on my way back to Griffin Village now.” he said, straightening up. “It’s almost time for the annual End of Summer Odyssey. All the older griffins take off on a month long journey across the wilderness. It’s sort of like camping, but way cooler. If I’m not there when they leave I’ll get left behind and I sure don’t want to miss it.” Jack paused for a moment. “You could come with us, you’ve got wings.” he added, looking hopeful.

“I only just settled down here,” She replied, dropping her gaze. “And I’ve got Dinky, I can’t really just get up and leave. It’s a tempting offer, but I can’t go, I’m sorry”
He sighed.

“Well, that’s upsetting, it would have been a real fun time you know, you and me.”
“You could stay for a while.” Derpy replied, “Just for the afternoon?” He appeared torn between staying and going, and scratched at his lower beak for a minute before responding.
“I really can’t stay, but just once around the pond? Trot with me, through the autumn leaves,” he said finally, extending a clawed hand.
“It’s a deal,” she said, and reached out with her own hoof.