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noitcelfeR|R3fl3ction
Chapter 8
owT|Two of a Certain Kind
Three in the morning seemed awfully late for the amount of time it took to leave the Poetry meeting and receive the note from Sandman. She hadn’t realized that her trances could last for such a long time and seem so short. It must have happened when she heard the music. But then again, that would still mean she had either been walking incredibly slow, or she had simply lost consciousness in the street for a while. She wasn’t going to rule either one of them out. She was actually starting to think it must have been inside the Red Leaf. She may have just been standing in that dark for an eternity before moving, like a child who wants to turn on the light but is too afraid to make the dash to the light switch.
The night air was still, or was it the morning air? Derpy shook her head; she wasn’t exactly feeling up to debating such a question at this hour. She thought about how she had left so promptly. Was that rude of her? Should she have stayed a while longer? When she had tried to get Pa’s attention he seemed to be in some sort of trance. He may have just simply fallen asleep, old ponies do that sometimes.
A chill ran down her spine. It was rather chilly that night. She didn’t remember it being that chilly when she went inside. Maybe she should have brought a jacket. Maybe she did bring a jacket and she had just left it somewhere. Then again that could be true for just about anything she owned. She didn’t think that those sorts of instances really counted towards her memory loss. She was pretty sure that everypony had moments where they placed something down and then forgot they had it.
She stopped walking and simply stood there silently. The note had said that she should seek out Sandman’s son, Doctor. Or did it say his son was a doctor? She probably would have better luck seeking out an actual doctor than a pony whose name was Doctor. Unless of course that pony was a doctor named Doctor. If that was the case then there would no doubt be a great deal of hilarity to ensue. Of course she was not so much looking forward to a comedic undertaking as she was actually hoping to find some answers. However if answers happened to be accompanied by a witty series of play-on-words she wouldn’t mind in the least bit.
With a sigh she continued marching on. She wasn’t really thinking about where she was going, nor did she plan on arriving at anywhere in particular. However even despite her best efforts to not walk towards any particular location she still coincidentally ended up at one of the only places to go at 3 in the morning: an all-night diner.
The building was much smaller than the ones around it. It wasn’t the sort of restaurant where you could walk around in; instead it was more like a trailer. There were a few seats at the counter, then three booths on each side of it.
When she walked in she was instantly greeted by the strong aroma of coffee and eggs. There was one other pony sitting at the counter, sipping some coffee. Derpy sighed and went and found a seat at the end of the counter and waited for someone to come out of the back.
After a few minutes a large pony with a greasy apron and white hat on appeared from the doorway. He had a newspaper under his arm, which he promptly held out to the other pony sitting at the counter. “Here ya go, Blues.” He said in a particularly deep and graveled tone. “Of course the next one will be here in two hours.”
“How do you do it? Do you ever sleep?” the stallion asked with a raised brow. His name clearly fit him in more ways than one. His mane, tail, and coat were all blue, and his cutie mark consisted of two double eighth notes. It would be wrong to call him by any other name.
The larger pony smiled and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know anymore.” He looked over at Derpy. “How about you miss? How do you find the time these days?”
Derpy looked down at her hooves and gave a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t even really know what happened yesterday.”
“You hear that?” replied the large stallion.
“Ain’t that the truth…” added Blues immediately after.
Derpy just sort of shrugged, not really knowing what they were talking about and almost certain they didn’t know what she was talking about. Still, she might as well just go with it.
The stallion behind the counter picked up a pencil and returned. “So what’s your name doll?”
“Derpy.”
The stallion smiled. “What can I get you, Derpy?”
She thought for a moment. “Do you have lemonade?”
“Sorry, but I can offer you a cup of coffee on the house.”
The Pegasus thought for a moment, and then decided she might as well. She nodded and the stallion went to pour her a cup.
“Careful, it’s hot.” He warned as he placed the mug in front of her. He then went over to the other end of the counter and started drying some glasses with a white towel. “So what brings you here, Derpy?”
“It was cold outside.” She said bluntly and innocently.
Both stallions smirked.
“I like you. You’re funny.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, funnier than that guy.”
Blues looked up. “Bite me Patty,” he said as-a-matter-of-factly.
“Well we can’t all be named after a color now can we?” The other stallion joked. Apparently his name was Patty. That was actually quite humorous given his gruff appearance and tough sounding voice.
“Say Pat, when are you going to get a new clock?”
“I’m not. Doc ‘ll fix the one I got.”
Derpy looked up from her coffee. She hadn’t drunk any of it; she had just sort of been staring at it.
Blues looked very skeptical about Patty’s response. “It’s a cheap clock, why would you waste the money to have him work on it?”
“Didn’t cost me a bit. Doctor said he would fix it in his spare time.”
“Who?” Derpy asked suddenly.
The two stallions looked at her, and then Blues went back to reading. The working pony threw the towel over his shoulder and stretched his neck. “He’s a clock smith named Doctor. Funny looking guy, doesn’t drink much coffee but he always seems like he hasn’t slept in days.”
Blues shook his head. “Last time I heard he said he was a time turner.”
Patty shrugged. “Guess that’s just a way of saying clock smith. Same thing right.”
They were both shrugging. Derpy was starting to feel left out.
“Where can I find him?” She asked when they appeared to be finished.
“He has his shop set up down the street from Sugar Cube Corner. East road I think.”
Derpy thanked the two stallions for their help. She then stood up and walked out of the diner, heading towards Sugar Cube Corner. She didn’t really think about the fact that it was only four in the morning, not until she reached her destination of course. She also realized that she didn’t know which direction was east. Then she realized that East Road was the name of a street, not a direction. It was just a minor road that branched off of the main intersection.
She didn’t really know what else to do, so she walked down the street until she was in the middle of the length of the road. She then just sat down and waited. She took that time to write a little in her journal, which she did have with her in her bag. She spent perhaps two hours simply sitting on the side of the road writing and re-reading. When sunrise came she was sort of expecting everypony to suddenly appear and go about their lives. Of course that didn’t happen except for a few business ponies who were accustomed to reporting to work early.
By the time that it was eight in the morning she had already written two pages in her journal and read through it four times. She had counted every rock and pebble within a six foot radius and walked in six hundred circles. Needless to say she was relieved when ponies started coming out of their homes. Most likely it is also needless to say that a few of these ponies were confused as to why there was a grey Pegasus idling in the middle of the street.
Derpy was pretty sure she knew which one of the houses Doctor lived in. One of them had a metal bar that extruded from the roof horizontally, and from it hung a wooden sign with an hourglass on it. Given the fact that this pony was a clock smith of sorts, she was pretty sure that this was the right place.
Finally the door opened, and a brown Earth Pony exited the building. The stallion matched the description given by Patty. His brown hair was a complete mess, and his eyes wide open; he definitely looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
The stallion looked at his watch, and then started making his way towards Sugar Cube Corner. He did not appear to notice Derpy’s presence.
Determined to find some answers she persisted after him from a distance. Unfortunately she did not know what to say, and she certainly didn’t want to seem crazy or creepy. So instead of confronting him there she thought she might as well follow him for a while.
The stallion made very few stops on his commute. He took a short break to smell some flowers a cart vendor was selling and another stop to give a bit to a filly in a scout’s uniform. After that he continued walking for what seemed like an hour. It was more like twenty minutes, but when following a stranger, things can feel dragged out. Finally he arrived at Sweet Apple Acre, where he knocked on the house door. Moments later Granny Smith opened the door and gave him a stereotypical country greeting.
Derpy could overhear some of the conversation without attempting to snoop.
“Glad to be of assistance Granny. So what seems to be the problem?”
“It’s mah old great grand pappy’s clock again. The dern arm stopped swingin’ again.”
“Alright then I’ll just take a look at it and see if I can get that pendulum working again.”
The stallion went inside and the door shut behind him. Derpy stood there for a moment waiting, and then she heard a small, high pitch voice coming from next to her.
“Watcha lookin at?” asked Apple Bloom. The filly was looking in the same direction as Derpy was in an attempt to find what was so interesting.
“Who is that?”
“That aint a who, that’s a house. Can you see alright?” The question seemed innocent enough.
“No I mean the stallion who just went inside. The brown one.”
The filly seemed to understand now. “Oh that’s Doctor.”
“Doctor… who?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s just his name.”
Derpy shrugged. At least she knew she had the right pony. “I need to talk to him.”
“Well let’s get goin’!” the filly said as she started pushing Derpy forward with her head. The Pegasus was reluctant to comply, but the filly was stronger than she looked. In the end Apple Bloom managed to push the dormant Derpy all the way to the steps. She then skipped up to the door and opened it. “Are ya commin’?”
Derpy sighed. She wasn’t prepared for confrontation yet, but the foal wasn’t giving her much of a choice. Reluctantly she made her way into the house and closing the door behind her. Apple Bloom then led her into the room where the stallion had his head poked behind a grandfather clock. The sound of cogs being tinkered with filled the room.
The two female ponies just stood there. Eventually Apple Bloom started nudging Derpy to say something, but received head shakes and nudges back. The two of them had that silent argument for a few minutes until the filly decided to break the silence. “Hey Mister Doctor, someone wants to talk to ya!” The scamp then scurried away leaving the two adults alone in the room.
“Yes?” Doctor asked without taking a break from his work.
Derpy put a hoof behind her head and gave an awkward smile. “Uh hi.”
“Hello,” he replied. “Who is this?”
“Oh, uh, it’s-“
“Wait, Derpy?” he suddenly exclaimed half-excitedly.
“Yes.” She was a little stunned by the recognition.
“Well what a surprise. What brings you here?”
“Well you see, I read this note.”
“That so?”
“Yes and it came with this key.”
“A key?”
“Yes and the note said that you would be able to help with that.”
There was a banging sound that came from behind the clock. “Owe, oops. Oh, there we go!” The stallion reappeared from behind the clock and opened the glass case in the front. He gave the pendulum a slight push before closing the front and checking his watch. He then set the large clock to the time displayed on his wrist before admiring his handiwork.
The stallion then walked out of the room to tell Granny Smith that he was done and she thanked him with a stereotypical country phrase. After that the stallion nodded and started his way for the door. He was about to leave when he remembered he was talking with Derpy. “I’m sorry but I can’t help you with a key. You should try a locksmith!” He then departed the house and started making his way to his next appointment.
Derpy simply stood there for a moment. Unwilling to give up she too exited the house and started following the stallion to his next destination, which happened to be a very colorful building she had could not remember visiting before. This building was none other than the Carousel Boutique.
Derpy watched as Doctor entered the building. She waited for a while so that she could admire the interesting and colorful appearance of the structure before her. Doctor was only in this building for a few minutes, he then exited wearing a black fedora on his head. It was actually quite a look for him.
He glanced Derpy’s way but didn’t seem to notice that it was her standing there. Instead he simply began walking to yet another appointment. Once again the stallion stopped to smell the flowers that the mare with the cart was selling. He seemed to want to buy one but appeared to be too busy to make the purchase. Disappointed he continued walking down the street until he stopped at Sugar Cube Corner. This time Derpy didn’t go inside, but simply spied on him through the window. She didn’t need Pinkie making things awkward. She had read in her journal that Pinkie Pie would do that.
When Doctor exited the building a little while later he could have sworn someone was watching him. He looked around but didn’t notice Derpy who was floating above him. He sighed and continued to his last appointment.
Derpy followed him to a nearby house. He greeted the pony who answered the door as Daisy. They stood there talking for a little while then she gave him a satchel, which he promptly put around his neck. They talked for a little while longer and then they said their goodbyes.
When Doctor turned around he found himself face to face with Derpy, who had landed after the door shut. “Derpy…” he said plainly, “have you been following me?”
The young mare nodded with a smile. “Yes.” She seemed innocent enough.
The stallion sighed. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Again she nodded.
“Does it have to do with that key?”
Derpy smiled.
Doctor shook his head and started walking. “I really can’t help you.”
She felt a wave of disappointment. “Are you sure? It’s really important!”
“I don’t know anything about keys, only clocks.”
“But your dad said that you would know about it!”
He stopped, but didn’t turn around. “Dad? You must be mistaken; my father left a very long time ago.”
“Not before leaving a note.”
“Can I see this note?” He sounded skeptical. Still the Pegasus had no problem with providing one. She handed it to him and he spent a few moments reading it. “To your infinity… Sandman.” After reading that last line he just simply stood there soaking it in. His eyes seemed to water a bit. “Dad…”
Derpy couldn’t help but to notice his emotional state and felt like she should chime in. “You okay?”
Doctor didn’t reply immediately. “If it isn’t a bother, would you mind explaining what any of this means?”
She nodded.
“My workshop is right around the corner. We should go there to talk.
---
“So that’s when you came to look for me, huh?” Doctor replied with a tired voice. They had been talking for some time now. Derpy had given him every detail from her journal that she had written thus far. It all seemed very unlikely to him, but she still had that note. Normally one could think that maybe it was a fake, but the signature at the end gave him reason to believe it was real. His father signed all of his urgent letters with ‘To your Infinity.’ The chances that anypony else would know that were very slim.
He sighed and looked back at the note which he had earlier placed on his work desk. He stared at it through the large, round magnifying glass that one might see at an orthodontist or forensics lab. It was accompanied by a lamp that appeared to be powered by the gears of a nearby clock turning. It was clear that he was a very intelligent individual, far more so than the average clock smith.
Derpy was also very tired at that point, as it was getting late and she had not slept the night before. She was seated at another desk nearby. She took a moment to look around the room. She sort of admired the way that he had turned his home into his work place. She understood that the Cakes did the same thing, but she had spent very little time at there and couldn’t remember that.
The main room was slightly rectangular in shape, the door being located at the end of the long walls. The entire room was not that big. There were two desks in the room’s back corner. The room also housed a sofa as well as some plants and general decorum. It was no bigger than her own living room, and it might have even been smaller. However his home had two floors to it, while hers only had one. Even so, they had very similar square-footage.
Doctor rubbed his eyes. “Derpy, this is all so much to take in at once… why don’t we continue this tomorrow?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Why don’t I walk you home?”
She shrugged. She wouldn’t mind the company, it would keep her from getting into trouble. So she agreed and they went off towards Derpy’s house. They didn’t say much at all to each other. It had been a long day.
When they finally arrived at her house he asked her what time she wanted to meet up. She told him that he should just come over to get her in the morning. He agreed and they went their separate ways.
There was nothing strange about that night. It was the best night of sleep she had gotten since the accident.
---
The next morning Doctor returned to find Derpy still asleep. He returned again two hours later to find her just waking up. It was then ten in the morning. The two of them shared simple greetings before Derpy grabbed the bag she had put everything in before she went to sleep. She then followed Doctor to his house where he insisted she put her stuff by the desk he didn’t use. She didn’t quite understand why he had two desks, but he insisted that they had been there for as long as he had lived there.
After few moments of awkward small talk he asked if she had the key. She did.
“There is a safe in this house that I have never understood its purpose.” He had already moved it into the room the previous night. “The lock is strange, and can’t be picked. I had a locksmith come and try to open it, but he told me that the only way this would open is if I could find my key. I guess you have had the key all along.”
Derpy gave it to him. He marveled at its odd shape. He took a deep breath. Derpy could tell that this was something he had wanted to do for a very long time.
He put the key in the lock and twisted it. There was a sound unlike anything either of them had heard before. It sounded like hundreds of tumblers being activated at once with a mechanical crunch. Whoever made the safe did not want anyone without the key to open it.
When the key could turn no more there was another sound that resembled multiple bolts retreating into their sockets. With one last deep breath he opened the case.
With a safe so strong and so protected it wouldn’t have surprised either of them to see bricks of gold inside. Instead they found it to be tightly packed using blankets and separators. The only loose object seemed to be an envelope on the top. Doctor took that envelope and opened it. Inside there was a note written in ink. He took it over to his desk and started reading it out loud.
Doctor stopped reading and looked up at Derpy. She had apparently laid out each item as it was mentioned on the appropriate desk.
“Where do we start?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I guess we can look over the notes. Maybe look over that locket. Maybe there is a reason it is so important. There is a magnifying glass on that desk too.”
With that he went to study his notes.
---
Derpy found herself in wonder as she examined all the different items left to her. But the most intriguing thing was in fact the locket. She started taking notes in her journal about all that had happened, then she went on to examine the locket.
The object was incredibly detailed. To make this would have been a very difficult task, especially with such a valuable metal. Equestria may have had an abundance of gems, but was not so lucky when it came to rare metals. Platinum was still an extremely expensive metal, and she had never seen it herself. It was very similar to silver, but the way it shined was just unlike any metal she had ever seen before.
Hours went by of their studying. Derpy was failing to see anything of importance. Her mind began to wander and her thoughts started to approach other topics of interest. She was really starting to wonder what was so important about the locket. She wondered if it was some sort of key to another chest. Maybe it was a device that could somehow guide her to treasure. Magic did happen after all. Then it occurred to her that perhaps it could be some sort of device used to keep her memories intact. Was that even possible? Could an object really have that sort of effect on somepony’s mind?
Derpy sat there in silence for a moment, contemplating the possibilities. “Hey,” she started. “What do you know about the brain?”
The stallion did not look up from his magnifying glass. “Very little.”
The mare frowned and mumbled under her breath. “I thought you were a doctor.”
He looked up with a raised brow. “No, my name is Doctor. I’m a time turner, remember?”
“Oh yeah…” She laid her head on the desk and stared at her key with without the magnifying glass. Why were they even doing this? There is no point in staring at the key to try and figure out what it went to. The keys probably went to other boxes anyways. She let her vision blur, tired of staring at the key.
“Hey, Derpy, where did you say you had been keeping the key?”
“Let me check…” she said, pulling her diary over to her. She flipped through the pages without lifting her head. “In a drawer in my house.”
“And you live where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No, I can’t remember. I just know how to get there.”
“Well how does that work?”
Derpy gave him a sarcastic look, challenging him to think of an answer himself.
He took the hint, and looked back down to where the key was. He himself was tired of staring at the key as well. “This isn’t helping at all. Do you feel like getting something to eat?”
“It’s a date.” She replied, perking up a bit.
“A what?”
“Never mind, I know a place with the best lemonade.”
---
“Okay an order of hay fries for you, and what will you have sir?”
“I think I will have the garden salad,” replied Doctor. He and Derpy folded their menus and handed them to the waitress. He then looked back at the mare sitting across from him and smiled. “So I’m guessing you come here often?”
Derpy shrugged. “I guess so. They know me well enough to bring me lemonade when I sit down.”
He chuckled, and then he reached into his shoulder back to see how much money he brought with him. It probably would have been smart to check before he ordered, but he had enough so it was okay. Then he looked to Derpy. “Do you have enough bits with you for your order?”
Derpy nodded and reached into her bag to pull out a few coins.
The stallion smiled some more, then his face hardened a little. A questionable look appeared in his expression. “Do you have a source of income?”
Once again Derpy shrugged. “Like a job? I don’t think so.”
Doctor made a small grunt. “Hmm, I guess you have a lot of money saved up from your old job.” He took a sip of his iced tea.
“What job?”
His eyes widened at the question. “You don’t remember being Ponyville’s mail mare?”
She blinked twice.
“You delivered the mail for Ponyville for three years before you resigned.”
“Why did I stop?”
“If I remember, things started getting quite a bit busier around that time, and they hired more ponies to help. I guess the work was getting a little bit crazy at that point.”
She sighed and took a drink of her lemonade.
“You really don’t remember that job?”
She shook her head and frowned a little.
Doctor, on the other hand, continued to smile. “Derpy, that’s probably why you can find your way around Ponyville so easily. After a while your rout would have become so routine that you wouldn’t need to think about it in order to find your way around.”
She smiled, and pulled out the journal that that Sandman had left for her. “I’m going to write this stuff down.” She picked out a pencil and started writing. When she finished their food had arrived.
“Oh thank goodness, I’m starved.” His stomach growled loudly right on cue. They both had a laugh about it then went on to eat.
Throughout their meal she asked him many questions about what he knew about her when she was a mail mare. She found out that she seemed to really love her job, and was always cheerful and smiling when she was on duty. He also told her how she was friendly to everyone else when delivering a package.
“One time you brought me a new watch that I had ordered. When I answered the door I asked you, ‘What did I get this time?’ and you said ‘I don’t know, what does this say?’”
Doctor grinned to the other, his laugh slowly fading into an awkward chuckle which eventually faded into an off-ward glance and clearing his throat. They sat there in awkward silence for what seemed like forever.
“I said that?” She asked rather abruptly.
“Yes, you did.”
There was another moment of silence. Of course Derpy sat there motionless, just staring at him with a tilted head. Doctor tapped his hoof on the ground a few times, and then scratched behind his head. As she continued the charade he made the casual motion of checking his wrist for the time despite not having a watch on.
“I don’t get it.” She said at last.
“Get what?”
“The joke.”
“I used the word time in my question…”
“Yeah?”
“And you brought me a clock and asked me what it said.”
There was another moment of silence. Derpy continued to stare blankly at the stallion.
“But you didn’t ask for the time.”
Doctor looked at her hopelessly. “Never mind.” He said, defeated.
“Oh wait I get it!”
“It’s too late now.”
“But it’s kind of funny.”
“Too bad, the moment is gone.”
Derpy slumped back, pouting. It wasn’t her fault that the joke wasn’t that good. Then again, if she made it then it actually was her fault. It made him laugh, but he probably gets a kick out of any one-liner with a clock attached to it.
Almost as if on cue the check arrived and managed to change the subject. They each paid for their food before thanking the waitress and leaving.
She may not understand comedy, but at least she left with another piece to her past. If Doctor was right about her old job being the reason she knew her way around town that would give her a whole new situation to reflect upon. Next stop: the post office!
---
Well, she thought, Doctor’s house is sort of like the post office. Despite her previous dedication to visiting the mentioned location Doctor had insisted that she come back to his house to review things one more time. When she had attempted to suggest that she should go to the post office he had told her that he would really prefer that she didn’t do that yet. He seemed very serious when he said so and Derpy decided to hear him out.
“I will explain everything at the house.” was his answer when she questioned his statement. While the answer was unsatisfying she decided to go with it for now, after all it couldn’t hurt.
When they returned to the house Doctor trotted back to his desk. Derpy followed him and sat down next to him. “So what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he replied, “I just think it would be unwise to go to the post office now.”
“Why?”
“Because it will probably trigger a reflection.”
“Huh?”
Doctor noticed the confusion in her expression and proceeded to explain. He slid a slip of paper over to where she could read it. “I think that these suggest Reflection to be a good name for your ‘visions.’” Derpy’s eyes ravaged the page with interest. “The author had thought to call them either inferences or exemptions; I don’t really understand how either of those terms applies to the situation.”
Derpy looked up from the page. It was filled with many large and complicated words that she personally didn’t think were good for use in any situation. Conversations would be much too difficult with the author of these notes. At least that was her opinion.
Doctor had begun pacing half way through his explanation. He was now standing by the window, and was about to make his way back across the room. “From what I read in those notes it seems to simply implying that these events are just memories and dreams. From a logical view they really are nothing more than that. However these notes don’t include anything that you say at all. When you add in your own experience into it, these events are less like memories and more like-“
“Reflections…” She cut in.
He nodded. “Essentially, yes. I have a theory, and in order to test it we will need to trigger one of these Reflections in a controlled environment.”
“A theory?”
“If I am right, then these events are far more like reflections than memories in more ways than one. It may be able to explain how you end up waking in various locations among other things.”
“Other things?” her curiosity was piqued.
Doctor walked up to face her. “Derpy, there might be a reason you went wall-eyed.”
“Really?” Her voice was somewhere between shock and skeptical.
“I just need some time to study things. I think we should go to the Post office together tomorrow.” She nodded to reply. “Oh and one more thing,” he added, “I’m not exactly sure, but is this a floor plan to your house?” He showed her another piece of paper.
Slid it in front of her and looked at it. It definitely looked like her house. It had the setup of her bedroom, kitchen, living room, and even the bathroom. There was even a crude, child-like drawing of Derpy in it.
That’s cute, she thought, I’m smiling! She looked up and confirmed that it was indeed her home.
“What are these rooms for?” He asked pointing to two different rooms. The first was about the size of Derpy’s bedroom, and it was positioned right next to it as well. The other was much smaller. It was a little bit smaller than the bathroom.
She replied that the first room was a spare bedroom. But she had never seen the second before. In fact, she was quite sure that it didn’t exist. “I might be forgetful, but I am almost certain that it isn’t there.”
Doctor rubbed his chin. There had to be something there.
“I like the picture you drew.” She said with a smile.
“I didn’t draw that.”
“Who did then?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Where did you even get this?”
“It was folded up and taped to the back of that photograph.” He continued to rub his chin. “Maybe my dad knew the person who built that house.”
“Or maybe he built it himself.”
They both sat there in silence for a moment. In the end they shrugged it off.
It was getting late and Derpy really thought she should be getting back to her home. “So we go to the post office tomorrow right?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I will meet you at the restaurant we ate at for lunch tomorrow morning. How does ten sound?”
She scribbled something in her journal, her original one, not the new one. “Sounds good! I’m going to leave all the stuff from the chest here so it is safe. I will see you tomorrow.” With that she left.
---
When Derpy arrived back at her house she immediately headed straight for the spare bedroom. She had to check something; she just wasn’t sure of what it was she was looking for. All she knew was that the little drawing of her on the floor plan was in that room. Surely there had to be a reason for her little effigy to be smiling whilst in that particular segment of the house, otherwise it would be pointless to draw her smiling.
The room was just big enough to contain a dresser, a mirror, a bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe. The bed was so that the head was against the center of the wall to the left of the door. On the left side of the bed was the nightstand. The wardrobe was in the far right corner, and the dresser was on the right wall. Finally, the mirror was in the right corner closest to the door.
She started her search with by examining the bed. There was nothing really unusual about it. It had a wooden frame that held the mattress firmly in place. It was high enough off the ground to where a foal could hide under the bed if playing hide and seek. There was a comforter on the bed, one that Derpy was sure had been there since she moved in. She had no recollection of exactly when she moved in so there was no telling how long it had been there. It was dark brown with Light brown trimmings, and it was long enough to hide the entire mattress but did not go any farther than that. Because of this fact there was no difficulty in seeing under the bed. Not to any surprise there was nothing currently under the bed.
She then examined the dresser. It was identical to the one that she had in her own room, and had no contents in its drawers. The wardrobe was also empty. On the nightstand there was a glass vase with nothing in it. In the nightstand drawer there was a dull pencil and a gum wrapper.
From her investigation she had reached a conclusion: the drawing must have been excited because of something else because there was nothing in particular to smile about in the room at all.
She was turning to leave when she noticed the mirror. She had actually not noticed it until now, and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to go examine it as well.
The mirror was oval shaped, framed in a dark, polished wood. The stand that held it up was a very simple metal one that was not unlike the average hat stand in design. There was nothing on this mirror but a few scratches and some dust.
Because the mirror was tilted backwards it was possible to see the roof behind her. It also caused a slight distortion in the image that was actually a little amusing, and if it tilted more than it would have been something fun to occupy her mind for a while. Since the incline was not that steep, her interest was not captured. Instead her attention was placed on the fact that the mirror was rather dusty, so she attempted to wipe away the dust with her hoof. While doing so she could have sworn she felt grooves bumping against her hoof and she was afraid that she may have scratched the surface. Upon closer inspection of the mirror she found something strange. In order to better analyze this she needed to clear the rest of the dust away, which she did promptly.
When the dust was cleared she discovered that what she had originally believed to be scratches were actually more like carvings. She got in closer to try and make out exactly what they were. Upon closer examination they seemed to be outlining the bed frame, but with a little rectangle in the middle of it. She turned around and tried to see if she could distinguish what that meant. Perhaps there was something behind the bed. If there was she should probably wait until she saw Doctor again so he could help her move it. However after looking between the carvings and the real thing she realized that from this perspective the rectangle was not behind the bed, but behind where the nightstand would be. While the bed frame was rather bulky, the nightstand was not, and she would have no problems pulling away from the wall.
After realizing this she trotted over to where the nightstand was and took the liberty in pulling it back from the wall. She then leaned over it (accidentally knocking the vase over and onto the floor) to see what was behind. What she found was a small box about the size of a picture frame inside a rectangular hole in the wall. She removed the box, and with great curiosity, decided to open it there.
Inside the box were a number of photographs. After learning what was in the box she decided to push the nightstand back (and return the vase to its original up-right position) and go to the living room to look at the photos in the light of the fire.
Before looking at them she decided to lay each one out in front of her. There were seven in all. The first one was of her as a filly. She was smiling like most fillies’ do when they are happy. The next photo was of her house from the outside. It was nothing special, just a normal photo. The third one however was one of a stallion she had never seen before. She held it closer to her so that she could get a better view of it.
Her eyes scanned over it promptly and she was quickly able to distinguish the stallion had a green coat and silver mane. She didn’t know who this was, but for some reason it seemed unmistakably familiar.
”He said that no pony has reported a missing foal. He wants us to take her down to the station so they can put her in an orphanage for the time being so they can keep an eye on her.”
The next photo had a picture of the same stallion standing next to a blue mare. The picture caused her to feel unbearably nostalgic. She knew these ponies… and the blue one, the blue one…
“It isn’t right.”
“I know, but we can’t just take her with us. That would be like kidnapping. On the other hand we can’t just sit here and pretend nothing happened. I can see she is clearly special, we have to do all we can.”
A strange feeling was causing her a headache, so she quickly moved on to the next photo. It was the green stallion next to yet another stallion. This one seemed to be a little older than him.
“I know that you want to stay with her, and I will admit that so do I. Things like this happen for a reason, and if you don’t act upon them then they will haunt you to the end. I plan on taking this to the Brotherhood. They will know what to do."
The next photo was just a picture of a wall with a small door at the bottom. She didn’t quite understand what it was. Then she noticed that there were two pictures on the wall, the same two pictures that she had on her wall. She held the photo up in front of her and then lowered it. One picture had a fireplace, the other didn’t, and that was the only difference between them.
She rushed to the kitchen to get a bucket of water. When she returned she quickly doused the flames, sending a cloud of steam up and out the chimney. Without waiting for it to clear she pushed her hoof into the fireplace and started messing with the back wall of it. One of the bricks was very loose, and she easily pushed it back. After the first one she was able to start pulling others out. One by one she shoveled them from the fireplace until she had removed seven bricks total. Once the opening was then big enough to crawl through, she poked her head in the fireplace and tried reaching into the hole. There was a wooden door behind the bricks, one that had no knob or handle and did not budge when she tried pushing it.
There had to be some way to get it open, she thought.
---
Once Derpy was gone Doctor had gone to the kitchen to make a hot cup of tea before returning to his desk. After having a taste of what Derpy had bought at The Red Leaf, he simply had to have more. It was nice of Derpy to leave some behind for him when she left, he thought.
Now that he was alone he was finally able to relax. He went back to his desk and turned on the light.
What a strange two days it had been. In the blink of an eye everything had changed. Suddenly his life had become much more interesting, and it was all thanks to that spritely Pegasus. Still he found himself in a world of complications. After years of living a normal life in Ponyville, Doctor was now being forced to question his own identity.
The stallion took a sip of his steaming beverage before setting it down on the wooden surface of his desk. A sigh escaped his lips as he turned to look at the clock on the wall above the doorframe.
He thought back to his childhood. It was a very colorful one filled with many different places and ponies. He remembered traveling an awful lot with his entire family. Well his pseudo-family at least. As he had grown older he had begun to start to understand that some of the relatives he travelled with were not related to him by blood, but were still family in a sentimental way. Now this fact was clearer than ever with the notes left from his father. Derpy was mentioned as a dear childhood friend of his, and when he thought back he could remember having a cousin who he spent a great deal of time with. Of course he now understood that his cousin was not actually a cousin at all, but instead was Derpy.
Speaking of his father, he had not actually put a great deal of thought into the stallion at all. It had been a very long time since his father had left, and he didn’t know where the man had gone or why he had done so. All he remembered was being left in Ponyville with his uncle, who was most likely, not really his uncle now that he thought about it.
Despite having been apparently abandoned by his father, Doctor had never actually resented him for it. Now that he was an adult he was starting to wonder why he had not felt any malice towards his father as he grew up.
He sat there for another moment reminiscing on old times. He hadn’t realized how young he had been back then until now. He couldn’t have been older than five or six when his father had left. He had always believed that he was off in a foreign land far away, exploring the world as a great adventurer. Maybe that was the truth.
He looked down to the papers on the desk. Suddenly his attitude changed.
Why all the secrecy? He wondered as he got up and started pacing again. It was just starting to actually sink in that he had no idea what any of the events in his life had meant. His head was hurting, and doubts were clouding his thoughts.
He opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t. His eyes widened as something finally clicked in his head. He didn’t know who he was. It had just dawned on him that he had grown up without his parents there to guide him. He never received any explanation for any event that had ever happened during his childhood, and until this day he had no reason to seek out an answer.
He made his way back to the desk. He sat down frustrated for reasons he could not explain. When he thought about it he was nearly as lost as Derpy in all of this. So lost that he could not figure out just what he was supposed to be frustrated about.
He laid his head on the desk and closed his eyes, letting everything go. He needed to relax. When he opened his eyes he saw that the paper before him was the letter he had started to read that morning. It then occurred to him that he had never finished reading it. There was still a paragraph left after where he had left off.
When he read the last word he simply sat there in silence for what seemed like hours. He didn’t know what to think, but he felt like he wasn’t supposed to. It seemed like he and Derpy really were two of a certain kind.
He sighed. Then he slid a clean sheet of paper in front of him. After picking up a pencil he began to write:
Once that was written he took a moment to think before crumpling up the sheet of paper and tossing it into the waste bin. He felt that this was the sort of thing that would require constant updates in order to be accurate. With that in mind he started looking for a notebook instead. He found one in his desk drawer. It was had a plain white cover, and around forty pages in it. On the first sheet he began once again.
When he finished he read over his list to make sure he had everything. His goal was to name as many things as he could that may be related to possible memories that could be uncovered. The idea was to add and cross them off as related memories were added to Derpy’s journal. At the moment he couldn’t think of any others that were of immediate importance, but he was sure that Derpy might have more in her journal.
The clock said it was ten pm. There was a chance that Derpy was still awake, and he wanted to get this handled tonight. So without waiting any longer he found his jacket and took the notebook with him as he left his home.
---
Derpy continued her attempts to open the door but to avail. Determined to get it open, she pulled out of the fireplace and looked around the room for something to help her. If she was desperate she could always try using an axe or hatchet to try and break it open. However she didn’t know what was inside, and she would rather not do anything to damage it.
If a door has no knob or handle then it has to open by some other means. Maybe there was a button or a switch she needed to press somewhere. It was too dark to see anything at the moment, so she ran to the kitchen and lit a candle. When that was done she returned to the fireplace to see if she could find anything. She tried moving all the other bricks of the fireplace but nothing happened. Then she remembered that the pictures on the wall were in the photograph too, so she checked behind both of them. There was nothing there either.
This is stupid, she thought, who builds a fire place in the middle of the house anyways? That’s completely unsafe! She paused for a moment and then looked down at the picture of the house from the outside. She realized that her house didn’t have a visible chimney from the outside, and that made her start to wonder if the chimney was even supposed to be used at all. However seeing as there had never been any complications before she saw no reason to be alarmed. Still that left her to question just what was behind the door.
If the door didn’t open from the outside then there had to be some way to get inside. She wondered just what other method one could use to get into the room without breaking the door. The only thing she could think of was that there had to be another door somewhere else. Either that or the room wasn’t meant to be found at all. That would make it a safe house, but even that would require an entrance.
She glanced at the door once more to examine it more thoroughly. The door had a parabolic shape, and was made of twelve wooden planks. There were two long horizontal planks in the center of the door, and five vertical planks both above and below the two horizontal ones. Two of the vertical planks were longer in than the other eight. These two vertical planks were located in the top right and the bottom left of the door. These two planks were longer because the two horizontal planks were only four planks long. The top horizontal plank started at the left and ended on the fourth plank while the bottom one started on the second plank and ended on the fifth.
After realizing this build it then occurred to her that the door might not open like a door at all, but be removed like a false bottom. It would explain the lack of hinges, unless they were on the inside of course. Nevertheless, this would mean that the key to opening the door would be part of the door itself, and she would just have to remove it from where it stood. If she was right, then something would need to be lifted or moved in order to get past.
Derpy looked over the different parts of the door. She figured that if any of the boards would be used to lock the door in place it would have to be the long horizontal ones. If longer than the frame of the door, they could be used like deadbolts.
Taking this into consideration she once again crawled back into the fireplace. Despite the flame having been doused a few minutes earlier, the bricks around her were still warm. An image flashed through her head. An image of a green stallion in burning building flashed through her mind. She shook her head and the image disappeared.
She first started with one on the bottom. She did her best to try and slide it but it wouldn’t budge in any way. So then she moved on to the top one. She tried to slide it to the left, away from the upper fifth vertical plank that blocked it from sliding to the right. The board didn’t move, but it felt loose. It was only then that she realized there were no bolts in that board at all. That made her certain it had to be the one to move. However in order for her to slide it right she would have to move the vertical plank blocking it. Realizing this dilemma she proceeded to attempt to slide the vertical board upward. It took a bit of effort, but it did start sliding. It slid up just far enough to allow her to fit the horizontal bar under it.
This is it! She thought to herself. Another image filled her head, one of fire all around her. All this time in a fireplace must have been getting to her head, she decided.
With a deep breath she put all her effort into sliding the plank horizontally until it reached all the way across. She then pushed on the door and it fell backwards.
What she now had before her was a small opening into a very dark room. Derpy had just discovered a secret room behind her fireplace, and she was determined to find out why it was there. With a little difficulty she crawled her way farther into her fire place, and poked her head into the opening. She then squeezed her right hoof through to find that the floor was about 8 inches lower than the level she was currently on. Given the height that the brick floor of the fireplace lifted her off the ground that left the floor about 6 inches lower than the floor of her living room.
She continued to crawl through the hole until she was all the way through, and staring into complete and utter darkness. Realizing she could not see she sighed and poked the front half of her body back out of the hole so that she could reach the candle right outside the fireplace. She then receded back into the once-hidden chamber to get a better look at what was inside.
The room was rectangular in shape, with the walls on either side of her being about seven feet long and the wall parallel with the entrance being about 4 feet wide. The roof was about 6 feet from the ground. Pushed against the back wall there was a small desk with a 4 foot cabinet beside it. On the desk there were two objects, a lantern and a small, fancy-looking black box.
Her first instinct was to make the room lighter, so she lit the lantern. The lantern produced a bright light that lit up the entire room. No longer in need of the candle she blew it out. She looked around the room and saw that the walls were littered with pages of notes, old newspapers, and photographs. She then looked at the little black box.
As she stared at the object everything seemed to stop. The only sound in the room was the sound of a clock ticking. But there was no clock, only the beating of her heart.
Slowly she moved her hoof towards the object until she was touching the top of the box itself. It was cool and glossy to the touch. For some reason she felt afraid to open it. A wave of anxiety came over her, causing her to go light headed for a moment. Without wasting another moment she opened the box to reveal a little mirror. When the top was lifted there was a second of lag before music started to play a soft and nostalgic tune.
Derpy recognized this tune from somewhere, but she didn’t know when. This was not the same song as the music box at The Red Leaf, but for some reason she felt she knew the song.
As the music played in the background, she went on to take a look around the room. How mysterious this all seemed, what did it all mean. She trotted up to a newspaper clipping that was posted on the wall. Its title read ‘Local Stallion Resists Canterlot Authorities’. Derpy continued to read on to learn of how the stallion had fled the scene of a crime after being caught breaking into a book shop. There was no picture, but the stallion was said to have been wearing brown clothing that covered up everything but his grey mane and tail. There was an arrow drawn in red pencil that lead to a nearby scrap of notepaper with the words ‘empty lead, damage assessed’ written on it in black.
Derpy continued to scan across the articles and notes, growing ever more confused with each one. She also found that many of the articles had red arrows that connected them as well as multiple notes. However many of these articles seemed to have no connection whatsoever. One such instance Derpy saw was a four article chain that started with one titled ‘Robbery in Manehattan North’. A red arrow led to another article that mentioned a fire at a Canterlot bakery, which led to an article that detailed a missing person in Trottingham. The last part in the series was perhaps the most confusing of the set. The fourth article was from a Baltimare newspaper, and it was titled ‘Tracks and Trains’. The article was about a local railroad worker who had been working for a full decade as an engineer in the railroad industry. There was nothing more to the story than the details of his career. Yet despite this there was an attached note that read ‘Problem solved, move to next phase’.
The tune on the music box continued to play faster. There was something about the sound that brought back memories of something she couldn’t explain. As she approached the rooms exit she came across something that looked unlike anything that she had seen thus far: a photo of mansion in flames. There was an article nearby which spoke of it.
“Right through that doorway over there… Just have to get you to the staircase…”
She turned around to look back at the room from to exit. She felt like things were fogging up. That clock was still beating, but it was beating faster. She started to hear someone singing along with the tune of the music box. This voice was not like the others she had heard. This voice was real. She started looking around in what felt like slow motion, she could hear someone else singing, and she was close by. She kept turning her head frantically. The light in the room was flickering. She closed her eyes and opened them again to see somepony sitting at the desk.
dnE|3nd R3fl3ction 8
Chapter 8
owT|Two of a Certain Kind
Three in the morning seemed awfully late for the amount of time it took to leave the Poetry meeting and receive the note from Sandman. She hadn’t realized that her trances could last for such a long time and seem so short. It must have happened when she heard the music. But then again, that would still mean she had either been walking incredibly slow, or she had simply lost consciousness in the street for a while. She wasn’t going to rule either one of them out. She was actually starting to think it must have been inside the Red Leaf. She may have just been standing in that dark for an eternity before moving, like a child who wants to turn on the light but is too afraid to make the dash to the light switch.
The night air was still, or was it the morning air? Derpy shook her head; she wasn’t exactly feeling up to debating such a question at this hour. She thought about how she had left so promptly. Was that rude of her? Should she have stayed a while longer? When she had tried to get Pa’s attention he seemed to be in some sort of trance. He may have just simply fallen asleep, old ponies do that sometimes.
A chill ran down her spine. It was rather chilly that night. She didn’t remember it being that chilly when she went inside. Maybe she should have brought a jacket. Maybe she did bring a jacket and she had just left it somewhere. Then again that could be true for just about anything she owned. She didn’t think that those sorts of instances really counted towards her memory loss. She was pretty sure that everypony had moments where they placed something down and then forgot they had it.
She stopped walking and simply stood there silently. The note had said that she should seek out Sandman’s son, Doctor. Or did it say his son was a doctor? She probably would have better luck seeking out an actual doctor than a pony whose name was Doctor. Unless of course that pony was a doctor named Doctor. If that was the case then there would no doubt be a great deal of hilarity to ensue. Of course she was not so much looking forward to a comedic undertaking as she was actually hoping to find some answers. However if answers happened to be accompanied by a witty series of play-on-words she wouldn’t mind in the least bit.
With a sigh she continued marching on. She wasn’t really thinking about where she was going, nor did she plan on arriving at anywhere in particular. However even despite her best efforts to not walk towards any particular location she still coincidentally ended up at one of the only places to go at 3 in the morning: an all-night diner.
The building was much smaller than the ones around it. It wasn’t the sort of restaurant where you could walk around in; instead it was more like a trailer. There were a few seats at the counter, then three booths on each side of it.
When she walked in she was instantly greeted by the strong aroma of coffee and eggs. There was one other pony sitting at the counter, sipping some coffee. Derpy sighed and went and found a seat at the end of the counter and waited for someone to come out of the back.
After a few minutes a large pony with a greasy apron and white hat on appeared from the doorway. He had a newspaper under his arm, which he promptly held out to the other pony sitting at the counter. “Here ya go, Blues.” He said in a particularly deep and graveled tone. “Of course the next one will be here in two hours.”
“How do you do it? Do you ever sleep?” the stallion asked with a raised brow. His name clearly fit him in more ways than one. His mane, tail, and coat were all blue, and his cutie mark consisted of two double eighth notes. It would be wrong to call him by any other name.
The larger pony smiled and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know anymore.” He looked over at Derpy. “How about you miss? How do you find the time these days?”
Derpy looked down at her hooves and gave a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t even really know what happened yesterday.”
“You hear that?” replied the large stallion.
“Ain’t that the truth…” added Blues immediately after.
Derpy just sort of shrugged, not really knowing what they were talking about and almost certain they didn’t know what she was talking about. Still, she might as well just go with it.
The stallion behind the counter picked up a pencil and returned. “So what’s your name doll?”
“Derpy.”
The stallion smiled. “What can I get you, Derpy?”
She thought for a moment. “Do you have lemonade?”
“Sorry, but I can offer you a cup of coffee on the house.”
The Pegasus thought for a moment, and then decided she might as well. She nodded and the stallion went to pour her a cup.
“Careful, it’s hot.” He warned as he placed the mug in front of her. He then went over to the other end of the counter and started drying some glasses with a white towel. “So what brings you here, Derpy?”
“It was cold outside.” She said bluntly and innocently.
Both stallions smirked.
“I like you. You’re funny.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, funnier than that guy.”
Blues looked up. “Bite me Patty,” he said as-a-matter-of-factly.
“Well we can’t all be named after a color now can we?” The other stallion joked. Apparently his name was Patty. That was actually quite humorous given his gruff appearance and tough sounding voice.
“Say Pat, when are you going to get a new clock?”
“I’m not. Doc ‘ll fix the one I got.”
Derpy looked up from her coffee. She hadn’t drunk any of it; she had just sort of been staring at it.
Blues looked very skeptical about Patty’s response. “It’s a cheap clock, why would you waste the money to have him work on it?”
“Didn’t cost me a bit. Doctor said he would fix it in his spare time.”
“Who?” Derpy asked suddenly.
The two stallions looked at her, and then Blues went back to reading. The working pony threw the towel over his shoulder and stretched his neck. “He’s a clock smith named Doctor. Funny looking guy, doesn’t drink much coffee but he always seems like he hasn’t slept in days.”
Blues shook his head. “Last time I heard he said he was a time turner.”
Patty shrugged. “Guess that’s just a way of saying clock smith. Same thing right.”
They were both shrugging. Derpy was starting to feel left out.
“Where can I find him?” She asked when they appeared to be finished.
“He has his shop set up down the street from Sugar Cube Corner. East road I think.”
Derpy thanked the two stallions for their help. She then stood up and walked out of the diner, heading towards Sugar Cube Corner. She didn’t really think about the fact that it was only four in the morning, not until she reached her destination of course. She also realized that she didn’t know which direction was east. Then she realized that East Road was the name of a street, not a direction. It was just a minor road that branched off of the main intersection.
She didn’t really know what else to do, so she walked down the street until she was in the middle of the length of the road. She then just sat down and waited. She took that time to write a little in her journal, which she did have with her in her bag. She spent perhaps two hours simply sitting on the side of the road writing and re-reading. When sunrise came she was sort of expecting everypony to suddenly appear and go about their lives. Of course that didn’t happen except for a few business ponies who were accustomed to reporting to work early.
By the time that it was eight in the morning she had already written two pages in her journal and read through it four times. She had counted every rock and pebble within a six foot radius and walked in six hundred circles. Needless to say she was relieved when ponies started coming out of their homes. Most likely it is also needless to say that a few of these ponies were confused as to why there was a grey Pegasus idling in the middle of the street.
Derpy was pretty sure she knew which one of the houses Doctor lived in. One of them had a metal bar that extruded from the roof horizontally, and from it hung a wooden sign with an hourglass on it. Given the fact that this pony was a clock smith of sorts, she was pretty sure that this was the right place.
Finally the door opened, and a brown Earth Pony exited the building. The stallion matched the description given by Patty. His brown hair was a complete mess, and his eyes wide open; he definitely looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
The stallion looked at his watch, and then started making his way towards Sugar Cube Corner. He did not appear to notice Derpy’s presence.
Determined to find some answers she persisted after him from a distance. Unfortunately she did not know what to say, and she certainly didn’t want to seem crazy or creepy. So instead of confronting him there she thought she might as well follow him for a while.
The stallion made very few stops on his commute. He took a short break to smell some flowers a cart vendor was selling and another stop to give a bit to a filly in a scout’s uniform. After that he continued walking for what seemed like an hour. It was more like twenty minutes, but when following a stranger, things can feel dragged out. Finally he arrived at Sweet Apple Acre, where he knocked on the house door. Moments later Granny Smith opened the door and gave him a stereotypical country greeting.
Derpy could overhear some of the conversation without attempting to snoop.
“Glad to be of assistance Granny. So what seems to be the problem?”
“It’s mah old great grand pappy’s clock again. The dern arm stopped swingin’ again.”
“Alright then I’ll just take a look at it and see if I can get that pendulum working again.”
The stallion went inside and the door shut behind him. Derpy stood there for a moment waiting, and then she heard a small, high pitch voice coming from next to her.
“Watcha lookin at?” asked Apple Bloom. The filly was looking in the same direction as Derpy was in an attempt to find what was so interesting.
“Who is that?”
“That aint a who, that’s a house. Can you see alright?” The question seemed innocent enough.
“No I mean the stallion who just went inside. The brown one.”
The filly seemed to understand now. “Oh that’s Doctor.”
“Doctor… who?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s just his name.”
Derpy shrugged. At least she knew she had the right pony. “I need to talk to him.”
“Well let’s get goin’!” the filly said as she started pushing Derpy forward with her head. The Pegasus was reluctant to comply, but the filly was stronger than she looked. In the end Apple Bloom managed to push the dormant Derpy all the way to the steps. She then skipped up to the door and opened it. “Are ya commin’?”
Derpy sighed. She wasn’t prepared for confrontation yet, but the foal wasn’t giving her much of a choice. Reluctantly she made her way into the house and closing the door behind her. Apple Bloom then led her into the room where the stallion had his head poked behind a grandfather clock. The sound of cogs being tinkered with filled the room.
The two female ponies just stood there. Eventually Apple Bloom started nudging Derpy to say something, but received head shakes and nudges back. The two of them had that silent argument for a few minutes until the filly decided to break the silence. “Hey Mister Doctor, someone wants to talk to ya!” The scamp then scurried away leaving the two adults alone in the room.
“Yes?” Doctor asked without taking a break from his work.
Derpy put a hoof behind her head and gave an awkward smile. “Uh hi.”
“Hello,” he replied. “Who is this?”
“Oh, uh, it’s-“
“Wait, Derpy?” he suddenly exclaimed half-excitedly.
“Yes.” She was a little stunned by the recognition.
“Well what a surprise. What brings you here?”
“Well you see, I read this note.”
“That so?”
“Yes and it came with this key.”
“A key?”
“Yes and the note said that you would be able to help with that.”
There was a banging sound that came from behind the clock. “Owe, oops. Oh, there we go!” The stallion reappeared from behind the clock and opened the glass case in the front. He gave the pendulum a slight push before closing the front and checking his watch. He then set the large clock to the time displayed on his wrist before admiring his handiwork.
The stallion then walked out of the room to tell Granny Smith that he was done and she thanked him with a stereotypical country phrase. After that the stallion nodded and started his way for the door. He was about to leave when he remembered he was talking with Derpy. “I’m sorry but I can’t help you with a key. You should try a locksmith!” He then departed the house and started making his way to his next appointment.
Derpy simply stood there for a moment. Unwilling to give up she too exited the house and started following the stallion to his next destination, which happened to be a very colorful building she had could not remember visiting before. This building was none other than the Carousel Boutique.
Derpy watched as Doctor entered the building. She waited for a while so that she could admire the interesting and colorful appearance of the structure before her. Doctor was only in this building for a few minutes, he then exited wearing a black fedora on his head. It was actually quite a look for him.
He glanced Derpy’s way but didn’t seem to notice that it was her standing there. Instead he simply began walking to yet another appointment. Once again the stallion stopped to smell the flowers that the mare with the cart was selling. He seemed to want to buy one but appeared to be too busy to make the purchase. Disappointed he continued walking down the street until he stopped at Sugar Cube Corner. This time Derpy didn’t go inside, but simply spied on him through the window. She didn’t need Pinkie making things awkward. She had read in her journal that Pinkie Pie would do that.
When Doctor exited the building a little while later he could have sworn someone was watching him. He looked around but didn’t notice Derpy who was floating above him. He sighed and continued to his last appointment.
Derpy followed him to a nearby house. He greeted the pony who answered the door as Daisy. They stood there talking for a little while then she gave him a satchel, which he promptly put around his neck. They talked for a little while longer and then they said their goodbyes.
When Doctor turned around he found himself face to face with Derpy, who had landed after the door shut. “Derpy…” he said plainly, “have you been following me?”
The young mare nodded with a smile. “Yes.” She seemed innocent enough.
The stallion sighed. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Again she nodded.
“Does it have to do with that key?”
Derpy smiled.
Doctor shook his head and started walking. “I really can’t help you.”
She felt a wave of disappointment. “Are you sure? It’s really important!”
“I don’t know anything about keys, only clocks.”
“But your dad said that you would know about it!”
He stopped, but didn’t turn around. “Dad? You must be mistaken; my father left a very long time ago.”
“Not before leaving a note.”
“Can I see this note?” He sounded skeptical. Still the Pegasus had no problem with providing one. She handed it to him and he spent a few moments reading it. “To your infinity… Sandman.” After reading that last line he just simply stood there soaking it in. His eyes seemed to water a bit. “Dad…”
Derpy couldn’t help but to notice his emotional state and felt like she should chime in. “You okay?”
Doctor didn’t reply immediately. “If it isn’t a bother, would you mind explaining what any of this means?”
She nodded.
“My workshop is right around the corner. We should go there to talk.
---
“So that’s when you came to look for me, huh?” Doctor replied with a tired voice. They had been talking for some time now. Derpy had given him every detail from her journal that she had written thus far. It all seemed very unlikely to him, but she still had that note. Normally one could think that maybe it was a fake, but the signature at the end gave him reason to believe it was real. His father signed all of his urgent letters with ‘To your Infinity.’ The chances that anypony else would know that were very slim.
He sighed and looked back at the note which he had earlier placed on his work desk. He stared at it through the large, round magnifying glass that one might see at an orthodontist or forensics lab. It was accompanied by a lamp that appeared to be powered by the gears of a nearby clock turning. It was clear that he was a very intelligent individual, far more so than the average clock smith.
Derpy was also very tired at that point, as it was getting late and she had not slept the night before. She was seated at another desk nearby. She took a moment to look around the room. She sort of admired the way that he had turned his home into his work place. She understood that the Cakes did the same thing, but she had spent very little time at there and couldn’t remember that.
The main room was slightly rectangular in shape, the door being located at the end of the long walls. The entire room was not that big. There were two desks in the room’s back corner. The room also housed a sofa as well as some plants and general decorum. It was no bigger than her own living room, and it might have even been smaller. However his home had two floors to it, while hers only had one. Even so, they had very similar square-footage.
Doctor rubbed his eyes. “Derpy, this is all so much to take in at once… why don’t we continue this tomorrow?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Why don’t I walk you home?”
She shrugged. She wouldn’t mind the company, it would keep her from getting into trouble. So she agreed and they went off towards Derpy’s house. They didn’t say much at all to each other. It had been a long day.
When they finally arrived at her house he asked her what time she wanted to meet up. She told him that he should just come over to get her in the morning. He agreed and they went their separate ways.
There was nothing strange about that night. It was the best night of sleep she had gotten since the accident.
---
The next morning Doctor returned to find Derpy still asleep. He returned again two hours later to find her just waking up. It was then ten in the morning. The two of them shared simple greetings before Derpy grabbed the bag she had put everything in before she went to sleep. She then followed Doctor to his house where he insisted she put her stuff by the desk he didn’t use. She didn’t quite understand why he had two desks, but he insisted that they had been there for as long as he had lived there.
After few moments of awkward small talk he asked if she had the key. She did.
“There is a safe in this house that I have never understood its purpose.” He had already moved it into the room the previous night. “The lock is strange, and can’t be picked. I had a locksmith come and try to open it, but he told me that the only way this would open is if I could find my key. I guess you have had the key all along.”
Derpy gave it to him. He marveled at its odd shape. He took a deep breath. Derpy could tell that this was something he had wanted to do for a very long time.
He put the key in the lock and twisted it. There was a sound unlike anything either of them had heard before. It sounded like hundreds of tumblers being activated at once with a mechanical crunch. Whoever made the safe did not want anyone without the key to open it.
When the key could turn no more there was another sound that resembled multiple bolts retreating into their sockets. With one last deep breath he opened the case.
With a safe so strong and so protected it wouldn’t have surprised either of them to see bricks of gold inside. Instead they found it to be tightly packed using blankets and separators. The only loose object seemed to be an envelope on the top. Doctor took that envelope and opened it. Inside there was a note written in ink. He took it over to his desk and started reading it out loud.
“The words detailed in this letter have been written for the eyes of two ponies. Therefore it has been sealed in a way that requires two objects to be found. These two objects are a safe and a key, and the ponies who now possess this note must be the keepers of these. Upon uniting these two can gain access to and are now the owners of the items later listed in this document. The following is a message to keepers Doctor and Derpy.
The fact that you are now reading this message is an indication that Derpy has followed my instructions and sought out my son. There is nothing that I would like more than to congratulate you myself, but circumstances in your present no doubt make this an impossibility. I am neither able or at liberty to explain to you why this is so, but I promise that you will discover everything in due time. However I will explain something to you. My son, you are soon going to discover just who we are. As for you Derpy, while you may not believe it, the future holds unbelievable secrets that you and only you are capable of discovering. Neither of you are yet prepared to face the trials set before you, and because of an imminent danger I cannot afford to explain everything to you in my notes. We have left behind a number of objects and guides to help you, but none of them will be anywhere near as helpful or as important as Derpy’s memory. In the container you found this document in we have left behind a number of things that play a vital role in your journey. The items left to you are as follows:
For Doctor:
Two watches- one an hourglass and the other a sundial
A stack of notes written by Professor that detail his observations of Derpy’s condition.
A photograph of you and myself
A box of gears and cogs
And a silver compass
For Derpy:
A silver quill that should only be used on special occasions
A book of poems written by a Canterlot noble
A black notebook with your cutie mark in silver on the front
A silver pocket mirror
And a page of phrases and sequences not unlike the one from my previous letter.
For each of you:
A platinum locket on the end of a silver chain. Inside you will find your respective cutie mark symbols engraved on the top, and a watch in the bottom. This object is extremely important, and cannot be lost. Keep them with you at all times.
Start your journey now. Good luck.”Doctor stopped reading and looked up at Derpy. She had apparently laid out each item as it was mentioned on the appropriate desk.
“Where do we start?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I guess we can look over the notes. Maybe look over that locket. Maybe there is a reason it is so important. There is a magnifying glass on that desk too.”
With that he went to study his notes.
---
Derpy found herself in wonder as she examined all the different items left to her. But the most intriguing thing was in fact the locket. She started taking notes in her journal about all that had happened, then she went on to examine the locket.
The object was incredibly detailed. To make this would have been a very difficult task, especially with such a valuable metal. Equestria may have had an abundance of gems, but was not so lucky when it came to rare metals. Platinum was still an extremely expensive metal, and she had never seen it herself. It was very similar to silver, but the way it shined was just unlike any metal she had ever seen before.
Hours went by of their studying. Derpy was failing to see anything of importance. Her mind began to wander and her thoughts started to approach other topics of interest. She was really starting to wonder what was so important about the locket. She wondered if it was some sort of key to another chest. Maybe it was a device that could somehow guide her to treasure. Magic did happen after all. Then it occurred to her that perhaps it could be some sort of device used to keep her memories intact. Was that even possible? Could an object really have that sort of effect on somepony’s mind?
Derpy sat there in silence for a moment, contemplating the possibilities. “Hey,” she started. “What do you know about the brain?”
The stallion did not look up from his magnifying glass. “Very little.”
The mare frowned and mumbled under her breath. “I thought you were a doctor.”
He looked up with a raised brow. “No, my name is Doctor. I’m a time turner, remember?”
“Oh yeah…” She laid her head on the desk and stared at her key with without the magnifying glass. Why were they even doing this? There is no point in staring at the key to try and figure out what it went to. The keys probably went to other boxes anyways. She let her vision blur, tired of staring at the key.
“Hey, Derpy, where did you say you had been keeping the key?”
“Let me check…” she said, pulling her diary over to her. She flipped through the pages without lifting her head. “In a drawer in my house.”
“And you live where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No, I can’t remember. I just know how to get there.”
“Well how does that work?”
Derpy gave him a sarcastic look, challenging him to think of an answer himself.
He took the hint, and looked back down to where the key was. He himself was tired of staring at the key as well. “This isn’t helping at all. Do you feel like getting something to eat?”
“It’s a date.” She replied, perking up a bit.
“A what?”
“Never mind, I know a place with the best lemonade.”
---
“Okay an order of hay fries for you, and what will you have sir?”
“I think I will have the garden salad,” replied Doctor. He and Derpy folded their menus and handed them to the waitress. He then looked back at the mare sitting across from him and smiled. “So I’m guessing you come here often?”
Derpy shrugged. “I guess so. They know me well enough to bring me lemonade when I sit down.”
He chuckled, and then he reached into his shoulder back to see how much money he brought with him. It probably would have been smart to check before he ordered, but he had enough so it was okay. Then he looked to Derpy. “Do you have enough bits with you for your order?”
Derpy nodded and reached into her bag to pull out a few coins.
The stallion smiled some more, then his face hardened a little. A questionable look appeared in his expression. “Do you have a source of income?”
Once again Derpy shrugged. “Like a job? I don’t think so.”
Doctor made a small grunt. “Hmm, I guess you have a lot of money saved up from your old job.” He took a sip of his iced tea.
“What job?”
His eyes widened at the question. “You don’t remember being Ponyville’s mail mare?”
She blinked twice.
“You delivered the mail for Ponyville for three years before you resigned.”
“Why did I stop?”
“If I remember, things started getting quite a bit busier around that time, and they hired more ponies to help. I guess the work was getting a little bit crazy at that point.”
She sighed and took a drink of her lemonade.
“You really don’t remember that job?”
She shook her head and frowned a little.
Doctor, on the other hand, continued to smile. “Derpy, that’s probably why you can find your way around Ponyville so easily. After a while your rout would have become so routine that you wouldn’t need to think about it in order to find your way around.”
She smiled, and pulled out the journal that that Sandman had left for her. “I’m going to write this stuff down.” She picked out a pencil and started writing. When she finished their food had arrived.
“Oh thank goodness, I’m starved.” His stomach growled loudly right on cue. They both had a laugh about it then went on to eat.
Throughout their meal she asked him many questions about what he knew about her when she was a mail mare. She found out that she seemed to really love her job, and was always cheerful and smiling when she was on duty. He also told her how she was friendly to everyone else when delivering a package.
“One time you brought me a new watch that I had ordered. When I answered the door I asked you, ‘What did I get this time?’ and you said ‘I don’t know, what does this say?’”
Doctor grinned to the other, his laugh slowly fading into an awkward chuckle which eventually faded into an off-ward glance and clearing his throat. They sat there in awkward silence for what seemed like forever.
“I said that?” She asked rather abruptly.
“Yes, you did.”
There was another moment of silence. Of course Derpy sat there motionless, just staring at him with a tilted head. Doctor tapped his hoof on the ground a few times, and then scratched behind his head. As she continued the charade he made the casual motion of checking his wrist for the time despite not having a watch on.
“I don’t get it.” She said at last.
“Get what?”
“The joke.”
“I used the word time in my question…”
“Yeah?”
“And you brought me a clock and asked me what it said.”
There was another moment of silence. Derpy continued to stare blankly at the stallion.
“But you didn’t ask for the time.”
Doctor looked at her hopelessly. “Never mind.” He said, defeated.
“Oh wait I get it!”
“It’s too late now.”
“But it’s kind of funny.”
“Too bad, the moment is gone.”
Derpy slumped back, pouting. It wasn’t her fault that the joke wasn’t that good. Then again, if she made it then it actually was her fault. It made him laugh, but he probably gets a kick out of any one-liner with a clock attached to it.
Almost as if on cue the check arrived and managed to change the subject. They each paid for their food before thanking the waitress and leaving.
She may not understand comedy, but at least she left with another piece to her past. If Doctor was right about her old job being the reason she knew her way around town that would give her a whole new situation to reflect upon. Next stop: the post office!
---
Well, she thought, Doctor’s house is sort of like the post office. Despite her previous dedication to visiting the mentioned location Doctor had insisted that she come back to his house to review things one more time. When she had attempted to suggest that she should go to the post office he had told her that he would really prefer that she didn’t do that yet. He seemed very serious when he said so and Derpy decided to hear him out.
“I will explain everything at the house.” was his answer when she questioned his statement. While the answer was unsatisfying she decided to go with it for now, after all it couldn’t hurt.
When they returned to the house Doctor trotted back to his desk. Derpy followed him and sat down next to him. “So what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he replied, “I just think it would be unwise to go to the post office now.”
“Why?”
“Because it will probably trigger a reflection.”
“Huh?”
Doctor noticed the confusion in her expression and proceeded to explain. He slid a slip of paper over to where she could read it. “I think that these suggest Reflection to be a good name for your ‘visions.’” Derpy’s eyes ravaged the page with interest. “The author had thought to call them either inferences or exemptions; I don’t really understand how either of those terms applies to the situation.”
Derpy looked up from the page. It was filled with many large and complicated words that she personally didn’t think were good for use in any situation. Conversations would be much too difficult with the author of these notes. At least that was her opinion.
Doctor had begun pacing half way through his explanation. He was now standing by the window, and was about to make his way back across the room. “From what I read in those notes it seems to simply implying that these events are just memories and dreams. From a logical view they really are nothing more than that. However these notes don’t include anything that you say at all. When you add in your own experience into it, these events are less like memories and more like-“
“Reflections…” She cut in.
He nodded. “Essentially, yes. I have a theory, and in order to test it we will need to trigger one of these Reflections in a controlled environment.”
“A theory?”
“If I am right, then these events are far more like reflections than memories in more ways than one. It may be able to explain how you end up waking in various locations among other things.”
“Other things?” her curiosity was piqued.
Doctor walked up to face her. “Derpy, there might be a reason you went wall-eyed.”
“Really?” Her voice was somewhere between shock and skeptical.
“I just need some time to study things. I think we should go to the Post office together tomorrow.” She nodded to reply. “Oh and one more thing,” he added, “I’m not exactly sure, but is this a floor plan to your house?” He showed her another piece of paper.
Slid it in front of her and looked at it. It definitely looked like her house. It had the setup of her bedroom, kitchen, living room, and even the bathroom. There was even a crude, child-like drawing of Derpy in it.
That’s cute, she thought, I’m smiling! She looked up and confirmed that it was indeed her home.
“What are these rooms for?” He asked pointing to two different rooms. The first was about the size of Derpy’s bedroom, and it was positioned right next to it as well. The other was much smaller. It was a little bit smaller than the bathroom.
She replied that the first room was a spare bedroom. But she had never seen the second before. In fact, she was quite sure that it didn’t exist. “I might be forgetful, but I am almost certain that it isn’t there.”
Doctor rubbed his chin. There had to be something there.
“I like the picture you drew.” She said with a smile.
“I didn’t draw that.”
“Who did then?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Where did you even get this?”
“It was folded up and taped to the back of that photograph.” He continued to rub his chin. “Maybe my dad knew the person who built that house.”
“Or maybe he built it himself.”
They both sat there in silence for a moment. In the end they shrugged it off.
It was getting late and Derpy really thought she should be getting back to her home. “So we go to the post office tomorrow right?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I will meet you at the restaurant we ate at for lunch tomorrow morning. How does ten sound?”
She scribbled something in her journal, her original one, not the new one. “Sounds good! I’m going to leave all the stuff from the chest here so it is safe. I will see you tomorrow.” With that she left.
---
When Derpy arrived back at her house she immediately headed straight for the spare bedroom. She had to check something; she just wasn’t sure of what it was she was looking for. All she knew was that the little drawing of her on the floor plan was in that room. Surely there had to be a reason for her little effigy to be smiling whilst in that particular segment of the house, otherwise it would be pointless to draw her smiling.
The room was just big enough to contain a dresser, a mirror, a bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe. The bed was so that the head was against the center of the wall to the left of the door. On the left side of the bed was the nightstand. The wardrobe was in the far right corner, and the dresser was on the right wall. Finally, the mirror was in the right corner closest to the door.
She started her search with by examining the bed. There was nothing really unusual about it. It had a wooden frame that held the mattress firmly in place. It was high enough off the ground to where a foal could hide under the bed if playing hide and seek. There was a comforter on the bed, one that Derpy was sure had been there since she moved in. She had no recollection of exactly when she moved in so there was no telling how long it had been there. It was dark brown with Light brown trimmings, and it was long enough to hide the entire mattress but did not go any farther than that. Because of this fact there was no difficulty in seeing under the bed. Not to any surprise there was nothing currently under the bed.
She then examined the dresser. It was identical to the one that she had in her own room, and had no contents in its drawers. The wardrobe was also empty. On the nightstand there was a glass vase with nothing in it. In the nightstand drawer there was a dull pencil and a gum wrapper.
From her investigation she had reached a conclusion: the drawing must have been excited because of something else because there was nothing in particular to smile about in the room at all.
She was turning to leave when she noticed the mirror. She had actually not noticed it until now, and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to go examine it as well.
The mirror was oval shaped, framed in a dark, polished wood. The stand that held it up was a very simple metal one that was not unlike the average hat stand in design. There was nothing on this mirror but a few scratches and some dust.
Because the mirror was tilted backwards it was possible to see the roof behind her. It also caused a slight distortion in the image that was actually a little amusing, and if it tilted more than it would have been something fun to occupy her mind for a while. Since the incline was not that steep, her interest was not captured. Instead her attention was placed on the fact that the mirror was rather dusty, so she attempted to wipe away the dust with her hoof. While doing so she could have sworn she felt grooves bumping against her hoof and she was afraid that she may have scratched the surface. Upon closer inspection of the mirror she found something strange. In order to better analyze this she needed to clear the rest of the dust away, which she did promptly.
When the dust was cleared she discovered that what she had originally believed to be scratches were actually more like carvings. She got in closer to try and make out exactly what they were. Upon closer examination they seemed to be outlining the bed frame, but with a little rectangle in the middle of it. She turned around and tried to see if she could distinguish what that meant. Perhaps there was something behind the bed. If there was she should probably wait until she saw Doctor again so he could help her move it. However after looking between the carvings and the real thing she realized that from this perspective the rectangle was not behind the bed, but behind where the nightstand would be. While the bed frame was rather bulky, the nightstand was not, and she would have no problems pulling away from the wall.
After realizing this she trotted over to where the nightstand was and took the liberty in pulling it back from the wall. She then leaned over it (accidentally knocking the vase over and onto the floor) to see what was behind. What she found was a small box about the size of a picture frame inside a rectangular hole in the wall. She removed the box, and with great curiosity, decided to open it there.
Inside the box were a number of photographs. After learning what was in the box she decided to push the nightstand back (and return the vase to its original up-right position) and go to the living room to look at the photos in the light of the fire.
Before looking at them she decided to lay each one out in front of her. There were seven in all. The first one was of her as a filly. She was smiling like most fillies’ do when they are happy. The next photo was of her house from the outside. It was nothing special, just a normal photo. The third one however was one of a stallion she had never seen before. She held it closer to her so that she could get a better view of it.
Her eyes scanned over it promptly and she was quickly able to distinguish the stallion had a green coat and silver mane. She didn’t know who this was, but for some reason it seemed unmistakably familiar.
”He said that no pony has reported a missing foal. He wants us to take her down to the station so they can put her in an orphanage for the time being so they can keep an eye on her.”
The next photo had a picture of the same stallion standing next to a blue mare. The picture caused her to feel unbearably nostalgic. She knew these ponies… and the blue one, the blue one…
“It isn’t right.”
“I know, but we can’t just take her with us. That would be like kidnapping. On the other hand we can’t just sit here and pretend nothing happened. I can see she is clearly special, we have to do all we can.”
A strange feeling was causing her a headache, so she quickly moved on to the next photo. It was the green stallion next to yet another stallion. This one seemed to be a little older than him.
“I know that you want to stay with her, and I will admit that so do I. Things like this happen for a reason, and if you don’t act upon them then they will haunt you to the end. I plan on taking this to the Brotherhood. They will know what to do."
The next photo was just a picture of a wall with a small door at the bottom. She didn’t quite understand what it was. Then she noticed that there were two pictures on the wall, the same two pictures that she had on her wall. She held the photo up in front of her and then lowered it. One picture had a fireplace, the other didn’t, and that was the only difference between them.
She rushed to the kitchen to get a bucket of water. When she returned she quickly doused the flames, sending a cloud of steam up and out the chimney. Without waiting for it to clear she pushed her hoof into the fireplace and started messing with the back wall of it. One of the bricks was very loose, and she easily pushed it back. After the first one she was able to start pulling others out. One by one she shoveled them from the fireplace until she had removed seven bricks total. Once the opening was then big enough to crawl through, she poked her head in the fireplace and tried reaching into the hole. There was a wooden door behind the bricks, one that had no knob or handle and did not budge when she tried pushing it.
There had to be some way to get it open, she thought.
---
Once Derpy was gone Doctor had gone to the kitchen to make a hot cup of tea before returning to his desk. After having a taste of what Derpy had bought at The Red Leaf, he simply had to have more. It was nice of Derpy to leave some behind for him when she left, he thought.
Now that he was alone he was finally able to relax. He went back to his desk and turned on the light.
What a strange two days it had been. In the blink of an eye everything had changed. Suddenly his life had become much more interesting, and it was all thanks to that spritely Pegasus. Still he found himself in a world of complications. After years of living a normal life in Ponyville, Doctor was now being forced to question his own identity.
The stallion took a sip of his steaming beverage before setting it down on the wooden surface of his desk. A sigh escaped his lips as he turned to look at the clock on the wall above the doorframe.
He thought back to his childhood. It was a very colorful one filled with many different places and ponies. He remembered traveling an awful lot with his entire family. Well his pseudo-family at least. As he had grown older he had begun to start to understand that some of the relatives he travelled with were not related to him by blood, but were still family in a sentimental way. Now this fact was clearer than ever with the notes left from his father. Derpy was mentioned as a dear childhood friend of his, and when he thought back he could remember having a cousin who he spent a great deal of time with. Of course he now understood that his cousin was not actually a cousin at all, but instead was Derpy.
Speaking of his father, he had not actually put a great deal of thought into the stallion at all. It had been a very long time since his father had left, and he didn’t know where the man had gone or why he had done so. All he remembered was being left in Ponyville with his uncle, who was most likely, not really his uncle now that he thought about it.
Despite having been apparently abandoned by his father, Doctor had never actually resented him for it. Now that he was an adult he was starting to wonder why he had not felt any malice towards his father as he grew up.
He sat there for another moment reminiscing on old times. He hadn’t realized how young he had been back then until now. He couldn’t have been older than five or six when his father had left. He had always believed that he was off in a foreign land far away, exploring the world as a great adventurer. Maybe that was the truth.
He looked down to the papers on the desk. Suddenly his attitude changed.
Why all the secrecy? He wondered as he got up and started pacing again. It was just starting to actually sink in that he had no idea what any of the events in his life had meant. His head was hurting, and doubts were clouding his thoughts.
He opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t. His eyes widened as something finally clicked in his head. He didn’t know who he was. It had just dawned on him that he had grown up without his parents there to guide him. He never received any explanation for any event that had ever happened during his childhood, and until this day he had no reason to seek out an answer.
He made his way back to the desk. He sat down frustrated for reasons he could not explain. When he thought about it he was nearly as lost as Derpy in all of this. So lost that he could not figure out just what he was supposed to be frustrated about.
He laid his head on the desk and closed his eyes, letting everything go. He needed to relax. When he opened his eyes he saw that the paper before him was the letter he had started to read that morning. It then occurred to him that he had never finished reading it. There was still a paragraph left after where he had left off.
“You probably feel confused, both of you. Before I left you in Ponyville I told you that one day you will understand everything. I lied. There will never be a time when everything is clear, but that’s the point. There are many things in life that simply don’t make sense. These things give us a chance to reflect upon life, and how we see them defines who we are. The reason you two have been left in this situation is that you two are capable of seeing more than I ever could. Whatever happens you two have to stick together. Neither of you can find the answers without the other. I don’t expect either of you to follow through with this, but I already know you will. Remember one thing, time may keep moving forward but that doesn’t mean that history is moving backwards. The past will always be in the same place we left it. It is only lost when we stop looking for it. The past isn’t something you remember, it’s something you discover. Good luck. I can’t wait to see how you both have grown.”When he read the last word he simply sat there in silence for what seemed like hours. He didn’t know what to think, but he felt like he wasn’t supposed to. It seemed like he and Derpy really were two of a certain kind.
He sighed. Then he slid a clean sheet of paper in front of him. After picking up a pencil he began to write:
Memories left to discover:Once that was written he took a moment to think before crumpling up the sheet of paper and tossing it into the waste bin. He felt that this was the sort of thing that would require constant updates in order to be accurate. With that in mind he started looking for a notebook instead. He found one in his desk drawer. It was had a plain white cover, and around forty pages in it. On the first sheet he began once again.
Memories left to discover:
When did Derpy move into her house?
Where did Uncle Rusty go?
Why did Derpy leave her job?
What do the symbols on the keys mean?
What are the lockets for?
What is in the room that Derpy didn’t recognize? When he finished he read over his list to make sure he had everything. His goal was to name as many things as he could that may be related to possible memories that could be uncovered. The idea was to add and cross them off as related memories were added to Derpy’s journal. At the moment he couldn’t think of any others that were of immediate importance, but he was sure that Derpy might have more in her journal.
The clock said it was ten pm. There was a chance that Derpy was still awake, and he wanted to get this handled tonight. So without waiting any longer he found his jacket and took the notebook with him as he left his home.
---
Derpy continued her attempts to open the door but to avail. Determined to get it open, she pulled out of the fireplace and looked around the room for something to help her. If she was desperate she could always try using an axe or hatchet to try and break it open. However she didn’t know what was inside, and she would rather not do anything to damage it.
If a door has no knob or handle then it has to open by some other means. Maybe there was a button or a switch she needed to press somewhere. It was too dark to see anything at the moment, so she ran to the kitchen and lit a candle. When that was done she returned to the fireplace to see if she could find anything. She tried moving all the other bricks of the fireplace but nothing happened. Then she remembered that the pictures on the wall were in the photograph too, so she checked behind both of them. There was nothing there either.
This is stupid, she thought, who builds a fire place in the middle of the house anyways? That’s completely unsafe! She paused for a moment and then looked down at the picture of the house from the outside. She realized that her house didn’t have a visible chimney from the outside, and that made her start to wonder if the chimney was even supposed to be used at all. However seeing as there had never been any complications before she saw no reason to be alarmed. Still that left her to question just what was behind the door.
If the door didn’t open from the outside then there had to be some way to get inside. She wondered just what other method one could use to get into the room without breaking the door. The only thing she could think of was that there had to be another door somewhere else. Either that or the room wasn’t meant to be found at all. That would make it a safe house, but even that would require an entrance.
She glanced at the door once more to examine it more thoroughly. The door had a parabolic shape, and was made of twelve wooden planks. There were two long horizontal planks in the center of the door, and five vertical planks both above and below the two horizontal ones. Two of the vertical planks were longer in than the other eight. These two vertical planks were located in the top right and the bottom left of the door. These two planks were longer because the two horizontal planks were only four planks long. The top horizontal plank started at the left and ended on the fourth plank while the bottom one started on the second plank and ended on the fifth.
After realizing this build it then occurred to her that the door might not open like a door at all, but be removed like a false bottom. It would explain the lack of hinges, unless they were on the inside of course. Nevertheless, this would mean that the key to opening the door would be part of the door itself, and she would just have to remove it from where it stood. If she was right, then something would need to be lifted or moved in order to get past.
Derpy looked over the different parts of the door. She figured that if any of the boards would be used to lock the door in place it would have to be the long horizontal ones. If longer than the frame of the door, they could be used like deadbolts.
Taking this into consideration she once again crawled back into the fireplace. Despite the flame having been doused a few minutes earlier, the bricks around her were still warm. An image flashed through her head. An image of a green stallion in burning building flashed through her mind. She shook her head and the image disappeared.
She first started with one on the bottom. She did her best to try and slide it but it wouldn’t budge in any way. So then she moved on to the top one. She tried to slide it to the left, away from the upper fifth vertical plank that blocked it from sliding to the right. The board didn’t move, but it felt loose. It was only then that she realized there were no bolts in that board at all. That made her certain it had to be the one to move. However in order for her to slide it right she would have to move the vertical plank blocking it. Realizing this dilemma she proceeded to attempt to slide the vertical board upward. It took a bit of effort, but it did start sliding. It slid up just far enough to allow her to fit the horizontal bar under it.
This is it! She thought to herself. Another image filled her head, one of fire all around her. All this time in a fireplace must have been getting to her head, she decided.
With a deep breath she put all her effort into sliding the plank horizontally until it reached all the way across. She then pushed on the door and it fell backwards.
What she now had before her was a small opening into a very dark room. Derpy had just discovered a secret room behind her fireplace, and she was determined to find out why it was there. With a little difficulty she crawled her way farther into her fire place, and poked her head into the opening. She then squeezed her right hoof through to find that the floor was about 8 inches lower than the level she was currently on. Given the height that the brick floor of the fireplace lifted her off the ground that left the floor about 6 inches lower than the floor of her living room.
She continued to crawl through the hole until she was all the way through, and staring into complete and utter darkness. Realizing she could not see she sighed and poked the front half of her body back out of the hole so that she could reach the candle right outside the fireplace. She then receded back into the once-hidden chamber to get a better look at what was inside.
The room was rectangular in shape, with the walls on either side of her being about seven feet long and the wall parallel with the entrance being about 4 feet wide. The roof was about 6 feet from the ground. Pushed against the back wall there was a small desk with a 4 foot cabinet beside it. On the desk there were two objects, a lantern and a small, fancy-looking black box.
Her first instinct was to make the room lighter, so she lit the lantern. The lantern produced a bright light that lit up the entire room. No longer in need of the candle she blew it out. She looked around the room and saw that the walls were littered with pages of notes, old newspapers, and photographs. She then looked at the little black box.
As she stared at the object everything seemed to stop. The only sound in the room was the sound of a clock ticking. But there was no clock, only the beating of her heart.
Slowly she moved her hoof towards the object until she was touching the top of the box itself. It was cool and glossy to the touch. For some reason she felt afraid to open it. A wave of anxiety came over her, causing her to go light headed for a moment. Without wasting another moment she opened the box to reveal a little mirror. When the top was lifted there was a second of lag before music started to play a soft and nostalgic tune.
Derpy recognized this tune from somewhere, but she didn’t know when. This was not the same song as the music box at The Red Leaf, but for some reason she felt she knew the song.
As the music played in the background, she went on to take a look around the room. How mysterious this all seemed, what did it all mean. She trotted up to a newspaper clipping that was posted on the wall. Its title read ‘Local Stallion Resists Canterlot Authorities’. Derpy continued to read on to learn of how the stallion had fled the scene of a crime after being caught breaking into a book shop. There was no picture, but the stallion was said to have been wearing brown clothing that covered up everything but his grey mane and tail. There was an arrow drawn in red pencil that lead to a nearby scrap of notepaper with the words ‘empty lead, damage assessed’ written on it in black.
Derpy continued to scan across the articles and notes, growing ever more confused with each one. She also found that many of the articles had red arrows that connected them as well as multiple notes. However many of these articles seemed to have no connection whatsoever. One such instance Derpy saw was a four article chain that started with one titled ‘Robbery in Manehattan North’. A red arrow led to another article that mentioned a fire at a Canterlot bakery, which led to an article that detailed a missing person in Trottingham. The last part in the series was perhaps the most confusing of the set. The fourth article was from a Baltimare newspaper, and it was titled ‘Tracks and Trains’. The article was about a local railroad worker who had been working for a full decade as an engineer in the railroad industry. There was nothing more to the story than the details of his career. Yet despite this there was an attached note that read ‘Problem solved, move to next phase’.
The tune on the music box continued to play faster. There was something about the sound that brought back memories of something she couldn’t explain. As she approached the rooms exit she came across something that looked unlike anything that she had seen thus far: a photo of mansion in flames. There was an article nearby which spoke of it.
“Right through that doorway over there… Just have to get you to the staircase…”
She turned around to look back at the room from to exit. She felt like things were fogging up. That clock was still beating, but it was beating faster. She started to hear someone singing along with the tune of the music box. This voice was not like the others she had heard. This voice was real. She started looking around in what felt like slow motion, she could hear someone else singing, and she was close by. She kept turning her head frantically. The light in the room was flickering. She closed her eyes and opened them again to see somepony sitting at the desk.
dnE|3nd R3fl3ction 8
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It's really been 12 months since I updated this. Hopefully I will be able to get back in the game with better quality chapters. Until then enjoy this long one.
Also if it starts to become an issue then I don't mind drawing a basic floor plan for either house. I also have already drawn that wooden door and EXACTLY how it was locked in case it's description didn't make sense
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noitcelfeR|Reflection: A simple accident causes Derpy Hooves to have normal vision and a jogged mind. She is starting to remember things little by little, but what happens when there is more to remember than she could have imagined? This is the tale of a pony who goes on a journey to discover who she is and what she has forgotten. There are things that we all wish we could forget, Derpy proved it could be done. Now she only has to remember why.
---
Disclaimer: I do not own MLP: FiM or any of its characters. All credit goes to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. All events in this story are pure fiction and are in no way part of the MLP: FiM script.
---
Cover art:
Editor:
Special thanks to
for bringing up the fic until I did it.
It's really been 12 months since I updated this. Hopefully I will be able to get back in the game with better quality chapters. Until then enjoy this long one.
Also if it starts to become an issue then I don't mind drawing a basic floor plan for either house. I also have already drawn that wooden door and EXACTLY how it was locked in case it's description didn't make sense
---
noitcelfeR|Reflection: A simple accident causes Derpy Hooves to have normal vision and a jogged mind. She is starting to remember things little by little, but what happens when there is more to remember than she could have imagined? This is the tale of a pony who goes on a journey to discover who she is and what she has forgotten. There are things that we all wish we could forget, Derpy proved it could be done. Now she only has to remember why.
---
Disclaimer: I do not own MLP: FiM or any of its characters. All credit goes to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. All events in this story are pure fiction and are in no way part of the MLP: FiM script.
---
Cover art:
Editor:
Special thanks to
for bringing up the fic until I did it. © 2013 - 2024 ZeroSkyler
Comments8
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Hm, intriguing. Things definitely pick up a little once Derpy starts talking to Doctor. And it's nice to see someone treat that stallion as a real pony, instead of always the crossover character. But of course the little joking reference was pretty much obligatory.
This chapter was really starting to remind me of those video games where you wander around some area, gathering items and completing puzzles in order to solve some mystery. I was getting more and more curious as the chapter went on, and it'll be interesting to see more interaction between Derpy and Doctor.
I know I mentioned this last chapter too, but I still think it would be a good idea for you to update this story on Fimfiction again. It was only a coincidence that I happened to see the story update post on Equestria Daily that mentioned this new chapter. After the long hiatus, Fimfiction's tracking function that notifies readers directly is bound to catch some people who otherwise missed the update.
This chapter was really starting to remind me of those video games where you wander around some area, gathering items and completing puzzles in order to solve some mystery. I was getting more and more curious as the chapter went on, and it'll be interesting to see more interaction between Derpy and Doctor.
I know I mentioned this last chapter too, but I still think it would be a good idea for you to update this story on Fimfiction again. It was only a coincidence that I happened to see the story update post on Equestria Daily that mentioned this new chapter. After the long hiatus, Fimfiction's tracking function that notifies readers directly is bound to catch some people who otherwise missed the update.