Whooves & Assistant Shipping

(It’s been a crazy 4 years huh. I’m a senior in high school now, and I only returned to the blog because I got a prompt! But, if you guys wanna send more prompts my way, I’ll be happy to do them! It’s honestly nice to be back. I’m surprised I didn’t do this sooner.)

- Tick-Tock’s autistic, based on the even-toned voice, the lack of facial expressions, his literal “tick” is a stim, a special interest in technology and mechanics, and his social skills. I mean, there’s a level of plausible deniability based on his upbringing, but you can’t say he’s not either.

- Sometimes when she needs to fall asleep, she’ll listen to Tick-Tock talk about his interests. On some level she finds it fascinating, and wants to pay attention, but both know that she’ll succumb to sleep sooner or later because of it.

- Tick-Tock is touch-starved, while Derpy is just that affectionate with everybody, but pays extra special attention to Tick-Tock once she realizes that it hits differently.

- Tick-Tock once had his face held in Derpy’s hooves and he swears to God that was the first time since he was 5 that he’s ever felt like crying.

- Tick-Tock on some level is generally shy about most affectionate acts, if only because he’s not used to them, and so everything Derpy does generally makes him blush. He finds it embarrassing. She finds it cute.

- Derpy buys him old antique clocks and stuff of that ilk all the time so he can use the pieces for parts. Oftentimes, most of it is unusable, but he finds it sweet that she thinks about him.

- Tick-Tock is uneasy about asking Derpy to sing anything, especially lullabies to help him sleep, so he usually doesn’t ask. Derpy can usually tell when he needs it.

- Tick-Tock worries about appearing distant and uncaring at random points in their relationship, so you’ll find times where Tick-Tock tries to casually overwhelm Derpy with gifts and affection, but this act often falls apart as soon as it starts.

- Derpy has a stuffed animal collection. When Tick-Tock goes into town on errands, he makes sure to pick her up a teddy bear, or something of the sort.

(Sorry about taking a while to respond to this! I wish I had an excuse, but, no. I’m just sleepy and lazy and that’s all there is to it.)

“Okay, okay, okay…I have an understanding of what you’re going to say.” Tick-Tock began. “But, for the record, cooking is just edible chemistry. It couldn’t be much more complicated than actual chemistry.”

“And how often do you play with chemicals, Tick-Tock?” Derpy said, a bit more dryer and deadpan than her usual tone, as she looked at the burnt muffins. “It’s not playing…” He protested, but trailed off. She noticed that they were blueberry, one of her favorite flavors, and noticed how Tick-Tock had the slightest bit of a wince to his face. Of course, Tick-Tock was kind of hard to read as it is, so who’s to say what Tick-Tock is feeling at any particular time? Not Tick-Tock. He doesn’t talk about his feelings, but, who really does? She does.

Derpy knew that there was supposed to be a point to that train of thought that she was traveling down, but, she wasn’t sure what it was anymore.

She and Tick-Tock observed the walls, that were splattered with a paste-like substance that may or may not have been flour, and she looked down at the slightly burnt, crusty-looking blueberry muffins.

She took a bite.

Her face contorted into a forced and pained smile, as she weighed her choices of not hurting Tick-Tock’s feelings or not getting salmonella. 

She chose the former, and hoped for the best.

“Tick-Tock…These are…Great. I love them! Just…What did you put into these muffins? I…Want to write down the recipe.” Derpy said, you know, like a liar.

“…Nothing out of the ordinary, I suppose. At least, not for a fully stocked kitchen like this. Eggs, flour…We’re out of milk and sugar, so I substituted it with white wine and salt, vanilla extract…I’d say standard ingredients.” Tick-Tock stated, plainly.

Derpy stood there in silence, with a mouthful of burnt muffins in her mouth.

“…You substituted white wine and salt for milk and sugar? Of course you can do that, they’re both respectively white liquids and powders, right? They’re practically interchangeable…”

“Right, that’s why I used them in such a manner.”

—

“Well, you know what I always say. We don’t make mistakes, we make memories.” Said The Doctor, while he sat outside the ruins of the Ponyville zoo, Derpy and Tick-Tock sitting by his side.

“The three of us are banned for life from the Ponyville zoo because you saw it as your chance to research equinology and recreate a music video.” Tick-Tock stated, matter of factually, while attempting to pat the flames out of his hair. Derpy began to assist him with such a task.

(Wow, I have not posted in a WHILE. I am so sorry. I cannot promise that this blog will become more active, but I can say that I’ll post what I can now and see where things go from there! I’m in my second year of high school now, I’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and I’m significantly better at art now! Which is a plus. Anyhow, enjoy!)

One of the things that Derpy knew that Tick-Tock seemed to love about living on the modern-day yet futuristic TARDIS was coffee. It was the perfect pick-me-up that helped him roam all hours of the night.

But that didn’t help anything when Tick-Tock seemed constantly ready to work himself to near-exhaustion and death at any time of day or night. 

This was another thing that Derpy knew about her dear companion Tick-Tock. It had been another late night of inventing, when Tick-Tock seemed to take a moment’s break to get some coffee from the kitchen. He felt like he was on the verge of collapse, but he’s been through worse, maybe he’s becoming soft. He also felt like he was on the verge of a breakthrough, and he knew that with just a little more work, he will have found the answer that he’s seeking.

Bottomline, Tick-Tock was feeling a lot of things, and he didn’t usually like feeling things, but he knew this. He either was going to have a breakdown or he was going to have a breakthrough. Those were the choices here, and while Tick-Tock made himself a brew, he made his choice.

He studied the chocolate brown liquid for a second, and while he was running through the math for this new device and what he specifically needed to do to make it work.

A second soon turned into five seconds. Then ten. Then thirty. And soon Tick-Tock was just studying a cup of coffee while his mind moved forwards. He was aware that this was happening, but he didn’t do anything to stop it.

“You’re staring at your coffee like it carries all your hopes and dreams and will give you a purpose in your life and honestly that’s a lot to ask of a non-sentient beverage.” A voice rang out, causing him to jump and shocking Tick-Tock into dropping the mug.

“Oh! I-I apologize. I’ll clean it up and-“

Derpy yawned.

“No, no.” She insisted in a quiet, sleepy drawl. “You’re going to bed if I have to drag you there myself. You haven’t been sleeping lately, specifically for the last week, have you?”

“As astute as always.’

“Don’t be sarcastic, it’s too late for-“

“I’m not being sarcastic. You’re highly observant of your peers and you have a good understanding of ponies and how they work. It was a compliment.”

“Oh.”

They stood in the kitchen for a good few moments of silence.

“You could always sleep in my room for tonight, if you’d like.” Derby said, voice lacking stuttering or stammering and sounding smooth and sleepy.

“Well, I can only assume if I went back to my room, I’d merely continue my work…” Tick-Tock trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Derpy smiled and began walking, with Tick-Tock following quietly following right behind her.

“Don’t worry, Tick-Tock. You’ll figure it out. We can clean up the mess in the morning.”

Coffee is what sustained Tick-Tock in this day and age, it was one of the only things he cared about beyond his work.

Wow! That’s really neat!

”person A and B are walking past a school holding hands when some younger school students start chanting “kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Over and over again and the two look at each other, shrug and then kiss.”

(A slight variation on this)

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“Tick-Tock” Derpy seethed through a gritted smile. “They’re staring.” 

Tick-Tock and Derpy were taking a stroll in town, picking up supplies for the TARDIS, The Doctor chose to stay in and let the, quote unquote “love-birds” have some time alone wink wink nudge nudge.

While on their supply run Derpy had noticed a bunch of foals staring at them, and she was immediately made uncomfortable.

“Foals do that.” Tick-Tock calmly said, he himself was used to ponies staring at him as well, not just here in Ponyville for having the grumpiest face in Equestria, but at Fort Neighers for generally being a walking disaster. “Everypony does.” 

Derpy looked uncomfortable, blushing slightly and Tick-Tock looked off in another direction, leaning his head slightly against hers to attempt to console her, being not very good when it came to touchy-feely things. He watched the foals out of the corner of his eye and saw them whispering and talking amongst each other, they finally made up their minds.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Derpy turned around and Tick-Tock abruptly moved his head. Derpy’s face was blushing and she was looking adorably flustered trying to stutter out an excuse.

Okie doke folks, I forgot to do the thing yesterday because I am very tired and very distracted but who cares? Here’s a short thing for Day 4.

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“I do too have a mean face.” Derpy said, grumpily with a slight blush on her cheeks. “I can be mean. I can be scary.”

“Sorry to disappoint you Derpy, but you don’t exactly have a ‘mean look.’ Accept it.” Tick-Tock told her while Derpy pouted while they sat at the TARDIS’s kitchen table.

“Come on! I have a face that makes ponies quiver in their boots!” Derpy said, waving her arms around and flapping her wings. 

“If by ‘ponies’ you mean ‘adorable baby kittens’ and by ‘quiver in their boots’ you mean ‘wobble over to you so they can lick your face,’ then yes, that statement is accurate.”

Derpy glared daggers at Tick-Tock.

(Fudge it all I never had a plan for this and everyone can tell, anyway, I guess you could consider this a sequel to yesterday’s)

“I sliced my hand open trying to carve a pumpkin for my crush and s/he saw the whole thing and now has to drive me to the hospital. FML.”

There may be some slight blood mention, so if you’re squeamish, just read the top and see what actually happens.

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After Derpy had collected all her pumpkins and The Doctor had named them all, (”That crooked one looks like a Toby.” “What kind of name is Toby?” “That kind of name. Come on, you can feel the Toby in him.”) the trio had began to carve, Derpy had settled for drawing the actual face on the pumpkin and allowing The Doctor or Tick-Tock to carve with the knife, due to her adorable clumsiness and the general consensus that Derpy should not wield a knife.

“Okay Tick-Tock! Here’s little Toby!” Derpy giggled, blushing slightly. She had drawn a simple design with Toby winking and sticking out his tongue. It reminded him of Derpy, he thought as he steadied the pumpkin in his hooves and used his magic to begin carving the pumpkin. Tick-Tock watched as Derpy seemed to have an idea, as she held a green marker in her hoof and stuck her tongue out slightly in concentration.

Simply adorable.

Then again she was cute doing almost anything, at least to Tick-Tock, her wide eyes gave her this child-like innocence that he never saw back at Fort Neighers, it...Fascinated him, she was an enigma without ever even trying to be one, did she even realize it? He continued to watch Derpy draw on her pumpkin occasionally looking at him and immediately back, blushing. He also continued to carve.

Then, they made eye-contact. Tick-Tock’s pupils dilated slightly and Derpy blushed while Tick-Tock carved, and carved, and-

“Tick-Tock!”

Tick-Tock looked down immediately and realized that he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to what he was doing. The blade that he was using to cut the pumpkin was now...Deep inside his wrist, allowing crimson drops to drip from his wrist onto the sharp silver dagger.

“Oh geez. Oh geez, oh geez, oh geez, oh geez...” Derpy said, holding her head in her hooves with slight tears.

“Tick-Tock, listen carefully, we’ll take the TARDIS to a hospital, you’re going to fine.” The Doctor told him, trying to make eye-contact with him, but his eyes were closed and teeth were grit.

“I’ve handled much worse, objectively. But yeah, good idea.” He said, his voice whispery and trail-offish, as if he didn’t care that his hoof was covered in blood.

Derpy immediately flew to his side while The Doctor fled to the control panel. A few of Derpy’s tears fell on Tick-Tock’s face.

(Sorry, I was busy working on a larger fic for the end of the month, but enjoy this!)

“We’re at the pumpkin patch and you won’t stop choosing pumpkins that are too big for either of us to carry, so I had to roll the pumpkins all the way back while you carried the dozen little pumpkins you insisted you also needed for your pumpkin family”

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“But Tick-Tooock,” Derpy whined to her dearest friend, “it’s the best pumpkin in the pumpkin patch.” The TARDIS was hanging around a small pumpkin patch in an area between Phillydelphia and Ponyville, choosing pumpkins to carve and bake with for Nightmare Night. Tick-Tock was trapped with an odd dilemma, his-no, no-a cute mare-no-his, friend was currently sitting on top of the largest pumpkin in the field. The pumpkin had to be at least twice as tall as Derpy herself, in fact.

“Will it even fit through the TARDIS door?” He asked, somehow monotone and yet questioning at the same time.

“I’ve gotten a lot of odd things through those doors, like Arthur the horse, so you should be able to get the pumpkin through if you are able to get it to the bottom of the pumpkin patch.” The Doctor told them, while he was watching the leaves fall off the trees in their own dizzy little dance.

“I’m not even going to question what your statements mean anymore.” Tick-Tock stated exasparatedly as he took a stance and tried to focus his magic to gently lift the pumpkin a few inches off the ground, to roll it down the grassy, hilly pumpkin patch to the bottom where The Doctor had parked the TARDIS.

When he had placed the large pumpkin in the control room, Derpy wandered in, using one of her legs to carry 4 small pumpkins and two were precariously balanced on her head..

“I need it for my pumpkin family.” Derpy stated with wide eyes and a defensive tone, ready to defend herself in advance, but all Tick-Tock did was somewhat chuckle.

“You’re adorable, you are knowledgable of this, correct?” Tick-Tock told her, her little face lit up red immediately, with only a slight blush on Tick-Tock’s cheeks and what could possibly be read as a smirk.

“A-Adrool-Adorable?! Me?? No way, I’m just-I’m just-”

“Do you have any idea about what you face?” A voice hissed, Tick-Tock recognized it immediately. Terror, or, some form of Terror that lurked. The voice was rather singular and calm, but accompanied by quiet whispers.

“Not you, that’s certain.” Tick-Tock said, standing rather complacently with an inky dark sky behind him. He observed his surroundings.

It was Fort Neighers.

What was he doing back here? He couldn’t be back there, could he?

No, no he couldn’t. No. No, it just couldn’t be.

“You can’t protect them from themselves,” it continued. “There is a true threat that you know, and that threat is not me.” The whisperings followed suit, repeating ‘not me, not I, not we, not me’ over and over again.

“Obviously.” Tick-Tock said, tongue in cheek about the whole ordeal, but his mind raced.

“A bitter old man trying to be a hero, it’s poetic, honestly.” It mused, seemingly to itself, as the whispers either cackled quietly, or repeated “ironic.”

Tick-Tock looked around Fort Neighers, desperate for an answer, desperate for a response, but ponies walked to and from, ignoring Terror, and Tick-Tock himself. He watched with an apathetic face but desperate eyes, inky black drops of stardust land on the ground like wet paint.

“You can’t protect her from him, or her from-“ The main voice didn’t get to finish, as it was cut-off by it’s many voices screaming as a loud, regal voice called out, “SILENCE!”

The dewdrops of stardust fell from the sky onto the grassy dirt, and soon the grassy dirt didn’t exist. Just the inky black droplets that turned his world into pure inky blackness.

It didn’t matter.

None of it did.

-

Tick-Tock practically catapulted himself awake. His eyes full of unshed tears he noticed as he quickly blinked to wake himself up. His head felt like a steel drum, but it was irrelevant, in many ways, everything was just that. Irrelevant.

Tick-Tock got out of his bed to ask for the location of the aspirin and other medical herbs. He needed to stop the ringing in his ears.

The loud ringing, the loud, venomous, toxic screech of what seemed to be Terror’s last words.

I am glad you asked oh-so convenient anon!

The “Spooker-Wooker Fic Fest” is going to be a kind of casual event in celebration of my favorite holiday, Halloween! 

It’ll start October 18th, and for the last 13 days of October, I’ll upload a fanfic I wrote pertaining to the season!