Sunday Update and Doctor Whooves Short Story

Another week that went by too fast for much writing, but too slow while working. Fortunately, I have earned the right to be rather smug about my accomplishments. I will not be exercising this right, since a haughty spirit goes before a fall. Plus, being smug takes away from time that could be spent sleeping. Or eating. Yes, eating, actually taking the time to sit down and enjoy a meal instead of cramming it down one's throat-hole and bolting back behind the computer screen. Little pleasures that you don't miss until they are sacrificed on the altar of Get'er'done.

I have the next chapter of Bon Hadescream written. I am not satisfied with it. I am rewriting it, editing it, and hopefully will have it out within two weeks.

I also have the next chapter of LIOR compiled in a huge heap of notes on my hard disk. I am writing it for the fans, since this has been my best-received story, so I want to make the finest product possible. In short, as soon as I get the time to make it good, I will post to let everyone know!

Now, onto the matter of that short story. It involves The Doctor and several other ponies he is often paired by fans with. If you're interested, check it out below!

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I often scribble down little ideas that wander through my mind. I have a collection of post-it notes with random character quotes and story ideas on them, arranged in a manner dangerously similar to the fossil record. It is a busy week indeed when I cannot let myself pause whatever I am doing to pen a few whimsical thoughts. Recently I had to give up the habit, but I picked it right back up as soon as I could.

A few nights ago I had a story idea while waiting on my computer to process some work. However, it came to me at 0230. The million-dollar question: do I write this down, or let it slip away in favor of going to sleep?

The story involved Dinky. I didn't get to bed until 0330. Such is life in Ponywriting.

While I was waiting, I was browsing the Internet and stumbled across a humorous picture. It was:

http://acidsquirrel.com/fs/i/2012/08/26/3c7171b2c766585d615b71bc01f5f7.jpg

Doctor Whooves is a wonderful character. He lets an author inject a bit of humanity into a pony-only universe simply by being himself. Perhaps the brown pony is his 13th incarnation, locked away safely in the MLP-verse so he cannot become the terrible Valeyard. Maybe he just stumbled in, as is his wont. What if he was sent to the world of our little ponies by an all-powerful, at least for a moment or two, friend?

If you've the Ninth Doctor, you'll have an idea of what I mean. If not, I won't spoil it for you!

Anyway, I got the idea of him describing the encounter in the image above to somepony. And the story just kind of took off from there. I don't claim it to be anything special, but I enjoyed writing it and figured I would toss it up in a blogpost to see if anyone else might enjoy reading it.

Without further wasting of your time, we shamefully present, Monsterpiece Theater.

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"I tell you what, one time I was stopping off in London, little alien invasion going on, nothing special," The Doctor rambled in his usual way, "and I forget and leave the TARDIS unlatched. I'm a little busy, there's these saucers with lasers attacking Big Ben, and of course it's my problem because everyone else is either screaming or trying to take pictures. So, I forget and leave the door unlocked. Well, this fellow just walks in off the street, he looks like a reporter if I've ever seen one, and he just starts undressing. Just like that, right in the middle of my TARDIS, doesn't even look up he's so focused on pulling his shirt off!"

The Time Lord pressed a hoof over his face. His other idly fiddled with his tie. "So, I'm somewhere between stunned and preoccupied, and I really have no idea what I would have done if he hadn't been wearing something under that suit and tie. He's got this blue spandex on, and he pulls this red sheet out of nowhere and tucks it in his collar, then out he goes again, just leaves his clothes right there. Right on the TARDIS floor!

"Well, the only thing I can think to do is look for some identification, and while I'm rooting through his wallet, I miss whatever took out those saucers, because by the time I figure out that this chump's named Clark Kent they're a couple of smoking craters in the ground. First I hear of it is a big explosion through the TARDIS' monitors, and I'm startled so I drop the wallet and run back to the mainframe. While I'm looking at that, he comes back in while my back's turned, puts his clothes back on, and pop! Back out the door again like nothing ever happened. Crazy, crazy place, London. If it's not raining, you know shenanigans are afoot." He paused, then regarded his fetlock with a raised eyebrow. "Er... a-hoof?"

The filly looked up at him with wide eyes. "Wow! No foolin'?"

"No foolin'." The Doctor assured her. "But, onto more pressing matters. You promised to teach me how to eat with these hooves if I told you a story!"

The unicorn giggled. "You just wanna make a good impression on mommy."

"Well." The Doctor scrunched his face a bit, then nodded. "Yes, you're right about that, Dinky. I've irritated more than enough women... er, females, to know that poor table manners are one of the quicker ways to go about it."

"Okie." She held out her front hooves and pointed down at the fork on the table between them. "First thing you do, this is very important..."

"Yes?" The Doctor leaned forward.

"No, I mean it's really important. Like, super-important. If you forget this." She frowned and drew a fetlock across her throat. "It's curtains!"

"Yees?"

"See, you pick up the fork with your fetlock like this..." The filly neatly grasped it with her fetlock. "And then..."

The Doctor leaned even closer. "Yeeess?"

"You remember that you're a gullible earth pony who actually thought a filly would teach him table manners!" Dinky doubled back laughing. "Oh, oh, Mister Doctor, you're a riot! Just pick up the food with your hooves and eat it. Nopony cares unless you're a unicorn like me, and I get away with it because my magic hasn't blossomed yet!"

The Time Lord looked down at the laughing filly, the beginnings of a frown on his face. He quickly brightened and began to chuckle as well. "That certainly makes things easier. But there's got to be at least some kind of refinement in the consuming of food."

"Not in Ponyville. Just make sure you wash your hooves! Mommy tells me that sometimes, when she delivers mail to Canterlot or Manehattan, she sees them acting all fancy. They get these little plates with these big forks and knives, and," she stuck her nose up in the air until it was almost even with the earth pony's shoulder, "make a whole fuss over which fork is for lettuce and which fork is for fruit."

The Doctor winced. "Oh, fruit. Your mother isn't fixing pears, is she? Bananas are good, but not pears."

"I hate pears." Dinky confided.

A wide grin spread across the Time Lord's muzzle. "I rather think we are going to get along, little miss Doo."

"You're funny, Mister Doctor. I like you." She leaned forward on the table. "Why do you like mommy so much?"

He looked away, toward the window. Outside was a blue box, and inside that blue box was a time vortex. A time vortex that howled like a wolf whenever he tried to leave this reality. "She... she reminds me of someone very special." He replied idly. "But more than that, she is wonderfully special in her own way, isn't she?"

"She's my mommy. I think she's the best mommy in the world, because even though she isn't always home, she always loves me." Dinky propped her chin on her front hooves. "Mister Doctor..."

"Just call me Doctor." He winked. Manners or no, the fewer honorifics the better. He was already impressed with the number of big words she could pronounce.

"Doctor." The little unicorn flicked her tail to the side. "You're special too. You're like Pinkie Pie."

The Time Lord laughed. "Oh, no, no. She's something all her own, I'm quite sure."

"But you are like her. You don't play by the same rules as everypony else." She reached out and poked his tie, causing it to swing to one side like a pendulum. "You're here one minute, and gone the next. Kind of like mommy. But whenever she comes home, I can always tell how tired she is. She's tired of all the flying, and running, and lifting." The filly cleared her throat. "And... you kinda seem like you're tired too."

The Doctor looked down at her. "Why is that?"

Dinky shrugged. "I dunno. I'm a foal, I don't gotta explain how I know this stuff!" It was his eyes, mostly. His eyes had that same tired look, his shoulders that same tired slump. She had seen him brighten with energy whenever something new or exciting came along, but just as quickly slump back down. Even though he claimed he didn't quite grasp how his pony body worked, she did. She knew what a tired pony looked like. "You are, though. You don't have a home anymore, or you'd go back there."

He laughed nervously. "Of course I have a home." A brown hoof pointed to the window. "See? Right there, big and blue. Well, bigger on the inside, that is."

"No." Dinky shook her head. "Home." She pressed a hoof against his tie, pinning it to his chest. He looked down in surprise. "You don't have a home in here anymore. Mommy does. That's why she can go all the places she does and deliver the mail, because she has a piece of her home in her heart that's always calling her back."

The Doctor shuffled his hooves and glanced at the TARDIS again. He could almost hear that wolf howl. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever heard, and that was quite an achievement. He was never one to accept boundaries, or live on another's terms. Even if that other cared for him and wanted the best for him. Things had to go his way, or he took the highway.

Except he could not run away this time. If he did... he did not fear that wolf howl, he knew he could beat it. He feared what would become of him if he forced the TARDIS back to the universe where he had fingers. He feared letting go completely of that bad wolf. "I... I'm just..." The Time Lord closed his eyes. "Tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to me, tired of watching everything I love turn to dust."

Dinky smiled. "Not dust. Sand."

"Beg pardon?"

She pointed to his flank. "Sand. In your hourglass, sand. It falls through the neck, and ticks away the minutes. That's what you're tired of. Too many things turning into sand."

He stared down at Dinky as though she had suddenly sprouted an exoskeleton and began chirping Exterminate, Exterminate! "How... ah..."

"Mom's away a lot. I have a lot of time to myself." She smirked. "I'm an A+ student, because I put in the time. That's all that matters, isn't it? Not that the time has passed, but that it was spent on something worthwhile."

"Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty." The Doctor murmured. He glanced toward the TARDIS again, and tugged at his collar.

Dinky puffed out a breath, fluttering his tie wildly. "Uh-huh. But is it worth living if you don't have a home in your heart?"

The Doctor set his jaw. "You're very perceptive for a little girl."

She stuck out her tongue. "Never, ever underestimate a little girl. We can fight monsters and have tea parties and change the world too, y'know. But best of all, we get to grow up and become ladies." The filly nodded toward the kitchen. "That's when you really have to be worried."

The Doctor smiled.

"Y'know, I've got an hourglass. Auntie D sent it to me from Fillydelphia. Her note said something about 'safekeeping' or whatever, but that's how she signs all her gifts. It was made by Franklin himself, a long time ago, back when Celestia had a bunch'a smart ponies get together and write up the Equestrian Charter." She pushed herself back. "It still works. Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's no good anymore. It just has to have a home, and a purpose."

"And what is that hourglass' purpose now?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, it helps me with my studies." She smiled innocently.

The Time Lord smelled a rat. "By..."

"Providing vital... eh... oh, horsefeathers. It's a paperweight." As was the Primordial Staff, the Archaeotech Ionic Displacer, the Spanish Inquisition's Soft Pillows, and the Hammer of Infinite Fate. "But you get my point, right?"

The Doctor nodded. "I think I do, little miss Doo."

She poked him again. "Good. Lemme make it clear. I already had one daddy walk out on me." The filly clambered onto the table and met his eyes. "I don't wanna cry like that ever again. So, if you like mommy, you better be here for the whole mail route."

The Time Lord nodded. Dinky leaned forward. He leaned backward.

"Cause... cause if you decide after a little while that this just isn't your style, I'm gonna write my auntie, and she's going to find you. Doesn't matter how far you run, or however many other things you got chasing you." The little unicorn closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "B-because she's good at finding lost things. And... and I don't want to lose you, because you're the first..." She slumped against his front. "You don't care about mommy. You care about mommy. About what she is on the inside. And you're nice." The filly sniffled. "An' you got a box that teleports around Equestria while making cool noises, which is way better than my cardboard packing crate with 'Transmogrifier' written on the side." Even if she had used a permanent marker.

The Time Lord was at a loss for what to do. He looked out at the blue box again. "They'll follow me. All the things I run from, they'll find their way here too." He shut his eyes. "Somehow."

"Let 'em." The filly said, still pressed against his chest. "We got lions with wings and stingers. I've seen a dragon rip through my town." She looked up into his eyes. "A buncha shape-shifting creepie-crawlies tried to overthrow Canterlot. If your baddies come here, we'll kick their tails too." Dinky smiled fiercely up at him. "Because we all got a little magic in us. It's the magic of friendship. It lets us do imp..." She sounded it out quickly. "Imp-ossi-ble things."

The earth pony slowly put his fetlocks around the little filly, and hugged her close. "You ponies... are just so amazing."

They were still cuddled close against each other when a grey pegasus in a stained apron stepped into her living room and announced. "Supp-er! C'mon you two!"

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If it's not too much trouble, let me know what you thought of that in the comments below!

Comments

[Deeee-yurpitude]

Certainly the most erudite Dinky I've ever read-though rest assured that's no bad thing from where I'm sitting. Truth be told, the feels-based portion of this ficlet almost crowds out its crossover-amusement factor. And on a secondary note, having stumbled across at least one Whooves-central series where the Doctor's various & sundry nemeses drop in & tear Equestria nigh-asunder, I find myself much preferring the hopeful (albeit foalishly optimistic) tone applied here.