//------------------------------//
// Fantastic 
// Story: Allons-y! 
// by Sixes_And_Sevens 
//------------------------------//

The Doctor had, as he had stated earlier, faced down Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, and so many others besides. This did absolutely nothing to assuage his fears as he looked at the tiny figure glaring at him over the dinner table. All through the meal, the filly had been watching him with deep distrust and anger. Ditzy had been watching her with concern for the same amount of time. Meanwhile, the Doctor had been doing what he did best when under pressure: talking. At length. More babbling, really, making noise just to fill the silence. Eventually, Dinky interrupted. “May I be excused?”
Ditzy frowned. “You’ve hardly touched your green beans,” she chided.
“Not hungry.”
“You won’t get dessert if you don’t finish your beans.”
“I don't get dessert tonight anyway.”
That stymied the pegasus for a moment, long enough for Dinky to push her chair away and trot from the room. 
The Doctor watched her go. “Does she… does she hate me?” he asked quietly. “Does she blame me for leaving?”
Ditzy let out a deep sigh. “She never knew you,” she consoled. “It’s much easier to blame a name than an actual pony.”
“So that’s a yes.”
“...Yes.”
“She’s not wrong,” he muttered. He looked up at Ditzy. “Do you blame me?” he asked quietly.
She stopped. He was staring at her now, eyes sad and curious. She let out a breath. “I’d like to,” she admitted. “It would make everything a lot easier.”
He looked down at the floor. “But I don’t,” she continued. “You told me that you didn’t have a choice. Your people, your planet, it was all dying. I can’t exactly blame you for trying to save it. It was all..." she trailed off, waving a hoof abstractly. "All just bad luck.”
She realized, suddenly, that at some point, the Doctor had started crying. “Why do you have to be so nice?” he sobbed, throwing down his fork. “Can’t you just be angry at me? I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve your kindness. I don't deserve kindness at all! After everything I’ve done, all the people that I’ve hurt playing hero, I’m not worthy of you! Pocket Watch, maybe he was, but I’m not him! Not anymore!”
His shoulders were shaking, his eyes red and tearful. “You know what they call me back home? ‘Oncoming Storm’. ‘Death-Bearer’. The Daleks, the nastiest, most genocidal little tin cans in the universe, call me 'ka faraq gati.' 'The Predator.'
"I thought that I was a god, infallible, and people died because of that. They died ‘cos of me. And you, Ditzy Doo, you don’t deserve to be stuck with me! You deserve the one you loved! The kind, absent-minded unicorn that showed you the stars. You deserve the one you fell in love with, not some miserable old replacement twice-removed!” He broke down completely, sobbing.
Ditzy reached out a hoof, lightly rubbing his back. When he looked up, still sniffling, she smiled. “I have loved the stars too fondly to be frightened of the night,” she said.
He stared at her blankly, and she sighed. “Maybe you're right. Maybe you don’t deserve me. Maybe I don’t deserve you. But let me tell you a secret, my spacepony. No one ever gets what they deserve. You just take what life gives you, and you use it the best that you can."
He looked up at her, coat matted by tears. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“You’re very welcome, Pocket Watch.”
He frowned. “I’m not him anymore,” he protested. “I’ve changed.”
“True,” she agreed. “But I think it’s important that you remember that you were him, once upon a time. It’ll help you remember what you want to be again.”


***


The Doctor knocked on the door gingerly. “Come in,” a voice replied. He did so.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hello,” his daughter replied, voice brittle. She took a deep breath. “So, I heard what you were saying earlier.”
He frowned. “Eavesdropping, are we?” he asked, eyebrow raised.
“...Yeah, I guess.”
He gave a crooked grin. “Attagirl.”
“...Right, okay. So, I guess I should apologize for being such a jerk to you before.”
“No. Nonononono. I came in here to apologize for abandoning you. You were completely within your rights to—”
“Shush,” she interrupted. “I’d really rather you didn’t get all emotional on me. That’s just awkward. But anyway, I’m apologizing for being rude to you. Accept it. Or, y’know, don’t, if you’re still having that pity party. I guess, it’s just that, as long as I can remember, it’s just been me and mom. And sometimes you get ponies who see families like that as a target. Bullies, conmen, worse. I thought that you might be one of them. Sorry about that too, I guess. But what I’m trying to say is that I… kind of had to adapt. I had to become cynical. Be strong. Be tough. Because it hurts too much to feel.”
The Doctor’s head was suddenly filled with visions of Cybermen and Daleks, going from fighting back their own emotions to destroying lives, nations, worlds.
He breathed in sharply. “Well, you don’t have to be that way anymore,” he said firmly. “In fact, I’m going to help make sure of that. I can show you and your mum all the wonders of the universe. ‘Cos, you know feelings can hurt. I think you know that as well as anyone does. Definitely better than you should. So I’m going to show you that feelings can be wonderful, too. You deserve to know that." He met her eyes. "And you are going to get what you deserve, because you are my daughter, and as soon as I saw you for the first time, I loved you more than time and space could ever express.”
Dinky blinked as his words sunk in. Her lips curled up into a little half-grin, the first smile she had given him since he’d returned. “Thanks,” she said, glancing away.
He grinned broadly. “You are very welcome. Now,” he added, pulling out a white paper bag, “your mum said you weren't to have dessert, but I've never been much of a disciplinarian. How would you like a jelly baby?”


***


Endings are tricky things. Every action leads to another, and another, and another, and so forth. Not necessarily in that order, of course, but the point remains. Nothing never really ends. Especially not love.