“Who’s Ace?” Dinky asked.
The Doctor, frowned, not pleased to be interrupted. “She was an old friend of mine. Left the TARDIS before Luna and Celestia came aboard. She probably would’ve gotten along with you and your friends quite well.” He gave Dinky a flat glare. “She shared your destructive streak as well.”
“Hey, the TARDIS is fine, now,” the filly protested.
Luna and Celestia exchanged astonished glances. “What did you do to it?” Celestia asked. “I mean, it carried around a pair of rebellious alicorns for several years, and we barely scratched it!”
The Doctor looked between the filly and the princesses. “Don’t any of you go getting any designs on my ship,” he warned.
The grins he received in response were not encouraging. “Lovely,” he grumbled. “I was just getting used to the new interior, too.”
Ditzy wrapped a wing around him. “More coffee?” she asked.
“Oh, yes, that sounds lovely!”
“Good. Go make us some, won’t you?”
He sputtered for a moment, then sighed. “Yes, dear. But just make sure they don’t start collaborating while I’m putting on the kettle.”
He left through the kitchen door, grumbling faintly about how his companions always ganged up on him. “Sarah-Jane and Rose, Martha and Donna, Tegan and Nyssa,” he muttered.
Celestia giggled. “You’ve got him wrapped right around your hoof,” she said admiringly. “I wouldn’t have thought that possible!”
Ditzy sighed. “...Yeah,” she said, looking somewhat forlorn.
Luna frowned. “What is the matter?” she asked. “Thou should be happy, should you not? Your love has been returned to you, and right where you want them, as well!”
Ditzy shook her head. “No, I’m happy he’s back. I’m just— upset that he blames himself so much.” Her brow furrowed, and quietly, she mouthed ‘they?’
“It was kinda his fault, though,” Dinky pointed out. “He should feel guilty, shouldn’t he?”
Ditzy frowned at her daughter sternly. “You heard him on the TARDIS yesterday. He wished he hadn’t come back so that we would be safe. He was willing to—” she cut herself off and glanced at the princesses. “Well. Never mind that now,” she said.
Luna leaned forward in her chair, her face drawn with sudden concern. “No, no, speak on,” she urged. “Tell us, so that we may help!”
Ditzy licked her lips nervously. “He— he said—” she stammered. She shied back from the stares of her rulers.
“Begin at the beginning,” Celestia suggested. “And take your time.”
Ditzy breathed out slowly. “We were in the TARDIS, with Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. We were about to crash into a— well, basically, a black hole.”
Luna nodded. “As one does,” she said.
“Well, the Doctor thought that Dinky, Pinkie, Twilight and I had been sucked out into the time vortex, but we hadn’t really, of course. We were lost in the TARDIS and came across him sitting alone in a room, talking to himself.”
Celestia’s perfect brow creased. “Never a good sign,” she murmured.
“And then he said— he basically said he was willing to die to keep everypony safe,” Ditzy said quietly. “Ever since he’s been back, he’s seemed so sad. He blames himself for everything, and he tries to put on a mask, but—” she broke off, overcome.
Luna put a wing around Ditzy’s shoulders. “There, now,” she soothed. “Be at peace. The Doctor has always been somewhat— emotional.”
“Really?” Ditzy asked.
“Oh, me, yes,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes. “They’ve always been rather melodramatic about the safety of others. I remember when—” she caught herself. “Hang on, I don’t think that’s happened yet. Never mind.”
“The point is,” Luna explained, “you should never take the Doctor too seriously about these things, especially not, say, when they are bemoaning what a dreadful individual they are. The best thing you can do is to be there for them. That’s what they really need. They don’t do well on their own.”
Ditzy considered this, then nodded firmly. “Right,” she said. “I can do that.”
“Oh, and Ditzy?” Celestia added. “One other thing you should do, if they ever start saying things like that again.”
“Yes?”
“Slap them so hard their next regeneration will feel it.”
Ditzy giggled a little and straightened up in her chair. “I can definitely do that,” she said with a smile.
“What’s that?” the Doctor asked, trotting back into the room, a pot of coffee on his back.
“Nothing,” everypony said at once.
The Doctor glanced around, frowning. “...Right. On with the story!”