The rhythmic whirring was followed by a characteristically hollow thud as the TARDIS set down. Moments later the doors burst inward.
“Doctor, that thing is back!”
“Whot thing?”
“That thing! The one with the things, and the arms, and, and… and the space ship!”
“My dear Ditzy, that literally describes… forty-three percent of all encounters you’ve had as my assistant. Could you maybe be a little more descriptive?”
“Um, we met them in the future?”
“The now future or your future? Or was it that future where you met the future me and-”
“The future after we first met in Ponyville! Why do you always have to make everything so complicated?”
“Because half of all time is in the future. Well, give or take a few billion years. It’s very important we narrow down when you saw them. What else did you see?”
“Well, um,” Ditzy’s eyes screwed up in concentration for a moment. “The space ship! It looked like a muffin.”
“A Muffin?”
“With a hat.”
“What kind?”
“The Bowler kind.”
“Well,” said the Doctor, climbing out of the floor hatch, “Muffins in hats do sound rather sinister so I guess I could -”
“Oh! I remember! You said it had a pro-po-shoo-thingy that was kinda… wibbly-wobbly!”
“A Geldeon State Flux Drive with Tricentric Gravitron Rings?”
“That thing!”
“It must be Celendar Anticula from the third quadrant of the Gundai system! They are rather warlike around this time, what with their queen having been assassinated by the Arch Primate Prince and -”
“Doctoooor.” Ditzy wined from the doorway, “We need to go help them! Honeydew is down there.”
“Right, right. We just need to find the Supersubsonic Oscillation Distortion device.”
“Can’t we call it the other thing?”
“Fine. Grab the ‘Super Whistle’ and let’s go. Allons-y!”