The bell over the front door of the Boutique rang. “Rumble?” Sweetie Belle called, trotting into the foyer. “Dinky?”
“Well, hello to you too,” Rarity said archly, trotting forward to give her sister a quick hug. “How was the show, darling?”
“Good! I think I did really well. Um, have you seen Rumble and Dinky? They disappeared at the train station… along with all my bags.”
“You’ll find your luggage up in your room. As for Rumble and Dinky -- why don’t you invite your friends in? I think we’ve got something to show you.”
Sweetie tilted her head. “...’Kay?”
She waved out the window and beckoned Bloom, Button, and Scootaloo into the Boutique. All four of them followed Rarity into the back of the shop, where Rumble and Spike were already waiting in front of the modeling stage. Spike was munching on a handful of aquamarines. Rarity gave him a mild look as she approached, and he held up his free claw in protest. “I got them out of the scrap pile, honest!”
“It’s not what you’re eating, darling, it’s that you’re eating at a fashion show,” Rarity said lightly. “I don’t mind too much, but it’s a habit you’ll want to get out of before you come with me to an exhibition in Manehattan.”
Spike nodded and quickly downed the remaining gems in a single gulp.
“Fashion show?” Button asked, confused.
“Hm, perhaps a slight overstatement on my part,” Rarity conceded. “But, well… Dinky, darling, are you quite ready?”
By way of response, Dinky stepped out from behind the curtain. The others all sat and stared. They had seen her in this outfit before, of course, but the circumstances had been stressful enough that none of them had paid much notice to how she’d looked in it.
She looked sharp and dapper in the blue velvet suit, the red cravat accentuating the outfit. Her eyes seemed to spark with intelligence, and her crooked smile seemed deeply knowing. There was an aura of authority to her.
She glanced at her friends. “Looks good, doesn’t it?”
“Uh, yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I mean, very sharp.”
“Ah think it might be a little hard to keep it clean an’ tidy while travelin’,” Bloom noted. “Seems a little impractical.”
“Yeah, but it’s got pockets,” Dinky said.
“Ah. Yeah, that’s convenient.”
“Give us a spin now, darling,” Rarity said.
“Huh? Oh.” Dinky slowly turned in a tight circle, to the applause of her friends. When she faced out toward the audience again, she was grinning broadly.
She leapt off the stage and glanced over at Rarity. “Uh, how much do I owe you?”
Rarity arched an eyebrow thoughtfully. “Consider it to be services rendered for saving the lives of more or less every creature and everything I hold dear.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“Think nothing of it, dear. Apple Bloom was correct in any case, I’m quite sure you’ll be sending me a fair amount of business repairing it.”
Dinky nodded, rolling her eyes as she did so. “Yeah, I guess that’s true, too.”
Button glanced up at the wall clock. “We’ve still got about an hour and a half before we need to meet with the Doctor. Anypony got anything they want to do until then?”
“Eat,” Scootaloo said. “The train left too early for me to get anything close to a decent breakfast, and I’m starving.”
“Same,” Sweetie Belle agreed. “What do you guys think? Sugarcube Corner for donuts and coffee?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Button said.
“Bye, Rarity,” Dinky said. “Thanks for the clothes.”
“See you later, Spike!” Rumble called, already halfway to the door.
Sweetie turned to go. Then she paused, turned, and hugged both her sister and Spike in turn. “I’ll see you guys soon. Love you!”
And then she was gone. Rarity smiled, but it was a sad, tired smile. “How quickly they grow,” she said softly.
Spike patted her on the shoulder, and she leaned into his side.
Sugarcube Corner was fairly quiet when the Crusaders wandered in -- it was well after most ponies had breakfast, but not quite lunchtime either. Pinkie was standing at the counter, and she waved excitedly to the Crusaders when she saw them. “Hi guys!” she said. “What can I get you?”
“Donuts,” Sweetie Belle said firmly. “Uh, two cream filled for me, and a caramel latte.”
The others all gave their orders, and together the six of them crammed into a booth in the corner. “So,” said Scootaloo. “Should all of us get cool outfits, or is that just a you thing?”
Dinky shrugged. “You can if you want. Maybe check out the wardrobe room in the TARDIS? There’s some cool stuff in there.”
“Nah, I just didn’t want there to be a dress code for time traveling,” Scootaloo said, leaning back in her chair. “The Doctor always seems to have some kind of wild outfit, and now so do you.”
There was a pause. Dinky frowned slightly, and the other Crusaders held their breath. “Huh,” Dinky said after a moment. “Maybe there is a dress code.” She grinned. “And maybe the TARDIS only likes me enough to mention it.”
Rumble shoved her lightly, and she chuckled.
Pinkie skipped toward the table, carrying a platter full of donuts on her head. “Here ya go!” she said, plopping them down in the middle of the table. She turned to go, but paused.
“Sweetie Belle?” she asked.
“Mhmm?” the unicorn asked, her mouth already full of donut.
“Do you have your Element on you? I really wanna look it over.”
Sweetie gulped down her bite of pastry. “Oh.” She dug around in her mane, pulled out the slender wand and hoofed it over. “Here you go,” she said, taking another chomp of her donut.
Pinkie ran a hoof over the screwdriver, smiling at it nostalgically. “Boy. I remember when I got this. Did I ever tell you that story?”
“Um,” said Button.
Pinkie slapped her head. “Silly me! Everypony in Ponyville knows that story. And now everypony in Ponyville knows yours, too! I’m getting distracted.”
“No,” Scootaloo said, her eyes lidded. She took a long sip of coffee. “Really?”
“I know! I’m surprised, too. What I really wanted to do was offer you a little advice.”
Everypony looked at each other. This was either going to be something incredibly prophetic and useful or something superbly silly. Both were worth listening to.
Pinkie looked down at the screwdriver. “You guys have had a lot of power given to you. This is a lot of weight to put on ponies so young, and I’d know! The six of you are gonna go far. I don’t need Pinkie Sense to tell you that. You’re gonna face down terrible things as you go; some are gonna be monsters, some are just gonna be ponies, and some of them… well, some of them are gonna be you. And that’s true of everypony, but it’s especially true for you guys!”
She looked each of them square in the eye in turn. “I believe in the six of you. You are strong enough to handle this kind of power. But nopony can be strong forever, and that’s why you should always, always, always have friends. I mean, you do, but it’s good to have even more outside your group in case you’re all tired and angry and snappy all at the same time, and what I’m really saying is that you can depend on me and your families and friends and also the Princesses and really all of Ponyville and maybe even more ponies you meet along the way, and that’s more than okay!”
The Crusaders were all staring at her now. She paused and scratched her head, thinking. “Uh… and also, have fun out there! What’s the point of time travel if you don’t enjoy yourself, right?”
“...Right,” said Sweetie Belle. “Uh, can I have that back now?”
“Hm? Oh, sure!” Pinkie plonked the screwdriver back on the table. “I’ll be back in a sec with your bill!” She bounced away, leaving the Crusaders reeling in her stream of words.
They left Sugarcube Corner shortly thereafter, full and content, heading for Dinky’s house. When they arrived, Ditzy popped her head out the front door and waved at them enthusiastically. Dinky smiled and trotted up to the porch to hug her mom, the other Crusaders following in her wake as Ditzy led them all into the kitchen.
“Can I get you all anything to drink?” she asked brightly. “A muffin for the road, maybe?”
“What road?” Scootaloo asked. “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
“A muffin for the infinite void of time and space, then,” Ditzy said without batting an eye.
“No thanks,” Rumble said. “We just ate.”
“I wouldn’t say no to a glass of water, though,” Button added.
Ditzy nodded and brought down a glass from the cabinet. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a little longer than expected to take off,” she said. “The Doctor’s making one last-minute addition.”
Dinky pursed her lips. “Not to put too fine a point on it,” she said. “But isn’t that kinda why the TARDIS needed to sit around for a month to begin with?”
“Don’t worry. This is nothing like the Interface,” Ditzy assured her.
“Still --”
“It was a gift from Fluttershy.”
“Oh. Well, never mind, then,” Dinky said, sitting back in her chair.
“How is the Doctor?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Since, you know.”
“He’s… getting better,” Ditzy said. “He still has a long way to go. Thousands of years of trauma don’t go away overnight, and he’s still got a habit of putting himself down… but he’s getting better. Princess Luna can actually help with his nightmares now that the Nightmare isn’t interfering with them.”
“And how are you?” Rumble asked.
Ditzy took a muffin out of the breadbox and took a bite of it meditatively. “I think I’m alright,” she said. “I think… I’m more or less alright.”
“More or less?” Dinky asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“More more than less,” Ditzy said quickly. “It’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure it’s basically nothing more than you could have guessed. It was a traumatic experience for all of us, wasn’t it?”
“...Sure,” Button said. “But it helped all of us to talk about it afterwards. Do you want to…”
Ditzy sighed and slumped into a kitchen chair. “The Nightmare said… it had been manipulating the Doctor’s travels for lifetimes before I met him, trying to force him into impossible moral dilemmas. What if… what if I was one of them? He fell in love with me, and he had to leave me, and I know it broke his hearts as much as it broke mine. Did he fall in love with me by his own free will? Or was I set up for him? I mean, I know how egotistical that sounds, but it’s not exactly outside the realm of possibilities, is it?”
There was a long pause. Dinky took her mother’s hoof. “Mom… even if you were only ever meant to be a trap for the Doctor, you know he loves you. Whether you were set up to meet by an apocalyptic matchmaker, or you only did by chance, you fell in love because you’re compatible. Whatever the Nightmare did or didn’t do to make the two of you meet, it doesn’t matter.”
Ditzy nodded slowly.
“Also,” Scootaloo said. “If it did get the two of you together for some big emotionally-destroying twist of fate, it’s also responsible for Dinky being born, so it really kinda shot itself in the foot there.”
That got a chuckle out of the assembled and the mood in the room lightened considerably.
The Doctor poked his head in through the door. “What’s going on in here, then?” he asked, grinning broadly.
Everypony stared at him, smiling. Several of them were giggling. He tilted his head. “What?”
Ditzy chewed her lip, staring at his left ear. “No, seriously, what?”
“You’ve, um,” said Rumble. “You got a couple of passengers up there.”
“What?” The Doctor turned to the hall mirror. Perched on his mane and ears were no fewer than five butterflies, sitting on his head like a flower crown. “Oh.” He grinned. “Y’know, I think it rather suits me!”
“Can’t argue with that,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Ah take it th’ TARDIS is ready now?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yes, indeed,” the Doctor said. “The console is functioning, the Eye of Harmony is restored, the psychic wounds have healed, and the Butterfly Room is full again! Everything you need for a functioning TARDIS, save for a crew. Are you ready to go?”
The moment had been prepared for. Yet, now that it had arrived, the six scarcely believed it. Slowly, they nodded. The Doctor smiled at them. “Alright, then. I believe you’ll be wanting these.” He walked to each Crusader in turn and handed them a key on a length of chain.
There was a moment as they each secured their keys around their necks, in their manes, or, in Dinky’s case, in her pocket. “Okay,” said Bloom. “Let’s go.”
They all headed out to the backyard. The TARDIS sat near a corner, humming softly.
“So,” said the Doctor. “Dinky? You remember what I taught you about setting the proper coordinates?’
“Yes, dad. I remember.”
“You’ve still got the Laws of Time memorized?”
“Yes. Plus the list of exceptions you mentioned.”
“And you know how to operate the Fast-Return Switch in case of any emergencies --”
“Dad.”
He stopped and grinned weakly at her. “I know. You know.”
She gave him a quick hug, then pulled away. “I appreciate it anyway.”
The Doctor stepped back and took it all in. His daughter, her friends, the TARDIS…
“Should I take a photo? Commemorate the moment and all that?”
“Dad…”
“Alright, alright,” he said, waving a hoof. “Try and be back by supper, alright?”
“Okay. Bye, dad. Bye, mom. Thanks.” She turned. Hesitated. “I love you. See ya in a bit.”
She stepped through the TARDIS doors, the other Crusaders clustering in afterwards. There was a thunk as the doors closed heavily. The Doctor stepped back, grinning slightly, and Ditzy put a hoof on his shoulder.
There was a great groaning roar that rose up moments later, bringing with it a wind that blew Ditzy’s mane back and sent the butterflies on the Doctor’s head flying. Grass clippings flew and swirled around the box as it flashed out of phase with reality.
“Allez-vous,” the Doctor whispered as the police box faded out of sight. “Allez-vous.”