The Doctor was heartbroken.
His two best friends the 2nd incarnation of the Doctor had ever known- Jamie and Zoe, with a particular interest in Jamie- had just gotten their memories erased. All their adventures, all their love for each other, their entire friendship... It was going to be erased from their minds. Well, there was still hope. The Time Lords were not as competent as they'd wish others to believe, and there was a chance they didn't understand human biology well enough to actually erase their memories. It was a slim chance, but it was a chance nonetheless. Hence, he was heartbroken, but not... Heartsbroken. One heart felt the misery while the other pumped out hope that things could be made right.
Both hearts, however, beat faster with each new bit of information about his punishment, such as when he heard of his exile to Earth. While he did very much love Earth, and all the inhabitants therein, he liked it as a place to visit. He certainly didn't want to live out Rassilon-knows-how-many-years on a planet that was as slow to technological progress as it was. Not to mention he didn't know when. Sure, it was the "mid-20th century," but that could have meant any time from the 20s to the 80s! From the horrors of the great depression to the hopeless plague of the aids epidemic, that was the range of disasters facing him! It still could have meant sometime like the 70s, which comparatively weren't so bad, or even the 20s which at least had good parties if nothing else, so his hopeful heart still stayed true.
Then they said, ominously, that they would "change his face." That could have meant regeneration. A waste of a life, certainly, but he would only be on his third, as far as he knew. He couldn't help, however, but to think back to a warning a particularly nasty Time Lord, The Raven, had gave him. That she could take any one of his lives and turn him into her puppet. He resisted the urge to shudder at the thought, but he had also made it clear to her that he wasn't something to be trifled with either. Still, the fact that he couldn't tell if The Raven was near or not wracked his nerves worse than confronting a cyberarmy.
His worry of the Raven's involvement was cemented when he was told he'd get to choose his face. Certainly not normal for a regeneration. He still acted as if that were better, but that was mostly because whatever little time it it gave him was time to think up a plan, but after he rejected the first 5, four men and one woman, they revoked even that lousy excuse of a luxury. He noted the 4th face he was presented with in particular, a young black woman. It was a lovely face, yes, and it would definitely work out in terms of adjustment and his, or rather her, abilities. However, if they sent her to a time when people of a darker skin tone were still dehumanized and segregated against, with no access to the TARDIS or other gadgets, then she would have to deal with human bigotry, idiocy, stubbornness, and hatred. Frankly he'd rather be sent to Skaro. At least the Daleks had the excuse of being incapable of tolerance, and their strategies were perfectly predictable. And all of that ignores the fact that he genuinely didn't like how young she looked. She looked about 18 in human years. Not wise to willingly choose a regeneration so young and impressionable, he thought. He was glad he learned how to think these sorts of things in microseconds, because otherwise his racing hearts would have clouded his judgement with their loud drumming.
Then, his mind grew foggy and unruly. The time lords were messing with his mind, that much was clear. And he could spot the minor signs of hallucination encroaching him. The little breaths on his neck when no one was behind him, the shadows appearing out the corner of his eye, the almost-sound of an indecipherable whisper... His persecutors were doing something to him, but he was quickly losing control of his mind...
Said persecutors, unbeknownst to the hallucinating Doctor, were actually quite worried. The Raven, the one who was going to be responsible for changing his face, was nowhere to be found, meaning that their plans were in jeopardy. Without The Raven, they couldn't turn the oldest asset of The Time Lords into the newest weapon of The Division. And if they wanted to make sure the Doctor knew that, yes, their threats and punishments had weight behind them, they would have to force his regeneration and send him to Earth early instead. Their aim was the early 1970s in England, but their equipment for transporting the Doctor's TARDIS could overshoot, sending him anywhere and anywhen from Earth's Jurassic period to the collapse of the city of "New New New New New New New New New New New New New New" New New York. But their pride and stubbornness outweighed their logic, so they made the decision to run the machinery. And besides... Even with him this young, the Time Lords knew the Doctor could become something very powerful. They'd rather keep him in fear of them rather than the other way around.
And so, the Doctor was shot in the back and placed in his TARDIS, unaware of what was happening to him. Of course, when the transportation machine was activated, disaster struck. An unknown error was caused by the premature start-up. Electricity crackled and flew from the console, sparks flew, and the Doctor's TARDIS whooshed away, out of sight, making the familiar sound of the emergency breaks being left on. Thankfully, the Time Lords had a backup plan, and a wise one at that. They had put a tracking device in his TARDIS, so that they would know exactly where and when the Doctor, whomever they turned out to be after his renewal, would land. And there was no way it could be detected or sabotaged by the Doctor in his current state, and it couldn't be destroyed even if the Tardis burst into flames. That last bit was particularly lucky, since that was what immediately happened. But then they looked at their monitors in shocked.
The tracker wasn't working. Simply an error of disconnection, nothing more. No damage report, no alert, nothing. Simply a disconnection. What normally would have taken microseconds to figure out by the Time Lords took ordinary seconds simply due to the shock. After all, the only way that the device could be disconnected without any damage having been done to it was...
If he had left the universe.
And so, the 2nd Doctor ended his tenure as himself, as well as his stay in his own reality, with repeated cries of "no". With his friends gone, not knowing where he would end up, scared and alone aside from the TARDIS, which was starting to malfunction as flames lit the console. His head and limbs glowed, ready to burst from him, undoubtedly making the crashing time machine even worse for wear, the cloister bell delivering deafening ringing, with little-to-nothing the Doctor could do to delay it. Similarly to a face he may not ever wear in this timeline... He didn't want to go. And in another similarity, he had no other other choice but to go. His friends gone, his freedom compromised, no guarantee that he would ever see dear Susan again...
One wonders if even regeneration could heal wounds as deep and gashing as two broken hearts.
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"Alright, everypony! Any news today?"
The rest of the Mane Six, as well as Starlight Glimmer, looked up at the purple alicorn walking into Castle of Friendship's throne room, who was visibly beaming with excitement. However, to her disappointment, nopony had so much as raised a hoof.
"Sorry, sugarcube," said Applejack, breaking the short silence, "but we ain't got nothin' to share." The purple alicorn, in response, ignored the double negative that slightly irked her and just let out a dejected sigh. The "Cutie Map" had been quiet for weeks, ever since Pinkie and Rarity went to Manehatten to help a local restaurant. Everypony had their own reaction to the lack of news. Fluttershy, for example, was simply happy nopony was in trouble. AJ was content to focus on helping her family's farm. Rainbow Dash was frustrated and bored from impatience, and was hesitant to admit to herself that being on probation from the Wonderbolts added to that. Rarity liked feeling useful when the Cutie Map called upon her help, so she took it a bit personally. Pinkie wanted to go somewhere new. Starlight wanted to prove she was a changed mare, and helping other ponies would show that and help her grow. And Spike... Didn't care. He was in another part of Ponyville, enjoying some comics in the Equestrian sun and taking a break Twilight felt he deserved.
Twilight Sparkle, however, was the most disappointed. She was the princess of friendship, for flying out loud! She actively wanted her or her friends to help other ponies. It was her job! Of course she would feel a bit bitter! When her job was specifically to help all sorts of Equestrian creatures wasn't being utilized, who wouldn't be at least a bit bitter? But Twilight kept her cool. It wasn't irritating or frustrating, just a bit of a bummer, so she could easily control herself and her feelings on the whole affair.
Pinkie saw her friend's disappointment and immediately started making some goofy faces towards her. Twilight just had to glance at Pinkie and already had to stifle a snort. Both mares started giggling uncontrollably, resulting in small smiles from parts of the room. Everypony there knew those two had a thing for each other... Well, except for Twilight and Pinkie themselves. Why is it, Rarity would often wonder, including now, that everypony in the world can see when two ponies are in love EXCEPT those ponies themselves? It would remain a mystery for the time being.
The only two not smiling were Starlight and Rainbow. Starlight was jealous. Happy for them, sure, but still jealous. She had an affection for Twilight, and was envious of how easy Pinkie managed to get some of that back without even knowing it. Still, she wasn't angry about it. After all, Twilight knew Pinkie for longer, so it was expected that the pink mare would more of an impression. That, and Pinkie didn't almost destroy the entire world. Rainbow was hardly jealous, though there was a hint of it still there. Both ways, actually. Dashie had minor crushes on all 6 of her friends one way or another. She was mostly just irritated by all the other things going on in her life as well as, perhaps more so, what was NOT going on in her life. That tiny bit of otherwise harmless envy served as the last straw.
Rainbow snapped. She flew into the air, mere feet above the floor, and startled everypony else by shouting "COME ON! WON'T SOMETHING HAPPEN?!? CAN'T WE HELP ANYPONY?!?"
In another timeline, the universe responded like it usually did to such requests by doing absolutely nothing, deaf to the cries of even an army's worth of screams. Then Rainbow would apologize for snapping, and a lot of comforting and kind words would spread around. Then another week would have passed, and the map would finally send AJ with Fluttershy to Las Pegasus to resolve the conflict of a bickering duo Applejack resented, and that was likely still going to happen.
In this version of reality, however, it was as if the monkey's paw curled a finger and granted Rainbow's wish.
In the middle of the map, seemingly out of nowhere, was a new cutie mark, one none of the mares present recognized, anyhow. It was an image of a golden hour glass, with the top still mostly filled. It was a simple design, as most cutie marks are, but that wasn't the most striking thing. What was striking was that it was headed towards where the castle was at quite a remarkable speed. Rainbow and Twilight were the first to feel like something was... Off. Through Twilight's many studies and Rainbow Dash's personal expertise, both figured out that, whoever or whatever was coming, it was going at a speed that was almost as fast as Rainbow halfway through the process of creating a sonic rainboom. Not quite at that speed, but it was close. They couldn't know, however, what was about to happen.
Luckily, Pinkie Pie managed to get an idea. See, her left eye started spontaneously twitching, her tail then wagged akin to a dog, and finally her front-left hoof started stomping the ground. Suddenly she shouted "EVERYPONY DUCK!" Only Starlight didn't immediately listen, feeling somewhat confused... Until she saw a strange shape through the semi-transparent wall of the castle. Then she ducked just in time, as the crystal wall shattered, with a blue box plopping in upright, leaving a large crack in the floor. Everypony looked up to see that it was some kind of blue booth. There was a sign reading "POLICE TELEPHONE," though most of the group couldn't even guess what that meant. Twilight could only tell the sign could be human, due to the mention of phones, though why you would need a booth to use a mobile device she had no idea.
Then, the doors opened. Out stepped a blue colored unicorn with a white, fluffy mane. The stallion was fully clothed, sporting a tattered vest and undone bowtie as well as pants. Behind the unicorn, there seemed like a large fire was inside the box, a fire that should have been impossible without burning the clearly wooden box containing it, not to mention the poor stallion himself. For his part, he was standing on his hind legs for some odd reason which cost him his balance. He fell, and as he did a wave of fire flared from inside the box, narrowly avoiding him. All the while a strange song was playing, sounding like a military tune occasionally interrupted by the sound of a bell tolling, eerily repeating just one line...
Glory, glory what a Helluva way to die...
Nopony knew what the hay was happening. Even Twilight, whose closest guess was that it was a human, couldn't even fathom what was going on.
Well, Pinkie knew. Or at least, she knew what was happening. The thing she was stuck on was why and how.
Pinkie was the first pony brave enough to head for the box's doors. She closed them shut, and the fire- To the amazement and shock of everypony else- was self-contained by the seemingly wooden box. Even the song became soft and muffled... Though that bell could still be heard a bit. Everypony stood in stunned silence, aside from two others. One was the stallion, who had passed out. The other was Pinkie, who had a quiet look of rage about her that none of the others had ever seen before. All of a sudden, the Cutie Map was lit up again and ones still conscious looked. It showed Pinkie and Twilight's cutie marks at the castle, while everypony else's cutie marks, including the mysterious hourglass cutie mark, were firmly at Rarity's boutique.
Applejack then cautiously approached the passed out stallion and pulled his pants down just enough to see his cutie mark. She then spoke the first words anypony had said after the crash. "That's an hourglass, alright." She decided to take charge, since everypony else was still dumbfounded, "Twilight, Pinkie, you stay here and watch the map, see if it changes any. The rest of us will take Hourglass over here to Rarity's place." Rarity opened her mouth as if to protest, but no noise came out. It was likely she was simply glad that somepony managed to get everypony else moving. Pinkie proceeded to step towards the Map, Twilight followed her, and everypony else helped pick up the strange unicorn. Rarity and Starlight used magic to lighten the load, Rainbow and fluttershy flew carrying the stallion's legs, and AJ took whatever weight was left on her back. Just before they left the room, however, the Doctor glowed for just a moment. All present took glances at each other, aside from Pinkie who was staring at the hourglass on the Cutie Map. With the rest of the group leaving, Twilight decided to go talk to and comfort Pinkie. Clearly Pinkie had an idea of what was going on, but was keeping it secret.
"Hey, Pinkie," Twilight said with an awkward smile. The smile rather quickly transitioned into a look of concern. "Are you doing alright? You have this weird look about you is all." No visible response came back, as Pinkie had her eyes firmly on that hourglass cutie mark at the boutique, surrounded by the Cutie marks of Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, AJ and Starlight. It was as if the rest of them were orbiting around that one cutie mark. Twilight figured that, whoever he was, that strange stallion was important. She broke the silence with the question "so, do you know him or..?"
Pinkie just kept staring at the hourglass, lost in thought. Twilight was becoming concerned. This didn't seem like Pinkie. She wasn't sure how to describe what Pinkie was like when she wasn't in "party mode," but it didn't feel like this. She looked... Bitter. A mix of profound anger and sadness, quietly simmering while looking at the map. Was this somepony who had hurt Pinkie or..?
"He's a friend of mine," Pinkie finally said, almost as if she was responding to Twilight's thought. "Well, it looks like this what he was before I met him, based on pictures he showed me, but maybe he just regenerated with the same face. But really, what are the odds of him having a face that likes bowties and another that looks like an old magician back to back on two separate occasions?" Pinkie's face brightened up. "Does he still like jelly babies? Or would they be 'jelly fillies' in Equestria? No no no, stay focused! If this is a past him, why didn't he tell me about going to a world filled with ponies?" Pinkie started pacing around the map. "Unless he got his memory wiped, there's no way he wouldn't have bragged about it! That or he's from a different universe! Oooh! Both of those would mean I get to be friends with him all over again, and I get to do it right this time! I was too rude to him the first time! I could throw a special regeneration party! It's the least I could do to-"
"PINKIE!"
Twilight felt bad about yelling, but she had said Pinkie's name about five times up to this point.
"Pinkie," she asked more calmly, "could you please explain what's going on? I'm more than a little confused." Though she didn't outright say it, she was happy that Pinkie was acting like herself. Still, there were a lot of questions. Regeneration? New faces? And what did jelly fillies have to do with anything? Still, she stuck to the most important one. "So he's your friend. Do you know what happened to him?"
"Ohhhh, that's easy. He got murdered."
A silence filled the room, and not the kind you need tally marks for, before Twilight broke it with a simple "WHAT?!?"
"Oh, sorry!" Pinkie blushed a bit. "He's a Time Lord! When a Time Lord dies, we go through a process called 'rEgeNeRAtiOn!!!'" She waved her front legs bonelessly, to indicate spookiness. "Our cells reorganize themselves, and we become a whole new pony! Or maybe a non-pony, like a dragon or a griffon! It does change the personality, but all the memories are still there! Really, I'm mostly mad at the intent to kill him more than his actual death, since that's nothing the Doctor can't get back up from!"
Twilight shook her head a bit, feeling disoriented. "I'm sorry, 'we?'" Pinkie's face went pale, as if she said something she wasn't supposed to. Pinkie then sighed, looking a bit defeated. "Yeah, 'we.' Didn't mean for you to find out like this. And I know your next question 'what's a Time Lord,' which is a good question!" Twilight opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it back up with a slight hint of embarrassment.
Pinkie thought for a moment before brightening up again. "OK, you know the human world, right?" Twilight nodded. "I come from a world where humans exist, and normally I look like a human, but I'm not a human. Buuuuut this universe has the same effect that the human world does, sooooooo... TA DA!"
Twilight stared for a moment. It was a lot to take in at once. Before she could respond, however, the Cutie Map had changed both of the mares' position on the map. Now, instead of the castle, they were both being called to Sugarcube Corner. Twilight gave a slightly uncomfortable smile. "Well, Pinkie, why not tell me on the move? Seems like the map wants us back at your place." Pinkie gave a more excited smile. "Sure thing! Funny, it showed up right as I had an idea." She gasped. "Hey, that must mean I had a good idea! Let's go!" Pinkie started bouncing at a steady pace.
"Wait," said Twilight, prompting Pinkie to stop in midair, ignoring gravity for a moment before placing her hooves back on the ground. "If you're not from here, then what about your family? And is your name even Pinkie?"
Pinkie looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, the Pie family is still my family, they just adopted me is all. As for my name, that was the one they gave me, and I love it a lot!"
Twilight seemed puzzled. "So, what was your name before that? If you don't mind me asking, that is."
Pinkie smiled once more, a look of pride, shame, and nostalgia in her eyes. Twilight noticed, perhaps for the first time, how... Old her eyes looked. It was as if that question had caused her to stop hiding that aspect. It was a similar look to what she saw in Celestia, Luna... Or Discord. Finally, Pinkie answered the question.
"Romana."