"I choose the Doctor!" She said and then looked at Tombstone apologetically.
"You may have some final wordsss with your loverrr." It said.
"Tombstone... I-" Ditzy tried to say.
"Don't." He interrupted. "I still love you, and I always will. But why? Why him over me?" A small tear found its way to Ditzy's eyes.
"I... I... I... The answer would kill you...." She said sadly.
"I'm a dead pony already." He said grimly.
"I'm sorry... But I love him..." She said, tears staining her face.
"I....I... I understand. J-Just make sure he takes care of... of Dinky" He finally choked out of the tears in a devastating tone, the tone of acceptance.
"Timessss uuuup!" The dark tone taunted. Ditzy backed away slowly towards the Doctor's unconscious form.
"I'm so, so sorry..." Ditzy whispered at the ground more for her comfort than her husbands, who could no longer hear her. She looked up at Tombstone, the Slenderpony towering above him. He closed his eyes and mouthed a few final words. Goodbye, Dinky and Ditzy, I love you. Then the sharp stalactite plunged through Tombstones chest. He let out a grunt of sudden agony, then nothing. Ditzy exploded into a rain of tears and buried her face in the Doctor's coat as a malevolent and grinding laugh faded into the distance. Soon, no sound was heard in the lonely swamp, save for Ditzy's saddened sobs.
The doctor awoke in a soft bed, looking around as he realized that he was in a library, Twilight's to be exact.
"What hap-" He started, but then his eyes shot wide as the memories flooded back into his now conscious mind. "Derpy!!" His voice echoed her nickname for the first time, making a stack of books down the stairs fall over, but he didn't care, he was pissed. He shot up from the covers and jumped the railing at the top, landing on the floor below him with a thud that startled a lavender unicorn that he almost squished.
"Doctor! Wait!" She called urgently.
"Not now, Afternoon Glimmer!" He yelled as he burst through the door to the bright outside world.
"It's Twilight. Sparkle!" She shouted back at him then shook her head. He galloped down the road, shouting Ditzy's nickname at the top of his lungs. Other ponies gave him strange and scared looks. He aimlessly ran until a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane flew down and halted him.
"Whoa! Why are you looking for Derps?" She asked with a tomboyish voice.
"Why do you care?" He snapped back. The cyan mare put a hoof forward and looked at him competitively.
"Somepony's angry. Do you know who I am? I'm Rainbow Dash!" She exclaimed, standing up on her hind legs and putting her hooves on her haunches. She flared her wings out for effect. "The best, fastest, and most extreme flier in Ponyville and maybe all of Equestria!" She said cockily, "And local town hero." She added smugly. The Doctor looked at the pegasus and smirked, figuring out exactly how to get away from her.
"Well, from where I stand, you look and sound like a selfish, egotistical show off who can only talk big." He said. Anger flared within Rainbow Dash, a spark lighting in her eye.
"What did you just say?" She asked rhetorically. "I can clear those skies in ten seconds flat!" She said, clearly full of herself.
"Then go on! Do it." He said. She shot up and soared through the air, cutting sharp and bucking the puffy clouds out of existence. Her multicoloured tail created a majestic rainbow as it flowed through the remaining mist of the clouds. The sky was clear quickly. She floated down, eyes closed in cockiness.
"See? What did I tell you," She said as she opened her eyes. "ten... seconds... flat..." She trailed off as the chestnut earth pony was no where to be seen. "Oh Celestia, damn it!" She exclaimed in exasperation and stamped her hoof on the ground. Nearby a mother gasped and pulled her colt closer to her side, trotting a little bit faster. "Oh, heh heh. Sorry about that." She called to the mother, who just ignored the apology.
The Doctor aimlessly galloped along the streets, away from that pegasus, and to find his. His original adrenaline faded as he slowed down, gasping for air while black nipped at the edge of his sight and began to overtake his entire field of vision. He stopped completely and blinked several times to clear his eye sight, but to no avail. He hit the ground hard and the impact knocked him unconscious.
He awoke in a small hut. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to unblurClear[/red] his vision.
"Ugh... Ditzy..." He weakly groaned.
"Ahhh, so you're awake." A foreign voice rang out. "Of you, I'm not sure what to make." She rhymed. The Doctor rolled his head over and saw a zebra walking over to him.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"A Timelord so very far away from his natural place. What brings you to this far reach of space?" She asked. The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion.
"How do you know what I am?" He asked. The zebra chuckled slightly.
"You are not the first, but you maybe the last. I know all of your past." She rhymed. "The one before you talked a lot from where he came. He spoke with only pride and no shame."
"Do you remember his name?" The Doctor asked.
"No, I can not say that I do. I'm sorry that I don't have the information for you." She said.
"I need to get going. My ex-companion is in a lot of trouble." He said, emphasizing the word ex. He got up from the bed and headed towards the door.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said. The Doctor stopped.
"You didn't rhyme that time." He said and silently cursed himself for the accidental one.
"I did not need to, I know the severity of being in trouble with a pony like you." She said. He nodded and walked out of the hut, grabbing his trench coat on the way out.
The Doctor threw the doors to the library open and spotted Twilight putting books up.
"Where is she? I've had enough today, spare me the excuses." He said with a tone that said he was in no mood for games.
"I'm right here." A cute voice sounded. Ditzy hovered down from the stairwell.
"Have you been here the whole time?" He asked. She simply nodded.
"I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen to me." Twilight interjected. The Doctor ignored her and continued talking to Ditzy.
"Why?" He asked. Ditzy remained silent, looking down to the floorboards.
"Why?!" He snapped suddenly, making Ditzy jump a little.
"Because, she loved you, nimrod." Said a cyan pony who floated down from the staircase airily.
"Now, Rainbow. Ain't no need fer harsh words." A thick southern American accent cut the air as a tan earth pony with a straw coloured mane walked in from the back.
"I can talk for myself..." Ditzy said as a tear fell down through a crack in the floorboards. "No... no, no, no! I won't cry! Not again..." She exclaimed.
"Ah, sugercube... Cry if ya need to, it helps." The earth pony said.
"No... No... This always happens... Why does this always happen!" The Doctor cried out in anger.
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, now interested as she landed on a nearby bookcase. A flash came from outside and the thunder rolled across the sky. The Doctor ignored her.
"Ditzy... I'm so, so sorry. But we can't be together." He said. Rainbow flew down suddenly and looked him in the eye with anger when Ditzy had burst into tears.
"You two 'can't be together'?" She mocked his voice in the quote as thunder shook the library.
"No... We can't..." He answered.
"That would have been a lot more useful information earlier when Derps was choosing!" She said angrily. She started prodding him in the chest with her hoof, making him move back with every shove. The Doctor just took it, he thought that he deserved it.
"Who. Do. You. Think. You. Are!" She exclaimed, the last push sending him out of the door and into the mud and rain. He grunted as the wind was knocked out of him. A small wub was heard echoing from his pocket and then a large flash was seen, followed by a white-hot bolt of lightening striking him in the chest. He cried out in pain as all of the ponies looked on in horror, Ditzy only gasped and buried her head in Twilight's coat.
"Rainbow! What've ya done!?" The southern pony yelled.
"I... I didn't mean too... It was an accident." She said on the verge of tears, realizing that she had just killed somepony.
"I'm fine!" He said painfully. Ditzy flew over in hope and helped him back inside. She lay him down on Twilight's rug.
"Um... Not to be rude, but how are y'all still alive after that?" Applejack asked.
"By Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed. All of the ponies began to talk at once, producing a terrible cacophony of panic and amazement. The Doctor held up a hoof and everypony instantly hushed.
"I'm glad that still works." He muttered and then grimaced in pain, grunting as he looked at Ditzy, who's eyes were wandering aimlessly.
"Ditzy... Ditzy Doo... The most amazing mare..." He said with a pained smile. "Everypony makes mistakes. And I think I'm getting use to this pony lingo." He chuckled lightly, but then coughed heavily. "To bad I might not remember it... Or you for that matter."
"What do you mean?" Ditzy asked urgently.
"I will survive this if that's what you're worried about... But only by regeneration, which means that I will change my form, I will no longer be the pony before you. I may even loose my memories of this past life... I'm so sorry, but I can give you one last kindness." He said. "Ditzy, come here." Ditzy moved to him, walking slowly. She came to a stop at his side.
"Yes Doctor, what is-" She was cut off by his warm lips. Behind them Twilight was fiercely blushing and shuffling her hooves, Rainbow was making a gagging motion, and Applejack just smiled and removed her stetson(?), putting it to her chest in respect. A tingly golden light flowed from the Doctor to Ditzy, whose mellow yellow eyes had closed. He pulled away, then grimaced in pain again. Ditzy slowly opened her eyes and everypony in the room, except the Doctor and her, gasped in amazement. A grin overcame the pain on the Doctors face.
"Ditzy! Your eyes!" Twilight exclaimed. Ditzy turned to face her.
"You're just now catching on? My eyes have always been like this." She said.
"Nah, sugarcube." Applejack said smiling, still in awe. "Here," She added, handing a small mirror to the mare. "Take a look." Ditzy furrowed her brow in confusion, then grabbed the mirror out of overwhelming curiosity.
"Okay, but I don't see..." She said, flipping it open to reveal a blonde maned pegasus looking at her... with both eyes! She looked over at the Doctor with happy tears. "Thank you..." She said in a shocked sincerity. He grunted and let out a plumb of glittering golden light.
"It's time..." He said grimly. He moved up from the floor, stumbling slightly as he tried to get up. Ditzy caught him as he fell and helped him to his hooves.
"Everypony stand back!" The Doctor warned. He began to glow a warm golden colour as the other ponies took a few hesitant steps back. "I don't know what's going to happen, but in case my memory fades... Goodbye Ditzy." His eyes slammed tightly shut, then light exploded from the doctors head and hooves and his coats colour began to change from a chestnut brown to a bluish grey and wings formed on his back. His face changed too, becoming younger than before and beginning to resemble a twenty year old stallion, instead of his previous thirty-five. The light began to fade as he dropped to his four hooves. His eyes slowly opened his eyes and revealed them to be a shocking electric blue. His hair had also changed, its original brown mo-hawk had turned black with lime green tips and now was a little longer and flowed down into points. He looked around with confusion.
"Doctor?" Ditzy asked hopefully.
"Ponies? That's a new one! Mind telling me where my TARDIS is?" He asked. His voice was now deeper, but still hyper. Ditzy hid her face in Applejack's coat, but the Doctor could tell she was, and had been, crying. "What's wrong my little pony?" He asked with concern.
"Leave it." Twilight said in an unamused tone. "Your TARDIS is in the basement." The Doctor looked at the blonde maned pegasus with worry, but brushed it aside as he turned to the lavender unicorn.
"Okay." He said in defeat. "Where is you basement, exactly." He asked.
"Follow me." She said and trotted down some stairs at the end of the library, the Doctor following in suit. When they reached the TARDIS, they heard Applejack and Rainbow Dash slam the door, which indicated that they were escorting Ditzy back to her home. "She's gone. You can drop the act now." Twilight said.
"What? How did you know?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Simple, you just told me, but I didn't believe it for a second anyway." She said with a smirk, then changed to a frown. "Why did you do it?" She demanded.
"You really are a clever one." He said and sighed. "I did it to protect her. Companions that fall in love with me tend to have less than happy endings..." He said grimly.
"I see..." Twilight said. "Goodbye, Doctor. Have a nice trip." She added with a hint of sarcasm.
"Oh, I have a feeling that I haven't seen the last of you, Twilight Sparkle." He said with a smile and a wink. He retreated back to the TARDIS and closed the doors behind him. "I'm so, so sorry, Ditzy, I'll never forget you." He said to himself sadly. Then he walked up to the center console and flipped a few switches and threw a lever. The TARDIS vwarped and dematerialized out of existence, leaving a bewildered Twilight Sparkle in the dust to think about what he meant.