Chapter 4: A Derpy Conversation
Meadowlands Holiday Inn, Secaucus, New Jersey, America, Earth, Summer, 2012 A.D.
Alex made his way into the elevator. The sun had already set and now everybody at BronyCon was preparing for the dance party; everyone except for Alex anyway. Alex had spent the rest of the day scoping out the area for any sign of Twilight, Quinn, or the Animator. Unsurprisingly, his search bore no fruit. Alex stepped off the elevator and walked down the hallway towards his room. Twilight's TARDIS key still hung from his neck. By this point, everybody was talking about what had happened at the voice actors' panel and Alex didn't feel like getting pulled in for questioning by the Meadowlands guards. He returned to his room to find it empty. A note was taped to the bathroom door. It read:
Dear Alex,
Decided to go out and grab myself a bite to eat somewhere in town. Probably won't be back for a while. Hope you and Quinn enjoyed your first day of PonyCon, or whatever it's called, and I'll see you later.
-Mom
Alex rolled his eyes before saying, "Typical." He walked over to the window and looked out over the Meadowlands. He could just make out the lights of the TARDIS shining in the plaza down below. Alex sighed before taking another look around the room. "I wonder where Edgar is." Just then, he heard something tap on the window. He turned around to see Derpy suspended in air just outside the window. "Derpy?!" He ran over to the window and opened it. Derpy flew inside and landed on the floor. "What are you doing here?!"
"I just wanted to talk," Derpy replied. Alex smiled, closed the window, and sat down on the edge of the bed nearest to him.
"Have you and the Doctor found anything?"
"No. We've been trying to find Twilight for hours but we've found nothing so far. This Animator must be using some type of magic to block the TARDIS's radar or something like that." Alex continued to stare at the pegasus with a look of wonder on his face. "You're staring. Is there something on my face?"
"What? Oh! No! Not at all! It's just...I'm still getting used to the fact that you and the Doctor exist."
"So, the Doctor and I are fictional characters in this world. So the Doctor and I both came from the same...show?"
"Yes and no. It's kind of complicated."
"I'm interested. Tell me!" Alex felt his heart explode at the sight of Derpy's pleading eyes beginning to invert.
"Okay. The Doctor is originally from a show called Doctor Who, which is live action. You and Twilight come from a cartoon called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Originally, neither of these shows had anything in common. Then, in the twelfth episode, there was a background character who appeared for a few seconds. Somebody somewhere identified that pony as the Doctor, most notably a pony version of the Tenth Doctor. It just became running gag after that. Bronies began calling this background pony Doctor Whooves, obviously a pun of Doctor Who, and people began pairing you up with the Doctor as his companion."
"Was Twilight ever a companion of Doctor Whooves?"
"Yes. She and you are most commonly seen as the Doctor's companions in the Brony fandom. Roseluck and Colgate are sometimes used as well."
"Who?"
"More background ponies."
"So...am I a main character in the show?" Alex fell silent.
"Well...no. You're a background pony, like Doctor Whooves, Roseluck, and Colgate. You've never played a major part in the show. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity are the main characters. We Bronies like to call them the Mane 6. Spike and Princess Celestia are also considered as main characters."
"Oh." Derpy lowered her head a bit.
"But don't worry! You did get a speaking bit in season 2...only the soccer moms had to come in and make Hasbro change your voice and eyes all because they said that you were a bad stereotype of mentally challenged people. Which I think is a load of crap."
"Am...am I supposed to be mentally challenged?"
"No! That's not what I meant! You're usually portrayed as an adorable klutz." Alex suddenly felt like slamming his palm into his face for he had just realized what he had said. Derpy's eyes seemed to grow large and sad. Alex got an odd flashback to Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls upon seeing Derpy's large, sad, inverted eyes.
"The fans see me as...a klutz?"
"No...well...yes...well...uh...at least they all think you're adorable!" Derpy blushed a bit.
"Aww...I'm not really that adorable."
"But you are! Every Brony I know thinks so. You're especially adorable when you're ogling over the Doctor." Alex proceeded to face-palm.
"Ogling over the Doctor?! Ah! You all know about that?!"
"Uh...well...yes." Derpy's face became bright red as she proceeded to dive under the bed. Alex couldn't resist laughing at the sight of Derpy hiding under the bed, her rump and blond tail sticking up in the air and being the only parts of her body that were currently visible.
"Don't laugh at me!" Derpy cried from under the bed.
"I'm sorry!" Alex said as he kept laughing. "You're just too funny!"
"Oh! Everypony here sees me as a clumsy mentally challenged pony! I'm just going to hide under here forever!"
"Don't do that! I'm sorry! I really am! It's not as bad as you think! Like I keep saying, a lot of people here love you."
"They do?"
"Yeah! You should see all the fan art that people make of you!"
"People have made...art of me? Can I see some?" Alex was about to respond when he suddenly flashed back to his first internet search for Derpy pictures.
"Just type in Derpy Fan Art," Quinn had said.
"Okay," he had said in return. He had searched the images on Google and the first image that came up wasn't exactly PG to say the least. "What is that?!"
"Who would draw something like that?!"
"Maybe it's because the artist was into Derpy and fisting and they wanted to combine the two." Alex had been met with a firm slap across the face at his remark and he had stayed away from Google Images for a week.
"Uh...I think it would we better if we didn't go looking up images just yet," said Alex nervously in the present as Derpy pulled herself out from under the bed. Just then, Alex and Derpy heard it: VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! "Is that what I think it is?"
Derpy and Alex raced to the window just in time to see the TARDIS disappear.
"Doctor!" Derpy cried. No sooner had she called for the Doctor when they heard the sound again. VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! VVRROOMMP! They turned around just in time to see the TARDIS materialize in the middle of Alex's hotel room. The Doctor stumbled out of the TARDIS.
"Got her working again! About time she cooled off, don't ya think?" said the Doctor with a smirk.
"What are you doing?!" asked Alex in shock. "You can't park the TARDIS in here!"
"Don't worry, I'm going to move it back! I was just giving it a test run."
"Well, you better get it back soon."
"I'll take it back right now then." The Doctor began making his way back into the TARDIS. He turned back to Derpy. "Coming Derpy?"
"Uh...sure," Derpy replied awkwardly. "It was nice talking with you, Alex."
"Likewise," Alex replied as Derpy and the Doctor made their way back into the TARDIS.
"You better get a good night's sleep, Alex. We have a busy day tomorrow," said the Doctor.
"I'm well aware of that, Doctor." The Doctor nodded before stepping back into the TARDIS and shutting the doors. Alex watched as the TARDIS slowly disappeared.
"I wonder why nobody here notices the TARDIS's sound? Everybody must be at the dance party, I guess." He walked over to the window and looked out over the plaza. He waited for the TARDIS to return, but it never did. Nothing but silence could be heard from outside. "Any time now, Doctor." Alex then felt his heart stop. Something appeared down in the plaza below, but it wasn't the TARDIS. Four pairs of green eyes looked up at Alex from the plaza. Alex identified the brightest pair as the eyes of the Animator. Alex then heard a cold laugh emanate from the plaza below. Then, the four pairs of green eyes disappeared. Alex felt a surge of fear rush through him. He opened the window and shouted, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM, YOU MONSTER?!"
"Shut up out there!" called somebody from two rooms over. Alex stepped back and closed the window. What had happened to the Doctor and Derpy? Who did the other pairs of green eyes belong to? Did the Animator have powers over the TARDIS as well? It couldn't be possible. Alex sighed as he rubbed his temple. He had a fearful feeling in the pit of his stomach and he was quite aware that he would get the answers to his questions the following day at the Lauren Faust panel. After an hour of nervously waiting for the TARDIS to return, which it never did, Alex found himself grow incredibly tired. He crawled under the blankets of his bed and fell asleep.