The Doctor awoke to an awful din coming from downstairs. Someone was clearly very upset, and while he couldn’t make out the entirety of their rant, he could pick out key phrases such as “personal responsibility”. Somewhat concerned, he crept down the stairs to the main room. There he saw Derpy Hooves with her head hung low, as what seemed to be yet another pony admonished her for some perceived wrongdoing.
“Every single day!” the unknown pony screeched. “I am sick and tired of having to refill this refrigerator every single day!”
This new pony was even stranger-looking than Derpy Hooves. Her coat was the color of lemon custard, and she was a ginger, or at least, the closest he thought a pony could come to being a ginger. Hardly fair, he thought to himself as he remembered his own chocolate-brown mane. The Doctor also couldn’t help but notice a marking on her flank, just like he and Derpy had. Hers was shaped like a bunch of carrots.
“But… I didn’t,” mumbled Derpy Hooves, “It wasn’t me this time!” She seemed like she was about to burst into tears.
“You didn’t!” repeated the ginger-maned pony, derisively. “It wasn’t you! I suppose somepony just dropped by in the middle of the night just to eat every single thing in our fridge?”
The doctor briefly considered slinking back upstairs and leaving once the coast was clear. But he couldn’t just leave Derpy there to take the blame for his poor manners. “Actually—“ he started.
At the sound of his voice the ginger-maned pony let out a muffled shriek and jumped about a foot into the air. The Doctor realized that Derpy probably hadn’t yet gotten a chance to tell her flatmate about his arrival last night.
“Who in Tartarus is this?” hissed the bewildered pony to Derpy.
“I’m sorry, I hadn’t gotten to properly introduce myself. I’m the Doctor.” The ginger-maned pony gave him a skeptical look. “Dr. Hooves,” he sighed. “Your friend was kind enough to offer me a place to stay last night.”
“Was she now?" The yellow and orange pony glared at him. "And I suppose next you’re going to say you ate everything in the fridge after she let you in?”
“Well, there wasn’t a whole lot—“ he began, before noticing Derpy nodding vigorously behind his aggressor. “—Yes. I was famished. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you…”
The ginger-maned pony’s mouth turned up into a smug grin. “Well. We can work out a rent agreement later. For now, I think you and her—“ She jerked her head in Derpy’s direction, “—should go take care of the grocery situation.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t intending on staying another—“ started the Doctor.
The irritated mare stomped her hoof on the ground threateningly. “Food! Then rent!”
The Doctor was about to protest further, when something grabbed him from below his forearms and lifted him off the ground, pulling him backwards toward the front door. “No! Please! I’ll do whatever you—“
Then he was out the door and it had slammed shut behind him.
The Doctor only had a moment to flail around before whatever had snatched him up dropped him there on the cobblestone road. The Doctor wheeled around to face whatever had abducted him. A pair of large crossed eyes stared back at him.
“Derpy!” he gasped. “You scared the daylights out of me!” Derpy’s face fell as her head bobbed up and down. The Doctor noticed that her hooves were bobbing at the same rate, a couple of inches off the ground.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Hooves,” said Derpy, dismayed. “Carrot Top was in a bad mood, so I thought we shouldn’t argue with her any more.”
The Doctor looked up at Derpy again and noticed for the first time that she had a small pair of wings on her back, flapping to a steady rhythm. “You have wings,” he said with dull surprise.
Derpy chuckled. “Of course I have wings, Dr. Hooves! I’m a Pegasus pony!
The Doctor continued to stare. He was a pony now, too. Why hadn’t he gotten wings?
“C’mon, Doctor,” said Derpy, as her smile began to falter. “You look like you’ve never seen a Pegasus pony in your life!”
“I haven’t,” admitted the Doctor. “We… don’t have those where I come from.”
“Where are you from, anyway?” asked Derpy, with a quizzical look on her face. “Is it only Earth ponies like you there?”
Earth ponies? Surely she didn’t mean actual ponies like they had on the planet Earth. He didn’t look much more like one of those than she did. That must just be what they call non-pegasi, he thought. “Yes. Only Earth Ponies. In a manner of speaking.”
Derpy’s face broke out into another grin. “Oh, you’re going to love Ponyville, then! We have Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies and even Unicorn ponies living here!”
The Doctor kept staring with bafflement. “Unicorns, too?” he asked. It was beginning to dawn on him just how little he knew about the world he had landed in. “Derpy… I’m very new here, and don’t know much about this place at all,” he confessed. “If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind answering some questions for me today?”
“No problem!” Derpy said, grinning. “But you’ll have to do it while we walk. Carrot Top wanted us to get groceries, and I don’t want to disappoint her again.”
“Right, while we walk,” agreed the Doctor. He looked back down at Derpy’s hooves, still hovering off the ground. This place was so new to him, and he’d need to find out everything he could if he ever wanted to get back home.