The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS to find a tiny orange Pegasus pony standing there, in the rain. Its magenta mane was dripping with rain, but the water streaming down its face was not enough to disguise the tears in its eyes.
“Hey, mister?” It spoke in a girl’s voice, and tried to peek past him into the TARDIS, which was now dimly lit by the flame of a single candle.
The Doctor shifted so as to block her view. “Little girl, what on earth are you doing out here in the rain? You should be at home, with your parents!”
The filly cast her gaze downward. Her silence spoke volumes.
The Doctor groaned. “All right, all right. Innocent child, alone in the rain. It’s almost like someone out there knows my every weakness. Well, come on in. Stay close, and don’t touch anything.”
The Doctor moved aside and let the filly enter. She took a few steps inside, then stopped and looked around. “It’s… it’s bigger. Bigger on the inside.”
The Doctor let out a soft chuckle. “You know, I get that a lot from people,” he said, softly, “but you’re the very first pony I’ve heard that from. Come on, get closer to the fire. You’re soaking wet.” He closed the door again and moved toward the fire himself.
“What’s your name?” asked the Pegasus filly.
“The Doctor,” he said. “Just the Doctor. Dr. Hooves if you prefer. I don’t know anymore. What’s yours?”
The Pegasus pony didn’t say a word.
“Silent treatment, eh? Relax a little, I won’t bite!” The Doctor put his foreleg around the filly, and she smiled a little.
“Why are you out here on your own?” the filly asked him. The Doctor contemplated his answer. He could tell her the whole truth, if he wanted to. She was already inside the TARDIS with him, after all.
“I had been staying with a pony named Carrot Top. No, Golden Harvest. And Derpy Hooves. But I left. Golden Harvest wanted me gone, and it was too hard to keep lying to Derpy. And I had to lie. I couldn’t let them know the truth about me and this box.
“This box. What is it, really?” asked the little filly.
The Doctor sighed. He was tired of lying. And he felt he could trust this innocent little filly, even if he couldn’t trust anyone else. “Spaceship. Time Machine. This box could take you anywhere, and anywhen, you wanted. If—” He paused for dramatic effect. “—it was working.”
He could see the console now. Somewhere inside there would be a piece that was still alive, which he could put some of his own life force into to jump-start the whole ship. He went over to dig out the necessary bit, and spotted a thin metal rod wedged in the open space beneath the console. “Ah-hah! Screwdriver!” He grabbed it in his teeth and it emitted a familiar whirring noise as he dove headfirst into the opening.
“You love it, don’t you?” The voice came from behind him, now, but he was fully engrossed in his work.
“The TARDIS? More than you could imagine!” He chuckled again as he replied. The TARDIS was his favorite thing in all of time and space. He spotted what he was looking for in the faint candlelight. “Here! It! Is!” He pulled the crystalline element out with his hooves, snapping the wires that had held it in place. Perfect.
“I’m going to give it a little bit of juice!” he announced to the filly. A glowing stream of energy emerged from his hooves and fed into the crystal, and he felt a numbness as some of his life left his body. The whole TARDIS groaned as it began to reawaken.
“Did you fix it?” the voice from behind him asked him excitedly.
“More or less! It’ll take about 24 hours for her to start up, but after that she’ll be ready to fly!” The Doctor wheeled around with a satisfied smirk, but the filly wasn’t by the candle anymore.
“Exsssellent,” hissed a voice from the darkness. But it wasn’t the same voice this time. It sounded raspy, and reptilian. The Doctor clutched the sonic in his teeth, as he looked around for the source of the new voice. He couldn’t see the filly he had let into the TARDIS. But the majority of the room was still cloaked in darkness, lit only by the single candle flame. Suddenly there was a flash of green fire, and then the candle went out.