The Doctor flung the doors of the TARDIS open and sauntered inside, followed closely behind by Ditzy. They were both wearing tropical floral necklaces and laughing as they fell inside. Whistles and cheers could be heard from outside, so the Doctor hopped up and shut the doors behind him, waving dismissively to the party outside the doors.
He fell towards the console, chuckling and flipping some preliminary switches. He looked over to Ditzy, who had planted her hooves on the console opposite him. He winked and said, "Ready to give them a good scare?"
Ditzy nodded gleefully, and the Doctor smashed his hoof against a button, as the familiar vworp vworp echoed throughout the TARDIS. The Doctor hopped over to Ditzy's side and pulled the sliding screen around, and they watched as the partygoers outside quickly became panicked as the TARDIS dematerialized in front of them.
Ditzy and the Doctor fell away from the console, laughing and giggling. The Doctor wiped at his eyes and cleared his throat, "Right, then!" he declared, pulling a notepad out of his coat pocket, "That's, eh...the Beach Planet of Sedno Kier, an endless tropical party! Visited, and partied; done and done," he said proudly, scratching a line through that item on the list. "Where should we go next? There's Nibiru, a forest planet where the leaves on the trees are scarlet, there's Naboo, which has just beautiful architecture, and, uh, well I did find this one planet named Trenzalore, don't know much about it. What do you think?" He asked, turning to Ditzy.
Ditzy leaned against the console, rocking on her hooves and darting her eyes back and forth, pursing her lips in mock thought. She cast a knowing glance at the Doctor.
The Doctor's face fell. "No."
"Come on!" Ditzy whined, "Why won't you take me to your world?"
The Doctor hesitated, then chirped, "Well, where's the fun for me? I don't wanna go home," he hopped back to the console, "What about the skeleton forests on Vortis, where the trees look like bone?" He scratched his mane thoughtfully and blinked, "Blimey, I haven't been back there in...centuries!"
Ditzy put her hooves on the console firmly, "I want to go to Gallifrey," she asserted.
The Doctor opened his mouth to argue, then stopped and hung his head low, and he didn't say anything for several moments. "...so do I," he answered almost inaudibly.
Ditzy took note of his peculiar reaction, "...Doctor?"
The Doctor looked up, "How about we take a visit back to Equestria? I'm sure you'd like to see your friends and family again, right?"
"It's a time machine, there's no rush," Ditzy rebutted, knocking on the central centrifuge.
"Well," the Doctor said, tilting his head side to side, "You're already a couple of weeks older than everyone else you left back home.
"A few weeks?" Ditzy exclaimed, "Have we really been travelling that long?"
The Doctor shrugged, "Time flies when you're having fun?" he suggested.
Ditzy suddenly gasped, "I missed my parent's anniversary!" she shouted, "We need to go back home now!"
"Alright, alright," the Doctor said, chuckling as he slowly activated the TARDIS.
Ditzy narrowed her eyes at his purposefully slow movements, then dashed over and shouldered the Doctor to the side, "Move," she said, her snout wrinkling as she took the controls for herself. Her hooves flew across the switches, buttons, and bingle-bongles as she worked the bells and whistles. Within seconds, the TARDIS settled seamlessly and quietly.
Ditzy flipped a switch and nodded proudly, "There," she said, "Just in time to go to my parents house."
The Doctor scoffed, "We haven't landed!" he objected.
"How do you know? Ditzy challenged, strutting to the doors proudly.
The Doctor looked at the screen, his face filling with confusion, "But-, I-, it didn't make the noise!"
"What noise?" Ditzy teased as she slipped her forelegs into a coat.
"The-...you know," the Doctor said, "The, 'whurrrr'," he wheezed, trying to emulate the TARDIS noise, "Shwssss, whurrrr, phweoeoeee,"
"It's not supposed to make that noise!" she said, pushing the doors open out, "You leave the brakes on. Now come on!"
The Doctor took a look at his console with an expression that could only be described as betrayal, then dashed after her, resting his hooves on the doors, "These doors open in!" he corrected.
"No they don't!" Ditzy sang back. "Come on! You're gonna meet my parents!"
"Parents?"
The Doctor sat on an uncomfortably small ottoman, a small teacup clutched in his hooves. The tea had long since gone cold.
Across from him on a large, very comfy-looking couch sat an aging couple; a sweetly smiling Pegasus mare with a neat blonde mane and light chartreuse fur, and a portly, slightly pudgy stallion with a thinning white mane and grey fur, staring daggers at the Doctor.
Ditzy sat on a neat little recliner in between them, and no one had said anything for the past five minutes.
But Ditzy knew that was a good thing. Her father could be very quick to judge; usually one glance was all he needed to determine a pony's worth- which was most commonly zip. The longer it took to form an opinion, the longer it was taking him to find a reason to dislike you.
The Doctor, however, did not know this, and looked very scared. He tried very hard to look at everything other than the piercing golden eye staring through his head, but failed every time. The other eye remained shut, rendering his face a permanent scowl. Though the Doctor suspected his face just always looked like that.
Ditzy's mother finally set down her teacup, looking from her daughter to her daughter's handsome friend. "Well this is nice," she remarked sweetly. "The whole family's back home for our anniversary. Isn't that nice, Dreary?" she suggested, nudging her husband's shoulder.
Dreary Do ignored his wife, but he finally did blink and stopped staring at the Doctor, degrading back into a simple glare. "So what did you say your name was again, city colt?"
The Doctor cleared his throat and set down his teacup, "I'm the Doctor-,"
"Oh, that's nice! He's a doctor!" Ditzy's mother said, clapping her hooves, "Isn't that nice, Dreary?"
"A doctor, huh?" Dreary remarked, "Doctor what?"
The Doctor cleared his throat, "N-no, um," he chuckled nervously, "It's just, 'The Doctor',"
Dreary Do leaned forward, returning to his stare, "You sassing me, colt?" he asked.
"No, sir."
"What is your name, then?" he demanded.
The Doctor looked from Dreary to Ditzy and back again, then stammered, "John Smith."
"What's that, some Trottingham name?" Dreary remarked, but nodded and leaned back into the couch. He took a sip of his tea, then noticed his tea had long since gone cold, and so he handed the cup to his wife, "Delphi, dear," he said sweetly, "Would you heat up the kettle again?"
Delphi Do took the cup and got to her hooves, stepping towards the kitchen. She motioned for Ditzy to follow, who reluctantly got to her hooves, casting a sympathetic glance back to the Doctor.
When the mares had left the room, Dreary Do turned his attention back to the Doctor, "So, Smith," he said, clearing his throat, "what exactly are your...intentions, with my daughter?"
The Doctor's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, "Intentions?" he repeated incredulously, "No, I-"
"Because you know, as her parents, we," Dreary interrupted, "I, have reason to worry. And I may have a few years under my belt, but trust me, you do not want me to worry."
"No sir, I do not," the Doctor agreed.
"We haven't heard from little Ditzy for days, and then she comes home with you?" Dreary remarks, "Who exactly are you? And, to repeat my question, what are your intentions with my daughter?" he said sternly, thumping his hoof on the coffee table in front of him.
"Well, Dreary, I-"
Dreary chuckled, "Please, call me Mr. Do." he said with a look.
"...right," the Doctor nodded, "Well, Mr. Do. Like I said, my name is th- John Smith, and I'm a....traveler."
"Traveler?" Dreary repeated, "What, you some kind of hippie?"
"Yes, sir," the Doctor nodded.
That made Dreary laugh, but only for a second. "At least you're honest,"
"Sometimes, sir," the Doctor responded, then continued, "Ditzy is, well, there's nothing going on between us, absolutely nothing like that. She's just my new companion-"
"Companion?!" Dreary coughed, "Is that some kind of euphemism the hip, young folk are saying?"
"No, sir!" the Doctor said quickly, "she just travels with me!"
"Did you say, 'new'?" Dreary recalled, "so you're a womanizer too?!"
"Mr. Do, I assure you, that's not the case!" the Doctor declared.
Dreary stared daggers at him, then his expression quickly lightened, "Heh, I'm just foolin' you, colt," he laughed, "I knew you were an upstanding fellow the second I saw you." He opened his other eye, which rolled away and looked off in another direction. He tapped the eye with his hoof and said, "I got the eye for it. You're a good kid, even with that crazy trench coat you got there. Just doin; a bit of scaring you straight. So don't get any ideas."
The Doctor looked at Dreary's crooked eye and nodded, "Ah, so it that where...?"
"Hm?" Dreary grunted, "Oh, is this thing crooked again?" He began muttering obscenities as he grabbed the eye and forcefully twisted it into proper positioning. "This is just a glass eye," he explained, "But I know what you were thinking."
The Doctor nodded, "Right..."
Ditzy followed her mother, Delphi Do into the kitchen, standing behind her as she poured Dreary's old tea back into the kettle, setting it on the stovetop and twisting the dial to ignite the flames. She turned back to her daughter and smiled knowingly, "So," she started, "That's a handsome friend you've got yourself out there."
Ditzy immediately covered her face with a hoof, "Mom, please!"
Delphi threw her hooves up innocently, chuckling to herself, "I'm kidding! I'm kidding," she looked off into space and pursed her lips, "But if I was a few years younger..."
"Mom!" Ditzy objected, much to the amusement of Delphi.
"Oh, you're still so sensitive, dear," she laughed, "I remember back when you first started dating! Oh, I feel sorry for that first colt you brought home. What was his name again? Oh, you should've seen his face, the way your father scared him!" she laughed to herself, reminiscing on the memory, "And your face looked so red! I wanted to pluck it off and put it in my salad!"
Ditzy groaned loudly, then quieted out of fear that the Doctor could hear her. "Mom, please, we're not dating. I don't even know if he dates."
Delphi let out a chortle at that, then quieted down too. "But Ditzy, really, I've been worried about you!" she established, "We haven't heard from you for days! Where have you been?"
"I was travelling with the Doctor," Ditzy explained, rocking on her hooves as she added shyly, "I'm his companion."
Delphi nodded with a worried look in her eyes, "That doesn't mean what I think it means, does it?" she asked.
Ditzy looked confused, then started. "No!" she objected, trying and failing not to blush, "Celestia's sake, Mom! Is everything about that with you?"
Delphi laughed at that, her worries relieved, "How do you think I got your father?" she remarked coyly.
Ditzy covered her ears with her hooves, scrunching up her muzzle and trying to control her blush. "Gross, Mom," she muttered.
Delphi chuckled, "So where have you been travelling?" she asked, changing the subject for her daughter's sake.
Ditzy's eyes lit up, and she beamed, "Oh, you wouldn't believe the places we've been, Mom!" she said, remembering back.
"You've only been gone a few days, Ditzy," Delphi reasoned, "What, did you teleport from place to place?"
Ditzy smiled and looked away knowingly, "Kinda," she answered.
The kettle on the stove started whistling, and Delphi took it and poured Dreary a new, hot cup. "Come on," she motioned to Ditzy, "I think your father has scared your friend straight by now." and she walked back into the living room.
Delphi stepped over to Dreary's side and put the teacup in his hooves, sitting back down next to him and smiling at the Doctor. Ditzy sat back down in her chair and mouthed to the Doctor, Are you okay?
The doctor shrugged, nodding to Dreary, who was now wearing a pleasant expression as he sipped his tea. It was actually an odd sight, like seeing an old, gnarled tree smile.
"Oh, and Ditzy," Delphi suddenly remembered, "Your father and I picked out the greatest statues for our garden just the other day, and they were cheap, too!" She gestured to the window, instructing Ditzy to look at them. "The seller told us that they're of these mythical creatures called Angels, and that they watch over the animals and plants."
The Doctor's ears perked up when he heard that. "Angels?" he repeated.
Ditzy stepped over to the window and looked out, but she didn't see anything aside from a normal garden. "Where are they?" she asked.
Delphi stood and walked over, "They're right out there, you can't miss them." she looked out the window herself, and made a confused face, "Now where'd they go? Dreary, did you move the statues?"
"Haven't gotten off this couch all day," Dreary answered, sipping his tea calmly.
The Doctor got to his hooves, his apprehension rising.
"Oh, there they are!" Delphi said, pointing to a corner of the garden where a couple statues were standing.
The Doctor stepped over to the window and looked out, seeing the statues.
They had their arms raised to their faces, as if they were crying.
"Oh no..." the Doctor breathed, "It's happening again."
"What is?" Ditzy repeated, "What's wrong?"
"Ditzy..?" the Doctor said, gulping.
"Yeah?"
"Don't blink.