“No…Doctor…” cried Ditzy, desperately trying to open the TARDIS. The Doctor had given his life to save Colgate. The TARDIS shook violently as the trio of Weeping Pegasi tried to force their way inside, only to come across the problem that plagued Ditzy Doo. The door would not budge, and the hull of the ship would not give. There was no way in or out of the TARDIS.
Ditzy looked around the TARDIS, unsure of what to do. If The Doctor were here, he would think of something. I’m sure of it, thought Ditzy. She had no idea how to fly the TARDIS. Colgate however, might. The problem was that Colgate was unconscious with no way of telling when exactly she would awaken. At the moment, all that Ditzy could do was hope that the Pegasi had no way to get in.
“Blast,” muttered The Doctor as he awoke to find himself in a seemingly familiar location, if a bit different than he remembered. He fought through the fog in his mind to remember exactly what happened. “Oh…That’s right. Weeping Pegasi. I was…getting Colgate back in and they must have got me. Again. That’s just fantastic.”
The Doctor looked around to see that he was almost exactly where he was only moments ago. Well, moments ago relative to him. When he was, those particular moments had yet to happen yet. The Doctor gazed upon Ponyville, but there were a few differences. Chief among them was that there were several buildings not where they should be. They weren’t ‘missing’ exactly, they just hadn’t been built yet. Over 900 years of time travel and it still confounds me from time to time, thought The Doctor, careful to keep his thoughts in his head so as not to mess with the flow of time. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
“Hey! You there!” shouted a familiar voice. The Doctor turned to face a tan mare with a bright pink mane. “I haven’t seen you around. You looking for something?” The mare adorned a bright happy smile.
“Not exactly, but could you tell me the year?”
“Sure, I guess. You feeling alright? Hitting the cider a bit hard?”
“The year please?”
“Right, right. It’s 988 PNM. That’s Post-Nightmare Moon in case you’ve really had a bit too much to drink.”
“Thanks. I’ll be off then. I might be here a while.”
“Well, if you’re planning to stay, make sure to vote for me in the upcoming election. I’m running for mayor, you know.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured.”
“Well, have a nice day then!” At that, the future mayor of Ponyville trotted off.
“Hmm…988. That means I’ve only been sent back about 14 years. It definitely could have been worse. Now I just need to figure out a way to get back.” The Doctor glanced around, trying to think of some inconspicuous way to get word back to the present. Well, the future. Present-future? Still to this day I can’t really explain this whole time…stuff, thought The Doctor to himself.
“Uuuh…What’s going on,” moaned Colgate, finally coming to a state of awareness. She had been unconscious for almost two hours. At some unknown point the Pegasi realized that there was no way to get inside. They had, unknown to but assumed by Ditzy, taken up a temporary residence outside of the TARDIS, waiting until somepony decides to emerge.
“Oh Colgate! You’re awake!” It was the first bit of good news received by Ditzy since The Doctor had been taken.
“Yes, I’m awake. More or less.”
“They got The Doctor, Colgate. We’re stuck here.”
Colgate stood up, wobbling around a bit before stabilizing herself. “I see,” she said. “It all makes sense now.”
“Colgate, what are you talking about?”
“The Pegasi made a bit of a mistake, you see,” Colgate stated as she made her way over to the center console of the TARDIS.
Ditzy made some sort of a frowny-face, but it was hard to take seriously because her eyes were completely unfocused. She tried though. “Would you care to explain? The Doctor gave is life for you.”
“Well, we’re going to get The Doctor.” Colgate pressed some buttons and pulled some levers and the all too familiar siren of the TARDIS blared.
The Doctor was wracking his brain for a solution to this conundrum. There had to be a way to get word to Ditzy and Colgate. The Doctor was trapped without his TARDIS. He made his way through streets that were familiar, yet simultaneously completely different. The Doctor had never visited a past version of Ponyville, so this whole experience was enlightening.
He thought back to the last time he was stuck in this scenario. The problem was that the Pegasi were specifically targeting him from the beginning. There was no guarantee that there would be more victims to bring messages through. “Oh Doctor, how ever do you manage to get yourself into these types of problems?”
At this point, The Doctor decided to take a break from all this thinking. He was beginning to become hungry, which made sense considering how long it will have been before it has been for him to eat at some point. He made his way around a street corner, hoping to see a sign that was all too familiar to him. Sure enough, there stood Sugarcube Corner, with a “Now Open” sign underneath it.
“Fantastic! I’m famished.” The Doctor made his way to Sugarcube Corner, and upon opening the door, learned yet another interesting fact of Ponyville’s history.
“What can I get for you?” asked an older stallion, his mane just beginning to lose its color.
“Are you the owner?”
“Yeah, you got a problem with it? I just opened the place up a few weeks ago.”
“Really now? You seem a bit…”
“Yeah, I’m a bit old to be starting a business. Hopefully I’ll be able to give the place to my featherbrained son in a few years. If he’d just finish school and stop thinking about his blasted girlfriend…Oh what’s her name….”
“Excuse me, I’m a tad hungry.”
“Right, right. Sorry about that. Anyway, what do you want?”
“Whatever you’d recommend.”
“Alrighty then.”
The Doctor took a seat at one of the (new) tables and eagerly awaited his meal. He had learned through past encounters to make sure to carry a few bits with him just in case something like this was to happen. Now he wouldn’t have to worry about tricking people in the past, especially in a town that would become such an important location in the near future. No need to risk the entirety of space and time.
The owner of the shop brought out The Doctor’s meal. Shortly after finishing, he paid and left the shop. He continued to wander the streets of Ponyville, trying to solve his little dilemma. He did not like being in situations that were beyond his control.
The Doctor just happened to notice a shop sign out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, this could be simply brilliant,” exclaimed The Doctor. He may have just found his way out of this whole scenario. He entered the establishment, and saw exactly the pony he had hoped to see.
“Do you have an appointment?” asked the unicorn filly sitting at the front desk.
“Aren’t you a little young to be working at the desk?”
“Well, yeah a bit. But my dad doesn’t want to teach me how to work on ponies’ teeth until I’m older,” the young filly responded, her blue and white mane bobbing ever so slightly as she moved.
“Ah. I see,” said The Doctor, his face slowly splitting into a large grin.
“So, would you like to make an appointment?”
“Sure, I’m The Doctor.”
“But what’s your name?”
“Just…The Doctor. And you are?” The Doctor already knew the answer to the question, he just wanted to hear her say it. He did so enjoy these types of things.
“Well,” the filly started, “I’m Colgate.”