"The Master?"
"Yes," the Doctor(10) responded to Ditzy's question. He was pacing back and forth throughout all of the Doo's living room, his hooves seemingly wearing the carpet more than a hoof should. His face was twisted in response to his whirling mind, as he was trying to put the pieces together.
"But I don't understand, Doctor," Ditzy said. "Who is the Master? Why would he come here?"
"It's all very hard to explain, and even I haven't figured the whole thing out just yet."
"Just tell me everything you know now."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because it's complicated, extremely confusing you wouldn't quite understand, Ditzy--"
"He's another Timepony, isn't he?" Ditsy questioned. The Doctor stopped, slowly turning his body to face her.
"How do you know that?"
"Doctor. . ." Ditzy sighed, "you were gone for so long. . .so much has happened, so much that I don't understand but I need to know. You need to tell me everything Doctor."
"And what exactly do you mean by 'everything'?" the Timepony asked for as he walked closer to Ditzy, looking her dead in the eye.
"I mean the things you haven't mentioned. . ." Ditzy stated. "Where you're from, what you've--"
"I've already told you all of that." A sigh, and the Doctor closed his eyes for a moment before returning a sadder gaze. "I told you about my planet."
"Then why is all of this happening? If everything you've said is gone, why is it coming back?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said uncertainly with short hesitation. "I'm still trying to figure that out." He turned back to the openness of the living room, taking a few slow strides, his look wandering around the floor before fixating on his TARDIS. The ship sat quietly and patiently in the room, the soft blue glow around it's lights that spoke for its presence. The Doctor pondered and stood erect in the living room, his mind attempting to put the pieces together, the sight of the TARDIS keeping his thoughts focused. Ditzy recognized his silence and trotted up behind him, but then took a turn for the couch and sat down. Her daughter followed at her heels and sat in her mother's lap when the opportunity came. Dinky kept her mouth shut and her wide eyes open.
"Doctor," said Ditzy, her tone becoming weakened, "you said that this has something to do with Amethyst. . .will she be okay?"
The Doctor didn't respond. He was too busy thinking.
"I want her back. And I want to know what happened to her," Ditzy stated.
"I know," the Doctor replied. Here he turned his head to face Ditzy on the couch, the rest of his body following. He was then standing still, opposite of Ditzy, facing her in the solemn moment.
"Will you at least tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me what you do know."
The Doctor paused.
"Let me at least ask questions, Doctor."
The Timepony exhaled. His eyes gave away his intention of setting himself down, yet he kept his hooves glued to the floor.
"What do you know? Tell me everything that's happened to you, Ditzy."
"It started late this morning, a while after you disappeared," Ditzy began. "Everypony was home and suddenly. . .this ship, a pillar of some kind crashed into our house. It sounded like the TARDIS. . .I scanned it with your TARDIS, and it confirmed that it was a TARDIS. But that's impossible, isn't it? Don't you have the only TARDIS Doctor?"
"At this point in time I do," the Doctor explained. "But before then, before it was just me, the Timelords of Gallifrey created all types of TARDISes. They were an ingenious piece of work. . .many different Timelords flew them."
"Timelords?" whispered Dinky to her mother.
"Sh," Ditzy replied softly, knowing that Dinky didn't know as much as she did.
"Of course, it's strange that another TARDIS would appear at this time. . ." the Doctor trailed.
"But if it's a different TARDIS, well. . .Doctor there's something else I don't understand," Ditzy continued.
The Doctor looked seriously at her and perked his ears.
"The pony who was flying the TARDIS. . .he said he was you."
"Me?" the Doctor repeated. Millions of ideas whirred through his mind.
"Yes, and he had two other ponies with him, mares. . .they said that he was the Doctor too."
"And they talked funny," Dinky inputted as she started to fidget, "they said 'everybody' and 'peo...pulls...'."
"Muffin, sh," Ditzy reminded her daughter. Dinky stuck her lip out. She wanted to make a contribution.
"What did the pony look like?" asked the Doctor.
"He looked like he was in the state you came in when you first arrived," Ditzy described. "He wore clothes that were much too big for him, he was confused about Equestria and ponies, he didn't know where he was. . .and the mares, they were the same way too. The pony who claimed he was the Doctor though. . .he was blonde, he wore a hat, and beige clothing. . .like he was dressed for a fancy sporting event in Canterlot." The more the words fell through Ditzy's mouth, the more the Doctor started to get a visual. His eyes widened.
"The two mares," the Doctor said. "The two mares, what did they look like?"
"I don't remember them as much as the pony who said he was you. . .but I do remember there were two of them, one was young and the other a bit older. . ."
"A flight attendant and a Trakenite girl. . .one in a gaudy uniform and the other in velvet clothing. . ."
Ditzy lost her breath. The description fit (at least the visual. Ditzy was confused with the former vocabulary).
"Doctor, you know them?" she asked, stunned from all belief.
"Ditzy, there's something I haven't exactly explained to you just yet that I should've," the Doctor said sincerely. "I honestly didn't think that with me trapped in the dimension that Equestria is bottled up in that I would have to encounter or explain it."
Ditzy payed attention.
"There's a process that Timelords, or Timeponies so to speak, have called regeneration. You see, when a Timelord would reach a near death experience, they would start the process, and each individual living cell in the body of the Timelord would explode, change, morph, and form a whole new body and life, and you see, that is how the Timelords were able to live so long, they would have twelve times to regenerate, thirteen different 'selves' that they could take on in their span."
"Have you regenerated, Doctor?"
He looked at her without moving his head.
"Yes I have, Ditzy. I have so many times."
"How many?"
"This. . .this is my tenth self."
Ditzy looked at him, trying to soak it in. But the Doctor had to continue.
"I've lived for so long, Ditzy, 904 years, I've been through a long life, not as long most Timelords, but long enough for so many regenerations based on what I've lived through. Sometimes I meet my past selves again, sometimes I see my future selves. . .I've run so much around the universe to make it possible."
"And the pony, the one who I mentioned earlier. . .he was you?"
". . .yes, he was. My fifth self. . .a much younger version of me."
"Then if he's younger, and you're older, don't you remember? Didn't you see this coming? Even if you forgot Doctor. . .didn't you think the clues were enough?"
The Doctor sighed.
"That's what makes it unexplainable. . .I don't remember ever coming here before this. And I didn't expect my past self to come here. Equestria is a whole other universe, it has this border, this force field, that sort of changes your molecular structure when you enter, everything, and it's impossible to enter or leave. Of course, I am here to prove it possible but. . .I didn't think it would be as possible to anything else. . ."
"I'm so confused. . ." Ditzy retreated. "There's another you, a past you, here by some strange possibility. . .but that I can't try to believe. What I don't understand is what he, the other you, was all about. Who were the other ponies with him?"
"Past companions, back hundreds of years ago in my life."
"I guess I can see that. . .after all, I am your companion now, after you came here. Have you always had companions?"
"Typically, yes."
"Do you remember them all?"
"Of course I do." The Doctor began to recollect his memories. "All kinds of companions. . .male, female, aliens, other Timelords. . .I remember all of their names." His voice started to drop. "I remember them all so well. . ."
"Doctor. . .what happened to them?"
"Some moved on," the Doctor explained. "They had other things in life. Some left. Some got left behind. . ."
"Died?"
". . .it has happened. . .but they were always the greatest that I could remember. I couldn't save all of them, but some of them I could. And still some. . ." The Doctor's face became blank. "Some. . .forgot."
"We'll never forget you, Doctor!" Dinky burst from her mother's lap.
"Dinky," Ditzy retorted.
"No. . .you wouldn't do that, eh?" The Doctor forced himself to crack a small grin for the innocent filly, even though painful thoughts lingered in his mind.
"So the mares that were with you, the past you. . .they were your companions then?" Ditzy reconfirmed.
"They were."
"Do you remember their names?"
"Of course. . .Tegan and Nyssa. Dear girls they were. . .they always seemed to keep me focused and in line."
"I would assume that would be every companion you had?"
"Nah, not then. Then I was a bit immature and still somewhat a boy, just running about and creating a mess of things."
So nothing has changed much, I see, Ditzy thought to herself.
"Well now we can see that you saw the right me with the right companions," the Doctor continued, "but in the wrong TARDIS. . ."
"The Master's TARDIS," Ditzy added. "When I scanned it, your TARDIS said it was so." The Doctor started to lose a little bit of his tension, his hooves starting to take him pacing about the room.
"Odd. . .because the Master. . .the Master had my TARDIS. . .the past me's TARDIS that is. . .they must have switched at some point. . ." He looked up at Ditzy. "You see, I was captured by the Master when I disappeared. He was flying my past TARDIS and I never understood why. . .but now I do, sort of!" He ran a hoof through his mane. "Of course! There must have been some point in my timeline that got messed up, somehow my fifth regeneration ended up with the Master's TARDIS, the Master with mine! That doesn't explain why any of them are here or why the timeline got messed up in the first place--" He pointed a hoof at Ditzy. "--but it is something, yes, something! We are on it now!"
Ditzy still sat uncomfortably on the couch.
"Don't we?" asked the Doctor.
"Doctor, you still have to tell me. . .who is the Master?"
The Doctor slowed his breathing back to normal. He returned his former pose across from Ditzy, serious, and solemn. He looked at her with a look that told Ditzy that what she had asked for the Doctor to describe was something most unholy.
"The Master, who you know as another Timelord, or Timepony now. . .he is not a Timepony you would imagine. He was a Timelord that had foolishly used up his regenerations, and at this point, the Master I have seen here, the Master that come somewhat alongside with my fifth incarnation, he is searching for a way to kill me and take all of the remaining regenerations I have left. He is a renegade, committing crimes and felonies that are almost unspeakable, always searching for power, for life, for immortality."
"But how does he exist? You told me. . .you told me you were the last of your kind."
The Doctor took a moment to collect his thoughts on this one.
"Ditzy, there was a point in time where my planet ended, long after this Master, my fifth incarnation existed, but Gallifrey was destroyed throughout all of time. They still have existence though, but they still are caught in a mindset of where Gallifrey still exists."
Ditzy's eyes widened. Her mind opened.
"That's why the past you, and your companions. . .that's why they were declaring that there was still a Gallifrey, that there were still Timepon- or Timelords! I thought they were crazy."
"They're not. They just don't know. They haven't seen as much as I have or as you know just yet."
"And that makes sense. . .but Doctor, this Master. . .is he really all that bad you say he is?"
"He may be worse."
"And Amethyst. . .she could be with him. . ."
"I am sorry Ditzy. . .but I have to assume that." He looked to the kitchen. "My past TARDIS is here. . .that was what the Master was using when I first saw him, but now it seems that his TARDIS is gone instead. He must have come back for it when you were away, and if you say you believe Amethyst was here at the time, then it's quite possible that the Master has her as well."
"Oh Doctor, what do we do?" Ditzy's tone started to raise.
"Now it's only an assumption." The Doctor stopped her. "For all we know your daughter is off someplace else, however, I'm just assuming the worst so that I can prevent it." He looked over at the kitchen once more. "But I'd also like to assume the best. . .if Amethyst is with the Master, then obviously we still have time. If he didn't find her useful then he would have--"
"Doctor, don't say it."
"But he didn't," the Doctor reassured. "That means, if he has her, he is keeping her alive for a purpose." He shook his head. "But at the same time it doesn't mean that your daughter is with the Master at all."
"How can we be certain? Can we find her, Doctor?"
"Of course we can, but there's a lot of things that we need to be certain of as well. . ." He looked to the floor for a moment, then returned his eyes back to Ditzy.
"Ditzy."
"Yes?"
The Doctor looked at her and Dinky for a moment, serious with the new duties they would have to face. He asked the grey mare for adventure, to find Amethyst, to find the Master, to find the other Doctor and his companions with a look that bore many words. His hooves backed up on the carpet until they touched the base of the blue box in the room. At that instant, the Doctor grinned, an encouraging note for his companions to join him to finish these duties. They both took it as such, knowing how to read his expression. They felt excitement, confidence, but a new fear and uncertainty with it, and yet wanted it all to get answers. Yet the Doctor never explained this through any words at the moment, not through a speech or talk with the mare and filly. He only needed the face, the movement towards his TARDIS, a grin, and one word.
"Allons-y!"