//------------------------------// // Chapter I - Alone Again // Story: Doctor Whooves: The Gallopfreyan Lives! // by InkSlinger //------------------------------// “And you’re just going to leave me?!” “Throw me back on Equestria now that you’re all done playing!?” The TARDIS may has well have been knocked about, with the anger radiating off the fuming mare. RoseLuck, companion of The Doctor for many of his latest adventures, sneered at her once love interest. “Is that what you do? It is isn’t it? -- Show us the wonders of the universe and then drop us back into our ordinary dull lives!” The Doctor looked at RoseLuck and while there was no apparent expression on his face at first glance, a closer inference would reveal the pain in the glistening of his brown eyes. “Rose…” “…You nearly died…” It was the first thing he’d said since he’d told Rose what was to happen, and the fifteen minutes following it that had lead up to now, had occurred. For a second, RoseLuck was actually taken aback by the true fear in The Doctor’s voice, but then she summoned her own hurt back. “We always nearly die, Doctor, but we don’t!” The Doctor looked as if he was about to open his mouth and object so Rose raised a hoof and continued. “I knew the risks and I still do! It’s what I want!” “NO!” Rose shrank back in fear at The Doctor’s sudden outburst, whether it was in fear or anger, she couldn’t even tell. “No, RoseLuck!” He’d used her full forename, and he only did that when he was very… He continued, “None of you knew what you wanted!” Was he talking about his other companions? The way he said it, it sounded like there were so many of them…Sure there was Sarah Jane…but how many more? “Ian, Barbara…Susan, my granddaughter...” Rose was shocked, The Doctor had family? She’d never even asked… “They were smart, they left me, settled down, got on with their lives,” The Doctor seemed to be choking slighting on his words now. Even Vicki, sometime after I invited her to join me.” “I understand, it’s my fault, I asked you to come along, all of you,” Then the calm Doctor flustered. “I’m stupid, oh so VERY stupid!” He raged, kicking the TARDIS console in self-torture. “Doctor, no…” RoseLuck reached out but to no avail; he did however, turn his attention to her. “Of course there would be ones like you, who would never get the message; you, Sarah-Jane…” Again, Rose’s emotions swung. “So what are we? Thick?” The Doctor thought for a moment. “In a way, yes, you are; incredibly thick; but you’re only a pony, it can’t be helped for some.” RoseLuck’s eyes widened to impossible proportions. “Is..is that what…” Emotions and feelings, confusion, hurt, rejection, anger, fury, flooded RoseLuck’s mind. “FINE!” Heading straight for the TARDIS doors, that were conveniently open, she ran back into her own modern day Equestria; skidding to a halt, Rose heard the familiar ‘whoosh-ing’ sound of the Blue Box and snapped her head in its direction to see it dematerialising. Rose’s heart skipped a beat and at the same time she felt a deep sickly pang in her gut. He’d said those things to get her out. Ironically, maybe he was right, maybe she was just thick. It was a beautiful and early morning. The sky was still dark and soon Luna would lower the moon for Celestia to raise her sun. The day was scheduled to be a bright and sunny one, so Ditzy would hopefully have an easier time delivering the mail today. Ditzy wasn’t stupid, and she could see completely fine, like any other pony, despite what others thought. The young mail-mare combed her hair gently, humming to herself old Marvin Neighe classics. Both her eyes focused on the mirror, at least until the left one eventually drifted off to spy elsewhere. Ditzy sighed but then smiled and turned out of her bathroom and trotted over to her mailbag, slinking it over her waist. Ditzy’s apartment wasn’t luxurious, nor was it big, but then, Ditzy lived alone and was single too, so there was never really a need for a bigger living space; she had everything she needed: bathroom, kitchen, her bedroom and the central living space, besides, there was always the attic if someone was really desperate to stay over, but that never happened. Ditzy sighed again, but quickly switched it out for a smile; the day would be long enough as it is. The Doctor slumped over the console of the TARDIS. “Sorry, old girl.” He muttered. Twisting all the usual knobs and trinkets, he said nothing. No catchphrase, no enthusiasm, everything felt…wrong. “There goes another one…” The Doctor sighed, “The Last One.” “Ah!” Suddenly the Doctor lost his balance as the TARDIS shook violently and groaned. “What’s wrong?” The TARDIS leered and The Doctor’s footing was stolen from him once again. “Oi! Time-Lord on board here!” The TARDIS continued to shake off its fever and then seemed to calm down. The Gallopfreyan poked his head cautiously up to look at the console. Then he mirrored the action but turned his sights to the doors of the TARDIS. Slowly he crept towards them, released a breath he hadn’t realised he’d even been holding, and flung them open… Equestria. Rose’s Equestria. “Wait, what?” The Doctor spun full 360, confused and concerned. He turned back to the TARDIS. “This better not be a joke, you.” He said, pointing a forehoove at the Blue Box. Trotting back over to his oldest companion, he proceeded to go back inside; upon reaching the console, he did his usual routine for travelling through the Wibbly-Wobbly, this time with more haste, but it wasn’t enthusiasm so much as it was impatience. Sparks flew from the console and knocked the stallion back. The Doctor was starting to get annoyed, but concerned too. Swivelling one of the multiple screens around to him, he ran through diagnostics. “You need to be recharged? How!? We just went to Car-Oh, fine!” The Doctor headed for the TARDIS doors once again. “So now I need to find an energy source here in (Modern Day) Equestria.” The Doctor sighed. “I just hope I don’t run into Rose along the way…” Ditzy pulled her front door shut; already she could see light cracking through the darkness as the sun came up, but she had time, she always left early to avoid cutting it close, she wasn’t stupid. “Now where am I going to find anything to charge the TARDIS here?” Ditzy heard somepony grumbling and turned away from her now locked door to see a blue stallion walking along the street grumbling to himself. Ditzy had never seen him before, and that was always a big thing in Ponyville. No, this stallion was definitely a newcomer, a short black mane and tail, with no visible signs of care nor attention to it (rather bland Ditzy thought, but she could never be one to judge, not when she was the way she was, she told herself) although, the distressed leather jacket he was donning did really work for him. ‘Well, Rarity was looking for new ideas for the new line, maybe I’ll swing by later and have a chat with her,’ Ditzy added as an afterthought. Turning back to the matter at hoof, Ditzy comprehended what she thought the blue stallion may have said and waved at him from the top of the stairs outside her door. “Hey! Mister, are you lost?” “Eh?” The Doctor had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t even realised the grey mare waving to him. “Lost? (More than you’ll ever know) Oh, um, kind of—well not really you see...” Ditzy stopped, confused as the blue stallion started to ramble. “I know where I am, Ponyville, I’ve been here for quite a while,” That couldn’t be true, everypony would have seen him, especially Pinkie Pie. “But I’m lost in where I need to go, all I know is that it needs to be somewhere in Ponyville.” “Uh, I’m sorry, I don’t understand…” “Bah! You wouldn’t!” Ditzy pulled back slightly at the sudden outburst, her left eye drifting once again. The Doctor calmed down, registering what he had just done. “I am so sorry.” “I’ve had a…bad day…I-should get going—sorry.” The Doctor apologised once again and hastily retreated away from the now hurt, but at the same time concerned, Pegasus and turned tail. Ditzy was confused, ‘was that comment directed at me personally? Oh, I don’t think so, he’s a newcomer, so he wouldn’t know me and he did apologise, quite a lot actually, now that I think about it.’ What a strange start to the day… ‘I need to get to work!’