Part 1 The Doctor is In: Chapter 3 The Distance
The Destroyer and Her Doctor
Part 1 The Doctor is In
Chapter 3 The Distance
Debra Hart slowly followed the Doctor down a set of cement stairs, leaning forward as she clung to the metal railing for dear life. She looked down the stairs towards the Doctor and swallowed hard, as if falling meant certain doom, or at least horrible injury for herself. Of course in her case, it almost certainly did.
Seemingly oblivious to her plight, the Doctor rattled on with excited energy about the beetles that had nearly killed them both. “... Truly remarkable creatures, those beetles! The product of one of the most interesting evolution chains you’d ever see!”
“Uh-huh…” Debra said as she took a few more tentative steps after the Doctor.
“I gave it some thought and I figure it was some sort of alarm managed to mimic the beetles mating call. You know… like a fire alarm in the building that went off at just the right moment! One in a million-billion-trillion chance, really!”
“Fire alarm…” Debra replied as she continued trying to keep up with the Doctor. “Right…”
The Doctor turned. “Oh, you know something about it?”
“Uh… We had a… a false alarm that went off! Yeah! That must have…” Debra trailed off as she noticed the Doctor’s piercing blue eyes had locked with her daisy colored ones. She lowered her head slightly, but maintained eye contact. “Must have…”
“Debra, are you alright?”
“Fine! Fine!” Debra said hastily as she clung tighter to the railing. “What would make you think otherwise?”
“Oh well, it’s just because you’re holding onto the railing like it’s the last life preserver of the Titanic.”
Debra could feel her face turn hot. “I um… I don’t do well with stairs…”
The Doctor extended a hand.
Her face still burning, Debra looked at the hand and back up at the Doctor.
The Doctor thrust his hand forward a few times, emphasizing that he wanted Debra to grab it.
Debra grabbed hold of the Doctor’s hand as he began leading Debra down the stairs. He wasted no time regaining his momentum at talking about the situation at hand. “So, that explains why the beetles arrived, but not why they stayed.” The Doctor opened a woodgrain door marked ‘B1’ and stepped through, holding onto Debra’s hand as she walked behind him. “I might have to do a full analysis of the buildings structure to…” The Doctor stopped and stared upwards. “Blimey…”
“What?” Debra said. She too glanced upwards. “Oh…” she said as she began looking around the room.
The basement was a mess of large pipes and white walls with large holes in them, masses of fuzzy gray insulation littered the floor in front of the areas where the walls had been ripped up.
The Doctor let go of Debra’s hand and walked over to one of the gray piles. “Well, I think we found what the beetles were feeding off of, but what is it?”
Debra’s brow pulled forward as her eyes began to focus, both of them fixed on the gray substance as the Doctor pulled up a chunk of it. The Doctor raised the fuzzy material up to his face and stuck out his tongue.
“DON’T LICK THAT!” Debra cried as her eyes unfocused.
The Doctor turned and gave Debra an indignant look. “If you can think of a better way to identify strange materials from inside the walls of buildings just assailed by trans-galactic beetles, I’d love to hear it.”
“It’s Mg3Si2O5(OH)4!” Debra said. “Chrysotile… er… a type of asbestos.” Debra frowned heavily. “We can get cancer just from staying here too long and inhaling the dust particles.”
The Doctor stood up and dropped the mass of grey insulation in his hand. “Well, that’s not so much an issue for me but… How’d you know what it was?”
“Um... I could make out the chemical composition…”
The Doctor’s forehead tightened. “What, by looking at it?”
“Yes… it’s…” Debra sighed. “Whenever I focus my eyes I see all kinds of details about things. What they’re made up of, their structural integrity… all kinds of stuff!”
The Doctor’s eyes shot open wide. “Brilliant! So why don’t you do that all the time?”
“Because it’s sort of like trying to read a book, watch television, listen to music, and carry on a conversation at the same time! It’s just… just a bombardment of information and I can only focus on one thing at a time!” Debra winced and raised a hand to her head. “And it really hurts!”
“Oh dear,” the Doctor said. “Are you going to be alright?”
Debra clenched her eyelids and nodded. “It’ll pass…”
The Doctor nodded. He glanced at a door behind him, then back to Debra as if he was considering something. “Right weeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll—”
“Doctor?”
“—lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, I should probably be going.”
Debra’s eyes shot open wide as she felt a sharp pain in her heart as if someone had just jabbed it with something incredibly sharp. “What?!”
“I’ve got to take care of those beetles before anyone else gets hurt.”
Debra gave the Doctor a pleading look. “Okay but… but I thought I was helping!”
“You were helping. It’s just that… that…”
Debra let out a heavy sigh as she fought back tears. “Just that I’m a total klutz and you’re afraid I’ll screw something up?”
“Erm… No… not exactly…” The Doctor took a few steps backwards towards a door in the basement. “Debra… Look, I’m sorry but you’re the kind of person that needs their hand held. You’re clearly brilliant, but you need someone around to look after you.”
“But I don’t want to be a burden!”
“I realize that, but”— the Doctor shook his head – “I’m not the type of person who can be there for you all the time. If you’re around me, you’re going to be in danger, and I can’t always be there to protect you, as much as I’ll want to. And believe me, I’ll want to.”
Debra clenched her fists tightly as she felt her chest tighten. The pain on her heart remained as if she could feel it breaking. Despite all this, Debra forced a smile onto her face. “That’s okay! I can take care of myself if I have to.” Debra felt tears start to roll down her cheeks. She tried to choke back powerful sobs that threatened to bring her to her knees even as she kept on smiling. “I… just… I just want to do something useful for a change…”
The Doctor took one more step towards the door and gave Debra a sorrowful look. “I’m sorry, Debra… Goodbye.”
Tears were now flowing freely down Debra’s cheeks. “No…” Debra uttered sadly as the Doctor opened “Please don’t… Please don’t leave me…”
The Doctor opened the door, and hesitated for a moment. After a beat, he quickly entered the room he was standing in front of and closed the door behind him.
Debra fell to her knees as sadness overtook her. She began to weep openly, uncaring about the condition of the room she was in or the long term effects staying in it might have on her body.
‘feeesssCHWhoooooofeeesssCHWhooooofeeesssCHWhooooofeeesssCHWhooooo…’
Debra looked up as she heard a peculiar whooshing sound coming from the door the Doctor had just exited through. She quickly scrambled to her feet and made her way towards the door.
‘CerrrrrreeeeeeCreeeeeeCreeeeefeeesssCHWhoooooofeeesssCHWhooooo…’
A high pitched wail seemed to join the sound as Debra stumbled and caught herself as she made her way to the door. She threw it open to reveal small utility closet. Empty aside from some odd cleaning supplies. Debra looked left and then right. Seeing nothing, she forced her eyes to focus. She was suddenly bombarded by numbers and equations the likes of which she had never seen before.
Debra gasped and her eyelids dropped slightly.
“No…” Debra uttered. “No! I won’t have it.” She declared in a resolute tone. Debra patted herself, remembering her purse was still upstairs. She began to march towards the stairs. “I won’t have it!” she shouted determinedly into the empty room.
-ooo-
Staring at the display in front of him, the Doctor, or the Equestrian equivalent of him, gnashed his teeth, fumed, and began to yell at the screen. “No you bloody idiot! You can’t just leave her! You’re going to need her!”
“Hah!” Dearest Heart’s slightly derisive laugh sounded out. “Frustrating, isn’t it? Now maybe you understand how I felt when we first met.”
The Doctor struggled slightly, as if trying to move an appendage that was restrained and then suddenly remembering it was supposed to be. “It’s just… she’s the key to all this! If he leaves—”
Dearest Heart’s face suddenly popped into the Doctor’s view. “Right, she’s key. Not you. Me…” Dearest Heart smiled to herself. “Well, other me…”She leaned forward and rubbed her nose against the Doctor’s. “Does that burn you up inside?”
“NO!” The Doctor shouted. He pursed his lips slightly. “A little… But, but… What if he just leaves her?” The Doctor gave Debra a knowing look. “You know she’s going to need him just as much as he needs her.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Debra said as she ran her foreleg over the Doctor’s mane. “I’m sure they end up traveling together.”
The Doctor looked at Debra with a ponderous expression. “What makes you so sure?”
“Do you really think I could manage to put two universes in danger without you involved somehow?”
The Doctor thought about this for a brief moment. “You have a point-Ow!” The Doctor looked towards his right. “Chirpy, be gentle!”
“Sorry, daddy!” A gray pegasus filly with lilac eyes replied as she tied off a rope around the Doctor’s foreleg and a hospital bed armrest. “But mommy said to make the ropes nice and tight.”
“I bet she did…”
Dearest Heart let out a mischievous giggle.
The Doctor strained his neck to look down at his back legs. They were being tied to a bed by another gray pegasus filly that looked like a smaller version of Dearest Heart. “Please just keep your mother away from any big wooden mallets.”
“Haha, oh please,” Dearest Heart replied. “As if I’d think for a second hobbling you would stop you from anything.”
“Well, that’s most certainly true-Ow!” The Doctor leaned his head back. “Girls, I think I’m quite restrained. Thank you!”
The two fillies stopped tying ropes and looked towards Dearest Heart for confirmation.
Dearest Heart gave a loving glance towards the filly that was the spitting image of herself. “Well, Dreamy? Can Daddy escape?”
The small filly looked over her restrained father as her eyes focused briefly. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Uh-uh. Even with daddy’s earth pony strength, he can’t get out until someone unties him.”
The Doctor began to mumble to himself. “Lousy, useless earth pony strength… Wish I’d regenerated as a unicorn or a pegasus.”
“Oh, hush you!” Dearest Heart said. “You know your strength has come in handy on more than one occasion.” She winked. “And the stamina comes in quite handy as well.”
The Doctor glanced in the direction Dearest Heart had winked. “Is there something going on between you and the D.Q.P.T. dearest? Do I need to show that machine what for with my earth pony strength?”
“Shut up! You know that wink was meant for you! Be nice or I’ll call Dinky down to help!”
A frightful look came over the Doctor. “No, no… If Dreamy says the ropes we have are sufficient, that’s enough for me.”
Dearest Heart nodded with a smile. “Good.” She held out the flat, round thought wave receiver. “Chirpy, could you put this on your dad’s forehead?”
“Sure, mommy!” Chirpy replied. She took flight and fluttered over to Dearest Heart, taking the thought wave receiver. She flew up to the same height as the Doctor’s head and place the thought wave receiver smack dab in the center of his forehead.
Dearest Heart looked back down at the Doctor. “Now… are you sure your other dimensional counterpart won’t notice we’re watching him?”
“Oh, I doubt that he will,” the Doctor replied. “I’ve always had a bit of a blind spot when it comes to parallel dimensions. I’m willing to bet my counterpart is the same way.”
Dearest Heart smiled satisfactorily and turned to her daughters. “I’m so proud of you girls! Alright, now give mommy a big hug.”
Chirpy and Dreamy trotted up to Dearest Heart as the girls wrapped their forelegs around each other and held each other tightly.
“Oh, that’s just unfair!” The Doctor exclaimed.
Dearest Heart rolled her eyes. “Alright, you two hug daddy, too.”
The two pegasi fillies threw themselves on top of their father and squeezed tightly.
Dearest Heart leaned over in front of the Doctor. “Better?”
The Doctor sighed and strained his forelegs against the ropes. They didn’t budge. “It’ll have to do…”
Dearest Heart giggled once more. “Alright girls. Chirpy, go pull the lever daddy labeled with the big sign that says ‘pull this’ before you leave. Dreamy, go get Dinky and ask her to come back downstairs. Amethyst Star should have dinner ready soon. I want you girls on your best behavior for Amethyst Star.”
The fillies detached themselves from the Doctor and both replied with an obedient, “Yes, mommy.”
The Doctor paused for a moment as Dearest Heart put some distance between herself and the aperture pointed at his forehead. “Best behavior, dearest? I’m not sure even that is enough to keep the children out of trou—”
The machine above the Doctor began a low hum that slowly began to increase in intensity.
“What was that, honey?!” Dearest Heart shouted back in a half-joking tone. “I can’t hear you over the machine!”
The Doctor sighed. “Never mind…”
-ooo-
Back at the dimensions were humans and aliens that often look like humans live, the Doctor stood in front of a white door with the words ‘POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX’ printed backwards above it in glowing text sounded by a rectangular black outline. In front of him was a well-lit, spherical chrome room with a bit of a blue tint caused by the glowing lights of the room. A few steps down a walkway sat a raised circular platform surrounded by railings and a couple sets of stairs. Three chairs built into the platform faced inward in between the railings and two sets of consoles with switches, speakers, and blinking lights. The chairs, railing, and consoles composed the outermost ring of the platform.
In the center of this platform was another console in a hexagon shape with most the panels filled with lights, buttons, levers, and switches. The hexagon panels surrounded a clear cylinder that extended all the way up into the high ceiling of the spherical room. This cylinder was filled with bright blue tubular lights arranged vertically around a glowing piston. A pair of monitors extended from the cylinder.
With a heavy sigh. The Doctor stopped for a moment and turned to stare at the door behind him once more. He shook his head back and forth as if clearing an intrusive thought from it and walked up to one of the side consoles.
“Right then,” he said to the empty room as he began pushing, poking, and even pounding buttons with his fist.
A screen behind the doctor lit up as the Doctor turned and looked up at it with a serious expression.
Back at the office basement, Debra walked resolutely down a set of stairs, a brown purse slung over her left shoulder. Her left hand held onto the railing, her right held her smart-phone which was pressed against her ear.
“Debra?!” A feminine voice answers from the other line. “I was worried sick about you!”
“Amy,” Debra began in a serious tone, “I need you to pick me up from work.”
“I’m already here!” Amy cried from the other line. “I drove down as soon as heard there was something going on at your office! Debra, this is all over the news!”
“Never mind that!” Debra shouted at the phone.
“There’s a fire escape on the north side of the building. You’re going to pick me up there.”
“Debra… What?! You’re not making any sense!”
“Just do it, okay?!” Debra replied. “This is really important and I need your help!”
There was a beat of silence on the other line. “… Alright, Debra. I’ll be there.”
“Great!” Debra said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “Now I need to use my phone so see you there!” she said in a chipper tone.
“WAIT, DEBRA!” Amy shouted. “WHICH WAY IS NORTH?!”
Debra pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed the screen, terminating the call.
Back at his circular room, the Doctor smirked as a green glow from the monitor enveloped has face.
He began pressing, poking, and pounding things on the hexagon console. He lifted his leg and placed his foot against a large lever as he picked up a wooden mallet and began whacking it repeatedly against an array buttons as sparks flew out.
The room began to hum with energy as the blue piston inside the clear cylinder lifted upwards and fell downwards rhythmically.
The entire room shook as the Doctor continued to lay on top of his console at an awkward angle.
He whacked the button array a few more times before getting back to his feet. The device began to make a peculiar whooshing sound as the Doctor stared at the monitor once more and rushed around to the opposite side of the center console. Again, he began pressing buttons, flipping switches, and pulling levers. Soon the hum and whooshing had stopped and the Doctor found himself staring at the doors to the room once more.
“Once more unto the breach,” the Doctor uttered.
Back at the office building, Debra walked with a deliberate pace as she spoke into her phone. “Select top five star from hashtag Van Nuys locations.” Debra reached a door with a push handle below a glowing red sign that said ‘EXIT’ and stepped outside. A purple sedan with a concerned looking female driver with purple hair and amethyst eyes was waiting for her.
Debra walked around to the passenger side, threw open the door, and sat down. She closed the door and began staring at her phone. “Seat belt!” Debra said in a commanding tone without looking up from the phone screen.
The driver sighed and undid her own seat belt. She leaned over Debra, grabbed her seat belt, and buckled Debra in. She then sat back in her own chair and buckled herself back in. “Debra, what—”
Debra thrust her phone in front of the face of the driver. “We’re going here. No questions!”
The driver let out an annoyed growl and started the car. “Thanks for coming to pick me up after that horrible incident at my work, Amy!” she said in a mock bubbly tone. “No problem, Debra!” she continued with faux happiness. “What are cousins for?”
“Less passive aggressive complaining, more driving!”Debra snapped.
The Doctor threw open both white doors and pointed his sonic screwdriver forward. With a press of a button, it once again emitted a high-pitched squeal.
Giant green beetles hissed and squealed in return as they flew and scuttled away from the Doctor. He marched into a dimly-lit, large, open warehouse, bee-lining for a massive rectangular concrete support column. Upon reaching it, the Doctor hit another button on his screwdriver and the tone it emitted suddenly pitches upwards.
The beetles scuttled and flew towards the Doctor as the column in front of him shook violently. The entire building quaked as cracks appeared in the support column. Moments before a beetle fell upon the Doctor, he turned and pointed his sonic screwdriver. With another push of a button, the tone shifted back. The attacking beetle, as well as all in the vicinity, immediately scattered.
The Doctor homed in on another column, once again repeating the process of marching towards it with his sonic screwdriver extended. As he reached the column, he once again shifted the tone. Again the support column shook and cracked. Again the building quaked. Again the beetles swarmed closer.
“Oh my god, Debra!” Amy said in a hushed, panicky tone as she and Debra peeked out from behind a crate. “You brought us to a warehouse full of giant bugs?! How… how… Just… What life choices did you make where this is even a thing that now happens to you?!”
“Shhhhh! Calm down! The Doctor might need our help!”
“Is that the guy waving the blue light around? Why is he waving the blue light around?” Once again the building began to shake. “More importantly, why are we here?!”
Debra raised an index finger to her lips. “Shhhhhh!” She looked down the length of the Warehouse, the Doctor had nearly reached the other end, followed by his promenade of giant irate insects. “Look, he’s using high frequency sonic waves to weaken the support columns…” Debra’s face lit up. “He’s going to collapse the warehouse on top of the beetles!”
Once again, the entire warehouse shook.
Amy gave Debra a pleading look. “That sounds like the opposite of a reason as to why we’re here.”
“He’s coming back!” Debra said in a hushed, excited tone. For a moment, her eyes focused. “Of course! He deliberately left the last support column in a state where he could easily finish the job and rush back into his—” Debra turned towards a blue, rectangular box about the size of a phone booth. The box looked to be made out of wood and sported the words ‘POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX’ over a set of windowed double doors. A lamp-like light adorned the top of the box. “—space ship! Ow!” Debra said as she rubbed her head.
Amy looked at the box, looked at Debra, then looked back at the box. “I just… I… Debra… I… just… I just can’t! I don’t think I can even ‘even’ at this moment.”
Debra frowned. “We better get ready to move…”
The Doctor had reached the first support column. The high-pitched tone from his sonic screwdriver switched again, and the column began to crack further and shake. The entire building began to rumble and even some of the glass windows began to shatter.
Amy stood up. “Yeah, we better—”
As she stared at the Doctor, Debra caught something green and large out of the corner of her eye quickly fly up to him. “LOOK OUT!” she cried.
The Doctor turned. “Deb-Ooof!”
A beetle slammed headlong into the Doctor, knocking him to the ground and sending his sonic screwdriver spinning and sailing across the floor.
Debra was on her feet in an instant, sprinting towards the fallen device with an agility she so rarely achieved. Beetles swarmed towards her as she focused on the sonic screwdriver. She closed her eyes as the throbbing pain in her head set in and the sounds of hissing and beating wings became deafening.
Just a few dozen feet more… Almost there… DROP NOW!
Debra opened her eyes and slid forward onto the hard cement floor, she extended both her arms outwards and snatched the sonic screwdriver in her left hand. She quickly hit a button on it and held it straight up.
‘AIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIEAIE…”
The beetles spat hisses and flew away in all directions.
“Debra?!” The Doctor shouted as he leaned against the column he had just tried to destroy. “Oh that was magnificent!”
“DOCTOR!” Debra cried as she rose to her feet, tried to break into a running start, and took a few steps. A few feet before reaching the Doctor, Debra stumbled, falling headlong into the Doctor’s waiting arms. “Ooof!” She looked up. “Oh! Are you hurt?! Are you bleeding?!”
The Doctor chuckled and shook his head. “I’m fine. Just a little bruised. I’m sure you know how that goes.”
Debra gave out a heavy sigh. “Yeeeaaaaaah….” she said in an admitting tone.
“AH!” Amy cried as she suddenly ran up to the pair in front of the support column. “Hey! With all these giant bugs around, it seemed safer here.”
The Doctor took a look at the new person to join him and Debra by the cracked support column. Amy wore a purple sleeveless dress with a diamond-shaped clasp. Under the dress was a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The Doctor glanced upwards. “Well, with the state of that column, not much safer I dare say.”
Amy’s face went white. “O-oh…” she uttered.
The Doctor extended his hand. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m the Doctor.”
Amy took the Doctor’s hand and gave it a shake. “I’m terrified for my life, but you can call me ‘Amy’.”
“Amy!” The Doctor said excitedly. “I like that name!”
Debra lowered her eyelids and shot an unfocused glare set to ‘kill’ towards Amy. “She’s my cousin…” she informed in a vaguely threatening tone.
“Oooooh, right then!” The Doctor said. “Debra here must drag you into all sorts of trouble!”
“Hey!” Debra protested.
“Yes, yes she does,” Amy confirmed. “Though the giant green bugs and warehouse that’s about to collapse is a new one.” Amy looked the Doctor up and down. “So erm… Should I be hugging you too, or—”
“No!” Debra said sharply.
Amy held out her hands defensively. “Just trying to stay as safe as possible here.”
The Doctor looked down at Debra. “How’d you find me? And how’d you get here so fast?!”
Debra reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. “I hacked the National Asbestos Claims Office’s database and figured out which claims were logged for the closest building in the area. I mean… I figured if the beetles were looking for food, they wouldn’t travel far if they didn’t have to! This warehouse was only a few blocks away.”
“Oh, right…” The Doctor said as he remembered he had made a quick exit to ‘very far away’ before tracking where the beetles had gone to. The Doctor’s eyes shot open wide. “You did that with your phone?!” he cried in disbelief.
Debra smiled and shrugged. “Well, I programed a voice app into my phone a while back to interact with it.” Debra sighed. “I’m no good with the touch screen,” she lamented. “It took months to make that program! Still… It’s not exactly like the database at the National Asbestos Claims Office was under particularly tight security or had anything encrypted...”
“Still, that’s genius,” the Doctor insited.
Debra’s face lit up. “You really think so?”
“Hey,” Amy chimed in, “could we maybe talk about this later and somewhere where we’re all less likely to die?”
“Oh, right…” the Doctor replied. “Imminent death and all that,” he looked down at bright blue light of the sonic screwdriver that was making a muffled squealing from between himself and Debra. “Well, I can finish off the column.” He looked out into the warehouse were a circle of hissing green beetles could be seen in all directions. “However, as soon as I change frequencies, we’re likely to be swarmed by beetles.”
“Oh, great!” Amy said sarcastically. “So it’s either death by giant beetles or death by being crushed under warehouse rubble!”
Debra sighed. “Must you always be so negative?”
“I don’t want to die!” Amy cried as she held up palms with tightened fingers.
Debra glanced upwards and focused her eyes for a moment. “Ow… Okay, I have an idea.”
“Oh, no….” Amy said in a lamenting tone.
“Oh, yes!” the Doctor said with a grin on his face.
Debra leaned back out of the Doctor’s embrace and walked around to right side of the support column. “Okay, get ready to run.”
Amy sighed. “Words to live by when I’m around you.”
The Doctor pointed towards the blue box a few dozen meters down the warehouse. “Run for the police box when she’s ready.”
“… The what?”
The Doctor sighed and shook his head. “Bloody Americans…”
Debra ran her hands over the side of the column, nodded to herself, and turned so she was now parallel to the column. She shifted her weight to the left and suddenly shifted it back to the right, hitting the column with her hip.
‘WHACK!’
The column began to crack and crumble immediately.
“RUUUUUN!” Debra shouted as she broke into a sprint for the police box. Barely halfway there, Debra took a spill and ended up flat on her face.
Even as she felt strong arms pick her up and pull her close to the Doctor, she could feel the tears well up behind her eyes.
A deafening roar of collapsing wood, metal and concrete filled the warehouse as the center fell inwards. It was quickly followed by the walls. Debra watched as heavy wooden support beams crushed beetles mere feet from behind her and the Doctor as he carried her into a bright room.
“Sorry!” the Doctor said as Debra was quickly placed on her feet. Debra watched as the Doctor stepped in front of her and closed the white doors just as she could hear the world outside crumble and crash into them.
From behind Debra, Amy began to attempt speech. “It’s a… a….a… a….”
Debra didn’t bother to look up. She felt hot tears roll down her cheeks.
The Doctor looked down at Debra with a quizzical expression. “Uh… Alright… Sorry if this is insensitive, but what’s with the water works?”
Amy continued to work on that sentence she was having trouble formulating. “…. a… a… a… spa… It’s a spa…”
Unable to meet the Doctor’s case, Debra choked out a response. “I… I... I fa… I fell…”
The Doctor lowered his left hand and gently pressed it against Debra’s chin, raising her face to look at him. “Shhhhh, shhh, shhhh,” The Doctor wiped away some of Debra’s tears with his right hand. “You were magnificent.”
“… spa… spa… spa…”
“Sniff... I was?” Debra replied, a smile starting to return to her face.
The Doctor smiled wide. “Absolutely brilliant.”
“SPACESHIP!” Amy exclaimed. “In… in a box the size of a phone booth! But… but… how?!”
Debra turned and her jaw suddenly unhinged as she took in the sight before her. She ignored the pain as she focused her eyes.
The Doctor chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a bit bigger on the—”
Debra let out a girly shriek of delight. “It’s making its own matter displacement field!”
“... or that…” the Doctor said.
“And it’s more than a spaceship! ” Debra said excitedly.
The Doctor looked down at Debra in shock. “What?”
“It… OhMyGOD! It’s a time machine too!”
The Doctor nodded. “Right…” He shook his head. “But how you figured that out even with your magic eyes is beyond me.”
Debra grinned sheepishly at the Doctor. “I had to study and read a lot to figure out what I was seeing.” She nodded towards the center of the room. “That device in the center seems to create wormholes…” Something caught Debra’s eye as she stared at the plethora of buttons, switches, and levers and she began rambling. “Oh my gosh! And that panel over there a looks like it’s for a quantum destabilizer!” Debra let out a another girly shriek and pointed. “That one over there is for rearranging quarks!”
Amy pointed at one of the chairs on the platform as Debra continued rattling off what the various buttons and levers on the consoles did. “This… This is just a chair, right?” Amy inquired. “I can… I can just sit on this without being zapped or teleported or something right?”
The Doctor grinned and nodded. “Oh, go on then. Just don’t touch any buttons or you’re liable to send us all to Pompeii right around 79 AD!”
Amy collapsed into the chair and wrapped her arms around herself as she cast a frightful look at all the buttons and levers around her.
Debra stepped forward as she looked around and up the entire area of the circular room. “It… It can travel through time and relative dimension in space! That’s amazing!”
The Doctor quickly did a 180.
“Doctor?” Debra called out in a concerned tone. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing attall …” The Doctor said as desperately hid what would go down in history as one of the universes goofiest grins of all of time and existence.
Amy suddenly shot up to her feet. “MY CAR! IT WAS OUTSIDE THE WAREHOUSE WHEN IT COLLAPSED!”
Debra sighed and shook her head. “Oh, who cares about that?! We’re on a real spaceship slash time machine! Don’t you want to check it out?”
Amy turned and regarding Debra with a massive smile. “NO!” she answered in a chipper tone.
“… Killjoy…” Debra uttered.
The Doctor chuckled and took a few steps up to the central console. “It’s called the TARDIS.”
Debra stopped and thought for a moment. “That’s… that’s brilliant!”
The Doctor turned, favoring Debra with a giant grin. “I know, right?!”
Amy looked back and forth between the pair with an impatient expression on her face. “Can I please go check on my car so I can leave you two to geek-out or make-out or whatever it is you’re planning to do?”
Debra’s cheeks turned bright red as the Doctor turned towards the center console.
“Right,” the Doctor said. “We just need to shift over a bit…” he hit a few buttons, flipped a switch, and grabbed a leaver. “Aaaaaaaand shift!”
The TARDIS hummed as a familiar whooshing sound was heard, the sound quickly stopped as the Doctor walked past Debra and opened the double white doors.
“There we are!” The Doctor said. “Car intact, just a little dusty!”
Amy shot out past the Doctor and Debra. “OH THANK GOD!” she cried as she threw herself at the car’s hood. She began to rub her face against it despite the dust she was getting all over herself. “You understand me, right?! You’d never take me to a warehouse full of killer alien bugs or try to take me into space or places with erupting volcanoes!” Amy got onto her knees and stared at one of the tires. “Wheels! Yes! You’ll never leave the ground! Oh I’m gonna kiss all of you!”
Debra chuckled and shook her head as she watched Amy from inside the TARDIS.
“Right, well…” The Doctor began. He nodded towards the doors. “You better go outside so we can say goodbye.”
Debra felt her heart break into a million pieces on the spot. “I… oh… okay…” she said in a tone almost completely devoid of energy.
Debra took what felt like the hardest steps of her life. It was as if each foot suddenly weighed thousands of pounds and each step was suddenly an inhuman struggle of incredible strength and effort. Despite all that, Debra found herself back outside in the sunlight all too soon.
“Mwuah! MWUAH!” Amy shot upwards, her face and lips caked with dust. “I just kissed my tires… What has my life become?!”
Debra felt the Doctor step behind her. The Doctor raised his hand and waved. “Goodbye, Amy! It was… acceptable meeting you!”
Amy nodded and wiped an arm across her lips. “Goodbye… erm… Doctor. It was… strange… meeting you…”
The Doctor nodded. “I get that a lot.”
“I bet you do.”
Debra took a deep breath and turned to face the Doctor. She was mere inches away from him and had to crane her neck upwards to stare him in his piercing blue eyes. She felt as if her legs would give out at any moment, but somehow pulled herself together enough to speak. “I… I… I know I’m a klutz…”
The Doctor nodded. “That good. I’d be a bit worried if you hadn’t figured that out about yourself yet.”
“I know I’m a klutz,” Debra repeated. “I trip over my own feet. I screw up all the time… Things just fall apart around me.”
“Uh… right…” The Doctor replied as he attempted to telegraph to Debra with his expression that he wasn’t quite sure how he should react to what she was telling him.
“I know I screwed up in there, and I’m sorry, okay! And… and I’ll probably-no, definitely screw up again, but I can help you!” Debra felt tears roll down her cheeks again. “I just… I just want to do something useful for a change!”
The Doctor gave Debra a serious look. “I meant what I said earlier. I can’t always be there to hold your hand.”
“I know that! But… but…”
“It’s really dangerous to be around me,” the Doctor continued. “Like… dangerous on a level you’ve never even imagined before. Just… just imagine brief bits of calm here and there punctuating by hours and days of running for your life all while screaming until your lungs give out.”
“Okay, but…”
“I can’t be there for you all the time, Debra,” the Doctor said. “It. Just. Won’t. Happen. Right?”
“Ri--right…” Debra bit her lower lip as it began to quiver. She felt heavy sobs well up in her chest.
The Doctor furrowed his brow and looked down at her. “Right… Okay, enough with the sad girl routine already!” The Doctor nodded in the direction of Amm. “Go say goodbye to your cousin and let’s get out of here before the police start showing up and asking obnoxious questions.”
For one brief moment, nothing made any sense whatsoever to Debra and her eyes drifted further apart than usual as she lost all control over them. The next thing she lost control of was her jaw muscles as she felt a soul crushing weight suddenly evaporate into nothingness. She let loose a high pitched, girly scream of delight as she turned towards Amy, ran towards the car, and tripped sprawling herself against the hood with a ‘THUD!’ and an “Ooof!”
Amy jumped slightly and looked downward. “… Debra?” she asked in a concerned tone.
Debra quickly scrambled to her feet and reached for one of Amy’s hands. She squeezed it and began shaking Amy’s arm up and down.
“I’MGOINGTOGOONASPACESHIP!”
“Yeah, great,” Amy replied monotone.
“I’MGOINGTOGETTOTIMETRAVEL!”
“Super.”
“I’MGOINGTOSEETHEUNIVERSE!”
“I’m happy for you…”
“I’MGOINGTOFINALLYDOSOMETHINGWITHMYLIFE!”
“Debra, you’re hurting my arm.”
“OH!” Debra said as she stopped shaking Amy’s arm. “Sorry.” She gave Amy a serious look. “Don’t try to talk me out of this!”
Amy held up a hand. “Wasn’t even going to try.”
“Because I am absolutely doing this!”
“Yeah, I got that. Thanks.”
“There is no way you could convince me otherwise.”
“I think you missed my previous statement.”
“I’m leaving with the Doctor and that’s final!”
“Again, not trying to stop you.”
Debra frowned slightly. “Okay… but… but you’ll miss me”— Debra gave Amy a hopeful look— “right?”
Emotion finally cracked through Amy’s emotionless expression. She smiled. “Oooooh, come here you!”
Debra and Amy wrapped their arms around each other and shared a tight embrace.
“You will come back to visit, won’t you?” Amy asked.
Debra pulled away slightly and looked at the Doctor. “Uh…”
The Doctor smiled. “Not to worry, luv! You’ll hardly know she’s gone!”
“Oh right,” Amy said as she broke the hug with Debra. “Time machine…”
The Doctor chuckled as Debra giddily half-skipped, half-stumbled back towards him. “That’s right, we’ll be back before you know it,” he said.
Amy winced. “Please tell me you didn’t mean that literally!”
The Doctor smiled and shook his head. “Sorry! I can’t make that promise.”
Amy’s shoulders slumped forward.
Debra grabbed the Doctor’s hand and began to shake it up and down. “Can we go?! Can we?! Can we?! Canwe?! Go! We! Can?! Can—”
“Alright, already!” the Doctor said with a grin. “Easy on the hand there. They’re usually not easy to get back if something happens to them.”
“Yay!” Debra cried as she disappeared into the TARDIS.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, stepped in after Debra, and closed the door behind him.
Amy opened the driver's seat to her car and collapsed into it. She let out a relieved sigh. “I’m going to go home… I’m going to start a hot bath… And then I’m going to soak in it… forever.”
-ooo-
The Doctor grabbed Debra’s hand and walked her over onto the central platform. After gently lowering her onto a seat, he smiled widely and clapped his hand. “Alright! We can travel anywhere! We can travel anytime! We can watch the universe begin with a BANG! Or watch it end with a whimper! And we can even go anywhere and everywhere in between! Anything! Name it, and we’re there!”
Debra looked up at the Doctor with her big, daisy colored eyes that sparkled with joy. Her lips curled outwards and upwards, causing her smile to grow wider, and wider until it was bigger than it had ever been in her entire life. With that sparkle in her eyes and that massive, dazzling smile on her face, she spoke.
“Can we go back to my apartment?”
“... Riiiiight… Excuse me, but ‘wut’?”
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Debra channelled her inner Dan before even meeting him
Again, how many kids do they have?! And is pony Amethyst Star daughter or cousin?
Also, this is very cute and sweet.
6857604 Derpy and the Doctor currently have 4 kids, all girls (poor Doctor). Amethyst Star is a cousin of Derps (she looked to be about the same age). Glad you're enjoying this.
finally! more than me commenting! oo! loving thsi story. lol very entertaining shenanigans
6858216 Four? So that's Dinky, Dreamy, and…uh…who else?
6858642
In order of oldest to youngest: Dinky, Chirpy, Dreamy, and Dipsy
6858659 AH, right
Masterfully done! I'm going to have to go to the other version to see where the lyrics were because I couldn't really tell where they would fit in
Very clever you raggedy man!
6859135
It's actually nice to know this works without the song. I mean, I do like doing music when it strikes me, but I know it isn't everyone's thing.
THis is so ROMANTIC!
6858659 Where'd you get the other three?
And is the Amy in this story the same as the one in Dan?
6862062
The fandom has picked out a few fillies that look like Derpy, I think the link here explains where they all came from.
Also, I don't remember an Amy from TW&TB or Take a Slice out of Life, but I do know Amy hasn't shown up and either.
6863286 Hmm. It's been a while since I've read Wheel and The Pie.
I was thinking of the Anger Management Conselor Gibson used to hit on.
I feel bad. Her personality was forgotten for a boy who craves the younger female race's attention.
6863286 Thanks though!
Debra going full analysis on the TARDIS up to the correct naming must have made the Doctor's Century
6865687
Ahhh, that character's name is "Amber." I think she'd be slightly more interested in the weird stuff the Doctor gets into, though with her anger management issues, I doubt she'd be a great companion.
6868748 I don't know... Some companions wre awfully screamy.
Of course they tended to be in one episode so...
"Usually"
I keep slipping and giving everybody, not just the Doctor, a British accent xD lol I'm so used to everything going on in england or something.
This.... This is beautiful.
This is nice, no sugarcoating.
The song fit perfectly there. And imma be honest, I've never seen a leginamit sad girl routine, so in fiction they always put me off.
No no no no not the two pegasi fillies,the two Pegasus fillies, you don't put a plural after a plural, it's like saying the two humans children, instead of the two human children. What would Twilight think?
Brilliance. Pure, poetic, humorous, brilliance.