> This wasn't what we planned! > by SailorYue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was an ordinary day in the small town of Ponyville. Ditzy Doo Hooves was having lunch with her best friend Carrot Top at her home; while her children Sparkler and Dinky were at school. The conversation started normal, they talked about how well Carrot’s harvest was going, and the barn raising that happened at the Apple family farm over the weekend during the Apple family reunion, apparently there was a problem with a fruit bat invasion and such. Ditzy wasn't sure how long she and the Doctor were away this time, but it was long enough to miss not just one, but TWO Apple farm barn raisings. The conversation was going fine till it had decided to take an interesting turn.... “You know, Derpy” Carrot started, using a common nickname that every pony liked to call Ditzy. Mainly because Ditzy’s cross eyes tend to make her rather clumsy and have 'derp' moments. “Speaking of families, can I ask you a personal question?” Ditzy put down her cup of hot chocolate, a drink she that loved to have with muffins. “Sure Carrot, I don’t mind.” “Well somethings been bothering me. You go off and travel with this guy no-pony really knows about.” “The Doctor.” No one beleived that that was what he went by. “Yeah, and disappear for two to three months. And suddenly you come back and have not one, but two children, and fully grown at that. They call you ‘momma’ and everything. Where did they come from exactly? I mean, did you just suddenly decide to ADOPT them, on a mail-mare salary even?” Ditzy toyed with a blueberry that had gotten loose from the muffin she had just eaten. “Not exactly… Well Sparkler is adopted, but in a way Dinky is… part of me and part of the Doctor.” Carrot cocked her head. “That doesn’t make sense tho. You two were only gone for 2 months." Carrot tapped the table for emphasis "Dinky is atleast 5 years old. AND she looks a LOT like you, if you were a unicorn, but how on Equestria did this happen?” Ditzy smiled. “That’s the thing. It DIDN’T happen on Equestria.” Carrot looked at Ditzy confusedly. “What does THAT mean?” “It’s a long story. Let me refill your drink and I’ll tell you how it all happened. > TARDIS knows best > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It all started with a trip to another planet. Any plan can go awry, and for the TARDIS that's just how it usually ended up. The dark blue box landed in its usual grinding way on a mysterious planet. Voices could be heard from inside as the door opened. "Where are we again Doctor?" The bubbly curious voice of a blond pegasis mare asked. “ Oh, you’ll love this place Ditzy. The whole planet is nothing but giraffes"" replied a colt with chocolate brown fur and a darker brown mane. "They all have necks 2 meters long! And they are covered with spots. Just wait till you see they're....” The Doctor’s voice trailed off. “This isn’t Giraffrica,” he said his brow furrowed. Instead of open plains with tall tall tree and warm grass, they were instead in a dark, cold laboratory. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around; his hooves crunching on broken glass. “Watch your step out here Ditzy there's a lot of…” He looked over his shoulder to see that Ditzy was, as usual, hovering above the ground; her head tilted looking back at him inquisitively. “Right. Wings.” Ditzy shivered. “I thought where we were going would be much warmer Doctor. It’s FREEZING!” She rubbed her fore hooves together. He pulled out his trusty Sonic Screwdriver and stuck it in his mouth to get readings. It took a few months after he arrived in Equestria and took equine form, for the screwdriver to change its form as well. It no longer burnt his mouth when he used it in his mouth. He still couldn’t get the hang of having hooves instead of hands, and often wondered if he ever would. But it had changed and now he could press the buttons with his teeth now and not suffer from a numb tongue from both the vibrations and the heat. The screwdriver hummed and glowed a soft red as he swept it around the room they were in. The Doctor took it back out of his mouth to look at it. “Hmm, no signs of life detected. Seems like this place is quite abandoned. Still, there has to be a reason we arrived here instead of where we wanted to go.” Ditzy flew around the middle of the room they were in. “The TARDIS sure likes to do that doesn’t it?” she asked. “Yes, she does.” The Doctor walked around the room in the opposite direction that Ditzy went into. It seemed the TARDIS never went where he wanted her to go. She had a strong willed mind of her own, taking him where he NEEDED to be rather than where he WANTED to go. He passed many empty clear capsules, all dark. But then he stopped at one that wasn’t empty, nor dark. “Ditzy come here quick!” He called over to his faithful pegasus companion. She flew over to the side of the room he was, in front of the occupied chamber. She followed his gaze. “I guess this place isn’t as abandoned as we thought.” Inside the capsule was a rather young, pink and purple unicorn. "Who is she, Doctor?" Ditzy asked. The Doctor held the sonic screwdriver to the panel next to the capsule. "I don't know about WHO, but she IS alive. It seems she's in some sort of cryogenic stasis." He was hard to understand as he had put the sonic back in his mouth to continue trying to get readings on the machinery. Ditzy scratched her head confused, "Cryo WHAT!?" The Doctor removed the screwdriver from his mouth. "Cryogenic stasis. Basically she's in a deep deep sleep intended for a long period of time. I'm trying to see if I can.... THERE we are!" AWAKENING PROCESS ACTIVATED Suddenly the door to the capsule opened. The young filly seemed unstable on her feet as she stumbled out of the capsule only to collapse into the Doctor's hooves. > Strange things happen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is she ok Doctor?" Ditzy asked, landing on the ground next to him. The Doctor looked down at the pinkish unicorn. Absently he handed the sonic screwdriver to Ditzy so he could inspect her better. The young mare stirred and opened her eyes with a startled gasp. “Who… who are you?” she asked looking up at the Doctor and Ditzy, sitting up. “Why are you here? How did you get here?” She started backing away from them “Calm down now,” the Doctor said soothingly, holding his fore hooves up as if to show he was unarmed. “No need to panic, I’m the Doctor, and this here is Ditzy. We came here in my ship the TARDIS. Why we’re here, well haven’t that one out yet.” The young pink mare looked at him quizzically. “You are not unicorns..?” The Doctor tapped his chin with a hoof. “No, not this time around. Wouldn’t MIND being a unicorn, sure would make using things a heck of a lot easier.” Ditzy nudged him with a wing to get him to stop rambling. The Doctor cleared his throat. “Right. What’s your name?” The mare looked almost saddened by the question. “I don’t have one. “ “Don’t have a name?” This statement bothered the Doctor. “No. We were never given names. We went by numbers and that was all. My number was 67324. According to the scientists that’s all I needed for identity purposes.” “Well that’s not right.” The Doctor stated seriously. “Everypony should have a name right Ditzy?” He looked over to where his faithful companion SHOULD have been standing. She wasn’t. “Ditzy??” The Doctor looked around worried. “What have I TOLD her about wandering off?” “Um, I don’t think she wandered off on her own, mister.” “What?” The Doctor looked back at the nameless filly. She pointed down a passage way. “I think she’s down there in one of the tanks” Not paying attention to how she said the word ‘tanks’ the Doctor rushed down to the capsule that now held Ditzy. “How on earth did she get in there??” he asked out loud. “The machinery detected I was out of my conatinment and sought to rectify the situation to perhaps replace me.” The Doctor quirked an eyebrow “What?” “This laboratory can run for the most part all on automatic systems.” The Doctor worked on getting the capsule that held Ditzy in a similar stasis that the other pony was in. Ditzy fell out of it into the Doctor’s waiting hooves. “Oh, hello Doctor.” She said with a smile. “Ditzy, what have I said about wanderig off?” he scolded her. “But I didn’t, Doctor. I was just standing there with you two over there and then something GRABBED me. Next thing I knew I woke up in your arms.” Ditzy blushed slightly at that. “You didn’t see who or what grabbed you?” He asked, wondering what exactly was going in in this laboratory his TARDIS decided to bring him to. Ditzy shook her head. “I told you. Most of the machines here run automatically. They already got what they needed from your mare friend.” The young unicorn indicated the container that was next to the one Ditzy was in. “What?” The Doctor asked as he and Ditzy walked over to the container. Inside it seemed there was a very small figure, the size of a newborn foal. “What??” Now the Doctor was more confused than ever. “The machine here took your friend to get the DNA from her. I guess you taking me from my container jump started the automatic system. What I don’t get is, is that the machine would have needed a second DNA sample to create. Where would it have gotten a second sample?” she looked over at Ditzy. Ditzy thought for a second. “OH! I had the sonic screwdriver in my hoove when I was taken. The Doctor uses it in his mouth…” “That would be it then.” Ditzy and the unicorn walked over to the Doctor, who was still looking up at the machine with the foal inside. “This machine basically took from both of your dna samples and put together what it deemed to be the best genetics.” “What?” the Doctor looked over at her. “Basically, Mr Doctor. The filly in this tank, is your’s and Ditzy’s daughter. The Doctor and Ditzy both had identical blank confused looks on theyre faces. “WHAT!?” > Truth is stranger than fiction > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Doctor stared for a few moments at the filly sleeping inside the tank. She had a hint of grey in her fur and the same buttery blonde hair color that Ditzy had. “Doctor…?” Ditzy reached a hesitant hoof toward the Doctor. He suddenly snapped out of his reverie and smacked his hoof to his forehead. “OH! Of COURSE! LOOMING!” “Doctor what? “ Ditzy looked at the Doctor feeling quite confused at his outburst.. “I get it now!” The Doctor stood up and started pacing. “I’ve only seen it one other time outside of Gallifrey” “Doctor.” Ditzy tried catching his attention “The technology here is far more primitive than on that planet I visited with Donna and Martha.” “Doctor?” Ditzy tried again. “But I can see how its done now. I mean…” “DOCTOR!” Ditzy yelled out finally stopping the Doctor’s rambling. He shook his head “Oh, sorry. Yes Ditzy?” “What is ‘looming‘?” She asked. “Hmm In the simplest terms, it’s essentially like cloning, but different. It takes the nearest DNA samples from tissue or fluids, combines and randomizes strands of the genetics to create a new person, er pony in this case” he added correcting himself. “Let me see your hoof for a second Ditzy.” Ditzy held up her hoof for the Doctor. “Yes, see, it’s not as bad as I expected, but they took the sample here” he said, indicating the small laceration on her right hoof. “The other sample was on my sonic which you held in this hoof too. And now that is…?” He looked in the direction of the chamber Ditzy was in just moments before. “It’s fallen in the back corner there” The young purple filly indicated with her hoof, reminding the duo of her presence. The Doctor had to climb in to see it thru the lingering smoke. “Ah, yes. Thank you.” he tucked it into his collar. “Now miss, can you answer me a couple questions please.” He turned toward the mare, who looked at him with a worried expression. “First off, What exactly goes in this laboratory?” The young test subject thought a moment how she should answer this. “The creation of the perfect unicorn.” Her eyes had sort of a far away look to them as she said this, as if it were programmed into her brain. The Doctor was not liking the sound of this at all. Shortly the filly blinked and shook her head. “What exactly does that mean, ‘the perfect unicorn’?” “I don’t know. All that I know is that I wasn’t the one they were looking for” She looked down lost for a moment in a memory. +++++++++++ “Subject 67324” “Is she the one we need?” A male scientist asked another scientist. “I’m afraid not quite, sir. She’s close, but not the one” the other scientist responded, female. “I see. Will she…?” He seemed to be asking a question that wasn’t to be completed. “It is uncertain for now, too early to tell how well she will fair.” “Well that does not matter much to me then, since shes not THE ONE.” The male voice was cold, emotionless, almost angry at the apparent failure he saw. He walked off wanting no more with the situation. The female scientist looked up at the young filly, much younger than she was now. Back then she was unsure of anything that was going on. ++++++++ “Are you alright?” The Doctor asked softly. She looked up, unaware of how long she was lost in her earliest memory, nor of the tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry.” She said, accepting the kerchief that Ditzy was handing her. “No, I’m sorry, for bringing up a terrible memory like that. I --” He was cut off by a deep rumbling and crash on the other side of the room. “What was that?” He asked full alert. The purple mare was full alert. “The volcano!” she said suddenly very afraid. “VOLCANO!?” The Doctor repeated. “Well we have to get out of here then!” He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and held it up against the number pad on the container that held the newborn filly, who was no longer newborn sized. It whirred loudly for a moment but gave no other indication of working. “Dammit, don’t tell me it’s time locked!” “The code number is 37267” the young mare said quickly. “That will unlock the growing chamber.” The Doctor looked over to her then entered the number into the keypad, using the sonic to press the buttons. The chamber opened and Ditzy burst in to catch the filly inside before she fell. “Now, we RUN!” The Doctor grabbed the young unicorn and took off down the corridor. She gave some resistance “This isn’t the way to the exit!” She yelled at him over the growing noise from the volcano the lab was built into. “I know a short cut!” He looked into her scared eyes and smiled saying one of his more favorite lines in his travels. “Trust me, I’m the Doctor!” he looked up to make sure Ditzy was following, and nodded seeing her carrying a young grey unicorn in her hooves. They burst into the TARDIS and the doors closed behind him. The teenage unicorn sat momentarily stupefied at where she was. The Doctor ran to the console flipped a few switches, just in time as debris had started falling on the outside. Ditzy sat next to her. “You ok?” She asked her. “I have no idea.” The unicorn sat in shocked silence. “I’m wondering if I’m still in my stasis chamber and my mind is crafting a very elaborate hallucination from the prolonged slumber.” “Huh?” Derpy cocked her head and stared at the young mare strangely. “No… you’re in the TARDIS”