The Eleventh Doctor has finally come to Ponyville after the end of the Tenth, but he is broken. Can Ditzy Doo restore the old Doctor or is he fated to spend the rest of his days as a broken colt?
Amy and Rory are gone now, and there is a hole in the Doctor that he has contended with so many times before. It's bigger than ever though, and even he has no hope that it can be filled. Stranded in Ponyville at the height of his depression, only Ditzy "Derpy Hooves" Doo has a chance of returning the Doctor to his old self. The problem is that when dealing with a broken Timelord, two hearts need fixing instead of one.
For me, the music of Murray Gold is a big part of Doctor Who. I could not imagine the show without his various themes, and often found an appropriate one playing in my head while writing this story. Thus, I will insert links to the music in my story between the scenes. Rather than having a page or a line break, I have opted to insert:
<Youtube Link>
Enjoy.
Ditzy Doo might not have been the best flyer in Equestria, or even Ponyville for that matter, but she could still execute a loop reasonably well. The thing with trick flying, however, is that it is not appropriate in all situations. For example: when a certain somepony is delivering packages as part of her employment.. It is for this reason that the lovely (and let us all admit, scatterbrained) Ms. Doo found herself standing on the street conversing with her mother.
“How did you lose the packages again? I must have misheard the first time.”
“Well I did this pretty cool loop in midair and-“
“Darn. Guess my ears work after all.”
“That’s good!”
Motherhood had not been kind to the elder Doo. Ditzy was a continual joy in her life…and yet… she could be so…infuriating? Annoying? Forgetful? All of the above and more?
When Ditzy had first been born, the doctors were quick to condemn her. A pony whose eyes refused to line up! It was obvious that there was a defect in the system of the grey mare. Thankfully, this issue manifested itself as occasional clumsiness rather than an outright handicap. Still, protecting Ditzy from the hordes that referred to her as “Derpy” due to her behavior was a full time job.
“Just do another fly around Ditzy, the packages are bound to be somewhere.”
The mare let out a loud “Okay!” and took to the sky. With the problem taken care of with a worthless answer, Ditzy’s mother turned to the south to begin her walk home. It was at this moment that she heard a throat clearing in an alleyway, and as she turned to face the sound, she had no inkling as to the fact that she was, in some small way, facing one of the grandest beings in all of the universe.
Who was that in the shadows between the buildings? A colt, obviously, and those packages at his feet had an eerie familiarity to them.
“I found these packages in the plaza. Could you pass them on for me?”
“Why me?”
“I think you know-AH! I almost forgot.” The obscured colt reached behind him and pulled a parcel from the shadows. It was pink with a ribbon on top and a see-through cover. Inside were…were those cupcakes? They looked different from those that the Cakes made though.
As if expecting Mrs. Doo’s confusion, the stranger added as an aside, “They’re from America. They do love their sweets. Baked by a charming man too, the ‘Cake Don’…no wait, that’s not right…”
The colt walked away, muttering to himself, a wholly uneventful, yet confusing, encounter.
When Ditzy returned to her mother in a huff about the missing packages and had the story related to her the look in her eyes could only described as an affectionate panic.
Ditzy Doo was once again flying in the skies scouring the ground for something, but this time the item was very different. Where was it? Where was the blue box that had taken her away on that fateful day…when exactly? Not even Ditzy could remember when the Doctor had first materialized, babbling incoherently.
“What are these? Hooves? Why would I have hooves. My body must have…morphed…but why? This planet is very strange indeed.”
According to the Doctor, he had not always been a brown colt with an hourglass cutie mark, but a being with hands and feet. It all seemed like a whole lot of nonsense, but nonsense was the norm with the Doctor. After all, she couldn’t exactly claim that the planets and places they had visited together were normal, although he did seem more baffled than she was.
"Why am I still a pony? Must be an entire solar system that turns me into one…if I were to return to Earth…”
Earth. He always talked a lot about that place. It had actually been the reason for his departure. “That place is always in trouble”…or something to that affect.
So he had left, and she had waited, but that wait was over. There was the TARDIS! Smack dab in the middle of town! Ditzy made a dive and landed just as a familiar brown colt was opening the door.
“Doctor! You’re back! I got your gift, the packages and the cupcakes, but you have to remember that it’s MUFFINS I like Doctor. You’re always looking over the details like that I suppose.”
He turned, and Ditzy did not like what she saw. The look in his eyes was so melancholy…what had happened?
“Doctor…are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“…”
“…No”
“And why’s the door open? Were you planning on leaving like this?”
“…Yes”
Tears were in her eyes now. “Don’t you want me anymore?”
The Doctor looked genuinely stunned by this question, and his voice took on a softer tone in response.
“Of course I do Ditzy. All those adventures…they were the best…but it’s the end of the line.”
“Doctor!?”
“Don’t…just don’t. Derpy…no…Ditzy Doo. I don’t know when we’ll meet again, and I don’t know who I’ll be when we do, but I need you to do something.”
“I’ll do anything Doctor; as long as you stop this!”
“Have fun.”
With this final comment the Timelord turned and entered his ancient blue box as if there was nothing more he could say to her. Ditzy didn’t move, she could only stare at his form. He looked so defeated. It was sad, truly and terribly sad.
When the TARDIS began to dematerialize it sounded like the Doctor’s constant companion throughout time and space was crying…and Ditzy cried right along with it.
And that night she dreamed that she was singing the saddest song in the universe.
Very little had changed in Ponyville since that day. Pinkie was still throwing riotous parties, Twilight was still obsessing on the smallest of details…and Ditzy Doo was still thinking of her final meeting with the Doctor.
What had transpired that day was such a short reunion. So short and sad that she couldn’t help but to ruminate on it.
She had finished her mail route that day and was wandering aimlessly in front of the town hall. She could see Fluttershy having a conversation with Rainbow Dash in the clouds. Rainbow Dash seemed to be making an attempt to get Fluttershy interested in some fancy flying, but the timid pony was having none of it.
Off in some other far away corner was the Cutie Mark Crusaders, building a snowman out of mud. What kind of cutie mark were they hoping to get?
Lost in her thoughts and observations, Ditzy was not in the state to pay attention to her surroundings. She felt a jostle and found herself on the ground, what had she run into this time? Looking up she caught sight of a purple flank with a shining star on it. Ah, Twilight Sparkle. While Ditzy often made it a goal to not bump into other ponies if she could help it, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t a bad choice. At least she wouldn’t pick Ditzy up and throw her across town like that one minotaur had…
“Ouch! Ditzy! That hurt!”
“Sorry Twilight, it won’t happen aga-“
To say that Ditzy’s reply had been cut off would be inaccurate. There was no terribly loud noise that would have overpowered her. She had simply trailed off in response to a sound she had heard. A sound that was growing steadily louder.
Whrrr Whrrrr WhhRRR WWWWHHHRRRR
Wind began to kick up as other noises joined in the background. The other ponies had noticed that something was going on by now and were staring at the front of the town hall where a transparent object was trying to make itself tangible.
There were four sides, a door, it was blue, and there was a light on top. The citizens of Ponyville had seen this machine before. It was a mysterious box that was in the possession of “the Doctor,” an eccentric pony that had warded off a Parasprite invasion, struck a peace deal with the Diamond Dogs, and caused a decent sized explosion when he aimed some sort of glowing metal tube at Pinkie’s party cannon. Poor Mrs. Cake, who was at the center of the blast, could still remember the blue light on the end of the tube and the high-pitched sound it had made.
With a final dong the TARDIS settled down, fully tangible. As the door began to slowly creak open Ditzy could not help but to yell: “DOCTOR!!!”
But what awaited her was confusion. A colt with an hourglass cutie mark did indeed step from the TARDIS, but he was different from the pony that she knew so well. Where there was once brown there was gray: a gray colt and an even darker gray mane. There was also a bowtie fastened around the stranger’s neck.
One brave little filly in the on looking crowd had the courage to come forward and ask the question that was on everypony’s mind.
There was a moment of silence as the ponies processed what was going on. This supposed time traveling colt was an eccentric soul, yes, but anypony was welcome in Ponyville. It also helped that the Doctor had proven himself to be a likeable enough pony. One problem though: this was decidedly not the Doctor.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just not possible,” said Twilight, “You look nothing like him.”
“Agreed.”
“Obviously.”
“Then who is he?”
Things were not looking good for the new arrival. Here he was standing in the middle of the crowd with an adopted name. He would have been stuck there for hours if it were not for the timely intervention of one Ms. Ditzy Doo.
“Oh no, that’s him. This is a…whatchamacallit…new regeneration.”
A soft voice resounded from the back of the crowd. “Angel bunny seems to think so too…” added Fluttershy.
“Well I’m not buying it,” huffed Twilight, “What is regeneration? Why would it change the Doctor?”
“Oh, well…it’s a Timelord thing.”
The crowd had become so wrapped up in its internal argument over who the stranger was that the ponies forgot that the stranger of interest was in their midst. It took this comment from him to snap them back to reality.
Seemingly satisfied with the vague answer he had given, “the Doctor” turned and made his way back into the TARDIS. He wouldn’t have given the ponies a second look if not for the exclamation of a gray mare with a bubbles cutie mark: “WAIT!!!”
“What is it?”
“You’re…you’re just going to leave? Just like last time?”
“An entire world of jeering, chattering ponies…not the place for me. Not now and not ever again.”
The TARDIS door slammed shut and the almost mystical box disappeared before the ponies’ eyes. Ditzy Doo stared at the location where the Doctor and his craft had been just a moment before as the others began to dissociate. A variety of conversations were being had on the side. The general consensus was that it couldn’t have been the Doctor, for if he were to visit town something would inevitably break.
Something broke, or rather; a lot of damage was done in a short period of time.
Almost as soon as it had departed the TARDIS returned with a newfound level of non-refinement in its landing sequence. It had materialized six feet from the ground and came crashing down. Less than a second after this the TARDIS once again disappeared from view.
And appeared crashing into a cart.
And again with a box.
And again with a house.
It was honestly very embarrassing to watch, and most of the ponies didn’t avert their gazes for any of it, partly out of interest and partly out of fear that the box may strike them without a moment’s notice.
If anypony had been inside Sugarcube Corner while this was transpiring they would have found Pinkie Pie writhing on the floor covered in flour and a sticky paste that felt like honey. The last time her famed Pinkie Sense had shown such a reaction Spike was about to have a violent digestive fallout stemming from the ingestion of a lump of coal mistaken for a tasty gemstone snack.
After what Rainbow Dash referred to as “the twentieth freakin’ time” the TARDIS settled down, smoke pouring from its doors. Even though the ponies and the supposed Doctor were separated by a door on top of layers upon layers of dimensional trickery and Timelord engineering, his incensed screams were loud and clear.
“WHY WON’T YOU WORK? I know you can do it…honestly…it’s just…YOU WON’T LET ME LEAVE!!! IS THERE A POINT TO ALL THIS!!!”
“Why are you so grumpy today? Don’t tell me you hate the new look?” asked Ditzy. After an intense scream session that reminded her of a banshee choking on a howler monkey, the Doctor had finally left the confines of his blue box. Red and the face and grumbling to himself, the Doctor stalked off mumbling strings of nonsense…at least that’s how a normal pony would have perceived it.
“Taking me where I need, not where I want. Whoever thought up the idea of a sentient ship deserves torture…”
“You can drop the act you cranky timepony, no need to hide things from me.”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“Yes you are. Something is obviously wrong.”
“How so?”
“Your fashion sense for one thing. A bowtie? Really?”
The Doctor looked down at his chosen form of decoration. If Ditzy had been looking at his eyes just then, they would have been a haze. What sorts of memories were going on behind them? Good? Bad? Painful? Custard filled? Whatever they were, they caused the Doctor to remove the bowtie and drop it on the ground.
“I’m not the kind of Timelord that needs it anymore anyway.”
“Wha?!” Ditzy might not have known anything about the bowtie, but she could definitely sense its underlying importance. She scooped it up and held it out to the Doctor.
“Seriously now, what is it?”
“What’s what?
“You. What’s with you? You were sad last time too?”
“Well…I can honestly say that I’d have those circumstances again rather than the current one.”
“Which is what?”
“…you’ll never stop this will you?”
“I am the one and only Ditzy Doo. I helped you save entire planets. Remember the Jagafress Doctor? You and Muldoon 5 would have been goners without me. I’m your one and only pony assistant, here to help you out whenever you need it. You’re pretty lucky, all I ask in return is some muffins and…”
The Doctor’s body tightened at “lucky.” He drew his legs in, flexed his neck, grit his teeth…it was a very angry reaction to be sure. He looked Ditzy square in the eye and said two little words: “Be. Quiet.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m lucky? Ha! That’s a laugh Ditzy Doo. Don’t tell me you’re a comedian now?”
“Oh no no. I’m just your Derpy. The genuine article.”
“Well then, if you know me so well, you must know that I’m not lucky in the slightest. No. Not me, nor them. They’re all unlucky in the end I suppose. What, with alternate dimensions, neural meltdown, love. Oh, love is the worst of all Ditzy. It makes them do things, things they’d never have dreamt of. And sometimes, just sometimes, it makes me do things as well. I always say I’ll come back one day, that I’ll find the way after fixing the threat, but that will always be a lie. Heh. Even with my first face I would do such things.”
“Doc-“
“That’s why I’m not lucky. Now you? YOU’RE lucky. Luckier than the rest of them anyway. What did you do after I left, cry yourself to sleep for a week or two? Miss the adventure, the life threatening adventure? Maybe you went on a journey of your own, constricted by you terrestrial boundaries. Regardless, you’re still here. The only one I haven’ tainted. You, more than anyone else I’ve ever met, have NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT’S LUCKY!”
“But I-“
“B-but Doctor…SAVE YOURSELF THE EFFORT! You and I are done Derpy. There is nothing you can say, nothing you can do that will change this. I’m dangerous. Stay away from me and I promise that when the TARDIS decides to work once more, I’ll leave and never return.”
As the Doctor stomped off, a pool of liquid gathered at Ditzy’s feet. Clear and salty tears straight from her body. She sat and stared in the direction he was headed, and remained in this position long after he had taken a turn and disappeared from sight.
Don’t travel alone, that’s what River had said to him. He needed someone. Needed a friend. Needed a leash. He needed companionship to save him from himself. But who would save the companions when their troubles came? Certainly not him.
The Doctor stared at his hands, five fingers on each one. Hands that had held Amy and Rory just hours earlier. Hands that had failed the married couple completely.
The angels had taken Manhattan, and with the glistening city, Amy and Rory. Was it fair? Of course not. But it had happened. If only he’d rushed them out of that graveyard. Why did he have to clean the TARDIS with River at that time? Who would’ve cared how it looked…besides him…besides them. Damn.
He got up, not paying attention to his surroundings. He needed to go somewhere quite, somewhere where he could hide away as he regenerated into obscurity. Manipulating the TARDIS console, his eyes clouded with tears for a second. And a second was all it took.
RRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHH!!!
The TARDIS rocked back and forth, making a horrific noise. The Doctor reached for the console once more, but his body was overtaken by pain. His clothes melded with his body and his hands rounded and changed color. He could feel his face elongate and something was growing from his backside. This had happened before; it was a process that signified he was turning into a pony.
“NOT NOW!!!”
The Doctor’s thoughts were interrupted with a loud and overly cheerful “Howdy!” Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of an orange pony wearing a hat.
“Ah, one of the Elemental Guardians.”
“Pardon? I think what ya meant to say was Element of Harmony.”
“What is it?” he grumbled.
“Oh, well now. I saw that little scene you had with our mailpony back there, it was a shame to see two good friends bickerin’ like ponies n’ buffalo.”
The pony crossed her front hooves. “Well before that I should be remindin’ yah that mah name’s Applejack. I can see that look in yah eyes. What did ya think it was, Applecrisp?”
“I was going for ‘pie’”
“Well I never!”
The Doctor walked away in a vain attempt to make his escape. He had no intention of making up with Ditzy, which was what the mare was obviously working towards. He was as old as the alicorns, if he were to express the fact in Equestrian terms. There was no need for him to answer to a young adult pony with apples on her buttocks.
“Terribly sorry, but I must get going.”
“Wait you-“
Applejack took off at a brisk trot, determined to change the Doctor’s behavior and get things back to what she considered to be normal. It might take all night, maybe even a week; but she was certain that he would make up with Ditzy eventually. She was unaware of what destiny had in store for the Doctor and her. A destiny that, from a linear point of view, had happened years in the past.
Nighttime in Ponyville is exceptionally peaceful. While the town is full of remarkable characters and silly fillies, few save Twilight Sparkle had the tendency to stay up into the wee hours of the morning. On this particular night however, Pinkie Pie found herself mixing batter in the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner. The Cakes’ had received an exceptionally large order from Canterlot earlier that day. Something to do with throwing a celebratory feast for the reformed Discord, who had just done his first job for the princesses. Pinkie wanted to turn the whole thing into a party, but Twilight forbade it.
“There’s no time to go to Canterlot right now Pinkie. The Games inspections are coming up after all.”
And so, Pinkie was a little to sleep-deprived to notice the distinct sound of the bell on the front door being rung. She was too tired to hear the assailant approach from behind. Too tired to fight back. Whatever was attacking her, it wrapped its hand around her and they both disappeared in a flash of light.
Twelve miles to the north of Ponyville, a ship was hovering in the air. It would take until morning for anypony to notice it, and it would take a doctor to bring it down. A very experienced doctor.
