A Tale of Two Doctors

The TARDIS had just materialized on the outskirts of the Everfree forest before The Doctor stepped outside.

He took his time to enjoy the view and fresh morning air.

After preventing a catastrophic time paradox and saving the Crystal Empire, he felt that he was entitled to a little break from investigating the source of said paradox.

“Woah!” a feminine voice exclaimed, closely followed by a loud slam that came from behind the TARDIS, as the sound of fluttering paper became audible.

The Doctor circled around the TARDIS to investigate the noise.

There lay a dazed, grey Pegasus mare with a mail bag strapped over her shoulder and an image of several bubbles for her Cutie Mark.

She had a blonde mane and was surrounded by scattered envelopes.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Oh! Sorry mister! It’s just that your house came out of nowhere…” She replied, apologetically.

Quickly, he pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver to scan her body to see if anything was broken or out of place.

“No, I’m the one who should apologize…I never pay attention when I land this thing.”

She winced as she saw him pull out the Screwdriver.

“Don’t worry! It’s not a weapon!” he exclaimed defensively. “It’s a tool I use for situations like this…it’s very handy.”

“Are you a doctor?” she asked curiously.

“Of sorts,” he replied.

After a preliminary medical scan and x-ray she seemed perfectly fine, that is-until he looked her in the face to tell her so-that’s when he noticed something he should have seen earlier.

Her eyes…there was something wrong with them…did the impact on the TARDIS do that?

“W-what’s wrong?” the mare timidly asked as she saw the concerned look on The Doctor’s face.

“Your eyes…” he began, “They’re…sort of…crossed.”

“Oh, that’s a relief!” she sighed.

“I’m sorry?”

“I was born like this, mister.” She explained. “My parents always said they were a part of what make special.”

What was even more surprising to him however, was the amount of pride in her tone when she said this.

Now, that he was getting a closer look at the golden-yellow orbs he had to admit; they were quite beautiful.

That was when he realized that he was staring.

“Sorry,” he apologized again. “What’s your name?”

“Derpy!” he replied with a very contagious smile that The Doctor couldn’t help, but grin looking at.

“Derpy?” he repeated, “Is that your name or is that just what they call you?”

“Nope!” she exclaimed. “My name is Derpy…but, sometimes ponies call me…other things.”

Her smile faded at this recollection as The Doctor’s grin followed suit.

“Like what?” he asked, not entirely sure if he wanted to know or not.

“Really mean nicknames; like ‘Ditzy Doo’, ‘Stupid’, ‘Freak’, and…some other things.” She added quietly, her voice taking on a somber tone.

“That’s terrible.”

She nodded glumly.

“But, it’s not so bad like it was at the beginning of flight school before I had any friends and I’d get picked on because of my eyes…”

Her expression then brightened.

“But, that’s when I met Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy!” she exclaimed happily. “Rainbow Dash was always there to stand up to the bullies for us and Fluttershy was always really nice to me.”

“Oh!” She snapped out of her nostalgic reverie. “I’m sorry, I forgot to ask you your name Mister…?”

“Doctor.” He corrected.

“Oh, well then Doctor…Who?” she asked.

“Just ‘The Doctor’.” He chuckled.

His eyes then moved to the envelopes scattered around the dazed mare.

“Let me help you pick those up.”

The two then began picking up the seemingly infinite letters lying in the grass-luckily there was no wind to blow them away-but, it would probably be best not to push their luck and get them back in her mailbag.

“So are your mornings always this busy?” The Doctor asked, counting the envelopes as he picked them up and realizing that there were more than a few dozen, which seemed strange for a seemingly small town like Ponyville.

“No,” replied Derpy with a mouth full of letters. “Mostly just around the holidays.”

Once she dropped this last pile into the bag, she looked back up at the TARDIS before cocking her head like a confused puppy.

“You said that you landed your shed…does it fly?

“Why yes, well…sort of…it depends really.”

“Why did you paint you paint it blue?”

“Well, first off it’s not a shed-it’s a TARDIS.”

“Tardy?” she asked.

“No, TARDIS.” He corrected her. “It’s an acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In-”

His explanation was cut short as Derpy jumped up, looking alarm.

“TARDY!” she exclaimed. “I can’t be late to delivering ponies’ mail in the morning or they’ll get really mad and complain to my boss and then I’ll get fired again! Just like with my other job at the moving company!”

“I’m sorry, but I really have to go now.” She apologized, beginning to hover with a few experimental flaps of her wings.

“It was really nice to meet you, mister!” She called back to him as she sped off.

“That’s…‘Doctor’.” He sighed in defeat, knowing that at this point she was probably too far away to hear him.

That was when he heard rustling from some nearby bushes and turned to see another stallion emerge looking exactly like him-from his height and body shape to his eyes and mane-in fact, the only real notable exception was his attire.

Instead of the brown pinstripe suit with a black necktie The Doctor was currently wearing, his doppelganger wore the white collar and green necktie combination that he had worn upon his first arrival in Ponyville.

They stood there, practically nose to nose for a few moments; silently observing the other when The Doctor slowly began tilting his head to the left while maintaining eye contact as the other stallion mimicked this movement.

He then slowly moved his head to the right as the other Doctor once again, followed suit.

“What?” he asked.

“What?” It repeated.

“What!?” They shouted simultaneously.