Doctor Whooves: Remembrance

“How does Bermuda sound?” the Doctor said from across the console. Clara walked around in an attempt to follow him as he rushed to guide the Tardis.

        “The islands?” she asked, keeping her usual grin. He turned and stopped for a moment to respond.

        “No, the planets. Really odd place honestly. No idea what you’ll get, paradoxes mostly, she hates it,” he tapped the console softly, grinning.

        “Alright then, off we go!” Clara turned and flipped the switch that sent the Tardis off, Knowing it by memory. The Tardis whirs and hums and off they go.

DONG

The Tardis’ Cloister bell rang out, startling both the Doctor and Clara causing them to jump and grab the console ahead of them tightly.

        “What in the world was that?” Clara asked, loosening her grip a bit.

DONG

        “Ah, well, that means something is going wrong. No problem though! I can fix it.” the Doctor responded, smiling softly as he worked to redirect them away from the issue.

DONG

        “Doctor, it’s still blaring, what IS the problem?” Clara questioned again, watching him work around the console.

DONG

        “I think it is some kind of rift in space-time. Not very common but usually not much to worry about.” He said calmly. “And this should fix it!” he then pulled a large lever and the noise stopped abruptly.

        Then all hell broke loose.

        In a sudden flash, the console burst into a bright golden flame, burning Clara and causing her to jump back in shock and pain.

        “The bloody hell?!” she shouted, grabbing the railing. The Doctor began to cough heavily, attempting to speak between coughs.

        “C-Clara! Ge-Get away from the con-console!”

        “Well I figured that! What the hell is happening!” He coughed once again, violently this time. A gold dust flowing out of his mouth.

        “Oh no, this isn’t good. Clara how do you feel?!” he turned swiftly, gripping the railing for support.

        “Well, other than the pain from the burns, tingly.” she responded, looking to her hands which were rippling beneath the skin.

        “I’m so sorry Clara. I am so so sorry...” the Doctor whispered.

        “Why is that Doctor?” She asked, the Doctor began to reply, but then the screaming started. Clara fell to the ground in pain, screaming and convulsing as her body attempted to change. The Doctor coughed and spat out a mixture of blood and golden gas. The Tardis kicked up it’s Cloister bell again and the room lights vanished, dousing them in red light and the light from the fire. Clara’s screams became watered down as fluid filled her throat.

        “I’m so sorry! I can’t save you... Clara!” He screamed her name and energy exploded from him. His flesh glowed with energy as Clara burned away. Her body, unable to take the energy that had filled it, exploded. Flesh and muscle, though the Doctor never saw it , were indistinguishable. He regenerated, the door opened, and down he fell.

        A grey pegasus mare, having just finished her route, was flying home. Her wall-eyed gaze allowing her to see, albeit blurry, in two directions. And with her right eye facing to the right, she saw the brown pony with a golden haze falling into the trees. She redirected her course to see if the pony who had fallen was alright. She hoped they were, but deep in her mind she knew the pony wasn’t in any way alright.

        She arrived at the crash site of the brown pony to find him laying on his side, groaning.

        “Ah! Mister are you alright!” she shouted, flying down and landing next to him quickly.

        “Ohh my head...” he opened his eyes for a brief moment.

        “Wh...What’s your name..?” he asked slowly as he faded into unconsciousness again.

        “Uh, it’s Ditzy Doo, I’ll be right back mister! I’ll get somepony to help!” She explained while taking off again. The Doctor grinned softly and watched her fly off.

        “That’s a nice name...” He muttered softly before fading once more.

        “Redheart, get over here, this colt is in horrible shape, get him in the ER, stat!” A blue unicorn called, rushing the Doctor by on a bed.

        “Where’s Ditzy..?” he muttered slowly, slowly losing consciousness once more.

        “Sir! His heartbeat is exceedingly abnormal! Four beats instead of two!” a white colored pegasus mare called across the bed. The blue unicorn colt turned and looked at the machine.

        “That’s impossible! Get a different one, that one is broken.” The white colored nurse pony ran out with the machine.

        “Clara..?” the Doctor whispered again, feeling the mask across his snout.

        “You’ll be alright, just rest now,” the blue colt explained to him as his horn glowed softly, a warm feeling washed through the Doctor as he swiftly descended into a magically induced sleep.

Beep-Beep

        The Doctor slowly awoke to the sound of a heart monitor. Looking around at the ceiling, he tried to figure out where he was. He heard a shuffle next to him and a grey and gold blur appeared in front of his face. As his eyes focused he realized it was the mare from before.

        “Hey, mister! Are you alright?” she asked caringly. He looked at her then slowly nodded.

        “Alright, how do you feel?” she sat down next to the bed, he turned his head in order to see her better.

        “Where am I?” he asked slowly, his voice croaking.

        “Ponyville Hospital, I saw you fall and I got Rainbow Dash to help carry you here, when they saw you they rushed you into the Emergency room! How did you get so high up though? You aren’t a Pegasus,”

        “Oh... What was your name again?” he asked, blinking to refocus his eyes.

        “It’s Ditzy Doo, what’s your name mister?” she asked, leaning forward.

        “I’m... Well I don’t remember... You’re kind of cute...” he passed out once more.

        He opened his eyes slowly to find his surroundings different, More suburban. He looked around and realized he was in a home. Clearly nothing big or significant, but a small house. He began to wonder who owned the home but his question was quickly answered.

        “Hey, I made you something, Nurse Redheart said you’d be waking up soon so I got you some food!” she rested a plate by him. On it sat a small variety of fruits and vegetables.

        “Thanks, Ditzy, is this your bed?” he asked looking around at the room. She nodded softly and then asked her own question.

        “Did you really mean that?” he gave her a puzzled look and questioned about it.

        “Mean what?” she sighed and muttered, “nevermind, it wasn’t important.” He cocked his head and shrugged.

        “Ugghh, I feel like complete RUBBISH! Do you have anything for this pain?” He asked with a groan, he looked around and realized he was now in an empty room.

        “Oh, well nevermind then,” he turned carefully onto his side and went back to sleep.

        He woke up to a soft pressure on his back. He wiggled a bit to move and to his surprise, it wiggled back. He burst from the bed and rotated mid air, landing on his rear against a wall. In the bed next to where he was was Ditzy. She sat up and yawned, turning to look at the startled brown colt.

        “What’s wrong?” she asked, giving him a puzzled wall-eyed look.

        “You’re in the same bed as me! I’m a male, you’re female. We don’t get in the same bed unless... Well I think you know why!” he responded, his eyes wide.

        “Ah! Sorry mister! I wasn’t meaning anything like that, it’s just this is my bed and well uh... Sorry! I’ll sleep in the Guest room tonight.” she began to get up to walk out.

        “No, I will but uh... How do you stand up?” he asked awkwardly. She looked at him oddly.

        “Well... I don’t really know mister, you just kind of do I guess. Can you not stand?” he shook his head and she rushed off.

        “Hey! Don’t leave me here! This floor isn’t comfy!” he shouted out, pouting softly until she walked back in with a wheel-chair. She helped him into it and moved him into the guest bedroom. Helping him onto the bed as well.

        “Sleep well! And tomorrow I’ll help you stand, alright?” he nodded and turned over. Sighing as the room faded to darkness as Ditzy closed the door. He fell asleep again moments later.

        “Hey, mister,” the Doctor awoke slowly. Drowsy from his excessive sleep.

        “Huh, what?” he looks around for the source of the voice before realizing she was right in front of him at the side of the bed.

        “I think it’s about time we taught you to walk again,” she offered kindly. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and nodded, crawling carefully out of the low bed into the wheelchair to wheel himself out of the room. He followed Ditzy into the backyard.

        “Alright then, Mister..?” she asked, turning and jumping up, her wings expanding out to hold her in the air.

        “I can’t quite recall, actually... Did I have anything with me?” she shook her head. “Nothing except a pocket watch. It’s inside by your bed and it refuses to open.”

        “Oh, well I’ll check it out later, for now... Standing and walking. How do I do it?” she laughed softly and landed in front of him.

        “First, get out of the wheelchair please,” she requested kindly. He crawled out and flopped onto the grass with a grunt. He looked up to her and asked,

        “Okay, now what?” she lied down next to him, copying his position. And with slow precision, Stood up.

        “Get your hooves underneath you and push upward!” she explained. he followed her lead and slowly stood up. His stance was very off-balance and he was wobbly. But the moment he would start to fall Ditzy righted him.

        “Okay, work on that a bit till you’re balanced, alright? Shouldn’t be too hard!” she explained, “I’ll go get us drinks,” she walked inside with a small skip in her step. While he continued to tip back and forth. He fell on his side occasionally but even still stood back up.

        “You will not defeat me gravity! I have legs!” he shouted, Ditzy looked out the window and saw him standing leaning left and right slightly but standing.

        “A-ha! I got it! Ditzy, Ditzy! Come here! I’m standing!” she walked outside and he was grinning happily. Standing perfectly balanced on all four legs.

        “That’s great! Now, want to try walking?” he nodded, holding the same determined look in his face.

        “Okay follow my lead,” she said as she slowly began to walk forward. He watched carefully and, with effort, began to mimic her. After several minutes and twice as many falls later, he was strutting around that small yard like a champion.

        “This isn’t that hard! I want to go on a long walk now, just keep walking! No! Better, running! Teach me how to run! I think I love running!” he shouted, walking with excited steps over to Ditzy.

        “Alright, running is harder I think, so follow my lead carefully, don’t want you getting hurt,” She took off around the yard in a mild run and, after a few seconds of watching, the Doctor caught up to her.

        “This feels so natural! The wind flowing by, my hair whipping around, my legs moving so quickly! Ha-ha! I love running!” he rushed into the house and out the front door. Ditzy stumbling to turn and catch up to him.

        “Hey, wait!” she shouted out the front door as he ran into town. She sighed and flew to catch up.

        She found him sitting outside of the Carousel Boutique, eyes locked on an accessory. A green tie to be precise.

        “That, Ditzy, do you have any money to buy it?” he almost begged, eyes wide at the tie.

        “uh, I think. But I’d have to go home to get it, let’s go talk to Rarity about it. Maybe she’ll give us a discount,” she walked inside and he followed quickly. They found Rarity sipping a drink behind the counter.

        “Ah, Ditzy! A rare site in this fine establishment, what can I get for you dear?” she asked, walking around the counter.

        “My friend here was eying that green tie you had on display and we were curious as to how much it costed,” she said, her voice almost apologetic. Rarity looked at the Doctor, walking around him slowly.

        “For him? Free. He needs an accessory, his appearance is appallingly boring!” she explained, walking to the front of the store and retrieved the tie, using magic to remove it and place it on him.

        “I’ll even throw in the straight collar, a tie alone looks bad, but with a good old straight collar, fabulous!” she exclaimed, using magic to hold a mirror ahead of him. He smiled and bowed his head.

        “Thank you miss, I love it!” he rushed out of the store, Ditzy stuttering to say something to slow him down.

        “Huh, he’s almost as sporadic as you, Ditzy. Let’s all hope he isn’t as clumsy, alright dear?” she said, a hint of mockery in her voice.

        “Yeah, heh, let’s hope so...” she replied with a fake smile and laugh, walking out of the store. When she closed the door behind her she sighed and looked around. The Doctor was sitting right outside by the door.

        “Hey Ditzy, mind showing me where I fell? I want to see if anything was there with me. I feel like I should check,” he requested, his ecstatic grin replaced by a curious flat line.

        “Sure, I think it’s this way,” she said, walking off towards the woods.

        Soon they reached a small opening in the trees. In the ground was an depression, almost a small crater.

        “Huh, nothing here. Well that’s a let down,”he stated, ready to turn around. Ditzy stopped him before he did.

“Wait, what about those keys and that metal rod thingy?”  she pointed out, the Doctor rotated and looked into the indent once more, squinting for a moment before he laughed softly.

“How did I not see those?” he asked, bending down and grabbing the two objects with his mouth. The two keys on a small rope and both having an odd circular symbol on it. The metal rod was mostly silver with gold rimming and a blue orb at the tip. The orb seemed to be held by four clamp-like bars. On one side was a small button with an area that looked like it opened up. Though nothing happened when he pressed it.

        “Any idea what that is or what the keys go to?” Ditzy asked, looking over his shoulder at the items. The Doctor used his mouth to put the metal item in his collar, and tossed the necklace in the air and caught it around his neck.

        “Not a clue, but I suppose we’ll find out eventually, won’t we?” he turned to walk back to Ponyville, Ditzy turned and walked up next to him, looking over at him she noticed he looked different, as if he had turned a little more grey.

        “Hey, you alright? You seem... Troubled,” she asked softly. He sighed and shrugged.

        “Ah, I just have a headache, let’s go home and eat lunch,” he requested, lowering his head to avert his eyes from the sun. She nodded softly and then began walking to her house.

        “Oh my... This is delicious! What is it?!” the Doctor exclaimed, taking another bite into the pastry.

        “uh, it’s a blueberry muffin, have you really never heard of it?” she asked, a small grin on her face.

        “I don’t remember anything before meeting you, so I might have, but heavens above this is amazing!” he quickly scarfed down the remnants of his muffin. leaving not even crumbs on his small plate.

        “Anyways, I’ve been meaning to ask, Ditzy,” he began, she looked up attentively, curious as to what he has to say.

        “What’s with the bubbles on your hip?” Ditzy’s eyes straightened for a moment before the right one popped to look somewhere else.

        “Oh, that’s my cutie mark, it symbolizes what I’m good at,” she explained, standing up and displaying it to him.

“Ah, but I don’t seem to have one, are you born with it or do you get it later in life?” he asked while examining his own featureless flank.

“You usually get it after you’ve discovered your talent. What you are the best at and no one is better at it than you. I wonder what yours is!” she exclaimed, smiling brightly.

        “Probably something boring, if I can’t even remember my name, I must’ve not been very important,” he sighed, dropping his gaze. To Ditzy’s surprise something other than his attitude changed. With a soft almost invisible golden shimmer his colors shifted from brown to grey. his eyes become an Icy blue rather than a watery blue.

        “What the... Mister your color changed!” she exclaimed. He jumped and exclaimed back, his color shifting to normal just as fast as it changed.

        “Huh?! What do you mean Ditzy?” she stuttered to begin speaking, her eyes both focused tightly on him.

        “You were brown, then grey, then brown again! What happened?” she asked, hoping he might know what caused that anomaly

“Well, we were talking, I said something that made me feel upset, and then I sort of felt even more sad. Like nothing could make it better, and then you said my color changed and the feeling went away,”  he explained carefully. She thought for a moment and then explained her thoughts.

“I think you change color when you get sad. Because what it sounds like is when you got sad, you got grey, and when you got excited, you got brown!” he thought for a moment and shrugged.

“Who knows? I suppose we’ll find out later in time, but for now I’ll try and keep happy. Yeah, happy sounds good.” he smiled and glanced outside. “Let’s go for a walk, shall we?”

“Sure, how’s your head feel?” she asked, a mother-like essence audible deep within her voice.

“Ah, feels great actually. Shall we go?” he stood up and turned to face the door, she smiled softly and walked up to be next to him, and they both together walked outside.

The Doctor glanced around, looking to the ponies nearby snickering softly to themselves, casting glances at the two contrast ponies walking. He caught tid-bits of conversations, the majority of what was said was mocking or insulting to Ditzy.

“Hey, why does everypony seem not to like you?” he whispered to her, glaring at the ponies watching them.

“I’m a bit clumsy, and if you haven’t noticed, my eyes are a bit... Off. So they tease me for it,” she explained quietly, sighing softly.

“Well that’s quite horrible of them, have you ever tried to stop them..?” he asked quietly,

“No, but if I did they’d probably hate me more and tease me even worse,” she responded somberly, glancing to the ground as she walked. Almost as if she was uncomfortable to be in public. Out of the crowds of ponies around them, one name-less colt shouted out,

“hey! Bubble-butt’s got a boyfriend! And he’s a blank-flank!” several ponies laughed, a few more snide remarks flying out at them. Ditzy looked to the Doctor, wondering if he would join them or ignore them. But to her surprise he did neither. Rather he ran to a crate and jumped onto it.

“Oi! Everypony who thinks it’s funny to tease Ditzy Doo,” he began, another pony shouting up “Her name is Derpy Hooves!” He coughed and glared into the crowd. His eyes a deep icy blue and his brown shade slowly fading. “You all should stop, just because she is different doesn’t mean you should make fun of her. Your differences are what you all practically worship! Look at your flanks and tell me you aren’t different from everypony around you!” a collective murmur echoed through the small crowd that had gathered below him. He looked across the crowd and saw Ditzy to the side, tears on the edge of her eyes and a wobbling smile spread across her face.

“Now, look me in the eyes and tell me you will go RIGHT back to your habits of teasing her. That because her eyes are a bit off and she is a bit clumsy, you will separate her and make her feel like an outcast. I can assure you that not a single one of you ponies would want to feel as she does. So don’t make her feel that way,” he finished his rant and stepped down. The crowd opening to allow him to walk up to Ditzy, who stood up and hugged him suddenly. Whispering quietly, so nopony near could hear her,

“Thank you, thank you so much...” he smiled softly and hugged her back, when they let go of each other they continued on their walk.

        “I couldn’t let them go about barraging you with insults and rude comments. Why should anypony go through that, especially you? You saved my life!” he whispered loudly. with a soft smile he turned to look at Ditzy, who still had tears on the edge of her eyes, a few had already ran down her cheeks. She looked back and found his eyes were no longer icy blue, but where once again ocean blue, just like they were when he was happy.

        “hey, you alright there? Still got a few tears,” he said, wiping one away with a careful hoof as it rolled down.

        “Y-yeah... I’m perfect actually, I’m so happy right now...” She smiled brightly at him, hugging him again softly. After the hug they continued walking and stopped in the park. They sat down on a bench silently.

        “So... They er... They thought we were dating,” she said softly, her face a bit flushed while she kept her gaze solid with the ground. Even her wall-eye still was at the ground.

        “Oh, did they? I wouldn’t see how, we’re just friends right?” he responded, unaware of the effect of his words.

        “Yeah, heh... Just friends... I wouldn’t see why they would think that anyways; I’ve never had a special somepony,” she muttered to him, closing her eyes tightly.

        “Hey, Ditzy,” he turned his head to look at her, she turned hers as well and met his solid gaze. His eyes almost hypnotizing her.

        “Y-yeah?” she answered, almost excited for whatever may come.

        “Tag, you’re it,” he said, poking her shoulder softly before standing up and rushing off. She watched him run, surprised and a bit confused at what happened. With a quick shake of her head she stood up and raced after him. Using her wings to gain speed as she accelerated after the fleeing and laughing brown pony.

        They sat down on a bench, the sun was beginning to set and they were both exhausted and panting. The Doctor laughed and began,

        “That was... fun! I love running, and I... Saw some kids playing... That game, so I wanted to try it... too!” she laughed and smiled at him.

        “Yeah, I haven’t had that much fun in a while, it’s getting late but... I don’t want to go home yet,” she sighed and looked up at the setting sun, both her eyes focusing on the beautiful sunset.

        “Well, I noticed what looked like a place we could get drinks, how about we stop there for a bit?” he suggested, she gasped at the statement.

        “I’ve never been to a bar, or drunk anything alcoholic!” she explained, but before he could show any signs of being upset, nodded in agreement. She got up and he followed her to the local bar.

        “Wooooh!” Ditzy exclaimed, bursting through her front door, the Doctor cracking up behind her.

        ‘So you’re telling me that, this pony who claimed to be the most amazing unicorn in the world, could barely do any magic? That’s hilarious!” he stumbled into the house. Knocking over a lamp.

        “Heh... Oops, sorry about that... Lamp. We should get to bed,” he said, his speech heavily slurred.

        “I still can’t believe you drank so much! I couldn’t take more than four glasses but you... You just kept going and going!” She twirled as she spoke, the Doctor guiding her to her bedroom. When he turned to walk to his room she shouted,

        “H-hey! Don’t just... Leave me here all alone! I finally got to have a good time with somepony and I don’t want you to leave,” she explained, tears forming on her eyes.

        “Where would I go, Ditzy? I don’t know of anywhere else I could stay, but if it makes you happy, I’ll sleep in here for the night,” she shoved her front legs in the air and exclaimed, “Hurraaay!” before falling backwards into the bed. He crawled into it next to her and faced the wall, pulling the covers up on him. He felt her shuffle behind him and felt her tail swish across him softly, sending shivers through him. Moments later he felt a leg creep across his hip and Ditzy’s drunken giggle. It stayed there for a few moments before she pulled him onto his back and jumped to sit atop his belly.

        “Hey, you know what a male and female does when they get in the same bed together, right?” she said, dropping down so her face was mere inches from his. Their noses touching softly. He began to nod and she slowly slipped backward. She looked up at him, her eyes different directions again, but somehow it looked good for her. Her mane was ruffled but to him she looked like a goddess. But before anything could really start a thought went through his mind. One he didn’t fully remember nor forget. But it was enough to change his mind.

        “Ditzy, I’m sorry but... I can’t. We can’t.” he whispered to her apologetically. She  turned to look behind and then back up at him. dropping a hoof next to his face and dropping down so their noses touched again.

        “So which half is lying, the top or the bottom?” she grinned and giggled at him, before slowly descending to kiss him. But he shook his head and moved her off him. She pouted quietly and gave him a begging look.

        “Ditzy, this is wrong, all wrong, you’re drunk, I’m a bit tipsy, and... We shouldn’t do that, alright?” he explained quietly, his voice cracking almost noticeably.

        “Can I at least get a good night kiss..?” she asked while her eyes trying to shut. He nodded and leaned down, placing a soft and careful kiss on her forehead. She pouted quietly a bit more and he smiled at her. She laid onto her side and pulled a pillow close to her and quickly fell asleep. The last she heard of him was the door creaking closed as he left and went to the guest room.