Episode 1: Her Only Friend
Derpy Hooves didn't have many friends. She never really spent much time with anypony, outside of her parents. But they weren't home most of the time. Her father was a member of the royal guard, so he was always away on missions for the Princess, and her mother was Ponyville's current mail mare, delivering letters and packages to and from the small village. It didn't help that she wasn't the most popular pony at her school....she was often made fun of for her eyes....they were never straight like other ponies eyes. They were always staring off into two opposite directions. On this particular night, Derpy was resting from a particularly awful day. Her father was away on a mission, and her mother was off delivering a package. And today, the bullies were particularly brutal. She was laying in bed that night, crying into her pillow. When she looked out the window and saw a shooting star. She remembered something her mother had told her.
"Derpy, I'm going to tell you something my mother told me when I was your age. Whenever you see a shooting star, make a wish. And if you truly believe, it will come true."
Derpy scrambled to the window sill just above her bed. She closed her eyes tightly. "Shooting Star....I wish....for a friend..." She whispered silently to herself. "Not just any friend.... the perfect friend...." When she opened her eyes, the star was gone. She wondered if her wish would really come true. She looked all around her room. Nopony was there. She looked in the closet, under her bed, nopony was there. Did her mother lie...? Where was her new friend? She made a wish! But nothing happened....Derpy was just about to sadly go back to bed, when she heard something. She looked up at her window, and there was the shooting star again! Only, it was a bit closer....and it was making a strange sound.....it sounded a little bit like... "VWORP, VWORP", like the parts of a large machine churning....
It got louder as the star grew closer....it looked like it was going to smash right into her house. Derpy yelped and dove under her pillow, curled up into a ball, waiting for the impact, shivering violently. She heard a large crash. The churning sound stopped. Derpy opened her eyes. She lifted the pillow off of herself, and found her house was still in tact. She then looked out her window to find there was....something in her front yard. She quickly hopped off of her bed and ran outside. It was a cool night, lots of stars in the sky. At the time, Nightmare Moon was still sealed away on the moon, so Princess Celestia was left in charge of the night. Derpy galloped closer, fluttering her tiny wings to give herself momentum, but stopped at the strange thing she saw. Inside of a smoking crater....was a large blue box...unlike anything she had ever seen before! The light on top of it was shining brightly. The little filly crept closer to the box...and she saw that there were words on the top....Derpy was never very good at reading....the only things she could make out were "POL" and "OX". Why would a box named Pol Ox crash in her front yard?
When Derpy took another step, the doors swung open, causing smoke to pour out, startling the little filly. Just then, she noticed something, or rather, somepony, climbing out of it. He was having a couching fit, and wearing clothes that looked at least three times too big for him. Once he climbed out, the pony collapsed on the ground, still coughing. When Derpy looked, she could see that this strange pony was a stallion, he appeared to be about as old as her father. He had a brown coat, with a dark brown mane. His hour glass cutie mark was glowing. Derpy thought that was particularly strange.... "Um...excuse me sir..." She said. "W-why is your cutie mark glowing?"
The stallion opened his eyes slightly, to reveal they were a light shade of blue. "C-Cutie Mark?" He rasped. "W-What's a cutie mark....?"
Derpy was confused by this. Why wouldn't this stallion know what a cutie mark is? The stallion looked at her closely. "Oh...I hope you don't mind me saying....but you appear to be a tiny horse...."
"Tiny horse?" Derpy asked. "I'm a pony!"
The stallion sat up on his haunches and put a hoof to his head. "Give me a minute, love.....just gotta clear my head...ok...who am I? The Doctor...I'm the Doctor, that's right.....and what was happening before...I believe I was crashing....Yes! That's right!"
Derpy couldn't understand any of what he was saying. "Um...I'm sorry....but I'm confused--"
"As you should be! That's normal..." The Stallion said with a smile. "Alright, let's have a look at the new duds so to speak.." He then gave his face a thorough pat-down. "Ooh...I've got a big nose don't I--OH!!! HOOVES?! WHAT?!" The stallion fell over onto his back, looking at his hooves with a shocked expression on his face. "HOOVES?!?! HOW?!?!? WHY!? WHAT?!"
Now Derpy was even more confused than before. "Why are you surprised, Mister? Everypony has hooves!" She said.
The Stallion looked confysed at her. He looked at her closer, then looked back at his hooves. "So...you're a pony....and I'm a pony....?"
Derpy nodded. "Yup!"
The stallion's confused expression turned into a wide grin. "BRILLIANT!!!!" He immediately took to his hooves....only to fall back down again. "Oh....right...pardon me, some assitance? I seem to have forgotten how to walk...."
Derpy remembered that per parents always told her to never bring a stranger in the house....but this pony really looked like he needed some help. The little filly held The stallion's weight on her shoulder, and carried him inside. "You walk like this... one two three four..." The stallion payed attention, looking to the little filly's hooves. As they stepped inside of the filly's house, the stallion's stomach growled rather loudly. "Oh, rubbish....this is never a fun part...."
"Huh?" Derpy asked as she set him down in a chair. "What's never a fun part, mister?"
"I'm hungry!" The stallion said. "And I have no idea what I would like to eat...."
Derpy looked at this strange stallion peculiarly. "W-Who are you?"
"The Doctor." The stallion said with a smile. He then looked at his hooves, which were giving off a golden glow, along with his cutie mark. "And it looks like I'm still cooking!"
"Still cooking?" The confused little filly asked. "What do you mean?"
The Doctor looked up from his hooves and at Derpy. "Oh, regeneration process, hard to explain, anyway, what have you got to eat?"
Derpy put a hoof to her chin in thought. She wasn't much of a cook, being just a filly after all. However, there was one thing she knew how to make....she made them with her mother all the time, when she wasn't out delivering packages, that is, and they were her favorite treat. "Muffins!" She exclaimed.
The Doctor looked at her peciliarly. "Muffins?" He asked. He then shrugged. "Very well! Muffins it is then!"
Derpy nodded excitedly, and began getting the supplies she needed out of the pantry. After a few minutes, and quite a mess being made, the little filly walked the tray of freshly baked muffins over to the table where the stranger was sitting. "I hope you like blueberry!" Derpy said.
The Doctor tried to pick up one of the muffins, but to no avail. It fell out of his hooves, and onto the floor. "Oh, dreadfully sorry about that...forgot I don't have fingers.....by the way, I need to ask, is everyone a pony here?"
"You mean everypony." Derpy said.
"Well, I guess that answers my question...."
"And...what are figers?" Derpy asked.
"Oh...hard to explain...little time, it'd be better if you just showed me how to hold things with these....hooves...."
Derpy looked at him peculiarly. How could he not know how to hold things with his hooves? "It's easy! Like this!" She held one of the muffins in her hoof effortlessly, much to The Doctor's interest.
"You make it look so easy...." He said, as he went for another muffin, just barely balancing it on his hoof. "Look! Haha! I'm doing it!" The stallion chuckled.
Derpy couldn't help but giggle. This stallion was strange, but he sure was funny! "Better eat it before it falls out of your hoof again!"
The Doctor nodded. He quickly took a bite of the blueberry muffin.....much to his surprise....he liked it! "Mmm MMM!!! Delicious!" He took another bite. "Did you make these yourself?"
A red flush covered the filly's cheeks. "Yeah...I did! All by myself!"
The Doctor nodded. "Exemplary, young lady! I think muffins are your speciality!" He said with a smile.
Derpy giggled a bit embarressed. "Well....they're the only thing I can cook..."
The Doctor nodded at that.
"Ok....now that your belly is full....maybe you can answer my questions." The filly said.
The Doctor nodded. "Right then. Ask away!"
"Who are you?" She asked.
"The Doctor." He said.
"Doctor Who?"
"Just The Doctor."
"Why just 'The Doctor'?'"
"It's just what I like to be called."
Derpy nodded, knowing that she wasn't going to get his real name, even if she kept asking. "Why was your cutie mark glowing?"
"What's a cutie mark?" The Doctor asked.
Derpy's wonky eyes widened at that. "You don't know what a cutie mark is?!" She asked, with a flabbergasted tone about her voice.
The Doctor was a bit confused by her shocked tone, but simply shook his head. "Nope. No knowledge of it."
The little filly poked the hourglass on his flank. "That's a cutie mark!"
The Doctor looked down at the area she poked. "Oh! How long has that been there?"
Derpy just sat there, mouth agape. She knew she was just a filly, a rather clumsy one at that, but even she knew what a cutie mark was! "A cutie mark is a mark somepony earns when they find out their special talent! I haven't earned mine yet...but I will!"
The Doctor put a hoof to his chin, fascinated. "So....a Cutie Mark reprisents someone--sorry--somepony's talents......" He looked at the hour glass on his rump. "Oh! Look at that! An hourglass! So fitting!" He said excitedly with a chuckle.
Derpy looked at his cutie mark as well. "Does this mean your special talent is time?" She asked.
The Doctor held his head high. "I suppose so! I am a Time Lord, after all!"
"Time Lord?" The filly asked. "What's that?"
"Ah, a question I have answered many times." The Doctor said. "I'm a Time Lord. And it's exactly what it sounds like! A Lord of Time! I'm from the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kastoberus....I doubt it's here though...this appears to be a different dimension from the one I live in entirely..."
"Planet Gallifrey.....so you're a space alien?!" Derpy asked.
The Doctor nodded. "To put it bluntly, yes."
Derpy grinned widely. "That's soooooooooooooooooooooo COOL!!"
The Time Lord was a bit surprised by this. Usually, people were quite freaked out when they heard he was an alien. "Ahem, well, yes...thank you....anyway, as to why my.... Cutie Mark was glowing...it might've been because of the regeneration process..."
"Regeneration Process?" Derpy asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "Too long of an explanation, you wouldn't understand, how could you? You're young! Anyway, next question!"
Derpy was confused by this, but just shook her head. "Why are you wearing clothes that are too big for you?" She asked.
The Doctor looked down at his large garments that just barely stayed on his body. "Ah, well, my previous body was a lot larger than this, again, this has to do with the whole regeneration thing I said you wouldn't understand...anyway, moving on?"
Derpy nodded. "What was that big blue Pol Ox box that you came out of?"
The Doctor looked confused. "Pol...Ox?" He asked. "Big...blue...Oh! You mean my TARDIS!!!"
"Tardis?" Derpy asked. "That's not what I read!"
"Not what you read?" The Doctor asked. When the realization came to him, he chuckled slightly. "Oh, no no, my dear, it didn't say Pol Ox... It said Police Public Call Box!" He laughed.
Derpy looked down, clearly offended by The Doctor laughing at her. "I can't read very well because of my eyes....."
When the stallion noticed this, he stopped laughing. "Oh....I'm sorry...." He then held her head up with a hoof and looked into her eyes. "What do you mean? They look fine!"
Was this stallion kidding her? Or just blind? He was strange... "No they don't! They're all wonky!"
This was true. Derpy did have some very wonky eyes, they never looked in the same direction. Only off in different directions. The Doctor noticed this, but he didn't care. "Well, I think they look just right for you!" The Doctor said with a smile.
Hearing this made Derpy smile. Nopony besides her parents ever told her that her eyes looked just right. "Th-Thank you...."
The Doctor felt bad...he wanted to do something to cheer her up. "Aha! How about I show you my box? The Blue Box that is, that I crashed in your yard? Sorry about that, by the way..."
Derpy looked out the window, back to the crashed box. "Uh....sure!"
"Fantastic! Ooh! Haven't said that in a while.... Come! Come! Don't worry about me, I think I've gotten the hang of these hooves...." The Doctor interjected as he hopped off the chair and onto his hooves. He still stumbled a slight bit, but he had gotten the hang of walking on his hooves rather quickly. Derpy followed him outside to the crash site. This was all very strange....yet also....amazing.....Derpy began thinking....he appeared just after she made the wish on the shooting star....was he....
"Here we are! The TARDIS!"
Derpy's train of thought was interrupted by The Doctor calling to her.
"TARDIS?" Derpy asked.
"TARDIS!" The Doctor exclaimed. "T-A-R-D-I-S. It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. TARDIS!"
"So...it's a time machine?" Derpy asked, intrigued.
"And a Space Ship! Anywhere in time and space you want to go, The TARDIS can tape you there!" The Doctor said, gesturing towards his crashed box, beaming with pride.
"COOOOOOOL!" Derpy shouted with a wide grin on her face. "CAN I COME WITH YOU?!"
That was a common question. Normally, he would say yes, but he had no idea where her parents were...and he did not want to face a kidnapping charge. "Hold on a minute...where are your parents?"
Derpy looked down. "They...aren't home very often....sometimes I don't think they would even notice if I'm gone...."
This nearely broke The Doctor's hearts. "I see....well....the TARDIS still has a few bugs to work out...it was pretty damaged during the crash...I need to go inside, work out a few things, then take it for a test run...it'll take about five minutes! Five minutes, and I'll be back! And I'll take you on an adventure! Alright?"
Derpy looked back up at him, excited. "Ok!"
The Doctor opened the doors, and leaped back inside. After a few seconds, the box began to disappear, making the same sound it did when it had appeared.
Derpy was amazed by the site....she sat down and waited for her new-found friend.....
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS LATER....
The TARDIS landed in the exact area it had crashed. The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS, now clad with a red tie around his neck, he had some time to search for a new wardrobe, one more fitting to his stature. He rushed out of the phone box, Sonic Screwdriver in his teeth. Five minutes he promised her....
Five minutes he promised her.... five minutes... "Little girl!" He shouted, looking around for her. "Little Filly! Where'd you go?" In his haste, he had never taken the opportunity to ask her what her name was......this would make things a whole lot easier.... He kept running around, asking ponies, "HAve you seen a small grey filly, no? Have you seek a filly--No? Small grey filly! Wonky yellow eyes?!" He sighed angrilly, as nopony seemed to know what he was talking about. As he walked into the center of the villiage, he noticed all the ponies about. Mares and Stallions, all of different shapes and sizes, all with different Cutie Marks....it was all rather fascinating! He wanted to learn all about this new community he stumbled upon, but there was no time! He had to find this filly!
"Excuse me" Somepony said to him. The Doctor turned. "Yes?"
"Did you say...Yellow wonky eyes?" It was a small light purple filly, her mane all done up nice, wearing a sparkling tiara on her head.
The Doctor nodded. "Yes! Have you seen her?"
"Then you must want Derpy Hooves... the clumsy mail mare...after she gave my daddy the wrong package, she flew off over there...I bet she crashed into a fruit stand or something!"
Wow, this little filly was really quite snobby....At least now he knew the filly's name! Wait...mail mare? He quickly ran off into the direction the snobby filly pointed out. Sure enough, she had crashed into a fruit stand. There was a grey mare, with a blonde mane standing next to it, as well as a rather angry looking fruit seller.
"Look what you've done to my inventory!! How am I supposed to sell SQUISHED fruit?!"
"I-I'm sorry sir...the Ponyville postal service can cover the cost of repair damage I caused..."
"I LOST A WHOLE DAY'S PROFIT BECAUSE OF YOU!!!"
The Doctor recognized her instantly....this was the filly he had met five minutes ago....now a fully grown mare.....Oh, bollux! This mean The Doctor went to far in her time line again!!
TIME TURNER
DERPY HOOVES
DOCTOR WHOOVES
TO BE CONTINUED IN: "THE FIRST ADVENTURE"....
Author's Note
Ok, I hope you liked this! I don't think it will do as well as Equestrian Turnabouts, but I think you guys will enjoy it! Let me know in the comments what you think! If you want me to continue the story, say so! If not, say so! And don't worry, I'm still working on Equestrian Turnabouts, I just wanted to write something else for the fun of it! Thank you!
