“Well, what have we here?” The Doctor walked out of the TARDIS and determined his new surroundings. He had heard much of Ponyville before, but had never actually visited the town himself. He knew all about how six of its residents saved Equestria not once, but twice, both events within just a year of each other! He knew that he should check the town for any dangers after himself, and he needed a new companion. He decided that it could not be those six ponies, though, but somepony that didn’t get nearly as much attention or praise.
“First things first: I want to see my new self. I wonder where I could find a mirror...” He found a mirror in a boutique shortly after walking into town. “Hmm, not bad! Not bad at all. I love this hairstyle!” A beautiful young unicorn walked up to him, seeing him admiring himself in her mirror. “Is there anything I can help you with, sir?” The Doctor took a step back. “Oh, no, I just needed a mirror. I’ll be on my way.” He knew very well who that was: it was Rarity, one of the six ponies who had saved Equestria. “I cannot get involved with important ponies. Never again.”
The good Doctor strolled through Ponyville with no real destination but to find something worth his time. He walked past a vibrant library in a tree, a bakery where he bought some wonderfully tasty pastries, a vast farm teeming with apple trees, and he continued his stroll until he came to the town square. He didn’t stop for any beauty of the site, any danger he saw, or even just because he was tired from trotting for hours. There, right in front of the town hall, was a young grey pegasus that was blatantly being avoided by everypony. Occasionally, somepony would walk by her and call her names, spit in her direction, and even throw rocks at her! This had to be stopped.
“Are you alright? I saw them doing all those things to you, and I felt a need to come over and comfort you. Why would they do all that?” The pegasus kept her eyes closed, and continued to cry. “Are you not going to look at me? Don’t worry, I’m not like them. I promise that I won’t do anything to hurt you.” She opened up her eyes and looked brightly at him. He then saw why those ponies did what they did: her eyes refused to keep straight, going in different directions. “Thanks, mister. My name’s Ditzy Doo, but some ponies call me ‘Derpy.’ Why do you want to talk to me? Most everypony thinks I’m a klutz and makes fun of my eyes.” The Doctor replied, “I have met a lot, and I mean a lot of ponies that I could’ve done nothing to but mock. So, naturally, I got to know them, and found reasons to love them. Come on, we should go. Do you have a house?” Ditzy nodded, and then they were off.
Ditzy had a fairly average home. Actually, considering she was a pegasus, she should have been living in a house on a cloud near Ponyville. Instead, she lived in a regular Earth pony house. Still, it was fairly nice; the outer walls were painted with any and every color you could think of, but in a way that made it look wonderful, not messy. Inside, aside from the clutter of letters on the floor, it was also quite tidy. The Doctor started to grow hungry, so naturally he went to the kitchen. The only food Ditzy had, to his surprise, was muffins. Loads and loads of muffins. Not that he didn’t like them, but he would’ve loved a banana right now. Luckily, he found a couple of banana-nut muffins to snack on whilst continuing his private tour of the house. Ditzy’s room had only her bed, uniform, and pictures of her family. It was clear that she loved her sister, especially, who, from what he could infer, was a filly unicorn named Dinky Doo. He then stopped his ‘tour’ of Ditzy’s house and went to find her. She was lying on her couch in the living room, still recovering from her tears.
“It’s not fair,” she managed to let out. “Everypony has lots of other ponies that like them, but I have none. When I was in school with the other fillies, everypony stayed clear of me. Even Miss Cheerilee managed to avoid me as much as she could. I may not look it, but I’m a smart pony. I didn’t ask to have these eyes or to be clumsy, but the only ponies that didn’t ever mock me were my family members. They live on the other side of Ponyville now, and the only one I ever get to see is my sister Dinky when she comes for visits during school breaks. I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this; I don’t even know your name!”
“Oh yes, my apologies! I’m the Doctor.” “Doctor who?” Ditzy asked. “There’s nothing else to it; just ‘The Doctor.’ I don’t live here, but I decided to pass through here to find something or somepony worthwhile. I think I found just that in you. You know, you don’t have to take what everypony else does to you. If you came with me, we could meet plenty of ponies that would accept you. Plus, we could go anywhere and anytime you want. How does that sound?” Ditzy looked upon him with complete fascination, to which he felt slightly uncomfortable. She then replied, “But what about my job? Somepony has to deliver the mail!” “Just quit,” he said. “It won’t be too hard to replace a mailpony, I presume.”
The next day, Ditzy prepared thoroughly for her permanent trip with the Doctor. She reluctantly quit her job, packed everything she wanted to take (money, family pictures, and, of course, plenty of muffins!), and bid her family a good farewell. She proceeded to meet the Doctor near the Everfree Forest, just as he instructed her. However, all she could see was an old police box from the 1950’s. She saw the Doctor come out to greet her. “Shall we get going?” “What do you mean? All I see is police box, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” she replied. The Doctor chuckled a bit. “Step inside and you’ll understand.” Confused, Ditzy opened the door and stepped inside, where she saw that it was several times as big inside than it was outside. She was only in the console room, but saw several openings for other rooms and corridors.
“W-what is this place? It’s huge!” “This is the TARDIS,” he said. It’s my ship. It stands for ‘Time and Relative Dimension in Space.’ Oldest one in the universe, she is. It can travel through anything that the universe has available, whether it’s through one planet, outer space, or even time!” “What...who are you?” Ditzy asked. “I told you: I’m the Doctor. But I think I have the specific answer you’re looking for. I am the last of an extinct race of beings called ‘Time Lords.’ We were such a wonderful race, and everypony had a TARDIS in which they could travel to any point of time in the universe. But then, there was the Time War...I’m sorry, I think I’ve given you more than enough information to live by. Shall we go now?” Ditzy still had more questions, especially concerning this “Time War” he spoke of. She found it polite, however, to leave it be for a bit, and if the subject ever came up again, she would get her answer.
“Now then, where do you want to go? There’s plenty of places to go, not to mention we can go there during any time period. You know what? I have a craving to go back and meet Star Swirl the Bearded. Does that sound alright to you?” Ditzy nodded. “Fantastic! And now, we’re off!” He went through tons of controls of the TARDIS to set the coordinates for his and Ditzy’s first destination together. The TARDIS shook as it left its spot near the Everfree Forest, and with a few flashes of light, they were gone.
“So, who’s ‘Star Swirl the Bearded?’” Derpy asked. “He was probably the most important conjurer of magic during the Pre-Classical Era,” the Doctor replied. “Not to mention he mentored Clover the Clever, one of the founders of Equestria! I don’t see how anypony could ever forget him, for he’s one of the greatest historical figures in Equestrian history. There’s a whole wing named after him in the Canterlot Archives, for Celestia’s sake! Oh well, you’ll know him once we meet him here soon, because we’re here.”
Ditzy and the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS in the middle of the night. Upon looking around, the Doctor could hear faint electronic noises in the background. He also saw a few small, blue lights in the direction of the noises. “Hello? Is anypony there? We’re sorry we disturbed your sleep, but I tend to make a lot of noise whenever I arrive somewhere.” He heard a fairly loud reply from several figures, but with the same, menacing voice, “Presence detected! The Doctor is near! The Doctor is near!” The Doctor’s eyes widened in horror. “No. It can’t be! It just can’t! Not now!” “What? Who are they?” Ditzy asked. “Daleks,” he replied.
“EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”
