Groaning. That was the sound it would always make. Sorry not it, I mean she. He gets all grumpy when people call her an it. But she is an it! Well from the outside to anypony else she is an it. But inside it was a living being, a creature the size of Canterlot palace world, though he would say a trans dimensional space or pocket dimension, bigger on the inside. He loves when ponies say that.
Where was I? Oh right, she groaned. That was the sound she would always make when she moved. It wasn’t a pleasant sound, I’m no scientist, far from it in fact, but the groaning doesn’t sound healthy. Though it was unique. Even though it sounded like she was in pain that sound couldn’t be heard anywhere else. There was no comparison. Not even remotely close to the whale calls of the Equestrian oceans or the thunderous roars of the mighty dragons. He said that someone once told him that sound she makes brings hope to everypony.
I didn’t believe it at the time but that pony was right. That groaning sound did bring hope. Through the lands of Equestria…
“EX-”
Through the starts and moons in the skies above.
“TER-”
Into the beauty of the time and space.
“MIN”
To me right now, when I need him the most.
“ATE!”
The daleks were closing in quickly. My back was against the wall and I looked left and right for a way out but it was hopeless. There were dozens of them on all sides and they all kept chanting.
“EXTERMINATE!
“EXTERMINATE!”
“EXTERMINATE!”
Crouching down I started whimpering. I shielded myself with my wings and shut my eyes. The darkness inside was scary but the thought of looking up at them as they got closer was unbearable.
I had been separated from him and now here I was trapped. Like always I was useless, without him I didn’t feel special. He would always nag me when I doubted myself, saying that I am brilliant. I’ve never been told that. No pony in flight camp ever said I was, they called me names like featherbrain and crossed eyed pigeon. I remember when we were visiting Cloudsdale, he was using some invention, hoof wear I think, to walk on clouds, we ran into the colts that would bully me. They hadn’t changed at all and called me names. He got very angry, scary angry. He didn’t raise his hooves against them, no, he lashed out with fire in his words and scared them away.
He would always make me feel special when I doubted myself. Through all our adventures he made me feel like I could actually help other ponies, that my special talent was making ponies smile. Maybe he was rubbing off on me. He always made me smile. That goofy tie he wears and that ridiculous red hat always cheered me up.
These thoughts gave me the courage to look up at the daleks, mere inches from my face. I could see them in two directions creeping slowely, still chanting:
“EXTERMINATE!”
“EXTERMINATE!”
“EXTERMINATE!”
After the first time with him I knew this might happen. He fell out of the sky while I was on a mail delivery. A blue box crashed into the Everfree forest. I had spotted it while I was delivering a letter to Zecora. Out he came with his bow tie and magic wand and a horde of stone statues all around. When we crossed paths I’ll never forget the first word he spoke to me: Run.
I ran. I ran faster that I ever had in my life. Past trees and branches, over boulders and crevices I ran along side him. The canopy of trees above closed in cutting off all the light as if controlled by a malevolent force. They were behind us and I each time I looked back they were but a meter from having us. It wasn’t possible to be that fast, even the weather pony in Ponyville wasn’t that fast. I screamed but he told me to keep running.
The bridge was out with a canyon miles deep below us. Ahead was the old castle of the two pony sisters. I looked to him and saw he wasn’t afraid. He only increased his speed and leapt off the edge. I extended my wings and took off and grabbed him. He was heavy but I managed to get him over the other side. The creatures hadn’t stopped and somehow they made it over the gap the instant we looked away.
He guided me into the main throne room and we were met with a dead end. I looked around for an exit but each place I found more of the creatures appeared. They had us surrounded from the ground and air. Gnashing stone teeth and hooves as sharp as steel blades. I shrunk back and whimpered cowering like I am now. But he stood forward and puffed out his chest, and laughed.
Well now isn’t this a sight? Forcing me to crash through the dimensional plain and chasing me all across the cosmos and for what? Power? Ooh you have to understand I don’t follow your rules. Send me back in time and you’ll just create a big old paradox that will obliterate you and half the solar system. Or perhaps one of you got board and thought that chasing me would be good entertainment? Now my friends that would be a mistake you see.
You don’t play games with me. Not when I’m angry, not when there’s a pony beside me crying. Ooh the lives you have destroyed coming after me. But you know what I’m feeling generous. Surrender now and I’ll let you go. Hm what no takers? Well I guess you can’t speak when you’re stone now can you HAHA! But that’s what I love about stone it means I can talk and talk and I not get interrupted. You think you’ve trapped me? Oh I think you’re very mistaken. You haven’t trapped me, I’ve trapped you.
Look around you! This is the castle of the two pony sisters! Now I’m no unicorn, still waiting for that regeneration, but I know for a fact there is a gorge of residual alicorn magic from when the two sisters living here and if I were to say match my sonic screwdriver with to the resonance of that magical frequency then I could, ooh I don’t know, rip open a portal to the void.
Or to put it simply angels, Geronimo!
With that he held his magical wand up and flicked it on. It emitted a green glow and made a loud buzzing sound. The ground shook and a portal above us opened up into a white void. A powerful wind swept around the creatures and dragged them into the void.
He held his hoof out to me and asked me if I was okay. Then for my help he said he owed me a trip and from that point on I traveled through the stars, through the vortex of time, facing danger at every turn. It was scary, but the people we helped, the things we saw, the friends we made, and the bond we shared made it all worth it.
I found out I was one of many ponies to follow him. Some had left him, some had been left behind and some… I was going to meet them.
I couldn’t deny it. It was inevitable.
“EXTERMINATE!”
I closed my eyes as the tears began to flow.
“EXTERMINATE!”
But through all of this I was still smiling.
“EXTERMINATE!
Because of him, that stallion, who battles monsters and demons, who helps ponies without seeking anything in return. Even in the end I can smile, because I’m friends with him, the Doctor.
Soft groaning.
“ALERT ALERT!”
The groaning grew louder.
“TARDIS INCOMING!”
I looked up and saw the daleks and the room blinking in and out of existence.
“THE DOCTOR IS HERE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!”
“Oye put a sock in it!” The Doctor yelled.
The daleks and room disappeared completely and I found myself in a large room. The console room of her, the Tardis, and at the center control panel, him, the Doctor.
“Shall we be off Miss Hooves?” He flicked a few levers and the Tardis groaning started up again. The room buckled and vibrated as it moved into the vortex that I couldn't see from the inside.
I sat there against the doors of the Tardis, staring at him. He danced around the console flicking switches and knobs. Occasionally he would stop at a typewriter and his hooves would fly across it with the precision of unicorn magic.
“So where to next? Cape Ponaveral? No not the city the diner! Best outer space diner this side of the cosmos! I have to tell you after all that running I’m famished. What about you?”
He kept his back turned to me as he spoke. He pulled out a mallet with his mouth and smashed it against board of nobs. The Tardis groaned and sputtered as if it was protesting.
“Hey easy there old girl.” He spat out the mallet and drew a hoof over the console gently. “Last time I didn’t calibrate your flux capacitor we ended up on the other side the Orion belt and about five million years past our target. Granted running into the star jackers and keeping them from freezing all the stars to sell made it all the more interesting but I’m hungry and feel like a good basket of star fish with a side of hey fries!”
I cracked a little smile but my heart kept racing. I was paralyzed with fear. Many times had we gone on adventures and more than once had my life been put at risk. One time we were taken prisoner by a race called the Draconversad, a scary war crazy race that wanted to conquer all Equestria. It was one of the first few adventures with the Doctor and my first time where I had to be brave.
The Draconversad hated the Doctor for his peace loving ways and made him stay on the bridge of their flagship to make him watch as they burned Equestria. He had told me to stay in the Tardis and wait for him but after a while of not coming back I got worried. The Tardis showed me wear he was but I was too afraid to get to him. The fleet was approaching the planet, the Doctor was captured, and Equestria was unaware of the impending attack.
If I didn’t do anything then this would be all my fault. I didn’t want to let everypony down. I did all I knew how to do when I was scared. I cried, I slumped down against he Tardis console wrapping myself in my wings and cried. However when I hit my head against the console something rolled off and fell in my lap. It was his magic wand! Or sonic screwdriver as he called it. One of the console screens floated down and showed me multiple images. Two of the engine room we were in and one of the Doctor, in chains, on the bridge. His expression was full of anger as he scowled at the leader of the Draconversad but also sorrow.
I felt something inside me grow when I saw his face, the one of pain. I couldn’t sit by and do nothing. I then had an idea, do what I have done many times carry mail, break everything. Summoning all my courage I exited the engine room hid behind some crates. There weren’t many guards, a few technicians, scary technicians. Draconversad had multiple layers of teeth and stood two ponies tall. They had four arms and powerful tails that the Doctor said were filled with poison. I gulped and took in my surroundings: dohickies and beeping machines, pipes and valves, and a lot of colorful lights.
I charged the first thing I saw and started pressing any thing that was lit up. Activating the screwdriver I pointed it at another wall of lights and they sparkled and exploded causing multiple sirens and lights to go off through the ship. I ran as fast as I could point the screwdriver in all directions. The technicians saw me and went to grab me. I flew over them; a couple of them jumped but couldn’t reach me. My heart was racing the whole time. I flew up through the engine room still holding the sonic screwdriver and making things spark and explode.
My vision was filled with red emergency lights and my ears were filled with screaming. I kept going despite it! I kept moving towards the top. I probably should have kept one eye on the ground because I didn’t see the laser that hit me a moment later. They stunned me and dragged me to the bridge. The Doctor looked at me in horror when he saw me. I had a bruised wing and a bump on my head from the fall.
The Draconversad Admiral towered over me and roared.
So you’re the little vermin that halted our advance? I’ll rip you apart! His breath smelled terrible as he bared his teeth at me.
Don’t you dare lay a claw on her! The Doctor snapped at the general his voice filled with rage.
The admiral laughed, apparently relishing the Doctor’s anger. There it is, the rage of a Time Lord. The fire that burns across the stars! Look little pony! This is your hero! The one you foolishly follow and would sacrifice your life for! The destroyer of worlds and death bringer to millions!
I stood there; though my legs were shaking I kept my expression unmoved by the admiral’s words. His name is the Doctor, I said.
What? The admiral raised an eyebrow.
I said his name is the Doctor. I haven’t known him for long but I do know he helps ponies, no, not just ponies, any living creature in need. He doesn’t stop running and he doesn’t give in. Even in the worsts of situations he doesn’t give up.
The general laughed and grabbed me with his large arms lifting me by my bruised wing. I yelped in pain for an instant but clamped down on my lip. What choice do you have but to give up!? Look at you, you haven’t any back up, no weapons, or a plan!
I smiled. You’re right and that’s something else I learned and it’s why you should stop hurting innocent ponies now. The Doctor never has a plan.
I unfurled my free wing and the sonic screwdriver I had been hiding there fell and rolled across the floor. The Doctor scooped it up with his mouth and activated it unlocking his chances.
Miss Hooves I could kiss you!
I blushed and stuttered. Uh um… w-what?
He grabbed the admiral’s sword and reeled up on his back hooves. Un-guard!
The Doctor bested the admiral that day and the fleet was forced to retreat with no lives lost. The Doctor had told me how proud he was that I had been brave. He said that he knew I would come and he gave me a Tardis key.
Now I looked at the key tied around my mane and fiddled with it in my hooves. This key was a sign of trust; to him it meant I was his companion. But I think it runs deeper than that, he has no one. He is the last of his kind and has traveled for hundreds of years with barely anypony to call a friend. All of his companions have left but I wouldn’t, I am his family and I won’t leave.
Two brown hooves came into my view as I looked at the key. I razed my head and saw the Doctor looking down at me with a frown on his face.
“Miss Hooves? Are you alright?”
I felt my heart skip a beat as his voice went softer. It was that soothing voice I loved hearing. The Doctor could show rage and anger but this was his true side, compassion. I stood up slowly on all fours and breathed.
“I’m fine Doctor. So we’re going Cape Ponaveral?” I smiled brightly at him.
But his frown didn’t let up. He stepped forward and wrapped a hoof around my neck. Heat crept up to my cheeks and my breath caught in my throat. I could feel him breathing against my mane gently nuzzling the side of my neck with his muzzle.
“It’s okay if you’re scared Derpy. I’m sorry that it took me so long to get to you.”
“It’s alright Doctor.” I wrapped my front hooves around his neck, I smiled but I couldn’t hold the tears back. I had been terrified. I truly thought that was it. “I-I’m fine… I…” The flashing bulbs, the blue lights of the dalek eye stalks and the horrible chanting. Exterminate, Exterminate, Exterminate! I couldn’t hold back and I whimpered and cried into the Doctor’s neck.
He stroked my head and gently shushed me, trying to calm me down. We stood there against the Tardis doors like this. Embracing, flying through the vortex, somepony’s would probably say it was something out of a fairy tale. Through my trembling I could feel him shaking as well. Was he scared? Was he that worried about me?
“Do you want to stop?” He asked softly.
I was taken aback for a moment. Why would I want to stop hugging? It was nice and warm. “But… you’re coat is nice and soft Doctor.” I blushed hoping it wouldn’t weird him out.
He let go a soft chuckle and pulled away to look me in the eyes. His cerulean pools stared at mine. Through them I saw his pain and sorrow, the times lost and the times saved, the events of old and new burning through time and space. They were young and full of life but so old at the same time.
“No I mean do you want to stop this… I mean traveling… with me?” I could hear the sorrow in his voice as he said it. The question sounded rehearsed, like it had been said many times before, possibly to his other companions.
After our first trip, the one he owed me, he asked me a question opposite to this. I wanted to go taste the best muffins in the galaxy. Though I was skeptical on there being other planets and worlds aside from Equestria the thought of having a new kind of muffin sounded worth a shot. We traveled to Aristocial a beautiful world unlike anything I had seen before. It was more beautiful than seeing Celestia raise the sun at the Summer Sun Celebration.
There we sat out watching the twin suns set while enjoying some of the best muffins I had ever tasted. As the suns set the moon rose over them eclipsing them in the most beautiful of ways. The rays of the sun shinned off the moon’s edges in an aura of colors flowing across the sky. When I looked to the Doctor I saw him for who he was, and what he lives for, the existence of everything beautiful in life.
I scooted closer and rested my head against his shoulder. To my surprise he didn’t pull away or protest, in fact he reciprocated it. Though many of our later adventures were scary it’s that moment that I think about, that moment of peace and beauty that gives me my answer.
I looked at him and without hesitation I lunged forward in a hug. Though I thought he would have been prepared enough to catch me I was wrong as we toppled to the floor in a pile of limbs. I raised my head to meet his and blushed. I was directly on top of him. My face and the tips of my ears felt like they were on fire.
Through the lump I could only manage to squeak a small, “No.”
We stay like this for a few moments. The Tardis whirs quietly in the background as if waiting for something to happen. As I stare down at the Doctor I feel my heart beating hard in my chest, and it’s worsened as the Doctor cracks a bright smile.
“Well then off to Cape Ponaveral!” He says in his regular singsong voice.
I hastily climb off him and he springs up making his way over to the console and puts his hand on the main lever. But he doesn’t flick it; he stares at the console for a moment then looks back to me. He nods to me, a silent command to come forward. I blush and walk over to the console and put my hoof next to his on the level.
“Geronimo?” He straightens his tie with his free hoof.
“Geronimo.” I smile and we pull the lever down. The groaning filled the room once again as we flew through the vortex off to the next adventure.
Author's Note
I just got back from Bronycon and had this story running through my head on the way home. A quick one shot while working on Marefriend Advisor. I hope everypony enjoys! ^^
