The Legend Of The Blue Box

Derpy closed the TARDIS door and smiled to herself, imagining her friends reactions as the ship shifted through space. Her smile faded as she turned to look at the Doctor. He was going through his usual motions of dancing around the TARDIS controls, flipping switches, and hitting things with a hammer. Derpy wasn’t feeling so cheery, she had some serious things to discuss with her traveling companion.

The Doctor stopped working the controls as he saw Derpy walking over. He noticed her serious expression but tried to ignore it and lighten the mood. “Well then,” he said with a big grin on his face, “that was quite the experience wasn’t it? Bet your friends liked the disappearing act.”

He paused for a moment. Derpy’s expression remained steadfast as she approached.

“So,” the Doctor continued, “let’s head off to the next place shall we?”

“Doctor,” Derpy tried to interject as the Doctor started messing with the controls again.

“I remember back home there was this one planet; mountains as far as the eye could see,” the Doctor said ignoring his increasingly frustrated companion.

“Doctor,” Derpy said a little louder.

“Best part about it, they swayed in the wind! Imagine it. Mountains that move,” he said trying to avoid the coming conversation.

“Doctor!” she practically shouted.

The stallion’s face now reflected the seriousness of his friend’s as he walked in front of her. He remained silent. He suspected what she was about to say, what she was about to ask. Especially after today’s events, there was only one topic she could possibly want to talk about.

“Doctor,” she began softly, not sure where to start, “I... I thought I knew all about you. But, after today…” She paused for a moment before firing her questions. “What did you mean when you said you were the last Time Lord? Who was the other Time Lord? What was that Dalek? Why do you look like a pony? And what were you hiding from me this morning when we refueled?”

The doctor sighed lightly. He hated this part. His past wasn’t something he liked to dig up. Why? Why did he always have to pick the inquisitive companions? Just once maybe he should take a companion who wouldn’t ask questions. Then again, that wouldn’t be any fun would it?

“Alright,” the Doctor said as he tried to answer the easy questions first, “no more secrets. I wasn’t hiding anything this morning. The TARDIS draws its power from the universe and it needed more power. Except this is the wrong universe, she can’t refuel here.”

“Then what were we doing?”

“Refueling. It shouldn’t be possible but somehow the TARDIS was able to absorb the radiation. I don’t know why. As far as looking like a pony, I don’t know that either. I just woke up one day in Ponyville, like this, and that’s when I met you.” The Doctor smiled lightly. Derpy returned the grin.

“But what about the Time Lords? And the Dalek?” she asked again.

The Doctor took a breath. This was the part he dreaded, having to remember his tragic history. “My people were great once,” he began. “The Time Lords were people of justice; always watching over the universe, vowing never to interfere where we weren’t needed. Then the Daleks came. The Daleks are a race of creatures born to feel hatred. They think they are the most supreme beings in existence and want only to kill every other living thing. My people went to war with them, the last great time war.”

“What happened? Did… did the Daleks win?”

“There were no winners. Everybody lost.” The sadness in the Doctor’s voice was palpable. Derpy’s heart sank. “The war began to rage across space and time. It threatened to envelop the whole universe. I did what had to be done to stop the endless conflict. I sealed them all in a time lock. I saved the universe but committed my people to a fate worse than death. And now I’m the only one left.”

Derpy stood in disbelief. Not only was the Doctor the only Time Lord but he was also the reason for it. She couldn’t even imagine what kind of pain he must have felt, what pain he must be feeling.

“Still,” he said feigning joy, “that’s all in the past. None of it matters anymore. Best if we just—” The Doctor was cut short when a pair of forelegs wrapped around his neck as Derpy pulled him into a hug. The Doctor remained silent for a moment accepting the embrace.

The moment lasted a little longer than either was completely comfortable with. Derpy nervously broke her hold saying, “It’s kind of late. I should probably get some sleep.” She started to walk off to another part of the ship.

“Yes. Sleep. That… good,” the Doctor said anxiously nodding his head affirmatively. Derpy felt like he was still holding something back but didn’t want to press the issue at this point.

The Doctor sat alone in the control room. The conversation left him feeling slightly nostalgic, whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen. He reached into the inner lining of his coat and pulled from a pocket a small silver necklace, too small for any adult pony to wear. He stared at it as if contemplating some past regret and searched through his mind, thinking back to his earliest memory of Equestria.

The Doctor lay unconscious on the ground in Ponyville. Slowly he began to stir, groaning as he awoke. His TARDIS stood tall behind him as the two went unnoticed by the town residents. He opened his eyes and noticed his strange surroundings for the first time.

“What?” he asked to himself, confused at the situation. He stumbled to his hooves and promptly fell over. “What?!” he repeated a little louder. He shouldn’t have hooves he should have hands and arms and feet. And for that matter, what happened to his clothes? He ran a hoof through his mane and touched his face all over.

The newly ponified Doctor stood and spun in circles examining himself and his environment like he was ticked off at everything he saw. His surroundings looked familiar, similar to Earth, but the only life forms he saw were colorful equines like him. “What?!” he said, yelling this time for emphasis. A few passing ponies glanced at him, startled by the sudden outburst.

Off in the distance he could hear a faint sound. He stopped and focused on the noise, it sounded like soft sobbing. “What?” he said softly under his breath as he slowly walked towards it, figuring out how his legs should move in the process.

The Doctor followed the sound to a nearby secluded back alley. He picked up speed as he got closer eventually tripping over his legs and crashing into a trashcan. A gray pegasus wearing a mail bag looked over at him, startled at the sudden commotion. She wiped her tears away, frantically fighting back her sobbing, and turned her head away.

“I’m okay,” the Doctor declared as he abruptly stood up. He glanced around noticing he wasn’t being watched and proceeded as if nothing happened. He sat down beside the mare with a concerned look on his face. “Hello, I’m the Doctor,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“Go away. I don’t need a doctor,” she said choking back sobs.

“Oh, everybody needs a doctor now and then. What’s your name?”

Everybody. He must be foreign or something, she thought. His thick accent certainly gave that impression. Maybe it was his voice, or maybe the fact he said he was a doctor, or maybe she just needed an ear to hear her now, but for some reason she felt like she could open up to him.

“I’m… Ditzy Doo.”

The stallion looked almost surprised at the name but didn’t let his tone show it. “Nice to meet you Ditzy Doo. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

Ditzy sniffled a couple of times and wondered for a moment if she should trust him before answering. “It’s, my job. I messed up today and...” She took a few sharp breaths getting worked up over the thought. “...and I think– I… might lose my job. I was supposed to deliver an important package by noon at the latest but… but I got nervous. My eyes don’t always work right when I’m nervous; I got all turned around and flew out of town. By the time I got back… it was already two hours too late.”

She gestured at a clock tower in town. The Doctor looked up noticing the time, just after two o’clock. “Well it can’t be that bad,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll forgive you for one mistake.”

“You don’t understand!” she said, almost yelling in frustration. “This isn’t the first time. They’ve given me warnings before. If I mess up again…”

The Doctor looked at her consolingly. “You can always find another job can’t you?”

“I can’t afford to be fired, even for a little while. I have a little sister at home. I’m the only family she has. If I lose my income now…” her own crying at the thought interrupted her. She tried to fight back the tears but that only made more well up in her eyes.

The Doctor could see the package that she should have delivered still in her mailbag and an idea formed in his head. “Come with me,” he said standing up.

Ditzy was reluctant to follow. She looked up at the Doctor’s friendly face and decided she had nothing to lose. She rose to her hooves and wondered why she was so unconditionally trusting of this pony to just tell him all about her troubles.

“Come on,” he said leading her away.

Ditzy was too anxious about her crying to notice where she was being led. She heard a small squeaking sound like a door with old hinges being opened but was too busy wiping her eyes to notice what it was. The first thing she saw when she finally opened her eyes and took in her surroundings took her breath away.

She stood in a large bronze colored room made, from the looks of it, from various types of metals. Behind her, she noticed, were two slim, out-of-place, wooden doors painted blue. There were no candles or windows but somehow still plenty of light filling the structure. The Doctor stood in the middle, leaning on a large column, smiling at her.

“So, what do you think?” he asked in a very chipper voice.

Ditzy was almost speechless but she managed something. “Wow. Is this your house?”

The Doctor considered the question for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose it is. I call her the TARDIS.”

“You named your house?”

The stallion just smiled. “It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Want to find out why?” he said while flipping switches.

Ditzy just gave him a confused look as she walked up to see what he was doing. “What do all those do?”

“This one keeps the lights on, that one lets me see outside. And this one,” he paused for dramatic effect, “makes the whole thing go…” The TARDIS’s violent shaking ended his sentence. The central console shifted up and down punctuating the sound of mechanical grinding. Ditzy’s eyes shot open as she desperately clung to whatever she could in a blind panic.

The ship stopped as soon as it started and the gray pegasus tried to relax a bit, but was still in shock. The Doctor chuckled to himself as he stood up.

“What was that?!” Ditzy demanded.

“Come and see,” the stallion said as he exited the ship.

Ditzy ran out of the TARDIS not wanting to see any other surprises it might have to offer. The first thing she noticed when she exited was her location; they were still in Ponyville but they had moved. She looked up and saw something even odder, the clock tower she saw only moments before was just in front of her but it had the wrong time. According to the tower it was eleven o’clock, not two. She stared at the Doctor. He only looked back with a goofy grin on his face.

“What? What?” she stammered out.

“We went back in time. Three hours. Now you won’t be late.”

She backed up a step thinking this was all too ridiculous. Maybe somepony was pranking her. That had to be it, it was all just a prank. Well she wasn’t going to be a part of it! She turned to leave and nearly forgot how to breath as she really saw for the first time the outside of the TARDIS. The massive room she had been in was contained in a relatively tiny blue box.

Okay, she thought, not a prank, a monster.

“It. It’s b…” she didn’t even bother finishing her sentence as she simply started to run away.

The Doctor gave chase. Good going, Doctor, he thought sarcastically, you don’t even know what planet this is or what you’re dealing with and you're already trying to recruit a companion.

He caught up to Ditzy who was only walking quickly now. “It’s not that bad,” he pleaded, “it’s just a time machine that’s bigger on the inside that’s all.”

“Oh, is that all it is?” she said sarcastically. She knew about unicorn magic but this was just ridiculous, and he wasn’t even a unicorn. Looking at the stallion, she saw for the first time the image emblazoned on his flank; an hourglass. She stopped and looked up at him seriously, letting everything sink in. “We really went back in time didn’t we?”

The Doctor nodded saying slyly, “Yeah, we did.”

The implications of their trip through time were immediately apparent. It was like he said, she wouldn’t be late delivering the package now. But another thought occurred to her and she had to ask. “Wait, I don’t remember seeing a second me. What if I run into myself from the past? Wouldn’t that change things?”

“I guess you’ll just have to not run into yourself then,” he answered.

The two ponies walked together and delivered the package with time to spare, which gave Ditzy plenty of time to get used to the idea of time travel. “Thanks for everything,” Ditzy said. “Not just the time travel, but for listening to me when I was down. I still can’t quite believe there’s a pony whose special talent is time.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor responded before noticing her strange wording. “What do you mean special talent?”

“Your cutie mark,” she said matter-of-factly as if that explained everything.

The Doctor shook his head. “What’s a cutie mark?”

Ditzy looked at him dumbfounded. Standing before her was a pony with advanced technology the likes of which her world had never seen and he didn’t understand cutie marks. She couldn’t tell from the way he asked if he was really ignorant or if he was just making fun of her.

“That,” she said gesturing to his back end. “The image that appears when you discover your special talent. How do you not know about this?”

“Oh, is that what that is. I was worried I was at some crazy party or something last night,” he said jokingly. “What’s yours stand for then? All those bubbles.”

“I… don’t actually know,” she said sheepishly. “I just woke up one morning and there it was. Hey, you never did tell me your name.”

Ignoring the blatant subject change, the Doctor’s face scrunched a bit as he tried to think back. “Course I did, I’m sure of it, two and a half hours from now.”

“No,” she corrected, “you just said you were a doctor.”

“Yep, that’s me. The Doctor.”

“Your name is ‘Doctor’? Are you actually a doctor?”

“Of course I’m a doctor, I’m a doctor of everything. Well, not really. Well... almost everything. They wouldn’t let me have a fine cuisine doctorate after my giant cheese tower fell on the school. Long story. Point is never try to cut slices of cheese from the bottom of a cheese tower.”

All Ditzy could do was smile and giggle lightly at her new friend’s nonsensical statement. ‘New friend.’ She had only just met the strangest pony in the world and was already thinking of him as a friend. It didn’t make much sense to her but somehow felt right. Almost like it was meant to be.

“What’s that noise?” the Doctor asked as he plopped his ear to the ground.

“I don’t hear any…”

“Shh.” The Doctor listened to the ground for a moment before continuing. “Something’s moving underground. Something big. It’s headed–” he picked his head up and gestured to the side “–that way.” He started running off. Ditzy, not sure what to do but not wanting to leave him quite yet, followed.

“Wait. Why are we going this way? I thought it was going the other way,” Ditzy called out to the Doctor as they ran.

“It is, but it doesn’t feel natural,” the Doctor answered. “If we’re going to track it we need a better way than listening to the ground. Besides, I have important business to take care of.” The two companions ran inside the blue box. Ditzy tossed her mailbag to the side and the Doctor immediately ran to the controls pulling a screen where he could see it. “Come on, come on where are you?”

“What business? What are you doing exactly?” Ditzy asked.

“Anything that massive shifting through the ground is bound to leave at least a small heat trail that I can track with the TARDIS,” he said. “Ha-ha, there you are.” Ditzy stood next to the Doctor, watching as he stood on his hind legs and messed with the controls. From outside the box could be seen lifting into the air before quickly flying off.

“Here take the controls,” the Doctor said in haste.

“What?!” Ditzy yelled over the shaking TARDIS, not sure if he was serious.

“It’s easy, just take this and follow where the red dot on the screen goes,” he said handing over control. “Like I said, I have business to take care of.” He turned to walk away before looking back and adding, “Just don’t touch the atom accelerator.” With that he ran off to another part of the ship.

“Wait, which one is that?” she cried out, but the Doctor was too far away to hear her. She did her best to learn how to fly the ship and chase the red dot but the shaking of the TARDIS and the unpredictable movement of the underground object made it not only difficult but also scary.

The blue box hit the ground, bounced back into the air, and scraped over trees as it flew erratically in its pursuit. Ditzy’s eyes shined with a mix of pure terror and excitement as sparks flew out of the controls as if it were breaking from the stress of flight. Whatever he’s doing it better be important, she thought.

Elsewhere in the TARDIS the Doctor opened a door revealing his wardrobe. He pushed his way in through dozens of outfits eventually finding a small box in the back labeled IN CASE OF SHORT REGENERATION. “Never thought I’d have to use these,” he remarked. He pulled the box out with his teeth.

The ship rumbled and the Doctor’s head shot up as he started thinking. He never let a companion pilot alone, especially not one he just met. He couldn’t put his finger on it, maybe because he didn’t have fingers anymore, but there was just something about her, somehow he just felt like he could believe in her unquestioningly. He shook off the thought and reached deep into the box, deeper than the outer dimensions should allow.

Ditzy grunted as she steered the ship left and right. The TARDIS didn’t exactly move in a straight line no matter how steady she held the controls. The ship spun and fought and sparked and acted like it was actually trying to crash, but somehow Ditzy kept it going. One of her eyes wandered to the side and she caught a glimpse of the Doctor next to her.

“Well, what do you think?” the Doctor asked, showing off a new look.

Ditzy turned her head, her face contorted with confusion. “That’s what was so important? Putting on a coat and tie?” she asked, practically scolding him as she nearly lost control of the ship.

“Of course. I need to look my best when I’m saving the world,” he said matter-of-factly as he walked up to help Ditzy with the controls. “What’s it doing now?”

“It started moving in a straight line a moment ago. If I’m looking at this... thing... right, it’s heading out of town. What are we chasing anyway?” she asked almost panicking.

“No idea,” he said, excited at the prospect. “It must have found where it’s going though. What’s out there?”

The Doctor switched channels and hit the monitor to see a clearer picture of their surroundings. The screen showed a large field of apple trees surrounding a large barnyard.

“That’s Sweet Apple Acres!” Ditzy said, an obvious sense of danger and worry in her tone.

Applejack, her little sister, Applebloom, and big brother, Big Macintosh were frantically kicking the apple trees trying to clear the apples as fast as they could. “Come on y’all we gotta save as much of our crop as we can,” Applejack called to her family trying to keep them motivated. Their grandmother, Granny Smith, was quickly inspecting the baskets of apples her grandchildren were carrying over.

Granny Smith picked up an apple. A small worm burrowed out of it. “Bad’n,” she declared tossing it into a large pile behind her. Apples all across the farm were infected with an infestation of worms. They devoured and destroyed most of the crop, leaving only about forty percent of the trees untouched so far.

Applejack was just about to send Applebloom to get help when she heard a strange noise in the distance, something she couldn’t quite identify. It sounded like some kind of machine slowly breaking down. She looked around and finally saw its origin, a blue object flying out of control headed straight for them. Her eyes widened as it got closer. “Run!” she yelled, getting her family to safety.

The blue box hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop just in front of the Apple family. Applejack was shaking slightly looking a little scared as she held her little sister. Applebloom looked in astonishment at the big box while trying to wriggle out of her sister’s grasp. Granny Smith was behind them still inspecting apples as if she hadn’t noticed or just didn’t care. Big Mac stood between the box and his family ready to fend off any danger it might present.

The doors flew open allowing a puff of smoke to lift into the air. The Doctor and Ditzy Doo ran out coughing. “She doesn’t exactly do a lot of flying for a ship,” the Doctor said as if he was continuing a conversation. “Best give her a few minutes.”

The Doctor put his ear to the ground, listened for a moment, and ran off completely ignoring the Apple Family. Ditzy followed, not wanting to lose sight of him.

“Hey, wait just a minute,” Applejack called as she and her siblings gave chase.

“Bad’n, bad’n,” Granny Smith said, staying focused on her task, “good’n! Bad’n, bad’n.”

The five ponies ran to a small clearing in the orchard and the Doctor stopped to listen to the ground again.

“What the hay is going on here?” Applejack demanded.

“Shh,” the Doctor commanded.

“I want answers,” she said.

“Just be quiet for a moment,” he ordered back.

Applejack turned to Ditzy and gave her a look as if to ask: ‘Is he always this rude?’ Ditzy replied with a worried look like she was just wanted Applejack to play along. Applejack obliged with a slight roll of her eyes and watched the Doctor like the others.

The Doctor kept his ear to the ground. His eyes darted back and forth as he picked up every tiny tremor. For a moment the world around them seemed to stand still; not a single bird chirped, the wind did not blow, even the ponies breaths were quiet and slow.

“It’s coming,” the Doctor said, dead serious. “I can hear it. It’s...” He picked up his head in surprise. “...Gone? I don’t understand, it was right underneath and it just disappeared.” The world around them seemed to sigh in relief. “Well, I guess we can just—”

Suddenly the ground erupted underneath the Doctor sending him flying into the sky. The other four stood frozen in shock watching as some massive thing came out of the hole. Their jaws all hit the ground as they witnessed a giant creature tower over them.

Ditzy heard a faint screaming sound above that snapped her out of her stupor. She took flight and managed to catch the Doctor just before he hit the ground. She set him down next to the others who still couldn’t figure out how to react to the monstrosity.

The Doctor started smiling and laughing like a child who just tasted his first piece of candy. “Oh you are beautiful,” he said to the monster before him. It looked like a giant, beady-eyed, worm with a small layer of hair lining the inside of its mouth.

“Say what!?” Applejack said.

“Hello, Jeff!” the Doctor yelled at the worm. He turned back to the other ponies, “Doesn’t he look like Jeff?”

Ditzy and the others just looked at him with a mixture of horror and confusion.

“Jeff,” he clarified, “Men In Black Two? The subway?”

They just continued to stare, more confused than ever.

“Right,” he mumbled, “wrong planet.”

The beast turned, opened its mouth – one large enough to swallow two ponies whole – and let loose a terrible roar.

“Oh, sorry. Jennifer then,” the Doctor responded.

The worm lifted its head into the air preparing an attack. The Doctor backed away slightly as ‘Jennifer’ took a dive straight for the ponies. “I think we better... Run!” he said quickly as they all fled. The worm bobbed in and out of the ground tearing up trees and earth as it hunted the ponies.

“Get to the barn,” Applejack yelled. They all scattered in different directions. The worm, not sure who to chase, dove into the ground biding its time.

The five ponies reconvened in the barn, hiding from the monster.

“Just who are you and why did you bring that thing here?” Applejack demanded of the Doctor. “And you’re Ditzy Doo ain’t ya? What are you doing in all this?”

“Calm down,” the Doctor said in a relaxed tone. “I don’t know what she is or where she’s from but I’m working on it.”

“That’s why we were following it,” Ditzy continued. “To find out what was going on.”

“And we can do just that if we can get her to calm down and talk. Something is wrong and we need her to tell us what if we have any chance of helping.”

Ditzy briefly flashed back to her introduction to the Doctor only a few hours before. Hello, I’m the Doctor. What’s wrong? She shook the thought out of her head and smiled.

“Help? What we need to do is hogtie that monster and kick it out of here,” Applejack argued.

The Doctor’s expression changed in the blink of an eye from one of a concerned parent to one of seriousness and pent up fury. “No,” he said sternly, a fire in his eyes, as he came face to face with Applejack. “No violence. Not while I’m around, I’m the Doctor, the oncoming storm. She is intelligent. We can reason with her and if there is even the smallest chance that she will listen then we must try. Do I make myself clear?”

Applejack, surprised at his outburst and backing off slightly, simply nodded her head.

“Good,” said the Doctor returning to his cheerful demeanor. “Now, all we need to do is figure out how to lure out and calm down a five hundred ton raging creature. Easy.”

The group heard a loud noise in the distance that sounded like the worm emerging from the ground again. Applebloom’s eyes widened as she realized something, Granny Smith was still out there. She ran out on her own but the others quickly followed.

“Now where’d those kids run off to?” Granny Smith asked herself, looking around as she walked through the orchard. “Don’t they know there’s work to be done? Kids these days.” The earth shook as the worm shot out of the ground. Granny Smith’s eyes opened wide at the sight, she looked back at the apples she was sorting, then back at the giant worm. “Oh…”

Applebloom and the others raced as quickly as they could after their grandmother hoping everything would be alright. When they arrived they were quite shocked at what they saw. Granny Smith sat next to the giant worm petting the side of its head as it let out a low purr.

Applejack looked in awe at the creature her grandmother was consoling. “Granny how did you...”

“Aw, she’s just a big sweetheart,” Granny Smith said. “The worms in the apples are her children. She was only trying to protect her family.”

“How did you figure that out?” the Doctor asked, clearly impressed.

“Oh, a mother knows,” she said winking at him.

The Doctor and Ditzy took some time to talk and answer the Apple family’s questions. After talking with Jennifer the worm, the Doctor learned that she was from a different planet and came to Equestria by accident and had no way home.

“So what do we do now?” Ditzy asked the Doctor.

“Simple, we give her a ride home,” he responded.

“You mean to another planet?” she asked, a little surprised at the idea.

“Of course. The TARDIS can go anywhere in space and time,” he said. “All I need to do is extend the exterior shielding to accommodate the extra mass we’ll be towing through space, since she can’t fit through the doors, and voila,” he said.

The Doctor walked to the Apple family saying, “It was very nice to meet you all but we best be off, places to be, things to do.”

“Wait,” Applejack said, “you’re just gonna leave us with ‘Jennifer’ here?”

“No,” he said. “We’re giving her a lift home.”

“Uh, how do you plan on that?” she asked.

The Doctor smiled coyly. “I think you’ll like this,” he said teasingly.

The Doctor and Ditzy walked into the TARDIS and the worm family gathered around. The machine gave off its familiar grinding noise and vanished taking the alien worms with it. Each of the Apple family had the same reaction; their eyes opened wide and their jaws hung loose as they watched the blue box dematerialize.

“Uh, did that pony just make that worm disappear into thin air?” Applebloom asked nopony in particular.

“Uh, eeyup,” Big Mac responded.

“Well shoot. Now I’ve seen everything,” said Applejack.

“Heh heh,” Granny Smith chuckled. “You young-uns still got a lot to see. Why I remember this one time about eighty years ago… or was it twenty?” The siblings all rolled their eyes at the thought of listening to another of their grandmother’s stories they couldn’t even be sure was true. Although after this they might just believe anything.

“Wow,” was all Ditzy could say as she gazed at the alien landscape. It wasn’t too different from the Everfree Forest if a bit more peaceful. It was the middle of night but two large moons provided plenty of light and made the red-ish soil look almost glossy. She watched in amazement as Jennifer reunited with her family.

The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS, smiling as he watched yet another companion in awe of the majesty of the universe. Suddenly Ditzy’s smile dropped as she remembered something important and turned to the Doctor. “Oh no oh no oh no,” she said as she ran for the ship.

“What is it what’s wrong?” the Doctor asked frantically following her into the TARDIS.

“We need to get back to Ponyville now!” she demanded.

“Alright, alright. Return trips are easy,” he said as he messed with the controls in a half panic. “All I need to do is recall the most recent spatial coordinates, do a thing, flip some stuff and we are going… home.” The TARDIS shook as if to punctuate the end of his sentence.

The ship reappeared in Ponyville and Ditzy ran out frantically looking around. The Doctor walked next to her asking, “What is it? Why did we need to come back so soon?”

She saw the clock tower and breathed a sigh of relief. “Three-ten, plenty of time.”

“Time for what?” he asked.

“Today is my sister’s birthday,” she explained. “I promised I’d pick her up from school at three-thirty and spend the day with her. If I hurry I can return my mailbag to the post office and grab the gift I got her before then.”

The Doctor smiled. This pegasus left behind the adventure of a lifetime to keep a promise with her family; he definitely liked this companion. Then something occurred to him, she wasn’t his companion yet, he still didn’t tell her that she was welcome to come with him, she probably thought this was the end of their time together and, if she wanted to come back to Ponyville so eagerly, it might be. Still he had to offer her the chance.

“Well,” he said sauntering back to the TARDIS, “I’d best be off then, don’t want to get in the way of family time. Unless of course... if you wanted to join me.”

Ditzy gave him a surprised look as if she wondered if that was even allowed.

“It doesn’t have to be now,” he clarified a bit nervously, “I could drop in tomorrow, if you like, time travel and all that.”

She paused, thinking for a moment before answering. “Thanks, but I can’t.”

“Okay,” the Doctor said trying to hide disappointment with a joyful tone.

“I mean I’d love to, but my sister needs me. I can’t just leave her,” she said, trying to ease her rejection.

“Yeah. No. Totally understandable,” he said scratching the back of his neck. A moment of silence passed between them before the Doctor broke the pause. “Well, I should be off then.” He opened the TARDIS’ doors and walked in.

“Wait. Will I ever see you again?” she asked.

The Doctor smiled and said, “If I’m lucky.” He went inside the box and closed the doors and Ditzy beheld for the first time what the disappearing act looked like from the outside. She sighed lightly before running off.

“Now, down to business,” the Doctor said to himself, fending off the loneliness in the TARDIS. “Why am I a pony? How did I get here? Last I remember I was in the middle of regenerating, and then I woke up here. So, what do I do to figure this out?”

He paused as if waiting for someone to answer before he sighed. Being impressive wasn’t as fun without anyone to impress. All he needed to do was retrace his steps and investigate but he wanted to have fun with it, to share it. A little depressed, he silently stepped up to the controls and entered the coordinates for Earth, 3.1415.92653.589793.23846.2, and the TARDIS shifted through space.

The Doctor stepped out of his ship expecting to see the familiar sights of London in the early twenty-first century. Instead he saw Ponyville. He landed next to a certain school and a certain gray pegasus waiting outside. “What?” he said.

“Doctor?” Ditzy asked, not sure if she was seeing things.

“What?” he said again completely confused. “What? How did I get here?” He spoke as if he was alone and only musing to himself. “I’m certain I entered the coordinates correctly.”

“Why are you back so soon?” Ditzy asked. “Did you forget something? Wait. It’s a time machine. I just saw you ten minutes ago. How long were you gone?”

“Ten minutes,” he answered still focusing on the mystery at hand. “But this isn’t right I definitely entered the coordinates for Earth.”

“So what’s the problem?” she said. “This is Earth.”

“What? No, this can’t be Earth, Earth is full of skyscrapers, cars, brilliant and stupid people, and Jelly Babies,” the Doctor said in a confused panic.

“Jelly babies?” Ditzy mouthed silently, trying to understand his rambling. She quickly shook off the thought and continued. “No. This is the town of Ponyville, in the country Equestria, on planet Earth. Any of this ringing a bell?” she said almost sarcastically.

“No this can’t be Earth, there is no way that this is Earth, it’s completely impossible… unless...” the Doctor said, cutting himself off. He ran into the TARDIS and Ditzy, not wanting to disappear just before her sister would get out of school, waited outside.

The Doctor returned after a moment completely calm as he walked over and sat next to the gray pegasus. He sat there next to her staring forward as the two looked at the school. “Wrong universe,” he said nonchalantly still staring forward.

“Excuse me?” Ditzy asked keeping her eyes on the building before them.

The school bell rang and a few fillies and colts ran out of the building.

“It shouldn’t be possible but I’m in the wrong universe,” the Doctor clarified entirely straight-faced, “and I can’t go back.”

Ditzy finally turned her head looking at the stallion with confusion. She was about to make some remark but was preemptively interrupted by a call.

“Derpy!” a voice called from in front of the ponies. It was a small unicorn filly running joyfully out of the school. She looked similar to Ditzy Doo with the same mane and eyes; although unlike Ditzy, this filly’s eyes were straight like any normal pony. Her coat was only slightly more violet than the pegasus’s. She ran up to Ditzy and nuzzled her in greeting.

“Hey squirt,” Ditzy responded lovingly.

The small unicorn’s smile faded to a serious expression as she looked up at the Doctor, getting a close look at him for the first time. She peered at him deeply as if she could sense something about him... something... off. “Are you going to fix our house?” she asked. Her voice was somber and worried. Ditzy let out a small sigh as if this happened frequently and she had had enough of it.

“No, Dinky,” Ditzy said sweetly trying gently to change the conversation. “This is my friend, the Doctor. Doctor, this is my sister Dinky.”

“It’s very nice to meet you,” he said kneeling down to meet her eyes. “What’s wrong with your house?”

“It’s nothing,” Ditzy interjected. “It’s just a small flaw in the construction, nopony seems able to fix it, but it’s not really a problem.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her words and taking particular note of the word ‘nopony.’

“But it... scares me,” Dinky said quietly.

“I hear today is your birthday,” the Doctor said. “Tell you what, why don’t I come have a look. If anybo... anypony can fix it I can.” The Doctor’s reassuring tone made Dinky smile.

“All right, but only after the party,” Ditzy said.

“Okay, I’ll just pop back in later then,” the Doctor said as he started towards his ship.

“Oh no you don’t,” Ditzy said, grabbing him before he could run away. “I won’t let you get away this time, besides I could use another chaperon.”

“But I…” the Doctor started. He wasn’t usually one to get involved in day-to-day social events.

Ditzy’s mismatched eyes somehow both pleaded and commanded that he stay.

“Oh, all right,” he said, defeated, before he locked the doors to the TARDIS.

Both Dinky and Ditzy smiled. The three ponies walked along with Dinky happily skipping in front. “So what time is this party, Derpy?” the Doctor said with a smug grin.

Ditzy’s cheeks puffed up slightly as she tried to fight back a smile and feign anger at the unsolicited nickname. “Only my closest friends and family can call me that,” she said trying to scold him but sounding a little too happy.

“Yes, right, I understand,” he began completely serious before breaking into a large grin and finishing, “Derpy.”

“Whatever,” she said accepting defeat. “The party will be later, we were going to spend some time together and go out to eat before then. You’re welcome to come along; I don’t think Dinky will mind. In fact, I think she’s taken a liking to you.”

The group went out to a nice restaurant for the evening where the Doctor had to learn how to eat as a pony. Ditzy and Dinky both laughed about how child-like the Doctor could be. He also regaled them with some of the most amazing stories that they had ever heard, though he didn’t reveal much about himself during this.

Although they thought it normal and mundane, the sisters traded stories of their lives and of Equestria. The Doctor hanging on their every word like it was the most wonderful thing in his life.

They retired to Ditzy’s home for the party where, one by one, all of Dinky’s friends showed up to celebrate. Ditzy couldn’t afford to hire anypony to throw a huge party but she still managed to prepare something fun for all. Even the Doctor got into the fun, acting at times more like the entertainment than a guardian. Then it was finally time for cake and presents.

“Thanks for this,” Ditzy said to the Doctor as they watched Dinky unwrap her gifts and all the kids eat cake.

“I’m good with kids,” the Doctor responded almost dismissively. “Besides what’s the point of having two hearts if you can’t be nice now and then?”

“Two hearts?” Ditzy asked holding back a laugh. She couldn’t quite tell if he was making a joke.

“Hold on.” He put a hoof on one side of his chest, THUMP THUMP, then felt the other side, THUMP THUMP. “Yep, still got two hearts,” he said nonchalantly.

Still not sure if he was serious, given all the ludicrous things she had learned about this pony, Ditzy opened her mouth to say something but found that there were no words at this point. She was speechless as she looked at this impossible creature, a time and space traveling pony with two hearts that knows nothing about the planet he is on and is supposedly in the wrong universe. Surely there was no way that he could become more ridiculous than this.

The party came to an end and all Dinky’s friends went home leaving only Dinky, Ditzy and the Doctor. Ditzy approached her sister and proffered one last gift for the day. Dinky took it, as happy as can be, and tore up the wrapping. Inside the box was a small silver necklace with a locket on it; she opened the locket to see a small picture of her and her sister. The unicorn hugged her sister in thanks before putting it on. The Doctor stood watching, wishing on some level that he could have a life like theirs.

“Hey, can you look at the wall now?” Dinky asked the Doctor.

“Oh right, of course I can,” the Doctor said, finally remembering the reason he tagged along. “Where is it?”

“It’s upstairs,” Ditzy said with a sigh, leading the way.

The ponies entered one of the rooms on the second floor; it was clearly being used for storage space as it was filled mostly with boxes of old things. All of the boxes had been pushed to one side of the room away from one wall like they didn’t want to be near it. The Doctor walked to the barren wall with a look of concern and curiosity on his face, a look that didn’t pass by Ditzy.

“Doctor, what is it?” Ditzy asked, a little worried.

The Doctor put his head against the wall and ran a hoof along a large fracture as he said, “It’s a crack.”

“I know that,” Ditzy said, the tension leaving her. “Now could you please tell her there is nothing to worry about?”

The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver to examine the crack in the wall. “I could say that, but I’d be lying,” he started to explain. “This isn’t just any crack. If you remove the wall the crack would stay in place because it’s not in the wall… it’s a crack in space.”

Dinky cowered behind her sister.

“Doctor stop it. You’re scaring her,” Ditzy said sounding a little frightened herself.

“Don’t worry I know what to do,” he said stepping away from the wall. “If we open the crack it should snap itself shut, all I need to do is…” He was interrupted by the crack in the wall as it started opening on its own. A bright light started to pour out from it as the Doctor stared in horror. “Not good, that’s very not good. Okay new plan; RUN!” The group ran out of the house as fast as they could. “Quickly, get to the TARDIS.”

“What was that? What’s going on?” Ditzy demanded as they entered the Doctor’s time machine. Dinky looked around speechless at the sight before her.

“It’s a crack in time and space,” the Doctor began as he paced around the TARDIS. “It’s some kind of complicated time-space event that shouldn’t even be possible; two parts of time and space that should never have touched. But why did it open?” He hit his head with a hoof a couple of times out of frustration as if to jump-start his brain. He stood in front Ditzy looking her straight in the eye. “It must have been the sonic screwdriver when I scanned it that must have opened it right?”

“Uh, right,” she guessed trying to follow along.

“No, no, no, no that can’t be right,” he said turning away and pacing again. “The crack is a complicated wibbly wobbly timey wimey spatial event, the only thing that could make it active is an equally complicated event…me.” The Doctor smacked his forehead in realization. “Of course, two anomalies in close proximity to one another would draw each other. Think of two negatively charged magnets forced to be near each other pushing apart only they can’t go anywhere so one of them rips apart to get out of the way, make sense?” Ditzy barely managed to follow his logic and nodded in understanding of his analogy. “Good, because it works nothing like that but think of it anyway.”

“But what are we supposed to do?” Ditzy asked.

“Simple, if we introduce a massive time-space anomaly and reverse the polarity of the neutron flow using my sonic to wrench open the crack that should cause it to slam shut permanently. There’s just one problem, I’m not a big enough event. Dinky, Derpy, I need your help. This is very important; you need to tell me if there are any time or space anomalies around here. It could be anything that seems out of place, something capable of distorting space itself.”

Ditzy understood and nodded for him to look around. The Doctor glanced around the inside of his time machine capable of warping space to be bigger on the inside.

“What?” he asked clueless of what she meant.

She gestured around again a little annoyed that he wasn’t getting it.

He looked around again and finally responded in understanding, “Oh.”

The TARDIS materialized in front of the crack in Ditzy’s house and the three ponies emerged. The Doctor noticed that the boxes had vanished from the other side of the room but didn’t have time to comment as the crack began opening again.

“Ready or not,” the Doctor said aiming his screwdriver. “Allons-y.” The crack opened, acting differently than the last time; instead of bleeding light it showed scenery of another world before crashing shut. The room was left empty as the Doctor, Dinky, Ditzy, the TARDIS and the crack all mysteriously vanished.

The Doctor awoke to find himself in a strange desolate landscape all alone. A thick layer of ash colored clouds darkened the sky and all around him were dunes of black sand. The air was dry and warm but breathable. His head darted around as he looked for his companions and the TARDIS but all he saw was the movement of sand in the wind. “Derpy, Dinky!” he called out, walking to the highest point he could find. He reasoned that they couldn’t be far; they were all together just a moment ago.

“Dinky,” a voice called from far away.

The Doctor heard this and called back, “Derpy, over here.”

“Doctor!” she yelled angrily as they reunited. “What have you done? Where is my sister?”

“Ditzy Doo you need to calm down,” he said.

“Why?” she yelled again. “Everything was fine until you came along, now my sister is missing and it’s all your fault. Why do you need to butt in where you’re not welcome?” She knew she didn’t really mean what she was saying. It wasn’t the Doctor’s fault that the crack existed and all he had ever tried to do was help, but she was in a panic and she needed an outlet.

“Listen to me,” he said looking her in the eye, “I promise we will find your sister and the TARDIS and get you both back safely. They can’t be far. On my life, I will make this right.”

“Where are we?” she asked, much calmer now.

“Another planet, we fell through the crack as it closed, I don’t know where,” he explained as they began to search around.

Dinky woke up next to the TARDIS to find that she was completely alone in a barren wasteland. She trembled where she stood. She couldn’t see very far and couldn’t get back inside the blue box. Her eyes welled up with tears.

She was about to cry out for help when she heard a sound; a low growl that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Suddenly a creature about the size of the TARDIS came out of the sand and started flying, circling overhead. It looked like some kind of half dead manta ray with four fins that allowed it to glide through the air. It flew around as if it was inspecting the box. Dinky shrunk down hoping it didn’t see her.

The Doctor and Ditzy heard a loud scream they knew could only be from a certain lost filly and ran as fast as they could. It wasn’t long before they came across the TARDIS but Dinky was nowhere to be found. Her necklace was lying in the sand looking like it was torn off and a trail of hoofprints led away from the blue box.

Ditzy looked horrified as she picked up the silver locket. Without any words she flew into the sky and followed the trail pumping her wings as hard as possible, pushing them through burning pain to find her sister. The Doctor followed after.

It wasn’t long before they heard a loud howl in the sky. They followed it until they saw some old stone ruins in the distance. Whatever had made the howling noise was gone as nothing but wind whistling through the old destroyed buildings could be heard. In front of one of the walls was Dinky lying on her side not moving. The Doctor and Ditzy were too far away to tell if she was hurt, or worse, but the worst part was what was on the wall behind her. A crack, just like the one in Ditzy’s house, had opened and light was bleeding forth, enveloping Dinky.

Ditzy flew as fast as she could, thinking of nothing other than saving her sister. But as she closed in she slowly realized that she wasn’t fast enough, by the time she hit ground her sister had vanished, taken by the light. She stood in front of the crack, her lip quivering, and her mind blank as she cried uncontrollably. Then she suddenly felt a pull. The crack was still active and the Doctor, whose yelling fell on deaf ears, dragged her away so that the same fate wouldn’t befall her. They made it back to the TARDIS safely out of danger but Ditzy could only continue to cry.

“You promised me!” she yelled through her tears.

“I’m sorry,” he desperately pleaded. “I’m so sorry.”

Then, as the two of them sat in the TARDIS, something happened, something the Doctor couldn’t possibly fathom; Ditzy stopped crying. It wasn’t a gradual decline of sobbing, it was a sudden stop. She smiled at him like nothing had ever been wrong. “So, when are we leaving?” she asked with a small, almost nervous, laugh. The Doctor stood there dumbfounded.

“What about your sister?” he asked.

“I don’t have a sister,” she said as if he should have known that already.

“What?” the Doctor asked, a tremble in his voice.

“I told you before, I don’t have any family. That’s part of what made me come with you,” she said a little sheepishly.

“No, no,” the Doctor said as he opened Dinky’s locket. “See you…”

He cut himself off as he looked at the picture. Where there were once two sisters there was now only Ditzy Doo. The Doctor put the necklace in his pocket realizing what happened; Dinky wasn’t just gone, she wasn’t dead, she had been erased from existence as if she were never born.

A small ray of hope shined in the back of his mind; he still remembered her. If some ridiculous miracle happened maybe someday he could keep his promise. Until then he didn’t want to panic his new companion, or perhaps some part of him just didn’t want her to leave him if she knew the truth. As the Doctor started at the TARDIS controls Derpy wiped her cheek quizzically, wondering why her face was wet.

{Back To The Present}

The Doctor lay in the TARDIS control room, sleeping, Dinky’s necklace sitting in front of him. Doctor, a loud eerie whisper said. The Doctor’s eyes shot open as he heard this.

“What is it? Who’s there?” he demanded, jolting his head around. There was no response, there was nothing there. The Doctor calmed down and rubbed his eyes, he knew that nothing could get inside the TARDIS without his knowledge. He must have heard it in his dream and woken up from it.

He picked up the necklace, putting it back into his coat as he turned to walk off. All of a sudden a bright light flashed behind him as a small wind blew about the room. He turned around and the light disappeared, replaced by somepony he knew. “What?” he asked in confusion.

“Doctor,” the unicorn said.

“What?” he said even more confused about how Twilight Sparkle found her way onto his ship.

“If my calculations are correct, this should be just after our first meeting,” Twilight said.

“You just, I…what?” he asked again.

“There’s no time to explain! Time can be rewritten, I know it can,” she said, desperation clear in her voice as her eyes darted around the room. She lowered her head as her horn began to glow. “I’m taking you back with me,” she said as her magic enveloped and activated the TARDIS controls.

“No, stop, what are doing?” the Doctor yelled.

Twilight’s magic presented a barrier that blocked him from the controls. He ran up to Twilight to try and stop her directly. She suddenly looked up and stopped her magical control of the time machine and it started to tremble out of control. The Doctor stopped as the bright light returned around Twilight.

Tears welled up in her eyes as the light grew stronger and she said, “No, I can’t fail. I won’t let you d—" The light took her back wherever she came from. The Doctor didn’t have time to contemplate how she was going to finish that sentence or how or why she came here, he had an emergency on his hoofs as the TARDIS fell through time out of control.