Minuette stumbled into the TARDIS, carrying the half conscious Doctor on her back.
"There," he gasped as she laid him down. "We- made- it. Are y-you okay Doctor?"
He leans against the TARDIS consul, not answering, but breathing heavily as blood drips down out of the massive gashes all over him.
"Doctor... Please tell me you are okay... p-please?" Minuette asks shakily.
"Minuette I am sorry but-" He started.
"No! You're going to be okay Doctor! You have to be!" She broke down with fresh tears. "Doctor, you can't leave me here! Alone. I don't even know how to fly the TARDIS! How will I get home? And what about our friends? How will I tell them?"
"Minuette-"
"What will Derpy say? Or Dinky? Or Roseluck? Or Twilight? What will happen to Equestria without you?"
"Minuette-"
"How will the universe survive? You are a hero! You have saved us millions of times! Please Doctor, you can't just leave us!"
"MINUETTE!" The Doctor shouts, breaking her train of thought, she rushes to his side as he stumbles onto the floor.
"Yes Doctor? What is it? Tell me!"
"Minuette, I-I n-need you t-to c-calm down for a m-moment. Listen, please. I am so sorry, but I can't stop what's happening."
"No! You can't say that! You can't die! You always have some sort of trick up your sleeve!" Minuette begged, and sobbed. "Please don't leave me!"
He gives her one of his bright grins, and a clever wink. "Oh Minuette, you know me better then that! I would never leave you on your own, however." He coughed. "This next chapter will have you continue without me. I haven't told you everything about me, my companion. But there is a thing we time lords do when we die."
"But you can't die!" She protested, but he silenced her.
"Time lords do a little trick we call regeneration. It, well, heals me, repairs me, fixes me right up, but only when I am dying. But it still feels like dying..."
"What do you mean? Doctor, I don't understand."
"I'm Regenerating. I sort of, heal myself. Like getting a whole new body, which is just what it is. A whole new me, another Doctor. Don't worry, it'll be okay."
"Another Doctor? But, then you'll be okay? You aren't lying to make me feel better are you? Please, you're scaring me!"
He laughed, then winced. "Minuette, you were a wonderful companion, but now it's time for me to say goodbye, and for whoever is coming next to meet you."
"Who's coming? Doctor, please, you're not making any sense." She says as the tears flow more freely down her cheeks. "Who is coming?"
"The Doctor,"
"But, you're The Doctor."
"And he will be too, that is... If I'm still a he, you never know with these things. Ugh, don't take this the wrong way, but it would be so odd to become a girl after all this time."
Minuette laughs at the look of horror on his face. "But, what about you?"
He gives her a wink. "Oh, I'll live on, in memory, and so... It's still terrifying."
"W-why?"
"Imagine if you were to, die, and then wake up, with another body, another personality, and no idea if you are the same man, er- pony who is now only a memory? It's a frightening thing Minnuette, to regenerate. I have no idea whether the next one will be good, or bad. I might live to see myself become the very enemy I try to fight. I never know, you see. I've been lucky so far, I've been able to coupe. I also never know if I'm the last, the last one to regenerate, I have no idea, if I'll just die.
He looked at his hoof, and Minuette was scared to see golden light leaking from it. He meets her eyes. "But it's also an adventure, a new life! You never know what's going to happen. And when you never know something, you know what I do?"
She sniffed. "What do you do?"
"I dive in, head long, brave. Just like so many I have met. Allons-y!"
Suddenly it seams to her that he explodes in a giant ball of golden energy, she shielded her eyes. She could here him screaming! "Doctor!"
As quickly as it had begun, it was over. Gingerly she looked. Her Doctor was gone.
There was a strange stallion sitting on the floor. He had a time-turner cutie mark, just like her, and The Doctor.
"Who are you?" She asked as she inched closer.
"oooooh, cheese and crackers! My head! Owwwww!" The stallion moaned. His voice was smooth, and calm, but also childlike. "Ouch! That's it, no more regenerating on an empty stomach. Gah!"
He starts touching himself all over. First his dark shaggy mane, then his rather large nose, and his grayish coat, and last he stares at his flank. "Well, hair, hair is good, lots of hair, nose, rather large, have to get used to that. Hmm, coat's a bit bland, ah! Still got the mark. Hello mark! How are you? You look the same, that's good."
He looks up at Minuette, and she looks back at his blue eyes, they looked so much like her Doctor's. "Ah, hello! You're still here, that's good. Hey! Whatcha think of the new body, eh?"
He trots around, then trips over his own hoofs. "Right, need practice. Still not used to being a pony... Alright I guess."
Minuette had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. "Who are you?"
He stood up straight and smiled at her with a wide grin. "Me, well, that's easy! I'm the Doctor."
