Henry’s life had been spiralling out of control. His wife had left him, he’d lost his job, and he was just days away from eviction. He walked down the empty street in a daze. It was late, and the winter chill stung his ears as the sun disappeared behind his apartment building.
The horrid smell of cigarette smoke assaulted his nostrils. The walls of the alley were painted with various fluids, the origins of which he dreaded to think, and various bits and pieces here and there littered the floor.
He approached it wearily. Entering, he stumbled up the stairs to the fourth floor. He rolled his eyes when he saw a squat, elderly woman hobbling her way toward him. Mrs. Folwin. Henry liked her well enough, but he wasn’t in the mood for another ‘grandson’ story at the moment.
Her a curt nod, before jamming his key into the lock and hurrying into his dark, cold apartment. He would apologise to her tomorrow.
He let out a drawn-out sigh as he gazed out upon the empty apartment. The meagre amount of food he could afford was spread out over the kitchen counter, noodles with nothing to flavour them, a tin of baked beans, and a couple of chocolate bars.
“This won’t even last the evening.”
He picked up a bar of chocolate and began lazily chewing on it. He strode over to a lone chair in the middle of the room and dropped down with some considerable force. He didn’t even bother trying to turn on the TV, the power had been cut days ago. He picked up a book and, lighting a small candle beside him, tried to read.
However, he could not concentrate, his mind would wander. Could he have done better, BEEN better. Was his current situation his own doing, he was believing that more and more every day. It had been so much easier to blame everyone else, but deep down he knew the truth. All of this was the result of his own bad habits.
“Maybe the world would be better off without me.”
Not a moment after the last word left his mouth, his television lit up, flooding the room with light. Far more light than that tiny box should have been capable of producing. Henry shielded his eyes, dropping his chocolate bar. His eyes struggled to adapt to the light, but steadily he regained his bearings. As he did, he heard a low monotonous voice.
“Is that your answer?”
The voice seemed to be emanating from the Television set. In a state of shock, he couldn’t answer. After a few seconds of silence, the voice spoke again.
“Is that your answer?”
Henry’s mind was running a mile a minute, he knew there was only one thing the voice could be talking about. He hesitated but eventually found his voice again. “Yes.”
“Then come.”
The light intensified and, from the screen an arm emerged, seemingly composed of static, holding out a hand for him to take. He hesitated. He did not know who the voice belonged to, or what they might want. He didn’t know what he wanted.
What he DID know, was that there was nothing left for him here. Soon he would be homeless, he would never survive out there. He was utterly and completely at the end of his rope. Weighing his options, he decided to chance it.
Reaching out a hand, he grasped it gently. Instantly, he felt a vice-like grip, it yanked him so hard, it felt like his arm would be ripped off. He screamed, he felt like his body was being ripped limb from limb. The pain burned his mind, and eventually, even his scream was silenced. He vaguely heard the sound of an elderly woman’s scream, before his consciousness faded into nothing…
Pinkie sat restlessly in the waiting room of Carousel Boutique. Rarity and The Doctor had locked themselves in the backroom yesterday and hadn’t been out since, she had finished up her goodbyes, dropped her suitcases off at the Castle of Friendship, and had arrived early just as Sweetie Belle was setting off for school, she had let Pinkie in. She told Pinkie that they’d been talking all night, and Rarity had apparently been sewing since One O’clock this morning. She had even closed the boutique for the day.
Pinkie knew Rarity was a perfectionist, but a whole night? That was over the top even for her. Though Pinkie supposed the chance to design for a whole new creature had probably had her excitement at an all-time high.
Pinkie understood the feeling, but she had been waiting there for 3 hours and was running out of crossword puzzles. She was just about ready to leave and come back later when the door opened. Rarity stepped out, she looked exhausted, but she wore an ear-to-ear smile.
“Where’s The Doctor.” Pinkie zipped over to her.
Rarity jumped back, startled. “Wha-oh Pinkie it’s you.” Rarity smiled in greeting. “Pinkie. I can’t wait for you to see what we put together. Some of my best work if I do say so myself.”
She didn’t answer the question but Pinkie inferred that he was probably getting changed.
It was about 10 minutes later when the door opened, and in walked The Doctor, strutting as if he were on a runway. He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with poofy cuffs that jutted out under the black blazer He wore over it. His legs were covered by long black trousers that hung right down to the ankles. On his back, he wore a short black cape that reached down to his waist, red velvet-covered the inside of the cape. To top it off, he wore a bowler hat on his now combed brown hair.
“So.” He gave a twirl. “What do ya think?”
Pinkie thought for a second. “Lose the hat and you’re fine.”
The Doctor and Rarity let out a scoff of indignation, “and what’s wrong with the hat.” They were in sync.
Then The Doctor smiled smugly. “Plus look what I can do.” He slipped the hat, off let it roll down his arm to his hand, and smoothly brought it back to his head. He struck a pose after, looking at her in expectation.
Pinkie laughed and clapped her hooves. “Ok. That was impressive. The hat can stay.”
Rarity nodded in satisfaction. She ignited her horn, and from the back, a couple of bags floated into the main waiting area. “Here are the others. Colour coded of course for every occasion.”
The Doctor graciously accepted the bags and bowed his head in thanks to Rarity. He then turned to Pinkie with a flourish of his cape. “Well, Miss Pie. Are you ready to go?”
“You know it.”
The Doctor turned to Rarity and bid her goodbye, before Pinkie and The Doctor left the boutique.
**********
Twilight was waiting for them in the entrance hall. Pinkie saw her suitcases had been stacked into a neat pile next to the TARDIS. Twilight sighed as Pinkie walked through the door.
“Pinkie. I appreciate you’re excited, but could you please not leave your cases strewn about the place. At least organise them.”
Pinkie smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”
Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry about it.” She then looked at the stack and frowned. “Though this is an awful lot of cases, do you need help getting it in there.”
“Thanks but no thanks.” Pinkie then had a thought. “I’ve been meaning to ask Doctor but…won’t we be all squashed in there.”
The Doctor smirked. “Somehow I doubt that,” he laughed.
Pinkie had no idea what he was talking about but she just shrugged. “If you say so.”
The Doctor looked around. “I would’ve thought the princesses would be here to see us off.”
It was Twilight’s turn to smirk. “You seem to have a high opinion of yourself.” She stared him down for a few seconds before they both laughed. “They’ve been dealing with Blueblood. Apparently, he’s been locked in his room since yesterday.”
“Ah well. Can’t be helped I guess.” He slipped his bags so that they hung off of one arm and reached into his pocket. From it, he produced the same key Pinkie had seen the day before. He stuck it into the TARDIS and unlocked it. He turned to Twilight. “I’d say goodbye but…I can’t stand goodbyes.” He slipped into the TARDIS. “Are you coming Pinkie,” he called out from the box.
Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I expected that. It’s a common thing in the books about him.”
Pinkie gave her an apologetic smile, but Twilight just smiled back. “Don’t worry about that, go and enjoy yourself.”
Pinkie hugged Twilight and turned to enter the TARDIS, The Doctor stuck his head out and chucked something round and small to Twilight with a “Catch.” Twilight caught it in her magic and gave The Doctor a quizzical look. “Use that if you ever need to contact me. Just twist the dial in the centre clockwise once. Only use it in an emergency.” He popped his head back into the TARDIS without waiting for a response.
Pinkie shrugged and grinned, lifting her luggage onto her back. “See you later Twilight.” Twilight waved back, and she stepped into the TARDIS, and closed the door.
Her first thought when she turned from the door expecting to see The Doctor cramped against the wall was, ‘wow.’
The Doctor had clearly picked up on her awe because he was beaming ear to ear. He threw out his hands in a very showpony like way. “Welcome to the TARDIS Pinkie, my home, and for the foreseeable future, yours as well.”
Pinkie’s eyes sparkled as she took in her surroundings. The walls glimmered a fine silver, and the sealing reached up to a point. Around the wall, various staircases lead even further into the interior of the TARDIS. At the centre of the room was a large console, decorated with various knobs, levers and buttons. With the occasional light blinking here and there. The console was the same colour as the walls around the room. Not far from the console was a spiral staircase that stretched up into an opening in the ceiling.
“Coooool.” Pinkie immediately felt the urge to explore each and every part of her new environment. She zipped this way and that, evidently startling The Doctor.
Then, surprisingly, she felt herself halted with a tug on her tail. She looked back in bewilderment. The Doctor stood holding her tail to keep her in place. “How about we do the tour later. I wanna show you the really neat part.”
He released her tail and began to operate the console, he danced around the console, a smile on his face and evidently in his element as the TARDIS began making that wheezing sound. He turned a knob here, pushed a button there, and finished it off with a hefty yank on a lever on the side of the console.
Pinkie heard a dull thud, as if signifying something. The Doctor grinned. “We’ve arrived. Through those doors is another planet. Completely different from your own.” He gestured with a hand and Pinkie excitedly zipped round to rush out the door, but The Doctor grasped her tail again. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Pinkie turned to him with confusion. “But you said-“
“You can’t go out looking like that, you’ll cause a riot.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, that’s twentieth-century Earth out there, they can barely get along with members of their own species. How do you think they’d react to you.”
Pinkie thought about that, it made sense, but it made her sad to hear how these ponie-people lived. She couldn’t imagine being weary of her neighbour. She nodded but added, “well, what should I do?”
“Hang on a minute.” He retreated up the spiral staircase. After a couple of minutes, he returned with a box. He set it down and began emptying its contents. “Let’s see here…..Dalek gun, Carrionites….ah.” From the box, he produced a golden bracelet. “Hold out your hoof.”
Pinkie obliged and The Doctor slipped it onto her hoof. Her vision was filled with white for a few seconds. When her vision returned, she found herself at eye level with The Doctor, she blinked. She felt strange, she was no longer standing on four legs, but two. She looked down and held out her forelegs. Hands. She had hands, she flexed the fingers and caught sight of a golden ring wrapped snuggly on her left index finger.
“Don’t worry, the process is reversible, just remove the ring. This way you can walk among the humans without raising alarm.” Pinkie took an unsteady step toward one of her cases, stumbling a bit.
She reached into the top suitcase and took out a mirror. She examined herself, her hair was still its usual pink colour, and just as fluffy as it had been. Her skin had a slight pink tint to it, all in all, all that had changed was her shape, she was still recognizable as Pinkie Pie.
She gave The Doctor a genuinely thankful smile, “Thanks Doctor, for looking out for me.” She began to slowly make her way to The Doctor.
He gave a small salute. “I did promise didn’t I.” She stumbled as she reached him, but he caught her with an “easy there.” He helped her back to her feet. “We’ll have to work on your coordination, but you’ll get the hang of it. Now then.” He twisted a knob on the console and the doors opened. He gestured to the now open doors. “Shall we?”
Pinkie steadied herself on her feet and, only stumbling once, took her first step onto an alien world.