The headaches kept the filly up at night. Doctors had told her parents that it was because of her eyes, but she was never sure about that. Even when her eyes were closed and didn’t need to try to choose what to look at, the headaches continued.
Little Ditzy Doo stared up at the night sky, trying hard to focus on the stars. The cool air brushed her blonde mane away from her forehead, calming the migraine a bit. She fluttered her wings and felt the air on her wings, feeling much better.
“A shooting star!” she said as a streak went across her fragmented vision. The star was very close; it almost hit her family’s cloud. It was strange… it was blue and more rectangular than any shooting star she’d ever seen.
Ditzy gave a swift glance back at her bedroom door. If she just went for a little flight, they wouldn’t miss her, right? She hopped out her window and trotted to the edge of the cloud, looking down at the path that the strange star had taken.
“Here goes… something,” she whispered to herself and extended her tiny wings.
The Doctor pushed himself up on his hooves and groaned. “Where and when am I…?” he muttered. Somehow he’d gotten off course on his way to inspire Starswirl the Bearded. He glanced up at a few of the dials near all of the upy-downy stuff.
“Below Cloudsdale… year 992 of the rule of Celestia…” the Doctor moaned as he pushed the door of the TARDIS open to clear out the smoke billowing from some of the jumbly stuff. “Why did we have to crash here? Nothing interesting happens in this part of the time stream. Everypony’s too afraid of Celestia. Not that I blame them, the last two beings to mess with her were turned into stone and sent to the moon, respective-“
“Excuse me,” called a tiny voice… or was it voices? “Do you live in that shooting star?”
The Doctor turned to the little grey Pegasus, and blinked several times. Was he seeing double?
“Shooting star… oh, do you mean my TARDIS?” he asked, pointing to the blue box.
“TARDIS? That’s a weird name.” said one of the shades of the Pegasus. At the same time, the same voice said, “TARDIS? That’s a pretty name.”
“Well, yes, I suppose so,” the Doctor said, unsure which of the two identical pegasi he was replying to. He watched the grey filly carefully. The two seemed to overlap, like someone had placed a mirror halfway through the little girl. “What are you doing out so late?”
“Headaches…” they replied.
“Oh, well. I’m the Doctor, maybe I can help,” he said, pulling out his screwdriver.
“Lots of doctors have tried… but I guess you can try too,” they said, closing their oddly positioned eyes.
The Doctor pressed the button of his sonic screwdriver. The two Pegasi shifted further apart and solidified as two separate ponies.
“Interesting…” he muttered to himself. The tiny mare had been born with two timelines curled inside her. She was a walking paradox.
Wait! He thought. Now that they’ve been separated, if they touch!
He grabbed one of the two and threw her into the TARDIS, shutting the door.
“There we go, feel a bit better?” He asked, keeping one back hoof on the door.
“Um… yes!” said the filly, opening her eyes. Rather than facing opposite directions, her big brown eyes were both facing the same direction. “Thanks! Oh! The sun’s rising, I need to get home, see you!” She opened her little wings and flew up back towards Cloudsdale. He waved to the filly, and then sighed, opening the door to the TARDIS. A second grey filly stared up at him. Well, kind of. One eye looked at him; the other looked over at dial.
“Now,” the Doctor sighed. “What do I do with you?”
EIGHT YEARS LATER
“Now, if we can just cancel out that tractor beam, our friends the cow imposters shall have to give up and go home,” the Doctor said, spinning a dial. “There, the TARDIS should hold steady…” he picked up his sonic screwdriver and pushed open the doors.
They were floating above Manehatten just after the space race. Bullet trains went every which way, winding like silver snakes around tall buildings. Curving around those buildings was a giant, almond shaped ship scanning the area for the resident cattle.
“Our cattle citizens will not be your slaves!” he proclaimed. He held on to the inside of the TARDIS with one of his front hooves and with the other… dropped his screwdriver. “Oh for the love of… Derpy!”
“Got it!” yelled the grey mare as she jumped from the time machine and dove after it.
The Doctor sighed in relief. Derpy had certainly helped him in cases that involved flying or dropping things from great heights… Other situations she more or less caused. The wall-eyed Pegasus flew up, holding the sonic device in her hooves.
“So, Doctor… if I give you this back…” she said coyly.
The Doctor groaned, “I told you, Derpy, it’s too risky!”
“Oh come on! It’s been eight years, we’re not the same pony anymore! We even changed my name!” Derpy frowned and crossed her hooves. Her eyes uncrossed, like they always did when she was particularly serious.
“Derpy, don’t you think saving the cows is a bit more important than seeing Ditzy?” the Doctor sighed.
Derpy responded only with a stern look and a cocked eyebrow.
“Alright! Alright! Just let me save the world now!” the Doctor yelled.
“Whoo-hoo!” Derpy threw her hooves in the air, dropping the screwdriver for a second time. “Oops. Don’t worry, I’ll get it!”
The Doctor groaned rubbing his hoof with his forehead. Derpy flew back into the TARDIS, handing over the sonic screwdriver. Eagerly, the Doctor pointed it at ship’s tractor beam, with one eye closed. Pressing the button, he manipulated the electronic pull and turned the tractor off. He wasn’t sure, but he might have heard a discouraging moo.
“Well, you’ve chosen a good time to coerce me, at least.” The Doctor said, closing the door. “Your current timeline is headed toward an important event in Equestrian history.”
“The summer sun festival, I read about it,” Derpy said, glancing at the library they eventually had to install for all of the various books she’d collected. “But I thought that was being hosted in Ponyville, not Cloudsdale.”
“Ditzy moved from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. She wanted a… quieter place to write her novels,” the Doctor explained. “Unfortunately, in order to watch the summer sun festival, we have to arrive early…”
“Why? We arrive just in the nick of time all the time,” Derpy said.
“That’s… not entirely on purpose,” the doctor mumbled. “There’s a pony that has… a peculiar sixth, seventh, and eighth sense living in Ponyville. We need to arrive early to avoid setting off too many alarm bells.”
“How early?” Derpy asked.
“About a month… do you think you can manage to avoid… you for that long?” the Doctor asked. “No touching, no bumping into, no seeing each other…”
“I’ll be careful, I promise,” said the Pegasus cheerfully.
“I’m sure…” the Doctor sighed. It wasn’t what she meant to do that scared him. It was the potential of everything she didn’t mean to do.
