Gone and Back Again

While they walked, the Doctor described his journey with Ditzy. He smiled as he remembered them, as if none were terrorfying at the least. They were, though, and Melody shuddered when he mentioned the Weeping Pegasus. Then, he looked a bit worried.

"Do you think she'll remember me? What if she doesn't reconize me?" He muttered, pulling his sonic screwdriver out from under his bowtie. He blinked when he saw it. "Oh! There it is!" He fiddled with it, then put it back. "I can't seem to find anything to send us back at the moment. Well, we'll figure that out later! Let's go!" And so, they pushed on, galloping towards the bridge that the Doctor remembered.

That morning...

"Dinky! Are you ready, muffin? How about you, Sparkler? We don't have all morning! I have deliver the mail soon!" Ditzy called, pulling some muffins out of the oven. Dinky ran up, and cheered about muffins. Sparkler grabbed her iPod and scrolled through her music, ignoring her adoptive mother and her little sister. Sparkler  a muffin, and choose a random song, called 'To A Really Different Intergalatic System,' by a fellow named Time Turner. Ditzy knew him- he looked a lot like the Doctor.

Blinking back the tears that the thought brought to her eyes, Ditzy ate a muffin. 'You know...' she thought. 'I would really like to see the Doctor again. Maybe he's regenerated! I wonder if he'd look different?' Then, as if summoned by her thoughts, the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" Ditzy called, fighting back her excitment. 'Is he here? He must be! I saw the TARDIS last night!' She pulled the door open, and saw... Pinkie Pie. "Hi! I saw a new pony in town today! Two new ponies, actually! So, I'm throwing a 'Welcome-To-Ponyville!' party! Can you and the girls come? Huh, huh, huh?!" Ditzy hid her disappointment. "Of course we can come, Pinkie! We'll bring muffins, too."

Pinkie smiled really widely. "Oh, boy! Your muffins are the best!" With that, she bounced away, dropping a piece of paper. On the paper was the day and time of the party.  "Hey, girls! Tommorow, we're going to Pinkie's party!" Sparkler looked at her, sensing her disappointment, but Dinky didn't. "Yay! Party!"

Then, the girls went to school, and Ditzy delivered mail. The day was rather normal, in fact. Towards the end of the day, Ditzy saw a stallion shouting up at the sky near where her cloudhouse used to be. He was hauntingly familiar, but Ditzy knew she had never seen him before. His friend, a brown mare, looked at her, but Ditzy didn't know her either. So, she moved on.

Back at the house, Ditzy told Sparkler and Dinky about her travels with the Doctor.

"Girls, come here. I'd like to tell you about a close friend of mine. He's gone know, but I feel like he's back again." Ditzy sighed, looking towards the dark sky. Her daughters had done their homework, and Sparkler had finally stopped listening to her music. Ditzy looked back at her girls.

"His name was Doctor Whooves. He looked a lot like Time Turner. You know Time Turner, right?" Sparkler and Dinky nodded. "Good. He's a good stallion. Now, Doctor Who... I mean, Whooves liked to be called the Doctor. The Doctor was also a good stallion. Now, I'm going to let you in on a huge secret. You can't tell anypony. Got it?" Her daughters nodded again. "Okay. The Doctor... was a Time Lord. A Time Lord is a pony that can travel through time and space to save the world. To save lots of worlds, actually. He was the last Time Lord. He was always hoping that there would be another Time Lord out there, so that he wouldn't be so lonley all the time. Now, he was the best Time Lord ever. I know it. He was always so selfless. He loved this world, but he had his own world that needed him. So one day, after our biggest adventure, he left." Her eyes teared up, and she looked down. She only looked up when Dinky and Sparkler hugged her.

"Thank you, girls. I needed that. Do you want to hear about my adventures with the Doctor?" When her daughters nodded, she continued, even though she was now crying. "We had so many adventures..." And so, for the next hour, she told them about the Doctor.

Then, when she was done, Sparkler spoke up. "Mum... You've told us a lot about the Doctor. But who is he, really?" Ditzy smiled at Sparkler's Trottingham accent, which was so much like the Doctor's. "Remember when I said I was kidnapped?" Dinky and Sparkler nodded. "Well, I said something to my guard... I said  'Be careful. The Doctor would hunt forever to find me. He can be terrifying, especially to you, because he's like ice and fire and rage. Whole entire armies have run just by hearing his name. He's the darkest night, and the blazing storm in the Sun's heart. He'll always be here, because he's the center of time itself. I have traveled for him for a long time, and together, we've seen things that would make your blood run cold. He's taken down things much scarier than you, without a sweat. The Doctor's coming for you, and he'll bring the Sun, the Moon and the Stars with him.' "

Ditzy looked at her girls. They seemed wowed by her words. "Of course, I didn't say it exactly like that. but that's the gist of it. Now, I think it's time for all good fillies and colts to go to bed!" "Awww!" Her daughters said, pouting. "Go. now." Ditzy said, glaring in her wall-eyed way. Still pouting, Dinky and Sparkler walked upstairs, Dinky yawning. "Don't forget to brush your teeth!" Ditzy called, getting up herself. She ate her night-time muffin, and walked back into her livingroom.

"I'm glad you think of me that way." Said a voice in the shadows.