Time Bubbles

Chapters

A Story from the Past
Who?
Copy
History Lessons
Into the Unknown
Introductions
Mind Your Manners
The Library
Studying
I Spy
The Perks of Not Being a Pegasus
Tears Shed
Desert
Lessons in Love

A Story from the Past

Knock Knock. The shy little butter pegasus looked up from her steaming hot cup of earl grey. All her little critter friends looked up at her insistently, urging her to open the door. Angel bunny stomped and hopped over to the entrance, pointing and trying to shout with his silent words. Fluttershy heaved a sigh as she gently stood up from the small table. She gently trotted over to the wooden door, opening it just a crack and whispering, “Hello?”

What she saw made her act completely out of character. Her teal eyes widened as she opened the door fully, shouting, “DERPY!” in her soft voice. She leapt atop the poor mailmare who tried to run away, but to no prevail. Fluttershy got up, the two mares dusting themselves off. That’s when Fluttershy noticed.

“Derpy?” She muttered. She looked up at the tear streaked face. “What’s wrong?”

The grey mare gently opened her natural mismatched eyes. She sniffled, “I saw Flash this morning,” she muttered.

Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk to pinpoints. “What happened?”

“I was doing my usual rounds for delivery,” she narrated, being walked into Fluttershy’s small cottage. They both sat down on her forest green couch. “That’s when I saw the boxes.” She looked deep into Fluttershy’s eyes. “Fluttershy, Flash moved into Ponyville,”

Fluttershy just sat there, mouth agape. Flash? That bundle of horse apples! To Tartarus with him! She spat in her mind. Of course, she could never say such rude words out loud. “So… is that it?”

“Oh, no… I was sort of surprised that… I didn’t really see where I was going… I sort of…” She looked at Fluttershy now, again, with wavering lips. “Crashed into his mailbox,” She hung her head in shame. “Then, that’s when the real conflict happens. ‘Oh, why isn’t it our old, foalhood friend? Derpy? Ha! I can’t believe this town hired you as mailpony, I mean, look at you! You probably can’t even read the mail, what with your, uh-derp, eyes!’” Derpy imitated in a fake masculine voice.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped. She remembered full and well who this stallion was. The source of all their foalhood problems. She remembered the horrible taunts of, ‘Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!’, ‘Rainbow Crash’, and ‘Rainplops’. None of it compared to what Derpy had received, though. She was put through mockery by all ponies, not just bullies. It must have been really horrible.

The blossom haired pegasus was about to say more when she heard, “Fluttershy! Fluttershy!”
Derpy turned her head quickly around, so fast that it was surprising that it didn’t snap off. A lavender unicorn appeared, head popping up from behind the hill. She was levitating a heavy looking book and galloping at full speed, mane flapping in the wind.

“Oh, hello, Twilight,” Fluttershy greeted the now panting pony.

“Fluttershy, we have to go! Princess Celestia just-“ She halted and slowly turned her head in jerky movements, only now realizing that the grey pegasus was present. “Fluttershy, can we talk in privacy?”

“Oh, yes Twilight,” She turned to the confused Derpy. “Sorry, Derpy. Why don’t you talk about this to Raindrops?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” She muttered, taking off into the sky. The wind was loud, but not too loud.

She could hear Twilight Sparkle muttering, “Fluttershy, isn’t that the weird mailpony with messed up eyes?”
Derpy shut her eyes, trying to block it all out. With hot tears streaming down her face, she recalled upon the horrible
memories of her youth.

***

“Sweet little kittens,” The old mare sang. She cuddled one of her little tangerine tabby cats, it yawning and stretching with each line. “Sleep tight, let me hold you right,” She continued. “I will always love you-“ A knocking sound was made at the cloudy door. Well, really a poof sound.

Gray Cloud stood from the wooden rocking chair, each and every joint creaking with each effort. She sighed. Who could be here at this hour? The grey mare quietly tiphoofed over to the door, opening it just a crack. What she saw made her sigh.

A tiny little bundle rested on her front doorstep. Little tufts of blonde hair poked out of the parcel, a soft breathing coming from it. Gray Cloud sighed again when she gently picked up the baby with her front hooves. They had been getting too many this week.

She gently unfolded the blankets to reveal a tiny baby pegasus. Her once wrapped wings were now free and they unfurled as she let out a cute little yawn. Her coat was extremely soft and felt just like cotton whose softness would be fit for Celestia. A large pearl necklace rested around the baby’s neck, with a note tied to it in a nice, golden ribbon that shined. Gray Cloud smiled sweetly as the baby opened its golden eyes. Its golden and unfocused eyes. They stared in opposite directions, causing the grown mare to almost drop the infant.

Gray Cloud took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Shakily, she untied the ribbon and read the note. ‘Please, this child does not want me. She needs something of which I could never give her. She needs love. She needs a happy family. Please.’

This was truly an adorable child. It deserved the best home ever. Sadly, the mare knew this could never happen. She has worked at 'Sunshine Smiles Orphanage' for decades, and she knew that little mess ups would last forever.

***

“You excited?”

“Totally, I mean, we’re practically adults now!”

Derpy listened to this all, happiness running through her tiny, child mind. Today was the first day of flight school and everypony in the orphanage was excited with glee, even the lonely pegasus.

“Foals! The carriages are here!” The Old Gray Cloud’s voice called.

With a spring in her step, the young pony filed out. She climbed upon a golden carriage, plopping down on the red velvet seat. Oh, how excited was she! She poked her head over the door, waiting for somepony to join her. She waited and waited. Soon, nopony was left. This did very little to dampen the young fillies mood and she continued to beam.

Within an hour, they were all at the pearly white gates of Cloudsdale Flight School. A pink object shot up into the sky and hovered before the carriages. Everypony went silent as they awaited for what was about to happen.

“HELLO FLIGHT SCHOOL FRESHMEN!” a booming female voice shouted. Derpy covered her ears, they began to ring. “TODAY SHALL BE YOUR FIRST DAY AT THIS PRETIGIOUS ACADEMY. THIS WILL BE YOUR HOME FOR THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS, SO YOU BETTER GET COMFORTABLE! NOW, WE WILL FIRST BE SORTED INTO OUR DORMS. FILLIES IN BUILDINGS A AND B AND COLTS IN THE OTHER TWO! HURRY UP, NOW! NO NEED TO WASTE TIME LOLLYGAGGING!” Derpy cringed again at the volume.

Soon everypony in the year was rushed out of the carriages onto the fluffy white clouds. Then, up to each dorm. It was pure chaos; Derpy couldn’t see a single thing. Eventually, she got to see close up the sheet with all the dorm rooms. Literally.
She was pushed against the wall, her face cringing as it hit hard cumulus cloud.

After a few moments, she peeled away from the wall, rubbing her scraped up chin. The little filly glanced up and discovered
that she would be living in the very first dorm. She stumbled into the crowded Building A, rushing in with everypony else.

After much of struggling, she eventually tumbled into her assigned room, her hind legs over her stunned face and her tail wagging before her eyes.

“Um, hello?” A voice called out.

Derpy quickly unfolded herself and stood up straight, dusting herself off. She held a sheepish grin and blushed profusely, her nice grey turning a deep pink. “Hehe… sorry ‘bout that. Hi, I’m Derpy hooves,” she smiled, sticking a greeting hoof out.

The voice had belonged to a nice jasmine coated filly with aquamarine hair. “Hiya! I’m Raindrops,” Raindrops paused and then giggled at the now identified pony.

“What?” Derpy asked, a smile still plastered on her face.

“Well… your making a funny face!” she blurted out, falling to the floor in a fit.

“Oh…” Derpy shied away, using her hair to cover her misfortune. “I… was born with them…”

“Oh my… I am really really sorry, I-“

“So, this is our dorm, huh, Fluttershy?” A scratchy voice called.

Both of the awkward feeling fillies turned to see a cyan blue and butter filly standing in the doorway. The blue was rather loud, considering the way she held herself and how she barged into the room. The other seemed shy and kept hiding herself behind her long and curly blossom pink hair.

“Hey,” The bold one greeted coolly, flipping her hair. “I’m Rainbowdash,”

“Woah! You have a rainbow mane! That’s the coolest thing ever!” Raindrops shouted. “Hi, I’m Raindrops,”

“I’m Derpy,” Derpy smiled, trying to seem friendly.

“Nice,” Rainbowdash remarked. She gently nudged the timid filly next to her.

“Yeep!” She shrieked in surprise. The filly blushed and murmured, “I’m… Flutter… shy…”

“That’s such a pretty name!” Raindrops squealed. “You know, my mum named me Raindrops when she saw-“

Two large, barrel chested mares barged in, a wet towel draped between their jaws.

“Ha! Did you see the surprise on that filly’s face? Priceless!” said the taller of the two.

“Did you see her rushing through the halls? Mane wet and in tangles? This was brilliant! You are so smart Cloud Rusher! To do all this during the first day? Genius!”

“Of course it was! Aren’t all my ideas bloody brilliant? I mean, a dumb arse like you would never think of-“ She stopped, only just now realizing the freshmen were there, dumbfounded looks slapped across their faces. “Well what do we have here?”

“A herd of puny freshmen! Are you our new playmates?” The follower snickered, a grin spreading across her face.

“Oi! Look at that little grey one, eh? Seems to be a defect of some sort! Nice eyes!” The larger one laughed as the towel fell from her jaw.

Derpy’s lip began to quaver and her vision became blurry. What was wrong with her? Why was she cursed this way? How come she could never be normal? Derpy blinked back the tears, taking deep breaths. No way was she going to let a bunch of bullies succeed. No. Way.

“Why I oughta,” Rainbowdash spread her small wings and charged toward the duo. They both shrieked in surprise when a tiny little blue rocket launched at them. They fell over, Rainbowdash now floated above them. “Don’t you ever bully her again! Or any of my friends for that!” She hollered, her face darkening and her eyes blazing.

“You don’t scare us, freshman,” The follower chuckled. “Am I right, Cloud Rusher?” Nudging her leader. “Rush?”

The tough pony was now shrunken down. She didn’t seem as intimidating anymore. “Er… we’ll sure as Tatarus get in deep trouble if we hurt these…” She took a loud gulp. “Freshmen,” And with that, she quickly stood up and rushed out of the room.

“Woah! Rainbowdash! That was so cool! You were like, zoom, and then bang, and then all tough! You are so cool Dash! I mean-“ Raindrops rambled.

“You okay?” Rainbowdash questioned, trotting up to Derpy, Fluttershy following.

“Nopony has… ever stood up for me before,” Derpy smiled, a truly warm smile.

“Oh! Well,” Rainbowdash blushed, pawing the ground.

“So are we all friends?” Derpy asked to the whole group, including the awkward Rainbowdash.

“You know what, I’ve never had a friend before,” Fluttershy smiled. The other three’s jaws hit the floor. This was the first
time that the filly actually talked.

“Me neither,” Derpy smiled and hugged her new friend. Fluttershy was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered and caressed her newfound friend as well.

“Count me in!” Raindrops shouted, making the embrace a group hug.

“Well, I’m not one for hugs-“ A jasmine coloured hoof stuck out and grabbed the protesting cyan filly, joining her into the warm cuddle.

“Sweet Celestia, you flew!” Raindrops exclaimed as the group disassembled.

“Yeah, I train every day,” Rainbowdash beamed, “My dad’s been teaching me since I was two… when my mum died,” She added, a frown causing her once bright blue face to go a few shades darker.

“Well, I know how you feel, my dad died a year ago,” Raindrops added, her hyper self now gone, replaced by a filly with the
saddest puppy dog eyes and pout.

“Yeah…” Derpy muttered awkwardly, “I don’t have parents either…” Every filly stared at her, even more colour seeping out of their once bright coats.

“Well, I never tried to fly at all… my parents never have time to teach…” Fluttershy murmured, trying to give empathy.

“Fluttershy,” Derpy’s eyes widened. “Are you abused at home?”

“What? No, it’s just… they’re too busy,” She shied away, now feeling dumb that she would even bring up the topic.

“Too busy? For their daughter? I don’t think so! Why, I’m gonna-“ Rainbowdash was cut off by Fluttershy almost in tears.

“No, no! They aren’t mean or anything!” She practically cried in her muffled voice. “It’s just… well…”

“Well? Come on, spill!” Rainbowdash demanded.

Fluttershy whimpered. “They’re both Wonderbolts,” She said in a quick and quiet rush.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Rainbowdash squealed.

“What… what are Wonderbolts?” Derpy asked completely innocent and oblivious.

She could practically hear every single jaw hit the fluffy floor. “Why,” Rainbowdash screeched hysterically, “Only the greatest flyers in all of Equestria! You better know them by the time I become one, Derpy, or we aren’t friends,” She jokingly stated.

“I know you’re gonna be one Rainbowdash!” Raindrops said with full enthusiasm and confidence in her friend. “I mean, we haven’t even started lessons and you’re already an amazing flyer!”

Derpy nodded, beginning to open her small saddlebag. The party realized that they had little time before the welcoming assembly, so they quickly followed suit, pulling out their large over packed suitcases.

“So, how are we going to settle this?” Derpy wondered, looking at the two vacant bunk beds.

“I call top!” Rainbowdash shouted zooming to one of the top, now messy, beds.

“Bottom!” Raindrops and Fluttershy both shouted- though Fluttershy sort of whispered. The two quickly ran to the now occupied bottom bunks.

“I guess… I have to take the top…” Derpy muttered, looking at the suddenly high top bunk that was hovering above

Raindrops. Derpy quickly glanced around, noticing that there was no ladder. How was she to do this? The young filly gently opened her wings. She flapped them a little to make sure they were okay, causing a slight breeze to blow. Gulping, she reared back, leaping into the open air, flapping her wings intensely.

Plop!

Black is all she could see. A weird spongy like substance filled her mouth so she couldn’t breathe. Derpy gagged as she slowly got up, realizing that she had only made few inches before landing squarely with her face down pressed against the ground.

“Bwahahahahhahah!” Rainbowdash laughed, rolling around on the even messier bunk. “I-I-I’m sorry!” she giggled, trying to take a few deep breaths. “Really sorry, you could’ve just asked for me to help, you know?” Rainbowdash dashed under the sore pony and plopped her down onto the top bunk.

“Thanks,” she grumbled a bit sourly. As Rainbowdash flew back to the neighboring bunk, Derpy’s resting saddlebag toppled over, spilling the few contents onto the floor.

“I’ll get it,” Raindrops said quickly. She rushed down and began to retrieve the small items so the filly above her didn’t have to go through the harassment of Rainbowdash’s awesomeness yet again.

“Thanks,” Derpy replied to the pony with her saddlebag clenched in her teeth.

“So… bubbles?” Rainbowdash wondered, hinting at the biggest item of the bag, one large bubble bottle.

Derpy nodded quickly, checking to make sure everything was present. Pearls? Check. Note? Check. Muffins I snagged from the kitchen? Check. 10 bits? Check. Bubble bottle. No… NO! Derpy thought, quickly scanning the floor to see a large green jug rolling around.

“Ah!” She screamed, her voice ringing around the room. Derpy lunged at the floor, the hard impact causing her golden eyes to look straight for a second. She quickly scrambled around the cloudy floor until hoof touched plastic and she was reunited with her precious object.

“Er…” Rainbowdash muttered. “So, again, bubbles?”

“Yeah, I had to save up allowance for a whole year to save up for this baby,” She said with honest pride.

“Any good?” Raindrops wondered, suddenly completely interested in the topic.

Derpy smirked at the simple question. In one fluid movement, she twisted the white top off and dipped the pink plastic wand into the sacred liquid. She rested it on her hoof and brought it close to her lips. With one swift blow, a shining butterfly was born. It floated around the room, with much consent from the audience.

Fluttershy squealed when it neared her, it twirling around her head. Her once covered eyes being revealed to glowing large ones that stared in awe. It flew away, back near Derpy and with a pop! It vanished.

“Do more! Do more!” Fluttershy cried in excitement, bouncing up and down.

Ponies like me, was the only thought that went through Derpy’s head over and over again as the show continued. Ponies really like me! Nopony noticed seven bubbles that had appeared on the grey filly’s flank.

***

What a bittersweet day this is, Derpy thought as she glanced at her sides. They were occupied by two of her best friends, Raindrops and Fluttershy, donned with royal blue caps and gowns. The gowns were extremely annoying as they didn’t have holes for your wings.

“I really don’t understand why there are no wing holes!” grumbled Raindrops. Derpy could see her wings trying to open under the restricting outfit. She had really grown out of the follower she once was and was really an independent mare now.

Derpy watched her with pride. It was slightly depressing knowing that her friend had changed.

“It’s really not that bad,” Fluttershy muttered in her soft voice. Well, some things don’t change. Derpy thought with a giggle.

A short cyan mare landed in front of the three, followed by a large hazel griffon who looked down at the trio in disgust. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Rainbowdash greeted.

“Where’s your gown?” Derpy asked, eyeing her rebellious friend.

She shrugged, “Too restricting,”

“Dash, why are you talking to these lame-os?” Gilda the griffon sneered. She growled at the hurt mares.

What kind of friend of Rainbowdash’s is this? Derpy thought. She could tell that her friends were thinking the same. None of them had really met Gilda until today.

“Gilda!” Rainbowdash snapped, “These are my friends!”

“Pfft, you don’t need these guys when you have me,” She flipped pointed her beak up.

“Just buzz off!” Rainbowdash playfully hollered.

“Humph,” Gilda flew away with one flap of her giant eagle wings.

“Fluttershy, where are your parents?” Rainbowdash wondered. She began jumping up and down in anxiety, patting her hair, and making sure there was nothing in her teeth. “Have you said good things about me in your letters?”

“Rainbowdash, you don’t need to worry,” Fluttershy reassured the antsy pegasus. “Hopefully they won’t even come,” Fluttershy sighed.

“Fluttershy… are those them?” Raindrops asked.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy moaned, hiding behind her long pink hair.

Soon, tiny dots in the distance were now full sized ponies. Both adorned the signature cobalt blue Wonderbolt flight suits. They swirled around mid-air, causing a blur of colours. Within that little tornado filled time, the couple had removed the flight suits revealing the true parents they were.

The mare was very small, even smaller than Rainbowdash. She was a crisp white with stylish bubblegum pink hair; the mane was swept up so that it curled slightly. The stallion was tall and lean, a bright yellow with blazing orange hair that seemed to act like fire. It was standing tall and spiky, yet very natural looking. Both of the pegasi scanned the line of students stopping at the pony whose face was hidden behind the thick curtain of hair.

“Fluttershy!” They called, waving their hooves in the air. This only caused Fluttershy to quickly hide behind a puzzled Derpy.

A tiny grey colt flew up to the couple in a jagged path, notepad and pen clenched tightly in his maw. “Wonderbolts!” He cheered, wings beginning to flap even faster. Well, a little too fast. Soon, he was plummeting down, the whole crowd too slow to react, but The Wonderbolts were the fastest ponies in Equestria. Soon, two pairs of hooves were under the little colt, and he was set on the ground.

“Be careful there, kiddo,” The tall stallion ruffled the colt’s mane.

“Can I have your autographs?” He looked up at his two heroes with pleading eyes.

Fluttershy’s parents giggled and took the pen in mouths. With quick scribbles, the colt soon had the autographs of the most famous pegasi in all of Equestria.

“Mama, mama! I got their autographs!” The little colt bounced away, a huge crowd of parents now circling them.

“Sweet Celestia,” Fluttershy cried, now looking at the crowd.

“Students, please line up!” the mare from their first day shouted. Everypony quickly filed up. “Now, siblings, parents, teachers, we have all watched these young colts and fillies turn into these mature mares and stallions that stand before you today. These ponies have really progressed in their education and physical ability. That’s what we strive for, here at Cloudsdale Flight School. Before I start to go on and on, let’s hear from one of our valedictorians, Rainbowdash,”

Hooves made contact with hooves as everypony clapped, Rainbowdash trotted up to the stage, gown fully on, hair tied up into a neat bun. Wow, she can change fast, Derpy thought, chuckling at the very different Rainbowdash. “Everypony who has attended this prestigious flight school has gone through-“

Okay, Derpy thought, rolling her eyes. This is getting ridiculous, what kind of mask is she putting on?! I don’t even know who she is anymore! She usually rolls her eyes at these kind of things, Rainbowdash, what’s wrong with you? Derpy peered at both her friends and realized that they were probably thinking the same thing too.

“-thanks to this here school, I got my cutie mark, just as many of my colleagues have. Mine was given to me for my destiny for flying, and I can never forget the moment. I was having a race with a few of my… friends. I began to race ahead, I was in the lead! That’s when I created a sonic rainboom,” This was received with gasps from the audience. “This school has helped me gain the ability to attempt and succeed at doing a legendary move. For this, I can only say-“

Ah yes, I remember that day. Fluttershy got her cutie mark at around the same time, based on what she said. That day, she fell below the cloudy surface, and touched earth for the first time. This was when the sonic rainboom struck. It scared all the animals living there and lead Flutterhshy to realizing that she was great with animals. Oh, but I shouldn’t leave Raindrops out! She is quite the amazing weather artist, me exactly the opposite. I wish I had those skills. I remember, I was sitting next to her, and the teacher was complimenting her… I think. The whole class loved her art and… it just appeared! Mine is so lame compared to all of them… bubbles? What does that do?

“Thank you,” Rainbowdash bowed her head, receding back into the line.

That’s when the real boredom started. Monotonously, they called up each pony, by best grades in flight school- well, really how well you flew. It really was humiliating, well, not for Rainbowdash. She was the first called up and received her award with much grace, though Derpy could tell that she was jumping with joy. Soon, there were only two ponies left without any certificate- and you, the reader could definitely guess who.

“Fluttershy,” the microphone sighed.

“Eep,” Fluttershy shrieked, quickly scurrying up to the podium. “Uh, thank you,” was all she murmured into the microphone, it just barely catching the whisper.

“YEAH! THAT’S MY FILLY!” Fluttershy’s father hollered.

“GO FLUTTERSHY!” her mother screamed.

“Meep,” The butter coloured pegasus’ face turned to a rosy pink. She quickly darted away, back to her friend Derpy, the very last.

“And finally,” the voice called, “… Derpy,” The tone was obviously that of disgust. The mare speaker sneered as the grey mare proudly floated to the tall, mahogany podium.

“Thank you everypony! Now, I just wanted to say that my experience at this lovely school has really changed me. I have learned the powers of friendship and hate, I have powered through everything that has been thrown at me. It has really prepared me for the harshness of reality. Really, I would love to thank each and every pony-“

“And that concludes our graduation ceremony,” The mare said again in her dull voice. She walked to the podium, not even
caring that Derpy was there. Everypony once standing on the stage quickly jumped off, a sad cross eyed Derpy following suit.

“That was rude!” cried Rainbowdash who had ripped the restricting gown off, testing her wings.

“Oh my, yes, that was quite something-“ Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk to pinpoints as she heard two extremely loud booming voices.

“SWEETIE!” They cried. The two members of the Wonderbolts zoomed toward their daughter, burying her in a frenzy of warm embraces and smooches on the face.

“Meep,” she whimpered. Rainbowdash and Raindrops reared back in laughter, Rainbowdash practically crying.

I wonder what it’s like, Derpy thought as she looked upon the phenomenon occurring before her. To love and be loved, what is it truly like?

Very suddenly, the couple turned around. “GIRLS!” They cried, smothering the trio in a group hug.

“Er, hi Missus and Mister Feather,” Raindrops greeted, her voice coming out muffled.

“Oh please, call us Speedway and Cloud Hopper,” Her father chuckled, breaking the hug.

“Dad,” Fluttershy whined, slamming a hoof to her forehead.

“I’m surprised you recognized us,” Rainbowdash smiled, though all her friends could tell she was about to burst with excitement.

“Well, Fluttershy here talks about you so much in her letters! It was so easy to spot you three!” Her mother giggled, oblivious to the practically crying daughter.

“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!” Rainbowdash squealed. “You’re Wonderbolts!”

“Yeah, Fluttershy told us that you were a big fan, Rainbowdash,” the small mare nodded toward her, causing the rainbow-maned pegasus to almost faint.

“It’s just that I’m a huge fan-“

“There’s my girl!” A proud voice howled. A periwinkle stallion trotted over to Rainbowdash, ruffling the identically coloured mane. “How’s my valedictorian?” He cooed, his golden eyes gushing with pride.

“Dad!” Rainbowdash giggled. “Er- I mean,” she straightened herself out and muttered, “I mean, what’s up?” Raindrops and Fluttershy giggled at this little correction.

What’s there to be embarrassed about? At least you have a father, Derpy thought, stone faced.

“Raindrops?” A wavering voice called.

“Mom?” The receiver called. Soon, a stout, cream coloured unicorn mare was atop of her daughter, smothering her in kisses.

“I’m so proud of you!” She cried into her own aquamarine mane.

No pony is proud of me, Derpy thought bitterly, a frown forming.

“Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry you got cut off,” Fluttershy’s mother cried, hugging the grey mare yet again. “That must have hurt so much!”

“No worries Miss- er- Cloud Hopper. It’s fine,” Derpy reassured with a smile.

“Well, you took it really well! Honestly, between you and me, I don’t think you and Fluttershy should’ve been at the very end. Did you see that fat colt in the beginning? He was panting when he got up to the podium!” He shout-whispered followed by a hearty laugh.

“Speedy!” Cloud Hopper teased, though she began to giggle herself.

Derpy really enjoyed hanging out with Fluttershy’s parents. It almost made her feel like she had a pair. Just hearing them laugh made her happy, it was enough to sustain her mood for a while. Derpy glanced upon her giggling friends, knowing, no, wishing that this could last forever.

***

Derpy let the remaining tears flow out, comfortable with her five best friends. They all sat at the usual round pastel coloured table in their favorite bakery Sugar Cube Corner.

“Here you are, dearies,” Mrs. Cake, a plump, shining blue mare trotted over with a tray full of cupcakes with pink frosting that matched her unique hair style. She set it down before the six. “Derpy, it’s okay, here, have a muffin, on the house,” Mrs. Cake took off the banana nut muffin that was sitting on the tray. She knew that Derpy would need it.

“Thanks Mrs. Cake,” She said through puffy eyes. Mrs. Cake nodded as she trotted away, leaving the party to their thoughts.

“Sweet Celestia, I remember Flash well,” Raindrops snorted.

“I would have smacked him in the head!” Vinyl yelled, her magenta glasses glinting with the fire burning in her eyes.
“How-how dare he!” Her white horn glowed the same blue of her hair as she flared up.

“Now Vinyl, calm down,” Octavia reassured, placing a soft gray hoof on her significant other’s back. Octavia embraced the raging pony, calming her down. Her neat jet black hair fell across her companion’s shoulders.

“Derpy, we gotta figure out a way for you to face these problems,” Lyra continued, levitating the delicious cupcake up in her golden aura and stuffing it into her open maw. The pink frosting smeared into her aquamarine.

“Maybe count to ten?” Bonbon suggested, though she already knew from past experience that that didn’t help at all.

“Oh,” Lyra giggled through a mouth full of cupcake, “we know how well that has worked in the past,” Lyra guffawed, falling
out of her chair and rolling around on the floor.

“Why, I oughta,” Bonbon began to turn red.

“Oh, come on, we gotta be talking about Derpy here, we don’t need to know about your love life,” Vinyl teased.

“LOVE LIFE?!” The duo screamed in unison.

“Shush! We are in a public area!” Octavia scolded, glaring at the three ponies.

“Hehe,” Derpy giggled, watching all her friends, “HAHAHAHA!” She fell beside her unicorn friend, rolling around on the floor. She nearly choked on her delicious muffin. Now I know what friendship is like, Derpy thought as Raindrops helped her friend back to the chair. She gazed at her five friends, happiness clear in her eyes. “Thanks guys,”

“Whatever for darling?” Octavia wondered, her violet eyes full of confusion.

“For being my friends,” She said with much warmth.

“Aw!” Raindrops squealed. She strangled her friend in a vice grip, the rest following suit. “That is so sweet-“

“DERPY!” A nasally male voice hollered. A cream coloured lanky stallion rushed through the door. He had poufy coffee coloured hair that bounced around. A navy blue cap was resting atop which matched a collared shirt that he adorned. ‘SPEEDY SERVICE’ was sewed upon it. His brown eyes were bursting with flames which matched his grinding teeth.

“Oh no,” Derpy moaned, covering her face.

“LOOK. UP. AT. ME.” He growled, glaring daggers into the whimpering mare. Slowly, she gazed up. “WHERE WERE YOU?!” he screamed, causing Derpy to shrink back in fear. “I COME BACK FROM BREAK AND FIND OUT THAT NOPONY GOT THEIR MAIL! WHAT. HAPPENED?”

“I… sort of bumped into somepony…” She muttered, acting like a filly being scolded by her father. “I promise, it won’t happen again!”

“Derpy,” The stallion sighed, his normal form resurfacing. “I’m afraid I… am going to have to let you go,”

“What?” Derpy whispered, tears welling up. “But you said I’m your best mailpony!” She screamed in a rush.

“Fastest mailpony is what I said. I mean, you are one of the only pegasi that deliver… Your eyes might be the main problem. You should go have them fixed,”

“Now wait just a minute!” Vinyl slammed a hoof down onto the table, surprising everypony present in the bakery. She stormed up to Derpy’s boss. “You’re no worse than a bully!” She screamed.

“Pfft,” The mailpony began to walk away, then turned his head and shouted, “Stop living in your little fairy world, Miss Scratch. You need to face reality at some point. Derpy, hope you can find a job. I’m sure your friends will be a lot of help,” He trotted away, out of the bakery.

Everypony shifted awkwardly as they glanced at Derpy. Help? How am I supposed to get a job, tell me that boss. I’m not musically talented like Vinyl, Octavia or Lyra, I’m not good at making weather like Raindrops, and I cannot make baked goods. What am I supposed to do now, boss? Tell me! Derpy sighed as she gobbled down the rest of her fluffy muffin. “See you guys… later…” She ran out of the bakery, trying to escape the feelings of pity that would be thrown at her.

***

Tears streamed down her eyes as she stared at her stupid reflection in the pond. This was all to Derpy, her favorite spot. It was located just out of Ponyville for easy access. A perfect spot to think, it was the only way Derpy could escape from reality.

She pulled out her bubble bottle from her nearly empty saddlebag. The mare gently twisted the cap off and in one swift movement had the wand poised and ready for the first creation. In six quick dip and blows, she soon had six silhouettes, one for each of her five friends and herself. This brightened her mood a bit as they floated around, Bubble Lyra bumping into Bubble Bonbon, Bubble Octavia and Vinyl floating with each other, and Bubble Raindrops bouncing about. Sadly, within a few seconds, Bubble Derpy was gone with a pop!

This is when Derpy really began to sob. She wailed realizing this must be fate. I knew it, my friends don’t even like me! I bet they all just feel sorry for me and try to include me. No one likes me, heck, my mother didn’t even want me. Boss doesn’t want me either! Flash was right, I can’t believe this town made me a mailpony. I can’t believe the orphanage took me in. Or flight school. Or the landlord of the house, Derpy thought, staring into her ugly reflection. She stomped into it with great fury. Why was she cursed with this life?

Maybe disappearing would make everything better. It would ease the pain. Derpy began to slowly, yet without hesitation, walk into the pond. Soon all the pain will be gone, she reassured herself. The grey mare continued into the water until her head was below. She allowed herself to open her eyes, one last time, and take in the final scene to her demise. Soon, everypony will be happy, gently shutting her eyes, she smiled and relaxed. Soon, all the hurt will-

BOOM!

Derpy shot open her eyes and took in a deep breath, though she forgot where she was at the moment. Soon, liquid was filling up her lungs. Using her wings to push her up, she broke the surface, sputtering and coughing up tons of water.

She glanced around quickly, trying to find the source as her breaths drew quicker. A large cobalt blue box was resting on the damp earth. Derpy quickly jumped out of the water, shaking off the wet like a dog. The box was tall and slim, quite rectangular. What seemed like doors stood on all sides. There was strange script printed atop of each door, definitely not Equestrian. Derpy walked around the strange object multiple times. Is it mail? She wondered.

Suddenly, one of the doors opened on the other side of the ‘mail’. Derpy quickly ran to the side, smoke emitting from the open doorway. A voice called out to her…

Author's Note

ATTENTION
This is a remake of the original, if you ever want to see why I remade it, send me a message and I could show you the original. I changed this months later, in March of the next year... so yes, that is all.

Who?

Derpy flapped her wings, coughing, the smoke getting into her eyes. Her eyes stung with the weird smoke that smelled like, what she thought was, pears. Pears? Odd. She heard another voice sounding from inside the big blue box, coughing and crying, “Why did it have to be pears?!”

Derpy didn’t think about what she was doing, but she heard the voice and plunged into the box, “I’ll save you!” She galloped in, halting almost right away. What was she thinking? The smoke must be making her crazy. Why would someone be trapped in a bathroom-sized box? She sighed and turned around, walking out of the doorway.

The voice cried out again. She peered into the smoke filled box. She couldn’t see anything in the smog. She shrugged; she was already going to drown herself, why not run into a mysterious box? She backed up a few feet and started galloping at her top speed. She ran as fast as she could and unfolded her wings. She flapped them and soared straight. She closed her eyes, cringing, ready for impact. She flew a few seconds and stopped. At her top speed, she should have run into something already. She looked back the way she came. The doorway was several feet away. She started questioning what actually this box was when she heard the cry again.

She closed her eyes and followed the sound of the voice. Derpy opened her eyes to find out that she was staring straight into the deep blue eyes of a stallion. He smiled and shouted, “Why hello there!” He spoke with an accent that Derpy had never heard of. Was it from outside of Equestria?
Derpy’s wide eyes blinked and she said in a reassuring voice, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” She flew under the stallion and carried him out of the box.

“Why thank you young lady! And by goodness, you can fly! Have I not landed on Earth? Are you actually flying? I can’t see with all this smoke! And-“He coughed loudly, “WHY PEARS?!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. Earth? And where are you from, who are you?” She set him down outside of the box, “And what’s with this weird box? What are those markings?”

The stallion was caramel colored with a dark brown, spiky mane. He was donned with a white collar and mahogany bow tie.
He rubbed his eyes and stopped. His mouth was agape as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked down at his two front hooves and screamed, “WHAT IS HAPPENING?! WHAT KIND OF FORM IS THIS?!” He slowly lifted his head and screamed again, “WHAT THE? YOU’RE A TALKING HORSE!”

She looked at him questioningly, “Yes,” she said slowly, “I'm a pony. We can talk. You are a pony too,”

“A pony….” He looked back down at his hooves, “A talking pony. This is amazing, wow. Out of all the forms I have been in….. A talking pony! Where am I, um, what’s your name?”

“Derpy. We're in Ponyville and-“

He snickered, “I am so sorry, but Derpy? I don’t know what that means in your culture, but back where I usually am, it's not the greatest compliment,”

She looked at him, frowning, “It’s not here either, but that’s my name. Anyways, as I was saying, we are in an area right outside of Ponyville. Ponyville is a small town in Equestria,” She spoke slowly, as if she was talking to a chimpanzee.

He burst out laughing, “Sorry again, but Ponyville?1 Sorry, sorry, Derpy,”

She stared at him. He really was a strange pony, “Anyways, what in the name of Celestia is that blue box? What are those markings? And why is it bigger on the inside?!”

“Why my dear Derpy, that is the Tardis. It’s a sort of time machine. It breathes and lives in a way. I travel a lot in it; it can travel through time and space. The “markings” are words. What language do you use here? You are speaking English right now so…”

“Huh? You’re speaking Equestrian…”

The unknown pony looked confused, “Any way, those words read ‘Police Box’”

“Wow, you’re a time traveler?” She burst out laughing, “Okay Mr. Space guy! That must explain your cutie mark!” She burst out laughing again.

“Cutie mark? What's that?”

“Wow, did you hit your head when ‘time traveling’? It’s that symbol on your flank. It’s an hourglass. A cutie mark is a symbol you get when you find out your talent or what you love to do,”

“Oh I see, so they just appear? Why do you have bubbles?”

“I don’t feel like talking about it right now,” she brushed the question off.

The stallion looked confused, but then asked, “So, um, what year is it exactly?”

“1003,” This stallion really likes asking questions she thought.

“Oh that’s right, I’m not in my universe…….. Has electricity been invented yet?”

“Electric-what? I have no idea what you are talking about,”

“Wait, pegasi live here? Well you said ponies not pegasi. What other creatures live here?”

“Well, we have unicorns for magic and earth ponies. Oh, and a ton of little critters as well,”

“Would you like to be my assistant? The Tardis seems broken and I don’t think it will get fixed for a while. She gets a bit antsy sometimes. Now where is my sonic screwdriver….?”

Derpy looked around and saw a green shimmer in the lake. She pranced over and stuck her head into the water. Her head submerged and she shook her head, water flying everywhere, “Is that it?” She asked, pointing into the water, “I mean it doesn’t even look like a screwdriver, but-“

He dunked his head in the water and screamed in delight, only to find himself breathing in water. He quickly pulled his head out of the water, sputtering. He shook himself like a dog would, getting the drying Derpy soaked once again. “There it is!” he exclaimed, “My sonic screwdriver!”

The confused mare watched as the stallion plunged his hoof into the pool. He fumbled and tripped into the shallow water. His half submerged body was wincing in pain as he stood up and examined his cut up hoof. “I think you stepped on a sharp rock or something," she examined, eyeing the lake bottom. “Are you trying to get your hammer thingy? Hear, let me help.” She dipped her head into the cool pool of water, opening her bright golden eyes and looking around. She saw a glimmer close by and squinted her eyes to see well. It was a small silver pole with a green light shining from the end. She stretched out her neck and picked it up with her teeth.

“Here you go,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Thank you…. And it’s a sonic screwdriver,” he replied sticking his hoof out.

Derpy wiped the puzzled expression of her face and gently placed the screwdriver into his hoof. It tumbled out of his hoof and he tried to pick it up again. He tried multiple times with no progress. “Well, um, you’re an earth pony, so you can’t use magic to pick up things. It’s also pretty hard for ponies to pick up things with their hooves. We usually just use our mouths,” Answering the inaudible question,

His face scrunched up, “That’s not the cleanest,” he muttered as he picked up the tool in his mouth.

“Here, you could put it in your tie collar,” She picked it up, once again, and placed it in his clean, crisp collar and stepped back to examine her 'work'. “That’ll do for now,”

“So, uh, are you the only person here?”

“Uh, no, there are a lot of ponies right over there in Ponyville, I live there so, um, yeah. I think you hit your head hard or something, do you want me to take you to the hospital or something?”

“No I’m good!” he turned around and started walking. They slowly started their journey to Ponyville, “I’m the Doctor by the way,”

“Doctor? Doctor what?” she asked, trying to catch up.

The “doctor” snickered, “I’m sorry, it’s just that, I’m usually asked, ‘Doctor? Doctor who?’ The answer is, I’m the only one who knows,” He smirked at his little secret.

“Okay? So, um, do you have anyone you can go to? Friends or family?”

“Well,” The Doctor look up, eyes glazed for a second. He blinked twice and shook his head. “Not really. But I have had multiple companions…You included!”

“Um…. Sure? I mean, I am open for a job right now… First, let me get to know you before I decide anything...”

***

“So you were a human?” asked the confused Derpy.

“No, no, no, I looked like a human. I explained to you right?”

“Yeah…. You know, I have a friend who is obsessed with humans.”

“She knows about them?! Well, by all means, take me to her!”

“Well,” Derpy paused, looking up to Celestia's sun. What would her friends think of her if she brought a random stranger to their house? She looked back at the Doctor. She felt extremely sorry for him. He reminded her of her, lost in the world, no friends or family, not quite sane, she felt like she could relate. “… Okay, but, don’t act weird around her… okay?”

The Doctor laughed a hearty laugh, “Ha! Not act weird, but I’m the Doctor,” And with that, he started walking away, head held high. “Um, it’s the other way,” Derpy called.

“Right, I knew that!” he said, “Um, which way?”

***

Knock knock. Bonbon put down her spatula. She had just finished making her famous candy canes (“peppermint twists” as she liked to call it) and was now cleaning the mess she made up. Lyra was still staring at the twists while Bonbon ran to get to the door. She checked herself in the mirror right next to the door. She had sugar all over her coat, causing her to resemble a ghost. They made her curly, pink and indigo mane look completely white as well. Whatever.

She looked through the peephole and saw a soaking Derpy. “Derpy! Why are you wet? What happened? Are you okay?”

She glanced around nervously, “Um, yeah, I’m fine. Could I, um, come in?”

“Oh, of course! You don’t have to ask!”

“Can I, um, bring a friend?”

“Sure! Any friend of yours is mine! Why, I just made some peppermint twists, so we can eat them together!”

A caramel colored stallion popped up behind Derpy. “Why hullo there! Are you the person that knows about humans?”
Bonbon just stared. She kept looking back and forth at the guilty looking Derpy and the energetic stallion. “Um, Lyra?” she called.

Lyra came bouncing towards the doorway, a mouth full of candy canes. “Whats ish its?” she said with a lisp.

“LYRA! Did you eat my entire plate of twists?!” shouted an angry faced Bonbon.

“Naw! Jush thwo!”

Bonbon heaved a sigh and returned her attention back at the strange pony, “There's somepony who would like to meet you,”

“Huh?”

The Doctor ran up to the aquamarine pony. “Are you the horse that knows about humans?”

Lyra stared at him with wide eyes. She closed her eyes and crunched down the remaining twists. She tried to swallow, but choked a little. “Humans? You-you know about them too?!”she coughed.

Bonbon looked around, searching for some unwanted eyes. She heaved a sigh. “Come on in,”

The Doctor tripped while walking in. “I still can’t get used to the feeling of walking on four legs! It’s quite interesting! What with no hands swinging-“ The Doctor went on and on like this.

Meanwhile, Derpy said guiltily, “I’m really sorry guys... It’s just that the Doctor… I found him at the pond just outside of Ponyville. He crash landed in some weird thing. He said that he didn’t have anyone to go to and he didn’t want to go to the hospital. I didn’t know what to do, but he mentioned humans, so I thought of you, Lyra. Please try to help!”

Lyra didn’t hear her. She was still staring at the mysterious stallion. Most ponies didn’t know about humans. She felt like she could trust anypony that knew and believed in them. “Um, what’s your name?”

“Why, I’m the Doctor,” he looked at her, as if expecting to get something in response

“That’s cool,” Lyra said. The Doctor’s face deflated. “You’re an anthropologist? ‘Cause, based on what you’re telling me, you seem to know quite a bit about humans,”

They all sat down in the living room. Bonbon ran into the kitchen to check on her remaining twists. She had to be sure that the aftermath of Lyra’s attack wasn’t as bad as usual. Derpy sat down, like any other pony, while Lyra sat with her back slouched against the couch back. She let her back hooves dangle off the edge of the seat. The Doctor sat in the exact same way. Bonbon came in, mouth agape, Lyra holding the same expression.

“You sit like me!” shouted Lyra.

“Am I supposed to sit differently?” asked the confused Doctor.

Bonbon shook her head and placed the plate of ten twists down (Lyra kept her promise). “So how,” Lyra asked, placing a twist in her mouth. “Dho yuh shno aboush humansh?”

“Well,” said the Doctor, a smile creeping onto his face.

***

“Goodbye!” shouted the Doctor and Derpy.

Lyra was smiling as she said goodbye to the Doctor, “Please come again! Doctor, please!”

“I will! Bonbon those peppermint candy canes were delicious!” Bonbon blushed at the compliment as she waved goodbye.

Derpy couldn’t help feeling jealous. She thought her friends didn’t like her… They never really treated her exactly the same as everypony else. No one did. The Doctor, well, Lyra and Bonbon loved him. He made them laugh and wowed them with his intriguing stories. She knew she shouldn’t feel that way, but she did.

The Doctor was staring at Derpy. “I’d hate to ask, but, um, what happened to your eyes?”

Derpy sighed. The pegasi were scheduling a heavy storm today. She looked up and saw Raindrops piling dark storm clouds together. Raindrops was especially good at rain. She was the leader for the storm group. Raindrops looked down and gave a wave. Derpy turned back to the Doctor. “Well, I was born this way,” she said. “Well I should say found this way. I was adopted, you see? Never really had a family, not even at the orphanage. The adults treated me differently, like I was some piece of garbage. Every single foal teased me. It wasn’t a good time,” she explained solemnly.

The Doctor looked down and poked the dirt with his hoof. “I’d really hate to push this, but-“ he paused, he wasn’t sure whether or not he should ask. “Why is your name Derpy? I don’t think…” he stopped for real this time. He could tell that this was a touchy subject and that she got the idea.

“My name? Well, back at Cloudsdale, if you were an orphan since birth, you could choose your name once you are able to speak. I- well I liked bubbles. Loved bubbles- which explains my cutie mark. They were so free and they flew so smoothly. I couldn’t be the first and didn’t know how to fly at all. When the day came, some filly in the back yelled out, ‘Derpy!’ That was my nickname back then. It’s my real, legal name now. I- I’ve faced ridicule all my life. With this name, I...” Derpy felt the rain on her face. It was weird, they tasted salty.

The Doctor just sat down next to the Pegasus. He rubbed his head against hers and muttered, “Don’t worry. I like you. You have such a big heart. You find a random stranger and try to help him. You try to find someone who could possibly be any assistance to him. You are extremely kind.” He nuzzled his head next to hers. She liked the feeling. “Come on, let’s get you home,”

He stooped down, motioning her to get on his back. She did and cuddled his neck. She buried her face in his mane, it was so soft. The stallion stood up and slowly began to walk.

Derpy gently lifted up her head. She smiled to herself. “It’s the other way,” she whispered. She climbed off his back. “Come on, follow me,” The Doctor, relieved of the extra weight quickly followed. “It’s a little far from where we are,” she directed. She looked behind her to tell the Doctor something. He was gone! Oh, so many thoughts were going through her head. The most prominent one was that he left her and was just using her. She sat down in despair. She pricked her ear and heard a voice yelling in the distance.

“Derpy! Check this out!” the Doctor beckoned.

The relieved pony quickly ran over to the caramel colored stallion. He was looking through the window of Sugar Cube Corner. Derpy walked over and peered in. Mr. Cake was decorating the most delicious looking cake in the world! It was completely white. Butter-cream frosting? Maybe. Butter-cream was Derpy’s favorite! There were roses made of strawberries and grass leaves. Grass, a pony’s favorite topping or flavor on anything. She licked her lips as she stared at the beautiful cake.

Derpy heard a roar of thunder coming from above. Still, she couldn’t take her eyes off the cake. Rain started pouring down, very quickly and suddenly. It felt like a sheet of rain, just coming down on her. She screamed as the surprising rain drenched her. There was a lot of wind too. It was tossing her hair in every direction.

“Derpy!” shouted the Doctor. “WE NEED TO FIND SHELTER!” he screamed. Derpy could barely hear him, but she got the point.

They couldn’t see anything around them. The rain was just like a curtain; an extremely dense one. The only thing that was visible was Sugar Cube Corner. She looked around, thinking it would be rude just to go in, drenched with rain, and ask for their hospitality. Lightening flashed behind her. It was so close that her hair stood up from shock. Another flash flickered right in between the Doctor and she. There was no hesitation. She knocked quickly.

The door creaked open. Mrs. Cake was surprised to see two ponies out in a heavy storm, drenched in rain. Being the kind hearted mare she was, she quickly let them in.

They quickly ran in and shut the door. Mr. Cake ran off to got them two towels. They accepted them gratefully. Mr. and Mrs. Cake just stared at them blankly, wondering who the two mysterious ponies were.

“Now who is under that mass of hair?” asked the stout, sky blue mare. Derpy looked up slowly and let out a small, guilty grin. “Derpy? What are you doing out in the rain? You could get sick!” Ms. Cake’s motherly instincts took control, “Oh my! You must be so cold! Dearie, could you get these two ponies to a fire?” She asked her husband.

Mr. Cake quickly ran off saying, “I’m on it!”

“We are so sorry Ms. Cake! It’s just that the Doctor was looking at your beautiful cakes, and I decided to take a look myself. I was just mesmerized by that delicious looking cake,” she motioned towards the newly decorated one. “That I didn’t even notice the thunder. The rain just came pouring down and-“

“It’s alright dearie! You wouldn’t have been able to make it to your house anyway! Do you want some cake? I’m sorry, but I cannot let you have that one!” She looked over at the tall butter-cream looking cake. “It’s for an order tomorrow. But you can have some chocolate cake that I have made yesterday!”

The Doctor finished drying his hair and ran up to Ms. Cake, “Oh why thank you!” He said in his quick voice. “I really do enjoy chocolate! And thank you so much for letting us stay for the storm! Wonder how long it’s going to last? I wonder if…”
He continued rambling on and on.

Mr. Cake came in, Pinkie Pie bouncing in as well. “We got you two a room!” smiled the bubblegum pink pony. “It has a warm fire and a comfortable bed! Unfortunately, we could only find one…. So you two will have to…er...”

Mr. Cake said, “Um, share. Sorry for the inconvenience! But, we could only find one bed!”

There was the sound of babies crying from upstairs. “Oh my!” shouted the lanky marigold stallion that was Mr.Cake. He ran upstairs as fast as possible, Pinkie slowly bouncing behind him.

“Oh, no, the twins are awake! Must've been the storm! I’ll take you two to your room on the way there! Follow me! I’ll send your chocolate cake up later!” She quickly galloped, Derpy and the Doctor following.

The Doctor had trouble keeping up. He wasn’t used to running, let alone walking, up the stairs. He tried taking two hooves to a stair. It didn’t really work. He eventually realised that it was similar to human walking. He soon caught up, but was breathless at the top of the steps.

“You okay?” asked a concerned Derpy.

“Yeah, yeah, just not used to stairs.” He panted, gasping for air. He slowly stood up.

Mr. Cake ran up to his wife. “Pinkie will take care of our guests! Right now, the twins are crying their heads off! I’m trying, but they just won’t stop!”

Pinkie came bouncing in. “Derpy and friend, please follow me!” she hollered, as the two Cakes ran to another room.
Pinkie kept bouncing down the hall and stopped at the last room. She opened the chocolatey brown door and walked in. “TADA! This is our guest room, complete with chimney and bed!”

Derpy and the Doctor slowly walked into the cozy room. The fire was really nice. It was a small wood floored room. There was a circular rug with a heart right smack in the middle. It was lavender and extremely soft. On the rug, there was a small table, just enough for two ponies. To the right of the doorway-on the right wall-there was the fireplace. It was a nice brick fireplace with a blazing flame nesting inside. On the left wall, there was the bed. It was a queen sized bed with a nice comforter. It had a pink heart pattern. Derpy turned around to find Pinkie staring at the Doctor. Derpy had a flash of anger mixed with jealousy. She didn’t know why, but when she saw another mare just looking at the Doctor, her mind just heated up.

“I’ve never seen you before. I know everypony there is to know! Are you new in Ponyville?”She wondered.

“He’s the Doctor,” Derpy quickly answered. “He just came today,”

Pinkie Pie smiled and said, “Well nice to meet you! I’ll be in my room if you guys need me!” and with that, she bounced away, shutting the door.

Soon after, Mr. Cake brought in two slices of chocolate cake. “Here you go!”

They thanked him and were left alone. There was a really long silence. Derpy munched on her slice happily while the Doctor kept turning his head at weird angles. Derpy giggled and showed him how to eat it correctly.

Derpy yawned and stretched, and sat down next to the fire. The Doctor walked over her and sat down as well. “I’m so not used to this form yet,” said the Doctor. “I mean, all the forms I’ve had are sort of like a human. I’m still a time lord on the inside, that’s completely true. But-“ He paused. He looked at Derpy. “I’ve always have had a human shell on the outside, and this is my last life…. I wonder why I’ve become a pony…”

Derpy stared at the stallion. She was feeling very warm. But it wasn’t coming from the fire, no, it was coming from her chest. Her cheeks started to blush. She was getting a weird feeling all throughout her body. “Um,” she looked away from him. She was really starting to blush. “What do you mean by last life?” Is the Doctor going to die? She didn’t want that, she, she seemed to like him.

“Have I not explained that? Oh, sorry. Well, when I was saying that I had a human form before…. Every single time I have a near death experience, I tend to, well,” he looked back at Derpy. He smiled mischievously. “Regenerate.”

Derpy looked back questioningly. This stallion truly was crazy. Whatever. It was getting extremely late. She looked back at the Doctor. His eyes were focused on the fire. The fire flickered in his eyes. They were so blue. The Doctor turned back towards her, a confused look on his face. She realised that she’d been staring at him for a long time.

“Whatever. I can ask questions later. Right now, it’s really late,” she faked a yawn, trying to stop staring at him. “I think we should hit the hay,”

“Alright! Erm, so,” he stared awkwardly at the bed. “Which side of the bed do you want?”

Derpy already forgot that they had to share a bed. Her whole face turned a bright pink, “I-I-I” she stammered, “YOU DECIDE!” she said, accidentally shouting.

“Oh, um, I could sleep on the floor if you want,” he suggested.

No. That would be mean. “Erm, its fine. How ‘bout I take the right?”

They slowly walked over to the bed. Derpy crawled in and turned on her side, away from the Doctor. She heard the Doctor struggling to crawl in. Maybe he wasn’t lying. He was so awkward in the way he moved. Maybe he actually wasn’t a pony.

A few minutes later (after the Doctor figured out how to lie comfortably), she heard him snoring. Derpy couldn’t fall asleep at all. How could she? She had way too much to think about. If this pony was actually telling the truth, she could change everything. She could go back in time and find her actual mother. What she would do then, she did not know. And what was with the assistant talk? Was the blue box actually a time machine? If the Doctor really came from a time of humans and aliens, would they come after him or take him away? She certainly didn’t want them to.

The biggest question in her mind, however, was: What was the feeling that had occurred next to the fire? She was feeling it now even, when she turned around and looked at the Doctor. She sighed. She could think about all this later. She was feeling extremely tired. Chocolate always made her lethargic. She suppressed a yawn; she didn’t want to wake the Doctor up. She turned so that her back was to the stallion again. Her eyes felt extremely heavy……

Copy

Derpy was running through a Graveyard, one that didn’t seem quite normal. The gravestones were spread really far apart for ponies. Odd. She halted. Why was she running in the first place? Why was she in a graveyard she’d never seen before? She shook her head. She just didn’t have the answers. She sat down. For some reason, she didn’t feel tired at all. She put her hoof to her chin and puted, sitting in a thoughtful position. She scratched her head.

Why was she like this? She shrugged. Her shoulders felt extremely light. She looked down at her hooves; she noticed that the grass was different. She couldn’t smell it at all or feel it. She noticed something else too, something that took her a while to process. She was transparent. Her once gray coat and blonde mane were now faded, extremely pale. She could see through herself, though there was still a tint of color.

What was the last thing she did? All she could remember was her falling asleep. Was this a dream? It seemed really real to her. If it was a dream, it would make sense to explore. She stood up and took off, flying.

Derpy didn't feel any wind on her face as she soared through the sky. She looked down at the tiny graveyard. It certainly seemed abandoned. She flew for about two more minutes when she noticed a few figures directly below her. Should she check or leave? She could see them, but could they see her? She might as well give it a shot.

She landed on the grass that she couldn’t physically touch. It felt weird landing on something you couldn’t feel. She glanced down again to make sure she landed on the grass. She trotted over to the scene. She shouted, “Hey! Can anypony see me-“, she stopped mid-sentence; her mouth was wide open.

There were creatures before her that she only knew because of Lyra. Lyra had such a good description that it was definitely them... Humans. There was a tall one, possibly male, considering the mane-cut. His mane was a dark chocolatey brown. He had a long, square chin (Lyra had shown pictures of what they were supposed to look like-the average creature). He had a beige jacket on with a pair of coffee brown pants. He was wearing a white shirt under the jacket, with a little red bow tie.

Bowtie, Derpy thought, Just like the Doctor,She shook her head. This couldn’t be the Doctor… or could it? He did talk about being human….

“The Doctor” was talking to two other ones. The first seemed female; her hair was a long, orange-red. Her face was a ghostly white and she had extremely long eyelashes and red lips. Make-up? Did they have that here? She wore quite fashionable clothes, clothes that a Canterlot pony would wear.

The other one looked older, considering that she had a few wrinkles. She had frizzy blonde hair, with a tint of brown underneath. She had red lips as well. She was wearing all black, it reminded Derpy of a burglar.

There was a thing next to them. It seemed to be a grey statue depicting a human. The only thing that was really different was that it had wings. Maybe humans had things like pegasi and unicorns too. Maybe the most common ones were earth ponies? Another noticeable thing about the statues was that they were all weeping. Its 'hands' were covering its face. The girl looked like she was crying too, tears streaking her face, causing the make-up to run.

The girl seemed to say goodbye to “the Doctor”. She walked up to one of the statues. She gave one last longing look to the sad man. She touched the statue and just disappeared. Maybe the statues were spiritual or something? Maybe they had magical qualities? She didn’t know.

The man looked over to a grave and burst into tears. What happened? Did it have to do with the girl? What was that stone grey statue? It was all extremely confusing. She felt like she was watching a movie and started at the end. The pegasus had no idea what was going on or what the story was. She galloped towards the man.

“It’s okay,” she murmured soothingly. She tried to place her hoof on his back, trying to comfort him. Her hoof just passed straight through his torso. No one could hear her, it was confirmed. She started to walk away when her vision blurred. Everything started to swirl up; everything around her was being sucked up into a tornado like power. The ground went up under her and she blacked out.

***

Derpy woke up panting. She stared at the ceiling for a while, pondering. What kind of dream was that? It felt so real, and yet, so far away. Whatever. She was tired. She tried to close her weary eyes and go back to sleep, when the grey pony heard the Doctor mutter, “No… no… don’t leave her... She needs you… you can’t just abandon her!”

The Doctor’s eyes opened very suddenly. His face was plastered with sweat. Derpy was staring directly into his deep blue eyes. She didn’t realize that she was right next to the Doctor, face to face, muzzles almost touching. She scooted away quickly, though the Doctor didn’t move a muscle. Derpy’s whole face turned a deep shade of pink.

“Um,” she stuttered, “Are you okay? You were muttering in your sleep and I thought...” she trailed away, lost in his deep blue eyes.

“Yes?” asked the Doctor.

She had been distracted by him again. Her pink turned an even darker red. “Uh, so, what were you dreaming about?”

His forehead creased. He rested his chin on his hoof. He really did sit like Lyra. “You,” he muttered.

Derpy felt like she was going to faint. The pony became extremely light headed as she began to sway. She felt extremely warm again. Beads of sweat ran down her forehead. Why was she doing this? “Oh, well, um… I think I dreamt about...” she paused. She beagan to sweat even more. “you,”

“I am intrigued. Let’s talk about this later though,” he exclaimed suddenly. The Doctor yawned and stretched, his bones creaking with every movement. He slapped a smile on his face, “Let’s eat!”

***

They gently walked down the stairs to the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie was already up, making breakfast for everypony.

“Good Morning!” shout-whispered Pinkie Pie. “The Cakes are still asleep so, shhhhh!”

Derpy yawned. “Thanks so much for letting us stay for the night!” she walked over to Pinkie. “What are you making?” she questioned groggily.

“Well I heard you two getting up, so I decided to make breakfast for us! I’m making grass pancakes!”

Derpy let her mouth drop hang open. Her tongue drooped out. Anything grass was good. “That’s amazingly nice of you Pinkie!”

“SHHHHH!” whispered the Doctor.

After breakfast, they left a note outside of the Cakes’ bedroom. It read:

'ear Mr. and Mrs. Cake,
Thank you SO much for letting us stay in your home over night. We thank you for your hospitality and kindness. We are extremely sorry if we caused any trouble. Let us know if we can repay the favor in any way, shape, or form.
Sincerely,
Derpy Hooves
The Doctor
P.S.
The chocolate cake was excellent!(Derpy wrote the entire thing- the Doctor couldn’t figure out how to hold the pencil with his teeth)

They waved goodbye to Pinkie Pie as they were walking out. “So, um, I guess you can stay at my place for now,” The Doctor just stared ahead. His head was up the clouds. “Um, so yeah,” she said awkwardly. He still didn’t notice. Derpy gave up. She led the Doctor to her home.

***

“So,” Derpy said, as she rummaged through her cupboard. It was mostly full of stale muffins. She sighed, didn’t she have anything else? She eventually discovered some bread that she had purchased a few days ago. “I have muffins…And bread. Oh, and I also have some grass outside,” she said with teeth clenched around the bread container.

The Doctor just kept staring at the wall in front of him. Derpy sighed heavily. She looked back at the doctor with moist eyes. Whatever. She walked out the back door. She clopped along, until she came across her small patch of grass.

It was barely any. It was about the size of an open book. She looked down at it glumly. It had barely enough for one sandwich. She looked over to Raindrops’ house. It had a huge garden of all sorts of vegetables.

She was deciding whether or not to ask Raindrops for some. She was her best friend, but… She had that flash again; that feeling going through her mind. It was the same as when the Doctor and she were with Bonbon and Lyra. She wanted to impress the Doctor however, at least make him something decent to eat other than muffins. She sighed. She trudged over to Raindrops house.

She quietly knocked her hoof on the door. There was no answer. She knocked a little louder. No response. She started continuously knocking the door. She started shouting, “RAINDROPS! ARE YOU HOME?” The Pegasus saw a flash of pale yellow in the corner of her eye. Soon, Raindrops was right next to her.

“Woah there!” Raindrops exclaimed. “Sorry Derpy, I was just checking up on you, I heard that you got caught up in the storm.”

Derpy started to break into a sweat. Did she see the Doctor? Did she talk to him? “Yeah, um, I was just coming to see if you had any grass I could borrow…” She trailed off, looking into the open kitchen window right behind Raindrops. She could see the caramel colored stallion staring into space. He seemed to be concentrating on something….

“Grass?” Raindrops wondered, breaking Derpy’s train of thought. “You never eat grass! Why, finally, you’re starting to eat a healthier diet! Well, healthier than those muffins I suppose,”

Derpy puffed out her cheeks. “Muffins are delicious! Why, I only want grass because there’s somepony at my house who probably doesn’t want my muff-“, she shut her mouth and looked around frantically. She said too much. Raindrops would soon become like Bonbon and Lyra.

“Somepony’s at your house? I’d like to meet them! I’ll go get some grass! I have bread too, if you want. Sandwiches! Oh yum! We can all have lunch together! Why, I’m starving! Why don’t you to come over in a little bit? “
There was no backing out of this. Derpy sighed, “We’ll be over in a little,”

Raindrops quickly ran into the door, her striking blue tail vanishing. Derpy trudged over to her front door and placed her hoof on it. She gave a light nudge and the door creaked open before her. She looked over at her guest, his deep blue eyes staring at the table, he was muttering to himself.

“Hello Doctor!” she greeted, “Sorry for the long wait! We’ll be eating with a friend of mine for lunch.”

He looked up at Derpy. He had an extremely serious look on his face. He plastered on a smile, though his eyes didn’t reflect it, and said, “Well, another friend? My, my Derpy, you are one popular girl! After lunch though… Could we talk about stuff?” He said in a lower tone, “In private?”

Derpy gave a slight nod, “Sure… But I’m not popular of any kind!” She laughed, trying to change the subject. She was starting to feel awkward and she didn’t like it.

“Shall we?” he asked

Derpy smiled, “Let’s,”

The stallion opened the door for her. He bowed his head down. Derpy couldn’t suppress a giggle. She led the way. Though it was only a few steps, she still enjoyed the time with the Doctor. He gave off a warm heat.
Derpy gently knocked on the door. “Raindrops? You there?”

“Right over here!” cried a voice from behind the door.

Derpy gently pushed open the door. There was an eerily quiet feeling in the house. “Hello?” her voice echoed.

Raindrops came out of the kitchen. “Hey best friend! Oh, and you brought a visitor! How nice,” she said, grinding her teeth.

Derpy narrowed her unfocused eyes. Something wasn’t right. “Are you feeling okay? You’re acting strange,”

The Doctor quickly pulled out the tool from his tie collar. He clenched it with his teeth as a green light shined from it. “Derpy,” He said hastily, putting the device back, “This pony doesn’t have the same readings as you, I’m not so sure…”

Muffled cries projected from the kitchen. “Why you,” the Raindrops imposter menacingly said. Its eyes closed as its coat started to change; first its head, then the rest of its body. It was now gray, except for the transforming mane. It was quickly turning from blue to the pale yellow of Derpy’s. It blinked its eyes a couple times, its now golden eyes unfocusing, and then snickered as Derpy looked into what seemed as her reflection. “Bye!” it cried, in Derpy’s voice. It started to gallop out of the door.

Derpy charged at it, spreading her wings out, she tackled the creature. “STOP COPYING ME!” she cried. “DOCTOR!” Derpy was pinned down. The creature was digging its hooves into Derpy’s soft coat.
The Doctor was nowhere to be found. “Mmm.” The doppelganger purred, “Finally a good snack!” It licked its lips. “You love him very much.”

Derpy’s vision started to blur. “Help,” she said in a whisper.

Derpy saw a pony figure, quickly approaching her. It had something trailing behind it. A weight was lifted off of her, as she was carried off. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She saw a brown head hovering over her, right before everything went black.

History Lessons

“Derpy”, a faraway voice called. “Derpy!” The voice seemed to be getting closer. “Derpy, please,” The voice seemed to be right in front of her.

“Derpy, come on!” this new voice was close too.

Everything went from black to grey; from grey, to full color. Everything crashed down on top of her like a giant boulder. She saw many faces. The two voices belonged to the Doctor and Raindrops. They were the closest. Those sky blue eyes stared directly into hers, full of worry. Raindrops seemed on the verge of crying. Tears started to stream out of her eyes when Derpy opened hers. A few drops fell onto Derpy’s cheeks. The Doctor helped her sit up straight on the soft bed that belonged to Raindrops.

Vinyl, Octavia, Bonbon, and Lyra were all there. They were all staring at the one grey Pegasus intently. “Where’s the imposter?” Derpy asked, regaining her strength. “What was it?”

Lyra walked up to where Derpy was lying. “It was a changeling. I remember coming across it when I was looking for books on humans. They are creatures that can change into any form they want. They take place of the ponies they change into and feed off of love. For some reason, it went after you,” Lyra’s golden eyes stared at Derpy questioningly.

Derpy’s whole face flushed a bright red. “So, er, where is this changeling?” she asked, eager to change the subject.

“Over here!” Derpy’s voice sang.

Everypony stepped aside to reveal a tied up copy of Derpy. “This stallion,” said Raindrops, pointing to the Doctor, “tackled that thing, and tied it up.”

Derpy looked up to the Doctor. He was leaning against the wall, playing with his “screwdriver”. Derpy slowly got up and walked over to her mirror image. “Could you keep it here? The Doctor and I have important things to discuss,”

Vinyl grinned. “Don’t worry D, we can handle this thing!”

Derpy grinned and led the Doctor out of the bedroom. She heard down the hall, the voice of Octavia, “Mmmm! Those two are just like my romance novels!”

Derpy blushed even more and started to run out of the hallway. The Doctor was trailing behind. “Doctor, I have a lot of questions!”

He smiled, “So do I!”

***

They sat down at the kitchen table. Derpy set out a pile of muffins before her. She stared directly at the Doctor. “You can share first,”

His blue eyes looked down. “What I saw in my dream was something truly terrifying. It hurt me in many ways… More than you, I am sure. There was a woman- well, a mare. She seemed truly rich. She was a clear aristocrat. Most likely came from the place Octavia came from. She was talking about it. She and Vinyl were leaving for a concert there I think. Anyways, she was a unicorn, not a Pegasus like you might think. She was levitating a bundle before her; one which was wrapped in very fine silk.

“I had no idea about the whole unicorn magic thing, pretty amazing, considering that they aren’t the superior race. Anyhow, I am trailing off subject. She had golden magic and golden eyes. Well, I assume it was magic; it was some type of aura that seemed to be controlled by her horn. Her mane was in large curls, very blonde curls, with an accent of light blue. Her fur, er, I mean coat was a darker blue, much like Vinyl’s hair! She was wearing a long cloak. It covered most of her body so it was hard to tell any of her other features. You could still tell, however, that her eyes were normal.

“Back on subject, she was levitating the baby to a small, rundown building. It had markings which I didn’t understand. I am quite sure it was an orphanage, considering the background information about you that your friends told me. The mare placed the baby on the front door’s porch. The mare looked down on the baby with care and muttered words that I could not hear. She kissed a small piece of paper and left it with the baby. She then took off her necklace and placed it around the neck of it. She knocked on the door and fled, a tear rolling down her cheek.”

Derpy stared at the Doctor. If that was the truth, then…

“I have many things to discuss about this,” The Doctor said. “First of all, why am I having this dream? I just met you, and yet, this information seems perfectly reasonable. You said that you had a dream about me, maybe our dreams are connected? Another thing to think about is your mother. If she really was a unicorn, then that might be a reason why she left you. That also didn’t necessarily have to be your mother; it could have been a kidnapper of some sort. There are many interesting details in this dream,”

Derpy picked up a muffin. “I see something wrong in your dream however.” She peeled the little wrapping off the muffin, “Unicorns can’t stand on clouds, only pegasi can.”

The Doctor nodded his head slowly. “I was thinking just that. Tell me your story. It might clear some things out; whether this dream is true, or not.”

Derpy sighed. “Alright. So, I was in a graveyard. It was really empty; completely empty except for three humans and a statue depicting a human with wings.” She looked up at the Doctor.

“Curious,” the Doctor uttered, “continue,”

Derpy cleared her throat, “One of them, went up to the crying statue and touched it. She disappeared, just vanished! The human, the one that I assume was you, burst into tears. I know my description isn’t as good as yours, it doesn’t have all these analyses or anything, but…” she stopped mid-sentence. She looked over to the Doctor; he was staring into space, a lost expression in his eyes.

She looked down at her uneaten muffin. She had lost her appetite. The female that vanished was probably dead or something. She was most likely dear to the Doctor, considering that he was crying in the dream. She was probably still dear to him, he probably couldn’t forget her.

“Doctor!” Lyra yelled hastily, as she was rushing into the kitchen.

The Doctor blinked, escaping his trance. “Yes, Lyra?”

“The changeling!”

The Doctor shook his head. “We’ll have to talk about this later!” He shoved his chair away and ran out of the kitchen and out of the house.

Derpy rushed into the bedroom of Raindrops. Everypony she cared about was in that room, and now, they were all lying down on the blue rug. She looked around. All six of them were there, eyes wide open, lying on their bellies. Their tongues were hanging out and they all looked dazed. Where was the changeling?

Lyra casually walked up to Derpy from behind. She started to lick her lips as she got closer to the pony. “Finally! I can get a good snack! It’s been ages since my last one; this is going to be quite tasty! I can tell that you will be a succulent meal. All that love building up inside of you, yum,” She smiled in the most unnerving way. Lyra never looked like that, it felt weird. She started to run at Derpy.

“NO!” Derpy shouted. She was about to kick the creature with her hind legs when she looked into those deep blue eyes. Derpy stopped in her tracks.

The stallion broke into the same smile. “Ha! Exactly as I thought.” The “so-called” Doctor inhaled deeply through his nose. He pinned Derpy down. “This is going to taste good!”

“Get away from her!” cried Vinyl’s scratchy voice. Vinyl kicked the imposter’s face and it flew backwards. Vinyl rubbed her temples with her hoof. “That thing sure knows how to knock a pony out, ouch!”

Octavia and Bonbon came rushing in with the rope again. “Get away from her!” cried Bonbon. They quickly tied up a dazed Doctor.

Derpy rushed over to the real Doctor. “Are you alright?” she asked softly.

He groaned, “Yes, yes,” He looked over at the changeling. “Now,” he said, slowly getting up. He walked over to his copy and stared directly into its face. “Let’s see what you really look like,” He pulled out the tool again and clenched it with his jaws.

The green light shined in the changeling’s eyes. It squinted as its coat started turning a shadowy black. It started to wriggle, trying to escape but to no prevail. It ground its teeth and screamed. “NO!”

It soon became a hideous black pony figure. Its head was shaped quite similar to an alicorn’s. It had a pair of sharp, pearly white fangs that seemed to be able to cut anything. It had a curving horn set in front of two, torn up ears. The most dominant feature of this creature was the hooves. The hooves had holes in them that made them look almost like weird black cheese. It was a miracle that it could even walk on them. It had a long, sweeping mane, which was dark blue. This, somehow, also had holes. Its eyes were the same color as well, with no pupil in them, just completely blue; there were no whites of its eyes or anything.

“How did you…?“ asked the changeling. Its voice was definitely feminine; it was a low voice that sounded like a chorus of cries. It echoed around the room.

“Now, where did you come from?” interrogated the Doctor.

“I,” she stammered. If the stallion could force her to change back into her original form, what else could he do? “My name is Kacoonis. I am the heir to the throne, after my mother Queen Chrysalis.”

“Well I am honored to be in the presence of a princess!” The Doctor laughed, “You still haven’t answered my question,”

She eyed the Doctor. “How can you tell that I’m not lying? Maybe this is a trap? You never know,”

“Stop trying to be clever,” He waved the screwdriver around and winked.

She sighed, “I am stuck here, for my mother and all the royal soldiers have been blown away, to some unknown place. They were trying to break into Canterlot to feast upon all that delicious love. Where am I to go to? Our race is made up of nomads. We are always traveling, looking for food. They all basically left me and the rest of the female changelings scattered around Equestria. What am I to do? Tell me! What am I supposed to do?” At this point, the princess was actually sobbing.

Derpy instantly felt pity for the princess, though she did try to eat her love, she was just looking for food. Derpy knew how it felt to be abandoned, tossed aside. She also knew what it was like to have no real home.

The Doctor turned to Derpy. “Would you like to accompany me on an adventure?” He asked, smiling.
Derpy started to blush profusely. “J-Just the two of us? Adventure?”

“We are going to save all these people from these changelings! I don’t want anyone to go through what you went through. I don’t want to see more people-I mean ponies- get hurt. Will you be my companion?”

“I don’t want anypony to go through that either,” Derpy nodded.

“Of course, we would need someone to tell us who’s a changeling and who isn’t…” He looked over at the changeling. “Will you accompany us?”

“Me?!” exclaimed the princess.

“HER?!” exploded Derpy

“What?!” everypony else screamed.

“You won’t cause any trouble, right?” he asked, ignoring everypony, “with us, at least you have purpose and somewhere to go!”

He smiled, though Derpy could tell that it was a lie. His eyes showed great distrust. He seemed as if he was saying, “One false move, and I’ll get rid of you as fast as you can say ‘no’.” The princess seemed to notice this too.

She sighed, “I guess so,”

The Doctor smiled. He looked over to Derpy. “Alright! Derpy, I think you should pack up. Changeling Princess,” he glanced at Kacoonis. “Don’t do anything weird. You have no idea what I am capable of,” he said, lowering his voice.
“Um, okay then, I guess I’ll go pack…” Derpy replied.

***

Derpy glanced at her few possessions. She had spread out the necessities on her bed and was placing them in her saddlebag. Her saddlebag was attached to a brown belt that looped around her back. The bag hung there, with the buuble clip unlocked. She remembered when she got the saddlebag, a few years ago. Back then, it was so cool to have a customized saddlebag, with your cutie mark as the lock/clip.
She barely used this beige saddlebag. Most of the time, she was too busy delivering mail to travel. Now, she could finally put this dusty thing in use.

What lay before her was everything she needed for a few months.

1.A baker’s dozen of muffins

a.4 blueberry

b.5 chocolate

c.4 plain

2.A blanket

3.2 Bubble bottles

4.Her mother’s pearl necklace and note

5.A map of Equestria (The Doctor probably needed it)

6.A compass

7.A bottle of water

8.30 bits

Everything she needed for a long journey. This stuffed the saddlebag quite full. Maybe she should get rid of something? Muffins were one thing she definitely couldn’t sacrifice. The bubble bottles? No. Whatever. She’d just have to cope with the heaviness.

Derpy walked around, trying to get used to the weight. She practiced flying, she was still fine. Derpy imagined flying in a hot air balloon with the Doctor. Just her and him. Of course, that dream blew up in her face when the changeling accepted. Whatever. Derpy quickly ran out of the house, eager to start fresh and get away from her own stressful life.

The Doctor was waiting outside of Derpy’s house with another pony. This pony was pure white. She had the same body figure as a princess or like the famous model, Fleur; very slender and curvy. Her coat shined in the sunlight. Her mane was gently curled at the bottom; other than that it was completely straight. Her bangs were curled up into a “C” shape. The maroon mane seemed as if it was blowing in the wind. Her cutie mark was a plain and simple red heart. Her red eyes lowered at Derpy; her maroon eye shadow looking like blood to the pegasus. The pink tongue of the mysterious pony fell out of her delicate mouth, and she licked her lips.

“Who is this Doctor?” Derpy’s heart started pounding. This pony was definitely stunning, though she did have an evil look in her eye.

“Don’t get jealous!” The Doctor exclaimed, jokingly, “This is the princess, in disguise of course. Shall we start?”

“Let’s,” Kacoonis uttered, her “voice” was deep, with a very feminine touch. Had she copied somepony else, or was this some fantasy pony? Was she trying to wow the Doctor and feast off of his love for her? Derpy definitely didn’t trust this changeling,

“So, are we setting out on hoof? Or do you have a secret balloon stashed anywhere?” Derpy asked, playfully.

The Doctor burst out laughing. “Well,” he chuckled, “No, my dear companions, we will not be! Let’s just say,” he eyed the two, “I have some cheat codes,” He grinned.

“DERPY!” cried Raindrops as she was running out of her house; “Here!” she gave Derpy a forest green sweater, “You might be traveling to someplace cold so,” she burst into tears.

“It’s okay Raindrops! I’ll be back soon!” Derpy reassured.

Octavia and Vinyl came galloping towards Derpy from the centre of Ponyville, where they both lived. “Here,” Octavia panted. She had brought a foldable saddle umbrella. It was a very nice one, one of Canterlot quality. The umbrella part was purple, with golden flowers patterned on. The saddle part, the part from which the umbrella stem protruded from was purple with a golden frame. “I got this from Canterlot, but I have never used it. I want you to have it, in case it rains where you are going,”

“Thank you! You ponies are the best friends ever!” Derpy exclaimed. This was the first time she had genuinely felt happy in years. It felt great, being surrounded by ponies that truly cared about her.

“You need something to hold all that with,” Bonbon said. Derpy turned around. She didn’t notice Bonbon and Lyra sneak up behind her.

“We were saving this for your birthday,” Lyra said. Bonbon was holding a blue bundle in her mouth, “But we think you might need it now.” Bonbon placed the bundle in front of Derpy.

Derpy used her nose to unfold the sky blue blanket. She gasped as she looked down on an exact replica of her own saddlebag. Bonbon helped to clip it onto her remaining side. Derpy placed the umbrella, the map, the compass, and sweater inside. “Thank you so much!” Derpy hugged each individual pony. “Really, thank you,” Derpy started to walk away with the Doctor and Kacoonis.

***

They walked back to the pond, the place where Derpy had found the Doctor. The big blue box was still there; or, as the Doctor had called it, the “Tardis”. The day of the Doctor’s arrival that had changed Derpy’s life seemed as if it happened ages ago.

“This is the Tardis! Ba ba ba dum!” The Doctor sang. The stallion pushed open the doors. “At least it doesn’t smell like pears anymore!” He skipped in.

Derpy and Kacoonis were caught off guard. Derpy vaguely remembered this feeling of wonder, but she didn’t really pay attention last time. This time, however, it hit her hard.

The once outhouse-sized blue box was now at least the size of the Cake’s house. The large room’s floor was made of what appeared to be glass. Through this glass, you could see all these wires and lights, tucked underneath; the lights emitted a popping blue shine. In the middle, there was a large hexagonal table which was connected to both the ceiling and floor through two large columns; the table had a lot of buttons and overly large levers. The column connected to the ceiling was transparent with a spiral spinning inside.

The whole room was shaped like a giant dome, with the walls curving outwards. The walls were covered with circular lights that lit up the entire room. Wires hung down from the ceiling. There were two staircases that led up and zigzagged. All of this interlacing confused Derpy quite a bit.

“Welcome to the Tardis,” shouted the Doctor.

“It’s,” Kacoonis paused, “bigger on the inside…” She ran out of the Tardis, circling it, trying to comprehend the magic.

“Now Derpy,” the Doctor said, while the princess was circling, “We can finally talk.”

“Is my dream…” she looked the Doctor in the eye, “is it what really happened?” The Doctor bowed his head. “I’m sorry,” Derpy whispered.

“I guess,” the Doctor lifted his head. He let a tear drop out of the corner of his eye. “This means that the pony who left you was a unicorn.” He shook his head, “This raises many questions. Our dreams must be connected. If this keeps happening, we could find out more about your past and what really happened-“

“What is this thing?” Kacoonis questioned, rushing in finally.

The Doctor smiled his mischievous smile, “You’ll see,”

Into the Unknown

Derpy landed on, what she thought, was a soft plane of sand. It seemed as if the sun was beating down extremely hard. Where was she? Certainly not anywhere in Equestria. She stood up and stretched her legs, they were extremely stiff and every joint creaked with every motion. She pushed back, her hind legs on their heels, her front slanting back, and took off, flying gracefully into the sky. She achieved this only because it was a dream. It certainly felt more natural flying now.

She started to fly away from the blinding sun so she wouldn’t have to face it and kill her eyes. She felt a strong wind somehow turn her around, straight to the sun. You can feel weather in dreams? Derpy simply curved and continued her previous trail. This time, the wind blew stronger. Derpy struggled to go back, but the wind wouldn’t let her. At one point, she couldn’t even move. Whatever, the sun didn’t really affect her much. She started on the path the current lead her to.

Derpy went over all the places she knew of that she could possibly be. Was this a beach? Definitely not. Coltifornia was a no. This was definitely not Equestria. What other countries did she know? Saddle Arabia, Japony, Tailwan- wait! Saddle Arabia! This totally matched the description of the deserts there. Why would the Doctor be in a desert?

Derpy looked to the horizon and saw the faint dot of some civilization. The wind pushed her the rest of the way there. She realized that this was a fixed memory and she couldn’t go any further or change directions.

Derpy landed and looked around at the almost empty city that lay before her. All the streets were barren, the mud-brick huts abandoned. The wind nudged Derpy toward the centre of the small village/town. It was a slight push, but Derpy got the idea. She reared back, and took off, floating in the clear blue sky.

The whole town was gathered in a huge town square, right in the heart of the small place. These ponies didn’t look the same as ponies in Equestria. One thing was that they were horses.

Their bodies were leaner, their legs thinner and longer. Their faces were similar to that of an alicorn, only more squished together, their eyes smaller. The colors of these horses were duller, the pinks more pale than the common hot pink found in Equestria; Their hair ranging from dark blue to black to brown to blonde. Their hooves were a separate color from their coats- a shiny black. Not a single horse with wings or a horn was present.

They were all sitting at tables that were circular and wood. They all sat on little embroidered cushions that had designs of red flowers and tropical locations. The most noticeable of all these tables was a large one, right in the middle of the gathered tables. This circle was as big as a large fountain. These horses were all dressed extremely nicely.

They had exquisite saddles that drooped over their stomachs. They seemed to be made of silk or cotton-not the hard, uncomfortable kind you would see around the higher end of Equestria. The “saddles” had fine patterns of the elements of nature and curly figures. Some of the saddles were beaded with bright, vibrant beads and shells. The mares had necklaces of the same material, matching the saddle. The stallions did too, just without beads. The mares had little pieces of cloth that sat upon their heads, also matching the saddles. The stallions had helmets that were in the same color scheme.

There were two horses that really caught Derpy’s unfocused eyes, however; a mare and stallion cuddling each other. The mare was bejeweled in an excessive fashion. She had diamonds running across every bit of clothing she had. The stallion had golden bracelets that covered the bottom half of his leg. He had gold earrings and gold rings in his hair. It must have weighed a lot.

They were all having a banquet of some sort. The food made Derpy’s mouth water. The fresh aroma made Derpy whoozy- though she couldn’t smell anything. She could see the steam rising off of the freshly cooked carrots, the sweetened grass made Derpy’s tongue tingle. Everything a pony could ever want was on every single table. It all seemed oh-so-delicious.
The stallion broke the cuddling and arose from the soft, silk cushion. He made a long speech that Derpy couldn’t even hear. She wished she did, everypony- er, everyhorse- was getting all sentimental over the soundless words. He looked down at the lilac mare and smiled. He pulled out a small bundle he had hid under the cushion.

It was an object wrapped in a shiny pearly cloth that glistened in the sunlight. She gently unfolded it, making sure that her teeth didn’t damage the fine cloth. It was a gigantic gem with the words “Marry me?” engraved upon the red surface.
The mare burst into tears as she rose and stood upon her place mat. Derpy could almost hear the horses muttering. She started a long speech which gave everyhorse strange glances. She then looked down upon her fiancé and sighed.

A green fire enveloped her as everyhorse created a shocked face. Kacoonis arose from the flames and looked around, tears in her solid colour eyes; a few broke her eyelashes and rolled down her black cheek. All the mares started to run around and scream. The stallions stood their ground and drew out weapons. 1/8 of the horses burst into green flames as well and ran out of the city. Some of the changelings were killed with long spears that had feathers dangling off the end of the pole.

The stallion stared at the princess who was being pushed away. She was clutching the large ruby in her chops. He muttered something, something that could only be audible to somehorse close by in all this chaos. Derpy was rather close so she could read his lips mutter, “I love you,” as the princess was taken away. All the horses were running through her, her image flickering each time. This dream seemed so real, that this part was the main reason she didn’t believe she was in reality.

Everything started to swirl. Derpy thought she was going to be sick. She closed her eyes when everything went black.

***

Derpy woke up with sweat plastered all over her face. She glance around the Tardis, the Doctor slowly breathing right next to her. He had fallen asleep a few feet from her, but was now cuddling with her. She smiled as she took her blanket and wrapped the Doctor in its warmth. Where was Kacoonis?

Derpy tip-hoofed out of the Tardis and creaked open the rusty doors. Kacoonis was there, her hooves dangling in the pond, her hair shining in the sun. She was holding something with that green aura; it was close to her heart. Her now visible wings were going up and down with each breath. The bug-like holed wings were attached to a sort of armor-ish apparel. It was a gradient plate of blue and green.

“Kacoonis?” Derpy whispered.

Kacoonis came out of her trance with a jolt and hid the object in the folds of a long piece of blue cloth that wrapped around her stomach. “Yeah Derpy?”

Derpy saw a shimmer of red glint off of the hidden object. “I had a dream…”

“I have dreams too. Wow, look at the sun! It must be noon! We better go wake up the Doctor!” Kacoonis said hastily.

“Is that-“ Derpy gulped and ran down the list of reactions from the changeling, “Is that the ruby the chief’s son gave you?”

If Kacoonis’ eyes had pupils, they would have shrunk to pin-points. She slowly turned her head in creaky jerks as she stared directly into Derpy’s misfortunate eyes. “Tell. Me. Now.”

Derpy told Kacoonis of the dream. The dream of two lovers, separated long ago. She then told the tale of the Doctor when he was human.

“Odd. I had a dream of the Doctor last night. It was weird. I’ve been thinking for about an hour over it. It was extremely…
confusing, I suppose? Well, there was the ‘human’ Doctor you described. It was snowing and… weird snowponies… and a female human with dark hair… Ugh! I’m not good at explaining things! Just like you, I couldn’t hear anything, so… Too much stuff happening at once… UGH! All I know is that that was definitely the Doctor. You could just, sort of… tell, you know? He had the bow tie and… It was like his aura was emitting off him… I just knew it was him, okay?”

“Snowponies?”

“Well, not exactly, they were… three spheres of snow stacked on top of each other,” Kacoonis started to draw in the dirt with her foot, “except these were… weird,” She added a smile to the head of the doodle, “They had fangs and evil eyes… and popped out of the ground. I really didn’t understand what was going on at all, but…”

“No need to continue, I understand.” The Doctor said. He had been standing in the doorway listening to everything they had said ever since Derpy left the police box.

“Doctor!” Kacoonis shouted in surprise

“How-“ Derpy questioned, “How did you sleep?”

“Dreamt of your beautiful face, hanging out with ponies when you were a child.”

“Filly.”

“Same thing,” the Doctor said with a yawn. “Let’s go to Appleloosa next.”

***

The next cities went by so quick that Derpy couldn’t even comprehend what was happening sometimes. The only noticeable change was that the kisses seemed to be even more of an act each time. Both ponies were so accustomed to the practice that it seemed to be tedious and not special. Derpy knew that the Doctor didn’t feel anything about it. Nonetheless, she still enjoyed it.

In some cities there’d be one changeling, while in others, there would be five. Derpy’s house began to become so crowded, that there was no vacancy left- Kacoonis already expanded the shield to Derpy’s whole house-, they had to use part of Zecora’s hut.

The dreams became less and less noticeable. Most of the time, it was flashes of faces of ponies/humans that were important to others. The cycle kept changing; Derpy might have had a dream relating to Kacoonis one night and the Doctor the next. They still discussed them, but they only caused minute sentiment. The Doctor philosophized that it was because major parts of their lives had already been shown, so the importance of the dreams had been decreasing.

Then came the day they would finally tackle the city in which they were putting off; the dreaded Canterlot; the heart and mind of Equestria, where the Princess could get you at any moment. “I thought Princess Celestia got rid of all the changelings.” Derpy reviewed.

“She got rid of all the changelings she knew of. Only the ones that were attackers did she banish. No, but she failed to notice some of the females slide in as normal ponies. You couldn’t tell who was who, what with all the chaos. Pandemonium everywhere! We just have to weed out those.”

They felt the familiar rumble of the Tardis. “Ho-o-o-o-w-w ma-a-ny times have we traveled in this thing?” Derpy questioned.

“A record time; we have at least traveled to two cities every day for the past week, plus trips back home. I don’t think this old girl can keep up with this that much. Good thing this is our last city, ‘cause she needs a break.” The Doctor replied

“I’ve never been to Canterlot,” Derpy mused, “I heard it’s a really nice place- well, extremely upscale. I heard that the fountains are made out of gold and that everypony sleeps in a bed of jewels!” Derpy exclaimed.

“Isn’t it the city where the centre of the government is?” The Doctor asked.

“You mean the royal family?”

“It’s a monarchy? Just like Britain… well, sort of. Tell me more of this ‘royal family’.”

“Well, the main line of the family is made up of alicorns,” The Doctor gave her a questioning look, “ponies who are really tall- like Kacoonis’ disguise- and have both magic and flight. They all have ‘special’ abilities. The princess who is the head of our-er government raises the sun in the morning. She used to raise both the sun and moon, but her younger sister isn’t Nightmare Moon anymore, so she raises the moon. Their niece helps spread love through magic or something. I heard that the whole family is great and nice and junk. They are all basically immortal, so it’s good that they are all great leaders.”

“Nightmare Moon?”

“Nightmare Moon used to be an old pony’s tale; it was the tale that long ago, there were two sisters. One raised the sun, while the other raised the moon. Everypony laughed and played in the elder sister’ day, while they neglected the night. The younger sister grew resentful and became evil or something. She was banished to the moon by the eldest, where she would stay until the thousandth year, on the longest day, then, she would be released.

“Well, that actually happened three years ago, on the annual longest day. She appeared in Ponyville because we were hosting the festival that year. She showed up instead of the Princess and said she would cast Equestria in eternal night. Somehow, though I’m sure Twilight Sparkle has to do with this, Nightmare Moon turned into Princess Luna. She’s really pretty and she has shiny hair that seems like the night sky.”

“Twilight… Sparkle?” The Doctor only chuckled this time, he had gotten used to all the little things he found funny. “Who’s that?”

“This pony who is Princess Celestia’s ‘faithful student’. She’s such a jerk sometimes. I feel as if I’m the only one who sees it, but she was so grumpy when she came into town. And she thinks I am crazy or stupid or something, ‘cause she looks down on me, like she’s so great. Humph.” She heaved a heavy sigh.

“I think it’s weird how powerful the princesses are.” Kacoonis said, finally joining the conversation, “I mean, sure, us changeling royalty live for a long amount of time, but we really aren’t that different from all the other changelings; unless, of course, you count the telepathy thing. But we can’t, like, control ponies or anything or change all the forces of nature and control time and… It just doesn’t make sense!”

“We better get going. I want to get this over with and meet this great princess.” The Doctor said, creaking the Tardis’ doors open.

The party was greeted with many ponies’ eyes; mainly unicorns, however, because it was the main race in Canterlot. The Tardis, it seemed, had landed in quite a busy area. It had gathered too much attention. Derpy took in all the crazy fashions everypony was wearing. From hairstyles that towered above others to bejeweled suits with silver lined ties. Everypony here was clearly an aristocrat.

Ponies came rushing down the street. They were tall, white and stallion pegasi. They had golden armor on that made them extremely intimidating. They wore stern looks and stared straight ahead, right at the Tardis. It was strange how they looked exactly the same.

“Why hello there chaps!” the Doctor said to the stallions who had just made way through the crowd. The Doctor stuck out his hoof to shake.

“We are royal guards.” They said in unison, their deep voice booming.

“Why, nice to meet you! My companions and I were just stopping by on this road trip and-“

“Princess Celestia would like to see you. Come with us.” Again, perfectly in sync.

“Her highness shall be gracing us with her presence?! How lucky are we?” The Doctor said, turning to Derpy and Kacoonis.

“Er, very lucky. We should probably lock up our-er- carriage though, right? We don’t want anyone going through it, now do we?” Derpy nudged the Doctor.

“But of course!” Kacoonis and Derpy stepped out and stood in front of the two guards, watching the Doctor pull out his sonic screwdriver. A few ponies screamed as he locked up the Tardis. “That should do the trick!” He said.

They followed the two stallions, getting evil looks as they passed by ponies. The Doctor seemed happy and joyful, skipping with every step.

What do you think they’re going to do to us? Kacoonis’ voice wondered. Oh, I made a psychic link, so you guys can respond.

Why do you think the Princess personally wants to see us, huh? Shouldn’t this be a thing that’s handled strictly by the guards? Why does the Princess have to butt in?! Derpy shout-asked

I was just wondering that myself. You said she’s nice, right Derpy? Maybe that’s only on the outside, just for the public. What if she is a horrible demon in disguise?! Where did the alicorns come from exactly? How come there are only a few? The Doctor replied

I’m just worried about our own safety, what if the Princess wants to banish or execute us? Kacoonis asked in a worried tone.

“We’re here,” one of the guards said.

The castle was the largest building Derpy had ever seen. It was about as large as a mountain, the tallest roof scraping the clouds. The pearly white marble looked quite exquisite, it sparkled in the sunlight. Each different column was a different height, each roof was unique. The roofs were mainly purple with golden lining. Some of them resembled turnips to Derpy; others seemed like just plain roofs. Derpy looked upon the marble stairs which lay in front of her. They led up into the mouth of the whole castle; soon she would be right where the Princess wanted her.

Derpy couldn’t help but take a gulp as she walked up the stairs. They felt like ice, no warmth in them at all. The Doctor ran up next to her and gave a reassuring smile. He seemed to say ‘Everything will be fine’. Derpy closed her eyes and ran into the doorway.

Introductions

The beauty enveloped Derpy as she slowly walked into the large doorway. She didn’t realize that she had snuggled up next to the Doctor in sheer fright. She now backed away, her eyes in shock. The Doctor just stared with a quizzical look.

Derpy felt the softness of the red velvet carpet, snaking its way down the entire snowy floor. The towering columns of the same color glared down at Derpy; Derpy glared back. The beautiful tapestries drooped over the walls- though most of them were just plain red to match the carpet. Windows lit up the large hallway; they were set up in a fashion of tapestry then window, tapestry then window, etc. The dome-shaped windows were gateways for the sun rays to flood in. Derpy let the warmth tingle her skin.

“Wow! Now I could live in a place like this!” The Doctor exclaimed.

“How come I don’t get this? I mean, I am a princ-“ Derpy eyed Kacoonis, cutting her off. “I am a principal of… of the school. Basically I’m the- er- queen?- of the school. Yes. I deserve a castle. Definitely.” Kacoonis started laughing hesitantly.
Two unicorn guards came to the party. They wore the same attire; the only three differences were the gray coat, white hair, and horn. Again, these guards were identical to each other. “Come with us, the Princess would like to see you.” They said in the same, deep voice.

“Oh, goody! I can’t wait to meet her royal highness! Excuse me fellows, what is she like?” The Doctor asked. They didn’t respond. “I heard that she is very kind, oh yes. Very powerful too. I heard that she’s an alicorn! Now this confuses me. How come there are only a few alicorns? How did the Princess get here? If you are an alicorn, do you instantly become member of the royal family? How come-“

“Doctor…” Derpy muttered. She nudged the Doctor.

“How come there are only female alicorns, huh?” The Doctor continued, ignoring Derpy. “Usually, monarchies are ruled by kings. How can there be multiple alicorns if there is no way to reproduce pure-bred-“

“We’re here,” The guards said stone-faced.

Again, there was another large, purple door- this was a nice lavender. The two unicorns’ horns lit up to a golden color. Derpy’s throat developed a large lump that was hard to swallow. Her knees started wobbling. The Princess?! The most beloved pony in all of Equestria?! It has been Derpy’s dream since childhood to meet such a nice pony. She used to overhear stories of the great Celestia. She could move the sun and moon without even a bat of the eye.

She was supposed to be the tallest pony who ever lived, taller than buildings, as big as the sun. She was also known to be the most beautiful thing anypony had ever laid eyes on. Her flowing mane was said to be the heart throb of most stallions. Her tall horn and wings were both impressive and known to shine in the beauty of her day. She ruled Equestria with a graceful hoof.

The most stunning thing in these stories was her kindness. Derpy had never laid eyes on a mare or stallion that was gentle to her as a filly. Everypony that had passed adolescence had tortured Derpy; of course, not physically, no, but in a mental, secretive way, the way of adults. She- to this day- heard older ponies talking about her when she listened carefully. The way they talked about her eyes just made Derpy want to hurl. Just like Twilight Sparkle, everypony thought of her as stupid and clumsy, just because of the way she looked. Though the ladder was true, it still wasn’t right to judge.

When she was filly, she didn’t believe that adults could be nice. She thought that as soon as she became one, she would be a bully to all the little fillies. She dreaded growing up; she tried to still stay a kid. That’s when she moved to Ponyville, right after flight school.

She was at the brink of the end of being a teenager. She had moved with Raindrops and they both found suitable houses in Ponyville. This was only accomplished after they humbly took some money from Fluttershy and her parents, after they found out that Fluttershy was moving. Her parents were so thrilled that Fluttershy had gotten friends- what with her never getting the chance- they just couldn’t bear to see the four pegasi split up. They gave money to each pony and found homes near each other.

However, Fluttershy sold her house, for she wanted to live near the forest, in a small modest cottage where she would have room to take care of animals. This led her to becoming a vet/animal caretaker. Rainbowdash sold her house as well, going for an old, abandoned, tiny little Rainbow factory.

This had once belonged to Cloudsdale; them trying to help the pegasi in Ponyville make their own Rainbows. Rainbows (and snowflakes) were known to be tedious, and cost a lot of workers which didn’t help the economy at all. They had to give part of their product to each city- by law of Celestia- which caused even more money. The cities would pay for shipping, yes, but it wasn’t enough. The miniature Rainbow factories were a failure, sadly, due to the inexperienced ponies.
One might think that an abandoned factory would be a horrible place to live. Derpy thought so too, when she first saw the place. It was a bunch of gray clouds bundled up together and Derpy was pretty sure they were originally white. Lost in the bunch was a broken down cube of cloud bricks. These bricks, once polished and snowy were now blended into the clouds. It sure was run-down.

When Derpy visited again, after a while, she was amazed at how well it turned out. It was like the prized exhibit at a museum, everypony had been talking about it for a week by then. Derpy had finally come to visit. Fluffy, white clouds created a platform so clean, that Derpy would eat off of the clouds. A swirly, blue path led its way to the gigantic building that lay in front of her. It was a tall building with columns that towered above everything. Decorative clouds were scattered around the house; their curves jutting out in large, exquisite swirls. In some of the clouds, there were tunnels that led through that were connected to the house; streams of rainbow fluid flowed out. On the roof of the house, rainbow juice spewed out, causing a fountain-like effect. It fell down onto separate clouds that surrounded the house that were in a sort of step formation (descending). This created a beautiful river of rainbow. At the end of the river, there was a hole that acted like a funnel which made the whole thing circulate.

Derpy recalled Raindrops saying that she had taught Rainbowdash how to make excellent rainbows. Raindrops was one of the most talented rainbow creators in their year at flight school. Raindrops was a god at all types of weather making; especially those having to do with rain.

Rainbowdash had made her house a factory once again. Rainbowdash made a lot of rainbow fluid every once and a while. They circulated through the house so that none was wasted in the beautiful decoration. Whenever there was rain planned, the weather team of Ponyville would take some from her house and paint that beautiful rainbow up in the sky (this was okay, due to the fact that Rainbowdash was the leader of the weather team).

Derpy now looked upon the door, shaking her head, wondering how this door had caused her to start thinking of Rainbowdash. “You guys ready?” Derpy asked hesitantly. The two ponies nodded as Derpy pushed open the door.

***

“I’ve been expecting you,” A deep, majestic voice called out from the end of the long room.

The room had another red carpet running along the bottom. Lining the walls were stained glass windows depicting ponies. Recurring ponies included two alicorns and six seemingly ordinary ponies. The six ponies seemed to represent… wait, Fluttershy and Rainbowdash?!

“I’ve heard a lot about you three,” the voice continued, cutting through Derpy’s thoughts. There was an alicorn, sitting atop a tall, red and golden chair. This was most likely her throne. The throne was atop two layers of steps, shaped like the tiers of a cake.

The alicorn was tall with a pearly white coat that glimmered in the filtered sunlight of the stained glass. Her great wings that seemed to be able to stretch a mile long started to gently fold back onto her delicate back. Her pastel coloured hair was made up of a green, blue, and lilac. It was constantly moving, though there was no wind present. Her deep violet eyes were filled with a mixture of warmth and curiosity. Her golden crown signified her position. It was sitting right behind the tall horn, taller than any that Derpy had ever seen. Instead of a rounded top, it was pointed and seemed to be able to pierce anything. Her golden necklace- with an eye colour-matching gem- and shoes shined.

“Why, you must be the Princess!” The Doctor shouted in glee. “Why, I’ve heard so much about you!”

The Princess chuckled. “You are correct. You three interest me. Why are you all standing so far away? I won’t bite!” She jested. The three ponies hesitantly walked closer to her throne. Derpy snuggled up close to the Doctor out of sheer fright.
“Now, why don’t we start out with introducing ourselves?”

“I’m Rosetta,” Kacoonis bowed. “Rosetta Hooves,”

“What a lovely name! I, as you’re friend here have already guessed, am Princess Celestia.”

“Oh, what a fascinating name! Celestia! That’s pretty fetching, don’t you ponies think? Well, I’m The Doctor,” He said with emphasis.

“Doctor? Doctor who, exactly?” The Princess wondered.

The Doctor made a little jig as she said those brilliant words. “The answer is, only I know!” He giddily shouted.

“Alright… Doctor. Short and sweet. Now, how about you…” The Princess turned her head to face the frightened pegasus.
“My dear?”

“Derpy Hooves…” She muttered.

“What was that?”

“Derpy Hooves,” The Doctor intervened. “This is Derpy, one of my faithful companions.” Derpy looked up into those blue orbs as he sat down.

“Well, you three are probably wondering why I asked to see you.”

“Yeah, we were wondering that,” Kacoonis replied

The Princess chuckled. “I have heard that you three have been, somehow, jumping from city to city. Yes, you ponies are quite famous, now that everypony has gotten to meet you. I’ve been waiting for you guys to come to Canterlot! I have a lot of questions for you guys.”

“We have some for you too.” The Doctor said in a mischievous voice. “But, you know, questions are a pain; I really don’t feel like answering questions either. Let’s eat! I’m utterly starved! Derpy? Rosetta? Any of you hungry?”

“Famished!” Derpy yelped.

“Well, then, goodbye Princess! We are off to eat some lunch!” The Doctor promptly stood up and turned towards the door. It was certainly a long way to go.

“Wait,” The Princess called out. “You three are guests at the palace, please, have lunch with me!”

“Oh, why, I’m absolutely flattered! How ‘bout it?”

***

Seven ponies gathered around a circular, oaken table; three of which, were shrouded in mystery to Derpy. One was an alicorn. She was- well, Derpy assumed- Princess Luna, guardian of the night. She was a deep hue of blue, one that seemed to shine like the night sky. Her mane- like Celestia’s- danced in the absent wind. This really seemed as if it was made of stars; semi-transparent with swirling stars in that mass of mane, the purple outline making the whole thing seem like a strange blue aura. She had a lighter blue eye shadow gently painted on. Her black-as-night necklace and crown shifted in the light like shadows. She was, overall, a darker, smaller version of Celestia.

Then there was a couple. Yet another alicorn was present. She was a soft pink with a swooping mane. This however did not fly around in the air; it was solid, and was violet, pink, and a pale yellow. No, this alicorn seemed like a normal pony. The stallion was a pale white unicorn. He had a sturdy figure, with strong, powerful hooves. His rounded blue hair bounced with
every movement.

“Doctor, Rosetta, Derpy, I would like you three to meet my family!” Celestia smiled

“Ah, so this is Equestria’s royal family!” The Doctor greeted. “I’m the Doctor.”

“Doctor who, exactly?” The pink alicorn questioned

“Heh, I’m the only one who knows.” He grinned.

“Um, okay? Well, I’m Cadence! Very nice to meet you, Doctor.” Her voice was rather young, less majestic compared to Celestia.

“I’m Shining Armor, Cadence’s wife.” The stallion said. His speech didn’t seem to match his appearance. Such a strong looking stallion should have a deep voice, like Big Macintosh. His voice, however, seemed to be younger than it should have been.

Cadence snickered, "You mean husband right?"

The snowy coat became a deep hue of pink, "Did I say wife?"

“I am Princess Luna,” The dark alicorn greeted, drawing attention away from the embarrassment of her nephew-in-law. Her speech was like a normal pony’s, not exactly like it was back on Nightmare Night last year.

“I am… Uh, Rosetta Hooves! Please to be of your acquaintance!”

Everypony turned to Derpy, giving her urging looks. What would they think to her name? Her eyes already told her one thing, but her name? That would double the effect. She took a deep breath, “Hi, I’m Derpy,”

A stallion with a pure white coat and a well groomed blonde mane. If it wasn’t for his demeanor, Derpy would have thought that that pony was a mare. “Having lunch without me?!” He sounded incredibly surprised and disgusted. He spoke with an air of arrogance; Derpy didn’t like it one bit.

“Ah, Prince Blueblood, we were just about to get you.” Celestia said with a slight twitch. The rest of the family growled at him.

“Who are these commoners?” He questioned, looking down on the three like specks of dust.

“These are my guests, the Doctor, Rosetta, and Derpy.”

“Derpy! What kind of idiotic name is that?!” Prince Blueblood broke down laughing.

“You are the rudest person or pony I have ever met, you piece of rubbish,” The Doctor growled. “You know, you clearly are not royalty, though you may think and act that way, you aren’t even a close member. I suggest you eat lunch with somepony else.” The Doctor’s glare was as cold as ice. Derpy stared at him with surprise. She was flattered that he would stand up for her.

“Why, I never… Do you, princesses, have anything to say about this?!”

“Leave. This. Room. Right. Now.” Princess Luna said, her face turning blood red.

“Humph!” Prince Bluebood roared as he strutted out the room.

“Why, I’m starving, let’s eat!” The Doctor shouted, suddenly switching personalities.

Mind Your Manners

A tall, slender white stallion marched into the large room. He had jet black hair that was way too neat and a crisp, clean suit. His little moustache bounced with every step. Platters with covers to maintain mystery floated around the most-likely-waiter in a magical cyan aura that emitted from his horn. He bowed, his head low to the ground and said in an oh-so-Canterlot voice, “Lunch is served,”

The stallion laid one platter in front of everypony. Derpy’s eyes were completely focused on the reflective cover that was put in front of her. She clenched her stomach with her hoof, not wanting to cause any embarrassment for herself as her stomach wanted to scream extremely loudly. It started to rumble.

The covers made a loud clanking sound as they were levitated off, steam instantly flying into the air in thick, wispy waves. Luckily for Derpy, the clanking hid the loud earthquake-like noise that sounded from Derpy’s famished stomach.

The food was clearly Canterlot styled, for she could tell that she could never find anything this extravagant in Ponyville. There was a type of pasta covered in cheese that oozed a delicious looking crimson sauce. Lining the bottom of the plate was a thick layer off sweet grass, the aroma causing Derpy’s tongue to loll out. Scattered across the top were mushroom-like slabs that caused Derpy stomach to grumble. Violet flower petals sprinkled the top. They looked so sweet and tasty that Derpy was about to-

“It’s sweet grass risotto with truffles,” The Princess mentioned.

Derpy looked up, not realizing that nopony else was about to eat yet. Her snout was just about to touch the steaming food, “Truffles? Like, chocolate?”

“It’s this really fancy kind of mushroom,” Princess Cadence commented, “They use pigs to sniff them out,”

The same waiter came in, floating above him were expensive looking crystals that held some magenta drink, “Your drinks,” He bowed, placing one in front of everyponies’ plate and utensils.

Kacoonis sniffed the drink, her face scrunching up, “What is this… beverage?” she questioned

“Well, um, wine. You ponies don’t drink?” Shining Armor wondered. Even his little sister had tried those fermented drinks before. Though she didn’t like it, she would still accept it when offered. Shining had gotten used to the burning taste after he started dating Cadence who always had elegant dinners.

“Well, um, I’ve never tried…” Derpy muttered.

“Derpy, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” The Doctor reassured, placing one of his coconut hooves on her shoulder.

Derpy muttered something imperceptible. “A toast, to our guests and this fabulous lunch!” Princess Celestia hollered.

“A toast!” Everypony repeated, though Derpy did half-heartily.

Derpy and Kacoonis looked at each other, then the wine, then each other; this went on for several seconds. Derpy gently curled her ashen hoof around the stem of the fragile glass. Hooves weren’t that good for eating or drinking, so most ponies had to be extremely careful. No wonder all the fancy mannerly ponies were unicorns. They could just levitate the tools. Derpy brought the cool cup to her lips and tilted her head back, the red liquid rushing into her mouth. She recoiled at the
taste, but nonetheless kept drinking out of manners.

When she put the glass down and opened her eyes, everypony was still drinking. Had she gone that fast? With a smack of their lips, most of the alicorns had set their glasses down.

“My throat is burning,” Derpy moaned, completely forgetting her hunger.

“It’s okay Derpy, you’ll get used to it,” The Doctor reassured.

“Well… Let’s eat!” The Princess called awkwardly.

Derpy felt as if she was going to throw up. The wine had tasted exactly like the berry flavoured medicine flight school had given to her once when she was sick with the fever. She recalled lying in bed, her face extremely red, and her heart pounding in her ears as she moaned. Fluttershy used to stay by her bed before going to class in that week. Rainbowdash and Raindrops would just stare awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Fluttershy would feed her that vile stuff the school had supplied.

Derpy now moaned loudly, her face turning a horrible emerald. “Derpy?” the Doctor asked worried.

Derpy gagged, though only the wine came out, considering she hadn’t eaten since early the day before. It made a slushing sound as it fell out onto the red carpet. “Never… drinking… again…” Derpy muttered between quick breaths.

The whole royal family stood up right away, fluffed pillows now being kicked away as the happy couple ran off to get a doctor… a real medical one. Luna rushed to the Doctor’s side who was trying to calm Derpy down, telling her to take deep breaths.

Luna raised a hoof to the small pegasus’ forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever…”

“I don’t think she’s… uh, ill,” Kacoonis guessed, walking over to the incident.

“Is it from the alcohol, Derpy?” The Princess questioned. “You don’t have to give in to peer pressure,”

“Uh,” Derpy muttered, looking at the mess she made. It really just looked like a purple wine stain to be honest.

“I was about to be sick when I saw you doubling over, Derpy,” Kacoonis chuckled, “you’ll be fine though, at least you didn’t start eating yet.”

“I’m…” Derpy gulped, “Hunnnnnnngry!”

Celestia chuckled as she went and sat back down, lighting up her horn in a golden glow. Luna sat back down as well; smiling at Derpy’s little complaint. Luna used her fuchsia aura and picked up her napkin. Her glow deceased as the napkin came to life, its body waving live a ghost, it floating over next to Derpy and hopping down onto the now damp floor. It began to dance over the stain until the stain was no more.

Two yellow flashes made Derpy blink rapidly, the light too bright. What appeared was both Cadence and Shining Armor back in their seats. They were clutching their heads as they felt a large throbbing in their skulls.

The little napkin made a small squeaking noise, as if it was calling someone. Luna lit up her horn yet again and the napkin was levitated to the nearest bin.

“Okay… Now let’s eat!” Celestia smiled.

Derpy looked down at the delicious dish set out before her. One might have lost one’s appetite after such a fiasco, but no. Derpy was too hungry for all that. Besides, she couldn’t let this beautiful-and obviously expensive- meal go to waste!

Everypony but her and the Doctor lit up their horns as their magical aura enveloped the dainty silver forks and knives. Derpy stared down at the food. Everypony else dug in, commenting on how delicious it was. Derpy’s depressed stomach begged for her to start eating. Sure, it was easy to eat mannerly for unicorns (and in this case, alicorns as well), but not so much for the other kinds of ponies. Usually, ponies used their hooves to eat, but obviously-based off of the setting of the utensils- that wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Her stomach roared in protest yet again.

Derpy’s eyes widened as she gently clenched her teeth around one of the petit forks. She bent her neck in a way that it wasn’t supposed to be bent, so her head was directly above the plate. She thrust her head down, trying to get the fork to stab something. Instead, however, it decided that it was time for anarchy, so when her head came down, the fork decided to slip away when it made contact with food. This caused both the food and fork to slide away. Luckily, instead of all the food coming off the plate, the plate just slid away. Unluckily, Derpy’s chin smashed into the redwood table.

She grunted in pain as she imagined the large purple lump beginning to form. The Doctor stared at Derpy, trying his hardest to contain his amusement. Princess Cadence looked down in pity and smiled, lighting up her blue magic and picking up Derpy’s plate and fork, setting it out in front of her.

“Just… eat normally, none of us mind,” Cadence cheerfully said

Derpy looked down in dismay, realising how she had to eat. She bent down her head and bit off a little bit of everything in one go. The sweet grass burst in her mouth as the sugary flavors swarmed around her tongue. The risotto adding that bit off savory needed at a lunch. The truffles gave a light, bouncy texture that made her whole face relax. It gave that little kick that made this meal so special. Then, there were the orchid petals. They added just a slight spongy crunch that eventually melted in her mouth. It was so sweet and tangy at the same time, Derpy couldn’t describe the food with any words. She felt all this in her first chew, her eyes closing as she created a look of enjoyment. Her whole face was relaxed as she slowly munched on the orchestra of flavours, savoring every bit.

“So,” The Doctor said, interrupting Derpy’s taste buds from tasting the delicious food in another bite, “Back to my questions, oh dear Princess,” he said, directing to Celestia.

“Ah, yes, you are quite eager to get back to those queries,” she chuckled.

“I don’t quite understand alicorns, I’m just wondering-“

“Shining Armor,” Luna looked over at her nephew, “will you please leave this room?”

“Um,” he looked back at Luna, specifically at her stern look, “yeah, yeah, sure,” he stood up to go, not willing to question his ill-tempered aunt.

As soon as that blue tail disappeared, Luna’s horn lit up as she shut the door. “Now, continue, time lord,” Luna ordered.

"Wait... what?!" He shrieked, eyes shrunken to pinpoints.

"Oh, it was quite obvious! I mean, look at that thing in your collar, a sonic screwdriver! Haven't seen one of those in a millenia!" Celestia teased.

"But... I thought I was the only..."

"As I said, a long time ago. I heard about Gallifrey... I'm so sorry. Truly. It must be so horrible to be the only one," Celestia muttered mournfully. "Get back to those questions,"

He shook his dazed expression away, getting back on subject. “H-How are there only three alicorns? Why are you three royalty? Why is there a prince that isn’t an alicorn? How come you supposedly live forever? Where did alicorns come from? I-“

“You know Doctor,” Cadence chuckled, “You have way too many questions. We will answer one at a time,”

“Alright, where did alicorns come from?”

“Afraid we cannot reveal that, Doctor,” Celestia said in her overpowering voice.

“Fine, then how are there only three alicorns?” Again, he got the same response. “You said you’d answer my questions!” The Doctor whined.

“We did,” Cadence chuckled, “we said that we couldn’t tell you,”

“There are some things that not everypony can know.” Believed Luna

“If you three can’t tell me, where can I find out all this?”

“Why are you so interested in this?” Cadence interrogated

“Because, I’m the Doctor,” he said with a humph. “Just, tell me where I can find all this out, where you three are from and... about another time lord...”

“Alicorn Archives,” Celestia muttered, looking up at the party of three with a determined look.

“Sister, what are you-“ Luna cut in

“If he’s that determined, he should be given a chance to at least try,”

“Alicorn Archives? What’s that?” Kacoonis wondered, finally joining the conversation.

Luna sighed, “A library that has the whole history of everything… when I say everything, I mean everything,”

“Entries are still being added to the library, it’s completely up to date. It has volumes of the beginning of this world. It has details of everything, up to that little speck of dust floating around,” Celestia said, pointing her golden-shoed hoof at a piece of dust, dancing in the gleam of the sunshine flooding in through the open window.

“You guys told me it was all a legend,” Cadence added, feeling hurt that her aunts had been lying.

“It is. We aren’t even sure if this place exists. I mean, we haven’t even been there,” Luna replied

“Then how do you know of it?” the Doctor probed

“It was drilled into our minds by mysterious ponies that my sister and I have no knowledge of, we learned off this place at an extremely young age,” Celestia responded, lighting up her marble-like horn. A scroll appeared before her in a flash of bright yellow light. “Do you want this Doctor? A map to this legendary Archive?”

The Doctor grinned, “I’m always looking for an adventure…”

***

“So, Derpy, Kacoonis, let’s go,” he said, folding open the azure doors of the TARDIS.

“No.” Derpy muttered

“What?” Kacoonis and the Doctor both asked incredulously at the same time.

“I agreed to come along to help Equestria… with the changeling problem but not this. What’s so great about going after a legend and some random 'time lord'? It might not even be real! Celestia said that it would be a dangerous journey that could lead to pain and even death. You’re willing to go through that for… knowledge that isn’t even needed? I’m sorry guys, but… I just can’t. I’m not going through with this. I’m going to go catch the next train to Ponyville,” Derpy sighed, turning away.

“Derpy!” the Doctor called

“What?” she asked sadly, she really didn’t want to say goodbye to the Doctor, but there was no other choice.

“I’ll… I’ll,”

“You’ll do what?” She asked sternly.

The Doctor gulped, “I’ll take you to go see your mother,”

All the gears suddenly halted in Derpy’s brain. Her mother? That has been her lifelong dream, just to know what she was like, to finally meet the mare who gave birth to her. She would be happy then, most definitely. She would finally have a real family. And now, if she were to go back in time, she could go stop her mother from abandoning her. She could start anew, in a better world. Derpy smiled at the thought.

Her golden eyes shifted to the Doctor who was now shifting uncomfortably. “Alright, let’s have a look at that map,”

The Library

The Doctor unrolled the parchment paper, it crinkled as he did. The scroll was about a few hundred years old. Most of the print was faded and the paper was discolored. On the map was a blob with rough edges that had faded printing in random places.

The jagged lines were obviously connected (or neighbored) another large blob. This blob was almost the same colour as the parchment. Almost. Derpy saw tints of blue in some areas that seemed like faded out patches.

“There,” Derpy stuck her hoof onto the paper with a slight complain from the parchment, “This is obviously not a part of Equestria due to the border lines and how the sea is only on one side of this… mass. We can go to the Canterlot Library to go check the maps. Wanna see if this is real?”

“Would the library have maps on other nations?” Kacoonis questioned.
“It never hurts to try!” The Doctor smiled brightly.

“Well, nopony really knows anything about the other lands and populace- well except for the neighboring ones like griffons and dragons. Ponies are only knowledgeable of creatures living in forests and such. That’s why the invasion was such a brilliant plan; none of you ponies knew anything of changelings. Why, Derpy, I’m surprised you even knew there were nations outside of Equestria,” she said in a low tone.

“It’s true, especially with the protected upper class, but us suburban ponies like learning new things. Country ponies care more, I guess,” Derpy said with pride, “Most of our top researchers don’t come from the higher ups. Take Star Swirl the Bearded for example; he was a servant to King Silver, father of Princess Platinum.”

“Enough chit chat!” The Doctor interrupted, flailing his forelegs around, “Let’s go to the library!” He took off on the right street, a dust cloud formed behind him.

“Doctor!” Derpy shouted. She spread out her wings and lunged her body up into the air. How could an earth pony be that fast, it was hard for Derpy to catch up to him. Soon, she was beside him. She hovered over the stallion for a little and suddenly leaped on top of him.

They both tumbled for a while. Derpy had a nasty scrape on her chin which was now slightly bleeding and the Doctor had bruised both of his knees. “What was that for, Derpy?” he muttered angrily, rubbing his kneecaps.

“Um…” she said shyly, feeling horrible for causing the Doctor pain. She slowly lifted up a gray hoof at a sign that was a few feet away. ‘LIBRARY’, it said with a big red arrow pointing back to where they started.

“Oh,” he mumbled, his whole face burning a bright red. He looked up at Derpy to apologise when he saw the scrape.
“Derpy!” He rushed over to the mare, “Are you alright?”

“Fine, fine,” she said, smearing off some blood from her chin. She tilted her head up and noticed the Doctor’s concerned, deep blue eyes looking into hers. They both stared for a while, both of them blinked extremely slowly. She closed her eyes as the Doctor followed. They both leaned in slightly. Derpy could feel the soft breath of the stallion blowing against her happy face, she-

“This would be a delicious snack!” Kacoonis shouted. Nopony noticed her leaning against the library sign. “Too bad I’m not allowed to dine; otherwise I would have had my fill for a month! Seriously, do you know how hard it is to find a good lunch nowadays? Almost impossible! What with all the divorces and-“

“Let’s go to the library,” Derpy stood, the Doctor quickly following her example.

“Agreed, I want to find this out as soon as possible… for knowledge! Appparently, that’s what we suburban ponies seek, information!” The Doctor started to climb onto the stunned pegasus’ back.

“What are you doing?!” She shrieked.

“Pegasi are faster correct? Well, that’s what I presume, based on how easily you caught up to me,”

“Yeah, yeah, but you could at least ask,” she muttered lowering her back for the surprisingly light stallion. She took off into the sky, Kacoonis suddenly shrinking her horn back and creating large pearly white wings. “We pegasi are light on our feet. Earth ponies- that’s you- are strong and durable. Unicorns are the smart ones, you see. They can organize their minds and junk. Kacoonis,” Derpy asked, suddenly changing topics and looking at the now pegasus in mid-air. “Why did you get rid of your horn?”

“Why, so ponies won’t mistake me for an alicorn! And by the way… you all are being really loud about everything, you should… quiet down,” she said in a whisper which was barely audible in the strong winds.

“As you said, Canterlot ponies don’t care, its fine,” The stallion brushed the comment off.

“Uh, Doctor, I’m getting really,” She heaved, “tired,” she started to sweat, her wing beats slowing down as she was losing altitude. She landed on the pavement with a plop!

“It’s okay, its right here! How lucky are we?” He shouted with glee, jumping off of Derpy’s back. “Allons-y!” He cried, running into the grand oaken library doors.

Derpy panted, she wiped off the whole pint of sweat that had collected on her brow. Why must the Doctor be so oblivious?!

“I can’t believe he still hasn’t noticed how you feel about him! Gosh, that must suck for you, Derpy! Ignored by your true love! Nothing sweet to munch on though, that kind of stuff hurts my throat. It’s really spicy and makes me cry and, UGH! Try to make something better for me to feast on next time, huh?” Kacoonis commented, galloping into the open doorway.

Why did she have these mood swings? A week ago, she was sharing her secrets with Derpy and giving her advice. She seemed like a real friend. Now? A jerk. Interrupting that special moment with the Doctor and rubbing her misery in her face. Was the only reason of kindness because Derpy had that terrible dream? Though Derpy currently didn’t like the changeling princess, she still had a sense of pity resting in the back of her mind. Way back. She had more self-pity from her childhood up to now.

“Come on, my banana muffin!” The Doctor called.

Banana Muffin? My? She had already gotten a pet name, just like couples in books. She liked it. The pegasus giggled at the comment and then she clutched her stomach as she remembered: muffins… “Coming!” She trotted over to where the Doctor was holding open the door. “Thank you, kind gentlecolt!” She bowed in a jesting way.

“After you m’lady!” He bowed as she mock sashayed in.

“What do you mean, ‘we don’t have non-Equestrian maps here’?!” Kacoonis’ voice rang through the large chamber of books. The Doctor and Derpy just stood dumbfounded at their companion’s intensifying loud voice in a library.

“Will you please quite down miss? We are in a library full of ponies who wish to read-“ The librarian was cut off by a shrieking white unicorn.

“NOPONY IS READING AT ALL! THIS IS A DEAD LIBRARY! WHAT KIND OF LIBRARY DOESN’T HAVE ANY INFO AT ALL OF PLACES OUTSIDE OF EQUESTRIA?! THIS IS THE CANTERLOT ARCHIVES! THE NATIONALLY FAMED LIBRARY SUPPOSEDLY SHELVING ALL KNOWN KNOWLEDGE! I KNOW THERE ARE PONIES WHO HAVE MADE BOOKS OF PLACES LIKE ZEBRICA AND THE DEAD LANDS, SO WHY AREN’T THERE ANY HERE?!”

“What is going on here?” A wavy haired dark blue stallion walked to the front desk from the top of the spiral staircase leading to the second floor.

“Nothing, sir,” The old mare responded shakily.

“Don’t lie to me, please Leaflet, I don’t like it,” he said in an exasperated tone.

“Yes, Mr. Sparkle,” She said.

“Yes, yes, no need for that formal diction,” he waved dismissively, “Now what seems to be the problem folks?”

“Finally, somepony who will actually help me,” Kacoonis snapped.

“Rosetta,” Derpy placed a hoof on her shoulder. “I think we can handle this,” Derpy put down her hoof back on the floor and looked at Kacoonis. She brought her hoof up to her chest while taking in a deep breath. She motioned Kacoonis to follow. She then unfolded her foreleg and let a long breath out. Kacoonis followed, her once flushed cheeks returning to their normal white.

“Our friend here was just wondering if you ponies had any maps or books about other nations outside of Equestria,” he said casually.

“Why of course we do! We have entries from the beginning of Equestria all the way to now! We have collections that were donated by hundreds of different explorers from faraway lands! Anything you would ever need to know is in this library, from the stories of how a little speck of dust came to be to how our whole vast universe was created!” He smiled proudly.

“Sir,” Leaflet looked around with those worried emerald eyes, “I don’t believe civilians are allowed to look at those-“

“It’s knowledge! Why should we prohibit this?”

“We have orders from the very top! Those are just for the higher ups! Civilians don’t need to know anything about anything outside of this nation! I don’t even know what’s in that section! You have to have special permission from one of the ponies of the government-”

“Kacoonis, will you please patiently go acquire permission from the princesses to obtain these… books?” The Doctor said calmly, looking straight into Leaflet’s eyes.

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, disappearing in a flash of green.

“She can teleport? I didn’t know she could teleport!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Higher level unicorns are able to,” Derpy replied as they walked over to a wooden bench and sat down.

They sat together in silence. Derpy stared up at the ceiling, making sure not to meet the Doctor's deep blue eyes. She felt him staring at her, her face starting to blush profusely. They almost kissed! That’s never happened to Derpy. Ever. Not in that way, not with somepony as special as him.

"Derpy," the Doctor interrupted the awkward silence. "You’re turning red," Derpy's whole face turned beet red. "Are you warm or anything?" He reached over his brown hoof. Derpy's heart raced in her ears. What was he going to do? She smiled as his hoof got closer… then he put it on her forehead. "Are you sick?"

Derpy sighed. The doctor was really oblivious. "I'm…" her face started to turn back to its normal grey, "... Fine." Kacoonis was right, Derpy thought sadly. The Doctor would never show true feelings to anypony, especially an ugly klutz like her.

“Really, Derpy, is everything okay?” He asked, staring intently into Derpy’s unfocused eyes.

*Pomf*

Derpy heard the little spring and gasped at her accident. OhsweetCelestiaOhsweetCelestia OhsweetCelestia OhsweetCelestia OhsweetCelestia OhsweetCelestia OhsweetCelestia OhsweetCelestia… Derpy shut her eyes, if she couldn’t see the Doctor staring, then he couldn’t see her little wing spring.

“Derpy?” The Doctor asked with a slight creak of the head. “Are your wings okay? I don’t think they are supposed to make such a ‘pomf’ like noise... I don’t think they make noises at all. Why are your eyes shut? Derpy?”

Oh right, the Doctor doesn’t know about this kind of stuff yet. He is new to Equestria, She opened her eyes and made a nervous smile at the confused stallion. This kind of stuff has never happened to her before. Though, it has happened to people like Raindrops and Rainbowdash back in the academy. She remembered those little incidents all so clearly.

“Yo, what’s up Dash?” A tall, blue haired batpony gracefully flew to her. His spread out bat wings folded as he landed next to Derpy’s outgoing friend. He smiled at the blushing pegasus, his teeth glistening in Celestia’s bright sun.

“Er- Hi Shadow Crawler!” she said a little too loudly. Her whole face turned red.

“ ‘Sup Derpy,” he nodded to the grey pony.

“No insult? You are one nice pony!” Derpy chuckled. “Not gonna comment on my so called, ‘derp’ eyes?”

“Nope. I don’t like being made fun of,” he nodded in understanding, “happens all the time if I hang out with a pegasus,”

“So what are you doing here? I mean, not to be racist or anything, but this isn’t the batpony academy. That’s on the left wing of this place. I dunno if you’re confused or something. But, it’s really nice to see you Shadow, we never hang out anymore,” she said, hinting to the first two years where the batpony and the four girls used to eat lunch together.

“Actually, I was thinking just the same. I also kept thinking of you, Rainbowdash,” he shifted his deep emerald eyes to the blushing cyan pegasus. “Wanna hang out sometime, just the two of us, after school or something?”

*Pomf*

Rainbow just stared forward, mouth agape, both at herself and Shadow Crawler’s proposal. “S’ok if you don’t wanna…” he said with a frown, shifting uncomfortably.

“OF COURSE I WANT TO!” she screamed. Everypony nearby all glanced at her odd. “I mean,” She coughed, manually folding her wings down, “sure, whatever,”

“Derpy?” The Doctor called, shaking the pegasus.

“Huh, what?” she muttered. She hadn’t realised that she had gone into her own little realm of memories.

“I was just wonderin-“

A flash of green blasted right next to the Doctor, causing him to shriek. “Back!” She smiled happily. She kept a wide grin on her face, waiting for her two companions to reply. Her eyes darted from the Doctor to Derpy multiple times and then she burst into a dozen rounds of giggles. “Derpy! Your wings! Bwahahaha! I mean, is the Doctor that attractive that you have to-“

A grey hoof shoved into Kacoonis’ mouth, causing her to stop mid-sentence. “Show the librarians the permission letter,” she nodded to the scroll hovering before Kacoonis in her green aura.

“Okay, you two lovebirds carry on,” she snickered after Derpy brought her hoof back to her side. Kacoonis trotted off to show the two librarians.

“Uh, Derpy,” The Doctor asked, getting up, “So, um, what exactly is with your wings?”

“Uhhhhhh,” she tried to fold the back naturally, but that didn’t work. She had to turn around, messing up her spine, and manually fold them down with her hooves. “It’s… nothing.” She sighed. They both walked over to where Kacoonis was proudly showing them the scroll.

“Seems legit…” Leaflet muttered, lowering her eyes to little slits.

“Exactly, Leaflet!” Mr.Sparkle cheered. “Come along now, I’m going to take you three to the maps.

“Thanks, Mr.Sparkle,” Derpy said, slightly annoyed that none of her friends had taken the liberty of thanking the midnight blue unicorn for standing up for them.

“Please, call me Nightlight,” he warmly smiled.

“Hey, you don’t happen to be related to a Twilight Sparkle?” Derpy asked worriedly.

“You must live in Ponyville! Yes, my protégée daughter. She is truly brilliant! Although, she can be a bit introverted at times,” He smiled proudly.

How could someone so nice be related to someone so horrible? Derpy thought. “Yeah, I do live in Ponyville! Twilight is… really nice!” She said convincingly. Nightlight weaved his slick body through a ton of shelves. He stopped at one and walked around the tall looming bookshelf. The unicorn waited patiently for the trio to catch up with him. He stepped aside and revealed extremely narrow stairs that had a ‘DO NOT CROSS’ sign attached to a rope that cut off the flight of steps. He used his light blue magic to set aside the rope and sign.

Nightlight chuckled. “Alright, watch your step,” he guided. He started to walk up the rickety old stairs. They groaned in agony at the infrequent weight. At the top was a trapdoor that he pulled on with great effort with the aura. It eventually gave in with a dissatisfied moan. “Ta-da!” He sang as he let the rest of the ponies through.

“Woah,” Derpy gasped.

Studying

Scrolls and books. Many scrolls and books. Derpy took it all in as she stood there in the chamber, mouth agape. The room they resided in was a large dome, most likely the top of the library. There was no wall visible whatsoever in this room, just shelves crammed with books and yellowing scrolls. The only time there was a break in the shelves was a small window that let light filter through just a crack.

Nightlight’s horn glowed blue as an extremely blinding light shone in the middle of the chamber. “Sun damages books, especially the older ones. Celestia’s sun may be beloved by all ponies, but we’re pretty sure most books hate the beauty,” he joked, signaling that the trio should follow him as he began to walk. “Now, this is the room for all the ‘top secret’ stuff. In your letter, it states that you three are only allowed to search the maps and…” he levitated the permission letter that he had been hiding somewhere and peered at the text. “Legends? Okay? Anyways, so, we are going to skip all this,” he said, swinging his arm to show half the room, “and we are just going to look at this,” he pointed to the other half. “Yes, we have quite a collection of maps and such, considering how many explorers Equestria was blessed with!

“We don’t keep all this a secret though, why, over an eighth of this is given out as common knowledge in school! Average ponies know the basics of a few nations, like what lives there and how close it is to our nation. However, average ponies only know of nations we are allies with. A good example would be Zebrica. You three are about to breath in knowledge that most nobles don’t even know! But you must understand, don’t go spreading this secret around! Nope! Nu-uh! The government is very… strict…” He muttered. “Okay, yeah, I’m going to be here if you need me!” He trotted to a corner where he pulled out a book from an unknown place and began reading.

“Alright, let’s see that map!” The Doctor hollered.

Derpy quickly obeyed as she flipped open her saddlebag with her wing and searched through her left bag with her muzzle. When her head popped back up, her hair was messy in some areas and she had the scroll in her little mouth. Her eyes shone bright and golden.

She looks so adorable, The Doctor thought. He shook his head trying to clear the thought. What was he doing? He’d never felt this way before! Both his hearts thumped in his ears, a warm feeling spreading through her face. His eyes dilated as he continually stared at the smiling mare.

Kacoonis levitated it out of her mouth and unrolled it, setting it on a wooden table nearby. “See that top line?” Kacoonis asked, placing a hoof on the upper border. “Does that look familiar to you?”

“It’s… It’s like part of Equestria’s bottom border!” Derpy exclaimed.

“Right, so what are places near Equestria?” Kacoonis placed a hoof on her chin, a frown on her face and a crease on her brow.

“Er, San Palomino Desert? Er, Bad Lands? Amare-azon? I don’t really-“

“Amare-azon!” Kacoonis shrieked, a sparkle in her eyes. She ran along the approved shelves, her horn pulling out each and every scroll and map. A storm started to form around her. A tornado of books, that is. Her eyes scanned each piece of literature as they swirled around her. “Ah-hah!” She exclaimed, all the books dropping to the floor but three. She rushed to the table where Derpy and the Doctor were staring in awe at how amazing Kacoonis’ magical abilities truly were. “Here, I found these three clumped together,”

“Derpy took the two scrolls and large book and set them down. “How about we each take one, we need to know what these faded out dots are,” she explained, pointing to each little dot with an almost invisible label.

The trio set to work, searching through the long scrolls and every individual page, careful not to miss anything. “Guys, come over here!” the pegasus shrieked. The two companions quickly trotted over. “See, here, it starts to talk about the legends of Amare-azon. Each little tale has a miniature map of where it supposedly took place. Well, each one is one of the dots!” Derpy proudly showed her new find.

“So the legends must have clues…” The Doctor muttered. He looked to the first one.

There once was a pony who ran free through the jungles, not giving a care to anypony else. He ruined crops, released farm animals, and brought stampedes through the neighboring villages. The only way the local villagers could get him to stop was to get rid of him. They silently crept to his home in the night and tied him in a bundle. The villagers found the largest bird they could find and tied the pony to the bird’s feet. The bird set off, the villagers now free from the horrid pony. The pony was sent to a nearby land, to a cloudy area. Once he set hoof on the fluffy clouds, he sprouted long wings that made him go faster than any other pony. This is how the pegasus was created.

“Nearby Land… that’s Equestria, San Palomino Desert, or the Bad Lands. I don’t believe the last two have ‘cloudy areas’ where pegasi live.” The Doctor examined.

“Cloudsdale,” Derpy stated. The word hung in the air.

“Okay, so what if it is Cloudsdale is the place? It’s a modern, overpopulated city. I doubt they would have anything that, would-“ Kacoonis was interrupted by a knowledgeable pegasus.

“Isn’t it obvious, guys? In the legend, there are only a few things stated: A naughty pony, a bunch of villagers, villages, a ‘cloudy area’, pegasi, and a bird. It can’t be the villagers, villages, or cloudy area, so it has to be the pony or the big bird. Think about it. They could be sort of ageless creatures like our dear princesses. Seriously. I mean, what else could it be?”

“I guess… it’s worth a shot,” Kacoonis muttered.

“Cool, we should leave right away,” Derpy got up to leave. “Thank you Nightlight, for everything,”

“Nightlight looked up and blinked a few times. “Huh? Oh, sorry, this is a really good book. Are you lot leaving? I hope we can meet again soon…” his head dropped as he went back to reading.

“Can we check this book out?” Derpy questioned.

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, run it by Leaflet on your way out…” he rambled, keeping his eyes glued on the book.

“Uh, okay, goodbye then!”

The party weaved their way through the many bookshelves once again, ending up back at the front desk. Leaflet was busy on a typewriter, her tongue poking out as she concentrated hard.

“Um, hi, we would like to check out this book,” Derpy placed the large and dusty text on the desk. A large thump sound followed.

“Yeah, just give me a second,” she muttered. Derpy sighed and stood there, impatience seeping out of her.

The Doctor trailed off, into the labyrinth of books. Kacoonis followed. “Where are you going?”

“Going to find out what’s with Derpy’s wings, I hate not knowing things,” he stopped at a shelf labeled, ‘Anatomy of a pony’. He stooped low and found an excerpt of pegasi wings.

“Oh, you are going to love what you find out,” Kacoonis giggled as the stallion’s eyes grew wide at the information that was going through his mind. He closed the book quickly.

The Doctor cleared his throat. “Hmm, yes, that is all,” he blushed and ran back to Derpy who was just about to go out the door.

“Oh, there you guys are! I thought you were in the Tardis waiting or something,”

“Let’s go,” the Doctor dismissed, galloping out of the door.

Derpy cocked her head. “What happened?”

Kacoonis smirked. “He found out about why your wings go ‘pomf’,” She made air single-quotes with her white hooves.

Derpy’s jaw hit the floor as Kacoonis walked out of the library.

***

Kacoonis’ horn lit inside the Tardis as the Doctor was hit with a beam of lime green. “I don’t feel any different,” he muttered, examining his body.

“You shouldn’t. It’s just a spell to help you walk on clouds,” she muttered, her horn shrinking and wings sprouting from her back.

“Come one! I want to see the city I was raised in!” Derpy moaned impatiently.

“Alright, I want to walk on clouds!” The Doctor exclaimed with glee.

They all opened the cobalt blue doors into the white and blue city that lay out before them. The Doctor practically belly flopped into the clouds. He was giggling uncontrollably. Pegasi all around stared at the odd trio of a giggling earth pony lying on the ground, a tall pegasus who was obviously embarrassed, and a strange pegasus with unfocused eyes.

“Ahem,” Derpy shouted to the Doctor. He looked up with an innocent face that made Derpy’s heart melt. “Now, we should go to the Cloudsdale Zoo-for the bird- and ask around. We should see if there’s any really ancient pegasi around or something. We need to go to the Cloudsdale Library as well, to check the history records or the tourist attractions of Cloudsdale or-“

"Derpy?" A deep voice called out.

Derpy quickly turned her head around to the familiar voice. She squealed in joy when she found out who it belonged to. “SHADOW CRAWLER!" She galloped towards the foalhood friend and leapt into the air. She collapsed right on top of the slate grey batpony.

"It's great to see you!" He chuckled, his muscles rippling under Derpy's delicate body.

Derpy broke the embrace and examined the stallion’s face. "You haven't changed a bit! Well, except you’re a lot more ripped than the lightweight fast pony I used to know. Other than that, exactly the same!"

"Why thank you," he flexed his forelegs mockingly.

Derpy giggled. "So why are you in Cloudsdale? Last I remembered, you four moved to Ponyville together. How are all of you?" He questioned, glad to bump into one of his foalhood best friends.

"Well, I'm still neighbors with Raindrops, and Fluttershy and Rainbowdash are still close." She answered. Shadow Crawler urged her to continue. "Rainbow is still hard headed and the best flyer ever, Fluttershy is still all about animals and still shy, and Raindrops is still amazing with the delicate art of weather. We all haven’t changed much," she recollected.

"And you still love muffins and bubbles and call yourself a klutz when you aren't?" He raised a brow.

Derpy blushed and giggled. "Yeah… so right, I'm in Cloudsdale with two of my friends on a mission from the Princess,"

He whistled "Wow, the Princess! What's your role in the government, huh?"

"…Mailpony… well, used to be," she said sadly, lowering her head.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he muttered reassuringly, he placed his hoof on her shoulder-though this was hard for she was still sitting on him.

"Ahem," Kacoonis interrupted. "Sorry to break up this reunion, but I want to know who this foxy pony is," she said, licking her lips.

"Rosetta, Doctor," she introduced, "meet my foalhood friend, Shadow Crawler, the best Night Guard you will ever meet," she praised, finally stepping off of the batpony.

"Woah!" The Doctor shouted. He ran up to the pony who was just getting up. The Doctor unfolded the bat wings much to Night's surprise.

"Er," Shadow muttered, looking to the giggling Derpy for assistance.

Derpy cleared her throat. "Doctor, he's a batpony. They are a whole another race from outside of Equestria. Many immigrated here, and thus, they are quite common here, they have integrated their way into the pony world."

"I see," he examined, looking at the tufts of fur coming out of the batpony's ears.

"Anyways, it's really great to see you Derpy! We should hang out sometime during your stay,"

"Well, we aren't staying here for over a day, so I don't think we'll have time… unless…" Derpy turned to her two companions. "Guys, could I hang out with Shadow for a while? We haven't seen each other in years and we need a lot of catching up. Please? We could meet up back here in two hours. Please?"

"Ooooooh! A plot twist in drama!" Kacoonis cheered. She looked at the Doctor and Derpy with a sly look. "Sure, Derpy. You can hang out with your coltfriend all day, if you like," she snickered.

Both faces looked identical in colour and expression. Derpy's blushed face uttered, "We aren't…"

"Dating…" he finished.

Kacoonis snickered, "Whatever you say!" She trotted off with the Doctor staring at the duo until they were too far away to be seen.

“You mad?” Kacoonis questioned, a smiled on her face.

“W-what?!” The Doctor blushed profusely, “W-why would I be?”

“You’re mad that Derpy’s getting nice and comfortable with another stallion. You want to smooch her so bad, don’t you?” Kacoonis’ persistent smile irked the beige stallion.

“NO. I. DON’T!” He shrieked.

“Denial! Such a stupid thing. Really, you need to confess your love for her before that delicious batpony whisks her away from you,”

“I-I-I,” the Doctor stuttered, the same warm feeling spreading through him again.

Kacoonis had won. “Whatever, your love life! Let’s just go to this zoo!” She whipped her rosy hair and started to trot away.

The Doctor looked back at the two ponies who were still standing there, laughing and giggling with each other. The Doctor felt a slight rage boil deep within him. Derpy leaned over, close to the stallion’s face. The Doctor’s eyes shrunk to pinpoints as this action happened. His mouth tasted horrible. He felt like he was going to be sick. He stared with intent eyes as she leaned over and whispered something inaudible… and then started giggling? Hmmm… maybe the zoo can wait, time for some… studying,

Author's Note

I added Shadow Crawler to this story because, well, I just fell in love with batponies three days ago! They are just.. so crash! (if you watch young justice, then you know what I mean) I originally just added him there in the last chapter, just for fun. Then, an idea popped in my head. Not all relationships are so easy, right? What if the Doctor was faced with a rival? So yeah, Shadow Crawler wasn't originally planned, but I thought it would be fun to write with him. I don't know how to end this author note so... Bye?

I Spy

“Wanna go grab some lunch?” the batpony asked coolly.

“Oh sweet Celsetia, yes! I haven’t had a good meal in ages! The only thing I’ve been snacking on is the occasional muffin or two.” She patted her stomach which had now begun to growl.

“How ‘bout Cloud Hopper’s café? I remember you used to love that place.”

“It’s still there?! Let’s go!” She giddily exclaimed. They began to slowly walk along the street, passing pegasi giving them strange looks. A batpony and weird eyed pegasus? Not something indigenous to Cloudsdale.

Cloud Hopper’s café, The Doctor scribbled down on a notepad he had found in Derpy’s saddlebag when she wasn’t looking. The stallion wasn’t used to writing with his mouth, so the pencil made weird, slightly legible marks.

“Why aren’t we going to the zoo again?” asked an exasperated Kacoonis.

“I believe Derpy’s in grave danger. I mean, that guy looks like bad news. I mean seriously, bat wings? Don’t you think-“

“That’s a bit racist,” She stated. She knew the real reason he was tagging along. Oh, the drama!

The Doctor shrugged it off to see the couple far away. “They’re moving!” He exclaimed. He stalked up to a lamp post, and then hid behind it, back against the pole and hind legs supporting him. He peered around with his blue eyes to make sure they weren’t watching. The earth pony rushed into a small group of mares. They all gave him condescending looks before dispersing. Beads of sweat rolled down his beige face as he tried to hold his breath, causing a scrunch face.

Kacoonis sighed and walked up to the unusual pony, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him to a nearby street corner. “Doctor, this is ridiculous. I understand that you’re jealous, but seriously. You don’t have to act like this! If you really want to follow them, just follow them! No need to duck behind random ponies and hide behind lamp posts!”

The Doctor sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. We should go to the zoo-“ He looked over to the two ponies who were still heading down the street. There was a long pole with a banner that said, ‘ZOO’. He smiled and galloped up to the two, Kacoonis close behind.

“Oh, hey Doctor,” Derpy greeted, surprised.

“Are you two heading to the zoo as well?” He asked with a grin.

“Oh yeah, the café’s right next it!” she recalled. “Well, we best not bother you, you two really have to concentrate on finding that stuff,” Derpy said in a rush. She opened up her wings, the batpony following suit, and they soared away.

“Darn it!” The Doctor shrieked. He kicked at the cloudy ground.

“Seriously Doctor, we should go-“

“Yes, yes, the zoo, allons-y!” He sighed, walking into the pearly white gates of the Cloudsdale Zoo.

“Hello, and welcome, to the Cloudsdale Zoo!” A way-too perky voice hollered. Kacoonis and the Doctor turned their head in confusion to a mare in a beige vest that had perky pins all over it. Keep on flying, Defy Gravity, Smile!, were all different pins stuck onto the apparel.

“Uh, hullo,” The Doctor greeted.

“My name is Rainbow Shines, and I will be your guide through the Land of the Birds! Ka-caw!” Her voice went up and down with great exaggeration. Her wide grin was completely fake by the look of her eyes. Her frizzy tangerine hair had way too much mane spray in it that it looked as hard as a rock.

“The Land of the Birds?” Kacoonis inquired.

“Yep-arooni! The Land of the Birds is our biggest attraction yet, with thousands of birds from places way beyond Equestria!”

Finding that bird will be like finding a needle in a haystack, Kacoonis thought, sending the psychic message to the Doctor.
How will we even- his thought were interrupted by the annoying guide.

“And here, we have the Amare-azon section! Now, this is the largest one because many birds live in Amare-azon! Now this…“

Oh, that was easy, The Doctor thought. “Um, excuse me, Rainbow Shines?” he poked the guide. “We heard from the locals that there’s this really old bird from Amare-azon. Will you kindly show us it?”

“Why, of course!” She nodded quickly. “Now, old Feathers is one of the few birds that ponies are actually allowed to handle! He is hundreds of years old, based on what local scientists tell us. Feathers is quite the sight! Though he is old, he looks brand new, just like how a phoenix works! He is extremely calm and collected, so don’t worry your little pony heads-he won’t lash out at ya!”

She trotted over to a large green bird whom was resting on a little pole, not in a cage like all the others. It was really large. Really. It must have been as tall as a normal pony, maybe even taller. It was slim and sleek, its forest green feathers glistening in the nearby sun. It opened its once resting eyes to reveal fiery red circles.

“Do any of ya wanna handle ol’ Feathers?” She asked with a smile, sticking out a hoof and letting the tall bird hop onto the cream coloured foreleg.

“How do you do that? It’s at least a meter tall!” Kacoonis exclaimed.

“Why, ol’ Feathers here is real light! Just like, well, a feather! I would be a goner if he stretched out a wing though, those things are three meters long!” She giggled.

“May I?” The Doctor asked, sticking out a hoof.

“Why, of course!” She placed the large fowl onto his foreleg. Much to the Doctor’s surprise, he was light as a feather.

‘Rainbow Shines, please come to the ticket booth,’ an electric sound crackled from loud speakers.

“Oopsie! Seems like I’m needed elsewhere!” She perkily stated. “I’ll leave you two with Feathers, he won’t bite! Don’t worry!” And with that, she zoomed away.

“So, uh, what’s this bird supposed to do?” Kacoonis poked the Bird. It just stared at her questioningly.

“I don’t really…” He trailed off, seeing out of the corner of his eye a sign that read, ‘Cloud Hopper’s café’. “We need to get that book from Derpy,” he muttered.

Kacoonis sighed. They did need the book, but the Doctor would start spying again… “How about you stay here with the bird while I go get the book,” And with that, she flew away, leaving a sad Doctor alone with a bird.

Kacoonis happily skipped over to the café that was feet away from the Doctor. She pushed open the glass door, sounding the bell. She saw the two at a small pastel coloured round table, chatting and giggling. Derpy had a half-eaten muffin next to her and empty plates. Half-eaten muffin?! She must really like this batpony if she’s not finishing that… Kacoonis thought.

Derpy’s eyes lit up when she saw the white pegasus strutting in. “Hey Ka-er, Rosetta, what’s up?”

“Just wanted to borrow the book,”

“Oh, sure,” Derpy ducked her head into her right saddlebag, rummaging around. She resurfaced a few seconds later with the book in her mouth and some frizzy yellow hair. “Here you go,” She muttered with the book still in between her teeth.

“Thanks,” Kacoonis took the book and left the café, a smile on her face. She waved to the Doctor who was probing the calm bird. “Got the book,” she muttered, settling it down on the cloud. “They are really good ‘friends’, you know? They’re all giggling and smiling… Don’t pretend you’re not jealous!” She raised a brow.

The Doctor muttered something inaudible while opening up the book to the specific page. “Here Feathers, anything you want to do?” The bird squawked in return. “Here,” he hoofed over the bird.

“Hey!” Kacoonis called. The bird shrieked at Kacoonis. She sighed. “Whatever,”

The Doctor walked up to the café door and stood by it. He pricked his ear and closed his deep blue eyes, enhancing his senses.

“-Oh mare, I can’t believe you did that!” Derpy shrieked.

Shadow Crawler chuckled. There was a silence. Are they… kissing? The Doctor asked out of fright.

“Um, why are you staring at me? Do I have something in my teeth or-“

“Just staring at your beautiful golden eyes,”

The Doctor could practically hear her blush. “Oh, Shadow…”

“Wanna go out some time? I really enjoy this time with you… alone,”

“Shadow, I-I-“ Derpy stopped for a long time, then finally, “I’m sorry, but, I-I can’t. I’m really sorry,”

That was all the Doctor needed to know. He opened his eyes and made a silent jig; he cheered, then coughed, straightened his red bowtie, and walked back to Kacoonis. Luckily for Derpy, he didn’t hear the next part.

“Shadow, I would’ve, definitely. I had a major crush on you back at flight school. When you and Rainbowdash went out, I kept… I felt weird. I mean, you know, I would’ve today, but-“ Derpy blushed.

“Is it that earth pony?” He asked, not out of hatred or jealousy, just out of curiosity.

Derpy was quiet for a long time. “Yes.” She murmured, blush spreading throughout her whole face. “I… whenever I’m with him, my heart starts to pound, I get a rush in my head, and I start getting dizzy. And, oh sweet Celestia, those eyes! So blue and deep, nothing like my stupid messed up ones. He stood up for me when ponies were being mean and he’s so unique! He talks funny and he is so smart and-just-ugh! It’s hard getting it out…” she rambled.

During this, Shadow Crawler just smiled sweetly. He knew there was something going on between the two. Don’t get him wrong, he really did like Derpy. She was truly beautiful and those eyes were just adorable, no need for ridicule! They always sparkled and were the perfect shade of gold. Her hair was always messy in a cute way, and she had so much in common with him. He started to feel this way since he started dating Rainbowdash, though, he couldn’t hurt the rainbow-maned pegasus’ feelings, of course.

He leaned over and gave a peck on the cheek to his foalhood friend. With longing eyes he muttered with much care, “Maybe some time later, we could hang out again?” A tear began to form in his stone cold neon green eyes, but he held it back, his face heating up.

“Yeah, yeah, I would like that,” She said with her cute little smile, a slight dimple in her right cheek. With that, she got up and gave a short kiss on her friend’s cheek and left, the little bell sounding.

This, is when he cried. He looked out the glass wall, seeing that little buttery tail wagging around. Tears streamed down his slate grey face as he made sure nopony saw. This was his little secret and his huge burden. Could he ever forget about this amazing pegasus? Perhaps not, she was one of a kind.

***

“Come on bird! Do something!” The Doctor screamed.

“Doctor, quiet down, we’re in a public place,” Kacoonis muttered, a bead of sweat forming on her brow as other ponies stared.

“I DON’T CARE! THIS IDIOTIC BIR-“

“Hay, what in the name of Celestia is going on here?” Derpy asked, pouting whilst her eyebrows pointed down in fury.

“This bird won’t do anything!” The Doctor whined like a little colt.

Derpy examined the bird for a while. “What’s wrong with its wings?” The Bird squawked in return.

“What do you mean?” Kacoonis asked, trying to set a calm, collective example for the frustrated stallion.

“Well, I mean, anypony with wings needs to stretch them at some point, even if they’re hurt. It’s not good to. I don’t think anypony could ever do it either, by nature, you gotta stretch out those wings eventually, otherwise your body will just…”

Derpy grabbed one of its wings in her slippery hooves, the bird cawing in protest. Its body was like a statue and the wings were glued shut. Everypony began to stare at the trio harassing that poor, defenseless bird. One pink pony even ran off.

Soon, the zoo keepers were there, the pink pegasus leading, telling them to calm down. “I’m sorry sirs, but when was the last time this bird stretched out its wings?” Kacoonis asked with a gleam in her eyes.

“Why, missy, I’m sorry but-“ He stopped dead, his eyes glazed over green. “About 3 months ago. The vets say he should be opening them up sometime today. They say that his body is going to force him to,”

“Thank you so much!” Kacoonis dismissed. Again, another glaze over, and they stomped away, like the zomponies in movies. The Doctor cocked an eyebrow. “What? I just asked nicely,” Kacoonis teased.

“Whatever,” muttered Derpy. She took the bird and set it down, back on the little wooden perch. “Guess we’re going be keeping an eye on that bird for the rest of the day?”

The Doctor nodded, “Let’s play some I Spy,”

Author's Note

Well wasn't that nice? We finally got to see how the Doctor felt about all this. Frankly, I enjoyed it a lot more. I liked giving him exaggerated moments, and the way he acted... I dunno. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did!

The Perks of Not Being a Pegasus

“Ugh, I’m tired of waiting, can’t we just-“

“Shh,” Derpy and the Doctor whispered, peering around to make sure nopony heard.

“But-“

“Sh,”

“But-“

“Shhhhhhh!” They shout-whispered, glaring daggers into the grumbling changeling.

“Fine,” She mumbled with a huff.

Derpy shifted under the bench that was pushed up against the café’s wall. The three had been hiding there for at least three hours and most of Derpy’s legs had fallen asleep, the weird tingling feeling spreading throughout her appendages.

Oh, I think it’s moving, Kacoonis sent the message ringing in the other two’s heads. The three held their breaths as the bird ruffled its feathers and… went back to sleep. Oh, this is dumb, Kacoonis grumbled, her two partners whipping their heads around to glare at her.

Stop complaining, it’s really annoying, Derpy took a few deep breaths, trying to count to ten slowly.

Hey, I’m bored too, but that isn’t the matter. We must be patient! The Doctor sighed and continued to stare at the empty nest that rested atop the raised platform. Wait… empty nest?! Allons-y! He thought, racing out from under the bench.

“Doctor!” Derpy whispered, getting up too. The tingling feeling lingered and Derpy crumpled to the floor, moaning. She rolled around and stared deep into the blue eyes that belonged to a stallion who had too crumpled to the ground.

Stop lollygagging! Kacoonis thought, rolling her eyes as she stood proud and tall above them.

Don’t your legs hurt? Derpy asked, feeling slightly coming back to her legs.

Pfft, I know how to sit. I’ll watch for guards, go find the bird! Kacoonis began to creep around the area.

“Hmmm,” The Doctor muttered. He leapt up and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, letting the green light rest upon the surrounding floor. “He’s not flying right now… So where is he?” He shuffled about with his screwdriver, examining every piece of cloud, every speck of dust.

Derpy felt a strong rush of wind behind her, causing her to fall to the ground, hooves protecting her head. “Doctor!” She screamed. But it was too late.

The large emerald bird was atop the fallen Doctor, shrieking and squawking, clawing at his face. Every time the bird struck, the claw tore into the Doctor’s once perfect skin, causing blood to smear all over his face. The Doctor struggled, trying to pummel the fowl with his front hooves. Finally, hoof struck beak and the Bird staggered away, up into the air. This was just enough time for the Doctor to roll over and pull out his sonic screwdriver. The green shone into the bird’s eye, causing it to go temporarily blind.

“Doctor,” Derpy cried. She ran over to the stallion who now had a few seeping cuts on his face. One especially large gash ran alongside his face, from the right side of his forehead to his chin. “Doctor,” She croaked, the tears causing her to choke.

“Just a scratch,” He waved Derpy off, jumping up. “Kacoonis, we have moments to spare, hurry! Use your magicy wagicy stuff!” He called.

Kacoonis quickly whipped around and grew her horn, green aura shined. “Magicy wagicy…?” She muttered as the bird’s claws and beak were held shut by green.

Derpy gently touched the gash on the caramel coloured pony’s face. He winced a little, but relaxed and let his head fall into her hooves. “Doctor, we need to get you to a hospital,” She murmured as she scooped him up in her hooves like a princess from fairy tails.

“First the bird,” He muttered, slowly turning his head toward the captive.

“Hmm, I don’t see anything…” Derpy murmured as she inspected the large wings.

“What are you talking about? Don’t you see that pocket?” The Doctor joked, pointing at the insanely large kangaroo-like pouch that was underneath the bird’s left wing.

“What? Pocket? Just… what.” Kacoonis muttered, examining the poor helpless bird.

The Doctor rolled his ocean blue eyes. Were they jesting or something? He jumped out of Derpy’s hooves, much to her protest, and trotted over to where the bird was set. He dug his hoof into the pouch that was invisible to his two companions and pulled out a large emerald. It was as large as an apple and sparkled in the light of the moon.

“W-where did that come from?” Kacoonis asked shakily.

“What do you mean?” The Doctor stomped. “Do you not see that pocket?!” He cried.

“No! I’m pretty sure Derpy doesn’t either! I mean-“

“Guys,” Derpy whispered crisp and clear. “Need I remind you that we aren’t even supposed to be here? Okay, good,” she sighed as she saw her two partners calm down. “Now, what is something the Doctor has that we don’t?”

“Well for starters, he doesn’t seem to own a brain,” Kacoonis snickered. The stallion glared at her and was about to say more when Derpy interrupted.

“Seriously, I feel like I’m foalsitting or something. Be serious Kacoonis, you too Doctor,” Derpy muttered.

“What? I didn’t-“ The Doctor cleared his throat now, as Derpy began to glare at him. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Well… I’m not a pony,”

“What? What do you- whatever. Never mind. Okay, it might be because… you’re an earth pony…” Kacoonis muttered. “Nah, that’s silly, I don’t think-“

“Kacoonis! You bloody brilliant changeling, you!” The Doctor hollered. He jumped up and gave the shocked changeling a peck on the cheek. “I’m and earth pony! It couldn’t have been because I’m a time lord, ‘cause then nopony could ever even find the treasure. Oh, but whoever did these Alicorn Archives is a genius. They didn’t want just anypony finding it, so they built a few obstacles. I’m sure earth ponies aren’t supposed to walk on clouds and this fowl here doesn’t open up its wings often. You had to not be a winged pony and be here at the exact moment when this-this key holder would open up. This is bloody brilliant!” He leapt around and around the two baffled mares. One of them however was still processing that kiss.

He loves Kacoonis, Derpy thought, as the bleeding stallion bouncing around seemed to move in slow motion. He loves Kacoonis, it just kept repeating over and over again. Again and again.

“Kacoonis, turn back into a unicorn or whatever,” The Doctor giddily stated.

“Er- okay,” Her wings melted away in a green slime and before anypony could even scream, she was under the clouds. The only pony who actually thought of this was Kacoonis and as she calmly and quickly fell to the rough earth, her horn glowed and she was gone in a flash. She reappeared before any of the two ponies could comprehend that she had fallen and she had a spell enchanted upon her. “Let’s take a look see,” Kacoonis trotted over to the tall forest green bird and examined its left side. “How did I miss it that?!” She uttered, staring at the extremely visible pouch that was under the large wing.

Derpy shook her head, finally accepting that there could be something going on between her two companions. “You can see it now, right-“

“Hey! What are you ponies doing here at this hour?” A pearly white stallion rushed over to the trio. He had a pale blonde moustache and matching military-like manecut. He wore an outfit similar to that of the guide, well, without all the cheerful and colorful buttons. Printed on the chest were the words ‘Security Guard’.

Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Derpy beat herself in her mind. How could I be so stupid?! We didn’t keep our voices down! Guess this is what we deserve, huh? She thought sarcastically.

“Why hullo there good sir,” The Doctor zoomed up to the guard, his mane pushed back from the strong wind.

Sweet Celestia, he looks amazing, Derpy thought as she examined the hopeless crush.

“Um…” The guard glanced around, trying to make the strange stallion’s electric blue eyes stop boring into him.

“Oh, you must be the security guard. You’re probably wondering why we’re all here, well, I assume because you started asking! Ha! Well, you see, my companions and I-“

“Why is Feathers tied up in green magic?”

“So like, in my last form, something like this happened as well! It’s an extremely long tale of how I-“

“How come you can walk on clouds?”

“-and then the duck said, ‘hey, got any grapes?’ It was a brilliant song that-“

“Why are there cuts all over your face?”

“-oh, but I learned that porpoises never lie, I mean seriously, that tuxedo did… did… oh, I don’t feel so well,” The Doctor whispered. He crumpled to the softness of the clouds, eyes rolling back into his head. The flowing red blood stained the pure white clouds. He was caked with dried blood that Derpy could smell from a distance.

“Doctor!” Derpy screamed. She rushed over to where the stallion lay and held his head in her hooves.

“Sweet Celestia! Yeah, I’ll go get one,” The guard zoomed away and out of the zoo.

“Doctor,” The grey mare choked, stroking his soft face. “Maybe we should stop this nonsense, this whole… Alicorn Archives thing is dumb. It’s putting you in danger, and I don’t-“

“No!” He shrieked leaping to his hooves, only to get dizzy and lie back down. “I need to go-“

“Why do you need to go?”

“Knowledge of alicorns! I-“

“Oh, shut up!” Kacoonis moaned. She kneeled down and stared intently into the stallion’s eyes. “What’s the real reason?”

He gulped and glanced away. “The alicorns… they knew what I was. They… knew of another time lord…” he muttered in barely a whisper.

“Time lord? What’s that?” Kacoonis questioned, lighting up her horn in green. It enveloped all the flowing cuts and sealed them right up, leaving only a light brown line in each spot.

“I’m a time lord… a lonely time lord,”

“Well, why don’t you go back to your people?” Derpy suggested, brushing back his chocolate hair.

“I… can’t…”

“Why not?” The pegasus said gently. The Doctor’s sky blue eyes glazed over.

“I’m… the last… one…”

“What happened?” Kacoonis interrogated, a little, no, a lot less gentle.

“There was… a war. The time war. My planet Gallifrey was a part of it… we didn’t win. My planet died at an early age… I’m the last one. I’ve been spending centuries alone, the only time lord.”

“Oh, Doctor,” Derpy muttered, embracing the recovering pony.

“But what is a time lord?” Kacoonis asked, completely oblivious to the emotions of the Doctor.

“Kacoonis,” Derpy scolded. “Can’t you see that-“

“We- er… I receive the name for our… my non-linear perception of time, which allows me to see everything that was, is, or could be all at the same time. This lets us create things like the TARDIS based on this perception. Time Lords… I also have the ability to regenerate my body when my current form is mortally wounded. This process results in my body going through a transformation, gaining a new physical form. Regenerations can also be caused by traumatic events though, they have before. All time lords… my species has twelve regenerations in total, so thirteen forms. I’m… on my thirteenth… which means that when I die for the last time… it’s permanent. I want… no I need to know about another time lord… I really need to know I’m not alone.”

“Doctor, you’re not alone. You may be the last time lord, but I’m here for you. I’ll never leave your side. I Pinkie Promise,” She recited the little swear and went through the motions. The Doctor didn’t pay attention though. He couldn’t. Hot tears began to stream down his face, blurring his vision. “Doctor,” Derpy whispered. She embraced the miserable stallion, the tears being soaked up by Derpy’s soft grey fur. “Shh, shh, it’s okay,” More tears streamed out. “It’s okay,” She rocked him back and forth, singing a tune that Fluttershy, the main motherly figure in her years, used to sing when she couldn’t sleep.
“Let’s leave this place, huh?” She whispered into his ear.

He gently nodded, his face not leaving her delicate shoulder. Derpy scooped him up like a little foal and gently flew away, her wings flapping slowly and silently, the only sound belonged to the sniffling of her friend and the soft humming of the melody. She continued to hum, Kacoonis slowly following, entranced by her beautiful voice. It came so smoothly and flowed through the air as easy as butter. Derpy gently landed on the cushiony surface of cloud, setting the Doctor down next to the big blue TARDIS.

“Derpy,” he muttered.

“Yes?” She bent down so she was eye level with him.

“Here,” He undid his bowtie and let the sonic screwdriver fall to the ground. A string unraveled which had once been hidden by the crisp white collar. Attached to the thin black string was a single silver key. “I want you to have this,” He wound the thread around his front two hooves and gently hung it around the neck of the beautiful mare. “It’s the key to the TARDIS… I think you’re a little more responsible than me,” he joked.

Derpy was in a state of shock as she carefully held the priceless key in her hooves. The key to the Doctor’s beloved TARDIS? But, it’s one of the only things that are of his people! I don’t understand why he would trust me with such a… prized… possession. A bizarre idea struck Derpy. What if… maybe… he-he loves me? Cool it Derpy, she told herself. Let’s not jump to any conclusions.

The Doctor stepped aside and nodded towards the large doors of the time machine. “You hold the key to infinite travels through time and space. It’s your decision now where you take us… Doctor Derpy,” He played.

Derpy nodded towards both her companions. She slowly walked towards the doors, still clutching the key. She inserted it into the lock and gently twisted. There was a slight clicking sound and the doors to adventure slowly creaked open.

Author's Note

Okay, before anyone says it, I'm going to:
I purposely said "fairy tails"... like a pun. Cause, you see, ponies have tails and... maybe I should change that.

Tears Shed

“So, what next?” Derpy asked, munching on her blueberry muffin.

Though it was weeks old, Bonbon made the best muffins in all of Equestria. It should’ve gone stale at least a week ago, if not more. Bonbon had always been a baker protégée since birth. Both of her parents owned a candy shop somewhere in Manehatten. Bonbon wanted to try out her own business and wanted to get out of that noisy city, so she ran away when she was just a filly! The muffin was moist and spongy, the batter made light and fluffy. The blueberries added just a hint of sweet and sour at the same time and a splash of colour.

“Well, let’s check the book!” Kacoonis urged.

Derpy blushed as she rummaged through her saddlebags. She popped her head back up, the thick and moldy book in her muzzle. “Ugh, doesn’t that taste horrible?” The Doctor shrieked.

“Nah, just try not to lick it,” She mumbled, gently laying it down in the middle of the trio’s circle. “Ugh,” she muttered, her tongue lolling out. “And try not to talk whilst holding something,”

“Now let’s see here…” Kacoonis’ pearly white horn lit up and the book came to life. It flew up so it was eye-level with its puppet master and flipped open. Its pages quickly turned so that a slight breeze was created, causing the changeling’s rosy mane to ripple. “Ah, here,” Kacoonis cried with much pride. She slammed the book down onto the TARDIS floor and stuck her hoof on a legend. “The map please,” Derpy already had it ready in her mouth. “Thank you,” She tugged it out with a neon green aura and unrolled it so it was side-by-side with the volume.

“’There once lived an old emperor who was on the verge of death. He was quite a greedy ruler and treated his people poorly, taking away all their resources and keeping them for himself. One day, the local witch had enough of this. She told the selfish king that she could make him youthful again, so he could continue leading his life of luxury. He agreed and the next day, he was at her hut. None of the other nobles or guards was allowed anywhere close to the hut, for the witch said that it was quite a sacred and private ritual. The ceremony began. The king was told to close his eyes as the witch chanted before a bubbly green brew. The fire blazed in her eyes as she shoved the horrible king into the bubbling concoction. His skin and bones melted away and all that was left was a single shining pink gem. The witch hurriedly snatched it up, greed filling her heart. The gem enveloped her in a sickly black.’”

“Moral of the story, don’t be greedy,” Kacoonis muttered.

“Well there aren’t any clues as to where the gem is, huh?” The Doctor pondered out loud.

“Well, how do you know that we are looking for the gem?” Kacoonis asked.

“Well, I mean, it was an emerald last time and… I think there might be a pattern of some sort,” The stallion replied.

“Let’s see… where do most of the greedy ponies live?” The Doctor continued.

“Canterlot,” Derpy laughed. “Oh, but it could also be with a dragon, they do keep hoards of gems and gold. They can get really greedy, why I remember, this one time, Spike—“

“Spike?” The Doctor inquired.

“Oh, he’s just this baby dragon that lives in Ponyville with an annoying mare named Twilight—“

“Allons-y!” The Doctor shrieked. He ran up to the centre of the TARDIS and began pulling levers. He twisted consoles around and around, the blue box becoming shakier and shakier.

“W-w-will you stop saying that?” Kacoonis grumbled.

“No time for your anger Kacoonis, we must hurry!” He cried, leaping out of the doors of the time machine.

“Hey, we’re in my house…” Derpy trailed off, staring directly at a changeling drone. “AH!” She screamed, falling back.

“They’re still trapped,” Kacoonis explained, knocking on the force field. “We should… get them out of Ponyville or something. I don’t think you want them to stay here forever,”

“Kacoonis, how about you get rid of them; we’ll go see to this young dragon, huh?” The Doctor suggested.

“Er, okay… I understand you guys need your alone time,” She added smugly.

“Alone time… what?” He muttered.

Kacoonis rolled her eyes as her horn lit up. “Yeah, you probably want to go… it might get a bit crowded,”

“Yeah, come on Doctor,” Derpy tugged on his foreleg. They rushed out of her home, only to be stopped by Raindrops.

“I…I heard something… I came to check… Derpy?” Raindrops murmured with tears in her teal blue eyes. Her lips wavered as she stared longingly at her friend. “You’re back… you’re finally back!”

“Doctor…” Derpy muttered hesitantly, “How long were we gone?”

“A month since the last you came with the changelings!” Her best friend shrieked. “Why would you leave like that?”

“A month?! It’s only been a few days… Doctor?”

“Well… the TARDIS isn’t always accurate…” He trailed off.

“I’m really sorry Raindrops—“

“Sorry?! All of us were worried sick! How could you just leave without saying goodbye?!” Raindrops shrieked.

“I’m sorry Raindrops… I’ll be back. Right now, we have to do something important… Princess Celestia gave us a mission,”

“Princess Celestia! You went to Canterlot? Without me?!” the jasmine pony cried.

“Yeah… sorry… we gotta go… I’m really sorry,” Derpy murmured. She gave her friend a heartfelt hug before trotting away with the caramel coloured stallion.

“The Princess didn’t send us away on any mission,” The Doctor whispered.

“It wasn’t a total lie,” Derpy whispered back. “You never told me the TARDIS would take me away for a month!” She shout-whispered.

“I didn’t know myself,” He scream-whispered.

“Why… oh, we’re here,” They both stood before a large oaken tree with windows etched into the bark. Derpy trotted up to the crimson red door that led into the Golden Oaks Library. She knocked her soft grey hoof on the rough bark, and soon, the door opened itself.

“Uh, Derpy?” An adolescent voice called. Realising her mistake, Derpy quickly looked down to see a lavender coloured baby dragon bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Hiya Spike! Haven’t seen you in a while!” Derpy greeted, a pleasant smile spread across her face that would make anypony-or anydragon- just melt. She really was an attractive pony. Stallions would run head over heels for a mare like that… except for that… defect.

“Hey Derpy… Twilight says I’m not allowed to let you in the library… she says that you can’t even read the books with your… disability so it’s no use letting you in—“ He quickly covered his mouth with his dainty claws, grasping how much he let out.

“Ha, it’s okay, Spike. I’m not going to be reading… just saying I can— but the Doctor and I were just wondering if we could talk with you,” She grinned.

“With me?” He perked up. “Wait… Doctor?”

“Hullo there chap,” The Doctor ran up to the small reptile. “Why, it’s a dragon! That’s truly amazing Derpy!”

“Uh… sorry Derpy, but… I just had my yearly checkup last week! Yeah, last week! Sorry, gotta go, bye!” He quickly tried to shut the door, but Derpy stuck her hoof in between.

“Spike, he’s not that kind of Doctor. He’s just a normal pony,” the pegasus reassured.

“Well… Twilight’s in Canterlot for the day, so sure, we can talk!” He led the two ponies in through the foyer, which was really just a large library. He guided them through a door that was hidden behind a bookcase, revealing a neat little kitchen with a round chestnut table off to the side. “Here, take a seat,” He let the two sit down as he began grabbing things from various cabinets and placing them on a tray. The baby dragon carefully walked over with the platter with a teapot and three teacups resting atop. “Oh, almost forgot,” He quickly set the tray down and rushed to a pantry, where he pulled out a nice, big muffin. “I know how much you love these,”

“Thanks Spike!” Derpy acknowledged. The dragon smiled as he sat down, the wooden chair creaking.

“So… whaddya wanna talk about?” He poured the brown liquid into the cups, handing them out to each pony.

“Well… we were wondering if you could help us solve a puzzle,” The Doctor asked, sipping his chamomile tea.

“Oh, I’m not that great at that kinda stuff,” He shrugged off the Doctor, taking more sips of his tea.

“Oh, but Spike! We need you! Come on!” Derpy moaned through a mouthful of muffin.

“Sorry Derpy, but—“

“Please?” Spike glanced up from his teacup and found that he was staring directly into the golden unfocused eyes of the beautiful mare pouting before him. Her blonde mane shined in Celestia’s sun and the little pout was adorable. Two creatures in the room were actually thinking the exact same thing as they both stared at the mare.

“Fine,” he huffed. “Don’t tell Twilight though, ‘cause she’ll… never mind. Lemme see the puzzle,”

Derpy flipped open one of her saddlebags and pulled out the musty book. The yellow pages fluttered open as she lay down the book. “Here,” Derpy shoved the book before the reptile.

“A… fairy tale?” Spike inquired with a skeptical look on his face.

“Okay… don’t tell Twilight any of this… you swear?” Derpy eyed the walls which had nopony in them.

“Okay, I swear,”

Derpy shook her head, her golden locks brushing against Spike’s cheek. “Pinkie Promise,”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” He finished, pointing a claw to his eye.

“FOREVER!” A high pitched voice called. The bubbly pink mare of Pinkie Pie suddenly popped out from inside the teapot, the lid resting like a hat on her poofy hair. “Forever…” She whispered, shrinking back into the teapot.

“Why, a wall-breaker! Haven’t seen one of those in centuries!” The Doctor recollected. He quickly snatched the lid of the teapot off and chuckled into the tea. “Wall-breakers… my favorite kind of people!”

“Okay…” Derpy stared intensely into the youth’s eyes. “Princess Celestia told us of this place and gave us this map,” She pulled out the yellowing map. “We have to find this ancient thing using this map of Amare-azon. We figured out that the origins of the legends of Amare-azon correspond with the map, so we just have to use the specific myths as clues. We already did one with great results, we’re just stuck on this one,” She pointed to the one titled, ‘The Greedy King’.

Spike quickly scanned the story. “So… it’s a king and witch who get greedy… so what?”

“We believe that we need to look for the gem described in this story. Now, this is all about greed and jewels. So the Doctor and I were thinking, ‘Who’s greedy? Who loves gems?’ I’m sorry if this sounds racist in any way but, dragons. Dragons are known to keep hoards of jewels and— no offense— but I’m pretty sure they’re often greedy,”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Spike added. “But why do you need me?”

“Well… you’re a dragon… and…”

“We believe that you might know a thing or two about dragon hoards,” The Doctor leaned in on the pressured dragon, setting the top back on the steaming pot. Both of the ponies stared intensely at him.

“Er… you might want to go to Ghastly Gorge… there are a ton of dragons there. And I think that whoever found the gem would be keeping it safely. Whenever we hoard something, we usually know the history so we know its worth… they might have kept it really protected or something…”

“Thanks Spike!” Derpy pecked the young dragon on the cheek. “Now we gotta go!”

Spikes lavender began to turn rosy. “Er, be careful! It’s kinda d-dangerous, Derpy!” He called as they ran out of the library. Rubbing his cheek, Spike walked over to a mirror in the library. He stared at his blushing reflection. Spike, what are you doing? What would Twilight say? Liking that-that messed up pony?! But… she’s not messed up. She’s awesome. Why doesn’t Twilight like her? Spike, we don’t argue with Twilight. She’s always right. Besides, she’s an older mare, you already have your sights set on Sweetie Belle, and you don’t need to over complicate things. I mean, everypony loves the Spikester, but she’s probably with that stallion with the bowtie already…

***

“Well, Kacoonis doesn’t seem to be back yet,” Derpy examined the empty home. “I think it’s about lunch time. How about we grab a bite to eat?”

“I think you should with your… friends. They need you as much as you need them. It’s my fault you’ve been gone for a whole month. The TARDIS does that sometimes,”

Derpy flapped open her wing and cuddled the Doctor in a wing-hug, her right wing wrapped around his mid-section. “How ‘bout we all eat together, huh?”

***

“Oh Derpy, you simply must tell us why you have been gone for all this time!” Octavia exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence that had occurred as they all waited for their food to arrive.

“With a stranger at that,” Vinyl nodded her wild head towards the Doctor.

“The Doctor isn’t a stranger,” Derpy exclaimed with pride. “He’s my friend, I’m his companion,”

“We thought we lost you!” Bonbon cried with watery eyes. “I can’t believe you would just do that!”

“I… didn’t mean to. It was an accident, I swear! I’m really sorry—“

“Accident?! You call a month an accident?! You have to tell us what happened!” Raindrops shrieked. Realising her outburst, she shrunk down, hot tears streaming down her face. “We thought you would come back sooner. We let you go off on this… changeling thing, but not this! I remember you saying after the last batch of monsters that you’d be back ‘in a jiffy’. That didn’t happen. Derpy, I don’t know how to react. Angry? Happy? Relieved? What am I supposed to do, huh?”

“I’ve been… on a mission for the Princess,” Derpy muttered.

“I don’t believe you,” Lyra’s golden eyes were full of rage.

Each friend expressed a different face. Octavia full of curiosity, Vinyl skeptic, Bonbon full of sadness, Lyra angry, and Raindrops full of anger, relief, and pain. Derpy felt horrible to cause all these horrible reactions. She shied away in her hair, similar to a butter coloured pegasus she knew. “I have the documents… if you wanna see…”

“It’s all my fault,” The Doctor hung his head in shame. “I whisked her away, not thinking about the consequences of my actions. Derpy, you have every right to leave this little adventure and continue your normal, happy life. I’m just a distraction. A little pest. No one needs me. Nobody wants me. People always—“

“Stop!” Derpy shrieked. “I’m not going to leave you, I’m going to make sure that you’re never alone. I’m not going to abandon you—“

“Then why did you abandon us? We have known you for years; we’ve been your best friends for years. How long have you known this guy? Huh? A few weeks at best? Now you treat us like little pieces of trash and him like your best friend in the world! What happened?! How could you just throw me away?!” Raindrops hollered. Her eyes had turned bloodshot from the constant stream of tears. Her eyes were filled with fury and hatred. “Whatever, you can leave, for all I care. I don’t even mind if you burn up in Celestia’s sun, why, you can go to Tartarus and I still wouldn’t—“

“Enough,” The stallion muttered. “What kind of friends are you? Huh?”

Derpy held back the tear that began to form from Raindrops harsh words. Her best friend. “I… understand if you want me to… go to Tartarus. I understand. Come on Doctor, let’s go see if Kacoonis got back,” Derpy gently stood up and pushed back her chair. The Doctor slowly followed suit.

“Derpy,” The Doctor softly laid a hoof on her shoulder.

“Here,” Derpy placed a few bits on the table. “To pay for our meal,”

“Derpy, wait, I didn’t mean—“ Raindrops was cut off by the grey mare quickly opening her wings and zooming away, the Doctor clutching her leg. “What’s wrong with me?!” Raindrops clutched her head in her hooves.

“It’s not your fault. She should go to Tartarus for leaving us and running away with this… this Doctor,” Vinyl spat. “I’m sure she’ll be happy without—“

Oof!

A red circle was left on Vinyl’s white cheek. She toppled out of her seat and landed on her back, a grey mare seething with rage above her. “Now listen Vinyl Scratch, don’t you go saying things like this about Derpy. She is the sweetest pony any of us know and obviously didn’t mean to leave for that long. Based off of the way we’ve been treating her, she probably doesn’t even want to come back! So we better go and apologize. You know how sensitive she is. The Doctor must be the only pony she can trust with a cool level head, not to lash out on her like we did,” Octavia took a long sigh, her violet eyes gazing at the sky.

“Octavia… I’ve never seen you so mad,” The Disc Jockey muttered in admiration.

“Hopefully you’ll never have to, Vi,” Octavia smiled and helped the mare up to her hooves.

***

“Shh, it’s all right. Come on, be strong,” The Doctor cooed as he stroked the crying mare’s mane.

“I knew it!” She whimpered into the stallion’s chest. “I knew they didn’t want me!”

“Well, sometimes, people… well, ponies can do and say things they don’t really mean, especially when they’re confused or angry,”

Kacoonis stared down at the perfect scene before her with tenderness in her eye. Her form shifted as she slowly turned her head to the mirror resting on one of Derpy’s walls which had the little scene just past its corner. She stared deep into the eyes of the changeling that stood before her, her eyes deep and dark, keeping no soul. Who was this changeling? This venomous monster? A glint of red caught her eye and the creature glanced at the jewel that lay wrapped by the creature’s green-blue apparel.

Its jagged horn lit up and levitated the ruby up to eye level, peering into every face. In each it saw a story, a journey of how a changeling became a horse. Who am I? It sobbed. What am I? The monster of a changeling princess? A princess bride? A companion? The ruby clinked to the ground as the magical grasp released. Kacoonis slid to the floor, scorching tears streaming down her face.

“Kacoonis?” Derpy muttered, appearing from behind the wall corner. She kneeled down beside the jet black changeling, streaks of tears still visible on her grey face. She huddled close to Kacoonis and cuddled her in a wing-hug. The changeling continued to sob into Derpy, letting all the pent up identity issues gush out all at once.

“Who am I?” She cried. “What am I? What am I supposed to be? I—“

“Shh, It’s all right,” Derpy gulped, repeating the Doctor’s words. “Come on, be strong,”

The Doctor leaned in on the wall, watching his two companions, his two friends, finally create a bond.

Author's Note

Okay, this is a huge turning point in Kacoonis' and Derpy's relationship
[SPOILEER] it'll be brought out more in the next chapter...

Desert

Dust. Lots of dust and sand stretched for miles on end. It seemed to never finish, Derpy couldn’t spot anything but sand anywhere. “This is… deserty,” She concluded. She flipped her bag open and produced the nice Canterlot styled saddle-umbrella Octavia gave to her as a parting gift. Octavia, Derpy thought of her friend, the only one who didn’t seem to lash out.

“Here,” Kacoonis muttered. The umbrella was wrapped in her aura and the little lavender saddle was placed atop Derpy’s delicate back. It popped open as the straps tightened, leaving the pegasus in a nice cool shade.

“Thanks,” She nodded, acknowledging the kind act.

“No problem,” Kacoonis replied.

“So… where is this ‘Ghastly Gorge’ supposed to be?” The Doctor asked, turning the map of Equestria in different directions.

“Well according to what ponies say, it’s supposed to be located past a desert that seems like it’s never going to end. Apparently, it’s supposed to be one Tartarus after the next, from dry, hot nothingness to a place where the most vicious and devilish creatures call home,” Derpy brushed off.

Kacoonis made a loud audible gulp. “We… we’re going there?”

Without an answer, Derpy leapt out of the Tardis and onto the hot sand. The Doctor and Kacoonis followed, jumping into the small shade of her purple umbrella.

“Ouch!” The changeling yelped, the burning sand scorching her dainty hooves. She sprouted wings and shot up into the air, her now red hooves waving around in the air.

“Kacoonis,” The umbrella was thrown up at the poor changeling. Derpy bent down and let the stallion climb atop her back, trying to avoid her delicate wings. Derpy flew up next to the alicorn-looking pony with the Doctor trying to hold on for dear life. “I think it’ll be more convenient to fly,”

“Race ya,” Kacoonis smirked, flexing her wings.

“Too slow,” Derpy blasted forward, her wings flapping at an amazing rate, one to even rival Rainbowdash.

“Der-der-derpy!” The Doctor shouted, eyes shut tight as he tried to imagine a happier place and time.

“Oh, Kacoonis could never catch me! Don’t worry!” She called, her hair being flattened back and whipping the poor Doctor’s face.

“Sl-l-l-ow d-d-down!” He cried, actual tears beginning to leak out.

Derpy came to a stop, her wings slowing down. Soon, she was going at a normal pony’s pace. “Huh? Doctor, you okay?”

“Maybe we should slow down a bit… I mean, we don’t want Kacoonis to be left too far behind, right?”

“I… guess…” She began to lazily flap her wings, flying low to the ground.

“Hey… you’ve gotten stronger since that time you tried to carry me to the library,” The Doctor noted with an impressed tone.

Derpy blushed at the compliment, her already hot and tired cheeks turning an even darker pink. “Thanks, I guess… I dunno,”

“So… how’d you learn to fly so fast?” The Doctor asked. He sat upright and straightened his bowtie, becoming comfortable at the slow and steady pace.

“Er, I am pretty good at short distances. My stamina isn’t that great… Rainbowdash used to try to train me, so I’m pretty fast. It all happened one day when…”

Derpy let the hot tears flow freely down into her soft, damp pillow. She heard the familiar sound of the dorm door opening and a little filly gallop in, loud sniffles emitting from her. “Fluttershy?” Derpy sniffed.

“Derpy?” She muttered through tears.

“Whew, glad we have this free period, that was quite one workout,” Raindrops voice laughed as she trotted into the dorm room.

“Not for me, I hate not doing anything for a whole period,” Rainbowdash moaned. “I need to do something! I just can’t sit around—“

“Derpy? Fluttershy? Don’t you guys have class right now?” Raindrops interrupted.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Fluttershy whimpered in her soft voice.

“Derpy?” Raindrops flew up to her friend, settling down next to her on the lower bunk bed. “What happened?”

“I… well, Flash made fun of me in class for… getting last place… for the twenty-second time in a row,” Derpy muttered into her pillow.

“How ‘bout I train you?” Rainbowdash beamed, zooming next to her friends. “Both of you?” She gestured towards Fluttershy.

“Oh… I don’t really—“

“Yes!” Derpy jumped out of bed in glee. “That’ll show him, won’t it Dash? Ah! I’m so excited!”

“Well, first, you better go off to class… don’t want you failing, now do we?” Rainbowdash pulled Fluttershy out from under her blankets and set her down. From that day on, Derpy learned to—

“Finally caught up with you guys!” Kacoonis panted, sweat pouring down her face. She lazily crumpled to the sandy floor, her wings going limp. “You were right… this is a living Tartarus. I don’t think I can last much longer. You two go see the dragons without me… I’ll just crawl back to the TARDIS,” she whined, pawing at the ground.

“Kacoonis, stop being so lazy! Come on, I’m sure we’re closer than you—“

A terrible sound shook the ground beneath them, causing the changeling to leap into the air. It was an extremely loud roar which emitted from a creature flying above them. A silhouette of a winged lizard covered the sun, as it flew around, repeatedly shrieking and calling.

“Think,” Derpy murmured.

“Yeah okay, I don’t really wanna—“ Kacoonis began to back away, back towards where they came from.

“Oh no you don’t,” The Doctor scolded. “We have come too far for you to back out,”

“Fine…” She grumbled.

“Okay… so we shouldn’t make ourselves too noticeable… we need to somehow blend in with them,” Derpy pondered.

“Duh, I’m called a changeling for a reason,” Kacoonis laughed. She stood on her now scaly blood red hind legs, claws now jutting out from the bases. The scales began to move up, swallowing up her whole body. The scales covering her stomach flipped to reveal yellow, hardened armor. Her snout popped out, pointing at the end to create a beak like maw. The dragon’s spikes poked out, running down her back. Her eyes turned a deep shade of gold, shining in the sun. Soon, razor sharp spikes protruded from her mouth, a smile spreading. “Is this any good?” A teenage male voice asked.

“I thought... you could only turn into… into ponies,” Derpy trembled.

“Pfft! Somepony of my level could transform into any organism. Oops! Forgot something,” He stuck her clawed thumb in her dangerous mouth and blew hard, maroon wings growing from her shoulder blades, causing the umbrella to fall.

“What about us?” Derpy asked, frowning at her own hooves.

“I’ll go in, spy around a bit. I could talk you through the whole thing,” He tapped his head, noting the ability of the psychic link. “If anything happens, we could tell each other,”

“I…guess,” Derpy muttered.

“Then it’s settled! Good luck, Kacoonis… or should I say, Inferno?” The Doctor snickered.

“Inferno?” Derpy scrunched up her snout.

“It’ll work. Sounds dragon-y enough,” Kacoonis shrugged. Testing out her new wings, he flew out towards the sun.

“Hey… Doctor?” Derpy muttered, pawing at the ground

“Hm? Yes?”

“May I… may I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure, go ahead,”

“Well… about the… whole only one left thing…” She whispered.

“…sure… ask away,”

“Well, I just wanted to know… what was your family like?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Well… I’m curious. I wanna know if families are really like what I imagine them to be. I wanna know if Gallifreyan life is similar to Equestrian. I wanna know everything… if it’s not too much to ask…”

“Uh… sure, sure,” He smiled in remembrance. “I, uh, I had a sister and two brothers. They were really… really great. My sister was kind and gentle, always the motherly one of my siblings. She used to fuss over me all the time. Yeah. My elder brother was really quiet, really reserved. He didn’t like talking to people outside of the family. He always stayed inside and never really participated in anything with a lot of people. My younger brother, now he… he was a prankster. I remember he used to always make us laugh with his rowdy ways, well except when he pulled pranks on us. I remember I used to get so furious. Yeah. None of them ever really changed throughout their regenerations. Only I. I… was a different man every single time. Sometimes, my siblings would get along with him, others, they despised. Yeah… they were great. I don’t remember much about home, but I remember them really well,” he gazed towards the sun, smiling at the fond memories.

“That’s so sweet… I definitely don’t have anything like that… well except my friends, back at flight school and now. Fluttershy was and is a sweet heart. She was so shy though, incredibly. She wasn’t outgoing whatsoever, but that didn’t matter to any of us. She would always watch out for us and cared for us like we were her own foals. Then there’s Rainbowdash. She was the fastest flyer in the whole wide Equestria, always bragging a lot. She was incredibly rash, never thinking ahead of time. But… she was extremely loyal to her friends. She would stand up for us in the darkest times, especially if we were being bullied. And… well, you met the rest, you can make your own assumptions,” Derpy finished, settling down on the soft sand and propping up the umbrella. She patted the sand next to her, motioning the Doctor to lie down as well.

Guys? Guys? Can you hear me? Kacoonis’ voice rang through their heads.

Yeah, yeah. What’s happened? Derpy asked, concern rising in her voice.

I’m in. They’re really rowdy, really annoying. Pfft. Guys. They’re like, smelling each other’s burps and just… ugh. I remember why I thought they had cooties when I was younger. Anyways, I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten their trust already. The leader is making me go through some dumb initiation.

I don’t care how dumb it is. You need to gain their trust, The Doctor urged.

Yeah, yeah. Ugh… I have to go through a burping contest. There was a long pause as the two waited for their partner to continue. Huh, what do you know? These baby dragons can’t even handle a changeling burp. So I guess I’m in. I’ve impressed them all and yeah. I’ll talk to you as soon as I get the info. Kacoonis, out.

“I think she’s doing alright,” The Doctor noted.

“Doctor… I’m not forgetting our conversation. May I ask… what were your parents like?”

“Well… my father was a very noble man. He didn’t talk to us much, but expected so much from us. Well, this is natural. Because of the regeneration process, he stopped associating with us after the first life. I mean, when you and your parents look like the exact same age, that’s to be expected. It was common in all families. Anyways, he went off to fight in the Time War… as did my sister and eldest brother. My sister wanted to help others and my brother… he wanted to show everyone that he wasn’t quiet, that he could stand tall. I never saw them after they left. My mother was abusive, overestimating all our abilities and giving the harshest punishments. We still loved her, caring and tending for her when ill and always there for her. She died from an incurable disease before the war— at least she didn’t have to watch everyone she knew die…” He mumbled, eyes glazing over.

“Hey,” Derpy placed her hoof on the Doctor’s. “The past is the past. No pony can really change it, not even you. Sorry for bringing it up, but like I said, I’m here for you,” Derpy gave the stallion a light hug, releasing quickly.

Hey you two, Kacoonis interrupted. So like, I asked them where to get the tasty gems, and they showed me around. That’s when I met the leader of the hoard… he was ginormous. His teeth and eyes were especially intimidating… I saw it. The pink gem. It rested on top of his forehead, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of other jewels. It stood out so much that I could’ve spotted a mile away. I asked the teenage dragons about it. They said that it was his prized possession and that no dragon has ever dared to go near it… so I’ll be the first. I plan on doing some tricky stuff in the night… until then,

Derpy and the Doctor just sat there for a while, lost in thought. Soon, Celestia’s sun dwindled down, and Luna’s moon replaced it, lighting up the starry sky. A cold wind howled against Derpy’s ears causing her to shiver.

“You know what’s warm?” The Doctor asked, noticing the little shiver. He began to dig away at the sand, creating a little burrow. “Come on,” He motioned toward the little hole. Derpy seated snuggly into it, the Doctor squeezing in as well. He brushed the piles of sand on top of their backs, causing warmth to spread through both their bodies. “There, a nice shade, comfy bed, this is paradise,” He laughed. As if something knocked him out, his head lolled to the side and onto Derpy’s shoulder.

“Good night, Doctor,” She muttered into his hair. Soon, she was asleep as well.

Lessons in Love

“A time machine?” the princess said sarcastically, “Sure, what kind of magic are you pulling here, earth pony?” she burst out laughing.

“A precious magic,” he smiled, “However,” he looked around, his smile beginning to transform into a letdown frown, “I believe this ‘Equestria’ is not in my old universe; Derpy couldn’t read the words on the front and the Tardis is a universal translator. Quite odd. This might not work.”

Derpy couldn’t suppress a frown. “So… what can it do then?”

He grinned, “ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA! So, where to first?”

How could he keep such an upbeat attitude? “Um, I have a map of Equestria,” Derpy suggested, pulling the rolled up parchment out of her saddlebag, “Kacoonis, you said that they were spread out all over Equestria, right?”

The princess walked over, her rose-coloured mane bouncing, “Right. I know that everypony was spread out, to cover more ground so there was more food. They would never run out of love with this strategy.”

“You are the princess,” the Doctor muttered, “So you should have someone-er, somepony, protecting you, unless, of course, there is a scarce supply of women-er, mares-er, I don’t know. You understand. Was there anypony that went with you to Ponyville?” The Doctor’s eyes squinted. He took out the sonic screwdriver and shone the green light into her eyes.

“Alright, alright! Come on, I’m not a total liar!” She made a low sound similar to a growl. “Anyhow, it’s because I am the princess that I was left alone. I needed to prove my independence to my mother.”

The Doctor raised a skeptical look, “Okay,” he said slowly, “So, where to first?”

Derpy cleared her throat. The princess was standing right in front of her. Derpy was fuming with rage. Derpy just tried to walk to the side, so she could at least see the Doctor. Kacoonis blocked her again. The Pegasus snickered. She spread out her wings and glided over to the stallion. She sat down next to him and spread out her map of Equestria.

“I think we should start with a large town or city,” Derpy suggested. She ignored the red-faced mare behind her.

The Doctor sat down. “How about this one?” He asked, pointing to a large city.

“Manehattan? Sure! Why not?”

“Manehattan…” He stared at the map.

“You okay Doctor?”

“MANEHATTAN!” he burst out laughing. “That’s quite punny there, Derpy! Manehattan… genius!”

“Uh…” Derpy didn’t understand what was so ‘punny’ about it.

“Right! Let’s set course for Manehattan!” The Doctor started circling the table and clicking random buttons and pulling levers. “This is extraordinary!” the Doctor shouted. “The buttons are even bigger to accommodate my hooves!” He clicked one final button and the Tardis started to shake.

“Is this an E-E-E-EARTH-THQUAK-K-KE?!” Derpy shouted.

Right after she shouted that, all the rumbling subsided. “Hopefully, we’re here!” the Doctor smiled. He gently pushed open the doors…

***

“Looks like the place,” Derpy examined, looking at the tall skyscrapers that loomed over the city.

The buildings seemed as if they were actually touching the sky. The whole street was swallowed by the huge shadows of them. The entire street had streetlamps at every few yards that only emitted a tiny, yellow ray. Most of them were rusty or broken down.

“Not such a good area,” Derpy muttered

“THIS IS PERFECT!” the Doctor shouted. A few homeless ponies with grizzled beards looked in their direction. “No one will see the Tardis here!” he shout-whispered. They started to walk down the street. “So how will we find the changelings, oh, darling princess?”

“Well,” she looked at the stallions beige neck, straight at the sonic screwdriver, “I suppose you two could be bait,”

“Bait?” Derpy asked in a worried tone.

“You guys need to act,” She looked at Derpy with a sly look, “like you’re in love, which should lure a changeling near. Then, the Doctor (or you, whichever you prefer) should walk away. Make some excuse. The changeling should take that pony and replace them. I will be nearby. The remaining pony should lure the changeling away to some isolated area. I will come in and handle the rest,”

“The rest?” the Doctor asked questioningly.

The princess raised an eyebrow, “You don’t trust me?”

He smiled. “Not one bit!”

“Whatever!” Derpy intervened, “Let’s just start,”

Derpy started to walk down the street, the Doctor sticking to her side and Kacoonis trailing behind. They walked around the corner and saw the bristling city come to life before them. This was the middle class side of town, with all the people rushing around, shopping at centers.

Quick! Start talking to the Doctor! Kacoonis’ voice rang in her head. Derpy stopped in her tracks. What just happened? “Doctor, did you hear something?”

“Yes, and we should follow it!”

“Er, but what was it?”

“Why silly,” He shrugged. “Most likely the beautiful princess,”

Derpy started to get dizzy. “B-beautiful?”

“Hm? You of course!”

This wasn’t making any sense. The Doctor eyed her and made a look as if he was saying, “Just go with it!” “Not as handsome as you…” Derpy said, “MY DARLING!” she added, accidently shouting. Derpy could almost imagine Kacoonis face-hoofing herself.

“Oh, but you are much more beautiful, my positive ray of sunshine!”

The Doctor was really good at this. “Oh, but sweetie, you are!”

“No you are!”

“No you!” Now she was getting the hang of it!

“But look at your delicate wings! Truly something any stallion would die for!”

Derpy tried hard not to laugh. Delicate? Yeah right. “Oh, but your blue eyes are simply gorgeous! Why, I’m sure every stallion would want eyes like that! All the mares would be crowding!”

“Oh, but let’s not forget to compare my eyes,” he paused and smiled at Derpy, “to those perfect, unique, golden eyes that just make your heart melt!”

Derpy just stopped walking and stared straight at the Doctor. This was a big stretch. Unique? Perfect?! They were anything but that. They were a cause of depression, a cause of great pain and many tears. Luckily for the plan, the Doctor kept on talking while Derpy was silent. Derpy didn’t hear anything he said.

Now kiss! The changeling is near! You must ‘seal the deal’! Come on! The princess’ words echoed in Derpy’s head. She could imagine the princess’ sly, snickering face. “Doctor…” Derpy whispered.

“Yes my love?” The Doctor never seemed to break character.

Derpy didn’t know what she was doing, but she had seen Raindrops and her colt-friends kiss before, she could guess. Derpy leaned towards the Doctor. Her eyes started to close as the Doctor’s did too. The Doctor bent his head down as their puckered lips made contact. A warm shiver went through Derpy’s body. Whatever it was, she enjoyed it. Their snouts touched ever so gently, the Doctor raised a hoof and pushed aside some of Derpy’s mane that somehow got splattered on her face. His hoof was extremely warm and soft.

The Doctor started to pull away from Derpy, his mahogany bowtie brushed against Derpy’s chin as the stallion started to pull his head up. Derpy didn’t realize that the Doctor had stopped. She was still leaning forwards, her eyes shut tight. The gentle brush only brought her halfway down from where she was; her head in the clouds.

Derpy’s mind was still hazy. She couldn’t concentrate on anything. She heard the faint voice of the princess say, Doctor, go get ice cream or something. Just, get out of the way from Derpy! Derpy still sat there as the Doctor muttered something that sounded faraway. She was still sitting as he walked away, as all the passer-byers stared.

Derpy! Come on! Get to the alley on your right, next to the ice cream store! How many times do I have to repeat myself?! Derpy shook her head and observed her surroundings. She couldn’t remember anything; the kiss had clogged up her mind. Nonetheless, she still got up and glided over to the alley.

“Um, hello?” she silently called down the dark alleyway. Brown hooves wrapped around her neck and pulled her into the shadow.

The alleyway was a lot longer than she suspected and unnaturally dark. Very suddenly, there was a bright green aura emitting from a white horn. It was Kacoonis- well, her shell- except this time, she was a unicorn.

“Ugh! I miss my magic!” the Princess shout-whispered.

“I have a lot of questions to ask Kacoonis, I-“

“Don’t we all?” asked a dragging voice. It was higher than Kacoonis’ and seemed as if it was made up of tiny squeaks. It was definitely feminine.

Kacoonis brightened the green light to reveal a smaller changeling. This one had neon green hair that swept the ground. It covered most of her face and was extremely messy and tangled. Its eyes were completely green and it had a curving stub of a horn. She was just sitting there, her face contorted into a mischievous grin. Her torn bug wings fluttered behind her.
Wings? Derpy didn’t remember wings on Kacoonis.

Derpy just stared in fright. “Don’t worry, my dear Derpy,” the Doctor said, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “She won’t get away,”

“Why, princess,” the changeling spat at Kacoonis’ hooves; it left a green glob of slobber. The drop started to bubble, its thick consistency starting to dissolve into pure acidic liquid. The once blob of saliva had now burned part of the ground away, about the size of a mug. “How nice it is to see you!” She said in mockery. “What’s with the mask, too afraid to show your new friends the real you?” The changeling cackled.

“DON’T YOU DARE UTTER ANOTHER WORD!” the princess yelled. The light brightened to an intensifying bright beacon that shone down on the captive.

“Easy there!” the creature hissed.

“CHANGE!” the princess roared.

“Into what? You can’t order me around not after-“

“Change into a pony! Any pony that won’t look suspicious! Just do it!” she pleaded

“No,” the changeling said with a ‘humph’. Her head tilted up, as if she was looking down at the princess, who, as a matter of fact, was about two heads taller than the rest of the party even in her unnatural form.

“NO?!” the princess growled. She nodded at the Doctor.

He pulled out the sonic screwdriver. “What’s that?” the creature half snapped, half quavered. The ponies ignored her as the Doctor clenched his teeth around his trusty tool. The green light emitted and mixed with Kacoonis’. “Argh!” she groaned.
The once bug-like thing transformed into an identical Lyra. “There, I fancy that!” the Doctor smiled.

“You have tricks up your sleeve, huh?” Fake-Lyra smirked.

“Let’s go!” Kacoonis ordered.

***

The fellowship quickly grouped into Derpy’s house. “Derpy, is it alright if we keep the traitors here?” Kacoonis questioned.

Traitors? “Um, sure, but who’s going to watch them?”

“Already got that covered!” the absent Doctor replied, rushing into the room, “I got Raindrops to keep an eye on them!”

“Then it’s settled!” Kacoonis exclaimed.

Derpy looked down at the changeling with a pitiful expression, “But what if she gets hungry…?”

“Changelings can go without food for months on end,” The princess answered. “Anyways, I have cast a shield on this half of the house; you shouldn’t be able to get out. Nobody gets in or out.”

The changeling pouted, “Don’t I deserve a little fresh air?”

“NO YOU TRAITOR!” Kacoonis stomped out of the house and shut the door.

The small party stood in the Tardis, where they could talk in private. “How could you send messages to me telepathically? Traitor? Why does the changeling hate you? What did you do? HOW CAN YOU READ MY MIND?!” Derpy interrogated.

Kacoonis looked away from Derpy with a lost expression in her eyes. “It’s a thing the royal family of changelings is able to do. My mother used it to send messages to her soldiers when she was breaking into Canterlot. It’s good for signals and orders, considering that changelings usually have covert missions.”

“Okay, next answer!” Derpy urged.

Kacoonis heaved a heavy sigh. She hadn’t told them everything… “I was basically disowned from my mother after I failed a mission. I was to infiltrate this town in Saddle Arabia and lead my soldiers through, slowly taking away love; it wasn’t a full scale invasion, just a test. This was to see if I was worthy of ever becoming the queen one day. I was to eat all of the chief’s son’s love by replacing his girlfriend.

“Then, something terrible happened,” The princess’ eyes glazed over, “I fell in love. The horse didn’t even realize that I wasn’t who I said I was. He was so kind and gentle, cunning as well. One night, while we were at a banquet, he proposed to me. Of course, I couldn’t possibly say yes without telling him the truth. I was so overwhelmed by my love that I seemed to be eating away my own energy. I must have been confused or something…

“Or maybe not. Maybe that’s what love is. Being so blinded by it, that you succumb to your worst and vulnerable state. I stood up and confessed to him and the entire town who I really was and what my soldiers were doing-the plan, everything. I transformed into my real state. Everypony looked so disgusted, everypony but my love. He smiled at me, as if he knew all along. I smiled back and told him those horrible words, ‘I love you’. My soldiers and I were run out of town when the soldiers reported the problem to my mother. About half of the soldiers died, and it was all my fault.

“I still remember the look she gave me. She looked down on me with a stern look and just walked past me. She didn’t even acknowledge me. She just brushed me aside. My own mother, the one I stood by, the one I loved, just cast me aside. The first time she so even glanced at me was when she said, ‘Spread out, stay thin, you hear me ladies? The soldiers will take it from here.' I remember when she glanced at me, it was just for a split second, but all her disappointments and anger over me all came rushing in, in just one look.”

Derpy pawed the ground with her feet; more sad stories. “The lesson that comes from all this,” Kacoonis paused and stared directly into Derpy’s unfocused eyes, “Love is a dangerous thing.”

“And… the chief’s son?” Derpy questioned.

“This happened about a hundred years ago. I believe that he would be gone by now. Changelings live for quite a while, a few centuries at the shortest.” She replied, half-heartedly.

“Oh…” Derpy muttered.

The Doctor walked over to the map of Equestria. “Hm. Fillydelphia next?” He snickered and muttered, “Fillydelphia, what
next?”

Derpy’s stomach rumbled, “Could we eat first? It’s lunch time!”

“Why not?” The Doctor walked out of the Tardis.

As soon as the Doctor was out of earshot, Kacoonis turned to Derpy. “I know how you feel, but being in love with someone

like him is dangerous.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a different creature from you, he may look like a normal pony on the outside, but inside, he’s something else. Did you not hear my tale? Don’t mess with other beings, it will mess you up,”

“Well, I-“

The Doctor popped his head in through the door. “Nice acting by the way Derpy! You looked like you were really into that kiss! Have you ever considered acting?”

Derpy heaved a sigh as the Princess raised a questioning eyebrow. “Never crossed my mind, let’s eat!”