Snow was falling in good old London town, which always seems to bring up memories of a distant past. For one person in particular, it brought back memories of great battles which almost always ended with ash falling over London in the place of snow. The person or rather, the Timelord was none other than the Doctor. His adventures have saved not only London but the World multiple times, but he never got recognized for it or thanked. The Doctor didn’t mind though, he was just happy doing so as long as he wasn’t alone.
The Doctor almost always has a companion or two for his adventures, but they never stayed for long. He just wants someone there to show off to but he also wants to keep them save, but the two never seem to mix. Over the years, the Doctor has lost a lot of companions. The lucky ones got to life the rest of their lives filled with joyous memories with the Doctor; the unlucky…reached a misfortunate end, but the worst one yet can’t remember at all. The memories of all of his old companions always cause his two hearts to ache with great pain. In the back of the Doctor’s mind he knew they weren’t just his companions, they were his friends. Friends that he couldn’t keep forever but wishes he could.
The Doctor looked up to snowing sky and released a heavy sigh. He turned back to his Tardis and unlocked the door and entered. He looked up at the Tardis ceiling and said “Well old girl, we are alone again.”
He looked at the controls and slowly made his way to them. “I suppose I can’t dwell to long on the past. Come one, old girl, take us somewhere brilliant.”
The Doctor pushed all the buttons and pulled all the levers necessary to get the Tardis to do its signature whooshing, and into the Time Vortex. Suddenly, sparks flew from the center of the Tardis form a circle twice, a huge puff of smoke came from the center and the Tardis started to violently shake. The Doctor hung onto the control panel doing all he could to get the Tardis stabilized again. “This can’t be…this can’t be happening again! The Time Vortex couldn’t have disappeared again! “
The Doctor knew what was coming next and braced himself for a crash. As he expected, the landing was rough, which was enough to knock him unconscious for a good hour and a half. When he awoke, he remembered his situation and reluctantly looked over to the control panel. The Doctor expected to find it dark and lifeless as he had once before, to his surprise it was just smoking and slightly dim but overall still alive.
Narrowing his eyes, the Doctor looked away from the control panel and turned his head towards door. He made his way over slowly and opened the door with a soft creak of the wood. Beyond the door, was a distant town and a beautiful land of green grass, trees, and…brightly colored ponies.
The Doctor slowly stepped out of the Tardis, and made his way towards the town. As he was crossing a bridge, the Doctor stopped in his tracks when he realized he felt strange. He looked into the river and was shocked to see a brown pony with a tousled mane staring back.
He gasped and tumbled away from the water, hitting the other side of the bridge. The Doctor hit the railing a little too hard and fell into the river. The Doctor quickly swam to the bank of the river as he plopped onto land belly side down, he noticed something else. Instead of seeing two hands, the Doctor saw two hooves extending from his body. Narrowing his eyes, the Doctor went to see his reflection once again but this time he wanted to see his whole body. He turned sideways along the riverbank, and turned to see a brown pony with a tousled mane and an hourglass on his flank.
The Doctor smile and said “Well, isn’t that cute.” Looking around, He notices the small town again and starts making his way there. “This obvious seems to be an alternate dimension…about ponies. This should be interesting.”
He suddenly stops in his tracks, and starts to pat down his new body in search of his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor suddenly realizes that he isn’t wearing his usual trench coat and turns back to the direction of the Tardis. Opening the door, he sees the sorry state of the Tardis’ interior and frowns. “Sorry old girl, I’ll fix you right up as soon as I learn more about our current location. In the meantime, I’ll just take my sonic and…hmm I might have to leave the physic paper. If I had my coat I could carry both but I don’t want to go through the wardrobe in your state. I suppose that I could go into town and see if they might have something for me there.”
The Doctor reaches over to grab his sonic screwdriver but has some difficultly with his new hooves. After a couple of minutes of struggling, the Doctor decides just to carry it in his mouth. “Ih guessh thiss willh havffe toff dof forh nowsh.”
The Doctor pushes opens the door and looks back to the Tardis, “Ih’llh beff backff, seffxyf.”
He made his way once again towards the town and stopped at the bank of the river. The Doctor laughed at his appearance. He looked rather silly with the sonic in his mouth; it made him laugh harder causing him to drop the sonic into the river. Before he could react a flash of orange jumped into the river after his sonic. As quickly as it dove in, the orange character got out just as fast and handed back the sonic.
“Here’s ya doohickey, wat exatly is it? Ah’m Applejack, wat’s yer name?”. While she was introducing herself, the mare took hold of his hoof and furiously shook it. After regaining control of his shaking hoof he smugly said, “I’m the Doctor.”
Author's Note
*I tried to recreate the scene with the Tardis like in "Rise of the Cybermen".
If you have any suggestions on improvement, please do not be shy and tell me.
Looking back to his sonic on the ground, the Doctor added, “Oh, yes! This doohickey is a…uhhm screwdriver. You have screwdrivers here right? Screwdrivers that can only tighten or loosen screws, and have no other purpose.”
Applejack raised one eyebrow, “Uhh yeah. That’s the strangest screwdriver Ah ever did see. Anyhoof, here is your screwdriver.” She picked up the sonic and held it out for the Doctor to grab. He looked hard at his sonic “She’ll be suspicious if I don’t grab it…"
The Doctor looked back up at Applejack, “You know what? I’ve been very clumsy today and I can’t afford to lose this screwdriver. Do you think you can take me into town and help me find a jacket with pockets of some sort, so that I won’t lose it?”
Applejack’s eyes lit up and started to lead the way towards town, “Ah sure can! But Ah got to get back to da farm to help Big Macintosh. We’re ‘bout to have a family reunion soon. There is one place in town but it is kinda fancy shmancy.”
The Doctor slowly trotted beside her, “I don’t mind at all, but would you mind telling me more about your town? It really seems…interesting.”
“Ah don’t mind! This here is Ponyville, we ain’t no big city like Manehattan or Fillydelphia but we do have good folks and apples.” The Doctor smiled at Applejack’s wink with the mention of apples. “Oh! We also have a nice view of Canterlot.” Applejack motioned with her head to the castle’s general direction; they had a pretty good view in their current position.
“I’ll assume that the king and queen live in the castle, right?” The Doctor asked with his eyes stilled glued on Canterlot.
“King an’ Queen? Ain’t nopony like that, but there is Princess Celestia. She is in charge of bringing day an’ night in Equestria. Which reminds me, Ponyville is also going to be holding its first ever Summer Sun Celebration!”
The Doctor was just about to ask more question when they reached the entrance of town. “Wow, there are more people… I mean ponies here than I expected!” Apple raised an eyebrow, “Peop-“
“So! Applejack, where is this fancy shmancy clothes shop? Do you think they have anything in my color? I’m not quite sure if I’m a spring or autumn…I suppose there will be some fashion expert there to help me.” The Doctor noticed a mare with a long purple dress with colorful sparkles. “Do you think I could pull that off, I might without the sparkle…”
Applejack chuckled forgetting the earlier mention of people, “Ah think you’ll look mighty lovely in something more red.”
The Doctor returned his gaze forward and saw a tall, lightly colored carousel-like building. “It looks like a cross between a merry-go-round and a wedding cake…” The Doctor thought with a small smirk. Applejack turned towards the Doctor and put the sonic screwdriver on the ground, “Well, this is it! If Ah don’t leave now, we won’t finish in time for the reunion. It was nice to meet cha’, Doctor…what was it again?”
“Oh, it’s just the Doctor. It was a pleasure, Applejack. Well, I suppose I’ll see you around.” The Doctor said with a smile and a slight wave. “Sure thing! Don’t be a stranger!” , with that Applejack galloped away towards Sweet Apple Acres.
The Doctor picked up his sonic with his mouth and entered the building. As soon as he entered he heard a loud commotion coming from upstairs. “Oh, Sweetie Belle what am I going to do with you?” The voice sounded like it was straining to be nice.
A younger voice got louder as it headed downstairs, “I was just trying to help”. Soon a white filly with a pink and purple, curly mane appeared at the foot of the stairs. Her eyes widen with delight a she saw the Doctor, “Ooooh! A customer! “. She ran up to the Doctor, “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique where everything is cheap, unusual, and magnified!” her voice squeaking with enthusiasm.
The Doctor couldn’t help but smile while the little filly recited the obviously incorrect business motto. Before he could reply, there was the sound of hooves quickly coming downstairs and galloping towards the little white filly. A white mare with a purple mane curled in a more coordinately fashionable way than the smaller white filly. She pushed the filly behind her, “I’m terribly sorry sir! My sister, Sweetie Belle, meant to say Welcome to the Carousel Boutique where every garment is Chic, Unique and Magnifique!” After her quick intro, Rarity finally noticed that the stallion in front of her had a strange device in his mouth. With a strange look she continued,” Uhh… I am Rarity, how may a help you this fine morning? ”
Rarity’s expression change reminded the Doctor that he still had the Sonic in his mouth. He chuckled as he laid it onto the ground, “I’m sorry, I forgot I still had that in my mouth!” The Doctor extended his hoof “It is a pleasure, Miss Rarity. I am the Doctor”
Rarity couldn’t help but blush as she took his hand and daintily shook it, “My, what a gentlecolt! You couldn’t possibly be from Ponyville.” Before the Doctor could reply, Rarity squealed, “Oh, My! Are you from Canterlot, darling?!” The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but was cut off, “I should have noticed sooner!”
Rarity began circling the Doctor as she spoke, “I should have noticed the regal poise!” She ran her hoof through his mane, “The unique hairstyle!” Rarity then retook her place in front of him and leaned in a little too close for comfort, batting her eyelashes as she spoke, “Lastly, dare I say… Devilish good looks…”
The Doctor quickly moved back, Rarity followed in suit. The Sonic Screwdriver laid in the middle of the room forgotten by the room’s occupants except one. “I must say, I am flattered, Miss Rarity.” It didn’t take long for the Doctor to back up against a wall. As Rarity started to lean in, he couldn’t help but raise his voice, “But, I’m not from Canterlot!”
Rarity immediately stopped dead in her tracks, and her face deflated in disappointment, “I was so sure… But you can’t be from Ponyville; I’ve never seen you around. So where are you from?”
“Well I am from… Well you probably never heard of it, it is really far away from here.”
“Do tell, darling”
The Doctor looked around the room for idea for an imaginary place and his eyes quickly spotted Sweetie Belle in the middle of the room. Rarity followed his gaze, “Sweetie Belle! What are you doing?”
Suddenly a buzzing noise filled the room along with a high-pitched scream of a certain white filly. The Doctor quickly galloped to Sweetie Belle and yanked the Sonic Screwdriver from her hoof. “You really shouldn’t play with this! It is very dangerous…” The Doctor looked at sonic in hoof, “Well, will you look at that! I finally got the hoof holding down!”
While the Doctor was being proud of himself, Rarity ran over to Sweetie Belle and enveloped her in a hug. “Are you ok, my dear? You aren’t hurt are you?” Sweetie Belle had recovered from her shock and began squirming in Rarity’s hug, “Raaarity! I’m fine but you’re hugging me too tight! I….Can’t………Breathe!”
Rarity released Sweetie Belle from the bone crushing hug and marched over to the Doctor, “Do you care to explain the THING that almost took my dear little sister away from me, Doctor?” The Doctor returned to reality, “Well…”
Rarity gave the Doctor a very skeptical look, “Well what, Doctor? If I recall correctly, which in fact I do, you said yourself that THING was dangerous. So do carry on, dear.”
The Doctor began to lightly stroke the sonic, “Please stop calling my screwdriver a thing; you are going to hurt its feelings. And it is somewhat dangerous…"
“That is a screwdriver? Darling, despite never ever using a screwdriver, I am quite sure that they do not look like that. Also, screwdrivers are not dangerous…if used probably.”
Sweetie Belle trotted next to Rarity and her eyes lit up as she reached an explanation, “Maybe where he is from, that type of screwdriver is normal!” Rarity looked at her sister then back at the Doctor, “Is that true?”
“Yes, of course!”, the Doctor said almost too eagerly. Rarity half-heartedly took the answer “Speaking of which, Doctor, where are you from?” The Doctor’s happy mood deflated, “Well, I suppose you could say I’m from Gallopfrey.”
Rarity’s eyes squinted with suspicion and confusion, “Hmm. I do believe that I have never heard of such a place. Oh well, you can explain while I fill out your order. You did come here for something fabulous, didn’t you?”
The Doctor just smiled, “Of course, and I have something very specific in mind.” Rarity beamed, “Wonderful, now step this way and we can get started!”
They both moved to one side of the room with a table, and were followed by a very excited little filly. Rarity looked down at her sister disapprovingly, “Sweetie Belle, this is a business meeting so no little fillies allowed. Why don’t you go play with your little friends?”
Sweetie Belle looked down in disappointment but then lit up with happiness, “Yeah! They would love to hear about this new guy!” She disappeared in a flash of white, pink and purple.
Rarity turned the Doctor ready to get down to business, “now let’s begin.”
