AN: My First My Little Pony fic, I'm so happy! I mean for this to be cute and maybe a little sad, feel free to tell me what you think in the comments!
When Doctor Whooves stepped out of his TARDIS, the first thing he noticed was that Derpy, his companion, wasn't anywhere to be found. He had checked that he'd landed both in ponyville and in her time period, and usually by the time that he had, she had flown out of her little cottage and was waiting outside the blue doors. But on this day, she wasn't there. He went back inside, double-checked, and went outside once again.
Instead of Derpy, when he stepped outside of the TARDIS, he looked down and saw Dinky's large yellow eyes starring sadly up and him. Dinky was a dear filly to Derpy, an orphaned foal that they had picked up on their travels together and whom Derpy took under her wing and into her home.
"Dinky, where's Derpy?" Dinky's lower lip wobbled, and with her magic - which had been exceptional for as long as they'd known her - she picked up Doctor Whooves and galloped to Derpy's cottage. Dinky stopped at the window and let Doctor Whooves down. "Why aren't we going inside, Dinky?" He trotted towards the door, only to have her grab his tail with her teeth. He backed up towards the window and she let him go.
"We can't go in there Mister Doctor, Miss Derpy said that I had to go when they came in."
" 'They' who?"
"I... I don't know Mister Doctor. They don't look like ponies, and I've never seen anything like them before." Doctor Whooves peered in the window, and Dinky climbed on his back. Inside, Derpy seemed cornered, humbled and small. Two towering figures in black suits stood in front of her, looking down at her through black glasses. They turned away from Derpy with a sense of finality, even though she was clearly both crying and pleading.
If it were me, Doctor Whooves thought, I wouldn't be able to be so cold to poor Miss Hooves. As the two tall figures left, Dinky and Doctor Whooves hid behind a bush. Once they were gone, they galloped into Derpy's cottage to see her. They found her in the living room, crying on a rug.
"Derpy, what's wrong? Who were those people?" Derpy looked up and Doctor Whooves and Dinky.
"They said they were... Has... Bro? They said ponies don't like me, that... that my eyes offend someponies... and my name... They said that I have three days to say goodbye. That they'll take me away." Derpy began to cry again, and Dinky threw herself at Derpy and hugged her as she cried, too.
"But Miss Derpy, I don't want you to go away! I'll go with you, please! I don't want to loose my mommy again!" Derpy sobbed, that was the first time Dinky had referred to Derpy as her mother.
"I don't want to loose you either, Dinky. I'll miss you both so much! But I don't think there's anything we can do." The Doctor, so far silent and tearless, finally spoke.
"Did they say where they would be taking you?" Derpy shook her head, and Doctor Whooves' expression got even darker than it had been before, darker than Derpy had ever seen it.
"No, they didn't tell me, they just said I would be...gone." Derpy untangled herself from her hug with Dinky and put a hoof on Doctor Whooves' back. "Doctor, if it's not too much, I would like to ask you to take care of Dinky once I'm gone."
"No." Derpy frowned, and Dinky began crying again.
"No? NO?" Derpy glared furiously at Doctor Whooves. "What do you mean, NO? I know that when I took her back to Ponyville from that awful future you thought it was stupid and dangerous to the time stream or whatever, but I would've thought, over time, you felt the same way as I do about her! I thought she was family for you too!"
"No Derpy, I-"
"What, so she just means nothing to you?"
"No, Derpy I-"
"Do I mean nothing to you, too? This filly is one of the most important ponies in my life, and you honestly can't find it in either of your hearts to care about her?"
"Derpy, I-"
"I can't believe you could be so heartless, Doctor! I mean-"
"Derpy would you just shut up and LISTEN?!" Derpy went very quiet, and Dinky stopped crying as best she could.
"No, I won't! I don't want to hear your stupid excuses for why you don't want Dinky with you! Just GO AWAY!" Doctor Whooves left, just as she'd asked. Derpy slumped into a pile on her rug and cried, sad that the stallion she loved for so long neither knew of or deserved her affections, and that he had so heartlessly refused to take care of the filly she thought of as a daughter. Dinky tried to comfort her by petting her muzzle, and Derpy curled around her to snuggle Dinky for all she was worth.
Doctor Whooves ran past all of the royal guards, who made way when they saw him coming. He opened the door to Luna's chambers with his head, in too much of a hurry to open it normally. Princess Luna turned towards the doors and felt herself about to fumble when she saw the stallion in the doorway. My, we find him stunning when he is distressed. She schooled her reactions just in time, however.
"Hello, Doc-"
"Luna, I'm calling in my favor."
The first day, Derpy and Dinky finally left the cottage so that Derpy could say goodbye to her friends. She first went to visit Carrot Top at her vegetable cart.
"Carrot Top, I have something I have to tell you," Derpy said.
"Okay, sure. Do you want some veggies? You two look pretty hungry, you should sit down and eat."
"Alright Carrot Top, but you should sit down, too." They sat down by Carrot Top's cart, each with a carrot in hoof, but only Carrot Top was eating.
"Hey, are you two alright? you haven't even nibbled your carrots..."
"Carrot Top," Derpy began, tears in her eyes, "Something's happened. Something... bad. I don't really get what it is, but in two days, I'm going to have to go away." Derpy wiped her dewy eyes. "Forever. And I need someone to look after Dinky, And as my best friend, I was hoping you could do it."
"Derpy, what do you mean you're going away? Do you mean the way you do when you're with the Doctor?" Derpy shook her head.
"No, somepony showed up at my cottage yesterday and... and..." Derpy began to sob, and wrapped Dinky in another hug. "They gave me three days to say my goodbyes! I'll never see any of my friends again! And for some stupid reason Doctor Whooves doesn't want to take care of Dinky when I'm gone!" Carrot Top wrapped her forelegs around her friend and Dinky.
"Of course I will take care of Dinky. I'll need some help from time to time, but a lot of ponies see you as a dear friend, they'd gladly pitch in. Octavia, Colgate, Bon Bon, we all love Dinky. She'll be okay." Derpy, once again facing the reality of never seeing her friends and family again, sobbed uncontrollably onto Carrot Top's mane. Carrot Top stroked her mane and held her until she calmed down enough to tell her other friends what was happening, and then she accompanied Derpy and Dinky to break the news. Each of Derpy's friends agreed to help out with Dinky once she was gone, and it made her happy to know that she had such good friends. As the sun went down over ponyville, Derpy's friends gathered around her, and they all spent the night together.
"We have stretched the night as long as we could. Our sister grows suspicious, our dear Doctor."
"Fine! Let the sun come up! But stretch the next ones as well."
"We will."
"Good. Then your debt is repaid." The Doctor galloped away, and Luna sighed.
"Our dear Doctor, it was never a matter of our debt." Luna's voice didn't reach him, and as the sun rose she fell asleep.
When Derpy and her friends awoke, it was still dark outside. Colgate checked the time, and knew that by then the sun should have been out. Dinky smiled.
"Someone powerful doesn't want you leaving yet, Miss Derpy," She said sagely, and everypony was inclined to believe her. Most of Derpy's friends were never told the full story of how she had come to adopt Dinky, but they were all keenly aware that the little filly was terrifyingly proficient with magic in every way imaginable. Derpy smiled, happily reminded by Dinky that she had wonderful ponies in her life.
"Yeah, I think you're right." She turned to her friends in the warm light of her fireplace. "Lets go to Sugar Cube Corner, I'm craving muffins." There were chuckles and smiles and emphatic agreements from the pile of friends cuddling on the rug. Yeah, she thought, they'll be okay.
At Sugar Cube Corner, the Cakes seemed to have an unending supply of infinite flavors of muffins, and they gladly gave them to Derpy and her friends. Pinky and the Cakes' children seemed happy to see so many other ponies, and began to integrate themselves into the large group. At some point, Pinky discovered that Derpy was leaving.
"What?! Why am I only hearing about this now?! How am I going to plan your going away party?!" Derpy smiled.
"That's okay Pinky, I don't need a party-"
"Are you kidding?! You have to have a going away party! Otherwise how can everypony send you off?!" Derpy smiled.
"Okay, Pinky-pie, but make sure to have it tomorrow, 'cause I have to leave tomorrow night."
"Okie dokie Loki then!" Pinky bounced away to prepare, and Derpy and her friends gave Mrs. Cake the bits for their muffins.
Doctor Whooves galloped into Twilight's library that afternoon, panting.
"Um, excuse me? Can I help you?" He nodded, and the purple allicorn brought him a glass of water.
"I need... a spell... make time... slower..."
"Um, that would be a very high level spell," she said as she checked through her books, "I don't know how you could perform it, and besides, that could have some complications, like slowing down all of the ponies under it's affect."
"Graaah! Useless!" Doctor Whooves knocked the glass of water from the air, but Twilight caught it with her magic as Spike walked down the stairs from the sleeping area.
"Is this about Derpy leaving?"
"Yes, how did you know?" Spike shrugged.
"Pinky-pie's throwing her a goodbye party tomorrow." Doctor Whooves grabbed the dragon by his shoulders and shook him.
"Do you know of anypony who can help me keep her here longer? You're clever, you must know!"
"May-be-Dis-cord-could-help...He's-with-Flut-ter-s hy-to-day," Spike said, his voice distorted by motion.
"Brilliant! Thank you!" Doctor whooves dropped Spike and left him and Twilight in an awkward silence.
Doctor Whooves finally made it to Fluttershy's cottage and banged on the door. A white bunny hopped out of the lower door, a put off expression on it's face as it thumped the ground with one foot. The Doctor knelt down so that his head was at the same level as the rabbit's.
"Do you know where Discord is?" There was a pop and a flash above both of their heads. The Doctor looked up to see a snake-eyed, jumbled-together creature smiling down at him from where it floated above the doorframe. "Well, I suppose that must be you then."
"And you must be the Doctor. I'm reformed, you know. There's no reason for the coming storm to come to me." Doctor Whooves froze.
"How do you know about that? No one in this universe knows about that. Hell, no one in my original universe knows about that anymore." Discord chuckled.
"Yes yes, if she killed a man who was never there, whose murder do you try her for? Clever. I wonder how Derpy would take knowing what you did for your wifey?" At the last word his voice went high, and with a pop and a flash Discord had long, curly blonde hair on his head and massive eyelashes and red shiny lips. Doctor Whooves snorted and glared, ready to charge at Discord.
"I'm not here to deal with this, Discord," he said through gritted teeth. "I just want to know what you can do to help Derpy."
"I can do plenty of things. The right question is, what will I do? And the answer to that is nothing." Doctor Whooves snarled. "Unless you can give me a reason why I should act." The Doctor turned away and paced, his mind running a mile a minute to figure out what Discord would want.
Once, Discord made it rain chocolate milk! It got the letters I was delivering all soggy, and it would've ruined my muffin if it hadn't been chocolate banana.
Doctor Whooves shook his head at the memory and smiled. The Doctor turned to Discord, the smile gone.
"What do you want?" Discord blinked. Then, he smiled.
"To be amused. Not causing chaos and random changes to my environment can be a terrible bore." He yawned. "So! I think letting me 'discord' you for a day in ponyville would give me a good chuckle, and in exchange, I'll do this!" With a puff and a flash, Derpy stood in between the two of them.
"Wait, that's not Derpy! What did you do?!" Doctor Whooves stared at the altered Derpy, her eyes stared straight at the Doctor, and she smiled.
"Of course I'm not derpy, my name's Ditzy Doo, don't you remember?" The Doctor stepped back and stumbled. This mare sounded nothing like Derpy.
"Clever decoy, isn't she? Here's the plan-"
The next morning, Derpy saw that the moon was still up once again. She smiled, and went out to find a muffin breakfast for herself and her daughter. When she went out the door, she instantly remembered Pinky-pie's promise of a party.
Strung between houses were lanterns glowing through colored paper, casting a rainbow glow across the streets of ponyville. Tents were set up outside of every home with food, games and, in one case, two musical mares inside. Each tent kept it's contents out of the way of a chocolate fountain and dancing ponies. Derpy gasped, a shocked smile on her face as she rushed to wake up her daughter.
"Dinky! Dinky, wake up there's a party! Dinky-" Derpy stopped short in her living room, where Dinky stood with a muffin floating in front of her head. Written in blueberries, the words I'll miss you, mommy made Derpy cry. "C'mon, sweetie," Derpy said as she wiped her eyes, "Let's have some fun, huh?" Dinky nodded.
Outside, Carrot Top and all of their friends were waiting. Even princess Luna was at a ring toss game shouting 'Huzzah!' as she landed a ring on a bottle. Applejack left Applebloom and Big Macintosh in charge of the apple stand as she came over to Derpy. She put a hoof on Derpy's shoulder and smiled.
"We sure are gonna miss you 'round here, sugar cube." Derpy hugged her.
"I'll miss you guys, too."
By the end of the party, it was almost evening, and somepony had already reported a sighting of the creatures coming for Derpy. A little colt had run screaming through the party like Pony Revere, and the spirit of the party was crushed under his young little hooves. Some ponies went into a panic, afraid of the unknown creatures. Others started to cry, including Dinky, for the loss of their favorite pegasus. Twilight and her friends wracked their brains for a way to save Derpy, but the gray mare just stood there, seemingly at peace.
"C'mon everypony, lets just enjoy the time we have left together." Dinky wiped her eyes and nodded.
"Mommy's right, let's enjoy the time we have left before they take her away." There was a whirring sound as a blue box materialized in the middle of the street. Doctor Whooves stepped out into the street.
"They're not taking her anywhere!" He turned to Derpy. "You're coming with me."
"What? Why would I go with you after what you said when I asked you to care for Dinky?"
"Derpy the only reason I said I wasn't taking care of Dinky once you were gone is because I wasn't letting you leave! That's all! For pony's sake I've been spending the last few days getting you as much time as I could!" Derpy's eyes went wide and she leapt on top of Doctor Whooves and hugged him.
"But if I go with you, who will Hasbro take with them? They might get mad at everypony if they think somepony's hiding me." Doctor Whooves smiled sheepishly.
"Now don't blame me for this, it was mostly Discord's idea." Before Derpy had the time to ask, Doctor Whooves shouted, "Ditzy Doo!" A gray mare without wall-eyes stepped out and smiled.
"Yes Doctor?" Everypony stared in shock.
"Now I only need you to treat her like you normally would until Hasbro comes to get her. Either they'll leave with her, or they'll decide she can stay. If she stays, the magic will wear off in a day and the decoy will disappear." The other ponies nodded, and Doctor Whooves turned to Derpy. "If you don't mind. I'd like to leave with my family now." Derpy smiled as he put his foreleg over Dinky's shoulder. Dinky giggled as she saw the older ponies blush. And so the three of them left off for their own adventures, waving goodbye to their dear friends as the tardis flew and whirred away.
The End (?)
AN: GYAAAAA! I finally finished this! School just started and because I'm a junior, it started hard. And because I'm me, my dumb ass self got sick. -_- Not a good excuse for my horrible case of the lates, but there it is.
Also, a note on Hasbro.
I don't really hate them as much as you might think I do, seeing as they were cast as the villains of this story. I just think taking Derpy away, or even changing her to 'Ditzy Doo' isn't cool. Derpy is a character most viewers look to with fondness, she's a beacon of how even if you're not like everyone else, you shouldn't be afraid to be you. And I think that message is one we need to protect as fiercely as Doctor Whooves protects Derpy. Also, she's my fave. WRITER BIAS!