The TARDIS was crashing violently through the time vortex. Inside, at the console, The Doctor struggled to stabilize her.
"Come on, old girl, don't you dare give up on me now!" he shouted to the console. It was no use, of course. The cloister bell continued tolling, and the TARDIS continued falling. The doctor realized he needed to make an emergency landing. He desperately tried to find the switch that would allow him to find somewhere, anywhere, to land.
"Wherever you can, just land!" he yelled. The TARDIS smacked into the ground and knocked the Doctor unconscious.
When he came too, however long that was, he pulled himself out of the smouldering ship to allow her to repair herself. However, as soon as he closed the doors, he noticed he was repairing himself as well. The Doctor looked at his arms, and saw the regeneration energy begin to radiate off his skin.
"No, no not now!" he muttered. He tried to open the doors, but they were locked.
"Come on, let me in! I have too- GAH!" he stopped mid sentence and collapsed on the ground, gasping in pain.
"Ahhh, hah. Come on, you have to let me- Hhhaaa, ahh," he groaned, and slouched down against the door. Sighing in defeat, he gave a look around.
"What have you gotten me into this time?" he whispered softly, before being engulfed in the regeneration energy. He closed his eyes, and blacked out for the second time that day.
"Owwww…" he groaned. "That… that was not fun. Has it always hurt like that? Maybe i'm just old." He sighed to himself. The Doctor paused and felt around his mouth. "Ok, this is new…doesn't feel like a regular mouth, mmmhmmm, nope that shouldn't be there….no canines? Odd…" He tried to take a step forwards and fell face first.
"Fantastic, legs don't work either. Oh, that's just BRILLIANT." he threw an irritated look at the TARDIS. "see what you've done? i was perfectly fine with the tall skinny one, but nooo! now i get this one with the messed up mouth and legs! Are you happy now?!" he said. The blue box remained silent. Suddenly, a grey blur jumped in front of him.
"Hi there!" it said in a cheery voice. The doctor looked up to see a grey pony looking down at him. He blinked, then looked behind the pony.
"Uh, hello? is any one there? I have your horse!" he called. The grey mare gave him a worried look.
"Are you alright mister? There's nobody here but me. Didja hit your head or something?" She stepped back, concerned. The doctor was confused for a moment, but then laughed.
"Oh, i get it. i'm still unconscious. Regeneration must be a bit dodgy this time around, that must be it." He thought aloud.
"Re-gene-what? I think you must have hit your head really hard mister… do you need to go to the hospital or something?" The grey mare asked.
"Hmm, Oh, no i'm fine, just need to wake myself up." He said.
"Mister, you're awake right now!"
"What? No, that's impossible. You're talking, but you're not speaking horse. I speak horse, and that, my dear, is not what horse sounds like. Trust me on this one."
"Mister, i'm speaking pony. I'm a pony, so i speak pony. You are a pony, and you're speaking pony as well. Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"
The doctor looked up, a bit alarmed.
"What? No. No no no no, i'm not a po-" He looked down to reveal that his hands had most certainly become hooves.
"But, th-that's impossible. I, we, it's not possible to change species…is it?! No, no no." He tried to jump up, but was tangled in the charred remains of his suit.
"Um, do you need some help mister?" The grey mare asked.
"uh, no. well, maybe. Well, Yes. yes i think i do." He sighed, as the mare helped untangle him.
"There ya go mister!" She jumped up, obviously quite pleased with herself. The doctor noticed something strange about the grey pony.
"Uh, i think you have something on your back…" He said. She jumped up and spun around to look.
"What?! Where?!" she squeaked.
"Th-There! on your back! They look like…wings!" He stood up, rather awkwardly, and looked at her back.
"Oh, wait, what? Of course i have wings, i'm a pegasus. Duh."
"A PEGASUS!?" he said excitedly, and began looking her over. "This is incredible! Absolutely fantastic! Oh, i've seen some pretty amazing things in my time, but this is truly brilliant! A real live pegasus! Are there more like you?"
"well, yeah, up in Cloudsdale. Oh, I'm Ditzy, by the way. Ditzy Doo Hooves." She said. The Doctor looked up, finally noticing her face for the first time. He found himself staring at her eyes. One eye was looking at him, the other was turned slightly upwards. She blinked, then turned away.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked her. She didn't look up.
"P-please don't laugh." She whispered.
"Laugh? Why in the world would i laugh?" He said gently. Ditzy moved her head up, but her eyes were looking down.
"Everypony laughs. It's, actually why I was out here. I, I like to be alone." She said, with a slight tone of sadness in her voice.
"Ms. Hooves, I can assure you, I won't laugh. I think your eyes are beautiful." The Doctor smiled. Ditzy offered a small grin in return. Suddenly, he jumped up.
"Right, i suppose i should get a good look at myself, see what's in store for me this time."
"Oh, Um, right, because of your regurgitation."
"Regeneration, and yes. Any reflective surfaces or mirrors, or… why are there bubbles on your hip?"
"UM, Eyes front, mister!" She said. "And it's my cutie mark, Duh! Geez, what happened to you?"
"Ah, yes. Cutie mark. And that would be…?" The doctor gave her a blank look.
"Your special talent?! Everypony knows that! See, you've got an hourglass, so that would be…um…hourglass….hmm, Time? Do you do clocks or something?"
"Uh no, no not really...I actually...wait. MY BUTT KNOWS WHAT I DO? This is incredible! I've never seen anything like it!" The doctor spun around, trying to get a good look.
"There's a lake right over here, you might be able to get a better view..."ditzy said, trying not to laugh.
"Ah, thank you, I-why are you laughing?"
"Because, you're so, weird!"
"Well, maybe I am weird. I'm not sure yet, still cooking you see, and-GAH!" He again bent over, gasping in pain.
"Ohhh, blimey, that's just...Ahhh..." He let out a deep sigh, releasing regeneration energy in a brilliant flash of gold. Ditzy took a step back.
"Um, what was that?"
"Regeneration energy, I'm bursting with it, I told you, I'm not quite done yet...-AH!" He fell over, unable to stand up. The grey Pegasus helped him so he was leaning on her, than adjusted her wing over him for balance.
"I just...need to rest for a bit, and I can't go in there," he nodded towards the TARDIS.
"Well, why would you want to go in there, silly? It's way too small. Here, you can come to my house, and you can explain to me exactly what's going on." She said, and the two began making their way to the pegasus's doctor didn't say much, and was half unconscious for most of the trip. When the pair finally made it to Ditzy's home, the Doctor collapsed on the couch, and passed out. Ditzy looked at the strange pony. Every now and again he would open his mouth, and more gold regeneration energy would blow blow out. She shook her head, and went to find a blanket. It looked like he'd be out for a while. She carefully placed a thin blue blanket over him, then sat down on the chair opposite to the couch. She pulled out a book, and waited.
It had been a couple hours when he finally woke up. He blinked slowly, and looked around.
"Wha, what happened?" He groaned. Suddenly the events of the day flooded back to him. He carefully stood up. He noticed his suit was folded and placed on the table next to him, along with a cup of tea and a blueberry muffin. He rummaged through the shirt of the suit, and found the TARDIS key, stone cold, unfortunately. He sighed. Luckily he had a chain on it, so he placed it around his neck. Just then the grey pegasus came trotting into the room.
"Oh, good! You're awake!" She grinned, then sat down in the chair. "So, what happened? I may not be the brightest pony, but there is something different about you." she said. The Doctor gave a small smile.
"Well, you're right. There is something very different about me. , tell me. Do you believe there could be alien life, outside of your planet?"
"That doesn't answer my question."
"But do you?" He pressed. Ditzy took a deep breath.
"I suppose so. My friend Twilight is always telling me about how big the universe is, and the possibility of life, but I've never really thought about it. I guess so…" She said.
"What if I told you, I'm not really…from here." He asked. Ditzy grinned.
"Don't be ridiculous. You're not really trying to tell me you're an alien, do you?" She said. The Doctor merely gave her a look.
"But, But that's insane! You, you look like a pony!"
"Mrs. Hooves, let me ask you. How many hearts do you have?"
"One. Duh. Like that's an option."
"Well, I have two."
"TWO?! Yeah, right! Now i know you're crazy." she said, looking a bit concerned.
"No, no, It's true! Look, come here." He said. She stepped forward, a bit uncertainly. "Put your ear here, then here." He said, pointing to both sides of his chest. She did so, then straightened up and gasped.
"Th….That's not possible! That's impossible! You're impossible!" She said.
"Impossible, eh? I guess that about sums me up." Suddenly, the key around his neck began heating up, and glowing.
"OH YES!" He said, jumping up.
"What? What is it?" the grey mare asked.
"OH, it's about time! , I have something to show you." The Doctor said excitedly.
"What do mean?" She started to ask, but the Doctor was already out the door. Ditzy hesitated. She had every reason to not follow him. She could have stayed home, and in time, forget the strange pony, and never again wonder what he was, and discover the mysteries he held. She ran after him.
