Before you read: I haven't read the full blog of anything except the Torchwood blog(because of the short length.) I only have the wiki to go off of and fan theories I saw on forums establishing some situations. The universe backstory is like a mesh of DW&A and DW, basically.
Ditzy had waited until the girls went to school to get up. That had been her routine for a while, and it got harder and harder to wake up each time.
She had another incident with the Doctor a week previous. At best she wasn't hurt, and at worst Dinky pushed him deeper into his state. She remembered his eyes. In absolute terror and pain, and at the mercy of the little foal in front of him.
She held her breath. His eyes. Did she feel justified in them? Did she feel that he deserved every shot? The very thought shook her.
No. He was still in there somewhere. He had to be.
Ditzy trotted lightly to the vanity. Her reflection showed crust in the corners of her eyes and down her cheek. Of course they would be there.
She only just started rubbing them off when the doorbell sounded on the front door. Ditzy froze. Perhaps it the Warden?
The ding faded only to be replaced with quick, rhythmic banging. This frightened Ditzy, however, she still felt the need to sprint to the door.
She unlocked the door without peering through the peephole, and swung the door open. There before her eyes was a familiar face, one that she had once known several years ago. Her jaw dropped and she felt her heart stop.
"T-Tick Tock?" Ditzy was in such a state that she didn't notice the gasps of breath and clutching of a bloody arm.
The stallion, despite himself, chuckled and between breaths tried his best to say "May I come in?"
Ditzy, unaware of herself, cleared a path for him. He took it as an invitation and struggled inside. Once inside, he collapsed onto the floor, disgruntled.
Ditzy blinked out of her confusion and rushed beside the bloody pony. "Are you okay? Where are you bleeding from?"
Tick Tock pushed himself against the wall to help himself up. He lifted his hoof a couple inches, enough for her to see the gaping wound. "Oh my gosh," she enounced, "you need a hospital! Stay there, I'm going to call the Warden." Ditzy turned to reach the telephone when she felt his hoof on her shoulder.
"T-That won't be necessary. Please don't communicate this ordeal to the authorities. My colleagues wouldn't be enthralled to use more resources than they need to."
Ditzy felt the tears welling up in her eyes. His voice. His complicated language. She thought long ago that they were lost forever. Those were dark times back then.
And now he's just here. Popped in, like a blip in time.
Ditzy sucked in her tears, turning to the gingercorn. "What can I do?" she held herself back from throwing him a full throttle interrogation.
"No, you mustn't do anything in this situation. I simply needed somewhere to hide from the public for the time being, and I saw your house. I gambled with the chances of you still living here. I won."
Ditzy blinked. "Why do you need to hide?"
Tick Tock chuckled again. "I was injured by a creature my organization was trying to capture. It happens to be venomous, in the Komodo Dragon family, a unique clan the public shouldn't know about. I didn't want to attract attention to the capture, and the hospital doesn't have the antidote or would know how to treat the injury. A pony dying in a town tends to cause commotion."
"Dying!?"
"I jest," he quickly answered. "My organization has the antidote; I've sent them my location. The venom tends to cause immense pain. I might feel it soon."
"Well, don't joke about that, it's not funny! Do you realize how long I thought you were dead? You sacrificed yourself again by chasing the Destroyer into the void. The Doctor said you had no chance of surviving! I cried over you! And you just pop in like it was nothing! And what's this 'organization' you keep talking about?" Tick Tock looked away.
"I apologize. That was unethical of me." He paused, in deep thought. "I suppose I can tell you. You may want to sit down, Derpy-"
"Ditzy," she said, sitting down on the floor.
"Ditzy. Okay. Well, once I was tossed in, the Destroyer and I lost each other. I presume he is still there; the organization hasn't found a rip in time in which he would escape. So I was lost in the void, but I wasn't dead. At least, I didn't believe I was. I wandered through, not needing food or water. Before long, I stumbled into a rip in space time, to which I quickly stepped in. In a cosmic sense, it led to an organization: Torchwood. I was met with interrogation, and after a breach involving an alien, they saw potential in me and offered me a position. I accepted, and I have been collaborating , lwith them ever since." He glanced back at her. "Well, that's an abridged version of events, basically."
Ditzy didn't meet him. So he was alive all this time. All the times she mourned over him, and he was off somewhere battling aliens and the like. "Why did you never tell me? Why are you telling me this now?"
Tick Tock breathed out a long sigh. "I wanted to, honestly I did. I implored them to let me go so I could find you and the Doctor. Once I said this, they took immediate interest. One of the promises they gave me was to find the Doctor. Eventually, they said. That's the main reason I accepted, considering my chances of finding you on my own were very low, and Torchwood claimed to be experts.
"We did eventually find the Doctor, but he had changed, and you were gone. I assumed the worst, and between my newfound attachment to Torchwood and the possibility that you were dead, I didn't desire to leave. Recently, however, I found out that you were still alive through a certain source. I still wanted to see you again, but they told me I couldn't, and it was too late at that point." She could see something cloud in his eyes, but his messy hair hid it.
"They didn't want Torchwood to be compromised. You thought I was dead. You had foals to take care of, and I too had my own responsibilities to the organization and promises I had to keep. Secrets to hold. They didn't want me to go, and truth be told, I didn't want to leave them. I didn't go."
Ditzy shook her head. "Tick Tock…" she hadn't spoken that name in so long. "Tick Tock, I don't know what to say. I'll always need someone like you in my life. No one could ever replace you. Why do you think I was so devastated when you were lost?"
"Well, there is nothing to be done now. To answer your second question, Ditzy, I tell you this knowing that you will forget it. When they come for me, they will give you Class A anesthetics and a memory wiping spell. You won't remember a thing. I will be punished for this exchange as well, but it won't be too severe that I can't handle.
"Truly, this was not a way for me to hide, but rather an excuse to see you. A pitiful one."
The dam she built was breaking. He still wanted her all this time. It was an explanation that she needed. He was piece of her old life that she needed, and it would be gone in a moment, along with the explanation. He was still alive. He was still alive.
"Now I'll ask. I said that the Doctor changed. Do you know how or why?"
The pain from a week ago came back. The beating she almost suffered, the emotional torment both of them went through when facing Discord. She still loved him.
"I...I don't want to talk about this. He...he wasn't staying to fight Discord."
"Is that why you left him?"
"No! I left him because he wanted to stay in a time vortex and leave everyone else here! I knew he had changed at that point. Changed in a way that I knew I couldn't fix, and I had the black eye to prove-" Ditzy gasped as she let that one bit of information out. The expression his eyes shown morphed and he blinked.
"He...hit you?" Ditzy could lie, but she remembered how hard it was to lie to Tick Tock. He always knew better. So she didn't say anything, in fear of also revealing the beating she had gotten and the four months of torture after. Yet, her silence seemed to be the answer he needed. "I see," was all he said, but she could detect the anger radiating in his tone.
"I'm going to look for him."
"No, don't!" Ditzy pleaded. "Don't do anything like that! He's...in a bad place right now. He needs to figure out how to get out of it. Don't make it harder on him, please!"
"Derpy, do you have any idea what you sound like right now? He hurts you, yet you defend him. That sounds as though you-"
"Yes I am. Yes, he's hurt me before, and it was terrible, but you didn't know him like I did. He's not a bad pony, he's just lost his way. He told me to stay out of his way so he couldn't be tempted to hurt me. He...doesn't go out of his way to try to hit me."
His emerald eyes burned into her own. She fidgeted and looked away. She shouldn't have. "You're lying through your teeth. I can tell. He searched for you? No, Derpy, I'm not willing to stay by the side this time. He needs to pay."
"No, Tick Tock, please!" she grasped at him. "He's changing, I know he is! He just needs time. He doesn't need this!"
"Ditzy Doo, stop! You don't know how to handle something if this magnitude-"
"I love him, Tick Tock!" Ditzy couldn't do it. She sobbed into her hooves, and couldn't stop it. "I love him. Even after all this time, even after he hurts me, I still love him. I don't know how, but I know it's not him in there. Please, Tick Tock." She sniffed as he remained silent. "I've never told anyone this before."
"Ditzy," Tick Tock started. "I don't want to do anything to hurt you. I can't promise that I won't take action if I ever were to see him with or without you if the situation called for it, but I promise you I won't look to kill him. It would be a justice sentence, but I won't do it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a clean rag, wiping away the tears around her eyes. She sniffed, somewhat in relief. She knew that if she had continued listing on the things he had done, he would've lost it.
"Thank you, Tick Tock. For that at least. Maybe someday he'll let me in and I can finally help him."
"You were always an optimist," he'd give a smile if he could. He put the rag away. "There's something I want to tell you, Derpy. Or, Ditzy?"
"Derpy is fine. What did you want to tell me?"
"I...I lo-" he coughed. His focus was back onto his injured arm, and he grunted.
"Are you okay?"
"Th-The venom is starting to activate. I can feel pain now, however I can withstand it for now. Anyway, I need to tell you, I...I...know about the murders. The ones that allude to a serial killer. My team wasn't investigating it specifically, although when we were aware of the details we deduced that they were targeting female unicorns. Your daughters are unicorns, correct? I suggest you watch them. You need to write this down somewhere so you don't forget it when they arri-UGH!" He stopped and clutched his arm tighter.
"Tick Tock!"
"I'm fine. It's you who needs to worry. Remember, female unicorns." Tick Tock screamed the loudest he could. It wasn't enough for ponies outside to hear, but it was enough to frighten Ditzy.
Ditzy, frightened in one moment thought for a split second, remembering the day the Doctor made his visit. Trying to tell them something, obviously, but he only walked away stating that they were dead. He was trying to tell them. Could this be it?
It was only a split second her mind processed this information. "Thank you for telling me. I will write it down. But you need help!"
"They are coming, I'm not worried. Here," he levitated a piece of paper and writing utensil to her, "don't forget."
Ditzy did as she was told. Just as she wrote the last word down, he called her.
"Derpy…" She glanced up at him.
"Yes?"
"Forgive me." He wrapped a hoof around her neck and pulled her towards him, and their lips met. Ditzy's eyes, instead of closing, only widened. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before he parted, leaving her confused and awestruck.
Her arm had a spasm. She was ready to slap him across his face and yet, she couldn't do it. Perhaps it was pity holding her back. Pity that the venom was so bad that he thought it was okay to do this after hearing her story.
Or was it?
Before she could ask him why, there was a loud knocking on the door. "Open up! Police!" Ditzy shrunk.
Tick Tock didn't seem surprised. Then again, he usually never was. He only brightened a little in his pain. "That would be them. Please let them in." Ditzy obeyed and opened the door.
There were several stallions and a few mares in police uniforms. She let them in.
She observed an earth pony step beside her old friend. "Wow, Tick Tock, you gave us a scare! Just follow us, I'll help you up."
"Hello, Lucky, and thank you." The earth pony helped him get up and walk before giving him an extra costume. He put it on and watched Ditzy, apparently noticing her fear at the blue pegasus ordering the anesthetics to be given to her and a unicorn to "perform that spell."
"It's okay, Derpy. Just let them handle it. You won't even remember. It's all right."
Ditzy didn't want to forget her friend. But, knowing the consequences otherwise, she nodded in compliance.
The treatment was performed. One of them carried her to her bed so she could rest. It was all a dream. She would wake up later to the note, wondering what it meant, and pushing it away-not throwing it yet, feeling as though it was probably important if she wrote it down. Dinky and Sparkler would greet her, the latter wondering why she was sleeping so late.
Meanwhile, in the present, the pretend cops went outside her house, met with a crowd of curious ponies, including reporters and columnists, much to their dismay. "We're sorry, everyone, we have the wrong house." Some would be convinced, others would not. Nevertheless they all groaned and backed away, and Torchwood left.
Tick Tock rested on his bed in his quarters. He was feeling much better now that the venom was inhibited and his wound was dressed.
Before he could rest in pleasant warmth for too long, he heard clopps growing louder in the direction of his door. His confrontation. He wasn't scared.
The door opened, and out came Jack. "Damnit, Tick Tock! Why didn't you follow standard procedure? We could have been compromised!"
"We were just fine. I snuck my way through Ponyville, nopony saw me. I trust the procedure if one of the team is held hostage, and I took that path. Not many ponies were gathered in that crowd."
"Tick Tock, if you can't follow procedure, then you shouldn't be here." Jack took a deep breath and let it out, shaking his head. "This is the third time you've gone to that house, the third time we've used anesthetics and wiped that poor mare's memory. What is she to you?"
Tick Tock stiffened. "I loved her. You promised me we would find her, then you keep me from seeing her."
"I promised you would find the Doctor and his companion. I never guaranteed that we would find her specifiecally. When we found him on our radar that one time, she wasn't there. We can't find them if they're on their own. We're not bail bonds persons. Ugh, bail bonds ponies, I mean." He calmed down. "Listen, Tick Tock, you're a valuable member of Torchwood. I won't count it against you. I know what you're feeling right now. But you've gotta control it." Tick Tock gave a hollow nod. He saw Jack's boss persona melt away and revert back into himself. "Good. Get some rest, Tick Tock. By the way, did you finally tell her this time?"
"Partially. I tried, but decided to do the right thing. I told her to write the pattern of victims of the murders. I kissed her as well."
"Ha. Finally, some progress, soldier," Jack teased.
Tick Tock was never comfortable with his boss using suggestive language, but he never dared to talk about it. He was Jack Harkness. "Yes, well, she didn't exactly react. You arrived soon after."
Jack snickered. "Oh well. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
As soon as he closed the door, Tick Tock rummaged through his pocket and took out a photograph that had been on his cork board before he took it off. He wished he had attempted to show a little more emotion next to her.
He sighed, remembering her reaction to the kiss. He hadn't told Jack, but he did see the emotion she gave him directly after. She still loved the Doctor.
He levitated a puzzle box out of his closet, the hardest one to crack. He had tested it out on several Torchwood colleagues, the only one solving it being Lucky, and even then he probably wouldn't call it "solving" as much as guessing. He twisted it this way and that, punching in the number code he installed, and bypassed one more security measure in which he used a key.
There it was. A torn piece of the photograph in his hoof containing the Doctor. He thought that perhaps if he tore him out of the picture to which it was just him and Derpy, he might believe there was something just between them. Well, he was wrong.
Tick Tock put the rest of the picture back with its remaining piece and sealed up the box again. He trotted to his newest invention, sitting soundly on his desk, waiting patiently to be tested.
The invention was a lantern-shaped thing that was supposed to transport any object within a volume of 10 x 10 x 30 cm anywhere in space that couldn't be tracked by magic. Was supposed to. He put on his goggles.
Sliding open the capsule within it, he tucked the puzzle box containing all three of them inside and shut it. Before he could regret anything, he powered it up and pressed the red button on the front. The machine lit up and whirred as electromagnetic waves radiated off of it. It was rather loud, he'd have to fix that later. In a minute it was done.
With hesitant movements, Tick Tock opened the capsule, and held his breath. In moments, he let it go, and closed it. He wrote in his journal on the desk.
"Test successful. Machine working and operating as planned. Object cannot be detected."
Tick Tock crossed out the last sentence. Tell the truth, he told himself, as his heart emptied its contents.
"Object lost. Will not be seen again."
Tick Tock went to bed.
