A tall, somewhat lanky man stood in the center of a very strange looking room. It had countless stairwells and hallways leading out of it, and in the very center stood a large tall column. The column was transparent, and seemed to be some sort of pump, the tubes inside of it slowly shifting up and down, an almost melodic rhythm. But the rhythm was constantly interrupted by the panels that surrounded it. Around it were many instruments, even including such strange things as a typewriter and what oddly resembled a bicycle horn. Spread along the panels were countless buttons, levers, pulleys and knobs, each one seeming to fit some other time. All in all, the controls to the ship seemed more a random hodgepodge collection than a sophisticated system. Just several feet away, the tall man stood alone, glaring at the screen hanging above. His attire appeared interesting for any generation, wearing a long brown overcoat over a brown and blue pinstriped tuxedo. Under that, he wore a sharp dress shirt and a tie. But the oddest feature of his dress were his shoes. Unlike the rest of his attire, he wore a pair of very well-used-looking white and tan trainers. He exhaled and put his hand to his head, running it through his rather spiky hair. His blue eyes scanned the screen as he thought.
"Where to go, where to go" he said aloud. He'd been off to visit an Ood colony, but he was in no hurry. The last time they had spoken, he was told that his 'song would end' shortly after the conversation, and he was certainly in no hurry to die. He'd just come back from the beautiful tropical planet of Barcelona II. Admittedly, he'd played a very small role in bringing some strange white sort of cybermen to the first planet... They had brought with them some large gray moon, and destroyed the planet with a single beam. He fingered his lei absentmindedly. Perhaps he should visit one of the frozen moons of Zroth, that was always a favorite of his. Come to think of it, the last time he'd been there, Rose was still his assistant!
"Zroth it is" He said confidently, fiddling with the controls. The process always seemed much more difficult without an assistant. He stretched on his toes to reach across the panels and align each knob. He pulled the final level and felt the familiar lurch as his ship started to shift in space.
"Allons-y" he said to himself. He should arrive in mere seconds. But just as he said it, the Tardis gave a horrible lurch. It shook with a force he'd felt only once or twice before.
"I can't be," He whispered. "No, no no no no no, this is very bad, very very bad." He was in a rift in space and time, taking him to another dimension. Last time he'd hit one, he'd been lucky, only a small few things had changed. But he hadn't the slightest clue of what could go wrong. The planets could be toxic, he could be killed the moment he left the Tardis. He might not even be the same body structure when he came out for goodness's sake!
"Why again?" He asked. Even as a feeling very similar to fear held him gripped, he had a glimmer of hope in his heart. As statistically impossible as it was, this rift could be taking him straight to Pete's World, and straight back to Rose. But what was he to listen to statistics? They were just numbers, they had no force behind them. He smiled somewhat just imagining it. He thought of what wonderful things he could do in Pete's World, so many discoveries to make. He might even welcome back Rose as an assistant! The Tardis gave another jolt, stranger than the first. Despite all his efforts, the doctor was flung from his perch and his head collided with one of the many walls with a dull thud. Still grinning, the tenth doctor sank into the warm, welcoming darkness.
The Doctor did not wake for many hours. He slept motionless in a deep sleep, undisturbed by dreams. There was only a world of blackness, no color, no light, nothing. He was comfortable in this blackness, all by himself. But he eventually realized he had to return. And so he opened his eyes. He groaned as sharp light pierced him. Judging by the windows on the Tardis, it was a sunny day outside, wherever outside was. 'Now where am I?' he thought to himself. The back of his head throbbed, a large bump forming from the first impact. He gently raised an arm and rubbed it, and almost cried out in shock. Both the back of his head and his arm were fuzzy, and even soft. He knew for a fact that he wasn't wearing that cheap jacket that had begun to come undone, he was fuzzy. His hand was fuzzy. He lowered the arm to his face and jumped slightly.
"A- A hoof?" This was very strange, even for him. He looked down and inspected the rest of his body.
"Four legs, I've been worse off, but without hands it'll be inconvenient. Definitely equine, but nothing earthly. Short legs, I'm probably not a horse, maybe a pony or donkey. Wouldn't that be funny, the Doctor's a donkey! Four hooves, sturdy legs, yet still lithe enough to run swiftly, I can deal with that. Brownish fur, so I'm probably not some sort of donkey. Wait-" He broke off and clumsily hopped to all fours, spinning around like dog. And sure enough, there it was. "I've got a tail."
The doctor galloped through the Tardis, his new hooves making an incredibly loud clank with each step on the industrial-style metal floor of the ship. The Tardis itself seemed fine, he was more concerned with finding a mirror. He made his way to his study, his unsteady trot becoming more and more smooth, until he ran like he'd been on all fours all his life. Entering the study, he made his way to the tall mirrored cabinet and examined his face.
"Hair's still good, I like that. Two eyes, both looking normal- well, normal enough. They're very large, aren't they? A long muzzle, nostrils and a mouth, good. Have I got cat ears? What are these?" He toyed with them for several moments, flapping his ears, letting them stand on end and then flop over his eyes. "Well that's fun, I suppose. I say, I look like a cartoon!" He turned around to look at his short tail once more. To his surprise, he found an hourglass on either flank, near his rump.
"A tattoo? I've always wondered what they were like, never saw myself having one. Hourglass, for Time Lord, that's nice, fitting. I like it, maybe I'll get a tattoo later. I better find out what the rest of this world looks like." He trotted back to the entrance of the Tardis, positively flaunting his new form. As he was about to leave the Tardis, he spotted something hanging from a crook in the wall. Right where he normally laid his cloak or overcoat- he'd done so upon entering the Tardis earlier- were some weird sort of pack. They were much like two backpacks, connected in the middle by a thick band of material. He cantered up to it and found something shiny sticking out: his sonic screwdriver.
"Oh, that's nice. That's much better. Even though I don't have hands, at least I have the screwdriver. I suppose I can operate it with my teeth, at least until I fabricate a better process." Picking the bags up with his teeth, he found them empty spare the screwdriver and a fob watch. With a bit of practice, he managed to swing the pack over his back and get it to a comfortable position. Standing on hind legs, he turned around and gave the doors of the police box a small shove, and he opened his eyes to one of the strangest worlds he'd ever seen.