Doctor And Assistant, (Chap. 5)
Chapter Five: Not London, But America
/the Doctor\\
"Uhm, girls, perhaps London in the 1800s isn't go into happen. Not today at least," the Doctor proclaimed.
"Aw, why not?" Cara whined sarcastically.
"Yeah, why not?" Derpy chimes in.
The Doctor shrugged. "How does..." he checked the monitor behind him, clasping his hands together in one quiet slam, "..., America, in the year 3090?"
The girls looked at each other almost like they could talk to each other telepathically. However, the Doctor knew that they were both thinking the same thing: "how did we go to the future instead of the past, and in another different country?"
He wish he knew.
"I think that'd be okay," Cara smiled, Derpy nodding in agreement.
"I'm sure it'll be fine."
The Doctor smiled at his assistants. Well, assistant and companion. Well, companions. But he'd keep calling Derpy his assistant anyway. "Now, listen. It's so far into the future that I'm not sure it could be safe for you two humans. Well, human and Equestrian-in-human-form."
"What'dya mean?" Derpy asked.
"Air-wise, it could be too thin, or too thick, which usually occurs in some cases. I mean, if it's anything like the Motorway, it could be filled with smoke and motor vehicle fumes."
"'The Motorway'?" the girls asked in unison.
"Story for another time."
"Speaking of," Cara started, "you never told me about Gallifrey, Doctor."
Derpy giggled nervously. "Oh, so it's time for that story. He gets emotional easily," she smiled at Cara. The girls erupted in a fit of hushed laughter.
"Mmhmm, very funny," the Doctor muttered. "Everyone's a critic. Anyways, I'm gonna go."
He let without another word, shutting the door on their laughter. He expected a change in the atmosphere, but it was exactly the same. He ventured onwards on a quest to safe the path and make sure it wasn't fraught with danger. Because, who knows, he might even have a relaxing trip for once to ease Cara into the entire time travel thing. That'd be a definite change in style.
/Derpy\\
"But I seriously can't believe he'll get THAT emotional!" Cara laughed.
Derpy felt bad saying all of these things and stories about the Doctor. Like one time, he just broke down in front of her, a huge crying mess out of nowhere. He didn't even say why! All he said was muttering, and she only heard something that sounded like "I've seen too much". And another, when he turned bipolar for a day. Still haven't found out why, though. He kind of... he was happy one moment, and then he was just in a huge fit of anger.
"Yeah, tends to happen from time to time."
Derpy was sitting on Caraphernelia's bed with her telling stories about these amazing adventures, or even just about the Doctor's background in general. Oh, and don't forget about Equestria! She let Cara down only once, when she wanted to know more about the Time War. Derpy said the truth, that all she knew was that there was a war.
"Oh God, see, look at this bloody mess!" Cara wiped away a tear from her laughing too hard. "I'm crying!"
Another laugh from the two of them.
"But can I ask you a serious question?"
Derpy's sitting position straightened up automatically and she nodded. "What is it?"
"What's your thoughts on the Doctor?"
She laughed. "A bit personal with that one, huh?"
"I like to mix it up every once in a while," Cara shrugged.
"Sure you do."
An awkward silence echoed before Cara cleared her throat.
"Right," Derpy frowned. She wanted to stall telling her feelings. She hopped off of the bed quickly, checking the halls around them to see if he had gotten back yet. Nope, his coat was missing, so he still was outside. She took her seat once more. "Sorry, just checking. So... where do I start?"
"The beginning," Cara requested. "Please?"
Derpy laughed. "You're like a child."
"I get that a lot."
She laughed again. "Anyways. It was a beautiful autumn day in Ponyville seven months ago. I was a mailmare, and I was doing my usual route. However, I got a bit... sidetracked.
"I had lost my way around the Everfree Forest. But then I heard this weird exhaling, and I flew over to the noise. And, there he was, the Doctor and his TARDIS. I was the first pony he'd ever met, so I was happy to show him around."
"Was he cute?"
Derpy blushed and looked down, her hands now in her lap. "I have a picture."
"I wanna see!" Cara bounced up and down.
"Alright, follow me, then. It's in my room." So they both got off of the bed and began the walk to Derpy's room, meanwhile still telling the story. "So, anyways. I showed him around. The next day, he wasted no time. He walked into my house, literally pulled me out of my living room, and told me he wanted to go on an adventure."
"How romantic," Cara said.
"Actually, it wasn't romantic at all. It had no intentions of the sort either. And why do you keep relating us together romantically whenever I talk about the Doctor?"
"What? You're adorable together, the perfect team. And also, I was always one for romance. I was the largest fangirl known in London! At least, in my town I was. I had too many OTP's and shippings!" Cara explained.
Derpy laughed, opening her bedroom door and walking over to the dresser and unlocking it. "We began travelling from then on to now. We've defeated so many foes, but for some reason, they just keep popping up out of nowhere! Ah, I got it," she smiled, jiggling the lock until it fell off of the drawer's handle.
"Why the lock?"
"Privacy reasons," Derpy blushed, "and my own good." She began looking for the picture, observing the snapshot before giving it to Cara. It was taken in front of the TARDIS; the Doctor had said he wanted a photo before their first adventure.
"Aw... the two together before they decided to engage each other-"
"-NO, NOT LIKE THAT!"
"in some good old fashioned fun," she continued like she wasn't interrupted. "And what is this?" Cara brought the picture closer to her. "You're blushing! Your TOTALLY blushing!
"WHAT?!" Derpy screamed, grabbing the picture from Cara. "Oh God... you're right."
"You like him, don't you?"
Derpy played with a lock of hair in front of her right eye, twirling it around her index finger. "Perhaps, maybe a tiny, itty bitty, extremely microscopic crush."
Cara looked at her, purposely wagging her eyebrows like the Doctor two times.
Derpy giggled, a large blush setting on her face. "Okay, it's true. I love him!"
Cara squealed. "That's adorable!" Derpy set the picture in the drawer, locking it again. "But why won't you tell him?"
"I can't do that. Are you crazy?!"
"Not entirely. But why not?"
Derpy frowned, sulking against the wall with her arms crossed weakly. "It'd only hurt him more."
"Why do you say?"
"He still has one more life after he regenerates. I only have this one. I can't be with him for all of his lives, and when I do die, he'd be..." She covered her eyes with one of her hands and turned away, tears dripping down her face.
"Oh, Derpy!" Cara cooed, walking over and hugging her. "You don't have to cry. There's always a silver lining!"
Derpy sniffed. "A silver lining?"
"You know, a bright side to everything? Like, I'm traveling with you. Bad side, my friend may miss me. But the silver lining, I get to go anywhere and everywhere! Can you find a silver lining?"
Derpy cried softer than before, trying to calm down. "A bad side, I really, really want to tell him?"
"That's a start. And now, the good?"
"I... Good side, I won't hurt him anymore than he needs to be."
Cara debated saying something but nodded. "Are you alright now?" she asked a few seconds later.
Derpy wiped her eyes. "I guess so. Thanks, Cara. I'm happy I have a friend like you," she smiled.
"And if you ever need any more help on that, just tell me. I'm an expert in-"
-The Doctor knocked on the door and Derpy's face flushed. "Am I interrupting something?"
"NO! I mean, um, no, no, n-no, you're... You're not interrupting anything," the lovesick girl stuttered.
The Doctor chuckled. "Alright then. I think it's pretty safe. And it's beautiful too! You two'll love it!"
"Allons-y," Derpy mumbled with a laugh when the Doctor repeated it, yet louder in every way possible.
/the Doctor\\
The girls looked at the large grey skyscrapers that littered the area. The sky was a porcelain blue with no clouds and a soft sunlight shining down. Floating cars and hovering skateboards and scooters were seen to the left and right. Stores were advertising different toys and products. People around us looked the same from 2014 Earth and were chattering noisily and laughing. A huge sign read "New York" and Derpy mouthed the words in confusion.
"The must-see of America," Cara informed her. "I've always wanted to go there."
"Seems now you've gotten a chance!" the Doctor cheered. "Now, girls, shall we head out?"
"Where, exactly?" Cara asked.
"I've got a pamphlet," he laughed, holding out a small device. It was circular, a dark storm-cloud grey with a red light on top.
"But, Doctor, that's just a remote," Derpy reminded him.
"A remote, yet so much more," the Doctor smiled back. "Because what do you do when you see a red button?"
"You press it?" Cara asked, adding in a laugh.
"Correct!" The Doctor over excitedly pressed the red button and it turned to a light cerulean, extrinsic to the surroundings on the device. A small V-like shape echoed from the top, extending about 6 inches upwards towards the sky. In the middle was a map, and the key was at the bottom. "What's everyone in the mood for? They do have different classes, by the way, for our moods, thus being why I asked."
Derpy shrugged, adding in a sarcastic laugh to her sarcastic sentence: "do they have a therapist?"
The Doctor looked up from the giggling girls, his brown eyes full of concern. "Why would you need a therapist, Derpy?"
Her eyes went wide. "No reason," she managed to mutter under pressure.
"She's just been missing Ponyville, aren't you, Derpy?" Cara answered for her.
"RIGht, right, right, right, right. Yes. Missing, um, Ponyville."
The Doctor scanned his assistant with his sonic screwdriver, picking up no signals that were needed. She did have a weird dark color surrounding her, but an almost forced pink shot in an battled the dark. He pocketed the screwdriver, clicking the button again on the "pamphlet".
"Is there a midway point? What if we just go there, and then figure out where our location should head towards then?" Cara suggested.
As they passed through the midway point they stopped to rest on a bench, Derpy being in the middle, Cara being to her left, and the Doctor by her right, closest to the duck pond. The Doctor watched it, trying to count how many times a fish splashed from underwater.
"Hey guys," he started, "is a duck pond still a duck pond, if there are no ducks?"
"What is this, a game of Random Questions?" Cara asked, causing them all to laugh. "But seriously. I also think it could be a statue pond."
"Why so?" Derpy asked, turning to look at Caraphernelia.
"There's statues. And they are positioned at the pond. Figured I'd make a joke."
"Where?" the Doctor asked, anxiety growing.
"Right over - hey, where did it go off to?"