The Doctor stared pensively at the bag.  A bead of sweat dripped down his mane as his hoof trembled in the air, wavering back and forth between the two choices.  This is it, he thought to himself, a chill running down his spine.  It all comes down to this.

"So, you gonna pick the Red Delicious apples or the Granny Smiths?"

The Doctor stumbled back slightly at Applesack's- or was it Applejack's?- question.  "Oh!  Right.  I think Dinky wanted the pink ones." He smiled hopefully.

"We don't have pink apples today," Applejack said bluntly.  "Reds or Grannys?"

"Yes, yes," the Doctor murmured distractedly, focusing on the small sacks of fruit.  He waved a hoof dismissively.  "One moment."

"You know, Doctor Whooves," Applejack said idly, sighing.  "You might get more visitors up at your place if you were a tad more social."

"Social?  I'm perfectly social!" the Doctor exclaimed.  "I just have an eccentric lifestyle."

"Sparkler told you that, didn't she?" Applejack said skeptically.  The Doctor chuckled slightly.

"Well, she-"

"INCOMING!"

Applejack's eyes widened.  "Get down, Whooves!"

She threw herself against the Doctor, sending them both tumbling to the ground.  From above, a whirling, grey-colored meteor of death flew toward the earth.  It impacted with a bang, shooting up sparks and sending small tremors through the ground.

"…I'm okay," Derpy Hooves weakly proclaimed from her self-made ditch.  Small wisps of steam rose from her wings, and her eyes tumbled around each other even more than usual.

"Well, that was interesting.  I think we'll take the red ones," the Doctor said, popping out from beneath Applejack and reappearing by the table.  He dropped a few bits on the table, grabbed a bag of apples in his mouth, and began to trot away.  "Come along, Derpy!"

"Coming!" Derpy said, springing out of the hole and straight into a loop-de-loop.  "Whee!"

Applejack twitched, slowly picking herself up from the ground.  "…Those Whooves sure are some crazy folk."  She turned to look at her apple stand.  "At least they didn't break anything this time."

She paused.  "Wait…he said he was taking the red ones.  So why did he take a bag of Granny Smith?"

"Good morning, Doctor!" Derpy said happily as she flew alongside the trotting Time Lord.  

"Good morning to you too, Derpy!" the Doctor replied.  "How are you doing today?"

"Great!"  Derpy folded her wings and stepped down to the path, walking along beside the Doctor.  "The Fnargh got their pizza and went back to their lunar base last night.  The invasion's been called off!"

"Excellent!" the Doctor said.  He looked thoughtful.  "Of course, let's hope that Luna doesn't find out what they're doing up there…"

"So what were you doing getting apples, anyway?" Derpy asked, frowning.  "I thought you hated them."

"I do," the Doctor sighed.  "But Dinky wanted one for her teacher, and I knew that the right color for those is pink, so-"

"You mean red."

The Doctor frowned.  "Red?  Huh.  I could've sworn that Teacher Apples should be pink.  Well, no harm done.  I-"

"And these are green!"

The Doctor laughed.  "Oh, Derpy.  There's no way I could have-"

"Yep!"

The Doctor blinked.  "No…  I couldn't have!"

"Yep!" Derpy said again, just as enthusiastically.  "See?"  She pointed inside the bag.

The Doctor peered inside along with her.  "Huh.  Well, what do you know; they are green!  Fancy that."  He shrugged.  "I suppose Dinky will just have to make do."

"Get anything else fun at the market?" Derpy asked.

"Sadly, no," the Doctor said.  "The Quills & Sofas shop apparently doesn't sell Space Whale Quills.  Lousy false advertising."

He paused.  "Also, is it me, or are more and more of the locals calling me ‘Doctor Whooves’ lately?"

Derpy stuck out her tongue, shrugging.  “I don’t know.  You’re usually the one that notices these things.”

The Doctor sighed, and then smiled again.  “Well, I do think it’s fantastic, really- all these pony puns.  Did I ever tell you that I’ve been to the original Manhattan, even before I visited Manehattan?”

“Yes, silly- you took me!” Derpy said with a giggle, poking the Doctor on the nose.  “Wow, you must lose a lot up there!”  She pointed a teasing hoof at his forehead.

The Doctor batted it away with mock agitation.  “Hmph!  I’ll have you know that I’m not quite that old yet!”

They chuckled together, still walking up the path, and then fell silent.  They had passed the border of Ponyville when Derpy finally spoke up.

“So it’s still weird, isn’t it?” she said quietly.  “Being settled down, and after so long, too.”

The Doctor sighed.  “Just a bit, but I can’t say that my life still isn’t a bit more exciting than most other ponies’.”

“Just a bit,” Derpy said with a wink.  “More action-y, with explosions-”

“And big, boomy things!” the Doctor finished for her.  They laughed for a bit as the path began to slope gently upward.

“So has anyone-”

“-Anypony,” Derpy gently corrected him.

The Doctor snorted.  “When do you use that, anyway, when compared to ‘anyone’?  The logistics are all so confusing.  Unless...”  He put a hoof to his chin, looking up at the sky.  “Aha!  It’s all random, then!”

“If you say so,” Derpy said innocently.  She patted down the celery stalk on his suit’s lapel.  “I guess you took your past self’s suggestion?”

“Guilty as charged,” the Doctor said cheerily.  “It is much easier to pull of wearing a vegetable as a pony- not to mention that it’s a very convenient snack.”

The path began to move out of the grasslands surrounding town.  Trees popped up here and there, the morning wind rustling through their branches.  The Sun, just beginning to rise up into the sky, shone its rays onto the soil, warming it with the touch of spring.

“So what do you think Dinky’s cutie mark will be?” the Doctor wondered aloud.  “Maybe a small star, or a pirate’s sword, or-”

“Doctor!  You’re not supposed to talk about that yet!” Derpy scolded him.  “It’ll come when it comes, and talking about it won’t make it happen any sooner!”

“Fine, fine,” the Doctor said quickly.

“...It’ll probably be a muffin, anyway,” Derpy said with a sniff.

The Doctor moaned dramatically.  “By Celestia’s mane, why is everyone in this household obsessed with muffins?  Your culinary skills shall be the death of me, Derpy!”

Derpy tilted her head head to one side.  “But...how could anyone not like muffins?  You always love my special Custard ones...”

The Doctor sighed.  He frowned. “Getting back on track, does anyone- anypony!- even know where they came from?  Cutie marks, I mean.”

Derpy paused. “...Magic?”

“Close enough,” the Doctor said with a chuckle.  “I guess mine was particularly fitting after all, what with the hourglass.”  He stopped to think.  “One of these days I’ll get around to asking one of the princesses where they come from.”

“Just like you’ll get around to taking the girls to a Sapphire Shores concert?” Derpy asked innocently.

The Doctor groaned.  “Oh, goodness.  That ‘Equestria Girls’ song is quite possibly the most horribly catchy song I have ever heard.  Especially with that crazy pink pony from town singing it incessantly.”

Derpy giggled.  “You mean the Cakes’ assistant?”

“You hear enough symphonies from Excelsia-zz, and soon everything starts to sound like Excelsia Migrainia,” the Doctor complained.  He quirked an eyebrow.  “And speaking of assistants, have I told you how wonderful you are lately?”

Derpy gave him a wide smile.  “Maybe...”

The Doctor snorted.  “Well!  You, Derpy Hooves, are the most bubbly, optimistic, fantastic, and generally wonderful pony that I have ever had the fortune to crash my TARDIS into.”

“That was actually the pegasi mail van,” Derpy pointed out, flushing slightly.  “And aw, thank you Doctor!”

The Doctor chuckled along with her.  “Five years ago, the Sun was just another big, flaming ball of gas in the sky.  But then you come along, and suddenly it’s the Sun again- something with meaning; something that’s worth protecting.  It’s always like that with my companions.”

“Remember the Gensea system?” Derpy asked.

“How could I forget?” the Doctor exclaimed.  “That whole issue with the B’ankflak and the Hoofooth- the way you solved it was amazing!”

Derpy gave him a wink.  “I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you again!” she said in a sing-song voice.  “Muffins.  Solve. Everything.”

“Except for the Pegoon,” the Doctor sighed.  “I still don’t understand how you managed to end their civil war even while giving Type 4.5 diabetes to half their population.”

Derpy smiled- an honest, genuine smile that her eyes made glimmer and shine.  “Remember the Cosmofall of Coltrath?”

“Ah!  Love the way that slips off the tongue,” the Doctor replied.  “Always have.”

The path slowly meandered out of the woods and into a clearing.  Ahead, a rather strange formation of wood, rock, and metal towered above the trees.  The Whooves household was by no means anything similar to a “normal” house.

The Doctor stopped and turned, nodding toward the house.  “I suppose I’ll see you for breakfast, then, Derpy?”

She nodded happily.  “Yep!”

“Excellent!  I just have to-”

Abruptly, the Doctor’s mane flattened over his head, the smell of ozone filling his nostrils.  A shockwave erupted into the air and Derpy went tumbling head-over-hooves into a nearby tree.  The Doctor glanced over his shoulder and flinched at what he saw- a halo of torrential winds swirled violently over the second floor of the house.  A black sphere seemed to pulse and throb in the winds’ center, spinning wildly in place. From the wreckage, he was able to barely make out someone- or somepony- shouting something about coffee.

“Sparkler?” the Doctor asked.

“Sparkler,” Derpy giggled.

“I never really saw what humans saw in coffee, let alone what ponies did,” the Doctor complained.  “That mare obsesses over her caffeine intake too much.  I guess all species have their little idiosyncracies, though- it’s almost adorable.  Bananas- now there’s something that’ll knock your socks off. .”

Derpy flapped her wings, rising into the air.  “Well, I’ll go take care of it!  You go fix the TARDIS!”

“Will do, Madame Derptor!” the Doctor replied with a wink.

He watched for a moment and then turned away, sighing happily.

The Time Lord pony wandered around to the side of his house, finding a small, faded path that led back into the woods.  “Well, then,” the Doctor murmured with a smile.  “Let’s see how you’re doing, old girl.”  He trotted off down the path, closing his eyes and enjoying the scent of the pines around him.

The Doctor smiled as the shed came into view.  It was a small building, really, a bit off to the side and a little to the future.  He thought that the nice little grove of trees around it touched it off quite nicely.  Though it could do without that ultrayellow moss from Betelgeuse Forty-Two.  

The Doctor grunted quietly to himself.  “Still looks like old mustard, the nasty stuff.”  He pushed his way through the moss and reached up his hoof, pushing open the door to the shed and peering inside.

The Doctor flicked a switch on the wall, and a series of white fluorescent lights flickered on, one by one.  A familiar blue box towered above him, its door slightly ajar.  He could make out PONY BOX in big, friendly lettering on the side- every time he saw that, the Doctor had to chuckle.

The Doctor grabbed the sonic screwdriver from its place on the wall by the TARDIS and pushed open the front door of the old police box.  “Hello, sexy,” he murmured with a smile.  “Hope you’re feeling better today.”

Wandering in, the Doctor took in the beeping console and its flashing lights with a warm smile.  He walked up to the central control panel and prodded the Wibbly lever with the sonic screwdriver, three and a half times. It lit up briefly and gave a little creaking noise.  He nodded in satisfaction.  “Hopefully that’s the Dimensional Trancendiom fixed, at least.”

The Doctor opened his eyes, looking about the cluttered control room.  He prodded at one of the flashing console screens, and sighed, smiling.  “I wonder what kind of muffins we’ll have for lunch today?” he mused aloud.  “Wonder if she took my advice on the Rofleenian Hagappeper.”  The pepper tended to be quite delicious and very spicy…well, spicy in a chocolate-y, pizza-y, and really television-y kind of way.

At least she wouldn’t use the Frosh Mussrooms again. The Doctor shuddered.  That had been one experience he would have gladly forgotten.

Suddenly, the lights flickered.

The Doctor spun around.  “What-?”

The room became lit with an eerie red glow, and the central console began to vibrate.

The Doctor held onto a rail with his two forelegs, looking around wildly.  “What?”

A giant purple robot dropped into the TARDIS.

Through the ceiling.

A large plate in the center of the robot’s chest let out a creak and slowly opened up.  Steam billowed out- as did one small purple unicorn.  Dinky Hooves waved at her father, hooves spread wide.  

She was beaming.

“Can I keep her?”

For a moment, nothing made a sound.

“Hwaht?”