FSE

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The first thing the young man noticed as the TARDIS spiraled out of sight was an intense burning sensation throughout his entire body. Zed screamed out in pain as he felt something crawling beneath is skin, and he clutched his stomach as an overwhelming feeling of nausea passed through him. In the privacy of his own mind, he decided that it was still not as painful as his shoulders, but it sure as hell was a close second. He curled up in a ball, tears blinding his vision as he was tossed through the time vortex. After what seemed like an eternity, he blacked out for a split second, only to find himself falling toward the ground, the humid night air rushing past his skin.

"Whoa whoa _whoa!" _ Surely a fall from this height would kill him... not that he was capable of dying permanently. Acting purely off of reflex, he focused all of his mental abilities on the air around him. Within less than a second, his descent slowed greatly just as he began crashing through the branches of a large pine tree. He yelped and groaned as his arms, legs, torso, and head collided with a series of thick tree branches. One even managed to make it between his legs.

_"OHHH! SWEET SHIT!"_He screamed as pain seared through his loins. He sat limply on the branch for a few more seconds before he went limp, and after hitting a few more branches, he landed heavily on his side. For a few minutes, he lay there in agony with tears blinding his vision. Of course, out of all the hits he had received, the one shot to his privates was by far the worst.

He gently rolled back and forth, his hands clasped between his legs. After what seemed like an eternity, the agony finally subsided and the young man was able to gather enough strength to stand up. He stumbled a bit as he did, but was able to catch his balance on a tree trunk.

"Howdy, there!" A strangely familiar voice called out from behind Zed, causing him to jump a bit.

Oh no... please no.... don't be him... He thought, his entire body completely frozen.

"You all right friend? Why, you look like you could use a drink!" The voice said.

Oh, no... it is him... Well, at least I'm not in some strange alien dimension... He thought with a moan. He slowly turned around and found a familiar red pony standing there... the same one that greeted him and the Doctor in Appleloosa. Zed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You know what? Yes. A drink would be great. Do you know there I can get one, sir?" He said, keeping his tone as polite as possible.

"Just down that a-way." The red pony replied, pointing off in a random direction. After a few more seconds of close study, Zed could just barely make out what looked like city lights. "Huh, you don't seem like you're from 'round here."

Did the flashy free fall from the sky give it away? Zed wanted to say, but he bit his tongue. "I've... been here once or twice. I'm sure I can find my way around..." He said, before quickly walking off in the direction of civilization. Now... where the hell am I...?

Within a few good minutes of limping about, an extremely familiar town came into view. To his surprise, he found that the town looked almost completely identical to Ponyville! However, upon further inspection, he found that there was something slightly off. Unlike the Ponyville Zed knew so well, this one seemed a bit more... gray. Almost as if there were barely any color left in the town. "What in the world...?" He said quietly to himself, before stumbling into the town. He wondered what exactly happened while he was gone...

As he strolled through Ponyville, some of the ponies cast him strange looks, before going about their business. Strange... shouldn't they recognize him? He saved their lives dozens of times, so why were they looking at him as if he were some sort of freak? It gave him the most ominous sense of déjà vu, and he began recounting the memories of when he first arrived in Equestria... the looks he received back then were not much different from the ones he was getting now. He continued on his way through the town, nervously avoiding eye contact with every pony that passed him. What has gotten into all of them?

Within a rather significant amount of time, he found his way to the town pub. Just before he strolled in, he noticed a flyer stating that there was an open-mic performance... which immediately caught his attention. He was known across Equestria for being a music fanatic, and being able to attract ponies with his angelic singing voice and ethereal-like guitar playing. However, now was not the time or the place... He had to figure out what was going on, and if he can possibly get back to the Doctor.

He strolled through the door of the pub, and the first thing that greeted him was the smell of alcohol and tobacco smoke. The second thing to greet him was the sound of a mare's beautiful singing voice. And the third thing to greet him was a sea of curious glances... and the young man turned away in embarrassment. This night could go on a lot smoother without the questioning stares...

Biting his lip, he half walked, half limped his way up to the bar and sat himself down in a stool. He flagged the bartender down and ordered a glass of Vodka. "Leave the bottle, please..." He said, earning yet another curious stare from the bartender. Ignoring it this time, Zed filled his glass to the brim, before quickly downing the throat-burning drink. It crossed his mind that it probably would not be good to continue drinking in this state, but his mind also had trouble registering any other option. If he were lucky, the TARDIS would appear within the bar and the Doctor would burst out and drag him back in... possibly scolding him for hours on end.

Within about thirty minutes, his mind was once again clouded with the effects of the alcohol. This time, he was careful... or as careful as a drunkard could be with limiting his alcohol intake. He sighed and looked around the bar, finding to his relief that most of the inhabitants have ceased their awkward staring and continued about their own business. However, after looking around the bar for a few more minutes, he noticed a rather familiar looking cutie mark. Upon a bit of further inspection, he immediately recognized it as the Doctor's!

Zed quickly leapt down from the stool and approached the stallion. "Hey! Doctor! You found me!" He said, though in his drunken state, he paid no mind to how different he looked...

The stallion had his chin resting heavily on the bar, and a small groan came from him in response. "I was never looking for you in the first place." He replied, not even looking up to acknowledge the boy's existence.

"What do you mean?" Zed replied, sitting into the stool next to him. "It's me. Zed, your... Companion, I think you called me?"

The stallion sighed heavily and quickly looked up at him. "I don't have a... Oh..." The Doctor paused for a moment, looking him over with... a rather odd gaze that made the young man feel quite uncomfortable. "Oh, yes. My... Companion..."

Zed blinked in surprise as his mind finally registered the Doctor's appearance. His pelt looked very... grey in color, whereas the Doctor he knew had a pelt of light brown. Not only that, but this stallion's mane was rather long and a bit messy, while the Doctor's was neatly combed into place. Also, this one had a black bowtie, rather than the green tie Zed remembered. Finally, there was a change in this one's eyes... which had dark bags shadowed beneath them. "Um... Doc... are you all right?" He asked.

"Oh, yes... I'm completely fine." The Doctor replied softly, with a rather sinister grin on his lips.

Zed nervously inched away, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose (surprisingly, they managed to stay on his face the entire time.). "Uh... are you sure about that? You look... different... a lot different..."

"Give it nine hundred years and you'll look different too." The Doctor replied.

"Oh... Sorry..." Even in his drunken state, he knew when to stop talking. He bit his lip as regret began to boil within him, and he turned away, awkwardly looking back over the bar. He thought for a moment in silence, his mind searching for a way to distract them from the awkward moment. He just so happened to look up onto the small stage just as the last act ended... which seemed to be a horrible comedy skit performed by an older white colored stallion.

"Oh, look! Open mic performance!" Zed said quickly, before hopping down from the bar stool and half walking, half wobbling to the stage. It was safe to say that whenever he was drunk, he had a lot more confidence that he should. He stumbled around for a bit until his hands found one of the instruments - a red electric guitar, to be exact. Though, the young man was too hammered to make out the brand. After plucking at the strings a few times to check for the right tuning, he began to play a song that he remembered hearing during his time as a human...

"Oh, the dragon's balls were blazing as I stepped into his cave!

Then I sliced his fucking cockles with a long and shiny blade!

'Twas I who fucked the dragon, fuckalizing, fuckaloo!

And if you try to fuck with me, then I shall fuck you too!"

What... the hell am I doing...? Zed thought as he continued plunking around on the guitar. He knew for a fact that he was embarrassing himself, yet he did not seem to have enough self-control to stop. He kept playing the guitar and singing like a fool, barely even noticing the strange stares he was receiving from the inhabitants of the bar. The most noticeable was the Doctor, who was staring at Zed as if he had lost his mind.

The bartender casually trotted up to the Doctor, glancing at the boy suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. "Hey... isn't he with you?" The stallion asked.

"He is, sadly enough..." The Doctor replied with a heavy sigh, downing a glass of liquor. He turned around and did his best to ignore the noise. It worked for a few minutes, that was until there was a large crash of an expensive stereo being knocked over.

"All right, you need to get him out of here. He's scaring off my customers." The bartender said sternly, staring intently at the Doctor.

" Ugh... fine..." The Doctor said, before downing yet another glass and standing up from the stool. He casually trotted up the stage and grabbed onto Zed's collar, before proceeding to drag the drunk boy off the stage. "All right, let's go."

"Ugh!" Zed groaned as he suddenly felt the tugging on the collar of his leather jacket and there was a loud clattering sound as he dropped the guitar. "W-wait a minute, Doc! I'm not finished!"

"Oh, yes you are." The Doctor replied, continuing to drag the young man out of the bar, the strange mumbling and laughing dying off behind them.

"What the hell, Doc? I was doing great!" Zed said, stumbling a bit as he was pushed through the TARDIS doors. Of course, he was a bit too drunk to realize how different it looked from the last one. Though, one thing he did notice was how it smelled similar to the bar they had just left...

"No, you weren't. In fact, you were embarrassing me." The Doctor said, closing the doors behind him, sighing. "Now, I have no idea who you are, so you'd better start explaining."

"Should I pull a _you_and go into unbelievable details, or would a simple explanation do?" Zed replied, chuckling a bit.

"Pull a me?!" The Doctor replied, glaring at the young man. "I don't think you even know who me is!"

"Someone who doesn't have proper grammar, obviously." Zed replied with a smirk. "Seriously, Doctor. Stop acting like you don't know who I am."

"That's the thing! I _don't!"_The Doctor snapped.

Zed sighed and rubbed his eyes. His mind was still too clouded to even interpret that this was not the same Doctor. "You watched me fall out of the TARDIS while we were leaving Appeloosa. How could you forget that?"

"You... fell out of the TARDIS? In mid-flight?" The Doctor asked with a hint of surprise on in his tone, before his expression morphed into a sultry glare. "That's why I don't know who you are. You fell out of your own dimension and crash-landed into mine. Good... job." The Doctor began to slowly clap his hooves together in a rather sarcastic manner.

"Wait... what?" Zed replied, blinking in surprise. After a good long moment, his mind finally made sense of the entire situation. "Oh... shit..."

"Yes. 'Oh, shit' is right. Now, you're stuck here, and I don't feel like helping you." The Doctor replied, turning around with a sigh. "Now, please leave my-"

"All right, no problem." Zed replied with a dismissive shrug, cutting the Doctor short. "I'll just be on my way." He sighed and began to wobble his way toward the TARDIS doors.

Just as he was about to push the TARDIS doors open, the Doctor tensed up and stopped him. "Wait!" He called, causing Zed to freeze in his tracks. "The ponies around here... they've never seen a human before." He said with a sigh. "It's... probably best if you stay here..."

"I'm... not human, though." Zed replied. Still, he shut the door and remained inside.

"Well... Human-esque." The Doctor corrected. "Wait a moment... what do you mean 'not human'?"

Zed bit his lip and stood there quietly for a moment. "Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"No, tell me. What do you mean you're not human?" The Doctor pressed, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

"Look, it's a private matter which I would rather not talk about until we know each other better. Is that all right?" Zed replied with a sigh, trying to keep as calm as possible.

"All right, then." The Doctor replied, obviously not wanting to press the matter any further. "Well, since your travels have no doubt been a bit rough, would you like a drink?"

Zed blinked at that, thinking for a moment. "Um... don't you think I've had a bit much already?"

The Doctor laughed at that. "There's never enough when you're around the Doctor!"

"There is. There definitely is." The boy replied, biting his lip.

"Of course not!" The Doctor said, before disappearing into a section of the TARDIS. He returned a few minutes later with a strange bottle and two glasses.

"No... I really don't think I should-"

"Just shut up and drink." The Doctor said, uncorking the bottle and filling both glasses up. Strangely enough, as soon as the bottle was opened, Zed could smell the liquor thick in the air.

Zed swallowed nervously when the Doctor handed one of the glasses to him. By Celestia it had a strong scent... and it was much darker in color, which aroused a bit more suspicion within him.

"Cheers." The Doctor said, clinking his own glass with Zed's before downing it in a single sip.

Zed continued biting his lip, before bringing the glass to his lips and taking a sip.

The first thing he noticed was the horrible burning sensation that washed through his entire mouth and throat, nearly causing him to gag. The second thing that hit him was an overwhelming feeling of nausea, followed by a sudden sensation of drunken bliss, almost as if he had just doubled... No, tripled the number of drinks he had already. He coughed and stumbled a bit, but he was thankfully able to catch himself before face planting on the floor once again.

"Holy shit..." He coughed a few more times, being careful not to spill his glass. "What... is that?" He demanded, his head swimming even worse than it had before. He was even having a bit of trouble speaking without slurring his words.

"What's wrong, Zed? Can't hold your alcohol?" The Doctor said, grinning.

"Are you sure that's even alcohol?!" Zed demanded, wobbling a little before finally righting himself.

"Yes. It's called Timelord Moonshine. Straight from my home planet." The Doctor said simply, refilling his own glass. "Most can barely withstand any more than a single drop the size of the nail on your index finger. You, however, have managed to drink half a glass and keep yourself standing. Well done."

Zed could have yelled at him, but with the effects of the alcohol gripping his mind like a vice, he was unable to find it within him. Instead, the intoxicated young man nodded and stared curiously at the remaining liquid within his glass. "I'm not sure if I should feel proud of that or not..."

"You should. Like I said, not most humans or... human-esque individuals could handle any more than a drop." The Doctor said. "Which concerns me a bit, because I still don't know what you are. So, Zed... you should probably start talking."

"I. Am. Zed." The young man replied, glaring. "I'm from a different dimension, but I ended up here because my adoptive mother sent me off with some batty doctor who called himself a 'Timelord', I got drunk off my ass, then fell out of his time machine and into this_dimension. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I don't know you that well, and stating what or who I am to someone I don't know makes me just a _little uncomfortable. No offense." As Zed explained all of this, he still had an extremely hard time pronouncing all of those words, and he still had to lean heavily against the railings.

"I apologize for poking around." The Doctor replied, examining his glass. "But I somewhat require to know what I'm traveling with. Some of my greatest enemies can disguise themselves as humans using human corpses."

Zed nodded. "That's... understandable, I guess." He shrugged. "The only thing I'm at liberty to tell you is that I'm no... normal human."

The Doctor studied him for a moment longer before letting out a heavy sigh. "Well, I tried. I suppose you don't have anything planned..." He shrugged. "All right, then. Make yourself at home." The Doctor reached up and gently pats the boy on his back.

Right between the shoulder blades...

Zed gasped, his entire body tensing up as the intense pain spread throughout his entire back, the focal point of it all being where the Doctor pat him. He grasped tightly onto the glass he held and gritted his teeth so hard that his jaws began to ache.

The Doctor glanced at him curiously. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"Please... don't touch... the shoulder blades..." Zed groaned, letting out a sigh as the pain slowly began to subside.

"Trouble with your shoulder blades?" The Doctor asked, sighing. "Hold still for a moment." The Doctor reached into his collar and pulled out what looked like a sonic screwdriver, putting the tip uncomfortably close to the boy's back.

"No!" Zed exclaimed, shying away a bit. "That's... not a good idea."

"Trust me, you'll be fine." The Doctor said before once again putting the sonic screwdriver to the boy's back, quickly scanning it. He scanned the device for a moment, before cocking his head to the side, a rather curious look on his face. "Hm. It says here that you used to have wings."

Zed turned away, nervously biting his lip. "I... don't know what you're talking about." He said, rubbing the back of his neck, the void in his chest returning. "That thing must be malfunctioning."

"Don't talk about the sonic screwdriver that way! It clearly says that you had wings. I can even see it here; your shoulders are too broad to show that you didn't have something protruding from them."

Zed continued biting his lip, refusing to make eye contact. "I... really don't want to talk about it..."

"Come on, it can't be that bad." The Doctor reassured. "Believe me, nothing can scare me. And if you plan on turning into a giant monster that's going to try and eat me, then you might as well tell me now."

"I'm an angel!" Zed snapped, a nearly overwhelming aching sensation in his chest. "My wings were ripped from my back when I crash-landed in Equestria, and it has left me with both physical scars, and emotional. And if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if we could change the subject."

"Oh, thank the Timelords. Wait... an angel? How do you even..." The Doctor stopped, shaking his head. "Never mind. But was it seriously that hard to tell me?"

"Yes. It was." Zed replied, glowering. "It's kind of a... touchy subject."

"Being an angel?"

"My wings."

The Doctor sighed. "All right, now that we have that out of the way, just let me... wait... exactly how much did your Doctor tell you about himself before you ended up here?"

" 'I am the Doctor. I'm a nine hundred and three year-old Timelord from the planet Gallifrey in the Constellation of...' " Zed paused for a moment, trying to remember the pronunciation of the last word. "Kastaba--"

"No." The Doctor interrupted.

"Kasaturo..."

"You get one more."

"Kast... Kasta... Screw it, I give up." Zed said, rubbing his eyes.

"Hm." The Doctor sighed. "I am the Doctor. I'm a nine hundred and three year-old Timelord from the planet Gallifrey in the Constellation of Kasterborous." He said, putting emphasis on the last word.

"Yeah, that." Zed replied, shrugging. "Then there was all that stuff about the TARDIS, the sonic screwdriver, and hating pears. Like... really hating them."

"Oi, what have pears ever done to him?" The Doctor said.

"Beats the hell out of me." Zed said, shaking his head.

"Well, the one major difference between him and I, is I really... really love pears." The Doctor said, and for a moment seemed to be in a state of euphoria.

Suddenly, a low rumbling sound emitted from Zed's stomach, and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Speaking of food..."

The Doctor's ears twitched upon hearing the sound. "What is it? Are you hungry or something?"

Zed looked away, letting out another shrug. "Maybe a little..." He replied. It was then he remembered that he literally had not had anything to eat since that morning... he did not even eat breakfast.

"Well, there's a kitchen down the hall. Go ahead and help yourself, if you'd like." The Doctor said, gesturing to one of the doors, which opened automatically as if on cue.

Zed nodded, still carefully carrying his glass. "All right, thanks." He said, before gently pushing himself away from the bar he had been leaning against for support. He swayed for a bit, quickly grabbing the railing once again to keep himself from falling over. By Celestia, he believed he had given himself enough concussions for one day.

"Problems?" The Doctor asked, looking at him curiously.

"Well, I'm drunk. So... there's problem number one." Zed replied.

"Eh, you'll be fine." The Doctor replied with a shrug. "Just keep going in the same direction."

"The damn room is spinning."

"That happens. It's called being drunk. Get used to it."

"Whatever." Zed replied, before stumbling in the direction the Doctor pointed him to.... Or so he thought.

"Other way." The Doctor said with a rather annoyed sigh.

"Yeah... right..." Zed replied, chuckling a bit at himself. He turned around and began stumbling his way toward the way the Doctor gestured to, every once in a while grabbing onto something to keep himself from losing his balance. At one point, his elbow collided painfully with something hard and heavy, making him flinch and grit his teeth. Hello, wall.

After a few more minutes of fumbling around, he finally reached what looked like the TARDIS kitchen, and the refrigerator was not too far away. He swayed a bit, before catching himself on a counter. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself and opened the refrigerator door, blinking in confusion at what it contained. "Let's see... pears, butter, more butter.... Even more butter.... More pears... copious amounts of butter... How the hell is he still alive?!"

"Lots of time and practice." The Doctor's voice announced from right behind him.

"Jesus fucking--!" Zed spun around upon hearing his voice, but due to his drunken stupor, he slipped and fell against the side of the counter, pain spreading throughout his back. He tensed up, clenching his fists and groaning in pain.

"Zed? Are you all right?" Asked the Doctor.

Zed groaned and writhed on the floor for a moment, before he finally found his voice again. "I'm... fine..." He said through tightly-gritted teeth, before slowly sitting up, letting out a small sigh as the pain finally began to subside. "What... did I slip on?" He asked, staring at the floor.

The Doctor shrugged, staring at the patch of liquid in front of the refrigerator. "I... don't know. Probably butter." He said. It seemed that he had so much butter that it was literally beginning to leak out of the bottom... something he might have to fix later...

"Ugh!" Zed grunted in disgust and scrambled to his feet, being extra cautious not to slip again. He dusted off his pants, letting out a heavy sigh as he felt the oily liquid on his fingers and jeans. "That's... just perfect..." He said grimly, shaking his head.

"What? It's delicious." The Doctor said.

"Then why don't you lick it off or something?" Zed demanded, rolling his eyes.

"You dare tempt me?"

Zed blinked, completely caught off guard by the response. "I... Um...." He quickly shook his head. "Okay, none of that." He said, trying to keep a heavy blush from spreading across his face.

"Exactly." The Doctor replied with a smirk.

"I'm done here. I think I've lost my appetite." Zed replied, snatching a dish towel and scrubbing at the back of his pants, making his way back toward the main control room of the TARDIS. It was then that his drunken mind processed the control panel, and how different it looked from the last one he saw. "What... is this? It's like... the Gameboy had sex with an alien spaceship, then gave birth to a retarded Etch-a-Sketch..."

Upon hearing that, the Doctor froze in place, tossing Zed a threatening glare. "You want to rephrase that?"

Zed shrugged. "I would, but then I would probably say something much... much worse."

"Do you even have the slightest idea who you're talking to?" The Doctor demanded.

"You've said it a million times, so... yes."

"Twice." The Doctor corrected. "I've said it twice. Two can play at this smart-ass game of yours."

Zed smirked. "Actually, I've heard it twice. You only said it once, and the other Doctor has only said it once. Learn how to count."

"I'm going to hit you."

"Come at me, bro!"

"Gladly!" With that, the Doctor reared up and launched a hoof toward Zed's jaw with obvious intent to injure him.

However, just before the intended strike made contact, Zed held his hand up and easily caught the Doctor's hoof in his hand as if it were nothing. A cocky smirk formed on his lips. "I'm gonna deck ya in the schnoz!" He said, before delivering a quick punch to the Doctor's snout.

The Doctor's head snapped back from the blow, and he let out a small growl. "You son of a bitch..."

"Then don't pick a fight with an angel!" Zed shouted, before storming off. However, he did not get very far. It seemed that the bottom of his shoes still had a layer of the leftover butter he had slipped on, and as soon as he took the second step, his foot slipped out from underneath him, sending him to the floor.