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// CHAPTER SIX: Walking: It Gets You Places! 
// Story: The What and Whatiful Who 
// by cosby7 
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	“Alright, well, now what?”

Trixie’s griping, while annoying, was not entirely unwarranted. There, she and the Doctor stood, in a completely open clearing. They looked to the left. They looked to the right. Up, down, all around. Nothing save for themselves, the TARDIS, the grass below and the sky above. It was, in a word, empty.

“How are we supposed to catch a thief and save Equestria if we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere?” Trixie asked angrily. After all that build up, the moment was a bit of a let down, there was no denying.

“This . . . isn’t right,” the Doctor trailed off, seemingly unsure of himself. “We should be . . . well, somewhere.”

“Perhaps your so called TARDIS is not all she is cracked up to be,” Trixie chided.

From the look on his face, Trixie could tell the Doctor was not amused by her barb. “Well, Ponyville was not founded until much later in Equestria’s history, so maybe this is where it’s going to be?”

Trixie shrugged. “Does that matter?” From the Doctor’s refusal to respond, she guessed that it did not. Whether he let her in on it or not, Trixie decided she would have really liked it if the Doctor had a plan right then. “So what now?”

He spun on her, shocking Trixie into a slight jump. There was that mischievous grin of his. “Looks like we’re hoofing it.”

And so they picked a direction and started to walk.

And walk.

And walk.

And, well, yeah . . .

“Doctor, this is ridiculous!” Trixie complained after an unheard of three minutes of silence. “All this walking is getting us nowhere slowly. Trixie cannot single-hoofed save all of Equestria if she is pooped from all this senseless walking.”

“Are you saying you want to quit and go home, again?” the Doctor asked conspiratorially. 	“Quit what, Doctor? All Trixie has seen so far is an open field. We might as well be just outside Ponyville.” She sighed defiantly, gaining confidence as her own claims convinced her. “If your box can really do what you say, then let us return to it and actually get somewhere!”

Doctor Hooves frowned, but Trixie could not tell if it was because she was making sense or if he was just irritated with her insistence. Either way, it was more of a result than she had seen for a while.

“Let’s keep going just beyond that ridge,” he finally said, pointing towards the skyline. Trixie turned to look in the direction of the hoof he pointed and realized that, indeed, there, just over a yard away, was a slight cleft in the featureless valley they had spent the last long while trudging through. She briefly wondered why she had not seen it before, but the brief consideration could not distract her from her frustration for long. “If we don’t see anything that convinces you over that ridge, then we can go back to the TARDIS.”

This was not the answer Trixie had wanted to hear, ridge or no ridge. “Trixie is tired of your stalling!” she yelled stamping her front hooves angrily into the grass. “We are in the middle of nowhere, Doctor! There is nothing,” she was full on shouting now, “over that ridge!”

“Oh, I thought heard somepony close by. Hello, there!”

Slack jawed, Trixie slowly turned to see a humble beige earth pony, with an arm of wheat on his flank, waving excitedly. The Doctor, of course, was grinning like a pony out of his mind as he waved back.

“Hello!” He resumed his walking and moved closer to the friendly stranger. For the briefest instant, it looked like the earth pony flinched a bit as Doctor Hooves had started towards him. Staring at the fellow an instant later, though, Trixie couldn’t believe the cheerful colt was capable of it. Must have been her imagination. “I was just telling my companion here that we would be reaching civilization just over that ridge and her you are: A whole civilized pony, straight out of civilization town. Brilliant!”

Trixie pulled down her pointed hat to hide her face for the embarrassment. This pony could certainly play the fool when he wanted. At least, she certainly hoped he was playing.

“Uh, actually, it’s not called ‘civilization town.’ It’s the city of Cantaerloth.” Doctor Hooves nodded sagely at the city’s name, but Trixie remained perplexed. Was this strange colt talking about Canterlot? They weren’t really that near the cliffside capital, were they? “Are you two settler ponies or something? I don’t see your wagons, but you don’t seem like you’re from around here.”

Doctor Hooves was nodding sagely, until he caught himself. “What? Us? No, we’re locals. We were just out for a bit of a stroll. See?” He walked over to the ridge and tapped a hoof at the air just above it. The air shimmered ever so slightly where his touch had been. It was like the heat distortion one saw around a fire, but there could not have been less fire there and a cool breeze swept across the field. “Know about the distortion field and everything. Keep out any beasties might show up until things are a little more secure is what I would guess,” a quick wink Trixie’s way, “if I had to guess, which I don’t, because we’re locals. My name’s the Doctor, Hooves, if you like, and this is my companion, Trixie.”

“Ahem.”

“Sorry, the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Cough.

“Charmed, Trixie is sure,” she said, finally walking over to join the Doctor and raising a hoof to shake with the stranger. “And you are?”

Much to her surprise, the humble young pony lowered his head and planted a light kiss upon Trixie’s hoof. She flinched slightly, but did not pull away.

“My lady, if a unicorn of such beauty and obvious talent as you has been living in the same place as myself, then I am truly humbled by my own lapse in watchfulness.” Trixie was basically over the moon. She needed this colt in the audience at her next show. She needed this colt in the audience at all her shows. “My name is Dennis.”

Even the Doctor was flummoxed at that. “I’m sorry, did you say ‘Dennis?’”

“Um,” Dennis blinked slowly, “yes. Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, no. Sorry. Nothing wrong. Right? Trixie? Miss Great and Powerful?”

“What? Oh, yes. No, nothing wrong at all.”

Well, that was awkward.

“Well then,” Dennis eventually replied, obviously more than a little bewildered by literally everything that just happened in his humble earth pony life, “sorry for bothering you folks then. If there’s nothing I can do for you, I’ll just be back to my business.” Slowly he turned with a final wave, more than ready to trot back to where he’d come from.

“Wait!” Dennis stopped. “Dennis, sorry, actually maybe there is something you can help us with. You see, this may or may not sounds like a strange question, but are you familiar with a group of objects called the ‘Elements of Harmony?’”

Instantly, a look of surprise came over the earth pony’s face. With a flicker, his expression changed to one of obvious relief and recognition. “I should’ve known that’s what you’d be here for.” The statement was meant for both, but his gaze traveled unmistakably to Trixie as he said it. “Come on, I’ll show you the way to the palace. That’s where all you important types are meeting.”

“Thanks very much! We really appreciate it,” Doctor Hooves said as Dennis once again turned back to his ridge, this time leading their way. Hooves gave Trixie a light shove and nodded at the colt’s back.

“Oh, yes, very grateful.” She let out a practiced laugh to seal the deal. The Great and Powerful Trixie was no stranger to putting on airs of self importance.

“I hope you understand why we weren’t exactly announcing who we are. You understand.”

“Oh, sure,” Dennis replied, turning his head slightly to make sure he was heard. “You know you didn’t have to lie about being locals, though. I’d’a understood your business.”

“It wasn’t really a lie, strictly speaking,” Hooves stated in a sort of confiding tone. “You might say we’re just separated by time zones.”

Trixie was certainly glad she brought her trademark hat as she once more hid her face. She really hoped this pony stuck to his day job. Whatever that was. Obviously not doctoring.

“Say, Dennis?”

“Yes?”

“One more quick insignificant little thing: does the name ‘Celestia’ mean anything to you?”

Dennis seemed to concentrate for a moment, before replying, “Can’t say that it does.”