//------------------------------//
// Chapter One 
// Story: The Fantastic Adventures of Dr. Whooves: The Changeling Princess 
// by The-Pony-Librarian 
//------------------------------//


Chapter One


In which cold oxen are discussed and Mrs.Cake is left very, very confused 

Twilight Sparkle gave a small sigh, walking downstairs at a leisurely pace. She scanned the bookshelf, a slow grin spreading across her face as her intelligent purple eyes spotted a book that she hadn't read in a while. She used her magic to pull it from the shelf. Just think, she could spend her whole day just relaxing and reading a book! It seemed like in Ponyville, there was always one adventure after another, and while she loved running off to stop some crisis with her friends as much as the next pony, she was looking forward to a day of just relaxing. 
Applejack was off bucking apples, Rainbow dash had decided to commit the whole day to practicing her latest trick, Fluttershy was helping Zecora identify a mysterious new animal they had discovered, Rarity was getting some specialty fabrics from Canterlot (taking a smitten spike with her) and Pinkie was busy babysitting for the Cakes.Twilight had a whole day with absolutely nothing on her schedule.
No books to organize, no errands to do, no bad guys to defeat.... she smiled and opened the book. She could do whatever she wanted.
But of course that was never the case.
No sooner than she had read the first word, there came a frantic knocking on her door, a pause, then the sound of the door being flung haphazardly open and a certain pink pony barreling into the room.
"Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! A giant box crashed into the shop! I had gotten the twins to sleep when there was this huge BHOOMZOOMSHOOMWHOOOM and I looked out the window and there was a giant blue thingy falling from the sky and then it was like CRASHBABOOMCRUNCH and plowed straight into the side of the shop and I ran outside and there was this weird blue thingy stuck straight through the wall, and it had a bunch of funny looking word on it....what did they say again? Place public cold ox? Something like that, I didn't really get a great look, but anyways, there were some doors on it and I tried to open them, but I couldn't, which was weird...because who wold want to lock up a public cold ox? I mean, it has public right in the name! Unless cold oxen are dangerous of course....I've never met an ox, so I wouldn't know. Have you ever met an ox, Twi? I bet they wouldn't be dangerous. I bet ox are super nice! But I was standing there by the blue thing, and I thought 'well if there's one pony who would know what to do it's Twilight' so I ran straight over here and here I am" 		Pinkie spouted this all in one breath, gesturing violently with her hooves and more than once nearly whacking twilight in the head. She then looked up at the purple unicorn with bright, expectant eyes. A large crash sounded from behind.
"oh yeah!" she chirped brightly "Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are here too, the crash woke them up!"
Twilight twisted her head to see the two little ponies wreaking havoc on her immaculate bookshelves, and with a heaved sigh, she said "Well, show me this box of yours Pinkie."
After Pinkie paused to set the Cake twins on her back, she bounced off in the direction of Sugarcube corner, with Twilight trailing cautiously behind like a purple shadow. She hoped this wasn't just something silly, Pinkie had the tendency to get a bit overexcited at times.....like the time that she had thought the attic of Sugarcube Corner was haunted, when in actually Gummy had just gotten stuck in box and was thumping around trying to get out. Twilight chuckled at the memory.
However, as they came up on the bakery, Twilight's eyes widened and she couldn't help but give a small squeak of surprise. Pinkie had indeed been true to her word, and dark blue box was crashed halfway through the left wall of the bakery, still smoking. She supposed that by now she should have learned not to be shocked at things like this anymore, maybe one day she would just look at things like this as normal occurrences. She  was certainly a lot less surprised that she would have been two years ago....but of course, she had changed a lot.
A few ponies had gathered around, and looked curiously up at the pair as they approached.
"Don't worry everpony!" Pinkie burbled cheerily at them "Everything is oki doki loki!"
The ponies regarded this with varying degrees of skepticism. Pinkie Pie was a well known figure in Ponyville however, and, for the most part, trusted. The crowd began to disperse. Mares and stallions muttering theories of what was going on to their friends. Twilight was sure that in a couple of hours, rumors would be abound, and the whole town would know at least one of the many varying versions of what had happened that were certain to arise. 
"Oki doki loki?" Twilight hissed softly to Pinkie as they walked inside the building, raising an eyebrow "A magical flying box plowed into Sugarcube corner and you say everything is......oh never mind." Twilight rolled her eyes at herself for asking silly questions while something much more important was going on.
The left wall of Sugarcube corner had been nearly completely demolished by the box, and it was a testament to the skill of the earth-ponies who had constructed the building that it was still standing at all. She shook her head and went to examine the words at the top of the thing that had caused all the havoc.
"Police public call box" she murmured softly, eyes almost glowing with curiosity
"Whats a Police, Twi?" Said a bright voice from next to her ear, Twilight squeaked and stumbled backwards, before realizing it was only Pinkie Pie, looking at her curiously, as Pumpkin and Pound squealed fussily on her back. "I bet there's a pony inside or something, or maybe an alien pony from outer space!"
Twilight shook her head, chuckling at Pinkie's insane theories "Why don't you put the little Cakes in their room" She said . She didn't know what was going on, but it could be dangerous, so she didn't want the Cake's children nearby.
Pinkie nodded, bouncing out of the room, and Twilight watched the pink pony go, the small frown on her face showing that she was thinking hard, then turned back to the box. What was that thing? And how had it fallen from the sky? It wasn't even scratched for Celestia's sake!
She climbed on top and tried to open the doors, they wouldn't budge. Then she tried to use magic to force them open, no dice. Snorting with frustration, she gave the box an annoyed kick, willing it to do something, anything.
With a loud creak, the box doors opened, and a brown hoof grasped onto the side pulling upwards. Another hooves emerged, followed by the face of a stallion. Climbing fully out of the box, followed closely by escaping tendrils of smoke, the stallion took stock, mumbling to himself "A bit smokey, but not too much damage..." his voice was slightly muffled by a strange object he held in his mouth, and that, coupled with the speed at which he was mumbling, made the rest of his words incomprehensible. He coughed, waving a hoof to clear the smoke escaping from the inside of the box.
As he did so, his other hoof slipped from under him, and he toppled head over hooves onto the floor, landing on his back and sliding nearly a foot before coming to a stop, head resting a few inches from Twilight's hooves. He looked up at her, rubble-strewn mane slayed messily about his head, front hooves tucked up to his chest, back legs sicking up haphazardly, and grinned.
"Hllluttthhh!" he began brightly, before pausing, brows furrowing briefly, and spitting out the object in his mouth "Pleh!- Hello!"
Twilight stared in utter bewilderment
"You can speak, can you?" the stallion waved a hoof at her.
This seemed to snap Twilight back into reality. She gave a surprised squeal, stumbling backwards into a pile of rubble
"You!" she squeaked, wincing at how shrill her voice was "You're the one who crashed that weird box here!"
"uhhhhh....." The Doctor looked around, still on his back "Yes."  he coughed again "Terribly sorry about that. Shame really, it seems nicely decorated.... anyways, I'm the doc-"
"Stop right there" Twilight said, having regained her composure. she used her magic to clear some bits of rubble from her hair then continued  "Give me one good reason I shouldn't take you straight to Celestia...I don't know what that flying box is, but..."
She trailed off as the strange stallion leaped to his hooves and ran up to her, examining her horn 
"How fascinating!" He said enthusiastically, putting both hooves on her forehead and examining it from all sides "I've never soon anything like it before, channeling telekinetic energy like that" He scooped up the thing he had been holding earlier with his mouth once more and bit down on it, causing it to light up and emit a strange whirring noise. He pointed it at her head
"Would you stop that?!" Twilight shrilled uncomfortably, trying to back away.
The brown stallion continued to talk obliviously "Doesn't seem to be made of Keratin... hmmm...possibly Dentin? like a giant magical tooth!  Oooh that would be interesting. Or maybe even bone....." He  tapping on her horn with a hoof  "My! Is it hollow?!"
"Get... the hay....away from me!"  Twilight snapped , using her magic to fling the stallion backwards
"Ow! now what was that for!" the brown stallion said, pulling himself up from the ground and looking hurt. 
"That was for crashing your crazy flying box into a bakery!" Twilight snapped "Do you have any idea how many ponies you could have hurt? Thank goodness nopony was in here at the time! And is that all? No, as if crashing into a building weren't rude enough, you go and start examining my horn with your freaky glow light! Does personal space mean anything to you?" Twilight broke off, fuming "Just who Celestia's name are you!"
"I'm the doctor" the stallion said pouting slightly, looking offended "....which I tried to tell you before, for your information, but you wouldn't let me....Who's the rude one now?"
Twilight made an exasperated little noise, temporarily taken aback by being accused of being the impolite one in the situation, before saying  "Well then...Doctor....could you please explain what-"
"oh, no, no, no. It's just the Doctor"
Twilight raised an eyebrow "That's what I said."
The Doctor cocked his head "...you did?"
"....yes?" Twilight rolled her eyes. It wasn't that weird for somepony to have the first name of Doctor...it could be a title too of course, like with Doctor Stable, but there were also cases like Nurse Redheart, whose first name was actually Nurse. Of course, it was a little odd that he introduced himself as the Doctor....it wasn't like she went up to ponies telling them she was the Twilight.....but she had bigger things to worry about.
The Doctor cocked his head "Really?....huh...that doesn't happen often. Sorry about that, it's a bit of a force of habit, you see, usually-"
"Look, no offense, but I really don't care" Twilight said
"No, honest, this isn't something that happens every day...like, maybe once every one or two hundred years or so....last time was what...two hundred and twenty seven years?"
"Two hundred and twenty seve-" Twilight began incredulously, before stopping herself "You know what? Nevermind. Doesn't matter. Now tell me....Doctor.... what is that box? and how did it..." she looked at the massive hole in the wall "Do that"
"That's the TARDIS" The Doctor said brightly
"The Tardis" Twilight deadpanned 
"It's an acronym, stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, but saying TARDIS is much easier" The doctor explained "I travel in it"
Twilight looked at the box critically"So plowing this thing into buildings is normal for you"
"No" The doctor said "Well...usually..."
"Usually?"
"Oi! Mistakes happen!"
He attempted to walk towards the TARDIS, but ended up tripping over his own hooves. Falling face first onto the ground.
Twilight raised an eyebrow "Having some difficulties?"
"Hey!" The Doctor said, sitting up and looking irritated "You try falling into a rift through time and space and being turned into a horse-thing....What is your species anyways?"
"I'm a pony" Twilight snapped "And you still haven't explained what you're doing he-"
"Tell, me, do I look like a pony to you?"
"What?!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes "It's a simple question, really, do I look like a pony to you? I mean, as far as I can tell, we both have hooves, and a tail, and ears and a muzzle..." He paused, putting a hoof to his face "Your muzzle looks a little shorter that mine feels, but that's probably just because you're female" The Doctor squinted at her "....you are female...right?"
Twilight curled her upper lip "Seriously?"
"....Just making sure!" he replied defensively "That is is fascinating though...you see, usually I don't look like this..."
Twilight's brows furrowed "What in the wide world of Equetria are you talking abou-"
"THERE WAS A PONY IN THE BOX! Whoopie!" Pinkie interrupted, bursting into the room like brightly colored missile. She bounced in circles around the Doctor, mouth running at nearly one thousand miles an hour "What's your name? Whats your favorite color? Do you like parties? How about hats? Do you like parties and hats? Do you like party hats? Do you like cake? Are you an alien? Will you be my friend?" apparently she had prepared a lot of questions for whatever emerged from the box, be it equine or extraterrestrial or even an ox, and wanted answers as fast as possible.
To Twilight's surprise, the Doctor began to answer with nary a pause.
"Ummmmm, The Doctor, Blue, yes, yes, yes, I don't see anything wrong with them, usually, yes, and sure!" The doctor replied in quick succession, apparently catching everything the pink pony had said "What's your name?"
"Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie chirped
"Nice to meet you Miss Pinkie! Do you have Fish Custard here?"
"Ahem!" Twilight said "Sorry to interrupt, but but could you please explain what's going on?"
"You really want to know?" The doctor said "Fine, fine, let me get the TARDIS upright."
He climbed over some rubble to it, and tried to push it into a vertical position. After a few attempts though, it was obvious that he was getting nowhere fast.
"You are hopeless" Twilight said, exasperated, "Here, let me help"
"Give me a break!" The doctor grumbled "Hooves are difficult"
Twilight rolled her eyes and easily lifted the box with her magic, causing he Doctor, who had been leaning against it, to go tumbling head over hooves down the pile of rubble, landing with a thump. 
"Oooh! ooh!" Pinkie said brightly "That looks like fun!" She threw herself headlong down the broken peices of wall, tumbling downwards and thumping into the back of the TARDIS.
Twilight sighed....she would have to do this the hard way. Picking both of them up with her magic, she trotted outside to the front of the TARDIS "Come on!" she said briskly "Explanation, now." She set them down on on the ground and gave the doctor a shove towards the blue box with her magic.
The brown stallion shot her an indignant look " Sheeh! You could of just asked..... Miss..... hmmm...." He trailed off  "I don't believe I know your name"
"Later!" Twilight said "Just do whatever you are going to do with your TARDIS thing and explain how it crashed into a bakery" She motioned with her head
After grumbling a bit, the Doctor finally unlocked the doors of the TARDIS, pushing them open with a creak.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when a familiar voice asked slowly 
"Twilight, Pinkie.....what happened to the bakery?"
Twilight whirled to see a blue pony with a swirly pink mane looking at her with wide eyes
"M-Mrs.Cake!" Twilight stammered "I can explain..."
"Well! Come along!" The Doctor's voice came out from....Inside the tiny box? "I thought you were the one who wanted us to hurry" A pair of hooves  pulled Twilight into the box, leaving the purple unicorn only enough time to shout "I promise I'll fix it!" before she had been dragged inside and the doors had closed.
Twilight whirled on the Doctor, half-shouting "What the ha-" before the words died in her throat. Jaw slack, she looked around what had appeared to be a tiny box, any hopes of having a relaxing day evaporating like forgotten magic in the wind.