Traveler

by Squeak-anon

Resistance

Resistance

1001 C.R

Pinkie Pie sat in front of the toy shop, examining a firefly closely, it had been a little while since Twilight and the Doctor had run off.

“What’s taking them so long?” she wondered to herself over the loud crashes, bangs and occasional unearthly wail from inside the shop. But she was quickly distracted as a second firefly joined the first.

“Ooooh.” she whispered.

980 C.R

A small blue unicorn sat on a tree stump on the outskirts of the Everfree Forrest. A small wooden wagon sat nearby filled with a small amount of food, some flowers and a starry blue blanket. She noticed it was getting dark and, sobbing softly, she took the wagon handle in her mouth and ventured into the forest. The trees were thick, and even though it was only sunset it was almost pitch dark only a little ways into the forest. Strange sounds emanated from the thick grass as the cold wind blew the leaves along the ground. She’d been on the run for a while, but she’d never gone this far.

“You are great, nothing can hurt you.” she whispered under her breath.

A sound echoed above the trees.

She whispered harder. Scrunching her eyes closed as she willed herself forwards.

“You are powerful, nothing can hurt you.”

The sound grew louder, like the scraping of metal against stone.

“You are great, nothing can hurt you.”

There was a boom in the sky above. A great wind overturned her wagon and sent her flying into a patch of thick grass. There was a crash as the source of the sound slammed through the thick foliage, the leaves smoldering as it cut a path to the ground. The thing crashed into the dirt, and skidded for several feet before crashing on it’s side into the trunk of a large tree, the fine dirt of the forest floor turned to glass by the sheer heat.

The blue unicorn lay huddled where she had landed, her wagon on it’s side a short way away. She lifted a hoof from her eye and looked at the object that had caused such damage. It was blue, a slightly darker shade than herself, a box apparently made of wood as far as she could tell. But she knew no wood could survive a crash like that.

She shakily got to her feet, walking over to her overturned wagon. She righted it, collected her spilled things, and returned them to their place inside. Something was missing.

She looked around frantically to find her starry blanket caught on a branch several feet off the ground. She let out a little gasp and raced over to the base of the tree, beating her hooves against it’s trunk frantically. After a while she gave up. Sitting on her haunches, she began to cry.

The doors to the box swung upwards, a brown hoof reached up and grabbed the edge. Then quickly released it, it was still red hot. There was some mumbling from within, and the hoof returned with a handkerchief and had more success.

A brown earth pony in a coat hauled himself out of the overturned box. “Drat!” he coughed. “Over did it. I shouldn’t be running her this hard.” He surveyed his surroundings. “At least it’s not a building this time, I’m getting better at this.” he looked forlornly at the box. “Still, it’ll take at least a day for her to be ready again. Darn, I don’t have time for this!” It was at this point he noticed the crying filly. “Oh,” he whispered. “Hello?”

The filly continued to sob.

He walked over slowly, and put a hoof on her shoulder. She gasped and scooted away, curling up around the base of the tree.

“No, no!” he said. “It’s quite alright! Look, I’m a funny pony in a coat!” he danced around a bit. “I’m not going to hurt you.” the earth pony took a step closer. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

She opened her eyes, and relaxed a bit. “You’re on fire.” she sniffed.

“No I’m not.” said the stallion. “I’d know if I was on fire, there’d be smoke.”

A small trail of smoke began to billow from his coat.

“Okay I’m on fire!” he quickly removed the coat, he tossed it to the ground and stomped out the flames. They both stared at the resulting mess. “If you know a pony named Rarity several years from now.” he said quietly. “Whatever you do, don’t tell her what just happened.”

The filly smiled slightly. Then looked up and resumed her crying.

“Oh come now.” the stallion sat down next to her. “What’s wrong?”

The filly sniffed again. “It’s my blanket.” she pointed up into the tree. “I can’t get it down.” “Oh is that all?” the brown pony jumped up. “Well I happen to be a world class tree climber!”

“Really?” the filly dried her eyes a little.

“Well....no...” The stallion deflated slightly. “But still, I’ll have that blanket down in no time flat!” he backed up several paces. “Just need to get a running start...and!” he galloped full speed towards the tree, taking a great leap he snagged a low hanging branch. “Eee, othing oof eht.” he mumbled.

The stallion levered himself onto a stronger branch, and made his way up the tree towards the stranded blanket, carefully choosing the strongest limbs before applying his weight. He made his way higher and higher, the filly standing against the base of the tree hopefully.

“Almost there.” The blanket was only a few feet from the stallion. He stretched out his neck, trying to grab it with his teeth.”

“Don’t get your saliva on it.” the filly complained below.

There was a crack.

“Well that can’t be good....” mumbled the earth pony.

With a snap the branch fell out from under him, and he went tumbling to the ground.

“My blanket!” the filly cried, looking up.

“No, don’t worry, I’m fine.” The earth pony slowly tried to get up. “Ow, I’m really getting too old for this.” something fell and covered his face. “Oh, I got it. Just as planned!” he shook the blanket off of his head. The filly raced over and caught it before it hit the ground.

The Doctor smiled. “You’re welcome.” he stretched the soreness from his muscles. “What’s your name?”

The filly stopped snuggling the blanket and looked up. “Trixie”. Then her eyes shot wide. “Oh wait, no!” She tied the blanket around her neck and raced over to the wagon, quickly grabbing the flowers from inside, she tossed them into the air. Straining, her horn began to glow slightly, and a few small sparks shot out and sputtered in the air. She reared up on her hind legs and proclaimed. “The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

The stallion smiled bemusedly. “Okay then, can I call you Trixie for short?”

“If you must.”

“Okay then, Trixie, I’m the Doctor.”

“And what kind of name is that!?” asked Trixie. “I will not have my blanket saved by somepony named ‘The Doctor’. That won’t fit into my story at all!”

“Your story?”

“Yes, my story, the story of how the Great and Powerful Trixie bravely marched across Equestria, nothing more than a small filly, astounding people with her magic!” she looked the Doctor over. “Can you be a knight or a mage or something? That sounds much better.”

The Doctor put a hoof to his chin. “Well, I was knighted once. By the queen of England, right before she started firing arrows at me.”

“What’s an England?”

“Oh, you haven’t got that one huh?” he put a hoof to his chin. “Well let’s just say it’s a place where knights come from.”

“Oh, well that’s perfect!” She walked over to her wagon. “Now...we just need to do something about that name.”

“The Doctor is a perfectly fine name I’ll have you know!”

“Yeah, yeah, fine for you maybe.” she rummaged some more. “Here it is!” she sat a book on the ground she quickly took a crayon in her mouth and scribbled something down. “There, the brave knight Sir Bluebox of the England helped the Great and Powerful Trixie retrieve her magic cloak.” she pointed to a crude drawing of the Doctor bending down while Trixie got on his back to retrieve a blue square, apparently the ‘Magic Cloak’.

“Charming.” the Doctor remarked. “Well now that the pleasantries are done with, would you happen to know the year, Trixie?”

“The year?”

“They don’t have calenders in ‘The England’.”

“Oh, well of course they don’t, I knew that!” Trixie scoffed. “Dear knight, we in Equestria do keep track of the dates, and I shall take it upon myself to enlighten you to the year. It is,” she cleared her throat. “980, the year the Great and Powerful Trixie set off on her great journey! Or at least that’s how history shall remember it.”

“Sure....yes, exactly...um. In anycase, this isn’t my destination either.” The Doctor glanced at the Tardis, still on it’s side smoking at the base of a tree.”But it looks like I’m not going anywhere soon.”

“Why would you want to go anywhere outside the company of The Great and Powerful Trixie?” asked the tiny unicorn. “It’s obvious I called you here to assist me with my ultra powerful magic. You should be in no hurry to leave.”

“Yes, I’m sure that’ just what happened. But Trixie, I’m on a very important...knight mission, to do...knight type things. I can’t waste time.”

“Ooh! Is there a princess involved!?”

The Doctor chuckled. “Yes, I suppose there are, two in fact, and an evil queen, an underground resistance, a castle of lanterns, living toys, monsters in the dark and a lost friend I have to save.”

Trixie’s eyes got big. “Tell me the story!”

The Doctor looked again at the blue box and sighed. “I suppose I may as well.” he sat on his haunches in front of the small blue filly. “I suppose I have to start at the beginning. It all started, not that long ago, but very far away when I was fighting some evil statues along the Abstract Plane...”

35 TR

Twilight’s stomach dropped at the sudden movement. She was shaken and bumped as she found herself suddenly speeding down the road, clinging to the neck of a blue pony, her rainbow colored mane whipping in the wind.

“Rainbow Dash?” She whispered.

“Quiet, Egghead.” said a deeper, but unmistakable voice.

Twilight gasped. “Rainbow Dash!” she held on tighter to her neck. “Rainbow, what’s happened!? Tell me please, I need to know, I’ve been gone, and the Doct-” she stopped when she noticed they weren’t flying. Rainbow’s back was bare. She didn’t have any wings. “Rainbow...what happened to you?”

“I said quiet. Now loosen your grip, you’re choking me. No more talking or I’ll drop you.”

There was silence for the rest of the ride.

35 T.R: Cantorlot

“You know, It’s very stuffy in here.” said the Doctor as he was jostled around the inside of the Raggedy Mare. “When was the last time you, washed this stuffing?” The stuffed pony continued on it’s course, unabated. “I can see you’re not one for conversation.”

The Doctor’s ride became a bumpier as his world shifted diagonally.

“Stairs?” he asked shakily. “Does that mean we’re close to our destination?

The mare said nothing.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

The stairs continued for quite some time. The Doctor breathed slowly, and listened to the soft footfalls of the living toys as they made their way upwards. The stairs ended and everything stopped moving.

“Ah, you’ve returned.” Said a voice, muffled by the thick stuffing. “Let him out.”

The Doctor was momentarily blinded as light spilled inwards. He spilled on to the floor in a river of stuffing and loose threads.

He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted. “Thank you.” he paused, looking up. “ You look well.”

“Thank you Doctor.” Said Twilight Sparkle.

35 T.R: Dragon Mountain

Rainbow Dash slowed as she approached the base of large mountain. Twilight recognized it. She had been here before, the day Fluttershy had stood up to the great dragon sleeping here. It had been called Dragon Mountain ever since. Seeing the familiar landmark was strange. She felt terribly disoriented.

“Get off” Rainbow said curtly

Twilight did as she was told, and got off the rainbow pony’s back. She noticed she was wearing the same box most ponies did, a horn apparently. As she took a few steps back, the now earth pony’s lack of wings was even more striking. She had become so used to seeing her flying through the air, that now, looking at her without her wings was jarring, even a bit disturbing. She opened her mouth to ask.

“Follow me.” Rainbow ordered, walking closer towards the harsh stone rock face.

The question died on Twilight’s tongue. She followed the earth pony that had once been her friend, towards the towering mountain.

Rainbow stopped at the foot of the mountain, turned around, and bucked sharply against it three times.

“Name?” asked a voice.

“Rainbow Dash.” she replied, glancing harshly back at Twilight. “I’ve got someone she’ll want to meet.”

With clicking noise, a large section of rock slid away to reveal an entrance. Twilight stumbled backwards in surprise, the effect was seamless, she would never have spotted the entrance had not opened in front of her.

“Don’t stand there gawking egghead. Follow me, and keep up.” Rainbow walked through the entrance at a small trot. Twilight quickly caught up.

It was dark inside, the occasional light tossed shadows onto the rough walls of the cave. The guard at the door nodded to Rainbow as she walked by, and stared at Twilight until she was out of sight. The tunnel led downwards, deep into the foundation of the mountain. Rainbow didn’t speak as they walked. The only sound was the clip-clop of their hooves as they made their way deeper inwards, echoing against the walls in the dark.

The silence was unbearable.

Finally they made their way into a larger chamber. A large light source in the ceiling illuminated the space, several ponies walked around, working on various projects at workbenches placed around the room. Most of them worked on small metal objects Twilight couldn’t identify. Almost all of them stopped what they were doing when Rainbow entered, and stared directly at her. The silence of the tunnel was nothing compared to the silence that fell over this chamber.

Finally, a young colt broke the spell.

“Is it..”

“Yeah, if we’re right, it is.” Rainbow cut him off before he could finish the question. “Now stop sitting there slack jawed and get to work. You’re here as mechanist, not to catch flies.” she marched towards a door on the opposite wall. “Come on, Egghead.”

Twilight followed, dazedly, staring at every corner of the large underground room. Everypony turned their gaze away when her eyes fell on them.

They were afraid of her. She realized.

As they left the room, she could already hear the whispers of conversation following them.

Rainbow paused as they came to a large wooden door. “Okay, when you go in here, don’t speak unless spoken to, you’re lucky we don’t just feed you to a manticore or something.”

The words stung, but Twilight nodded.

“Okay then.” the doors swung open. “Go in.”

Twilight stepped through. This area of the tunnels was different from the other’s, the occasional picture hung haphazardly on the wall, and as far as she could tell there had been some attempt to paint. As she walked, she came across photo that looked familiar.

“This...is on my nightstand.” she said under her breath.

It was a photo of her and the others, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, wings intact, Pinkie Pie, and...

“Howdy.” a voice broke her train of thought.

“Applejack...”

“That’s my name sure enough.” The orange earth pony stood a few feet away from her. Two guards placed on either side. She looked about the same, but her eyes seemed harder. The hat perched above her head sat there as always, though there were bits missing from the brim, and the fabric looked to be patched and replaced in several places. She wore a box around her neck, same as everpony else. She eyed the purple unicorn warily.

“You who we think you are?” she asked.

“Ye-”

“Don’t do no talking, do some showing, and I’d do it quickly if I was you.” She nodded to the guards, who advanced.

Twilight shrank against the wall beneath the photo.

Applejack nodded again and they guards stopped their advance. She stepped up between them, looking from the photo to Twilight and back again. “Matches sure enough.” she said. “You’re a spittin image. But that don’t mean nothing. No, not anymore. Could be a trick.” she backed up and cast a hard glare on Twilight. “Prove you’re her.”

Twilight’s mind raced. She need to prove her identity, seeing Applejack had been a shock, but she knew this was not the same pony she knew back home, the one she’d seen, it seemed, only this morning. A lot could happen in fifty years. Suddenly, a thought occurred. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn began to glow.

The Guards lurched to stop her. But a nod from Applejack stopped them short.

Twilight concentrated on her saddlebag. She’d left it on the floor of the TARDIS when she and the Doctor left. It was still there, she knew that what was inside could prove without a doubt that she was Twilight. She focused harder, she’d done teleportations before, but this was different. She couldn’t get a lock on it, as she focused, the bag seemed to be everywhere at once, in the library, in the cave right next to her, in the deepest corners of Equestria, and places she could not begin to imagine. She just strained and concentrated harder. It became clearer and clearer, she didn’t know how she was doing it, but it seemed natural, even obvious. If what she wanted was everywhere, she just had to think everywhere.

And for a moment, she did.

There was a flash of light, and the bag appeared on the floor a few feet away. Twilight fell over, exhausted. She thought for a moment, that perhaps that was what the Doctor thought like. That worried her.

“In...the bag.” she gasped. “Left corner pocket.”

The guards started towards it, but Applejack cut them off. She bent down, reaching in as Twilight directed. She came out holding a small cake, that smelled of lavender. She gasped.

“Is this....”

“Yes, it is.” said Twilight.

“But it’s still warm...”

“You gave it to me only a few hours ago.”

Applejack was silent.

“It’s not magically replicated, you know your own cooking, better than you know almost anything else. You gave it too me, two of them, during the festival, for you fifty years ago, for me a matter of hours.”

“Back when things grew...” Applejack said dreamily. She stared at the cake for a while longer, her eyes far away. Twilight looked up expectantly, and quickly, her faced hardened. “Alright, you’re Twilight. I believe you. We suspected, but we couldn’t be sure.” she placed the cake gently back in it’s pocket. “If you’re here, I reckon that means the that brown pony of yours is involved.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open. “You know him?”

“No.” said Applejack. “But when weird junk goes down he always seems to pop up. By your reaction I’m bettin I’m right. Where is he?”

“Oh...” Twilight looked at the ground. “He was captured...”

“Too bad, we could use an extra hand around here.” she remarked. She turned to the guards. “Send for Rainbow, I’m sure she’ll want to hear our guest’s story.” she looked at Twilight. “A lot has changed since you looked like that. You tell us your piece, and we’ll tell you ours. You’ve got a lot to answer for, Twilight Sparkle.”

35 T.R: Cantorlot

Twilight Sparkle laughed, it was a deep, booming sound, filling the throne room and shaking the windows. “I have not seen you in years!” she said happily, how have things been?”

“Oh, things have been very good.” the Doctor replied. “Well besides being kidnapped by living toys, you really should have better travel accommodations.” The Doctor looked up at Twilight, the future Twilight. Her coloring was the same as it had been, but her mane and tail now consisted of a deep blue mist, the same as Celestia’s. She was taller as well, she stood a good three feet taller than the Doctor, her wings stretching as she came down from her throne, a luxurious gown flowing behind her.

“You like?” she asked. “You’re the one who taught me that trick, life to the inanimate, oh so long ago. I thought you would be pleased I learned it so well. You taught me so many things that day. For one, that you’re not a bad kisser.” she chuckled stepping down in front of him.

“I’m a good teacher, though I think you missed the point of my lessons.” The Doctor gave Twilight a harsh glare. “That day in the toyshop, fifty years ago today, you saw a bit more than I thought when you looked into my head, didn’t you?”

Twilight chuckled again. “Oh yes, I saw such delightful things. It took me a while to realize. But eventually it bled through. Oh so many thoughts in the Doctor’s head, such beauty, such darkness, you haven’t been a very good boy have you?” Twilight pranced around the room, circling the Doctor, her smoky mane and tail flowing and weaving behind her.

“Well, there’s no fun in that, now is there?” The Doctor’s gaze didn’t change, looking straight ahead as the dictator danced.

“Well of course not.” Twilight said. “But we both know that. Oh the thoughts that started to come into my head. Slowly at first, but drip by drip, they collected into a pool of knowledge, I can think of so much now. How much everything really matters. How tiny everything is. ” her voice took a hard edge. “And how insignificant everything is.”

“That’s amazing!” announced the Doctor.

“Isn’t it? I’m glad you approve.” Twilight’s circle around the Doctor closed slightly.

“Where did you find it?”

“Find what?” Twilight stopped circling, her nose inches away from the Doctor’s, her eyes as almost as black as night.

“Something insignificant. I’ve traveled for a long time and never seen that. You’ll have to show me sometime.”

Once again Twilight’s booming laugh filled the throne room. “Oh you are funny, Doctor, so very funny.”

“I try.” said the Doctor. “Now, tell me what happened to you.”

“I just did.” said Twilight. “You filled my head with ideas, ideas I couldn’t ignore, thoughts I couldn’t dispel, they made me strong.”

“Yeah, you said that bit.” The Doctor’s gaze grew colder. “But what happened to you after that. What made those eyes of yours so dark?”

“Oh, a little darkness here and there adds up, dear Doctor.” she walked back towards her thrown, her misty tail flowing over the Doctor’s face. “We had so many little adventures before I called it quits. Perhaps you just showed me too much. And perhaps a tiny war here or a small colony there didn’t help.”

“Oh come now, Twilightwo.”

Twilight stopped her assent to her thrown. “What?”

“Twilighttwo, I need to keep this all straight in my head. You’re not Twilight, obviously. Twilight could never do all this, no matter how much she saw, so for the sake of keeping things simple, you’re Twilighttwo.”

“I am Twilight.”

“Maybe, somewhere in there, but right now you’re not. I’m going to find out what happened between back then, and right now that made that happen, and when I do, Twilighttwo, I’m going to see to it that whatever caused it knows it made a terrible mistake.”

“Are you now?” Twilight smiled. “And how do you plan to do that? I know your TARDIS is in the library, you won’t get back inside. There’s nothing you can do.”

It was the Doctor’s turn to smile “Doesn’t it always seem that way?”

Neither of them spoke for a while, they just stared at each other. The queen ascending her thrown, and the Doctor trying to stop her. She laughed.

“Ah, I see that cockiness of yours hasn’t diminished. But haven’t you wondered?”

The Doctor said nothing.

“Oh, so you have.” Twilight continued up the stairs until she was sitting on her throne, looking down at the Timelord pony. “What I’ve done to you? You didn’t go back home if that’s what you’re wondering.” her smile grew wide. “I would tell you, but you know. Spoilers and all that stuff.”

The Doctor smiled back. “Yeah, spoilers and all that stuff.” he walked up towards the throne, putting his hoof on the first step. “But let me give you two bits of advice.”

“I’m listening.”

“First, that time is in flux, normally only a little, but right now, oh right now it’s waving like a sea in a thunderstorm. Time can be rewritten, Twilighttwo. So if I was you, I’d make sure you have your life preserver handy.” he turned and faced away from her. “And second, if you’re going to kidnap anyone, make sure to check their pockets first.” He turned around, holding the sonic screwdriver, pointing it at the Raggedy Mares baring the door, the floor below them turned to mush, and they began to sink, struggling weakly. The door behind them swung open, and with a galloping start, the Doctor leapt out.

Twilight stood in shock for a moment, then that smile crept back onto her face.

“Oh, this will be fun.”

980 C.R

“You can’t stop there!!” Wailed Trixie, shaking the Doctor with her forehooves. What happened next!

“Sorry, Trixie, but even knights need their sleep.” the Doctor yawned. “Don’t worry, I won’t be able to leave till morning. I’ll tell you the rest of the story then.

“No, no, no, no!!” she yelled, pounding the Doctor’s side. “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands the rest of the story!”

Trixie noticed he was snoring.

“Wake up!! Wake up darn you! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, and you will obey me!”

After a few hours of this, Trixie grew tired. “Wake up...” she mumbled drowsily. “Story...tell me...” then she fell over, fast asleep.

To Be Continued.

Comments

I read the first TR after the Trixie segment as Trixie's Reign. Very good story!

[Loyal2Luna]

If you are going to pony-nap anybody, it isn't the Doctor. If there is one thing you never-ever-EVER put into a Trap, it is him.
Queen Twilight seems to have forgotten this simple fact.

[drakon312]

still a bit confused of this epic story but hey its the doctor whenever something isnt confusing its probably something very very VERY bad

[The Pyropath]

Well, looks like the shit is gonna hit the fan next chapter....I hope there is more Pinkie Pie soon.

[MjaxMajoran]

Before finishing this story ...

Wtf they should be way too old for this dafuq

[Auryx Saturnius]

Good men don't need rules... and today is not the day to find out why I have so many...

[vglgvn]

Am I the only one who finds Trixie adorable in this?

[the61scissors]

Lovely story so far.Love the Doctor-Twilight team. Also, "I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, and you will obey me!" Shout out to the Master?

[Shining Star]

2.bp.blogspot.com/-fVyLJncTo_E/UZLyOiLfOOI/AAAAAAAAJig/1_8i2k8Ddfw/s320/tumblr_lxuvihJwAX1r3ovdbo1_250.gif

Am I the only one who though of this? No? No? Okay then...

[The Slending Angel]

3323021 No, no you are not.