Old legends speak of a select group of ponies, linked by common ancestry and hidden in plain sight. Where they came from is a tale that dates back to before Nightmare Moon, and has its origins in a war beyond most ponies' comprehension. You've probably seen them without even recognizing them, thanks to their unique magic, but rest assured, they're on your side. They are known as the Order of Gallopfrey.
Quiver Quill and Lyra Heartstrings are among those who know of the myth, but the truth behind it is something they could only dare to imagine. But as time and magic shift around them and all of Equestria is threatened, they find themselves forced to grapple with that old mystery. Fortunately, they won't do so alone, as they find themselves dealing with a mad pony with a big blue box. Get ready, Equestria, because the Doctor is in.
"Doctor Who" and the TARDIS are the property of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). This crossover is in no way authorized by the BBC or any of its associated organizations.
Part of the Quiververse
I've got cursory experience with Doctor Who but I could probably manage, I think. Let's see where this goes~
Ah, yes, the obligatory "meet the companion(s)" scene. Now we just need to wait to find out which of 13 madmen (and one mad woman) is in the box....
(If you couldn't tell, I've been a fan of the good Doctor since Tom Baker filled the role . I'm lukewarm abut 1 and 2, so-so on 6, War, and 11(who should have been 12), disliked the stories for 12 (though the actor was good; he just needed better material to work with), and have not seen enough to judge Her yet. My favorites were 4 (of course) and 10 (Again, if we don't count the War Doctor.) Time Turner For The Win.)
8567908
Be warned, it's going to be a while.
8568165
I haven't been a fan for that long - my first real exposure to it was in college when I caught a Sci-Fi Channel airing of Eccleston's only year in the role. It hooked me, though, and I took the first chance I could get to catch up on everything - thanks to my local library, I was able to see every surviving serial up to that point except for Timelash. Now I own the whole series on DVD (save the most recent one and its preceding Christmas special) and can rewatch individual episodes at my leisure.
But yeah, Tom Baker and David Tennant were both fantastic in the role. I'm also fond of Jon Pertwee's portrayal, and you can count me among the masses who think Colin Baker got screwed by the people in charge. Which, frankly, he was.
Anyway, as for which incarnation of the Doctor's in the TARDIS, well, I will rule out 13 simply because there haven't been any stories with her yet. And there might be flashbacks, so other incarnations could get a little time in the spotlight beyond the main one this story will cover.
Awesome, I don't really watch Doctor Who but I have a general understanding of certain things.
8568526
Well hopefully, as the story goes on, you won't be too confused by it all. Continuity junkie that I am, I'll have a number of references to the show's history throughout.
Something just tells me that whatever is going on with everyone at the Golden Oak Library at the end there has everything to do with what those two in the Caves of Conundrum were talking about our l'il group there figuring things out.
And as to the end, where Rarity screamed after seeing something, my reaction is "What the what?!"
Also, after reading this, “No, no, it’s alright, you did nothing wrong.” She frowned as she made a mental note to bring this up with her mentor at a later time. “Still, that spell isn’t just left lying out all the time, is it?”
Minuette laughed. “Of course not! We don’t want some insane pony getting their hooves on it! Even if they didn’t know what they were doing with it, they could really mess things up!”, I'm guessing that Starlight Glimmer isn't going to be able to get her hooves on that spell quite as easily as she did in the Season 5 finale.
Or at all, for that matter.
Anyway, great chapter as always, Echo, and I'm looking forward, with much anticipation, to Chapter Three, and whatever else you have in store for us in the future chapters and beyond.
9717269
I'll be the first to say that coincidences happen all the time...but yes, you can safely assume that those two events are connected.
Exactly what she was screaming at will become clear in the next chapter, but if you want a good guess, google the Sixth Doctor.
I've stated on several occasions that I have plans involving Starlight Glimmer. What those plans are will be made clear as time goes on, but odds are better that she won't be getting access to that spell easily.
The next chapter will come when it comes, hopefully in either August or September.
9717302 Yeah, I figured as much.
And I shall.
As to that bit, all I can say is good.
Okay, cool.
Hey, August is just next month, and September a couple of months after this one.
And, as I've before on more than one occassion, anything of yours is well worth waiting for.
9717576 Ah, I see.
Ee-yeah, that'd make her scream, alright.
9717576
Yes! Exactly!
9717605
Trust me, she's screaming at the coat.
9722987 Ah.
Well, somehow I'm not surprised.
That thing is rather garish.
And it is Rarity after all.
And, as always, WELL worth waiting for!
That said, things aren't looking good for our heroes right now, and methinks they'll get worse before they get better.
(They always do.)
Looking forward to Chapter 5, and beyond!
9956554
Gotta get through Chapter Four first. Thankfully, that's in the can and ready to go.
9956556 Whoops! You're right, and I'm sorry about that.
I was going by what's in the URL thing for the chapter, which said "4".
Live and learn.
And read the actual chapter thing IN the chapter title so a gal doesn't get confused.
And that is good to know.
Lookin' forward to it with much anticipation, Echo!
9956571
Good to know, because it won't be long. *rings some sleigh bells for emphasis*
9957268 Oooooo, good to know, and love them sleigh bells!
Looking forward to it!
There was a bit here that, as someone that doesn't watch Doctor Who, didn't make total sense to me (though the latest blog entry cleared that up), but other than that, this was a good chapter. Just two things I want to comment on.
First of all, a bit of a confession. A small part of me was worried that this story would be taking the Doctor in a similar direction that A Shimmering New Year took Crystal Faire. This chapter, however, has quelled those fears, both by having the villains also be foreigners to this timeline, and by having the Doctor be easily captured by the diamond dogs.
Second, as usual, I can't resist calling Celestia out on her bs.
Twilight was being set up to become a princess. This argument is invalid. And as for the excuse for refusing to give info or support, I give my typical retort that a situation where lives are on the line is not a valid scenario for a test; it's what tests are supposed to prepare someone for. Gambling with lives like that is neither wise nor benevolent; it's unnecessarily risky and heartlessly cruel.
...Which brings to mind a certain point of hypocrisy in canon. In the finale, everyone was furious at Discord for gathering the other villains to test Twilight, and rightfully so. Yet Celestia admits in the season 9 premiere that she was using all the previous crises as tests for Twilight, and we're supposed to not see any issue with this. Granted, Discord manufactured the final crisis himself while Celestia merely used naturally-occurring crises, but on the other hand, were it not for Grogar's bell, Discord could have solo'd his minions himself, whereas the season 5 finale established (or re-established, in the case of Chrysalis) that Sombra would have, at worst, stalemated Celestia, while all the other season 1-4 villains would have straight-up beat her*, so if Twilight did fail because of her inaction, that would be the end.
*which would have been a death-blow to the "Celestia is divine/omnipotent" fanon, were her cult intellectually honest
9958063
It would've been a disservice to both the story and the character to portray the Doctor as being able to instantly pull everyone's butts out of the fire. Even when he's at his most Chessmaster-y, something always happens that he (or she) didn't see coming. And he certainly didn't see the Master or the Rani coming, as the next chapter will elaborate upon.
Celestia's attempts at defending herself are, admittedly, hypocritical, and her reckoning will come with time. Though speaking of calling folks out, I'm surprised there wasn't a comment in regards to Rarity's actions, and how she was called out for them. Kind of a shame that you don't follow Doctor Who, though, as doing so would add some nuance to that particular exchange. Suffice it to say, when the Sixth Doctor (the single biggest jerk amongst the Doctor's various incarnations) calls you out for being a jerk, that's saying something.
9958783
Yeah, me knowing that would've put that exchange in a slightly different light. Without that context, there didn't seem much to comment on there. Rarity's actions, thoughtless as they were, were entirely in-character for her (heck, in canon, her human counterpart gets her own music video singing about how physical appearances are the only thing that matters). And as for the Doctor calling her out, well, again, I didn't have the necessary context. To me, it made sense, as the Doctor only just met Rarity, and came from a universe that I'm assuming is much closer to the real world than Equestria, which would mean he'd be much less hesitant to call her out than her friends and/or someone raised in a society that sees harmony as the most important thing. Though I suppose I could've mentioned how refreshing it was to finally hear someone call her out for something; I guess it just got a bit overshadowed for me by the other two points I mentioned.
9958876
Well, let's just say Rarity's behavior is something else that's on a slow burn to being addressed, and leave it at that for now.
Yeeeeah, good luck with that, buddy.
You obviously don't know that there are others who already know about the place.
And I have a feeling that Celestia and Luna will believe THEM over you and SMILE.
And Maker help you if Bon-Bon ever finds out what you did to her marefriend.
OR herself.
Yeah, messin' in things that are gonna get 'em in a world of hurt.
Especially given, from what I read in one of the Vignettes, our dear Tia is getting majorly fed up with SMILE and their shenanigans, anyway.
Anyway, a great ending to a great story, and I can't wait to see what have in store for us in the coming months of this bright, shiny new year, Echo.
10014493
I can assure you right now that SMILE's reckoning will come, though I ask that you be patient for it. Lots of ground to cover before then, after all.
As for the coming months, I fear there won't be much. I'm taking a hiatus this year. Aside from the odd preview, I won't be releasing anything new related to the Quiververse for the next twelve months.
10014509 Good, and always.
Your stories are WELL worth waiting for, as I've said before.
That said, knowing that they WILL get their bonny comeuppance at some point is good enough for me.
Ah, okay.
Well, everyone deserve to take a break every now and then, especially you.
You just take it easy, enjoy your much-deserved hiatus/vacation/sabbatical, and we'll see you, story-wise, in 2021.
And getting the odd preview is ALWAYS good.
Wow.. this had some dark men in Black/Watehouse 13 vibes.
10015097
You mean at the end? Yeah, that was sort of intentional. And the worst of it is that they're semi-canon.
Looks like a solid start to me!
I really enjoyed the opening conversation between Quiver and Lyra, that was a lot of fun and well-put-together. Definitely curious to see where this goes from here.
This was a lot of fun! As soon as Twilight mentioned metamorphic magic I had a sneaking idea that's what she was going to be doing.
Glad to see that I was right.
And it was good to see how the other characters have shown up, and are interacting. I may be nearly-illiterate in things Doctor Who (great work with that line, btw, "doctor... who?") but I'm quite enjoying myself all the same.
Solid work as always. There was a lot of expository stuff in this chapter but I managed to read through it well enough. Still engaged and interested to see what happens next - especially after *that* cliffhanger!
10029264
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most subtle of writers. Still, I figure Twilight would want to show off the fruit of her labor.
And yes, cheap joke, but the show's done it at least a dozen times by now, so I think I have a pass.
10029283
Glad you weren't lost. I work so hard to find an audience...
10029523
Makes enough sense to me. ^_^
And honestly, I'd have been very surprised if that joke hadn't been made at some point in-universe in the show. But hey, sometimes a cheap joke can still be funny, and I'd say that this instance was fun enough.
Definitely looking forward to finishing this up, hopefully tonight. Fingers crossed!
So we have now met our villains in person. Ooh boy. Can't wait to see what happens next!
Wow. There was a lot going on in this chapter, you weren't kidding when you said it was a doozy!
But I really enjoyed it. Even if I might not have gotten the finer points of everything (being illiterate in the Who-verse as I am) I still enjoyed a lot. In particular Quiver's debate with the Doctor on the Thou Shalt Not Kill rule, and also too seeing him call out the Rani on her own 'right of a superior species' crap. Solid work!
Wow, didn't expect to see the mirror portal turn up in the denouement! But then again, it makes enough sense considering all the hopping around in time and space that comes with Dr. Who, so... XD That was a nice scene.
And also, I really enjoyed Lyra and Bon-Bon's scene as well. That as really sweet.
And that conclusion at the end...
Yeesh. The comparisons to MIB have already been made, but the recurring emphasis of "Harmony will be maintained" almost gives me some kind of cult-esque feeling to these guys.
10031138
Given the life he's lived, Quiver is definitely less than inclined towards leaving a living enemy behind him (though circumstances have yet to push him towards taking a life and he'd rather avoid it). And given all the crap he had to deal with from Primrose, you can bet he won't tolerate any claim that one person is inherently superior to another based on some random factor.
As for all of the Who-related exposition, I tried to stick to the essentials. Don't feel too bad about what remained.
10031175
I don't know if it bugs anyone else, but I always found it annoying that Twilight returned to Equestria in her Fall Formal dress, then went back to Canterlot High in her casual clothes. What happened to that outfit, especially given every other time a character went through a portal, they came back wearing whatever they were wearing when they initially made transit? This scene not only let me avoid that plothole for my stuff, but also do a tie-in back to that prequel comic IDW did...albeit with a few odd retcons.
That was something I was really looking forward to writing. Granted, they're already an Official Couple, but I was looking forward to having my own spin on it. Especially given my plans for what's yet to come.
Speaking of which, your reaction? Exactly what I was hoping for. SMILE (for that is the organization of which we speak) is not the nicest bunch, for reasons that I've already revealed elsewhere and will be building upon in the future. And you might be on to something with that cult comparison...
10077030
Oh sweet. Thank you for the positive review.