Sonic

by Limits

1.2. Getting Somewhere

The four ponies made their way out of the building as fast as they could. "What are you?" Lyra asked, even though she was still a bit in shock. She caught her breath up to speed while he talked, having left it back in the basement.

"Captain Jack Harness, Time Agent. I guess that makes you the companion of the Doctor?" he replied.

"Companion?" Lyra said, a bit riled that he couldn't use her name as well.

"Lighten up," Bon-Bon cajoled.

"How did you know that?" the Doctor asked, having caught up with the mysterious Time Agent.

"Let's just say I've been there and done that. Remember the time you were with Roseluck saving royalty? Well, that royalty founded Torchwood, and Torchwood hired me, to make a long story short. In fact, I've been in Equestria for, oh, about 370 years, 256 days, 15 minutes, and 17 seconds."

The Doctor got an idiotic grin on his face. "Oh, you're immortal, aren't you! I should have my good friend Twilight run some tests later, she'd get a kick out of that!"

"Um, no. No tests, please. All you need to know is that I'm Jack Harness, this is my Squareness Gun, and this--" he pointed to his watch--"is my Vortex..."

The ponies were alarmed to, well, not see Jack for a moment. He soon popped back into view. "My Vortex Manipulator," he finished. "Still quite broken."

"Allow me," the Doctor said, standing near a blue box that said something like "Police Public Call Box" on it. Taking Jack's hoof, he pointed the buzzy stick, or "Sonic Screwdriver", as he said, at the watch. It made a (rather annoying) high-pitched noise, and then the Doctor let go. "Should work right proper now." Jack came into focus more, while the Doctor trotted into his strange blue box. "Well? Aren't you lot coming?"

---

Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Jack Harness trotted into the blue box. First Jack, then the mares.

Lyra found her way in. Then, she found her way out. She paced around the outside of the box, stuck her head back in, and looked around from the inside.

The TARDIS, as the Doctor had called it, was bigger on the inside!

Either oblivious or used to it, Jack had struck up a conversation with the Doctor. Bon-Bon caught the words 'New Equestria'. The Doctor grinned, pulled on his tie, and said, "Pull the wibbly lever, Jack!"

"Wibbly, huh?" Bon-Bon said, almost grinning at her befuddled friend's face, as if she was saying, Not you, too.

Jack pulled what the mares assumed was this so-called 'wibbly lever', and the entire room shook. Lyra grabbed onto the rails, not thinking it could get any worse in the strangest way possible. Bon-Bon fell into a chair. Jack and the Doctor were grinning like maniacs.

“Here we go!” the Doctor beamed. The space in the TARDIS shook. Jack cantered over to the mares of the group.

“It’s called the TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It’s a police box because the Chameleon Circuit broke, which would cloak the TARDIS to fit its surroundings. It can go anywhere in space-time, and—obviously—it’s bigger on the inside.”

“Oh, Celestia. You don’t honestly expect me to believe…” Lyra had opened the door. Staring outside, she found outer space.

“…that. You know what, now I’m having psychological trouble.” Her face was ashen as she said that. She closed the door.

“We’ve arrived!” the Doctor said gleefully soon afterwards. “Welcome to Abrigadelphia!”

---

And here there was a quickening of time, or so it seemed, and time flew. Abrigadelphia was a small planet, full of small creatures with small houses, and small roads leading small cars onwards while small birds flew through a small sky. There was, in fact, not a substantial amount of anything. After that, they enjoyed no end of planets, each one with a variety of experiences. Then, time slowed.

The TARDIS jolted. It hit a bump, to be exact. Lyra and Bon-Bon fell to the side. Even the Doctor and Jack had trouble standing. Just as fast, the TARDIS resumed its normal course, but no sooner had the Doctor dismissed it as turbulence than they hit another jolt.

“Are you sure it’s turbulence?” Bon-Bon asked, raising her voice a little.

“No!” the Doctor said concernedly. Bon-Bon groaned, and, as if the turbulence had a mind of its own, was thrown against the bars near the main control panel. The doors swung open when her flailing hoof hit a lever.

Everypony noticed that they were getting close to a sinister-looking planet’s surface. Everypony but Jack noticed that Jack himself was near falling out the doors. Then Jack slid out.

Upon closer inspection, Jack was barely hanging on by his hooves. The Doctor held out his own as if to let Jack climb up more easily, but Jack could hardly grab them without dragging them both down. Another jolt shook the TARDIS.

It’s amazing how easily accidents can happen. Lyra was a perpetrator, and Jack was a victim. In that jolt of turbulence Lyra lost her footing, and tumbled into the Doctor. The Doctor landed on his front hooves, near Jack’s. Too near. Jack’s hooves were just pushed off the TARDIS.

If anypony hadn’t been looking away, they might’ve seen the blue flashes of a Vortex Manipulator.

In a fit of rage, the Doctor shouted, “Lyra! You—I—“ and could hardly manage a decent fragment. Bon-Bon tried to calm him down, and over time it worked. The frenzied Doctor relaxed visibly, and the nearly cowering Lyra got herself to stand. The TARDIS came to a rest herself, and the Doctor, with his companions, down to two, showed themselves into the sinister-looking planet.