It was one faithful evening and it was one epic tale we all know of; the Doctor and Amelia Pond, the girl who waited. But on that night, the night those two souls met, something very peculiar happened…
“What? You’ve got a real time machine?”
“Not for long if I can’t get it stabilised! A five minute hop into the future should do it!” the (previously regenerated) Doctor said to Amelia Pond.
The Doctor and Amelia Pond were in said Pond's yard, with the Doctor on the edge of the tilted TARDIS. It was a calm night, or it would have been if the TARDIS' cloister bell was not ringing.
But Amelia's curiousity was awakened by this strange man and his strange machine. “Can I come?” she asked.
The Doctor, while always on the lookout for a companion, still had some parental instinct left. “Not safe in here not yet, five minutes! Give me five minutes. I’ll be right back!” he said while fixing his grapplehook in place.
“People always say that.”
The Doctor paused, turned to Amelia, climbed down from the blue box’s edge, and looked her in the eyes.
“Am I people? Do I even look like people?” he said. Then he opened his mouth and grinned wide. “Trust me. I’m The Doctor.”
Amelia smiled as the Doctor climbed back to the TARDIS’s edge. He took the grapplehook cord in his hand and steadied himself. Then he cast one final look at her, grinned, and jumped down, shouting “Geronimo!” as he did.
Those would be the last words that Amelia Pond would hear of the Doctor.
/|\\|//|\
The TARDIS
23:31
26th of June 2012, Earth Time
The Doctor now knew why he liked it when the TARDIS was in an upright position. You could actually walk around. This time he had to hang around in the air with the grapplehook to drop on the console, which was not too comfortable. After that he set the controls with his feet and released the handbrake with his heel. And as soon as the TARDIS had disappeared from sight on Earth, the artificial gravity took over and the Doctor fell to the floor next to the console, which was not his most graceful moment.
To cap things off, the TARDIS, for some unknown reason, was having a little trouble navigating the Vortex. Well, that could’ve been the fact that it had crashed only a quarter of an hour ago.
Secondly, the normally un-calm and storm-filled Vortex was now serene and peaceful. And there was that little girl he was going to come back to after he fixed the engines with a little jump.
“What could have possibly caused this? The Vortex cannot and will not be calm, they said. It’s impossible they said,” the Doctor thought aloud.
He paced around the side of the controlboard, deep in thought.
It took a moment, but then he realized it: “It’s the calm before the storm…”
He immediately ran to the control panel.
“I need to get out of here right now! Anytime anywhere, just not in the Vortex!”
He then took the brake off, and… nothing happened.
“Nothing… how can it be nothing… at all…”
*BOOM*
And then, the storm. The biggest storm the Doctor had ever witnessed to soon dominated the entirety of the Vortex. He stood, agape at the size of the storm.
“How… but… wow…”
The Doctor fell to the floor as there was a monumental rumble, and the world flashed white as a very big lightning bolt hit the TARDIS.
Twilight Sparkle was having a very ordinary day. A boring one, to be exact. She was trotting through Ponyville market, trying to find something to do.
Pinkie Pie popped out of Twilight’s saddle bags, as was to be expected, scaring Twilight out of her thoughts.
“Oh hi Twilight! Looking for something to do?” Pinkie said as she bounced around her.
“Y-yeah, how’d you guess?” Twilight answered, still a bit shaky.
“Silly Twilight, it’s simple! Three itchy twitches means Twilight is bored!”
“Seriously,” Twilight said, ‘Pinkie Sense’ still baffling her.
“Sorry Twi, but I don’t have time to help you! Mr. and Mrs. Cake have a big order coming, and I need to go and help them!” she said.
“That’s okay Pinkie, I’ll just read some books I haven’t read in a while,” Twilight told Pinkie.
“Okie dokie lokie! I’ll see ya later!” And so, Pinkie bounced away, without a moment’s worry.
“I’ll see you too, Pinkie!” Twilight said from the back.
And with that, Twilight trotted to the library, Starswirl the Bearded’s Theory of Magic and Everything Thereof in her mind.
/|\\|//|\
The TARDIS
In the sky, just above the library
12:00
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters’ Reign
“Ow… what happened?” the Doctor opened his eyes, just to be met with a hoof.
“What is that? Is that my hand?” the Doctor said wondered curiously, eyeing his new form.
“Am I a horsething now? Oh come on, I’d just regenerated and then you go and do this again! Well, that is just brilliant!”
The Doctor froze. “Waiiit a moment. Where’s the storm? What happened?”
He awkwardly walked (trotted?) to the log panel, fumbling with his new four-legged walk. It read:
TARDIS.log:
ENGINES PHASING;
DANGER: UNKNOWN SIGNAL OVERRIDING VORTEX MANIPULATORS!;
VORTEX MANIPULATORS HAVE BEEN OVERRIDDEN!;
TRANSPORTING TO:
PLANE 474,239.937;
UNIVERSE: EQUISTRUM;
PLANET: EQUS;
COUNTRY: EQUESTRIA;
STARTING EMERGENCY RECOVERY PROCESS NUMBER 1325.3;
EOF
“Hmm, let’s find more info about this plane,” he said, pressing a button and twisting a knob with his muzzle.
Then from the screen, he read:
Message:
CURRENT PLANE: NO INFORMATION FOUND;
“Oh, great! A totally unknown plane! The second impossible thing today!” he said sarcastically.
Then, a message popped to the screen:
SAFETY ALERT: LOSING ALTITUDE;
SPEED: VERY FAST;
“Well a great sense of humor you have there! And you’re still recharging!” he shouted, running for cover.
/|\\|//|\
The Golden Oaks Library
12:02
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters’ Reign
“That’s every single book in the library arranged and cleaned!” Twilight said in a cheery tone.
*WHUUM…*
“What’s that?” Twilight asked.
*CRASH*
And soon, the room was filled with smoke. The strange sense of serenity caused by the overarching noise was broken by a panicked shout.
“Twilight! Are you okay? I can’t see, there’s too much smoke!” Spike shouted over the noise.
“I’m fine Spike! What was that thing?” Twilight asked, confused.
“I’m guessing you’re talking about me?” A brown earth pony calmly trotted (well, more like, you know, awkwardly fumbled) out of the shadows.
“And you would be…?” Twilight forced out of her now fully opened mouth, jaw wide open.
“I’m the Doctor.”
“Doctor wh—”
“Don’t start.”
“How the hay did you get through the ceiling?” Spike asked, even more confused.
“I didn’t. Well sort of. The TARDIS did.” he answered distractedly.
“The TAR-what now?” Twilight questioned.
“The TARDIS. Stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It’s how I get around,” he answered, still looking around, muttering something. ’I’m more open today. Hmm.’
“How did the TAR-thing get here?” she asked.
“A storm in the Vortex.”
“What’s the vortex?”
“Now, before I start trying to explain inter-dimensional travel as simply as I can, let me ask some questions myself.” Without waiting for an answer, he started:
“Why am I a pony? Is that dragon? And three, how can you speak?”
Twilight spit out, still flabbergasted, “I- I can’t answer the first question, as I don’t understand it. Two, yes, that is a dragon. Three, of course I can speak! Got a problem with that?”
“Well, it might need some getting used to, but it’s not critical. What is critical, though, is how I’m a pony,” he said, continuing:
“No regeneration occurred, apparently. The plane is unknown, which is impossible of course. But, it might just have something to do with the storm.”
He hummed in thought, then said “It could have enhanced my body with artron energy. That could have made me able to change forms between a pony and a human when I enter or leave this plane. Of course I can’t leave as the TARDIS doesn’t know its normal bearings. ”
“What? I didn’t understand even half of that stuff,” the purple unicorn interrupted, but she had to admit: she was very close to exploding with curiosity.
“Don’t talk to me while I’m being clever,” he said. “Now, ponies seem to be dominant species from what I’ve seen, but of course I haven’t seen a lot but I think I’m good enough to assume that! That’s new! I’m very sure of myself. But as I was saying, the TARDIS doesn’t know it’s bearings, so in order to help it, I have to find somebody wh—”
“Somepony,” Twilight corrected.
“Someone who-what? Somepony? Really? Okay then. Somepony who knows this plane’s coordinates. Somepony with universal knowledge. Do you ponies have somebod—I mean somepony like that?” he said, chuckling a little.
“Okay, I don’t know anything about you and I don’t trust you, just so you know. Buuuut, it is sort of everypony’s responsibility to help. The pony you need is Princess Celestia.”
“Not royalty. I swore that I wouldn’t interact with royalty after that incident with Queen Elizabeth. But if that’s the only way to go, then, lead the way. How can I contact Her?” the Doctor asked.”
“Well, I’m the princess’s protégé,” Twilight said, wondeing who exactly this ‘Queen Elizabeth’ was.
“Really? Wow. This should happen more often. Can we send a message to her?” the timepony asked.
“I can s-send a m-m-message,” said Spike who had finally (somewhat) recovered from a severe case of “Utterus Confusius”.
I'm sending this message to you via miss Twilight Sparkle, to tell you that this plane of existence is completely new to me, so I need to get my bearings set. So, could you be do kind as to inform me where this plane is in relation to other planes?
The Doctor via your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
/|\\|//|\
My Most Faithful Student,
I'd like to speak with this "doctor".
A chariot is on it's way.
Princess Celestia
/|\\|//|\
The Golden Oaks Library
12:12
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
“Well I can't say I'm not dissappointed. That was very vague. And uninformative. And she didn't even write my name correctly. I do believe names (well it's a title actually) are written starting with capital letters. And She forgot the the. Are those the rules around here? Because, you know, you can never be too sure,” the Doctor asked.
“Yes, that is the usual grammatical rule,” Twilight answered.
“That’s good. Well, actually not, as that means that even a princess writes my name incorrectly.”
“What do you mean, incorrectly? It's not like it's a name,” Twilight pointed out.
“But that's just it! It is a title. And titles should be written like they are written by the owner or the giver of that specific title.”
“Well, if that's a title, then what's your name?”
Just then, much to the Doctor's relief, three knocks sounded from the door.
“I think you better answer that,” the Doctor hurriedly said.
“This conversation isn't over.”
Twilight opened the door.
“Yes?” she asked.
“We're here for your chariot,” a white guardspony said.
“Okay then,” The Doctor said as he burst out of the door and into the chariot.
“‘Doctor’, I presume?” the previous guard asked for confirmation.
“Of course”, he answered.
“Shall we go, miss?” the guard asked Twilight, who had just sat into the chariot.
“Yes, we can leave now,” she answered.
The guard said something to the other ponies pulling the chariot, wrapped himself into his harness, and they kicked off the ground to take flight.
/|\\|//|\
Inside the chariot
The Doctor stayed quiet for most of the trip, opting to look out the window rather than engaging himself into a talk about titles and names. Twilight, however, was deep in thought, occasionally glancing at The Doctor.
/|\\|//|\
Outside the Throne Room
12:26
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
Twilight was rather excited and nervous—after all, she had questions to ask and be answered by the brown stallion standing next to him.
As they stepped into the Throne Room of the Princesses, they were both waiting for them.
The first words to be said, the words to be remembered, were said by Princess Celestia. They were something along the lines of:
“The plane is the sixth plane from the seventh direction of the Vortex point 2.3, if I remember correctly. Hello Doctor.”
“Thank you very much,” The Doctor said as he finished recording the location into his brain for further analysis. But first, more important matters presented themselves. “How do you know me, by the way?”
“Oh,” Celestia muttered, unheard by everyone. “What do you mean? I just called you by your title, as mentioned in the letter.”
“Oh don’t try. You put a certain weighing onto the word Doctor. The kind of a weight only put on familiar titles that are also nouns. Also, the blue one is right now subtly smiling in a manner that indicates they are used to this style of speaking. A style of speaking that is mine and mine only. So. Have we met before?”
“Yes. Yes, we have. Many times, in fact.” Now “the blue one” was speaking. “You met us first when we were just little fillies.”
The Doctor, along with the previously completely silent Twilight, now joined forces and said in unison:
“Wait what?”
The Doctor opened his mouth to start speaking, only for his mouth to be zipped with a zipper by Twilight. Now she had reserved the speaking role for a while.
“Question one,” she said in a calm voice, “how could he have been alive at that time?! That isn’t possible! That was a thousand years ago!”
“Mph!” The Doctor also got a word in, as Celestia at this point unlocked the zipper.
“Question two!” he said. “What did I look like when I met you? And then three. Do I have a message for me?”
“The peak of illogicality,” Twilight harshly whispered to him.
“Actually, just timey-wimey stuff,” he whispered back.
Both of their mouths ‘zipped’ suddenly.
“Allow us to explain, if you would,” Celestia said. “Answer 1. He is virtually immortal—“
“Mph mph!” The Doctor poked in. He was unzipped, and he quickly commented “Well, not really immortal, as long as I only get one lethal shot.”
He was quickly zipped back.
“Yes, let’s continue. Answer two. You looked like your current ‘form’. Answer three. Yes, yes you do,” Celestia said as the two ponies in front of her were unzipped.
“Wait just a bit, someone has to explain what’s going on here! Or have you all gone crazy?!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Oh, I’m just a time traveling alien that knows nothing about this plane of existence.”
“What?!”
The Doctor turned to Celestia and said “When you explain with a little bit more subtlety, only tell her what she and I should know at this time. Nothing about the future in the past, present, or future world.”
“Of course. Luna will lead you to your message. I’ll explain things to Twilight Sparkle.”
/|\\|//|\
The Castle Corridors
12:56
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
As Luna and the Doctor walked in silence in the empty castle corridors, there were just some things that the Doctor had to ask.
“This letter probably explains most things, but, knowing me, it won’t tell some things. Did I say anything of importance in the first few seconds of our first meeting?”
“You told us of three names,” Luna answered.
“And what were those names?”
“I-i’m not sure I should tell. You forbid me from saying one. Told us to never say that one name out loud again nor to mention it to you.”
“Okay, I understand. But what were the other names?”
“Twilight. Twilight and Discord.”
“Twilight I know, but who was—or is—Discord?”
“A very bad thing.”
“Tell me.”
/|\\|//|\
The Throne Room
12:58
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
“You have explaining to do,” the now upset and annoyed Twilight Sparkle said.
“Yes, yes I do,” said the calm princess Celestia.
“Do you really want me to believe this?!” Twilight exclaims, walking in loops. “Have you gone mad? Do you want me to believe that this… this… this madpony! Is a time traveling alien?!”
Twilight fell down on her haunces, exhausted.
Celestia, the royal princess of Equestria and the mistress of Sun, sat down and took her student under her wing, comforting her, like she used to when Twilight was sad or angry as a little filly.
“The Doctor really did say it without any worry against you,” Celestia said in soothing voice, nuzzling up to Twilight. “He doesn’t know you like I do. Let me explain to you with a bit more care.”
/|\\|//|\
The Vault of Memories
13:05
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
“So, where are we?”
“This is the Vault of Memories, where Celestia and I keep our memories lest they fade away.”
“And where’s the letter?”
“Right here,” Luna said, as she called her magic and floated an old parchment scroll to sight.
“Ooohh, so those horns aren’t just for decoration purposes. Magic. Absolutely brilliant,” the Doctor exclaimed with a certain tone of awe.
“I forgot that you weren’t yet acquainted with these things,” Luna giggled.
“I am liking this,” he said, “Amazing. Now, what’s this scroll read?” he said, spreading the parchment on the floor with his muzzle after some reflection.
“I assure you we have not read it.”
“And you wouldn’t be able to. This is gallifreyan. See that there means ‘For you alone’, that’s a sentence, and that is a databank.”
“What’s the sentence read?” Luna asked.
“I can’t tell you. It’s very grim, that I can say,” the Doctor answered.
“…I understand. Let’s head back.”
/|\\|//|\
The Throne Room
13:00
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
“I met him a very long time ago, you know,” Celestia started.
“When me and Luna were just fillies, a blue box fell out of the sky. I believe you know what it’s called. A TARDIS, I mean. It’s a strange device. It can travel in time and space. I don’t know how it works, but not by magic, at least not anything I’ve ever known.
“And he took us to planets to far away, times unseen. It was beautiful and all the more terrifying at the same time. So much suffering, chaos, war. Yet at the same instant, so much beauty, the majesty of the universe. We met people long forgotten by time, but never lost to our young hearts. Then he left us, saying he needed to save us—and himself—from something terrible.
“He never told us who he was, or where came from, what he liked or who he knew. He just smiled, but behind his eyes now I can see that. That age. He is older than anyone else whom we know. Our oldest friend, but our most mysterious and lost one.
“We saw him again, dashing about, sometimes talking to us like old friends do. Then he left, left and gave us that letter and told me the coordinates. Never saw him again until this day.”
“Why is he so… strange?” Twilight asked.
“Because I’m new to this world and very curious!” the Doctor shouted as he and Luna reentered.
“Curious about what?”
“Everything! How you walk, how you talk, magic, currency, war, harmony, positions of power, history, people, astronomy, space, science! So much to look forward to!”
“I think Twilight could help you on your thirst for knowledge, Doctor,” said Celestia.
“What? No! I-I mean, I don’t even know him!” exclaimed Twilight.
“But isn’t that a good way to get to know me? Besides, I’ll won’t be long, just need to get the coordinates into the TARDIS and she’s ready to go, out of your way!”
“… Okay. But only for three days. Three days and you’re gone.”
“Won’t even take that long!”
Twilight sighed. “Let’s just go to Ponyville. Goodbye Princesses,” she said, bowing.
“Onwards, then. See you Luna, and Celestia too!”
“Go on now, then,” said Celestia, smiling.
“See you too, Doctor,” said Luna, smiling just as well.
/|\\|//|\
Inside the chariot
13:24
26th of June, Year 2, The Twin Sisters' Reign
The chariot ride was taking its time, as the winds had changed. Twilight, bored, tried to satisfy a bit of her curiosity.
“So, how do you know the Princesses?” asked Twilight .
She was, however, met with an answer she couldn’t comprehend.
“I don’t, at least not yet.
“What does that even mean?” asked Twilight, leaning in.
The Doctor leaned back in his chair, adjusting to sit comfortably.
“Well, it means, see, I’m time traveler, we’ve established. And to meet them, I meet them the first time when they are fillies, but in my own timeline, I haven’t yet.”
“So, you’ve met them because… you will meet them?”
“Now you’re getting it. The timeline inherently assumes I will meet them because some chain of events will most probably lead me to meet them. If it was unprobable for me to meet them, the timeline wouldn’t assume that.”
“So, what leads you to meet them, then?”
“I don’t know. And that’s what scares me.”
“How do you not kn—… oh.”
“See yes, you get it the logic. I am supposed to leave this entire universe in three days. So, how am I going to be there?”
“… Unless you don’t leave succesfully…” said Twilight.