//------------------------------// // The History of a Time Pony // Story: The Misadventures of Doctor Whooves: Dilemmas with Doppelgangers // by IndigoMoon //------------------------------// The Doctor and his companions stood there, gasping at the flaming wreckage that used to be Zecora’s home. To the Doctor’s horror, Zygons cam crawling around from the wreckage. One of the shouted, “Enjoy our bomb, Doctor? No? Well then, maybe this one will be more to your taste!” As the Zygon said this, he threw what looked like a cupcake with a fuse attached to it. As it landed in front of the 4 shocked ponies, they were met with a sight that paled them all. The fuse was about an inch from the cupcake, and moving fast. “INSIDE, NOW!!” yelled the Doctor, shoving his friends inside. He had barely locked the door when a BOOM rocked the TARDIS. But, much to the surprise of Starlight, Pinkie, and Berry, it remained standing, but they remained confused. “Why haven’t the HADS activated?” asked Starlight. The Doctor trotted to the console and began typing into the keyboard and pulling a lever to his right. “I turned it off,” he said simply. “The Princess asked me to until we finished our current adventure. I just hope we can finish it without any calamities.” He finished this sentence with what could only be described as depressed. Pinkie noticed it immediately and concerned, she asked, “Doctor, what’s wrong? You seem to have lost your usual perkiness.” “Nothing, Pinkie,” he replied shortly. “That’s a lie,” said Berry. “Something is obviously eating at you.” The Doctor sighed in resignation. “Follow me,” he said. He pulled a lever that began the takeoff of the TARDIS and began walking towards the hallway labeled ‘LOUNGE’. The three mares followed him down the hall that lead into a giant domed room filled with couches that lined the walls with a giant, circular table in the middle. In the middle of the table, there was a small fountain. The Doctor sat on the couch closest to the door, and the others sat on the couch across the doorway. He turned to them, sighed, and said, “Do you know what a war is?” His closest friends nodded slowly, knowing full well what a war was and its implications, but not wanting to think about it. “Well, I have fought in one, and it explains the sad look in my eyes so many people have commented on.” Pinkie raised a hoof. “I noticed that look, but I got the feeling you didn’t want to talk about it.” The Doctor nodded gravely, “You’re right. I don’t want to talk about it, but you deserve to know. As you know, I am a Time Lord. I told you this, correct? Well, if not, then to put it simply, I am an from an alien race called Time Lords. They “ruled” over time and space, and kept order in the universe. Very, very posh. Didn’t like them much. But that’s besides the point. The point is I’m not just a Time Lord. I’m the last of the Time Lords. I am the only one left. There is no one else.” Starlight raised her hoof and asked, “What does this have to do with a war?” “I’m getting there,” the Doctor replied sadly. “There was another race that held themselves above others. But unlike the Time Lords, who decided to observe and not interfere, these creatures killed anyone and everyone who was different, if even one cell was off, boom, dead. They hated all other races, but me especially, and by extent, all other Time Lords. These creatures were called Daleks. The went to war with my people. A war that ravaged all of time and space. It was called the Time Wars. Oh yes, there wasn’t just one, there were many, many Time Wars. And in the last days of the Last Great Time War, my people and the Daleks had used everything they could against each other. All weapons except one. The Moment. On the last day of the Last Great Time War, as Arcadia, Gallifrey’s second city burned, a Time Lord took his TARDIS into the Omega Arsenal, where all the previously forbidden weapons were kept, as the Time Lords had used all of them, and he stole the Moment. He took it to a desert planet, and there he used the Moment to end the war.” “So you guys won?” asked Berry. “No,” replied the Doctor. “Nobody won. Both sides had suffered severe casualties. No. Nobody won. In fact, the Moment was also called the Galaxy-eater. And when that Time Lord pushed that big red button, everyone burned. Everyone. All the Daleks, and Time Lords, but the thing that hurt him most, was the children he had just massacred. He had just killed everyone he had ever loved. His entire race, and his enemies too. But the Daleks managed to escape and they kept coming back, even though they were supposed to be dead. And he has had to live with that guilt for the rest of his life.” The three mares looked at the Doctor sadly when Pinkie asked, “How do you know what the other Time Lord was feeling? Did he tell you?” The Doctor looked like he wanted to just cry until the day he died. “No, Pinkie,” he said quietly. “I didn’t find out how he was feeling because he told me. That’s a nice thought though. But no, the reason I know how he felt is because the Time Lord who ended the War by killing his own people is me. I was the one who killed them all. And it has haunted me forever since. It still does.” He stood up and walked out of the room as the three mares looked at him with shock plastered to their faces. As Pinkie walked back into the console room, followed closely by Starlight and Berry Punch, she noticed that the console room was vacant. As she scanned the lights above each of the doors, she noticed that the blue light above the entrance to the bedroom hallway was aglow, signifying the Doctor’s location. She signaled to the others to follow her as she trotted down the hall, stopping in front of the door that led into the Doctor’s bedroom. She heard a noise coming from inside that sounded like soft sobbing. She pressed her against the door and her suspicions were confirmed. The Doctor, the stalwart stallion with a heart of gold, was crying. Pinkie’s heart melted. If there was one thing she hated more than anything else, it was when her friends were sad or, Celestia forbid, crying. She gently opened the door to see the Doctor laying on his bed, crying into a pillow. She walked over to the bed and sat down. She looked over and watched as Starlight and Berry entered, looking visibly uncomfortable at entering the Doctor’s bedroom. The Doctor’s sobs stopped as he sat up and looked at the three intruders. He wiped his eyes with a hoof and sniffed. “Sorry you had to see me like that. I don’t kno… whoompf!” The Doctor was interuptted by a sudden embrace from the pink pony who sat on the end of his bed. He smiled slightly and hugged back. Starlight and Berry came over and joined in the embrace. “This is nice,” he began but was shushed by Pinkie. “Just hug. No talking,” said Pinkie. The four of the sat there and hugged for a good couple minutes but was ended as the Doctor pulled out of the arms of his friends. “Thank you,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much I needed that.” “Everypony needs a hug every once in awhile,” said Pinkie. “And besides, your eyes didn’t only show sadness. They showed loneliness. And we just want you to know that you don’t have to be alone, not while we’re here.” Berry and Starlight nodded. The Doctor looked at the three of them and smiled. “So you three have decided that you’re going to be my friends and companions whether I like it or not, huh?” “Yep!” said Pinkie happily, a giant grin on her face. “Well, expect no arguments here, but I do have rules, but we can go over those later. Right now, we have a Zygon invasion to deal with. Geronimo!” With his final word, he ran out his room to the console room, followed closely by his new companions.