//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight: Home Sweet Home // Story: Doctor Whooves: Ever changing // by AvianAlpha1 //------------------------------// Doctor Whooves: Ever Changing Octavia was at a loss of words for what she was now observing. Granted, a mad Changeling that came out of a blue box that fell out of the sky, that then proceeded to take her and her roommate on a wild adventure to the changeling hive and then proceeded to save all of Canterlot. She'd thought that nothing else would've surprised her at that point. She was dead wrong, for what she saw defined all laws of physics. The Doctor stared at her with a big fanged grin on his face. “Soooooo, what do you think?” “I-i-it’s… it’s… it's...” she collected her jaw off the floor as an explanation dawned on her. “This is the most advanced form of magic that I've ever seen!” This time the Doctors jaw hit the floor. “What?!” This reaction drew a collective chuckle from the other two passengers within the box. “Well, it is a unique form of spatial manipulation that I've seen. Most use it to expand their saddle bags carrying space,” Octavia said as she proceeded to look around. The configuration was unique as the whole room seemed to be the inside of a big sphere, a central glass-like floor set in the middle of it all. In the middle was a central pillar with some form of mechanism inside of it. Around the pillar was a series of floating consoles with numerous buttons, levers and switches. Along the walls of the room, hexagonal shaped panels shined a soft, light-blue light over the entire room, accentuating the translucent green struts along the walls. Overall, the designed looked like the culmination of changeling architecture, technology and magic, all rolled in to one. “When did you build all this,” Octavia asked. “I didn't, the TARDIS must’ve reconfigured the desktop,” The Doctor replied. “Well, I hope to meet this mister Tardis one day,” Octavia said as she looked over the console. “You already have,” he replied. “Have what,” she asked still looking around the room. “Met them,” he said with a large grin. “Met who,” Octavia asked, now turning to look at the Doctor. “The TARDIS,” he said as his grin seemed to become larger. “I did,” Octavia asked with slight confusion. “Yes you did,” he replied as he walked over to the console. “When,” she asked even more confused, thinking over all the ponies that she met today. Before the Doctor had a chance to respond how ever, Vinyl put up a hoof and turned to Octavia, going through various hoof motions. As Octavia watched, her sense of confusion vanished as it was replaced by one of understanding before saying, “Oooooh, so the TARDIS is the box, why didn't you just say that?” The Doctor stood there for a moment, posed to respond before shaking his head, deciding it best to leave it be and switching topics. “You know, you two are taking this a lot better than some of the others that I bring along”, he said with a slight grin. Octavia shrugged as she said, “In ponyville, you see a lot of weird things”. The Doctor chuckled before turning to the center console. “Well, I could probably top what ever you've seen in ponyville if you'd like to tag along.” Octavia and Vinyl paused for a moment before looking at each other. Certainly today has been interesting, discovering things that they never thought possible, but that happened every other day for them. Now this weird Changeling was actually offering to one up what they've already seen. The possibilities scared them, to the point that they wanted to say no. “I'm in”, Lucky Clover said as he stepped forward. “Honestly, I've been looking for a little more adventure in my life.” Octavia was baffled by this. “But what about our friends? If we just up and leave them-“ She was cut off by the Doctor laughing. “My dear Octopie, the TARDIS is not simply a space ship, it's a time machine as well. We could be gone for a year and I'd be able to bring you back the same day that you left”, the Doctor said with a proud smile. “First off, my name is Octavia. Secondly, I'm still unsure about all this,” Octavia said as she shuffled her hooves. “It's asking a lot for us to just up and go with you, a pony that we barely even know.” The Doctor sat for a bit, rubbing a hoof against his chin. He pondered for a moment, as usually his companions often didn't question things like that. They either came with him or they didn't. Then a thought struck him that was so crazy, and possibly boring, that it just might be the thing to finally relieve him of his boredom. “Then how about you don't stay with me-“ he said, standing, a proud smile on his face, “- but I stay with you instead!” Octavia was a loss for words yet again. “What?! Are you mad?! It's already bad enough with Vinyl, no offense-“ Vinyl responding with a big grin, “- But you want to stay with us?! No, no, no!” “Well, I either stay with you or I crash with Lucky here”, the Doctor retorted. “Whoa, hey, I agreed to come with you, I never agreed to get a new house guest”, Lucky Clover quickly responded. “Look, I wouldn't even be in the house. I'd be right in here in the TARDIS if you two ever needed me”, The Doctor said with a smile. At that moment, the TARDIS shook heavily, throwing the occupants from side to side as it accelerated to its destination. It quickly landed and opened up its front door before changing the gravity inside. To everyone else, it felt as if the TARDIS had landed on its side as the struggled to find anything to hang on to to keep from falling. Octavia grabbed on to the railing as she screamed for help. A falling Vinyl grabbed her tail with her teeth as she hung on for dear life. It seemed as if they might just make it, if it weren't for the two flailing changelings knocking in to them, causing Octavia to loose her grip and for them to be dumped in to a pile outside the blue box. With them out, the TARDIS closed its doors and locked them, a sign on the front reading “out of order”. The Doctor quickly got up as he ran to the TARDIS. “No! Don't kick me out! I don't want to live domestic”, he whined as he banged on the doors. The rest of the group untangled themselves as Octavia stood slowly and said, “Well, I guess he's rooming with you Lucky.” Lucky Clover’s eyes went wide before he smiled awkwardly. “You know, I would be all for that, but I got a guy coming over soon to do a thing at my house so-“ and with that he teleported out. Octavia stood there dumbfounded before looking around, and discovering that they were in the backyard of her’s and Vinyl’s house. She looked to Vinyl who shrugged and trotted to the house as if nothing weird happened at all. She finally looked back at the Doctor who had trotted up to her. She felt a sense of dread wash over her. “So, I'm locked out of my TARDIS, and I have no place to go so… “ The Doctor looked at her with a hopeful smile. Octavia mentally kicked herself as she sighed and said, “fine, you can stay with us-“ she raised her hoof to stop his momentary celebration before continuing, “but I have some ground rules.” With that the Doctor started multitasking, listening her go through these “rules” while his mind wandered. He wasn't about to admit it out loud, but he was actually a bit excited to be in one place for a bit. Not because his boredom would finally be alleviated, but he’d be exploring a strange new civilization without even going anywhere. With humans, he had already learned most of what they were about, but here, there was a slight familiarity, but everything was also fresh and new. Not to mention, he was curious as to how far the hilarity of the horse related pun names extended to. Regardless, it was the first time in a long time that he genuinely felt excited about something. He looked at Octavia as he felt her tapping him in the chest. His mind must've wandered more than he liked, since he didn't remember any of the other rules after the first one, and even that he barely remembered. ‘Oh well, she'll remind me of them later’, he thought to himself. “Now, please try to follow those rules, and I won't have to buy a new cello”, she said with a smirk “Why would you need a new-“ she gave him a ‘you know why’ look as realization struck him. “-ooooooh, yes, that would be unfortunate for both parties.” Octavia smiled as she started back towards the house. “Now, you set the table while I start dinner.” He smile faded as she heard him groan behind her. “Or you could stay out here beside your locked blue box and not get anything to eat.” “It'll be the best set table that you've ever seen”, he exclaimed as he trotted inside the house. Octavia sighed as she chuckled, figuring that this was just the beginning of… something. She wasn't quite sure what it was going to be, but she could tell that she'd better stock up on medicines to help her headaches. She adjusted her attire for what felt like the fifth time since she'd been standing at the large looming door that stood in front of her, as she observed the crescent moon that was emblazoned on the front of it. She could feel a twinge of anticipation, after all it wasn't often that she sought the guidance of the princess. Being put in charge of an entire scientific department wasn't her idea of adventure, but the fruits from their endeavors did pay the bills. Never once did she think that something would actually come from it. The grand doors swung outward as a voice came from inside the dark room. “You may enter”. With a heavy sigh, she straightened her posture as she walked inside, her bat like wings ruffling were the only thing expressing her nervousness. The room was round, with various paintings on the walls, and a balcony opposite of her. To her left sat a fire place in the wall with a round table and two chairs sitting in front of it. A chessboard sat on top of the table, the pieces set in their starting positions. To her right sat a chest of drawers with a mirror on top of it, just slightly left of that was a archway that lead to the wash room. On the wall just left of the entrance to the balcony, was a wall covered in letters, all coming from different ponies, each one a reminder of the princess importance, as well as letting her know that there were those that valued her. In the center of the room sat a round bed, the sheets shimmering as if they were once a part of the night sky. The doors behind her closed, as Princess Luna stepped out of the shadows and said, “you bring news, yes?” “Yes princess, the lab detected the energy signature that you specified”, she said as she watched the princesses movements. “It appeared first in Ponyville, then again in Canterlot, before returning back to Ponyville.” Luna stood in front of her, her gazed fixed solely on her. “Then I hope you know of your next task, Director Midnight Fury.” Midnight Fury nodded, as she stood straight and said, “Yes ma'am, and of the other recruit? We have no idea what to expect from such a pony. It's a miracle that she's even survived what she went through.” Luna waved a hoof and said, “I shall deal with her. You have your assignment director.” Midnight nodded as she turned to leave. “And Director-“ Luna called out, causing Midnight to stop mid stride and look back. “- You look good with that eye patch.” “Thank you princess”, she responded, adjusting the patch slightly before walking out, a slight smile on her face.