//------------------------------// // Introductions and Reintroductions // Story: Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last // by MaxKodan //------------------------------// The First and the Last Chapter 1: Introductions and Reintroductions MaxKodan Rainbow Dash had had a weird day. She awoke early to prepare a bright, sunny day for the inhabitants of Ponyville, and as she stepped outside her door, she had kicked a letter from her porch. It fluttered to the ground, and she’d followed it. Picking it up, the weathermare had realized that it was a blank envelope. No address, no return address. And since her mail only got to her half the time when it was labelled properly, and even then usually a day or two late, she assumed it hadn’t been delivered by Derpy. She picked up the letter and examined it a while, eyeballing it, holding it up to the just-rising sun to try to get a glimpse inside. The paper was folded over too much, and it wasn’t readable. But it looked hoofwritten. She sighed and tore open the letter. “I bet it’s just another one of my many, many fans leaving me a love note.” She commented boldly to herself as she unfolded the surprise delivery. Scanning it quickly, she blinked. It wasn’t a love note. And what’s more, it made no sense. She crumpled it up and tossed it aside. “Psh, junk. What a stupid prank.” Slightly miffed, she turned and flew off into the sky to clear the air. It was going to be a bright and sunny day, all right. Upon returning home, exercised, refreshed, and hungry, Dash landed on her doorstep and walked into her cloudy abode. Heading straight for the kitchen, she grabbed a bag of Apple Bites and started heading for her favorite spot to cool down after a workout. As she passed the corner of her kitchen counter, however, something caught her eye. A bit of white that stuck out against the cloud. A crumpled piece of paper at on the end of the counter. She narrowed her eyes at it. How did it get into her house? She picked it up and unfolded it. It was the same note again. Considering the odd way things were going, she decided to read it a bit more carefully this time. Go to John Smith’s house. He needs your help, and you need his. Find the pocket watch. Make him open it. See you soon. She flopped into her spot next to her window. Setting the note aside, she opened the bag of snacks and heard the ever-so-quiet pop of the factory-sealed packaging. Giving a sidelong look at the note, she poured some of the apple-flavored nuggets into her mouth. Immediately, she coughed and spit them out. Several snacks fell to the floor, and one small piece of slightly chewed, folded up paper fell among them. Still coughing, and trying to get the taste out of her mouth, she reached down and snatched it up, unfolding it quickly. What on earth...had she won a contest? She hadn’t heard of any contest. The short message written on the paper stopped her coughing. “John Smith’s House...” She read. Immediately, she got up and brought the bag with her, quickly crossing the room to her coffee table. Upending the bag, she poured the remainder of the contents out onto the table. Two more notes fell out. “Pocket Watch.” Said the first one. She bit her lip, looking down at the last note. What could this one say? With a shaking hoof she reached down and unfolded it. The words on it caused her to drop the note and burst out the door without so much as picking up the mess she’d left on her table and floor. The slip of paper landed face up on the floor. Hastily scrawled words decorated the strip. “Rainbow Dash! Go NOW!” ----- It took her thirty seconds to find the house. She’d remembered who John Smith was, and why his name sounded so familiar. The pony who the notes referred to was an oddball allright. After all, what kind of name was “John Smith?” She’d never asked him before, but she sure as hoof was going to now. And how’d he chosen his career as a timekeeper? Seemed like an odd choice. He was just a normal pony. So what was this feeling of foreboding as she stood in front of his door? Was it the note psyching her out? Admittedly that was weird, but she needed to figure all this stuff out. She gulped down her anxiety and knocked on the door. It opened at her touch. Squeaking a bit as the door swung open unexpectedly, she looked around to make sure no one heard that. It was a little too dark to see anything in detail, but then again it was really bright outside. “Hello?” she tentatively called through the door. In response, she heard some kind of sound, a cacophony of clicks respond to her. She poked her head into the room beyond the portal. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in light. After a moment, her vision settled. “Woah.” Dash stepped through the door into the main room of the house and gazed at the unbelievable sight in front of her. Every inch of the wall was covered with clocks of so many shapes and sizes that her head began to spin. In the center of the room, which took up most of the first floor of the house, was a large table strewn with clocks being worked on, not to mention other timepieces. Alarm clocks, sundials, hourglasses, wristwatches, and even several devices she’d never seen before. Paper with some scribblings were scattered across the table, and some were laying on the floor. This pony really was an expert on time and clocks, that was for sure. Looking around the room, her eyes fell onto one other stand-out part of the building. There was a fireplace along the side wall, though you could hardly tell what it was. The stone shelf was laden with standing clocks, but right in the center stood one piece that didn’t fit in. The flyer felt it calling to her, somehow, and she began to move closer to it. “Well, hello, there.” The voice nearly made her jump out of her skin, though it was softly spoken. She spun around and stood frozen in place. There was a pony silhouetted in the door that she had left open. She squinted and blinked, trying to make out the figure. It stepped inside and closed the door behind it, and as her eyes re-re-readjusted, it became clear that the pony was, unsurprisingly, John Smith. “Er...what are you doing in my house?” The pegasus was caught off guard. “My snacks told me I should come see you.” Was the only response she could come up with. The look of confusion she received, she felt, was well deserved. “Your...snacks. Told you to break into my house.” John quirked an eyebrow and sat down, as if trying to process this information. “You’re...Rainbow Dash, right? The weathermare?” He got a silent nod in return. There were a few awkward moments where the two just looked at each other. Then Dash started talking. She was speaking as fast as she flew, trying to explain the whole situation at once to make her seem less crazy. It didn’t seem to be working that well. When she was done, she stood there, holding a pose that had lost its meaning somewhere in the story. More awkward silence fell. She relaxed and sat back down. “...You don’t believe me, do you?” “Well, no, it’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just..” John paused, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t own any pocket watches. I own everything BUT pocket watches. Never liked them. No pockets.” He blinked. “I think someone’s been pranking you, my dear.” THAT was the strangest thing he could think of? She sat there for a moment, slightly dumbfounded. But, something else was strange. “You don’t have any pocket watches?” “Nope, not a one.” “Yes you do.” “What? No, I’m quite certain I don’t.” “Right there.” Dash raised her hoof and pointed towards the centerpiece of the fireplace. It was a small, round, golden object that had been propped up on a stand. “That’s not a pocket watch. It’s a clock. A small one, of course, about the size of, oh...I can’t think of a good comparison.” “About the size of a pocket. That’s why it’s called a pocket watch.” She groaned a little and hung her foreleg over her nose. Was this pony serious? She lowered her leg and looked at him for a while. Now they were both weird and stupid. “Well...I guess now that you put it that way.” He looked at it oddly. “Never really paid any attention to it before.” “You put it on your fireplace on its own special display stand. How could you NOT pay attention to it?” However weird the appearance of the notes was, this pony was acting even weirder. “Oh yeah, and before I forget, what kind of name is John Smith, anyway?” “Foreign.” John was only half paying attention now. His eyes were locked on the pocket watch now, and he had begun moving closer to it. “Foreign? What does that mean? I mean, your name. What does your name mean? Where’s it from?” The speedster watched him as he crossed the room. Just what in equestria was going on here? “John means time, or clock, or something. And Smith means, well, smith. Clocksmith.” He was at the fireplace now, and he reached up to take the watch. He looked at it for a while, apparently getting lost in his own mind. “The note said to make me open this, right?” “Y-yeah. Wait, have you never opened it before?” What was with this guy? “Well, no, I haven’t. Must have forgotten I ever had it. But now, I’m curious, you see. Never dealt with pocket watches before, so I feel like this might be a whole new chapter in my life. Maybe I can expand my business? I don’t know,” His eyes were transfixed on the golden watch, and they traced the lines that decorated the cover. “A whole new world. What do you think, Rainbow Dash?” He turned to look at her. A gentle smile played across his face. By now he was just weirding her out. “Want to see it with me?” She didn’t really have time to respond. The moment he finished talking, he looked back down at the watch and clicked the top button with his hoof. The watch swung open and any notion of normality disappeared. Swirling, golden energy leaked from the clock’s face towards his. Whispers filled the room, blending together so that only a few words could be made out. John took a deep breath in, and as quickly as it had come the energy seemed to be absorbed into the pony’s body. He stood there, shimmering a little bit in the dim light. Dash had backed up and bumped into the table, her mouth hanging open in awe. “J-John? You alright?” “You thought John Smith was a weird name, right?” He closed the watch with a flick of his wrist and replaced it on the mantle. “Y-yeah.” Something about him had changed. She could sense it. Something was different about him now, but it felt more natural. Like the way he was before he had changed had been wrong, and this was how he was meant to be. “Well then, let me reintroduce myself. Properly this time.” John turned to her and shot her an enormous grin. “Hallo, Rainbow Dash. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m the Doctor.”