The message on the monitor sizzled into oblivion behind the screen of static. The TARDIS lay empty on the edge of time. Silence courses through it. Silence, and nothing else.
. . .
The engines and other minute mechanisms in the great isolated world of the TARDIS began to move. The door burst open, and a brown stallion with a gray mare at his side stepped into the world. The gray mare was dressed in a sky blue gown and the brown pony was dressed in a suit to match the gown’s color.
“Brilliant! I tell you. Bloody! Brilliant!” The brown pony began to remove the suit. “Sure, it was a tad bit frightening when I lost my screwdriver, but that shockwave when the blast went off- WHOOSH! Amazing sensation! What a rush! What a rush. Personally, I want to know more about this Changeling Queen. One thing I don’t like about you ponies, you never try to find out more about the creatures who attacked you.”
The gray mare pulled the gown off over her head and looked to her stallion friend. “Doctor, I’m sure the princesses, or somepony, is going out of their way to find out what she wanted.”
“Oh… right… what she wanted… I was more curious about why she and the changelings had holes in their legs. It’s just, you know, curious, is all!” He shouted ecstatically. He tossed the suit far away, but kept the bow tie. For you see, as the Doctor always explained to everypony, bow ties are cool.
The gray mare went to him and hugged him weakly, for she was tired after their adventure. “Thank you for taking me to the Royal Wedding, Doctor.”
“Psychic paper- it’s a Time Lord’s best friend. Well, one of them.” The Doctor responded to her thanks. “Any other ideas for places you would like us to go, Ms. Hooves? I’m just starting to get revved up, myself!”
Derpy shook her head and gave him a soft smile. “You’ve taken me all across history these last few days, Doctor. It has been amazing, but for now, I just want to take a nap. You’re the traveler, you pick the next destination for us. I’ll be looking forward to it.” With that, Derpy made her way across the TARDIS to her bed.
. . .
The Doctor had begun to take to not sleeping while Derpy did. He still didn’t know much about this universe. The planet that Equestria laid atop or other planets across this galaxy.
He stood on his hind legs and his front hooves were always busy at work, hitting this button and that lever on the TARDIS controls. A piece of paper came out of a slot and he started reading it. He had been over working the TARDIS recently, doing a large amount of searching. He wanted to find out everything he could about this universe. Now he had come a little bit closer. He had now obtained a small list of events in this timeline that are fixed.
Certain fixed events were: The founding of Equestria; the Reign of Discord; Nightmare Moon’s banishment; Nightmare Moon’s return; The new Elements of Harmony; Discord’s return; The Visiting; the Parasprite storm that destroys Sweet Apple Acres; ETC.
There were more placed on the list, but it was still being compiled. The Doctor trotted in circles around the TARDIS, hitting this button and that to keep it working. He found himself in a very interesting situation at this very moment; he needed to waste time and didn’t know how to. He wasn’t familiar enough with this new universe to the point he could just blindly set the TARDIS to go anywhere and be ready for it. He needed to memorize all of it.
He trotted passed the monitor. Then, he trotted backwards and looked at it. Why was it all static? He tapped it lightly and looked around it. He tried to find something that might have been causing interference, but there was nothing. He started hitting buttons trying to find a reason for this.
The static on the screen began to fade slightly and he could see the outline of a stallion, but couldn’t make out who it was. He tried to clarify the image, but it wouldn’t happen. He finally managed to bring the sound. The message faded in and out. The voice sounded familiar, yet so different to his ears.
Hello… To all versions of … isn’t wrong…Beware the… never be seen, nor heard… The problem!... The right choice… IT is… there… lose her!... find yourself in… counting on… you.
The screen returned to its previous static and The Doctor began to move at miles a minute, trying to bring back the message and fix it so he could find out what the warning was. “Can’t lose the message! No, No! Someone needs my help and I can’t find them!” He stepped away from the controls and started trotting back and forth, pondering. “Alright… Think about this, the message was directed straight to the TARDIS. So, This could either be a deadly trap set by an enemy who wants me dead, which isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, I must remind myself, though I don’t know who that would possibly be,” He paused and started up at the ceiling of the TARDIS, squinting as though it were too bright. “Or someone out there is in desperate need of assistance and I’m wasting time talking to myself. I have to track down any signal it might’ve left.”
He went right back to his work at the controls and lights started flashing as he did. He continued and noticed something.
“No Signal…”
This couldn’t have been right. He started to recalibrate the actions he was making.
“No Signal, still.”
He started doing something else with the controls. Even he wasn’t sure. He was desperate to find some trace of the signal of that message. He felt this combination of emotions filling him; one was the overwhelming sadness that he could not track down and help whoever this was, and this filling sense of obsession with trying to figure out who that was and what the message was about. The message was obviously a warning, but about what?
. . .
Derpy woke up after about Three hours. She stretched her legs and gave a loud yawn. She got up and made her way down the stairs to the main control.
The Doctor was running in circles around the main control, stopping randomly to once again hit this button or that lever. He had long unrolled strands of paper and wires strung around the back of his neck and his bowtie had been undone. It looked like it was about to slide off his neck.
“Doctor?” Derpy couldn’t think of what else to say. This was such an odd sight.
“Hello, Ms. Hooves. How was your nap?”
“It was alright… What’s going on?”
The Doctor smiled. “I’ve been recalibrating and upgrading a few things with the TARDIS. Nothing major, but I was finally able to obtain a small signal from something I’ve been desperately going after these last hours. Had to mess with a lot of the wiring, electrocuted myself twice, but I did it, finally!”
Derpy trotted to the center and poked an hour glass that had been put onto the control panel. “What’s this?”
“Oh… that’s an Hourglass."
“Well, I know that. I mean why is it here? What does it do?”
“Nothing. I just thought I’d start making the TARDIS a little homier, I guess is the word. And, I really love the look of that hourglass. I think it really brings the effect of moving through time.”
“I guess it does fit the description of Time Lord.” Derpy smiled.
The Doctor responded with a soft smile towards her and moved to a lever. “Time to find out who needs our help.” He pulled on the lever and the TARDIS shook, knocking the two of them to the side, nearly toppling them, but it balanced itself out. They were able to stand fine and The Doctor kept his eyes perched on the controls, readying himself in case something went wrong.
The TARDIS kept with its rhythmic sounds. Thirty grains of sand fell from the top of the hourglass to the bottom between the sounds. The Doctor had set it up in such a way that, when one side was full, it would spin on an axis and continue to drop the sand in a constant, never-ending movement.
. . .
The rhythm stopped.
Derpy helped the Doctor fix his bowtie. He thanked her and got a saddlebag onto his back. He kept his psychic paper, sonic screwdriver, and other assorted useful items in there for a moment’s notice. They moved to the door with a sense of vigor. The Doctor prepared himself for seeing the worst of any situation. They opened the door.
The sun was shining brightly on a town right beside the green forest. The Doctor seemed slightly shocked, but he played it off and trotted forward. He could sense that something was wrong, somewhere. It had to be!
The sound of young fillies and colts could be heard. They were playing some little pony’s game. Derpy looked around. “Doctor, everything seems perfect here.”
The Doctor shook his head and walked over to a blue mare. “Pardon me.”
The mare turned to him. “Yes? What is it?” The mare had this tone that made her sound as though she may have been worried about something.
“I am a bit lost, could you tell me what town this is?”
“You’re in Trottersdam.” A curious look passed the mare’s face and she trotted passed the Doctor and over to Derpy. “Ms. Hooves!”
“Uhm, yes?” Derpy scrunched her nose and took a step backward. She looked to the Doctor, desperate for an answer to what was going on. The Doctor looked just as confused as she did.
“Twinkle wanted me to check if the play date between her and Dinky was still set.”
“O-oh um, yeah it’s still on.” Derpy was desperate to remove the awkward tension from her voice.
The mare clapped her hooves together. “Wonderful! I’ll see you and Dinky tomorrow, then.” The mare continued on her way, hurriedly.
The Doctor trotted to Derpy, the strangest look of both confusion and curiosity on his face. “Who was that?”
“I don’t know.”
“And, who’s Dinky?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard the name in my life. It must be somepony that knows me though.”
“Well, Someone- I mean Somepony sent a message and the message led here.” He started shifting through his saddlebag.
Derpy sat on her haunches and stared at the trees behind the big blue box. So many questions started moving through her head. If she existed in this future, why wasn’t she in Ponyville? Then, she put a piece of this little puzzle together rather quickly, and she figured The Doctor must have also. Dinky must have been her own daughter. But, who could she have had a child with? Her eyes, one of them at least, moved to The Doctor. She quickly shook that thought out of her brain as fast as possible. Never, She thought to herself and laughed quietly. Never! She stared at the grass.
The Doctor had pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. He was pacing back and forth, checking something with the sonic frequency. He held up with his hoof and pressed the button. It emitted a sound and he checked it while it was activated. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Derpy’s head sprang up and she looked to The Doctor. “What is it?”
The signal led here, but the Sonic Screwdriver is leading me back to the TARDIS. He started walking towards the TARDIS and the sound of the screwdriver got louder as he got nearer to it. It continued to increase as he stepped back inside. Derpy followed quickly and closed the door behind them. They walked straight ahead and the Sonic Screwdriver’s sound became as loud as it could. The Doctor started laughing and shaking his head, pitifully.
“No… hahaha no-o-o-o. This isn’t right.”
“What is it, Doctor?”
“Well, according to everything, the message I received last night was sent at this time period, from inside the TARDIS, to the TARDIS. Something’s wrong here, obviously!” The tone in his voice showed a hint of anger. He stared at the control panel and tried to find out what was the problem.
“Doctor, calm down. M-maybe it was just an accident, or something went wrong and you got the message. It may have been nothing.” She put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder and gave him a gentle smile.
The Doctor took a deep breath. “You’re probably right, Derpy.” He gave a sly smile and put his hoof on a lever. “Let’s head somewhere else for some fun or something. This place has nothing for us.” She smiled and he pulled the lever. The TARDIS began to give off its rhythmic sound of the engine whirring. They were both happy to put this very short little detour behind them.
The sudden crack of the door opening pulled them out of their happy moods and they turned.
The door had splintered on the side and a dark shadow flowed into the room. It surrounded them around every inch of the TARDIS.
Slowly, it collected itself into the shape of a human being, which The Doctor recognized but not his companion. It nodded to him and then formed the shape of a tall, strong stallion. It raised a hoof in the air and pointed at them.
“What do you want?” The Doctor questioned.
The voice was deep, but scratchy, and took on the form of a screech at random points. “You have made things go horribly wrong. You have set the natural ways far beyond what it should be.”
“That didn’t answer my question, you wretched beast.” The Doctor stepped forward.
“I have come to set right the ways of time. The choices are yours Doctor. And yours ALONE.” The creature glared at Derpy.
Derpy took a step towards the Doctor. That was all she could take. The creature fired a blast of pure darkness out of its hoof and it struck Derpy, surrounded her entire body. The Doctor couldn’t see her through the thick blackness. The shadows that had taken the place of Derpy at his side fell over and crawled away from the gray mare, back to the creature.
The Doctor fell to the side of his companion and quickly touched his hoof to her chest. She was only barely breathing, and her heart beat was slowing down. He turned his attention to the creature for a minute. “You bloody bastard! What does she have to do with this?!”
“Yours ALONE, Doctor. I am the Shade. Remember this name” The creature began to trot towards the door and opened it up, exposing the deepest midst of space. It faded away like dust into the ever expanding reaches of blackness and stars.
It left The Doctor there, holding the head of his assistant in his hooves, struggling to keep his tears from flowing.