Slowly the celebration died down and all of the raccoons starred at the ponies before them. One raccoon crawled up, sniffing at them a bit. Finally, standing on two legs, he spoke, “Can you understand us?” His question was posed slowly.
“Well, yes indeed we can, thanks for asking!” The Doctor answered giddily.
More cheering erupted from the creatures. After a few moments, the same one held up a paw before continuing, “My name is Forsker. I am the one who hypothesized that we could bring beings of another world to us! It is wonderful to meet you both!”
“Quite right! I’m the Doctor and this is my comp-my friend, Derpy.”
“How intriguing! They have fur like us, but smoother,” a different raccoon noted.
Derpy felt multiple paws feeling her coat. “Hey, what are you--”
“Their eyes seem disproportionate to their faces,” one of the racoons remarked, drawing Derpy’s attention.
“The female has wings.”
“How do you know she’s female?”
“Are you female?” one of them asked her.
“Yes?”
“Do all of your females have wings?” he asked.
Derpy nervously responded, “Well ye-- I mean… all pegasu--”
“Can you fly with those wings?”
“How do you power your ship?”
“Where did you come from?”
The stream of questions blended together into an obnoxious noise of excitement, almost as if they were children seeing something for the first time. Again, Forsker held up a paw, and the questions came to a stop. “I know we are all overjoyed at meeting another life form, and we are bursting with questions. However, we must give our guests time to answer. One at a time please! Let’s raise our paws and have them answer in turn.”
Derpy tilted her head before all of the raccoons shot a paw into the air. The Doctor’s grin grew as he looked over the crowd, “Um, yes. You, there!”
“Yes, my question is, what are you?”
“We’re ponies.” Derpy answered, “The Doctor is an Earth pony and I’m a Pegasus.”
“You next!”
“Where did you come from?”
“We came from Equestria.” Derpy answered.
“Did you create the blue box ship?”
“It’s called a TARDIS. And no, neither of us built it, my people did.” The Doctor nodded.
“Do all females of your species have wings?” asked an almost tan-colored raccoon.
“Um, no. We have three races of ponies: Earth ponies like the Doctor, Pegasi like me and unicorns which have horns in their heads, and each race have males and females.” Derpy answered.
“Three species so diverse but all sentient and co-domin-- but those wings can’t really get you off the ground, can they?”
“Wait, why couldn’t they?” Derpy asked.
“Judging by your body mass and comparing it to your wingspan...even accounting for what we may not see since they are tucked in, it isn’t logical that you could fly.”
“Wait-are you calling me fat?!”
“No, especially since I have no idea what a healthy weight is for your species. I’m simply stating that your proportions don’t add up.”
A different racoon suggested, “That’s only based on visual observations. She may not be as dense as she looks.”
Derpy felt red in the face and was clearly becoming riled.
“Remember Derpy, we are their guests. They might not realize that what they said was a bit-um, let’s go with rude.” Doctor’s words helped Derpy to call down as the two racoons seemed to now be eyeing one another.
“Are you suggesting that her weight may not be proportional to her volume?”
“We don’t even know what she’s made of. Her molecules might be… more... loosely packed together?”
The Doctor had to stifle a laugh.
“That seems highly illogical. Think of the muscle mass that would be needed just to use the wings! It’s much more likely that their world has a thicker atmosphere. This would make it much easier for them to generate lift and allow for less extreme wingspan-to-weight-ratios!”
“And you question my logic? If their lungs were adapted to an atmosphere that much thicker than ours, they’d both be suffocating here!”
“Who says they have lungs?”
“They’re talking, aren’t they?! And look at how their chests move!”
The volume of the bickering had reached a yelling level now, and the two racoons almost looked ready for a fight.
“Enough!” Forsker yelled. “Lest we risk Chaos undermining our thinking!”
“She questioned my logic!” the one racoon said.
“Not until you questioned mine!” the other responded.
Derpy decided to put a stop to the fight and answer the question herself. “We fly using magic!”
Laughter exploded through the group. Derpy steppes back in shock, “I don’t understand why they suddenly started laughing.”
“Ah, magic. Derpy, you sure have a good sense of humor!” Forsker wheezed.
“I wasn’t kidding! Pegasi ponies fly with the magic in our bodies.”
The laughter died down as each raccoon realized her seriousness. “Oh, I think I understand.” Forsker nodded, “your kind doesn’t yet know how your flying works, so your leaders filled your heads with ideas of ‘magic’ so no one would ask questions. Your race hasn’t been enlightened to science yet. Well, I suppose your friend Doctor has somehow found a way around that. But don’t you worry, Ms. Derpy. We will find the reason for your flight no matter what!”
“Here here!” Another raccoon shouted as the group took Derpy, pulling her from the lab and into the streets.
“Doctor! Doctor help!” Derpy pleaded, feeling her wings pulled and poked with tiny claws, “Hey! Leave my wings alone!” She struggled against their grip, but there were too many of them. She could see the Doctor walking behind, talking to Forsker.
“Tell me, Forsker, why did you decide to build something to bring other life to your world?” The Doctor asked, keeping an eye on the group that was currently taking Derpy away.
“For science, Doctor. Same reason I want your friend to understand how she can fly. Same reason why I want to figure out why her eyes work in two different directions, and the same reason why I want to know everything I can about that box you both traveled in. Science betters our world! The more we learn, the more we help others. That is the affirmation of all in Rahsla’ Tuhna.”
“So you literally went and made a device to pluck a ship mid flight and take it to your planet...because you could?!”
“And for the better lives of raccoons all over Rahska’ Quri. Imagine, Doctor, the things we can learn from the other worlds...the things we could teach. Your friend is a perfect example. She will learn the truth about how her wings can fly and we will learn with her. We will learn more about her as she learns more about herself. It’s a wonderful process!”
Derpy was placed in an exam room. The raccoons measured her wings, and her body. They put her on a scale, weighing her. Then they dragged her to get an x-ray. They marked their findings in books, murmuring to each other. Derpy tried to remain patient, seeing the Doctor close by. She was glad they didn’t lose each other in this strange place. Her skin crawled uncomfortably as their beady eyes stared at her in confusion and intrigue.
“You are a marvel, Ms. Derpy. By all rights, you should be flightless.”
“I don’t appreciate these jabs at my weight-“
“Quiet, we’re thinking!”
“Ex-I- how dare-rude!” She huffed.
“Could you demonstrate your flying ability?”
“Yeah, sure. Anything that will get me out of this room!”
They took her outside. She spread her wings, flying up effortlessly from the ground. She knew she would never be as fast as rainbow dash, but the raccoons seemed impressed. She tried a few simple tricks with only decent success. The raccoons went wild. For the first time since they opened the Tardis door on this planet, Derpy felt happy to be on this odd planet. Her heart soared with her as an old, long forgotten dream came back to her. After a few more simple tricks, she landed, tucking her wings in. The raccoons were ecstatic, reminding Derpy of fans like herself after a wonderbolts show. They chanted her name, and her heart soared higher than her wings could take her. After they calmed back down, Forsker slowly approached her with awe in his eyes. “With all due respect, Ms. Derpy, you completely defy all reason…”
“We need to take her to the high council. The smartest raccoons in all of Rahska’ Quri are there! If anyone can understand what makes her fly, it’s them.”
“Quite right, Procione! There, we will get our answers.”
“But I already told you the answer. We fly because we have the magic to fly.”
The raccoons snickered a bit as they went off. The one known as Procione looked a bit worried as he eyed Derpy. “I wouldn’t talk so readily about magic so often. While most in Rahsla’ Tuhna will understand that you two are not of this world, and know nothing of our rules, there are some who are not that understanding. Magic does not exist.”
“Wh-what? What do you mean, magic doesn’t exist?!” Derpy squeaked louder than she meant to.
“Shhhhh, not so loud!” Procione wearily looked around at the raccoons tinkering in workshops. “Sorry, I know it must come at a shock…”
“A shock? How could you not believe in ma-“
“You know what impresses me, Forsker. I see raccoons all over tinkering, tools and parts, yet there’s no trash bins. There isn’t even a bit of litter on the ground.”
“These words are primitive to us, Dear Doctor. I am ashamed to admit that we did have such unsightly pollutients long ago...in our ancient history when backstabbing was the norm, and thievery was at its highest. Thankfully, we’ve evolved past that point. We created a society where everything belongs to everyone. When you own everything, then nothing is stolen. A group of raccoons invented something extraordinary: metallurgy! Soon, the shiny metals that we killed one another for became commonplace. We wanted to figure out more, and soon we had machines to make gems stones, and food, and soon enough, we realized that science was the true path to enlightenment. We no longer needed to fight for scrap metals and beautiful sparklies...we only need to learn to create machines that make them for us. And, to that end, anything can be useful. What some planets call trash, we have reused and recycled. Every piece of any ‘refuse’ could revolutionize raccoon kind.”
“I never thought about it that way.” Derpy murmured.
They walked up to a huge ampatheritor. All around them were groups of raccoons with thousands of different inventions. The Doctor marveled at them all, “Derpy, look. That one there? Working on solar paneling. And that one...I’d say the first try at a fusion cell generator...that model will never work. And, oh my goodness, that one ligitimitally built a claw crane. See that, right there. Ohhh, and an anti gravity generator, very clever. Very, VERY clever. Wait...what’s that one? Excuse me? You there. What is your invention?”
“It’s a bubble gun, if you must know, you odd looking quadruped.”
“Ah, yes, I am a quadruped. Thank you for noticing...still a bit new to me!”
“Did you say...a bubble gun?” Derpy tilted her head, looking it over, “So it just...blows bubbles for you?”
“Not just any bubbles, like the ones on your...rear end for some obscure reason. This gun is able to make bubbles that can not be popped. They are completely impenetrable. At least...until they pop…”
“How long does it take them to pop?” The doctor asked.
“Um...about ten seconds, but if I can just get the conclave to agree with me that they could revolutionize experimentation, then this little gun can make me the most well known raccoon in all of Ruhsla’ Tuhna!”
“Ah, so this...this conclave gets to decide which scientific research is worth supporting?”
“Precisely, and while I have some stiff competition this year, the other raccoons are no closer to their finished goals than I am...I mean, that Fusion cell generator is just laughable really...thing won’t even spark. It’s still just a concept and a shell.”
“Well then...thank you for the conversation!” Doctor turned back to Derpy, watching the group making their way up to a window, “This is fascinating, Derpy. A planet full of technology...Does Equestria have anything like this?”
“Not that I know of...I mean, we have our own technology, but...but these are things I have never seen before...I don’t really understand them…”
“Doctor, Derpy! Let’s venture inside!” Forsker waved at them.
“But...there’s a line!” Derpy noted, looking behind her.
“Not to worry, Derpy. We’ve had our reservation set up for weeks to discuss our quantum teleporter, but they wouldn’t let us try it here because of its size. Wait until the conclave meets you!”