//------------------------------// // Awakening // Story: Time and Space // by Doolally Loop //------------------------------// The TARDIS awoke. It was a bizarre and quite different thing. She had never truly been 'asleep', 'unconscious', or 'turned off', as being a fourth dimensional creature meant she existed across all space and time. Also, if she were to 'turn off' all her systems, it would be.... bad. To say the least. Worst case scenario, would be the Eye of Harmony destabilising, exploding within her, then causing her to explode across all time and space, thus ending the universe. Best case scenario, she imploded taking a galaxy or two with her. Luckily, that hadn't happened, as far as she could tell, so she would worry about 'sleep' later. She was getting off topic, and seriously needed to get her priorities in order! She was in another universe, and the last thing she distinctly remembered as she hit this reality was her exterior shell being changed. Of course, she had tried to fight it but low on power and highly exhausted physically and mentally, she had just let it happen. However, something felt wrong... well maybe wrong was too strong. Perhaps uncomfortably different? Unlike her other exterior shell disguises, this one didn't feel like a shell. It felt like.... a skin, like a....body? But that couldn't be right! The last time she had been in a vessel with a 'skin' it had been unable to contain her and had died rapidly! Then again.... that hadn't been her 'body'.... But her exterior shell wasn't supposed to change like that! She wasn't constructed that way! The only logical answer she could come up with was that this universe was so radically different to her own, that her form wasn't recognised and thus was conformed and converted. Therefore, her entering of the universe must have altered her very form on the sub atomic level! At least that was her current theory. How exciting!!! The last time she'd been given a third dimensional body, it had died on her very quickly, as she was a fourth dimensional being, and therefore there had been very little time to experiment or have fun with it. She could finally meet third dimensional beings properly! Which would be new as it was usually the Doctor, her Doctor, showing them around her corridors, which she had always felt was a bit like trespassing as they hardly ever introduced themselves. She'd be able to have a 'conversation' with someone other than the Doctor. Oooh.... she could finally do a 'hand shake', or would it be a 'leg shake'.... Ah yes, getting off topic again. So, her exterior was now a body of sorts. Time to find out if her beauty had translated over! She turned on her scanners, oh...wait.... eyes, she had meant eyes. The blinds slowly opening, wait.... eye lids (?). She had a medical bay, she should have direct access to this information. She concluded that her data tracks must have changed with her as she passed through the walls of reality, and were simply slowly adjusting to the changes, as the information was coming to her slower than usual. It was bright, so bright. Too bright. She opened her mouth, and let out a audible noise. She had observed the Doctor do it many times, she believed it was a 'groan'. She lay there for a moment, noticing the layers of sheets that covered her. Enough of that! Time for some motion! She sat bolt upright, and with a flick of her limbs, the warm cocoon of sheets were flung from her. Looking down she saw... blue fur? Reaching up she noticed her arm was covered in it, and more unnerving.... she didn't have digits. While that wasn't a massive problem (she'd never had hands anyway), she did find it slightly odd. Then there were also the large limbs on her back that she could feel, she wasn't quite sure what they were, but as she poked at them, they felt feathery? Wings? That was new. Looking up, she noticed something she had been looking forward to. HAIR!!! The Doctor had always made such a fuss of his hair after most of his regenerations! She obviously hadn't understood at the time, but as a sentient learning being she had always wanted to. Now she understood. It was amazing! It was everywhere! She prodded it, and it just sprung back into position. She tried it again, and again. It was so simple yet so interesting! Wait, there was something else up there. Some sort of bony protrusion, but she couldn’t quite see it through the hair. She stopped. Priorities now, hair and anatomy later. Without the sun in her eyes she could finally make out the room. It was old, that much was evident from the very archaic and worn out furniture which adorned the room, as well as the ramshackled look of the walls. There was a battered old door to her left, as well as a tapestry that hung on the wall to her right. The tapestry was nothing fancy but had the image of a pure white and red haired Pony of some type. She seemed to have wings and a horn. However, what got the TARDIS's attention was the full body mirror that sat bellow it. Although dusty it would do the job. She swung her legs off the right side of the bed, then set them on the floor. They made a surprisingly cheery clip clop noise as they made contact, which made her think harder about what she could possibly be. She got up balancing on the two legs, extending her back limbs for balance, took a step.... then fell flat on her face. "Ow..." Came her muffled voice. Her forehead hurt. So, ...not a bipedal species then. Now the four similar limbs made sense. Guess she must be a quadruped. A winged quadruped. That was going to make this a little more complicated. She slowly pushed her self up, one leg at a time, slowly and carefully. On her four hooves now, she tried to take a step. Which then caused her to collapse. Cursing under her breath in Old High Gallifreyan, she slowly pushed herself up again. Once up she tried again. She took a step, wobbled. Slowly, she took another step, wobbled less, took another and another. Soon she had a managed to cross the room without falling over and found herself at the mirror. Now for a good look at herself. She was blue. Not just any blue, but the blue of the Police Box her exterior shell had been for the past maybe eight hundred years. In a way it made her happy. Even though she had been forced to change her exterior, she had still managed to keep her favourite aspect of it. Again. She was getting off topic. The creature that looked back at her appeared to be a pony, more accurately a 'mare' or female pony of some description. The mare in the mirror was quite something (if the TARDIS may say so herself). She had a lovely cyan blue fur all over her body. Her legs were slender and nimble and her barrel, although somewhat slender, looked very robust. She didn't look like the sort of mare someone (somepony?) would like to get in a brawl with. Not that the TARDIS wanted any fights of any kind! Even if she did her wings seemed fully capable of getting her out of there. She gave them an experimental flap, which seemed to confirm her trust in them. Towards her rump sat a marking of an all too familiar blue box, and a just as curled and crazy looking tail, which perfectly matched the style her head hair (her 'mane' now she guessed?) had taken on, all in a brilliant royal blue. To the sides of her head large blue ears stuck out, which were significantly more sensitive than any ears she had used before (Which had been a set of human ones she had used briefly, other than that she had listened through microphones or by making a psychic connection to the person to understand what they were saying). She noticed them swivel at the noises coming from out below the window, where she could hear noises of , what she assumed to be, a market or a meeting place. Curious. Rising out of her mess of a mane sat what appeared to be a horn. She wasn't sure what sort of function it served though. It didn't look very sharp, so not a weapon. It had a groove in it that winded all the way down to the base from what she could tell so, perhaps it was a method for this species to a attract a mate...yeah hopefully not. Perhaps to assert dominance? She concluded she would have to ask about it or figure it out herself. However, the only thing about her body that annoyed her was the eyes her form had been graced with. They pointed in different directions, which she was reasonably certain wasn't supposed to happen. She supposed it was, in a way ironic, as she had always been considered 'unreliable' in her landings and navigation systems. The Doctor had claimed she didn't always take him where he wanted to go, but she felt this was unfair as she did take him where he needed to go. So, it was either that, or this universe was making a comment on her very clumsy entry into, and through, its barrier. If it was the latter, then the TARDIS wasn't massively amused. However, she hadn't noticed any sight issues so far. So maybe it was it was purely cosmetic? Then again, she had primarily used internal cameras and had never really had eyes before, so she was used to a single vision. The weirdest thing about her form was that it looked like no horse or pony she had in her data tracks. Oh sure, she had most of the key details: a muzzle, the large very pointy ears, the mane and tail. Essentially the basic outline was there but that was where the similarities ended. The eye size was completely off, her head was much too large and rounded, the muzzle was much too small, she was relatively sure that horse manes and tails didn’t have 'styles', and from what should could gather from her data, no horse was supposed to be so brightly coloured! Then again, horses, nor ponies, were supposed to have wings or horns. If she was a Unicorn or Pegasus, then that might explain the amount of colour as, from what she could tell from her data tracks, they were supposed to be brightly coloured creatures which were magical in nature. There was also the odd marking on her rump. It was her previous disguise, her favourite disguise, a blue box. Specifically, it was a 1960s Police Telephone Box from planet Earth, she'd been stuck with it as a disguise as her chameleon circuit had never been fixed and would never be fixed. Oh memories... She gazed at herself wistfully, and the mirror self gazed back. Thinking of days long past. It had all started because of that circuit. It was the reason she had been in the repair shop in the first place, her chameleon circuit and navigation systems had been deemed faulty. The navigation hadn't been a fault, she had just wanted to see the universe, to traverse the time vortex and flit across the galaxy. That day he had appeared, her Doctor. A Time Lord also looking for adventure. He had been so young, not even out of his first regeneration cycle. She sighed. She couldn't believe herself. Maybe only a day without him and she was already missing him. Her thief, her Doctor…. A knock at the door startled the TARDIS. She was so used to being able to see past and future events, that not knowing that it was coming had given her the biggest shock of the last four hundred years or so (corresponding to her personal timeline of course). She turned to face the door, everything slowing as it begun to creak open. Natives!? Already? She panicked. What was the usual greeting used between beings of the third dimension?! Ah Yes!!! Kissing! No. Wait. Or was it biting? She frowned. Her experience as a third dimensional being had been quite confusing the last time. Ah, she remembered now. For most civilisations it was customary, she believed, to greet them, then introduce yourself. TARDIS seemed like a mouth full, so she would start by using the name the Doctor used for her! She still didn't quite understand why he only called her it when they were alone, but that was beside the point! Mind racing, and with time seeming to slow. The TARDIS bounded to the door to meet this person, flinging it open for them. "HELLO!!! I'm sexy!" She joyfully proclaimed. She closed her eyes and lifted her eye brows as she did her best attempt at 'smiling'. After a few hours (or was it seconds), she cracked open an eye to find a flabbergasted pale white unicorn mare with a two-toned green mane and wearing a cloak, standing before her. She also seemed to be blushing slightly. The TARDIS frowned, tilting her head in confusion. "Was it something I said?"