//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: A Stranger I Remain 
// Story: Knight of Equestria - On Distant Shores 
// by SupraMacPringles 
//------------------------------//

It had been a week since his first meeting with Luna and things were beginning to slow down. Not much happened in those seven days, and Matt was getting impatient. He didn't think it would take Luna and Celestia long to find him a way back home. But there he sat in Twilight's library, reading. His Horned-Pegasus associate was doing the same, as blissfully as ever, whilst Spike continued with his assisting duties.

He had met up with Luna several times since their initial meeting. She had told him that she and her sister were making little progress in the search for a way to send him back. That, along with no correspondence from Celestia, did not bode well. He would probably be there for at least a month.

As if in tandem with his thoughts, a belch from Spike signaled the arrival of a letter from Celestia. Matt let out a sigh and stood up. It was about time. He was hoping to put this whole experience behind him. Twilight stopped what she was doing and unfurled it.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle, after an extensive search through the royal archives, I regret to inform you... Oh dear."

Great. Some kind of complication. Why wouldn't there be?

He saw her eyes start at the top of the page again.

"... I regret to inform you that there... is no way to send your guest home. No such spell exists in the whole of the archives."

She stopped when she noticed his eyes widening. He stumbled backwards, into the chair he rose from. His face was blank as he stared up at the ceiling. He began breathing more intensely and was seemingly rendered speechless. Twilight thought it best to comfort him. She began to approach him.

"Listen, I know it must hurt, but-"

She stopped when his eyes locked onto hers. His stare was filled with rage.

"Shut up."

His voice was cold, as if all emotion drained entirely.

"B-but... We can help you through this."

"No. You can't, none of you can."

Something about his still-staring eyes made her feel uncomfortable, to the point of looking away.

"I know you haven't really adapted yet, but we're here for you."

"I don't need you." he shouted whilst rising to his feet. "With all your magic powers, you still can't do anything. What's the point of such a gift? You're a waste." He turned away from her, facing the door.

His personality had changed entirely and he was saying some very unkind things. She had expected him to be upset, but nothing like this. She thought back to his journal still stashed away in her room. His cold words reminded her of its initial entries. Maybe this is what he was really like...

He began moving towards the door.

"W-where are you going?"

"... Out..." he said in a gruff, angry tone.

With that, he walked out the door and was gone. She stood there, overwhelmingly confused.

"What was that all about?" said Spike, who had been silent until now.

"I'm... not sure, Spike."

But she was determined to find out. She went to her room to find the small gray book that would hopefully give her answers.

"Why?" he thought as he stormed off. "Why am I so upset about this?"

He didn't have any particular location in mind, so he just walked.

"I should be happy... elated, even. So why does it hurt so much?"

His thoughts were torn.

"Probably because I don't deserve this. I don't deserve another chance. I was just going to let myself fade away, but no. Now I have to perpetuate this sorry excuse of a life."

"That's still no excuse for treating her like that. She was only trying to help. I didn't spend all these years studying etiquette to just lose it like that. I could've handled it civilly. Now I may not even have a home."

"But what does that matter? I don't have a home anymore, anyway. It was just taken from me. Again."

"Although I wouldn't call that a home if I was sensible. All that's back there for me are memories. Painful, painful memories."

"And all that's here for me are friends, things I gave up when I chose to isolate myself. Then again, I didn't really choose my isolation in the first place. That was just how the rest of the world left me, and I told myself it was right."

"But I've been shunning them since I arrived in an attempt to continue that isolation. Maybe... maybe it's time I gave it up. Maybe I deserve this second chance. If I didn't, I would've died too."

"Or maybe I did, and this is just my version of hell."

His mental tug-of-war continued as he approached an intersection in the dirt path. From the left, an unearthly sound resonated. Loud enough to halt his thoughts. It stopped as he drew near the turn, and he decided to investigate. When he rounded the bend, less than thirty feet away sat a large blue box. It stood in front of a sweet shop and resembled old police boxes used in England more than fifty years ago. Of course, the only reason he knew that was because of a European cultures class. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was exactly that, complete with 'Police Public Call Box' around the upper rim. He circled the box, wondering how something like it could've ended up in the middle of Ponyville.
...............
She flipped through the book, quickly finding the third entry.

She came by again today. Her father didn't come with her. She was much chattier, asking me how I'd been. I simply demanded what she wanted. I didn't have the time to waste on her. She broke into tears and started begging me to go with her. She said we'd run away. After I waited for her to calm down, she began telling me that my life was in danger. That I needed to run. I told her that I didn't care. That I welcomed it. It was a bold-faced lie, but she seemingly bought it. She looked me in the eye and said that I had changed. I forced her out the door and proceeded to go about my business. She stayed at the door for at least an hour, pleading that I listen to her.

Matthew Nabal, 7/23/12

That explained his fear of surprises and that he was clearly not the nicest of people. But his life being in danger? Why didn't he say anything? She continued on to the next entry.

She didn't return after the other day. I'm sat here alone, and wondering when those supposed "assassins" are going to arrive. Today would be perfect. It would definitely be a decent birthday present.

The second entry didn't have a date attached. Before she could continue onto the next entry, a knock was heard on her front door. She expected Spike to answer it, but when the knocking persisted, she descended from her room to see who was pestering her.

She opened the door and was greeted by the odd chestnut stallion from Matt's welcoming party. He was now wearing a white collar with a red bowtie.

He flipped open a small piece of paper. "Books and safety."

"But... your paper's blank."

"Oh, too smart for the psychic paper, eh?" he slipped the paper into his collar. "Very well, I'm The Doctor. What books do you have on magic?" he said, showing himself in.

Though she was normally overjoyed to talk about books and magic, The Doctor was raising too many questions.

"Oh, are you checking them out for a friend?" she said as he began searching the shelves.

"No, no. Myself."

"But you're an Earth Pony. Only Unicorns can use magic..."

"But you're not a Unicorn and you use magic." he said, still searching the shelves.

She wanted to correct him, but remembered the wings that now adorned her back. He stopped searching abruptly and turned to her.

"So... what does that make you, Twilight Sparkle?"

"That's easy, I'm an Alicorn."

"Ah yes, the mythical flying Unicorns. Just like Celestia and Luna."

"Oh, you know the princesses?"

"Yes I do, princess." he said, giving a quick bow.

"A-anyway, we usually keep the stuff on magic over there."

She pointed to a wall opposite the one he was standing in front of. He trotted over and began searching through the books.

"Any renowned authors I should look for, known for revolutionizing the study?"

"Well, the most famous would be Starswhirl the Bearded..."

He pulled out a book and showed it to her.

"Is this a good one to start on?"

"... 'The Final Days of Starswhirl the Bearded'? I think that might be a bit too late..."

He began flipping through the book.

"It's never too late to start, at least for me anyway."

He began pacing around, still flipping through pages. How he was doing so was a mystery to everyone. He stopped suddenly. The page he stopped on had numerous notes scattered all over it.

"Twilight..."

"Yes?"

"Do you know who wrote these notes?"

"It's believed somepony helped him finish that book. Probably his nurse or something."

"Or maybe his doctor..." he said, pulling out a small tool and scanning it up and down the page.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because, this is my handwriting."

Twilight was immensely confused for the second time that day.

"Uh, handwriting?"

"Right, sorry, hoofwriting. But do you know what this means?" he said, smiling.

She had begun thinking that this strange pony was going mad.

"No...?"

"It's time to go meet him."

He headed for the door with book in hoof.

"Wait!" she shouted.

The pony stopped.

"Are you crazy!?"

He turned to her.

"Yes, I'm a mad man with a big blue box. Dreamer of impossible dreams, at your service." he gave another quick bow.

"But you can't take that book with you! This is a library! We have rules!"

"Right, and I have a library card." he flipped open another piece of paper. Though she couldn't make out the details, she saw the words 'Library Card' clear enough.

"Okay..." she said, defeated.

He trotted away happily.

She let out a rather large groan and fell backwards, lying on the floor. It had only been a few hours, but the day had already been quite the ordeal.
...............
His fascination with the blue box before him was baffling. He had been standing there, looking it up and down, for nearly five minutes. Something about it seemed off to him. He was standing behind it when he heard the doors open.

"Alright. Same year, same day... five minutes early!" said a familiar sounding British voice.

"Five minutes early?" said an unknown female voice.

"Wouldn't that be a paradox if we see ourselves?" he heard a second female voice say.

"Yes, unless you were supposed to see yourself. In which case; see yourself."

He circled around to the front of the box. There stood the chestnut colored pony he remembered distinctly as 'The Doctor', along with two ponies he didn't recognize. One was a cream color and the other a mint-green. The Doctor had his back turned to him.

He stomped his hoof on the ground "Right, so where to next?"

"Uh, Doctor..." said the cream colored pony. She had seemingly noticed Matt's existence.

"I've always loved going to Italy during the renaissance..."

"Doctor!"

"What?" The mint-green pony gestured behind him. He turned and spotted the young man stood a few feet away. "Ah! Mister Nabal. Still got legs, I see."

Part of him wanted to ask what he meant, but he didn't bother. Nothing really made sense there anyway.

"Indeed. How've you been, Doctor?"

"Good. Well, as good as you can be after fighting a Draco."

Again, he decided against asking questions. The less he knew the better.

"I see. So, is this Police Box yours?"

The mint-green pony responded before The Doctor could.

"Yeah, and it's a time-"

She was halted by a hoof to the head from the cream pony next to her.

"Well, it's called the TAR-" before he could say more, he was given the same hoof-to-the-head treatment.

"He built it from scratch." said the cream pony.

"Ow! Why did you hit me!?" he said, rubbing the spot she had struck. She did so a second time. "Stop it!"

Matt had since begun ignoring them, reaching out and rubbing the corner of the police box.

"Tardis..." everyone else looked over to him."It's called the tardis, right?" he said, recalling The Doctor speaking of it at the party.

"Yes!" exclaimed The Doctor before a third blow to his head made him fall to ground.

"T-that's right." said the cream pony. She looked a bit nervous for some reason. "Oh! My name is Bon-Bon and this..." she gestured to the unconscious mint-green pony at her side. "... Is Lyra."

"Matthew Nabal. A pleasure."

She quickly waved and began dragging the still unconscious Lyra into the nearby sweet shop, which he assumed was hers. The Doctor picked himself up, dusted himself off and straightened his bowtie.

"Are you okay?" said Matt.

"Yes. Sometimes you just need to learn when to stay down..."

"So, Doctor... why do you have a police box from my dimension? You couldn't have built it."

"Well, you know what it is. Rather, what it looks like. It's called the TARDIS. That's short for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"Oh, I see. TARDIS. What does it do?"

"Well, would you like to see for yourself?"

Matt stopped to think for moment. Does he actually care about what this wooden box does?

"Sure."

The Doctor reached into his collar. After a few seconds, he started searching deeper. He pulled his hoof out empty handed and muttered 'Bon-Bon' in an upset tone.

"Right, well, we're going to have to postpone this. I've got a score to settle..." he started to storm off before turning around mid stride and walking back to Matt. "Are you alright?"

That was unanticipated. Matt had thought he was hiding his distraught state, but The Doctor had picked up on it.

"I was informed earlier that the princesses can't find a way to send me back. I'm stranded."

The Doctor looked at Matt.

"Stranded? I know a thing or two about stranded. Being stuck on a space rock that is in orbit around a black hole is stranded. You're just… somewhere else. Think about it, a whole new universe to explore, new adventures, new dangers, a whole new perspective on life!"

He took slight offense to that.

"You wouldn't understand. I've lost everything. I don't want a new perspective on life. I don't want to be the only of my kind. I have nothing because I choose it. It needed to stay that way."

The Doctor sat down.

"Not too long ago I didn't care about anything. I lost my best friends. Because of me, because of my actions, they disappeared in to the past. Soon after I became depressed and hid away in the sky. After a while I saw what they did when they were cast away. They made something of themselves. One revolutionized medicine and the other became a famous author, and it was only after I looked back that I realized how proud I was of them. They both lived their lives with open minds, up until the very end..." the Doctors voice trailed off.

"I locked myself away to try and forget that… That it was my fault in the end..." he blinked his eyes, seemingly to hold back tears. "But sometimes we need a new perspective on life. It was my fault, but because of me they lived the rest of their lives together, long and happily." the Doctor gave a smile.

The Doctor's words had reached him. He was overcome with sadness and realization. He understood.

"... Thank you, Doctor." he said, genuine smile on his face.

"It's alright." The Doctor stood up from his spot "The way I see it, life isn't just a pile of good and bad things. You need to sort through the pile to find the great and amazing ones."

"I suppose you're right..."

He trailed off, suddenly remembering his actions earlier that day.

"I need to go apologize to Twilight... I said some very... Unkind things earlier."

"Unkind things? Is that why she was so upset when I visited her earlier? Well, you had better go apologize to her highness."

"Wait... Her highness?"

"Oh and before I forget."

The Doctor pulled a book out of his collar.

"Can you return this to the library? I checked it out earlier."

Before Matt could say a word the Doctor sauntered away.

"H-her highness...?"