Jack zipped his pants up from going to the bathroom. Four rounds of Jose Cuervo and nature called him forth. His phone vibrated on the table and he picked it up. It was a text message from Lou. Looking it over, he couldn't help himself from sighing.
“At boutique with Derpy :D Tara's coming over to see teh TARDIS! Bye!” read the text. He closed his phone and grabbed his belt once again to go out on patrol.
“At this rate, everyone's going to know about that box!” he grumbled stepping outside.
Of course he had bigger problems, if he was found out about taking this extended lunch break it would mean an earfull from the chief and perhaps docked pay, and he couldn't afford to have that happen to him. Heading down the stairs, he thought up various tricks and schemes to try and get out of trouble if there was a call for him and he didn't answer. If there wasn't one, he'd just say he was on a stakeout. If there was, he could always blame it on his radio malfunctioning. There had been a lot of those going around the squad cars the last few days. He might get away with it; or they might catch on as it seems a little too convenient. Regardless, he had a job to do and he stepped into the sunlight taking a look at the TARDIS sitting there. He almost did a double take as he saw Tara standing there looking at the Police Box tied to a tree. Remarking to himself at the incredible speed to which she got here, he walked over with the intent on trying to keep her away. Lord knows what's inside that thing that girl could get into, or cause for that matter. Another thing he noticed was she seemed to be pretty used to the fact she was starring at a Time/Space ship. Catching her face, the only thing she seemed curious about as to why this was here in the first place. His first thought was the excitement of the fact the TARDIS was real overcame her, but she showed no surprise to it at all.
“Hey Tara. Come to see it?” She whirled around and then the surprise came to her face. He knew Tara to be pretty awkward around people she didn't exactly know, but she knew him quite well. Tara's eyes darted left and right in a almost state of panic trying to find someone else who he might be talking to. “You okay?” asked Jack, growing a bit concerned for her.
She looked to him as if he were a complete alien: “I'm sorry, have we.... met?”
“Um, yeah. You're good friends with my girlfriend Lou, and by extension me. I'm on good terms with most of your friends... I arrested Dash a few hours ago.”
“Dash? What?” came Tara, her eyes opening up in shock from hearing her name.
“Dash, uh.... Daphne? I know she hates that name, but she's your friend!”
She shook her head, “I honestly don't know what you're talking about.”
Jack didn't know what to make of this. He cocked a eyebrow at her while the girl nervously looked around for a avenue of escape. “I think you might have me mistaken for someone else,” she finally said.
Jack was unimpressed at this. Tara tried her best and failed to make a smile, leaving the door open for Jack to respond. “Dark hair. Rose and Violet Highlights.... Favorite color is Purple... You changed your clothes since we last met but I think I got the right person.”
“Pony,” she spoke.
“Pony? What?" Jack got nervous, did Lou let on more than she texted him? "Did you go in that thing!?”
“That 'thing' is the TARDIS,” responded Tara with a spiteful tone.
“Yeah, I know." spoke Jack, unaffected. Perhaps this was some game she was trying to pull, but Jack needed to get the conversation moving. "I towed it here.”
“You towed it!?”
“Yep. With my cruiser,” he responded nonchalantly seeing what sort of response he was going to get from 'Not Tara'.
“You could of damaged it, or broke something, someone could have seen it!” She looked at him furious, eyes burning red with anger. Jack looked back a little offended as she turned away to go back to the TARDIS.
“Tara, just when exactly did you become an expert of the TARDIS?”
“My name is not Tara! Quit calling me that!”
Jack spun on his heels and walked back to his cruiser. He didn't know where she got this attitude, but it was annoying, and he needed to get back to work. It was almost as if she was a different person entir-.
Jack stopped right there. Standing in front of him, with a look of confusion and shock on her face was Tara! Dark hair, rose and violet highlights, same purple outfit she had on earlier! It then hit him like a oncoming train. He turned around to see the Tara doppelganger looking over the TARDIS again.
"No... it couldn't be, could it?" Jack whispered as he kept looking back and forth between the two Taras. Any other past time in his life Jack would have just thought himself crazy, but recent events had taught him otherwise. But how? It wasn't possible! No! It was entirely possible! The real Tara walked up next to him as he held his head from the ensuing headache. She herself saw the girl who looked exactly like her standing before the actual TARDIS. She didn't know whether to scream and run, or run and scream.
“Jack, who is that?” Tara asked as she saw the lookalike that was admiring the blue wooden box tied to the tree.
“I... I have an idea, but I wont like it,” spoke Jack in a trance. “Stay here. I'll be right back.”
Jack slowly walked over to the strange double of his friend as she opened the door to the TARDIS. She looked inside and gave a sigh of relief when the shocked Police Officer tapped her on the shoulder with two fingers. “Huh? Wha? You again?”
"Here goes Jack," he thought to himself before gulping down a bit of spit to wet his throat.“Yes, hi. Can I ask you two questions?”
“Why?”
“Because I'm a Police Officer and that's my job.” It was a dumb response, but making up an excuse was not going to get him anywhere faster.
“I don't have time, sorry.” she said looking back into the TARDIS.
“You're standing in front of a Time and Space machine, you have all the time in the Universe.” Jack quipped back, making the double freeze before she tried to run into it.
She gave a huff and turned to him with a lowered brow: “Two questions, that's it. Time is of the essence here, regardless of this Box's powers.”
“Why do you look so much like my friend over there?” She looked down to see him pointing back out into the parking lot. She looked and froze the moment her eyes locked on the double standing there. She nearly tripped into the TARDIS amongst seeing her when Jack spoke his second question. “Is your name, Twilight Sparkle?”
“How, how-?” Twilight already felt herself going bonkers, she automatically recalled the incident she went back in time with a spell to warn herself to not worry, her mind was already reaching out for answers and couldn't find one that would make sense.
“You're a cartoon character here, but that's beside the point-”
“Cartoon character?” She thought to how the Doctor had his own show in this Universe. Could it be that her world was the same as well? A show, a cartoon? The thought was disturbing to think of thousands, if not millions, of people watching her every movement. Private and public moments, adventures, that incident with Rarity and Celestia! Twilight looked to him as if her world had just ended. He stood there with a cocked eyebrow waiting for an answer to both his questions. She was still before she slowly nodded her head, 'Yes'. He gave a slight smile and turned back to Tara still standing in the parking lot. He signaled for the her to walk towards him, and she did ever so cautiously.
“Tara, meet Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, meet Tara.”
The two stared at each other, tilting their heads sideways, lifting up their arms, and making a disturbing face by sticking their tongues out and pulling down their lower left eye lid, all the while standing on one foot.
“You two done?” asked Jack, holding back a laugh from the display.
“I think so,” spoke the two, before jumping at the fact they talked in unison. “Did you, you did! Stop copying me! No I'm not copying you, you're copying me! Stop it! I said stop it! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”
“How about both of you stop it?” came Jack's voice.
They looked to him annoyed. He was unmoved and started talking. “Tara I understand why you're here. Twilight, why are you here?”
“I'm trying to save Derpy now that I found the TARDIS.”
“Derpy's fine. I've been watching her since she showed up." He waited for Twilight to get a little less tense before continuing. "She's with a friend of both mine and Tara's. She's in good hands.”
“You sure?” asked a demanding Twilight.
“I hope so,” Jack mentioned suddenly, thinking on the subject. He thought to what exactly Lou could be doing with her. When that girl got to partying, there was nothing that could stop her. He knew, he tried! That's how he got into this relationship with her. Twilight looked to him suspicious, but a reassuring look from her double eased her.
“Alright, now can I ask you a few questions now?” Twilight continued her focus on Jack, now curious as to what else was going on since Derpy had managed to find this man.
“Shoot,” answered Tara.
"Not you, Tara," Jack apologized, trying not to make things confusing. He nodded his head at the double again and crossed his arms, "Twilight."
“How do you know who I am and who are you?” Twilight started off, getting the basic questions going.
Jack maintained his position as he introduced himself, “Officer Jack Parker. Metropolitan Police. This here is my friend Tara, a local student at the University.”
“And I'm a Cartoon character?” came Twilight
Tara chipped in before Jack could give a response, “You're a fictional cartoon character in 'My Little Pony'.”
“Fictional? Like Daring Do!?” Twilight's mind began to try and spin that word in her mind, all of the studies she did, believing in the sciences and magic of Equestria, all of it fake?!
“Yeah basically.” smiled Jack, who happened to be oddly enjoying this moment.
Twilight was still unnerved by the prospect of this. This wasn't her universe and while the chances were slim, one like this had to exist somewhere. Tara, meanwhile, was switching between looking at the TARDIS and looking at Twilight.
“How did you come through without the TARDIS if it's right here?” Tara thought aloud as she continued to look at the infamous Police Box. Jack gave a nod in agreement, only Derpy came in the TARDIS, and as far as he could recall, there had rarely been an instance of two TARDIS' in the same place.
That was a easy one for Twilight: “The Doctor built a, well, kind of, second one, but you need to grow real TARDIS's. So he did something with making it, and we came through on that to-.”
“Wait," Tara's head snapped from the TARDIS to Twilight. "You mean The Doctor here? Doctor Who? The DOC!?"
“Yes. He found a convention full of his stuff.” Twilight tried her best not to let out another sigh, hoping to just ignore the fact that she had at least did something useful, instead of admire junk.
“That's not for another few weeks,” put in Jack.
“They're still setting up.” replied Twilight.
“Then we should probably go find him." Jack uncrossed his hands and put a hand in his pocket, ready to bring out the keys to his vehicle. "He'd explain this mess here.”
“You mean why we look the same?” said the two, in unison again.
Jack did his best to contain his excitement at the issue that came up again and walked off to his cruiser with them both in tow.
-----
“This theme song I have is brilliant!”
Whooves walked around the incomplete Doctor Who exhibit humming and whistling the theme to himself. It was somewhat eery to be seeing all these things. A replica of a Fendhal, several Sonic Screwdrivers, two life size replica's of the Daleks, a Ood mask. His scarf which he once wore back in the old days. Looking around, he quickly grabbed it and threw it over his shoulders.
“Ah, brings back memories. I still have one of you lying around the wardrobe somewhere.”
Continuing on, he nearly tripped when he saw a silver object that was quite possibly the most powerful weapon on all of existence. Reading the plaque below the stand it was placed on, a shiver ran down his spine: De Mat Gun. He thanked it was just a prop and not the actual thing, and continued onwards. Since it wasn't fully set up, there was a lot he couldn't see, and he figured he might come back in a few days once he found the TARDIS to see it when it opened.
Turning around, he was prepared to remove the scarf he had wrapped on him when he suddenly heard a strange commotion from one of the rooms near the back. Curious as The Doctor he was, he strode towards it to see what it was. Walking back there, he found a loading dock where they were still loading props for the show. What he saw quite a sight. Some girl was trying to apologize for just slamming into a street pole.
The pole itself had fallen down on a few boxes that they were unloading. Looking on at the scene, he happened to glance to his left and saw a man in a hoodie. Something wasn't right about how he looked and acted, as he seemed to be enjoying this way too much. When things started to calm down, he walked off and the Doctor began to go after him, soon finding himself running after the hooded figure.
“Hey! What are you doing!?” came a yell from behind him.
“That's The Doctors scarf!" Another voice called out, "He's stealing it!”
Whooves heeded them no attention. He lept over a chain fence using his mix of human, Time Lord, and Equine abilities. The others looked on in amazed by this, but gave chase. Whooves himself landed perfectly and took off after him. Yet, even despite his speed, the hooded individual seemed to be moving faster than he could go! As the Doctor ran past a small liquor store, inside he saw that several bottles had dropped and shattered all over the place. Continuing on, he passed a trio working on a car when the tire suddenly erupted and the engine caught aflame! Past that, a truck carrying chickens careened into the side of the road as its chickens got loose and flocked all over the road. Wherever this guy seemed to walk, chaos seemed to follow.
“Chaos!” spoke the Doctor out loud.
No, it couldn't be! Him? Here? On this planet? In this dimension!? Either this guy just seemed to walk the most convenient route for things to go wrong, or this guy was the very king of chaos! Hell, he was a pony Time Lord on this planet turned human Time Lord, why could it not happen to the god of disharmony? Chasing him down the street, a bus happened to pass in between them and the entire thing backfired loud. The entire bus jumped from and not far away on a balcony, a old man shot up and screamed before falling over, his wife screaming right after that. She yelled for someone to call a ambulance, while the Doctor watched on as the hooded person kept on walking.
This could not continue any longer. Taking in a deep breath, he steadied himself, and then tore off at a dead run. To anyone else it was super human, as Whooves tore past stores and up the street. He came to another intersection where a car was driving out. Unable to stop, the Doctor leaped over the car with all his might, before landing on all fours on the other side. The car slid to a stop as Whooves looked to his target, who was closer than before. He didn't stop running, and now the man was getting closer and closer away. Just as the Doctor neared him, he turned around. His face was a pale gray, but the piercing crazed red eyes told all.
“DISCORD!” yelled the Doctor, jumping into the air.
The man was caught off guard as the Doctor came down on top of him, tackling him to the ground. Whooves couldn't believe he just did that, and attributed it to the fact he still had some equine power in him. The hooded man meanwhile swiftly recovered and looked up from the ground. There was no question to it now, any normal human would have been knocked into shock at that impact. Discord here, was perfectly fine. The Doctor tore out his Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it at him, ready to unleash whatever power the little tool had against the Spirit of Disharmony.
“How did you know who I am?”
“I'm the Doctor! There's a lot I know.”
Discord let out a sneer at this, which unnerved the Doctor right down to his core.
“I see. Were you sent in after me to stop me? What does good ol' Celestia have planned?”
“What are you talking about? Why are you here?”
Discord's eyebrows rose momentarily before going back down and a sly smile crossed his face. “Really? Well, there's a lot you don't know it seems. Too bad you'll never find out.”
“What do you mean? Tell me right now or I'll-”
“There he is!” Whooves looked back to see the loading dock workers still chasing after him. He had completely forgot about them and the fact he was still wearing the scarf. When he looked back to Discord, all he saw were a few bubbles popping where the spirit once lay. There was no way the Doctor could take on all the workers alone, especially for a wrong he had done. As they closed in, Whooves looked for a avenue to escape, and he found it. A shopping mall just a short distance away. The amount of people in there meant he could make a escape easily from the angry mob chasing after him.
Running at full speed, the mob right on his heels, but he could tell they were losing energy. Running into the parking lot, he got an idea, and began to use the cars to his advantage. As they split up to try and find him, he ducked in behind them, doubled back, and ran circles around them. The workers didn't know what to make of it, and soon, were running in the opposite direction and he was standing there laughing. Throwing the scarf over his shoulder as his new badge of honor, he looked to the large building and decided that since he was here, he might as well enjoy the mall.
While he had bigger problems when it came to Discord, he figured once he got his TARDIS, he could come back to this point in time and look on it. Right now, he wanted to visit the mall! Walking in the front doors, he could instantly tell this was American. The smell, the hustle of people, the stores all crammed together in a little tiny space all at once. He couldn't get anything, but he hadn't shopped at a human shopping mall in a long time. Besides, Americans had a ability to have just whatever you didn't need that you always wanted. Food, clothes, jewelry, electronics, cars, toys. The only thing more amazing then what they sold was their names. Jareds, Toy's R Us, Radioshack, Gamestop, Harley Davidson, Carousel Boutique, it was quite funny.
“Wait a second,” said the Doctor stopping cold in his tracks.
He spun around 180 degrees and walked back a few stores to see the large clothing shop sitting there in full view. To his relief, it wasn't Carousel Boutique. He laughed at how he could think on such a thing. Given the name though he could understand why. It was simply called 'Carrousel', and while it did sell clothes, it wasn't the same store in Ponyville. It did have many similarities, the high sense of fashion was a big one, as the store carried brand names and unique clothes on mannequins standing out in front of them. Feeling whimsy and wanting to experience this little coincidence that befell him, he walked into the shop without a care in the world.
Inside, several women looked around at the choices given to them in the store. Most were looking at the custom choices than the brand names, and just when he was starting to feel out of place, a woman was upon him instantly.
“Hello. Welcome to Carrousel. Where everything- My dear sir, what are you wearing?”
“What?” asked Whooves looking down at his suit seeing nothing wrong with it
“Ooh! You're accent! Is this the latest in British fashion? Hmm, Blue Pinstripe? Going retro I see. Could lose the scarf though, It just clashes!”
She walked around him looking all over what he was wearing, examining it to the very smallest detail. The Doctor was a little offset by this, but then again, one word came to his mind: Americans. Still, there was something familiar about this woman. Maybe it was her red glasses. Maybe it was her choice of high workers fashion. Maybe it was her purple hair! Looking it over, he knew he'd seen that hair before, in fact, he had even heard her voice before. No it couldn't be, that was impossible!
“Hey Reine! Is this good for her?”
The woman examining Whooves looked up, as the Doctor looked over, to see a dark haired woman standing before a blonde showing her off. Whooves looked on agape at the blonde for more than one reason. One, she was quite the beauty. A Grey blouse, faded jeans, it all went well with her. Second, her long blonde hair. Third, he eyes! Amber colored, walled, yet somehow it was natural! There was no denying it was her.
“Oh darling, you look fabulous!” cheered Reine.
“I'll say,” said Whooves checking the blonde out.
“Who are you?” asked the dark haired girl that began to notice the stalking brit that just walked in.
“Exactly.” laughed Whooves
They both gave him confused and sideways looks. There was both something they recognized about the man standing there, but they couldn't quite put their fingers on it. He chuckled to himself, reached into his pocket, and whipped out a small metallic pen. Or, at least that's what it looked like. Flipping it in the air and catching it, he aimed it at a cash register and it opened up on its own with a little buzz from the pen. Reine, however, was less than enthusiastic.
“I will not have remote controls doing that in my boutique.”
“It's not a remote control!” he answered, offended she would even think that.
“Then what is it?” demanded Reine, ready to call the mall security to chase this man out.
“Why it's a Screwdriver!” he happily spoke
“Doctor!?” came a surprised Derpy
The Doctor gave a bow and expertly put his Screwdriver back in his pocket. “Hello Derpy! I've come to rescue you!”
Derpy was upon him instantly hugging him. Whooves embraced her back, happy to have finally found her at last. Behind them, Reine turned to Lou and whispered in her ear.
“Who is that man? Why did he call her Derpy? That's quite rude!”
“Reine, do I have a story to tell you.” chuckled Lou.