//------------------------------// // A Change of Scenery // Story: Doctor Whooves: The City of Toys // by MaxKodan //------------------------------// Doctor Whooves: The City of Toys Chapter 1: A Change of Scenery Max Kodan The console of the TARDIS rose and fell, accompanied by the ever present grinding noise. Rainbow Dash was getting used to it at last, but the sound still burrowed itself into her head every now and then. She had begun to assume that The Doctor just had managed to figure a way to tune it out. Then again, he was weird enough that he just might actually like it. She hung her leg over the arm of one of the cushy chairs that adorned the walls of the time machine. “Who knew there were hot springs on top the Heymalayas 150 years ago?” She asked, stretching her newly relaxed wings and sighing contentedly. “Yeah, too bad that whole...er...oversized arachnid thing happened.” The Doctor hopped into the chair next to her, bouncing on it a little. She thought it might just be the first time he’d sat down since he’d entered the TARDIS with her. “And I did NOT see that Canis Minor coming! He was kinda cute after he chased those things off! We’ll have to go back and bring him that giant tennis ball we promised. Don’t want to get on his bad side.” He chuckled, bobbing his head around as if he were listening to music. “Yeah! I’d say it’d be an awesome pet, but I don’t think I don’t think I could give him a steady supply of giant spiders.” She laughed. Deadly peril was becoming a daily occurrence. It was less scary each time it happened. “You know, Doctor, I’ve never had this much fun!” She relaxed all her muscles and let herself droop over the chair. “And I never knew Equestria was so...big! Not to mention everything outside of Equestria.” She stared up at the ceiling. “I’ve got a whole new way of looking at things!” The Doctor smiled, but before he responded the console emitted a loud Ding! The time-travelling stallion leapt to his hooves with a cry of excitement. “We’re here! Come on, Dash!” He rushed off to the console and pointed wildly at the door. “Stand a ways back, now, and just watch!” The confused pegasus rolled lazily out of the chair and stood up, padding over to the base of the stairs facing the door. She quirked an eyebrow back at The Doctor, waiting for further instructions. He waved his hooves at the door, indicating that she should just pay attention. When he was sure she was watching, he reached up and turned a valve on the control panel. Slowly, the doors creaked inwards. For a moment, Dash couldn’t see anything. She walked a few steps closer, leaning her head forward and squinting. “All I see is black...what am I missing?” The Doctor smiled and trotted up next to her. “You can go closer now, I’ve extended an oxygen field a short ways out the door. You can poke your head out, if you like.” His grin was wider than before, and he was bouncing so much that his feet were leaving the floor just a bit. Dash gave him a skeptical look before stepping closer to the door. She stuck her head out and looked down. “What is that...? Wait, what? Doctor, is this...!?” She pulled her head back in and turned back to him. His grin had grown so much it must have physically hurt for him to keep it that big. He nodded ecstatically. She looked out again, her eyes full of new understanding. What must have been thousands of miles below them, Dash could make out three things. She saw a large, orange sphere and a comparatively tiny white one. Between the two there was a green and blue ball. “Is that...” “Your planet. Doesn’t have a name yet, you know, not really. I mean, there’s Equestria, but that’s more of a country...though it is a big one.” He chuckled. He’d retreated to the console once more. “Aside from that, there’s Prance, Hoofany, Hayne,” He said, glancing down quickly at his monitor to check to see if he’d missed any big ones. “Belgium...Belgium?” He paused and tapped his hoof to his chin. “That one...might have been my fault.” “What?” “Nothing. Try to stand as still as you can, I’m going to slow us down in time, so we’ll see everything down there going fast-forward as it were.” He slowly cranked a knob downwards, watching her reaction. Below, two of the spheres began speeding up. The blue and green one rotated slowly in place, but the large orange one, which Dash now recognized fully as the sun, and the white one, the moon, began circling the planet. The two kept the same distance away that they had been before, slowly spinning round and round, as if dancing with eachother. “Wow, so that’s what it looks like?” The Doctor nodded. “Indeed. The Princesses, during their respective shifts, give their respective celestial orbs enough magic power to rise and set across the entire planet. And as we’ve seen, they give them sustenance, as well. It appears that they created them, set them on their orbits, keep them stabilized, and keep them moving at all times. Must be a rough job.” He smiled. “And they allow the light of the stars in, as well. I’d love to poke around about the reason why that’s necessary, but before that all happens there’s something I need to do. Please step away from the door.” She took a few seconds to comply. Reluctantly, she backed away, still craning her neck to see as the doors closed. She frowned and turned back to her driver. “What could be more important than finding that out? Now that you bring it up, I wanna know too!” She walked up the stairs and to the console, watching The Doctor run around and do...whatever it was he was doing. He called it flying. She called it guessing. “I need some normality. Where I come from, all, well...most planets are like the one we’re about to go to. Planet rotates, which makes it look like the sun is going around it to the little specs of life on the surface, and the moons revolve around the planet. And they do it all by themselves.” Dash had to process the thought for a moment. “They do it by themselves? How?” “Well, the initial angular momentum that began when the solar systems were nothing more than dust revolving around a star gives both revolution and rotation to each individual planet, while similar things happen with the moons and the planets themselves, causing micro systems that work virtually identically to the macro system, with some obvious tweaks due to distance, mass, and the initial velocity of-” The Doctor looked up. Dash was giving him that look that said she’d stopped paying attention some time ago. He laughed nervously before continuing. “Ah...lots of numbers and sciencey stuff. You wouldn’t be interested.” She rolled her eyes. “So, wait, now you’re telling me you’re going to take me to another planet?” She stretched her legs out. “Your crazy must be wearing off on me. I think I actually believe you.” “Good! Makes it more fun! Your first time on an alien planet! This is gonna be brilliant!” He called the ceiling, yanking the lever that he usually yanked when he wanted things to happen. ----- In a dark room, on the top floor of a very tall building, in front of a wall full of screens showing various parts of a city, a pony yawned. “Boring, boring, boring. You’ve all become so boring.” He leaned on his hoof, glazed over eyes sweeping across the screen as they occasionally switched to new scenes. Different streets poked in momentarily before flashing away. Buildings, businesses, houses, even the occasional bathroom showed up. However, not even the sight of a bank robbery shootout seemed to cheer him up. However, one thing caught his attention. He sat upright and narrowed his eyes at one of the screens. Something new had appeared. In fact, it was still appearing. “Well, now...what’s this?” He asked his computer system. Moving his hooves a little bit, the screen enlarged and took over most of the wall, though the robbery remained in the bottom corner screen. A strange, blue box took up the majority of his screens now. The pony chuckled, smiling slightly. “How very, very interesting...Perhaps the fun won’t end just yet!” He laughed as the doors opened and a pair of ponies stepped out. The laughing grew and grew, and soon manic cackles echoed off of the walls and into the darkness. ----- The first thing The Doctor did upon stepping outside the TARDIS was take a huge breath in, hold it, and then release it in a contented sigh. “There we are! That’s how a proper planetary movement is supposed to feel!” He turned back as Dash stepped out. She tested the ground a little bit before leaving the safety of the TARDIS. “It...” She paused, bouncing on her hooves to test further. “It doesn’t feel any different.” “Well, maybe not to you, but I’ve been to a lot of planets. It feels different to me.” He huffed a little. “Nothing quite like a properly revolving hunk of rock. It’s like...” He appeared to think for a moment. “It’s like the difference between flying and, well, flying.” “That...makes sense.” She conceded. It was true, what most ponies considered ‘flying’ and what she considered ‘flying’ were two entirely different things. That glorified floating wasn’t flying; it took skill, practice. When the perfect updraft of warm air hit, and she adjusted just right, and it lifted her so effortlessly into the clouds, the feeling was entirely different than just flapping your wings about like a chicken. She smiled. “Fine, fine, ya got me.” Anyway, so long as she couldn’t feel the difference, she resolved not to let it bother her. “Now, let’s do some exploring!” The Doctor looked around them. They were in a deserted alley in what appeared to be a large city. Buildings towered on either side of them, both brick and mortar, both at least 5 stories tall. They could see an occasional form move hastily past their field of vision on the street. The very picture of a city bustling with life. The shapes buzzing about in front of the alley seemed to be relatively pony shaped, though they varied in size and it looked as though some of them were wearing clothes of some kind: hats, cloaks, suits, dresses, all sorts of different apparel appeared in the silhouettes. “So, Doctor, if we’re on another planet,” Dash reasoned, “Are those...aliens?” “That would be the logical conclusion.” He smiled impishly, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head towards the street. His companion giggled, then cleared her throat. “Aliens...aliens! Hah!” Dash jumped into the air, doing a little turn and prancing out towards the street. The Doctor followed in turn, just as interested in seeing what a pony alien might look like. As the two emerged, the sunlight shone bright in the sky. The sounds of murmured conversation filled the apparently major thruway and echoed across the buildings. The street itself was packed with a strange combination of pony-drawn carts, automated wheeled transports The Doctor called ‘cars,’ and hovering, metallic pods. The most interesting thing to see, however, seemed to be the inhabitants of the city. Every single pony was different, but somehow familiar. Most likely because every one of them was a toy. Nutcrackers, dolls, army ponies, and action figures bustled down along the sidewalks past the ragtag standstill traffic as if nothing were strange at all. Clowns, mimes, cowboys, robots, superheroes, princesses, construction workers, samurais, and so many other things that Dash could point out skirted around them as if they were just another light pole or fire hydrant. The Doctor looked around, scanning the buildings and the vehicles and the ponies. “Well, now, look at that! Isn’t that just brilliant! A city full of toys. Probably some kind of marketing draw. But they all do seem quite alive...Oh, and good news!” He called excitedly, reaching back towards his tail and fishing around with his hoof. “I made myself a little hidden holster. Some ponies may be dissuaded by the lack of pockets, but I’m The Doctor!” He withdrew his hoof, and with it came a long, slender device. He held it up and the end of it began emitting a green glow. An odd, wavering sound signaled that it was working. He pointed it around the area for a moment, then at a couple of ponies as they walked by. They gave him odd looks, but he simply ignored them. Dash watched as he flicked his wrist. The device extended and he looked it over, nodding a bit. “Well, not quite, I guess. These ponies are completely alive and sentient. Even have a very low power psychic field around them. Perfectly average. How interesting.” He bit his lip and squinted. “Some of it’s a bit off though. Tiny little bits of information on them are just not here, or they’re scrambled up anyway.” “What are you...what is that thing?” Dash tilted her head at the device. “It looks like a fancy flashlight. How is it telling you all this stuff?” “Oh? This? I suppose you haven’t seen it yet. This is my sonic screwdriver. It does stuff. I guess it could just not be used to this universe yet, so the readings might not be one hundred percent accurate...” “Ok, I know I can’t always follow your ramblings, Doctor, but I think I deserve a better explanation than ‘it does stuff.’” She rolled her eyes. “Hm? No, that’s pretty much it. It’s psychically linked to me, but pretty much it just...does stuff. I just scanned the area and the ponies, here, and it told me what I wanted to know. It does more, too. Just...a bunch of stuff.” He shrugged. “Rrrrright. So, why are we just standing here? Shouldn’t we go exploring? This is my first time on another planet!” She giggled, “Let’s go look around!” “That,” The Doctor started, closing the screwdriver and putting it back into his supposed tail-holster, “Is a brilliant idea. I knew I brought you along for a reason. Off we go then!” ----- The city, to Dash’s shagrin, actually looked surprisingly normal. They first circled a block and, after bumping into a very apologetic cyborg, wound up right back where they were. The buildings were made mostly of brick, and seemed uniform relative to the inhabitants and the vehicles. Primarily apartment buildings of some sort, with shops and kiosks scattered about. The stores looked normal enough. A grocer here or there, a tailor, a few barber shops and mane salons, some pawn shops, and so on. “I dunno, I just expected some weirder stuff...Where are the clip-on dresses for the dolls? Why didn’t that shoe store have clown shoes? I thought a planet like this would be a bit more...fun, I guess.” She sighed. But, it wasn’t a complete loss. After all, aliens! Real, honest aliens! “Well, sometimes you take what you get. Besides, we only saw a small part of the city, it looks like it’s absolutely sprawling. We could spend quite a lot of time just walking around looking at stuff!” The Doctor bounced a little. “I’d rather like to find a bookstore. Find a little history on the city and all that.” “Couldn’t you just get in the TARDIS and go watch the city’s past?” Dash walked a few steps into the alley and sat, leaning against the wall of the building to relax a little. Those hot springs had really loosened her up. “Well, sure I COULD do that, but it’s so much better to get it from a book! The feel of the paper on your hooves, hearing the way other ponies describe the events, the very language itself is the best part of it!” “...You sound a LOT like Twilight right now, you know that?” Dash prodded him and chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” “Just an observation.” “...H-hello?” The pair looked around for the source of the strange voice. Finally, upon looking down, they saw a small, wooden pony. He looked hardly larger than a foal, but his mane was cut exquisitely well. He was painted fully, with a great amount of detail apparently put into each facet of his body. He blinked a few times, as if waiting for a response. “Well, hello, there!” The Doctor smiled and lowered himself closer to the wooden pony’s level. “I’m The Doctor, what’s your name?” The sculpturesque pony shyed away, taking a few steps back. “You...you’re ponies?” “Last time I checked, yeah.” Dash responded. She might have thought it was an odd question, if she hadn’t remembered that they were on a planet comprised mostly of oversized childrens’ playthings. “You should leave, quickly!” The urgency in the foal’s voice didn’t seem feigned. The Doctor stood up to his full height and frowned deeply. “And why’s that?” “There’s no time, you must get out of here before-” The foal gasped and jumped. “It is too late! May the Maker have mercy on your souls!” He called as he darted off. Dash blinked, reaching her head around the corner to watch the little thing swerve between the legs of other pedestrians before finally turning a corner and disappearing behind the building. “What was that all about? What a weird kid...” “Aw, now don’t be hard on him, he’s not a bad child at all.” A smooth voice from just behind Dash made her jump in a way reminiscent of the little toy from before. She backed out of the alley and stopped alongside The Doctor, turning to see who had spoken. In the semi-darkness between the two buildings stood a surprisingly average looking pony. His body was a dull yellow, and his black mane was cut rather short, though it was quite wavy and well maintained. His cutie mark looked rather like a hammer. He wore a calm, welcoming smile and bowed deeply after Dash’s minor freakout. “My sincerest apologies if I startled you, I assure you it was not my intention. I only wish to welcome you to my fair city and extend my hoof in gratitude for deciding to spend your time here.” He raised himself up and stepped out of the shadows. As he did, his vision blurred a little, but then settled back into its normal state. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come and see you in the flesh, but by the time I’d have tracked you down you would have moved on elsewhere. This is the best method I’ve found for personally welcoming newcomers.” The Doctor smiled. “A hologram welcoming committee, eh? That’s very nice! Are you speaking to us live, or is this recorded?” “I am speaking to you in real time. We don’t get too many visitors here, so my schedule is remarkably free.” At the mention of his schedule, he seemed to realize something. “Oh! How, rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself!” He bowed once more, exactly the same way he had before. “I am Mayor Nollar, and it is a great pleasure to meet you.” “Very well then, Nollar! It’s good to see a politician who enjoys greeting his visitors personally! Oh, ah, I’m the Doctor, and this is-” “Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all Equestria.” She cut across him, smiling confidently and raising her chin proudly. “Rainbow Dash and...The Doctor. Very good! Well, then, allow me to introduce you to a little tradition we have here. New visitors are invited to play a little game, to fully enjoy the sights and sounds and life in the city! All you have to do is find me. I realize that it’s a large place, and the task seems daunting, but I assure you if you know anything about me you’ll find me in no time flat! Simply ask around, and the citizens will give you more than enough information.” The Doctor chuckled. “Very well, then. I assume you’re not in City Hall? That would be too easy, wouldn’t it? Alright, alright, I’ll get about that right away. Seems like a good way to spend our time, doesn’t it, Dash?” He looked over as he asked her. She quirked a brow at him. “Very good! You seem to be a rather clever pair of ponies, so I’m sure I’ll see you in no time!” The Mayor bowed and, with that, vanished. Dash kept her moderately confused eyes on The Doctor. “You agreed? That easily? Isn’t this a bit weird? First that kid, and now a Mayor that wants to play Hide-n-Seek?” She frowned. Now that she’d said it out loud, at least it didn’t sound dangerous. “Aww, he’s a fun loving guy! He’d have to be to run this place. But how about for this first game, we cheat a little.” The Doctor winked and started off down the alley. Dash followed and rolled her eyes. The two approached the TARDIS quickly, The Doctor continuing to speak as he went. “We’ll just pop in here for a second, trace the source of the hologram, and head right over. Then we can ask all the questions we want, no problem, see?” He reached the doors first and pressed his hoof against it. “Let’s go then, shall we?” With a push, the doors squeaked open. Three steps later, The Doctor hit something solid. He backed out and shook his head, opening his eyes. “Oi, I don’t remember a-” He began. His words caught in his throat as he looked through the TARDIS doors. On the other side, all he could see was blue wood. The back of the Police Box. He struggled to find the words he was looking for for a moment, but Dash found them first. “What? What the hoof is going on here!?” She growled. “Doctor, is your stupid ship broken?” She shot him a glare, but softened when he shook his head. “It doesn’t just stop working. It’s been tampered with. And if I had to guess...” He said slowly, turning his head to the side just enough to see over his shoulders. Dash followed his gaze, and together they turned to face the street once again. Between them and the opening to the alley, the Mayor stood, smiling serenely once again. “I’d say I know who did it.” “Now now, then. We can’t have you cheating in our little game! Cheaters are bad. Cheaters are punished here! Cheaters can’t play the game. And I do so love playing games. So I’ve ensured that you can’t cheat at all.” He chuckled light heartedly, smiling good-naturedly at them. “...We don’t want to play your game, Nollar, we just want to leave. That’s all.” The Doctor’s voice had dropped into a more serious tone. Dash nodded her consent. “Oh, you’re no fun! I haven’t even told you of the prize you could get if you win!” He chuckled impishly. “I do think it’ll make you change your mind.” He waved his leg and the air between him and one of the buildings became slightly fuzzy. Against the wall, the fuzz settled into a figure. A female unicorn shifted uncomfortably. It looked as if she’d been manacled to the wall. She groggily shook her head, then appeared to look right at them. “Er...Hi,” The pale-green bodied mare managed to get out. Her blue-violet mane looked rather frazzled, and any particular style it might have had was completely unrecognizable. She laughed nervously. “I, uh, don’t really know you, but do you think you could help me out here?” She tugged on her bonds a little bit. “I think I’m starting to chafe.” The Mayor laughed heartily and waved his hoof inward. The hologram contracted, pulling back until only he was visible again. “So there you have it! Come find me, and you’ll add a member to your party! Sound fair? Good!” He called. He hadn’t waited for a reply. With a light click sound, the feed cut off, and the two travellers were stuck alone in the alley once again. “So...what do we do now?” Dash asked. She had begun floating in the air, focussing her frustration at the kidnapping jerkwad into keeping herself airborne. “Now...” The Doctor began, his voice low and his “We play his game.” The stallion walked forward at a moderate pace, his eyes locked forward. Dash recognized the look. The Doctor was getting serious, and she knew that The Mayor was in trouble. “But where do we start? We’ve got the whole city to look over!” She called after him, swooping down and trotting alongside him. “I know where he is.” He kept his eyes ahead, stomping along the path towards the street. “What? How could you possibly-” “He gave us all the information we needed and then some.” “And then some?” The Doctor nodded. “Now I know who he is, too.”