“A doctor! Just what we need!” Applejack exclaimed gratefully.
“Well, perfect timing!” The brown pony stepped inside the library, followed by the pegasus. “Now, what's seems to be the problem-” He noticed the glowing hourglass. “Oh! Brilliant!” He produced a device with a light on the end and began waving it around the hourglass with his teeth. He mumbled a few question that was incoherent to everypony. Well, almost everypony.
“It's a chronodynamo,” Twilight answered.
The Doctor dropped the device as he looked towards the familiar voice. “Oh, it's you again!” he said, pleasantly surprised. “Hold on, how'd you make this?”
“I just cast a time spell on that hourglass so that it went back in time the exact amount needed to appear at the moment I cast the spell on it,” Twilight explained as the Doctor picked up the device again. “And then I kept doing that about forty times, until it just started glowing like that.”
“Sr yr mn-” The Doctor paused to spit out the device. “So you mean you created a fixed point in time! Oh, that is fantastic! You ponies are full of surprises!”
“Um...thanks?”
“So this is what's been setting off my Timey Wimey Detector!” The Doctor tapped the 'dinging' device around his neck. “And this whole setup...you've turned the library into a TARDIS!”
“ARCHIVE, actually,” Twilight corrected.
“Oh, very nice!”
“Hold on,” Applejack butted in. “Can you help Twilight?”
“Oh, right, sorry, got a bit distracted.” The Doctor shut off the detector then moved over to Twilight and began scanning her with the other device. “Nw, wus wrog?”
“She knows things that she doesn't know how she knows,” Pinkie Pie said as the Doctor finished the scan and consulted the device. “Kinda like my Pinkie Sense!”
“No, it's not like that, Pinkie,” Twilight said, calmer now. “I think that what's wrong is that I have memories that aren't mine.”
“How'd that happen?”
“Well-” Twilight and the Doctor both spoke at the same time, only to stop awkwardly.
“Go on,” the Doctor prompted.
“Well,” the unicorn resumed, “When I was going grocery shopping the other day, I forgot my list, and I didn't want to waste time, so I just used my memory spell to refresh my memory. Only as I was finishing the spell-”
“I ran round the corner and crashed headfirst into her,” the Doctor finished. “So she's got some of my memories now.”
“Can you fix it?” Applejack asked.
“Course I can.” The Doctor sat down in front of Twilight. “May I?”
“Go ahead.”
The brown pony raised both front hooves to the sides of the unicorn's head. “Alright, just close your eyes...” He closed his eyes in concentration as Twilight did the same. Presently, he opened them and lowered his hooves. “Right then, that should do it. Have to be sure, though...what's Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation?”
“I don't know.”
“Good!” The Doctor's brow furrowed. “Now, what was all that about Weeping Angels on Barcelona?”
***
Twilight finished explaining the events on Barcelona. “Well, that's interesting. Weeping Pegasi?” The Doctor thought for a second. “Anyways, I'll have to sort that out somehow. Good to know.” He turned his attention back to the hourglass. “Now, about this...”
“I know, I know,” Twilight sighed. “You can't let me keep it.”
“Well, you did make it using my memories. Inspired bit with the forty two repetitions of the spell, certainly, but this is a fixed point in time, and that should never happen.”
“I understand, Doctor. And this whole time travel thing's getting out of hoof again.” Twilight focused briefly. A breeze filled the library as the hourglass winked out and then reappeared. It had stopped glowing. “There, the spell's broken.”
“Thank you.” The Doctor tapped the side of the hourglass again. “Nice thing, though. Where'd you get it?”
“Don't you remember it?” Applejack asked. “It's the same one you used to start off the cider makin' competition.”
“Cider making?” Comprehension dawned on the Doctor's face. “Oh...wibbly wobbly, timey wimey...I probably should borrow this for a bit, then.”
“Go ahead,” Twilight told him. “Just make sure the Mayor gets it when you're done.”
“Thanks.” The Doctor paused. “You know, you lot never did get to Barcelona. Well, not the Barcelona most of you wanted to go to.” He looked around the group. “Fancy a lift?”
“Well, sure, if you're offerin',” Applejack said.
“Oh, I am. Back in a tick.” The Doctor galloped out of the door, holding onto the hourglass..
“Well, we've got a few minutes to wait, then,” Applejack said. “Now, if somepony could explain how this Doctor fella knows all that stuff?”
“Um, Applejack,” Derpy said, “We kinda don't.”
“What do you mean?”
A loud grinding murmur filled the air. Everypony looked around for the source, but found nothing. There was a loud thump, and then relative silence. The sound of hooves trotting up stairs was followed by the basement door swinging open. “Hello everyone,” the Doctor said. “Did say a tick, didn't I?”
“How'd you get in there?” Applejack asked.
“Come and see!” The stallion trotted back down the stairs, followed by everyone else. At the bottom of the stairs, where Twilight had originally kept the console equipment, was a blue box with a light on top. “The TARDIS! Time and Relative Dimension In Space!”
“Your time machine, right?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, and spaceship.”
Applejack tapped a hoof on the side. “Is there some kinda rule that all time machines have to be made of wood?”
“Oh, no. She just likes that.” The Doctor swung the door inward and stepped inside. “Come on!” Everypony else trotted after him. The Doctor looked at them expectantly as they looked around the TARDIS's much larger interior. “Well?” He asked. “I love this bit,” he whispered conspiratorially to Derpy.
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash said. She hovered up to the top of the room. “You can fly in here!”
“It's just lovely,” Rarity agreed. “The lighting complements the center piece perfectly.”
“It's...nice.” Fluttershy finished.
“Yes, but what else? I mean, what do you think about all this?” The Doctor waved a hoof around at the Console Room. “Don't you notice anything?”
“Ooh! I know!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “It's bigger on the inside!”
“Yes! It's bigger on the inside!” the Doctor affirmed. He looked at them oddly. “And yet...none of you seem very surprised.”
“Well, yeah,” Twilight said. “'Relative Dimension'; what else would that mean? I mean, you wouldn't make it smaller on the inside.”
“Oh, is that what it is?” Applejack asked. “Shoot, I thought it was like how I got shrunk down by that Poison Joke.”
The Doctor sighed in disappointment. “Magic...right.” He broke out of his revery and sprang to the console. “Right, first, don't touch that,” he told Pinkie, who was about to press a button. “And now, just let me get things set, and...” He adjusted some dials, then threw a switch. The time rotor began moving as the TARDIS echoed with the sound of her engines. “Next stop, Barcelona, the city!”
***
They spent the rest of the day in Barcelona. Pinkie met several dozen new folks, Fluttershy made several animal friends, Applejack met a dog with a nose, Rarity spent several hours observing the Cattleonian attire, and everypony (except Rainbow) spent the last few hours of the day at a spa. By the time the TARDIS reappeared in front of the library that evening, they had all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Each of them thanked the Doctor as they left. Five ponies went home, Derpy flew into town to pick up some muffins, and Spike went inside to tidy up. That left Twilight and the Doctor, standing outside the TARDIS, looking at the stars.
“Look at them; there's billions,” the stallion commented. “And millions of planets, all with histories and futures. Anytime, anyplace, all of them different.” He looked at the unicorn meaningfully. “Don't suppose you'd want to come along, one more trip?” He pointed at a star. “If I'm right, there's a library, somewhere over there, that covers a whole planet.”
“Sorry, but I think my own library's enough for now,” Twilight replied. “Though, thank you. If you hadn't run into me, this whole day wouldn't have happened.”
“True, I suppose,” the Doctor admitted. “Still, things could have gone pretty badly on Barcelona, if you lot hadn't been quick on your feet.”
“Yes, but we had your help, indirectly.” Twilight glanced at the Doctor. “You know, I might not have your memories, but I still have mine of what those memories were. I know where you're from.”
“It's hardly a secret, is it?” the Doctor said, laughing. He stopped when he saw the sadness in Twilight's eyes, the same kind of sadness he saw so often in the mirror.
“Doctor, I'm sorry you can't go back to your universe.”
For a moment, the silence deepened. Then the Doctor grinned. “Who says I can't go back, Twilight Sparkle? Maybe I don't want to go, just yet.” He stepped back inside the TARDIS. “Now, I'll just pop ahead and meet Derpy at Sugarcube Corner. Till next time!” He closed the door, and the roar of the time rotor swallowed the blue box once more.
Twilight stood, watching the empty spot for a moment. Then she trotted into the library. Everything had been put back in its place; the only proof that this building had ever moved from where it stood was in her and her friends' memories. She walked upstairs to her desk, unrolled a fresh scroll, and started writing.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Yesterday, I learned that sometimes, strange things happen without anypony planning for them to. A silly accident can lead to a big adventure, and it's not always certain it will end well. But just stick with your friends, and they will still stick by you.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.
She prepared the scroll for sending, tomorrow. Then, she trotted downstairs for a snack. If she remembered correctly, there was still half a pear pie in the fridge.
***
Fin.