//------------------------------// // Chapter 28 - Sideways in Time // Story: The Timepony’s Journal // by Penny_Shavins109 //------------------------------// The TARDIS whirred to a halt, the Doctor running their typical diagnostics. He looked up at the mint green console in concern, some of the results from the readouts either stalling or repeating in odd patterns. At least the TARDIS had presumably landed both safely and where they intended to land. Even the year was right, Taurus in the year 2450 on the CelestioLunar Calendar. He felt that he shouldn’t travel backwards in time just yet, moving forwards in time was always easier on the old girl’s systems. The TARDIS finally seemed to be functioning to some degree, though he knew what that meant to his friends.  Meanwhile Spark, Berry and Free came from the side door in their new outfits. Spark, of course, brandished a new tie while Berry and Free were wearing matching jackets. After all of their adventures, being scraped, torn and battered, the Doctor finally showed them the wardrobe. The TARDIS was a vast place full of more corridors than they realised, most of them untouched. Spark sighed when he looked at the old stallion pouring over his readouts. He was still somewhat mortified from the experience of Vortis, from the Animus. The first time he’d caused another being’s demise at his own hooves. “Something the matter, Doctor? Or is everything out of order as usual?” Spark scoffed. The Doctor peered at him over his shoulder, coming out of his trance. “No, no. We’re exactly on route to our destination. It’s just that something seems peculiar about our landing.” “Influence from the Animus, you mean?” Spark felt a pang of guilt as he saw the Doctor wince at the name. It was still a sore subject. “Hm? Oh, no need to worry. I checked myself and eh, that Isop Device was quite effective. Let’s see here…” The Doctor flipped a switch on the console and the scanner showed a long lineup of various spacecraft both old and futuristic. Spark smirked and patted the Doctor on the back.  “Well, well, well. Looks like you finally managed to land us in the correct location this time. Does this mean you can take us back to Foal Hill 963?” “Why you keep insisting, young stallion, is beyond me,” the Doctor said while rolling his eyes. “You did kidnap us, after all. I know we’ve started to enjoy your company but we have to return home eventually,” Berry wittily replied.  “I wasn’t myself quite yet, young stallion. I still deeply apologise for my actions.” Free looked at both Berry and then back to the Doctor. She thought that they went away with them willingly, not scooping them out of whatever place they’d come from. “I…think I need a glass of water…” Free said, walking through the side door concerned. The Doctor sighed, knowing that they had to return home eventually. They had lives to live, dreams to fulfill, just like him. He didn’t feel like the same rash old stallion that would condone such an action, he was even further removed from the one that left Gallophrey not so long ago. He pulled the lever for the door as Free rushed back to the group, white as a ghost while holding a glass of water. “Free, what’s the matter?” Berry asked. “M-my glass it just… I-I dropped it and then it broke and then it didn’t and… I don’t know how to explain it.” “Free, take several deep breaths. In and out. It’s okay, you just broke a glass, we’ll clean the mess up later.” “But I didn’t…” Free said as she frowned and joined the group outside the ship. Spark shielded his eyes and brushed his dark brown mane back. It was a bright sunny day, the twin suns accentuating the elegance of the museum’s tall spired structure. The path beneath them was rough, coarse and sandy. For once they felt happy to be somewhere new with no murderous monsters trying to follow them behind. Spark looked down at his hooves confused.  “Strange, this sand is deep isn’t it, maybe an inch?” “Yes, yes, your point being?” The Doctor sighed with strained annoyance. “And yet we don’t leave a single hoof print.” “Doesn’t seem very active, Doctor. Are you sure that they’re open for service?” The Doctor looked up from the ground and over at Berry as she spoke, interrupting his train of thought. “No pony’s perfect, Berry. I did do my best.” Everything was silent except the cold wind, interrupting the otherwise eerie silence. Something in this place felt very wrong. The Doctor trotted up to Berry and knocked on the front doors to the museum, looking at the museum hours on the glass. The doors were automatic yet they didn’t open for him. The TARDIS was still under repair, perhaps the day or time was merely off. “We seem to be at the correct time. Strange. Very strange indeed,” the Doctor half muttered to himself. The Doctor backed away from the door as two ponies in futuristic uniforms walked out of the doors. They didn’t even register the four of them at all. Even stranger, they were talking to one another clearly, yet they couldn’t hear them at all. Berry noticed and tried to get their attention, but they just continued right past her towards a docking bay. “Doctor…I’m starting to get a sinking feeling that we shouldn’t be here. It’s too quiet, all I can hear is the wind.”  “It’s more than that. You can hear the wind and feel a chill, but do you feel the wind at all? No. Perhaps we should do some investigating of our own?” “I don’t know, perhaps we should just get in the Tardis and leave.” Behind them Spark rattled the door to the TARDIS, trying to get it open. No matter how hard he tried, it was as if the door was made of concrete. They were stuck, trapped in the very place that they wanted to be. The nonexistent wind continued to howl but never blew even a breeze. A few more ponies exited and entered the museum, allowing them to follow behind inside. “I don’t think we have a choice. I think we had better go inside before we’re locked out completely,” the Doctor said, feeling a chill up his spine. The inside of the museum was grand, the floors tiled with fine marble. The lobby alone was impressive, but the exhibits were something even more to behold. The Doctor did his best to keep Berry and Spark out of certain areas, attempting to avoid spoilers in their own history. Ponies had travelled to the moon and back by now, settling on the two closest planets, Katrina and Rainbeauty, instead of just Equus.  They’d travelled beyond their star eight times as a part of the Equestrian Space Program that this museum was dedicated to. The planet had been repurposed from a colony dedicated to technological research to a museum displaying everything it accomplished. Spark looked above his head to see a large holographic display of the journey from Equus to this planet known as Thaurus. They were half a light year away and yet it would only take a week to travel between here and Equus. He could mail a letter to the other side of Equestria in that time back home, and yet now he could travel a thousand million times that distance himself in the exact same time frame. “Quite spectacular, isn’t it? If something wasn’t so peculiar about this place, I’d consider it quite extraordinary myself,” the Doctor chuckled as he frightened Spark from behind. “Don’t scare me like that, it’s already frightening enough with the entire place dead quiet. Still, I have to admit that it’s absolutely marvellous.” Free suddenly called out to the others. They gathered around in confusion as they saw the TARDIS sitting on a large pedestal, labelled under alien artefacts. Berry tried to open the doors but her hoof went right through the blue wooden exterior. She couldn’t touch it, couldn’t be heard or seen by others, as if she were a ghost. Berry looked down at her hoof before looking behind her, trembling as she looked at the glass cases behind them. Four glass cases holding the four of them, preserved for eternity as specimens in the museum. “Doctor…that’s us. But how can that be us?” Free asked, equally frightened. “I had a slight feeling about this. The Tardis was giving me readings indicating as such but I was always sceptical. We’re not really here, we don’t belong in this realm. We’ve gone sideways in time. I’ve never fully understood the fourth dimension and yet here it is, staring us in the face.” “But you can’t go sideways in time, only forwards or backwards,” Spark argued. “I think I understand… The fourth dimension, like our own, has multiple axes. We’ve gone into a different timeline, a branch from our own. Isn’t that right?” Free asked, trying to explain. “Indeed. The Tardis jumped a time track, pushing us temporarily out of our own. This timeline is where we exited the Tardis sometime earlier, simply a potential future. Thankfully the error will correct itself soon, however long it takes for us to truly arrive in our timeline. We’re not really here, explaining why we can’t affect anything.” “So we just need to wait? Wait until we arrive in the Tardis in our timeline.”  “Yes, Spark. It should happen any moment now.” The air began to warp and shimmer, reality rippling as the TARDIS and the cases began to vanish. A glass broke, the doors activated, hoof prints appeared in the sand, and their ship had been discovered. Everything they’d done up to this point, everything they couldn’t do, was now done. The four of them felt dizzy as time corrected itself, the things they saw no longer present. Instead they were in a partially empty room still under construction.  “So we’ve arrived,” the Doctor said, a hint of fear in his voice. “But those cases, us being preserved forever, that’s still in our future. There’s got to be something we can do to prevent it,” Berry said desperately. “I’m uncertain if we’ve already traversed that path yet or not. For all we know, that specific future is inevitable or impossible for us.” “So what do we do, go back to the Tardis and leave? Perhaps we can just wait for the Tardis to be brought to us. We know its future if what we saw happens to us as well.” “I’m not sure. Perhaps attempting to find the Tardis is part of what leads us to that future. For now we must stay in the museum and maintain our wits. We must be absolutely certain that this terrible probability never becomes a possibility.” Berry jumped back in fright as she snooped around, pulling off one of the coverings for the new exhibit. Underneath the metallic sheet was the unmistakable shell of a Dalek. Luckily for them it was merely a prop, a plastic and metal facsimile. Berry took several deep breaths as she started laughing with Spark. “So that’s what they looked like, I thought they’d be scarier,” Free said, looking at the prop curiously. This only prompted Spark and Berry to laugh more. Free grumbled while the Doctor patted her on the back. “If you’d seen them yourself, you wouldn’t be saying such a thing, my foal. Hmm, now what to do about this future business.” “What can we do then, if anything could lead us to that future?” The Doctor looked down at Free and smiled. “We hide, we wander, and we do what we shouldn’t do. Investigate, and understand our present before handling the future.” The Doctor and his friends travelled around and around the museum in near circles. They were attempting to at least find the TARDIS. At least inside it they could observe safely rather than risk any damage to themselves. They were lost, struggling to find any sort of direction display. Going back the way they came they spotted another pony, standing perfectly still. Whoever they were they didn’t blink, looking out with a thousand yard stare. Berry slowly approached them, trying her best not to make a sound. Spark and Free silently urged her to come back, yet the pony continued staring. It didn’t acknowledge her despite Berry being mere feet from her. She gestured for the others to follow along, now noticing the antennae sticking out from the pony’s earpiece. The earpiece’s light blinked and faintly buzzed, receiving some kind of signal. Everyone quickly rushed out of hiding as the pony tightly grabbed Berry, shoving something in her face. Her heart raced as she desperately tried to escape the deranged pony. She wanted to run and scream, but her voice was stuck in her throat. “MAP. Map. Take a. Map.” the strange pony said. Berry realised that what was shoved in her face was indeed offering her a map, if somewhat aggressively. She was immensely let go as she too it, taking several deep breaths to calm her nerves. The Doctor observed a panel on the back of the pony’s neck, barely visible to the naked eye. He opened it and tinkered a little before closing it back up. The pony slumped down slightly before readjusting itself. “There we are, a simple malfunction. Should be fully functional again after a quick reboot.” “But it looked just like a pony. A normal healthy pony.” Spark said, baffled. Free looked at Berry and Spark, tilting her head in confusion. “What’s so surprising? I’ve had less advanced models back home. They’re more of a danger to themselves unless you get too close during a malfunction.”  “Ah, yes. I’m afraid that the time where Spark and Berry come from hardly have any computational technology whatsoever.” Berry raised an eyebrow, jokingly annoyed at the old stallion as usual. The android quickly scanned the four of them a, its eyes shifting like the aperture of a camera. It was processing, trying to find the best course of action. “Your ID tags are [UNDEFINED]. Biology suggests [UNDEFINED] origins. Collection and cataloguing procedures. Commencing.” The group slowly backed away from the realistic android pony, only to find similar droids behind them. More android staff approached from other directions, boxing them in. Spark tried to rush one of the bots only to have several more attempts to restrain him. Berry quickly snatched Free and flew over the unsettling barrier, calling out to her friends before being chased away down the various halls. The Doctor succeeded in his attempt to free Spark, only for him to take his place. He was too old and weak to fight, all alone as he was carried away. He was being dragged towards the future he was desperately trying to avoid. The room he was placed in was dark and cold, the swivelling security cameras his only company. He was held down in a chair through some kind of magnetic restraints. A long robotic arm craned downwards and scanned him like the android did. “Strange. I cannot place a temporal date upon you despite being a carbon based life form. Please state your name and place of origin.” said the camera. The Doctor stayed silent, not revealing anything. He was deep in thought, running through possible subroutines for the machine may follow within his mind. He needed to choose his words carefully. Like the other androids this machine possessed pony-like qualities, but was much more difficult to reason with. “Tell me the purpose of your request, and maybe I’ll consider fulfilling it.” The machine paused, considering the request.  “The purpose of my inquiry is to obtain knowledge of any unknown specimens and preserve them. You are unknown, therefore you must become known and preserved.” The Doctor paused again, deep in thought. “Define your terms of ‘unknown’ to me.” “Unknown: where some piece of information is not available within my system.” “But you can’t know everything, you know. You don’t know everything about your visitors, do you?” “Correction. There are no organic lifeforms designated ‘visitors’ on Thaurus. I have perfect knowledge of all things within the museum except yourselves, the object of your possession, and three organic life forms such as yourself. Now please, state your name and place of origin.” “What if I don’t want to? What if I don’t desire to be a spectacle in your farce of a museum, eh? A museum is for visitors to learn and to preserve history.” “Then forced procedures must be enacted. The information will be extracted from your brainwaves during the preparation process. Thank you for visiting the Museum of the Interstellar Equestrian Space Program, have a nice day.” The room suddenly began to get colder and colder, the Doctor still unable to move. He did his best to try and undo the mechanisms for the chair but it was no use. His mind continued thinking yet he couldn’t move or act. He knew that the others were out there, but there was so little time. He’d had this feeling back on Equus before when the Daleks invaded, their attempts to invade his mind leaving him weary. He was still an old stallion, unable to withstand as much as he used to. He kept fighting inside, remembering his promise to Spark and Berry. Even if he survived this, he’d still end up alone. Free would be with him, but he knew she would leave too. To him she was like Susan, young, innocent, and wanting to learn and see the world. He was trying to fill the hole inside of him, but it just wasn’t the same. “Doctor!” Spark yelled as he pulled the Doctor out of the chair. The metallic restraints had been removed as he was far along the preservation process. He had no idea how long he’d been in that machine. Minutes, hours? He was just glad that Spark was there to save him. He still felt cold, stiff and tired, but he would recover. His body could withstand colder temperatures than ponies, far below freezing in any degree. Spark helped him out of the room he was put into and onto a chair. “Young stallion, you have no idea how glad I am you came.” “I’m glad too, especially with how many locked doors I had to work around. This place is an absolute maze, and I’ve completely lost Berry and Free. Hopefully they’re doing better than we are now.” They appeared to be in some kind of storage facility full of items with no exhibits or displays. There were tables lined with all sorts of devices, clothing articles and other miscellaneous bits and bobs from different time periods in Equestrian history. The Doctor did his best to reach one of the tables, but his legs still wouldn’t cooperate. “Spark, could you please hand me that large black box over there? I think I know a possible solution for our conundrum.” “Alright. Did you meet what was controlling those robots?” “Yes, yes, some rogue computer program designed to preserve any unknown items that come into this museum. You haven’t heard of artificial intelligence yet. It appears to have not been programmed to deal with living beings such as ourselves.” “But the visitors-?” “The ones we saw were all androids as well, avatars for real ponies on other worlds. Not everypony can afford a ticket offworld, you know.” “I figured, same problem I have back on Equus. I wanted to take a trip to Manehatten, but the train fare was overpriced. I guess not everything has changed over time.” “Yes, yes, now help me plug these two cables together.” Spark looked down at the large black box in confusion, helping to plug some cables together. It was as large as a small suitcase and was powered by a large battery pack the Doctor attached to the back cable. It had multiple buttons and a large dial, though it didn’t look as advanced as everything else that he’d seen in the museum. The Doctor slotted some other kind of contraption into it before it was complete. “How’s this going to stop a computer?” “Patience, my colt. Patience. Did you happen to pass by some offices on the way down here? I may be able to access the main system through a computer terminal.” “Yes, but it was blocked off. Some voice came out of nowhere and said ‘maintenance and deliveries only’, or something like that. I tried to force my way in but it knew I wasn’t a robot. It’s how I ended up here.” “We should be in luck then, because I have just the perfect idea.” Spark felt concerned as the Doctor chuckled to himself. “Are they gone?” Spark asked. “I think so. I believe we’ve actually done it, my colt. You could say that my plan was supreme. We are the rulers, exterminate.” the Doctor laughed, the prop Dalek he was in bobbing its eyestalk up and down. Spark chuckled and rolled his eyes as he got out of the other plastic Dalek casing. They’d found some in the processing room, making sure that they were in sight of the worker bots. The bots had moved them to the cataloguing office where all items were logged into the museum’s systems. The Doctor did his best to plug the box into the back of the cataloguing terminal before getting to work. He did his best to pull two cables that connected the terminal to certain wireless receivers, leaving only the power and wireless connection for its basic functions. Though the terminal was completely locked, requiring a passcode and username, he didn’t need it. He could feel it, that this was the moment where they could change from one path to the next. If they failed, the future they saw would change from a probability to a possibility.  The only thing for certain he knew was different was his knowledge of that future. He had to weaponize that knowledge to change his future. “Spark…this is the moment where everything changes. This sounds terrible but…we have to do nothing.” “Nothing!? After all that talk about changing the future and the fourth dimension, you just plan on giving up?” “Think about it, all I have to do is cut the power to this room and my trap will be put into effect. However, that’s what we would do. In the timeline we saw we possibly didn’t have the knowledge of that future. Using that knowledge, we have to do what we would never do. Perhaps if we give up for this moment, it’s the exact change that we need.” Spark paused, hardly understanding any of what the Doctor was saying. He wanted to change his future and escape, but his alternate counterpart likely wanted the same. Spark nodded knowingly as they both moved away from the computer terminal. Suddenly the power to the room went out before restarting again. Several monitors in the cataloguing room came to life, displaying nothing but static. It didn’t take long for the picture to clear and for Free’s face to appear on the screens. “Doctor, is that you? I think I’ve done something but I don’t know if I was successful.” The Doctor and Spark looked at one another, not sure what had happened. “That box, did it work? What does it even do?” The Doctor approached the black box and pressed an eject button on the front. The terminal it was plugged into returned to static as the other black module was ejected from it. The Doctor held it in his hooves, observing the item. It was a simple VHS tape, now coded with the encrypted data of the AI’s systems. “It’s a video recorder, simple as that. Something that hasn’t been invented yet by your time. I was attempting to attract the program to this specific terminal by cutting the power to this room. I’d hoped that I could trap as much data on this tape as I could, though it seems that Free has forced the entire program into it. Quite unexpected, isn’t it?” The Doctor moved over to one of the monitors with the video feed to Free and Berry. “I believe that everything is safe, I can alter the contents of this code before sending it back out. Consider it a patch in the software, hm. Now, back to the Tardis I presume?” “Doctor…are you really able to control the Tardis again?” Berry asked, a hint of sadness in her tone. The Doctor looked down, already knowing what was going to happen. It was the journey's end for the three of them. It had been some time since Foal Hill, since they barged their way into his ship. He knew that what he’d done was wrong, that he was so selfish. He wanted to do so much more with them, see so many more things in this universe. He could control the TARDIS now, he could take them back in time to the moments they wanted to see. He could take them to distant planets in the future where it was safe to travel. No more monsters or deaths or destruction. In that moment he felt like a foal again, he felt like a spoiled child not wanting to let go of a toy that wasn’t his. He’d grown, he’d learned, and he’d had a small bit of fun with them even in danger. It was finally time for him to move on. Spark put a hoof at his shoulder and sighed. “Doctor…could you please take us home?”