//------------------------------//
// (Part 1) Heroes of Equestria 
// Story: Doctor Whoof: Time of the Hourglass 
// by Muleicous 
//------------------------------//


Heroes of Equestria
	
At the crack of dawn, The Doctor woke up to the sound of birds chirping softly outside the doors of the TARDIS. The time colt rubbed his eyes as he stood, his legs shaking from the hard work he had put into his machine late last night. Even with his hooves aching, he had to admit that it was all for nothing. Even with the updated cortex analog and the addition of a new blue whirly thingy, The Doctor knew that the one thing his TARDIS truly needed was power. Normally, it would’ve recharged pretty much automatically, even in a strange dimension like this one, but for some reason the time cortex just wouldn’t absorb anything from Equestria. 
“Maybe,” The Doctor pondered, walking into the kitchen and grabbing some bread, “the unicorn’s magic is interfering with the old girl’s mainframe...” He casually popped the bread into a toaster and waited, his stomach growling angrily as the time colt’s mind searched for an answer. “Either way it doesn’t matter. I just need to find something with enough energy to get her running again... Maybe a controlled explosion... Or Pinkie Pie.” 
Suddenly, there was a heavy knock at the door, “Doctor!” Derpy’s voice called out, “Doctor, you there? I brought you some muffins! They’re banana-nut... Well, it’s banana-nut...”
The Doctor opened the door and looked at his companion with a raised eyebrow and slight smile, “Got hungry huh?” he asked, his eyes drifting to the lone muffin in the basket.
“Kinda.” the pegasus blushed and walked in, her crossed eyes seemed to pick up on the construction going on everywhere at once, “So... Busy?”
“A little yeah,” He took a bite of the muffin, “mmmm... Did Pinkie make this?”
“No, it’s a family recipe. You’re not... planing on leaving before I say good bye are you?” she asked, turning to face The Doctor.
The time colt looked at the sad look Derpy gave him and gave her a warm smile, “Of course not, I can’t just leave with out saying good bye to you and Apple Bloom. What gave you that idea?” The sound of the toast popping up sent him into the kitchen.
“Well,” Derpy said, following behind her friend, “it’s just that you seem like you’re in a hurry to go, and well... I’m afraid one day I’ll fly over here and just find forest.” She layed on one of the kitchen benches, her eyes filled with concern as The Doctor placed a plate of buttered toast next to her.
The Doctor looked her as straight in the eyes as he could, “Listen, Derpy... You’re my friend. If it weren’t for you, well I’d probably wonder why in Celestia’s name I’m a pony.”
Derpy smiled and snickered a little, holding a hoof over her mouth.
“What’s so funny?” The Doctor cocked his head to the side.
“It just sound’s weird when you say pony sayings,” the pegasus laughed more and dropped her voice down to mimic his, “ ‘Why in Celestia’s name I’m a pony.’ ” The Doctor just shook his head and gnawed on a piece of toast as his mind drifted off to question how he could fix his poor TARDIS.

***
	The main road of Ponyville was full of bustling mares, colts, and foals enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Derpy quickly lead The Doctor to Sugarcube Corner for their weekly visit with Pinkie Pie and the Cakes. Even since the incident with Discord in the Equestria Gardens, the pink pony promised the time colt and mail pegasus a weeks supply of baked goods and sweets until The Doctor had to leave town. Oddly enough, the Cakes seemed to be in more of a rush then usual for a normal Ponyville Saturday, while Pinkie was nowhere in sight.
“Oh, hello dears,” Mrs. Cake greeted the two ponies with her usual smile, “Pinkie’s upstairs wrapping up your weekend deluxes for you.”
“Thanks Mrs. Cakes,” Derpy replied, acting as though the two barkers always rushed around like this, “getting ready for the big day?”
“Oh yes, loads to do, not enough time.” Mr. Cake chimed in, his hooves delicately frosting a huge chocolate cake that seemed to be filled with a sort of strawberry jelly. The Doctor and Derpy rushed upstairs to the party pony’s room, but stopped just outside the door.
“Ready to initiate Operation: Sur-Pies?” Derpy asked her friend. The Doctor nodded, a couple of weeks ago the two of them had made a little plan for today. It took days of careful planing, ever single detail had to be completely perfect or the entire idea would crumble to pieces. Finally, they had settled on a simple, yet deadly method of attack... The two ponies where going to sneak up on Pinkie and yell surprise to make her jump to the ceiling. It was completely fool proof. Slowly, Derpy pushed the door open, she held up her hoof to keep The Doctor at a safe distance, then she threw it down and the two pounced.
“Surpri...” was all that The Doctor and Derpy got out as they charged into the room, where they were greeted by a masked pony wearing a cape and purple hat.
Derpy’s eyes widened as she stared at the costumed pony, “You... You’re... You’re the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well...” the pegasus said with a slight squeak, her eyes lighting up as she stood on her back hooves and bounced a bit.
Then Pinkie Pie pulled off her mask, frowning for the first time that The Doctor had seen. “Um... I can explain.”

***
	Pinkie jumped from her bed to a small table in her apartment, her cape flowing with her wild turns and twitches. She explained it all to The Doctor: how her body gave her warning signs throughout the days that told where what kind of danger was going to happen and where (her 'Pinkie Sense’ as she called it),  how Rainbow Dash had begun bragging about every little thing she did, and even how she and two other ponies formed a hero called the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.
“You see,” the pink pony began, talking at her usual quick pace, “Mare-Do-Well protected everypony from bad stuff, like stopping run away busses and saving construction ponies from messed up equipment. So, the mayor decided to give her a day to celebrate all the good stuff me and the other two ponies did to help Ponyville, but no one knows that Mare-Do-Well is actually four ponies except for us, and now you I guess. We all decided to keep it a secret, and now Rainbow Dash helps us out a bit too. In fact, I there are actually six ponies who are Mare-Do-Well!” Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened as she gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves, “I wasn’t supposed to say that! We promised that no one could ever know that Mare-Do-Well is actually Mare-Do-Wells, and I was the one who made us all promise... Wait!” she rushed over to The Doctor and Derpy, the party pony’s usual grin back on her face, “If you two swear never to tell anypony that Mare-Do-Well is five ponies, then it’s not like I told you!”
The Doctor’s head shook with all the information he had to absorb. He really came to accept that Pinkie spoke so fast it could break the sound barrier, but he didn’t have to like it. The time colt looked to Derpy, and his assistant nodded at Pinkie in agreement. “We promise Pinkie.” The Doctor answered.
“Do you Pinkie Promise?” she asked, looking the time colt in the eyes, “Because loose lips sink friendships...”
“I Pinkie Promise.” he replied, sticking out his hoof until he remembered that ponies don’t have fingers.
“Great!” the party pony smiled and bounced happily, “Now I can tell you that the other ponies are Twilight and Applejack and the rest of us.”
“Wait, wait, wait...” Derpy held up her hooves to ask Pinkie to pause, “So you six, the six who can use The Elements of Harmony, are also the ponies who make up the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well?”
“Yep.” Pinkie nodded and smiled.
The grey pegasus couldn’t help but look at her time lord friend, deeply confused about all this. “Doesn’t it seem a little strange that you six have so much... Stuff happening? I mean, two months ago you where captured by Discord and Blackspine, and last week Fluttershy and you fought off a Hydra that was trying to eat Zacora.” 
“Zaco-who?” The Doctor asked, never hearing this name before.
“I’ll take you to meet her later, you’ll like her.” Derpy replied, “Still, Pinkie... Isn’t it strange?”
“Strange? Hmmm...” the pink pony put her hoof under her chin and rubbed, pondering, then her face lit up, “Nope.”
Derpy’s hoof hit her forehead in a blur of grey and she shook her head. The pegasus thought it was strange that she had never noticed how weird things became around Pinkie and her friends. “Oh well,” she turned to The Doctor, who was admiring Pinkie’s Mare-Do-Well hat, “let’s get going Doctor. We still need to take Apple Bloom to get those purple flowers from the forest.”
The time colt nodded and grabbed the large boxes of sweets, waving good bye to Pinkie as he walked down the stairs. He walked next to Derpy and smiled, “You’ll get used to seeing that.” Then he walked out the door of Sugarcube Corner, leaving a confused Derpy to ponder what her friend had said for a moment before she ran after him.

***
	Mayor Mare paced her office, much like she had done a few months before, her mind running through the facts set out before her. First off, she knew Mare-Do-Well was a hero, in fact it was the mayor herself that made the last Sunday of Spring officially 'Mare-Do-Well Day’. She had seen, with her own eyes, that the masked pony wanted to keep Ponyville safe from natural disasters. Hay, she had even seen the masked hero fight off a rather large scorpion creature near the edge of the Everfree Forest a few months ago. 
However, that isn’t the picture Miss Cherilee had drawn last evening. The mayor turned to the pony who brought the frightened school pony in, a pegasus with a light brown coat and a sandy-blonde mane. Her wings looked clipped on by some strange armour that was as black as her hoof tips, and she wore a sandy colored vest with a matching cape and watch. Frankly, to Mayor Mare, this pony looked too upper class to be in her small town, and this wasn’t helped by her Trottingham accent. “Before we go one Miss...” The mayor paused.
“Keeper, just The Keeper.” the pegasus answered, her voice smooth as silk.
“Yes, Miss Keeper,” the older pony closed her eyes, a feeling of deja vu filling her. “I want to thank you for saving Miss Cherilee. Many of the foals of Ponyville would be lost without her gentle hoof to guide them, but as to her accusations...”
“About the masked pony.” The Keeper interrupted.
“Yes, the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. How do we know this isn’t just some pony’s twisted idea of a prank?” Mayor Mare walked behind her desk and took a sip from her apple juice box.
“That is what I intend to find out Miss Mayor,” the strange pegasus answered, “but I’ll need a bit of assistance.”
“Of course, I can get you the best detectives from Canterlot.” she began to walk towards a shelf filled with scrolls.
“Actually, you have the best detective in all of Equestria right here in Ponyville.” 
The Mayor turned to her guest, an eyebrow cocked in confusion, “And who would that be?”
The Keeper smiled plainly, like she was trying to hold back a snickering at the mayor for doing something stupid, then she simply said, “The Doctor.”