//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: An Unearthly Stallion // Story: Doctor Whooves: The Regal Sisters // by Gherkin //------------------------------// They all say that waiting for your cutie-mark is the hardest part of a schoolfilly’s life, and for Applejack it was no exception. She could never get used to all the bullying and name-calling, even though it had been going on for months. Today’s round was just the icing on the cake. Applejack couldn’t hold it back anymore. She collapsed to the floor and wept, the countless months of schoolyard teasing taking their toll. My life is worthless, she thought grimly, I’m nothing but a useless old blank-flank. Slowly, she picked herself up and began her walk home. Turning a corner onto Mane Street, she somehow felt compelled to take the longer route through Ponyville to get home. Her thoughts still drowned out by depression, the filly almost missed it. Out of the very corner of her eye, she had noticed something extraordinary. Standing at the end of a dank and dirty alley was a large blue shed, with the words “Police Box” emblazoned above its double doors. Intrigued, she inspected further. “Police Box...” she muttered to herself, her eyes transfixed upon the unusual structure, “What in the hay is a Police Box?” Hearing a loud moan behind her, Applejack quickly turned around to see a brown stallion, with a messy brown mane, clutching his chest. He looks like one of them fancy big city ponies, all dressed up in that suit of his, she thought to herself. “Are you OK, mister?” Applejack nervously walked towards the stallion in pain. Upon hearing her voice, his pain seemed to subside a little. He opened his eyes to look at the filly in front of him. “It’s OK,” he spoke with a soft accent as he pulled out a piece of paper from one of his pockets, “I’m Doctor, um, Timey Wimey, chief advisor to the mayor of Manehattan.” Applejack glanced at the paper, a look of confusion adorning her face, “Why are you flashing a blank piece of paper in front of me?” The strange doctor’s eyes grew wide as he put the paper back in his pocket quickly, “Well, you see, it’s because, well.... um...” he stuttered, before collapsing in a violent coughing fit. Applejack rushed to his aid, “Doctor, I think you need to get to a hospital!” “No, it’s alright,” he told her, recovering from the unexpected trauma, “Now listen to me,” he kneeled down to match her eye level, “What’s your name?” “Um, Applejack,” she mumbled. “Applejack. In a sec I’m going to step into that shed of mine.” He gestured towards the blue box, “I want you to keep your eyes on it; I promise you’ll see something amazing.” He grinned before looking down at his hooves, which had begun to glow, “Looks like my time’s almost up,” he muttered solemnly, before stepping inside. For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Applejack turned to leave, but she stopped she heard a soft grinding noise behind her. To her amazement, she saw the blue box begin to magically disappear. A few seconds later, it was gone, with nothing but a few trash cans in it's place. Her eyes still unable to process what just happened, a smile began to spread across Applejack’s face. Boy, those Manehattan ponies sure have a lot of style, she thought to herself as she started her walk home again, It’d sure be nice to live a sophisticated life in the big city. In fact, come to think of it, don’t I have an Aunt and Uncle who live there? A brilliant idea formed inside her head. “So long Ponyville!” Applejack exclaimed out loud, “I’m goin’ to Manehattan!” Matt Smith Ashleigh Ball & Tara Strong in DOCTOR WHOOVES THE REGAL SISTERS “See you tomorrow, Applejack!” Twilight called. Phew, that sure was a hard day’s work! Applejack thought to herself as she waved goodbye to her friend. I think I need to hit the hay. She dragged her weary body slowly back to the farmhouse. Walking into the kitchen, she saw her brother and sister sitting at the table, quietly enjoying a dinner of hay and oats. “Hey sis!” Apple Bloom called upon noticing her sister’s entrance, “Finished harvesting the east orchard?” Applejack yawned and nodded slowly, before sitting down to eat. Big Macintosh looked up from his food, “Hey AJ, did Twilight tell ya anythin’ about some sorta meteor shower that’s s’posed to happen tonight?” “Yeah, she mentioned somethin’. I think. Why’d ya ask?” “Well, me and Apple Bloom were going to go out and watch for a bit later. I don’t s’pose you’d like to come?” “No thanks, Big Mac. I’m beat,” she told him, finishing her food. Saying goodnight, she got up and made her way upstairs. Not soon after, she was settled down in bed, ready for a good night’s sleep. The hours passed by as the element of honesty drifted off into the world of her dreams. Apart from the myriad of chirping crickets, Sweet Apple Acres was silent. BANG! Applejack jerked awake at the sudden noise. Was there an explosion? Had something been broken? Was it a meteor? Either way, she had to find out. Climbing out of bed, she picked up a torch and set out to the apple orchards to investigate. The cold air struck her as soon as she stepped outside. Gritting her teeth, she switched on the torch and pushed forward into the maze of apple tress that stood before her. It wasn’t long before she noticed a bright light in the distance, along with the distinct and familiar smell of smoke. “Oh, horseapples!” She ran as fast as she could toward the source of the fire, hoping to salvage whatever she could find. She began to slow as she approached the source of the fire. There was a clearing up ahead. Tentatively, she crept through the last row of trees and finally saw what had caused the chaos. In the middle of the clearing was a large, smoldering crater. Inching closer, Applejack realised that it wasn’t a meteorite that had crashed into her apple farm. Inside the crater, much to her disbelief, was a blue box. The very same blue box that she had seen disappear in front of her eyes all those years ago. Even stranger, it was in pristine condition; even after falling from the heavens themselves there wasn’t even a splinter on the polished blue wood. How could this be? Applejack’s mind could not process what had happened. The very same police box that disappeared magically falls from the sky, and there isn’t even a scratch? How the hay does a box disappear and fall from the sky anyway? she thought. This was breaking every single law of physics Twilight had ever explained to her. Wondering aloud if the same stallion she met as a filly was inside, she trotted closer to the crater. As if on cue, the doors on the box burst open. A slight wave of fear suddenly gripped the farmpony as she backed away. There was definitely something inside the box, Applejack could hear somepony grunting. It got louder, and louder, until, finally, a familiar looking stallion climbed out and fell to the ground. It was definitely the same pony. He had the same colour scheme and cutie mark, even wearing the same suit. Yet, somehow, he looked younger. His face and mane had changed too. Where once was a scruffy, unkempt mess of hair now grew a long flowing mane. He doubled over in a violent coughing fit, succumbing to some unknown sickness. Trying to relieve the mysterious stallion of his pain, Applejack caught him as he fell to the ground. He opened his eyes as she laid him down gently. “It’s you!” he coughed and chuckled, “You were a little filly five minutes ago. Ha, what a coincidence!” Flashing a quick smile, he fell unconscious. Applejack’s feeling of fear quickly turned to panic. She felt the stallion’s tense body relax and saw his cheerful smile replaced by a blank face, showing no signs of life at all. She felt for a pulse. He definitely had one, but it was erratic, unlike anything she had seen before. She was about to carry him back to the farmhouse when she noticed him open his mouth and release a vapour of gold dust into the air “What the hay?” She stared in awe, mouth agape, as the dust floated away slowly into the atmosphere. Whatever kind of magic this was, it sure was creepy. Heaving him onto her back, Applejack staggered back to her room at the farmhouse. The long walk back gave her time to reflect upon the night’s unusual happenings. However the more she thought about it, the less sense it made. She was expecting to wake up in her bed safe and sound any second now. The farm pony glanced at the snoring colt on her back, who was out like a light. Smiling gently, she continued her journey home. *** No sooner had the roosters crowed had Applejack set off with her apple cart towards the town square. 'Timey Wimey', if he was indeed the same pony, hadn’t stirred once during the night, so she decided it was best to lock her room and go about her day as usual. As for the blazing crater and blue box in the middle of the apple orchard, she just prayed to Celestia that Big Mac didn’t have to do any applebucking today. She reached the town square early. Only a few ponies were setting up their stalls for the day’s market. Taking her mind off the night’s mysteries, she opened her cart. She had just finished setting up when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. “Good morning, Applejack!” Twilight Sparkle greeted her friend with a happy smile. “Getting ready to sell some apples bright and early, I see!” Applejack chuckled nervously. “Yep! Just setting up the stall, nothing strange goin’ on here! No sirree!” Twilight eyed her friend suspiciously. “Are you sure? You seem kind of stirred up, are you OK?” The farmpony chuckled again. “Me? I’m fine Twilight. There’s nothing unusual goin’ on at all!” “So you call a meteorite landing in your apple fields last night nothing unusual?” Applejack gulped. She knew she was beat. It was silly of her to think that Twilight hadn’t been star gazing last night. Leaning in closer to the unicorn, she whispered, “Alright, something real strange happened, OK? After the market, I need you to come back to my place.” Twilight stepped back. “What do you mean? What happened last night?” “I can’t explain it, OK?” Applejack snapped. Twilight recoiled slightly. “Just meet me here later.” The purple mare nodded in agreement. Applejack sighed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I got some apples to se-” she trailed off mid-sentence. Confused, Twilight followed her gaze to see a certain pink pony bouncing towards a young stallion trotting into the town. “On second thought Twi, I think I might be needing your help right now.” The unicorn giggled, still watching Pinkie introduce herself to the colt. “With what? It’s just Pinkie Pie being, well, Pinkie Pie.” she turned to see her friend gallop past her, sprinting towards the party pony. “The Doctor?” Applejack heard Pinkie say, “That’s a funny name! Doctor who?” “Just The Doctor,” the stallion told her, a little taken back with her exuberance, “Or sometimes ‘Spaceman’, or ‘Get off this planet’. Loads of people call me that.” Pinkie giggled. “You’re funny, Doctor!” She noticed Applejack running towards her. “Hey, why don’t you say hello to Applejack, Mr. Doctor?” she suggested, beaming at him. The Doctor turned to face the orange pony, who was glaring at Pinkie Pie. “Applejack!” he exclaimed. She raised her hoof to say something, but was cut off. “Now, I apologise for crashing my TARDIS into your apple fields but I had just regenerated and I wasn’t quite sure of my new body. Look, I got new ears!” He started flopping his ears across his face. Pinkie giggled and joined him. “So if you’ll just tell me where I can get something to eat, I’ll be on my way.” “I, uh...” There were a million questions running through Applejack’s head. “Head on over to Sugarcube Corner,” she managed to say. “Come on, I’ll show you the way!” Pinkie beamed happily, bouncing up and down. “What was that about?” Twilight asked, watching Pinkie and the mysterious colt trot down the street. Applejack shook herself out of her confused daze. “I’m not sure, but one thing’s for certain: that sure is one crazy stallion.” “I’ll say,” Twilight replied, noticing them both shake their tails in the air, “Where’d he come from?” “Sorry Twi, but it’s a long story.” “I’ve got time.” She wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” Applejack told her, “Just meet me here later, and see for yourself, OK?” *** The sun had almost set by the time AJ had packed up her cart. The town square emptied as stalls began to pack up and close down for the day. Searching the crowd, she and Twilight noticed The Doctor, now dressed up in a brown tweed jacket, complete with bow tie. Giggling to themselves, they started to follow him. It looks like he’s going back to that blue box, Applejack thought, Whatever’s in there sure must be valuable to him... It didn’t take them long to reach the clearing in the orchard. Strangely, the box was now standing next to the crater, still in pristine condition. Maybe Big Mac had pulled it out. AJ hoped he didn’t have too many questions. What was she to say? 'Oh, sorry Mac, a box just fell out the sky and ruined our orchards, it's no big deal.' She'd be committed for sure. Snapping out of her thoughts, she saw The Doctor reach into his pocket and pull out a glowing key, which presumably opened the door. He grinned and shoved it into the lock, turning it excitedly. Hearing it click, he yanked open the door and galloped inside. Applejack was about to follow him when her friend stopped her. “Don’t you think it’s a bit... unsafe to be following some crazy stallion you just met into a tiny blue box?” Twilight warned. “I know it seems suspicious Twilight, but there’s just something about this thing.” She stared at it looming above her. “And I can’t put my hoof on it.” There was an air of tension as she tentatively knocked on the door. She wasn’t just going to barge in unannounced; who knows what could be in there? Before she could regret the decision, the door swung open to reveal The Doctor’s grinning face. “Hello!” he exclaimed, startling her, “Have you been following me?" He sighed, "First it's a pair of teachers, now it's a pair of ponies. What next?" He trotted back inside. "Come on in, there’s been a bit of a redecoration!” He stepped back inside. Wondering if following him had been a good idea after all, Applejack cautiously followed. “Well, I’ll be...” It was impossible. The whole box was impossible. Gazing around the large, bright room that stood before her, AJ no longer wondered how the Police Box had disappeared all those years ago, for it was abundantly clear. As for The Doctor, Applejack was sure that he was no ordinary stallion. Nopony in Equestria could perform this kind of magic, not even Princess Celestia. Noticing her amazed expression, The Doctor chuckled. “Any passing remarks, Miss Applejack?” Lost for words, she just stood there for a moment. “You... you left a huge darn hole in my apple fields!” She replied angrily. The Doctor looked up from the circular console in the middle of the glowing room. “Ah, sorry about that. To be fair though, it was a crash landing...” he trailed off, noticing Twilight by the door, her face identical to that of her friend’s. “Applejack, what the...” Before AJ could reply, The Doctor bounded in front of her, “Hello! I’m The Doctor, welcome to my TARDIS! Now, who might you be?” Taken aback by the stallion’s enthusiastic greeting, Twilight managed to stutter her name before stumbling back in shock. The Doctor smiled. “Yeah, she tends to have that effect on people. Or ponies, for that matter.” He frowned and muttered something to himself. Overcoming her bewilderment, Applejack approached The Doctor. “OK, ‘Doctor’, what the hay is this contraption of yours?” He turned to face her. “It’s my TARDIS. Stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space,” he explained simply. “Uh, ‘scuse me?” The Doctor sighed. “It’s a time machine. It can go anywhere, anywhen.” “Ha! Yeah, right!” Twilight scoffed from across the room. “Alright, so maybe this thing is dimensionally transcendental, but the mere notion that it can travel through time is preposterous!” “Is that so?” The Doctor smirked. “Alright then, Miss Sparkle, if you could go to any period of time, which one would it be?” “Um, the first few years of Equestria?” she replied, confused by his question. “Alright then! The early years of Equestria!” He turned towards the two mares. “Geronimo!” He yanked a lever on the console, causing the whole room to shake violently. Sparks flew from the console as The Doctor laughed manically, giddy as a schoolcolt. After a few minutes, the shaking seemed to subside. The ordeal was over. AJ picked herself up off the floor. “What in the world just happened, Doc?” He pointed towards the door, still beaming. “Take a look outside, see for yourself!” Cautiously, she crept towards the door and opened it, stepping outside. Closing it behind her, she turned around to find herself face-to-face with an old, bearded stallion. “Uh... howdy!”