//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Doctor Whooves - Episode 1: Beyond the Limits 
// by The Grimm Reaper 
//------------------------------//

	The interior of the Blue box was bigger, and there was a royal theme to it. To the ponies, it looked like a variation of Canterlot Castle, only the theme was somewhat Chestnut. As the ponies looked around, The Doctor began playing with his new Centre Console.
“Right then! Rule one: Always listen to The Doctor. Rule two: Never touch this console here unless I give you specific instructions on which parts to touch. Rule three: Sometimes I just need a good smack, so if I begin rambling endlessly, just smack me out of it. Rule four: Don’t, I repeat, don’t go out those doors while the TARDIS is travelling. And Rule five, very important this rule, never forget it. He or she who has gas, travels at the back of the pack. Now then; any questions, comments, statements?” The ponies, having scattered to examine the area, looked directly at the Doctor.
“Wh- wha- wha- I-it’s bigger on the inside?” Twilight looked around with her jaw hanging down and her eyes like a bug’s.
“I love it when they say that, and for some reason I want to say: That’s what she said. I think I’m still getting some regenerative aftereffects. Hmm, three days, and I’m still getting bugs in the hardware? Oh well, I guess this is what happens when you exceed the limit.” he uttered the last part to himself.
“Oh, Doctor, I noticed with your old pockets, that they too were bigger on the inside. Could you tell me your secret? I could make a fortune off of those alone, nevermind the beauty and design of my clothes.” Rarity spoke up.
“It’s a basic distortion of space. Think of each pocket as a doorway into another place.” he replied, Rarity just stared at him blankly.
“It’s a wibbly wobbly Time Lord trick, alright?” he clarified.
“Time Lord?” Twilight asked. The Doctor returned to look at her.
“Yes, that’s right, Time Lord. That’s me, hello!” he replied with a wave of his hoof. Pinkie Pie appeared from behind the Lavender pony and waved back.
“Hi!” she exclaimed.
“Wait, what’s a Time Lord?” Twilight demanded. The Doctor just sighed and pointed to himself. “No, I mean… specifics, what are Time Lords in General?” The Doctor paused for a moment and looked Twilight in the eye.
“Extinct.” with that one word, all eyes were on the Chestnut Time Lord. “I’m the last. The only one of my kind left in existence.” he returned to the console and pushed a lever with his hoof, the TARDIS began to whir and choke at the same time, but unlike there used to be, there was no shaking of the platform.
“That must be lonely.” said Derpy, walking up to him. The Doctor paused where he was and looked into the rising and falling glass spiral, shaped like a Unicorn horn.
“Not always. I have companions from time to time. They’d travel with me, have adventures with me. Fall in love with me and then break my hearts. Sometimes my companions would be one at a time, sometimes two or three. You seven are the largest number I’ve had yet.” Rainbow Dash walked up to him and gently punched him on the shoulder.
“Well don’t expect all of us to fall for you.” she teased. The Doctor chuckled.
“No, you got it all wrong. I could never truly be with any of them, yourselves included.” he said.
“Why not?” asked Derpy. The TARDIS stopped making any noise and the horn became still.
“Ah, we’ve arrived!” The Doctor said, ignoring Derpy’s question. He ran to the doorway and smiled at them all.
“Fillies and… nevermind. Beyond these doors, you will find yourselves in a different place in a different time.” he said. The girls, except for Twilight began to look excited. When The Doctor opened the door, a small purple dragon with burn marks all over him walked through. He staggered around, collapsing before Rarity.
“Oh, Spikey! What on Earth happened to you?” she asked, rolling him over gently.
“Hung on… for… dear life.” he replied. The Doctor walked up to the crowded Spike and examined him.
“You hung onto the TARDIS while we went through the Time Vortex? And you survived? That’s new… Only Jack Harkness could have survived something like that, but he’s long gone.” The Doctor pulled out a small device from one of his pockets. It was cylindrical with a red tip. As he held it to the dragon, it began to vibrate and make a high pitched gurgling sound, the tip flashing red. He waved it over the dragon and then flicked it, the cylinder extending slightly.
“That’s very odd. You got away with mild burns and some slight scorching. You’re one lucky baby dragon. Perhaps the TARDIS extended her force field just enough to save you?” he began to trail off, leaving the Ponies to care for Spike.
“Well ladies, the trip’s been postponed for a little bit until I figure out how that child survived travelling through time outside of the TARDIS.” The Doctor stomped his hoof on the ground and the doors slammed closed, locking themselves. They all looked at him as he placed his new sonic screwdriver into his coat pocket and pressed a button.
“Activate Interactive system Protocol seven-dash-nine-three-four-two!” he said. As the ponies stared, a ghost-like figure appeared in the form of a creature on two legs.
“Oi! Stop showing up as Rose Tyler, I’ve long gotten over her. I’m feeling a little nostalgic, show me my tenth Regeneration.” he looked to the ponies as the hologram changed its appearance. “I liked the mole I got when I regenerated into this.” as he finished speaking, his tenth incarnation appeared.
“Allo Doctor!” The Doctor said. The hologram of the Tenth Doctor smiled and replied much the same way.
“Look at you! You’ve gone all native, what is that, an Equine body?” the hologram asked. The Doctor laughed and nodded.
“Yes, but while we’d say I look like a horse, they don’t seem to know what that word means, they just call themselves ponies, so I’m a pony too. God I miss looking like you, I miss the mole under my shoulder, I miss everything.”
“Oh well, I gotta say, you look better like that. Still not Ginger, I see. Better luck next time.” The Doctor laughed, and then paused.
“Actually, that’s a funny thing. I’ve exceeded my regeneration limit, I only got like this with help from you. Are you saying I can regenerate once more after this?”
“I don’t see why not, you looked into my heart and survived, so as far as I’m concerned, you can regenerate thousands of times over. You’ve broken the limit. It’s sort of like a game cheat. Anyway, what did you want, I know you and you never just call up this program to chat.” The hologram flashed slightly.
Oh, yes, about the dragon, did you extend the field to keep him alive?”
“I did. I figured, he’s a friend of at least one of your new companions, so it’d be troublesome for everyone if he were to die.” the Hologram raised its arms as a gesture.
“Doctor, what is that ghost?” Twilight asked. Both the Doctor and the hologram looked at the Lavender pony.
“That’s not a ghost, Twilight, that’s what’s called a hologram.”
“I’m a system designed to verbally interact with the TARDIS’ database. The image you see here is what your Doctor looked like when he was nine hundred and five years old.” the Hologram added. The ponies stared at the Doctor and the Hologram.
“Doctor, how old are you?” Twilight asked.
“He will be twelve hundred and eighteen tomorrow.” the hologram replied.
“Blimey, is it my birthday tomorrow? I’d forgotten all about it. Ooh, I’ll have to go somewhere extra special then.” Pinkie Pie shot into view out of nowhere and began skittering around the platform.
“Ooh, ooh, ooh. I’ll have to do a Birthday Party for you, Doctor. What do Doctor Parties look like? I should add a Time Lordy theme. Ooh, and gifts… what do Time Lords want?”
“A bit of hush, please my excitable pink friend.” The Doctor placed his hooves on Pinkie’s shoulders and stilled her.
“Right, now we know Spikey Wikey’s fine, my beautiful new red sonic screwdriver can attest to that. So, without further ado, I give you Canterlot on the first day of its founding.” Running past the gathered ponies, The Doctor opened the doors to the outside. Hearing his declaration, every pony looked at him. They kept together as they walked outside. The glare from the sun blinded them for a moment and as their eyes adjusted, they laid eyes upon Canterlot Castle in the early stages of its construction. The Doctor walked up beside Twilight and smiled.
“I understand you used to dream about going back to this point in time and just watch Canterlot be built.” he said. Twilight started and looked at him.
“How could you know that?”
“I read your diary. Travelled to the point where you lot were outside watching me appear for the first time. Some juicy gossip about both of the Princesses too. I won’t say a word.” he said, sucking his lips in. Twilight blushed and looked at the castle.
“If you remember correctly, I also wanted to watch it with the princesses.” she added.
“I know. Just wait a minute.” he said, standing as he watched the first tower come together through the magic of building Unicorns.
“Ah, here they are now.” he said. Every Pony turned toward a white carriage with golden inlay. As it landed beside the TARDIS, two alicorns exited with royal grace. One was a Dusk blue pony with a cyan mane, the other a snow white with a cherry blossom mane. Each had a Diadem around their horns. As soon as they got out, they looked to The Doctor.
“Ah, right on time. Welcome Princesses Celestia and Luna. I’ve been expecting you.” The ponies, especially Twilight were gobsmacked as their royal princesses approached with puzzled looks on their faces.
“Are you The Doctor?” Celestia asked. The Doctor smiled and waved his hoof.
“Allo!” Twilight smacked him with her hoof and then proceeded to bow before the princesses.
“Doctor, bow!” she urged, pulling on his coat.
“You forget, Twilight, that I am a Lord. For all intensive purposes, I am essentially equal to the Princesses.” Those said Princesses approached and stopped just short of him.
“We got your notice, Doctor. What did you want to see us for?” the dark princess asked.
“I called you here to fulfil a young mare’s dream. A dream of watching Canterlot castle constructed with the two Princesses of Equestria. Would you please help?” he asked, standing before them with his own majestic aura. The Princesses looked around.
“But there are seven of them.” Luna replied.
“Ah, the other six will be coming with me.” he grabbed Twilight and pulled her forward.
“Princesses Celestia and Luna, meet Twilight… River.” Twilight gave The Doctor a chided look and blushed in front of the two royal mares.
“I’m not familiar with that name, and I’m sure I’ve memorised the names of every pony in Equestria.” Celestia said.
“If that were the case, you would have known about me, wouldn’t you?” The Doctor winked at the two Princesses who leaned back. Suddenly, a small pink mare bounced in-between the four and began giggling.
“Oh boy, it’s so super-duper awesomely awesome to see young Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the young one is less scary than the full grown one.” As Pinkie Pie began spouting things that gave away the future, Twilight grabbed The Doctor.
“Doctor, she’s going to ruin everything! Do something.” The Doctor smiled at Twilight.
“Well this sometimes works.” he turned to Pinkie Pie and tapped her on the shoulder. As she stopped bouncing and turned around, The Doctor placed his hoof to his lips and shushed her. She blinked a couple of times and went to speak again, but found she couldn’t.
“What did she mean by the full grown one? And how was I scary?” Luna asked.
“She spoke of a nightmare she had about you two. Don’t pay it any heed.” The Doctor said as he grabbed Pinkie Pie and threw her back to the others. The princesses looked to each other and then to Twilight.
“We’ll help this mare fulfil her wish. Miss Twilight River, would you like to watch Canterlot’s construction with us?” Celestia asked. Twilight’s eyes lit up like fireflies as her smile appeared.
“Oh, yes! That would be… it would be an honour, Princess Celestia.” she replied.
“Right then, you go on and play, I’ll take the annoying pink pony with verbal Diarrhoea and… look around. I can see some stalls over yonder. Come on everypony, let’s go shopping.” as they all cheered, the Doctor suddenly whined.
“Oh balls, I don’t have any money. SEXY!!!” he shouted, running into the TARDIS. He emerged a few seconds later with a sack full of bits.
“God I love this ship.” he uttered as he ran off.
“Bye Starlight, meet you in the TARDIS and don’t worry about other ponies stealing it, it’s Isomorphic so the doors will only open to you, me and the others.” he soon went out of range and Twilight steamed.
“IT’S TWILIGHT, DOCTOR!!!” she screamed, forgetting for a moment who she was with. She turned around and sheepishly looked at her idols.
“Sorry, your majesties. He always gets my name wrong and I sort of… hate it.” she tried to explain.
“We understand, Twilight. I assume we’d feel likewise were our names mistaken.” Luna replied. Twilight smiled at her.
“So, what would you like to do, Princesses?” as the lavender pony asked, Celestia circled around her.
“I can see you’re very fit, Twilight, yet you have the aroma of books suggesting you’re a reader, and not very sport orientated. Am I wrong?” the white mare asked. Twilight blushed.
“I-I eat healthy which makes up for my lack of exercise.” Twilight began feeling overweight.
“There’s no need to feel embarrassed, Twilight. Come with us and we’ll show you why.” Celestia urged the nervous mare into their carriage. As they all entered, it rode off to the old castle of the Sisters. Where Twilight once faced off against Nightmare Moon.