//------------------------------// // Lessons in Love // Story: Time Bubbles // by peppermint_twist //------------------------------// “A time machine?” the princess said sarcastically, “Sure, what kind of magic are you pulling here, earth pony?” she burst out laughing. “A precious magic,” he smiled, “However,” he looked around, his smile beginning to transform into a letdown frown, “I believe this ‘Equestria’ is not in my old universe; Derpy couldn’t read the words on the front and the Tardis is a universal translator. Quite odd. This might not work.” Derpy couldn’t suppress a frown. “So… what can it do then?” He grinned, “ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA! So, where to first?” How could he keep such an upbeat attitude? “Um, I have a map of Equestria,” Derpy suggested, pulling the rolled up parchment out of her saddlebag, “Kacoonis, you said that they were spread out all over Equestria, right?” The princess walked over, her rose-coloured mane bouncing, “Right. I know that everypony was spread out, to cover more ground so there was more food. They would never run out of love with this strategy.” “You are the princess,” the Doctor muttered, “So you should have someone-er, somepony, protecting you, unless, of course, there is a scarce supply of women-er, mares-er, I don’t know. You understand. Was there anypony that went with you to Ponyville?” The Doctor’s eyes squinted. He took out the sonic screwdriver and shone the green light into her eyes. “Alright, alright! Come on, I’m not a total liar!” She made a low sound similar to a growl. “Anyhow, it’s because I am the princess that I was left alone. I needed to prove my independence to my mother.” The Doctor raised a skeptical look, “Okay,” he said slowly, “So, where to first?” Derpy cleared her throat. The princess was standing right in front of her. Derpy was fuming with rage. Derpy just tried to walk to the side, so she could at least see the Doctor. Kacoonis blocked her again. The Pegasus snickered. She spread out her wings and glided over to the stallion. She sat down next to him and spread out her map of Equestria. “I think we should start with a large town or city,” Derpy suggested. She ignored the red-faced mare behind her. The Doctor sat down. “How about this one?” He asked, pointing to a large city. “Manehattan? Sure! Why not?” “Manehattan…” He stared at the map. “You okay Doctor?” “MANEHATTAN!” he burst out laughing. “That’s quite punny there, Derpy! Manehattan… genius!” “Uh…” Derpy didn’t understand what was so ‘punny’ about it. “Right! Let’s set course for Manehattan!” The Doctor started circling the table and clicking random buttons and pulling levers. “This is extraordinary!” the Doctor shouted. “The buttons are even bigger to accommodate my hooves!” He clicked one final button and the Tardis started to shake. “Is this an E-E-E-EARTH-THQUAK-K-KE?!” Derpy shouted. Right after she shouted that, all the rumbling subsided. “Hopefully, we’re here!” the Doctor smiled. He gently pushed open the doors… *** “Looks like the place,” Derpy examined, looking at the tall skyscrapers that loomed over the city. The buildings seemed as if they were actually touching the sky. The whole street was swallowed by the huge shadows of them. The entire street had streetlamps at every few yards that only emitted a tiny, yellow ray. Most of them were rusty or broken down. “Not such a good area,” Derpy muttered “THIS IS PERFECT!” the Doctor shouted. A few homeless ponies with grizzled beards looked in their direction. “No one will see the Tardis here!” he shout-whispered. They started to walk down the street. “So how will we find the changelings, oh, darling princess?” “Well,” she looked at the stallions beige neck, straight at the sonic screwdriver, “I suppose you two could be bait,” “Bait?” Derpy asked in a worried tone. “You guys need to act,” She looked at Derpy with a sly look, “like you’re in love, which should lure a changeling near. Then, the Doctor (or you, whichever you prefer) should walk away. Make some excuse. The changeling should take that pony and replace them. I will be nearby. The remaining pony should lure the changeling away to some isolated area. I will come in and handle the rest,” “The rest?” the Doctor asked questioningly. The princess raised an eyebrow, “You don’t trust me?” He smiled. “Not one bit!” “Whatever!” Derpy intervened, “Let’s just start,” Derpy started to walk down the street, the Doctor sticking to her side and Kacoonis trailing behind. They walked around the corner and saw the bristling city come to life before them. This was the middle class side of town, with all the people rushing around, shopping at centers. Quick! Start talking to the Doctor! Kacoonis’ voice rang in her head. Derpy stopped in her tracks. What just happened? “Doctor, did you hear something?” “Yes, and we should follow it!” “Er, but what was it?” “Why silly,” He shrugged. “Most likely the beautiful princess,” Derpy started to get dizzy. “B-beautiful?” “Hm? You of course!” This wasn’t making any sense. The Doctor eyed her and made a look as if he was saying, “Just go with it!” “Not as handsome as you…” Derpy said, “MY DARLING!” she added, accidently shouting. Derpy could almost imagine Kacoonis face-hoofing herself. “Oh, but you are much more beautiful, my positive ray of sunshine!” The Doctor was really good at this. “Oh, but sweetie, you are!” “No you are!” “No you!” Now she was getting the hang of it! “But look at your delicate wings! Truly something any stallion would die for!” Derpy tried hard not to laugh. Delicate? Yeah right. “Oh, but your blue eyes are simply gorgeous! Why, I’m sure every stallion would want eyes like that! All the mares would be crowding!” “Oh, but let’s not forget to compare my eyes,” he paused and smiled at Derpy, “to those perfect, unique, golden eyes that just make your heart melt!” Derpy just stopped walking and stared straight at the Doctor. This was a big stretch. Unique? Perfect?! They were anything but that. They were a cause of depression, a cause of great pain and many tears. Luckily for the plan, the Doctor kept on talking while Derpy was silent. Derpy didn’t hear anything he said. Now kiss! The changeling is near! You must ‘seal the deal’! Come on! The princess’ words echoed in Derpy’s head. She could imagine the princess’ sly, snickering face. “Doctor…” Derpy whispered. “Yes my love?” The Doctor never seemed to break character. Derpy didn’t know what she was doing, but she had seen Raindrops and her colt-friends kiss before, she could guess. Derpy leaned towards the Doctor. Her eyes started to close as the Doctor’s did too. The Doctor bent his head down as their puckered lips made contact. A warm shiver went through Derpy’s body. Whatever it was, she enjoyed it. Their snouts touched ever so gently, the Doctor raised a hoof and pushed aside some of Derpy’s mane that somehow got splattered on her face. His hoof was extremely warm and soft. The Doctor started to pull away from Derpy, his mahogany bowtie brushed against Derpy’s chin as the stallion started to pull his head up. Derpy didn’t realize that the Doctor had stopped. She was still leaning forwards, her eyes shut tight. The gentle brush only brought her halfway down from where she was; her head in the clouds. Derpy’s mind was still hazy. She couldn’t concentrate on anything. She heard the faint voice of the princess say, Doctor, go get ice cream or something. Just, get out of the way from Derpy! Derpy still sat there as the Doctor muttered something that sounded faraway. She was still sitting as he walked away, as all the passer-byers stared. Derpy! Come on! Get to the alley on your right, next to the ice cream store! How many times do I have to repeat myself?! Derpy shook her head and observed her surroundings. She couldn’t remember anything; the kiss had clogged up her mind. Nonetheless, she still got up and glided over to the alley. “Um, hello?” she silently called down the dark alleyway. Brown hooves wrapped around her neck and pulled her into the shadow. The alleyway was a lot longer than she suspected and unnaturally dark. Very suddenly, there was a bright green aura emitting from a white horn. It was Kacoonis- well, her shell- except this time, she was a unicorn. “Ugh! I miss my magic!” the Princess shout-whispered. “I have a lot of questions to ask Kacoonis, I-“ “Don’t we all?” asked a dragging voice. It was higher than Kacoonis’ and seemed as if it was made up of tiny squeaks. It was definitely feminine. Kacoonis brightened the green light to reveal a smaller changeling. This one had neon green hair that swept the ground. It covered most of her face and was extremely messy and tangled. Its eyes were completely green and it had a curving stub of a horn. She was just sitting there, her face contorted into a mischievous grin. Her torn bug wings fluttered behind her. Wings? Derpy didn’t remember wings on Kacoonis. Derpy just stared in fright. “Don’t worry, my dear Derpy,” the Doctor said, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “She won’t get away,” “Why, princess,” the changeling spat at Kacoonis’ hooves; it left a green glob of slobber. The drop started to bubble, its thick consistency starting to dissolve into pure acidic liquid. The once blob of saliva had now burned part of the ground away, about the size of a mug. “How nice it is to see you!” She said in mockery. “What’s with the mask, too afraid to show your new friends the real you?” The changeling cackled. “DON’T YOU DARE UTTER ANOTHER WORD!” the princess yelled. The light brightened to an intensifying bright beacon that shone down on the captive. “Easy there!” the creature hissed. “CHANGE!” the princess roared. “Into what? You can’t order me around not after-“ “Change into a pony! Any pony that won’t look suspicious! Just do it!” she pleaded “No,” the changeling said with a ‘humph’. Her head tilted up, as if she was looking down at the princess, who, as a matter of fact, was about two heads taller than the rest of the party even in her unnatural form. “NO?!” the princess growled. She nodded at the Doctor. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver. “What’s that?” the creature half snapped, half quavered. The ponies ignored her as the Doctor clenched his teeth around his trusty tool. The green light emitted and mixed with Kacoonis’. “Argh!” she groaned. The once bug-like thing transformed into an identical Lyra. “There, I fancy that!” the Doctor smiled. “You have tricks up your sleeve, huh?” Fake-Lyra smirked. “Let’s go!” Kacoonis ordered. *** The fellowship quickly grouped into Derpy’s house. “Derpy, is it alright if we keep the traitors here?” Kacoonis questioned. Traitors? “Um, sure, but who’s going to watch them?” “Already got that covered!” the absent Doctor replied, rushing into the room, “I got Raindrops to keep an eye on them!” “Then it’s settled!” Kacoonis exclaimed. Derpy looked down at the changeling with a pitiful expression, “But what if she gets hungry…?” “Changelings can go without food for months on end,” The princess answered. “Anyways, I have cast a shield on this half of the house; you shouldn’t be able to get out. Nobody gets in or out.” The changeling pouted, “Don’t I deserve a little fresh air?” “NO YOU TRAITOR!” Kacoonis stomped out of the house and shut the door. The small party stood in the Tardis, where they could talk in private. “How could you send messages to me telepathically? Traitor? Why does the changeling hate you? What did you do? HOW CAN YOU READ MY MIND?!” Derpy interrogated. Kacoonis looked away from Derpy with a lost expression in her eyes. “It’s a thing the royal family of changelings is able to do. My mother used it to send messages to her soldiers when she was breaking into Canterlot. It’s good for signals and orders, considering that changelings usually have covert missions.” “Okay, next answer!” Derpy urged. Kacoonis heaved a heavy sigh. She hadn’t told them everything… “I was basically disowned from my mother after I failed a mission. I was to infiltrate this town in Saddle Arabia and lead my soldiers through, slowly taking away love; it wasn’t a full scale invasion, just a test. This was to see if I was worthy of ever becoming the queen one day. I was to eat all of the chief’s son’s love by replacing his girlfriend. “Then, something terrible happened,” The princess’ eyes glazed over, “I fell in love. The horse didn’t even realize that I wasn’t who I said I was. He was so kind and gentle, cunning as well. One night, while we were at a banquet, he proposed to me. Of course, I couldn’t possibly say yes without telling him the truth. I was so overwhelmed by my love that I seemed to be eating away my own energy. I must have been confused or something… “Or maybe not. Maybe that’s what love is. Being so blinded by it, that you succumb to your worst and vulnerable state. I stood up and confessed to him and the entire town who I really was and what my soldiers were doing-the plan, everything. I transformed into my real state. Everypony looked so disgusted, everypony but my love. He smiled at me, as if he knew all along. I smiled back and told him those horrible words, ‘I love you’. My soldiers and I were run out of town when the soldiers reported the problem to my mother. About half of the soldiers died, and it was all my fault. “I still remember the look she gave me. She looked down on me with a stern look and just walked past me. She didn’t even acknowledge me. She just brushed me aside. My own mother, the one I stood by, the one I loved, just cast me aside. The first time she so even glanced at me was when she said, ‘Spread out, stay thin, you hear me ladies? The soldiers will take it from here.' I remember when she glanced at me, it was just for a split second, but all her disappointments and anger over me all came rushing in, in just one look.” Derpy pawed the ground with her feet; more sad stories. “The lesson that comes from all this,” Kacoonis paused and stared directly into Derpy’s unfocused eyes, “Love is a dangerous thing.” “And… the chief’s son?” Derpy questioned. “This happened about a hundred years ago. I believe that he would be gone by now. Changelings live for quite a while, a few centuries at the shortest.” She replied, half-heartedly. “Oh…” Derpy muttered. The Doctor walked over to the map of Equestria. “Hm. Fillydelphia next?” He snickered and muttered, “Fillydelphia, what next?” Derpy’s stomach rumbled, “Could we eat first? It’s lunch time!” “Why not?” The Doctor walked out of the Tardis. As soon as the Doctor was out of earshot, Kacoonis turned to Derpy. “I know how you feel, but being in love with someone like him is dangerous.” “What do you mean?” “He’s a different creature from you, he may look like a normal pony on the outside, but inside, he’s something else. Did you not hear my tale? Don’t mess with other beings, it will mess you up,” “Well, I-“ The Doctor popped his head in through the door. “Nice acting by the way Derpy! You looked like you were really into that kiss! Have you ever considered acting?” Derpy heaved a sigh as the Princess raised a questioning eyebrow. “Never crossed my mind, let’s eat!”