//------------------------------//
// His First Murder 
// Story: The Creation of Harmony 
// by Time Ponies are cool 
//------------------------------//

Chapter XII: His First Murder
Seven-hundred years ago, on the planet Gallopfrey...
A pegasus with a fob watch cutie mark was sitting on a bench in a park having a cup of tea. He looked out into the expanse of red grass and silver-leaved trees, but he could not appreciate the beautiful tranquility. In his head was a never-ending drumbeat in a rhythm of four. He took a sip and breathed in the aroma of the tea. He found that tea calmed his mind and helped him almost ignore the drumming, if only for a short while. But he suddenly began to hear a noise. A noise he had not heard since he graduated from the Time Stallion Academy a hundred-fifty years ago. And then, a short distance away from the bench, a short, but thick-trunked tree appeared out of thin air, fading in and out a few times before finally becoming a solid image. The tree's bark opened and out came an earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark, who ran up towards the pegasus.
"Master! Quick! Come along!" the earth ponies called.
"Doctor..." the pegasus said, "where did you get that TARDIS?"
The Doctor replied, "Well, uhh... I borrowed her from a museum... And now I'm running away with her."
The Master burst out laughing and said, "You do know the penalty for the theft of a TARDIS is the removal of two regenerations, right?"
"Hence the running away." the Doctor replied, "So let's get out of here and go out into the Universe! We'll finally see all those worlds we've been told of in the academy! There're billions of galaxies out there waiting for us!"
"Alright, alright! Let's go."
The two Time Stallions ran to the tree and entered through the tree bark doors. Inside was a large white room. The walls were patterned with rows of circles and the floor appeared to be made of white linoleum. At the center of the room was the console: a complex machine with various levers, buttons, pumps and dials, and a cylindrical time rotor as the centerpiece. 
"Oh, this brings back memories," the Master said, "A type 40 T.T. capsule, am I right?"
"Yes. Obsolete, but she works." the Doctor replied.
"And you had the gall the steal it..."
"Borrowed!"
"Borrowing implies you're going to return it someday."
"I will... once the law stops pursuing me and lets me go back to the museum without pain of punishment..."
The Master shook his head and sighed, but nostalgia quickly overcame all other feelings and he helped the Doctor man the TARDIS. He felt the warmth emanating from the engine of the beautiful machine and breathed in the scent of the coral of the living TARDIS within the console.
"Beautiful isn't she?" said the Doctor as he manned the controls next to the Master, "When I first touched the console I thought to myself that she is the most beautiful thing in the entire Universe."
The Doctor and the Master stopped for a moment and listened to the whooshing noise of the TARDIS as it entered into the Time Vortex.
"So, we have all of time and space. Everything that is, was, and will be. Where should we start?" asked the Doctor.
The Master was quiet for a moment as he thought of all the places all over the Universe he wanted to see, and he simply could not decide. Finally, he spoke.
"Does this TARDIS have... adventure mode?"
"What kind of TARDIS would she be if she didn't? Adventure mode it is!"
The Doctor ran around the console pulling various levers and pressing buttons. When he finished he stepped away from the TARDIS and watched the time rotor move up and down and flash its bright red light. When the TARDIS arrived at its destination, the noise stopped with a low metallic ding and the rotor was still. The Doctor and the Master stood in front of the doors, eager to see what awaited outside.
"Through those doors is a random time and place." the Doctor said, "It can be anywhere at all. It could be the crystal planet of Midnight, with the most renowned resort complex in the Universe. It could be the middle of a battleground in the war between the Sontarans and the Rutans. It could be the mines of Androzani Major, or maybe Androzani Minor. It could be quite close to home, on one of Gallifrey's moons. Or it could even be-"
"Shut up, Doctor." the Master interrupted, "Let's go!"
The Master burst out the doors and the Doctor followed close behind. Outside was a junkyard full of piles of scrap, trash and countless machines and devices left in disuse. Beyond the junkyard though, was a bustling city of tall exotic buildings and noisy, crowded roads. The Doctor and the Master did not think much of the sight of the junkyard, but not far away, through a chain-link fence, they saw a magnificent city full of creatures of the same form as they were: ponies. The two Time Stallions backed away from the fence and returned to the TARDIS. They saw that the TARDIS was now in the form of a tall blue police box with white windows. It had a set of doors and on one door was a poster with instructions saying, 
"Pony Telephone. Free for use of public. Advice & assistance obtainable immediately. Officer & chariots respond to all calls. Pull to open."
Above the doors was a big sign saying, "Pony Public Call Box." 
"According to the TARDIS navigatory time-space coordinate display, this planet is Earth in the Cider Way Galaxy." the Master said, "Dominant indigenous species: the ponies. It is registered as a level three planet. The city out there is Londerby. The year is 1963 A.E. in the pony dating system known as the Celestial Calendar. Oh my word, I never thought I'd ever say that outside of the classroom!"
The Doctor smiled at the Master and said, "Looks like all those hours of intergalactic geography class have paid off." The two Time Stallions approached the TARDIS doors again, wearing pouches with tourism supplies on their backs, ready for a proper exploration of the world before them.
"Oh, this is going to be spectacular!"
"I know!"
They exited out the TARDIS doors and walked through the junkyard and out into London. They strolled through the streets with wide eyes, marveling at the attire of the ponies walking by, the countless shops they passed by, and the carriages that filled the road. There were earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns and even the occasional zebra. The smell of the city was foul, but the two were too preoccupied with admiring foreignness of the odor. Here they truly were on an adventure like nothing they could have imagined back on Gallopfrey. As they passed by a pony with a radio, they heard beautiful exotic music with the lyrics,
"Love, love me do.
You know I love you.
I'll always be true.
So please, love me do."
The Doctor and the Master retreated to a dark alleyway to relieve themselves of the tight crowds. They laughed together and clasped hooves. They sat down and talked about all they had seen and how amazing it was to be in a completely alien world.
"From what I've heard from conversations between the ponies, it seems that tea is a particularly special delicacy in this city." the Master said, "We should go have some!"
"But how will we pay for it?" asked the Doctor, "We don't have any of this planet's currency."
The Master reached into his pouch and took out a sheet of paper in a leather sleeve and replied, "You're not the only thief in Gallopfrey. I have here a little trinket I stole from the academy ages ago." 
The Master showed the paper to the Doctor, who then said, "But it's just a blank piece of paper... Unless..." The Doctor gasped, "Oh, this is psychic paper isn't it? How in the world did you get this from the academy?"
"A little slight of hoof."
The two laughed together, reminiscing on all the mischief they had done.
"So, with this," the Master said, "We can very well purchase anything we want, access whatever place we want, or talk to whoever we want!"
They laughed again, but a moment later, the Doctor found a knife pointed at his throat. He looked to his right and saw a dirty, scrawny earth pony holding the knife. The pony had tired weary eyes, yellowed teeth and emitted a foul breath as he spoke, "That there paper can buy anything, eh?"
The Doctor quivered as the sharp point came dangerously close to piercing his skin. "Yes. Yes it can."
The pony looked to the Master and said, "Give it to me. Give me the paper, or I'll cut this bloke here."
"Now, stop it," the Master replied, "You can't use this paper. It's isomorphic."
"The hell is that supposed to bloody mean?"
"Only we can use it." the Doctor said, "The paper won't respond to a pony DNA signature."
The pony turned to face the Doctor again, adding a tiny bit more pressure to the knife, and said, "You shut your trap and stop your damned rubbish!" While the pony was distracted, the Master took the opportunity to tackle him and take the knife from his hoof. Now the Master had the pony pinned down and held the knife to his throat.
"You'll pay for thinking you can steal from us, you sniveling thief." said the Master, "And you'll pay with your life."
"No, no!" the pony cried, "Please! For Celestia's sake, don't kill me!"
"Master, what are you doing?" the Doctor said, "He can't do anything to us now. Just let him go. Let the local law enforcement deal with him."
"This thief tried to kill us."
"That's no reason to kill him."
"Of course it is!"
"Master! Put the knife away!"
The Master stood and confronted the Doctor, while keeping a rear hoof on the pony's tail. He glared at the Doctor and held the knife in his hoof, this time pointed at the Doctor again.
"The drums... I can hear them again, Doctor."
"That has nothing to do with this!"
"I need to make them stop!"
"Master, killing this pony won't stop them!"
"But that's what the drums want me to do!"
"That's just your insanity! Nothing more! It's not calling you to anything! Listen to me! Just listen! Killing him is wrong. Can't you see he's just a destitute pony forced into thievery to feed himself or perhaps his starving family? Just let him go, Master. Don't kill him."
"Yeah! Listen to your mate there!" the pony begged, "Please, just let me go! I have foals!"
The Master ignored the Doctor and turned around to face the pony again. He swiftly lifted up the knife and prepared to strike, when suddenly the Doctor tackled the Master, allowing the pony to flee into the darker alleys. The two Time Stallions struggled over the knife, rolling over each other, each trying to pin the other to the ground or against the wall, until suddenly...
The Doctor found himself over the Master and holding the knife that pierced one of the Master's hearts.
The Doctor stood and backed away from the Master, who coughed and looked at his chest to see the fatal injury. His bicardiovascular system was compromised and his body faced death.
"You bastard..." Then the Master's entire body began to glow golden and yellow energy began to emanate from it. The Master stood up with the knife in his chest and looked at his left hoof as it glowed. His wings slowly unfurled and he began to grit his teeth as he anticipated the pain that was to come. In his last moment, he glared at the Doctor, who had turned and galloped away, back into the crowded streets. The Master lifted his head and burst in a blinding explosion of golden light and energy that lit up the entire alleyway and caught the eyes of everypony passing by. The old Master was now dead, and a new Time Stallion came. The golden energy and light dissipated and the Master emerged completely transformed. Now, he was a pegasus with a brown mane and cream-colored coat. He retained his fob watch cutie mark, and his wings were now wider. His eyes were brown and his teeth pearly white.
Quite a distance away, the Doctor weaved through the crowds as he galloped back to the junkyard and back to his TARDIS. He closed the police box doors behind him and walked to the console. He put his hoof on one of the levers, but stopped as he could no longer hold back his tears. He wept. He wept over the death of his childhood friend's body, and over his grievous crime. He had killed. He had committed his first murder. 
His tears dripped onto the console and seeped into the machine. A burst of sparks came out of the console and the entire TARDIS quaked for a few seconds. The Doctor looked at the TARDIS mechanical condition display, which read, "Chameleon circuit impaired. TARDIS disguise permanently locked to current image: Blue Box."