"Seriously? Out of all the places in the universe you want to go there?" the Doctor exclaimed, flipping more switches. Spitfire glared at the Doctor with an unpleasant facial expression. It was very blank, as if she was watching two older stallions play chess with each other. She never enjoyed games like that, so dull.
"Why not Doctor? It's a lovely place," Spitfire tried to smile. The Doctor looked up at Spitfire from the console, at her sheepish smile. She was so young, so appealing, so fetching. Oh why was he thinking about her like this? He tried to tell himself to stop thinking about her, so he just replied back in a lame smile. Surely her creativity would increase as they would travel together. But the Doctor couldn't be so sure that she would stay with him for long. For all he knew, this could be their only adventure.
"Sorry dear, once you've traveled to so many places, you want to... go to more places that are in your preference. I mean really, the place you picked isn't what I expected." the Doctor replied, glancing up at his monitor from time to time.
"I have a question Doctor. I recall that you called this box the TARDIS. Not to mention it's a she? What in Equestria does that mean?" Spitfire asked, placing herself onto the old railing. The railing didn't seem very trustworthy to sit on, but it seemed there weren't many places to sit near him. The Doctor multitasked, swaying around the TARDIS, and tapping buttons while peering at Spitfire. Oh he deserved a metal for multitasking, and many more things that he had accomplished.
"Well, she's called the TARDIS for a reason. She stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. She can travel through time and space at either time or space, or both. And yes, she's a she. I've met her in person at one time. It's hard to explain Spitfire." he explained to her, and typed onto the multiple buttons.
"What, time travel?" Spitfire gasped. More things that she still didn't believe just continued to happen it seemed. She guessed that there were more things that he would tell her, and there would be more things for her to try to believe in. She was the type of mare that wanted proof to see if things were real, even if she did enjoy imagining things from time to time.
"What? You thought this was just some sort of spaceship? It's much more than it seems. Oh I forgot!" the Doctor exclaimed, stopping from tapping on the console and stood in front of her. "Why not you look outside with me?" he suggested, and headed up to the TARDIS's doors. Spitfire followed him, and thought for a bit.
"Doctor, it's deep space out there isn't it? The only pony whose been out in space is Princess Luna, and she is an alicorn, so of course she can breathe in space. But obviously we can't. Wouldn't we like... lose oxygen and completely die? I thought you were the time and space traveler here!" Spitfire questioned him, beginning to back away from him and the door.
The Doctor looked at her; she seemed a bit scared so he didn't plan on shoving her out into space like he did with Amy. This time he was going to show her that he was trustworthy. Even if shoving was more fun than instructing, he was going to show her he wasn't too unpredictable or unsafe to be around.
"No dear, there is a barrier around the TARDIS full of oxygen. The barrier will keep the oxygen around us so we can breathe safely. Now don't use those wings of yours, I don't want you to float out of the barrier and into space. That won't be good now will it?" the Doctor chuckled. He reached his hooves onto the door, and opened it up slowly and dramatically. What the Doctor had said was really true.
The scene around the TARDIS was astonishing. Stars were scattered across the sky, there had been so many of them everywhere. She had thought that the stars were closer though. Yet, they were still far away in beautiful shades and hues of many colors. She noticed there had been distant planets too, and the sun was far, far away. The scene around them was so breathtaking that it seemed her eyes froze onto the scene. Hopefully she just was amazed, and not frozen from shock of her surroundings. Spitfire finally closed her eyes and took in the scene.
The Doctor stood beside her watching her reaction, she hadn't even been floating out of the TARDIS and she was amazed. He kind of wanted to go back to the console, since he had done this so many times. After all he was quite old, and it wasn't like he hadn't seen space before. But for some reason, he wanted to stay and watch the scene with her. It seemed he had been traveling so much that he never could stop and enjoy the view.
"Go ahead. You can step outside. Just hold my hoof, no spreading your wings." he said as she was staring into space, literally. Spitfire pulled up her bathrobe so that it would overlap her wings just in case.
"Okay, here I go." she nodded, and grabbed his hoof, cautiously stepping out of the TARDIS. As soon as both of her hooves were off of the floor, she had been floating without any wings! It was outstanding, unimaginably fantastic. It had felt a bit like flying, but it was altered. It had felt as if she didn't have to do anything to fly. She just had to hold onto the Doctor's hoof, and take calm breathes. She closed her eyes again, feeling that this was like being underwater, except she could breathe without hesitation. The moment was unforgettable, as if she had been in a dream.
"Alright, Spitfire back inside. You've been out there for age’s now." the Doctor complained, carefully pulling her back in. Spitfire remained with an amazed expression as the Doctor closed up the TARDIS's doors again.
"I have so many questions Doctor..." Spitfire told him, as if her mouth was going to open up and explode with questions.
"Go ahead dear, ask," he told her, flipping levers up and down.
"First off, are you from Equestria? Cause I can picture you in a basement building this... TARDIS." Spitfire said while pacing around the core.
"No Spitfire, I'm from Gallifrey, a planet which lies in the constellation of Kasterborous. It's very far from where we are now, and also your home. Also, the major race of Gallifrey is the one and only, Time Lord race." the Doctor answered without hesitation.
"So, that means you're an alien. Oh is this like a costume you're wearing? Is there a slimy grimy midget alien that's controlling you in there? Or are you even alive?" Spitfire asked nosily, tapping on his chest, with a rather charming tone. The Doctor glared at her, and stopped from his typing on the console. He grabbed her by her fore hooves and placed them on his mane and cheeks rapidly.
"I'm real Spitfire, I'm almost like you, but I have two hearts. Plus I'm... maybe a tad smarter than you." the Doctor said, trying to get his point across. Spitfire moved away from him, and went to the other side of the core, rubbing her hooves when he wasn't looking.
"So you're saying that I'm an alien? Funny how that actually makes some sort of sense," she noted to him, now standing beside him by the console. He glanced at her, seeing she was biting her lip. He rolled his eyes giving her the signal to go ahead and blurt out all of her ridiculous questions.
"How old are you? Where's your favorite place to travel to? Why is the TARDIS a police box? Have you had other mares here? And what's with that ancient tie on your neck? And is there a Mrs. in your life?" Spitfire rapidly interrogated him, like any foal would to their parents for just about anything. The Doctor sighed, this mare seemed to inquisitive to have around.
"I'm over 1,200 years old. My favorite place to travel to… well I can't tell you that. That's a personal secret of mine. And the TARDIS looks like a police box because I can't bother to fix the camouflage issue, but it looks rather impressive doesn't it? After all, my TARDIS hasn't given me a problem about how she looks before. To be honest, I have had some girls, humanoid girls, here. They were pretty nice... well... very few of them can't be visited anymore, but some of them chose to leave! Also, there is a Mrs. of the sorts, but I'm a far from her at the moment. But I'll see her one day, I know it.
And bowties are not ancient Spitfire, bowties are cool." the Doctor explained as much as he could and took in some air in the midst of all of his rambling.
He had another deep breath, a bit tired from explaining everything to her, and checked up on his monitor to look for something specific. Spitfire continued to follow him as he was tapping, flipping, pushing buttons and levers. Finally, he grasped one large red switch. The TARDIS began to rumble, and Spitfire held onto the railing behind her.
"You're quite young, quite naïve. I don't want you to get hurt out there. So follow my lead Spitfire, and watch the Time Lord do his magic." he smirked, and finally pulled the red lever.
----------
The robotic parts twirled in the machine, while the pink fluff spun rapidly. The machine has been breezing a sweet scent out from the small cooling holes of the top of the machine. On the front side of the glass, was a cheery face with eyes beaming along the movement of the pink cotton. The orange eyes darted from left to right, as the pink cotton had been twirled into perfection.
"You've been just about everywhere, yet you've never had carnival cotton candy?" Spitfire asked, surprised he had never eaten such a sweet taste before. Just about everypony must've had cotton candy in their lives, especially as a foal! And he seemed quite odd, how could he not have eaten such a well-known carnival treat?
"I've probably had it before, but it has been so long since I've gone to a carnival. It's just I'm quite busy with saving the universe and beyond. There's simply not much time to relax." he replied, paying the stallion that had made the cotton candy. The Doctor gave Spitfire the sweet candy on the simple white stick. The cotton candy had been seven bits, so expensive! But it seemed worth it, since it had a sweet smelling aroma.
"Thanks Doctor, I promise to repay you at some point." Spitfire promised him as he took a bit of the sweet fluff. The Doctor stepped away from the machine and began walking towards the cheery bright carnival games the foals were playing.
There had been so many games, from launching rings at bottles, throwing balls through nets, and stallions impressing their mates by slamming a large hammer and having a bell ring in an uproar. The stallion would be given a kid-like prize and award it to his mare as she would squeal in delight. The Doctor raised his eyebrow and turned towards the cotton-candy-face-deepened-Spitfire.
"I don't understand the point in this; you just play games and waste money. That's it?" he asked, looking at the teddy bears dangling from one of the stands.
"No Doctor," Spitfire replied, chewing the fluff contently. "It's just for fun, plus you win your friends, mate, or yourself prizes. But if you have a mate with you, you always give them the prizes. They are never ever for you, even if she insists." Spitfire explained to him, as three foals bolted passed her eager to gain more prizes. The Doctor glanced around at each game, trying to decide which one he'd be best at.
A certain game caught his eye though. A booth caught his eye though, targets in the mouths of plastic clowns, and laser-looking guns attached to the booth. Where you would press a button and the water would shoot out. As the Doctor had studied it completely, he darted up to the booth with Spitfire following behind him. She tossed her bare cotton candy stick into the trash and shortly came next to him. Little did she know that every step she took was being watched very cautiously.
Meanwhile a few other foals approached the booth and their parents stood over them, encouraging their foals that they were going to win. A pre-teen foal beside the Doctor hadn't had anyone behind him, but it seemed he couldn't care less. He probably preferred the gum he munched on other than having any loving parents next to him. The foal slowly turned his head towards the Doctor and blew up a bubble in boredom.
"Hey you, gramps! Aren't you too old for these games?" the foal grumbled, as he chomped on the pink glob.
"Are you still getting your baby teeth? Oh my, maybe that's why you're chewing like a cow." the Doctor replied back roughly, staring at the foal intensely. Spitfire quickly bumped the Doctor with her hoof to get his attention away from having a conflict with a foal that was probably one thousand, one hundred and ninety years younger than him.
"Doctor, he's just a foal! Do you know how much older you are compared to him? Don't be silly." Spitfire whispered, while crossing her hooves as the little foals looked at Spitfire awkwardly, seeing how she stood over the Doctor like a mother. And obviously, the Doctor wasn't a foal. Maybe they thought of her as his mate since he seemed so focus to winning. Then the gum chewing foal looked up at Spitfire.
"Nice outfit. I guess your mate couldn't buy you proper clothes. If you plan on him winning you something, and selling that to get you some sort of proper clothes, don't get your hopes up! You poor thing!" the foal laughed obnoxiously, aiming his water gun. Spitfire grumbled, why hadn’t he told her that she was going somewhere public, so she wouldn't have to look homeless with a bathrobe. She gritted her teeth and swiveled the Doctor's chair towards her so that they were eye-to-eye.
"Ignore what I said, pretend you're blasting a space alien or something out of this dimension," Spitfire tried to encourage him.
"Alien blasting? What type of race are they?" the Doctor questioned, focusing his attention onto her instead of the game. Spitfire moaned, and placed his hooves back onto the water gun, and fixed up his swivel chair.
"I don't know! Pretend it's some sort of alien-robot!" Spitfire grumbled and heard a faint bell ring.
"On your marks, get set, go!" the announcer shouted, and water shot out of all the water guns rapidly. The Doctor flinched a bit, causing the water to go off target for a moment. Instead of giving up, he immediately aimed the water gun back at the target. The balloon atop of the clown target began enlarging steadily, ready to pop at any moment. While the Doctor was in complete focus, the foal next to him began slamming on the water gun's buttons radically. How in the world could this little foal be wiping him out in this game?
In an instant he took Spitfire's advice and mashed the buttons, imagining the target as a robot-like-alien... like a Dalek!
Now imagining such an awful image, he wanted to spring off his chair and demolish the target now. But he would scare the foals if he did such a thing, and the sound of tears wasn't bearable in this type of atmosphere. After complete concentration, the pink balloon above one of the clowns popped, and an artificial sound of cheering rang through the speakers. Once the Doctor looked up, he was absolutely astonished to see he had won.
"Congratulations, sir! Pick your prize, anything from extra-large to small." the announcer smiled, grasping his microphone, pacing around the booth pointing at all the prizes for the Doctor to choose from. Although there had been many, many prizes, the Doctor couldn't choose from them all. But one caught his attention. The prize was in the medium section, and was the size of his head to be exact. It had an orange mane, and sky blue goggles with orange button eyes. It seemed to have a stitched up suit that was a navy color, and two perfectly attached yellow wings. As the Doctor had finished up analyzing the prizes, he decided to pick the plush Pegasus.
"Good choice sir, have a wonderful time at the carnival for the last few moments," the announcer called, while holding the hanging microphone a bit nervously. "It is almost closing time, please finish your game and leave immediately." the announcer shouted into the microphone, and packed up his equipment.
"That's a cute prize, Doc..." she paused seeing the yellow streak on the plush doll's outfit. "Oh it's a Wonderbolt plush. I'm surprised they still have these," Spitfire smiled and held the doll for herself. "This is what I kind of look like as a Wonderbolt, yet I prefer my mane like this to be honest. A natural look feels so much better than a fake one."
The Doctor looked at her, a bit curious to what this whole Wonderbolt thing was about. But that didn't matter at the moment. Something was strange and off about this carnival, and it wasn't the costly prices. The Doctor sprung off his seat and chased the galloping announcer.
"Sir!" the Doctor called, still rushing. The announcer halted in his tracks, and hurried to turn to the Doctor.
"What? What do you want? I need to leave!" the announcer exclaimed, looking around developing into a sweat.
"Why are you so nervous? It's like you're a skittish mouse." the Doctor responded. As the announcer went to say why, ponies rushed towards the exit almost trampling him over. The announcer quivered for words thinking about what to say before he would be squished.
"They're coming sir. You didn't read the entrance signs have you? They are coming. At closing time they come, at opening time they leave. Now I need to go, and so should you!" the announcer explained and darted into the crowd for his life.
"What in the beyond of the universe are you frightened of?" the Doctor called but the announcer was far gone. He whirled back around to Spitfire to see if she was okay. He smiled, glad to see she was still there. She was standing on one of the stools with her bathrobe rope drooping as it breezed sometimes when more ponies galloped past her.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Spitfire asked, holding the plush Wonderbolt tightly. The Doctor shook his head, and pulled her from the stool and threw her into a bush with him beside her. Luckily the two had been spared from being trampled by the terrified ponies. Foals cried, mothers pushed through the crowd just to make sure that their children would be safely exited from the room. Couples had been holding hooves, ramming through the crowd together. The Doctor turned to the scared Spitfire, and nudged her with his hoof.
"I don't know, but we'll be safe. I can promise you that." the Doctor assured her, gazing out of the bush to see of the crowd of ponies was dying down. Right until one uproar of closings of gates and locks sounded through the carnival. The two climbed out of the bush, to see the carnival had been powered off. The breeze threw some trash into the air and they looked up at the moon. Everything seemed still and quiet. The sound of ponies gathering, and enjoying themselves with their friends had been long gone. The carnival had now become a desolated, ominous, abandoned carnival. Spitfire hurried to his side, and looked at him.
"So, are you going to fire up the TARDIS and take us out of here?" Spitfire whispered just in case something could hear them. In the silence, the Doctor burst out into a fit of laughter. Gazing at her, he ruffled up the top of her mane.
"Silly Spitfire! That isn't what we are going to do. Oh, you're so cute for your age." the Doctor chuckled, with a warm grin.
A few seconds later, the rides turned back on, and the lights glittered back up. "There is danger out here, causing those ponies to express despair. That won't be continuing after we're through. So what do you say Spit? Solve a disaster with a poor old traveler?" he invited her, extending his hoof. Spitfire looked at him with a silenced expression. But why not?
The Doctor seemed to be trustworthy and protective, and the adventure seemed as if it was hollering for her to take his hoof into hers. Spitfire raised her hoof and grabbed the Doctor's, yet he was the one shaking her hoof awkwardly and vigorously.
"Sure Doctor. Who also loves a little adventure?" Spitfire nodded and listened closely to hear the eerie carnival song with a flick of her ear.
"That's a good question Spitfire, you'll find out the answer soon enough. After all, most of my companions figure out the answer. Who also loves a little adventure...".