//------------------------------// // Mind Your Manners // Story: Time Bubbles // by peppermint_twist //------------------------------// A tall, slender white stallion marched into the large room. He had jet black hair that was way too neat and a crisp, clean suit. His little moustache bounced with every step. Platters with covers to maintain mystery floated around the most-likely-waiter in a magical cyan aura that emitted from his horn. He bowed, his head low to the ground and said in an oh-so-Canterlot voice, “Lunch is served,” The stallion laid one platter in front of everypony. Derpy’s eyes were completely focused on the reflective cover that was put in front of her. She clenched her stomach with her hoof, not wanting to cause any embarrassment for herself as her stomach wanted to scream extremely loudly. It started to rumble. The covers made a loud clanking sound as they were levitated off, steam instantly flying into the air in thick, wispy waves. Luckily for Derpy, the clanking hid the loud earthquake-like noise that sounded from Derpy’s famished stomach. The food was clearly Canterlot styled, for she could tell that she could never find anything this extravagant in Ponyville. There was a type of pasta covered in cheese that oozed a delicious looking crimson sauce. Lining the bottom of the plate was a thick layer off sweet grass, the aroma causing Derpy’s tongue to loll out. Scattered across the top were mushroom-like slabs that caused Derpy stomach to grumble. Violet flower petals sprinkled the top. They looked so sweet and tasty that Derpy was about to- “It’s sweet grass risotto with truffles,” The Princess mentioned. Derpy looked up, not realizing that nopony else was about to eat yet. Her snout was just about to touch the steaming food, “Truffles? Like, chocolate?” “It’s this really fancy kind of mushroom,” Princess Cadence commented, “They use pigs to sniff them out,” The same waiter came in, floating above him were expensive looking crystals that held some magenta drink, “Your drinks,” He bowed, placing one in front of everyponies’ plate and utensils. Kacoonis sniffed the drink, her face scrunching up, “What is this… beverage?” she questioned “Well, um, wine. You ponies don’t drink?” Shining Armor wondered. Even his little sister had tried those fermented drinks before. Though she didn’t like it, she would still accept it when offered. Shining had gotten used to the burning taste after he started dating Cadence who always had elegant dinners. “Well, um, I’ve never tried…” Derpy muttered. “Derpy, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” The Doctor reassured, placing one of his coconut hooves on her shoulder. Derpy muttered something imperceptible. “A toast, to our guests and this fabulous lunch!” Princess Celestia hollered. “A toast!” Everypony repeated, though Derpy did half-heartily. Derpy and Kacoonis looked at each other, then the wine, then each other; this went on for several seconds. Derpy gently curled her ashen hoof around the stem of the fragile glass. Hooves weren’t that good for eating or drinking, so most ponies had to be extremely careful. No wonder all the fancy mannerly ponies were unicorns. They could just levitate the tools. Derpy brought the cool cup to her lips and tilted her head back, the red liquid rushing into her mouth. She recoiled at the taste, but nonetheless kept drinking out of manners. When she put the glass down and opened her eyes, everypony was still drinking. Had she gone that fast? With a smack of their lips, most of the alicorns had set their glasses down. “My throat is burning,” Derpy moaned, completely forgetting her hunger. “It’s okay Derpy, you’ll get used to it,” The Doctor reassured. “Well… Let’s eat!” The Princess called awkwardly. Derpy felt as if she was going to throw up. The wine had tasted exactly like the berry flavoured medicine flight school had given to her once when she was sick with the fever. She recalled lying in bed, her face extremely red, and her heart pounding in her ears as she moaned. Fluttershy used to stay by her bed before going to class in that week. Rainbowdash and Raindrops would just stare awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Fluttershy would feed her that vile stuff the school had supplied. Derpy now moaned loudly, her face turning a horrible emerald. “Derpy?” the Doctor asked worried. Derpy gagged, though only the wine came out, considering she hadn’t eaten since early the day before. It made a slushing sound as it fell out onto the red carpet. “Never… drinking… again…” Derpy muttered between quick breaths. The whole royal family stood up right away, fluffed pillows now being kicked away as the happy couple ran off to get a doctor… a real medical one. Luna rushed to the Doctor’s side who was trying to calm Derpy down, telling her to take deep breaths. Luna raised a hoof to the small pegasus’ forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever…” “I don’t think she’s… uh, ill,” Kacoonis guessed, walking over to the incident. “Is it from the alcohol, Derpy?” The Princess questioned. “You don’t have to give in to peer pressure,” “Uh,” Derpy muttered, looking at the mess she made. It really just looked like a purple wine stain to be honest. “I was about to be sick when I saw you doubling over, Derpy,” Kacoonis chuckled, “you’ll be fine though, at least you didn’t start eating yet.” “I’m…” Derpy gulped, “Hunnnnnnngry!” Celestia chuckled as she went and sat back down, lighting up her horn in a golden glow. Luna sat back down as well; smiling at Derpy’s little complaint. Luna used her fuchsia aura and picked up her napkin. Her glow deceased as the napkin came to life, its body waving live a ghost, it floating over next to Derpy and hopping down onto the now damp floor. It began to dance over the stain until the stain was no more. Two yellow flashes made Derpy blink rapidly, the light too bright. What appeared was both Cadence and Shining Armor back in their seats. They were clutching their heads as they felt a large throbbing in their skulls. The little napkin made a small squeaking noise, as if it was calling someone. Luna lit up her horn yet again and the napkin was levitated to the nearest bin. “Okay… Now let’s eat!” Celestia smiled. Derpy looked down at the delicious dish set out before her. One might have lost one’s appetite after such a fiasco, but no. Derpy was too hungry for all that. Besides, she couldn’t let this beautiful-and obviously expensive- meal go to waste! Everypony but her and the Doctor lit up their horns as their magical aura enveloped the dainty silver forks and knives. Derpy stared down at the food. Everypony else dug in, commenting on how delicious it was. Derpy’s depressed stomach begged for her to start eating. Sure, it was easy to eat mannerly for unicorns (and in this case, alicorns as well), but not so much for the other kinds of ponies. Usually, ponies used their hooves to eat, but obviously-based off of the setting of the utensils- that wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Her stomach roared in protest yet again. Derpy’s eyes widened as she gently clenched her teeth around one of the petit forks. She bent her neck in a way that it wasn’t supposed to be bent, so her head was directly above the plate. She thrust her head down, trying to get the fork to stab something. Instead, however, it decided that it was time for anarchy, so when her head came down, the fork decided to slip away when it made contact with food. This caused both the food and fork to slide away. Luckily, instead of all the food coming off the plate, the plate just slid away. Unluckily, Derpy’s chin smashed into the redwood table. She grunted in pain as she imagined the large purple lump beginning to form. The Doctor stared at Derpy, trying his hardest to contain his amusement. Princess Cadence looked down in pity and smiled, lighting up her blue magic and picking up Derpy’s plate and fork, setting it out in front of her. “Just… eat normally, none of us mind,” Cadence cheerfully said Derpy looked down in dismay, realising how she had to eat. She bent down her head and bit off a little bit of everything in one go. The sweet grass burst in her mouth as the sugary flavors swarmed around her tongue. The risotto adding that bit off savory needed at a lunch. The truffles gave a light, bouncy texture that made her whole face relax. It gave that little kick that made this meal so special. Then, there were the orchid petals. They added just a slight spongy crunch that eventually melted in her mouth. It was so sweet and tangy at the same time, Derpy couldn’t describe the food with any words. She felt all this in her first chew, her eyes closing as she created a look of enjoyment. Her whole face was relaxed as she slowly munched on the orchestra of flavours, savoring every bit. “So,” The Doctor said, interrupting Derpy’s taste buds from tasting the delicious food in another bite, “Back to my questions, oh dear Princess,” he said, directing to Celestia. “Ah, yes, you are quite eager to get back to those queries,” she chuckled. “I don’t quite understand alicorns, I’m just wondering-“ “Shining Armor,” Luna looked over at her nephew, “will you please leave this room?” “Um,” he looked back at Luna, specifically at her stern look, “yeah, yeah, sure,” he stood up to go, not willing to question his ill-tempered aunt. As soon as that blue tail disappeared, Luna’s horn lit up as she shut the door. “Now, continue, time lord,” Luna ordered. "Wait... what?!" He shrieked, eyes shrunken to pinpoints. "Oh, it was quite obvious! I mean, look at that thing in your collar, a sonic screwdriver! Haven't seen one of those in a millenia!" Celestia teased. "But... I thought I was the only..." "As I said, a long time ago. I heard about Gallifrey... I'm so sorry. Truly. It must be so horrible to be the only one," Celestia muttered mournfully. "Get back to those questions," He shook his dazed expression away, getting back on subject. “H-How are there only three alicorns? Why are you three royalty? Why is there a prince that isn’t an alicorn? How come you supposedly live forever? Where did alicorns come from? I-“ “You know Doctor,” Cadence chuckled, “You have way too many questions. We will answer one at a time,” “Alright, where did alicorns come from?” “Afraid we cannot reveal that, Doctor,” Celestia said in her overpowering voice. “Fine, then how are there only three alicorns?” Again, he got the same response. “You said you’d answer my questions!” The Doctor whined. “We did,” Cadence chuckled, “we said that we couldn’t tell you,” “There are some things that not everypony can know.” Believed Luna “If you three can’t tell me, where can I find out all this?” “Why are you so interested in this?” Cadence interrogated “Because, I’m the Doctor,” he said with a humph. “Just, tell me where I can find all this out, where you three are from and... about another time lord...” “Alicorn Archives,” Celestia muttered, looking up at the party of three with a determined look. “Sister, what are you-“ Luna cut in “If he’s that determined, he should be given a chance to at least try,” “Alicorn Archives? What’s that?” Kacoonis wondered, finally joining the conversation. Luna sighed, “A library that has the whole history of everything… when I say everything, I mean everything,” “Entries are still being added to the library, it’s completely up to date. It has volumes of the beginning of this world. It has details of everything, up to that little speck of dust floating around,” Celestia said, pointing her golden-shoed hoof at a piece of dust, dancing in the gleam of the sunshine flooding in through the open window. “You guys told me it was all a legend,” Cadence added, feeling hurt that her aunts had been lying. “It is. We aren’t even sure if this place exists. I mean, we haven’t even been there,” Luna replied “Then how do you know of it?” the Doctor probed “It was drilled into our minds by mysterious ponies that my sister and I have no knowledge of, we learned off this place at an extremely young age,” Celestia responded, lighting up her marble-like horn. A scroll appeared before her in a flash of bright yellow light. “Do you want this Doctor? A map to this legendary Archive?” The Doctor grinned, “I’m always looking for an adventure…” *** “So, Derpy, Kacoonis, let’s go,” he said, folding open the azure doors of the TARDIS. “No.” Derpy muttered “What?” Kacoonis and the Doctor both asked incredulously at the same time. “I agreed to come along to help Equestria… with the changeling problem but not this. What’s so great about going after a legend and some random 'time lord'? It might not even be real! Celestia said that it would be a dangerous journey that could lead to pain and even death. You’re willing to go through that for… knowledge that isn’t even needed? I’m sorry guys, but… I just can’t. I’m not going through with this. I’m going to go catch the next train to Ponyville,” Derpy sighed, turning away. “Derpy!” the Doctor called “What?” she asked sadly, she really didn’t want to say goodbye to the Doctor, but there was no other choice. “I’ll… I’ll,” “You’ll do what?” She asked sternly. The Doctor gulped, “I’ll take you to go see your mother,” All the gears suddenly halted in Derpy’s brain. Her mother? That has been her lifelong dream, just to know what she was like, to finally meet the mare who gave birth to her. She would be happy then, most definitely. She would finally have a real family. And now, if she were to go back in time, she could go stop her mother from abandoning her. She could start anew, in a better world. Derpy smiled at the thought. Her golden eyes shifted to the Doctor who was now shifting uncomfortably. “Alright, let’s have a look at that map,”