Chapter Two
In which a temperamental filly is dubbed a name, and there are some things you can't fix with soup
Picking up the tureen of soup in his mouth, the Doctor trotted TARDIS doors. Despite his lack of interest at first, it had actually been a fun trip....Turns out the Reindeer up north during the Pre-Classical Period were very particular about following specific traditions when it came to soup, and apparently getting creative and popping in a few extra herbs to liven up the flavour was, well... a tiny bit highly frowned upon. The Doctor grinned in a Devil-May-Care manner. It had been a long time since he had ran that fast through that much snow. There was no denying the Reindeer soup had been a bust however, so he had opted for a much less dangerous broth from a Cafe run by a family of Seaponies in an underwater city about six hundred years in the future from Twilight's time.
......And to think she had wanted soup made by some pony down the block.
Trotting out the door in a jovial fashion, the Doctor looked around, then stopped.
Instead of the back alley behind the Books and Branches library, he was was met with a dingy room, dimly lit by a computer monitor. All around, on tables and the ground, lay twisted half-finished metal devices and various tools. A quick examination of the walls and what he could see of the adjoining rooms showed what appeared to be a disused lab.
In front of the computer, sitting on an ill-made chair that looked like it had been hurriedly put together, sat a pony.
The Doctor cocked his head curiously "This isn't the library...."
"No. No it isn't" the pony replied smoothly. It's voice was high pitched, female definitely, but also young.
"That's because I brought you here. You and your TARDIS"
The pony stood up. She was small, much smaller than Twilight, and her eyes were large and steel blue.
"How do you know about the TARDIS?" the Doctor asked slowly, setting the soup tureen down.
The filly must have been only a little older than Applebloom and her friends, but the smile she wore was starkly out of place on her youthful features. It was much too knowing, much too smug, much too jaded and cold to belong on someone that young.
"You'd be surprised what you can find by looking up pony in a blue box" she said coolly "I understand more about you than you know....Doctor"
The Doctor blinked, then began to laugh. Something about the classic evil mastermind smile shrunk down to kid-sized was hilarious. Like being attacked by a cuddly baby bear instead of a not so cuddly fully grown one "That's cute" he finally said, still chuckling slightly. He sniffed the air. From what he could tell, it was roughly 1350 Celestial Era, roughly three hundred forty eight years ahead of Twilight's time, give or take a few months. Judging from the one on the filly's desk, ponies must have invented computers of some sort. Fascinating. He would have to tell Twilight about it...She would probably like Google.
The filly balked, clearly having imagined a different reaction. Probably one of shock, maybe a little fear, the Doctor hypothesized. She quickly regained her composure however, brushing a strand of her short-cropped light and dark blue mane out of her eyes testily.
"Don't you want to know why I brought you here?"
The Doctor just chuckled....There it was again, "brought". Right.
"Maybe later" he dismissed "What's your name?"
The exchange obviously wasn't going the way the filly expected it. She made a series of flustered little huffing noises before she actually spoke "I don't have a one" she finally snorted defensively, trying to maintain face.
The Doctor grinned, perking up "Well we're going to have to fix that, aren't we? Hmmmmm...." He looked critically at the filly, before his eyes lit up and he said cheerfully "Colgate! You look like a Colgate!
Colgate now just looked confused "Foalgate? Like the toothpaste?"
The Doctor laughed "Foalgate? Pfffhhhh-Ha ha ha! That's brilliant!- But no, it's Colgate, with a C" he chuckled, shaking his head "Foalgate....honestly! You ponies and your ever-present horse puns. The other day my friend told me I needed to work on my Mane-ers. Mane-ers!"
Like a switch being turned, Colgate's expression flipped from baffled, to positively cheesed-off.
"SHUT UP!" She spat furiously "Shut up, shut up, shut up! For Luna's sake shut your mouth for one second and listen!"
"Touchy..." the Doctor muttered, he was tempted to just hop in the TARDIS and leave the unpleasant kid to her anger issues but his curiosity swayed him. Reluctantly, he shut up.
After a few moments of silence the filly began to speak
"I'm smarter than you think" she hissed "I know about you. I know you're not from this universe, I know you travel through time and space, I know about the TARDIS and I know how it all works too. You aren't here by accident Doctor, I called you and your machine here."
The Doctor snorted, quickly breaking the whole Shut-Up-And-Listen thing "Called? Like a dog or something? She isn't just some dumb machine, she's alive"
"I know that, idiot. That doesn't mean it's impossible to manipulate" Colgate gave her hoof a pretentious little wave, gesturing to the computer and the odd device build around it, a confusing mass of wires and parts "I opened up partial access to the time vortex, using machine served as an anchoring point, and created a small time tunnel to take you off course."
She smiled patronizingly, as if talking to a very dull child. The Doctor half suspected she was going to pat him on the head. Despite the indignity, he was more concerned about the time corridor.....the last time he had encountered one, it was being used by the Daleks.
"It was simple really" Colgate continued smugly "A modified time spell served to open the connection to the vortex, and a spell of my own creation served to make the tunnel....Am I going too fast for you?"
Now that threw the Doctor. He wasn't an expert on magic, but he had learned a lot from Twilight, especially on time magic, which he had been extremely curious about. Time spells were finicky things, subject to catastrophic disasters if not performed correctly, and very difficult to cast. The only pony as of Twilight's time who had been able to successfully create even the simplest time travel spell...much less a stable wormhole making one, was Starswirl the Bearded.
".....You shouldn't be able to do that kind of magic" he said slowly, concern growing. When he had first learned about time spells, he had been relieved to learn that there wasn't much opportunity for even the most gifted spell casters to go mucking about the time stream. The fact that there was now an unfriendly, and possibly unstable filly who had the ability to do just that was...unsurprisingly...troubling.
"You're right" Colgate gave a self-satisfied smile "I shouldn't. Especially considering the average unicorn these days can't even cast a simple levitation spell."
"Whot?"
Colgate uttered a short, bark-like laugh "You didn't know? Magic has been disappearing for years now, or at least the kind unicorns used to wield. The only reason I have even a drop of magic is that I was specifically engineered for it, part of an elite group of test-tube foals created for the goal of bringing the unicorn race back to it's former glory. I was one of the last ones created by the group of scientists who used to occupy this lab before Luna came and arrested them all for 'unethical experimentation'...." She shrugged "Real shame too. They were almost onto something, I was the first they were able to create with real potent magical abilities, but I lack the ability to do any magic outside my talent field. Can't even make my horn glow unless I'm actively casting a time spell. Pity, a few more tries probably would have done it"
"But weren't they 'unethically experimenting' on you? I mean, come on, they didn't even give you a name. Heck...they didn't even bother to give you a number"
Colgate looked indifferent "Better than the names my foster homes gave me...I swear to Luna... I mean, Minuette? Really?" She said the name with an air of repulsion, making a face. "I supported their cause though, trying to make unicorns strong once more. After all, the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must. You probably recognize that line from the peloponysian war during the great winter, being a history buff and all. The unicorns gave that little nugget of wisdom to the earth ponies before they began to use their magic to force the earth ponies to pay them tribute in food."
She gave a wicked little smirk that the Doctor didn't like one bit. This wasn't good. Potentially disastrous time travel spells in the hands...or hooves...of a malicious juvenile with possible sociopaths tendencies are never good thing. Slowly, he began to back towards the TARDIS, grabbing the tureen as he went. He would go get Twilight, and investigate this later.
"Leaving so soon?"
Without a reply, the Doctor hopped into the TARDIS and shut the door.
Colgate just smiled. She would let him go, it didn't really matter anyways. Now that she had caught him once, she could do it again. She smiled wider as an idea came to her, it was not a nice smile.
As the box began to de-materialize, she reached out her magic towards it. It was a small spell.... just a little modification to give the Doctor something to think about.
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS outside of the library, and trotted hurriedly up to the door, shivering slightly in the chilly wind. It was oddly cold for September, the Doctor noted, which was strange. Ponyville usually stayed warm well into late October....Shrugging, he trotted to the door, turning the handle. Locked. The Doctor gave a little snort....that was odd. Considering that it was well hidden, and that Ponyville's crime rate was zero percent, Twilight usually just left the back door unlocked for him. He considered briefly just using the Sonic Screwdriver to open it, but that seemed a mite rude.
He knocked on the door "Twilight....Twilight...Twilight."
There was a short pause, and a clatter of hooves from the other side of of the entrance. Twilight pulled the door open, a slightly peeved expression on her face "I'm coming! No need to- " She cut off sharply, an expression of surprise crossing over her face.
The Doctor's brows furrowed, and he set down the soup tureen "You alright, Sparky? You look like you've seen a ghost, or an alien for that matter....you'd be surprised how often people mistake them for ghosts...." he paused "Why are you wearing a dress?"
From inside, a voice called out, Rarity's "Twilight, you ready? We should probably get going if we want to get to Canterlot on time"
Twilight turned to look back into the library, calling back "Go ahead! I-I'll catch up in a second"
"Come on, Twi!" another voice said, this time Rainbow Dash's "What's the hold up? I-"
The pegasus trotted up behind Twilight and then stopped as she spotted him, eyes widening slightly. She was wearing a dress too....strange.
"Uhhhh....agree!..." she continued quickly, "you can catch up to us later...uh...Come on girls! Let's go!"
Twilight continued to look behind her as her friends were herded out the door by Rainbow, then, as it closed, she turned to face him "You know" she said slowly "When I asked you to surprise me, I didn't mean to disappear off the face of Equestria for three months"
The Doctor paused for a long time, then he picked up the tureen ".....Soup?"