//------------------------------// // New World, New Friends // Story: My Little Background Pony: Friendship is Magic // by comicfan616 //------------------------------// The Doctor knew that it was only a few minutes at most since he lost consciousness, but it felt like hours. He saw the others getting up. Bon Bon spoke first. “Everypony alright?” she said slowly “I think so,” Lyra said. “Did we win?” Derpy asked. The Doctor looked at where Nightmare Moon had been standing. There was no sign of her, except perhaps for the pony that was lying on the floor a short distance away. Like Nightmare, the mare was an alicorn, except she was smaller and her coat was a much lighter shade between black and blue and her mane was now comparable to any pony in Equestria. Nightmare’s shattered armor was lying around the alicorn, like it had been hastily removed and discarded. “Yes, Derpy,” the Doctor said. “I think we did.” “Awesome!” Vinyl shouted. “Though, I think I could do without this necklace,” she added, looking at the object on her neck. “What’s wrong with it?” Octavia asked. “Well, me and jewelry have never gotten along,” Vinyl explained. “If it makes you feel any better,” Octavia said, “the charm looks very much like your cutie mark.” Vinyl looked down at her necklace; the blue charm did indeed look like a pair of eighth notes. “Hey, you’re right,” she said. She looked up again. “Yours does, too.” Octavia glanced down to see a black gem in the shape of a treble clef. The other ponies looked at their necklaces: Derpy’s had a silver set of circles combined to look like a stream of bubbles; Bon Bon’s was yellow and looked like a candy still in the wrapper; and Lyra had a light blue gem that easily looked like a lyre. The Doctor looked more closely at his sonic screwdriver. He turned it in his hoof and saw that the button had become a set of two orange triangles with the points touching each other. Just like the hourglass on my rump, he thought. “It’s like the Elements already knew who we were,” Lyra said. “And here I thought the Doc was getting all sappy on us,” Vinyl stated. “Come on, Vinyl,” Derpy chided. “He has a point. Maybe we are supposed to represent harmony.” “You certainly are,” a new voice said. Everyone started looking for the speaker, but they were distracted by the sight of the sun peeking over the horizon. Upon appearing in the sky completely, a flash of light appeared and then quickly dissipated, leaving a large, white alicorn in its place. She was almost similar to Nightmare Moon in body structure, except her adornments were golden and her mane, while still carrying that ephemeral feel, was filled with a rainbow of bright colors. The Doctor needed no introduction as he and the others immediately bowed down to Princess Celestia. “Rise, my little ponies,” she said. Her voice was commanding but gentle. The five mares slowly stood back up; the Doctor, however, stayed down. “You too, Doctor,” the princess added. Surprised that she knew him, the Doctor rose, even more slowly than the others had. Octavia was the first to speak. “My apologies, Your Highness, but do you know him?” “Only by reputation,” Celestia answered. “But all that I’ve heard has been nothing but good things, how his hearts are always in the right place, and how he risks his life for the sake of every pony and living creature in the universe, yet expects nothing in return.” “I… I’m honored,” the Doctor stumbled, surprised he could speak; meeting someone of such great importance would have been enough to keep him quiet for days. “Which is why I told the High Council to bring you here,” Celestia continued. The Doctor could only stare dumbfounded. The other mares seemed surprised by this as well. “I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, but after our last encounter, I couldn’t use the Elements of Harmony as I had done before. But when I heard of your troubles, I figured I could lend a hoof for the benefit of everyone.” “But how…?” the Doctor started. “I am a being who can control the orbit of the sun and moon,” she answered. “The Council respects my authority. I ‘suggested’ that your exile be served here. Ponyville’s naturally friendly atmosphere would allow you to forge new friendships to make up for the ones you had lost. And those friendships would, in turn, allow you harness the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon.” The Doctor listened intently to Celestia’s explanation. “I… don’t know what to say. Thank you, Princess.” He bowed again. “Were it not for you, I probably would have remained friendless for the rest of time.” Celestia smiled. “I’m happy to be of service, Doctor. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” She walked past the ponies and toward the unconscious alicorn. “Princess Luna,” she called gently. As if by command, the blue alicorn’s eyes popped open and she gasped in surprise. She looked up at Celestia, her face filled with nervousness. “It has been a thousand years since I’ve seen you like this,” Celestia continued. She knelt down and looked at Nightmare, now Luna, at eye level. “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.” “That’s what I was just telling her,” the Doctor whispered to Derpy. Celestia stood up. “Will you accept my friendship?” For a moment, no one said anything. The ponies looked on nervously, unsure of what Luna would do. In fact, it even looked like Luna herself had some indecision. Finally, she jumped to her hooves and pressed her head against Celestia’s body. She seemed to be crying, though her face contained a smile. “I’m so sorry!” she said. “I missed you so much, big sister!” Celestia seemed surprised by Luna’s actions, but she quickly adjusted. Like her sister, tears began welling up in her eyes. “I’ve missed you too.” As the alicorn sisters continued to enjoy their long-awaited reunion, the other ponies watched everything with a mix of curiosity, sadness, and pure joy. “Well, as they say,” the Doctor said: “All’s well that ends well.” “Hey, um, Doc?” Vinyl said. “What’s up, Vinyl?” the Doctor responded. “Celestia said your hearts were in the right place,” Vinyl said. “That’s hearts as in plural. Any reason for that?” The Doctor just paused. Celestia and Luna flew the six ponies, sans Derpy, who could already fly, out of the castle and the Everfree Forest and into Ponyville. The sight of the Princess of the Sun flying overhead was a welcome one for the townsponies. A few were curious and even apprehensive over the presence of Luna, whom nopony had ever seen before, but a few words of assurance by Celestia put their minds at ease. With the sun and princess back, the Summer Sun Celebration was finally in full swing. If the Doctor had thought the party from the previous night had been fun, then this party was an absolute blast. Everything about it seemed to be bigger: the games were more numerous and allowed for more ponies at a time; the amount of food seemed to never end; and the Doctor swore there were more ponies than last night as well. Even when Octavia, Lyra, and Vinyl began playing their full concert (after Lyra repaired her lyre, of course), it seemed better than the rehearsal. Celestia spent most of the day showing Luna a whole new world. The rechristened Princess of the Night was treated quite well considering the mysterious nature behind her appearance; she attributed this to the uplifting mood caused by the celebration. She was glad to see that even though the town had only expected playing host to one princess, everyone could easily accommodate for two. The Doctor watched everything, from the party in general to the reunited princesses, feeling happier than he had for what seemed like a long time. “So, what are you going to do now?” he heard. He turned to find a pair of inverted, golden irises staring at him. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Well, you saved the world,” Derpy said, “and it seems like that’s a normal thing for you.” “Only on a good day,” he said. Derpy giggled at his frankness. “So what do you do after you save the world?” she asked. The Doctor thought for a bit. “Normally, I’d go back to the TARDIS and head off to the next adventure. But…” He paused almost teasing Derpy. “But I still can’t get it to run right. I mean, I only just got the computer working. It’ll take several weeks at best to get the global traveling systems up to full capacity, and then there’s the time manipulators, and of course, the biggest nail in the proverbial coffin, I’ll be mainly sticking to the Equestrian space-time continuum until the High Council says otherwise.” “Just say what you mean, Doctor,” Bon Bon said, having walked up in the middle of his explanation. The other ponies had also finished their concert and seemed to be expecting an answer as well. The Doctor smiled. “I’ll be staying for the foreseeable future, possibly beyond.” “Awesome! Welcome to the DJ-PON3 groupies, Timey!” “Groupies?” Octavia repeated. “Timey?” the Doctor added. “I figured ‘fan club’ sounded too laid back,” Vinyl explained. Derpy cleared her throat. “And we all talked it out a little bit ago; if you were going to stay, we’d like to go back to calling you Time Turner. After all, we made friends with him.” “Indeed,” Octavia said. “The name ‘Doctor’ seems too formal for the relationship we have going.” “It’s your choice, though,” Lyra said. “We’re not going to be like Vinyl here.” (“Hey!”) The Doctor considered his new friends’ reasoning. He would still be on this world for a while, and he still needed to be discreet in who he really was. It would definitely be better for them to make it a habit in calling him Time Turner. “Very well, then,” he said at last. “Time Turner it is!” “Then Turner,” Derpy said, “let us be the first to welcome you to Equestria.” Things could definitely be worse, the Doctor thought.