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// Chapter 4: The Blue Box 
// Story: Allons-Y 
// by oop 
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	The phone was ringing, that much he could register quite plainly. As he opened his eyes he also registered, from the clock on his bedside, that it was four in the morning. Next he realized that if the errant mobile device currently buzzing somewhere nearby were to wake Time Turner he would be in for a world of hurt. He fumbled in the dark for the phone and picked it up, knowing that only one person could possibly be calling him at this very early, or in her case very late hour.
“Hey Doc,” Vinyl’s voice rang from the other end, sounding somehow frightened “I need you to come over to sunset hill, now.”
“Vinyl, it’s barely four in the morning,” said The Doctor groggily “What in Equestria are you doing up this early anyway? You’re never awake enough to string two words together until at least noon.”
“I went out drinking with some of my buddies,” said Vinyl squeamishly “I haven’t exactly gone to bed yet… but that’s not important! I was on my way home when I found this… thing…”
“You’re going to have to be more specific Vinyl…” said The Doctor, already steeling himself for a long walk across town to pick up a hallucinating drunk “You know I hate the word ‘thing’.”
“Well I don’t know what else to call it!” said Vinyl “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen I swear. It’s like a big blue box… or… something…”
For some bizarre reason those last few words struck a chord with the Doctor. Big blue box, there was no reason why that could ever in any way be significant, but nonetheless he found his heart racing at an uncomfortable speed.
“Doc, you there?” inquired Vinyl.
“Yeah…” said The Doctor, realizing suddenly that he was breathing heavily “You said sunset hill? I’ll be right over…”
Just as he promised it was hardly fifteen minutes before he arrived at the base of sunset hill, panting from exhaustion and fatigue. Vinyl was waiting for him there, looking buzzed but overall greatly sobered. Not a good sign for this to be a drunken fantasy, but that could be good or bad.
“You sure got here quick,” she said, the earlier fear mostly dissipated, but clearly still present “You know about weird machine things don’t you? Sorta working with clocks and stuff?”
“Vinyl, I work at an antiques store,” said The Doctor with a heavy sigh “But yes, I do have a cursory knowledge of the mechanical. Where is this blue box you’re babbling about?”
“It’s at the top of the hill,” said Vinyl “And you are not gonna believe this Doc… but the thing just appeared out of thin air.”
“Law of conservation of mass Vinyl,” said The Doctor “You can’t just create something out of nothing, it isn’t possible!”
“Whatever, I know what I saw,” said Vinyl in a self-assured tone of voice “Would you just come on? I’m really freaked out here…”
The Doctor nodded and followed her as she began a steady trot up the hill “Did you call anyone else?” he asked “Or was it just me?”
“I asked Tavi…” said Vinyl “She’s the one I usually talk to when… But yeah, she just told me I was drunk and to go to bed… I really don’t think anyone else would know what… well just look!”
As they crested the top of the hill The Doctor’s heart skipped a beat. There, at almost the perfect summit, was a blue, wooden box. It was carved in a completely alien shape, like nothing he’d ever seen before. It was, as previously mentioned, square overall, with rectangular cutouts on the sides and what looked like the door. The top tapered into layers topped with what seemed to be a cylindrical light bulb. Adrenaline flooded his system as he approached, a nagging memory tugging at his conscious, unwilling to rise to the surface.
“So what do you think?” asked Vinyl, still just a bit too inebriated to gage his expression “It’s like something out of a space alien movie huh?”
“It’s a 1960s phone booth…” said The Doctor, pacing around it “Of classic English build… what is this doing here…?”
“Is English a place then?” asked Vinyl “I’ve never heard of it, that near Canterlot or something?”
“I… I don’t know…” said The Doctor “I must have read about it in a book or something, I don’t remember much of anything…”
“Police Public Call Box,” Vinyl read out the sign on the door “Pull to open…” she tugged on the handle a few times, clearly disappointed as the door didn’t budge “I think it’s locked Doc, what do we do now? Report it?”
“No!” said The Doctor “I think… we should come back later, bring some of the others, and see what they think.”
“Whatever you say Doc…” said vinyl, letting a loud yawn slip out “I’m going home, Tavi was right, I think I need a nap.”
“Not a bad idea,” said The Doctor “It’s almost dawn after all…” he waved her off as she stared down the hill again “Get home safe…”
Derpy found herself being woken up very suddenly by the sound of the aviators playing from her bedside table. She groaned, who could be calling her at this time of night? Her eyes blinked open, registering in her typical distorted reality, including but not limited to the early morning sun pouring through the windows. Okay so it wasn’t night, but on a weekend it might as well be. She groaned, reaching over and flipping the phone to speaker.
“Derpy?” came a familiar voice from the other end “Are you awake?”
“Doctor…” said Derpy hazily “Yeah I’m here… Are you alright?”
“In a technical manner of speaking yes…” said The Doctor “But there’s something I need you to come out here and see…”
An hour or so later Derpy was trotting up sunset hill, looking annoyed, but not quite angry. The Doctor had sounded worried about something when he had called her, so she couldn’t be entirely angry with him for being afraid. Annoyed though? Absolutely.
“What’s the big deal?” she asked drowsily, approaching him with a yawn “nice box, where’d you get it?”
“I… didn’t…” said The Doctor, still pacing a circle around the phone booth “Vinyl found it last night and called me over… I … I can’t help but feel…” he trailed off into silence.
“Feel…what?” asked Derpy, sounding exponentially more awake now “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” said The Doctor “I feel like… I’m familiar with this box somehow… I have this… desire… this nagging feeling that it’s somehow… mine…”
“Well you did steal me,” said Derpy.
The Doctor turned to look at her “What was that?”
“I said you’re not going to steal it are you?” said Derpy “I mean it’s got to belong to someone, and I don’t think they would want you messing around with it…”
The Doctor shook his head, was he hearing things? “Well it’s not much good messing around with it anyway,” he said “The door’s looked up tight.”
“Um…Doctor…” said Derpy “I don’t think it’s locked…” There was a low creaking sound as the door swung outward, revealing a perfectly plain interior, nothing else.
“Oh…” said The Doctor, peeking his head inside “Well that was more than a little disappointing.”
“Over a thousand years and you still push the door instead of pulling it.” Said Derpy.
“Wait, what?” said The Doctor “What the hay does that mean?”
“It means exactly what I said…” said Derpy, sounding annoyed “You probably pushed it instead of pulling it. Look, it says right here on the sign!”
“Yes… but…” he sighed “Never mind. I think I might just be tired… Pity it’s empty though, I was hoping for something a little bit more interesting.”
“Empty?” asked Derpy, poking her head in and letting out a gasp “Doctor! This is a long way from empty!”
The Doctor took another look, and upon seeing nothing merely assumed he had misheard Derpy speak again. After she stared at him for a moment he realized she was being serious “Well what exactly is it you see in there…?” he asked.
“There’s a whole bunch of machines…” she said slowly, as if trying to find the right words to describe “And a big tube looking thing in the middle, it looks like something might go up and down inside of it… That’s right in front of what looks like a computer terminal, except different! It’s got extra buttons and what looks like an eggbeater, and there’s a shoe attached to it! You really can’t see this?”
Despite the steady elevation of his heart rate as Derpy described each individual detail he couldn’t see any of these things. “I think we should go inside…” he said hesitantly “Sort of… decide once and for all if this is worth poking into…”
Derpy didn’t hesitate for even a moment, walking through the open door and walking forward. The moment Derpy’s hoof touched the floor inside the room the Doctor gasped. The image of the inside had changed dramatically, a huge cathedral of space-age electronics dominating the inner sanctum. He didn’t wait another instant, dashing past Derpy to get a better look. The walls were studded with enormous bolts that from his perspective didn’t serve any purpose, but were nevertheless awe inspiring. Massive beams curved upward at the ceiling level reminiscent of ancient architecture, but made of clean shining copper rather than stone. Innumerable doors led off the central area, their contents a wonderful mystery.
“You look like you like what you see,” said Derpy, a girlish giggle escaping her.
“Yes…” said The Doctor, still awestruck “I don’t even know what to think of this place… The arches… they look ancient! But that computer terminal, that’s like nothing I’ve ever seen! What on Earth is this?”
“What’s Earth Doctor?” Derpy asked.
The Doctor didn’t seem to hear her, still sweeping over the interior with wild abandon, laughing like a foal in a candy store. “Spatial distortion!” he said suddenly “the inside of the box has a greater volume than the outside due to the space-time stasis field! I’ve read about this! But it’s only in theories about quantum physics…”
“So… it’s bigger on the inside?” asked Derpy, trying to bring the conversation back to a level that made sense to her.
“What did you say…?” said The Doctor, suddenly turning to Derpy, a look of pale enthusiasm still underneath his attempted serious exterior.
“I said it’s bigger on the inside…” said Derpy.
Boyish laughter filled the entirety of the massive hall “It’s bigger on the inside!” said The Doctor, feeling giddy for some reason he failed to identify “I love it!” On wild instinct he grabbed Derpy by the shoulder and yanked her into a quick kiss. The gray mare squeaked, wings standing at attention for the briefest of moments while their lips touched. Even after The doctor had broken the moment, returning to his excited poking about, she stared straight ahead at him, both eyes somehow focused.
“D-Doctor…?” she said weakly, a tomato red blush coating her face as she watched him bound around the terminal. It had been an incredibly heated moment, as she well knew, he would’ve kissed anyone he had been with while exploring this strange contraption. She blushed even further as she imagined several of the stallions from class taking her place in that situation. The fantasy was one she tried not to indulge…
“Derpy?” said The Doctor, suddenly right in front of her.
She gasped slightly, blush deepening “Um… yes Doctor?” she squeaked, trying desperately to sound unflinchingly innocent.
“I said, what do you think all this does?” said The Doctor “I mean we’ve been over and over that all this is very incredible and highly technological, but what does it do?”
“That sounds like a dangerous question…” said Derpy.
“Isn’t it though?” said The Doctor, laughing in a way that reminded Derpy a little too much of the mad scientist from the movies “Only one way to find out I suppose!”
“No! Doctor!” Derpy exclaimed, but she knew there was no stopping him. He practically galloped up to the console at the center and began looking around the thousands of blinking lights, knobs, and buttons.
“Let’s see, buttons, levers, who knows!” he said animatedly, twisting a few knobs and pushing the largest red button he could find. A glass shape began to glow in the central tube, rising up and down repeatedly as whirring erupted from all sides. Whatever this machine did, it was doing it now.
The door slammed shut on its own accord and Derpy ran over to the Doctor, who was holding on to what seemed to be a safety bar. The entire room started to rock back and forth violently, sparks flying off the console with incredible flashes of light. The two ponies clung for dear life to the sides of the metal walkway, only now beginning to feel like some horrible mistake had been made.
“Why did we have to come here?” Derpy thought as the box did what felt like an upside down flip “I just want to go somewhere nice and quiet. I just want to be at sugarcube corner with a good muffin…”
Seemingly on cue the entire chaotic sequence ended, the sudden stop bringing both ponies tumbling off their hooves. The Doctor finally seemed dazed by the whole event and Derpy’s eyes were spinning even faster than usual. It took a few moments for them both to come to their senses, stumbling about the chamber looking for steady ground, but at last the world stopped spinning behind their eyes and the opportunity to piece together exactly what had happened presented itself.
“Well…” said The Doctor “I do believe that was some sort of transportation system… where is it you suppose we’ve ended up?”
“If it’s outer space I’m going to punch you…” Derpy murmured, walking in a zigzag fashion toward the door “Hey Doctor, was the door always like this? I think it changed…”
The Doctor walked in an equally dizzy fashion to take a look “Yes, I think it was…” he said “I’m sure it was, when we came in, a double door. And wasn’t it blue? Now it’s boring, brown and one sided.”
Derpy stifled a laugh “If brown is boring what do you have to say about yourself?”
The Doctor ignored this statement, hesitantly placing his hoof on the handle of the new door, “Well…” he said “Here we go I guess… If I get snapped up by some monster shut the door fast and push random buttons again.”
“That doesn’t sound any safer…” said Derpy.
“Well here I go anyway…” said The Doctor “Ready… three… two… one…” he pushed down on the knob and threw his shoulder against the door. To his surprise, it opened easily, depositing him on his face in the room beyond.
“Doctor!” said Derpy, rushing over to his side “Are you alright?”
“I’ve been worse…” said The Doctor, standing up and looking around the room “Where did we finally end up?”
It seemed to still be Equestria, or at least looked like it was. The room was done in shades of light blue and pink, suggesting that it might belong to a teenage mare. The smell of sugar wafted from somewhere behind a white door on the side, suggesting some sort of baking was going on in the next room. The desk set against the back wall was cluttered with colored note paper and frilly ended pens. The bed was covered in plush animal dolls, many of which looked as if they hadn’t been touched in years.
“This is interesting…” said Derpy, curiously lifting up a red diary “Maybe there’s a name in here…” she flipped idly through the book while The Doctor set about examining the room itself. Neither of them had the stomach to check behind the next door just yet.
“I can’t help but feel like I’m trespassing,” said The Doctor, looking in on a dollhouse filled with tiny pony figures “I get the feeling that some space witch is going to burst in here and make me her slave.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Derpy, blushing a bit as her eyes flickered over the pages “I can’t find a name, but according to this the girl who lives here is starting to think she’s a filly-fooler…”
“Don’t use that sort of language Derpy,” said The Doctor “Lesbians ought to have all the rights we do, and I’m sure the aliens would say the same.”
At that exact moment the flowery white door was pushed open from the other side. A familiar crème colored pony stepped through, a smile that had been playing around her lips fading as she entered the room. She looked between the two other ponies in the room, jaw dropping in disbelief.
“Bonbon?” said The Doctor, his tone matching her expression to the letter.
“What are you doing in my room?” exclaimed Bonbon, apparently having found her voice “And reading my diary no less! Who do you think you are?”
Derpy blushed and slammed the book shut again “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed “I didn’t know it was yours! We didn’t even know we were in your room!”
“How would you not know where you are?” asked Bonbon, looking completely livid “There’s only one way into my room and that’s the door!”
“My firmest apologies Bonbon,” said The Doctor “It’s that blue box Vinyl discovered this morning, it seems to have transported us here…”
“Oh, did it?” said Bonbon “Well… yeah Lyra told me about that… the alien box Vinyl found on Sunset hill. Is that what it did? Teleported you guys here?”
“It’s interesting really,” said The Doctor “It was like a spaceship once we managed to get inside of it. When we tried to press the buttons on the console this whole thing shook like mad and spun. When it all stopped we came out of the door right…” The Doctor realized he was turning around to point at the entrance to Bonbon’s closet “There… isn’t that interesting…?”
“So an alien blue box teleported you into my wardrobe…” said Bonbon “Wow… well I guess I’ll let it go this time. Weirder stories come out of Canterlot every day.”
“Fantastic!” said The Doctor “I suppose we’ll be going then. Come on Derpy, I smell some doughnuts out in the store and I’ve got bits!”
“Yes Doctor…” said Derpy, following him out, she turned to Bonbon as they went, mouthing the words “Thank you.”
Bonbon rolled her eyes and shut the door behind them. She sighed, flopping onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling. If Derpy had read her diary, who knew what sort of dirt she could gossip about at school tomorrow… Her life could be over…
It took her quite awhile to calm down and realize that Derpy wasn’t really the gossiping type. It was probable that whatever she had accidently read would never go past her. She gave a wry smile, rolling over in preparation for her afternoon nap. As she settled down she gave one last look to her closet, which seemed normal enough despite whatever alien portal had opened within. But as her eyes closed for sleep she thought she caught the briefest glimpse of blue on the side of the door…