After what felt like forever, the shaking finally stopped, and the TARDIS became silent. The Doctor had landed. Bursting through the door, he took in his surroundings. It was mid-morning, and the TARDIS’ readings told him that it was about a week after his party. He was also right next to Rarity’s boutique, however, strangely, there was nopony to be seen.
“Where is everyone?” he thought aloud. In the distance, he could hear music, and a familiar voice singing a catchy tune. “Pinkie!” He galloped towards the center of town. As he drew closer, he began to make out the lyrics of her song.
“It makes me happy when you beam, beam, beam, yes it always makes my day…”
The Doctor finally reached Mane Street, where there seemed to be some sort of parade following Pinkie Pie, who was now being lifted up by all of her friends. I guess they really like their musical numbers around here, he thought, before taking after her, calling out her name.
“Come on everypony, smile, smile, smile,
Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine,
All I really need’s a smile, smile, smile,
From these happy friends of mine!”
He managed to catch up to the singing pony, who noticed him as the crowd behind them kept singing. “Doctor, you came back!” She grabbed him and hoisted him up next to her, being carried along by the rest of her friends. Before he protest or say anything, she wrapped her hooves around him in a tight hug. “Please don’t go anywhere this time,” she whispered into his ear.
“I promise.” He smiled at her. Smiling back, she grabbed his bow tie playfully and leapt off her friends, the confused time lord in tow. They landed in the middle of the town square, a large crowd of happy ponies surrounding them. Letting go of him, she began to belt out a finale.
“Yes, a perfect gift for me,
It’s a smile as wide as a mile,
To make me happy as can be!”
As she sung the final lines of her song, The Doctor couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the sense of happiness and joy that was all around him. Whipping out his new sonic screwdriver, he saw that all six lights were brightly lit. He looked around at the spectacle before him, before putting a hoof to his face, feeling a single tear roll down it. He chuckled slightly. “How…” he struggled to find a word, “Equestrian.”
Pinkie had finished her song by that time. She bounded up to him, her friends close behind.
“So,” Applejack said, “Are y’all stayin’ for good this time?”
He tapped his chin in mock thought. “Well, I could, or you could all travel with me for a while, if that’s OK with you.”
“Where would we travel to?” Rainbow Dash asked, uncertain.
Twilight smirked. “Trust me Rainbow, anywhere you like.” She giggled at her confusion. “Why don’t you show the rest of us, Doctor?”
He smiled. “It would be my pleasure.”
***
“It’s just a big, tacky blue box!”
The Doctor sighed. Should have known she'd be like this. “Rarity, is there anything about me that doesn’t offend you in some way?”
She thought for a moment. “Well, I think your mane is rather dashing.”
He looked her in the eye, smiling slightly. “Thank you.”
Rainbow Dash tapped him on the shoulder. “How are we all gonna fit in there? Heck, I’m surprised you fit in there by yourself!”
“Well, you would think that, wouldn’t you, Dash? Don’t worry, I can change that.” He clapped his hooves twice. The doors swung inward, revealing the impossible room that lay within. Intrigued, the six of them trotted inside, leaving the time lord alone outside the boutique. Hearing all the astonished gasps coming from inside, he grinned, before stepping through the threshold and closing the doors.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence. However, after a few moments, the magical machine began to fade out of existence. Next stop: everything.
***
Princess Celestia stared out of the window of her castle in Canterlot, watching the sun rise over the mountain that the royal city stood upon. Taking a sip of her tea, she turned her attention to the pile of letters on her table. She picked up the first on the pile. Yet another letter of negotiation from the Griffon Kingdom. Putting it aside, she was about to read the next one when she saw her sister in the doorway, accompanied by a royal guard.
"Your Majesty," the guard said, saluting.
"Commander." She nodded in return. "Forgive me if I sound forward, but, what are you doing here?"
"A stallion gave this to me, said it was to be delivered to you personally." He held out a dark blue envelope, sealed with the shape of an hourglass.
Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Commander. You may leave us now."
The guard left the room. Once the door had closed, she looked at her sister. She was thinking the same thing. Winking at her, she opened the envelope and began to read.
***
167 days down, Celestia knows how many days left to go. The spirit of chaos looked around the Canterlot Royal Gardens. Heck, it was about the only thing he could do during his eternal stone imprisonment. That and counting the days that had gone by since he had been defeated by the Elements of Harmony.
Princess Celestia underestimated him. What she didn’t realize was, if he focused enough, Discord could sense strange happenings and disturbances throughout the universe, and right now, there was one doozie of a disturbance. There was some sort of a crack in the fabric of the universe. This was good news.
The crack was creating enough chaos in the fabric of reality to create an escape route, albeit a small one. If he could just focus enough and find somewhere close enough to the crack to escape to. To his delight, an impossible blue box was spinning through space nearby. Focusing his energy, Discord managed to morph into the console of the machine.
Looking back, he saw that his body was still in Equestria, encased in stone. Guess I’ll just have to do with my mind, for now at least. Looking around the large room surrounding the console, his gaze fell upon six familiar ponies. He smiled. Fate, luck, coincidence, call it what you want, but Discord was just about to get his rematch with the Elements of Harmony.