//------------------------------// // Dress Up // Story: In the Name of Sanity // by Featherheart //------------------------------// The TARDIS's interior had changed since River had last been in, but that was no surprise. The Doctor was always changing the "desktop theme" as he called it, suiting his mood or regeneration. But this control room was different than River was used to. It resembled the look he favored in his 11th body, but with rounded architecture instead of the sharp lines it had. It looked like Ponyville had leaked into the TARDIS. River wondered if the symbiant had anything to do with it. She turned to look at the princess, who smiled knowingly. Right, I forgot you can hear my thoughts. River was no stranger to psychics, having dated one a few years back. She put up a mental wall, focusing on the image of a lily. No offense, Princess, but my thoughts are my own. Celestia nodded slightly, and then turned to her protégés. The six ponies stood just inside the entrance, staring partly in shock and partly in fear. Pinkie Pie was the only one who seemed relatively unphased by it. "Wowie zowie! It's bigger on the inside! How cool is this?" She began bouncing around, knocking into a few controls. River galloped over and flipped a few levers. The Doctor put his hooves on Pinkie's shoulders, and she stopped, wide-eyed. "You almost sent us to the moon, Pinkie," he laughed. A desperate, mad laugh left Celestia's lips, and Twilight stared at her. The princess composed herself, clearing her throat. The white unicorn cantered in. "Darling, you simply have to tell me how you did this." She smiled coyly at the Doctor, and River felt a surge of jealousy. "Imagine the possibilities for my wardrobe!" River opened her mouth to say something brash, but a slight shake of the head from the Doctor made her close her mouth. "I'm afraid that will have to wait, Miss Rarity. Right now we've got to start working." He turned to face River. "Now, I assume you have an ITG?" "Well, I did. I dropped it when I…" she looked at Twilight, who was still eyeing her. "When I got here." The Doctor nodded. "Miss Sparkle, I believe you were the one who found River? Did you happen to see an object beside her?" He touched a few dials on the TARDIS console, and the image of an ITG came onscreen. "Something like this?" Twilight nervously looked at Celestia, who gave her a stern look. She sighed and bent her head. Her horn glowed, and the ITG materialized. "I didn't know what it was, so I hid it. I placed a shrinking spell on it and put it in my saddlebag." The Doctor took it between his teeth. "'ank 'ou Twil'ht." He choked his thanks around the gun. He placed it onto the console delicately, and then looked at his hooves. His eyes shifted from his hooves to the gun to the TARDIS and then back to his hooves. "No fingers, I always forget that part," he sighed. "Twilight, Ditzy, Princess, I'm going to need your help. River, take the others on the grand tour, will you?" "But I can –" "River. Please." The Doctor's voice was stern, as if he was her father instead of her husband. He didn't look at her, which sent a pang of fear and hurt through River. Her Doctor wouldn't even look at her. Maybe he was afraid of what he might have to sacrifice. Or maybe he knew what he would have to sacrifice. With a calming breath, River turned to the five other ponies. They were all staring in different directions, still gathering their bearings in the TARDIS. "Right then. Grand tour, this way!" River called cheerfully. She led the ponies out into the hallway, and didn't notice the Doctor's eyes following her. But someone else did. "Doctor, who is she?" Twilight whispered, her eyes trained on the spot where River had just been. The Doctor smiled at Twilight. "You mean what is she, don't you?" The unicorn bowed her head abashedly, but the Doctor just chuckled. "She's like me, Twilight. Not from here." "But Doctor, you're a regular pony –" He laughed. "I know I'm quite a bit better than she is at blending in, but do you really think I'm a regular pony, Twilight Sparkle? Look at this place. Look at me. Look at my eyes." Twilight stared at him, and he smiled sadly. "Old as time itself, these eyes. Full of pain." "I know how that feels." The princess's voice was quiet, but it carried across the room to the unicorn and the Time Lord. Her back was turned to them, but her sadness was in her voice. Twilight slowly approached her. "When… when you leave… will all of the pain go?" Celestia looked down at her companion, smiling. "My faithful student. Always so worried about me." Twilight smiled shyly. The princess moved her gaze, and her expression grew grim. "I hope so, Twilight. I hope it does." The Doctor watched the pupil and teacher stand in contemplative silence, and an equal sadness was in his eyes. "What about you?" The Doctor started at Ditzy's voice, as quiet as it was. "Ditzy! I forgot that you were there." He turned away from her to face the console. "Can you hand me my sonic?" The pegasus grabbed the sonic screwdriver with her mouth and handed it to the Doctor. She stared at him sadly. "You didn't answer my question. Will the pain go away?" The Doctor stopped fiddling with the console for a moment and took a deep, sad breath. "Ditzy, the pain will never go away for me. That's my tragedy. A near-eternal life, and a near-perfect memory." He started to work again, slowly and deliberately. "But I learn from it, you know. It's what makes me strong, what makes me fight." Ditzy smiled at him fondly. He looked up and smiled back, a little sadly. "Now hand me that gun, would you?" The ITG floated to the Doctor, who barely seemed to notice the purple aura around it. "Thank you!" He called, head already buried beneath the console. "You're welcome," Twilight said. "Ah, Miss Sparkle! Thank you for the help." He sat up, banging his head a little on the console. "Are you –?" Ditzy started. "I'm fine." He looked at her with a sad smile, and she realized he was answering her unspoken question too. "Now, Twilight! I'm going to need all of your unicorn magic. This is going to be tricky." "… and here's the closet. I think. Like I said, it changes." River threw open the doors to what she hoped wasn't her and the Doctor's private room. Luckily, she was right: it was the closet. The white unicorn beside her gasped, eyes bulging. "But this is marvelous, darling!" Rarity could barely keep herself composed as she walked in to the room. Her eyes were scanning the racks and racks of clothes. River smiled at her; this was just how she had reacted to her first time in the room. Despite their earlier differences, this Rarity was a pony after her own heart. She glanced back at the other ponies, who were also in awe of the closet. Even down-home Applejack was looking around like she was in heaven. "Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy's soft voice rose as she gushed. She held a cream hat on her hooves, wings flapping gently to keep her aloft. "Look at this hat! It looks like… oh my, this hat is so amazing, I just can't even…" "That's French couture," River said after a quick look at it. "Bought just before the first World War. Literally just before. I think the first bomb hit when I paid for it." Fluttershy didn't even seem to hear her; she was staring at the hat so intently that the world had stopped existing for her. River trotted up and put a foreleg around her. The pegasus hardly registered the touch. "It's just so beautiful I can hardly even think of the words for it." "It's yours." Fluttershy's eyes grew wide. "Oh, no, I could never take such a nice thing…" she started to put the hat away, but River gently pushed it back. "Fluttershy, dear, I hardly wear it. Besides, I'm sure the TARDIS will just materialize another one." "R… Really? I can…?" River noticed all the other ponies were looking at her amazedly. Feeling like Santa Claus, River laughed. "Girls, you can have anything in here that catches your eye." The next few moments were a frenzy of "thank yous" and "ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh." But after they had expressed their gratitude, the ponies began to converge on to the racks of clothes. River herself started looking through the closet after realizing that the clothes somehow all were pony-sized. After a few moments looking through ballgowns, she found a pony version of her favorite green dress. "Oh, TARDIS, you've outdone yourself," she whispered to the wall as she slipped into her casual dress. The other ponies had already started dressing up to their own style preferences, much to Rarity's chagrin. "Rainbow, darling, you're not honestly going to wear that are you?" The stylish unicorn was wearing a tight purple gown, one of River's favorites. Even her look of disgust seemed to match what River liked to use when she was wearing it. "What? I think it looks cool!" Rainbow had on a blue bomber jacket, combat boots, and pants with a racing stripe. Her look was completed with a pair of goggles on her head. "Even if I can't move my wings… Hey AJ!" Applejack trotted around the corner in a pair of cowboy boots, denim shorts, and a red flannel shirt. Her jaw dropped a tiny bit at her girlfriend. "Tha's… gorgeous, Dashie." "I know." Rainbow sounded arrogant, but was obviously pleased that Applejack had liked her choice. She cantered up and kissed her on the cheek. "You look pretty cute yourself." She flicked the earth pony's trademark hat. "Speaking of cute!" Pinkie Pie bounded around the corner, decked out in a pink frilly skirt, pink leg warmers, and a pink off-the-shoulder shirt. She must've been in the 80s section, River thought, smiling widely. "Oh dear Celestia, Pinkie, are you serious?" Rarity looked at the other ponies disparagingly. "Of course not! I'm never serious. The only thing serious here is how seriously cool our outfits are!" She bounced around triumphantly while Rarity groaned in frustration. "Fine. At least Fluttershy will let me pick out her outfit." She turned with a prissy "hmph." "Um… actually Rarity…" All the ponies whirled to face the timidly speaking Fluttershy. She was in a muted green dress, a light pink scarf wrapped around her neck. The hat that River had given her was perched gracefully on her head. "You look gorgeous, Fluttershy!" River said, going closer to inspect the pegasus. "Oh… thank you." Fluttershy smiled demurely. "I really like your dress, too." Rarity gave an aggravated yell. "Fine! I can still pick out Twilight's outfit!" River watched her as she stomped off to another set of racks. The other ponies were gathered around, complimenting each other's outfit choices. Before River could join them, something caught her eye. In front of a mirror, a lone blue pin-striped suit was hanging. River knew who it was meant for. "Oh, River, did you pick this out for me?" River turned with a smile to see the Doctor. "No, actually. I have much better taste than this," she teased. He smiled at her, and River noticed that the sadness had returned to his eyes. She kissed his cheek, fully aware this was the first time that they had had such intimate contact for a while. He kept his eyes on her, and they pressed foreheads to share a silent, personal moment. "Um… Doctor? River?" Ditzy was standing by the rack of jumpsuits, already garbed in a Royal Mail uniform shirt with gray pants. The couple smiled at her abashedly. She smiled back, a bit more awkwardly. "Don't we need to get going?" "You're right!" He smiled widely, then suddenly grew confused. He looked at River. "Wait, why is everyone wearing clothes?" River shrugged. "I was giving them clothes, and we all just decided to wear what we had." The Doctor nodded and then looked at the suit laid out for him. His eyes widened as if it was the first time he had seen it. "I used to wear…" he laughed a little, looking at the ceiling. "You naughty girl." He whispered to the TARDIS. Ditzy and River shared an awkward glance. "Do you want to be alone?" they said in unison. The Doctor looked at them patronizingly. "Oh, stop it, not like that! Just let me get dressed." After a little struggle with buttons, the Doctor was dressed in the suit. He looked at himself and shuffled his hooves, mumbling something about glasses. "Sweetie, you don't need glasses." "I know but they make me look clever." Through some act of contortion, he managed to reach into the front pocket. "Aha!" He pulled out a pair with his mouth, and flipped them on to his nose. He shot a triumphant smile at River and Ditzy. "Allons-y!"