//------------------------------// // We've Got Work to Do // Story: Time Keeps Wibbling On: A Doctor Whooves Adventure // by Shotoman //------------------------------// Part 7 We've Got Work to Do: Deep in the inner recesses of the TARDIS was a small room, with no furniture or other features. It was unique in that it was the only room that never got remodeled in the whole time the Doctor traveled. It was still a sterile white, with the Round Things adorning the walls. Changing it would defeat the purpose, after all. While Time didn't stop, or even slow, within it, the room was temporally calm. All the anomalies, paradoxes, and stray energies that naturally existed in the timeline were kept at bay, allowing temporary peace to those who were sensitive to or otherwise affected by these energies. There was a name for it, a dry, boring name the Time Chargers had come up with, but the Doctor had long forgotten it. He called it the Quiet Room. Naturally, this was where the Doctor had Derpy taken to. "How you holding up?" her Doctor asked from his spot next to her on the bare floor. She shot him a look that had mostly pain, but also a little irritation, end even some amusement in her mismatched eyes. "Stupid question?" he asked. "Little bit." The Doctor chuckled. "Sorry. I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to the stupid questions, can I?" His expression turned worried. "But it is helping, isn't it? The Quiet Room, I mean." "Little bit," she repeated, a small smile on her face. Blue Shield straightened up from the physical examination he was giving her. He sighed as he removed his stethoscope. "It's like Romana said. Physically, she's fine." His face darkened slightly. "I can't help her." "Yes, as I do believe we've already told you," Four said in a tone somewhere between exasperated and condescending. "Doctor!" Romana chided. "Well, we did," he replied childishly. "Don't feel too put out," Eight consoled Blue Shield. "When it comes to paradoxes and the like, even we have trouble fixing it." Blue Shield nodded in acknowledgement, but his expression didn't lighten. He cast a look back at Ten and Derpy. "Since none of us are really being useful at the moment, I think we'd best leave then in private." Eight nodded. "Yes, I'm certainly in accord, there." He cast a glance at Romana, who nodded. "Come along, Doctor," she said, tugging on Four's scarf. "Time to give these two some privacy." "Privacy?" Four asked in confusion, even as he reluctantly let his companion lead him out of the room. "Whatever for?" Eight couldn't help but grin and roll his eyes. "You'll understand it when you're older." "You're not nearly as clever as you think you are," Four grumbled. "My good colt, no one is as clever as we think we are," Eight responded with a chuckle before finally closing the door, leaving Ten and his companion alone. Derpy chuckled a little, despite her condition. "You're weird, Doctor." "Well, 'course I am," the Doctor replied with a small smile. "If I didn't let myself go just a little mad, I'd've gone well and truly bonkers centuries ago." His face fell again. "Time to be serious now. Are you going to be okay here? I'm going to have to go out there to fix this whole mess." Derpy smiled sadly. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm sick, and I'm grumpy, and I'm weak, but this room has made my memories calm down again. You go and be crazy and weird and brilliant and fix things. I'll be fine, don't worry." The Doctor chuckled as he stood up. "Stop worrying? Over you? I don't think that'll ever happen. But it is time for work, I suppose." As the Doctor started for the door, Derpy gasped and grabbed his left hind leg. "Wait, what about Dinky?" she asked in a near panic. "Dinky will be fine," he comforted. "Remember, she came into your life completely independent of our wibbley wobbley shenanigans, we've never taken her on one of our trips, and I was even wearing this face when she showed up. At worst it's a bit dodgy if she'll remember me at all, but that'll be the extent of it." At her continued look of concern, he sat himself down to her level again. "Hey, I'm an expert at this, remember? I also had the old girl peek in on her classroom while the, ah, other Doctors were carrying you here. She's fine." Derpy sighed in relief. "Thanks, Doctor. Now get." The Doctor laughed as he trotted out of the room. "Yes'm." ~DrW~ Another time, another place, another TARDIS "Ace, where do you think you're going?" the Doctor asked. The mare he was addressing, a young two tone brown pegasus who was wearing a black jacket with a number of personalized badges and holes cut in to make way for her wings, turned to him with a look of confusion on her face. "Old Trottingham," she said. The short, stumpy, green pony that the Doctor currently was chuckled. "Ah yes, but by which route?" he asked, rolling the 'r' in an exaggerated manner. "The direct route with Glitz, or the scenic route?" The confusion on Ace's face gave way to a disbelieving smile. "Well? Do you fancy a quick trip 'round the twelve galaxies, and then back to Old Trottingham in time for tea?" "Ace!" the young pegasus exclaimed as she flew a couple quick laps around the control room. "But! There are three rules," he said sternly, stopping her in her tracks. "Rule one: I'm in charge." "Whatever you say, Professor!" Ace said. "Two: I'm not the Professor. I'm the Doctor." "Whatever you want." "And the third:" His face split in a wide, happy grin. "Well, I'll think of the third by the time we get to Old Trottingham." The smile the two were sharing was interrupted by the TARDIS shaking violently, almost causing the two to fall over. "What's going on, Professor?" Ace asked. "Rule two," the Doctor admonished as he ran to the console. After taking a moment to glance at the readouts on the screen, he narrowed his eyes. "That really shouldn't be possible," he muttered. "What is it?" Ace asked. "We're caught in a teleport," the Doctor replied, a worried look on his face. "And we can't get out. Hang on to something Ace. Looks like we're taking our first detour earlier than anticipated!" ~DrW~ Just outside the Quiet Room: The Fourth Doctor's eyes widened as his successors cried out in pain before collapsing. "Another one?" he asked. "Y-yes." Eight murmured. "My direct predecessor." "Great," Ten muttered as he scrambled shakily to his hooves. "Things're getting even more complicated and we haven't actually gone anywhere yet." "Yes, we're going to need to fix that," Eleven said as he stumbled into view, sweat beading on his forehead. "'Let's split up, gang,' and everything else that comes with it. But before we do, we have something more important to do: we're going to get Derpy back up on her hooves." "How do you propose we do that?" Four asked, irritated. "Simple," Eleven said with a grin. "Well not exactly simple. Very far from simple, actually, but plenty doable. We just need to merge her temporal signal with someone who's lived long enough to spare a few years. Give her a lifeline of sorts." "Impossible," Ten said with a shake of his head. "As Time Chargers, we're right out. We are just far to biologically different from Equestrian ponies to be anything close to compatible." "Little Tia would be willing to contribute," Eight said thoughtfully. "But I fear we would just come across the same problem. She and her sister are just too unique, even compared to other winged princesses, to be viable lifelines." "I think I know where this is going," Blue Shield said with a sigh, though he was secretly glad he was going to help after all. "Yes, Blue Shield! Exactly!" Eleven said with a wide childish smile. "I still don't know exactly why we've been brought together, or why Short 'n Stumpy and Big Ears are the ones to be removed from the timestream, but I do know at least one reason why the Old Girl brought me along on this trip." His grin grew wider as he draped a foreleg around Blue Shield's shoulders. "I just so happen to have with me a perfectly ordinary Equestrian earth pony who as it turns out has a good two thousand years to spare." "What?!" the other three Doctors exclaimed. "Explain," Ten demanded. "Please," Eight added. Eleven waited for just a moment, drawing out the dramatic tension like a master storyteller. "What do you three know about the Last Lunar Guard?"