It had been a rather uneventful night for Princess Luna, but in the long run, she supposed that was preferred. Night Court had been held for the first few hours of the evening, but as Luna had become accustomed to, almost no ponies had attended it, and eventually it was closed early. So ultimately, Luna decided to retire to her bedchambers early, intending read for the rest of the night. But after reading for about an hour, she was unexpectedly interrupted by one of the bat ponies from her Night Guard. He reported they had found something Luna had been looking for.

She was then led to one of the castle’s tallest towers, told that the object in question, and presumably its owner, was in the tower’s attic space containing only storage. A small racket could occasionally be heard echoing down. So, going alone at her request, Luna proceeded on up the stairs. Stepping through the open trap door into the large attic space at the top of the tower, Luna found the room mostly empty save for a new box-like object in the tower that Luna knew had never been there before, one that was very much out of place and from which the humming sound she had heard before was coming from. It appeared tall, wooden, and blue with a faintly glowing light atop its roof.

Her eyes then traced the wiring that was attached to the object, on up to where said wiring had been attached to the base of the tower’s thick, metal lightning rod that protruded through the center of its conical roof and joined with a network of wooden beams providing it with added support. At this base was a collection of various electronics and other devices, many of which Luna had not seen the likes of before. Though she could not see the pony from here, standing somewhere on the wooden catwalk that ran around the base of the lightning rod was the source of the pounding, the sound of somepony no doubt installing more electronic devices to the rod.

Luna took a few steps into the room, shaking her head in good humor, before turning her snout up towards the tower’s rafters. “Greetings!” she called up.

There was a sudden clunking sound of a hammer dropping onto the wooden catwalk, followed by what sounded like a hushed curse, but otherwise the presumed intruder remained silent, possibly in a desperate ploy to pretend he was not actually there at all.

Luna was unconvinced. “I know you are up there!” she called loudly. “I expect a response!”

But no response was given. Whoever it was, and Luna had a good hunch who, he was determined to not give any more evidence of his presence.

“If you do not answer soon, I will be forced to take action accordingly!” the princess of the night warned next, hoping this would spur a response.

But though she could hear the pony shift positions, probably debating his options, he still made no attempt to respond to Luna’s calls.

Luna grinned. “All right then, you have left me with no choice!” she called, and lit her horn.

The moment she did was when the pony finally broke his silence. “No wait—!”

But too late, Luna had already grabbed him with her magic and, deliberately being a little rough, yanked him off the catwalk and levitated him down until he floated, upside down, before her.

Luna regarded the vested stallion wearing a top hat that was only still on his bronze mane because her magic kept it there. “Doctor,” she greeted with a polite, and slightly amused, nod.

The Doctor made a sheepish, and somewhat embarrassed, grin at her. “Miss Luna,” he greeted back.

Luna raised a questioning but knowing eyebrow. “Care to explain what you are doing here tonight, Doctor?”

Luna looked around at the array of electronics that had been set up in the tower room and motioned to them with one hoof, unconvinced. “As I have heard the youth of this generation say in these sorts of situations…seriously?”

The Doctor frowned. “Okay, I admit that I’m not entirely here by chance,” he confessed, putting his hooves to his temples. “Speaking of, Miss Luna, I don’t mean to be rude and all, but I was in the middle of something important and all the blood is rushing to my head now, so…”

Luna flipped him over with her magic and gently set him down on his hooves again, releasing him. The Doctor paused long enough to adjust his top hat and pull down the sleeves of the white shirt he wore under his vest. “Right, thank you, now if you’ll excuse me…” He quickly headed back for the ladder that led back up into the rafters.

By the time he had returned to the catwalk, Luna had beaten him there, having flown up. “What are you doing?” she asked.

The Doctor turned to resume his work on the electronics strung around the lightning rod without missing a beat. “Well, if you must know,” he muttered as he worked. “I’m trying to save all of Equestria here.”

The Doctor glanced at Luna briefly then back at the wiring in his hooves. “An asteroid is en route to hit Equestria. Canterlot, specifically,” he explained simply. “It’ll hit sometime around sunrise unless I do something to stop it.”

Luna raised an eyebrow again. “As Princess of the Night, I am aware of everything that transpires in the sky at night,” she pointed out. “This would include any asteroids that threaten this land, and I know of none at present.”

“Well this one is special, so I’m not surprised you didn’t notice,” the Doctor explained. “It’s a dark matter asteroid, see, hard to detect, and very much immune to your magic.”

“I believe you underestimate the power of my magic, Doctor,” Luna stated, watching as the Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver briefly over the wiring he had been working on, the electronics suddenly coming to life.

“Oh trust me, I’ve been studying what you call “magic” since our last encounter, Luna,” the Doctor assured her a little grumpily as he worked. “I know what it can and cannot do. It’s not even really magic, not truly. It’s really just a sort of a highly refined and precise sonic-based energy emission. That’s why it makes that chime-y sound when it activates. Basically, your “magic” and my sonic screwdriver are one and the same.”

Luna furrowed her brow. “I know of plenty of magician ponies who would take great offense to your…demeaning…description of their trade, Doctor, to say nothing of your comparison of it to your magic wand.”

“It’s not a magic wand, it’s a sonic screwdriver, I’ve explained this before Miss Luna!” the Doctor snapped. “And it makes sense anyway, because your universe seems more susceptible to the influence of sonic energy than any other I’ve seen…”

When he finally ceased grumbling, Luna made a pleased grin. “It is good to see you again, Doctor,” she said truthfully.

The Doctor grinned too. “Likewise, Miss Luna,” he said as turned to climb down from the catwalk again.

Once he reached the bottom, The Doctor walked into the tall blue object where all the wiring hooked together. Luna followed him, glancing around at the deceptively roomier interior of the TARDIS as she did so. The stylistic interior with its columns, trim, and stained-glass décor all seemed largely unchanged since the last time she had seen it, but it was still an impressive sight nonetheless. She focused her attention on the Doctor though, who proceeded to the TARDIS control panel, flipping switches and adjusting some of the wires that had been connected directly to it. She leaned on the wooden railing that ran around the control panel’s small platform and regarded him for a moment. “So what is your plan, Doctor?”

“Extend the TARDIS’s shield, using that lightning rod out there as a makeshift transmitter,” the Doctor explained as he worked. “That way the asteroid will hit the shield and not Canterlot. Should reduce it into rubble and make for a nice and safe meteor shower later for all the astronomers to enjoy.”

Luna considered this. “Could I not create a similar shield with my magic?” she asked.

“Not the same. Your shield would be more like a bubble around Canterlot. Mine will be more like a column…thing that will stretch on out into space, and…you know what, it’s complicated. And anyway, I already told you, it’s a dark matter asteroid. It’s immune to your magic, so your shield probably wouldn’t do anything to stop it.”

“I still do not understand why. I have never encountered such an object before.”

“Well, usually dark matter stays away from normal matter,” The Doctor explained as he started to gather up a long cable. “A collision like this is a bit rare. I’d actually be kind of excited to witness it if it wasn’t for the fact that it was threatening so many lives.”

Luna frowned, looking puzzled. “So why do you think that has suddenly changed?”

“I don’t know, something probably just bumped it out of position,” the Doctor muttered, plugging in one end of the cable into the control panel. “Might look into why later.”

The Doctor glanced in Luna’s direction as he looped the rest of the cable around one shoulder. “That too,” he confirmed, and proceeded to head up one of the staircases leading onto the balcony above the control panel, trailing a cable behind him as he went.

Arriving there, he was unsurprised to see Luna had, again, beaten him there. “So I’ve explained why I’m here,” he said to her as he brought the cable to the glowing column that sat in the center of the balcony. “Now it’s your turn, Miss Luna. Why are you here?”

“Because I have spent a lot of time and effort attempting to track you down again since our last meeting, Doctor, I know of the good things you have done for Equestria, and I am sure there are others still I have yet to learn of.” Luna explained, coming closer to the working stallion. “You are a pony worth keeping in contact with, in short.”

“Well…yeah, that’s usually the case wherever I go,” the Doctor confessed. “And I’m flattered, Miss Luna, I really am. And I really wish I could keep in contact…but I told you before that I’m not planning on sticking around in your neck of the woods.”

“And yet…” Luna tilted her head knowingly at the khaki stallion. “…here you are.”

“Yeah…here I am all right.” The Doctor replied dismissively, taking his cable and plugging it into the glowing cone-like structure then proceeding to make other adjustments to the device.

Luna was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “Tell me Doctor, have you gotten closer to finding a way back into your universe?”

The Doctor looked at Luna for a long moment. “No,” he admitted. “Thus far I’ve figured out that the only way back is the same way I got here by. That route would be both dangerous to me and the inhabitants of this universe, potentially.” He shook his head, rubbing his brow with one hoof. “But so it’s taken longer than I expected. Plans change, Miss Luna.”

The Doctor finished his work and proceeded back down the staircase to the control panel. Once back at the control panel, he resumed work at it, making the final arrangements for his plan. Luna, following him down the staircase, stood nearby and watched him for a long moment. “I notice you are still traveling alone,” she observed after a moment of silence.

The Doctor made a frustrated wince. “Yeah, I am,” he admitted. “But that happens sometimes. I try not to let it bug me.” He tried to leave it at that, but found he couldn’t help but add; “Why do you ask, anyway?”

Luna approached him calmly. “I am merely worried for your well-being, Doctor,” she assured him softly.

The Doctor forced a laugh. “Worried for my well-being?” he asked, pausing in his work so to give Luna his full attention. “Ha! Me, who has seen horrors you can’t even imagine without blinking? Who has been alone more times than I can count and has managed just fine? Don’t get me wrong, Miss Luna, I’m tickled pink you care so much, but what makes you think I can’t handle myself?”

The Doctor glanced at her. “We had mint tea, at your request,” he noted. “We were in Ponyville. And we just…talked.”

“Whilst everypony else celebrated the defeat of Nightmare Moon and my return from banishment earlier that same morning,” Luna added softly. She placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder. “Doctor, I cannot tell you how much that “talk” meant to me. I had just spent a thousand years sealed in the moon, and had come back to a drastically different and alien Equestria, with everypony I had known previously, save Celestia, now long gone. I was…lost. Confused. Feeling extremely guilty for my actions and hating myself for them. Struggling to come to terms with what had happened. And I was alone. So very alone.” She looked the Doctor in the eye. “I was very glad to meet somepony who could understand that and…comfort me. Convince me that all was not lost. That life would still go on. Doctor, that little “talk” of ours was a turning point in my recovery from my past.”

“I know all of this, Miss Luna,” the Doctor responded quietly, having become very still. “Why repeat it to me?”

“Because there was one thing I never did find out about that day, Doctor. Why you were even there.”

The Doctor avoided her gaze. “I happened to be in the neighborhood,” he stated, turning to work at the control panel again.

The Doctor closed his eyes, grinning a sad smile. “You weren’t broken, Miss Luna. I could just…relate to your situation.”

Luna turned him to face her. “Doctor, you are many things,” she said, “a hero, an explorer, and no doubt more. But like any other living thing, you desire companionship. More than that, you need companionship. And I think you know that. So perhaps the one thing that has always puzzled me the most about you, Doctor,” she tilted her head, giving him a puzzled gaze, “is the fact that you seem to be adamantly avoiding it.”

“You say that about a great many things. But that is not why you say it. It is just your way of avoiding something you do not want to discuss…is it not?”

A long moment of silence fell. Finally, the Doctor sighed. “It’s because I don’t want to become too attached,” he finally admitted abruptly. “Or rather, for others to become too attached to me.” He looked at Luna. “You know I don’t plan to stay forever. One day I will have to go back to my universe. I know this. You know this. But will everypony else?”

Luna’s eyes blinked with understanding. “You fear we will not want to see you leave,” she observed.

“I know you won’t.” The Doctor hung his head. “Obviously, you are an exception Miss Luna, because you understand this. You have been around for a long time, longer than me even. You know and understand that everything does not last forever. That someday I’ll have to leave and never come back, and you’ll be prepared for that day. That’s why I relented and spoke with you on the day we met.” He grinned. “That and you clearly needed a friend even more than I did. But you’re not like everypony else. They, though they always mean well, just can’t understand it like you and I do. They’re going to want me to stay forever, to always be there for them. So they can have somepony to depend on.” The Doctor sighed again, depressed. “And I can’t bear to disappoint them.”

“But Doctor,” Luna said softly. “Can you bear to disappoint yourself by keeping away and never meeting them?”

The Doctor remained quiet and did not respond. He silently turned back to the control panel, made a few final adjustments, and then placed his hoof on a lever. “That, um, asteroid is in an excellent position for me to activate that shield I’ve been working on now,” he announced calmly.

“Did you get everything set up properly?” Luna asked softly, allowing the stallion to change the subject.

“We’re about to find out, Miss Luna,” the Doctor said as he gripped the lever in his hoof and threw it. “Tally ho!”

The wires connecting the TARDIS to the lightning rod suddenly sparked, but held. The TARDIS then hummed for a moment before the console started to beep in a heartwarming tone.

The Doctor checked the readouts and grinned. “The shield’s up and working. And…” A sudden shudder rippled through the TARDIS as the wires sparked again. “…the asteroid has struck the shield exactly as planned.” The Doctor checked the readouts for a few moments longer before his grin grew bigger still. “It’s breaking up and not going to be hurting anypony now.” He looked up at Luna. “There’s probably a very pretty meteor shower taking place right now. If one found a window…”

Luna, grinning, nodded in understanding. Exiting the TARDIS, the Doctor following, the princess went to one wall of the tower and propped up a wooden shutter previously hiding a small window space. This gave them a wonderful view of Canterlot and the crisp and clear night sky above it. Already, glowing streaks of broken asteroid burning up in Equestria’s atmosphere began to appear, the number growing by the second. For several minutes the two ancient ponies stood in silence, simply savoring the view.

But finally, Luna broke the silence. “Doctor, I did not mean to pry into your private affairs,” she began. “But you need someone who can be at your side. Someone who can be there to see those great and wondrous things you see with you and to keep you from being so alone.”

“It is not the issue of trusting you that is the problem. It is the fact that you do not trust others to…” Luna paused, seeking the right words. “…understand what is expected of them when they interact with you.” She paused to let the Doctor speak up at this. When he did not, she continued. “Doctor, if it were not for my royal duties, I would be more than willing to join you in your travels.” She bit her lip. “In fact, it requires a great deal of control to keep myself from doing so as is.”

“I very much want to,” Luna admitted. “In part because I am genuinely curious to see all that you see in your travels, but also because you need the company. But regrettably I cannot do such a thing with a clear conscious Doctor. I have a country to help rule. I cannot abandon it or my subjects. I hope you can understand that.”

“I do, Miss Luna,” the Doctor said, nodding. He turned away from the window and started towards the TARDIS. “I certainly won’t try to keep you from that either.”

“But Doctor…please…is there not anyone who can accompany you?” Luna asked, watching him. “At least until you do leave for your true home?”

The Doctor stopped in the door of the box and was quiet for a moment. “There is one,” he confessed at last. “In fact, I was in Canterlot right before discovering that asteroid in the first place so to check up on her.”

Luna thought for a moment, considering who it might be, before realizing one of six who, as it happened, had been at the castle just earlier that same day. “It is not Twilight Sparkle, is it?”

Luna took it as a confession that she was right. “So why are you avoiding her when you quite clearly want her companionship?”

The Doctor considered this for a moment. “Suppose I did,” he said. “Do you really think it would make that much of a difference?”

“Doctor, I think you will not be happy with yourself until you do. One day you will return to your universe. Of this I have little doubt. But until then, I believe you have something to achieve in this one. It would be a pity if you achieved it without having someone to share the victory with.”

The Doctor chuckled. “That does sound like something I’d do,” he admitted softly.

Luna grinned back. “Then all I have left to say to you tonight is to quote another modern phrase I have heard.” Her grin turned into a teasing smirk. “Go get them, tiger.”

Spike stopped to double check everything was in order on the lower floor of the library. It was. Every book was in its proper place, in the proper alphabetical order, organized by section, topic, genre, and so forth, just as Spike had been asked to arrange them. Twilight would be pleased.

Spike proceeded upstairs to the upper floors of the library and, upon checking that it was still locked, knocked on the closed door that led into Twilight’s study and bedroom.

“I finished organizing the books like you asked, Twilight!” Spike called back through the closed door.

Spike rocked on his heels for a moment. “You know, all I have left to do now is organize your private library of books, right?” he called.

Spike began to grin knowingly. “You’re still trying to preen your wings, aren’t you?”

“Because you tried to use a spell to do it and failed again, didn’t you?”

Spike shook his head, still grinning. “Y’know, Twi, both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have been in here to teach you how to do that,” he reminded the only-week-old princess teasingly. “Twice.”

“They make it seem so easy!” Twilight retorted. “But it’s really not as easy as it looks!”

“What’s the big deal? It’s just to get all the gunk of the feathers and keep them in working order, right?”

“It’s not why it’s done that’s the problem, Spike, it’s how it’s done!”

Spike still wasn’t swayed. “So pegasus ponies typically use their mouths to do it!” he said. “That’s normal for a winged pony!”

“It sure as hay doesn’t feel normal!” Twilight argued, who had an issue with this methodology since the beginning. “But if I can get this new spell I’m working on to replace it…”

“Twilight, the rate you’re going with that spell, you’re going to end up accidentally plucking yourself completely by the start of next week. Not exactly the best of impressions to be giving the ponies of Equestria about their newest princess, don’t you think?”

“I can make this work!” Twilight insisted. “There’s still just a few more bugs I need to work out of the spell! Just a few!”

Spike couldn’t confirm how true that might be. Twilight had been oddly private and protective about her attempts at preening her wings and would keep Spike out of the room while she did it. Apparently it was a pegasus taboo to preen in public, which was why Spike wasn’t really familiar with the process until Twilight gained her wings in the first place. He didn’t understand why it was kept private so, but Twilight had apparently figured it out pretty quick.

Whatever the case, having seen some of the aftermath from Twilight’s attempts to preen with her magic, he doubted Twilight was really as far along with the spell she had been attempting to develop as she claimed.

“Your magic can’t do everything, Twilight!” Spike argued, “Besides, the pegasi have been managing just fine without it for hundreds of years!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault that they weren’t gifted with the magical power of a unicorn!” Twilight snapped back, but no sooner were the words out of her mouth, Spike could almost hear her wince. “…and that was a bit of a racist thing to say, wasn’t it?”

“Yep,” Spike remarked, now really grinning. “Just wait until Rainbow hears about it!”

“NO!” Twilight exclaimed in a panic, and was heard getting up and approaching the door at last. “Don’t tell her, Spike, she’ll never let me hear the end of it!

He heard Twilight sigh on the other side of the door. “All right, all right, what do you want?” she asked, catching on.

“A milkshake from Sugarcube Corner,” Spike immediately announced. “Pinkie’s come up with this new razzleberry flavor that sounds really good!” He shrugged. “And since you won’t let me in to organize the books in there anyway…”

“Fine, fine, go and get your milkshake,” Twilight conceded, and was heard walking away from the door. “Tell Pinkie to put it on my tab.”

“Okay, see you later then!” Spike called, turning to go. “Try and leave some feathers in your wings this time around!”

Twilight gave no verbal response he could hear. But it wasn’t before too much longer that he heard her make a painful yelp, indicating she had gone back to working with her spell again. Spike didn’t stick around to see if she would make any progress (or lack thereof) and instead hurried on out of the library and out into the sunny streets of Ponyville, heading for Sugarcube Corner. It was a surprisingly nice day for the time of year, but the weather team had accidentally made it rain a little too hard earlier in the week and had canceled the rain storm that had been scheduled for today and instead scheduled a sunny day in its place. It put Spike in a cheerful mood as he happily walked to his destination, greeting the odd pony he passed on the way. He had been living in Ponyville long enough now that he knew most of them by name now.

When he arrived at Sugarcube Corner, he found it notably busy, but not as much as it normally would. It seemed most ponies wanted to be outside and enjoy the good weather too. But Spike had his mind set on the milkshake, and immediately went right to the sale counter and ordered it, before picking out a window seat at one of the tables to wait for it. He didn’t have to wait long before the party pony herself came along to deliver his order.

“Here you go Spike!” Pinkie Pie declared cheerfully as she placed the glass before the eager dragon. “One razzleberry milkshake as requested!”

Spike immediately took a hearty sip from it and smacked his lips. “It tastes great, Pinkie!” he said. “I don’t know how you do it! I mean, I’ve had razzleberry milkshakes before at other places, but none of them are ever as good as the ones you make.”

“Oh pfft, it’s not that hard,” Pinkie said dismissively, waving the praise aside with one hoof. “All it takes is some tender love and care, as well as getting the exact ratio of fruit-to-milk worked out to the third decimal!” She grinned like calculating such a thing for a milkshake was normal for everypony. “Simple!”

“Well, however you do it, it tastes great!” Spike declared, smacking his lips after taking yet another swig from the milkshake. Some days it was nice to be a dragon and not have to worry about being as prone to getting brain freezes like others would.

“Glad to hear it!” Pinkie said. “Been hearing a lot of customers say that today, which is totally awesome!”

“Speaking of,” came a new voice, and the two turned to see the plump Mrs. Cake walking towards them, “A pony asked I give this to you, Spike.”

She put a plate of gemstones before Spike, which looked very yummy, but Spike was mystified by the action. “Okay…” he said, surprised, and glanced back at Mrs. Cake. “Did this pony say why?”

Mrs. Cake shrugged. “He said he owed you, and paid for it and everything without further comment,” she explained, but then reached into her apron and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “But he did ask me to give you this too. Whatever the case, I say you enjoy the treat dear.”

She put the slip of paper on the table, and then turned and left. Spike, frowning, started examining the plate of gemstones, puzzled.

“Well, that was awfully nice!” Pinkie remarked brightly, watching Mrs. Cake go. “Guess this is your lucky day, Spike! I mean, aren’t those the expensive ice sapphires the Cakes keep in the bottom of the fridge for you, whenever Twilight lets you buy one once every blue moon?”

“Yeah…” Spike began, noticing that the sapphires were not just chilled, they were chilled in just the way he liked them, and it was all starting to seem almost too good. “…they are.” He turned his attention to the slip of paper Mrs. Cake had left and opened it to read the message scrawled on the inside. It was brief and to the point, but very telling:

Spike stared at the message for several long moments, realizing it didn’t refer to him as “Spike,” but rather as “Mister Spike.” And Spike had only met one pony who did that.

He immediately twisted around in his seat just in time to spy a familiar top hat on top of a mane of bronze hair slip out the door of the shop. Spike felt his heart skip a beat. It couldn’t be…after all this time?

“So who’s it from, Spike?” Pinkie asked, curiously looking over Spike’s shoulder to read the note.

Spike quickly finished off the rest of his milkshake. “The Doctor!” he exclaimed, grabbing one of the ice sapphires and hopping out of his seat to leave.

This left Pinkie standing there, looking quite puzzled. “The…Doctor-doctor?” she repeated slowly.

Spike didn’t stick around to explain, and instead hurried out of the store and into the street, looking around urgently to catch sight of the pony who had walked off. He had already vanished from sight however, and the street was wide and mostly empty. If he wasn’t in sight, then he hadn’t stayed on the street.

Spike went straight for the first likely turnoff that street and glanced down it. Nothing. So Spike checked the next. Then the next. He went up the street about a block doing this, then doubled back when he had thought maybe the stallion had gone the other way and did the same. By then he was starting to lose hope, and with a weary sigh, stopped in the middle of the street to think. He had only been standing there for a second when, on a sudden whim, he glanced to his right.

Down a small alley that ran in-between two shops, with its back against a wooden fence that had been built about halfway down, was the familiar blue box in all its glory, standing there for all to see yet didn’t seem the least bit out of place. Standing right before the box, watching the little dragon, was a khaki-colored earth pony with a bronze colored mane, wearing a vest and a top hat. Still stunned to see him, Spike slowly entered the alley and approached the stallion until he was standing before him. They looked at each other for several long moments.

Finally, Spike held up the ice sapphire and grinned. “You remembered,” he commented appraisingly.

The Doctor smirked. “Of course I did, Mister Spike. It’s the only time I’ve ever found a stash of gems kept in a refrigerator simply because ‘they taste better cold.’”

Spike laughed, and shook his head. “You came back,” he remarked aloud, more to himself.

Spike laughed again. “Yeah…kinda did,” he admitted. “But…I don’t understand…I thought you weren’t going to go stay in our universe. Try and find a way back to yours.”

The Doctor shrugged. “It’s taking longer than I expected,” he admitted. “Apparently the universe had other plans for me. It’s complicated. But here I am, nonetheless.”

Spike started chewing on the ice sapphire, grinning and not really sure what to say. “So…what have you been doing in the meantime? Been keeping busy?”

“Oh yes,” the Doctor replied nonchalantly. “Adventuring, saving the day, checking out planets, that sort of thing.” He turned his attention to Spike. “And you? Heard your librarian got something of a promotion.”

“Oh Twilight?” Spike repeated, and grinned. “Yeah…‘promotion’ is putting it lightly. She’s still trying to cope with the changes.” He tilted his head knowingly at the Doctor. “But why are you back in Ponyville, Doctor?”

“Well, seeing that it has been taking longer to get back to my universe,” the Doctor began, “I decided to take a break and go on a little trip. But before I do, I actually need your help with something.”

The sun was already beginning to set as Rainbow Dash flew for home, done after a busy day working Ponyville’s weather. She eyed the setting sun somewhat in surprise as she flapped through the sky; she hadn’t realized it had gotten that late already. But today had been a bit of a fiasco for her and of the worst kind too, because somepony in the weather department back at Cloudsdale had gotten their scheduling mixed up, thought Ponyville was set for a complicated-to-set-up rainstorm today instead of the easy-to-manage sunny day, and sent a shipment of rainclouds in their direction when they didn’t need them.

Rainbow and the rest of the weather team then spent pretty much the rest of their day trying to keep those rainclouds contained and out of Ponyville while the higher-ups went and tried to sort out the mess and arrange to have the rainclouds sent back. It didn’t help that department heads decided they trusted their own schedule (which was both out of date and inaccurate, as it turned out) over Ponyville’s, even when Ponyville’s weather manager produced copies of all the necessary paperwork to prove they had properly requisitioned the sunny day for today sufficiently in advance. It almost looked like they were going to be forced to go through with the rainstorm anyway, whether they liked it or not or even needed it, but finally someone in Cloudsdale wised up, realized their mistake, and the right strings finally got pulled. By the time the rainstorm was finally cleared out and shipped off to where it was needed, though, Rainbow’s day had already been spent wearily trying to insure Ponyville got that scheduled sunny day.

So after stopping long enough to carry out a few other tasks she wanted to do, she was now finally heading home, more than ready to call it a day. First landing at her mailbox to check her mail (finding nothing but bills, junk mail, and a reminder that her subscription for Pegasi Monthly was about to expire), Rainbow soared in for a landing on the fluffy back patio of her cloud house, slipping through the back door into her kitchen. She stopped long enough to get a hearty drink of water from her sink, then, grabbing her mail in her mouth, she proceeded casually down the hall to her bedroom, glancing briefly into her living room as she passed the entrance.

A minute later, she was backing up to the living room doorway again, turned to stare, wide-eyed, into the room.

Standing in the middle of the living room, next to her couch, was the TARDIS for all its glory, looking as pristine and mystic as when she last saw it. And standing before it, leaning on the frame of the box’s open doorway, was the stallion that piloted it.

The letters dropped to the floor as Rainbow’s jaw went slack in surprise. “Doctor,” she whispered. She started to approach him slowly. “Are you…I’m not just imagining you…am I?”

“It’d be admittedly awkward if you were, Miss Dash,” the Doctor replied jokingly.

Rainbow poked him with her hoof to be sure anyway then stared him in the eye. “You’re back.”

“Yep.” He tilted his head at her when Rainbow remained silent for a period of time. “Is that really all you have to say, though? I was expecting more, no offense.”

Rainbow thought about it for a second. “Yeah,” she said finally. “Yeah, I do have more to say.”

“Ow!” the Time Lord exclaimed, rubbing his cheek with his own hoof. “What the—”

Then she abruptly changed tones and grabbed him in a happy hug. “And this is for coming back!”

The Doctor remained motionless for a stunned moment, then grinned and returned the hug.

Finally, Rainbow pulled away and stared at him in befuddlement. “Why are you back, anyway?” she asked.

The Doctor glanced away for a second, then back again, still grinning. “I had regrets,” he admitted.

Rainbow grinned too, but was still puzzled. “But…but what about all that talk about going back to your universe and stuff?”

“Well, I did do that for a while, but then I realized…or I guess I should say it was pointed out to me…that it didn’t matter what I did or how I did it, it was no fun doing it alone. So I figured, what the hay. Let’s take the risk and have faith it’ll all work out in the end for everypony.” The Doctor shrugged. “Anyway, sorry for all of that, but at least I was quick to come back!”

“Oh…about three months, I think, but who’s counting anyway? I’m a time traveler, remember. Time is all relative for me.”

Rainbow’s brow furrowed as she thought about that. “Then…why come back now? Why not come back like…the day after you left?”

The Doctor grimaced. “It’s complicated,” he admitted. “Timey-wimey chain of events sort of stuff. Had to work around some fixed events and all of that I shouldn’t really interfere with in the slightest.”

“Stuff in history that absolutely has to happen, or bad things happen instead.”

Rainbow stared at him for a few moments, blinking, and then she grimaced and rubbed at her forehead. “My head hurts,” she admitted.

“Well, that’s time travel for you. It gets pretty complicated pretty fast.”

“Because it usually is, Miss Dash. Sometimes it makes even my head hurt thinking about it.”

Rainbow’s attention had turned to other things by this point. “So next question, how’d you get up here into my house anyway?” she asked.

“What do you mean how?” The Doctor asked, indignantly stepping closer to Rainbow. “I got here in the TARDIS! Just had it appear here, you know?”

“Yeah, but,” Rainbow said, interrupting and trying a different approach, “this is a cloud house. Made out of clouds.”

“So…how are you walking on clouds?” Rainbow flung her hooves out at the Doctor, standing on the cloud floor of her house without the slightest sign of trouble.

The Doctor grinned. “I used my sonic screwdriver!” he said, holding up his right forehoof, showing the device strapped to his fetlock. Rainbow noticed it looked different since she last saw it. “Since Equestrian “magic” and my sonic screwdriver happen to operate on similar principles, I made a few modifications to the sonic so it can mimic certain spells.”

“Including a cloud-walking spell!” the Doctor concluded, and pranced in place on top of the cloud floor to demonstrate its effectiveness. “And the TARDIS can mimic it just as easily too. So once I got the TARDIS safely here, I just pulled out the sonic, waved it on myself and Mister Spike, then—”

“Oh yes, silly me for forgetting to mention that earlier, I picked him up before coming here,” the Doctor explained. “He told me where to find your lovely house of clouds.”

Rainbow looked around the living room for the little dragon, but saw only herself and the Doctor. “Then…where is he?”

Before the stallion could answer, they both heard the sound of a toilet flushing from elsewhere in Rainbow’s house.

“Yeah, it was a bit of a long wait, wondering when you would show up,” the Doctor said, glancing back into his open spacecraft. “I tried to tell him he could use one of the bathrooms in the TARDIS, but…” he shrugged, and looked back at Rainbow. “Speaking of, Miss Dash, Mister Spike had given me the impression that you would have gotten home well before now, yet you were not.”

“Oh that,” Rainbow said, looking away quickly. “Yeah, it was kind of a busy day for the weather team today…long story.”

“I can understand that,” the Doctor said with a nod. “But as I understood it, long day or not, you normally finish with your shift well before now, so unless you were working overtime…”

“Yeah okay, I get what you’re implying,” Rainbow finally admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. “I confess; I didn’t go straight home after I finished my shift.”

“Well, I’m sure you had good reason Miss Dash, you don’t need to explain it to me.”

But Rainbow felt obligated to now. “It’s like this Doc,” she explained. “My friend Pinkie Pie gets this kind of tabloid pamphlet thing in the mail every day, and I noticed about two years ago that, yes, it had a lot of crazy stuff in it, but it also had a bunch of stuff discussing aliens.” She started to blush. “And, I figured that maybe, one of these days, it’d have something that could clue me in about…well…”

“…my whereabouts, so you could track me down again,” the Doctor finished, nodding slowly as he comprehended what Rainbow was saying. He smiled. “You were already watching for me to return.”

“Doc, I’ve been doing that since the night you left,” Rainbow stated. “You…you’re something else, Doc. Every night since that incident with the Dimenost, whenever I look up at the stars, I think about that view of the universe you gave us, which made me think about all that’s out there…and you were out there somewhere in the middle of it, seeing it all.” Rainbow chuckled, shaking her head. “Doc, I am both very jealous and envious of you and what you do and all you see. I want in on that.” She rubbed the back of her head once more and blushed again. “And…you kind of did save my life before, so…” she looked the Doctor in the eye. “…I knew if I was ever going to get that chance, you were the pony for it.”

The Doctor’s grin grew bigger still. “Miss Dash,” he said slowly, “That is precisely what I wanted to hear you say.”

A moment of silence fell between them as they stood there and looked at each other, smiling. It probably would’ve continued on longer if Spike hadn’t chosen that time to suddenly return from his trip to the bathroom.

“Hey Doctor,” the little dragon called as he jogged up, his stride bouncing a little as he walked on the clouds. He did not notice Rainbow right away. “How does a pegasi toilet work? I mean, if it’s in the clouds, then wouldn’t it—”

“Magic, Spike,” Rainbow stated plainly, like that explained everything, and in Equestria, it actually did.

“Well, that depends on how you define magic, really, because there is a logical explanation behind it besides just saying magic, but now that I think about it, maybe it’s better if I don’t go into too much detail about it because…well…mind you, I know it’s perfectly sanitary—in fact it’s among the most sanitary plumbing systems I know of, and that’s saying something—but it’s one of those things you’d rather not have to think about, you know what I mean?”

Spike looked her way. “Rainbow, you finally showed up!” he exclaimed, then pointed excitedly at the Doctor. “Look who I found!”

“Well, it was more like I found you, Mister Spike,” the Doctor reminded in good humor.

“Yeah, but it was me who gave you directions to Rainbow’s place,” the little dragon retorted proudly. “So you wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me!”

The Doctor looked at them both for a moment. “You know, I was thinking I’d go on a little adventure in time and space,” he announced. He grinned. “You two want to come with?”

Rainbow and Spike exchanged glances, smirking. “Well, I don’t know,” Rainbow stated in mock severity. “Think we’ve got the time, Spike?”

“I’d probably want to double check my schedule, make sure I’m free,” Spike added, playing along, acting like he was in deep thought. “Although…I can’t think of any reason to not go off hoof…”

Spike waved his claws from side to side in a wishy-washy manner. “Sort of,” he confessed. “She knows I’m out on ‘business’ and that she didn’t need to wait up for me, but other than that…”

“In other words, she doesn’t know what you’re really up to, and isn’t likely to start wondering where you’re at any time soon.”

“Yeah, but I figure it won’t matter anyway,” Spike said more seriously, rapping his claws on the side of the TARDIS. “I mean this is a time machine. Wouldn’t I be able to go off and have an adventure or two and come back so it was like I had never left in the first place?”

“Well, give or take a few moments, but yes, I can arrange that, easy,” the Doctor confirmed.

“Likewise for me, then,” Rainbow agreed. She turned to the Doctor, still smirking. “So I guess what we’re saying Doc, is that—”

“Sweet Celestia, you even had to ask?” Rainbow added. “I’d like to see you try and stop us!”

The Doctor grinned. “Excellent,” he said as he strolled into the TARDIS, expecting the other two to follow.

They did without hesitation, finding the more spacious interior of the blue box to be the same as when they had last seen it but no less magnificent than before. After giving it a quick look over to refamiliarize themselves with it, they both followed the Doctor to the control panel, who was already working on it.

“That’s the wonderful thing about the TARDIS, Miss Dash,” the Doctor replied, looking happily in the direction of his new companions. “That could absolutely anywhere.”

“Well then,” the Doctor said, as he grabbed the final lever to activate the TARDIS and pulled it, “Tally ho.”

The Doctor

Rainbow Dash

and

Spike

DOCTOR WHOOVES
Shadow of a Ghost

Doctor Whooves: Shadow Of A Ghost

by Scyphi

The Invitation