//------------------------------// // The Background Papers: Part 2 // Story: The Great Conspiracy // by YoungQuillMaster //------------------------------// The Professor and Blunder walked around the docks, looking at each ship they came by. Almost every ship, with exceptions being privately owned ones, had a small sign stating the price for a trip. Much as the pony had said before, the cheapest they had found yet was two hundred bits, a price far beyond Blunder’s piggybank and the Professors meager amount of coin. “Professor, I don’t know about you, but I’m really tired. Can’t we just stop and rest for a bit?” Blunder asked as the Professor continued to look over each ship they passed. “The longer we dilly dally, the longer we stay away from your home and my Tardis.” The Professor stated calmly. “I told you we should have brought it along with us. Now we’re stuck here when if we had it we could just fly right back home when we were finished here.” Blunder complained as he continued to walk behind the Professor until he suddenly ran into her standing form. “Professor, why did you stop? Are we going to take a rest?” He asked, but the Professor wasn’t replying, but instead was looking off into the distance. Blunder looked where she was looking and saw a brown earth pony stallion and a gray pegasus mare walking about the dock in a pleasant conversation. “T-those ponies… they look just like…” The Professor stumbled. “T-that… stallion…” Blunder looked at the Professor, then at the ponies, and then back to the Professor. “What’s wrong, Professor?” He asked, truly concerned for his friend who currently seemed to be petrified, cemented to the spot. “That stallion…” She muttered again “He can’t possibly be another… t-they all d-… h-how.” She stammered; her gazed fixed on the stallion that shared a remarkable semblance to her. “I-I can feel it… but how could h-he be…?” “Professor, what’s wrong? Is he an alien or something?” Blunder asked, waving a hoof in front of his friend’s snout, gaining no response as she continued to stare towards the stallion in question. The Doctor and Derpy walked along the port, the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to scan the area. Derpy followed while stretching her limbs, happy that the pain was gone. The pitch of the screwdriver changed into a higher pitch and stayed at the same, causing the Doctor to pause in confusion. He let the screwdriver fall down onto his hoof, looking over it carefully. “What’s this now?” The Doctor mumbled to himself. “We both know that isn’t possible in the slightest.” He said to his screwdriver. “What’s wrong, Doctor; is it broken?” Derpy asked, coming up beside him. The Doctor shook his head as his screwdriver continued to emit the high pitch sound. “No, it’s not that… it’s giving a signal that… well, to put it simply, is impossible.” The Doctor said, giving it a little jostle, but the sonic screwdriver continued to emit the same noise. “It’s saying there’s another Timelord in the vicinity that is carrying a sonic just like me.” “And why is that particularly impossible, Doctor? It might be hard to bump in to each other while going through time, but can’t it still be possible?” Derpy asked. The Doctor didn’t reply immediately, but simply hung his head in sadness. “No, it’s impossible…,” The Doctor said finally, “Because…” Suddenly his screwdriver spun around in his hoof and pointed to one side, the frequency of the sound it was producing increasing. The Doctor and Derpy looked towards the way it was pointing, and in the distance there was a brown earth pony mare and a gray pegasus stallion. “Isn’t that interesting… they look kind of us, don’t they?” Derpy commented. The Doctor looked at the mare, which seemed to be gawking at him, and soon realized as he felt the same. “T-that mare… she’s a Timelord…” The Doctor said in surprise. “B-but how is… how is it even possible?” He trailed off before taking a step towards her. The pony in questioned mirrored him, and soon they were face to face, their assistants nearby. “You’re… but how… when?” The Doctor stammered. “I thought I was the last for so long. H-how… where…” The Professor stumbled, unsure of her wording. “Where have you been all this time?” “Traveling, running… hiding…” The Doctor replied, looking the Professor with a mixture of fear, regret, anger, and a slew of other emotions. “What’s your name?” He asked. “I’m called the Professor.” She replied. The Doctor smirked and shook his head. “I can’t believe the alternate me also decided to take up a promise in name.” The Doctor sighed. The Professor simply shrugged with a light smile touching her snout. “Wait,” Derpy interjected, “Alternate you? What do you mean by that, Doctor?” She asked, as confused as her male counterpart who looked to the Professor for an answer. “Well, thinking about it that there might be a version of you of the other gender that has equivalent life experiences isn’t too out of the question.” The Professor explained. “It’s the only reasonable answer for why there can be two Timelord at the same place and same time when they both know of the fate of their race.” The Doctor continued. “Besides, the multiverse is a big place. Anything you can imagine is bound to be the truth somewhere else.” “You mean that somewhere there’s a place where muffins are growing on trees like apples?” Derpy and Blunder asked, mouths watering. Both Timelords smirked at each other with a short nod, sending the two pegasi into a begging fest to go there straight away. “I suppose you’re Tardis is still parked safely in the usual place?” The Professor asked, the Doctor giving her a nod. “Good, since we left in the hurry so that we could escape the dimensional disturbance we left in back on the other side of the sea.” The Professor explained. “And we need a lift to get back to it.” “Don’t worry; we’ll have you back there before you know it.” The Doctor stated. “Now, let’s get going before something earth shatteringly important diverts our interest.” The four ponies charged off, leaving the dock in a hustle.