Black walls with white circles sitting on the sides as the only source of dim light enclosed the interior of the Master's TARDIS control room. The floor was like ebony, polished and shining as if it were a sea of slick igneous, the simple yet refined silver console desktop of the controls jutting out of it like a still plateau. True, the TARDIS the Master had seemed a bit sinister at first, yet Amethyst was easily convinced that the main room was indeed more classy than the cluttered and rusty control room of the Doctor's raggedy TARDIS.
As soon as the Master and Amethyst had entered he had taken off, his machine making the same whining sound as the Doctor's, yet there was something about the takeoff that was much smoother. The Timelord than immediately took to one of his rooms, mentioning his brief absence before doing so.
For the moment, Amethyst inspected the console room, taking in all of the seen details, yet it wasn't her eyes that were active, but her mind. Her brain was swirling with new doubts and feelings that started the moment she stepped into the Master's strange TARDIS, and they grew the more she sat in the control room. Sometimes her eyes would veer to the busted-up frying pan she had next to hooves (which she kept as it may be good for future use, considering it was the best way she knew defense at the moment, that being from the Master who could have fooled her mind or the Doctor who in new light was considered evil). The focusing of these thoughts grew more, the outside world becoming silent, as Amethyst begged for her thoughts to listen to what she was trying to tell herself.
The Master can't be lying, he hasn't been hostile or anything yet, Amethyst told herself. So why am I doubting myself? Even if I wanted to turn back. . .it's too late. Amethyst closed her eyes. She tapped her hooves on the ground twice before reopening them. No, I'm fooling myself. The Master is what he is, and what I believe. And I believe he is what he says. Amethyst told herself the feeling was just something new, possibly the relieving stress of doing something on her own behalf and decision.
When the door opened and the Master reappeared, he was brushing with his hoof something he had just put on. It was a broad-shouldered, high collared black velvet coat, the sleeve extending to the end of his hooves. He strove to the opposite side of the room from Amethyst, looking towards his control panel.
"Guess you're into black, huh?" asked Amethyst about the room and the outfit.
"I see it as an appropriate style," the Master considered. (He was also mentally thanking his cleverness for having such a device with a Tissue Compression Eliminator function to resize one of his previous clothes).
"Where are we going?" Amethyst inquired, changing the subject to important matters.
"I am currently evaluating this universe's layout," the Master replied. "It still remains unfamiliar to my TARDIS and would be very helpful to finding the Doctor if I had a lay of the land."
"Gotcha," the young mare stated. A new thought hit her mind. . .actually, a thought that she had lingered on a while but hadn't come back to the front of her priorities until that moment. . .and the thought came to her as next topic of speech.
"We're going to get my mom and sister, right?" Amethyst asked. The Master looked from his controls. This was something new to his knowledge.
"Hm?" he asked, his brows knit at the mention of the revealed information.
"I have family," Amethyst told the Master. "My mom, Ditzy Doo, my sister, Dinky Doo. They know the Doctor too, so they're just as in trouble as I was back there." At first the young mare was worried that she even mentioned her family members. True, they were her priority, yet something in the Master's look of uncertainty, as soon as she mentioned she had others she was worried about, made her wonder if she had just weakened her alliance with the Timepony. He seemed to examine Amethyst's expression for a while, then looked down at a corner of the room. His mind seemed to turn gears as he left the focus to his mind and not his eyes as he bit the inside of his cheek. The Master returned his focus to Amethyst.
"Are they acquainted with the Doctor as you were?" he carefully spoke.
"Sort of," Amethyst described. "They like him more than I do. . .he was just always more friendly around them."
"Do you think they would believe it if either one of us mentioned the Doctor's hidden identity?"
"Even if I did. . .I don't think so. They'd just get all angry."
"Hm, then we should wait," the Master reassured the young pony. He stepped around the room and away from his console, but didn't look away from Amethyst. "The Doctor is still at large, and he knows my presence here. It could be possible that at this moment, he may be convincing the others in your family that I am the criminal instead of him."
"He would," Amethyst muttered. "But we can't just leave them behind! The Doctor-"
"I know," the Master stopped her with a hoof motion. "It's dangerous to leave them with the renegade, but it would be unwise to appear to them so soon, for it could lead to the demise of ideally capturing the Doctor."
"What should we do then?"
"I intend on starting the capture of the younger Doctor and his companions, that way our situation would lessen in intensity. . .what with two Doctors here (as I never expected to happen)," the Master suggested. "We can then use the younger Doctor as an example of your Doctor's hidden past, for the younger Doctor is much more naive and stupid and will certainly reveal more of his mistakes than your experienced Doctor would." The Master grinned. "Besides. . .you've met this Doctor haven't you? Certainly you have less trust in him as the other you so barely have an inkling for?"
"Wait. . .yeah!" Amethyst said. She caught onto the plan and decided to add to it. "We all met him, me and my sister and my mom, and my mom got so furious at him because she thought he was an imposter!"
"Excellent!" the Master's eyes lit up. "I can infer exactly what you mean. . .your family certainly doesn't have faith nor liking to the younger Doctor, yet he is certainly the Timelord criminal they do have trust in! Once they see the truth, the Doctor they so love won't be able to hide his past any longer. . .it will be standing in front of them all, and the faith that your mother and sister have with the Doctor will diminish!"
"Then they'll have to believe us!" Amethyst stated.
"It's absolutely brilliant, I must say, and thanks to that input of yours, may also be the way to foil the Doctor's chance of keeping any pony at his back. He will be captured, tried with the High Counsel, and put to the punishment he deserves!" The Master looked at the control panel in front of him and flicked a switch. His face brightened.
"The scan is complete. . .now, to find where the younger Doctor is hiding."
* * *
Fluttershy may have not been generous with words or expressions, as her nature was extremely coy, but that didn't mean her hospitality lacked in the same way. She had offered the three new visitors in her home the upper room to her house, including a bed and two mats, while she stayed below in her main room with her woodland pets and other small animals. The Doctor(5), Tegan, and Nyssa were very careful to thank Fluttershy thoroughly.
They also found the upstairs very sufficient and comfortable. It was quiet, but a perfect place for conversation, first with Nyssa stating how wonderful Fluttershy's life must have been with so many peaceful animals, then with the Doctor's suggestion of Tegan taking the bed since she had the crankiest and most stressed attitude, and then finally with Tegan's conclusion of telling Nyssa and the Doctor that they were both odd ponies for sure and that she was fed up with any more activity for the day.
"Did you imagine such bizarre events would happen?" Nyssa stated as she trotted over and fixed one of the mats. "You can't possibly say you dislike today at the least."
"I'm just going to leave this whole happening as 'memorable' at that," Tegan replied as she climbed into the small bed at the head of the room.
"Yes, but I'm afraid this isn't quite a memory just yet, Tegan," the Doctor told her as he sat down at the mat on the other side of the room. "With so many questions and no way of getting out of this universe at the moment, who knows how long we may be stuck with four hooves."
"I actually don't mind it all that much," Nyssa spoke as she lay down and rested her chin on her hooves. "I've certainly achieved a new perspective. . .and this culture is fascinating."
"Are you saying you actually like being a pony?" asked Tegan.
"Not forever, of course," Nyssa replied. "But I might as well appreciate it while I am one."
"You're certainly more optimistic about it."
"Finally, admission!" teased the Doctor. Tegan's face was struck with sass.
"You're so clever," she said sarcastically. "I'm hitting the hay." Tegan flung the sheets of the bed over herself and turned to her side. The Doctor snickered.
"Hay. . ." he repeated, laughing at the pun.
"Goodnight, Doctor," Tegan sternly called.
"You aren't going to bed so soon, are you?" asked the Doctor. "I was going to tell you important information, remember?"
"I'm still listening," Tegan grumbled, but she didn't move.
"We can always inform her tomorrow on information she tunes out to," Nyssa suggested. "I am eager to listen."
"Very well," the Doctor sighed. He lay down on the mat he was sitting on the rest himself, pulling the hat on his head to the floor. He began to speak as he rolled it up. "I met the young filly at the party; the one who was with the grey mare we first ran into." Nyssa's eyes widened. Tegan twitched her ears before sitting up in the bed.
"And she actually talked to you?" asked the mare in the bed.
"We held a conversion, yes," the Doctor replied. "Most of it was of her childish curiosity. . .she did seem to be extremely young."
"Her childish curiosity or yours?" Nyssa inputted.
"Anyways," the Doctor continued, "whether it was this part of her or not, she explained to me when we conversed that she and the others actually believe who we've told them we were."
"Finally, some sense into those ponies' minds," said Tegan.
"What convinced them?" asked Nyssa, impressed that such a thing happened. "We weren't there to explain our case."
"That she didn't say," the Doctor sighed. "All she told me was that she believed I was the Doctor based on the fact that her mother now believed so. And why the grey mare thinks that now we might have to investigate."
"We will have to investigate that, you mean," corrected Nyssa. "But at least since we are more welcomed, perhaps we can talk with her and convince her that we came by pure accident."
"And that we need to figure out more of this other Doctor roaming about and how I can get my TARDIS," the Doctor added. Tegan yawned from the bed and fell back on her face.
"Sounds like work for tomorrow," she said tiredly.
"I agree with Tegan on this," Nyssa nodded. "We will be able to think more clearly on how to go about this with fresh minds, but at least a lot of our worries are eased for the night." She closed her eyes and rested her head on the mat.
"Yeah," the Doctor added. He sat in the quiet room as Tegan fell into a snore, Nyssa into steady breathing, each of them out and asleep. For a moment he laughed in his mind about how even though they were all ponies, they still had the human and Trakenite needs of a full night's rest, while he was still wide awake, not needing to sleep until later, and even then, not for very long. Nevertheless, he put his chin down, closed his eyes, and decided to just calmly wander in his thoughts for a while, thinking of the many things packed in his Timepony's head, the many different adventures he had encountered, what ideas and cultures he had witnessed. . .
Wait, Fluttershy has rabbits living in her home, the Doctor's brain suddenly encountered. Rabbits, mice, all sorts of small creatures. . .that could only mean one thing. The Doctor looked at the motionless Nyssa and Tegan, and smiled to himself. He mentally made plans to wake or stay awake early enough to visit with Fluttershy when she would first rise. With his current thought, he made it important to see her without the rebuttal of his companions.
Surely these rabbits and creatures are like the ones on Earth, I would assume, he told himself. And assuming Fluttershy cares for these creatures, or appears to do so, she would keep food for them. They would have the same diet, hopefully, and also hopefully Fluttershy would have the components to this diet: lettuce, carrots, cucumbers. . .celery.