//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven: The Royal Invitation // Story: Derpy Meets The Doctor // by Heavyhauler75622 //------------------------------// Twilight finished speaking and looked at her friends, who were all staring at her in varying degrees of incredulity. All except Pinkie Pie, who muttered, “Told ya so,” to nopony in particular. “If I hadn’t heard it direct from ya, Twi, and that letter being from Princess Celestia herself…” said Applejack, amazed. “He’s an alien? Really?” asked Rarity. A planet full of fashion-conscious, extra-equestrians? She didn’t know whether to be frightened, or ask about visas. “Oh, goodness…” squeaked Fluttershy quietly, still behind AJ, as though ‘John’ would somehow suddenly crash in and begin rampaging throughout the library. Her wide, expression filled eyes grew wider still. Rainbow Dash decided on bluster. “I can take him,” she said, as her eyes narrowed. “Let’s see what ya got, Time Charger,” she declared. “I’m going to have to come up with a super-y, duper-y, super-duper, superdupersized party for him now! He’s even beyond the usual 'Welcome to Equestria!' level party type party!” Pinkie Pie declared. There was a moment of *squee*, then she sobered a bit. “I wonder if I can get a hold of Cheese Sandwich…I might need help with this one,” said Pinkie Pie thoughtfully, a very rare occurrence in itself for her. “Now, hold on everypony! He’s not a bad guy here,” said Princess Twilight Sparkle, asserting a bit of that ‘Princess’ authority of hers. “Princess Celestia told me he’s more like us; somepony who helps when there’s trouble. He just deals in trouble on a lot bigger scale,” she said, with more confidence than she felt. “Bigger than Discord?” asked Applejack. The others nodded. “Apparently, girls. He’s not just capable here, he can deal with things in the entire universe,” she said with emphasis. “We’re very good, but outside of the planet, well…” They stared at her. “In the meantime, everypony can go home. Just keep your eyes and ears open, your nose in the wind, and if one of us calls, be ready to go.” Twilight Sparkle finished on a positive up note. “Where?” said Rainbow Dash grumpily, forelegs crossed as she hovered close by. So much for the positive note, Twilight Sparkle thought, frowning. Right at that moment, the very same pony Twilight had just described in titanic proportions was shrunk back to simple ‘John Smith’, holding a crying, very distraught grey Pegasus, and mentally bucking himself around in the paddock of his mind. I’ve so mucked this up, he thought to himself. All I ever thought about was to prove to her how right she was, after all this time. I never once thought, never once even considered that knowing would change how she thought of herself. She had a happy life, had contentment in her heart that things were finally where they should be. And look at what you did! Some Doctor you turned out to be. The sobbing slowed, though he never stopped stroking her mane, talking softly to her. She gasped a little, and then the distress came to a merciful, shuddering stop for the both of them. “Dinky,” she said softly, behind a gentle sob. “Yeah. Let’s go see her, you and I, the both of us. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sent us an invitation,” he said as he held out the letter to her. She took it and started to read, as he picked up the rose and gently put it back behind her ear. There were arcane symbols across the top, some sort of writing she was unfamiliar with…although the designs were somewhat reminiscent of… Bubble chamber tracks. They were bubble chamber tracks, though the pertinent information had been simplified and only alluded to specific particle information and states in each diagram, though a vector bug pointed which way the diagram was aligned. Antiproton, a few muons here and there, lepton, that one was a fizzy positron, neutrons bulleting about, and those were…chronoton. She looked up at his face, as he stared at her right eye. You know, he thought to himself; I think that eye is cuter than the other one, he considered incongruously. Derpy’s adorable field at work again, though he didn’t really notice. “‘John’. Do you…ponies…write by using particle physics?” she asked, astounded. “In a way, luv,” he answered gently, “Still have words and such, but Gallifreyan is concept-oriented, even more so than Equestrian. All this wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff is needed to get across when and which, too, not just, ‘Be along the Castle at four o’clock for tea, biscuits, and cucumber sandwiches’.” He stood up, very gently helped her to her feet. “Come look at this,” he said. She hesitated, and then followed him jadedly up the ramp to the console. Taking off the saddlebags, he put them on the floor near the console. He turned on the screen, turned it toward her. In moments, she saw a handsome, (in his own way) thin biped, looking very much like ‘John’, dancing around a console. This console, as a loud female in a huge white dress in the view yelled incomprehensible words… And then her vision doubled. She quickly glanced at a darkened reflective surface on the console for a moment, but noticed her eyes were behaving for once. As she once more focused on the screen, the images spread further apart, started to solidify…then one of the pair seemed to tear itself free from the other, and the one she was watching began to change. The individual seemed to be formed out of clay, as the proportions stretched, lengthened in places, shortened in others. He slid to the deck from the buffeting; took a bang on the head, then lay still. The changes continued, the head becoming more rounded, with a cute muzzle and adorable ears, the hair confining itself to its accustomed place on the mane, but staying spikey and in arrayed disarray. There was a white collar where the brown suit once was, and a loosely knotted green tie on his neck. He took on a more appropriate chestnut color than the pale sickly one he had, as the long coat became more proper for him, the strong legs sticking out from under it. And as he rolled over when the field of view came under some unseen external influence, a dark brown tail lengthened, followed by a flash of light from his flank as an hourglass appeared. There was no sign of the female. ‘John’ stopped the playback, reversed it to just before the point of divergence occurred, froze the picture on the male, and zoomed it in. She stared at it, then at the pony alongside the monitor. “Derpy, may I present…The Doctor.” He even tilted his head and smiled just like the creature in the monitor was. Derpy drew in a sharp breath. Even given that the one alongside the monitor was real, as well as a pony, the two of them were identical. That little pose he did sealed it. She was looking at two versions of the same entity. “How…?” she started to ask, sitting back down, amazed. “Derpy…I’m a Time Lord. Or was. Or am, depending. Depending on from what point in these dimensions you’re looking from, really. Here, I’m like this. There, I’m like that. I’m a member of a race from a planet called Gallifrey, there. And I go about in the universe, helping.” He turned to the console. “This,” he continued, rubbing a hoof along the edge happily, “…is a TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It functions as both a spacecraft, and a time machine. And my home. And the two of us are very old.” “By your normal understanding, I am over seven hundred years old, and this machine, even older than that.” He went and ran the image forward a bit, as it pulled back and took in a great deal of the room they were standing in. As well as the yelling female. “And she is a human. One of those funny, funny creatures that are there in that dimension. They’re much like ponies, really. Though ponies don’t shout like that. Much. I think,” he finished lamely, frowning, brows drawn together in concentration. Derpy stared at her in fascination. Lyra was right after all, she thought. “I did a bit of checking round when I came in here yesterday. Equestria, here, and Earth, there,” he pointed with a hoof, “…exist in roughly the same positions and roughly the same temporal flow in both places. They’re almost mirrors of each other. Many things here exist there, and vice versa. They’re sisters.” Derpy considered the statement, and thought back. A lecture she attended in college, with one of those visiting professors that made the circuit around the schools, lecturing about parallelism in dimensional states came to her mind. How theory was pointing to multiple dimensions occupying space-time together, with only slight variations between them. In one, she might have been able to stay a Wonderbolt, say, rather than go to school. She quickly lost interest in the lecture as she multiplied dimensions inside her head with all sorts of permutations, speculating on the changes one’s life could take; if you turned left at a particular time, instead of right, for example. How her eyes may have changed her from a Wonderbolt to a top physicist. At the time, of course…just before the demonstration. She returned to the now just as the picture began to change, the view doubling as it had before… She drew in a breath. What she was seeing…was that exact dimensional aspect, being stretched out away from each other, one maintaining one way, the other trying to go a different route. She then looked at him. He gave a small nod, smiled slightly. She watched as two dimensions separated into two directions; as this current one, the one they existed in, became his reality. She pointed. “Doctor…‘John’. Why did you come apart? According to my understanding of this phenomena,” she said in concentration, “…both of these dimensions should have existed in parallel with each other, in fact, given this piece of empirical data,” she said, falling back into her old ‘science!’ suit, “…they did exist with each other. Why did they separate?” “There had been an accident. Somewhere along the line, a multiparallel interdimensional temporal rupture occurred. I was pulled out of my old reality, cloned, you could say, pushed through the rupture, or more exactly, the small leak, and came out here, in that wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey sort of way. The TARDIS has ways to repair time/space/dimension fractures to keep realities from spilling all over inside each other and causing a terrible mess on the floor.” He grinned a bit maniacally. He ran the picture up to where he began to change, and froze it. “Unfortunately, in this case, the leak was a deep one, and to keep realities from melting and melding into each other as the leak tore open, it had to be sealed from both sides of the tear. Him there, and me,” he pointed at himself, then the console, “…here. Had to be done that way. Nothing else for it. But it’s a sealed tear; can’t take a chance and rip it open, even if the realities could be made to mesh properly, which is a longshot to make extreme longshots hardly more than dropping a tuppence into a shooter glass on the bar for a drinking bet,” he said glumly. He sighed sadly. “This is my reality now at this moment. Here. It’s a fixed point now, to try to change it ‘round would be disastrous. All of the universes everywhere could unravel completely. Won’t take that possibility happening. I’m here from now on, with all of you.” He looked at her forlornly. She responded the only way she knew how. She reached out, rubbed his shoulder compassionately, as he took control of his emotions back. He managed a wan smile. “Not so bad, not really. Lots of kindness here. Even more friendship. That Princess Luna, jumping into my Nightmare…we have a lot of pain, him and I. Seen wars that there are no descriptions for in brutality or immensity. Watched planets, whole civilizations burn in the sky. Stars in their death throes petulantly killing everything about them. I would even hesitate to deal with me in my dreams. But here she came, jumping in with all four hooves into the terror of my dreams. Didn’t even hesitate. How do you even define such kindness?” He looked at her as if searching for an answer. “I called to her, ‘John’…you were in such pain; I couldn’t stand to hear you in agony like that. It was terrifying. I called to her, asked her to come help you, to come and fight your pain alongside you. I would have joined her, if I could. It was tearing you apart.” “My dreams are terrible, Derpy. Always will be. But last night, she did me a favor. She took the burden away just long enough for me to find a better purchase to carry it with. Both of you did.” He reached out to the hoof, held it with his, in that curious way they had here. “As I mentioned before, such kindness. Brilliant.” He set it down gently on the console. “I never meant to hurt you, Derpy. I’m sorry. I’m just so sorry... I just wanted you to know, your little machine was the first steps to this. I love this old girl. She’s been my greatest friend all these years. In all the realities, I’m alone. Everyone else of my kind is dead, dead and gone. I find friends, friends and companions, and we all travel together. At least for a time. Then, they leave, or I have to say good-bye to them…or they die. Then, I’m alone once more.” He covered her hoof with his. “But this time is different. That key is yours not for you to run away, but to learn from. You’re different from everyone else that’s ever been through those doors. I’ve no idea why I’m here other than fixing a puncture. Big universe and all that, after all. But I came down in your garden, luv. This old girl told me something once. She told me she would always take me where I’m needed, not necessarily where I wanted to go. I took that to hearts, I did. She dropped me right in the place where the one pony in all of Equestria would understand.” Derpy looked puzzled. “But I don’t do that anymore.” She turned and looked at the doors again, looking beyond them at her life, waiting just outside them, as she sighed. “I deliver mail, ‘John’. That’s what I do. I deliver mail, I talk to my friends, and I care for my little girl. I’m no trans-universal explorer, for hay’s sake! Even when I thought about some silly gizmo to get back at all those ponies that thought I didn’t have the brainiacs, smarts, clevers, nerdisms, whatever you want to call it, I wasn’t considering a mechanism that had a n fold dimensional pocket control room slash living spaces that thresholded through a pair of blue doors, just so I could play tourist!” She sat down, shaking her head again as she stared at the floor. Then, her head popped back up and she looked at him. “Hearts?” “Oh, yeah, a pair of ‘em. Typical Gallifreyan anatomy. Got duplicated, right?” He pulled out a stethoscope out of one of the coat pockets, held it out to her. “Care to have a listen?” Intrigued, she took the stethoscope from him when he walked up, putting the ends in her ears, then tentatively placed the chestpiece bell against his left chest, which was closer. The usual lupp-dupp, lupp-dupp of a pony four-chambered heart sounded in her ears…but there was something else… She moved to the right side…lupp-dupp, lupp-dupp…slightly out of sync with… She looked up at him, astonishment on her face. Then a shy smile, as she looked back at the chestpiece, moved it again from side to side to side again, listening. The smile brightened, as she listened in rapt fascination. Derpy remembered a picture plate diagram she came across of the vascular anatomy of a pony while chugging away at something else at one of the university libraries; the complex weaving of arteries and veins around the heart and throughout the body, the pulmonary circulation feeding the lungs to oxygenate the blood, as well as the primary one for the rest of the body. She understood hoof frogs, the supplemental blood return system of the hoof and its relation to the vascular circulation. Miraculous, she had thought at the time. Such complexity. All grown out from a microscopic clump-full of cells. But this…this was amazing! She shifted the bell again, nodding gently to the quiet beating. She looked up again, the smile bright. “Yeah? Now you know something else most ponies don’t know.” He reached for the stethoscope, which she reluctantly hoofed back. He put it away. He held out a hoof. She took it, stood back up. “Close your eyes.” She did so. “Now, open yourself up to the universe around you. Reach out.” He closed his eyes as well. “Can you feel the time vortex, the Eye of the TARDIS, underneath you? How about the immensity of the cosmos? How the stars dance through your blood, how they sing. Feel the inhabitants of this world as they go through their life today. Can you feel the connections?” he asked her, still holding her hoof. In her being, something awakened. She felt something under her…an immensity of power, reaching…through all realities, upward into space…tying everything together, the threads…were passing through all the points of light in the heavens…and amongst the beings around them. She picked one particular string out, and felt it touch all the ponies around her…a brief hint of Rainbow Dash becoming bored and wanting a nice, soft cloud to nap on…Twilight trying to wrap her mind around a life-changing thing…Luna becoming concerned, pacing… “‘John!’” “Remember, luv, we’re in a time machine. Hard to be late anywhere. But I suppose it’s time to get on with it…” He snatched up the forgotten letter on the floor as he walked to the console. He twirled controls as he consulted the letter, the coordinates for an appropriate spot for them and the machine written on it. “We’re off,” he said, grinning. “Allons-y!!”, as he pulled a lever. The machine shuddered into action, with the strange sound Derpy remembered from yesterday. I don’t think it’s supposed to make that sound, she thought to herself. A few seconds later, the Blue Box began to materialize in the alcove diagrammed in the letter, the light on top flashing, the strange ‘vvorp’ing sound becoming more and more prominent as it gained solidity. There were a couple of ‘thumps’, then quiet. At least until the door squeeked open. “Oh, nice place!” The Doctor, ‘John Smith’, popped out, followed by a shying Derpy. “One of those hedge mazes royalty finds so fascinating. Good place to put a TARDIS!” He suddenly became aware of the Royal Guard standing a short distance away. He walked up to him, smiling broadly. “Hullo, I’m The Doctor!” he said grandly. “Yes, sir,” the guard said flatly. “We’ve been expecting you. I’m to escort you both to the Princesses. Please,” he gestured, “…this way.” He started walking, the two travelers in his wake. “He didn’t even act surprised,” Derpy said quietly, perplexed. “Like this sort of thing is an everyday happening.” “First rule, luv. Act like nothing unusual is going on. And always remember, left-hand turns in a maze, and you don’t get lost.” “Unless the exit is separated from the edges, like at the center of it. Then you just go around and around and around…” “Oh, right. And besides, with Royalty, one would expect happenings like ours to occur off and on,” he said happily. “Great.” She sounded unconvinced as her nose wrinkled slightly. They exited the Palace Labyrinth, and the soldier continued on into the castle. Derpy was trying not to stare too much, but Canterlot was one of those places most ponies didn’t get to see up close, though there was free access to a lot of the castle and grounds for ponies granted by the Princesses. Most ponies just contented themselves with looking up and seeing the faerie tale palace high upon a mountain as they went about their day. ‘John’ continued to tag along after the guard, his coat billowing at points from various breezes circulating through the structure. Derpy moved up alongside. “You’re awfully calm.” “Rule Two, luv. Never be overly impressed by the trappings. All ponies put their shoes on one at a time,” he grinned. “You’re really into this, aren’t you?” she asked grumpily. “Me? Naww. Well…it’s nice to practice it when there isn’t something threatening, or chasing, or that shooting thing…are you a good runner, Derpy? Forgot to ask. Running can be exceptionally helpful at times.” She snorted…then started to fly. ‘John’ froze in place, awestruck again, watching her. Aw, that’s brilliant, he thought…then something else caught his attention... And it’s also remarkably lovely to watch. She’s remarkably lovely to watch… “Ahem,” said their guard, calmly clearing his throat. “Please, may we continue? I have other duties to perform,” he said calmly. She backwinged and touched down softly next to ‘John’. “About that running…” He stared at her, hypnotized, and then stumbled a bit as they started walking again. “Eh?” he said, entranced. “Running, ‘John’. Remember? We were discussing running,” she said gently. “Em…oh, sorry. Nevermind.” He thought back to a few moments ago. Lovely. Simply lovely. He tried not to stare at her, though he snuck in surreptitious glances at her here and there. They continued on, quietly. A few minutes later, the guard had them hustled into the throne room, whereupon he and the others bowed out and closed the door behind them. The Doctor relaxed. “Looks like this is going to be one of the good ones,” he said, as he let out a contented sigh. “How did you factor that one out?” asked Derpy glumly. He gestured around. “All the guards left,” he said cheerfully. “‘John’…those two over there…can simply disassociate all your atoms from each other with a thought. Did you consider that, and they just don’t want the guards in the way?” Derpy pointed out, irritated. “Well…” he said happily, before the import of what she had said struck him. “Hmmm…” Derpy shook her head, tsking her tongue before she started down the long hall. ‘John’ took a moment to catch up with that, and then trotted after her. Derpy reached the end, bowed deeply to the two Princesses on the dais. ‘John’ stood next to her, until she kicked his front feet out from him gently. His front crashed to the floor. “Oi!” he said, surprised. She looked at him askance, then back to the dais, and then back at him. “Oh, all right,” he said testily, arranging himself in a bow. She smiled. “Your Majesties,” she said calmly, as she rose back to all fours. The Doctor followed, after he got his forelegs back under him. “It is good to see you once more, Derpy,” said Luna, who came down from the dais and hugged her. “Sister, this is Derpy, mailmare to Ponyville…and a friend.” Derpy’s eyes widened in surprise. I’m making all sorts of unusual friends nowadays, she thought to herself. “We are glad to see the good friend of Our Sister, Mailmare Derpy. But We wonder about your other new friend. How are you doing, Doctor?” asked Celestia, with merriment in her eyes. “Oh, just fine, I suppose,” he said as he rubbed the closer leg Derpy ‘persuaded’. Then the light came on. “Wait, what?” he asked in confusion. “Did I get the form wrong, good Doctor? Or should I refer to you as ‘John Smith’, instead? Please, enlighten me.” She was almost chuckling now. “What?” he said, a bit too loudly, gears beginning to strip. “Luna, he’s the real thing. When he gets confused, he gets confused, doesn’t he?” she asked, chuckling broadly now. Luna joined in. “Oi, what??” he said, even more confused. Oh, stop, you silly stallion,” Derpy said, chuckling herself now. She settled down in front of him, fussing with his tie again. “They know who you are, and probably all about you, clever boy. Relax, you apparently have even more friends than you thought,” she said calmly, her tongue poking out as she straightened it. “…two Princesses, and you let yourself get like this,” she went on as she pulled the knot to its proper place. “There,” she said finally. “Perfect.” Luna smiled at both of them as Derpy went through her ritual with The Time Charger. “Sister, I have some preparations for tonight I should attend to. The Chef is requesting guidance on the children’s soyburgers.” Celestia waved a dismissive hoof mirthfully, as Luna left. “Now, for you, Time Charger…” Princess Celestia said kindly. “Wait…Time Charger?” the Doctor asked. “But of course! Time Lord sounds so stuffy, wouldn’t you agree?” she pointed out, as she flew off the dais and landed next to him. He stared at her. “Well…suppose so. May have some problem with it at first, old habits, you see…” he finally said lamely. “Don’t blame me, it was your idea, Doctor,” she laughed. “And what is it that brings you to our fair planet today? Public Call Boxes, perhaps?” Those in the know about Princess Celestia, Guardian of the Light in the World, Warmth of the Sun, and many equally impressive and pretentious titles she didn’t much care for, knew her to be a bit of a practical joker, and sporadically, just a teensy bit mean on occasion, mostly from chafing under everyone treating her like some fragile cut glass treasure, or expecting her to be some kind of magic lamp you buffed up for wishes. Both were very tiresome, and though she always tried her very best; sometimes that exasperation of hers would peek through. In fact, just before these two very important ponies arrived, she received word that somepony’s daughter would like for her to be their ‘special guest’ at their private home. The ‘why’ was proving to be less clear, though she had her suspicions, and ways to discover exactly what the truth was. She sighed for a second, then decided to talk with the stallion that in many ways was more her equal…though he was definitely suffering from thick headedness today. And with that… It suddenly dawned on her, as she winced with the pun. This had to be his first meeting with them. The only reason the Doctor had to be this dense is because he was. At least for now. Temporal shifts…no wonder she got headaches from trying to understand them. “Well…er, things are going…well…” ‘John’ managed to stumble through, nervously scratching at the back of his head. “I see. Other than our little get-together and introduction, was there anything you required?” “No. Yes. No. Well yes…for her, you understand. Derpy’s college project…still have that ‘round somewhere? Like to take a look, if we could.” “Certainly, Doctor,” she said, as she hooved over to him another envelope she had previously prepared a few years ago, and very recently retrieved with her aura when she became aware of his return. “When do you wish to leave? I need to let my Sister know.” “As soon as…wait. No. Just no. I’m not a cab, Princess…” “Doctor, we followed your instructions to the letter regarding the device and materials. Derpy’s books and papers are in my vault, and easily recovered. But the device was isolated as you wanted. As anxious as you both may be to get it, neither yourself nor Derpy can lift or carry almost seventeen hundred pounds of machine. You will need someone who can. And will also remain, ‘confidential’, shall we say, about it. I can do both. In fact, I’ve already accomplished this in the first place.” Smiling, she turned on her hooves, started for the door. “Coming, Doctor?” He nodded his head, sighed. “Off we go again. Derpy?” “Of course.” She started walking along. “And I would really like to discover why everypony hid my machine.” “Me too, luv. Me too,” he said quietly. Celestia’s horn glowed gently as she opened the door. The Sergeant snapped to attention. “Sergeant, send word to Princess Luna to recover Derpy’s materials from the Crown Vault, and meet us at the appropriate place in the Palace Labyrinth with them. She is to maintain the kingdom until we return.” “Yes, Majesty. Shall I send the Guard with you?” he asked, concerned. “No need, Sergeant. The place is still within the Canterlot Canton itself, but would needlessly place the Guard under undue risk. The three of us will manage quite well. Assist The Princess of Kind Dreams until then,” she ordered confidently. “But, Majesty…” “How well has your swimming technique advanced, Sergeant?” Celestia asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. He flinched visibly. “As you order, Majesty.” He took off at a gallop. She sighed heavily. “Again with the cut glass…” “I beg your pardon, my Princess?” Derpy asked. Celestia sighed heavily again as she looked at her glumly. “It’s nothing, mailmare. Just a burden I have to bear.” Luna met them at Alcove Six, a moderately large bundle of books and papers safely in her horn’s magic field. The Doctor took it in. “Not too bad, figured much more than that.” Luna pointed to a second, even larger bundle alongside the TARDIS. “Oh,” he said, nonplussed. He unlocked the door, as Luna increased her field, and brought both piles inside. “Shall I just leave them here?” she asked, concerned. “Down the hall, right at the first junction, first door on the left. Don’t know if the door knobs are still in place, though. Might get tricky getting the door open.” Luna snorted. “Magic has its uses, Time Charger.” She left for the room he indicated. “Just put them in the bins in there, we’ll sort it out for fair later,” he called after her. He turned to the other one. “Princess Celestia, mind if I ask how you managed Gallifreyan? Not an easy language to understand,” he said, with a cheeky wink at Derpy. “Gallopfreyan is extremely difficult, unless the person reading it used left crib notes to copy and hand off to himself, though they were complicated to copy down, and try as I did, I couldn’t figure out what they said. However, I do have some idea as to what they contained. Our first letter to you was to direct you to specific places to land your TARDIS, where it would not upset our subjects.” She gestured to the envelope. He opened it, read the contents. “And this is to some sort of ‘mountain retreat’, eh?” “Actually, it’s for the Windigoes Observation Blind. Isolated, very difficult to reach on hoof due to ice and snow, and almost impossible to reach by air. I can do it, though it was very dangerous,” she grinned, “…and impossible for almost any others, though Rainbow Dash may be able to do it, if the wind is just right, and she manages it quickly before her wings freeze. Getting back down, however, is an entirely different story.” “And us? Some special magic?” The Doctor asked. “Just what you bring to it, Doctor, you and the blue box,” she replied, amused, just as Luna returned to the control room. “Sister, I have some young children who are expecting me. Safe Travels, but should you have need, call,” she said warmly. Celestia smiled even larger. “Have a good time, Luny. Don’t forget to get a nap in, rested Princesses are happy Princesses.” Luna nodded to them, smiling, as she walked straight out the doors. Celestia watched her younger sister as she left. “This should be fine, then. I left you excellent information.” He set his controls, reached for the dematerialization lever. Derpy again frowned as she listened to the machine start off. The noise set her teeth on edge. “‘John’…is something broken on this machine of yours?” Derpy asked, the concern in her voice evident. “This old girl? She’s a classic. Runs like a top, she does.” He took a moment from his leaping about the console to look at her. “Why?” “Something’s off. Can’t you hear that?” she asked. “She always makes that sound…” “Yeah, you have the field bias turned up too high. I get that.” She walked up closer to one side of the console. “This machine was designed for six operators; to give you time to operate things in the sequence, you pushed up the field bias. Like leaving the brake on. But there’s something…” She knelt down, pulled a base panel open. “Oi! Are you daft? You’ve no business in there!” he cried, panicked. She glared at him. “We’re moving! No…Just no.” She stuck a hoof in…and like soothing music, everypony relaxed a bit. She put the panel back and stood up, her right front hoof covered in dust and grime. “Get me a rag, ponyboy, I need to clean this off. And when was the last time you got in there and decontaminated all this out of her?” “Well…” he said, as the hoof rubbed his head. He dug around in a pocket of his coat, pulled a linen hoofkerchief out and handed it to her. “John, your torque sensors were off. You mean to tell me you couldn’t hear it whining in desperation and pain in there? I thought Colgate was drilling on my molars, it was so excruciatingly loud.” “I believed it was just how this thing operated, mailmare, though this was the first time I felt it.” Princess Celestia added, smiling at her benevolently. “It wasn’t apparent to me when I traveled before. Now that it has dissipated, I’m very well aware of its absence.” Derpy continued to work at her hoof. “I put one in my gizmo. Took me two days to figure out it was out of alignment. Having something that can do what these things do requires some way of detecting and controlling when parts twist relative to others, or everything might end up as fusilli.” She handed the now grungy kerchief back to The Doctor, who held it by a corner perplexed as to what he was going to do with it at the present. “Are we there yet?” Derpy asked, fully indulging her snarkiness. She wanted this thing down on the ground; no telling what else was out of alignment, worn, improperly set, or just plain broken. ‘John’ glared at her, as he started to push forward on the lever… Celestia opened the door first. “Ah, here we are. Everypony, please be aware of any ice. I did have the ponies who helped build this put up a fairly high safety rail,” she said, “…but one careless moment, and it is one very long way down.” She pointed. Derpy and ‘John’ carefully watched for ice as they neared the rail, peeked over. The blind was high, built on the same mountain that supported Canterlot. The faerie-tale aspect of Canterlot Castle was even more emphasized by the height and the new angle they were looking at it. “Quite a fantastic engineering feat, Your Highness,” ‘John’ said, impressed. “Look up.” Celestia said. They did. As they watched, an ethereal cloud began to shift close to the summit. As they watched, the shape began to change. Derpy began to shrink back toward the TARDIS, fear growing on her face… “Do not be afraid, my little pony. I’m here, and I wouldn’t let anything harm you,” Princess Celestia said in a comforting voice. “Besides, there is nothing here for them to influence, though I would caution you and The Doctor to declare a truce, lest your earlier argument give them power.” Derpy and ‘John’ watched the clouds form into ethereal equines, ‘John’ in rapt attention, Derpy in uneasy silence. They stayed high up near the summit, though, and didn’t descend. “There is never enough anger and meanness these days to allow them to chill the air enough to come much lower,” Celestia said, a little sadly. “They must remain high near the summits to survive.” “Princess…Why do you feel sadness for these things?” Derpy asked, confused. “Didn’t the Windigoes cause all that strife we see in Hearth’s Warming Eve?” “‘Cause’ is perhaps too harsh a word, my little pony, though they certainly added to it. But I am Princess for many others; others than just all of you.” She watched them sadly. “We celebrate such wonderful things in our relations with each other. But sometimes, those very things can deny others their freedom.” “Quite profound, Princess.” ‘John’ said sympathetically. “I had a good friend teach me that.” Celestia said, smiling. “Pretty intuitive bloke, that one.” The Doctor replied, smiling warmly as well. “Of course he is…he’s you,” she said, reaching out and laying a hoof gently against his shoulder. Their smiles lingered on their faces, as Derpy’s eyes grew moist. She smiled, too. “Well, I think it is about time we got to work. It is rather cold up here, and I am not one to enjoy much of that, being the Sun Princess and all,” she chuckled. She then walked to an overhanging piece of cliff above them. “Doctor, would you be so kind, and release the locking mechanism on this cliff face with your Screwdriver? And please stand clear, the door is solid rock, and even with my confidence in my abilities, accidents do happen.” John pulled out an unusual cylinder from a pocket and walked over near the Princess. She pointed with her horn. “Just about there, I believe, if I remember correctly,” as her magical glow flowed over the face, bright yellow against the dark grey rock. He pointed the device, the Screwdriver, at the indicated area. With a click, the end lit up with an amazing blue color, and it buzzed. There was a corresponding click, much louder, that came from the cliff. A large section started to fall, but was caught and easily held fast by Celestia. She moved the chunk without difficulty to the clear space close by the cliff on the huge shelf they were all on, and set it down carefully. “There. Hardly a trifle, after lifting that sun up and down all the time.” Her magic lifted from the stone, probed the hole in the cliff. “Ah, there it is.” A fairly broad ellipsoid, about five feet in height, began to descend from the opening. “Doctor, Derpy; where do you want this?” Derpy couldn’t help it. “Not on Princess Twilight Sparkle, Majesty!” she said, laughing. Celestia chuckled. “Well, then…I am also very glad this isn’t either an anvil, hay wagon, or piano, then.” She lowered it to just above the surface. “Is the room Luna used adequate for this, Doctor?” “Oh. Oh, just fine. Set it on the floor for now, and I’ll hunt around for a crate or such. Should make sure it can’t roll around or get jostled.” A second object lowered from the hole on her magic. “I’ll just use your original stand, Doctor.” It looked remarkably like an egg cup, with a very wide, stable base. They both floated obediently in front of her. “Marvelous,” The Doctor said, as he started for the TARDIS door. Suddenly, the rock door lifted, placed itself back into the face over the hole. “A moment, Doctor. Would you be so kind?” she asked, pointing a hoof at the cliff door. He pointed the Screwdriver back at the cliff as it buzzed. The cliff face again clicked, and the door was sealed. “Fantastic craftsmanship. Hardly can see the split, and that’s with me knowing it’s there.” “It took very careful crafting and magic to cut the door free and to remove enough rock behind it to make the opening large enough to place the device inside. We managed to thin the door adequately to install the mechanisms to seal it, and keyed it to your Sonic Screwdriver,” Celestia said proudly. Derpy was amazed. Twilight was a very powerful magic-user, had done all sorts of things thaumaturgic in Ponyville, but she NEVER lifted so much weight in one casting…and the Princess had done it with TWO things, while also lifting and suspending in place a THIRD, without any stress at all. Raising suns and moons really did build up the magical muscles…as well as being your own sort of demigoddess. In addition. “Let’s retreat unto thine TARDIS, as Luna would say, Doctor, and put this all away properly. Then we can get off this unpleasantly cold platform, and I’ll order up some hot water bottles and warm blankets. Derpy, do you still like hot chocolate?” asked Princess Celestia. Derpy nodded wordlessly, still enthralled at what she just did. Then she started a bit. She never told the Princesses she liked chocolate; either hot, cold, or any temperature in between. “Do not worry, my pony. Your fine daughter told Luna, who then told me. I can do many things, but mind reading is still just out of my grasp. Yet.” She chuckled as Derpy appeared to panic slightly. “Gotcha.” She laughed as she led the two of them inside the TARDIS, the machine and its base floating in front of her. Derpy pardoned herself a minute, went up the ramp to fetch her saddlebags from the house that were still on the machine's platform. The three of them then reached the room where Luna had previously placed the materials, Celestia leading them along, but rather than Luna putting them in the large tubs he had originally suggested, Luna had quickly and competently stacked and shelved the papers and books. Even the blueprints had been racked professionally in the provided shelving designed for such things. “Eh? I suppose magic has all sorts of uses. Would have taken me a bit to do this…” he said in admiration. Derpy put the bags down by the door, and *squeed* in glee as she rushed to the shelves, running a hoofedge lovingly along the spines of the books, as Princess Celestia set down the stand first, then gently, without a bump, nestled the machine into it. “Doctor, the field latch for the stand is located at the base.” She reached out with her magic, and flipped the switch. A rose glow enveloped it. “There, finished.” “Okay, everypony, home! I’m chilly.” Derpy found a blanket nearby; though not one large enough to cover the Sun Princess in entirety, it would help in the short run, and draped it on her. “Thank you, my pony. I forget how cold it gets up here.” They walked back to the control room, Derpy flipping through a comb-binding manual she had pulled free from the bookshelves. “Huh. I left the operating instructions with you, Princess…I don’t have this in my library.” “Nor the assembly and maintenance guide, or the component assembly/dis-assembly schematics and procedures. Even the component list is in here. Some care was taken to insure possibly dangerous information wasn’t left around. Your home isn’t a secure library, Derpy; somepony, or something else, could have broken in and acquired enough information to endanger lives. As despondent as you were when you left University, the decision was made to safeguard all the more inimical portions of your research, and there is no place more secure than my vault. Your theoretical and scientific papers and books were released to you. I was frankly surprised you never noticed.” “I was just so shattered that day, Majesty. I told ‘John’ I couldn’t bear to even think of them.” “Well, now, don’t be upset, my dear mailmare,” she smiled warmly. “The one pony best suited to work on surmounting your problems in that regard is standing very close to you now. Shall we go, Doctor?” she asked with a smile. “At once, Princess!!” he said with zest. He clambered up to the console. Princess Celestia the Benevolent Sun smiled at Derpy. “I have absolutely no idea if he’s being serious or not about that Princess thing. But I’ll accept that he is trying to be kind.” She sat down, as they started to move. “Would you care for some cake with your hot chocolate, my dear pony? I have a most marvelous baker in the castle…” Derpy wouldn’t have minded a decent chocolate chunk muffin, but when one half of the Diarchy of your world offers cake, it’s hard to refuse… Soon, all four of them, Luna included, were in the slightly cozy dining area just off the throne room. Derpy’s nerves weren’t all that much better after the latest trip in the TARDIS, but having the torque sensors better balanced did end the irritating squeal they had felt during the outbound trip. Derpy did accept the cake, a fine carrot cake with sour cream icing. Even ‘John’ had a piece, as well as Luna. The lion’s share went to Celestia, though. ‘John’ had frowned slightly at the size of the piece, but Derpy nudged him under the table with a hoof, which calmed his natural curiosity to pursue the question. “Doctor, we shall keep that alcove in the maze open for you. Should you need to come see us, please, feel free to use it when you are in the TARDIS. For any other means, send word through Spike…” Celestia began. "Oi! The dragon! I’d no idea you could do that. It’s like a type of teleport, with…” A sharp kick. “OW!” Derpy smiled affectionately at the Princess. “I shall see to that, my Princess.” She glared at ‘John’, whispered sotto voce, “‘John’, please, do not interrupt the nice Princess. It’s a bit rude.” He looked down as he rubbed his leg. “Didn’t intend to be rude. Just fascinated. And careful with that hoof, it hurts.” He smiled at Celestia. “Sorry. Please go on…” Celestia stared, wide eyed…then started to laugh. “You two…stop being so silly, ponies expect their ruler to be calm and composed, not rolling around on the floor helplessly laughing at your antics. You two can fuss like…” “Yes, Princess?” asked Derpy, as Celestia’s eyes went wide in astonishment. “Oh…never mind. Just a thought I had about something,” she said distractedly, sipping at her tea. These two…the way they interacted brought her tremendous happiness. She set the cup back down. “Doctor, you are welcome in Our lands, always. Was there something in particular that brought you here to Us?” Celestia asked compassionately. “Accident, really. A multiparallel interdimensional temporal rupture. Got pulled in and dropped here. See, problem is, I don’t know what caused it. Things are a bit dodgy as to source. Tell me, Princess,” he asked, concerned, “…you’ve not been messing about with time lately, have you? You or your sister?” “No, Doctor. Neither I, nor Luna, is well enough acquainted with practical temporal thaumaturgy to attempt any type of manipulation. Luna has some understanding of interpretational cause/effect linearity, but only in dreams. The power costs in such spells are enormous, and I already devote a great deal of personal energy moving a star sized nuclear furnace. One quite literally has to deviate one time line into another parallel one, establishing it as the new normal. Parallel lines then have to shift as well to make room for the change, which severely drains the caster. The shift itself establishes the very fistula you described; and on occasion, the shift on its own causes the very problems you were trying to overcome in the first place. One who has attempted the spell is Twilight Sparkle, with unfortunate results. That is why we were so shocked to find that you could do it.” Derpy spoke up. "'John’…Halterbert space in partial differential equations.” ‘John Smith’ said, “Only when quanta are paired from state to state…” The conversation between the two of them rapidly became over everyone’s head except the conversants. “Are you getting any of this, Cely? I have no experience with such science.” asked Luna, worriedly. Celestia shook her head, watching them while sipping more tea. “The last was when Derpy said, ‘‘John’, which was the final word I clearly understood; after that, my eyes glazed.” “So, without a point seal in the designated space…?” Derpy asked. “The vector can travel through any, some, most, or all lines in the congruent dimensional states. It just goes anywhere randomly.” ‘John’ finished. “Oh, dear,” said Derpy, the color draining from her face. Two Demigoddesses and one Time Charger looked at her, worried. “Are you all right, luv?” asked ‘John Smith’ first. “I think I know what happened,” said Derpy, uneasily. “What?” they all asked at once. Anyplace else, somepony would have said, ‘Jinx’ and the somepony else would be buying a round of sodas. Chocolate, in this case. “Discord.”