Part 2
On The Moon
The TARDIS stopped shaking and both ponies got their hoofing.
“Well, there we go.”
Derpy looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Huh? But, all your ship did was shake around and make some noises.”
The Doctor nodded. “And we’ve moved. Now,” he opened a small compartment and started shuffling through it, “if I can just find something to carry my things we can go.”
Within moments he'd pulled out a blue suit and slipped it on, grinning. "Not sure what happened to the one I was wearing before i regenerated... Wait a minute, that was brown, and I have a brown coat. Oh, now that is fantastic— Aww. I could've been ginger if I'd been wearing ginger-coloured clothing? Wish I'd known that before."
He moved back to the console, a stick, his sonic screwdriver, popping out of it.
“Thanks, babe,” he said, taking the screw driver and putting it in his right pocket, along with his psychic paper and the TARDIS key.
“Babe?” Derpy looked uncertain.
The Doctor patted the console. “Her.”
“Oh,” Derpy said, glancing at the console. “Right.”
“Well, Miss Hooves, let’s be off. Outside those doors, somewhere you’ve never been before is waiting.”
He walked forward and opened the doors and stepped out, Derpy slowly following behind him.
“Here we are, Miss Hooves,” he said, waving a foreleg around at the area. It looked like almost any other town Derpy had seen during her time as a mailpony, expect for a few odd things. A lot of the houses looked like they were made of some type of metal, dome-shaped and there was what looked like glass thousands of miles high in the sky, surrounding the whole city.
“Wh-where are we?” she asked, glancing around at the odd surroundings, still finding it hard to believe that they’d somehow moved and, while it had been daytime moments ago, the sky was dark with stars.
The Doctor grinned. “The moon.”
Derpy’s head whipped back to him, her eyes bulging. “What? The moon?”
The Doctor nodded. “Glanced at the date counter before we came out. We’re about a thousand years from your time, give or take a few years and this is the moon colony.”
Derpy glanced around. “H-how did this all happen?”
The Doctor’s grin grew. “I have no idea. Let’s find out, shall we?”
With that he walked towards the nearest house, calm as if he did this everyday.
“D-Doctor, wait!” Derpy hurried after him.
The Doctor walked up to the nearest dome house and knocked on the metal door.
A few moments later it slid up, revealing a light-blue earth mare, with a red mane and tail with streaks of green through them. Her Cutie Mark was of a diaper and bottle.
“Yes?” she asked, glancing at Derpy as she stopped next to The Doctor. “Can I help you?”
“Ah, yes, you can, Miss...?” The Doctor began.
“Gentle Hoof,” she replied cautiously.
“Miss Gentle Hoof,” The Doctor nodded. “We were wondering if you could tell us a little about this colony?”
Gentle Hoof raised an eyebrow. “You... don’t know about it?”
“We’re new here,” he replied, taking out the psychic paper and holding it up to her.
The mare glanced at the paper, then smiled. “Well, Mr. Tick Tock, if you’re new, I’m assuming you’ve just moved here with your daughter.”
“Daughter?” Derpy said, glancing at him.
“Actually, this is my niece, Rose,” he continued, without missing a beat. “And, yes, we’ve just moved here. I was wondering if there were any special events happening tonight?”
Gentle raised her eyebrow again. “You know it’s only nine in the morning, don’t you?”
“In the morning?” Derpy cocked her head, looking around. “But, how can you tell?”
Gentle stepped out a bit of her door and pointed to a column of large lights which were shining brightly. “Those are our Sun Lights. They go on at about six in the morning and dim down at seven at night.”
“Oh, I see. That’s very efficient and makes so much sense,” The Doctor nodded. “Being on the moon the nights would work differently than they do on the planet below. Oh, that is clever.”
“Yeah,” Gentle said slowly, turning to walk back into her house. “Though, since you asked if anything is going on tonight, there is the Starlight Festival.”
“Ooh, what’s that?” The Doctor bounced in place eagerly.
“You really did just arrive here,” Gentle shook her head. “The Starlight Festival is held every year. It’s to celebrate Luna and Princess Stellar for watching over the night every evening.”
“Who and Princess who?” Derpy whispered to The Doctor.
“They must be the rulers,” he whispered back. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun.” He turned back to Gentle Hoof. “Um, where might we meet the princess, by chance?”
Gentle chuckled. “I can’t blame you for wanting to meet them. They are both so wonderful. Princess Stellar is the whole reason our ancestors were able to colonize the moon.”
“Really? How’d they do that? Oh, was magic involved?”
Gentle looked at the stallion as if wondering if he was joking. “She created the metal dome surrounded the colony.”
“Metal?” Derpy looked up, frowning in confusion. “But, that’s clear, like glass. If it were metal, wouldn’t it be, you know, metal-looking?”
Gentle chuckled again. “Surface kids today. So uninformed. Princess Stellar created that metal using some new metals found be Spike the Dragon, son of Princess Twilight Sparkle. She used a combination of magic and forging to create a clear metal that would withstand anything and protects as from the suns radiation.”
“Radi-what now?” Derpy cocked her head.
“Radiation. It’s a type of energy. The sun generates a lot of it and without the protection of that dome, nopony could survive here,” The Doctor explained.
“Getting back to your question, Mr. Tick Tock, I’m afraid Luna is not going to be attending the festival this year,” Gentle returned to their previous talk, looking slightly disappointed. “She’s visiting her grandniece in the Crystal Empire, so Princess Stellar will be handling the festival on her own this year, and she is very busy. I would suggest waiting until the festival. You should be able to see her then.”
“Thank you very much, Miss Gentle Hoof,” The Doctor bowed, taking her hoof and kissing it. “Much appreciated. Farewell.”
“Oh, um, yes, of course,” Gentle stammered, a deep blush on her face as the two started away. “Have a good day, you two.”
“We will,” The Doctor called back. “You too.”
Once they were a fair distance from Gentle’s house, Derpy stopped, motioning to The Doctor.
“Yes, Derpy, what is it?” he asked, uncertain as to why she’d suddenly stopped him.
“Well, Doctor, she said Luna and Princess Stellar,” she whispered, glancing around as if to make sure nopony was listening.
“Yes, so?” The Doctor cocked an eyebrow.
“There’s only one princess in Equestria and that’s Princess Celestia.”
“Hmm,” The Doctor frowned, putting a hoof to his chin. “I’ve just noticed the names. Luna, Stellar, Celestia. those are all to do with space in some way or another. Though, you’re right, Derpy. Some of the things that mare said were a bit off. I mean, she said this Luna and Princess Stellar watch over the night. Now that’s just ridiculous, no one can do that.”
“Yeah, they can,” Derpy nodded. “Princess Celestia raises the sun and moon, every day.”
The Doctor blinked. “Seriously? Well, that is odd. Where I come from the suns and moons move all on their own, but here ponies have to move them themselves? That is fascinating. I noticed you could control the weather, but celestial bodies like the sun and moon? Well, that’s just unheard of.”
Derpy eyed The Doctor. “Not... really.” She then frowned. "And why'd did you tell her my name was Rose? What about me says "Rose"?"
"It was the first name I could think of that wouldn't sound odd around here," he replied.
"Also, why'd that Gentle pony call you Tick Tock? I thought you said your name was Doctor?"
"Oh, yes," The Doctor reached into his pocket, pulling out the psychic paper again. "Slightly physic paper, my dear Derpy. Shows anyone anything I want it to. What Gentle Hoof saw was the identity I'll be now using while we're here."
Derpy smiled. "Oh, I see it. Doctor Tick Tock of—" she turned her head and frowned, "— no, it's blank. Oh, wait, now I see it— and it's blank again."
The Doctor frowned, taking the psychic paper and looking at it in confusion. "It works on one eye but not the other?"
Derpy shrugged.
“Well, anyway, we’ll get our answers about the whole princess matter when we speak to her at the festival,” The Doctor pocketed the psychic paper, turning and heading up the path they’d been going before.
“Wait. What?” Derpy hurried after him. “Doctor, I’ve never heard of this Princess Stellar before.”
“Well, it has been a thousand years since your time, Derpy. Dynasties change. She’s probably just a descendant.”
“What does dinning have to do with anything?” Derpy cocked her head to the side.
“No, not “dinning”, Dynasties... You know what, never mind. We’ll talking more about this when we meet the princess tonight.”
“And til then?”
“Look around, of course,” The Doctor grinned, bouncing as he walked. “I’ve already seen some of your hometown, Derpy. I wonder how pony society works on the moon. How does the weather work? I mean, it can’t be like it was where you live, can it? I wonder if pegasi have to do it or if science has advanced enough for non-pegasi to—”
And he was off, rambling without pause. Derpy couldn’t even tell if he was taking a breath between words.
___________________________________________________________
Unbeknownst to the either ponies as they walked, a pair of Earth Ponies was watching them through high-tech binoculars from an alleyway.
“What do you think?” one asked, glancing from the ponies to her partner.
“Well, so good news, some bad,” she replied, lowering her viewing equipment. “The stallion’s no good.”
“Not enough energy, huh?” the first sighed, shaking her head.
“Quite the opposite,” her parent shook her head. “His energy readings are off the charts. We don’t even have a counter high enough to measure it.”
The first frowned. “Then why is he no good?”
Her partner sighed. “While his energy is strong, it’s different from any pony’s energy I’ve ever seen. We don’t even have a name for it. If we tried using him, it could contaminate the system and ruin everything.”
The first sighed, shaking her head. “True. The last thing we want is to contaminate the batches already produced. What of the mare? Is she no good either?”
Her partner shook her head, grinning. “No. Her energy, while nowhere near as high as the stallion’s, is very strong for a pony her age and race. She even seems to have strong traces of Artron energy.”
The first gasped. “Artron energy? But there hasn’t been Artron energy since before the founding of Equestria!”
Her partner nodded, her grin turning sly. “Just imagine the powerful batches we could get from her.”
The first grinned, nodding. “Let’s inform Command. They can assign some ponies to keep watch and wait for the right moment to capture her. That stallion will just think she’s run off, like all the rest.”
With that the two faded deeper into the alleyway, eager to add the grey Pegasus mare to their collection.