The Amazing Adventures of Spitfire and the Doctor
The Angels Have The Phone Box
Edited by MissytheAngle
“Spitfire, whatever you do, don’t look away, and don’t blink.”
Spitfire looked from the Doctor to the statue and back to the Doctor, confusion evident on her face. “Doctor, it’s just a statue.”
“Listen to me, that thing is NOT a statue,” he pleaded, trying to inch his way back to the TARDIS. “We need to get back in the TARDIS right now.”
“But Doctor, it’s just—”
“Look,” the Doctor cut her off, “I’ll explain later. Just do as I say and whatever you do, don’t—”
Spitfire waited for the Doctor to finish his sentence, but the end of it never came. Taking a look to her right, she saw that the Doctor was no longer there. But that’s when stuff got really weird. Her surroundings suddenly changed, and she found herself lying in a dark alley.
There wasn’t much time for her to get used to her new setting before she heard footsteps coming from behind her. They stopped as soon as they reached her side, and she looked up at her new guest’s face. He had a very pronounced jawline, and a bit of his hair hung down over his forehead. Perhaps most importantly, he was smiling at her.
“Come on, Spitfire, it’s time to get down to business.”
There was one question lingering in Spitfire’s mind as she stared down the person in fron of her. “Who are you?”
“I’m the Doctor.”
Spitfire took another look at the man in front of her and scoffed. “No you’re not! The Doctor doesn’t wear a lame bow tie. Plus, you don’t even look like him!”
“Oh, right, you haven’t traveled with me yet. Well, I guess you have, but it’s complicated.”
“What are you babbling about?” Spitfire asked, impatience clear in her tone.
“I’m a future version of the Doctor, Spitfire. You travel with me, but right now you’re traveling with a past version of myself.”
“Well, if I travel with you, then where am I? Shouldn’t there be another of me following you around?”
“I told you— I mean her, to stay in the TARDIS,” he explained. Spitfire smiled widely at that, and he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Don’t even think abou—”
“Can I go meet her?” she cut him off.
“Absolutely not! You’d likely tear a hole in the universe! And for the record, she likes my bow-tie,” he added with a smirk. “Besides, that’s not what I’m here for.”
“Well then what are you here for?”
The Doctor smirked. “To get you home.”
“So tell me again. Why can’t we just take the TARDIS to find him?”
“Because, Spitfire, if I were to meet a past version of myself, the results would be catastrophic!”
“And why is that, exactly?” Spitfire pressed further.
“Because I just can’t. Okay? Good,” he concluded, not giving Spitfire a chance to ask more questions.
“Ugh, whatever, let’s just go find the Doctor. My Doctor,” Spitfire added as she saw the new Doctor opening his mouth. “This is confusing…”
The Doctor could feel his surrounding change in an instant, and it felt as if he had had the wind knocked out of him. But he knew what had happened. A Weeping Angel had gotten ahold of him and Spitfire. The odd thing though was that, upon looking around, she was nowhere to be found. Perhaps there was more than one Weeping Angel?
Taking this time to get a better look at his surroundings, he spotted a nearby pony, working at some sort of flower stand. ‘Odd,’ he thought, ‘why would the Weeping Angel take me back to Equestria?’
He didn’t have much time to think on it as he heard many gasps from around him. It looked like that flower pony wasn’t the only one in town right now. There were hundreds of them. How had he not noticed that? Strange that none of them were speaking up, though. He guessed that he would have to take the initiative, but that proved to be incorrect when finally, one of the many ponies said something.
“Are you here to hurt us?” The Doctor couldn’t help but laugh at such a ridiculous question, which didn’t seem to help the situation. “Oh my gosh he’s going to eat us!”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to eat you.” The Doctor smiled. “Don’t have much of a taste for cheval.”
“What’s ‘chev all’?”
“Oh nothing, don’t worry. I’m actually here to look for a friend. Do any of you know a ‘Spitfire’?”
“You’re friends with the captain of the Wonderbolts!?” he heard someone in the crowd yell out. “Oh man, you gotta tell me how!”
“Hush up, Rainbow Dash!” another voice piped up. “We’re tryin’ to hear!”
“Um, I know her,” came a voice to his left, and basically every pony in the crowd turned to face the source of it.
‘The flower pony? .’ The other ponies obviously though so too, and that ‘Rainbow Dash’ from earlier spoke up again.
“You know Spitfire?”
“I sold her some flowers a few months or so ago,” the pony spoke quietly, and the Doctor walked over to her stand. “She said they were for a good friend of hers.”
“She was in town a few months ago and you didn’t say anything!?”
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but she didn’t want to be hounded by ponies. She came in disguise.”
“Nevermind that,” the Doctor grabbed back her attention. “Who did she buy the flowers for?”
“I doubt she even gave me a real name, mister. It just sounded like an alias or something.”
“What was the alias?”
“‘The Doctor’.”
“Getting you back will be simple, but stopping those Weeping Angels presents another problem.”
“Why not just break them?”
“No, that wouldn’t work, we’d just be ambushed by the others.”
“Others?”
“Oh, there were three of them,” the Doctor said, “nasty little things, too. Tell me, where were we when the angels got to us?”
‘Crap, what did the Doctor call that planet?’ She racked her brain to find the answer, but couldn’t. “Um, I can’t remember. He said he liked to go ice skating there, if that helps.”
“Oh, of course, Koorharn!”
“That was it!”
“Where are we now?”
The answer to that was obvious for Spitfire, as they’d apparently wandered into a bustling city street without even realizing. All eyes were on them, and it made her a tad uncomfortable. “We’re in Canterlot, we just need to— Doctor?” It appeared that he had wandered across the street, and was talking to someone. Spitfire trotted over to him. “It’s rude to walk away while someone’s talking, ya know.”
The Doctor ignored her, and she huffed. “It’s a shame about your shop, but the economy is a cruel mistress. If I might ask, do you have the date?”
“June seventh.”
“And the year?” The pony gave him a strange look, and he chuckled. “Yes, yes, I know, weird question. The year, please?”
“Two thousand one.”
“Right, thank you,” the Doctor turned back to Spitfire. “I have an idea.”
Before she could ask about his idea, he was already walking off in another direction. That settled it. She wasn’t a fan of this new Doctor. Deciding to just glide over everyone to catch up to him, she sent him a glare. “Do you ever finish your thoughts before walking off?”
“That would be a bit too normal. Besides, I thought my idea was obvious. We’re going to leave a message for my past self to find in the future.”
“... And how is he going to know where to look?” Spitfire wondered, landing next to the Doctor and doing her best to keep pace with him.
“Simple. I’m him, he’s me, so I already found the message I left for myself before I became this version of myself.”
“Let me get this straight.” Spitfire’s mind was boggled. “You’re going to leave your past self a message in the future, and your past self has already found this message even though you don’t know what the message is or where you’re going to leave it?”
“Did he not explain the wibbly wobbly to you?”
“The… what?”
“Oh, that’s just brilliant!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Did she tell you anything else?”
“Nothing, sorry. But that guy, ‘the Doctor’, was with her. Why? Is something wrong?”
“What’s your name?” He asked, deflecting her question for the time being.
“Rose.”
‘Rose,’ he repeated to himself. ‘I hope my Rose is fine,’ he thought back to his friend, who was still trapped in another dimension. Spitfire was his first companion since then, and he wasn’t going to lose her too. “Well, Rose, you just made my day,” he smiled. “Can you give me any information on the person she was with? What he looked like, what he was wearing?”
“Well, uh, he looked like you, I guess? But his mane was longer.”
“His mane…? Oh, you mean his hair!” the Doctor practically shouted. By this point, the many ponies of Ponyville were beginning to encircle the two. “Alright, long hair. What was he wearing?”
“A suit, kind of like yours,” she observed, “but with a bow tie.”
“Pray tell, did he have one of,” reaching into suit’s front pocket, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and held it in front of Rose, “these?”
“Yes! But his was a bit different.”
“Different? Different how?”
“It had a brown trim on it, and the end was green. What is it anyways?”
“Sonic Screwdriver,” he replied, stuffing it back in his pocket. “Now this next question is very important. Was he… ginger?”
“Um… no?”
The Doctor groaned, and mumbled something about never getting to be ginger, then looked back up at Rose. “Would you mind looking through your order manifest?”
“I don’t—”
“Have an order manifest, right. This is just a flower stand, after all,” he finished for her. He decided on using his sonic screwdriver, pulling it out and aiming it at the mare’s head, who began to look a bit frightened. “Not to worry, I’m just going to perform a quick brain scan,” he assured her. The screwdriver sprung into action as he pressed the button, and he moved it all around her head as the ponies surrounding them watched. “You heard them whispering. What were they whispering about?” he asked, putting his screwdriver away in its pocket.
“Um, I, um…”
“I know, you don’t like to listen in on private conversations, but if you heard anything, I need to know.”
“Well, they were very quiet, but I think I heard Spitfire say something about leaving a message for ‘the doctor’,” Rose spoke slowly, and the Doctor urged her to continue. “I thought it was odd because she was already with someone she was calling ‘the doctor’.”
“Did she say anything about where she’d be leaving the message?”
“I’m sorry, no. Why are you so invested in this, mister…?”
“Oh, I’m the Doctor,” he replied with a smile. A murmur spread throughout the crowd, and Rose looked especially confused.
“There are two Doctors?”
“Yep. Well, technically there’s only one. I’m him, he’s me,” he grinned, hands in his pockets.
“Prove it,” Rose dared him. He was happy to oblige, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
“I would, but I can’t. At least, not yet. That’s why I need to find Spitfire. Thanks to you, I think I know where to start looking.” With a wave of his hand, he was off. Nobody made a move to follow him, leaving him with only his thoughts as company. ‘Now if I were me, where would I leave myself a message?’
“So time isn’t a line, it’s a ball?”
“If that helps,” the Doctor clarified. “So, do you know where we’re going next?”
“Um…”
“Right, Ponyville.”
“But I didn’t—”
“We’ll have to leave a trail for your Doctor to follow if he’s to find you,” the Doctor cut her off again. They were at the Canterlot train station now, but there was only one problem.
“We need a boarding pass,” Spitfire groaned. “I don’t have any bits on me, either.”
“Not to worry,” the Doctor replied, pulling out what looked like a notepad. “I have a ticket.” Walking over to one of the royal guards, he flashed the pad at them and they lowered their guard, allowing him to pass. “Are you coming, Spitfire?”
She did just that, trotting past the guards and onto the train. “What’s that?” she whispered, eyeing the pad.
“Psychic paper,” he replied. “Now come on, let’s go find a seat, it’s going to be a long journey.”
Of course he’d leave a message for himself here. It was, after all, the first significant location he’d visited on this planet, and it was very secluded as well. As he looked over the ruins of the castle he’d been in less than twenty-four hours ago, he had mixed feelings. Getting here had been difficult, what with the manticores and serpents. Crossing the bridge had been a chore, too. Still, he was that much closer to being reunited with his new companion.
“Right, in we go,” he spoke to himself. Stepping inside the ruins, he could see the damage became even more evident. There must have been some sort of battle here, and it couldn’t have been pretty. Decay over time was one thing, but this place looked ransacked. One thing was for sure, though. It didn’t take him long to find the message Spitfire had left for him. Left right between the pedestals the elements had rested on so long ago.
“So why did we have to go to that flower stand?”
“I told you, we needed to leave a trail for me to find,” the Doctor replied. “But now that we’re at this castle, and good job with that manticore by the way, we can leave myself a message.”
“What’s the message going to say? And how do you even know he’s in the future? If the Weeping Angels work like you said, he could be anywhere.”
“Not possible, otherwise I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now.”
“I… guess that makes sense?”
“It does if you’re a time traveller,” he replied with a grin. “Now come on, let’s get to writing this message.”
“And what’s this message going to say?” She asked again. This time, she got her answer.
‘Doctor, I’m at Twilight’s library’.
He didn’t know who Twilight was, but he definitely knew where the library she was talking about was. That message had led him there, and he rapped twice on the door. It wasn’t long before it opened, and a purple pony greeted him. “Doctor?”
“Twilight?”
“Spitfire is inside, please come in. If you need anything, I’ll be upstairs,” Twilight smiled as she ascended the steps. Taking a look around, the Doctor was left with one question.
“How did she—”
“Know exactly when to be here?” Came his friend’s voice from around the corner. “It was simple,” Spitfire continued as the Doctor came into her view, “your future self told me when you’d be here.”
“Heh, time travel’s a funny thing, isn’t it?” He replied, flashing a smile at his companion. “But that still leaves us with the problem of not having a ‘TARDIS’. Did I happen to say where we got it back from?”
“All he would tell me is that Discord was the key. I don’t know what that means, though.”
“Discord is the key…” the Doctor repeated to himself. “Aha! Discord is a statue. The Weeping Angels are statues! Don’t you see?”
“I don’t—”
“Oh, it was all so simple! Think of it, Spitfire. Where do you ponies keep most of your statues?”
“Um, the Canterlot Royal Gardens?”
“Right. So if the TARDIS was stolen by statues, then it would be...?” the Doctor trailed off, waiting for Spitfire to understand.
“Doctor, you’re a genius!” Spitfire exclaimed. “But won’t we have to wait a while?”
“Normally, yes. But I noticed something when I was talking with that flower pony earlier. What day is it?”
“Um, July sixth. Why?”
“And what day was it in your timeline when we travelled to Koorharn?”
Realization hit Spitfire like a brick house. “B-but that means—”
“Right, the angel didn’t actually send me back in time, and I think I may know why. You see, if we landed in the Royal Gardens, then Discord would be there as well. His chaotic energy would likely cause some trouble when it comes to magic, time travel, anything of the sort. ‘Discord is the key’. Meaning that if an angel wanted to send someone back, say, eighty years. it might only send them back four years.”
“So because Discord was there, the angels weren’t operating at full capacity?”
“Bingo,” the Doctor grinned. “So now, we simply need to head back to Canterlot and knick my ride from the angels without being touched. They’ll know we’re coming, though.”
“What about the keys?”
“Right here,” the Doctor replied, pulling them out of his pants pocket. Spitfire smiled, and nearly tackled the Doctor with her hug.
“Let’s go get our time machine back,” she grinned confidently.
“Do you have any idea which ones are the angels?”
“Just the one,” the Doctor motioned in its direction, and Spitfire could see that it was indeed covering its eyes. “I don’t get it, what’s the point of occupying such a crowded area?” He asked, his face contorted in confusion.
“Night time,” Spitfire replied. “No ponies are admitted after seven.”
“Of course, so they meant to get into it during the night, while there are only a few guards on duty.” Peeking around the bush they were situated behind gave him a great view of the main courtyard of the gardens. From what he could tell, there were at least two other Weeping Angels. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the petrified Discord. It had been over a thousand years and he was still frozen.
“Alright, Spitfire, you said you were the captain of the Wonderbolts? That makes you fast, yeah?”
“Pretty,” she replied. “But I don’t know if I could outrun those angels.”
“Of course you can’t, but you can do one thing they can’t. Fly. Here’s the plan. You’re going to fly up into the sky and keep a bird’s eye view of those statues. Remember, as long as they’re being observed, they don’t actually exist.”
“Lemme guess. While I keep a vigilant eye on them, you’ll be unlocking the TARDIS?”
“Well of course, what else would I do?”
Spitfire rolled her eyes, but nevertheless agreed. “You better hope you’re right about them not being able to fly, Doctor,” she shouted, taking off into the sky. As soon as she was airborne, the Doctor pulled out his key and sprinted to the TARDIS. As he did, his eye caught something different about Discord’s statue. But he didn’t have time to focus on that right now. Right now, he needed to unlock that door. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to do just that, and now it was time for Spitfire to show off her speed. “Alright, mare coming on board!”
With speeds unlike any he’d seen of a horse, she flew down, curved her flight path, and went straight through the open doorway. The Doctor, while not as quick as her, bolted back inside and locked the door as fast as he could.
“Oh man, I’m never leaving you again!” Spitfire exclaimed. The Doctor was about to reply when he realized she was talking to the TARDIS, trying her hardest to hug the floor. Making his way over to the controls, he decided to tell Spitfire about what he’d seen.
“I don’t know if you noticed, Spitfire, but there was something wrong with Discord’s statue.”
“What do you mean?” Her head shot back up upon hearing the draconequus’s name. “Wrong how?”
“It was cracked,” he answered, fiddling with the control deck. “On his chest, there was a small crack. I think some of his chaos energy is leaking through that crack.”
“That’s bad, right?”
“Very. Because as it just so happens, the angels aren’t the only ones being affected by it.”
“And what does that mean?” Spitfire asked. The Doctor didn’t have much time to answer before they felt a thud, and both fell to the ground. “What the hay was that?!”
“It’s the angels, they’re trying to get inside!” the Doctor sounded distraught, a tone she’d yet to hear from him. “And it just so happens that with Discord’s energy seeping through that crack,” he lifted himself back up as he spoke, ready to take off, “we don’t have any navigation.”
Spitfire didn’t have to ask what that meant. “So if we take off, you don’t know where we’ll be going? Or even what time?”
“Nope, but we don’t exactly have another option.” He started up at the TARDIS, and the engines began whirring to life. “Anything is better than being trapped in the past at this point!”
“You better hope we don’t transport into a Sun like you said,” Spitfire laughed. It was an infectious laugh. One that spread to the Doctor.
One thing was certain. At least there wouldn’t be any more Weeping Angels where they were going.