//------------------------------// // Chapter V: Unto The Breach // Story: The Doorway // by MetricCaboose //------------------------------// Chapter V: Unto The Breach I don’t know what worries me more, the fact that I’m stuck here in Ponyville, or the fact that I’m stuck here with Thomas. I like this town, but at the same time, I’m a little worried about how easily we were able to fit into society. My other adventures always ended ghastly, whether it ended in death, or I was ran out of town. I’m just hoping that this time will be different. I’ve actually got friends here, unlike in other places. I just hope things turn out good. The previous day was bizarre. And not just a low level strange, but a very creepy, unusual level of bizarre. I got back to the inn, slept, woke up, and then I chilled in the room with Thomas. I knew I had to leave the inn and meet Berry Punch again. Before I head back over to her house, I might just find the Doctor first. I also need to head back into the Everfree Forest, and find any remains of the Doorway, or at least any huon particles. I was sitting in a swivel chair near a desk before I heard a knock at the door. “I wonder who that could be.” I turned around carelessly, nearly slipping out of the seat. Thomas glanced at me. He was laying on his bed. Every now and then he would idly throw a ball up into the air and barely catch it on its descent down, only to once again repeat the process. “Meh, I dunno.” He said lazily. Great help you are. I thought to myself, before rising up and slowly turning toward the door. Somepony knocked at the door again. This time, it seemed a bit more frantic. I reached the door. “Yeah, hold on!” I slid the deadbolt from the panel, and then pulled the door inward, only to be met by a blur of brown that swiftly knocked me down. “Sorry about the intrusion, but Jericho’s the world’s biggest arse!” Somepony said unmistakably. It took me a moment to regain focus, but when I did. I saw it was none other than the Doctor. With a smile on my face, I was somewhat overjoyed to see him. “Hey, what’s up Doc?” “What?!” He looked at me bewildered. I shrugged to regain composure. “Eh, nothing…” He stood next to me as I attempted to stand up. “Well, Max... You know what we need to do?” He said as he pulled a notepad from beneath his blue tie. “I dunno, something about timey wimey stuff?” I offered. He jumped up. “Yes, exactly!” He proceeded to walk back through the doorway, before stopping. “Oh, I also forgot!” He looked past me at a curious Thomas. “Hello there, I’m the Doctor… Now, Allons-Y!” He dashed outside into the hallway, unseen from our view. I turned back to see Thomas, mouth agape in astonishment. “Who the…?” He said confounded. “That’s the Doctor. You know, from Doctor Who?” I replied. He stared at me blankly. “Never heard of it…” Apparently Thomas never heard of him, even if he has his own show. The thing about different dimensions is that you have your own dimension, and then someone else has their own. For example, the Doctor has his dimension where he belongs. Thomas has his dimension that has a television show of the Doctors, and then I have my dimension… That I sadly broke. Because I’m an idiot… I snapped out of my train of thought, only to be interrupted by the Doctor popping his head around the corner. “Right, I’m being a genius outside, and nopony is there to watch me! Come on!” He said irritated. “So, come on! ALLONS-Y!” He once again, as he dashed outside. I sighed. “Let’s go Thomas.” I said, motioning him toward the door. Thomas looked at me, only to stand up and speak firmly. “I don’t know who this mad pony is, but I like him.” Immediately, he rushed after the Doctor. I blandly face palmed. “Alright, let us commence the fun then.” I followed after my party, shutting the door behind me. I could already tell that this was going to be a very awkward day. The Doctor was already working on time stuff, and Thomas was once again caught up in the moment. The Doctor was frantically pacing around in the lobby, awaiting my appearance, while Thomas was arguing with Jericho by the counter. The Doctor stepped toward me and spoke. “Okay, now that you’re here, we need to find Derpy and then we’ll head toward the forest.” I looked out to see Jericho shout out in the heat of his argument. “Damnit! Why are you such a bucking idiot and why is this guy here again.” He yelled, pointing a single hoof at the Doctor. The Doctor flashed a piece of paper into the angry stallions direction. “Well… I’m here to investigate a serious issue, sooo... If you don’t mind, we’ll be on our way.” The Doctor said, answering his question. Jericho disappeared from beneath the counter, only to reappear with what appeared to be a stick of wood. “Hey! Don’t make me use this!” He said holding out a block of wood. “I will use this!” He said pointing it toward me. The Doctor stepped behind me and whispered into my ear. “Uh, that’s a musket.” I took a moment to take in the information. “Okay, let’s go.” I said slowly stepping toward the exit. “Nothing to do here anymore.” I stepped outside the inn. It only took me a moment to become drenched from the pouring rain. If I paid attention to the argument between Thomas and Jericho, I might have heard them mention something about Pegusi and rain clouds. My jacket kept my upper body somewhat dry, but my head and legs were soaking wet. There was also a constant stream of water slowly dripping down from the middle of my chest, downwards to the rest of my torso. I stepped back into the inn, only to bump into Thomas. “Love the weather, don’t ya.” He said sarcastically. I gave him a firm look. “Yes, I love the rain.” I said with the driest voice. The Doctor followed afterwards, and then went on to ramble about something unrelated. I glanced into the air, only to see nothing but a gloomy sky and rain clouds, pouring down onto us. I swore at the fact that I was soaking wet, and then turned to meet the Doctor. “So, Doc… I actually have things to do.” I muttered. The Doctor turned toward me after doing a quick analysis of a nearby puddle. “Really, of what like’s?” “I have to meet up with someone, and I don’t want to keep them waiting.” The Doctor looked at me closely for a moment, only to shoot me a brief smirk. “Sounds like you have a mare to meet.” He said pulling off the biggest smile possible on a pony. I causally put my hands behind my head. “Well…” I yawned for a second. “I guess you could say that.” The Doctor stood up on his hind legs, putting his fore hooves on my chest. “You conniving bastard!” The Doctor bellowed. “I always expected worse from you, but this is a new level of low.” He said stepping down. I vigorously raised up my hands in defense. “Hey!” I crossed my arms in a defensive manner. “It’s nothing like that, were just friends.” I caught a quick glimpse of something shiny. Turning around, I saw Thomas staring in amazement at a cart. But, this was no ordinary cart. This cart was motorized. It would have stood out as normal if it wasn’t outfitted with brass and copper parts, and the extreme usage of gears, levers, gauges and pulleys of all sorts. It was a box shaped cart that was held up by four wheels. The carriage held the controls up in the front, while in the rear, the cargo space and seating was held, and above that all, there was a leather over cover. In the back where the engine was held, I could see all the pipes and gauges, that were spewing about spouts of steam. The Doctor noticed I was gazing at the machine, so he snuck up behind me and spoke softly into my ear. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” My eyes didn’t leave the fixed gaze. “Yeah, I love Steampunk!” He looked toward me and laughed. “Well, I guess this is Steampunk… But it’s actually built like this to fit in with the time period.” I shrugged, reassuring that I was paying attention. “So, could we actually stop b-“ DOCTOR!!! I was interrupted by a cry. A Pegusi mare had just descended from the sky, nearly crashing into the machine and Thomas. Confused, I looked into the sky to see a pony shaped hole in the cloud cover. How does that even work? I thought to myself, only to hear the Pegusi cry out again. “Doctor!” She ran up to the Doctor, nearly bumping into him. The Doctor stepped back a bit. “Yes Derpy…” He held a warm expression on his face, as if he knew the mare. “I’ve got another letter for you, and this one is important!” She nearly yelled. She immediately dug into her mail bag, pulling out a small parcel and handing it to the Doctor. “Alright, let’s see what it is then…” He unwrapped the parcel under the cover of the machines carriage to avoid getting himself, and the package wet. He briefly reviewed the letter, and then looked at the package. He looked up with a startled look on his mug. “Oh, dear!” He got up into the machine and called out. “Everypony, on board!” Everypony looked at him before stepping up to the machine and entering it. Once inside the Doctor pulled a few levers and pulleys, before finally lifting a cover and pressing a button. The Engine then fully came to life, spewing a thick cloud of smoke from behind my seat. The machine then came to life and started to accelerate forward. The Doctor cheered in joy. “Yeah baby, do I make you randy!?” He said in a fake English voice before turning around and glancing at us. “Alright, well…Allons-Y!” The Doctor once again said. After hearing the word, I put my head against the side door and banged it in frustration. I could already tell that he was going to over use that word. I looked around the cabin, and saw that I was sitting next to the Pegusi mare, with Thomas sitting on the opposite side, staring out the window. The mare had a grey coat and a golden yellow mane. I also noticed something strange about her eyes… They looked Derped?! “Why do you keep staring at me like that?” The mare questioned in an annoyed voice. I blushed in embarrassment. “Oh, well it’s just that… Your eyes, they seem to be-” She cut me off. “Yes!” She stomped briefly onto the undercarriage. “It’s always the same deal. Everyone always looks at my eyes and say “Oh, she’s cross eyed, she must be an idiot.” Or they say “Har har har, look at that freak! She can’t possibly fly straight like that.” ” She turned toward me in rage and stared at me. Her eyes were cross eyed for a moment, before returning to a normal centered state. I slid back into my seat, trying to escape her stare. “I am very, very sorry I offended you. I didn’t mean to cause anything between us.” “Well, I just want you to know that I’m normal.” She huffed. The Doctor looked back at us both. “Come on Muffin, tell him your name. He won’t bite.” The Doctor said breaking the ice. “My name is Derpy Hooves” She said looking the other way. I relaxed a bit. “Well Derpy, my name is Max Powers.” She straightened up. “Wait! So, you’re the one who?” “Yeah…” I said softly. She looked at me in horror, mouth agape and started to babble. “Wha- why would you do that?!” I looked at her and answered. “Because, I’m stupid.” She raised a hoof and struck me across the face. I immediately flinched from the backlash. At this moment Thomas looked up from his view and intervened. “Woah, Derpy! Why did you do that?” Thomas questioned. Derpy turned to face Thomas, tears now streaming from beneath her eyes, and blurted out. “Because of him! He caused all of the Doctor’s problems. That selfish…” Her speech broke as the Doctor pulled the machine off the path. “Derpy, calm down!” The Doctor said, attempting to settle down the situation. “There’s nothing to be worried about, everything’s fine now.” The Doctor turned from his seat and moved towards Derpy, attempting to console her. He then turned toward me, only to nudge his head into another direction, signaling that we have arrived. As I looked outside I saw that it was no longer raining and I also spotted something else. Something that was unpleasant. I saw that Berry Punch was outside, stumbling around with no sense of direction. Stepping forward, she spotted me in a heartbeat. “Hey there sweetie!” She said as she lurched forward, only to fall onto her breasts. I ran up to her and knelt down by her side. “Berry! What are you doing?!” I said in a confused fray. She flipped over onto her back and looked at me flirtatiously. “Oh, nothing…” She hiccupped. “I just had a drink and then I took a step outside, but then I got locked outside, but the sky was raining and then I started to get wet, but not the wet that I like, but a different kinda wet where you get all soggy and stuff an-” I cut her off from her drunken ramble. “Berry, do you have you’re keys?” I questioned. She looked at me clueless. “My keys?” I face palmed. “Do you have keys to your house?” “I dunno?” She hiccupped once again, this time only to turn a sick green color. “Oh, I’m not feeling so hot anymore.” She hastily stood up and rushed to the shrubbery in front of her house, and then proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach. I heard a creak from behind me. Turning around, I saw that Thomas had decided to step out of the machine. He took one quick glance at me, saw my face, and then looked at the mare puking in the bushes. He looked at me, shaking his head as if he was saying to me “no bueno” and then reopened the door to the machine, stepped back inside and then shut it, sealing him inside. Once he was inside, he looked at me through a window and then pulled down a flap, hiding himself from my view. I turned around after hearing Berry finishes her gagging. Only to see a past out mare, fallen head first into her own vomit. Once again sighing, I walked toward her pulled a rag from my jacket and wiped her down to reduce the amount of vomit that covered her breast and muzzle. Feeling sick myself after taking a whiff of the excrement. I too started to gag before I caught myself. Taking that extra step, I pulled out a full gas mask from my jacket pocket, and pulled it over my face. For some odd reason I heard a voice in my head, yelling at me. Demanding me the answer to how I’m carrying all of these things in my jacket. My jacket is “Dimentionally Transcendental”. That means that it’s bigger on the inside, than the outside. So that explains why I’ve managed to carry around a map, machete, flask, binoculars, sonic screwdriver, chloroform (Don’t ask, and I won’t tell.) and a biological gas mask. The reason I carry all of this objects, because I can. Once I finished that long thought process, I picked up Berry and began to walk toward the Machine. I also noticed that I was starting to gather a lot of attention from many on goers. Even though this was a residential zone, there were still many people cutting through here, Possibly to avoid less traffic, or maybe for sightseeing. I approached the Machine and then pulled open the door, only to run into the Doctor face first, almost dropping Berry Punch in the process. The Doctor stared at me before cracking a smile. “Are you my mummy?” He said jokingly. I rolled my eyes behind the tinted lenses of the mask. “Nope, I’m your granddady.” I offered. The Doctor scooted back to allow room for me to enter. I also noticed that everyone else in the carriage was starting to scoot away from me. Probably over the fact that I was carrying a vomit covered pony, or my mask. I need to start being normal again. I thought to myself. I think I might even out do Thomas at this point. As I sat down, I carefully set Berry aside next to me. I was sure to place her in between Thomas and I. Thomas glanced down and Berry and looked back at me. I could see that he was becoming disgusted in the fact that Berry was still covered in vomit and also to be enhanced by the aroma of it. By this time I could hear the faint hum of the engine start up, and the slight bump signaling the acceleration of the Machine. The Doctor once again turned around and yelled. “Alright guys, ALLONS-Y!” The Doctor took in extreme delight with my annoyance. I saw that Derpy was sitting next to the Doctor. She seemed to hold no interest in the fact that I was now onboard, but every now and then she would curiously look back into the cabin, only to look away if our eyes were to accidently meet. As with Thomas, he would just stare out the window. Tempted by my boredom, I began to question the Doctor. “So Doctor, where are we going?” I said raising an eyebrow. He swerved the car, avoiding a jaywalking pony. “Ah, nearly hit him!” He said noticing my question. “I thought we might go to my house, seems like the proper place.” “Sounds like fun.” I said nudging Berry Punch. She stirred in her sleep and kicked out a leg, nearly jabbing me in the face, as she flipped over the seat. She woke up abruptly. “Wha- Where am I!?” She started to panic, kicking around wildly before I managed to calm her down. “Hey, you’re sober now, are you?” I said questioning her. “Eh, yeah.” She said as she started to take in her surroundings. Thomas stared at her and spoke. “Uh, Berry…” He paused looking at her mane. “You have something in your hair.” She raised her hoof up to her mane and started to feel around. “Oh dear, I- I have…” She looked at us all and saw our expressions. “I’m so sorry.” She said as she attempted to clean herself off. I lent her a rag. “You might want to apologize to the Doctor.” She looked at me confused. “Doctor Who?” “It’s just the Doctor.” The Doctor said cheeringly. Thomas also said his two cents. “So, are related to Cherilee?” Berry scratched her head at the question. “Who?” “Meh, never mind.” He said pointing his attention elsewhere. The machine decelerated and then came to a complete stop. The Doctor jumped out of his seat outside, Derpy following soon after and then myself afterwards. I took a step outside and removed my mask taking a fresh breath. Thomas bumped into me. “Feels good, don’t it?” He remarked. I took in an extra breath of fresh air, this time making it unusually long. “Ah, yeah!” I said raising my arm. I walked forward until I met the familiar blue door of the Doctors home and then stepped inside. “Oh, Doctor! Berry!” By the time I spoke out she had already seen the wonders of the TARDIS. We were all in the control room. Even without an actual power source, the TARDIS still had the emergency power on. This only had the basic power supplies on. At that moment I heard a gasp, thud and then a filly cry out. “Mama, is that you?” Derpy flew over to a nearby catwalk and picked up a cream colored filly with golden hair. They both flew up into the air and hugged briefly before descending down. The little filly glanced at me and turned toward Derpy. “Mama, why are there strangers in our house?” She questioned. “Don’t worry. Your father just invited some friends over.” The filly looked at all the other bodies in the room. “But papa never invites people over.” The Doctor popped up and reassured Derpy. “Come on Dinky, I invite people over all the time.” “You only invite Lyra over, and she’s creepy.” She said harshly. The Doctor frowned. “Muffin, would you mind taking Dinky to her room?” Derpy nodded, flew up and then swooped up Dinky, disappearing in a back room. The Doctor waited a few moments before speaking. “Alright, so what are your questions then?” Thomas spoke up first. “So, are they your real family or…?” “Derpy is my marefriend, we’ve been dating for several years. And sad to say, Dinky and Sparkler are adopted. Timelord DNA doesn’t mix to well with pony DNA, so don’t even ask about that.” He finished. I spoke out next. “So Doctor, I actually need a favor.” The Doctor stared. “Yes…” He said awaiting a response. “I’m assuming you have your own company, being a doctor and all. So, would you mind giving us all a job?” I asked. He walked around the control panel and pulled up a folder. “Sure, I do need a new courier. I actually do have a job for you right now.” “Really, that was fast.” The Doctor pulled out a note from beneath his tie. “One of my clients needs an item and he needs it now…” He stood still for a moment. “Literally, right now!” The Doctor ran around for a moment before finding a chest and digging around in it. “It’s here somewhere.” I turned around to see Thomas and Berry no longer standing next to me. I assumed they were exploring the interior of the TARDIS themselves, so what’s the worst that could happen? CRASH I spoke too soon, because as I said that the lights started to flicker before going back to normal. The ground even shook for a moment. Before I could ask about that, the Doctor popped up in front of me and gave me a tiny parcel. He then stood in front of me. ”Okay, in that parcel, I have a very important package for a client. It must get there within the next ten minutes. The reason I waited until now, is because you held me back for a few, and also…” The Doctor pulled up a company hat, stuck it down onto my head, and then gave me a pair of keys. Confused, I looked at the Doctor. “Uh, what are these for?” I said holding up the keys. The Doctor started pushing me out toward the entrance. “Those are for the Machine.” I resisted from his shoving. “But how will I drive it?” He pushed even harder, this time knocking me fully outside into the evening sunset. “You’re smart, find out yourself!” He responded, as he slammed the door shut. I turned around to see the Machine sitting there idly, willingly commanding for my use. I stood up from where I was sitting and walked up to the Machine. “Well, here it goes.” I said as I climbed into the Machine. Woohoo! I wrote this all on one day on my vacation. The reason why was because I was sick... So, be happy and remember to rate, comment, and maybe even… Profit!