//------------------------------// // Chapter IV - Doctor // Story: Doctor Whooves: The First Act // by Doctor Disco //------------------------------// -Chapter 4- DOCTOR “I have got to say, the TARDIS regenerated into a much bigger form than I ever thought she would,” the Doctor said as he walked ahead of Pinkie. They began exploring the main room first. It was a good thing the wardrobe was directly accessible from the main room, because he hadn’t wanted to spoil his own curiosity of what was in store for him in his new TARDIS. “Although, I suppose, I am equine now, in an equine universe. We take up a lot more space what with being on all fours now. Remarkably as well, your homely village of Ponyville is in the same geo-universal coordinates as modern day Cardiff and Canterlot is the same as London! Funnily enough, I don't ever remember mountains being in the topography of London and there aren’t any large bodies of water around…” “Oh shut up silly! You’re in a completely different universe, there’s bound to be differences,” Pinkie said as she followed the Doctor around. He began closely studying everything in the TARDIS. To him, the main console itself was a few inches lower than it was before. There was pink metal making up a lot of things, and it weaved in and out of the clear floor beneath their hooves. The metal held together all the glass that let them see directly into the under-room below. The ceiling was made of a matte metal that was similar to aluminum, and the stairs were pushed up right against the walls of the room, making it only need one set of railings for each staircase. On the second floor was a small library, with a cozy chair and a nice tea table present surrounded on 3 sides by the library’s bookshelves, while the other side was a grandiose view of the TARDIS’ time rotor and the hugeness that was the room itself. The balcony that the library and the reading space were on had a railing at the edge for obvious reasons, but it did not detract from the overall view. On either side of the library were doorways with no doors that lead into endless corridors filled with countless rooms. The console unit on the main floor of the main room had itself split into six different organized sections that controlled different parts of the TARDIS. Each panel glowed a nice, warm, and light blue. The time rotor itself inside the column now looked very shimmery, with six different crystal balls present that had its own different colors for each. “Pinkie… I wanted to ask- Wait, what?!” The Doctor was suddenly surprised by Pinkie who was now holding a bowl of jelly babies and grinning at the Doctor. He eyed Pinkie who seemed unfazed that she had pulled a bowl of jelly babies from nowhere. Pinkie, seeing his expression, frowned. “What’s wrong with a bowl of jelly babies?” She asked, popping a few into her mouth. The Doctor looked at her with a mixture of a bemused and a puzzled expression. “Where did you get that?” He pointed at the bowl she held in her hand. He then pulled out a battered sonic screwdriver from inside his jacket and scanned the bowl of candy. He found it was just a regular ordinary bowl filled with ordinary packets of confectionery sugar goodness, but there was something else... Without warning, his sonic screwdriver shorted out, sparking and then subsequently bursting into flames. He dropped it with a shout, and kicked it away from him. He watched as his beloved screwdriver made crackling noises as the fiery inferno consumed his once fully functioning screwdriver. Pinkie and the Doctor both watched as the small flame reduced the blue instrument to a scorched pile of metal uselessness. After the blaze died out and ran out of viable fuel to add to its exothermic destruction, he trotted over to what remained of his trusty tool and gingerly picked it up. Burning slightly from the still hot metal, he reminisced. “My sonic screwdriver. Oh no my sonic screwdriver! I loved my sonic screwdriver! How could it possibly have shorted out, unless it got overwhelming… readings…” He turned around slowly to look at Pinkie Pie who was smiling at him with a mouthful of jelly babies. She shrugged. “What? Your TARDIS has already made you a new one anyways,” Pinkie said casually. As if on cue, the TARDIS made a few whirring and beeping sounds before a small vent opened up in one of the panels. Out if it slowly rose a brand new sonic. The Doctor then trotted over to it, still trying to process what had just happened in front of him. Pausing, he carefully selected his words. “Pinkie, I wanted to ask-” “Ask about what?” Pinkie interrupted before popping another one into her mouth. “How do you know all of that? How can you do all that?” He inquired, trotting over to the new screwdriver and plucking it out of it’s vent. The vent stayed open, probably for posterity purposes, and so that he could have a place to put his sonic other than his jacket pockets. He examined his new screwdriver carefully as he conversed with Pinkie. It now had one crystal chamber going through the whole sonic and coming out very clearly from the top. The body of the screwdriver had etches and lines curling around it giving it an archaic and mystical feeling, while uniform grooves were present in the middle. The crystal cylinder could be seen through them, and there were four grooves, each perpendicular to each other. The crystal sticking out the end had been split or cracked into six different sides with a center crystal piece that remained stagnant. The sonic could be extended with a flick or with a slider in one of the grooves, and when done so the six sides popped open like claws, with the middle one acting as the main scanner. Activating it produced a whole rainbow of colors, which pulsed and rotated around the six crystal claw hinge-thingies. The middle one however, stayed a constant dark blue, TARDIS blue, in fact. The other colors that coursed through were magenta, cyan, yellow, orange, white, and pink. Much like the time rotors crystal balls.  The sonic whirring it produced now sounded more lyrical than the standard sonic, but it still had the same ring to it that the Doctor had grown to love. The light, when activated, could also be seen through the grooves present and the lines and etches seemed to glow a very faint and soft white. It came as a surprise to him that he was able to hold on to his sonic screwdriver at all. What with the new hooves and all, he couldn’t believe the adhesivity of his hooves. Then again, this world contained talking equines, unicorns, pegasi, and magic. He turned his attention to Pinkie in the hopes that she would answer his question. “I just say things and they tend to turn out right. It’s fantastic! Usually I just ramble and ramble and eventually I say things that surprise everypony.” Pinkie hoofed a jelly baby to the Doctor. He took it with relative caution, examining it closely before popping it into his mouth and relishing in the taste. Good as ever. Then grabbed his own hoof-ful of jelly babies from Pinkie’s bowl and pocketed it, before grabbing one more and popping it into his mouth. Pinkie giggled at the Doctor’s antics, and shoved another hoof-ful into her mouth. Astonishingly, it seemed the contents of the bowl had not depleted in the slightest. “But… How? And how can you do all those things you do? Pulling things from out of nowhere and being impossibly random? And how in the world are you able to eat so much sugar?!” exclaimed the Doctor in surprise as he saw Pinkie shove several more mouthfuls. He pocketed his new screwdriver and stood still, watching Pinkie with a look of amazement, horror, confusion, and mild disgust. After swallowing her candies, she looked at the Doctor with a big naive smile on her face. “I just have a higher tolerance than most ponies. Nopony knows why, not even me!” She then held the bowl of candy behind her back, and when she pulled her hoof out from hiding once more she had nothing in her hoof. Struck with complete astonishment, he quickly galloped behind Pinkie, but there was nothing there. Opening his mouth once again, Pinkie shoved her hoof into his mouth (again, pulling it out from nowhere) effectively silencing him, and smiled at the Doctor. “Ah ah ah! You’ve asked questions, now it’s my turn.” She then pulled her hoof out of his mouth and took a few steps back. She watched as the Doctor tried rubbing off the taste of her hoof from his mouth by rubbing his tongue with his two hooves. Gagging and spitting, he then looked at Pinkie with all of his attention and with annoyance. “But first, you have to show me more to the TARDIS than just the control room!” Grumbling, the Doctor stood up and led her to the most eye catching doorway. The main corridor, as it was. His smile then began to return. He hadn’t yet bothered to check what lay in store for him other than his newly decorated and surprisingly pinkish design. He began to feel giddy with excitement, and his grin finally came back full power. He could feel the TARDIS wanting to be explored. “What you have this time, sexy?” He whispered, and he then gazed at Pinkie. Pinkie was now looking at him expectantly. Coughing as if to get the attention of everypony there, he flashed a toothy smile. “Welcome all! Welcome one,” said the Doctor, and then pointed his hoof into the corridor. He looked into the corridor, then at Pinkie, and straightened his hat. “In here is a whole new world to explore! Are you sure you’re ready?” “Oh yes! Goody!” Pinkie responded, and clapped two hooves together and bean jumping sporadically. With a toothy grin, he headed into the corridor, and they began to explore. “Exhibit A, the TARDIS!” ~~~ I can’t BELIEVE those ponies! UGH! Twilight thought as she walked away from the TARDIS. She could hear the doors creak shut, and she thought she could hear the faintest sound of laughter. After seeing the interior of the TARDIS and moving dozens of kilometres in a few seconds, she was about ready to call it quits for the day. Even though it was barely noon and she practically just woke up, there was already too much on her mind for her to handle in one sitting. It would require long silent hours and several cups of tea for her just to fathom how the TARDIS could possibly be bigger on the inside. Although… Pinkie did explain it in a way that sort-of made sense. It’s like having cube near you and a room really far away. The cube is there, right in front of you while the room really far away seems to be able to fit into the cube. In the case of the TARDIS, both the cube (or the box the TARDIS takes the form of) and the room were directly accessible at the same point in time and space. Speaking of time… The acronym made little sense to her. “Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.” Did that mean it could travel in time as well? Was that how the Doctor could’ve done what he had done? But… but how? He didn’t strike her as magical. The “Space” part of the acronym made little sense either. He had already established that it was a sort of spaceship, but how it had moved them from one space to another in the blink of an eye made her even more confused. The question still remained: How? She pushed the thoughts aside for another time as the castle doors came into view. After several minutes of trotting and with the TARDIS no longer in sight, she found herself nearing the castle’s main doors and soon found herself muzzle to muzzle with two ponies of the Royal Guard. Recognizing the purple mare immediately, the two guards acknowledged her. “Element-bearer and Personal Protogé of Princess Celestia Twilight Sparkle!” One of them said. “Welcome back to Canterlot Castle. What brings you to this place at this time?” The other guard said. “Please, just call me Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight blushed at the greeting. Twilight then cleared her throat, and recomposed herself. “I’m here to talk to the Princesses concerning matters in Ponyville.” “Very well Ms. Sparkle. However, the Princesses are occupied at the moment and are currently in a meeting with some of the Canterlot nobility. Would you care to address her another time?” Said the guard on the right, hesitating before he and the other guard opened the doors. “I’m sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will want to hear about this,” Twilight stated. The guards nodded and they both pushed the door open. The guard pony on the left then held his hoof out towards the open doors in a sign of welcoming. “I’m sure you know the way, Ms. Sparkle?” “Yes, thank you,” Twilight responded, and she entered the castle grounds. How long had it been since she was in Canterlot Castle? It had to have been a couple of months at most. Ever since the whole deal with King Sombra, the guards around the castle had come to know her more as a savior of Equestria than the personal protogé of one of the Princesses. As she entered the castle and began making her way to the throne room, she began to think. After all that had happened in her life, it was still all too much for her. Being a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony, saving Equestria multiple times with or without said Elements, and also being directly associated with the hierarchy of Equestria. Those were all the many things ponies were getting to know her by, yet she still considered herself as a regular old unicorn. She wasn’t special by any means. Sure, she was taken in by Princess Celestia herself but that didn’t mean she had any extraordinary ability. Sure, she was a bearer of the Element of Magic but that didn’t make her perfect or good at magic. Yet so many thought her to be this perfect mare and envied her for it. Many saw her only for her connections to the Princesses and were jealous of her for that. Sighing, she rounded a corner after going up to flights of stairs and finally found the corridor with the doors to the throne room. Two guards flanked either side of the door and they looked at her as she walked towards them. There was a carpet that was centered in the middle of the floor running the length of the corridor. With a crimson color to it, it made the three golden suns weaved into the carpet at equidistant intervals stand out, and also contrasted nicely with the golden border on either edge of the carpet. As she came nearer to the throne room doors, she could hear voices. Upon coming perpendicular to the doors and the two guards that, well, stood guard, she cleared her throat. “I would like entrance into the throne room at this moment please.” Twilight stated, and the two guards looked at each other before looking at her. “Princess Celestia and Luna are currently in a council meeting with the nobility of Canterlot.” The guard on the right said. “Miss Twilight Sparkle, we are obligated to decline any attempts to contact the Princesses at the moment.” The other guard said, and Twilight looked at the both of them. “I have business regarding affairs between ponies and aliens from outer space. I’m sure the Princesses would make an exception,” explained Twilight. The guards looked at each other and shrugged. “As you wish, Ms. Sparkle,” the pony on the left said, and they both unlocked the door. At that sound, the voices on the other side of the door were hushed, and the doors were pushed open by the two guards. Now wide open, she could see six ponies sitting in a semi-circle. All were facing the Princesses, but were now looking to who had interrupted their meeting. Twilight looked elsewhere from the six ponies and looked towards the Princesses. It seemed both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both bored out of their minds from this meeting because they were now looking at Twilight with genuine relief and profound interest. Princess Celestia smiled at the sight of her favorite student and raised an eyebrow. Princess Luna smiled just as brightly and waved a hoof, blushing when she realized that she was still in a very formal setting and recomposed herself. The Princess’ scribe also looked toward Twilight, recognizing her but wondering why she was there. “Princess Celestia. Ms. Twilight Sparkle wishes to speak to you.” One of the door guards said. “Princess, this is an outrage!” One of the nobility said. “Somepony can’t just waltz in here while we’re in the middle of-!” “Now now, , calm down. Everypony, this meeting is now adjourned. I will inform you all of when we can meet next. For now, I must speak with my student.” Princess Celestia then looked to her scribe. “Would you please reschedule our next two appointments before lunch?” She asked her scribe, and he scribbled down the requests. The six nobility present then got up from where they sat and began to file out. They all looked at Twilight with resentment and jealousy. She could only look at them with a straight face, not wanting to give them anything else other than what they already saw from her. Somepony who had direct ties to the Princesses. Somepony who could trot into the castle whenever she wanted and be able to talk with the Princesses. Somepony who gets summoned by the Princesses more than Twilight wanted to admit. Once everypony had left, all who remained were the scribe, the Princesses, and the two guards. Princess Celestia then told the scribe to take a break and to inform those she had rescheduled their meetings with. After doing so, the two guards closed the doors, shutting the throne room off and giving them some privacy. Twilight then cantered toward Princess Celestia and hugged her around the neck with two hooves. Princess Celestia embraced her with one wing, and nuzzled her. She then stepped away down the steps and felt some warmth in her cheeks She had just hugged one of the Princesses without permission! “Sorry, Princess. It’s been awhile,” Twilight said. She stepped down the stairs and looked up towards both Princesses, and bowed. “Please, Twilight, there’s no need for formalities here.” Princess Celestia then stretched her wings out and sat up, stretching her legs. Princess Luna did the same, but fostered a long and tired yawn. Twilight got up from her bow. “Sister, why must I have been awoken for such a boring and pointless meeting?” Princess Luna asked Celestia, and Celestia smiled at her little sister. “The Canterlot nobility had requested your presence today my dear sister. Besides, now Twilight is here to lighten the mood! I know I need a break from those high-headed ponies.” Princess Celestia then smiled warmly at Twilight. Twilight then recomposed herself. “Twilight! We would like to know why thou hast come to” - Luna yawned once again- “meet with us this day!” “There’s been… An incident in Ponyville.” “What kind of ‘incident’?” Celestia asked, now intrigued. What had happened in Ponyville that was so important for Twilight to come and inform the her and Luna about it? “I’ll start from the beginning. I was just having a nice normal day, when I remembered I had something to do at Rarity’s boutique. After coming and meeting with her, we heard this sound that could be heard for kilometres everywhere! Rainbow Dash heard it from Cloudsdale! And then we found out that something had crashed into my Library…” Twilight began to spin her tale of what had happened the day previous. Come to think of it, she had heard what sounded like a very faint explosion the other day… Celestia couldn’t help but feel like what she was saying sounded familiar, something she had read but hadn’t remembered about for a long time. “...and then he said his name was ‘The Doctor’!” Celestia’s face turned from one of contemplation to one of shock. Twilight noticing this, paused her story. She looked at her mentor nonplussed, wondering why she reacted that way to her mention of “The Doctor.” Celestia couldn’t help but turn to her sister, who stared on in the same shock that she felt. Luna slowly turned her head towards Celestia, the implications of what this meant present in both of their eyes. Celestia then looked back at her student, and she furrowed her eyebrows.  If this truly was the Doctor… They needed to make sure. “Twilight…Would you care to elaborate?” Celestia slowly inquired, unsure of what to make of it. Twilight gulped, hesitated, and began to describe the Doctor. “He’s… He just crashed into my life one day. Literally crashed… And he’s just so mysterious. He’s so young, but he feels so old… Like he’s seen too much,” Twilight began to explain. Celestia kept staring at her student, content on learning more. “He’s so kind, yet so angry. So very alone, yet all too happy… And when I think he can’t surprise me anymore it seems he has something else up his hoof. And his box! He has this box, a TARDIS he calls it, that’s bigger on the inside! He’s just all kinds of insanity and madness… but he’s amazing,” finished Twilight. Celestia looked at her student with as little emotion as possible, not wanting to show any more to her faithful student. “Thank you Twilight. Now please, continue your story,” Celestia asked of her student. Twilight nodded, and recommenced to tell the tale of the Doctor’s first adventure with them, and their encounter with the Zygons. At their mention, the two sisters looked at each other once more, and they kept listening. The truce between Zygons, what the Doctor had done, her repaired library. Finally, she recounted that morning, starting with the Doctor’s outstanding cooking. The two royal sisters laughed at that. “Yes, I suppose he does make the best breakfasts,” said Princess Luna. Celestia nodded with a smile. Twilight looked at the both of them with confusion. Why were they referring to him as if they were old friends, unless..? No, she thought. Stop it right there. No more assumptions until there is factual evidence. “Anyway… we travelled in the TARDIS, somehow moving from one spot to another in just a few seconds. I didn’t even know that was possible with any mode of transportation! I mean, teleportation was one thing but moving an entire room?” Twilight shook her head. “After that… I guess now I’m here.” There was silence after her story retelling. Celestia and Luna believed it with all their hearts of course. After that whole fiasco with Chrysalis… Well, enough said. But yet there was more to it than just that. “Thank you, Twilight.” Princess Celestia finally said. Twilight sighed in relief, not knowing why she was tensed up anyways. Probably just nerves from the past day and meeting with Celestia once again. “That’s it, Princess Celestia. That’s everything. I just thought that it would be appropriate to tell you in-pony about everything that had happened,” said Twilight. “And thank you for that. Now, I believe we have both taken up enough of each other’s time for now. Please, Twilight. After hearing the events of the past day, I believe it would be best for you to rest. And maybe even tell your friends about it too.” “But… what about the Doctor?” asked Twilight, and Princess Celestia smiled. “Don’t abandon him, Twilight. He needs you. He needs everypony he can get. Trust him, Twilight. Do that for us. For him. For me,” the Princess said, and Twilight nodded. Turning around to leave, Celestia stopped her. “Twilight! Wait… Take this-” Celestia floated a book of the bluest blue she had ever seen, TARDIS blue, towards Twilight. It even looked like the TARDIS, with its panels on either side. She also floated a saddlebag with a few books already in it. “-and record everything to do with the Doctor. All your adventures, all your stories, all of his blunders and all of your mistakes. One day, it will come in hoofy.” Twilight nodded. She put the journal in her new saddlebag and promised to return said saddlebag later. “And one last thing, Twilight. Take this letter. Give it to the Doctor. Make sure he receives it. Make sure only he is the one to see it’s contents. Not even you, Twilight. Lastly… Thank you.” Celestia floated a small, white and crisp envelope toward Twilight. Twilight took it with her own magic, nodded once more, and placed it in her saddlebags. “See you later, Princess Celestia!” Twilight waved a hoof, and she waited for the doors to open before she walked out of the throne room. “Have safe travels, my dear student! Be diligent and unwavering!” Celestia waved a hoof, and Twilight smiled at her. Finally, Twilight left and the throne room doors shut close once more. “Sister, does this mean what I think it means?” Luna asked, looking in the direction of the now closed doors. “Yes, yes it does Sister.” Celestia’s horn glowed with the same sheen of light as the sun. Behind her, a book of the same build as the one she had given to Twilight floated in front of them. This book, however, was dirtied, tattered, and beaten up. Its pages had already begun to yellow due to it’s old age, and it seemed to have seen many adventures throughout it’s lifetime. Flipping it to the first dozen pages, she and Luna began to read. Even though Luna was dog tired from staying up all night and keeping the nightmares at bay, she had enough energy for this. “I guess we’ll be meeting you very soon, Doctor.” said Luna. Luna then smiled with her sister at the old withered pages with neat tidy writing, and read. ~~~ “Achoo! ACHOO!” the Doctor started sneezing for no apparent reason. “OH! Somepony must be talking about you!” Pinkie smiled, and the Doctor looked at Pinkie. He had heard of that superstition before. He obviously didn’t believe it, hadn’t believed it, but with Pinkie he figured anything goes. “Must be.” he said speculatively. They had been walking for around about 15 minutes, and they had come across 3 rooms so far. The first room they encountered was the kitchen. Surprisingly large and looking like it could hold 7 ponies, Pinkie squealed at the sight of it. She then proceeded to make a huge mess and somehow whipped up a batch of cupcakes that took less than a minute to cook in the TARDIS’ ovens. At the *ding* of the oven, Pinkie donned a chef’s hat, mitts, and an apron from nowhere and hummed a tune to herself as she pulled out the cupcakes. She then inhaled the aroma, let it cool for a bit, and then proceeded to wrap them up on a plate and stuff it in her mane. The Doctor stood flabbergasted. Luckily for them, Pinkie had saved three cupcakes. One for him, one for Pinkie, and one presumably for Twilight. She then ran out of the kitchen with one of the cupcakes, and came back empty-hoofed. Pinkie then handed him a cupcake and swallowed hers in one bite. “Uh… Thanks, Pinkie,” the Doctor said, and bit into his glazed confection. WIdening his eyes, he made a “not bad!” frown and finished his cupcake. They then walked into the main library, a room that seemed to go on forever and forever. “Booooring!” Pinkie had said, bouncing past the large room filled with vast amounts of knowledge that Twilight would surely have drooled at if she knew this was here. They then moved on to one room that lead to another short corridor with six doors. They each had a symbol on it, and he recognized three of the six symbols. One had Twilight’s rump mark, one had Pinkie’s rump, and one had Fluttershy’s rump mark. The other three symbols were of three diamonds, a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, and one with three apples. Looking at the symbols reminded the Doctor of a pressing question he had about the ponies of this universe. “Pinkie… I’ve been wondering, what are the symbols that so dominate the posteriors of the equines here?” “Their called ‘cutie marks’, silly! They kind-of signify what your talent is. Mine is three balloons, see?” she practically shoved her flank at the Doctor showing the two blue and one yellow balloons on her flank. “This means I’m a party pony! As you can tell!” she then pulled a party horn from nowhere and suddenly had a party hat on, and blew into the party horn. Seemingly from everywhere, confetti blew out and made a horn sound in sync with Pinkie’s horn. The confetti settled, rainbow pieces of paper now everywhere on the TARDIS floor. He was surprised as well to find his own party hat present on his head, resting atop his hat. Pulling it off, he gave it to Pinkie. “How about Twilight’s mark? What does that mean?” the Doctor asked. Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno. I mean, there’s six stars and there’s six Elements of Harmony so…” the pink party pony trailed off, somehow making everything disappear once again. Even the confetti on the ground disappeared. Continuing on, they began walking again. “So by this logic, would Fluttershy’s ‘cutie mark’, as you say, mean she’s good with insects or animals in general?” “Oh yeah! Fluttershy’s GREAT with animals,” said Pinkie. After this, they suddenly encountered the swimming pool. Pinkie widened her eyes and gasped, inhaling what seemed to be an unhealthy amount of air. The Doctor saw what Pinkie was going to do and stuck a hoof out in front of Pinkie. “Not now, Pinkie. I don’t exactly want you tracking water all across the TARDIS. I don’t think she would like that at all,” explained the Doctor. Pinkie then downcast her eyes and visibly deflated. “Don’t worry though, you’ll definitely get the chance later.” Pinkie nodded and walked beside him for once, before returning to her usual self and bouncing once again. The Doctor then saw a door that had the number “13” on it. Before the Doctor could tell Pinkie not to open it, she barged into the room. The Doctor grudgingly followed her in. It was his memory room. In thirteen different display cases were thirteen different sets of clothes. His eyes first rested on the fourth display stand in the row, one with a long scarf and a fedora. He then rested on the next case that showed a set of Edwardian cricket clothes. His eyes skimmed over the sixth display stand in the row, not wanting to think about the bright colours too much. His eyes looked at the tenth display stand, which had a leather jacket. The eleventh display stand had a long trench coat with a brown striped suit. The twelfth had a bowtie, a frock coat and trousers, and a fez and a mop. The thirteenth and final display stand in the line had magicians clothes, with a sweater present at the bottom signifying his thirteenth incarnations’ tendency to wear a sweater. His eyes finally rested on the ninth display stand in the row, which had a worn and old brown leather overcoat, which covered a dark brown waistcoat and a bandolier that held a silver sonic screwdriver. “Pinkie… Please… Let’s leave this room,” the Doctor said, his voice silent. He did not want to remember all those terrible things he had done. Pinkie stopped her bouncing and noticed the Doctor’s attitude had changed. Before she could stop herself, she pounced and surprised the Doctor with a hug. “Doctor…Don’t be sad.” Pinkie held the Doctor tighter when she realized he was shaking a little. “Tell me, Doctor. What’s bothering you? I Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” she stuck a hoof into her eye and stuck her tongue out, prompting a small laugh to escape the Doctor’s mouth. Pinkie stepped away from him and watched what he would do. Sighing, the Doctor looked elsewhere from the display stands and saw two different display cases that held pictures of every companion he had ever had. His eyes were drawn to a picture of a blond haired girl. Not being able to bear the thought of Rose, he moved on to the next frame. The girl who walked the Earth. He smiled at the remembrance of Martha. Then came a picture of a red haired woman. The most important woman in the universe. Blinking away new tears, he looked at a happy couple, a red haired girl and a brown haired man, both looking straight out of the picture. The Ponds Who Waited. Now silently crying, he looked at the next two pictures with blurred vision. The Impossible Girl, and a brown skinned girl with puffy hair.  He then skipped the last picture, not wanting to remember her. But he couldn’t help but notice the words engraved in the picture frame of the last picture: “Hello Sweetie.” With tears running down his muzzle now, he looked away from the cases and away from Pinkie, facing the open door. “I’ve lost so many friends, and I’ve failed too many people,” the Doctor began, “I’ve destroyed so many lives… I just can’t see myself doing that to you, to any of you. Time and time again, I find myself being the one to ruin my companions’ lives.” Pinkie didn’t know what to say. For once, the pink party pony didn’t know how to cheer somepony up. Shaking her head, she walked in front of the Doctor and looked him straight in the eye. “Doctor, you will never do that to us. You will never fail me, Twilight, or anypony else that walks into this amazing blue box. Promise to me, Doctor. Promise to me and everypony else that you will never do that, because I know you will keep that promise.” Pinkie said, and the Doctor cast his eyes down. Thinking for a moment, he brought his eyes back up to meet with Pinkie’s, and he had a small smile. “Even better, I’ll Pinkie Promise,” he said with an even bigger grin. He then stoically put a hoof on his chest and recited the Pinkie Promise words, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie squee’d and produced a big smile that went from ear to ear. Now satisfied and happy that she made the sad Doctor happy, she began to bounce again. “Alright, Doctor! You better keep that promise because if you don’t, I’m coming for you!” They then both laughed and the Doctor wiped away his tears. Taking one more sweeping glance at the room filled with good and bad memories, he faced Pinkie and started out the door. “Come along, Pinkie, let’s leave this room be.” And they left the memory room, shutting the door behind them. ~~~ Twilight walked back in a stupor of thought. She couldn’t shake off what she had seen occur between the two Princesses of Equestria. They had talked about- reminisced, if you will, about the Doctor, as if they knew him very well and that they were old friends. There was already too much going on in her mind, and this revelation was just adding to an already overflowing cup of water. She had taken her sweet time to walk back to the TARDIS. It had taken her several minutes to get out of the castle, even though she knew the castle very well. She finally reached the gate doors to the castle, and turned around once more to look at the looming castle behind her. She then sighed and waited for the doors to open before finally walking out and leaving Canterlot Castle. She could see the TARDIS after about five minutes of walking, and she raised an eyebrow at what she was hearing. Music could be heard emanating from the TARDIS. The sound of an electrical guitar playing some classical sounding tune. Walking towards the blue box, the sound of music grew ever louder. The tune that was being played then changed from one of lyrical quality to a heavy metal rock. Opening the door, she was suddenly blasted by soundwaves backwards and dropped her saddlebags on accident. She could hear Pinkie’s laughter at the Doctor’s antics, but they both stopped what they were doing when they saw Twilight on the ground. “Gah!” Twilight had exclaimed when she fell. Getting back up on all four hooves and floating her saddlebag back on, she got a good view of what was occurring in the TARDIS. She could see the Doctor wearing sunglasses of some kind and Pinkie had apparently installed a disco ball as he was playing. The Doctor held a electric guitar in his hooves and pushed his sunglasses up to get a good look at Twilight. “Why hello, Twilight! Just in time for my grand performance!” said the Doctor, and he then played several chords in quick succession before plucking an insanely fast melody and then sliding on the floor, breathing heavily. “Well?” he asked, wanting to know how he performed in the eyes of Twilight. Pinkie clapped frivolously in the background. “It was… pleasant,” she hesitated. The Doctor smirked at her and then set his guitar down. He took his shades off as well, and began to run around the console once more. “Well! We’re all back, fine and dandy!” The Doctor then grabbed a cupcake that lay on one of the panels. “Here’s a cupcake baked by Pinkie herself... Aaaaand we’re off!” Twilight took the cupcake and braced herself as the Doctor flipped dozens of levers and pushed many buttons. Finally pulling a lever down, the TARDIS thumped and the sound of keys scraping against a piano’s chords filled the air once again. The room shook and Twilight dropped the cupcake onto the ground. She then fell herself, dropping face-first into her cupcake. All of a sudden, another thump could be heard and the shaking and wheezing stopped just as quickly as it had started. Twilight grumbled, swallowing the ever-good baking of Pinkie’s but now annoyed that there was cupcake smeared all over her face. “Doctor,” she said as she got back onto all four hooves, “Why on Equus does the TARDIS shake like that?” She wiped away the cupcake, sputtering and spitting. Pinkie had seen Twilight’s cupcake face and had begun laughing. Twilight stared daggers at her. “Because it’s fun!” he shouted, running to the TARDIS doors and swinging them wide open. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle in thought, only to stick out her tongue in disgust at her cupcake covered hoof. Pinkie burst out into laughter once more. “But… doesn’t that mean it doesn’t have to shake?” Twilight asked, and the Doctor blanched. “But that wouldn’t be any fun, silly!” Pinkie yelled, dashing out of the TARDIS and into Twilight’s Library. “What she said,” the Doctor pointed his hoof nonchalantly at Pinkie, before grinning and running out as well. Twilight groaned at the incompetence of the Doctor and walked out as well, nearly tripping on a big white book with emboldened blue letters. “The TARDIS Manual: Egghead Edition.” “Hey!” she cried out, looking at the Doctor first and then at the TARDIS. “I’m not an egghead!” “You most certainly are an egghead, Twilight.” Pinkie monotonously said. Twilight snorted in indignation and harrumphed. “Fine, I’ll just take this manual and learn how to actually fly your spaceship!” Twilight turned her head in stubbornness, putting the TARDIS manual into her saddlebags. “Like you’re actually going to learn anything from that.” The Doctor pointed at the TARDIS manual that was now sticking out of her saddlebags. “Well, I’m just going to find my friends and tell them everything that has happened as of late. I’m sure they would want to know about a pony with a box that can travel in space.” “No, don’t!” The Doctor jumped in front of the door, putting himself between Twilight and the exit. “And why not?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I want to tell them myself.”