Prologue: Six months

Disclaimer: I do not own or affiliate myself with My Little Pony: Friendship is magic or any of the characters used within this fan fiction. It belongs to Hasbro, The hub, Studio B and Lauren Faust. This work has been created with the sole purpose of entertainment and personal improvement.

Alpha Line:

Prologue: Six Months

Water flung itself down, splattering against the cold, foggy window. Droplets rolled down each joining the other in a dance of cannibalism until they slid off the clear surface. Inside, machinery beeped angrily at the rain, the sterile white walls remaining indifferent while the cheap bed sat comfortably hugging the middle of the wall. The beating of the rain came in through the windows landing onto a grey mare's ears, though the noisy outside world was drowned out by the frail breaths of the filly laying before her. Wires snaked away from every limb of the young unicorns body; the light purple figure rising with every tiny breath. Steady and calm. up and down. Looking on with burning eyes, the mothers own breaths came in jerking gasps; wings drooping onto the blue carpeted floor. The drumming rain continued while she stood still leaning over her daughter until she could completely see the filly's calm face. Her eyes stung, dropped their tears down onto the sleeping unicorn, her own eyes gently closed oblivious to the world around her.

It had all started so suddenly. No more than a month ago the illness had taken a hold of her daughter. Within a few days it had virtually sapped all the life from her and caused the medical community in Baltimare to seize up in shock. The tests had shown that the illness was not infectious, some genetic disorder that had never been seen before. The pair had spent most of the last month in the hospital, the young filly being unresponsive to all treatments the doctors had thought of and now, colouring books lay unused on the bedside table; the couch turned into a makeshift bed for the pegasus who had refused to leave the filly's side. There were times of brief improvement only to come crashing back down worse than before. The doctors had barely given her a week to live but she had survived clinging on to life with her mother whispering encouragement throughout the whole ordeal. The mother didn't look any better than her daughter. What little sleep she had gotten was sparse and broken, with many a foul dream convincing her she had finally lost her only child. Her usually bright yellow eyes had now lost their joyful spark and her mood reflected the grey tone of her body, while her blonde hair hung limply not being attended to for days.

Three sudden knocks followed by the soft creak of the door declared the entrance of a stranger, startling the mare and making her jump slightly. Tired eyes gazed warily at the intruder trying to calculate their role in the hospital. The pegasus tried to match the light brown coat and darker brown mane to some doctor she may have seen hurrying around attending to their duties, a stoic security guard in a polished uniform, or one of the nurses constantly rushing in and out of rooms. The new stallion trotted smoothly over to the other side of the bed, as if he'd been invited to some sort of morbid part, with the purple mound sleeping on through the rude intrusion. He simply stood there, gazing down at the filly, analysing her like a scientist in a libratory; only looking up at the other occupant when she gave a slight cough.

"Ah- how rude of me, I'm terribly sorry dear, my minds been floating all over the place lately..." the stallion mumbled out ears flattening; his face blushing faintly.

"Well yeah, you just barged in here. You could have woken Dinky up." the mare hissed, a fowl mixture of annoyance and grief radiating from her body.

"Please, Ditzy... I can only imagine... the pain that you're going through at the moment... but I want you to now that, even though you don't know me, you can trust me."

"Wa- wait... h-how do you know my name?" Ditzy replied shuffling her wings uncomfortably.

"Let's just say... ignoring all sense of my modesty, that I am fairly important." the earth pony chuckled to himself. "I've been around for awhile, though that's beside the point. I have come here today to give you an offer..."

"I'm not looking for a relationship if that's what you're getting at," the pegasus quickly muttered, shying back from the bed.

"WHAT! no no no, never... well not that you're not attractive you certainly are, but it's not that I would, you see, that is to say..." the brown stallion rambled off, his cool composure quickly lost to the mare's apprehension. After the red had drained from the impostor's face somewhat, he continued in a less distant tone, "L-look, I'm not gonna' sugar coat it your daughter doesn't have l-long... but I have a way you could save her but it won't be easy..."

Ditzy's eyes shot up to stair directly at the stallion, the tears still fresh from the golden ring staring straight into the blue eyes of her new hope. She drew in a few shuddering breaths before replying. "Please, I'll do anything for my Dinky, I don't want to lose her!" she begged fresh tears welling up in her eyes.

The brown pony nodded in understandingly, cocking his head slightly in thought. "I... know a way you could cure Dinky... completely." he said.

"What is it then! Please I'll pay you anything" Ditzy began desperately.

"Well actually, I can't cure her... or get the cure would be a better way of saying it." The face on the other side of the bed slowly fell in confusion and disappointment, the mouth opening to inquire to be cut short by the other continuing. "There is a mare in a town called Ponyville that can, after convincing, do a lot more than any of these ordinary doctors. She has abilities that far excide all the staff here." the stallion explained. "Her name is Zecora."

"Uh... okay, that's a pretty strange name... but... I'm still really confused. How can we go talk to her? Ponyville is too far away to travel toady." Ditzy admitted looking down with a slight frown.

"Oh, okay so, I rewrite you in the time-space plane and then I tether you to that point on the time line using resonant dimensional forces, with some help from some a time artefact to maintain the alpha time line. Of course it goes against the Hadaen principles of matter and the relative particle tick frequencies but this artefact is warded against that actually being a problem." the stallion went on, looking upwards in thought.

"Um.... I didn't understand any of what you just said." Ditzy retorted.

"My dear, to spell it out plainly I am giving you the opportunity for time travel, and a second chance to save your daughter." he clarified making gestures with his hoof to emphasise his point, "you go back to Ponyville and convince Zecora to give you the cure, before you arrive at this date again."

"W-what I can't do that, I just met you, there's no way I'd leave my daughter just because you say to trust me. Then you talk about time travel like it's a hobby and you really expect me to believe you." Ditzy said shocked, stepping away from the bed in astonishment.

The earth pony looked sad for a moment before answering,"Of course these circumstances are not the most... trustworthy but you must realize that there is absolutely nothing else. I know the range of treatments you've tried, the late nights waiting up while doctors continued their work and every hopeful moment that was crushed by the ringing phone. I know you don't know me but I know you, and I know that you need to do this or you won't be able to live knowing there was a chance, a slim hope that you missed." he said pleadingly. "I hate to have to bring any pain back, but this is not going to work without you and this issue is not going to magically resolve itself." The mare looked at him dubiously, trying to decide if he was being sincere or not. "Please... let me help you." the intruder's voice becoming desperate.

The machines continued beeping in the background; Ditzy now staring in disbelief at the pleading stallion before her. A thousand thoughts buzzed through her mind with the possibility that what the intruder had said was true dangling tantalizingly at the forefront. She shook her head angrily a glint of rage in her eyes that now glared at the stallion. " Do you think I'm stupid enough to even consider doing anything you say, I haven't even met you before and I can't see any reason to believe what you're saying." she said in a hushed yell. "I've stayed by my daughter's side for this whole time and I'm not going to leave now."

The strange stallion cringed slightly holding his hoof up in defense of himself. "I- I just want to help you. You really don't know how much this means to me and you need to believe me!" Ditzy balked slightly seeing the stranger's eyes become wet, tears threatening to escape his blue orbs. An awkward silence hung in the air before she replied calmer than she was moments ago.

"Y-you don't expect me to just abandon her do you?" she stuttered her own eyes mirroring the stallion's. As she finished green flames sprang to life above Ditzy's head dropping a rolled scroll which fell down and hit her on the head before tumbling to the ground. As she lent forward to pick up the letter with her mouth she saw the wax seal and gasped recognizing her own cutie mark stamped onto the scroll. After unrolling it she quickly read the contents, finishing in seconds. Looking back up towards the stranger she gave a quick darting glance at the little purple mound and draw in a deep breath before finally answering. "Well, I really don't know if I should trust you, but... I...need to take this last opportunity." 'of course I can always come back if he turned out to just be crazy.' she thought to herself.

"Good," the stallion sighed in relief "now the hardest part will be getting you back to when you need to be, I have the ritual and after that it's a effortless act of tethering. Well no time to waste, allons-y!" He exclaimed in a hushed voice, beckoning for Ditzy to follow him.

"Mister, you never told me your name."Ditzy pointed out.

" Ah yes, you can call me Doctor Whooves or the Doctor." She stood still, despite the earth pony's words, looking down at the tiny filly before her and hating to leave her for even a moment. The quiet breathing had become even more faint but she knew there were still hours left for her to do what-ever the Doctor wanted. The mother now lent down to her young daughter's face, kissing her forehead before moving to the filly's tiny ears.

"I love you my Dinky. I'll be back very soon please don't worry." Giving one last look around the sterile room; Ditzy sighed and put on her saddle bag before following the stallion out.

"Now, The thing about doing that is that it requires a lot of time energy and as it stands, my this artefact only has a small charge left in it. So you won't have long, about six months. I'll fill you in on the rest of the details on the way, we just need to go as soon as possible. I'm getting hungry do you like muffins? I know a great muffin shop in Saddle Arabia, the customer service isn't great though..." the doctor continued rambling off, walking down the white hall of the hospital; with Ditzy following close behind, with the rain still beating down on the roof.

*****

Shivering, the pair quickly dashed for cover, ducking through the huddled crowds of busy ponies under awnings; their lives going on as usual, despite the heavy rain. Tall, brick buildings whizzed past the couple dodging through the masses, water soaking through their coats. Air escaped as steamy clouds from the mouths of each pony, quickly dissipating into the cold air. Needles of water pierced through the pony's already damp coat as they crossed over a street without cover. Hooves slipped unsteadily on the wet pavement, the Doctor making a sharp turn around a corner. Ditzy followed behind wings beating slightly to help keep her balance. The Doctor, the Rain and the excitement all drew Ditzy's attention. Her legs already ached from the distance they had travelled but knowing that there was one last hope made Ditzy steel herself against the pain and keep running. For Dinky. Another corner, slipping slightly again, though this time into a small, one way street; buildings rising up high on either side and the acidic smell of city rubbish thick in the air.

Halting at the base of the winding fire exit stair case leading up to the very top of the tall building, both pairs of exhausted eyes met each other. "It's up there, I had to put it where no one would see, and a roof on a rainy day wouldn't be very popular." he gasped out in between gulping down lungfuls of air. The mare looked upwards cringing; guessing they had at least 15 floors to climb up, though nodded in unhappy acceptance. They moved forward, making their way up the stairs at a slower pace than before, Ditzy's body still screaming out with the continued effort with her yellow mane now plastered over her face. Looking out to the side, Ditzy could see the shadow of ponies behind a range of drawn curtains, their silhouettes going about an average life. They slowly trudged up the stairs, rain continuing to splash down on them, soaking their coats and making the black steps slippery under hoof. Doctor whooves made noises upfront, Ditzy's motherly instincts telling her he was anxious about something but she couldn't tell why.

Finally clambering onto the roof and sighing in relief welcoming the cold expanse of concrete. From the rooftop they could see over a vast expanse of the immediate area. though other buildings further away stood well above the one they found themselves on. Ditzy quickly spotted the familiar hospital in the distance, squat and sitting low among the surrounding towers. Clouds hung low blocking out the view beyond that, with some buildings near the hospital simply becoming outlines within the vapour. A rusted door next to them lead inside the building, though the Doctor now moved over to the far corner from the steps where a large blue box stood, defiant against the cloudy sky. Hoofs hit the cold, wet ground the clopping sounds being drowned out by the heavy downpour. Up on high, the smells of the city were faint with fresh breezes pulling in crisp air from the south, the force of the wind being weakened slightly by the low brick guard wall. The Doctor trotted up to the box, Ditzy following on and seeing the glowing white letters proclaiming the strange structure to be a 'Public call police box'. Doctor Whooves cut her off before she could enquire into the so called police box, " Hold on a second I've just got to get some things."

"Uh... okay." Ditzy replied dumbly as The Doctor turned away from her. A shaft of light escaped as the door was opened; Catching a quick glimpse into the thing and seeing a range of lights and gizmos all over, quickly taken away by the blue door shutting again. She sat outside dumbfounded until the door opened again and the earth pony jumped out with some items in his mouth. "W-What... how's it so small on the outside?"

"Yeah funny that." the doctor said giggling to himself and nudging the door shut with his rear hoof, after having dropped all the items in front of Ditzy. A gleaming gold pocket watch. a scroll wrapped and sealed with a mark she didn't recognise and a small brown pouch that looked like it had some sort of powder; sagging slightly to one side. "Now this will have to be done fairly quickly otherwise the scrolled is going to get too wet." he explained looking Ditzy in the eyes before going on, a soft kindness making its way onto his face. "Just to review; you will have roughly six months in Ponyville. In that time you need to befriend Zecora and have her give you the cure. After that you'll need to wait until this day and get to the hospital at 12:30, which will mean we'd have been gone half an hour. You cannot, I repeat do not come earlier than today or you could risk creating a paradox, but let's not get into that. Other than that you should be fine..." he finished. The mare nodded still slightly mistrusting towards the stallion's plan.

Piercing the wax seal and unfurling the scroll with his mouth, the Doctor revealed an array of circles and symbols scrawled all over the aging paper. Laying it down on the ground next to the blue box, water quickly soaking up through the fibres, though the black ink held fast. He now moved on to loosen the drawstring on the small pouch; opening it and swiftly pouring its contents onto the scroll. A small mound of golden and cobalt blue powder now lay on the centre of the paper, flecks of the dust drifting away in the breeze. He snatched up the pocket watch and hoofed it to Ditzy, taking it from the Doctor and staring at it with curious eyes. The curved golden surface felt warm and it had a strange buzz of energy like an excited puppy jumping around. She tucked it into her saddle bag before looking back at Doctor Whooves, confusion evident on her face. "What am I supposed to do with that?" she enquired.

"That's a paradox lock, it'll let you stay there without existence getting angry at you, which is the most basic way to say it. You're going to have to make contact with it at least once a day if you want to remain there. also it's pretty strong but it isn't unbreakable. Don't let that happen or absolutely everything will be undone." The explanation came in a very serious tone. " Do you have anything else you want to ask about?" she shook her head but could feel nervousness slowly creeping in. What if this was actually something really bad? What if something went wrong? What if she actually got transported back in time?

While Ditzy stood by worrying Doctor Whooves began drawing patterns in the dust, mumbling a few inaudible words. The blue dust now glowed brightly and sank down into the parchment, running along the lines already drawn on it and causing them to acquire a similar glow. He now cupped the remaining golden powder into a circle towards the edge of the scroll; reforming a small mound which was quickly attacked by the falling water. As soon as he had finished he stepped back and glanced towards the anxious mare. " When you're ready, all you need to do is stamp on the gold powder and that's it. It's enchanted to send you to the right place so you need not worry about that." he encouraged.

"O-okay..." Ditzy bumbled out dumbly, stepping up to the parchment. The Doctor hopped back a bit causing Ditzy to turn her head towards him, nerves still etched on her face, though he returned her look with a confident smile and a nod of encouragement. She paused briefly giving a moment to think about her daughter still in the hospital, the threads of her life barely holding her on to this world. Her daughter had remained strong through her sickness, always comforting her mother who had been taken the whole thing much worse than the little filly. Gritting her teeth, Ditzy nodded to herself and began to count down.

Five
Four
Three
two and a half
two
one and two thirds
one and a third
one
a quarter
limit as x approaches zero
zero.

Smashing her hoof straight down onto the circle a loud bang and a flash of light shocked Ditzy, blinding her with its brightness. She could feel her hoof become paralysed and her hair standing up on end as her whole body vibrated from the jolt. Ditzy shivered at the strange feeling that now coursed throughout her body. Before long, ditzy's vision slowly returned, still looking downwards she saw the powder had turned into a bright yellow but she was still on the rooftop, the rain still falling onto her body. The pegasus turned her head staring angrily at The Doctor, with the yellow dust flying up all around her, realising that she had been tricked; she stopped short before she could yell at him, seeing a Cheshire cat like smile stretching across his face, looking on the verge of falling over with laughter. "Have fun, do your best and get that cure!" the Doctor called out in a sing song voice. Just before the mare could retort, lightning struck the parchment. The glowing blue lines now turned a similar yellow, the energy coursing through the lines and heading towards the Ditzy's paralysed hoof. The energy reached her within a second of the strike, passing through the yellow mound making it glow brightly as it passed the energy on through the Ditzy's body, squeaking in surprise. It vibrated though her and she could feel it grabbing onto every atom of her being. Just as quickly as it arrived, she felt it start to take effect. It felt like an anaesthetic, all warm and fuzzy, though she was still completely mentally aware. Next she began to feel her body being pulled, stretch and stretched like taffy even though she could see her physical body had remained completely the same.

And with that she flashed away, leaving the Doctor standing alone on the rainy roof top. The hum of temporal energy hung around the smoking parchment, which had blackened and curled up at the corners. The earth pony smiled, giggling slightly. "Ah the joys of Alpha line shifts, those expressions, HA! priceless." he chuckled to himself. He went about cleaning up the area, then hopped back into his blue box and left the dismal weather behind.

*****

Strange lights flashed before Ditzy as she tumbled around witlessly within the void. She flapped her wings only to have her back legs start swinging. It felt like she had completely melted and all her body was a tangled mess though the feeling of anaesthetic sedation still remained. Blue, green, yellow, orange and red; waves of colours warped around the pegasus all of them mixing together causing Ditzy's sense of distance and orientation to vanish. By the time Ditzy had started thinking straight again, she felt like she'd been falling senselessly for an hour. Whizzing thoughts of shock and confusion bombarded her, with the revelation that what the stallion had said was actually true occurring many times.

Worry began to creep into her mind; with the prospect of the journey ending anytime soon slowly seeping away. By the time the panic had passed she realized that the sense of gravity was slowly returning, the connection to her body arriving along it. Her spinning now brought with it nausea and a dull pressure in her head, the fluffy cloud of numbness disappearing gradually. Just as she had started to feel completely sick, Ditzy saw solid black standing menacingly in the distance beneath, quickly speeding towards her. She soon realised that she was not slowing down and that a crash was inevitable, travelling at the speed she was falling the dark mass arrived within seconds. Before the contact, a scream escaped from the pegasus' lips only to die as Ditzy blacked out upon contact with the dark surface.

*****

The mare stretched her legs, not bothering to open her tired eyes. The hospital floor felt unusually comfortable, an all too familiar feeling as she had fallen asleep and tumbled off the bedside chair many times. This time though no nurse had come in to turn the light off or place a blanket on her. Stiffness slowed down the grey pony's movements, rolling over clumsily to continue the stretches. Memories of the dream of a strange earth pony bobbed on the surface of her mind, reminding her with a wave of despair that her daughter did not have long to live. She sighed breathing in a lungful of crisp and fresh air. For now she could stay by her daughter's side and offer comfort the filly while she struggled to hold on.

A whirring sound made Ditzy crack open her eyes. Blinding lights of an afternoon sun startled her, though she didn't need to see clearly to realise that she wasn't in the hospital any more. The sun before her soon became blocked out, a familiar blue box materializing in front of her; emitting an unusual noise. Ditzy gasped suddenly remembering completely all the events that had happened to her. Blinking away the blurriness that hung around her, Ditzy shakily got to her feet unsure of the entire thing. A creaking door brought her attention back to the Police box with the now recognizable Doctor jumping out. He smiled at her while she continued to compose herself, clearly enjoying Ditzy's confusion. He trotted over to her and sat beside the grey pony, his hour glass cutie mark next to her bubbles. Ditzy thought of how to initiate conversation, unsure of how to talk to the Doctor after the accusations she had flung at him before. A dry mouth opened slightly attempting to say something before closing in defeat. She desperately racked her brain trying in vain to form a coherent sentence. "I-I... How did y- uh... th-thanks.... ummm..." Ditzy mumbled in bewilderment. Doctor Whooves looked down at her, slightly taller than the mare, and smiled brightly at her.

"Ah but Ditzy, this is just the start. There's so much more to do and you really need to get going." he told her motioning for her to follow as he stood up and walked towards the crest of the hill they were on. As they arrived, The Doctor pointed out the small town at the bottom with bright houses, a dense forest to the side and farms off in the distance. The sun sat high in the sky while the ponies below in the quaint town went about their business ignorant of the pair that now stood looking over them. "This is Ponyville, your new home for the next 6 months. I've already arranged for a home and a job for you so you need not worry about that."The Doctor explained. "That over there is the Everfree forest, which the locals believe is haunted because it functions without any pony influence."

"O-Okay then, what have you arranged for me?" Ditzy enquired.

"You'll be staying with a mare named carrot top. She has a carrot farm on the outskirts of town but also has a house in the main area. I've also gotten you a job with the local mail service, so you'll be working as a mail mare for the time being." he told her.

"And how are you here, what's with that box of yours and no magic ceremony like I had?" She continued puzzlement.

"Ah, yes that, well it's fairly complicated but I'm not going to be here for long so I won't affect this time line too much. It's hard to explain, but imagine that in the universe there are a lot of possibilities. With each possibility a different time line is created, though one stands out among the rest as the main one." he explained. " That one is called the alpha time line which is the most important. If I brought you back in my TARDIS I would have created a different timeline to the one you were on, but by doing this I'm keeping it nice and clean. As for me I'm not here long enough to affect any of that so it'll be fine," he finished looking slightly worried Ditzy hadn't understood.

"What's a TAR- TARDA- TAR-uh... what is that thing?" Ditzy questioned gesturing towards the blue box with her hoof.

"Ha, that's my TARDIS. She's a Time And Relative Dimension in space machine or as you pony folk would call it, a time machine!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh- okay then..." she trailed off looking inquisitively at the machine. Ditzy guessed that it would be roughly two pony's height and a pony's length in width and depth, but from the glimpse she got before she knew that it was somehow much bigger on the inside. Ditzy turned back to look at Doctor Whooves before her and asked, " so... what do I do know."

"Well now you can go and settle in to Ponyville life, get to know the ponies around and generally get to know the area." The Doctor suggested. "There's not much you can do for the time being, but I will come visit whenever there's something important to be done." he assured her before pausing and looking at her worriedly. "Though there's uh... there's something you'll need to know before you head off," the Doctor said hurriedly before turning around and racing back into his police box time machine. He reappeared holding a mirror in his mouth and beckoned her over. She trotted up and looked straight at her reflection. Everything was the same as before but she now saw that one of her golden eyes was at an off angle; though it hadn't affected her vision as far as she could tell.

Looking up at the doctor with slight annoyance on her face at the issue that had arisen, "Is this going to be permanent?"

The doctor looked amused, responding after spitting the mirror out, "Sorry, I just don't know what went wrong."

Author's Note:

This is a project I'm going to be doing to help improve my writing skills so most of the story has been written on paper than transferred and edited on computer. I need to do multiple creative writing tasks for my High School certificate, so I am getting this practice in before it all starts in a few weeks, yay me!

I've gone through and edited it a few times but I'm sure there will still be a fair few errors in there so don't hesitate to point them out and if anyone actually wants to proof read the next chapters as I write them, I'd be very grateful. Also sorry for Australian spelling and I've gone through and tried to format it nicely but the transition from word to the browser wasn't very smooth.

That's about it for now. I'm hoping that it wasn't too bad for my first real attempt and will begin writing the next chapter very soon.

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