Chapter 59 - The Last But One
The library was silent as the assembled group attempted to process my deduction; with varying degrees of intelligence. Twilight Sparkle, naturally spoke first.
“A time what?!” she exclaimed, complete bewilderment evident on her features.
“A Time Lord, Twilight. Or Time Lady in Dinky’s case. They’re an alien race; significantly more advance than humans, from a planet called Gallifray about twenty nine thousand light-years away from Earth. Or galactic co-ordinates ten-zero-eleven-zero-zero by zero-two from galactic zero center, if ya wanna be picky.” I turned once more back to Dinky. “They’re time travellers, or at least they were. To my knowledge, aside from little Dinky here there is only one other still alive.” At this point my mother jumped into the conversation.
“Son, that can’t be right! All that stuff is fictional; it’s a story for children. It’s…” she trailed off as she realised the pointlessness of that argument; given she was currently talking to a small talking equine and standing in a locale made popular by another ‘fictional’ TV show.
“So what you’re telling me,” Twilight said as my mother trailed off. “Is that another alien, from another universe, which is just as fictional as ours in your universe, has cross bred with a pony and created a hybrid with two hearts.” Off to the side, Derpy looked away uncomfortably.
“It would appear so. But if ya don’t mind, Twilight, Ah think we should talk to Derpy ‘bout this in private.” Twilight’s eyes widened as she realised what she’d been saying in front of the poor mailmare.
“Oh, erm, right. Sorry.” The lavender alicorn blushed profusely at her hoof in mouth moment. “We can talk down in my lab.”
“Fair enough,” I replied. “Derpy, are you okay to come have a little talk?” Derpy nodded uneasily. I meanwhile turned to Dinky, who still seemed completely unphased by current events. “Dinky, why don’t you stay up here for a bit with Spike, there’s a few film reels you might like.” I levitated over a copy of some Thunderbirds episodes. “We won’t be long.”
And so the three of us walked down into Twilight’s basement.
The basement, where Twilight Sparkle kept more of ‘mad-scientist’ level equipment, was significantly sparser than I remembered it. Despite the incident happening several months ago, the small explosion the alicorn had accidentally caused whilst trying to open a portal had damaged a fair amount of her computers and other equipment. Since Equestria was not quite as advanced in terms of technology, repairs were a much more lengthy process. Components such as valves and vacuum tubes and mother boards had to be made from scratch.
The two of us led Derpy down into the basement, whilst I pulled out three small cushions for us to settle on. The solid earth floor wasn’t particularly comfortable after all. Derpy looked decidedly nervous, her mismatched eyes looking about uneasily. As we settled I attempted to calm her.
“Now Derpy, don’t you worry ‘bout a thing. Ya ain’t in any kind of trouble or nothin’. Ah just need to ask ya ‘bout a couple of things.” She noticeably relaxed at that. I guess it’s true when they say a southern accent can have a calming effect. “Alright, let’s start with how ya met him. Does it involve a strange blue box, perhaps?”
“It just appeared in mid-air,” Derpy began, recalling events several years prior. “I was flying my mail route when I heard this horrible screeching noise. Next thing I know this blue box is spinning in front of me; I had to pull all kinds of stunts just to miss it. After that it hit the ground not too far from the Everfree Forest. I flew down there to see what it was.
“As I landed a door I suppose, opened on one side of the box. Loads of smoke came pouring out and then he stumbled out too. I’d never seen him in Ponyville before. He kept muttering something about ‘non-bipedal form’ and ‘second regeneration cycles’ and loads of other stuff I didn’t understand.” Twilight was madly scribbling by this point, getting every little titbit of information she could. I merely signalled for Derpy to continue.
“I asked him if he was okay, but he was acting really strangely. It was almost as if he’d had too much salt or something; he kept talking nonsense and every now and then weird yellow clouds would come out of his mouth. Eventually I managed to get him to stop and listen to me. He’d got a nasty bump on his head, so I said I’d take him to the hospital. He didn’t like that one bit though and before I could argue with him, he passed out.
“I went to look inside the blue box thing he’d landed in. It had some weird writing on it that I couldn’t read. It definitely wasn’t Equestrian.” I held up a hoof to stop Derpy a moment and jotted a few things down on a piece of parchment.
“Did it look like this, Derpy?” I asked her. I handed her the parchment, which read ‘Police Public Call Box’ in English. Derpy nodded emphatically.
“That’s it,” she said. “And there was more writing on a little door on the front. I pulled that open and there was some strange machine; it looked a bit like a phonograph. Anyway, I managed to open the door and get inside. I’ll never forget that moment as long as I live. It was…” I cut Derpy off.
“Bigger on the inside?” I couldn’t help but smile, whilst Derpy and Twilight looked at me, clearly surprised and a little confused.
“Blade Star, what in the wide, wide realm of Equestria do you mean? Nothing can be bigger on the inside than the outside. That’s impossible!” Always one for a science demonstration, I rooted around the basement briefly, finding two small boxes Twilight used to store things, one bigger than the other.
“Which box is larger, Twilight?” She promptly pointed to the larger box. I levitated it and moved the box several paces away. Due to the forced perspective, the smaller box now appeared bigger. “Now which is larger?”
“Blade Star, the boxes haven’t changed sizes, you just moved the bigger one away,” Twilight replied, exasperated.
“Exactly, if you could keep them exactly that distance away and have 'em both here; the large one would fit inside the small one,” I explained.
“That’s silly,” Twilight replied, pouting.
“That’s trans-dimensional engineering; a key Time Lord discovery,” I countered. I then allowed Derpy to resume her tale.
She went on to talk about how she had stumbled into what I knew to be the TARDIS, she’d actually managed to operate a couple of the controls; luckily nothing important. Eventually, the Doctor had woken up and dragged himself back inside. She had no idea how he’d arrived and based on his actions nor did he. Mind you, the Doctor shouting at the TARDIS and hitting it with a hammer was not an unusual occurrence.
A few minutes later though, it seemed as if circumstances overtook him and panicking wildly, the Doctor had dragged Derpy out of the TARDIS just before it dematerialised. What puzzled me though was the way it left. It didn’t seem to take off in its usual fashion. Instead, it sounded something like a mix of a teleport spell and the time travelling spell Twilight had once utilised.
After that, the Doctor had briefly accepted the mailmare’s hospitality before eventually setting himself up in the clock shop. He’d obviously managed to track down the TARDIS, which he’d told me was about twenty years ahead of us. His plan now seemed to be to wait, and also start a family it seems. While the two of us promised Derpy we wouldn’t tell a soul about the details, I can say that she and the old Time Lord had, like AJ and I, fallen in love. Dinky had arrived a year later, though Derpy had told everyone that she was the result of her ex.
Speaking of her ex-husband let me be the first to say; if that son of Diamond Dog ever shows his face in Ponyville again, I swear to Celestia I’ll batter him from here to Dodge Junction. The way he left Derpy and what he did to her was unforgivable.
“Alright, Derpy,” I said at length. “Ah guess what Ah’ll do now is go and talk with him now about this, just to make sure there’s no trouble. Neither of us will say anythin’ ‘bout what you said either. Ah Pinkie Promise.” I elbowed Twilight to copy my motions. Derpy then went back upstairs to take her daughter back home, whilst Twilight and I set out for Time Turner’s shop. To quote an old human saying ‘Gotta see a man about a horse’.
It amazes me just how well Time Turner, as he now calls himself, has managed to fit into Ponyville in such a short space of time. Dinky was six or seven years old, so he’d been here about that long and most ponies around town recognised him as something of an institution. I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d managed to avoid detection himself for so long until I turned up.
The door at the front of the shop was open, swinging slightly on its hinge in the breeze. With an open sign sitting outside, the two of us trotted inside to look for him. Just like the last time I’d come here, my ears were quickly filled with a cacophony of ticking sounds, as dozens of clocks steadily counted off the seconds of the day. Looking at the register toward the back of the shop, I could not see the chestnut pony anywhere; I assumed he was in the back, working on something no doubt.
“Doctor? Ya in here?” I called. “It’s Blade Star. Ah need to talk to ya ‘bout somethin’.” I got a response quickly enough.
“Be right with you!” There then followed a series of small scale, well, explosions I suppose is the right word. A fair amount of smoke poured into the shop area making us cough as the acrid fumes worked into our throats. Eventually, the Doctor emerged, a sheepish look on his face.
“Erm, sorry about that. Things didn’t quite go to plan there. Just don’t breathe in the deadly, deadly fumes too deeply and you should be fine.”
“Doctor, we need to talk,” I said. Instantly, he dropped the previous slightly mad expression he had worn and replaced it with something far more dour looking.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to tell them about me. You Pinkie Promised!” he declared somewhat angrily, pointing an accusing hoof at me, evidently aware of the penalty for breaking one.
“Ah did no such thing. In fact that’s why Twilight and Ah are here. We know about Dinky; that’s how she found out.” The clockmaker’s eyes went wide as saucers, whilst his pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.
“Oh no,” he muttered. “No no no no no no no no no no no no no no! Not good, not good, in fact it’s the opposite of good it’s very bad!” He threw his front hooves up in the air. “How am I going to explain all this? Have you told those princesses yet? Argh, this planet isn’t ready for something like this!”
The renegade Time Lord continued to pace around anxiously going through all the possible negative consequences of his identity being known. However, this was getting us nowhere, and I was about to intervene, when Twilight beat me to it.
“Time Turner,” she said. Evidently, she preferred to call him by his Equestrian pseudonym. “I’m the only one aside from Blade Star who knows enough to understand what’s going on. Your identity is still safe, and unless you’re a threat to Equestria, I don’t see why I need to talk to the princess.” The Doctor relaxed somewhat. “However, we do need to talk about Dinky.”
A strange expression came over the Doctor’s features, one I’ve very rarely seen. For a brief moment, he let all the youthful madness drop away. He showed his age, I suppose you could say, something in his eyes, something that tells you he’s been around far longer than anypony else, with the exception of Celestia and Luna of course.
“My daughter,” he said quietly, nodding to himself. At this point, I stepped into the conversation again.
“We need to know about her, Doctor. Ah saw what happened with a Human/Time Lord hybrid. Ah don’t want to see the same thing happen to that filly.” I said, a hint of perhaps some misplaced paternal caring in my voice.
“She should be fine; she certainly won’t think herself to death. It’s something to do with the ‘magic’ that exists in this universe, it stabilised her, resolved the conflict between the two gene groups. She has my physiology and the mind of a Time Lord, but at the same time, she has the ability to access the energy sources in this place. What you, Twilight, call magic.”
“Can she regenerate?” I asked.
“No, though I sometimes wish she could. Murphy’s Law isn’t it; the one trait you’d like her to have she doesn’t. Still, it’s probably better for her in the long run. On the flip side though, I expect she’s about as sturdy as an earth pony.”
“Does she know about you?” He shook his head.
“She knows of me; she even comes to see me sometimes. But no, as far as she knows, her dad was mean old pegasus who skipped town before she was born. And I’d rather it stay that way if it’s all the same to you.” Cue Twilight Sparkle; lecturing mode.
“Time Turner! She’s your daughter, and from what Blade Star has told me, she’s the only other member of your species in existence!” That might not have been the best choice of words.
“Exactly,” he replied angrily. “As far as she knows, she a unicorn pony, born of two pegasi. She gets enough odd looks with that explanation. What do you think would happen if ponies knew the truth? I will not put my daughter through that.” He sighed, which came out as a snort, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know it isn’t ideal, but it’s best for Dinky. She’ll live out her life happy and content with ponies that love her.”
Twilight and I were silent for a while as the three of us stood in that humble, cosy little clock shop. Aside from his defence of Trenzalore and his temporary exile to Earth, this had to be the longest period of time the Doctor had stayed in one place. Perhaps that is why he’d become so settled. He’d hung up his spurs, so to speak. But he was still the Doctor, and all that that name entailed.
“What about you, Doctor? What about your happiness?” I asked him eventually.
“I have a daughter, whether or not she knows, I am still her father. I’m not alone, that’s good enough for me.”
That seemed to be that. One of the many things I’ve learned about the Doctor in my life is that he is perhaps one of the most stubborn beings in the universe. While it would have been a wonderful moment to see him and Dinky together as father and daughter, he had made his choice, and I wasn’t about to try and change that.
The matter was effectively closed for all intents and purposes. We knew Dinky would be perfectly safe and well looked after, and wouldn’t have to worry about any potential issues arising from her Time Lord DNA. That was why we went there. Twilight and I then left him and his clocks, which I honestly think is how he prefers it. Without the TARDIS, he doesn’t really have anywhere else to go and brood in peace.
As we headed back to the library, Twilight probed me for titbits of information on Ponyville’s other extra-Equestrian inhabitant. I told her a few things here and there, but a lot of the more major issues I steered clear of. I certainly mentioned nothing about the fall of Arcadia or the last Time War. I merely gave her a little bit of background. The pony she knew as Time Turner had, like her, saved the world on numerous occasions and until his arrival had travelled time and space in a borrowed time machine which was currently AWOL.
When we returned to the library, Twilight handed off the various notes she had taken to Spike, asking him to file them away in the restricted section of the library. She then promised me that she would keep this whole affair an internal secret. It didn’t affect Equestria’s safety, so nopony else needed to know. With that, she said she’d see me again come Monday for magic lessons.
As I wound my way back up that well-trod path to the farmhouse, I spotted little Apple Bloom playing fetch with Winona. The filly had managed to find herself a decent sized stick, and with surprising strength (or perhaps not surprising considering she’s an earth pony) was throwing it in all directions for Winona to find and retrieve. I remembered doing something similar with a dog my sister’s godmother had; only problem was, he’d never get bored.
I stopped in my travels to watch the pair for a while. Apple Bloom was a great kid. She always worked hard in school and she always did her bit on the farm to boot. In five or six years, she’d probably be helping AJ, Big Mac and me during Applebuck Season. Again, the strange paternal feeling I had felt before came up. Perhaps Cadence’s love magic had worked too well; at any rate, I was no longer seeing her as just AJ’s little sister. Hay, on more than one occasion it had been a race between me and Big Mac to go and comfort her when she’d come home upset about something.
I was promptly startled out of my brief stint of pony watching as Winona, who’d evidently noticed me, came bounding up to see if I would join in. The small collie barked happily as she all but threw herself at me, nearly bowling me over as she began to lick at me affectionately.
“Alright, Winona, alright; ya got me,” I said, laughing as I gently pushed the collie off of my chest. Apple Bloom followed her canine companion to me as well, adding her own, slightly less insane greeting.
“Hey, Blade Star. Ah was wonderin where ya were. Applejack said somethin’ ‘bout you goin’ off with Spike.” I smiled and ruffled the filly’s mane for a moment, another odd paternal quirk I’ve been developing.
“Oh he was just worried ‘bout Twilight is all, AB. Ya know how she can get sometimes.” Apple Bloom giggled, either at me ruffling her mane or my poking fun at Princess Twilight.
Winona promptly interrupted our little conversation; no one had thrown the stick for her in the last ten seconds. Surely that was far too long for a clever working dog such as herself. Never one to turn down an opportunity for a bit of fun, I picked the stick up in my magic.
“Alright, Winona, watch the stick now,” I said, waving it around in front of her vision. The collie’s head and tail twitched in excitement. “Ready, ready, and go fetch!” Using a fair bit of my energy, I hurled the stick with magical kinetic force sending it flying over the tree line. Instantly, Winona was after it, yapping at the prospect of her imminent ‘kill’. Apple Bloom and I went at a steady canter after her.
“Gosh, Blade Star. Ah wish Ah could throw it that far!” she exclaimed as the stick fell into the tall grass ahead.
“Oh, you will be able to one day, AB. Look at your sister, she can do that with apples, never mind little sticks,” I replied.
Incidentally, fun fact; while Big Mac is naturally stronger than me by a fair margin, it might surprise you to know that even with all the work I do here on the farm, AJ is still significantly stronger than me. I’ve tried a dozen times and I’ve never managed to beat her in hoof wrestling. I’m not quite sure how to feel about that.
Winona eventually came hurrying back to us; stick in her mouth with her tail wagging. She promptly deposited her catch at our hooves; evidently more play time was required. And that pretty much sums up what Apple Bloom and I did until supper time.
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Depends on if it's the Doctor's List or River's List, doesn't it?
Sadly, I am not that familiar with Doctor Who, so I am drawing a total blank.
I'm going to assume doctor who rule 1 is like Ansem retort rule 1 "plans are for nerds and will get you shot"
5209321 Rule #1
The Doctor Lies
I wonder how River Song would deal with the thought that her husband has had a child out of wedlock with another female?
then again, they're Timelords, maybe their views on all that stuff differ significantly from our society's standpoints. Heck, maybe she'll cameo at some point perhaps, but, as River's prone to saying, "Spoilers!"
From one Whovian to another, keep up the good work!
How? You can't pinch with hooves (Unless you use both?)
What could he be lying about?
5209321 Rule number 1: the Doctor lies encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRkPfIl7Kd5DTcc8QFPiQOdkqTF8ZaWHAPZbTVYYhN41OIuSSA2bQ
5212323 she might really know the truth, or he's withholding information.
(P.s. Can I get that follow now, please oh, please)
5209729 This is debatable, some claim their marriage invalid as it did happen in an alternate timeline where everything happened at once.
5390957 you mean, the alternate timeline where two (technically) time-lords got married? true she's not a native gallifreyan, but as long as they remember it, it's gotta be legal in time-lord parlance, because if it weren't that way then the time-lords of old could've just hopped back in time before any of them got married and fool around. but no, if we acknowledge marriage as part of gallifreyan culture, then it must be legal throughout the path they take through the timestream, including alternate timelines, parallel universes and any other multi-dimensional blethers (slang for nonsense). Or at least, that's my latest take on the topic. I try to stay open-minded and logical in all topics.
Until the sequel gets posted.
My Family and Other Equestrians II: The Bucking Daleks Invade
Umm the doctor lies? (Ps. I'm not whoovian never seen a single episode and Googled the answer... No regrets) i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/977/816/b55.gif
Huh? I don’t know this story? All I know is that he spoke with sign language.
Well, the rules change but in this case its probably "I'm in charge."
This means that the Doctor is Dinky's father and despite what the comments may say, this is final.