Zero Room

by FiveyWhooves

A Reunion of Sorts

Though there seemed to be nothing but silence in the early morning, Nyssa's ear twitched when she heard something making a noise in the room. She perked her head up a little and looked around in the dark room to see a couple mice moving between knotholes in the wall, rushing over the wooden floor. Nyssa yawned and rubbed her face slightly to get the tiredness out of her eyes, but slipped back into relaxation again. The sounds were simply small creatures minding their own business.

Her head rested again, however it was difficult to fall back to sleep. The sleep she had before then was pretty heavy, so now all she could muster was lightly snoozing again. It wasn't quite as refreshing as a deeper slumber. Nyssa turned and re-positioned herself a couple times when she caught something out of the side of her eye. She looked across the room and saw that something about the Doctor's(5) sleeping area was flat. She lifter her head higher to confirm that he definitely wasn't there. Nothing but the empty blankets signified that he was there at one point. She sighed and rolled her eyes: Timelords didn't need that much sleep and it most likely stayed the same with the Doctor taking the form of a Timepony. According to what Nyssa hypothesized in her head, he was probably out creating some sort of mischief.

With sleepy legs that required some stretching and shaking out, Nyssa got up and decided to go looking for him. It would give her something to do instead of pretending to sleep anyhow, and she didn't want to have to clean up a huge mess later that the Doctor was probably in at that very moment. The unicorn silently stepped out of the room, not even bothering to wake up Tegan. She was sure she wouldn't go far and be back before dawn. Besides, dealing with a tired Tegan in the middle of the night was a whole other difficulty in itself.

Nyssa found it difficult to move quickly and quietly with hooves that could definitely make a noise across the hard floor, so she crept quietly through the house and down the stairs. Her eyes moved between the ground where she carefully placed her steps and the various bird houses and animal structures that were scattered throughout Fluttershy's home. It was a strange thought to Nyssa on how Fluttershy kept pets. She assumed it was probably a strange way that the other animals and the ponies lived together; either way, Fluttershy didn't strike Nyssa as one of those mongers that kept peaceful and wild animals trapped in cages.

Once she got down to the bottom of the stairs Nyssa then focused toward listening for where the Doctor might be. She didn't hear anything but Fluttershy's light snoozing from the couch and so went toward the front door. She carefully found a way to open it with her magic before she stepped outside.

An extremely faint glow was visible on the horizon, signifying that a new day was going to begin soon. The dew had settled for the most part and the temperatures were at their lowest, creating a slightly chilly, damp environment. Nyssa saw this and decided to look for any sort of impressions in the grass or disturbances in the dew since there seemed to be no recent hoofprints tread on the dirt path. The dew didn't seem disturbed but she did notice that impressions had been made in the grass before it had settled. Worriedly knowing that whatever took place here took place possibly hours ago, she investigated the scene further. The more she followed the impressions, the closer she got to an area where it seemed like something had definitely happened. Some grass had been torn up, dirt was kicked various directions, nearby bushes had their leaves and twigs scrambled about. . .the Doctor's hat was lying in the center of it all, slightly bent up and dirtied. Nyssa carefully picked it up with magic to examine it, but after a couple seconds it flickered and the hat fell, considering her magic was still not extremely strong. But even from a perspective of looking at it on the ground, Nyssa knew that this was indeed a very bad sign, especially if it meant that it happened much earlier in the night. Wherever the Doctor was could be far away as much as Nyssa knew, especially if this was somehow caused by the Master, which was her first instinctual suspicion.

The mare carefully tried picking up the hat in one hoof before she walked back to the door, when a familiar sound hit her ear. The strangled whirring of the TARDIS started filling the air. Nyssa turned her head and saw the blue box come into view, only it wasn't the blue box she had known and loved, it was slightly different. It was blue-ER, and although still a bit beaten up seemed to have had some modifications made to it. She watched it come into view curiously and confused, but then wondered, could this be the other Doctor? The one that every other pony knew around Equestria?

She kept her distance, watching it carefully until it fully materialized. When the door opened a different face appeared from inside of it, a face that Nyssa didn't recognize. This face, belonging to a earth pony stallion, had a tan coat and a dark chestnut mane that went up and everywhere. His clear eyes blinking in almost wide wonder as he looked right at Nyssa standing in the middle of the grass. He stepped out of the TARDIS and walked onto the lawn, his flank revealing an hourglass identical to the Doctor that Nyssa knew.

"Are you. . .the Doctor?" Nyssa asked hesitantly, just looking at him in disbelief. The stallion just stood quietly a bit before a childish grin crept on his face. An Earth/Scottish accent came out of his mouth when he spoke in excitement.

"Yes! And it's you! Nyssa!" The Doctor(10) kept his wide smiled and trotted closer to her. "I know you don't recognize me but. . .I am the Doctor! Well, another Doctor, but still the same Doctor, just with a different face."

Nyssa just looked at him with disbelief but knew that all the facts did line up. He fit the description the other ponies gave him. She knew, from seeing it happen, that the Doctor could change his face and even aspects of his personality quirks. The cutie mark was the same; he had to be the same pony. But she was still at a loss for words. It was too incredible of an event to comment on immediately.

"How come you came here?" asked Nyssa. "Especially out of all places?"

"I've been trying to figure that out as well," he replied. "However I know that there are some strange things happening. I was able to find that one of my previous selves had arrived here. . .mainly from the Master himself."

Nyssa's eyes widened. "You had an encounter with the Master? Where did he go?"

"I'm uh, still working that out, but this location seemed suspicious enough," he replied while scratching the back of his head. He looked around at the beaten down grass and bushes. "It seems that I've come a bit late, possibly. . ."

"I feel the same," said Nyssa. "Something happened here hours ago. I don't know what it was but this was the only evidence I could find." She showed him the beaten hat.

"Oh that's not good."

"Perhaps we can join you in solving this mystery," said Nyssa. "I apologize if you wanted to socialize or catch up, considering I expect you haven't seen me in a while from your point in time, but it seems we have bigger matters on out. . .hooves."

"That's quite alright," the Doctor smiled. "Nyssa, always getting right down to business!"

"Let me wake up Tegan and we can be on our way. I'm sure you'll get enough socializing out of her," said Nyssa. She handed the Doctor the hat as she hurried back inside to wake up her friend. The Doctor took it and stared at it as she went inside.

* * *

It was a miracle that Nyssa was able to pull Tegan out of the house within a couple minutes. She left the house with the mare after she told the half-awoken Fluttershy that they were on their way. Nyssa felt bad that she couldn't leave a simple note instead, however a pen was not something that a new equine could use easily.

When the two walked outside they met up again with the Doctor. Nyssa had told Tegan a couple things already, however, the latter still had quite a reaction when she saw him for the first time.

"So you're the one that all the others talk about!" exclaimed Tegan. "That's rather interesting, although also weird. What do you look like as a human?"

"Hello again Tegan," the Doctor chuckled. "I look about the same, just without all the. . .horse-ness."

"What do you wear that's different? I'm imagining it's something twice as ridiculous as a mile-long scarf or a vegetable."

"Tegan, we can ask these questions later," interrupted Nyssa. "I'm personally curious about things myself. But the Doctor with the face that we know is in some sort of trouble."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, but luckily I've been able to track the Master's TARDIS's presence in my own TARDIS. It's likely he has something to do with the disappearance with the other me." Nyssa nodded in agreement.

"I don't personally enjoy playing games with the Master," said Tegan, "but you are right. I hope you know what you're doing by this face of yours, Doctor."

"What? Of course! Of course! Now come on!" he led them to his TARDIS. The two mares followed, Tegan noticing what Nyssa noticed earlier about the TARDIS.

"He sure has given it an upgrade. . .finally," said Tegan as she looked at the blue exterior, lightly damaged but a brighter blue and free of any stray markings.

Author's Note:

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this part of a series?

[Starlight Nova]

5651223

[FiveyWhooves]

7884358

This is just a crossover I've made between MLP:FiM and Doctor Who, especially Classic Doctor Who with the Fifth Doctor. A lot of the earlier chapters start off from where Doctor Who episodes leave off, specifically TimeFlight.

[IllusionedDrawer64]

Oh No! What happens next?!