The Lives of Doctor Whooves

by GrandSpellcaster

Chapter 3: School

Starlight was sitting in class shuffling the pages of her text book repeatedly reading the book over and over again, with her light blue hooves, "There has to be something I'm missing." She mumbled aloud.

"Well why don't you open the book and find out" she jumped as the dark red stallion, Professor Long Lecture's, unexpected voice came from behind her.

"Okay." She muttered, I hate pretending to be a pony, she thought as she opened the textbook to the page she needed and pretended to read it.

The purple unicorns sitting next to her leaned over and whispered "You know, I don't think you are having a problem with the theory. It seems to me that you’re not using enough power, that's all."

"Fair enough." Starlight whispered back. "So what do you recommend I do then Twilight?"

"Well if you don't have the power now, you could wait till after lunch to try, or if your reserves aren't large enough you could, in the long run, try holding as many things as you can as long as you can."

"So I need to work out my horn then" Starlight said looking at her horn and tapping it with her hoof. "Thank you you’re... Twilight, but if that's it then I should be fine now."

"Just trying to be helpful." The purple unicorn said smiling and turning back to her advanced magic theory textbook.

According to the theory I only need half of my mana reserves, but maybe..., she thought to herself as she prepared herself to cast the spell. Her horn lit up and she started to glow, in the next few moments she would either prove herself as a unicorn in this school or she would have to once again be embarrassed by her non affinity to magic, she was hoping for the former. As the spell began to move her she began to feel pins and needles all around her, she felt herself move slightly forward then suddenly she felt no ground beneath her as she fell a full yard in front of the professor’s desk. She landed hard on her front hooves as momentum carried her forward she only missed the Long Lecture's desk itself thanks to several of her classmates using their telekinesis to stop her.

As she lay on the floor, holding her leg. Soon enough a very light pink mare with a white hat atop her light blue mane came into the room with a healing spell and an ice pack. As soon as Starlight saw her she stood up quickly and almost head butted one of her classmates, "I'll pass on the spell please miss Tender Touch" She said hoping the nurse would listen.

The nurse studied Starlight’s leg, "Are you sure sweetie? It looks like it could be fractured."

"I'm absolutely positive, all I need is the ice pack. Thank you anywise." Starlight said accepting the ice pack and placing it on her injured foreleg.

"Just promise me you'll keep that ice on it until it stops hurting." The nurse said worrying for the young light blue mare.

"Don't worry I'll be sure to keep it on." Starlight said as the nurse left.

Starlight used what little energy she had left to hold the ice pack to her foreleg as she limped back to her desk. Long Lecture followed her and once she had seated herself he began to lecture her, "Miss Starlight you know that every student only gets three tries to successfully teleport and that was your third try." The Long Lecture's voice came out from behind his desk as she sat down.

"Yes and I succeeded." Starlight said nursing her forelimb.

"I'd hardly call that a success..."

"The rules for the test say that all I need to do is move a full fifteen feet to pass and I did."

"I'm sorry Starlight, but I've measured every possible distance in this room and it's only thirteen and a half feet from your desk to mine..."

"Which is why I teleported a yard in the air, you'll find that I made it farther then fifteen feet by about five inches." She said defensively.

He levitated a strip of yarn and moved one end over to where Starlight was and the other end to where she had teleported to. To his amazement the yarn didn't make it to Starlight. "Well Miss Starlight looks like you're right. I guess you've passed." He said. "Looks like you're ready to join the class in temporal mechanics."

---

Starlight was sitting at her lunch table outside facing the outer part of Canterlot just looking at the view. Twilight sat reasonably far enough away so that she couldn't be associated with Starlight but still close enough that if the princess dropped by she could say that they were sitting together. "It's so beautiful isn’t it Twilight." She asked as Twilight finished her sandwich.

Twilight only responded, "Very" as she stuck her nose in a book she had just pulled out.

"You know life doesn't happen in books?"

"Yes" Twilight replied.

"Geese! Aren't you the chatterbox?" Starlight said rolling her turquoise eyes, and that's when she saw it. It wasn't obvious but as the janitor wheeled away a trash can she saw a blue and green striped hairless tail in his brown one. It was only a segment but it was enough to put her on edge.

"Hay Twilight...how long has that janitor been here?" She asked the busy bookworm.

Twilight looked up at the janitor and then thought, "About three months, he came in with the rest of the new staff."

"Who else did he come with?" Starlight asked.

"The new headmaster, the new nurse the entire janitorial staff was replaced and several of the lunch mares."

"I see, and the reason for the replacements?"

"The last headmaster went crazy, they say he was seeing monsters, the old nurse got a better job, the janitors went on strike and formed a union and are all butlers for the rich now, and some of the lunch mares followed the janitors' example."

"Interesting..."

"Now can I ask you a question?" Twilight began her next thought.

"I think you already have." Starlight said smiling.

"Why don't you ever eat lunch? You know it's free right?"

"Oh I'm just not hungry."

"But every day, you never eat not even once."

Is she on to me. "Well you know I'm from Trottingham and we eat at a later time there." Starlight said running her hoof through her light blue and pink mane.

"Right...you know if you aren't going to tell me the truth then you could just say so." Twilight said sticking her nose back in the book.

I guess you're proof that ponies can change, Starlight thought, "believe it or not, it doesn't change the truth" because the truth is much weirder.

---

The look on Starlight's face was one of utter boredom, what these ponies knew of temporal mechanics wouldn't even fill a textbook, yet somehow they managed to make it look like it did. Still she had to give the benefit of the doubt considering it was a barley used magic that didn't even have any spells associated with it.

Next to her Twilight was writing down as much of Long Lecture's lecture as she could. As Starlight looked around she saw everypony was, except her. Then came the question, "Miss Starlight seeing how you’re clearly too well versed in temporal mechanics to bother with taking notes, would you care to explain what a destiny paradox is?"

Starlight wished she had thought she really did, but she forgot to think and said a bit too much, "A destiny paradox is simultaneously the strongest and the weakest form of paradox. Since it can counter almost any form of paradox to the point of allowing one to kill their own grandparents and still exist. It is also considered the weakest because it is the easiest to over right by simply knowing that it will occur one can completely undo it. Of course that means crossing one's own time stream or knowing one's personal future which are big nonos." She prattled off, then she immediately realized what she had just said.

"Well... Miss Starlight I'm afraid that you are wrong as a destiny paradox cannot be changed, as the great Star Swirl the Bearded put it, 'you can't change history if your part of it.'"

Starlight rolled her eyes "Okay. If you want to use the definition that the name implies."

"Miss Starlight this is the seventh time you've stopped paying attention to my lectures, I'm afraid I’m going to need to speak to you after class, with your parents."

"Yes sir." She said looking down at her textbook, Great give them more then I should have and I get in trouble for it.

---

"Well Miss Starlight where are they?" Long Lecture asked thumping a ruler on his desk. She only shrugged.

"I'm here!" Came the voice of the elderly grey earth pony wearing his black coat with a white shirt entered the room.

"Who are you?"

"Why I'm Starlight's grandfather and legal guardian, nice to meet you Mr. Lecture." He said extending a hoof in greeting.

"Professor Lecture, Hello Mr..."

"Doctor."

"Forgive me Doctor... I didn't quite get you name."

"Ahh yes it’s..." the Doctor began to have a minor coughing fit, "But you can just call me Doctor"

Long Lecture didn't catch a name in any of the coughing and just said, "Okay then. Well Doctor I'm afraid that your granddaughter doesn't pay attention in class and it's hurting her ability to perform."

"Okay" The Doctor said not really paying attention.

"She almost didn't pass her teleportation test, and I'm pretty sure that she was only able to pass because Twilight told her how."

The Doctor turned toward his granddaughter, "Is this true?"

"Sort of, she did tell me to put more power into it but I had a good grasp on the theory."

He turned back to Long Lecture, "Well then if she understood the theory I don't see the problem."

"There is also her complete lack of regard for my teachings..."

"Well if she read the material and understands it then there is no reason for her to need to pay attention to you." The Doctor said.

"Your granddaughter is going to fail if she keeps up like this."

"Is she? She seems to understand how it works, based off what I've seen" He said.

"Yes but I tell my students things that aren't in the textbook."

"I see your point... How about you send her home with a note and if it says that she wasn't paying attention then I'll punish her that night." the Doctor proposed.

"That could work...Yes I like that idea, we'll do it."

"Good. Well we'll be off then." The Doctor said getting off.

The Professor stuck out his hoof and the Doctor shook it, "Good day." He said and the two of them went out the door.

"Where are you going the exit is the other way!?" Long Lecture shouted rising up from his chair and walked after them into the hall only to find that they had vanished.

---

Starlight and her grandfather were moving down the hall slowly and quietly, "Are you sure the janitors' supply closet is this way?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes grandfather, I've memorized the map"

"And you're sure about this?" The Doctor inquired, "You're sure that you’re not just imagining it, or it is..."

"Yes! And I told you the Dilud is gone?"

"Fine."

"I saw his tail with my own eyes, I felt the perception filter on him."

"Very well, but if they replaced the headmaster maybe the headmaster's office would be a better place to start."

"But we don't know for certain that he's even involved." Starlight said gently opening the door to the closet and creeping in.

Suddenly the Doctor felt a hoof on his shoulder and turned around to see nurse Tender Touch giving him a questioning look, "Sir I'm afraid that the school is closed to the public."

"Well It's a good thing I'm not a part of the public." the Doctor began, "And I assure you I'm just snooping around this establishment to figure out what is going on in this school." He said and heard Starlight call him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to snooping." He said walking away towards the closet that his granddaughter had found.

The Doctor stepped inside the closet to find his granddaughter had uncloaked a black and green device that was making a low hum. The nurse walked in after him then immediately stopped, "What is that?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I suspect it does something." The Doctor said not really paying attention to her.

Starlight piped up, "It seems to be an energy siphon of some sort."

"Well Miss..." he trailed off, letting her fill in the blank.

"Nurse Tender Touch."

"Well Nurse Tender Touch have you noticed any odd things around the school in the last three months" The Doctor asked.

The nurse cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Well clearly something put it here to steal power from something." The Doctor insisted.

"What?"

Starlight eyes went wide and interrupted them "Grandfather!"

A booming voice interrupted them "How dare you?!?" The Doctor and Nurse Tender Touch turned towards a stallion in a janitorial outfit. "How dare you..."

"Turn off the cloaking device around your energy siphon, and discover your existence here?" The Doctor interrupted.

"Quiet! Now you die!" He said as he reached for the zipper of his janitorial uniform and unzipped it revealing a second zipper attached to his skin. He reached for it and pulled on it revealing a hairless blue and green striped quadruped with backward facing horns, large reptilian eyes, sharp teeth, three toed feet, a tool belt around his waist, and a tail that was spiked at the end.

The Doctor shouted "Starlight find the unload button!"

Almost immediately after he shouted at her she exclaimed, "Got it!"

"Stop or she'll press that button." the Doctor said now calm.

"Well played. But you do realize that if she hits that button we're all going to die."

"According to the capacity meter the whole school will go up" Starlight informed her grandfather.

"I know you won't have her press that button, you wouldn't let your granddaughter die so young." The creature said.

"Ha, you don't know me. But where are my manners, I'm afraid we haven't been properly introduced. Hello I'm the Doctor" He said sticking out his hoof insisting the creature shake it.

The beast reluctantly grabbed his hoof and shook it, "I am Selk of the Chelm"

"Nice to meet you Selk, the one with her hoof on the button is, and you know, my granddaughter Starlight. The one to scared to breath is Nurse Tender Touch..." The Doctor paused. A clunking sound was heard as Long Lecture bashed Selk on the back of his head with a desk chair. The Doctor continued, "And the pony that just knocked you out is Long Lecture."

"What is that thing" Long Lecture said pointing at the now unconscious Chelm, "And for that matter what is that" he said now pointing at the machine.

"In order or reverse" Starlight asked, shrugged then continued, "I'll do order. That is a Chelm and this is an energy siphon."

"Yes and you knocked out our only way of figuring out why they're here!" The Doctor scolded.

Tender Touch came out of her shock, "Don't yell at him for saving us!"

The Doctor gave her a sideways glance "My dear we were safer when Selk here was conscious. Then we had a chance to find a peaceful way to resolve this situation, but now we may have just lost that chance."

"Well we still have a chance, the Chelm are a relatively peaceful race, barring the occasional war." Starlight said now looking over the machine again.

"I guess so..." The Doctor said turning towards the machine and beginning an inspection.

"Not to mention that he didn't have his battle claws on." Starlight added for good measure.

Long Lecture looked over the unconscious Chelm and focused on the spikes at the end of his tail and his horns, "I don't think he needed battle claws".

"Oh my..." The Doctor said looking at a reading on the machine, "Do any of you feel fatigued?"

"A little" Tender Touch answered.

"It's been a long day" Long Lecture added.

"Not really" Starlight said.

"Well I know why, this collector was siphoning the magic from the unicorns at this school, but why?" the Doctor said reading the various displays.

"The Chelm were never the best magic users, perhaps they're trying to get better, sort of like I did."

"But why steal magic?" Tender Touch began, "a nights rest always replenished reserves."

"The Chelm can only interact with magic not contain it in their bodies. But they discovered that they could contain it in machines" The Doctor informed her.

"They must need a lot of power." Starlight remarked looking at the nearly full gauge.

"What have you done!?!' Came the voice of a female Chelm upon seeing what Long Lecture did to Selk.

"Nothing." The Doctor started, "we did nothing. We, that is my granddaughter and I, were just wandering the school looking for a classroom when we stumbled into these two. And upon interrupting their little... um... let's say 'interaction', what do you think Starlight? Is 'interaction' good?"

"'Interaction' is good, certainly better then what they were actually doing" at about this point both the professor and the nurse realized exactly what the other two time ponies were trying to imply.

"Very good, we found them doing an interaction." The Doctor continued ignoring the death stares he was getting from the ponies. "And we insisted they follow us so we could properly report them. But we couldn't find anypony because we stumbled upon your friend here. Up which a stallion hit him in the back of the head with this chair and ran down the hall."

"You know too much and must be silenced." The Chelm states and began to charge her horns.

"Don't bother" the Doctor said hitting a green button on the machine behind him and the Chelm's charge died down.

"What!? How'd..."

"How'd we know how to cut your tie with the siphon?" Starlight asked.

"Yes!"

"Whoever made this labeled the buttons." Starlight said simply.

"You can read Chelm!?"

"No psychic circuits and a translation matrix." She answered giving a joyful smile.

"How can you read these dashes?" Long Lecture asked, forgetting where he was for a moment.

"Yes, and now we know how to reverse the process and empty the canister in a way that won't kill us." The Doctor said preparing the siphon for draining.

"Don't you dare!" The Chelm said trying to sound menacing.

"Why?" The Doctor asked letting a little concern enter his face.

"We need that power to get home!" She reviled to them.

"Ah I see it clearly now, you're stranded here." Starlight said before her grandfather could say anything.

"Yes, we were shot down." she confirmed.

Long Lecture was confused, "How did you know they were stranded"

"She was concerned about getting home. And if you’re that concerned about getting home then you’re stuck." Starlight explained.

"Anywise...May we speak to your leader" the Doctor asked.

"Present" a low growling voice said coming from Selk as he began to rise.

"What was your purpose being so close to this planet?"

"We're cartographers, we were mapping out this solar system when we were attacked by something on the moon of this planet. Before we knew it our ship was burning up on entry of this planet. We needed the magic to fuel the distress beacon." He said as he stood up.

"What are you talking about!? I'm fairly certain that it is impossible to leave this planet" Long Lecture said now slightly miffed.

"Lecture look at them and the machine it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility is it." Tender Touch said trying to convince him.

"You ponies are so narrow minded whenever it comes to science." The Doctor thought aloud, "but if you’re crashed here and you and your friends need to get home then I'm certain I can help." He moved towards the siphon and removed a panel at the base, “Starlight reset the width of the signal emitter then reverse it."

"Yes grandfather." She said getting to work on the top of the siphon.

As the two of them worked Selk looked at Long Lecture, "I don't remember you" he said simply.

"That's because I came after that stallion that hit you with a chair... Um... hit you with a chair."

"Starlight! I told you to reverse it not invert it!"

"Well inverting it will give it more power I the long run." She said defensively.

"I'm not worried about the long run I only intend to send this signal once." he said rearranging several circuits.

"Why once? If there aren't any ships in range then you'll end up destroying their only hope to get home."

"I don't plan to send the signal to a ship" The Doctor said rolling his eyes.

"Don't tell me you plan to signal to their planet? You'd need to know the exact coordinates of their home world, be able to account for atmospheric interference from both planets, not to mention the time displacement."

"I don't!" The Doctor shouted at her.

"You'd have the same problems if you aim for their colonies."

"Starlight stop questioning me, I know for a fact that there is an old asteroid orbiting the outer solar system made completely out of tungsten. I intend to turn that into the beacon."

"So the beam is going to..."

"Use it like a mirror and a laser, the beam will be amplified and refracted across this entire sector of space. But we'll only get to send the signal once." He said peeling the casing off some wires.

"Why?" the female Chelm asked.

Starlight answered her inquiry, "Because if we hit the asteroid we may very well warp it to the point where we won't be able to use it again. She thought for a moment, "But what if you attract some unwanted attention?" Starlight asked him starting to work again.

"I like to think that the ponies can handle themselves, besides whenever they get around to radio waves and space exploration it'll be a goal to strive for. They're curiosity will drive them to get out there and figure out what caused it to be so."

"And if something we can't handle what comes?" Long Lecture asked.

"I'll knock it out of orbit if anything you can't handle comes." The Doctor explained. He turned back to the machine and connected several cut wires together.

"But what makes you think that our species will be the ones to investigate the beacon." Selk asked.

"We'll be sending the signal on your frequency and we should get the signal all the way to your home world. I'd expect somechalm will answer your call. Now do me a favor and input the signal again, I seem to have reset the computer when I cut off your link with it."

"Sure" Selk said moving to the console and reactivating the distress signal. "Are you absolutely sure this is going to work?"

"Yes..." He confirmed replacing the panel. "Now I've managed to aim for the asteroid so all you have to do is fire the beacon."

Selk held his middle toe on the button, "Here goes nothing... Wait how do I know you actually know what you’re doing."

The Doctor grabbed a scanner off of Selk and scanned himself with it then handed it back to Selk, "Here just keep it quiet or well you know."

Selk looked at the readings and his eyes went wide, "By the Third Sphere of Catep!"

"Yes, yes, impressive I know, just press the button" The Doctor ordered.

He pushed the button and nothing happened. The female Chelm asked, "How long till they come?"

"Could be minutes, could be days." The Doctor said leaning back.

The console flashed to light and the screen showed a message, Selk read it aloud "Selk it's Crol, I'm coming don't worry"

"Crol's coming!?!" The female Chelm squeaked.

Selk grumbled "Yes"

"Well we've solved your problem, and you need to get your fellow survivors together and we need to be off. Come along everypony."

"Doctor we can never thank you enough. Please if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." Selk said gratefully.

"Knock the asteroid out of orbit will you? I fear Long Lecture might be right and I'd rather not take the chance after all."

"Understood" Selk said before he and female walked away.

"Now Starlight and I have something to show you along with a job opportunity." The Doctor said to the professor and the nurse.

"We do?"

"Yes. We do, they know enough that I no longer have to pretend to be ponies anymore. Now if you'd like to take a few textbooks of every subject then we can leave." The Doctor said.

"What do you mean" Long Lecture asked puzzled.

"Well we travel a lot and I want you to teach Starlight here why we travel." He explained.

The pair of ponies looked at each other, Long Lecture spoke for them, “I don't think so."

"I urge you to reconsider, Starlight needs help to discipline her magic and you managed to teach her how to teleport in only one month."

"Do I get a say in this?" Starlight asked.

"That depends..."

"Professor Long Lecture, Nurse Tender Touch..." Starlight began addressing them both, "Just look at our mode of transportation first then decide."

They decide to follow Starlight and the Doctor out the front of the school, a block to the right and down an ally to a blue police box. "Here we are," Starlight announced, "This is our TARDIS" She beamed.

"It's a bit small isn’t it?" Tender Touch asked.

She got a nod from Long Lecture, "How are we all supposed to fit.

The two time ponies smiled knowingly. "Allow me" The Doctor said fishing for a key, which once he had he used to open the doors. "Go on inside."

The two ponies went inside to the newly repaired console room and their mouths fell open, "How?" Lecture managed to get out.

"The Doctor walked in and said, "So what do you think, will you teach my granddaughter?"

"I wish I could, if only for the opportunity to study this spatial magic on the side." Long Lecture said, "But I we can't I have a commitment to the school."

"Me too" nurse Tender Touch added.

"Oh I don't think that'll be a problem... As ridiculous as a name for the capsule Tardis is there is one thing it conveys correctly, tell them what your little anagram stands for Starlight."

Starlight was smiling ear to ear, At least he's acknowledging my name for the TARDIS, "It stand for, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. The key thing is time, as in time machine."

"You mean..."

You could already be back and relaxing at home right now." The Doctor said resting his fore hooves on the console, "So what do you say? Want to see the stars and teach a blossoming young unicorn how to control her magic?"

The pair looked at each other and simultaneously nodded, "We'll do it" Tender Touch said.

"Just let me get the books that I'll need to teach her" Long Lecture said heading out the door with Starlight.

Author's Note:

Two more members to the team, hope that something bad doesn't happen wile Long Lecture is teaching Starlight. Oh well that's what Tender Touch is here for.