Doctor Whooves- Through The Cracks

by LemonDrizzle

The Mad Colt And The Cube

The Mad Colt And The Cube

Prior to the Big Bang 2

Delicious.

It looked out over the clustered huddle of slow moving, slouching creatures before it, its eyes darting around the meandering groups of fleshy displays. The bipedal, lumbering ugly apes that moved forward painfully slowly, scratching and picking at themselves when they thought no one was looking. It could smell them from where it stood in the shadows, watching and waiting. Oh, they stunk. The smell clinging to the inside of its nose, weeks of washing and smelling the Pervillian Perfume Plants would not be enough to rid it of that horrid smell. The smell of grease and sweat and meat and fat. The smell of fear and stress and happiness and anger and guilt. The smell of progress and evolution and theory and logic and reason. The unmistakeable, unmissable, unbelievable smell of humans.

Delicious.

It licked its cracked lips in the darkened corner of the library, the window it was looking through was dusty, dirty and smeared with grime and filth that these humans had yet to clean. It served its purpose though, allowing a wide view towards the cobbled street that held its next potential feeding source. It hadn't fed in such a long, long time. It felt dry and withered and weak, the tireless energy that had once rushed through its pale, translucent veins was merely a memory, a thing of the past. Soon though, soon that memory would be relived. Soon it would feel the power, the control over another being. Soon it would be able to feast and drain and feast and drain and feast and dra-

Enough of that, it chided to itself as it went back to staring at the humans, its wandering mind immediately darting back into the present, disregarding the future.

Delicious.

Slowly, incredibly, unbearably slowly it started to move forward. It hobbled away from the window, its age old legs quivering slightly with just the mere strain of moving. This body did not have long left, it was diminishing.

Blast this body, it grumbled to itself once more, so frail, so feeble. Soon though, oh yes very soon I shall have another.

It smiled, a cruel, evil, dark smile that signified a life of evil, a life of cruelty and of darkness but most shockingly, a life of simply not caring about any of those things. A life of a true monster, a dark criminal. Achingly, it crept towards the old, wooden peeling door that signified the entrance and exit of the tatty, dank library. The notches in the wood clearly showed sign of use and abuse, of desperate children slamming the door and of impatient humans storming out in a huff after looking at the slightly too long line.

Such despicable creatures,it thought in a putrid voice, such impatience, such ignorance. Oh yes, it would be a pleasure to take one of them after all they have done to me.

They'd shot it, shot it, right out of the skies. It had been running, running from the light that had claimed its people, from the light that was spreading across the universe. Such a terrible, terrible light. A crack in time through which lay everything and yet nothing. A crack that had swallowed its world as it made its escape, taking the last shuttle across the icy realms of space. It could still remember that light and yet that was the only true thing that it could really remember about its past. No idea of a mother, no idea of its people, no idea of the stars that had once littered the sky. That crack had absorbed its past and whilst it knew this, it meant nothing. This couldn't be fixed, his memory couldn't be returned. It was too far gone now.

It had fled over worlds and stars and galaxies. Over cosmos's and asteroids and centaurs. Its ship had flown too close to this “Earth” though. Such a dull name, may as well have called it dirt. The aliens of this world had been scared and had shot it down, retaliating even though it had done nothing to them. Nothing.

It had fled and they had chased it. Nearly caught it even but it had been chased by far worse then these intergalactic morons. It had found a host, a weak, frail host but a host nonetheless and it had absorbed. It had felt the eyes on it as it left the building from which it had just fed. It had seen the eyes harden when he cried out in the voice of the elderly lady he had absorbed that “there was something in there”. It had seen its chasers, its persecutors run into the building, it had smiled as it had followed them in and, with the ease of snapping twigs, broke the necks of all three men. They never saw it coming, the little old lady with the strength of a bull. Feeding off a corpse is impossible and with such activity it had already begun to kill its host body. That is what had led it into the city four hours ago, a search for a new host. A search for new meat.

It was out on the street now, its eyes darting to and from human to human, the bloodhound like nose and the eyes that saw more then all of these pitiful humans combined began to narrow down the list of potential meals.

Too fat, too short, too skinny, too hairy,the list droned on and on as its eyes darted everywhere at once, too ginger, oh, what do we have here?

There, directly ahead. A male of the species, a tall broad specimen with black hair that flowed down to his shoulders. He looked to be about eighteen years old, muscular and, even better, all on his lonesome. He was wearing those tacky, earth clothing that had the images of so many big named “labels” on them. As if it cared what it would be wearing soon. The thrill of the hunt had taken over and now there was only one thing on its mind.

Delicious.

It stumbled towards the target, saliva bubbling in its human mouth, making it wince in disgust as it felt the gums of the women begin to bleed as he ground his teeth together in ecstasy. Soon, so very, very soon. It strolled up to the man and tapped him on one muscular shoulder with one of its dainty, shrivelled prunelike finger. The prey turned quickly, spinning around with a broad grin, obviously expecting someone else. His face fell pretty quickly but a small smile reappeared just as quickly as he caught sight of the elderly women in front of him. How it wished it could savour that feeling of disappointment that had radiated off of the human at that point, it would have made for a delicious dessert, Alas, there was a job to perform.

“I'm sorry to disturb you young man...

Such a weak, snivelling voice. Bah, I had to pick the weak woman

...but this very scary, lanky man just took my wallet and rushed into that alley...

The alley that only went one direction, oh the perfect place, the perfect crime

...would you help me find him? A picture of my deceased husband is in there and I just-I can't...”

Oh, how easy it was to play the old women act. Cry and wobble and sniffle and everyone would fall at your feet like royalty.

The young man had been frowning whilst listening to the tale that it had conjured up in moments and as soon as it had stopped talking, he had immediately agreed to help out. He flexed his muscles menacingly once and put a dark, deep-set frown on his face that nearly made it burst into fits of hysterical laughter. This puny human was trying to act big and tough and...pfft, scary!

“Lead the way ma'am, I'll sort him out for ya”

The voice that emanated from the man was quite deep, certainly another useful tool for it. After all, who would take a tall, muscular man seriously if he had the voice of a ten year old on helium? It needed someone with which it could strike fear into the hearts of others. It needed someone strong and useful and deadly.

It hobbled away, slinking down a shadowed alley. It was dark here, so very, very dark. The walls were close together, barely allowing it to walk shoulder to shoulder with the unsuspecting victim. The unpleasant waft of rubbish snaked its way through their noses, the smell of decay and rottenness seeping into their clothes. The noises of the bustling street were dulled now, replaced by the echoing sound of their footsteps striking the slimy, greasy ground. Shadows twisted around the alley, coating the elderly women in great sheets of darkness. The man paused for a minute as they reached the end of the alley, glancing around him. Searching for the imaginary perpetrator, eyes grazing across potential hiding areas.

“I'm sorry Miss but he must have gotten away. Are you sure he went dow-”

The man had started to turn after his search had finished, speaking in an apologetic whisper before it struck and silenced him.

It snaked its elderly leg out with a speed that defied the old bones, causing some of its bodies muscles to tear. Its foot caught the man hard in the knee, bending in backwards as he went down, screaming in pain. His voice was swiftly silenced as it reached down and, with the ease of lifting up a piece of paper, grasped his throat and slammed him into one of the gritty walls. Dazed, the man crumpled to the ground as the now menacing elderly lady slunk towards him, clutching her injured leg as she reached him. Slowly, it brought its seemingly fragile hand down and wrapped its seemingly feeble fingers around his throat.

“I would say that I am sorry” it said viciously, reaching into the pockets of its dull, grey trousers to grasp the, once more, seemingly weak object that it had kept hidden there, “but I'd be lying.”

It pulled its hand out of its pockets, a long, thin, white tube clutched in its bony hand. Carefully, it pushed the straw down to the neck of the now confused man, whose eyes were wide in unbelievable terror.

“If it comforts you in any way, I did pick you to feed upon out of all those other disgusting creatures. Feel blessed, you're to be my new host” it whispered softly, lowering its wrinkled head towards the man's ear, breathing the sour breath of the elderly across his cheek. Then, almost ruthlessly, it plunged the plastic straw into the man's neck. And there it began to drink its fill.

Delicious.

Its skin bubbled gruesomely as it drunk more and more of the now weak and faint humans blood. The previous host body seemed to cave inwards as the real creature behind the body of the old women was revealed in such a terrible travesty that it caused its prey to squirm pitifully against it in terror.

It had a white, translucent body that seemed to wobble and stretch like cold, ghastly white jelly. Long, thin, squiggly arms and legs snaked out from the similarly long, thin torso. The phantasmal arms ended in clawed, sharp talons that almost seemed to resemble that of an eagle. The feet had the same predatory aspect to them, large nails that clicked slightly against the floor of the alley. The face was a thing of nightmares, large bulbous black eyes with no pupils stared terrifyingly forward. Small slits were carved into the creatures flesh where the nose and ears should be, resembling the slice of a cats claws in flesh. The mouth was wide and gaping and dark, so dark. There were no teeth, no tongue, nothing but darkness resided in the mouth of the monstrosity that was feeding upon the man. Dark red blood pumped sluggishly through the opaque veins that wriggled within the body, colour flooding the white body.

Just as quickly, its true form had vanished. Fading slowly into view, skin bubbling and popping, the body of the man began to take shape around its body. Long, black hair sprouted from the white, bald head. The translucent skin turned into a soft, pink hue. Muscles and clothing flew and morphed around it, coating the body in cheesy, brightly coloured fabrics. Finally, the large, bulbous eyes began to shrink into its new head, forming bright blue eyes that shone with an evil gleam.

It took one last, long drag of the humans blood supply, draining every millimetre of previous crimson blood from him. The once strong, muscular, handsome man had now been shrivelled and killed, dead eyes staring lifelessly forward. His skin hugged his body like a tight, latex suit, bones clearly visible beneath the tightly wrapped skin.

The now fully replenished plasmavore stood up from its meal, the straw coming out of the drained neck with a soft popping noise. It closed its eyes in pleasure as it felt the energy and the revival and the renewed power course through its new body. It felt strong again, complete. It opened its eyes once more to glance down at the hideous body of the host body. Every time it would drain its victims, what was left would be merely skin and bones and it took an odd, perverse sense of pleasure in seeing a creature brought that way by its very own hands. Something wasn't right though, in fact something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Where the body had lain before now stretched with a large, white, shining crack in the fabric of reality.

The pull of the tear was horrendous, the large deformed crack drawing the plasmavore towards it as the gravitational force beckoned it forward. It desperately clawed the walls for any nooks or crannies that it could grip onto. It found none. It was dragged across the floor, shrieking unholy curses and slander as it felt the final light beginning to engulf its new body. Cruel fate, giving it the opportunity of a whole new body, only to tear it away from him with a sadistic laugh.

When an object is pulled into the tear, only one thing really happens. Complete molecular decommission. Every molecule, every atom, every trace of an atom, every knowledge of the atoms are torn apart and blown across the now endangered, tear stained universe. However cruel fate may be though, it had chosen this day to play a different card.

Seconds before the plasmavore fell into the tear in time, The Pandorica collided with the TARDIS in an engulfing blast of pure power. Molecular decommission takes a nanosecond of a nanosecond to come into effect, a time so short that no way of measuring it had been founded. However, molecular reconstruction takes exactly the same, speedy, unbelievably fast amount of time to occur. So just as The Pandorica worked its magic and renewed life around the universe, the tear in time began to de-construct the molecules of a certain, unhappy plasmavore. The effect of two powers, of life and death, provided a response in the universe that should never have occurred. The plasmavore had died and been reborn in the same nanosecond of a nanosecond, an impossibility in itself. A life born from its own death. The cracks began to close rapidly, just as the plasmavore began its reconstruction process, shutting down just as the unlucky creature was seemingly reborn.

Lives are not merely forgotten though, the plasmavore would not simply cease to be now that the crack had been closed. When an event of such astounding magnitude, the Big Bang 2 for example, occurs then the reactions are bound to be astronomical. You see, instead of the belittled plasmavore being sucked into the dark, never ending void of the space in between, the area reserved for The Doctor and The Pandorica, it was instead grasped and pulled by the hand of another universe. This new, kind, protective universe pulled it through a newly created crack in time, de-constructing the now very disgruntled plasmavore.

These sort of things do not happen at random, nor by coincidence. This new creature, the as of yet de-constructed plasmavore, was not merely going to be placed randomly along the universe, ditched at the nearest settlement. No, the universe pulled together the strings of convergence, twining the life of this creature from the other universe with a similar object from the other universe. The only other object that had followed it through from the other, now saved universe. The only two objects to have been forced into the new universe were sewn together in a thread of abnormality, of bonds that stretched deep. And so the lines of convergence began to draw closer as the first universal object forced its way through the final time tear and into the new universe. Pulling them together, the new universe combined the lives of the now spinning, burning Pandorica to the molecules and atoms of the plasmavore.

So when The Pandorica spun and burnt and crashed down upon Equestria, something new happened. Something forced by the rules and regulations of the new universe. The lines of convergence drew together in a resounding and yet un-hearable crack, the two lives that had conjoined now landing upon the massive, terra-formed planet.

As The Pandorica's doors opened, the light of the sun shining into it, the plasmavore's atoms and molecules swirled together and joined as one.

The plasmavore fell into Equestria having being dragged across the darkness of space, having been killed and reborn and killed and reborn too many times. Oh, and it was so very, very hungry.

[.]

“Fascinating..”

The Doctor stood outside of The Pandorica now, his equine limbs having put up a valiant struggle to take away the ability to merely function correctly, very nearly robbing him of movement . He had triumphed however, though it may have taken him multiple attempts to get standing on all four legs and, even then, he had fallen over more times then he cared to remember whilst attempting to walk forwards. A humbling experience indeed, like a baby talking its first steps. A really big, hairy baby.

The Doctor took the time to check over his new body, a routine that he had grown accustomed to in all his years of regenerations. He had seen many, many wonderful, terrifying, mind boggling things in his nine hundred and three years of life and yet this took the cake, the table and every single present that covered the table.

“Hooves eh? Ooooh, look at this! I have brown fur. Brown fur! Its not the ginger that I wanted but who am I to judge! Oh, I have a new set of teeth as well, all molars by the feel of things. Quite a peculiar taste it seems, oats and..grass I believe. Oh my, oh my, oh my. I can touch my nose, with my tongue. Not a nose Doctor, c'mon, you're an equine now, start thinking like one. Its a muzzle if my anatomy lessons served me true. Now, what's this? Hair! A mane! Oh dear lord, I have a ponytail as well. Oh, Rory would be gob-smacked if he saw me now. Actually, I'm pretty sure anyone would be gob-smacked were they to see me now.

Powerful hindlegs by the feel of things. I'm not sure whether I can really accept this yet but by the feel of these new muscles, I am one body building, hunk of a...colt? Yes, colt seems about right. Or is it stallion? Meh, it doesn't really matt-ah-ha-ha-ha. A tattoo, aww, I love a good tattoo,when was the last time I had one again, was it Third? Yeah, I do believe it was Third. Hmm, an hourglass, eh? Seems a bit to suspicious to be a mere coincidence. It seems almost etched onto me, perhaps not just any old tattoo. Oh, oh, oh, whatta my eyes look like!?”

The Doctor put on a sudden burst of speed, trying to get into view of the metal of the new gleaming Pandorica, hoping to catch his reflection in the polished metal. However, putting on a burst of speed with a whole new body is a very difficult thing to accomplish correctly. The Doctor, after a mere second of his crazed burst of enthusiasm, tipped forward and fell flat on his face, muzzle crunching up against the hard, dusty dirt floor with a loud thwack. Water splashed up against his new fuzzy face as he groaned from the unexpected encounter with the ground, the puddle he had nearly dived into soaking the fur of his fluffy, soft, caramel brown chest. The Doctor's eyes creaked open before he gaped in astonishment at the sight reflected from the small collection of water before him.

“My eyes are huge! Look at them, they've taken up nearly all of the space on my face. Ah, what a lovely, striking blue colour they are though. I've always liked blue I suppose, its such a calm colour. Oh, my mane. Its styled so perfectly, so majestically. I hate it, its too...formal. Yes formal.”

The Doctor reached up with one of his front hooves and rustled his mane until it resorted back to its original, messy, scribble of hair that he had grown so used to. He peeked down at his reflection once more before letting out a loud laugh as he desperately tried to clutch at his neck with his hooves.

“My bow-tie!. Oh, my beloved bow-tie, you're still here. Wait, if you're still here then where are the rest of my clothes? Ooooh dear, I didn't really notice the whole nudity thing before but now that I mention it, I am most certainly not covering anything up. Then again, I am an equine now, who needs clothes!?.”

The Doctor struggled back to his feet, limbs shaking and criss-crossing profoundly beneath him as he wobbled and swayed in the gentle breeze. Still, very shakily, he rose to his full, four legged height and gazed around the bombarded terrain that had caught The Pandorica in its increasingly fast fall.

He was stood in a large but not very deep crater. Brown, cracked earth spread around him for a good five metres, crumbly dirt and drifting dust still swirling around the “landing zone”. The crater curved downwards, its lowest point housing the now sparking Pandorica. Past the crater though, great fields of grass rose up from the ground, dazzlingly bright green blades standing to attention amidst the slight breeze that softly swayed them from side to side. Puddles of rainwater lay scattered across the grass, soaking into the ground and creating large clumps of sodden dirt that slumped and drooped in an almost sad manner. Fluffy, snuggled bushes leapt from the surface, red flowers blooming across their surface like ladybirds laying sleeping on the luminous green shrubs. Bright flowers of every colour littered the area, from succulent yellow to lavender purple to blazing orange, a spectrum of every colour laying like a rainbow across the clearing.

Past even that, great, lumbering, dark trees sprouted from the earth, leafy hands reaching upwards towards the sky. Deep, brown bark armoured the trees whilst dark green leaves lay scattered along its branches, clumping together in a protective shield. Ivy clung to some of the trees, twisting and writhing around the great wooden pillars, choking and suffocating the life out of the forest. Light dappled through the leaves, casting a light green glow across the whole clearing. Yet no visible light could be seen from the treeline, almost as if it had been stolen from view, hidden away and kept locked up from the smaller plants. Beautiful as the forest seemed to be, there was a creeping sense of foreboding that pumped sluggishly through The Doctor's veins.

Faint outlines of animals darted across the forests skin, from small, plump objects that vaguely resembled rabbits to large, hulking creatures that seemed to be mismatched, large bodies with even larger, barbed tails jutting out from the back. Yellow eyes stared from the darkened shroud of darkness around the forest, blinking quickly every few minutes.

He cast his gaze upwards, brilliant seas of blue painting the sky in a great swath of fantastic colour. Light, fluffy, white clouds drifted lazily by, no signs of anger or rain seen from their almost calm complexion. The Doctor couldn't see the star that was supplying the dappling light, the trees covering it up with long tendrils but he could certainly feel its warmth. It was neither too warm nor too cold, it created a fuzzy, hazy feeling in his body that harmonized within him, making him feel alive and strong and free.

“Alright, time to test run this new equine body” The Doctor said convincingly to himself, eyes darting down at his rebellious legs.

“Just to the grass and back, slowly now.”

The Doctor walked forward wobbly, limbs shivering slightly as he started to grow accustomed to the unusual method which he had to use to control his movement. His left leg moved forward just as his right, hindleg hit the ground with a small shake, dust wheezing up from the ground upon impact. Pretty soon the timelord had sorted out his rebellious limbs, walking to and from the slightly sodden grass with a confident saunter and a spring in his step.

“Alright, round two.”

The Doctor lowered his head to the floor, puffing the breath out of his noise in a steam like display before he began to gallop forward, began being the crucial word. He had gone perhaps a metre when his legs suddenly gave way beneath him, his new body exerting itself out far more quickly then he would have liked. For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, The Doctor found himself face down on the ground, limbs jerking wildly as he attempted to right himself.

Getting up with a small but carrying groan, The Doctor trotted back to The Pandorica, whirled around and once more charged forward, hindlegs kicking up small rocks.

One metre, two metres, three metres, I'm going to make it! The Doctor thought happily as he pumped his legs ferociously, I'm going to make it, I'm going to-glmph.

After the hundredth and once time of his fall, The Doctor still did not believe that the dirt tasted any better to him. The Doctor pulled himself up once more, back cracking slightly as he shook his furry body from side to side, trying to clear his head of stars. Once more, with the renewed vigour of a timelord that refused to be beaten by his own body, The Doctor trotted back to The Pandorica, twirled around in a graceful manner and bolted forward. He passed one metre, two metres, three metres, four metres. The Doctor smiled goofily as he broke his old record with a twist of dirt before his eyes widened as his hoof struck the grassy ground with a wet smack. Distance cleared The Doctor allowed himself a joyous whoop of triumph before he cantered swiftly back to The Pandorica. Immediately after his triumphant victory over his limbs The Doctor's head began to fill with his own, burning, unanswered questions.

Where are we? How are we here? Why are we an equine? Why did the bow-tie stay on even when all of our clothes were scattered? Where's the TARDIS? The screwdriver?

The Doctor frowned slightly as he skimmed through the growing list of questions, his head cocking to the side as he began to ponder upon the most important topic at hand. How was he a pony?

“Hmm, new equine body can't just be a random switch. Reasoning behind it must be sound or the change would not have occurred. I can't be dreaming this, my dreams revolve more around fishfingers and custard then pretty forests and a ravishingly handsome equine body.

...The Pandorica! Of course, it must have sensed its landing zone. Possibly scanned for the resident “alpha” race of the planet as well, which would seem to be ponies. I'm from the other universe, the old one as it were, I don't belong here. But The Pandorica changed that. It must have realized that its cargo was not of this universe and, using the newly gathered data of the alpha race changed me to fit the norm.

The box that brings life-bearing light, changing the body of its pilot in order to allow him to fit in with the new world. My anatomy must have changed dramatically, molecules rearranging and forming a whole, new being. Still got two hearts I see, guess there's something that hasn't changed. Oh, my dear Pandorica, if I didn't already have a beautiful blue box at home then I'd adopt you here and now.”

The Doctor stopped his long winded speech as the answer to one of his aching questions slotted perfectly into place, alleviating himself of the pecking question in his brain. He trotted forward until he stood directly in front of The Pandorica. His saviour and his “creator”. A large, ear to ear grin stretched painfully tight across his face as he reached out one hoof to stroke against the side of the wonderful, wonderful cube.

“Thanks for the alteration, I was wonderi-”

The Doctor had been reaching his hoof out closer and closer to the, unknowingly, still smouldering Pandorica. As soon as his hoof made contact a loud hiss of steam wafted from the new touch as he felt his new hoof begin to burn. The Doctor yelped loudly in pain as he swiftly removed his now crispy hoof from the scorching Pandorica.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, oooowwww”

The Doctor hopped on his three still mobile legs as he waved the painfully blazing hoof through the air in great swath movements that were reminiscent of painters and their brushes. The Doctor felt his three seemingly stable legs wobble slightly as he continued to wave his hoof and moan his pain. With a weak quiver, his three legs gave out and, once more, he surrendered his body to the floor. Still whimpering at the unexpected feeling of burning on his incredibly sensitive hoof The Doctor did the logical thing.

He stuck his hoof in his gaping equine mouth with a force that would rival that of the falling Pandorica.

Still unaware of how altered his teeth had become, The Doctor felt tears spring to his eyes as his searing hoof scraped painfully along the new, larger teeth that occupied his mouth. He groaned in pain as he began to writhe on the floor. Normally The Doctor would have just shrugged this sort of injury off and sauntered away to save the day but today The Doctor was a horse, in a new world with painfully sensitive hoofs and, as such, he felt he deserved to roll around the floor in pain for a while.

That was how they found him, a brown colt with black, ruffled hair rolling across the dirty ground, hoof in his mouth like the suckling of an infant. Soft moans emanated from him continuously before his eyes flickered open. Glazed at first but then with a brief bat of his eyelids The Doctor registered the six, bright, female ponies that stood in shocked silence before him. A gentle grin broke across his face, largely smothered by the hoof in his mouth. Spitting out his inured but forgotten limb The Doctor stood on his three useful legs and gazed at the furry creatures before him.

“Oh, hello there.”

[.]

30 minutes earlier

Twilight was frantically darting around her library, eyes covering the great, multicoloured bookcases before her, searching for any book that might help with the odd situation at hand.

Nothing. Bucking nothing.

Nothing at all to do with mysterious grey boxes crashing from the sky. Nothing at all to do with screaming metallic cubes. Nothing at all to do with aliens or visitors and any objects from any other worlds out there. Twilight was completely beside herself, her precious books had failed her! Her mane was twisted far greater then it had been before, edges that seemed almost sharp twisting up from all directions. She was pacing across the library floor now, pondering the task at hand. Should she go investigate? Send a letter to the Princess? Just forget about it and leave it alone?

“SPIIIIIKE!”

Twilight called through the echoing library, voice breaking slightly with the high pitched, loud yell that had exploded from her throat. Within seconds a purple and green baby dragon popped into view, quaking legs betraying his fear. He had seen Twilight like this before, twice actually and both of those times still gave him nightmares. Hopefully this had nothing to do with dolls or eyepatches.

“I need you to write a lette-No! It might be nothing, I should just forget about it-ARGH- I can't just forget about that. It could be one of the greatest finds in history. Maybe its dangerous though, oh no, what if its attacking Ponyville right now? I'm the last one left aren't I? Ohdear, ohdear, ohdear, ohdear.”

The proclaimed Spike rolled his eyes at the unicorn before him, his terror forgotten in an instance as he watched the light lavender mare in front of him start the gentle process of a complete mental breakdown.

“Twilight”

“Ohdear, ohdear, ohdear.”

“Twilight!”

“Ohdear, ohdear, ohdear.”

“TWILIGHT!”

The pacing, anxious unicorn winced at the bellowing voice as it hit her sound sensitive ears, causing them to flatten themselves against her head. She turned towards her number one assistant, the madness vanishing from her eyes as she looked quizzically at him.

“What is it Spike? Can't you see I'm very busy right now.”

Spike raised on eyebrow in disbelief and Twilight chuckled sheepishly, a light blush spreading its way across her purple cheeks.

“I was just going to suggest getting the girls and finding out for yourself. I mean, you've done this sort of thing before right? Its not like a quick trip to the Everfree Forest is going to hurt the Elements Of Harmony!”

Spike finished the speech with a proud, brotherly air, confident with his ingenious plan. Twilight looked at him for a second, doubt flashing across her face before it was washed away by a look of happiness, her mane springing back into shape much like the inflation of a pink, party ponies hair.

“That's a great idea Spike! I'll get Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. You get Rarity and Rainbow Dash. I'll meet you outside the library in 5 minutes.”

Twilight spoke in a fast paced gobble, spouting out the information like a hectic sprinkler. She dashed to the door, hooves practically yanking the poor door of its hinges as she prepared to bolt across Ponyville to find her friends. She stopped before she ran and glanced back at Spike, a light smile splayed across her face and a look of gratefulness in her eyes.

“Thanks Spike. I know it can be a bit difficult getting me to calm down. We'd better hurry though, I don't want whatever that was to vanish before I get to it. I'll see you in exactly five minutes.”

Spike smiled bashfully as she layered the praise on thick. Before he could even mutter a “It was nothing” Twilight had vanished from sight, a small cloud of unicorn shaped air standing where she had once been. It too disappeared incredibly quickly, the wind blowing it out of the still open door. Spike sighed once as he looked at the open, creaky door. Today had been his day off, it was Saturday after all. Still, he couldn't disobey an order of such magnitude. Even his significantly small scientific heart raced a bit faster as he thought of discovering a whole new object, a whole new aspect of life.

Still smiling at the idea of a great discovery, Spike walked dreamily to the door and closed it quietly behind him before he started to walk to Carousel Boutique.

[.]

Exactly five minutes later

The six mares stood outside of the library, astonishment, excitement, giddy joy, terror and confusion etched onto their faces, jaws dropped to the floor.

“So, let me get this straight. This crazy object falls from the sky, screaming like a little filly and lands with a big boom in the Everfree Forest?”

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash crossly for a second, thinking that Rainbow Dash wasn't taking this seriously but the puzzled look on the cyan pegasus's face told another story. Twilight softened considerably.

“Yes, Rainbow. I saw it all with my own two eyes.”

Rainbow Dash's face morphed from multiple expressions, joy and fear and excitement flickering across her face before it settled to a blank expression.

“Aliens. Real aliens!”

Rainbow's blank expression changed into one of fangirlish glee as she squeed at the idea of meeting a real live alien. She had read about them in the new Daring Do book, Daring Do and the empire of the golden cranium.

Twilight sighed softly as her rainbow maned friend bounced up and down with unlocked glee. Pretty soon Pinkie had joined her, bouncing up and down with vibrations that were faintly reminiscent of a drill.

“Girls, this doesn't mean that there is an alien! It could be anything, perhaps a scientist in Canterlot made a mistake with a new experiment or maybe Celestia is just playing another one of her jokes. I don't want anyone getting their hopes up for extraterrestrials.”

Rainbow Dash immediately stopped hopping around the area, her chant of I'm going to meet and alien, I'm going to meet an alien falling silent as her face grew downcast before it brightened again.

“Bit it might still be aliens right?”

Twilight groaned once, exasperation leaking out of her expression as she spoke to Rainbow.

“Yes Rainbow, it might be aliens.”

“Then whatta we waiting for!” Rainbow Dash yelled and with a small loop-de-loop she began to head off towards the Everfree Forest. That is until she felt teeth chomp down on her tail and drag her back to the ground as she let out a startled cry. The teeth let go of the oddly spicy rainbow tail before the mare spoke.

“Simmer down now RD. I ain't disputin' what Twi is sayin' but I'd prefer that we all go tagether.”

Applejack drawled softly, southern accent ringing around the ears of the other five girls in the front of the library. Spike had already retired to the haven of books, muttering something about taking a nap. Twilight perked up in an instance, irritation de-materializing instantly at her orange friends comment.

“So, you'll all go?”

Five pairs of eyes swivelled towards the purple pansy coloured unicorn. Twilight's ears flickered back in embarrassment as she felt ten eyes bore into her with the strength to melt through steel. All of the eyes however held confusion rather then anger. Rarity spoke first, civil voice ringing majestically.

“Why of course we will dear. It is quite exciting isn't it, the idea of a new arrival.”

“Yeah, a new pony! Maybe its not even a pony, maybe its only the box though. Do ya think I could throw a “It was a box not an alien” party when we get back? Do ya? Do ya?”

“Why a course we're gonna go. We're tha Elements o' Harmony for apples sake, it'd be bad if we didn' go investigate.”

“C'mon Twilight, a chance to meet aliens! As if I'm gonna pass that up. Heh, I wonder if they do have telepathy ability like in Daring Do. Now this, this is gonna be so awesome!”

“Umm...I'd like to come with you. I mean, its not everyday that you might meet an alien. Oh, I wonder if its ok, what it looks like. Oh my, maybe its hurt, the poor thing!”

Twilight's eyes watered silently with tears as she listened to the supportive voices of her best friends. How could she ever have doubted them? It was for reasons like this that she was so unbearably happy that she had decided to stay in Ponyville instead of returning to Canterlot for her studies. Friends like these were for life, not just for one day.

“Alright then girls, lets head out. Not time like the present!”

Twilight raised one dainty hoof to express her point before settling it back onto the ground and breaking into a soft jog towards the treeline of the Evefree Forest. Behind her she heard the sounds of her friends following her and a muffled conversation between Pinkie and Rarity.

“Yeah, what Twilight said. Allons-y!”

“Pinkie, what did you just say?”

“I said “Yeah what Twilight said”

“No, no ,no. After that.”

“Oh I said “I said “Yeah what Twilight said”

“But I-What?”

Twilight smiled happily as she heard the soft chatter of her slightly odd pink friend being her usual queer bubbly self with the pristine, upperclass white unicorn.

This was going to be a fun, fun day.

[.]

They had been walking for roughly twenty minutes now, polite conversation breaking out between the five mares behind the lavender leader who was much too into the task at hand to be any use in a normal conversation.

“Ooh, I wonder what aliens wear! Stylish I expect. I mean, who comes to a whole new world without looking their most fabulous?”

“I bet it'd like lemon flavoured muffins. Or maybe muffin flavoured lemons. Maybe it likes hot sauce like me. Oh, I just can't wait to wish it a warm Ponyville welcome!”

“Not everythin' out there is as kind as us ponies, girls. I don' want y'all to get ya hopes up only to find a mean alien or just ah strange box.”

“Aw, c'mon AJ! Its a strange box that fell outta the sky. What else but an alien could it be!? I wonder if I can get its autograph *Insert squee here*”

“Oh my...I just hope whatever it is isn't hurt or that big box didn't injure any of my little furry friends.”

Twilight stopped walking, causing the mares behind her to collide with each others rump in a pattern similar to a game of dominoes. Fluttershy fell flat on her rump with a high eep, the others providing similar bodily reactions. Twilight's eyes narrowed slightly as she peered through the dark green foliage around her, searching for any signs of life.

“Hey Twilight why'd we sto-”

Twilight hushed the slightly disgruntled rainbow pegasus with a soft hoof to the mouth, silencing the now angered pony with a swift movement. She swore she had heard a slight hiss of steam, an indication of the landing zone of the mysterious, metallic, spinning cube. Suddenly a loud yelp tore through the forest, straight ahead through the trees.

Twilight dashed forward, blitzing through the trees as her ears pinpointed the location of the noisy sound of pain. She wasn't as athletic as she could have been though, years of heavy book reading and low exercise rates taking their toll. The other five had quickly caught up with the hazy purple blur as she darted through the forest before they burst from the treeline and into the light dappled clearing. Immediately all of the girls halted, a slight kick up of grass spraying the air in front of them as their hooves ground against the earth with strong friction. A couple of metres forward lay a long, shallow crater that was coated with dark brown dirt and small, broken stones. In the centre of the circular crater, two things of great importance lay together, puzzling the Elements of Harmony.

The cube lay bang splat in the centre of the crater, steam curling up from it in great waves of vapour, wafting upwards into the air. Grey, shiny metallic sides blazed brilliantly even in the slight sunlight of the clearing. Runes were carved on the sides, no longer glowing with the green light that Twilight had first seen. Instead, they now strobed a soft red light that cast a miniature raspberry coloured glow across the cubes surface. Two long doors were opened in the front of it, red and green lights clearly visibly flashing inside as sparks burst from the inside of the mysterious box, casting the whole interior in a faint white barrage. The cube radiated mystery and action and drama, enticing the girls towards it as the lights flickered softly and seductively, drawing them closer. They approached the very edge of the crater and made to head down before Twilight reared back in shock, discovering the second object of great importance.

Beside the cube, one hoof in mouth lay a colt. Brown, caramel like fur coated his entire body, dew clinging to his chest and dust clinging to pretty much everything else. Ruffled black hair poked out of his head and trailed down his neck until it stopped at the bottom of his ears. It looked silky and yet coarse, fine and yet knotted, handsome and yet wild. A gold hourglass lay atop his flank, sand trickling down the inside of it.

Perhaps a time piece maker? Twilight thought to herself rather glumly, clearly disappointed that she had not been the first pony to discover this new foreign object.

The most striking area of the pained colt though was the neck. Or rather, what lay around the neck. There was a collar of shady, tree bark brown colour that seemed to reflect the bark of the trees themselves as it wrapped comfortably around his neck. The prominent figure was the small red bow-tie. It seemed old and worn yet so, so loved, tied carefully and effectively. The red was most striking, a deep resonating colour that pounced through the eyes of the girls watching as it captivated their senses. The colt groaned softly, muffled slightly by the hoof sticking in his mouth before he rolled over and opened his eyes blearily.

And that was when Twilight knew that something was different about this colt.

His eyes, though glazed, were such a striking blue colour. They seemed to stare into her very soul, gazing into the depths of her being. They held her captivated as the bow-tie had, except looking into these eyes, these beautiful eyes, hurt. They were so cold and so warm, like ice and fire. They were so hard and yet so soft, like a feather and a rock. They were so scary and yet so calming, like a storm at sea and a light breeze. They were so old and so new, so mesmerizing and so very, very blue. They held all the secrets and all the knowledge and all the power that Celestia's eyes had, perhaps even more. They were clouded with such misery and such sadness, peppered with guilt and unhappiness and self-loathing. They whispered to her, beckoning her onwards and yet driving her away. They were all of those things, ice and fire and rage. Ancient and forever, burning at the centre and watching the turn of the universe, such weariness and guilt and hate. And they were wonderful.

The colt blinked just once and when his eyes appeared once more they were the same striking blue colour except they now wore a happy, joyous, carefree look that so violently clashed with the look Twilight had seen before. Had she imagined it? No pony could go from such a wave of emotion to joyous in just one blink, one little blink. The colts face wobbled slightly in what was probably supposed to be a grin but was horribly disfigured by the brown hoof sticking into his muzzle. With a slight pop the hoof leapt out of his mouth as the colt yanked himself onto three feet, the mouth suckered hand raised off of the floor by a mere millimetre. The grin was now evident on his face, spreading from ear to ear in such an outstandingly bizarre way. A way that very nearly rivalled Pinkie's smile. And then the colt spoke in a voice that made Twilight shiver. It was so warm, so friendly, so happy and yet beneath all that there was something else. Something...hidden.

“Oh, hello there.”

[.]

The Doctor's grin expanded even more then its already abnormally large spread as he gazed at the bafflement of the ponies before him. Poor creatures, they probably didn't understand a word he said and with his TARDIS gone The Doctor had no hope of knowing what they would be saying. A shame really, he was a pony that couldn't understand any other ponies. He'd just have to learn, I mean how hard could it possibly be to speak the tongue of horses?

The furry little creatures were still completely speechless. The orange coated filly with blonde hair had her mouth open wide in astonishment, teeth shining brightly. The white unicorn with the perfectly tamed purple hair was just staring at him with wide eyes, rounded in complete confusion. The pink pony with the brighter pink inflated hair was grinning wildly at him, a sight that uplifted The Doctor's heart. At least they could convey facial expressions. The butter yellow pegasus was cowering behind the pink maned one, a much lighter pink hue decorating her mane in such a way that it would surely have turned the sourest old man into a bright eyed, bushy tailed bundle of uncontrollable happiness. The rainbow maned pegasus, who was floating off of the ground was staring at him with a rather peculiar expression, her front hooves squished against her face as she stared at him with teary eyes. Finally, the purple, lavender unicorn that was closest to him was scrutinized by The Doctor. Such a lovely visage of purple, blending in well with her dark blue hair that fringed down just above her eyes. A light pink streak stretched across the stylish mane, curling upwards and out of sight.

These ponies must really like pink.

“Oh my, unicorns and pegasi! Unicorns. And. Pegasi! Oh you hit the jackpot today you jammy old timelord you, look at this! This is...outstanding. Hmm, the pegasi's wings aren't quite in the natural size range of a pony of their size. Light bones perhaps, a layer of air on the inside to help keep aloft?

And these unicorns, the horns! Oh my, they appear to be made out of bone with a light stretching of skin over them to blend in with the fur. How clever. I wonder, all the myths said that they could...nah, magic doesn't exist. Well, it didn't exist before. I am somewhere new I suppose, anything is possible. Oh, this is going to be fun.”

The Doctor circled the group of mares, speaking aloud his observations as he went, completely assured that they wouldn't understand a word that he was saying. This was just too fascinating. Not only is he a pony, a pony, but there are unicorns and pegasi here too! They all seem to have their own coloured coats as well, perhaps a form of singularity so that no pony is ever the same, like a fingerprint. Oh, oh, oh and they all had those funny looking tattoos, one of which The Doctor had on his rump but still! Just fascinating. Of course, The Doctor was even more fascinated when the lavender pony began to speak.

“We do have names you know!”

Twilight was shocked. She had never meant to say that, it was a spur of the moment comment. She would have been quite happy to have stared at him for a long, long time, to take in his looks and his approach and the way he moved that seemed so different to every pony else. Alas, she must, must, must say something to him so she had begun to prepare her pre-emptive “Welcome to Ponyville x” speech before her train of thought was interrupted by the observations of the seemingly oblivious colt. He had studied them like she studied books, locating and repeating every rough idea that came to his mind. She wasn't so angry at first when he had begun his long winded scientific evaluation on them but when he had purposefully forgotten to mention the earth ponies, Twilight had got angry at him. They deserved every evaluation and comment and snippet of information that he had gleamed from the others. Well, now that she thought about it that did appear a bit off, not only was she trying to get her friends to be viewed and pondered over by this mysterious colt but also the fact that he was really pondering over them. Ponies coated Equestria, he was a pony in himself and yet he talked about them like they were something new and amazing and just completely baffling.

The Doctor's eyes widened considerably as his mouth unhinged and hung open, confusion and bewilderment etched on his face. The tables had indeed been turned upon him, the confused purple mare before him had got angry and actually, verbally, talked to him. Simply put, it blew The Doctor's mind.

“Sentient. Ponies. You are sentient ponies?”

Twilight nodded dumbly, like a child answering their parents with a simple flick of the head, not really concentrating in them but rather by the object of their attention, be it a book or a game or a hobby.

As soon as the purple mare nodded, The Doctor exploded.

“Sentient ponies! Sentient ponies! Well I never. This is...that was...this is completely and utterly astounding! Pegasi, unicorns, ponies and now, now, they all talk! Oh truly, truly you've hit the jackpot on this one. This is bewildering, outstanding, completely and utterly bonkers!

Oh but of course, this universe would work in a different way to ours. It would seem that the resident pony race are the proverbial humans of this universe, after all they talk in the same language and they seem to feel the same emotions. Oh, look at me talking to you like you're not even there! Hello there, once again, my name is-”

The Doctor droned on and on, happiness and sheer outstanding madness powering his speech towards new boundaries of the word obsessive. Here they were, ponies, talking to him. Such joy had only been encountered once before when he had sat and watched the human race say its very first words. This was like Christmas and Hanukkah and Halloween all rolled into one. Oh, introductions of course. No time like the present!

The Doctor's mental and verbal speech ended quite profoundly as the whirring, sparking cube behind him began to give off a loud, high keening noise that ripped through the ears of every pony in the clearing, ears flattening down in an unavoidable bodily reaction. The Doctor turned around, frowning slightly at the aggravating noise. His frown dropped though as soon as he saw the inside of The Pandorica, the angered expression replaced by a look of terror that would have been hilarious if it were not for the keening klaxon that seemed to caution and warn every pony away. Red lights were flashing harder and harder inside The Pandorica, crimson light flooding the panels and the wires as the small screen in the back buzzed to life, white streaks darting across its front. Written across the screen in dark red, large letters was a simple and yet chilling message:

Overheat In Progress. Vent Systems Activated.

The Doctor whirled around and hurtled towards the group of ponies, his limbs now complying with him as he hurled himself as far away from The Pandorica as possible.

“RunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunRUN!” The Doctor screamed at the mares in an astonishingly high voice as he bolted away from the clearing and disappeared into the tree line, blue eyes watching from the convenient cover of a large shrub.

The girls didn't need to be told twice, their inner “alarm” system had gone off as soon as the outer alarm system had sounded. There was only one reason why a sound like that would be made and it was to clear an area as quickly as possible, to warn everypony away from the site. The girls twirled around, spinning on their back legs before powering away from the strange box as it began to make more frantic whirring noises, the red lights now continuously beating the outside of The Pandorica in a crimson blaze. They dived into The Doctor's protective shrub as they heard the sounds of clanking and groaning behind them pick up, eyes turning towards the seemingly deadly cube as it created a symphony of loud, clashing sounds that turned the once peaceful clearing on its head. Twilight turned to the brown colt, fear and embarrassment of her previous actions forgotten as she quizzed him.

“What's happening? What's the matter? Why did you choose a shrub to hide in?”

The Doctor, without taking his eyes off of the crackling, sparking Pandorica answered each of her questions in order.

“Its overheated and needs to ditch the excess thermal energy. The problem is that the only way to do that is to vent all of the excess steam to the surrounding area, enough steam to turn me and you into crispy fried pony. About this shrubbery, it was a spur of the moment thing. You try and pick a devilishly clever place to defend from onrushing death.”

“There was a large ditch about four metres to the right of you, it could have held us all...”

“...Well, I picked the shrubbery and now the shrubbery we are in. If you want t-Wait, watch!”

The Doctor cut off his annoyed grumble with the purple unicorn, who had so effectively shot down his clearly superior hiding place, in order to stare at the now silent Pandorica. The alarms had shut down in order to convert all power to the necessary vents that were not opening up around the sides, fins of metal rising up to point into the sky.

Suddenly, a loud hiss burst through the silence as steam galloped from the vents, spilling outwards and spiralling into the air. Still the steam poured outwards, crossing the distance of the crater and smothering it in a dense, cloudy vapourish fog. Great clouds of vapour rose up into the sky, simulating a blazing, roaring inferno. Burning vapour poured across the grass now, turning the usually green shine into a burnt, charred brown colour. As quickly as it had begun, the steam started to thin out, only trickling slowly out of The Pandorica as a gentle fizz emanated from the insides of the cube, shutting the vents down and forcing all fins to slide back into the main body of The Pandorica.

The steam hung in the crater for a while longer before rising upwards almost softly, hiding its deceptive, painfully burning heat as it simply wafted upwards into the bright blue sky. Only then did The Doctor exit his ingenious hiding place, the red flowered bush that was large enough to host a selection of equine bodies. For a split second The Doctor's thoughts turned to the flora of the area, marvelling at the size and smell of the plants before he turned back to the matter at hand, the possibly still active Pandorica. He strolled up to the cube cautiously before circling it with curiosity written across his face. Rarity, the feeling of confusion heavy on her mind, spoke now, the second pony to speak to this new, mysterious arrival.

“What the devil are you doing?”

As soon as she spoke, the floodgates opened as the other mares began to shout and bombard The Doctor with questions, their voices mixing into an incoherent babble.

“Who are ya?”

“Where do you come from? Is it space? Are you an alien, or a spy?”

“Oh dear..you look hurt. Doesn't that burnt hoofie hurt?”

“Lemon muffins or muffin lemons?”

“What in Celestia's name is that big cube? Why did it try to kill us!?”

The Doctor frowned openly as he tried to decipher what each of the girls had yelled at him. Slowly, achingly slowly, he unravelled the questions as the mares waited in tense silence, the feeling of fear and suspicions growing towards this new, brown coated colt. The Doctor, for the second time today, answered all of the questions in perfect order.

“What I am doing is checking to see if all of the heat has vanished. You see, sometimes the steam and the heat can boil up and conduct into the metal of a...cube like this.”

Before he could answer anymore questions Rarity piped up again with another quite clever question.

“How are you going to check that thing? It doesn't seem to be doing anything at all! In fact, I'd say its pretty much dead.”

The Doctor smiled slightly, these ponies were certainly smarter then he had first believed them to be. Observative too.

“Well, it seems dead but I expect it has merely gone to sleep for a while, hibernation to restore its batteries, its power cells. The way I'm going to check if the metal is still burning, smouldering or scorching is very simple. I'm going to hit it.”

And with that The Doctor raised one foreleg up, pulled it behind him and lunged forward, striking The Pandorica with a nice, ringing dong. Immediately the mares jumped back, expecting to see him moaning and clutching his hoof like their first encounter, whining and crying on the ground, but instead the new pony just smiled and turned towards them.

“As you can see, its completely vented, thankfully I didn't make myself look like a fool again. Now, where was I? Ah yes, who am I? How about this, I'm pretty poor at starting introductions. Would you mind telling me your names first and then I'll say mine?”

The Doctor was lying of course, introductions were in fact his forte. Yet, he desperately needed to know what the names of these ponies would be like. Would they be normal, like Gregg or Stacey or Linda or would they be a bit more namby pamby like Moonshine Sniffles or Anxious Soar? You can learn a lot from a name, that was merely one of the things The Doctor had learnt on his journeys, and right now trapped on a new world, with a new body he desperately needed to know something, anything about the pony inhabitants even if it was their name traditions.

The pink coated, pink maned pony stalked slowly up to The Doctor, much to the horror of the remaining five who had begun to fear for the safety of the quirky mare. She stared The Doctor straight in the eyes, blue against blue clashing together in a heated battle, a slight frown upon her face as she gauged him and his personality, his very soul it seemed. Slowly, like trickling honey she spoke.

“Pinkie Pie promise?”

The Doctor, if possible, grew even more confused then he had first been. What in the name of all things timelordian was a Pinkie Pie? More importantly, why must he swear to her? Was she a deity, a legend, a mythical creature that stalked the stories of the ponies?

Almost as slowly as her The Doctor nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“Pinkie Pie promise.”

The pink furred, pink maned pony immediately brightened, a beaming smile crossing her face in an instance as she began to speak as rapidly as rain hitting the ground during a thunderstorm.

“I'll let you off of the physical aspect of it but be warned, do not break a Pinkie Pie promise. Speaking of Pinkie Pie, that's me! Born and raised a Pie, live and die a Pie.”

The self proclaimed Pinkie Pie suddenly leapt forward and tackled The Doctor, grasping him in a hard yet soft hug as she squeezed his new body. The Doctor happily obliged to the confusing and yet fantastic hug, raising his forelegs up to wrap around this “Pinkie Pie”. She seemed nice enough and at least now he could judge and estimate the rest of their names. Pinkie Pie pulled away from the hug, gazing at the Doctor with a penetrating look before her signature smile spread across her face and she turned back to the other ponies.

“He's alright girls, c'mon out and meet him!”

Pinkie Pie must hold some power over them, The Doctor thought to himself as he saw the next five mares practically gallop up to him, arranging themselves in a blockade of a line, almost militaristic if it wasn't for the orange and the cyan ponies pushing at each other on the end of the row. The orange pony with the blonde hair stepped forward first, raising a hoof up to shake his.

Ok Doctor, this one looks like a...ApplePie! The Doctor thought to himself, quite proud with the suitable name as he stretched out a hoof to greet the mare. Her grip was like iron, crushing his hoof as she rapidly pumped up and down with a motion that caused The Doctor's whole body to literally leave the ground on every upthrust.

“Heya, the name's Applejack. I work down at tha local apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres. Best apples y'all find in the whole o' Equestria.”

Aha! He was close, just the second word off. Perhaps not every pony here is a “Pie”. Still, now at least he knew where he was. A land called Equestria...It felt suspiciously story book like. Oh well, a land filled with ponies was never going to have a name that suggested otherwise. The Doctor put on a large grin as she tugged her hand away, feeling the strong muscles of the farm mare depart from his touch.

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Applejack.”

Applejack smiled and trotted back to the others, whispering into the ear of the rainbow maned one who stepped forwards afterwards, eyes fixated on The Doctor.

Rainbow Fly!

“Hey, I'm Rainbow Dash (so close). Fastest flier in all of Equestria, you've probably heard of me before. Yes, yes, yes I will be signing any autographs you may want.”

Rainbow Dash had a witty, arrogant smile splayed across her face as she finished her introduction, obviously pleased with the way she had shown herself. She raised on hoof up to chest height and extended it outwards but not in the display a hoofshake would be declared upon.

The Doctor's eyes widened as he beheld the hoof before him, the cyan fur swaying every so slightly in the breeze.

It couldn't be. The Doctor thought to himself before he cautiously pulled back his own hoof and, with little force, tapped it against hers in what closely resembled a “bro fist” as the humans had so elegantly put it.

Apparently that was the right move to make as Rainbow Dash burst into a grin and flew away with a small, hilarious bow that made her seem childish and fun, moving before The Doctor could say his hello. The next mare stepped forward, the white unicorn with the purple hair that had inevitably opened the playing field for questioning. She strode up to him and placed herself right before him, minty breath wafting into his face.

Jewel!

“Good day my dear. I am Rarity of Carousel Boutique, the finest dress and suit shop in the whole of Equestria. Although, may I say that that bow-tie is simply stunning on you!”

She spoke with an accent that was hard to distinguish, obviously very ladylike and into the upper class of whatever system these ponies had set up for them. She held herself with the grace of a true lady. Without thinking, The Doctor took one of her forelegs in his own, causing her to stiffen slightly, before he brought it to his lips and pecked it gently. He lowered it back down to the floor before grinning at her.

“I am charmed, Miss Rarity.”

The white unicorn blushed slightly, a faint red tinge lighting up her snow white cheeks as she coughed with slight embarrassment into one hoof.

“Oh my, a gentlecolt. Feel free to pop into my shop at any time. Well, ta-ta darling!”

She sauntered away, tail flicking in the air before returning to the happy bundle of self greeted ponies. Only two remained now, the quivering yellow peagsus and the purple unicorn who seemed to radiate leadership, be it an unknown tool that she did not realize she wielded.

Slowly, much more cautiously then the others, the purple unicorn stepped forward. She trotted up to him, never breaking her eye contact until she stood right in front of him, narrowed eyes searching his. She opened her mouth, closed it at once and then opened it again.

Moonlight Sniffle!

“Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle. I run the Ponyville library and-”

Twilight was cut short very quickly by the overexcited, childish voice of The Doctor. As soon as she had mentioned a library, a change had occurred in him. No longer was he the civilised, refined gentlecolt that had spoken to Rarity. Now he seemed like a foal in a candy shop.

“You run a library! Oh my, the books, are there many? You have history books right, I love a good history book. They're usually dead wrong but they are excellent reading material. Oh my, I'm so sorry I interrupted you again didn't I?”

Twilight was stunned by the sudden, jarring change in character, an expression of bafflement crossing her features as she beheld the gentlecolt break down into a goofy stallion before her. She blinked once before a warm smile lit up her face. He was a bookworm! Just like her! How many books has he read? Do you think he'd see the works of John Stallionbeck's Of Mice and Ponies the way she saw it?

“Oh no, no worries at all. I'm just surprised to see a fellow bookworm around these parts. It seems I'm the only one with a constant hunger for knowledge!”

The Doctor grinned massively, a real joyous smile spreading across his face as he glimpsed more into the life of the, at first, judgemental mare before him.

Oh, I like you already, The Doctor thought to himself as he listened to her ramble on about dusty old tomes which, just so happened to be, his favourite kind of tomes. Soon her rambling finished and she looked up at him with a sheepish grin, a small blush decorating her cheeks with blood. The Doctor merely chuckled at the sight.

“My dear Miss Twilight, I would love to read up on a few of these wonderful book you have told me about. They sound like quite the tales.”

The Doctor spoke happily, his love of books and tomes and history and non-fiction coming into play. Practically any book was a book he could love, any book apart from fiction. Pfft, what was the point of reading about a planet with seven moons and slug aliens when you could actually go to a planet with seven moons and slug aliens?

Twilight smiled once more, much more warmly then her first approach to him before she turned away and trotted back. Only one mare remained now, the quivering, shaking squeaking butter coloured pegasus on the floor. When she did not approach him, The Doctor walked forward until he was next to her. Noticing the new arrival, the scared pegasus let out a muffled eep and covered her face with her long pink mane. The Doctor took a step back out of guilt. Had he done something to scare her? Was this pegasi's fear his fault? A loud, slightly cracked voice echoed across the clearing as Rainbow Dash yelled out towards The Doctor, noticing his expression of guilt.

“Don't mind her, she's just really, really shy. Its not your fault or anything.”

The Doctor smiled at the rainbow maned, friendly pegasus before turning his gaze back to the wobbling, jelly-like pegasus in front of him.

“You don't need to tell me your name, its fine. I'll tell you what, I'll perform my introductions to your and your group of friends and then, if you feel up to it, you can tell me your name, ok?”

The butter coloured pegasus moved slightly in what may have been a nervous twitch, still staring at the ground. The Doctor shrugged slightly, a movement that should have been impossible for normal ponies now performed by the one of a kind timepony.

Good enough for me. He thought to himself before turning around and walking up to The Pandorica. There, he swivelled to face the mares, five of them in heated discussion and one of them curled tightly into an adorable ball of fur. He cleared his throat loudly, as to gather everyponies attention and, when the mares had turned to him, he began to speak.

“Where to begin? Ok, first I'm new here. That's all I'm saying on the topic of my arrival for the moment, I am completely new. I've come from a very far away place, a place that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to return to.

But that's ok, at least for now because I have a whole new world to explore. A whole new life to live.”

The Doctor spun around and struck The Pandorica slightly, causing a sea of sparks to explode and burst behind him, adding pointless but exciting effect to his speech. He turned once more to the mares, striking blue eyes wide with hidden knowledge, body posed in a way so that the light illuminated him perfectly. Sparks burst behind him as a large, excited, nervous, adrenaline filled smile crossed his face. Great dark orange and yellow trails of sparks igniting the dirt around him, tiny flames kicking up in a surrounding circle, flickering against his coat in a powerful, omnipresent, ancient, secretive and intoxicatedly adventurous way.

“Hello,” he said in a voice that radiated danger and attention and wonder, “I'm The Doctor.

He swirled around darting beside the still sparking Pandorica, dancing a slightly disjointed luminous dance inside the behemoth of metal, rapidly flipping switches with the precision of one that had spun the dance of flick switching time and time again. Finally, he stopped and jumped out of The Pandorica landing inches in front of the mares who had moved forward to catch his frantic movement inside the cube.

“Or, if you want you can call me...”

The Pandorica's systems ignited again, green lights flashing and screens swirling back to life as the recently charged power cells pulsed joules and volts and watts into the life bearing box. Brilliant white blinding light flared from the inside of the box, causing the mares to wince as The Doctor was silhouetted against the impressive, incandescent light that blared from The Doctor. The figure he cast was one of strength and charisma and charm and kindness and power. It was a figure that screamed years of experience, of fun and mischief, of battles and storms, of fire and ice.

“...The mad colt with the cube.”

The mares stood there staring, mouths agape, minds utterly obliterated by the figure before them. The blue eyed, bow-tied pony who had patronized them without realization, saved their lives, risked his own, heard their introductions and who responded with such kindness, such clarity that it had simply blown them away. Bright light flared once more softly behind him before it dimmed down, allowing the six girls to see the confident smirk on his brown, caramel face as the final inches of light crawled back into the cube.

Everything was silent, conversation and comments sent scattering into the void, segments of rebuttal and replies dashing across the sky and disappearing into the wind. Talk was gone, snatched almost painfully from the mouths of the gob-smacked mares.

Well, almost gone.

“My..My names... Fluttershy”

Comments

[The Grey Pegasus]

The Doctor. I think you captured his charisma quite good. Loved it when he tried guessing names. And I hope he finds the TARDIS. Just doesn't feel the same. (What was it, 'The mad man with the box'?)

670789 I actually found that a bit funny, since a fic by that name actually came out a couple days ago.

[CaptainAwesome]

This story is so epic.

[DitzyDude]

Wow. No offense or anything, but with the shortness of the first chapter, I was not expecting such a long and well written chapter to follow. But I must say, you did a great job with it, and it was indeed very well written. I definitely look forward to reading more of this and, with any luck, any further adventures between the Doc and the Six you may write. Even if you don't write more, this story should be plenty epic on its own.

[Upinsmoke47]

I really love the way you captured The Doctor. I could picture him laying on the ground and rolling around with his hoof in his mouth. I can actually picture Matt Smith do the same thing.

[LemonDrizzle]

673746

I had initially planned this to be a stand alone story but after writing out the second chapter I had a wide array of ideas sprout into my mind so do not be surprised if I continue this into a series of sorts.
671595

The TARDIS will most definitely return but not for a while. I have a couple of basic plans on its revival but nothing complete yet.

670789
Tattoo get!
I altered that particular area slightly so as to obey the rules of old Timelordian bodily regenerations. Thanks for the tip/fact.

Well, I finish school for a week on Friday so expect at least three chapters to appear over the next week. I'm having too much fun writing this

[Angelson1992]

I swear that I don't think that I've ever read a better approximation of the doctor and his insanity. You really manage to get him spot on. Also, including the fire and ice and rage quote was a wonderful touch. It's one of my favorite lines from the series.

A wonderful piece of art so far, keep up the good work. Kudos.

[AzureSkies]

"As soon as the purple mare nodded, The Doctor exploded."
oh well, we all knew it was coming
RIP
The Doct....
oh, hang on. there's more

[Andreas33324]

I got my first 502 error trying to go to chapter 3. This is a sign! I must read the rest!

[Grassy Blade]

WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON!?

first of all I don't know who's speaking.
second of all where is the TARDIS??

also... a sight that uplifted The Doctor's heart.
Um... don't you mean heart(s)
(He has two hearts)

[Waiting for Godot]

Long time reader, very recent member.
Just stumbled across this. Great characterization!
This story needs more love.

[Wildfiretiremile]

Did you really have to go into such detail?