The First Logical Stop
Doctor Whooves: CY 20000
Chapter 1:
The First Logical Stop
MaxKodan
“I still don’t think I believe you.” Dash sat, staring at the interior doors of the TARDIS. “You really just took us on a trip through time?”
“Far into the future. In your years, it’d be about 20000. Oh!” He looked down at his screen. “Exactly 20000, actually. I think you’re really gonna love this...” He grinned.
Dash had to restrain herself from squealing with delight. A mysterious place 19000 years in the future. She wondered what advancements they’d made. She wondered if the Wonderbolts still existed. She wondered a lot of things.
“Let’s see, atmosphere’s good, pressure’s good, ground is stable, planet ISN’T about to explode, made that mistake once or twice...” He nodded. “Alright! We’re good to go! Just a few ground rules. One: Don’t wander off. Two: When I tell you to do something, just do it. Three: If you see something slimy on the wall, don’t lick it. You’d be surprised how many times that’s come up. Ok?” He leveled a look at her. “Seriously. Don’t lick random goopy things.” Dash was nodding so excitedly that her mane was falling out of place. He smiled and flicked a switch on the console and the doors swung inwards, revealing a moderately lit room outside the TARDIS. Dash galloped forward excitedly, but stopped at the threshold of the ship.
“My first step in the year 20000!” She giggled and put one deliberate hoof outside the door. Once she let the sensation settle in, she again increased her speed and started looking around the room, examining everything she could get her eyes onto.
“Hey, no running!” He called after her, casually walking out the door and looking around. “It’s against the rules in here, I think.”
At first, Dash’s excitement was unstoppable. 20000! What wonders to be beheld! What sights, what cities, what planets, what technology, what magic! What...what old, decrepit vases? She tilted her head and walked closer to the vase, squinting and peering at it. It was inside of a glass case. In front of the case was a placard, and on the placard was written a bunch of information.
“Doctor...”
“Yes, Dash?”
“...Did you take me to the year 20000?”
“Yes?”
“And then bring me to a museum?”
“Indeed I did!”
Dash groaned. “You’re kidding me! Everything in the universe and we come to a boring old museum!” She sat herself down and glowered at the vase. A single item had killed all the excitement she had built up.
“Oh, come on! Museums are wonderful! Where better to go on your first trip into the future? We stop by a museum and see everything important that has ever happened, then we go see it for ourselves!” He grinned. The place seemed empty, but he was used to that. He walked to the entrance to the exhibit and looked both ways down the hallway. Some distance down, he saw something that piqued his interest. “Of course, this is always fun to do, too. Come on, you’ll love this one, I just know it.”
“Yeah, right.” Dash grumbled as she stood up. With an exasperated sigh, she followed the Doctor, not bothering to pay mind into which exhibit he was dragging her. She stopped alongside him, her eyes still trained on the ground. “So what’s do you think I’ll love so much?”
The sight that met her eyes as she looked up was, in a word, glorious. Her eyes widened and her mouth slowly opened. The frown was wiped clean off of her face, and the excitement that she’d felt when she first stepped off the TARDIS was renewed. There, in front of her, was a statue of a very special pony, performing a very special maneuver.
“Is...is that...”
“Eeyup.” The Doctor grinned. “The very first Element of Loyalty.”
And there she was. A perfect representation of Rainbow Dash in the middle of a Sonic Rainboom. “They...they remember me! 20000 years and they remember me!” She was shaking with excitement. “I’m famous!” Her back legs gave out, and she flopped back into her sitting position, her eyes nearly tearing up at the sight in front of herself. After a minute or so, she finally tore her gaze away from her statue to look around the room. “And everypony else is here, too! AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight...Hey, even Spike’s in there!” She ran up to Twilight’s statue. The unicorn stood there heroically, her horn glowing brightly in the midst of casting some powerful magic. Spike was sitting on her back, holding on to her mane for dear life.
“But yeah, you’re right. Museums are boring. Let’s get out of here and go see something else, eh?” The Doctor chuckled behind her.
“No way! This place is awesome!” She jumped and fluttered in the air for a moment, turning to face him as she did. “Hey, who are these other ponies?” She looked up. The room was long, and the walls were filled with statues of ponies, lining each side. In the center were displays, and upon closer inspection the first one appeared as their struggle in the old castle, against Nightmare Moon.
“Presumably your successors.” The Doctor said, walking up to the next set of 6. “Here’s the second Element of Loyalty. Says his name is ‘Midnight Reverie.’” The Doctor smiled as Dash walked up to the statue. He was an earth pony of a deep blue color. His cutie mark was that of a lantern overlapping a crescent moon. His mane was short and black. His tail was just as short. He carried a messenger bag over his shoulder, and inside of it one could see the depiction of some sort of small, furry animal. It looked kind of like a ferret.
“Woah...this is a little unreal. Let’s ah...let’s go see something else!” Dash turned and headed out of the exhibit, though not without staring at her statue the whole way. She lagged a little at the door, admiring it for one more second before she left. As she did, the Doctor’s eyes flicked to the center display of the second set of Elements. It looked like a rather large battle, with the 6 ponies depicted in the statues right at the center of it. However, what caught his eye even more was just a little thing in the corner of the piece. There was a heavily forested area, but when he angled himself right, he saw an unmistakable blue piercing through the leaves.
“You coming?” Dash called from down the hall.
“Yeah! Be right there!” He took another glance in order to memorize the scene before heading towards the hallway, his mind abuzz with new questions.
Emerging from the Elements of Harmony wing, he peered first one way down the hall, then the other. He caught sight of his companion down the latter direction and headed off that way. She was looking up at another exhibit, or rather the ornate wording above the arch. He walked alongside her and looked at the same text.
“The Wonderbolts Through the Ages,” he read aloud. “Wow, sounds great! Imagine all the shows they put on.” He smiled and looked for Dash’s reaction to the exhibit. He knew she’d always wanted to become a part of the famous flyers, but now her face was unreadable. Somewhere between excitement and fear, she’d gotten lost. “Something wrong?”
“I...I dunno.” She frowned deeper, furrowing her brow. “I mean, I could go in there right now and learn everything about the Wonderbolts. Everything I ever wanted to know and a thousand times more. But...” She fidgeted a little.
He smiled lightly to himself. She was learning fast. “But what?” He urged her. The more she figured out on her own, the more the truths of time travel would stick.
“But what if I’m in there? Or worse, what if I’m not?” She kicked the ground with her front hoof. “I could find out if I get to join the Wonderbolts! But...if I’m not in there, I don’t know what I’d do.” The Doctor stood patiently by, waiting for her decision. There was a long period of silence while Dash thought over the predicament. Finally, she sighed.
“Well? Wanna go see?” The Doctor watched her knowingly. Somehow she could tell that he already knew her answer.
“...No. No, I don’t. It doesn’t matter what’s in there.” She stood up and shook her head, her eyes hardening again. “Even if time says I didn’t make it, I’ll just have to change history. Nothing stops Rainbow Dash! I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria! I don’t need some stupid museum to tell me how awesome I am!” She puffed her chest out and flapped her wings a few times for good measure.
The Doctor’s grin went from one ear to the other. “That’s the spirit! I knew I liked you!” He cheered. “Alright, let’s go find some historical significance around here, shall we?”
Dash gave him a hearty nod and a huge grin, and the pair swung around, prepared to swagger off side by side towards their next adventure. Instead, they nearly swaggered off straight into a strange something that was blocking their path. The both took a couple of steps backwards, significantly less swagger-esque than they would have liked. Right in front of them stood something that hadn’t been there mere moments before. It looked roughly like a pony, but its head and body were metallic and smooth to the point of being featureless. Its neck was thinner, but it was also made of a slightly less-shiny metal. Its eyeless, mouthless face turned to look at each of them, the slight whirring of gears accompanying the motion.
“Oh, well look at that.” The Doctor said as he regained his composure. “Looks like an android of some sort.” He smiled at it. “Probably an information droid! Hallo!” He called and raised a hoof to wave at it.
Rainbow Dash slowly raised her own hoof and waved as well, but she found that her mouth was once again agape. This thing. It had no legs. The more she looked the more she was sure, and she had to check a few times before she would let herself believe it. It was just floating there. That in itself wouldn’t be weird, but the thing didn’t even have wings. It didn’t have a horn either, so it wasn’t magic. “Doc?”
“Doctor. Yes?” He kept looking the droid over.
“Is that thing floating?”
“Yes. Yes it is. Probably an anti-gravity system. Certainly doesn’t sound like jet propulsion. Hey, are you alright in there? Mind if we ask a few questions?” He squinted at it. It hadn’t moved since they’d first seen it. Perhaps, he thought, it was malfunctioning.
“Are you asking its permission? Doc...” He shot her a look. “...tor. Doctor. Is that thing...alive?” She ignored his rolling eyes and daintily stepped forward, regarding it cautiously.
“Well, it’s not alive in the sense that your or I are alive, no, but it can still think and process information. And I’d like it to process the information that we are incredibly respectful people that don’t refer to it as a “thing.”” He frowned. “Are you alright? Do you need some help? What sort of droid are you? Information? Maintenance?” He asked, pausing briefly in between each question.
Something seemed to trigger a reaction from the droid, but neither of them could figure out what. Its head started glowing a faint white, as if someone had lit a lightbulb inside its head. “I’m sorry, the museum is currently closed. Please exit the building promptly and return during normal business hours.” The voice that floated from the head was soft and melodious, and surprisingly pleasing to listen to.
“Ah! There, you see? Information droid. Right, we’re sorry! We’ll just come back when you’re open then. When would that be, exactly?” He smiled pleasantly. Dash wondered exactly why, when the droid had no eyes.
“The museum has been closed for...” It paused for just a moment while it retrieved the data from some central bank.
“Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine...” It seemed to keep going.
“Um...Doctor?” Dash stepped back away from the droid. “Something doesn’t feel right here.”
The Doctor’s smile faded as the nines kept coming. “Yeah. I’m hoping it’s just a glitch in the system.” He started looking around. Everything looked spotless. As if it had just been cleaned.
“...Nine. Nine.” The droid paused again. “...Days. It will reopen in...” Another pause. The two ponies looked at each other, preparing for another barrage of nines. “Apologies. The next opening time does not appear to fall within the longest expected pony lifetime. Please vacate the museum immediately, and thank you for your interest in Equestria’s history.” It floated there, featureless face staring them down.
“Rrrrrrright, well. We’ll gladly be on our way. If you don’t mind, I seem to have left something in the...” He craned his neck to see the exhibit in which the TARDIS had landed. “The ancient museum exhibit. Wait, what?” He squinted. “You have an exhibit filled with exhibits from other museums? Well, that’s kinda brilliant actually. Museum-ception as it were.” He laughed lightly. “I heard you liked museums!” He laughed a bit more. “Always wanted to use that one. Never comes up in real life, you know!”
Dash’s eyes were locked on to the android. Its head seemed different. The light within it seemed to be growing just a little more orange.
“Please vacate the museum immediately.” It spoke once more, bobbing a little in its flight.
“Sorry! Right! Just gotta grab that thing, and we’ll be right on our way out the door.” The Doctor smiled and started to walk past the android, but for the first time since they’d seen it, it moved. Angling itself just a little, it swooped around smoothly and blocked the Doctor’s path.
“Please vacate the museum immediately.”
“Right, but if you could just-”
“You just gotta be a little more assertive, Doctor!” Dash grinned and spread her wings, jumping in the air and soaring over the obstructive robot’s head. Before she got too far, however, the droid had flown up and gotten right in her face. She stopped just before she crashed into it.
“Please vacate the museum immediately.” This time, the light within its head was definitely different. It was much closer to red than it had been, and it was growing brighter and redder while it spoke. “This is your final warning.”
“Er...Dash? Perhaps we should do as it says.” The Doctor called nervously, glancing around for an Exit sign.
“Why? What’s it gonna do, talk us to death?” Dash stuck her tongue out at the droid and attempted to go around it, but every time it matched her movements.
“Well, no, not exactly. I may have been wrong, I don’t think that’s an information droid.”
“What is it then, maintenence? Big whoop.” She grumbled as she was again thwarted in her attempts.
“No, no. Not that either, I think it might be-”
“Warning has been issued and ignored. The transgression is noted. Commencing ejection now.” The droid’s head flashed red a few times so brightly that Dash had to shield her eyes. When she uncovered them, she saw the head split down the middle and open up, revealing what looked like a long gun barrel. The Doctor called up to her again.
“I think it’s a security droid!”
Dash blinked down the barrel of the gun. “Oh, sure! Thanks for the heads up!”
“Get down!” The Doctor called. She looked down at him just in time to see him give a mighty leap, and before she knew what was happening he’d grabbed her tail and drug her to the ground. Just over her head, she heard a loud PEW sound, and over her shoulder she saw a red beam of light lance down the hallway and burn a rather sizable black mark in the floor. She gulped down her shock and looked at the Doctor.
“Wh-what just happened?”
“Explain later, just run!” He turned and bolted down the hallway. He really was pretty light on his feet for an Earth Pony.
“Commencing ejection now.” She looked up and saw the security droid again taking aim at her. She yelped and turned, beating her wings and flying down the corridor just as the second shot burned into the ground where she had just been floating. She slowed down just as she caught up with the Doctor, and the two of them turned a corner together.
Behind them they could hear another laser hit a wall. The droid moved agilely, floating around the corner and once again taking aim.
“Commencing ejection now.”
“This way!” The Doctor swerved down another hall, and Dash, after a moment of lag, followed. She heard the sound of the shot, and reached back to yank her tail out of the way of the blast.
“Yipe! Doctor! Where are we going? Do you have any idea where the exit to this place is?”
Instead of answering, he just took another turn. Lo and behold, there was a large set of double doors, closed off to them.
“Of course I do! Couldn’t find an exit sign, just followed the signs for the shoppe!” He nodded at the gift shoppe that could be seen through a large window to their right. “Always a little shoppe by the exit!”
He charged straight at the door, and Dash lined up with him. Together, they turned their shoulders and slammed into the giant slab of wood. Thankfully, it was unlocked and opened a couple of hooves with their combined assault. They looked back just in time to see the android pointing right at them again.
“Commencing ejection now.”
They both grabbed the edge of the door and, with one big heave, slammed it shut. They sighed in relief and sunk against the door, each of them closing their eyes. They heard the shot, and they felt the heat of the wood hit by the laser at a spot right between them. It had apparently burned most of the way through. After just a moment, they heard another sound.
“...Ejection complete.”
The pair held their breaths, looking at eachother, stone silent. After a few moments of silence, they both broke out into hysterical laughter. Whether it was the near death experience or the idea of a museum inside a museum, neither of them could completely place. A few moments of a good, hearty chuckle were enough for the both of them, however, and they finally stopped long enough to speak a little.
“Well, what about the TARDIS?” Dash asked, glancing back at the door. Surely, if she burst in quick enough, she could get there no problem. But The Doctor had that pesky lack of wings which so constantly got in the way.
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” The Doctor said between chuckles. “We’ll get back in later. Sneak in this time, now we know we’re not allowed.” He grinned. “But for now, let’s...have a look about...”
He trailed off as he started walking towards the stairs. Both of them had been so focussed on the door that neither had taken in their surroundings. As Dash looked up, her eyes widened. “Wh-what’s going on? Where are we?”
The city they were in was trashed. Every building visible from where they were was in complete disrepair if it hadn’t been destroyed outright. The entire place seemed to be overgrown with vines and weeds. The cobblestone path was broken and jagged. Not a single pony could be seen.
The Doctor took several steps forward, gazing up at more of the sky as he came out from under the roof over the museum’s front doors. There appeared to be a persistent fog obscuring their view. Or rather, the sky itself appeared to be gray. No sun, no moon, no stars. Just a dull, even glow. After another silent moment, he looked back down, at something in the distance.
“Dash, have a look.” His voice was solemn as he pointed off towards a mountain side visible in the distance. The sight brought Dash to the same conclusion The Doctor had reached. “I think...I think we’re in Canterlot.”
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Turned out much longer than my last one's chapters, and I'm glad it's so! I'm so much happier with this than I was Chapter 1 of First and Last. Also dropped the 2-word names for chapters. That was gonna get really old really quick. Anyway, enjoy!
Oh yeah, and this story is gonna be a lot longer. I'm thinking at least twice as long as First and Last, if not longer. There's a lot more to do and a lot more to set up.
Hooray! Sequel! Tracking in the hopes it's even better than the last one, which it looks like. But please tell me it's not going to turn out that Twilight took the throne, because that is the most played out setup in Doctor Whooves stories I've ever seen.
887462
The thought hadn't even crossed my mind.
No, seriously. It didn't. Like, not even for an instant. Who would DO that?
I hate it when people do things with characters because "Oh, it'd be funny to see." I have a much better and much more fitting account of what happened that makes a lot more sense.
*lolSpoilersjk*
And THAT of course is that Big Mac took the throne! Mwa ha ha!
...But not really.
887485
Well, to be honest, only a few fics I've seen have that. It's just that that's the most common recurring plot I've seen– Twilight kills the princesses or siezes power in some other way and turns into a horrible tyrant.
887549
Sounds like a lot of people on this site. Just doesn't fit for me. I promise to keep it a little more in character than that.
887577
Thank you for that.
887673
I've always kind of wondered, but I don't remember TV being in black and white. Then again, that could be that pesky whatchamacallit. Alzheimer's.
WOAH, trippy. God you do this so well.
897225
I think I'll need a blog post about the topic =P
897522
Danke! I like how it turned out, too. WAY better than the last one.
898431
Sorry, the thing I meant to put at the tail end of this chapter is going to be in the very beginning of the next one. I don't want to add it here now because the people who have already read it would be confused. It'll all make sense very soon, I promise.
Well, next week, but you know.
Just finished reading the story before this and now i finished this chapter.. gotta say it's looking amazing! i wasn't exactly expecting an "inception" joke or the "Yo dawg i heard you like _______" thing, but i liked it!
Is funny to me. 
MOAR!!! BEFORE I EXPLODE!
899020
Sorry, last time I updated way too quickly, and that didn't turn out well. This time around I'm caring for these stories like I'm incubating an egg. Patience, hard work, and a lot of edits and rereading.
...Wait...
I lost track of that metaphor somewhere along the lines...
Well, folks, the next chapter is coming along well, but it's looking really serious. Probably the fewest chuckles you'll get for a while. Though, considering the circumstances, I don't think too many laughs are called for...
Hope I don't go too overboard with the seriousness and emotional stuff. Though it might be good to get it out of the way...
899109
<3 you too, Ty.
Arg! I refuse to fall to chapter-2-itis this time!
For those of you who can't figure it out, chapter-2-itis is a side effect of the submission and approval system. I'VE had this chapter up for 3 days. 8 people read it 2 days ago. I took the time I had after I finished this chapter to write chapter 2, which means I'm actually done writing it. However, it's only been half a day since this post went fully up. There's no waiting! There's no anticipation! (Well, there might be.) Basically, chapter-2-itis refers to the second chapter coming out WAY too soon after the first, due to the lag in submission, approval, and posting. Best medication is rereading and heavy editing of said second chapter.
.......Still probably gonna post it tonight...
887462
Boy, do I have news from 8 years later!