Time Bubbles

by Janicethelight

Chapter 23: A Trip to The Past

Derpy woke with a start. She was home, snug in her muffin-print blanket. She looked around. She had no memory of coming home, unless- ‘Unless it was all a dream!’ She sat up, looking at the clock, “Ah, I’m late for work!” She shouted, getting ready in record time, while knocking down a record amount of things. She looked all over to find that she didn’t have her hat. “No hat, so maybe it was real!” She noted. She wasn’t sure which she would rather as she flew off to work high enough to not destroy any buildings along the way. On the one hoof, if it was a dream, there wouldn’t be living statues, but on the other hoof, then the Doctor would still be gone.

She made it to work in a bit of a daze, trying to sort out the feelings she had before running in, “I’m so sorry I’m-“

“I’ve never seen such a quick town for clean up, and happy to do it! You ponies are amazing!” The Doctor laughed, in a mail pony uniform.

“Not as amazing as you were. I’ve never seen Somepony deliver mail so well on their first day!” Another mailpony complimented.

“Oh, that’s nothing, you should have seen me in the days when mail was delivered through the pony express!”

“Pony...express?”

As the Doctor bit his lip, feeling like he just put his foot-Uh-hoof down his throat, Derpy rushed over. “Doctor?! What are you-?”

“Derpy!” Doctor hugged her, “glad to see you woke well rested. I realized after putting you to bed that you might have had your job. I didn’t want you to lose it, so I did it for you!”

“You...you did it for me?”

“Yes, so you don’t have to worry about it today!”

“Your doctor friend is amazing, Ditzy! He was able to figure out the route really fast.

Derpy’s ears dropped a bit. She had been working hard to memorize the route, but she still had trouble with it. The Doctor quickly noticed this. “Oh, but I’ve had a lot of practice for all sorts of things.” He added, “and I’m sure Derpy does a fantastic job as well!”

“Derpy? What’s that? A nickname?”

Derpy blushed a bit now, nodding, “Uh, Yeah.”

The mail pony laughed, “nicknames. Helping out at her job. You two are adorable!” He walked away, “since you have time, enjoy the day! You earned it.”

Derpy’s ears were even red by now. The Doctor looked a bit puzzled before turning to Derpy, “Derpy.” He whispered, “I do believe that that stallion believes we are dating.” Derpy nodded, hoping she wasn’t as red as her face felt. His eyes looked worried, “Oh, are you alright? There’s no telling what that hit could have done to you. You look a bit pink.” He felt her head, “you aren’t running a fever as far as I can tell, though you feel just a touch warm. Maybe it’s best if you get back to bed…”

“I’m fine!” Derpy shouted in a sharp, squeaky tone. She coughed, taking a breath before she continued, “I’m fine...just a bit embarrassed….” she looked away. The Doctor gave a sideways glance to her, shaking his head as a smile crossed his lips.

“Oh, Derpy. I know exactly how your feeling.”

Derpy’s eyes widened in surprise, “you...you do?”

The Doctor nodded, “of course I do. It’s not every day that someone comes to you and assumes relationships before knowing anything about you! It’s only natural to be embarrassed!” Derpy felt a bit of a twinge if pain in her chest, but she wasn’t sure why. She thought about it, and why she suddenly wanted to dash out of the building and hide under her bed forever. “Derpy? Are you sure you’re ready to be out. You seem to have paled a bit now.” He held her hoof, a face full of worry. And as her heart warmed a bit, she jumped back, her wings suddenly puffing out on their own. She blushed again. ‘I’m getting a crush on the Doctor. I’m getting a crush on the Doctor! No, I shouldn’t. He’s...he’s so mysterious and kind, and resourceful, and he came back! He came back….’. “Uh, Doctor...why did you come back?”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Weeping angels were a more important problem at the time, you see. What with them coming after you, and-“

“Doctor!”

“Right. Sorry! I realized on my way towards the rift that I still had the snow globe with the unicorn inside it. I looked to try to just sort of mail it to your doorstep Tardis style, but I couldn’t find it. At first I thought that you just took it with you, so I just wanted to check and see if you had when suddenly angels attacked!”

“No. I didn’t take the snowglobe...sorry. Are you sure it didn’t fall off and roll under the console?”

“Yes! I looked all over the main console room and nothing...I was really hoping you’d say you had it…”. The Doctor sighed.

“We have to find it! Velmenni is trapped in there! I promised I would help her.”

“And we will, Derpy. Don’t forget, time is on our side, but there’s something more important to do first.”

“What’s more important than saving Somepony!”

“That’s just it. We are saving Somepony. A very special and important pony.”

“Who?”

“You Derpy.” There was the warmth spreading again.

“M.M.Me?!” Derpy squeaked. “I’m...ju.just a Pegasus! And I’m safe now anyway. Those statue things are gone.”

“My dear Derpy, you are anything but ‘just a Pegasus’. You are fantastic. You are so full of possibilities that I could have never fathomed before. With you, anything is possible!”

Derpy hugged the Doctor, butterflies fluttering in her stomach as she did. “L-like I said. I’m safe now…”

“Your safe for the moment, but those two angels are still out there. They may attack again, or stay away. It’s hard to say at this point, but I don’t like what they were saying about you!”

“They were saying things about me?”

“Yes, though they made no sense. So I figured another trip!” At that moment Derpy realized he had walked her to the Tardis, “What do you say? We take a quick look at your past, and then find Velmenni. I think I know where and when she ended up.”

“If you know, then we should go there first, and then the past. Like you said, we have time on our side, so Velmenni should come first.”

“No.” It was the most forceful voice the Doctor has ever used in her. She shrank a bit.

“Why not?”

The Doctor looked over, and softened a bit, “Forgive me, Derpy...I’m just...I’m scared. I’ve had companions in the past with those things after them, and, well, the angels won. I’ve lost so many friends, and...I don’t want to lose you too.”

Derpy thought long and hard, “you promise. One trip to the past. And then we go get Velmenni and help her out.”

“Yes.”

“Pinkie promise?”

“Uh sure...cross my heart and hope to die-“

“Wait-what!”

“What?”

“Doctor it’s cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye. Seriously, why would any pony say hope to die!”

“Right...well, cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a ….muffin in my eye.” He teased.

“.....you know I do like that one better.

“I thought you would. Now, I need to know some things.”

“Okay…”

“Does Equestria have other worldly travel of any kind?”

“Not that I know of?”

“Hmmm,” The Doctor began to mumble, “given that they said you look through worlds and you already saw one and you said it was like a-“ his eyes trailed down to her cutie mark. “Derpy, What is your earliest vivid memory?”

“Well, I woke up with my eyes covered in bandages. They said Somepony brought me home and told my parents that something bad happened. The doctor said my eyes were shifting like they do all the time.”

“This pony...did they have a name?”

“Nope, just some stallion that found me. It was just after getting my cutie mark too because my parents were so upset that I couldn’t remember what it was…”

The Doctor nodded, possibilities going through his head, “is there anything else you remember? Any helpful thing?”

“I remember...a rainbow...circle…”

“What?”

“A rainbow circle?”

“A giant rainbow circle in the sky, and a loud noise, Yeah. I know, it sounds weird, but-“

“Well, it’s a start. Hmmm, something like that might be documented...Derpy, do ponies have news papers?”

“Well, Yeah. Why wouldn’t we?”

“Alright then. To the library!”

Some time later, Derpy sat in the floor in the library, back against a bookshelf. “Doctor, I feel like my brain is oozing out of my ears from all of this information, and we haven’t found anything about a rainbow circle. Maybe it didn’t make the news!”

“Oh, I doubt that, Derpy, especially since some of the major headlines are for world’s largest radish grown.” He laughed, pulling another newspaper out of a huge filing cabinet, “we’re bound to find it if we keep looking.”

“You keep looking. I need a break. Would you like anything? I’m going to get a muffin.”

Doctor snickered a bit, “you do love muffins, don’t you?”

“Well...their delicious…” Derpy blushed slightly.

“A glass of water would be wonderful, thanks.”

Derpy nodded, going off toward the cake shop. As she walked to the door, she noticed a light between two bookshelves. She looked over. At the end was a window. Just like before, it was oval shaped with an odd purple aura around it, bigger than most windows, Derpy felt like she could walk through it if she wanted to. Worried about losing it again,she kept her eyes focused on it. “Doctor!” She called, “come see this.”

“Just a moment please, Derpy. I think I might be on to something!” Derpy nodded, walking closer to the mirror. There wasn’t a dark room inside. Instead, an odd two legged creature danced with a giant shield around a huge forest with specks of what Derpy could only guess were seeds from the trees. This strange creature had some sort of mask on their face, And a blue outfit that covered every part of them as if frightened by being touched by nature. The creature seemed content just to be out,, and fell to the ground, allowing the large, clear round so lay over their head as they watched the seeds float around them. “Eureka!” The Doctor’s shouts caused Derpy to turn her head. She turned back quickly, but just like the last window, this one vanished.

“Doctor!”

“I found the day, Derpy! The day of the rainbow circle! Come on, let’s get to the Tardis!”

“But Doctor.” Derpy tried to continue as she was being pulled, “I need to tell you something!”

“I’m sure we can talk all about it after-“

“NO!” Derpy put her hoof down, “it’s important.”

“Alright. Sorry. I can be a bit pushy…”

“I saw another window.”

“Oh? Did it still have the vwoosh vwoosh sticks?”

“No...it had some creature twirling with a giant clear shield.”

“Odd, that one doesn’t sound familiar…” Doctor mumbled to himself.

“What?”

“Nothing, just...it’s okay. Where did you see it?”

“In the library when I called you.”

“I’m sorry, Derpy. I should have come then. Don’t hesitate to call me anytime it happens again. I’ll come the first time, promise. I want to see these mirrors for myself.” He hugged her before the two got into the TARDIS. He plugged in the date, and the Tardis was on the move, “but first let’s start by this day until we know what is going on that has the angels spooked, shall we?” He winked. Derpy didn’t have a chance to answer as the Tardis stopped. “First rules. Mostly no touching yourself or interfering with your own timeline. Two big no no’s with time travel.”

“Got it.”

“Good, then, Derpy Hooves allow me to show you a glimpse of your past!” The Doctor gave a bow, opening the door to a sudden massive blizzard. Derpy was pushed back, carried by the wind until she crashed into the Tardis, making a Derpy sized indent on the wall. Derpy looked outside.

“Doctor!” She yelled, stepping out in the giant snowstorm, “I don’t think this is my past!”

The Doctor ran out to see some sort of kingdom protected by an unknown force. Other than that, there was only snow everywhere. “That’s odd...I know I got the date right. Why bring us here?” He wondered. Derpy’s wings were caught by the wind again, and she was carried off. “Derpy! Hold on!” The Doctor galloped toward her. It took some time, but he finally caught her during a downdraft, pulling her down, “Tuck your wings in!”

“Sorry! Doctor. Where did the Tardis go?” The Doctor looked around, but there was no sign of the Tardis in the thick snow. Derpy was shivering.

“We just can’t see her in all this snow.”

“We’d better go back!”

“Not now, I got turned around chasing you and I don’t even know the way back. But there’s definitely some sign of civilization over that way, we’ll take shelter there until the storm dies down. Come on!” He held her hoof, as they slowly made their way towards the spire. Smaller shapes became visible as they carried on and then became buildings. Colors became distinguishable next and the ground ahead appeared to be green. It was green; in fact, it was grass, which became apparent when they were standing directly in front of it. There was a distinct line between the snow they stood in, and the grass just feet ahead of them.

“Hold on,” the Doctor said, looking a bit suspicious at what he was seeing.

“What’s wrong?” Derpy asked.

“Hopefully nothing, I’m just checking to be sure.”

“It’s freezing out here!”

He scanned the area in front of them. “Atmosphere envelope of some kind. Keeping the warmth in and winter outside, without even remotely obscuring the view.”

“Now can we go in?”

“Yes, I just wanted--”

Derpy immediately bolted through the envelope.

“--to make certain that it wasn’t some kind of illusion or trap.” The Doctor quietly stepped inside next.

“Where are we? When are we?” Derpy asked, mesmerized by the myriad of crystal houses.

The Doctor took his sonic out of his tie, scanning the area. “Everything here seems to be made from crystals. Strange rhythmic energy fluctuations. You don’t know about this place?”

“Not at all.” Derpy shrugged.

“Where are we? When are we?” Derpy asked, mesmerized by the myriad of crystal houses.

The Doctor took his sonic out of his tie, scanning the area, "wow...well, the good news is I kept true to my word. This is the past, just a lot longer than I meant to go…”

“How much is a lot?”

“Oh, just over a thousand years!”