Part of the Wibblyverse Continuity.
Part six of Doctor Whooves: Friendship is Wibbly Series 1
Previous Story: The Prodigal Daughter
Next Story: The Unexpected Adventures of Trixie and Sunset
Colgate is Ponyville's premier dentist. Also its only dentist. Funny how nopony can remember ever visiting her for a checkup. When a past that she can't even remember catches up with her, she is sent along with her friends back along her own timestream-- or somepony's timestream, anyway. Who is Romana? Who is Minuette? What do they have to do with the recurring nightmare that Colgate can never remember upon waking? And what lies at the end of this trip down memory lane?
Death tag for what is arguably the same character dying three times but not really.
Familiarity with the character of Romana is recommended, though not necessarily required, before reading this story. Familiarity with the character of Romana is recommended generally, actually. She's great. Just watch 'City of Death', 'the Pirate Planet', or the entire 'Key to Time' arc. Good stuff.
Well, this certainly seems intriguing. Feels very Dr. Whoish as well, which is nice. Also, loved the Dirk Gently reference there.
Tracking. Looking forwards to the next chapter.
Oh, you magnificent madperson!
I laughed out loud at this.
Okay, two notes.
One: you, the author, are chemically composed of pure magnificence. I have wanted to see another Tharil story for... well, a long time.
Two: Oh, come on, Doctor! This is your own universe now, your family lives here!
Still, that’s the difference between being trapped and being home, sometimes: choice.
Great flaming cat whiskers. You didn’t.
Meanwhile, Rarity continues to be fabulous.
That was a beautiful line.
YOU DID!
...or, wait, perhaps you did not. Wow.
I paid for the entire seat, but at the moment need only use of its edge...
Dude. There is nothing about this chapter that is not to love.
The weaving of different points of time was beautifully done. Just thought that should be mentioned.
Brilliant.
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Truly the highest compliment I could receive.
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Thank you! I appreciate your saying so.
Gleep.
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I'm going to take that to mean that you found this chapter groundbreaking, powerful, and nerve-wracking. Thank you!
Why, um... yes. Yes! That is exactly, precisely what I meant. And I definitely meant that in total, total knowledge and understanding of the exclamation as an acronym!
Without a doubt.
I know I already said this, but I'm really glad that there's someone else who knows about the Wilderness Years and all their crazy stuff. Seeing the Faction Paradox mentioned surprised me, even though I know how important they are to the era presented. Keep up the great work!
That line has no business being as heart-wrenchingly bitter-sweet as it is.
Damn. That was a hell of a ride, and no one came out unscathed.
Yeah. No one.
Also, it’s one thing to see someone you care about sacrifice themselves, it’s another to benefit from that sacrifice. It’s a hell of a thing to live with, and to try to live up to. It’ll be interesting to see where Romana goes from here.
Red? Blue? Why not both?
Confession: I never actually got into Doctor Who to any serious degree. Only ever saw a few episodes. I certainly don't have the depth of experience to appreciate the deep cuts on display here. But I can still appreciate the thrill and the tragedy. Well done. Well done indeed.
Now, time for wacky roadtrip fun times!
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Because of this
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xkcd_566_-_matrix_revisited_-_the_third_option_is_drugs_8488.png
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Very well put.
A reference to Douglas Adams other series
"When you have eliminated the improbable, whatever remains, however impossible, is the truth"
In a big city? I believe that you'll learn different
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While Minuette was having her identity crisis, several dozen mirror shards spontaneously appeared in front of her and a few lightning bolts went off for dramatic effect. Applejack was unfazed, because that was hardly the weirdest thing about the situation.
That... I'd say it was clever, but I'd have to actually fully understand the context first. Or it's a typo. I hope it's not a typo, any reference to "the other one" is fine by me, even if I don't get half of them.
Gotta say, of all the chapter name themes you've done, I think this is my favourite. The only two I don't get are Nothingland and Luna Romana, which I wil have to assume are references to audio stories I've never listened to.
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Nope, not a typo! 'Otherf*cker' has actually been used as a Time Lord swear word in one of the Eighth Doctor novels. I think it was Shadows of Avalon but I can't be certain.
An interesting thought here... Did *this* Romana ever experience the Time War? Fight against Rassilon, or become friends with Leela, Narvin, Ace or Brax?
She could find herself on a very different page to the Doctor...
What happened to K9 MKII?
I'm the N-Space Timeline, he ends up stuck in the Axis I believe... (MKI being destroyed in a terrorist attack by Free Time Insurgents if memory serves). But what of P-Space Romanas' K9? There is no mention of a Timberwolf manifesting when Calco and Romana appeared.
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Good question! The short answer is, no. She entered Equestria directly from E-Space, while the Romana who returned to Gallifrey and became president there split off from her down the other leg of the Trousers of Time. However, she does occasionally get alter-time flashes of memory from her presidency and the War.
As for K-9, I'm saying that he broke in E-Space. Gallifrey!Romana had the tools and skills to repair him; Equestria!Romana did not. Even now that she has her memories restored, it'll take some time to do so; Ponyville is nowhere near Gallifrey's level of technological advancement.
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Ah, that's good. I'm very fond of Romana, particularly her adventurers on Gallifrey up to and during the Time War. I almost don't want her to return to the main series, because there's no way they'd acknowledge such a convoluted mess of a timeline of screen, and would probably just ignore it...
The Trio of Romana II, Leela, and Narvin are such a brilliant batch of characters. So wildly different from each other, and each very different in their approach to how the Doctor acts. Exactly what Spin-Offs are for... You know I almost thought Calco was going to be Narvin - who'd been avoiding the Doctor because he recognised him. Romana might have been fed up with the Time War by her "Death" (Though - and this is doubly true with Time Lords - No Body no crime. I'm not convinced we've seen the last of her in the Gallfrey: Time War series.) but Narvin would not have been chill with the Doctor destroying Gallifrey. You've shown no problem with expanded universe shenanigans before, (Faction Paradox. Wonderful) though I think he'd rather burst all his regenerations at once than spend a lifetime in the form of a Pony.
I'm curious to see if this is revisited. This is very much *Classic* Era Romana. The Student. The Explorer. The One who was tired of Gallifrey, and thought nothing of asking the Doctor to run from the Timelords. There is more of Sunset than of Celestia about her. Romana on Gallifrey however, is another thing. Heh. You know you might say that Romana on Gallifrey Ascended. She toppled Gallifrey's structure, proclaimed herself Imperatrix, stepped down, produced a piece of temporal engineering that rebuilt a devested capital overnight, and explored hundreds of alternate Gallifreys. She nearly overthrew Rassilon, and finally was killed helping Narvin and Leela flee a refugee planet being conquered by the Daleks. She came this close to surviving via a Chamelon Arc, and chose not to, since she didn't think she - or anyone else - deserved a fresh start She was very much a product of the Post-Time War Universe, just as the Doctor Was.
This Romana is lacking all those experiences. Its as if she woke up from a dream, and was told Gallifrey was destroyed. All those adventures, Leela, Narvin, Brax, Ace, Pandora, Omega, Rassilon, the Daleks. Those never happened for her. She's not just a surviving Time Lord - she's a Time Lord from a forget age. Even if Gallifrey were to be restored, she's out of her time.
The Doctor may have found another Time Lord - but he's still the only one who remembers the Time War.
GG Doc. Ya done goof'd, lmao.
AJ's gonna have yer head for this.
Hmm... A certain fob watch I assume. Curiouser and curiouser.
Yup, the Doctor is a dead man.
Brilliant!
This was an excellent story. Poor Colgate! But. Good for her as well. May she never be forgotten.
Luckly, book's AREN'T sold at my current location & it's June 20th 2022.
So I'm absolutely able to read the crazy times with Trix and Sunny.
Not now tho.
Coldgate/Minuette stuff first, second, third.
Maybe fifth.
He'll be on his....40th regen by the time she's done
Das alot
Ah Pills. Nothing bad ever happened taking strange pills from matrix hallucinations.
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Sounds like a Tuesday.
RIP to Ponyville's best Dentist
Okay, so I’ve only read a little bit of this, and that was already somewhat of a bad idea because by chapter 2 I’m already a little thrown by the continuity from previous stories that I just hit, but that’s what I get for jumping into the middle.
Before anything else, I wanted to compliment you on the chapter title names. The fact that they are named after Fourth Doctor stories is incredibly brilliant and funny and probably not something everybody could pull off. So, bravo for being able to pull that off. But I’d also like to see if I got the references right.
State of Tooth Decay = State of Decay
The Dental Operation =The Ribos Operation
Meglosmania = Meglos
Receptionist's Gate = Warriors’ Gate
Nothingland = ???
Nightmare of E-Space = Nightmare of Eden (with added Adric reference?)
City of Memories = City of Death
After Armageddon = The Armageddon Factor
Prelude to Tara =The Androids of Tara
Luna Romana = ???
The Power of Colgate = The Power of Kroll
Not Quite Full Circle = Full Circle
What are Luna Romana and Nothingland referencing? They’re not TV stories as far as I can tell. Audio dramas, perhaps?
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Yep, they're references to the Big Finish audios Neverland and, er, Luna Romana. That one was pretty straightforward. Technically, Neverland isn't a proper Four and Romana story, but it does have Romana in it and I couldn't come up with anything better at the time. (The only other option I can remember was The Power of Null, which isn't half as descriptive).
I'm so glad you're enjoying my terrible puns, because they aren't going to stop anytime soon!