Doctor Whooves: Beyond the Nth Dimension

by Glimglam

Chapter 4: The Impossible Dimension

Chapter 4: The Impossible Dimension

Silence hung in the air within the chamber. Colgate stood, rooted to the spot by some unknown force that refused to let up. Her friends, Carrot Top and Derpy Hooves, also shared a similar feeling. Their eyes were all focused on the brown stallion that was standing in front of the doorway. Colgate felt a slight feeling of dread rise up within her. This new pony was none other than that so-called 'Doctor' from before. And he didn't seem pleased.

“So. Which one of you lot is going to explain yourselves before I have to get a tad upset?”

The question made Colgate cringe. She was quickly coming to regret stepping into the box uninvited. In retrospect, it was kind of rude, not to mention totally breaching some type of common etiquette. When nopony responded to the Doctor's inquiry (outside of a few nervous stammers and gulps), he repeated himself.

“Sorry, did I stutter or something? I asked you three to explain yourselves. What do you think you're doing in my TARDIS?”

'TARDIS? What kind of name is that?' Colgate thought, frowning with confusion. 'Is that what he calls his time machine? Weird…'

It crossed the unicorn's mind that, seeing as how they were completely and utterly exposed, she should just come clean about their “infiltration” of the box. Usually the penalties are less harsh if you own up, right? At least nothing else could go wrong.

“Oh… well, you see…”

Just before Colgate could voice her explanation (or lack of such), she was beaten to the punch by Derpy, of all ponies. “The door was open, so we took a look-see-dee around!” the gray mailmare exclaimed, grinning. “Colgate wanted to see if this really was a time machine, but Carrot Top said she didn't believe her, so they got in this big argument and stuff and oh wow I guess Colgate was right all along—”

Carrot Top quickly shoved a hoof in Derpy's mouth to silence her. “Derpy, for the love of Celestia, shut up!” she hissed, casting an anxious glance towards the Doctor. She grinned nervously. “Crazy, isn't she? Never can understand a thing she goes on about, ha ha…”

The Time Lord, for one, was briefly dumbfounded. Then, with a groan, he facehoofed. “Oh, for the love of… I left the door open AGAIN?! Goodness, I must be more scatterbrained than I thought…”

“'Again'?”

“Though, it would explain why I've been seeing mice chewing on the cables lately… but I digress.” He coughed. “ANYWAY! What do you three all have to say for yourselves? That was awfully rude, you know!”

“B-but—! W-we—! S-s-she—!” Carrot Top stammered wildly, making spastic hoof gestures at the console, Colgate, Derpy, and pretty much everything else present. The unicorn that was the brunt of her arguments had chosen to linger into the background, making herself hidden. Derpy could only exchange looks between the other ponies in the chamber with confusion written all over her face.

The Time Lord interpreted the non-response as an admission of guilt. “I expected better from you, Miss Top,” the Doctor muttered, shaking his head. “The same for you, Miss Hooves. Trespassing without permission, well, that won't make friends now, will it? Honestly.”

Both mares hung their heads in shame. Neither one felt at all proud of being scolded for something that wasn't even their fault. Carrot Top flicked a cold, unreadable stare at where Colgate was hiding, and sighed. 'You've really screwed us over BIG time, Col.'

Colgate poked her head around the console she was hiding behind, and bit her lip nervously. This was all her idea, not theirs. It felt so wrong to let them stand and be chastised like a couple of fillies getting a talking-to from their parents. And thusly, she came to a resolution. Rather than sit idly on her dock and do nothing, decided to stand up for her friends. Mustering up as much courage as she could, Colgate came out from her impromptu hiding place, and raised a hoof to the air to call attention to herself. “W-wait!”

“…Eh?” The Doctor looked at the unicorn, and narrowed his eyes. “Ah, right. You, pony whose name I do not know and have never met before.”

“It's Colgate,” she promptly informed him.

“Ah, like the toothpaste… of course it is…” Something of an amused smirk found its way onto his face, but it quickly passed.

'Toothpaste? Where did that comparison come from?' the unicorn thought, swallowing deeply. “Just… please, don't give my friends any trouble. It was all my fault. I was the one who dragged them in here. It was me who wanted to know if you really had a time machine. And…” Colgate sighed. “I wanted to know if… if you knew anything about my cutie mark… My talent, I… I just don’t…”

Carrot Top and Derpy stared at Colgate with both amazement and bewilderment. She was... defending them? Risking her own neck and willing to accept whatever consequence of her actions? For some reason, they felt humbled. 'Col, what are you doing?' Carrot almost asked out loud, but stopped herself. Derpy only stared, and waited for something to happen.

For what seemed like the longest moment in Colgate’s life, the Time Lord simply stared at her. Slowly, but surely, he trotted towards the unicorn, both of them maintaining eye contact the whole while. When they were only a hoof's length apart, the Doctor stopped and continued to scan the unicorn's face, as if searching for any sign of dishonesty. Colgate's heart began to race; why was she feeling so nervous in his presence? What was about this “Doctor” that made her feel so anxious?

“…” With a tilt of the neck sideways, the Doctor stole a glance at the hourglass cutie mark on Colgate's flank. His eyes widened noticeably. “…Well. Look at that. Fascinating. Hm.” The Doctor broke eye contact from the mark, glanced for a moment at his own, and then stared off somewhere to the side. He was silently mouthing words, as if he was debating something with himself.

Fighting back a blush (it wasn't every day that a stallion would ogle her cutie mark after all), Colgate braved an apology. “So… um… if it means anything, uh… I'm sorry for breaking into your time machine…”

The chamber was silent for a few tense moments. After which, the Doctor simply shrugged and walked past her. “If that's the case, then no harm done,” he said freely, waving a dismissive hoof as he approached the console. “Curious minds often are hard to tame, eh? Never could manage my own bloody curiosity I'll admit…”

Colgate blinked. He accepted her apology that quick? Without so much as a “and never do that again, you hear?” But why? Maybe he admired her honesty? Perhaps he was just feeling merciful this once? Or was this Doctor just plain batty? Sadly, the latter option might have been the most plausible one…

…after all, who else but a madpony would own a time-traveling box?

“However,” the madpony went on, “I’ll have to ask that you vacate the TARDIS and go about your daily lives in this time period, as it should. It was nice to meet you Colgate, I suppose, but I really must be doing something very important, and I'm afraid it can't wait.”

“Like what?” was what the unicorn was thinking of asking, but before her brain even had the opportunity to generate such dialogue Carrot Top had seized both her and Derpy by the hooves and was leading them out the door. “Yes, yes, we have a lot of stuff to do, so we'd better get galloping!” she exclaimed, throwing in a few forced chuckles. “See ya Doc—”

“Heeeey, Mr. Doctor?” a tiny voice interrupted. “When are you taking me home?” Somepony else was in the TARDIS as well? Carrot Top turned around to see who it was, and raised a curious eyebrow.

It was a filly. A small, purple unicorn filly with a deep purple mane, to be precise. She looked really young, and was still a blank-flank from the looks of it. Plus, she was beyond adorable.

“Awwww! Aren’t you just the CUTEST little dear!” Carrot Top gushed, her internal mood switch being flipped to the ‘squee-machine’ setting to compensate for the cuteness overload. Conveniently, she appeared to have forgotten all about the whole 'leaving' deal. “You’re such a cute little foal!”

The filly blushed and shied away a bit, which only served to make her even more irresistible (to Carrot Top at least). “U-uhmm… who are you?” she asked, though the earth pony didn’t reply in any sufficient way. “M-Mister Doctor, who are these ponies?”

“A-ahh… oh dear… uh… ahhhh…”

The Doctor, Colgate noticed, suddenly looked very apprehensive. He kept shifting nervous glances between the filly, her, and her two friends. For whatever reason, he had a lot of trouble trying to get any words out. Something was definitely not right here. And why did that filly seem so… familiar?

Carrot Top was still busy squealing and acting oddly stranger than her usual self, and had scooped up the filly in her forelegs and was squeezing her with delight. Of course, that was to be expected of somepony vulnerable to such endearing things. “Ooooooh, you’re so adorable! Hey, what’s your name, little filly? I bet it’s as cute as you!”

“U-uhm… I’m… I’m Twilight…”

“…” The earth mare froze as the name sunk in. “…Come again?”

“I said my name’s Twilight… Twilight Sparkle. Who are you?”

Silence hung in the air once again upon this revelation. Carrot Top’s jaw (and grip on the filly) ever-so-slowly fell slack, and she stared in abject shock at her. A certain wall-eyed pegasus was absolutely dumbstruck. And Colgate immediately managed to piece together her thought processes into a single and well-thought-out statement: “YOU’RE A FILLY!”

“Um… yes?” Twilight replied, wincing at Colgate’s sudden shout. “Why are you all staring at me? S-stop it, I’m really nervous…”

“B-b-b-b-b-b-b-but how is this even possible?!!” the earth pony yelled, trembling as she reflected on the situation. “I mean, she looks just like a tinier version of Twilight and all, b-b-but I didn’t actually think that…! Oh, Celestia help me! She was a full-grown mare when we last saw her an hour ago, b-b-b-but now…! What the hay happened!?”

Derpy, ever the pony to react to crises with blind panic and a single-minded mantra of ‘Warn everypony! Run! Hide!’, started to freak out and made a beeline for the doors. “We gotta tell Twilight’s friends! S-something’s wroooooong!!”

Unbeknownst to the three, the Time Lord at the TARDIS console had sensed a problem long before it bloomed its first ugly blossom, and took the liberty of flipping a certain switch on the dashboard. There was a distinct ‘clunk!’ audible in the room just as Derpy had reached the doors and was trying to force them open. To her (and the others’) horror, they wouldn’t budge.

“W-we’re locked in!” Colgate exclaimed, and then leveled a glare towards the Doctor. “Hey! Let us out! We need to get some help for Twilight!”

“She already has some help, thank you very much. Why else do you think she’s here?” The Doctor cast a forlorn look towards the floor. “…I’m sorry, truly I am, but I can’t let you report this.”

“And why not?!” Carrot Top snapped, stomping her hoofs angrily. “You can’t keep us in here!”

The Time Lord cocked an eyebrow. “I believe I just did, Miss Top. Those doors are thrice-reinforced, so good luck trying to break them. Sorry, but you are here, and you can’t leave. You three know too much. Yes, yes, I know that I said ‘leave’ before, but now it’s different. You’re all too involved now. The integrity of time and space may be at risk, and I have to correct it before—”

Before finishing his statement, the Doctor was rudely interrupted. By a punch to the face. He was taken rather off-guard, to say the least.

“Aaagh!” he shouted, rubbing a hoof on his now-very sore nose. “Oh, bugger me, again?! Oww… that’s going to be sore for a while…”

“Let us out of this box!” the earth pony yelled, pulling her hoof back to ready for another good slug. “It’s either that, or we’ll let ourselves out!”

“Woooah, Carrot Top!” Colgate said, eyes wide at her friend’s sudden display of bravado. “That was awesome! I never knew you had it in you!”

Carrot Top just grunted in response; her focus right now was on the Doctor. “Okay Doc, you’ve always had these crazy secrets that I always thought was malarkey, but right now, I really don’t care what you think. Just. Let. Us. Out.” She paused, and then tacked on, “And we’re taking Twilight home with us, too.”

The filly-form Twilight swapped fearful glances between the angry-looking carrot pony, and the still-getting-to-their hooves Doctor. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but if anything was sure, she didn’t like fighting. “Please stop… Don’t fight…” she whined, but was not heard.

“I’m afraid that I cannot allow that,” the Doctor said after he righted himself. “Just listen to me for a moment. I can explain everything you want to know about Twilight’s condition… just please don’t sucker-punch me again…”

While the Time Lord negotiated with Carrot Top, Derpy cautiously flew over to Colgate’s side. “Wh-what’s gonna happen to us?” the mailmare asked, traces of fear evident in her voice.

“I…” Colgate sighed. “I don’t know, Derpy. I just… I just don’t…”

It may have been because she was tired, but the blue unicorn had the most powerful urge to lean against something and rest. She had been standing and running around almost nonstop today, and it was beginning to take its toll. Gently resting against the console of the ‘TARDIS’ (still a weird name, in her opinion), Colgate raised one of her sore hooves off the ground…

…And, thanks to an utter lack of grace and/or preparation, slipped and fell down.

She had sensed that she was on the verge of falling only milliseconds beforehoof. In an action of pure defensive reflex, Colgate threw her free hoof into the air to try and catch any possible hoofhold within reach that would spare her a fall. Such attempts were null and void however, as both she and her loose foreleg fell against the console and disrupted the carefully calculated and delicately arranged positions of several switches on the board. And as one could imagine, many of them were important. And a choice few of these weren’t supposed to be touched. Ever.

With a low and resounding ‘thoom’ sound, the entire chamber began to shake and rumble. In the center of the console, a glass tube inside another glass tube began oscillating rapidly. A peculiar ‘vrrrrrrt’ noise accompanied each oscillation, each one seeming to increase in speed.

“…and if you’d just let me handle the situation, then I—eh? What in the…?” The Doctor’s look of befuddlement quickly dissolved into one of shock. He turned to look at Colgate, still splayed out on the console in a daze, and gaped. “You… what have you done!?”

It took a moment for the situation to register in the unicorn's mind, and when it did she looked horrified. “No! I-it wasn’t my fault!” Colgate exclaimed, scrambling back to her hooves. “I-I just slipped, and a bunch of buttons got pushed by accident, and—”

An explosion of sparks near where Colgate was standing both interrupted her and sent her reeling. The unicorn, startled, let out a whinny of fear and reared back, only to slip and fall again. The floor was still wet and slushy in places, and it clearly did nothing for traction. Her head made contact with a poorly placed metal railing, knocking her senseless.

“COLGATE!” Derpy and Carrot Top shouted, rushing over to check on their friend. The Doctor did not react to the unicorn's troubles, and instead stood by, watching the monitors and scanners on the console with increasing worry. Several more fountains of sparks erupted from the console itself and other locations around the chamber.

“Colgate, speak to us! Are you alright?!” the earth pony yelled, grabbing the barely conscious body of her friend and shaking it. “Wake up! For Luna’s sake girl, wake up!”

With great difficulty, the blue unicorn slowly managed to look up at her friends. She smiled weakly. “For want of a better word…” she whispered, eyelids drooping. “…Ow.”

Colgate’s head and body slumped, and she blacked out.

>~===DW===~<

‘Gah! I KNEW something like this would happen!’

The Doctor stomped a hoof in frustration. Everything just couldn’t be easy today, could it? Having to deal with not only a fillyfied Twilight, but with three separate stowaways? AND one of the said stowaways having the density to muck about with the TARDIS’s console?

It seemed, however, that the offending stowaway—Colgate, was it?—was out-cold right now, and the other two were checking on her. They were the least of his problems right now. The problem right now was where the TARDIS was even going…

‘Let’s see, the computer appears pre-programmed to enter the vortex, but… there’s no set destination…’ He stopped, and checked over the data again. ‘…Wait, that’s… oh dear… She couldn’t possibly have…!’

“Oh, BRILLIANT!” the Doctor shouted, his voice full to the brim with sarcasm. “We’re leaving the universe! How peachy!”

Such a thing had only been done by him once before, but on purpose. He was exploring a ‘soap bubble’ dimension outside the universe itself, trying to find if there were any more Time Lords somewhere. Ultimately, it was unsuccessful. How could him being temporarily trapped in said dimension and almost letting a malevolent ethereal being back into the regular universe be considered successful? At least he was able to sort everything out in the end (on top of figuring out that his TARDIS was, in fact, female (via a chain of events too complicated to get into right now)).

Carrot Top, upon hearing the Doctor’s shout, threw him a bewildered expression. “We’re doing WHAT?!” she shouted, trying to make herself heard over the noise of the TARDIS. “How are we ‘leaving the universe’?!”

“With incredible difficulty!” the Doctor replied promptly, and frantically started flipping switches and pushing buttons on the console. “If I don’t do this right, the dimensional rifts will tear the TARDIS apart! And, by proxy, us as well! Just hang on to something, you lot!” A thought struck him. “Ah! Miss Twilight!”

The filly unicorn, who had been hiding behind one of the pillars in the chamber, leaned around the side and answered, “Y-yes?”

“Just… keep doing what you’re doing!” the Time Lord instructed. “The hiding, that is! Preferably holding on as well! We may experience some slight turbulence…!”

‘Slight’ was too gentle a term.

The TARDIS shook and heaved as it crossed the dimensional plane, whizzing and tumbling about as it went. This wild flight pattern was felt by the occupants in the form of earthquake-level tremors and sparks flying from every possible place. Red lights flashed and alarm bells sounded off from some unknown location, threatening to deafen those within. The Doctor desperately attempted to get the time machine under control while his ‘passengers’ were viciously flung about.

“D-DOC, WHAT THE HAY’S GOING ON?!” Carrot Top shouted, fighting to maintain a grip on both the unconscious Colgate and the railing.

The Doctor shielded his face from another shower of sparks before replying. “WE’VE CROSSED OVER SOME SORT OF DISTORTION ZONE IN THE TIME VORTEX! SOME SORT OF ODD DIMENSIONAL ANOMALY!”

“A WHERE ZONE IN THE WHAT VORTEX?”

“DISTORTION ZONE! TIME VORTEX! I CAN SEE THAT I’LL HAVE TO SPELL IT ALL OUT FOR YOU, MISS TOP!”

“DON’T PATRONIZE ME! JUST FIX IT!”

“YOU KNOW, YOU SOUND A LOT LIKE MISS TWILIGHT WHENEVER SHE GETS ALL WORKED-UP! I CAN SEE THAT THIS WILL BE A LOVELY FRIENDSHIP!”

“DOC!!”

“OH, SO SORRY! ANYWAY! JUST THINK OF THE ZONE LIKE ONE OF THOSE EARBUD CORDS INSIDE A TROUSERS POCKET! WHEN THE LINES OF REALITY ARE CONTAINED INSIDE A SMALL, OFTEN DISTORTED SPACE, THEY’RE MORE LIKELY TO TWIST AND CROSS OVER ONE ANOTHER! THEN REALITY GETS ALL KNOTTED UP, AND YOU NEVER CAN GET IT ALL UNDONE! IT’S REALLY QUITE FRUSTRATING, YOU KNOW!”

“…WHAT?! EARBUD? TROUSERS POCKET?!”

The Time Lord sighed with exasperation. “FORGET THE POCKET! THE TARDIS IS STUCK IN SOME KIND OF LOOP BETWEEN REALITY, AND WE CAN’T SEEM TO COMPLETE THE TRANSFER BETWEEN THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THE UNIVERSE! WE’RE IN SOME KIND OF LIMBO!”

Carrot Top just stared at the Doctor with a flabbergasted expression. “HUH?!”

“IN SHORT, WE’RE IN BIG TROUBLE!”

The earth pony’s confusion shifted to panic, and she tightened her grip on the railing. Colgate was still being held safely in her grip. Nearby, Derpy Hooves was clinging to one of the railings for dear life, her eyes whirling in their sockets from such mayhem.

Twilight, being of a tiny stature, was having a great amount of difficulty in keeping herself anchored. “MISTER DOCTOR!” she wailed, fighting to keep her little forelegs wrapped around the pillar. “I’M SCARED! MAKE IT STOP!”

“DON’T WORRY, TWILIGHT!” the Doctor shouted in reply. “WE’LL GET OUT OF THIS! PROBABLY! MAYBE! I DUNNO!”

“THAT’S VERY REASSURING!” Carrot Top snidely remarked, glaring at the Time Lord.

The violent tremors and noises seemingly refused to let up. But, much to the relief of at least three occupants, the shaking slowly began to wind down, and the alarms finally stopped blaring. Carrot Top finally released her hold on the railing, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Derpy Hooves let go as well, then flopped onto the ground and panted heavily as if she'd flown a pega-thon. While little Twilight was still insistent on clinging to the pillar, she had also settled down and was gradually recovering from the shock.

But even as things began to calm down around the TARDIS, the Doctor was still on-edge, like a cat on a hot tin roof. Something wasn’t right. According to the scanners, they had already left the vortex and had landed somewhere. But where? None of the monitors were giving him any good information. It’s as if they were everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

“…That’s quite unusual, I must say,” the Doctor wondered aloud. “The scanner’s not returning any proper reading.”

As Carrot Top was preoccupied with trying to revive Colgate, it was Derpy who asked, “Wh-what does that mean?”

“Well Miss Hooves, it means…” He paused. “…I don’t know what it means. Goodness, this is all so new… It’s as if we’re still stuck in a rut between the folds of the fabric of time and space.”

“That’s… bad, right?”

“Unless you’re a carbon-based lifeform, then no, of course not.”

“Oh. Great!”

“No, I was… nevermind.”

Right then, the Doctor felt a pair of hooves wrap around his leg, and he looked down at the cause. “M-mister Doctor!” Twilight squeaked, fearfully clutching to him. “W-what happened? Why did everything get all shaky?”

“Now now Miss Twilight,” the Time Lord cooed, gently pushing her away from his leg, “everything will be fine…”

The filly, despite reassurance, started to cry. “I-I’m really scared! I want my mom! I want my BBBFF!”

The Doctor groaned with distaste. “Ugh, I am really not cut out for this. Miss Hooves, until further notice, you are on foalsitter duty.”

“W-what?”

“Well, this seems like a fair arrangement, don’t you think? You trespass and stow aboard my TARDIS, and in return, you take care of the young Twilight. Fair trade?”

“Bu—”

“Splendid, okay, allons-y! Let’s move on! Miss Top! How is the unconscious Miss Colgate faring?...”

The Doctor trotted off towards the other two mares, leaving Derpy behind with Twilight.

“…” Derpy stared at the young filly before her, trying to come up with something good to say. “Um… hello! My name’s Derpy!”

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” Twilight innocently inquired, tilting her head with wonder. “They’re all funny-looking!”

The pegasus frowned. This was going to go along swimmingly, wasn’t it?

“Doc, she’s out light a light,” Carrot Top explained as the Time Lord came to check on her and Colgate. “She hit her head pretty good…”

The Doctor, without even blinking, pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his vest pocket and waved it over the unicorn. “…Hm. She’ll be okay. After all, a slight bump on the cranium never hurt anyone. …Well, not for long, anyway.”

“…” The earth mare looked at her friend with worry, and gently ran a hoof through her frazzled mane. If only she had believed her, then maybe they wouldn’t be in this mess…

Not the one to associate himself with tender forms of emotion (at least, not often), the Doctor walked back to the console and flicked one of the switches on it. Another ‘clunk!’ sound was heard, signaling the release of the locking mechanism. After that, he started off towards the doorway…

“H-hey, where are you going?” Carrot Top asked suddenly, still cradling Colgate in her hooves.

The Doctor paused for a moment, and continued walking. “Outside. I need to see what’s giving the scanner false readings.”

No one argued with him.

Continuing on uninterrupted, the equine Time Lord reached the doorway and, carefully, pulled the doors open. A sight that was unlike anything he had ever before seen greeted him.

First off, it was beyond huge. The expanse the existed outside the TARDIS doors spread out far and wide, supposedly for infinity. Outside, clouds of orange and blue swirled and coalesced through the space, weaving in and around both themselves and several planet-like bodies of unknown composition floating in midair. Pillars of a rock and steel-like material rose vertically through the expanse, both ends leading to indeterminable points in the distance.

A large chunk of rock with what appeared to be a heavily distorted tree floated lazily nearby, bumping into a nearby pillar and rebounding. This action produced the sound of, curiously enough, a thunderclap. And speaking of thunder, there were many bolts of lightning being generated by the tumultuous blue clouds in the distance. The lightning seemed to ‘leap’ from cloud to cloud, and it would occasionally lash out and strike some other object in the expanse. The rock with the odd tree from earlier was hit by one of these stray bolts, causing it to burst into a green flame before splitting into two separate rocks, each with a similar-looking tree.

Gravity seemed to be blatantly ignored here, as did the passage of time itself. Some areas seemed to be moving normally, while others seemed sped up as if someone had hit the ‘Fast-Forward’ button on a VHS player. Others seemed to move so sluggishly, it was a wonder that they could actually be moving at all. Two separate planetoids, each experiencing different zones of time flow, happened to collide together, which caused the both of them to suddenly explode with a small ‘pop’.

The Doctor was at an absolute loss on what he saw. This was, by far, the strangest place he had ever been. The faculties that the known universes operated by were non-existent here. Everything he saw weren’t even possible by even irrational standards.

The only word he found that could describe it best was… chaos. Total chaos. Complete disharmony. A cacophony of impossible physics. Turmoil of endless nonsense.

Looking down, the Doctor saw that the TARDIS had managed to land on one of the more stable planetoids. A few more chunks of wayward rock flew dangerously close by, but that didn’t concern him. With a cautious step forward, the Time Lord trotted outside the doors, and into this strange new dimension.

Immediately, his entire body was wracked by some incredible force. The temporal flow here… it was unbelievable! The sheer amount of uncontrolled and undiluted energy in the air… overpowering! (And not to mention extremely painful!)

“Nnnnngh…!” The Doctor struggled to keep standing on his hooves, but it was incredibly hard to do so. ‘This power… I’ve… ngh… felt it somewhere before… it’s… familiar… but… No… no, it can’t be…’

“Doctor!” a voice from inside the TARDIS called out, which clearly made itself out to be Derpy. “What’s going on out here?”

Eyes widening with dread, the Doctor turned around just in time to see the wall-eyed pegasus start to walk out the doorway. “N-NO! MISS HOOVES! D-DON’T LEAVE THE TARDIS!!”

“Don’t leave the what-now?” Derpy replied with confusion, sticking her hoof out the doorway. Once the warning finally processed in her mind, she seized up, and at last took notice of the chaotic expanse outside. “WH-WHERE ARE WE?!”

The Doctor stared in horror. “Y-your hoof…!”

“Huh? My what?”

Looking down at the hoof she had put outside the doorway, Derpy gasped with shock. Her entire foreleg, from the point where it was past the threshold of the doorway, was twisting and distorting itself into a totally unrecognizable shape. It was quite sickening to look at. “D-DOCTOR! WH-WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME!!”

“GET BACK INSIDE, YOU!” the Doctor shouted, leaping forward and shoving the pegasus back into the safety of the TARDIS. Thankfully, Derpy’s hoof had reverted to its normal status once she was back inside. “A-and I thought I told you to—ungh!—stay put!”

“S-sorry! My bad!” the mailmare apologized, slamming the door shut in a hurry to avoid a scolding.

Tired of all the babysitting he had to do today, the Doctor only grunted and turned away from the TARDIS. The strange energy that flowed through this dimension still whittled away at his being, and it was difficult to walk properly. However, on the plus side, he seemed capable of resisting whatever molecular-distorting effects that had briefly affected Derpy. Didn’t make it any less uncomfortable, but it could have been worse.

“S-so…! This is where we are, eh!” the Doctor exclaimed to the expanse, gazing at the impossible formations of matter throughout. “Hah! Hell of a place, I’ll give it that!” He squinted to try and make out any signs of life amidst the chaos, implausible as it seemed in this hostile environment. “So, is there anyone out there!? Hellooo? Yooohooo! The Doctor will see you now!”

Nothing but the thunderclaps of the lightning and the harsh blasts of cosmic air answered him.

“I see then! Empty! Much like my wallet I suppose, BUT ANYWAY! I suppose I best be off, then!”

The tiny planetoid he was on had little to see anyway, so the Doctor wasn’t too keen on sticking around. As intriguing as this impossible dimension was, it would be very detrimental to his health to linger around and have a tea party or something. However, before he could return to the TARDIS…

“You… are not welcome here… Devolchr…”

A booming, ominous voice reverberated throughout the expanse, and the Doctor paused. Turning back around, the Time Lord saw a large, black thing approaching from the distance.

Once it had gotten close enough, it was revealed to be some sort of winged beast. Its eyes were solid neon yellow, and a pair of horrid looking fangs protruded from its jowl. What appeared to be a set of two separate horns adorned to top of its head. The beast’s tail seemed to resemble that of a serpent’s own, but this one also sported some kind of sphere-like appendage. Its forearms and claws were decidedly smaller than a beast of this size suggested should be normal, but even so, the claws themselves seemed sharper than knives.

The Doctor, having seen countless aliens over the years, wasn’t all that shocked. “Ah… so, what are you supposed to be, eh?” he asked politely. “An inhabitant, perhaps?”

“You are not welcome here, Devolchr,” the winged creature boomed, underlying the words with a growl. “The Hallowed Place is the realm of Incogni.”

“Devol-wha? I beg your pardon sir, but my name is the Doctor, actually… and I was, eh, just leaving…”

“You are Devolchr. Our race has foretold your intervention. You will not succeed. Incogni will prevail.”

“Errrr… Forgive me, but I fear that I’m a little bit lost here… Who’s ‘Devolchr’? Sounds like a Russian bloke I once met at an Earth bar that I’d… er… rather not go back and revisit…”

“You are Devolchr. The fates have divined your path. You will never overcome us.”

“Hold up a minute, hold up just a minute! Let me get this straight… “I’m” the Devolchr?”

“The fates have divined it so,” a slightly similar but different voice said. Another one of the winged beasts had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

“So, there are more of you, aren’t there… Alright, so… ‘Devolchr.’ Hm. Not the first name I would’ve chosen, but… ANYWAY! Why do I need to, ahem, ‘overcome’ you again?”

“We are Incogni,” the voice went on. “Incogni will spread the Chaos of the Hallowed Place to the universe. We feed on paradox. We live to instate disharmony.”

“You must be a hit at parties, eh…”

“And we will,” the voice of another creature joined in, “bring the blessing of the Hallowed Place beyond our reach.”

“We will achieve the impossible,” the first voice continued.

“Sorry, but I may have beaten you to that more than, oh, quite a few times I’m afraid. No hard feelings, right?”

“Time and space itself trembles before us,” the voice of yet another winged alien bellowed. There were no less that four of them surrounding the Doctor and the TARDIS.

“Ah-hah! ‘Trembles’, you say!” the Doctor exclaimed, laughing. “Now that’s a clever joke! Hah! Seriously, that’s the best one I’ve heard in a while! Now, how’s this one for a larf? I’m the Doctor, you lot! The last Time Lord! I AM time and space! And really now… do I truly seem like I’m ready to tremble?”

“Your words are feeble and based on petty overconfidence. You will learn to fear Incogni, Devolchr,” one of the creatures hissed. “Your intervention was foretold… as is your downfall.”

“‘The Eleventh will fall, and the Twelfth will rise,’” another began to recite. “‘When the Devolchr learns the ultimate truth, he will tell the ultimate lie. The Incogni have won, and will have always won, until the day the question is answered.’”

The Doctor stiffened up at the last thing spoken by the beast. ‘The question’… could it be… the same one? The one he had been running from for his entire life? But… it couldn’t be…

“‘But when the question is asked…’”

“Silence shall fall,” the Doctor whispered, almost unaware that he did so.

The other creatures were quiet for several moments.

“‘…and Discord will rise. Twelve will fall. Incogni will rule,’” the first creature finished. “You, Devolchr, will never overcome Incogni. Your fate is divined against you. Even now, the air around you brings you pain. You cannot touch us. We cannot be stopped, Devolchr.”

“…” The Doctor lowered his head, gritting his teeth. The pain was starting to get to him, as much as he hated to admit it. He cursed the foul air around him. The last thing he needed was to get killed in the middle of an alien dimension. “…You lot, you know… you’re really quite an ugly bunch, aren’t you… Ugh…”

“Fate has divined your failure, Devolchr. Accept it with grace.”

The Time Lord, in spite of everything, scoffed. “Hah… Well, if you snakes-with-wings think that I’m just going to take something like this lying down…” The Doctor raised himself off the unstable ground fully, and shot a defiant glare at the creatures. “…then you’ve got another bloody thing coming, you!”

In a flash, the Doctor brandished his sonic screwdriver and held it up as high as could be before turning on the ‘noisemaker’ function. Rarely did it see such use as this, but it had proved handy on one such occasion. With an extremely noisy and pitched whiz-bang sound, the sonic glowed and spun as the creatures shrieked and shouted at the sudden assault on their hearing abilities. Not even aliens from an alternate dimension were immune to simple sound-waves!

While the winged beasts were distracted, the Doctor rushed back to the TARDIS and threw the doors open in haste before slamming them shut behind him. “Miss Twilight! Lock the door!” he shouted on impulse, rubbing his aching head.

The unicorn filly looked up from her card game with Derpy (which, from what could be gathered, she was winning) and gave the Time Lord a confused stare. “…Um… how?”

“…” The Doctor facehoofed. Of course, how could she do that now that she was a foal? So. Very. Frustrating. “Never mind, I’ll do it myself!”

And so he did. After the Doctor locked the doors and was prepping the TARDIS for another inter-dimensional flight, he took notice of both Carrot Top and a now-conscious Colgate resting against the railing. “Oh, good, she’s awake! Now both of you hold on to something again!”

“Wh-what!?” the earth pony sputtered, putting on a disbelieving look. “Again?! What’s going on?”

“Let’s just say that our neighbors out there aren’t the kinds that are keen on being your friends!” the Doctor exclaimed, flipping a variety of switches before flicking the master dematerialization control. “Come along, carpe diem! Geronimo, we’re off!”

Carrot Top’s jaw fell slack upon realizing that they were just about to go through the entire ordeal again. With fearful anticipation, she clung like a barnacle to the railing once again, which earned herself a bemused look from Colgate.

“…What are you doing?” the unicorn asked, but before she could get an answer the whole chamber began to violently shake and shudder again like before. Getting the picture right away, Colgate hurriedly braced herself against the railing. Likewise, Twilight and Derpy Hooves assumed the position as well, getting ready for the ride of their lives…

Outside the TARDIS, the winged beasts had long since recovered from the sonic’s effect and were circling around the police box like vultures. Anger shone in their eyes; they were determined to get at the Time Lord within.

However, as one of the beasts prepared to smash into the TARDIS, the time machine began to slowly fade away as an odd noise filled the air.

Wheeeeeen… Wheeeeeen… Wheeeeeen…

In seconds, the TARDIS had vanished into nothingness, and the creature that flew at it like a ram passed through the spot where it once stood without making contact. The time machine—and the Doctor—had gone.

“The Devolchr retreats,” one of the creatures growled, “but he will return.”

“The Eleventh has already fallen, and the Twelfth is rising…”

“Soon…”

>~===DW===~<

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE’RE GOING TO CRASH?!”

“I MEAN THAT EXACTLY! THE GYRO-SCOPIC STABILIZER IS ACTING WONKY, PLUS THE STEERING SYSTEM IS ABSOLUTE HAVOC TO WORK WITH HOOVES! IT’S TIMES LIKE THIS THAT I MISS HAVING HANDS!”

“UGH! YOU’VE BEEN TALKING TO LYRA, HAVEN’T YOU?”

“POSSIBLY! THAT’S THE ONE WITH THE PRISMATIC MANE, RIGHT?”

“NO! THAT’S RAINBOW DASH! YOU’RE NOT EVEN CLOSE!”

“WELL, I’M SO SORRY! I KNOW THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND PONIES, SO I’M BOUND TO GET A FEW MIXED UP AT LEAST!”

“I SWEAR, IF YOU EVER CONFUSE ME FOR SOMEPONY LIKE CLOUD KICKER, THEN I’LL—!”

“UH, HATE TO INTERRUPT, BUT… BRACE FOR IMPACT!!”

“WHAT?! …AAAAAAAAAHHH!!”

>~===DW===~<

Canterlot Palace
—Throne Room—

Dealing with emissaries is always such a tiresome task. Of course, nopony else in Equestria knew this better than Princess Celestia herself. She sat on her throne with the foreign affairs minister by her side, somehow managing to fight back the urge to yawn loudly. Being the boss was tough sometimes.

Currently, the ambassadors from both the zebra and griffon nations across the eastern ocean were here to discuss the recent border disputes… again. Or at least, that’s what Celestia was pretty sure they were going on about. Honestly, it seemed as though there was a border dispute every three hours. She was just letting the minister take care of things for her by this point.

“…gentlecolts, as we’ve made explicitly clear by this point,” the minister—a mare by the name of Silver Tongue—said, “the Royal Court of Canterlot is in simply no position to constantly mull over and moderate these disputes! Our resources are better spent on more pressing matters than these trivial squabbles.”

“‘Trivial…?’” the griffon ambassador echoed, narrowing his eyes threateningly. “These ‘squabbles’ directly affect our entire way of life, minister!”

Silver Tongue closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with irritation. “With all due respect ambassador, I honestly cannot see how a disagreement over a strip of desert landscape is that important…”

“Bah, of course you do not see how!” the griffon snapped. “That is because the zebras plan on using it as a strategic foothold into our territory! They plan to make war against us!”

The zebra ambassador looked both shocked and furious. “Lies and hypocrisy, I say! We plan on no such thing! These power-hungry griffons seek to take that land and invade us!”

“Twaddle! All of it! The zebras are not to be trusted!”

“Nonsense! You griffons are the true demons of Tartarus! Rats with wings!”

“WHAT did you call us?!”

“You heard me, ambassador! The High Priestess sends her regards!”

“Grrr…! The Emperor ought to have you hung for saying that!”

“The feathers of your kind should be plucked and worn as a hat!”

“Loony monochrome degenerates!”

“Arrogant toffee-beaked chickens!”

Celestia couldn’t help but roll her eyes and sigh. Why did these so-called ‘political disputes’ always have to be reduced to such simple and foalish insult-hurling…? What a world…

“Order! There will be order in the presence of the Princess, ambassadors!” Silver Tongue snapped, stomping her hoof with frustration. “For the love of all things sacred, please cease your bickering!”

“…Very well,” the emissaries grumbled with assent. They shot each other a fierce glare before a warning look from Silver made them refocus their attention on Celestia.

“Now then, Princess, what is your take on this?” the minister asked the majestic and very-bored-looking alicorn. “Surely you must have a few things to say by now…”

Princess Celestia sighed thoughtfully. This had been what she wanted to avoid, but… no sense in delaying. May as well deal with it now before it gets too far out of hoof. “Noble ambassadors… your troubles are understandable, and I will respect your concerns and beliefs,” she said calmly, her warm tone disguising her feelings of exasperation. “However, such a debacle is—and I mean no disrespect when I say this—happening for all the wrong reasons, and it is clouding your judgment. Both of yours.”

“But, Your Highness,” the griffon argued, “this is a matter of great concern to our Emperor!”

“And our High Priestess as well!” the zebra interjected. “This is a chief source of friction between our nations and populace as a whole! Your Highness’s great wisdom is needed to mediate this conflict!”

“While I do appreciate the praise, it changes nothing. There’s naught a thing I can do to solve this problem instantly. Do you both think I can sway the minds of an entire population with a flick of my horn?” She released a drawn-out sigh. “As much as it may be upsetting to hear, a bit of magic is only a fraction of the solution. Without the other elements, then no harmony can be achieved…”

“…Then, what will Your Majesty have us do?”

Goodness. This was always the rough part. ‘What will we do?’ As much as she wanted to say ‘solve your own problems’, it would not get anything done. The zebra and griffon nations could not (more like will not) cooperate, that much was certain. Surely there must be another way…

But before Princess Celestia could weave a proper response, a queer noise gave her pause. From outside the throne room, she could hear the muffled shouts of some guards. The strange sound, as if somepony was rubbing a key along a wire of some sort, seemed to be coming from outside the stained glass window to her right…

“Your Highness?” Silver Tongue inquired, her face expressing slight concern. “Is there something the matter?”

“Hm? Oh, pardon me… but, does anypony else hear that odd sound?”

Both ambassadors, apparently puzzled, nodded. Silver Tongue nodded as well, but still seemed rather nonplussed as to this interruption.

Slowly, all those in the room looked outside the nearest window. In the distance, a rectangular-shaped blue box was flying through the air. A peculiar sight, to be sure. One did not necessarily see such a thing in flight. Everypony’s puzzlement slowly transferred into horror when they realized that the box in question was coming straight at them with alarming speed.

“INCOMING! TAKE COVER!!” the minister shouted, diving to the floor and cowering. The ambassadors, likewise, also dove for cover. Princess Celestia, conversely, held her ground as she studied the incoming object. ‘What is that thing…?’

Craaaaaaassssh!!

Milliseconds later, the box finally collided with the stained glass window, shattering it with a horrible, earsplitting din. The next few moments passed by like slow-motion as thousands of colored glass shards were sent flying every which way, as well as several chunks of destroyed masonry. Celestia was barely able to raise one of her wings in front of her face to block some of the wayward debris in time, but managed it.

The blue box, after unceremoniously breaking through the window, crashed into the marble floor and rebounded once, bouncing off again with a wooden-sounding ‘THUNK!’ Across the entire room did the box tumble, rolling along the floor before smashing against the opposite wall of the throne room and coming to a rest at last, lying on its side.

After the sudden entrance of this unknown object and terrible racket it brought, the throne room began to quiet. All that was audible now were the clinks and tinkles of still-crumbling glass and stone, the hissing of smoke emanating from the strange blue box, and the groans of those in the room that were knocked back by the collision.

Princess Celestia was not injured, despite the violence of the crash, and surveyed the destruction with shock. What in Equestria had just happened?! Where did that box come from?! Who was responsible for this? …Was everypony else okay?

“Minister! Ambassadors!” she called out to the cowering forms of the politicians. “Are you all alright? Are any of you injured?”

Silver Tongue left the safety of her hiding spot, breathing heavily. “I-I’m fine, Your Majesty… Just a little bit shaken…”

‘A little bit shaken? Get over yourself,’ the alicorn thought, smiling with mirth. “Good. What of the ambassadors?”

“We are fine as well, Your Majesty,” the griffon envoy replied, brushing bits of glass and dust out of his feathers. “Hmph, it would take more than that to fell a dignitary of the Griffon Empire…”

Celestia nodded with acknowledgement, and focused her attention on that strange blue box… “Where did that object even come from…?”

With a crash, the large golden doorway that led into the throne room flew open, and a contingent of Royal Guards burst into the room. “Your Highness! Are you alright?!”

The alicorn sighed. “We are all fine, captain. Nopony has been injured. What is a problem, however…” She turned her gaze to the rectangular object to the corner of the room, lying on its side. “…is that… thing. What is it? Where did it come from?”

“W-we are not sure,” the guard captain responded, hanging his head shamefully. “The sentries spotted it approaching from the distance, and… well, our magic defense spells didn’t seem to have any effect on it whatsoever. They would just… disappear as soon as they made contact.”

“…” That was rather odd. A simple thing like this, immune to magic? What was this thing? It couldn’t have been a normal box… The fact that some of the most powerful defensive spells they had did nothing to deter it, on top of the fact that the box itself barely seemed scratched… it was unreal.

Suddenly, and without warning, the box opened up. A door that was on the upwards-facing side swung open and a plume of smoke rose out in a gray cloud. Everypony in the room immediately snapped to attention; the guards readied their spears and surrounded it, the ambassadors backed away with uncertainty, and the Princess held her ground with a determined gaze. Whatever was in this box, it had a lot to answer for…

“Goodness gracious, was that ever a bumpy landing!” a voice was heard saying from within. “I wonder where we ended up now. Huh, couldn’t be any worse than that other crazy dimension, though!”

“For once, I think we can agree on something,” another voice said. “Now can you PLEASE get us out of here?! I can’t hang on to this much longer!”

“Yes, yes, of course! Just wait one moment… Unngh!” A hoof suddenly shot up into the air from the open door, and grabbed the edge of the box. “Just a bit further…! Ugh, I ought to get in shape!” Another hoof, and with a grunt of exertion, the head of a brown earth pony stuck itself out of the box. “Whew! Hell of a climb up, that!”

With another heave, the earth pony stallion hauled himself out of the box and dropped down onto the floor. “My word! What a fancy-looking place!” he exclaimed, marveling at the large room that surrounded him. “Could do without the gaping and unsightly hole in the wall personally, but eh, some people have their preferences and all. …Or rather, er, ponies I suppose…”

“Doctor! A little help, please?!” the voice shouted from inside the box again.

The earth pony clicked his tongue. “Right then, sorry about that… Let’s see if I can… no, I suppose I can’t… wait, I can—! …No, that won’t work at all… Hm…”

“Oh for Luna’s sake, Doc! Get us outta here! My hooves are aching like crazy from holding on to this railing!”

“Wait! I can help!” a different, bubbly-sounding voice from within the blue box said cheerfully.

“Derpy? What are you do—”

Moments later, a gray pegasus hovered up and out of the box, lifting a yellow earth pony mare with a curly orange mane in her hooves. “Gah! Careful! I almost fell that one time!”

“Sorry!” the pegasus replied, and quickly set the earth pony down on the solid floor before going back inside the box. A few seconds later, she reemerged with a blue unicorn in her grip (and a small purple unicorn filly riding on her back as well, oddly enough). “Okay! We’re out!”

“Brilliant, Miss Hooves! Perhaps it was a good idea keeping you around after all!” the brown earth pony said, smiling appreciatively.

The pegasus smiled brightly. “Yay! Thank you Doctor!”

“What the hay just happened in there anyway?!” the orange-maned earth mare snapped. “Everything was all sideways and stuff! What’s up with that?!”

“Ah, it all has something to do with the TARDIS’s orientation in regards to the local gravity field, but I won’t bore you with details. It’s on its side? Then everything in it is oriented as such. Doesn’t that make any sense?”

“Well… no! Nothing about this does!”

“Honestly, what do they teach you in school nowadays…”

“About a million more things that make more sense than you do!”

“Only a million? Hardly that impressive.”

While the newcomer ponies bickered amongst themselves (mainly just the two earth ponies), Celestia was astounded at how they had not realized where they even were. The fact that everypony was staring at them (and the guards were aiming their spears at them) did nothing to tip those intruders off. So, to hopefully break the disillusionment, the alicorn politely cleared her throat at just the right volume to attract their attention.

The ponies stopped their chattering, and slowly turned to look at her. It was evident in their eyes that they were quite stunned. “…Oh, sorry, can I help you?” the brown earth pony asked, turning towards her. “Pardon the interruption, but, uh…”

Up until now, it was apparent that the strange ponies were unaware of their position in the affair. The earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark seemed to realize this, and he took the time to acquaint himself with the sights of the princess, the ambassadors, the throne room itself… and of course, the heavily armed guards, with their pointy instruments of war directed straight at him.

“…Ah.” He grinned sheepishly. “Okay, listen, this is not as bad as it looks.”

A nearby section of the wall, where the box had already crashed through, crumbled almost fully, widening the gap and sending a ton more stonework crashing to the floor. The guards glared at him even more.

“…On reflection, maybe it is as bad as it looks.”

Comments

[Gysp3]

so awesome

[midnight rose]

This is great
do you plan on finishing it anytime soon?

[Glimglam]

2558383 Of course! As a matter of fact, Chapter 5 is in the works right as I type this. (I try to keep a habit of "rotating" my story updates, and this one happens to be due for one next.) Sorry that I've been taking so long on my stories, but I've been awfully busy as of late... @_@)

[midnight rose]

not sure if story is dead or im just being stupid

[midnight rose]

update please