Ride On Shooting Star

by Closer-To-The-Sun

Ch. 3 The Time Warp

Chapter 3: The Time Warp

A few weeks had past since the Doctor arrived on Equestria. While he was still getting used to his new pony-form, his normal traits had returned. Derpy found his behavior quite entertaining and seemed to love listening to him ramble at fast speeds. Her daughter, Dinky, would also listen in but could only follow along for so long until she was lost. Derpy, on the other hand, seemed to absorb every word that the Doctor ever spoke.

He would speak out his experiences as a Time Lord. He mentioned some of his past adventures and alien races, such as the Daleks, Sontarans, and Humans. The Doctor made it clear that he would normally regenerate into a bipedal creature, like most Time Lords but added that it wasn't unheard of to regenerate as something completely different. It was during this conversation inside of the broken-down TARDIS that Derpy asked a question about his regeneration while the Doctor was attempting to repair the machine.

"What's it like when you regenerate?" the grey pegasus pony asked. She was watching the Doctor lying on the floor of the console platform as he doing some rewiring on the hexagonal console in minimal light.

"Well, to say the least, painful. I only regenerate after I come close to death, you know, and I don't really want to test the theory of exactly how painful and what not for obvious reasons," the brown stallion spoke as he shuffled his hooves inside of machine, making adjustments. "Hooves are not the best choice for this kind of work. I need to get that blasted device. Now where did I put it?" The Doctor quickly raised his head up to hit it upon the console with a loud thud.

"Oh dear, are you alright Doctor?" Derpy asked concerned, trotting closer to where the Doctor was.

"I'm always all right," he replied, rubbing his head with one of his hooves, "Now, where did I put that darn screwdriver?"

The Doctor hopped down from the console platform into the mess that remained from the TARDIS crash-landing into Equestria. Derpy was silent as the Doctor looked among the disordered console room. Quite quickly, the Doctor raised his hoof in the air along with a small cylindrical object. Complementing himself, he placed it in his mouth and trotted back up to the platform where Derpy was.

Looking at the object, the mare's interest was sparked, "Ooo, what's that funny looking thing?"

"This, my sweet Derpy," the stallion proudly stated, "is my trusty multi-purpose companion. It can pick locks, scan for injuries, jam computers, destroy a Dalek, scan for alien life forms, and, for this purpose, rewiring the TARDIS's console." The brown stallion was quick to explain as he laid back down on his back to begin his work. "And if I'm right, which I usually am, this will have the TARDIS….up and running again." Just as he finished his statement, the console room lit up.

"You did it!" Derpy congratulated her friend.

Getting up on his hooves and placing the sonic screwdriver in his collar, the Doctor bragged, "But, of course, Derpy! All I had to do was reverse the polarity of the neutron flow in the system and rework the programming so that it won't automatically land on the nearest planet when it drifts in space for an expended period of time. I also had to give it a little more life, seeing how the crash heavily damaged what life energy it had."

Derpy stared at the Doctor in puzzlement. One of her eyes drifted to the side as her mind was still processing the fast statement she was given. However, she raised up a muffin with her hoof in response, "Muffin?"

The Doctor smiled and gave a warm laugh. Trotting up to Derpy, he took the muffin, broke it in half, and gave her half, "You certainly know what to say and when to say it, my dear. Where did this come from anyway? Don't tell me you have a coat that is dimensionally transcendental as well?"

Taking a bite of her half of the muffin, the mare shook her head. She trotted to her green saddlebag that she set down when she entered the TARDIS. When her mouth was empty, she spoke, "I always have muffins with me!"

The Doctor smiled and replied with energy, "That's what I love about you, Derpy! Resourceful! Clever! Charming! Hungry! The traits of a true adventurer!"

Slightly blushing, Derpy proudly smiled. Her expression quickly changed as something dawned on her, "Oh! I almost forgot. I have something for you, Doctor."

"You have something for me? But it is not Christmas yet! Well, it is at a few moments in time, but not here."

Derpy ignored the Doctor's comment as she placed her head inside of her saddlebag. After a little rustling, she pulled her head out. In her mouth was a scarf. The more she pulled, more of the scarf was revealed, showcasing multiple colors. After a few moments, the entire scarf was out of the bag and laid across the console platform for about four meters in length. With one of the ends of the scarf still in her mouth, Derpy said "Ta-da."

"You made this yourself?" The Doctor asked in surprise.

Derpy nodded, still with the end in her mouth, "Uh-huh, ah wanned ta givve yuu a giff," she finally spat out the scarf from mouth, "Sorry, I was saying I wanted to give you a gift to remember Equestria by. You did say some places you go are very cold."

A wide smile came across the stallion's face, "You know, this reminds me of a scarf that a brilliant human woman knitted for me."

"I do hope you like it, Doctor."

"I'll treasure it forever."

Derpy's face lit up, "Really?"

"I am a Time Lord, so technically I can," the Doctor lightly jested as he took the scarf near the entrance of the TARDIS. He stood up the fallen hat stand and hung the scarf from the hooks. "There, that looks much quite fine, don't you think?" Before the pegasus could speak, the Doctor quickly trotted up to the platform again pulled a few levers on the console itself. The machinery began to move and he looked toward Derpy to ask another question, "Now then, shall we do the time warp?"

"Wha?" Derpy uttered as one of her eyes drifted to the side.

The Doctor moved to another side of the hexagon-shaped console, "Come along, Derpy, think of the adventures we could have! The TARDIS is up and running…." as he spoke the statement, the power unexpectedly shut down. The brown pony gave an odd look to the machine before hitting it with his hoof. The hit turned the TARDIS back on and had the machine returning to its previous state. He continued his moving around the console to push buttons and pull levers, "….for the most part, and we have an entire universe and all of time at our fingertips. Hmm, maybe not the best word. At our hooves? In our manes? Nevertheless, we can go anywhere. See what you thought you could only imagine!"

"Really?" Derpy looked at the Doctor with amazement.

"Really really."

"Are you sure we can do this? I mean, it won't take long, will it?" Derpy questioned with concern.

The Doctor pulled a large lever and turned to her, "My dear, we can soar to Arkon, make a detour to Dargeb IV, stop by Gallifrey, rocket to the end of the universe, and be back home in time for tea."

Derpy nodded with a smile, "Alrighty then, let's go!"

"That's the spirit!" The Doctor exclaimed. After pushing a few more buttons, he shouted one last word before hitting the button to begin the travel, and that word was, "Allons-y!"

Outside in the Everfree Forest, the blue phone box was slowly disappearing from view.

TO BE CONTINUED