The Doctor and his Wandering Heart

by ScarletHarmony

A Date without Destiny

“You don’t ‘buy into’ destiny?” She asked slowly, like she was trying to comprehend how she could even ask that question, let alone that somepony could make it a question that should be asked.

“I don’t agree with it. Why should some abstract concept make up my future for me? Besides, isn’t the belief that all things are predestined a bit boring? What is the point of striving to do anything else, better yourself if you are simply destined to do something?” He explains, picking up his fork for another bite as the rest of the room becomes stunned at his words, simply staring at him in disbelief or confusion. Maybe, just maybe, being candid about this was a poor choice.

“How can you just… Disagree with destiny of all things? That’s not really just a thing you can ignore.” Twilight replies after a moment, setting her fork down and pushing the plate away a little bit to emphasize how seriously she took the topic.

“Why can’t I? Am I destined not to? It’s already established I have very little respect for it, if you can even describe destiny as an ‘it.’ What is it, who decided it should be so? Why should I follow the orders of nothing but some preconceived notion that the universe desires something should be just so?” He counters, following after Twilight to push his plate away.

Twilight, to her credit, refused to back down against him and instead squints and looks forward, her lips moving up and down in silence as she mulls over what he said and tries to prepare a counterpoint. “That’s a fair point, I’ll give you that much. But if you don’t believe in destiny, how can you explain things foretold by destiny? Like the return of Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna. She was destined to return from her banishment after one thousand years. And sure enough, she did. And I was there when she returned, because Princess Celestia knew I was destined to be there to save her.”

“Did she know you were ‘destined’ to be there, or did she know that whatever was keeping them away was always going to last one thousand years, and thus knew exactly when she needed to send you, or anypony really, to where she was going to return?” He asked, half making a point back, half asking as he didn’t know the first thing about who Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, or Nightmare Moon was.

Twilight blinked at the question, head turning down just a little bit as she thought about it. That was certainly possible, Princess Celestia cast the spell that banished Luna so she probably could have known when and where she would return, and then chose apprentices to train for her return. She… Couldn’t quite figure out if that was better or worse than what she thought previously. On one hoof, she was always destined to save Luna from Nightmare Moon, and thus destined to everything that followed, meaning she was never in any danger of failing back then, or even now which brought a feeling of safety and comfort. On the other, she possibly could have been groomed from her childhood to be the one chance Equestria had, and it was all too possible she could have failed and doomed Equestria to not only Nightmare Moon, but Discord, Sombra, and Tirek. Though it also meant she could have, and could still fail, but she hadn’t so far entirely on her own merit as a scholar, mage, and Princess. Maybe she could ponder that later, because in the now she had been staring off at nothing for a few minutes, and only snapped back to reality when Shining’s hoof waved up in down directly in front of her eyes.

“You okay there Twily? You got real quiet for a bit.” Shining asked, eyes betraying just a little bit of the worry he felt for his little sister.

Twilight cleared her throat into a curled hoof, magic surrounding her plate as she pulled it back toward herself, The Doctor doing similar since it signaled to him that she was done with their discussion. “Sorry about that Shining, just got a big caught up in thought. But, uh, say, wasn’t Flurry supposed to join us?”

Shining’s face softens a bit as he leans back over into his own seat. “She was going to, but I guess she’s late filing paperwork about her patrol.”

Flurry? Flurry. Why was that familiar? Something about that name tickled in the back of his brain, like a cerebellum mite with indigestion. “What happened on patrol, if I might ask?”

Shining chuckles and lifts a leg up, lazily waving over to him. “Well, you happened to be candid. She and the Scouting Corps found you. Actually, thinking about it, that’s probably what’s keeping her. The patrol group was off route when they found you. That’s gonna make the paperwork a real big hassle. She’s going to have to collect statements from the whole squad and then get them all together in the right order with the right forms.”

The Doctor’s eyebrow moves up on it’s own out of interest, he sets his fork down as more interesting things come out right in front of him. “They were off route when they found me? I hope I don’t sound rude, but breaking orders doesn’t sound like something military types do so often.”

Shining and Cadance cringe back for a moment at the word ‘military,’ their faces scrunching up like someone was pulling a stitch attached to the tips of their noses. “They aren’t a military unit, they’re just a part of the Crystal Guard. But, still, you’re right that ordinarily Flurry keeps a tight leash on the Scout Corps.” Shining answers as his face falls back to a natural position.

“But for some reason this wasn’t ordinary.” The Doctor guesses, already forming an idea of what more than likely pulled them off their route.

“I probably shouldn’t be talking about guard business with you, but I imagine you’re related to it anyway” Shining replies, his tone taking a sudden turn for the serious. Which is responded to with a smack on the forelimb from Cadance. And Twilight, on the opposite limb.

“Shining! You can’t just accuse him like that.” Cadance whines at him, her voice peaking in a high note as she says his name. Though, maybe her and Twilight’s displeasure were for not, as The Doctor chuckles at it.

“Ah, don’t worry you two. This would be far, far from the first time I’ve heard something like that. He’s mild as things go. Just tell me what you think, and maybe I can shed some light on things.” The Doctor offers, lifting his fork up once more to quickly take another bite. “Least I could do for the food and the doctors. Besides, I can tell you’re not really the politician type, I bet you were getting weary of biting your tongue for so long.”

Shining frowned at him, casting suspicious eyes on him as he carefully avoided biting into another tomato, pushing it around his mouth as he chewed the rest of it. “Right. According to Flurry, they saw some bright lights in the sky that appeared to be moving.”

“Bright white light? Coming down toward the ground I imagine?” The Doctor interjected knowingly, only looking at Shining with a sideways glance as he picked at his salad. Mostly tomatoes left now, sadly.

Shining’s frown grew into a scowl, his temper rising as his opinion dropped with everything this ‘Doctor’ said in the past few moments. “That’s right. They reported hearing something like an explosion, and then started moving in the direction they believed it to be heading as the light cut out after that.”

“And I just so happened to be in their path?” He asked, this time looking up from his plate to meet Shining’s accusing eyes.

“That’s right. They also reported a smaller, green light falling in the same general direction as it. Though just a bit off the path.” Shining added.

Green light? Green light… The Doctor suddenly looks down over himself, patting all over his body as if he was still clothed and had pockets to check. “Aha, I didn’t even notice I lost that. Surprised I haven’t tried to grab it yet.”

Shining smirked as if he had just caught him in a lie of some sort, and accordingly moved in for the kill. “Go for what yet? Are you saying you had something to do with the explosion just outside our shield?”

“I can’t say that I know where your defenses are, or where I was when it happened, but yes I am saying I am awfully related to the explosion and lights that they saw. Probably my… Airship, last I recall she was going through some rapid and unexplained deconstruction in the field.” He answered casually, Shining deflating back a bit as it occurred to him he may have misread the situation. That sounded entirely reasonable, an eccentric pony like him making something dangerous, and that thing then malfunctioning in an unexpected way. He’s certainly known Twilight for long enough to know things like that just happen from time to time, to varying degrees of disaster. And part of him very much doubted if he was involved in something nefarious to his Empire that he would be so forthcoming about his answers. But still, there was something, something deep in the pit of his stomach that told him something was amiss, and that he shouldn’t be trusted. He quickly looked to his left or right, and neither Twilight or Cadance shared in his opinion, or at least they didn’t make an expression like they did. He’ll just need to be cautious enough for the three of them then. His gut has rarely steered him wrong before.

“‘Rapid and unexplained deconstruction in the field’ being the scientific term for ‘it exploded and I have no idea why that happened,’ right Doctor?” Twilight said as she injected herself back into the conversation with a knowing smile.

“You could say that. She’s never done something like this before. Well, no, that’s a lie actually. She’s done it exactly once before now. And, now that I think about it,” He stops and sighs, shaking his head a few times before slapping his forehead with his fetlocks. “Everything makes so much more sense. Mostly. At least as to why she exploded, the why of the why is still a mystery.” He mused, mostly to himself, squinting at the open air as he tried to figure it out a little bit more. Last time she acted like this was the Eleventh, that was a hell of a regeneration. The entire universe singing to him through the Ood as he was born, the regeneration energy nearly destroyed the entire control room and busted out the windows. Regenerating into a strange pony creature would probably have a similar effect, not to even think about what killed the last version to cause this regeneration.

“Anything we could do to help with whatever the problem is?” Twilight asked, her voice pulling him out of his thinking.

“No, I think probably not. Best for me to go it alone, especially right after she’s had such a large malfunction. There’s no telling what could be going on right now with her internal systems. I can’t even begin to imagine what the damage is going to be. It could be dangerous.”

“Dangerous how? You said it was an airship, right? So the main thing to worry about would be a fire, and putting out an airship fire is definitely not a one-pony job.”

“It’s not exactly your garden variety airship. It’s probably the most advanced vessel anypony will ever see. Not only that, but there are some potentially dangerous materials on board, and without a full once over there’s no telling what is or isn’t leaking out all over the base, or burning up into dangerous vapours.” The Doctor explained, gesticulating wildly as he mentioned the leaks and vapours, hoping that that would both satisfy their curiosity about what danger there might be, and dissuade them from wanting to get any closer.

“Vapours? Doesn’t that mean a passing wind current could blow it into the city?” Cadance piqued up, suddenly leaning forward to examine the Doctor and his inevitable answer with a critical eye.

Normally she would be right, but he was more worried about more localized disasters that wouldn’t be affected by the environment. Leaking void stuff or dangerous internet gas could eventually become dangerous to a primitive species like this if they were exposed, especially as long as he stayed there. Not that he could explain any of that to her. “I suppose that could be a very hypothetical danger, yes. Though, the risk of that happening is low, let me assure you that.”

“Not to say that I don’t trust you Doctor, but I have the safety and welfare of my ponies to think about. I have every responsibility to ensure that they are in no danger. That being said, I appreciate your thinking of our safety when we offered our help, and I am considering said dangers when I say this. We will be sending an escort of guards with you to your ship, to ensure your health and safety on the way there, and the health and safety of our Empire and those inside of it.”

The Doctor sighs, sucking on the inside of his cheek. She sounded rather adamant about it, and he couldn’t afford to argue about it for too long. Hopefully he could give them the slip or convince them to make camp far enough away that they wouldn’t see the TARDIS while he fixed her up. “Well if you insist Princess, I suppose I can’t refuse your generosity.”

Cadance nods her head, leaning back into her seat. “I’m glad you agree. I’m sorry for having to put my hoof down but as I said, I have my citizens to think about and if this crash is as dangerous as you seem to imply it is, I can’t afford to be passive about it.”

“No, I suppose this is for the best in a way. I’m not exactly outfitted to just go traipsing around out there in the cold anyway.” He replied. It didn’t seem he would get his privacy, may as well try and get in her good graces by appearing gracious.

“You can borrow a coat from the Scouting Corps since you didn’t have any clothes with you. Speaking of the Scouting Corps, they’ll be the ones to escort you back. To make sure you stay safe, I’ll even send you out with-'' Cadance stops as the door he and Twilight came through earlier opens, this time glowing a bubblegum pink colour.

Another pony walks in, another one with wings and a horn. And two-tone hair, but that fact was less important. The bulk of her mane was a gradient purple colour, going from nearly pink to darker purple, with light blue streaks. Her coat was a nearly white pink colour, and he could only just see her cutie mark behind the golden armour she wore, but it looked just a little bit familiar. Why did it look familiar? The Doctor cranes his neck back for a quick glance at the others at the table. He barely noticed the marks on their legs earlier, but now that he knew it was important it was probably good to check again. Shining had a shield with a stylized purple star, with three stars right above it. The star in the middle actually resembled Twilight’s cutie mark fairly closely. Maybe these cutie marks were genetic as well. He couldn’t see Cadance’s from where he was sitting, but he knew why the new pony’s cutie mark was familiar now. Their cutie mark had the same shield, but the emblem embossed on it was a baby blue, crystalline heart.

“Well, speak of Discord and he shall arrive.” Princess Cadance says with a smile as she raises from her seat. “Doctor, meet Princess-”

“Captain Flurry Heart.” The new arrival, Flurry Heart, finishes for her. She closes the distance between herself and Cadance, quickly throwing a foreleg around her neck for a hug and nuzzle. “You know I prefer being called Captain Mom.”

Mom? Ah, and now that she was standing her cutie mark was exposed. She had the same heart as Flurry, just a bit bigger. Father’s shield, mother’s heart, it made sense that she was their kid. Weird how the few examples he was seeing had familial traits if they were just supposed to show someone’s destiny.

Cadance sighs quietly to herself as Flurry puts her leg back down on the ground and walks past her, turning to look at The Doctor from across the table. “Yes, Captain Flurry Heart. She leads the Scouting Corps that found you Doctor. That means she’ll be the perfect pony to lead your escort group back to your ship.”

Aha! Flurry Heart, that's what he heard when they brought him into the city, not fury. “So, you’d be the one that pulled me out of the snow then, Captain?”

Flurry doesn’t reply immediately, turning aside and walking around the table over to his side. She observes him for a few moments, looking him over with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. “Well, technically one of the privates pulled you out of the snow, I just carried you back. You look… Surprisingly good, considering the state we found you in that is.” She replies, her tone more surprised than accusatory.

“Well, I’m made of tougher stuff than I’m given credit for, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling.” Flurry groused, a bit louder than she might’ve hoped, being just loud enough for only the Doctor to hear. “Well your good health aside, even though I’m glad to see it, my Mom said something about an escort mission?” She added, at a volume loud enough to be heard on purpose this time.

“Yes,” Cadance started, having rounded the table herself while they were talking, “those lights you saw earlier today were his ship crashing. According to him, the damage to his ship could be releasing dangerous chemicals he had on board. So I’m assigning a task force, led by you, to escort him through the snow storm to his ship so he can repair whatever is broken before it can endanger anypony in the Empire. Do you accept this mission?”

Flurry immediately lifts one hoof up to her forehead with some seemingly impossible dexterity, but before she can no doubt bark out her reply, the doors into the room suddenly crash inward.

The pony that apparently shoved the doors open was wearing gold, purple trimmed armour over his blue crystalline body. They were panting heavily, wild eyes frantically scanning the room for someone.

“Private!” Flurry barked at the intruder, “What is the meaning of thi-”

“SHADOW!” The private interrupted, shouting his answer out. Suddenly the room became very still and quiet, everyone around the Doctor in various states of surprise, none of them daring to breath. All this fuff over a shadow?

Comments

[Davenfjeld]

Shadow? Shadow... Shadow... not a bad villain word, has to be said. The doctor certainly has some experience with shadow creatures (like those in the library) so I can see him feeling confident about this.

Interesting to note the ponies' dislike of the word "military" especially considering the guard should just be a branch of such a thing. Hope he finds his screwdriver soon, even if he can't just go straight back to the TARDIS.

Brilliant again, hope the wait isn't as long this time around!