Change of a kind

by Charles Farrow

Chapter 0, Prelude - Breaking the mold

Their final breath came out like mist in the cool interior of the Tardis, dancing towards the console, seeking its company.
Despite the cold air the atmosphere in the control room was comfortable, like the sunset of an early day in fall. The walls were awash with warm light as the ship sang its pilot into sleep once more.

The Doctor welcomed their end for once, for they had lived a lonely existence for many years, and in the last days before the end, they spent reminiscing about many old friends... They had worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of the universe, its preservation, its restoration...
But even saving the universe could get tiring when without a companion, and so here at the end they were glad to be someone new. Too many years alone had made them feel the weight of their long life. The loss, the laughter, friends and enemies, company and solitude...

The Doctor had refrained from getting too close to anyone in this life, For fear of losing once more, and what rules they might break to keep their allies alive.
As such the Doctor had grown weary, bitter, old, cold and detached. They were still the Doctor, and as such had helped where they could, when the need arose, but had otherwise spent much of their life on their own, contemplating their long life.
Tempered not by another, The Doctor had been more of an oncoming storm to his enemies than a savior this life, and it had cost them dearly...

And so it was with that tell tale creaking and moaning of their one true companion that they ventured somewhere unknown, somewhere new. The turning gears of the main console spinning in a harmony of their own making. The doctor could not help but to get a little teary eyed, for at least whenever they went next their faithful box would come along with them, the one companion that had kept them from the brink for so long…

They had breathed their last breath already, but even now willing and ready, the death of a Time Lord took its sweet time... So it was at the end, that a glimmer of brilliance awoke within them once more, and their eyes began to sparkle with a vigor unbecoming of one who was dying. They could only hope that their next incarnation would live a better life, but with a defiance born of a kindness long silent, The Doctor had some requests, and so they took another breath... If it were to be their last, then they could at least make it good.

“Whoever you are, Doctor, know that the universe is not kind nor is it forgiving, but… it is not without kindness, nor without forgiveness. I have made many choices that I now would consider blunders, for in my solitude I had forgotten what kindness meant...” Rising from the crumbled position on their knees near the Tardis console, they began to walk with a candor and life they had not embodied for many years. “For kindness is not something to be given nor taken, it is simply a measure of one's deeds and intentions, it is a choice and it is one I bid you, Doctor, to choose wherever you go… More than that I bid thee to be brave! I thought myself braver than all before me, for I alone chose not to put anyone in danger by being in our company, but this was not bravery, but rather cowardice…”

The Doctor stopped abruptly, holding that last most important breath of their life as a collage of pictures and memories of old friends and companions came into view… They had not been the one to make it, and to this day they still did not know whether they were simply manifestations of their own waning mind, or reminders from their oldest friend, trying to steer them back to a better place. As The Doctor looked upon the memoirs, it did not matter, the message was clear, and so they continued their pacing with a renewed vigor…

“Yes… yes that's right, we have been alone for too long Doctor, what would our friends think of us now, hm? well… it hardly matters… We've ensured that they will be taken care of no matter what happens, regardless of who you turn out to be...” The Doctor twisted a lever on the control panel, as they came head to head with a mirror installed in the console of the Tardis, one they had spent many years gazing into in contemplation. “Alas I beg of you Doctor, please… do not shy away from love just for fear of loss, we have run long enough, and frankly my legs are getting rather cross with me." The Doctor allowed themselves a chuckle at that, as they gazed into their reflection with a vulnerability they had not allowed themselves in this life. “Hm... yes... I believe it was once said that we have two hearts for a reason…”

Cranking a valve and flicking a plethora of multicolored buttons, The Doctor felt their two hearts slowing, the ever-present rhythm of twos and twos, the 4 beats that marked the end, always… This did not slow them down however, if anything it meant they had to speak faster, if all was to be said.

“My time is running out, I can feel it, you'll get your go soon enough, but I'm not quite done with you yet, Doctor. You who are so afraid of endings and I who would neglect to even read the story, we must be better… Do not fall victim to my failings, Doctor. It is high time that we made a change.” With that said, The Doctor turned away from the mirror and walked over to the Tardis doors, opening them and staring out into the ocean of stars that made up their universe, with a sad smile. “I have spent many years, millennia really… contemplating my life, our lives… It has been long since we belonged anywhere, once upon a time it was on a planet called Gallifrey. Since we have traveled many places, oh what wondrous and frightening places we have seen… I suppose the closest we've ever gotten was Earth. Yet now I'm not so sure…”

The silence of the void between stars was deafening, too long had The Doctor lived in silence. Whole decades gone by without speaking a word. reserved, cold and alone in the void of any sound. It had been maddening...

But The Doctor could dawdle no longer, their breath drew short as the light began to emanate from their hands, slowly crawling up their body. They closed the doors and walked back to the console, to share their last words.

“I wish you well Doctor... and I hope you'll live a life full of color, companionship and laughter. I bid you to live a life full of warmth, kindness and love. I demand you to accept loss and friendship, and to run when you must, but never when you want to. I plead with you, Doctor, never be cruel, never be cowardly and never ever… eat pears,” They couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that, their Smile now more genuine and a look of acceptance in their eyes. ”Be brilliant, be loud, never give up, and most of all accept change, as I will now…”

With that The Doctor turned one last gear on the console, once more allowing the Tardis to freely choose when and where next they should go.
With a smile that reached their eyes for the first time in untold years they exhaled their last breath once more. “Doctor… I welcome you…”

As the familiar glow of regeneration began to consume The Doctor and as its warm light spilled from every part of their body, something changed... reality became askew with itself, as something threw the Tardis astray. Perhaps it had been The Doctor unlocking the Tardis' self-navigation system, or perhaps it had been the energies of The Doctor's regeneration messing with the controls... In truth it was neither entirely one nor the other, rather both and something entirely third... something old and mysterious. Something powerful and in want of entertainment...

So it was that the Tardis was once more hurled through realities. The Doctors' peaceful regeneration inside interrupted as they were bodily thrown about in the control room.
The Tardis howled and rang as it was forcefully ripped from its own existence, crossing the infinite void between universes and arriving somewhere entirely different.

Immediately this new reality that they had found themselves in, protested their continued existence within the boundaries of the laws that it was made to follow. Every Grain of their bodies burning, freezing, evaporating and coalescing back into shape by the second. The Doctor had no air left to scream, but what had been a quiet regeneration now became a battle for their bodies' continued existence. As such the regeneration energy exploded outwards in the control room, searing and burning the inside of the Tardis as the outside was assaulted by the very laws of existence in this universe.

There was little time, but the Tardis understood what would need to be done...
Both it and its pilot would need to adapt to the laws of physics in this universe. This was already happening as reality itself was trying to reshape them into something that could exist. But reality needed a reference to adapt and this was not happening fast enough, there were similar things to them out there somewhere but they were too far away. Their pilot would die before they could adapt and the timestream of this universe was so different from the one The Tardis knew that they could not navigate spacetime, and so taking every calculation it was able to make at the moment, despite the excruciating agony, into account, it did the only thing it could.

Homing in on the nearest, most similar life form and hurling itself through space towards it. A world covered in life came into view as it shot through its atmosphere like a comet. The Doctor was regenerating, and having calculated the gravity of the world it was surging towards, The Tardis was as sure as it could be that its pilot would survive what came next.
Decelerating as much as it could as it homed in on its match, it crashed bodily into the scorched sand blasted terrain that had made up its destination, leaving a sizable crater in its wake.

It had made it on time, but only barely… The Doctor would survive in some way or shape, but the Tardis itself could not in its current form, and so despite how much it pained it to do so, it would have to leave its pilot behind, it was sure that they would find each other again someday, but it dreaded to leave them to their own loneliness once more…
Yet as The Doctor finished their regeneration and their adaptation to this different reality, the Tardis hummed a soothing Melody to their pilot, one full of hope, grief and love beyond measure. It could do no more, and so for its own survival, The Tardis warbled and warped wildly into the unknown of this reality’s Time-Vortex. it knew not what would happen to it, but it had faith that its thief would find it once again… somewhere, somewhen.

And with that, the enigmatic forces of reality settled once more, leaving only the light pattering sound of rain and the cloud of dust that obscured The Doctor. It was quiet, until very faintly, and some distance away, a weak call for help was heard, and slowly something within the cloud of dust stirred, as a looming figure within it rose, and a monstrous black hoof emerged from its depths…

Author's Note:

Soooo... How about a Doctor Who crossover ay?

I've had this concept on the backburner for like 3 or 4 years now, but never had the guts nor focus and initiative to write it, but having started taking my medicine I thought I'd finally give a proper crack at it. I've also begun to figure out how I want to move forward with the Story of Crystal Reincarnation, but inspiration struck me to get this out there.

I'm by no means a writer on level with the showrunners for Doctor Who, nor MLP, nor even other people who've written Doctor whooves stories on here, so I make no promises as to it's quality of writing nor excitement.

I've wanted to explore this concept for a long time though, and have brain stormed some ideas for where I can imagine taking it. Some of it may follow the formula of Who that we're familiar with, but I'd also like to explore some things that may not be as exciting as the monster of the week formula the show usually follows, so I hope you'll bear with me.

Comments

[Mix-up]

Interesting so far, looking forward what will actually be the story plot on this one.

[VampDash]

Ooooooooooh!

[Doctor_Den]

The crossover seems interesting, but seeing your other stories that didn't make it past two chapters... I have concerns that this story won't go far either.

[Charles Farrow]

11786910
I'm glad you're interested so far! I've got some ideas for how I want to take it so far, but I'm unsure if I want to focus on much of an overarching Plot, Doctor Who is usually episodic, or anthological, so it may not be totally linear in terms of the story, but I also don't intend to fully go for the monster of the week style that the show follows. I've never gotten very far into writing a story fully, so I'll be interested as well to see how I do! ^^

Thank you for checking it out so far, and I hope you'll enjoy what's to come

[Charles Farrow]

11786920
Ayyyy?

[Charles Farrow]

11787085
A valid concern to be quite honest, and not the first time I've heard said sentiment. I have suffered from somewhat of a Valve symptom of never making it past 3 in the past, but I'd say it's less to do with loosing interest in the fic, but rather more so a combination of setting too high expectations for myself and dealing with some mental problems that have plagued me for most my life.

I'm hoping and dare I say it, dreaming of writing more than a single chapter this year, and I hope you'll hold me to it.
Though if you're curios as to the above, I wrote a somewhat lengthy blog post about it a few days back. I'll leave you a link if you'd like to see, but it's by no means required reading, there's also a tl:dr at the bottom.
Here's the blog.

[Razzy]

Welp, a story featuring my favourite bug horse and the star of a franchise I've been meaning to get into possibly not as instant enemies or her as an obstacle to crush, count me in.

'their Smile now more genuine' - unneeded capital letter here, I think

[Charles Farrow]

11788702
Glad to hear I've caught a smidge of your interest! I hope to be able to keep it going forward, but regardless I thank you for checking out the story. Thanks for the heads-up btw, I'll go get that sucker sorted!
I write partly by using a speech to text app and editing mistakes after, so some extra spaces or unnecessary capital letters may appear here or there, but I'm sure they'll be swiftly rectified and amended with keen eyes like yours.

[Myrkin]

I don't know much about Doctor Who other than what I got through cultural osmosis, but I will watch with interest how this goes. :)

[Doctor_Den]

A cosmic creature who has lived for more than 1000 years and who in the past carried out genocides of creatures opposing him meets and subsequently begins to love a race of intelligent beetles.
Something about the synopsis of this story made me draw parallels with Omni-Man from the Invincible series. :D

[Charles Farrow]

11789855
Glad to have you! I just so happened to finish chapter two, so you can check that out when It's up.
I'm mostly a fan of New Who, as it's called, and even then I can't remember everything, so don't you worry my friend.

As long as you don't expect me to remember every bit of lore, I won't expect you to get every reference
Honestly, you being unfamiliar with the show may just give me the benefit of the doubt when it comes to my rather untrained writing abilities

[Charles Farrow]

11790093
You know, not what I was going for, but I can't deny the similarities.
Though I'm most certainly not taking the story in the direction of that show, I would need to increase the pg-13 rating if that were the case.

[Myrkin]

11790832

Honestly, you being unfamiliar with the show may just give me the benefit of the doubt when it comes to my rather untrained writing abilities

Being largely ignorant of major piece of pop-culture has its benefits. :D