Chapter 3 "Doctor Who?"
Chapter 3
“Doctor Who?”
I just stared at the stallion before me. He wasn’t lying that I could tell. He didn’t give me much to go on. I think he deserved to be heard out. I holstered Blackbird and he relaxed a little. I held my grey gaze “What’s your name?”
He smiled and answered simply “The Doctor”
“Doctor who?” I asked with a raised eyebrow
“No just The Doctor” He said
“So your name is the Doctor?” I said again
“Yes…or at least that’s what you can call me”
“Fair enough” I said with a shrug. “Names Preventus Phelps Eye, but everypony calls me Private”
“Private Eye…” He suddenly started laughing “The puns! Oh god the puns! They’re everywhere on this world!”
“You got a problem with my name?” I said my eyes narrowing
“No sorry” He said stifling a chuckle “It’s just ever since I got here I’ve heard so many puns. Everypony, somepony, even Ponyville, so many puns!” He laughed again
I simply nodded and decided to move on “So what are you exactly? You didn’t answer me very well the first time”
He stopped laughing and cleared his throat “You see I’m what’s known as a Time Lord. I fly around in this” He gestured to the room “Time And Relative Dimension In Space or Tardis for short. I go around travelling the universe and solve all manner of problems”
“So you’re saying I’m standing in a time machine?” I said skeptically “That’s a lot to swallow Doctor no offense”
“Ah you want proof do you?” He said with a smile “Been meaning to test out her circuits for a while now…” He walked passed me and began pressing all manner of buttons and levers. I felt the room rumble and vibrate. I leaned against a nearby terminal to keep myself from falling on the floor.
When the shaking stopped the Doctor went to the door and held it open “After you”
I looked at him then stepped out. My eyes went wide at what I saw. We were in the middle of a battlefield. Not just any battlefield though “The Battle of the Birches!?”
Ponies clad in green armor clashed with ponies in black armor with symbols on their arms. A long time ago Bermany tried to take over the rest of Equestria under the leadership of a dictator. The result was Equestria War 2. I was watching one of the most important battles of the war unfold before my eyes.
“I would suggest heading inside before we get shot at!” The Doctor said as a bullet hit the Tardis in the chaos.
I ducked my head back inside and slammed the door shut. I looked at The Doctor “You were telling the truth!”
He slapped me on the back “Well now that we’ve gotten that out of the way what’s say we get you back home?”
“Look I still have some questions” I said as he tried to walk away
He rolled his eyes and looked back at me “Look I can’t stay here and explain every tiny little detail…”
“You’re in a time machine!” I pointed out “We got all the time in the world”
“I suppose you have a point” He said with a sigh “Very well what do you want to know?”
“First of all, what exactly is a time…whatever doing here?”
“Time Lord” He corrected “And I’m here looking for somebody”
“Who exactly?” I said curiously
“Not who per say but what” He explained “Are you aware of something called a changeling?”
I nodded “Of course, who wouldn’t after all they’ve done to Canterlot?” I wasn’t going to tell this stranger about my encounter with a lieutenant of their kind. The memory was too dark to venture back into.
He went on “Well, after the whole fiasco at the wedding I started developing an interest in them”
“You were at the wedding?”
“Not at the wedding. I just saw the huge explosion of love shooting out and took some eyewitness accounts”
“How long have you been on Equestria exactly?” I asked curious
He tapped his hoof on his cheek in thought. He then nodded and said “I’d say about a year or so, showed up around the time when that Nightmare Moon did”
That was about a year ago. Hard to believe so much time has passed since then. I remember reading about Nightmare Moon’s attack in the papers. I was still a private detective at the time and for some reason I was glad Luna was back. I can’t explain it but I always had a fascination with the Princess of the Night.
But that still got me curious as to the Doctor’s real objective “So what did you find out about the changelings?”
“Well, using some of my equipment here in the Tardis I managed to pin point where their lair is. I managed to sneak my way into the hive and they didn’t seem to react to me at first”
“Maybe it’s because you’re a Time Lord and not a pony” I pointed out
“That’s what I thought” The Doctor said with a nod “Anyways when I got inside I studied the Changelings as a whole” He walked to a large circular terminal and began tapping switches. A holographic projection of a large underground cavern appeared.
I looked and saw a group of smaller changelings taking orders from larger ones. I recognized Queen Chrysalis sitting in the center. I ran my hoof through the hologram and my hooves passed through it. The Doctor gave me a look “Sorry, bit of a sci-fi nut…had to see if you really could do that”
The Doctor gestured to the changelings with his strange device “At the top you have Queen Chrysalis, essentially like a queen in a bee hive. She’s the only one with true intelligence and the power to plan. Very dangerous, didn’t see her much but I always made sure I was gone when she came”
I nodded “Then you have her lieutenants” I said gesturing to the slightly larger changelings. They were similar in appearance to the queen herself. They were smaller then her though and had less extravagant features.
The Doctor nodded “At the bottom you have the drones. Simple minded workers that only know to eat on love and obey the queen”
“This is all well and good” I said looking at the Doctor “But we could’ve gotten this information out of any text book, what peeked your interest?”
The Doctor pointed his device at one changeling. One of the drones suddenly stopped working and…winced. “You know that point in your life when you question everything you do? Just stop and look at yourself? Well this fella did”
I looked at the Changeling as he looked down. He looked around as a lieutenant came to him. The drone suddenly lashed out at the lieutenant and flew away. My eyes just stared at him “You’re saying one of the drones developed…sentience?”
The Doctor nodded “My hypothesis is that the power of love somehow allowed him to experience emotion as more than just food. With that it had him question everything about himself and one day he just…snapped”
“You’ve been looking for him ever since?” I concluded
He nodded “I’ve tracked him to Ponyville and my search ended there. I was on my way to finding him at the party…when I met you”
This was a lot to take in. Changelings were considered the enemy by many a pony. I myself put two bullets in the head of one of them. But this Changeling…if he could come around…maybe there could be peace?
I nodded “Look this is all well and good…but I need information about Balboey, not some changeling that went rogue”
The Doctor nodded “I know this sounds farfetched…but I detected his signature near Balboey’s body. I think our plights are connected and we just need to find out how”
I looked at the Doctor. He was certainly eager to help this Changeling. I wasn’t about deny the help of somepony who could time travel. Maybe this guy could help? I nodded “Alright Doctor…I’ll let you help me investigate. If it means both of our goals can be accomplished”
The Doctor smiled wide “Alright! Welcome aboard Private! Now we should probably start with finding out what we can about Balboey”
I tapped my hoof on my chin “Well the only place I’d be able to get accurate records of her is the Hall of Records in Canterlot. They have information on everypony”
He chuckled a little at my mention of “Everypony” I gave him a look and he continued “Alright, we’ll just go in and ask”
“One problem” I pointed out “It’s open only to certified policemen and those on royal business” I shook my head “Since I’m neither I don’t think we can get in”
“What time does the place close?” The Doctor asked suddenly moving about the terminals and switches again.
“I’d say about the same time we left. But what does that have to do with-“
“It’s called Time and Relative Dimension in Space” He said with a smile “Now hold onto something this could be a rough landing”
__________________________________________________________
The Hall of Records was lined with shelves and shelves of scrolls. Each one dedicated to a certain family line and recorded everypony who lived and died in Equestria. You could find everypony in your family line all the way back to the first six ponies that walked the earth.
What you won’t normally find is a police box landing sideways on one of the tables. The door burst open and I coughed as I got out of the Tardis smoke billowing out of the machine. “Rough Landing!? Where’d you get your Tardis license!?”
“It’s not my fault!” The Doctor said as he got out “My hooves missed the stoppy doicky!”
“It’s called the brakes moron!” I retorted “Anyways where’d you learn to fly that thing!?”
“It was kind of designed for six to pilot it” The Doctor explained “Not one”
“Even still” I said as I dusted myself off “You really should get a manual for that thing”
The Doctor ignored my comment about his driving skills and looked at the scrolls on the wall “Start pulling out the B Section. We should be able to find her”
I nodded and pulled out the first scroll with my magic. The Doctor looked at me wide eyed as I levitated the scroll into his hooves. I looked at him “What?”
“I completely forgot that you were a unicorn! A unicorn detective! How’s that for novelty?!” He began to laugh as he set the scroll down on the table. He opened it and then gave it back to me “Next”
“What?!” I said looking at him “You didn’t even look at it!”
“Yes I did, temporal physics and what not just toss me the next scroll and keep them coming”
I’ve heard of speed reading but this is ridiculous. For the next two minutes I hoofed the Doctor scroll after scroll and he kept reading them with lightning speed. I even checked to make sure he did read them by asking him to quote lines from memory. He quoted them as if he read them for year.
Finally he stopped “Ah ha! I found her!” He said pointing at a passage in the scroll. He looked at the scroll “Says here Balboey was a rock famer that worked on the Pie family farm. The place was a…rock farm?”
“Don’t ask” I said frankly “It’s better if you don’t think about it”
He shrugged and went on “Says here the family kept the farm going for a number of years. But the youngest daughter Pinkemania left the family to pursue her career as a party planner”
“That’s Pinkie Pie!” I said “She left the family so that she could pursue her love of partying”
“Well it gets a bit sad after that” The Doctor said in a rather somber tone “Says here the farm had suffered an outbreak of cholera shortly after she left. Says here her family had to abandon the farm and her parents retired to the mountains away from the farm. Mostly getting checks sent by Pinkie Pie”
“How does Balboey fit into all of this?” I asked
“She was a farm hand” The Doctor said looking closely at the scroll “She was a very traditional pony who wanted the family plain and simple…sadly she would…that doesn’t make any sense!”
“What?”
“Says here she died 5 months ago! She was killed and her body wasn’t discovered until later!”
“5 months ago…” I said thoughtfully “That’s when the wedding took place!!”
“If she died there” The Doctor said thoughtfully “Then what was she doing at the party?”
___________________________________________________________
“Doctor we don’t have time to wait on you!” I shouted as I waited in the Tardis. We were going to follow up on finding that changeling. If the death took place at the same time at the wedding I had the suspicion our lost changeling had something to do with Balboey’s murder.
The Doctor came out wearing…I just shook my head and said “What the hell do you have on your head?”
He tilted the abomination of headwear on his head and proudly smiled “It’s a Fez, Fezzes are cool”
“Fezzes are not cool!” I retorted
“I beg your pardon!” The Doctor said indignantly
“It looks like you have a giant gumdrop on your head!”
“And I suppose in Ponyville it’s cool to dress like your grandpa?!” He said pointing at my fedora
“Oh you are not dissing the Fedora!” I fired back
“I am because you dissed the Fez! Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep these!?”
“I outta pull out my gun and shoot it off your head it would be a huge improvement!”
“Somebody already did that and I’d prefer it if you didn’t do it! Grandpa!”
“Zit head!”
“Old timer!”
“Wacko brains!”
“Asshole!”
I was about to retort but then relented “Okay you went too far with that one…I know some donkeys who would take offense to that”
“Sorry about that” he said genuinely “I just want to blend in and I want to look good while doing it”
“Is there a way we can compromise?” I said looking at him
He replaced the abomination of headwear with a Stetson “What about Stetsons?”
I looked him for a moment then nodded “Stetsons are cool…”
________________________________________________________
The Doctor and I huddled in a nearby bush watching Big Mac and Fluttershy in the woodlands around Ponyville. The only way we were going to get the changeling to come out is if we laid some bait. What better bait for a changeling then a young love about to sprout?
Big Mac looked at Fluttershy as they talked about various topics. But they seemed to speak most when they didn’t talk. Big Mac laughed at something that Fluttershy said and the two were about to reach for a cookie on a plate when they touched hooves.
Fluttershy yanked her hoof back in embarrassment and apologized profusely. Big Mac looked at the butter yellow Pegasus and simply smiled. He reached over and took her hoof in his and the Pegasus seemed to relax.
She smiled at him and the two got closer to each other…
The Doctor tapped my shoulder “There!”
I looked over and saw somepony lurking in the bushes. The Doctor pulled out his device and aimed it at the bush “Sonic Screwdriver don’t fail me now!” He pressed a button on it and the sonic blast that emitted seemed to stun the pony.
I scrapped the ground with my hooves and leaped at the now stunned pony. I tackled him and we wrestled in the bushes together.
I finally managed to pin him down and aimed my gun at him “Alright I- You!?”
Lying on the ground was the white unicorn stallion with a red mane that Pinkie danced with at the party. He looked up at me with large green eyes “We…we mean no harm…” His voice was almost robotic.
I kept my gun trained on him “I know what you are…”
He kept his gaze on me “We didn’t mean any harm…we simply wanted to find her…”
“Balboey?” I asked
He suddenly looked flushed and embarrassed “No…somebody…far more special…”
The Doctor looked over at me and looked down at the unicorn “What’s a changeling like you doing running around Ponyville?”
“If you will let us up we will explain” the changeling said looking at us. His green eyes betrayed his hope that we would.
I slowly gave in and got up off him. Fluttershy and Big Mac went away for some privacy while I looked at the unicorn. “Who are you?”
He blinked at the question “What do you mean?”
The Doctor looked at me and rephrased my question “He means do you have a name?”
He shook his head “We do not have what you ponies call names…we are drone number 1,183…we are simply one part of a whole”
I looked over at the Doctor “Sounds like a creed you would say at the beginning of a school day”
The Doctor nodded and tapped his hoof “We’ll call you Swarm for now”
“Swarm?” I said raising an eyebrow “What gave you that idea?”
The Doctor shrugged “Irony, he’s one part of a whole but he’s discovered individuality. I thought a name like Swarm would be poetic”
The Unicorn thought for a moment then nodded “We like the name Swarm. We understand this one’s argument”
I simply shrugged “Okay Swarm…who was it you were looking for?”
Swarm looked at me with those green eyes of his. He then stepped back and fire engulfed him. His white coat turned into the insect like carapace of a changeling. I was a little shocked by this sudden change but then he simply held his head “It is best if we show you…”
Before my very eyes Swarm’s black skin transformed into a bright pink. He suddenly grew a wild pink mane and his eyes turned from sectioned blue into bright blue normal eyes...
I just stared…Swarm…was looking for Pinkie Pie…
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ooo....kay.... I figured on there being a changeling involved somehow, it's just too good of a thing to pass up when there's somepony that saw Pinkie Pie in a place she wasn't... but I did NOT see that curve ball coming. Well played
Stetsons are indeed cool.
A minor error, TARDIS stands for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space," not "Time and Dimension in Space." Like I said, its minor, but you may want to edit it.
The Doctor, time travel, Changlings...
...It's just too much! 
Cerebral meltdown imminent. 
1347192Done, can't believe I messed up the R
When the doctor said bow ties are cool in his intro episode, bow tie sales in great Britain tripled
Dun dun- I really saw the ending coming.
For the first time in this series probably.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!
1349721Shiz is going on...
1349426Now Stetson and Fedora sales in America will double...
Is the whole changeling discovering sentience a reference to the TNG episode, "I, Borg"?
1348170 did you draw inspiration from Legion of the mass effect series because swarms speech pattern seems similar
Fanservice... fanservice everywhere...
THE GREAT HAT ARGUEMENT OF 2012-2013 HAS ENDED STETSONS FEDORAS AND FEZ'S ARE ALL COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL dress like you grandpa xD
LOL dress like your grandpa
1349426 You know, this explains so much, I never watched any of the Matt Smith episodes. Can't stand him, anywho, never did get the bowtie thing.
Fez' are indeed cool
Fedoras are awesome
Stetsons are inspiring
Is it weird that I'm imagining this Doctor as David Tennant?
He was the greatest...
1924571 Exept the fezzes.
3663494 Every single time I watch Tennant's final scene I bawl my eyes out
" WE DON'T WANT YOU TO GO EITHER DAVID!!!"
" NOOOOO!!!!!!!!"
" You better be ready 11 because you have some HUGE shoes to fill!!!!"
10th doctor: "I don't wanna go"
Me:
10th Doctor Regenerates
Me:
11th Doctor appears
Me:
1924571 20% COOLER!!!!
Here's one TARDIS manual I had to save it from a super novapre04.deviantart.net/e025/th/pre/i/2010/149/8/9/tardis_data_file_cover_by_time_lord_rassilon.png
And I know you disagree with it Doctor but it's useful
Fedoras and Stetsons are cool. Fezzes...iffy. It depends on the wearer.
Also, the way you wrote Swarm's dialogue gave me a huge inspiration and totally changed on how I'm going to write Changelings in my WIP FiMfics! Thanks!