New Settings; Old Enemies

by KevynTheDevylman

Part 2: The Fortunate Meeting

Doctor Whooves
New Settings; Old Enemies

Part 2
The Fortunate Meeting

It took the brown pony a short time to find civilization, if one could call it that. The small settlement he now faced was hardly one of your great cultural epicenters. It wasn’t much more than a small village. He found the colorful wooden buildings and simplistic layout of the town quite charming. He had actually been hoping for a quiet place to stop and take a break from his travels and this seemed the ideal place.

As he trotted into town he took in everything with a broad smile on his face. “Oh, how lovely,” he said. “I really landed a winner this time. I really must remember the coordinates for this place.”

As he walked he took notice of the locals. It struck him that they were fairly similar to him. The thing that struck him as odd was that there seemed to be at least three different pony species that he could discern just passing by. He also noticed the amazing number of marks on their flanks. It struck him as odd that there was such diversity on the planet. All the other worlds he’d seen had natives with a uniform mark representing their race, including his own.

“Hmm,” he hummed as he walked along the road. “Some with horns; some with wings; some with neither; all with different marks. How very odd. I wonder if they’re all native or if this world has interstellar travel and these are colonists. Really must find a library and look into this world’s history. It’s so fascinating.”

As he walked he failed to notice a certain raven maned mare trotting past, nor the blue and white unicorn that was following at a generous distance. He just trotted along, admiring the houses and small shops, muttering about how he liked little shops.

At the same time, Derpy was continuing her route, making deliveries to the stores along the main thoroughfare. She had just dropped a letter off at Sugar Cube Corner. Judging by the distinct scent of cupcakes emanating from it, she imagined it was from Pinkie Pie, whom she had heard was off in Canterlot for a few days. She felt disappointed, as Pinkie was one of the few ponies that didn't act awkward around her.

As she went on, she made to pull the next set of letters from the pack. Her mouth found a single letter and she pulled it out. She placed it in her hooves to examine it, but found that it had no address. She looked all over the paper container, using both eyes to scan for any trace of an address or a return address. All that she found of interest was that the envelope was blue in color, which seemed odd, and that it was fairly thick for a letter. She decided it was a dead letter and put it in the pocket designated for them. She’d drop it by the office later to be disposed of. She regretted that this had to happen, but there were clear rules for sending mail and she had to follow them.

Still, Derpy felt content. She’d had a fairly peaceful morning thus far. Nopony had been rude or unfriendly with her as of yet and that made her happy. She felt like that her premonition of good luck was actually coming true.
______________________________________________________________________

Octavia stopped. The image on the device had shifted to an arrow and was pointing behind her. She quickly turned and ran in the direction of the arrow. She was so focused on the device she hadn’t noticed Vinyl, who had frozen up in fear of having been caught following her. Once she realized that wasn’t the case, she turned and chased after Octavia, wondering what could be so important.
______________________________________________________________________

The brown pony pushed his muzzle into his coat and pulled out a small device. It was a narrow, tube shaped device with a small blue bulb at the tip. Clenching his teeth caused the bulb to light up and made the device emit a strange whirring sound. He pointed it at a unicorn, which caused it to whir louder. He moved it in his mouth so that he could see it.

“Interesting,” he said, barely hindered by having something in his mouth. “Seems the horned ones have a high psychic reading. I’d love to see how that mani…”

Suddenly, he was interrupted, as the device beeped rapidly and seemingly dragged him into a turn.

“Oy!” He exclaimed. “Wha’s got into you?”

He resisted the device’s pull, before recognizing what the beeping meant. His eyes followed the tip into the sky, where he saw a small red dot hanging in the blue expanse. The beeping grew faster as the dot seemed to grow.

“Oh dear,” he said. “Tha’s not good. Very not good! Where’s it headed?”

As if in answer, the device seemed to drag him along at a rapid pace. The brown pony ran as fast as his hooves could carry him. He did not question the urgency the device was showing, or even that it could show urgency. He simply followed the device where it lead.
______________________________________________________________________

Only a few feet behind the brown pony, Octavia was also running quickly. Neither was aware of the other, but both were running in the same direction. Close behind her was Vinyl Scratch, who was fighting the temptation to call out to Octavia and ask what was wrong. She didn’t want to be caught until she could think of a reason that she was following the cellist. This proved difficult to do when she was more focused on not losing sight of her.
______________________________________________________________________

Derpy stretched her shoulders and wings and sighed with relief. Her load was finally starting to lighten and she was still having a rather pleasant day. She smiled warmly and began thinking to herself that nothing could go wrong this day.

“LOOK OUT!”

Almost a second after the thought crossed her mind, a blur of brown tackled her to the ground. Before she could react, a loud bang hit where she had been standing, followed by a cloud of dust and a lot of screaming, which she imagined came from other ponies. Derpy began to fear that she was dead; or at least severely injured. She began to panic, wondering what was happening and if everypony was alright.

“Are you alright miss?”

Her ears perked at the voice. It was the same one that shouted before she was knocked down. She peeled open an eye and tried to position it forward. Above her she saw a brown earth pony standing over her, wearing a vest and holding an odd pen-light like thing in his mouth. He wasn’t looking at her, but into the cloud of dust beside them.

“I- I’m okay,” she said quietly, still somewhat dazed. She rolled onto her stomach and stood up. “W-w-What happened?”

“Meteoroid,” The pony said, still looking into the dust. “Hit a lot slower than it should have though. Judging by the dust and the shockwave after impact I’d say shockingly slow.”

“Oh,” Derpy replied. She didn’t think anything about what had just happened was at all slow. “Well, thank you for saving me from the very shockingly slow meteor.”

The brown pony turned to her with a smile on his face. “It was no problem at all, miss. I’m always happy to…” He stopped speaking suddenly. He seemed to focus at her face.

Derpy quickly realized he was looking at her eyes and turned away, her face red with shame. “Please, don’t stare,” she muttered.

“Oh, dear,” the brown pony said uneasily. “I’m terribly sorry. I don’t mean to offend. It’s just I’ve never seen eyes like that. They’re so…”

Strange. Silly. Stupid. Weird. Ugly. Deformed. Derpy’s mind rattled off a list of all the adjectives used to describe her eyes in the past as she mentally prepared for them.

“…Lovely.”

Derpy’s eyes widened in shock. She turned back to the pony. “W-what?”

“I-I’m sorry if it’s rude to say that sort of thing,” the pony said, backing away slightly. “I’m not quite sure what the rules are here yet. Haven’t been here more than a few minutes.”

“N-no,” Derpy replied. “It’s fine. I just want to know… Why do you think they’re lovely?”

“Oh!” The pony said in surprise. “Well, it’s just… I’ve never seen that shade of golden yellow before. I mean, I’ve seen golden eyes; and I’ve seen yellow eyes; and I’ve seen yellow eyes with little flecks of gold in them; and vice-versa. But I’ve never seen that particular golden yellow shade before in my life. It’s… Lovely.”

His expression seemed honest. She couldn’t believe anypony would say that about her eyes. Not even Dinky’s father had said that. Now Derpy’s face was red for a different reason.

“Are you sure I’m not offending you?” the pony asked.

“No! No.” Derpy said excitedly. “It’s fine. It’s just fine, Mr… Um?”

“Oh, now That I know is rude of me,” the pony said with a playful smile. “Knocking a lady down without even an introduction. What was I thinking?” He made a polite bow and said, “I am, The Doctor.”

Derpy gave him a confused look. “The Doctor?” she asked. “Doctor, Who?”

“Just, the Doctor, will do,” He said, “Miss…?”

Derpy smiled and bowed in a similar manner. “Derpy Hooves.”

The Doctor returned her bow. “A pleasure to meet you Miss Hooves.”

“Likewise,” she said.

The two chuckled a bit at the silliness of their introduction. Derpy felt a strong warmth that she hadn’t felt in years. She had never had a conversation like this with anypony her age. She didn’t know him very well, but she knew she liked this “Doctor” pony and wanted to know him better.

After they finished chuckling, the Doctor returned his attention to the small crater. “Now, let’s see what nearly turned such a nice lady into a rather unpleasant mess, shall we?”
______________________________________________________________________

“Darn it!” Octavia muttered. She was watching The Doctor and Derpy as they investigated the site of the crashed object. Unfortunately, the panic-prone ponies of Ponyville had run into their houses, so she couldn’t blend into a crowd to investigate. “Why won’t those lovebirds leave? I need to get closer.”

“What for?”

“AHHHH!”

“AHHHH!”
______________________________________________________________________

“You hear that?” The Doctor asked.

“Hear what?” Derpy replied.
______________________________________________________________________

Octavia held a hoof over Vinyl’s mouth and had both their backs to the wall. She hoped the other two ponies wouldn’t notice them. She managed to catch the sound of the male saying, “Nevermind. Likely nothing.”

She sighed in relief and turned Vinyl to face her. “What are you doing?” she said quietly, but sternly.

“I-I’m sorry,” Vinyl said softly. “I-I-I was following you.”

“Why?!” Octavia hissed.

“I was… That is… I just…” Vinyl scrambled to find an answer that wouldn’t make her come off as a crazy stalker pony. “I think you’re Hot! Will you date me?” That was not it. She immediately covered her mouth in shame.

“What?!” Octavia said in shock.
______________________________________________________________________

“I swear I can hear something,” the Doctor muttered as he ran the whirring device around the edge of the crater.

“Maybe that thing you’re using is confusing you,” Derpy said. “What is that anyway?”

“Sonic Screwdriver,” the Doctor replied.

“A… what?”

“A Sonic Screwdriver,” he repeated. “It uses sonic vibrations to manipulate matter at a molecular level. The upside, which the inventor didn’t have the foresight to notice before naming it, is that this allows it to do all sorts of things aside from driving screws. Especially useful amongst these is its ability to analyze and categorize matter so precisely it can actually determine the origin of the matter from anywhere in the universe.”

If Derpy’s eyes weren’t already crossed, they probably would be. “Huh?”

“It tells me things about stuff,” The Doctor said.

“Oh,” Derpy replied.

The device beeped in an uneven pattern.

“What’s it saying about the meteor?” Derpy asked.

“Nothing yet,” the Doctor replied. “It’s telling me to mention that if it weren’t for it, I wouldn’t have even noticed the meteor before it hit and that it wants some recognition for it. Honestly, it’s very vain like that.”

Derpy giggled, thinking the Doctor was joking. “Well, thank you Mr. Screwdriver.”

“Feel better now?” the Doctor asked the thing in his mouth.

It beeped several times in response.

“Good,” The Doctor said. “Now do your job. Something made this thing slow down before impact, and I would like to know what.”
______________________________________________________________________

“What is that pony doing?” Octavia whispered.

“What are we doing?” Vinyl replied.

“I am waiting for them to leave so I can examine that thing,” Octavia said tersely. “You, apparently, are here to spy on me for some perverse reason.”

“I swear that isn’t what I meant,” Vinyl said. “I just…”

“I don’t care,” Octavia replied. “I want you to go away.”

“Oh, come on,” Vinyl said. “I want to know what’s happening. Why do you want that thing? What is it? Why did your acoustic device bring you to it?”

“You aren’t allowed to know that,” Octavia said. “I could lose my job talking to you like this.”

“Job?” Vinyl said in confusion. “What…?”

“Just go!” She said harshly and loudly.

“Who’s there?!”

Octavia and Vinyl clammed up at the sound of the male pony’s voice.
______________________________________________________________________

“I swear, something is making a lot of noise,” the Doctor said. “This is hard enough without that kind of interference.”

“I heard it too,” Derpy said. “I think I’ll fly up and see if I see anypony.”

“Fly?” The Doctor asked.

“Yeah,” Derpy responded, fluttering her wings in response. “See? I’m a Pegasus.”

“Oh!” the Doctor said in delighted surprise. “I hadn’t even noticed you were one with wings. Fancy that! So they’re functional then?”

“Func…?”

“They work for flying and such?” The Doctor clarified.

“Of course,” she said, almost insulted. “I might not be a Wonderbolt, but I can still fly well enough. Mostly, anyway.”

“Brilliant,” The Doctor said. “Go see who’s making that racket. I’ve almost deciphered the meteor’s molecular structure.”

“What?”

“The screwdriver is telling me stuff about things,” the Doctor clarified again.

“Right,” Derpy replied. “Well, here I go.”

With that, she took off. The Doctor marveled at the strange sight before him. He’d seen flying species before, but none equine in form. It was quite impressive, despite the fact that Derpy seemed to be swaying and twisting in ways that clearly weren’t voluntary.

“Wonderbolts?” the Doctor finally questioned. He shook off the question and returned to his work.
______________________________________________________________________

“Will you just go away?” Octavia demanded.

“Not until I know what’s going on,” Vinyl replied.

“I’m not telling some crazy pony I barely know things She isn’t supposed to know!”

“I don’t like not being in the loop. I’m a Unicorn; we’re naturally curious. I want to know what you’re not telling me!”

“Why don’t you get it?! This is none of your business!”

“It is now!”

“Like heck it is!”

“Excuse me…”

Both ponies turned their heads to the roof nearby. There, a grey Pegasus was perched, looking at them with her crooked eyes.

“But I think the Doctor and I would like to know what’s going on too,” she said. “If you don’t mind.”
______________________________________________________________________

Derpy walked back to the Doctor with the two ponies she had found. Octavia felt pathetic for succumbing to her emotions as easily as she did. Now she knew her cover was blown. If only Vinyl had left her alone. Vinyl wasn’t feeling much better, knowing that she’d likely made a huge mistake not listening to Octavia. Now she probably had no chance of even talking to her again.

The Doctor took notice of the rather negative looking ponies and rolled his eyes. “No wonder I’ve been off,” he commented. “You two have more negative vibrations pulsing off of you than anything.”

“Listen mister,” Octavia began. “I don’t know who you are, but your presence is interfering in my investigation. I advise you to leave.”

“Especially you!” The Doctor said angrily. “You’re so uptight. Lighten up! Crack a smile for pity’s sake. It’s not the end of the world. If anyone should leave it’s you!”

“Well, I…” Octavia said, flustered.

“Fluffersnaff!” the Doctor declared.

“W-what?” Octavia replied in confusion.

“Gundernaffer. Prenderghast. Wibbley Wombily Timey Whimey.”

“I don’t…”

“Funny words,” he said. “I’m trying to make you laugh. Dubledon. Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. Honestly, it’s this or tickling and I don’t imagine that’s very polite in mixed company.”

Octavia was just stunned silent. She had no response. It was so out of left field that she couldn’t even begin to comprehend it. The only thing she could do is crack a small smile, which she immediately covered with her hoof.

“Ah, there we go,” The Doctor said with a big grin. “That’s much better. Now maybe I can get some work done.” He turned back to the crater. “Oh, you with the blue hair. Don’t worry, she likes you. She’s just holding back because she’s all worried about everything.”

“What?!” Both ponies replied in shock. They looked at each other but then quickly looked away in embarrassment.

Derpy walked up to the Doctor. “How did you know all that?” she asked in a hushed voice.

The Doctor smiled. “Their emotions were transmitting through the sonic on a psychic frequency. Probably transmitted by the one with the horn.”

“The Unicorn,” Derpy corrected, unsure why he wouldn‘t know that. In fact, he didn’t seem to know about Pegasai either when she brought it up. What kind of pony didn’t know about Unicorns and Pegasai.

“Right, her,” he replied. “OKAY! Now we’re making progress! I’m starting to narrow down the possibilities.”

“Who is this guy?” Vinyl asked Derpy after walking up to her.

“I’m not sure,” Derpy replied. “But he saved me from getting hit by that thing.”

Octavia walked up beside the Doctor. “What exactly are you doing?” she asked, though not impolitely.

“Screwdriver detects things about things and stuff about stuff,” he explained. “I really don’t want to explain it again.”

“Are you an EQUIT Agent?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“EQUIT?” he said in confusion. “Is that even a word?”

“Nevermind,” she replied. “I’m just going to omit a lot of things and stuff from my report.”

“Hey, speaking of…” Vinyl began in response to the conversation.

“Shush!” the Doctor declared. “I’m nearly done. Silence please.”

Everypony remained silent.

“Almost… nearly… A-HA!” He declared triumphantly. Then, his expression changed from one of excitement to one of dread. “Oh, no! Not again!”

“What?” Derpy asked. “What is it?”

He turned to them and put the screwdriver back in his vest. “You two,” he said to Vinyl and Octavia. “What were your names?”

“I’m Octavia,” she said, concerned at his change of tone.

“And I’m Vinyl Scratch,” she said, equally off-put.

“I’m the Doctor, and this is Derpy,” the Doctor replied, motioning to himself and Derpy. “Now, you lot remember about how I said negative emotions were bad and you should stop feeling bad because it didn’t help.”

“Yeah,” Vinyl replied. “You said not to worry, because it’s not the end of the world.”

“Yeah, well, I was wrong!” The Doctor said in a slightly panicked and rushed tone. “I’d say panicking is the best response for you to have, because unless I’m really off today, the world IS about to end!”

“What?!” All three mares replied.

Just then, a metal rod extended from the ground. This rod sprouted a metal dish that began rotating and making a bleeping sound. The Doctor looked at it in horror, then turned his head to the sky.

“They’re coming.”

Comments

[KevynTheDevylman]

1350753
I do this in order to differentiate who is doing what to whom. I realize it seems tedious, but when the majority of your cast is Female it's rather unavoidable. I might go over and try to cut down on it where I think it's necessary, but otherwise I'm leaving it as is for now. Still, thank you. Always appreciate constructive criticism.

[KevynTheDevylman]

1351008
Yes and No. Depends on what you mean. Yes, he's the Doctor, but he's not The Doctor. I'm sure it'll become clear as the story goes on. Check part 2 for more details.
Thanks for the support

[KevynTheDevylman]

1372427
Sorry, must have Animaniacs on the Brain. Though, I don't think I've ever put that much thought into how it's spelled. My bad. As for the shes and hers, see my reply to >>ThemBananas

Thanks for commenting.

[Slireon]

Lemme' Guess: EQUIT = Torchwood.
You really got the Doctor's personality. Not a lot can do tht. Very good work :D
...Though, In the funny words, you should have put somethin' 'bout the Jelly Babies. See "The Almost People" (06x06, New Who.)

[icetor78]

update is equivilant to awesome

[Cucumberwizard]

Pinky Pinky Pinkystatic4.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/3947037+_bf199c3c9d6d739cfbe186e34a926be8.gif

5/5 story, keep it up.

[KevynTheDevylman]

1381886
I have exorcised the Pinky and allowed Pinkie into my life. Happy?
Also, plz inform if I missed one? Shouldn't happen again.