The Adventures of Doctor Whooves: Series 1

by Time Pony Victorious

Something Amazing

The TARDIS, Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville, Equestria

47th of Summer, 10:00am, 1002 C.R.

“Right then!” the Doctor called out from the other side of the console. He threw a switch and the TARDIS rumbled. “Custom settings let’s see… Let’s go with non-hostile environment, preferably one with ideal atmospheric conditions, no civil wars, and ah, here.” He grinned at Fluttershy as he threw one more switch. “Amazing.”

The TARDIS shook once more but as the Doctor mentioned earlier it was smoother than the last time she remembered. Fluttershy didn’t even have to float to stay on her hooves, so that was a plus. The Doctor pressed a button and the TARDIS stopped rumbling. Only the sounds of her psychic messages filled the TARDIS.

“Right, she’s recalibrating,” the Doctor said, stepping back from the console and sitting on the couch. He pat the spot next to him, beckoning Fluttershy to sit as well. Well, Fluttershy was never one to refuse a seat, so she took one beside him.

“How does the TARDIS… fly anyways?” Fluttershy asked, finding it difficult to imagine this blue box sprouting wings and flying through time and space.

The Doctor gave her another strange look, like an amused expression. “Right, imagine… imagine your eyes, right? The fact is, you blink so quickly your brain has to recalibrate and trick you into thinking the world didn’t just go completely dark at that moment.”

Fluttershy nodded. The Doctor turned to her and gestured with his hooves in an excitable manner. She may not have understood what he was talking about but it was nice to see him this excited about something.

“The TARDIS is somewhat the same way,” he continued. “She isn’t exactly flying per se but just flitting through time and space so quickly that the universe has to recalibrate around her. Yes, sometimes she can fly but that method takes a lot out of her, strangely enough.”

“What about space and time?” she asked. “Does she, like, sail through it like a ship would on the water? Is space like water?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “Space-time does have… waves of sort. Cosmic waves or temporal riptides but it isn’t like the ocean. She goes through the ‘waves’ like you would wading through a pond, with the water bending around you as you muddle through.”

Fluttershy tried to imagine the TARDIS sailing through an ocean of time and cosmic rays, it was surprisingly difficult. “Why is the TARDIS a blue box?”

The Doctor looked sheepish in answering this. “One of the TARDIS’s original functions was that it could camouflage itself. It could appear as anything it wanted. It would take a scan of the surrounding area at the first nanosecond of landing to create a twelfth-dimensional map within a thousand mile radius, calculating the cultural influences, temporal relevancy, and overall the best outer shell to use that blends in best with the environment.”

The Time Lord’s face fell, he absentmindedly straightened his bowtie and ran a hoof through his mane. Fluttershy wondered if he had an attention-deficiency problem. “Then… she turns into a blue box.”

“What is a call box, anyways?” Fluttershy asked as the Doctor went over to the console and began checking the readings.

“Police box from 1960s earth, back in the universe where I was from. It was used to arrest and detain criminals or to call for help,” the Doctor answered, pressing a few buttons and scrutinizing the screens.

“Oh,” Fluttershy said, floating alongside the Doctor finding it difficult to continue on the conversation. “So, has it always been a box?”

The Doctor shook his head. “Not always, the few times she’s disguised as something else never sat well with me. I just happen to like how she looks now, don’t you?”

Fluttershy nodded, keeping her comments to herself for fear that she wouldn’t be able to articulate how she felt about the TARDIS. It was magical in the sense that it provided this unbridled sense of wonder to Fluttershy, making her believe that anything was possible. She wasn’t as smart as Twilight or the Doctor and didn’t have the prose of Rarity or the enthusiasm of Pinkie and Rainbow or the simple honesty of Applejack but that was one thing she was certain of.

“So, um, you’re a… Time Lord,” Fluttershy said cautiously. “What is that, exactly?”

The Doctor frowned and Fluttershy feared she may have said something wrong. She was about to apologize when the Doctor spoke up. “An alien, well, from your point of view that is. We were a race of people who could see and manipulate time. The Keepers of Time and Space.” He smiled wistfully as if he could imagine them.

“But, now I’m the last one, well, I’m not even sure about that anymore,” he said under his breath.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s complicated,” he admitted. “But come on, who wants to talk about that, eh? Let’s go see where she’s taken us!”

The Doctor pressed a button and the TARDIS shook with a jolt, a sensation that reminded Fluttershy of a chariot landing so she assumed they had stopped. Fluttershy went over to the Doctor’s side and looked at the scanner as he had. The display made no sense to her, it was just a jumbled mess of circular patterns and strange lines but the Doctor smiled like it was good news.

“Where are we?” she asked with trepidation.

The Doctor grinned broadly. “Somewhere amazing,” he answered. He bounded off from the console and grabbed his coat he left draped over the railing, throwing it on. Running toward the door, he stopped and smiled at Fluttershy, waiting for her. “Ready?”

Honestly, Fluttershy wasn’t sure. Some part of her wanted to go back home and call this whole thing off but the other part wanted to follow the Doctor into this strange new land. The scary thing was, she agreed with the second part. Fluttershy floated toward the Doctor and nodded. “R-Ready.”

He stepped aside and gestured for her to open the door. Fluttershy pressed the handle in and pulled the door outward and stepped out.

~==~

Hoofbeat Road, Canterlot, Equestria

47th of Summer, 10:30am, 1002 C.R.

Spike the dragon was enjoying a lovely cone of vanilla-ruby ice-cream that was both smooth and crunchy at the same time. Perfect. Of course such a culinary combination of dairy and precious stones wasn’t exactly commonplace as Spike’s kind weren’t the most hospitable type. But this was Canterlot. Everypony knew Spike; beloved friend, and adoptive brother, to Princess Celestia’s prized pupil and Element of Magic.

The stores and vendors had specifically altered their menus to accommodate the young dragon’s tastes in order to get in a good word with Twilight and, hopefully, Princess Celestia.

“Please put in a good word for us,” they would ask Spike. “Mention us next time you see Princess Celestia!”

Spike always promised to but sometimes he would forget. Hey, can you blame a guy? He was always busy with Twilight’s library and the various adventures that occur and the Time Pony’s crazy shenanigans. Things were never the same the day the Doctor moved in. Singlehoofedly the Time Pony had turned their lives upside down, not that Spike minded.

The dragon was never too keen on going on crazy adventures through time and space. When he had heard that Rarity went on a trip with the Doctor, Spike was a little miffed he didn’t hear about it before hoof. If Rarity was going, he wanted to go, but the Doctor apologized profusely.

“It was a bit… explosive,” the Time Pony admitted. “We sort of crashed a sky island into an ocean.”

Spike was infuriated upon learning that the Doctor nearly got Rarity hurt but she came back fine and even enjoyed the trip.

“It was simply marvelous, darling,” Rarity had told him. “Oh, the city was beautiful, it certainly outshined Canterlot or Manehatten. Of course, sending it to the bottom of the ocean was a bit of a problem…”

Spike felt like he shouldn’t inquire about what exactly happened and he wasn’t terribly interested. Unlike the girls, Spike was more content with eating and sleeping, no life-threatening stuff for him, thank you very much.

That’s probably why he felt comfortable as the Doctor’s assistant. He had years working with Twilight under his belt, so he felt it would be easy to work with the Doctor. Nope. When the Doctor explained something, he had a bad habit of rambling on at the speed of light using all sorts of big words and then he’d look at you like you’d drool on yourself when you didn’t understand him.

Even Twilight gets confused by the Doctor which, to be honest, was a nice change of pace since she used to be the smartest pony Spike knew. Speaking of Twilight. Spike spared a glance at his oldest friend, Twilight Sparkle, the esteemed student of Princess Celestia, current holder of the Element of Magic and the most powerful unicorn Spike knows, was worried about what she was going to tell Celestia.

She was looking over her notes and muttering to herself, making adjustments and changes with her quill. Well, actually it was 5 quills on five different pieces of paper at the same time. Spike wasn’t sure what she was so worried about, this wasn’t the first time she has reported personally to Princess Celestia about her misadventures with the Doctor. Though, for some reason, when it concerned the Doctor, Twilight insisted on appearing before Celestia instead of writing a letter as was the traditional manner.

Whenever Spike asked her why she can’t simply write to Celestia, Twilight would just nervously glance at him and down toward the basement where the Doctor resided and said, “It would just be better if I visited Celestia!”

He didn’t get it but then again girls were but a mystery to the poor dragon. Ever since her trip to Rainbow Island, Twilight had gotten sensitive over discussing the Doctor. The Time Pony apparently felt a bit nervous around her as well since he didn’t seem too keen on inviting her on any more trips. The last trip he took was to the moon a few thousand years into the future! Twilight would’ve loved going there, but oh well.

“Twilight, relax,” Spike said, licking his ice-cream. “I dunno what’s gotten you so worked up…”

Twilight shot him a glare but he was used to it by now. “Spike this is serious. My narrative is sloppy and indelicate. If I’m to recount the Doctor’s escapades it has to be succinct with the professional prose of a scientist.”

Spike rolled his eyes, pfft, artists… they were so hard to deal with.

“Yeah, yeah, speaking of the Doctor…” Spike said, pausing to toss his ice-cream cone in the air and snatching it in one bite. “Why haven’t you guys talked yet?”

Twilight blushed and levitated her journal closer to her face. “W-what are you talking about? We talked this morning.”

“Barely. How did it go…” Spike cleared his throat and spoke in a falsetto. “Oh, Doctor. Spike and I are going to Canterlot for the rest of the day. I’m afraid we won’t be back for a while! You didn’t even let him respond.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, pretending to be busy with her work, but Spike wouldn’t let up. The little dragon grabbed the papers she was holding, eliciting a complaint from the unicorn, and glared at her.

“What’s going on? When he first arrived, you couldn’t shut up about him! Now you’re going out of your way to avoid him?”

The librarian frowned and rubbed her foreleg nervously. “It’s not that,” she muttered. “I’m not trying to avoid him, it’s just… Rainbow Island was a bit intense for me and, well, a little break from him might be nice.”

Spike wasn’t entirely convinced. He crossed his arms and stared at her for a moment. “Uh huh, are you sure the island was the most intense part of the trip?”

Twilight’s blush turned her entire body red. She turned away with a huff and started to make her way to the castle. Spike dutifully followed, wishing he hadn’t eaten his ice-cream so quickly.

Despite the fact that Twilight wasn’t a princess, she strode through the halls with such stately grace that Spike didn’t have a hard time imagining her in a crown. The guards bowed awkwardly and stepped out of her way, even opening doors for her (though she had insisted it was perfectly fine).

Weaving her way around the corridors and through the innards of the castle, Twilight made her way to the throne room where the entrance was flanked by two sentries. Spike noticed that one of the sentries was new to the job while the second was his superior, probably training him in the rigorous duties of door-pony. The new sentry smiled and waved at Twilight, earning him a hard look from his elder but he didn’t mind.

“Oh, hello, Ms. Sparkle,” the guard said. In his golden armor, which was too big and bulky for his diminutive size, he looked like a colt trying on his father’s clothes. His blue mane stuck out from his helmet in all sorts of crazy manners and his wings chafed against his armor but he grinned happily at Twilight.

Twilight smiled as well, giggling as the elder sentry ribbed him with his hoof. “For the last time, Flash, it’s Twilight Sparkle, or just Twilight. How many times do I have to remind you?”

Flash Sentry blushed and scratched the back of his neck. “Once more, if you don’t mind.”

Twilight laughed again and Spike swore he saw a blush on her cheeks. “Have you seen Shining Armor lately?”

Flash straightened, his eyes wide with panic. “Y-your brother, uh, n-nope. Not lately,” he stammered looking around as if searching for the Captain of the Royal Guard now made Prince of the Crystal Empire. “W-why? Has he said anything to you?”

Twilight frowned and shook her head, confused as to why Flash became nervous at the mention of her brother. Perhaps it was because Shining Armor severely outranked him. She looked at the elder guard but he was chuckling under his breath as his younger recruit all but wet himself in fear.

“No,” she answered. “I was just wondering if he was around. But it was really nice to see you again, Flash.”

She approached the pegasus and gave him half of a hug. The guard pony blushed darkly, coloring his already orange fur into a deep red. Twilight broke the hug, nodded respectfully at the other guard and entered. Spike followed but he shot Flash a glare and made a gesture with his claws pointing to his eyes then to Flash’s as if to say, I’m watching you.

The throne room looked beautiful as always. It was a long, wide corridor with gilded columns, a beautiful plush carpet that stretched from the doorway to the thrones, and intricate mosaics in the windows depicting a brief history of the kingdom of Equestria. Upon the two thrones sat Princesses Celestia and Luna appearing as regal as always as they talked with one of the unicorn elites.

Princess Luna looked completely bored of the manner, yawning and sleepily blinking, struggling to stay awake. Spike figured it was because of her sleep pattern, in fact, he rarely saw Princess Luna. Maybe she resented him for the way he treated her last Nightmare Night. While Princess Celestia appeared alert and politely listened to the complaining unicorn.

Spike knew it was rude to interrupt the princesses while they are in the middle of their royal duties (hehe, royal) but Twilight smiled and broke out into a light jog toward Princess Celestia. The princess beamed at Twilight, a smile so warm and affectionate Spike could see why artists would want to immortalize it in a painting.

The unicorn turned around to see Twilight jogging toward her, even Princess Luna stirred in her sleepy stupor, lazily looking up just as the librarian approached. Twilight bowed formally to the two princesses and couldn’t wipe the grin off her face.

“Hello, Princess Celestia,” she said cheerfully.

“Why, hello, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia greeted back with a grin.

“My dear princess,” the unicorn began to say. “I must say this intrusion—“

“Is most welcome and I very much appreciate Twilight taking time to see her teacher,” Princess Celestia finished smoothly.
Twilight blushed. “It’s nothing. I’m sorry if I was interrupting something…”

“Well, indeed you were, Ms. Sparkle—“

Princess Luna shot the unicorn a frosty glare. “How impetuous! Lord Trottingford, please escort thyself out lest We invoke further assistance.”

“B-but…”

But Princess Luna’s glare only intensified and the unicorn bowed awkwardly and trotted out of the room. Spike chuckled, “Wow, nice going, Luna. You sure showed him.”

Princess Luna smiled and nodded. “It is the best We could do, after all such a disrespectful tone and manner is not welcome in Our chamber.”

“What was he complaining about anyways?”

That’s when the alicorn princess blushed and shook her head. “Truthfully… We are not sure. His complaints droned on that We are afraid We weren’t conscious of the entire conversation.”

Princess Celestia giggled and patted Luna on the head. “It was something about his local tailor ruining his latest order. Not really worth your time, Luna.”

Twilight’s expressions relaxed as if she were happy that she wasn’t interrupting anything important. Princess Celestia looked down at Twilight, still smiling. “Now then, what do you have for me this time?”

The Princesses had decided on a walk. Which wasn’t bad since the Canterlot Gardens were absolutely beautiful and since Twilight agreed to carry Spike the entire time so long as he read her journal aloud to the princesses. They listened intently as Spike spoke as they made their way around the amazing flowers and trees that Fluttershy would’ve loved. By the time Spike reached the end of the entry, Philomena the Phoenix arrived and perched herself on Princess Celestia’s back.

“Whoa,” Spike muttered. “Is that… true?”

Princess Celestia considered it for a moment, petting Philomena absentmindedly with her wings. In this light, it was difficult to remember that Princesses Celestia and Luna were thousands of years old, they looked so young and vibrant, much like the Doctor.

“Yes,” she answered.

“So, wait,” Twilight said, stopping for a moment. “We are the reason why the Wonderbolts exist? And why Philomena is named, well, Philomena and why she’s your pet?”

Princess Celestia nodded again and Philomena chirped happily in response. “That is correct, Twilight.”

Spike groaned, his head beginning to hut. “I’m starting to get a headache…”

Princess Celestia giggled. “Time is not so easy to understand, even when one is in the middle of the most convoluted of adventures. Philomena told me of those adventures she had when I was but a filly. I did not understand what they meant until now.”

Philomena chirped and bowed slightly to Twilight. She remembered that the Doctor explained the phoenixes had a sort of hive mind of a psychic connection that he could tap into to communicate with them. Twilight wondered if Celestia could communicate back to Philomena.

“So, if we didn’t go back in time and find that island…” Twilight wondered aloud.

“Philomena and I would have never met,” Princess Celestia finished.

Suddenly, the weight and burden of this time travel business fell upon her shoulders and Twilight felt almost claustrophobic. If they had messed up one little detail on the trip, if the Doctor decided on a name other than Philomena the entire future would be different!

“So, does that mean you know all about the Doctor?” Spike asked, Twilight was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she jumped, forgetting the little dragon was there.

Princess Celestia looked at Princess Luna coyly and smiled, the Night Princess blushed and looked down on the ground. “That is another story entirely,” she said cryptically. “Though, I’m sure Princess Luna would be more than happy to regal you with stories—“

“Sister,” Luna hissed, still blushing. “W-we must not divulge the future to them, their future.”

It was the first time Twilight and Spike ever saw Princess Luna embarrassed like that, it made Twilight felt a little bit better. “Of course,” Celestia agreed but was still smiling. “I was merely jesting.”

“This is dangerous,” Twilight finally said. “The implications of time travel… you knew we went to that island and saved Philomena but you couldn’t tell us. What else do we do?”

Princess Celestia put a hoof to her lips and winked. “Spoilers, my dear.”

Twilight sighed in frustration at both this timey-wimey stuff and herself for getting involved. Sensing her pupil’s distress, Princess Celestia sat down and beckoned Twilight to join. The Librarian snuggled up close to Celestia as she had when she was younger. Spike sat to Celestia’s left while Luna took the right and the Sun Princess extended her wings and hugged the two of them as well.

“I know you are afraid,” she said. “But that is not a bad thing. The Doctor once taught me even in the grimmest, darkest of times there will be a light that shines through and we must never forget it. You are brave, braver than me, braver than the Doctor, my dear Twilight. There isn’t anything you can’t do.”

Twilight shivered despite the warmth of Princess Celestia. She thought she had just figured out the Doctor and it turns out there was a whole lot more to him! What’s worse is that now she isn’t even sure if what she knows about Princess Celestia is due to Twilight’s interference with the TARDIS or not. Oh gods, the Doctor doesn’t know anything about this either, this is in his future.

“I can’t tell the Doctor, can I?” she asked.

Princess Luna spoke up, “It would be detrimental. The times where the Doctor knew his future he attempted, in vain, to prevent it, putting the whole of reality at risk.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Celestia agreed. “He cannot know his future.”

“But… you told me,” Twilight argued. “If it’s so dangerous, why did you tell me?”

“Because it was time,” Celestia answered. Her horn glowed gold and a book materialized out of nowhere. It was a thick ugly book, but it was ancient. The cover was frayed, the entire thing was falling apart, the pages were coffee-brown, and the color had faded. Twilight could still tell, however, that it used to be the bright shade of blue, TARDIS blue.

“His journal,” Celestia said. “Well, not exactly… Let’s just say it belonged to someone close to him.”

Someone? Twilight wondered.

“It contained his past and future,” Celestia continued, magically opening the book and flipping through the pages but Twilight noticed they were perfectly blank.

“Uh, it’s blank,” Twilight pointed out.

Princess Celestia’s expression went from confusion to coy understanding. She smiled impishly. “Perhaps,” she mused. “It simply depends on how you think.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Psychic interface,” Celestia answered. “Look and think. The pages will respond to your psychic feedback and reveal what is written.”

Princess Celestia handed her the book and Twilight held it in front of her. She did as Princess Celestia had suggested and just think about the words… but nothing came up. “It’s still blank!” Twilight complained.

“Yes,” Celestia said sadly, taking the book back. “It takes a connection between two souls intertwined to be able to read it.”

“Oh.” Twilight blushed as the implications dawned on her.

“I was given this book when I was a filly,” Celestia continued. “Then Luna was given this book when she was my age at that time. We both chronicled our adventures here and when we lost the book we used other means… it had taken centuries but I finally recovered the journal so I could pass it on to you.”

Princess Celestia handed the book to Twilight again and the unicorn’s eyes widened. “M-me? But why?”

“You’ve an important role to play,” Princess Luna answered. “You have trumped Nightmare Moon, Discord, saved the Crystal Empire and Rainbow Island. You, and your friends, are very important to what occurs now and in the future.”

Twilight looked at the book, unable to hide her shivering hooves. “D-do you know what happens in the future?”

Princess Luna and Celestia exchanged a look and they shook their heads. “No,” Luna answered. “We have heard rumors but we know nothing of your future.”

“You will be fantastic, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said, nuzzling Twilight even more, making her giggle from the close contact. “Absolutely fantastic, of that we have no doubt.”

Twilight held the book against herself and smiled. Despite this immense pressure to succeed not only for the potential safety of Equestria but for the whole of time and space, Twilight felt a surge of confidence rise in her. She witnessed what kind of impact she could have on time and space and if she were to continue, to go on and do the right things she could make this universe a better place to live.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia and Luna,” Twilight said, standing up and hugging the sisters one at a time. When she broke the hug she had an expression of subtle doubt on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Luna asked.

“The Rainbow Phoenix,” Twilight said. “She… I met her and she told the Doctor something that… scared him.”

“What did she say?” asked Celestia.

“The Mistress will see to your destruction and your greatest enemy will wreak chaos,” Twilight remembered. “She also called him… Time Lord Victorious.”

Princess Celestia’s face became ashen but she asked, “What else?”

Twilight shuffled nervously. “You haven’t escaped your fate. It still waits you… Trenzalore.”

The Princesses looked ill as if they hadn’t expected that but… that wasn’t possible, right? If they knew about the Doctor’s past and future, they should know about this place Trenzalore. But they looked like they were going to be sick, Celestia in particular.

“What’s Trenzalore?” Twilight asked.

Princess Celestia frowned as if considering her words carefully. She paused and looked at Twilight with an expression she recognized, her regal face, it was the expression she used when she needed to make tough decisions. “It’s the one place he can’t go, not now, or ever.”

“Okay, but what is it?”

“Twilight… I’m afraid it isn’t our place to tell you,” Luna said.

“What, but—“

“The Doctor will provide insight,” Celestia said. “You must ask him.”

“If this Trenzalore place scared him to death, you’d think he’d tell me about it?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.”

Twilight took a step back. Wondering how and why the Sisters had such hope for her. She was the Doctor’s friend, fine, but why would the Doctor want to divulge something that scary to her? She hesitated, wanting to protest but decided to keep her comments to herself.

As much as it annoyed her, they were right. If it was something important about the Doctor, what better pony to tell her?

“You’re right,” she said. “I have to ask him. Thank you, Princesses.”

She bowed again and ran out of the gardens and away from the castle. Spike awkwardly brushed himself off and cleared his throat, approaching Celestia and Luna. “So, you know about the Doctor’s future, right?”

“That is correct,” Luna answered.

“So, what about my future? Or Rarity’s? Do we get together? Ooh, or married? What did I say to her to—“ POP! Spike disappeared in a flash of purple lightning, teleported by Twilight.

Princess Celestia chuckled under her breath. “It is a shame we couldn’t say what happens between him and Rarity…”

“It will be better as a surprise,” Luna said.

“Very true.”

Comments

[Time Pony Victorious]

4928210

I'm glad someone caught it!

[Tephera]

Spike wasn’t entirely convinced. He crossed his arms and stared at her for a moment. “Uh huh, are you sure the island was the most intense part of the trip?”

HAHAHAHA OH DEAR GOD HA-... Wait... Spike didn't just make that type of a joke right?

You are brave, braver than me, braver than the Doctor, my dear Twilight. There isn’t anything you can’t do.”

That's a lie and you know it... Well... actually no, its more of a 'time-to-time' kind of thing with the doctor. New doctor though (Peter Capaldi) feels as if he will actually use a gun if he needed to. And that's saying something. I would shit a death star if I was on the other end of the barrel.

And now imagine him actually being GOOD with shooting a gun. Daleks say they don't feel. Pfft, they'll shout "RE-TREAT! RE-TREAT! THE DOC-TOR HAS A WEAPON! SKARO SAVE US!" And proceed to run up stairs.

[whizzball1]

royal duties (hehe, royal)