The Encounter
There is no such thing as coincidence in this world, only inevitability. Everything happens for a reason. Yes, even in a world such as this, where intelligent ponies roam about solving their problems. As long as there is a wish to be fulfilled, my shop will exist; no matter the world, the dimension, or the time. As long as there is a suitable price paid for that wish, I can grant it. My name probably won’t mean much to you here, so for now, I shall go by the alias April Fool. Welcome to my shop of wishes…
“Maru, Moro, go prepare some tea. We have a pair of guests arriving shortly.”
“Guests, Guests! Tea for the guests!” Two fillies pranced off to prepare some tea. One filly was a light sky blue, with normal Pegasus wings, and a mane done up in curly pigtails that reached the floor; how the filly managed to not trip on her mane, could have been anypony’s guess. The other filly, was light pink in color, her mane curled into 2 small spheres on her head, and a pair of Thestral wings upon her withers.
The stallion, April Fool, the alias he adopted in this strange world, lounged on the front porch of his shop. His fur was a light shade of gray, and his eyes were mismatched, one blue, one gold. Unlike the two fillies, he appeared to be a normal Earth pony. He wore a tacky red kimono from Neighpon, one that was clearly sewn for a mare’s figure, and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses over his brow. In his mouth he puffed on a long pipe.
As Moro and Maru returned with some fresh tea, a loud whirring noise permeated the front yard of the shop. Slowly, a large blue box appeared, the words “Police Box” written at the top of the box. The door opened to reveal a brown Earth pony stallion with an hourglass cutie mark and a purple unicorn with a six-pointed star cutie mark.
“And that, Twilight, is why you should never wander ancient underground cities of stone statues—” The Earth pony finished, his prior sentence hanging when he noticed his surroundings.
“Doctor, what’s the matter? Why did you… stop? I thought we were returning to Ponyville for a while. Where are we now?” Twilight also stopped, looking around the strange house.
“Yes, that is indeed quite odd. I had clearly input the coordinates for Ponyville, yet here we are…” The pair of ponies looked around more until their eyes settled on the strangely dressed stallion before them, quietly eyeing them while he puffed on his pipe. His eyes were a little unsettling in their mismatched coloration. The two fillies beside him began prancing about, approaching the Doctor and Twilight.
“Customers for the master! Customers for the master! Would the customers enjoy some tea?” The pink Thestral and blue Pegasus circled them, and started leading them to the veranda of the shop.
Taken a bit aback at first, Twilight and the Doctor slowly complied, walking along with the prancing fillies until they were gestured to sit on a pair of cushions placed in front of the strange stallion.
“Maru, Moro, go find us some snacks, please?” The stallion waited until the two fillies were gone, before he continued, “Good afternoon to the two of you. How may help you?” The stallion asked after removing the pipe from his mouth. Now that Twilight was sitting, she noticed the smoke from the pipe almost permeated the entire compound. The Doctor was silent, as he scrutinized the stallion before him.
“Um… there’s nothing that you can really help us with. Our transport was set for a different location, and coincidentally set us down in your yard, sir.” Twilight explained, somewhat nervously.
“There is no such thing as coincidence in this world, my little pony, only the inevitable. Isn’t that correct, Doctor?” The stallion addressed the Doctor as though they had met before.
The Doctor snapped out of his thoughts, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Yes. Although, I suppose, it would be better to say that you do not yet. Now then, I have to remember which one you are. You and your many incarnations along with, how you say, ‘timey-wimey’ stuff gets me more than a little confused from time to time.”
“Well, yes, that’s good… I think… Um, so I do apologize for this in advance, but I didn’t quite catch your name.”
“I guess my true name holds no real meaning here, so you may call me April Fool. I’m pleased to meet you. As for location, you are in Ponyville. However, you inevitably landed in my shop, which brings us back to business.” The stallion replied, proffering the two ponies across from him tea, and then taking a cup for himself, as well.
“Doctor, what does he mean, you and your incarnations? And I know Ponyville about as well as Pinkie does, but I’ve never seen this place.”
The Doctor had opened his mouth to reply, but the stallion, April Fool beat him to the punch, “I’m sure he’ll tell you more about that at a later date. My shop, on the other hoof, is unseen by many. You see, a pony is only able to enter my shop if they have need of what I sell.”
Quick on the uptake, Twilight replied, “And what is it do you sell, exactly?”
“As long as you have the appropriate payment, and as long as it is within my power, I can grant any wish. For every wish there is an equal price that must be paid, a balance of sorts needs to be kept otherwise the universe shall fall out of equilibrium.”
“You grant wishes? But that doesn’t make any sense! How would that even work? And what about the price, some wishes can’t be paid with bits!”
“You are quite correct, Miss Twilight, to you it will not make sense. But I think you will agree with me, that it takes a certain amount of magic for it to work, and I’m sure you have noticed by now, the amount of magic that permeates my shop and home.” The stallion gestured around him. “You are twice correct, because what I ask for is not currency in such a value-less form, but the ethereal and sometimes either intangible or tangible things that hold value, like prized objects, priceless memories; things that are equally important to the pony as the wish.”
“You didn’t explain the first part, or how you would get ahold of the intangible–”
“Twilight, quiet down, if you would? I don’t think you’ll get a better explanation out of him.” The Doctor was scrutinizing the stallion before him again.
“Doctor?” Twilight asked, confused by his actions.
“What you said before,” the Doctor eyed April suspiciously, “about the inevitability. My TARDIS usually does bring us to wherever a problem needs fixing. Which means she brought us here for such a reason.”
“Once again correct, Doctor. Quite the machine, that TARDIS is. How odd it is in other universes she has both her own will, and yet in some, she does only what she was originally programmed to do.” April shifted back, leaning against a nearby wooden column. “Doctor, you may not realize yet, but you and I have far more in common than what most realize. I am, yet am not, trapped in my shop, granting ponies’ and other creatures wishes, while maintaining an overall balance to the universe, is it not so for yourself, as well?”
“Fascinating prospect. So, then, if you are what you say you are, and what I believe you to be, then my coming here is not only inevitable, as you say, but also necessary.” The Doctor paused, briefly glancing at Twilight, before continuing, “In regards of Miss Twilight, here, what time are we?”
“We are in Miss Twilight’s current, that is to say, her present, timeline; right when she is supposed to be.”
“Which means there is something that is about to happen here, and that the something I need from you will help me prevent it, or deter it. That begs the question then, what do I need from you?”
Twilight, after the Doctor silenced her, tried to keep up. In all things of known knowledge and logic, she may have been successful, but in the vague discussion between these two stallions, she was falling behind.
“The item you seek is not the question, for it has already been prepared by another.” April procured a small, round metal disc from his kimono. “I cannot say what the item is, or what it is for exactly, but I have a feeling you’ll figure that part out eventually. The question now, is payment.”
“Well, if this little thing plays a large enough role that it can save Equestria and needs to be brought to you, then I have to bring a large enough payment to the table.” The Doctor brought his hoof to his chin, “But what could I offer as an equal price for this object? Also, this is not my current wish, is it? You had said before, this isn’t the first time we met, and if I am to wager, my future-self had prepared this disk.”
“Correct again, Doctor.” April took another puff from his pipe, “It is your future that wishes for this disk to land in your capable hooves. The future-you had not specified what this is for exactly, simply that you would know what to do with it when the time came.”
“So we come back to the price…” The Doctor thought for a moment more, “I don’t suppose I can ask what my other-self had paid with? Or perhaps how large this catastrophe is in regards to the future of Equestria and/or the Universe?”
The stallion remained silent as the two fillies had returned from wherever they ran off to, with trays of snacks and a teapot balanced on their backs. The pink thestral offered more tea, while, the blue pegasus offered snacks; once finished they brought the trays away.
After drinking some tea, Twilight finally spoke up, “Is the Doctor the only one who must pay this price? Is there something I can pay that would be an appropriate and fair price for this disk?” The Doctor looked over to his companion contemplatively, before silently returning his gaze to April, awaiting an answer.
“Yes, Miss Twilight, there is something that you can pay that would be an appropriate price. Doctor, the price is split between you and Miss Twilight.” Looking directly at Twilight, “Miss Twilight, the price you must pay is ____. And Doctor,” April returned his gaze to the Doctor, “Your price is _____.”