> Doctor Whooves: The First Act
>  by Doctor Disco
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Another Normal Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


----Prologue----

ANOTHER NORMAL DAY



Normal.

That's what Twilight Sparkle chalked up the majority of that day up to until that point. Normal days rarely ever came for Twilight anymore. She used to be in her library all day, 7 days a week, and only going out for bare necessities. 

More often than not now though, she would find herself in the company of her friends. She was beginning to call this life more normal than her previous one. She shuddered at the thought. What could be so important as to put off all her studying and learning? Well, that was an easy answer to a pretty easy question. Friendship. Friendship was the one thing that was possibly more important than her studies. She had been assigned to learn more about friendship by Princess Celestia herself for crying out loud. She then mentally slapped herself for ever doubting the Princess and for thinking such thoughts

Closing her book, The General Guide to Good Studious Ways, she sighed. Twilight floated it to the table beside her and floated up a cup of cooled down yet still warm tea, and took a sip. She smiled at the taste of chamomile and honey. Setting the teacup down, she got up and stretched, giving out a yawn, and heard a knock on the door. Wondering who it could be but welcoming the thought of visitors, she trotted over to the door. She opened it, but found that there seemed to be nopony around. Wondering who could have knocked on her door and gotten away so fast, she almost closed the door, when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was a letter of non-descript quality, with no markings of any kind on it nor was there any indication of who made it. 

It just lay there on the doormat, nothing too fancy, and something that a passerby would most likely have just dismissed. It seemed to have no return address nor was there a mailing address either. Somehow though, she knew it was for her, yet Twilight felt that it wasn’t just any old letter. She lifted it with her magic, and brought it inside.

She took a sweeping glance outside once again to see who it could’ve been, but still found nopony there. Closing the door, she locked it. She went to her favorite reading cushion and sat down, slowly unfurling the envelope with her magic. Upon closer inspection of the letter, the letter looked almost ancient. It had a yellowed look and a musty smell, yet it retained it’s crisp and uniform figure. There was a seal as well, which had the image of an odd circular symbol and many more strange figures within the circular symbol itself. When she opened the letter and looked inside, she saw dust and smelt mildew. Unfolding the letter with her magic, she saw it was just as yellowed, possibly even more so than the letter. The hoof-writing was one she didn’t recognize, but was of a cursive and pleasant nature. Finding her curiosity to have risen, she began to read:


To be received on: The 85th of Spring, 1001 C.R. at 4:00 P.M.


That caused her to pause. She looked at the time, and found it at 3:59. Raising an eyebrow with many questions starting to formulate in her mind, she floated out her calendar. The date read 85th of Spring, and the year 1001 in Celestia’s reign. This letter had now somewhat peaked her interest, even though she hadn’t read one real line of the letter yet. Wondering what she might find in this intriguing letter, she continued to uncover its mysteries.

My dear Twilight Sparkle, 

You will know when the time comes to read this letter in it’s fullness, but I know you are reading this right now. Many things are in store for you yet Twilight. Just remember to never give up, and to never give in. My adventures with you are only just beginning at this point, and I wish you the best of luck on our perilous but fun(!) journeys. That daft old clock of yours is going to ring right now as well, so I would be privileged to remind you about an appointment you have with Rarity. Happy travels! I will be meeting you very soon, so please, be kind. Off you pop!

What? This letter hadn’t made any sense to her so far, and the letter was two sided so she knew there was more of this absurdity. Yet she couldn’t stop thinking, who could this pony possibly be? What adventures was this pony talking about? Millions of questions began flooding Twilight’s mind, but her thoughts were interrupted when-


GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! 


Her grandfather clock went off, and the sound of the bell chiming 4 times brought her to the real world. 

Eep! She had forgotten about a meetup with Rarity at the Carousel Boutique! She had a fleeting thought of how the pony could have possibly known about it, but she quickly dismissed it in her hasty state. It was due to happen in five minutes, and she couldn’t be late! She quickly put the letter back into it’s envelope and put it on top of her stack of papers she needed to organize. She swiftly put a few things into her saddlebags, used her magic to put it on her haunches, and blasted through the door, slamming it shut. The force of the door closing, however, had created a gust of wind that blew over the stack of papers, and the letter was lost in the infinite pile that was Twilight’s loose papers.



~~~


Twilight galloped to Rarity’s as fast as her four hooves could carry her, which is to say pretty darn fast. Yet she felt it still wasn’t enough to reach Carousel Boutique in time. She also didn’t want to teleport to Rarity’s because she felt that would be informal to do so as a friend .in her own weird Twilight-esque way. Coming down the gravel path that lead to Carousel Boutique, she looked at the looming Ponyville Clocktower in the distance. It read 4:04. She would make it! Reaching the doors to the Boutique, she pounded her hooves on it and sat down for a quick breather. In about a few seconds, she heard the sound of Rarity’s hooves, and the twist of the doorknob. The door creaked open, and there stood Rarity. She had her working glasses on (a nice red and fancy design) and her mane looked slightly ruffled, probably the result of her hard work.

“Twilight, darling! I thought you wouldn't make it! Please, do come in.” Rarity motioned towards the inside of the building and Twilight, still recovering from her sprint through Ponyville, walked in. She was honestly very surprised that she could make it to Carousel Boutique in 5 minutes, when she usually took 10 to 15. 

“So? How do you do this fine day?” Rarity asked, moving to one of her work tables.

“Weeelll, I was just in my library enjoying the comfort of my books when I remembered about our get together. I was almost late! By the way, thanks for making another dress for me Rarity, I truly appreciate it.” Twilight remarked, looking at the drafts of what her dress would and could look like.

“Sounds like you’ve had a… *ahem* interesting day.” Rarity said, basically lying through her teeth but Twilight didn’t pick up on it. Oh, the naivety that Twilight had sometimes.

“And what are friends for? So, a new dress hm? I’ve already worked on some blueprints of what you might look good with, but hopefully we don’t have to go through another whole fiasco like last time.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it!” Twilight thought out loud, both mares shuddering at the memory with no real reason why.

“Aaanywaaayy, I was hoping to get this over with right away! Something came up and I would really like to get back to it.”

“I guess we should get started then. No point in wasting any more time than we need to. By the way, ahve you seen Fluttershy lately? It seems she-” but was unexoectedly interrupted.

KRAKOOM!

BOOM!

The sound of a loud cracking whip successfully followed by what sounded like a sonic boom stunned the two mares to silence. They just glanced at each other muzzles open, not knowing what in Equestria could have made a noise like that. Getting over their initial shock, they burst through the doors of Rarity’s workplace and home, and galloped toward the source of the noises. As they were running they saw ponies everywhere frantically racing around, trying to get to safety from whatever could have made such a scary noise abs shutting themselves into their houses. 

BOOM!

SHWORPFRSSH!

They heard another boom but much more weaker and the sound of shimmering as they made their way through Ponyville. They then saw the wave of rainbow energy emanating from a single place and a streak of color racing towards them. Rainbow Dash had heard the noises from Cloudsdale, which was a whopping half dozen kilometres away from Ponyville, and instantly felt something was wrong because nothing was that loud. Being able to reach a metropolis in the clouds no less and to still be clearly heard, that was unheard of.

Rainbow had speedily made her way to Ponyville, but in the process went so fast as to create a sonic rainboom, but not nearly as loud as whatever the sound she was flying towards was. They also saw Applejack running from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, and they quickly acknowledged each other as they finally made their destination. Above, several kilometres in the air but still clearly visible, was a shimmering crack. They also saw a trail of deep dark blue which wasn’t visible from a distance trailing a kilometre away from the crack to some unknown destination.
 
Applejack, Twilight and Rarity all stopped to assess the situation, while Rainbow landed next to them, joining them. They all stared up at the glowing crack in the sky, when all of a sudden Pinkie Pie appeared.

“Oooo! Look at the big scary crack in the sky! I wonder where that blue trail leads! Say, Rainbow, that kinda looks like the trail you make when you do a sonic rainboom!”

“Uh… Yeaaahhh I guess it does…” Rainbow replied observing the trail and the crack, and turned towards Twilight. Jabbing a hoof towards the trail and the crack, she asked “Hey Twi, any idea on what that thing is?”

“I… I don’t know…” Twilight whispered, and everypony looked at Twilight. She was just staring wide-eyed at both the crack and the trail of blue.

“Well that’s a first. Say, I wonder where Fluttershy is?” Pinkie exclaimed, and jumped around, not being able to stay in one spot for too long.

“Well, knowing her, she’s probably hiding under her bed and shivering with fear.” Applejack rubbed the back of her head.

“I wouldn’t put it past her, but she has been mi-.” Rarity said, but was cut off when Pinkie noticed something.

“Hey look! The crack is about to close!” Pinkie pointed out, and they all turned in time to see the glowing crack seal itself shut and make it seem as though there was no sign of it being there in the first place. Rainbow then flew up to where the crack was, studied the area a little and shrugged. There was no evidence of it ever being there except for the trail of blue. The mares just looked up with raised eyebrows and no clue what waz going on as of yet. Rainbow then looked towards the direction of where the blue trail led, and gasped.

“Twilight! The trail! It… It leads to the library!” Rainbow shouted down, and Twilight could only look towards the direction of her home, a sense of total panic and fear present in her eyes and even more so displayed on her face. She felt her mouth open and slightly drop. Her friends all turned to look at her, seeing what she would do. Knowing her, they were quick to give warnings.

“Now hold on there Twilight, I know what yer thinkin’-” Applejack was saying, when Rainbow piped in.

“Don’t do it Twi!”

“Twilight, I advise you not to do anything brash-” Rarity tried to say, when Pinkie yelled:

“Go for it Twilight!”

All of them, including Twilight turned to look at Pinkie with raised eyebrows. Even Twilight was questioning the sanity of what Pinkie was encouraging Twilight to do, and it was her idea. Twilight just shook her head, and her friends saw the glow of her horn, and she vanished.

“Twilight no!” Applejack cried, but it was too late. She was gone. 



~~~


The Mane 6 minus Twilight and Fluttershy made their way to the Golden Oaks Library. Seeing Twilight disappear only reaffirmed their thoughts on Twilight going by herself to see whatever creature or thing had done to the Library, and possibly to confront it all by herself. Twilight may be smart, but she certainly wasn’t as wise as ponies would like to believe. Knowledge is knowing that there is danger, but wisdom is knowing to get help before confronting said danger. They guessed that they had to be lenient with Twilight. After all, the Golden Oaks Library was Twilight’s home, plus her treasure trove of knowledge. They then remembered at that moment that Spike lived with Twilight in the Library, which only made them quicken their pace and understand Twilight’s reaction more.

They could see from a distance the damage that had been done to Twilight’s home. There was a small fire, smoke billowing out of a crater which had been created by the impact of the whatever it was that impacted it. Out front they saw Twilight, who was frantically running around the front of the Library and looking at the crater, and yelling something. As they got closer, they could make out her words.

“-ke! Spike get out of there! Please Spike, please…Celestia have mercy! Don’t worry Spike, don’t worry! I’ll find a way to get you out, I’ll find a way... “

Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all looked at Twilight with ever increasing worry and sadness, but it was Rarity who broke their daze.

“Okay everypony, we need to douse that flame and get Spike out of there!” Rarity barked, and the remaining three mares looked at Rarity with raised eyebrows and impressed looks.

“I’ll get Spike, but I’m gonna need someone to make that smoke disappear for a little bit.” Rainbow volunteered, and Pinkie jumped up, raising both front hooves and waving them around.

“Oh! Oh! Pick me, pick me! I can get the smoke out of the way!”

Pinkie then proceeded to become a pink blur, which all but encircled the billowing smoke and made it disappear for second. Then, Rainbow dashed through and up the stairs before the smoke could continue to rise. By this time, Twilight had noticed them, snapped out of her daze, and she had started trying to help. Her head was still a little muddled from crying and the overwhelming feeling of dread, but she couldn’t help but think of herself as stupid for not thinking of a water spell right away. She didn’t even know how to do a water spell, but she tried anyways. It was a lot harder than she thought. Applejack, seeing Twilight’s conflict and attempts to cast water, put a hoof over Twilight’s back and comforted and encouraged her. Rarity then held Pinkie in place with her magic who was now only making the smoke rise faster, and Pinkie gave a disapproving “Awww!” Rarity proceeded to hold a shield over the smoke and fire, containing it.

However, Pinkie being Pinkie, this didn’t last long. As soon as Rarity let go of Pinkie, she pulled a huge, and by huge I mean HUGE (that’s italicized and capitalized!) water bucket from out of nowhere. Rarity, seeing Pinkie’s plan, nodded at Pinkie and let go of the shield. At that moment, three things happened. First, Pinkie threw the contents of the big water bucket onto the crater, dousing what flames were present, and making the surrounding area wet. Second, Rainbow dashed out of the Library at the exact same moment holding Spike, and got hit with a torrent of water, getting knocked out of the sky and tumbled to the ground, soaking wet. Lastly, the smoke from the fire was pushed out of the Library into the faces of Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and Spike. When the smoke cleared, everyone was in varying degrees of wetness and covered in soot.

Saying Rainbow was mad was probably the understatement of the year. She had finally found Spike (who was sleeping, mind you) and carried him out, only to be hit by a wave of water knocking the wind out of her lungs and her out of the air. She got up, drenched, and was visibly shaking. From anger or of the cold settling into her wet mane, tail and coat, nopony knew. Pinkie was grinning from ear to ear, a look of accomplishment in her eyes. Rarity was making yucky faces and shaking the water off of her, but the soot remained. Applejack walked over to her hat, and picked it up, dusting it off and then putting it on. Twilight ran to Spike to see if he was okay. It seemed, however, that he had just woken from his nap.

“Spike?! Oh thank goodness you’re okay!” Twilight hugged Spike, crushing him in a hug. Spike could only wheeze and look at the other mares for help, who shrugged. They could barely contain their snickers. Rainbow seemed to have cooled off at this point, but got a little angry when she noticed Applejack was also snickering at Rainbow.

“Twilight? What’s wrong? Why is there a big hole in the library? Why is everything wet?” Spike asked, finally being released from Twilight’s death grip. Twilight then proceeded to give the biggest eye roll ever and the most annoyed glare at Spike, who winced and chuckled nervously. 

“Ugh! Not even 3 explosions and a big crater can wake you up from a nap!” Twilight raged. Spike could only look at Twilight and say “What? Did I do something wrong?” Stomping a hoof, Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. She then walked over to the now slightly smoking crater in her Library and asked Rainbow to clear the rest of the smoke with her wings. Rainbow complied, beating her feathered appendages and making the rest of the smoke disappear in a breeze. By so doing, they got a clear view of what turned this nice afternoon upside down. They all walked up to the edge of the crater, getting a nice view of the object. They all just stood there, stunned at how such an object could make such a commotion. There was silence in the library.

“What do y’all think it is?” Applejack asked, breaking the silence, but no pony answered. They were all too busy examining the object. Silence reigned once again.

Laying in the crater, it was displayed in full view. It seemed to have survived the fall incredibly well. No dents, no scratches, no nothing. The mares and Spike found it all the more mysterious and dangerous because of that, yet it just lay there. Unimposing, and scarily normal. But the scariest thing was, was that they were all attracted to it.


In the crater lay a big, blue, box...

Then it opened.

> Chapter I - The Adventure Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Chapter 1-

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS


The blue box opened.

How anything could have survived any of that was beyond the understanding of everypony that was there, but it still happened. As if that wasn’t enough, the blue box apparently had doors that could open in the first place, which had flown outward. The doors were nearly perpendicular to the front of the box, but not quite. Slowly, mellow but entrancing light poured out of the box, golden in color. What looked like endless amounts of shimmering, fluid golden sparks accompanied the golden light which provoked a gasp of amazement from Rarity and filled everypony with wonder.

Their brief moment of awe abruptly ended, however, when a three hooked metal object attached to a rope latched onto the first thing it could find: the stairway railings. They then heard the sound of a mechanical whirring, and out of the blue box appeared a stallion. He was gripping something in his mouth, which he promptly let go of when he got two hooves onto the edge of the box, and pulled himself out. He looked like a magician, albeit with over-sized clothes that looked several sizes too big and oddly misshapen for a pony. He was brown coated, with a spiky black mane and tail. Where his cutie mark would have been was covered by whatever those clothes on him were. Slightly smoking and a huge grin on his face, he looked himself over.

“The regeneration process is always a bit tricky. I always wondered what I would look like as an equine! Even better, I can talk. Cool! Talking is cool, I like talking.” The strange pony went on to say, still examining himself. He then seemed to take notice of the blue box he came out of, and expressed himself to it, which Twilight and her friends found very odd.

“I’m so sorry old girl, I’ve really out done you this time. Please get better.” He said, resting a hoof on the wood of the box. Then, somehow, the doors of his blue box closed by themselves, folding inwards, making a distinct creaking noise and making a resounding click!

“Ahem!” Twilight cleared her throat, catching the attention of the brown coated stallion. He turned to look at the 5 mares and the baby dragon. He looked at the ponies present, and noted that they looked just like his newly regenerated self. Moreover, he noticed that they can talk too! They’re sentient! He just hoped they didn’t want to exterminate him or something.

“I’m sorry, did I bother you?” He said, then finally noticed the crater he was standing in. He also connected the dots, seeing the smoldering rectangular hole and the smoking TARDIS. His grin turned into a forced smile, and he looked first at Twilight, then towards Twilight’s friends who now regarded him with a sympathetic look. He could see his words being processed in the magenta mares’ face. His smile faltered, he grimaced, then braced himself for what he knew was coming, having somewhat experienced the same circumstances. There was a moment of silence, where Twilight’s friends slowly backed away from her, and Twilight’s anger rose to a breaking point.

“Did I bother-? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Twilight began, and stomped a hoof down, making a hoof imprint on the packed dirt road she was currently on. She then walked to the edge of the crater, and took a deep breath.

“You crashed into my home, burning a crater into it.” Twilight said with an eery calm, which only scared everypony more because of her small outburst just seconds before. “You destroyed part of my library.” Then she paused. “Now, tell me this-” Twilight whispered, and then roared with a ferocity that a dragon would recoil at: “DO I LOOK BOTHERED TO YOU?!” The stallion’s ears flapped back involuntarily, all the while looking at Twilight.

“Now, I understand how you feel. Truly sorry ‘bout that. But I can’t really do anything at the moment. Really. I can fix everything, just-” He tried to say, but Twilight wouldn’t have it.

“OH CAN YOU NOW?” She yelled sarcastically, “FIX EVERYTHING YOU SAY? Well I wanna know how exactly you’re going to do that mister, because if you don’t I’ll-” But she was cut off by Applejack, who had courageously walked up and put a hoof on her friend’s back in comfort and calming. She did it with a little bit of caution, however, because they knew just how mad Twilight could be.

“Now hold on there Twilight. Can’t ya see this stallion doesn’t even know what’s happenin’ here? Just calm down.” Applejack said. Twilight turned to look at Applejack, and saw the sincerity in her words. She looked at the stallion, and saw he was bracing himself against his blue box, waiting for the next bout of yelling. He opened one eye, looking to see why Twilight wasn’t shouting anymore, and saw the orange one (Applejack) talking to her. He sighed in relief. He relaxed a little too, but still took a slightly protective stance.

“I… I think she’s right, Twilight. I don’t think bursting your bubble will help with matters.” Rarity agreed. She also walked up to Twilight, and Twilight looked at her too. She saw the worry and fear in her friends’ eyes, and she calmed a little bit down. She then looked away and back at the stallion. With some rage still left inside of her, she fixed him with a deathly glare. The stallion then looked at them sheepishly.

“Really, truly am sorry. I’m the Doctor and I swear, I will fix your home… Er- library.” The Doctor said. He took a few steps forward and then he swayed dangerously to the left and right. His vision was tunneling, and he fought to maintain consciousness. He tried to steady himself by spreading his hooves,but it only caused him to stumble even more. Shaking his head, he kept trying to stay awake and tried to explain, yet all that came out was a bunch of gibberish that even he didn’t understand.

“W- whoa! Feeling… A bit… Woozzzy… I can fix everything just as soon... As... I…”  And the Doctor suddenly collapsed to the ground. Rainbow flew over to him to check and see if he was okay. The Doctor, as he said his name was, was out cold. He seemed to have collapsed from exhaustion, but there was no evidence anywhere that could support that. Just then, golden mist, of the same quality as the light that poured out of the Doctor’s box escaped from his muzzle and dissipated.

“Whoa! That is weird.” Rainbow said, and the 5 mares plus Spike all closed in on the unconscious Doctor’s body. They then looked at each other, raised eyebrows and questioning looks all over the place. They each found this new pony mysterious and intriguing in their own way, but for now all Twilight could see was somepony that crashed into her life (literally!) and turned a perfectly good day upside down.

“So… What do we do now?” Rainbow asked, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. They just stood thinking for a few seconds before Pinkie Pie piped up.

“Isn’t it obvious? We wake him back up and throw a party! He could be the ‘party crasher!’” Pinkie exclaimed. Rainbow facehoofed, Applejack chuckled, Rarity snorted, and Twilight deadpanned. They were now all in varying degrees of disagreement and humiliation now, each of them still trying to grasp how Pinkie could be this erratic. After years of being her friend (or for Twilight, a year), they still couldn’t figure out why, or how. Seriously, Pinkie was so comical sometimes. Some would call her insane.

“Pinkie, we’re not going to throw him a party.” Twilight said, rubbing her temples as she sat down to think. Her favourite reading cushion had been directly where the box had crashed: right near the window to the right of the library door, so she couldn’t really sit anywhere comfy anymore which was a real bummer.

“He may have punctured a hole into my home, but I’m obligated to take care of him.” Twilight thought out loud, and the mares nodded in agreement. She shook her head, and felt something rising in her throat. Grrr! She just wanted to scream! This daft pony was going to be the absolute death of her. She looked around at her damaged home. Books lay everywhere. Some were still intact, while some were soaking wet. She saw several more that had caught fire and burned while others were still catching sparks. The blue box itself had done a great deal of damage on it’s own. 

The blue box had writing in several places. The most prominent being the words “POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX” on all three visible sides, each at the top of the box and the words on a front panel under the left window that said “PULL TO OPEN.” She could also see smaller writing above it, but she was too fog-minded to read. The most messed up thing about it (to her at least) was that there was not a single scratch on it. No scorch marks, no burn marks, no indents and no scratches. Even with all the damage it had done. A crater with burning splintered wood everywhere, a gouge from where the box had skidded to a halt, and a missing sitting cushion. She could see her table in 4 separate pieces, the book she had been reading sopping wet. She could also see the shattered porcelain that once was her tea and the remnant (a shred of fabric) of what once was her favorite cushion (man, she really liked that cushion!). She could only sit down and silently mourn over the damage that had been done to her home. She then remembered something, something she had read just a little while ago.

I will be meeting you very soon so please, be kind.

She didn’t know whether that letter had survived or not, but the thought of the letter itself was pushed away as other thoughts came flooding in. Could this be the pony that had sent her that letter? How could he have done it? They had only just met! He didn’t even know who Twilight was or where he himself was. Could he possibly have…?

No, she thought. That’s not possible. Time travel was not possible, so he couldn’t be possible. He’s not possible! It isn’t possible. If that were the case, he wouldn’t even be here, so she dismissed the thought of time travel as well. It just… wasn’t possible. Then she remembered the events of a few months back, when she met herself from the future. Still, she had gotten stuck in a time loop. One she was sure that was still going. All these thoughts were starting to hurt her head, a pounding beginning to reach her ears. Before more thoughts could prevail her mind, however, her friends’ voices came rushing back to her.

“-okay Twilight? Twilight? Twilight? Are you okay?” Rarity was saying, and she saw the worried looks of her close friends. Even Pinkie, who wasn’t bouncing anymore and didn’t have her usual smile, looked at Twilight with concern. She was out of it a lot longer than she thought.

“Yes, yes I’m fine. Sorry.” Twilight said and she could visibly see some of her friends sigh. However, Applejack and Spike still looked at Twilight with those same looks. Applejack being the Element of Honesty, she knew that she would see through the lie, and Spike being her oldest friend, well, enough said. 

“What’s wrong Twi?” Applejack asked. Spike nodded at Twilight, there being no need to repeat the question and eager to know and to take some of the burden off of her. She was so glad she had friends like Applejack and Spike. It made going through life that much easier.

“I guess…” Twilight started to say, then sighed. “I guess it’s just that my house has just been destroyed. Maybe not entirely, but it’s still damage. There are a lot of memories in this place.”

She looked at each one of her friends, who each nodded in agreement and gave her smiles that only a friend who has seen their friend suffer. She then noticed something. Something she hadn’t noticed right away, something that had been bothering her but she hadn’t been able to acknowledge it in all this action. Where was Fluttershy? She should be here, should’ve been here, should’ve helped her with the fire and be here right now, comforting her. Deciding to go visit her later to see if she was alright, Twilight got to her hooves.

“Alright Spike, help me get the Doctor to my bed.”

Her friends, seeing the opportunity, gave her looks of encouragement that implied dirty behaviour, all the while trying not to laugh. Twilight could only gag and throw a disgusted “shut your face or you’re going to hear it” look at them before she began up the stairs.

Friends sometimes, am I right?





Twilight knocked on Fluttershy’s door four times. Her friends had gone their separate ways for the time being, with Spike watching the Doctor at the Golden Oaks Library. Good ol’ Spike. You could always count on him to get the job done. Her friends had also decided to meet up again later if anything else happened. On the topic of her home, there was still a gaping hole in the side of the library. However, the tree was living and magical so it had started re-growing as soon as the sparks had smoldered and died off. She was going to miss her favourite cushion. The Library was not going to feel the same ever again… Well, maybe.  Besides, who goes to the Library anyway? Only her, that’s who. Bookhorse her friends called her. It was actually a pretty accurate description of her. Oh well.

She could visibly see the neglect and drabness of Fluttershy’s cottage. It just so happened that Fluttershy’s cottage usually accompanied Fluttershy’s mood. If she was sad and wanted to be alone, the cottage would eventually (usually in a few hours or at least a day) respond by looking as if no one had cared for it for a long while. Such was the case with Fluttershy’s Cottage but it still looked normal, albeit the colours were a little more grey than usual which was still a very big difference given Fluttershy’s cheerful and kind mood. She really wanted to know what was up and what was wrong with her friend. She knocked again, hoping for any sign of Fluttershy. She still hadn’t responded yet, so she waited.

After a few minutes of waiting, she could hear shuffling behind the doorway. Knowing Fluttershy, she could see Fluttershy worrying about who it might be. Finally, she saw the curtain in the window beside the door ruffle, and saw a pair of big blue eyes peeking out. She could audibly hear Fluttershy’s sigh of relief at the sight of her friend and not somepony else. She still opened the door with caution however. Oh Fluttershy. Old habits die hard, Twilight thought.

“T- Twilight? What brings you here?” Fluttershy asked with a hint of fear, her voice barely audible. Twilight gave an encouraging smile and made her body posture as casual as possible so her friend didn’t feel uncomfortable. Wow, a lot of rhyming is going on there.

“I just wanted to see if you were okay. There was... An incident in Ponyville and we were all wondering where you were.” Twilight explained to Fluttershy, and Fluttershy nodded. Fluttershy then darted her eyes around, as if looking for any more signs of danger.

“I- I got scared by the sounds! They were so loud, and they scared all the animals too. Even Angel was a- afraid.” Fluttershy said, and Twilight nodded. Fluttershy will be Fluttershy. Scared of her own shadow, it came as no surprise to Twilight that Fluttershy would hunker down in her cottage with the comfort of her animals. However, she, nor anypony for that matter, had seen Fluttershy out of her cottage lately. The only times they have were when she was out buying groceries, and she would then immediately make a bee-line for her cottage. It was already well known that Fluttershy was, well, shy, but this was way over the top. It had only been happening the past couple days, but it was a couple days too long.

Just as she was about to ask about the state her friend was in however, she heard a muffled cry somewhere in the cottage and gave Fluttershy a startled look. Fluttershy winced at the sound as well, and looked like all the blood had just drained from her face.

“Fluttershy, is there something you’re not telling us?” Twilight inquired, but Fluttershy gave no response. Instead, Fluttershy squeaked and tried to close the door. Twilight, seeing what her friend was doing put her hoof in between the door and the frame, effectively blocking the door from closing. Fluttershy could only look at Twilight’s hoof, then at Twilight, then at her hoof again, and gave a resigned sigh.

“It’s Angel. He was injured when that thing appeared in the sky, and he tried to run away but he fell into the river and broke something.” Fluttershy told Twilight, and Twilight nodded, taking her hoof away.

“Why didn’t you just say so? I’m sure if I come in I can-”

“No!” Fluttershy said, louder than she usually talked, cutting off Twilight and silencing her friend.

“I- I mean, it would be better if I just tended to him. He should be fine real soon, but thanks for the offer.” Fluttershy explained, and, once again, attempted to close the door but this time she succeeded. Twilight could only keep looking straight now only seeing a door, surprised at her friends’ suddenly distant and abnormal behaviour.  She began walking away from Fluttershy’s Cottage, thinking about what had just happened.

Was it something she had said? No, it couldn’t have been. She didn’t say anything that could have provoked that behaviour. Then there was that muffled scream… Like a pony that was gagged. She then realized rabbits and bunnies usually don’t make noises. No screams or any sounds of any kind. How could that have been Angel then? Who or what could it possibly have-?  Her thoughts were interrupted when a pink blur suddenly crashed into her. Pinkie Pie had been running as fast as she could, looking for Twilight all across Ponyville. Pinkie began moving her mouth and trying to speak, but she was only huffing out words that Twilight couldn’t make out.

“..ke…..ct….is….w.ke…” Pinkie tried to say, but all Twilight could hear was her friend wheezing air in and out.

“Sorry, didn’t quite catch that. What’re you trying to say?” Twilight said, and Pinkie raised a hoof up, catching her breath. Once she had done so, with Twilight patiently waiting, Pinkie spoke up again.

“Spike. He told me to get you real quick! The Doctor is waking up!”

“And how long ago was this?” Twilight asked, curious to know.

“About-” Pinkie began, and checked her hoof as if she were checking the time. She had no watch however, and she continued after glancing at her hoof “-probably… 2 seconds ago?”

Wow. Pinkie really can run.

Not wasting any more time, she grabbed Pinkie’s left forehoof and her horn glowed, teleporting them in a field of raw magical energy to the Library. Arriving at the doorstep to the library, they hastily made their way to her room (which was really just a indoor balcony over-looking the library itself)  they  found Spike sitting on a stool, looking expectantly at the Doctor who was shuffling in bed. He was shocked to see Pinkie and Twilight back already, but was even more startled when the Doctor stopped moving completely and woke up. He immediately burst upright, startling Spike and causing his stool to tip over, in turn making Spike fall to the ground. The Doctor then looked around, noted the two mares standing at the top of the stairwell and saw Spike on the ground, recovering from his (painful) fall.

“Sorry little baby dragon. Won’t happen again. Promise.” The stallion said, and put a hoof up to his chest. He then looked at his hoof with a look of fascinated happiness. He still wore his odd magicians clothing which was rather tattered now, and he had a big huge grin on his face. His cutie mark was still to be determined.

“That’s cool! Hooves are cool! But wait… How will I be able to grab stuff? Scratch that. Hooves, not cool.” The Doctor stated and he jumped off the bed and got on all four feet.

“13, your 11 is showing!” Pinkie exclaimed, and the Doctor paused to look at Pinkie.

“What did you say?” He asked, wondering how Pinkie could know about his numbering system, or if she was even talking about him at all. How could Pinkie possibly know that? Pinkie then non-committedly shrugged.

“Whovians will get it.” Pinkie explained, and the Doctor just shook his head, clearing his mind of the sudden outburst. What? No seriously, this pink pony was becoming more interesting every second he was with her. He would have to investigate her more later, but for now there were more pressing matters at hand. He then tried walking around a little, but found that he was already fairly good at that. After stretching his legs and adjusting the cuffs on his tattered suit (admittedly with some difficulty due to his hooves), he walked over to the two mares.

“Hello ladies! At least, I think you’re ladies… Are you female? Or are you…? You know what? To hell with it. Anywho! I’m now stuck on a world with equines, myself included and now I’ve got a library to fix up! Brilliant, just brilliant.” The Doctor said, and then looked directly at Twilight.

“You thought I would forget, didn’t you?” The Doctor asked, and Twilight only nodded. He then closed the gap between them in one quick stride and (sort of) grabbed Twilight. He then asked her with blazing intensity:

“Am I ginger?”

“... What?” Twilight asked dumbfounded. The Doctor then let go and motioned at his hair.

“Am I ginger?! You know, red hair! Seeing as how your manes are remarkably similar to human hair and your kind seems to fancy every color of the rainbow as hair, there is an increased chance that my hair is red. What color is it?!”

“N-no, you’re not -erm- ginger. It’s just sort of… black. And spiky.” Twilight finally said, still confused and not understanding as to why she was asked that. She then saw the Doctor mumbling to himself, seemingly fussing about his lack of red hair. What was so important about red hair anyways? She just didn’t get it. And for someone who had just woken up from a faint-induced sleep, he seemed very energized and a little too chipper to Twilight. How could anyone just have a short nap (around 1 hour) after having crash landed be healed and completely fine? Nopony was able to do such a feat. Nopony. Well… nopony except maybe Pinkie. Speaking of Pinkie, she now wanted to properly introduce herself and was bouncing erratically everywhere, somehow miraculously not damaging or even moving a single thing out of place in the room. She then stopped in front of the Doctor, but continued to spring up and down.

“Oh! Oh! Hi! My name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie but you can call me Pinkie Pie for short, or just Pinkie! It’s really all up to you, you know? So, who are? Really, who? You’re the Doctor right? Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor who? Well, who nose, am I right?!”  Pinkie burst out. She put a hoof up to her nose and pushed it to the side while saying the last sentence. She then jumped on top of the Doctor, crushing him in a hug. The Doctor was startled by this and didn’t have time to prepare as the pink pony basically jumped into him, knocking some of the wind out of him.

“Hi, uh- Pinkie!” The Doctor said curling his words up, almost sounding like a question. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with Pinkie Pie up and personal against him. He was already uncomfortable enough with his new pony body, but even more so with another pony crushing him in a hug

“Would you mind getting off of me now?” The Doctor asked, and Pinkie Pie shook her head.

“I can’t do that Doctor.” Said Pinkie Pie, and the Doctor just lay there, flabbergasted.

“Why- why not?” The Doctor inquired, seriously wanting to know why a pink pony from a completely different universe and of a completely different race would all of a sudden want to embrace him in a hug.

“Because of your eyes, silly! They’re old and sad. How can your eyes be so old but you look so young, Doctor?” Pinkie stated and asked. The Doctor went silent at this, looking at Pinkie with with bewilderment and surprise. What came next was just as much of a surprise to everyone in the room, except Pinkie. Pinkie, seeing something changing, let go of the Doctor and he promptly nodded, and got up slowly. He looked at Pinkie now with an incredibly dark and brooding sadness which filled the room with air that Twilight had never felt before. He then looked Pinkie in the eyes with a look that could break a million hearts, and audibly whispered:

“A good question for another time my dear Pinkie.”

His mood then changed drastically once again from a dark to cheerful tone, but traces of his previous mood could be seen behind his somewhat false smile.

“Now to answer some of your questions, Pinkie. I think I’ve already said it, but I will say it again. I’m the Doctor. That’s it. Nothing to it. Nothing more, nothing less.” The Doctor said. He then saw the raised eyebrows around the room. Not surprising, seeing how he just revealed some of his deepest darkest self to them, showing them a glimpse of an infinitesimally ever changing Doctor. Heaving a mental sigh of relief however, he saw that they noticed it too and didn’t push the previous matter any further.

“So, you’re a Doctor?” Spike questioned.

“I’m not just any old doctor. I’m the Doctor. The definite article, you might say.” The brown stallion answered. He then locked eyes with Twilight and took a few steps forward, somewhat closing the gap between them and putting them nearly muzzle to muzzle.

“Now tell me Twilight, has there been anything happening recently? Anything you couldn’t explain? I don’t just crash around anywhere you know. There’s always a good reason.”

“Not that I know of. I’m sorry, but what does this have to do with fixing my library?”

“No, that’s not right, there has to be more…” The Doctor said to himself, seemingly having ignored Twilight completely. He then looked at Pinkie, who grinned maniacally at the Doctor.

“Oo! I know! Ponies sometimes disappear nowadays and then they pop up again as if nothing happened! Nopony knows why. I dunno, I’ve just noticed that some ponies are different after they disappear. I would know, because I’ve known everypony in Ponyville since I was a filly, and I mean everypony. By the way, do you like jelly? Oh I love jelly! You know Mr. and Mrs. Cake are...” But the Doctor wasn’t paying attention anymore after that, for he was lost in thought. It seemed odd to him that they would disappear without any reason or motive why, only to then reappear. And then he remembered that Pinkie had said that the ponies would seem different once they returned. As if, they’ve been brainwashed or some… thing…

“Oh no. No no nununununo. That’s not good.” The Doctor finally said in an ominous tone.

Just then, he heard someone yell in desperation.

“No! You’re not taking me too!” The mystery pony said. At this, the Doctor’s eyes lit up, as if to say “adventure(!)” and he ran for the stairs. Seeing how he was in a new pony body however and his old clothes were still dragging around, he tripped and went flying. He then ungraciously crashed into the top most stair muzzle first, and then proceeding to tumble down the stairs making loud bangs and thumps on the wood. Everyone still present in the room cringed at the noises, and released a collective sigh of relief they didn’t know they were holding when the noises stopped and silence filled the air. A voice then wafted up from the bottom of the library.

“Urghhhh… I’ll... be fine…” They heard the Doctor say, and then they heard the clip clop of hooves and the sound of a door opening and closing.

“Whelp! We’d better follow him!” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly, and rolled down the stairs as well but somehow undamaged and with springing noises instead of the expected thump! And bonk! Oh well. Pinkie will be Pinkie.

“Spike, stay here and watch the library, got it?” Twilight commanded, before walking down the stairs.

“Aww! How come I have to stay here while you guys get to go on an adventure?” Spike complained. Twilight could only shake her head and sigh. Oh Spike.





> Chapter II - Twists and Turns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Chapter 2-

TWISTS AND TURNS


What she saw in front of her was not what she had expected to see the moment she stepped outside.

What she saw was Pinkie and the Doctor both sticking their muzzles down onto the ground, as if they were dogs searching for a scent. Everypony in the vicinity was panicking, shouting in fear and running around. Some were just clutching their tails and everypony was trying to come to terms with… whatever it was that they saw. All the while these two ponies were the odd ones out, looking incredibly out of place in the setting they were in.

“Uh… guys? What’s happening?!” Twilight asked, desperately wanting to know why everypony was in a general state of panic.

“We still have yet to find out Twilight!” Exclaimed the Doctor, and he came up from inspecting/ sniffing the ground. He then pointed at the small gouges in the ground and laughed. They were very shallow, barely indents in the ground but the ground was disturbed enough that one could very obviously see where it led to. However, the trail led to the Everfree Forest, and nothing good ever came out of that place. Well, nothing except Zecora.

“Ha! Would you look at that! Trail marks! Makes our job a whole lot easier. Let’s go!” The tattered magician said, then he shouted and fell to the ground hugging his chest, gasping and wheezing in some sort of pain. He then hit his own chest multiple times as if trying to jump start an organ. Pinkie looked up from her own investigations to see what all the commotion was and saw the Doctor spasming in pain.

“Ow ow owy! Owwww!” He complained. After a moment, he coughed out some more of that odd golden mist and then shakily got to his hooves. He then looked at Pinkie, thanked her for her efforts in helping the Doctor inspect the ground, and staggered a bit before collapsing on the ground again. Both Twilight and Pinkie rushed to his side to see if he was okay.

“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked, poking and prodding at the Doctor.

“You still haven’t fixed my library!” Twilight nagged, and the Doctor finally groaned.

“Yes, yes I’m fine. Just… not quite done yet. One of my hearts just had a fright, is all. It’s alright don’t worry about me.” The Doctor said, and then got to his four feet once again. He then saw one mint green pony hiding behind a flower pot, which wasn’t a very effective cover. He then shambled toward her, gaining enough momentum to put him at a jogging pace, and he jumped onto the mint green pony.

“Gah!” The green pony exclaimed before the Doctor tackled her. She tried to run away but it was already too late. She had the image of a lyre on her flank. Twilight and Pinkie came trotting after the Doctor, wondering why he would tackle a dear friend of theirs.

“Hi Lyra.” Twilight said.

“Hiya Lyra!” Pinkie greeted, and began to spring up and down.

“Ungh… Next time you guys say hi can you not tackle me?” Lyra grunted, and picked herself up from the ground. The Doctor got up and then pushed Lyra up against a wall. After doing so, he suddenly spasmed again but maintained his hold on Lyra.

“Agh!... You… why did you stay around while everyone was running and hiding?” The Doctor asked, huffing from his last bout of pain and clutching one hoof to his chest while keeping the other pinned on Lyra.

“I… No! I demand an apology and that you release before I answer any of your questions.” Lyra demanded and the Doctor obliged, rolling his eyes and snorting.

“Alright, spill.”

“Well, I wasn’t staying, I was hiding!”

“A likely story. Why would you pick a place where anyone can see you?” The Doctor quizzed, but Lyra looked slightly confused. The Doctor then noticed his mistake and sighed.

“Anypony. Do you all really have to have ponified expressions for everything? Next thing you know I’ll find out you have ponified cities, too.” The Doctor shook his head, and Lyra nodded finally in understanding, and then in more confusion than before.

“Uhm… I dunno. It was the closest cover to me! And if you saw what I saw, you would’ve done the same!” Lyra shouted, and then shivered.

“Why? What is it, what did you see?”

“There were these red creatures, horrible disgusting creatures! They just took two ponies! Mr. and Mrs. Cake! Just… gone…” Lyra started loudly and ended with a whisper barely audible. Then she too, having just fully taken in what she saw went into a fetal position, went into a full on panic mode and just darted her eyes around frantically before dashing off.

“Please, just run! Run for your lives! They- they will come back!”

With those ominous words, the Doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hoof. He looked in the direction of where Lyra was running and saw it was filled with many other different coloured ponies who were panicking and finding places to hide. Too many things were happening right now in his head. There was something he was missing. He knew it! It was something obvious, something that had been bothering him since he came here, he just couldn’t place the thought. He turned to the two mares that were beside him and pointed in the general direction of which Lyra ran. 

“Is she always like this? Your friend?” The Doctor asked his two companions.

“More or less. She’s very dramatic.” Pinkie said and giggled and began bouncing towards the way the trail lead.

“Although,” Twilight began, following Pinkie, “She did seem to have genuine fear and panic present this time around.”

“In all my travels, I can’t believe I’ve never met rainbow coloured ponies with over dramatic personalities. Seriously. And your names! Your names are… interesting to say the least.” The Doctor thought out loud, and followed the two mares.

The trail they followed had lots of disturbances on the side and the Doctor deduced that it was due to the resistance that the Cake’s would’ve put up. He hoped that whatever it was that took them, they would be fine, although he now had an inkling to who or what may be causing trouble in the sweet little town of Ponyville. He overheard Pinkie talking about the Cake’s and how nice they were. Her whole mood changed drastically and her poofy hair went limp however, when she mentioned that she already missed them and hoped they would be okay. Her coat darkened considerably, and her mane and tail went straight after going limp. He noticed a change in her bright demeanor as well.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie, don’t you worry.” The Doctor said, putting a comforting hoof on her and Pinkie stopped to look into the Doctor’s eyes. She calmed down considerably to the Doctor’s touch. He could now see some of the pony that this bright pink mare hid behind her gleeful facade. What he saw was a little bit of himself, and understood now some of the reason why and how Pinkie saw his own darkness. Twilight came up to Pinkie as well and put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder.

“Hey, Pinkie.” Twilight said, hugging her. “The Doctor will help us save them. It will be alright.”

The Doctor certainly hoped so. If he could only find out what he was dealing with, he could- He saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He craned his neck to look and saw a yellow pegasus flying near the treeline, watching them. He broke into a run, now even more determined to help these ponies. Whatever the cost. The pegasus with a pink mane gasped and began flying away, towards where the trail led. He was catching up (he really did love the running) and the yellow pegasus poured more speed than she could normally muster. The pegasus flew a circle, and then dove straight down. Just as he rounded the edge of the forest, he saw where the pegasus could have very well landed. A cottage near the edge of the Everfree Forest.





While all this occurred, Twilight was still comforting Pinkie. She let go of the hug when she saw the Doctor running, and gasped when she saw who he was running after. Pinkie also gasped and her pink poofy hair returned, accentuating their shock.

“Fluttershy!?” Twilight could barely manage, not wanting to believe that it could possibly be the yellow coated mare. But it all made sense to her now. The muffled scream, that could’ve been a pony she had foalnapped. The odd behaviour must’ve been so no one could see her guilt. It all made so much sense, but it broke Twilight’s heart. How could the Element of Kindness do anything like this?! How?! She shook her head, eyes wide and pupils dilated. She could feel tears, tears of anger, of sadness and of betrayal coming. Tears that marked the end of a friendship.

“How could you, Fluttershy? HOW COULD YOU?!” She whispered behind gritted teeth, and she ran after the Doctor. Pinkie could only look at Twilight with concern and shock, because she too saw the damage Fluttershy had done. But she always thought that friendships could be mended, and healed. Instead of springing, she ran after Twilight. The two mares rounded the treeline and Fluttershy’s Cottage came into view. The trail led straight to the door, which was now wide open. Twilight, seeing this and wanting to confront her best-friend-turned-monster, ran after her. Pinkie could only follow and hope for the best.

Reaching the door, Twilight was about to barge in but the Doctor peeked his head out and went “Shhh!”, putting a hoof up to his muzzle. Twilight could only blink back tears and shake her head before nodding and silently followed the Doctor in, followed by Pinkie. The general state of Fluttershy’s home was the same as always, neat and tidy. But several things were out of place, no animals were present, and there was an eerie sense of foreboding. Rounding the wall to the living room, Twilight and Pinkie gasped while the Doctor silently ran towards the tied up bunny on the couch. In the center of the room.

“Angel?!” Twilight whispered sharply, and the Doctor looked back at them, putting a hoof up to his muzzle once more in the ‘Shh” kind of way, and he untied the stark white bunny. Angel looked at the Doctor with horror, then denial, then relief, and then horror once more. Once fully untied, Angel began chittering at the Doctor, and the Doctor nodded.

“Can’t do that little fella. Gotta find out what’s happening here.” The Doctor said, much to the surprise of Twilight and the glee of Pinkie. Angel chittered once again, pointing to one specific door down the hall: the basement door, and then looked at the Doctor with pleading eyes. The Doctor responded by sitting down and then putting two hooves on the white bunny’s head, one on each temple, and closed his eyes. Angel then sighed and hugged the Doctor much to his surprise, and hugged back.

“Don’t worry little one, I will save your friend.” The Doctor said, and turned his attention to the two ponies standing behind him, and stood up. Twilight was looking at him with bewilderment and astonishment, while Pinkie clapped two hooves together in generous applause.

“As I feared…” The Doctor began, and saw that Twilight had something else on her mind. Something was bothering her, and he had noticed it more fully when they came to the cottage’s door.

“Twilight, why’re you like that, what’s wrong?” He inquired, and Twilight looked away.

“Someone who I thought was a friend was behind all this.” Twilight grudgingly said, a dark look passing over her. Even though she had literally only known about this problem for a grand total of around 42 minutes, it still made her incredibly angry and sad that such a thing could be caused by someone so kind, so generous, so-

“Twilight, you need to stop thinking that.” The Doctor simply said, and Twilight looked at him with confusion and her own righteous anger for what seemed like the nth time that day.

“I know what you’re thinking, and it is not what you think.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking? How could you know?” Twilight spat back, getting angry at him too for saying that Fluttershy couldn’t possibly be the culpr-

“She isn’t the culprit.” The Doctor told Twilight, and Twilight looked at him with astonishment.

“And I can show you with this…” The Doctor said, and put two hooves on Twilight’s head, one on each side, and Twilight slipped away into a world of dreams.





What she saw next was very odd. She was low to the ground, and seemed to be hopping around impatiently. She then realized that she was viewing this from the memory of Angel, Fluttershy’s bunny. She could feel the impatience growing inside of the bunny’s self until finally, the door to Fluttershy’s cottage opened, and she could see Fluttershy walk in. Angel ran up to hug his best friend and grabbed Fluttershy by the neck, giving her a neck hug. What came next was a surprise to Angel. Fluttershy grabbed Angel and threw him down, stunning him. As he lay on the ground,he could see Fluttershy give him a sinister grin, and walked in. She was followed by two red creatures with suckers present everywhere on their body. They were bipedal, meaning they could walk on two feet, and Angel caught a glimpse of something they were carrying. 

It was a pod. A pod with a small window that was very hard to see through but it looked like the shape of those odd creatures’ heads. Angel, backing away from them and seeing through the window, he gasped. Twilight also gasped herself, seeing who was inside, for somepony was present in the pod, trapped and in a state of unconsciousness. Inside, was the limp form of Fluttershy. The real Fluttershy. The one that could never do any of these acts of violence. They then saw dozens more red creatures file through the door, and one of them grabbed Angel. Angel struggled and squirmed in their grasp, and the monster growled at it, but the fake Fluttershy stopped them from doing whatever it was they were going to do.

“Stop!” The fake Fluttershy said, in what Fluttershy would call a shout.

“Angel stays and is not to be harmed. Got that?” She said, and the monster growled before grabbing some sort of string and tying up Angel. Angel was then placed on the couch and the fake Fluttershy walked over and sat beside him. It laughed. A sinister and cold laugh, one that did not sound like it should come from such a kind mare’s mouth, but it did. She then looked Angel in the eyes and produced a evil smirk which looked very out of place on Fluttershy’s face. Closing her eyes, she inhaled in concentration, and then opened her eyes once more with an intensified gaze which petrified Angel. This monster, this thing had used Fluttershy’s ‘Stare’ and frozen Angel in place, filling him with terror. This creature that was masquerading as Fluttershy now had near full control over Angel and she laughed that terrible, cold laugh once more.

“You see little one, I have taken your friends’ place in this world. We will now conquer this puny little settlement you call a village and eventually gain control of this world! Now, what you will do is stay here and be a good rabbit, okay?” The fake Fluttershy laughed once more, and Angel could only widen his eyes and begin to cry as he saw that his friend may never ever return. The next few memories were sped up, with ponies being dragged in gagged and squirming, only to come back up out of the basement with a smirk and looking completely fine. More and more this started to happen, and finally, it caught up to just earlier that afternoon. He could hear the thunderous noises, and the two sonic booms. An hour later, Angel could hear the four knocks at the door, and fake Fluttershy rushed out of the kitchen, apparently having fixed itself a meal. It scowled at the door, and walked over to Angel. She whispered to him to be quiet lest somethung bad happen to Fluttershy, and then she closed her eyes, went into some sort of meditation, and then went into acting-as-Fluttershy mode. Angel could then hear the voices of Fluttershy and Twilight speaking, and the sudden muffled scream which sounded very much like Fluttershy, the real Fluttershy, and it came from within the basement. He could then hear Fluttershy slam the door and saw fake Fluttershy walk over to him, eyes narrowed in anger, when a muffled scream was heard once again. Her head craned towards the basement door, and grunted in anger. 

Finally, it caught up to the Cakes. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cake were unconscious when those red creatures dragged them down the basement. All of a sudden, Fluttershy, the fake Fluttershy, flew in from the top and landed with a thud. She then looked at the two creatures who held each of the Cake’s captive and began to scold them.

“Idiot’s! Bumbling, fumbling reckless idiots! Even Fluttershy’s- I mean my animal’s could have handled the situation better than you did! You’ve been seen! You know what this will-?!” But she was caught off guard by the sound of a high pitched whir and the sound of ding’s just outside the door.

“Quick, down the stairs!” She whispered angrily, which was very easy to do in the form of Fluttershy, and they silently creaked the door closed just before the Doctor barged in, followed by Twilight and Pinkie.





All this had happened in a matter of seconds real-time, but it felt like forever to Twilight, who looked towards the Doctor with confusion and relief.

“Doctor… what’s the meaning of all that? What are the red creatures? How can you do that?” Twilight asked, and the Doctor shook his head, before showing everything to Pinkie as well. Pinkie clapped, closed her eyes, then nodded in understanding once the Doctor was done.

“They’re called Zygons, and they’ve replaced your friend and countless others. By the looks of it, a dozen or so have come and taken some of the ponies in your village, replacing them with themselves.

“So Fluttershy didn’t actually do all of this?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“No, she did not. And that muffled scream you heard after you met up with Fluttershy? That was Fluttershy waking up and calling for attention. She’s a strong one, your friend. Not anyone can just break free of a Zygon’s psychic link.”

Twilight sighed and felt tears well up once more. These were not tears of anger this time around. These were tears, of relief, joy, and happiness.

“But don’t celebrate just yet…” The Doctor said, and the two mares looked at him.

“We still need to save the world.” The brown stallion said with a grin.

“Can we celebrate with jelly babies after though?” Pinkie asked, and the Doctor once again looked at Pinkie with surprise. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, then he shook his head, muttered something, and they made their way into the basement of Fluttershy’s Cottage. 

A stench could be smelt from halfway down the stairs and it made Twilight and Pinkie’s noses crinkle in disgust.

“Don’t worry about the smell, you get used to it.” The Doctor told them, and they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Fluttershy’s basement wasn’t much of a basement anymore. It looked 20 times bigger than it was before, feeling like a scene straight from a horror movie. Pods were lined up everywhere, some on the walls, some on the ceiling, and most on the ground. Several Zygons were unmorphed and were in their true forms while some took the shape of the ponies they had taken.

“So they’re kind of like changelings, yeah?” Twilight asked the Doctor.

“Uh, I don’t know what those are but I’m guessing yes! Yes they are.” The Doctor said, and then he stopped, holding a hoof out to indicate the same to his companions, and they did so accordingly. They saw one pod that was broken open, and a trail that lead up a platform and to a slimy and stringy piece of wall with a pony shaped outdent covered in some sort of weird ropy substance. Then, out of nowhere, the Zygon Fluttershy walked in, and gave them an evil smirk.

“Hello friends!” Fluttershy-Z said, waving a hoof at them.

“You have no right to call us friends and you have no place in this town!” Twilight scowled. Fluttershy-Z could only laugh and motioned the unmorphed Zygons to attack them. Just then, The Doctor put up a hoof.

“Wait!” He shouted, and then he pointed his hoof at Fluttershy-Z. “I want to know, before I die, how did you manage to get into this universe?”

Fluttershy-Z grinned an evil grin that could only make Twilight and Pinkie take a step back due to how scary and utterly terrifying it was to see such an expression on their friends’ face.

“The same as you. That crack in the sky… Another one appeared just like it near our village in the northern continent of Zygor.” Fluttershy-Z began to explain, and they then heard the muffled crying of the real Fluttershy on the wall with the pony-shaped outdent.

“Quiet! I will not be interrupted while I provide expository backstory!” Fluttershy-Z said, and sent one of the pony Zygons to go check on real Fluttershy. 

“As I was saying, one of those cracks appeared near our village just before the war between the Daleks and the Time Lords destroyed our planet. We were able to escape through this crack but we were sent here. Conveniently, little old Fluttershy here-” and Fluttershy-Z motioned to the quivering indent in the wall, “Was near us when we came through, and so I zapped her and took her form. My oh my, kind hearted Fluttershy! Saving Equestria multiple times with her friends Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Oh the memories! Naturally, I had to begin to colonize this world, because that war between the Daleks and those blasted Time Lords destroyed Zygor!” At this, she ripped off what was covering the wall near Fluttershy-Z and they saw the real Fluttershy gagged and crying. She looked toward them with pleading, terrified eyes and began to cry even more, shaking her head as if to say “Go and leave without me!” The Doctor, seeing this, sighed and looked toward Fluttershy-Z.

“Release her.” The Doctor said, and Fluttershy-Z looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“And what would that do? It would make no difference as to whether you die or not. She is weak, and I know this because I am her.”

“You’re not her!” Twilight yelled back and Fluttershy-Z glared at Twilight. The Doctor just put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, telling her to let him handle the situation.

“Just do it.” The Doctor said, and Fluttershy-Z shrugged and commanded the pony nearest Fluttershy to release her restraints and to ungag her.

“Wow, you’re one grumpy alien.” Pinkie thought out loud, and Fluttershy-Z looked at Pinkie with squinted eyes and a scowl. Once free, Fluttershy began crying out loud and ran very weakly towards Pinkie and Twilight, who embraced her in a comforting and crushing hug.

“I- I thought I would never see you again… I’m so sorry Twilight, Pinkie. I’m so sorry I caused all this!” And with that, Fluttershy, the real Fluttershy, broke down sobbing and crying into the arms of two of her best friends.

“Doctor? I thought you said she didn’t do any of this? I thought you said that monster of a pony was the culprit! Why’s she saying things like that?” Twilight asked while she was comforting the frail and broken figure that was Fluttershy.

“Because Zygons must establish a psychic link before they take on the form of whomever it is they are taking the form of. This means that Fluttershy would have and could have felt and experienced everything Fluttershy-Z would have experienced.” The Doctor explained, and then turned his attention to Fluttershy-Z once more.

“So you don’t know, eh?” The Doctor said, and Fluttershy-Z raised an eyebrow. Wow, there’s a lot of eyebrow raising going on.

“Don’t know what?” Fluttershy-Z asked in a sarcastic tone.

“About the truce between Zygons and Humans on Earth.” The Doctor told Fluttershy-Z, and let her process the words. Once she had done so, her face showed surprise, then anger, then a scowl.

“A truce?! How could we ever truce with humans on Earth?” Zygon Fluttershy said, and she took a few steps toward the Doctor.

“Who are you, that you would know things like that? There’s no planet Earth here in this universe. This planet is in the spot where planet Earth should be. You wouldn’t know that unless you travelled here from the other universe, so who are you, really?” Doppelganger Fluttershy asked and the Doctor straightened his tattered and ruined cuffs.

“You really want to know eh?” The Doctor said, with a small smile. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the room grew cold causing a shiver to go down everyone’s back, even the Zygons. Twilight and Pinkie turned their attention to the Doctor as the real Fluttershy clung tightly to Twilight, slipping in and out of consciousness. The ponies present noticed that all the mirth and happiness in the Doctor had gone. They then saw Fluttershy-Z take a step back involuntarily and the Doctor began slowly walking towards her, with his eyes narrowing at her.

“I’m the Doctor. I’m sure you’ve heard of me. Told of in legends from Dalek lore and known all across time and space in our universe. I’m the Doctor, newly regenerated. Oh! And since I am in the first 15 hours of my regeneration cycle, I have more than enough residual regeneration energy to do… this!” The Doctor shouted, stood on both hind legs, hugging his chest and began to glow gold. The effervescent light filled every inch of the room and looked magnificent, but just then the Doctor craned his neck around to face the three mares. Whilst all the Zygons were distracted by the Doctor’s regeneration energy filling the room, he told them one thing. One, simple thing:

“Run.”

Twilight, hearing the urgency in the Doctor’s voice told Pinkie to go ahead of her, and lifted Fluttershy with her magic. They then began to run.  As they reached the stairs they heard the Doctor yell something and then they heard an explosion just as they began climbing the stairs. Before they got halfway up, they saw golden light start to trickle up the stairs when all of a sudden golden energy whooshed past them, pushing them against the walls. After a few seconds, they heard several ponies coming up the stairs and began running for their lives, all the while Fluttershy was in a fetal position and now unconscious due to her malnutrition and the state of shock she was in. They soon found the door to the basement, tore it open and they ran straight outside finding that it was getting incredulously stormy, with dark clouds hovering over and covering the sun making it incredibly dark. 

Just then, the Doctor ran out the door followed by dozens of confused and panicking ponies. The Doctor then told them to stay put but to follow him around, and frantically searched for where Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy were. Seeing them, he ran towards them. All his clothes were gone now except for his jacket and vest which now had many holes in it. Now finally being able to get a clear view of his cutie mark, they saw that it was in the form of an hourglass. Why it was shaped like that, Twilight didn’t know but she was intrigued by it nonetheless. Realizing she was basically looking straight at the Doctor’s flank, she blushed and turned her head to look at the Doctor who looked at her with a quizzical expression. He then saw his own cutie mark, and laughed.

“Would you look at that! I have one too. Brilliant! An hourglass eh? Not bad. I guess it makes sense too.” The Doctor said. The sound of a door slamming could be heard, and some of his blood drained from his face.

“Oh yeah, that only momentarily knocked them out. That’s why I was searching for you… to tell you to keep running! You three need to get out of here right now with all these people- er- ponies! It’s not safe!”

“We’re not leaving here without you Doctor!” Pinkie exclaimed, and Twilight nodded. A crackle of thunder could be heard and rain began to pour all around. The pitter patter of rain could be felt and heard as the smell of petrichor began to reach the noses of the ponies present. Just then, Fluttershy-Z stepped into the door frame of Fluttershy’s Cottage. Her mane was a mess and her coat was frazzled, which only served to add to the super-villain thing she had going on.

“And rightfully so Twilight.” Fluttershy-Z said, walking out and revealing the 6 or 7 Zygons behind her. “It’ll make it that much easier to kill you!”

“NO!” The Doctor yelled, and everyone recoiled at his tone.

“You will not be killing anyone. Not today, not on my watch. You know what I can do, you’ve read the stories. I can do whatever the hell you can think of! And if you so much as touch anypony here, you will know what’s coming for you.” The Doctor growled, and Fluttershy-Z and the Zygons narrowed their eyes. Pinkie then noticed Mr. and Mrs. Cake as two of the one and a half dozen ponies that were saved by the Doctor and ran towards them, crushing them both in a hug.

“Mr. and Mrs. Cake! You’re both alright!” Pinkie exclaimed, and then giggled happily.

“Don’t you see? This is a peaceful world! It seems everything here is solved with a nice cup of tea and you lot come barging in threatening to take over their world? What? You have no right to do that, and I won’t let you!” The Doctor hollered, pointing at Pinkie hugging the Cake’s and then at them.

“Why should we listen to you Doctor? You of all people. Hypocrite! You tell us not to kill, but what happened to all those other species that stood in your path during the war? What happened to them? You can’t expect us to follow you when you yourself-” Fluttershy-Z was saying, until the Doctor stopped her.

“Stop it. Stop it right there. Don’t you dare talk about that. Not here, not now, not ever. You’re calling me a hypocrite? All those many lives. You think I didn’t try to save them? You think I didn’t try to tell them to get out of the way, to help them in their time of need? I tried so hard, yet they all still died. Do you wanna know what I hear every single damned day in my head? Do you really want to?” The Doctor cried, tears at the edge of his eyes and he pointed his hoof at the Zygon who was in the form of Fluttershy. Fluttershy-Z was taken aback by this outburst of emotion from the Doctor, but accepted it and nodded her head.

“Yes, Doctor. Show me! Tell me what you see everyday. I want to know!” She yelled, and took a few steps toward the Doctor. She told her Zygon guards to stay put, and took a few more steps toward the Doctor, until they were only a few feet away from each other

“I’ll tell you what I see, what I hear everyday. I hear the laughter of children and the singing of families in happiness and joy. I see the children playing and the parents watching over them. I see and hear their cries of terror and anguish as they see the fiery terror and their screams and shouts, trying to run away as their world is burned by my doing. I’ll show you everything!” The tattered clothed stallion said as he stared her in the eyes. He then reared back, and put his two forehooves on Fluttershy-Z startling her. She looked at the Doctor with surprise, confusion and anger. She was about to swat away his hooves when the Doctor began flooding her head with 400 years worth of memories from the war. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the terrible. Everypony present watched in mixed emotions as they saw Zygon Fluttershy begin looking at the Doctor with terror and the same incredible sadness he felt. By this time, she had experienced all the terrible moments in the Time War that the Doctor had experienced, but he couldn’t fill her head with everything. He knew that. It would burn her up alive and so, Fluttershy’s doppelganger began to cry. Crying in the very pain and anguish that only made up some of what the Doctor experienced, but it was enough.

“NO MORE!” She yelled as she tore the two hooves attached to her head off of her. The Doctor looked at her with his own sadness, sorry that he was forced to show her his own terrible deeds and how it had affected him. The Zygon Fluttershy fell to her knees on the ground, and looked up at the Doctor with wide eyes. Wide, because of what she saw the Doctor experienced. She was sobbing, holding her head in her hooves and she finally fully fell to the ground, broken down inside and out. She could now only look at the Doctor with regret, sorrow, sympathy, and understanding.

“I’m so sorry Doctor, I didn’t know. I-I didn’t know you felt this much. I thought I was right, I thought I could justify our actions-” She was saying, but the Doctor interrupted her.

“Don’t. Please.” The Doctor whispered, and he looked toward the two Zygon guards who now looked at the Doctor with scowls, who were wondering how the Doctor could have reduced their great and powerful leader to a pitiful and broken pegasus pony

“What did you do to her?” One of them said, it’s voice gravelly, scratchy and deep.

“Nothing.” The Doctor simply replied, and he stood over Fluttershy’s Doppelganger protectively.

“All I did was give her a push. You know who’s mind she’s using right now? That’s right, Fluttershy. If any of what your Zygon leader said about Fluttershy is true, then she was already affected by it even before I got here. All that was left to do was give her a shove in the right direction, and that’s exactly what I did.” He explained to them, and they growled at him. They began advancing toward the Doctor but were utterly surprised when their leader, Fluttershy-Z got up. Although she was in shambles and was physically weakened by the Doctor’s attempt at showing her the truth, she had enough strength for this.

“Stand down.” She told them, and they hissed at her but remained silent. She then turned around to look at the Doctor, tears still present in her eyes, and addressed him.

“Tell me more about that truce. The truce between Humans and Zygons.”

“Ah. So you want to have a truce here too eh?” The Doctor questioned, and he proceeded to give the details of what occurred on that fateful day in time when the were in the Black Archive of London and discussing a ceasefire-treaty between the two sentient races.

“Basically, Zygons bonded with a human counterpart and humans promised not to notice or attack Zygons if they did likewise.” The Doctor finished in a remarkable time of 2.4 minutes.

“Then that’s just what we’ll do then. Take a pony counterpart and blend in with the country.” Fluttershy’s Zygon equivalent said, and the Doctor nodded in agreement and relief. All the while this was happening, the ponies who were captured were watching the events transpire and Twilight was taking care of Fluttershy. As the Doctor showed Fluttershy’s Zygon equivalent some of his memories, the crowd of ponies watched on in awe and sadness, having heard the words of the Doctor. Twilight was listening as well, but was also very concerned about the wellbeing of her best friend, the Element of Kindness. She sat and watched as Zygon Fluttershy broke down into tears and hugged the real Fluttershy tighter when she felt and heard her begin to cry in her comatose rest. She could hear her say some of the same words that the Fluttershy the Doctor was facing said. “...no more… so sorry Doctor… so sorry…” But Twilight couldn’t understand why she was saying things like that.

After having heard the negotiations occur between the Doctor and the Zygons, Twilight looked up to see the Doctor studying her with a face she couldn’t decipher. A face with so many mixed emotions, it did make him look old. So very, very old. She looked into his eyes and saw what Pinkie must have seen. Eyes that have seen too much. Eyes that told of unspeakable tragedy and indescribable joy. Eyes that betrayed how young he really was. At that moment, she wondered how old the Doctor truly was.

“How’s she doing?” The Doctor asked, nudging his head in the direction of Fluttershy. Fluttershy lay peacefully and at rest, her breath coming and going at an even pace. The serene calm that was present on Fluttershy made her look breathtakingly graceful and beautiful.

“She’s going to recover, I hope. I heard her muttering things Doctor. Things that the other one of her said. Why did she do that? And is she going to be okay? She hasn’t woken up since we got her out of her house.” Twilight said, and looked down at her friend once again who was still in a peaceful state of sleep. The Doctor could only look at Fluttershy with some sadness.

“Yes… I’m afraid so…” The Doctor mumbled.

“Afraid? About what?” Twilight inquired, now slightly fearful for her friend, and the Doctor looked back at Twilight.

“She was psychically linked to her Zygon counterpart, remember? That means she can experience whatever her counterpart experiences. And this means she now has some of the memories that I gave to her counterpart. It’s burning her fragile mind up. Especially with Fluttershy’s mind. She may be strong mentally, but people -or in this case- ponies, have their limits” The Doctor sadly stated, and he moved towards Fluttershy, putting two hooves to her head.

“I’ve used this power too much already, even in these few hours and in just one story. But I’ll be able to use them for one last time right now to help heal your friend here. I’m going to remove her memories of the past few hours, and in doing so I will save her the trouble of bearing the burden that I carry with me.” The Doctor said, and began to establish his psychic mental link with Fluttershy. She could see Fluttershy grimace in some sort of pain, but went back to her original state of quiet rest. The Doctor let go of Fluttershy’s head, and sighed in an exhausted manner.

“This day has taken too much out of me, and I’ve only just regenerated.” The Doctor whispered quietly, and he looked tiredly at Twilight. He could see the questions beginning to formulate and that were swimming in Twilight’s head. He put up a hoof to stop Twilight, and shook his head.

“Not now Twilight, not now.”

All the ponies that were captured were beginning to warm up to the idea of having an equal yet opposite other that was identical to them. Fluttershy-Z (Seriously though, there’s no other name to call her by), had told some of her guards to inform those that were still in the village about the truce and to come meet her to talk about, and to reconcile with the ponies they were impersonating. The Doctor knew it would take a while before all the Zygons would accept this truce, but it was well worth it. He could see Fluttershy’s counterpart ordering the Zygons she had command over around. He wondered at the turn of events, the twist of fate. How very conveniently, the leader of this patch of Zygons had taken the form of Fluttershy. Strong, yet meek. Fearful, yet kind and trusting. And those cracks... those splits in reality...

Pinkie Pie came bounding in after having reconnected with the Cake’s and having made sure they were all okay, breaking the Doctor's train of thoughts. She was grinning gleefully from ear to ear but she calmed down a little when she saw Fluttershy stirring awake and the Doctor’s tired form.

“Doctor? Is Fluttershy going to be OK? Are you going to be okay?” She asked, and the Doctor looked at her exhausted, with a small smile on his face.

“Yes, my dear Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy is going to be fine. I however, think I’m going to need another nap.”

At these words, the Doctor gave a toothy grin. His eyes then rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed in an exhausted heap beside Fluttershy and Twilight.

“Well that was a doozy!” Pinkie exclaimed with a smile, and winked.

> Chapter III - A Strange Pony with a Box
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Chapter 3-

A STRANGE PONY WITH A BOX


FZZZASH!

KRAKOOM!

The sounds of the thunderstorm above dissipated after the Zygon encounter, only to be thrown into high gear and increase in intensity soon after the calm. Luckily for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and all the ponies that had been captured, they were all already headed their respective ways home. Seeing the extremely bad weather, Twilight decided to meet up with the rest of the gang later. She said her goodbyes to Pinkie who happily bounded away, giggling and splashing in already made puddles and watched as Pinkie headed off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. With a small smile, she began to hastily make her way to the Library with two unconscious ponies in tow.

Fluttershy slept soundly in a magical bubble as Twilight trotted at a brisk pace. She had difficulty holding it up, but it was well worth it. It was Fluttershy, after all. The magical bubble glowed a dull purple in the haze of rain that was pouring, and protected Fluttershy from the wind and elements. The Doctor however, didn’t have such luxuries. She had haphazardly but securely thrown him onto her back, and there was no risk to him falling off at this pace. As well too, because with how he looked from exhaustion and how much she saw him do, she knew he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. Fluttershy had taken a very bad beating in those couple of weeks she was kept captive. They had fed her only enough to keep her alive, and her fearful premise of everything made her go into shock the moment she was captured and the Zygons took her form. The only reason she was resting peacefully and well right now, even with her malnutrition and the state of shock she was in, was because of the Doctor. He had somehow stabilized Fluttershy, making it so that she would no longer be in a comatose state and that she would have all the energy needed until she woke up again.

Weather ponies flittered about, pushing clouds together, clumping them and forcing them into one big cumulonimbus. It hadn’t rained in a while, so she had expected the rain. What she hadn’t expected was for aliens to come invading on the same day as the rain. She watched while she neared ever closer to her home as pegasi rounded up stray clouds, adding them to the raging storm above her. She saw several pegasi bucking the clouds causing friction and static to produce bolts of lightning. They all looked so busy and important up there, making sure the weather worked just for them and that it was all controlled. She wondered how miniscule she must be in the grand scheme of things, how unimportant she was. She then shook her head, removing those thoughts from her mind. Now was not a time for such thoughts.

She neared the corner of the nearest block and produced a big smile at the sight of the newly repaired crater on the side of her Tree. Good thing too, because just then the wind began to pick up and the rain began to pour harder. Darned weather ponies! Anyway, Twilight galloped to her front door pushing it open with her hoof and quickly ran inside before shutting it closed once again. Sighing a breath of exhaustion, gladness and relief, she heard Spike snoring up on the balcony. She let a small smile crack through her tired features, happy to know that Spike was still going to be Spike and that he was just fine. She quietly made her way up the stairs and saw Spike’s peaceful yet obnoxiously loud form in his dragon bed. As quietly as she could, she carefully lay Fluttershy on her bed, making sure that her magical bubble didn’t pop and make a loud noise. She then grabbed for herself a sleeping bag and a spare for the Doctor for them both to be able to sleep in, and grabbed a few pillows as well so they didn’t have to rest their heads on the hardwood of the main floor. 

She then made her way back down with the unconscious Doctor to the bottom floor and set up on the carpet in the middle of the room, only to realize something she hadn’t noticed after all the excitement of the day. She had expected her Library to patch up the hole in the side of the tree, yes, but what she had not expected was for the Library to have been completely refurbished to it’s original glory, as if it were never damaged at all! The only thing that indicated such an event had even happened was the monolith that stood near one of her bookshelves. The monolith, that was the Doctor’s blue box. Her mouth could only drop in astonishment and wonder and surprise as all of the beauty of her destroyed-but-now-renewed library came flooding to her senses. Before exploring her pristine and fixed up Library however, she put the Doctor inside his sleeping bag, put a pillow under his head, and made sure she put him into what she thought was a comfortable position. Satisfied that all was well with the Doctor and Fluttershy for that matter, she began to reminisce and explore her fixed up Library.

She began to walk around. As she examined her home, she couldn’t help but have her eyes rest first on the now beautiful looking and bright new “Police Box” that stood in her Library. Now that it didn’t lay in a smoldering, burning crater, she saw how the Doctor would find it a piece of work. It gave off a very strange but pleasant vibe, it’s windows glowing a healthy white. All four sides were visible now, but the 4th side didn’t vary much from the other two sides surrounding the doors. The writing at the top, “POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX,” glowed a warm and gentle yellow. She could now also clearly see the writing both doors and panels. On the left door was a glowing white cupboard-looking square that was present inside the middle panel of the left door. It’s black words contrasted very well with the glowing backdrop. From left to right in vertical order, it said: 



POLICE TELEPHONE



FREE


FOR USE OF


PUBLIC



ADVICE & ASSISTANCE


OBTAINABLE IMMEDIATELY



OFFICER & CARS


RESPOND TO ALL CALLS



PULL TO OPEN



Twilight could only understand half of what that really meant. As far as she knew, the word “car” didn’t exist, or if it did she had no idea what it means or what it was. She also didn’t know what a “telephone” was, but she just decided that she would ask the Doctor later. She also saw a small little handle attached to the panel, and pulled on it, finding an odd looking device attached to a cord which led to a black object with a small circular dial that held numbers in it. The device itself had a curved shape, with one smoothened raised circular grate jutting out from the top end which was held to the panel itself by two hooks that formed a sort of ledge. The bottom end was less elegant than the top, with an added ledge of sorts attached to it’s own circular grate and was attached to the cord which led to the black object that lay inside the small cupboard-type space. She saw the numbers 1 through 9 going in a clockwise circle and a raised upper dial jutted above the initial object which had small holes that displayed the numbers themselves. Curious, she twisted the dial with her hoof and found it made a clicking noise whenever it moved clockwise and then proceeded to rotate back again to it previous position. She also floated the curved appendage of the black object off of its ledge and was surprised when it began to make a droning noise from the top raised grate. She dropped it with her magic in surprise, and cringed when it made a loud smacking noise against the wooden doors. Not wanting to meddle with this alien machine anymore and risking waking up the Doctor, she put it back on it’s hooks and closed the panel.

She then turned her attention to the right door. An image or what she thought was a sticker was stuck to the middle of the middle panel on the right door. To her, the image looked like an odd looking flower.  Upon closer inspection however, she saw that it said on the top from left to right first curving up and then down clockwise: “ST. JOHN AMBULANCE.” There was also one big symmetrical cross in the middle with a smaller one just below the dark circle that the big cross lay in. In between the crevices of the big cross’ triangular bars lay what looked to be two unicorns and two griffins opposite from each other. Turning her attention away from the sticker, she could only think of how blue the box itself was. Perhaps the bluest blue she had ever seen.

She then heard a humming coming from the box itself. Pressing the side of her face and ear to it and putting two hooves on the box, she could feel the box vibrating. Purring, if you will, as if it were a cat. As if it were... alive, however daft that may seem. It felt alive... sentient. She felt that if she would stay there long enough, it could talk to her. Finally, she took one step back away from the police box, and put her hoof on the main door’s handle, and pulled. It didn’t budge. Trying again, she pulled even harder. No luck. She then thought of something, something that went against what the panel on the left door said. She pushed, and…

Nope.

Shrugging in defeat and not wanting to inspect the Doctor’s box anymore, she began to inspect her Library. There were no splinters of wood or sparks present. It didn’t smell like wet wood, or burning wood. There were no marks or indentations anywhere. The crater that the blue box previously lay in was nowhere to be found. Instead, she found the floor where the crater would’ve been to be fully intact and looked, felt, and smelled as if it wa the same old wood that it was prior to it’s destruction. That spot of floor even had that stupid squeak in the floorboards that had bugged her for the first week of her stay in Ponyville. She smiled when she began to step on it, producing the same now-satisfying squeak as it had always done, but remembered people were resting and quit it.

Walking to her bookshelves, she found all books intact and in their proper place, with no variation or deviation at all to her previous organization methods and found the same spots of dust which she had been meaning to tell Spike to clean earlier that day before the Doctor crashed in. She would’ve thought that such dust pockets would’ve been aired out as soon as the blue box had crashed in, what with the draft and all but they looked the same to as they were that morning. She then quietly made her rounds around all of her bookshelves, making sure, absoutely sure, that no books were missing or out of place or damaged. And to her shock, none were! None were missing, none were damaged, none were smoldering with sparks, and none were sopping wet. She could only sit down on her rump and stare at her bookshelves for a good quarter of an hour.

She then whipped her head around and found her desk on the main floor to be completely organized and put away. She walked over to it, running a hoof across it’s polished wood, and opened the drawers to find all the papers that were previously on her desk to have been sorted through and put in the right place. She felt that it could’ve been Spike who had done that, but she also knew that her desk and documents had caught fire when the Doctor crashed in. She took a few steps back, trying to process everything. Same old desk, same old library, same old everything. But there was one last thing she needed to see to tell if everything was real and was truly fixed. 

She headed over to the table she had been reading her book that after at. It was completely fine. It had no damage, it’s leg’s were all intact, and her cup of tea was still there. Wait… her cup of tea?! China is not easily repaired, but when she saw her teacup and plate, the very same cup and plate she had thought had been broken that afternoon, she found that it was all patched up. She would never have known it was broken at all if she hadn’t witnessed it herself. Her book, which she had also witnessed to be half burned and sopping wet was there as well, perfectly fine. She then found her favourite cushion, the same shade of red that it was at the time of it’s destruction. It used to be a bright and vibrant crimson, but had dulled over months and years of use. She then pulled out the scrap of the cushion from just that afternoon, which was covered in soot and scorch marks, and compared it to the fabric and quality of the cushion that was in front of her.

It was an exact match.

She then remembered what the Doctor had said almost immediately upon crashing in and introducing himself. “Really, truly am sorry. I’m the Doctor and I swear, I will fix your home…” Could it have been him? But it couldn’t have, she was there the whole time with him. She would’ve known if he had run off to fix her library. More than that, he wouldn’t have been able to notify anyone else about the Library being destroyed because he was being watched the whole time. The only way he could’ve fixed it was if…

No...Twilight thought, shaking her head and then glancing at the unconscious Doctor. It can’t be… It’s just not possible! He’s not even a unicorn, he wouldn’t be able to do that kind of magic. It isn’t even possible that he could know about Star Swirl’s spell! That area is only accessible by a few ponies, one of them being me… And I made sure to make it as hard as swimming through molasses to find that spell!

All these thoughts were beginning to hurt her head, and a slight pounding began to reach her head. She shook her head, and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She attributed it all to the Doctor’s strangeness rubbing off on her, or her own fatigue of the day. She concluded that it would be best for her to get a good night’s rest this time around instead of staying up all night. She also decided to tell Princess Celestia about all the things that had happened today. After all, she would need to know about the new inter-species relations between Zygons and Ponykind. Giving out a big yawn and stretching her whole body out giving a sigh of satisfaction, she yawned once more and climbed into her sleeping bag. Settling down for the night, she turned to the Doctor, who lay a few feet away from her. He could see his sleeping bag go up and down to the rhythm of his breathing, and began to hear him muttering things in his sleep. Already in a comfortable position and drowsiness taking hold, she felt her heavy eyelids close and listened to the steady hum of the TARDIS and the mutterings of the Doctor, before finally slipping away into a blissful unconsciousness.





Twilight awoke the next day to the smell of delicious cooking. She shuffled in her sleeping bag, smiling at the scrumptious aroma, and smacked her lips. Still half asleep, she thought she was dreaming and opened her eyes, realizing she was, in fact awake. Groaning at the sight of light coming in from the blinds in the treehouse, she grunted and crawled out of her sleeping bag, still not believing what was coming from the kitchen. She then heard voices, and stood up, stretching and popping a joints, feeling the gas bubbles being released and sighing in great relief, she began walking to the kitchen with her eyes half-lidded. As she turned the corner of the door to the kitchen, she could see Fluttershy gobbling up as much food as she could while Spike ate as much as she usually ate. They were also laughing at each other, one of them apparently having told a joke.

She saw multiple piles of food lined up on the dining table. She saw stacks of pancakes covered in syrup and butter, the pancakes having a golden tone to it. She could see eggs and scrambled eggs in big platters. She also could see what seemed to be a chocolate fountain and some desserts laid out for after they finished their breakfast. Or was it lunch? She just shrugged and called it “brunch” in her head. Fluttershy and Spike then noticed who was standing in the door way and invited her to come in.

“Twilight! You need to come and try this.” Spike said, pointing to the mountains of food behind him.

“You really should, uhm, Twilight. It’s very good.” Fluttershy said, and then inhaled another plate of pancakes, filling it with even more.

“Suuure! Just one question,” Twilight paused, “Who made all this?”

Just then, the Doctor walked in with a chef’s hat and an apron that said “Universe’s Best Cook” on it. He was balancing another stack of pancakes on his back, and carefully handled a bowl of magenta liquid with his left forehoof.

“I did! You can thank me later, because I’m about to feast with you.” He explained, putting his delicious creations on the table, then pulling up a chair. He motioned for Twilight to come sit with them, and she slowly did so, sitting on her rump on one of the 8 chairs that surrounded the table. After being given a plate of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and a cup of the light purple liquid. She then carefully cut a piece off the pancake in front of her, and began to float it to her mouth. Just as she was about to take the bite, she noticed the two ponies and dragon present looking at her with encouragement and anticipation, as if waiting for her reaction. She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as the delectable food stuff entered her mouth. A whole world of flavour exploded in her mouth as she chewed her first bite, her eyebrows rising to a point of surprise and deliciously good awesomeness, and began to stuff her face in the same manner as Fluttershy. Fluttershy had now finished (to her knowledge) 4 plates of this unbelievably good tasting by product of the Doctor’s cooking. She never knew breakfast could be this good!

“MOH MRAH SHWEET SHELESHTIA SHISH ISH AMESHING!” She exclaimed through a full mouth, unable to contain herself. She began inhaling the first pancake on her plate, then the next, then the next, all the while eating the eggs with it and drinking some of the out-of-this-world drink she had been given. She then saw the Doctor smiling to himself as he ate as she would’ve ate, with dignity and manners. She suddenly felt embarrassed with her own savage eating but she couldn’t stop herself. She was completely blown away by how good the Doctor’s cooking was. After they had all finished the main course of brunch, they began to move to the desserts but with less ferocity this time now that they were somewhat used to the Doctor’s stellar culinary skills. There was one cake, a chocolate fountain (which they immediately drained of chocolate), and a bunch of little cookies with a red jelly-type thing in the center and a white filling. They each took a piece of the cake and three or four of the biscuits, and they each now ate with a slowed pace, not wanting to finish all the dessert right away and to now have at least a sense of civilized dining. She could see Fluttershy with a ravenous look of hunger in her eyes, but now very dulled down due to the feast they had just gotten. They then began to talk.

“Sooo… Doctor-” Twilight began and the Doctor raised a hoof, finishing his small bite of cake, and spoke.

“You’re probably wondering where I learned to cook like that, yes?” He asked them, and Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike nodded.

“You’re also probably wondering what the drink I gave you was and what these biscuits,” He held up one of those biscuits with the jelly filled center and cream filling, “Are?”

They nodded again.

“Well my young friends, while on my travels I had lots of time to goof off and mess around. In that time, I learned to cook! Somewhere known as ‘Paris,’ although I don’t know if you guys- er- ponies have one of those around… Anyways! As I travelled, I met many people- er- ponies, and one of them just so happened to be the best cook around the block. He taught me many tricks and tips on how to cook and what to do, the proper combinations and just what spices to put in, and then there just so happened to be a problem with which he needed my help and he repaid me by teaching me his most secret and best techniques which he made me promise never to tell anyone… I mean anypony.” He stopped, then shoved the rest of his cake in his mouth seeing as how everypony else had finished theirs, and then got a biscuit and popped it in his mouth, before washing it down with a cup of water. The drink had run out just minutes before.

“Also,” He continued, holding up another one of those biscuit things, “These are called ‘jammy dodgers.' Delicious, am I right? And that drink you had was an exotic punch made by my special friend with the very rare fruit from the nearly extinct tree known as ‘Ferbilim.’ Don’t know if that exists in these here parts but I most definitely just used up the last of my stock that he gave me.” He finally finished, his face saddening at the loss of his “Ferbilim” juice, but happy that he still seemed to have an infinite supply of jammy dodgers. They had finally finished brunch and they all smiled in satisfaction at the wonderful meal the Doctor had produced for them.

“Thank you.. Erhm…?”

“The Doctor, pleasure to meet you.” The Doctor supplied for Fluttershy, and she blushed as she shook his hoof.

“Yes, uhm Doctor… Thank you for the meal. I don’t know what came over me, I just felt like I could eat a whole planet! Sorry for my uncouth table manners this meal.” Fluttershy whispered, and she tried to hide behind her mane, curling it with her hoof. The Doctor winked at Twilight, and he shook his head. He dismissed the apology in a way that made Fluttershy laugh and brought the energy back into the room, and Twilight raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. He just shrugged.

“So, how do you feel Fluttershy?” The Doctor finally asked, collecting all the plates and getting up from the table.

“I- I’m fine thanks. I just… feel like I’m missing something. I don’t remember getting here, but I do remember..” She trailed off, and then her eyes widened in fear and she squeaked before hiding under the table.

“Are those things still around?” She said in a very high pitched squeak, almost to the point of not being able to understand what she was saying. The Doctor quickly placed what he was carrying down on the kitchen counter before dropping to the floor and addressing Fluttershy face to face under the table.

“Shh… Don’t worry Fluttershy. You’re safe now that I’m here. Don’t be afraid…” He whispered in a soothing voice which made Twilight herself feel like she could withstand an army with the Doctor around. Fluttershy was still quivering with fear, but the Doctor reached out and put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder in comfort. To Twilight’s surprise, Fluttershy immediately calmed down, gave a small smile, and then slowly made her way out of under the table. All the while holding the Doctor’s hoof, she finally stood up and looked the Doctor straight in the eye.

“See? Nothing to worry about.” He said, shining a smile at Fluttershy. Then, to the surprise of the Doctor, Fluttershy embraced him in a hug. She began to cry, saying thank you, and then proceeded to hug Twilight thanking her too, and then crushing Spike in a hug telling him he was a good baby dragon for taking care of Twilight. Twilight tried to hold back a laugh at that one. 

“Although,” The Doctor began, putting a hoof to his chin. Fluttershy turned her attention to the Doctor once again. “I would like to ask, how well would you handle nearly identical copies of yourself?” At this, Fluttershy squeaked again and Twilight facehoofed at the Doctor.

So much for an untroubled Fluttershy.





After brunch, Fluttershy was caught up to most of what had happened to her. Of course, they left out the parts that would have been frightening to her, which was about 90% of what had happened but meh, what can you do? Twilight then told Fluttershy that she could stay with her for the time being while the Zygons repaired the damage done to her home. She guesstimated that they would be or should be done fixing it up by the next day, and told Fluttershy to go catch a breath of fresh air. Twilight also told her to come running straight back to the Library if there was any sign of danger to her, and promised Spike would remain at the Library if she went out. She was going to do so anyways. Just then, Pinkie Pie broke into Twilight’s home practically knocking the front door off of it’s hinges and frightening Fluttershy to the point where she just fainted.

“YAY FLUTTERSHY’S BACK TIME TO PARTAY!” She yelled, activating her party cannon and sending streamers and confetti everywhere. Twilight quickly rushed to Fluttershy’s side to check if she was okay. Twilight then glared very steely at Pinkie Pie. The Doctor could only lean against his box with a bemused expression. Seeing their faces, she shrugged. “What?” The Doctor then walked over to Twilight.

“She’ll be fine, Twilight. Just get her back up to that bed of yours. It seems to be very rejuvenating. Meanwhile…” The Doctor trailed off and walked to his box and put a hoof to the door. With little effort, he pushed it open and walked inside. Twilight sat there flabbergasted beside the unconscious Fluttershy while Pinkie giggled. She had applied a lot of force on that very same door the night before and it hadn’t budged. Now the Doctor just opened it with ease and she couldn’t figure out as to why. Staring the door, it opened once again and the Doctor popped his head out once more with a tremendous smile on his face.

“Just wait till you guys see this! Lemme get dressed first and then I can show you my TARDIS.” The Doctor then popped his head back in, shutting the door once more. She didn’t understand, that box looked like it barely had enough space even for him. And to think there was a wardrobe in there too! She shook her head and lifted Fluttershy with her magic once again. Fluttershy was now in a state of unrest, muttering things herself such as “...not the bees…!” and “...please save me from the monsters…” Hoping the best for Fluttershy, she placed him on her bed once again and shook her head once more. Poor Fluttershy, she’s gonna die of fright one of these days.

Walking back down the stairs, she saw Pinkie eagerly waiting on a very large comfy chair which she had no idea where Pinkie Pie had gotten it from or how she even fit it anywhere. Much less her party cannon, she didn’t understand how Pinkie could do that. Oh well, add that to a whole list of questions still waiting to be answered. Speaking of questions… Where was that letter-? The door to the box the Doctor had called a “TARDIS” suddenly swung open and out came the Doctor, newly dressed. He shut the door behind him, and basically skipped up to Pinkie in barely contained excitement and happiness. She then reached to where Pinkie and the Doctor were about to converse.

“Whaddya think of the new look?” The Doctor said, spinning around and going on his two legs to do the “ta-da” position, but quickly fell to all four hooves, their bodies not being built to stand on two legs only. The Doctor now looked even more freshened up than before, his apron and chef hat now gone, replaced by two simple but remarkably notable pieces of clothing. On his head was a stetson- brand new looking and a shade lighter than brown, it had a small indentation in the front and was flat brimmed for the most part. He also wore a jacket made of some sort of cotton fabric, and was a light sky blue. She couldn’t help but think of the resemblance his hat bore to that of Applejack’s.

“It looks… pretty great actually.” Twilight said hesitantly, but the Doctor smiled seeming not to notice the moment of pause.

“It. Looks. AMAZING!” Pinkie shouted, jumping out of her chair and springing into the air in her trademark jumping party position, and confetti blew out from nowhere. The Doctor could only laugh at Pinkie’s antics and then walked back to his box.

“Now, I haven’t properly introduced you guys to my spaceship yet, but here it goes! This, my friends, is the TARDIS. Now, It’s not as crazy of a name as it sounds! It’s actually an acronym that stands for ‘Time and Relative Dimension in Space.’ Pretty neat, eh? She get’s me around.” The Doctor knocked on the TARDIS’ wood a few times, as if to say “Yeah, it’s reliable.”

“Wait… spaceship? And you’re talking about it as if it’s alive!”

“It is alive.” The Doctor then stopped leaning against it and put a hoof on it in reminiscent wonder. “And yes, it’s a spaceship. Ready to behold what lays inside?” He asked, raising one of his eyebrows and giving a smile that screamed “Please say yes, please say yes!”

“We’re as super-rifically ready as a pony about to get a million cakes stuffed into his face!” Pinkie shouted, and the Doctor blinked a few times.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” The Doctor then put a hoof on the right door, and gave it a soft nudge. It creaked open, making a satisfying squeaky noise. White light seemed to pour out of the box and she could only look at the Doctor in confusion.

“But… that looks like it could only hold half a pony!”

“Then I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” The Doctor responded, a grin on his face. Shaking her head (which she grudgingly admitted to herself she had been doing a lot of recently), she carefully began walking in. Pinkie Pie, unsurprisingly impatient and wanting to find out what was inside, she bounced her way in throwing the doors wide open while yelling “There’s no time for suspense build up when this is way too cool!”

She then finally stepped into the TARDIS and froze. She simply… froze. She had no words to describe how shocked she was at what she was seeing. In the centre of the room lay what she would’ve thought as the TARDIS’ control panels, and a flat planed main floor. A second floor was present with two staircases on either side of the TARDIS’ entrance leading to what was more of a balcony than a second floor. She also saw that the floor was see-through, and saw many wires and cable strewn around and attached many various places underneath the main floor. She also saw a mini staircase leading to the “belly” of the control room to where all the wires were her. Looking elsewhere, she could see 12 different doorways placed in varying places, from in the belly to the main floor and then the second floor. Pinkie was bouncing around, shouting things and exploring the first main area of the TARDIS. The Doctor quietly made his way in behind the stunned magenta mare and had a big smile on his face.

“Well?” He asked, raising an amused and knowing eyebrow. “What do you think? Anything you want to say, any passing remarks? I’ve heard them all.” He then smiled even further when the purple pony ran outside to confirm what she was seeing. Twilight circled the TARDIS and entered several times before running back in and facing the Doctor, only a few feet separating them. Pinkie Pie also stopped exploring, smiled at the Doctor and then at Twilight, stopped bouncing, and stood off to the side of them.

“It’s- It’s- It’s-”

“Spit it out, lady!” The Doctor chuckled, hitting Twilight at the base of her neck and making her say the words she had been thinking the whole time.

“It’s bigger on the inside!” Twilight shouted, and the Doctor walked past her and Pinkie, trying to contain the big smile he felt and attempting to keep a straight face. He got to his control panel and found a book on the panel itself. Grabbing it, he immediately threw it out of the open doors of the TARDIS.

“Is it? I haven’t noticed.” He said, and then flittered about the control panel which was shaped hexagonally, categorizing the control panel itself into six different panels. In the centre of the room and in the centre of the control panel was a very, very long column which went from the belly of the room to the ceiling, where there were giant disks that went from the ceiling down to just below the ceiling in decreasing size with very many strange hexagonal symbols with many more strange markings in it. She couldn’t help but recognize the similarity between these symbols and the once on the let- Pinkie Pie interrupted her train of thought and commented on interior of the TARDIS.

“It’s dimensionally transcendental right? The inside of your TARDIS I mean. The outside exists in this dimension while the interior of your spaceship is in a different dimension entirely, but they’re both readily accessible at the point in time and space! It kinda acts like a doorway, right? Also, I’m really digging this pink-metal theme you’ve got going on. It’s a nice shade and it really contrasts against everything else! Your time rotor is also looking really neat, with all those lights in it.”

The Doctor looked at her with the most shocked expression Twilight had seen him give yet, but she was sure there was more the Doctor would be surprised of from Pinkie Pie. There was always something new to learn about Pinkie. Always. Pinkie then frowned at the look the Doctor was giving her and stopped springing in place.

“What? Pink isn’t that bad. I mean, I’m pink, so I guess I can’t really say. Also, you promised to celebrate with jelly babies with me after we defeated those sneaky sneaky aliens!” Pinkie said, and giggled once more, before the Doctor shook his head and stared at the panel he was at with an intense gaze and then looked at Pinkie with a small smile and an odd look in his eyes.

“Yes, we will do that Pinkie. But I don’t think it would be best to explore my new TARDIS and to celebrate right now though, hm? I think Twilight has somewhere she needs to go.” He began to run around the console again, checking his monitor every few seconds.

“Pinkie Promise you’ll do that with me later Doctor? Explore your TARDIS and eat jelly babies?” Pinkie interjected before Twilight could speak, and the Doctor turned his attention to the pink party pony once more.

“Yes Pinkie, Il- er- Pinkie Promise, as you say.” He then turned his attention back to Twilight. He raised an eyebrow, but she asked him a question instead of saying her priorities at that moment.

“Who are you, Doctor? Really?” She asked, and the Doctor stopped moving so much, resting a hoof on one of the panels and then running and rubbing his hoof along it. He sighed and looked Twilight in the eye.

“Doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is who you’re going to need meeting with. As I said, I recognized you had an urgency to go somewhere this morning, but where exactly?”

“I’m going to meet with the Princesses. I need to tell them about the interaction between Zygons and Ponykind and about the truce you made with them.” She explained and then sat down. Pinkie pulled up a chair and sat down on it, while the Doctor slammed the TARDIS doors closed with a flip of a button. Twilight then lay her head against the railings’ supports. The only reason the railings themselves were there was so that nobody, nopony would fall into the belly on either side and hurt themselves by accident. They were on either side of the walkway toward the command console, and she found it a bit odd that the room was designed with gaping gaps in its floor with only a railing to protect them.

“Where exactly are your Princesses located? I can take you there.”

“Canterlot Castle in Canterlot.” Twilight stated, and the Doctor looked at her with a disbelieving look.

“Canterlot? Really?! Don’t you mean ‘Camelot?’” He exclaimed, whizzing about the console flipping switches and hitting buttons, twisting things and pulling levers.

“No… Canterlot is correct. Why?” Twilight looked at the Doctor expectantly, but her just kept shaking his head and typing things into his monitor. She then heard him mumbling things she didn’t quite understand. He never did give a straight answer, but she still tried to interpret the words he had said.

“Seriously… ponified cities… I should never have mentioned it…”

She then remembered the book that the Doctor had thrown outside of the TARDIS and inquired about it.

“Oh, that silly old thing? It’s the TARDIS manual. A big pile of rubbish I say, although it keeps popping up. Never read it fully. Probably never will.” He said as if it had happened a million times. Twilight just gasped and Pinkie snickered. Twilight could only think of how useful that manual could be, and wondered why the Doctor didn’t just keep it.

“What?!” She exclaimed getting to all four hooves and attempting to open the TARDIS doors. They didn’t budge. “What’s so bad about it? If it could help you drive your spaceship how come you don’t keep it for future reference?”

“Because it says I needed to activate the relative dimensional stabiliser. I strongly disagreed with it so much once I threw it into a supernova (Twilight gasped at that) but it’s handy sometimes… Or, I suppose, hoofy now.” He then stopped at a lever that had six flashing lights on either side. “Grab a hold! Ready?”

“Allons-y!” Pinkie shouted and this time the Doctor agreed with her. Twilight could only shout about how incompetent the Doctor was in throwing such a valuable book of information and to wait for her to find something to hold on.

“Too late!” The Doctor shouted, laughing as he threw the lever forward making it face the column in the middle of the room, and the whole world began to shake. She heard a loud thump, and then a wheezing noise began to emanate throughout the TARDIS, being emitted as well as echoed causing a very dizzying but interesting sound and effect.

“Doctoooooor!” Twilight yelled as she was thrown around the walkway into the railing while everything shook. The Doctor just shouted in glee and yelled “Get used to it!” Pinkie had fallen off her chair at this point and had curled herself into a ball, bouncing around everywhere. She was now everywhere, hitting the walls and just giggling the whole time. She could see from her position in grabbing the railing for dear life that the disks in the ceiling were twisting, each in the opposite direction of each other. She could also see all the round things present in the walls pulsating a specific set of colors: magenta, yellow, pink, cyan, white, and orange, not exactly in that order. Just as quickly as the chaos had begun, it stopped. Pinkie crashed into the Doctor by accident. They were both laughing, and They got up. Pinkie gave an “Aww, it’s over?” and the Doctor just said, “There’s more where that came from.” Heaving from exhilaration and having lost his hat in all the chaos, the Doctor flipped a switch and the TARDIS settled down. Twilight, still clutching the supports of the railings in fear and wide-eyed, she turned to the Doctor.

“You’re insane!” She said, finally able to pry herself off of the railings. She collapsed in an exhausted heap herself, and then got back up onto all four hooves. Pinkie sproinged her way to Twilight and continued to bounce in place. At this remark, the Doctor began looking for his hat which had fallen onto a padded metal bench near the console.

“You’re right, I look like an idiot without my hat.” He nodded in agreement, and stuffed the hat back on. He then turned to Twilight. “Well, aren’t you going to go?” He pointed a hoof at the TARDIS doors. He then, with difficulty, smacked his two hooves together making a snapping noise, and the doors opened.

“Anywhere away from here!” She said frantically, and she dashed out the door... Right into the palace doors. Pinkie and the Doctor immediately burst out laughing while Twilight rubbed her hoof on her muzzle.

“Hey! That’s not funny.” She whined, and got back up.

“It is so!” Pinkie laughed and snorted uncontrollably. The Doctor was hugging his chest in pain at laughing too much. Twilight then growled in anger, and then stomped her hoof down.

“Here, I’ll move the TARDIS.” The Doctor finally said, still snickering. He shut the door closed and pressed a few buttons, before he flipped the same switch This time, the TARDIS only made a thump, a wheeze, and then a thump with no delay and no shaking. Opening the doors once again, she now saw that they were a ways away from the castle and were at the edge of the suburbs of Canterlot where Canterlot Castle loomed over in majestic beauty. Harumphing, she turned to the Doctor.

“Now, if you don’t mind, Me and Pinkie will be on our way.”

“No, you will be on your way! The Doctor has to show me around!” Pinkie said, and Twilight grunted in disbelief, exiting the TARDIS. After making sure she had walked away for a good minute, the Doctor closed the doors to the TARDIS, leaning against it with his whole body as if bracing himself for something. The Doctor and Pinkie blinked at each other for a few seconds, both with a flat expression, and they simultaneously burst out laughing. They laughed for a full minute before wiping the tears of laughter from their eyes and getting up, both out of breath.

“Is she always this uptight?” The Doctor asked Pinkie, shaking his own head in disbelief and still having a few laughs he was trying to contain.

Pinkie blanched once again, and then her face broke into a face that said “You wouldn’t believe.”

Ah, the things we put up with to have friends, am I right?


> Chapter IV - Doctor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Chapter 4-

DOCTOR


“I have got to say, the TARDIS regenerated into a much bigger form than I ever thought she would,” the Doctor said as he walked ahead of Pinkie. They began exploring the main room first. It was a good thing the wardrobe was directly accessible from the main room, because he hadn’t wanted to spoil his own curiosity of what was in store for him in his new TARDIS. “Although, I suppose, I am equine now, in an equine universe. We take up a lot more space what with being on all fours now. Remarkably as well, your homely village of Ponyville is in the same geo-universal coordinates as modern day Cardiff and Canterlot is the same as London! Funnily enough, I don't ever remember mountains being in the topography of London and there aren’t any large bodies of water around…”

“Oh shut up silly! You’re in a completely different universe, there’s bound to be differences,” Pinkie said as she followed the Doctor around. He began closely studying everything in the TARDIS. To him, the main console itself was a few inches lower than it was before. There was pink metal making up a lot of things, and it weaved in and out of the clear floor beneath their hooves. The metal held together all the glass that let them see directly into the under-room below. The ceiling was made of a matte metal that was similar to aluminum, and the stairs were pushed up right against the walls of the room, making it only need one set of railings for each staircase. 

On the second floor was a small library, with a cozy chair and a nice tea table present surrounded on 3 sides by the library’s bookshelves, while the other side was a grandiose view of the TARDIS’ time rotor and the hugeness that was the room itself. The balcony that the library and the reading space were on had a railing at the edge for obvious reasons, but it did not detract from the overall view. On either side of the library were doorways with no doors that lead into endless corridors filled with countless rooms. The console unit on the main floor of the main room had itself split into six different organized sections that controlled different parts of the TARDIS. Each panel glowed a nice, warm, and light blue. The time rotor itself inside the column now looked very shimmery, with six different crystal balls present that had its own different colors for each. 

“Pinkie… I wanted to ask- Wait, what?!” The Doctor was suddenly surprised by Pinkie who was now holding a bowl of jelly babies and grinning at the Doctor. He eyed Pinkie who seemed unfazed that she had pulled a bowl of jelly babies from nowhere. Pinkie, seeing his expression, frowned.

“What’s wrong with a bowl of jelly babies?” She asked, popping a few into her mouth. The Doctor looked at her with a mixture of a bemused and a puzzled expression.

“Where did you get that?” He pointed at the bowl she held in her hand. He then pulled out a battered sonic screwdriver from inside his jacket and scanned the bowl of candy. He found it was just a regular ordinary bowl filled with ordinary packets of confectionery sugar goodness, but there was something else... Without warning, his sonic screwdriver shorted out, sparking and then subsequently bursting into flames. He dropped it with a shout, and kicked it away from him. He watched as his beloved screwdriver made crackling noises as the fiery inferno consumed his once fully functioning screwdriver. Pinkie and the Doctor both watched as the small flame reduced the blue instrument to a scorched pile of metal uselessness. After the blaze died out and ran out of viable fuel to add to its exothermic destruction, he trotted over to what remained of his trusty tool and gingerly picked it up. Burning slightly from the still hot metal, he reminisced.

“My sonic screwdriver. Oh no my sonic screwdriver! I loved my sonic screwdriver! How could it possibly have shorted out, unless it got overwhelming… readings…” He turned around slowly to look at Pinkie Pie who was smiling at him with a mouthful of jelly babies. She shrugged.

“What? Your TARDIS has already made you a new one anyways,” Pinkie said casually. As if on cue, the TARDIS made a few whirring and beeping sounds before a small vent opened up in one of the panels. Out if it slowly rose a brand new sonic. The Doctor then trotted over to it, still trying to process what had just happened in front of him. Pausing, he carefully selected his words.

“Pinkie, I wanted to ask-”

“Ask about what?” Pinkie interrupted before popping another one into her mouth.

“How do you know all of that? How can you do all that?” He inquired, trotting over to the new screwdriver and plucking it out of it’s vent. The vent stayed open, probably for posterity purposes, and so that he could have a place to put his sonic other than his jacket pockets. He examined his new screwdriver carefully as he conversed with Pinkie. It now had one crystal chamber going through the whole sonic and coming out very clearly from the top. 

The body of the screwdriver had etches and lines curling around it giving it an archaic and mystical feeling, while uniform grooves were present in the middle. The crystal cylinder could be seen through them, and there were four grooves, each perpendicular to each other. The crystal sticking out the end had been split or cracked into six different sides with a center crystal piece that remained stagnant. The sonic could be extended with a flick or with a slider in one of the grooves, and when done so the six sides popped open like claws, with the middle one acting as the main scanner. 

Activating it produced a whole rainbow of colors, which pulsed and rotated around the six crystal claw hinge-thingies. The middle one however, stayed a constant dark blue, TARDIS blue, in fact. The other colors that coursed through were magenta, cyan, yellow, orange, white, and pink. Much like the time rotors crystal balls.  The sonic whirring it produced now sounded more lyrical than the standard sonic, but it still had the same ring to it that the Doctor had grown to love. The light, when activated, could also be seen through the grooves present and the lines and etches seemed to glow a very faint and soft white.

It came as a surprise to him that he was able to hold on to his sonic screwdriver at all. What with the new hooves and all, he couldn’t believe the adhesivity of his hooves. Then again, this world contained talking equines, unicorns, pegasi, and magic. He turned his attention to Pinkie in the hopes that she would answer his question.

“I just say things and they tend to turn out right. It’s fantastic! Usually I just ramble and ramble and eventually I say things that surprise everypony.” Pinkie hoofed a jelly baby to the Doctor. He took it with relative caution, examining it closely before popping it into his mouth and relishing in the taste. Good as ever. Then grabbed his own hoof-ful of jelly babies from Pinkie’s bowl and pocketed it, before grabbing one more and popping it into his mouth. Pinkie giggled at the Doctor’s antics, and shoved another hoof-ful into her mouth. Astonishingly, it seemed the contents of the bowl had not depleted in the slightest.

“But… How? And how can you do all those things you do? Pulling things from out of nowhere and being impossibly random? And how in the world are you able to eat so much sugar?!” exclaimed the Doctor in surprise as he saw Pinkie shove several more mouthfuls. He pocketed his new screwdriver and stood still, watching Pinkie with a look of amazement, horror, confusion, and mild disgust. After swallowing her candies, she looked at the Doctor with a big naive smile on her face.

“I just have a higher tolerance than most ponies. Nopony knows why, not even me!” She then held the bowl of candy behind her back, and when she pulled her hoof out from hiding once more she had nothing in her hoof. Struck with complete astonishment, he quickly galloped behind Pinkie, but there was nothing there. Opening his mouth once again, Pinkie shoved her hoof into his mouth (again, pulling it out from nowhere) effectively silencing him, and smiled at the Doctor.

“Ah ah ah! You’ve asked questions, now it’s my turn.” She then pulled her hoof out of his mouth and took a few steps back. She watched as the Doctor tried rubbing off the taste of her hoof from his mouth by rubbing his tongue with his two hooves. Gagging and spitting, he then looked at Pinkie with all of his attention and with annoyance. “But first, you have to show me more to the TARDIS than just the control room!” Grumbling, the Doctor stood up and led her to the most eye catching doorway. The main corridor, as it was. 

His smile then began to return. He hadn’t yet bothered to check what lay in store for him other than his newly decorated and surprisingly pinkish design. He began to feel giddy with excitement, and his grin finally came back full power. He could feel the TARDIS wanting to be explored. “What you have this time, sexy?” He whispered, and he then gazed at Pinkie. Pinkie was now looking at him expectantly. Coughing as if to get the attention of everypony there, he flashed a toothy smile.

“Welcome all! Welcome one,” said the Doctor, and then pointed his hoof into the corridor. He looked into the corridor, then at Pinkie, and straightened his hat.

“In here is a whole new world to explore! Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Oh yes! Goody!” Pinkie responded, and clapped two hooves together and bean jumping sporadically. With a toothy grin, he headed into the corridor, and they began to explore.

“Exhibit A, the TARDIS!”




 ~~~


I can’t BELIEVE those ponies! UGH! Twilight thought as she walked away from the TARDIS. 

She could hear the doors creak shut, and she thought she could hear the faintest sound of laughter. After seeing the interior of the TARDIS and moving dozens of kilometres in a few seconds, she was about ready to call it quits for the day. Even though it was barely noon and she practically just woke up, there was already too much on her mind for her to handle in one sitting. It would require long silent hours and several cups of tea for her just to fathom how the TARDIS could possibly be bigger on the inside. Although… Pinkie did explain it in a way that sort-of made sense.

It’s like having cube near you and a room really far away. The cube is there, right in front of you while the room really far away seems to be able to fit into the cube. In the case of the TARDIS, both the cube (or the box the TARDIS takes the form of) and the room were directly accessible at the same point in time and space. Speaking of time… The acronym made little sense to her. “Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.” Did that mean it could travel in time as well? Was that how the Doctor could’ve done what he had done? But… but how? He didn’t strike her as magical. The “Space” part of the acronym made little sense either. He had already established that it was a sort of spaceship, but how it had moved them from one space to another in the blink of an eye made her even more confused. The question still remained: How? She pushed the thoughts aside for another time as the castle doors came into view.

After several minutes of trotting and with the TARDIS no longer in sight, she found herself nearing the castle’s main doors and soon found herself muzzle to muzzle with two ponies of the Royal Guard. Recognizing the purple mare immediately, the two guards acknowledged her.

“Element-bearer and Personal Protogé of Princess Celestia Twilight Sparkle!” One of them said.

“Welcome back to Canterlot Castle. What brings you to this place at this time?” The other guard said.

“Please, just call me Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight blushed at the greeting. Twilight then cleared her throat, and recomposed herself. “I’m here to talk to the Princesses concerning matters in Ponyville.”

“Very well Ms. Sparkle. However, the Princesses are occupied at the moment and are currently in a meeting with some of the Canterlot nobility. Would you care to address her another time?” Said the guard on the right, hesitating before he and the other guard opened the doors.

“I’m sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will want to hear about this,” Twilight stated. The guards nodded and they both pushed the door open. The guard pony on the left then held his hoof out towards the open doors in a sign of welcoming.

“I’m sure you know the way, Ms. Sparkle?”

“Yes, thank you,” Twilight responded, and she entered the castle grounds.

How long had it been since she was in Canterlot Castle? It had to have been a couple of months at most. Ever since the whole deal with King Sombra, the guards around the castle had come to know her more as a savior of Equestria than the personal protogé of one of the Princesses. As she entered the castle and began making her way to the throne room, she began to think. After all that had happened in her life, it was still all too much for her. Being a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony, saving Equestria multiple times with or without said Elements, and also being directly associated with the hierarchy of Equestria. Those were all the many things ponies were getting to know her by, yet she still considered herself as a regular old unicorn. She wasn’t special by any means. Sure, she was taken in by Princess Celestia herself but that didn’t mean she had any extraordinary ability. Sure, she was a bearer of the Element of Magic but that didn’t make her perfect or good at magic. Yet so many thought her to be this perfect mare and envied her for it. Many saw her only for her connections to the Princesses and were jealous of her for that.

Sighing, she rounded a corner after going up to flights of stairs and finally found the corridor with the doors to the throne room. Two guards flanked either side of the door and they looked at her as she walked towards them. There was a carpet that was centered in the middle of the floor running the length of the corridor. With a crimson color to it, it made the three golden suns weaved into the carpet at equidistant intervals stand out, and also contrasted nicely with the golden border on either edge of the carpet. As she came nearer to the throne room doors, she could hear voices. Upon coming perpendicular to the doors and the two guards that, well, stood guard, she cleared her throat.

“I would like entrance into the throne room at this moment please.” Twilight stated, and the two guards looked at each other before looking at her.

“Princess Celestia and Luna are currently in a council meeting with the nobility of Canterlot.” The guard on the right said.

“Miss Twilight Sparkle, we are obligated to decline any attempts to contact the Princesses at the moment.” The other guard said, and Twilight looked at the both of them.

“I have business regarding affairs between ponies and aliens from outer space. I’m sure the Princesses would make an exception,” explained Twilight. The guards looked at each other and shrugged.

“As you wish, Ms. Sparkle,” the pony on the left said, and they both unlocked the door. At that sound, the voices on the other side of the door were hushed, and the doors were pushed open by the two guards. Now wide open, she could see six ponies sitting in a semi-circle. All were facing the Princesses, but were now looking to who had interrupted their meeting. Twilight looked elsewhere from the six ponies and looked towards the Princesses. It seemed both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both bored out of their minds from this meeting because they were now looking at Twilight with genuine relief and profound interest. Princess Celestia smiled at the sight of her favorite student and raised an eyebrow. Princess Luna smiled just as brightly and waved a hoof, blushing when she realized that she was still in a very formal setting and recomposed herself. The Princess’ scribe also looked toward Twilight, recognizing her but wondering why she was there.

“Princess Celestia. Ms. Twilight Sparkle wishes to speak to you.” One of the door guards said.

“Princess, this is an outrage!” One of the nobility said. “Somepony can’t just waltz in here while we’re in the middle of-!”

“Now now, , calm down. Everypony, this meeting is now adjourned. I will inform you all of when we can meet next. For now, I must speak with my student.” Princess Celestia then looked to her scribe.

“Would you please reschedule our next two appointments before lunch?” She asked her scribe, and he scribbled down the requests. The six nobility present then got up from where they sat and began to file out. They all looked at Twilight with resentment and jealousy. She could only look at them with a straight face, not wanting to give them anything else other than what they already saw from her. Somepony who had direct ties to the Princesses. Somepony who could trot into the castle whenever she wanted and be able to talk with the Princesses. Somepony who gets summoned by the Princesses more than Twilight wanted to admit.

Once everypony had left, all who remained were the scribe, the Princesses, and the two guards. Princess Celestia then told the scribe to take a break and to inform those she had rescheduled their meetings with. After doing so, the two guards closed the doors, shutting the throne room off and giving them some privacy. Twilight then cantered toward Princess Celestia and hugged her around the neck with two hooves. Princess Celestia embraced her with one wing, and nuzzled her. She then stepped away down the steps and felt some warmth in her cheeks She had just hugged one of the Princesses without permission!

“Sorry, Princess. It’s been awhile,” Twilight said. She stepped down the stairs and looked up towards both Princesses, and bowed.

“Please, Twilight, there’s no need for formalities here.” Princess Celestia then stretched her wings out and sat up, stretching her legs. Princess Luna did the same, but fostered a long and tired yawn. Twilight got up from her bow.

“Sister, why must I have been awoken for such a boring and pointless meeting?” Princess Luna asked Celestia, and Celestia smiled at her little sister.

“The Canterlot nobility had requested your presence today my dear sister. Besides, now Twilight is here to lighten the mood! I know I need a break from those high-headed ponies.” Princess Celestia then smiled warmly at Twilight. Twilight then recomposed herself.

“Twilight! We would like to know why thou hast come to” - Luna yawned once again- “meet with us this day!”

“There’s been… An incident in Ponyville.”

“What kind of ‘incident’?” Celestia asked, now intrigued. What had happened in Ponyville that was so important for Twilight to come and inform the her and Luna about it?

“I’ll start from the beginning. I was just having a nice normal day, when I remembered I had something to do at Rarity’s boutique. After coming and meeting with her, we heard this sound that could be heard for kilometres everywhere! Rainbow Dash heard it from Cloudsdale! And then we found out that something had crashed into my Library…” Twilight began to spin her tale of what had happened the day previous. Come to think of it, she had heard what sounded like a very faint explosion the other day… Celestia couldn’t help but feel like what she was saying sounded familiar, something she had read but hadn’t remembered about for a long time.

“...and then he said his name was ‘The Doctor’!” Celestia’s face turned from one of contemplation to one of shock. Twilight noticing this, paused her story. She looked at her mentor nonplussed, wondering why she reacted that way to her mention of “The Doctor.”

Celestia couldn’t help but turn to her sister, who stared on in the same shock that she felt. Luna slowly turned her head towards Celestia, the implications of what this meant present in both of their eyes. Celestia then looked back at her student, and she furrowed her eyebrows.  If this truly was the Doctor… They needed to make sure.

“Twilight…Would you care to elaborate?” Celestia slowly inquired, unsure of what to make of it. Twilight gulped, hesitated, and began to describe the Doctor.

“He’s… He just crashed into my life one day. Literally crashed… And he’s just so mysterious. He’s so young, but he feels so old… Like he’s seen too much,” Twilight began to explain. Celestia kept staring at her student, content on learning more.

“He’s so kind, yet so angry. So very alone, yet all too happy… And when I think he can’t surprise me anymore it seems he has something else up his hoof. And his box! He has this box, a TARDIS he calls it, that’s bigger on the inside! He’s just all kinds of insanity and madness… but he’s amazing,” finished Twilight. Celestia looked at her student with as little emotion as possible, not wanting to show any more to her faithful student.

“Thank you Twilight. Now please, continue your story,” Celestia asked of her student. Twilight nodded, and recommenced to tell the tale of the Doctor’s first adventure with them, and their encounter with the Zygons. At their mention, the two sisters looked at each other once more, and they kept listening. The truce between Zygons, what the Doctor had done, her repaired library. Finally, she recounted that morning, starting with the Doctor’s outstanding cooking. The two royal sisters laughed at that.

“Yes, I suppose he does make the best breakfasts,” said Princess Luna. Celestia nodded with a smile. Twilight looked at the both of them with confusion. Why were they referring to him as if they were old friends, unless..? No, she thought. Stop it right there. No more assumptions until there is factual evidence.

“Anyway… we travelled in the TARDIS, somehow moving from one spot to another in just a few seconds. I didn’t even know that was possible with any mode of transportation! I mean, teleportation was one thing but moving an entire room?” Twilight shook her head. “After that… I guess now I’m here.”

There was silence after her story retelling. Celestia and Luna believed it with all their hearts of course. After that whole fiasco with Chrysalis… Well, enough said. But yet there was more to it than just that.

“Thank you, Twilight.” Princess Celestia finally said. Twilight sighed in relief, not knowing why she was tensed up anyways. Probably just nerves from the past day and meeting with Celestia once again.

“That’s it, Princess Celestia. That’s everything. I just thought that it would be appropriate to tell you in-pony about everything that had happened,” said Twilight.

“And thank you for that. Now, I believe we have both taken up enough of each other’s time for now. Please, Twilight. After hearing the events of the past day, I believe it would be best for you to rest. And maybe even tell your friends about it too.”

“But… what about the Doctor?” asked Twilight, and Princess Celestia smiled.

“Don’t abandon him, Twilight. He needs you. He needs everypony he can get. Trust him, Twilight. Do that for us. For him. For me,” the Princess said, and Twilight nodded. Turning around to leave, Celestia stopped her.

“Twilight! Wait… Take this-” Celestia floated a book of the bluest blue she had ever seen, TARDIS blue, towards Twilight. It even looked like the TARDIS, with its panels on either side. She also floated a saddlebag with a few books already in it. “-and record everything to do with the Doctor. All your adventures, all your stories, all of his blunders and all of your mistakes. One day, it will come in hoofy.” Twilight nodded. She put the journal in her new saddlebag and promised to return said saddlebag later. “And one last thing, Twilight. Take this letter. Give it to the Doctor. Make sure he receives it. Make sure only he is the one to see it’s contents. Not even you, Twilight. Lastly… Thank you.” Celestia floated a small, white and crisp envelope toward Twilight. Twilight took it with her own magic, nodded once more, and placed it in her saddlebags.

“See you later, Princess Celestia!” Twilight waved a hoof, and she waited for the doors to open before she walked out of the throne room.

“Have safe travels, my dear student! Be diligent and unwavering!” Celestia waved a hoof, and Twilight smiled at her. Finally, Twilight left and the throne room doors shut close once more.

“Sister, does this mean what I think it means?” Luna asked, looking in the direction of the now closed doors.

“Yes, yes it does Sister.” Celestia’s horn glowed with the same sheen of light as the sun. Behind her, a book of the same build as the one she had given to Twilight floated in front of them. This book, however, was dirtied, tattered, and beaten up. Its pages had already begun to yellow due to it’s old age, and it seemed to have seen many adventures throughout it’s lifetime. Flipping it to the first dozen pages, she and Luna began to read. Even though Luna was dog tired from staying up all night and keeping the nightmares at bay, she had enough energy for this.

“I guess we’ll be meeting you very soon, Doctor.” said Luna. Luna then smiled with her sister at the old withered pages with neat tidy writing, and read.




~~~



“Achoo! ACHOO!” the Doctor started sneezing for no apparent reason.

“OH! Somepony must be talking about you!” Pinkie smiled, and the Doctor looked at Pinkie. He had heard of that superstition before. He obviously didn’t believe it, hadn’t believed it, but with Pinkie he figured anything goes.

“Must be.” he said speculatively. They had been walking for around about 15 minutes, and they had come across 3 rooms so far. The first room they encountered was the kitchen. Surprisingly large and looking like it could hold 7 ponies, Pinkie squealed at the sight of it. She then proceeded to make a huge mess and somehow whipped up a batch of cupcakes that took less than a minute to cook in the TARDIS’ ovens. At the *ding* of the oven, Pinkie donned a chef’s hat, mitts, and an apron from nowhere and hummed a tune to herself as she pulled out the cupcakes. She then inhaled the aroma, let it cool for a bit, and then proceeded to wrap them up on a plate and stuff it in her mane. The Doctor stood flabbergasted. Luckily for them, Pinkie had saved three cupcakes. One for him, one for Pinkie, and one presumably for Twilight. She then ran out of the kitchen with one of the cupcakes, and came back empty-hoofed. Pinkie then handed him a cupcake and swallowed hers in one bite.

“Uh… Thanks, Pinkie,” the Doctor said, and bit into his glazed confection. WIdening his eyes, he made a “not bad!” frown and finished his cupcake. They then walked into the main library, a room that seemed to go on forever and forever.

“Booooring!” Pinkie had said, bouncing past the large room filled with vast amounts of knowledge that Twilight would surely have drooled at if she knew this was here. They then moved on to one room that lead to another short corridor with six doors. They each had a symbol on it, and he recognized three of the six symbols. One had Twilight’s rump mark, one had Pinkie’s rump, and one had Fluttershy’s rump mark. The other three symbols were of three diamonds, a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, and one with three apples. Looking at the symbols reminded the Doctor of a pressing question he had about the ponies of this universe.

“Pinkie… I’ve been wondering, what are the symbols that so dominate the posteriors of the equines here?”

“Their called ‘cutie marks’, silly! They kind-of signify what your talent is. Mine is three balloons, see?” she practically shoved her flank at the Doctor showing the two blue and one yellow balloons on her flank. “This means I’m a party pony! As you can tell!” she then pulled a party horn from nowhere and suddenly had a party hat on, and blew into the party horn. Seemingly from everywhere, confetti blew out and made a horn sound in sync with Pinkie’s horn. The confetti settled, rainbow pieces of paper now everywhere on the TARDIS floor. He was surprised as well to find his own party hat present on his head, resting atop his hat. Pulling it off, he gave it to Pinkie.

“How about Twilight’s mark? What does that mean?” the Doctor asked. Pinkie shrugged.

“I dunno. I mean, there’s six stars and there’s six Elements of Harmony so…” the pink party pony trailed off, somehow making everything disappear once again. Even the confetti on the ground disappeared. Continuing on, they began walking again.

“So by this logic, would Fluttershy’s ‘cutie mark’, as you say, mean she’s good with insects or animals in general?”

“Oh yeah! Fluttershy’s GREAT with animals,” said Pinkie. After this, they suddenly encountered the swimming pool. Pinkie widened her eyes and gasped, inhaling what seemed to be an unhealthy amount of air. The Doctor saw what Pinkie was going to do and stuck a hoof out in front of Pinkie.

“Not now, Pinkie. I don’t exactly want you tracking water all across the TARDIS. I don’t think she would like that at all,” explained the Doctor. Pinkie then downcast her eyes and visibly deflated. “Don’t worry though, you’ll definitely get the chance later.” Pinkie nodded and walked beside him for once, before returning to her usual self and bouncing once again. The Doctor then saw a door that had the number “13” on it. Before the Doctor could tell Pinkie not to open it, she barged into the room. The Doctor grudgingly followed her in.

It was his memory room. In thirteen different display cases were thirteen different sets of clothes. His eyes first rested on the fourth display stand in the row, one with a long scarf and a fedora. He then rested on the next case that showed a set of Edwardian cricket clothes. His eyes skimmed over the sixth display stand in the row, not wanting to think about the bright colours too much. His eyes looked at the tenth display stand, which had a leather jacket. The eleventh display stand had a long trench coat with a brown striped suit. The twelfth had a bowtie, a frock coat and trousers, and a fez and a mop. The thirteenth and final display stand in the line had magicians clothes, with a sweater present at the bottom signifying his thirteenth incarnations’ tendency to wear a sweater. His eyes finally rested on the ninth display stand in the row, which had a worn and old brown leather overcoat, which covered a dark brown waistcoat and a bandolier that held a silver sonic screwdriver.

“Pinkie… Please… Let’s leave this room,” the Doctor said, his voice silent. He did not want to remember all those terrible things he had done. Pinkie stopped her bouncing and noticed the Doctor’s attitude had changed. Before she could stop herself, she pounced and surprised the Doctor with a hug.

“Doctor…Don’t be sad.” Pinkie held the Doctor tighter when she realized he was shaking a little. “Tell me, Doctor. What’s bothering you? I Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” she stuck a hoof into her eye and stuck her tongue out, prompting a small laugh to escape the Doctor’s mouth. Pinkie stepped away from him and watched what he would do.

Sighing, the Doctor looked elsewhere from the display stands and saw two different display cases that held pictures of every companion he had ever had. His eyes were drawn to a picture of a blond haired girl. Not being able to bear the thought of Rose, he moved on to the next frame. The girl who walked the Earth. He smiled at the remembrance of Martha. Then came a picture of a red haired woman. The most important woman in the universe. Blinking away new tears, he looked at a happy couple, a red haired girl and a brown haired man, both looking straight out of the picture. The Ponds Who Waited. Now silently crying, he looked at the next two pictures with blurred vision. The Impossible Girl, and a brown skinned girl with puffy hair.  He then skipped the last picture, not wanting to remember her. But he couldn’t help but notice the words engraved in the picture frame of the last picture: “Hello Sweetie.” With tears running down his muzzle now, he looked away from the cases and away from Pinkie, facing the open door.

“I’ve lost so many friends, and I’ve failed too many people,” the Doctor began, “I’ve destroyed so many lives… I just can’t see myself doing that to you, to any of you. Time and time again, I find myself being the one to ruin my companions’ lives.”

Pinkie didn’t know what to say. For once, the pink party pony didn’t know how to cheer somepony up. Shaking her head, she walked in front of the Doctor and looked him straight in the eye.

“Doctor, you will never do that to us. You will never fail me, Twilight, or anypony else that walks into this amazing blue box. Promise to me, Doctor. Promise to me and everypony else that you will never do that, because I know you will keep that promise.” Pinkie said, and the Doctor cast his eyes down. Thinking for a moment, he brought his eyes back up to meet with Pinkie’s, and he had a small smile.

“Even better, I’ll Pinkie Promise,” he said with an even bigger grin. He then stoically put a hoof on his chest and recited the Pinkie Promise words, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Pinkie squee’d and produced a big smile that went from ear to ear. Now satisfied and happy that she made the sad Doctor happy, she began to bounce again.

“Alright, Doctor! You better keep that promise because if you don’t, I’m coming for you!”

They then both laughed and the Doctor wiped away his tears. Taking one more sweeping glance at the room filled with good and bad memories, he faced Pinkie and started out the door.

“Come along, Pinkie, let’s leave this room be.” And they left the memory room, shutting the door behind them.



~~~



Twilight walked back in a stupor of thought.

She couldn’t shake off what she had seen occur between the two Princesses of Equestria. They had talked about- reminisced, if you will, about the Doctor, as if they knew him very well and that they were old friends. There was already too much going on in her mind, and this revelation was just adding to an already overflowing cup of water.

She had taken her sweet time to walk back to the TARDIS. It had taken her several minutes to get out of the castle, even though she knew the castle very well. She finally reached the gate doors to the castle, and turned around once more to look at the looming castle behind her. She then sighed and waited for the doors to open before finally walking out and leaving Canterlot Castle. She could see the TARDIS after about five minutes of walking, and she raised an eyebrow at what she was hearing.

Music could be heard emanating from the TARDIS. The sound of an electrical guitar playing some classical sounding tune. Walking towards the blue box, the sound of music grew ever louder. The tune that was being played then changed from one of lyrical quality to a heavy metal rock. Opening the door, she was suddenly blasted by soundwaves backwards and dropped her saddlebags on accident. She could hear Pinkie’s laughter at the Doctor’s antics, but they both stopped what they were doing when they saw Twilight on the ground.

“Gah!” Twilight had exclaimed when she fell. Getting back up on all four hooves and floating her saddlebag back on, she got a good view of what was occurring in the TARDIS. She could see the Doctor wearing sunglasses of some kind and Pinkie had apparently installed a disco ball as he was playing. The Doctor held a electric guitar in his hooves and pushed his sunglasses up to get a good look at Twilight.

“Why hello, Twilight! Just in time for my grand performance!” said the Doctor, and he then played several chords in quick succession before plucking an insanely fast melody and then sliding on the floor, breathing heavily. “Well?” he asked, wanting to know how he performed in the eyes of Twilight. Pinkie clapped frivolously in the background.

“It was… pleasant,” she hesitated. The Doctor smirked at her and then set his guitar down. He took his shades off as well, and began to run around the console once more.

“Well! We’re all back, fine and dandy!” The Doctor then grabbed a cupcake that lay on one of the panels. “Here’s a cupcake baked by Pinkie herself... Aaaaand we’re off!” Twilight took the cupcake and braced herself as the Doctor flipped dozens of levers and pushed many buttons. Finally pulling a lever down, the TARDIS thumped and the sound of keys scraping against a piano’s chords filled the air once again. The room shook and Twilight dropped the cupcake onto the ground. She then fell herself, dropping face-first into her cupcake. All of a sudden, another thump could be heard and the shaking and wheezing stopped just as quickly as it had started.

Twilight grumbled, swallowing the ever-good baking of Pinkie’s but now annoyed that there was cupcake smeared all over her face.

“Doctor,” she said as she got back onto all four hooves, “Why on Equus does the TARDIS shake like that?” She wiped away the cupcake, sputtering and spitting. Pinkie had seen Twilight’s cupcake face and had begun laughing. Twilight stared daggers at her.

“Because it’s fun!” he shouted, running to the TARDIS doors and swinging them wide open. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle in thought, only to stick out her tongue in disgust at her cupcake covered hoof. Pinkie burst out into laughter once more.

“But… doesn’t that mean it doesn’t have to shake?” Twilight asked, and the Doctor blanched.

“But that wouldn’t be any fun, silly!” Pinkie yelled, dashing out of the TARDIS and into Twilight’s Library.

“What she said,” the Doctor pointed his hoof nonchalantly at Pinkie, before grinning and running out as well. Twilight groaned at the incompetence of the Doctor and walked out as well, nearly tripping on a big white book with emboldened blue letters. “The TARDIS Manual: Egghead Edition.”

“Hey!” she cried out, looking at the Doctor first and then at the TARDIS. “I’m not an egghead!”

“You most certainly are an egghead, Twilight.” Pinkie monotonously said. Twilight snorted in indignation and harrumphed.

“Fine, I’ll just take this manual and learn how to actually fly your spaceship!” Twilight turned her head in stubbornness, putting the TARDIS manual into her saddlebags.

“Like you’re actually going to learn anything from that.” The Doctor pointed at the TARDIS manual that was now sticking out of her saddlebags.

“Well, I’m just going to find my friends and tell them everything that has happened as of late. I’m sure they would want to know about a pony with a box that can travel in space.”

“No, don’t!” The Doctor jumped in front of the door, putting himself between Twilight and the exit.

“And why not?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because I want to tell them myself.”

> Chapter V - The End Of The Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Chapter 5-

THE END OF THE BEGINNING


FWOOSH!

Fwip!

FWOOSH!

Rainbow Dash dashed through the air, performing another one of her trademarked routines. Smirking at her own awesomeness, she hollered in triumph at finishing the last move in her routine, a double barrel roll and a somersault. Pumping one hoof into the air, she got ready to fly back home for a snack when she heard an odd groaning noise. A dry wheezing emanated from nowhere, and soon she found herself gaping in utter disbelief as a blue box materialized right in front of her... mid-air.

“Wha…?” she stuttered, trying to figure out what was going on. It was just floating there, slightly bobbing up and down, even spinning a little. It continued to make a wheezing thump beat, and she hesitantly flew over to it. Touching it with one hoof, she found it was solid. She flew around it a few times trying to take in all the detail, and she found a set of what looked like doors. Curiosity taking a hold of her and seeing nothing to lose, she knocked on it. Backing away from it, she waited a few seconds. Seeing that nothing was happening,Rainbow began to fly away only to hear a creaking noise from a door opening and she stopped in her tracks.

“Bwah!?” she heard someone say behind her. She froze, trying to put a hoof to where she recognized that voice. Turning around slowly, her eyes pupils dilated and her mouth dropped like an anchor. 

Standing in the blue box’s doorway was herself.

“Hubajawhaaa??” was all Rainbow could say. She stared at her look-alike, who had the same look of confusion and disbelief as she did right now. Flicking her eyes behind her imposter, she could see her friends looking at her as well in surprise and their own levels of disbelief.

“Rainbow, that’s enough dawdling,” a voice from behind her doppelganger said. Said copy looked behind her, and back to her, raising a hoof as if to say something. Rainbow-Two then decided against it and trotted backwards, still looking at Rainbow, and the the door closed all on it’s own. The wheezing stopped for a split second, being replaced by a louder and more resonant thump. The box then flashed in and out of reality before fully disappearing, leaving a flabbergasted Rainbow Dash in it’s wake. Rainbow looked around to see if anypony else had seen what she had seen, and then continued to stare at where the blue box had appeared and disappeared.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaat just happened?”





“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie exclaimed, somehow donning a fez and a broom. She burst out of the Library at top speed and left two ponies looking at the open door with wonder.

“Do you know how...?” the Doctor began to ask Twilight. Twilight just shook her head.

“I’ve learned not to question it. Pinkie will be Pinkie.”

The Doctor frowned at that. From the short time they’d known each other, he knew that Twilight was very intelligent and would base many things from fact and evidence. But to see her completely accept that Pinkie would just be Pinkie was… Well... unsettling, to say the least.

Pinkie had gone to tell the remaining three mares they needed to come meet up with them later that night. Fluttershy was already upstairs- admittedly still resting- and Spike was watching over her. Speaking of Spike, Twilight called up to him to see what he was up to.

“Zzzt… Huh? What?” was the response Twilight got. Twilight grumbled and shook her head.

“Spike! You were supposed to watch over Fluttershy, not fall asleep.” Twilight rolled her eyes at the lazy reptile.

“I was! I just… had a quick nap, is all,” explained Spike. He made his way down the stairs and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, disbelief and annoyance clearly present in her tone. Spike nervously began to fiddle with his claws as the Doctor looked at the both of them bickering. He snickered, causing the both of them to look at him.

“What?” he asked innocently. Twilight rolled her eyes, and then remembered something. She magically unclasped her saddlebag, pulling out a crisp white envelope. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

“And what might that be, Ms. Sparkle?” he asked, flicking his eyes to the letter in question.

“It’s a letter from Princess Celestia. I don’t know why but she wanted you to have it.” The Doctor’s eyes widened.

“Nonononono after the whole deal with Queen Elizabeth I am not getting myself entangled with royalty again!” He backed away from Twilight and the letter.

“But she insisted you have it! Here, take it,” said Twilight, and Twilight wouldn’t have it so she took matters into her own hooves and stuffed the letter into his face. The Doctor sputtered, grabbing the letter from off his face and looked at it in his hooves. He then looked at Twilight with a playful look of loathing and opened the door to the TARDIS.

“Fine, I’ll open it. Also, what time was it that you ponies were going to meet back here again?”

“Around midnight,” Twilight replied. The Doctor nodded, and stepped into the TARDIS.

“I’ll see you then!” He shouted from the console. He then flicked a switch, shutting the doors. THUMP! Went the TARDIS, and a mysterious wind picked up around Twilight and Spike as the TARDIS dematerialized. Soon, the wind stopped and the TARDIS was gone. Sighing, Twilight looked to the stairs.

“I guess we’ll have to take the long way ‘round,” muttered Twilight. She and Spike began walking up the stairs to wake Fluttershy.





Later that night…

“Twilight, Ah don’t understand why y’all have brought us here,” Applejack said, looking at Twilight expectantly for answers.

“Yes, yes, all in due time AJ,” Twilight thought aloud. “I just wanted you to meet this new pony I’ve come to know. He helped save Fluttershy-” She smiled at Fluttershy, “-And helped establish peace between ponies and aliens. He also fixed up the Library!”

“There were aliens?” Rainbow cried, throwing her hooves into the air. “How could I have missed out on that?”

“My, your Library looks brand new! It’s as if nothing ever happened! Darling, do tell how such a feat had been accomplished in so little time,” Rarity said. Twilight looked nervously at them.

“Well, that’s just it. I... I just don’t know,” Twilight said as she frowned. Still not wanting to think about it, she was glad to feel a slight breeze pick up in the Library.

“Uh, Twilight?” Applejack began, “What’s up with this here wind? All o’ yer windows are closed and it’s not a windy day.” The vworping of the TARDIS could be heard slowly gaining in strength.

“Wait a minute…” Dash breathed, widening her eyes at the recognition of that noise. She then went full on slack-jawed once again when the TARDIS began to materialize, fading in and out into existence. “But- but- but- wha?” was all Rainbow could say as the TARDIS began to become more solid and visible.

“Squee!” Pinkie could be heard as she smiled at the sight of the blue box. The light at the top still flashing as it finally thumped signifying it’s full rematerialization.

“T-Twilight? H-how did it re a-appear?” Fluttershy stuttered, hiding behind Pinkie Pie. The latter still smiling expectantly at the box. As if on cue, the door opened with a signature squeak and the Doctor stuck half of his body out, gripping the other door with a hoof.

“Elementary, my dear Fluttershy! This-” He then rubbed his hoof on the wood of the police box, “-is the TARDIS. How do you do, I’m the Doctor!” He proceeded to shake the hoof of everypony that was still staring dumbfounded at the impossible box.

Applejack was the first to recover, looking at the Doctor with those same wide eyes. She gulped and tipped her hat at the Doctor. “Howdy.” She then continued to stare at the box, occasionally flicking her eyes at the Doctor.

“I- I- I- wha?” Rarity blundered, raising a hoof and taking a half-step back from the box. She smiled nervously as the Doctor shook her hoof, but kept her eyes on the box as well.

“Hello again, Doctor,” Fluttershy said, twirling her pink mane and accepting a hug. The Doctor smiled at Fluttershy all the same, and Fluttershy smiled back. Rainbow was last to respond.

Rainbow Dash was doing a very good impersonation (or would it be im-pony-nation? of a fish, opening and closing her mouth while looking at the Doctor and the TARDIS. She stuck her hoof out at the TARDIS, apparently having lost the ability to talk. Rarity and Applejack both snapped out of it, realizing that Rainbow was taking this a bit hard.

“R-Rainbow? What’s wrong darling?” Rarity gently asked the poor mare, placing a hoof on Rainbow.

“Ya okay there, sugarcube?” Applejack joined, casting a worried look at Dash.

“...Huh?...” was all Dash could say, as she faced Rarity and Applejack with a distant look. Her eyes then rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground unconscious. Fluttershy gasped and rushed to aid her polychromatic friend.

“What are you all doing falling unconscious? We haven’t even gotten inside the TARDIS yet!” the Doctor huffed, clearly annoyed. Twilight glared at the Doctor causing him to flinch. “Alright, alright! Let’s get her in the TARDIS and we can figure it all out from there. How does that sound?” Twilight nodded, and the Doctor stepped back inside.

“Alright girls, this is where it gets complicated,” said Twilight ominously. She patiently waited for Applejack to hoist Rainbow onto her back, and they all entered the TARDIS.

“Well then, first thing first.” The Doctor rubbed his hooves together as he sat down on a small couch near the control panels. “Fluttershy, over there is the medkit-” he pointed a hoof to where a box with a red cross was present, “-and take your time to take it all in.” He finished with a smile.

Fluttershy gulped, looking around at the interior of the TARDIS, and quietly took the medkit, before quickly fussing over Rainbow Dash. Applejack’s mouth had dropped as she walked into the TARDIS. She quickly laid Rainbow off her back so Fluttershy could better take care of her, and she took her hat off putting it to just below her neck and held it there. Rarity’s eyes sparkled and yet she was also amazed at how much bigger it was on the inside.

“It’s… bigger on the inside.” Rarity whispered.

“Yepperoony!” Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced around the whole room. The Doctor smiled at all of their reactions.

“Fantastic, ain’t it?” he said with a grin. With a click of his hooves, the doors to the TARDIS closed. Applejack recovered once more, and put her hat back onto her head.

“So, it’s bigger on the inside?” Applejack asked. The Doctor nodded in confirmation.

“And it can disappear and reappear?” She inquired once more, and the Doctor shrugged.

“To put it simply, yes, but that’s not all it can do,” he started. Rainbow began stirring and groaned as the Doctor was explaining. She woke up just in time to hear him say “...it also travels in time and space! After all, TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.”

“It… It can travel in time?” Rainbow Dash groaned, holding her head and taking in her surroundings as she returned to consciousness. The Doctor smiled at Rainbow and began to circle the console.

“Why yes, Rainbow. It can travel in time. Let me show you.” He stopped at a monitor and looked expectantly at Rainbow. “Where were you earlier this afternoon?”

“I- Hmm…” Rainbow put a hoof to her muzzle, trying to remember where she was. Her face contorting in remembrance, she told the Doctor, “I was doing my Super-Awesome-Incredibly-Amazing routine over the path to Applejack’s… And then I saw myself after this blue box of yours appeared in front of me during the middle of my routine! I don’t understand. How-?” Rainbow said, but stopped when she saw the raised eyebrows from her friends and the look the Doctor gave her.

“Looks like we must complete the paradox… Alright,” muttered the Doctor, confirming his suspicions. Nodding to himself, he thrust a switch down. “Yippee kayay!” He shouted as the TARDIS shook, thumping, wheezing and groaning. Forgetting she had wings, Rainbow clung for dear life onto the railings present beside the TARDIS doors. There were mixed reactions to the sudden shaking from the others as well. Rarity did the same as Rainbow, clinging to a railing. Fluttershy had jumped at the sudden movement and shut her eyes, only to open them and realize she was flying instinctively. Giving a sigh, she clung to the medkit she had more tightly. Applejack dropped to the floor, putting two hooves above her head to protect it, as well as to keep her hat on. Twilight just stood stock still grounding herself with a small adhesion spell. Pinkie bounced as if the shaking floor was a trampoline. The roundels pulsated a wide array of color, the time rotor moved up and down with each color ball pulsing it’s own color, and the discs in the ceiling rotated. Just as quickly as it started, the shaking and wheezing stopped. The Doctor could be seen checking the monitor, shaking his head and muttering to himself. “Nope, still not feeling it,” he said, referring to what he had said just after he flipped the switch at the start of the paragraph.

“Well then, here we are!” the Doctor said, and then they heard three knocks. The five mares (excluding Pinkie of course) looked at the Doctor with confusion. The Doctor just smiled, flipping a switch. “Turn around, Rainbow.”

Rainbow slowly turned to see a blue coated mare with a rainbow tail about to fly off. Knowing exactly who it was, there was only one thing she could say.

“Bwah!?”

The rainbow maned mare she was looking at slowly turned around, and she saw herself staring at, well, herself. The Rainbow she had met earlier during her routine was herself from the flipping future. She then heard her past self say “Hubajawhaaa??”, and she knew what came next.

“Rainbow, that’s enough dawdling,” said the Doctor. Rainbow raised a hoof in the same manner as what she saw in the past, now knowing what she was going to say. Just then, she got a feeling she shouldn’t do anything more, so she didn’t. She slowly backed away and the Doctor flipped a switch. The door closed once again.

“...Who was that? She looked exactly like Rainbow!” Applejack questioned, pointing a hoof at the door and turning her head at the Doctor. He didn’t respond, quickly flipping a lever and they were off once more. This time however, without the shaking.

“That was Rainbow’s past self, interacting with her future self,” he finally said, stopping his erratic movements around the TARDIS console. He turned to face the mare in question, but addressed everypony present. “As soon as she fainted upon seeing my box, I had my suspicions. She then confirmed them once she mentioned seeing herself.”

“I’m… sorry not all of us seem to understand,” said Rarity, who smiled sheepishly. Everypony except the Doctor, Pinkie and Twilight nodded in agreement. Twilight piped up to answer.

“Rainbow meeting her future self created a paradox. By meeting herself in the past, Rainbow essentially changed her own timeline. That Rainbow would then eventually go on to meet the Doctor, time travel to her own past, and meet herself in the first place.”

“Uhh, come again?” Rainbow asked not understanding a word Twilight had said.

“Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!” Pinkie cried, jumping for the door. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the sudden outburst, and then dodged as Pinkie flew at the doors of the TARDIS. Luckily for her, the Doctor opened the door just in time for her to tumble out into open space.

“Careful, Pinkie!” the Doctor shouted, smiling at her eagerness. Pinkie’s momentum had almost divided by half as she left the doors of the TARDIS and stopped altogether just a few feet away from the doors themselves. She then began making a swimming motion as she suddenly seemed to have donned some snorkeling gear. The Doctor walked up to the other door and opened it as well. Grabbing a rope and tying to himself railing, he himself jumped out of the TARDIS.

“Woo hoo hooo!” He shouted, laughing as he and Pinkie did a few twirls in their zero-G environment. The remaining five ponies crowded around the door, looking at the sight laid out before them. For those few ponies that were able to behold such an event, it was the birth of a star inside a nebula. They watched with awe as materials were being sucked into a spinning ball of mass. It kept sucking things in, growing in size and glowing brighter and brighter the more it took in. Just as though it couldn’t take any more, the glowing ball of mass gave off a wave of energy, expelling excess material not needed. What now lay before them, was a newborn star.

“That was… Oh my…” was all Rarity could say, having just viewed the inception of a celestial body. Even Celestia couldn’t say she had witnessed such an event, Rarity had thought. Oh, if she only knew. Twilight on the other hand was scribbling notes so fast her paper was beginning to smoke.

“Must. Record. Observations!” she muttered to herself, not fully letting herself enjoy the sight. Applejack had taken her hat off once again, the image of a star forge being burned into her memory. She did not want to forget such an amazing view.

“By the stars…” Applejack had said. Oh, the irony. Fluttershy was meekly smiling behind her mane, just wanting to enjoy being beside all of her friends as they all witnessed the nebula create more and more shiny stars to add to the night sky. Rainbow stared wide-eyed at the sight, slack jawed and limp as she subconsciously continued to flap her wings to get a better view.

“Whoa…: was all Rainbow could say.

Pinkie and the Doctor were now relaxing on a pair of beach chairs. Both had sunglasses on and had a tanning sheet to add to the effect.

“I’ll say Pinkie, I have a knack for this kind of stuff just as much as you do!”

“Don’t be silly, it’s only because the author wanted some humor to liven this fic.”

The Doctor merely nodded, before falling off his chair which mysteriously disappeared at the motion. Sputtering, he tried to comprehend what she had just said but could not find anything logical that could possibly connect to what she had said. Shaking his head, he told Pinkie to follow him back to the doors of the TARDIS. Leaning on the door posts of the TARDIS, he looked at them with a glint in his eye.

“Alright ladies, whaddya think?” he asked them, motioning his right foreleg in a sweeping motion at the hues of red and green that stretched out before them as far as the eye could see.

“It’s… absolutely wonderful,” whispered Rarity, stars twinkling in her eyes.

“This here’s a nice view, I'll tell ya that,” Applejack responded.

“It’s really kind of you to bring us here.” Fluttershy gave a small but meaningful and warm smile. Rainbow however, said nothing as she continued to gawk. Looking over from where he was leaning, he saw Twilight still writing notes. Coughing into his hoof and glaring at Twilight, the purple mare smiled sheepishly and stopped.

“If you’re all going to be travelling with me, I’m gonna need to set a few ground rules. So listen closely.” The six mares perked up, with Rainbow snapping out of her space daze, and they all turned their attention to the elephant in the room. Not an actual elephant in the TARDIS room though, just- you know what, never mind.

“Rule number one: No wandering off. We can’t have that. Seriously- don’t.” He waited for this to sink in and he saw the quick nods of everypony. He continued.

“Rule number two: No interfering with established events. Although time is not as fragile as you might believe, the smallest acts in the most obscure places can lead to cataclysmic and universe-ending consequences. You hear?” More nods were shown.

“C! Er, I mean 3: Please try and pick somewhere fun for us to travel to. If it’s a dusty old library or a showy glamorous fashion show, I don’t wanna go.” He could see the frowns that Rarity and Twilight wore but chose to ignore them.

“4, or D! No spreading word of what you have seen or heard to other ponies, alright? Unless you’re absolutely sure they’ve met me before or at least have met me and accompanied me on one of my adventures, you do not reveal anything pertaining your travels. Got it?” They all nodded once more. He turned his attention to Twilight, who was quickly trying to stuff her notes in her saddlebag before she was noticed. Sadly, this was not the case. “Twilight, that means no note taking or anything of the sort. Who knows what other ponies could do with that kind of information. And then what will happen when they question where you got this information, hm?” Twilight took a second to process this, and hung her head in defeat. Sighing, she ripped out the pages she had written notes on and burned them with a flourish of her horn. Nodding in approval, the Doctor moved forward

“Lastly, or very important, 5! Or E. Or the little ‘v’ you see beside a bracket you would see in the footnotes; there’s one thing you need to do. You must do this, for it may very well save your lives if need be.” The six mares went dead silent, the only sound being heard from the star forge surrounding them, and the listened in. “Trust me, I’m the Doctor.” He smiled and then pushed himself away from the TARDIS once again, whooping and shouting. Pinkie giggled and followed suit, allowing herself her own bit of fun. “The whole universe at your hooves! Have some fun!”

The remaining five of the Mane Six stood stock still, processing what it was they were told. What did he mean by-? They couldn’t finish the thought however as they were unceremoniously pushed out of the TARDIS. When they looked behind them to see who or what could’ve done that, they saw the doors of the TARDIS swinging shut before swinging wide open again. They then heard several beeps from the TARDIS, as if agreeing with the Doctor and trying to say “Stop standing and have some fun!” Fluttershy eeped, not being used to zero-G. She curled into a fetal position, before quickly realizing she was fine and released a sigh of anxiety. Rainbow began to do some twirls of her own, Rarity fussed about how bad the zero-G was for her mane, Twilight was grumbling about Rule number 4 but having fun nonetheless, and Applejack hollered, swimming after Pinkie and the Doctor. They were beginning to like this strange pony. And so, it was the end of the beginning.

And the beginning... of the end.
> Epilogue - Letter From His Future's Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before the Doctor materialized in front of the Mane 6…


The Doctor sighed and sat down like a human on the bench to the right of the TARDIS console. He annoyingly flicked a lever up and down, making the TARDIS dematerialize. Now that he was in flight, he turned on the shock absorbers and muffled the wheezing noise, leaving the pulsating lights as they were. The time rotor kept glowing, moving up and down.

He looked the letter over, wondering why a Princess would send him a letter. Princess… Princess… Why does that sound odd?, the Doctor thought, and then it hit him. By the way Twilight spoke of them, it sounded like they were the highest authority in the land! Now why would that be…?

Rubbing his temples with both hooves, he placed the letter on his lap. Another question for another time. Opposable thumbs were being missed very much by the Doctor, but if this was the life he was stuck with then so be it. Picking up the letter, he inspected it. It was of the most ordinary stationary, admittedly hand-crafted but still of the same quality. Why would the royalty send me postage? I mean, yes it’s possible for them to know me, timey wimey and all that, but why send me something like this?

Not wanting to postpone the inevitable any further, he carefully tore it open with his teeth, holding it on the sides with his hooves. After doing so, he found a couple items in the envelope. A letter and a photo. Pulling them out, he set the photo aside and proceeded to read the letter.



Greetings, Doctor!

I am Princess Celestia, and my sister is Princess Luna. At this time, you have yet to meet us but we have already met you. There comes a time, very soon, where we will be needing all the help we can get. We will not be the ponies that our subjects have revered us for for what now seems like countless centuries. We will not know who you are, nor will you know who we were. Keep in mind Doctor, your own time shenanigans are the reason you got caught up with royalty again.

I know it may seem like we are just going straight to the point, but there is a reason for this. The reason being, you will be facing innumerable challenges in the near future. Not just meeting us, but many other things that I cannot speak of lest I… (scribbled out text assumably by the Princess herself). You’re going to need all the friends you can get your hooves on. You will need the Element-Bearers, you will need us, you will need your own strength and wit, and you will need many more ponies that you will make friends with. My sister and I know that you have experienced much, lost much, and seen many things. As the immortals we are, we know of the same pains as you do. Immortality, after all, is one of the greatest curses as well as the greatest blessings. 

Keep your friends close, Doctor. Treasure them, protect them. They will help you throughout the many dark and hard times. And when you lose those dearest to you, remember who you are. I hope that this picture I have sent will help you do that when times are hard. How ironic, to think of the Lord of Time in troubled times.

I wish you the best of luck, Doctor. My sister wishes you the best of luck. We all wish you the best of luck.

Your soon-to-be long-time friend,

Celestia



The Doctor re-read it a few more times to make sure he read it right.

So he would eventually meet the Princesses themselves when they weren’t Princesses yet? Just by reading those words, it became a fixed point in time. He would eventually have to meet them. And the context those words were used in… It didn’t sound like an if, but a when he would face such dark times. Though however vague, that too was set in stone. Didn’t Celestia know that if it’s written with foreknowledge and read in the past, it is SET IN STONE?! he screamed in his thoughts. After Manhattan, such things were severely looked down upon by the Doctor. His tired side now kicking in, his eyes glistened with the memories of a three thousand year old and looked at the card that lay beneath the letter he had read. Pulling it out from underneath the letter, he looked at it and felt himself cheer up.

It seemed to be in black and white, but it did not in the slightest retract from the quality of it. It was a big group picture of the six mares he had/ will eventually come to know, and two ponies of a similar size and shape. They were similar, but they had both horns and wings whilst all the other ponies had either or, or neither. It was a snowy backdrop and everypony had on a toque, ear-muffs, and a scarf. The Princesses had nothing on except their crowns, but the Doctor and Pinkie were a whole different story. The Doctor had on a fancy suit with a white bowtie and a top-hat, and Pinkie had the appearance of good ol’ Saint Nick. They all seemed to be in a state of weariness, but were still obviously happy to be together. Snuggled all together, it was a nice group photo. Rainbow Dash was hugging in from above, while everypony else was grounded. From left to right, It was Rarity, Fluttershy, The Doctor, Pinkie, Twilight and Applejack. The two wing-horned mares were behind Fluttershy and Pinkie, but leaning toward each other to make it appear as if they were behind the Doctor as well, and Rainbow was in between the two mares he supposed were the Princesses.

It was a warming photo that brought a smile to the Doctor’s face, readying him for his encounter with the six mares in the photo. Tucking the letter and photo away, he ran around the TARDIS. Typing in the chronal coordinates, 12:00 a.m., he began to rematerialize the TARDIS in the same place he had previously left it parked. As it rematerialized, he could hear Fluttershy say something and he ran to his door with a grin, finally now able to introduce himself properly to Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight’s friends.

“T-Twilight? H-how did it re a-appear?” he could hear Fluttershy say. Adjusting his hat, he opened the door and took a sweeping glance at the ponies present as he answered Fluttershy.

“Elementary, my dear Fluttershy! This is the TARDIS!”

And the Doctor smiled.