> The Misadventures of The Doctor and Pinkie Pie
>  by Bronytype
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Pink Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dim light of the moon shone down on the town of Ponyville, coating the sleepy town in it's beautiful white glow, a pegasus pony by the name High Flyer made his way back home after a long day of delivering, his snow white coat caught the moonlight and glistened, his long, beige mane flowing behind him. A wheel adorned his flank, reflecting his unrivalled delivery time.

High Flyer prided himself on his work. It was the most wonderful feeling he could imagine when he completed a delivery, it kept him on his hooves. He had met many different creatures on his travels around Equestria and, to him, they were the main reason he loved his job. Some may have considered it a tedious task, going from place to place to place, but to him each new delivery meant a new adventure, new creatures to meet and befriend.

High Flyer looked up at the moon, ever since Princess Luna had returned last year, the night sky had seemed much more peaceful. Looking up at the night sky always helped to clear his mind. No matter how much you love your job there's always going to be that one customer that grates on your nerves.

Some old stallion's clock was fast by an hour, it always was, and every time he'd complain, and every time he would keep High there for half an hour, lecturing him on time keeping and how important it is.

“I’ll show you time keeping, you old fossil.” As High grumbled quietly to himself his gaze was drawn to something strange, a flash of light in the sky.

"Cool, a shooting star maybe?" He immediately dismissed that theory as he noticed something was off. As the object rapidly grew bigger he realised what was off. It was red, not only that but it was pulsating, and left no trail as it tore through the night.

His eyes widened as he realised it was heading in his direction at an incredible speed. It soured over him close to the ground, but it made no noise. Even as it landed somewhere on the outskirts of the forest, there was only a dull thud and a flash of red light as it hit, "WHAT IN TARTARUS WAS THAT", High screamed, he then realised it hit near his house, "EMERALD" He screamed.

Panicked, he shot off from the ground and began to fly as fast as his wings could carry him. His mind began to race thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened. It didn't take long before he got home to find it was still standing, he breathed a sigh of relief but he was still worried sick, he burst through the door and galloped in, "EMERALD, EMER-AAGHH", he was cut off as his head hit the doorframe.

"What's got you so riled up" a deep, yet distinctly feminine voice spoke up. A zebra appeared in the doorway, her long black and white mane trailing behind her in braids. A golden eye, hung around her neck on a necklace.

Seeing her safe, he breathed a sigh of relief. He ran up to her and hugged her, "Oh, thank Celestia you're alright", he let her go, and went over to the window. Opening it, High stuck his head out, frantically looking around, "did you see it fall", he asked pulling his head in.

"See what, High, what are you talking about?", Emerald asked concerned, she then realised what he could mean, "Oh, do you mean that red light, it came down somewhere on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest", she wondered tapping her chin with her hoof.

'How can she be so calm', High thought to himself. Deciding not to ponder too much on this, he shook his head, "Maybe, I should go check it out, make sure it doesn't cause any fires", High suggested.

"No" Emerald protested, her previous calmness gone, "I think we should let the authorities, take care of it, don't you?", she asked.

"I would say yes, but it's eleven o'clock at night, and it didn't make that much of a noise, I doubt anypony heard it", he argued back.

Emerald still looked unsure, "That may be so but…”

Laying a hoof on Emerald’s shoulder, High sighed. “Look, you go into town and let the authorities know. I’ll go and make sure it hasn’t started any fires.”

Emerald still seemed hesitant. “Okay.” She sighed as she relented, but just as quickly, her tone became stern. “But I want you to meet me back here in an hour. Got that.”

"YES SIR MA'AM", he shouted, giving her a salute, trying to lighten the mood.

It evidently worked, as her expression softened and she gave a chuckle, "I’m sorry, I just worry about you that's all.” Trotting up to him, she gave him another serious look and continued, "but don't think just because you made me laugh, I'm going to go back on my word, one hour, if you don't find anything, come straight back."

"Okay, one hour then I'll be back" High gave another mock salute, and left.



After walking for ten minutes, High Flyer reached a clearing in the forest. The smell of smoke assaulted his nostrils, but there was no sign of a fire. "It looked like it came down around here", High mumbled to himself, then he saw it, the object HAD landed here.

Strangely enough, the downed trees and smoking crater one would expect were absent. There was a small trail of dirt leading directly to the object, surrounded in a dust cloud. High flew up, clearing the dust with the wind from his wings.

The dust cleared to reveal a pulsating, red transparent orb about the size of a melon. It was obviously hollow, but there was nothing inside. "What the heck is that thing?"

Despite being so bright, he couldn't look away, he found himself reaching out to touch it. His hoof met with it and he reflexively recoiled. It felt like glass, but the surface of the orb rippled like water, the glow intensified immensely. High jumped up and flew behind a tree.

A red vapour erupted from the orb and hit the ground, twisting and contracting as it took the form of a long beautiful, grey snake like creature with patches of black running down the length of its body in arrow shapes pointing up, it's pupils were slit, but behind them one could see a cold intelligence.

It slithered elegantly up to the orb and picked it up with its tail. Raising its head, it spoke in a smooth, sultry female voice. " Oooohhh, it feels so good to be out of that thing" Stretching, she brought the orb up to her face, "Why I never took comfort into consideration when designing you, I'll never know." She brought the orb to her chest and in a flash of light it sunk in to her chest, becoming part of her.

*SNAP!*

The snake snapped around with reflexes quick enough to dodge an arrow. She slithered up to a tree, "Who's there, show yourself." She started looking around, her keen eyes scanning every inch of her surroundings.

High was sweating, he was being searched for by a strange snake creature, 'Oh sweet Celestia, what is that thing, and what was it doing here.' He started flicking through options in his mind, figuring that in any situation he was likely to be seem, High sighed. 'There's nothing else to do, I may as well face her, and hope she isn't dangerous'. Taking a deep breath he stepped out from the tree.

"I'm here", he shouted, she whipped around and focused her cold eyes on him.

"Well well well, what have we here.", she slithered up to him, and stopped right in front of him, "You are very different, aren't you?"

This confused High greatly, " What do you mean by that", he asked, his voice breaking in fear.

She looked back to him, "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet, how rude of me", she slithered towards him, her body almost seeming to glide across the forest floor her movements were so smooth, and wrapped herself around him, she came to eye level with him, "My real name would be impossible to pronounce with your primitive tongue, so just call me Eileen."

This just confused High even more. He was incredibly uncomfortable at the moment, but he ignored it in favour of getting answers, "What do you mean, primitive tongue?", he asked, his discomfort clear in his voice.

"English, you're speaking English, it's an incredibly primitive language, I really don't know how it became the most popular language in the galaxy", she said rolling her eyes, it looked really awkward with her slits of pupils.

'English, I thought it was Equish' he shook off the thought and looked at her, "If it's so primitive why are you speaking, it?"

She smiled, "Oh, how I hoped you would ask that. You see, I'm not, you see this here?", she slid up further, revealing the orb in her chest, "It's more than just a vehicle, it's also a universal translator, as long as I'm touching it, it will translate anything I'm saying, and it works both ways.", she came back down, "Now back to the first question, you are different from anything I've seen, I've been across the entire galaxy", she gave a little chuckle, " I guess you could say I'm a bit of a tourist, I've seen ponies before, but none that could talk, and a pegasus too, oh it's Christmas", she sounded very pleased.

His discomfort finally took hold, "Uh huh, well I really need to get home, and you seem like a decent enough, uh, snake. Now if you'd be so kind as to maybe get off of me?", High said chuckling nervously.

She gave a mock frown, "Oh I'm sorry, but you can't leave without me.", she stated.

This got High worried, "W-w-what do y-y-y-you mean?" High stuttered.

She obviously got a kick out of his worry because she chuckled, "You see, I need a vessel, if everyone in this world is going to be like you, I doubt someone like me could just stroll down the street unnoticed. Your body isn't perfect, but it'll do." she smirked. Her body evaporated into that red vapour again, the orb floating behind her, and surrounded him.

"HOLD ON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING", High screamed.

Eileen's voice echoed around him, " Don't worry, this won’t hurt at all", the vapour started to close in around him, he felt a tingly sensation as the vapour sank into his skin. when it was over he lost consciousness and slumped to the ground.



"Are you sure you can to take care of the shop while we're gone?." Stacking the last suitcase on to a wooden cart that the Apple family had lent them.

"You've got nothing to worry about, Pinkie Pie's got it all covered", Pinkie pie smiled, "besides, silly, you'll only be gone a week, I can take care of everything till you get back."

"Oh, I'm sorry Pinkie it's just we've just been waiting for this vacation for a long time, and we really want to enjoy it, stress free", Cupcake said as he strapped the twins into a pair of foal seats Big Mac had installed in the back.

"Well then don't be stressed, I can handle it, I'm a mature and responsible adult.” Pinkie gave them what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. The cakes and even the twins gave her a "really" look.

“Wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttt."

"Right.......well, the bakery will be closed while we're away, the only thing you need do is keep the place spotless until we get back", Carrot Cake informed her, getting himself ready to pull the cart.

"Oh and expect a visit from Twilight tomo....", she was cut off by Pinkie Pie, who was pushing her out the door.

"Look Mrs Cake, I've got this. it'll be a piece of cake, now go and enjoy your vacation, it's not like there's going to be a hole in the roof when you get back", she smiled through Cupcakes protests, she got through the door and started grabbing random things and giving them to Cupcake, "go on, relax, unwind, mingle, Sugarcube Corner will still be here when you get back."

"If you say so", Cupcake replied nervously.

"I do say so, go have fun", she closed the door and heard the cart moving away.

"Alright Pinkie you got this." She pulled a list of chores the Cake's left her out of her mane and unrolled it. Her face dropped when it finished, the list was long, too long, her face soon lit up again though, " Ah well, better get started, how hard can it be."



High Flyer lifted himself weakly off his feet, and looked around, he regained his composure and opened his mouth to speak, but when he did it wasn't his own, it was a mixture of his and Eileen's, they overlapped each other when she spoke, "Oh, it feels good to be in another's body again, that old body of mine was becoming quite a bore" she stretched, " oh and hooves, this is different". She looked down and saw a stick, " hmm, I wonder", she reached down to pick it up, and to her surprise she did, "how does this work". She stared for a while trying to figure it out.

'Get out of my body', High's voice echoed in her mind, 'you have no right to do this', this shocked Eileen immensely, she quickly got over it.

"Well this is most impressive tell me how is it you're able to speak to me?, she shrugged it off, "No matter give it a couple of hours and you'll be buried away in my subconscious."

'But you said...', he was cut off though, by Eileen.

"I said it wouldn't hurt, and it won't", she smirked, "just think of it as going to sleep, except you won't wake up". Her ears perked up though as she heard someone.

"YOU! BRING YOUR TEAM AND SEARCH OVER THERE, FIND THE CIVILIAN", she saw the silhouettes of what appeared to be the police.

Eileen smiled, 'What are you smiling about, you’re not going to kill them are you?', High asked worried about the ponies safety.

"No, what'd be the point. I need them to take me to town", she cleared her throat, and spoke in High's voice, "I'm over here."

"SIR, WE'VE FOUND HIM, OVER HERE", one of them shouted. Eileen was immediately surrounded by police, they split to reveal a large earth pony stallion, he had a brown coat, with a short, messy and sort of grey mane, his cutie mark was a pair of handcuffs.

"Sir, we're gonna have to escort you out of this clearing, as of this morning no civilians are allowed in this area, you will be escorted to your house, where you and your wife will be questioned." He spoke in a gruff voice.

"Oh thank you, thank you", Eileen spoke in High's voice.

The brown stallion turned to two ponies, a blue earth pony mare with a light yellow mane, and a white unicorn stallion with a grey mane, "You two will escort him back to his house and wait for me.", he ordered.

The two ponies nodded and approached Eileen, "Please, follow us", the earth pony spoke.

Eileen faked a sincere smile, "Thank you", she thanked as she followed them.

'NO, THAT'S NOT ME, YOU'RE TAKING THE WRONG PONY', High shouted in vain. Eileen showed no sign of knowing he was there, and followed the two ponies.



Sugarcube corner, that evening

The sun was starting to set as Pinkie finally finished all the chores the Cakes had left her, her mane, tail and coat were a mess, and she was just about ready to drop, "Ugh, note to self never, EVER ask how hard can something be." She trotted up the stairs and to her room. She opened the door and, without closing it, flopped down on her bed. "I need a nap.", she got under the covers and in a split second, was out.



(Two hours later)

Sugarcube corner started shaking, Pinkie's eye's shot open, "EARTHQUAKE." She dashed under the bed, she could hear pots and pans downstairs falling and smashing. Her alarm clock fell off of its stand smashed.

Gummy didn't seem to be fazed as he just sat on the windowsill and stared blankly out of the window. The shaking stopped. Pinkie emerged from under her bed and looked around. Noticing that gummy was staring out of the window, she bounced over to him, " Whatcha looking at, gummy?"

She looked out of the window and saw everypony looking up in the direction of Sugarcube corner, Opening the window, she stuck her head out and looked up, just in time to see a small flaming box like object sore over the bakery. She and everypony else's vision followed the object until it landed in a field just outside of Ponyville with a loud boom.

It didn't keep her attention long though, because as everypony else rushed to see what had fell, she was distracted by the sound of breaking wood followed by a loud thud. "That's strange, I wonder what that was, Gummy stay here and let me know of any changes." The alligator just stuck his tongue out and licked the side of her face, she picked him up and hugged him "aw, thanks Gummy I knew I could count on you", she put him down and made her way downstairs.

She arrived downstairs to a mess, wooden beams lay on top of the crushed counter. Lying in the debris was a strange bipedal creature with a patch of brown hair on top of its head. It opened its green eyes, and looked at her, "HI! No wait, erm, who are you?" it asked confused, before losing consciousness again.

Pinkies shocked face quickly changed to a smile, "COOL", she shouted excitedly.



Outskirts of Ponyville, High and Emerald's house, earlier that day

Eileen and the two officers arrived at High's house around fifteen minutes later. The walls of the hallway were dotted with pictures of High and who Eileen presumed to be his wife.

They led her to a fairly large room where a zebra sat at a table with her face buried in her hooves. The unicorn stallion told her to sit at the table. The zebra looked up at the sound of another voice, and the moment her eyes landed on Eileen's she almost shot up, but seemed to reconsider. What happened to you? I was worried sick.", she shouted.

Eileen searched around High's mind, after finding the zebra's name she replied in a relieved voice, "Me too Emerald, I was so scared", there was a brief look of suspicion in Emeralds eyes, but it soon disappeared and was replaced with a look of worry.

"Are you feeling alright", she asked with worry.

This confused Eileen, "Yes, why do you ask", the look of suspicion returned to Emerald's face.

"Who are y..." emerald was cut off when the unicorn entered.

"Princess Luna will speak with you now", he gesture for them to follow, on the way out Emerald didn't take her eye off of Eileen.



Sugarcube Corner 

Pinkie decided it would be best to get the creature out of the rubble. She guessed it was a he from his voice. Once he was on the sofa she decided she should go tell Twilight, but remembered she was at the Crystal Empire, she wouldn't say what for, but she had said it was important, so she opted instead to just continue her nap. Twilight would be back tomorrow and she could talk then.



She woke up 4 hours later with a dry throat, to the sound of singing coming from her kitchen, "Huh what's that", she trotted out of her room and it became clearer, "is somepony singing", as she descended the stairs it got clearer.

"I am immortal, I have inside me blood of kings, I have no rival, No man can be my equal,Take me to the future of your wor..."

He stopped singing when he noticed her come in. "Ah hello there."

Now she was awake enough she took in his features, he was wearing battered suite that was covered in holes, he didn't look young, but he didn't look particularly old, he looked to be middle aged, though this was speculation on her part as she'd never seen anything like him. He stood tall on two legs, Pinkie only came to his waist. He had no hair on his body except on his head where he had a moderate amount of dark brown hair. He looked down at his sandwich then looked back at Pinkie, "sorry about eating your food, just woke up, regeneration tends to make you a bit peckish and….can you understand me?"

"Cool", she was in his face in less than a second, "HEY WHAT ARE YOU? DO YOU HAVE NAME? DO YOU....", she was cut off as the creature screamed and crouched in pain, dropping his sandwich and clutching his chest, "Oh I'm sorry did I startle you", she asked as she ran over to him.

He managed to look up from his crouching position, to reveal a look of pure pain on his face. "No this is agh normal after regener....argh..... regeneration". He collapsed to the ground unconscious. Pinkie looked down in shock at the strange creature that lay unconscious at her hooves. She regained her composure and dragged him back to the couch. As soon as he was lay down he exhaled a golden mist from his mouth, causing Pinkie jump back. It seamed weightless as it floated on the air and out of the window.

'I need Twilight', she thought to herself as she left to the castle to get Spike.



Late afternoon Twilight's castle

Pinkie had decided it would be best to bring the creature with her to show Twilight. She'd decided to take the back streets to avoid attention. Usually she'd be all over the chance to show off her new friend, but she wasn't stupid, she could tell he was in no condition for that.

She would have got to the castle faster, but she had the creature hanging over her back weighing her down. By the time she reached Twilight's castle it was late at night and she was ready to collapse. She pushed open the doors to the castle and hobbled to the main room weighed down by the sleeping creature on her back. "SPIKE, I NEED YOU", she yelled hoping it would be enough to get his attention.

Spike's voice spoke up from the kitchen, "WHAT’S WRONG PINKIE", he shouted.

"I GOT A SITUATION HERE" Pinkie shouted trying to stay upright.

"I’LL SAY. DID YOU HEAR THAT BANG", came Spike's reply. "I'LL BE OUT IN A MINUTE"

"I'M KIND OF WEIGHED DOWN AT THE MOMENT", she replied, she saw spike exit the kitchen with a bowl, the contents of which she couldn't see.

Spike did a double take when he saw what Pinkie had hung over her back, "AH, PINKIE, WHY HAVE YOU GOT A HUMAN, WHERE DID YOU FIND HIM", he yelled, jumping in shock, almost dropping his bowl.

"No time to explain he needs help", Pinkie yelled. She deposited the creature, now identified as a human, on the floor in the main room. Pinkie had heard about humans from Twilight after her first trip into the human world, but she hadn't imagined them looking like this.

The moment he touched the floor a golden glow started to emanate around him. "What's happening, I've never seen a human do this before?", Spike set the bowl he had down on the floor, snatched some gems, and ran over to join her.

"I don't know, I've only spoken to him twice, and even then he collapsed after not even a minute", Pinkie sat down in her chair and slumped down, "I'm exhausted, I had to carry him all the way here, he's heavy."

Spike looked at him, "I'd imagine so", he sat in his chair and looked at her, "So where'd you find him", he asked.

"He kind of crashed through the roof of Sugarcube Corner, at about the same time the weird thing fell out of the sky", she recalled.

"Why did you bring him here, why not bring him to, I don't know, a doctor", as soon as Spike finished speaking the human shot up and look straight at him, causing Spike jump to back in shock.

"You called", he seemed to notice the change of scenery and looked around, "nice place you've got here, is this real crystal?" He leaned over and licked the floor, "yep real crystal."

He then looked up at spike, "and what are you?", he got right up in Spike's face. Sensing Spike becoming more uncomfortable Pinkie decided to butt in, however, the human seemed to sense this and backed off a little, "Oh I'm sorry, how rude of me, I'm The Doctor nice to meet you", the human, now identified as The Doctor extended his hand for Spike to shake.

Nervously spike took hold of his hand and shook it, "I-I’m Spike nice to m-m-m-meet you", he stuttered.

"Oh, and you speak to, and it's not just the TARDIS this time, you're speaking English", he was full of glee, jumping from foot to foot on the floor like an overly excited child.

Spike's terror was replaced with confusion, "English? Wait what's a TARDIS", He asked.

"Oh have you seen it, it'll look like a big blue box", at this Pinkie perked up, suddenly she was in The Doctors face.

"A Box! I'VE SEEN A BOX IT CRASHED DOWN IN THE FIELD JUST WEST OF PONYVILLE", she shouted.

"Woah, calm down there Speedy Gonzales." The Doctor backed up. Pinkie sat back down. "That's better, now tell me, slowly, where it came down."

"It came down in a field just west of Ponyville ", she said calming down.

He looked like he was about to answer when he let out a scream of agony and fell to his knees, the only difference being this time he was still conscious. He clutched his chest and exhaled deeply letting out a golden mist.

Spike started hyperventilating, "What's happening to him?" He was good with first aid, but this was a human, he probably felt helpless. Pinkie found herself agreeing with that feeling.

The Doctor looked up, his face screamed agony, "I regenerated a few hours ago but it's not complete" he said through clenched teeth.

"What do you mean regenerated", Spike asked. The look in his eyes was a mix of terror and concern.

"I few hours ago I died, my race regenerate after death," The Doctor explained through the pain, "but the process isn't complete yet, my cells are still replacing themselves and it's painful as hell."

"What do you need us to do" Pinkie asked hurriedly.

"Get me to my ship" he screamed, "I need to get to my ship, she'll know what to do." With that he collapsed.

Pinkie acted immediately, "Spike help me lift him." Spike, too confused to question, just grabbed his legs and hunched him over Pinkie's back.

Suddenly something struck Spike, "wait, did he just call his ship a she."



Outskirts of Ponyville

The field had been surrounded by the Royal Guard, and a couple of tents had been set up in a small area to the left. Waves of curious onlookers were being held back by the exhausted looking guards. Pony after pony rushed them, each wishing for a view of what had crashed down just hours ago.

The guards bowed parted as an elegant white alicorn with flowing hair approached. 'I wish they'd just relax.' She gave a curt nod and entered the tent.

The interior was spacious and mostly empty save for a table in the centre, and a few chairs here and there. Other than herself, only two ponies occupied the tent behind the table. The first was a Grey, burly-looking unicorn stallion with a short-cropped black mane. He had bright yellow eyes which, despite his gruff appearance, betrayed his gentle nature.

Beside him there stood an earth pony stallion of slim stature. His eyes were sapphire. He had blue fur and a messy mane of white. His legs seemed to buckle under the weight of his own body, even standing looked to be a struggle for him. Despite this, he seemed to have a permanent smile on his face.

The slim earth pony was the first to talk, "Ah. Hello Celestia. So good to see you again." His voice carried the enthusiasm promised by his smile. "You won't belie...."

"Ahem"

He was cut off by a rather forceful sounding clearing of the throat. "Specs," the gruff voice of his co-worker cut in, "we've talked about this. We must address the Princes properly." While stern, his voice carried an unwavering fondness for the skinny pony before him.

The pony, Specs, blushed. His smile still bright as ever, he turned to the brawny unicorn as if to say something before deciding against it.

Celestia let out a giggle. "You don't need to be so strict on him Silverstrike."

"Of course your highness." Silverstrike gave a bow.

She rolled her eyes, but her smile remained warm and inviting. "Now. What do we know about the object that fell." Her voice took on a serious tone.

"Well." Specs spoke up, "all we really know at the moment is that it's small. Too small to be a meteorite."

Silverstrike stepped up, "Witnesses say they that the thing that fell was a blue box."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY" Specs and Silverstrike were taken aback by Celestia's sudden outburst. Realizing this, Celestia cleared her throat sheepishly before continuing, "I need to see it."

Silverstrike was the first to recover, "w-well." He cleared his throat as he regained his composure. "We'd be happy to escort you. if you'll just follow me."

Celestia stepped aside to let him pass, before following she turned to specs, "we'll need your expertise in case he's injured." With that, she turned and left.

Despite his confusion about the use of the word 'him' followed her out of the tent



The crater was big, much bigger than it should have been considering the small object in the centre.

The object in question was a small blue box with a tiny light on top. Celestia's face split into a smile. Forgetting the two ponies accompanying her, she ran up to the box and rapped a hoof excitedly on the door. "DOCTOR! DOCTOR! IT'S CELESTIA!" Hearing no response, she deflated. "Doctor?"

The shaky voice of Specs spoke up, "I...is that what I think it is?" Specs was awestruck. His mouth was practically touching the floor.

Silverstrike looked between the two, "You mind filling me in."

Specs looked incredulously to his partner, "Silver", he deadpanned. "How long have we lived together? You should at least know what the TARDIS is."

"That's the TARDIS" Now it was his turn to look incredulous. "It's not much to look at."

Specs opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Celestia, "He's not here." She turned to Silverstrike. "Tell the guards to get ponies back in their homes and send word to Princess Twilight. You are to only allow the element bearers access to this area. I will inform Princess Luna." She looked to the TARDIS, "If The Doctor is here then trouble isn't far behind."

Silverstrike saluted and galloped off without a word. Specs watched him leave before turning to Celestia. "What should I do."

"I need you to stay in the tent and greet the element bearers should they find their way here." With that. She spread her wings and took off in the direction of the Everfree Forest.



Pinkie galloped her way through town as fast as her legs could carry her. Behind her, Spike panted and gasped for breath, struggling to keep up. The surroundings seemed to blur together as his head began to spin. "Pinkie. Can you *pant* please wait up." He silently cursed his lack of wings.

Pinkie ignored him, the human on her back was in desperate need of attention. She made a mental note to apologise to Spike later on.

As she ran, she came upon a crowd of ponies. The crowd split as they noticed The Doctor on her back, the looks on their faces showed wonder rather than horror.

Pinkie paid them no mind as she continued on to the crash site. She'd expected resistance from the guard, but surprisingly they bowed and parted to let her through. A slim pony raised his hoof as if to greet her, but she sped past.

She heard Spike apologising to the pony behind her. Arriving at the crater she looked down at the blue box in the centre and furrowed her brows. "Is that it?" She'd expected it to be bigger. Shrugging, she slid down to the edge of the crater. She let The Doctor down off of her back and approached the box.

Laying a hoof in the door, she attempted to push it open. She looked to the side and read the sign, ‘pull to open.’

She went to alter her approach but was cut off when she noticed something. There was a faint hum coming from within, she could feel it reverberating through her hoof. She didn't even notice Spike. "Pinkie. What was that about. Ignoring a new pony isn't li...."

He was cut short with a shush from Pinkie. "Spike. Come here and feel this."

Spike, though confused, complied. He brought his hand up to the door and....*gasp* "I can feel it." He brought his ear to the door. "It's almost as it's-"

"-alive?" A voice from behind cut him off . "That's because she is, my reptillian friend."

Pinkie and Spike whipped their heads around to stare at the, now conscious, Doctor.

Pinkie was the first to speak. "You're awake?"

"Eyup. Hopefully for good this time. Being in such close proximity to the TARDIS has given me enough energy to maintain consciousness, but I'll need to enter to finish the process." Walking up to the TARDIS, as he called it, he pulled a key his suit and inserted it into the lock. He tried to turn it but the lock seemed to jam. "Come on. Don't do this to me now."

"Maybe you're doing something wrong", Spike offered.

The Doctor took the key out and turned to face them. "No. We'd know if I had. The inside of the lock is set up to melt if it's done wrong. Prevents it from being stolen."

He walked around the TARDIS, "She's repairing herself. Yes, that was a nasty crash. Nothing we can do about it. I'll manage for now."

Pinkie looked up at him and opened her mouth to say something when.....


*BOOM*
> Pink Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outskirts of Ponyville Half an Hour Ago

Princess Celestia touched down outside of a one-story home. It was a modest place, but it had a homely feel to it, unlike the cold stone interior of the castle. For a second, Celestia silently envied the couple that lived here, but she quickly shook the thought from her mind. 'I don't have the luxury of thinking that way at the moment. That second object fell down near here. If The Doctor is here, this doesn't bode well.

"Sister." Celestia was broken from her thoughts by a voice coming from the doorway. Looking up, she saw the face of a blue alicorn with hair like a starry night. "I am glad you're here. I was about to send for y...." Luna cut herself off when she saw the mixture of fear and excitement in Celestia's eyes.

"Luna", Celestia looked to her sister. "The TARDIS is here."

Luna's eyes widened, "Sister are you sure?" Celestia nodded. Luna's face took on the same look as her sister's, "if that's the case then that sinking feeling I got was right."

"Sinking feeling?" Celestia Narrowed her eyes. "What sinking feeling?"

Luna opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. A look came across her face as she appeared to be thinking something over, then she opened her mouth again. "It'll be easier to show you. I want you to meet with the husband."

"The husband?"

"Yes. He and his wife are currently confined to the house." Luna paused to see that Celestia was following her. "The wife is perfectly fine as far as I can tell, it's the husband that was found at the crash site that worries me."

Celestia contemplated asking what she meant, thinking better of it, she instead let her curiosity go for the time being. "Very well, I shall meet with him."



Emerald watched as the thing wearing her husband's skin followed a guard out of the sitting room. As it left, Princess Luna entered. She rose to bow but was stayed when Luna raised a hoof. "There's no need to bow. I'm here to talk."

"About what, your highness." Contrary to what Luna had expected, her voice sounded resentful, rather than defeated.

To Emerald's surprise, Luna strode across the room and sat down rather casually on the couch next to her. "Well, anything." Emerald looked up to Luna, eyes wide with surprise. Luna chuckled, "you don't need to worry. We shall figure out what has happened to your husband."

"Wha-"

"Oh please. I realised as soon as I looked at him." Luna let a dry laugh escape her lips, a pathetic attempt to lighten the mood. "Miss...Emerald is it? My sister is going to try to get some answers, best we can do is wait."

Luna hated admitting so, but it was useless to deny the truth.



Eileen followed the guard through to the dining room, as they entered, the smell of coffee stung her nose. The walls were dotted with decorative plates, 'This place is sickeningly sweet.’ She held back the urge to scoff.

'Nothing to say?' The silence in her head was a welcome change, though she could still feel a weight in the back of her mind.

"Greetings High Flyer." A soft voice drifted through the room from the small wooden dining table in the middle of the room.

Eileen looked around in High Flyer’s mind for a name and then, "Princess Celstia" she gave a curt bow. Celsestia gave a slight bow of her head and motioned for her to sit.

After taking her seat opposite Celestia, she spoke, "I've already told Princess Luna everything I know."

"We shall see."



10 minutes later

Celestia had gone over the same questions Luna had asked, and Eileen gave the same answers. Eileen was starting to grow tired of this when…

"....and you are certain you have been 100% honest with me?" Eileen nodded. Celestia waited a moment before continuing. "Then I have one more question. Where is the object now?"

Celestia noticed the pegasus tense up a bit, "What makes you ask?"

That motherly smile never left Celestia's face, but her eyes seemed to narrow, "Mr Flyer, or should I say, the creature pretending to be Mr Flyer. Did you know we alicorns are slightly telepathic. We can't read thoughts mind you, but we can read intent."

Eileen froze. She had been sent reeling by this revelation. She saw the Princess' horn glow, and before she could react, she felt a wait around her neck. Looking down, she saw a golden ring wrapped around it. "WHAT IS THIS"

"You'll find all technology quite useless with that on. You're not the first alien that has taken advantage of my subjects, and you won't be the last. We aren't defenceless."



Eileen attempted to pull at the ring, but it had fused itself with the skin beneath the fur. She began to panic 'Think Eileen, think. Ah.' A smile came across the pegasus' muzzle. "Technology you say. But does it limit biological functions."

Celestia's eyes widened as the pegasus began to glow. Without thinking, Celestia leapt for the guards at the door and, enveloping them all in her magic, teleported them and herself away. The light expanded outward. Everything it touched combusted, the light continued to expand when suddenly....


*BOOM*


The light connected with a gas tank. Eileen, however, had vanished.



The explosion had sent out a shock wave that tore the trees on the perimeter of the forest up by the roots. It crashed into the group outside the TARDIS, knocking them back and demolishing a few homes on the edge of Ponyville. At the same, there was a flash of light and Celestia, accompanied by two guard ponies, came flying at them.

Looking around, she hadn't noticed The Doctor. "WHERE'S LUNA." As she spoke as blue light rose from the flames, it stopped mid-air, and after a few seconds, lunged toward them. The two guards moved to protect Celestia, but she stayed them with a hoof. The blue light touched down in front of the group and faded to reveal Luna, and enveloped in her magic, was a rather disoriented Emerald.

She looked around and her eyes immediately found Celestia. Before she realised it, she was wrapped into an embrace, she returned the hug. Her eyes then landed on The Doctor.

"Sister. It's him." Hearing this whispered in her ears, Celestia turned her head slowly. that's when she saw him.

"DOCTOR!"



Everfree Forrest Clearing


*CLACK* *CLACK* "UGH. BREAK DAMN YOU!" *CLACK* *CLACK* "AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH" A stone was sent hurling and shattered against a tree, adding to the pile at the base.

Panting, Eileen Scanned the area. "You're stuck." That loathsome voice mocked her from the back of her mind.

"Back with us, I see." Eileen practically growled. "Aren't you a bit too nonchalant about this?" She picked up another rock and started banging at the ring again.

*CLACK* *CLACK* Nothing. The ring didn't even have a scratch. Screaming, she threw the rock at the same tree. "I WILL NOT STARVE IN THIS BODY!"

"AAARRRRGGGGHHH" The scream sent every single creature scattering. High Flyer could sense her panic. However, deciding not to poke the bear anymore, he elected to stay silent.

Her eyes darted left to right, scanning the area, as if something there could help. "That damned, loathsome dog Celestia"*GASP*

"Celestia. She'd know how to remove this. I'll make her take this off."

"HA"

"What exactly is so funny"

"Princess Celestia has lived for centuries. She sealed Nightmare Moon. She defeated Discord. She imprisoned King Sombra. She sent Tirek to Tartarus. You don't stand a chance.

"You do realize I don't know who either of those is. No matter. I may not be able to hurt her physically, but everyone has something they care about."

Though nobody was around to see it, a grin came across her muzzle as she looked to the castle on the side of the mountain.



Outskirts of Ponyville


"DOCTOR!" The two Alicorns shouted in unison. A surprised Doctor found himself caught in a crushing embrace. "IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

The Doctor gasped for air as he struggled to break free. Panicking, Pinkie ran up and managed to pry the princesses off of him. They looked at her indignantly before they realized The Doctor's condition. Celestia was the first to speak. "What's wrong with him?"

Pinkie filled them in on everything that had happened since the Doctor had arrived, with each word the light of comprehension began to grow brighter in their eyes. It was Luna's turn to speak up. "So he had never seen a pony before?"

"I wouldn't say that. But he was surprised I could talk." Pinkie looked like she was going to continue until…

*Ahem*" HE is standing right here" The Doctor sounded more amused than annoyed. "Look. I'm a time traveler. I don't always meet peopl-eerr-ponies in the right order."

Luna and Celestia couldn't help the disappointed looks on their faces as they nodded. "We understand", Celestia sighed.

"It's just.....hard." Luna stepped forward, ears drooping.

The Doctor lay a hand on each of their heads, "I understand, and I look forward to developing those memories. But it hasn't happened for me yet so, how about we introduce ourselves."

"Ahem." Celestia cleared her throat. "Yes, let’s."



The walk to the castle passed fast as they lost themselves in their introductions. They arrived to find a purple alicorn waiting for them at the door. She seemed to be looking around for something, her eyes widened. "Princess Celestia! I came as soon as I heard. What's lande...", Twilight trailed off as her eyes landed on The Doctor. "A HUMAN? But when did he come through the mirror?"

Spike cut her off, "If he came through the mirror then he'd be a pony. But that's not important right now."

"Spike is right. Something has happened." Celestia stepped forward. "But first, let's get inside. Best not to cause a panic." She turned to Silverstrike. "Round up the guards and tell them to keep everypony indoors." Silverstrike saluted and galloped off.

Celestia turned to the group and motioned a hoof inside. "Shall we."



Castle of Friendship


"....and you're all caught up." Twilight's jaw was practically on the floor.

"YOU'RE THE DOCTOR. I've read all about you. You're a living legend.” The Doctor stared bewildered.

“I have so much I want to ask you, but I guess you don’t have the answers.” Twilight’s ears drooped dejectedly.

“I’m sorry.” He pet her head and turned to Pinkie.

“Now.” He clapped his hands together. “Let me clear one misconception you two seem to have.”

Pinkie and Spike cocked their heads.

“I’m not human. I’m a time lord.”

“A what.”

The Doctor averted his eyes and seemed to visibly deflate. “I’m sorry but…could we not talk about this.” He looked back to them and gave what Pinkie presumed was supposed to be a reassuring smile.

Pinkie and Spike, both recognizing that it was a sore subject nodded understanding.

Celestia cleared her throat. “I hate to interrupt but, isn’t there something more important we need to be focused on.” She gestured a hoof toward Emerald.

Emerald raised an eyebrow, “I don’t appreciate being talked about like I’m not here. If you want to say something ” Her statement prompted a snicker from the scrawny earth pony sitting in the corner.

Celestia shot him a look that said, ‘not the time’, before turning a softer look toward Emerald. “Of course dear, I’m sorry about your husband.”

“High can take care of himself, I’m more interested in killing that thing infecting him.” The zebra’s voice grew more and more passionate. “I’m going to tear its throat out for laying a finger on him….assuming it has a throat…..or fingers.”

Every jaw in the room was on the floor, but The Doctor had a complicated look on his face. The silence lasted a few more seconds but, slowly, The Doctor spoke.

“I had a friend who once thought as you did, an eye for an eye, that line of thinking corrupted him and turned him into a monster.” The Doctor’s voice was low as if the mere memory was painful, but it carried to every ear in the room.

Emerald narrowed her eyes and raised her voice. “SO YOU’RE JUST GOING TO LEAVE THAT THING INSIDE MY HUSBAND.”

The Doctor stood up so that he towered over her. His voice was stern, but he never raised his voice. “Don’t raise your voice with me.” Emerald looked like she wanted to say something but she backed down, ears pinned back in anger.

“Now.” He knelt to her level. “I will help as much as I can to get your husband back, but I will not help you kill.” He stood back up. “We must give it a choice first.”

He put the next question to the room. “What do we know about this creature so far.”

It was Luna who piped up. “All we know for sure is that it is controlling Mr. Flyer.” She leaned forward. “And that it came down not long before you did.” She chuckled dryly. “One day we’ll see you, and something won’t be trying to kill us.”

“Do you remember anything before your regeneration?” Celestia put this question to The Doctor. When he looked away, she walked up to him. Coming to eye level with him, she lay a comforting hoof on his arm. “I know it may be painful but, it may be important.”

He sighed. “I was trying not to speak of this but..” He sat back down next to Twilight. “I had just sent Gallifrey, my home, back into the Time War…” The Doctor visibly winced has recounted the events that had led up to his regeneration. When he was finished, everyone in the room had their eyes downcast. Even Emerald, who until now had been glaring daggers at him, looked upon him with wet eyes.

Celestia was the first to speak. “Thank you, I’m sorry for pressuring you.”

The Doctor gave a half-hearted smile, eyes downcast.

Celestia took her place next to Luna again. “Sister.” Luna turned to Celestia with an accusing glare. “How does this help us. You’ve forced him to relive painful memories and for what? We’re no closer to figuring out what this thing is, what it wants or where it comes from.”

Celestia did not flinch at her sister’s words, but the look in her eyes told Pinkie that she agreed. Twilight piped up. “Princess.” Celestia motioned for her to continue. “Do you remember Starswirl’s book, the one with the spell you had me complete?”

“The one that gave you your wings? Yes, I remember it. But I don’t see how that…..” *Gasp* Celestia’s eyes widened with worry. “You can’t be serious.”

“Mind filling the rest of us in.” Spike tapped his foot impatiently, expressing the thoughts of everyone in the room. Except for The Doctor, who continued to stare at the floor with an unreadable expression.

“Ah, I’m sorry.” Twilight turned her attention to the room.

“You see. Starswirl created many of the spells we unicorns take for granted today.” She paused to make sure everyone was on the same page. “Some spells, though, he kept secret. Only jotting them down in his journals, many lost now, but some like that book give us glimpses at spells he began developing but never finished. One such spell was an invisibility spell.”

Luna leaned forward. “You don’t propose one of us spy on this creature, do you?”

“I do,” Twilight spoke matter-of-factly.

Celestia, worry evident on her face, shot up. “Twilight. You can’t be serious. A lot of Starswirls spells were erratic and unpredictable, even the complete ones. I can’t imagine casting one of his incomplete spells.” Celestia was pleading.

“Princess, I haven’t been idle these past few months. I’ve been working to complete some of those spells. The invisibility spell is difficult though, I can only cast it once. We will have to select somepony here.”

Celestia looked frantically to Luna, clearly hoping she would object. Luna met her look with a sigh. “I’m sorry sister. But it’s the best plan we’ve got. We don’t know enough about this creature.”

Celestia was becoming visibly desperate. “That may be true but…we still don’t know where it is.”

The Doctor chose this moment to look up from the floor. “Don’t worry about that.”

“What was that,” Celestia growled, anger replacing desperation. “SOME CREATURE IS OUT THERE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ONE OF MY SUBJECTS. WE DON’T KNOW WHERE IT IS OR WHAT IT WANTS, AND NOW I’M EXPECTED TO LET ANOTHER ONE OF MY SUBJECTS BE SUBJECTED TO EXPERIMENTAL MAGIC THAT COULD VERY WELL KILL THEM. AND YOU TELL ME NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT! Celestia was panting by the time she was finished. Everyone in the room was silent. Everyone except…

“Are you done?” The Doctor’s voice was low. Receiving a glare from Celestia, he continued. “Like I was trying to say. From what you told me transpired at the house, the enemy is desperate. It will make a move soon enough. We will know then.”



Canterlot Castle


Prince Blueblood sighed to himself as the great stone doors to the assembly hall slammed shut behind him. Why he had to deal with the problems of the common folk he did not know. ‘If you ask me Aunty Celestia is too soft on these commoners.’

He scoffed to himself as he sauntered back to his chambers. Every time Celestia decided to leave the palace, he was left in charge. “If they don’t want their village overrun by Timberwolves, they shouldn’t have settled next to the Everfree Forrest.” Grumbling to himself, he ascended the large ornate staircase that lead to the upper levels of the castle.

Reaching the grand door to his bedroom, he gracefully pushed it open. The sun had long since set, and he needed his beauty sleep. Flopping down on the bed, he groaned. “Next time Aunty wants to go off gallivanting the peasants, she can call Aunty Cadance.” His face screwed up at that last part. He resented Cadance, sullying the royal name by marrying that commoner. But if she was willing to handle responsibilities in his place, he could grin and bear it.

Deciding not to dwell on such trivial things, he rolled onto his side and let sleep encompass him.



Above, in the grate above, Eileen looked down on the young prince. “My god,” she whispered, her tone was scornful. “Is this what passes for royalty on this planet?” High didn’t respond. She could not feel his presence anymore. She assumed he’d already faded into her subconscious.

Using a wing, she carefully unlatched the grate, and using her wings, she clumsily flew to the floor. Taking a second to regain her balance, she looked over the sleeping figure. “Hmm. Not a bad figure. Muscle mass not the best, but could be worse.” She gave another once over. “Yes, this body will do quite nicely.”

Chuckling she began to separate from High. That blood-red vapor collected in the air and slowly, as if struggling, made its way to the sleeping prince. It slowly merged with the pony, and High’s body fell limp on the floor. However, as quick as he’d merged with the new body, she was pulled out and back into High’s.

She picked herself up, feeling at her neck, the ring was warm. Her face twisted in rage as she cursed under her breath. “This godforsaken thing again.”

The prince began to stir. Slowly opening his eyes, he turned to the source of the voice. Seeing this, Eileen acted quickly. The prince had only just opened his eyes when Eileen slammed a hoof down on his forehead, knocking him unconscious.

“No matter. I still have her Nephew.” She grinned to herself. “I’ll make her take this thing off.”


Castle of Friendship


The room was empty now. Twilight had left to complete Starswirl’s spell, Celestia hot on her heels pleading with her to reconsider. Pinkie could tell from Twilight’s face that ignoring her old mentor’s pleas was hurting her to do, she knew how much Celestia cared for Twilight, but given the situation, no one could think of a better plan. Not even Celestia, in all her pleading, could not offer a better solution.

Luna had headed out into the town to help Silverstrike quell the crowd that had gathered around the TARDIS. The scrawny pony, Specs Luna had called him, had hobbled after her on unsteady legs. Emerald had left to a guest room that Twilight had offered her, she needed a place to stay now that her house had been destroyed by that creature.

Sometime after the meeting, the other element bearers had arrived at the castle, Twilight had briefed them on the situation, and had sent them around the town, putting up posters of High Flyer’s face. Due to her speed, Rainbow Dash had been sent to Canterlot to put up those same posters. They hadn’t even seen The Doctor yet.

Only Spike, The Doctor, and Pinkie Pie remained in Twilight’s study. Neither of the three knew what to say as they sat there, shuffling uncomfortably. The Doctor seemed to be staring at nothing in particular, his gaze had been clouded over ever since recounting the events before his regeneration. He had been as vague as possible when recounting it, and she had many questions, but she would not open that wound any further by prying. What she needed to do was bring him back up. Sitting across from her was a potential new friend, and she would not allow this negative atmosphere to persist.

‘A team is only as strong as its morale, that’s what my Nanny Pie used to say.’

Reciting the saying in her head she hopped over to The Doctor. “Heeeey Doctor.” He looked up from the floor and smiled. The smile surprised her because it looked completely genuine. All traces of his previous melancholy seemed to have vanished. However, looking closer, Pinkie could see he was putting on a mask. ‘Time to turn that façade into reality.’

“Sooooo I was thinking, since your new here and everything, you need someone to give you the tour of the town.” The Doctor looked at her confused.

“Now,” he asked.

“Well Twilight said it’d take a few hours to complete Starswirl’s spell, and there’s nothing you or I can do to help yet soooo…” The Doctor seemed to consider for a minute before nodding and standing up.

“Might as well.” He stood up and, folding his battered trench coat over his chair, followed her.

Spike jumped from his chair. “I’d come with you but Twilight will need me.” He puffed out his chest. “She’ll never admit it, but she’s lost without me.” With that, he left for the library.

Pinkie turned to The Doctor. “Shall we go?”



Everypony was still inside, save for the odd guard here and there, the streets were empty. As they walked Pinkie excitedly chatted to The Doctor. She had done all the talking since leaving the castle, The Doctor trying to get a word in now and then, but failing to Pinkie’s onslaught.

Despite this, The Doctor found himself enjoying the pink pony’s company, it reminded him of his time spent with his granddaughter Susan, she would often talk his ear off when she got excited. ‘I should check in on her sometime.’

As he reminisced, he heard Pinkie shout, “Yooohooo. Rarity. Over here.” The Doctor looked up and saw a white unicorn with a curled purple mane, beside her a smaller unicorn stood, white like the other with a puffy mane of various shades of pink.

She looked from the poster she had just put up and, seeing Pinkie and The Doctor, she turned to the smaller unicorn and said something. The smaller one groaned but, horn sparking as if she was having trouble, picked up the bucket of paste and the posters and ran to the next building.

Rarity turned back to them with a look of pride on her face. “Twilight’s magic lessons are really coming along. She can levitate objects now, I’m so proud of her.”

She shook her head. “Hello, Pinkie.” Rarity inclined her head in greeting before turning to The Doctor. “You must be this Doctor fellow I’ve heard so much about.” She reached out a hoof. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Rarity, and that charming young filly just now was my younger sister Sweetie Belle.”

The Doctor took her hoof and gave it a shake. “The pleasure is all mine. Meeting new peo-er-ponies is the spice of life after all.” He let go of her hoof.

Pinkie looked at Rarity with confusion written plain on her face. “I’m surprised Rarity.”

“Whatever do you mean Pinkie?”

“Well just look at his suite.” The Doctor looked offended but Pinkie paid him no mind. “It’s in complete shambles.”

Rarity looked a little offended. “I’m not insensitive Pinkie. I heard the manner in which he arrived, of course his outfit is ruined.”

The Doctor looked down at his suite and, for the first time, realized the state it was in. “I suppose I could use a new fit. It’s a shame really, this suite was a gift from Charlie Chaplin.”

Rarity offered him a sympathetic smile. “I would very much like to meet this pony. I can tell that that suite was once a marvellous item.”

The Doctor smiled and clapped his hands together. “I could arrange that, be warned, he’ll talk your ear off.”

Rarity chuckled and turned to Pinkie. “Now Pinkie. What are you doing here?”

“Well I thought I’d show my new friend around the town, we may as well help with the posters while we’re at it.”

“Marvellous.” Rarity turned to the building across. “SWEETIE BELLE.”

The little unicorn galloped over, struggling to carry a stack of posters in her magic. She stopped just short of them, staring wide-eyed at The Doctor. She approached slowly. “Is this that alien?”

Rarity opened her mouth to reply but The Doctor stayed her with a hand and, knelt down to Sweetie’s level. “Hi. I’m The Doctor. I hear you’ve been learning magic.” He spoke softly so as not to spook her.

“That’s right. I can levitate things now.” She puffed up her chest in pride, as her magic flickered, causing a poster to fall, she smiled sheepishly and deflated a bit. The Doctor smiled remembering how proud he’d been when he’d been accepted into the academy. The Master and he had gotten into so much trouble during their celebration. The memory was bittersweet.

“That’s very impressive. Are you working hard to help your big sister?”

“Mhm. We’re almost done.”

“Good job. You continue to help your sister.”

Sweetie Belle nodded rapidly and dashed off with posters and paste. Rarity looked on smiling. “You do have a way with kids. She was practically dragging her hooves before.”

The Doctor stood up and looked over to her, well I have experience dealing with kids.” He chuckled to himself.

“Well I’d better go after her, there’s no telling how much mischief she’ll get herself into.” Rarity started off after her sister before stopping to turn around. “Oh and Doctor. Once all this is over, feel free to stop by my boutique. I shall welcome the challenge of tailoring for an alien.”

With that, she disappeared around the corner after her little sister.

“She seems nice.” The Doctor turned to Pinkie.

Pinkie smiled. “I’m happy you two get along. It’s really important to me that my friends like each other.”

The Doctor smiled down at her. He found himself enjoying Pinkie’s company more and more. She was such a breath of fresh air from the darkness that existed in this world. He was broken from his thoughts by the sound of rumbling. Looking down he saw it was Pinkie.

She smiled sheepishly. “ Sorry about that. Everything’s happened so fast that I haven’t had a chance to eat today.”

Hearing her say this The Doctor realized just how hungry he himself was. He looked down at her and flashed a smile. “Y’know.” He straightened his battered collar. “It just occurred to me, I never did get to eat my sandwich.”

Pinkie giggled. “If it’s a sandwich you’re after, then I know just the place.” She gestured with a hoof and The Doctor Followed. “We can put up a few of those posters on the way.”



“Nononononono. UGH.” The sound of crinkling parchment could be heard as Spike entered the library. He dodged a crumpled piece of parchment as it flew into the corridor outside.

Twilight was already scribbling on a new piece of parchment before he could say anything. Celestia sat on the opposite side of the library, she sighed as she half-heartedly scratched at a piece of parchment. The look in her eyes was one of conflict, however, she seemed to have resigned herself to the fact that this was the best shot.

The only thing they needed to decide on now was who would go. Spike had given it some thought himself and had decided he was the best candidate He was the smallest, and therefore lightest, creature here. Less likely to make noise while moving. He had come to convince Twilight.

He approached her cautiously as she threw another crumpled piece of parchment at the wall. “Uhh. Twilight?”

“WHAT!” The shout, and the speed with which she spun around, made Spike recoil. Her irritated gaze softened as she realized who she was speaking to. “Oh. Sorry, Spike. It’s just, completing Starswirl’s spell has proven more complicated than I’d thought.” She levitated Starswirl’s journal over to her. “And his hornwriting isn’t helping matters.” She turned the book towards Spike to show him the atrocious scrawl on the page.

“Wow. That’s bad.” Spike was momentarily taken aback. He shook his head to get his mind back on the important topic. “I was thinking about this plan an-“

Celestia cut him off, approaching him from the other side of the room. “We’ve actually got an update on that.” Spike looked to her, as she approached he could see in her eyes fear mixed in with resignation. “We know the location.”

She hoofed over a scroll. “This was found in Prince Bluebloods bedchambers. We received it through dragon fire around half an hour ago.” She began to tear up as she said the next part. “It took him.” Twilight put a comforting hoof on Celestia’s shoulder.

Spike picked up the scroll.



Princess. I have your sorry excuse for a prince with me.

Do not worry. He has not come to any serious harm.

I propose an exchange, you can have your nephew if you remove this curse you’ve saddled me with.

Meet me in The Castle of the Two Sisters at dawn tomorrow.

If you are not here at the immediate crack of dawn, I shall execute him and lay his corpse at your hooves.

Sincerely Eileen.



Spike looked up from the note to Celestia, he understood now why she had resigned herself to Twilight’s plan. They couldn’t give this creature what they wanted. They couldn’t let it kill Blueblood.

“Well now we have a name, but more importantly, we have a location.” Twilight looked to Spike. “This is where you come in. You shall be the one to scope out the castle.”

Spike gaped. “I had actually come here to volunteer myself. I thought I’d have to argue this out with you.”

Twilight looked down at him with a hint of pride in her eyes. “Spike. Need I remind you that you were the one who defeated King Sombra, you saved the Equestria Games. By now I trust you to get things done.”

Spike tried not to let the praise go to his head, but he had to admit, hearing his accomplishments felt good.

Twilight looked back to the scrolls. “We still have to figure out this spell,” she sighed.

At this, Celestia gently removed Twilight’s hoof from her shoulder and, wiping the tears away, trotted to the table she had been sitting at. “Actually I think I have handled that.” She levitated the scroll she had been scratching when Spike had entered over to Twilight.

Scanning it over she beamed. “Princess you’ve done it.” She hugged Celestia before realizing what she had done and, pulling away and blushing in embarrassment, looked to Spike. “When can you be ready?”

Spike puffed up his chest. “I’m ready when you are.”
> Pink Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville Café


“…and so I say, ‘what a doozy of a doozy it was.” The Doctor and Pinkie laughed together as she recounted her run-in with a creature known as a hydra. A mythical beast The Doctor had thought, but apparently, something of the same name existed on this planet. It had to have been in the far reaches of space, the star maps in his TARDIS didn’t include this planet.

Pinkie had led him to a quaint little establishment, more of a hole in the wall than a café, but Pinkie had said that this was THE place to go for sandwiches. They had run out of posters taking the scenic route to put them all up.

There was a small seating area outside of the café, and very few ponies dotted a table here and there, it seemed that most ponies were staying indoors. He received looks here and there but as soon as they had seen Pinkie Pie they had looked away. Pinkie had told him that the ponies trusted her and that if she vouched for someone, they would not cause a scene.

Pinkie had gone with a strange choice, strange because it contained flowers, though supposing the equine resemblance it wasn’t too strange.

He had ordered a sub sandwich consisting of cheese, egg, various salad items, and what tasted like mayonnaise. ‘Strange how two completely different planets could develop in such similar ways.

The Doctor calmed his laughing before adding in. “Can’t say I blame poor Twilight.” He chuckled as he imagined the look on her face. “Though this Pinkie Sense of yours sounds useful.”

Pinkie nodded. “You won’t believe how many times Pinkie Sense has saved my flank.” She smiled as if reminiscing.

They were interrupted by an Orange Pony wearing a Stetson galloping up toward them. She gave an acknowledging nod to The Doctor as she approached the table.

“Pinkie. *Pant* Ah’m so *pant* glad Ah found you.” She had clearly run the whole way here. She took a second to catch her breath before continuing. “Everypony needs to head to the castle pronto.”

Pinkie stood up from her chair. “Applejack? What’s happened.” Her smile had gone and had been replaced with a dead serious look.

“Celestia received a ransom letter. The creature has that Prince Blueblood fella. You remember, from the Gala.”

Pinkie nodded, as she and The Doctor hastily finished their sandwiches. “Wil do.”

Applejack, Pinkie had called her, flashed The Doctor an apologetic smile. “Sorry Ah can’t stop and make yer acquaintance, but Ah’m in a bit of a hurry, still need to get Fluttershy. Stop by Sweet Apple Acres after all this is done.” She sounded genuinely remorseful.

The Doctor gave her a nod. “I understand.” She nodded back before galloping off around the corner. The two of them departed for the castle not long after.



Celestia walked out to the balcony overlooking Ponyville. Her horn flared bright and the sun began to sink to the horizon. She took a moment to take in the view, the dusk seemed to make the colours of the small town sparkle. She breathed a deep sigh as she tried to focus on her duties. She had considered delaying this, to delay the dawn, but there was a delicate balance to keep.

The moon climbed into the sky as her sister did her part. She sank down on the railing, lazily looking over the empty streets and allowing her forehooves to dangle over the edge. Blueblood may not have been related by blood, but to her, he was family, difficult to deal with as he sometimes was. ‘I still haven’t apologized to Rarity for the Gala.’ She chuckled quietly to herself remembering that fiasco.

Looking out at the town, she couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if she had never accepted this position. She may have been able to have a family, maybe even grow old. She still could, but many ponies seemed reluctant to treat her like a pony. Not a princess. Not a deity as some of her subjects seemed to think she was. But as an ordinary pony.

Young as she had been, immortality had seemed to her like a blessing. The years had changed that outlook. She had originally been raising Blueblood to take her and her sister’s place, but she had found she did not have it in her. He may be a tad spoiled, and his remarks are often bordered on rude. But every time she looked at him, all she could see was the timid, shivering young colt he had been, and she could not push the burden onto him.

The poor child had lost his parents and his village and had nowhere else to turn to. She could still see him. She had watched him turn from that timid colt to the spoilt prince he had become. That was just the surface, deep down he was scared, she didn’t need her telepathic abilities to see that. He always felt the need to prove himself, he had never spoken about his village or his parent, but she assumed that the reason lay there.

She had grown soft on him, he was consumed in his ego and self-loathing. He needed a firm hoof to guide him back.

She shook the thoughts from her head and stood up. She had to focus on the plan. Looking down, she saw Spike heading off toward the Everfree Forrest. In a couple of hours, he would return to report the situation at the castle. The spell would take a few minutes to take effect.

At the sound of hoofsteps approaching from behind, she turned to see Twilight. “Spike has set off and the others are waiting in the entrance hall.”

Celestia nodded. “I shall be there momentarily.”

Twilight left the balcony, leaving the door open for her to follow. Taking one last look at the town below, she turned to follow.



“…and that’s the plan.” Twilight had finished briefing those out of the loop as Pinkie and The Doctor arrived at the castle. Pinkie could see the worry on Twilight’s face, as much as she trusted Spike, she could not help it. Not that Pinkie blamed her.

Seven creatures surrounded Twilight. At the sight of Pinkie and The Doctor entering. Twilight gave them a strained smile. “Ah Pinkie, Doctor. You’re back.” She ran up to them. “How did the tour go.”

Pinkie could see she was trying to take her mind off of Spike, so she decided to humour her. “We met up with Rarity and decided to help with the posters. I can’t say he’s seen everything but at least he knows where to get a good sandwich now and…”

“Ahem”

Pinkie looked to the source of the noise to see Rainbow Dash wearing an amused smile. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend Pinkie?”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “How could forget. Doctor these are my friends. You’ve of course met The princesses, Emerald, and Rarity.” The Doctor gave a wave to the room.

“The one who rudely interrupted me is Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie joked with a smile as Rainbow Dash feigned offense.

“You wound me.” She chuckled and rolled her eyes as she approached. Flying up to eye level with The Doctor she reached out a hoof. “I don’t know about all this alien stuff, but if Pinkie vouches for you, you’re cool with me.” The Doctor gave her hoof a shake.

“The one who came to get us is Applejack.” Rainbow moved back to the group as Applejack tipped her hat.

“Sorry for the rush earlier. Guess Ah don’t need to introduce myself.” She smiled apologetically. “The offer still stands. You’re welcome at Sweet Apple Acres after this.” The Doctor nodded thanks.

“The one over there is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy trotted over.

“Always nice to meet new life,” Fluttershy exclaimed without a hint of delay.

Everyone’s jaw save Eileen’s, who didn’t really know Fluttershy, hit the floor.

Pinkie was the first to speak. “Wow, Fluttershy. You didn’t even hesitate.”

Fluttershy puffed up her chest slightly. “Discord’s been helping me with my confidence.” She then deflated a bit. “Though admittedly his lessons can be a bit intense.”

Luna chuckled as she approached, “Yes well Discord has always been intense, it seems reformation has done little to quell that trait.” Her eyes then widened and she gasped. “Couldn’t we bring Discord in? He could solve this quickly.”

Celestia frowned. “Discord is currently traveling abroad mending Equestria’s diplomatic tensions since his part in aiding Tirek. The rest of Equestria blames us because of his ties to the royal family. He is needed there, else Equestria could be flung into civil war.”

Luna sighed. “We’ll never be done fixing his messes.” She turned to The Doctor. “Looks like we really can do nothing but wait.”



Spike tread carefully as he approached The Castle of the Two Sisters. Being invisible did nothing to mask the sound of his feet and, light as he was, he was sure to stay aware of the amount of noise he made. ‘Some wings would be useful about now.’ He thought half-jokingly half-bitterly as he trudged through the wed mud near the river.

As expected, he had faced no trouble on his way there, the creatures of the forest had ignored his existence. Even the ones that hunted by smell had only taken a curious look and, not being able what they were smelling, had given up and left.

The Castle of the Two Sisters still gave him an uneasy feeling even now. It seemed only bad things happened here, Nightmare Moon, The Power Ponies incident, and now this. They had been attempting to restore the castle, but it soon became apparent there was no saving it. The place was falling apart no matter what they did.

The Sun had long since set, it eased his nerves a bit that Celestia still found the strength to attend her duties despite how worried she must be. He steadied his nerves as he approached the large stone columns around the exterior of the ruins, they stood against the night sky as foreboding shadows. If he had been the same spike he’d been when he’d first arrived in Ponyville, he would have run at the sight of this. ‘It’s kinda crazy how much Twilight and I have changed in just over a year.’

He was snapped out of his fear by the sound of a voice, faint, but just loud enough to hear. That whining voice marked the owner of the voice as Prince Blueblood. “I swear. If you don’t let me go I’ll-agh.”

He was cut off by the sound of a hoof meeting something soft. Spike lifted his head over a small ruined wall. He saw High Flyer, or Eileen as they now knew the creature to be called, standing over the prince, who was cowering on the floor rubbing his cheek. Spike realized what the sound had been, it had struck.

“Can you shut up?” An immense amount of rage was contained in that screech. “You call yourself a prince? On my world, even the weakest of our royalty would eat you for breakfast.” Its tone dripped with venom.

She turned from the prince. “Now stay quiet.” It reached a hoof up to the gold ring around its neck. “If I can figure out how to get this thing off myself, I can finally be rid of you.” Spike didn’t need to guess what was insinuated by that statement, he repressed the urge to gulp.

Suddenly something seemed to be happening. The pegasus started to scream, it was a dreadful sound. It was as if all the agony in the world was contained in that scream alone. His jaw dropped at what he witnessed.

Blueblood seemed to shrink back as High’s body seemed to contort as a Blood-red vapor slowly emerged from the pony. There seemed to be a solid object at its centre, a ball if Spike wasn’t mistaken. Another voice, female this time, joined the screaming. It seemed to be trying to form some sort of solid mass. Spike could vaguely make out a serpent. However, just as it seemed to be stabilizing, the smoke was dragged back to the body.

Eileen stood back up and let out an ear-splitting scream of rage. She turned back to Blueblood and struck him again. Blueblood whimpered, all his earlier bravado seemed to be drained. Spike had to fight the urge to run to his aid. He could not do anything on his own, not in this situation, he was not as rash as he had used to be, getting himself killed helped nopony.

Not being able to bear anymore, he carefully turned away, surely he had learned enough. He could not bear to witness this brutality. Blueblood may have been difficult sometimes, but nopony deserved this. Spike could still remember the Blueblood he’d grown up with, a timid colt that seldom smiled. Spike could not in good conscience allow his old friend to be treated like this, regardless of the pony he had become.

Stealing his resolve Spike slipped back into the forest to report to Twilight and the others.



Castle of the Two Sisters


Prince Blueblood was powerless, for the second time in his life he was completely and utterly powerless. He hated that feeling more than anything. It was a dark abyss that seemed to draw every positive feeling in the world in. He had only known this feeling once before. The day he’d lost everything.

He still saw them sometimes, in his dreams, those metal monstrosities. He’d sworn that day that he would never again be made to feel less than. He could not let other ponies look down on him, he had to be better than them. If he was on top, then who could make him feel small again, who would be able to give him that loathed feeling of helplessness.

This creature, this thing whatever it was, he would make it pay, he tried his horn. It merely sparked pathetically and fizzled out. His horn had been useless ever since that day. He had tried daily, not that he’d let anyone see, not even Aunty Celestia.

Eileen, the creature had introduced herself as, had continuously tried to escape from the body of that commoner. He had figured out that she wanted to take his body, something about starving.

He shrunk back at another scream. As the red smoke that he had seen many times now, was dragged back into the body of the pegasus. “AAARRRGHHH. I DID NOT ESCAPE THAT GODFORSAKEN WAR TO STARVE IN THIS FLESH BAG!” Prince Blueblood closed his eyes and prepared to receive another blow.

But the blow never came, Eileen just slumped down against the wall, staring intently at the entrance of the castle.



Three hours had passed when Spike returned. He was sweating, but what Pinkie saw was not resignation, he had a fire in his eyes. Twilight, who had been pacing in front of the entrance for the past hour, scooped him up into a protective hug.

Emerald cleared her throat, an annoyed expression on her face. “This is all very touching. But may I remind you. MY HUSBAND IS STILL POSSESSED!” Her voice rose steadily and ended with an enraged scream.

Celestia appeared behind Emerald, putting a hoof on her shoulder to calm her down. “I agree with Emerald.” She turned to Spike. “Spike. Could we please discuss this ‘Eileen’ character? It has my nephew.”

Spike pried himself of Twilight and turned to address the room. “I saw Blueblood, he is alive.” Celestia’s eyes lit up. “But he’s in bad shape. She, the creature I mean, seems to be trying to escape High’s body, she grew enraged and hit him. Judging from his demeanour, it wasn’t the first time.” Celestia lowered her head.

Everypony lifted a hoof to their mouth. Even Rarity, who had every reason to hate Blueblood, looked away.

Emerald spoke up. “She was attempting to leave High’s body?” She looked hopeful.

Spike gave her a look that wiped the hopeful look from her face as quickly as it had appeared. “I’m sorry but…” Spike hesitated and, not meeting her eye continued. “His body went completely limp.”

”That doesn’t mean anything.” She snapped. “Of course, he’s exhausted, anypony would be after what he’s been through.”

Spike looked up to meet her eyes, but Pinkie took the initiative and zipped to Emerald’s side before he could say anything. Putting a hoof around her, she spoke fast. “You’re right Emerald. I’ve known High for years, he’s always been a tough cookie. It’ll take more than this to put him down.”

“You think?” The beginnings of a smile graced her face.

Pinkie returned it with a full smile. “Sure do.” Spike looked about ready to say something to the contrary but Pinkie shot him a stern look and a slight shake of her head, and he decided against it.

With Emerald feeling better, Pinkie motioned for Spike to continue.

Spike nodded. “There was one more thing.” Spike looked around the room before continuing. “When Eileen left High, before being forced back in, it was a cloud of red smoke with a ball in the middle. It almost looked like a snake before it-“

“That’s impossible.”

Spike was cut off by a quiet but stern voice. Everypony turned to the source of the voice. The Doctor, who had been silent this whole time seemed to be trying to stare a hole into Spike.

Pinkie spoke first. “What do you mean Doctor?” Everypony tilted their heads along with her.

“I said that’s impossible. She’s dead.”

Celestia was at his side in an instant. “You know this ‘Eileen’?” She raised an eyebrow.

He shook his head. “I know OF her” He corrected, eyes never moving from Spike. “She was a scientist employed by the Time Lords in the last years of the Time War. She was working on a device that would allow one to possess another being, completely draining them dry and hoping to another.”

“But what could they gain from a device like that?” It was Luna this time.

“How can you fight an enemy when it’s in your mind?” His response was so blunt it took Pinkie off guard.

Everypony reacted with varying levels of disgust, more than a few turning a bit green. “That’s horrible. Why would your kind authorize such a weapon?” Luna’s voice held a hatred Pinkie hadn’t heard before.

“The war took its toll on the Time Lords.” He turned his gaze to the room. “The problem is the project had too many problems. Once merged with the device she became dependent on it, she had to feed and had to jump bodies or she’d starve. On top of that, the time it took to drain a creature was too long, so the project was scrapped. The point is she went missing and was presumed to be dead. Even if she’s not she shouldn’t be here.”

“And why is that?”

“Because she should be trapped in the Time Lock.”

“Didn’t you say that this ‘Gallifrey’ briefly escaped, Perhaps she escaped with it?”

At Luna’s suggestion, The Doctors gaze clouded over for a second. But he shook his head. “It’s possible.” His voice betrayed none of the anxiety Pinkie knew he must be feeling.

He went quiet. Emerald was the next one to speak. ”So you’re saying that if we leave it, she’ll die. But what will happen to High?”

“He’ll be a shell. He won’t be dead, but he will never open his eyes again.” Emerald looked down, “He can be saved, it takes 72 hours to fully absorb him, IF he’s strong, that still gives us just shy of a day.”

“Actually,” Celestia interjected, “we have less than 5. She still has Blueblood.”

Spike nodded. “I will not abandon my friend, no matter how much he’s changed.” Pinkie admired his determination.



Prince Blueblood had given up hope that he would be rescued. At this point, he was just waiting for it all to be over. He would die, and the final trace of his home would be snuffed out. He began to think, at the end, if he had been right. He had to have been.

Eileen had left mumbling to herself about hearing something.

From the moment he had arrived at the palace, everyone looked down at him as somepony who was weak, somepony that needed protecting. Not as an individual, but as a thing to be pitied. He had had to behave as he did, make them understand where they stood. He was stronger than any of them. They who had lived a life of luxury, they who had been too late, he was stronger. He had to prove it.

But then, there were those, like Spike and Celestia, who had never looked at him like that. They had treated him as a friend, as an equal. He could still remember his last proper conversation with Spike. He had been offered Prince hood, Spike had supported him.

But he had told Spike he could not be seen with him, the nobility had a poor opinion of dragons, and associating with him would earn him the same ire many of the nobility held toward Aunty Celestia. He had heard how they talked behind her back, admonishing her for allowing “savages like those within our borders.” He had fallen in with the crowd, even adopted their thought process, all to fit in with his peers.

Truthfully he hated himself. “The pony at the Gala was right about me.”

“As long as you are aware.” At the sound of that distinctive accent, he looked up to see a silhouette of a unicorn with a shape on its back stand atop one of the columns. It jumped down and into the moonlight. A white Unicorn with purple curly hair, and on her back-

“Spike?” Spike rose a clawed hand with a “Yo.” He looked to Rarity. “And…I don’t actually know your name.”

“Of course you don’t. I’ve only helped save Equestria six separate times at this point.” She looked down at him with disdain but sighed as she reached a hoof out. “We are not getting anywhere just standing here. Stand up.” He reached a hoof out and yelped as she yanked him roughly to his hooves. “For your information. It’s Rarity.”

“But what about Eileen.” He looked around frantically.

Spike grinned. “Don’t worry. We’ve got it covered.” With that Rarity gestured for him to follow and began galloping into the woods. Prince Blueblood, deciding it was best not to argue, followed close behind.
> Pink Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everfree Forest


The Doctor grumbled as he pushed another branch out of his face. He was followed by Pinkie, with Emerald leading the way. He found himself envying the equines, their height lent itself well to traversing this wooded area. Emerald apparently knew this forest well through frequent meetings with someone named ‘Zecora.’

Celestia and Luna flew above as a lookout just out of view. While Twilight and her friends kept guard outside the forest in case Eileen tried fleeing

“Are you sure this Eileen character will show up?” Pinkies ears were pinned back. As she looked around. The Doctor understood her worry, he’d hardly believed his ears during Celestia’s briefing. timberwolves, manticores, cockatrice. Creatures he’d known as myth in flesh and blood. It really was a big universe.

“Trust me, once she senses a Time Lord, she’ll come running.” He turned to Pinkie and flashed her a smile to calm her nerves. “You just remember to play your part.”

Pinkie saluted before breaking off from the group and ducking into a bush. Emerald looked up to The Doctor. “Are you sure we can save High?”

The Doctor winced at the worry in her voice, he completely understood. “Don’t worry. She won’t be able to resist taking the body of a Time Lord.”

The two walked in silence for a moment before Emerald spoke up again. “I’m sorry for exploding on you as I did earlier.” She sounded genuinely remorseful. He had no idea she’d been dwelling on it.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I understand, the past two days have been stressful for everybody. I don’t hold it against you.” She smiled back and looked forward.

“Are you sure this plan of yours will work?”

“As long as everyone does their part,” he responded. Celestia landed gently as Luna continued to circle overhead. “Remember Celestia. You are to remove that ring for her when she asks.”

Celestia nodded but added, “Your regenerations are well documented, but I fail to see how that energy will be helpful here.”

“Hopefully it won’t. I mean to give her the opportunity to leave in peace.” The Doctor pushed another branch out of his face as he spoke. Celestia seemed to be having the same problem now that she was no longer airborne.

“And if she doesn’t? Are you sure you can do it?” Celestia was dead serious. The Doctor gave her a disapproving look. She rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that look Doctor, you never could intimidate me. Your bleeding heart is refreshing,” she looked away, but The Doctor caught the sad look in her eyes, “but experience has taught me that not every conflict can be solved with words.”

Seeing how to hurt she was, he softened his gaze and put a hoof on her shoulder. “I will do what needs to be done. But it is the right of every sentient creature to be given a choice.”



Eileen flew clumsily above the trees. Still not used to the wings, she swayed this way and that. It was an annoyance, but a worthy struggle if what she sensed was what it seemed. ‘A Time Lord? Here?’ It almost seemed too good to be true. But if it was, it was her ticket out of here. The orb had no power left for space travel, but a TARDIS could take her anywhere.

Scanning the area, it wasn’t long before she spotted a rather lanky-looking creature posed up casually against a tree in a clearing. “BINGO!” Swooping down she rather ungracefully on a rock on the other side of the clearing.

Beside the Time Lord, she could see that white harpy that had trapped her in that body, sitting casually by the same tree. She shot her a glare, but the horse seemed to ignore it. She looked instead to the Time Lord.

She chuckled. “I’m a bit disappointed Time Lord. Siding with these primitives, honestly I expected better of your kind.”

“Us ‘primitives’ got the better of you. Or am I imagining that ring around your neck?” She looked up at the sound of that familiar accent to see Emerald descend from a tree, landing gracefully beside The Doctor.

Eileen bared her teeth in a grin. “Ah, the Ms. I’m afraid you’re too late, your husband stopped responding a while ago.” She had expected Emerald to charge at her in rage, but the zebra merely smiled.

She looked up to the Time Lord. “Up to 72 hours did you say, Doctor?” The Time Lord nodded. The zebra returned Eileen’s grin with one of her own. “There’s still time then.”

Eileen was going to retort when she realized something. “Did she just say, Doctor?” She let out a hearty laugh. “Yes, I know you. Quite the entertaining file you had. Quite the reputation for meddling”

The Doctor scoffed. “I prefer to call it ‘lending a hand.’”

Eileen wiped a tear from her eye. “So what’s your plan hear Doc? Beg me to leave this body?”

“That’s the general idea, yes…and don’t call me Doc.”

“That’s all very well and good DOC,” she emphasized the word, “but aren’t you forgetting something?” She gestured to the hoof.

The Doctor shared a look with Celestia. She nodded and he nodded back. She flared up her horn. With a flash of light, the ring disappeared from Eileen’s neck. She reached up to her neck and smiled.

She turned a hungry eye to The Doctor. “Now Doc, if you would be so kind.” She motioned for The Doctor to approach.

He shared a look with Celestia and Emerald. They again nodded, and The Doctor approached. Eileen moved to meet him in the middle. “Let’s make this quick.” She attempted to separate from the pegasus and was relieved to find she had no trouble.

She quickly separated, watching the zebra run to the limp pegasus. She chuckled to herself as she merged with The Doctor. But at the last moment…

“NOW”

Everything happened in an instant, dozens of streamers erupted from the trees, tangling her arms and legs. She frantically looked around for the pegasus, only to look up to see Luna flying off carrying him and Emerald. She tried to leave but immediately found the ring back around her neck.

“AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH,” Emerald screamed in rage before passing out.



Pinkie hopped from tree to tree, examining every streamer. She’d been developing this in her party cave. Streamers were a must-have at any party, but foals did have a tendency to break them. These streamers could hold back a raging manticore.

Pinkie completed her check and circled back to the Princess. Celestia was prodding at one of the streamers. “These really are remarkable Pinkie. Would you be open to coming work for the castle guard, they could use your inventiveness.”

Pinkie blushed at the compliment but shook her head. “I’m flattered but I’m a party pony at heart.”

Celestia nodded respectfully. “I understand. Surely you wouldn’t object to sharing your designs.”

Pinkie smiled. “You only need to ask.” She turned a worried eye to the Doctor. “But just wait until this is all sorted out first.”

“Of course.”



Black. Endless black stretched out as far as the eye could see. The Doctor floated calmly in that blackness, eyes closed, hands behind his head and whistling to himself. He became aware of a presence in front of him as it cleared its throat.

He cocked an eye open to see a serpent-like creature attempting to glare a hole into his chest. “Eileen I presume?” She nodded, or at least what The Doctor assumed to be a nod. “I must say, three years on the run haven’t done you any favours.”

“Yes well there was a war on,” she spat. “It’s hard to live a quiet life under nightly Dalek assaults.”

The doctor chuckled, “Yes, I suppose that would be hard.” He flashed her a playful grin, she returned it with a spiteful one. “Have a seat.”

A chair appeared behind her, she slithered up to it and curled her body beneath her, tail dangling off of the chair. “Do you like it? Welcome to my mind.” A table appeared between them, along with two cups. “Coffee?”

He took a sip from his cup and placed it back on his plate. “Ah. That’s the stuff.” Eileen’s eye twitched. “You know, this coffee is plucked from the memory of the best barista I ever knew, John Benton. You wouldn’t believe he was a soldier by looking but-“

“ENOUGH WITH THIS PRATTLE DOCTOR.” In one swift motion, she swiped both cups off of the table.

“More of a tea person then?”

“DOCTOR.” Her shout had a hint of a warning in it.

“Okay, I wanted to be civil about this, but if you insist I’ll cut right to the chase.” He snapped his fingers. Suddenly a ball of golden energy appeared next to them. The Doctor regarded it casually.

Eileen’s eyes widened. “Is that-“

The Doctor nodded. “Soon that will be expelled from my body and my regeneration will be complete.” He turned his gaze to Eileen. “You know what that will mean for you, don’t you.”

She gulped and turned a frightful stare to The Doctor, all her earlier bravado gone. “You can’t be serious. The Doctor avoids killing, it was in your file.” She gave him a rather weak attempt at a confidant grin. “Quite the bluff Doctor.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Well, that is true. Even if you are expelled it will not be fatal.”

“HA.” The fire returned to Eileen’s eyes. “Foolish of you to reveal that.”

He snapped his fingers. The golden orb began to diminish in size, and Eileen doubled over in pain. Being unable to stand it, he snapped his fingers and the orb stopped shrinking. Eileen started panting. “You-ghh-think you can scare me with pain. I did worse things to myself in my experiments.”

She said that, but The Doctor could see through her facade of confidence. The Doctor decided he was getting nowhere. “Here’s the deal. You have three options. Leave, I can take you to a planet with no intelligent life, you can feast off the insects, it may not be perfect, but it is the best I can do considering your condition, and it will mean no other sentient creature has to die by your hand, er, so to speak”

“And the other options.”

“You stay here until both of us die.”

She motioned for him to continue.

“I expel you and finish my regeneration. You’ll lose your physical form. You’ll live, don’t worry. And you will never again feel that hunger that eats away at your mind. Never again have to eat. Would you like that? Freedom?”



Pinkie stared at The Doctor, suspended in mid-air, now and then he would mumble something incoherent, Pinkie assumed it was snippets of the conversation he was having with Eileen. It didn’t matter though, as soon as she had entered The Doctor’s body, she had lost.

The Doctor would give her three options, though one particular option she hoped would not be taken. Whatever happened though, there was nothing more she could do.

As this thought crossed her mind, she heard something. A faint ringing sound, she looked to the source. The Doctor. A golden light began to gently gather around his hands and, as quickly as it came, it exploded out with a thunderous sound. It only lasted a second but Pinkie reckoned it could have been seen from Canterlot.

Not long after, The Doctor started to move. Pinkie hopped around to look at him. “Ah, Pinkie.” He flashed her a smile. He looked around at the streamers, “I must say this is new. Tied up in party supplies. Could you let me down please?”

“Hold it,” Celestia said as she approached. Her horn lit up, and a gold light passed over The Doctor’s body. Once she was done she smiled. “Welcome back Doctor.”

At her confirmation Pinkie began to untie the Streamers from the trees, Celestia used her magic to hold The Doctor up so he didn’t fall. Once Pinkie had untied the last of the streamers, she waved to Celestia, and she let them down.

The Doctor stood up and brushed himself off. “Thank you. Always nice to have a smooth landing.”

Celestia smiled. “You’re welcome.” She then looked to the sky where the golden energy scattered and frowned. “What about her?”

“She’ll live forever. One day the regeneration energy will seep into some dying planet, revitalizing it. Rather than taking life, she’ll be helping it.” He grinned, apparently quite pleased with himself. “Quite the optimal solution if I do say so myself.”

Pinkie laughed. “Be careful not to toot your own horn too much.”

The Doctor and Celestia chuckled to themselves. Celestia composed herself turned to leave. “Come. We should meet up with the others at the forest entrance.”

Pinkie gasped. “That’s right.” She scooped The Doctor onto her back and made to run for it. With everything that’s happened, I never got to throw you a welcome party.” She made it 3 steps before she collapsed under The Doctor’s weight.

The Doctor got up and held out a hand to help her up. “Maybe it’s best if I walk,” he laughed as she accepted the hand. Pinkie nodded sheepishly, and she and The Doctor followed after Celestia. “Celestia could get this ring off?” He called.



Luna pulled her ear back from the pegasus’s mouth and looked up to Emerald. “His breathing is stable but we should get him to a hospital.

Twilight perked up and approached Luna. “Princess. I’ll go.” Luna nodded and Twilight ignited her horn and was gone in a flash of light along with High Flyer.

Emerald breathed a sigh of relief.

Luna heard galloping hooves and instinctively lit up her horn. The two figures skidded to a halt and a frantic, familiar voice called out from the smaller figures back. “DON’T SHOOT!”

Luna’s horn stopped flashing, and she sighed her own sigh of relief. “Spike, Rarity, Bluebl-“ Her face dropped and she spat the next words. “Hello, Blueblood.” But the scorn on her face disappeared when she saw the state he was in.

He was bleeding in a few places, and blue and black marks dotted his body. He looked pitiable, and she found that she could not direct hate at such a sorry sight.

He didn’t say anything, too proud possibly, but she could see the pleading in his eyes. She was about to tell Emerald to let Celestia know where she was going. But at that moment, Celestia, Pinkie, and The Doctor emerged from the trees. She opened her mouth to say something, but as soon as her eyes landed on blueblood she galloped over to him and, without a word teleported away.

Before they left, Blueblood locked eyes on The Doctor and Luna saw a hatred burning in his eyes such as she had never seen in any pony she’d ever met. All she heard was a hate-filled, “YOU!” Before he was gone.

Luna turned a questioning look to The Doctor, who seemed just as confused as her. Rarity trotted up to The Doctor and gave him a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry about him. He’s very easily offended. I’m sure it’s nothing you’ve done.” She didn’t sound too sure of herself.

“Y-y-yeah.” Scratching the back of his head, he looked as sure as Rarity sounded. Before clapping his hands together trying to lighten the mood ”NOW,” he turned to Pinkie, “you mentioned a party?”

Pinkie’s face split into an ear-to-ear grin. “OH YES, YOU’LL LOVE IT! THERE’LL BE CAKE AND BALLOONS AN-what’s that glowing in your pocket?”

The Doctor looked confused for a second before his eyes widened and his hand flew to his breast pocket. Out of it he produced what appeared to be a glowing key, Luna recognised it, but everypony was completely lost. He turned to Pinkie with his own huge grin. “Wanna see something cool?”

“You bet.” With that, they rushed off.



Pinkie followed The Doctor to the crater the TARDIS had made. The small blue box sat proudly in the centre. The Doctor ran up to it and embraced it. This didn’t really phase Pinkie, she had seen and done weirder in her time.

The TARDIS itself, unlike its owner, showed no evidence of the scratches and torn paint it had had when Pinkie had first seen it, the dark blue colour stood out against the bright orange the rising sun cast over the land, and Pinkie could make out a white ring on its door that hadn’t been there before. ‘St. John Ambulance,’ it read.

The Doctor spun on his heel and spread out his arms, clearly proud of his TARDIS. “So. What do ya think?”

Pinkie looked the box over. “It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“Want a demonstration.”

“But if you leave how will you attend your party?”

The Doctor halted her with a finger on her lips. “Not a problem my equine friend. Just give me the time and place. The TARDIS needs a test flight after the experience she’s had.”

Ignoring his strange habit of talking about the box as if it were alive, she grinned. “7 pm. Twilight’s castle, that’s the crystal place.”

The Doctor clapped his hands together, smiling like a foal on Hearths Warming. “Now watch this.” Taking out the key, he unlocked the door and slipped inside. A moment later a strange whirring noise flooded the area as the light on top started to flash. A strong wind stirred up the dirt around the base and it gradually faded from view.

Pinkie stood in shock as Princess Luna appeared beside her in time to see the TARDIS disappear.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s just like him, leaving before the clean-up starts.” She then cast a confused glance to Pinkie. “Why are you still-never mind.”

Pinkie turned to Luna and cocked her head. She was going to question her further but decided against it. “He’s not gone, Princess.” She turned to Ponyville. She had a party to plan.



The next few hours were hectic. Construction efforts had begun to repair High Flyer’s and Emerald’s home, meanwhile, the two were offered a room in the palace. High had also been moved to a hospital in Canterlot to be closer to Emerald. He had not woken up, but the doctors had said he would be back to normal in a couple of weeks. Derpy had been bogged down with so much work, she seemed more confused than usual, and Pinkie had heard her complaining about some old stallion with a broken clock.

Blueblood had been dead silent since seeing The Doctor and glared daggers at her when she had visited the hospital.

Celestia and Luna had returned to Canterlot to file reports on what had happened. But had assured they would be back to attend The Doctor’s party.

Rarity had been preparing her boutique for The Doctor’s visit tomorrow, she had not accepted any new customers today, though most of Ponyville had just chalked the cause up to the TARDIS crash. It had impacted a lot of Ponyville.

The Cakes, hearing of what happened, had returned from their trip early. They had looked about ready to explode on Pinkie, but after a letter from Princess Celestia explaining everything, along with a hefty check to cover repairs plus compensation, they were quick to sweep it under the bridge. They were also offered temporary rooms at the palace.

Pinkie had managed, together with her friends, to set up the party. Everyone in Ponyville had come. They would never miss a Pinkie Pie party. She had explained about The Doctor. Luckily, since the Zecora incident, they had become a lot less xenophobic.



7:00 PM


The allotted time had arrived. The castle was dead silent, and everypony waited with bated breath. Only the distant sounds of insects filled the castle.

Suddenly, a wind began to pick up at the entrance to the castle, and the room was flooded with that wheezing sound. Everypony gasped as the TARDIS began to fade into view, but nopony panicked. They had all been warned.

With a low thud, the TARDIS fully materialised, and the door opened. The lights came on, and streamers popped from the walls. “SURPRISE!” Everypony shouted in unison as The Doctor stepped out of The TARDIS…completely soaked from head to toe.

Pinkie along with Celestia and Luna began to laugh. The Doctor just gave them a deadpan look and approached Rarity. “Could I perhaps take you up on that offer?”

Rarity chuckled. “Of course.” She then motioned to Pinkie. “But how about you enjoy the party first.”

The Doctor clapped his hands together and turned to Pinkie. “Well, I suppose I can just wash off later.” He spread out his arms and turned to the room. “LET’S PARTY.”

The room erupted into cheers.



The party was beginning to calm down as ponies began filing out. The Doctor had entertained everypony on the dance floor, waving his arms about in what Pinkie assumed to be a dance. He was funny. He didn’t seem to care who was watching, or what anypony thought of him. One of the top qualities she looked for in her friends.

He currently stood at the entrance, all smiles, happily seeing everypony off. He gave a particularly hearty hoofshake to Doctor Whooves. The two had spent a considerable time discussing a lot of things that went over Pinkie’s head. Derpy gave him a hug, which he didn’t seem to know how to respond to, Pinkie had seen her copying his dance, the troubles of covering High’s shift seemingly a distant memory.

Her smile was short-lived though, as Pinkie watched as an elderly stallion ambushed her as soon as she passed through the door, and Pinkie heard an audible groan as the stallion started lecturing her.

The Doctor looked on in amusement.

The Princesses were the last to leave, The Doctor turned to them smiling ear-to-ear. But Celestia motioned for him to come closer. She appeared to whisper something into his ear, and Pinkie saw his smile falter, just for a second. She made a note to ask him about it later.

As Celestia and Luna left, she saw Luna give Celestia a whack behind the head. Celestia looked at Luna indignantly but did not retaliate, indicating whatever had happened Celestia acknowledged she was in the wrong.

Twilight had long since disappeared, claiming she was going to take Spike into bed, he had fallen asleep in the punch bowl.

The Doctor turned to Pinkie and an awkward silence fell over the room. Pinkie wondered if she should say something. The silence dragged on. Until finally, The Doctor spoke.

“So.”

“So.”

The Doctor approached Pinkie. “What do ya say?” He grinned. Pinkie raised a questioning eyebrow. He continued. “Well, I was thinking…I’ve been traveling alone for a while and your energy would be welcome.”

Pinkie’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean in there?” She pointed at the TARDIS.

“Trust me, it’s more spacious than it looks.”

Pinkie shook her head. “That’s not the point. Doctor, I have a life here.”

“It’ll be like you never left.”

“How do you mean. You can’t expect me to believe it’s a ti-but then that would explain how the princesses know you while you don’t know them.” Pinkie got a little satisfaction from The Doctor’s look of surprise. Most ponies misjudged her intelligence from her demeanor.

She put a hoof to her chin. “Hmm. Before I give my answer, I have two questions.”

“Ask and I shall answer.” He gave a bow.

“Why me?”

He looked up with a smile. “Well you were a big help and, yours was the first face I saw after regenerating, call me a sentimentalist but, I feel a special connection to those I see after regeneration.”

Pinkie smiled at that, it was sweet.

“My final question is this.” She sighed deeply. “Can you promise me it’ll be safe?”

The Doctor frowned but answered. “I can promise that I will do my best to protect you and see you return safely.”

Pinkie nodded. “Ok then let me rephrase my question. At this point, I’m used to life or death situations. Can you promise me you won’t needlessly put me in danger?”

The Doctor nodded, “that I can promise.”

Pinkie smiled instead. “Ok then, I’ll go.”

The Doctor looked slightly shocked. “Just like that?”

Pinkie chuckled. “I’m not stupid Doctor. I can see it in your eyes, you’re lonely. And I can see sadness there too. Is it not a friend’s duty to cheer up a friend when they’re sad.” She gave him a completely serious look.

He gave rueful smile. “You’re perceptive, I’ll give you that.”

She returned his smile with a teasing one. “Yep. So don’t go thinking you can hide anything from me.” She lowered herself to the ground and hopped up to The Doctor’s chest hugging him and throwing him off balance a bit. She didn’t know what would come next, but she would not let her new friend go through it alone.

The Doctor laughed and tousled her mane. “Look forward to having you along Ms. Pie,” he replied through giggles. She let go of him. She looked him down, his clothes had long since dried, but they were absolutely wrecked.

“But first we need to get you some new clothes.”

They both laughed as they left through the castle doors.
> Fabricated Utopia Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Henry's life had been spiralling out of control. His wife had left him, he'd lost his job, and he was just days away from eviction. He walked down the empty street in a daze. As the sun disappeared behind his apartment building, the winter chill stung his ears.

The noxious smell of cigarette smoke assaulted his nostrils. The walls of the alley were smeared with various fluids, the origins of which he dreaded to contemplate, and litter was strewn about haphazardly.

Weary, he approached his building and stumbled up the stairs to the fourth floor. His eyes rolled when he saw Mrs Folwin, a squat, elderly woman hobbling his way. Henry liked her well enough, but he wasn't in the mood for another 'grandson' story. He gave her a curt nod before hastily unlocking his door and disappearing into his dark, cold apartment. He promised himself he would apologize to her tomorrow.

Inside, he sighed heavily as he surveyed his sparse surroundings. The meagre amount of food he could afford was spread out over the kitchen counter: noodles with nothing to flavour them, a tin of baked beans, and a couple of chocolate bars.

"This won't even last the evening," he mused.

He picked up a chocolate bar and began to chew on it listlessly. He strode over to a lone chair in the middle of the room and slumped into it. Not bothering to turn on the TV - the power had been cut days ago - he picked up a book and tried to read by the light of a small candle.

However, he couldn't concentrate; his mind kept wandering. He wondered if he could have done better, been better. More and more, he believed his current predicament was his own doing. It had been easier to blame everyone else, but deep down, he knew the truth: all of this was the result of his own poor decisions.

"Maybe the world would be better off without me."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than his television flickered to life, filling the room with a blinding light. Henry shielded his eyes and dropped his chocolate bar. As his eyes adjusted to the light, a low, monotone voice echoed through the room.

"Is that your answer?"

The voice seemed to be coming from the television set. In shock, Henry couldn't respond. After a few seconds of silence, the voice repeated its question.

"Is that your answer?"

Henry's mind raced. He knew what the voice was referring to. He hesitated, but eventually, he found his voice. "Yes."

"Then come."

The light intensified, and an arm, seemingly composed of static, emerged from the screen, holding out a hand for him to take. Henry hesitated. He didn't know who the voice belonged to or what they might want. He didn't know what he wanted.

But he did know there was nothing left for him here. Soon, he would be homeless, and he didn't think he could survive. He was at the end of his rope. Weighing his options, he decided to take a chance.

Reaching out, he cautiously took the offered hand. Immediately, he felt a vice-like grip that yanked him so hard he thought his arm might be ripped off. He screamed as pain seared through him, feeling like he was being torn apart. Even his scream was eventually silenced by the overwhelming pain. He vaguely heard the sound of an elderly woman screaming before his consciousness faded into nothing…


**********

Pinkie waited restlessly in the Carousel Boutique's waiting room. Rarity and The Doctor had locked themselves in the backroom yesterday and hadn't been out since. Pinkie had finished her goodbyes, dropped her suitcases off at the Castle of Friendship, and arrived early, just as Sweetie Belle was heading off to school. Sweetie Belle had let Pinkie in, mentioning that Rarity and The Doctor had been talking all night and that Rarity had been sewing since one o'clock this morning. The boutique was even closed for the day.

Pinkie knew Rarity was a perfectionist, but an entire night seemed excessive even for her. Pinkie guessed that the opportunity to design for a whole new creature probably had Rarity's excitement at an all-time high.

While Pinkie understood the feeling, she had been waiting there for three hours and was running out of crossword puzzles. She was just about to leave and come back later when the door opened. Rarity emerged, looking exhausted but wearing an ear-to-ear smile.

"Where's The Doctor?" Pinkie zipped over to her.

Rarity jumped back, startled. "Wha-oh Pinkie, it's you." Rarity returned her smile. "Pinkie, I can't wait for you to see what we've put together. It's some of my best work if I do say so myself."

Rarity didn't answer the question, but Pinkie inferred that The Doctor was probably getting changed.

About ten minutes later, the door opened again, and The Doctor strolled in, strutting as if on a runway. He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with poofy cuffs jutting out from under a black blazer. His legs were covered by long black trousers that hung down to his ankles, and he wore a short black cape that reached his waist with red velvet on the inside. A bowler hat sat atop his now neatly combed brown hair.

"So," he gave a twirl, "What do you think?"

Pinkie pondered for a second. "Lose the hat and you're fine."

The Doctor and Rarity let out simultaneous scoffs of indignation. "And what's wrong with the hat?" they asked in unison.

The Doctor then smiled smugly. "Plus, look what I can do." He slipped the hat off, let it roll down his arm to his hand, and smoothly brought it back to his head. After striking a pose, he looked at her in expectation.

Pinkie laughed and clapped her hooves. "Okay. That was impressive. The hat can stay."

Rarity nodded in satisfaction. She ignited her horn, and a couple of bags floated in from the back into the main waiting area. "Here are the others, colour-coded, of course, for every occasion."

The Doctor graciously accepted the bags and bowed his head in thanks to Rarity. He then turned to Pinkie with a flourish of his cape. "Well, Miss Pie, are you ready to go?"

"You know it."

The Doctor turned to Rarity and bid her goodbye before Pinkie and he left the boutique.

**********

Twilight was waiting for them in the entrance hall. Pinkie saw her suitcases had been stacked into a neat pile next to the TARDIS. Twilight sighed as Pinkie walked through the door.

“Pinkie. I appreciate you’re excited, but could you please not leave your cases strewn about the place? At least organise them.”

Pinkie smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry about it.” She then looked at the stack and frowned. “Though this is an awful lot of cases, do you need help getting it in there?”

“Thanks but no thanks.” Pinkie then had a thought. “I’ve been meaning to ask Doctor but…won’t we be all squashed in there.”

The Doctor smirked. “Somehow I doubt that,” he laughed.

Pinkie had no idea what he was talking about but she just shrugged. “If you say so.”

The Doctor looked around. “I would’ve thought the princesses would be here to see us off.”

It was Twilight’s turn to smirk. “You seem to have a high opinion of yourself.” She stared him down for a few seconds before they both laughed. “They’ve been dealing with Blueblood. Apparently, he’s been locked in his room since yesterday.”

“Ah well. Can’t be helped I guess.” He slipped his bags so that they hung off of one arm and reached into his pocket. From it, he produced the same key Pinkie had seen the day before. He stuck it into the TARDIS and unlocked it. He turned to Twilight. “I’d say goodbye but…I can’t stand goodbyes.” He slipped into the TARDIS. “Are you coming Pinkie,” he called out from the box.

Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I expected that. It’s a common thing in the books about him.”

Pinkie gave her an apologetic smile, but Twilight just smiled back. “Don’t worry about that, go and enjoy yourself.”

Pinkie hugged Twilight and turned to enter the TARDIS, The Doctor stuck his head out and chucked something round and small to Twilight with a “Catch.” Twilight caught it in her magic and gave The Doctor a quizzical look. “Use that if you ever need to contact me. Just twist the dial in the centre clockwise once. Only use it in an emergency.” He popped his head back into the TARDIS without waiting for a response.

Pinkie shrugged and grinned, lifting her luggage onto her back. “See you later Twilight.” Twilight waved back, and she stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door.

Her first thought when she turned from the door expecting to see The Doctor cramped against the wall was, ‘Wow.’

The Doctor had clearly picked up on her awe because he was beaming ear to ear. He threw out his hands in a very showpony-like way. “Welcome to the TARDIS Pinkie, my home, and for the foreseeable future, yours as well.”

Pinkie’s eyes sparkled as she took in her surroundings. The walls glimmered a fine silver, and the sealing reached up to a point. Around the wall, various staircases lead even further into the interior of the TARDIS. At the centre of the room was a large console, decorated with various knobs, levers and buttons. With the occasional light blinking here and there. The console was the same colour as the walls around the room. Not far from the console was a spiral staircase that stretched up into an opening in the ceiling.

“Coooool.” Pinkie immediately felt the urge to explore each and every part of her new environment. She zipped this way and that, evidently startling The Doctor.

Then, surprisingly, she felt herself halted with a tug on her tail. She looked back in bewilderment. The Doctor stood holding her tail to keep her in place. “How about we do the tour later? I wanna show you the really neat part.”

He released her tail and began to operate the console, he danced around the console, a smile on his face and evidently in his element as the TARDIS began making that wheezing sound. He turned a knob here, pushed a button there, and finished it off with a hefty yank on a lever on the side of the console.

Pinkie heard a dull thud as if signifying something. The Doctor grinned. “We’ve arrived. Through those doors is a different planet. Earth, London, around 2022.” He gestured with a hand and Pinkie excitedly zipped round to rush out the door, but The Doctor grasped her tail again. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Pinkie turned to him with confusion. “But you said-“

“You can’t go out looking like that, you’ll cause a riot.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, that’s twenty-first-century Earth out there, they can barely get along with members of their own species. How do you think they’d react to you.”

Pinkie thought about that, it made sense, but it made her sad to hear how these ponie-people lived. She couldn’t imagine being weary of her neighbour. She nodded but added, “Well, what should I do?”

“Hang on a minute.” He retreated up the spiral staircase. After a couple of minutes, he returned with a box. He set it down and began emptying its contents. “Let’s see here…..Dalek gun, Carrionites….ah.” From the box, he produced a golden bracelet. “Hold out your hoof.”

Pinkie obliged and The Doctor slipped it onto her hoof. Her vision was filled with white for a few seconds. When her vision returned, she found herself at eye level with The Doctor, she blinked. She felt strange, she was no longer standing on four legs, but two. She looked down and held out her forelegs. Hands. She had hands, she flexed the fingers and caught sight of a golden ring wrapped snuggly on her left index finger.

“Don’t worry, the process is reversible, just remove the ring. This way you can walk among the humans without raising alarm.” Pinkie took an unsteady step toward one of her cases, stumbling a bit.

She reached into the top suitcase and took out a mirror. She examined herself, her hair was still its usual pink colour, and just as fluffy as it had been. Her skin had a slight pink tint to it, all in all, all that had changed was her shape, she was still recognizable as Pinkie Pie. She wore a white top with a heart on it, covered by a short blue jacket. Her cutie mark was displayed on a pink skirt.

She gave The Doctor a genuinely thankful smile, “Thanks Doctor, for looking out for me.” She began to slowly make her way to The Doctor.

He gave a small salute. “I did promise didn’t I.” She stumbled as she reached him, but he caught her with an “easy there.” He helped her back to her feet. “We’ll have to work on your coordination, but you’ll get the hang of it. Now then.” He twisted a knob on the console and the doors opened. He gestured to the now open doors. “Shall we?”

Pinkie steadied herself on her feet and, only stumbling once, took her first step onto an alien world.

**********

The first thing Pinkie noticed, as she steadied herself on the TARDIS doorframe, was the cold. The Doctor took a step out and breathed deeply. "Ah, smell that good old British air."

Pinkie sniffed and scrunched up her nose as a particularly pungent smell burned her nostrils. "Smells like Berry Punch's house. I love it," she beamed.

They stepped out of the alley onto the main street. It was midday, and it was packed. People of all different backgrounds were walking this way and that. The smell of food hit Pinkie’s nostrils, reminding her that she hadn't actually eaten since the night before.

Hearing the sound of Pinkie’s stomach, The Doctor looked over at her with an amused smirk. "I was going to ask what you wanted to do first, but I guess there's no need." Pinkie blushed sheepishly as The Doctor let out a hearty laugh. "I know just the place."

The Doctor took Pinkie’s hand and led her through the bustling street.

**********

They had been walking for around 15 minutes when The Doctor led her into a cosy little café on a street corner. Inside, an old couple eyeballed Pinkie with surprise. Pinkie figured she must have looked pretty strange. After all, she had not seen a human with pink hair in the last 15 minutes. She smiled at them, and they looked back down awkwardly. Pinkie frowned but didn't say anything.

They approached the glass counter, with shelves adorned with all sorts of pastries. She could see some that had meat on them, but she didn't mind; she had looked after the carnivores Fluttershy kept before. A little girl, around ten or eleven years old, though Pinkie was only guessing, sat behind the counter, scribbling in a sketchbook. She looked at them and yelled into the back, "DAD! CUSTOMERS!"

"COMING, COMING," a shout came from the back. A short, plump man with a receding hairline came scurrying out. He had to stand on a stool to peek over the counter. "Ah. What can I do for you?"

"Mr Jones, you may not recognize me, but it's The Doctor."

Mr Jones pulled a pair of glasses from his breast pocket and squinted. "Blimey, you've cut your hair." Pinkie saw the girl smirk at that comment. 

The Doctor winked at Pinkie and grinned at the man. "That I did. What do you think?" He took off his hat and, with a flourish of his cape, bowed.

"Not bad, not bad." He chuckled, "I'm guessing you'll be wanting your usual. Two chocolate croissants and a tea with extra sugar?"

"Oh, you know me too well." 

"And what will it be for the lady?" Mr Jones turned his attention to Pinkie.

Pinkie put a finger to her lips as she examined the display, there were cakes, cookies, pies, and all sorts of pastries. "I think I'll go for that delicious-looking éclair, ooh ooh, or that pizza, and maybe that Danish, and and-"

"Ahem." The Doctor cleared his throat and looked at Pinkie with an amused smirk. 

Pinkie grinned with a blush of embarrassment.

Mr Jones adjusted his glasses and let out a laugh. "I must say, Doctor, this girl is certainly a lively one."

Pinkie had decided she liked this man. Mr Jones took their order, and The Doctor pulled out a small plastic card which he placed against a contraption she'd never seen before. It beeped, and The Doctor placed the card back into his inside pocket. 

They walked to a table by the window and sat down. "Hey, Doctor." The Doctor nodded, signalling her to continue. "What was that card thing?" 

"Oh, this?" He produced the card again, "It’s similar to a debit card, they let you make purchases without physical cash. This one is special, unlimited money. Bit naughty, so don't tell anyone." 

Pinkie chuckled but said no more.

"So. You've done it again." A youthful voice sounded. The girl that was behind the counter had pulled a chair up to the table.

The Doctor smiled, "Yep. What do you think, Serena?"

"What's with the hat?"

"Don’t knock the hat. It's the height of fashion in some points of history." The Doctor straightened in his chair and fixed his bowler hat indignantly.

"Not this point."

"Oy!"

The little girl, Serena, laughed, brushing her red hair out of her face. "In all seriousness though, I liked the one with that long scarf."

"A lot of people did."

"This one's not too bad though?"

"I'm trying not to be offended here," The Doctor retorted, but his joking smile showed he wasn’t serious. "Anyway, Serena, how long has it been?"

"About a year." Serena shrugged. She then turned to Pinkie. "You look funny," she stated without a hint of malice. 

Just then, Mr Jones came walking up with two trays of pastries. "Now, Serena, what have we talked about?" 

Serena rolled her eyes but smiled. She waved goodbye before returning behind the counter.

"I'm sorry about that," apologized Mr Jones, "she just speaks her mind. It's gotten her into a lot of trouble."

Pinkie smiled, "I don’t mind."

Mr Jones gave a grateful smile before setting down the trays.

**********

The Doctor and Pinkie finished their visit and bid farewell to Mr Jones and Serena. They strolled from store to store, the bustle of the city all around them. Pinkie was amazed; even Manehattan wasn't this busy.

Using his card, the Doctor purchased anything Pinkie picked out. Her choices were mostly souvenirs for her friends: a human history book for Twilight, a fancy brooch for Rarity, a book on something called "NASCAR" for Rainbow Dash, a model tractor for Applejack, a National Geographic book for Fluttershy, and a figurine of a character dressed as a bat for Spike.

As the sun began to set, the Doctor turned to Pinkie. "Well, Pinkie, how about we return to the TARDIS?"

Balancing bags precariously, with one gripped in her mouth, Pinkie nodded and muffled a, "Hmm."

**********

Mr Jones wiped the sweat from his brow as he finished closing up. He pulled the shutters down and headed upstairs. 

Serena, his daughter, was already supposed to be asleep. From her bedroom door, she watched as her father picked up a photo of her mother, looked at it, and broke down.

Quietly, she closed her door to give him space. Serena had never really known her mother, who had passed away when she was very young, leaving her with no memories. However, it tore her up inside to see that even after ten years, the loss still devastated her father.

In public, he played the jovial baker, but only she knew just how broken he was.

She lowered herself into bed and realized she was crying. "I thought I was okay with this," she whispered to herself.

'I have to be strong for Dad. It'll only make him feel worse if he sees me crying. I can't let him see me cry,' she thought, her mind racing. 'I wish Mum was still alive.'

Suddenly, her TV switched itself on, flooding the room with a blinding light. Serena shot up in fright. She reached for the remote and tried to turn the TV off, but nothing happened.

"Poor Serena," a monotone voice echoed in her head. "Such a strong girl. Forcing yourself to grow up quickly to save your father. But why deny yourself a childhood?"

"W-what...who is this? Who's speaking?" she screamed, hoping her father had heard.

"A friend," it responded matter-of-factly. "My masters wish to help. We can fix your family. Would you like that? A chance to have a proper childhood. All you need do is say yes."

She heard her father fumbling with the doorknob, her mind was racing. Without thinking, she screamed, "YES!"

Just then, her father threw open her door, relief crossing his face for a moment, but it was short-lived as he looked at the screen. "SERENA!"

The light grew brighter as two arms, composed of static, emerged from the screen. One grabbed her father, and the other grasped her. An intense pain shot through her, she thought she heard her father say something, but she couldn't focus on his words.

As quickly as it started, the pain stopped, and she lost consciousness.

To be continued...