The Plastic Paradigm

Meanwhile, the final few mannequin/wax figures were being moved into place. There were figures of many important ponies of past and present, from Equestria and beyond, even a almost perfect rendition of Frank Sineightra stood with a smile on his muzzle and a fedora perched on his head.

The place would eventually hold as many as one hundred famous faces but for now about eighty percent of them were occupied by new fashion, including a few designs from Rarity herself.

All in all, the crew were running ahead of schedule, despite being slightly understaffed. Some of the workers and designers had failed to turn up. This didn't really concern them, things were going smooth without them. However, if they had found out what had happened to them then of course they would be worrying.

Where were they? Well for one unlucky mare the answer was in Canterlot, attempting to make her way to work. Her name was Shimmer Star, she was a mannequin maker and helped with the design behind the new figures that would be used at the museum .

Her coat was aqua and her mane was cloud white, extremely smooth and almost drifted like an actual cloud when she moved. Her Cutie Mark was a star with smaller ones around it, all of them a bright gold.

She made her way along the cobbled streets, not a care in the world, but something didn't feel quite right. Maybe it was the lack of sentient life on the streets. Or the eerie, cold breeze that swept through occasionally or maybe even the figures that stood motionless in alleys, just out of her view.

She began to notice and eventually approached one of the figures, finding it to be a wax figure, one of the ones she designed.

"Huh? Alright, I KNOW I'm late for work, but you Stallions aren't funny...Seriously, come out!" she exclaimed, her voice sounding more on edge. Her breathing picked up as Shimmer Star backed away from the lone mannequin, against what she thought was a wall, until it moved.

A second mannequin that she had bumped into reach its hoof towards her throat and Shimmer Star let out a blood curdling scream, which nopony heard.

Back at the Library the Doctor was still waiting at the door patiently, not a bit of concern on his face even though he had been waiting for 15 minutes.

"Hello? Anypony home?" he called, the response being a loud crash from inside and a shattering of glass.

The Doctor needed no further invitation, he flung the door open and dashed in; to find himself facing, probably, the world largest monkey, attempting to climb one of the bookshelves. "BLIMEY!" Shouted the Doctor, scanning the room quickly, finding Twilight sweating and trying to read a book rather quickly.

The monkey seemed content with climbing the bookcase, taking no heed to the Doctor's sudden outburst. Realizing this he trotted slowly over to her. "So, you would be Twilight Sparkle, yes?" he asked softly.

Twilight almost had a heart attack and jumped a few feet off the ground upon hearing the Doctor's voice.

"AAAAAH!" she screamed, the noise spooking the enormous monkey, causing him to fall from the shelf he was on, landing on the floor with a loud crash, sending both Twilight and the Doctor into the air.

Standing up after the crash she turned to face the mysterious pony who had entered the Library, despite the 'KEEP OUT' sign she had placed on the door, perhaps it had fallen off.

Bit of an aloof air to him, judging by the way he is constantly darting his eyes about in such a manner, I guess he's from the palace...Maybe he is here to check on my progress on behalf of the Princess! thought Twilight as she picked up the book in hoof and passed it to the Doctor, who had returned to examining the rather large monkey that had decided the bookshelves were safe again.

"Can I help you?" she asked, making sure that the Doctor could hear her.

"Hmm? Oh yes that's right, I'm the Doctor by the way, very nice to meet you miss Twilight is it?" he said, trying to remember whilst squinting one eye.

Twilight blinked in surprise and looked at him, she hadn't even told him her name yet, maybe it had something to do with the fact she was, apart from Spike, the only pony that lived in the Library. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle to be precise, and who are you? You said you're a doctor, but Doctor Who?" she questioned quizzically.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and smiled at the same time, not an easy feat and definitely not a pretty spectacle. "Smith, Colt Smith. Just got here from the palace actually and I need to ask a favour. I need to see any scientific equipment you might have, for documentation and safety of course." he said dryly, a now more business like tone present in his voice as he produced, seemingly out of nowhere, a flip open black wallet with a single piece of blank, white paper.

Of course the paper was blank, but to anyone looking at it, it would be a particular alias, person, title or job descriptor, whatever they wanted to see for the paper was not ordinary, but psychic.

"I see..." she commented, reading what she could see on the paper. Well, he's telling the truth, I hope I don't get in trouble for the sizing mistake on the monkey...

The Doctor continued to look about the place, scanning the now empty bookshelves and occasionally picking one up off the floor and reading the title. "Neighkola Tesla huh? Sounds promising, now about your equipment? I am sure we can deal with the monkey later."

Twilight nodded and gestured towards the basement stairs. It was surprisingly well lit, scientific apparatus of all shapes and sizes lined the shelves and dotted the tables. Bunsen Burners puffed their flames gently while test tubes above them in racks boiled and bubbled, the Doctor half expected to find a cadaver strapped to a table, ready for the perfect lightning storm.

Twilight stood in the centre of the room, turning her head every now and then, following the Doctor's progress through the room as he excitedly trotted about the room, muttering about everything in front of his face at any given time.

"Awww, you've got one of these, I had one, lost it, can't remember where though, such a drag. Oh! you've got two of these! I've only ever seen one, how did you get two? Nevermind, hmmm...Nothing I can use right now, maybe with a little inspection."

He continued like this for another few minutes, occasionally tapping a beaker or flicking through a book, most of them research notes on various experiments; the covers worn but not old, many scratches, burns and stains on a few of the early pages and not a single page left untouched by ink.

Then the unexpected happened, the Doctor grabbed a bunch of random items and plonked them on a workbench with a heavy thud, sending Twilight out of the light daydream she had been having, something about a cafe in Canterlot.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" she questioned, a panic rising in her voice as she dashed over to the grey and blue workbench on the other side of the candlelit room. The Doctor ignored her, sorting out bits and bobs as he began to disassemble various items and roughly clonk them together, briefly using a Bunsen Burner to weld a few pieces here and there.

All Twilight Sparkle could do was watch in almost abject horror as he swiftly destroyed important apparatus and reformed it into a thing, something, she just didn't know what. It was another 10 minutes or so before another word was said, but finally the strange device had been completed.

"Well, not the model I was hoping for, but the best I could manage with these sort of things." He half said to himself, half to the mare next to him. The device in question was about the length of a pen and a half, a silver rod made of some sort of metal. On the end of it was a red circle, with similar coloured rod connecting the centre to the outer circle; sort of like a tiny, red fan.

"Hmmf, Mark III.II, not the best but I was missing a energy converter to be able to get the Mark IV." he muttered to himself, slipping the device into his 'pocket', the almost trandescental area that allows ponies to hold items on their person without bags or holding it.

"Now miss Sparkle, you were saying something?" asked the Doctor, back to his usual self.

"Y-you, y-you c-can't, you just, b-but!" she stuttered, unable to form full sentences as her work from almost 6 years had just been miniaturized into some unknown device that he had just hidden from her. She tried to grab him, ending up sailing right past the strange colt as he began to make his way upstairs. "Hey! Come back here, I need that!" she called after him, with no success.

She HAD expected him to make off with his ill gotten gains, make a run for it so to speak. But no, the Doctor stood right outside the Library, the device in hoof and a strange whirring sound coming from it. He held it to his ear and shook it; looking rather dissapointed.

Turning to face her the Doctor looked her in the eyes. "Twilight, can I call you that? Anyway, I need to get to the palace, can you help me?" he asked quietly, removing the facade once and for all. "Also, I told a bit of a fib, my name isn't Colt Smith, it's the Doctor, just the Doctor and I need to get to the palace for very important reasons...So can you help?" he asked pleadingly.

She had suspected as much about the name, it was just too plain for such a flamboyant personality. But not being from the palace, indicated by the request to be escorted there by any means meant that the ID she had shown him must have been a fake, or at least not his.

"It's okay if you don't want to come with me, I prefer to have some to talk to while I work, it helps me focus, or ramble..." He fiddled with his tie as he began to walk in the direction he assumed would be the quickest way to the palace. "Also, this tie really itches, I can't remember why I picked it really..." he mumbled to himself, hoping that Twilight was following him.

He was not to be dissapointed, Twilight was a few feet behind, not wanting to get any closer to this stranger than strange character that had come from almost nowhere, destroyed her work and now possessed a tool she thought to be a work of fiction. She wanted to get to the bottom of him and discover everything about him, and that strange device of his.

That was the plan, or at least the idea, but it didn't help her that he decided to sing on the way to the train station.

"Oh, I am the very model of a Modern Major-General, I've information, vegetable, animal and mineral. I know the kings of England and I quote the fights historical, from Marathon to Waterloo in order catergorical...I'm very well acquainted too, with matters mathematical, I understand equations both the simple and quadratical. Come on twilight, join in!" he exclaimed.

The walk to the train station took an agonizing fifteen minutes, for the Doctor had stopped multiple times, taking the device and using it briefly, each time ending in the same dissapointment from the first.

"Doctor, if that IS your name, what are you doing exactly?" she asked, confused as all can be as she caught up to him, peering slightly over his shoulder.

"Hm? Oh yes! Umm, put simply I am trying to get a lock on the TARDIS, but with this older model of Sonic Screwdriver I don't think I'll be able to, no....Do you know anyone that might have some Bazoolium?" he asked hopefully, his eyes once again full of wonder.

"Bazoolium?" Twilight asked back, not the faintest idea what sort of a item it was. The Doctor frowned and continued on his way, no longer stopping to use his Sonic Screwdriver. The two managed to reach the train station without much trouble, except for the Doctor's constant asking about the goings on in Ponyville and Canterlot, of which Twilight knew little, having to work on various spells and keep a Library in order was not an easy task.

Normally the task would have been vastly easier, thanks to her friend and travel companion Spike. Had the little purple and green dragon been present and not on a holiday then he would have most likely been the Doctor's main curious focus and things would have most likely been just a little more chaotic.