The Plastic Paradigm

The train ride to Canterlot was almost agonizing for Twilight, with the chestnut Stallion next to her constantly asking her questions about pony anatomy, apparently the Doctor hadn't payed much attention to the fact he was one.

"Anyway, I was wondering, how do you use these 'pockets'?" he asked, gesturing to a spot on his side where he produced the Sonic Screwdriver from seemingly nowhere.

Pockets where a part of pony anatomy that nopony knew much about, they simply existed and assisted ponies like human pockets on clothing.

"They seem to be Dimensionally Transcendental, but they still weigh down the user, therefore there is no sort of anti-gravity system or spacious pocket dimension...It's simply fascinating to look at this sort of thing!" The Doctor laughed and repeatedly put away and took out his screwdriver, staring in wonder like a child at every time he did it.

"Oh hang on, I completely forgot; have you ever been to the Royal Palace before? I mean, it's roughly my first time, well my first time, the other me's have gone there before but somehow I've forgotten and I'd really not like to get lost there so...?"

Twilgiht blinked, having almost fallen asleep, ignoring the Doctor's questions. "Hmm? Oh yeah, I've been there a lot of times, I know my way around, you won't get lost...Hold up, what do you mean 'other you's' that doesn't make any sense, there can't be anymore you's except from being from another time...W-wait, time travel is scientifically impossible!" she mumbled.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Says the magical Unicorn, also, I really like the little stalls they had in Ponyville, so many tasty treats!" he chuckled joyfully, slyly changing the subject.

She groaned aloud and punched him on the shoulder. "You made us take an extra half hour, what were you exactly doing running off like that?" she growled at him like an angry mother.

He pouted, looking a little sorry. "Uhhh yeah, sorry about that; but they had Blueberry Muffins! I love Muffins!" he said, his enthusiasm coming back in a hearts beat. The Doctor looked out the window, sighing as he looked to the moon. "I've been across the stars in that brilliant little box. And in about three seconds I jumped out when she needed me the most, either this is guilt I'm feeling or I really shouldn't have had that last muffin..." he said glumly, lying down on the seat opposite Twilight.

He passed out almost immediately, much to her surprise as she also felt the embrace of sleep sneaking up behind her. That night Twilight had the most terrible dream. In front of her stood a blue box, a red, pulsing light atop it and an eerie orange glow came from the small windows on top of the double doors.

A roaring wind could be heard from inside as the windows shattered, sending a small burst of flames out of them for a second before the ground was stripped from under her and Twilight found herself in a blue and red tunnel of strange mist and fire, strangely burning hot and freezing cold at the same time...Time...That word kept whispering itself in her ear, never getting louder and never vanishing altogether.

Twilight woke with a start, almost falling off the seat she was laying on. It was the middle of the night and the moon hung in the sky towards the horizon slightly, casting moonlight on just about everything. It was almost hypnotizing but something was nagging at her mind as she slowly forgot the dream she just had. As the train moved she could see dew sparkling on the grass, the moving train causing it to look like the rolling and sparkling sea.

The Doctor was sleeping like a log, he even had the colour scheme to match, chestnut and dark brown with that green tie. Twilight had a mental giggle at the comparison before trying to go back to sleep, praying to Celestia that she wouldn't have another dream; and that she might provide some answers about this 'Doctor', since he seemed somewhat apprehensive about giving any.

Eventually the morning came and by the time Twilight woke the Doctor was already pacing, muttering about this and that. Shortly he turned to face Twilight and spoke. "Three days left...We need to get to the Palace as soon as we can, your Princess might be the only one who can save her..."

She blinked, looking at him. "Her? Who's she?" she asked, trying not to sound offended in anyway, which for some reason, she was.

The Doctor stared at her expectantly, as if he expected her to be the one who knew what he was thinking. Eventually he broke the stare and went back to pacing, a tiny hint of pink in his cheeks. "S-sexy is the one I care about the most in the universe, she's the only one of her kind and I love her to bits, which happens to be more often than not. She's trapped in a terrible yet amazing place and your Princess is the only one who can save her."

Twilight was taken aback by that comment, she didn't expect anyone to fall for that madman, sure he looked pretty good but she was certain he was missing a few screws under the hood, to use a car analogy that someone would appreciate. Ten minutes passed and the train slowly pulled into the Canterlot station. The Doctor almost got off the train before it stopped and Twilight had a hard time keeping up as he galloped at full tilt towards the Royal Palace.

He even didn't bother politely stopping for the guards at the door, on he went, barreling through the main doors, Twilight in hot pursuit and behind her, at least five, somewhat angry guards. The impromptu group just about thundered through to the main room of the Palace, the Throne Room, where atop a small flight of stairs was Princess Celestia herself, sitting on her throne.

The first look across her face was one of bemusement, having just witnessed a single pony enter her throne room at a rather dangerous speed. The next was confusion, followed by a minor amount of happiness, seeing her star pupil enter a few seconds after. And of course, even more confusion as a gaggle of her guards rushed in as well. Whomever this Stallion was, he was important.

"Twilight, who is this young Stallion with you? He is important I hope." she asked calmly.

Twilight stepped forward slightly, an unconscious habit she had developed when speaking to the Princess. "Yes Princess Celestia, this Stallion has sought an audience with you, he needs your help desperately."

Celestia looked to him, then back to her student, then back to the Doctor. "Very well, speak. I have all day, and frankly; I've been bored out of my wits..." she said with a heavy sigh.

The Doctor grinned and opened his mouth to speak. "Thank you your majesty and also, Twilight Sparkle I did not say I was desperate! Anyway, so about that, good to see you again Princess, I really wished this could be under more pleasant circumstances but I really need your help..."

"You've met me before? When?" she asked, highly confused and intrigued at the same time.

The Doctor let out a light chuckle before continuing. "Oh you've met me loads of times Celestia, new face, voice and everything this time, the whole kit and caboodle so to speak; even the teeth, didn't like the new teeth... Anyway I really need your help, do you still have any of my old stuff? Or did you throw everything out of that old and dusty basement like I asked twenty years ago...Now that I think about it honestly have no idea why I would ask you to do that, I think it had something to do with the decor....But never mind, new face, new personality so if you have any of my things I would really like them back, please?" he asked, pouting a little as he finished.

Celestia looked at him, changing faces, a new voice? A shape-changer and yet not a changeling, only Star Scroll knew how to do such magic, but perhaps this is not magic...

"Doc.Tor" she spat out slowly, almost as if it were an insult. "Why have you come back here, I told you that you had been banished from the Palace and never to return..."

The Doctor laughed sheepishly, "Weeeell about that...Slight problem, my Ship crashed, well is still crashing and I need some of my things to save it..." he said, a hoof rubbing the back of his neck, which he found rather soothing.

The following silence was deafening and extremely awkward as Princess Celestia thought about her verdict. There were so many things she could do, banish him again; help him, give him access to "The Basement" or even have him executed, all the while the Doctor and Twilight stood side by side, watching her ponder, guards raised their spears to his throat for some reason.

The Doctor flailed his front hooves in the air, gesturing towards the Princess. "Now that's not very nice, I only just arrived and I'm going to be executed? What happened to the fair and happy ruler Princess Celestia I knew eh?"

The "Fair and Happy Ruler" waved her hoof dismissively, "To the dungeon with him, may you rot for eternity and a half." She stated bluntly.

The guards grabbed the Doctor and slowly dragged him away as he muttered to himself. Twilight caught the last part "...And now I'm going to die in a dungeon...In Canterlot!" he said pitifully.

Twilight herself looked anxiously between her teacher and the colt she had met barely a day ago that had knowledge far beyond her comprehension that she could learn from as he was slowly being dragged away. She began to panic and Celestia took heed of her worry. "Dearest Twilight, is something the matter?" she asked earnestly.

The purple mare swallowed, before nodding and speaking aloud. "He needs things to save someone very close to him, and though it is none of my business what you should do to him, if he cannot save a very important mare in three days, she will die a most horrible death!" she rushed out, yet making every syllable clear as crystal.

The guards froze and turned the Doctor to face Celestia and Twilight. "Weeeeell, that and the catastrophic failure of my ship, the engine of which consists of a star in constant state of decay that, if unable to stop decaying would explode rather violently and wipe out all existence in a fiery blossom of death...In fact it's probably already happening, can you feel the heat?" he asked evilly, a drop of sweat rolling down the Princesses cheek from fear, adding to to it without realization.

The guards had let go of the Doctor without realizing and Celestia cleared her throat to speak. "V-very well Doctor. I shall allow you access to your equipment, on the premise that you retrieve your ship, I do this not out of love or compassion, but as of need to save Equestria." She stood from her throne, descending the tiny set of stairs and walking down a corridor, Twilight and the Doctor in tow.

"You've had this place redecorated!" the Doctor said absent-mindedly as they almost trotted. "I don't like it..." The trio proceeded quickly along almost endless halls and corridors, making their way into an empty room. "Wasn't there supposed to be a staircase here? And two armed guards, well I'm glad they're gone, the armed guards of course; never liked them...."

Both Twilight and Princess Celestia ignored his rambling as the Princess walked up to a wall and it dissapeared entirely, revealing a winding staircase that proceeded to become darker the further down one went.

Twilight followed her teacher down the stairs in wonder, the Doctor following behind smiling just a little. The stairs led them to a pitch black room; Celestia's horn glowed for a second before torches lined along the walls lit up and Twilight saw something out of one of her fantasies. The room was rather large, yet compact, lots of dividing walls and desks, workbenches, most of them covered with designs or strange devices; it was like Twilight's laboratory, only twice, if not three times as big.

Celestia stood by the door as Twilight slowly walked up to the first workbench she saw, it had a book on it that almost whispered to her, opening it the first thing she saw was a creature. It looked strange, it almost floated, wearing a sort of black lab coat and curious silver and blue headset. from the waist down was most likely a shielded propulsion system. The creature bound in this contraption looked evil, sick and quite possibly, mad. This page also had only one word on it, written in brilliant, blood red cursive was a name: DAVROS.