My life began as you would expect it to, I grew up in a relatively small town, population of a few thousand. My childhood was nothing special; public school and a small circle of friends made up years five though sixteen, and those years were great. What you wouldn't expect, however, is the years that follow, this is where my story truly begins.
It was the day after my sixteenth birthday, my "sweet sixteen" if you will. The festivities died off, my friends returned to their respective homes, and the presents began already to lose their luster. My father approached me with one last gift. In his hand he held a small pocket watch. "Son," he began, "I think it’s about time I gave you this."
I took the watch, hardly giving it a glance as I slipped it into my pocket. "Thanks, Dad," I said before pulling him in for a hug.
It wasn't long after that before I was sitting in my room looking over my gifts; a remote control plane from one friend, a new game from another, not to shabby. I flopped down on my bed with a audible "oomph" as I laid my head on my pillow and stared at the ceiling. Although it wasn't even late my eyes began to flutter closed and grew heavier and heavier. I was still fully dressed, but it wasn't long until sleep came and finally won me over.
*****
I awoke in the night to the chiming of metal as it struck a hard surface; I lifted my head, startled by the sound. I aroused to find that I had left my window open otherwise the sound would have gone unnoticed. I moved to peer out the window and caught a glimpse of a figure inside the garage. My initial thought was holy crap we're being robbed, but as I stared into the night a wave of curiosity rushed over me. What was it I saw? I thought to myself. Before I had any idea as to what the hell I was doing, I crept out of my rooms and through the hall and into the coat room, I slipped on my shoes and walked silently out the door.
This is a bad idea, I thought to myself as I crept silently towards the garage, careful as to not attract any attention to myself. I took hold of the door handle, twisting it ever so quietly and opening the door only a crack. I moved my eye to it in an attempt to see whatever was inside, I saw nothing, then again I couldn't see anything in the first place. I opened the door wider, the hinges gave a loud creak causing me to wince at the unnecessarily loud noise. I stopped to see if I had been noticed, but I heard not a single sound. I crept inside, leaving the door open in case I had to make a break for it.
I searched intently for whatever it was I saw. I found neither head nor hair of of anything and just as I began to give up a voice sounded from behind me.
"Oi!" I turned to face the voice with a yelp. There stood a man, judging by the voice, dressed in a suit and a long coat. The color of the coat and details of his face evaded me as the dark made it impossible to make out anything but shapeless gray blobs.
"Please don't hurt me" I said bringing my arms up to shield my face.
"Now why on earth would I want to do that?" he replied, walking past me. I hesitantly lowered my arms, seeing as I was in no immediate danger. I cautiously turned around to face him. He was looking around in every direction, holding what looked like a small blue "whirring" flashlight, a useless one I thought at the time, which followed his gaze where ever he looked.
"What... What are you doing in my garage!" I said shakily after watching several moments of his strange antics.
"Looking..." He paused to lift his flashlight to his face and study it "-for a lizard," he finished, looking away from his light and to some invisible, distant object. He turned to me, walking closer as he said, "Tell me, have you seen anything strange around here? Anything at all?"
"Besides a man I've never seen before snooping through my garage in the middle of the night?" I responded in a rather smartass tone.
He paused, looking away from me to somewhere over my shoulder for a few moments; he looked back at me and simply responded, "Yep."
"Uh... I don't know," I began, "I heard something falling in here..."
"Yeah... that was me, sorry, it's rather dark. Speaking of which..." he said as he pointed his light at the bulb above his head. It whirred for several seconds, making the bulb suddenly flare to life. The light filled every corner of the once dark garage, bringing the spacious room into view. I stood there for a moment dumbstruck on how that happened then shook my head, trying to focus on the matter at hand.
"What was it you were saying about a lizard?" I asked absently.
"Oh, right" he said, his face lighting up as if a light bulb went off... metaphorically this time. "Big, lizard." He started using his arms to express how large it is.
Before he can continue, I cut him off, "Big lizard, walks on two legs, grey, sharp teeth and claws with a fin on its spine and yellow slitted eyes?" I said flatly, my attention no longer tuned to him
"Yeah! that's it!" he said, raising his eyebrow, a smirk on his face. "How on earth did you know?"
I didn't respond.
"Hellooo?" he asked, leaning closer to me with a confused look on his face. He stared at me for a few second then suddenly, looking into my eyes, it clicked. He froze, now sharing my expression of horror. "It's behind me isn't it," he said in a low voice.
I nodded very slowly, not taking my eyes off the lizard.
"Okay here's what we do," he started, I hesitantly looked back to him and we stared into each others eyes. A few seconds passed like this, the room completely silent. He finally screamed:
"RUUUUUUNNNN!"
*****
We both burst through the door of the garage, the sound of hissing and snapping hot on our heels. We begin to frantically circle the around the house. Several minutes pass like this, by that time we had done a few laps and were short on breath, the lizard however did not seem very tired.
"What do we do!?" I yelled though labored breath.
"Working on it!" he yelled back, looking over his shoulder to glare at the monster of a lizard chasing us.
I opened my mouth to speak, but as I did so I tripped over an exposed root, within moments the angry reptile was atop of me. I felt it's teeth sink into my neck and it's claws into my back, I tried to scream but with my face in the dirt it was rather difficult. I heard the man scream something and that whirring sound his light made, and the lizard's grip on my neck tightened for a moment then quickly slack. I heard an audible thwack of a foot colliding with a rib cage and the weight pressing on my back lifted.
I was flipped over to see the man, he quickly knelt to the ground, gingerly lifting my head.
"Hold in there," He said shakily "Help!" he yelled, hoping someone would hear him. I lifted up my hand and the man moved to grab it but stopped abruptly. He look at it closely at it, the dim light of the street lamp shedding light at the small object I held, causing it to gleam gently. In my hand was the watch my father gave to me. Funny, I don't remember taking it out of my pocket.
My vision was growing dark, but I could still make out his face that night, he wore an expression of anger and fear; but in his eyes I saw something else. There I saw the glow of sadness and beneath that, a glimmer of hope. He open his mouth to speak but no words came out of his mouth, he only took my hand in his, pointing the watch towards me. He looked unsure, as if praying for a miracle, but at the same time hoping those prayers go unanswered.
Finally, with a gentle press the watch clicked open and he gasped, I would have to... if not for the absurd amount of blood in my throat. A warm golden light came shooting out of the watch, a feeling washed over me that to this day I haven't been able to describe. It felt... warm... almost like a feeling of contentment. I felt my body shudder as I felt like my heart my tearing in two, the same could have been said about the rest of my body. Then as quickly as the feeling came it dissipated.
The man quickly got up and backed a fair distance away, I tried to keep a grip on him but my strength faded, I was terrified and he simply stared on. Just as I tried to call to him, to cry for help I felt a whole different sensation.
Pain.
The golden light reappeared, this time not as a warm glow but as an explosion, It felt as if my entire body was breaking, melting, and reforming again and again. I screamed at the top of my lungs before it all became too much, and I passed out in the dirt.
*****
After an unknown time had passed I woke up, I blinked my eyes open and leaned up. I instantly regretted the motion however as a spitting pain snaked through my skull; I laid back down, bringing my hands to my forehead, as I did so the events of earlier came back to mind. "What a weird dream..." I groaned.
"It wasn't a dream," a voice called from behind.
I jolted up and spun around to see the strange once again. He was leaning against a large blue box. I was able to make out his face with the box emitting a faint glow, and he looked as if he was deep in thought.
"What? You? Where am I?... Where is that... Thing!?" I yelled at him, my voice clearly panicked.
"I sent it home, back to its planet."
"What!? Are you suggesting it was an alien?"
"No I'm saying it ‘is’ an alien," he said matter-of-factly
"You're crazy."
"Am I?"
I stared at him for a moment longer before sitting back down, bringing my knees to my chest
"I want to go home" I stated, my voice trembling as I put my head between my knees
"You can't."
"What do you mean I can't!?"
"I mean..." he paused a moment, seeming to consider his next words carefully before continuing, "Look,” he said, pulling out a small hand mirror and pointing it towards me.
"What...?" I said as I rose back to my feet and approached him, I looked deep into the mirror and gasped at what I saw.
I saw myself,but it wasn't me that stared back. I had a different face, different hair, different... everything! Even my voice felt different.
"I... I-I don't understand... What the hell happened to me?"
"You regenerated."
"What the hell does that mean!?"
"When a Time Lord is dying," he started, gesturing towards myself. "He can 'cheat death' by regenerating. In doing so he changes form; his entire appearance changes along with personal preferences and ,most times, personality traits"
I stood there, staring at him with bewilderment as I tried to process what he was saying. "Okay... What is a Time Lord?"
"We are!" he started, a smile crossing his face as he gave a gesture to both me and himself. I gave him a questioning look and a gesture to continue, he did just so.
"Were part of a race of very old beings that have looked over the universe for as long as creation."
"So... Aliens...?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and making a quick gesture, bringing both of my hands up pointing with two fingers.
"Well... Yeah." He replied bringing on of his hands to the back of his neck.
I stared at him for what felt like an eternity, staring daggers into his very soul before finally breaking the silence.
"Alright, I believe you.” I said, crossing my arms and relaxing my expression.
"Wha- Really? That was easy..."
"Yeah well I figured that with a giant lizard attacking, my body exploding, and my face no longer being my own, stranger things could happen... But I have to know, how did I become a... 'Time Lord'...?"
"With this,” he said as he pulled my father’s watch from out of his pocket.
"But how did that do this,” I said, gesturing to my body.
He paused moment, looking for the best way to sum up the entire process before simply stating: "...Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, that's how," He responded in a matter-of-fact tone crossing his arms.
"Yeah... that makes total sense," I said under my breath and waved my hand dismissively. "What about my parents? Are they Time Lords? And shouldn't we tell them what's happened?"
"No... you're parents are completely human..."
"Meaning…"
"Meaning that you're... adopted," he said, finishing my sentence for me.
"Oh..." I replied flatly.
"I'm sorry..."
"No, no... It's fine... It's not like my heart was just crushed or anything."
"Hearts," he chimed in, cutting off my wallowing.
"What?"
"Hearts, you have two of them."
"Really?!" I said, bringing my hand to my chest and feeling the left side then the right. A steady beat emanating from both places confirmed it. "But what about my parents?" I said, bringing myself back to the matter at hand.
"Are you going to approach them looking like that and tell them that you're their son?"
"I... You're right... But... what will I do now?"
"That easy, you could come with me," he said, Turning and point towards his blue box.
"In a... phone box?"
"You'd be surprised," he said, approaching his box and leaning against it again.
"With I day I've had; I doubt it." I said with a smirk.
With a smirk of his own he lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. As he did so the door of the box clicked open and what I saw blew me away. The box outside was rather small and unsuspecting, but inside there was a whole world. I stepped inside, my jaw agape and eyes wide in awe.
He followed me inside closing the door behind him.
"I never caught your name." I said turning back to the man.
"Me? I'm The Doctor."
*****
That was 35 years ago and I've been travel with him in the TARDIS ever since then. We've had a lot of close scrapes since I first decided to join him. We've had our fair shares of good days and bad. He's decided to simply call me “the Apprentice” rather than my real name. I never objected, come to think of it, I rather like being called that. Over the years we've grown close, we have each other’s back,
He's taught me a great many things. He taught me about our people, how we're the last ones left, and how they came to an end. He taught me how the time vortex changed our people over millions of years, he even showed me how to fly the TARDIS... kinda… however I end up crashing most of the time.I asked him if he had any idea on who my real parents are, but he knew just as much as I did.
Things took quite a turn, however. It started out like a normal day. I rose from bed, threw on some fresh clothes and went to meet The Doctor in the console room. He was always there. He almost never slept, at least while I was watching. Walking back and forth, that's all he ever seemed to do.
"Doctor!" I called, turning the corner.
"Ah! You're finally awake," he called back, looking up from the console.
"I have something special planned for us." he said with a hint of excitement.
"Oh?" I responded, lifting an eyebrow as I placed my hands on the console, propping my weight against it. "Where to?"
"Ah ah ah," he said with a mischievous grin "No spoilers. Care to do the honors?" he said, pointing to a lever which I childishly called the "TARDIS's Go Lever."
"Sure," I replied taking a hold of the lever firmly. I took a breath, bracing myself for the adventure which I know was going to ensue, not that I was complaining. With a quick motion I pulled the lever and the TARDIS hummed to life. At first all seemed well... that's when the excrement really made physical contact with the hydro-electric powered oscillating air current distribution device... So to speak.
*BOOM* A explosion went off beside me, and I was thrown away from the console and into the railing.
"What did-" *Boom* "-you do?!" The Doctor yelled though the explosions as he struggled to get the TARDIS back under control.
"I have no idea!" I yelled back, closing my eyes and holding onto the railing for dear life.
--- Several minutes later ---
I open my eyes to a bright cloudless sky, it was clear that we weren't inside the TARDIS anymore. I groaned, shifting my body and feeling grass beneath me. I coughed hard for a few moments, as I did so I noticed a golden glow come out of my mouth as dissipate into the air. "Great," I grumbled to myself.
"Doctor?" I called out without lifting my head, hoping he was somewhere nearby.
"Hmm?!" he said suddenly, just regaining consciousness.
"I think I regenerated."
"As did I," he said flatly, sighing.
"Welp, we might as well check the damage," I said, standing up at the same time he did.
I looked at him to inspect the change but I was met with confusion, he wasn't looking my way. However...
"Doctor!?" I said, clearly startled.
"Hmm?" He turned to me, his jaw dropping. "Assistant!?"
"You're a pony!?" we both said in unison.
You both stared at each other for a moment before breaking the silence.
"AHHHHH!" we both scream in unison.
"What's that on your back!?" he yelled, pointing a hoof at me, before frantically inspecting said hoof.
"What?!" I yelled, as I craned my neck to look at what he was pointing at. On my back were, believe it or not, a pair of feathers. I flexed muscles I never knew I had before and the cluster of feathers on my back unfurled to reveal a pair of deep blue wings. I stretched them out, revealing my full wingspan.
"Woah," The Doctor said in awe, his attention breaking away from his hoof. "Do I have wings?" he said, sounding more excited than a kid in a candy store. He looked at his back and let out a sigh of disappointment. "Aww," he sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Doctor! Focus!" He looked back up to me at attention. "Where's the TARDIS?" He gasped at this, realizing that it was missing. We both scrambled to our fe- hooves and began looking in every direction, sadly, the TARDIS was nowhere in sight.
"Damn it," I swore under my breath, stomping a hoof on the ground. "Now what?!" I said, my frustration levels rising.
"We could ask that pony..." he said, lifting a hoof to point into the distance. I raised an eyebrow, turning my attention towards what had caught his. In the distance stood a pony, it looked gray and had blond hair, it was standing on the edge of a cliff, which seemed to me like a fairly large drop. I cautiously began to approach it as I started to speak.
"H-Hello?" I asked, the pony didn't stir, she simply stood there with her head lowered. "Umm..." I continued. "Me and my friend are lost and I was wondering if you cou-" I stopped dead in my tracks as a sound met my ears. I held my breath and turned my head so I could listen closer, that's when I fully realized what I heard...
Sobbing.
I looked back to the pony, seeing that, in fact, she (judging by the sound of it) was crying. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I got a single word out, the unspeakable happened.
The pony's body went limp and tumbled over the cliff.
Author's Note
First time first person, so strange, It's tricky, not the perspective I'm used to writing in. Hope I didn't mix some stuff up.
If you notice tense switches; sorry, Hopefully the shifts weren't to jarring.
If you don't know what The tenth doctor's Tardis looks like I bid that you look it up.....
To put his house in perspective it's one floor and his garage is outside and not a part of the house. just in case there is any confusion.
Huge thanks to my new editor: NightWolf289. He is amazing help, lord knows I was having trouble with this prologue.
Criticizes openly.
