The Doctor and Rainbow Dash were both sitting in opposite chairs before the fireplace within the Golden Oaks Library with a fire that had been lit an hour earlier, courtesy of Spike before heading off to bed.
They were talking over mugs of Sweet Apple Cider, which Applejack had graciously given each of her friends as an early Hearth’s Warming Eve gift after they had actually managed to grow an excess of Apple’s this harvest, something that she would have before sworn wasn’t possible.
One the plus side however, the farm’s mortgage wouldn’t be an issue this coming year.
And of course, none were more grateful than Rainbow Dash whose eyes had comically widened to large magenta orbs as they caught the sight of the large barrel behind her-in fact, it surprised everyone-even herself as Dash bent down and literally kissed Applejack’s hooves in gratitude (much to both of their embarrassment.)
What was even more surprising was the fact that The Doctor was willing to join her in the consumption of the delicious liquid.
Normally, Dash would have broken a glass and defended the barrel with her life…perhaps even to the point of killing for it-but, she was a loyal friend-and it was the season of giving, after all.
After a few rounds, The Doctor decided to take his clothes off for some reason-everything except for his color and the red tie that went with his suit.
That, he concluded was much more suitable to be tied around his head, as he claimed was its originally intended purpose by Jesse Langsdorf; when he came up with the idea of cutting the fabric and sewing it into three segments to improve both elasticity and its ability to retain its original shape.
Definitely something that Rarity would have appreciated if she were present.
“Yeah…I can’t stand it when others touch my hooves.” Dash admitted before taking another swig of her cider.
“Why’s that?” The Doctor asked curiously.
She shrugged.
“I dunno…it’s just something that’s always bugged me since I was a filly.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re an athlete?” The Doctor suggested. “And you’re afraid that will hinder you’re athletic ability if you ever got a hoof massage or something that could possibly soften your flying and running muscles?”
“Yeah, maybe…” Dash conceded before changing the subject. “So how do you know Princess Celestia so well?”
“Ah, well…I’ve known her since she and Luna were just fillies-more or less.” He replied.
Dash raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“So you’re way older than nine-hundred, then?”
The Doctor shot her a playful look.
“I’m a time traveler, remember?”
“So, you went back to visit her in the past?” she pressed.
“That’s right, in fact when I first came to Equestria I crash-landed into Celestia’s royal garden up in Canterlot.” He replied.
“So did she recognize you?”
“Of course she did, she may be old but she’s not senile. But, I had no idea who she was since I hadn’t met her yet on my own personal timeline.” He explained.
“Of course, that’s one of the problems with time travel-important events in your life don’t always have to happen in the right order.”
“But, doesn’t that make things hard to keep track of?” Dash asked, confused.
“Oh yes, it makes keeping appointments a nightmare-especially weddings-I’m rubbish at weddings.”
The Doctor glanced back at Dash.
“You know, I still have slip-ups sometimes and call Celestia ‘Queen’ instead of ‘Princess’ and that’s gotten me some odd and even dirty looks from others?” He asked.
“The only reason she refers to herself as such is at the insistence of others because they believe that the title of ‘Queen’ makes a female of royalty inherently evil.”
“Wow, that’s dumb.” Dash muttered.
The Doctor nodded.
“Yeah, she hates it but her subjects seem convinced that if they insult her in any way-even unintentionally-that she will rain a maelstrom of brimstone and hellfire-y vengeance upon them.”
“Can’t she just order them to call her ‘Queen’ instead of ‘Princess’ or make a royal decree or something?” Dash prodded.
“I think that would be both a mixed message and a bit hypocritical.” The Doctor chuckled.
“That’s like saying ‘I may be a Queen, but that doesn’t make me a tyrant-now I order you to address and refer to me as such!”
At that point they both burst out into a fit of uproarious laughter.
Once it subsided, The Doctor wiped a tear from his eye.
“Did I ever tell you about the time I broke my wing and wound up being stuck in the hospital for a week?” Dash asked, once she caught her breath.
“No…I don’t think I’ve heard that story before.”
“Okay so, a world class athlete and daredevil like me starts climbing the walls if she can’t get outside to fly or at least stretch her wings.” She began.
“So, Twi decided to give me a book to read…I didn’t want to at first because I thought reading was only for egghe-” Dash cut herself short before she could finish the ‘e’ word that she only tried using when she was playfully teasing Twilight.
“Smart ponies,” she corrected herself. “Like you and Twilight…and I didn’t want anyone to see me reading and thinking I was a nerd or anything, because I doubt the Wonderbolts would let anyone join them if they were worried about me having my noise buried in some book instead of concentrating one-hundred percent on the routines.”
“So, I eventually got so bored that I decided to give it a shot and I actually liked it!” Dash exclaimed with a twinkle in her eye.
“I mean, it was just so awesome! Twilight was right; Daring Do was just like me! But, like I said; I couldn’t let anyone else know that, so I tried to keep it a secret.”
The Doctor leaned forward and nodded, urging her to continue.
“Before I knew it, I had to go home and that woulda been fine and all if I didn’t leave the book behind! So I tried to get back inside to get it at first by acting like my wing still hurt, but the lame doctor I had said that it was my other wing that had been hurt.” She added.
“Then stupid Doctor Stable kicked my out, saying that I was faking it just because I was lazy and didn’t want to go back to work. I mean, sure I nap a lot but I almost always get the job done without complaining.”
“And then what happened?” The Doctor prompted.
“I tried dressing up like a ninja…but, I couldn’t get a costume like that from Rarity without drawing suspicion so I got a special hoodie my Dad got me for Hearth’s Warming about two years ago and snuck back into the hospital.” Dash continued.
“So, I almost had it before another crazy patient thought I was trying to steal his slippers when all I wanted was the stupid book! After that Doctor Stable, the nurses, and some filly, and I guess a crazy pony who thought she was a dog all chased me through town.”
“And did they catch you?”
“No…well, sorta.” She admitted. “Eventually I stopped in front of the library and since at that point I knew I was busted, I had to confess that I was an egghead.”
At this point they both began another bout at laughter at how ridiculous the situation was, and even Dash had to admit that she had been acting a little crazy in hindsight.
No time travel, no monsters, no world or universe threatening catastrophes, or life and death situations…
It was good to hang out with The Doctor like this and just have a normal conversation one-on-one like this as two good friends and they both looked forward to more night like this in the future winter months.
