Episode 1: A Chance Encounter
Ponyville was silent. Windows were dark, the shops were closed, and nopony walked the quiet streets. The only light that was on in the little village, aside from the occasional night light, was that of the town librarian, absorbed in her studies. But eventually, even she had to close her books and snuff her candle. As she turned to go to bed, she spared a look at the twinkling stars, just as she always did, and wondered if there might be something out there. Then she blinked her eyes and stifled a yawn, and turned and fell asleep. Nopony was awake.
That's when he fell from the heavens like an angel. And crashed into the shipping company like a large bag of bricks.
He lay there for a few minutes before regaining consciousness, and he immediately regretted it. His everything was in a great amount of pain. To delay the pain that was sure to come with standing up, he reflected for a few moments on what exactly his level of pain was at the moment. After debating for a while between severe and terrible, he finally decided upon excrucionizing, a combination of excruciating and agonizing. He then realized he couldn't put it off any longer. He had to stand up.
It was a long and arduous process, but he finally managed to stagger to his hooves. He ran a quick check over himself. Teeth were fine, brain at full capacity, kidneys were the right color, and both hearts were fully operational, not to mention that the rest of his internal organs were still more or less in the right places.
"Now to check the important stuff," he said to nopony in particular.
He reached a hoof up to his mane and gave it a ruffle. Nice and spiky and messy and short, just like he liked it. He caught a glimpse of it and noted with satisfaction that it was still a dark brown. He then turned and glanced at his tail (short and spiky like his mane) before turning his attention toward his cutie mark. An hourglass with most of the sand still in it's top half, it denoted several aspects of his various occupations. He smiled approvingly toward it, and turned to examine his surroundings.
"Oh, wait, no, one more thing," he said aloud, again speaking to empty room. He reached down and adjusted his favorite green tie. "There we go."
He looked around the dark room, taking in countless details within seconds, before coming to the conclusion that he was in a mail room.
"Huh. Never been in a mail room before. Been nearly everywhere on the planet, and never once thought that I should visit a mail room. Funny how you never notice these things. Those must be the little bins they keep all the letters in, and there's where the send the mail to be delivered, and..." The pony finally noticed that there was nopony to talk to, or rather, to listen to him talk. He was about to leave (through a door that, unknown to him, was actually a broom closet), when a sound caused him to stiffen. The sound of a hoofstep.
He slowly turned and began walking through the room, checking under tables, inside bins, and behind desks. When he found nopony, he began backing towards the exit that was actually a broom closet, his eyes glancing a hundred directions a second.
Suddenly, he felt something touch his tail. He, of course did what any sensible pony would do if his tail was touched by some strange, unknown thing in a dark empty room. He yelled. And ran. Unfortunately, he entirely lost track of the other doors in the room, and ran in a large circle. As he rounded the final corner, he glimpsed a large, grey, and fast object hurtling through the air toward him. Guessing that this was the thing that had touched him, he looked for an exit, but desks were blocking him from jumping out of the way (he did just fall out of the sky, after all). He then decided to turn his fear-inspired jog into a tactical advance. He then proceeded to stop the object with all his might. And his entire body.
**********
One quiet summer day, at about 3 o'clock, in the little town of Ponyville, a mailmare named Derpy Hooves did something that would change her life forever. She lost a package. Now, typically, this would be a bad thing, as this could lead to her getting fired, a pay cut, or even... night shift. However, in order to keep you from feeling anxious, allow me to assure you that she'll be fine. If she survives the talk with her boss.
"Derpy," said Ship Shape, his Manehatten accent altering her name's pronunciation. "What am I's gonna do's witch you?"
She lowered her eyes in shame. At least, Ship thought she did. Her eyes normally pointed in different directions, so it could be hard for him to tell sometimes. But she was sorry, and Ship knew it.
"I'm really sorry Mr. Shape. It won't happen again."
Ship sighed. "Here's the thing, Hooves. You keep sayin' dat, but you keep messin' up. You have da lowest packages-received/packages-delivered ratio out of de entire company!"
Derpy couldn't say anything and just nodded. Ship looked at her and felt his heart melt. She had that effect on ponies.
"Aight, look." Ship took off his cap and rubbed his head. "I had dis whole lecture planned out for you's, but I can tell you's has learned your lesson." Not to mention she has the highest customer approval rating in the entire company, thanks to her sparkling personality. "So I'll give you's one more chance. But screw up again, an' you're outta here, capiche?"
Derpy perked up instantly and flashed her infectious smile as she raised a hoof in salute. "I completely understand sir! I won't let you down sir! thank you so much sir!"
The boss chuckled. "Aight, aight, calm down. I still got bad news."
Derpy faltered a moment. "What do you mean?"
"Youse ain't gettin' off scotch free. Youse is gonna do the night shift tonight."
Derpy groaned. Of all the possible punishments, the night shift was the worst. It entailed staying up all night, completely alone, in the dark office, in case an emergency royal dispatch came in the dead of the night. They never actually got one, but they still had to do it. Somepony had to, and it was apparently Derpy's night.
"Aight, get back to work. An' remember to tell Post Haste you're taking tonight's shift."
Derpy left her boss' s office and returned to the mail room. As she walked back to her desk, she mentally berated herself for losing yet another package. "And Berry looked so disappointed..." she mumbled. Derpy hated disappointing other ponies, particularly her friends. Still, she always made sure to deliver the bad news herself whenever she lost a delivery. She felt she owed them at least that.
Suddenly, disaster struck. As Derpy walked along, she stepped on a stray paper that somepony had carelessly left lying around. this caused her to slip and comically flip upside down into the air. Fortunately, being a Pegasus, she was able to use her wings to stop herself from painfully colliding into the ground. Unfortunately, she was still upside down, and so her natural ditzyness kicked in. She sped around the office in an erratic manner, knocking over piles of paper and generally causing a big mess. Then, she abruptly came to a stop when she slammed into a pony on his way back from the coffee maker. Needless to say, the collision was hot in a non-sexy way.
As these events unfolded, none of her coworkers had even glanced up from their work (aside from the one now covered in coffee, of course). They were used to it. "Danger-prone Derpy", they called her. And yet she always emerged without a scratch. When asked how she managed it, she would simply grin and say that it was the "luck of the Connemara", which just confused ponies, as she was born and raised in Ponyville.
After she had picked herself up and apologized profusely to her co-worker (and fetched him a replacement cup of coffee), she made a beeline for her desk, this time watching where she was going. Once she got there she jotted down a quick note and stuck it in an envelope. Then she turned to Post Haste, whose desk was beside her and said, "Hey, Post."
Post Haste, an Earth Pony mailcolt with curly brown hair looked up from the forms he was working on. "Hey. How'd it go with the boss?"
Derpy shrugged. "Oh, you know. He chewed me out a bit, gave me the whole 'I'll fire you next time' bit, and gave me the night shift. Business as usual."
Post chuckled. As much as Ship Shape complained about the ditzy mailmare, everypony knew he'd never fire her. She was just too... lovable. "So I'm off the hook?"
Derpy nodded. "Yep. Say, could you drop this off at my place later?" She waved the envelope at him. "I obviously can't do it, so if you could just..."
Post took the letter from her. "You betcha, Derpy. Good luck tonight."
Derpy snorted as she turned to get to work sorting. "It's the night shift. Why on Equus would I need luck?"
**********
That night found Derpy sleeping soundly. Nopony would mind, as it was perfectly okay to do so. the reason that nopony wanted to do it was not because the unfortunate pony who got stuck with it had to stay up all night, but rather because they had to sleep alone uncomfortably at the office's front desk. They weren't even allowed to use the packing peanuts as a pillow! Still, that's why it was a punishment.
Derpy was in the middle of a delectable dream about blueberry muffins, when a large crash resounded throughout the building, jolting her out of her chair and into the floor. She picked herself up and looked around blearily.
"Huh? What?" She asked nopony, still feeling quite sleepy. "Sounded like that came from the mail room..."
She shook off her tiredness and stepped quietly to the door to the mail room. She reached out a hoof to open it, but then she heard a voice inside. She couldn't quite make out what it was saying, but it sounded like a Trottingham accent, which was certainly an odd thing to hear in Ponyville. In the dead of night. In the mail room. Right after a loud crash.
Derpy crept into the room as silent as can be. She noticed that there was a large hole in the roof of the building, through which she oddly could not see the stars. That's weird, she thought. I thought we were supposed to have clear skies tonight...
She walked around the perimeter of the room, trying to see through the shadows. When she reached the broom closet, she jumped when she thought she heard something coming from inside. She started backing away from the door, getting more and more scared with each passing second. Suddenly... something touched her tail.
Screaming, she took off through the with her eyes closed shut. She zoomed through the room, bouncing off walls and desks, before finally slamming head on into something soft and warm and covered in fur. She bounced off of it and did a few impressive flips before crashing into the ground. By this time, her eyes had adjusted to the dark, and she could barely make out the form of an Earth Pony lying a few feet from her. She quickly realized that he must have been the one she had crashed into. She rushed to his side.
"OhmygoshI'msosorryareyouokay?" Derpy couldn't stop talking as she helped the stallion to his hooves. He was obviously still a bit dazed.
"Didya get the number of that wagon?" he asked before shaking his head into working properly. "Yes, yes, I'm... I'm fine, thank you."
Derpy dusted him off as they made their way to the center of the room, directly under the whole. He's definitely from Trottingham. I wonder...
"Say, who were you talking to earlier?"
He looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about? You and I are the only ones in here."
"But I heard you talking earlier and..."
A small grin spread across his face. "Oh, right. Well, I talk to myself sometimes. Nasty habit, I know. But sometimes I'm just so fascinating that I have to listen."
Derpy looked at him oddly, then giggled. "Alright then." She reached out a hoof. "My name is Derpy Hooves. I work here."
The stallion's grin got wider as he reached out and shook her hoof. "You can call me the Doctor. Or Whooves. Or both. Sometimes ponies call me Doctor Whooves, but I personally think that's a bit silly. One thing you shouldn't call me is late!"
He grinned, waiting for a laugh, but Derpy just gave him a confused look. "I don't get it."
The Doctor blinked. "Alright then." He pulled out a pocket watch and stared intently at it. A dark look crossed his face.
Derpy, not noticing this, continued her questions. "So, Doctor, why are you here?"
Replacing his watch with a strange metal rod, he answered without even looking at her. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here because I fell through a hole in the roof." The metal rod started glowing blue and making a high pitched noise. "And to be honest, I'd rather not be here right now," he muttered, almost too quietly for Derpy to hear. Almost.
"What do you mean?"
He looked up from the rod as if he had forgotten Derpy was still there. "You should probably go too. I'm serious when I say we should really get out of here." He turned and began walking towards the broom closet. "Come along then. Let's go."
Derpy reached out a hoof to stop him. "Doctor! Wait!"
The Doctor turned as she yelled, but it was too late. He had opened the door. As a result, a multitude of brooms, mops, buckets, and sponges came tumbling out. Fortunately, the Doctor managed to jump out of the way, avoiding most of the mess, aside from a few stray sponges.
Derpy looked sheepish. "Sorry about that. It's my week to organize the broom closet, and I haven't gotten around to it yet..."
"Er, right then." The Doctor looked around, his face becoming serious. "Then is that door behind you the exit?"
"Yeah, it is." She turned and was surprised to see that it was closed. "That's weird, I thought I left it open. I don't remember crashing into the door..."
"Derpy, look at me." Derpy turned and saw that the Doctor was looking very serious. "Allow me to impress upon you the reason that it's very important that we get out of here. What was the weather forecast for tonight?"
"Clear skies, perfect for stargazing."
"Then why can't we see the stars?"
Derpy looked up and gasped. The hole in the roof was completely filled in with some kind of darkness, obscuring the view beyond. She started to get scared again. "Alright then, I'll just open the door and-"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
She turned to look back at the door and her eyes widened. Now the exit was covered in the same darkness. "Doctor, what's happening?"
"Vashta Nerada." She looked at him like he was speaking Germane.
"Vashta Newhat now?"
"Vashta Nerada. Microscopic carnivorous organisms that live nearly everywhere. Can't stand the light, so they stay in the shadows and out of the day." He looked grim as he pulled Derpy away from the door. "Therefore, their name means 'Living Shadows'. It really is odd, though, to see them here. They typically keep to themselves. For them to be keeping us from leaving like this must mean something. But what?"
"Um, Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"They've filled up the room. Didn't you say that they were carnivorous?"
He gulped. "Yes, I believe I did. This is very not good. They don't just want us to not leave, it looks as though they're hungry too."
Derpy looked at him. "So what do we do?"
The Doctor looked around the room to find something to use for an escape. "I, um... Oh! We could- No wait, that's stupid. Why would I even suggest that? Well, what about- No, that's even worse. I suppose I could always- NO! Am I trying to get us killed!? That would never work!"
Derpy stepped closer to the Doctor. "I hate to interrupt the debate, but they're getting closer!"
The Doctor suddenly noticed something poking him in the side. Looked down and noticed that one of Derpy's wings was brushing up against him. "Hold the phone, you're a Pegasus?"
"I'm pretty sure," she replied, getting more and more nervous.
An idea emerged into the Doctor's mind. "Alright, here's the plan." He drew the metal rod back out. "I'll use my screwdriver to temporarily confuse the ones covering the hole. Then you'll fly us both out of here!"
Derpy looked at him, at his "screwdriver", at her wings, and then back at him. "Are you sure about that?"
"Sure," he replied, a grin spreading across his face. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Derpy grinned back, her smile seeming to brighten up the room just a little bit. "Alright then. Hang on for the ride of your life!"
**********
A few moments later, the two were outside, laying on the lawn, trying to catch their breath. With Derpy, it was because she hadn't been that scared in a long time. When they had flown through the Vashta Nerada, it had been completely dark, and there was no sound. She had felt the creatures rubbing against each her, and knew that they could snap out of their confusion at any second and eat her.
In the case of the Doctor, he was scared because that had been the most harrowing flight he'd ever gotten off of. After escaping the cloud of darkness, Derpy had done a few fancy tricks before he had realized that she had her eyes closed. They had eventually crashed into a nearby tree, which they had rolled out of to their present positions.
The two Ponies looked at each other, and burst out laughing at themselves. They both had various twigs and leaves stuck to their fur, and they looked so ridiculous that they couldn't help it. after a good minute of laughing on the ground, they calmed down a bit and got to their hooves.
"So we should-ha-be safe out here, right?" Derpy giggled more a little before quieting down.
As he was about to answer, the Doctor noticed her cutie mark, which was six bubbles of various sizes. He started laughing again when he couldn't figure out what that had to do with the mail. Derpy just rolled her eyes and waited for him to calm down.
"Yes, we should-ha ha ha-be fine out here." The Doctor wiped a tear from his eye. "While the Vashta-hee hee-Nerada love the darkness, they hate the moonlight even more than the sun. They-heh-won't follow us out here, so long as we stay in the open."
"You said earlier that them attacking us must mean something. What did you mean?"
The Doctor regained his composure, though he still looked quite pleased with himself. "Well, the Vashta Nerada are in no way hunters. They typically feed on those already dead, so the fact that they attacked us is amazingly odd. In fact I'd venture to say that they weren't actually in control of themselves."
Derpy's face was that of intense concentration. "So, you're saying... mind control?"
The Doctor grinned. "Exactly! Now then," he picked his screwdriver back out from where he had dropped it during the crash with his mouth. As it started glowing again, he pulled out his pocket watch with his hoof and peered at it. "According to my readings, there is, in fact, a telepathic reading coming from..." he spun around a few times. "That way!"
Derpy turned and looked to where the Doctor had pointed his hoof. She sighed. "Of course. Where else?"
The Doctor looked up from his watch and noticed where he was pointing. "Ah. The Everfree Forest. One of the most dangerous places in Equestria, possibly the world." he turned back to Derpy. "So, coming with?"
Derpy blinked at him. "Excuse me?"
"Are you coming. With me. On an adventure into the big, dark creepy forest from which I shall probably not return." He grinned. "I could use the help."
Derpy looked conflicted. "I don't know. I'm supposed to stay here all night, and-"
"Oh, c'mon!" He placed a lot of emphasis to the last syllable. "I can't let you go back in there! the Vashta Nerada would eat you on sight!"
"But I'm on the night shift! If my boss finds out I left my post-"
"We'll just say that you were on a delivery!" The Doctor lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "It's a once in a lifetime chance, you know. Not everypony gets to go on a big wibbly-wobbly adventure with a dashing stallion."
Derpy giggled. "Alright then, if you insist."
The Doctor laughed with her "Excellent! Come along Hooves, we've got an adventure to go on!"
**********
"...And that's how I saved Hearth's Warming Eve."
The two ponies had been walking for about an hour through the forest, with the Doctor passing the time by regaling his past adventures to Derpy, who had given him her undivided attention.
"That's amazing! So Sandy Claws is really..."
"Yep! Fantastic, isn't it? In fact, it reminds me of this one time I-"
Derpy cleared her throat. "Doctor, you never told me. Why were you in the mail room?"
He looked at her in surprise. "I told you, I fell through the ceiling."
She sighed. "Yes, I know that. But why did you fall through the ceiling."
The Doctor looked nervous. "I, um, well... there's a reasonable explanation, promise."
Derpy looked straight into his eyes. "I don't want the reasonable explanation, I want the real one."
The Doctor sighed. "Alright then, here's the truth." He took a deep breath. "I'm a time-and-space-traveling secret agent working for Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia in order to keep anything from screwing up time, or whenever a situation arises that her ponies are unable to handle on their own. A few minutes before I met you I was in an abandoned spaceship in the atmosphere above Ponyville trying to determine exactly how it got there. Turns out it wasn't actually abandoned, cause' somepony conked me on the head and threw me out. Fortunately, I'm more resilient than your average pony, so I managed to survive the fall. Get it?"
The two had stopped walking sometime in the middle of his explanation, and now Derpy was just staring at him. She blinked a few times and smiled. "Alright then." She started walking again.
Now it was the Doctor's turn to be confused. "Wait, what? No 'that's impossible' or 'you're insane'? Just... 'alright'?"
Derpy giggled. "Sure! I've heard of crazier things. Heck, I've seen crazier things. I'm just happy you didn't say that you're actually a history teacher. That would have been crazy."
The Doctor chuckled along with her. "Well, you're certainly taking this better than... literally every single pony I've ever told that."
Derpy winked at him. "Well, that's because I can see things other ponies can't."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, since you obviously haven't noticed, take a look at my eyes."
The Doctor did. Golden in hue, each of Derpy's eyes looked in different directions at almost all times. After a bit of concentration, she was able to get them both looking at him, but when she blinked, they reverted to their original state. "Actually, I had noticed, but I assumed you just didn't want to talk about it."
"Aw, that's sweet of you. Typically ponies can't resist staring or commenting when they meet me." Derpy continued. "Anyways, my eyes don't just mess up my depth perception. Sometimes I see things that nopony else can."
"Like what?"
"Oh, you know, mostly harmless stuff, like fairies. But sometimes I see... weird stuff."
"Go on..."
"Well, sometimes I see some kind of... distortion in the air. But it's not just the air, it's everything." Her eyes suddenly focused right on the Doctor. "And I could see this distortion on you ever since I met you. I knew you were special."
The Doctor blinked in surprise. "Well that's strange," he thought aloud. "Normal ponies can't normally see wibbly-wobbly distortions in the time vortex. Or the fabric of the universe, for that matter." Then he looked back at Derpy and grinned. "Then again, this just confirms my suspicion that you're hardly a normal pony."
Derpy smiled back. It was like a bright ray of sunshine that warmed the Doctor's heart and made him feel like everything would be alright. Funny, he thought. That's typically my job.
"So, Doctor, are we almost at... wherever it is we're going?"
"Funny you should ask." He whipped his watch out. "According to my readings, the place the signals are emanating from is right across this rickety old bridge."
On the other side, Derpy could barely make out what appeared to be an old castle. "This bridge doesn't really look safe."
"No it doesn't. Maybe we could find another way across..."
"I could always fly you over."
"On the other hoof, I think I'll take my chances with the bridge."
**********
The two stepped quietly into the abandoned castle. Large statues of various legendary ponies lined the walls, the shadows they cast seeming to the frightened ponies like hives of evil. And they weren't far off.
"Derpy, remember. Stay out of the shadows."
The grey Pegasus gulped and nodded. The incident with the Vashta Nerada still fresh in her mind. She jumped as the doors slammed shut behind them.
"Derpy?" The Doctor asked as the doors became covered in darkness.
"Yes Doctor?"
"Run."
The two tore their way through the castle, dashing around corners and jumping over piles of rubble. At some point the Doctor had drawn out his Sonic Screwdriver with his mouth (Derpy had earlier learned it's proper title and various uses on the walk there), and it was buzzing along, it's owner using it to lead them in the proper direction. Derpy, hot on his hooves, saw doors slamming on all sides, and the shadows reached out for them from the walls, desperate to consume her. Fortunately for her, the Vashta Nerada did not have much of a range if they're target is off the ground, so she simply flew above the ground, desperately praying to the Sun and Moon that she didn't have another "klutz-attack", dooming herself and the Doctor.
The two dashed down a long flight of stairs, down a hall of armor and at last into a large oval room with a domed roof that opened to the night sky. The Doctor whirled, slammed the door, and waved his screwdriver at it and the lock clicked shut.
"Will that stop them?" Derpy asked breathlessly.
"Probably not." The Doctor walked past her. "But maybe it will. We're about to find out."
Derpy turned and saw what he was looking at. There was a large futuristic machine in the middle of the room with a satellite dish mounted on top, pointed out the hole in the roof. The Doctor approached the console on it's side.
"Well, if I had to guess-and I really don't have to, because I'm quite sure of myself- I'd say that this," he patted the machine on the side, "is our mind control device."
Derpy tilted her head at it. "Are you sure? I was expecting a Unicorn or something."
The Doctor shook his head. "Nah. It would take an extremely powerful magician to control the Vashta Nerada. Not even Nightmare Moon could control them with magic. Therefor, technology."
Derpy nervously noticed that the room was getting darker. "I don't suppose you can turn it off? Like, now?"
The Doctor punched a few buttons on the machine. "Probably. I may need a few minutes." He looked away from the device. "Why so anxious?"
Derpy wordlessly pointed at the roof. The Doctor looked where she pointed and his grin faded. The hole in the roof was covered in darkness. He turned back to the machine.
"Right, okay then, time for some quick thinking." His hooves flew across the keyboard a mile a minute, and he occasionally pointed his screwdriver at the screen.
"Doctor..."
"I know, I know, I'm hurrying!"
He suddenly stopped. "Oh no."
Derpy's terrified gaze flew onto him. He looked white as a ghost. "What?"
"According to my calculations, if I turn of the device... well, put frankly, we're still going to be eaten."
"You're joking."
He gulped. "I'm afraid not."
Derpy looked around, then an idea occurred to her. "Hey I know! You can turn off the device, then I'll fly us out through the hole like last time!"
He winced when she mentioned flying, and then nervously adjusted his tie. "To be honest Derpy, that plan had a very slim chance of working last time, and it'll be even less likely to work this time, as it mostly worked because of the telepathic wave's interference." He smoothed back his hair, which sprang immediately back into place, "Besides, I would need to turn off the device directly before we go out for that plan to have any chance of working, and even if I used the screwdriver, it'd be out of range."
"Well, what if we used something else in here?"
"Sorry?"
Derpy waved her hoof around her and raised an eyebrow. The Doctor gasped. He had been so preoccupied with the mind control device that he had neglected to take notice that the rest of the room was full of advanced machinery. And right in the middle of it all was...
"A short distance teleporter! Derpy, I could kiss you!"
"Maybe when we're not about to die. I assume it's name makes it something that can get us out of here?"
"Exactly! Only problem is, I don't know where it leads..."
Derpy noticed the shadows converging on them. "Anywhere would be better than here. So can you PLEASE turn off the device?"
"Alright then, into the teleporter!" The two jumped into the device, which was simply a metal platform with another positioned over it, and a button in between on a metal pole that connected them. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the mind control machine, when he paused.
"By the way, Derpy?"
"Doctor, can this wait? Because those things are getting closer and-"
"No this can't wait. I need you to push the button on the teleporter the exact moment that I turn off the machine."
"Why?"
"Because we really don't want to get caught in the explosion."
"Oh."
**********
There was a bright flash of light and the two ponies stumbled out of the teleporter into a large metal hallway, both slightly crispy.
"Derpy, when I said the exact moment, I meant THAT EXACT MOMENT."
"I don't know how your little screwdriver works! I thought there'd be some kind of delay!"
"Oh sure, blame the screwdriver! Everypony always blames the screwdriver!" The Doctor picked himself up and adjusted his tie. "Now, where the hay are we?"
Derpy looked around. "I don't think we're in Ponyville anymore..."
"Hah hah," the Doctor muttered as he checked his watch. He soon cheered up. "Well, would you look at that! We're on that ship I was telling you about!"
"The one you fell out of?"
"The one I got thrown out of. There's a difference."
Derpy rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. So, why did the teleporter lead here?"
The Doctor looked around and started walking in a random direction. "Well, I'd say that this probably means that whoever was controlling the Vashta Nerada is the owner of this ship. So, he needed some way to get from here to there."
"Why not just do it from down here?"
"That's... actually a very good question. I keep asking myself that and I can't think of a good reason, which is never a good sign."
Derpy looked around nervously. "So, is there somepony on board with us?"
They came to a large door. "Let's find out," said the doctor as he used his screwdriver to open the door.
They entered into a massive room with flashing lights and buttons everywhere. There were computer screens everywhere, the largest of which the Doctor made a beeline for, but what drew Derpy's attention was the large window. She trotted over and could only gasp. Splayed before her was the whole of Equestria as she viewed it from Equus' atmosphere. She could see the Canterlot Mountains and the Rainbow Falls, the far-off Appleloosan desert and the great city of Manehatten. And there, right in the center, just beside the mighty Everfree Forest...
"Ponyville." She gasped.
"It's quite the view, isn't it?" The Doctor had walked up beside her without her noticing.
"It's... breathtaking." The Doctor noticed that Derpy's eyes became more focused whenever she was focused. He was about to speak when there was a dinging noise from behind them.
"Ah, that's what I was waiting for!" He ran over to the computer console and scanned the information being brought on the screen. "Nopony else on board, which means I can get to work."
Derpy tore herself away from the view. "What are you trying to do, anyways?"
The Doctor spoke as he typed. "Well, I happened to be in the neighborhood when I noticed some funny readings. I investigated, and to my surprise, I found a spaceship! Well, of course my natural curiosity overcame me, and I had to take a peek around. I was on this computer here when somepony knocked me out and threw me out! And, well, you know what happened after that."
Derpy stepped up next to him. "So, whatever's on this computer..."
"Somepony doesn't want me to see." He said with a few final key presses, and a massive computer lit up with alien symbols. The Doctor's eyes scanned it, and he mouthed an inaudible, "No."
Derpy's eyes peered at the unreadable language and asked, "What's wrong? Can you read it?"
The Doctor stared a few more moments, and then wiped the the computer screen and put on a smile as he turned to Derpy. "Second question first. Yes, I can understand it. Well, kind of. Okay, not really. It's all gibberish, must be some kind of code. And we do not have time to stick around and decode it."
"Why not?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure that whoever owns all that equipment will be rather annoyed that it's all been blown to smithereens. Then what do you think he'll do?"
"Well, he can't come back up here. The teleporter blew up too, right?"
The Doctor looked straight at her and began to laugh nervously. "Well, see, he's probably got a back-up hidden somewhere, so his ship'll be the first place he goes."
"And also." He waved a hoof around at the massive room. "Have you happened to notice how big everything here is?"
Derpy gulped as she slowly began to catch on. "Oh no..."
"Oh yes." The Doctor turned back to the keyboard and typed even faster. "I can't think of any reasonably sized being that would want a ship this big, can you?"
"So... how are we going to escape?"
The Doctor began to laugh for real. "Relax. For once, I planned ahead."
"Does that plan have anything to do with free-falling out of the ship's airlock?"
"Har har. If you must know, I remember exactly where I parked my ship." He put in a few more commands and leaned back in the chair he had sat in. "There we go. Ten minutes to self destruct. It's about a four minutes trot to my ship, so we'll have plenty of time."
Derpy looked confused. "Why are we blowing up the ship, exactly?"
"Well, my reasoning is that any giant creature that parks a giant invisible spaceship over Equestria with coded log entries on board from which he's taken control over the Vashta Nerada can't possibly be good news. Therefore," He clapped his hooves together and grinned like a school colt. "Boom."
"Um, Doctor."
"Yes Derpy?"
"You said you set the self destruct to ten minutes, right?"
"Yep. We've got plenty of time." He spun the chair around a few times.
"So why is the computer counting down from three minutes?"
The Doctor's grin faded as he turned to the computer screen.
"Does this mean more running?"
"Absolutely."
The two dashed out of the room as warning lights came on. They dashed down corridor after corridor, the Doctor opening doors on the go.
"Doctor, are you sure you know where you're going!?"
"Of course I do!" He called back. They stopped in front of a maintenance hatch. "Quickly, in here!"
A little skeptical, Derpy jumped in after the Doctor, to see him opening what can best be described as a blue box.
The Doctor opened the door and called to her. "C'mon then!"
"Your plan is a box!?"
"I'll explain once we're inside. C'mon!"
He disappeared inside, leaving the door open. Derpy followed him and stopped in her tracks.
"Oy, close the door behind you. Don't want any stray explosions following us in." Derpy closed the door speechlessly.
"It's... bigger on the inside."
The Doctor grinned at her as he manipulated a mess of dials, buttons, and other odds and ends on a tall console in the center of the room. The room was mostly spherical in shape, with strange shapes on the walls and walkways around the edge, leading down to a short ditch underneath it all. It was also a mess.
"What is this place?"
The room rocked as the Doctor threw a lever. "Welcome to the TARDIS, Derpy. Stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. She's my ship."
The movement stopped. "Go ahead, open up the door."
Derpy opened the door she had just come through to find that she was now standing on the hill outside of Ponyville. Suddenly, there was a massive explosion in the sky above the town.
"And that would be the ship." Said the Doctor as he trotted to her side. "Don't worry about debris. That particular model is designed to disintegrate if it explodes while in a planet's atmosphere. Which it was."
Derpy, however, was not paying attention. She was trotting around the TARDIS, still amazed over the fact that it was bigger on the inside.
The Doctor shook his head and chuckled, and he put out a hoof to stop her. "Alright calm down. There's no trick. It's just a simple pocket dimension stuck inside an enclosed space. Bit like putting a ton of clothes inside an already full suitcase, except not at all."
Derpy stared at him, and just blinked. "Alright then."
The Doctor laughed aloud. "And with that, it's time to get you home."
Derpy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but first, there's some stuff we need to do..."
**********
"Some stuff" entailed clearing Derpy's absence with her boss. As it turns out, the Doctor had a little piece of blank paper that said whatever he needed it to say. After convincing Ship Shape that he was actually Prince Blueblood ("Why yes, I have gotten a tan. And a manecut. And had my mane dyed. And got a new cutie mark. Yes, that's something royalty can do."), Derpy was forgiven for leaving her post.
After that, "some stuff" was doing the grocery shopping, an experience that proved to be entirely foreign to the Doctor. A few mishaps later, the two flew the TARDIS to just outside Derpy's house, where she deposited the groceries and headed back outside, where the Doctor waited with the TARDIS.
"So," Derpy said, feeling a little sad. "You want to come in? I was going to bake blueberry muffins, and-"
"Nah, I really have to go." The Doctor looked sheepish. "You know, places to go, orders to follow, ponies to save, bad guys to beat."
Derpy nodded. "Alright then. Just remember, if you ever want a friend, my door's always open."
The Doctor flashed a smile. "Thanks. Really. You were wonderful out there."
Derpy blushed. "Oh, don't mention it. It was better than sleeping at that desk all night."
"Right then, see you around."
"Don't forget to visit."
The Doctor turned and got into his TARDIS, shutting the door behind him. A few moments later, there was a loud clanging noise, followed by a series of whooshing sounds as the ship disappeared. And then he was gone.
Derpy sighed, and turned to go back inside her house. She was about to walk in when she heard the whooshing again. She turned around and gasped. The TARDIS was re-materializing before her!
As it quieted down, the Doctor stepped out. "You know, Derpy, I was thinking. The TARDIS here isn't just a spaceship, it's a time machine. We can leave now and be back in time for dinner!" He grinned at her. "Whaddaya say? Comin' with?"
Derpy gaped at him. "Hold on one second," she said as she dashed back inside her house. She jotted down a quick note and left it by the groceries and flew back outside. "Alright, where to?"
The Doctor's grin got wider as he held the door open for her. "That's weird, that's exactly what I was going to say!"
The two laughed as the TARDIS disappeared from the street, leaving only the empty house behind.
**********
A light purple unicorn with a dark purple mane trotted down the streets of Ponyville on her way home. Her cutie mark, three diamonds in a triangle, glittered in the afternoon light. She stopped in front of her home and knocked on the door. To her surprise, there was no answer. She hunted around for the key under the doormat, and face-hoofed when she remembered that nopony locked their doors here. There was literally a zero crime rate.
She let herself in and levitated her school bags onto a chair. "Mom? Mom, are you here?"
As she entered the kitchen, she noticed, the still-bagged groceries on the counter. That's weird, she thought. Mom would never...
Then she noticed the note.
It read:
Sparkler,
I'm going off on an adventure! I don't really have time to go into details, but don't worry, I'll be fine. Pick your sister up from school, and be nice. There's plenty of food in the fridge, so make yourself some muffins. I give you permission to use my cookbooks.
Signed, Derpy
Sparkler could only shake her head. "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Mom?"
Author's Note
I'm proud of myself for sticking to my guns and making the chapter as long as I had planned instead of shortening it, but I feel like maybe it should be shorter. Also, had a little trouble with some of the sentence structure during conversations, so if anyone notices anything I screwed up, please let me know.
Fun Fact: When writing the "Bigger on the inside" line, I accidentally replaced the 'B' with an 'N'. I'll just leave it at that.
See you next chapter when we go to... SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!
Episode 2, Part 1: A Glimpse of Future Past
The TARDIS rattled and rolled through time and space, bearing it’s two passengers to eras unknown. Unknown to one of them, that is. The golden-maned Pegasus could only look on in confusion as her time-travelling friend manipulated all manner of levers, switches, and knobs, as well as a few things she normally would not have expected to see on the dashboard of a time machine.
The mare’s name was Derpy, and she was beginning to have the vaguest suspicion that her travelling companion, the Doctor, had no idea where he was going.
“Want to remind me where exactly we’re headed?” She asked as she dodged a potted plant that chose that moment to whizz through the control room, disappearing down a hallway. I have to remember to properly explore this place later…, she thought as she watched it go.
“It’s not just a matter of where”, said the Doctor as he manipulated what appeared to be a pinball table. “It’s also a matter of when. This is your first time-trip, so I want it to be really memorable.” He stopped in his tracks and spun around three times, then dashed around to the other side of the console and flipped a number of switches. “I’m just having a bit of trouble deciding when and where we should go, is all. Here, hold this and move three steps to your left.”
Derpy looked in surprise at the golf club that had suddenly been thrust into her hooves, then shrugged and took three steps to the left. “So, in other words, you have no idea where to go.”
The Doctor’s face was that of pure indignation. “Of course I have ideas! I just have so many, I don’t know where to start!” He slumped a little as he stared at the console. “I’ve never really felt like I had this much freedom to do what I want, and there’s just so much to do…”
Derpy looked at her friend with pity. Then she had an idea. “You know, I’ve always wondered what the future is like. Maybe just a few thousand years?”
After a moment, the Doctor looked up and grinned. “I’ve got the just the time in mind.” He grabbed the golf club from Derpy and raised it over his head, then brought it down on the console with a resounding clash. He then tossed it aside as the TARDIS gave a final shudder and came to a stop. He began to head for the doors. “I hope you’ve got your fancy shoes on, because we’re about to be passengers aboard one of the greatest luxury cruise liners in all of history, the Starship Titanic!”
**********
“Doctor, this is a storage room.” Derpy looked around the large, dismally lit room full of crates covered in tarps.
“Well of course it’s a storage room! I can’t just park my big blue box in the open, can I? Ponies would get suspicious. Especially if they know what a TARDIS is. That could be very bad news.” The Doctor began looking around for an exit. “Odd, these cruise liner storage rooms are typically larger…”
Derpy peered at one of the crates. “Um, Doctor, I’m not sure that this is the Titanic...”
The Doctor, however, was not listening. “Aha! There’s the exit.” He started making his way towards a flight of stairs. “Anywho, it’s currently the year…” He stopped a moment and checked his pocket watch. “3017 A.E., stardate 694346.66. Although, I suppose for you it would be 5514 A.N.M.”
“Why did they change it?” Derpy asked, a little confused.
The Doctor winced a little, and spoke sadly. “About 2500 A.N.M., some stuff happened that forced every sentient creature on Equus, as well as most of the non sentient ones, into a massive exodus from the planet. I can’t really give any of the details, but ponies and many of the other residents of Equus now wander the stars, settling where they can. Obviously, they thought this was important enough to reset the clock, and they now date everything by After Exodus.”
Derpy was horrified. She couldn’t imagine ponies living anywhere but on Equus. Then a thought struck her. “Why can’t you tell me what happened? I’ll be long gone by the time the 2500 A.N.M. comes around.”
The Doctor looked about nervously. “Well, that’s true, but even the tiniest bit of knowledge could affect everything.” He looked her right in the eyes. “Besides, trust me when I say that you really don’t want to know what happens. It’s not something anypony should be burdened with knowledge of.” He stopped walking. “Ah, here we are.”
The pair had reached the top of the stairs and stood before a small metal door just large enough for two ponies to walk through side by side. There was a small control panel just to it’s right, which is what the Doctor had trotted over to and was examining, rubbing a hoof on his chin. “Hm, what an odd security system to have on a cruise liner. Oh well, good to see they’re updating their security.” He waggled his eyebrows at Derpy as he retrieved his sonic screwdriver. “Not that it’ll stop us, of course.” He pointed the device at the control panel and it lit up with a buzzing noise.
Derpy suddenly remembered what she had seen earlier on a crate. “Actually Doctor, I’m not so sure that this is the Titanic. Some crates down there said E.R.N. Celestia. Doesn’t that stand for Equestria Royal Navy?”
The Doctor jerked his head around, eyes opened wide as a click emanated from the door. “What did you just say?”
However, Derpy did not have a chance to answer, as at that exact moment, the door slid open with a mechanical hiss, revealing four stallions in silver armor, their eyes concealed by black visors. The soldiers stared them for a moment, their mouths in a tight line, before one of them spoke up in the most authoritative voice he could muster.
“Doctor, I’m going to have to ask you to come with us. The captain wishes to see you.”
**********
Derpy was nervous. Very nervous. There were guards both in front of and behind her, and they hadn’t spoken a word since they had left the storage room. The only comfort came from the fact that, aside from his initial surprise at learning the name of the ship they were on, the Doctor seemed to be taking this rather well, actually whistling as they walked down the metal halls of the ship. However, there was still something weighing heavily on her mind.
“Doctor,” she said quietly. The guards didn’t even glance at her.
The Doctor stopped whistling and looked over at her with an enthusiastic smile. “Yes?”
“I was thinking. They usually only name ships in the Navy after dead ponies, right?”
The Doctor’s smile faded. He could see where this line of questioning was headed. “Yeah,” he said in reply. It was the only way he could answer.
Derpy looked at him with concern in her eyes. “So why is this ship named the Celestia?”
The Doctor was at a loss for words. I searched desperately for the right way to answer her, but he faltered every time he started to begin a sentence. In the end, all he could do was hang his head and say was, “1014 A.N.M.,” in a low mutter, leaving his friend with more questions than answer.
“What do you-” began Derpy, but she was interrupted by a soldier as they approached a large cream colored door, very different than the silver metallicness of the rest of the ship.
“The bridge is through here.” He said tersely. Two of the soldiers went and stood on either side of the door, while a third went and punched a button beside it. It slid open to reveal a large, elaborately decorated room with lights and buttons everywhere. There were also several ponies inside sitting on chairs in front of computer consoles. There were several different species of pony, including a few Derpy had never seen before.
To begin with, off to the right of the room, was a Pegasus with the darkest grey fur that Derpy had ever seen. His mane was black like the night, and a single white strand ran through it, the only bit hanging in front of his face off of an otherwise slicked back manestyle. But perhaps his most prominent feature was that instead of the feathery, bird-like wings most Pegasi possessed, he bore two jet black bat wings with silver hooks at the joint of each. His golden eyes noticed Derpy staring at him, and he smiled, revealing two fangs in the front of his mouth. Derpy quickly averted her gaze.
The next pony she saw was a stark contrast to the dark bat-pony. Casting a strange light on the room around her, a glowing, light-pink Earth Pony sat hunched over her keypad, typing up a storm. Most of her light came from her pure white mane, which was longer than Derpy had seen anypony other than a Princess wear it, perhaps even longer. The white mane seemed to be constantly flowing in some soft, unseen breeze, and through it Derpy occasionally caught glimpses of her cutie mark; a cluster of stars mid-explosion. Derpy did not want to find out what her special talent was.
Derpy turned and saw two more ponies sitting before a raised platform. One was an Earth Pony, mint-green in color with a leaf-green mane. Oddly, her eyes seemed to be glowing blue as she looked expressionlessly at the new arrivals, and Derpy thought she could see strange… crack in her skin. She looked quite unnatural. Beside her sat another Earth Pony, a stallion orange in color with a red mane. He gave her a compassionate smile, seemingly understanding her nervousness. She smiled back, and turned her eyes up toward the raised platform. She gasped.
Sitting above all the other ponies, in what could only be described as thrones, were three of the most regal, yet outlandish, ponies Derpy had ever seen. On the right, A milky white mare sat tall in her chair, regarding the new arrivals with warm green eyes. What was fantastic about her was that, while she was quite clearly pony in shape, she possessed no fur, and had instead carefully polished scales. On her flank was cutie mark depicting a heart shaped ruby wreathed in blue flames. Upon her her svelte, faintly draconic head, she wore not a mane, but blue-purple spines that had been carefully coiffured into looking like a mane. The exception, however, was a white spine on her forehead that stood up at an angle, twisting around and reminding Derpy of a unicorn horn. In fact, as Derpy stared at her beauty, she was reminded of a certain fashion designer she knew back home. But that’s impossible, she thought to herself. I’m thousands of years in the future. It’s probably just a coincidence.
To the right sat another draconic pony, this one less friendly looking and more dragon looking. His bright blue eyes were narrowed into slits as he observed the two before him, causing Derpy to tremble a little. His scales were a fiery green, and his flank bore a golden shield wrapped in white flames. His spines were a shade of purple, lighter than that of the other’s, and less molded than the white one’s, but they still had a unique style surpassing that which you would see on most dragons. Unlike his sister (Derpy had decided that they must be siblings, due to their similar shading and cutie marks), this one had no spine reminiscent of a horn; instead, protruding from his sides were two powerful looking dragon wings, which he kept unfolded. Not upright, like royalty often did, but instead low to the ground, as though their own weight was keeping them down.
But perhaps even more amazing than these two was the vision of majesty that sat between them, in the largest throne of the three: an Alicorn Princess. Tall, svelte, and beautiful, she was bestowing upon Derpy and the Doctor what felt like the kindest, most compassionate smile in the universe. Upon her purple breast, she wore a golden necklace with a star-shaped, purple-pink gem inlaid in it, and she wore elaborate golden horseshoes upon her hooves. Her mane, unlike that of the Princesses Derpy was used to, was not flowing and amorphous, nor did it seem to be made of an indefinable substance; instead, it was quite clearly hair, long and dark purple, with a pink streak flowing through it. In addition to this, it softly swayed in the breeze, only just keeping it from touching the ground. Upon her head, she wore a golden, crystalline tiara with purple gems inlaid. Derpy, realizing that she was staring, bowed low to the ground, mostly out of respect, and partly out of embarrassment.
The Princess laughed, and to Derpy’s surprise, it did not sound very princess-like. Instead, it sounded more like the laugh of somepony laughing at a clever joke their best friend had just told, albeit soft. It made Derpy feel immensely better.
“There is no reason to bow, my little pony.” Said the Princess kindly. “If you are with the Doctor, that makes you a time traveller. And, from the look on your face, I see that you do not recognize me. Thus, you are no citizen of mine, but an honored guest!”
Derpy rose, blushing crimson. The Princess let out a small chuckle, then turned to the Doctor. “It is good to see you again, my friend. I trust my summons find you well?”
The Doctor smiled back and replied. “Oh, I’m fine to be sure. Didn’t get any ‘summons’, though. Thought i was headed for the Titanic, actually. I just have a quick question.” He raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”
An audible silence filled the room; even the pink pony had stopped typing and was staring at the Doctor. Suddenly, the Princess began to laugh in earnest. The dragon-ponies at her sides could only look on in confusion and slight discomfort as she toppled over and laughed until she couldn’t breathe. She slowly sat up, her crown now precariously perched on the side of her head as she struggled to regain her composure. At last she was calm, and she straightened her crown.
“So, this is your first meeting with me?” She inquired, a grin on her face.
“Never seen you before in my long, long life.” The Doctor replied with an equally broad grin. “But apparently you’ve met me before. And we’re friends, which is always good.” He turned to Derpy. “Take a note, Derpy: Never make enemies with royalty. Very bad idea. I once got on the bad side of the Trottingham royal family, and they’ve made it one of their life goals to see me dead.” His gaze grew far away as his smile turned wistful. “Good times, good times.” He turned his attention back to the Princess. “Now, you still haven’t answered my question.”
The Princess chuckled. “Of course. My apologies.” She drew herself in her seat. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Fourth Princess of Equestria, Navigations Officer of the E.R.N. Celestia, and Heir and Successor to Princess Celestia. Pleased to make your acquaintance... again.”
Derpy gasped as a wave of recognition washed over her. Twilight Sparkle!?!? That’s the name of the new librarian!
The Doctor turned and addressed Derpy. “Now Derpy, I take it you’ve recognized her?”
Derpy could only nod mutely. The Doctor sighed. “Alright, listen. This is one of the tricky bits about time travel. You can, for absolutely no reason, go back to your own time, or any time, and tell Twilight that she is going to become a Princess. Do you understand?”
Derpy grinned and gave a salute, almost whacking the Doctor in the head and leaving a small red mark on her forehead. “Okie-dokey, Doctor!”
The Doctor smiled and turned back to Twilight, who was watching the scene with amusement. “Now then,” he began, “I assume that since you said the you sent me a ‘summons’, I regularly come to aid you in your time of need. However, you were expecting an older me, but the universe had other plans and diverted my flight pattern to here for reasons unknown.”
“And here I thought you were just a bad pilot.” Said Derpy sardonically.
The Doctor pointed a hoof at her. “You hush, I’m monologuing.” He began to pace around the room. “Now, where was I. Since I’m here, and the laws of time probably won’t let the me you were expecting to show up now that I’m here, and, finally, from what you’re saying, I generally help you out whenever you call. Those are the facts. THEREFORE!” With that, he whirled to face the Princess and made a large, theatrical bow. “How may I serve you, your majesty?”
Twilight clapped her hooves. “Well done, Doctor. I see you haven’t lost your acting chops.” She pushed a button next to her throne, and a glowing display appeared in front of her, showing what Derpy assumed to be the Celestia. “Here’s the deal. About 12 Equestrian hours ago, we ran into what can best be described as a flying saucer. Not recognizing the model, we immediately hailed it in order to ascertain its origin. To our surprise, they immediately opened fire.” She looked away from the screen at the Doctor. “As we are not equipped for combat, we turned tail and ran. And we’re still running..”
The Doctor studied the screen carefully. “So where are they?”
“One moment.” The Princess nodded to the white dragon-pony, who swiped a hoof across the keypad before her. The view on the screen enlarged to show, like the Princess had said, a flying saucer pursuing them. “Do you recognize the model?” asked the Princess.
The Doctor furrowed his brow. “Surprisingly, no. I don’t suppose they ever sent a return transmission?”
“Actually, yes.” This came from the strange green pony sitting before the thrones. Her voice had an oddly tinny sound to it. “It is only audio, but I can play it for you, if you desire.”
The Doctor nodded. “That would be wonderful. Could you?”
The strange green pony nodded and closed her eyes. The display on the screen changed to show a number of bars with a line crossing them. The line began to become erratic and jagged as the transmission, in the form of a deadly sounding mechanical voice, began to play.
The Doctor’s face turned white as a ghost as the transmission played. Once it was over, he stood stock-still for a few moments, then turned to the green pony. “Could you play that again?”
The pony nodded and closed her eyes again. This time, the Doctor mouthed the words along with the recording, trembling the whole time.
“Can you make any sense of it, Doctor? It’s just that word, over and over again.” The Princess looked concerned. If something could scare the Doctor…
The Doctor adjusted his tie and mumbled to himself under his breath in a language nopony present understood. He looked as though he had just seen a ghost.
Derpy reached out and touched him lightly on the shoulder. “Doctor? Are you alright?”
He looked at her, and in his eyes she saw an unspeakable fear. He cleared his throat and spoke with a surprisingly calm voice. “Derpy, stay here on the bridge. I need to get some things from the TARDIS to make sure I’m right.” He looked down at the ground. “O great Chronos, please don’t let me be right…” he muttered as he left the room.
Everypony looked after him in confusion and fear, wondering what he had heard in the transmission to scare him so badly.
The Princess looked at the green pony and said softly, “Mint, could you play that again?”
This time, everypony strained their ears to see if there was any hidden message in the transmission, but in truth, there wasn’t. There were only the three words. The words that could plant fear even in the hearts of the Doctor
**********
There was silence on the Bridge as the gathered ponies contemplated the message. Most of them were, that is. The grey Pegasus in the center of the room was still confused, and just a little bit bored. Why would he just leave me here? She thought to herself. I suppose he was just really scared… But of what?
Derpy shivered at the thought that something could scare the Doctor, drawing the attention of Twilight. “Forgive my manners,” she stated. “I have neglected to inquire as to your name.”
Derpy, realizing after a moment that she was being addressed by the Princess, blushed as she bowed. “My name is Derpina Ditzulous Hooves, mailmare of Ponyville, your majesty.” She looked up with an embarrassed smile on her face. “But most ponies just call me Derpy.”
A smile lit up Twilight's face. “I thought you looked familiar! It’s so good to see somepony from the old days..” She cleared her throat. “Now, you already know me, so allow me to introduce you to the rest of the crew.” She gestured toward the bat-pony. “The funny looking fellow over there is Medical Officer Cold Blood, finest doctor this side of the Chimp’s Head Nebula.”
Cold Blood gave a lazy salute with a goofy grin on his face. “Pleased to meetcha’, miss Hooves.” To Derpy’s surprise, he spoke with a southern twang. “You get in trouble, I’ll patch you up good.”
Derpy waved back as the Princess continued. “Sitting beside him is our Science Officer, Supernova.”
The glowing mare looked up coldly from her work and nodded at Derpy. Derpy, feeling a bit awkward, asked, “You know, I’ve never seen a pony that glows like you before…”
Supernova replied in a voice that was full of music, yet oddly cold. “I am a Star Pony. Our kind has been rare for thousands of years, and I surmise that we have yet to reveal ourselves in your own time.”
Derpy nodded mutely as Supernova returned to her keypad, and returned her attention to the Princess. “Sitting before me are Communications Officer Mint-O-Green,” the green pony inclined her head in greeting, her face still expressionless, “and Armaments Officer Jonagold Apple.”
“Welcome aboard,” greeted the orange stallion in a sophisticated voice that Derpy would never have expected to hear from anypony with the last name Apple.
Derpy was confused. “I thought this ship was unarmed? Why would you need-”
He laughed. “Well, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean that the ponies on board aren’t.” He gestured at the guards around the room. “In addition to us officers, there are also a number of soldiers stationed on board for when situations get hairy.”
“Finally,” the Princess interjected, “We have First Mate Skyfire,” She nodded toward the green dragon-pony, who was still glaring at the Pegasus, “and Captain Flameheart.” The white dragon pony seemed much friendlier.
“Bonjour, mademoiselle.” she said with a sophisticated voice. “Welcome aboard the good ship Celestia.” She beamed with joy at having a guest on board her ship. “I hope that your stay with us will be très agréable.” She suddenly looked worried. “Then again, what with us being under attack, you have come aboard under… less than agreeable circumstances.”
“Well, it’s a very nice ship all the same,” smiled Derpy. Flameheart smiled back, relieved, as Derpy returned her attention to the Princess.
“And that’s everypony!” she said with a smile. “I’m sure you won’t be onboard with us for very long, but I find it helps to know everypony’s name. Especially during a crisis like this.” She looked around as she stood up out of her throne.. “Alright everypony, Derpy and I are going to go check on the Doctor. Stay the course, we should be reaching safety soon.”
As the two left the Bridge, Derpy was in awe of the Princess. This was certainly the last thing she was expecting when she had jumped into the TARDIS with the Doctor, not that she was disappointed, of course. I wonder if all of his adventures are like this… she thought, before being startled out of her reverie by Twilight.
“So, have you been travelling with the Doctor long?” she asked. Derpy noticed that she seemed more relaxed outside of the Bridge.
Derpy, a little embarrassed to be talking to a Princess, took a moment to muster up the courage to reply. “N-no, your majesty. This is the first time I’ve ever gone travelling with him.” She giggled. “We were supposed to be on the Titanic.”
The Princess laughed as well. “Yes, when I first met him, I had to convince him that he wasn’t in the Royal Canterlot Archives.” She lowered her head conspiratorially. “His aim can be a little off sometimes.”
The two mares laughed as they entered the storage room and headed for the TARDIS. The door was wide open, so they just let themselves in. Twilight looked surprised.
“Hm, he’s redecorated.” She said thoughtfully. Then she frowned. “Or, I suppose he will have redecorated. Lousy time travel…”
Their eyes fell upon an open hatch in the floor, out of which various objects could be seen flying out of, and through which a familiar spiky brown tail could be seen.
Derpy dodged a wind-up mouse as she approached the hatch. “Doctor?” she called, “You okay?”
They heard a muffled, “aha!” and the Doctor raised his head up out of the hole. He looked much better now. “Yes, I’m fine. In fact, I’m better than fine! I’m absolutely wonderful!” He held up an old purple book with strange symbols on the cover. “I found my old nursery rhyme book!”
The mares simply looked at him with confusion and concern. The same thought ran through both of their minds. That’s it, he’s lost it.
Twilight stepped forward and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Um, Doctor, are you sure you’re feeling alright? Maybe you need to take a break-”
He waved her hoof away. “I told you I’m wonderful!” he jumped out of the hole and plopped the book down on the console. “This should tell me exactly what I need to know!” He flipped it open to reveal more strange symbols that only he could understand. “This book should prove my suspicions wrong. And oh, how glorious that would be!”
He flipped through the book until he came to a picture of something Derpy had never seen before. It resembled a garbage can, with strange half-spheres attached to it’s roundish base. A little above it’s middle, there were what appeared a whisk and a plunger protruding from it, and above that, a dome. Extending from the dome was a long shaft ending in an oddly shaped bulb. It looked like no natural thing Derpy had ever seen.
“Derpy, did I tell you that I’m not a pony?”
Derpy looked at the Doctor in surprise. “I’m sorry, what?”
He smiled as he looked at the book. It was a very old, sad smile. “A long time ago… or perhaps it was a long time to come? Ah well, in a very long time that may either be past or future, there was a war.” He looked at her and she saw a strange look in his eyes. “My species, a type of pony called the Time Keepers, fought the greatest evil in all of time to prevent the universe from ending. We won, but our home planet was destroyed, and my ancestors were flung through time, somehow all managing to land in Equestria, at about 500 B.N.M.” He looked at Twilight and smiled. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were happy to welcome us to their homeland, and we pledged our services and our mastery over time to them, in order for them to properly protect their country.”
He looked back at the book, and at the strange picture. “This was long before my time. By Time Keeper standards, I’m very young. So I never actually saw this great evil. But I heard stories.” He tapped the book. “My elders said that these being were pure evil, that they would stop at nothing to insure the destruction of everything. That was the reason they were created; annihilation of all things not… them.”
“And, according to this, although I wish I was wrong, that transmission carries their battle cry. Their favorite word, if you will. Exterminate.”
He looked at the mares with a grave look on his face. “Ladies, we’ve just run into the most dangerous being of all time. Daleks.”
Author's Note
I have succeeded in making the chapter smaller! This should make it much easier to update on time, although now I have to think up good cliffhangers twice as often. Oh well.
I learned a valuable lesson while writing this chapter: "Import from Google Docs" does not mean that it takes everything from the Doc and paste it here. That would have been nice to know.
Sorry about the massive amount of descriptions this chapter, I'll try to have a smaller cast next time around.
