//-------------------------------------------------------// A Lifetime of Dreams -by ratedoni- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// An Unearthly Box //-------------------------------------------------------// An Unearthly Box A while ago I was surfing and talking with several friends of mine online when we started to role play about us going into a portal to Equestria with the help of a TARDIS and I thought for a moment, hey, this is fun and interesting, and it didn't leave me alone, I had to write a story like that so here it is guys. So many of you will be reading this and going all, oh Celestia, not another human in Equestria fic... well, not exactly, you see, this won't be a normal fic for several reasons. 1.- This is no dark, sad fic about a brony that had such a sad life and everybody was bullying him and he had to go all emo about it, nope, and I have nothing against people that wrote fics like those, is just that I don't roll that way so this will be more funny and several other antics. 2.- Yes, we are all humans, but no, I don't think we will change into ponies, or at least without a good reason. 3.- We have roles in this story, and even though this is something of a HiE there will be many mysteries, plot and revelations that will keep you in the story. 4.- I am a writer so i will try to keep this story interesting without plot holes or things like that, I do like my stories coherent and funny with a story behind the action and comedy. 5.- Many of you will think that this chapter is too fast and all that, but there is a point and most of the back story will be told in future chapters so don't worry if you don't understand something at first. At 29 kilometers per second, a blue ball of mass traveled in the emptiness that is space, a seemingly endless home of matter and light, but for the small, almost insignificant dwellers of the blue orb, the simple idea of the universe was second to all the dangers and pressures that existed in their grain of sand in the universe. They had jobs, families, studies, friends, responsibilities and huge pressures in the blink that were their lives in comparison with stars and planets in all the different galaxies, is for this that they couldn't pay more attention to what was about to happen in their lives, because everything was going to change in just a few hours. Somewhere in America The highway was at least another two kilometers from where he was right now, it was a road that once took everyone to a ranch once owned by his family, but that was several generations ago, now it was abandoned and that is why it was useful. Turning off the lights of his car, the man came out of it, he didn't bother locking it; what person would be crazy enough to walk or drive all the way up there just to steal his car? Besides, it was just an old Tsuru that was miraculously still up and running. The other reason for not locking it is that after this night he won't be coming back for the car, it was time to move on and the ticket for that was inside the old remains of the house. What he was searching for was in the middle of what used to be the living room and just the sight made a smile appear on his face. At the South-West of England All the world's eyes were focused on their TV and computer screen at that moment watching what baffled experts and simple mortals alike. Scientist called it one of the mysteries of the decade, while doom-sayers were calling it the end of the world. Either way, the young boy watching the computer news was at the same time awed at the image and uninterested on the weather miracle. Just a few minutes ago a hurricane the size of a city had appeared in the middle of the ocean, but what was interesting was that it had appeared out of nowhere, no warning, no nothing, it was like magic, not that scientists would use that word. Although there was something else that made them nervous and that was the speed, since it appeared the speed was the same, a constant without going up or down. Whatever the case, for one young Ben Betteridge, the news of the so called tornado of the century was becoming boring and he could lose time in some other way. Looking at his Facebook tab once again Ben sighed knowing that most people that he talked and joked with were not online, most were already asleep or doing something else while they waited for another Saturday and their usual antics as the group called as Bronies. Deciding that he should better hit the sack sooner this night, Ben turned off the computer before a known sound appeared just outside his home, it was like... like... Looking through a window, Ben stood several seconds completely rooted to the floor while his jaw could have hit the ground if this were a cartoon. Right there in front of his home, a very familiar object appeared where before a couple of minutes ago there was nothing. It was... it was... a police box. Running out of his home, Ben stood in front of the very familiar box with his eyes wide open not quite believing that it could be standing right in front of him, it must be a dream, it can't be real. Just as he finished walking around the box the door flew open while a person's head came out looking left and right. The person had black short and slightly spiky hair, a slightly thin face with high cheeks and a pair of sunglasses that he took out a second later showing his dark eyes. “Ah, hello... am I in England? It has been so long since I drove this thing around that I could be very lost” The young man said with a voice that was slightly high, he was obviously not from England. “... yes, this is Brixham” Ben said slightly shocked at what was going on right now but the man suddenly smiled. “Hey Ben! Didn't recognize you there, I'm still not quite used to see you all face to face, come on, get inside” “Inside? How do you know me?” “Oops, my bad! It's me, Iván!” “Iván?” “Yeah, the one from the group!” He said even happier now that he found out a comrade “come on, we don't have much time!” he repeated while he went inside the box once again leaving Ben behind with this one quickly getting out of the shock. Seeing that this was definitely much more interesting than anything he could be doing right now he decided to follow his instincts which were telling him to just do it. Getting into the blue box he was once again awed at what he was watching; it was a console room just like in the show, but it had a different look. The metal girders were lost and in their place there were much more futuristic looking arcs alongside the entrance; the floor was a deep blue while the center was a white circle and in top of it the console with all the switches and levers, the ceiling was showing a night sky complete with constellations and a big moon, it was nothing like he have seen in the show. “How did you...” “I found it like a decade ago close to my uncle's country house, he farms a little. It crashed... let's leave it at that” Iván said explaining quickly while moving around flicking different buttons in the console. “How... forget about it, this is so cool! You have your own TARDIS!” Ben said excited while looking around, this was definitely one dream come true “I just have so many questions!” “Good, questions are good, the problem is always getting answers, but questions are good, now, ah... well, this is the point, where do I begin with, ah... anyway, you see, this is where the important question appears” Iván said scratching his forehead. “What, you want me to be your companion?” Ben said joking still looking at the architecture of the command room. “Not... exactly? You see, tonight is going to be the most important night in the history of humanity and for that reason I need you to pack, clothes, food, even video games if you want, all the important stuff” “Why?” Ben said more than a little curious about the command. “We're going to Equestria” Iván said with the biggest smile Ben has ever seen. “We... we... are” to say that Ben was speechless would be an understatement. “Yes, now go! We need to make a couple of stops” Ivan all but barked making Ben turn around and run in the direction of his house at full speed “always works” Iván said looking directly at the readers. (Cue Doctor Who Theme) A Lifetime of Dreams Chapter 1: An Unearthly Box An hour later Around the console room, four people stood watching at each other, still not quite believing that things were happening, how would you react when a machine that can travel through time and space suddenly appears in your backyard or your room and tells you that their destination is Equestria? There was Ben, a young man wearing a light button-up shirt and another one using a black hoodie with the word SWAG printed on it, all three looking at the person that had reunited them this night. “Guess... none of us thought that this would happen” Iván said looking around to the people on the console room watching all their reactions and the shock still present in their eyes. “You said that we are going to Equestria, right?” the young man with the button-up shirt asked. “I… indeed said that… okay, here it goes. You all have seen the weird hurricane that appeared in the middle of the Atlantic, right?” at the series of nods appeared Iván continued the story “well… that's not a normal hurricane. Let me start from the beginning. This machine, this TARDIS, I don't know where it came from and before you ask, this is the way it looked when I found it” Iván said shrugging his shoulders as if asking for forgiveness. “The thing that matters here right now is what the buck did you meant about Equestria?” Joseph, the one with the hoodie said to him walking around the console. “Is the hurricane” “The one nobody knows how appeared?” “That one Ben, you see, this things has been dead for at least 8 years, I could hide it inside an old family house, but two weeks ago it started to make noises, a light here, a switch there” “Like if it was signaling something” Ross said snapping his fingers. “Exactly” Iván answered back getting more excited as he explained everything “the TARDIS was reacting to something, and then two days ago I found out why” “That's when the hurricane appeared” Ben said getting into the discussion now. “That's no hurricane… is a portal” “A portal? Like the videogame?” “Bigger… much, much bigger and powerful, for what I have understood from the instruments in these machines, whatever caused this opened a portal not to somewhere in this galaxy, but somewhere in another universe” Iván said pointing at one of the console monitors activated. “And you say it is Equestria?” Ross asked walking to the monitor. “You all can see for yourselves” pointing in the direction of the monitor, the other three passengers watched at the cartoon images on the monitor; the three recognized the image, the green and luxurious fields of what they all loved. “That's…” “Amazing, I know” Iván said sitting down as if suddenly tired. “So, what are we waiting for?” Joseph said almost ready to pilot the TARDIS itself if it meant getting there. “Wait, I only have one question… why did you come for us? I mean, why us?” Ross said more confused about the reason they were inside the TARDIS than the portal to Equestria. “I don't know” “What?” “I said I don't know” “What do you mean you don't know?” Ross asked getting scared about the answer. “What, you think I'm the Doctor or something? Your coordinates were already in the memory of this machine, okay?” “So you are saying that a machine that crashed a decade ago already had our coordinates for this exact moment?” “Yes” “Seems legit” Ben said receiving a triple glare from the other three “what? Now I cannot joke?” “Either way, we all are together on this, we all have our bags and we all came because we definitely want to see what's in the other side of that tunnel, anybody else have any second thought about this? You all can turn around, because really, who knows if that portal will remain open or if it is the only way we can go back and forth, it could mean that we won't be able to come back to this world, think about this really hard” “I think I can speak for the three of us” Ross started “when I say this, let's do it!” the four raised their hands ready for what the road ahead of them could mean for them and the future of both worlds. “Alright, then let's get this show on the road, sit tight and hope that nothing goes wrong” Iván said quickly going to the console. “Do you even know how to drive this?” Ross asked quickly becoming the voice of reason… or as much reason that could be found in the group. “Read the manual at least five times” Iván answered back without turning around. “This thing has a manual?” Ben asked completely surprised that a manual could be found for a machine like this. For answer Iván pointed out at one corner of the console room where several drawers could be found out. “Third one from left to right has the manuals and instruction booklets” with a shrug Joseph was the one to grab onto the biggest book in the drawer after opening several compartments. “’So you are the proud owner of a TARDIS Type 90 TT, how to operate it without disintegrating yourself’… that do makes you want to read it” Joseph said taking a quick look inside the manual. “Hey, at least it beats the title ‘All you ever wanted to know about slumber parties but were afraid to ask’” Iván said with a shrug. “So… if this is a TARDIS… where are the time lords?” “Who knows? For the last decade I have seen nothing, no monsters, no aliens, no time lords, no Doctor or anything at all, is like if this thing simply appeared, I have no idea and nobody has contacted me, for several years I thought this thing was dead, that everyone was dead, but now this happens… it makes me think that this… TARDIS is not from our universe” everyone turned to see each other, now things were starting to get interesting. “Doctor Whooves?” Ben said while the others couldn't deny or say that it was true. “Whoever is the owner or wherever this thing came from we have only one destination in this thing” “The hurricane” Ross said while Iván nodded as confirmation. “No second thoughts, because here we go!” Iván said before the TARDIS made his distinctive sound and the adventure of a lifetime started. Authors Notes: Well, the travel is about to start, and yes, there were no ponies so far, but be calm, things are going to start and trouble arises too in the next chapter when we go right into the eye of the hurricane in route to the magical kingdom of Equestria. Spoilers: "Wind-speed just dropped under guys! we must work faster!" "OK, I'm not sure. but I think we're flying upside down...SOMEONE CORRECT THIS PLEASE!" "HANG ON TO SOMETHING EVERYPONY! HERE GOES NOTHING!" "OK, good news and bad news" Next chapter: On Route to Destiny //-------------------------------------------------------// Into the Eye of the Hurricane //-------------------------------------------------------// Into the Eye of the Hurricane “So… if this is a TARDIS… where are the time lords?” “Who knows? For the last decade I have seen nothing, no monsters, no aliens, no time lords, no Doctor or anything at all, is like if this thing simply appeared, I have no idea and nobody has contacted me, for several years I thought this thing was dead, that everyone was dead, but now this happens… it makes me think that this… TARDIS is not from our world” everyone turned to see each other, now things were starting to get interesting. “Doctor Whooves?” Ben said while the others couldn’t deny or say that it was true. “Whoever is the owner or wherever this thing came from we have only one destination in this thing” “The hurricane” Ross said while Iván nodded as confirmation. “No second thoughts, because here we go!” Iván said before the TARDIS made his distinctive sound and the adventure of a lifetime started. Hearing the rumbling on the machine, the vibrations on the floor and also the characteristic sound of the machine disappearing from one place and appearing into another, it was indeed magical, which was quite interesting considering this was a purely scientifically perspective but it could be forgiven considering the crew of the ship. In just half an hour everything crashed and news and visions of another world were more than enough for the four humans inside the huge ship (it was bigger on the inside obviously) to pack everything and risk life and future for a dream. Flicking a switch in the hexagonal control board, the young man with the dark sunglasses started the preparations for departure while another member of the group was looking through the pages of the manual. “So, how long until we reach the hurricane? I though the TARDIS could do instant travels” Ross said while reading about the pool room in the manual. “Don’t know, probably another five or six minutes, I need to check if the shields would hold up” in that instant, all activity went into pause so to say, even Ben and Joseph stopped talking and turned around to see the de-facto captain of the TARDIS. “Ah… shields?” Ben said slightly scared about the word usage. “Yeah, take this in consideration, we just can’t suddenly teleport into the… portal, cannot believe one day I would say that, it would simply be suicidal, so instead of trying to do something impossible we will do something extremely dangerous instead which is much better” “When you say something extremely dangerous…” “I meant flying directly into hurricane to get into the portal and go right into another world Ross… if we don’t get ripped apart by the wind currents” Iván said with a shrug as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Okay… I’m pretty sure you forgot to tell us that before we got into the TARDIS” Joseph said a little bit worried about what he heard “doesn’t this thing have shields or something like that?” “Sure, but take in consideration this, the TARDIS has been grounded for ten years, it didn’t even have energy to light a bulb, now suddenly it can move but it only has enough energy restored to make this couple of quick jumps and for what I gather, enough energy to go into the portal, maybe it’ll be able to charge up once we are in Equestria but I don’t know” “Or maybe it will blow up!” Ross said getting more and more worried about their chances. “Damn… and I thought I was the negative one” Iván turned from them to look at the controls moving a dial to the third level allowing energy to flow faster for now “look, it’s not as bad as it sounds, the TARDIS was made for things like that, heck, it can survive the explosion of a sun… when it has full shields, but even at this level it won’t break so don’t worry, I have eve…" “If you say everything under control I’m jumping out of the TARDIS” Joseph said quickly regaining his good humor. “Oh, right, don’t tempt fate, forgot about that” (Cue theme music) A Lifetime of Dreams Episode 1: Arrival Chapter 2: Into the Eye of the Hurricane “Alright… ETA… 2 minutes… and countdown starts… now” Iván said while the TARDIS central pillar, the one that always signaled the time portal travel was now silent. “Where exactly are we?” “Like I said, two minutes from the hurricane, which in itself it isn’t that much, but it will give us enough space if things wrong Ross” “Wrong? Like getting totally blown apart in the middle of the Atlantic?” “I said ‘if’ which indicate a certain degree of probability that it could not happen and everything will go right according to plan” “Just two things, one, nothing ever goes according to plan and two, since when do we have a plan?” Ross said waving a hand referring to the four of them. Iván raised a finger to argue… then lowered it while he tried to think of something to say. “Okay, point taken” he answered back before going back to the controls. At four sides of the console, right over the controls, there were four widescreens that showed plethora of information while another two showed scenes of Equestria, probably what existed beyond the portal the pilot of the TARDIS told them about. As seconds passed they felt a slight rumbling on their feet which only grew more pronounced as they got closer to their target. “Is everybody else feeling what I’m feeling?” “If you are talking about the turbulence due to us getting closer to the hurricane, then yes, we all feel it Ben” “No need to be so sarcastic” “I have the feeling he is always going to be like that” Ross said slightly entertained by the banter” “Well, it seems we are playing a round of twenty questions so I’ll be next” Joseph said at the right moment to release some of the tension inside the TARDIS “I think we all saw the big scary hurricane on telly, but really, how big can it be?” “Open the doors and find out, don’t worry, shields are active… for now” Iván said walking backwards until he was well behind the console “go ahead!” “I truly have a bad feeling about this” Ross said watching how Joseph simply shrugged his shoulders and opened up the double doors of the TARDIS, just to be witness of a true force of nature. It was impossible to feel the strength of the wind due to the shields, but in his mind Joseph was sure that he would be killed instantly in front of that power. The sea was raging, waves were easily ten or fifteen feet, but the true monster was a ferocious monster made of wind; the size of it dwarfed anything they have seen, it towered over every single man-made building in their world, the power was palpable and made Joseph take steps backwards closing the doors immediately. “Okay… that was definitely a bad idea!” quickly bolting to one of the chairs. Joseph quickly understood to what they were going to be fighting against, looking around at the faces of his friends he realized that they all had the same thing on their heads, this was serious now, this was something that could easily destroy them if they weren’t careful. “Okay, last chance to turn back” with one hand over the controls Iván was ready for the plunge into the hurricane, but a light on the console started to blink calling his attention “oh no, oh no!” “What?” Ross went to the console to look closer, anything that flashed red was definitely bad news. “We have no time to turn back now! The portal is closing!” Iván all but screamed quickly glancing at the information in one of the monitors. Iván was right, the monitor showed them that the hurricane was slowly losing speed, the portal was probably closing “if we don’t do it now, we won’t have another chance” “Then what the hell are you waiting for!” “Because I don’t know if the shields will resist, we can die out there!” Ross and Iván stood looking while the latter had his hand on the lever switch that could send the TARDIS into the hurricane, one could see the indecision, one wrong move and they could die, it was too much of a choice for him, their lives depended on it. Ross closed his eyes, took the switch on his hand and activated it. With a  rumble every member of the ship felt the TARDIS go into the direction of the hurricane, it was now time to die or for glory, this was what Iván needed to regain his confidence. “Alright, that takes care of it! Not the way I imagined it, but oh well, everybody, hold on to something! "HANG ON TO SOMETHING EVERYPONY! HERE GOES NOTHING!" Iván screamed before the TARDIS began to shake, outside, the wind was a force to be reckoned even though it was slowly losing power, the blue box rammed into the hurricane quickly flying around alongside the wind, the console made its characteristic sound as the interior rumbled and shook due to the enormous forced at play. "Wind-speed just dropped under guys! We must work faster!" Ross said hanging to the console while they were being tossed around, everything around was shaking, everything was quickly getting out of control. “Shields at only 40%! I don’t know how long they will resist!” Iván quickly tried to divert the energy to shields “oh god… we’re inside the hurricane, we’re in the eye!” all eyes flew to the monitors where it was showed exactly the calm inside the hurricane, but most importantly, right in the middle there was an anomaly, an sphere the size of a mansion, colors and sparks flying around inside it was the only sign of movement inside, but everyone knew that it was their door to another world but at that moment everything flashed inside the TARDIS “the hurricane is getting out of control! The eye is supposed to be the safe point… the hurricane is breaking up!” just at that moment the TARDIS lost control. “What the hell happened!” Ben screamed when they felt the worst turbulence in their life, the chairs were shaking, the pillars were dangerously creaking, the lights were flickering. “We lost our shields! The power of the hurricane is going out of the scales! Is dying! The portal must be going critical!” then, just as Iván said that the doors of the TARDIS were thrown open by the force of the wind and everyone inside was simply pushed by the wind signaling the fallen shields. Falling to the floor the four friends tried to regain their wits while the TARDIS flew out of control inside the dying hurricane-portal. Iván raised his head only to look how the youngest member was sliding on the direction of the door. “BEN!” he tried to move but he was too late, fortunately, another member jumped at the precise moment to hold Ben’s hand while this one had one leg already out of the TARDIS “I got you!” Joseph was holding Ben’s arm trying to save his life. Meanwhile, Iván was on the controls moving faster than ever trying to regain control of the ship and Ross went to help in the rescue. “I… think… I got it!” with one last switch flickered the shields were once again active and the other two people could pull back Ben into the TARDIS. “OK, I'm not sure, but I think we're flying upside down...SOMEONE CORRECT THIS PLEASE!" Ross screamed while the three were resting on their backs in the floor of the TARDIS. “Oh right, I think we are going to be killed at any moment but no matter, we have to correct our flight pattern, just shut up and let me do my job” Just as soon as Iván said that, the doors still open showed all of them the moment when they finally entered the sphere and the sudden silence that followed, millions of colors, lights and images flickered around the TARDIS as this one entered the time and space tunnel. “We did it… we did it!” Joseph jumped up celebrating at their success. “OK, good news and bad news” “Good news first” Ross stood up dusting himself. “Good news is that we are on route to Equestria” “Bad news then?” Ben said still not believing how close he got to be sucked by a hurricane. “Well… the TARDIS energy is, ah, well, the TARDIS is overloaded” just when Iván said that a control panel exploded sending him backwards, the doors closed and the lights died. Everyone in town were working hard to maintain everything in order, not that it was an easy job but Ponyville have had their share of trouble and destruction already, the parasprite invasion, the Ursa Minor attack and countless other little things that the residents were used to, but this one took the cake. Usually the weather was monitored and handled by the local pegasi weather team, but the chain of weather events were getting out of control, first clouds travelling in the sky, by themselves, that was enough of a reason to send the flower trio into hysterics, but then the rain started and then the winds, all to end in the hurricane present at the fields close to Ponyville. “Still nothing darling?” The white coated unicorn asked to one of her best friends while the other unicorn kept on checking book after book, the purple mane of the studious unicorn was disheveled, a clear sign of how worried she was. “I have found nothing! None of my books say anything about an anomaly like this” “But I thought these things only happened in the Everfree Forest, I mean, raining and hurricanes and all kind of weird things happening, nopony has ever heard of it” “And that’s the point Spike, never in the history of Equestria natural phenomenon of this caliber has occurred without the intervention of pegasi, it is unheard of, it is unnatural, it shouldn’t happen, and now we have to find the reason of why it is happening!” the purple unicorn screamed while throwing another book to the floor making the small dragon roll his eyes at the disaster area that was the library floor with so many books thrown. “Twilight darling, you need to rest, you haven’t slept for a whole day, bags in your eyes, frazzled mane, my dear. You will need a full treatment at the spa to correct this madness” Rarity said worried about the condition of the unicorn, she was always getting so over the board over small things like that, of course, rarity didn’t realize how hypocrite that sounded considering her usual antics. “Hey Twi, you in there?” just as the voice was heard the door of the library and an orange pony walked inside “Ah know you have been workin’ like crazy, that’s why ah brought you something to eat” “Thank you Applejack but I cannot rest or eat or sleep until I find what is causing all this madness!” “Don’t tell me, she’s gone into one of her crazy study moments, ain´t it right? “I’m afraid so… you did remember to clean up your hooves before getting the entire floor muddy, right?” “That only happened once Rarity” before both could start one of their usual talks the door was thrown open again as a cyan colored Pegasus flew quickly inside. “Guys! We have a problem!” “Seriously rainbow Dash, why do you need to be so rude? You need to knock on the door before walking inside” “Not to mention that you were in charge of seeing that that damn hurricane didn’t destroy everything in Ponyville” “That’s why I came here AJ, the hurricane is finally stopping” “Then, everything is over, finally” Rarity said holding a hoof to her forehead. “But that’s not all of it” Rainbow Dash said pointing at the still open door where Fluttershy was following a shaking Pinkie Pie. The number one party pony was shaking up and down in a motion that all present knew what it meant. “Oh no! Oh nononnononononononono!” Quickly appearing at the side of the pink pony, Twilight was ready to investigate more “not another doozy!” “It seems so, I’m not quite sure what could be the doozy, but it is even bigger than the last one and that one was a big doozy, I just can’t imagine the enormous, huge, outstandingly big this doozy could be compared to the other one, is that pie?” Pinkie quickly searched Applejack’s saddlebag in search of that delicious smell. “Ah, everypony” a barely noticeable voice coming from the window alerted the other four quickly looking at Fluttershy who was pointing at something outside the window. Twilight, once she summoned her binoculars quickly scanned the sky locating the alarm from Fluttershy. The sky was weird, clouds spiraling around a mass of energy while bolts and electricity danced around it and then, in a sudden flash, an object came from the vortex quickly descending to Earth. “Something came out of the sky! It is going to crash!” “Do you have an idea of where that thing is gonna fall into?” “I don’t know, but it can’t be a coincident, if there is something I learned from Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense is that! Whatever it is, it seems it will fall beyond the Everfree Forest” the six ponies looked outside the window watching how the weird object fell into Equestria. //-------------------------------------------------------// The First Step //-------------------------------------------------------// The First Step Good news everypony, a new chapter is fresh out of the oven, this time I think I did it faster than the last one, sadly it is shorter but doesn't matter, I present you the arrival into a new land. For all of you, yes, I'm going to continue doing this and I'll try to work faster and better, so, if you have any doubt, ideas, complains or anythig at all, don't doubt on commenting and writing your impressions, now, allonsy! “OK, good news and bad news” “Good news first” Ross stood up dusting himself. “Good news is that we are on route to Equestria” “Bad news then?” Ben said still not believing how close he got to be sucked by a hurricane. “Well… the TARDIS energy is, ah, well, the TARDIS is overloaded” just when Iván said that a control panel exploded sending him backwards, the doors closed and the lights died. If they thought that the way the TARDIS shook before was hard, it was nothing compared to now. The light died and then came back, but they didn’t stop flickering in and out giving the ambiance of supernatural, spark flying everywhere and the rumbling of the machine while it transported them from one world to another. They tried to hold onto anything but their bodies were being tossed around, the console was showing several mauve lights indicating danger possibly. Outside the TARDIS, the portal finally went open to spit the machine into a world of color and magic. Right now Equestria was being showered by the calm light of the Princess of the Night, it was now the end of the enigmatic storm and the people inside the TARDIS was not aware of the changes and dangers they would be part of. Right now they were only aware of the feeling of falling, it was clear that their transportation was nowhere ready to fly down in a controlled matter and in a second the ground was there to welcome them into this world. The TARDIS flew down into the ground, the impact sending debris in all directions and scaring every single creature close to the impact zone and as fast as it arrived it turned into silence. Consciousness started to come back for someone inside the ship, it felt like if he had been sleeping for 12 hours, so hard to even open his eyes, everything hurt and while trying to move his right arm he was immediately brought back into complete consciousness. It hurt like never before. The pilot of the ship was right now clutching his right shoulder and screaming at the top of his lungs, he had to blink away tears that threatened to run down his face due to the pain he was in right now, it felt as if his shoulder was dislocated. Trying to stand up he took a look around, trying to assess the damage around and at first sight it wasn't nice. The whole TARDIS was not rightly illuminated since most of the lights seemed to have exploded in their entry to this world, several panels from the floor and walls were missing and the cables were showing with flying sparks being the proof he needed to know that the damage was more than simply aesthetic. Still holding his arm so it won't move, Iván stood up trying to find the other members of his bizarre team. Thankfully he didn't have to look too far away because he soon found out the youngest of the four, Ben, standing up too looking not too bad, just a bruise on his face and completely ruffled hair. “Well, it seems that we won't be using the TARDIS for any more flying for now” Iván said trying to smile but failing miserably with the pain from his arm; for his part Ben simply nodded, he had slight problems trying to concentrate with his ears still ringing from the impact. “What happened to you?” “Dislocated shoulder” Ben grimaced not wanting to find out how much that one hurt “probably from the panel that exploded right in my face, grateful that I'm still alive” “Whatever you say, let's just get the other guys and move out, I don't know if this thing will explode like in the movies” “Don't jinx it!” Iván almost screamed knowing that bad things happened in the worst of moments and this was definitely that moment. Thankfully nothing more happened, the TARDIS lights were starting to flicker less and less and by the time the four of them were outside, the energy seemed to be over and the TARDIS went completely dark, inert like when Iván first found it. “I don't think we will be flying any time soon” Ross said with his hand on top of the doors of the sleeping ship, it was obvious the four were using humor at this time due to the anxiety they were feeling. Beyond the double doors was the goal, the promised land for them and they still feared that behind them they would only find their old and dark world, but they had to take their chance. Ross and Joseph nodded to each other, each one holding a door, at the count of three the doors were pulled and in front of them was an image that they will forever hold close to their hearts. The TARDIS had obviously crash landed against a natural rock wall, probably due to erosion from raining and wind, it could be a place where landslides occurred regularly but it wasn't a problem for now. Now, the only thing that captivated them was the clear view they had of a fantastic world, behind them they could see the beginning of a jungle like vegetation, vines growing wild  tangling themselves on crooked and thick trees with wide leaves making it a perfect place to hide and disappear, but in front of them, they watched the domain of Princess Luna, a land that was being bathed by the soft light of the full moon in the sky, an expanse of green irregular plains that could have come out of any brilliant piece of art that left them speechless, or almost speechless. “Welcome to Equestria guys” Ross said with the biggest smile he had ever had on his face. (Cue Doctor Who theme music) A Lifetime of Dreams Episode 1: Arrival Chapter 3: The First Step It was a quiet night with only the sound of crickets adding to the peaceful atmosphere that soothed the tired and hurt travelers, but of course, it had to be broken. "We did it! My body hurts, the TARDIS crashed and the portal is closed... but we did it!" the scream, surprisingly, didn't come from Joseph this time, but from Ross who laughed hard and loud at where exactly they were standing. It was a hard ordeal; they had to survive a hellish trip and were send directly into a crash landing that could have killed them, but just looking at the gorgeous expanse of land it was more than worth the pain and dangers, and speaking of pain. The pain had intensified after laughing alongside his friends, he had to do something about the dislocated shoulder or he won't be of any use in the next few hours. Walking in the direction of a close tree, Iván stood watching the sturdy bark, with his non-injured hand he knocked a few times on it and prepared for an experience that could possibly be the most hurtful of his life. “Ah… Iván, what exactly are you doing?” Joseph said stopping laughing for a second to watch the person they owned the travel with an arched eyebrow, the aforementioned pilot simply smiled at his friend. “Have you seen a movie called Lethal Weapon?” Joseph simply rolled his eyes. “Just one of the most epic action movies ever, why?” and then it clicked while his eyes grew to comical proportions understanding immediately what his comrade was planning to do “oh buck” “Indeed” Iván said before slamming with all his strength his injured shoulder into the tree's trunk to pop it back into place  “AAAAAAAaaaaaauggghwhat the hay?” Iván had a confused look on his face while he examined his shoulder. Yes, it hurt, but it was more like a sting than the tremendous pain he had felt for a second, it was disconcerting how fast the pain had turned from a nightmare to a dull throbbing, it was like a miracle “it… it stopped hurting, what the buck?” “Not only that, but there is something wrong with us” Ben said looking at his own hands, making his other friends to start doing the same, checking their own bodies, their clothes, their hair, something was wrong, they could all feel it, there was something different that they weren't paying to “that's it! We look kinda cartoonish” “Is not kinda… we are cartoonish, our bodies changed after we arrived, well, not that it was any surprise, we look like in the telly… wait a minute, why did I say telly?” Iván was getting more and more curious about this bizarre chain of discoveries. “You're not the only one, Joseph said that word too when we were on the other world” other world, it felt weird for Ross to say it, but it was true, they were in another world. “But I don't say telly, I never use any silly british word… no offense guys” Joseph answered back turning to look at his friends from the other side of the sea while they simply waved his worries away. “Now I remember, you said telly… and he said hay instead of hay… hay… hay! I cannot say it, I can't curse! Buck! Flying feather! For the love of Celestia! What the buck is going on?!” To see Ross so altered due to the change of his vocabulary was simply hilarious but it didn't change the fact that their words were obviously being changed. ‘Let see if this works, fuck, okay, that does it’ It was obvious to Iván that they could at least think those words, so their brain was unaffected b the vocabulary change. “I don't know if it is this place, or maybe the TARDIS is doing some extra translation, but something is true, we look cartoonish but we are also still human beings, we weren't being changed into ponies magically” “Auh, what's wrong with being ponies?” Joseph said making Iván feel as if the traditional sweat-drop appeared on his head, thankfully this wasn't the case physically, that only happened in animes… and Teen Titans. “For starter, no hands, so yeah, I'm partial to fingers and the like, second, no matter how much I love these ponies, I prefer to stay my own way” “As interesting as this debate could be” Ross interrupted his two friends turning to look at the inert TARDIS “I think we need to prepare, is clear that wherever we landed, this is obviously the outskirts of the Everfree Forest and I for once don't want to try to sleep so close to it with no protection“ He was right, from their position it was clear that the ominous place could be nothing else but the forest and neither of them were very happy with the prospect of having to walk across it. Manticores, hydras, fog, poison joke and many other dangers were waiting for new and inexperienced explorers like them, it was suicidal to go across it without any idea of what awaited them inside, but also it was clear that the town they knew so much could be at the other side. For this side they had no view of either Ponyville or Canterlot so that left the four of them with only two choices, either they walked across them or they traveled across the edge of it making a huge detour across the forest until they arrived to any town, which will obviously take a long time. “Whatever we do we better be prepared, go for your own bags and try to get anything valuable on the TARDIS, I don't think we will come back here any time soon until we get help from other people... ponies… have to get to the idea that we will be soon meeting ponies, multicolored ponies that can talk, fly and cast spells… oh Celestia… we could meet them” at last the full force of what they were going to do settled to the four of them, they were in Equestria, real Equestria, no wonder they were cartoonish, their bodies adapted to this new environment. Each one of them started to watch closer their clothes realizing that Joseph's hoodie had changed; he was the only one of the four that was wearing something with ponies, in this case, the hoodie had a picture of Fluttershy with the slogan SWAG on it, now it only showed the word in rainbow colors. “That's… definitely weird” sadly, they didn't have any chance to comment further when the sound of footsteps… hoofsteps? Came to their ears. Looking at the source of the sound they quickly saw lights from the road that led further away from the Everfree Forest and in matter of seconds they watched a group of earth ponies trotting in their directions. Just when the ponies where close enough to watch the bizarre (form their perspective) creatures that walked on two feet one of them threw the flashlight it had in on its mouth due to the shock. “Ah… we come in peace?” Iván would have probably used the classic Vulcan salute if he wanted to scare them more and because he wanted an excuse to finally use it, in answer to his words instead he got a wail of screams. "They are MONSTERS!" One of them, obviously a female due to the cherry colored mane and blue ribbon on the right side of her head, screamed while three more started to run in circles while another one simply fainted. “Okay… I think they are talking about Joseph” Ben said pointing at his friends. “Yes… HEY!” //-------------------------------------------------------// Into the Unknown //-------------------------------------------------------// Into the Unknown Fillies and gentlecolts! The end of the first episode of A Lifetime of Dreams is here, hopefully this is not the end, but simply the beginning of the end, and as we go along with all this insanity, let's go ahead on the show, and I also have something important to say at the end of the chapter, allons-y! Looking at the source of the sound they quickly saw lights from the road that led further away from the Everfree Forest and in matter of seconds they watched a group of earth ponies trotting in their directions. Just when the ponies where close enough to watch the bizarre (form their perspective) creatures that walked on two feet one of them threw the flashlight it had in on its mouth due to the shock. “Ah… we come in peace?” Iván would have probably used the classic Vulcan salute if he wanted to scare them more and because he wanted an excuse to finally use it, in answer to his words, instead, he got a wail of screams. "They are MONSTERS!" One of them, obviously a female due to the cherry colored mane and blue ribbon on the right side of her head, screamed while three more started to run in circles while another one simply fainted. “Okay… I think they are talking about Joseph” Ben said pointing at his friends. “Yes… HEY!” ///// Besides the sound of screaming ponyfolk and the obvious madness of rampaging ponies running in circles it was definitely a nice night for everyone on Equestria. The moon was up and completely full, very few clouds were traveling lazy on the sky obviously due to the hard work of pegasi and a soft breeze made the grass move slowly and cooled the night, all in all, it was perfect, of course if one doesn’t count that there were two different races in what could be called their first interaction ever. “Okay, this wasn’t the way I imagined first contact ever happening” it was obvious that both races were stunned by the current situation but the human quartet was more surprised than scared unlike their counterparts from Equestria. Obviously they were going nowhere since the five earth ponies were still running in circles completely terrified, stunned or they simply fainted and the human group was still really surprised about the turn of events to do anything besides watching. “So now what? What are we going to do?” Ross said turning into the un-official leader for the moment considering how calm he was about everything. “Dude, we just arrived a couple of hours ago, max, we are a race that they probably never saw before, I think we all saw this one coming” Iván waved a hand obviously referring to the group of ponies that were all on their own panic. “They are ponies, harmony is a part of their lives, is not like if they will hurt us or something like that” “Remember Zecora? How do you think they will react to us?” Obviously Iván was the one who obviously represented the Devil’s Advocate role in the group right now. “We are alone on this land, the TARDIS obviously doesn’t work and we need to need to know where exactly in Equestria we are” “Okay, go ahead” while both were obviously were discussing their points of view both Ben and Joseph were on the sidelines obviously not wanting to bet involved. “Why are they wasting so much time on this? I mean, we are already on Equestria? Who cares about the rest?” “And I guess that’s why you are not the leader” Ben said obviously being a little mysterious with the answer. Joseph simply shrugged his shoulders obviously not interested in the fighting and arguing. With the decision made about the next step in Equestria Ross got close to the only Earth Pony that was neither running in circles or in the ground unconscious. “Good night, my friends and I were…” anything else he wanted to say was quickly forgotten when a pitchfork was put in front of him with the earth pony ready to fight for her life. “Don’t you dare to move monster! You won’t eat us!” “Told ya so!” “Shut up Iván!” (Cue opening theme) BBC Hasbro In Cooperation with Meteor Beat Entertainment With: Iván González Ross Money Ben Betteridge Joseph Jafari Twilight Sparkle Applejack Rarity Rainbow Dash Fluttershy And Pinkie Pie A Lifetime of Dreams Episode 1: Arrival Chapter 4: Into the Unknown “Okay, it is pretty obvious that we started on the wrong foot… uh, hoof, thing, whatever, it comes to my mind, besides the extremely pointy thing that you are right now pointing to one of my friends, is that we haven’t even introduced ourselves, where are my manners?” The member of the team, who by now was still wearing his now typical sunglasses, was more than relaxed apparently about their situation considering their current problem. It was obvious that the mare was not prepared for that bombardment of words and it reflected on her facial expression. “Do you have to be this calm?” “I’m not the one who has a pitchfork right on their face Ross” “Touché, but I’m pretty sure you are enjoying this” Iván simply shrugged as an answer. “Alright both of you, shut up!” the mare was right now losing her patience, this strange creatures appeared out of nowhere and she was not going to stay quiet while their comrades were still on danger from this… this… things! “I don’t know why you are here, I don’t know who or what you are, but you will. NOT. HURT. ANY. PONY!” “Will it help if we say that we came in peace?” Joseph added his two cents joining the conversation; he was giddy, what could be greater? He was finally talking to a true pony! How cool could that be? Well, it would be greater if it were Rainbow Dash but he wasn’t complaining. “Don’t you learn from sci-fi movies? You do not start a conversation with those words” “Indeed” Iván rolled his eyes at the bantering around him, if something was true about their so far short travel it was that it wasn’t boring “continuing with our current topic, ah, do you mind letting our buddy here free? I swear we won’t attack you or anything like that, please?” “Yeah, what he said!” the mare slowly lowered the pitchfork on her hoof while warily looking at both humans in front of her, they didn’t act like monsters, but who can say while being so close to the Everfree Forest, one could never lower their guard, just a couple of weeks ago she found herself way too close to a bear to be comfortable. “Okay, but you better start talking” “That’s easy” “I think she doesn’t refer to that kind of talking” Ross said now more used to the motor mouth that was the sunglasses wearing human. “Oh, right… well, my name is Iván, the one you were about to skewer is Ross and the two behind us are Ben and Joseph” “Why am I the last one?” “Be grateful you are still mentioned” Ben couldn’t resist a last jab and the mare was also enjoying their impromptu comedic sketch but something was very wrong. “What kind of names are those? They don’t even make sense!” “For us it does since we are human” “Uh… what? Human? What are those?” For the look on her face they were pretty sure the word was as alien as they were to this world. “You have never heard the word? Rumor? Stories? Fables? Myths?.. Gossip? Anything?” “That word doesn’t even make an iota of sense for me, hay, I even remember every single story my grand used to tell me but no idea of what human means, did you just came out of the Everfree Forest?” “Uh, well, I’m sure the explanation of that question will be a lot harder” Iván unconsciously turned to the direction of the immobile TARDIS still leaning against the rock wall, Ross was making a good role as their diplomatic it seemed and both Ben and Joseph were obviously enjoying the interaction with the local ponies, that was exactly the thing he needed, now he had to wait long enough and everything would start. “I’m sure you’ll have enough time to explain us why you are here, my name is Autumn Crisp, and this… ragtag of misfits are my friends, Parasol is the one who fainted, poor dear, never can withstand surprises” Autumn was a mare of butterscotch coat while she had her hair in brown pigtails and three brown leaves as a cutiemark while Parasol was purple with her red and white stripped mane in a ponytail, her cutiemark, obviously was an open parasol “Oh for the love of Celestia! Flare Twister! Stop playing around!” The aforementioned orange coated stallion stopped running in circles, around him another two ponies were catching their breath. “I thought it was a race” Flare said with a toothy grin. “What am I supposed to do with him?” her voice was not as soft as she wanted because the four human could hear it clear “just get Silver Lining and Steam Power, we have… visitors!” one of the stallions had blue short mane but it probably was lighter due to the time of the day and also a white coat with a pickaxe as a cutiemark while the other had black mane and earth colored coat with a steam engine on his flank. “Great! You got it boss! So… they’re not gonna eat us?” “I don’t like horse meat, too stringy” Iván said to the astonished looks of everyone present “I swear I cannot even make a single joke now” ///// A clear advantage that the princess of the Sun found from the construction of the city of Canterlot was the climate advantages, from these warm nights she only had to open a window and a cool breeze could travel through her chambers and made it easier for her to rest at night. For Celestia, this last year has been a blessing, no more having to raise the moon, no more having quiet nights were the constant nightmares about her mistakes and the shadow of her eternal enemies could reach her, no more was she the sole ruler of ponykind. Thanks to the action of six intrepid ponies she had the Mistress of the Night once again at her side. The loneliness of a whole millennium would not be vanquished in such short time, but Celestia was living better and definitely sleeping better these months now that she hadn’t had to do the work of two, but most importantly, she wasn’t alone. Oh, is not like if she was ever truly alone, she was the Princess of Equestria and that made her responsible of hundreds of ponies, she saw for their wellbeing, their future and their safety, it was her mission and her pleasure to see everypony happy and secure. For hundreds of years she even had ponies that were closer to her than others, ponies that not only looked up at her as if she were some kind of goddess (which technically it was right) but ponies that could talk freely with her , just like her personal students. It was true that Twilight Sparkle was only the last one of a long list of ponies that studied with her but that didn’t meant that she wasn’t important besides the obvious. That said obvious was the restoration of Princess Luna and the pony that, alongside her best friends, returned Discord back to stone, this time apparently for all eternity much to the delight of the princesses after the nightmare that the century of battle of their first battle was. Twilight Sparkle was amazing, now only she did so much for ponies and all the different races out there, she simply brought life and light once again into Celestia’s life. She never really said it aloud, and will probably maintain the information to herself for all of eternity, but when she saw Twilight jumping around in happiness and the enthusiasm that she showed for knowledge and magic was something that stole her heart, but most importantly, it was her personality. Reclusive, introvert, much more interested into the mysteries of science and magic than in going outside to meet new friends, always having a book instead of playing like a normal filly, always more at home in a library than in a party, Celestia saw so much of her then lost sister that made the Princess of the Sun guilty for even comparing them, guilt for thinking even a second that twilight could be a replacement, but Celestia saw quickly that it was no replacement but companionship, besides, it was definitely destiny. Shaking her head a little bit Celestia got rid of those conflicting emotions and continued her journey inside the castle in search of her own sister. The last storm had come as a surprise even for her and she didn’t want to alert anypony about it, how could any normal pony react when a storm can make a princess nervous? That’s what the storm caused her, nervousness and even a little fear. No storm since the coming of Celestia and Luna into the mortal realm have been created by themselves, the natural abilities of the pegasi made that happen, with notable exceptions like the Everfree Forest and the Sky Column Mountains hundreds of kilometers from Equestria. This storm was not created by any pegasi factory, it was not created by any hoof at all, including the princesses, so that was good enough for Celestia to know something was going to happen. The storm had stopped but a bigger one was on route it seemed. With this in mind Celestia decided to consult with her sister. It was true that Princess Luna had returned at full power since her return at the hooves of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but she haven’t felt ready for the royal duties like court and public appearances. Besides Nightmare Night, Luna wasn’t exactly a very social pony and the last thousand years had left many ponies that didn’t exactly trust in her. Luna’s bedroom doors were as majestic and enigmatic as the pony that lived behind them, dark solid metal doors with a full moon and ancient equestrian engraved on it. The meaning of the words lost for all besides erudite. With a magic push Celestia entered the home of her sister quickly finding her figure in the balcony. “Luna?” “Yes sister?” the nocturnal mane of Luna was in full power, billowing with a nonexistent wind while stars twinkled inside the translucent mane. “What are you doing?” “Listening” the younger pony said while Celestia fought the urge to roll her eyes at the mysterious words that her sister was so in favor of. “Can you elaborate a little bit more Luns?” She said using the filly-days nickname for her sister. “I’m listening to the night Celly, it is scared” Luna said quickly, her eyes never leaving the moon hovering in the starry night. Celestia was fully aware of how in tune Luna was with her powers, how she could sense fluctuations in the air that Celestia could not recognize, maybe that’s one of the reasons she couldn’t detect the hint of dark energy on the days before the corruption of Nightmare Moon. “Is the storm, right?” The taller alicorn asked trotted to the side of her sister. “Is more than that, something is coming, something is starting, is a sound, a sound I can’t get off of my head” Luna said strangely calm for what she was saying. It was because of that that Celestia knew it was extremely important. “What sound?” It was at this moment that Luna turned to the side to look directly at her older sister. “The sound of drums” ///// “So let me get this straight, you are humans that come from another world?” “Well, more like another universe if I got it right” Ross tried to explain the situation to their current mare companion while the rest of the team of both human and pony mingled together in route to the town. “And all that in that small box? Because, this is way harder to believe that the time Flare got his cutiemark” Autumn said while pointing with a hoof to the stick of dynamite in the flank of the aforementioned stallion. “How he got it?” “It’s… a long story but it involves a blue dragon, 5 tons of explosives, a pirate ship and a carrot cake, let’s leave it at that” Autumn said getting a headache just by remembering the odyssey, maybe that’s why she had believed them when they told her they came from another dimension “We’ll arrive to our town shortly, then you can rest and get on your way to Canterlot, I’m pretty sure Princess Celestia will love to know your story, and now that we are close to the topic, how did you exactly arrived to Equestria?” “Oh, is simple really, Iván here, he… he… where’s Iván?” Ross turned around to the rest of the team but he couldn’t find him “Ben, where is Iván?” “I don’t know, Joseph?” “He was right behind me… you don’t think he got lost, do you?” ///// Of course he wasn’t lost, he knew the way, it was such a simple road, the only thing he had to wait for was the right moment where everyone was focused on something else, it was almost like magic, not the one of a unicorn but the one of a street magician, make your audience focus on something else and presto! Magic trick complete. It wasn’t easy, not because he had to trick them, but because it was imperative he left them behind. “They wanted to come to Equestria… they wanted to see their personal heaven… as if it was that simple” Iván said opening the doors of the blue box and stepping inside, it had come to this after all. The interior was exactly as he had left it, with the walls ripped, the floor having tiles loose and the console still showing sparks. With a heavy sigh Iván put hands to work. For 10 years he had read every single paragraph of the TARDIS guide, whoever put it there had saved his life and cost him a lot of free time, but in the end it had worked, he knew the point for every single button, switch and lever, what he had to do to make the lights go back, how to create a super nova, how to open the time space tunnel… and how to tap into emergency energy. With a flick of a switch and the adjustment of a dial all the lights in the TARDIS repaired themselves, the walls were fixing, the tiles and cables were moving to their respective places, all that in less than a minute. Just as he was preparing for the time and space jump he focused on his own hand, his real hand, not the cartoonish one, he was human again. “Okay, this is weird, I don’t know what it means but it probably has something to do with the storm, or anything at all and it is maybe a coincidence… but if I leave the TARDIS I become a cartoon, that is something to think about” once again his thoughts were interrupted by a light on the console flashing “I have… a message?” he asked to himself due to the complete absurdity of it all, “who can be calling me?” he HAD to answer the call, it was practically imperative now and there it was, in one of the screens he saw someone he didn’t envision seeing now. He knew many people on the internet, heck, Ross and the rest were part of the internet group, few of them had ever met in person this past few months but they had grown up to be a close group, a source of friendship, strength and unity against the dark times of their respective lives, and the person in the screen was one of the firsts to welcome him into the group “Garrett?” the redhead was impossible to confuse with someone else, specially with his blue wonderbolt t-shirt “how did you… how are you contacting me? That should be impossible!” for his part, the redhead arched an eyebrow at it. “What do you mean? I saw you being online in the chat room, where are you?” Iván had to simply put his hand over his face at the pure randomness of this all. If someone could break the barrier between dimensions like that it had to be Garrett Stone itself. “Of everyone in the universe it had to be you, why not? Look dude, I’m not in my home, damn, I’m not even in the same universe, right now I’m in Equestria!” “Equestria? You’re joking, you’re joking right?” “Afraid not, look, for whatever reason, this… channel is open, right now Ben, Ross and Joseph are in this world, we came here on a TARDIS and…” “YOU WENT TO EQUESTRIA WITH EVERYONE ELSE BUT DIDN’T INVITE ME?” “Garrett, chill! Look, it wasn’t my choice, the TARDIS had preregistered their locations, unless I went for them I couldn’t come to this world, and how do you believe me so easy?” “Well, duh, why shouldn’t I? This is amazing! I’m going there in a pinch, just let me pack!” “Garrett, no! I need you to be… my contact” Iván finished seeing that the communication was off “great, from every single person that the TARDIS could choose from to create a communication link between worlds it had to be THE HUMANIZED VERISON OF PINKI PIE! Just great… but I still have things to do, a whole world to save and finally find the reason of why exactly that hurricane appeared, no big deal… right, oh lord, I’m so screwed up” Iván said placing his head on the console, it was indeed the beginning of a long journey. And that, my friends, is the end of episode 1, be prepared for the next episode, and also, if you can, take a look at the Tumblr page of the story, were all the plot holes and questions that you have will be answered by the characters, you are free to do it and more than welcome: A Lifetime of Dreams Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/blog/a-lifetime-of-dreams) //-------------------------------------------------------// Stowaway //-------------------------------------------------------// Stowaway For all of you that have been waiting for this next chapter, and for those that probably didn't, I am happy to announce that the next episode is here, I just want to thank all of you that have read the story and that I wish there will be more for you to enjoy. I just finished watching the six seasons of the revived series of Doctor Who, not to mention reading a lot and getting new ideas, with that in mind I think I'll be able from now on to make updates quicker. Also, I wish to invite everypony to the group tumblr: A Lifetime of Dreams tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/blog/a-lifetime-of-dreams) where all of you will be able to send your ideas, questions, comments and anything crazy that you want to say to the four of us. Next I just want to say that from now on the story will resemble a little more of the usual Doctor Who insanity but with touches of action, slice of life and everything awesome that MLP is for us. Now, onwards! “RUN!” the sound of hooves and feet running on the street was a cacophony that joined the sound of alarms, screams and buildings toppling over as both figures continued to run alongside the narrow street. (Soundtrack - The Future Kind) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIMtPgsEw80&list=FLHdSOdakYLtEvIxK0zKwddQ&index=4&feature=plpp_video) At their sides they could see houses being barricaded and windows closed was a good hint of what kind of help the could expect in this city while in the distance, what once was the hall for the ponies currently behind them, felt completely rising a cloud of dust and debris around it. “What is the plan!” the pony said to the two legged traveler. “I thought you had one!” and as one both stopped when ponies wearing the exact armor as the ones behind them appeared “oh well… that certainly thins out our options” he said with a forced grin as the pony at his side gulped seeing all her life passing in front of her eyes. “You are a dilemma, you are a problem and you are a disease! YOU MUST BE ELIMINATED!” all the armored ponies spoke at the same time, the sound of an empty being, no emotions or pity at all. “Yeah, I thought you would say that” the human joked as the armored ponies raised a hoof and a light engulfed the narrow street. (Cue opening theme The Seventh Doctor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8dWyRSwSI&list=FLHdSOdakYLtEvIxK0zKwddQ&index=3&feature=plpp_video)) BBC Hasbro In Cooperation with Meteor Beat Entertainment With: Iván González Ross Money Ben Betteridge Joseph Jafari Twilight Sparkle Applejack Rarity Rainbow Dash Fluttershy And Pinkie Pie A Lifetime of Dreams Episode 2: The Day of Nexus Chapter 1: Stowaway In their home, nothing was more dangerous than the creatures living inside the unnatural place called Everfree Forest; the animals took care of themselves, plants grew without anypony’s hooves involved and the clouds traveled and let water fall upon the earth as if by an invisible hand. All these reasons made the six friends unnerved and scared, and they should be. The only time all six ponies traveled into the forest was in the very first adventure they had when they defeated and rescued the youngest of the royal princesses and vanquished the eternal night that had fallen upon the planet… or at least that side of the planet. Beyond that, each of them only flew over it or traveled on the skirts of the forest. Visiting Zecora, rescuing the young trio of fillies and saving them from a cockatrice and other adventures were examples of the dangers inside the forest, but this night was different. For some reason everything seemed quieter, as if even the inhabitants of the dark place could sense something was wrong in Equestria, and all six knew how dangerous that was. Dealing with the Menace (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvuPuzcpKiU&list=FLHdSOdakYLtEvIxK0zKwddQ&index=2&feature=plpp_video) Galloping at full throttle didn’t give many opportunities for the friends to talk about their destination or the urgency of the letter that had arrived from Canterlot. The travel was silent and not even Pinkie Pie was making much of an effort to dispel the silence beyond the hooves thundering through the forest in search of the fallen object. Each had their ideas and fantasies of what exactly happened, and all of them also had their own fears. For Fluttershy it was even worse than that time with the dragon because this time nobody knew what could be, maybe it was only a rock, but what if they had to fight a monster or a blood-thirsty alien? Only the idea of having to come back alone through the forest was enough for her to continue onwards. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were this time almost on the same page; they wanted to accompany Twilight because the purple mare was their friend and wouldn’t leave her alone against the unknown. Rarity because she knew that if something felt from the sky, or even beyond then it called that side of her that wanted to know about every single gossip and new information, and of course, her good friend Twilight would not go alone into danger without the fashionista at her side. Even the easily scared Pegasus didn’t even pause to complain or squeak at the probable danger of the expedition, the royal sisters had their trust on them and they won’t let them down. Passing through the deep foliage of the dark forest they soon followed the clean road to the exit; it was the place where the unknown object had landed if the spell that Twilight had cast back at the library was correct, and the studious pony was never one to fail a spell like that. Of course, several instances where there was a wrong result, just like her fail safe spell doing nothing against Discord’s chaos or the time with the parasprites, but beyond that, Twilight was sure of her success, showing that whatever came from the hurricane was right now some place on the outskirts of the Everfree forest, a couple of miles from Sunnyday Town. Twilight and her friends were ready then to search for whatever made the princesses nervous. The exit was right in front of them before they were finally outside the dreadful place just for them to gallop right into a cliff. Twilight, the one currently in front of the herd put the brakes on her run, skidding along the soft earth finally capable of stopping right at the edge, but her safety was short lived before a white unicorn slammed against her inching her closer to the edge and behind her a hat-wearing pony, a cyan pegasus, a butterscotch pegasus and finally a party loving pony completing the list sending the six friends rolling over the edge in a mess of limbs, screams and a crazy random pony’s laughter. Not too far away from there or to be precise, right under the screaming and crashing there was an innocent and uninteresting sight consisting of a blue police box that crashed on the side of the cliff where the six ponies where rolling down, and as one big ball of mayhem the bounced upon the roof of the box and crashed in front of it making the only member inside it to raise his head to the strange sound. “Oh bug it, don’t tell me they found me so soon, I thought they wouldn’t notice it until they arrived at the town” Iván said rising from the console and opening a door of the TARDIS only to find a view at the same time ridiculous and amazing. Lying on top of each other and limbs pointing at every directing were the six bearers of the elements of harmony in all of their chaotic glory moaning and complaining of the accident while the only human present had his mouth hanging limply and his eyes wide open “Alright… I wasn’t expecting that welcome” ///// Several miles from that place, with the light that Luna’s celestial body returned to the land, were resting three travelers, tired and without answers close to them. The only person that could help them was lost, or maybe he wasn’t after all. “What do you think he is doing?” the youngest of them said while lying down on his side due to the size of the beds in the room. Three beds had been assembled inside the rather spacious place thanks to their gracious hosts. Although it was true that several ponies still up and around inside the town had been surprised, many of them didn’t react as extreme as those that had found them in the wilderness outside the Everfree Forest, maybe because they were seen in the company of known ponies, or maybe the closeness with the forest made them used to craziness in general. “Probably checking everything on the TARDIS, probably repairing it right now” Joseph answered back while sitting Indian style, his back against the wall. “I think… I think he is going to do something really stupid” the last member, the semiofficial leader of their adventure said taking off his glasses and placing them on a close bedside table. “As if that is different to what he does” the youngest human said not finding a good position to sleep. “Don’t you remember what he told us? He found out about the hurricane and said that there was something causing it? What if that is his reason to coming to Equestria? What if... what if we were only an excuse?” “Come on, who of us wouldn’t jump at the opportunity of coming here?” “Would he Joseph?” Ross fired back while his head hit the pillow “how sure are we about what he would do? We still know nothing of him” before today they have never seen a picture or anything from his friend, his reasons where still his own and wherever he was right now was probably on his own adventure by now “but we cannot keep thinking about it, if Iván wants to find us he will, because tomorrow… tomorrow our new life starts” “Tomorrow we will meet more ponies… I mean, we talked to ponies, we made friends with them, and they even gave us this room for free!” Joseph slightly rose his voice due to the excitement he felt right then. “Yeah, maybe we could help them tomorrow, I mean, until the princesses send back an answer to what to do with us” the three soon found themselves looking at each other, maybe it wasn’t good to jinx it so early in their adventure, but really, what could possibly go wrong? ///// Many things could go wrong, or at least that’s what Princess Celestia, current co-leader of Equestria and the Eternal Sun thought. Taking a deep breath, the multicolored mane of the princess flowed by a non-existent gust of wind like usual, showing that she was finally calming down. This past few hours had been seriously bad for her nerves, not only Discord had freed itself from his prison a few months ago, but now this foreboding feeling had assaulted Celestia and it made her walk in circles while considering summoning the royal chefs and ordering a large order of cake. It was a nervous reaction from the royal alicorn, one that she battled all the time, although once in a while she let herself fall to temptation of meringue, cream and flour that made her forget all her problems in one bite. Quickly shaking her head of those succulent and traitorous thoughts, Princess Celestia vowed never to fall back to that cruel safety blanket that enveloped for several instances on the past millennium; it was a time that thankfully few ponies knew beyond those with a cutiemark on studying or history. Celestia still remembered the teasing from her younger sister when she learned about those days. The memories of the chanting of ‘Tubby Tia’ were something that made her eye tick even now. But Celestia knew that it was innocent teasing from the part of the dark princess and Celestia couldn’t be angry, just happy that she had Luna once more at her side and that the nightmares could finally abide. But tonight, those nightmares weren’t so far behind her. Not an hour ago Celestia had completed a letter and magically transported it to Spike with a new mission for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Celestia still remembered the eyes of Luna when this one said those words, ‘the sound of drums’. Whatever her sister had meant then was still a mystery for the Sun Mistress, but there was no doubt, whatever that meant it could only meant trouble for her subjects and that was something that she wouldn’t let it happen. Just as Luna had said those words the skies around Ponyville had opened but not before a strange object did a swan dive onto earth and made both sisters watch the crash not too far from their favorite little town. With both frontal hooves on the railing and her eyes still wide open, her sister Luna repeated those words, the sound of drums while one hoof in the railing knocked a strange pattern unto it, it seemed unconscious, but the pattern of four consecutive knocks before a slight pause gave Celestia a shudder. “Twilight Sparkle” the name was easy for her, a name that held so many emotions for the princess “please, be careful, my faithful student” ///// “Would you please stop trying to break the damn door?” The voice hollered from behind the flimsy looking wooden door, not that it stopped the mare very well known around Equestria for the strength of her legs. “Ah’m gonna stop once ya get out of that thing, ya hear me? Ya can’t stay hidden forever” the applebucking expert said ready to once again let her hind legs do the talking. As for what was the reason for her action? Well, not two minutes ago the six ponies had recovered enough to notice the strange creature at the threshold and as one the six got on their feet… and just as quickly the door was closed. “Well, at least I’ll try” the voice said loud and clear from inside the box making Applejack even more annoyed, first was the almost teasing voice inside that was clearly making fun of her and then the stupid door that wouldn’t give up, it was simply wood, by now it should have been splinters. “Ah can keep doin’ this all day long” “Knock yourself out!” “Okay, that does it! You wanted to do this the hard way? You got it, because you’re going to get action Rainbow Dash style!” but just before the cyan colored pegasus could fly high into the sky to deliver her patented Sonic Rainboom Demolition a magical force stopped her from the tail “Twilight, what are you doing?” “Stopping you from doing something foalish” “But he started it!” “Either way, you cannot fix everything with violence” “Twilight is right, whoever is inside that place won’t come out with violence, maybe we scared him” the kind pegasus said backing up Twilight’s words, after all, violence was never the solution for her, maybe a stare down but never violence. “OH, OH, OH, I got it, I got it! What if Twilight teleported inside so she could talk with whoever is inside that box? I mean a box is nice to hide but is under not inside what kind of pony will hide inside one if not that was too scared to try to hide under it and…” “I think we understood what you are trying to say, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, but Pinkie Pie is right darling, whatever pony… or Diamond Dog is inside that thing must have been terrified by the uncivilized actions of Applejack” “Hey! I wasn’t uncivilized, I was just trying to get whatever pony is inside that thing the hay outta it” both friends stood staring at each other for a second before Twilight intervened. “It is a good idea, but I’m not sure if it could work, I need to see where I am teleporting” “But didn’t we all see a bit of the inside, it was very well lighted that is for sure” "Well, considering that no matter what we have tried has worked so far this is the best option… okay everypony, here goes nothing” and with those words magical energy began to form at the tip of her horn for a few seconds before the purple colored mare disappeared from sight. ///// He had nothing against them, he really really liked them, but this was not the best moment to meet them, it was too soon, he still had things to do. Thankfully the shields were once again ready for Applejack’s siege upon the doors but she had better luck trying to destroy a mountain than opening them with brute force. Just a few more seconds and he would be out of their way, he was going to find the reason for the hurricane and no one would be the wiser, it was a simple plan and like any simple plan there was the chance of something going wrong, just like the light that caught him by surprise. Once he opened his eyes he was in front of a young woman with long dark hair with fuchsia highlights and with a confused look in her face. (The New Doctor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swghGJHUM_8&list=FLHdSOdakYLtEvIxK0zKwddQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video)) “What?” he could simply say before the girl shook her head and focused her eyes on him. “Okay, it worked, now I don’t want to scare you but I would like to ask you some questions, my name is…” “Twilight Sparkle… but that’s impossible, how did you get through the shield!?” “What are you talking about? And how did you know my name?” Any explaining was cut short before they felt the machine start to hum and shake. “No… no no no no no! The time vortex is opening!” “What are you talking about?” “It means we are traveling through time!” Iván said to his surprised guest. “We are what? That is not scientifically possible!” the purple haired girl said holding on to the console. “Tell that to the TARDIS because we are traveling… 300 years to the future?! Oh what the hell, CHAAAARRGE!” the human said with a huge grin before the TARDIS disappeared in front of the surprised group of ponies and began the trip around the time vortex. Hope everyone enjoyed that beginning of the next chapter, and for those who didn't just tell me, I'll try to do a better job next time, now what does Luna means with the sound of drums and that ominous sound? Where will both time travelers arrive and are they going to survive? What about the other three humans? Many more questions and answers in the next chapter of A Lifetime of Dreams. P.S. Hope you guys liked the soundtrack //-------------------------------------------------------// The Mine //-------------------------------------------------------// The Mine Yes, here we go once again with the next chapter of this story. Once again, I'm sorry it took me this long to complete the chapter but I assure you that not only it is longer, but I think it is now better than ever, hope you guys like it this way. First of all, as you saw last chapter, this has a soundtrack which I take from doctor who and other places, soon I'll make a compilation of every song that will ans is used in the story. And finally, if you want, check out my very own tumblr account of this story, hope you guys like it and visit it, you can make suggestions, questions or rants there, I swear the characters will try to answer all: A Lifetime of Dreams TUMBLR (http://www.tumblr.com/blog/a-lifetime-of-dreams) ///// I was born and raised in Canterlot, the majestic city in the cliff of the mountain, the sacred center of Equestrian history. The center of the hierarchy and the heart of our society, everypony who is anypony reside in the city where I spend my youth, but besides my parents and brother, there is nothing that I could call home now. Only my years as Princess Celestia’s protégé are still in my mind and I hold onto them remembering the smile of my teacher whenever I did something well, the sight of my mother when she gave me my first birthday cake, my brother’s proud expression when he was made the captain of the royal guard. I was born and raised in Canterlot, but I became what I am today because of one small town that grew with the strength and perseverance of Earth ponies. Ponies that with their own hooves created a town where everyone can be accepted, where friendship and happiness go side by side with adventure and strange antics, but none of us will have it any other way. That’s was my foalhood, this is now my home. And this. This is the story where I saw the beginning and the end of everything I knew, where I had to fight for myself and for my heart, where the fate of millions rested on our hooves. My name is Twilight Sparkle. And this is the story that marked the end of my Lifetime of Dreams. ///// Like always (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DkCBUwlwfs), most of the sky was engulfed in the thick fumes that rose like snakes through their tubes. The factories that once ago had marked a new age of growth and prosperity for his kind was now nothing but a sad look for him and his family as they little by little forgot how a clear and blue sky looked like. Thankfully for Shiny Gears, his two daughters and his son were away from this sickening ambient and where right now visiting his mother in the family ranch. The image of his mother teaching his children how to buck a tree brought a smile to his face as he little by little walked through the conglomerated streets of the mid-afternoon in Ponyville, well, nobody called it Ponyville again, it had ceased to be the small and quiet town of his ancestors and was now a modern and productive city where ponies came to seek a way out of poverty and hope for the future, but Shiny knew better. In this city, everyone arrived, but no one ever left; sure, ponies gained money to feed their families, but they were never became rich and little by little the city ate their dreams until they turned into another shadow in the city, engulfed into the sea of anonymity and joined the ranks of another ponies that worked in the day and returned to a small apartment in the night where the next day was always the same. Day in and day out. Shiny Gears knew that coming to Ponyville was a mistake, but he couldn’t avoid it, the city was calling for him, it was his ancestral town, where his family had created, no matter if he didn’t have their characteristic name, but it was true, a name could do so much, it was what was inside that made him what he is today, and he will never forget the Apple family name, he will always have it in his heart. With that last idea on his mind, Shiny Gears went into the fabric alongside his co-workers, a mass of ponies that had their futures and dreams shattered and a for a second Shiny felt the weight of what they had become on his shoulders. Gone were the days where they could walk through the then town and know everyone, where everyone was your family and your friends. “Welcome, welcome all (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBza0Fts0Mc), to this new and bright day” If there was something that Flip Coin, the owner of the factory, was known for was his horrible sense of humor and fake happy tone whenever they arrived to the factory. It was so bad that even the mild and calm Shiny Gears could cringe at hearing the obnoxious voice tone that early in the morning “I just want to welcome you to another productive day where we will be capable of doing our quota! And, not less of all, this day will mark the beginning of a new era not only in our beautiful and modern city, because today, we welcome a new way of life, the future of our race!” The Earth Pony said almost like a preacher on Sundays before a group of unicorns, his loyal retinue of idiots in the opinion of many in the factory, began to shut down the doors and windows making Shiny and the rest of the workers nervous seeing as all the light was being extinguished inside the factory. “Sadly, this means that your services… are no longer necessary” The voice of Flip Coin was heard in the middle of total darkness before steps were heard around them. Metallic clangs came from everywhere while the tension escalated. The workers were close to total panic when several lights in the roof let islands of light return and they all saw them. A metallic face watched them from empty sockets. The scream that followed was never heard to anypony outside the factory, the silence spell had worked perfectly. (Cue opening theme) BBC Hasbro In Cooperation with Meteor Beat Entertainment With: Iván González Ross Money Ben Betteridge Joseph Jafari Twilight Sparkle Applejack Rarity Rainbow Dash Fluttershy And Pinkie Pie A Lifetime of Dreams Episode 2: The Day of Nexus Chapter 2: The Mine Even after every single adventure they had, saving the world from eternal darkness and continuous chaos to simple things like a pony/buffalo battle, a parasprite infestation, hydras, ursas, manticores and everything else their ‘pacific’ world threw at her, the thing that never tired her or stopped being exciting was the idea of teleportation. The theory was simple, use magic to open a gate through space that connected to places and instantly you will be transported there, but it was much deeper than most ponies knew. The truth was that in order to use the spell, Twilight had to rip open the very fabric of space, tore it apart so her body could be swallowed inside and be thrown out at the other end. Thankfully it was repaired magically as if nothing happened, but for one instant, the caster was everywhere at the same time. It was an exhilarating moment that for a while she had become addicted to the spell, using it continuously for every single thing, just like teleporting at the side of Applejack when she was only a few feet away from her. Of course, it had been useful just like when Spike and she had been surrounded by every single mare in Ponyville wanting the extra ticket to the Great Galloping Gala, quickly learning that teleporting more than one pony (or dragon) required extra care. With that in the front of her mind she closed her eyes focusing her magic in the tip of her horn feeling the pulling force of the spell starting to take effect, the feeling of reality vanishing for mere moment before everything went insane at the next. Her head was throbbing, her world had exploded and there was no other explanation for what had just happened, the feeling was completely wrong. Twilight for a second was scared, had she missed? Did she do something wrong? Was she dead? What will happen to Equestria?...... oh no, what would Princess Celestia do when she finds out that she had done it wrong? She’ll probably FAIL HER! Wait, she wasn’t in the academy, she couldn’t fail… right? Of course she could! Celestia was the Princess of Equestria, the ruler of the land! Well, technically speaking she was co-ruler now but still, she could fail her! Before Twilight could go into her crazy full panic mode the world went right again, the throbbing was gone for now and the light was making her vision slightly blurry but she could see figures and blobs. And what a view, she must have failed the spell because this was in no way the same place she was before, the size was humongous; the white pillar around the circular room with a very high ceiling that was gorgeous. Her eyes cleared enough for her to see the ceiling was painted showing different constellations in the starry night, although some of them were new even to her, they must had been wrong or done by a complete amateur. “What?” She heard a familiar voice come near from her. It was the same voice behind the door. Shaking her head a bit she quickly discovered the… well, she couldn’t call him a pony, neither a Diamond Dog, unless it was a hairless Diamond Dog. The creature resembled more a monkey than anything else. “Okay, it worked, now I don’t want to scare you but I would like to ask you some questions, my name is…” “Twilight Sparkle… but that’s impossible, how did you get through the shield!?” “What are you talking about? And how did you know my name?” Any explaining was cut short before they felt the machine start to hum and shake. “No… no no no no no! The time vortex is opening!” “What are you talking about?” At her question the stranger turned around from the console with a bewildered expression on his face; that he was a very strange looking creature didn’t register on Twilight’s mind, neither the difference in colors, the whole reality itself and more importantly her own body bore now a very close resemblance to the species of the stranger. “It means we are traveling through time!” At those words Twilight’s mental machinery halted for a millisecond at the due to the huge meaning behind them, it just couldn’t be possible. “We are what? That is not scientifically possible!” The ‘now’ long haired girl said holding onto the console after a rather abrupt shake from the machine. Finally Twilight remembered that the mere existence of all this space inside the small blue box and maybe, just maybe, the idea of a time traveling device wasn’t such an incredible idea, besides, didn’t Starswirl the Bearded himself experimented with those kinds of spells finding that travel through the ages was indeed very possible although limited in, ironically, time, only mere minutes as the limit. “Tell that to the TARDIS because we are traveling… 300 years to the future?! Oh what the hell, CHAAAARRGE!” The other creature exclaimed with a huge grin on his face while outside the machine disappeared from sight much to the shock of the rest of the elements of harmony. “What in tarnation?” Applejack was the only that talked while holding onto her hat due to the sudden gust of wind that followed the  blue box, and just like that, everything went quiet on that night. “……..ooookay……….. now what?” The cyan colored mare asked to her friends. ///// The rumbling and shaking continued to be the order of the day at the box continued to tumble in the time vortex. That continued until the young man pressed a big blue button in the console. “Blue stabilizers, usually I don’t mind the shake but not this time” he turned around from the console to look more closely at the other pony/person standing in the middle of the console. It was so weird (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7weZawu9_qI), here he was, in the presence of one of the nicknamed Mane 6, the bearer of Magic, the student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, but it was not the way he imagined. Instead of the purple unicorn that he had seen so many times on his computer screen and the television, here was a young girl, maybe no more than 20 years, her skin pale in comparison with his own, blue almost purple eyes that showed the intelligence behind them. Also, even if he didn’t know how exactly that was possible, she was completely dressed, a magenta t-shirt and denim shorts with canvas sneakers to finish the ensemble, not the most fashionable of outfits. Both of them stood rooted where they were standing; both not knowing how to break the awkward pressure inside the TARDIS. “Did… did you just said that we were traveling through time?” that made him almost jump, he was extremely nervous. “Ah… yes, ah, this is the TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimension in Space, it is technically a time machine, and we are, hold on” Iván said looking quickly at one of the screen reading the information in them “we are 331 years and two months in the future if you want to be precise” “And you are?” Twilight arched an eyebrow while he scratched the back of his head thinking on how to answer that question. “Well… isn’t that the million dollar question?” he said not turning from the console. “You are not a pony” “I thought that was obvious” seeing her glaring at him the message was obvious, ‘don’t get smart’ “I’m not a pony. “Are you… are you from Equestria?” She was slightly worried about what the answer could be. “No… I’m not from Equestria… I’m from far, very far away” “… you are an alien” “Yeah” and that was the last word he said, the silence once again dominated the TARDIS. ///// “Well, I just want to say thank  you for giving us a room to rest last night” the de-facto leader of the group of humans said while Autumn Crisp waved her hoof as if it was nothing. “Ah shucks, you don’t have to be so formal m’boy, it was something that anypony would have done, it was no problem at all, I just feel bad that we couldn’t find your friend” the mare said remembering the news of the ponies she send early in the morning and that they found out the cliff bare of any box or anything at all. “I wonder where he went” “Do you think he left us here?” “Ben, he has a TARDIS, he could be anywhere” “And any when” the other human said walking out of the bedroom. Thankfully it seemed that the human/pony size ratio wasn’t that over the top and what was good for ponies seemed to be good for human beings, it just took a little to get used to the difference but the similarities in both architecture and the different objects around were strange to the trio of travelers. “Be as it may, we are in Equestria now, maybe we should go to Ponyville?” Of course the idea of visiting the nearly mythological town for them was an obvious lure, but it wasn’t the only bait out there in the world. “I don’t know, from what you say maybe it should be better if you go and have a talk with Princess Celestia in Canterlot, better not to create mass panic and get into too much trouble” Autumn Crisp said not trying to rain on their parade but it was needed a little bit of thought, the three were a never before species that could send more ponies into screaming and running, heck, last night was proof of that, thankfully they were only five ponies and not a whole town. “I… think that will be for the best” Ross said thinking back to Zecora’s appearance and the faux Cutie Pox accident, maybe going directly to Ponyville wasn’t the best choice, they had a whole lifetime to visit and watch Ponyville, a couple of day acclimating themselves to this new world couldn’t be so bad. Before any of the present ponies and humans could continue their talk, a huge rumbling of the earth took their whole attention. “Earthquake?!” Joseph screamed while holding unto one of the ceiling lights of Crisp’s living room, how he got there no one was sure. While the three humans were worried on different levels Crisp simply sighed knowing exactly what had happened. Waiting a bit she was show right seeing Silver Lining running into her house. “BOSS! HE DID IT! FLARE DID IT!” “What are you talking about?” “He finally threw down the wall! The tunnel is open!” Crisp’s eyes opened to ridiculous size at the news. “What?! Of all the… how he even did it? What did he use? A freaking atomic bomb or something?” Crisp said quickly regaining her bearings, as the boss around he had to be composed at all times, no matter how many of those times she was close to choke Flare Twister’s neck for all his eccentricities. “Meh, one of his new concoctions, hey guys, didn’t see you there” Silver Lining waved at the humans on the living room while Crisp trotted out of the house in search of her crazy worker. Joseph was finally on the floor while the four males went outside the house. “What were you talking about? What did Flare did exactly?” “Oh, well, you see, Cobalt Ville is a mining town” “Hard to miss by the name” Ben said watching everything around them, the colors were so vibrant and the air… the air was so clean, so fresh, even thought it was a mining town the air was completely different at what he was accustomed back home. “Good thing about the name is that everyone knows what we do, so, yeah, we are a mining town so we mine, we discover deposits of minerals like steel and then send them to specialized rock farms” “Wait, rock farms? Those things really exist?” Ross said surprised that rock farms were real in Equestria. “Sure, why? Why did you think they weren’t real?” “Different world” Joseph said as explanation. “So that means you know the Pies?” “Of course” Silver said quickly going for the change of topic “great family, a little eccentric but nice people, heard one daughter lives in Ponyville and another in Canterlot but can’t quite remember what she does” the three human beings looked at each other hearing that… he couldn’t be referring to… nah “anyway, last month we discovered a natural tunnel but try as we might damn rock wall couldn’t break, the local unicorns tried to break it down with magic but they also found out something weird, here, put these on” Silver said giving each one a hard hat while he took one with a lantern. “Thanks, you were saying?” “Well, they sensed something, some kind of energy but they couldn’t get close to it so we decided to leave it alone for now, but Flare, well, he just had to see what was hidden behind the wall and presto, today he finally did it!” Silver said very excited about the news. It seemed that his cutie mark had appeared when he watched pictures of miners, tunnels and minerals while visiting his grandfather, the same love for mining had awakened in him and next thing he knew, he wanted to be just like his granddaddy. After talking and walking through the dark tunnels of solid rock they finally arrived at the explosion site and at the right time to hear the last of Crisp’s scolding to the stallion, but the most amazing thing was not the tunnel full of crystals but what was in the middle of it. ///// In the middle of a tunnel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02lK-YvQxuk), a forbidden part of the city, there was a peculiar blue box silently standing vigil alongside the rows of pipes traveling everywhere to different factories several miles on top, red and grey thick tubes transported steam everywhere in Ponyville in silence. The wooden doors were pushed from the inside and a head looked around quickly realizing that they were indeed in another place and time. “So you are saying you are from another universe?” “Exactly, although I’m not quite sure if we are a completely different dimension or a parallel universe, that still eludes me” “I… can… believe it! Oh, where is Spike when I need him!? This could revolutionize how we see the universe! It could mean a complete new page in Equestria’s science and history, I need to document it!” “Twilight… Twilight… Twilight!” the young man finally screamed to get the young girl out of her ruminations quickly focusing her eyes on him, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks when she realized what she was doing “thank you, now, look, what you did, the teleportation, it shouldn’t have been possible, I had my shields up, that means that nothing could have been capable of getting inside… probably, well, now that I think about it, Donna teleported into the TARDIS, but that was because of the huon particles” “What particles?” “Nothing, anyway, you teleported inside and this is only a theory of course but, what if the energy you used to do the spell… reacted with the TARDIS, I mean, I’m not an expert but, what if you fed energy to the TARDIS… and this activated the time travel, overloaded the systems, of course it will send the systems into overdrive sending us into the time vortex, well is as good as any theory” “So now what? Do we have to wait until we are back into our time?” “It doesn’t work that way” the man said looking at the readings in the screens “the TARDIS travels through time and space, it doesn’t have a return option… and it seems that it doesn’t have enough energy for another travel” “What?” “When you found me, the TARDIS was still recharging so all the energy you used is gone now, gotta wait until it has enough energy for another trip” “So how do you exactly pilot this thing?” Twilight said pointing at the different buttons and levers with her index finger. It was really disconcerting how she didn’t notice the differences in her body, as if they were normal and he wasn’t going to make her realize the changes. “It would take some times so maybe you will be better reading the manual” at the words reading Twilight almost appeared at his side, a grin from ear to ear blossoming into her face. “There is a manual?” “Ah, yes?” “That’s so amazing! I not only meet the first inter-dimensional travelers to Equestria but also read something from another dimension! Oh, this is going to be the best report I have ever done for the Princess!” she said clapping her hands a little while jumping up and down, she seemed like a little kid that have been said that she was going to get ice cream. “Okay…” was the only thing he said before walking once again on the direction of the doors “so, will you stay or will you accompany me?” “What? Of course! We are in the future, I wonder what has happened to Equestria? This is so exciting, but now that I remember, I did give you my name, but you never told me what was yours” “Oh, right… well, now that you mention it, I'm in the company of ponies, so why not... right now… I’m just a traveler” and with that said both opened the doors of the TARDIS and walked into the future. ///// A/N: Guess who we have to deal with in that year. What is the thing they found out in the mine? What will the mane 6(5?) will do to get Twilight back? Don't miss the next chapter of A Lifetime of Dreams.