Jet Burn and the Doctor

“”The Doctor?” Jet Burn questioned.

“Yes, that’s right,” the Doctor replied.

“Is there a name that follows that?”

“Nope. Just the Doctor.”

“Right,” Jet Burn said. “Ok then. Lead on I guess, The Doctor.”

“Just Doctor will do,” the Doctor told him as he and Jet Burn started towards the forest. After a few minutes of silent walking, the Doctor glanced towards Jet Burn and asked, “So how’s your head feeling?”

“It’s feeling better now that I’m walking it off,” Jet Burn replied, rubbing the side of his head.

“That’s good to hear,” the Doctor said. “Just what happened though that would cause you to have a mild concussion?”

“It’s like I said before,” was Jet Burn’s response. “I’m not quite sure what happened. One minute I’m up flying around in the air and next I know I’m waking up on the ground to you checking on me.” He looked over at the Doctor, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. “Say, how did you wind up finding me out there anyway? Nopony would have any reason traveling out that way.”

“It’s quite simple really,” the Doctor responded, thinking quick on his hooves. “I’m a traveler of sorts. I was merely passing through when your groaning made your presence known.”

“Really?” Jet Burn asked, his eyes lighting up. “You’re a traveler like me?”

“Exactly as such,” was the Doctor’s response.

“This is so radical!” Jet Burn said excitedly. “Finally another pony I can share stories with! I’ve traveled all over Equestria visiting every city, town, and village, experiencing the unexplained and most bizarre happenings that occur in each of the places I’ve been to.”

“Fascinating!” the Doctor said with intrigued interest. “I would love to get the chance to hear about your adventures.”

“Same with you,” Jet Burn said with a grin. “How long have you been traveling for?”

“A lot longer than you have,” was the Doctor’s response.

“I bet,” Jet Burn replied. “Me, I’ve been traveling for four years now. And that was right after graduation.” He paused as he brought a hoof up to the back of his head and rubbed it sheepishly. “Course, I will admit, due to all the traveling, I’ve found it rather difficult to return home. And don’t get me wrong, I’d love the chance to drop in to see how my folks are doing, but the desire for adventure overpowers the desire to drop by home. Surely you’ve felt that way.”

“More than you can imagine,” the Doctor said to him as the two soon came to a stop. “Well, here we are. My home sweet home!”

Jet Burn turned his attention forward, his eyes coming to rest upon a big, blue box that was leaning against a fallen tree. Upon it were the words “Police Box” with a blinking light on the top of it. “Wait a minute!” he said, rubbing a hoof underneath his muzzle in thought before pointing at it. “That’s it!”

“What?” the Doctor asked, looking from the box to him then back to the box. “What’s it?”

“That’s what I flew into which knocked me out!”

“What?” the Doctor questioned again. “What are you talking about?”

“Like I said before,” Jet Burn explained. “I was flying around, practicing some new moves as well and fixing to beat my own record when that blue box appeared out of nowhere! Didn’t really have any time to stop before slamming into it.”

“But… but… that’s impossible!” the Doctor exclaimed. “There’s no way you could have slammed that hard into the TARDIS, the way you did. You’d have to be flying at a velocity that would practically break the sound barrier to knock it from the sky.”

“Yeah,” Jet Burn said with mild confusion. “I’d have to do something as crazy as that to do something like that.” An awkward silence fell among them for several moments after that, neither one of them uncertain of what to say until Jet Burn broke the ice. “So… you need me to help you out with your box?”

“That…would be nice,” was his response. “It would be a pain to walk around to the back side, what with the position it’s in.”

“Not to worry,” Jet Burn said as he spread out his wings. “I’ll have it upright before you can say ‘Tally ho!’” Flying around to the back side of the TARDIS, he pushed it up off the tree, turning out to be not as heavy as he expected it to be.

“Thank you Jet,” the Doctor said in appreciation, walking towards the door.

“Not a problem, Doctor,” Jet Burn said as the Doctor opened up the door. “Glad to be of help.”

“Right then,” the Doctor said. “Now how about I get that head wound of yours checked over? Just for safe measures?”

“It’s all right,” Jet Burn replied. “I’m actually feeling a lot better though I do appreciate the offer.”

“How about a lift then?” the Doctor asked. “I can drop you off to wherever you were fixing to visit next.”

“Uh… that’s ok,” Jet Burn said with some uncertainty. “I’m sure you’ve got more important things to do with your time rather than worry about my needs.”

“Nonsense!” the Doctor said. “Time is the one thing I always have. As a matter of fact, I insist on giving you a lift.”

Jet Burn sighed, figuring that this nutty stallion wasn’t intent on giving up any time soon. “All right,” he said in defeat. “I suppose you could.”

“Excellent!” the Doctor replied happily, clopping his hooves together. “Glad to hear you’ve come about. Come on in now. I’m certain you’ll like what you’ll see.”

“Doubt it,” Jet Burn said under his breath, rolling his eyes in the process as the Doctor walked into the box. Pausing for only a moment with some hesitation, Jet Burn followed suit, stopping only a few feet in as what he expected turned out to be more than what he could ever imagine.

From where he stood was a ramp that led up to what looked to be like the central control panel of the box. The Doctor stood in front of it, watching Jet Burn with interest as he stared at the cylinder tube and the strange machine within it. He then looked around the room taking note that there were other passageways leading who-knows-where before stepping back towards the door and poking his head out, looking both ways to ensure he wasn’t hallucinating. Taking a quick look back in, Jet Burn stepped out and slowly circled the box with wonder, examining each side before stepping back in, his mind unable to comprehend this mere fact alone.

“So,” the Doctor said with a grin on his face. “What do you think?”

At first, Jet Burn was silent, still taking it all in as his mind processed words to say. “It’s…,” he managed to say as he grasped for such words. “It’s…”

“Yes?” the Doctor said with anticipation as he leaned forward slightly with wide eyes, anxious to hear what was to be said.

“It’s… impossible,” Jet Burn had finally managed to say.

“What?” the Doctor asked, his smile fading as it was now his turn to comprehend what was just said.

“How can something this huge fit into something so small?” Jet Burn asked.

For once in his life, the Doctor found himself rendered speechless. He went to open his mouth to say something, but found no words to say and closed it instead. No one, neither human or pony in life, has ever made such a comment regarding how impossible it was for an entire room to fit into something so tiny. It befuddled him so.

“Well…,” he finally managed to say as he tried to find such words. “That was… different.”

“What was?”

It’s just… that was a completely different response prior to what I expected,” was his reply.

“Oh,” was all Jet Burn had to say.

“So much for bigger on the inside,” the Doctor grumbled.

“What exactly is this?” Jet Burn asked.

“This is my spaceship,” was the Doctor’s response. “Say hello to the TARDIS.”

“The TARDIS?” Jet Burn questioned.

“It stands for Time And Relevant Dimensions in Space.”

“Wait! Time?” Jet Burn questioned. “As in a time machine? That’s what this thing is as well?”

“And a dimension traveling… machine,” the Doctor stated. “And it’s not a thing, it’s a her. And she can be very sensitive.”

“Right,” Jet Burn said with some hesitance. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“So, to which shall we travel to first?”

“Pardon?”

“Time or space? Which would you like to travel to first?”

“Hmm…,” Jet Burn pondered, debating which one he wanted to travel about to. “You did mention your TARDIS is a spaceship, so why not do some space exploration?”

“Very well then,” the Doctor replied as he turned a few knobs. “I have the perfect place we can go visit too. Just let me set the destination and-” he cut himself off as he reached for a lever, stopping himself as he remembered suddenly his decision to end his adventures.

“Doctor ?” Jet Burn questioned. “Are you all right?”

One more time

“Quite,” the Doctor responded, looking up at him a bit startled. “Just blanked out there for a moment. Now then, I do believe we have a planet to visit.” He finished setting in the destination before pulling down the lever. “Avante!”

The encased column began moving up and down rhythmically as the TARDIS’s engines groaned and wheezed, the mere sound loud, but mesmerizing to Jet Burn as he felt a sheer amount of excitement well up inside of him. Before long, the engines came to an abrupt stop, the Doctor glancing over towards Jet Burn.

“Well,” he said. “Here we are.”

“What?” Jet Burn asked. “That’s it? Just like that?”

“Just like that,” the Doctor responded.

“It didn’t feel like we moved.”

“Go and check for yourself,” the Doctor told him, nodding towards the door.

Jet Burn turned, staring at it with slight hesitation weighing down on him before he slowly found himself walking forward, his heart pounding with each step he took, curiosity driving him closer and closer until he found himself in front of the door, a hoof upon the knob. Twisting it, Jet Burn opened up the door, a blast of cold air greeting him as it swept into the TARDIS.

“No way!” Jet Burn said breathtakingly, looking out across the snow barren field that lied before him. “This… this can’t be real.”

“Oh it’s real all right,” the Doctor said. “It’s as real as what lies beyond your wildest imagination.”

Exhilaration fueled Jet Burn as he moved to walk outside. Seeing this, the Doctor shouted out, “Ah, hold up there Jet Burn! Let me go fetch some warm clothing.” He rushed into a cooridor and up a ramp to where he stored numerous clothes he collected upon his adventures. Quickly throwing on a scarf and winter boots, he grabbed a jacket and dashed out after Jet Burn, making sure to lock the TARDIS door on his way out.

“Oi! Jet!” he called out, finding him standing not too far from the TARDIS. “I know this is a first for you, but you can’t just go gallivanting off out into this kind of weather without the proper attire. You’ll catch a cold.”

As he approached him, the Doctor had to stop and rub his eyes, taking note that Jet Burn’s mane and tail were appearing brighter than the rest of his body. “Am I seeing things?” he wondered to himself. “Must be the cold playing tricks on me.”

Placing the jacket upon him, Jet Burn turned his head, startled at first, but relaxed when he saw who was behind him. “Oh!” he said. “Er… thanks, Doc, but I’m actually fine without it.”

“Nonsense,” the Doctor replied back, giving Jet Burn a funny look “Do you have any idea what the temperature is? I don’t want you coming down with something ghastly.”

“It doesn’t feel all that bad,” Jet Burn responded, causing the Doctor to wonder if the poor pony had lost his mind. “I’ve, er, traveled to snowy, sub-zero areas many times during my travels. I guess you could say that my body’s adapted to the freezing temperature.”

“Regardless, I would feel better if you were wearing something,” the Doctor pleaded.

Rolling his eyes in defeat in place of a sigh, Jet Burn put the jacket on. “All right,” he said as he buttoned it up. “If it puts your mind at ease.”

“So,” the Doctor said once he finished buttoning. “What do you think?”

“It definitely beats all the other adventures I’ve been on,” Jet Burn answered as they both took to walking. “Where exactly are we anyway?”

“We are currently on the desolate snow planet Titan,” the Doctor told him. “Possibly the coldest desolate planet in the universe I know of.”

“Why bother coming to a desolate planet if there’s nopony here to socialize with?”

“I would think expert travelers such as ourselves would find adventure no matter where we go,” the Doctor replied. “And that would include desolate planets.”

“You do have a point there,” Jet Burn said. “Though not every place we visit has something interesting occurring.”

“True,” the Doctor agreed. “But that’s why we have to make something happen. Besides, you haven’t experienced real adventure until you’ve traveled with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Both stallions found themselves suddenly tumbling down a snowy slope as the Doctor yelled out that last bit. They soon came to rest at the bottom, breathing heavily after the unexpected ordeal for what felt like an eternity before a small chortle escaped from Jet Burn, the chortling turning into a chuckle as the Doctor himself began chuckling as well. Before long, abrupt laughter filled the air, excitement barely able to be contained.

“Woo!” Jet Burn said eventually once able to calm himself down. “Yeah! That was awesome!”

“I’ll say it was,” the Doctor agreed as he simmered down as well, wiping away the tears produced from his laughter. “I certainly didn’t expect that to happen.”

“Me either,” Jet Burn said. “That slope came out of nowhere.”

“You may want to double check that,” the Doctor said as he examined the area via sonic screwdriver. “It’s not just a slope, it’s a slope caused by a velocital impact of metallic rock made up of nickel, iridium, platinum, gold, and other such metals.”

“Uhh… what?” Jet Burn asked.

“We tumbled into a crater hole,” the Doctor short-termed.

“Oh!” Jet Burn said as he looked about, his attention being drawn upward to a particular spot. “Hey! What’s that?”

The Doctor followed his gaze, looking up as well to see something tall extending up towards the sky. “What do you suppose that is?” he asked.

“That’s what I’m about to find out,” Jet Burn answered as he flew into the sky. The Doctor watched as Jet Burn hovered in place, slowly backing himself up to no doubt get a better view.

“Well?” the Doctor asked once Jet Burn returned. “What exactly is it?”

“It looks like it’s some sort of tower-like structure or something,” was Jet Burn’s response. “Whatever it may be, the fact remains that there’s a building on this planet.”

“That’s odd,”” the Doctor stated. “Very odd. A building on a planet covered with snow. The question to ask is: how does a building get built in a planet that has no building material?” He looked at Jet Burn. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“You bet I am,” Jet Burn replied with an excited smirk. “Let’s go check that place out!”