The End of a Legend, The Beginning of an Adventure
***The Box of Blue and Mister Hooves
Written by: Technopony
Edited/Pre-Read by: None
Picture by: Me***
It was a sunny day in Ponyville, Equestria. Life went on as it normally did in that town. It was quiet, for the most part, the only real noise coming from the outdoor Marketplace which sold everything from Furniture to Muffins and back. It's always filled with ponies buying and selling goods and wares. Our story does not start here.
Now, zoom away from the Marketplace and stop in the Town Square. There is the Town Hall, the little fountain next to it, the Aloe and Lotus Spa, the Joke Shop, the Ice Cream Shoppe, and the Bookstore. Off in the distance you can see the Carousel Boutique. Here, ponies walk and talk and hang out. Our story doesn't start here, either.
Zoom from there to Main Street. This is the most popular place in Ponyville. Here there is the famous Sugarcube Corner, further down the street is the Library, and even further down is the School. Our story starts here, in the middle of Main Street.
On that day there was a certain pegasus mare walking, yes walking, not flying, along Main Street. Up above her, the sun shined brightly against a blue sky, with white tufts of clouds here and there. This mare had a gray pelt and a straw blonde mane and tail. She was medium sized, for a mare. She did not poke out in a crowd. Or she wouldn't if it weren't for her eyes. Here eyes were yellow like her mane with black irises. This is not unusual. What is unusual is the way her eyes looked. They were both staring off into different directions, almost never looking in the same direction as the other unless she made the conscious decision to blink and focus on something. That phase usually didn't last long. This made for a double-lazy-eyed, or somewhat "derpy", look. This was where she got her nickname. She was Ditzy Doo, but most ponies called her Derpy, a well-known Mailmare and part-time weatherpony.
She was friends with most people in town, in some way or other. She was alone that day, instead of with her usual group of friends, which included, the unicorn, Colgate, the earth pony, Carrot Top, the other unicorn and famous musical artist, Vinyl Scratch, and the other earth pony and semi-famous composer, Octavia, each of her friends being a mare, due to the low population of grown stallions in Ponyville. She was also the sole pegasus of the group, but due to her usually being on the ground, it didn't mean much. The reason for this was because she had an errand to run. This errand was to go to the Library, owned and operated by the unicorn mare Twilight Sparkle and her trusty assistant, Spike the Dragon. She was supposed to pick up and extra-special book on making muffins for Pinkie Pie, the owner of Sugarcube Corner and town sweet tooth, and deliver it to her safely.
As she was on her way to the Library a distant sound was heard. A loud whooshing, whirring sound that slowly got louder and louder. Ditzy stopped her canter and looked around for the source of the sound. Then... it suddenly stopped. She looked from side to side, wondering where, and what, it was. Then she looked up. Just in time to see a large-ish blue box whooshed right above her head. Her eyes followed it until it disappeared behind one of the larger buildings. She heard a crash a few moments later and smoke began to billow over the building it went down behind. Sparing no time, Ditzy took of at a gallop towards the crash site, partly to see if anyone was hurt, partly to find out what the box even was.
Minutes later, Ditzy was at the scene. Smoky as it was, she could barely make out the shape of the crashed box. She made her way through the smoky air to what she thought was the front of the box, pressed a hoof to the nearest part she could reach, and pushed. The side opened inward, even more smoke billowed out, making her cough.
"Hello? Is anypony in there?" The pegasus yelled in, trying to see through the smoke.
A groan was the only reply she got.
"Are you okay in there?" Stupid question, of course it wasn't.
As she continued to peer in, she saw something move towards her.
Gasping in fright, Ditzy moved back quickly. As she moved back, she saw the shape rise up, stumble, and rise up again, moving towards her once more.
"Uhh... wh-who are you?" She asked, eyes wide as she stared at the mvoing figure.
It got closer and closer, until finally making it to the door where Ditzy had been moments earlier. Before it could make it out of the box, it collapsed.
Ditzy slowly moved closer, cautiously, making sure it wasn't about to hurt her. As she got closer, she realized it was a stallion, though due to the smoky air, she couldn't see anthing else about him.
As she got close enough, she slowly reached out a hoof and lightly poked the stallion, eliciting a groan. At the grown she quickly pulled her hoof back.
She stood there for a second longer before it dawned on her that she should get the stallion, and herself, out of the smoke before they suffocated.
And so, Ditzy grabbed ahold of the stallion's hoof with two of hers and slowly dragged him out of the smoky area.
Once they were out, Ditzy looked around to see that a crowd of ponies had converged aroud the smoking piece of land.
"Somepony, help!" She exclaimed to the gthered audience.
From the crowd, came some shouts; "Make way, make way! I'm a Doctor!"
Emerging from the crowd came one of the Doctors that worked at the Ponyville General Hospital and Urgent Care Center. The doctor, a grey stallion with a blue mane and tail, trotted up to Ditzy and the seemingly unconscious stallion.
"Excuse me, ma'am." He said, and Ditzy backed away a little, but still close enough so she could still see what was going on.
The doctor was fiddling with a piece of equipment, which he had placed in his ears. The other end, a white suction-cup looking thing, he placed on the downed stallion's chest.
The doctor listened for a moment before frowning slightly and moving the scope about again.
"Hmm... interesting." He said after a few more seconds. "Well, his heartbeat seems to be... alright. But he's going to need medical attention. He inhaled a bit of smoke in there. I think you should come along too, just in case."
Ditzy nodded, not saying anything.
An hour later, Ditzy had been checked over and examined for any problems. She had come out with a clean slate, except for a bit of smoke in her lungs, but the doctors had said that would clear up in a few hours.
The stallion, who was nothing special, just brown all the way through except for his peculiar cutie mark, a sand-timer, however, wasn't doing so well. Or so they said.
Apparently he had inhaled a lot more smoke than she had, and had a few strained muscles. He was still unconscious, though, so they had to keep him there. At least until he woke up.
So, Ditzy decided she would stay with him until he woke up. So far she hadn't heard any news about the crash site, so she didn't think much about it.
And so, she waited.
And waited.
And wai-- A groan emanated from the bed that Ditzy was sitting by, startling her awake. She stood and looked over at the stallion in the bed. His eyes were slowly opening revealing normal blue eyes. Was there nothing interesting about this pony?
"Umm... hello?" Ditzy said hesitantly.
"Wha? Where am I?" The stallion asked. He looked up and right at Ditzy. "A... horse?"
"Uh... pony, actually, but yeah... Wait, what are you talking about? Or course I'm a pony!" Ditzy exclaimed, quite confused. "I mean... you are too!"
"What?! A pony?!" The stallion sat straight up. He looked down at himself, then at his hooves. "Well... this is strange. Strangest form I've ever had..."
"What are you talking about?" Ditzy asked, "You're talking gibberish!"
"That's what most people think, but they're wrong." The stallion replied.
"Don't you mean 'most ponies'? You really are making no sense."
The stallion jumped out of the bed. "Whatever. Anyways! I'm The Doctor, just The Doctor. Have you seen my ship? About seven feet high, blue, says Police Public Call Box on each side."
"Uh... nothing by that description, but... you were in some kind of box... it was smoking pretty bad, but it was in good shape... Wait, ship? 'The Doctor'? What are you talking about?" Ditzy asked.
"No time to explain! Come with me! Allons-y!" And The Doctor was out of the room, cantering off down the hallways.
"Allons-y?" Ditzy asked aloud, though nopony was there to hear her. She shrugged and ran off after the Doctor.
A little while later, the two were at the crash site. The crowd had long since dispersed and so had most of the smoke cloud. Now the whole scene was visible. In a small crater sat a blue box, just as the Doctor had described. It sat upright right in the middle.
"Ah, there she is!" The Doctor exclaimed, trotting up to the box. "Of course she'd be alright! A fall wouldn't hurt her that badly!"
Ditzy slowly walked up behind the Doctor and took a better look at the blue box. The door-panel thing that she had opened earlier was closed... somepony must have closed it after they had left.
"So... what is this?" Ditzy asked, curious how this could be a ship, when it was so small.
"Well, why don't you come inside. It's easier to show than explain." The Doctor replied, looking back at Ditzy with a smile.
Turning back to the box, The Doctor began inspecting the side of it as if looking for something. Then, he pressed his hoof to the door and pushed. the door swung open as it had with Ditzy just a few hours earlier.
"Odd... Normally it's locked..." The Doctor muttered and then, "Alright, well... come inside!"
With that The Doctor pushed the door open the rest of the way, and walked in. The door swung mostly close behind him.
Ditzy was standing there, watching the door for a few more seconds when the door suddenly swung open and The Doctor's head popped out.
"Well? Aren't you coming?" He asked before popping his head back through the door.
"Oh, yeah... Of course." Ditzy said, snapping out of her trance. She quickly walked over to where The Doctor had went in and pushed open the door.
What she saw was not what she expected... not that she really expected anything with this stallion.
To start off, it was way bigger on the inside than the outside. Secondly it was very... alien, for lack of a better word. It was so unlike anything else Ditzy had seen before, very... machine-y.
"So! What do ya' think?" The Doctor asked, quit excitedly.
"Uhh... it's... bigger... on the inside?" Ditzy asked, almost speechless.
"Haha!" The Doctor laughed, "Everyone... pony says that the first time they see her!"
"Her? Wh-what exactly is this... ship, Doctor?"
"This ship is Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, or TARDIS for short. She's a good ship, been with me for a long time." The Doctor explained.
"So... what kind of ship is it? It's... futuristic."
"Well it should be futuristic! It's from the future! If it weren't then I've been cheated and lied to!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Anyways, the TARDIS is a bona-fide spaceship... oh yes, almost forgot the most important part... it's a time machine."
"A... time... machine?"
"Yes a time machine! Wow, so many questions! More than usual for a passenger!" The Doctor said, "So... where do you want to go?"
"Go? What are you talking about? I have a errand to run, I have a job to do!" Ditzy exclaimed. "I don't have enough time to go run off with some stallion who didn't even know he was a pony! I have to go..."
Ditzy turned around and walked down to the door, and walked out.
The Doctor stood there for a moment before following her. He caught up to her before long and matched his pace with hers.
"Okay, maybe I moved a bit to fast... But really, you'd be back before anyone noticed. It is a time machine, after all!" He tried to explain.
Ditzy merely sighed and said, "It's not that, Doctor, it's just... I don't even know you!"
"Yeah well... good point." The Doctor replied and went quiet for a moment. "But come on! Just one little trip, and I'll have you back before anyone notices you're gone! Come on, it'll be fun!"
"I don't know, Doctor..." Derpy said, thinking on it.
"Just one trip. If you don't like it, then you don't have to go on any more."
"Fine. I'll go with you. For one trip only."
And so, together, they turned 'round and headed off to the TARDIS.
***Next Time On: The Box of Blue and Mister Hooves...
ADVENTURE!
DANGER!
ALIENS!
MINERALS!
SCIENCE!***
--And much much more!
