Zero Room

The shaken Amethyst sat quietly behind her living room couch as she peered over the top of the sofa at the intruder. The pony had managed to tie the stranger up in ropes to a kitchen chair on the other side of the living room, but even so she was concerned that he would escape. He was a unicorn after all, and that she couldn't stop. Amethyst decided to herself that if worse came to worse, she would whack him with the frying pan again.

For almost twenty minutes she stared at the strange pony, waiting for him to wake up. She grimaced. He just looked creepy and evil. For a moment she almost thought about actually calling the police on this one and forgetting about the Doctor, but she decided not to once more. He knew something, and even if he didn't know about the Doctor, he probably knew something about the strange pillar in her house and the strangers that came earlier.

Amethyst choked and tensed when the stranger propped open one eye and slowly woke. He struggled for a moment to regain consciousness and catch his surroundings, but it wasn't long before he realized he was trapped. He spotted Amethyst immediately, as well as her furrowed look. But, as Amethyst would have feared, he didn't seem phased.

"Well, isn't this an interesting situation," the stranger finally spoke, suppressing a grin while talking, it seemed. His voice instantly drew Amethyst to one word: snake.

"Shut up!" Amethyst said, hoping that he wouldn't talk again. "What are you doing in my house?" The pony just grinned.

"Answer me!" demanded Amethyst. She hoped that if she asserted herself, she'd look much stronger than she probably was.

"You should really consider your choice of threats, young lady," the stranger said slyly. "Telling me to shut up as a way of 'showing your authority' is certainly contradictory to your command of making me speak." Amethyst realized she got a difficult pony. A really difficult pony.

"I can smack that dirty beard right off your face!" she threatened. Amethyst brought the frying pan closer to the stranger's face with her magic. His grin didn't waver.

"There's no need for this foolishness," he stated. "I'm merely intending that you put your petty rage away and settle this misunderstanding like a civilized creature." Amethyst didn't budge.

"I don't trust the likes of you," she pouted.

"No, I suppose not," the stranger replied. "But you do, for some dill-witted reason, trust the likes of. . .the Doctor. . .now don't you?" Amethyst's ears perked. Finally, something.

"You don't know that," she said, hoping to pry more information.

"His TARDIS is sitting right in this room."

"How do you know what his TARDIS looks like?"

"I know more than that," said the stranger. "I know who the Doctor is."

"Uh, yeah, I know who he is too!"

"Do you?" Amethyst paused.

"Well. . .mostly. . ."

"I suppose he told you that he was the only Timepony left, didn't he?" asked the stranger. "Or he possibly said that he was a protector, a hero, always fighting for good?"

"How do you know he told us that?" asked Amethyst.

"He tells that to every world he meets. . ." the stranger smirked. "The sad part is that they all believe it." Amethyst lowered the frying pan. She never trusted the Doctor in the first place, but this guy seemed like trouble. . .but now she was just confused.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am the Master," the pony stated proudly. "I, too, am a Timepony." Amethyst almost dropped the frying pan. Pieces clicked in her mind. She remembered the strangers from before. . .they mentioned somepony known as the Master, how he was a Timepony or something like the Doctor. But the Doctor said, the very first thing when he arrived, that he was the only Timepony to exist anymore. The confused mare shook her head.

"No no no," she said aloud. "That can't be right!" Maybe the strangers from before were lying. Maybe this pony was one of them. . . But the Master kept his cool.

"I'm not lying," he said. "It's the Doctor that lies."

"That's not true," said Amethyst. "You're just a fake."

"And you're just wrapped in what the Doctor 'says' is true," replied the Master. Amethyst grew irritated.

"You fiend, you liar!" she said. "I bet this is a trick! I bet you have the Doctor locked away somewhere!" The Master smirked.

"Very well. Believe what you want to believe," he stated plainly. "Search my ship if you must. I don't have the Doctor in my possession. It'd be a great peace for the universe if I did, yet such a chance doesn't exist at the moment." Amethyst motioned to move from behind the couch, but stopped.

"You didn't answer my first question," she said, looking at the pillar in the kitchen. She looked back at the Master. "Why are you here?"

"So impatient," he replied. "If you must know, I came to retrieve my ship that the Doctor stole. It was by chance that it crashed into your house. I merely need to retrieve it and be on my way."

"That thing?" asked Amethyst, pointing to the pillar with the frying pan. "What is it?"

"My TARDIS."

"It looks nothing like a TARDIS."

"The Doctor's TARDIS looks nothing like a TARDIS," the Master restated. "His chameleon circuit malfunctioned, and now it's stuck as that rubbish blue police box." Amethyst became more confused. Obviously asking questions one by one like this was getting her nowhere. . .it was just leading her further in perplexity. She needed answers, the full story, the beef with this Master guy. Amethyst came out from behind the couch, but didn't walk any closer to the Master.

"Tell me what you know about the Doctor," she commanded. "Everything." The Master raised his chin.

"I can't do that," he said.

"Why not?"

"You will have to untie me first."

"No way!"

"Do you want to hear anything more from me or not?" The mare squinted at the Master. He still didn't seem trustworthy, but at that moment. . .neither did the Doctor. But who said any one of them was to be trusted? Still. . .as Amethyst remembered. . .the Doctor never talked about where he was from, what had happened to him before he met Ditzy. The Master was ready to tell all in exchange for simply being untied. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't double-cross Amethyst. Her mind ached from thinking so hard, coming up with a solution, until finally, she chose a plan.

"Wait," she said flatly. Amethyst walked into the kitchen and scanned the floor. She looked in the corner where the wand the Master had held before had fallen. She picked it up in her magic. Whatever it was, he wasn't going to have a chance of getting it. Amethyst returned to the living room, but not before shutting the kitchen door.

"And for good measure," she said, looking straight at the Master. Amethyst made sure that he watched her retrieve a key from over top of the kitchen door, lock the door, and keep the key in her magic, as well as the wand-like object.

"Fair enough," said the Master confidently. Amethyst sat on the couch across from the Master. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment, and then, with her magic, untied the ropes that bonded the Master to his chair.

"Start talking," demanded the young mare. The Master seemed to grin contently.

"Where do I begin?" he started.

* * *

The Master sat in the chair across from the sofa Amethyst sat on and held a face that showed the most sincerity he could muster. Amethyst waited, watching and listening as the Master spoke, and in turn the Timepony watched the expressions on the young mare's face, scanning for confusion or disbelief. Amethyst listened fully and carefully and made sure to interrupt almost not at all. She wanted to see if the Master's story held the same truths throughout. These were the words that the Master delivered to Amethyst:

"I feel as though I should start with a little background to enlighten your understanding of this whole messy situation. First, the Doctor has twisted a little bit of the information that he has told you, saying that he is the only Timepony left and how he's always been running around the universe to save it. Yet, I too am a Timepony, and I'm sitting right in front of you! The Timeponies, Gallifrey, which he states is all gone actually still exists. He only says they are gone because really, he is running from them. I'm sent by my own planet only to capture and put an end to the Doctor's frolicking about because he is a Gallifreyan criminal. I know, you seem a little upset by the fact, but it is most certainly true. Why else would he always be running all the time? He commits the most serious of all crimes. . .he changes the universe, molds it how he wants to fit his ideals. I've been after him for many years now, chasing all of his faces. You look so confused. . .ah, that's why. The Doctor hasn't explained to you about regeneration? Allow me to hold the privilege of telling you then. Timeponies, we, including the Doctor and me, have a way of living for extensive periods of time through regeneration. When we encounter the brink of death our whole body changes into a new form, a new face. Sometimes these different faces of the same person tend to cross paths, as the Doctor's do quite often. A little puzzled, I see. Well, it does explain our situation a little more clearly, doesn't it? Which leads me to there. The Doctor, your Doctor as I will call him, must have run to this universe because it was such a difficult one to enter and leave, making it an ideal safe-zone for somepony like him. There, or here, he could stay far away from the Timeponies as well as exist in a universe where nopony has heard of him, where he can hide his true identity. I just so happened upon him here, really. I was initially after one of his younger incarnations and his two accomplices. They had stolen my TARDIS, you see--oh so you have seen them? Well, it makes perfect sense considering they crashed my own vehicle in your house. The raggedy blue-box TARDIS that you saw earlier was his, the younger Doctor's, I mean. I used it in attempt to follow him and get my own TARDIS back, but of course it was too early. Why yes, there is such a thing as being 'too early', the TARDIS is a time machine after all. I showed up a day early, I concluded, and when I did, that was when I came across your Doctor. Of course, with my mission, I captured him, but unfortunately he escaped into some mangled woods outside of the town. The Everfree Forest, you say? Interesting. . .it didn't read on my scanners. You say the Doctor was missing for a while? . . .Well, yes, that explains it. He knew I was here, and ran off. As for the other Doctor, my Doctor, well, he appears to have run off as well. I noticed when I came to pick up my own TARDIS (the better one I may add, the Doctor's is broken and difficult to control), and in doing so had to invade your home. And that is why, me dear, we are sitting here in this room. Clearly it was all a misunderstanding. . .but now, at least, you know the truth. It's difficult since the Doctor has been here. . .two years you say. . .spinning his web of lies to cover up what he really is, however it is reassuring to know that I've opened your eyes a little to the real situation. My only regret is that it didn't come sooner."

He finished, and once he did, the Timepony sat back comfortably in the chair, watching Amethyst's facial expressions. The young mare saw that he was extremely confident in his story, whether that be a good or bad thing, but took his expressions as well into consideration.

Was the story told to her really true? Was the Doctor really a criminal from his own planet? Amethyst found it hard to believe at first. The Doctor seemed too peaceful and silly, for that matter, to be a bad pony. Then again, Amethyst hadn't really seen all of the Doctor, only when he visited. She had seldom joined his adventures.

Amethyst tried to think of the possibilities. On one hoof, there was the Master, who had suddenly entered into her house and told her that everything she knew about the Doctor was a lie, but he seemed extremely nonchalant in talking. He was either very good at telling streamlined lies or was speaking the truth. It did seem to make sense that he came to return for his weird-looking TARDIS. It wasn't like Amethyst saw him do anything else in her house. And he openly admitted to capturing the Doctor she knew. If there was some type of evil intention behind that, why would he tell her?

The young pony also remembered the strangers from earlier; the ones that had arrived in the Master's acclaimed TARDIS. She distinctly remembered that they mentioned something about the Master, and that one of them said that meeting him was something awful. And they did seem to speak as though they were in a hurry. . .perhaps they were running from the Master. And after all, if the Doctor was a criminal like the Master stated, it would make sense that the strangers, one of whom was apparently an earlier Doctor, would be trying to get away from him and would consider him bad.

And then, on the other hoof, there was the matter of the Doctor, the Doctor that Amethyst knew. Now, he never ever talked about the Master, or Timeponies, or even Gallifrey. Amethyst remembered her mother telling her and Dinky that the Doctor mentioned that all of those things were dead. . .but why would he say that to the ponies he trusted? Currently there was living proof through the Master, sitting in front of Amethyst, that other Timeponies still existed. Not to mention there were three TARDISes in her house!

Now, the Doctor could have been hiding the whole story. Maybe something had happened to him. . .no. Amethyst remembered her mother's words. The Doctor clearly told her, and possibly even herself and Dinky at one point, that he was the only Timepony left. Obviously the Doctor had been saying something incorrect.

But which one to believe? The Master or the Doctor? The Master had more hard evidence going for him. The Doctor. . .now hold on a second, the Doctor could've been the liar all along. It made sense to Amethyst, and the Master's story started to fit. The Doctor always ran, and from what she heard from his and her mom's adventures, was always defeating something to create "peace" and to "balance the universe again". Now it made sense to why Amethyst thought it was weird that the Doctor always won his battles somehow and in someway. The Doctor always found something satisfying with changing the course of history or time to make things better as he saw fit. At least this is how Amethyst saw it.

The deeper the young pony thought into it, the more her dislike for the Doctor stirred. She remembered when he arrived, how mysterious he was, never mentioning who he was or where he was from. He just took Ditzy to the stars and never brought her back. her old self, as Amethyst meant. Everything changed when he showed up. All of a sudden everything in life was tipped upside-down, everything started to revolve around the Doctor. Ditzy would always be there everyday but she'd act as though she had been gone for weeks in-between. And Ditzy was all the Doctor seemed to care about because of reasons that Amethyst never understood. Never often did he offer to take Amethyst or Dinky anywhere, nor did he look to investing much of his time into either one of them as much as he did her mom. And everypony would always be upset with Amethyst when she disagreed with anything the Doctor said or the Doctor in general.

Amethyst always had that feeling in her gut the moment the Timepony showed up. She never admired the Doctor like the rest of her family did, and they all thought her as stubborn and moody for thinking otherwise. But in Amethyst's mind something always was off about the Doctor. She never could put a hoof on it, but she always felt it, that somewhere, the Timepony was hiding something in the past he never gave away, in his name he never mentioned, in his origin he never explained. But he was always the hero. He was always the good guy! Everypony had to like him and everything had to go his way, and he always seemed like he had everything under control, like he had created this perfect little life for himself and thought it was the best for everypony else! And they all thought so, all except Amethyst, who refused to agree with the Doctor but was always rebuked for it!

"Are you having a hard time believing or understanding?" asked the Master when he saw the look on Amethyst's face become more strained as she thought of all these things. Her thoughts were interrupted for a moment.

"No. . .I understand what you're saying," Amethyst stated slowly. The Master stood from his chair.

"But the believing part is what troubles you, I suppose," the Timepony continued. "Well, you are one of the Doctor's companions, all of which are about as set in thinking as he is-"

"I'm not his companion," Amethyst interrupted quickly.

"Oh?" said the Master raising his eyebrows. "Forgive me, but it just seemed too obvious."

"Well it shouldn't be."

"Then what is it that upsets you?" Amethyst looked at the Timepony, then in her mind pictured the Doctor. What was it that troubled her? Was it the fact of the Doctor altogether? Was it the sudden appearance of the Master? Or was it possibly that the past two years of her life had been different, that every moment of her life from the moment the Doctor arrived Amethyst had constantly worried over her mother and where she was, how Amethyst had dreamed since that moment that somehow life would return to being as simple as it was, and for a while she had actually believed that it could be possible even with the Doctor. But he had failed her on all these things. And now, Amethyst didn't even want to believe the Doctor anymore. He never made an effort to make her life better, than it was clear to Amethyst that through all her struggles to what upset her the most.

"I was right," replied Amethyst. The Master seemed a little taken aback by the answer.

"What exactly was it you were right about?" he asked.

"The Doctor," Amethyst stated. For a moment the Master seemed a little concerned, but kept it under control with a questioning look. Amethyst noticed this, so she continued.

"The Doctor was exactly who I thought he was," she said, although she felt as though the words were hard to take out of her mouth. For a moment Amethyst had the urge to look away. It was one thing to think about how much Amethyst disliked the Doctor, and another to speak of it, but to learn the truth, that Amethyst had been right all along and to verbally admit it. . .that was different. Still, the mare's mind was made up for her to feel otherwise at that point. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"He lies," Amethyst said with a new confidence. Just behind her, the Master heard these words, and soon after a grin spread over his face.

  "I'm glad we see eye-to-eye," he said as steadily as possible.

Amethyst turned back to face the Master, his expression returning to the normal face he had held the entire time being there. With her mind being set, her words matching just the same, she handed the Master the weapon he had been carrying earlier. He took it in one of his hooves.

"I have a question, though," Amethyst said. "If it's true that the Doctor is a criminal. . .what am I supposed to do?" The corners of the Master's mouth rose on his face.

"What is the name you are called by?"

"Amethyst."

"Well, Amethyst," said the Master, "the Doctor is still loose in this world, both of them, and one of them has had enough experience to know how to fit in with it. Unfortunately, I do not. Perhaps I may require your assistance." Amethyst looked at the Timepony.

"Alright."