Chapters The Doctor panicked.
"Are you sure I didn't leave it in the console room?!" he shouted.
"Yep! It's not here!"
"It didn't roll on the floor, did it?!"
"No!"
"It wasn't in the library?!"
"No! Are you sure you don't already have it with you?!"
"Okay that was one time!"
Running frantically towards the main door, the time-pony had in hopes that he would find his most important piece of technology in which he had misplaced earlier. The Doctor knew that it was somewhere in his ship, the Time And Relative Dimension In Space, or TARDIS, where he lived and traveled in to all sorts of places. He only wished that he hadn't left his special item in one of those places.
The Doctor snapped open the doors to the TARDIS and searched around the outside, a small exterior that resembled that of a blue, 1950's London Police Box, enveloped in the vast expanse of space. He reached in the small door on the side where an old telephone sat, but he had no luck. Quickly the Doctor shut the door and reentered the interior of the TARDIS, a piece of Timelord technology, which was a certain size on the outside but infinite on the inside. The pony rushed back to the console in the middle of the room.
"Gah, it's got to be somewhere, Ditzy!" he said in a frustrated tone to his companion, Ditzy Doo. She had been in the TARDIS the entire time, talking to him as he had blitzed around the room. Ditzy was just a simple grey mare, blonde, straight hair falling over her golden, crossed eyes. She stood at the other side of the console room, feathered wings folded over her sides, and slowly approached the Doctor.
"Look, I'm sure if we retraced our steps, we'd find your Sonic Screwdriver," she told the Doctor.
"Alright, that's a start," replied the stallion as he pushed his chestnut mane back. "Where have we gone recently?"
"Well, we just came from Equestria 750 years ago," stated Ditzy.
"Ah yes, and before that, the moons of Gutharn," continued the Doctor.
"And then there was the planet of Androzani Major."
"But I don't remember even using my Sonic in any of those places," he said. "Haven't had the need for it."
"Then...where could it be?" asked his companion.
"I don't know," the Doctor gittered. He pulled at his rustic green tie, which stood out fiercely against his tannish coat. Groaning, the Doctor trotted around the TARDIS.
"Ooh! I think I remember!" Ditzy exclaimed.
"What?! You do?!"
"Yeah! Do you remember last week when we were at my house sorting that terribly huge pile of mail for Ponyville?"
"Yes, come to think of it, I do," pondered the Doctor. "But what has that got to do with anything?"
"All the places we went to after we sorted that mail, you never used your Sonic Screwdriver," said Ditzy. "Maybe you left it at my house?"
"Maybe," paused the Doctor. His cerulean eyes suddenly lit up. "Ah, yes, actually, nevermind! I do remember taking my Sonic out for a minute--if you remember there was that terrible address we couldn't read and I used it for that--so yes! That makes sense! Must have left it on your living room table! Or-or-"
"I get it, Doctor," laughed Ditzy, slowing his speech to a halt. "Why don't we just go back and check?"
"Right!" noted the time-pony. With a skip and a push of a few switches and buttons, the Doctor then pulled back a lever. The middle piece of the TARDIS console bobbed up and down as the ship started to a wheezing whir.
"Back to Ponyville!" exclaimed the Doctor cheerfully as he and Ditzy flew through time and space.
* * *
"No, I will not do it," firmly stated the Xeraphin.
"But you will," growled his evil conscience. "We have already agreed to the pact!"
"No!"
"You must! Our purpose will be served!"
"This is not our purpose!"
"I will not tolerate this prison any longer! We will serve him!"
"Never! Never!"
The moral Xeraphin fought his corrupted conscience, feeling the dark one's stare through his soul. He, as the representative of his species, could not let himself fall to such low actions his immoral self wished for. However, slowly and painfully, he was fading away, being driven from his own mind. He was about to leave, the evil Xeraphin taking over his head, when suddenly, through an echo in time, words were whispered in his being:
To whom are gracious and are kind,
A state of peace will come to mind.
Darkness twists upon its doom,
And sick are healed in the Zero Room.
Something then changed, something odd. As if the fabric of reality was being puppeted.
And the goodness prevailed.
* * *
The Doctor snatched his Sonic Screwdriver off of Ditzy's living room table.
"Ha! You beauty!" he said happily. "I am never letting you out of my sight again!" The Doctor then stuffed the Screwdriver in his pocket, safe and sound. From across the room, Ditzy poked her head out of the TARDIS that had just materialized in her house moments prior. She rolled her eyes and grinned at the Doctor's childish personality, then glanced around the room. It was dark and quiet.
"Doctor, what day is this?" she asked. The Doctor looked around the room at clocks, calendars, the windows.
"Looks like we've landed the same day we left last week," he said, "only a few hours later. It's about...eh...two in the morning? Yep! Definitely two hours past!"
"It feels like it," Ditzy yawned. The Doctor thought for a second before looking back at his companion.
"You know, we've had a very busy week," he said. "Why don't you take a day off, you know, get a good night's rest, wake up whenever you'd like, spend time with your daughters." Ditzy nodded sleepily.
"I think that's a good idea," she said. "I'm sure they'd be happy to see you too. And even if they saw me...just hours ago...I'd be glad to see them." She trotted slowly across the room. "Welp, I'm hitting the hay. Goodnight, Doctor."
"Night, Ditzy," he replied. He watched as she disappeared down the hallway to her room before he walked over and plopped himself on the couch. Even though his physical self only needed an hour's worth of rest, he was glad to get off his hooves for a while.
Sitting on the sofa, the Doctor pulled out his newly found Sonic and tinkered with it in his hooves, keeping his thoughts collected in his head. He was glad to take a day off, and like Ditzy, was glad to see her daughters as well. There was Amethyst Star, the oldest, and also the responsible one, and then there was Dinky Doo, the adorable filly who was always striving to be as great as her mother. Both were adopted, however they always considered Ditzy more like their real mother, since she was so caring and loving towards them. The two girls always protected Ditzy from humiliation for her crossed eyes, were always helpful in Ditzy's life...overall they were wonderful ponies.
The Doctor always wondered where he fit into the picture of Ditzy and her daughters. Sometimes he mentally considered himself almost a "fatherly" figure, but only to himself. He was always afraid to cross that line. Yes, sure, he cared for Ditzy and her family however he didn't know for sure how Amethyst and Dinky thought of him as a "dad". Being a father and even grandfather before, the Doctor certainly had it in his nature to play that kind of role, but of course, it was always a toss-up subject.
He buzzed and flashed his Screwdriver, staring at the blue light of the Sonic. The Doctor always thought of that specific thought, but many things filled his mind. He was nine centuries old, and with so much life behind him, memories always lay ahead of him. One of the things that sparked in his mind was his dimension, the real dimension that he had come from.
The Doctor remembered when he was a real Timelord, human in appearance, and would travel like was currently, only with people from planet Earth, and sometimes, others. He was traveling alone when he came to Ponyville that sudden day in his timeline, the day he somehow turned into a pony and met Ditzy...
But that was long ago. At least months, years, he didn't know. It was hard for the Doctor to keep track of time when he was always manipulating it.
Putting the Sonic away, the Doctor closed his eyes and listened to the quietness of the night. It was wonderful, especially in the small town of Ponyville. He took a deep breath. His life had been so turbulent in the past. Times like this moment had a special place in the Doctor's mind. He enjoyed every once of relaxation he got.
The Doctor's ear twitched. A surprising sound was breaking through the silence of the night. He opened his eyes halfway.
"Now what on earth could that be?" the Doctor muttered to himself. The noise that was gradually getting louder sounded very unique, like nothing Ponyville would contain. He sat up.
"Now that sounds like..." The sound cut though the darkness. It was all too familiar, groaning, pushing through.
The blood from the Doctor's face drained."
"The TARDIS ," he whispered forcefully. The Doctor glanced at his TARDIS just across the room. It wasn't moving nor materializing anywhere. That was odd. However, the engine sound of the Doctor's TARDIS kept prevailing.
"Where is that coming from?!" he said nervously and as quietly as he could muster. The Doctor scurried around the living room, moving his ears around, trying to find the location of the sound. His hearing drew him to the window, where he finally heard the landing sound of the TARDIS. When he pulled back the curtains, a startling object sat in front of him, just twenty feet away from Ditzy's house. All logic was muddled in the Doctor's mind.
"My...my TARDIS?!" blurted the Doctor. Instantly he rushed for the door to the outside, however, still kept quiet. There was no use in waking Ditzy or the others. They didn't need to get involved when rest was more important.
The Doctor trotted to the strange TARDIS after closing the door. He didn't know what to think.
"This isn't possible," said a baffled Doctor to himself. "My TARDIS can't...be here !" He came a couple feet away from the police box before stopping to inspect it. He circled around the blue thing.
"This is certainly my TARDIS," he said in disbelief. "However...the exterior is a bit outdated...the top lights faded and the windows a but foggy...but it is certainly it." He came back around to the doors and stood, facing the front.
"Could it be possible that one of my other selves is in there?" he said pensively. The Doctor, being a Timelord, had the ability to regenerate whenever approached by death. He was currently at his tenth incarnation (or eleventh, but that's a whole other argument), and meeting his past selves wasn't new to him. The Doctor simply grinned.
"Ah, I bet that's it," he said proudly to himself. "This must be one of them...er, or me...obviously since this is my TARDIS." Relieved and confident in his explanation, the Doctor reached in his pocket and pulled out his TARDIS key, one of only two existing (Ditzy owned the other). The key would work if it was truly his TARDIS, and if it was, he was sure whichever one of his past incarnations was inside would understand his motion to enter. After all, it was himself.
The Doctor stuck the key in the door and turned it, opening the TARDIS door. He then stepped inside. Expecting the interior to bring back floods of memories, the Doctor was puzzled when he found himself walking into blackness. He walked in a little further.
"Hello?" he called out. "Anyone here? Is the Doctor in?" There wasn't a reply. A sinking feeling hit the Doctor. This was more than odd. This was unusual. A shuffling sound came from the other-side of the darkness.
"Who's there?" he stated. "Are you the Doctor? Is he here?" Instead, a faint and eerie laugh rose from the pitch.
"Who are you?" commanded the Doctor. "What's going on? What are you doing with this TARDIS?" A click sounded, and the doors of the TARDIS slammed shut. The Doctor finally knew something was wrong and rushed backwards, searching for the door again. But he couldn't find it. The darkness was too great.
"Let me out!" shouted the Doctor. The laugh came from the black again, only this time it was closer. The Doctor felt sweat running down his head. He didn't know what to think, so many possibilities ran through his mind on what could've been happening.
"Who are you?!" he ended up repeating. He stood still and stiff in the dark, waiting for a response. Then, he felt a chilling breath hit his ear, and a voice that was all too familiar whispered like a rattling snake with a strange delight.
"A madman, my dear Doctor."
Celestia's newly-risen sun shone intensely through Ditzy's window. The pegasus lightly groaned and pulled the bed sheet over her eyes. She forgot to close the curtains before going to sleep.
Ditzy rolled over to face the wall opposite from the window and took a sleepy look at the clock on her side table. It was about 7 in the morning. Five hours of sleep wasn't enough for her. Ditzy curled up in a ball and attempted to fall back into a deep sleep.
The attempt was pointless. Ditzy's door burst open.
"Momma!" cried a happy and squeaky voice. A tiny clatter of hooves echoed on the floor before a small filly jumped up on Ditzy's bed. The pegasus pulled the blankets from her head and looked to see her little daughter, Dinky, looking back at her with a gleaming smile.
"Momma, Momma, you're home!" chanted Dinky. She jumped on top of her mother and threw her hooves around her neck. Ditzy held her child.
"Of course I'm home, I'd never stay away from you too long, muffin," she laughed. Suddenly, Ditzy had new energy in her body to wake up.
"Yeah, you were gone for hours!" exclaimed Dinky, pulling back and looking at Ditzy.
"More like a week, actually. You know how time-travel is."
"Did ya miss me?" Ditzy chuckled and ruffled Dinky's light-blonde mane.
"Of course I did," she said. "How'd you know I was back?"
"I saw the box-ship in the living room," said Dinky. "Is Doctor here too?"
"He should be," said Ditzy. "He's probably in his 'box-ship' keeping himself busy." The pegasus patted the little unicorn's lavender nose and then began to get out of bed.
"Where's Amethyst?" Ditzy asked, referring to her other unicorn daughter.
"She's still asleep," replied Dinky. "She stayed up late last night...again." The little filly bound out of the room, Ditzy following behind while rubbing her eyes and sighing. She was worried about her daughter Amethyst Star. For some reason, the young mare had an irrational fear that her mother wouldn't return from an adventure with the Doctor some day, and so stayed up until midnight many nights, waiting for Ditzy to return. She was a little less enthusiastic than Dinky was about the time-pony, and Ditzy always made sure that upon returning that she would reassure Amethyst thoroughly.
"Momma, c'mon!" called Dinky from down the hallway as Ditzy left her room.
"In a minute, Dinky!" replied Ditzy. "Let me see your sister first." She walked further down the hallway to the room on the end, Amethyst's room. Ditzy opened the door softly, greeted by the unicorn's slightly messy room that was hiding the morning sun with window blinds. The mother trotted over to Amethyst's bed that was in the corner of the room.
"Amy," Ditzy whispered as she gently tugged at Amethyst's shoulder. The young mare stirred gradually, and eventually, forced open an eye to see Ditzy standing over her.
"Mom," she whispered while giving a soft smile. "You're back."
"Of course I am," said Ditzy. "I always come back."
"I know."
"I'm going to be back for a while too."
"You are?"
"Yes."
"Okay," said Amethyst, Ditzy noticing relief sweeping over her face. "Is the Doctor here too?"
"Yes."
"Alright," Amethyst said briefly.
"You should get more rest," said Ditzy. "You sister told me you were up last night."
"I was just...waiting for you," Amethyst yawned, showing a notion of wanting to go back to sleep again.
"It's alright, Amy," said Ditzy. "You shouldn't worry about me."
"I'm not," retorted Amethyst.
"Okay. Just...go back to sleep. I'll be out in the kitchen making breakfast. Come whenever you'd like, Amy." And just like that, Amethyst turned over and entered sleep-mode again. Slowly, and slightly unsure, Ditzy then left the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
In the kitchen, Dinky was waiting for her mother.
"Where's sis, Momma?" she asked.
"Asleep," replied Ditzy.
"Oh. Where's Doctor?"
"Probably in his TARDIS," said Ditzy. "Why don't we make breakfast since it's just us two right now?"
"Yeah!" jumped Dinky.
"What kind, muffin?" asked Ditzy as she began taking out various ingredients such as flour, sugar, eggs, etc. Ditzy always made muffins, her favorite breakfast.
"Um, let's see..." thought the little filly.
"Should we make Dinky muffins?" laughed Ditzy as she tickled her little pony. "I could gobble you up for breakfast!" Ditzy tickled her chin under Dinky's.
"No! Momma!" Dinky breathed between giggles. "No Dinky muffins!"
"Okay then," settled Ditzy, still smiling at her daughter. "Blueberry it is."
* * *
Dinky sat on the sofa in the living room, tummy full of breakfast. She stared at the blue police box that sat oddly across the room.
"Momma, when's Doctor gonna wake up?" she asked. Ditzy exited the kitchen, finished from cleaning some bowls and dishes.
"I don't know," said Ditzy, a little confused on why the Doctor hadn't appeared for an hour. It wasn't like him to sit in his TARDIS all day.
"Doctor?" called Ditzy as she knocked on the TARDIS door. However, there was just the hollow knock, no reply.
"Is he sick?" asked Dinky.
"No," paused Ditzy. Now she was very confused. "Here, let me see what's going on." From her pocket, Ditzy drew the second TARDIS key that the Doctor had given her since they had met. She inserted it into the lock and twisted it until it clicked. The TARDIS opened.
"Stay here, Dinky, I'll be right back," said Ditzy.
"Okay," replied the filly. Ditzy took a couple steps into the TARDIS, still lit the exact way it was when she left earlier that night. The lights weren't what caught the mare's attention though.
Faintly, but still prevalent, the cloister bells were ringing, setting off their slow, low, and melancholy DONG in the expanse of the TARDIS. Ditzy became alarmed.
"Doctor? DOCTOR?! Are you here?" she called frantically.
"What's wrong, Momma?" asked Dinky.
"Stay put," directed the mother. She then ran frantically throughout the nearby rooms, scanned the whole console area. The Doctor was gone. Ditzy rushed out of the TARDIS and shut the doors.
"Is something the matter?" asked Dinky, sitting innocently on the sofa.
"The Doctor's not here," said Ditzy, who was trying to stay calm for her young daughter. "Dinky, are you sure you haven't seen him this morning?"
"I'm sure," she replied. "It was just quiet when I got up."
"Oh dear," breathed Ditzy.
"It's okay, Momma, I'm sure he'll come back," said Dinky, who was always trying to give positive words to her mother. "Maybe he took a walk."
"Maybe," said Ditzy. She took a deep breath. Although the chances of that were unlikely, she had to remain composed for Dinky. "I'm going to look for him, then. Will you do me a favor, though?"
"Yep," Dinky perked.
"Can you watch the Doctor's 'box-ship' while I go out and look for him?" asked Ditzy. "I won't be out long, I promise."
"Of course!" smiled Dinky. "I'll watch it like a hawk!"
"That's my girl," grinned Ditzy. "Now, Amethyst might not wake up for a while, but if she does, just tell her I'm out for a walk too. I don't want her to be worried about anything."
"Okay Momma," said Dinky. Ditzy, relieved to have a wonderful daughter as Dinky was, then strolled out the door and began her search for the Doctor.
* * *
"Amy! Amy! Wake up! Wake up!" Dinky bounced up and down on Amethyst's bed. Her sister groaned.
"Get off, Dinky," she said, hiding deeper in her pillow. "I want to sleep."
"I know," said Dinky, "but I have a question."
"Go ask mom."
"Momma's...busy. So's Doctor."
"Ugh, can't it wait?"
"Nope!" said a determined Dinky. "I need an answer, and I know you're smart!"
"Grr..."
"Please?!"
"Fine," grumbled Amethyst. "What is it?"
"What does 'Ehdrike' mean?" asked Dinky, stumbling over the strange word she was asking the definition to.
"What?" questioned her sister.
"Eh...eh...."
"Wait, stop. How do you spell it?"
"Um, I forgot."
"Ugh. Where'd you see it, in a book?" asked Amethyst.
"Nope," said Dinky. "On the box-ship." Amethyst stopped cold.
"What?"
"On the box-ship," repeated Dinky.
"You mean the 'TARDIS'," corrected her sister, a little annoyed that her younger sibling never used the proper term. "Why is there a weird word on it? Doesn't the Doctor know?"
"Um..." stuttered Dinky. She struggled to follow her mother's instructions. "He's sort of out on a walk...with Momma..."
"Ugh, of course," complained Amethyst. "Fine, I'll come and see it." The strange word that was somehow on the TARDIS was the only drive that led Amethyst out of bed. After all, until she checked it out, Dinky would never stop bothering her.
The elder sister followed the little filly out to the living room, trudging her hooves on the floor. She squinted at the TARDIS.
"I don't see anything," she muttered.
"It's not here, Amy," stated Dinky. "It's on the back side." Amethyst followed her sister across the room and behind the TARDIS. There, in the blue paint, was a word painted in grey. It was a strange word that Amethyst hadn't seen before, but it certainly looked easier to pronounce than how Dinky's under-developed tongue put it.
"See," said Dinky, pointing at the side. "'Ehdrike',"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how you say it," said Amethyst.
"Oh. How do you pronounce it?"
"I don't know," said the young mare, staring and trying to comprehend the word. She didn't want to have a stab at it, and anyways, at the same time, she didn't really care.
"Just ask mom or the Doctor when they get back," said Amethyst lazily. "I'm sure one of them will know what it means."
"You heard me," stated the flight attendant. "I quit." To prove her point, she crossed her arms. Captain Stapely, the commercial flight pilot that the flight attendant currently was no longer employed to, scratched his head.
"I-I know, I heard," he replied. "It's just that...you haven't even started your job...and now you want to quit ?"
"That's right," confirmed the attendant. A young girl dressed in velvet came up behind the woman and grabbed at her shoulder.
"But Tegan," she said, a confused look in her pale blue eyes, "isn't this what you've always wanted? Isn't this what we've been trying to get back to for months, just so that you can commence your job at last?" Tegan Jovanka listened to the girl's persuasion, but shook her head.
"I thought that's what I wanted," she said. "But...I think I've changed my mind." She looked behind the girl, Nyssa, and looked at a man standing there, his hands pushing back his trenchcoat and in his pockets. He too, was also confused.
"I want to stay with you, Doctor."
* * *
Ditzy Doo scrambled back through her door later that morning out of breath. She met her two daughters, who were sitting in the living room playing a game of checkers.
"Any luck, Momma?" asked Dinky, still remaining hopeful. The worn-down pegasus shook her head.
"No," Ditzy panted. "He didn't happen to come back?"
"Nope," said Amethyst, moving one of the board pieces. "You sure he hasn't just...left somewhere, mom?"
"He wouldn't just leave ," said Ditzy. "It isn't like him to get walk out. And besides, his TARDIS is still here." She glanced over at the sleeping police box.
"Maybe the note on his box-ship means something, Momma," spoke Dinky, looking up from the game that was becoming slightly frustrating for her. Ditzy's ears perked.
"Note?" she questioned.
"It's nothing really, mom," said Amethyst before motioning her sister to hurry up with the next move. "It's just some weird word on the back, probably alien." The teen turned back to the game, watching Dinky put a red checker down. Ditzy turned her attention to the TARDIS, and she briskly trotted around the blue box. It was when she happened upon the back that she saw the grey, odd word.
"Hm..." Ditzy said aloud.
"Do you know what it says?" asked Dinky, neglecting the game and an annoyed Amethyst.
"That's the thing...I don't," said Ditzy, turning her head. "I haven't seen anything like this. I mean, strange stuff has appeared on the TARDIS before, but this is almost too strange."
"I think it's nothing to worry about," said Amethyst from across the room, who was clearly uninterested in the conversation or even listening to it.
"Never say nothing, the Doctor always says," Ditzy replied. "Something even this unimportant could be really huge, Amy. Think about it, what if this was some special message..." Suddenly, Ditzy Doo paused, her mouth slightly ajar.
"What is it, Momma?" asked Dinky.
"I think I might know why this is here," the pegasus stated. "It must be...a message."
"That's what I said!" Dinky cheered. "Doctor must have put it there!"
"Or not," said Ditzy. "It may or may not even be from the Doctor, but it still could be a message." Ditzy walked around the TARDIS, scrutinizing every inch of it. Dinky followed curiously at her hooves.
"The TARDIS is a time machine, and knowing the Doctor, his timeline could change at any moment. It could be possible this could be a message from the past...or maybe even the future!"
"So what does it mean?" asked Dinky.
"I...don't really know."
"Do you think it might be the reason the Doctor's gone?" asked Amethyst, picking up a little talk in the situation.
"Maybe," said Ditzy. "Maybe."
* * *
It was about half past one. Dinky and Amethyst were sitting at the kitchen table with hay sandwiches. Ditzy was in the living room adjacent to the kitchen, pacing the floor, occasionally stopping to look out the window or at the TARDIS, expecting at any moment the Doctor may appear.
"Momma, come eat with us!" called Dinky from the kitchen. Ditzy briefly stopped before walking tensely into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, muffin," the stressed mother apologized. "It's just that I'm worried that the Doctor could be in serious trouble."
"Isn't he always in trouble?" muttered Amethyst. "I can't believed you're surprised."
"Now Amy..."
"What?" retorted the young mare. "It's true, you know."
"Well," Ditzy sighed, "I can only hope for the moment. I just wish that I could do something to help him." With the comment, Ditzy, started pacing in the kitchen.
"Doctor will come back though," Dinky reassured in pure mind. "He always comes back."
"That's right, he does," Ditzy beamed. She patted Dinky's head.
However, for the next few minutes, the kitchen was silent, with nothing but the sound of chewing and Dinky occasionally humming filling the air. The three ate lunch together, Ditzy finally coming to the table to sit down, and each of them kept to their own thoughts, Ditzy hoping, Amethyst caring less, and Dinky certain of her beliefs the Doctor would return.
That was when they were alerted by a surprising commotion from outside. Ditzy instantly dropped her sandwich as the noise penetrated through the air.
"Momma, what is that?" Dinky asked in a confused manner. Even Amethyst stopped, befuddled. They stopped their actions instantly and focused their senses on the strange sound. It was obviously getting closer, but it was the manner of it that was odd.
Ditzy recognized it vaguely.
"It's...the TARDIS!" she exclaimed. However, when the three ponies glanced at the blue box in the living room, it sat patiently, not disappearing or going anywhere.
"Momma, why is it getting closer?" trembled Dinky, sliding off her chair and reaching for her mother.
"I don't know," said Ditzy. "The TARDIS is right here!"
"Does the TARDIS always sound...injured?" asked Amethyst, also gaining a hint of concern in her tone. She was right. The oncoming groaning sound of the TARDIS sounded abnormal, like it was suffering, almost screaming.
"It sounds like when the TARDIS has to commence it's emergency landing operation," Ditzy concluded. The faint echo grew quickly to a roar. The TARDIS sound almost sounded like it was coming straight for the house. Immediately the young girls were scared, Ditzy shot with a dose of adrenaline.
"Momma!" Dinky cried.
"Mom, what do we do?!" Amethyst tried to shout over the blasting din.
"GET DOWN!" Ditzy screamed at her children. Using her wings, the protective mother covered Amethyst and Dinky's faces as she shoved them under the kitchen table. A millisecond after, the ceiling collapsed in the kitchen, debris scattering all over the floor. The crash of some large, mysterious object that broke the roof acted quickly, landing to the kitchen floor with a THRASH! Ditzy dared to peek when it was mostly over, and found that her kids were okay, her kitchen, not so much.
Ditzy pulled the wings carefully back from the fillies' heads and ventured out from under the table, Amethyst and Dinky sticking close behind her. Bits of wood and straw fell from above, loosely clinging onto what used to be the ceiling. The gaping hole in the roof wasn't what caused alarm amongst the three ponies.
"Momma..." started Dinky. Ditzy was baffled.
"Oh my..."
However, Amethyst put it most correctly.
"What the Greek Pillar ?!"
There wasn't much of a difference between a type 40 and a type 45 TARDIS, however, the Doctor wasn't really too fond of using a piece of machinery he wasn't accustomed to, neither was he happy about his TARDIS being in someone else's hands. However, the Doctor was sitting on the edge of London's Heathrow Airport in the late 20th century with nothing but his companions, a cricket ball, and a wad of shoestring. It wasn't like he was expecting to be perfectly content 100% at that moment.
The precarious Timelord stood uncomfortably in the blackened and dimly lit "borrowed" TARDIS control panel, unsure of how to start it. Across the room stood the flight attendant, Tegan Jovanka, and the girl, Nyssa.
"What's wrong, Doctor?" Nyssa asked when she noticed how long the Doctor was pausing to take-off. "Can't it start?"
"It should. It got us here in the first place, didn't it?" noted Tegan. Both girls were concerned of getting stuck in London. After all, they did have a mission at hand.
"Yes, that is indeed true," said the Doctor, trying to reassure his companions as well as himself. "Although now's probably the best time to admit that I didn't exactly fly this TARDIS back to Heathrow."
"What?!" exclaimed Tegan.
"Now just a minute," he continued, trying to keep the former flight attendant from firing off on him, "there is an explanation for this. After the gestalt of the Xeraphin conquered his split self and agreeing to help us, he sacrificed his species' regenerations to help power this TARDIS, enabling us to transport Victor Foxtrot, the passengers, and us back to...well, where we are now." The Doctor was referring to the previous events the trio had just encountered. He, Tegan, and Nyssa had followed a missing Heathrow passenger jet into a time contour that led to 140 million years in the past. Many strange events occurred, however upon attempting to return, the Doctor's TARDIS was stolen, or more traded, for the sake of the passengers. For some reason the Doctor couldn't comprehend, the criminal got away with the blue box, leaving the Doctor, his companions, and the passengers in the past with a broken TARDIS and an eerie Citadel.
The Citadel was a power-source the criminal had intended to use for their broken TARDIS, however it was in possession of a gestalt of the species that took an ethereal form in the Citadel, the Xeraphin. When the criminal first entered the time-stream, the gestalt became unstable and broke into a moral, helpful self, and a villainous, treacherous self. It had appeared to the Doctor and the others that the gestalt was losing himself and leaning toward helping the criminal in the end, however, by some odd reason, he didn't, and in turn, as the Doctor had stated, helped power the broken TARDIS to materialize the passengers, who were on board the Victor Foxtrot, and the time-travelers back to Heathrow Airport in the time period they left.
"We know that, we were there for all of it," stated Tegan. "I just don't understand how the TARDIS doesn't work now."
"Well for starters, the Xeraphin's conscience wore out as soon as we arrived," the Doctor hypothesized as he took a closer look at the controls on the console. "It seems as though we are safely out of the time contour and the TARDIS's main power systems are inclining back to their normal functions, but-"
"Wait, if the TARDIS is beginning to function normally, than why can't you fly it like your TARDIS?" interrupted Nyssa.
"Because, it isn't my TARDIS!"
"So you're saying that you just don't know how to fly this thing?" sassed Tegan. The Doctor sighed.
"I just want my TARDIS back, that's all," he groaned.
* * *
The Doctor, still trapped in the strange, metal holdings, strained his eyes through the darkness of the control room. For the past few minutes he had been running his mind, trying to figure out who his captor was. No information could be gained, though. The stallion was draped in a black cloak, and even if the Doctor could see the pony, he knew that he wouldn't be able to recognize him instantly.
The pony that held him hostage obviously knew the Doctor, but he also used the term "man" instead of "pony", giving the Doctor a clue that whoever was roaming around in the control room was not originally what he was. The Doctor concluded that the stranger had to come from the dimension he himself came from before he turned into a pony, went on adventures with Ditzy, etc.
He closed his eyes. The Doctor knew that he may not get an exact name out of his holder. He would have to trick him, know a little more about him, before he could make a final estimate.
"How do you know I'm the Doctor?" the Timepony asked, breaking the silence (other than the murmur of the TARDIS). The stranger turned toward him, or at least the Doctor assumed.
"I mean, yeah, obviously, the explanation before, assuming that only the Doctor can open his own TARDIS and whatnot," the Doctor continued. "Still, that really isn't a sound argument on why you think I'm the Doctor." He watched as the stranger ventured closer to him. The Doctor continued his "rant".
"For all you know, I could be his newest companion! Or this may not actually be 'The Doctor's TARDIS'! Or-! Or...maybe I'm just a normal pony breaking in. You sure you locked before you parked?" The Doctor grinned. "How do I know you're not the Doctor? Oh, fantastic trick there, buddy, fantastic play."
Plainly the Doctor wasn't this unintelligent. But he was hoping the stranger would think he was. Maybe the cloaked stallion would inform an "idiot".
Instead, the stallion chuckled.
"Oh my dear Doctor you are so naive," he replied to the gabbing Timepony while shaking his head. "I know that tone you are using. You may be acting like you know nothing, but truly, it is a reality." The Doctor frowned. This pony was good.
"Besides, I know exactly who you are based on more than merely finding your way in here," continued the stranger. "You may have tried to fool me with a new face but I know the Doctor when I see him, and I know that the Doctor has a special connection with his TARDIS." Menacingly, the stallion walked over to the controls and pressed a button on the console. The Doctor suddenly felt the metal wires caging him tighten around his hooves and body. Two of them protruded towards his head, then forcefully holding his temples in place. With a shock of some type of energy through the metal, the Doctor winced, sucking air through his teeth.
"What is this, what are you doing to me?!" he demanded as the energy surge increased. The stranger laughed.
"I'm able to get inside your mind Doctor," he replied. "Not much, unfortunately, but the Hadron Power Lines can read any mathematical information in your mind. And I can see a great deal from it, but most importantly, so can the TARDIS." Suddenly the pony slammed his front hooves on the ground. The Doctor grimaced.
"Agh!" he cried, almost out of breath.
"Hm, intriguing," the stranger pondered. "It appears that you respond to the TARDIS and it's own reactions. Although this should make sense...you do have a larger mind capacity than my last victim. Also...the Hadron Web is my installation to your TARDIS. I suppose it makes sense if you have...how should I put it...trouble adjusting?" The Doctor tried to reopen his clenched eyes to face his captor.
"Stop...STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"
"Oh, alright," the stranger sighed, pressing the button and releasing the pieces of the Hadron Web that was pressing against the Doctor's head. But soon after, he continued to chuckle.
"You really have learned nothing since our last encounter, haven't you? It's like you've lost your intelligence to time. The irony..." The stranger almost waltzed around the control room, clearly enjoying having everything in his grasp. "I'm actually starting to wonder how long our last encounter was to you! How old are you Doctor?"
"Nine-hundred and three," the Doctor replied reluctantly. He figured that he had underestimated the stranger in his TARDIS, and an age question was rather harmless. He didn't want to go through the Hadron Power Line treatment again for something as trivial as that.
"So it has been long!" stated the stallion. "What face is this for you...seventh? Eighth?"
"Tenth."
"Well, you certainly have been getting yourself into danger, haven't you?" the stranger said. "Even ending up here in this...odd dimension."
"So you aren't from here either, I can assume?"
"Ah, no, not at all. But I had knowledge of some dimensions like this existing. Still, it's bizarre that your TARDIS led me here to you, here , in this funny world and not back on Earth where we talked last according to my timeline. But that doesn't matter. All I knew is that I needed the Doctor, and the Doctor I have received, even if he isn't a blubbering fool and he is a talking equine." The Doctor squinted.
"Who are you? And I'm saying this for real...I want a name. Who are you ?"
"All in good time, Time...pony ," chortled the stranger. "I have already told you enough. I think it's time you realized that I am the one in charge here." With that, the stallion pushed the same button to activate the Hadron Web, but he also turned a switch. The lines of the Web tangled around the Doctor's head this time instead of painfully jabbing at it.
"Your TARDIS is mine now, Doctor, and so are you." The Doctor felt an excruciating surge through his head.
"STOP!" he belted. "End this now or I'll....I'll-!"
"You'll what, Doctor?" asked the stranger nonchalantly. The Doctor's mind started to lose it's conscious grip.
"You're weak Doctor, admit that I have beaten you!"
"Never!" The Doctor's surrounding became feathered.
"Face it, I have gone into your future and stopped you, even after my present where I have left you in the dust to die with dust," spat the stallion. "I control you and you obey me ."
The Doctor blacked out.
However, he heard the stranger's last words before his mind went silent.
"I am your Master ."
The Doctor felt too brilliant. Tegan was worried about it.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked, biting her lip.
"Of course I'm sure, at least, to some extent," replied the Doctor with a cheeky grin. "After all, the Master's TARDIS can't be too different than mine. It's still a piece of technology from Gallifrey."
"Oh yes, customized to downright creepy."
"Everyone has their own taste in atmosphere, Tegan."
"If the Doctor tells the Master's TARDIS to follow his own, surely we'd be able to track it down to some extent," said Nyssa, bringing the bantering down to a halt. "We don't even need to plug in certain coordinates. The records here on the console indicate that the Master has tracked the Doctor's TARDIS before, and we can do it again. Right, Doctor?" She turned her head to the Doctor for confirmation, however the man was too busy trying to even read the controls.
"Hm?...Oh yes, yes yes, right, Nyssa," he replied. "I just need to figure out how to carefully manipulate the tracking system...then plug in the target....ah! Yes! That should do it!"
"Well?" said Tegan impatiently.
"I just hope it works," the Doctor stated before pulling a handle and starting the TARDIS. Gradually, it came to a whir, just like the Doctor's, only with a slightly different, more unwelcoming sound attached to it.
"Eh," shivered Tegan.
"What do you mean by you 'hope it works'?" questioned Nyssa. "How hard could it be to track down your TARDIS?"
"Harder than you think," said the Doctor, shoving his hands in his pockets and monitoring the flight pattern of the Master's TARDIS. "With so many of me out there, being a time-traveler and a regenerating Timelord, I have to make sure I find my current TARDIS. For all we know we could end up with the me who had the jelly-babies and the obnoxious scarf all over again."
"Point taken," Tegan agreed. "Not that you're a bad person Doctor but I can't imagine being in a room with more than one of you."
"Neither can I. My old selves were somewhat vain and proud, and sometimes it's unbearable to think about how different I was then."
"You certainly have changed from that," commented Tegan sarcastically.
The three stood patiently in the dim control room, watching the centerpiece bob up and down, just like the Doctor's TARDIS. They waited as the ship flew through time and space, hopefully searching for-
"Doctor, what is that?!" Nyssa alerted. The room started to turn an even redder glow than it was, and all over the console lights flashed angrily.
"I don't know!" shouted the Doctor as warning sirens blared. "But whatever it is, I suggest holding on!"
"You think?" said Tegan. Quickly the Doctor and his companions grasped the control panel, hanging onto the sides and top as the TARDIS began to thrash violently, and even sometimes, spin. The room seemed to almost vibrate and resonate from being tossed around in space.
"What's happening?!" Nyssa managed to shout before she held her stomach nauseously.
"We seem to be passing though-," started the Doctor, his feet slipping on the smoothed floor and his hands gripping higher up on the console. "-something!"
"How reassuring!" replied Tegan. "Because that something is starting to sting!" She was right. Just as she spoke, Nyssa and the Doctor also realized that whatever they were passing through was affecting their whole body, making them feel like every part of them had been doused with poison ivy.
"It must be affecting our atomic structure!" the Doctor said through his grit teeth.
"How do you know?!" asked Nyssa.
"I've been through four regenerations! Ah! The waves of this...grh!...force we appear to be passing through...gah!...feels somewhat similar to it!"
"Don't tell me we're regenerating!" complained Tegan.
"Come on, Tegan, that's ridiculous! We're just getting our atoms rearranged!"
"Again, Doctor, you're such a ray of sunshine!" Suddenly the force of the waves amplified, and it was almost impossible for the Doctor and his companions to continue a conversation. Each of them held on for their own lives, attempting to bear the increasing pain that hit them as they spun faster and faster through the space field. The groan of the TARDIS became more like a shriek, firing off the emergency protocol system of the TARDIS and with it, the howl of the emergency landing engines. The Doctor took notice of it, having some relief in the sense that they were about to land. The only problem was that it wasn't going to be all too comfortable.
The lights of the TARDIS flickered off, the emergency red lighting taking hold of the room. Still, the three could hardly see with so much turbulence. Constantly they were picking up speed, movements becoming wilder and unpredictable. Then, as soon as the Doctor thought the TARDIS couldn't travel any faster, it halted with a loud CRASH! , sending him, Tegan, and Nyssa flying off of the control panel, unable to hold on any longer.
The TARDIS breathed it's final moans before seemingly slipping into unconsciousness. The red accent lights flickered dimly, and fortunately, the TARDIS managed to crash-land somewhat upright. This was good news considering the automatic function of the TARDIS to always turn the inside back to normal seemed to be damaged.
Feeling a little sore from the sudden impact, the Doctor struggled to open his eyes and lift his head, however he managed to see the shapes of fallen Nyssa and Tegan on the opposite sides of the room. He was near the back, farthest from the door, Nyssa to his right in the corner most elevated, and Tegan in front of him on the other side of the console. Instantly the Doctor became panicky.
"Is everyone alright?!" he called out.
"I'm fine, Doctor," a muffled voice from Nyssa called.
"Good! Tegan?"
"What?!"
"Okay, I at least know you're alright." The Doctor tried to lift himself up off the floor, but instead slipped. He looked down to find that the ends of his arms only reached to the middle of his coat, sweater, and shirt and that after he fell back down to the floor he became tangled in the fabrics of all of them.
"Oh dear...that's not right," he said to himself.
"Doctor!" Nyssa called from across the room as she too was struggling to stand. "I think we've shrunk!"
"Or our clothes have increased in size, but that's a good theory too, Nyssa," replied the Doctor. "I told you, that wave of energy was somehow manipulating our atomic structure. It could be possible that we have experienced some...side effects..."
"Good grief what's on my face?!" shouted Tegan.
"Where? Let me see," said the Doctor. He looked in the direction of where Tegan was, expecting to see her sit up with some strange growth or object on her nose or cheek. Instead, the Doctor saw Tegan's face...however that was all he could recognize from her.
"You're purple!" he responded to Tegan.
"My whole face?" she said nervously. "I thought it was just something on my nose!" The Doctor saw Tegan squint in the dim light. "Wait, that's you, isn't it, Doctor?"
"Of course it's me!" he replied. "Why?"
"You're not exactly human, er, well, human-like anymore," she said.
"I still have hair though, right?"
"Doctor..."
"Just checking."
"Goodness, it appears something has happened to the both of you," Nyssa said, jumping into the conversation. "Neither of you are humanoid anymore. And Tegan, yes, you are very purple." Tegan moaned.
"If we aren't human anymore, then what are we?" she then asked.
"Well, let's look at the new features we have," stated the Doctor. "Hopefully we are something we recognize from somewhere."
"You're telling me," said Tegan. "I'm not interested in being a new, invented species."
"So, face," said the Doctor. "Hm, that's interesting...monocular vision...pinna on top of the head...and a muzzle instead of a nose..."
"We all seem to be fitting the same description," said Nyssa.
"Is that good news or bad news?" asked Tegan.
"Well, I'd rather all be the same than a mix of things," said the Doctor. "Although Nyssa appears to be slightly different with a...horn on her head."
"But all those traits you said before, Doctor," reminded Nyssa, "what does that say about us as a whole?"
"I can't exactly be precise," said the Doctor, "however I do believe we're some kind of equine."
"What does that mean?"
"We could be anything related to a horse, a zebra, a donkey..."
"I would not be too pleased about being a donkey," muttered Tegan.
"If only the Master had a mirror in his TARDIS, we might get more of a clue," said the Doctor. "Or maybe...if I tried to stand..." Struggling to get to his feet, the Doctor found that his arms kept falling to the floor.
"Interesting, I have four legs!" he exclaimed. "That's new."
"Well, you were right about the equine thing," stated Tegan. "You look like a small horse."
"Horses are Earth animals, right?" asked Nyssa, looking to expand her earthling knowledge.
"That's correct," said the Doctor, trying to balance on all fours. "Although we must be some extraterrestrial variation of it, seeing that Tegan is purple and Nyssa as a horn."
"I'm so confused," complained Tegan.
"I just don't want to move anywhere," said Nyssa. "My clothes don't exactly fit properly."
"Oh, yes...that's a problem..." the Doctor agreed.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Tegan.
"Be patient," replied the Doctor. "Maybe the effects will wear off. Or maybe I can figure out where we are..."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the TARDIS door. Nyssa, Tegan, and the Doctor froze, not sure if they should be afraid or unsure or relieved. The girls looked at the Doctor, hoping he'd know what to do. He sat in one spot, like a deer in headlights.
"...to be honest I didn't see this coming."
Three Strangers in Ditzy's Kitchen
"What is it, mom?" asked Amethyst as she sat back with Dinky under the dusty table. Ditzy was as close to the strange object as she wanted to be, however, it was hard to tell what the thing actually was!
"I...have no idea," she said, still in disbelief a column was in her kitchen. "It looks like it's made of stone." Ditzy brought her hoof to the object and knocked her hoof against it, and unexpectedly, it echoed throughout the pillar.
"Whoa, it's hollow!" Ditzy exclaimed. "And it doesn't seem to be made of stone at all!"
"What does that mean?" asked Dinky.
"I don't know, but I've seen strange things before traveling with the Doctor, and this may be one of them."
"Or it's Discord pranking us...again," said Amethyst dubiously.
"Maybe it's a box-ship like Doctor's!" Dinky guessed.
"It's a cylinder," Amethyst stated.
"Um, okay....cyl-cylendarrr-" Dinky tried to pronounce.
"I don't think so, " Ditzy said. "But it did make a similar sound to the TARDIS...still, it can't be...the Doctor's the only one to even have a TARDIS anymore...right? I mean, this could be another strange ship that kinda sounds like it."
"I'm still going with the prank thing," Amethyst concluded. "Discord knows about the Doctor, and what else is more random than a pillar in our house?" Just as she said the statement, the object groaned slightly. A rectangular cut appeared on the outside, smoke escaping from the crevices. Ditzy jumped back as the rectangle slid back into the pillar like a slide door. She huddled next to her kids. The door stuck, and for a moment, there was a black entrance to the pillar. The three ponies were speechless at one end, but also silent in fear, worried that something dangerous would come out to get them...
Celery.
"I spoke too soon," muttered Amethyst quietly. There, from the capsule, was an orange hoof holding a stick of celery.
"What?" said Ditzy under her breath. The hoof went back into the pillar.
"I think the air is safe," said a hushed stallion's voice from in the darkness.
"Obviously," said another hushed voice, this time, a mare. "We've already been breathing it for a few seconds without turning purple."
"Well, better it be the celery than you," said the first voice.
"Will both of you stop it?" said a third voice, one much younger.
"Why are we whispering in the first place?" asked the mare's voice.
"I...don't know," replied the voice of the stallion. Under the table, Dinky tugged at Ditzy's mane.
"Momma, who are those pon-"
"Sh," shushed Ditzy. "I don't know, muffin."
"Should we run?" whispered Amethyst.
"Just a second," replied Ditzy. She was interested in as to what and who crashed through her house, as always having her curious mind open to the world. However, the mother still kept her children back as best she could.
"Do you think it's a good idea to see what's out there?" asked the young voice.
"I'm still not sure," replied the stallion's voice. "You never know what you may encounter on an uncharted planet. There could be giant spiders out there for all we know."
"There's such a planet?!" said the mare's voice, echoing in the pillar's interior.
"Unfortunately, yes. However, now that we've sat in this dusty TARDIS bantering for so long-" Ditzy's ear's perked at the word TARDIS "-I'm actually feeling the want to go outside and take a look around."
"Did he say...what I thought he said?" said Amethyst under her breath.
"I told you so," whispered Dinky.
"But...that's impossible," breathed Ditzy. A bunch of muffling sounds starting coming up from the inside of the pillar, or strangely as the mares were informed, the TARDIS.
"Back up, I think something's coming out," said Ditzy, shielding her daughters with her wings. The three of them scoot back further under the table, their eyes fixed on the open door. They waited.
"It's a little difficult walking around with this size change," grumbled the stallion's voice, which seemed to be coming closer. Suddenly there was a bump! and the next thing that Ditzy, Dinky, and Amethyst knew, a pile of beige and white fabrics was tumbling out of the pillar and in front of their faces. When it stopped, Dinky was eye-level with the stallion stranger.
"Oh...hello..." said the stallion awkwardly as he just realized he was in front of other creatures. Dinky just screamed.
"Get away get away get away !" she squealed as she stomped her hoof down and bopped the stallion on the nose. He winced as Ditzy pushed her children back and came muzzle-to-muzzle with the strange pony.
"Who are you?!" she demanded, her voice with a little more force since she had been nothing but unsure for the past few minutes until the random pony suddenly appeared. The stallion's eyes popped open again in sudden fright.
"Wh-a-a-a-no! I'm not an imposter with malicious intent, I swear!" said the stallion nervously as he pushed himself back with his front hooves. "Just a traveler, that's all!" He attempted to stand quickly but instead hit the table. A white and red-banded hat he was wearing on his blonde head smashed over the top of his face. "Ack!"
"How'd you get in my house? What are you doing here?" Ditzy kept questioning. The stallion only sat on the floor rubbing his head.
"Enough with the questions, just let me recuperate for a minute!" he said hurriedly. "Unfortunately I'm trying to figure out the same answers as well, but blabbering right in front of me in a difficult situation as this may not exactly help our predicament."
"Doctor!" A voice suddenly called out from the open pillar. It was the mare's voice. Ditzy froze the moment the word hit her ears, and just afterward, two more ponies emerged from the capsule. One was the mare who spoke, an earth-pony who had clothes draped over her the same color as her coat. The other was a younger mare, not by a lot, but noticeably. She, too, had clothes bagged around her body, but different from the mare she was a unicorn. Ditzy didn't know what to think. Her head hurt from confusion.
"Are you all right?" the young mare asked the stallion as she approached him. The other mare just stared at Ditzy and her daughters.
"What's going on?" she breathed, her eyes widened in disbelief as much as Ditzy's. The stallion on the floor sat up, finally able to pry the hat off his head. His mane went everywhere.
"Can we all just stop asking questions that can be answered through simple and formal introduction?" he suggested, his voice cracking a little from the tiredness that overtook it. He then suddenly looked up and smoothed his mane down.
The ponies in the room sat quietly, the mare staring at Ditzy, Ditzy at the stallion, the daughters at the strangers, the younger mare at the stallion as well, waiting for him to speak. None of them knew how to start.
"Well then," the stallion said, looking awkwardly at all the silent ponies before turning to Ditzy. He then said the most bizarre thing that the pegasus mother would ever hear, even though she had heard the words before. And just as he outstretched a hoof and smiled courteously...
"Hello, I'm the Doctor."
The Doctor started to regain consciousness, his head spinning a million miles an hour. He didn't know how long he had been out...seconds? Minutes? Possibly hours? Either way he had to regain his bearings again...remember that he was in an old version of his TARDIS. He was caught in a Hadron Web that lined one of the walls. There was another problem the Doctor had also just discovered.
The Master.
As he expected, the Doctor saw the pony-version of whom he believed was the Master next to the controls. He was still wearing the dark cloak as he had been and he turned his head the moment the Doctor awoke.
"It's rather dull in here when you keep passing out like this, Doctor," the Master said firstly. "Doesn't make for decent conversation."
"Maybe if you put down the torture devices and took off the disguise," stated the Doctor. The Master chuckled. The Doctor was not amused. He just wanted answers.
"How did you get here?" asked the Timepony.
"Why is it of concern to you?" re-questioned the Master. "After all, you're here too, Doctor."
"I'm not talking about the way you entered this world, I mean how are you here, physically?" questioned the Doctor. The Master almost showed himself off.
"Is this not enough evidence for you?" he asked.
"I know who you are, Master, so you can stop playing around," spoke the Doctor. "I saw you on earth, I watched as your plans for tranforming Earth with the Toclafane failed. You died and burned and I watched you do so!" The Master stood, back in the shadows. The Doctor uncomfortably could tell he was grinning. He could feel the Master's confidence in the air.
"Oh," the Master just responded. "So that's how we meet again." The Doctor swallowed.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"No, Doctor, what are you talking about?" laughed the Master. "By what I can tell from what you have said, we do meet again before this moment. I suppose it's one of the many perks of having a future Doctor in captivity." The Master pulled back his hood, revealing his head. The Doctor's stomach dropped.
Even though the Master was now a pony, a unicorn specifically, the Doctor could recognize the face. The coat of the other Timepony was a menacing yellow, his black mane slicked back to show his furrowed face and dark facial hair around his muzzle. His grin was the most recognizable feature that the Doctor remembered, crooked and made him look like he had a nasty secret in mind. He was most definitely the Master from the Doctor's far past, not the Master the Doctor had last encountered when he was humanoid.
And he had just given the past Master too much information.
"Five incarnations later and you're still as gullible!" the Master laughed historically. "You know, I truly thought that you may have learned some things over the two-hundred year gap between our last meeting until now, yet here you are, the Doctor, still the buffoon you never admit to be! Ha! I bet you really are appreciating the benefits of time-travel, but instead, into my web you get stuck, like a fly captured by a spider. How does it feel now, Doctor, to be the one who's lost? Admit it, Doctor, I've won!" The Master's prideful eyes gleamed at the Doctor as a boastful grin crept across his face. The Doctor simply hung in the Web, narrowing his eyes at the Master.
"Two things to that, Master," the Doctor replied. "One, I will never admit that I have lost, because I haven't. Not yet at least. There is always another way, and battling you for more years you have imagined I can say that with full confidence." The Master turned and snickered away. He neared the controls of the TARDIS yet again.
"And what is this second point, Doctor?" the Master asked, his face humored by the Timepony. The Doctor moaned.
"I forgot about how much I hated your rubbish 'victory speeches'."
* * *
Ditzy stared at the cordial stallion standing in front of her. Her eyes crossed further in frustration, and she shook her head slightly.
"That...that can't be true," she mumbled quietly. "It's not possible..."
"I'm sorry," said the Doctor, retreating his hoof. "What isn't possible?"
"No...no no no..." Ditzy stuttered. "You're not the Doctor."
"What do you mean he's 'not the Doctor'?" asked the young mare behind the Doctor. She stepped forward. "Of course he is!"
"The Doctor doesn't look like this," piped Amethyst, also trying to make sense of the situation.
"Well, that actually can be debated," stated the Doctor. "You see, being a Timelord-"
"Timepony . The Doctor says Timepony ; you're not the Doctor," interrupted Ditzy.
"Yes, yes, I know, the Doctor that you apparently know says things such as that, but you must realize that I'm new here and well...a stranger to this world and-"
"See?! You don't even know what this place is!"
"Of course not, I-"
"I bet you don't even know who I am!" Ditzy was upset. Who was this imposter to appear in Equestria and claim he was the Doctor, especially since the one she knew all too well was missing?
The Doctor, the stranger, stood in front of Ditzy, unsure of what words to use, as if he was half committed to making his point yet at the same time trying to keep offenses away from the strange mare in front of him. The two mares behind him also were unsure of what to say.
"If you could just listen for just a minute, I believe this will be straightened out," said the Doctor calmly. "By what I can collect, you know the Doctor, however, not specifically me ."
"That's the point I'm trying to make," said Ditzy.
"Yes, but let me explain further. I'm a Time...pony . The Doctor you know is a Timepony. And just like any other Timepony I, the Doctor, have this ability of regenerating myself when I come close to death."
"It's true!" said the younger mare. "We've seen it ourselves!"
"And it might be why you're frustrated," said the other mare. "The Doctor changes faces when he regenerates. Trust me, we had to cope with the same concept."
"And so, what I'm trying to say is," said the Doctor, "the Doctor that you know is just another incarnation of me." Ditzy scrunched her face.
"I'm confused," she replied. "That doesn't make sense at all."
"I'm actually quite surprised the Doctor...er, I haven't told you about this. Have you never seen your Doctor change his face or look different?"
"No," stated Ditzy. "He's always the same."
"Doesn't he ever talk about Timeponies ever? Has Gallifrey never come up in conversation?" Ditzy's face took a somber tone.
"Is this some kind of joke?" she asked.
"Joke?" questioned the Doctor. "How is it a joke? Has the High Council of Gallifrey never interfered? Or perhaps they've done something wrong...they aren't really fond of me that much..."
"What about other Timelords...ponies I mean?" the younger mare also asked, trying to help out Ditzy's understanding. "Don't you ever run into the Master?"
"If she's lived a decent life, she hasn't," the other mare muttered while rolling her eyes.
"Maybe if you could, I don't know, tell me what your Doctor has said to you about him, if you please. That might help us out tremendously," said the Doctor, eager to figure out what in the world, this world, was going on. Ditzy just stared at the strangers, unsure if they were trying to confuse her or if they were mocking her or the Doctor in some way.
[In an earlier adventure:]
"Doctor," Ditzy said as she sat in the TARDIS with her newest friend, the Doctor. She watched as he finished stabilizing the TARDIS in deep space before he looked up at her. His black spectacles were still on the bridge of his nose.
"What's wrong, Ditzy?" he asked, giving a look of concern.
"I was just wondering," she said, "you've told me that you traveled alone a lot. Remember? You said so when you met me."
"Yes, I did say that," replied the Doctor, taking the glasses off his face and focusing his eyes somewhere else. It was then Ditzy broke the slight, uncomfortable silence in the hum on the TARDIS with one word.
"Why?"
"Why did I say that?"
"No. Why do you travel alone?" The Doctor smiled as in attempt to cover something deeper, more painful up.
"I don't anymore," he said. "I travel with you, don't I?" Ditzy saw past the coverup. She saw it in his eyes.
"I don't mean that," she said. "I mean, like you...don't you have family? Other friends? Do you have somewhere to live when you're not in the TARDIS?" The Doctor stood silently, looking at the console with sad eyes. He ran a hoof through his chestnut hair and sighed. He then turned to Ditzy.
"I had family once," he began. Ditzy listened intently, knowing he'd give her all the answers. "A father, mother, many cousins. I had a home, too. I used to live with the other Timelords, yes, Timelords, something I once was before coming here, and we all lived on the planet Gallifrey. We were a mighty race, capable of so many things, and the Timelords were brilliant, really. Just...so brilliant."
"Where are the Time...lords?" asked Ditzy. "Aren't there more than just you?" The Doctor looked at Ditzy so seriously, and a painful shock pierced through his blue eyes. His expression was somber and didn't change.
"No," he replied. "They're gone, Ditzy. Gallifrey is gone, it's dead, and all the Timelords with it. It's just me now. And that's why, Ditzy, I am alone."
"You just...can't be making sense," Ditzy finally replied to the strange Doctor. "There isn't a Gallifrey, there are no more Timelords or Timeponies...none of those things exist. So you can't be the Doctor." The Doctor was taken aback, confused. That wasn't the response he was looking for.
"What do you mean by none of those things existing?" questioned the Doctor. "Did your Doctor tell you that?"
"Of course he did," said Ditzy. "He said all of those things are dead."
"This can't be right," the Doctor told Ditzy. "Gallifrey is most definitely real, the Timeponies are all still in existence. Your Doctor must have given you false information." Ditzy looked at the Doctor with a irked expression.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that...well, how do I put this properly...the Doctor you know has obviously not told you the truth...or quite possibly, it may not have been me, the Doctor, at all." Ditzy's agitation grew.
"Who are you to say that?!" she said. "For all I know, you may be the one telling the lies! The Doctor would never lie to me!"
"But he's telling the truth!" the younger mare backed up the Doctor.
"No! My Doctor is the Doctor! He looks nothing like you and definitely doesn't barge in my house like this! You have such nerve to mock the Doctor that way, claiming you're him and then going on saying that there is a Gallifrey and other Timeponies!"
"But there is!" stated the Doctor.
"No there isn't! You're the false Doctor! You and your fake TARDIS!"
"TARDIS?" said the Doctor, not sure if he should've been surprised that Ditzy knew the term. "But this isn't even-"
"The Doctor flies a blue box, not a...whatever this is!" The Doctor was now speechless.
"Certainly this can all be solved through simple explanation!" he retorted.
"No! You had your chance! Get out!" Ditzy was furious with the strange pony and his two friends with him. She had heard enough of his stupid voice. And with the Doctor, her Doctor, missing, she was fed up with this fool. Ditzy just wanted her Doctor back.
The Doctor in front of Ditzy looked dismayed. There was no way he was getting through with the mare. He didn't even figure out where he was, what he was doing there, what she was. She just knew the Doctor, someone else besides him, and it led to zero answers. Without anything else to do, the Doctor shut his mouth and put his over-sized hat back on his head.
"Well, goodbye then," he said steadily. He then pointed to the TARDIS crashed in the center of the room. "I should inform you, though, that this TARDIS is out of-"
"It doesn't matter," interrupted Ditzy. "Just you, all of you, get out." With that, the Doctor nodded and shuffled out of the kitchen. Wide-eyed and confused, the two other mares followed him.
Once they were out of the room, Ditzy stood quietly. Her children walked up next to her, watching the three ponies leave.
"That was...weird," said Amethyst. Ditzy didn't reply. She had nothing else to say. Dinky pulled at her wing.
"Momma, those ponies dress funny."
* * *
"Doctor, do something!" Tegan hissed quietly when she, Nyssa, and the Doctor left the kitchen. "What did that strange horse mean by any of those things?"
"I don't know," replied the Doctor. "And I don't think questioning her any further would help the situation. The best we can do is find someone else or wait until the creature is willing to help."
"What was she, by the way?" asked Nyssa. "She looked like us, but she had wings."
"It was like she was some kind of pegasus," said Tegan.
"Pegasus?"
"Fictional creatures from Earth myth," said the Doctor. "It was a creature that had the body of a horse and the wings of an eagle. That must have been who that mare was."
"So...what am I then?" asked Nyssa. "You and Tegan are normal, that one horse was a pegasus. I saw another young horse in the kitchen that had a horn on its head like mine."
"Hm...reminds me of a unicorn, another mythological creature from Earth fiction. They were horses with horns on their head, and some humans believed that unicorns had magical powers beyond understanding."
"How come the Doctor knows all these things and not you?" asked Nyssa to Tegan, her being the only former human of the group.
"Unicorns and pegasi don't exist on Earth. The idea just sounded uncanny," said Tegan. "I guess not, though." The three of them then entered Ditzy's living room, almost out of the house. However, each of them froze.
"Doctor, look!" said Nyssa, pointing to a familiar object across the room.
"It's the TARDIS!" exclaimed Tegan. And so it was. There, in the center of the room was the blue police box that the Doctor and his companions knew too well.
"It isn't mine though," said the Doctor.
"How can you tell?" asked Tegan. "And how can it not be yours?"
"Well, if the horse owner of this house is correct," stated the Doctor, "another Doctor is here. And if I'm correct, he is either another incarnation of me or someone imposing as me. This must be his TARDIS." The Doctor squinted his eyes and took a closer look. "The 'Police Box' words are lit up on the top. Have they been able to do that all along?"
"What should we do with it?" asked Tegan.
"Leave it here," said the Doctor. "We'll just keep an eye on this place for a while until we get answers." He then led Nyssa and Tegan out of the house. Once the three were outside, they shut the door. The Doctor then looked down at his baggy clothes.
"But first, we need answers to this place," he said.
"I agree to that," said Nyssa.
"And we might need a tailor or a shop, if those exist here."
"I agree to that, too," said Tegan. "I'm done with this uniform."
The Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa found that the new place they were in was certainly a strange world unlike anything they had seen. They were surrounded by what seemed like a village, a little but old fashioned, with simple wooden houses topped with hay. On each corner was some type of market or shop selling something. And of course, everywhere, ponies were walking about. Some were with wings like the grey mare the trio had encountered; some were unicorns, like Nyssa; and some were without either, like the Doctor and Tegan. It was even noted that some mules and goats were about, but they were a rare sight amongst the pony majority.
"Hm, most intriguing," the Doctor stated as the three were walking through the streets.
"What?" asked Tegan.
"None of the civilians here wear clothes at all," said the Doctor. "Seems they don't have the need, considering they, and we, are small horses covered in a coat of fur."
"You're not suggesting we don't wear clothes ourselves, Doctor!" Nyssa exclaimed.
"I might hate this outfit but not that much," Tegan added.
"All I'm saying is that clothing isn't necessary here. But it is an option. Some creatures are dressed," the Doctor pointed to a tan earth pony with floppy grey hair wearing a collar and a green silk puff tie. "Frankly, I'd agree to having some sense in style."
"And I'd like to be modest," said Tegan.
"Well, it is possible that there's a shop or something of the sort to satisfy both your vanities and essentials," stated Nyssa.
"But where are we going to find anything that sells clothes?" asked Tegan.
"All I see is shops selling flowers, supplies, and vegetables," said Nyssa, scanning the sides of the street.
"Well Doctor, at least you have something to wear," scoffed Tegan.
"Hey," the Doctor retorted. It was then when a pony accidentally bumped into Tegan.
"Ack!" squeaked the pony as she fell to the ground, being a much smaller size than a mare. She rubbed her curly lavender and pink mane before peeping an eye open upward.
"Oops...sorry about that," said Tegan, stopping to see if the filly was alright.
"It's fine," the tiny mare said as she stood back on her feet. "I wasn't looking where I was going." She then widened her eyes as soon as she opened them.
"Wow," the filly stated.
"What?" asked Nyssa. The filly stood there, dumbfounded, then as if a lightbulb snapped on, she started bouncing up and down, a huge grin on her face.
"Wow wow wow wow!" she said enthusiastically. The other three just looked at each other before the Doctor responded.
"What is it?"
"Um, oops, sorry," chuckled the filly. "It's just...you three are perfect !"
"Perfect for what?" asked the Doctor.
"Well, no offense, but I think you're clothes are just...too big for you." The trio exchanged glances.
"And what does that mean?" asked Tegan.
"Nothing," said the filly. "It's just that I've been helping my sister recently by asking ponies if they want an outfit or something. She's a fashion designer, and she told me that she just got done with a line and has no idea what to do." The filly leaned in closer to the others. "She's having an inspiration crisis. It's really bad. She won't let me in the house until I bring someone back, and she's been freaking out for like, three days."
"You've been locked out of your own house for three days ?" asked Nyssa.
"I may have exaggerated..."
"This is actually perfect!" the Doctor said, having the instinct to clasp his hands together, only to remember that he had hooves. "We actually need a tailor at the moment, just someone to get these clothes adjusted. If you could point us in the direction of your sister that would be great." The filly smiled graciously.
"Of course!" she squeaked. "Just follow me!" The filly walked the trio down the street.
"I'm Sweetie Belle by the way," she said. "And it's so nice you can help out!"
"Help out with what?" asked Tegan. "We're just getting these clothes tailored, aren't we?" Sweetie Belle, unbeknownst to the other three, gave a sly grin as she narrowed her eyes.
"Right..." she replied.
* * *
Sweetie Belle, Tegan, and the Doctor sat outside of a shop known as the Carousel Boutique, the place where Sweetie Belle promised her sister would help them. Nyssa had gone inside five minutes prior, Sweetie Belle explaining that each of them had to go in one at a time to get measured for tailoring, and also said that Nyssa should go first.
"It helps my sister focus than if you were all inside at once," she said. "And it makes everything run more smoothly."
"I sure hope so," said the Doctor. "How long does it take for someone to be measured?"
"Oh...a while," Sweetie Belle hesitated.
* * *
Nyssa went into the Carousel Boutique individually as instructed, leaving the others outside to wait. She stood in the front room as the chime of the store bell faded away.
"Hello?" she called out in the inviting, yet empty, shop. Nyssa looked around.
"This tailor is certainly creative, if anything," she said to herself while looking at the decor. "Perhaps a new look for me might be an option..."
"Can I help you?" called a voice from behind the part of another room. Then just around the bend came a white unicorn with a perfectly curled plum mane. She suddenly stopped at the sight of Nyssa.
"Whaaa!" she shouted.
"Hello...there..." replied Nyssa. Then she looked down at her clothes. "Oh, sorry, I know...it is pretty bad. I was hoping you can tailor this for me." The pony just kept looking at Nyssa, but then came closer to inspect her. It did also seem like the pony was looking more at Nyssa's hair than her clothes, but she then looked Nyssa back in the face and nodded.
"Oh...yes yes! That's definitely it! It's the outfit!" said the pony a little too obviously. "Well, I will let you know that this is the best fashion stop in Ponyville that you will find, make no mistake about it!"
That must be what this place is referred to as, thought Nyssa.
"Just out of the slightest curiosity," continued the pony, "did you just happen to stumble upon this place, or were recommended, or-"
"Actually, a little unicorn named Sweetie Belle mentioned it to us," said Nyssa, careful to choose her words to make her look like a pony too. "She mentioned having a sister that knew a thing or two about clothes. I'm assuming you are she?" The pony nodded.
"Yes I am. I'm Rarity," said the pony. "And you are?"
"Nyssa," replied the mare.
"Well, Nyssa," said Rarity, beckoning her to walk further into the shop, "come this way and I'm sure I can lend you a hoof with that mess you've got there on your back." Nyssa looked at her over sized clothes.
"Indeed," she said. Soon the two ponies came to a part of the shop where there were mirrors, mannequins, and fabric everywhere. Rarity asked Nyssa politely to stay while she retrieved a pair of bright red glasses and a measuring tape.
"I've heard from your sister that you develop lines of clothes," said Nyssa, trying to encourage a conversation.
"Oh, did you?" asked Rarity, looking suspiciously nervous.
"She told me you were out of ideas for another line," Nyssa continued. "I don't suppose that's why she told us to visit your shop, is it?"
"What?" Rarity said, sweating a little. "Oh don't be ridiculous! Sweetie Belle is telling the truth, but I'm actually on an unscheduled hiatus and well...tailoring for ponies is a perfect filler for the break." Rarity came closer to inspect Nyssa and dropped the subject.
"Now, this color on you...there's no way that is flattering, darling," said Rarity, shaking her head. "Perhaps something more on the shimmery side."
"Oh," said Nyssa, not sure on what ponies wore, therefore kept a say out of it. "I suppose that would be-"
"OR!" said Rarity, getting a new inspiration. "Perhaps something with chevrons! Lightly, though, and in certain shades of orange and yellow!"
"I guess that's-"
"NO, WAIT!" said Rarity, looking Nyssa dead in the eye. "I've got the perfect ensemble for you dear! Wait right here!" And with that, Rarity ran out of the room. Nyssa stood dumbfounded and confused. Then again, she never encountered ponies before. This kind of behavior may have been normal to their kind. Nyssa waited until Rarity's head popped back into the room.
"Oh, and while I grab the necessities," she said, "would you mind changing out of...that ?" Nyssa nodded politely.
"Excellent! I'll be back soon!" sang Rarity as she left once again. Nyssa was again alone in the room, standing awkwardly with her old outfit draped over her shoulders. Then, agreeing mentally to follow orders, she pulled the clothes off of her back. Surprisingly, she didn't feel too weird not wearing them anymore. Nyssa found that it was a relief that the Doctor was right in something about a new species.
It was then something caught Nyssa's eye. There, in one of the mirrors, she saw her reflection. Nyssa walked closer to the mirror, noticing the huge change she had gone through. Her hair was curly and the same, only maroon, and her coat was a light rose color. Her eyes were still pale blue, and there, on the top of her head, was the horn that made her like other ponies in the world, such as Rarity. Nyssa even had a tail, just like her hair! Only, near the tail...
"What is this?" Nyssa said to herself while looking at her flank. There, like it was printed onto her, was the symbol of the Keeper of Traken. What was it doing on her body? Did other ponies have something like it as well? She didn't remember seeing Sweetie Belle have a symbol like hers...and she didn't even notice the others. Nyssa decided to pay close attention to Rarity when she came back and look for the similarities. It wasn't long before the white unicorn returned.
"I'm back, darling!" she said happily. Nyssa looked right that the spot where she saw the symbol on her own flank. There, on Rarity, was a symbol like hers, only it was three cerulean diamonds. Nyssa pondered to herself. What did the symbols mean?
"The bad news is that I couldn't find the one thing that suited you," said Rarity. Nyssa looked at Rarity questionably. What happened to measuring her? Surely a tailor did that first.
"On the other hoof," said Rarity, "I found tons of items!" From out behind a curtain, mysteriously, came a rack full of sparkling outfits. Nyssa was stunned. She didn't know what was more bizarre: the outfits or the fact that the rack seemed to move by itself in a bluish glow.
"Fantastic, isn't it?" asked Rarity. "It's some of my latest work. You wouldn't mind being a dear and trying some of them on? I want to see how they look on a real mare, and who knows, maybe something will speak to you!" Nyssa stood, knees locked, and face in bewilderment. She didn't know where to start first...
The strange symbols on the ponies?
The self-moving rack?
The fact that she had been tricked into trying on an entire fashion line?
Tegan tapped her hoof impatiently.
"What's taking so long?" she asked the Doctor, who was becoming just as impatient as she was.
"I don't know," he replied. "It's been probably half an hour, if I were to make a guess."
"Oh, has it really been that long?" asked Sweetie Belle, who had been sitting outside with them, constantly reassuring them that the measuring process was just a time-consuming step. "It feels like it's only been two minutes!"
"No it hasn't," the Doctor stated flatly. Tegan stood up.
"Perhaps we should just go inside and check," she said, walking towards the front door of Carousel Boutique. Instantly, Sweetie Belle blocked her path.
"You can't!" she exclaimed. "My sister needs her time!"
"And I need answers," retorted Tegan.
"Look, why don't I just go inside and check?" suggested Sweetie hastily. Tegan growled.
"Fine," said the Doctor, avoiding any further debate. Sweetie Belle grinned nervously and vanished in through the door. Tegan faced the Doctor.
"I don't understand why this is taking so long!" she complained. "It's unlike Nyssa to take her sweet time. How long does this measuring process take?"
"Patience, Tegan," said the Doctor calmly, although he was feeling the exact same way. "I'm sure there must be some explanation. It isn't like she's in trouble; these creatures don't show any malicious threat."
"Well they sure do know how to take their sweet time," grumbled Tegan as she walked back over to the Doctor and sat down. It was then when Sweetie Belle appeared in the doorway of the shop again.
"Any news?" asked the Doctor.
"Hm?" Sweetie Belle asked blankly. She had a hoof behind her back.
"Nyssa! Where's Nyssa?!" asked Tegan, her face growing red with irritation.
". . .oh, her!" grinned Sweetie Belle nervously. "Um. . .she's going to be a few minutes." The Doctor looked at Sweetie Belle dubiously.
"What do you have behind your back?" Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. She scrunched her face.
"Nothing," she said quickly. "Look, it was nice meeting you and all, but I've gotta go!" As fast as her little hooves could take her, the filly took off down the street. Mistakenly, she revealed the hoof behind her back, which was holding three golden bits.
"Is that some form of currency?" asked the Doctor. "Did that little horse just get paid?!"
"Paid to do what?!" chimed Tegan.
"I have no idea. These creatures are a lot odder than I thought." said the Doctor. Tegan snorted.
"I've had enough of this! I'm going to get Nyssa and high-tail it out of here! This is just ridiculous!" The mare stomped towards the front entrance of Carousel Boutique and tried to grab the door handle. She was infuriated to find that hooves were a little more difficult to use than hands.
"ARRGGH!!!"
"Tegan, just calm down," said the Doctor. "Maybe we can-" But Tegan eventually managed to fling open the door and rumble inside. The Doctor sighed.
"Oh dear."
Tegan noisily entered the Boutique with a furrowed face. She stomped in as far as she could into the main room.
"Nyssa?!" she called out angrily throughout the shop. A reply came from the back room in the form of Nyssa's voice.
"Tegan!" The annoyed mare followed the voice further back in the shop. Quickly she came to a room surrounded by mirrors, mannequins, and fabric. In the center of it was Nyssa, or at least a pony that looked like Nyssa. It was hard to tell under all of the sequins and feathers she was wearing.
"Nyssa, what happened to you?!" asked Tegan. Nyssa looked at her friend miserably.
"I don't know," she said. "I thought I was going to get measured by the tailor, and the next thing I know, she's dressing me up in all types of outfits and things."
"Where is this tailor?" Tegan walked over to Nyssa and attempted to grab at some wacky and noisy hat sitting on Nyssa's head with her hooves.
"In the other room finding something 'for accents' as she says," said Nyssa, unsure herself of how to get out of the outfit. "Hurry, get me out of this before she comes back!"
"I'm trying!" grunted Tegan. "It's impossible to do anything with these. . .these hooves."
"Use your teeth or something."
"Ick, no."
"What other option do we have?" Tegan sighed and bit down on the hat on Nyssa's head. She was able to pull it straight off.
"Now, how do I get the rest of this off?" asked Nyssa, looking at all the fancy designs draped on her body. A sudden gasp sounded from across the room. Tegan turned to see a snowy unicorn with curled hair, a pair of red glasses perched on her muzzle. Next to her, floating in the air and surrounded by a blue mist, was an extremely high-end dress.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA IS GOING ON?!" she exclaimed, the dress next to her falling to the ground. The mare then snapped right to Tegan's face.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Can't you see I'm busy with an important client?!" she demanded. Tegan wasn't intimidated. She was enraged.
"So you must be the tailor?" said Tegan. "I have a few words for you, and I'm not going to guarantee a filter!"
"Listen, I don't know what you're doing here," spat the tailor, "but this pony here is a soon-to-be star model for my newest line, and unless you have an appointment-"
"That 'soon-to-be-star model' happens to be my friend Nyssa, you hard-headed animal!" Tegan interrupted. The tailor pony stopped for a minute, her eye twitching.
"WHAT?!" she exclaimed. "I thought she came alone!"
"I didn't come alone!" Nyssa finally spoke, hoping to handle things peacefully and without words that might end in violence. "I couldn't tell you anything because you started dressing me up in so many things."
"Well then," said the tailor, her nose lifting slightly in the air. "If you're not here to model, then why are you here?"
"I came here on behalf of your sister, Sweetie Belle, or I assume she's your sister," stated Nyssa. "Tegan and someone else-"
"Some. . .one?" asked the tailor, a little confused. Nyssa bit her lip.
"Er, somepony else. The three of us followed your sister to your services in hoping for adjustments to our current wardrobe."
"But then she started acting all weird, only taking Nyssa in and whatnot," pouted Tegan. The tailor looked down.
"Sweetie Belle. . ." she grumbled before looking up at Nyssa and Tegan, a little more humility in her eyes.
"You'll have to pardon me for my behavior," she said sincerely. "I am truly sorry. It's just that. . .I've had zero inspiration for a new line recently, and work here in the boutique has been slow. . .so I sent my sister out to find a pony willing to work for me shortly. And, well, it seems I may have gotten a little carried away."
"A little. . ." mumbled Tegan. Nyssa elbowed her.
"Please forgive me," said the tailor. "Sometimes I get a little carried away with hasty inspirations. I should've asked first."
"It's fine," said Nyssa, nodding kindly. Tegan sighed.
"Well, when you put it that way," she said.
"Good," smiled the tailor. "By the way, I'm Rarity. I don't think we've introduced, um-"
"Tegan," replied the grumpy mare, relaxing a little more now that things seemed normal.
"Tegan," Rarity repeated. "Well now, Nyssa and Tegan, I do believe one of you stated that you needed some tailoring. Simple tailoring."
"We do," replied Nyssa. "Our clothes have become a little baggy for us."
"What, did you all jump in the lake with low-quality fabrics or something?" asked Rarity. Tegan and Nyssa looked at each other before quickly nodding back.
"Yes," they replied.
"Well, I'm sure that I can fix something up!" said Rarity cheerfully. "But I must refuse to fix the outfits you entered the shop with. I don't mean to be rude yet again, but-"
"No, please," said Tegan. "It isn't a crime to call this uniform hideous." Rarity laughed.
"Well then, why don't I get out some useful fabrics for the both of you?" she replied. "Nyssa, I'll take this outfit from you." A blue mist surrounded Nyssa, and just like that, the pins holding the dress together were pulled out. The dress fell off, the blue mist taking it to a nearby rack. Tegan wanted to question about the mist, however-
"Nyssa!" Tegan whispered to her as Rarity exited the room briefly. "You haven't got any clothes on!"
"It's alright, Tegan," said Nyssa. "These creatures don't have the need for them, they're covered in a coat of fur, and so are you and me." Tegan still didn't like the idea. Rarity trotted back into the room, various fabrics following her again in a blue mist.
"Now, Tegan, get out of those terrible fabrics, and then I can get measurements from you both." Reluctantly, Tegan did as she was told. Just like Nyssa, she had an awkward time adjusting to not wearing any clothes, but the adjustment was short.
"Hold on, I forgot my measuring tape," said Rarity as she dashed out of the room, the fabrics dropping to the floor. Tegan turned to Nyssa.
"Why does everything in this shop float?" she asked her friend. "It's sort of. . .creepy." Nyssa put her mind to work.
"Well, I've noticed that everything in the shop follows Rarity or acts in a way to benefit her wanted actions," she stated. "Perhaps it's some form of telekinesis."
"Horses don't have that ability. They just gallop and winny!"
"She is a unicorn after all," said Nyssa. "Didn't the Doctor say unicorns had untold powers? By the way, where is he?"
"Probably still waiting outside," replied Tegan. "I was a bit of a mess, and he probably knew that I'd create one and wanted to stay out of it." Nyssa laughed.
"Just an odd observation," Nyssa then said, changing the subject, "but you have something on your thigh." Tegan looked at her flank. There, on top of her coat, was a symbol of golden wings.
"That is odd," she said. "What is it?"
"I don't know," said Nyssa. "I have one too, see?" Tegan saw Nyssa's symbol on her flank.
"You're right!"
"Rarity also has one," said Nyssa. "It would make sense that these symbols exist on our bodies, only each one, depending on the pony, is different."
"Maybe it's like some kind of weird birthmark?" asked Tegan. Nyssa shrugged. They ended their conversation when Rarity came back.
"Sorry for the delay," she breathed, showing that she had been in a hurry. "The tape was buried in all the outfits I sort of. . .dressed Nyssa in earlier. Let's take measurements now, shall we?" The blue mist surrounded the tape that Rarity had brought back around her neck. It then flew in the air over to Nyssa, then Tegan, measuring their height, length, width, and so on.
"Alright," Rarity said, a notepad and pencil hovering over to her in the mist and writing the measurements down. "Now for the fabrics. I don't know about you, Nyssa, but for some reason I picture you in a shade like this?" The blue mist brought over to Nyssa a sky blue swatch. Nyssa touched it with her hoof and nodded.
"Yes, this will do," she smiled.
"And now you, Tegan," Rarity continued. "We could do anything with you."
"As long as it's not the same color as that uniform, I'm happy," said Tegan. Rarity walked over to her, different swatches following her. She took the corners of each one and held them up to Tegan's coat.
"By the way," said Rarity as she was working, "didn't you mention a third friend traveling with you? Where is she?"
"He ," Tegan corrected.
"Oh, sorry. Where is he ?"
"The Doctor's just outside," said Nyssa. "Should I get him?"
"The Doctor?" Rarity asked Nyssa, confused.
"Yes, the Doctor."
"Doctor. . .Who?"
"Nothing, he's just 'the Doctor'," said Nyssa. "Here, let me bring him in."
"Alright," agreed Rarity. Nyssa galloped out of the room and to the front door.
"I know, I had the same reaction when I first met him too," said Tegan to Rarity as soon as Nyssa left. "Hm, that cream color looks decent."
"Or do you want just simply white?" asked Rarity.
"So many choices," said Tegan. The front shop bell chimed lightly in the air. Soon Nyssa appeared again in the back room.
"Rarity, this is the Doctor," she said to the fashion pony. "I've explained everything to him about you helping us. Perhaps you could find something for him?"
"Oh yes yes yes," replied Rarity, who was currently focused on the cream and white swatches to Tegan. "Show him in." The Doctor came from the front and to the room the mares were in. He stood patiently, noting that Rarity seemed busy.
"Hello," he then greeted when she didn't look up. Rarity glanced over at the stallion and refocused to her work. She took a sudden double-take. The fabrics that were in the blue mist fell to the floor.
"H-hello," she stuttered. The Doctor held out his hoof.
"I'm the Doctor," he greeted slowly, noticing that Rarity was having some strange trouble with talking. The mare took his hoof and shook it.
"I'm. . .Rarity," she slightly laughed before taking her hoof back and flouncing her hair. Rarity knocked the red glasses off of her nose. "Just Rarity."
"I kind of already assumed that," the Doctor replied, still trying to maintain a polite grin. Rarity just stood in one place, staring at him and pulling at her hair with her hooves.
"Rarity, is anything the matter?" asked Nyssa. Rarity just gave a flustered laugh.
"Of course everything's alright!" she said. "Everything is just fi-"
Rarity suddenly fainted.
"Um. . ." said Nyssa, unsure of what to do.
"Not to make any false assumptions," said Tegan to the Doctor, "but I think she fancies you."
"You think I haven't noticed," the Doctor said, still standing awkwardly with the fake grin on his face.
Dinky Doo watched as her mother lay face-down on the couch in the living room, her hooves covering her head. Ditzy had been very still for a few minutes, and as far as Dinky knew, she was also extremely stressed by what had just happened. Dinky's thoughts were interrupted by Amethyst, who was crunching away on a piece of toast at the kitchen table.
"How can you be hungry, Amy?" pouted Dinky to her sister. Amethyst looked at the little filly sassily.
"Because I woke up like, an hour ago and I still haven't eaten all my breakfast," she replied.
"That's not what I mean!" grunted Dinky. "I mean right now, when Momma's upset."
"Dinky, Mom's upset pretty often with all this 'Doctor' nonsense," said Amethyst as she took another bite. She spoke through her full mouth. "She's gonna pout about it until he gets back. Besides, there's a pillar in our kitchen where our roof is supposed to be and I still managed to keep my appetite."
"Why do you not like the Doctor so much?" Dinky replied. "He's nice, especially to Mom. No wonder she misses him, and I miss him too."
"That makes two of you then," said Amethyst, swallowing the last of her toast. "Listen Dinky, I've told this to you a hundred times on why I could care less about the Doctor. Do you remember what life was like before he came?" Dinky scrunched her face.
"Um. . ."
"Well, you were probably too young, but I remember," Amethyst continued, lowering her voice a little more so only her sister could hear. "Mom used to be home all the time. She'd make her mail deliveries, but that was it. She'd be home the rest of the day. She used to make us breakfast in bed, take us to parks, we even got to go to Canterlot and Manehattan a couple of times. Life was good when it was me, you, and Mom. Nopony else."
"But life is still good now, isn't it?" Dinky defended.
"In you dreams, maybe," said Amethyst. "Everything's. . .different now that the Doctor showed up a couple years ago. One day, he shows up in his weirdo blue box, and the next thing I know, Mom's gone off with him, seeing things and going on adventures. She spends all of her time with him now."
"We went on a couple adventures though," said Dinky, remembering the times the Doctor would take the kids and Ditzy to someplace very fascinating. "Besides, she's never been gone longer than a day."
"That's what you think," said Amethyst, "but she's gone almost everyday. And she's always changed after she comes back. Like she's been gone for a few weeks in the time we've lived a few days. And she's always tired. C'mon, Dinky, you know I'm right." The younger sister stared at Amethyst, unsure of what to say. This was the truth, at least through Amethyst's eyes, and now Dinky was seeing it. She didn't want to. She wanted things to be fine. She always wanted things to be fine.
"She still loves us, Amy," Dinky tried to argue. "And the Doctor does too. They both care about us."
"You're talking like the Doctor's our dad or something, and he's not, Dinky."
"Well. . .kinda. . ."
"He and mom aren't even dating."
"We don't know that."
"Exactly! We don't know! That's what I'm trying to get at! It's like they live a life without us!"
"But he still cares."
"He cares for Mom . The only reason he shows kindness for us is because of Mom . How have you not gotten this yet?"
"I don't want to get it," Dinky muttered.
"Well then, let me put it in simple terms for you," said Amethyst, her tone raising. "The Doctor showed up, took Mom with him, and left us behind. The sooner you get this the sooner you realize what's really happening here instead of living in your little fantasy world!" The young mare's voice suddenly dropped. Ditzy had gotten up from the couch when Amethyst wasn't looking and was now standing in the doorway. She had a stern look on her face.
"Don't talk to your sister that way," she simply said. Amethyst's instant burst of fear from getting caught by her mother turned to grumpiness. She furrowed her brows.
"At least I'm telling her the truth, Mom," she grumbled while turning to walk out of the other exit of the kitchen to the bedrooms. "It's better than all those lies you've told her."
"Amethyst!"
"Whatever," she said before leaving the kitchen. Her hooves lightly clattered in the hallway before a door slammed throughout the house. Ditzy stood, flustered, but didn't want to worsen the situation any further. She sighed. Dinky scuffed her hooves on the floor.
"Amy's wrong about all that, Momma," the little filly in her innocence. She then turned an uncertain gaze to Ditzy. "Isn't she?"
"She's just upset because she sees things differently," Dinky's mother replied.
"How?" Ditzy turned and kneeled down to see her daughter eye to eye.
"When things used to be the three of us--you, me, and Amy--your sister was comfortable with that. She was glad to have a family that she knew loved her to herself. When the Doctor came, he was new, and sort of widened our circle of three to four. It's just been hard for her to adjust to the change."
"But we've known the Doctor for a long while now," replied Dinky. "And he's very nice. Why hasn't she liked him yet?"
"Well, nopony has to like everypony . . .and that is sad to think about, however all the same it doesn't mean she'll never like him at all ever. She's still stubborn about the Doctor becoming our friend because Amy is just like that. She might need more than a couple years to realize the Doctor isn't at all against her." Dinky frowned.
"I think Amy's wrong," she pouted.
"She's right in her own sense," said Ditzy. "Just be patient, Muffin."
"Okay, Momma." Dinky hugged her mother before pulling back.
"Momma."
"Hm?"
"Can we look inside the weird thing?" asked Dinky, pointing a hoof to the strange pillar that was still sitting in the kitchen. Ditzy wanted to say no, but at the same time, felt the same way.
It was probably a good two minutes before Rarity woke up again. And even after she was conscious, she wasn't necessarily all there.
"Ahem, sorry about that, it must be slightly. . .stuffy in here," she then stated to the three customers in her shop. Rarity fanned her face with her hoof before she cleared her throat.
"Shouldn't we get along with our fittings, Rarity?" Nyssa suggested, hoping to get things back on track.
"Right right right," Rarity attempted to focus back on her job. "So, Tegan, white it is?"
"I suppose that will do fine, or at least better than that ghastly uniform," Tegan replied. "So, yes."
"And Nyssa, the fabric that I have recommended suits you just as well, I presume?"
"Yes, I find to agree with it," nodded Nyssa.
"Then you're both good," said Rarity as the blue mist picked up her notepad in front of her nose. It also picked up a pencil and scribbled something on the notepad. She then looked right at the Doctor.
"You're next, then, Doctor." The Timepony gulped. A Dalek looking straight at him screaming "EXTERMINATE" would have been more comfortable than this.
"Gre-at," he squeaked. Rarity tapped the pencil on his nose with her blue mist.
"Then get out of those bland threads and I'll put you into something more exciting," she said before exiting the room.
"Bland?" scoffed the Doctor.
"I don't understand these strange pony creatures," said Nyssa, shaking her head.
"Would you like us to leave the room then, Doctor?" asked Tegan.
"No," said the the Doctor hurriedly. "Good heavens, no." With much struggling, he then attempted to tumble out of his clothes. Eventually he got a pile of fabrics on the ground in front of him. The Doctor stared at his old clothes.
"Well, this is certainly a new experience," he stated.
"Doctor," Nyssa told him, "your backside. It's got a symbol on it." The Doctor turned his head to see an hourglass imprinted on his flank.
"That's odd," he muttered.
"We have the same thing too," said Tegan. "Each one of us. Even Rarity."
"What could it mean, Doctor?" asked Nyssa.
"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "However, maybe after this scenario we can look about the town for some research. I'm sure there must be some library around here with some simple sources of information on anatomy of these creatures."
"Would horses be capable of libraries?" asked Tegan.
"They're apparently capable of speech, shops, and flirtatious motives," said the Doctor. "I would assume they would have the ability to keep record of things." He stiffened when Rarity came back into the room, a bundle of fabrics of all sorts of bright colors following her.
"Here we are, darling," she said to the Doctor. "Something more stylish for a. . .stylish pony as yourself, no?" Rarity bat her eyes. The Doctor wanted to actually respond with "no" and find some other tailor, if one existed, but instead he put on a grin and nodded slightly.
"Sure, fine fine," he replied. The Doctor moved his hoof over to his old trench coat. "Although, if I were to make a suggestion, I do happen to already like the previous look I had-"
"Oh nonsense, dear!" Rarity laughed, the blue mist picking up the Doctor's old clothes and stuffing them in a nearby scrap bin.
"But-"
"You clearly don't know what you need. I, however, know the exact thing." Rarity came uncomfortably close to the Doctor's face. He subtly tried to back away, only to almost trip over his own hooves. Nyssa and Tegan looked at each other, unsure of what really to do, or think, for that matter.
"Should I choose a golden tint of fabric such as your marvelously dashing mane, or something more dazzling such as the azure glow in your eyes?"
"Well, um, no, uh-" the Doctor stuttered.
"Or perhaps we should handle the matter of measurements first?" dallied the mare. The blue mist picked up Rarity's measuring tape and strung it around the Doctor's neck. Rarity was agonizingly close to his face for comfort.
The Doctor took a deep breath, half out of irritation and. . .well, all out of irritation and shook his head.
"No no no," he stated flatly, "I don't have time for this funny-business, Ms. Rarity. I have far too much to do, and if it isn't too much any trouble, all I'd like is for my original coat to fit me as it once did before. If you please." The Doctor scrunched his face. Rarity lowered her eyelids in frustration and disappointment.
"Very well," she said shortly as the measuring tape snapped away from the Doctor's neck. The stallion mouthed the word "ow" and rubbed it with his hoof.
"But I will say that it will take much longer to work with fabrics such as these," continued Rarity as she trotted over the scrap bin. The blue mist pulled the Doctor's old coat out into the air. "Beige happens to not be in my fabric library, so I'll need to buy-"
"Library!" the Doctor exclaimed as soon as the word hit his ear. "I was just thinking about that! Do you know where I can find a library in this town?" Nyssa stood at the opposite end of the room, ready to scold the Doctor for his hurriedness. However her confusing emotions toward Rarity as well allowed her to keep her mouth shut.
"Can't you focus for one second?" Rarity scolded. She cleared her throat. "I will fix the coat. I should be done in two hours, if I'm lucky. The other two will only take an hour, since these two mare have some eye for fashion and the changing styles."
"Yes yes yes, fine, good, an hour or two is fine," continued the Doctor. He was about to ask for the library again when Rarity left the room with the Doctor's over-sized coat. The Doctor shifted his weight on his hooves and rolled his eyes.
"It should be fine, Doctor," Nyssa stated, noticing his impatience with Rarity. "Perhaps you can search for a library in the two hours Rarity will take tailoring?"
"That's exactly the thought I had," replied the Doctor. "Also, I just want to go somewhere else. The less I have to be here, the better."
"I don't blame you," agreed Tegan. "That pony is one character."
"And a little more interested in my presence than I feel is necessary," he added.
"But what if Rarity happens to finish early?" asked Nyssa.
"Hm?"
"Shouldn't one of us stay behind and monitor her progress?" the young mare continued.
"That also sounds like a good idea," nodded the Doctor. "However don't expect me to be so eager to volunteer."
"Why don't Nyssa and I stay behind, then?" suggested Tegan. "The both of us together are just fine with Rarity. You can go out and find a library on your own."
"The idea seems plausible," agreed Nyssa. "Doctor?"
"Yes, I think that will do," the Doctor finished. Rarity pranced back into the room.
"Now that I have things set up," she said, "you were asking about a library?"
"Yes," confirmed the Doctor.
"Just a few blocks north is a large tree house in the edge of Ponyville, our town, for you new-travelers," Rarity instructed. "That's the library. My good friend Twilight Sparkle owns all of the books there. I'm sure she wouldn't mind letting you borrow a few books." Rarity leaned toward the Doctor slightly. "She is a bit of a nerd, though. Just so you know." She brushed her mane with her hoof.
"Great," said the Doctor, ignoring the last comment. "Now, if I may ask to borrow something I could carry books in just in case. . .a satchel or-"
"Oooh, you can borrow my bag!" exclaimed Rarity as she grabbed a saddle-bag from seemingly nowhere and thrust it on the Doctor's back.
"You do know you'll have to come back to return it," Rarity stated.
"I have to come back anyways for my coat, might as well return this then," the Doctor replied, trying to remain professional on some standard. He turned to his companions.
"Nyssa, Tegan?" he inquired.
"Go on," nodded Nyssa. "We'll do fine here."
"Good."
"Oh you're not leaving now, are you?" asked Rarity, a little whine in her tone.
"I do have little time to get things done," stated the Doctor as he started leaving the boutique.
"Do you really have to?" Rarity asked again, about ready to follow him out.
"Yes, sorry. Must dash." And with that, the doorway to the shop opened and closed, the Doctor off to find the library. Rarity wandered back into the shop near where Nyssa and Tegan were. She held an air about her as if she was daydreaming.
"Where do all these good-looking doctors come from, I wonder?" she said wistfully. Nyssa's eyes widened.
"What now?" asked Tegan.
"I'm sorry," said Nyssa, blinking toward Rarity, "but did you refer to. . .other doctors?"
"Mmhm," responded Rarity lightly as she started to gather things around her shop.
"You mean there are other ponies like the Doctor?" asked Tegan.
"Well. . .I may have exaggerated," stated Rarity. "By others I meant one." Tegan and Nyssa gave each other a look, each of them remembering the events of earlier that day, the mentioning by the grey pegasus about how there was presumably another incarnation of the Doctor wandering about.
"What does this. . .doctor. . .look like?" asked Tegan.
"And does he have a name?" added Nyssa.
"He actually does not, by what I know," said Rarity, the blue mist surrounding various fabrics and things, picking them up and placing them around a couple of mannequins. "When he arrived, he told everypony he just wanted to be called 'The Doctor', just like your friend. However, everypony just got confused, asking 'Doctor who?'. He got asked the question so many times that soon everypony in Ponyville quietly decided to just start calling him 'Doctor Whooves' one day." Rarity started sewing some fabrics together.
"As for his appearance," she continued rambling, "he is quite handsome, the dark, russet hair. . .I seriously had never seen so much volume in a stallion's hair! And his eyes were just as lovely as your Doctor friend. Are they brothers or twins of some type? They both are equally charming and they seem quite similar. Not that I'm complaining. . ."
"Sure, something like that," said Tegan hurriedly.
"When did this 'Doctor Whooves' show up?" asked Nyssa, trying to get more information.
"Oh, a couple of years I think," said Rarity. "In fact, one of the first times he made his appearance in Ponyville he showed up here, right in my shop, with the grey mail-mare pegasus." The other two mares widened their eyes, thinking the same thought. Could it be a connection?
"Funny thing too about Doctor Whooves," said Rarity, looking out as though she was thinking, "he came into my shop with the same problem as you three did."
"What was that?" asked Nyssa.
"His clothes were far to big for him," said Rarity. Suddenly her face popped as she pulled the thread out of something she was creating.
"I just saw the connection!" she exclaimed.
"What?!" said Nyssa and Tegan as they leaned slightly.
"I should've known that your Doctor and Doctor Whooves were related!" she said. "You all have the same awful tailor!" Rarity closed her eyes with slight pride. "Well, it's a good thing you all came to me."
Nyssa and Tegan shook their heads.
"Anyways," said Rarity, stopping her work for a minute, "I really do love to chat with you, but I'm afraid keeping up conversation will only stall my work on your new outfits. Perhaps the two of you can go off and do something for a while?"
"I suppose," agreed Nyssa. She turned to her friend. "Come along, Tegan, I'm sure we can find someth-"
"Oh no no no!" Rarity stopped them. "Don't go and find something! I have the perfect activity for the two of you, as I am assuming that you are new to Ponyville?"
"Is it that obvious?" asked Tegan.
"Slightly, yes," said Rarity. "But that's not a problem! I know that traveling here can be stressful, and because of that I already have something in mind." She dashed over to a table cluttered with papers. After the blue mist and Rarity's muzzle had sorted through them, the mare found a couple of smaller papers. She brought them back with the blue mist and held them suspended in front of Nyssa and Tegan.
"Since you are new to town and need something to do," said Rarity, "I have a couple of extra coupons to the Ponyville Day Spa. I'm sure that sound relaxing, no?" Tegan looked at Nyssa, wondering what to do. Nyssa nodded back.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," she told Rarity. "How generous of you to offer."
"Oh, it's no trouble," Rarity brushed off. It was then Nyssa and Tegan realized that they had an even bigger problem.
How were they supposed to take the coupons?
"You can take them now and go if you'd like," said Rarity after a short, silent pause. The other mares stood like boards, staring at the coupons. Tegan then just decided to make the first move, and reluctantly (yet trying not to show it) reached her neck forward and took a coupon out of the blue mist with her teeth. At first she was extremely hesitant because it seemed weird, she didn't know what would happen if she touched the blue mist, or if taking things by the mouth were socially acceptable for ponies. However Rarity smiled at Tegan like she was doing something normal.
"Thanks," said Tegan through her teeth. Nyssa took in the action and followed suit, but when she did the same as Tegan, Rarity looked at Nyssa like something was off.
"Is something alright?" Rarity asked.
"Hm?" asked Nyssa through her teeth.
"Oh, nothing, you just weren't using your magic is all," said Rarity. "I just find that. . .a little odd. Are you feeling well?" Tegan and Nyssa froze, Tegan looking at her friend to see how she would respond. Nyssa stood like a deer in headlights, but managed to remain outwardly composed.
"I. . .yes. I'm slightly ill," responded Nyssa through her clenched jaw. Rarity opened her mouth to respond.
"But she's getting medical treatment," Tegan backed up.
"Yes," nodded Nyssa. "I have an appointment. . .tomorrow."
"Well that's good, I hope you get that fixed, darling," stated Rarity. "I feel terrible for you. I don't know what I'd do without my magic." She turned back to the mannequin on the other side of the room.
"We should be on our way," said Nyssa. "Thank you again for this."
"Yeah," Tegan agreed.
"Anytime," replied Rarity. "Oh, and the Day Spa is just around the corner from my shop. You can't miss it. The service is top-notch there. Now, back to my work, and I'll see you again soon!" Rarity waved at the two others as they trotted out of the shop. Nyssa and Tegan then both left the Carousel Boutique, and as soon they were outside, started talking.
"Magic?" asked Tegan. "What did Rarity mean by magic? Is that normal?"
"It must be like the cloud that assisted Rarity, what we believed was some kind of telekinesis," responded Nyssa. "But we need not worry about that. The Doctor is going to take care of that research, remember?"
"Right."
"But I still don't understand what she mentioned about another Doctor in this town."
"And the grey pegasus. Do you think it's the same one we encountered?"
"I don't know, but it's likely."
"Ugh, this is all making my brain hurt," complained Tegan, pulling a hoof up to her head. Nyssa sighed through her teeth.
"Then perhaps it was a good idea to go to the spa," stated Nyssa. "Only. . ."
"What?" asked Tegan.
"I'm not too sure what a spa is," said Nyssa with a scrunched face. "But Rarity said it had something to do with relaxation."
"It's like something we have on Earth," said Tegan. "And yes, it's usually where you go to relax and rejuvenate yourself."
"Odd, but it makes sense."
* * *
The Doctor was able to make out the top of the library tree-house that Rarity had referred to when he was just a couple of blocks away.
At least I'm on the right track, he thought to himself. Then again, it does seem to be one of the only buildings that looks remotely different. Lots of these homes look similar. Typical of a small town, though.
The Doctor looked around the town Rarity had referred to as Ponyville. All around the shops and homes, lining the streets, were various colored ponies that were conversing, negotiating, or interacting.
Sure is a peaceful and quaint village, the Doctor noted. I wonder how this place is run. However the method, it seems to be working very well. Soon the Doctor was lost in his own thoughts.
It's so strange to be a pony. Oddly enough, easier than I thought to walk. I wonder how I'm supposed to hold anything, though? Rarity had some type of psychokinetic field assisting her, and looking at all the ponies in town, a few others have something almost similar. But others don't. Interesting. It's also odd to wear this carrying-bag like a saddle. It makes sense, but definitely will take getting used to. Also will take the fact that I move my fingers a while to get used to. I sort of miss that.
"Ah!" the Doctor found himself sputtering aloud. He shook his head back into reality, realizing that in the midst of his thoughts he had just bumped into another pony passing by.
"So sorry," he then said hurriedly as soon as he realized he had run into someone.
"'Scuse me," replied the other pony as if he were out of breath. The Doctor looked to his side, expecting to see an irritated stallion. Instead, he saw the most bizarre thing. In front of him was most definitely a stallion, one with a tan coat and wild brown hair. But this stallion was also terribly beaten up, his eye blackened, cuts slashed across his head and body, and black and blue bruises everywhere. His mane was dusty and his clothes, a single green tie around his neck, was scuffed and ripped up.
Even more strange, the both of them stopped for one moment to look at each other. They didn't need to, both the Doctor and the other pony appearing to be in a hurry, but as if it were by some strange instinct, they did.
"Are you alright?" asked the Doctor. "You look a little. . .wounded."
"Nope, I'm fine," replied the stranger hurriedly. "Totally fine. Yup yup. . .fine."
Interesting, the Doctor thought to himself. A Scottish accent. I wonder if some odd version of Scotland exists here or if the dialect is referred to as something else.
"But you're bleeding," replied the Doctor.
"Nah, just a. . .couple of scratches," replied the stallion. "I'll be alright. But mind you, I'm in a hurry so-"
"Oh, yes yes yes," replied the Doctor. "Sorry to stop you."
"It's fine!" responded the stallion as he took one last glance at the Doctor before running off in the other direction at full speed.
There's something familiar about his appearance , the Doctor thought lastly as the pony disappeared in the town hub. Can't quite remember why. He was also in a terrible hurry. I wonder what that pony could be up to? The Doctor stood pondering this, but then shook his head.
I have more important things to be concerned about than these ponies' behaviors, he told himself. I need to get more information on this species, and possibly why the grey mare from earlier claimed another Doctor was running about here in Ponyville.
"Whatcha think it really is, Momma?" asked Dinky as she followed her mother into the Doctor's TARDIS, still sitting in her living room like an orphan. Ditzy trotted up the steps of the main console room and to the controls.
"I'm going to scan this other. . .whatever it is," Ditzy told her daughter. "I think I know how to use the TARDIS scanners to determine what exactly the object is. If we're lucky, it's something I might possibly know about."
"Isn't it another box-ship like Doctor's?" asked Dinky. "The funny pony said so."
"The 'funny pony' also said that he was the Doctor," said Ditzy, shaking her head at the incident. "I"m not going to believe that the object he flew in was some kind of TARDIS. It doesn't even look like one." The grey pegasus began tapping and messing around with various buttons and levers.
"It sounds like one."
"Maybe a dying one." That's when a vague idea popped into Ditzy's head. What if it was a TARDIS, the Doctor's TARDIS, dying? Maybe that would explain the noise, and possibly, the strangers who were controlling it?
"Hum. . ." Ditzy thought aloud.
"What, Momma?" spoke Dinky as she pattered up the TARDIS interior stairs.
"I don't know," the older mare shook her head. "But I'm about to find out." With a flick of a final button, a screen on the TARDIS console buzzed from static to life. A picture on the screen showed the Doctor's TARDIS scanning picture for the stranger one. A cylindrical shape outlined in light blue on the darker screen. Faster than Ditzy knew, the TARDIS's database already could pinpoint what it was.
Ditzy focused her wall-eyes to the screen, but even then she thought she was seeing things. The Doctor's TARDIS had pulled up the strangest information, not only solidifying Ditzy's stomach-dropping regret, but also sealing in Dinky's unwavering and trusting innocence.
* * *
The Doctor's body flinched in agony as an electrical surge flew through him. When it ceased, he gasped for air once again, and with his determined eyes faced the Master, still controlling his presumably old TARDIS.
However, the Master said nothing for the longest time. He stood in his dark cloak, his rumbling snicker sounding from his devious grin. During this longest time he had taken the honor of torturing the Doctor through electrocution and mild but stinging poison and all other sorts of beatings. Courtesy of the Hadron Web, of course. The Master didn't need to lift a hoof.
It was finally after this last electrocution that the Master stepped away from the controls of the TARDIS and slunk toward the Doctor. The moral Timepony forced himself to keep his eyes open, even if one of them was extremely swollen.
"How are you feeling, Doctor?" taunted the Master. "You seem a little deficient in your health." The Doctor dared to answer, but couldn't get anything out of his mouth but a forced exhale.
"In speech as well, I see," the criminal added, his grin slowly seeming to cement itself further in his face. "However, you need not worry about your sufferings much longer, Doctor. The process will soon be complete and the venom of sickness in your hearts will fade to a. . .restful resolution." He chuckled in the back of his throat, turned suavely back to the controls, and began to regain his work position.
The Doctor couldn't stand anymore confusion. He didn't know the full story on why the Master had him , nor why he was there for certain. Most importantly he couldn't let the corrupted Timepony was trying to end his life. . .wait, scratch that. The Master was always trying to kill him. But he didn't know why he was torturing. . .wait, yes, that too the Master always. . .ah, never-mind.
The Doctor just wanted answers.
"Why. . .are you doing this?" the suffering Timepony moaned through his grit teeth. Constantly his urged himself to feed more strength to his mouth, his words. "What's your. . .motive. . .this time. . .M-Master?" The Master, slightly shocked, or more amused, that the Doctor had forced speech, turned back to face his opponent.
"Oh, how you forget what I want," the villain grinned. "I want you dead Doctor, I want you to watch, feel, and soulfully believe your own demise. But-" And for this the Master leaned in toward the Doctor, like he was telling him a secret. "-I want something out of it. Something tangible, more than the spiritual satisfaction of your suffering." The Doctor looked at the Master's wretched face and strained to think about when he was younger, when this Master was his Master. Before he wanted mere drumming sounds out of his skull. When he wanted more. . .something that every Timelord on Gallifrey had that he slaughtered in his span of living.
Regeneration.
The Doctor wasn't sure at this point if the Master was being so unconsciously stupid or if he was freakishly dark in intentions.
"You want a full life cycle again. . .don't you?" The Doctor replied, slowly gaining the strength to speak again. The Master's smile widened.
"You must be a fool to think you'd get them from me, like this," stated the Doctor in his rival's face. "I've almost used up all my lives as well. Probably got two or three left for all you know. Why waste your time on me?"
The Master just chuckled and left the Doctor unanswered. Instead, he turned once again back to the controls. As he did, the Doctor's mind hurled into a mental wind.
He was betting that whatever the Master planned was for his own intention to wholly win, once and for all, in any way. . .and any time.
* * *
"I. . .I don't believe it," Ditzy muttered as her mouth hung open. She had the urge to take a couple of steps back, but instead stood still and stuck.
"What is it?" asked Dinky.
"The TARDIS. . .it's either wrong or. . ."
"Or what?"
"That strange pony was right." Ditzy stared at the screen. There, in plain text, were the words that proved that the object sitting in Ditzy's kitchen was indeed a TARDIS similar to the Doctor's. Ditzy jumped to her hind legs and managed to barely peek over the edge of the TARDIS console.
"What's it say? What's it say?" she asked, bouncing and looking toward the screen. Ditzy looked at her daughter.
"It says 'Type 45 Gallifreyan TARDIS'," the mare replied. "'Most recent owner. . .the. . .'"
"The what?"
"'The Master'," Ditzy read.
* * *
"I'm surprised you haven't asked about the personal touches I've added to your TARDIS," the Master said to his captive.
"Asked, no. Noticed, yes," replied the Doctor.
"All of them?"
"What."
The Master laughed aloud.
"The Hadron Web certainly is the most flamboyant of my devices, Doctor," he stated slyly as he placed his hooves on the controls, "but certainly my plan wouldn't be complete without a couple of tricks up my sleeve." He tapped a couple of levers on the panel.
"I've noticed a lack of a specific piece of Timelord tech-"
"Pony," the Doctor interrupted.
"What?"
"You're a pony now, start using the proper terminology," the Doctor sassed. "Timepony if you please."
"Bumbling fool, you think I care?" the Master scoffed. "I suppose since you don't wish to know what I've added, maybe I'll just test it out on you myself and see what happens?"
"No no, I'd like to know," stated the Doctor.
The Master just grinned, holding his hoof over a golden button.
"Very well then," he snickered.
* * *
Ditzy thought back to earlier that day. She remembered the two mares with the mysterious stallion mentioning something about Timeponies and one specifically who went by "the Master". Surely this was a connection.
Dinky, being the younger pony, didn't see the connection right away, her mind moving at a slower pace. She opened her mouth to ask what her mother was talking about.
Look .
Dinky twitched her ear. She was certain she heard something.
Over here.
The little filly turned her head. There was definitely a voice. She couldn't tell if it was a colt's or a filly's. It echoed too much.
Look. Over here.
Dinky tilted her head to her right. Something shiny on the console caught her eye. There, on the dashboard, was a flashing golden light.
The time has come, the voice beckoned. Dinky had no idea what to do, but her mother was already so worked up and preoccupied with some "Master", so she shuffled toward the light that was seemingly talking to her and peered at it.
"The time has come for what?" she whispered innocently at the light.
Release me, the light replied, it's glow steadily flashing on and off.
"Why? Are you trapped in the box-ship?" asked the little pony.
Yes.
"Who are you?"
A friend.
"Doctor's friend?"
Yes.
"Did you say something, muffin?" asked Ditzy, pulling her face away from the screen.
She can't hear you, the voice said shortly. Only children's minds can hear my voice. Dinky glanced back and forth between her mother and the light.
"No," she covered.
"Okay," replied Ditzy as she went back to the screen and other buttons near it. "Maybe I can get more information-" Dinky turned back to the light.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered again at the console top.
Release me. Press the button.
"Which one?"
This one, the golden one, the voice replied.
"What's going to happen?"
I will be free.
"Okay," agreed the small filly. She stood on the very tips of her hooves and reached her arm to the lit, golden button.
Now.
* * *
The Master pressed the button.
* * *
Dinky pressed the button.
(It was at that moment in time a message was sent out, a message from the TARDIS and the conscious that was indeed trapped inside. It burst with a golden glow in all of the times and places it needed to escape, but most influentially, it flooded the TARDIS that the Master was in with a captive Doctor and the TARDIS that the unknowing Ditzy and Dinky were standing in. Light swirled around in both console rooms, and in the universe both TARDISes were in, and the cloister bells rang menacingly. The conscious took pony form, specifically, looked as if it were a golden, angelic alicorn. It was solid, there, but always shifting and transparent. Light beamed from its eyes as it spoke in a steady voice, one that held a youthful yet majestic quality.
Feelings fall upon the ground,
Sadness sinks, not to be found,
Sleep away, but don't assume
It's always safe in the Zero Room.
After that, each TARDIS felt a different effect from the being.)
Dinky had jumped back when the button reacted and the golden figure's spirit filled the room. Ditzy had looked at her daughter in with a startling fear and had protected her under her wing. The supernatural pony had appeared, spoken, and left, yet it's golden presence kept swirling around the room.
"Dinky, what did you do?!" asked Ditzy, trying to figure out what happened.
"I let it go," replied the filly, feeling extremely guilty.
"Let what go?"
"The. . .that!" Dinky pointed at the golden swirl. The mass of it almost reacted to Dinky's reply and stopped. It came closer to her and Ditzy.
"I thank you for letting me free," it said. It seemed a little more peaceful and collected, yet the glow was still intimidating.
"Who are you?" asked Ditzy. "Or what are you?"
"A combined conscious," it replied. "The Bad Wolf has taken over me. My spirit is fused."
"Bad Wolf?" asked Ditzy. "Is that what you are?"
"Yes. No. It is both," the conscious replied. "You will understand in the future. I see us meeting again."
"Again?"
"Yes. I fly through time. I appear when I must. I find the Doctor and assist him as his companion to the end. I regain my identity and soon, at the proper moment, I will see you again." Ditzy was at loss for words.
"You. . .you know the Doctor? I still don't understand!"
"You have no need to," said the conscious. "I'm not talking to you." As suddenly as it came, the conscious left, fading quickly into thin air. The final echo of the cloister bells finished its song. Both ponies stood, amazed and confused.
And then Ditzy looked at Dinky.
"The conscious," she said to her daughter. "Was it talking to you?" Dinky looked at her mother and nodded obediently.
"Yes, Momma," she stated.
"Why would it talk to you?"
"Because it told me so; it can only talk to little ponies. Maybe it wanted to talk to you too."
"But it makes no sense! No sense at all! You don't understand-"
"Yes I do," said Dinky. Ditzy looked at her muffin's face. The little pony smiled.
"You do?"
"Of course I do."
"What do you understand, muffin?"
"I know what it is."
"What is it?" Ditzy almost exclaimed, her mind whirling. Dinky gave her mother an innocent grin.
"It said it was Doctor's friend." Ditzy blew a sigh of relief, knowing what her daughter was thinking in her small and comprehensible mind.
The little filly was just being a child.
* * *
For once, the Master was taken aback from his plan. When the strange being had entered the room and spoke its words in a mysterious chorus, he jumped back and almost cowered away from it. The Doctor was just as fearful, knowing that something coming out of the TARDIS with such an appearance was certainly no normal instance. What was more strange was the words. . .the Doctor had no idea what they were about or who was saying them. Certainly it wasn't the TARDIS alone. There was definitely a conscious of something else.
Also, both he and the Master were confused on why it was mentioning the Zero Room, and old piece of Timelord technology that was best used for stabilizing the health of a Timelord after he or she regenerated. The Master was because it was actually what he was planning on using secretly for his unknown plan; the Doctor, because he hadn't heard of such technology since his planet had been vanquished.
As the Master stood against the wall and away from the golden mass, the Doctor watched from the Hadron Web. He noticed the glow was messing around with the controls of the TARDIS, and shockingly, was flying it, overriding the cloister bells' warnings and maneuvering the ship who knew where. The TARDIS started to a hum before moving through time and space.
The conscious then turned toward the Doctor.
He felt it stare into his eyes. It looked familiar, like a ghost from the past. Like it had seen him before.
Like it knew.
In a windy flash, the golden mass shot down on the Hadron Web, shattering it to pieces. The Doctor fell to the floor with a painful thud. He gathered up the strength to stand. The Timepony was finally free; he didn't want to waste time.
The Doctor stood at the old-fashioned console, the golden glow slowly fading. As it did, the TARDIS stopped, and as it left it flicked the red-topped lever that opened the TARDIS door. It then vanished.
But the Master was still there.
"You won't win, Doctor!" he yelled at his foe as he jumped back from the wall and lunged for the Doctor. The imprisoned Timepony dodged the Master and flung himself out of the TARDIS door. He then scrambled to his hooves as the Master cursed behind him.
The Doctor took a speedy look around. Equestria. He was still in the pony universe. That conscious somehow knew where he wanted to go, even specifically down to the outskirts of Ponyville. However, that wasn't as important to the Doctor as the clatter of the Master behind him.
Picking up his legs to a rapid speed, the Doctor ran. He didn't know if the Master was going to follow him on foot, or if the TARDIS was going to take off under his control once again.
He. Just. RAN.
And suddenly. . .dragons.
The Doctor expected to see another pony as he approached the treehouse library and knocked on the door. However, that wasn't the case. A short, stubby, and lavender/green mini-reptile without wings responded instead.
A dragon.
Okay, the Doctor has seen weirder.
"You must be. . .Twilight?" the Doctor guessed as the small creature opened the door.
"Nope, I'm Spike," the small dragon replied. "Twilight's out for the day with her friends. Whad'ya need?" The Doctor blinked.
"Well," he said, trying to think of an excuse to hide his real intentions, "I'm an anthro--ahem, sorry--equin ologist just passing through town and somepony told me that this library was excellently equipped with resources. If you don't mind, I'd like to borrow a couple books?" Spike gave the Doctor a weird look at first, but believed him anyways.
"Sure, why not? Come on in." The Doctor entered the treehouse to find the entire place was hallowed out, the internal rings giving pattern to the walls. Notches were cut out of the tree as well to serve as bookshelves. Based on the shelves at the end of the room, the Doctor figured the library went a couple of stories up.
He wasn't too impressed with the size, but a library was a library.
The Doctor looked around the main room, mainly at the decorative wooden horse-head, a sleeping owl on a perch in one other corner, and very odd posters and blueprints that were plastered to the walls.
"Oh, that's just Princess Twilight's new focus of study," said Spike, noticing the Doctor was looking at the blueprints of an oddly-shaped box. "You know how she is, always finding something new to freak out and go OCD over."
"Hm, interesting," the Doctor replied. "So this is the home of your ruler."
"What?"
"You said Twilight was a princess, or monarch, of some kind," continued the Doctor. "She lives here? Or she just studies here?"
Spike gave the Doctor a look that made the Timepony feel uncomfortable.
"What, no. . .Twilight kinda has power, but I mean, she's just kind of a princess, and yeah she is Princess Celestia's prodigy, but that doesn't mean Celestia lives here, she still lives in Canterlot with Luna," Spike rambled. The Doctor bit his tongue. Now the conversation was getting really weird. . .and beyond his knowledge.
"Oh, yes, of course, how silly of me to forget about. . .that," he stuttered. The Doctor cleared his throat. "Well, as you know I come from very far away and I haven't got much time, so if you could-"
"You come from far away?" asked Spike as he showed a childish enthusiasm. "Cool! Where?"
"Farther than you've been, I'm sure."
"Try me, I've been to the outskirts of Equestria, or at least my friends have."
"That's just it. I'm not from Equestria," replied the Doctor. Spike's eyes widened.
"Whoa! That's like, impossible! There's no way that-"
"If you please," interrupted the Doctor, closing his eyes in irritation, "I would really like to get on with my studies."
"Okay okay, geez," Spike grumbled. "And I thought I was going to have a free day from a study-freak." The little dragon walked over to a door next to the front one. He opened it to reveal another wing of the library.
"Pony anatomy books are on the left side," he said. "There ya go." The Doctor nodded and proceeded to the wing. He then mentally decided that conversation with Spike should stop. He didn't seem like he was in the mood to deal with a rather confused Timepony.
The Doctor skimmed through the shelves, searching for various titles that would relate to his specific topic. It was difficult, especially when there were many of the books at his eye level were not what he had hoped to find, however any volumes higher up were a little fuzzy to read. He groaned internally at the thought that his brainy specs were still in his old coat pocket back at Rarity's shop. Truth be told, although the main purpose of the glasses were to make him seem more genius-like, they still had a purpose to serve.
The confused stallion looked around the room before spotting a ladder. That would help him, although he was just only accustomed to walking on hooves. Climbing the wooden rungs of a ladder would be a disaster. And there was no way the Doctor was going to disturb Spike, who was currently in the main room putting other books away. He didn't want to upset the dragon any further than he had.
I wonder if there is anything in Rarity's bag I could use , thought the Doctor as he shoved the white saddlebag off of his back. Struggling to grab the flap of the sack with the tips of his front hooves, he hardly managed to open it. The Doctor shoved his face inside the bag and was then struck with a twinge of bewilderment. Inside the bag. . .a gnarled wad of shoestring, a couple of safety pins, a red cricket ball, a magnifying glass, a notepad, and his very own brainy specs. . .everything that had been in his coat pockets!
How did these get in here. . .and when?! gasped the Doctor's mind. He drew to an inference that Rarity must have emptied his coat pockets and threw the items in the bag. That's either strangely convenient. . .or slightly frightening. The minute I get my tailoring done I may want to avoid that pony. . .
The Doctor then found a more puzzling thought: how was he going to get the specs on his head?
He slid the glasses out of the bag, the object then sitting in front of him on the floor.
Maybe if I just. . . the Doctor thought as he tapped the specs with his hooves and fumbled his feet to get a grip on the glasses. It was much more difficult without fingers.
Well that won't work, he then told himself. Perhaps. . . and the Doctor knelt down and picked up the specs in the edge of his teeth. He managed to angle them upwards, but the specs only tapped the end of his muzzle. The simplest task seemed impossible.
Until the Doctor came up with an impossible solution.
His mind set on his clever little plan, the Doctor took a deep breath. With the flick of his head, he snapped his chin up and let go of the specs. They swirled in the air before the Doctor positioned his eyes right below their landing destination. Crookedly, the glasses plopped on the Doctor's face. He pushed them into place with his hoof before giving himself a mental compliment on how ingenious he was.
The Doctor was able to see to the very tops of the shelves. He made out a few words on the spines of the books resting on the said shelves, with words relating to "anatomy" and "biology" of ponies. Bingo.
There was only one last obstacle. . .getting them down.
"You need help?" came Spike's voice from the doorway. The dragon was covered by a tall stack of books, his little lavender feet sticking out from underneath.
"No, I can manage, thank you," said the Doctor, slightly stubborn in his own pride. He had gotten so far with the glasses, so really, he was on a roll. How hard would it be to get a book from a shelf? Besides, the little Spike looked busy anyhow.
"Well, alright," Spike stated as he head for the ladder. The dragon easily climbed the wooden thing with the stack of books, and then carefully, like the volumes were glass, put the books carefully in their proper places.
Drat, thought the Doctor as his only resource was taken away. He now didn't have the ladder, yet Spike was taking a long time to sort the books, and the Doctor really just wanted to see if he could get the books himself, plus he was getting slightly impatient, what with Nyssa and Tegan that he still needed to rejoin and all the other things. . .
I wonder what it's like to jump. . . pondered the Doctor. It was a dangerous ponder. . .but the Doctor was a pony now so it seemed like anything could be possible. Hesitantly, the Timepony recoiled his legs. Silently half of him hoped that his glasses wouldn't fall off his face after his splendid trick he used to get them on. The other half of him knew for sure that the jump was going to end in a mess. And yet still, the Doctor made up a third half of himself just to ignore the fact the second half believed in.
Would a simple jump really end so poorly?
The answer came in two seconds.
Instantly when the Doctor jumped off of his hind hooves (which was really quite a clumsy jump) he strained his neck in hopes that maybe he could grasp one of the anatomy books in his mouth. He did. . .but as he fell back on his flank he shook the shelves and ricocheted all of the books down with him. There were many loud thuds of books and a stallion hitting the ground that filled the room with an awful momentary din. Spike, who had at that moment placed the last book in its place, stopped midway down the ladder and just dared to glance over at a pile of books that had toppled all over the floor.
"Um. . ." Spike muttered aloud. The Doctor's head, along with his blonde mop of hair, popped out of the books. He was amazingly still wearing his specs and holding a pony anatomy book firmly in his teeth. Spike just looked at him awkwardly. The Doctor grinned with equal the awkwardness and tried to appear innocent, even when he was surrounded in the effects of his misbehavior.
"Very sorry," the Doctor apologized through his teeth. Spike slowly stepped down to the floor, still giving the Doctor a look as if he really wanted to say "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU JUST DO?!". But instead, he froze and barely let out a few words.
"Can you. . .can you just ask me for help next time? Please?" he said, trying to hold back his dreadful shock. The Doctor nodded awkwardly. Spike walked over to the pile of books.
"How about you just read the books you need and. . .go home or something. . ." Spike continued.
"Sounds. . .good," said the Doctor as he stepped out of the massive mountain of volumes. Some of them scattered further on the floor. The Doctor and Spike just spent a couple moments. . .staring. . .at the books.
"Would you like some help?" the Doctor spoke with the book in his mouth.
"No!" said Spike suddenly. "I mean. . .no," he repeated calmly. "Just. . .read your book, alright? I'll clean it up."
"Are you su-"
"Yes!"
[Insert Super-Long Gasp Here]
Even though Tegan hadn't been to a spa in seemingly forever, she was still a little tense and uncomfortable after the visit to the Ponyville Day Spa.
"That was possibly the weirdest thing I have ever been through," said Tegan. "I didn't know that giant hoof-nail filers existed. Makes me miss my fingers and toes."
"It could also possibly be the fact that we're an entirely different species and having hooves in general is weird enough," stated Nyssa. The two, at the moment, were walking back from the Spa and to the Boutique. An hour had passed, yet they walked slow in hopes that if Rarity needed more time, she would receive it.
"I wonder how the Doctor's doing with finding information," Tegan said. "Do you think he will learn anything that will help?"
"I am sure of it, Tegan," Nyssa reassured.
"Do you think we'll be able to find the TARDIS again?" asked Tegan.
"Tegan, relax," Nyssa said with a half-laugh. "The Doctor is figuring what we need to know out and all other situations are out of our hands. . .or hooves. Maybe we should take time to breathe in and just trust in the Doctor. He knows what he's doing."
"Why do I find that so hard to believe? He's always so scatterbrained. You think after he regenerated from a crazy man in that ridiculous scarf that he would be able to gather himself better."
"Apparently not," Nyssa added, stifling a laugh. "Why did he wear that in the first place? I mean, I hadn't known him in that incarnation long but-"
"Oh, like I would know," Tegan sniggled. "I still can't understand why he wears a piece of celery on his lapel!"
"Only the Doctor, I suppose," Nyssa sighed with a smirk.
"He's so odd. It may be that he's a Timelord-"
"Timepony now."
"Yes, that. . .actually have you noticed how he acts with his TARDIS?"
"What? You mean how he talks to it?" asked Nyssa. The two could feel that each one of them was trying to hold back an all-out laughing fit.
"Yes! One time I just happened to wander in the main console room and he was buffing his console and talking to it like it was a person!"
"I think sometimes he believes the TARDIS talks to him," Nyssa replied. "He never uses the manual."
"'The TARDIS knows what it's doing!'" Tegan imitated in a very failed Doctor's voice. "'I'll just let it take us places!'"
"How many times did it take before he got the ship to actually get where it wanted to?" giggled Nyssa.
"I lost count," Tegan laughed. "Once he did, in the far past, remember? 'Only a couple hundred years off, Tegan, but it's still Heathrow Airport!'" Tegan copied again. "'Maybe if you walk a few blocks you'll end up in the right time!'"
"That might have actually worked better than the TARDIS!" Nyssa snickered. The two mares were literally crying of laughter and attempting to keep walking down the road to Rarity's. The uncertainty of the previous moment was replaced with the laughter between the friends, each of them now smiling instead of worrying.
"Oh god, Tegan, how did we get so terrible?" Nyssa joked.
"Maybe when the Doctor put us both in the same room, even when 'The TARDIS is infamous, please try to understand my spacial transcendentalism' or whatever it was," Tegan laughed.
"Well, it worked out, didn't it?"
"Probably was the best thing that happened to us Nyssa. Grant it, months ago I would have never imagined to room with a Trakenite in a million years. . .yet it was a really good thing, I think."
"I think so too, Tegan," Nyssa agreed. "Since I left my planet and traveled with the TARDIS, all of you became my family. You and the Doctor." Nyssa looked at her friend, her eyes sparkling for a moment, yet they instantly turned grey as if something shot through her conscious. Tegan saw it. She knew what it was. Both of the mares were quiet for a moment.
"And Adric. . ." Nyssa added.
[In an earlier adventure:]
The Doctor(5) ran frantically around the console of his TARDIS, turning knobs and pressing buttons. . .trying, just trying, to do the impossible one last time.
"Please hurry Doctor!" Nyssa cried. "We must get Adric off the freighter!" The Doctor glanced quickly at the only window to the outside of the TARDIS, looking at the space freighter Nyssa was referring to. He knew that the ship was headed directly toward the young planet Earth, stuck in time to be the massive crater that would forver change the planet and roll off the rest of it's history. It was inevitable to stop it, and the Doctor knew it.
But his companion, Adric, a boy, was still on board, trying to fix the ship's course from being a catastrophic disaster to taking its proper role in history.
"The console's damaged!" the Doctor's voice broke as still he attempted to work something. . .anything at all.
"We must save Adric, there's so little time!" Nyssa stated most alarmed. For the first time since her planet had been left in rubble she had been so frightened, still holding onto what hope in the Doctor she had. He was able to fix anything, right? Surely he would be able to pull Adric off of the ship.
Tegan was just as uneasy as she paced around the room, unsure of whether to give the Doctor space or to help him in someway. It was in an instant later that the echo of metal clanging came from inside the TARDIS walls. Still alive from a previous encounter, a Cyberman marched into the console room, fully armed.
"Look out!" Tegan warned. Nyssa darted her eyes to the metal man, but the Doctor kept his hard focus on the controls, as if the enemy wasn't there.
"I must save Adric!" the Doctor said aloud, unsure whether he was telling his companions of his first priority or if he was telling himself not to give up. Nyssa took the Timelord's back and reached for a gun that was left by a previous Cyberman. Acting on tension from the moment, she shot the incoming Cyberman down before it could react. The Doctor turned for a moment to find the robot go down, and he would have said something about it, but his mind was too fixed on his controls. Nothing was working! But something should, just one thing should work! There's was always some part of him, always some part of the TARDIS that came through in the end. How was this different?
Tegan jumped over to Nyssa's side, both of them looking at the fallen Cyberman, Nyssa still gripping the gun in her hand. Tegan looked up at the window, but still, the freighter was moving with tremendous speed.
"Look!" she stated.
"Adric!" Nyssa cried, dropping the gun. For a moment, the Doctor stopped what he was doing. He looked toward the window. It was over.
But it couldn't be over! He was the Doctor! He was able to save everyone! Everyone lived, everyone always lived!
The Doctor watched in sheer horror as the ship descended. He felt so many things run through his mind, the gut-wrenching feeling that everything was wrong and it was all his fault. But in a way he believed it truly was. The stares of regret and dismay looked straight into his eyes, and for the oddest reason, it was if as though he could feel Adric's helpless look as well, still looking up to the Doctor as if he were waiting for the Timelord to save him.
Or possibly worse, they were faithless eyes, eyes that lost hope that the Doctor could be a hero anymore.
And as that hope vanished, so did the freighter, leaving in smoke and fire.
Adric's last words on the ship were unheard, but they still echoed through time, not speaking of mathematical values, or in his personal genius, but about Adric's choice to travel with the Doctor in the first place.
"Now I'll never know if I was right."
"HEY!" shrieked a voice that almost scared the pants off of Nyssa and Tegan. . .if they were wearing pants. The two mares, both wide-eyed, looked around for a source to the squeaky voice. Suddenly a pair of bright blue eyes faced the mares.
"Ah!" they both exclaimed, startled from their personal space being broken by the stranger. The eyes pulled back and the two mares saw a bouncing pink pony in front of them, hey knotted magenta mane poofing around her head like a wad of cotton candy. A ginormous smile stretched across her face.
"Hi hi hi!" she said excitedly. "Who are you two fine ponies?!"
"Um. . ." stuttered Nyssa, a little taken aback. "I'm Nyssa, and this is Tegan. We just came in town today and-"
The pink pony gasped.
[Insert super-long gasp here]
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
"This is terrible! This is just totally super-duperly bad!" the pony shouted.
"What?! What is?!" asked Tegan.
"You're new in town and I haven't thrown you a party !" she exclaimed. Nyssa and Tegan just looked at each other.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, by the way!" the pink pony continued. "Welcome to PONYVILLE! Ooh! Wait. . .I need to think of where we should have the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for you!"
"There's really no need," stated Nyssa.
"'No need'? There's always a need! How about the park! Ooh, no. . .the square! No. . .I know! Sugarcube Corner!"
"What?" asked Tegan. Pinkie Pie grabbed the unsuspecting mare around the shoulder.
"It's down that road, two lefts and a couple of hops and skips, and boom! you're there!" Pinkie chimed as if it were obvious.
"Ri-ght."
"So come when the sun set and whamo! I'll have a wonderful super-duper ally-ooper party for the both of you! Kay?!" Nyssa and Tegan just looked at each other before they both forced themselves to nod.
"YAAYY!" screamed Pinkie. In an instant she was gone, a pink trail following her. Nyssa and Tegan froze in their tracks.
"Well. . .that was mildly frightening," stated Tegan.
"Are we going to this. . .Sugarcube Corner then for this pony's party?" Nyssa asked.
"I don't see how we don't have a choice," said Tegan. "She might try to find us again."
"Well the Doctor's going to have to put up with a party I suppose," said Nyssa. "I hope he doesn't mind. Come on, let's get back to Rarity's."
The Doctor (NEVER) Dances
The sun hung midway in the west as it foretold of the evening sunset to come. Bright oranges and yellows bounced off of the rooftops of Ponyville, and the grasses of the fields reflected in all sorts of vibrant greens. The same was not for the Everfree Forest, however, it's ominous and sinister presence still lying at the far edge of the town like a dark wall. Yet the woods felt more like safety to the Doctor(10). For the moment he felt certain that the Master was no longer on his trail, yet the wounds he received were certainly starting to burn. They were by no means fatal, which was a great relief to the Timpony, yet pain wasn't a good friend. The Doctor wanted him to go away. And Zecora, a zebra whom he had met long back in a previous adventure (and who was one of the few ponies that the Doctor frequented in Equestria), was the only one he knew with the right treatment.
The Doctor sprinted through the forest. Even though he knew that the place wasn't so dreadful in the outer-most parts, the sun was descending, and a night in the Everfree was by no means friendly. It wasn't long, though, when the Doctor approached a tree heavily decorated in cultural pieces from Zecora's native heritage, totems, masks, and all sort of other brightly colored items scattered here and there.
In hopes that Zecora would be home, the Doctor knocked on her front door. Gratefully, the door opened to the healer herself.
"What is this that I see?" she spoke in her smooth tone yet with a tinge of alarm. "Could it be a mangled Timepony?" Zecora motioned her muzzle for the Doctor to come inside, and soon as he did, the zebra shut the door.
"No certain pegasus by your side,/ but yet your eyes are open wide," continued Zecora in her enchanting style. "Could it be you've had a terrible fright/ that you are here at my abode tonight?"
"Yes, well, I am in a bit of a. . .well a bit of a jam Zecora," the Doctor said as the zebra walked around the room to take action. Already she was looking for various healing spices and herbs. "It's a little hard to explain. . .but I knew you would help with my injury situation."
"Running around is all you do/ but since you are stopped, I will listen to you," replied Zecora as she put a selection of leaves and vials on the floor. She then forced the Doctor to sit as she began tending to his cuts. "A story that you would think would be very wild/ to this zebra who has seen insanities, would be mild. Please explain how you got in this conundrum/ and perhaps I can help with a bit of my wisdom."
"Ah, yes, well, for the most part, and to everypony's relief, Ponyville and Equestria isn't in danger, or at least as far as I know," said the Doctor as if he had made a mess and was trying to come up with an excuse. "Ditzy is safe, all of you are safe. I just had a little bit of trouble with and old. . .well, an old adversary. He wasn't too happy to see me and I got in a bit of a rumble, and the next thing I knew I was running. . ."
"Why would this foe/ bother you so?" questioned Zecora as she pulled out wrapping gauze.
"We have a bit of an. . .old grudge," replied the Doctor. "That's how I'm certain he's not after Equestria. But still, I need to stop him personally. I'm afraid he's after my own life." Zecora, quick to bandage, started to finish the last of the Doctor's wounds on his head.
"Then defeat him you must/ to stop his evil lust. I may not know this fiend in you mind/ yet to me, he sounds far from kind. Trot with caution, and work carefully./ See that he's defeated, and you're life will be set free." The Doctor nodded at the reassuring words of Zecora before stumbling to his feet. Zecora calmly put her supplies away.
"Ah, that's much better," the Doctor said as he stretched his legs. "Thanks." Zecora nodded.
"Just one question, though," the Timepony asked. "Well, I came to you because this enemy. . .I want to keep him as far away from Ditzy as possible. Who knows what he would do to her. But I need somewhere to hide so that in case he's following me, I won't lead him to Ditzy and-"
"No," Zecora stated plainly as she held up a hoof. The Doctor bit his tongue.
"If it is of her safety you fear,/ then wouldn't you want to be near?" Zecora stated. "This enemy is yours to face, that is true/ but still Ditzy stays, without a clue. If the enemy finds her alone, how scared she would be./ So to stay to protect would be better than to flee." The Doctor looked at Zecora gratefully and nodded.
"Makes more sense," he said. "Especially since. . .my TARDIS might still be there, I think. I can't be sure anymore. But you're right." He thanked Zecora again before leaving her simple hut, Zecora seeing him out and making sure he made it safely through the forest back.
"I don't think the Master is following me closely," the Doctor said to himself. "Perhaps it is just safe enough to head back. Then maybe I can get Ditzy and her family under my protection and work to stop whatever hideous scheme the Master in planning this time. Why does he want the very few lives I have left, why is he here in Ponyville, why does he have my TARDIS?!" The Doctor scuffed his hooves to the ground and froze in his tracks. A sudden thought came to his mind.
"Wait, if that's my TARDIS from the past. . .then where am I ?!"
* * *
The Doctor(5) facehoofed.
"I can't believe. . .why?!" he asked whilst standing in the middle of Carousel Boutique with Tegan. The two of them as well as Nyssa were finally able to meet up again at Rarity's place. Tegan and Nyssa had arrived first, Tegan already in the outfit Rarity had finished, a white crop top with a jacket to match and white bands around her front hooves. Nyssa was in the other room with Rarity, still fitting her outfit. The Doctor had just entered at this moment, having returned from the library chock-full of new knowledge about ponies, and ready to share it with his companions, when Tegan delivered the oddest news.
"Why did you accept the invitation?" he continued.
"It's just a party, Doctor," said Tegan, who would put her hands on her hips if she still had them. "We might as well go to not cause suspicion. I talked to Rarity about the strange pony that invited us, and she said that the host was a good friend of hers that threw a party to all newcomers to the town. Besides, we could use a break for a while."
"We haven't got the time, Tegan," the Doctor groaned. "We have too much to do with the Master and getting my TARDIS back as it is."
"Well, then maybe we can just use it as a place to talk," said Tegan. "There, happy?"
"Fine," said the Doctor. "We'll talk about the information I've learned about the ponies through readings, how to properly act like them, and so on."
"Nyssa and I also got some information," Tegan added. "Rarity told us a bit about the 'other Doctor' that happens to live here, you know, the one the first mare we met was apparently talking about."
"Hm, interesting. Well done," the Doctor said. "Maybe this event does work out after all." Tegan rolled her eyes. The curtain that led to the other room opened, Nyssa stepping out in a collared white and blue-striped top. She did a little pose.
"What do you think?" she asked her two friends. Tegan smiled.
"You look very nice, Nyssa," replied Tegan. The Doctor was too busy pushing the saddlebag off of his back that he had carried all day.
"Doctor," said Tegan.
"What?"
"Doesn't Nyssa look nice?"
"Hm?" replied the Timepony. He glanced quickly at Nyssa. "Oh yes yes fine."
"Ignore him, he's being himself," Tegan reassured Nyssa. Rarity burst through the room.
"Oh Doctor, I'm so glad you're back!" she exclaimed. "I just finished the last details on your coat! I know you will absolutely adore it!" The Doctor half sighed at the sight of the unicorn, but just nodded.
"Alright, let's take a look then," he stated. Rarity flung out a rolling clothes rack, the Doctor's new(ish) coat hanging in the middle of it. The Doctor's jaw almost dropped. Rarity started to babble on and on about "oh I used this fabric" and "the lining took this kind of stitch" but the Doctor really didn't care. All he saw was the perfectness of the coat, as if he had just pulled it out of the TARDIS that moment, and it was finally his size. Of course, he kept all this excitement in because he knew that at the saw time Rarity was a little. . .clingy. He didn't want to send the wrong message.
"Go ahead then! Try it on!" said Rarity.
* * *
It was about ten minutes later when the Doctor(5) and his companions finally left the boutique in their fitting clothes. Of course, the only reason it took so long was because Rarity didn't want to say goodbye to any of them, particularly the Doctor, and said she wasn't going to the party that night because she had an important family outing planned the month and a whole bunch of other rambling nonsense. She did, however, direct the three to the Sugarcube Corner as well as ask them to leave a quick greeting to her friend Pinkie Pie, the pony throwing the party.
"How'd you know it was her throwing it?" Tegan had asked.
"Oh, everypony knows," Rarity had responded.
Now there was a walk across Ponyville to take in the evening air. The town was actually very quiet.
"Where is everybo-er. . .pony?" asked Tegan.
"Probably at that party," guessed the Doctor. "Rarity had mentioned that everypony in the town knew about it."
"You probably should have given more of a compliment to her," Nyssa half-scolded.
"I said she did a fine job."
"And yet the moment you left the shop I could've sworn I heard you say 'My goodness there's a matching hat too!' and a whole bunch of other nonsense," Tegan said. The Doctor quickly looked at his new(ish) hat, much like his old one, that Rarity had also made. He had to admit it to himself that she did more than a fine job, what with the coat having big enough pockets to fit all of his random items and even the small one in the front for his hat. His hat even rolled up! There was that much detail put into it. Yet. . .
"You can't blame me for wanting to wrap things up and leave. We still have priorities and so many things to explain. . ."
"Well, alright," Nyssa let him off, although obviously in her face she was putting up with none of it. "We might as well start talking about it now then, seeing that the town is rather quiet."
"And we do have a long walk," added Tegan.
"Very well," said the Doctor. "I might as well go first with my findings." Off he went with everything basic about ponies that any stranger would most definitely want to know about: simple geography; the system of government, ruled by two ponies that apparently raised the sun and the moon; the three types of ponies that existed, pegasi, earth, and unicorns; about magic and how it was apparently something very common in Equestria.
"So if you're saying that unicorns have magic," interrupted Nyssa in the midst of his explanations, "then that explains the blue mist that Rarity was using in her shop."
"Exactly," nodded the Doctor.
"Does that mean Nyssa has magic too?" asked Tegan.
"It should," said the Doctor. "All unicorns have the ability to lift things with magic, Nyssa shouldn't be an exception."
"But how do I go about using it?" asked Nyssa. "In legends I was read when I was young, people chanted certain words or did some sort of ritual."
"Rarity just lifted things, though," Tegan said.
"Well, both of you are somewhat right," said the Doctor. "Advanced unicorns get into more complicated spells, like shape shifting items and teleporting, I had read, but all unicorns, starting at a young age, can have the simple ability of lifting items and using it as. . .sort of a pair of hands they don't have, I suppose. And usually this happens through plain focus on what the unicorn wants to do with the magic." The Doctor stopped his companions.
"Maybe you should practice quick to get it over with," he said to Nyssa.
"Using magic?" Nyssa asked. "But Doctor, I've never done such a thing before!"
"No harm in trying. Besides, it's best to give it a go to see how well you have the ability, and if you don't, well, if any of the ponies ask at the party we could say you have some type of temporary illness."
"Illness with magic?" asked Tegan.
"There were four volumes on such a thing at the library." The Doctor pointed at a broom that was resting against the outside of a pony's shop.
"Try focusing on that broom right there, Nyssa, and see if you can pick it up," he told his companion. Nyssa had no idea what to do for sure, having never been a magical pony in her life, but grasped some sort of idea of lifting the object and began focusing. She shut her eyes and tried to imagine she was reaching for it and holding it.
"Come on, Nyssa," Tegan encouraged. "You can do it." Faint flashes of light blue sparked from Nyssa's horn and even around the broom. The Doctor and Tegan's eyes widened. Perhaps magic was that simple after all. The broom shook and stuttered, and barely lifted above the ground, Nyssa's magic flickering around it. She hesitantly opened one of her eyes.
"It's working!" Nyssa exclaimed. The broom was actually lifting slowly toward Nyssa, until it started to shake violently. Suddenly Nyssa lost control of the broom, and the object zoomed through the air and straight toward Nyssa's head.
"Look out!" shouted Tegan. The three of them ducked as the broom zipped over their heads and landed on the ground behind them. All of them stood back up and looked at the fallen broom.
"Well, that's says one thing," Nyssa stated.
"I'm sure you'll get in the hang of it with practice," the Doctor stated as he trotted over to the broom to pick it up in his mouth.
"Doctor! Do you know where that's been!" Tegan told him with disgust as the Timepony put the broom back against the shop wall.
"Not ideal, no," the Doctor agreed after he let go of the broom, "but ponies do have to hold items in their mouths if they don't have magic. Hooves don't really do the job of holding." Tegan winced.
"I don't know what seems harder," Nyssa laughed, "getting me to use magic or Tegan to hold stuff in her teeth."
"We'll all learn how to get this pony thing down in time," the Doctor stated as he began to walk again with his companions. "A lot of behaviors as the species you can't write down in books." The Doctor suddenly turned around to face his companions. "Oh, and one other important thing. You know the symbols that seem to be tattooed to your flanks?" Both mares looked at the mention of it.
"I was wondering about that, yes," Nyssa replied.
"They're referred to as 'cutie marks'. Apparently it's something that is supposed to identify a pony's specific talent. Everypony gets one at a young age and no two are alike, except possibly in some cases, as the books mentioned." Tegan groaned externally.
"But mine looks like a flight-attendant's badge!"
"That was your talent at one point in time, Tegan," reassured Nyssa. "Like mine is the Keeper's symbol we used on Traken."
"Well, I suppose my life doesn't have to revolve around it," Tegan said. "Still it's a little weird to think that-"
"Wait," the Doctor interrupted.
"What?"
"My cutie mark is an hourglass," he plainly said.
"I thought we went through this," Tegan said.
"Your cutie mark relates somewhat to time," Nyssa added. "It makes sense."
"No no it doesn't!" said the Doctor as he started to pace back and forth. "How could I have been so stupid! Why didn't I see it before?!"
"Doctor, what? Tell us!" said Nyssa.
"Earlier in town. . .there was another pony. . .a stallion in a hurry," he said. "He had an hourglass as well. . ."
"Do you think it's a coincidence?" said Tegan. "You did say that in some cases ponies could have the same cutie mark."
"But it can't be," said the Doctor. "There was something. . .odd about him. . ."
"Do you think it was the other Doctor?!" Nyssa exclaimed.
"I could have been, possibly one of my future regenerations. I didn't recognize him. He was a brown-ish pony. . .had dark brown hair. . ."
"With lots of volume?" Tegan asked.
"What? Well, yes I suppo-wait a second, Tegan, did you see him too?"
"Rarity told us about another pony in town that referred to himself as 'the Doctor'," Nyssa explained. "Her description, leave out her rants about his attractive appearance, fits the very description that you just gave." The Doctor put a hoof over his face.
"I can't believe I missed such an opportunity!" he groaned. "I know when we crossed paths the other 'Doctor' was in a hurry, and a little beaten at that, yet I could've said something-"
"It isn't your fault," Nyssa stated. "How could've you known?"
"You know," suggested Tegan, "Rarity also said some ponies around town knew him. He might show up at the party, or at least somepony there might possibly know him better."
"Even more so, that grey pegasus that seems very acquainted with him may be there as well," Nyssa added. "Perhaps this party was a good idea after all."
"Very well, that does seem like a good plan," nodded the Doctor. "Now. . .we might as well be on our way. After all, the party does seem to be for us, we best not be late."
* * *
"So, you're just going to leave then?" Amethyst said as her mother put a saddlebag with simple resources on her back.
"Something really weird is going on, and it's time I go back out to look for the Doctor," Ditzy replied. "You just take Dinky to the party Pinkie Pie invited us to at Sugarcube and-"
"Why can't we just stay home?" Amethyst plopped down on the couch. "Invitations are suggestions. Besides, it's like you need me to babysit sis when you could just stay behind or something."
"Just lay off the attitude for a second, will you?" Ditzy scolded. "I could leave you home but there's something odd going on with the TARDIS that I don't know about. I don't want it to explode or something while you're at home, and the only one that could possibly help is the Doctor. I need to go out again." Amethyst didn't reply. Ditzy sighed.
"Please. . .just help for tonight? You don't have to do it for me, but please. . .can you at least do this favor for your sister?" The teenage mare paused for a moment, but then reluctantly sighed and stood.
"Fine," she said flatly. "But be home by tonight." Ditzy just nodded, hoping not to cause more rift between herself and her daughter.
"Dinky!" Amethyst called to the other room. "We're going to a party, let's go!" A scurrying of tiny hooves dashed into the living room.
"Yaaaaay!" the little filly called all the way down. "What kinda party?!"
"One of Pinkie's 'Welcome to Ponyville' ones. . .again," Amethyst said. Ditzy walked to her little muffin and looked at her in the eyes.
"Now Dinky," she said steadily. "Momma's got to go out and look for the Doctor."
"Why, 'cause his friend needs him?" asked Dinky.
". . .Yes," said Ditzy. "But listen, muffin, you have to promise me that you won't talk about the 'Doctor's friend' to anypony else, okay? Only the Doctor can know right now."
"I promise Momma," Dinky replied seriously.
"And stick close to your sister, will you?" Ditzy reminded.
"Okay." The two shared a quick hug.
"Let's all head out, then," Dtizy said. She looked toward Amethyst. "And please, Amy, just try to relax a little."
"Whatever," Amethyst said aloofly. The three ponies exited the house, Ditzy flying off towards somewhere else in Ponyville, and the other two fillies trotting along to join the get-together at the Sugarcube Corner.
* * *
The Doctor(5) really didn't see that party-cannon coming. His hat about flew off his head.
"YAAY! YOU'RE HERE!" shouted the pony Tegan and Nyssa described as Pinkie Pie. She was sitting behind the bright blue cannon that had sputtered a great deal of confetti in the three ponies' faces.
"WAIT!" she then stopped. "Who's this ?!" Pinkie pointed at the Doctor.
"This is our other friend, the. . .um. . ." Nyssa said, looking at the Doctor in asking whether or not he should go by a different alias. He nodded.
"The um?" asked Pinkie.
"The Doctor," the Timepony said, holding out his hoof. Pinkie shook it violently.
"Oh cool! So glad you came!!!" she shouted. "Wait-" Her face came really close to Tegan's. "You don't have any other friends that I don't know about, do you?! 'Cause that would be awful if they couldn't come to the awesome party and then I'd be really sad because they would have been left out and-"
"Nope, just us," Tegan stopped Pinkie. "Promise."
"Okay!" the pink pony smiled. "Go and enjoy the party! We have games-" She pointed to ponies playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey. "We have scrumdidallyumptious snacks-" She pointed to a huge table filled with punch bowls and cupcakes. "And we have a great big dance party!" Pinkie pointed to a dancing floor, where a lot of ponies were staring strangely at a purple unicorn with wings that was krumping.
"Sorry you had to see that," Pinkie whispered loudly. "Anyways. . .ENJOY THE PARTY!" And it was then the pony jumped off to join the crowd. The Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan stood at the entrance of the place, a little unsure of what to do. Each one of them looked around, a little confused, and the Doctor took a moment. . .a long moment. . .to manage to put his hat inside his coat.
"So what's the plan?" asked Nyssa, bringing the three in.
"Yes, what should we do Doc--are you hungry?" asked Tegan.
"No," the Doctor denied, even though he was looking right at the snack bar.
"You're looking at all the food," said Tegan. "Wait. . .no."
"What?"
"NO."
"I was just looking! Besides, it's all pastries, anyway!"
"I don't care if we suddenly end up in a world filled with vegetables, Doctor, you are NOT wearing a useless piece of celery like it's a fancy broach!"
"It isn't useless, it's purpose is to-"
"Can we focus again, please?" interrupted Nyssa. The Doctor and Tegan stopped their bantering. "I suggest we split up and start asking ponies about the Doctor."
"Good idea," the Doctor agreed. "I'll just ask ponies over here-" Tegan pushed him back.
"On the opposite side of the snack bar."
* * *
Nyssa starting walking towards her end of the shop when she was greeted by a group of ponies.
"Hello!" said one, who was cream-colored and had hair that was half pink, half blue. A completely sea-green pony was next to her.
"Oh, nice to meet you," Nyssa replied.
"I'm Bon-Bon, this is my friend Lyra," the pony continued. "And you are?"
"Nyssa."
"Nice," Bon-Bon replied. "Well, we just want to welcome you to Ponyville and-" The pony named Lyra came up to Nyssa and put a hoof around her shoulder.
"Hey, you wanna know what a human is?" she said suspiciously. Nyssa felt the blood drain from her face. Did this pony see something? Did she know something? About her? About how she used to look humanoid?
"Ignore her," Bon-Bon grumbled, shoving Lyra away. "She does this to everypony ."
"They have the right to know," Lyra argued.
"She's a theorist, and a pretty fictional one at that," Bon-Bon continued. "She thinks that these really weird huemen creatures exist and that they're running around Equestria. . .and it's really stupid." Nyssa blew a sigh of relief and shook her head.
"I take my studies seriously, Bon-Bon!" Lyra argued. "One day, I will have my breakthrough!"
"Oh please," Bon-Bon replied, and the two ponies started a banter. Nyssa carefully snuck away from them both. Obviously she wasn't going to ask them any questions.
"Hey, you there!" came a voice from nearby. Nyssa turned her head until another pony, a pegasus, flew right in front of her. She almost startled Nyssa, especially since her hair was wild and full of all sorts of colors.
"You look like you have coordination!" the pegasus continued to Nyssa. "Do you?"
"Well," said Nyssa, a little taken aback from the odd question, "I suppose I am slightly-"
"Great!" the pegasus exclaimed before pushing Nyssa across the shop. "We need someone to beat Fluttershy at Pin the Tail on the Donkey! She's really slow, but she's never been beaten!"
"Wait, Fluttershy? I don't understa-"
"Don't worry about it! I'm sure you'll do fine!" the pegasus reassured as she pushed Nyssa over toward where the game was taking place. Nyssa was extremely confused and a little shaken by the pegasus' brash behavior. She was even more alarmed when a blindfold was tied around her face and a fuzzy fake tail was shoved in her teeth.
"Come on!" Nyssa heard the pegasus' voice. Nyssa was really uncomfortable being thrown into a really weird situation, especially when she had work to do, but she decided to just follow along and hope that this silly game would end. Maybe if she really concentrated and won the game they would leave her alone.
Nyssa heard a whole bunch of ponies around her cheering, which was encouraging, even if she was weirded out. Still, Nyssa managed to walk slowly forward until she found the wall. She then let go of the tail and pulled the blindfold off her face. She had put the tail. . .on the pony's nose.
"Nice try, I guess," the pegasus said.
"Oh, well, I suppose I tried," Nyssa said. "Now if you'll all excuse me I-"
"Hey, you wanna play some Toss Across?" the rainbow-maned pegasus then asked. "But against me. I'm unbeatable! But, hey, maybe you'll have a chance of possibly winning a game or two. . .just barely possibly though." Nyssa took a step back.
"I don't know. . ."
"I know, I know, I'm too good," the pony replied. "But hey, a game's a game! Let's go!" And the next thing Nyssa knew, she was being pushed to another party game.
* * *
"Howdy!" Tegan was just walking through the crowded party, asking ponies about the Doctor (getting negative answers, though), when a voice twanged with an accent that would come from the States called to her from behind. Tegan turned around.
"Ya'll enjoying the party?" the pony asked. "I helped Pinkie a little with the setup and was jus' makin' sure everything's alright."
"It's good," Tegan replied.
"Well that's good!" the pony stated. "Ah'm Applejack, by the way. You are?"
"Tegan."
"Well fancy meetin' you! Ah'm just as tickled as Pinkie when it comes to new folks!" A blue pony came into the conversation.
"Um, Applejack, can I talk to you for a sec?" said the pony.
"Hold on a sec," Applejack said to Tegan before exiting the conversation. Tegan stayed in case Applejack were to come back, and in case she knew anything. Fortunately, she did return, but her face didn't look so well.
"What's the matter?" asked Tegan.
"Er. . .well Pinkie put me in charge of finding the music for the party since she wanted some line dancin' for tonight. . .but they all got stuck between here and Apploosa." She pulled the hat she was wearing off of her head. "We already used up all of Pinkie's tracks since she expected me to provide the music. . .the town's DJ is in Canterlot. . ."
"Applejack!" the blue pony returned. "We found something!" Tegan didn't know what to do in this situation, so she just stood silently.
"What?"
"Octavia and her group's in town, and they agreed to pull out their instruments and play."
"But they play all classically and nonsense. We need somethin' upbeat!"
"Yeah, about that. . ." Music started to fill the room, slowly and steadily. Ponies faces started to show disgust and disappointment.
"You already got them to play?!" asked Applejack.
"What else was I supposed to do?!"
"Guys," Tegan interrupted the two ponies. They both looked at her. "What's the problem?"
"The problem is this fru-fru awful music! Nopony can dance to this!"
"Then play some. . .ragtime or jazz," Tegan suggested. "You still have the right instruments." Applejack looked at Tegan like she had a second head.
"What?"
"Just do it," Tegan said to the blue pony, feeling that she should just take charge, fix the situation, and then talk to more ponies. The blue pony was a little intimidated by Tegan's commanding nature, and obeyed.
"Don't you guys know what jazz is?" asked Tegan.
"Isn't that fancy music too?" asked Applejack. "How will that help?" Suddenly, the classical music stopped, the blue pony having finally reaching the musicians. Tegan and Applejack turned to see her talking to the group, them nodding, and then with the tap of their hooves, they started a different tune, something jazzier and livelier.
"Well, I suppose that. . .fixes it a little," said Applejack as the music started. She looked around at the room to see ponies nodding their heads to the beat. "It's just not somethin' everypony's heard of though, but it is better."
"It's at least something to dance to," Tegan stated. Applejack gave a look
"Still weird," she said.
"Well, you're in the wrong style. You need to dance the Charleston or-"
"The what?"
"You know," said Tegan. She took a deep breath and stepped back. It was a little difficult as a pony, but Tegan managed to pull off throwing her heels in the air to display the Charleston. Applejack's expression didn't change.
"That's still kinda wie-"
"Hey, can you show me how to do that?" asked a random pony that had happened to catch Tegan's dancing.
"Well, sure, I guess," said Tegan. "But-"
"Yeah, do that again!" chimed another pony.
"I wanna learn how to dance like that!" said yet another. Applejack looked at Tegan, impressed.
"Well, I guess you do know somethin'," she said. "You really helped the party!"
"But-" Tegan tried to retort. She had questions to ask, things to do, but more and more ponies wanted to see her dance the Charleston again. She sighed.
"Fine," she agreed. "It goes like this. . ."
* * *
The Doctor(5) asked enough ponies for the night. None of them knew that much about the other Doctor, and the ones that did said "Oh, yes, he's the one that runs around all the time!" But the Doctor already knew that. That's the kind of thing he did, after all.
He gained no information.
The Doctor also wasn't in the party mood. He never was, especially since the last time he went to a party. . .well that was when times were good. Much had changed since then, and it seemed like every part of the party flashed back to the times when it was fine. . .
He mostly wanted to leave. There was nothing left to do. The Doctor pushed through the crowd until he was able to find Nyssa, who was talking to two pegasus ponies and laughing.
"Oh, hello Doctor!" she said cheerfully. The two ponies near her looked up too to greet him.
"Hello, Nyssa," he replied. "I just came to pick you up. I think it's about time we head out-"
"Head out?!" said one of the pegasi, her rainbow mane flopping in front of her face. "But you just got here!"
"We're very busy," the Doctor replied.
"Are you not having a good time?" asked the other pegasus.
"No, it's not that, it's-"
"Doctor, I know we have. . .things to do," said Nyssa. She stepped forward toward him so that the others wouldn't hear. "But I don't think the other Doctor's here, and these other ponies don't know much about him. Maybe we should stay in case somepony else shows up, and besides, this day has been most stressful. You really should take it easy, Doctor."
"Well. . .I suppose you're right. About other ponies showing up, I mean," he said. "But not much longer."
"Alright," said Nyssa. She returned to a conversation with the two ponies, as the Doctor walked further into the party. He went looking for Tegan, leaving Nyssa back, as the Doctor didn't expect, to actually enjoy the company of others at the party.
It wasn't hard to find his other companion. Tegan was in the middle of the dance floor, dancing the Charleston with a few other ponies. She actually had a positive expression on her face.
"There you are, Doctor!" she said as soon as they met.
"Tegan," he said. "We need to talk."
"Fine," she said, leaving the floor to meet with the Doctor. "What's wrong?"
"Have you found anything out?"
"Not much at all. Not many of the ponies know about the other Doctor," she said.
"Well, that's helpful," the Doctor stated sarcastically.
"I don't really think they know anything," she said. "But they learn how to dance fast! You should join us, Doctor!" The Doctor was a little stunned by Tegan's excitement, which clashed from her usual snarky self. Still, he shook his head.
"Tegan, I'm trying to figure things out here and-"
"We've been doing that all day," she sassed. "Besides, I don't think I saw you dance before."
"That's because, Tegan, I don't dance."
"Oh really."
"I don't."
"I don't believe you."
"What's there to not believe?" said the Doctor. "I don't dance."
"We'll must have sometime before," said Tegan. "Just because you don't dance doesn't mean you can't." The Doctor just looked at Tegan.
"I'm not a dancer."
"Very well," sighed Tegan. "But you're missing out. I just taught all of these ponies to do the Charleston! Isn't that crazy?"
"Yes, very."
"Well, I'm going to enjoy this party," she continued. "I think you should too, Doctor." And with that, Tegan disappeared into the crowd once more. The Doctor remained where he was, standing by himself. He just didn't want to be there.
The last party he was at. . .it was spectacular, and just like this one, but it was who attended it that was different. Everything around him just reminded him of the recent past, from the dancing ponies, the cheerful laughter, the ponies cheering on others in the game area.
Now, the Doctor could dance. He knew how to. But he didn't want to. . .it just didn't feel right. It was too soon, and the party reminded him of too much. Still, it didn't keep him from wondering if he could dance again, somewhere in the distant future, in a time away from the recent pains.
Possibly in a time where everyone lived and was okay. If such a time were to exist.
The Doctor Has Been Found
Hoof slamming against the console of the TARDIS, the Master grit his teeth at defeat. The Doctor(10) had once again gotten away from him, running as fast as his hooves carried him into the strange forest in Equestria. The Master read it as the "Everfree" but names never mattered to him. All he knew was that the Doctor ran into a woodsy area that threw off and jumbled the TARDIS scanners. And there was no way the treacherous and unknown forest seemed worthwhile enough for trotting into.
"My own TARDIS would have been more sufficient than this," the Master muttered to himself. True, the Doctor's TARDIS was a gem, but it was a little uneasy. The Master always wondered how the Doctor could manage to fly such a wonky contraption, or why he kept it all these years. Not only was the Timepony dealing with the machine, but he had to figure out what in the world he was when he and the Doctor's TARDIS crashed into the strange universe. Luckily he was able to adapt, yet information on what he was or what capabilities he possessed still sat in the nonexistent part of his knowledge.
Then there was the matter of the event that had taken place just prior to the Master's struggles. The golden glow that had filled the TARDIS. . .what was it and why did it help the Doctor? Again the Master didn't give much care to the matter. As long as it left the TARDIS untouched and didn't come back.
The controls were scrambling from the signals the Everfree gave off. The Master used his hooves and tried to flick switches and press buttons. Sometimes he'd hit two on accident.
"Blast these useless appendages!" he cursed under his breath. Eventually he was able to straighten the navigation and signaling systems out, when a light started flashing on the control panel. It was a signal light showing that another TARDIS was nearby. The Master knew it had to be the Doctor's current TARDIS to his tenth incarnation. Maybe, he thought, he could possibly find a way to access that TARDIS as well since the Doctor had escaped. . .
That was until the Master took a closer look at the indication light and the information it was showing on a small screen below.
There were two TARDISes nearby!
Hastily, the Master ordered the TARDIS to specify what the two timecrafts were, and what he found was just perfect for his delight. One TARDIS that was being picked up was the tenth Doctor's. . .but the other was his current TARDIS . A grin slowly stretched over the Master's face.
"So the Doctor, my Doctor, and his flimsy little companions have found a way here?" he chuckled to himself. "Well, perhaps the course of my plan should take another turn." The Master flicked a switch.
"It may be best to exchange vessels, though," he grumbled to himself. "I'd prefer to fly a true machine than this dump."
* * *
Dinky bounced by her sister's side as the two of them entered Sugarcube Corner.
"Yaay! This looks like fun, Amy!" she squealed in excitement. "What do we wanna do first?"
"Whoa, 'we' is out of the question," Amythest said plainly. "I'm not sticking around."
"What?!" said Dinky sadly. "But you hafta!" She looked up at Amethyst. "What's more important, anyway? Don't you wanna spend time with me?"
"I've just got stuff, okay?" the older filly stated.
"What stuff? I'll tell Momma. . ."
"C'mon, don't be a tattletale. I'm-" Amethyst shifted for eyes. Then, out of the blue, she sighed and put on a serious face. "Look, I wanna go help Mom find the Doctor." Dinky's eyes widened.
"Really?!" she said, her eyes glowing. "Can I com-"
"No, it's too dangerous," Amethyst said. "I'm going to help, but it would be really easy for all of us if you just stay here, where it's safe, okay?" She knelt down and looked Dinky in the eye. The little sister nodded her head and sighed.
"Okay. . .if it helps. . ." she said. Her face regained a smile. "I'm so glad you're helping, sis!" Amethyst hugged Dinky quickly.
"Good, now stay here, I'll be back when the party's over," she said warmly. "Go and have fun." Dinky nodded cheerfully before turning and running into the crowd of the party. Amethyst waved and trotted out of the door. When she closed it, her hoof hit the ground and disappeared from her face.
Yeah, go have loads of fun , she said in her mind. While you do that, I'll go "look for the Doctor". . .at home, on my couch, where nopony can freaking bother me.
* * *
The little filly had never seen so much food.
"Which flavor is the best?" Dinky asked the Cakes, two friendly ponies who ran the Corner, as she looked at the cupcakes and treats laid out in front of her. A pink dash of air blew in from the left.
"THAT'S EASY!" Pinkie Pie was suddenly behind the table of treats. "It's all of them!"
"But I can't eat that many!" Dinky laughed. "I'm only this big!" She pointed to herself.
"Then try this one!" encouraged Pinkie. She held out a blueberry muffin. "Just have your favorite!" Dinky smiled and licked her lips.
"Thanks!" she said cheerfully as Pinkie handed Dinky the muffin and dashed somewhere else in the room. The little filly picked up the treat in her feeble little magic cloud and munched on it happily. So far, the party was very good. Amethyst was probably helping, but she was missing out.
Dinky bumped into a dancing pony and almost dropped her muffin.
"Hey," the pony said.
"Oops, sorry," said the filly, regaining her grip on her treat. She bumped into another pony who was also dancing.
"Ack," said the pony.
"Sorry," repeated the filly. This wasn't working out. Dinky had to get out of the crowd of dancing ponies. Especially since in the background Pinkie was yelling to everypony that a conga line was starting up. The young mare dashed through the tangled hooves and out of the mass. There was a clearing in the corner of the room, where Dinky sat safely down to finish her pastry.
All the ponies in the party were dancing it seemed. All except. . .her. . .and one more pony sitting by her in the clearing of the room. That was good, at least. She couldn't dance until the muffin was finished, and as Pinkie always said, it was always good to make a new friend.
"Hello there," Dinky said with a full mouth to the pony, who was a grown stallion. She realized her mistake in etiquette and swallowed the muffin before continuing. "Why aren't you dancing?" The stallion was looking out to the crowd, but slowly at the end of his sentence to talk to her.
"Probably because I have two left hooves," he joked. Dinky laughed, but for a moment. When the pony turned, she instantly recognized his face. It was the same pony that had crash-landed in her kitchen!
Ditzy dropped her muffin. The stallion scrunched his nose.
"You look familiar?" he stated. "We've met before now, haven't we?" Dinky just stared. The stallion kept searching the little filly's face until he found an answer.
"Aha! I remember now. . .you're the little pony who bopped me in the nose when we met," he said.
"Um. . .sorry?" Dinky said, trying to figure out what to say. The stallion just shook his head.
"No no it's quite all right, it's not like you remember," he replied. "It's not like you or the other ponies that were with you liked me all that much." He about turned away to leave Dinky to her business again, the small filly just staring at him. Dinky didn't know what exactly to say, only that she remembered that her mother stated that "he was right" about something.
Dinky blinked. He may have been a stranger and a bit of a weird pony, but he didn't seem all that scary. Who knows. . .he probably was the Doctor after all, like he had said. The little pony tapped the stallion.
"Excuse me," she said, minding her manners. The stallion turned his head.
"Yes?"
"Are you the Doctor?"
"It depends. . .do you think I'm the Doctor?"
"I think you're odd," said Dinky plainly. "But the Doctor I know is odd too."
"Well then, I am the Doctor. . .and I suppose an odd one," the Doctor grinned. "Why do you believe that now?"
"My Momma thinks you are now. She said so."
"And your 'Momma' she. . .she was the grey mare, wasn't she?"
"Yes."
"Where is she now?"
"Out looking for Doctor. . .not you Doctor, the other Doctor."
"I see," the Doctor nodded. "A little confusing, don't you think?"
"Uh huh," Dinky agreed. "Why are there two of you?" Now, as if no one or pony had known yet, the Doctor always had a little kid buried deep inside of him that always came out. . .constantly (unless it was important, of course). And since there was nothing he was doing, his companions out enjoying the party and he waiting for somepony to chat with, well, that kid came out. The Doctor knelt down to Dinky's level. The Doctor smiled.
"Have you ever heard of regeneration?" he said, as if it was some important and exciting secret. Dinky shook her head instantly.
"No," she almost whispered back.
"It goes like this," the Doctor continued. "What happens when you get a cut on your knee?"
"It heals."
"How?"
"The skin grows back."
"Exactly. But where is the old skin?"
"It's gone."
"That's right. When I get badly hurt, my whole body goes and a new one comes." The Doctor made a big motion with his hooves. "And usually the new body looks and sounds and acts different. Sometimes these different me's end up in the same place, like me and your Doctor, even though we're the same pony."
"That's confusing," said Dinky, her eyes swirling in her head. She paused for a moment. "Does it happen to everypony?"
"It happens to Timeponies."
"Wait," said Dinky. "You're a Timepony?"
"I am the Doctor. Didn't your Doctor tell you he was a Timepony too?"
"Yeah," said Dinky. "He also said he had two hearts."
"Out of all the things he could have told you, he told you that fact," the Doctor sighed to himself. "I wonder if that's all I will talk about in the future. . .two hearts. . ." Suddenly the Doctor was hugged by the little filly. He wasn't sure why it happened, or how to respond to it. He just looked down at Dinky's head.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Sh," said Dinky as she hugged him tighter. "I'm making sure." The Doctor watched as she listened to his chest with one ear before she smiled and looked up at his face.
"You are the Doctor," she said happily.
"I thought you took my word for it before?" the Doctor asked.
"I was just double-checking," Dinky stated. "Don't you double-check stuff?"
"Not often enough. . ." the Timepony muttered with a chuckle. Dinky touched the sleeve of his coat.
"How did you get your clothes to fit you?" she asked as if she was looking for more questions to ask.
"A tailor in town fixed it up for me. . .Rarity was her name."
"Our Doctor got a tie from her when he came," Dinky said. "That's what Momma told me anyways."
"Did she?" said the Doctor, still unsure on what to do with the small pony in his lap. At least he reconfirmed the fact that Rarity did meet his other self.
"What's this?" said Dinky as she pulled a rolled up something out of the Doctor's inner pocket.
"My hat."
"It doesn't look like a hat." She somehow figured out that it was rolled up and the hat seemed to just pop out in her face. Dinky put it on her head. The hat slipped to her nose. The Doctor then had a thought strike his mind.
"Hold on, weren't there three of you?"
"Three of who?" asked Dinky, pushing the hat to her forehead.
"Well let's see. . .there was you, there was the grey mare, who is your mother, but there was another one. . ."
"Oh, that was my sister," said Dinky. "Her name is Amethyst."
"And where is she?"
"She's also looking for our Doctor," Dinky replied.
* * *
But Amethyst wasn't looking for the Doctor. She was heading for the selfish comfort of her own home, with only a sliver of guilt. Such a sliver didn't even phase her.
Finally, I can have some peace from all of this nonsense about the Doctor, she thought to herself. The thought only lasted a moment, for when Amethyst reentered her home, the silent blue TARDIS of the Doctor's was still sitting in the living room. She walked up to the object and punted it with her hoof.
What's the point of you? she said in her mind. True, Amethyst knew the TARDIS's purpose, but she didn't like it. It was the thing that brought the Doctor to her home in the first place. Why are you here? What's with your weird nonsense? What is a Police Public Call Box anyway? And why is there a weird word on your backside that says- A faint noise sounded from the kitchen.
Amethyst felt her blood run cold. She perked her ears. Maybe it was a breeze?
Hoofsteps echoed from the other room. The young mare felt her breath stop short. The heat drained from her head and made her hooves sweaty.
There was somepony in the house.
Now, Ponyville wasn't known for crime, but that didn't mean it didn't happen. And it didn't sound like the Doctor. Amethyst knew he talked to himself. This pony, or ponies, as it could be, was silent, sneaky. . .and a stranger. Quietly, Amethyst picked up a vase from a nearby shelf in her magic and began to nervously tiptoe toward the kitchen.
Slowly, she made it to the door. Odd. . .there was nothing. . .the usual stuff, the weird pillar thing, and. . .
Was that the Doctor's TARDIS on the other side of the pillar?
Amethyst looked back. She saw the TARDIS in the living room. She looked forward. There was the TARDIS again, the blue box, in the kitchen, only it looked slightly different, a little older-looking. Was this some kind of trick?
A sound came from the pillar. Amethyst jumped back behind the doorway and watched, her heart lunging into her throat. The door to the thing opened, and out of it came yet another strange pony. This one was a dark-haired unicorn, a black cape over his back.
Amethyst didn't care who he was. He looked like trouble and he was in her house.
The young mare jumped out into the kitchen and towards the strange pony. Before he could turn around she brought the vase smack down on his head. The stallion crumpled to the floor as the vase shattered and bits of porcelain fell everywhere. Amethyst ran over to get a better look.
Looking at his face, the unicorn definitely gave off some kind of evil vibe to Amethyst. But there was something else. Apparently, the stallion had been carrying some kind of black wand thing in his mouth. It had fallen out when Amethyst hit him, but she didn't want to take any chances. She pushed the weird object away from the stranger and to the corner of the room.
I hope he's dead, the punk, she thought to herself. But Amethyst's timing couldn't have been worse. The stallion slowly regained consciousness and groaned painfully. Amethyst let her adrenaline think for herself, and looking for something to hit him with, she picked up a dirty frying pan from the kitchen sink and bashed the stallion on the head again, this time leaving a nasty bruise on his forehead.
That should keep him out, she thought to herself as she thought about running to the police. Amethyst picked up her hooves to run, but she stopped in the doorway of the kitchen.
There was something about this pony that she couldn't turn him into the officials. I mean, sure, they'd lock him up, but suddenly another blue box TARDIS appears and this pony is using the pillar? He obviously knew something. . .probably about the Doctor. Not that Amethyst wanted the Doctor back. . .but she was curious and ready to end the mess so her family would stop fussing about it. She changed her motives.
Where does mom keep the rope in this house? she asked herself.
Great Stimulation Can Inspire
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."
It was getting extremely late at night, and seemingly for hours Luna had been decorating the skies with more and more of the brilliant stars in her collection. A lovely sight, really, only Ditzy Doo was too tired to notice it. She was looking for more than the stars. . .she was looking for the pony who would take her to those stars.
It had been since the night before the Doctor(10) went missing, and all that morning Ditzy had searched the south side of Ponyville, all the way to Zecora's house, and that evening she had searched all along the north side, up by the train station. She half expected him to be there, actually. There was one day when he ran off and tried to drive the train all across Equestria, but the engineers sadly told Ditzy that he didn't even appear near the station.
Ditzy was about to give up, when she decided to go to one more place. She trotted into the middle of Ponyville and tapped on the door of Princess Twilight's library.
"Hello?" asked the alicorn as she hastily opened the door. Ditzy saw the rushed look on the Princess's face and rethought about coming.
"So sorry to bother you, your highness," Ditzy revered awkwardly.
"Please, you don't have to call me that, I'm just Twilight," the alicorn said. She turned her head. "Spike! And don't forget the dustpan! It's upstairs!" She turned back to Ditzy. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, not if you're busy with your duties," said Ditzy. "I mean, it is important-"
"Come on in, then!" welcomed Twilight as she extended a wing and stepped aside for Ditzy to walk in. "I'm not busy. Pinkie just had a party and before it's over I thought I'd come over here to pick up some things to help her clean up afterwards."
"Pinkie needs that many cleaning products?"
"Somewhat," Twilight cleared. "One because I suppose the Cakes have two foals to look after, which in itself is hard, but also because the couple doesn't want Pinkie around inanimate objects often. . .it's a long story. But I also have the best cleaning products possible, and I told the Cakes I would help them with that-" The alicorn perked an ear up and listened for Spike's voice trailing down the stairs.
"What?" she replied. "No! It's not in the fiction section of the library it's in my room!" Twilight looked back to Ditzy.
"Sorry."
"Oh no, it's okay," waved Ditzy. "I don't want to get in your business."
"It's fine, Spike will find the dustpan eventually," said Twilight. She trot over to a table to pick up a feather duster and put it in a saddlebag. "So what's bothering you? Is it something with the Equestrian Postal Service, because I just found out four weeks ago that I can actually make laws with that."
"No, the EPS is doing just fine," said Ditzy.
"It isn't that name-calling business again, is it?" asked Twilight. "I mean, I can't make laws on that, Celestia grants freedom of speech, but I can make an appearance or start a rally on it or-"
"No, nothing like that at all!" said Ditzy. "In fact, I haven't heard the word 'Derpy' being thrown around in months."
"Then what's wrong?"
"It's. . .well it's the Doctor," said Ditzy. "You remember him, don't you?" Twilight picked up a broom nearby.
"How can I not?" she asked. "I mean, it was three months ago I talked to him last and the three of us went to Equestria 1000 years ago. But every once in a while I see him running around Ponyville. Why? Is he in trouble with the Dallerts-"
"Daleks."
"Right, Daleks? It's not those is it?"
"No. I'm afraid I don't really know," said Ditzy. "Last night he vanished, and all day I've searched Ponyville and couldn't find him anywhere!"
"Hm. . .that's weird," said Twilight, putting the broom. "You haven't seen his TARDIS or anything?"
"His TARDIS has been sitting in my house."
"Even weirder," said Twilight. "It's not like he would just run away like that. He didn't go near the Everfree Forrest or Diamond Dog country?"
"No, he just. . .vanished!" said Ditzy.
"Well, as I said, I haven't heard from him in months. Occasionally I hear a pony or two talking about him in the street."
"Did you hear anything today?" asked Ditzy. Twilight held a hoof to her face.
"Actually, I did," Twilight remembered. "But of course very vaguely. It's not like I eavesdrop on other ponies. Plus, they could've been talking about a medical doctor."
"What did they say?" asked Ditzy eagerly.
"I don't remember all of it, but today I was at the Daytime Spa with my friends and these two mares came in having some conversation with the word 'doctor' in it. I could've sworn that I heard them say 'TARDIS' but. . .what do I know? The weird thing, though, is that I had never seen them around before. . ." Twilight started to ramble. "and they got in with Rarity's passes. They could've been some type of fashion friends of hers. I don't know. I saw them both at Pinkie's party, I never got to talk to them though. . ."
"Hold on," said Ditzy. "What did these two mares look like?"
"One had a short purple mane, her cutie mark was something like golden wings. The other was younger, probably as old as your daughter Amethyst is, had a dark curly mane and a cutie mark of. . .something." Ditzy's mouth widened.
"And they were at Rarity's?!" she asked.
"I don't know, they could've been."
"But I went to Rarity's today and nopony was there," Ditzy said aloud to herself. "Just Rarity making outfits for three ponies, she said. . ." Suddenly Ditzy's expression made her look like a brick fell on her head.
"Oh my Celestia!" she exhaled.
"What?!" asked Twilight. "What's wrong?"
"OH MY CELESTIA!" Ditzy exclaimed louder.
"Here's your dustpan," Spike told Twilight as he entered the room and the conversation. He looked at Ditzy's expression. "Uh. . .what's up with her?"
"What's wrong, Ditzy?" asked Twilight with concern.
"I think I may have found the Doctor," she said. "But not the Doctor. . .a clue to the Doctor, the other Doctor that's probably the Doctor. . ." Twilight gave a puzzled look.
"It's a long and confusing story," explained Ditzy. "I should probably get going-"
"Isn't the Doctor the stallion with the hourglass cutie mark?" asked Spike. Twilight shushed him.
"Yes, I told you that, but that's not important right now," said the mare.
"Oh, 'cause I just saw him this morning," said Spike. Ditzy froze. Twilight's eyes widened.
"WHAT?!" they both yelled as they faced the dragon.
"Yeah, he made a mess of the North Wing too," Spike grumpily added.
"The Doctor was here and you didn't tell me about it?" asked Twilight angrily.
"Hey, it's not like I knew anypony was looking for him!"
"Are you sure it was the Doctor, though?" asked Ditzy.
"Yeah," said Spike. "Like I said, he had an hourglass cutie mark. . .weird accent. . .blonde mane. . ."
"The Doctor has a brunette mane," corrected Ditzy.
"Look, the only thing Twilight ever told me about him was what his cutie mark looked like, so I went off of that!" Spike pouted. "He also had Rarity's saddlebag which makes me wonder. . ." Ditzy instantly sat down, her eyes wide and her mind reeling. Twilight showed the mare her concern.
"What's wrong?" asked the alicorn. Ditzy shook her head, her eyes still wide.
"This doesn't make any sense. . ." she muttered. "It does. . .but it doesn't. . .but it's all so confusing. . ."
"Maybe we can help you," said Twilight. "Just tell us what the matter is."
"No, it's not even the Doctor missing anymore. . .it's the other Doctor. . ."
"The other Doctor?" asked Twilight.
"There's another one?" said Spike.
"Yes. . . .no!" said Ditzy. "I don't know!" She stood up. "I don't know what to do, but I think I know where to go." She looked at Twilight. "Pinkie's 'Welcome to Ponyville' party. . .how many ponies is she greeting?"
"Two," said Twilight. "Oh no wait. . .I think there was a third one that showed up." Ditzy's face was shocked, but she found what she needed to do next. The pegasus dashed for the door.
"Wait!" shouted Twilight. "You didn't tell me what's wrong!"
"I'm sorry, I have to go! Maybe I can explain it later when it's less. . .weird!"
"We can sit down and try to understand!" said Twilight.
"I'm afraid I don't have the time!" Ditzy shouted back to the library. The mare then spread her wings and jumped into the air, flying southbound. Twilight just watched, her face twisted with confusion.
"I don't. . .what's going on?" Spike asked Twilight when Ditzy was gone.
"I have no idea," said Twilight. "But at least she seems to have an idea of what's going on."
"We're not going to help?"
"I don't see what we can do," Twilight sighed. "Spike, did you get the cleaning rags I asked you to get?"
"You told me to get the dustpan!"
"Well, I need the rags too!"
"Ugh!"
* * *
Tegan was tired, and she made sure the Doctor(5) knew that.
"I don't understand why we have to keep trudging through the night like this," she complained. She, Nyssa, and the Doctor were all walking away from Sugarcube Corner as the night became stronger and as the party dimmed down to a few ponies who decided to stick around for extended conversation. The Doctor, however, was very determined to find his TARDIS, or at least get a bigger picture on what the deal was with the other incarnation of himself that was roaming around Ponyville. Bottom line, he wanted to do something productive to help their situation. . .and he really wanted his TARDIS back more than anything.
"We can't spend too much time resting, we've already spent it all on the party and frankly, I'd like to get a clue on what's going on around here," he responded.
"But I'm exhausted," Tegan sighed.
"And besides, the party wasn't a waste at all," Nyssa added. "All of the ponies from around were there, and we asked a good deal of them about the other Doctor, and the information they had wasn't the kind we were looking for. None of the ponies knew the other Doctor enough to know who exactly he is or where he came from."
"That's why we need to keep looking!" said the Doctor, bouncing on his hooves.
"Doctor," Nyssa scolded. "I know this is very important but so our rest. We can think better after a night's sleep." The Doctor stopped to see the young mare look straight at him in the eye. Tegan was standing behind her, basically about to slop over right there and sleep. The Doctor himself was full of energy at that point (Timelords, ahem, Timeponies requiring very minimal sleep to function), however, Nyssa was right. He still had to look out for his companions.
"Well all right, I suppose that wouldn't hurt," he replied. "After all, maybe Tegan will feel better tomorrow. . .or maybe she'll just be herself as always-"
Tegan gave the Doctor a glare. He smirked and scrunched his nose.
"Then it's settled," said Nyssa, glad as always to keep peace in the small things. "All we need now is to find a place-"
"Ya'll have a nice night!" The three turned to see the pony Applejack leaving Sugarcube Corner, waving her hoof to the trio. She started to trot home for the night, heading up the road northbound.
"Should we ask her?" asked Tegan.
"It's worth a try," the Doctor replied. He motioned for his companions to follow him as he took off toward Applejack.
"Excuse me!" the Doctor called, hoping to get her attention. Applejack turned around.
"We were wondering if there was somewhere in Ponyville we could stay for the night-" started the Doctor.
"You see, we don't exactly have a place yet-" continued Tegan.
"But we will soon," added Nyssa. "However for tonight-"
"Whoa Nelly," Applejack stopped the three of them by holding her hoof in the air. The Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan listened.
"Well, shoot," Applejack stated, pulling her cowboy hat back across her face. "Ah don't really know of anypony. 'Course, ya'll are welcome around mah place but we ain't got nothin' but the barn. For kinfolk, it's alright, but ya'll are guests so I dunno. . ."
"Any place is fine, we aren't very picky," said Nyssa, even though Tegan was behind her feeling unsure about the 'barn' thing.
"Ya know, I think there may be someplace better," Applejack added. "Ah've got a friend who is mighty hospitable. Ya'll sit tight, ah'll be back in a sec." The country pony held a hoof gesturing the others to wait as she ran back to Sugarcube Corner.
"The ponies around here are very friendly, aren't they?" noted the Doctor.
"Excusing the first one we met," Tegan mentioned.
"Well we did crash a TARDIS through her house."
"Point taken," stated Tegan. "I need to sit down a moment. My knees are killing me."
"There's a bench over here under this tree." The Doctor and Nyssa helped Tegan over to the bench, and the three of them sat down, waiting for Applejack to return.
"It's so weird being a pony," Tegan started the conversation. "My knees bend another way and I'm not used to it yet."
"It's very different to have to think about every action you need to do," Nyssa concurred. "Even with the simple ones."
"Speaking of which, how is the magic coming along, Nyssa?" asked the Doctor. "It is a normal action here, after all. . ."
"Still working on it," Nyssa replied. "I tried again to use it for picking items up when no other ponies were really watching. It's more difficult than how the other unicorns make it appear."
"I still can't get over the fact that there are unicorns here," Tegan commented. "Colored ponies, maybe, but unicorns is just unreal." A figure flew by the Sugarcube Corner in the dark and stopped at the place. Nyssa watched it fly and land.
"The fact that these creatures fly so gracefully amazes me," she said. "Creatures with feathered wings tend to look a little different. At least by what creatures I'm used to."
"No, I can agree," said Tegan. "It's like a bird and horse hybrid."
"What's astounding is that there was an alicorn at that party," said the Doctor.
"What's an. . .alicorn?" asked Tegan.
"A pony with both wings and a horn, and are extremely rare," explained the Doctor. "I also read about them."
"Oh, that purple one," said Tegan. "I actually tried to talk to her, only she was dancing very oddly with her eyes closed I never got the chance."
"I talked to her," said Nyssa. "I didn't catch much about her. She didn't even tell me her name. She was going on and on about something with science studies, and then was called by another pony." Tegan snorted.
"Sounds like-" She stopped dead in the sentence.
"Sounds like what?" asked the Doctor.
"Nevermind," Tegan waved, a grim expression lasting on her face for a split moment. "Anyways, what's so weird about an alicorn being at a party?"
"Well, as what I picked up, alicorns are extremely powerful beings here in Equestria. Usually they have monarchy over the land and fantastic responsibilities. . .for example, for hundreds, about a thousand or so years, the same two alicorn princesses have been controlling when the day comes and the night falls."
"That sounds more like something from a mythology book," said Tegan.
"Well, things are different here. But judging by the alicorn at the party, she seemed very young. She must be a recent holder of a position or possibly a lower official." The Doctor froze.
"What?" asked Nyssa.
"Princess Twilight!" he said proudly. "That's who the owner of the library is! And it makes sense seeing that the mare was the only one around with alicorn attributes!"
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Tegan.
"Nothing, but I figured it out!" the Doctor stated. He pulled the hat out of his inside coat pocket and plopped it on his head, showing a grin as if he felt extremely brilliant.
"Very clever of you, Doctor," Tegan said sarcastically.
"You know what, I also remember something else!" said the Doctor, tapping his hat with a hoof. "At the party I met-"
"Hey there!" came Applejack's voice from across the way. The three looked over to see her walking out with a long-haired pegasus. "Ya'll are in luck!"
"I believe that's Fluttershy she's with," Nyssa told the others as she, the Doctor, and Tegan got up from the bench. "I talked to her at the party. She shied away earlier when I asked her about the Doctor. She didn't know anything, but she did stick around, kind soul she was."
"This here is my friend Fluttershy," Applejack stated, putting a hoof around the pegasus with her. Fluttershy hid her face behind her long pink hair. The others could only barely see one of her eyes of her face.
"Um, hi," she said quietly. She noticed Nyssa. "Hello Nyssa."
"She's a little quiet, but as I said before, very kind, and most certainly happy to help ya'll," Applejack reassured. Fluttershy said nothing, but scuffed her hoof in the ground. Her friend nudged her.
"Oh, yes," Fluttershy said quietly. "I would really love to help."
"You sure?" asked Tegan. "I'm not complaining but you look a little uncertain about it." Fluttershy cowered slightly at Tegan's loud-ish tone.
"It's alright. She's jus' shy," Applejack noted. "Ya'll will get along jus' fine. Ah'd love to stick around but. . .Ah've got to get home." With that, the country mare tipped her dusty brown cowboy hat and waved. She trotted along the Ponyville roads and into the night. For a second, there was an awkward silence between the other ponies left behind.
"So. . ." said the Doctor, trying to start a conversation.
"Why don't you lead us to this cottage of yours, Fluttershy?" Nyssa jumped in, asking the pegasus in a simple and quiet tone. Fluttershy gave a small smile and nodded.
"Um, okay," she replied. She dared to glimpse at the others. "Um, if you could just. . .follow me please." Fluttershy motioned her head to turn, and then started tip-toeing softly and slowly off, anticipating the others to follow.
"Alright," Tegan leaned over toward Nyssa, "was it something I said earlier or. . .?"
"No, Applejack was right about her being shy," said Nyssa. "It has nothing to do with you. She'll be filled with more confidence the more you are acquainted with her."
"I hope so," Tegan replied. "I kinda feel like a boom-box around her."
"Why don't I talk to her so that she feels more apt to talk?" Nyssa suggested. Tegan nodded. The young mare took off a little ahead and walked side-by-side with Fluttershy.
"It was honorable for you to help us on such a short notice," Nyssa started.
"Oh, it wasn't any trouble, really," Fluttershy replied in a more stable tone.
"Well, we thank you for it. By the way, the other two are my friends. That's the Doctor, that's Tegan-"
"I'm finally relieved that we found an actual place to stay for the night," Tegan overlapped Nyssa in a new discussion with the Doctor. "Better than a barn."
"Yes, that's would've been ironic, wouldn't it?" the Doctor replied.
"Considering we're horses? Ha ha, very funny."
"Well, who knows. . .the cottage may be a variant of a barn in this world."
"I sure hope not. Doctor?"
"Hm?"
"You were about to say something earlier? Somepony you met at the party?"
"Oh yes, well, it's actually a little more important than one of the random ponies. It would probably be best if I talked to both you and Nyssa about it. . .probably when we get to the cottage."
"Yes, and what if Nyssa and I fall asleep before you finish all of your jabbering?" Tegan raised a brow. The Doctor smirked.
"I suppose then it I will stop when you sleep and then continue again the next morning!"
* * *
Ditzy's mind swam in the waving thoughts that ran through her head. The strangers, the ones that she had met earlier, the Doctor, the other Doctor. . .he was still around. And she just had to find him.
I can't believe how dumb I was, Ditzy scolded herself. My Doctor vanishes, three ponies turn up that are the only possible link to him, and one of them is the Doctor himself. . .and I kick them out of my house! Well, not any more. I'm going to fix this. The pegasus was flying rapidly through the night air, heading straight for Sugarcube Corner. Twilight did mention that they were beginning to clean up the party, and that worried Ditzy. She only hoped that it wasn't too late to catch them.
Once the Corner was reached Ditzy placed her hooves in front of her and landed hastily on the ground. She dashed inside, and as she feared, it was dimly lit and mainly deserted. A couple of Pinkie's friends were sticking around, talking about plans and cleaning up, and Berry Punch was drunk in the corner again (which was odd considering Pinkie never had alcohol at her Welcome Parties. . .) with Mr. and Mrs. Cake urging her to wake up and go home. But nopony else. Ditzy had come to late. She turned to leave.
"Momma!" Ditzy swiveled her head back to the inside of the room at the sound of the beloved voice of her daughter. Dinky trotted up from behind a corner, where she was sitting for a while doodling on a piece of paper. Her mother came to her when she was called.
"Muffin, what are you still doing here?" asked Ditzy. "It's very late. You should be in bed already."
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Cake told me I could stay," Dinky replied. "They didn't want me going home all by myself."
"By yourself?" said Ditzy, a little taken aback. She looked around the shop. "Where's your sister?"
"She went off to look for Doctor with you," Dinky said innocently. "I was waiting here for both of you." Ditzy's face turned to total disappointment.
"Ugh," Ditzy sighed, putting a hoof on her face.
"Did you loose Amy too?" asked Dinky.
"No," Ditzy replied. "But she probably went home."
"Why?"
"'Night, ya'll!" Applejack and Fluttershy, who were two of PInkie's friends, walked toward the exit of the shop.
"Bye!" Pinkie called after them. She went back to cleaning up the floor. . .with her hair.
"We'll talk about this later," Ditzy said reassuringly, and by that, she really meant that she would have a long talk with Amethyst . The wool wasn't pulled over her eyes; she knew Amethyst must have skipped out to do her own thing.
"Let's go home, okay?" Ditzy told her youngest. Dinky nodded happily.
"Okay Momma," she replied. The little filly watched as her mother extended her wings, and then climbed onto her back, her little head nodding off into the dreamy world of sleep. Ditzy exited the shop.
If it wasn't for the pegasus' bitter personality towards missing the three strangers and her daughter ditching her youngest for the comforts of home, Ditzy would have considered the night to be perfect. The air was warm, the stars bright with the moon, and all was still except for a couple groups of ponies here and there having light conversation. Ditzy trotted carefully home, Dinky falling asleep on her back.
The house looked very still when Ditzy arrived back home. All the lights were turned off. It had seemed that no one was home. For a moment the mother was worried that Amethyst may have gone out with friends or to somepony else's house for the night without Ditzy knowing. Ditzy hoped her daughter was just asleep.
The pegasus knocked on the door. For a while there was no answer. Amethyst could be asleep after all, Ditzy thought to herself. She just better be home. The mare shuffled her hooves to pull up the doormat and find the house key. That was when a strange noise caught her. . .
Ditzy perked her ears. There was a sound. . .coming from inside the house. It was repetitive. . . and sounded like a machine. A shock hit her. She couldn't believe that she didn't recognize it instantly.
There was a TARDIS sound coming from inside her home! Ditzy pounded on the door.
"Doctor?!" she yelled. No reply. Just the TARDIS sound. . .with low rasps here and there in the noise that made it sound a little odder than usual. Ditzy suddenly panicked. The Doctor must've come back! One of them, at least.
Ditzy hurriedly fumbled to grasp the key in her mouth. She stuck it in the lock and turned, opening the front door and running inside, not even bothering to close it behind her. That's when she saw it.
The Doctor's TARDIS was still there, in the living room! It wasn't moving! Yet the sounds continued, growing fainter and fainter.
Dinky stirred on her mother's back.
"Momma?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"Just a second, Muffin," Ditzy assured quickly before rushing over into the living room and setting her daughter on the couch. She scanned the room and listened for the TARDIS sound, which was growing hard to hear. Oddly there were some strange items around the living room, she noticed. . .a fallen kitchen chair, lots of rope. . .that's when Ditzy realized the sound was coming from inside the kitchen.
The mare jumped to the door and slammed it open, just as the TARDIS sound was completely dissolved into nothing. Ditzy saw the kitchen. . .she didn't know what to make of it.
The pillar. It was GONE.
There was. . .ANOTHER POLICE BOX?!
On the floor. . .a fallen black cape.
What. Had. Happened!?
Ditzy took things one step at a time.
First, there was another TARDIS in her kitchen that looked exactly like the Doctor's, only it seemed older and more beat up. Was that where the sound came from? Ditzy concluded it couldn't have. . .it looked like it had been sitting for a while. The only conclusion she could come up with was. . .the pillar.
The Master's TARDIS, as she had learned it was from earlier, was completely gone. She recalled it making a similar sound as the Doctor's TARDIS when it first arrived. . .that must have been what had made the sound just then! But who could have taken it, and who brought the other police box TARDIS there?
And what was the black cape for? Ditzy walked over and picked it up with her hooves. It was hooded, just the size for a pony bigger than herself. Perhaps. . .it was a clue. . .
"Ditzy!" A voice rang from Ditzy's open front door. Instantly she felt her senses snap. She knew that tone. . .she knew it all to well. It was a sudden call of her name that gave her the most sudden relief. It was for that voice she had been looking for the longest time. . .and it was suddenly at her doorstep. Ditzy, still clinging the cape, ran through the kitchen and to the front. There, in her doorway, although beaten and tired, was the Doctor. Her Doctor.
"Doctor!" Dinky cheered over the head of the couch as soon as the Timepony had entered. Ditzy ran up to him.
"Doctor! Where have you been!" she said with relief and happiness at the same time. The Doctor stood, very still, a grim expression taken over his face. He looked right into her eyes.
"Ditzy," he said with his face intensely serious. "Ditzy where did you get that?"
"Get what?" she replied, starting to feel a little confused. The Doctor held up Ditzy's hoof that was holding the cape.
"This! This cape! Where did you get this?!"
"I-I found it in the kitchen. . ." The Doctor pushed past the mare and ran straight for her kitchen. Ditzy was puzzled.
"What's the matter?" asked Dinky. "Isn't he going to say hello?"
"Doctor!" Ditzy called after the Timepony. "Doctor what's wrong?"
"Ditzy!" the Doctor called her again, as if he ignored the last comment she made. The mare ran to her kitchen doorway and saw the Doctor panicking in the room.
"He's been here. . ." the Doctor muttered.
"Who's been here?!"
"Ditzy, what's going on?" the Doctor almost demanded. "What was here? How did this happen?!" He ran next to the broken flooring and roofing where the pillar had been. He then dashed over to the old TARDIS that had newly appeared. "Where did this come from?!"
"Doctor, calm down!" Ditzy responded. "I don't know!"
"Argh!" the Doctor ran a hoof through his mane. "Did you see anypony?!"
"No, I didn't!" Ditzy answered definitively. The Doctor scampered around the kitchen, looking at everything and freaking out about it, as if he somehow knew what had the strange clues meant. He was stressed beyond anything.
"Doctor, please tell me what's going on!" Ditzy demanded. "Why are you freaking out? What does all of this mean?"
"Somepony was here," the Doctor breathed. "Somepony was here, he was here, this is my TARDIS and the cape-"
"Doctor! What does it mean?!"
It seemed that whatever the Doctor was piecing together was running through his head faster than light. He would keep spinning and looking at EVERYTHING around the room, each moment seeing an item bringing him greater worry. This worry, this unexplained reason why the Doctor was upset made Ditzy extremely nervous. She knew he knew something awful.
The Doctor stopped. He stood, still and silent, looking at the old TARDIS.
"Ditzy," he said in a tone that make Ditzy's face loose it's blood.
"What?" The Doctor turned around.
"Ditzy, where is your daughter?"
Black walls with white circles sitting on the sides as the only source of dim light enclosed the interior of the Master's TARDIS control room. The floor was like ebony, polished and shining as if it were a sea of slick igneous, the simple yet refined silver console desktop of the controls jutting out of it like a still plateau. True, the TARDIS the Master had seemed a bit sinister at first, yet Amethyst was easily convinced that the main room was indeed more classy than the cluttered and rusty control room of the Doctor's raggedy TARDIS.
As soon as the Master and Amethyst had entered he had taken off, his machine making the same whining sound as the Doctor's, yet there was something about the takeoff that was much smoother. The Timelord than immediately took to one of his rooms, mentioning his brief absence before doing so.
For the moment, Amethyst inspected the console room, taking in all of the seen details, yet it wasn't her eyes that were active, but her mind. Her brain was swirling with new doubts and feelings that started the moment she stepped into the Master's strange TARDIS, and they grew the more she sat in the control room. Sometimes her eyes would veer to the busted-up frying pan she had next to hooves (which she kept as it may be good for future use, considering it was the best way she knew defense at the moment, that being from the Master who could have fooled her mind or the Doctor who in new light was considered evil). The focusing of these thoughts grew more, the outside world becoming silent, as Amethyst begged for her thoughts to listen to what she was trying to tell herself.
The Master can't be lying, he hasn't been hostile or anything yet , Amethyst told herself. So why am I doubting myself? Even if I wanted to turn back. . .it's too late. Amethyst closed her eyes. She tapped her hooves on the ground twice before reopening them. No, I'm fooling myself. The Master is what he is, and what I believe. And I believe he is what he says. Amethyst told herself the feeling was just something new, possibly the relieving stress of doing something on her own behalf and decision.
When the door opened and the Master reappeared, he was brushing with his hoof something he had just put on. It was a broad-shouldered, high collared black velvet coat, the sleeve extending to the end of his hooves. He strove to the opposite side of the room from Amethyst, looking towards his control panel.
"Guess you're into black, huh?" asked Amethyst about the room and the outfit.
"I see it as an appropriate style," the Master considered. (He was also mentally thanking his cleverness for having such a device with a Tissue Compression Eliminator function to resize one of his previous clothes).
"Where are we going?" Amethyst inquired, changing the subject to important matters.
"I am currently evaluating this universe's layout," the Master replied. "It still remains unfamiliar to my TARDIS and would be very helpful to finding the Doctor if I had a lay of the land."
"Gotcha," the young mare stated. A new thought hit her mind. . .actually, a thought that she had lingered on a while but hadn't come back to the front of her priorities until that moment. . .and the thought came to her as next topic of speech.
"We're going to get my mom and sister, right?" Amethyst asked. The Master looked from his controls. This was something new to his knowledge.
"Hm?" he asked, his brows knit at the mention of the revealed information.
"I have family," Amethyst told the Master. "My mom, Ditzy Doo, my sister, Dinky Doo. They know the Doctor too, so they're just as in trouble as I was back there." At first the young mare was worried that she even mentioned her family members. True, they were her priority, yet something in the Master's look of uncertainty, as soon as she mentioned she had others she was worried about, made her wonder if she had just weakened her alliance with the Timepony. He seemed to examine Amethyst's expression for a while, then looked down at a corner of the room. His mind seemed to turn gears as he left the focus to his mind and not his eyes as he bit the inside of his cheek. The Master returned his focus to Amethyst.
"Are they acquainted with the Doctor as you were?" he carefully spoke.
"Sort of," Amethyst described. "They like him more than I do. . .he was just always more friendly around them."
"Do you think they would believe it if either one of us mentioned the Doctor's hidden identity?"
"Even if I did. . .I don't think so. They'd just get all angry."
"Hm, then we should wait," the Master reassured the young pony. He stepped around the room and away from his console, but didn't look away from Amethyst. "The Doctor is still at large, and he knows my presence here. It could be possible that at this moment, he may be convincing the others in your family that I am the criminal instead of him."
"He would," Amethyst muttered. "But we can't just leave them behind! The Doctor-"
"I know," the Master stopped her with a hoof motion. "It's dangerous to leave them with the renegade, but it would be unwise to appear to them so soon, for it could lead to the demise of ideally capturing the Doctor."
"What should we do then?"
"I intend on starting the capture of the younger Doctor and his companions, that way our situation would lessen in intensity. . .what with two Doctors here (as I never expected to happen)," the Master suggested. "We can then use the younger Doctor as an example of your Doctor's hidden past, for the younger Doctor is much more naive and stupid and will certainly reveal more of his mistakes than your experienced Doctor would." The Master grinned. "Besides. . .you've met this Doctor haven't you? Certainly you have less trust in him as the other you so barely have an inkling for?"
"Wait. . .yeah!" Amethyst said. She caught onto the plan and decided to add to it. "We all met him, me and my sister and my mom, and my mom got so furious at him because she thought he was an imposter!"
"Excellent!" the Master's eyes lit up. "I can infer exactly what you mean. . .your family certainly doesn't have faith nor liking to the younger Doctor, yet he is certainly the Timelord criminal they do have trust in! Once they see the truth, the Doctor they so love won't be able to hide his past any longer. . .it will be standing in front of them all, and the faith that your mother and sister have with the Doctor will diminish!"
"Then they'll have to believe us!" Amethyst stated.
"It's absolutely brilliant, I must say, and thanks to that input of yours, may also be the way to foil the Doctor's chance of keeping any pony at his back. He will be captured, tried with the High Counsel, and put to the punishment he deserves!" The Master looked at the control panel in front of him and flicked a switch. His face brightened.
"The scan is complete. . .now, to find where the younger Doctor is hiding."
* * *
Fluttershy may have not been generous with words or expressions, as her nature was extremely coy, but that didn't mean her hospitality lacked in the same way. She had offered the three new visitors in her home the upper room to her house, including a bed and two mats, while she stayed below in her main room with her woodland pets and other small animals. The Doctor(5), Tegan, and Nyssa were very careful to thank Fluttershy thoroughly.
They also found the upstairs very sufficient and comfortable. It was quiet, but a perfect place for conversation, first with Nyssa stating how wonderful Fluttershy's life must have been with so many peaceful animals, then with the Doctor's suggestion of Tegan taking the bed since she had the crankiest and most stressed attitude, and then finally with Tegan's conclusion of telling Nyssa and the Doctor that they were both odd ponies for sure and that she was fed up with any more activity for the day.
"Did you imagine such bizarre events would happen?" Nyssa stated as she trotted over and fixed one of the mats. "You can't possibly say you dislike today at the least."
"I'm just going to leave this whole happening as 'memorable' at that," Tegan replied as she climbed into the small bed at the head of the room.
"Yes, but I'm afraid this isn't quite a memory just yet, Tegan," the Doctor told her as he sat down at the mat on the other side of the room. "With so many questions and no way of getting out of this universe at the moment, who knows how long we may be stuck with four hooves."
"I actually don't mind it all that much," Nyssa spoke as she lay down and rested her chin on her hooves. "I've certainly achieved a new perspective. . .and this culture is fascinating."
"Are you saying you actually like being a pony?" asked Tegan.
"Not forever, of course," Nyssa replied. "But I might as well appreciate it while I am one."
"You're certainly more optimistic about it."
"Finally, admission!" teased the Doctor. Tegan's face was struck with sass.
"You're so clever," she said sarcastically. "I'm hitting the hay." Tegan flung the sheets of the bed over herself and turned to her side. The Doctor snickered.
"Hay. . ." he repeated, laughing at the pun.
"Goodnight, Doctor," Tegan sternly called.
"You aren't going to bed so soon, are you?" asked the Doctor. "I was going to tell you important information, remember?"
"I'm still listening," Tegan grumbled, but she didn't move.
"We can always inform her tomorrow on information she tunes out to," Nyssa suggested. "I am eager to listen."
"Very well," the Doctor sighed. He lay down on the mat he was sitting on the rest himself, pulling the hat on his head to the floor. He began to speak as he rolled it up. "I met the young filly at the party; the one who was with the grey mare we first ran into." Nyssa's eyes widened. Tegan twitched her ears before sitting up in the bed.
"And she actually talked to you?" asked the mare in the bed.
"We held a conversion, yes," the Doctor replied. "Most of it was of her childish curiosity. . .she did seem to be extremely young."
"Her childish curiosity or yours ?" Nyssa inputted.
"Anyways," the Doctor continued, "whether it was this part of her or not, she explained to me when we conversed that she and the others actually believe who we've told them we were."
"Finally, some sense into those ponies' minds," said Tegan.
"What convinced them?" asked Nyssa, impressed that such a thing happened. "We weren't there to explain our case."
"That she didn't say," the Doctor sighed. "All she told me was that she believed I was the Doctor based on the fact that her mother now believed so. And why the grey mare thinks that now we might have to investigate."
"We will have to investigate that, you mean," corrected Nyssa. "But at least since we are more welcomed, perhaps we can talk with her and convince her that we came by pure accident."
"And that we need to figure out more of this other Doctor roaming about and how I can get my TARDIS," the Doctor added. Tegan yawned from the bed and fell back on her face.
"Sounds like work for tomorrow ," she said tiredly.
"I agree with Tegan on this," Nyssa nodded. "We will be able to think more clearly on how to go about this with fresh minds, but at least a lot of our worries are eased for the night." She closed her eyes and rested her head on the mat.
"Yeah," the Doctor added. He sat in the quiet room as Tegan fell into a snore, Nyssa into steady breathing, each of them out and asleep. For a moment he laughed in his mind about how even though they were all ponies, they still had the human and Trakenite needs of a full night's rest, while he was still wide awake, not needing to sleep until later, and even then, not for very long. Nevertheless, he put his chin down, closed his eyes, and decided to just calmly wander in his thoughts for a while, thinking of the many things packed in his Timepony's head, the many different adventures he had encountered, what ideas and cultures he had witnessed. . .
Wait, Fluttershy has rabbits living in her home, the Doctor's brain suddenly encountered. Rabbits, mice, all sorts of small creatures. . .that could only mean one thing. The Doctor looked at the motionless Nyssa and Tegan, and smiled to himself. He mentally made plans to wake or stay awake early enough to visit with Fluttershy when she would first rise. With his current thought, he made it important to see her without the rebuttal of his companions.
Surely these rabbits and creatures are like the ones on Earth, I would assume, he told himself. And assuming Fluttershy cares for these creatures, or appears to do so, she would keep food for them. They would have the same diet, hopefully, and also hopefully Fluttershy would have the components to this diet: lettuce, carrots, cucumbers. . .celery.
"The Master?"
"Yes," the Doctor(10) responded to Ditzy's question. He was pacing back and forth throughout all of the Doo's living room, his hooves seemingly wearing the carpet more than a hoof should. His face was twisted in response to his whirling mind, as he was trying to put the pieces together.
"But I don't understand, Doctor," Ditzy said. "Who is the Master? Why would he come here?"
"It's all very hard to explain, and even I haven't figured the whole thing out just yet."
"Just tell me everything you know now."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because it's complicated, extremely confusing you wouldn't quite understand, Ditzy--"
"He's another Timepony, isn't he?" Ditsy questioned. The Doctor stopped, slowly turning his body to face her.
"How do you know that?"
"Doctor. . ." Ditzy sighed, "you were gone for so long. . .so much has happened, so much that I don't understand but I need to know. You need to tell me everything Doctor."
"And what exactly do you mean by 'everything'?" the Timepony asked for as he walked closer to Ditzy, looking her dead in the eye.
"I mean the things you haven't mentioned. . ." Ditzy stated. "Where you're from, what you've--"
"I've already told you all of that." A sigh, and the Doctor closed his eyes for a moment before returning a sadder gaze. "I told you about my planet."
"Then why is all of this happening? If everything you've said is gone, why is it coming back?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said uncertainly with short hesitation. "I'm still trying to figure that out." He turned back to the openness of the living room, taking a few slow strides, his look wandering around the floor before fixating on his TARDIS. The ship sat quietly and patiently in the room, the soft blue glow around it's lights that spoke for its presence. The Doctor pondered and stood erect in the living room, his mind attempting to put the pieces together, the sight of the TARDIS keeping his thoughts focused. Ditzy recognized his silence and trotted up behind him, but then took a turn for the couch and sat down. Her daughter followed at her heels and sat in her mother's lap when the opportunity came. Dinky kept her mouth shut and her wide eyes open.
"Doctor," said Ditzy, her tone becoming weakened, "you said that this has something to do with Amethyst. . .will she be okay?"
The Doctor didn't respond. He was too busy thinking.
"I want her back. And I want to know what happened to her," Ditzy stated.
"I know," the Doctor replied. Here he turned his head to face Ditzy on the couch, the rest of his body following. He was then standing still, opposite of Ditzy, facing her in the solemn moment.
"Will you at least tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me what you do know."
The Doctor paused.
"Let me at least ask questions, Doctor."
The Timepony exhaled. His eyes gave away his intention of setting himself down, yet he kept his hooves glued to the floor.
"What do you know? Tell me everything that's happened to you, Ditzy."
"It started late this morning, a while after you disappeared," Ditzy began. "Everypony was home and suddenly. . .this ship, a pillar of some kind crashed into our house. It sounded like the TARDIS. . .I scanned it with your TARDIS, and it confirmed that it was a TARDIS. But that's impossible, isn't it? Don't you have the only TARDIS Doctor?"
"At this point in time I do," the Doctor explained. "But before then, before it was just me, the Timelords of Gallifrey created all types of TARDISes. They were an ingenious piece of work. . .many different Timelords flew them."
"Timelords?" whispered Dinky to her mother.
"Sh," Ditzy replied softly, knowing that Dinky didn't know as much as she did.
"Of course, it's strange that another TARDIS would appear at this time. . ." the Doctor trailed.
"But if it's a different TARDIS, well. . .Doctor there's something else I don't understand," Ditzy continued.
The Doctor looked seriously at her and perked his ears.
"The pony who was flying the TARDIS. . .he said he was you ."
"Me?" the Doctor repeated. Millions of ideas whirred through his mind.
"Yes, and he had two other ponies with him, mares. . .they said that he was the Doctor too."
"And they talked funny," Dinky inputted as she started to fidget, "they said 'everybody' and 'peo...pulls...'."
"Muffin, sh," Ditzy reminded her daughter. Dinky stuck her lip out. She wanted to make a contribution.
"What did the pony look like?" asked the Doctor.
"He looked like he was in the state you came in when you first arrived," Ditzy described. "He wore clothes that were much too big for him, he was confused about Equestria and ponies, he didn't know where he was. . .and the mares, they were the same way too. The pony who claimed he was the Doctor though. . .he was blonde, he wore a hat, and beige clothing. . .like he was dressed for a fancy sporting event in Canterlot." The more the words fell through Ditzy's mouth, the more the Doctor started to get a visual. His eyes widened.
"The two mares," the Doctor said. "The two mares, what did they look like?"
"I don't remember them as much as the pony who said he was you. . .but I do remember there were two of them, one was young and the other a bit older. . ."
"A flight attendant and a Trakenite girl. . .one in a gaudy uniform and the other in velvet clothing. . ."
Ditzy lost her breath. The description fit (at least the visual. Ditzy was confused with the former vocabulary).
"Doctor, you know them?" she asked, stunned from all belief.
"Ditzy, there's something I haven't exactly explained to you just yet that I should've," the Doctor said sincerely. "I honestly didn't think that with me trapped in the dimension that Equestria is bottled up in that I would have to encounter or explain it."
Ditzy payed attention.
"There's a process that Timelords, or Timeponies so to speak, have called regeneration. You see, when a Timelord would reach a near death experience, they would start the process, and each individual living cell in the body of the Timelord would explode, change, morph, and form a whole new body and life, and you see, that is how the Timelords were able to live so long, they would have twelve times to regenerate, thirteen different 'selves' that they could take on in their span."
"Have you regenerated, Doctor?"
He looked at her without moving his head.
"Yes I have, Ditzy. I have so many times."
"How many?"
"This. . .this is my tenth self."
Ditzy looked at him, trying to soak it in. But the Doctor had to continue.
"I've lived for so long, Ditzy, 904 years, I've been through a long life, not as long most Timelords, but long enough for so many regenerations based on what I've lived through. Sometimes I meet my past selves again, sometimes I see my future selves. . .I've run so much around the universe to make it possible."
"And the pony, the one who I mentioned earlier. . .he was you?"
". . .yes, he was. My fifth self. . .a much younger version of me."
"Then if he's younger, and you're older, don't you remember? Didn't you see this coming? Even if you forgot Doctor. . .didn't you think the clues were enough?"
The Doctor sighed.
"That's what makes it unexplainable. . .I don't remember ever coming here before this. And I didn't expect my past self to come here. Equestria is a whole other universe, it has this border, this force field, that sort of changes your molecular structure when you enter, everything, and it's impossible to enter or leave. Of course, I am here to prove it possible but. . .I didn't think it would be as possible to anything else. . ."
"I'm so confused. . ." Ditzy retreated. "There's another you, a past you, here by some strange possibility. . .but that I can't try to believe. What I don't understand is what he, the other you, was all about. Who were the other ponies with him?"
"Past companions, back hundreds of years ago in my life."
"I guess I can see that. . .after all, I am your companion now, after you came here. Have you always had companions?"
"Typically, yes."
"Do you remember them all?"
"Of course I do." The Doctor began to recollect his memories. "All kinds of companions. . .male, female, aliens, other Timelords. . .I remember all of their names." His voice started to drop. "I remember them all so well. . ."
"Doctor. . .what happened to them?"
"Some moved on," the Doctor explained. "They had other things in life. Some left. Some got left behind. . ."
"Died?"
". . .it has happened. . .but they were always the greatest that I could remember. I couldn't save all of them, but some of them I could. And still some. . ." The Doctor's face became blank. "Some. . .forgot."
"We'll never forget you, Doctor!" Dinky burst from her mother's lap.
"Dinky," Ditzy retorted.
"No. . .you wouldn't do that, eh?" The Doctor forced himself to crack a small grin for the innocent filly, even though painful thoughts lingered in his mind.
"So the mares that were with you, the past you. . .they were your companions then?" Ditzy reconfirmed.
"They were."
"Do you remember their names?"
"Of course. . .Tegan and Nyssa. Dear girls they were. . .they always seemed to keep me focused and in line."
"I would assume that would be every companion you had?"
"Nah, not then. Then I was a bit immature and still somewhat a boy, just running about and creating a mess of things."
So nothing has changed much, I see, Ditzy thought to herself.
"Well now we can see that you saw the right me with the right companions," the Doctor continued, "but in the wrong TARDIS. . ."
"The Master's TARDIS," Ditzy added. "When I scanned it, your TARDIS said it was so." The Doctor started to lose a little bit of his tension, his hooves starting to take him pacing about the room.
"Odd. . .because the Master. . .the Master had my TARDIS. . .the past me's TARDIS that is. . .they must have switched at some point. . ." He looked up at Ditzy. "You see, I was captured by the Master when I disappeared. He was flying my past TARDIS and I never understood why. . .but now I do, sort of!" He ran a hoof through his mane. "Of course! There must have been some point in my timeline that got messed up, somehow my fifth regeneration ended up with the Master's TARDIS, the Master with mine! That doesn't explain why any of them are here or why the timeline got messed up in the first place--" He pointed a hoof at Ditzy. "--but it is something, yes, something! We are on it now!"
Ditzy still sat uncomfortably on the couch.
"Don't we?" asked the Doctor.
"Doctor, you still have to tell me. . .who is the Master?"
The Doctor slowed his breathing back to normal. He returned his former pose across from Ditzy, serious, and solemn. He looked at her with a look that told Ditzy that what she had asked for the Doctor to describe was something most unholy.
"The Master, who you know as another Timelord, or Timepony now. . .he is not a Timepony you would imagine. He was a Timelord that had foolishly used up his regenerations, and at this point, the Master I have seen here, the Master that come somewhat alongside with my fifth incarnation, he is searching for a way to kill me and take all of the remaining regenerations I have left. He is a renegade, committing crimes and felonies that are almost unspeakable, always searching for power, for life, for immortality."
"But how does he exist? You told me. . .you told me you were the last of your kind."
The Doctor took a moment to collect his thoughts on this one.
"Ditzy, there was a point in time where my planet ended, long after this Master, my fifth incarnation existed, but Gallifrey was destroyed throughout all of time. They still have existence though, but they still are caught in a mindset of where Gallifrey still exists."
Ditzy's eyes widened. Her mind opened.
"That's why the past you, and your companions. . .that's why they were declaring that there was still a Gallifrey, that there were still Timepon- or Timelords! I thought they were crazy."
"They're not. They just don't know. They haven't seen as much as I have or as you know just yet."
"And that makes sense. . .but Doctor, this Master. . .is he really all that bad you say he is?"
"He may be worse."
"And Amethyst. . .she could be with him. . ."
"I am sorry Ditzy. . .but I have to assume that." He looked to the kitchen. "My past TARDIS is here. . .that was what the Master was using when I first saw him, but now it seems that his TARDIS is gone instead. He must have come back for it when you were away, and if you say you believe Amethyst was here at the time, then it's quite possible that the Master has her as well."
"Oh Doctor, what do we do?" Ditzy's tone started to raise.
"Now it's only an assumption." The Doctor stopped her. "For all we know your daughter is off someplace else, however, I'm just assuming the worst so that I can prevent it." He looked over at the kitchen once more. "But I'd also like to assume the best. . .if Amethyst is with the Master, then obviously we still have time. If he didn't find her useful then he would have--"
"Doctor, don't say it."
"But he didn't," the Doctor reassured. "That means, if he has her, he is keeping her alive for a purpose." He shook his head. "But at the same time it doesn't mean that your daughter is with the Master at all."
"How can we be certain? Can we find her, Doctor?"
"Of course we can, but there's a lot of things that we need to be certain of as well. . ." He looked to the floor for a moment, then returned his eyes back to Ditzy.
"Ditzy."
"Yes?"
The Doctor looked at her and Dinky for a moment, serious with the new duties they would have to face. He asked the grey mare for adventure, to find Amethyst, to find the Master, to find the other Doctor and his companions with a look that bore many words. His hooves backed up on the carpet until they touched the base of the blue box in the room. At that instant, the Doctor grinned, an encouraging note for his companions to join him to finish these duties. They both took it as such, knowing how to read his expression. They felt excitement, confidence, but a new fear and uncertainty with it, and yet wanted it all to get answers. Yet the Doctor never explained this through any words at the moment, not through a speech or talk with the mare and filly. He only needed the face, the movement towards his TARDIS, a grin, and one word.
"Allons-y!"
Fluttershy was fast asleep on her couch.
Drat , the Doctor(5) thought to himself. He would have to wait until the golden pegasus rose from her slumber in order to ask her to contribute to the most prominent feature on his lapel. Yet the question was much too simple and slightly ridiculous for even the Doctor to wake her up for. The stallion turned a 180 and tip toed up the stairs, which was surprisingly hard to do with hooves on solid wooden flooring. Looks like the Timepony would have to deal with Tegan when he would request a stick of celery the next day.
Sounding in the night was a vague groaning that had no place in a usual nighttime ambiance. The Doctor paused on the middle stair and pricked his ears when he heard it. The sound was hundreds of years old and much too familiar. The TARDIS?!
* * *
"How do you even know where you've ended up?" Amethyst asked from her chair in the Master's TARDIS's main console room. She held the frying pan haphazardly in her hooves and scuffed the handle of it with her toe. "What if we're on the moon? What if we're on the moon and you step outside and. . .well obviously you would know what would come next."
"The TARDIS is more advanced than you think," the Master stated as he turned to a panel when the TARDIS came to a stop. "The shields on the outside protect it and everything from things such as lack of air. And as for accuracy. . ." He flicked a switch. One of a few screens in the top back corner of the room lit up, showing the outside. Amethyst looked up.
"Oh." She felt a little less intelligent after that point and decided it best to keep her big and questioning mouth shut. The young mare looked back up at the screen. "Hey isn't this. . .the middle of nowhere?"
"Apparently. . ." the Master pondered as he scratched his chin. He immediately pulled his hoof down. Scratching with a hoof was a little too odd. "But if this is where the Doctor imposter is and his so-called 'companions'. . .then so be it." He flicked a switch and picked up his weapon he had been carrying with him from the beginning and put it in the front of his coat.
"What is that thing, anyway?" Amethyst asked as she shuffled her legs forward and hopped off of the chair. "I can't imagine you'd get anywhere it you just hit people with that." The Master turned around and flicked the device out in front of him again, the item suspended in his jade magic.
"Watch," he simply stated. Amethyst stepped out of the way, grabbing the frying pan in her teeth and keeping back from the radius of the Master. Now the Master had not yet figured out how exactly to use his device with magic and not hands, but when imagining that the two were like one in the same, it was basically the same thing. The end of the device opened and glowed while being aimed straight at the chair that Amethyst was previously reclining on. A stream of light shot from the device, and in less than a second the chair seemed to have vanished. With a quick motion the Timepony shut off the device and fit it back into his coat.
"Tissue Compression Eliminator," he then added. Amethyst put down the pan and trotted over to where the chair used to be, feeling the floor to make sure that whatever he did wasn't some sort of trick. That's when she felt the tiniest flea-sized object. Her eyes narrowed and she lowered her face to the floor. It was the chair!
"So it just. . .makes things. . .tiny. . ." Amethyst said.
The Master felt a laugh rising in his depths at the pony's putrid innocence. But he kept his composure.
"Exactly," he replied.
"That's pretty cool I guess," the mare said as she stood up straight again. "We're going to use it on the imposter pony?" She lifted her frying pan in her magic once more.
"I am going to be taking care of him," the Master specified. "You will stay here. This imposter is much more dangerous than you can imagine."
"Fine," Amethyst sighed as she dropped the pan on the floor. The Master smirked and turned for the open door. Curiously the young mare went the opposite direction and looked at the door that led to the rest of the TARDIS. She then rejected the idea and sat back on the floor, remembering the times when the Doctor that she knew always mentioned that the TARDIS was "infinate" and "one could get lost in it for centuries". She didn't want to take the chance of this TARDIS being the same.
The Master exited the TARDIS and closed the door. He stood out in the silence of the night, staring at the openness of the nature around him, and let his eyes space out of focus. It wasn't the calm that made him so pleased as to bring a crooked smile to his chin.
It was the gullible mare in his TARDIS waiting to do any task he asked of her!
* * *
The house of Fluttershy was undoubtedly the hardest place to sneak around in, with or without hooves. The Doctor found that because her house was so peaceful and lacking of sound from anything regular that the slightest disturbance could wake the pony. . .or any of her animal friends that were also snoozing in the main room of her home. It was an understatement to say that the Doctor found it a great victory to finally make it to the door.
The door.
With it's. . .door knob.
Round door knob.
WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HOOVES?! the Doctor complained in his mind. It could have been TENTACLES or even EXTRA ARMS but no. . .HOOVES! HOW DID PONIES EVEN OPEN THEIR DOORS WITH HOOVES?!
So it took a very long time to get to the door, and it sure took quite a bit of jimmying and fiddling and slipping and silent cursing before the Doctor managed to turn the door knob enough to release the door from it's locked position. The Timepony gratefully pushed open the door slowly and slid out.
Outside, the night was just as quiet as the inside of Fluttershy's house, only the faint sound of crickets, cicadas, and bullfrogs playing their midnight symphony quietly in the background. A chilly wind blew through the Doctor's mane, and the pony instantly put a hoof up to his head. Quickly he nuzzled his nose into his coat pocket, grabbed the brim of his hat with his teeth and flicked it out before tossing it up into the breeze and jumping into the cap. It wasn't only his style sense, but it just felt natural to walk outdoors with something covering his head.
As the Doctor stepped carefully along the path that ran down from Fluttershy's cottage, he kept his eyes wide in the faint moonlight, losing some of its credibility due to the incoming clouds. Where in the world could that TARDIS engine sound have come from? It was most certainly outside and not in his imagination. . .
There were a couple minutes that passed by, and the Timepony only made it down to the end of the bridge, yet he still kept his ears open. Funny thing about pony ears, the Doctor found; pony ears had the capability of turning, flattening, scanning the area, much more useful than humanoid ears. Nothing else sounded through the silence, however, that would allow the Doctor to actually use these new ears of his. . .
Stopping at the edge of Fluttershy's yard and coming near a thin forest, the Doctor decided to give up. Perhaps it was something from his mind, or perhaps he was just hoping too hard to get his own TARDIS back. He shrugged, which was a weird experience as an equine, and slowly turned around. He turned again to the forest. Okay, now he was just hoping for too much. The Doctor decisively turned back for the comfort of the cottage.
There was a rustle in the bushes by the forest.
Nope , the Doctor said in his mind. That is only a fantastical idea of mine that something--
The rustle.
That is definitely something! The now excited Doctor hopped back with his nose toward the trees. Was there really someone? Was it his TARDIS? was it possibly the other face of his that he had so foolishly missed earlier?
The forest was still and dark, showing no inclination of anything hiding in its depths. . .except there was certainly something there. The Doctor could faintly hear a deep breathing brushing through the air.
"Hello there?" the Doctor dared to whisper into the trees. "Is someone there?"
There was no response. Not a verbal one, at least. There was just a chuckle, blending into the darkness around it, madness and unhealthy glee tangled into it's tones. The Doctor and his new "pony ears" could recognize it instantly, the vocals coming from a voice that always made his heart rev up in slight disturbance and that sent a shiver down his spine, and he took a couple of steps back, knowing that this truly had to be impossible, yet the possibility of it existing twisting all of the reality of his mind. His breathing stopped as his question was responded.
"Only your greatest adversary, my dear Doctor."
The Doctor vs. The Master
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. The Doctor opened his eyes slowly and took a note of his surroundings. Instantly he felt his head throb on his right temple. With a faint memory of the prior moments, he recalled being struck where pain currently stood. It was just after the slippery voice whispered into his ear.
He struggled to move. That was when the Doctor realized that his hooves were being held back by thick, silver strands of something not at all familiar to him. As he attempted to get free, the Doctor also realized that the strands were connected to his head. That was where he stopped.
The interior that the Doctor was able to see was extremely dim, however, looked vaguely familiar. In the center of the room was a TARDIS console that was extremely outdated compared to his current model. Everywhere else was empty and black, with only the walls glowing a dim orange, the light coming through what looked like circles. The Doctor, for some reason, instantly thought "round things" yet doubted the idea that what he was hanging in could be his old TARDIS.
The Doctor took a deep breath as he tried to grasp at an idea for escape. None came to mind. It was then a door to his left slid open. A silhouette of a stallion walked through the door, but the Doctor couldn't exactly tell who it was.
"Ah...I see you are awake, Doctor," it said in a over-enthusiastic tone. The pony walked across the room before stopping at the console on the opposite side of the Doctor. "Comfortable?"
"More or less, but I'd probably go with less," replied the Doctor irritably.
"Good," chuckled the stallion.
"How do you know I am the Doctor?" asked the Timepony. "Also, how did you manage to get this ship? Do you even know what it is?" Again, a chuckle.
"I know you're the Doctor because only the Doctor can enter his own TARDIS," said the stallion.
"And I suppose you are the exception," sassed the Doctor. "Who are you anyway?"
"I already told you before, haven't I?" said the stallion. "I'm a madman, Doctor." The Doctor paused. Madman...that was odd...here was a stallion, an obvious pony, yet he used the term "man". This confused the Doctor. Everypony in Equestria used "pony".
"A yes, madpony got it," stated the Doctor. "Still, as mad as you are I still am curious how in the world you would be in my TARDIS, assuming you aren't me, of course."
"Oh, I'm not you," the stallion replied, "that's for certain. Also, you are hilarious, Doctor. I cannot believe you don't recall a single event from earlier today. Post-regeneration trauma?" Now the Doctor was really confused.
"Wait, what? Regeneration?"
"It gets even the best of us, doesn't it?" the stallion said coolly. "How'd you die, Doctor? Did you tamper with my technology and somehow end up here? Seems logical."
"What?!" The Doctor was too flabbergasted to speak. He was lost.
"How much trouble did you have to go through, hm? Did you have to leave all of those people in the past?"
"Look, I have no idea what you're talking about!" interrupted the Doctor. "All I know is that you have a TARDIS, my TARDIS, and that upsets me! How did you get it!?"
"Patience, Doctor," said the stallion. "You really don't remember anything, do you?"
"No, I don't. And it'd be ever so kind of you to explain."
"Well," chortled the stallion as the Doctor watched him stroke the console. "You gave it to me." The Doctor's jaw dropped.
"I-I-" he stuttered. "I don't understand."
"Ah, I know," replied the stallion, as if he had heard the statement millions of times before. "You never do."
It Happens Once, But It Happened Twice
For once, in all of his life of living in the land of Equestria, the Doctor only found one place that could possibly be safe:
The Everfree Forest.
The beat-up stallion really had no other options. He couldn't go back to Ditzy's house, even for his own, present TARDIS. It would put her in danger if the Master found her, especially since Ditzy hadn't yet been introduced to the evil being.
I need help for these wounds, the Doctor bantered in his head as he dodged though Ponyville. He zipped past a couple of shops as he started to head into the main part of town itself. He couldn't go to a hospital. Two hearts. He already had experience a fiasco with a medical center who was unaware of his biology. The Doctor didn't intend on regenerating that way again.
Ditzy is the only one that could possibly attend to my injuries, the Doctor argued in his mind again. If only there was another option. . .wait, there was a pony I met a couple of months ago who was familiar with herbs. Oh, what was her name again. Ponyville started to get busier, however, the Doctor pressed forward, his hooves and his mind fast-paced.
If I remember correctly, she was a very unique pony, actually, don't think she was a pony at all. But what was her name? It started with a Y or or or Z or something peculiar like that. The Doctor lost himself in his vast mind, trying to distinguish the one name.
Yeco. . .no no no, Zeno. . .Zappher, Zacca. . .
"Whoa!" The word stumbled right out of the Doctor's mouth at an instant. His pace had tripped to a stop. Curious to what caused him to falter, the Doctor shook his head and turned his face to see a younger stallion bobbing through the street.
"So sorry," the pony stated as if he too just realized that he had bumped into the Doctor in the same way.
"Scuse me," responded the Doctor quickly. He was in too much of a hurry to apologize to the random citizen any further, however, something happened at that very moment that made the Doctor pause.
For a split second in time, the Doctor looked at the stallion curiously, and all the same the pony looked back. He did seem very odd, the stallion, seemingly young in the eyes and a mop of blonde hair on top of his bewildered face. For an even stranger reason, the Doctor noticed that he was carrying a saddlebag. . .one that looked like it belonged to one of the other ponies in town the Doctor had met before. . .Rarity, if he could remember correctly. . .and it was sitting on his back just so that his cutie mark was covered. It was a shame too, because in that moment, the Doctor was certain he had seen the pony before, yet he didn't recall it.
"Are you alright?" the other pony asked that made the Doctor snap back into reality. "You look a little. . .wounded." He realized this other pony was looking at his beatings.
"Nope, I'm fine," the Doctor responded, trying not to worry the pony into wanting to get him help. "Totally fine. Yup yup. . .fine." He faked a grin. The other pony looked at him suspiciously.
Oh dear, I really hope this pony doesn't alert a police or something absurd like that, the Doctor hoped in his mind.
"But you're bleeding," pointed out the other pony.
"Nah, just a. . .couple of scratches. I'll be alright," replied the Doctor in his overly reassuring tone. He looked at the gashes on his legs, secretly wishing for them to become less conspicuous. That's why he remembered why he was running in the first place.
"But mind you," he continued to the pony, "I'm in a hurry, so-"
"Oh, yes yes yes," the other pony replied apologetically. "Sorry to stop you." He politely motioned for the Doctor to leave.
Something's up with this colt, and I can't put the pieces of his mannerisms together into something I remember, the Doctor thought in his mind as he heard the courtesy in the other pony's voice jab seemingly a clue in his mind. If only I had more time to ask him questions. . .
"It's fine!" the Doctor decided to reply as he thrust his will to keep heading toward the forest. He left the pony in the town, looking just as confused as the Doctor felt, as the Timpony continued down the street. For a moment longer he looked back, taking a second glance at the pony. The Doctor shook his head and kept running towards his destination, the strange encounter swimming in his mind.
That was most certainly odd, and not for no reason in particular, he said to himself. Possibly he just looks like a humanoid or other creature I met from an earlier time. But still, the face, the voice, it all matched up to something I just can't- .
Something clicked in the Doctor's head.
He remembered.
"Zecora!" he said aloud to himself as he continued to run. "That's the name of the herbal medic!"
