A Journey Across

Book 2 - Revenge of the Doctor

Chapter 3 - Birth of the New

Present Day (?)

The doctor woke up. No slow transition from sleep. When he looked around, he noticed that everything was white. Walls didn't seem to exist and he was unsure there was even an 'up' in here.

"Hello, doctor," spoke a soft voice behind him. He turned around, now having solid ground under his feet. A white figure stood there, having no form at all. The doctor was unsure how he could see it against the white background.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"Doctor, by now you should know by now, this is not the right question. Another try maybe?" the figure returned.

After a short pause the doctor asked again, "When am I?"

"Good. To answer your question, you are in the Everywhen. I brought you here, to save you," it's voice dropped a little, still sounding like a soft pillow, "You were dying."

Suddenly, the doctor laughed, "No. I was regenerating! I'm a time lord, we transform our bodies when we ..."

"I know," the figure interrupted him, "but you were not in your universe. If you regenerated where you currently are, you would have died. The energy that you need to regenerate does not exist there."

"'Where you currently are'? Am I not here? Is this just a dream? Who are you?" the questions flooded out of the doctor.

"You seem to have many questions. To answer yours, you are not here but this is not a dream. You might figure out what this means. Now, I must tell you something you might not like."

"What would that be? What is this place exactly?" the doctor couldn't stop acquiring more information from this being.

"You have a choice. You can either try to regenerate normaly and die or " - this being of light made a short pause - " you can regenerate as a pony and live. Before you answer, think through the consequences. Your death could mean victory me and the forces of good once and for all," she said in a booming voice. The being of light was uneasy telling the doctor this.

"I'll rather be a pony than dead," he responded.

The being sighed loudly, "Are you sure? Think, your friends might win this..."

"Yes!", he interrupted her.

Without warning she vanished, but he could still hear her voice, "you should keep everyone away during this. It might be dangerous for them."

At the same moment, the world around collapsed, as everything was storming into him. His chest was consumed by the light.

The next thing he noticed, was that Rose held his head. Judging by the yellow aura around him, he was already in the process of regenerating. The doctor was still processing the last words of the being as the pain struck him.

This was not usual. His body jerked wildy. The timelord jumped up, knocking Rose over in the process, and ran as far as possible from everyone. "Keep away from me until it is finished! I don't know why!" he screamed as the pain intensified.

The aura around him changed color, from yellow to a bright green. The doctor lost control over his body and he fell to the ground. The process was painful. Everything in and on him shrunk, his hands and feet transforming into hoofes while a tail was growing on his back.

Rose watched as the aura became blindingly bright. She peeked through her fingers to see what would happen but the light was to intensive. She heard the doctor screaming. This was no ordinary regeneration.

Minutes passed until the light flickered and vanished all of the sudden. Where the doctor had been standing a brown stallion laid, with a hour glass for a cutie mark. He was unconscious.

When the doctor awoke, the first thought he had was, "oh Celestia, what a nightmare."

He was laying in a soft white bed inside a hospital room. A groan left his mouth as he felt pain aching through his body. The regeneration was still working on his new body. He looked around to see if someone was there. The doctor was alone. Something was wrong with his nose.

After a few minutes trying to sleep again, he became bored. He lifted the white blanket on him and tried to sit on the edge of the bed. He was quite wobbly but as he sat there looking down, something in his head tried to tell him something imporant. "Hooves", he mumbled. The thought "Hooves" searched for a connection but found none.

He stood up and trotted to the bathroom. As he sat on the toilet he remembered the talk with the being of light. The doctor flushed and the memory of the conversation searched for a connection but found none.

He walked back to the bed, still thinking about the conversation and "Hooves". Suddenly the memory made a connection to "Hooves".

2 seconds later the doctor screamed his lungs out in panic and fell to the ground.

Rose stormed into the room, "What is wrong?"

"Everything Rose! Every damn thing! What happened?", he exlaimed.

"Calm down first. You need to be in the bed," she commanded him.

The doctor saw no use in resistance so he carefully trotted back to the bed. Rose watched as he tried to lay down without his 4 legs getting in the way. When he figured out a comfortable pose, she explained, "I don't know why you are a pony, but you were hit by this spell from Entropy and instantly started to regenerate but then you pushed me, telling us to stay away. After you finished 'glowing off' you were a pony."

"But this was a nightmare I had, why did it really happen?" the doctor was short of getting a panic attack.

Rose sighed, "It did happen. We were there."

He laid flat down, pushing his pony head into the pillows. "I know. I hoped it would really be just a dream," the doctor muttered.

The regeneration was still taking it's toll, only a few seconds later Rose could hear him breathing softly. He was sleeping again.

"Good dreams, doctor."