"And we have landed!"
The Doctor proudly announced as if it were a large accomplishment. Which it had become since occasionally the Doctor missed...into a black hole.
"Dinky, would you mind flipping the Wibbly Lever?"
A pale purple unicorn with a blonde mane leaned to look at the Doctor from around the Time Rotor. She fixed him with an annoyed look.
"Wibbly Lever, Dad?" she asked, "Do you mean the Temporal Stabilizer?"
"Yeah, yeah," the Doctor replied, waving his hoof in apathy, "The Temporal Stabi-thingy. You'll have to excuse me, I'm a bit rusty in that dialect of BORING!"
Dinky rolled her eyes and flipped the lever. She had just come to accept that her father had always been a card carrying loon. She was so happy that she inherited her mother's sanity. Dinky began looking at information provided by the TARDIS's external sensors. Meanwhile the Doctor joined his wife on the console-side sofa.
Derpy was a lot younger than she looked, meaning she looked aged. Her mane, which she wore in a bun, had a few grey streaks in it and her coat had faded ever so slightly. Over nineteen years of running with the Doctor had taken their toll on the poor mare. Yet they were the best years of her life.
"Where are we now, Doctor?" Derpy asked, nuzzling his neck, "Have you finally found that muffin planet?"
"Oh, Derpy, I already told you the muffin planet fell into a black hole created by-"
Derpy silenced the Doctor with a quick kiss.
"I was just teasing, butter brain," Derpy said, leaning against the Doctor, "So where have we landed this time?"
"No idea. TARDIS was just drawn here. Like a Cyberpony to a magnet. Dinky?"
"Well," Dinky replied, scanning the wall of fast moving text, "Spatially we are somewhere near sector ZZ9-Plural Z Alpha. In, what I can only assume, is a spaceship. Temporally we are about 3 million years before Mom was even born. Atmosphere is breathable, gravity is close enough to Earth. No biological signs it seems. Anything more than that and I would be guessing."
"Well then. Let's pop out and have a look," said the Doctor, clapping his hooves together.
***
One of the TARDIS doors opened with a squeak. The Doctor slowly poked his head out, looking left then right. The Doctor took a few steps out, followed by Dinky and Derpy.
The TARDIS had landed in the middle of a wide corridor. In one direction it led to a door with writing on it, in the other it turned left.
"No robots about or hyper intelligent shades of the color blue," The Doctor said, examining his surroundings, "On the BRIGHT side, the lights are on."
The Doctor began laughing loudly. Derpy stared confused at the Doctor for a moment, then she was struck with realization and began giggling. Dinky groaned while pulling a strap on her saddlebags tight.
"That was terrible, Dad," Dinky said, shaking her head.
"Oh, no it wasn't," the Doctor said, using his Sonic Screwdriver to scan the area.
He looked at the tip of the Screwdriver with a raised eyebrow.
"Hm. Okie dokie then. Let's split up. Derpy and I will head this way to the bridge," the Doctor gestured to the side of the corridor with the door, "Dinky, you check out what's around that bend."
Dinky turned her head to look at the end of the corridor that turned left. She turned back to the Doctor and nodded.
"Be careful, my little muffin," Derpy said with a concerned look.
"Oh, she'll be fine," the Doctor assured, "She's a big mare now. She can handle herself. Which reminds me..."
The Doctor dug in his pocket and produced a device that seemed very similar to the Sonic Screwdriver. Instead of the blue tip, this device had a pink gem at the end.
"I replaced the handle on your Sonic."
The Doctor tossed the Screwdriver at Dinky. She caught it in her magic. She rotated it in the magical field, examining from every angle.
"Thanks, Dad," Dinky said, "But it's an Arcane Screwdriver."
"Oh it's close enough to a Sonic, similar components and purpose. Besides don't you like the alliteration? Sonic Screwdriver. Sssssonic Ssssscrewdriver. It's just so nice on the tongue."
"That's a difference between you and me, Dad, I value accuracy over nice-sounding lies."
With that Dinky spun the screwdriver like the ponies in the Old West would a gun, and placed it in a special holster on her saddlebags. She grinned at the Doctor, hoping to Celestia that she looked cool.
The Doctor matched Dinky's grin with one of pride.
"Ah, so serious. Reminds me of one of my earlier regenerations. You won't miss it when you regenerate into a more fun stage."
Dinky could swear she saw a hint of sadness in his eyes, but before she could comment on it the Doctor swiftly turned around. He began walking towards the door at the end of the corridor.
"Come along, Ms. Hooves. There's explorin' to do!"
Derpy looked back at the Doctor as he began to Sonic the door. She turned to Dinky and hugged her.
"You sure you're gonna be okay?" she asked, still concerned.
"As sure as the Bubble Clock on my flanks, Mom," Dinky assured her mother, hugging back.
Derpy broke the hug and leaned to look at Dinky's Cutie Mark, as if to be sure it was still there.
There it remained, a string of bubbles with a really large bubble containing a clock in the middle. Unable to make heads or tails of it, the Doctor assumed that Cutie Marks were slightly genetic and gave it the foalish name Bubble Clock.
"Aha! Come on, Derpy, I got the door!" called the Doctor, "Avante!"
Derpy looked back at Dinky and nodded with a smile. She then turned and galloped off to catch up with the Doctor.
Dinky turned and cautiously proceeded down the corridor. After the turn, the corridor became narrow and led to a door. The door had no writing of any kind, but did have a symbol.
This was a symbol Dinky had seen a few times before in her travels. It was the symbol commonly used in a portion of the universe to represent knowledge. The last time she had seen it was carved into a monolith on a primitive planet. Unfortunately for the inhabitants, they were having trouble with fire so they weren't going to have a radio to decode the information being broadcasted. Which was, funny enough, instructions on how to make a steam-powered radio.
Dinky took out her Arcane Screwdriver and scanned the door. Unlike the Sonic, this Screwdriver worked by manipulating the magic fields of the universe instead of emitting sound waves. Thus it made a sound similar to a unicorn using a Levitation Spell. Dinky focused it on the circuitry of the door and the door slid open.
The room inside was visibly cold. Water was condensing from the air in large clouds of ice crystals and every surface seemed to have a thin layer of frost. On the walls were several monitors displaying information. In the center of the room was a large, glowing box with a single monitor and keyboard attached.
Dinky took a deep breath and entered the room, shivering slightly at the dramatic change in temperature. She wished she had brought shoes.
Letting her curiosity win, she approached the keyboard and hit a key to wake the monitor up.
The screen displayed the words "Search Term" and a blinking vertical line. Dinky looked down at the keyboard. All the keys had a thin, white layer of frost coating them. She picked up one of her front legs and swept it across the keyboard. The frost felt painfully cold to her leg as she swept a large pile of it onto the floor.
With the keys now visible, she typed a word that she obsessed over. A word she was determined to research to it's fullest extent. She typed "Gallopfrey." Upon hitting the SUBMIT key, the search screen was replaced with an article named "The Time War."
Dinky took out a journal and began to summarize the article as she read it. She found this information interesting as she had no record of any war with Gallopfrey.
The Time War. A war between the Time Lords of Gallopfrey and the Daleks of Skaro. Truly suitable opponents that seemed equally matched. That is until the attack on Acadia, Gallopfrey's second largest city. The Daleks busted through the sky trenches and began to ruthlessly destroy the city. Then, without warning, Gallopfrey was destroyed by a rebellious Time Lord using a device called The Moment. That Time Lord was known as...
Dinky looked up from the page she was writing on, staring into nothingness as she thought on what she just wrote. She looked back to the article and skimmed it to be sure of what was written. After confirming it, she read the last sentence of the article aloud.
"The Moment was activated by a Time Lord known only by his self-given title, the...Doctor."
"There you are," said the Doctor from the doorway.
Dinky nearly jumped out of her skin with surprise. The Doctor chuckled.
"Oops, sorry. Your mother and I are just about done here whenever you're ready to leave."
Dinky nodded slowly trying to catch her breath. The Doctor walked off, humming a happy tune.
Dinky looked back at the last two words in her notebook.
The Doctor.
***
The TARDIS hummed as it tumbled through the Time Vortex. Not knowing where to send her next, the Doctor turned a crank. The TARDIS settled down as it landed in a safe location, Earth's Orbit.
"Can't believe that ship," the Doctor thought aloud, "Why in the world would you take all the crew on a nacho break OFF the ship? Of course someone's gonna leave the keys in and lock it. Then they tried to bargain with the ship by emailing it to let them it. Oh, dear. Some sentient beings, I swear....."
"Well, at least it was empty," Derpy suggested while redoing the bun in her hair, "It's nice not getting shot at for once."
"Yeah, I suppose."
There was a moment of silence. Derpy and the Doctor looked at Dinky. She sat on the console-side sofa staring at a page of her notebook as if she were trying to burn it with her anger.
"Um, Dinky," the Doctor said cautiously, "Are you okay?"
Dinky set her glare at the her father. She got up and approached the Doctor. Standing next to him so that he could see the notebook, she pointed to the bottom line.
"Read that," she requested.
"'The Doctor'? I don't quite-"
"THAT is the name of a pony that has murdered billions. The Doctor."
The Doctor looked at Dinky, completely bewildered. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Wha-"
"The Time War!" Dinky shouted, interrupting the Doctor, "Does that sound familiar?"
Sudden realization hit the Doctor. He tilted his head downwards, focusing on a random bauble attached to the console.
Derpy extended a hoof and placed it on Dinky's shoulder.
"Dinky," she said, worry apparent in her tone, "Calm down. What's going on?"
Dinky turned to her mother, her expression softer but still angry.
"What's going on it that the Doctor, my father and your husband, committed two counts of genocide. He killed all the Daleks and, more importantly, he destroyed Gallopfrey. He blew up his home planet killing every stallion, mare, and foal on it. He murdered every Time Lord but himself."
Derpy's mouth fell open. She focused both eyes on Dinky, looking for any indication that she was joking. She wasn't.
"Doctor," said a scared Derpy, "Is this true?"
The Doctor didn't say anything. He closed his eyes hard for a few moments and turned away from the console. He walked over to one of the many coral stalks growing from the floor and rested his forehead against it.
Both Dinky and Derpy watched the Doctor but he didn't move further. Dinky looked back to her mother who was beginning to tear up.
"We need to leave, Mom.”
“Wh...What?” Derpy asked, completely shocked.
“We can't keep traveling with this...murderer. How long until he kills somepony else? How long until he kills...us?"
Dinky pulled a lever, sending the TARDIS spinning back into the Time Vortex. Derpy walked up to the Doctor, examining him. She turned to look at Dinky.
"No," Derpy said.
"What do you mean 'No'? That stallion has killed billions, Mom."
"You don't know him like I do. He would never hurt anypony intentionally. If a pony dies because of him, it's only because he tried everything to save them and failed."
"Mom! This isn't just a single pony, he blew up a planet! He pressed a big, red button and it exploded! You can't just fail and do that as a result!"
"Well...I'm sure he had a reason. Right, Doctor?"
The Doctor picked up his head from the coral and looked at the two mares. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Can it!" commanded Dinky, turning back to the console.
She rapidly began pressing buttons and flipping levers. TARDIS picked up speed and power as shot through time and space. Dinky grabbed a lever and pulled it with great force. The lever moved halfway before it matched Dinky's strength. She grunted from the exertion. The familiar sound of the TARDIS slowed and became distorted, as if it were being played through a funhouse mirror. The lever slowly began to give, the TARDIS slowing further until the whole room jerked to the right. A deep thud indicated complete materialization. Dinky flipped the lever back the other way.
Derpy had fallen over and was trying to get up. The Doctor had grabbed the coral to remain upright, but not before slamming head first into it. Both were dazed by the haphazard TARDIS landing.
Dinky took a moment to breath and remember her plan. She stood up straight and approach a towering section of the TARDIS coral. On the side of the coral was a small branch that had recently grown. From the branch hung a pocket watch. Dinky took the watch, glancing at the symbols before putting it in her saddlebags. She then took hold of the branch, took a deep breath, and ripped it away.
The cloister bell began to bong throughout the room, signifying danger to the TARDIS. This woke the Doctor out of his daze. He looked up at Dinky and then to the coral chunk in her hoof. He began to stroke the coral he was hanging onto.
"Shh...Shh," the Doctor whispered, "It's okay, dear. I promise."
Dinky ignored the Doctor and opened the TARDIS doors. Outside was a sandy shore of a large, green ocean. In the miles of water, other sandy islands could be seen with primitive forms of grass populating them. Dinky left, not shutting the doors behind her.
Derpy shot up straight and began a swift trot for the doors.
"Stop!" called the Doctor, stepping back up towards the console area.
Derpy froze and turned towards the Doctor.
"But-"
"She'll be back."
"How do you know she'll be back?"
Dinky walked past Derpy.
"Because I'm already back," she said.
"Dinky, what in Celestia's name are you doing?" asked Derpy, in honest confusion.
"Running away."
Dinky dematerialized the TARDIS once more. Derpy flew to the console, grabbing Dinky by the shoulders and turning her to face her.
"What do you mean you're running away? From what, Dinky?"
"From the murderer that is my father. Mom, he has wiped out two entire species!"
"Dinky, you're being irrational. Just calm down."
"How calm can you be when you're traveling with the murderer of all the Time Lords and you ARE a Time Lord? The answer is 'not very.'"
Dinky shook out of her mother's grip. Derpy looked over to the Doctor, who just silently observed.
Dinky allowed the TARDIS to land softly this time, a deep thud echoed. Dinky walked towards the door. She stopped and turned to her mother.
"Come on, Mom. Let's go."
Derpy was completely confused at the recent chain of events. Everything was happening so fast and she had little idea as to what was going on.
"I'm not going anywhere," Derpy said, "Can't we just talk about this?"
Dinky just narrowed her gaze at her mother. She turned and left, slamming the doors behind her.
"Dinky!" Derpy yelled.
She took to the air and made a beeline for the door. The Doctor quickly jumped and grabbed her. The Doctor hit the floor first, using his remaining momentum to roll on top of Derpy, pinning her to the ground.
"Doctor! What the hay are you doing?!"
"Stopping you from going out there!"
"I need to get Dinky back here!"
"You can't!"
"I can't let her just leave like that! I have to go get her!"
"You can't! This point is a fixed point in time!"
"I don't give a damn if it's a fixed point, she's our daughter and we're going to get her!"
"If you do, you'll create a paradox! Trust me I know what happens."
A faint sound of a TARDIS dematerializing interrupted the argument. Once it had faded, the Doctor sighed in relief and let Derpy up. The Doctor was immediately met with a wing slap to the face.
Derpy jumped to the doors and opened them outward. Taking a few steps on the sandy beach Derpy was met with a sight that was not uncommon in her time with the Doctor. In the sand was a perfect square indentation the same width as the TARDIS. It had an unearthly emptiness. As if, by the laws of the universe, something should be there but the thing in question refused to exist. She had nightmares about the times she saw this indication. Not because of the square itself but the dark, hollow feeling of being left in an unknown place, completely lost and alone.
"Ouch, that hurt," the Doctor said, rubbing his cheek, "Though I'll admit that I probably deserve that."
Derpy turned to face the Doctor, tears in her eyes.
"Where is she?" Derpy asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor said with a shrug, "She had a TARDIS, she could be anywhere...or when for that matter."
"We need to go after her. Surely you can find her with the TARDIS. Some kind of timey wim-"
"Derpy."
"You have to have some device that can tail her through the vor-"
"Derpy, please."
"I mean you've felt disturbances in time-space continu-whatzit before. Surely you can-"
"Ditzy Doo!" the Doctor shouted, finally getting the mare's attention, "Please just stop. Even if I knew where she went, I can't go after her. We can't purposely interfere with Dinky's timeline again for about 200 years. They're fixed points in time. They need to happen."
Derpy looked at the Doctor in complete confusion. She didn't know how to process any of this information. The Doctor having destroyed an entire planet, Dinky somehow making a TARDIS, and she suddenly not being able to see her daughter for the next 200 years. The stress was overwhelming.
Derpy's face fell and she began to cry. The Doctor embraced her, letting her tears stain his coat.
"So th-that's it then," Derpy sobbed, "I'm n-never gonna see her again. In t-two hundred years, I'll be deeeeaaad!"
Derpy buried her face in the Doctor's shoulder and loudly cried. The Doctor rubbed her back, trying to console her.
"Shhh. Shh. It's okay, my dear Ditzy," the Doctor said softly, "You'll see her again. Do you remember, a long time ago, when Pinkie Pie turned into the Baker?"
Derpy nodded into the Doctor's coat. The Doctor took one of his hooves from around Derpy and dug in his pocket. He pulled out a pocket watch, examining it. He then replaced the arm around Derpy, watch in hoof.
"Well, I didn't exactly tell you the whole truth of what happened that day. How about I tell you the story over some tea, and then we can go enjoy a nice Hearth's Warming in Ponyville with somepony who has really missed you."
***
Dinky slammed the door to her father's TARDIS. She began stomping at the sand in frustration.
How dare her mother stay with that murderer! That traitor to the Time Lord title! Building up her dreams of finding Gallopfrey just to destroy them like some sort of cruel joke. All those bedtime stories about his home planet. He must have been snickering under his breath as he filled her head with wonder. No matter. She was getting away. She looked up and smiled.
Through her research into how to properly drive a Type 40 TARDIS she came across an interesting article in book called: 'A Biotechnological Study of a TARDIS Matrix: Are They Alive and Do They Prefer Kissing or Biting?'
Chapter 27: TARDIS Reproduction
While a TARDIS is the pride of Time Lord technology there are instances when one TARDIS can be made from another in a form of biological reproduction. On occasion, a TARDIS will integrate a biological element into its internal design. This varies from Time Lord to Time Lord but a few examples are: vines, coral, and the ever popular shrub. These biological agents have the full instructions of how to build a TARDIS in their DNA. Thus, planting a piece of these plants will grow another TARDIS of the same type if given a few thousand years to grow.
Just as the book said, there she stood. A new, beautiful Type 40 TARDIS. It's exterior shell wasn't exact to its parent. Instead of blue, Dinky's TARDIS had a more purple color scheme with a pink light atop it. All the sharp edges of the other TARDIS seemed to be smoothed to more of a curve than a corner. A sign on the top read 'ROYAL GUARD PUBLIC CALL BOX' and on the door was a panel of instructions reading:
'Royal Guard Alarm
Free for Use of Public
Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately
Royal Day or Night Guards Teleport on Alert
Pull to Open'
"Wow," said Dinky, "Just like the ones in Old Canterlot."
With a spring in her step she approached the door and pushed it open. Beyond the doors was an empty blackness. No lights inside to be seen and even the outside light didn't reach far before it dissipated. Dinky took a step inside, her hoof hitting a metal floor.
"Hellooo?" Dinky called into the darkness, "TARDIS...?"
Suddenly a large vertical light lit up faintly. A whirring could be heard from somewhere in the room. Dinky approached the light. It was the Time Rotor, glowing less than Dinky remembered. When Dinky looked down at the console, her jaw dropped. The entire thing was covered in dust and cobwebs. It looked like it hadn't been touched in nearly a millennia. Dinky rubbed the dust off one of the levers.
"Oh, dear," Dinky said under her breath, "I must have overshot by a few centuries."
Dinky looked around in the dim light. Aside from the dust and cobwebs, the interior looked like an exact replica of her father's TARDIS.
"Must be the default. I need to change that."
Dinky reached for a small round panel on the console. Lifting the panel away revealed a compartment full of a bluish goop. Dinky stuck her hoof into the goop.
Suddenly a surge of electricity shot through Dinky's nerves as the TARDIS was telepathically linked with her. Dinky began deeply breathing. Her entire body ached and her joints felt stiff, as if she were a sloth suspended in molasses.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't know how long it took you to grow. Come on, girl, just boot up your systems."
The ache slowly started to lift and joints became slightly easier to bend. It started to feel...good. Like the TARDIS was playing with her brain's dopamine balance to show its joy.
"Feels good to finally wake up and stretch, huh girl? Now imprint me on the Briode Nebulizer. It's not that difficult, promise."
A second jolt shot through Dinky, causing her to jump slightly. As it did all the lights came on bright and the TARDIS began to make an ever familiar sound. The feeling that shot through her was euphoric. Dinky closed her eyes. She could feel the power of an exploding star in her heart and the Time Vortex on her back. Every flip and spin of the TARDIS sent signals through her nervous system. The pure rush of adrenaline and dopamine inside her caused Dinky to feel better than she could ever imagine. She felt as if she could lift mountains and cross continents.
A smile spread across Dinky's face, lifting her hoof from the goop. She began giggling with glee as she danced around the console, pushing buttons and flipping levers. She took a lever in each hoof. She began putting pressure on them.
"Avan-" her mouth stopped short of shouting her father's favorite phrase.
Dinky thought for a moment. She smiled as she thought of something he would never say, something completely unique. She pulled the levers back once more and, with renewed energy, she slammed them down at the same time, yelling a single word.
"Allons-y!"
Author's Note
Huzzah! It has begun!
I can't even begin to tell you how terrified I am to post this...So let me begin to tell you.
I know this will not do well. I know that for a fact. I just don't know how badly it will do. That scares me.
I feel like it could be written better in places. That scares me.
I feel like it's not edited to the best that it can be. That scares me.
My terror aside, I do genuinely hope you enjoyed this chapter. I also hope you'll enjoy the chapters to come. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Both the chapter and my note.
Thanks to Inthretis and refferee for finding little mistakes.
