Pinkie Pie, the party pony of Ponyvile walked around town, tummy full of fizzy bubbles and head full of confusing questions as she passed by pony after pony. She saw Apple Jack pulling a cart of apples. Fluttershy was leading a little family of ducks. Rainbow Dash was flying to Ponyvile. Carrot Top was tending to her carrot patch. All was normal or rather looked normal except the fact that every pony was stalk still. Frozen.
“Well this is more confusing than...something that's more confusing than confusing.” The pink pony decided it was time to investigate this curious occurrence deeper.
Trotting up to a Lyra, who looked like she would be in mid song, stuck in the act of strumming her lyre, Pinkie paused and sat down, thinking hard. She touched Lyra's side. The sensation of something cold and hard met her touch. That didn't make sense. The sun was shining. Pinkie stuck her tongue into the air to feel for a breeze.
“Welth, thath's oddth.” She said to herself, tongue still feeling around for any sort of disturbance. “I'th donth feelth oneth.” Sucking her tongue back into her mouth, she sat back, completely baffled, and for Pinkamena Diane Pie, that was a bad thing.
Then a thought occurred to her. “Now, is the whole town frozen, or just the ponies?” She gave a burp of bubbly foam. “Uuhhgg, I sure hope just the ponies are frozen, because I need a drink of water.” As she trudged her way back to her home in Sugarcube Corner she muttered, “Last time I drink false hopes and empty promises.”
With every hoof step, Pinkie felt herself getting more and more nervous. She never realized till now, just how much noise there was at any given time in Ponyvile. Birds chirping, buzzing of insects, clopping of hooves, rumble of voices, squeaking of carts, they all gave a different note and melody to the song of life in the little town. Even at night there was noise. But now. Silence. Absolute silence, save for her breathing and steady hoof clops on the hard dirt path.
“This is creepier than the night that I spent at Rarity's house and I woke up with all the mannequins looking at me.” The pink pony whimpered, feeling her hair deflate. The incident she spoke of was one the unfortunate night that the Cutie Mark Crusaders thought to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders Pranksters and circled Pinkie with the faceless, life sized dolls. Rarity made Sweetie Belle and her compadres apologize over and over, but Pinkie now developed automatonophobia, and so, politely, stayed as far away from Rarity's work shop as ponyly possible.
Her trot through Ponyvile felt like a continuous loop of the same minute over and over again, but that was impossible, right? Time must have passed. Pinkie looked up to the blue blue sky to see the sun painted in the same spot where it was when she first started walking. As she started to sigh, hoping this was a dream of some kind, Pinkie felt a chill run up her spin, the kind where you're being watched.
Spinning around, huffing and puffing in fearful anticipation, she spied a pony statue in the center of the square, looking at her. Pinkie felt her phobia creepy up as she watched it. She blinked. The statue was looking up the sky, with a hoof to it's face, like always. The way, she let out a long sigh, it was suppose to be. With a little relief, she turned her back and continued on her way back home, trying to steady her racing heart.
Once at the shop's front door, Pinkie slumped against the wall for a moment, thinking over the events that led up to this point.
A few weeks ago she found out that her friend Lyra Heartstrings had special permission from Princess Celestia, under the supervision of Princess Twilight Sparkle, to visit the human world, to learn more about their counterparts that lived on that side. Even more, Lyra had brought back an object without either ponies knowing. Pinkie had asked Lyra to bring her back something that Twilight had told them about from her first trip through the magical portal that connected the two worlds. A can of a strange energy drink called Red Bull.
Lyra wasn't to thrilled about the idea. Pinkie on caffeine? If there was a recipe for disaster, that was a double batch of it, but with Pinkie's poking, prodding, promising parties, and purposely pouting, Lyra gave in. It was much simpler to acquiesce that which was requested, and even easier to slip it back through the gate, if only because Twilight was too interested in renew acquaintances and study more to pay any attention to the turquoise pony.
And so Lyra gave Pinkie Pie, the most hyper pony, only rivaled by Cheese Sandwich, a very caffeinated drink. Lyra knew she shouldn't have done it, and that this would end up bad, but she couldn't take that pouty face that only the party pony could give.
Pinkie slammed a hoof against the door of the shop, tears welling in her blue eyes. “Why did I do it?” She shouted, her voice breaking down to sobs. “I don't get how it's all connected, but I know it is.” Sniff. “But I'm going to fix this. I'm going to figure this out.”
A shiver ran up her spin for the second time. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw another stone statue. She blinked.
“Did we have a statue there? I know about the one in the town fountain, but, I don't remember one on that corner.”
Pinkie watched it for a few more moments before trying the door. With great relief, it swung in. Breathing in, Pinkie entered the shop, not knowing what to expect. She saw Mrs. Cake in behind the shop, helping a customer who seemed so attached to his bits, his hoof was glued to them as he was forever stuck in mid exchange with the chubby blue mare for a blueberry crumble, but that's not what Pinkie noticed. The shop keeper bell. It didn't ring.
She took another step forward and heard her hoof on the floor. The sound startled her, as the floor here was made of wood, and the paranoia that was brought on by the silent still world caused her to jump and spin around. The statue was at the door, a hoof out, muzzle open, jagged teeth bared. Pinkie let out a scream that no pony would ever hear. Or so she thought.
A hoof grabbed her. “Hurry this way!” His voice said urgently. “And don't look away from it! Don't blink, what ever you do, don't blink! It's faster than belief, but can't move while you're looking at it.” And with that the mysterious stallion pulled something out of the collar of his tie with a flourish and yelled out “Allons-y!” before dragging a panicking Pinkie Pie to the backside of the shop and back to the frozen world.
The Briefest of Introductions
Pinkie felt her panic flooding every sense of her mind and body as she stared after the stony stature that some how kept pace with them without any signs of actual movement.
“Who are you, what is that, why is it chasing us, I NEED CUPCAKES!”
“First,” Replied the stallion, who was still toting her by the hoof. “I'm the Doctor, second, that is called a weeping angel. Rather fascinating how it's adapted to this universe, considering that equines are the primary source of intelligent creatures in this layer of reality. Honestly, hot the Tardis slung me this far, I'll never know. It's chasing us because the residual energy of it transporting us back in time to the point that this point in time and history we expire, is it's food source, thus meaning it is chasing food, and that we are fast, well, not really fast, but faster than it, well faster while watching it, that is keeping eye contact with it, we technically count as fast food, haha, sorry, couldn't not resist, but still this is no laughing matter, shame on you for thinking such. And lastly, cupcakes do sound nice, can I get mine with tea?”
None of this made sense to the party pony, who somehow felt more terrified of this happy go lucky pony who was speaking like this was no more than a trot through the park, which is technically was, since they were going through a park, but it was more of a flat out gallop than a trot.
“What in Equestria is going on here?!” Pinkie gasped out, forgetting the no blinking rule, which was very hard to obey while galloping one way, while trying watching a non moving, yet moving, deadly object trying to eat you. She screamed as the stone pony appeared, hoof just a hairs breath away from her face.
“Hey, stony, catch!” A size-able rock soared over Pinkie's head and smacked the stature square in the face. Considering that the pony in question was stuck in mid stride, two hooves off the ground, the statue pitched sideways and thumped against the ground.
Pinkie felt a hoof take hers for the second time. “Come on. The Tardis isn't far now.”
And with that the stallion pulled out a mirror. Where he had a mirror, Pinkie would never know, nor would she ask because when you're galloping at break neck speed, watching a little hoof mirror to keep eye contact with a life residual eating statue, while making sure you didn't run face first into a tree, breaking said mirror and becoming 'fast food' as the strange Doctor jested, one doesn't think to ask where a simple mirror comes from.
“Okay, now, in we go!”
Pinkie looked up for a fraction of a second to see a large blue police box, the kind that might have been around when her Pa was a young colt. Unfortunately, that was a fraction of a second of lost eye contact with the strange chaser.
Pinkie felt herself being pulled along and thrown before the scream died on her lips, into the box and sat up, spinning round, to face the entrance to see her savior for the first time. It was strange, this seemingly ordinary brown stallion, with a dark brown, swept back mane and average tail, hourglass on his flank and sporting a white collar with tie, seemed so familiar, like she'd seen him so many times before, but just never quite realized he was there. He was staring down the raging stone beast, smiling as he spoke.
“No lunch today Stoney. We might not have met, but you know who I am. This mare is under my protection. This whole planet is in fact and if you know what's good for you, you'd better turn tail and run as fast as those stone legs can carry you. I'm the Doctor, and I will figure out what is going on here, and I will stop it. This is you're only warning. Leave now, or I will end you.”
Seconds ticked by, as the stallion's eyes bore into stone ones before he backed up, closing the blue door. Cheerily, he turned around and smiled.
“Now then! Introductions!”
Pinkie just stared at him, a loss for words. The fallen or weeping angel, or what ever it was called seemed to pound on the door outside.
“Oh come off it! You'll never get in here in a million years! So stop trying.” Then as an after thought, he chuckled to Pinkie, “I've had Cybermen, wait, would they be Cybermen? I suppose Cyberponies here. Ah well, Cyber'ponies' try to blast cut their way through that door.” He waved a hoof, shaking his face with a comical frown. “Not even a scratch.”
“Who ARE you?!” She just couldn’t help it. This stranger with a strange box that...that...She looked down and then all around.
The Doctor must gave a little bit of an embarrassed cough. “Ahh, just give it time it wi-”
Pinkie felt a smile come on. “Oooohhhhhhhhhh!” She squealed as she shot up, hair inflating, eye's twinkling, smiling so wide her face had to expand to make room for it. “Some OTHER pony who can do it!”
That caught the brown stallion off guard. “Do...What?”
But Pinkie wasn't paying attention. She was far to busy zipping around the large room with the strange metal tree like structures, prodding, pushing, ramming, spinning, pulling, plugging, and pawing every button, lever or switch in the room and on the big strange console in the middle, all the while yelling things like 'what's that?' or 'this does what?' or 'Twilight's never going to believe this' and strangely enough 'Z is equivalent to the exponential of K minus four to the negative eighteenth of the night power of P'
“STOP!” Pinkie froze in place, about to hit a big red button. “Come here!” She walked curiously up to the Doctor, who was looking crossed, flustered, confused and irritated all at once which was quite a feet. “Sit.” Pinkie sat. “Now then. As I was-”
Pinkie's hoof shot into the air, as if she were a filly in school. “What's that button do?”
“That, that's just the Time Rupture Stabilizer, it-”
“That lever?”
“A Quantum Worm Warp Dri-”
“And that switch?”
“That switch?” The Doctor frowned. “That's...um...That is, uuhhh.” He sat back on his haunches, massaging his chin while looking thoughtfully at that switch. “I haven't the foggiest idea now that you mention it.”
Pinkie sighed, shaking her head. “And here I was, thinking you were smart.”
The stallion blinked. “Now wait just a mi-”
But Pinkie was already exploring more, eyes wide with fascination.
“Now, hang on!” The Doctor trotted up to her. “We seems that we skipped through the usual dialog that is suppose to be had at this point.”
“What point.”
“Well, THIS point.”
Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “This point? Like THIS this point?”
The brown stallion facehooved. “Yes. This this point.”
“I think you mean This this this point, because this this point has already passed.” Pinkie let out a giggle snort. “Silly Doctor. Keep up with the story.”
“Story? What story?”
“This story.” She looks at you and winks. “We all know how boring the same old talk of the 'it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside' talk is, and how it's some kind of space and time relativity field make it so. Since I know that, why bore the reader with more talk about it? It doesn't make sense, and it's quite rude, so don't be rude. I just cut down a whole chapter I was suppose to freak out in, so stay up to date.”
The Doctor just stared at her, opened mouthed. “Wha- wha are yo-” He put a hoof up. “No, no no nooooo. Hahaha, no no no, Never mind. I don't want to know.” He sighed. “What I do want to know is what's happening outside.”
Pinkie's face fell. “Yeah. It's like the whole world is frozen.”
Sitting back, the Doctor thought about that. “Has anything unusual happen lately?”
Pinkie burped, feeling the foamy bubbles rise up her throat to her nose. “Yeah.” She whimpered, snorting. “I drank sad party.”
“Beg pardon?”
“Only if you've got Gray Pupon!”
For a long moment, they just looked at each other. Pinkie smiled. The Doctor started to laugh.
“Ohhh may. You are random.”
“Thank you.”
“Now what was this about sad party?”
“My friend Lyra brought me something from the human world.”
The brown stallion perked up at that. “The human world you say? How did she manage that? Do you have interplanetary-dimenstional ship here?”
“No. Just a magical portal in the castle at Canterlot.”
“A magical...portal.” He repeated slowly. “Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything. And off we go!”
Both ponies laughed at the face of adventure, neither of them noticing the stony figure getting nearer in the reflection of the discarded mirror.