This Time Around

Physician's Assistant (Part I)

        'Doctor?! Doctor!' A voice rang out through the wail of crumpling metal and rock. Eyes darted frantically around, looking for him. Floor bricks and tall metal columns repeated themselves over and over again.

        The echo of a shout resonated down an ochre stone corridor:

        'You want a Timelord artefact?! Well, I've got news for you boys: I am a Timelord artefact!'

        The tone lowered as a panting mare ran desperately down the same passageway as the voice. Her heart pound rapidly in her ears. Her hooves clopped on the hard floor.

        'And I have so much. So much to share with you...'

        That whisper was somehow louder than the shouts to the sprinting mare.

        Roseluck’s running redoubled as she sped towards him, the source of the shouting. Braking suddenly, she almost fell over. She found herself in a gargantuan circular chamber.

        Arches and domes soared overhead. Alien carvings covered the floor and ceiling. The tan mare tilted her head up to see a multicoloured stained glass window. It depicted constellations, and ponies in long robes and headdresses walking amongst them. Some robes were black and purple, some green, others amber and orange. The ponies all looked infinitely wise.

        In front of the window was him standing on his two hind legs, bathed in prismatic splendour. Facing down the hordes of cloaked, pony-like figures.

        Upon a raised altar stood the last foal of Gallifrey. The TARDIS behind his back, an activated sonic screwdriver blazing green in the aura of his telekinesis. He glowed slightly as if a star burned inside of him.

        He was disheveled, beaten. Ragged. As he stood, his crimson eyes were lit with the rage of an oncoming storm and the blazing light of the sun. Yet underneath the anger, hidden to all but those who looked closely, was sorrow. Hesitation.

        'You cannot!' screamed a rasping and fearful but deep voice. It came from one of the golden-hooded beings. 'We serve the Timelords! We are humble servants of Gallifrey! These ponies serve you, milord.' The voice acquired a higher pitch, pleading, pointing at the walls. 'Do not forsake us! We beg! You would break the ancient laws!'

        And so he spoke, in an accusing but regretful tone. The rest of the world fell silent. Because he was talking.

        'But you are not ponies, are you? You are the delusional fever dreams of a madmare! You claim to know the Timelords, but you clearly don't know me...' He paused. 'Never tell me the rules.'

        His volume grew louder, his words more powerful with every single one until he was shouting, 'Never tell me the impossible.’

        Embers in his eyes blazed brightly. ‘And never. Threaten. This. World!'

        The royal-blue stallion grimaced in excruciating pain as a bolt of energy shot from the horde. His face said he should have seen this coming.

        The Doctor crumbled to the ground, almost in slow motion. He landed with a thump.

        Chaos broke loose.

        Roseluck stood.

        Shaking, he stood up. His left front hoof spasmed wildly outwards. A golden burst of energy shot from it, like a glare from a dying star. The noise was that of a thousand fiery hurricanes. His blue and red suit flailed madly in the wind as the glass mosaic behind him shattered into fine dust. Long-ish grey hairs from his already-wild mane waved in the air currents.

        Roseluck covered her eyes with her hoof to shield her vision from the burning light. Her fetlock burned and tingled where the harsh but warm light touched it. From between her squinting eyelids and watering eyes, she saw the Doctor breathe out. It was a sunlight-coloured wisp of dust and fire.

        The Timelord screamed. Loud and chilling.

        Then he exploded.

        It was glorious, like a supernova. Even though her eyes were burning, she couldn't turn them away.

        The vast legion of the Ancient Church of Gallifrey ran like insects from a flame-thrower. The screaming continued, piercing Roseluck's heart and soul. Her eardrums wanted to burst, break, and bleed.

        A single tear sprang from the corner of her scorched pale-green eyes. She was dazed. Only one thought weighed on her confused mind: the Doctor.

        She shouted again, her voice breaking: 'Doctor!'

        Running towards the stone and metal altar with a sense of urgency and climbing its intricately-carved stairs, she found herself next to the Doctor and his blue box. He exhaled. More golden dust came out with his breath.

        'Roseluck...' His voice sounded weary and agonising. He chuckled bitterly. 'Before you go, I... I want you to know; this was a brilliant tale we wrote... I won't forget one bit.'

        He struggled to breathe in, as if the strange energy was choking him. 'Don't forget... I'll still be alive if you remember. Remember this face... You're going to be its last memory. Remember who I was...' Then the Doctor did something Roseluck had almost never seen him do: he smiled. Forced and sad, yet he smiled.

        Twin tears ran down both her cheeks. The Doctor's eyes shined with moisture, but he did not weep.

        'I'm not leaving, Doctor.' Stubbornness kept her from breaking. A drizzle of tears became a rain as her words became whispers, 'I'm here, old stallion.' The Doctor couldn't die. He'd told her once he was impossibly old; thousands of years old. He couldn't just die like this.

        The Doctor chuckled drily until it devolved into a pained coughing fit. 'Goodbye, lost girl.' He said with a heavy finality, 'Remember.' He smiled, smaller this time. Laden with grief.

        High-pitched buzzing could be heard for a while. The flower shop mare's eyes went wide before she disappeared in a flash of light as the modified time-vortex manipulator now attached to her hind leg activated.

        The Timelord dropped his green aura, and with it, his screwdriver into his front pocket.

        Alone once more, the Doctor sighed. He dragged himself along the floor stiffly, towards the TARDIS's doors. One of them opened for him. 'Good girl.' He sighed once more. 'Here we go again, eh?' His tone was neutral, accepting.

        Placing his hoof gently on the closed door, he stopped momentarily. He looked back at the small burn mark where Roseluck had been. A small silence. The agonising Timelord got back to crawling. With every centimetre he moved, his body glowed brighter. Pain grew steadily. He grit his teeth and grimaced, slowly pressing on.

        He managed to crawl into the small, one-pony sofa in the corner of the cabin. His body let itself go limp, sitting on the worn brown seat. Without any preamble, the centre pillar of the ship started moving. Pumping up and down. The ancient machine wheezed. Breathed. Prepared. And then started burning.

        As the TARDIS disappeared from the newly-created stone ruins of the temple, a flash of light could be seen inside. A barely-contained scream could be heard.

• • •

        Time Turner's lips shook ever-so-slightly as he grasped the pincers, placing the final component on the receptacle. If this worked, magic would be able to be stored more efficiently. Batteries!

        A bead of sweat fell from his brow just underneath his mane as he carefully began dropping the copper ring inside the crystal receptacle. Before he could complete this action, however, the shop bell rang, signalling somepony coming in. He delicately placed the circlet and pincers on his project table.

        'Over in the back!' He exclaimed, hoping the customer heard him; hooves' sound on the wooden plank floor indicated they did.

        He turned his sight to the door that led to the store's front, waiting for the client. Time Turner blinked rapidly; he did not expect this particular pony to walk into his shop. Underneath the small industrial light on top of the door stood Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.

        'Oh! Princess Twilight. I didn't realise...' He said. He almost pushed the minuscule metal ring from the table.

        'Just Twilight.' asked the alicorn, 'Please?' She added, smiling awkwardly.

        'Certainly.' Turner replied, trying to keep his demeanour professional. He didn't know the new princess much. Or at all. But he liked being nice to all customers. He smiled amicably. 'How can I help you?'

        'Well, um, I kind of need an hourglass for an experiment.' Replied Twilight. 'You do still make hourglasses, right?' She said as if it embarrassed her to ask.

        'Oh?' A princess had never needed any of his clocks or hoofwork before, much less the princess of magic.

        Just as the purple alicorn opened her mouth to speak, a wheezing with a metallic ring could be heard from nowhere and everywhere. Both ponies' ears stood up. The ethereal sound grew louder by the millisecond. They stood there, unsure of what to do.

        The wall caved in.

        A blue, rectangular box crashed through the far end of Time Turner's lab, spinning madly. A million splintering, cracking, and exploding sounds burst forth as it demolished the back wall. Shards of wood, metal, and other rubble flew outwards from the newly smashed hole in the room. Electricity arced out of shredded wires.

        Both the princess and the scientist flattened themselves to the ground in fear. A chill raced down both their backs as the box sailed over their heads, red-hot, bringing a strong gust of wind after it. The wind almost skinned both both their backs.

        It landed with the sound of a chariot being thrown off a cliff. It skidded out of control, sending sparks off. Everything in its path was sent flying off. The object/box came to a stop a few metres in front of the lab's two occupants. All around, papers flew, chalk dust and just dust spread through the air.

        Two very confused ponies stared at the box. Time Turner looked on with eyes impossibly wide while Twilight charged an offensive spell.

        Suddenly one of the longer, rectangular sides of the wooden box kicked open like a door, making both spectators jump back. Smoke billowed from inside. Heat like an open furnace blasted out. A light-grey hoof coloured like ash, gripped the side of what was now most decidedly a door. Another grey hoof.

        Out of the mysterious box from the sky climbed a mare, wearing a tattered and half-shredded tweed jacket a few sizes too big. The door closed behind her. Her blond mane looked wild and frazzled, matted with sweat. So did her matching tail. She smelled of burning hair.

        'Oi! Not nice! Mind telling me next time?' She spoke to the apparently-burning box with annoyance, like it could hear her. Through her coughing, her voice was high-pitched, with a Scoltish accent. She knocked on the box. 'Or waiting until I'm done baking for once?' The mare sighed, then turned around.

        Two golden eyes, one looking to the front, one towards the floor, came to rest their sight on the pair. She looked only a little bit less surprised than the two ponies did. She gave a smile, tilted to the left, and an intense gaze.

        'Um, excuse me miss... You might've crashed into my shop...' Said Time Turner hesitatingly, half-dazed.  He didn't know what else to tell the mare. 'So... Well... Who are you?'

        'Hello... I don't know.' She said, piling words upon one another. She tugged at her jacket. 'Or rather, I do. I just don't know how this me is yet. I'm not a miss. Do I have long eyelashes again? I hope I don't have long eyelashes again. Anyway!' Both of her eyes momentarily focused, darting back and forth between both her new acquaintances. The smile turned into a grin as she raised a single eyebrow. 'I'm the Doctor.'

        'The Doctor' stood up straighter and looked to the tan earth pony with a matter-of-fact expression. She seemed to scan his form. 'Also, your scarf is on fire.' The scientist looked down. He frantically started stomping on his way-too-long multicoloured scarf, trying to extinguish a small flaming patch on one end.

        The new arrival just stood there.

        'The new eyes make seeing funny...' she remarked casually.

        Time Turner kept blowing until only a cinder of the flaming portion remained. He looked at his favourite article of clothing, breathing heavily. 'The Doctor' smiled like a mischievous foal. She turned to Twilight.

        'You!' Twilight looked confused. 'The purple one. The wing-y one.' The Doctor put a hoof on her shoulder. 'Should I remember you? I think I should. Wait. Shut up really quick. Why are your colours changing? Dark violet does not suit you. It's okay, everypony... The lights go out all the time.'

        A sudden scream from the odd grey mare made Turner and Twilight jump slightly back. Again.

        Golden eyes lit up like torches. Grey fur glowed. Her posture grew stiff as her back arched. 'The Doctor' crumbled to the ground limply. Bright, unnaturally tinted smoke curled up from her mouth. She kept breathing, now seemingly asleep.

        Time Turner's mind wasn't quite functioning correctly; he could only think of one thing. Not his ruined lab. Or his broken machines and projects. Or the princess' visit. Just: 'what?'

        'Princess Twilight?' The princess in question was looking down, intently examining the collapsed form of the box-mare. She turned her face up at the question.

        Twilight stared blankly at Time Turner for a few seconds, her mind clearly elsewhere.

        'Oh. Yes!' She exclaimed, as if remembering something. 'Okay! The Elements! I have to get my friends. And write a letter to the Princess! And get my notepad!'

        Twilight Sparkle took off hurriedly, into the clouds. Time Turner just stood there with his half-charred scarf and an unconscious, raggedy mare.

        The Doctor breathed slowly. The brown stallion wondered what was wrong with her. You didn't fly wooden blue boxes into shops without a good reason. She looked energetic, then sick. As if she were under a spell. Maybe Discord? The glowing golden smoke looked magical to him.

        He looked at his favourite scarf laying on the ground for what felt like months. Ever since he'd found it wrapped around a treetop, the over-long and warm garment had been special to him. He wanted to fix it. It was comfortable and—

        Suddenly, with a noise like the wind's howl, the box was no longer where it had been. Turner looked around. A mostly transparent blue wall started fading in. Very close. The box was around him, slowly growing more solid. Just there. He could only stare. He'd done a lot of staring today.

        Time Turner began to back away as the wall was replaced by a railing. Wheezing from all around him grew louder. His back met something metal. He turned around. A raised octagonal... console? stood in front of him. A transparent pillar in the middle glowed as bronze rings inside it moved up and down, seemingly making the wheezing sound. Steam released from a gauge on the console. A screen swivelled wildly, affixed to the pillar by yet another ring, bathing his face in a green light. It was impossible. It was different sizes on the outside and the inside... The calculations would take millennia. He didn't know wether to feel amazed or very frightened. He wanted to scream.

        Metal was warm underneath his hooves. The Doctor was slumped on the floor, the grey mare beginning to stir. The machine's noise did not stop.

        The room started spinning, the force tossing both Turner and the half-unconscious mare into the console. A warning sound blared.

        A purple, undefined blur began fading in. It seemed to transition in and out of sight, half-transparent. It was beating its wings. It became more defined, still fading in and out, it stopped, crashing to the floor. Princess Twilight tumbled onto the metal and glass.

        'Wha—' She stopped, taking in the space around her. She turned to Turner. 'Where are we?'

        'This', came a not-quite-feminine-yet-female voice from behind the stallion 'is the TARDIS.' The Doctor stood there, with that seemingly ever-present hint of a grin on her face.

        'It's... it's...' The grin manifested itself again on the Doctor's face. 'Bigger on the inside... I've seen this before, but not in this size.' Her eyes widened with wonder. 'I wish I had my notepad...'

        Time Turner took a moment to breathe and think. Seen this before? The Doctor broke his internal silence:

        'Aren't you going to say it?' She asked expectantly. Time Turner raised an eyebrow. 'I missed it, didn't I? I love hearing those words. Staring is too boring.'

        'Words?' The impossibilities momentarily forgotten, he tilted his head.

        'Well, yes. Everyone says them. You know: "bigger on the inside".' Turner mouthed an oh.

        'You did fantastic on the decoration this time.' The grey mare with the strange eyes seemed to address the machine around them. 'I like the ring-stuff.' She hugged the console. 'You could've made the screen bigger.'

        Machinery below them seemed to reply.

        'Don't do that; I have a right to complain! You didn't wait!' Time Turner's head began to hurt.

        A certain alicorn was looking at the various knobs and buttons on the console. She lifted her hoof to turn a small, innocuous-looking knob.

        'Don't touch the knobby-thing!' Said The Doctor with all seriousness. 'I don't want to end up inside a hatching planet. Again.' She looked down at her hooves. 'Is this who I am now? Short and weird-seeing and bossy? I don't like bossy. And my voice is all wrong! It's so... squeaky.'

        Twilight appeared to have ignored all of that.

        'How does it work? Did you build it yourself? What kind of spell matrix does it use?' The princess tried to summon a notepad, finding her horn didn't work. 'And why can't I use magic?'

        'Brilliant! You're an asking-questions-one. There's always one. I like the asking-questions-ones.' The Doctor smiled, the corners of her mouth bending up. 'Answers: Timelord science; timey-wimey stuff. No, I borrowed it. No spell matrix, but it has a swimming pool, somewhere. And I don't know. Why don't I know? I always know.'

        Twilight wrote down every word mentally.

        Time Turner doubted she always knew.

        'Hello, equines!' she said as if she wasn't. 'How are you in my TARDIS? Actually, don't answer that. The last one who tried answering that didn't know. I have a better question: what colour is my mane?'

        'You don't know?' asked Turner.

        'No. I just got it.' she stated it as if it was obvious. Twilight and Turner stared at her, then at each other.

        'It's golden.' said the spiky-maned stallion hesitatingly.

        'I think "wheat" is more accurate in the colour scale', said Twilight with absolute certainty. 'Golden would be darker; it would be more reflective of light.'

        'I like her.' The Doctor seemed to say to the room. She sighed. 'But one ginger regeneration. I just want one.' She turned to the console and started flipping switches and levers. Twilight's eyes sparkled as she began poring over the various mismatched pieces that all seemed to do something. The screen flashed strange circular characters and images.

        'What are you doing?' asked Turner. He bent his neck slightly to look at The Doctor with a questioning eye.

        'Do try and keep up, Temper. We're going!' The madmare, for Time Turner was now certain that's what she was, smiled widely in a way that reminded him of a foal.

        'Turner!' he said. He then murmured: 'Time Turner.'

        'Going where?' inquired Twilight, looking up from a shining blue button. The Doctor's smile grew small and mischievous.

        'Or when.' she said. She pulled a lever dramatically.

        Nothing. Twilight looked around. Turner sighed with relief.

        With a new round of wheezes and alien noises, the room shook. The Doctor and Twilight hung from a small ridge in the console as it was thrown suddenly sideways. Time Turner slammed into the railing.

        The rings in the pillar moved energetically. The screen swivelled with the room. The Doctor smiled. She shouted gleefully:

        'Here. We. Go!' She laughed. The mare with the oversized clothes scared Turner.

        'What's happening?' said Twilight through the machinery noise. She intended to ask many questions. This was hardly the weirdest thing that had happened to her, but it was close to the top of the list. The list was very organised.

        'Well, she always takes me somewhere nice.' The Doctor said while tilting her head, referring to the machine. 'And this face is number thirteen, so why not run where the Vortex takes us?'

        They al crashed to the floor. The room had... crashed. Some smoke billowed from below the glass pillar.

        The Doctor sprang up. She looked around. 'Well, there have been worse.' She dusted her jacket, then made a face and threw it off the control room platform. She shook her wings. She stopped, head turning around slowly. The Doctor looked at the feathered appendages and shrugged.

        'Stay here' she commanded. 'There could be something dangerous out there. Or puppets. There's always a chance of puppets... Again.'

        Slowly, the grey apparently-not-a-real-pegasus approached the small doors of the phone-box. She looked to them as if considering something. Carefully, she put a wing to the handle. She opened the door and poked her head out, smiling foolishly. The Doctor looked around, then withdrew her head and closed the door.

        'Good news', she looked at the two ponies standing behind her. 'It's not puppets.'

'Unidentified vessel, please state your credentials.'rang an electric voice over loudspeakers. 'Place of origin, intentions, lifeforms on board, and all forms of armament must be declared.'

        '"Vessel"?' asked Twilight, gears turning in her mind. 'Where are we?'

        'What type of doctor are you!?' Turner looked completely ready to smack The Doctor. 'And why is there a voice outside? My shop was outside!'

        'That's not very nice.' The Doctor looked calm. 'And I'm not a doctor; I'm The Doctor, it's very different, get that in your head. It's my name. Well, not my name. But it is. It's complicated.' She turned to the purple alicorn, who was still waiting for an answer to her question. 'We are somewhere in space. Civilised space. A rather large station. It has lots of spacey things. Things that move.'

        'A station?' Twilight looked split between doubt and writing a detailed account. Time Turner echoed the question.

        'Well... think more of an artificial moon.' The Doctor's head bobbed side-to-side, as if considering something. 'Or a clinic-station. Or... Forget that, it's nothing like that. It's a rather large spaceship. It's floating in space. It has other ships inside. Are you coming?'

'Unidentified vessel, please state your credentials. Place of origin, intentions, lifeforms on board, and all forms of armament must be declared.'

        'Would you wait a moment? We're coming.' She turned to the two ponies from Ponyville again. 'Are you coming, then?'

        'Outer space?' asked Twilight.

        'In the Orion nebula.' Her tone switched to somepony telling a foal a story. 'So much to do.'

        'Unidentified vessel, please state reasons for your presence in the trauma wing. Repeating: state reasons for your presence in the trauma wing.'

        'Can we breathe out there?'

        'I think so, yes. You can also bring a notepad; there should be one in that box.' The Doctor smiled, she nodded to a small wooden box beside the console. 'Actually, I think I had yoghurt in here somewhere...'

        'Okay!' she smiled, excited at all the possibilities. Her mind ran wild. But she should get back to her friends... But they'd understand. It was science! She went to rummage through the box, searching for a quill and notepad.

        'Are you serious? You're going to just go with her? Princess Twilight, that is insane!' Twilight looked awkward and doubtful for a second before levitating her writing supplies, a pencil making up for the lack of quills.

        'But it's not insane...' she said, sounding a little hurt. 'It's scientific interest. And she seems nice, even if she's strange. I learned that lesson. Maybe she's a good friend.'

        'Yes, exactly. Now come Turtle, there's a big bad voice outside and we haven't answered its question.' The Doctor opened the door and stepped outside, Twilight and a reluctant Time Turner followed her.

        A very cross-looking mare was glaring coldly at them. Her brow was furrowed. She wore what appeared to be white nurse's clothes. On her chest was a golden plaque: 'Matron Bandaged Wound. Class III.' She wore a crisp snow-coloured beret. Her black coat and mane and her orange eyes did not look in the least kind or caring, however.

        'You didn't answer the porter's question.' she said with an unwelcoming voice. 'So who the bloody Tartarus are you and why did you land an unauthorised ship in my medicine cupboard?'

        'Well... the "porter" isn't very nice', interrupted The Doctor before Twilight could introduce them. 'I'm The Doctor, this is Turnip, and this is the asky-one. We're here to...' She smiled, 'Twilight, what are we here to do?'

        'Uh... We're here to inspect some patients!' said Twilight nervously, giving a hopeful smile. 'Yeah, physical and magical examinations.' Panic flowed through her mind, her left eye twitched unnoticeably. She was a Doctor of some kind. She had to be.

        Bandaged Wound blinked, clearly not expecting something like that.

        The Doctor slipped inside her box, coming outside after a short while. She grabbed a lab coat and put it on, stuffing something in one of the pockets. She held a small fold of plastic in her mouth. She walked up to the matron and confidently flipped it open in one motion.

        Twilight was about to ask what that meant, seeing as there was only a blank rectangle of paper covered in wavy lines inside. Time Turner wanted to run away before the stone wall of a mare got the inevitable urge to slap The Doctor.

        To the surprise of both the ponies, Matron Wound's eyes widened. She straightened her position. Her muscles tensed. She brought her hoof up to her forehead in a perfect salute.

        'Physician Hypodermic!' said Bandaged Wound. 'Sorry ma'am. I didn't recognise you, ma'am. Are you here for a patient inspection?'

        'Physician... Is that what I am?' muttered The Doctor under her breath. She looked at the paper and shrugged.  'Yes! Physician! I am the physician! Very well. Bad welcomes. Why? Doesn't matter, you're excused. Patient inspection, okay. Any problems, anything unusual, any moving shadows?' The Doctor got almost uncomfortably close to the matron's face.

        The matron didn't budge; her face didn't even shift. 'No ma'am. There's just... But you shouldn't be worried about that.' The Doctor raised a wheat eyebrow.

        'Okay then. Go. Do what you ponies do. Prepare a report.' The Doctor shooed the coal-coloured mare away. Bandaged Wound stood for a few seconds before exiting the cupboard, leaving Twilight, Time Turner, and The Doctor alone with various unidentified devices and metal honeycombs filled with bottles and boxes. It was a very large cupboard. 'Psychic paper.' explained The Doctor. 'Makes you see what I need you to see.'

        Then The Doctor started tearing at her mane and hitting her own head in frustration. 'Daft new brain! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ma'am. Ma'am! And the high voice! I'm a mare now, aren't I? Never happened before... Even a mare one, but not a single ginger one...' She began to walk out.

        'No you're not.' Twilight grabbed The Doctor's tail with her magic, wrapping it tightly in a lavender aura. 'Not until you answer my questions.' The Doctor looked at her blankly.

        'Yes. Questions. Sure.'

        'Okay.' Twilight sparkled at the prospect of finally getting answers. She magically sharpened the pencil and stabilised the notepad. She hastily jotted down a checklist of questions. 'First', she said, looking at the writing on the pad. 'Why did you fly your... "TARDIS?" into Time Turner's shop?' Turner looked at the mare, waiting for an answer.

        'I didn't. She was burning. She crashed.' Twilight wrote the answer down, archiving the referring to the TARDIS as a 'she' for another question. Time Turner was about to open his mouth to comment.

        'Why did you take us into the box?'

        'I didn't. But I guess I needed friends; friends make things more interesting.' More scribbling from Twilight.

        'I'm not her friend!' interrupted Turner. Twilight glared at him pointedly. 'She crashed her box into my shop. And kidnapped me!'

        'There's a space clinic with a potential hidden mystery out there', reminded The Doctor enticingly. 'and you want to keep asking questions?'

        'One more?' begged Twilight with big, adorable eyes. Without waiting for The Doctor's response, she asked: 'What are you?' Her pencil stood ready for an explanation.

        'Timelord. From Gallifrey.' The Doctor then proceeded to use her wing to put the wavy paper fold into her pocket and take out a short, thin object. Buzzing and a yellow light later, she stepped out of the parting doors. After a moment she stuck her head back in. She tilted it towards the door, a clear 'follow me'.

        Twilight stuffed her notes and writing instrument into a pocket dimension before following. Time Turner walked out after the princess.

        The Doctor stood impatiently in a sterile white hallway. Even the lights that lined the ceiling seemed pure. A floating, breezie-like metal creature flied by Twilight's nose, making the mare blink rapidly. A swarm of similar creatures followed it.

        The Doctor pointed at one of them with the shining metal rod. The rod made an electronic sound; it somehow made the creature stay suspended in the air. She used her wingtip to twist her instrument, opening it and reading something from a small rectangular screen inside.

        'Standard Year four-thousand-twenty.' she said. Twilight was unsure whether she was talking to them or not. 'Or five hundred years after the return of Luna. This is the Trifecta!'

        'Trifecta?' asked Twilight. She knew the definition of the word, but could see no connection between it and what was apparently a ship far beyond the moon.

        'Yes. In the Year three-thousand-seven-hundred, you ponies take to the stars!' The Doctor's eyes shone with small glints of pride and fascination. 'Far beyond the moon. Beyond even your planetary system! Armed with ingenuity and wide-eyed, you go into the void, reaching for the stars. You send a message to the rest of the universe: "we're ready to meet you". And the universe replies.'

        Purple eyes were fully concentrated; somewhere in a pocket dimension, a pencil wrote on a notepad. She quickly drew a rough sketch of the floating creature.

        'So. Here we are. Future space station hospital. The Celestial Order of Mercy. Space nurses. Let's go poke around.' The Doctor grinned wide and bounded off, brandishing the once buzzing and glowing metal in her primaries.

        'Wait!' Twilight ran after the excessively fast mare. A tan stallion trailed behind her.

        Silence permeated the hallways. Only the running could be heard. An open door could be seen up ahead. Twilight and Turner stopped, breathing heavily.

        Scores of floating transparent pods spread out in lines and rows in front of them. Ponies seemed to be peacefully sleeping inside. One thought ran through Time Turner's mind: changelings. Twilight walked curiously into the brightly-lit chamber.

        In the midst of the pods stood The Doctor, scanning one with her device and absentmindedly talking to a black mare. Matron Bandaged Wound. Time Turner thought the matron must've had inequine patience, seeing as she was not in the least annoyed by The Doctor. She seemed to reply to every question.

        '...All these patients? Anything wrong?'

        'No ma'am. Just different ailments.'

        'Twilight! Great. Questions, questions. Lots of patients.' The Doctor grabbed Twilight's face with her wings. 'So, you're the asking one. What is our question?'

        'Uh... "Why"?' proposed Twilight with a slight hesitation...

        'No. No, no.' The Doctor looked slightly disappointed. 'The question is: "what's missing"?'

        'What's missing?'

        'Turner! Time Turner! Yes. Thank you.' Her pupils gleamed. 'The answer is: that's what we're going to find out.' She poked Turner on the nose. She turned to the matron. 'Do you have any patients we can examine?'

        Matron Bandaged Wound turned her eyes to a random corner of the room, thinking.

        'No. Sorry ma'am. This is the critical wing; opening any patient's tank would most likely cause immediate death...' She paused shortly. 'But you should know that...'

        The Doctor opened her mouth. 'Yes. Well—'

        In one movement, the matron grabbed at The Doctor's neck. The Doctor jumped back. She missed narrowly.

        The Doctor scrambled to the opposite side of the pod, putting her hooves on it.

        'Who are you and why are you unauthorised on my emergency wing?' The Doctor made a face like she'd heard this before.

        'Oh, don't be stupid, I'm trying to help!' The Doctor emphasised her words with her wings. 'Everyone asks that question: "why are you here?" or "who are you?". I'm The Doctor and I'm here to help. Anyone got more questions?'

         The three ponies shook their heads in unison. Even Twilight, who had many more interesting questions.

        'Beautiful. Because I do. First: why are you the only nurse here?' The Doctor gave a questioning expression. 'This place should have a staff! Nurses. Assistants. You're the Order of Mercy; you never serve alone...'

        'This is the emergency wing.' explained Bandaged Wound. 'It opens once a year for staff change, or when a patient is released. The rest of this year's staff is on stasis; the opening mechanism broke. I called the Physicians, but they won't risk breaching the system. There's eight months until the docks open.' She seemed calm for somepony waiting eight months for rescue.

        'Eight months!?' asked Twilight. She didn't have eight months. Time Turner's eyes widened.

        'Second question: what is that?' The Doctor walked over to one of the floating breezie-machines, ignoring Twilight's outburst and Time Turner's face. It fluttered its small wings, hovering above a pod. 'It's obviously a robot. A medical robot.' She brought what Twilight thought looked like a metal horn and Turner thought was some sort of torch to the floating machine. 'But it has a signal. It's receiving and transmitting. Someone is controlling this. But the staff is asleep. It makes no sense!' She jumped up. The Doctor tore at her blonde mane with her front hooves. She hit her head once.

        'The surgeons are automated. A central computer spell controls them.'

        'Computer spell?' asked Time Turner and Twilight in unison. They were distracted from the matter of eight months in a floating space clinic.

        'Yes, computer spell.' said the Doctor. 'Computerised arcane matrix. Big complicated calculating controlling thing. Do try and keep up.' She exaggerated the descriptions of size with her wings as she talked almost expertly about it.

        The pencil wrote in a pocket dimension. Time Turner unsuccessfully tried to calculate the circuitry such a thing might require. He wasn't quite enjoying the trip yet, but at the very least he was getting some very interesting ideas to try back home. He wished he had a notepad too.

        'Actually, can I see it?' The matron raised a quizzical eyebrow at The Doctor's question. 'The big, complicated machine? It always helps to see the big, complicated machine.'

        'You say you're here to help, but there's nothing wrong.' Bandaged Wound's monotone still expressed that seemingly endless calmness. 'The patients are being treated; there's no containment breach. My staff is safe in stasis. And you still have no security clearance.'

        The Doctor grimaced in frustration. She pointed her wings to the matron. She then seemed to relax.

        'Well, that's a bit rubbish.' The Doctor pulled out her strange metal device victoriously. 'But. But! I have a screwdriver.'

        'You also have an order to get out of my emergency wing.'

        'No, no, no.' The Doctor pointed her wing to the ceiling as if proclaiming something. 'Is there anything strange? Anything unusual? Any movement in the corner of your eye?'

        'No. Now I'll ask you to take your... box... and leave this medical facility.' The Doctor's neck muscles tensed.

        Twilight was still taking notes when Time Turner bit his tongue and decided to ask a question she should've thought of herself a long time ago:

        'Wait. Where does your food come from?' The matron looked as if she'd been slapped. A few moments passed. Then a full minute.

        'I...' Bandaged Wound looked confused, as if searching for something inside her head. She became uncertain. 'I... well, from... I... can't remember...'

        The Doctor's mannerisms became hesitant. She opened her mouth only to close it again. Her features turned serious. Her wings returned to her sides.

        'Matron, where's stasis?'

        The matron blanked. She pressed her lips together in thought.

        'Stasis. It's malfunctioning. Your crew is in there, remember?' She pressed the matron's thread between her grey feathers. 'Think. Where is stasis? Big cryogenic pods. Full of ponies. Where.'

         'I don't know. I don't know... I don't know!' said Bandaged Wound, sounding angry at herself. She blinked rapidly; turned her head. 'Or... I do. I remember... I think I remember. I do. Follow me.'

        Twilight looked at The Doctor and raised a single eyebrow. Turner gave her a strange look. The Doctor just began walking with the matron. They followed the black mare and the grey Timelord.

        The surgeon-bot floated away.

        Sterile floors and line upon line of identical pods filled the space, which was much larger than Twilight had thought at first sight. The ceiling was only about two ponies tall. Cables and tubes wound around the patient capsules. Blinking lights and digital indicators were a curious sight to Twilight, but somehow reminiscent to Turner.

        Swarms of breezie-bots hovered over some of the pods. Their gleaming white-and-silver carapaces making them resemble a low-hovering cloud. They had little square numbers printed on their sides, Twilight noticed.

        The small party stopped. Twilight and Time Turner bumped into the Doctor as she stood still, one eyebrow raised expectantly. The matron hesitated for a few small seconds before walking up to the door. A soft blue light ran her up and down. It turned green. The door split open. Twilight stared through the opening and into a very long and narrow hallway, white like everything else. She was still taking notes. At this rate, she would need a new notepad. Time Turner was too interested in the opening mechanism to notice.

        The Doctor just walked in.

        Bandaged Wound soon took the lead, moving more stiffly than before. Twilight saw her flank, noticing there was no cutie mark there. She wondered if ponies in the future were all like this. She wrote a question in her notes. A question to ask The Doctor. She seemed to be a reliable enough source of information, considering the place (and presumably time) they were in.

        The ceiling got lower and lower until they were all almost bending their legs just to pass through. Twilight's neck extended straight forwards as to not bump her head on the roof, as did everypony else's. The lights were cold to the touch of the purple princess' wings. The blue arrows on the floor read 'Stasis' in bold lettering.

         Just before the tunnel got too small to pass without lowering themselves to their stomachs, it suddenly opened up.

        They all now stood on a steel-coloured catwalk in what seemed to be a completely spherical room. It's black and glossy walls were almost too dark after the dull white of the patient section. In the middle, upon circular section of the catwalk, stood pods. They looked almost like patient pods, but these stood upright. Cold mist swirled around their bases. The temperature of the room was a few degrees colder than the outside, much to Twilight's discomfort. Time Turner felt his neck was colder than the rest of him. The Doctor trotted silently to the middle of the ring formed by the standing pods.

        The Doctor began to shine her screwdriver's light on the glass part of the pods. Her face turned curious. She read the tiny screen after scanning the first one, then repeated the process for the other five. After she was done, she turned to the waiting ponies.

        'When was the last time you saw your crew, matron?' The Doctor swallowed. 'Because something doesn't fit. It doesn't make any sense at all.' She chuckled. 'Listen to me. Still expecting the universe to make more sense...'

        'A few months ago?' said Bandaged Wound dubiously. 'I don't think time is very relevant in here. But we all got into the shuttle back at The Hospital. It's their first year of service. The shuttle landed... somewhere inside. And I came out. The other cryopods wouldn't unseal. But they're made to work indefinitely. And all the vital signs were steady, so I did what I came here to do. I came to take care of the patients.'

        The Doctor looked at her with an impossible expression of combined grief and wariness.

        'I'm sorry...' said The Doctor with care. She then switched to grimness. 'But there's one thing wrong with your story.' She pointed to the circle of pods sombrely. 'The capsules failed. There are no life signs. Matron Bandaged Wound is in one of those cryogenic capsules. She and her crew are dead.' She took her screwdriver in her wing and pointed it at the mare. The golden light melted away her fur. Her face shorted out like a bad projection.

        Robotic eyes stared at them from a faceless head. The body of the machine was similar to a larger breezie-bot. Twilight and Turner looked on with eyes wide. The Doctor looked almost expressionless.

        'I...' The voice of Bandaged Wound came from a speaker somewhere inside the robot. 'But my crew is alive... I saw... The shuttle... The monitors... I'm alive. I'm here. I'm here...'  The voice sounded... hurt. The robot's shoulder gave a small spasm as something sparked. Twilight's wide stare softened. Its eyes looked so alive. So confused. Turner's focus darted back and forth between The Doctor and the robot, looking decidedly sorry.

        The Doctor looked on the machine with slight regret. She lowered her head.

        A red light flooded the room.