Once a Time Lord, Now a Pony

Princess of the Sun, Lady Celestia, despite dealing with nobles who droned on and on about various things she frankly couldn't be bothered to listen to was not, despite all evidence to the contrary, bored out of her mind. Why, you ask? Well, you got to have a bit of backstory first to understand this. Despite not adventuring with the Doctor as she would have liked, she did keep up on his whereabouts, by messages from the Time Lord himself. Every month, on the exact same day and on the exact same hour she received a message. It had been like this for a year. Actually, it was about time for one now, if his schedule kept up. And so it did. A white cube, a Time Lord's communication cube flew in with a purpose and played it's message. Celestia listened in interest.

"Hello again, it's me! Had a interesting week. First thing first, I visited with some Crystal Ponies, on the Moon! Imagine that, ponies, on the moon! I learn something new everyday. Visited with Lu... Oh, wouldn't want to give away what's coming for you soon. Spoilers! Huh, why do I feel like I should have heard that sometime in my timestream? Never mind. Then, I met with this wonderful, no FANTASTIC mare named Vinyl Scratch and laid down some backing vocals. Oh dear, I seem to have crashed into Prance! Allons-Y! See you again in a month!"

Celestia chuckled.

"Never change Doctor, never change."

All seemed to be well with him. Though she did have to wonder what he didn't want to spoil. Time passed, until once again a message from the Doctor came and played itself out.

"You know, you really should tell me more about this student of yours, Twilight something or other. Was it Twinkle? See, don't even know her full name! Anyways, my knowledge and all that is limited. She sounds like a interesting mare, from what little you have told me. Really should get out more though. See the sights and all that. Speaking of interesting ponies, how's our favorite Captain of the Guard?"

Celestia sighed sadly. He wasn't doing well. Shining blamed himself for Flash's death, and it was obvious to anypony that knew him. Even his girlfriend wasn't helping. The Doctor needed to help him, as she figured it would be the only way to put him back to normal, if the Doctor told him it wasn't his fault. It was worth a shot anyway. But enough of the bad stuff. She couldn't wait for his next cube. At one point her dear and "Beloved" nephew Prince Blueblood asked her why she loved these letters so much.

"But Auntie, he's a foreigner for who knows where, and a strange one at that. He's not even nobility! Why do you look forwards to his messages so much?"

Celestia sighed, he'd never understand. Not her nephew.

"Because... He shows me what it's like out there, beyond the throne."

The Griffin Kingdom, Gilded Chest's Castle: Throne Room

A griffin walked through the halls of the castle and into the Griffin King's throne room with more then a hint of confusion. He didn't know why he'd come, as he was just a simple doctor not worthy of the honor of meeting his beloved king. Gilded Chest was the king's name, and he ruled the lands with a fair and just paw. The previous king, whose name was Steel Blade you couldn't say the same about as he was responsible for the war between Celestia's Kingdom and the Griffin Kingdom. Needless to say, after the war was over and it had nearly ruined the kingdom, he quickly was deposed by a rather nasty uprising of the populace which ended with Steel Blade dead by a sword through the chest.

"You called?" The griffin asked, he was much older compared to the king.

"Yes. I have a task for you that I think you'll like." Gilded said, his eyes flashing blood red for a moment. The older griffin didn't notice because of how brief the moment was.

"I need you... to, well let's just say do some things that will help expand our empire." Gilded growled, his normally kind features replaced by more intimidating ones.

The older griffin was shocked, never before had Gilded ever shown any interest in expanding the kingdom.

"And... And what if I don't want to?"

Gilded smiled, a almost evil one. Now his fellow griffin was getting very nervous indeed.

"Oh believe me, you will after I'm done."

And then Gilded lunged. In the shadows, a blond maned stallion chuckled before vanishing through a side door. His work was done, and if he was right the Doctor would come out of hiding... If that was who he really was.

And so it went, with Celestia eagerly awaiting his next message. And it came, right on time as always. On the right day, right time just when it was needed the most. Celestia was having a horrible day. The time of her sister's return was drawing near, and the Elements still hadn't be found. Maybe this would reassure her, or at least give her some happiness.

"Well well, is it that time again? Almost forgot, to be honest. Old age, maybe? Anyway, I went surfing on some ;ava falls, visited the Rainbow Factory. Nice place. Though I must wonder about the rumors. Think they're mental, those ones. Oh, what rumors? Trust me, you don't want to know. Anyway, gotta run. I just booked in a tour of the Griffin Empire. Should be fun!"

Little did she know it, but the Doctor wasn't actually planning on telling the real reason why he was going there. There had been rumors of something bad being cooked up there in the hospital, and he loved checking out rumors...