"Breathe it in, Twilight!" The Doctor trotted out of the TARDIS, spinning on his back hooves to face the mare. "You're breathing the air of a thousand years ago."
"But," Twilight sniffed the air inquisitively. "It smells just like Ponyville."
"Yes, well. Its more the essence of things anyway." The doctor flourished a hoof behind him. "The Everfree Forest, centuries before Ponyville existed. Walk out towards Ponyville, you'll find a lovely field with some apple trees beyond that. Those trees will eventually be Sweet Apple Acres."
"So you say." Twilight replied flatly. "But what's to stop me from flying over to Ponyville and checking?" The alicorn challenged questioningly.
"Nothing. By all means, satisfy your curiosity. Granny Smith won't be here for another... five and a half centuries, give or take. The princesses were never too specific on the whole 'a thousand years ago' thing. Hard to tell exactly when stuff will happen."
Twilight shot one last suspicious look at the Doctor, convinced that he'd set up some elaborate trick. With a snap of her wings, she was airborne, leaving the doctor to wait by the TARDIS. The Everfree Forest looked the same as it always did. Overgrown thickets, gnarled trees, even the creeks and streams looked the same. When Twilight reached Ponyville, however, Ponyville wasn't there to greet her. There was neither hide nor hair of Ponyville!
The mare walked unfamiliar ground, scanning for evidence of somepony having been here. Nothing. No hoofprints. No homes. No Sugarcube Corner, no Carousel Boutique, no schoolhouse, no Ponyville! Twilight flopped onto her rump in shock.
It's a trick. Some sort of elaborate prank with Pinkie Pie. Twilight looked around confused. Currently ignoring the fact that it was now a warm afternoon with no snow on the ground, Twilight couldn't come up with any feasible reason as to how Ponyville could just disappear. She was sitting in an open field for pony's sake! The only thing breaking up the rolling grassy plain was an oak sapling.
"No..." A thought popped into Twilight's head. A thought so shocking she had to verbally deny it. "No. That's not- I mean- I-"
Twilight trotted over to the sapling and stared at it. It could barely be called a sapling, really. The tiny stick of a tree had all of three leaves on it and just reached Twilight's knee. She took a deep breath, turned around, and faced away from the tree. The results were breathtaking.
Twilight could see Ponyville. Not physically see it, of course. But in her mind's eye she saw everything. The fountain in front of Town Hall. The quill and sofa store. Market stalls dotting the streets. Carousel Boutique. Everything. And when she turned her head and looked over her shoulder she could see an old friend. More specifically, the first place she would call home in Ponyville. Though it was merely a sapling now, Twilight knew from the bottom of her heart that she was looking at what would become the Golden Oak Library.
A snap of her wings and Twilight was airborne again, soaring back to the Doctor. She was forming a list of questions as long as her leg as she flew. She quickly wiped away the moisture forming in the corners of her eyes.
Twilight landed gracefully back in the clearing where the TARDIS sat. The Doctor was sitting against the TARDIS, inspecting a small black cube with great interest.
"So? How was Ponyville?" The Doctor asked around the sonic screwdriver he held in his teeth. The device made it's high pitched noise as he pointed it at the cube.
"There wasn't a Ponyville there." Twilight said with a slight quaver in her voice. "Doctor, how did you manage... this?" Twilight pointed to the TARDIS.
"I didn't make her, if that's what you're asking." The brown stallion furrowed his brow as he continued to manipulate the cube in his hooves.
"No, I mean time travel! I didn't think it was possible without unicorn magic!" Twilight was practically gushing at the idea of time travel being attainable by non-unicorns. "This could revolutionize Equestria if you have technology this advanced!"
"No. Nonononono." The Doctor stood and waved a hoof after pocketing the cube and his screwdriver. "I will not share Time Lord technology with Equestria. That's far too dangerous. Imagine if somepony like Nightmare Moon or Discord got there hooves on the TARDIS. History itself could be rewritten!"
"But-"
"No buts!" The Doctor wore an expression that left no room for arguing.
Twilight flattened her ears against her head in defeat. On one hoof, she could see ponies abusing time travel. She'd seen it before with Starlight Glimmer. But not all ponies would take advantage of time travel like that, would they?
"Come now, don't look so glum. We're here for adventure and excitement!" The Doctor lifted Twilight's chin with a muzzle, smiling warmly at the mare. She smiled lightly, his chipper attitude more than a little infectious. "There we are!" The Doctor turned and started walking off deeper into the forest, Twilight in tow after the slightest bit of hesitation.
~~~
The Everfree Forest was far more overgrown that Twilight had realized from the air. The paths Twilight had walked years from now were still there, but far more treacherous. Vines threatened to trip Twilight and the Doctor. Bushes grew in the middle of the path. On more than one occasion, Twilight would have sworn she saw a creature on the path ahead, though if she did it fled into the forest upon seeing the pair.
"So, where are we going, Doctor?" Twilight asked as she disentangled herself from a branch that had seemed to grab her tail.
"To the palace, of course." The Doctor replied as if this were the obvious answer.
"But we're nowhere near Canterlot."
"Twilight, you disappoint me. Tell me, when did Canterlot become the official capitol of Equestria?"
"Almost a thousand years ago now. Or a few years from now? I think?" Time travel was a lot more disorienting than Twilight would have first guessed.
"Precisely. What do you suppose caused the relocation of the capitol?" The Doctor asked like he was a teacher looking to the honors student to explain things to the class. Like he knew she knew the answers.
"The attack from Nightmare Moon. Well, to be more precise, the banishing of Princess Luna- Oh right. That hasn't happened yet."
"Don't worry," The Doctor chuckled. "You'll get used to it." The Doctor stopped in front of a large bush. "Here we are. Twilight, welcome to the first capitol of Equestria, the Castle of the Two Sisters."
He parted the bush with two hooves, revealing a resplendent castle on the other side of a large ravine. A stone bridge connected the two sides of the ravine. The castle itself was something that Twilight had only seen once before. A towering stone marvel of architecture. The white stone towers of the castle were capped in midnight blue points. Many of these held flagpoles or metal sculptures of suns and moons to symbolize the princesses.
Twilight gasped in awe. The last time she'd seen this castle in good condition had been in a vision from a potion Zecora had given her. But visions are only snippets. Now Twilight could smell the forest around her, hear the birds chirping excitedly overhead, feel the rough path she stood upon. It was nearly too much to take. Twilight found herself on her rump for the second time today.
"This is incredible." Twilight said. "This is the Castle of the Two Sisters!"
"I love that moment when it really sets in." The Doctor grinned widely.
"When what sets in?"
"Everything. The moment of absolute astonishment at seeing the past alive right in front of them. The glimmer in their eyes, the way their jaw drops... It's just great."
Twilight quickly closed her mouth in embarassment.
"Come on then! Let's go meet royalty. Wait!" The Doctor slipped his blazer off and passed it to Twilight. "Wouldn't want to cause trouble. Put that on."
"What do you mean? What would cause trouble?" Twilight asked confused.
"Think about it. You're an alicorn in a time when there were only thought to be two. If somepony were to see you trotting into the castle like that who knows what would happen?"
Twilight could see his point and quickly donned the slightly baggy blazer.
"That look suits you." The Doctor pointed out before laughing at his unintentional pun. "All right, no more dilly-dallying. Time to meet your teacher early."
"I- Won't that mess with things? Time and all that?" Twilight hesitated.
"Oh no. Time's interesting like that. What you went through with Starlight Glimmer was," The Doctor made an ehh sound as he thought of a good term. "Dimension hopping. You were manipulating the flow of other timelines as it were. But here it's different. Time's kind of... fluctuating in a way. Stuff happens, or doesn't happen. But the major stuff is largely unchanged. Mostly. It'd take a long time to explain all the nuances to you.
"Anyway, we're here to see the princesses, but we're not going to see her standing here. Come on!" The Doctor started trotting off. Twilight followed with a myriad of questions floating through her mind.
The castle was even more impressive up close. Statues of various mythological creatures lined the entry path up to the main gates. The cobblestone path was bordered with gold leafing, detailing a vine and leaf pattern. Two flags flanked the main gate, one midnight blue with a crescent moon and the other a golden flag with an orange sun in it's center. There were no guards at the gate.
"Where is everypony?" Twilight asked.
"This is still near the beginning of the rule of the Two Sisters. At this point in time, the royalty was considered to be unapproachable." The Doctor replied as he gazed at the decor of the castle. "Plus with the yet-to-be-named Everfree Forest isolating the castle, most ponies have even more reason to be afraid of visiting the castle." He pushed the large double doors of the main gate open, revealing the interior of the castle.
The inside of the castle was gorgeous. Every decoration had been carefully planned and placed with a precision that would have made Twilight's friend Rarity seethe with jealousy. Two immaculate thrones sat on the far side of the entry hall, empty at the moment. Each throne was decorated in a way that would have accentuated the colors of the princesses who would have sat there. The plush red carpeting bore an emblem of a sun resting in a crescent moon. Two side passages flanked the throne area, each with a red banner hanging above them.
"The princesses aren't here." Twilight pointed out. "Where are they?"
"Only one way to find out." Another smirk from the Doctor accompanied his response.
The pair chose a side passage at random and began their search for either princess. Truth be told, Twilight would much rather prefer to find Celestia over Luna, considering what day it was. She didn't pass this information to the Doctor, however.
Much to Twilight's relief, they found Celestia first. She was in the royal library, staring idly at a book. If she saw Twilight and the Doctor enter, she made no indication of it. Instead she turned the page of her book and continued reading.
"Ahem." The Doctor cleared his throat politely. "Your highness?"
Celestia looked up at the pair of ponies that had joined her in the library. She said nothing at first. She simply set her book down, placed a bookmark in it's pages, and closed it before looking back to them.
"Doctor, it's been a long time. You look well." Celestia smiled warmly at the brown stallion. "I see you've brought a new friend this time. Tell me, little pony. What is your name?"
"Buh..." Twilight stared at the princess as if this were the first time she were meeting her. She was meeting her for the first time, technically.
"Princess Celestia, may I introduce my travelling companion and brilliant friend Twilight." The Doctor gestured a hoof to the lavender alicorn. "Twilight, this is Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and a longtime friend of mine."
"You know Cel- Princess Celestia?!" Twilight exclamed. "You never told me that!"
"Yes, well, it's a peculiar friendship. Since she's an ageless being it'd only make sense for a time traveler to make friends with her. We've met a few times before. And a few times after this as well."
Celestia giggled at the stallion's speech. "I thought you were not supposed to tell me about things to come? Something about 'spoilers'?" She asked.
"I haven't. Just said that we'd meet again. Time travel's fun like that. And you, if you don't mind me being so bold, are a very interesting pony for me to have the privilege of knowing."
"Always a charmer, Doctor." Celestia smiled again.
Twilight felt a tinge of jealousy. It wasn't that she was offended by the mildly flirtatious attitude Celestia had, or the smugness of the Doctor. It was the fact that not once had Celestia ever mentioned to her that she knew a time-traveling stallion in the past.
"You know me. I'm already married to the TARDIS." The Doctor quipped. "How have you been since the whole Discord affair?"
"We have been well, my sister and I. It is much more difficult to build an empire than we'd originally thought, but it is rewarding work seeing ponies flourish for once." Celestia stood and stretched her seraphic wings. "Though in truth, I fear that the responsibilities are beginning to weigh upon Luna. She's become more reclusive as of late, and often times she refuses to speak to myself or anypony else." The princess walked to a nearby window and stared out at the afternoon sky. "I am worried for her."
"That's odd." Celestia frowned as she looked back out at a night sky. "Luna shouldn't be raising the moon right now." Confusion quickly turned to panic. "Something's happened."
Twilight exchanged glances with the Doctor. Neither of them were willing to tell Celestia what was about to happen, nor did they think she would believe them.
"I'm going to check on my sister. Please excuse me, Doctor. Twilight." Celestia began walking to the exit when a tremor of some sort shook the entire castle, shaking dust from the ceiling. Celestia gasped, "Luna!" before galloping from the library.
Twilight stood frozen in fear. Any doubts that this was a hoax were gone, replaced by dread. Dread over the fact that Celestia was going to begin a thousand-year sadness tonight. There was nothing Twilight could do either. Her experiences with Starlight Glimmer were proof that interfering had consequences.
"Twilight, what are you waiting for? Come on!" The Doctor waved a hoof, gesturing her to follow him. After one last moment of doubt, Twilight galloped after the stallion. A small part of her wished that she could use her wings. Running was a lot more work than flying, she'd come to realize.
The pair ran out into the entry hall where Luna and Celestia were at.
"Luna! What are you doing?" Celestia cried to her sister. "You must lower the moon! It is your duty!"
"No! I have come to realize something, dear sister. There is only room in Equestria for one princess!" A vortex of dark energy swirled about the Princess of the Night, blocking her from view. Then the shadows were gone just as quickly as they appeared, leaving a figure that would terrify ponies for generations after this night. Nightmare Moon. The tainted mare cackled gleefully.
"Luna, what are you doing? This isn't you!" Celestia cried.
"Luna? Luna is gone! No. Now there is only Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare Moon lowered her head and fired a beam of energy at Celestia, who barely dodged in time. Nightmare Moon didn't stop there as she fired more beams of magical energy around the room, tearing apart the castle itself. Large chunks of the ceiling collapsed inward, letting in more of the filtered light of the eclipse Luna had created. With a flap of her wings, Nightmare Moon took to the sky, Celestia following her upwards.
Brilliant lights of alicorn magic lanced through the sky above as Celestia and Nightmare Moon did battle in the sky over the castle. The castle shook violently as one of the towers collapsed under the power of one of the attacks that hit it. Twilight and the Doctor could only watch from the ground.
"Come on!" Twilight grabbed the Doctor's hoof and dragged him behind her. "I know where the fight will move to!"
With that the duo was galloping down another corridor. The pair was stopped once as the white blur of Celestia crashed through the hallway they ran in, followed quickly by the deep blue-black of Nightmare Moon. The Doctor and Twilight were forced to run quicker as the ceiling collapsed above them. They narrowly avoided being crushed.
Twilight glanced back at the Doctor. He was... smiling? How in Equestria can he be smiling? He nearly got killed back there! Twilight lead the Doctor up a spiral staircase before pushing open a door to a room she knew all too well. The room that she herself would free Luna from the darkness of Nightmare Moon in.
"Oh, I've missed this." The Doctor said with a grin a mile long.
"How are you smiling right now? We could have died a couple of times over already!"
"I know! It's part of the excitement. Knowing what's going to happen. Being apart of history in your own small way. It's brilliant."
Twilight stared incredulously at the Doctor. She was about to say more when Princess Celestia crashed violently through the ceiling.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight rushed to her mentor's side. "Are you all right?"
"Twilight? Doctor? What are you two doing here? It's far to dangerous for you to remain here." Celestia stood shakily, her legs barely supporting her. "You must go. I... I must do something I never would have dreamed of doing."
Celestia's horn glowed a brilliant gold, illuminating a square section of the floor. The spot slid open, raising what could have passed for a sculpture of the solar system from beneath the floor. Twilight knew this sculpture's significance. It housed the Elements of Harmony. This was the point that Celestia banished Nightmare Moon.
"Both of you leave. Now." Celestia ordered. Her tone left no room for arguing. The alicorn reached into the depths of the sculpture with her magic, drawing five colored gems from each sphere that represented a planet. A sixth gem, drawn from the center, was shaped in the form of a star eerily similar to Twilight's cutie mark. Twilight gasped at the sight of the Elements.
Another beam of magical energy shot through the hole in the ceiling. The blast struck true, eliciting a sharp cry of pain from Celestia. She crumpled into an unconscious heap.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight was back by Celestia's side, shaking her with a hoof in an attempt to wake her up.
"Fool! As if I didn't anticipate you attempting to use the Elements of Harmony against me!" Nightmare Moon swooped in and landed, cockily striding forward towards her fallen sister. "I shall simply have to destroy them. Then there will be no force in Equestria who could possibly stand up to me!" She placed a hoof on one of the Elements, ready to crush it beneath her hoof.
Twilight's magic was quicker, and she quickly snatched the gem from beneath Nightmare Moon. She pulled the rest of the Elements to her as well.
"Foolish little unicorn. As if you could possibly stop someone as Powerful as I." Nightmare Moon scoffed. "Do you even realize what you hold?"
"I do. The key to stopping you!" Twilight focused her magic into the Elements, acting on impulse. The Elements responded by swirling around Twilight, picking up speed until they were nothing more than a rainbow blur around her.
"There's no way you can wield the Elements. Surrender now and I shall consider sparing your lives." Nightmare Moon fired a blast of magical energy at Twilight, only for the attack to be knocked away by the sheer power of the Elements of Harmony.
Twilight was beginning to glow brightly. Her eyes shone white with magical energy as the Elements resonated with her.
"What?! But how?!" Nightmare Moon cried in shock as she realized what was happening.
Twilight's answer came in the form of a brilliant rainbow engulfing Nightmare Moon. The blinding light was enough for the Doctor to shield his eyes with a foreleg. The rainbow energy wrapped about Nightmare Moon, completely engulfing her before shooting skyward out the hole in the ceiling. The Doctor trotted over to beneath the hole and stared skyward. Where there was only a blank moon before, there was now a silhouette of a mare emblazoned on it.
"My word... Twilight, you just banished Nightmare Moon!" The Doctor looked back at Twilight, who was staring down at the now inert Elements with a look of horror plastered on her face.
"I-I-I just broke time! Celestia was the one who was supposed to banish Nightmare Moon, not me!" Panic rose in the mare's voice.
The Doctor trotted over to Twilight. He didn't look mad. Quite the opposite, in fact. He smiled genuinely at the distraught Twilight.
"You didn't break time. Trust me, if it were that easy I'd have done it a long time ago." He placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Remember when I said time was fluctuating? This is what I meant. Yes, the pony banishing Nightmare Moon is different, but the key event here is that Nightmare Moon be banished here. Tonight. By all accounts, you've just saved Equestria."
Celestia stirred slightly.
"Best we tell her she did it though. Just in case." The Doctor added, his tone more solemn at the thought of subjecting his friend to the guilt she would feel for the next millennium.
~~~
The following morning, Twilight and the Doctor were outside the TARDIS after having spent the night in the now ruined castle. Celestia had taken the news of what had transpired with grim stoicism. The Doctor had felt it best to tell her that she'd been the one to banish Luna to the moon, and that after wielding the Elements of Harmony on her own the strain had rendered her unconscious.
"Farewell, Doctor. Goodbye, Twilight." The princess said with a sad smile. "I cannot wait to see you again, my old friend."
"Oh I'm sure it'll be a blast. It always is when you're involved, Tia." the Doctor replied with a grin.
The two gave one last wave goodbye before stepping into the TARDIS and closing the door. The door flew back open almost immediately.
"I almost forgot!" The Doctor trotted back out and back up to Celestia. He motioned for the taller mare to lean close before whispering something into her ear. Twilight couldn't hear what was being said, but it had a profound effect on Celestia, who began to cry even though her expression was one of happiness. Celestia gave the Doctor one last hug before he trotted back into the TARDIS.
"What did you say, Doctor?" Twilight asked quizzically.
The Doctor shot a sly grin to his friend.
"Only what she needed to hear." He hopped up towards the center console of his blue box before turning back to Twilight. "Right then! Shall we say one more before we pop back home?"
Doctor Whooves. The Doctor. Doc. Time Turner. Call him whatever you want, The Doctor was an enigma amongst most ponies that knew of him. Some believed that he wasn't from Equestria, but from another world entirely. Some believed that he was just a horologist, obsessed with the study of time. In truth, The Doctor didn't think he was either of these. He was just a pony.
This just a pony was on his way home, actually. Riding a train from Canterlot. He'd just attended a lovely seminar held by Princess Twilight herself. Said Princess now shared the train car with the Doctor, who stood and approached her in a manner casual enough to make nobles faint, had there been any to witness the act.
"Twilight, was it?" The Doctor asked as he took a seat across from the lavender alicorn.
"Yes?" The mare looked from the window to find a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark seated across from her. "Can I help you?"
"What? Oh no, no." The Doctor replied. "I was just headed home from your symposium on your new multiverse theory. It was absolutely lovely."
"Why, thank you." The mare smiled warmly. "Its always nice to meet a fellow scholar, Mister..." Twilight furrowed her brow as she realized she didn't know this stallion's name. This was made even more embarrassing by the fact that she knew she'd seen his face somewhere before.
"The Doctor, if you don't mind." The stallion replied without missing a beat. "I found your theories fascinating. You say that you were able to visit other versions of Equestria without affecting our own timeline?"
"Well, I don't know if that was exactly the case. My theory was based more on the idea that specific points of history were... key events. Certain things have to happen at a certain time or the future is altered. In some timelines these events didn't happen, or happened differently. This changes the way events proceed, altering the flow of each timeline accordingly."
"Like a fixed point in time."
"Well, I suppose that's one way of looking at things." Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin. "Have we met somewhere Mister The Doctor?"
"Just the Doctor, please." He chuckled lightly. "As for having met me before, I don't know. Maybe you've met me but I haven't met you. Perhaps I was in one of those alternate timelines?"
"Maybe." Twilight giggled lightly at the peculiar stallion.
The two spent the rest of the train ride talking, mostly about science and literature. Twilight was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Doctor lived in Ponyville. She thought she knew everypony in the quaint little town. Moreover, she was surprised that somepony as educated as the Doctor lived in such a small community, rather than somewhere known for it's scientific works like Canterlot or Whinnypeg. The two parted ways at the train station after Twilight made The Doctor promise to stop by for tea sometime.
~~~
Home sweet home. The Doctor loosened the green tie about his neck. Time now for some tea. Maybe a nice apple salad. I think I'll add walnuts- What's that?
The Doctor had been making his way through his home, which also doubled as a laboratory. Machines and contraptions of the stallion's own design were strewn about on tables, organized by some manner known only to himself. There was one contraption that he didn't recognize. Something not built by the stallion. And it was blinking.
Well, a light on it was blinking, to be more specific. The device was a simple black box. It's surface offered no indications of it's function, with no buttons or hinges or markings of any kind. The only thing on it was a small blue light, pulsing rhythmically.
"Well, hello there. Who are you?" The Doctor asked the box, as if the contraption would answer. He picked it up, the box easily held by one hoof. "I didn't make you. Did I? No..." The box was tilted about in the Doctors hooves as he tried to make heads or tails of the mystery he held.
"So if I didn't build you, where did you come from?" He scratched his mane with a free hoof. Thoughts of food and tea were long forgotten as the stallion slid onto his rolling work stool and placed the cube underneath a large swiveling magnifying glass.
There were no seams on the box. No panels to pop off to look inside. No welding marks along the edges. By all appearances, the cube seemed to have been made in a way that should theoretically have been impossible. A completely smooth cube. Even the blinking light seemed to cause no breaks in the perfect smoothness of the cube's surface.
"How curious. You, my friend, should not be here. Not at all..."
The Doctor pushed away from the desk, rolling across the room with the cube in hoof to a computer hooked up to a small circular plate. Placing the cube down upon it, he quickly typed away at a few keys until the circular plate hummed to life, illuminating the cube in a soft green glow. Numbers and letters scrolled across the monitor at breakneck speeds as the plate did it's work. Moments later, an image of the cube appeared on the monitor in a wire-frame recreation. The monitor then popped up a large red question mark, as if to ask 'what in Equestria is this supposed to be?'
"I don't know either," The Doctor told his computer. "But I can't wait to find out."
~~~
Three days and one meal later, The Doctor was no closer to solving the mystery of the cube. It was nightfall of day three. The brown stallion rubbed his eyes with his hooves before flopping forward onto his desk with an unceremonious thud.
"I don't get it. This is more complicated than bowling with all it's variables and complexities." The Doctor was staring at the cube. "It'd be so much easier if I had a colleague in Ponyville. Another brilliant mind to figure out-" Of course! He did have a colleague in Ponyville with a brilliant mind of her own! Twilight Sparkle! The Doctor threw on a blue blazer and pocketed the cube before going out into the cold winter night.
Ponyville's streets were empty. Many were probably nestled by a cozy fire, wrapped in blankets as a gentle snow fell from the sky. It was this serenity that drew The Doctor to Ponyville. The peace and quiet were perfect for him, allowing the stallion to conduct his research without bother. Or at least, that's what he'd thought. After a spirit of Chaos changing reality, giant centaur attack, bugbear attack, parasprite infestation, and various other attacks, infestations, and general interruptions The Doctor had long since abandoned his idea of Ponyville being peaceful. Still, it was nice to enjoy the illusion of peace on nights like tonight.
Twilight's castle was a sight to behold. A gigantic crystalline structure that towered over Ponyville. The structure resembled a tree, it's tall spires reaching skyward like branches. The Doctor always paused as it came into view. He felt it necessary if one was to genuinely appreciate the castle's splendor. He'd been inside it once before, actually. The day it had appeared in Ponyville. The inside was even more spectacular, and somehow gave the illusion of being larger on the inside than the outside.
The Doctor stopped at the ornate double doors of the castle. On the one hoof, he wanted nothing more than to figure out the mysteries of the cube nestled in his blazer's pocket. On the other hoof, though, he'd had a track record of mysterious objects threatening to endanger the lives of everypony around him. It was a difficult conundrum. Finally, he opted for satisfying his curiosity. There was no immediate danger from the cube. He'd spent three days in it's company so far with no incidents. He knocked.
The Doctor waited in the cold for some time before there was any answer. Finally, a small purple dragon answered.
"Uh... Can I help you?" The dragon asked. Spike was his name, and nearly every time The Doctor had seen the diminutive reptile, he'd been in the company of Twilight Sparkle.
The Doctor casually brushed past Spike and entered the castle.
"Yes, actually. I was looking to speak with-"
"Twilight?!" The dragon called with panic rising in his voice.
"Yes! Exactly! If you could point me in the right direction?" The Doctor interrupted.
Spike wasn't sure how to handle situations like this. In fact, he didn't think there was anypony in Equestria who would try barging into a princess' castle. The poor dragon pointed a claw down the long entry hall of the castle.
"She's in the library."
"Excellent! Thank you." The stallion trotted off, leaving behind a very confused dragon.
Twilight Sparkle was in the library, working on yet another fun research project. She was currently nose deep into a fascinating book on Haycart's Theory of Transdimensional Ley Lines. She was also surrounded be a fort-like wall of books. This is why when a pony that was essentially a stranger casually strolled into her library, Twilight Sparkle remained blissfully unaware of his presence. Until she heard his voice over her shoulder.
"Haycart... Nice chap. A bit dry for my tastes though. Really should have worked on adding more pictures. Everyone loves pictures."
"Gah!" Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin as she cried out in surprise. Whirling around, she found The Doctor in front of her. "I didn't hear you come in! I, um, what can I do for you... Doctor was it?" The mare stammered as she regained her composure. She was silently grateful that she hadn't been caught sleeping, drooling on some poor book.
"Well, I was wondering, thinking really, that maybe you'd like to help me with a bit of a mystery." The Doctor began. "I have in my possession a very peculiar box, well, more of a cube, really. This cube shouldn't be able to exist in how perfect it is. Seeing as how you're the smartest mare I've come into contact with in the last week or so, and that whenever something shouldn't exist in Equestria magic is involved and you're also the most magical mare I've met in the last week or so, I thought maybe you'd like to take a look."
"Okay." Twilight replied, still trying to mentally translate the rapid words of The Doctor. "May I see this cube?"
"Ah yes, of course." The Doctor procured the cube from his pocket. The blue pulsing light continued it's pulsing, oblivious to it's change in surroundings.
Twilight Sparkle magically levitated the cube close, inspecting it from all sides as it rotated in the air. She quickly came to the same conclusions as The Doctor. The cube was definitely magical in origins, but she'd never come across anything like it in her studies. She furrowed her brow in concentration.
"I don't get it." She stated after a few moments of inspecting the object. "Does it do anything?"
"It blinks."
"It... blinks. That's it?"
"So far. If it's any consolation, it's a blue light." The Doctor pointed out, as if that was at all significant.
"So its a mysterious box-" Twilight began.
"Cube"
"So its a mysterious cube with seemingly no purpose than to have a blue light and it seems like something that shouldn't exist? Are you sure its not just a nightlight or something?" Twilight asked, passing the cube back to the Doctor. "Maybe its just a thing?" She offered.
"See, that's what I thought at first. But the thing is, I didn't build it and I found it in my home. I didn't buy it either. Its just this curious little box with a blue... light..." The Doctor tapered off. "No... It couldn't be. Could it?" The Doctor stared at the tiny box in his hoof with a look that was either amusement or a stroke. Twilight couldn't tell which.
"Do you happen to have a screwdriver?"
Twilight Sparkle magically rummaged through the drawers at her desk before floating a screwdriver to the stallion.
"I'll take that as a no." The Doctor replied. "Right then! I need to run home." He started trotting off towards the front door, picking up speed until he was at a full gallop.
"Wait!" Twilight was flying alongside the stallion. "You haven't told me what you found out! You can't just bring something like this to somepony and expect them to shrug it off when you leave without telling her what it is!" Twilight sounded mildly offended by The Doctor's actions.
"I need to get home!" The Doctor grinned. "I'll show you when I get there!"
The Doctor's home was just as cluttered as it was when he'd come home three days ago. Twilight was surprised anypony could find anything in the mess, least of all something as small as the cube. As she looked about at all the inventions and contraptions, the Doctor rummaged through a cardboard box buried in a cupboard.
"So... you're an inventor I take it?" Twilight asked.
"Actually, I'm more of a tinkerer, well, more of a traveller, well, a refugee would be more accurate. I'm a Time Lord." The Doctor replied, head still buried in said cardboard box.
"Is that some sort of noble title?" Twilight asked, having never heard the term.
"Aha! Found you. It's been far too long, my sweet girl." The Doctor cooed into the box before withdrawing a strange looking object. It looked like a metallic wand or something. The stallion was nuzzling the object he cradled in his hooves like it was his very special somepony or something. Twilight was almost embarrassed by the display. Or she would have been, if the sight didn't remind her of Smarty Pants, Twilight's old doll.
"All right! Stand back, please." The Doctor gripped the object in his teeth and pointed one end at the box. Twilight couldn't help but notice that the object had a blue light on the end of it as well. The metal wand object made a high-pitched noise for a moment before The Doctor pocketed it in his blazer.
"I don't- What is that?" Twilight asked as nothing happened.
"Sonic screwdriver! Time Lord technology. If I'm right, then something should happen any moment now..." There was a gleam in The Doctor's eyes.
After a few silent moments, a peculiar whirring noise filled the house. A large blue box seemed to slowly come into existence right before Twilight's eyes. The blue box seemed to fade in and out, slowly becoming clearer and more defined with each whir. After a few seconds, the noise stopped, leaving the blue box in the middle of the room.
"How-" Twilight started before The Doctor cut her off.
"Oh, I've missed you so much." The Doctor was hugging the box and, if Twilight wasn't mistaken, crying a bit. "But how are you here? Well, I know how, but I mean how."
"Doctor? What am I looking at?" Twilight asked, completely lost at this point.
"Twilight, meet the TARDIS." The Doctor gestured. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"Okay." Twilight stared blankly. "What is it?"
"I just told you. It's a TARDIS." The Doctor acted as if this was all the explanation needed.
"But what is it?" Twilight stressed, hoping for a bit more of an explanation.
"Well, to put it simply, its a time machine." The stallion smirked. "Go ahead, take a look inside." He pushed open a door on the front of the box and gestured Twilight to enter.
Twilight hesitated a bit before finally assenting. She stepped inside the small box for a few seconds before backpedaling out again. Her face bore an expression of shock as she walked the outside of the box, poked her head back in, and walked around it again.
"It's bigger on the inside!" The Doctor simply grinned as the mare stated a fact he'd known for a very long time. "But that's not possible! This is impossible." She stated the latter sentence as if it were a fact that would prove itself to be true just by being said aloud. She tilted her head and looked at The Doctor. "How is this possible?"
"Time Lord technology. Built centuries ago by another race of ponies." The Doctor had a distant look on his face. "This particular one was mine before she was destroyed in my crash outside of Ponyville. I'd guess I've just stolen her from myself at some point. But, if she's here, she probably disappeared at some point I didn't notice. Or will notice. Or maybe I've stranded myself at some point in time."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I told you, the TARDIS is a time machine. capable of going anywhere and anywhen you want to go."
"But that's not possible." Twilight stated flatly. It was becoming a mantra at this point.
"But it is!" The Doctor said excitedly. "Here, step inside again. I'll give you a demonstration." He stepped inside, a slight bounce in his step. "Pick a place. Any place! Any time, too!"
Twilight hesitated at the door before walking back into a large round room. Up a couple of stairs was a large console that stretched towards the apex of the domed room. The bulk of this console was taken up by a glass cylinder with some sort of pump inside it.
"Well?" The stallion asked as he tinkered with the console, dashing around it in childlike mirth.
"Well what?" Twilight asked.
"Where to?"
"I don't know. I don't really believe this is a time machine, to be honest." Twilight looked about, a slight sense of vertigo creeping in as she stared upwards from the doorway.
"Right then. What's a really important event to you? Something that happened but didn't involve you directly?" The Doctor clopped his forehooves together once before answering his own question. "Nightmare Moon! You know the story of her defeat, yes?"
"But you just said to pick something I wasn't involved in."
"You weren't involved when she was banished to the moon." The stallion grinned before running about the console again, pulling switches and tweaking knobs as the pulsing sound from earlier reached Twilight's ears. The door shut itself as the box shook violently, knocking Twilight off her hooves. "Of we go! Haha!" Twilight heard over the din of the center console.
