Changing Time

Once John landed the TARDIS we ran for it. Doc and Amethyst were in one of the back rooms so we lost them quickly.

"J-John...where are we?" I  asked, worried that we were lost somewhere in Equestria.

"Not sure, but we will figure that out along the way!" John said smiling.

"Where in Equestria are we?! I'm s-scared!" I stammered.

"There's nothing to be scared of, I know how to survive and defend until we find our way back to Ponyville." John said.

"B-but.....wait..." I sensed something off about this place, nothing I've ever felt before, "Th-this isn't...Equestria."

"Where are we then?" John asked

Before I could say anything my eyes glowed white and I blurted out, "Dimension 190, now changing style to adapt to current dimension." I then felt myself change, and opened my eyes to see John staring at me.

"What....did you just do?" John asked.

"Hu- AAAH!!!!!!!" I yelped, noticing that I was small enough to fit in John's hoof. I looked all over myself and caught that I was a normal pegasus in terms of appearance.

"You look adorable!" John said as he picked me up.

"OW! Careful with the bandaged hoof!" I yelped.

"You are so cute!"

"I am aware that I am cute!!! WHY AM I SMALL??!?!"

"I don't know but tiny you is the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

"Enough of me being cute already let's just find out where the heck we are!"

"Fine, hop on my back." John said, moving his hoof so that I could get onto his back.

"I am going to get into your mane so I don't fall." I said, crawling into his mane.

"Alright, let's go then."

Eventually we got to one of the smallest maps I've ever seen, and it was average sized for me at the time because of how small I was. John put me down and I started to look over it when I heard some pony scream. Before I could ask what was wrong, or even see them for that matter, I was grabbed by a metal hoof.

I looked up to see a full sized cyber pony holding up their other hoof and repeating "Delete...delete...delete..."

"JOHN!" I yelled, and before I knew it John jumped on top of the cyber pony and tackled it to the ground. I fell out of the cyber pony's hoof and ran behind a sign where some other ponies were hiding. I watched as John reached for his blaster in his saddlebag, only to get zapped from the cyber pony. I jumped and another pony held me back as I tried to rush out there. Just as John got up, I was able to teleport out there.

I had figured out at this point that I was small enough to go INSIDE the cyber pony. I crawled in and found a jumble of weird wires and things in there, I knew if I even deactivated one of them John would have the upper hoof. I grabbed a red wire and pulled until it snapped. I felt the cyber pony fall right before I got zapped out of there. I yelped as I went flying into what I could only guess was John's mane. I was terrified as I felt a metal hoof get me out, but I wasn't able to stay awake to see the cyber pony grab me.

I woke up in the TARDIS, I was in a bed and back to my full size. I looked up and saw light coming from the other room, so I got up and limped over to see what was up. I saw blood under the door right as I reached for the doorknob, and shuddered when I opened the door. I saw John working on something that, at first glance appeared as if it was a hoof. Once I looked a little closer I yelped, John's entire front left hoof, was metal.

"AH!" John shouted as he tried to hide the metal hoof, "Hi Candy, are you feeling better?" I was shuddering and staring at where he was hiding his metal hoof. John obviously noticed this, so he quickly grabbed a towel and covered his hoof, "What, this? I just got some paint on it, nothing wrong at all!" I saw right through it, I teleported the towel off and gasped as I saw that his hoof looked almost exactly like a cyber pony's hoof.

"J-John....d-d-does Doc know about this? H-how did we get in here?" I was freaking out at this point.

"No, he doesn't know, and we got in here was from your, um, cousin I think it is. He brought us to his TARDIS."

"S-Sparrow?!"

"Yeah?" I jumped as I saw Sparrow walk into view, "How are you doing now cousin?"

"I-I..HOW AM I DOING?! JOHN HAS A METAL HOOF!!!!"

"WHAT?!" I turned to see Doc and Amethyst standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here Doctor?" John asked in a stern voice, and I was surprised a little. I've always known that Doc's real name is Doctor, but I've never heard John call him that. He always calls Doc either Dad, or Doc. I knew things were about to get ugly, so I just limped behind Amethyst and shuddered a little.

"That isn't important right now," Doc said, "why and how do you have a metal hoof?!"

"J-John...w-what happened while I was out?! I'm s-scared." I stammered.

"I'll tell you everything that happened in a bit love." John said before turning to Doc, "Why do you want to know? So you can disassemble it?!"

"I NEED to find out if it will turn you into a cyber pony!" Doc shouted, I was starting to get overwhelmed, and John noticed this.

"So you gave me an excuse to be unconscious. Candy, I'll tell you what happened, c'mon." John then teleported me on top of Sparrow by mistake and locked the door behind us.

"OW!" Sparrow yelped, "What was that for?!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to teleport Candy onto you Sparrow. Are you two alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Sparrow groaned.

"I'm f-fine, just a little shaken."

"I'm sorry you two had to see that."

"See what? I was off to the side putting away your doll, I noticed it fell out of your mane when Doc came in with that other pony." Sparrow explained.

"In that case, sorry you had to see that Candy."

"I-I uh...you...." I was shuddering behind Sparrow, absolutely freaking out in my head.

"Didn't you say you wanted to know what happened while you were unconscious?"

"Y-yes..." I stammered.

"Well, after you destroyed that one cyber pony, another one came and I had to handle it by myself for a while. It dealt quite a bit of damage to me before your cousin came and got us back to the TARDIS. He got you to a bed and insisted that I lie down, but I refused. So we talked about how you could've died if he hadn't showed up and how I needed to be able to defeat them easier. So I removed my hoof and replaced it with a mechanical one that I made, and I added the cyber pony's shock hoof so that I can disable them easier." John explained.

"Wait? If you put in the shock hoof, then how come I can't see it like I can on cyber ponies?" I asked.

John then pressed a button on his hoof and the shock attachment came out, "I upgraded it so that when it's on it only affects cyber ponies."

"I-I'm still going to need a while to get used to this...but if it's to keep us safe then...I understand." I said hesitantly.

"I'm sorry." John said, looking down.

"For what?"

"For doing this without you knowing."

"John you wanted to keep me safe...it's fine, I just need to get used to this." I said before looking back, "But um...maybe h-hide your old hoof before I throw up...TOO LATE!" I said as I bolted out of the room and into the restroom.

When I came out of the restroom I saw Doc arguing with John loudly and Amethyst studying his hoof while he was distracted. Sparrow was out of sight, probably handling the things that John wanted done.

"That was an idiotic thing to do!" Doc shouted.

"I did it so that she won't be harmed!" John replied.

"What about yourself! How much did you have to harm yourself to do that!"

"I want Candy safe too, but I know my sister! She'll be fine, you didn't have to make a metal hoof!" Amethyst said.

"I don't care about my own well being, I only care about hers"

"Okay ENOUGH!" I said, breaking out into rage mode and silencing everyone, "John did this to keep me safe and even if I have to get used to this, I support it. I used my abilities and he's as healthy as a horse! No pun intended. He even made it so that the shock hoof only affects cyber ponies!"

"Thank you love." John said

"As for you John, I don't care if you did this for us to be safe or for you to look cool! I don't want you risking your life for me! I want you to worry about yourself at least a little, and I don't want you to WORSHIP the ground I walk on! I want you to love me, yes, but I DON'T want to be everything to you." I said sternly, with that my red glow went away. "I need a shake..." I said as I started to limp out of the room, towards the kitchen.

Doc followed me and helped me grab my shake, "Candy are you alright?"

"Ugh...my head hurts. I may be guilty of jumping to conclusions myself, but I hate it when other ponies do it. Now I know how John felt when he introduced me to Holes."

"Holes?"

"A changeling friend he made when he was....four I believe."

"But I didn't let him out on his own until he was eight."

"Hang on....ah! You two were in the Crystal empire, a few years after my dad's first attack."

"What do you mean?" Doc asked, seeming confused.

"It was the twenty seventh day of the twelve month of the first year that John lived in the TARDIS. You took him to the crystal empire and he found a distressed changeling. 10294 to be precise, he fed him love and named him Holes."

"Oh now I remember, you introduced me to him a little while ago."

"Why were you so upset about his metal hoof anyways?"

"Because it means he hurt himself for others!"

"Yes, and I'd honestly be fine with that considering he's in good health and wasn't affected too much, if it wasn't for one thing. The fact that he did JUST for me."

Doc sighed, "He's always put others before himself. When his parents died, he wanted to run out there and help, he didn't care if he'd get killed by the dragon or not. I think he gets that from me actually..."

"Let me cut you off there, say I was three and I was watching my parents get killed by a dragon. What three year old wouldn't want to run out and help?! Aside from myself of course, thanks to my stupid parents."

"It's not only that, when he knows you're upset it kills him. He would sometimes come to me and talk about it, in fact right before he left Ponyville he came and told me why, which only made me worry for him more."

"Ugh that colt really DOES worship the ground I walk on. I love him to pieces but...I don't want him to hurt himself."

"He doesn't worship you, it's just that he feels you're the only other pony he has. His parents are dead, I have to leave quite a bit, the race of the timelords turned into power hungry monsters, and his first introduction to other ponies besides you were ponies who bothered him to all end."

"Yeah but...I think he's just too protective. I can take care of myself! True I need help sometimes, but still!"

"He just doesn't want you to die Candy."