Chapter One: Meeting the Neighbors
The Doctor looked at himself in the mirror. He was a Taur, a race of quadrupeds who had their lower halfs and heads resembling that of animals but also had a fur covered torso with arms and hands. Specifically he was a Centaur. There were thousands of different species of Taur all based off lower animals but Centaur resembled Horses. His head, although like a horse, had subtle differences such as a much shorter snout and large eyes that took up most of his face. It was hardly the weirdest face he had. As far as Taurs go he was rather cute so that was a plus.
He was most definitely a he this time, he made sure to check that before picking out his clothes.
It had been difficult to get into his dressing room. He had stumbled all the way here and even tripped a few times. Four legs were going to be a challenge to get used to but he was a quick learner. Although he couldn't really take credit for that. Time Lords naturally thought at greater speeds then most species, even most super computers truth be told. It take a day or two but he'd get the hang of walking with so many limbs by then.
He was normally a biped, and by 'normally' he meant this was the first time he wasn't. That made it hard to choose which clothes to wear. Embarrassingly he didn't have any pants meant for quadrupeds. Four legged creatures don't typically wear pants, even when they are sentient.
The clothes he did have on had spoken to him, as clothes always do. He tried on a few different things this room had to offer. It was always the same after regenerating. Here he could choose from a planet sized room filled with fashions from all over the galaxy and he just couldn't find anything to wear... at least until he found that one thing. One thing he really wanted to try on and then chose items which went with it.
What appealed to this face was something old he once wore long ago, 27 faces ago actually. It was a long brown trench coat with Pockets bigger on the inside. The coat had a cut from the waist down so it hang over his form with his horse butt sticking out from the cut.
Seeing that coat triggered the spark and he was suddenly running down memory line in the choices of his attire. He had on a bowtie and smiled fondly as he remembered one of his more dorkish faces. He also had a multi colored scarf so long he might very well trip on it so he wrapped it around his neck a good many times that way it was a few inches above his ankles but was hanging loosely enough around his neck to show off his red bowtie. He also had on a muti colored vest which matched the scarf. Next was a white dress coat with red trim and low neck that went half way down his belly, to show off the vest under it. He also put on a fedora hat, white with a red band to go with the shirt. He even found his old Sonic Umbrella from his youth. Even though he was a Centaur truth was ponies tended to be a bit shorter then other lifeforms so he could lean on it just as he had in his youth. He'd have to modify the umbrella's shield a bit to cover all of him as his body was now a good bit longer. He had grinned like a loon when gripping the red handle of the dark blue umbrella. Then finally, because he just couldn't resist it, he pinned a bit of celery on his overcoat.
He stood their admiring himself in the mirror. Oh didn't he look cute in this mismatch of clothes that somehow blended perfectly, at least to his eyes.
He used the umbrella as a walking stick as he left the dressing room and trotted- the doctor suddenly giggled. Yes he could literally trot now, couldn't he. He trotted to the kitchen. Now that he knew what this face liked to wear he should see about what it liked to eat. He was always so hungry after regenerating.
He blinked stepping inside his kitchen and finding a familiar face at the counter. It was a fox Anthro. Anthros were a lot like Taurs (with the whole "there were a few thousand races of them all based on different lower animals") except Anthros were a Bipedal species made up entirely of omni-sexuals, capable of both fertilizing and laying eggs.
This particular Anthro was a red and white fox with a large afro of golden curls. She (as Anthros label themselves by the gender they identify with) smiled seeming the Doctor slip in, "Doctor?"
"River," the Doctor acknowledged before asking, "How'd you get in here?" his ship, the TARDIS, was the most advanced and secure Time Machine in the universe. No one should be able to teleport inside... okay it happened on occasion but it was always annoying when it did.
"Spoilers," River gave a teasing smirk.
The Doctor huffed, "Have you considered this face might like Spoilers?" truthfully he didn't know if he did or not but it be interesting to learn.
"Let's find out shall we," River smiled tilting her head towards the table at the other side of the room. The Doctor hesitantly looked over, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end for the strangest of reasons.
Sitting there was another brown Centaur but in miniature form... and with wings. Like all Pegasus he had two sets of wings, one set sticking out of his horse back and another on the back of his torso. Even though he was very small from being so young he had trouble sitting in his chair due to the design of his animal like legs. The Doctor would have to replace all his chairs if he wanted to sit at all during this regeneration.
The young foal was wearing a 'Doctor Who' shirt, although how that even got made into a comic series he hadn't the foggiest. The Comics were largely inaccurate to the Doctor's life (such as they kept having him regenerate into humans which the Doctor had never done... mostly given that humanoid lifeforms didn't exist outside of fiction). However the comics did get a few things right such as a few of his companions in the series had their names and personalities based off real people (even though they didn't look anything like them).
Oh great the Doctor's brain was ranting about completely unrelated topics. He had one of THOSE brains again.
River stood right next to the doctor and they both just watched the boy eating a bowl of soup. The young colt was stealing glances at the Doctor but trying to do his best to stay where he was.
River had told the colt before coming here to try and not overwhelm his father. He meet his dad lots of times, the man had never missed a birthday or Hearts Warming, but this was the first time from his dad's perspective. The boy wanted to make a good impression.
River said, "Did you know Time Lord children most closely resemble the face their father currently wears at the time of conception, I didn't. It made it somewhat different to explain how my egg hatched a Centaur with two hearts and several organs the doctors had never seen before. Apparently the Time Lord DNA overwhelmed my own for the most part. Although he does have the Kitsune ability to bend light as well as Time Lord powers to manipulate time streams. Sadly he doesn't have the full range of Time Lord powers and like all Kitsune he needs light in order to manipulate it into illusions and such. I've beem working with him on his invisibility and construct powers but focusing more on Shields. Those are quite important with our lifestyles,"
"River..."
"Yes Doctor?"
"... I don't like Spoilers,"
River smirked then called the boy over to them, "Meta Gamer, why don't you come over here and say hi to your dad,"
"Meta Gamer?" The Doctor blinked recognizing the name. He had run into a Time Lord called "Meta Gamer" on multiple occasions... he just didn't know they had any real connection, at least not on a biological level.
"His real name is Olivander Pond," River informed, "But he turned 8 a few months ago and chose his 'Time Lord' name. You did a cute little private ceremony where he announced his chosen name for us. I didn't know you'd be so keen on following Time Lord customs but he loved it,"
The little boy hopping out of his chair and trotting over, far better at walking then the Doctor was, "Don't worry dad, I know Time Lord's aren't supposed to tell anyone their real name outside family and other Time Lord's," the boy stood tall and proud as he revealed what he knew, "Even Mom has a secret name and she's not even a Time Lord,"
River smiled patting the boy's head, "He loves learning about all that Time Lord gibberish,"
The boy blushed then looked back at the Doctor, "H-hi dad, it's good to see you again... and meet you I guess from your perspective,"
The doctor blushed as he thought what this kid's existence meant. He looked over at River and studied her for a moment. This was... insane. They hadn't even had sex yet and they already had a kid! Okay technically they had known each other for a little under 400000 years (from his perspective) but they had only been married for a few of those faces.
The Doctor felt like he was going to start hyperventilating. He might be older then most civilizations but truth was Time Lord's had very low sex drives and were therefore prudish and easily embarrassed when it came to sex. Most lifeforms might be very open about their sexual preferences and various fetishist but... Time Lords were a near immortal race. They were similar to the phoenix. Each time they died their body regenerated, only for Time Lords they could regenerate with the face and body type of any sentient species in the galaxy.
The Doctor mostly regenerates into Anthros because of his heritage. Regardless of the Doctor's own faces he was much like his own kin when it came to sex. Although he's tenth face had been a horny little bugger he blamed that on Jack Harkness, another Fox Anthro that used to travel with him... one of the Doctor's few lovers.
As a result of their near immortality, Time Lords had very little biological need to reproduce. They were obviously capable of it, and one of the few species that were genetically compatible with all other sentient lifeforms in the galaxy, but most Time Lords could go thousands of years at a time in between intimate encounters without feeling any drive to do so. It was actually pretty common not to feel any urges at all for several faces at a time.
"Dad?" the Doctor looked back at the little boy who was staring up at him, "You okay?" on a completely subconscious level the boy reached out and took the Doctor's hand. The small fingers holding onto his.
That's when the analyzing stopped. As the Doctor looked into the sky blue eyes of the child the full realization hit him... He had a son. The Doctor suddenly picked the little boy up, holding his lower half like he would a cat, and hugged him. The boy gave a yelp of shock and squirmed a bit.
River smiled, "Well I'll leave you to it," and began walking out the door.
The Doctor blinked, "Where you going?"
River waved off, "I just need you to watch him for a few days,"
The Doctor groaned, "River, It's been tens of thousands of years since I took care of a child. At least stay with me for my first day with the boy. Why didn't you just ask future me if you needed a babysitter?"
"That's where I went but the second I told you where I was going you told me to bring Meta Gamer here. I guess you figured out this was where you first met your son. You know how you are about preserving Time Paradoxes"
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "If you try to stop something that has already happened from your perspective-"
"Yes yes, universe shattering consequences," River dismissed, "Honestly, you have me running all over the fabric of time just to get you to babysit,"
"Where are you going anyway? For future reference," The Doctor asked as the kid stopped his squirming when he got comfortable in the Doctor's arms. Then the foal started messing with the Doctor's scarf instead.
"Just the Library," The Doctor froze but River didn't seem to notice as she fiddled with her watch, "It's an entire planet that was converted into one giant library. A quarantine was set around it a hundred years ago. No one really knows why but now that it's lifted the owner wants to try and reclaim it,"
"Maybe you should see if one of my younger face's wants to come," The Doctor forced himself to say.
River chuckled, "Another one of THOSE meetings eh? Oh well, I suppose I could be in the mood for an adventure," she gave a look at her son and smiled, "Be good for your daddy Sweetie, and be gentle on him. Remember he doesn't have a lot of experience at this point so you need to be on you best behavior,"
"I will," Meta Gamer promised.
River winked at the Doctor, "See you at the library," before pressing a button on her wrist watch and disappearing.
"Dad?" Meta Gamer blinked looking up at him, "What's wrong?"
The Doctor forced his eyes to remain dry and gave his son his best fake smile, not knowing what the hell he was going to do with this kid. How is he supposed to tell the little boy this was the day his mother died. He couldn't find the words... so he refrained from saying anything on the matter.
"How about we get to know each other?" The Doctor continued to hold his forced smile... yes... this face truly hated spoilers.
Ditzy Do flew down the street with her empty bag of letters. She loved being a mail mare, although she wasn't officially one. She was a temp. Whenever somepony got sick usually a business would become overwhelmed, after all most were small businesses that didn't have a lot of employees to cover for somepony. The Ponyville Temp Industry would keep Ponies on call to work if one of a business' regular employees couldn't come in that day for whatever reason. Sick, family emergency, or even something nice like a vacation meant the businesses of Ponyville relied on the temps who were the Jack's of all trades.
This let Derpy work as a Mail mare, a weather pony, a waitress, a mover, or anything else the town needed. She worked whatever job she needed to. Although she was hoping to get hired on permanently as a Mail Mare as she enjoyed it the most, despite it being the most difficult for her. Her eyes didn't let her see things very well which made it hard to read the addresses. She also had a slight problem with her hearing which made her misunderstand what people were saying or just get the occasional word wrong. She got made fun of in school a lot for it and even to this day some ponies still call her 'Derpy Hooves'.
She didn't mind some ponies like Rainbow Dash calling her that, mostly because of the way Dash said it. When they were foals, being teased a great deal, Dash told Ditzy to own the name others tried to shame her with. Dash was always such a good friend.
Ditzy had lived in Ponyville her whole life but back when she was a filly her parents would send her to the Junior Speeders Camp in Cloudsdale every summer. That's where she meet Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Gilda. Even though she only got to see them in the summary they were easily her best friends, whom she wrote to all throughout the year. She had been so happy when Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville after they graduated school. Gilda came by to visit them every so often as well.
Ditzy continued to allow her mind to wonder as she flew down the park, a short cut to her house, when she spotted a chestnut colored Earth Pony with a foal that looked a lot like him but only the little guy had wings. They were barely big enough to lift him but were mature enough to start learning.
Ditzy had seen them around town a few times but never actually talked to them. They most have just moved to Ponyville a few days ago. How they avoided the Pinkie Pie "Welcome to Ponyville" party was a mystery. Pinkie was usually the first to notice when someone new came to town.
The Earth Pony was currently balancing on his back hooves, swinging his arms and front legs up and down with the young Pegasus mimicked the movements with his wings. After a moment the Earth Pony put all four hooves back on the ground and the little Pegasus ran to the top of a large nearby rock. He flapped his wings a few times before pouncing off the rock. About the only thing he could do was flap his wings. He wasn't feeling the wind at all and didn't know how to catch it. He stumbled in the air for a moment before tumbling to the ground. Luckily the Earth Pony was there to catch him. The Earth Pony scrunched up his face as he gently set the foal back down. Obviously he was trying to see where his instructions failed as the foal did everything he said exactly how he said it.
Ditzy landed a few feet away to make sure the foal was okay "Is he alright?" she asked with concern.
"O-oh!" Father and son jumped. The dad looking a bit flustered well the boy seemed embarrassed. The dad quickly recovered, "Oh yes he's fine. Not even a scratch thanks to my spleen acting as a rescue net,"
"DAD!" The foal blushed.
"Didn't mean to alarm you. I'm just trying to teach my son here how to fly and, as you can imagine, it's getting a bit problematic with my lack of wings and all,"
"It might be better to have his mom work with him," Ditzy smiled amused. After all the foal couldn't very well been born a Pegasus unless one of his parents was (or some distant ancestor, Derpy realized a moment later). It was nice an Earth Pony was trying to be encouraging to his son but he could never understand the complexity of flying. It wasn't really an insult to him it was just... wings are more then extra limps.
You have to feel every feather when in the air but it went further then even that. Pegasus had very small wings, with bodies that were far from aerodynamic. Theoretically they shouldn't be able to fly. They only could through their wings being designed to channel their internal magics. This allowed Pegasus to not only fly but to approach Mach speeds and possibly faster is they trained properly and had large reserves of magical energy (like Rainbow Dash). Ditzy had about average magical reserves so her flight and weather control was nothing special.
Flying could be very difficult at first as you had to not only control the angle of your wings, but your feathers, as well as focus on channeling your magic. It wasn't a sensation that could be explained by or to an Earth Pony or even a Unicorn. The type of instruction the Earth Pony had been giving his son might actually have worked if it was just the physical mechanics but he didn't understand how the wings Channelled magic.
"She... can't," The Earth Pony suddenly got tense and-
Ditzy's eyes widened as she realized what the Pony was implying, "I... I'm sorry I didn't mean-"
"It's fine. It was a long time ago but obviously it means I need to teach the little fellow these things myself...."
There was an awkward silence for a moment that the foal didn't seem to understand the reason for. Ditzy could sympathize, especially the part about raising a different breed of pony on your own. Ditzy was the mother to a Unicorn. The father had died some years ago, leaving her to explain the nature of Unicorn magic to their daughter. Easier said them done as the Unicorn versatile magic was so different from Pegasus ability to control the weather.
All sentient creatures had a type of magic, it was part of what made them sentient, but it came out in different ways. Even Earth Ponies had magic, although not as direct as other creatures. The bodies of Earth Ponies were designed to give them great physical power such as super strength, speed, agility, stamina, and durability. They also had a special connection to nature. If channelled right Earth Ponies could develop a type of precognition, although it was a difficult art for Earth Ponies to learn. Their were even ancient text that told of Earth Ponies who learned to take it a step further and control not only plants but the stones and dirt. Of course that was a long since lost art if it was ever real.
Ditzy blinked realizing her mind was wondering again and forced it back on track.
This Stallion must have read up on the mechanics of flight to help his son. Like how Ditzy read up on the theories of unicorn magic to help her daughter. Unfortunately the mechanics just weren't enough to explain the ways of magic to species that just didn't inherent the way to channel it like that. Luckily their was an after school program held at the school where Unicorn foals were trained in magic. They had something like that for Pegasus as well.
"Yeah..." Ditzy finally got out and after that first word talking became easier, "I could give the little guy a few pointers if you like," She just couldn't leave this Stallion to this. He obviously wanted to help his son but just didn't know how.
The Earth Pony blinked, surprised by the suggestion, before smiling "Thanks, I'd very much appreciate that,"
"I'm Ditzy Do," She introduced herself.
"Right names, tricky things to come up with on the spot," The Earth Pony looked thoughtful but in a kind of silly way, "hummm..." he acted as though he had to remember his name, "Turner?"
Ditzy raised an eyebrow, "That's... kind of a weird name for an Earth Pony," she said without realizing that could be taken as an insult.
Lucky the Earth Pony didn't take it as one, "Is it? Oh that's right, let's see," The Earth Pony looked at his own cutie mark as if for a clue, "Hourglass, what could that possibly mean... errrr... Time? Ah yes, Time! My name is Time Turner," Ditzy just shook her head at how goofy he was being but seeing as the foal was giggling it was probably silly jokes for him.
Turner continued to grin as he said, "But my friends call me..." the Earth Pony balanced on his back legs again and waved his front hooves about, "Doctor Whooooooves," the little foal snorted before full out laughing. Not the first parent to make a fool of themselves to get their foal to smile. Ditzy actually took it as a sign of a good parent.
"And this is my son Meta Gamer.... I suppose that is accidentally keeping with the time related theme," The Earth Pony turned his eyes to his son and explained, "You see Gamer, Ponies don't normally have family 'names' so much as family 'themes'. It's all very interesting. The names don't have to share a single word at all as long as they are of the same theme. Typically the Male will take the family theme of the female when they marry and their children will have the family theme of the mother,"
The little Pegasus nodded and explained to Ditzy, "We don't usually hang around a whole lot of ponies so I unfortunately don't know a lot about their, our, culture,"
Ditzy blinked ,"Where do you live then?"
"Oh We live in Ponyville," Turner smiled, "I'm retired now and bought the Planetarium a few days ago. It has a nice sized condo which fits my needs,"
Derpy blinked, "That Planetarium went out of business years ago,"
"I didn't really buy it for the business aspects," The Stallion shrugged, "I figured I could make use of it's labs and the Observatory. See I am, was, a researcher and explorer, well dabbling a bit as an inventor. I spent my time traveling," the foal snickered again at what appeared to be another inside joke, "the galaxy and studying history. I couldn't very well keep doing that with a child. It's very dangerous work,"
"Wow, that must have been an exciting life," Derpy awed.
Although she of course knew space travel was possible she never actually meet anyone who left the planet before, let alone traveled the galaxy as part of their profession. Ponyville was just a small village a few miles outside of Canterlot. Most of the houses around here doubled as stores. Ponyville didn't even qualify as a City State. They were just a quaint little village under Canterlot's jurisdiction so they didn't often get ponies with such interesting careers here. Well it did make sense in this case as the Stallion was retired and wanted to live in a quiet town. Ponyville was perfect for that.
The little Pegasus puffed up with pride, "Dad's like the Space version of Daring Do!"
With a slight smirk the Earth Pony shook his head, "He's obsessed with those books. Has been going on about them for days on end,"
Ditzy smiled back at the foal, "Well with enough practice I'm sure you'll be flying even better then her,"
The little guy's eyes widened, not deterred by the apparent fact that Daring Do wasn't real, as far as anyone knew anyway, "Really!?"
"Yep, but we got to get to practicing first,"
"Alright!"
"Stretch your wings out," Ditzy reminded as she sat at the bottom of the big rock. The little foal was standing at the top doing as he was told, "Just keep those wings out, no flapping we'll get to that later, for now we'll just focus on feeling the wind. Notice the way it moves through you feathers. All the odd little turns it takes. I know it seems overwhelming to have to keep up with all that but after you get the hang of it it will become second nature,"
The little foal stood on his rock with a look of determination. He slowly turned his wings as he felt the air. Seeing that he got it Ditzy encouraged, "Now glide down, no flapping and keep your torso bent down so your completely level with your lower body. It will help you catch the wind. Just feel the air and let it slowly guide you to the ground,"
Time Turner looked nervous, getting ready to catch the boy again if he fell. The little guy himself was fearless as jumped off the rock. He was a natural. His wings stayed stretched out but occasionally dipped to catch the air, just like Ditzy told him. He had good control of his feathers. He even landed right between his dad and Ditzy.
"Great whickering stallions! That was utterly brilliant Gamer!" Time Turner cheered, "You'd think you'd been flying for ages!"
The little foal grinned widely, "Thanks Dad,"
"It's not me you should be thanking," The father nudged,
The little foal looked at Ditzy, his little face filled with pride at what he'd done, "Thanks Miss Ditzy!"
"Don't mention it, next we should work on channeling your magic so you can do more then glide," Ditzy turned her head in the direction of the sun, "Oh is it that late already! Sorry but I got to run. My daughter should be getting out of school soon and I still need to make dinner,"
"Oh why don't you two come over to our place," Turner grinned, "Filling your bellies is the least we can do to thank you!"
"Oh no I couldn't," Ditzy shook her head.
"Please, I'd feel just awful not paying you back in same way,"
Ditzy smiled softly. It been a long time since a Stallion invited her out to dinner, although this was hardly the same thing, "Alright, I'm sure my daughter would love to meet Meta Gamer. I know they'll be the best of friends"
Dinky didn't know if she should smirk or bop Button Mash over his head. The young colt was staring across the classroom at Sweetie Belle who was packing her things, "Honestly Button just go over and talk to her,"
Button gaped at Dinky, "Are you CRAZY!? TALK!? To the cutest girl at school!?"
Dinky rolled her eyes, "I'll try not to take offense at that. Look just go up and ask her out,"
Button continued to gape, "Are you kidding!? Girls don't like it when boys are that forward. I'm supposed to just look cute and helpless around her and drop subtle hints until she ask ME out,"
Dinky sighed, "Seriously Button, watch better TV. Girls like to be chased after to. It makes them feel special, especially when a boy does it,"
Button scrunched up his face, "Grandma says fillies don't like colts who are too bold. They like Stallions who are sensitive and dainty,"
Dinky rolled her eyes again, "Button, think about it for a moment. There are 12 times as many girls ponies as there are boys. When one of those boys starts flirting with a girl it can make her feel really special, like he's picking her out of everypony else. Besides your grandma was around back when Stallions all stayed at home to cook and clean and raise the foals and didn't even have jobs of their own,"
Button thought about it a moment, "Maybe I can talk my Mom into marrying me off to Sweetie Belle,"
Dinky groaned, "You're not listening to me are you?"
"I am but just think about it. Arrange marriages might not be as common but they still happen. If I get married off to Sweetie Belle them I'd be graduated to get my dream filly!"
Dinky groaned rubbing her temple.
Button pouted, "I think it's a good idea,"
"Just go up there and talk to her," Dinky glared, "I guarantee you, she'll feel flattered. What filly wouldn't like the idea of a colt crushing on her?"
Button nervously shifted in his chair, "Maybe YOU could talk to Sweetie Belle for me,"
Dinky scoffed, "If you try to make me talk to her I'll steal her from you,"
Button gaped, "You wouldn't!"
"Why not? Like you said, 'She's the cutest girl in school',"
"Dinky!" Button whined, "She's my soulmate! Don't steal her from me!"
The girl rolled her eyes, "It doesn't matter, we both missed our chance," she pointed over at Sweetie Belle's desk and the girl was gone.
Button groaned.
"I got to go to," Dinky put on her own backpack, "I'll meet you at the Arcade later,"
"Sure," Button moped. Then as Dinky turned to leave he remembered, "Wait, I can't today. Mom is taking me shopping for a new suit,"
"Why?" Dinky scratched up her nose. Ponies don't usually wear clothes on account of their fur covered bodies.
"She says she wants me to look nice for the Summer Solstice. You know, on account of the Princess coming and all,"
Dinky smiled, "Yeah my mom is letting me go to that to. It will be great! I just know it!"
"Doubt it," Button shuddered, "Mom's probably going to dress me up in a sailor suit,"
Dinky snickered, "I bet you'll look adorable, might even catch Sweetie Belle's attention with an outfit like that,"
Button wailed, "My life will be over if Sweetie Belle sees me like that!"
Dinky snickered again, "See you at the Ceremony. I'll be sure to bring my camera," before heading out.
Twilight groaned walking through the town. She had spent the entire morning attending to matters of the festival when she should be stopping an inter galactic event from imploding and destroying all life as they knew it. She really had trouble understanding Princess Celestia sometimes. Don't get her wrong she loved being the Mare's personal Apprentice.
The last Apprentice Celestia had personally taken on had ascended into an Alicorn at only 13 years old. Although her Alicorn duties consisted of foal-sitting Twilight because of how young she was. Cadence, the young Alicorn, had helped Twilight a lot with her studies under Celestia as well.
It was strange that Twilight had been taken on as Celestia's apprentice so soon after Cadence become an Alicorn but they were both still learning about magic, science, and politics under the Princess. Twilight really didn't understand why she was their when Princess Celestia already had an Apprentice in Cadence.
Celestia was over a thousand years old, true that was only middle aged for ponies as they had incredibly long lifespans (which explained why they were not all that technologically advanced when compared to other races of the galaxy. They lived so long that they felt no sense of urgency and therefore few tried to leave their mark on the world through invention. No one felt the need for a Legacy until it was too late too do anything about it), but it was obvious the Princess was grooming Cadence to one day take her throne.
Contrary to popular belief, Alicorns were not gods. They were just ponies like everyone else. However they had gained a form of enlightenment which granted them great magical power and the abilities of all three pony races. It came from a level of self awareness that wasn't easily achieved. Celestia had taught Cadence how to achieve that enlightenment as the Princess herself had.
Where Twilight really fit into this dynamic she didn't know. Twilight had just turned 20 a few months ago and was now legally an adult but she was still Apprenticing under Celestia. Maybe Twilight was supposed to be Cadence court wizard when the older mare took the throne? That would be an amazing life and Twilight was very talented in magic. Her raw magical power was what brought her to Celestia's attention when she was only a small foal. A draw back to having that much power was it was difficult to control, which Twilight was still learning to do.
Cadence was a lot of help with that. She was kind of like the big sister Twilight never had. Don't get her wrong, Twilight loved her big brother Shining Armor but it was nice to have an older girl to talk to for advice.
"Twilight," Spike nudged her, "Quit spacing out, we still have a lot of work too do,"
"We SHOULD be focusing our attention elsewhere,"
"Yeah yeah yeah, Nightmare Moon, thousand years of darkness, blah blah blah blah," the Anthro Drago waved off.
Twilight glared at him, "I'm telling you, something terribly wrong is going to happen on the moon base. All the prisoners are going to break out and-"
"Twilight," Spike sighed, "Relax, I know you're worried about that prophecy you found but not every prophecy is going to happen. Divination is a complex science and the future is always changing. Just because sometime CAN happen doesn't mean it WILL happen. If there was really any possibility of the moon prison failing do you think Celestia would have sent you out here?"
Twilight sighed, "I guess not. I just have a really bad feeling about this,"
"You have a bad feeling about everything," Spike waved off as they finally approached their destination.
Twilight knocked on the door of the Planetarium and a small Pegasus foal opened it immediately with an excited look on his face. The smile instantly disappeared when he saw it wasn't whoever it was he was expecting.
"You're not Ditzy," the foal pouted.
Twilight sweet dropped, "Sorry no, but I do need to speak to Lord Time Turner please,"
"Daaaaaad!" The foal yelled, "Someone who isn't Ditzy is here for you,"
A voice from deeper inside slowly approached, "Now Meta Gamer don't be rude," a Earth Pony who looked almost exactly like the foal appeared at the door, "Apologies but we are expecting company so we aren't particularly interested in anything you have for sale,"
Twilight groaned as Spike giggled. Twilight stood tall and regal as she informed, "Celestia, Princess of the Sun and Ruler of Equestria, politely request your presence at the-"
"No," the door suddenly slammed in Twilight's face.
Twilight gaped and knocked heartedly at the door until it opened again, "You are Lord Time Turner, correct?"
The Stallion glared, "I'm a type of lord yes but I don't want anything to do with whatever catastrophe the Princess wants me to fix,"
Twilight froze. 'Catastrophe'? Was this why Celestia wasn't worried about the Prophecy? She wanted this Stallion to handle it? Was he some kind of specialized? "Sir, all she told me was to invite you to her table at the celebration tonight,"
"Where she'll beg me for some favor," Time Turner glared, "I don't know how she learned where I live or my new name but tell her to kindly go Buck herself,"
Twilight gaped at the language, directed at royalty no less.
"I've sacrificed enough. I'm retired. I have a SON! Tell her to find some other bleeding heart to fix all her problems," he slammed the door in her face again.
Twilight felt her blood boil. What gave this Stallion the right to speak of Celestia like that! She was the kindest most caring ruler Equestria ever had. Whatever the hell Celestia wanted this guy to do he should feel honored. Twilight began pounding on the door again and well this time it instantly opened... Twilight found herself wishing it hadn't. The way this Stallion was looking at her, the sheer wave of killing intent pouring out of him... She was scared.
The Stallion raised his hand which suddenly began to glow a yellow light and the next thing Twilight knew she and Spike were consumed by yellow energy and blinked out of existence. They reappeared a good hundred yards away from the Planetarium just in time to watch the door slam shut once again.
She was stunned into silence as her mind slowly processed what just happened... an Earth Pony... had used magic.
