Sunset found a strange solace in the night-time. It was a brief exit from a world where she had to deal with problems she had long thought to be behind her. Things like high school and petty dramas between cliques were a common part of her life now. There were days when, despite everything she had to look forward to, she still yearned for a more adult life.
Adult by pony standards, at least. Humans went through their lives only dimly aware that magic even had the possibility of existing. It made their world seem rather grey despite it being just as colourful as the one she was born into.
School melded into college and college into university. Then there were taxes and expectations and the promise of a monotonous job that only kept you going because you knew you would get a pay cheque at the end of it all.
That wasn’t to say she didn’t enjoy the life she had with her friends. She did, immensely so. It was something magical. Something she wouldn’t give up for all the excitement in the world. They were the first things in her life – in a very long time – that she truly treasured. She loved them and the possibilities they brought for her.
It just didn’t stop her feeling a little homesick at times, yearning for something more than simply being a teenage girl.
When her thoughts came back to the world existing around her, she realised she was in a park. The time before arriving felt like a distant dream but she was definitely there. The trees swayed gently in a chilly breeze and the grass joined them, shifting almost invisibly all around her.
She continued on with her thoughts, her eyes focused intently on the path before her. Now that she was back from her reflection she couldn’t quite find the urge to go back. The breeze was just that little bit too cold and the smell of the city beyond the greenery too strong.
In the end she did look up from the ground, landing on a bench that seemed like just as good a place to sit as any other.
It took her a little bit longer to notice the old man sat at the other end of it. By the time it clicked in her brain she was already well within the motions of sitting down. Part of her knew she could just get up and walk away but something newer told her that would be rude. Or possibly hurtful.
That didn’t sit well in her stomach.
As her behind hit the cold wood, the man briefly turned to her. He seemed to search her, from the soles of her shoes up to her hair before he turned his sights back onto his prize; a battered blue box just beyond them, sat on the grass.
She didn’t question why it was there, or what it was doing in the park. She didn’t really feel the need. It was someone else’s problem.
“Lovely night,” the man suddenly said. His was voice gravelly and slow. Undoubtedly tired. “Didn’t think I’d see anyone else out at this sort of hour.”
“A girl can take a walk, can’t she?” Sunset responded, somewhat unsure what to make of the stranger. Humans could be a bit tetchier at night than ponies. Most humans you met at night didn’t look as tired as the old man did, however. “It’s… nice. Gives me time to clear my head.”
“There’s something about this place,” he continued. “You could almost call it magical.” It was like he tried to laugh but the sound didn’t quite get as far as it should have. He settled on a smile instead. “Barely any conflict, minimal crime. Poverty is at an all time low. I’d call it peaceful if not for the monsters.”
Sunset felt something spark in her chest. She never did like that word: monster.
“They’re not monsters. Just… misguided people.”
“Is that from experience?”
“An observation,” she corrected.
“Based on past experience?” he asked again.
Sunset furrowed her brow. Old man or not, she didn’t appreciate his nosiness. Why couldn’t he just let a casual comment go on by?
He seemed content with her answer, either way. Most people didn’t accept that sort of explanation without prior knowledge, but maybe this geezer was wiser than that.
Or maybe he did know?
Who knows?
“Do you like it here?”
Despite the rather welcome change in topic, Sunset wasn’t sure how to feel about it. The old man was full of questions.
“In the park? I mean, yeah, it’s okay. I guess.”
“I suppose. I was more interested in this world,” he added. Sunset felt her eyes widen before she heard his next words. “This city. This planet. Do you like it here?”
She supposed she did. Despite the reasons behind her walk, she truly enjoyed what she had in this world. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but she would take the negatives with a smile if it meant she could welcome the positives.
Those weren’t the words she wanted to tell to a random old man in a park. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m only passing through this place; haven't been before and I won’t be staying for much longer. Just making sure a few ‘misguided people’ are settling in okay. They were hoping it would be nice here. I thought it would be even nicer to get a local’s perspective before I left.”
“On… this planet?”
He blinked at something unseen and forced himself back to his previous smile. “Maybe just the city. I’m not sure I have quite that much time to spare.”
Sunset couldn’t shake something about his manner, or the way he spoke. But before she could even decide if there was anything to say, he was talking again.
“It seems nice,” he said. His eyes were aimed at the stars. “It’s quiet. I’ve never liked the quiet but I could retire here, one day. To a place like this. Just give up everything and settle down here. Buy a house, get a garden. Grow… things.”
“Flowers?”
“Nothing wrong with flowers, I suppose. They don’t do much, do they?”
“Uh…” Sunset wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I guess not-”
“I haven’t much use for flowers. I’d want something with a purpose. Vegetables. Maybe some fruit trees. Perhaps the people I left here will like flowers.”
“That’s nice?” she asked. Said? She wasn’t quite sure. The word 'nice' was starting to grate on her. “Are you from far away?”
He meekly nodded in reply. Not quite the answer she wanted.
“Hmm… yes. Very, very far away from here. You could almost say I’m from another world.”
He got a new smile out of that, as if there was some sort of secret joke that only he understood.
Sunset steeled herself, thinking on him; he was a strange old man; he seemed oddly interested in the events surrounding the recent attacks at Canterlot; he liked to drop hints about being from another world.
Sure. Okay, things lined up there.
She was going to ask him.
“Are you from Equestria?”
He very suddenly furrowed his brow and turned to her. “Where?”
Or maybe they didn’t line up. At all.
There were some confidence points lost right there, she could feel it. Or it was an ‘epic fail’, as some of her friends would say. Sunset could just about hear the words leavings Rainbow’s lips. “N-never mind…”
That could have gone better, she glumly admitted to herself. She had been so sure! So much for her wise and impromptu bouts of intuition.
At least she’d never see him again. She’d certainly never encountered him before that evening.
“I’m from far away,” he began again, still eyeing her. “You won’t have heard of it. Little place called Gallifrey.”
The very name of his home seemed to pull at his eyes, making them tired. Or even more so, she decided. “Nice place,” he added. “At least, it used to be.”
Sunset stayed quiet. Was that relevant to anything? Maybe she would ask Princess Twilight the next chance they got together. Her knowledge on Equestrian geography had been somewhat lacking in the most recent years. But she’d certainly never heard of Gallifrey,
Then again, if Gallifrey was somewhere back in her own world, he would have heard of Equestria. Wouldn’t he?
Maybe Canterlot High’s Twilight knew enough about Earth geography to locate Gallifrey on a map. Or maybe she could just run it through a search engine when she got home. That would likely save her both time and embarrassment in equal measure.
“Would you value your home above the ones you love?”
The question came so suddenly that Sunset couldn’t grasp what the words truly meant. Or how deep a question it was. “What?”
“Just a thought that occurred to me.” He tried to laugh again. 'Tried' being the operative word. “If you had to choose between those you cared about and where you came from… which would you choose?”
“That’s not an easy choice to make.”
“Oh, I know. You seemed like a smart girl. It’s always nice to have a second opinion.”
At that, the man got his feet. He took a deep breath and dusted something unseen from his jacket. Unlike her own leather jacket, the surface was broken and cracked. Rivers and wrinkles ran right through, leaving it as tired as the man himself appeared.
Without a word he wandered towards the old blue box. He flashed Sunset a weak smile and a wave before his hands rummaged deep into his pockets.
He pulled out a key a slotted it gently into a door at the front.
“I’d choose my friends,” Sunset then said.
The man calmly stopped, the key half-twisted.
“I’d choose the ones I love. Every time,” she thought. What wouldn’t she do for her friends, after all?
The old man smiled again. He seemed to find something in the grass much more interesting than the rest of the waking world before nodding his head at her. He mouthed something that could have been ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ before opening the door to the blue box and wandering inside.
Rather unsure with what to do with herself, Sunset tapped a quick tune against the wood of the bench before getting to her own feet. She awkwardly glanced up to the windows of the blue box, insecure in the thought that, maybe, she was meant to wait for something.
After a moment she decided that it was too cold to wait for an old man inside of a tiny blue box. She eyed the path at her feet and moved back along the road she’d taken. Her apartment seemed like a wonderful place right then.
She looked forward to seeing her friends, too. Tomorrow would be a good day, she thought. The meeting with the man had left her lighter, if nothing else.
As she left the park there was something new in the air. A weary noise not unlike old machinery refusing to do the job it was designed for.
And then, after barely a few seconds, the sound had passed.
The old man was gone.
Author's Note
John Hurt's War Doctor is genuinely one of my favourite portrayals of the Doctor, despite only having one on-screen appearance. And some bloody good audio dramas. I've got about ten drafts for a story starring the character on my computer, all with various themes, styles and in many degrees of completion. With my other story constantly being pushed aside, I never gave these tales much of a chance to be published. Even the art for this story is from yet another War Doctor story that I never wrote that much down for.
This short has been sat gathering dust for about a year, being one of the many I rejected... but one of the few that stood on their own without larger context. With the recent passing of another legend, I wanted to do something. I haven't seen the latest Equestria Girls film, I'm not caught up on the latest seasons of the show. I'm not even sure how well this will go down, but with Doctor Whooves being so popular within this fandom, I thought there might be other people as saddened by John Hurt's passing as I am.
Thank you, John Hurt. You will be greatly missed 
