Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last

Chapters

Introductions and Reintroductions
Danger and Narcolepsy
Explanations and Negotiations
Everything and Everywhere

Introductions and Reintroductions

The First and the Last
Chapter 1:
Introductions and Reintroductions
MaxKodan

Rainbow Dash had had a weird day. She awoke early to prepare a bright, sunny day for the inhabitants of Ponyville, and as she stepped outside her door, she had kicked a letter from her porch. It fluttered to the ground, and she’d followed it. Picking it up, the weathermare had realized that it was a blank envelope. No address, no return address. And since her mail only got to her half the time when it was labelled properly, and even then usually a day or two late, she assumed it hadn’t been delivered by Derpy. She picked up the letter and examined it a while, eyeballing it, holding it up to the just-rising sun to try to get a glimpse inside. The paper was folded over too much, and it wasn’t readable. But it looked hoofwritten. She sighed and tore open the letter.

“I bet it’s just another one of my many, many fans leaving me a love note.” She commented boldly to herself as she unfolded the surprise delivery. Scanning it quickly, she blinked. It wasn’t a love note. And what’s more, it made no sense. She crumpled it up and tossed it aside. “Psh, junk. What a stupid prank.” Slightly miffed, she turned and flew off into the sky to clear the air. It was going to be a bright and sunny day, all right.

Upon returning home, exercised, refreshed, and hungry, Dash landed on her doorstep and walked into her cloudy abode. Heading straight for the kitchen, she grabbed a bag of Apple Bites and started heading for her favorite spot to cool down after a workout. As she passed the corner of her kitchen counter, however, something caught her eye. A bit of white that stuck out against the cloud. A crumpled piece of paper at on the end of the counter. She narrowed her eyes at it. How did it get into her house? She picked it up and unfolded it. It was the same note again. Considering the odd way things were going, she decided to read it a bit more carefully this time.

Go to John Smith’s house.
He needs your help, and you need his.
Find the pocket watch.
Make him open it.
See you soon.

She flopped into her spot next to her window. Setting the note aside, she opened the bag of snacks and heard the ever-so-quiet pop of the factory-sealed packaging. Giving a sidelong look at the note, she poured some of the apple-flavored nuggets into her mouth. Immediately, she coughed and spit them out. Several snacks fell to the floor, and one small piece of slightly chewed, folded up paper fell among them. Still coughing, and trying to get the taste out of her mouth, she reached down and snatched it up, unfolding it quickly. What on earth...had she won a contest? She hadn’t heard of any contest.

The short message written on the paper stopped her coughing. “John Smith’s House...” She read. Immediately, she got up and brought the bag with her, quickly crossing the room to her coffee table. Upending the bag, she poured the remainder of the contents out onto the table. Two more notes fell out. “Pocket Watch.” Said the first one. She bit her lip, looking down at the last note. What could this one say? With a shaking hoof she reached down and unfolded it. The words on it caused her to drop the note and burst out the door without so much as picking up the mess she’d left on her table and floor. The slip of paper landed face up on the floor. Hastily scrawled words decorated the strip. “Rainbow Dash! Go NOW!”

It took her thirty seconds to find the house. She’d remembered who John Smith was, and why his name sounded so familiar. The pony who the notes referred to was an oddball allright. After all, what kind of name was “John Smith?” She’d never asked him before, but she sure as hoof was going to now. And how’d he chosen his career as a timekeeper? Seemed like an odd choice. He was just a normal pony. So what was this feeling of foreboding as she stood in front of his door? Was it the note psyching her out? Admittedly that was weird, but she needed to figure all this stuff out. She gulped down her anxiety and knocked on the door.

It opened at her touch. Squeaking a bit as the door swung open unexpectedly, she looked around to make sure no one heard that. It was a little too dark to see anything in detail, but then again it was really bright outside. “Hello?” she tentatively called through the door. In response, she heard some kind of sound, a cacophony of clicks respond to her. She poked her head into the room beyond the portal. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in light. After a moment, her vision settled.

“Woah.” Dash stepped through the door into the main room of the house and gazed at the unbelievable sight in front of her. Every inch of the wall was covered with clocks of so many shapes and sizes that her head began to spin. In the center of the room, which took up most of the first floor of the house, was a large table strewn with clocks being worked on, not to mention other timepieces. Alarm clocks, sundials, hourglasses, wristwatches, and even several devices she’d never seen before. Paper with some scribblings were scattered across the table, and some were laying on the floor. This pony really was an expert on time and clocks, that was for sure. Looking around the room, her eyes fell onto one other stand-out part of the building. There was a fireplace along the side wall, though you could hardly tell what it was. The stone shelf was laden with standing clocks, but right in the center stood one piece that didn’t fit in. The flyer felt it calling to her, somehow, and she began to move closer to it.

“Well, hello, there.” The voice nearly made her jump out of her skin, though it was softly spoken. She spun around and stood frozen in place. There was a pony silhouetted in the door that she had left open. She squinted and blinked, trying to make out the figure. It stepped inside and closed the door behind it, and as her eyes re-re-readjusted, it became clear that the pony was, unsurprisingly, John Smith. “Er...what are you doing in my house?”

The pegasus was caught off guard. “My snacks told me I should come see you.” Was the only response she could come up with. The look of confusion she received, she felt, was well deserved.

“Your...snacks. Told you to break into my house.” John quirked an eyebrow and sat down, as if trying to process this information. “You’re...Rainbow Dash, right? The weathermare?” He got a silent nod in return. There were a few awkward moments where the two just looked at each other.

Then Dash started talking. She was speaking as fast as she flew, trying to explain the whole situation at once to make her seem less crazy. It didn’t seem to be working that well. When she was done, she stood there, holding a pose that had lost its meaning somewhere in the story. More awkward silence fell. She relaxed and sat back down. “...You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Well, no, it’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just..” John paused, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t own any pocket watches. I own everything BUT pocket watches. Never liked them. No pockets.” He blinked. “I think someone’s been pranking you, my dear.”

THAT was the strangest thing he could think of? She sat there for a moment, slightly dumbfounded. But, something else was strange. “You don’t have any pocket watches?”

“Nope, not a one.”

“Yes you do.”

“What? No, I’m quite certain I don’t.”

“Right there.” Dash raised her hoof and pointed towards the centerpiece of the fireplace. It was a small, round, golden object that had been propped up on a stand.

“That’s not a pocket watch. It’s a clock. A small one, of course, about the size of, oh...I can’t think of a good comparison.”

“About the size of a pocket. That’s why it’s called a pocket watch.” She groaned a little and hung her foreleg over her nose. Was this pony serious? She lowered her leg and looked at him for a while. Now they were both weird and stupid.

“Well...I guess now that you put it that way.” He looked at it oddly. “Never really paid any attention to it before.”

“You put it on your fireplace on its own special display stand. How could you NOT pay attention to it?” However weird the appearance of the notes was, this pony was acting even weirder. “Oh yeah, and before I forget, what kind of name is John Smith, anyway?”

“Foreign.” John was only half paying attention now. His eyes were locked on the pocket watch now, and he had begun moving closer to it.

“Foreign? What does that mean? I mean, your name. What does your name mean? Where’s it from?” The speedster watched him as he crossed the room. Just what in equestria was going on here?

“John means time, or clock, or something. And Smith means, well, smith. Clocksmith.” He was at the fireplace now, and he reached up to take the watch. He looked at it for a while, apparently getting lost in his own mind. “The note said to make me open this, right?”

“Y-yeah. Wait, have you never opened it before?” What was with this guy?

“Well, no, I haven’t. Must have forgotten I ever had it. But now, I’m curious, you see. Never dealt with pocket watches before, so I feel like this might be a whole new chapter in my life. Maybe I can expand my business? I don’t know,” His eyes were transfixed on the golden watch, and they traced the lines that decorated the cover. “A whole new world. What do you think, Rainbow Dash?” He turned to look at her. A gentle smile played across his face. By now he was just weirding her out. “Want to see it with me?”

She didn’t really have time to respond. The moment he finished talking, he looked back down at the watch and clicked the top button with his hoof. The watch swung open and any notion of normality disappeared. Swirling, golden energy leaked from the clock’s face towards his. Whispers filled the room, blending together so that only a few words could be made out. John took a deep breath in, and as quickly as it had come the energy seemed to be absorbed into the pony’s body. He stood there, shimmering a little bit in the dim light. Dash had backed up and bumped into the table, her mouth hanging open in awe. “J-John? You alright?”

“You thought John Smith was a weird name, right?” He closed the watch with a flick of his wrist and replaced it on the mantle.

“Y-yeah.” Something about him had changed. She could sense it. Something was different about him now, but it felt more natural. Like the way he was before he had changed had been wrong, and this was how he was meant to be.

“Well then, let me reintroduce myself. Properly this time.” John turned to her and shot her an enormous grin. “Hallo, Rainbow Dash. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m the Doctor.”

Danger and Narcolepsy

Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last
Chapter 2:
Danger and Narcolepsy
Max Kodan

“Wh-what just happened? Did you say you’re a...Doctor? A doctor of what?” Rainbow Dash stammered out. She wasn’t much of a magic scholar, but she knew for sure that that hadn’t been any ordinary spell. And now this John Smith was calling himself a Doctor. But he just built and repaired clocks, didn’t he? “Just what the buck is going on here?”

“Language, Miss Dash! All will be explained in time.” The Doctor’s voice sounded much more confident and vibrant than John’s had. It really was like he was an entirely different pony. “Just call me The Doctor. Or Doctor. Either one will do. Now, there’s something very, very important that is slipping my mind. Something...something hasn’t settled back into place yet.” He started pacing and shifting his jaw around, and apparently moved his tongue around inside of his mouth. “Right, still a pony. Bit weird, but ok. Ah, so THAT must be what happened. Oh...Oh dear.” He paused and looked up at the stunned mare beside him.

“What’s wrong? What are you talking about? What happened!? You’re not making any sense!” She stood and stomped her hoof on the ground agitatedly. This was becoming less confusing and more annoying. This might just be the most elaborate prank ever pulled, and however much respect she had for whoever was pulling it, it was starting to get old.

“See, I came here by accident.” He started as he rolled his shoulders and moved his legs restlessly. “I was being chased, see. My ship was under attack. So I was planning on hiding myself away somewhere to wait until they passed over me, but on the way I crashed and...Oh. Oh my. I do remember what I’d forgotten now.” He slowed his movement and gravely looked up at his visitor. “You might want to stand back. I was in the middle of something when I became a pony. And I think I’m about to finish it.”

Without thinking about it at all, Dash took several steps away, in fact moving over to the other side of the table. She tilted her head to the side and watched him. He was still glowing faintly, but the glow was getting brighter. As she looked on, The Doctor raised himself onto his back legs. The glowing increased more and more, and his face scrunched up. “Aah...hurts a bit this time...” He bit his lip. “Guess that’s what I get for putting it off.” He took in a shuddering breath, then spread his arms. The glowing lit the room now, and golden particles began to escape his neck and arms. He opened one eye and looked down at the watching pegasus. “Be right back, Miss Dash.”

With that, an explosion of energy rocked the room. For a moment, the light was so bright that the pegasus had to shield her eyes. When she looked back up, the same golden energy as before was being emitted from both of his front legs and his head. It was beautiful, but terrifying at the same time. Several of the faces of the clocks burst, showering glass onto the floor. The Doctor let out a yell of agony, and as he did, he began to change.

The change was subtle. His mane stayed relatively the same style and color, and his coat remained chestnut. It was only after the light faded and he collapsed that Dash could see what had changed. His legs were just a bit longer, his face a bit shorter than it had been. Other than that, he looked almost the same. It took her just a moment to realize that he might be hurt.

“Hey, hey!” She ran around the table and up to him, leaning down to look him over. “Hey, don’t you go dying on me. What was all that? Doc, get up, come on!” She shook him gently. Nothing seemed broken, anyway. He muttered something. She couldn’t quite hear what, but he definitely muttered a word. “What? I couldn’t hear you.” She leaned in closer to him, and he groaned, then repeated his message.

“Doc-tor.”

She blinked. “Y-you need a doctor?”

“No.” He shook his head a little and opened his eyes. “You called me...Doc. It’s...Doctor.”

This pony had just exploded, changed his face, and fainted, and he was correcting her on the pronunciation of his name. She pulled back as he rolled over and sat up.

“Aah. Ow. So, how do I look?” He pulled his shoulders back and tried to look as regal as possible. Dash simply stared at him.

“You’re...a little taller, I guess? And your nose is smaller. Oh!” She squinted and looked closer at him. “Your eyes changed color too. They’re green now.” She tilted her head. “I think they were blue before, weren’t they?”

The Doctor appeared to ponder on that for a short time. “Hm...odd. Must be a side effect of the whole...pony thing. Time was I’d get a whole new face, new hair, new body, new teeth, new stomach. The stomach was weird.” He chuckled to himself. “Now then, where were we?” The moment the last word left his lips, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell over unconscious once again.

The rainbow-maned pegasus let out a sharp cry of surprise and moved back over to him. “Hey, woah! Cut that out, wouldja?” She prodded at him some more. “This isn’t funny!” No response this time. “Hey, Doctor. Doc! Wake up!” She gave him a solid clock upside the head with her hoof. He still didn’t move. She grumbled to herself and set to work hauling him towards his bedroom. Of course, it was one the second floor. Considering everything he’d put her through so far, she figured he could use a few bruises, so she none-too-carefully pulled him up the stairs. Unsurprisingly, another room entirely filled with clocks. “Kind of a one note pony, ain’tcha?” She grumbled as she finally managed to push him up onto the bed. She lazily tossed a blanket over him, and sat down to take a break.

Not a moment after she took her first breath of relaxation, The Doctor sat up. “Crabapples.”

Oh, sure. NOW he wakes up. She groaned to herself. It would be an easier job babysitting the Cakes. At least they couldn’t talk yet. “What now?”

“Crabapples. Hate ‘em.” He stuck his tongue out and shook his head. “Now, how did I get up here?” He looked around in confusion, closing one eye, then opening it and closing the other, then alternating between them in rapid succession.

“What are you...You passed out! I had to drag you up here by hoof! And you’re heavier than you look!” She panted a little. Every second she spent around this pony was more irritating than the last.

“Ah! I fainted, did I? Well, that’s to be expected. See, I had my Chameleon Arc make me fit in with the area, I crossed the border into this universe, and I died all at the same time. I was halfway through regeneration. Body changed to a pony, but I couldn’t get the energy out because the arc made me blend in. Had all this regeneration energy caught up in my body. Still got a bunch of it and-” He stopped talking, finally, for a moment. He breathed out, and more of that golden energy dissipated into the air. “There goes some of it now!” And again, he passed out.

If the wall were any closer, Dash would have bashed her head into it. “Aargh, why am I still here!?” She called to the room in general. Celestia knew the Doctor wouldn’t pay any attention. He’d said a lot of things, but none of it made any sense. Her mind went back to the letter. It had said that he needed her, but had she done her part? It also said that she needed him. What did THAT mean? That she needed him to ruin her day? To annoy her wings off? To hurt her brain just by his very presence?

He obviously wasn’t going to get any rest unless she left. Surely, she thought, nothing she would need his help with would be so dire that she would waste her entire day just watching him go all narcoleptic on her. That wouldn’t get anything accomplished at all. So she left him laying there, snoring peacefully. When she glanced back at him, she saw another puff of golden energy float off above the bed and disappear. Maybe she’d...check in with him later. Just in case.

It was just past noon now. She’d been there a lot longer than she’d thought. For now, she resolved to just soar through the air, getting all her daily practice in at once. Maybe a Sonic Rainboom or two outside of town for good measure. It was a nice day for it, and the town could always use a good show. She veered into a few loops as she circled the town, trying to imagine her path and keep a consistent rotation. The more circular the loop, the more impressive it was.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Rarity’s boutique. Something looked different about it. She slowed herself down and changed her course, landing directly in front of the shop window. It didn’t look like the seamstress was in, but the model in the window drew her attention nonetheless. Most of the time, the mannequins used were plain white and nondescript, but the one she saw here was somehow different. More detailed, colorful. And it had eyes. It looked incredibly fake, but still, it was an oddity. She wondered why Rarity had chosen to go with such a creepy design. It didn’t fit her style at all.

Back at John Smith’s, or rather The Doctor’s, house, the chestnut pony sat bolt upright. “Miss Dash! I should warn you. Whatever was chasing me, it may be here, now...” He looked around. The room was empty. “Oh dear. Now where did she get off to?”

She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she could have sworn that it had changed positions. She let out a light yelp and stepped backwards. It was definitely looking at her now. The eyes were trained straight onto her. What was this thing, motion sensored? She shook her head. She was losing her mind. This Doctor thing had her freaked out. When her mane fell back into place, she looked up. A bit of that golden energy the Doctor had excreted seemed to have shaken loose, and now floated up away from her. She watched it for a moment, then looked back at the model.

It had moved. This time for sure. It was looking up, in the direction the energy disappeared into. And now, even as she watched, any doubt disappeared. The head of the mannequin turned, slowly and deliberately, to aim its lifeless, painted eyes directly at her.

“Oh, man. This is a nightmare, right? A total nightmare!” She shuddered and closed her eyes tightly. Maybe it would go away if she just concentrated on waking up. Her illusion shattered with the window. Her eyes snapped open and she saw the mannequin, frilly dress and all, marching right at her. She yelped again and flapped her wings, getting several feet off the ground and hovering.

Somepony else walked by and laughed. “Well, wouldja look at that? What kinda marketing scheme has that Rarity thought up here...” He grinned and looked over the mannequin. “So realistic! But it can’t be good for business, breaking the window like that.”

“Noooo, get away from it!” Dash heard herself call. The dummy turned towards the pony and regarded him for a moment. Then, it opened its mouth.

“Ooh, what’s this, an advertisement function? That’s pretty ingenious!” The hapless pony guffawed. His laughter quickly turned to a shriek of fear, however, as a jet of flame shot from the mannequin’s mouth. He managed to just duck under it, then without a word turned and bolted out of there. Several other ponies saw this particular occurrence, and soon enough the whole area was in a panic. From her vantage point, RD could hear and see other similar mannequins breaking out of their respective windows. She had nearly forgotten the one she was floating above, until she heard a *click*. She looked down and yanked herself to the side just quickly enough to avoid the fiery breath that was coming her way. With nothing left to do, she flew up and fled, heading back to the only pony who was just as weird as this was scary.

“Doctor!” She called, beelining back towards his house. She weaved through the buildings, and in the distance she spotted his building. She haphazardly landed without slowing down and crashed through the door, staggering for a moment before she regained her balance and slammed it shut behind her.

“Oh, good morning! Something the matter?” The Doctor was sitting at his table. He’d cleared a spot and had a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. Suddenly, the mare wondered why she hadn’t gone to see Twilight. Already, her migraine was starting back up again.

“Y-you! What did you do? What’s going on here?” She rounded on the rather casual looking pony and glared. “What ARE those things? Living mannequins? That breath FIRE?” She narrowed her eyes and flapped her wings, closing the distance between them in an instant. “You have got a LOT of explaining to do, mister!”

The Doctor sat there, looking at her with wide-eyed innocence. He then looked down at his plate of half-finished eggs, then back up at her. “But...I’m eating breakfast.” There were several seconds of silence, but rage seemed to fill the air. “Erm...most important meal of the day?”

“Just DO something! I don’t know how, I don’t know why I know, but I know. I just KNOW that you have something to do with this. Besides, it’s 1 in the afternoon! You’re basically eating lunch!”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that? Just woke up, you know.” He lifted the fork to his mouth and took another large bite of egg.

Dash stumbled over several words, coming out with little more than frustrated expressions of ‘gah’s and ‘buh’s. Finally, she started motioning everywhere in the room, waving her front legs wildly at just about everything. “Y-you. You’re in a room. FULL of clocks. Clocks EVERYWHERE. How do you NOT know what time it is!?”

The Doctor seemed to take this in for a moment. “Oh, right.” He grinned and looked around. “Hee, that’s brilliant, isn’t it? Room full of clocks. Must be a nightmare if you’re a bit squiffy, though. Tik, tok, tik, tok.” He chuckled to himself and took another bite.

“Are you listening?” Fluttering down and breathing deeply, Dash tried to get her anger under control. Maybe she wasn’t being clear enough. “Doctor, ponies are being attacked. By weird, plastic mannequins. I don’t know why, but I just know you can help. Or at least tell me something. What they are, how to stop them. Come on, Doctor! This is not the time for breakfast!” She fidgeted. In about 5 seconds, she was going to go flying out the door whether he was coming or not. She’d fight these things hoof to hoof if she needed to.

The Doctor’s smile faded, and he sighed. He took the last bite of his eggs and pushed his chair away from the table. “They found me, then. They tracked me all the way here. Wonder how they managed that.” He stood and brushed himself off. “Alright, Miss Dash. I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But first, let’s go put a stop to this...” He trailed off. For a moment, the pegasus thought he’d seen something behind her. A quick look disproved that idea.

“Doctor? What’s up?” She tentatively stepped forward, looking closer at him. “Doctor?”

A light sound issued from the Doctor’s throat. When she tweaked her ear a bit, it became clearer. The sound of snoring.

“Oh COME ON!”

Explanations and Negotiations

Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last
Chapter 3:
Explanations and Negotiations
Max Kodan

“Ok, how long was I out for that time?” The Doctor galloped along next to Rainbow Dash as she hurried through the streets. She had to slow herself down to make sure he could keep up, but he was surprisingly fast.

“Two minutes. Two minutes of me trying to wake you up.” She glared over at him. “You know, you’d think you might be a little, I dunno, more concerned about the attack on Ponyville? Who passes out during an invasion?”

The turned a corner. By now it was clear where the center of the mayhem was located. Straight ahead, ponies were still fleeing the area around the boutique. “Like I said, Miss Dash,” The Doctor began in response.

“And stop with the Miss Dash stuff! Just call me Dash, or Rainbow Dash. Or RD. Or The Fastest Filly in Equestria. Or just Awesome. Whatever does it for you.” She grinned a little.

“Well, I don’t see what the big deal with Miss Dash is, I think it sounds rather cool.”

“Whatever you say, Doc.”

“...Very well, Dash it is, then.” He sighed. “Now as I was saying, I still have a lot of regeneration energy pent up inside of me. Based on the fact that the Autons are ponies now, it’s probably because I got this new body when I crossed into this universe, rather than when I regenerated. The energy doesn’t know what to do, so it changed a couple of things and now it’s just sitting there. My body’s trying to get rid of it the best way it can, so every once in a while it shuts down and focuses on expelling the energy. That’s why I pass out. I woke up presumably because my face is sore and I’m soaked. Wonder why that is.” He quirked an eyebrow over towards his flying alarm clock.

“You wouldn’t wake up! What was I supposed to do, sing you a lullaby?” She blushed a little. A few hard slaps and a bucket of water were only a couple of the tools she’d used to revitalize him.

“You could’ve asked nicely.”

“Right. I’m sure that would’ve worked perfectly.” She rolled her eyes and slowed down, her hooves clopping on the pavement. They were still quite a distance, but The Doctor had stopped. She turned and went back to him. “Why are you stopping? You’re not asleep again, are you?”

“No, I just think you should know what we’re up against. They won’t kill anypony. They’re trying to make as big of a mess as they can.” He glared down the street at the chaos that was taking place a hundred yards ahead of them.

“Why, though? What are they trying to do?” Dash queried, glancing over her shoulder towards the boutique.

“They’re trying to draw me out. They won’t start trying to actually kill ponies until they think it’ll help them. They need sentient beings around. Or, rather, their controller does. These things are just puppets. Little pieces of the Nestene Consciousness. It knew I’d interfered with it before, so it stole a Time Machine with some of its Autons from who knows where and started following me. Its biggest problem has been moving itself, so it’s after my TARDIS. My ship. I’ll explain later. Basically, it needs a bigger ship. They think they’re unstoppable right now, but I know something they don’t know that I know they don’t know I know.”

“What in Equestria are you talking about? Time machines? TARDIS? Nestene what? You know none of these things mean a thing to me, right?” Dash kept eagerly looking over her shoulder. The plastic ponies were getting closer. “Doesn’t matter right now, what’ve you got on ‘em?”

“Well, the Nestene Consciousness controls these things by transmitting a part of itself into them. This makes them very coordinated and very dangerous. Normally it uses radio signals, but we’re talking time travel here. It needs a relay. So we need to find the relay device and disable it. That’ll shut down all the Autons and effectively throw the Nestene off my trail. That’s what I was trying to do when I disguised myself, but they must’ve found a way to track me anyway. Good thing you happened along, eh?” He shot her a big grin and craned his neck. “Oops, looks like they’ve seen us, now I suggest we take a tactical approach and attempt a flanking maneuver. If we can get around behind them, we can-” He turned and began walking towards one of the side streets, only to be stopped in his tracks.

Three of the Autons stood, blocking the side road. More emerged from the alleys and buildings, and soon enough they were surrounded by a dozen of them.. Dash immediately lifted herself up in the air, but at the sound of 12 clicks, she slowly lowered herself back to the ground. “Anyone ever tell you you talk too much, Doctor?” She flicked her eyes across their captors, trying to find a weak spot to break through.

“All the time, Dash. All the time.” He cleared his throat and levelled his eyes at the mannequins in front of him. “Alright, you lot. You won’t kill me, and you won’t kill my friend. And I’ll tell you why.” Secondary clicks issued from the entire group. He gulped and took a deep breath. “Because if you kill either of us, you won’t know how to open my TARDIS. Even if you have the key, if you use it wrong you’ll break the lock, and you’ll never get in. You hear me? You need me alive, and you definitely need her alive.” He widened his stance and glared at them. “So, why don’t you just take me back to your ship, and we’ll talk negotiations.”

There was silence. No more threatening clicks, no more movements whatsoever. Finally, most of the group closed their mouths. Three of them, the three that had been blocking the way they had just come, kept theirs open. The one in the middle stepped forward. It emitted a kind of loud, scratching, growling noise. The Doctor paid it rapt attention. “Yes, I understand.”

Dash’s leg was twitching, her wings were stretched out. She was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, but a look from the Doctor stopped her. “Wait, what did it say?”

“It says you’re not to fly. If you try to fly away, they’ll shoot you. And, well, me. But most importantly you.” He levelled a serious look at her. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything bad happen, alright? Trust me.” He waited for her wings to fold back against her body, then the entire group of Autons shifted position, giving them what looked a lot like an escort down the street. Of course, it was an escort with flamethrowers and who knows what else pointed at their backs.

They wound up in the Everfree Forest. Off the beaten track they went, the Autons in front of them stomping through the undergrowth without a care for spines or thorns. Rainbow Dash walked quietly along, though the entire time she was stewing in her anger. She wanted to punt their plastic heads off, but something told her she’d only got three or four before they found a way to stop her. Besides, the Doctor seemed quite calm and cool about all of this. And although all he’d done since she’d seen him become “The Doctor” was irritate her and get her captured, she resolved to trust him. At least until things went really bad. Then she’d...oh, who was she kidding. She was going to see this through. And if she was going to go down, so were these Auton things.

It was about 5 minutes of walking before they came upon the craft. Until this point, the pegasus had been skeptical on the whole time travel and alternate universe thing. Now, she was starting to believe it. The ship was about the size of a shed, made of polished steel that looked like it’d been drug through a furnace. It was charred and scuffed, dented and bruised. Still, it was one of the most amazing things Dash had ever seen. “Woah.” She commented, looking up at it in awe.

“No time to be impressed, I’ll show you a better one later.” The doctor mumbled to her under his breath, probably trying to make sure the Autons didn’t hear. She blinked and looked around at their escort.

They had been circled again. The deadened eyes were even creepier en masse as they were stared down. One of them stepped forward again. The same one as before. It opened its mouth and again the loud crackling sound came from it. This time, however, words accompanied the sound. “We. Know. What. You. Are. Thinking.”

The Doctor didn’t move, though Dash was taken aback. It continued, getting a little better at speech as it went along. “The. Relay. You wish. To destroy it.” Still, the Doctor didn’t respond. “But, you don’t know. The truth. Behind this world.”

Still no sign from the Doctor. Dash was beginning to get restless. If they didn’t do something soon, she began to fear that the creature controlling these things would get offended. However, it seemed to carry on unperturbed.

“There are. Powerful forces. At work. You. Cannot leave. Without a. Link to the. Dimension. You wish to go to. We have. Such a link. Your ship. Can follow it.”

If, and that was a big if, Dash believed all of this extra dimensional babble that these things were spouting, it meant that the only way that the Doctor could go home was with the thing they were trying to destroy. The fact that he was standing stone silent told her that he was taking their offer seriously. But this thing, what would it do if it ever got its hands on his ship, if it was so powerful? Would he really just give it to them.

“Doctor.” She looked at him. “Doctor, hey. Come on, you can’t be taking these guys seriously. They’re pretty bad dudes. Doctor?” She blinked and looked closer.

“Snrk, aaaah...” The Doctor said. Only now did she realize his eyes were closed.

“You have. Ten seconds. To respond. Before we take. Your ship by force. Ten.”

“Oh, Hay. Doctor, come on. Wake up! This is no time for a catnap!”

“Nine. Eight. Seven.”

“Doctor, Come on! Oooh, where’s that bucket of water. It worked last time...” She looked around. The other Autons were opening their mouths, and the dangerous clicks issued from them all.

“Six. Five.”

“Doctor!”

Everything and Everywhere

Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last
Chapter 4:
Everywhere and Everything
Max Kodan

“Six. Five.”

“Doctor!” Dash cried, her head whipping wildly around.

“Four.”

She could fly away faster than they could shoot, but there was no way she could carry the Doctor with her. Her breath began to quicken. She wondered if she could surprise them.

“Three.”

“Think, stupid, think!” She cursed herself under her breath. She needed to wake the Doctor up, but how? Her legs were shaking so hard they were growing weak. How could not even think of a way out of this? She was Rainbow Dash! Brash, bold, heroic, awesome...

And a little rude.

“Two.”

There was only one thing to try. Might as well, right? “Doctor...would you please wake up?”

“One.”

She shut her eyes, preparing for the worst. Instead, she heard one of the most unexpectedly relieving sounds that had ever graced her ears. A yawn. She cracked one eye open. The countdown had stopped, and the Doctor had his mouth wide open in a huge, wonderful, glorious yawn.

“Aah, there we go. Did someone ask me to wake up? I was having a wonderful dream. Something about coconuts. No! Wait, not coconuts, fabric softener. Or was it coconut scented fabric softener?” He pondered for a moment. Every eye in the small clearing, real or not, was trained on him expectantly. “Er, sorry. Right, you wanted to know if I’d join you and give you my TARDIS in exchange for my life?” His face fell from a smile to a deep frown. “Sorry, but no deal. I don’t work with people who make threats. Especially against my friends.” He stretched his neck and lowered his shoulders. The happy-go-lucky pony that had been accompanying Dash this entire time was gone. In his place stood somepony else. Probably the first pony who the cyan speedster thought she would never want to get on the wrong side of.

“Then you will. Be. Destroyed.” The chorus of clicking repeated itself, and some sort of machinery could be heard warming up. The Doctor was stoic. He didn’t flinch for an instant while the danger grew.

“No, I don’t think I will. See, you brought us here, and that was your biggest mistake. You keep the relay in that ship, don’t you? Safest place in Equestria, isn’t it? Deadlocked, I can tell from here.” The whirring grew. Whatever they were preparing for, it was going to be big. “It’s a good thing I have no intention of opening the door.” He took a deep breath in. A loud click stopped the whirring, and a second of silence enveloped them.

Dash dove to the ground and covered her face instinctively. She ventured a peek, and she saw everything happen. First, all 12 of the Autons had unleashed an enormous bout of flame. Immediately after, the Doctor fired back. She felt the explosion ripple through her very being. A stream of golden energy, the same stuff that had escaped him when he regenerated, erupted from his mouth. The shockwave took the form of a sphere around them, coating the area in a dull, golden glow. The flames were stopped a mere hoof’s length from the Autons, and the tongues of fire folded around the sphere, dissipating into the sky. The jet of energy from the doctors mouth blazed through the Auton who had been addressing them and lanced into the door of the vessel. Inside, Dash could hear explosions and popping sounds as the electronics were fried. Finally, the roof of the craft exploded in sparks and flame. Again, the danger was deflected by the protective sphere around them.

A good 5 seconds after the destruction of the ship, the golden energy slowed and eventually stopped. The Doctor stood boldly for a few moments, but then as the glow in his eyes faded away he fell to his knees. He gasped for breath, but soon calmed down. He sat himself down and put a hoof over his chest as he panted.

Rainbow Dash slowly stood up, looking around at the area. The Autons had fallen over, inert. The one who was between the two of them and the ship was half melted, the upper part of its body completely gone. The forest was a bit singed, but there was no lasting damage, and only a few small fires in areas surrounded by charred earth, meaning it wouldn’t spread.

“What...just happened? What was that?” She turned her eyes to the Doctor, respectively giving him a few seconds to respond.

“Breakfast. Most important meal of the day.” He said between breaths. “Especially eggs. High in protein. Gives you lots of energy. And when you’ve got a bunch of regeneration energy stuck in your stomach, the energy you get from food loosens it up. Like drinking water when you’ve got phlegm in your throat. Loosen it up and you can get it out of there. I just chose to get it out in that direction.” He nodded towards the remains of the ship. “By the way, never noticed before, but regeneration energy tastes like coconuts if there’s enough of it. Wonder if that means something.” He grinned at her.

“You’re insane, you know that? Completely and totally insane.” Dash laughed. She hadn’t laughed at all that day. It felt different than her normal laugh. It felt better.

“That’s what they tell me. I’m starting to believe them.” He joined in on the laugh. It did feel good. Something, however, was different about his laugh. Something restrained.

“Hey, come on. Let’s head home.” She chuckled. “And on the way back, why don’t you actually explain some of the stuff you’ve been talking about. Cause most of it flew right over my head. And THAT is an accomplishment. I can fly pretty high.” She posed proudly.

“What? Name me one thing today that isn’t completely and totally clear!” He turned and began retracing their steps, and Dash fell right in behind him.

“Regeneration. TARDIS. Nestle whatever. Time Travel...” She began, trying to keep a mental tally of what she’d already said. She was just getting started. The Doctor, however, cut across her.

“Oh! That’s how they did it!” He called as he ran off the path towards a piece of smouldering machinery that lay some distance away. She grumbled and floated after him.

“Hahah! Of course, it was obvious!” He grinned as he poured over the chunk of metal, which to Dash was hardly recognizable from an oven. “The Chameleon Arc made me invisible to anything trying to search for aliens, Time Lords, time travellers, anything like that. But! When you travel between dimensions, like I did, you travel through the Void. And when you travel through the Void, you get stuck with Void stuff. So they weren’t searching for a Time Lord like me, they just had to look for Void Stuff. And hello! I’m covered in it.” He turned his grin up to her, but let it drop when he saw that she was more exasperated than anything.

She stared at him. “10. Seconds. Flat.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Excuse me?”

“It took you 10 seconds to say all that. In that 10 seconds, you brought up a total of 6 things. SIX things that I have no idea about!”

“What? Oh, come on. What could possibly be so hard to-”

“In order!” She interrupted. “Chameleon Arc, Aliens, Time Lords, Travelling between dimensions, The Void, and Void Stuff.”

“...Ok, perhaps I DO owe you a bit of an explanation.” He pondered. “Right, then, let’s get started, shall we? Where do you want to begin?”

“And THAT is why the greatest force of evil ever to plague the Niverterian Cluster was defeated by the color lavender.” The Doctor finished his “explanation” as he called it just as they arrived back at his house. “So, I think that sums up the big ones. Any other questions?”

Rainbow Dash lagged behind. She slowly approached him, her head throbbing. She really didn’t think she could take any more. “I...” She stopped. There was something else that he hadn’t brought up at all. “Yeah, your TARDIS. I know it’s your time machine at all, not that I believe you. But what IS it? You didn’t say much about it, just that it was your ship.” She raised her eyes reluctantly to him. He was hiding something from her, but she couldn’t tell what. Or why.

“Well, I’m glad you asked! I have something I want to look into, so why don’t you come with me and see for yourself?” He smiled kindly. She returned the smile. He’d been nothing if not a friend. Ok, if not a friend he’d been an incredibly annoying nuisance, but he’d been a friend anyway. He seemed really excited about showing her the TARDIS, so she agreed. He dashed off into the house and she perked up a little, following him. Closing the door behind her this time, she walked over to the side door where he was standing.

“Funny,” He said. “All that time as John Smith and I not once wondered why there was a Police Box in my basement.”

“A what?”

“Just come on. You’ll see.” He pulled the door open and descended into the basement. She followed, growing more and more curious. When she had her hooves firmly planted on the floor of the basement, she looked around. There was nothing there. Just a big, blue box with “Police Public Call Box” written on top of it.

“Oh, come on. You’re pulling my leg now. Where is it, huh? Is it invisible or something?” She scoffed, feeling around in the air for any kind of resistance.

“Nope, right here.” The Doctor walked up to the Police Box and smiled warmly at it, resting a hoof on its corner. “Hallo, old girl. Sorry to have left you for so long. I’ll make it all up to you, ok?” He patted it softly, then looked back at his tagalong. “So, you want to go inside?”

She sighed to herself. “Inside. That? Doctor, you couldn’t fit inside that thing alone unless you stood on your hind legs.” She shook her head. “Look, if you’re just trying to joke around with me, that’s fine, but at least make it funny!”

The Doctor simply smiled and opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him.

“...Doctor?” She tilted her head, taking a step closer to the box. “You alright in there? Didn’t get stuck, didja?”

The box started making a strange noise. Like a grinding, whirirng sound that grew and faded. Dash blinked and stepped back again. The light atop the box was glowing in time with the noise, and before too long the air in the basement leapt into a rather strong wind. As she squinted, the box slowly, gradually vanished.

A dumbfounded pony was left behind, alone in the basement. “I-I-I...what? Doctor? Wh-where’d you go? Th-this isn’t funny!” She called to the empty room. “Hey, get back here you...” Her voice was drowned out by the return of the sound. The wind again kicked up, and the box reappeared. The air settled, and everything was quiet.

The door opened with a squeak, and the Doctor reemerged. He was holding something. With a little visual flair, he tossed the item to the stunned pegasus, who just barely managed to catch it. She looked down and read the packaging of the bag she was holding. “Apple Bites? But...what does this...”

“Well, I had to switch yours out for the bag with the notes, didn’t I? Which is a good thing, too. Those are about 2 weeks out of date. You could’ve gotten food poisoning, you know!” He smiled and leaned on the inner frame of the door, awaiting her response.

“Food poisoning? I almost choked on your stupid note!” The realization struck her. “You? It was YOU who left the notes!? All this time, and YOU...you...you...” A second realization hit. “...You’re really a time traveller! Ohmygosh, no way! That thing’s really a Time Machine? But, how did you...”

He smiled and stepped outside the box, leaving the door open and nodding to it. He leaned against the outside and waited as she tentatively stepped in. A rather smug smile crossed his lips as she cried out in her amazement from within the TARDIS. She flew out, buzzed a few quick circles around the box, and set herself down on wobbly legs in front of the door. “I-it’s...it’s bigger! It’s bigger inside! H-how...how does that...how is it even...”

“Possible? Oh, my dear Rainbow Dash, I think you’ll find lots of things are possible that you would have never imagined in your wildest dreams.” He looked her straight in the eye. “Wanna see?”

Dash’s heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean? See what?”

“Everything. There’s a whole universe that I’ve never seen. And I’m willing to bet you haven’t seen most of it either. So...” He paused and smiled at her, his eyes lighting up a little bit. “Everything. Let’s go see everything.”

“But, what about my friends? Won’t they know I’m missing?” Dash asked. The huge grin plastered across her face and the fact that she was bouncing just a little in place was her way of showing that she really hoped he’d find a way around it.

“Time Machine! I’ll have you back before we leave.” He laughed aloud, pushing off the frame of the box to stand up straight and then bowing slightly, indicating the TARDIS doors.

Ten minutes later, the TARDIS control room was still a new sight to Dash. In fact, it was a new sight to the Doctor as well. The last one had taken a fair bit of damage from the Nestene attack, and now everything looked slightly...cleaner. Simpler. And a lot more blue. The control panel was just as mad as it had been for the longest time, though. That was how he preferred it. The old boring one with the buttons that did exactly what they were labeled didn’t suit him. He preferred to start his engines by completing a simple maze with a control lever and open his doors with pressure valve.

As Dash admired the sights, her eyes fell upon a screen that stuck out of the central console. A large message flashed across it. Scan Results: Negative.

“What were you scanning for?” She asked, walking up to the screen. He looked up and quickly moved over, flicking a switch, changing the screen to an idle background.

“Oh, nothing. Just some mathy equations and measurements. Nothing you’d be interested in.” He danced around the console. It seemed to be made for his new pony form. The buttons were bigger, the console was a bit lower, and everything seemed to be within reach.

Dash quirked an eye at the Doctor’s strange behavior over the screen, but let it pass. After all, he was apparently in a new universe and everything, and every moment she started to believe him more and more. He probably had a lot of scanny type things to do, and they would likely be rather boring. She imagined Twilight trying to explain the significance of the number of petals on a flower to her. She turned around and flew to the perimeter of the room. “Doctor, this thing is amazing. You said it was built by the Time Lords, right?” She found herself a nice chair and flopped down into it. Comfy seating, too. When she received the affirmative from the Doctor, she smiled. “I’d like to meet them some day. Maybe show ‘em a thing or two about flying in style. I mean, a police box? Come on! I got a few ideas that’d spice up time travel a bit!”

The Doctor stopped running around the console, his back facing her. “Sorry, but that...that would be impossible.” He pulled a lever down and the TARDIS shuddered a bit. The console began making the same noise it had when it had taken off before. Dash looked up at him.

“Because we’re in another dimension, right? Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have brought it up.” She frowned.

“No, it’s not that. I mean, it’s not just that. It’s...I’m it. I’m the last one. The last of the Time Lords.” He looked down at the now blank screen and muttered under his breath. “And now, the first as well.”

She looked at him and sat up. “Oh, I’m...I’m sorry. What was that last part? I didn’t-”

“Nothing! Hey, where do you want to go first? The Past? The future? Or maybe a different planet entirely? Bet we can find some wild inhabited ones!” He again began rushing around the console, pushing buttons, turning knobs, stepping on pedals, flipping switches. Dash began to wonder whether he actually had any idea what he was doing.

“I dunno, you decide. This is your thing, isn’t it?” She grinned. “Besides, knowing you, wherever we end up’ll be a blast.”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash. You have absolutely no idea!” He grinned down at his new companion and yanked another lever. “Of we go, then! Destination Everywhere!”