A lost universe, a lost child

"Colgate! Stop wiggling and let me put you in!"

The Doctor struggled to get Colgate into the walker that he had made for her. He had made it in his spare time the day before at his clock shop.

"Dotor, ybermen, dotor." Colgate continued to wriggle, trying to stuff the toy Doctor into her mouth.

"NO! The Doctor is not for chewing on!" The Doctor snatched the toy away and dropped it to the floor. He held Colgate tighter and stuffed her into the walker, his frustration starting to get the better of him.

"Now we have some progress! Let’s get you to Lyra's house and I can go get some more information from that librarian, the um, miss... Twilight, yes. That's it." The Doctor scrambled to the TARDIS door, Colgate in her walker in tow.

"I need to read up on my pony physics and astronomy. Also I would like to know how advanced these equines are in their technology. Pinkie only told me the basics of all that stuff, not going into much of a history as I would like. Might as well scourge the whole library while I'm at it; see if I can find any good pony myth... I'm sorry but I was NOT blabbering. I was simply bro voiding you with my schedule so you would know that when I was done with all this stuff, which could take quite a while, that I would take you out for a cupcake. Of course, if you disagree.... Ok, it's settled then. Allonsy!

The Doctor sighed as he trotted away from Lyra’s house. She had agreed to take Colgate for the day without much question, but the curious side of her shot out when she heard him remark about how much easier it would be to pick stuff up with fingers. Apparently she had just suddenly known about humans when she was a filly. She didn't remember how she knew, she just did. He had finely gotten away when Lyra had rushed to her basement to get her hoof made fingers. He felt bad about giving her the slip, but he had to go study up on this new place, and his new body.

He was walking towards the library, when a filly suddenly burst into his path.

"You sir! Care to buy some apples?"

The Doctor looked over, trying to mask the disgust on his face.

"Uh... No thanks" apples are such rubbish. Just the thought of them had deepened his voice in disgust.

The Doctor started forward again and suddenly the little yellow filly popped out of the cart there spontaneously.

"Neighhhh! No I have plenty at home!" The Doctor started to back up a bit. Did I just whinny in surprise?

"Are ya sure?" The filly was now right behind him. Where did she keep coming from?!

"Yes I'm pretty sure..."

"You’re pretty sure, but you’re not absolutely, positively, completely sure, are ya?" The strange filly kept backing him up, putting him in a tight spot. She sure was starting to freak him out.

"Uh... If I buy some apples will you please leave me alone?" The Doctor was so desperate to get away that he was willing to give away his bits for a crummy apple.

"Alright!" The filly exclaimed. The Doctor tossed the older mare at the apple stand some bits, barely registering that the mare was in fact Applejack, and grabbed an apple, galloping away.

Soon the Doctor came to the tree that ironically was also the library. The sign on the door said open so he trotted in, hoping that he wasn't intruding.

"Anyone here?" He called out, looking around for the librarian or the short dragon creature. None seemed to be around at the time so he made his way to the mythology section, curious to see if any legends of what he would do in the past(his future) were already published. As he went past a trashcan, he gingerly tossed his apple into it. Next he would go through pony physics and biology, then history, and finish it off with a bit of astronomy and other spacey stuff.

He took books one by one from the shelf and laid them to the table he would soon occupy.

"First book is  ..." He flipped through the pages, pausing only for a second to gaze at a rather menaceing image of a cockatrice. He continued this for a time until all of his mythology books where read. He had only seen one possible appearance of himself, but it seemed like a dead end. Maybe history would provide better enlightenment.

Twilight groaned as she watched the Doctor from her perch. When she had notice that he entered the library, she had decided to simply observe.

"Well blimey! I think I understand it now! My new form must be adapted to pony life automatically! Although somehow I have been stuck with little quips from my past couple of regenerations... I still don't get why I'm not in any textbooks though..."

Twilight's mind was getting confused listening to him talk, and why was he so interested in space and mythical books when he was a clock maker? It made as much sense as Rarity walking in and asking for a book on how to fight a manticore with only a shoe string and a corn cob(a true book by the way). Twilight was fed up with this stallion’s attitude towards her precious books and she was ready to ask some questions.

"Hey you!" She shouted, trotting down the stairs casually as to not draw the suspicion that she had already been watching from above. The Doctor looked over and waved a hoof in welcome.

"Hello miss Sparkle. I was just knocking about, looking for some good old information. Although it’s hard to translate most of this equestrian language, silly TARDIS is so tired... Sorry, was I blabbering again? Colgate says that I blabber all the time; I just can’t help it really. Or maybe it’s called rambling? I guess rambling dose sound better than..."

"SHUT UP!" Twilight burst, her annoyance, rage, and mild curiosity couldn't take all this nonsense that the stallion before her was spouting. He looked a bit taken aback by her outburst, but she didn’t care. It was time for some questions.

The Doctor looked around, surprised that they were here so fast. After Twilight had exploded, she had called Pinkies name, which appeared instantaneously out of a glass jar. It was obvious that the pink pony had wanted to talk to him when her eyes welled up to two times their size when she saw him, but Twilight had cut her off. 'I need to use your equipment' she said. The Doctor had no idea about what she meant, but the look Pinkie gave him when she said that was one of pity. Then suddenly in a flash of purple they where there, in a room as dark as night besides the blinding lamp trained right on the Doctor’s face. Twilight stood in front of him, covered in shadows, but still seeable.

"Where were you on July twenty-first?"

"What?" the Doctor was beginning to understand that this was in fact an interrogation.

"Never mind. What’s your name?"

"Clockworks." This was going to be too simple.

"What is your job?"

"Clock making and fixing of course."

"Then why, tell me, where you reading so much about space and pony physics in my library?"

"Because...um...” this was going to be a hard one.

"I was trying to, impress...a mare. Yes impress a mare that is very smart, so that she would ...like...me?" the Doctor watched as Twilights face grew from a scowl to a grin and then she blushed before her face changed back to a scowl.

"Who is this mare?"

"Um... No offence but really this doesn’t seem like any of your business." This got Twilight good as she began to look surprised and a blush began to grow on her face.

"Yes, well...”

"You could have just asked me instead of tying me to a chair for an interrogation."

"Yea, but...”

"No buts, I demand my privacy and have to leave anyways because I’ve been here for three hours and forty two minutes when I promised Colgate that I would take her out for a cupcake in three hours and twenty minutes. She could be worrying that I got trapped by some...some...Nevermind, you wouldnt understand. Just untie me and let me go!"Twilight instantly did what he said, teleporting them both back to the library.

"One more question! Please?" Twilight begged him.

"Alright."

"Who are Colgate’s real parents?" this question caught the Doctor off guard. So they really hadn’t believed part of his cover up story? He thought for a moment and sighed.

"I don’t truly know. The only clue I have is that the mother was named Trixy. It didn’t say anything else." Before the librarian could ask any more questions, the Doctor looked her straight in the eyes.

"Twilight sparkle. You’ll learn who I am eventually, maybe five years, maybe more, maybe less. One day you’ll know who I am and that day I’m going to regret so much because this place is going to fall apart. Until then I’m clockworks the local clock maker, don’t forget it." The Doctor turned to leave, faintly catching Twilight's last words before he went out the door.

"Your eyes are so...old."