A Mad Pony in a Box

Chapters

Prologue - Beware of Falling Objects
Chapter Two - We Didn't Know When We Were Well Off
Chapter Three - Will you come into my parlour, said the Spider to the Fly.
Chapter Four - Peoples of the Universe, Please Attend Carefully.
Chapter Five - We're All Stories In The End
Chapter One - First Things First (But Not Necessarily In That Order)

Prologue - Beware of Falling Objects

“Okay, let me make sure I have all of this straight.” Quiver Quill gave the mare beside him a disbelieving look even as he held off a laugh. “This friend of yours got her entire head stuck in some glassware?”

Lyra Heartstring’s giggles were barely constrained as the two continued on their way. “Yeah, you should’ve seen it! Lemon Hearts was running around the classroom, Twinkleshine and Minuette chasing after her, with her head stuck in a flask! Minuette’ll swear up and down it was a beaker, but trust me, it was a flask!”

“Beaker, flask, whatever!” The stallion stopped and laughed, no longer able to restrain himself. “How’d that happen?!”

“That’s the crazy thing! Twilight and Moondancer had been testing elasticity spells before class on the glassware, and didn’t tell anyone! Miss Hackney wasn’t sure if she should punish them or give them high marks!” Laughter flowed free from the unicorn mare until she took a breath. “In the end, she delayed their recommendation letters for the School for Gifted Unicorns. Didn’t work out too badly, seeing as the rest of us missed our first deadline, but still, we were a trimester behind everypony else.”

“You made up for it, though.”

“Yeah, but…” A wistful smile crossed her face before she shook it away. “Doesn’t matter. We all made it through, some better than others. And today, Moondancer makes her first visit to Ponyville.”

“And thanks to special circumstances, I get to be along for the ride.” Quiver smirked. “Not complaining, of course. It sounds like they and I will get on like a house on fire. Moondancer especially sounds like somepony I’d like to talk to now and again.”

“Well don’t get your hopes up, you’re not her type.” At the stallion’s quirked eyebrow, she amended, “Right, yeah, you’re not on the market. Still, if you were, something tells me she wouldn’t be interested in that kind of relationship, at least with you.” She turned sad as she noted, “After Twilight brushed off her party and moved to Ponyville, she pretty much cut herself off from everyone else, hardly even took care of herself. Maybe it’s just personal bias, but I think there’s the chance that she might’ve, I dunno, had feelings for her. I never asked about it for myself though, didn’t think it was my place.”

“Just as well you didn’t. Two mares hanging out together doesn’t instantly equal a relationship. I mean, look at Vinyl and Octavia. They live together, argue every other day, and a casual observer would think they were a couple. But they’re not.” He shrugged and noted, “If ponies didn’t know better, they’d think we were a couple too, but after that big party…”

“Yeah, no kidding. The town’s going to be talking about that for a while.” She gave him a friendly nudge and said, “I am happy for you, Quiver. I wish everypony could have your good fortune.”

“Hey, you’re not doing so bad yourself.” He paused and looked around. “Anyway, what’s up? This is a little too far out of the way for our usual little talks about legends.” A teasing grin formed on his muzzle as he suggested, “You’re not wanting to graduate to conspiracy theories and coming out here to gab about them unnoticed, are you?”

The two ponies found themselves on the outskirts of Ponyville, far from the hustle and bustle of town and in a small wooded area a quarter of the way between the town itself and the nearby warehouse for Amazing Booksellers. The only thing keeping Quiver from feeling totally at ease was the concern that one of his coworkers, Leading Rose for instance, might pop up and intrude upon their conversation. And the less time he spent with that gadfly of a stallion, the better, especially after recent events.

Lyra laughed. “No! I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re a hobby of mine too, but if I was going to have a talk like that, it’d be a crowded restaurant.”

“Good mare. Never hurts to be paranoid.”

“Actually, I came out here to ask about relationship advice. Before I start, there’s something you need to…” An odd sound reached her ears from high above, and Lyra’s ears flicked towards it on instinct. “What’s that?”

Quiver’s automatically followed, and he looked up to scan the nearby area. Nothing looked to be out of the ordinary, birds flying and squirrels darting about and so on, but an odd, faint sound reached his ears. “You’re hearing that too? That groaning, wheezing noise?”

“Yeah. Where’s it…?” She saw something in the air, an odd shift in the atmosphere above, and shouted, “Look out!” Both dropped to the ground as something large tore into the skies above them at high speed, but neither could see it as they’d instinctively covered their eyes. The noise they’d heard had only grown louder until a thundering crash reached their ears. They regained their footing as Lyra asked, “What was that?”

“No clue, but somepony might’ve been hurt in that crash.” Quiver prompted her to follow as he went off to find the cause of the disturbance. “Come on. Let’s have a look.”

The two ponies immediately darted off in the direction that they’d heard the crash, neither quite certain of what they expected to see or what they might find, but having little trouble finding it in the brush and debris left in the wake of what they were looking for. The trail made it easy to follow, and once they found it, the two stood in shock at the sight.

Before them was the object that crashed, gashes left in the earth by its harsh landing but the object itself fully intact. It was taller than either of them, somewhere close to eight feet tall and four feet wide at each side, on a base slightly wider than the sides. It looked identical on all four sides save one, which looked as if it had a pair of doors between the two differently-sized handles and what looked like a door lock, but all four had a pair of segmented windows. What looked like a light fixture sat atop the object, which either could call a box, but the light wasn’t on. The box itself looked to be made of wood, colored blue and bearing signs on each side, an identical one on all four near the top and a second small sign on one of the doors, the door opposite bearing a circular emblem featuring an unfamiliar cross. The signs were legible, but what they read offered no explanation.

“‘Police Public Call Box’?” Lyra read aloud. Her gaze went to the other sign as she continued, “‘Free for use of public’? ‘Pull to open’?”

Not sure of what else to say, Quiver nonetheless felt like he had to break the silence. “Okay, you don’t see something like this every day.”

Author's Note

Apologies for the brevity of this first installment, but I was trying to evoke the opening teaser for a modern episode of "Doctor Who". Hopefully, I've succeeded. In any case, future chapters will be much longer than this.

Chapter Two - We Didn't Know When We Were Well Off

On the fringes of Equestria there are stretches of land that, for one reason or another, remain uninhabited by ponies. Some areas were the homes of vicious creatures, while others were close to the borders of neighboring nations. Yet more were areas that ponies didn’t venture to because, even with the aid of earth pony magic, crops couldn’t grow in the harsh soil. One such area was right at the edge of Equestria’s borders with Abyssinia, a region of caves and caverns known appropriately enough as the Caves of Conundrum.

Getting to this area was difficult, and involved a great deal of work on the part of anyone heading this way. And that was before one entered the caves themselves, as time had turned them into a labyrinth within which one could easily lose themselves.

As his cloak trailed behind him, he was glad that he was no mere pony, and that he knew the caverns so perfectly. He was also relieved that all of the work and effort that he and his associate had put in was about to come to fruition. At long last, they would be free of this wretched world, and restored to their proper glory. And none would stand in their way.

“The Order of Gallopfrey?” Moondancer gave the clockmaker an incredulous scoff. “It’s a myth! A story! I’d call it a conspiracy theory, but even those have more stuff holding them together!”

“Ponies treated Nightmare Moon and changelings as boogeymares and old mare’s tales despite historical evidence pointing to their existence right up until the last couple years proved them real.” Time Turner gestured towards Quiver and Lyra, awestruck expressions clear on their faces as comprehension dawned on them. “And I think our two resident lore and conspiracy buffs might be seeing the truth behind the story for themselves.”

“Less that, and more confirming the stories.” Quiver turned to Clara and elaborated, “You remember us talking about cutie marks, and how it’s rare that anypony will have an identical mark to somepony else?” At the transformed human’s nod, he elaborated, “Well, the Order of Gallopfrey, according to the old stories, is an example. Dozens, maybe hundred of ponies, all carrying the exact same cutie mark.” He gestured back to Time Turner and Minuette as the pair showed off their flanks. “An hourglass.”

Dawning recognition appeared on the faces of the rest of the Equestrians in the room, and Twilight herself shook her head as she wondered aloud, “How could I have missed something like that?”

“Well, in your defense, it would be like looking for a gold needle in a stack of gold-painted regular needles.” Quiver shrugged. “It’s rare that a pony past a certain age doesn’t have a cutie mark after all.”

Minuette grinned and admitted, “Plus you can obscure a mark under the right circumstances, and ponies like us tend to have a sort of natural version of the Not-My-Problem Spell going on.” She turned to the Doctor and explained, “Biological perception filter. It gets strained when two or more of us are in close quarters though, especially if somepony’s actively looking for us. You being here must’ve been the last straw, not that I’m surprised.”

Moondancer shook her head and relented. “Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.” She turned to Lyra and asked, “Anything else you want to exposit on about them?”

“Not much else to exposit about.” Lyra looked to Minuette and noted, “According to the stories, ponies in the Order of Gallopfrey were long-lived, seemingly unaging. There’s accounts of them showing up over the last thousand years, dating back all the way to before Equestria lost Princess Luna to Nightmare Moon, and after Equestria lost the Crystal Empire.” She gestured to Quiver and noted, “Heck, that timeframe was something that got mine and Quiver’s attention, and we looked into it.”

“But how…?” Twilight’s eyes lit up as she realized, “Census records!”

“And a little help from some crazy math that I couldn’t begin to comprehend.” Quiver turned to their visitors and explained, “The Crystal Empire vanished over a thousand years ago due to a curse placed upon it. It and its entire population vanished for all that time, but as far as the census records went, it was like they’d never gone away.”

“Plus the population difference between the census before the Empire’s disappearance and the one after was suspicious.” Lyra projected some numbers into the air to illustrate her point with her magic. “The Crystal Empire’s population according to the census before it vanished was less than fifty-four thousand ponies. You take them out, and even accounting for average population growth at the time due to birth rates and immigration and stuff, there was a small population boom.”

“Approximately one hundred thousand or so?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Lyra turned to the Doctor and asked, “How did you know?”

Clara grinned. “’Cuz he’s clever like that, the show-off.”

Minuette shared the grin as she added, “And we have him to thank for our ancestors making it here.”

“And I think it’s time I got to explaining things.” The Doctor looked about the room and asked, “I was a bit worried that this might be met with disbelief, but given how Quiver and Lyra reacted, and Time Turner and Minuette’s origins, this might actually go smoothly. Who here knows of the Many Worlds Interpretation?”

“The theory that the world we live in is just one of a potentially infinite number of parallel dimensions coexisting alongside of one another. Alternate realities, parallel universes, divergent timelines, different worlds, whatever you want to call them, it’s pretty much the same thing.” At the Doctor’s nod, Moondancer explained, “There was a pony mage who lived over a thousand years ago, Star Swirl the Bearded. A few months ago, Twilight asked me to review his research and studies within his personal library underneath the castle at Canterlot. He developed spells that let him travel to those other worlds, and later made artifacts that let him do the same.”

“I’ve used two of those artifacts to travel to other worlds, and met ponies who came from two others.” Anticipating Lyra’s question, Twilight added, “And yes, that was part of what I wanted to talk with you about later, but I want to wait until Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine are here before we go any further, alright?”

The minty green unicorn accepted that with a nod, then turned to Quiver. “Part of the Pinkie Promise?”

“Bingo.” He turned to the Doctor and added, “Anyway, I guess Twilight can add a fifth world to that list.”

“Yes, exactly, but forget the Many Worlds Interpretation. The way the multiverse works, it’s a lot more complicated than that.”

Quiver shrugged. “Fair enough, but that doesn’t explain your connection to the Order of Gallopfrey, unless…”

“Unless they all came from the same corner of the greater multiverse.” Time Turner smiled. “In a far different reality from this one, there existed a race of ancient and powerful beings. When most civilizations were figuring out the wheel or fire, they had already mastered scientific principles far beyond Equestrian science, from the manipulation of stellar bodies to dimensional transcendentalism to time travel. Upon the perfection of that last bit, they came to be known as the Time Lords, high rulers of the planet Gallifrey.”

Spike held his arms up as if comparing two things. “Okay, yeah, I can see where the name came from.” He turned to the Doctor and reasoned, “So you’re one of them?” At the Doctor’s nod, he turned to Clara. “But you’re not.”

“Really human, from Earth. Different Earth, one where the horses and ponies don’t talk.”

“More like one where the humans don’t listen.” At Clara’s eye-roll, the Doctor explained, “Anyway, yes, I’m a Time Lord. Born on the planet Gallifrey, well over a thousand years old. Maybe one thousand five hundred, I lost track a while ago.”

Pinkie let out a low whistle. “That’s a lotta candles for the birthday cake.”

“My word.” Rarity gave the stallion a once-over and noted, “I must say, you don’t look it. Granny Smith is past two centuries, and you’d have a hard time thinking otherwise looking at her, but you look rather young for someone past a millennium.”

“Well, we Time Lords are naturally long-lived. Between that and regeneration, we’re practically immortal, barring accidents.”

“Speaking of, how many has it…?” At the shocked expression from her relative, Minuette asked, “What? I’m not allowed to be curious?”

“Curious yes, rude no.” Minuette pouted as Time Turner continued. “Anyway, as time progressed, the Time Lords took on a policy of non-interference, and were officially content to keep to themselves and monitor the rest of their universe rather than directly interact with it. Some exceptions were made, but in very rare cases, and usually involving the odd agent coerced into their service, like the odd rogue Time Lord.” He gestured to the Doctor and explained, “And the Doctor happens to be one of the most famous of them. He stole an ancient Type-40 travel capsule and ran off to see all of time and space with naught but his granddaughter for company. But in his travels, he had a bad habit of breaking the non-interference law.”

“Given the choice was to either sit back and watch people get hurt or act to save lives and stop evil, I think my actions were justified.”

The spiky-haired stallion smiled. “Never said they weren’t. I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t intervene from time to time, same with the rest of my family.”

“Okay, let’s not get off on a tangent, shall we?” Sour gave Time Turner a pained expression and asked, “If Gallifrey was so wonderful, then why’d your ancestors leave?”

“The War.” Everyone paused as the Doctor answered, “The Last Great Time War. That’s why they left.” He turned to take in the room and explained, “Over the course of Time Lord history, my people have occasionally come into conflict with races and beings that sought to do terrible things, or presented a clear danger to all of existence, including their own. The most recent time it happened involved a race called the Daleks.”

“Genocidal mutant blobs without mercy or conscience, dedicated to wiping out all non-Dalek life and stripped of all emotions beyond hate. Friendship is beyond them, and their idea of harmony probably speaks for itself.” Minuette shuddered. “Not a day goes by where I hope they don’t exist in this reality.”

“Unfortunately, their attempt to stop the Daleks from becoming a danger ended up being the start of open hostilities between the two races, and it eventually led to the Time War. Attempts were made to stop it, of course, but…” The Doctor shook his head. “At any rate, as it became clearer that war was inevitable, there was a secret attempt made to evacuate a select number of Gallifreyans and secret them away, on the off chance that the war ended badly. Another rogue Time Lord, an old classmate of mine named Drax, spearheaded the effort. He even provided the ship. But things didn’t go nearly as well as planned…”

:“EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-!”:

“Shut it off!” The audio from the attacking Dalek ships was muted as Drax resumed his work in the ship’s engine room. It was a daunting task, as he was surrounded by a number of readouts and strewn bits of equipment jury-rigged together into a terrible mess of technology, and the fewer distractions he had, the better.

:“Whether or not you can hear them, Drax, those Dalek ships are closing. Can we escape before they reach us?”:

“Still working on that!” The balding Time Lord took some relief from the fact that he was usually cool under pressure, otherwise sweat would be trickling down his brow as he continued to work.

:“Do you need any help down there?”:

“No offense to you or anyone else on this ship, Guv, but I’m better off on my own down here!” This was true not only because of the mess strewn around him, but also because it was unlikely that any of the people onboard would be able to make sense of said mess. As advanced as Time Lord society was, very few had any practical experience or much in the way of creativity. It was part of why he’d left the first chance he’d gotten. “Just make sure we don’t get blown up!”

The craft itself was a hardy one, but Drax knew full well that this ship would only last so long against the Daleks, particularly if they followed their usual modus operandi. One Dalek was deadly, several moreso, and it was even worse when you were dealing with their ships, and even with all the modifications that he’d made to its shields and its strengthened hull, he knew it wouldn’t last long.

Drax had managed a pretty good run himself, given he was on his final incarnation. No family, but the life he’d lived had kept him from settling down anywhere. Still, there were a hundred thousand other souls who couldn’t say the same, and he didn’t want to let them down, particularly if it involved him dying with them. There was one man he knew could help them in this case, but what were the chances…

:“Attention Romana’s Hope! You look as if you’re in a spot of trouble! Drax, old friend, you hearing me?!”:

The voice was different, but could it really be?

:“Romana said you might need some help! Looks like she was right – this is a bit more exciting than that mess you made on Altrazar!”:

Drax cackled with glee. “Thete! Damn good timing, mate!”

“I still don’t know how the Daleks found the ship. Never had the means. All I knew was that Drax was desperate enough to try something that was at best theoretical, at worst suicide.” The Doctor raised a hoof and explained, “He converted the ship in such a way that it’s drive system would allow it to traverse the Void and go from one parallel universe to another in order to escape the Daleks. He figured with a modified hull, improved shields and its built-in quantum engines, it might be able to pull it off.”

Clara gave her friend a curious look. “Sorry, the Void?” She glanced around and asked, “And why am I the only one not getting the context? Time Turner and Minuette I understand, but the rest of you seem to be following this no problem.”

“Well, this is just a guess, but…” Quiver picked up an empty plate and held it between his hooves. “Imagine one of my hooves is one reality, and the other is a second one. The plate is what separates them, the boundary line between one dimension and another, a sort of gap.”

“It’s a no-place, where time stands still.” The princess looked to the Time Lord and reasoned, “We call it ‘Limbo’, but I guess your people called it the Void.”

The Doctor nodded at Twilight’s summation. “Either name works.”

“Hold on, that’s what happened to us, isn’t it?” Clara gestured at herself and reasoned, “I mean, aside from being turned into ponies and everything.”

“Yes, but in our case it was an accident. Might’ve been the remnant of a CVE or a lingering crack in the universe or sheer bad luck, but regardless, us coming here wasn’t planned. And don’t get me wrong, there had been purposeful attempts to cross the Void in the past, but very few had been successful enough to complete the crossing. And I tried to warn him about that.”

“What you’re trying is exactly the sort of thing I’d expect from you Drax, it’s brilliant! Mad, but brilliant!” The Doctor dashed around the console for his TARDIS as his ship zipped about in space in the hope of keeping the Daleks’ attention on him and off the larger vessel. “There’s no guarantee that it’ll work!”

:“Better to try and fail than do nothing and let all these people die, eh?”: It was easy to imagine that even as he continued his conversation with his old friend and schoolmate, Drax feverishly kept up at his work. :“Thete, you and I both know what’s on the horizon. Romana did what she could to slow it down, but…”:

“But war with the Daleks was inevitable.” For all the youthful figure this current regeneration had given him, the old wanderer knew that his weariness was clear on his voice. “I’m starting to think I should never have stuck around in Munich and had Romana meet Neville at that conference. She took all the wrong lessons from it.”

:“Well mate, you know politics.”:

“And I’m glad that I still know you as well as I thought.” Switches were flipped and buttons pressed, and the TARDIS renewed its dive into the fray. “You do what you need to do, Drax – I’ll buy you some time!”

Drax laughed over the comm-link, and the Doctor laughed with him, both relieved that neither had disappointed the other and that they might actually make it through. There’d been a lot of renegades among their class, and the two of them had been of decidedly higher moral caliber than the rest, though morality was a little flexible between the two of them. Meanwhile, as much as the Daleks wanted to exterminate everything in their path, he had a way of commanding their attention. Considering how often he’d foiled their plans, it was no shocker the two items were related.

His ship was briefly rocked to one side, the consequence of one Dalek ship hitting another with weapons fire as the Doctor navigated between them. He couldn’t keep this up forever, but he could keep it up long enough for Drax and his charges to get to safety. As far as plans went, this was one of his better ones, but only if he could keep up this momentum and…

Warning sirens flashed, and the Doctor’s attention went to his monitors as more Dalek saucers materialized. “Drax, if you can do it, do it now!”

“On it, Thete!” The Romana’s Hope seemed to ripple in space as its engines came online, but that only seemed to attract more attention to them as more Dalek saucers appeared. “You give the tin dog a good cleaning from me no matter what, eh?”

The Dalek saucers opened fire, and multiple bursts of weapons fire hit the ship’s hull as it erupted in a flash of light.

“Drax! DRAX!”

“As far as I could tell, the ship had been destroyed, everyone onboard lost to history. One hundred thousand lives, and they were just a speck of what was to come.” The Doctor turned to Time Turner and smiled. “Or so I thought at the time. They made it through.”

“Not unscathed, but yes.” The clockmaker smiled as he explained, “According to the stories my great grandfather told me as a foal, the ship materialized in orbit of this Earth. All the shielding meant to protect it on its passage through the dimensional barrier was enough for that task, but that didn’t stop other things from happening.”

“Like getting trashed on the way through. What the Daleks did didn’t help, but between that and the strong thaumic field surrounding this version of Earth, things kinda went crazy. Everyone onboard turning into ponies just made things worse.” Minuette shrugged as she lifted up a bit of food with her magic. “Closest we can figure for what happened is that the thaumic field had a crazy reaction with all the chameleon arches installed on the ship.”

As if he anticipated the next question, the Doctor quickly explained, “It’s Time Lord technology that allows us to transform ourselves into another creature or race for whatever reason, usually to hide. The change is so thorough that the one transformed is effectively a different person. New memories, new DNA, everything. Reversable under the right conditions, however.” He turned to the two Time Ponies and noted, “That being said, it sounds like they didn’t forget their pasts.”

Time Turner shook his head. “Physical changes happened, yes, but no memory alterations or shifts of that sort. They used the ship’s sensors to find the area with the largest population resembling their current forms and made landfall in escape pods. The ship itself was then sent hurtling into the nearby sun, and after they got the attention of the crown, our ancestors formally asked for asylum. Princess Celestia granted it almost immediately after consulting Star Swirl the Bearded, and didn’t even wait to discuss the matter with Princess Luna.”

Quiver raised an eyebrow as he snarked, “Gee, I wonder how that turned out.”

“Okay, gonna ask about that later, but, ‘thaumic field’?”

Moondancer gave the transformed human a dumbfounded expression. “You don’t know what a thaumic field is?”

“Her Earth must not have as strong of one as ours does.”

The bespectacled unicorn shrugged at the princess’ suggestion. “I guess, but so weak that it can’t even be detected? That’s stretching things.”

“And it’s not really answering her question, dears.” Both mares had the decency to look embarrassed at Rarity’s gentle chiding before the elegant unicorn turned to Clara and remarked, “I do apologize Miss Clara, but I fear you know how the scientifically-inclined get when confronted with such things.”

Twilight gave a sheepish grin, then turned to the transformed human. “I’ll try to keep it in simple terms. Every sapient lifeform in our world is born with some degree of innate magic inside them. Not everyone has the same amount of magic, and it grows at different rates between individuals based on a number of factors, but we all have it. And the magic inside of us interacts with the magic in the environment around us, a field that encompasses our entire world.”

“This ‘thaumic’ field your talking about?”

“Exactly. That’s the scientific name for it, at any rate. Every sapient creature in our world is able to interact with it, though for some strange reason, we ponies seem to have the strongest connection to it. That’s the theory behind why ponies are the only race to get cutie marks, in any case.”

“And it’s thanks to us being able to manipulate it that we can do so much with it.” Quiver smirked. “How else do you think that pegasi can stay in the air with such small wings?”

“And those auras that we see around a unicorn’s horn, and the one around Twilight’s hands when she was transformed, were due to her innate magic interacting with the wider thaumic field.” The unicorns and alicorn in the room nodded at the Doctor’s summation. “Sort of like the Higgs field and how everything has mass. Not a fundamental force like gravity and electromagnetism, but still, very much a part of how the universe works.”

“Alright, but how could their Earth have a stronger field than ours does?” Clara gave him a curious look and asked, “I mean, how do we know that our Earth doesn’t have a thaumic field?”

“Oh, it does. I’ve encountered races and beings with the ability to manipulate and interact with thaumic fields several times, like the Dæmons and the Carrionites. I’ve even met humans who could manipulate it, even if they didn’t have complete knowledge of what they were doing.” He turned to the two Time Ponies and remarked, “Your ancestors must’ve had a field day figuring everything out.”

“With what they had available, but they soon discovered a problem. It might’ve been too much magic or it might’ve been so radical a change in our anatomies, but either way, coming here took away the one thing that made the Time Lords what they are.” Time Turner frowned and admitted, “They couldn’t regenerate anymore.”

At the curious expressions on the various ponies’ faces, the Doctor explained, “Like I said, Time Lords are practically immortal, barring accidents. When an accident happens, assuming everything goes right, our bodies undergo a rapid physical metamorphosis, cells rearranging themselves and chemicals mixing about, DNA shifting in such a way that we emerge as entirely new people. There’s limits, of course, and clearly there’s ways to block it.” He gave a reassuring though sad smile. “Still, don’t worry about me. One way or another, it won’t be a problem. But clearly, everyone from that first generation is long dead by now.”

Minuette nodded. “The last one passed away about a hundred years ago, but every generation born since their arrival has worked to preserve the knowledge they left behind and try to carry on Gallifrey’s legacy. Monitor time and protect our new home, all without trying to interfere too much in everypony’s daily lives.”

“It helps that we aren’t the only ones out there doing that.” Time Turner raised a hoof to his muzzle and pondered aloud, “Which raises the question of why we haven’t seen an Observer yet. Usually they’re rather on top of things when it comes to pan-dimensional incursions.”

Lyra’s eyes went wide at that remark. “The Observers are real too?!”

Twilight gave her old schoolmate a gleeful look. “I know! The only reason I can think of that I haven’t seen Seventh Moon yet is because it isn’t important enough for him to bother with!” Twilight turned to Minuette with further glee as she continued. “Anyway, this is incredible! Minuette, you and I went to school with one another, and you never said anything about this?”

The blue unicorn shrugged. “Well what’s the point of being part of a secret group if you blab about it to everypony you meet?”

“Still, this is a little surprising.” Moondancer gave the mare an incredulous look. “I mean, you’re a dentist. How does that relate to being part of a group that monitors time?”

Pinkie immediately perked up as she realized the implications. “Can you do magic that lets you reverse time so that you can get rid of cavities and gingivitis and stuff like that?!”

Minuette rolled her eyes. “I wish. Doing stuff like that would be awesome, but it’s way too dangerous. That being said…” Her horn glowed, and a projection formed over the table. “I can do stuff like this really easy.”

Moondancer’s eyes lit up in recognition. “I remember that! That’s the party Twilight threw for me back in Canterlot a few months ago, right after she ascended and became a princess!” She turned back to her old classmate and asked, “But I’m seeing you in there. This can’t be you projecting a memory, not unless your sense of spatial awareness is that good.”

“Got it in one, Moonie.” The projection shifted to show a different event, this time one that Minuette hadn’t been present for. “Ooh, this is a good one.”

“SILENCE!” The projection showed Pinkie Pie at the heart of an explosion of comedy props and fake foliage, her attention fixed upon a startled Twilight and Princess Luna. “LUNA OF EQUESTRIA, YOU COME TO ME WISHING TO LEARN THE ART OF COMEDY! WHY DO YOU SEEK THIS KNOWLEDGE?!”

“Oh yeah! I remember that!” Pinkie smiled as the projection faded and she recalled the details. “That was a few months back! Princess Luna came to me wanting to know how to be funny because she wanted ponies to feel more relaxed with her! I taught her so much about helping others have fun!”

“After screaming at her, calling her Nightmare Moon and hiding in that bush.” Spike crossed his arms and noted, “Just like she did last Nightmare Night. Really hurt Princess Luna’s feelings.”

“Which I didn’t really figure out until after everything was said and done with that little adventure.” The pink mare let out a nervous chuckle. “I thought she knew I was joking around. Oopsy.”

“Just about every pony in the Order of Gallopfrey has their magic geared towards time in some manner or form.” Time Turner gestured towards Minuette and explained, “Unicorns can project images from time, pegasi can manipulate it such that they can accelerate their relative time compared to others and essentially fly faster, and earth ponies such as myself have even longer lifespans than we normally would. And we hardly look our age either.”

“Okay, gonna come back to that.” Quiver turned to Minuette and asked, “You can’t see the future, can you?”

The mare shook her head. “Just the past, and only glimpses of it involving individuals who are in my immediate vicinity. Projecting an image of the present just comes out blurry, and showing the future’s outright impossible for me or any other unicorn in the Order. You want something like that, you’d need an actuary, and even then, that’s just making an educated guess.”

The stallion frowned. “Well, that takes care of my questions. I guessing your ancestors didn’t have any means of seeing what happened to lead up to Nightmare Moon, or showing it to Princess Celestia.”

“I imagine she figured things out for herself one way or another, regardless of how much they did to review everything that happened.” Time Turner turned regretful as he noted, “And regardless, something tells me they were content to stick to the convenient half-truth rather than try to reveal what really happened to the wider world. Noninterference and all that.”

“And even if we did try to say something later, just how many of those stubborn old academics would believe us?” Minuette scoffed.

The Doctor raised an intrigued eyebrow while Clara asked in confusion, “I’m guessing there’s something we’re missing.”

“Quite a bit. We’ll explain later.” Twilight turned to Time Turner and noted, “All that aside, I’m guessing not every member of the order was eager to follow that noninterference line.”

“No, Drax in particular helped Star Swirl to develop a number of time-related spells.” The Time Pony smiled. “Including that time travel spell of his that you used.”

“Hey, I remember that!” Lyra gave the spikey-maned stallion a raised eyebrow and asked, “Didn’t you laugh at Twilight when she said she’d been visited by her future self?”

As her relative managed a sheepish grin, Minuette giggled. “And you’d better believe I teased him over not believing Twilight after I confirmed her story.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that too!” Pinkie giggled. “Twilight got visited by herself from about a week in the future, and Future Twilight tried to warn her about something! She spent all that time worrying over what her future self was gonna warn her about, and when the time came, nothing happened! So she used the spell to go back in time to tell herself not to worry, and…!”

“And she caused the events of the last week to happen without even realizing it.” At Pinkie’s nod, the Doctor explained, “Destiny trap. Predestination paradox. Still, something like that’s dangerous.”

“That’s probably why Star Swirl designed the spell to only as for a minute or so before sending the caster back, only work once, and to only take a pony forward or back in time by about a week or so.” The princess turned nervous as she admitted, “And I was barely able to pull it off, so that limits the number of ponies who can use it even more. Still, something like that should…” At the two Time Ponies’ expressions, she gave them a curious look. “You two want to share something with the rest of us?”

Time Turner turned anxious. “Twilight, there’s something you need to know about time travel. Now, don’t take this the wrong way and think that free will doesn’t exist…”

“Because it totally does,” Minuette noted.

“But Star Swirl was a firm believer in fate, and in its inflexibility. Couple that with Time Lord adherence to the laws of time, and it led to him constructing the time spell in the manner that he did. Consequently, when we get word of a potential predestination paradox, then we absolutely have to make certain that it takes place, or there could be disastrous consequences for the timestream. Fixed points in history are ridiculously important, and if they aren’t preserved, then bad things happen.”

“Butterfly effect and all that. It’s never pretty.”

“Thus as soon as we confirmed what happened, we informed Princess Celestia, and she told the guards to expect you and let you have access to the spell you needed in order to go back in time and complete the loop.”

Twilight blinked. “What.”

Minuette turned regretful as she noted, “We’re sorry, Twi, really, but…”

“No, no, it’s alright, you did nothing wrong.” She frowned as she made a mental note to bring this up with her mentor at a later time. “Still, that spell isn’t just left lying out all the time, is it?”

Minuette laughed. “Of course not! We don’t want some insane pony getting their hooves on it! Even if they didn’t know what they were doing with it, they could really mess things up!”

Twilight sighed in relief, then turned towards her guests. “Well, I’m glad that you’re taking things so well. Then again, I’d be happy too if I found out that I was successful in saving a hundred thousand lives.”

Clara grinned. “Not the first time this has happened to him.”

“Certainly better than finding out that I made things worse.” The Time Lord then remarked, “In any case, all of that’s still leaving me and Clara with a number of questions, and something tells me all of you probably have some of your own. Maybe we can start with what caused this Earth to have such a strong thaumic field compared to the one we know?”

Twilight nodded. “Just as long as we get a final word on what happened with the Time War, you can ask whatever you like.”

Far from Ponyville and beyond the awareness of Equestria’s wider population, deep beneath the Caves of Conundrum, lights flickered on and ancient sounds echoed through far more ancient surroundings. A dark-maned stallion surveyed the area around himself as technological components came online and lights flashed to life all around him. “It seems that last component was installed at a most fortuitous time.”

“And one far too long in coming.” He turned to face a dark-haired curly-maned unicorn mare with a cold, rigid-looking face as she turned her attention away from the machinery around them, all far too advanced to be of Equestrian origin. “There’s still work to be done, so be quick about it. That bit of gold you claimed from Ahuizotl has only allowed us to get this far, and I’d rather we not squander our brief lead.”

The stallion scowled, but did as he was bidden. “Nor I. Though I would take care were I in your position.” Even as he set about his work and made final adjustments, he continued, “After all, you would not have accomplished any of this without my help.”

“And you would not still be alive were it not for mine.”

“A fair point, I’ll admit.” He paused briefly in his work, turned to his associate and grinned. “Though do you think someone will notice?”

The mare harshly scoffed. “They’d be blind fools not to, equines or not. The better question is whether or not they will be able to do anything about it.”

Between three avid students of magic and one eager amateur, the gathered ponies at Golden Oak Library scrounged up a number of books and tomes for the Doctor to review, even as the curious Time Lord fielded questions. “Quiver and Lyra gave us a brief run-down as we were making our way here. I assume that complete power isn’t held by the four princesses, given that you’re not the one governing Ponyville?”

Twilight shook her head as she laid out the last of the books. “Oh no. Equestria’s a constitutional monarchy, and has been for over nine hundred years. Cadance is still working on instituting reforms in the Crystal Empire to establish some civilian posts in their local government, however. Given they came from a time before the constitution was implemented…”

“Wait, sorry, what?” Clara approached the princess and asked, “What do you mean by that, exactly?”

“The Crystal Empire got shunted forward in time by about a thousand years by Sombra when Celestia and Luna defeated him.” Spike grinned as the transformed woman turned to face him. “And then we finished him off with the Crystal Heart after he and the Empire returned.”

“Okay, that’s good, but…question. The Celestia and Luna you mentioned, they’re not the same…”

“They are the same.” Quiver approached and explained, “Celestia and Luna began ruling Equestria together shortly after the nation was founded about eleven hundred years ago. Celestia had to go it alone for a thousand years, but that’s a whole other story.”

Clara processed that for a moment, then turned to Twilight and asked, “Alright, I have to ask, how old can a pony get in this world? I mean, if Celestia and Luna are over a thousand years old each…”

“Trust me, the two of them are a special case. They believe that their longevity is due to their magical bonds with the sun and moon.” She sat down and explained, “Your world has a heliocentric solar system, correct? One where the sun is the center of gravity, with assorted planets and moons revolving around it?”

“Yours doesn’t work that way?”

Moondancer approached and explained, “Ours is more like a geocentric model. Before Equestria was founded, the ancient unicorns used their magic to raise and lower the sun and moon. Celestia and Luna took over the job after they were crowned, and for the most part, they’ve been doing it ever since.”

“And that bond with the sun and moon is part of the reason they’ve been around so long, at least, according to Celestia. From what she’s told me, the very act of raising and lowering the sun and moon rejuvenates them. Once they reached full adulthood, they effectively stopped aging.”

The Doctor scoffed at Twilight’s summation. “Sorry, that seems a bit rubbish to me. You can’t have an actual physical bond with a stellar object, at least, not one that allows you to control it, even in a world where magic is as abundant as it is here.” He turned to Moondancer and said, “I’m a little surprised that you’re so accepting of a heliocentric model, however.”

The bespectacled unicorn shrugged. “I just found out that alternate realities exist, that my friend has visited them, and that the Order of Gallopfrey’s real. I think I can give the idea of a heliocentric solar system at least a little credibility.”

The Time Lord smiled. “Good for you. An open mind is always…”

He paused as, all at once, the horns of every unicorn and alicorn present flashed. Everyone present cried out in surprise and did their best to cover their eyes, and all of them collapsed to the ground, with Twilight and the Doctor giving out pained screams as their bodies each let out a brilliant flash of light.

Clara reared back in shock and fell on her side, and rubbed her eyes with her hoof by instinct. Her hooves felt numb, as if they’d fallen asleep. She blinked her eyes several times and asked, “What just happened? Please tell me that’s normal around here.”

“Unfortunately Clara, something tells me that’s decidedly not normal around here. Now come on, on your feet.”

“Who said that?” Rarity shook her head and blinked her eyes as she looked towards the unfamiliar voice. “Forgive me, but I…” Her eyes went wide as she made sight of the apparent newcomer, and she screamed.

Author's Note

Anyone who's familiar with Doctor Who in the eighties can probably guess what just prompted Rarity to scream.

Anyway, more nods to older Doctor Who stories are present in this chapter, along with some clarifications and fanwanking and stuff that I've been building for ages. Don't be surprised if I eventually put out blog posts explaining the continuity nods there...but I'll be putting out one elaborating on a few things for this chapter.

Speaking of, my thanks for RQK for consulting me on a few things related to this chapter and the content therein.

Chapter Three - Will you come into my parlour, said the Spider to the Fly.

Ask a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard if they considered their job to be difficult, and you’d get a number of potential answers, depending upon whom you spoke to and where they were assigned. This was especially true for Guardsponies assigned to Canterlot. If pressed, some would find themselves reflecting upon how mind-numbingly boring their duties were.

Sunrunner found herself wondering exactly how such ponies ended up in the armor. Attitudes like that were part of the reason why the Royal Guard had gained something of a reputation for being a joke of late. Guards in the Crystal Empire at least seemed to have taken it upon themselves to not repeat previous mistakes, either because the native crystal ponies had clear memory of being enslaved and brainwashed by Sombra or because the transfers from elsewhere in Equestria felt that they had to measure up.

Still, things like this were part of the reason why she and other officers were patrolling the halls of the castle, to make sure that the NCOs on duty were doing their jobs. Two such were standing before her, guarding the door to Princess Luna’s chambers, and stood at attention as she approached. The pair looked clear-eyed and attentive as they briefly looked her over, and one curtly greeted her. “Ma’am.”

“As you were, stallions.”

She would have gone on her way, had it not been for the numb feeling in her wings and hooves. That pause lasted long enough for her to hear a pained scream from the other side of the doors. One of the two Guardsponies immediately radioed in to report what was going on, while the other moved to unlock the door to investigate.

A list of possibilities went through Sunrunner’s mind the instant she heard that scream, with the most optimistic one being that the Princess of the Night had simply fallen out of bed. She hoped that it was something like that, but expected something worse as she shook her wings to get the numbness out of them.

The doors were thrown open, and Sunrunner rushed in with the stallion who’d greeted her as fast as she was able, the numb feeling having thankfully subsided. “Princess Luna, we heard…!” She paused at the sight before her and found herself thinking that this was hardly what she had expected to see.

Before them, by all appearances, stood Nightmare Moon. Mane and tail flowing like a shadowy cloud, fanged teeth, coat and feathers black as night, and every bit the terror of many a foal’s bad dreams. This, however, was not the fearsome Nightmare Moon of legend – her catlike eyes showed clear signs of shock, her body language that of alarm and surprise, and not a trace of malevolent laughter had escaped her lips. Her position suggested that she’d rolled out of bed in shock, and she painfully regained her footing as they watched. Either they were dealing with a changeling who was horribly out of date, or…

“Lieutenant Sunrunner. Corporal.” The tone of voice made it clear that while her outside was Nightmare Moon, the inside was Princess Luna, and she was just as freaked out as they were. “I must speak with my sister at once. As you can plainly see, something is terribly wrong.”

Clara took no pleasure from being blinded. She took even less pleasure from being ground zero to Rarity screaming. The cause, however, was apparent, though she didn’t quite share the sentiment.

“For goodness sake, Miss Rarity, was that really justified?” Where the Doctor had been was now a larger, bulkier stallion with a short, curly yellow mane and blue eyes, wearing what had to be the most eye-searing, attention-getting coat that anypony had ever seen.

“Um, Rarity?”

“One moment, Spike.” The fashionista’s attention was back on the apparent newcomer as she hissed, “Justified?! It’s more than justified! Have you seen yourself in a mirror?!”

“Yeah, you kinda look like a clown barfed all over you.”

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie!” She turned away from her grinning friend, produced a full-sized mirror and demanded, “Who the devil are you going around in a coat like that?!”

“Rarity!” More voices had joined Spike’s beckoning call.

The oddly-attired stallion raised an eyebrow and gave the fashionista a stern look. “I think perhaps you should tend to your friend before critiquing my fashion choices, young lady.”

“Spike can more than look after himself, good sir! I…!”

“Rarity!” Quiver’s roar immediately caught her attention. “It’s not Spike that we’re all fussing over!”

She rolled her eyes. “Really Quiver, you needn’t…” She gasped as she realized the problem. “Good heavens, Twilight!”

Sprawled out on the floor and groaning in pain was Twilight. No apparent harm was done to her, but her current state was visibly different from her norm. She was smaller, albeit by a slight margin, and her wings were missing. Spike had already moved some pillows beneath her head, but that seemed light comfort at best.

The apparent newcomer scoffed as he examined himself in the mirror. “Speaks rather poorly for you that you prioritize my fashion choices over your friend’s well-being, Miss Rarity.”

Clara then gave him a light slap with one hoof. “Oy, Doctor, not helping.”

Before the stallion could protest, Lyra looked up. “Wait, ‘Doctor’? He’s the Doctor?!”

The Doctor stood with a proud grin. “The one and only.” He glanced at himself in the mirror once more and explained, “And I imagine that whatever’s caused my reversion to this handsome, noble state is also responsible for the brief numbness we all felt, as well as Twilight’s transformation.”

Before Lyra could question further, Minuette spoke up. “Remember what the Doctor said about Time Lords being able to regenerate? That’s the pony version of one of the Doctor’s earlier regenerations, from before the Time War.”

“Indeed.” The Doctor stepped forward as Twilight weakly attempted to return to her hooves. “Though why she’s changed as well…”

“Twilight’s not a natural-born alicorn,” Spike explained. “She was born a unicorn. She ascended and became an alicorn a few months back. It’s rare, and not every pony can do it. Those who do need a spell and access to specific magic artifacts. The only other pony we know who ascended is Cadance.”

“And clearly, it was meant to be permanent.” The Doctor knelt down as best he could. “Don’t overexert yourself, your Highness. Your biology isn’t meant for rapid changes like that, not like mine.”

Twilight weakly turned her head to notice her missing wings. “And I was just getting used to having them.” She then turned to the Time Lord. “Doctor, I don’t suppose you have any ideas about the cause?”

“No, but as I said earlier, both of us changing can’t be a coincidence.” He looked about and asked, “And we all felt that numbing sensation, correct? Hooves, horns, wings?”

“Me too, only it wasn’t really in one specific area.” Spike turned sheepish as he admitted, “Ponies don’t really know much about the internal anatomy of dragons, so…”

“Regardless, the likely explanation is simple. Someone is manipulating this world’s thaumic field, and we’ve just felt the…” The Doctor was interrupted as another blinding flash fired off from horns and ponies cried out once more.

“Shut it down!”

The equipment surrounding them powered down, but lights remained clear on the two ponies as they regained their footing. The stallion regarded one of his hooves as he reasoned, “It seems the results were less than impressive.”

The mare regarded him scornfully and retorted, “Science is about experimentation, as you well know, and one can learn a great deal from failure.” She made her way to a monitor screen as it scrolled through data from their test. “We simply need to adjust the thaumic flow.”

“That will be a very time-consuming procedure, my dear.”

“Indeed.” She sharply turned to face him and declared, “Then we’d best get started.”

Spike rubbed his eyes once more and complained, “Not again!”

The gathered ponies in Golden Oak Library recovered themselves, the numbness they were feeling passing swiftly. Quiver rubbed his eyes and looked to Twilight to see her still sprawled on the floor, but thankfully no longer bereft of her wings. He turned to the Doctor to see him back to his initial state. “Okay, everything that just happened is definitely connected.”

“Unfortunately, we still don’t know the cause.” The Time Lord offered a hoof to the Princess, who carefully regained her footing. “We…” His summation was interrupted as Spike barfed up a scroll, which he quickly unfurled and opened up. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Enchanted dragon flame. It’s the fastest way we have of keeping in touch with Princess Celestia.” The dragon read over the message, and his eyes grew wide with alarm. “Oh no. You two weren’t the only ones affected. According to this, Princess Luna briefly turned back into Nightmare Moon!” Alarmed expressions crossed the faces of everyone present save the Doctor and Clara, and Spike amended, “Long story.”

“Princess Luna spent a thousand years possessed by an entity called the Nightmare,” Quiver explained as he stepped forward. “While possessed, she was forcibly transformed into a being we know as Nightmare Moon. Celestia was forced to banish her to the very moon that she controlled, but she was freed a little over a year ago and then had the Nightmare purged by Twilight and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Two of whom are present and accounted for,” Rarity elaborated as Pinkie waved a hoof and grinned. “But it’s impossible for Luna to revert like that! The Nightmare was fragmented, and those fragments are either locked away or destroyed!”

“Well, she didn’t totally go back to being Nightmare Moon.” Spike showed her the letter. “She turned back into Nightmare Moon physically, but she still called herself Luna, so…”

“So it was purely a physical change, no possession involved.” The Doctor considered this in his mind. “Does the letter say anything else?”

“Only that Celestia will write us…” Spike gagged, then barfed up another letter, which he quickly read. “Oh great, it wasn’t just Luna and Twilight who got affected by this. According to this letter, the Crystal Empire vanished again for like a minute or so.”

Twilight was suddenly more alert than before. “What all does it say?! Is everypony there…?!”

“They’re fine, as far as they know. But from what they’ve gathered, not everypony in the Empire vanished with it. Just the native crystal ponies.” Spike looked up and continued, “Anyway, the first letter also said that Celestia wants us to investigate.”

“Spike, write back to Princess Celestia and inform her of what happened to Princess Twilight. Tell her in very clear terms that Twilight is in no position to investigate what’s happening.” Sour Sweet looked to the alicorn and admitted, “With all due respect, ma’am, we have no idea what’s causing this and no clue if it will repeat. I can’t risk you going into danger.”

“And even if we were in a position to investigate, we’d be going at half-strength.” Twilight looked to Rarity and Pinkie, well aware of the absences among them. She doubted that whatever was going on would immediately endanger Applejack, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, but however long that lasted was still an issue. “And that’s assuming we even knew where to start looking.”

Time Turner cleared his throat. “Princess, I do believe that Minuette and I can point whoever is investigating in the right direction.”

“Well, that sounds like us.” Heads turned to Clara as she and explained, “Me and the Doctor deal with this sort of thing all the time, and he’d volunteer us anyway. Can’t turn away when people need his help.”

“Couldn’t live with myself if I did, but the two of us can’t do this alone.” The Time Lord looked about hesitantly. “I’m afraid…”

Moondancer stepped forward. “I’m in.”

“Whoa, Moonie, hold on!” Minuette looked to her old classmate in shock. “You don’t know what’s up here! Don’t you want to think twice before you go rushing off into danger?”

“I know there’s danger involved here, but…” She gave Twilight a quick glance, then pleaded with the Time Lord and Time Ponies, “Please, I need to do this.”

“Do you need to do this alone?” Lyra took up position beside her and grinned. “Because I’m not letting my friend go marching off into danger without a familiar face by her side. Count me in too.”

“And me.” Quiver stepped forward and added, “Some raw earth pony strength might come in handy, and that’s ignoring me being a wealth of useless information.”

“No information’s useless in the right case, Quiver.” The Doctor glanced around. “Anyone else?”

Sour looked hesitantly between her cousin and her charges, then shook her head. “I’m sorry. I might be needed more here.”

The Doctor nodded. “Alright then.” He then turned to Time Turner and asked, “Now, if you’d be so kind.”

“Understood.” Shining Armor gave a worried frown as he removed his helmet and turned to his wife. “Everypony in the Crystal Guard’s finished checking in. As far as they can tell, anyone who became a resident here in the Empire didn’t vanish along with the natives. Cadance, I know you don’t want to hear this…”

“I’m not leaving the palace, Shining.” The alicorn’s expression was firm as she declared, “All of the ponies of the Crystal Empire are under my watch, not just those of us who moved here after the Empire’s return. Whatever they’re going through, I’ll face it with them.” She gave her husband a raised eyebrow. “But shouldn’t you be seeing about getting the rest of us who aren’t crystal ponies here just in case?”

The door into the throne room opened, and a familiar blue-maned pegasus entered. “Sir? Ma’am? There’s a civilian who wants to speak with you about what’s occurred. He thinks he might have a means of protecting us in case the Empire vanishes again. I’ve got him with the rest of the civilians we’ve evacuated.”

“Take me to him, Lieutenant.” Shining took a second to give his wife a smile. “Figured it would be a good idea to have an evac procedure ready just in case. It’s not much, but at least everypony who isn’t native to the Crystal Empire is all in one place.”

Cadance smiled back. “Never doubted you for a second. Now go, do your job.” As her husband and his subordinate departed, the alicorn quietly hoped that the disappearance of the Empire wouldn’t repeat. That minute or so where it had disappeared had been frightening as it was, and the reintroduction to the unpleasantness of the weather outside the protection of the Crystal Heart hadn’t helped.

She knew that good ponies were at work to deal with it, however, and she had faith in them, just as she did her husband. And hopefully, answers would come for all of this very soon.

If the residents of Ponyville were aware of any disasters to come, they showed no sign as Time Turner and Minuette led the Doctor and his four companions through town at a swift run. They swiftly arrived at an unassuming house, where the spiky-maned stallion produced a key before the door opened for them to reveal another, familiar unicorn mare on the other side.

“Dad! Minnie!” Alarm was clear on the pale magenta mare’s face as she ushered the group into the house. “Am I glad to see the two of you! The wireless has been going nuts and…!” She spied the two unfamiliar ponies and asked, “Who are these two?”

“Sorry, we’re new in town.” The Doctor offered a friendly smile as Time Turner dashed to a nearby squared-off object and began fiddling with it. “I’m the Doctor, this is Clara, and you are?”

“Amethyst Star, call me Sparkler. Now…” Comprehension dawned on her as she put things together. “Wait, you’re not…the Doctor?”

Clara smirked. “The one and only.”

The mare barely restrained a squee before she explained, “I have heard so many stories about you!” She turned to more familiar ponies and asked, “You all know?”

“We’ve gotten the rundown.” Quiver’s eyes flicked briefly towards Sparkler’s flank. “I’m guessing that’s your real cutie mark?”

The mare rolled her eyes. “Can’t blame you for asking. No, being related to a Time Pony doesn’t automatically mean you’re a Time Pony. Call it cross-pollination, call it the magic of cutie marks, but either way, I’m not complaining.”

Clara looked at her with confusion. “Wait, so the refugees from Gallifrey interbred with the locals?”

“Some of them!” Time Turner finished fiddling with his device as he explained, “We think that’s one of the reasons why the average pony lifespan has increased in the last thousand years!” With a quick ‘thwack’ to the side, the device came online. “There we are!”

Quiver and Lyra briefly exchanged a glance at the implications of that revelation as a screen rose up out of the device and panels opened up, revealing something that looked decidedly more advanced than either of them had seen. The minty green unicorn let out a low whistle. “Nice.”

Clara’s view was otherwise as she looked over the switches and dials on the panels. “Bit retro except for the screen.”

“You do the best you can with what you have.” Time Turner pulled a switch or two as he looked upon the screen. “Time Turner reporting in, Minuette is with me.”

:“About time you reported in!”: A window popped up on the screen depicting a greyish-blue unicorn stallion, the collar of a red jacket just visible around him and his orange eyes showing some irritation. :“Now please tell me that I’m not going to have to fill you in on everything!:

Time Turner grimaced at the other Time Pony’s remark. “Royal, something tells me that I’m going to be filling you in on a few things before this is all done.”

:“Don’t make any promises that you can’t keep, cousin.”: Another window opened beside the first, this one with another stallion of similar coloring but lacking a horn. His gold eyes were more relaxed than that of the other pony as he urged, :“But by all means, please share.”:

“Happy to.” The Time Pony turned back and gestured for the Doctor to step forward. “Royal, Pace, this is someone you need to talk to.”

Royal scowled. :“Turner, now is hardly the time to be introducing us…”:

The Doctor cut him off by pulling his sonic screwdriver from his coat and using it on the device before him. A third screen popped up that flashed through a multitude of images and text, none of which the various normal ponies could decipher or recognize. “Sorry, needed a second to present my credentials.” The information stopped, and the Time Lord smiled. “Now then, I’m the Doctor. The two of you are?”

Both stallions were awestruck, and it took a second for the blue earth pony to identify himself. :“Perfect Pace, sir. I’m reporting in from Canterlot.”:

:“Royal Pin here in the Crystal Empire.”:

The Doctor smiled, glad for the cooperation. “Good. Between all of us, that’s all the locations that have suffered the effects of these temporal shifts. Now, the cause has to be somewhere on this planet. Do we have any way to triangulate, confirm a location?”

“I imagine that’s partly why they were so eager to get in touch with me.” Time Turner adjusted a few more controls. “Ready to transmit. Where are we sending the data?”

:“Oh, sorry!”: Another window flashed on, this time depicting a strange, exotic-looking creature with golden fur, large ears and thin, wisp-like antennae. :“I’m still getting used to all of this! Hello everyone, I’m Tsuki!”:

“Aw, adorable.” The Doctor turned to Time Turner and asked, “Who is she?”

“Tsuki must be our new liaison with the Nyx. They’re a race of creatures that live on our moon.”

:“And we’ve been hit by this too. Poor Doran almost passed out when she saw what happened to her, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, ready for transmission.”:

Time Turner nodded. “Sending now.”

Clara leaned back towards Quiver and asked, “Your moon’s inhabited?”

“I’m guessing that yours isn’t.”

“Not officially. One of the Doctor’s old companions is working on a moonbase back home. Met her once.” Clara nervously grinned and admitted, “Hope I look as good as she did at her age.”

Quiver kept mum as information came back and the window with the information the Doctor had provided was replaced with a two-dimensional map of the planet, which quickly focused on the western hemisphere before tightening in on the areas to Equestria’s south. :“Looks like the focal point of this is located somewhere south of Equestria. Best guess? The Caves of Conundrum.”:

“Bit of a ways to travel, but at least we know where to go. Thanks everyone. I’ll do my best to keep everyone in the loop.”

:“Turner.”: What irritation he’d earlier displayed was gone as Royal Pin gave his relative a worried look. :“Be careful out there. Even we don’t have as much information about that area as we’d like. And I don’t want your daughter to be without a father.”:

“Neither do I. I’ll keep safe.”

As the transmission cut off, the Doctor turned about and took in everyone present. “So, the Caves of Conundrum. That sounds twisty and turny and confusing. Anyone here know anything about them?”

“They’re on our border with Abyssinia, but I don’t think anypony can tell you much beyond that. As far as geography and history go, the Equestrian educational system is a little lacking.” Heads turned towards Quiver, who shrugged. “Excuse me for being bitter about past experiences.”

“Let’s table that.” Lyra turned back to the Doctor and continued where her friend left off. “Getting there’s a problem. The railroad tracks go past it towards Silver Shoals, but there aren’t any stops along the route. And even if there were, it could take the better part of a day to get there, at minimum.”

Minuette gave her cousin a smile. “Well lucky for us, we might have a solution.”

“And here I had thought we had solved our problems with Nightmare Moon.”

Luna gave her sibling a raised eyebrow, one clear despite her groggy state. The throne room’s windows had been magically tinted to ease light levels, but what remained left her with something of a headache. “Given I didn’t attempt to block out the sun, I would think that matters have been fairly well addressed.”

“Still, I don’t like the idea of you getting anywhere close to having to relieve that trauma, especially given everything that you’ve been through with the Tantabus.” Celestia poured herself another cup of tea. “And that’s not the only thing that’s occurring today that I’m uncomfortable with.”

“Yes, how tragic it is that you no longer have your go-to solution to a particular problem available to you.”

Now it was time for the elder sister to give the younger a hard look. “Luna, you’re exaggerating. I don’t pass every problem along for Twilight to solve, and besides, the ones I have sent for her to deal with were beyond my ability to address.”

“Most were, sister.” The sarcasm was gone as Luna continued, “You and I both know that we could have easily dealt with that dragon.”

“And you and I both know that I’d rather not have the citizens of Equestria relying upon its princesses to solve all of its problems. Besides, negotiating with a dragon is much different than fighting an ancient foe from legend and lore. Twilight and her friends were more than up to the task.”

“Perhaps, but that still leaves the other issue that you’ve relied upon her to solve.” The younger alicorn’s tone was stern as she explained, “As pleased as I am at her success, you did little to improve her odds.”

Celestia groaned. “Luna, we’ve been over this. How many times did we have to deal with a situation without having complete information? Twilight had to figure things out on her own. She couldn’t just rely on what she learned from a book, or been told. For all she knew, the information could be faulty or incomplete.”

“You’re doing little to help your case given you were the one who gave her incomplete information, Celestia.” She frowned as she added, “And Maker only knows that it’s a matter of time before somepony encourages her to think things through.”

Celestia bowed her head just as the door opened, and she found herself grateful for the distraction as a blue earth pony stallion entered. “Perfect Pace. Do you have any news?”

“Well, we’ve assessed the situation and discovered the potential source of the temporal and thaumic disturbances.” The stallion halted as he reached the throne. “The source appears to be the Caves of Conundrum. Beyond that, all I can say is that ponies in the Order and associated with it are investigating.”

“In other words, we currently have nothing.” Luna scowled. “Who is investigating?”

“Time Turner and Minuette, as well as a few others in Ponyville. Also, I think we might have something in our favor.” The stallion brightened. “The Doctor’s with them.”

Celestia’s eyes widened with recognition. She’d had occasion to speak with members of the Order of Gallopfrey and knew exactly whom the stallion before her was speaking of. “That’s probably the best news I’ve heard since this all started, but how did he get here?”

“I’m afraid Time Turner didn’t get the chance to elaborate on that, ma’am.”

“An accident.” The stallion jumped to one side in shock as a grey, maneless stallion in a fedora appeared beside him. “A crack in the fabric of reality. What caused it, is beyond mine and my order’s sight.” He turned to Perfect Pace and curtly greeted him. “Time Pony.”

“Observer.” The blue stallion took several labored breaths. “You do that just to scare me, don’t you?”

“Stallions, please.” Luna turned to the Observer and asked, “Seventh Moon, is this ‘crack’ you speak of a danger?”

“No, but we suspect its presence is being taken advantage of by those responsible for the situation Equestria currently faces. Beyond that, we know nothing.” He took off his hat and bowed his head. “I apologize, Highnesses, but we do not have the answer.”

Celestia pursed her lips. “Perhaps. But you may well have provided a clue to the complete one. Still, I have to wonder how they’ll get where they need to go.”

Perfect Pace grinned. “Knowing Time Turner, I think he’s already come up with something.”

“Admittedly, this is a little embarrassing, but, well…” Lights flashed on as Time Turner unveiled what was likely his most closely-guarded secret. “Drax told a number of us about you, as many as he could before he finally passed on. And those stories were passed along from one generation until the next. Left quite an impression on me and, well, somewhere along the line…”

“You didn’t grow that, did you?”

“No.” The stallion turned about and looked upon the object in question. “I inherited it.”

Before the gathered ponies was a sight already familiar to most, though Moondancer looked less than impressed. “It’s a big blue box with writing on it.”

“Looks can be deceiving, Moonie.” Lyra approached with a smile as she asked, “What did you call it, Doctor? A TARDIS?”

“It’s an acronym.” The Doctor stepped forward and explained, “My granddaughter Susan coined it, and it caught on. Stands for ‘Time and Relative Dimensions in Space’. Doesn’t look special on the outside, but on the inside…”

Time Turner produced a key and opened it up, and the group entered to find themselves in an expansive control room, colored in varying shades of bronze and the walls lined with decorative circles and hexagons and details and motifs that brought to mind clocks and clockwork gears. Right at the middle was a hexagonal control mechanism, each side filled with controls meant to be manipulated by hoof surrounding a central glowing column that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. Doors were interspersed beyond, indicating further corners.

The Doctor beamed with approval. “On the inside is everything. This is a vessel, capable of traversing time and space.”

“This is impossible.” Moondancer’s eyes were wide with terror as she tried to comprehend the sight before her. “There are spells that can permanently alter the dimensions of one room, grant it more space than it would seem to have from the outside, but this…this…”

“Transdimensional physics, Moonie.” Minuette grinned as she approached the console, a click behind her signaling that the door had been sealed and locked. “When we entered this TARDIS, we effectively stepped into a pocket dimension inside the craft.”

“But the power requirements…”

“Drax managed to build a bond with a certain unicorn who managed to craft a spell that would create an artificial gravitational singularity.” Time Turner grinned as he stroked his chin and teased, “Might’ve heard of the fellow, what was his name, Star Field? Star Swing?”

Belief finally came onto the bookworm’s face as she realized, “Star Swirl the Bearded! Of course! I found notes related to a spell that could create something like that in his athenaeum, but I didn’t understand what use he could have for them! And even if they could be stable…!”

“Trust me, Time Lord science is far enough ahead that we’ve figured out all of the details to get around stability issues.” Time Turner turned glum as he amended, “The trouble is that the old girl’s got a few small problems, ones that we’re still trying to fix.” He turned to the Doctor. “I’m hoping you can help on that front.”

The Time Lord nodded and considered things. “Well, those stories of yours likely said something about me pulling off the impossible here and there.” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and grinned. “Light maintenance? Perfectly possible. Just show me where I need to go.”

As the two got to work, Quiver approached Minuette. “Okay, stupid question, but do all TARDISes look like big blue boxes with writing on them?”

The unicorn shook her head. “Nope. I think Great Grandpa fixed his into that shape as a tribute to the Doctor. As for his…”

“Broken down chameleon circuit,” Clara explained. “Some stealth thing. Apparently the TARDIS is supposed to blend in with its surroundings, change its outward appearance. But the Doctor’s TARDIS is an older model, and the circuit broke down on his when he was visiting my world back in the sixties.”

Quiver raised an eyebrow. “And those ‘Police Boxes’ were common back then?”

The transformed woman shrugged. “Common enough. Once the police started carrying personal radios, though, they started getting phased out. Doctor’s tried to repair the circuit, but…”

“Gave up! Got to love the look of it!”

“Oy, quit showing off!” Clara laughed as the Doctor went back to work, clearly more amused than annoyed by his antics.

Quiver couldn’t help but chuckle himself until he turned thoughtful. “Minuette, got another stupid question for you.”

The unicorn laughed. “The last one wasn’t stupid.”

“Well this one might be. When your ancestors integrated with the Equestrian population, just how far did that integration go? I mean, there had to be a few who refused to mix with us ponies.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You kidding? There were tons. Thankfully for us, Great Granddad had a kid who wasn’t among them.” She then smirked and added, “But don’t get too excited about it. There’s a little bit of Time Lord swimming around in the Equestrian gene pool, yeah, but like my cousin just showed you, it’s not enough to all their descendants to manifest as Time Ponies. Even those of us who didn’t interbreed still had kids who didn’t manifest.” She gestured to her cousin and added, “Of course, some of us got luckier than others. Time Turner’s way older than he looks. More than old enough to have a daughter go to school with his cousin, anyway.”

“Well that can happen even without a long lifespan getting into the mix.” Quiver glanced at her cutie mark and added, “Still, I’m glad that just because somepony’s descended from a Time Lord doesn’t mean they’re going to end up as a Time Pony.”

“Nope, and I’d be worried if it did.” The mare smiled. “Like I said, free will is totally a thing.”

A thrum of energy sounded all around them as lights came on, the center column itself lighting up like a Hearth’s Warming tree. The Doctor idly spun his sonic screwdriver on his hoof before tucking it away. “Bingo. All set.” He turned back to the gathered group of ponies and said, “Now then, this is the last chance if anyone wants to get off. If you’ve got doubts, then now’s the chance to leave the ride before things get troublesome.”

“You kidding?” Moondancer had a gleam in her eyes that Quiver regularly saw in Twilight’s as she exclaimed, “I’m not missing out on this for anything!”

“And no way am I letting my friends go into this alone.” Lyra’s grin turned determined as she called, “So come on, let’s light this candle!”

Quiver laughed. “Afraid you’re stuck with us, Doctor.”

The Time Lord nodded. “Alright then.” He nodded to Time Turner and Minuette and instructed, “Set us down at the nearest safe place to the Caves as you can. If something goes wrong, I don’t want them noticing this TARDIS. If this fell into the wrong hands… hooves…”

“We know what you mean.” The two Time Ponies went to the controls, each of them going back and forth between three sections of the console as Time Turner declared, “Alright then, short hop! Hang tight!”

Quiver looked about and asked, “Don’t suppose there are emergency belts around here?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “I wish.” As the last commands were placed, he called, “Geronimo!”

Silently, the pony-piloted TARDIS faded in and out of view as Amethyst Star watched her father go. He faintly heard a door creak behind her, then familiar hoofsteps. “Afraid you missed him.”

“He got it working.” A familiar laugh sounded behind her. “He’s not going far, I hope.”

“Nope. He’s just giving some friends a lift.” She turned to the mare and filly beside her and smiled. “I wish we were with him, though.”

“Me too.” Derpy ran a hoof through Dinky’s mane and grinned. “But he doesn’t need the distraction. If he’s going out there without us, then it’s not for fun. Something’s up.”

“I’m not telling you.”

The wall-eyed pegasus grinned. “You say that now, but I have a secret weapon.”

Dinky looked up eagerly. “We gonna make muffins, Mommy?”

“Yep. And Sparkler isn’t getting any.”

The magenta mare’s head whipped towards them in shock. “Oh that’s just not fair!”

“Now, despite all of this advanced technology, travel via TARDIS isn’t instantaneous. At least, not regularly.” The Doctor gestured towards the console and explained, “Often it’s due to a number of factors. Here, the fact that this TARDIS hasn’t been used for centuries is probably the big one. Still, we should get there reasonably quickly.”

“Especially considering you aren’t the only one driving.”

The Time Lord smirked at Clara’s remark. “Anyway, should only be a few minutes or so.”

As the other ponies among them settled into gawking about, with Minuette doing her best to ride herd on her two former classmates, Quiver opted instead to approach Clara. “You two must be really comfortable with one another for you to snark like that. Sounds a lot like me and my marefriend.”

“Wouldn’t put it that far, but he does need deflating every once in a while or he’ll make a mistake.” She then turned to Quiver and wondered aloud, “Anyway, you’re taking all of this awful well, even for someone who lives in a world of magic.” She gestured to the three unicorns and added, “Only one here who’s shown any skepticism is Moondancer, and that faded pretty quick.”

Quiver shrugged. “As much as I appreciate arbitrary skepticism, I know to keep an open mind. Besides, I’ve lived a good chunk of my life being told that things were impossible, only for those who said so to be proven wrong and absolutely refuse to acknowledge it.”

“Anyone in particular?”

The stallion frowned. “My father.” He gestured at their surroundings, now aware that their conversation had gained some attention, and explained, “You press his face into these walls, and he’d still insist that all of this was horseshit. Smoke and mirrors. Lies upon lies and trickery. And anyone who believed in it was a retarded idiot.”

Minuette gave the stallion a surprised expression. “Quiver, don’t you think you’re exaggerating things?”

The stallion gave the Time Pony a half-lidded expression. “Minuette, the day I earned my cutie mark, he told me straight up that Nightmare Moon, Sonic Rainbooms and windigoes were all horseshit. When Nightmare Moon came back, he thought it suspicious that Celestia had somehow produced a sister seemingly out of thin air and decided that anyone who believed the official story was a retard. When Rainbow Dash pulled off a Sonic Rainboom, he decided that the papers had made it up, and anyone who believed it was a retard. Glared at me each time he made those proclamations.” He turned back to Clara and explained, “You get raised by a cynic who dismisses you as worthless, you find yourself wanting to prove them wrong. Even if it’s just for your own satisfaction.”

“That doesn’t mean you want to see actual windigoes, do you?”

Quiver shook his head. “No, I’m not stupid.” He turned glum. “But I wouldn’t say no to my father admitting that I was right. Nopony should feel like their parents aren’t in their corner.”

He felt a hoof on one shoulder, then turned to find Lyra giving him a sad look. “Well he was still wrong either way. No way are you worthless.”

He smiled as the TARDIS halted. “And here we are.” Time Turner manipulated a few controls and brought up an image on a small monitor linked to the console via a metal arm. “Coordinates put us about twenty minutes’ walk from the Caves. No one’s out there waiting for us, and I’ve set us down somewhere with some concealment.”

“Good. Better that they don’t know we’re coming, whoever they are.” The Doctor made his way to the door even as he suggested, “Time Turner, I think you and Minuette had best stay behind, keep guard over your TARDIS.”

“And be ready when you get back.”

“Exactly my thinking, Minuette.” With an eager grin, the Time Lord put a hoof to the door and called, “Come along, ponies!”

The doors opened to a harsh landscape, arid and unpleasant. Quiver raised a hoof to block the sun from his eyes as he emerged. Time Turner hadn’t exaggerated about their concealment, as they were surrounded nearly all around by rocks. The way through was thankfully navigable, and their band of five soon made their way through into open desert, the Caves within easy view.

Lyra let out a low whistle. “Furthest south I’ve been before this was Appleoosa. I don’t even think Twilight’s been out this far.”

“Good for us, we get to be trailbreakers.” They soon found their way to their destination as Quiver declared, “Heads up, everypony. Here’s where the fun starts.”

Before them stretched a rocky collection of caves and caverns, the entire mess bringing to mind gigantic gopher holes or rabbit warrens. Holes dotted the landscape, leading into dark depths that none of them could clearly see.

“Don’t suppose anyone thought to bring torches?” Clara asked. “Maybe some string?”

“Light won’t be a problem for me or Lyra.” Moondancer stepped into the cave and lit her horn by way of demonstration. “As for marking our path…”

“Let me worry about that.” The Doctor brandished his sonic screwdriver and ran the tip along one end of the cave entrance. “Light radiation marker. Nothing harmful, but I’ll be able to pick it up.”

Quiver nodded in approval, but hung back slightly as the rest of the group entered the cave. He idly laid a hoof on one rock, then lifted the hoof with the rock still clinging to it. He smirked, then set the rock back down and followed as Moondancer asked, “What was that about?”

“Pony see, pony do,” the stallion explained with a shrug. “Makes me wonder why I didn’t try it sooner.”

“Might’ve been doing it unconsciously and not realizing it,” the Doctor offered. “Anyway, best quiet down. We’re inviting trouble as it is, don’t need to make it worse.”

The group continued on in silence, with the Doctor occasionally pulling out his device to mark their path and check it in the light that two unicorn horns would allow. As they continued on, however, it seemed an unspoken consensus that an ambush of some sort was likely, if not inevitable, and they kept their attention on everything around them, particularly a high-pitched sound that became clearer they deeper they went into the cave network.

A low growl caught the group’s attention, and before the two unicorns among them could throw up shields, large dark shapes charged out at them from the shadows with mad howls echoing all around. Quiver lashed out with one hoof and snarled as he pushed one attacker back, “Diamond dogs!”

“You’re kidding!” Clara quickly reconsidered as she found herself forced to the ground by their attackers, and she looked up into a face that brought to mind some bull terriers that she’d met. “Okay, not kidding!”

Despite some efforts at resistance, the ponies were at several disadvantages, thanks to both the darkness surrounding them and the sheer numbers of their opposition. Within minutes, the party was bound and held up by the scruffs of their necks. “Pony intruders! What we do with them?!”

“Take to Boss Pony! She know what we do with them!”

The members of the party were stuffed into bags and carried through the tunnels. After what felt like an eternity, a buzz was heard. “Boss Pony! We find intruders!”

A feminine voice answered back, rendered tinny due to whatever means were used to convey it. :“Bring them inside. I have use for them.”:

Heavy doors moved aside, and after another short trip, the five were unceremoniously chucked from their bags and tossed to the ground. They let out assorted moans and groans in the process, and tried their best to collect themselves despite still being bound.

“Well, it seems the Equestrian tendency towards indolent ignorance has its limits.” The Doctor in particular paid close attention to the voice from the bearded stallion before them as their captor gave them a toothy grin. “Though it seems a little disappointing that we didn’t get the more famous among their number as guests.”

“I somehow doubt their presence would make much of a difference at this point.” Standing nearby at a large device stood the mare who’d spoken earlier, her mane curly and red and her face severe. Without another word, she pulled a switch on the console before her, and the machinery all around her roared to life.

The five had a fair guess what was coming next as they closed their eyes and tried their best to block out the effects. Lyra and Moondancer grit their teeth as their magic worked against their will and their horns lit with their respective auras, but could do little to prevent whatever was coming as they and their associates let out pained cries.

The pain faded, and Lyra blinked. The first thing she discovered was that her bonds were gone, seemingly unable to withstand whatever forces had been unleased upon her. The second thing she discovered was that said forces had quite an effect, and she was overcome with awe at the sight before her, her minty green hooves now minty green hands.

“Success at last.” Lyra’s attention went back to the severe mare, now a severe woman with a slender build and dressed like a college professor, albeit one with a leather blazer. Her gaze turned back to the ponies, but it was cold and clinical, like that of someone inspecting a specimen in a jar. “Though it seems some refinements are still required.”

“My dear, I would take this as a victory.” Attention went back to the bearded stallion, now a man dressed in formal clothes topped by a Nehru jacket. “Our guests are going to fumble with their new anatomies, whereas we and our servants have no such trouble.” He raised a gloved hand and snapped his fingers. “Lock them away until we have further use for them!”

With harsh growls, the party was once more set upon, and Lyra was brusquely held again by what she assumed was one of the diamond dogs. She caught glimpses of the others, instantly recognized the Doctor and Clara in their true forms, and identified Quiver and Moondancer readily enough. It helped that the latter still had her hair pulled up by a scrunchie and still wore that baggy sweater. “Whoever you are, you’re not getting away with this!”

The man let out a malevolent chuckle. “Brave words, my dear girl, but I’m afraid you find yourself dealing with beings whose understanding of the universe far outstrips your own.” He locked eyes with her, and his intense expression burned into her mind. “And as for my identity, well, if you must know, I am universally referred to as the Master.”

The severe woman scoffed. “Must you boast so?”

“My dear Rani, it’s been so very long since I’ve had the chance! You must allow me to indulge!” What amusement he had vanished as he noticed the guards had failed to heed his orders, and he snapped again. “Well?! Go!” As the prisoners were dragged away, he shook his head. “Diamond dogs. We’d have been better off with the cats as our servants.”

Back in Ponyville, the doors to Golden Oak Library opened as Rainbow Dash entered. “Hey guys! Hope I missed most of the boring egghead…!” Her joking attitude vanished as she cottoned on to the dour mood and saw her friends seated around a table, idly munching on snacks. “Whoa, what happened? You guys look like someone died.”

“Fortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.” Rarity gestured for her friend to join them. “Have a seat, darling. We’ll fill you in.”

Rainbow listened as the group filled her in on what had happened in her absence, and let out a low whistle. “I go to visit my folks in Cloudsdale and things go really crazy. Aliens from other worlds and time getting warped and us getting benched from an awesome adventure?”

“Like Sour said, if I went, I’d just put us in danger.” As Spike moved to comfort her, Twilight frowned and considered her drink. “I don’t know if that would be worse than knowing my friends are in danger. Quiver might be able to handle himself, but Lyra and Moondancer are another matter.” She turned to Spike and idly said, “I wonder if Shining Armor ever felt this way. Or Celestia.”

“I’m certain they both did at times, Twilight.” Rarity offered an encouraging smile as she continued, “And I’m also certain that they’re more than up to the task of dealing with what’s ahead of them. The Doctor and Clara accompanied them, after all, and from the sounds of things, this appears to be well within their experience.”

“Well I’m with Twilight.” The pegasus gently rapped a hoof on the table for emphasis as she explained, “Just sitting around waiting for somepony else to get things settled’s never been my thing. Besides, how do we know that stuff won’t…?” She caught sight of the three unicorns’ horns glowing and uttered, “Aw crap.”

The three non-unicorns barely averted their eyes in time as a bright flash once more enveloped the room and Twilight cried out in pain. As their vision cleared, they found the alicorn slumped forward, once more bereft of her wings.

Rainbow Dash shook her head in disbelief. “Yikes.”

“And from the sounds of things, we’re getting off light.” Sour frowned as her thoughts turned to her cousin, and she quietly hoped that he could handle himself, wherever he was.

Author's Note

And at last, the villains of the piece are revealed. If any Doctor Who fans among my readers were able to guess their identities, well done. As for anyone else...well, don't worry, you'll get a quick summation of who they are very soon.

Chapter Four - Peoples of the Universe, Please Attend Carefully.

Shining Armor found himself counting quite a few blessings at the moment. The first was that whatever was causing his little sister to revert back to a unicorn wasn’t affecting his wife. The second was that there were relatively few non-crystal ponies visiting the Empire at the moment, even with the preparations being made for the Equestria Games, with their numbers in the low dozens. The third was that the weather, at least for the moment, was peaceful, with clear skies and barely any clouds in the distance. The fourth was that there were ponies at hoof who knew a thing or two to help them out at the moment.

Royal Pin in particular seemed pleased at the arrangement as he turned to the unicorn who’d helped to set it up. “I must say, Sunburst, this is a rather impressive setup.”

The goateed stallion adjusted his glasses as his gaze swept over their work. “Thanks, but there’s no telling how long it will hold out.” Those gathered around them, all residents of the Crystal Empire who had settled there following its banishment by King Sombra or visiting tourists of one sort or another, were standing in what was normally a park. Surrounding them in all directions was a domed barrier projected from a hastily-crafted device in the center, meant to amplify and strengthen shield spells. “We had to put this together in a hurry, after all.”

Cadance smiled as she gave the device a fresh charge with her magic. “It’s still better than nothing, Sunburst. Thank you both for your efforts.”

The stallion gave a small nod at the princess’s praise, though his expression remained nervous. “Don’t thank me too much, ma’am. We still have no idea what caused the city to vanish, or how to reverse it. And I don’t want to find out how well this can last if a blizzard hits.”

“We’ll cross those bridges when we get to them.” Shining Armor did his best to sound confident as he continued, “And right now, ponies are already working to solve the problem. We just need to have faith and keep calm.”

Silent agreement held, and even as he did his best to keep a straight face and remind himself that his immediate situation was the greater concern, the stallion found his thoughts going elsewhere, especially as he turned to one of the guards. He hadn’t told Flash Sentry that Twilight was afflicted by this too, both because he figured there was a good chance Flash already suspected it and because he didn’t want to risk distracting one of the few guardsponies who’d not get whisked away. Regardless, the longer this lasted, the longer all of them were in danger.

Just like they taught at the academy, though. One problem at a time.

Lyra stumbled as she was forced into a makeshift cell and the door slammed shut behind her. Clara caught her by the shoulders and helped to steady her. “Easy, easy, I’ve got ya. It’s alright.” The time traveler noticed the faraway expression on the transformed pony’s face. “Lyra, steady, it’s alright, you just…”

“Hands.” Lyra raised her arms to examine her new anatomy, then idly flexed her fingers. They were still of similar color to her coat, for whatever reason, but nonetheless, they were hands.

“Yeah, new body, kinda frightening, not blaming you for freaking out.”

Lyra laughed. “Clara, thinking about this is keeping me from freaking out.” She turned to the young woman and smiled. “I’ve wondered for years what it would be like to have these, ever since I first read legends about humans. This is amazing.” She chuckled nervously and admitted, “And I’ve got something to think about that doesn’t involve being imprisoned.”

“Glad that you have a distraction.” Attention turned back to Moondancer as she stood arms crossed and scowling. “Not all of us are thrilled about getting our bodies changed against our will, though.”

That deflated Lyra’s enthusiasm. “Sorry.”

The scowl faded. “Me too.” She glanced over her new form, the baggy sweater now joined by flat-heeled shoes, a loose skirt that hung to just above her knees and black leggings, then inspected one hand. “Whatever they did to us must’ve somehow involved that metamorphic spell Twilight showed us earlier. Even generated clothing.”

“Consider me glad for that.” Heads turned to Quiver as he leaned against one wall and explained, “For some reason, I think it’d be really awkward if the three of us were naked.” For his part, Quiver wore blue jeans, a green shirt and a brown jacket, and boots on his feet completed the look.

Clara giggled. “Depends on who you’re talking to, mate.”

Lyra did her best to stifle her own giggles as she moved on from her hands to her attire. Dark green, slightly baggy shorts that ended just below her knees, a short-sleeved magenta shirt, and salmon-colored shoes adorned her feet. She had to stifle a few more giggles as she realized that both herself and Moondancer were a few inches taller than Clara, and opted against bringing it up. Though that seemed to be common, as all three transformed ponies were taller as humans than the actual human…and humanoid.

That brought attention back to the Doctor as Quiver turned to the Time Lord and prodded, “Alright Doctor, spill.”

That seemed to snap the traveler out of his trance. “Sorry, what?”

“You know something about those two, the Master and that Rani woman. Lyra’s keeping from freaking out by enjoying her newfound form, Moondancer’s getting justifiably angry, and I’m just trying to figure out what our next move is. That’ll go easier if you fill us in on what you know about them.”

The Doctor gave him an enigmatic look. “What makes you think I know anything about them?”

“Because you recognized their voices. And I saw surprise on your face, as if you weren’t expecting to see them.” Quiver’s tone was grave as he amended, “And that surprise wasn’t pleasant.”

“No. It wasn’t.” The Time Lord frowned as he continued, “But it can’t be them. Maybe the Rani, but…”

“Okay, Doctor, right now isn’t the time.” Clara turned to her friend and prodded, “You might not think they’re who they say they are, but they do. And right now, they’re up to something.”

He relented with a nod. “The Master and the Rani were Time Lords, same as me. I knew them as children. We all went to school together, in fact – we’d know one another anywhere. Only reason I can’t think of that they wouldn’t recognize me at this point is because of the magic disturbing their senses.”

“Were they old friends?” Moondancer ventured.

“Yes and no, and please, don’t interrupt.” The Doctor kept his hands close, clearly not trying to distract himself. “Not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords. In order to become one, you have to graduate from the Academy, and part of the initiation involves looking into the Untempered Schism. A gap in the fabric of reality. You look into it, and you see the whole of the Time Vortex, the medium that the TARDIS travels through. It’s painful and terrifying, especially for a child of eight years old. Depending on the child, though, they react differently. Some are inspired. Some go mad. And some run away.” He raised a hand and gave a meek smile. “I was in the third group. Haven’t stopped running yet.”

Quiver suspected he already knew the answer, but asked anyway. “And those two?”

“They went mad.” Regret was clear in his voice as he continued, “The Master and the Rani were both brilliant students, geniuses in their own ways. But the Master’s ambition often got the better of him, and the Rani’s biological studies tended to go too far. They both ended up fleeing from Gallifrey in stolen TARDISes and causing trouble, though they went about it in different ways. The Master became obsessed with control and domination, and more than a little obsessed with me. The Rani, meanwhile, parked herself on a planet and started using the local lifeforms as guinea pigs and test subjects for her experiments. The former found me again when I was exiled on Earth, being punished for breaking Time Lord law. Caused all sorts of trouble.”

“And the Rani?”

“We both found her totally by chance.” The Doctor’s expression turned grim as he explained, “The ‘local lifeforms’ I mentioned were fully sapient, same as any of us. Over the course of those experiments, the Rani somehow caused them to become violent and unstable, and robbed them of their ability to sleep. She tried to solve that problem by extracting chemicals from the brains of humans, chemicals that enabled sleep. The Master came across her and tried to use her resources to twist human history for his own ends and dispose of me in the process, but things went wrong for them. So far as I knew, the two had permanently parted company afterwards.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, she extracted chemicals? From human brains?” At the Doctor’s nod, Moondancer asked, “Why do something like that? I mean, your people can travel through time and space. Synthesizing chemicals should be child’s play.”

“She went mad, remember?” Quiver countered. “Crazy folks don’t exactly do sensible things. Besides, she already had a history of experimenting on sapient beings and either didn’t consider the consequences of her actions or didn’t care. What’s a few more guinea pigs?”

The Doctor looked at him uneasily. “You came to that conclusion very quickly.”

Quiver scowled. “I’ve got more than my fair share of experiences with sociopaths.” He shook his head. “Anyway, what makes you think it can’t be them?”

“Well, the Rani’s still on the fence, but the Master hasn’t had that body for a very long time. That body, that face, were both stolen, and it wasn’t the last time he did so. But with the Time War looming, the Time Lords decided it would be a brilliant idea to resurrect him, use him as an asset against the Daleks. He fled to the end of time itself when the Daleks claimed the Cruciform, and hid himself using a chameleon arch among the last of humanity at near the very end of the universe. And even that didn’t stop him from causing trouble, thanks to an idiot showing up and giving him the chance to regain his memories.” The Doctor smiled ruefully for a moment, then finished, “The last I saw him, the Master was skinnier, younger, bleached blond and slinging lightning bolts, about to be trapped on Gallifrey on the last day of the Time War. It’s a coin flip if he gets out of that one, but I’d bet in his favor.”

“And the Rani?”

The Time Lord shrugged. “I never crossed paths with her during the War. Don’t see her getting involved with it, and certainly don’t see her caring about it one way or another.”

“So how did they both get here?” Moondancer looked between the pair of time travelers and asked, “I mean, is it possible you’re encountering them out of order?”

The Time Lord gave a mirthless laugh. “Perfectly possible. For someone like me or them, time isn’t nearly as linear as it is for everyone else, and I’ve done it with both of them before.” The Doctor shook his head. “But I don’t think that’s the case here.”

“Well, let’s put the Master aside.” Quiver crossed his arms and ventured, “Based on what we know, the Rani could very well have found her way onto the refugee ship, and somehow extended her life between then and now. Maybe even creating a facsimile of the Master in the process, one so good that it might as well be the original.”

The Doctor nodded. “That seems the most plausible theory at this point, yes.”

“Good. That makes things easier.” A grim expression settled onto Quiver’s face as he reasoned, “If you’re not encountering them out of order from your perspective, then that means it won’t be your job to drag them back into your world. That means this isn’t part of a predestination paradox. We can end things and make sure they’re ended.”

Lyra turned worried as she listened to her friend. “And that means?”

“We put them down like rabid dogs.”

“Intruders locked up,” one of the transformed diamond dogs barked as he returned to his masters with his associates.

“Excellent.” The Master grinned as he turned to his associate. “I must say, my dear Rani, you seemed quite pleased at our having company. I would have thought the diamond dogs under our command would have been enough to sate your scientific curiosity.”

The Rani briefly flicked her gaze towards the named creatures. “It may have escaped your notice, but the diamond dogs hardly appear any different now than they did before our devices activated. The intruders have merely confirmed that our metamorphic devices work as intended. The only purpose they have now is to ensure that we are able to fine-tune it so that only the two of us are influenced by it.” She flexed her fingers. “That I’ve had to spend so long contending without proper hands is frustrating beyond compare. Having them back is welcome, especially given that not a single creature in this world with such capacity actually possesses the intelligence to aid us.”

“Regardless, perhaps there’s another use for our guests?”

She eyed her associate. “You would waste our time with such an indulgence.”

“Such indulgences are hardly a waste of time, and there might even be the chance that they’ll appreciate what we’ve accomplished.”

She scoffed. “You just want the chance to gloat.” She shook her head. “Very well then, pick one or two and bring them out here. Who knows, perhaps you might be proven correct.”

The Master grinned, then turned to the diamond dogs. “Bring two of our guests here. Choose at your leisure.” The lead dog nodded and led his fellows back to the holding cell. “Regardless of whether or not they can appreciate our efforts, I doubt there’s very much they can do about them.”

“Quiver!” Before anyone else could protest, Lyra immediately stepped up and exclaimed, “You can’t seriously be saying that we should kill them!”

The transformed stallion seemed disinclined towards changing his stance. “You make it sound like we have a choice.”

“Murder is never a choice.” The Doctor’s stance was equal to Quiver’s as he countered, “And that’s what you’re arguing for. Murder.”

“Horseshit. There’s a vast difference between taking a life for a sick thrill and doing it to defend yourself or others, and from the sounds of things, this is the latter. Now you can make all the arguments you like about these two not being who you think they are, but regardless, these two think they’re the Master and the Rani, and their actions are causing panic and putting lives in danger. Right now, the five of us are the only ones in a position to do anything about it.”

“And your first option is to kill them?”

“You said it yourself, Doctor. These two have each taken lives, and done far worse. I can’t justify letting them walk away, not after all the damage they’ve done.”

“You think you have the right to be their judge, jury and executioner then? That you have it in you to kill them? End their lives?” The Time Lord locked eyes with the transformed stallion, and despite being two inches shorter, he seemed to be the one who was most intimidating. “I’ll tell you right now, taking a choice like that isn’t something you can walk away from. It changes you, permanently. Now tell me with a straight face that you really think you have it in you to kill someone.”

It was a tense moment, with neither backing down. Finally, however, Quiver answered. “I think everyone has it in them to kill someone. Doesn’t mean I want to.” He shook his head and continued, “But look at it from my perspective, Doctor. I spent ages being tormented and bullied by a sadistic mare who made it her life’s goal to make my life miserable simply because she knew she could get away with it, and up until very recently, she did exactly that. Those sorts of ponies don’t stop just because they get bored, and Equestria’s been threatened by those sorts more times in the last eighteen months than anypony’s happy to count. Nightmare Moon threatened eternal night and rule under her tyrannical hooves. Discord promised chaos and an abolishment of the basic laws of reality. The changelings under Queen Chrysalis were going to treat us as little better than livestock. King Sombra’s return almost damned the Crystal Empire and all of Equestria to despair and Maker knows what else. From the way things sound, the Master and the Rani aren’t much different.”

“And your solution to all of them is just kill them all and let whatever higher powers exist sort it all out?”

Quiver snorted. “Please, I know better. The right call was made with Nightmare Moon, and I hope to whatever forces are listening that the same can be said for Discord. I’ve had assurances that Sombra won’t be a danger anytime soon, and I’m trying my best not to be cynical about it. Read too many comic books. As for the changelings, well, I don’t support genocide, but I’d be fine with regime change.”

“That’s not a phrase I’m particularly fond of.”

“And you have every right to not be, but it doesn’t change the fact that under their current leadership, the changelings are a danger to Equestria. They might be less of one right now that Queen Chrysalis and most of her horde might be locked away, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a good chance they’ll get loose and come back for a third round before everything’s said and done. They did plenty of damage the last two times, and even more in the past under her leadership. As long as she’s in charge, they’re a threat to Equestria and its citizens.” He turned to Lyra and Moondancer. “Back me up here, you two. You were both in Canterlot when they invaded.”

Moondancer shrugged. “Shut-in, remember? I didn’t even find out about the invasion until I read about it in the paper the next day. Not that there was much to go on about it.”

Quiver looked as if he wanted to grumble over that, but restrained himself as he turned to his friend. “Fine, but what about you Lyra? You were a bridesmare for Princess Cadance, that put you right at ground zero.”

Lyra shook her head. “It was nothing.”

That got Clara curious as her gaze darted between Quiver and Lyra. “Wait, sorry, what?”

“It was nothing,” the mare countered, though her face hinted otherwise.

The stallion scoffed. “Nothing my plot. Chrysalis captured and replaced Cadance in the leadup to the wedding. She used herself as a mole to weaken Canterlot’s defenses. It’s only because Twilight was suspicious and Chrysalis was too arrogant that the whole thing was stopped, and even then, it was a near thing. My marefriend and my cousin were both there taking part in the defense, and I get shivers just thinking about how they described it. Hundreds, maybe thousands of changelings dropping from the sky, hissing and snarling and ensnaring everypony in sight in goop before they could be cocooned like Princess Celestia was to be saved for feasting upon later.”

Clara looked at him in shock. “They’re cannibals?”

Quiver shook his head. “No, they feed on love, not flesh. But from what I’ve read, their feeding process tends to lead to the death of their livestock.” He turned back to Lyra and asked, “How can you just dismiss that?”

“It was nothing.” Lyra’s expression started to glaze over, though her eyes twitched as though something was amiss deep in her subconscious and her tone of voice was going flat. “It was nothing.”

Both Quiver and Moondancer started to turn worried, but the Doctor was the first to act as he strode up to Lyra and asked, “Lyra, what do you remember about that wedding?”

The mare was visibly trembling now. “It was… I…”

The Time Lord frowned. “I’m sorry.” He then put his hands to the sides of her face, fingers spread apart, and locked eyes with her. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was… it… I…” The trembles had gone into a full-on seizure as Lyra finally screamed out, then collapsed forward onto the Doctor. He staggered back as Quiver and Clara moved to help, and the pair gently got Lyra away from him and helped her to the ground. She was, mercifully, unconscious, but her breathing was heavy.

“What happened?” Quiver turned to the Time Lord and asked, “What’s wrong with her?”

“Someone’s been messing around in her head.” The Doctor was grim as he explained, “Some form of hypnosis, most likely. Between everything she’s going through, the Master giving her the hairy eyeball, the shift in her internal chemistry due to the metamorphosis and you jogging her memories, it must’ve caused her conditioning to break down. She’ll wake up in a little bit, but it might take her a while to recover.”

“No kidding.” Moondancer approached her unconscious friend. “Who did this, though? Mental manipulation spells are illegal in Equestria, and you’d have to be fairly gifted to pull it off. Somewhere around Twilight’s level.”

“Or they had a device or artifact that let them do it.” Quiver then turned back to the Doctor and asked, “Wait, why would the Master have a part in Lyra’s memory getting jogged?”

“Time Lords have certain abilities that most species lack, what you’d call psychic powers. Some are stronger than others, and the Master’s got a particular gift for hypnosis.”

“And memories can be recovered with hypnosis, supposedly.” The stallion raised an eyebrow. “And you?”

The shorter man then reached up, gently grasped Quiver’s head by the sides, then gently brought their foreheads together. Images and thoughts flashed through the stallion’s mind, glimpses of entire lifetimes within the span of microseconds before contact ended. “That’s about the extent. I’ve got to touch them, but once that’s done, watch out.”

Quiver shook his head as he took deep breaths to collect himself. “Sweet Maker. You know what you’re talking about.” Any further discussion on the subject paused as he heard footfalls from outside their cell. “Incoming.”

Their hulking guards approached and opened the cell door, with one pointing to Quiver and Moondancer. “Those two! Get them!” Neither opted to resist as they were forcibly led outside, and the door was shut behind them.

Clara looked up at her friend from her place at Lyra’s side. “What do you suppose that was about?”

“Don’t know yet.” The Doctor scowled and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his jacket. “But I’m going to find out. Clara, you look after Lyra.” The cell door was unlocked and he exited the cell. “I’ll be back with Quiver and Moondancer.”

He closed the door behind him as Clara idly noted, “Holding you to that, mate.”

The march was long and slow, and the silence that went with it uncomfortable. Quiver decided to take a chance and hope the guards would tolerate polite conversation. “Regretting coming along?”

“A little, yes.” Moondancer bowed her head as she admitted, “I don’t know what’s scaring me most right now. You showing a ruthless streak, Lyra having had her memories messed with, or this whole thing we’ve gotten into.”

“If it helps, I’m scared by all of that too.”

“It doesn’t. At least, not that much.” She looked at him and asked, “You okay? After what happened back there?”

“Yeah, still kinda processing what happened, but I’m good.” As they reached the heavy metal door leading to wherever they’d been presented to the diamond dogs’ masters earlier, Quiver amended, “But something tells me that’s going to change in a second.”

The door slowly opened before them, and the diamond dogs ushered the pair inside. The two were promptly greeted by their hosts as the Master looked upon them. His gaze reminded Quiver of expressions he’d seen all too often on Primrose Thorn, like a cat toying with its prey. “My dear guests, how wonderful for you to join us.”

It took everything Quiver had to restrain himself from snarking that they hardly had a choice in the matter. He opted instead to make himself seem as unthreatening as possible, and play dumb. “What’s going on here? Who in Celestia’s name are the two of you?”

“Beings of far greater understanding of the universe and its mysteries than even your precious Celestia could hope to be, I assure you.” He gestured upwards as lights flashed on to reveal the chamber they were in was far larger than they’d previously thought, and was home to a structure the scale of which they’d rarely seen. “Tell me, what do you make of this?”

Despite the scale, the two transformed ponies swiftly realized what they were looking at. It was a gigantic mechanical globe, cast in metal and with two more smaller spheres linked to the larger by mechanized arms. The two smaller spheres appeared bare of any sort of adornment, though perhaps they were too far away to clearly make it out. The central larger sphere, however, was adorned by segments that looked as though they were meant to shift about in a pattern, with markings that brought to mind arrows lining them at points going both up and down their edges. And within the structure were assorted mechanisms, all still and silent.

“That’s an orrery,” Moondancer breathed. “A gigantic, broken down orrery.”

“Very perceptive.” The Rani’s voice was deadpan and lacking in praise as she continued, “Perhaps you were correct, and they might actually be able to appreciate what we’ve discovered about the foundations of their world.”

“Indeed.” The Master regarded them once more and asked, “Tell me, what do you know of your world’s creation myths?”

Quiver feigned nervousness, which wasn’t as difficult as it appeared, as he answered. “Well, the details vary from culture to culture, but the basics are the same. It’s said that in the beginning, the Maker came across a lifeless world, then shaped it to Their whims and populated it with life. As a sign of trust in Their creations, the Maker granted onto them the power to control the natural forces of their world. The order’s different from culture to culture, but all of them agree upon whom got what. The griffons gained control of the high winds, the dragons over the forces of the earth, and so on until control over the sun and moon fell to the ancient unicorn tribes.”

The Rani laughed. “Primitives. Always so eager to attribute things they cannot grasp to the whims of some self-crafted deity.” She turned her full attention to them and explained, “No god crafted this fascinating piece of technology, I can assure you of that.”

“What do you…?” Were Quiver of more of a theological bent, he would be far more offended. Now, however, was not the time to debate theology. All pretense of playing dumb was forgotten as he asked, “Moondancer, how’s your knowledge of geology?”

“I don’t think now’s really the time…”

“Humor me.”

The transformed unicorn cleared her throat and summed up as best she could. “All the evidence suggests that our world is something like four and a half billion years old, but there’s also evidence suggesting that somewhere in the distant past, something like three to four million years ago, something happened on a global scale. Nopony knows exactly what, but evidence suggests that there was widespread devastation, followed by a strengthening of the thaumic field.” An expression of awestruck terror grew on her face as she realized, “Before that, it was practically nonexistent.”

“That widespread devastation you speak of was likely caused by the very same beings which created this fantastic device and crafted your world into what it is now.” The Master gestured to one corner of the chamber, where sat an ornate wardrobe with its doors open and a multitude of cords and wires trailing out to the machinery scattered throughout the chamber. “We’ve seen it with our own eyes.”

“It’s an experiment worthy of the Founders of Gallifrey themselves.” The Rani’s voice was tinged with awe as she recounted, “This system, in other realities, is hardly remarkable. Four rocky planets, four gas giants, a multitude of asteroids and moons and smaller worlds and so forth. In our reality, two worlds in that system were able to support life. One was limited, and later devastated. The other produced so many creatures, many of which never reached their fullest potential. In this one, only one world produced life, and their actions led to it taking on the appearances that it has done. They reshaped this world, reshaped this very solar system, even went so far as to use its sun and most of the other bodies for fuel and materials, to craft it as it is now. One planet, orbited by two thaumic constructs, and set up in such a manner that it doesn’t even require something around which to orbit.” She grinned as she admitted, “Such isn’t even my field, and I can only guess at what they sought to achieve, and yet I find it impressive.”

“And the machine you see before you was crafted in order to maintain all of the functions necessary to continue supporting life as you know it.” The bearded Time Lord grinned as he turned to them and said, “Life which has ultimately led to the two of you.” He turned back to it and added, “Until it began to break down, somewhere around six thousand years ago.”

Moondancer looked up at the machine, nearly trembling in terror. “That can’t be.”

“Can it?” Quiver turned to her as he reasoned, “We know our solar system is atypical. We know that creatures and races in our world manipulate the natural forces around us. We just got an explanation for why things are the way they are, one that fits everything we know and falls in line with the creation myths.” He let out a puff of air and added, “This is going to cause a stir once it gets out, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, but these two could be lying.”

“Oh, I agree, they could be. Everybody lies, for one reason or another. But what reason do they have to lie about this? What would they gain?”

The Master let out a low chuckle. “Your friend is most perceptive, young mare, most perceptive indeed. And he’s quite correct. The Rani is a scientist, devoted to the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, and falsehoods are anathema to her. And as for myself, while I make use of lies, I see no reason to employ them now.”

Moondancer scowled at her inability to contest that logic. “Fine, but that leaves three big questions. Who did all of this, why, and where did they go?”

“Well, three to four million years, we’re probably never going to get answers to those questions.” Quiver’s attention turned back to their hosts. “But what do the two of you get for poking into all of this?”

“Freedom.” The Rani turned to them, all trace of her earlier awe gone as she explained, “For a thousand years, I have been forced to live on this primitive, backwards world, surrounded by insipid creatures such as yourselves. As much as I find myself intrigued by the possibilities presented by this world and its advances into thaumic research, as well as all of the unique creatures that have emerged as a result, I refuse to spend the remainder of my existence here. I intend to return from whence I came, and thanks to those who created this device, I have the capacity.”

“But how?” Moondancer looked from one Time Lord to another as she continued, “This thing broke down, and there’s no guarantee that you could find the materials to repair it.”

“Completely, no, but materials enough have been found to accomplish our goals, materials that I have sought out and guided others to provide for us from locations all over your world.” The Master grinned as he recalled, “Specially treated and enchanted metals, with the last one being the golden centerpiece of the Seal of the Nahual in Maretonia.”

“And with that last bit of materials, we have everything we need.” The Rani turned back to her console and explained, “Our proper forms restored to us, the metamorphic effects of this thaumic field undone with your changes and those of our diamond dog associates an unforeseen side effect. Very soon, we shall escape back to our reality of origin.”

Quiver narrowed his eyes. “Doing that could take a lot of energy. Where are you going to get the power from?”

“From two identically-charged reservoirs of thaumic energy, the artificial sun and moon which your pretentious princesses utilize.” The Rani took on a cold look as she explained, “Once they are drained, we shall have more than enough energy to tear our way out of this reality and back into ours through the Void using my capsule.”

The transformed stallion took on a dangerous tone. “And where does that leave us?”

“Optimistically, your sun and moon will be drained completely. Realistically, they will destabilize.”

“So either way, you condemn us to death.”

The scientist scoffed. “A long-abandoned experiment, forgotten by its creators and ignored by the greater cosmos. The only reason your world has yet to be harvested or devastated is sheer chance. I fail to see why I should be concerned.”

“And thus we are sacrificed on the altar of scientific pursuit so that you may return to your home reality and regain your proper place in the cosmos.” Quiver broke out with a sardonic grin. “An execution of the right of the superior species.”

“Indeed.”

The grin vanished. “Horseshit.”

Lyra softly groaned, and Clara helped to support her as she regained consciousness. “Easy there. You alright?”

“Ask me that again after my head stops throbbing.” The transformed unicorn rubbed her left temple, then turned to the girl at her side. “Where’d everyone go?”

“Your two friends got dragged off so the bad guys could gloat. At least, that’s what I think’s happening. The Doctor snuck off to follow them. Knowing him, he’ll probably pull their tails out of the fire once things go crazy. After that, they’ll come back for us.” She gave an apologetic grin. “Guess we’re both missin’ out on how things end.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Story of my life.” Another low moan and she continued, “And after what just happened, maybe that’s for the best.” She turned to the girl at her side and asked, “Don’t suppose you’ve ever just discovered some freaky secret about yourself out of the blue?”

“Once. If it helps, your secret was a surprise to all of us.” She shrugged. “The Doctor kept mine from me for a while. Wasn’t happy when he finally spilled.”

“Did it involve him playing with your memories?”

“Actually, it involved me saving his life God knows how many times and making sure the universe didn’t get destroyed. Long, crazy story, and I’m glad I have people I can talk with about it.”

“I don’t know if I’m that lucky. The last time I tried to talk with somepony about something important, a big blue box fell out of the sky.” Lyra frowned. “Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s the Doctor who should be apologizing to you. Man’s a lousy driver.” Clara then grinned and asked, “So what was it you were wanting to talk about with Quiver? Don’t tell me you were about to confess something to him.”

“Yeah, but not what you’re thinking.” The unicorn laughed. “I know exactly two ponies who are in relationships, and one of them just kinda fell into hers. Quiver, though? His is the one closest to where mine is, except his is official and mine…”

“Not official yet?”

“Yeah. We’ve known each other since we were foals. I’m even living with her and her niece now, have been for over a year. She’s my best friend, and I don’t want to ruin that.” She raised an eyebrow. “And no reaction to me using feminine pronouns?”

“Lyra, I don’t judge a girl for being into other girls. If Quiver didn’t have a girlfriend, he’d probably be disappointed though.”

The transformed unicorn smirked. “Not too much. I go both ways.”

“And he knows?”

She shrugged. “About my preferences? Don’t know. About me and Bon-Bon, though? Practically the whole town knows about us, so why wouldn’t he? The only thing keeping me from elaborating with him is, well…” Lyra frowned. “Eh, you can probably guess. Still, I want to talk with someone about it, and he’s the best one I can go to for advice. Bad enough I’m afraid of hurting one friendship, I don’t want to hurt two before this is all over.” She shook her head. “Talking about it, I sound way too scared than I should be, but…”

“But some things are scarier than they should be.” Clara offered a hand. “Want some advice?” The offer was accepted, and she continued, “When me and the Doctor first met, after that first crazy adventure, he took me out traveling. But it was on my terms, not his. Once a week, we’d go somewhere. Sometimes it was where he intended, sometimes not so much. Some of that was him standing back, trying to figure me out, but a lot of it? Me bein’ a control freak. I’m tryin’ to loosen up on that, but it’s hard not having a handle on things. Scary too. But sometimes, you have to take a chance, or you might miss something great.” She then gave an encouraging smile and added, “And something tells me you don’t have to worry about Quiver letting you down. If he can talk to the Doctor like that, he can probably handle what you’ve got to share with him.”

Lyra smiled. “Thanks.” She then grinned. “So, that bit about you not judging.”

Clara gave an enigmatic smile, and left it at that.

The Rani turned to face the transformed equine before her. “Do you honestly feel that you can pass judgment on me?”

“Anyone with a functioning moral compass can pass judgment on you, lady. I’m just the only one here mouthy enough to give it a try.”

She regarded him for a moment. “Morality. You make it sound absolute, to hold all life as equal. When one is seeking a higher understanding, what does morality matter?”

“To a sociopath like you, it only matters as far as it’s useful to you.” Quiver’s glare could freeze a pool of water at twenty paces as he regarded the Time Lord before him. “I’ve dealt with people like you for a good chunk of my life, convinced that because they had something that I didn’t, they were better. Wealth, power, authority, knowledge, doesn’t matter. They were wrong, and it didn’t justify how they treated others. You want to talk to me about advancing science? Our understanding of the universe? Doing so is meant to end or ease suffering, not increase it, and your actions would mean the deaths of countless lives across this planet.”

“A colony of insects infests your home. Do you allow it to continue?”

“Lousy analogy, considering you’re the one doing the infesting. And that’s ignoring your obvious bias.” Quiver looked up at the structure before him and said, “You want to tell me this was created by some alien race who reshaped our world. Fine. Those of strong faith are going to be shaken by this, but me? I’ll tell you right now, this doesn’t disprove the Maker’s existence.” He smirked and added, “If anything, me and my friends being here means somepony on the other side doesn’t approve of what you’re doing. Because not only can we stop you, we will.”

The Master chuckled. “It’s almost impressive how he’s inclined towards defiance. And also a little familiar.” As Quiver turned his attention on him, the Time Lord continued, “You are facing powers far beyond your ken, stallion, and the more you challenge them…”

The Master soon found his monologue silenced as Quiver landed a powerful right cross to his face. Quiver took a second to regard his fist, surprised that he knew how to deliver such a blow, but didn’t feel too bad about the results. “You’re hardly much better, fella. Willing accomplice and all that. Don’t push me.”

The Time Lord’s response was to give a dark chuckle. “Oh, you overestimate yourself.” He then sharply turned his head to reveal his eyes were now yellow, his pupil’s like those of a cat and fangs emerging from his mouth. “I am far more dangerous than…”

Quiver punched him again, this time a jab that knocked the wind out of the man. It was swiftly followed by two swift strikes that left the Master sprawled on the ground, gasping for air. “Got thestrals in my family tree. Do better.” He heard snickering from nearby, and caught sight of the transformed diamond dogs as they tried to stifle their enjoyment, and a thought occurred to him as he turned his attention back to the Rani. “Now that it’s crossed my mind, how are you keeping them under your thumb? I don’t see any fancy devices on them, no signs of surgery, so implants are unlikely.” He turned back to them and continued, “Chemicals and hypnosis seem unlikely too, so…” A thought struck him, and he realized, “Moondancer, you heard that high-pitched sound on the way in, right? Almost like a whistle?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t been hearing it since…” The transformed unicorn brought a hand to her ear. “Since we were transformed.”

Quiver grinned and turned to the diamond dogs. “Makes me wonder why you’re still here. Hearing range for a pony isn’t that different from a diamond dog’s, so if we can’t hear it…”

Quiver had been told by his friends of their encounters with diamond dogs, with special attention made to Rarity’s case, and it was clear that the ones they encountered weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer. While he had no way of knowing the fullest extent of these dogs’ collective intelligence, he could tell that the wheels were turning in their heads, and sure enough…

“Dogs, run!” As the rest of his pack fled, the lead dog called, “Thanks, pony! Bosses jerks!”

The Rani looked at him with an expression that mixed intrigue and annoyance. “You are alarmingly perceptive. I’d be impressed if it wasn’t an annoyance.”

“What can I say, I try to practice my critical thinking skills, and I’ve gotten a lot of practice lately. And practice makes perfect.”

“Indeed.” The Rani then moved to her console and keyed in new commands. Before Quiver or Moondancer could move to stop her, the pair were transformed back into ponies and struck numb. The Rani and the Master, however, retained their native forms. “It hardly matters that you deduced how I was controlling the diamond dog pack. They were hardly of any use at this point anyway, and they cannot run very far.”

The numb feeling was fading faster than it had before as Quiver regained his footing. “Forgetting something, miss.”

Before the Rani could retort, Moondancer fired a beam of magic from her horn. It was a weak one, certainly not strong enough to do serious damage, but enough to knock the Time Lord off her feet. The beam, however, passed right through her as though it were nothing, and the Rani smirked. “You aren’t the only one with the odd surprise, pony. It’s almost a shame that I can’t take you with me, as you would make an excellent test subject.”

“You’re hardly making it sound appealing, Ushas.”

The Rani’s attention suddenly shot towards the chamber entrance as another intruder entered. “Impossible. How…?!”

“How am I still bipedal?” He took a second to adjust his bowtie. “Well, you’ll get there in a minute.”

“No, that name. How can you possibly…?!”

“You’ll get there in a minute too.” He stepped forward at a confident swagger as he elaborated, “Anyway, back to my previous point. You look at them, you don’t see people, you see data to be quantified, subjects to be examined. You might recognize that they have names, but only so far as it’s useful to you. The little things, the important things, go right by you. That’s what you get for spending all your time in the laboratory and not enough of it dealing with other people. As far as you’re concerned, things like love and pleasure are little more than chemical interactions, and something as simple as faith is little more than a fairy story.”

The Rani gave him a scornful look. “I suppose next you’re going to attempt to sell me on the existence of the divine?”

“Hardly. Just saying that your attitude puts you beneath them, rather than above them. I’m hardly a believer, but that doesn’t stop me from having faith in something greater than myself.” He gestured to the device and explained, “The existence of this device doesn’t disprove the existence of the divine. It just proves that you don’t have much in the way of imagination, unlike Quiver here.” He turned to the stallion and added, “Seriously, well done mate.”

As Quiver smiled, the Master sat up and groaned, “And what precisely has he done?”

“Aside from knock you around, he had the good sense to pay attention.” He then turned back to the Rani and continued, “And of course, the really funny thing about all of this is that, unlike the last few times we’ve crossed paths with each other, I recognized the two of you immediately, but you didn’t return the favor. I’ll admit, though, I hard time believing what I was seeing at first, until I figured it out.” He pulled a device from his pocket and activated it with a flick of his wrist. “The Master had enough chances to fool around in Time Lord archives, and he likely needed your help to stabilize his condition. And in return, you got a few choice bits of information, as well as some odds and ends. Genetic samples, brain patterns, things like that.”

Moondancer looked at the Master as the realization hit her. “He’s a clone! That explains it!”

“You make it sound as though this were a terrible existence.” Still in pain from his brief fight with Quiver, the Master had nonetheless recovered enough to recount, “From what the Rani has told me, frightening things were on the horizon. I’m actually quite grateful for her help in my escape from what was to come, and don’t envy my ‘brother’ his position.”

“The Time War, you mean.” That got more of the Rani’s attention as the intruder elaborated, “The original Master actually did fight in the War, even if he only ended up making things worse before he ran away and hid, but you Rani? You ran. You decided the Time Lords would fall to the Daleks, so why waste time preventing the inevitable?”

“And what do you know of it?”

“I was there.” He waved his sonic screwdriver and noted, “Clever thing, this. Didn’t have it with me for a long time. Would’ve been useful, but I was in a phase, trying to challenge myself. Anyway, took me a while, but I remembered eventually. I fought on the front lines, did what I could to save lives. And that’s exactly what I did. I ended the Time War. I saved Gallifrey. Because I had faith, and hope. I was never cruel nor cowardly. I never gave up, and I never gave in. I was able to do it because in the end, that’s the man I am.”

Realization finally struck, and the Rani managed a mirthless smirk. “Doctor.”

“Exactly.” Another wave of the sonic, and the consoles around the Rani sparked and lost power, and the Rani herself vanished.

The Master then chuckled. “You figured it out then, Doctor. Everything.”

“Almost everything. Don’t go anywhere, we’ll be right back.” He gestured for Quiver and Moondancer to follow him towards the wardrobe, and the three stepped inside to find themselves within another impressive structure, similar to the inside of Time Turner’s TARDIS but with decidedly different aesthetics. “That version of the Rani the two of you saw was a hologram, a projection of light and energy. The real her should be…” He led them towards a pair of doors, and opened them with his sonic. “Ah.”

Inside, the three found an array of devices surrounding what resembled a hospital bed. Resting inside it was a withered, aged woman, decayed and looking impossibly old. Quiver scowled. “The Rani, I presume.”

“Possibly the real one, possibly a clone of herself that she made to throw everyone off. Probably won’t know for sure for a long time yet to come.” The Doctor scanned the area and explained, “Time dams. Meant to slow her aging to almost imperceptible levels. Can’t last forever, of course, and probably drawing power from her own TARDIS. It’s why she needed that device out there to help – her TARDIS is so low on power now, it needed the jumpstart.” He looked at the decrepit form and noted, “Still not very good at your job, eh Ushas?”

Moondancer looked up at him curiously. “Why do you keep calling her that?”

“It’s her birth name. She chose to call herself ‘the Rani’ after her banishment. Hates it when I call her that.” He frowned. “That’s something the three of us have in common. We all prefer the names we chose for ourselves, rather than the ones we were given.”

Quiver gave the Time Lord a raised eyebrow. “You aren’t them, Doctor.”

“No, but I’ve come close a few times.” One more use of his sonic, and the Doctor led them away. “I’ve shut off the power going to the time dams. They’ll last a little while longer, but they’ll eventually shut down. Even back in her proper body, she still can’t regenerate, so once what little’s left goes…”

“Old age will catch up to her. That’s the end of that.” Quiver looked to the Time Lord and asked, “But what about the Master? What’s stopping him from continuing where the Rani left off?”

“Well she’s got to have some way of keeping him under her control, right?” Moondancer looked back. “Let’s ask him.”

They emerged from the Rani’s TARDIS to find the Master had vanished, seemingly without a trace. Quiver shook his head. “Should’ve seen this coming. How do we track him down?”

“Good question.” The Doctor flicked his sonic once more and noted, “These caves are endless, and he probably knows them better than we do. Might be too dangerous to try, anyhow.” He tucked away his device and said, “Let’s go get Clara and Lyra, make sure he can’t use the Rani’s TARDIS for anything more nefarious than shelter, then get the three of you home.”

Quiver wanted to argue, but found himself too exhausted to try. He just hoped that he wouldn’t see either of them again.

Author's Note

And here we are, the doozy chapter. My thanks to both RQK and FinalLegendZero for their assistance with this installment...and I'll also admit to a little inspiration from Reality Check.

One more chapter to go, folks.

Chapter Five - We're All Stories In The End

There were quite a few villages in Equestria that were small enough to not merit registering on a map. One such settlement was some hours distant from Ponyville on hoof, its population a regular customer of the Apple family whenever they needed pies for a celebration. And they regularly made excuses to have a celebration.

“Mm-hm!” One pony paused as he devoured his pie to call out, “Andouille! This pie's even tastier than my momma’s swamp water casserole!” As the rest of the ponies cheered in agreement, one elder mare gave a hurt frown, to which the stallion responded, “Aw, now, momma, don’t be like that.”

As the last of the pies was claimed, Applejack gave a proud smile. The road out here wasn’t easy, but the trip was one that members of the family had taken before her, her father and older brother included, and they’d taught her plenty of tricks to make the trip easier. The thick fireproof boots she wore were just one of the precautions she’d taken, and they’d served her well. The way home would be relatively easy, assuming that chimera was still out of the picture, though she’d be lying if she was looking forward to the trip.

Just audible over the sounds of celebration was a groaning, wheezing sound. She turned towards its source as a large blue box slowly faded into view. “What in tarnation…?” She approached just as the doors swung open and a familiar stallion emerged. “Quiver!”

“Hey Applejack! Looks like you had a successful trip.” He tilted his head back inside and asked, “Fancy a shortcut home?”

The farmpony was more than a little flabbergasted at what she saw, but as much as she wanted to question it, another part of her opted against looking a free ride in the mouth. “Well, Ah’ve been paid, so yeah, won’t say no. Might be a little trouble gettin’ the cart inside, though.”

Quiver grinned. “You’d be surprised.” He moved out of the way as Applejack hitched herself back up to her wagon, then watched as she made her way inside of the craft, an awestruck look on her face as she took it all in. “Well?”

The farmpony’s gaze slowly went over the console room, and soon found itself on the forms of the Doctor and Clara. As the latter gave a nervous wave, Applejack turned to Quiver. “This ain’t magic.”

“Nope. Sufficiently advanced technology.” The doors closed and as Time Turner began to get the vessel back underway, Quiver continued, “I’ll try my best to sum it all up.”

Lemon Hearts had a giddy smile on her face as she looked out over the landscape from the chariot carrying her to Ponyville. A ride like this definitely made up for missing the train to Ponyville earlier in the day, though alas, when you work as an event planner, sometimes things go sideways. “So any idea why we stopped to pick up that big box?”

“Not a clue,” Twinkleshine answered her as they closed in on their destination. “I hope Twilight will fill us in once we land.” The pink-maned unicorn turned regretful as she added, “Shame we couldn’t catch the earlier train. Moondancer looked like somepony had torn up a book when we told her.” She then grinned and added, “Of course, you not being there when they geek out is probably for the best. Remember…?”

“Yes, Twinkleshine, I remember what happened with the glassware.” A groan escaped the yellow mare’s muzzle at the embarrassing memory, and it was a relief when the chariot landed near Golden Oak Library.

As the pair disembarked, Twilight Sparkle emerged. “Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, you made it!” She gave the pair a brief hug, then turned to the guardsponies pulling the chariot. “Well done, sirs. I’ll take it from here.”

The stallions stood up a little straighter as the cargo was unloaded, then lifted off and went back on their way. “Yeah, we were just wondering about this.” Lemon Hearts inspected the blue box, then turned to Twilight as Spike and most of the alicorn’s fellow bearers emerged. “What’s up with it? And where are Minuette and Moondancer and Lyra?”

“It’s a long story. Hopefully…” Twilight paused as a groaning, wheezing noise sounded nearby and a light wind rustled her mane. Slowly, a second blue box materialized a short distance away, and once it finished coming into existence, the doors opened to reveal the one pony she didn’t expect. “Applejack?”

“Figured Ah should unload first, given mah cargo.” The farmpony pulled out her cart and set it to one side, and the rest of the box’s crew and passengers emerged. “Don’t know exactly what’s goin’ on, though.”

“That’s mostly because Quiver didn’t want to repeat himself.” Moondancer took a second to share a quick hug with Twilight, then turned to the two new arrivals. “Hi girls. You missed out on a doozy.”

The pair laid eyes on the Doctor and Clara, and Lemon Hearts audibly gulped. “I’ll bet.” She then turned to another of her old school chums and asked, “Lyra, are they…?”

“Humans?” Lyra beamed. “She is, but he isn’t.”

“Hello, I’m Clara Oswald.” The young woman seemed to enjoy the shocked looks on the two unicorn’s faces. “You two must be Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. This is the Doctor.”

“And that’s my TARDIS!” The Time Lord rushed to his machine and did his best to hug it. “Brilliant!” He then turned to Twilight and asked, “How did it get here?”

“I asked Rainbow Dash to find it, then sent a message back to Canterlot for it to be picked up and brought here along with my friends.” The princess smiled and shrugged. “I figured it would save you a little time.”

The Doctor made a small bow. “Thank you. Everything alright?”

“Reports came back a while ago from Canterlot and the Crystal Empire,” Sour Sweet reported. “Everyone’s okay.”

“Excellent.” He then produced a key and moved to unlock his machine. “I’ll be just a second, need to check on something. Don’t wander off too far. Clara, I’m going to need your help with this.”

“Coming.” She rolled her eyes and turned to Lyra. “Can’t get anything done without me, him. Anyway, you good?”

“I think so, yeah.” As Clara joined the Doctor inside his TARDIS, the minty green unicorn turned to her stallion friend. “Quiver, there’s something I need to talk with you about.”

“Does it involve you and your relationship with Bon-Bon?” He smiled. “Lyra, the sooner you get things out in the open, the better.”

“And after everything we’ve been through, I’d say go and get it sorted out right now, before something else goes crazy.” Moondancer managed a nervous shrug as she admitted, “That seems to be how things go these days.”

Lyra nodded. “Right, thanks! I’ll be back as soon as I can!” She then rushed off as the rest of the gathered ponies smirked amongst themselves.

“Well, it’s about time.” Rarity grinned and asked, “How soon do you think I should start working on outfits for their nuptials?”

“You kidding? I’m already planning their reception!” Pinkie beamed as she leaned in close to Lemon Hearts and added, “Wouldn’t say no to some help on the finer details when the time comes, either.”

The yellow unicorn grinned at that, then turned to Moondancer. “Guess you’ve all got quite the story for us, huh?”

“Yeah, but let’s wait until everyone’s all here and ready before we tell it.” The bookish unicorn managed a rueful grin as she noted, “The way things have gone today, something’s definitely going to come up and interrupt.”

“Girls! Everypony!” As if on cue, Fluttershy chose that moment to join the group with something small, blue and delicate clinging to her mane. “Oh, hello everypony, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but the breezies are ready to head home, and…”

“Hey, no sweat!” Rainbow Dash flashed a confident grin and declared, “I’ll get Thunderlane, Flitter and Cloud Chaser…”

“Wait!” The tiny creature nestled in Fluttershy’s mane, a breezy by the look of him, waved and shouted, “There may not be enough of us to safely make the journey home, no matter how light you make the breeze! We need more breezies!”

Moondancer’s eyes went wide as she turned to Twilight. “Metamorphic spell?”

The princess nodded. “Just what I was thinking, but with all our plans…”

“Hello!” Minuette gestured to Time Turner’s TARDIS and explained, “Time machine?”

“I imagine Seabreeze would prefer to handle his trip home in the traditional manner, but I can certainly have my TARDIS ready at his destination.” The Time Pony grinned. “You could be back before you even leave. I just need a little help in piloting her, and I think Sparkler will be more than able to help there.” He turned to his cousin and asked, “That is, assuming you wanted to help get the breezies home directly.”

Minuette grinned and looked to Twilight, who smiled. “I guess we have a plan then.”

Bon-Bon let out a contented sigh as she tucked away the last of her cleaning supplies. She’d had a busier day than she’d have liked, but she wasn’t about to complain when money came in. Work as a confectioner was difficult enough when you lived in the same town as Pinkie Pie, even if Sugar Cube Corner tended to focus on baked goods rather than candy. Thankfully, those closest to her helped her to carry the load…though she did wish that she could share more with them.

The door to her residence swung open, and she turned to find her housemate standing at the threshold. “Lyra! I thought you were…” She then noticed the unicorn mare was panting and out of breath, and ushered her inside to sit down and relax. “Sweet Maker, what happened? You look like you just ran a marathon!”

“Had to…get here…couldn’t…wait…” After a few more pants to catch her breath. “Bonnie, a lot of stuff’s happened today, all of it amazing, some of it crazy, and I’ve had a lot to think about, and there’s something I need to say before I lose my chance.” She gave a weary smile. “I love you, Bonnie. You’re amazing and wonderful and I am so very glad and very lucky to have you as a part of my life, and I am so very sorry if I just made things awkward, but damn, I should have said something sooner.” She saw the dumbstruck expression on her friends’ face and suddenly turned worried. “Oh no, I…”

Lyra stopped as her bestie took her into a tight embrace. “You haven’t made things awkward, Lyra. And it’s okay that you didn’t say anything sooner.” Bon-Bon pulled back and smiled. “I love you too.”

The unicorn sighed in relief. “So why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Well, let’s just say that what I’m about to talk about is going to make things really awkward.” Bon-Bon moved from her sofa to a nearby chair, then removed the cushion before pulling back some fabric to reveal a large metal case. “I’ve been keeping secrets from you. From everypony, really.” She brought the case forward and asked, “Lyra, have you ever wondered how I was able to just buy my home and my shop?”

“Well, no, but I thought you’d inherited one or the other. I mean, didn’t you have family here in town that moved to Fillydelphia?”

“Yes, but none of them were confectioners.” She opened the case to reveal an assortment of disguises, equipment and paperwork. “Before I came to live here in Ponyville permanently, I had a different job, and a different name. I worked for a secret government organization, one tasked with dealing with dangerous creatures and monsters before they could hurt anypony. Working as a confectioner was part of my cover, at least until it became my real job.” She gave a nervous smile. “You remember when Cerberus came to town?”

Lyra nodded. “That couple of weeks you went off to a convention and I looked after Twist.”

“I wasn’t at a convention. There were reports of a bugbear rampaging near the Whitetail Woods, and I was sent to capture it and lock it away in Tartarus.” She closed the case and continued, “It turns out it had escaped from Tartarus somehow. Afterwards, the organization was shut down, every trace of it destroyed under Princess Celestia’s orders. She wanted complete deniability.” She shrugged and admitted, “I still had the shop as part of my cover, and it went from being a front to my real job. Crazy paperwork shuffling, don’t ask me how it all works.”

“Wow. I’m sorry.”

Bon-Bon shrugged. “Don’t be. I didn’t get on too well with my coworkers. Lots of bad jokes on their part on account of…well, my being a lesbian. Plus, now I get to spend more time with you and Twist.” She smiled. “All in all, I’d say I made it out okay.”

Lyra laughed. “Yeah, you did.” She raised an eyebrow. “Different name, though?”

“My real name is Sweetie Drops.”

The unicorn smirked. “I like Bon-Bon better.”

“Me too.” Bon-Bon then laughed as though a weight were off her chest. “So, you ran here and forgot about that thing you were doing with your old school friends just to tell me that?”

“Hey, I didn’t forget it! It’s not my fault Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts couldn’t catch an earlier train!” Lyra then explained, “I’m just taking a detour. I’ll meet up with everyone else at the spa after I’m done here. I just had to get that taken care of, before I did something stupid or something got in the way.”

Bon-Bon gently laughed and nuzzled her roomie. “Lyra, seriously? You’re not stupid. Eccentric, yeah, but definitely not stupid. Besides, something tells me everypony already knew we were a couple. Now it’s just official.” She gave a nervous grin and asked, “But let’s wait a while before we double-date with anypony, okay? At least until I can find a regular sitter for Twist.”

“That works.” Lyra got back to her hooves and made her way to the door. “Anyway, I’ll see you when I get back. Something tells me Rarity’s going to try and give Moondancer a makeover.”

“Well isn’t she the lucky one.”

Bon-Bon watched Lyra go, glad that things were in the open at last. She expected all sorts of questions from her marefriend at some point, considering how much she played around with conspiracy theories, but for the time being, harmony was restored.

“For the record, I think I can get by without a thitter.”

So much for that. She turned to find a bespectacled filly standing at the top of a nearby staircase, her front hooves crossed over the railing. With some annoyance, she asked, “How much of that did you hear, Twist?”

“Enough.” The filly scampered down the steps and declared, “Perthonally, I think it wath about time you two thaid thomething to each other. Of courthe, now the quethtion ith, which one of you ith going to propothe firtht?”

Bon-Bon smirked despite her niece’s teasing. “Twist.”

“And that’th ignoring who’the going to wear what at the wedding. Will both of you be in white, or in black, or will you flip for it, or…”

“Peppermint Twistaloo.” Bon-Bon rose from the sofa and approached her niece, then drew her into a hug. “We’ve got plenty of time to worry about all of that. I’m just glad you’re fine with it.”

“How could I not be? Lyra’th a great honorary auntie.” Twist worked her way deeper into the hug and noted, “Now it’ll jutht be official.”

Lyra returned to Golden Oak Library in time to see Spike emerge. The Doctor’s TARDIS was still parked nearby, though the one Time Turner owned appeared to have vanished. “I haven’t missed anything, have I?”

“Nah, just everypony else going off to help the breezies get home. Time Turner and Minuette said something about catching up with them at their destination.” The young dragon glanced towards where the second time machine had been parked as the remaining blue box’s doors opened. “He said something about them being back before they left, but…”

“Odds are that Time Turner’s still getting used to her.” The Doctor emerged with a sympathetic smile, Clara following in his wake. “Sometimes it takes a little bit for the girls to readjust, especially if it’s been a little while.”

The familiar groaning and wheezing sound heralded the return of Time Turner’s machine as it materialized before them, and the doors swung open to allow its passengers to depart. The various ponies looked a little exhausted, but otherwise no worse for wear for their trip. “I must admit, this is a rather convenient means of travel.” Rarity gave the Doctor an impressed look as she admitted, “I almost envy it. Had I something like this, it would make business trips marvelously simple. No needing to work around train schedules, for one thing.”

“Well no abusing the old girl, Rarity.” Time Turner and Minuette were the last to exit as the stallion looked to the Time Lord. “Something tells me I won’t be able to pilot her much longer.”

“Worried that I’ll be stopping you from using this for yourself?” The Doctor grinned. “Don’t worry. I think that I can trust you with it. Just make sure you keep her from falling into the wrong hooves, eh?”

The Time Pony nodded as his cousin piped up. “Well now that’s settled, let’s go inside already! Turner and I can’t be the only ones with questions about what went down back in the caves!”

“I think Twinkleshine and I have questions about all of this.” She gestured towards the twin timeships and elaborated, “All this time travel stuff, not the breezies. That I think we have down.”

“Well, we can spare a bit of time to elaborate.” The assembled group filed back into the library, the Doctor and Clara stooping down to enter and having to do their best to get comfortable. Spike, thankfully, had laid out fresh food and drink, and as everyone found a place to park themselves, the Doctor began, “To start with, as previously said, neither Clara nor I are from around here. We come from an alternate reality, or whatever you want to call it. Clara was born on Earth, just not this Earth, and I come from another planet entirely.”

The Doctor gave as condensed a version of the pertinent information available as he could from there, with others chipping in where possible. The gathered group made a good audience, though there were the odd interruptions at points, particularly the revelation of Time Turner and Minuette’s ancestry. Finally, discussion reached the subject of what had been found in the Caves, as well as what the Rani’s research had uncovered.

“Ah can’t believe it.” Applejack scowled as she considered what she’d been told. “The way this Rani lady was talkin’, it’s like everythin’ we’ve been raised to believe is wrong. Like the Maker don’t exist.”

“And she’s wrong.”

Moondancer gave Quiver a surprised look. “That’s not what you said in the caves, Quiver.”

“No, I said that I had no firm reason to believe that she was lying to us, and that she was speaking from a biased perspective. Neither statement says the Maker is nonexistent.” Quiver turned to Applejack and amended, “AJ, the way she spoke, the Rani considered religion of all sorts to be at best a fairy tale, cooked up by inferior beings to explain how the world around them works. She’s the sort of scientist who thinks that if she can gather enough data, she can accurately predict the outcome of any experiment.”

“And she’d be wrong.” Twilight smiled as she admitted, “For all we know about the world around us, there’s so much that we don’t understand, and will likely never understand. But one thing we can understand is that the universe is inherently unpredictable.”

“Still, the way she was talkin’…” The farmpony took her hat off and quietly acknowledged. “Ah ain’t ashamed to admit that Ah’m a mare a’ faith. Don’t know if Ah’ll be fortunate enough to get there, but if’n Ah find my way to the Eternal Fields, well, Ah can only hope my mom and dad are waitin’ for me. Them bein’ there’s the only real comfort Ah had after loosin’ em.” She turned to the Doctor and added, “Y’all can disagree with me all ya want, but what kinda world can we live in where there ain’t some higher power tellin’ us right from wrong?”

“You can’t.” The Time Lord’s tone was solemn and firm as he explained, “In a completely materialistic universe, it’s survival of the fittest. Might makes right. Justice is little more than a clever lie we fool ourselves with, and there’s no point in being moral and looking after anyone beyond ourselves. Living like animals.” He smiled and added, “So it’s a good thing that we don’t live in a world like that.”

Clara looked at her friend in surprise. “Never pegged you as a man of faith, Doctor.”

The Time Lord flashed an enigmatic grin. “Clara, in our reality, it was believed for the longest time that the human race gained dominance on its Earth through violence, killing all its rivals. But more recent discoveries show that early humans valued cooperation and looking after one another, as much as if not more than violence. There are burial sites that are confirmed to be one hundred thousand years old on the Earth we know, with some claimed to be three times as old. And many of the same things that we associate with the behavior of sapient life, like agriculture and tool use and art, emerged around the same time. The Great Leap Forward, as some call it. Something had to inspire it, in all of us. Humans, Time Lords, ponies, whatever.”

Quiver smiled. “He’s right, Applejack.”

The mare shrugged. “Of course. Ah just know folks might take it that way if’n word a’ this discovery got out. Still, frightnin’ thought that someone came along a long time ago and remade our world. Why do it?”

“We’ll probably never know, but I doubt they were anything like the Rani thought they were.” Surprised looks went Quiver’s way as he explained, “The way she talked, they set all of that up as some experiment, with us in a petri dish. I’m not going to pretend to guess at their motives, but the fact that we’re still here and able to debate it suggests that they at least value life enough to give it a chance to flourish.” He looked to the Doctor. “And given that sapient life has developed on Earth in corners of the multiverse beyond this one, I’d say they had nothing to do with that part of the equation.”

“Seems a logical theory to me.” The Time Lord then turned to Twilight. “Now of course, the question remains of what’s going to be done about all of this.”

“Well, I definitely have to tell Princess Celestia, and she’ll need to inform the rulers of other nations, particularly Aquastria and the Griffon Kingdom. After that, we’re going to need to thoroughly examine that device.”

“And doing that’s going to involve the cooperation of Abyssinia, given the Caves are along our border with them.” Sour turned to Time Turner and added, “And something tells me that your group will want to take possession of the Rani’s TARDIS as soon as possible.”

The Time Pony nodded. “Can’t risk someone getting access to a working time travel device, at any rate.”

“This might help.” The Doctor pulled a cube from his coat. “Fuel cell. I nicked a few from the Rani’s TARDIS to speed up recharging my own. What was going to take a day should only be a half-hour or so now.” He replaced it in his jacket and added, “Most of the rest were spent though, probably to fuel those time dams and holoprojectors. But no fuel means it can’t be piloted, and something tells me the spells Star Swirl developed can’t be used by any random unicorn.”

“No, they can’t.” The Time Pony smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“There’s still one thing about all of this that bugs me, though.” Heads turned to Spike as he asked, “The Rani was trying to turn herself and that Master guy back to their original forms, but how did doing that cause Twilight to revert and everything else?”

The Doctor shrugged. “If I had enough time to analyze what they kludged together and properly research your world’s thaumic field, I might be able to answer that question. As it is right now, I can only say that the Rani was working out of her field, and the Master was never quite as smart as he thought he was. What happened to Twilight and Princess Luna and the Crystal Empire, not to mention me, was collateral damage on their part.”

“Which brings up something else for the to-do list.” Quiver turned to Twilight and explained, “The Rani’s on her last breaths, but we should assume the Master’s still out there to cause trouble. Bare minimum, he needs to get locked up before he has a chance to do more damage.”

“I’ll make sure to mention him in the report.” The princess then turned to the Doctor. “I suppose now you’ll be on your way.”

“Afraid that I must, or Clara and I might be stuck here.” He stood up and smiled. “That said, I’m pleased to have met you, all of you. And who knows, maybe one day, I’ll come back. Has happened from time to time.”

“And hopefully there won’t be nearly as much trouble the next time ‘round.” Clara stood to join him and beamed. “Take care of yourselves, eh?”

The two then made their way out of the library, with Clara in the lead. She snapped her fingers, and the doors to their TARDIS opened. Before either of them could enter, however, Quiver emerged from the library. “Doctor, can you spare a second?”

The Time Lord ushered his friend on, then turned back to Quiver. “One more thing, eh?”

“Something like that. Back in the caves, I subdued the Master, despite not being in my natural body and barely knowing how to walk in it, let alone fight.” He raised an eyebrow. “You had something to do with that.”

The Doctor smirked. “I don’t like sending people into danger if I don’t think they can look after themselves, and I always try to look after my friends.”

“Despite my arguing that they should be killed? How did you know you could trust me not to do the job myself?”

The smirk faded as the Doctor considered his answer. “Quiver, do you know how old I am? I’m old enough that I’ve forgotten how old I am. I just say that I’m twelve hundred years to make things easier on other people. But you live long enough, and you get an idea of how people act and how they think, and the sort of person they are. And you didn’t strike me as the sort to do more damage than you needed to do.”

“Despite my upbringing?”

“Because of it. Despite being raised by a stallion who demeaned you, despite God knows what other sorts of abuse and pain went your way, here you are, treated as a friend by royalty and national heroes. And that’s ignoring the fact that you had the courage to stand up to the Rani and tell her that she was wrong. You’ve seen the worst, and you choose to try and make it better.”

Quiver gave a nervous smile. “Well, don’t credit faith for that. I have a complicated relationship with the Maker, for all sorts of reasons. Kinda envy Applejack’s faith, to be honest.”

“And there’s hardly anything wrong with that. Regardless, you could have been anything, but here you are.”

“A hero?”

The Doctor laughed. “If you are, then I’m not the one to say so. But in all of my travels, I’ve met all sorts of individuals. Explorers, generals, scientists, scholars, dictators, not one of them was someone that you could call boring. Even met a few heroes in my time. But the thing about heroes is that there’s plenty of them in the world. You don’t need to be a hero to be something brilliant, Quiver. You’re already something brilliant.” The Time Lord grinned an ancient smile and a twinkle formed in his ageless eyes. “You’re a storyteller. And the world’s always going to need a storyteller.” He gestured to his TARDIS and noted, “Anyway, I’d offer you a place onboard, but I think I already know the answer.”

The stallion nodded. “It’s tempting, but I’m good where I am.” He tilted his head back towards the library and said, “This is my home. They’re my family. And there’s plenty for me to do here.”

The Time Lord smiled. “Good on you, mate.” He then entered his TARDIS, and the doors closed behind him.

Quiver expected the next sound he heard to be that groaning, wheezing sound it made as it vanished, but instead, he heard a different one. “Envy mah faith, eh?” He turned to find Applejack giving him a raised eyebrow. “That got somethin’ to do with that brother of yours?”

The stallion smiled. “Autism affects the mind, not the soul. I like to think he ended up somewhere nice, but at the same time, it doesn’t change what happened to him in life, or the fact that he died, or all the pain we went through because of it.”

“No, no it don’t.” Applejack laid a hoof on his shoulder. “An’ me sayin’ the Maker has a reason fer everythin’ that happens ain’t much of a comfort. Don’t make it less true though, least as far as Ah know.”

As the TARDIS dematerialized, Quiver reflected, “I can only hope that you’re right.”

“Sorry.” The Doctor turned to Clara as the TARDIS doors closed, and she elaborated. “You lost a friend today, or at least someone you knew.”

Despite his young face, the Time Lord looked every bit his age as he approached the console. “The Rani lost herself a long time ago, Clara, and that’s assuming who we saw today was the Rani. Honestly, I don’t know which would be worse.” He did his best to smile. “Still, helped save this world, that’s a good thing.”

“Always. So, where were we going again, before we came here and got turned into ponies?”

“The Eye of Orion!” The Doctor went about the console, set coordinates and prepared for departure. There was no guarantee they’d reach the place, of course, but wherever they went, however, the Doctor was looking forward to it.

A contented sigh escaped Lyra’s lips as her massage finished. “I needed this. I’m glad Rarity set this all up.”

“I’ve got a sneaking suspicion she set all this up for a reason.” Twilight’s own bit of grooming was just now being finished up by a member of the spa staff as she continued, “And not just because she thought we’d all enjoy it.”

The pair of unicorns were gathered in the Ponyville Spa with their friends from Canterlot, each of them being groomed and cleaned up. The alicorn among them in particular was glad for it, given the excitement that she’d had that day, and she suspected it was much the same for Lyra and Moondancer. Much to their surprise, however, they’d found themselves with an addition.

“I need to be careful, or this is going to turn into a habit.” Quiver’s coat had been brushed and cleaned, but not much more maintenance was needed given it hadn’t been long since his previous visit. “Still, I do feel better after getting cleaned up. I’m starting to see why you and the girls come here so often, Twilight.”

“Well, something tells me Rarity would be coming here on a regular basis even if we weren’t going off on crazy adventures.” She grinned. “And something also tells me she’ll be dragging us here again before too long, given what’s coming on the horizon.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Lemon Hearts grinned at Twilight, clearly relishing the chance to dish out some playful teasing rather than receive it. “Gonna spend some time with your special somepony soon?”

“And looking forward to it.” Twilight stood proud, clearly pleased with herself as she gave the stallion among them a conspiratorial grin. “Even better since I’ll be sharing it with another couple.”

Quiver responded in turn. “So what was that about your suspicions?”

The princess turned nervous. “Well, I might have mentioned a few things to Rarity about how Moondancer looked, and the way Spike talked about how she reacted to seeing Moondancer in pony…” She groaned. “Moondancer’s not going to forgive me for this.”

“Well, we all know how hard it is to stop Rarity when she gets going.” Lyra grinned. “Goes for a lot of us, really. We all know how many times I’ve gone off.”

“Yeah, but now you can rub our faces in it.” The group laughed at Twinkleshine’s remark. “So how does it feel, finding out that you’re right?”

The minty green mare shrugged. “Feels good, mostly.” She glanced at Minuette and added, “Learned a lot more in the bargain, but I’m not complaining.”

The Time Pony grinned as another voice called out for their attention. “Excuse me darlings, but we’re ready!” Heads turned to Rarity as she gently urged someone behind a privacy curtain. “Come along dear.”

The curtain parted, and Moondancer emerged. Compared to most of Rarity’s efforts, this was decidedly sedate, with most of the work having been done by the spa staff to clean up her mane and coat and work out her loose ends. Gone was the scrunchie that kept her bangs out of the eyes, and her bangs had been parted and styled so that most of it was on her right-hoof side, with her tail styled to have a slight curl. The baggy sweater was also gone, replaced by a sweater vest of similar colors that more closely fit her frame, while her thick-rimmed glasses were replaced with a pair with smaller, more rounded frames. The differences were subtle, but she practically looked like a whole new mare. Her annoyed expression, however, was instantly recognizable. “Alright, let’s get the jokes over with.”

“What’s to joke about?” Minuette approached with a beaming smile. “You look amazing!”

“It helps that she already was.” Rarity allowed herself some self-preening as she added, “All she needed was a little help to bring it to the surface. And I suspect it shan’t take too much to maintain something like this, should she choose.”

One side of her face curled up in a grin as Moondancer remarked, “Let me decide on that, huh?” She then turned to Twilight and asked, “So was this the whole point of us coming here, Twilight? Giving me a makeover and exchanging notes on what I’ve discovered from Star Swirl’s research?”

“Actually, there was one other thing that I wanted all of you here for, back at the library.” Twilight smiled. “Hopefully, everything’s ready by now.”

Twilight led her Canterlot friends back out of the spa, and as Quiver moved to follow them out, Rarity stepped towards him. “Quiver, if I could have a moment?” He turned to her as she continued, “You recall what happened earlier, when we became aware of this crisis?”

“And the Doctor chewed you out over how you were more concerned about that crazy overcoat than you were Twilight?”

The fashionista cringed. “Yes, that.” She steeled herself and prodded, “Was he justified?”

Quiver frowned. “Yes, he was.” He sat and elaborated, “Rarity, you are a brilliant artist, and when you’re at your best, you show how you earned your status as the bearer of the Element of Generosity. But there are times where you act selfishly, and focus more on yourself and your needs than those of others. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t, but there are times where you need to consider the important priorities. I mean, I’ve heard about what happened with that dragon, and how many times have you manipulated someone into giving you something you wanted? From an outside perspective, it doesn’t reflect well on you.”

The mare frowned. “No, it doesn’t.”

He smiled and leaned in. “Just means you need to work on it. You pulled through for Sweetie Belle, didn’t you? You can do it in other places, too.” He stood back up and made his way out. “Just need a little self-reflection, and a bit of hard work.”

He passed out of earshot, and Rarity wondered aloud, “Though am I up to the task?”

The door leading into Twilight’s basement lab creaked open, and Moondancer was the first to follow the alicorn inside. “So what was so important that you couldn’t tell us about…?” The bookish mare gasped as she caught sight of the ornate mirror within, and had to restrain herself from jumping down the stairs. “Is that what I think it is?!”

Twilight giggled. “It might be.” She finished her descent and approached the mirror as she explained, “A little bit after my coronation, I learned of an artifact called the Crystal Mirror that allowed for travel between this world and another one, like how the Doctor and Clara came to visit our world. I later learned that it had been created by Star Swirl the Bearded, and that he’d created a number of others. This is one of those other mirrors.” She gestured to it and explained, “We’ve come to call it the Bridge Mirror.”

While the others marveled at it, Lyra turned to Twilight and asked, “But why show this to us?”

“Well, everything that’s happened today kinda spoiled most of the impact, but there was one other pony who used this mirror. And they wanted to get back in touch.” Twilight gestured for them to follow, then stepped through the mirror.

Moondancer was the first to step through, with the others following one after another. They emerged in a large empty space, the light within giving it the air of a place of worship with the odd bit of furniture scattered about. And standing near Twilight were two creatures very similar to the Doctor and Clara, albeit with decidedly more colorful skin tones and hair colors. One, with a head of crimson and yellow hair, smiled. “Hey girls. You may not recognize me, or even remember me, but…”

Minuette quickly proved her wrong. “Sunset Shimmer, you old so-and-so!” The greeting was nothing but friendly, however, and the mare dashed to her even as the former unicorn knelt down to greet her. “I can’t believe you remember us! We were just a bunch of little fillies back then, and you were Princess Celestia’s famous prodigy!”

“That’s one way to put it.” As the other mares approached, all of them amazed, Sunset admitted, “I also remember how rude I was to you all, and a lot of other ponies back then. You didn’t deserve any of that, and I wanted a chance to apologize properly.” She glanced at Lyra and grinned. “And I figured give one of you a treat in the bargain.”

Lyra managed an embarrassed grin. “Well, I’m not complaining.” She then approached and added, “Still, what happened then? No big deal. We were a gaggle of annoying school-fillies and all.”

“And I was a rude older student who didn’t see the sense in giving anyone their proper respect, so I was still in the wrong.” She turned back to the other teenage girl and noted, “Still, I went on to do a lot worse.”

“And had far worse done to you in return.” The human version of Rarity managed a polite wave. “Suffice it to say, Sunset’s had some interesting times.”

“Who hasn’t?” Moondancer offered a hoof. “Still, I think we can forgive.”

Sunset smiled and accepted a hug from the bookish unicorn, then started giving the others hugs as Twilight turned to Rarity. “You brought everything?”

“Of course, darling.” Rarity gestured towards the waiting privacy screen, a small bag placed to one side.

Twilight nodded, then turned back and continued, “Sunset? Girls? Can you give me and Rarity a minute?”

“Sure Twilight, we’ve got plenty to catch up on.” As Twilight followed Rarity behind the screen, Sunset turned her attention to the five unicorns. “So, I guess you all heard about my disappearance?”

A round of nods before Twinkleshine asked, “What happened?”

“Short version? Celestia and I had a falling out.” Lights flashed behind the screen as Sunset recounted, “Most of it was her fault, but a part of it was mine, and I ended up using the Crystal Mirror to travel to another world to spite her. Aside from a brief stint back home that involved grand theft, I’ve been on the other side ever since, causing trouble and being a petty jerk until Twilight came along and straightened me out.” She shrugged and added, “It hurt, but I probably had it coming.”

“So that’s how Twilight knew about the mirror portals.” Moondancer turned to her friends and explained, “After she and I mended fences, she asked me to research as much as I could from Star Swirl’s athenaeum, particularly involving them. She figured it was right up my alley.” She shrugged. “Guess I did more good with that than I did with my little adventure today.” She caught herself, then gave Sunset an apologetic look. “Sorry, I…”

“It’s alright, Twilight gave me the rundown about everything that happened to you today.” Sunset gave her a reassuring smile. “And I’d say you did plenty.”

“Really? Quiver was the one who mouthed off to the Rani and punched the Master, and the Doctor was the one who stopped their scheme. All I did was shoot a beam of magic at a hologram.”

“And stand by Quiver’s side when he did that mouthing off.” The former unicorn raised an eyebrow and explained, “I’ve met Quiver. As mouthy as he can get, he’s usually better off when he has someone with him to back him up. He may not have gone as far as he did if you hadn’t been there with him.”

“Maybe, but still, I was terrified, and he…”

“Was probably just as terrified, if not worse. I know I’d be if I was in that position, and I’d be shocked if the Doctor wasn’t a little scared too.” She smiled as she added, “I am a little jealous, though. You got to meet a bonafide extraterrestrial, not just someone from another corner of the multiverse.”

Moondancer smirked. “Slightly less special now that I know I went to school with somepony who was descended from other members of his race.”

Minuette gave her a nervous grin. “Well, you might’ve thought I was crazy if I said something.”

Twinkleshine giggled and admitted, “There were days where we thought that already, Minnie.”

That led to a chorus of giggles before Twilight’s voice called out, “That’s better.” She then emerged from behind the privacy screen, still transformed into a human but wearing something decidedly less fancy than the dress and platform boots and making her look like a young schoolgirl. “Thanks for holding onto these for me, Rarity.”

“Hardly a problem, darling. And if you ever want some suggestions for updating your look, I’m happy to oblige.” She glanced over her own attire and noted, “As much as I like them, these oversized boots that we’ve been wearing are getting a bit out of season.”

That elicited further laughs, though the strongest ones were from Twilight and Sunset. “Maybe the next time she comes through the portal, Rarity.”

“Yeah, speaking of, why stay so long?” Lemon Hearts gave Sunset a curious look. “Does the portal have some sort of time limit?”

“It’s only open for about sixty hours every two and a half years,” Sunset explained. “We think it was part of a safety feature Star Swirl put into it.”

“That makes the most sense.” Moondancer turned to Twilight and added, “Speaking of, do you know anything about what inspired Star Swirl to create the mirror portals in the first place?”

Twilight shrugged. “I figured it was a combination of natural curiosity, briefly interacting with alternate versions of Celestia and Luna when they made contact through a similar artifact, and wanting to create something that would save him time with spell casting.”

“Well I think there was another factor.” Moondancer pulled a book from her saddlebags and explained, “I found some records in his journals about a portal that he didn’t create, one that he found sometime before Equestria was founded.”

The two former royal pupils briefly shared a stunned glance before Twilight asked, “Where was it?”

“Somewhere in the cave system near where Ponyville is now.” She passed the book to Twilight and explained, “According to the account, he passed through the portal and found himself on an island somewhere in a vast sea, transformed into an unfamiliar bipedal form. He collected some samples of nearby rocks, and came back almost immediately.”

“What are the chances that it led him to a different human world?” Sunset asked.

“Pretty slim.” Twilight glanced through the copied notes. “Still, assuming that’s the case, then this might explain how Star Swirl knew to incorporate a metamorphic spell into the mirror portal in the first place. He likely assumed that whatever caused him to be transformed was for a reason.”

“But exactly what, darling?” Rarity approached. “Forgive me, I know magic apparently has a will of its own, but enough foreknowledge to permit this?”

Twilight shook her head. “We may never know, unfortunately.” She passed the book to Sunset, then stepped back. “Alright everyone, here’s hoping.” Magic glowed from her fingertips as her hair lengthened, ears shifted and wings emerged from her back, and in a flash of light, she transformed back into her native form and dropped back onto all fours. “Thankfully, that’s one thing that won’t remain a mystery. Still, after everything that happened today, I just hope we don’t run into more anytime soon.”

“Yeah.” Lyra bowed her head. “No kidding.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, then turned to her human friend. “Rarity, can you step out for a second?”

“Of course, dear, just let me collect Twilight’s dress.” She gathered up Twilight’s discarded outfit and made her way back to Canterlot High.

Moondancer seemed to be of similar mind to Sunset. “Hey Minuette? Can you take Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine back outside? I think Lyra needs to talk with Twilight and Sunset about something important, and it might be better if you three aren’t here. Don’t worry, we’ll let you in on the details later.”

The three mares looked among themselves, but went without further word.

“Thanks.” Lyra looked up at Twilight and explained, “There’s something else that happened today, something that I want to talk about, but I’m not sure who I can do it with, or where. This seems like the safest place, and the three of you the safest ponies. You remember Cadance’s wedding?”

The alicorn suddenly turned grim. “Yes. I remember.” Twilight raised a hoof to her friend’s shoulder. “Lyra, what you did wasn’t your fault. Chrysalis brainwashed you, just like she did to my brother.”

“It’s not just that, Twilight, it’s…” Lyra turned nervous as she explained, “After the changelings were driven off, but before the second attempt at the wedding, Minuette, Twinkleshine and I were found in the caves beneath Canterlot by ponies that said they were with the Equestrian government. They separated us, talked with me about what happened and I told them.” She bit her lip and added, “I was close to freaking out, Twilight! I’d been brainwashed and used by some oversized bug, and the best I could’ve hoped for if she’d won was getting turned into changeling chow, or worse!”

“Well counseling after a traumatic…”

“It wasn’t counseling!” Lyra’s sudden shout caused all three to step back as she explained, “They took my statement and then the pony used this device on me and warped my memories! I didn’t remember any of this until earlier today, when the Doctor went into my head!” She took a few labored breaths, then finally said, “They probably did it to Minuette and Twinkleshine too.”

Moondancer got as close as she dared to her friend and explained, “I was there when whatever conditioning she was under broke. Quiver too, but he doesn’t know the details.”

“But why tell me and Sunset about this?”

“Because I’m a whole other world away, and untouchable.” Sunset turned to Twilight and added, “And you’re royalty, so you might be safe for similar reasons.”

“I hope.” Lyra took a deep sigh. “Maybe I’m spending too much time with Quiver talking about conspiracy theories and myths and legends, but I’m paranoid about who I can talk to about this, and the three of you seemed like the safest choices. Who did this to me? Why?”

Twilight frowned. “I don’t know. But whoever did this and whatever their reasons, they were wrong to do it.” She took her friend into as comforting a hug as possible and assured her, “And I’ll do everything in my power to make this right. I promise.”

Lyra returned the favor. “Thanks, Twilight.” As the embrace ended, the minty green unicorn turned to Sunset and smiled. “So, living as a human for years. Miss being a pony?”

“More than you’d think, but this has advantages.” Sunset then reached over and started scratching the unicorn between the ears.

“Ooh…” The smile went a little loopier as Lyra’s right back hoof started tapping against the ground, like a dog getting scratched in just the right place. “Oooh…thank you…”

Sunset grinned. “Just don’t tell Bon-Bon about this, huh?” As Lyra looked at her in surprise, the former unicorn crossed her arms. “Your counterparts aren’t much different, but in the human world, it’s just a nickname.”

“And everyone calls her ‘Sweetie Drops’?” At Sunset’s nod, the unicorn shook her head. “The more things change, I guess.”

Despite her spirits being slightly buoyed by Sunset’s ear scratching, Lyra’s paranoia made her wonder exactly how much Bon-Bon hadn’t told her, and how much she knew herself. There were just a few too many mysteries right now, and the sooner they were solved, the better.

The Master grunted in pain as he found his way back into the Rani’s TARDIS. The blows that the stallion had landed earlier still stung, and it would be a long time before they healed. He had more immediate problems, however, which he was all too aware of. As he went, however, he caught sight of his associate as she took her last breaths.

“Farewell, my dear Rani. Let’s hope it’s some time before I join you.”

He staggered towards a nearby cabinet and opened it to find a waiting supply of chemicals. He took hold of a vial, loaded it into an air injection system, then injected the chemical solution into himself. A deep breath, and he felt some of his pain abate.

Cloning, as those who knew enough would tell you, was difficult. Even if you were to create a viable clone, said clone still faced all sorts of medical dangers, not limited to the rapid aging they would experience. Ironically, the thaumic field that had transformed the Rani into a pony and prevented her from regenerating had helped to extend the life of the cloned Master that she had created. Still, he needed a regular dosage of chemicals to keep him alive, and that need would grow now that he had regained his proper form.

A sudden sound, not unlike something being ripped, caught his attention, and he staggered back out of the Rani’s TARDIS to see a portal ripple into existence and two ponies emerge. The first was an earth pony stallion, unremarkable in appearance with a coat of brown fur and clad in dress shirt, black blazer and tie. The second was a unicorn mare, taller and leaner in figure than the other with blue fur and a deep blue mane tied into a whip-like ponytail and dressed in light body armor decidedly more advanced than what the members of the Royal Guard would wear. His expression was neutral as he examined his surroundings, while hers was blank and hollow.

The stallion’s gaze went to the orrery, and he approached it. “Impressive.”

“I’m glad that you think so.” The Master approached his guests, but kept his distance. “It had long broken down, but I was able to repair it, once I had enough time and materials. I assume you wish to do something with it, to ensure Equestria’s continued existence and perhaps gain dominance over its neighbors.” He smiled. “I have exhaustive research material available, and am more than willing to offer my services. All I ask in return…”

The mare’s horn glowed, and from her armor emerged a small crossbow. Without even turning in his direction, she fired a bolt into the Master’s mouth, which promptly exploded once it encountered flesh.

“Your services are in no way required.” The stallion’s voice was flat as he continued to regard the device before him, with no reaction whatsoever to the death of the Time Lord clone. “Your corpse, and that of your associate, shall be reduced to ash and dust. Whatever research you’ve gathered shall be collected, examined, and then locked away. This installation shall be hidden away and forgotten. Harmony shall be maintained.”

The Master and the Rani were done with this facility, but there was still work for the agents of SMILE to do.

Author's Note

Completed at last. Expect at least one journal detailing stuff about this story, and maybe one featuring deleted and alternate scenes.

Chapter One - First Things First (But Not Necessarily In That Order)

If someone were to ask Clara Oswald how her life had progressed, she would say that, up to a certain point, it hadn’t been anything special. In a sense, she’d been standing still, just minding her own way and not looking for anything greater. And then, in one second, it had all changed. Her life had effectively become different than that of anyone else’s, and she’d been running ever since from one adventure to the next.

“Clara?! Clara, can you hear me?!”

The voice served as an all-too-familiar reminder of how her life had changed as she groggily opened her eyes. “Uuhhh… Doctor, what…?”

“Ah, there you are! Welcome back!”

Her vision snapped back into focus as she looked upon the being before her in what dim light was available. “What?!”

Standing over her was, for all intents and purposes, some sort of equine. Not a realistic one by any stretch of the imagination, but the general proportions and anatomy immediately suggested a horse, albeit too small to be a proper horse. Grey of coat and dark brown of mane, his green eyes and familiar clothes combined with his voice effectively confirmed his identity. The bowtie he wore probably didn’t hurt either. “I know! You should see what you look like!”

“What.” Clara followed the Doctor’s outstretched hoof towards the reflective surface of his console’s monitor. Staring back at her was another equine, this one a light purple but with her obvious brown eyes and hair and wearing a deep blue dress and brownish-red belt. “Doctor, I’m a horse.” She turned back to him and continued, “You’re a horse. We are horses.”

The Time Lord laughed. “Clara, we aren’t horses! We’re ponies!”

She blinked. “Not really seeing much of a difference!”

“Well, it is a small one.” At her glare, he frowned and rolled his eyes. “Fine, not making that joke again.”

“Alright, fine, so we’re ponies, but… how?!” She unsteadily attempted to rear up on her hind legs and grab her friend by his shoulders for emphasis, only to lose her balance and find herself forced back to all fours. “How did this happen? Is this some kind of crazy regeneration thing?”

“No, no, definitely not a crazy regeneration thing, trust me.” The Doctor turned away and examined the console room, its lights dim and dark. “And definitely not something that happens when you visit the Eye of Orion. That said, I’ve seen something like this before. Not the pony thing, but the rest of it is definitely familiar. Give me a minute, I’ll check on it.”

The Doctor then trotted off, heading down one of the staircases leading below the main console. “Brilliant.” Clara uneasily moved about on her hooves, but barely had a minute to get used to being a quadruped before a knock sounded from outside of the TARDIS doors. “Doctor?”

“Get that for me, will you?!”

An uncomfortable look crossed her face as Clara slowly made her way towards the door, further knocking sounding from it. The question crossed her mind about how she’d open it, given she was currently without hands, but that suddenly seemed like a small concern. There was no way of knowing who was on the other side of the door, and she wasn’t sure how she’d react when she found out.

“You’re knocking on it?”

Quiver turned back to Lyra and shrugged. “Well, in my defense, it does look like a door.” He rapped against the blue doors three more times and then stepped back. “And if it has a door, then that means someone can enter it.”

“And you think that thing was occupied when it hit the ground?” The unicorn’s eyes went wide with terror as she realized, “Who’d be crazy enough…?!” At the stallion’s arched eyebrow, she relented, “Okay, maybe Pinkie or the Crusaders, but still…!”

The two paused as the door creaked open, and an unfamiliar mare’s head poked out. She put on a nervous grin as she laid her eye on them. “Hello…ponies.”

“Hi.” Inwardly grateful that Quiver wasn’t giving her a smirk, Lyra tilted her head curiously. “Are you alright, miss?”

“Fine, fine, perfectly fine.” She let out a nervous chuckle. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Quiver quirked an eyebrow and deadpanned, “Well, you just fell out of the sky and made a very harsh landing in a big blue box. That’s a little suspicious right there.” He tried to look past her curiously. “You got a safety harness in there or something?”

“Yes, because I’m fine, not hurt at all!”

The two shared a brief glance as they considered the newcomer before Quiver turned back. “All the same, it might be a good idea to get you looked at by a doctor.”

“Clara!” The newcomer turned blank as the other door swung open, a stallion making himself seen from inside of the box. “I’ve figured it out, or at least I think I’ve got it figured out! Like I said, this has happened to me before, at least, partially! We’ve entered another universe!”

“Doctor…”

“Now the ‘being turned into ponies’ thing is new, as I said earlier, but I think that might be some reaction the chameleon arch had with this world’s thaumic field, it’s unusually strong. Either that or some inverse reaction with the chameleon circuit, but that’s doubtful.”

The mare in the box pointedly cleared her throat. “Doctor…”

“Anyway, that should reverse once we leave, and we’ll be able to do that once the TARDIS recharges. Like I said, that’s happened before, so I’m prepared for it, but the recharge will take about twenty-four hours or so. As long as we avoid running into any trouble with the natives, we should be fine. Now what’s got you…” The stallion then noticed what his companion was so concerned over. “Ah. Natives. Hello!”

“Hello yourself.” Quiver gave the two another curious look. “Got anypony else in there with you? Maybe some clowns?”

Lyra grimaced and shuddered. “I hope they don’t. I don’t like clowns.”

“No, just the two of us.” The Doctor gave the two a curious look of his own and asked, “What are the two of you doing here?”

“Well we saw this big box of yours fall out of the sky and skid into the ground, and we came to see if anypony was hurt.” Lyra looked them over and noted, “I’m glad you’re not, but…” She turned to Quiver and asked, “Did you hear everything I just heard?”

“What, you mean about how these two are from another universe, they probably came here by accident, they were likely turned into ponies because of our planet’s thaumic field interacting with tech on their ship, and how said ship is out of juice but it’ll recharge within a day so they can head home and get back to normal?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought I just heard.” Lyra turned back to Clara and saw the flabbergasted expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

She pointed between the two of them with one hoof and asked, “You two picked all of that up?”

Quiver shrugged. “We pay attention.”

The Doctor grinned. “Oh, this…this is beautiful. Intelligent, benevolent natives. And they’re ponies! You’re ponies! I’m sorry, you get around as much as I do, you tend to see the bad more than the good, and this…” He took Quiver by surprise with a hug, then followed up by giving one to a more receptive Lyra. “This is wonderful!”

A sigh came from the second newcomer. “Yeah, well, you’re not wrong. Even if you’re weirding out the wonderful.”

“I’m okay with the hug!” Lyra replied with a smile.

Quiver smirked. “I don’t mind them either, but I’d at least like to have a name first.”

“Oh, details.” The stallion newcomer stepped back and composed himself. “Anyway, going to be here a while, might as well return the friendliness. I’m the Doctor, this is my friend, Clara.”

A slightly less nervous wave this time. “Clara Oswald, hello.”

“And yes, we’re from a different universe. And the way the two of you look, that doesn’t surprise you.”

The two native ponies smiled as Quiver explained, “You live in this neck of the woods long enough, and nothing surprises you.” He gave a small nod. “Anyway, welcome to Equestria. I’m Quiver Quill, and this is my friend, Lyra Heartstrings.”

The unicorn beamed. “Nice to be properly introduced!”

Clara smiled a little easier as she and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS. As her friend turned about to close and lock the ship’s doors behind them, she asked, “So, Equestria. Is that what you call your planet?”

“No, just our nation. The planet’s called Earth.” A thought occurred to Quiver as he realized, “Come to think of it, if the two of you are from another universe, then that means you’re…”

“Aliens, yes.” The Doctor turned back to them and grinned. “Been a while since I’ve said this, but please, take me to your leader.”

Lyra giggled as Quiver did his best to hold back a chuckle. “What do you think, Quiver? Which leader should we take them to?”

“Well, the highest authority should probably take priority. And the less time I spend in Town Hall, the better.” He gestured with a hoof. “Come on, you two. Follow us.”

“To where?” Despite her unease with four hooves, Clara managed to keep up well enough as she followed the pair along the path. “I mean, if you’re not taking us to Town Hall, then we aren’t dealing with your government, right?”

“There’s local government and then there’s federal government.” Quiver laughed. “After all, why settle for meeting a mayor when you can meet a princess instead?”

“Pony princesses,” the Doctor mused excitedly. “This day’s just getting better and better! Don’t be surprised if we ask questions, however. That’s a bad habit of mine, asking questions.”

Quiver smirked. “Last I checked, not being afraid to ask questions is a sign of wisdom.”

“Well, I’ve got one. If it’s alright to ask, what’s with the brands?”

Lyra came to a sudden stop. “Brands? We don’t…!” She then looked to her flank and realized, “Oh, do you mean these on our flanks?” At Clara’s nod, she explained, “That’s not a brand, that’s a cutie mark! They appear on their own once a pony realizes their special talents.”

“Usually around the age of six, but sometimes younger than that. And on very rare occasions, sometimes you’ll see two ponies with identical marks.” Quiver gestured to his friend and explained, “Lyra happens to be one of those rare cases.”

“I have a relative with the exact same cutie mark as me,” the unicorn admitted sheepishly. “Maker only knows how it happened.” She raised a hoof towards the Doctor. “And it looks like you two might not need to worry about finding them yourselves.”

Clara looked to the Doctor’s flank and saw a mark there. “Huh. Hourglass.” She then eyed her own flank, concealed underneath her dress, and wondered, “You don’t suppose?”

“Easy way to find out, assuming you don’t mind.”

Clara shrugged, and an aura of magic enveloped Lyra’s horn as a similar aura of golden-orange light shimmered around the end of the visitor’s skirt. Quiver politely looked away, while the Doctor’s attention was fixed upon her horn as Lyra pulled back the skirt to reveal the other mare’s mark. “Well?”

“It’s a leaf!”

“Brilliant!” Lyra gently moved the dress back down and smoothed it out as the Doctor exclaimed, “That was absolutely brilliant!”

“What, that? That’s nothing. Any unicorn can manipulate objects with magic using their horn.” She smiled. “They just have to learn how.” The group went on its way as Lyra continued, “And thankfully for unicorns like me, there’s schools for that all over Equestria. I did pretty good, but there were plenty more who were better students than me.”

Moondancer could feel the train rolling beneath her seat as she looked out the window and watched the world roll by. It wouldn’t be long before she reached her destination, a prospect that filled her with anxious unease.

“Okay, something’s going on in that head of yours.” Her attention sprung back to the pony opposite her as the unicorn mare gave her a prodding look. “Come on, Moonie. Spill.”

She sighed. “Sorry Minuette. I’m just a little anxious.” She glanced back out the window and explained, “This is the first time that I can remember that I’ve left Canterlot for, well, anything. You and the rest of our friends all either moved to Ponyville or visit so often you’re practically residents. I mean, it’ll be nice to see Twilight and Lyra, but…”

“But you’re worried about meeting all the other friends we’ve made there through them?”

A nod. “And it’s even worse considering Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine had to catch a later train.”

Minuette responded by giving her friend a playful shove. “Hey, don’t get so down, Moonie! Ponyville’s a great place, and you’ve already met Pinkie! Pretty soon, you and Twilight will be boring all of us with that research project she asked you to head up months ago.”

“Hey! Twilight asked me to personally take charge of the examination of everything in Star Swirl the Bearded’s athenaeum! That’s not boring and you know it! It’s a treasure trove of magical knowledge, and that’s ignoring the obvious historical value! We might end up rewriting the history books once everything’s said and done!” She rolled her eyes and admitted, “Of course for Twilight that’s business as usual these days.” At her friend’s giggle, she noted, “Yeah, laugh it up, but at least I get to help this time.”

Minuette’s enthusiasm faded as she asked, “Moonie? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Moondancer sighed, then pulled off her glasses and absently cleaned them with part of her baggy sweater. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little jealous is all. Maybe still a little resentful. Twilight goes off, finds the Elements of Harmony, saves Equestria and becomes a big hero, and brushes me off for months afterwards.”

“Yeah, and she felt horrible about it once she realized it.” Minuette crossed over to her friend’s bench and gave her a hug. “You know how she gets sometimes, when she’s wrapped up in things. Calling it tunnel vision is being polite. The important thing is that she recognized that she messed up and did what she could to make up for it. And like you said, she’s got you onboard researching stuff that ponies have only dreamed of. And I’m sure she’ll love to hear all about everything you’ve found so far.”

A smirk. “Everything I’ve found since that last letter I sent her, anyway.” The train slowed to a halt beneath their hooves, and the two mares retrieved their luggage and made their way out of the carriage. “I’m just glad she’s paying such close attention to it.”

“And I’ll bet she’ll mug you for more info as soon as we step off the train.”

Moondancer sighed and shook her head as the two made their way off the train. They’d barely gotten onto the platform before Minuette perked up and squealed gleefully. “Pinkie!”

“Minuette!” A familiar pink mare charged forward and gave the blue unicorn a warm embrace as another pony and a dragon approached. “It’s so great to see you again!” Pinkie Pie ended the hug and then embraced Moondancer and exclaimed, “You too, Moondancer! Welcome to Ponyville!”

The bookish unicorn smiled. “Thanks Pinkie.” The embrace ended, and she gently initiated one with the dragon in their midst. “Hi Spike. Twilight hasn’t been working you too hard, right?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Their hug ended, and introductions were made to the last of the group. “Moondancer, meet Rarity. Rarity, Moondancer.”

The elegant unicorn gave a polite smile and bow. “Delighted, darling. And I must say that you have a rather… interesting fashion sense.” The fashionista recovered herself at Moondancer’s unimpressed expression and continued, “Anyway, Twilight offers her apologies for not being here personally, but she wanted to make certain that everything was perfect at the library for the two of you to discuss some details regarding your research.”

“Yeah, the new Number Three Assistant’s actually pretty good at baking.” Spike smirked. “Not as good as Number One, of course, but she’ll get there. Anyway, the two of you are gonna love what Twilight’s got planned. It’ll…” He noticed something out of the corner of his eye and asked, “Minuette? You okay?”

The blue unicorn had suddenly gone stiff and her eyes wide as she looked into the distance. She recovered with a smile and said, “Oh, sorry! I just got distracted for a second is all. You get that, right?”

Pinkie nodded. “Happens to me all the time.”

“Good.” The normally chipper and upbeat mare suddenly turned serious and apologetic. “Moonie, I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta leave you with Spike and the girls for a while. I Pinkie Promise though, I will catch up with you later at the library.” She shrugged off her light luggage with her magic as she went through the familiar motions. “Pinkie, can you…?”

“Sure.” Even the normally unflappable party pony seemed surprised at the change in her demeanor and accepted her saddlebags with little fuss.

As Minuette rushed off, Rarity leaned in and asked, “Pinkie, darling, has your Pinkie Sense been going off today?”

“No, but there’s a lotta territory the Pinkie Sense doesn’t cover. I mean, it didn’t tell me when Nightmare Moon or Discord or anything else happened.” She rubbed her chin and remarked, “You’d think one of them would merit a doozy…” She shrugged. “Well, whatever it is, Minuette’ll be okay. And she did Pinkie Promise.” She then took on a deep, menacing tone and declared, “And nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise.”

Moondancer anxiously leaned in towards Spike and asked, “Is this normal?”

“Normal for Pinkie?” Spike made a so-so motion with one claw. “Kinda, though that was a little scary.”

Pinkie pouted. “Sorry.” She then turned a little more bubbly as she continued on. “Anyway, to the library! With any luck, we’ll hear all about whatever’s going on and be able to laugh about it later!”

Pinkie led the group on its way as Rarity gave Moondancer a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry, darling, I doubt things will get much stranger from here.”

“Oh, this is beautiful!”

“That it is.” Quiver chuckled at the Doctor’s summation of the sight before him. “Welcome to Ponyville.”

The quartet entered the settlement proper as ponies milled about all around them, going about their business and heading in one direction or another. The sights and sounds that Quiver and Lyra were used to, long normal for them, caused the Doctor and Clara to gaze about in every direction. The former of the two visitors especially looked like a foal in a candy store, which caused their hosts to wonder what would happen if he saw Sugarcube Corner.

Putting on his best tour guide voice, Quiver remarked, “Ponyville was founded a little over two centuries ago after a plot of land was donated by the crown to a family of traveling seed merchants. They set up a farm, domesticated a rare form of fruit known as the zap apple, and the town grew up beside them. The farm’s still in operation today, owned and run by the same family.”

“Old frontier spirit.” The Doctor beamed. “I’ve seen settlements like this at their beginnings. It was always hard at first, but with effort and a little help when needed, they always found a way.”

“That little help didn’t come from a big blue box, did it?”

The bowtie-clad stallion grinned, then turned his attention back to their hosts as the group paused. “So, have the two of you lived here your whole lives?”

Lyra shook her head. “I was born and raised in Canterlot, Equestria’s capital. I moved here from there last summer.” She pointed towards a mountain on the horizon with one hoof. “You can see it from here pretty easy. Over there in the northeast.” She gestured to her friend and teased, “Quiver came a little further though, and hasn’t been here nearly as long.”

“I’m native to Indianapoloosa myself. Ended up moving here thanks to my job and making some friends here in town. And we aren’t the only ones. There’s ponies living here who came from as far as Trottingham.”

Clara turned to him in surprise. “Sorry, did you just say ‘Trottingham’?” At Quiver’s nod, she pointed towards the mountain to the northeast and added, “And that’s ‘Canterlot’?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with those names?”

“Oh, nothing, they just sound unique is all.” The Londoner kept to herself how familiar they sounded as well.

“Quiver Quill!” Heads turned towards a middle-aged silver-coated stallion with a small, neatly-trimmed mustache as he approached. “I apologize if I’m interrupting something, this is just my first chance to speak with you since everything happened with Spoiled Milk. I’m Sterling Silver, Silver Spoon’s father?”

Recognition crossed Quiver’s face at the name. “Oh, yes! Mr. Rich mentioned you at the party! Don’t worry, Lyra and I were just showing these two around town. They’re visiting from the Griffish Isles.”

The stallion nodded, then turned to the two visitors and asked, “Wanted to visit somewhere that didn’t have fish on every restaurant’s menu, eh?”

The Doctor chuckled and admitted, “Well, I’ve always thought travel broadened the mind, and the palate. That being said, it’s been a while since I’ve been a strict vegetarian.”

“Well, enjoy your visit. And if you’re in the mood for a souvenir, feel free to drop by Second Chance Silver.” He turned back to Quiver and added, “Speaking of, if there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

“Well, assuming Twilight doesn’t get them first, I wouldn’t mind if you set aside any rare books for me.”

“Easily done.” He then gave a curt nod and a smile and offered, “Miss Heartstrings,” before he continued on his way.

“Okay, two questions…”

“The Griffish Isles are Equestria’s easternmost territory, annexed about a hundred and fifty years ago after they declared independence from the Griffin Kingdom. Very high griffon population as the name implies, though there’s still a reasonable number of ponies living there. I’ve got some distant relatives on my mom’s side out there in fact.” Quiver raised an eyebrow towards Clara and asked. “That take care of one of them?”

“Wha-? Yes, actually, the second one.” She chuckled. “Damn you’re good. First one was actually about what was up with that stallion.”

“Oh that.” Lyra grinned and explained, “Quiver got to play hero a little bit ago. Saved some fillies from some timberwolves, including his daughter.”

“Magically animated constructs composed of deadwood shaped like canines,” Quiver explained. “Hence, timberwolves. Don’t be too impressed with me, I just held out long enough for help to arrive.”

Clara laughed. “Well that still doesn’t sound like anything to sneeze at. Then again, I’m still adjusting to all this.”

The Doctor smiled. “Breath it in, Clara, it’s brilliant.” He then turned to their hosts and asked, “So, it’s not just ponies in your world then.”

“Aw heck no. There’s tons of sapient races in our world. Ponyville is just mostly ponies.” Quiver waved a hoof as he elaborated, “There’s also a couple donkeys living here in town, a mule, a couple dozen cattle, some sheep, Spike the dragon, and if you want to stretch things, Zecora. She’s a zebra, lives out in the Everfree Forest.”

“Plus there’s hippogriffs and buffalo and minotaurs and Diamond Dogs and sea serpents, and those are just races that are part of the wider Equestrian population. Probably some pony-zebra and donkey-zebra hybrids too.” Lyra beamed. “Plenty more where they came from.”

Quiver nodded. “And that’s assuming Discord isn’t the only draconequus in existence.”

“But how’d that happen on its own?” Clara turned to the Doctor. “I mean, I’m not saying multiple sapient races couldn’t develop on the same world, but…”

“Well, isolated populations in specific areas, possibly separated by the terrain or large bodies of water, only spreading out once they reach a certain level of development. That’s the mundane solution anyway.” He gestured to the various ponies around them and remarked, “I’m surprised by the amount of variation between ponies themselves. I’m seeing three different kinds. Are you all one species, or just three closely-related ones?”

“One species, five tribes capable of interbreeding.” Quiver shrugged and explained, “I’ve got a couple unicorns on my dad’s side of the family tree, and on my mom’s side are pegasi and thestrals.”

“And I’ve got an aunt who’s an earth pony like Quiver back in Canterlot.”

“I’d be lying if I said that we always got along with one another, but for the most part, we live in harmony among ourselves and with other races.” Quiver beckoned them onwards. “If we didn’t, then the windigoes might come back. Now there’s a tale to tell.”

Minuette wasn’t the sort of pony to get alarmed. She could fake it easy enough, and there’d been plenty of times when she’d found it necessary to do exactly that. Under normal circumstances, however, she was her usual bubbly, upbeat self, enough that her friends had joked that if Pinkie Pie ever had to relinquish the Element of Laughter, that the blue unicorn would be first in line to carry it. Which would’ve been ironic, given the disparity between their day jobs, but she digressed.

If any of her close friends were to see her right now, charging down a well-trod path with her horn glowing from a locater spell, they’d see anything but the usual bubbly blue unicorn dentist. Her eyes were wide with alarm as she followed her spell to its end and grew even more alarmed as she realized there were hoofprints heading along the same path as she. No telling how many ponies, but she fervently hoped…

She skidded to a halt as her spell indicated that she’d found what she was looking for, and relief spread across her face as she recognized who was waiting for her. “Timey!”

“Minnie!” Time Turner beamed. “Sensed it with your magic?” At the unicorn’s nod, he held up a small device and admitted, “Lucky thing I had this, or we’d have wasted more time. Not to mention I was closer.”

“No kidding.” She approached the object of her search and looked upon it in awe. “So, is this what I think it is? Is it real?”

The earth pony smiled as he turned his gaze upon the big blue box before him. “I’d say so. I’m registering artron energy the likes of which I haven’t seen in ages. Saying that this is soaked in the stuff is an understatement.” He grinned and admitted, “And process of elimination leaves us with only so many explanations for how one of these can end up here, locked into this shape.”

“Then…he’s here?”

“There’s a very good chance.” He tucked away the device in his necktie and gestured back towards town. “And I think we both know where he’s probably going to go.”

“To the most interesting thing in town. And what’s more interesting than a princess?”

Time Turner grinned as he and Minuette dashed off back to Ponyville. “Allons-y!”

Twilight Sparkle smiled as she examined her surroundings. The inside of Golden Oak Library was spotless, and food and drink had been set out in preparation for her guests. All she was missing were said guests.

“Princess Twilight?” She turned to find her bodyguard standing beside her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “You’ve got that look on your face again. That ‘oh no, things aren’t perfect’ face.”

“I do not!” At Sour Sweet’s continued smirking, she relented. “Alright, you’ve got me. I understand that Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine won’t be in until later today, but still, I’ve got so much to share with my old friends from Canterlot. And I’d rather not repeat myself.”

The freckled unicorn’s smirk finally turned to a reassuring smile. “I get that. But something tells me that the ponies that will be able to make it to this are going to be the ones who appreciate what you have to share the most. And the rest of them will still be here later today, and they’ll be able to see that last surprise that you have planned.”

Twilight smiled and nodded. “You’re right. Today might not be going exactly according to plan, but things will still work out.” She took a deep breath and added, “I just hope that Lyra doesn’t go into a full-on joy coma from what I’m going to show her.”

Sour Sweet shrugged. “She’s a big mare, she can handle it.” A knock sounded at the door, and Sour smiled. “And here we go.”

Twilight smiled and opened the door with her magic as she approached to welcome her friends inside. At the sight of the familiar bespectacled unicorn, she beamed. “Hi Moondancer!” The other unicorn laughed and accepted a warm hug from her old classmate as Twilight continued, “It’s so great to see you and Min…” She paused and realized they were missing a unicorn. “Where’s Minuette?”

Spike shrugged as he closed the door behind him, everyone else having entered. “She had to rush off as soon as she got off the train. Don’t know what happened.”

“She Pinkie Promised to catch up with us though.” Pinkie Pie beamed reassuringly.

A nervous expression overtook the princess before Sour Sweet prodded her back into reality. “That’s fine! Hopefully, she’ll get here when Lyra does!” She cleared her throat and gestured to the mare beside her. “Anyway, a quick introduction. Moondancer, this is Sour Sweet, my new assistant.”

“Been here all of one week and heard a lot about you while we were prepping this.” Sour gave the guest scholar a polite nod. “Nice to finally meet you, ma’am.”

“Thanks.” Moondancer did her best to hide her embarrassment at the formality as she was led into the library proper. “Anyway, I am glad to see you again, Twilight. If nothing else, I get to thank you again for asking me to head up the examinations and research into Star Swirl’s athenaeum.” She turned excited as she admitted, “I can’t wait to go over my findings with you! We’ve discovered so much!”

“And I can’t wait to hear them, but first, I’ve got something that I need to show you.” Twilight waved a hoof to ease her. “Don’t worry, it’s totally relevant to why you’re here.” She found a fairly empty corner of the library and took her place in it. “You’re aware of the reconstruction efforts at the Castle of the Two Sisters, correct?”

Moondancer nodded. “Something else that the papers have been talking about with you back in Canterlot.”

“Well, we’ve also been checking over the collection of books in the castle’s library. It’s amazing how well-preserved they all are, even with the protection spells placed upon them centuries ago! So many books, and so many of them out of print or otherwise lost to time!” Twilight smiled gleefully as she admitted, “And one of them was a book on metamorphic spells!”

Moondancer’s eyes lit up. “You’re kidding! Do the spells work?”

“I’ve been checking them over and cross-examining them with my own copies of Star Swirl’s notes, and I’m certain that they do. Especially after the tests I’ve performed.” At Spike’s alarmed expression, she amended, “Don’t worry, Spike. I did them while you were out.”

The dragon exhaled in relief. “That’s good news. But why are you…?” He turned alarmed again as he realized, “Oh no, you’re not gonna demonstrate, are you?”

“Relax, Spike. I’m going to perform the spell on myself.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Spike turned squeamish as he suggested, “Maybe you could move that to another room in the library? Preferably one with a door between it and this one? Besides, someone’s gotta be there to greet Minuette and Lyra once they get here, right?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright Spike, we’ll take this out of the main room.” She gestured for the gathered mares to follow her. “Come on girls.”

The bespectacled unicorn followed her friend into another room in the library with a confused look on her face, and found herself the last of the five to enter. As the door closed behind her, she finally looked to Twilight and asked, “What was all that about?”

Rarity finally broke down into very unladylike giggles, but swiftly restrained herself. “Forgive me, but I think I know why Spike doesn’t wish to be present.”

“So do I, but that’s why I’ve been practicing.” Twilight smiled as she turned about to face her two friends. “Now I could use a little room for this, so step back.”

Moondancer did as she was told but found herself wondering exactly what it was that she was getting herself into, and what else could come up today.

“Alright, just to be clear on this. Equestria has four princesses, but no queens. Two of them, Celestia and Luna, rule the nation jointly from Canterlot, while a third serves as governess of your northernmost territory, the Crystal Empire.”

Quiver nodded at Clara’s summation. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“But she prefers Cadance.” Lyra grinned. “I was one of her bridesmaids at her wedding.”

As the group approached their destination, Clara finished, “And the fourth one, Princess Twilight Sparkle, lives here? At a library?”

“For the time being, anyway. Twilight doesn’t have any official role or powers within the government yet beyond her crown, so for right now, she’s still living here, where’s she’s happiest.” Quiver knocked on the door with one hoof. “And nopony really minds too much.”

“There’s certainly something to be said for humble royalty.” The Doctor turned wistful as he noted, “I don’t see that nearly as often as I’d like. Granted, most of the royals I do meet are nice enough, but still, this will be my first time meeting one who lives in and runs a library.”

“Well, most of Equestria’s royalty tend towards modesty.” Quiver grimaced as he recalled some stories he’d heard from his marefriend and amended, “Of course, there are exceptions. Prince Blueblood, for example…” The door opened, and he smiled at the dragon on the other side. “Hey Spike.”

“Quiver, Lyra, hi!” The young drake’s eyes immediately reached the surprised pair with them. “Oh, you brought company. Who’re these two?”

“A couple tourists who want to meet Twilight,” Lyra explained. “May we bring them in?”

“Sure.” Spike beckoned them inside. “Just be warned, Moondancer’s already here, and Minuette’ll be by once she’s done with whatever it is she had to check on.”

Quiver winced. “Aw nuts. I’m sorry. I was hoping…” He noticed a building glow coming from the edges of a closed door and wondered aloud, “What in the Maker’s name is…?”

The glow turned into a brilliant flash, followed by a pair of familiar exclamations.

“Sweet Celestia!”

“Wowie-zowie!”

“Oh my word, Twilight!”

Quiver turned alarmed. “Spike, where’s Sour?”

“In there with Twilight, but you don’t want to go in, trust me!”

“Spike?! That my cousin I’m hearing?!” The door opened as Sour emerged. “Hey Quiver. What did Lyra need you…?” Her eyes narrowed as they locked onto the Doctor and Clara. “Who are they and what are they doing here?”

“It’s alright, miss, we’re simply visiting.” The Doctor looked to the door with concern and asked, “Is the princess alright?”

“Yes, she’s fine, but…”

“Well she’s gonna want to hear about this!” Despite Sour’s attempts to stop her, Lyra rushed past the freckled unicorn and into the other room. “Twi, you…”

Quiver followed to find Lyra staring up in slack-jawed astonishment. Standing before them was a slender, feminine form, easily as tall as a pony standing up on its hind legs and proportioned like a primate, with lavender skin and long dark hair with two stripes of color. She wore a nice-looking strapless dress and heelless arched boots that left her standing with the heel of her foot off the ground, more like a pony than not. The stallion smiled as he recognized her. Even ignoring the coloring, the combination of smile, ears and wings certainly helped. “Lyra, I do believe…”

“Human.” Lyra finally managed to summon the will to speak as she realized aloud, “Twilight tried to make a human!” She stepped forward, then frowned. “And she did a lousy job of it!” She turned back to Quiver and explained, “It’s mostly right, but seriously, they don’t have ears like we do! The shape of their skulls and the placement of their ear canals would prevent something like that! And they don’t have wings either! And the skin tone’s all wrong – they’re all shades of tan and brown!”

The pseudo-human smirked and crossed her arms. “Well in my defense, this spell could only do so much.”

“Well I’m sorry Twilight, but…” Lyra paused, then turned back to her transformed schoolmate. “Twilight?”

The princess giggled and waved. “Surprise.”

Lyra blinked, her mind processing this new information. “You found a spell, that let you turn into an approximation of a human.” At Twilight’s nod, she reasoned, “Okay, but if a spell like that exists, then that means somepony had to craft it from a base model, which means they had to work off of something, which means…” A manic grin spread across her face as she turned to the stallion in the room and excitedly jumped from one hoof to another. “Quiver, humans are real! They’re real! I was right!”

He grinned right back. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Yes!” Lyra hopped in place gleefully while Pinkie blew a party horn plucked from her mane, then turned back to Twilight and asked, “How did you even find this spell?! This is amazing!”

“I promise, I’ll tell you everything later.” She grinned and turned to their fellow alum. “But Moondancer helped. A lot.” At the bespectacled unicorn’s smile and slight blush, she turned to Sour. “Now what’s going on?”

“You’ve got visitors. Quiver and Lyra say they’re tourists.”

“That’s mostly because we are tourists.” There was a slightly annoyed tone to the Doctor’s voice as he prompted, “Now may we please come in?”

“Oh, excuse me, it’s better if we come out.” Twilight gestured for her friends to exit into the main room of the library, where she saw Spike still covering his face. “Spike, relax, the spells worked perfectly. I’m not naked.”

The dragon peeked through his fingers, then lowered them in relief. “That’s good news.” He tilted his head to one side thoughtfully and remarked, “Huh. Wondered what would happen with that outfit. But how long are you stuck like that?”

“As long as I choose to be. Stand back, everypony.” Everyone else gave Twilight room as she raised her arms, the familiar glow of her magic forming at her hands before she was enveloped in a bright flash of light. When it subsided, in place of the oddly-colored teenage girl was a lavender alicorn, who soon found herself falling forward onto her four hooves. “That’s better.” She folded her wings at her sides and gave the two newcomers a polite smile. “Now then, I’m guessing the two of you are our visitors?” At their nods, she gave a polite bow to introduce herself. “Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, proprietor of the Golden Oak Library.”

More than a little nervous, Clara nonetheless opted to return the bow and smiled politely. “Clara Oswald, ma’am. And this is…”

She was interrupted as the library door opened with a shot, a blue unicorn and a tan earth pony stallion rushing inside only to halt and stare in shock at the bowtie-clad stallion before them.

Twilight’s reaction of shock was understandable. “Minuette?! Time Turner?! What are you –?!”

“Sorry Twilight, but we need a minute to confirm something.” The blue-eyed stallion approached the Doctor, then raised a cylindrical device before him. The Doctor’s eyes lit with recognition at the device before him as it let out a high-pitched whirring sound, and again as he saw the stallion before him don what looked like a pair of 3-D glasses. “Oooh… Great Whickering Stallions…”

The Doctor grinned. “Well, someone knows who I am.”

“Of course I do.” Time Turner took off his glasses and beamed. “I’ve heard stories about you for my entire life.”

“Then it’s him?! It’s…?!” Minuette found her colleague’s 3D glasses on her muzzle for a brief second before she turned giddy. “Oh sweet Celestia, it’s him! You’re you!”

“Seriously, could we stop with the drama?” Sour turned to her cousin and asked, “Quiver, who is this guy?”

“He called himself the Doctor. Didn’t elaborate beyond that.”

The freckled unicorn gave the newcomer a stern look. “That’s not good enough. Doctor what? Doctor who?”

The Doctor smiled. “Just ‘the Doctor’. The one and only.”

Sour’s expression didn’t falter. “That doesn’t answer my question. Now I trust my cousin to avoid danger, but there’s a lot about you that’s got me anxious.” She turned to Time Turner and asked, “And part of that involves you. What’s with the 3D glasses?”

The stallion grinned and passed them over to her. “Have a look.”

Sour donned the glasses, then turned to the two tourists. To her credit, she only took pause for a moment before she briefly put the glasses on her cousin’s muzzle. “Quiver, please tell me I’m not seeing things.”

Quiver’s eyes widened as he looked through the lenses. Without the glasses, the Doctor and Clara looked like any random pony you’d see on the street. Wearing them, however, caused them and only them to look very different. Instead of a youngish-looking stallion and mare, he instead saw two ape-like creatures, one male and one female, both looking somewhat older than Twilight did when she was transformed and lacking wings or equine ears. But strange bits appeared to be floating around them as Clara asked, “Alright, I’m missing something. Why are they looking at us through those glasses?”

“They’re seeing what we really look like, Clara. And probably a good bit besides.”

“Wait, can I…?” Lyra’s question was interrupted as Quiver plucked the glasses off his face and onto hers. She turned to their guests and exclaimed, “Now that’s what humans look like!”

As more glasses found themselves on other ponies’ muzzles courtesy of Minuette and Pinkie Pie, the Doctor noted, “Only two-thirds right, Lyra. Yes, this is what we really look like. Yes, Clara is human. But no, I’m not.” He turned to Sour and added, “And I know a soldier when I see one, so do us all a favor and stand at rest. I’m no threat to you or your world. I’m just stuck visiting for a while, and I’d like to learn a little while I’m here, maybe teach something in exchange. You have a problem with that?”

Her stance barely shifted, but Sour Sweet nonetheless remained at the ready. “No. Quiver wouldn’t have brought you here if he thought you were a threat, and you’d be a damn fool to try something stupid here anyway. But if you want to teach, Doctor, then please, get started.”

“Happily.” He looked about at the gathered ponies, most looking surprised and curious rather than anxious, and offered, “Anyone for tea? Jammie Dodgers? I’ve got a lot to talk about and something like that wouldn’t hurt.”

Twilight gave a diplomatic nod. “I had some snacks ready to go anyway. And I have a feeling you aren’t the only one who has a lot to talk about.” She turned to Time Turner and Minuette and noted, “And I’m not just talking about the two of you.” She then turned to Lyra and offered an apologetic smile. “But I hope it’s okay if I go last.”

The minty green unicorn nodded. “Yeah, I think I can agree with that.” As everyone gathered food for themselves, she stuck close to Quiver and whispered, “I get the feeling we’re just stepping into something big here.”

“We are.” The stallion kept his replies in a low tone as he added, “If it helps, you’re going to enjoy what Twilight’s got to offer. I’d tell you why, but I’ve been Pinkie Promised into secrecy.”

“Better believe it!” Pinkie interjected as she darted past them with a plateful of snacks balanced atop her mane.

Once everyone had their first serving and a quick round of introductions was made, they seated themselves around the main reading table as Time Turner smiled. “Well, I’m going to warn everyone right now, at least two of the stories we’re going to hear today are interconnected to one another, so don’t be surprised if one pony starts and another pony continues where they leave off. But seeing as I’ve raised the most recent question, I think I’d best be the one to start.” He looked about at his audience and asked, “By any chance, have any of you ever heard of the Order of Gallopfrey?”

Author's Note

Not much of a cliffhanger, I know, but I decided to move the intended cliffhanger for this story to the start of the next chapter.

The designs for the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald as ponies are inspired by the artwork of LissyStrata on DeviantArt. They, unfortunately, appear to have dropped off the face of the earth, but that happens sometimes.

I welcome any Doctor Who fans reading this to try and figure out the number of nods I've made in this chapter.