Within the blazing heart of a galaxy, in the constellation of Kasterborous, on a planet of golden sand known to all Time and Space as Gallifrey, on the continent of Wild Endeavour in a valley between the ice-capped mountains of Solace and Solitude, in a crystal-shielded Citadel, and buried far beneath the Panopticon Hall and the snared heart of a dark star known as the Eye of Harmony...
... there was a repair shop. Parked along one wall of it was a row of time transference capsules awaiting servicing. Among the last of the Type 40 series still in operation, their default exterior shapes were unglamorous steel cylinders, uniformly showing the pitting and patina of age. It wouldn't be long before they were decommissioned; several were frankly beyond repair.
But there was one of them that -- with a bit of tinkering and a smattering of luck -- might be made to fly properly once more.
And there was a man who knew it. And was tired of lying. Lying to those he visited, saying that he could not help them, could not become involved. Lying to those with whom he worked that he still adhered to the Gallifreyan ideals of dispassionate observation and stewardship of unreconstructed Time. Lying to friends and family about being happy simply cataloguing worlds and races and events with no thought of exploring them more deeply.
And lying to himself that he could put up with it for even one more day.
He hung back in the shadows nervously. In appearance he was a fretful-looking white-haired gentleman dressed in an Edwardian frock coat, cloak, and a small fur hat. He had been told off more than once for persisting in wearing the period costume, had been accused of going native. Right now he did not care, because it was the perfect garb for where he was headed.
"Oh!" The fingers of one beringed hand tapped anxiously at his chin. "Where is that child! What can be keeping her? If we're delayed much longer it'll be too late!"
Then he heard voices, several of them, coming from the corridor outside. The technicians and operators were returning from the midday meal.
He could not be seen or they would know exactly where to look for him. He had to go now.
Darting from the shadows, he crossed to the capsule he'd had his eye on. It was the one he'd used most recently for a research trip to the city of London on Earth. Drawing the key from his pocket, he unlocked the sliding door and stepped inside. Even as the voices approached he hesitated, peering hopelessly around the edge of the door frame.
"Susan..." he whispered.
There was no time left.
"One day I will come back, my dear," he whispered. "I will come back."
He backed into the interior. The door slid closed.
Moments later, with a thud and a juddering, wheezing roar, the capsule faded away entirely, slipping off into the Vortex and away down the time stream.
But not quite as smoothly as planned.
By a combination of hurried piloting and horrid luck, as the capsule swept away from Gallifrey into the uncharted depths of space, it passed a hair too close to an undetected Charged Vacuum Emboitment, a bridge from the known N-space continuum into exo-space continuums, smaller pocket universes. Or so it was theorized, since few who fell into a CVE ever returned to tell of it.
And the ship and its pilot vanished from N-space entirely, falling into a much smaller, simpler E-space known to its native inhabitants...
... as Equestria.
"... ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. One hundred." The young white alicorn pony with a flowing, ethereal mane and tail patiently completed the count, then raised her head and opened her large, sensitive eyes to have a look around.
First she checked directly behind her. It always paid to consider her sister's whimsical, pranksterish approach to everything.
"Four hooves on the ground!" she called out. "All eyes looking round!" It was such a childish thing to say. Yet if one was going to play at hide-and-seek to pass the time, it was as best to do it properly.
She had barely taken three steps forward when there was a clattering of hooves behind her. A blue alicorn with a midnight-hued mane and tail barreled past, racing away up one of the garden paths.
"We see thee, Sister," the white alicorn called.
"Have to catch us, Sister!" came the cheeky reply.
Shaking her head, the white alicorn trotted off along an entirely different path. Let Luna run off some of her youthful energy. Celestia felt like a quiet stroll right now, and this seemed like a fine opportunity.
The grounds of the Royal Gardens were extensive, flowing downhill from the Palace of the Two Sisters at its height to the River Aurum at its base, bordering on the pleasant shady paths of the Everfree Forest on its far bank.
Celestia trotted along the hoofpath that paralleled the river's edge. And was astonished to discover sitting in the shade of a tree uphill of the trail, an elderly, white-maned, gray-flanked stallion in a small black coat, sitting on his haunches and staring sadly out across the water. Now and again he raised a forehoof and stared at it, as if it mystified him.
"Foolish! Foolish!" she heard him muttering as she approached. "Though I suppose it's only what I deserve. Wanted to lose myself, yes? Hmm! Being an entirely different species is certainly a start!" He stared at his hooves again. "Though it could have been something a little more practical, yes?"
"Ahem!" Celestia trotted closer. Startled, the stallion looked up. But instead of the guilty, simpering reaction she would have expected of a mere intruder he calmly rose to his hooves and essayed a polite bow, though with the clumsiness of one unused to formality -- or forehooves.
"My apologies, my dear. I did not hear you approach."
"We are not offended," she replied. "We are the Princess Celestia, co-ruler of the lands and dominions of Equestria. And thee are... Doctor...?"
It was merely a guess. She assumed from his age and bearing that he was some kind of professor or tutor, put here to spring an unscheduled lesson on the two sisters while they were at play. Yet the stallion seemed to consider the question quite seriously and gravely.
"Yes."
She blinked. "Yes, what?"
"Yes. I am called Doctor," he stated, with an air of having come to a decision. "Or at least, it's as good a name as any. Hmm hmm hmm!"
Despite herself, Celestia smiled. He had a very pleasant, self-effacing chuckle.
"Very well, Doctor. We shall permit the incognito for the time being."
She sat down comfortably beneath the tree. After a moment the peculiar stallion resumed his seat beside her. She had the feeling he'd sat in the presence of royalty so often that it was now no great matter to him. "This is quite a restful spot, my dear!" he said with a distant, distracted air. "And a most elegant gardens. With your kind permission, I should very much like to take a short stroll later..." He sighed unhappily. "To collect my thoughts."
"Oh, I'm afraid that's simply not possible," Celestia said. "Not that it would trouble us in the slightest, but our laws are rather strict and hidebound on this point. The penalty for being caught intruding on the private gardens of the Two Sisters is... summary execution!" She gave him a stern look.
He simply looked back, mildly surprised and not at all afraid. She liked him already.
"Unless of course..." Celestia went on, "you were here by personal invitation of one of the Sisters themselves. So... Doctor... what do you say? Care to take a stroll in our private garden?"
"I accept with thanks, my dear. Though I feel it only proper to point out," he added with a wry smile, "I am far too old for you."
Celestia smirked back. "Says who, Doctor?"
"How came you here?" Celestia asked, after they'd walked in silence back along the river and then uphill through the hedges and flowerbeds.
He paused thoughtfully, then nodded to himself. "I shall tell you the whole truth, my dear, for at my age I find I am tired of lies. However, I must beg your kind indulgence for it may sound fanciful."
"I am all ears." She pricked them up, encouragingly.
He stared at her ears for a moment and then cautiously felt his own with a hoof, again as if he was startled to discover he had them. Then he shook his head, chuckled softly, and went on.
"I am not from this world. In fact, I am not from what you would consider to be this universe. I arrived here in a ship that can travel the length and breadth of space-time, and apparently beyond it. And this is not even my natural form!" He lifted first one forehoof then the other. "My physical body has altered -- or been altered -- to match the fundamental nature of this world. Also, you should be aware that I am on the run, having departed hurriedly from my world out of no small vexation with its ways. I have unintentionally crash-landed here in your gardens. And I now crave your kind understanding and forbearance for the intrusion on your privacy."
"Amazing! I want to believe you, Doctor," Celestia said immediately.
"But...?" he hazarded expectantly.
"No, you misunderstand. I want to believe you, unconditionally! I am fascinated by the very idea. Would you do me the great honor of showing me this ship you mentioned?"
"Certainly, my dear. It's this way."
A brief walk brought them to a clearing enclosed by hedges on three sides. And in the clearing, sitting off center at an angle as if it had been hastily dropped there, was a tall blue wooden cabinet. It was somewhere between a small tool-shed and a wardrobe closet. It had a blue lamp on top, frosted glass windows on its four sides, and across the top of each side were the words:
POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX
On seeing it, the Doctor came to a halt, almost as if he was as startled as Celestia to see it there. "Why hasn't it changed?" he whispered furiously to himself. He shook his head. "Oh dear, oh dear. Another thing I shall have to see to! Ah, well."
He fumbled in a pocket of his jacket with one of his hooves. A brass key fell on the ground. He struggled for a moment, trying ineffectually to pick it up with his hooves, then with his mouth.
"Dear, dear, dear!" he muttered crossly. "This will never do."
"May I assist?" Celestia asked. A flash of energy from her horn enveloped the key, and it lifted smoothly from the ground and slotted into the lock on the doors of the cabinet.
"Why, bless my soul! Thank you, my dear. Unicorn magic, is it?"
"Alicorn!" she corrected gently, fluttering her wings at him.
"I see. And forgive me, my dear. In my universe even unicorns are a rare sight... and an alicorn! I have never seen one before. And certainly not one so charming."
He immediately turned his attention to the door, gripping the key in his teeth and turning it smartly. And thus he did not see Celestia blushing at the compliment.
The doors swung open. And from within an eerie, discordant humming emerged. Without a second glance the Doctor simply trotted inside. Hesitantly, Celestia followed him.
And it took every ounce of her self control to keep herself from reversing course and backing out again.
Within was a much larger space, lit by glowing white light from the walls and hidden sources in the ceiling. The walls were covered in a honeycomb-like pattern of glowing roundels. Scattered around the room were various pieces of furniture and artwork: an elegant chair, a bronze column, a statue of a bird, a sundial. In the rear of the room was a wall of panels covered in blinking lights, plus a large box with a rectangular glass window on its front.
And in the center was a hexagonal mushroom-shaped plinth with six sloping faces covered in a variety of switches and gauges. In its center was a transparent column enclosing glowing circuitry.
A panel was open in the base of the plinth and a variety of tools and other gadgets were scattered around it. "Forgive the disorder, my dear," the Doctor said, moving to gather up some of the tools and toss them in a box nearby. "I had been attempting a small amount of repair work before I decided to take a stroll outside."
"This is frankly astonishing," Celestia gazed about. "What is it called, your ship?"
"Hmmm? I call it 'the ship', my dear. I have never had much use for pet names for things. It is a Type 40 TT capsule, but that is merely a technical designation. It operates on the fundamental principles of time and relative dimensions in space -- that is, the exo-space continuum of the multiverse, you see?"
"Oh, it's quite beyond me, Doctor. I'm the diplomat in our family. I do wish Luna was here to see this. She's the brains of the outfit." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Time and Relative Dimensions... TARDIS, perhaps?"
The Doctor looked sour at the forced acronym. Then he relented.
"If you like, my dear. TARDIS it is!"
"Wonderful! Can we please take a journey somewhere?"
He looked disgruntled at her eagerness, and she immediately regretted it. Then he scratched at his mane with a hoof. "At the moment, I am afraid not," he replied. "Firstly, because I have no clear idea where anything is in your universe! And secondly because the, er... TARDIS... is malfunctioning. It would be unwise to try to take off until I have it properly rectified."
"Oh," Celestia said.
Seeing her downcast expression, the Doctor smiled reassuringly. "Once I have it working, then... well, we'll see, my dear."
SISTER!
The Doctor nearly jumped at the bellowing cry outside. "What in heaven!"
"Oh, Me," Celestia said. "Uhhh...that... would be Luna."
WE KNOW THOU ART STILL HERE, SISTER! WE DO NOT LIKE BEING ABANDONED!
"She sounds worried, Doctor. Pardon us one moment."
Celestia crossed to the doors, and bellowed out through them. WE ARE HERE! BE AT EASE, SISTER! AND COME WITH HASTE! THERE IS SOMETHING THOU SHOULDST SEE!
She crossed back to the central plinth, and only then saw the Doctor looking at her nervously. She put a hoof to her mouth.
"Oh! Our apologies if we startled you. It is... well, we call it the Royal Voice. It magnifies our speech so that when we make a proclamation it can be heard, even by the most distant of our attending subjects."
The Doctor took a steadying breath. "Quite... remarkable," he said.
There was a sound of fluttering wings and a thump outside.
"Tia! Where art thou?"
"In here, Lulu!"
"What is this... POLICE BOX? It has our colors! Is it a present for us?"
"Just get in here and look, Luna."
Luna stalked in through the doors, gazing about unconcernedly. "Hmmm!" she said. "A transdimensional interior. Some variety of alien technology? Obviously a ship of some kind. And clearly in dire need of adjustment."
She walked straight up to the central plinth, and after a few moments study rapidly began pressing switches and shoving levers with her hooves.
"Sister!" Celestia scolded. "Have a care! You don't know what that does."
"Of course we do," Luna retorted. "It is a clear enough design, based on an underlying mathematical and spatio-temporal basis." She rapped sharply at a gauge until she approved of its reading. "Aha... And then this... and reset... and this... oh, Sister, that red button by thy hoof, press it just when we say... now!"
Trusting to Luna's skill, Celestia jammed a hoof down on the button. The lights on the panel flickered, there were disturbing clunking and whirring sounds from the walls about them, and the discordant hum in the console room began to rise, warbling dangerously...
... and then settled down to a calm, almost imperceptible level.
Luna proudly slapped a final lever.
"Huzzah! Are we not good! WE ARE LUNA!"
Celestia smiled. "I told you she was the brains of the outfit, Doctor."
The Doctor was circling the console himself, checking its displays, and almost unconcernedly brushing past Celestia on the way. He ending up almost running into Luna, who made it quite clear she would not back off.
"Remarkable! Quite remarkable." The Doctor nodded. "The systems seem to be perfectly stable. Yes! Hmm! I had assumed a mechanical flaw, but all it needed was some adjustment. And quite expertly done, uh... forgive me, my dear... you would be Luna, yes?"
"Princess Luna," she replied archly. "And thou art?"
"Oh," Celestia put in, "He's just... the Doctor."
"Doctor?" Luna demanded. "Doctor who? And what does he here in our private garden, anyway? With this box of alien trickery?" She gasped, eyes wide. "Does he attempt to kidnap thee, Sister? Back, foul creature! Or face our wrath!"
Celestia facehoofed. "Luna, please calm yourself. The Doctor is our guest. He has crash-landed here, by mistake. And I believe he is no threat to us. We shall lend him our assistance."
Luna eyeballed the Doctor a moment longer. Then she swept up a hoof. "We trust our Sister's judgement. And we welcome thee, Doctor."
The Doctor smiled, took Luna's hoof and bowed over it. "Your Highness. I thank you deeply for your wisdom and exceeding skill."
Celestia smirked at the way Luna's expression softened immediately. The way to Luna's heart was truly through her pride and it was impressive how quickly the Doctor had spotted that -- and used it. "The Doctor has just been telling me about his ship," she said. "About how it can travel anywhere in time and space -- even to other universes, which is how he came to be here."
"Ridiculous!" Luna snorted. There is only the land of Equestria, and the Sun and Moon, which are raised and lowered every day by the magic of our unicorn Council. What else could there be?"
"Perhaps the Doctor... would be kind enough to show us?" Celestia hinted, looking at him. "Now that Luna has resolved the technical issues."
"Indeed!" Luna chimed in haughtily. "We would see this as well! Thou shalt demonstrate it for us!"
Celestia rolled her eyes. There was a reason why she, and not Luna, worded the peace treaties.
The Doctor looked from one to the other of them cautiously. "I would not want to be accused of stealing your Majesties away from your domain. You must have great responsibilities, a people that need you."
Luna frowned. "Oh, yes, great responsibilities. Like that border dispute betwixt the royal bakery and the tea shop. Oh, and there was that disagreement the other day between the unicorns and the pegasi -- dost thou recall, Sister?"
Celestia nodded ruefully. "Which of them should be permitted to use the color teal in official stationery. You see, Doctor, we are... well, bored with our domain. In our long lives we have gradually brought peace to it all, and it has come to seem to us rather staid and petty. And yet there is no where else than Equestria! Or so we had thought until you and your ship turned up. We would greatly value the chance to learn a little of the realms beyond our domain."
The Doctor leaned on the console, looking pensive, undecided. And there was a lonely sadness in his eyes.
"Just one quick trip?" Celestia gave him a pleading look. "To the Moon and back, perhaps?"
He looked up at her, saw her face. His own brightened, and he smiled.
"Hm! Well, I do want to give the systems a quick test. And if we stay close to your world, we can hardly become lost, now can we? All right, my child! But just to the Moon and back, no farther, mind." He set to work at the controls, working out how to operate everything with his forehooves.
Celestia sat back happily, proud of her diplomatic skills.
Luna trotted over to sit next to her. "We see thee, making eyes at him, Sister. Things still not working out between thyself and Star Swirl?"
"Hush, Luna!" Celestia glanced at the Doctor, but the stallion was focused on the controls, oblivious to their conversation.
"Oh, we do not mind. It is quite agreeable to us to see thee smiling like that again." Luna leaned closer. "Thou had best make thy move quickly, Sister. Or we shall fight thee for him!"
"Shhhh!" Celestia hoped the Doctor did not notice her blushing.
He suddenly spoke, without even looking up. "Ah, would one of you good ladies kindly get the door?"
Celestia was at a loss, staring at the panel before her.
"Of course, Doctor." Luna reached out and slapped a button. Immediately the main doors swung shut on their own, with an odd humming noise.
Celestia stared at her sister. "Luna, how do you do that?"
Luna sighed. "We have explained it often enough, Sister Mine. In this case, one simply presses the switch with the little picture of a door beside it."
Celestia rolled her eyes. She was the elder sister and spoke for their dual throne in official proceedings, and yet Luna's cool brilliance quite often left her feeling like an idiot filly.
But then there were those times, when Luna's pride and prankish behavior had got the better of her. And she would come running to cry on Celestia's shoulder, seeking forgiveness. Celestia always reminded herself of that whenever she felt at a loss. Each of them supported the other. Neither ruled alone.
"Very well," the Doctor said. "I believe I have the coordinates set. Brace yourselves, my dears!"
He pulled a final lever. The central column of the control panel brightened, and began rising and falling. And a wheezing, groaning noise, like an elephant being shoved through a mangle, sounded all around them.
And Celestia felt as if a giant hand had simply scooped herself and her sister off the ground and hurled them roaring into the sky. With her extra senses she could feel how the ship simply stepped sideways out of the stream of time and being, and flung itself unfettered across the emptiness between here and there.
She glanced at Luna, and saw her Sister felt the same way. Suddenly the Doctor and his strange blue box seemed a lot more serious, a lot more real, than she had regarded them up to now.
"Hm!" The Doctor said. "Interesting! Interesting! I think I shall just materialize up here, rather than trying to land. I'm not entirely sure what would happen otherwise." He tapped a few switches and swung back the lever. The elephantine groaning sounded again and there was the sensation of slowing, of smoothly dropping back into the stream of things.
Finally, the sound ceased. The column slowed to a halt.
"We're here," the Doctor said.
"Rubbish!" Luna muttered, even as her eyes spoke differently. "A few lights, a few strange noises, someone behind the scenes shaking the floorboards. We have been to the pantomime. What mummery is this?"
The Doctor smiled kindly at Celestia, and she found herself returning the smile. "Shall we take a look, my dear?" Then he pressed a switch and nodded towards the doors. Quietly Celestia followed as the Doctor approached the doors and gently swung them open with his forehooves.
Celestia had once stood upon a high cliff, looking down into the yawning chasm carved by a waterfall. As a winged pony, heights held no great fear for her. And yet the sheer sense of depth, of a great distance suddenly encountered in an unexpected direction... it had left her breathless.
And this was a thousand times more intense.
They looked down upon the Moon from a great height, so high that they could see all of it, filling their vision. And it was like nothing Celestia had ever seen before. It was vast, and old, and pocked with craters and splashed with enormous seas of hardened lava. She felt she might become lost in it, just tumble into the mountains and valleys and spires and depths and vanish, never to be seen again.
She heard a gasp beside her. Turning she saw Luna land with a thump on her backside, her eyes like saucers.
"Sister... the Moon!"
"It is indeed impressive, Luna. If we had any doubts they are dispelled, hmm?"
Luna gulped. For once, she was uncharacteristically speechless. And then she looked upward.
And her eyes suddenly brimmed with tears.
"And... the stars..."
Celestia followed her gaze and gasped. From Equestria, they could of course see many constellations, except closer to the settlements and townships where external lighting obscured the night sky.
Yet all this time they had not realized that there was so much more up there. Celestia could not even see the constellations she could recognize, or even the stars that made them up -- there were so many others, of all brightnesses and colors. And too there were small blobs and wisps, which even to Celestia's razor-sharp vision refused to resolve into single points of light. She had the uncomfortable feeling they were actually entire clusters of stars, seen from very far away.
And spread across the sky, like a ghostly path through the heavens, was one huge flow of gaseous light sweeping all round the sky like a titanic arch of mist and smoke, or a river of firefly phospherescence.
"Amazing! Truly amazing!" Celestia whispered.
"Yes! I quite agree!" The Doctor said, looking out at the immensity of space himself, although with a much more practical eye. "It seems as if parts of the larger N-space reality are seeping through into your continuum. From the ground of course you would not notice this. It is only here, where there is so little other reality to contend with, that --"
A white hoof gently stoppered his mouth. "We find it beautiful, Doctor. Thank you ever so much."
"And we thank thee as well!" Luna cried. "We were right without knowing it... this strange box was a present for us. We had no idea, truly. We thank thee, Doctor!" The Doctor was startled to find Luna's forehooves wrapped around him, holding him tightly. He tolerated it with every sign of discomfort, and when she finally released him, blushing hotly, he merely adjusted his jacket with a forehoof and coughed discreetly.
"We would see more!" Luna suddenly cried, jumping up and running back to the console. "Where else can this device take us? Ah, we have it! The Sun!"
She set about pushing buttons and throwing levers, even as the Doctor was turning around. "Oh, my child, wait! Not with the doors open!" He raced across to the console, trying to stop her. But it was too late. Her hoof yanked down the final lever.
The column began rising and falling, the wheezing, groaning noise sounded again. And through the doors the Moon was suddenly snatched away. And with it, reality itself. Celestia grabbed hold of the edge of the doorframe and clung to it desperately, staring out into the flickering tunnel of the Vortex itself. Quickly, she shut her eyes. There was something about it that drew one's mind, one's very soul, out of one's body, stretched it very far and thin like taffy, to the point where... very possibly... it snapped.
The Doctor and Luna clung to the console, operating the controls, very often working at cross-purposes to each other. Luna was trying to help, trying to undo what she'd done. Finally she took a hint from the way the Doctor kept slapping her hooves aside and simply clung tight to the edge, allowing him to work.
The Doctor slammed the main lever home. The ship settled down, the room quieted, the column came to rest.
And through the doors, Celestia looked out upon the face of the Sun... from its surface.
Something had to be filtering out the immense radiance this close to its surface. Even so the hot glare was stunning. She looked out on an ocean of fire, cliff walls of flame. There were immense prominences rising above her, titanic arches of sheer plasma energy filling her view overhead, loops and whorls of insubstantial hot gas tracing out magnetic force-lines, the merest of which would have burnt all of Equestria to a cinder in an instant. This, this, was the simple warm glow in the sky that kept her world safe and comfortable. Her mouth opened in wonder, her eyes shone with joy. It was a symphony of hot power, infinite strength, and boundless endurance. She lifted her hooves, wanting to embrace it all.
"Doctor..." she whispered, entranced.
"Eh? Are you all right, my dear?"
She looked at him, surprised. She realized how she must look, and cleared her throat, then smiled warmly. "More than all right," she replied.
"Yes. It is quite amazing, isn't it? Though I think we should not stay for long."
"Indeed," Luna said, examining a dial on the console. "If we read this correctly, the.. thermal load is pushing the ship's... shield spell far beyond safe limits. If it should fail --"
"Quite," the Doctor said to her, perfectly calmly, as if nothing had happened between them. He looked to Celestia. "If you are ready, my dear?" His hoof hovered over the lever.
Celestia took one last look at the Sun. Her Sun, she thought.
She reached out and shut the doors. "I am. But one thing more," she said. "If you would, Doctor... show us Equestria! Show us our dominion and its place in this larger world."
The Doctor nodded. Without a word he pressed a few switches, then nodded in approval when Luna cautiously made a small adjustment. Then he pulled the lever.
When the doors opened again they looked down on a map of Equestria. And the map was alive, because it was Equestria itself, all of it, from the icy northern boundary to the hot deserts, extending to the forests on either side. Yet that was as nothing compared to the entire world that surrounded it. The north continued on into ice-capped peaks and seas studded with icebergs, the south into hot jungles and mysterious mountain cities, and east and west were great oceans, across which were yet more lands, unguessed at.
"There is so much we have not seen," Celestia whispered. "So much yet to accomplish!"
"Indeed, Sister," Luna came over to sit next to her, and put a hoof around her shoulders. "We thought we were done, and we have only just begun."
"I know you're impressed, Lulu, when you get poetic on me."
Luna stuck out her tongue. "We have our moments, Tia."
Behind them, the Doctor stood at the controls of his marvelous machine, waiting patiently for them to take their fill of the banquet before them.
Then Luna returned to the console and helped re-set the coordinates.
And a few minutes later, they stepped out into the main entrance hall of the Palace of the Two Sisters.
"Your Majesty displays uncommon skill," the Doctor said, as they sat down at a table on the broad common balcony adjoining the Princesses' rooms, before a small banquet of tea and baked goods. "I am not certain even I could have managed such a precise landing as that!"
"We thank you, Doctor!" Luna hid her smile behind her cup.
"You should see her work her abacus," Celestia said. "There are some things I willingly leave entirely to her. The tax code is one of them."
"It is only numbers, Sister," Luna replied. "They are like the Stars. There are so many of them, but you become used to them with time. And yet..."
Celestia nodded, understanding the look in her sister's eyes.
"Now," the Doctor said, watching with fascination as Celestia's magic smoothly poured tea from the pot into his cup. "Would one of you good ladies kindly explain why I am wearing this getup?"
He lifted the hem of the robe, with its moon and stars motif, and stared up at the wizard's hat with its circle of bells on his head. He had drawn the line at the fake beard, though he kept it close at hand in case of need.
"If anyone sees you with us," Celestia explained, "you are simply Star Swirl the Bearded, our court Wizard and expert on Magic. It avoids any awkward questions. He spends so much time holed up in that workshop of his, it is unlikely we shall encounter him while you are here."
"I suppose I shall need to learn more about the magic that underpins this world," the Doctor said ruefully. "If only to deal with it if properly. That is, assuming I am to go on living here for any length of time."
The sisters looked at each other, and then Celestia reached out to touch the Doctor's hoof. "We offer you the sanctuary of our Court, Doctor, and the benefit of any advice we can offer about our world."
"I am much obliged, my dears. Though I must try to find a way back to my own N-space continuum. I have unfinished business back home. And I would not wish to impose upon your kind hospitality."
"It is no burden whatever!" Luna said, with a smirk. "We have clerks, officials, and various hangers-on filling the payroll who are worth far less than thee. Is that not so, Sister? Uh... Sister?"
Celestia was looking up at the sky, at the great, impossibly great flaming globe that was the Sun -- her Sun, which seemed so calm and peaceful simply because it was at such a great remove. And the more she thought about it, the less she liked the idea of the Council being the ones to raise and lower it every day.
She rose from the table and stood on the edge of the balcony. Her wings spread, her horn charged with glowing light, and she rose into the air. Her forehooves lifted, reaching for the light. She took hold of it, with every last erg of her magic, and steadily brought... it... down. The Sun settled behind the mountains, just as it did every night. But this time she had done the Lowering.
She looked to Luna, who had risen from the table and moved to join her. Luna spread her own wings, charged her horn, and rose to join her. She put out her forehooves, finding the Moon hidden beneath the horizon, and raised it to the sky. She tipped her head thoughtfully. And then she swept out a forehoof as if painting the sky in a single broad stroke. A thousand thousand stars settled into position. And nebulae, and the great arch of light spread across the heavens. For once, the night sky appeared as it truly was, with nothing obscured, nothing omitted.
The Two Sisters settled back onto the tiles of the balcony. They stared at each other, astonished at how easy it had been, to take on the Lowering and Raising themselves. Because they now knew how much the Sun, Moon, and Stars truly meant to them. They had seen what they truly were.
Together, they returned to the table. But not to seat themselves.
"Doctor, please rise!" Celestia said, in a stern formal tone. "And harken to our proclamation."
The Doctor did so and stood attentively, with an appropriately serious look on his lined face -- or as much as he could manage with the hat.
"We proclaim thee henceforth to be a Friend of the Two Sisters. Thou shalt always be welcome at our Court, and at our table. And anything thou shalt require we shall provide. Sister, dost thou concur?"
"With all our heart and our might, Sister," Luna said, just as formally. "Thou art Friend of the Two Sisters, Doctor!"
The Doctor was speechless. Then he bowed. "My thanks to your Majesties, and my humble appreciation for your beneficence."
"You have given us back our dominion, Doctor," Celestia said. "By showing it to us, and allowing us to see it anew, see everything we had in our innocence missed. I think my Sister and I will have no difficulties with our duties henceforth."
"Excuse me..." said a stern elderly voice, "but what is going on out here?"
"Oh, Me!" Celestia glanced worriedly at Luna. "Ah... a pleasant evening, Star Swirl!"
"I dare say! Did you young ladies manage the Sun-and-Moon thing all on your own? I'm impressed! How ever did you do it?"
"And look!" said the Chamberlain, who had followed the wizard out onto the balcony. "The Princesses... they have attained their marks!"
"Sister!" Luna said, pointing. Celestia looked, and saw a bright orange sun mark upon her flank.
"And you as well, Sister!" She pointed to the moon-and-cloud mark that graced Luna's.
"This is truly a momentous day!" The Chamberlain cried. "We have a Princess of the Sun and of the Moon, and they have attained their marks together, in perfect harmony. Let the joyous word be spread! And we have you to thank for it, Star Swirl! Truly you are a wizard to be reckoned with."
"I am? Oh... um... actually..."
"He has instructed us well," Celestia interrupted. "We owe him a great deal. And we could not have come this far without him."
"He is truly a wizard of great renown," Luna added, with a glance at her sister. "And his work is known far and wide. We have learned much from him. And hope that one day he will teach us even more."
"That will do, Lulu," Celestia whispered. "You're laying it on with a trowel!"
"Sorry, Tia!"
Even more of the staff had arrived, to gaze in wonder at the radiant Princesses, and to gather around Star Swirl and compliment his apparent great skill.
"It feels wrong, Sister," Luna said softly. "We owe so much to the Doctor."
"Yes we do... and speaking of which, where has he gone?" She looked around.
Then they stared at each other, thinking the same thought. And rapidly pushed their way through the crowd.
When they reached the entrance hall it was empty, as they expected. No strange blue cabinet with its mysterious POLICE BOX markings. No sign of the mysterious wanderer in space and time.
Celestia and Luna stared at the empty space, sighing unhappily.
"We can never tell them the truth," Luna finally said. "Even coming from us, none would believe it. They would think us mad. Or worse!"
"True. Yet we shall not forget, Lulu." Celestia nodded to herself. "And there is something else we can do." She looked around and saw the Chamberlain running to join them, confused at the Princesses' sudden departure, and their presence here in the empty hall.
"Is there something your Majesties require?"
"Yes," Celestia said. "Inform all the staff, and the Guard, that if one day a peculiar stallion with a large blue cabinet should appear and ask after us, he is to be admitted to our presence immediately -- no matter the hour or the situation. Understood?"
"Of course! I shall do so at once, your Majesties. Uh... and his name?"
The Princesses exchanged a look.
"He shall tell us his name," Celestia said. "And it shall serve as proof."
"For we shall know who he is," Luna concurred.
The Doctor, they thought, as one.
The End
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
Doctor Who, its characters and indicia are the property of the B.B.C.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of both series.
