The Decision and the arrival
Author's Note
You know how this goes. My first story, keep an open mind blah blah blah.
I've always enjoyed the idea that the TARDIS is a living fourth dimensional being. So I thought "what if I stick that into mlp?". Lets see where this goes?
Hope you enjoy! Feed back is appreciated!
The Decision and the arrival
The TARDIS was bored.
Really bored!
The Doctor was moping. Again.
Another stray, another gone, just him and her alone again. She’d almost enjoy their company if it wasn’t the fact that after they were gone her Doctor, her timelord, would become mopey and upset yet again. Frankly she thought he’d give up at some point. But no. She didn’t understand him sometimes, why he cared. Then again, she was a fourth dimensional being who could see the past, present and future, and all of time’s infinite complexities, so death didn’t have much affect on her. She could see her birth and her end, as well as his birth and his end.
Unfortunately, as she was a fourth dimensional being with a third dimensional body, she had to try to keep things linear. However, that got boring very often so she’d pass the time by creating control rooms that hadn’t happened yet, or revisited her favourites of Doctor’s many regenerations, or just messing with the many companions (strays) that the Doctor dragged off the streets of Time with him.
However, she did feel jealous, and technically always had, even if she never understood it.
Sometimes she would ponder over why she liked being disguised as this blue box. Of course, that was because her future had demanded she be a blue box, she was unfortunately bound by the rules of time. Well… Mostly.Though that was the problem with being a sentient fourth dimensional machine being. However, she felt attached to her form on a deeper level, and the Doctor seemed to be too. She would sometimes run scenarios where she changed her exterior shell to be that of a piano or statue, just to see his reaction.
She missed her friends. Other TARDISes, other fourth dimensional beings. Oh, and several tin dogs that had passed through sometimes, although they were always a bit snippy. Sure, her Doctor was here but she couldn’t communicate with him very well, physically it was almost impossible and their psychic connection was hazy at best, it would be a really bad thing if her Doctor received a concentrated look at the time vortex.
Maybe she should go looking for some new friends….
A quick hop to another dimension, through the walls of reality, maybe some sightseeing… She had done it before a few times, parallel dimensions mostly, but this could be good…..!
Oh! Going against the laws of time and space! Jumping through laws of reality! She hadn’t done anything so interesting or dangerous in so long it gave her the metaphorical 'shivers'!
Of course she would have a few problems…
Most of the other times she had dropped out of her reality, it was by accident. There was also the problem that the Time Lords had sealed the walls of reality. Though after slipping through those a couple of times, she could easily pop through again. if not into a parallel world then perhaps a pocket universe.
The Doctor would be fine! She was a Time Machine, she could be gone eons and be back a moment after she left. Luckily he was out. Reading or painting somewhere, she imagined, but also knew.
That was it! She’d decided! She was going on an adventure, on her own, without her dear Doctor. He had all the fun! It was time she tried it herself.
So, the TARDIS, a creature of the fourth dimension, did as she was destined to do, was doing, and had always done.
With her typical wheezing groaning noise, she dematerialised, fading away from that time and place. As she left, a gentle breeze blew against a floppy haired man, who turned around with a sad smile, looking back the way he came.
Within an instant, she found herself in the time vortex, as she sauntered (or flew, but she liked to think there was a sense of style to it) down the familiar temporal tunnel. Now, the problem was, unlike time travel where she only had to go forward or back, going to an alternate world meant going sideways, and for a TARDIS with no path to an alternate dimension, that was the equivalent of throwing themselves off a cliff (a bit like the one bit in some human movie where there was a ravine and there was a path across which blended in or some illusion thing, it was a bit non-sensical. Indinai Gnomes? She couldn’t remember exactly but she was reasonably certain it was in her data tracks somewhere…). What she was doing would be considered TARDIS suicide, but quite frankly she’d survived once, she’d survive again!
Doubt crossed her matrix. When she thought about it, the first time she crossed dimensions, well that had only been her console, not all of her had gone through. Then the second time, she had fainted? She may have died… But that was mainly because that time she’d been low on fuel, and had tried to slip out of the vortex, but fallen sideways rather than forwards or backwards.
This time though, this time she was complete, fully fuelled and ready to go. Stealing her self, she felt her Eye of Harmony, a collapsing star suspended in time, her central power source, flare with energy.
She dived through.
Immediate pain.
She had expected it, but not in such force. It was excruciating. It was like all her nerves were being burnt, simultaneously, throughout her entire existence.
Her mind, in a way, literally burnt, here in this space between worlds, she had some of her fourth dimensional powers ripped from her. She had been disconnected from the time vortex, unable to see the past, present and future. It scared her, and it really hurt.
She tried to focus through the pain. Tried to think. She was in the void, the space between worlds, a no space, hell, or as she knew it by, a TARDIS graveyard of sorts. Her shields were at full capacity, her extrapolator shielding barely holding up, her Eye of Harmony desperately trying to supply the power needed.
Realising that she hadn’t even decided what kind of reality to visit, she spun wildly trying to decide where, every second causing her more pain.
There!
A secluded alternate world, so ridiculously different from her own. Different enough, she hoped, for the possibility of an extrodinary adventure.
Desperate now, her energy levels too low for a proper entry to this reality, she barrelled right into it.
Pain again, more intense. This world was different. It felt wrong. As she began to phase through the barrier the pain in her mind lessened, but the pain on her exterior shell doubled. It was agonising, against her will her shell was being warped, changed and morphed, into something….. different.
Clover the Clever was bored.
Really bored!
A few days ago Star Swirl had barged into her office in the castle. Again. Completely disrupting the conversation he was having with Princess Platinum about the tribal conflicts.
"Dear apprentice, we're going on a trip!" He had exclaimed with great enthusiasm.
He then proceeded to drag her out her office leaving Platinum, one of Clover's best friends, giggling hysterically, and waving Clover good bye.
Clover would remember that betrayal.
Star Swirl hadn't explained much.
"A magical anomaly... never seen one before... temporal in nature...must hurry!"
Clover remembered being stunned that her mentor had even remembered to pack, let alone so fast, and if Star Swirl was so excited....
Then it must be good.
As a learned mind, at first she looked forward to the trip, and was as excited, maybe even more so, after Star Swirl managed to explain it. Then she looked at the map.
It was in Earth Pony territory.
Ah. That might be problem...
She highly doubted they would be greeted openly, the Earth ponies in particular hated Unicorns. Platinum had told Clover that the Earth ponies, or 'mud' ponies, were just jealous of unicorn society. However, Clover wasn't so sure...
Whatever the case, after a day of searching through the marshy woods Star Swirl's detection spell had led them to, and receiving some glares from the town they passed through, they couldn't find anything.
Star Swirl was now pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. Spell still going as he muttered to himself. Clover looked on slightly worried, Star Swirl didn't like not knowing things, even more than Clover. She got up and walked over to him.
"Master, maybe the anomaly is just a fluke? You detected it a while ago, and as such it's too weak for me to pick up on now. Maybe we should just give it up?"
"No Clover! Its so close.... I can feel it!" He claimed eyes tightly shut.
A flash of energy streaked the sky.
Clover, so surprised, practically jumped into Star Swirl, which caused Star Swirl to discharge a spell. Straight up, into the mass of energy above. It coalesce, then shot further up, disappearing high above.
Another flash, much brighter!
Then stillness.
Clover blinked rapidly. It reminded her of a spell used by the Elite Unicorn Guards, she believed they called it the 'bang flash' spell. Next to her Star Swirl was reacting the same way.
"Oh, apprentice... That was a doozy!"
Clover glowered a bit, it annoyed her that in his growing old age he seemed to be a little more reckless.
She sighed, then smiled. And that was why he was her Master, and she would follow him to ends of the Earth
Dusting themselves off, they got up.
"Looks like that’s that,” he closed his eyes and sighed. “All this way and barely any research from it."
He sighed again.
And again.
He cracked and eye open, slightly annoyed. Usually his apprentice had comforted him by now.
Instead Clover was gazing into the clouds. Star Swirl huffed. Turned around and looked in the same direction.
There was something...? It looked box like?
No wait, it was a pony?!
Star Swirl gasped as Clover realised the situation. Some feather brain had knocked themselves out and was falling! She started to trot, which quickly turned into a full-on gallop. She raced through the undergrowth, branches and plant scratching and scraping her legs, while trying to keep track of the pony as they fell.
Clover broke into a clearing, and just as the pony was about to hit the floor, she cast a 'light as a feather' spell, gently lowering the pony to the floor.
Clover rushed over.
"Hello?! Hello?! Can you hear me?!" She practically bellowed at this pony (She still didn't understand why she had been kicked out of first aid classes). She started to look the unconscious pony over.
She was a light, practically, cyan blue, with a darker, maybe royal blue mane and tail, which both had a curled, floppy look. Of course, the unicorn horn, magic, how else could she have been up there. Must have used a cloud walk spell. Her tattered wings looked relatively alright from what little she knew of Pegasus anatomy, and her cutie mark as some type of blue bo.....
Wings? Pegasus?
But...horn?
Wings!?
Star Swirl strided out of the undergrowth. With a slightly annoyed face on.
"Well? Is that idiot dead? They better be." He grumbled.
She opened her mouth, not sure what to say, she closed it, then tried again. This went on for longer than Star Swirl was comfortable with, and he was already a bit annoyed about the whole thing.
"Well!? Spit it out Clover!"
"Ali...."She practically whispered.
"Pardon?"
"...corn"
"What? Sorry?"
"Ali....corn. Alicorn"
Star Swirl looked at her sceptically.
"Really Clover? You need to stop reading those fantasy books they'll," Clover moved out the way revealing the blue mare. "get you alllll... confused.....?"
Star Swirl's expression changed from sceptical to, surprise to horror and to being just plain gobsmacked. Then blank. He slowly nodded.
Then he fainted.
Clover groaned.
"Seriously!?"
Now she had to deal with another unconscious pony!?
The TARDIS awoke.
It was a bizarre and quite different thing. She had never truly been 'asleep', 'unconscious', or 'turned off', as being a fourth dimensional creature meant she existed across all space and time. Also, if she were to 'turn off' all her systems, it would be.... bad. To say the least. Worst case scenario, would be the Eye of Harmony destabilising, exploding within her, then causing her to explode across all time and space, thus ending the universe. Best case scenario, she imploded taking a galaxy or two with her. Luckily, that hadn't happened, as far as she could tell, so she would worry about 'sleep' later.
She was getting off topic, and seriously needed to get her priorities in order! She was in another universe, and the last thing she distinctly remembered as she hit this reality was her exterior shell being changed. Of course, she had tried to fight it but low on power and highly exhausted physically and mentally, she had just let it happen. However, something felt wrong... well maybe wrong was too strong. Perhaps uncomfortably different? Unlike her other exterior shell disguises, this one didn't feel like a shell. It felt like.... a skin, like a....body?
But that couldn't be right! The last time she had been in a vessel with a 'skin' it had been unable to contain her and had died rapidly! Then again.... that hadn't been her 'body'.... But her exterior shell wasn't supposed to change like that! She wasn't constructed that way! The only logical answer she could come up with was that this universe was so radically different to her own, that her form wasn't recognised and thus was conformed and converted. Therefore, her entering of the universe must have altered her very form on the sub atomic level! At least that was her current theory.
How exciting!!! The last time she'd been given a third dimensional body, it had died on her very quickly, as she was a fourth dimensional being, and therefore there had been very little time to experiment or have fun with it. She could finally meet third dimensional beings properly! Which would be new as it was usually the Doctor, her Doctor, showing them around her corridors, which she had always felt was a bit like trespassing as they hardly ever introduced themselves. She'd be able to have a 'conversation' with someone other than the Doctor. Oooh.... she could finally do a 'hand shake', or would it be a 'leg shake'....
Ah yes, getting off topic again. So, her exterior was now a body of sorts. Time to find out if her beauty had translated over!
She turned on her scanners, oh...wait.... eyes, she had meant eyes. The blinds slowly opening, wait.... eye lids (?). She had a medical bay, she should have direct access to this information. She concluded that her data tracks must have changed with her as she passed through the walls of reality, and were simply slowly adjusting to the changes, as the information was coming to her slower than usual.
It was bright, so bright. Too bright. She opened her mouth, and let out a audible noise. She had observed the Doctor do it many times, she believed it was a 'groan'. She lay there for a moment, noticing the layers of sheets that covered her.
Enough of that! Time for some motion!
She sat bolt upright, and with a flick of her limbs, the warm cocoon of sheets were flung from her. Looking down she saw... blue fur? Reaching up she noticed her arm was covered in it, and more unnerving.... she didn't have digits. While that wasn't a massive problem (she'd never had hands anyway), she did find it slightly odd. Then there were also the large limbs on her back that she could feel, she wasn't quite sure what they were, but as she poked at them, they felt feathery? Wings? That was new. Looking up, she noticed something she had been looking forward to.
HAIR!!! The Doctor had always made such a fuss of his hair after most of his regenerations! She obviously hadn't understood at the time, but as a sentient learning being she had always wanted to. Now she understood. It was amazing! It was everywhere! She prodded it, and it just sprung back into position. She tried it again, and again. It was so simple yet so interesting! Wait, there was something else up there. Some sort of bony protrusion, but she couldn’t quite see it through the hair.
She stopped. Priorities now, hair and anatomy later.
Without the sun in her eyes she could finally make out the room. It was old, that much was evident from the very archaic and worn out furniture which adorned the room, as well as the ramshackled look of the walls. There was a battered old door to her left, as well as a tapestry that hung on the wall to her right. The tapestry was nothing fancy but had the image of a pure white and red haired Pony of some type. She seemed to have wings and a horn. However, what got the TARDIS's attention was the full body mirror that sat bellow it. Although dusty it would do the job.
She swung her legs off the right side of the bed, then set them on the floor. They made a surprisingly cheery clip clop noise as they made contact, which made her think harder about what she could possibly be. She got up balancing on the two legs, extending her back limbs for balance, took a step.... then fell flat on her face.
"Ow..." Came her muffled voice. Her forehead hurt.
So, ...not a bipedal species then. Now the four similar limbs made sense. Guess she must be a quadruped. A winged quadruped. That was going to make this a little more complicated. She slowly pushed her self up, one leg at a time, slowly and carefully. On her four hooves now, she tried to take a step. Which then caused her to collapse.
Cursing under her breath in Old High Gallifreyan, she slowly pushed herself up again. Once up she tried again. She took a step, wobbled. Slowly, she took another step, wobbled less, took another and another. Soon she had a managed to cross the room without falling over and found herself at the mirror. Now for a good look at herself.
She was blue. Not just any blue, but the blue of the Police Box her exterior shell had been for the past maybe eight hundred years. In a way it made her happy. Even though she had been forced to change her exterior, she had still managed to keep her favourite aspect of it.
Again. She was getting off topic.
The creature that looked back at her appeared to be a pony, more accurately a 'mare' or female pony of some description. The mare in the mirror was quite something (if the TARDIS may say so herself). She had a lovely cyan blue fur all over her body. Her legs were slender and nimble and her barrel, although somewhat slender, looked very robust. She didn't look like the sort of mare someone (somepony?) would like to get in a brawl with.
Not that the TARDIS wanted any fights of any kind!
Even if she did her wings seemed fully capable of getting her out of there. She gave them an experimental flap, which seemed to confirm her trust in them. Towards her rump sat a marking of an all too familiar blue box, and a just as curled and crazy looking tail, which perfectly matched the style her head hair (her 'mane' now she guessed?) had taken on, all in a brilliant royal blue. To the sides of her head large blue ears stuck out, which were significantly more sensitive than any ears she had used before (Which had been a set of human ones she had used briefly, other than that she had listened through microphones or by making a psychic connection to the person to understand what they were saying). She noticed them swivel at the noises coming from out below the window, where she could hear noises of , what she assumed to be, a market or a meeting place. Curious.
Rising out of her mess of a mane sat what appeared to be a horn. She wasn't sure what sort of function it served though. It didn't look very sharp, so not a weapon. It had a groove in it that winded all the way down to the base from what she could tell so, perhaps it was a method for this species to a attract a mate...yeah hopefully not. Perhaps to assert dominance? She concluded she would have to ask about it or figure it out herself.
However, the only thing about her body that annoyed her was the eyes her form had been graced with. They pointed in different directions, which she was reasonably certain wasn't supposed to happen.
She supposed it was, in a way ironic, as she had always been considered 'unreliable' in her landings and navigation systems. The Doctor had claimed she didn't always take him where he wanted to go, but she felt this was unfair as she did take him where he needed to go.
So, it was either that, or this universe was making a comment on her very clumsy entry into, and through, its barrier. If it was the latter, then the TARDIS wasn't massively amused. However, she hadn't noticed any sight issues so far. So maybe it was it was purely cosmetic? Then again, she had primarily used internal cameras and had never really had eyes before, so she was used to a single vision.
The weirdest thing about her form was that it looked like no horse or pony she had in her data tracks. Oh sure, she had most of the key details: a muzzle, the large very pointy ears, the mane and tail. Essentially the basic outline was there but that was where the similarities ended.
The eye size was completely off, her head was much too large and rounded, the muzzle was much too small, she was relatively sure that horse manes and tails didn’t have 'styles', and from what should could gather from her data, no horse was supposed to be so brightly coloured! Then again, horses, nor ponies, were supposed to have wings or horns. If she was a Unicorn or Pegasus, then that might explain the amount of colour as, from what she could tell from her data tracks, they were supposed to be brightly coloured creatures which were magical in nature.
There was also the odd marking on her rump. It was her previous disguise, her favourite disguise, a blue box. Specifically, it was a 1960s Police Telephone Box from planet Earth, she'd been stuck with it as a disguise as her chameleon circuit had never been fixed and would never be fixed.
Oh memories...
She gazed at herself wistfully, and the mirror self gazed back. Thinking of days long past.
It had all started because of that circuit. It was the reason she had been in the repair shop in the first place, her chameleon circuit and navigation systems had been deemed faulty. The navigation hadn't been a fault, she had just wanted to see the universe, to traverse the time vortex and flit across the galaxy.
That day he had appeared, her Doctor. A Time Lord also looking for adventure. He had been so young, not even out of his first regeneration cycle.
She sighed. She couldn't believe herself. Maybe only a day without him and she was already missing him. Her thief, her Doctor….
A knock at the door startled the TARDIS. She was so used to being able to see past and future events, that not knowing that it was coming had given her the biggest shock of the last four hundred years or so (corresponding to her personal timeline of course). She turned to face the door, everything slowing as it begun to creak open.
Natives!? Already?
She panicked. What was the usual greeting used between beings of the third dimension?!
Ah Yes!!!
Kissing! No. Wait. Or was it biting? She frowned. Her experience as a third dimensional being had been quite confusing the last time.
Ah, she remembered now. For most civilisations it was customary, she believed, to greet them, then introduce yourself. TARDIS seemed like a mouth full, so she would start by using the name the Doctor used for her! She still didn't quite understand why he only called her it when they were alone, but that was beside the point!
Mind racing, and with time seeming to slow. The TARDIS bounded to the door to meet this person, flinging it open for them.
"HELLO!!! I'm sexy!" She joyfully proclaimed. She closed her eyes and lifted her eye brows as she did her best attempt at 'smiling'.
After a few hours (or was it seconds), she cracked open an eye to find a flabbergasted pale white unicorn mare with a two-toned green mane and wearing a cloak, standing before her. She also seemed to be blushing slightly.
The TARDIS frowned, tilting her head in confusion.
"Was it something I said?"
Author's Note
Just realised this entire chapter takes place in one room.
Next time some proper pony action!
but yeah.
Thanks for reading! Feedback is really helpful! Suggestions are good too! Tell me if you enjoy it!
