It's Bigger on the Inside

It’s Bigger on the Inside

Chapter 3: Just a Possibility

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t believe her eyes. She had once stated she would not believe in anything she could not explain. She could not explain this, yet here it was, plain as day. Clear-cut as clear-cut could be. Right before her very eyes. The inside of this box, this TARDIS, was bigger than the outside implied.

“Yes, yes I know.” The Doctor said, anticipating such a response. He rushed around a control panel switching things on and off, cranking cranks, leveling levers, winding winders, and things of that nature. Sparks flew from everywhere and noises filled the air. Suddenly then entire box began to shake. The Doctor pulled a lever and everything came to an abrupt halt.

“What was that?” Twilight questioned while getting back on her hooves.

“That was the TARDIS stabilizing.” The Doctor replied straightening his coat. “Now that that’s out of the way I think I’ll be staying in- what’s this place called again?”

“Ponyville.”

“Right, I think I’ll be staying in Ponyville a while longer, the TARDIS will take a bit to recover from last night’s crash.”

With that the two ponies returned to Twilight’s library. On the way back they ran into a certain pink party pony.

“Hiya Twilight! Who’s your friend? He’s new isn’t he, I can tell because I know every pony in Ponyville! And I mean every pony.” Pinkie rambled on. She then approached the new pony in Ponyville.

“Hi there, what’s your name?” Pinkie said enthusiastically, getting a bit in The Doctor’s face.

The Doctor backed up. “Most…” He paused for a minute catching himself “…ponies call me The Doctor.”

“Oooh. What a neeto name!” Pinkie gasped. “If you’re new that means we have to throw you a party!”

“A party?” The Doctor asked.

“Ooh! Wait, forget I said anything, it has to be a surprise party.”

The Doctor gave Pinkie a blank stare.

This pony is mad! He thought to himself as the pink party pony hopped off to prepare a not so surprise party.

“That’s just Pinkie being… well Pinkie.” Twilight said, as if reading The Doctor’s thoughts. “Come on; let’s go back to the library.” Twilight said, beginning to make her way home once more. Within a few minutes the pair of ponies arrived at Twilight’s library.  The sun was high in the sky and it was nearing twelve o’ clock. Twilight entered the house to find their mess from breakfast cleaned and Spike lounging about.

“Hey Twilight! Where’ve you been?” Spike said hopping off of his chair and ambling over to Twilight. He soon noticed the brown earth pony standing behind her. “Who’s this guy?” Spike said in a hushed tone.

Twilight conjured up an excuse. “Spike, this is The Doctor. He’s going to be staying here a while. He’s an associate of the Princesses’ and he’s here to do a bit of studying.”

Spike stared for a second at The Doctor before extending his claw. “Nice to meet you Doctor!” Spike answered enthusiastically.

********

“TARDIS MATERIALIZATION DETECTED.” Articulated a robot voice.

“PINPOINTING THE LOCATION AT WHICH THE TARDIS MATERIALIZED.” Another responded, almost impossible to tell the difference between the two.

“THE DOCTOR IS A POSSIBILITY.” The first voice replied.

“FIND THE DOCTOR.” A third said.

“EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR.” Spoke a fourth.

********

“So, you said you were from where?” Twilight asked over lunch.

“I’m from Gallifrey, that’s where all the time lords came from.”

“And you said you travel through space and time.” Twilight confirmed.

“Yes.” The Doctor answered.

“So my question is: do you know if anything followed you?”

“Of course not, that’s preposterous, although something being here already isn’t all that unlikely. It is a level three civilization after all.”

“Huh?” Twilight questioned.

“Oh, nothing.”

Twilight and The Doctor finished their lunch when Twilight mentioned she had to study. The Doctor left her to her vices and decided to explore this new land of… whatever it was called. He made a mental note to ask Twilight. Again.

The Doctor, feeling a sense of renewal, stepped out into the crisp cool winter air. He awkwardly straightened his coat with his hoof and began to trot about the town. He eventually made his way to the market and looked around. He had no money of course, but it couldn’t hurt to evaluate this civilization. It was so similar to earth. They had tools and machines that looked like they should be operated by hands instead of hooves. Something was bothering The Doctor however. Not about Ponyville or even Equestria for that matter. No, The Doctor was worried about the cause of the TARDIS’s crash.

Before he had arrived in Ponyville The Doctor was battling his greatest enemy. The Daleks. He had been trapped on a Dalek ship. His TARDIS was there, but all he had to do was escape. Being clever, as The Doctor has always been, he was able to trick the Daleks and escape. Before he could make it to the TARDIS however a Dalek shot him in the back with its gunstick. The Dalek towered over The Doctor in triumph, but The Doctor wasn’t giving up. He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket and disabled the Dalek’s weapons. He climbed aboard the TARDIS and made an emergency dematerialization, not caring for time or place as long as it was safe. The TARDIS materialized in the sky of Equestria as The Doctor finished his regeneration. He crash landed and here he was. A pony.

The Doctor feared that the Daleks were able to get a lock on him. He feared they would follow him to Equestria. He told a little white lie to Twilight to keep her calm, he would fend off the Daleks when and if the time comes. For now he planned to enjoy the afternoon. The Doctor soon found an orange female pony selling apples with a much larger red stallion. The Doctor looked at the apples. He suddenly loved apples. All he could think about was apples. This wasn’t like his last regeneration however. This time he could feel that he would just love apples.

“Howdy there!” The orange pony called. “You must be Twilight’s new friend. Pinkie can’t stop talking about you. The Doctor, if’n I’m recalling right.” The orange pony extended her hoof. “I’m Applejack, welcome to Ponyville.”

“Nice to make your acquaintance Applejack.” The Doctor said, shaking hooves with Applejack.

Applejack swiftly grabbed a bright red apple from her cart and tossed it to The Doctor. The Doctor caught it and fumbled a bit almost dropping it. “Saw ya’ eyein’ my apples. Have it on the house, any friend of Twilight’s is a friend o’ mine.”

“Thank you very much Applejack.” The Doctor responded. “I’ve to be off now, things to see, places to go.”

“I understand. Have a nice day ya’ hear?”

“You too, Applejack.” The Doctor responded, trotting off in a random direction once more. This place was interesting enough. The Doctor just sincerely hoped the kind citizens of Ponyville didn’t have to face a threat as frightening as the Daleks. At least he could control his hooves so he could properly use his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor continued to aimlessly wander around Ponyville. Everypony seemed to say hello to him however. They all knew who he was and they all mentioned a certain pink pony telling them he was new in town. A few of them told him to head to a place called Sugarcube Corner for something, wherever that was. Eventually The Doctor accidentally stumbled upon the exact place he was supposed to be going. He opened the door to the confectionary shop and the ringing of bells was cut off by a plethora of ponies screaming.

“SURPRISE!”

The Doctor jumped back in surprise as ponies popped up from their hiding places. The lights were promptly switched on as Pinkie Pie approached him with five other ponies in tow.

“So Doctor are you surprised? Are ya? Huh? Are ya? Are ya?” Pinkie Pie spoke at the speed of light and bounced around The Doctor as if gravity was lower on this planet. The Doctor made a mental note to check the size of this planet relative to Earth.

“I was extremely surprised. I knew you mentioned a party but I didn’t expect you to invite every pony in town.” The Doctor explained.

“Well of course I invited everypony in Ponyville. If you’re new it means you might not have any friend; and if you don’t have any friends you might be lonely.”

“Well thank you Pinkie, but I’m used to being alone.”

“That’s silly! Nopony should be alone. Never ever.”

The Doctor stood there and thought for a moment. Maybe this pink pony is right. Being alone isn’t necessarily a fun thing, but I can’t just drag one of these ponies along with me across the universe like I always do. There was a pause in The Doctor’s thought process as he watched Twilight pour herself a drink.

Or can I…?