Doctor Whooves and the Other Doctor:
Reflections
"Ugh why can't I get this right?" a brown stallion moaned, his head falling down onto the workbench in front of him. Next to his head was an incomplete silver pocket watch he was making for one of the nobles of Canterlot. He took great pride in his work and he wanted to make nothing short of perfection for his clients.
An ivory colored earth pony peeked her head into the workroom. She had a red rose as a cutie mark and a mane of rosy red and pink akin to the flower she was marked with. She raised an eyebrow and gave her mentor a curious look. "Is something the matter Dr. Whooves?"
The doctor lazily turned his head towards the ivory pony, "No nothing at all Rose, I'm just really thick this evening is all." said Dr. Whooves as he was messing up his mane with a hoof, hoping that it would stimulate his mind to work more clearly.
"I've been working on this watch all day but I just can't seem to get it right, it's still half a second off." said the doctor now glaring at his imperfect masterpiece.
Rose leered with confusion "It's just half a second doctor. It's not going to make much of a difference?"
"Not much of a difference!?" Dr. Whooves shouted with as he got up from his workbench and focused his full attention to his assistant. "Not much of a difference? My dear Rose, the nobility of Canterlot expect perfection, and I, the greatest clockmaker in all of Equestria, should expect nothing else from myself."
Rose carefully crept closer towards her mentor, head down but still looking into his eyes. "Well... is there anything I can do to help? I'm here to learn from the best after all, and my parents wou-"
The doctor rose his hoof to stop Rose mid sentence "Now now my dear no need to get so sentimental. There will be plenty of time for tutelage later. Right now what I really need is some fresh air to clear my head. Care to join me?"
Rose had a huge grin her face at the thought of going for a walk with Ponyville's resident clockmaker and celebrity inventor. "Yeah definitely! Just let me get my scarf."
**********************************************
The air along the edge of the Everfree Forest was clean and crisp. Dr. Whooves and Rose had been walking now for nearly an hour and the warmth of midday was slowly fading as the sun was creeping towards twilight. It was quiet and peaceful as the two walked, all they could hear was the rummaging of small creatures and birds along the forest's edge and the rhythmic clopping of their own hoof-steps.
Dr. Whooves stopped unexpectedly, perking his ears up to hear better.
"Is something the matter doctor?" Rose said, looking at her mentor with uncertainty.
The doctor waved a hoof at his assistant to hush her. "Shhh, listen. Do you hear that?"
Rose perked an ear up and listened carefully as per Dr. Whooves' instructions. She could hear a soft grinding noise coming from somewhere above, not too far away she guessed.
Her mentor pointed a surprised hoof up to the sky and shouted, "Look! Up there! What is that?"
Looking up to the sky where the doctor was pointing Rose could see a trail of thick black smoke streaking across the sky above the Everfree Forest. As it got closer she squinted her eyes to see it more clearly. What she saw defied logic; an impossible blue box spinning and tumbling across the sky, black smoke billowing out the top with a strange light that resonated with the grinding noise. She saw it change course and it quickly fell towards the ground. Within seconds she lost sight of it as it fell through the canopy of trees in the Everfree Forest and a moment later a loud crash was heard.
She looked back towards her mentor with a look on her face that said 'What should we do?'.
Dr. Whooves looked Rose in the eyes with determination, "Come on we have to see what that was, somepony could have gotten hurt."
**********************************************
"No, no, no, no, no, no, nooo!" the Doctor was shouting at the central console of his TARDIS with both his hands pulling at his hair. Something had exploded within the TARDIS causing it to violently shake, knocking the Doctor forward and forcing him to hold onto the controls to keep himself from falling on the floor. Various controls on the circular console had blown out, sparks flying and thin gray smoke rising from the damage.
"Not again! Why does it always have to be crashing!" he shouted, barely able to keep his balance as he pulled seemingly random levers and knobs. He worked his way over to what appeared to be a basketball pump and started pumping away.
"Come on old girl! Don't give up on me!"
There was another explosion as the TARDIS finally crashed into something solid. The sudden impact caused the Doctor to loose his balance and stumble backwards, barely managing to prevent his fall by grabbing onto the railing behind him. He looked up to the console, still holding onto the railing, and cheerily said to himself, "Another successful landing."
With a grunt he pulled himself up, straitened his tie, and walked towards the central console . "Looks like you're going to need a bit of work then." He knelt down to the base of the circular console and took off a panel to tinker with its insides. Several minutes later he put the panel back on and stood back up, satisfied with his work.
"Well your auto repair looks to be in order, just a little jolt of energy from me and you'll be ready to go again in about a day." The Doctor looked around the empty room, hand rubbing the back of his neck, fully aware that he was alone and talking to himself. "Blimey I gotta get a mate. Talking to myself is just too weird." The doctor pivoted 180 degrees to turn towards the TARDIS door and took long confidant steps towards it. "Lets see what fun things this world has to offer."
He quickly opened the door and stuck his head out, "Oh! Hello."
**********************************************
"Come on! I can smell smoke coming from this way." the brown stallion shouted back towards his assistant, who was now falling behind.
"You go on ahead, I can catch up. For someone so old you sure can run." Rose called back.
"I'm not that old. I'll go on ahead, if somepony needs our help we should get there as fast as we can." Dr. Whooves called back now galloping towards the smell of smoke, well out of earshot of Rose.
He galloped for several minutes until he found the source of the smoke and skid to a stop. He stared at it for a moment examining it. It was small blue box, with 'police call box' written in light in large letters around the top. It appeared to be made of wood and despite the loud noise of the crash and the small crater around it the wood appeared undamaged and the box itself was standing upright.
His probing was abruptly halted when the doors opened and a head popped out from the door. "Oh! hello!" it said. Taking a step forward it revealed its full form. "Wow what a lovely horse."
The unusual creature took another step forward and closed the door behind it and casually walked towards Dr. Whooves, "Say Mr. Horse, you haven't seen a large silver saucer in the sky recently have you?"
Dr. Whooves stared at the creature, saying nothing but studying it with his eyes. "Oh who am I kidding talking to a horse? Like a horse would be interested in a shiny metal thing in the sky."
"Doctor!" Rose called out from the forest. The creature looked around to see if there was anyone else around and with a grin and an elated look on his face, it pointed a finger at itself and asked, "Who, me?"
"Doctor! Where are you?" Rose called out again. At the same time both Dr. Whooves and the creature called out.
"Over here!"
"Over here!"
Both surprised by the other responding to the call, turned towards the other and locked eyes, both tense and ready to respond at an instant to the other. "Well a talking horse, that's new. Not that I already couldn't talk to horses mind you, just when you think you've seen everything the universe still somehow manages to surprise you."
"Just what are you anyways?" asked Dr. Whooves
"Me? I'm a Time Lord." the creature responded.
Dr. Whooves' expression lightened and his muscles relaxed."Wait...did you say Time Lord? As in a lord of time?"
There was a rustling in the nearby brush as Rose emerged. "Ah doctor, there you- Agh! What is that thing!"
"Well it would appear to be a talking..." the Time Lord said, turning his head towards the female voice quickly realizing that it came from Rose "...horse...blimey a world populated by colorful talking equines, I am getting old."
Rose rapidly looked back and forth between Dr, Whooves and the Time Lord, worried for her mentor. "Doctor? Whats going on?"
The Time Lord responded to her question, "Well my TARDIS somehow managed to blast into an alternate dimension again, not quite sure how the old girl managed to pull that off twice, well technically three times now if you count the return trip."
"What?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow, "No I was talking to the doctor" she said with a hoof pointing at the brown stallion.
"What you're also The Doctor? Just what are you a doctor of?" the Time Lord curiously asked.
"Well my name is actually Clockwise Whooves, but I have a doctorate in mechanical engineering, hence the title."
"And you are?" asked the Time Lord with the question directed to Rose.
"I'm Rose, Rose Tiller." she answered
"Hmmmm..." The doctor mumbled to himself "Rose Tiller...Doctor Whooves...The Doctor and his companion Rose. This is far to similar to be a coincidence." the Time Lord pointed his finger at the brown stallion. "You there, Mr. Horse, I'm going to try something and I need you to sit still for a bit, don't worry I'm not going to hurt you."
"What the?" Dr. Whooves jumped back surprised. The Time Lord took off his tan overcoat and red tie and started loosely dressing the brown stallion in the articles of clothing the best he could.
The Time Lord put on a pair of glasses and started examining the now dressed pony. "Hmmmm...you look like rubbish, not even close."
"Oi! If anyone looks like rubbish it would be you! You look like a hairless monkey!" The offended doctor replied.
"Well now that you mention it the two of you do look kind of similar." Rose commented.
The Time Lord reclaimed his clothing from Dr, Whooves and hastily put them on as he continued. "Discovering all the strange things this universe has to offer will never get boring. The thing about cross dimensional travel is that everything is the same but different at the same time, but most dimensions have their own version of the same person."
Dr. Whooves was quick to catch on. "So you're saying you're another version of myself from another dimension?"
The cross dimensional creature turned towards Rose to say, "Oh he's a bright one, you should keep him."
An embarrassed Rose looked away blushing, "Oh no, I'm just his assistant"
Feeling awkwardness seep in and quickly wanting to change the topic of conversation, Dr. Whooves offered a question, "So you responded when Rose called out doctor, doctor who?"
"Oh how rude of me I almost forgot." Said the creature, turning towards Dr. Whooves and adjusting his tie, "First introduction to a horse, very exciting. I am The Doctor. Just The Doctor, accept no substitutes for I am the one and only!"
"Well we're not horses, we're actually ponies. Why are you called The Doctor? Just what are you a doctor of?" Dr. Whooves asked.
"Very good question, just what am I a doctor of indeed? I like to keep it a surprise and let others figure that one out on their own," The Doctor winked.
An alarm then sounded from the blue box behind him, smoke billowing out of the top once again. "No, no, no, no, noo! The engines are phasing!" The Doctor ran into his box, door closing behind him. Dr. Whooves and Rose now stood alone with a moment to themselves to process what had just happened.
"So what do you think?" the pony doctor asked.
"I think he's a mad man with a box, whoever he is." she replied.
"You know I think I can trust him, I think for all his madness he's telling the truth. I looked into his eyes for what felt like a long time. They looked old...so very old. Even if everything he said is a lie at the very least I can tell he means us no harm"
After a few minutes of sitting in thought The Doctor finally emerged from his box, locking the door behind him, "I didn't know the TARDIS actually had vents, can't believe that worked. Good news is that it started its repair cycle, the bad news is that it'll take a day."
"Vents? Repair cycle? You're not making any sense, why would a box need vents?" Rose asked
"Well it's more than just a box, its also a time machine."
"A time machine? Y-you mean that time travel is actually possible?" asked Dr. Whooves.
"Well of course time travel is possible, we can't have Time Lords without time travel now can we? The universe would be very boring otherwise." The Doctor responded
"Well this is just wonderful! Oh Doctor I've always had this fascination with time for as long as I could remember. If time travel really is possible then my theories have some backing! If you have no where to stay tonight Doctor then I would love to have you stay with me until your box is ready. I have so many questions to ask."
"Well I don't have anywhere else to be, well actually I do but I kind of need my TARDIS to get there so no sense worrying about it. I'll gladly accept you offer, lead the way Mr. Horse."
"It's Dr. Whooves, and if you're ready to leave right now we'd best be off, night will be upon us soon."
Taking that as a cue The Doctor had begun to mount Dr. Whooves like the pony he is, "Allons-y then."
"Umm Doctor? What are you doing?" the confused stallion asked.
"Oh well you see where I'm from people ride, and little girls fantasize about riding, ponies like you." The Doctor retorted.
"Oh get off me!" Dr. Whooves bucked The Doctor off of him, sending him tumbling to the ground.
The Doctor got up brushing the dirt off of himself and said, "Fine, looks like I'm walking then. Don't blame me for not wanting to waste a good horse."
**********************************************
"...and that's why electrons have mass"
"Fascinating." Dr. Whooves replied.
Dr. Whooves, The Doctor, and Rose had emerged from the forest and were on their way to Dr. Whooves' home/workshop on the outskirts of Ponyville. The Doctor had been rambling things that Dr. Whooves had no comprehension of but nonetheless was still interested in what ideas this Doctor could invent.
It was now twilight as the day was quickly turning to night, a bit too quickly for the Doctor. He stopped with alarm, looking up at the sky, signaling the others to stop as well.
"Whats the matter Doctor?" Rose asked.
"How should I know, he's the one that just stopped to stare up at the sky." Dr. Whooves replied.
"Oh this is bad." The Doctor spoke up, "Very very bad. How did I not notice this sooner? Of course I wouldn't notice something like this, me being busy talking to horses and everything."
"Once again Doctor, we're ponies, and what are you going on about? Whats so bad about the sky?" asked Dr. Whooves
"Oh nothing at all, your sky is lovely actually. What's bad isn't with the sky but with the the celestial bodies. I can feel that your sun and moon aren't orbiting naturally, there's some kind of energy that's pulling them through space against their natural orbits! That requires immense energy, and whatever is doing this must be very powerful. I'm very sorry but your whole world is in danger, whatever is controlling your sun and moon can't be doing it for your good."
Dr. Whooves and Rose both stared at The Doctor with an eyebrow raised then both laughed at the mad man in front of them.
"What? Did I say something funny?" The Doctor asked confused.
"Oh yes Doctor, very funny indeed." Dr. Whooves stated, the first to compose himself, "You must be talking about the royal sisters Princess Celestia and Luna. They raise and lower the sun and moon each day and night, they're the rulers of Equestria actually."
"Oh...so they're not evil?" asked The Doctor
"Of course not, why would they be?" Rose giggled, her laughter finally dieing down.
"Well...how do they pull the sun and moon? You don't exactly look like a technologically advanced society."
"With their unicorn powers of course!" Dr, Whooves stated matter-of-factly.
"You have unicorns?" asked The Doctor, now with his hand brought up to his chin in thought.
"And pegasi, but the princess sisters are actually alicorn godesses. They possess all the strength and magic of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns combined." Dr. Whooves answerd.
"And they use unicorn magic? Well I don't believe in magic, but oh that is brilliant! Unicorns in your world must have evolved in a way that utilizes their horns as an energy transductor! You said that your rulers possessed the magic of other types of ponies too right? Tell me, what kind of magic do they possess."
"Well pegasi are able to walk on and manipulate clouds, I'm not quite sure what kind of magic earth ponies have though, never thought about it that much."
The Doctor pulled out a silver rod with a blue end from one of his pockets.
"You mind?" The Doctor asked, and used it to scan Dr. Whooves before he even had a chance to reply or ask what that device was. It produced a humming, buzzing, and whistling noise all at once that was alien to him yet somehow familiar.
Now finished with his scan, The Doctor looked closely at his screwdriver to analyze the results. "Well at least now I know you're not made of marshmallows or dark matter. I don't know about magic but it looks like your whole body can act as a very weak energy transductor. Not much you can do with that, but I imagine it can serve some purpose if focused and specialized"
Dr. Whooves, now officially confused at the mad Doctor's ramblings said "Energy transductors? That's a funny way of saying magic."
"Yes, yes of course it's magic. Magic winged unicorns that magically move the sun and moon through space. The magic man with the magic box that's bigger on the inside that magically travels through time and space. The whole of creation seems to run on magic doesn't it?" The Doctor ranted, now content to play along with their beliefs.
Dr. Whooves raised an eyebrow at the Doctor "Well of course everything runs on magic, what else would it run on?"
"Well if both of you are finished can we get going please? It's dark and cold and I would rather be inside" Rose spoke up. They had continued walking soon after The Doctor stopped them and they had now now reached their destination: 'Clockworks', Dr. Whooves' workshop.
**********************************************
The trio weere in Dr. Whooves' workshop which also doubled as his home. Most of the specialize shops in Ponyville where individually or family owned businesses run by artisans of their trade. As such most of those shops also housed their owners and apprentices. In the case of Dr. Whooves his workshop where he tinkered with various creations and negotiated with clients made up the first floor and basement. The second floor was where he and his ivory colored assistant called home.
The Doctor was sitting in an armchair facing Dr. Whooves who was lounging on a fancy looking couch. They where waiting on Rose who was in the kitchen preparing tea for the two doctors. The Doctor found it interesting that in a world populated by equines most of their furniture appeared to have been made for humans and wondered how these things could be made without the use of hands.The two doctors looked at each other in near silence, the only sounds being that of a nearby fireplace- the crackling and popping somehow soothing in its own way. Dr. Whooves had been gazing into the ancient eyes before him while gathering his thoughts.
"Doctor as I have said earlier I've always had a fascination with time. Some might think it a bit clichéd considering that myself and both my parents where clock makers, but the truth remains. In fact in a way it was to be expected, the Whooves family always had a tendency to produce individuals whose talents related to time in one way or another. Take my twin brother Leroy for example. He's always been somewhat hardheaded and somehow managed to find the most time saving albeit dangerous ways to get things done. His reckless nature inspired him to become a dare devil flyer and his fans for some reason started calling him 'Leroy Whoovekins'. He told me it was because of his catch phase 'lets do this' but I could never made any sense to me. You know he actually has the same cutie mark for me, though I'd like to think for entirely different reasons."
The Doctor who had been politely listening to the story interjected with a raised finger and an uncertain look, "Cutie what now? You mean that tattoo on your bum? I've been meaning to ask about that."
Dr. Whooves chuckled at The Doctor's description, "Well that's certainly colorful way of describing it, but you are correct. One magically gains their cutie mark when they discover their special talent."
"A physical manifestation of ones identity brought on by a burst of energy fueled by the euphoria of self discovery. Very interesting.." The Doctor mumbled to himself.
"Anyways I've been rambling and seem to have gotten off track. If I may continue?"
The Doctor gestured to him that he indeed may, eager to hear what ideas he had conjured.
"Very well. As you can imagine, my interests have lead me to think of the matter of time a great deal and develop a few theories based on whether or not traveling backwards through time is possible. My first theory is the boring one, if time travel is impossible. Assuming this is true then time would just be a linear progression of events, destined to always play out the same way because of the exact same variables effecting everything the same way. This could easily be represented by a straight line correct?"
"Yes, a single line going from point A to point B, only able to go in one direction.", The Doctor nodded to the conclusion.
"My second theory is if time travel is in fact possible and is actively taking place. Assuming this is true, then it provides the oprotunity for any event to be influenced differently by an infinite dumber of variables introduced by an infinite number of people or things traveling through time to said event. If my first theory is represented by a single line going in one direction, then this theory would be represented by an infinite number of lines going in every direction to effectively make a sphere of possible outcomes. For any given timeline point A would be the start of an event in the center of the sphere and the outcome, point B, can be anywhere within the space of the sphere, making a 'current' timeline within the sphere. However, because any event can in theory be influenced by outside forces via time travel an infinite number of times the 'current' timeline is always changing and evolving as the different influences appear. Now tell me Doctor, if you really have a time machine you should be much more knowledgeable than I. What do you think of my theory?"
The Doctor had always been impressed by the creativity and ingenuity of simpler beings. Those considered primitive by advanced races where in their own way far more advanced then others could ever hope to be. The Doctor was never able to contain his excitement whenever he discovers more proof of this.
"What do I think?" The Doctor asked, practically leaping from his seat towards Dr. Whooves to give him a great big hug, "I think you're brilliant, absolutely brilliant."
"Uh...thanks?" Dr, Whooves replied, not sure what to think of this sudden outburst of emotion from The Doctor.
The Doctor returned to his seat to continue, "You should be proud of yourself. You're the closest I've ever seen anyone, or anypony in this case, come to the truth. Much better than wibbly-wobbly, however the reality is actually closer to a combination of your two ideas."
"How so?" asked Dr. Whooves, curious as to how time could be linear and spherical at the same time.
"Well it's not really your own fault that you were off. You couldn't have possibly know this but there exist what are called fixed points in time." The Doctor said, gesturing with his hands as he did so, "They are moments in time where the outcome of events must always happen the same way, or the whole of time would unravel. These fixed points aren't completely linear but they are close enough that they can act like string making a mesh that holds time together, If I may borrow your terminology, the fixed points bridge and connect the spheres of possible outcomes like beads of a necklace threaded together with string."
"So time is like a necklace?" asked Rose out of sight of the two doctors. She had finished making tea for them long ago but was too invested in their conversation to interrupt.
"No, time is nothing like a necklace! But if it'll make you feel better, then yes. That's exactly what it's like." The Doctor exclaimed, throwing an arm up in frustration as he finished. The Doctor had looked into the untempered schism as a child, had seen the whole of The Vortex and in a single moment he had comprehended all of time and space. There was no combination of words or ideas in existence that could even come close to describing it, but The Doctor still loved to see people try.
"At any rate this has been a very eventful evening and as left me with many things to think about. Thank you for your input Doctor." said Dr. Whooves, "As for tonight I'll have to sleep on these new insights. Unfortunately I don't have anyplace suitable for you to sleep tonight Doctor,"
"Oh that's all right" The Doctor said, jumping out of his seat, "I don't really sleep anyways, too much to see, not enough time."
"Really now?" a surprised Dr. Whooves replied, "I shouldn't be surprised, I should expect anything from you by now Doctor. Well if this is really the case I have an excellent private library that's sure yo keep you entertained through the night. It's selection is second only to the Ponyville Library."
"Very good then, allons-y." The Doctor said with a grin, nudging his head towards Dr. Whooves telling him to lead on.
**********************************************
sniff sniff
"Do I smell food?" a sleepy Rose mumbled, woken by the pleasant aroma that had creeped its way into her room. She let out several audible groans as she forced herself to lazily climb out of bed. She sleepily stumbled out of her room and towards the kitchen where she had not expected to see the Time Lord cooking for them.
"Ah you're finally awake, come sit with me." Dr. Whooves waved her over, "The Doctor found one of my cookbooks and insisted on cooking breakfast for us."
"Well how could I resist?" said The Doctor as he snatched several ingredients and spices at random to toss into his creation, "I've never had the opportunity to cook for a horse before"
Dr. Whooves chuckled at this, "I should imagine so."
He then turned his head towards his assistant, "Rose could you believe that he read through my whole library in one night?"
"Twice actually, lots of interesting things going on in your world I just had to read everything again." The Doctor interrupted, now finished with the breakfast and holding a plate in each hand, "Like did you know that your world has monkeys but no humans? You lot are in for a treat in a couple million years."
The Doctor placed the food on the table in front of the two ponies, "Which reminds me, you said your a clockmaker?"
"And occasional inventor, yes." Dr. Whooves nodded.
"Mhm, this is really good!" exclaimed Rose who by now was digging into her meal.
"Well that's the thing." continued The Doctor, "every book I found on the subject seems to have been instructed towards unicorns. I'd love to see how you manage to make things with hooves."
"I'd be happy to show you once I finish your wonderful dish."
Dr. Whooves led the trio out of the kitchen and towards his workshop and began telling The Doctor some of his back-story. "You are entirely correct in concluding my trade is intended for unicorns. The 'Clockworks' used to belong to my parents, who where both unicorns, and they had the unfortunate good luck to give birth to an earth pony and pegasus. Unlike my brother, I wanted to carry on my family name even though I wasn't a unicorn. They taught me everything I knew and I decided to studied mechanical engineering in theory. I knew I would never be able to practice what I learned but It didn't matter because I always believed knowledge was its own reward. I was so adamant in my resolve that I eventually earned a PHD in mechanical engineering and decided I could make a living as a professor at the Canterlot University and had done so for many years."
The trio had reached the workshop and where now standing in front of a workbench with a silver pocket watch lying on top. The Doctor noticed it had been gilded interlocking geometric circles that resembled Gallifreyan writing.
Dr. Whooves approached the workbench and on the far right side side on the same level was a hole in the wall large enough for a mouse to fit through. He brought his head next to it and gently said, "Wake up sleepy head."
From the hole emerged an apodemus-an astral mouse. Its body was slightly transparent and appeared to have been made up entirely of the night sky. Constellations of stars dotted its insides, the perspectives shifting as it moved around, and ts inferior half was filled with a slightly illuminated misty brown nebula. The creature looked as if a massive mouse shaped chunk of space was shrunken down to its size and given life. The Doctor had seen references to such astronomical creatures in Dr Whooves' books but was under the impression that they where quite large.
Dr. Whooves extended his arm out to the apodemus allowing it to scamper up his arm and nest within his brown mane. It dug through his mane until it reached the top and popped its head out. "Doctor, meet my companion Yana."
The Doctors expression immediately saddened at the name, "Yana..."
"I found him one summer many years ago when I was staying in Ponyville. I was walking along the edge of the Everfree forest when I found this poor guy half dead, I wasn't sure what to think of it. I thought his kind died out hundreds of years ago, Yana here must be the last apodemus in existence. In the end I decided to take him with me and nurse him back to health. He was so grateful he stuck with me and I found out he was willing to put things together for me with his little hands as long as I point out what goes where. We've been together ever since."
"You are not alone." The Doctor weakly said with sadness and regret washing over him.
The Doctor and the monsters. They say you cannot have one without the other, that the monsters follow him wherever he goes. This time however the only monsters The Doctor found where his own inner demons. He had seen a reflection of himself within Dr. Whooves, of things both wonder and tragic in his life. Now all he saw was a reflection of what could have been- and it was breaking him. The Doctor had been running his whole life from so many things, sometimes he believed that's all he knew how to do.
"Sorry...I have to go. I don't belong here." The Doctor slowly turned to walk away.
"Doctor wait! W-where are you going?" Dr. Whooves motioned for Rose to follow him as Yana jumped off his head to scurry back into his hole.
"Home."
**********************************************
The Doctor walked down the familiar path through the Everfree forest to return to his TARDIS which would have been repaired by now. Dr. Whooves and Rose Tiller where following behind, The Doctor somehow outpacing the ponies.
"Doctor wait up." Rose called out, "What was that all about back there?"
"Trust me, you'd be better off the less you knew." The Doctor replied
"What's your problem?" asked Rose, frustrated with The Doctors change in attitude.
"My problem is that everywhere I go I bring danger and suffering! Everything is peachy keen until I show up and all the monsters come out of their holes. You're lucky that the biggest monster in your happy world is me and the sooner I leave the better off you'll all be."
Rose, at a loss for words, had nothing else to say and just followed The Doctor in silence.
Dr. Whooves being a clever pony noticed that The Doctor's sudden change in attitude started at the mention of Yana and started putting pieces together. "Doctor, there was something about Yana wasn't there? Something that reminded you of something tragic?"
They had reached where the TARDIS had crashed. The Doctor stood in front of his magic box and placed his palm on its wooden surface. "Like I said, you'd be better off the less you knew.", and The Doctor pushed against the door, slowly opening it with a creak.
"Very well Doctor, we all have our demons we'd rather keep to ourselves. But please, before you go I'd like to at least see the inside of your machine." Dr. Whooves asked, content to let The Doctor keep his secrets.
The Doctor let a smile creep across his face as he felt himself returning to his old self. He ran his hand down the frame of the TARDIS door and said, "Well just a look never hurt anyone." and he stepped into the box and left the door open for the two ponies to enter his time machine.
Dr. Whooves now ecstatic turned to Rose, "Come Rose, I would never forgive myself If I went in while you waited out in there."
The two ponies walked into the TARDIS and at once Rose's eyes widened at the realization that the inside was massive, "Its..."
"Bigger on the inside." Dr Whooves finished for Rose. "Doctor you never cease to amaze me."
"And I never cease to be amazing." The Doctor replied. He was at the controls pulling random knobs and levers checking if everything was in order.
"Normally this would be the part where I'd ask you two to go travel through time and space with me but sadly I can't take you with me back to my dimension, the TARDIS wouldn't let me."
"What do you mean it wouldn't let you?" asked Dr. Whooves, "You make it sound like this machine is...alive..."
"Something the matter?" asked Rose.
"What's that whispering? I can hear something calling out to me in my mind." Dr. Whooves answered.
"That would be the TARDIS, it speaks to those its deemed worthy. She called out to me when I first saw her, said we where made for each other. She opened up for me and let me and I took her then and there, I've always planned on returning it but there's no one left to return it to. Tell me doctor, what do you hear her saying?"
"I don't know, it's so quiet and so loud at the same time. It's like my mind is trying to reach out to grab thin air."
The Doctor smiled, "I thought so, the TARDIS was made for a Time Lord's mind. No matter how much of me you have in yourself your mind is just too simple. Still its rather impressive that you could hear anything at all."
"I wish so much I could go with you." Dr. Whooves said, letting a tear fall from his eyes.
"Yeah me too. Well it would be a bit embarrassing traveling around with a pony, not to mention weird."
They heard a ding coming from an egg timer embedded into TARDIS controls.
"Ah well that's my cue, the TARDIS is ready to leave. Sorry but this is where we say goodbye."
"Well I knew this would come eventually, its been a pleasure Doctor." Dr Whooves said, turning to the door and motioning for Rose to follow.
"Ah before you go just one more thing." The Doctor said to the departing Dr. Whooves. He went down to the brown stallion and placed his hands on the sides of his head.
"What are you doing Doctor?" Dr. Whooves asked.
The Doctor had entered the pony's mind, unlocking hidden doors deep in his subconscious and leaving behind bits and pieces of his life so that over time Dr. Whooves can come to truly know him, "Leaving you a gift."
Dr. Whooves understandably confused asked, "Must you always be riddles?"
"Oh it would be too easy if I wasn't." The Doctor answered.
Dr. Whooves looked The Doctor in the eyes one last time and bid him farewell, "Goodbye Doctor."
He and Rose exited the TARDIS and the doors closed behind them. They stood and watched as the same grinding sound from yesterday resonated with the light on top of the TARDIS. It slowly became more and more transparent as it did so and just like that The Doctor was gone.
Edit: I realized after the fact that the "lets do this" pony was actually a different pony from the one that actually had the hourglass cutie mark. I derped.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of the character Doctor Whooves in context within MLP. I tried to characterize The Doctor as best I could but I consider myself to be a shitty writer that just tries too hard, so sorry if the characterization is off.
some of you may have groaned a bit at 'Rose Tiller' but if Wikipedia is correct then the surname 'Tyler' originated from tiler (one who lays down tiles) and from there I came up with the name Tiller (one who tills the ground) so that it would make more sense, see there's method to my hamminess
if balls of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff are to be taken seriously then Dr Whooves' theory on time is what I imagine time being like within the Doctor Who universe
those of you not familiar or not completely familiar with Doctor Who may have been a bit confused at the part with Yana. --SPOILERS-- For those of you who don't know Doctor Yana was the alias used by The Master, another surviving time lord, that The Doctor discovered in the season 3 climax. Basically The Master is psychologically tormented by the never ending beating of war drums. The Doctor wanted to save him from himself and thought that if he could see the universe with The Master then he would be cured of his insanity. But at the same time The Doctor needed The Master as much as The Master needed him because The Doctor could not be complete as long as he knew another Time Lord survived and whose mind was being tormented so. Unfortunately he didn't see it that way and believed he would be nothing more than a pet and allowed himself to be killed, denying The Doctor of the one thing he needed to be able to live with himself destroying his own people.
