Running Out of Time

by CluelessBrony

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, Crossover, Doctor Whooves, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 8233

Somepony is following Dr. Whooves, and he isn't happy about it.

Dr. Whooves is Ponyville's esteemed clockmaker. Well, he's the clockmaker when he isn't busy defeating evil aliens and adventuring through all of time and space. One day, he meets a strange mare in his TARDIS, and she just won't leave. What's the poor Time Lord to do?

Published 2013-01-26 23:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-11 17:21:02 UTC

How did you get in here, anyway?

Doctor Whooves paused to wipe the sweat off his brow. He couldn't afford to mess this up. For all he knew, failing this task would lead to the destruction of the entire town. He slid one last piece in, closed the hatch, and gave a sigh of relief. Possible crisis averted.

"Thank you for fixing my clock, Doctor Whooves." Mayor Mare said. "How much do I owe you?"

"Don' worry abou' it," Doctor Whooves mumbled from behind the disappointingly not-sonic screwdriver he was holding in his mouth. He spit it out and tried again. "Don't worry about it. I couldn't possibly charge anything for the mare that keeps our town running! Think of it as my thanks for doing such a fine job."

Mayor Mare blushed and waved her hoof. "Oh, you flatter me. Thank you, dear." Doctor Whooves just nodded and turned to walk out of the mayor's office. "Have a good day! Be safe!"

The Doctor just smiled. "What's the fun in being safe?"

The Doctor unlocked the door to his house in the woods. Sure, it was a little out of the way, but he liked it that way. Less ponies would notice the weekly card game he held with the king of Adipose-3.

On the outside, the Doctor's house looked well kept, with a garden full of flowers, bright paint, and a well kept lawn. Anypony who walked inside, however, would immediately realize something was wrong. The house was barely furnished, and the furniture that was there looked old and dirty. Dust was collecting in the corners, and cobwebs hung from the ceiling.

The Doctor didn't mind, however. He didn't spend any time in the house anyway. He walked through the dark hallways and dreary rooms of the house until he reached a trapdoor in the floor. He opened it up and looked down into the darkness of the cellar. The only thing that could be seen was a blue light. He descended the ladder into the dusty basement.

The Doctor let out a cough when he reached the bottom. "I really should do something about all this dust..." he muttered, looking around the basement. He raised his tie to his muzzle, using it as a crude gas mask. "All better!"

The stallion made his way to the back of the basement, where a large blue box was standing. He smiled as he rubbed the ship's wooden exterior. "Hello, sexy. I'm home."

The smile on his face dropped as he noticed that something was wrong. The door to the TARDIS was slightly ajar. "Did I forget to close you? No, I never forget to close you. How could I forget something so important? Okay, I once did forget to pick up the queen of Neighngland like I promised, but that was one time and I'm going off on a tangent now, aren't I? Hush, me, this is important! Now to find out what's going on..."

The Doctor pushed open the door to the TARDIS and wearily stepped inside. Quickly, he used his mouth to retrieve his sonic screwdriver from the hidden pocket in his collar. "Whoever's in here, show yourself!" he shouted, almost dropping his screwdriver.

The inside of the TARDIS looked untouched and pristine, in just the condition he left it in. There was no sign of any intruders, and after scanning the area with his sonic screwdriver, he deduced the that he was alone in the TARDIS. "I'd better go check in the house..." he muttered.

He turned, only to quickly stop when he bumped muzzles with a grey pegasus mare whose eyes stared in two directions. "Hi, Doctor Whooves!" she said. "I've got a package for you!"

The Doctor jumped back, letting out a rather feminine scream. "How did you get in here?" He questioned. "The door was locked!"

The mare put her hoof up to her chin. "Really? Because I just flew in. Anyway, I have a package for you, Doctor! Here!" she said, thrusting the package in the Doctor's direction.

The Doctor took the package. "Oh, good, it's those parts I ordered. But, um, why exactly were you in here in the first place?" he asked. "I'm no expert on mail delivery, well, okay, actually I am, I took a course once, but... What was I saying again? Oh yeah! Aren't you supposed to knock on the door when you have a package to deliver, not break in?"

"Well, I did, Duh!" The mare said. "But nobody answered, so I opened the door! I'm Ditzy Doo by the way, but everypony just calls me Derpy!"

Derpy flapped her wings and hovered into the TARDIS, looking around. "Wooah..." she muttered.

The Doctor grabbed for her, but missed. "Oi! Get out of there! I didn't say you could... ah, whatever..."

Derpy flew out of the TARDIS and circled it a few times, and awed look on her face. The Doctor smiled. "Go on, say it. Everypony does."

"It's... it's... it's smaller on the outside!"

The Doctor's smile fell off his face. "That's... that's not what they usually say."

Derpy continued to fly about the TARDIS, oblivious to the Doctor's reaction. "This is the coolest outhouse I've ever seen!" she cried. The Doctor just facehooved.

"It's not an outhouse, actually, it's a time machine. And a space machine. A time and space machine! The best in the universe. Maybe other universes, too, but I can't know for sure. I've only ever been to one other, and I didn't stay for long." He shuddered at the memory. "If I never see another Cybermare again, it'll be too soon."

Derpy looked down one of the hallways branching off from the interior section of the TARDIS. "Does it have a toilet?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Of course it does! I wouldn't be able to live in it if it didn't have a toilet somewhere in it!"

"So it is an outhouse! A magic outhouse!"

"No!" the Doctor shouted. "It is not an outhouse! It's a TARDIS! It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space! It's a time machine!"

"But what if the T stood for Toilet?"

"It doesn't stand for toilet."

"Oh... does this place have muffins?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not at the moment. Would you like to go get some?"

"I think Sugarcube Corner's closed..." Derpy said, a sad look on her face. "I hate when they close. They're the only place in town to get muffins!"

"Well..." the Doctor started. "This is a time machine."

The Time Lord trotted over to the TARDIS console and pulled a lever. "I hear there's a really good bakery on New Equestria. How about we go to the grand opening and snag a few of their famous iceberry-spacedust muffins?"

"Wow! Thanks Doctor!"

So the two got into the TARDIS, and after a brief mishap with Derpy and the TARDIS controls, they were off on their first adventure!

The Empty City, Part One

Author's Note

The TARDIS in this story looks like Nine's and Ten's TARDIS. No real reason for that other than that it looks cool. I don't care what some of the other Doctors say, I like the Coral setting!

The Empty City, Part One

"So let me get this straight..."

Derpy was hovering back and forth in the large main chamber of the TARDIS, her hoof on her chin and a thoughtful look on her face.

"You have a magic outhouse..."

The Doctor sighed from behind the sonic screwdriver he was using to inspect the lock on the TARDIS' door.

"That can travel through time and space?"

The Doctor looked up from his work on the door. "For the third time, Derpy, yes! You've seen it in action! Now do you want to travel with me or not?"

Derpy had, indeed, seen it in action. After she had stumbled into the TARDIS the day before, the she and the Doctor has traveled to New Equestria to attend the grand opening of New Sugarcube Corner, run by none other than the great-great-great-great-great (etc.) grandchildren of Ponyville's own Mr. and Mrs. Cake. When they had returned, the Doctor has tentatively extended an offer for Derpy to join him in the TARDIS.

He wasn't sure why he had offered. She definitely wouldn't make the best traveling companion he had ever had. She was clumsy and absentminded, and the universe could be a dangerous place. There was just something about her that he couldn't place a hoof on.

"Sure! Ohh, where are we going next, Doctor?"

The Doctor stopped scanning the door with his screwdriver and checked the results. Again, they were disappointing.

"Absolutely nothing! How can there be absolutely nothing wrong with this door?" the Doctor thought. "Nothing can get into the TARDIS, it's the most secure place in the universe!"

The Doctor put the sonic screwdriver back in his collar with a sigh. This was another thing that had influenced the Doctor's decision to invite Derpy to travel with him. Anypony who could simply walk into the TARDIS would need to be watched carefully. Either they were very dangerous and resourceful, and he had to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't start any trouble, or...

"Doctor!"

The Doctor flinched, surprised out of his musings by the grey pegasus who was on his mind. "I'm sorry, Derpy, my mind tends to wander after that incident on Curunir... now that I think about it, I never did get those brain cells back, did I?"

Derpy giggled. "So where are are we going next?"

The Doctor smiled. This was one of his favourite parts.

"Anywhere you want, my dear!"

The Doctor sighed again and facehoofed. "No, Derpy, think bigger."

The mare in question hummed thoughtfully. "Okay, if you won't take me to Cloudsdale, then how about..."

The Doctor braced himself for another less-than-exotic destination request from Derpy. For the past ten minutes, she had been suggesting every city in Equestria she could think of, from Cloudsdale to Hoofington. She didn't seem to understand the concept of 'time-and-space travel', no matter how much the Doctor explained.

"The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, before Nightmare Moon!"

"Derpy, think bigge- wait, what did you say? Hmm, that actually sounds quite interesting..."

The Doctor jumped up and ran to the console that dominated the center of the room. "Ah, the first capital of Equestria! Built from the ground up by the magic of Celestia and Luna! I haven't been there... well, since it was built! I hope I'm not still wanted..."

Derpy followed the Doctor to the console and watched as he started pressing seemingly-random buttons and pulling levers. "Wanted? Why, what did you do?"

"After a string of misunderstandings, they thought I was Discord in disguise," the Doctor explained. "To this day, I still don't know how that banana grew legs and assaulted the princess."

The large column in the center of the console started oscillating back and forth, and the familiar whooshing sound the ship emanated around them. The ground started to shake, and Derpy had to jump up and hover in order to not be thrown around.

After a few moments, the movement stopped and silence fell over the ship. The two made their way to the door, and the Doctor stopped Derpy before she went any further.

"Before we head out there, there are a few rules you'll need to follow," he said, a serious look on his face. Derpy nodded. "First, no interrupting established events. Time has ways to fix itself, but I'd rather not ruin the future or create a paradox. Second, if you see either yourself or me out there, do not speak to yourself! Keep your head down and try not to be noticed."

Derpy scratched her head, a confused look in her already confused-looking eyes. "Why would I see myself out there? I'm not even born yet!"

"Perhaps in our future travels, we'll return here. Maybe something timey-wimey goes wrong." The Doctor shrugged. "It's not likely to happen, but it's a possibility. Now! Are you ready?"

Derpy nodded, eager to see the past with her own eyes.

"The first capital of Equestria! The castle of the Royal Pony sisters! One of the happiest time in Equestria's history!" The Doctor went up to the door and placed his hoof on it. "I present to you..."

The door swung open.

"...the past!"

Derpy flew out of the TARDIS with an excited squeal and the Doctor followed.

In front of them, the tall castle rose into the sky. Banners and flags flapped in the wind, and the central spire of the castle was elegantly framed by the sun placed perfectly behind it, almost as if it were placed there solely for the effect.

Derpy looked up in amazement, entranced by the sight. The Doctor, however, was inspecting other things. Behind them, what should have been a bustling marketplace in the center of the city was empty. No vendors were selling produce from their stalls. No foals were playing in the street, being watched over by their parent sitting in the shade of the grey-stone buildings.

"Derpy..."

"It's beautiful!" Derpy exclaimed. "Thank you so much for bringing me here!"

"Derpy, come here, please."

"Oh, it's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!"

"Derpy!"

Derpy turned around and hovered over to the Doctor's side. "You didn't have to shout..." she grumbled.

The Doctor ignored her. "There's something wrong. This market should be bustling with activity."

Derpy looked around, surveying the empty city streets. "Maybe it's a holiday?" she suggested, scratching the back of her head.

"It shouldn't be, not today. Besides, even if it were, there would still be some ponies out and about. It's absolutely deserted..."

The Doctor turned towards Derpy. "I think we should investi-"

His sentence was cut short when he turned around.

Derpy was gone.

The Empty City, Part Two

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

The Empty City, Part Three

"Who are you?"

It was a simple question, really, but not one with a simple answer.

"I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to help."

The two princesses looked at each other skeptically. "How are you still here?" Celestia asked. "Every other pony we've seen enter the city has disappeared."

Luna lowered her horn and got into a combat stance, and her horn started to glow with magic. "If he is not being affected by this foul magic, he must be the perpetrator!"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and looked up, noticing his lack of a horn. "Oh yes, you've got me! This completely magic-less Earth Pony has cast a spell large enough to foalnap every single pony in your kingdom! Oh, I surrender to your might, oh grand princess of the night."

Luna glared, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"How is it that you are still here, 'Doctor'?" Celestia asked, a hint of suspicion evident in her voice. It didn't put off the Doctor, however.

"I don't know! Let me tell you, I hate not knowing. Now, what do you know about the disappearances?"

Celestia's suspicious look remained. "Everypony disappeared."

The Doctor stared at her, his expression blank. "...That's it?" he asked. "You don't know anything else about it?"

Celestia shook her head with a sigh. "The day started out normally. I woke up and rose the sun. The market was busy, the castle was staffed, and everypony seemed happy. At first I believed it to be the work of Discord-" Celestia abruptly silenced herself.

"Oh, don't worry princess, I know all about Discord. Do go on," the Doctor said with a wave of his hoof. The princess looked down at him, more suspicious now than ever.

"Oh, that's not public information yet, is it? Drat, I'm horrible with this type of stuff. It's like that time I told the king of Raxacoricofallapatorius about his daughter's pregnancy. Haha, that was a fun day!"

"Raxaco-what now?" Luna asked.

"Oh, doesn't matter. So, do continue, your majesty!"

Celestia cleared her throat. "Well, I checked on Discord, and he's still trapped in stone. I have no idea what or who could have caused this to happen." Celestia looked down in sadness. "If you are truly here to help, 'Doctor'... please. We're out of options."

The Doctor nodded. "Alright! I can help. We need to brainstorm. I'll start!" The Doctor started to pace, a thoughtful look on his face. "We know they were teleported somehow. You would have noticed something creeping through the streets and taking ponies, right? That means teleportation!

"It couldn't have been magical teleportation either, because neither of you felt anything. You're the near-immortal rulers of Equestria, you'd be able to feel such a large spell being cast!"

"If it wasn't magic, then how did they get taken?" Princess Luna interjected, only to be ignored by the rambling brown colt.

"Which means it was artificial teleportation! Was it a transmat beam? Perhaps all the taken ponies had something that acted as a beacon for a teleportation device somewhere. Princesses! When they disappeared, was there any light or other strange phenomena?"

"Yes," Celestia answered. "They were ensnared by a silvery mist for a few seconds before disappearing. I grabbed a hold of my servant before it happened and tried to disrupt the spell, but it had no effect."

"You touched one of the ponies as they were being taken? Brilliant! Which hoof did you use?"

The princess tentatively her right hoof off the ground. "Why does this matter?" she asked, only to be taken aback as the Doctor licked her hoof. She pulled back quickly. "What in the world are you doing?!"

The Doctor put his hoof on his chin for a few moments, before his face brightened. "That tastes like an Eldathi transmat beam! Quickly, come with me! We need to get to the spot my assistant was taken before the remnants become too stale to track!" With that, the Doctor rushed out of the hall and pulled his sonic screwdriver out of its pocket.

The princesses hesitated. Were they really going to follow this obviously insane stallion into what could possibly be a trap?

"Wait for us!"

Derpy sat staring wide eyed at the console before her. It was a large thing, full of buttons, knobs, levers, and wheels. The device would be quite confusing if each button were not conveniently labeled in perfect Equish. Each button had a label above it, telling its exact purpose.

That was the thing that surprised Derpy. Why would an alien spaceship label everything in Equish? Not one to complain about a good thing, she looked over the buttons, looking for one that would help her. After a moment, she found a section of buttons conveniently labeled "Comm Systems". Derpy smiled. Just what she needed!

She used her hoof to flick a button labeled "Distress Signal" before pulling a lever labeled "All frequencies". She had no idea what the second one meant, but she felt like it would be helpful.

She continued to press more buttons until she felt something cold and hard on the back of her head.

"And what do you think you're doing, little pony?"

The Doctor ran back to the spot Derpy was taken as quick as his hooves could take him. "Come along, princesses! We're almost there!" he shouted over his shoulder.

We need to hurry, he thought, we don't have long before the remnants of the transmat beam become too old to track!

The TARDIS and the spot Derpy disappeared quickly came into view, and the Doctor started to wave around his sonic screwdriver, which emitted its signature whirring noise. The princesses, who had quickly caught up to him, looked at the little device in his mouth with confusion.

"What is that?" Luna inquired. "Some sort of weapon to battle whoever is responsible for this?"

"Weapon?" the Doctor asked. "Why would I need a weapon?"

The princess started to answer but was cut off when the Doctor whipped his screwdriver up to his face. "No..." he muttered, his voice soft.

Celestia took a step forward. "Is something wrong?" she asked, a look of concern crossing her features. The Doctor continued looking at his screwdriver in disbelief.

"We... weren't fast enough. The signal's gone."

"Are they gone, Doctor? Can you not save them?" Luna asked, anger bubbling up to the surface. He was our last hope. He cannot have failed!

"I... I don't know what to-"

Beep beep beep

The Doctor was startled by the sound coming from his screwdriver. He brought it up to his face, and the hints of a smile appeared on his face.

"This... This is a distress signal from an Eldathi cruiser! Why would they be broadcasting their position? Was it... Derpy!" The Doctor looked up to the sky. "You clever girl, I could kiss you!" he shouted.

The Doctor turned to the princesses. "Stay here! I'll be back with your citizens in no time at all!" With that, he turned and ran into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him. The princesses tried to follow, bu the door refused to open.

"Where are you going?" Luna shouted. "I thought you said you were going to go save our citizens?" They stopped shouting and fiddling with the door when they heard the strangest noise.

Vworp...

Vworp...

Vworp...

The strange blue box began to fade, and the princesses stared wide eyed. Within moments, the TARDIS was completely gone.

"Why don't you step back from the console and we can talk about this?" Derpy heard a calm voice say from behind her. She gulped, expecting one of those magic energy blast that she had seen destroy an entire console to fly towards her. When it never came, she slowly back up from the console.

"Good girl! Now, because you're obviously smarter than you look, you're a bit dangerous to me and my plans. So let's step back into the lab and I'll dissect you first. Sound good?"

Derpy didn't answer. She was too distracted by the familiar noise that she had just noticed. "Well, aren't you a rude one. Not even going to... answer... me..." The voice trailed off when he heard the noise as well.

The device was jabbed painfully into the back of Derpy's head. "What is that? What did you do?" asked the bug-man, the calm in his voice starting to crack.

"Oh, hello there!" a cheery, accented voice called from behind the bug-man, who turned and pointed his weapon at the newcomer. This gave Derpy an opportunity to fly off to the ceiling and towards the blue box that now dominated the center of the room.

The Doctor stood by it, leaning on the side of the TARDIS. "So, what's an Eldathi like you doing all the way out here, hmm?" he asked. "Well, no, don't answer that. I know enough about you that I can probably guess."

The Doctor started pacing up and down. "You Eldathi are constantly at war with your neighbours on the planet Drazub IX, correct? I'm assuming you coming out here has something to do with the war effort. But what could it be that you would need live Equestrian specimens? Something that the Equestrians have, but you don't. When you consider how advanced you are, that can only be one thing- magic!"

Derpy cut in before the Doctor could continue his deductions. "Doctor, he's got unicorns in vats of stuff!"

The Doctor nodded. "And that confirms my suspicions. Thank you, Derpy." He turned back to the Eldathi, who was still pointing his weapon at the Doctor. "So you've been foalnapping ponies to try and find a way to use their magic for your own ends..." He shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

The Eldathi made a light chittering noise that Derpy took as laughing. "Oh, and who do you think you are to stop me?" he asked.

Without warning, the Doctor smoothly took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it to the weapon in the Eldathi's hand. A shower of sparks erupted from the device, and the Eldathi dropped it in shock and pain. The Doctor ran past the Eldathi while he was distracted, sliding between his long legs and making his way to the console.

The Eldathi turn to face the Doctor, but the brown colt had already pressed all the buttons he could.

"Who am I to stop you?" The Doctor said, a dark look crossing his features. "I'm the one the shadows fear. Thousands of races across the galaxy tremble at my name!" He turned around and pulled a lever, which caused the entire ship to quake. "I'm the saviour of galaxies! The oncoming storm!"

He turned back to face the Eldathi.

"I'm the Doctor, and I'm the one who's going to save all the ponies you've stolen."

The Eldathi backed away, sensing the darkness that had crept into the Doctor's voice. "What are you doing?!" he shouted.

"That's the problem with these one-man cruisers. All the controls for the whole ship are clustered in place. They're so simple to sabotage."

"What did you do to my ship?! Answer me!"

"Oh, well, first I sent all the Equestrians back home by reversing the polarity of the transmat beam. It was pretty simple stuff, really, could have done that when I was just a foal. When I was done with that, I tripled the output of the on-board generators and rerouted all of their power to the ship's shielding system. I estimate we have about..." the Doctor looked up in thought. "Thirty seconds before the shields implode, destroying this ship in the process."

The Eldathi started to move for the console, but the Doctor pointed his screwdriver at it first. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you. If I press this button, the entire system will lock in place and become irreversible! Give up, Eldathi. I'm giving you one chance for redemption." The colt's eyes softened. "Please, take it."

The Eldathi screamed in rage before charging at the Doctor, who pressed the button on the sonic screwdriver and locked the whole system in place. He jumped out of the way right before the Eldathi would have impacted him and made a break for the TARDIS.

"Derpy, get in, now!"

The pegasus nodded and quickly entered the TARDIS, the Doctor close behind. The doors of the TARDIS closed and the Doctor ran to the console and pressed a few buttons.

With a whooshing noise, they left the ship. Moments later, the entire ship was crushed by its own shield system, sending debris flying across the vast expanse of space.

Back at the castle

The princesses watched as the townsponies reappeared in front of their eyes. The townponies all stood up and looked around. Each and every one of them was sent back to the exact spot they had disappeared from. They all looked around in confusion, asking each other questions such as "What happened?"

The princesses let out a sigh of relief. Celestia turned to Luna.

"I don't know what happened, but I feel we owe this 'Doctor' our thanks."

Back in Ponyville, present day

The TARDIS rematerialized in the Doctor's dusty basement. It had been three hours since they had left, and nothing had changed. The door opened and a tan stallion and grey mare stepped out. The mare had a goofy grin on her face, but the Doctor had a more somber look.

"Hey Doctor, that was great! You saved the day!"

The Doctor let out a chuckle at that. "Well, nothing new there! Of course, I couldn't have done it without you. You're the one who managed to tell me where you were, after all." He looked at her with a small grin. "You're the one who saved all those ponies, Derpy. You're a hero. Don't ever forget that."

Derpy blushed before hovering in the air and turning away. Meanwhile, the Doctor looked away with a smile.

Maybe I was wrong about her...

After all, there were only two ways somepony could have gotten into the TARDIS without a key. They could be malicious invaders with time lord technology...

The Doctor looked at the still-blushing grey mare beside him.

...or perhaps the TARDIS had let her in for a reason.

Author's Note

And that's the end of the first story arc! Derpy's first taste of adventure with the Doctor. How will she handle herself with more timey-wimey shenanigans? Stay tuned to find out!

Jumping at Shadows, Part One

Manehattan, 400 years after the return of Princess Luna

The edge of the water was quickly coming into view, its rushing currents strong enough to sweep even a mighty tiger off its feet. This was no problem for Daring Do, however. Even though the great adventurer had a sprained wing, a simple river wasn't enough to stop her!

When she reached the riverbank, the daring adventurer jumped up with all her might and reached for one of the low-hanging vines typical in that region of the forest. She managed to grasp it and swing over to the other side of the river, while Ahuitzotl's bloodthirsty tiger was swept away in the current, screeching in rage.

The small Earth pony mare placed her book down on the coffee table. She looked around and blinked furiously. When had it gotten so dark?

I must have been reading for longer than I thought. I always have loved the classics, after all.

The little yellow mare stood up on wobbly legs, sore from lying down on the couch for so long. With a yawn and a stretch, she decided it was about time for bed. Carefully making her way around in the dark, she felt around for the staircase which led up to the second floor of her suburban home.

Step by step, she made her way up the stairs, careful not to trip in the all-encompassing darkness.

Shoot, I forgot to put Sparky to bed. I'd better check to see how he's doing, she thought. How could I be so irresponsible? Mom's going to kill me!

She was so busy berating herself that she didn't notice the clock on the wall.

4:34 PM.

Ponyville, 400 years earlier

Doctor Whooves pushed the broken part of the clock he was fixing back into place. With a small clicking noise, the clock started up again. He finished up and closed up the clock, hiding its intricate, delicate inner workings from the world.

"I really have no idea why your clocks keep breaking, Mayor Mare," the Doctor explained to the pony standing behind him. "It's almost as if somepony has been breaking them on purpose."

The mayor waved a hoof and blushed. "Oh, how strange," she muttered, avoiding looking at the Doctor. "I wonder who could be doing that?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I have no idea," he lied before bidding the mare goodbye and leaving town hall. It was a bright day out- springtime had just sprung, the birds were back from the south, and only a few lazy clouds hung in the sky. It was an ideal day for any pony in Ponyville.

This place can be so boring, the Doctor thought.

Just as he thought that, he heard a commotion coming from the marketplace. The colt grinned and turned in the direction of the noise. Perhaps the day wouldn't be so uneventful after all?

The Doctor galloped towards the market, swerving in an out of the paths of the ponies frantically running in the other direction. When he arrived at the scene of the commotion, the entire market square was a mess.

The stalls were burned to a crisp. The road was muddy and wet, and debris was littered all over. Hovering above it all, holding a storm cloud in her hooves, was Derpy.

"Uh... oops?"

Manehattan

The little yellow mare silently trotted up to her little brother's room. She had been irresponsible enough to lose track of time, and now it was her duty to put Sparky to bed.

The door was slightly ajar when she got there. Pushing it open with a hoof, she poked her head in. The room was a mess, with toys strewn all across the floor and over Sparky's racecar bed. The dresser drawers were all open, and what little clothes her brother owned were lying all over the floor. The closet on the far side of the room was open.

The mare sighed. She never could get Sparky to clean his room, but this was just ridiculous. She stepped inside, intent on giving her little brother a stern talking to before putting him in bed.

"Sparky!" she called out, trying to get her brother's attention. When she got no response, she tried again. "Sparky, where are you?"

She turned around, surveying the room. She walked around, searching behind every object that could be used as a hiding spot. "Sparky, this is not the time for hide and seek!" she called out. She ducked, intent on checking underneath the bed. No sign of him.

She started to worry. "Sparky, where are you?" she called out, a hint of fear crawling into her voice. Before she could call out again, she felt something strange.

She stood up, but quickly squinted her eyes. "I- What?" she sputtered, noticing the now-bright room. Sunlight streamed through the windows as though it wasn't the middle of the night. She whipped her head around to look at the clock and gasped.

How is it four forty in the afternoon?! It was nighttime just a few seconds ago! she thought, not knowing how to process this new information. She frantically started looking around, now more worried than ever.

BANG!

She jumped up and turned. The now-closed closet doors sat behind her, a menacing aura around them. She slowly made her way towards them and put forward a trembling hoof towards the handle. Almost... almost...

She opened the doors and jumped back, expecting some horrible monster to pounce out of the closet as soon as she opened it. What she saw, however, was much more surprising.

The closet was completely normal. The creepy feeling she got from it, the darkness, and her fear had all disappeared.

But so had her brother.

Ponyville, 400 years earlier

The Doctor and Derpy stepped into the TARDIS, grinning.

"How did you manage to both set fire to and flood the market at the same time?" the Doctor asked, laughing.

Derpy just giggled. "I have no idea what went wrong!" she explained. "I don't think anypony around here wants to see me for a while after that, though. Let's go on an adventure!"

The Doctor made his way to the console that dominated the center of the room. "They don't want to see you for a while, you say? Well then, let's do that. Do you think four hundred years is enough time for them to cool off?"

The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS began to shake. Derpy grabbed on to one of the guardrails for support, and the Doctor fell to the floor. When the ship finally settled down, they both stood back up on wobbly legs, eager to see the future of Ponyville.

They both rushed towards the door out of the TARDIS. Derpy gasped at the sight in front of her, but the Doctor had a confused look on his face. "This isn't Ponyville," he muttered.

They found themselves and the TARDIS in a dirty alleyway, overflowing trash cans on either side of them. Looking out further, tall glass buildings could be seen piercing the sky. Large metal boxes that Derpy couldn't identify practically flew by on the road that could be seen from the alley, and ponies walked along the sidewalks chatting to each other. It was quite a sight to see.

"If this isn't Ponyville, then where is it, Doctor?" she inquired, not recognizing her surroundings.

The Doctor trotted up to one of the grimy brick walls that flanked them on either side. He eyed it suspiciously for a few moments, before moving closer and giving it a long lick. He recoiled at the taste and shuddered. "Eugh! This is definitely Manehattan. I'd recognize this particular blend of dirt and grime anywhere."

The Doctor put a hoof to his chin, thinking. "But why are we here instead of Ponyville?" he wondered aloud. "I definitely put in the coordinates for Ponyville. Did they move Ponyville? No, they don't move Ponyville for another five hundred years..."

As the Doctor continued his babbling, Derpy grabbed his forearm and led him out to the sidewalk. The streets were bustling with ponies and those strange metal boxes. "Come on, Doctor, let's go explore!"

The Doctor stopped his muttering and looked up. "Oh? Oh! Of course, Derpy, that's what we're here for!'

The two made their way up the sidewalk, Derpy looking around eagerly. There were so many new things she had never seen before! Ponies walked around, speaking into little plastic boxes. They sat on benches, waiting to be picked up by more of those large metal machines with wheels. It was astonishing.

"Derpy!"

The mare was snapped out of her reverie when the Doctor waved his hoof in front of her face to get her attention. "Oh, uh, what?" she stammered.

"I asked if you wanted to get something to eat? Manehattan is known for its nice restaurants," the Doctor asked. the growling of Derpy's stomach answered for her, and she blushed.

Ahead of them was a small outdoor café. Ponies sat at table, sipping coffee and eating delicious-looking treats. They all looked to be enjoying themselves. All but one.

The Doctor noticed two mares sitting at a small table near the back of the café, a unicorn and a pegasus. The unicorn had her arm around the other and appeared to be comforting her friend.

The Doctor started to make his way to their table before Derpy grabbed his tail. "Doctor! I know you like helping ponies, but you can't just go up to every crying mare you see!" she said through clenched teeth before spitting out his tail.

"Derpy, when you get as old as I am, you learn to tell the difference between tears of sadness and tears of anguish. Something truly horrible happened to that mare, and I plan on helping her."

"How old are you, anyway?" Derpy asked, taking the Doctor by surprise.

Good question. "I don't quite remember. I should probably check sometime, shouldn't I? No matter! Let's go see what we can do!"

The Doctor pulled up a chair at the sobbing mare's table and sat down. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Something bad happened to you recently, am I correct? I can help."

The unicorn mare glared at the Doctor, and the sobbing pegasus looked up. "Oh, I-I-I'm sorry, Doctor, b-but I don't think this is s-something you can help me with. My husband was..." she paused to try and calm her breathing. "...f-f-f-foalnapped!"

"Oh, well, I'm not a doctor of medicine! Well, I am a doctor of medicine but I'm also a doctor of crime! What are those called again?" he asked, pausing to think. "Detectives! That's what I am, I'm a detective!" He pulled out a black case with a blank slip of paper on it and showed it to the two mares, who looked closely at it. "See? Here's my badge, which proves that I am, in fact, a detective."

The unicorn glared even more at the Doctor. "With all due respect, sir, none of your friends have managed to even get a lead on poor Gusty's husband, and we have no reason to think you'll be able to do better. Now please, stop bugging us!"

Gusty put a hoof on her friend's side. "It's alright, Sugar. I'd like to hear what he has to say."

Sugar looked like she was about to protest, but stopped before she could say anything.

"Have you gotten any leads, detective?" Gusty asked the Doctor with hope in her eyes.

"Not yet," the Doctor replied, "but anything you know can help. Please, tell me the whole story!"

Jumping at Shadows, Part Two

Manehattan, 400 years after the return of Princess Luna

Two ponies made their way to the Manehattan Police Department, grim looks on their faces.
"I don't get it. Why are we investigating this?" Derpy asked, a hint of uncertainty evident in her voice. "Isn't this something for the police to handle?"

"Now now, Derpy, if I let the police handle everything that looked less than important, Equestria would still be under the control of the Silence!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"The Silence? What's that?"

"...I can't quite seem to remember. Something bad, I'm sure."

The duo continued to walk, and soon the large shape of the police headquarters came into view. The building was mostly made of brick, with large windows dominating the front side. A sign in front of the building read 'Manehattan Police Headquarters- Each citizen's safety is our top priority!'

The pair made their way through the glass double doors. The inside of the building wasn't much nicer than the outside. Near the back of the large reception area was a long desk staffed by many tired looking ponies. The building was packed full of ponies, many of them wearing reporter hats and many more with sad looks on their faces.

The Doctor pushed his way through the crowd to get to the front desk, Derpy hovering above them with ease. When he made it to the desk, he waved a hoof to get on of the receptionist's attention. "Hello, I'm the Doctor! The princess sent me to help out around here, so if you could point me in the direction of whoever's in charge he, that'd be great," the brown colt said.

The receptionist looked at the Doctor and Derpy skeptically. "Can I see a badge, sir?" he finally asked after a few moments of silence. The Doctor merely nodded and pulled out that strange black case again, showing it to the receptionist, who nodded.

"You're going to want to speak to Sergeant Case. Take the stairs to your left," the receptionist said, pointing to the stairs in question.

The Doctor and Derpy made their way there. "What's that piece of paper you keep showing everypony?" Derpy asked.

"Oh, this?" the Doctor said, showing her the black case again. "Psychic paper. Shows them what I want them to see," he explained. "You've got to be careful with it, though. Sometimes it'll show things you don't really want to be shown. I'm not allowed on the planet of New Triton anymore," he admitted, sheepish.

They made their way up the tall staircase to the less-crowded level of the police station, where ponies in police hats and wearing badges on their saddlebags walked to and fro, a jumble of activity.

“Now, where would we find Sergeant Case?” the Doctor mused to himself, rubbing his chin. “A sergeant is a fairly high-ranking official... now where do we find high-ranking ponies? Aha!” He grabbed a pony as they were passing by, causing them to drop the stack of folders they were holding. The pony glared.

"Oh, terribly sorry about that!" the Doctor exclaimed, hastily picking up the folders and giving them back to their owner. "See, I was just looking for Sergeant Case. You wouldn't happen to know where the throne room is, do you?" Derpy giggled beside him.

The mare shot him a skeptical look. "Are you allowed to be up here?" she asked, advancing on him a bit. The doctor nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yes, of course I am, see!" he responded, pulling out the psychic paper once again. "Official inspector for the princesses," he said. "I was sent here to speak with Sergeant Case about the recent disappearances, so if you could just point me in the direction of his throne..."

The mare sighed and facehoofed, clearly frustrated. "Sir, that's a coupon to Cheesy Crust's pizzeria down the street, not a royal inspector's badge." On cue, the Doctor's stomach grumbled.

"We never did get lunch..." Derpy muttered. The Doctor stepped back from the policemare with a laugh.

"Heh heh heh... we'll show ourselves out, then. Come along, Derpy!"

"That didn't work out very well," Derpy forlornly observed. "I told you we should have stopped for lunch on the way here."

"Evil never stops for lunch!" the Doctor scoffed, "and neither do I!"

"...Then what do we do when we get hungry?" Derpy asked as the Doctor started to observe the building.

"So there are two windows on the ground floor... but those will be locked. So we should enter through the top-floor windows!"

"Doctor?"

"No, no... those will be locked too. Damned planet has flying ponies, how silly is that? The sewers!"

"Doctor!"

"We'll swim through the sewers and emerge from the toilets! That's how we'll get in! Wait, is this before or after the Manehattan sewer incident? I don't fancy being bitten by another crocodile..."

"Doctor!" the Doctor felt himself getting pushed in the flank.

"Yes, Derpy?"

"I saw what was on one of those files the nice mare inside dropped. Somepony named Arclight Charge filed a complaint. Maybe it's related?"

The Doctor looked down, saddened. "Well, I was looking forward to breaking and entering, but I suppose it's as good a lead as any." He patted her on the back with a smile. "Good work, Derpy."

Back in the control room of the TARDIS, the pony and the time lord were looking over the records of one Arclight Charge, a small, yellow earth pony mare with a brilliant blue shock of a mane.

"Well, it says here she's twenty years old, a budding electrician, and if her criminal record's anything to go by, she went through a phase in her teenage years where she wasn't too fond of paying for things. She seems like your average mare to me, Derpy."

Derpy flew up to the console, bumping into the Doctor on her way there and knocking him away. She looked at the screen for a few moments and scrunched up her face. "If this machine gets this stuff from the future, why can't we just look at what happened to her after today? Then we'd know if we need to find her or not."

The Doctor shook his head. "Sorry, Derpy, it's not that easy. Information from the future can be misleading. Think about it- if we read what happens to her next and it says everything was fine, we wouldn't go to the trouble of helping her, right?"

Derpy hesitated, then nodded. "Right. Because she wouldn't be in trouble, and wouldn't need our help."

"But what if it only says everything was fine because we stepped in and helped make everything fine?"

Derpy scratched the back of her head. "So... if we didn't check on her, and she was in trouble, it would say something bad happened?"

"Precisely!"

"But... if we didn't check on her, and something bad happened, it would say something bad happened, so... if it said something bad happened, wouldn't we have checked on her and helped her?"

"Yep! Brave heroes, the two of us. We deserve a medal."

"...But if we helped her it would say nothing bad happened... and we... wouldn't help her?" The Doctor nodded.

Derpy sat down and rubbed her head. "This is confusing..."

The Doctor sat beside her and rubbed her back. "Welcome to time travel. Now, let's go avoid a paradox and check up on that filly, shall we?"

Meanwhile, in a small, two-story home in a suburban neighbourhood on the edge of Manehattan, a young mare sat, sobbing into her phone. Her face was streaked with tears, and a half-empty box of tissues lay beside her on the table that sat beside her white couch. The crumpled up remains of tissues were strewn all around her.

"I just... I just don't know where he could be!" she cried into her phone. "I called the police, and they said they'd l-look into it, but they said on the news that other ponies are-g-gone too, and they have no leads!" Arclight pulled another tissue out of the box and blew into it. "I just d-d-don't know what to do! And what will I tell mom when she gets back?"

The voice on the other line said something reassuring, hoping to soothe Arclight's nerves, but to no avail.

Vworp...

Vworp...

Vworp...

"We don't have the money to hire a private investigator, Ruby, and nopony would believe what I saw anyway. What if he's never found? What if- Ruby? Are you there?"

Arclight cut off mid-sentence as the phone line went dead. "What the..." she muttered, putting the phone down. She heard a door open and jumped up, running towards the sound.

"Sparky, is that you?! Sparky?!"

She kicked her front door open, and was greeted with the sight of a large blue box occupying the space a telephone pole had been previously. What was left of the pole was lying across her front lawn, having been pushed out of the ground. Two ponies were surveying the wreckage.

One of them, a stallion, turned to Arclight when he noticed she was there. He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

"Well, uh... it's alright, cell phones will be invented next year, anyway."