The Stranger From The Vortex

Chapter 2

Doctors and nurses moved in and out of every room, hallway, and offices with dozens of patients sitting around in Ponyville Hospital. Hours had gone by since Twilight and Spike arrived with The Maestro. Luckily for them, an unconscious unicorn whose pulse was fading away got the full attention of the hospital staff. Since then, the stranger has been fast asleep in a room that was floors above the lobby where Twilight and Spike were at the very moment it appeared.

VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP *THDDNNKKK!***

The noise had awoken the Maestro from his comatose state.Twilight and Spike rushed outside the hospital and saw the familiar blue box. It was the T.A.R.D.I.S! Its glowing sign that read, “POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX”, the wooden frame that was recently scrubbed down to a shiny blue, and the lantern’s light that slowly faded as the machine came into physical existence. The mystical time machine was hidden behind the hospital sign, but sadly landed in the middle of a [now] crushed flower garden. The doors opened and a pony with a Grayish amber coat, dark amber mane, and pale blue eyes walked out of the box. He was wearing a red bow tie, a white collar, cuffs and golden cuff links. No mistake, it was The Doctor.

“DOCTOR!” Twilight and Spike said in delight of coming across their alien friend.

“Twilight! Spike!” the centuries old Time Lord gleefully said and shut the door. He walked up to his friends, surprised to even see them there, and gave them two warm hugs.

“Where were you? Heck, when were you?” Spike asked, knowing how the time lord could have been anywhere in any time.

“Yeah, you said you’d be back in five minutes, but it’s been 15 hours” Twilight pointed out.

“To answer your question Twilight, that was my bad for spilling a bit of hot melty, delicious, salty butter stick that might of spilled on the T.A.R.D.I.S console.” the Doctor chuckled.

“I swear, you and food. And where is Ditzy? I saw you both leave after we held the party at Sugarcube Corner, is she with you?” Twilight curiously asked, turning her head back to the doors of the time machine.

“Well after that excellent birthday party Miss Pinkie Pie planned, I personally planned up a gift of my own for DERPY! Honestly, why doesn't anyone say Derpy, it's a nice nickname.” the Doctor explained. Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing it was useless to try once again to explain the Derpy-Ditzy situation, and so she let him continue on.

“Let’s just say that it was spectacular. Once we were done, I took her back home. I thought you would have seen her by now. After all, today is the day she usually delivers the mail from the Equestrian Post office.” the centuries old Time Lord pondered.

“Well maybe we missed her, but I must say, those glasses you made for her big walleyes definitely helped her out … no pianos have fallen on me since!” Twilight joked, making the trio laughed for a bit, until Spike mentioned the incident from earlier.

“But there is a good reason why we might have missed her, and that’s because of something so freaky that happened back at the library” Spike mentioned.

“Freaky?" the Time Lord curiously asked, "Like what? And for that matter, why would you be at the hospital?”

The Lavender unicorn was about to explain, until the nurse ran out to call for her.

“Miss Sparkle, you’re needed, your friend is awake and I think he may need you. Now please follow me back to his room.” Nurse Red Heart said.

“Come on you two, let’s go and find out what’s going on!” Spike shouted as he followed the nurse. Twilight turned back to The Doctor.

“Just come with us and we’ll explain everything” she assured the alien pony. The Doctor followed Twilight and Spike into the hospital. They got into the elevator with the Nurse. The two started to explain to the Doctor what’s been going on this morning; leaving the Time Lord astounded by who this Maestro fellow could be. As they followed the nurse, the three heard a disturbance coming from the Maestro's room.

“Where am I?! Let me go, you brutes!” the Maestro shouted as he was held down by the security guards. He screamed and groaned, struggling even harder to escape their grasp on him. Soon came in a familiar face to Twilight and Spike, Dr. Horse, M.D., the same doctor who examined Spike during his greed phase. He walked over and smiled while looking at the patient.

“Calm down sir, everything is going to be alright. All you need is to just sleep” Horse, M.D., said as he pulled out a needle filled with a dose of liquid to put him under anesthesia. The Maestro turned to Twilight and Spike, giving him the strength to kick the doctor's needle and shove the guards off him. He hugged the mare tightly, choking her body as he didn't let go.

“Oh thank goodness you’re here. Wait, where am I exactly?” the Maestro asked and released her. Instantly, Twilight took in a deep breath before finally explaining to the Maestro where he is at the moment.

“Mister Maestro. You are in a hospital because you fainted. These doctors and nurses are here to examine if you are all right. Why don’t we get you back to bed? Okay?” Twilight explained. The guards stood by the door as Twilight walked him back to the bed. He laid down and sighed. The Maestro stuck his tongue out at the doctor.

“Oh, well if you say so. But I had a horrible nightmare! Then I woke up when I saw your friend their come out of-” The Maestro was interrupted as Twilight shut his mouth with her hoof. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

“That was a nightmare, don’t worry about it. Now relax.” Sparkle reassured, but even then he was still concerned about it.

“But it felt so really,” the stranger said, “all black and slimy. You were in it and so was your little dragon companion with a pink Pony, a walleyed Pegasus ... and him!”

Twilight was taken back by the mention of a pink pony and walleyed Pegasus, whilst everyone in the room turned towards The Doctor. He fixed his bow tie and slowly approached the Maestro; however Dr. Horse M.D. stopped the Doctor from moving any closer to the patient.

“I’m sorry sir, but I must refrain from you going anywhere near the patient. Seeing that he’s calm with Miss Sparkle, I would say that only she is permitted to see him” Dr. Horse M.D. explained, annoying The Doctor who rolled his eyes and pulled out his Psychic Paper. The perfect tool to fool the pony doctor and get close enough to examine the patient.

“Sadly for you, I’m going to have to refrain you from refraining me to examine him. Oh and I'm the Doctor” the Doctor said.

“What? Doctor Who, exactly?” the physician was lost by the Doctor's rambling. The Doctor was starting to get tired of that question, but he answered as he usually did to the age old question.

“The Doctor or Time Turner if you'd prefer. I'm from the Royal Canterlot Medical Committee. I was in town for a small inspection, but when my associate, Miss Sparkle informed me of this ... character, then I come right away.” the Doctor explained, proving it with his credentials. He passed Dr. Horse and started eyeing the patient in bed.

“If you would mind doctor, I'd be very happy if you and your guards could wait outside for a moment.”

“Actually, I think it would be best if we-” the physician pony was about to disagree, until the Doctor interrupted him again.

“If not, I may have to go back to the Committee and look over why the staff in this hospital forced me to stop my call of duty as a medical physician to help this sick stallion?” The Doctor suggested, intimidating the staff.

“... Just wait outside, come along nurse. If you need me Doctor, I'll be outside” Dr. Horse nervously said as he hurried himself and his staff outside the room. The time lord had a grin on his face, pleased by their reactions. He turned his attention back to the Maestro who waved at him.

“Hello Mister Hourglass Pony, why were you in my dreams?” the Maestro asked, getting a slight chuckle out of the Doctor.

“I do have that effect on most people ... I mean ponies, ponies! Sorry, I'm like that around new people-I mean Ponies!” the Doctor sighed as the Maestro only chuckled back. The unicorn was in awe as the Doctor pulled out his trusty Sonic Screwdriver and waved it around the curious pony. The amazement was cut short when the Maestro touched his hair and felt a static shock from it. He yelped at the shock and held his hoof up to Twilight.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Kiss the boo-boo, hehehe” the Maestro said, giggling away like a child.

“No!” she refused.

“Boo ... why am I not surprised to meet a Librarian who's all strict” he pouted.

“Excuse me?!” she asked.

“Why are you so serious Miss Sparkle?” the Maestro.

“How can you be asking me that? My house is in shambles and I had to pull you all the way from there to here. I think that's more than enough for me to take things seriously; oh and me being a Librarian doesn't make me automatically strict!” she ranted on, making the Maestro groaned and turn back to the Doctor.

“So Doctor, is there anything wrong with him?” Spike asked.

“Ooh, this is interesting ...” The Doctor said after flinging his sonic up to his face, scanning the slight data it retrieved from the Maestro.

“What is?” Spike asked, looking at the little metallic wand, seeing nothing but a green light from it.

“The sonic is picking up traces of time energy fluxes all over his body” the Doctor said, looking back at the Maestro who was licking his teeth. The Doctor raised an eyebrow as the unicorn turned to a mirror by his bedside. The 1200 year old alien knows that feeling, of looking into a mirror and seeing something that wasn't there, something that was totally weird, new, and exciting. He lost his focused as Spike asked another question.

“Which means?” Spike asked.

“Which means ... that I will need further information that even the Sonic cannot pick up.” the Doctor explained.

“Am I alright Doctor? I'm not sick am I?” The Maestro asked.

“Don't worry; everything's going to be fine ...” The Doctor said as he pulled Twilight and Spike aside, “Okay, everything's not alright."

“Gee! You think?” Spike's sarcasm was duly noted, making the Doctor ticked.

“Look, that man-I mean stallion over there is covered with billions of Tachyon particles that has created a highly powerful time energy field” The Doctor lost Spike; he back at him with a blank expression. The Doctor sighed and reworded his explanation. “... Basically, he's covered in timey wimey stuff that makes things go wibbly wobbly.” The Doctor's message finally came across to the Spike.

“Twilight, you said he came through a time spell right?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes. He turned up right after I read the scroll to the time spell” she replied back, reassuring his theory.

“Well that makes sense. This 'spell' must have been a type of time traveling structure that brought him here” the Doctor explained.

“Wait, so he's a time traveler?” Spike asked.

“Good possibility, but I don't know yet nor do I know if he's alien. It's best if we sneak him back to the T.A.R.D.I.S” the Doctor suggested, while staring back at the Maestro who yelped again from being shocked by the static discharge flowing about in his curly mane.

“You're probably right, Ponyville Hospital couldn't possibly handle a crazy time traveling alien who looks like a unicorn with a bad case of morning mane" Twilight said. The Maestro barely cared for the conversation they had for he was really focusing on his body, until he heard bad and mane in the mix.

“Oi! I may not know who I am, but I very much like this curly look! It's crazy and funny and stylish!” the Maestro shouted. They rolled their eyes and turned back to the matters at hand, getting the Maestro into the T.A.R.D.I.S.

“Okay, so how are we going to get him out of here? I mean, I know your paper thingy tricked that doctor to believing you're a doctor, but I don't think he'll very much enjoy watching another doctor take his patient into a small blue box” Spike pointed out.

“Ah Spike, you are always so smart for your age! You know I'll come up with a way to get him out of here, until then I'm going to get any information I can get from the doctors and nurses on him. Maybe then we can confirm our theories, but for now just keep him company and try to get anything out of him. I'll give you the signal, until then ...” the Doctor turned back to the Maestro who once again zapped his hoof, “... have fun.”

Twilight and Spike turned around and sat beside the eccentric unicorn. They stopped him before he zapped his hoof again, getting a good chuckle out of him and a sigh of relief from Twilight and her assistant.

“Okay Mister Maestro, you need to explain to us a couple of things” Spike started off.

“Oh? Do I?” the Maestro curiously asked, “Because how can I explain when I don’t even know what is going on in the first place?”

“Well maybe you can start by telling us how you got to our home?” Twilight asked.

“I'm a time traveling alien wizard and I was a result of a time scroll that totaled your house.” he quickly said.

“So I was right!” Twilight said.

“Well that’s what you said” he pointed out.

“What?” she asked.

“You and that Doctor fellow said I was an alien who time traveled and came out of a magical spell, so ...” he said, “I mean you three seem to know more than me on what’s going.” Twilight groaned, rubbing her cranium and letting Spike take over.

“But don’t you remember what happened before you wound up in the library?” Spike asked.

“All I can remember is a white light, being zapped by lightning, and meeting you two. Checking out my face, being asked random question … Oh and screaming! There was a lot of screaming in pain and agony when you mentioned my name. Then I coughed up a storm of spit, dust, and slime.” the Maestro started to go into the Pinkie Pie syndrome. “... Then it went black for what felt like hours, waking up, seeing your friend come out of that blue box. Which looks really small for a stallion that big, don’t you think? Oh and then I …” The constant re-mentioning of all the events lead to nowhere. This was hurting Twilight’s brain even more. Her home, her studies, her time, all of it wasted away thanks to something involving the innocent blathering idiot in bed.

“By all that is Celestia, why do I even bother?! You obviously don’t know anything to help us or yourself. You know I planned this day to just be a regular stay in and study with Spike to help me out! And then the one time he reads something I know, I somehow cause my house to explode in a raging inferno of wormholes and you!” Twilight yelled, getting the Maestro angry.

“You’re acting as if I’m a bad guy! I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” the absent minded Unicorn shouted, “Plus why are you, a baby dragon, reading up on wormholes! Frankly, if there’s anyone to blame here, it’s you Spike!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, you can’t blame me! I was reading wormholes because I was looking at the pictures on the pages! I had nothing else to do! All I wanted was a simple explanation of a wormhole. We didn’t expect to be going to the hospital after one ripped the library apart!” Spike argued back. Twilight took a deep breath and relaxed herself and her assistant. The Maestro turned back to the mirror; pretty ticked off, but it wasn’t at them. He stared at the mirror as Twilight came back to him.

“Look, obviously we know you’re not a ‘bad’ guy. At least, I don’t think you are …” she reassured him, but he was now lost in the mirror, “BUT! Why are you acting as if you have-... oh” it suddenly hit Twilight, the Maestro wasn’t acting as if he knew nothing … but it wasn’t an act. Her eyes took notice of his rump; no cutie mark. The absent mind, the meaningless title, the crazy bipolar like emotions that swung around at random, all of it pointed to the possibility of something worse.

“I'm the Maestro and …” he started off, but paused for a couple of seconds. “... And I-” Another pause stopped him in his tracks. This time, the silence went on for a minute. The stranger put the mirror back down and ended his statement with sadness.

“I honestly don't know …”

The only sounds coming from anywhere at this point were from the random voices that passed by the door to his room, the beeping of the heart monitor, and the ticking of the clock. Twilight then pulled Spike aside and led him away from the Maestro. The two stood opposite of him inside the room and whispered to him of what may possibly be going on. The Maestro’s eyes were starting to tear up as he looked at the two. He then clenched his eyes with remorse; once the word “Amnesia” was mentioned in their quiet chat between the Sparkle and her assistant. They looked back to see his face buried in his arms and hooves, sobbing and crying. They gave him a moment to let it out, before Twilight finally walked back to the Maestro as his sobs came to a stop. Suddenly something caught him off guard, forcing the stranger to look up, and show off the trails of tears that ran down his cheeks while staring at the lavender unicorn and green spiked dragon as they hugged him tightly. He was confused. Minutes ago they were the same people who were yelling at him, blaming him, and forcing him to realize that he really was crazy, but now they gave him a hug. In between his final sobs, the Maestro spoke up again and asked of what was going on.

“Okay, I must be crazy because you two seem to be hugging me … why?” he asked.

“We know what’s going on and we feel terrible in forcing you to remember who you were when it’s obvious why you can't." Spike said, feeling guilty for this problem.

"I'm such an idiot, how couldn't I see the obvious fact that you had Amnesia" Twilight said.

"Excuse me, but did you? A unicorn who reads tons of books, casts spells, and translated an ancient scroll that likely brought me into existence ... Actually say that you're an idiot" the Maestro started to laugh and laugh. The two friends watched as he bursts into tears of joy while laughing like it was nobody's business.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaa! You, an idiot?! Ha Ha! Oh, oh my, now that is hilarious. Miss Sparkle, out of all three of us here, you are FAR from any stupidity. If I am a result of a spell, an ancient one at that, then you must be quite the bookworm to actually translate it to modern Equestrian English.” the Maestro complemented.

“Uhm, well …” Twilight blushed, enjoying the sudden compliment. “Thank you … I am quite the bookworm”

“If we get through this little adventure, I’m sure you’ll prove me right. And you Spike. He he he he. Oh you seem to have some kind of boldness to you for such a young little guy, pretty smart too to even try and read wormholes. Trust me.” the Maestro explained, with chuckles in between. This brought a joyous energy to the three as they laughed about it.

"So you're not sad or mad anymore?" Spike asked. The Maestro coughed a bit.

"No-" he coughed again, "Not at all, in fact-" the Maestro’s cough interrupted him again. He patted his chest to ease the cough.

"In fact, I-" his coughing grew worse. Now he couldn't finish his thought thanks to the sudden frog in his throat. It raged on, making it louder and longer.

"Are you alright?" Twilight asked. It stopped for a moment.

"Sure I am. I’m an alien who can travel through time. Why wouldn't I beeee-AHH!" the Maestro screamed as the bones inside we're reconstructing themselves again. He grabbed his chest as his heart monitor detected a rapid heartbeat. Twilight and Spike called for help. The nurses and guards came in as the Maestro coughed and coughed, before finally blasting out a powerful force of fiery light from his entire body. The guards were thrown back by the powerful force of the energy while the intense heat burned the bed sheets and shattered the glass windows to pieces. The nurses ran out the room, screaming in terror. The Maestro An alarm went off and down the hall. The out of this world special effects came to a stop, resulting with the Maestro being launched out of his room and flying out the window.

“Twilight! Spike! That was the signal.” the Doctor said, bursting into the room. “I got a wheel chair for your unicorn friend. Help me get him in here and soon we’ll be in the TARDIS, faster than you can say-!” The Doctor now noticed the knocked out guards, the screams of the nurses down the hall, the bed on fire, and glass on the floor.

“Did I miss something?” the Doctor asked.

“Doctor?!” Spike and Twilight shouted, running up to the Doctor.

“What happened? Where’s the Maestro?” The Doctor asked, until they heard a groan from outside. The three poked their heads out the window, seeing that the Maestro was groaning and snoring feet away from the T.A.R.D.I.S.

“Well then … this is useless” the Doctor said, pushing the wheelchair aside. “Come along, we haven’t a moment to lose!”

“Doctor, wait?!” Twilight shouted, galloping behind him with Spike riding on her back. As they ran out, Twilight caught up with The Doctor and explained with Spike about everything that he had missed. The handful of information astounded his mind while slowly coming up with a theory of his own about this unicorn with amnesia. Minutes later, they arrived outside, sneaking around to the spot where the Maestro still laid, exhaling rainbow air particles.

“Rainbow dust particles are seeping from the mouth of an unconscious unicorn with amnesia as a result of a time spell … boy those are words I never ever expected to hear in my life. Ha” the Doctor rambled on.

“DOCTOR!” Twilight and Spike shouted, snapping him back to the situation.

“Oh right, sorry! Now let’s get him into the T.A.R.D.I.S.” the Doctor said as he unlocked the T.A.R.D.I.S. doors. With Twilight, he wrapped the Maestro’s hooves around their necks. Spike opened the doors as the two ponies dragged the Maestro into the time machine. The doors shut and instantly, the blue box faded away, dematerializing until there was nothing left, but a patch of dead flowers where it once stood.

VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP VWORPVWORP ...