Doctor's Journey without the TARDISby TimeLord_WhoovesChaptersStrandedStrange MeetingSomething UnexpectedInto the ForestStrandedIt was a glorious day in Ponyvile, the sun was shining high in the sky and everypony was inside to escape the summer heat. The Doctor was sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper and Derpy was in the kitchen baking muffins as usual. “Derpy,” said the Doctor, “Are those muffins ready yet? I’m starving.” “There not done yet, they still have about five minutes to bake.” she replied, “You and your stomach need to learn patients.” “What?” said the Doctor dumfounded, “I have plenty of patients I’ll have you know, it’s just that I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast and I’m used to having a little snack by now.” Derpy walked out of the kitchen, “You know, if you’re really that hungry, I’ve got a little something here for you.” She stood behind him, slowly bringing down the fruit to eye level. “ACK! P-PEAR!” shouted the Doctor, he jumped off the couch and into the corner of the room and continued, “You know I can’t stand pears Derpy, why would you do such a thing?” “Relax, it was just a little joke,” she said, putting the pear into her secret pear hiding place, the cupboard right next to the door, “It made you forget about your hunger didn’t it?” “For the split second, yes.” A ding came from the kitchen. “Muffins are done.” said Derpy, gleefully. She went back into the kitchen and pulled the steaming tin of muffins out of the oven carefully with her mouth which was protected from the heat by a thick cloth. The tantalizing smell of the muffins came wafting through to the living room. The Doctor started to drool as he imagined taking a bite of his dear Derpy’s delicious homemade muffins. “We just need to wait a few-“ Derpy started, but the Doctor wouldn’t wait. He was so hungry, that he sped into the kitchen, grabbed a muffin and tossed it straight into his mouth. A second later he was running around the kitchen with tears in his eyes, his toungue sticking out and his mouth wide open to cool the slight burns from the hot muffin. “That’s what you get for not waiting.” said Derpy, a little mad, a little concerned. She dragged the Doctor over to the sink and let the cool water flow into his mouth. “Thank you Derpy,” he said a little stifled due to the burns, “I’m so glad I have you with me.” They both smiled, the Doctor’s, one of happiness and love, Derpy’s one with a slight frown as she thought he was silly. They stared deep into each other’s eyes for a while and were disrupted by a sharp knock at the door. The Doctor went to go see who it was. When he opened the door however, there was no pony there, just the usual porch. “Now that’s odd,” he said, “Why would somepony knock and run away, that’s just silly.” He turned back to where Derpy had been standing seconds ago. “Now where were-“ he cut off, “Derpy? Where’d you go?” He walked over to the kitchen and looked inside, she wasn’t there, the muffins were even untouched. Now why would she just leave them there, he wondered to himself, she usually doesn’t leave the kitchen until she’s eaten a few. He looked through the whole house for her but she wasn’t there. As he was standing there wondering where she might have gone, a sound came from behind him. The oven timer had dinged again, but why? She can’t have put more muffins in the oven, she isn’t even here right now, he thought. He slowly approached the oven, opening the door to peer inside. With a loud whoosh, the Doctor was sucked into the oven and a mad laugh came out of nowhere. The Doctor was spinning, blurring everything around him. Drat, he thought to himself, he had left the sonic screwdriver in the TARDIS. He landed gently on a strange cobblestone street, there were the usual ponies lining them though. None of them had noticed the difference however. He walked down the street, trying to find anything familiar. Where am I? He wondered as he walked. He looked around with wonder in his eyes. Everything was so different, the buildings around him were similar to those in Ponyville yet distinctly different. The houses in Ponyville were a lot more whimsical, these houses were more symmetrical and a more functional look to them. He continued down the street looking for anything familiar. As he looked down the next street, a carriage came around the corner two blocks away. It wasn’t being pulled by anything and it had no driver. As it came closer he noticed a familiar grey mare sticking her head out of the side. “Doctor!” cried Derpy, “Help!” The Doctor reacted without thinking, he jumped onto the carriage managing to climb into the driver’s seat and sat there stumped. If it was a normal carriage, he’d just pull the reigns to slow it down but nothing was pulling the carriage. He carefully made his way into the cabin and found that Derpy wasn’t alone. A light blue earth pony mare was there, elegant looking and frightened. The Doctor looked out of the window, there was a lake not too far ahead. “Derpy, when I say so, we’re all going to jump!” “Jump!?” she said. “Yes, jump. You too.” he said looking over to the frightened mare, she nodded. “Okay, jump!” he yelled at them. They all fell from the carriage, over the side of the bridge and into the lake below. They struggled to keep above water but the one having the most trouble doing so was the unknown mare who was wearing a long thick gown. The Doctor and Derpy helped her to keep above water and slowly brought her ashore. “Oh thank you,” she said, panting, as she got out of the water and directed her attention to the Doctor, “I can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t come and saved us.” “Us?” the Doctor said questioningly, “You mean you know my friend?” “Your friend?” she turned to Derpy, “You didn’t tell me you had a friend before darling.” Derpy looked at her, not sure of what to do. She didn’t know the mare but the mare certainly knew her. “Why so quiet all of a sudden hmm?” the mare asked. She gave up on Derpy and turned her attention back to the Doctor, “My daughter seems to have grown very shy, tell me, what is your name?” “My name…” he looked over at Derpy, she just gave him an even more confused look, “It’s Turner, Time Turner.” “Time Turner…” she considered the name, “I don’t think I’ve heard of anypony named Turner before, where is your family?” “I uh… I don’t have one.” he replied. “Don’t have one? Do you live by yourself in the village?,” she gave him a concerned look. "No, I have been traveling." "Well then I insist you come stay at my house for a while, it's the least I can do for saving us." She turned and climbed her way back up to the road. The Doctor and Derpy looked at each other questioningly again. “Hurry up you two, we want to get home before nightfall.” The mare called behind her as she reached the road. They followed, wondering what in Equestria was going on. “Doctor, I’m confused, I don’t know her but she says she’s my mother.” “Just go with it Derpy, I’ll find a way to get us home, somehow…” he trailed off, thinking to himself, if only he hadn’t left his sonic screwdriver. Strange MeetingDerpy looked up at the large regal looking estate that had just appeared as they reached the top of the hill with awe, the Doctor was used to such buildings, it even gave him nostalgia. They walked up to the door together and as they got closer, the Doctor noticed there was a bright purple pegasus stallion with a grey mane and matching eyes was standing there waiting for them. “Serenity!” the stallion called out to them, “Are you alright? When the carriage never came I grew worried.” Serenity, the blue mare, ran up to him and nuzzled him affectionately. “I’m fine, Bright Shield, and so is our daughter.” Serenity said pointing a hoof at Derpy. The stallion looked over at Derpy and said after a moment, “Aren’t you going to come and give me a hug like always?” Derpy looked at him for a second, walked over and gave him a quick hug. “Well this isn’t like you Sweetness. You usually hug me as tight as you possibly can, is something wrong?” “N-no, nothing’s wrong, really. I’m just…” Derpy said and looked over at the Doctor, “I’m a little dazed from what happened.” Bright Shield looked over at the Doctor, a questioning look passed over his face. “Who is this?” he turned to ask Serenity. “Apparently he’s a friend of Sweetness’, he’s been traveling and he saved our lives today after the carriage lost control.” she answered him in a whisper. “Saved you and a friend of our daughter’s?” he said incredulously, “Well that is something.” Derpy was looking between the two whispering ponies and the Doctor, trying to figure out why they were calling her Sweetness and wondering what they were going to do. Bright Shield turned to the Doctor, “Thank you for saving my family, my wife says you’ve been traveling and have nowhere to stay?” “Yes.” the Doctor said tentatively. “Well we have room, you can stay here if you’d like. After all you did, I owe you. If I may ask, what is your name?” “Time Turner.” “Then welcome Time Turner, we’ll get you a room set up and dinner will be ready shortly.” Bright Shield said as he led them all into the house. The Doctor followed him, walking next to Derpy. He gave her a quick reassuring look and walked into the dining hall. The Doctor wasn’t completely sure of what was going on but he didn’t want Derpy to freak out or feel uncomfortable. They all took a seat at the long table, Bright Shield and Serenity sitting across from each other and the Doctor and Derpy right next to them. “So tell me, Time Turner, what exactly do you do aside from rescuing mares in distress?” Bright Shield asked after he had collected some food on his plate. “Well, I work with clocks, repairs, making, and even repurposing old clocks.” The Doctor answered easily, he had used the same cover in Ponyville for years he was used to answering this question. “I see, that’s why your mark is an hourglass?” Bright Shield said looking at the Doctor’s flank then back to his meal. The Doctor swallowed a bit of cupcake he had been eating and said yes. He looked over at Bright Shield’s flank but he was wearing a long tailored vest that covered it. “If you’re curious to know what my mark is, it’s simply a shining shield and Serenity’s is an opal.” Bright Shield said simply. They were finishing up their dinner when the butler brought in a large cake. The Doctor looked up at this mass of chocolate icing, decorated finely with vanilla swirls. “What is the occasion for this?” the Doctor asked. “It’s merely a thank you for saving my family.” Bright Shield said happily. “That’s too much, you’re already giving me a place to stay, I can’t ask any more of you.” The Doctor said, looking at the cake with wide eyes. He suddenly remembered how he had gotten here in the first place. The question he now wanted to ask was formed in his mind but then he thought simply asking to inspect the oven was a rather odd question and so made a mental note to inspect it after everypony was in bed. He looked over at Derpy to see if she was thinking the same thing but she was just staring at the very delicious looking cake and drooling, he laughed to himself. After they all had gotten a slice of cake and had eaten it Bright Shield said to the table, “Time for bed everypony. Let me show you were you’ll be sleeping Mr. Turner.” They got up and walked down the hall and up the stairs, down another hall and around the corner. “The room has already been set up for you, the bed should be warm and there should be everything you need in there, see you in the morning.” Bright Shield said before walking off towards his and Serenity’s room. Serenity had walked Derpy to her room and tucked her into bed before singing her a lullaby, it was one that she had heard before but couldn’t remember from where. She closed her eyes and began to make soft snoring sounds, Serenity smiled and kissed her forehead before walking back to her and Bright Shield’s room. The Doctor looked around his room, the bed was sitting against the wall beneath a window facing the back field which had a running track. He looked at it feeling weary but he wanted to go see the oven, if his own oven had sent them here maybe this oven could take them back. He waited a few minutes to make sure everypony was asleep and opened the door. “Oof!” Derpy had been standing just outside his room when he walked out and bumped into him as they both tried to step through the door. “My nose… hurts.” she said quietly. “Derpy what are you doing outside my door?” the Doctor asked in a hushed voice. “I came to be with you silly.” She said matter of factly, “I didn’t want to be all alone in that big room, besides I figured you wanted to go check out the kitchen.” “And here I thought you weren’t paying attention, it looked like you were too focused on the cake to think about looking for a way home.” “Silly Doctor, I never miss a single detail.” As she spoke she backed into a small table with a vase of blue flowers decorating the hall, the vase spun there for a second before falling. The Doctor quickly jumped forward and caught it, sighing as he set it back on the table. “That was close.” He said looking back at Derpy and frowning slightly. “Nice catch!” she said gleefully. The Doctor sighed and led the way to the kitchen. It was a huge room full of pots and fire pits set into the stone walls, a large island in the center for the preparation of the food. They looked around for the oven, after seeing everything else not expecting the same kind they had at home. The oven was set into the wall just like the fire pits, a large door that swung open with a little window to see inside covering the hole. The Doctor opened it and looked inside, almost expecting to just hear the same whooshing sound as before and be sucked back home. No such thing happened, all it was, was a typical oven, no whoosh. He looked back at Derpy and she looked at him and gave him a sad look. “It looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while,” the Doctor said sadly, “it’s not like we’re going to be able to look through every oven in the world, that wouldn’t even be productive, the only thing we can do from here is see what happens next.” Something UnexpectedWeeks passed, the Doctor and Derpy were losing hope that they could find a way home. They watched the daily happenings of the ponies working about the manor. Every time they had the chance they’d sneak some nuzzling and some reassuring words. Bright Shield started noticing that they were hardly ever apart from each other. When they were apart, the Doctor would go into his room and work on clock things and Derpy would go into the kitchen when nopony was there and would come out with a tray of fresh baked muffins, she’d take them to the Doctor’s room though. He started following them wherever they went, out to the grounds, occasionally the forest out behind the grounds. They would wander and talk, and when they thought nopony was looking they’d steal kisses. He decided to do something about this behavior, he cornered them as they were walking out on the field. “So, as you two surely know, Serenity’s birthday is tomorrow… do you have anything for her, maybe some news?” he asked raising his eyebrows. Derpy looked at the Doctor. “No news, but I do have a present that I really want to surprise her with.” Derpy said with a smile. “Do you have any news for me then?” he asked looking at the Doctor. “The only thing I can think of is that I fixed your bedroom clock last night, I put it back this morning after breakfast.” the Doctor replied. “Nothing else?” The Doctor and Derpy both shook their heads and said in unison, “Nope.” “You know you shouldn’t lie to a man who’s daughter you love…” Bright Shield said as he walked away. The Doctor and Derpy gave each other awestruck looks, ‘since when did he know?’ they both thought. They walked off back towards the mansion for dinner, they were going to look behind them wherever they went from now on. Dinner was akward that night. The Doctor and Derpy didn’t dare look at each other at all, Serenity looked at the two of them curiously. “Is everything alright?” she asked unsure. “Um… no, nothing is wrong exactly.” Derpy said quietly. “Then why are you blushing Sweetness?” Serenity asked smiling. “You two still want to stick to your story?” Bright Shield asked. “Um… well… I…” the Doctor sputtered. “If you don’t say it then I will.” Bright Shield said menacingly. “Say what?” asked Serenity becoming more confused by the second. The Doctor looked at his food, his face beet red. Derpy had her face hidden from everypony. “Very well, I’ll say it.” Bright Shield said and turned to Serenity, “These two have been rather friendly with each other lately. I’ve seen them when they think nopony is looking, a little more than friendly.” “You’ve just now noticed this dear?” Serenity asked holding back a laugh. At hearing these words, the Doctor and Derpy practically sank beneath the table in embarrassment. “They’ve been doing that ever since he got here.” Serenity said struggling to keep her laughter in, the look on Bright Shield’s face was priceless. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about you two, in fact I’m happy. It’s nice that you like each other, we were starting to fear poor Sweetness wouldn’t ever find anypony to love.” “You’ve known from the start and didn’t say anything?!” Bright Shield said incredously. “Well I was unsure if you’d allow it, after all he is such a new face around.” “I… well… I am happy about it, but I’m not pleased at how I found out about this, I would have preferred that you tell me yourselves.” He said looking at the Doctor and Derpy who had been sinking deeper and deeper beneath the table as the conversation went on. When they finished their dinner, they all went up to their rooms. Derpy followed the Doctor to his room, not being cautious anymore now that everypony knew. When they entered his room the Doctor asked, “So why did we have to make that act exactly?” “I told you Doctor, with them finding out like this we don’t have to hide our feelings around them.” Derpy answered. “But like Bright Shield said, we could have just told them that we like each other, your plans are always so over complicated.” “That’s not fair Doctor,” Derpy said as tears started to form in her eyes, “You usually like my plans.” The Doctor pulled out a muffin and gave it to Derpy, she instantly cheered up. “You do have good plans it’s just this one was way too complicated.” “But wasn’t it kind of fun to act embarrassed for once?” “Well… kind of, yeah. The look on Bright Shield’s face, I almost died of laughter!” the Doctor said letting out a chuckle. The two of them fell over laughing, remembering how frusterated Bright Shield was getting at dinner. They ended up laughing themselves to sleep. The next day they were woken up by the butler telling them to get ready for the party. They quickly ran about the room putting on their nice clothes for Serenity’s birthday. They ran out into the field after they had dressed and met with the group of ponies waiting to start the party. “Sorry, overslept.” The Doctor said simply. Bright Shield gave him a curious look and the Doctor just gave him an akward smile. Serenity smiled at them and then turned to the table as the butler brought the cake out and set it in front of her. She blew out the candles and the party started. Everypony got a piece of cake and then the orchestra which had been set up at the end of the table started playing. It wasn’t long before everypony was up and dancing to the music or just chatting by the table. The Doctor and Derpy were dancing happily while ponies around them chatted excitedly. There came a sudden scream and everypony looked around. One of the maids was pointing to the forest, something was moving towards them. Ponies scattered everywhere as the newcomers started demolishing everything in sight. There were unicorns casting spells at random into the crowd, earth ponies ran through and grabbed a few of the guests including Derpy while pegasi flew overhead throwing rocks and other projectiles into the partygoers. “Derpy!” the Doctor cried as they took her and the other captured guests towards the forest. “Bring her back!” He started to chase them but something hit him hard in the back of the head and he saw no more. He could hear screams though they sounded distant and muffled. Into the ForestThe Doctor was waking up in his room, the butler who stood over his bed ran out of the room as he noticed. The Doctor slowly sat up in his bed and looked around at the room. The butler came back with Serenity. "Time Turner! Thank goodness you're alright, you've been out for two days." she said as she hugged him. "Serenity? What happened?" he asked as she let go of him. "Don't you remember? The party was attacked by bandits, they took our Sweetness among others and killed several guests including Bright Shield." Serenity started to cry, dropping her head into the Doctor's covers. "What? But... what?" the Doctor said, bemused. Tears filled his eyes. "Turner, you need to save Sweetness. The bandits are surely quite a ways away." Serenity said, her head jerking up from the blankets. "Please, I don't know what I'd do if I lost her too." The Doctor jumped out of his bed and walked over to the window. "I promise I'll bring her back, and make the ponies responsible for this pay!" he said angrily. *** "You won't get away with this! The Doctor will save me!" Derpy said as her captors removed her gag to feed her. "He won't forgive you for this!" "Somepony put that gag back on her!" somepony called from the sky. "Seeing as how she decided to act out, she doesn't get any food today." "Yes sir!" the stallion who was attempting to feed the struggling pegasus. He put her gag back over her mouth and moved on to the next captive. The leader of the bandits stood over Derpy and said, "You really think that he'll come rescue you? You have a lot of faith in this Doctor, we'll see just how well placed that faith is in the end." The grey pegasus glared at him. "Even if he did find us, we'll be at the castle before he can reach us, it's not far away, another day's walk." He walked away laughing to himself. Derpy gave the ground a sad look, a tear fell from her eye. There was a small glint of light on the ground in front of her. She examined it closely, a small knife had been buried there. She didn't think about how a knife got buried there, she picked it up and cut her bonds. She looked around to make sure nopony was watching her and ran off into the thick wood. *** The Doctor was wandering through the forest, following the tracks that the bandits had left behind. He ran as fast as he felt comfortable with, not wanting to lose the trail. It didn't take long before he came across a campsite that had been vacated recently. He investigated the camp and found a trail of thin, light yellow, hair. He instantly recognized it as Derpy's. The Doctor set off at a run, following the trail his love had left for him. *** Derpy was running as fast as she could, the foliage overhead preventing her from flying. She could hear the hoofbeat of several ponies behind her, closing in. She came to a clearing in the trees and immediately took flight, leaving the earthbound ponies behind. There were still other pegasi in the air chasing her. She did everything she could think of to get rid of them but they remained on her tail. A rock came from the forest below, hitting one of the pegasi chasing Derpy, he fell from the sky and the other pegasi scattered, all except their leader who persisted. "Cowards!" he shouted back at his fellows. Derpy dived into the forest again in an attempt to lose him. Before she could land however, she caught a tree on her way to the ground and snapped off a few branches. She was able to keep going but she was injured, the falling branches caught the bandit leader beneath them and he fell hard into the ground. Derpy turned at the sound of the heavy pony thudding to the ground with the clattering branches and saw that he had one of his hind legs stuck beneath a large branch. She walked back over to him. "Are you okay?" she asked, circling around to look at his trapped leg. "Oh my! You're not alright at all. Here let me help you." She began to move the branch before something clicked in her head. "Wait, you gotta promise me that if I help you that you will let me go, okay?" The stallion looked over at her with contempt. "Fine." he said gruffly. Derpy continued to move the branch enough for him to get his leg out and dropped it when he was free. "Thank you." he said as he stumbled from trying to get up. "Here." Derpy offered her hoof to help him up. He smacked it away saying, "You've already helped enough, now get outta here before I change my mind about letting you go." She gave him a worried look, both of her eyes managing to focus on the struggling stallion in front of her. He managed to stand, shakily, and attempted to fly back to the others. Before his wings could extend to their full length however, he dropped again in pain, his wing was broken. Derpy grabbed him and lifted him up onto her back, she wasn't going to leave him here all alone and injured. 'He might never make it back to his friends.' she thought. She started walking back to the camp which she had escaped from earlier. "What are you doing?" he said incredulously, "You know if you go back then they will just tie you up and drag you with them, don't you?" "I can't leave you behind. After all, all living things are precious no matter their nature." she said, straining from his weight, her fore legs hurt a bit but she kept on going. The stallion on her back sighed. "You are a strange one, I'm indebted to you miss but I still serve my master. I can make sure you aren't mistreated but I still have to bring you to him..." he said, pausing, considering something before continuing, "My name is Thunderclash by the way, if you need something just ask for me." She smiled back at him, "Will do." Thunderous hoofbeats came from all around them, the earth pony bandits had caught up to them and surrounded them. One of them stepped forward and relieved her of the injured pony on her back. Two more stepped over, bound her wings and began escorting her back to the camp. They stayed silent but the were fidgeting, before long, they both gave her a bright smile and said, "Thank you for bringing our captain back miss."
StrandedIt was a glorious day in Ponyvile, the sun was shining high in the sky and everypony was inside to escape the summer heat. The Doctor was sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper and Derpy was in the kitchen baking muffins as usual. “Derpy,” said the Doctor, “Are those muffins ready yet? I’m starving.” “There not done yet, they still have about five minutes to bake.” she replied, “You and your stomach need to learn patients.” “What?” said the Doctor dumfounded, “I have plenty of patients I’ll have you know, it’s just that I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast and I’m used to having a little snack by now.” Derpy walked out of the kitchen, “You know, if you’re really that hungry, I’ve got a little something here for you.” She stood behind him, slowly bringing down the fruit to eye level. “ACK! P-PEAR!” shouted the Doctor, he jumped off the couch and into the corner of the room and continued, “You know I can’t stand pears Derpy, why would you do such a thing?” “Relax, it was just a little joke,” she said, putting the pear into her secret pear hiding place, the cupboard right next to the door, “It made you forget about your hunger didn’t it?” “For the split second, yes.” A ding came from the kitchen. “Muffins are done.” said Derpy, gleefully. She went back into the kitchen and pulled the steaming tin of muffins out of the oven carefully with her mouth which was protected from the heat by a thick cloth. The tantalizing smell of the muffins came wafting through to the living room. The Doctor started to drool as he imagined taking a bite of his dear Derpy’s delicious homemade muffins. “We just need to wait a few-“ Derpy started, but the Doctor wouldn’t wait. He was so hungry, that he sped into the kitchen, grabbed a muffin and tossed it straight into his mouth. A second later he was running around the kitchen with tears in his eyes, his toungue sticking out and his mouth wide open to cool the slight burns from the hot muffin. “That’s what you get for not waiting.” said Derpy, a little mad, a little concerned. She dragged the Doctor over to the sink and let the cool water flow into his mouth. “Thank you Derpy,” he said a little stifled due to the burns, “I’m so glad I have you with me.” They both smiled, the Doctor’s, one of happiness and love, Derpy’s one with a slight frown as she thought he was silly. They stared deep into each other’s eyes for a while and were disrupted by a sharp knock at the door. The Doctor went to go see who it was. When he opened the door however, there was no pony there, just the usual porch. “Now that’s odd,” he said, “Why would somepony knock and run away, that’s just silly.” He turned back to where Derpy had been standing seconds ago. “Now where were-“ he cut off, “Derpy? Where’d you go?” He walked over to the kitchen and looked inside, she wasn’t there, the muffins were even untouched. Now why would she just leave them there, he wondered to himself, she usually doesn’t leave the kitchen until she’s eaten a few. He looked through the whole house for her but she wasn’t there. As he was standing there wondering where she might have gone, a sound came from behind him. The oven timer had dinged again, but why? She can’t have put more muffins in the oven, she isn’t even here right now, he thought. He slowly approached the oven, opening the door to peer inside. With a loud whoosh, the Doctor was sucked into the oven and a mad laugh came out of nowhere. The Doctor was spinning, blurring everything around him. Drat, he thought to himself, he had left the sonic screwdriver in the TARDIS. He landed gently on a strange cobblestone street, there were the usual ponies lining them though. None of them had noticed the difference however. He walked down the street, trying to find anything familiar. Where am I? He wondered as he walked. He looked around with wonder in his eyes. Everything was so different, the buildings around him were similar to those in Ponyville yet distinctly different. The houses in Ponyville were a lot more whimsical, these houses were more symmetrical and a more functional look to them. He continued down the street looking for anything familiar. As he looked down the next street, a carriage came around the corner two blocks away. It wasn’t being pulled by anything and it had no driver. As it came closer he noticed a familiar grey mare sticking her head out of the side. “Doctor!” cried Derpy, “Help!” The Doctor reacted without thinking, he jumped onto the carriage managing to climb into the driver’s seat and sat there stumped. If it was a normal carriage, he’d just pull the reigns to slow it down but nothing was pulling the carriage. He carefully made his way into the cabin and found that Derpy wasn’t alone. A light blue earth pony mare was there, elegant looking and frightened. The Doctor looked out of the window, there was a lake not too far ahead. “Derpy, when I say so, we’re all going to jump!” “Jump!?” she said. “Yes, jump. You too.” he said looking over to the frightened mare, she nodded. “Okay, jump!” he yelled at them. They all fell from the carriage, over the side of the bridge and into the lake below. They struggled to keep above water but the one having the most trouble doing so was the unknown mare who was wearing a long thick gown. The Doctor and Derpy helped her to keep above water and slowly brought her ashore. “Oh thank you,” she said, panting, as she got out of the water and directed her attention to the Doctor, “I can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t come and saved us.” “Us?” the Doctor said questioningly, “You mean you know my friend?” “Your friend?” she turned to Derpy, “You didn’t tell me you had a friend before darling.” Derpy looked at her, not sure of what to do. She didn’t know the mare but the mare certainly knew her. “Why so quiet all of a sudden hmm?” the mare asked. She gave up on Derpy and turned her attention back to the Doctor, “My daughter seems to have grown very shy, tell me, what is your name?” “My name…” he looked over at Derpy, she just gave him an even more confused look, “It’s Turner, Time Turner.” “Time Turner…” she considered the name, “I don’t think I’ve heard of anypony named Turner before, where is your family?” “I uh… I don’t have one.” he replied. “Don’t have one? Do you live by yourself in the village?,” she gave him a concerned look. "No, I have been traveling." "Well then I insist you come stay at my house for a while, it's the least I can do for saving us." She turned and climbed her way back up to the road. The Doctor and Derpy looked at each other questioningly again. “Hurry up you two, we want to get home before nightfall.” The mare called behind her as she reached the road. They followed, wondering what in Equestria was going on. “Doctor, I’m confused, I don’t know her but she says she’s my mother.” “Just go with it Derpy, I’ll find a way to get us home, somehow…” he trailed off, thinking to himself, if only he hadn’t left his sonic screwdriver.
Strange MeetingDerpy looked up at the large regal looking estate that had just appeared as they reached the top of the hill with awe, the Doctor was used to such buildings, it even gave him nostalgia. They walked up to the door together and as they got closer, the Doctor noticed there was a bright purple pegasus stallion with a grey mane and matching eyes was standing there waiting for them. “Serenity!” the stallion called out to them, “Are you alright? When the carriage never came I grew worried.” Serenity, the blue mare, ran up to him and nuzzled him affectionately. “I’m fine, Bright Shield, and so is our daughter.” Serenity said pointing a hoof at Derpy. The stallion looked over at Derpy and said after a moment, “Aren’t you going to come and give me a hug like always?” Derpy looked at him for a second, walked over and gave him a quick hug. “Well this isn’t like you Sweetness. You usually hug me as tight as you possibly can, is something wrong?” “N-no, nothing’s wrong, really. I’m just…” Derpy said and looked over at the Doctor, “I’m a little dazed from what happened.” Bright Shield looked over at the Doctor, a questioning look passed over his face. “Who is this?” he turned to ask Serenity. “Apparently he’s a friend of Sweetness’, he’s been traveling and he saved our lives today after the carriage lost control.” she answered him in a whisper. “Saved you and a friend of our daughter’s?” he said incredulously, “Well that is something.” Derpy was looking between the two whispering ponies and the Doctor, trying to figure out why they were calling her Sweetness and wondering what they were going to do. Bright Shield turned to the Doctor, “Thank you for saving my family, my wife says you’ve been traveling and have nowhere to stay?” “Yes.” the Doctor said tentatively. “Well we have room, you can stay here if you’d like. After all you did, I owe you. If I may ask, what is your name?” “Time Turner.” “Then welcome Time Turner, we’ll get you a room set up and dinner will be ready shortly.” Bright Shield said as he led them all into the house. The Doctor followed him, walking next to Derpy. He gave her a quick reassuring look and walked into the dining hall. The Doctor wasn’t completely sure of what was going on but he didn’t want Derpy to freak out or feel uncomfortable. They all took a seat at the long table, Bright Shield and Serenity sitting across from each other and the Doctor and Derpy right next to them. “So tell me, Time Turner, what exactly do you do aside from rescuing mares in distress?” Bright Shield asked after he had collected some food on his plate. “Well, I work with clocks, repairs, making, and even repurposing old clocks.” The Doctor answered easily, he had used the same cover in Ponyville for years he was used to answering this question. “I see, that’s why your mark is an hourglass?” Bright Shield said looking at the Doctor’s flank then back to his meal. The Doctor swallowed a bit of cupcake he had been eating and said yes. He looked over at Bright Shield’s flank but he was wearing a long tailored vest that covered it. “If you’re curious to know what my mark is, it’s simply a shining shield and Serenity’s is an opal.” Bright Shield said simply. They were finishing up their dinner when the butler brought in a large cake. The Doctor looked up at this mass of chocolate icing, decorated finely with vanilla swirls. “What is the occasion for this?” the Doctor asked. “It’s merely a thank you for saving my family.” Bright Shield said happily. “That’s too much, you’re already giving me a place to stay, I can’t ask any more of you.” The Doctor said, looking at the cake with wide eyes. He suddenly remembered how he had gotten here in the first place. The question he now wanted to ask was formed in his mind but then he thought simply asking to inspect the oven was a rather odd question and so made a mental note to inspect it after everypony was in bed. He looked over at Derpy to see if she was thinking the same thing but she was just staring at the very delicious looking cake and drooling, he laughed to himself. After they all had gotten a slice of cake and had eaten it Bright Shield said to the table, “Time for bed everypony. Let me show you were you’ll be sleeping Mr. Turner.” They got up and walked down the hall and up the stairs, down another hall and around the corner. “The room has already been set up for you, the bed should be warm and there should be everything you need in there, see you in the morning.” Bright Shield said before walking off towards his and Serenity’s room. Serenity had walked Derpy to her room and tucked her into bed before singing her a lullaby, it was one that she had heard before but couldn’t remember from where. She closed her eyes and began to make soft snoring sounds, Serenity smiled and kissed her forehead before walking back to her and Bright Shield’s room. The Doctor looked around his room, the bed was sitting against the wall beneath a window facing the back field which had a running track. He looked at it feeling weary but he wanted to go see the oven, if his own oven had sent them here maybe this oven could take them back. He waited a few minutes to make sure everypony was asleep and opened the door. “Oof!” Derpy had been standing just outside his room when he walked out and bumped into him as they both tried to step through the door. “My nose… hurts.” she said quietly. “Derpy what are you doing outside my door?” the Doctor asked in a hushed voice. “I came to be with you silly.” She said matter of factly, “I didn’t want to be all alone in that big room, besides I figured you wanted to go check out the kitchen.” “And here I thought you weren’t paying attention, it looked like you were too focused on the cake to think about looking for a way home.” “Silly Doctor, I never miss a single detail.” As she spoke she backed into a small table with a vase of blue flowers decorating the hall, the vase spun there for a second before falling. The Doctor quickly jumped forward and caught it, sighing as he set it back on the table. “That was close.” He said looking back at Derpy and frowning slightly. “Nice catch!” she said gleefully. The Doctor sighed and led the way to the kitchen. It was a huge room full of pots and fire pits set into the stone walls, a large island in the center for the preparation of the food. They looked around for the oven, after seeing everything else not expecting the same kind they had at home. The oven was set into the wall just like the fire pits, a large door that swung open with a little window to see inside covering the hole. The Doctor opened it and looked inside, almost expecting to just hear the same whooshing sound as before and be sucked back home. No such thing happened, all it was, was a typical oven, no whoosh. He looked back at Derpy and she looked at him and gave him a sad look. “It looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while,” the Doctor said sadly, “it’s not like we’re going to be able to look through every oven in the world, that wouldn’t even be productive, the only thing we can do from here is see what happens next.”
Something UnexpectedWeeks passed, the Doctor and Derpy were losing hope that they could find a way home. They watched the daily happenings of the ponies working about the manor. Every time they had the chance they’d sneak some nuzzling and some reassuring words. Bright Shield started noticing that they were hardly ever apart from each other. When they were apart, the Doctor would go into his room and work on clock things and Derpy would go into the kitchen when nopony was there and would come out with a tray of fresh baked muffins, she’d take them to the Doctor’s room though. He started following them wherever they went, out to the grounds, occasionally the forest out behind the grounds. They would wander and talk, and when they thought nopony was looking they’d steal kisses. He decided to do something about this behavior, he cornered them as they were walking out on the field. “So, as you two surely know, Serenity’s birthday is tomorrow… do you have anything for her, maybe some news?” he asked raising his eyebrows. Derpy looked at the Doctor. “No news, but I do have a present that I really want to surprise her with.” Derpy said with a smile. “Do you have any news for me then?” he asked looking at the Doctor. “The only thing I can think of is that I fixed your bedroom clock last night, I put it back this morning after breakfast.” the Doctor replied. “Nothing else?” The Doctor and Derpy both shook their heads and said in unison, “Nope.” “You know you shouldn’t lie to a man who’s daughter you love…” Bright Shield said as he walked away. The Doctor and Derpy gave each other awestruck looks, ‘since when did he know?’ they both thought. They walked off back towards the mansion for dinner, they were going to look behind them wherever they went from now on. Dinner was akward that night. The Doctor and Derpy didn’t dare look at each other at all, Serenity looked at the two of them curiously. “Is everything alright?” she asked unsure. “Um… no, nothing is wrong exactly.” Derpy said quietly. “Then why are you blushing Sweetness?” Serenity asked smiling. “You two still want to stick to your story?” Bright Shield asked. “Um… well… I…” the Doctor sputtered. “If you don’t say it then I will.” Bright Shield said menacingly. “Say what?” asked Serenity becoming more confused by the second. The Doctor looked at his food, his face beet red. Derpy had her face hidden from everypony. “Very well, I’ll say it.” Bright Shield said and turned to Serenity, “These two have been rather friendly with each other lately. I’ve seen them when they think nopony is looking, a little more than friendly.” “You’ve just now noticed this dear?” Serenity asked holding back a laugh. At hearing these words, the Doctor and Derpy practically sank beneath the table in embarrassment. “They’ve been doing that ever since he got here.” Serenity said struggling to keep her laughter in, the look on Bright Shield’s face was priceless. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about you two, in fact I’m happy. It’s nice that you like each other, we were starting to fear poor Sweetness wouldn’t ever find anypony to love.” “You’ve known from the start and didn’t say anything?!” Bright Shield said incredously. “Well I was unsure if you’d allow it, after all he is such a new face around.” “I… well… I am happy about it, but I’m not pleased at how I found out about this, I would have preferred that you tell me yourselves.” He said looking at the Doctor and Derpy who had been sinking deeper and deeper beneath the table as the conversation went on. When they finished their dinner, they all went up to their rooms. Derpy followed the Doctor to his room, not being cautious anymore now that everypony knew. When they entered his room the Doctor asked, “So why did we have to make that act exactly?” “I told you Doctor, with them finding out like this we don’t have to hide our feelings around them.” Derpy answered. “But like Bright Shield said, we could have just told them that we like each other, your plans are always so over complicated.” “That’s not fair Doctor,” Derpy said as tears started to form in her eyes, “You usually like my plans.” The Doctor pulled out a muffin and gave it to Derpy, she instantly cheered up. “You do have good plans it’s just this one was way too complicated.” “But wasn’t it kind of fun to act embarrassed for once?” “Well… kind of, yeah. The look on Bright Shield’s face, I almost died of laughter!” the Doctor said letting out a chuckle. The two of them fell over laughing, remembering how frusterated Bright Shield was getting at dinner. They ended up laughing themselves to sleep. The next day they were woken up by the butler telling them to get ready for the party. They quickly ran about the room putting on their nice clothes for Serenity’s birthday. They ran out into the field after they had dressed and met with the group of ponies waiting to start the party. “Sorry, overslept.” The Doctor said simply. Bright Shield gave him a curious look and the Doctor just gave him an akward smile. Serenity smiled at them and then turned to the table as the butler brought the cake out and set it in front of her. She blew out the candles and the party started. Everypony got a piece of cake and then the orchestra which had been set up at the end of the table started playing. It wasn’t long before everypony was up and dancing to the music or just chatting by the table. The Doctor and Derpy were dancing happily while ponies around them chatted excitedly. There came a sudden scream and everypony looked around. One of the maids was pointing to the forest, something was moving towards them. Ponies scattered everywhere as the newcomers started demolishing everything in sight. There were unicorns casting spells at random into the crowd, earth ponies ran through and grabbed a few of the guests including Derpy while pegasi flew overhead throwing rocks and other projectiles into the partygoers. “Derpy!” the Doctor cried as they took her and the other captured guests towards the forest. “Bring her back!” He started to chase them but something hit him hard in the back of the head and he saw no more. He could hear screams though they sounded distant and muffled.
Into the ForestThe Doctor was waking up in his room, the butler who stood over his bed ran out of the room as he noticed. The Doctor slowly sat up in his bed and looked around at the room. The butler came back with Serenity. "Time Turner! Thank goodness you're alright, you've been out for two days." she said as she hugged him. "Serenity? What happened?" he asked as she let go of him. "Don't you remember? The party was attacked by bandits, they took our Sweetness among others and killed several guests including Bright Shield." Serenity started to cry, dropping her head into the Doctor's covers. "What? But... what?" the Doctor said, bemused. Tears filled his eyes. "Turner, you need to save Sweetness. The bandits are surely quite a ways away." Serenity said, her head jerking up from the blankets. "Please, I don't know what I'd do if I lost her too." The Doctor jumped out of his bed and walked over to the window. "I promise I'll bring her back, and make the ponies responsible for this pay!" he said angrily. *** "You won't get away with this! The Doctor will save me!" Derpy said as her captors removed her gag to feed her. "He won't forgive you for this!" "Somepony put that gag back on her!" somepony called from the sky. "Seeing as how she decided to act out, she doesn't get any food today." "Yes sir!" the stallion who was attempting to feed the struggling pegasus. He put her gag back over her mouth and moved on to the next captive. The leader of the bandits stood over Derpy and said, "You really think that he'll come rescue you? You have a lot of faith in this Doctor, we'll see just how well placed that faith is in the end." The grey pegasus glared at him. "Even if he did find us, we'll be at the castle before he can reach us, it's not far away, another day's walk." He walked away laughing to himself. Derpy gave the ground a sad look, a tear fell from her eye. There was a small glint of light on the ground in front of her. She examined it closely, a small knife had been buried there. She didn't think about how a knife got buried there, she picked it up and cut her bonds. She looked around to make sure nopony was watching her and ran off into the thick wood. *** The Doctor was wandering through the forest, following the tracks that the bandits had left behind. He ran as fast as he felt comfortable with, not wanting to lose the trail. It didn't take long before he came across a campsite that had been vacated recently. He investigated the camp and found a trail of thin, light yellow, hair. He instantly recognized it as Derpy's. The Doctor set off at a run, following the trail his love had left for him. *** Derpy was running as fast as she could, the foliage overhead preventing her from flying. She could hear the hoofbeat of several ponies behind her, closing in. She came to a clearing in the trees and immediately took flight, leaving the earthbound ponies behind. There were still other pegasi in the air chasing her. She did everything she could think of to get rid of them but they remained on her tail. A rock came from the forest below, hitting one of the pegasi chasing Derpy, he fell from the sky and the other pegasi scattered, all except their leader who persisted. "Cowards!" he shouted back at his fellows. Derpy dived into the forest again in an attempt to lose him. Before she could land however, she caught a tree on her way to the ground and snapped off a few branches. She was able to keep going but she was injured, the falling branches caught the bandit leader beneath them and he fell hard into the ground. Derpy turned at the sound of the heavy pony thudding to the ground with the clattering branches and saw that he had one of his hind legs stuck beneath a large branch. She walked back over to him. "Are you okay?" she asked, circling around to look at his trapped leg. "Oh my! You're not alright at all. Here let me help you." She began to move the branch before something clicked in her head. "Wait, you gotta promise me that if I help you that you will let me go, okay?" The stallion looked over at her with contempt. "Fine." he said gruffly. Derpy continued to move the branch enough for him to get his leg out and dropped it when he was free. "Thank you." he said as he stumbled from trying to get up. "Here." Derpy offered her hoof to help him up. He smacked it away saying, "You've already helped enough, now get outta here before I change my mind about letting you go." She gave him a worried look, both of her eyes managing to focus on the struggling stallion in front of her. He managed to stand, shakily, and attempted to fly back to the others. Before his wings could extend to their full length however, he dropped again in pain, his wing was broken. Derpy grabbed him and lifted him up onto her back, she wasn't going to leave him here all alone and injured. 'He might never make it back to his friends.' she thought. She started walking back to the camp which she had escaped from earlier. "What are you doing?" he said incredulously, "You know if you go back then they will just tie you up and drag you with them, don't you?" "I can't leave you behind. After all, all living things are precious no matter their nature." she said, straining from his weight, her fore legs hurt a bit but she kept on going. The stallion on her back sighed. "You are a strange one, I'm indebted to you miss but I still serve my master. I can make sure you aren't mistreated but I still have to bring you to him..." he said, pausing, considering something before continuing, "My name is Thunderclash by the way, if you need something just ask for me." She smiled back at him, "Will do." Thunderous hoofbeats came from all around them, the earth pony bandits had caught up to them and surrounded them. One of them stepped forward and relieved her of the injured pony on her back. Two more stepped over, bound her wings and began escorting her back to the camp. They stayed silent but the were fidgeting, before long, they both gave her a bright smile and said, "Thank you for bringing our captain back miss."
