Doctor Whooves

Chapter 0

The Transformation- Part 1

Silence. Nothing broke the stillness of the planet surface. Nothing moved in the stillness of the day until a light breeze began to form. The light breeze grew heavier, then a strange whirring sound began to follow. To many, this sound merely rose curiosity, to even more, the sound meant hope. A little blue police box began to fade into existence. The sound known all across time and space shook the stillness of the planet surface, the whirring noise echoing again and again, until at last the box became solid, resting on the ground.

Inside the box, where things were much bigger, a man in a light grey suit, with matching light grey pants (color wasn't his thing this time around) clapped his hands together, messing with some controls on a large, round console. His hair was blond and short, still not ginger unfortunately, and his eyes were a bright green. He was long past the eleventh version of himself, where things had gone a bit crazy and he ended up regenerating another couple of times that he didn't expect. He still had plenty to give to the universe, and now more time to do so. He was the Doctor.

The ride had been a bit bumpy, and a girl pulled herself up with a railing, laughing. She wore a blue vest and jeans, her straight, dark brown hair falling just beneath her shoulders. "That was so much fun," she said, chuckling.

"Here we are, Samantha, the planet Benzo, 62nd century." The Doctor smiled as he looked toward the TARDIS doors. "You're in for a treat."

"What's out there?" Samantha asked, moving next to the Doctor.

The Doctor raised up his arms as he moved away from the console, shouting in delight as he ran into another room of the ship. "Mountains!"

Samantha watched as he ran off, her face turning to a frown. "Mountains? And why are mountains such a treat?" she asked. "I don't consider a hiking trip exciting."

"It's exciting…" the Doctor shouted back from the room he was in. Samantha could hear the sounds of items being rummaged through, many things clanking on the floor as the Doctor searched for something. "Because…" after a few seconds more, the Doctor reappeared, holding two space suits, one in each hand. "The mountains are made of pure ruby."

"Oh!" Samantha's face lit up. "Now that's an incredible sight," she replied, jumping in excitement for a moment. "But… why the space suits?"

"Because these ruby mountains are extremely hot." The Doctor tossed Samantha her space suit. "It's a great sight to see, but it's dangerous, so I need you to stay near me and be careful."

"You keep telling me to be safe, and I keep reminding you that I have a getaway car if you get me in to too much trouble," Samantha said, holding up her wrist to show the Doctor the black device latched around it. "Vortex manipulator that I got from one of our trips to Earth. You know, if you found less companions from the 21st century and more from the 50th, some of us might actually know how to stay safe on an alien planet."

"Yes, yes, you have a vortex manipulator, but one that's missing a key component in the hardware." The Doctor began donning his suit. "It'll work, but I can't guarantee how many times it will work before it stops being any good, so save it for a good one, alright?"

"Right. No vortex manipulator unless absolutely necessary. Besides, I don't want to teleport away and have to chase you down." Samantha chuckled, and the Doctor returned the grin. She moved the vortex manipulator to the outside of the space suit, put on the gloves, and lastly, latched on the helmet. She nodded to the Doctor, signaling she was ready.

"Of course. Now then, mountains of pure ruby?"

"You bet."

The Doctor and Samantha had been traveling together for just over a year. Samantha used to work at an energy factory, until the entire factory exploded due to an internal attack on the systems. However, the Doctor was there when the accident took place, and saved her from the building's destruction. Since he had no companion at the time, and had never taken a companion aboard that wasn't completely oblivious to space travel, he thought it would be a nice change of pace, and Samantha's initial excuse was that it was better than searching for a new job. She never regretted the decision from then on.

The pair slowly made their way to the TARDIS doors. The Doctor pushed them open, and he and Samantha were greeted by a bright sight. Miles upon miles of pure ruby glistened in the rays of the nearby star, sparkling more than the finest jewelry in the universe. Peaks of all different shapes and sizes covered the landscape, all one fluid shade of crimson.

"Wow… just wow…" Samantha breathed, at a loss for words. "I can almost see through an entire mountain!"

"Beautiful," the Doctor added, taking in a deep breath. "Absolutely beautiful." He nudged Samantha, motioning forward. "Come on, you'll be able to tell all your friends you've gone hiking on a mountain of pure ruby."

The Doctor and Samantha began their walk, scaling the ruby landscape. There was nothing to disturb them; a peaceful silence overtook the two travelers. As they walked, they came across a few loose chunks of ruby, small enough to carry. Samantha decided she would get a necklace made out of some of this, and placed a chunk of ruby in one of her pockets.

"Space suits with pockets, you just never run out of ideas, do you?" Samantha said, starting to head for a good looking view point the Doctor had noticed.

"I never understood why there weren't pockets on them in the first place," the Doctor replied with a chuckle.

"So, tell me about the Benzolians." Samantha took care with her steps, not wanting to trip and fall.

"The Benzolians are hunters and trackers," the Doctor began. "They don't do much for large scale fighting, but you never want to get caught in a one on one situation with them. They keep to themselves really, not a very social race, but if they get paid to go after you or you happen to come across one when he's in a bad mood, they will do everything they can to kill you."

"And… we're walking on their mountains."

"Yes," the Doctor replied. Samantha began to give him a scolding look, but he laughed and waved it off. "Don't worry, these mountains aren't habitable for them either," the Doctor replied. "We won't find any Benzolians just walking about."

The two travelers continued their hike, pointing at various mountain peaks and taking in the sights. The mountains seemed to stretch on forever, covering several thousand square miles of the planet, even with how much had been mined for trading. When the Doctor reached the base of the view point he had noticed, he rushed for the top, leaving Samantha behind. Samantha shouted and chased after him, stumbling from having never worn a space suit like this.

"Come on! Gotta see the view from up here!" the Doctor shouted back to Samantha. He easily made it to the top first, taking in a deep breath as he gazed over the horizon, the whole mountain range shimmering. He closed his eyes, taking in the calmness of the moment as he reveled in something brand new, never seen in person by his eyes. A strong gust of wind began to blow through, and the Doctor opened his eyes to make sure he wasn't going to fall. He then wished he'd kept his eyes closed.

Samantha panted as she worked to catch up, learning how to run in the massive suit she wore. She saw the Doctor go very still.

"Hot, uninhabitable mountains on a planet with a guard in orbit constantly. I really don't see any point in scouting around."

"What was that last bit? The wind's picked up a tad," Samantha shouted, still heading for the top. With one final step, she arrived next to the Doctor, and when she looked up, her jaw slowly dropped.

In front of her was a small, hovering black ship. It looked like an average scout ship, hovering capability, minimal additions to the chassis, with one exception. The two large gun mounts pointing at Samantha and the Doctor.

"Oh," Samantha said. "So that's what the wind was."

"Just my luck, we come to Benzo and these paranoid aliens have scouts flying about on the planet surface," the Doctor said under his breath. He stared at the ship, looking for any weak point.

"Doctor," Samantha muttered, standing completely still. "Anything you can do with your sonic screwdriver? Maybe fry a few circuits?"

The Doctor beamed for a split second, then smacked his hand against his visor. "If I remembered to take it out of my suit pocket before putting on a space suit, yes," he replied.

"Great." Samantha sighed, rolling her eyes. She then slowly began moving her arms, placing her hands behind her back.

"STATE NAME AND PLANET OF ORIGIN." A deep, throaty voice bellowed from a speaker on the outside of the ship. The Doctor blinked, wishing he could scratch his ears a bit after that.

"Um, I'm John Smith and this is Samantha, we're traveling merchants from Gradus Four," the Doctor shouted.

"HOW DID YOU GET PAST OUR ORBITAL GUARD?"

"They said we could come down to the planet and walk about for a bit-"

"NO ONE IS ALLOWED ON THE SURFACE OF BENZO BESIDES US, YOU ARE A LIAR." The Doctor sighed, quickly trying to think of something else. "YOU, FEMALE," the voice continued. The ship turned slightly towards Samantha. "REMOVE YOUR ARMS FROM BEHIND YOUR BACK. BOTH OF YOU PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, NOW."

The Doctor complied, raising his hands up. "No need to hurt us, we comply," the Doctor shouted. "Samantha, do as he says," he added under his breath.

Samantha was fidgeting around slightly, a stressed look on her face. "Just a second," she whispered, keeping her hands behind her back.

"Samantha, do it now and we might not get shot."

Samantha fidgeted for another moment, then raised her hands up. "Sorry, I'm a bit slow," she shouted in the direction of the ship.

"LYING AND DELAYED COMPLIANCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED," the voice replied. "I WILL DEAL WITH YOU PERSONALLY." The sound of the weapons charging up could be heard, and a green aura became visible from inside the barrel.

"Doctor, grab my arm," Samantha muttered quickly.

"Why?" the Doctor asked.

Samantha rolled her eyes again, sighing. "Because I want you to hold me before I die. Just do it!"

"The Doctor looked at Samantha, and his eyes widened when he realized what she intended. He lunged forward and grabbed her arm with both hands.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Sorry Mr. Benzolian, I've got a getaway car." Samantha swung her right hand over to her left, pressing the final button needed on her vortex manipulator. In a flash, she and the Doctor disappeared from the Benzolian's sight.

()

With another flash of light, the Doctor and Samantha reappeared inside the TARDIS, both of them breathing heavily from adrenaline.

"Ok, I'd say that was a good one," Samantha said, taking off her helmet and throwing it to the side.

"Yes, now we need to get out of here before they find the TARDIS," the Doctor said, quickly removing his helmet and rushing to the console. He took his gloves off on the way there, and began manipulating various controls and buttons with one hand while trying to get the suit off with the other.

"Any time would be lovely!" Samantha replied, running across the TARDIS to throw her space suit in the room she had seen the Doctor take it from.

"I'm going!" The Doctor turned a dial and pulled a lever while desperately trying to shake his right leg free of the suit, the only ligament left inside. He turned away from the console, distracted by the suit, and before he could kick free, a loud crack shuddered through the TARDIS, and the entire ship rumbled about. The Doctor stumbled and fell, and Paige threw herself on a railing to stay upright.

"I think they found us!" Samantha yelled.

The Doctor used his hands to push off the last bit of the suit, then scrambled to his feet. "What did they do to you?" The Doctor looked at his monitor, opening up a damage report. "Oh, that's not good."

"What's not good?"

"They damaged the TARDIS more than I thought with that blast," the Doctor explained. Soon after speaking they were hit with another blast, shaking the entire ship about once more. The Doctor grabbed the monitor again. "We were luckier on that one. We can't travel through time, but we can still travel through space. I'm going to try and run." He began pushing more buttons, and the engine of the TARDIS began to move.

"We're going to try to run from some off the most well-known hunters in the universe?"

"Well, I didn't say it was a great idea, but right now it's our only option!"

The TARDIS lifted off the surface of Benzo, quickly taking off into space. Several scout ships had joined the first one, their weapons charged to full, and they quickly turned upwards, following suit.

Once outside the planet's atmosphere, the Doctor began evasive maneuvers, flying the TARDIS this way and that as more laser blasts whizzed by. The Doctor sped up, and the Benzolians had no trouble doing the same, getting closer and closer to hitting the TARDIS again.

A message came through to the TARDIS, and automatically began playing. "SURRENDER AT ONCE, YOU WILL BE DESTROY-"

The Doctor slapped the transmission off, then stretched his fingers out. "Help me work the controls, we can do this!"

Samantha moved to the side of the console opposite from the Doctor, manipulating controls as he instructed. Three Benzolian ships continued to follow them, but their shots were now missing by much more. The TARDIS whirled about, performing feats that no other ship could possibly do, dodging blast after blast. Sparks continued to fly from the walls and the console now and then, the TARDIS pushing itself given the extent of the damage.

"Try the red lever!" the Doctor instructed, and Samantha pushed it down. The Doctor checked the monitor again, and dug his nails into the top of his head. "Ahg, I can't get any more speed out of the TARDIS! We have to find a way to lose them." He continued to press various buttons as he looked at the monitor, performing evasive maneuvers while at the same time searching for any way out of this mess. "Oh!" Excitement appeared on the Doctor's face, and Samantha lightened up as well, ready for some good news. "There's a temporal storm nearby! Oh…" The Doctor checked the monitor again. "Bit of a big temporal storm…" he mumbled to himself, then resumed shouting to Samantha. "The TARDIS could get through it, but their ships couldn't. If we go in, we could lose them, but…"

The Doctor had that look on his face that Samantha knew too well. There was always a catch. "But what?" Samantha asked.

"But I've never flown in to a temporal storm with a damaged TARDIS," the Doctor said. "I don't know what will happen. But it's our only option at the moment." The Doctor looked down, thinking, working his brain to come up with something that would save, him, Samantha, and the TARDIS. His options were slimming by the second, but losing any one of the three was not an option. A difficult decision needed to be made. He looked back up towards Samantha. "Samantha, is your vortex manipulator still working?"

Samantha took her hands off the console, fighting to keep her balance as the TARDIS continued to twist and turn through space. She examined her wrist. "Yes, but why-"

"I think we have another good one." The Doctor's eyes were steady, and he gazed at Samantha with an expression of sadness.

Samantha did a double take. She had always joked about being able to jump away at the sign of big trouble, but now she couldn't. "I can't just leave you-"

"I can't lose the TARDIS, so I have to stay," the Doctor interrupted. "But there's nothing you can do if flying through the temporal storm goes badly. I could end up any time, any place, and who knows how much damage the TARDIS will take. I need you to go."

The Doctor stared at Samantha, and she stared back. She had traveled with the Doctor for so long, gone on so many adventures with him, and she felt like they had escaped from worse than this. She couldn't leave with the possibility that this would be goodbye. But another successful blast from the Benzolians shook the TARDIS hard, and as she and the Doctor fought to stay standing, sparks flying this way and that out of TARDIS machinery, she knew that the Doctor was right, and there was no time to argue. She slowly rose her wrist, setting coordinates to land near home. A tear ran down her face as she finished, and her hand trembled on the button. "Don't you die on me, Doctor. I'll find you."

The Doctor couldn't take away the look of pain from his eyes, but he turned his mouth to a smile. "I look forward to it."

The Benzolians were learning quickly, and yet another blast managed to hit the TARDIS. The Doctor's face returned to one of seriousness, silently urging Samantha to go. After one second more, Samantha pressed the button, jumping through time and space, away from danger.

"Right then, temporal storm, here I come." The Doctor hastily worked more controls, now having to pilot on his own. With skill and a bit of luck, he managed to avoid taking any more laser blasts as he flew straight towards the storm. As the TARDIS and Benzolians reached the outer edge, the Benzolian ships halted their pursuit, and with a deep breath, the Doctor kept right on flying.

"Perfect!" The Doctor clapped his hands together, grinning triumphantly when he saw the Benzolians give up. "Now, let's see if I can avoid any really bad pockets of this-"

A particularly large explosion of sparks from the consol sent the Doctor flying back, and he crashed on to the floor as the TARDIS began to creak and moan. He rose and ran back towards the consol, grabbing on to the monitor to avoid soaring across the room again as g forces began to pull him in every which direction.

Looking at the monitor, he saw readings that he had never seen before. "What in the world is going on?" He manipulated a few controls, trying to figure out what these readings meant, and nothing changed. "Well this is different-"

With another explosion from the console, the Doctor flew back again. This time, his head smacked into the wall, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

()

The Doctor coughed and sputtered as he awoke. He moaned and rolled over to his back, breathing slowly. Every inch of his body ached. He could still hear the occasional flurry of sparks shooting out from places, but there was no more storm. He had landed somewhere.

"Ugh…" the Doctor groaned, pain shooting through every muscle as he struggled to his feet. He trudged towards the console, swaying a bit, his eyes mostly closed from the pain of light hitting his eyes. "I must've really hit my head hard. Console looks taller…"

The Doctor braced himself on the console, and stared up at the monitor while struggling to push a few buttons. His fingers seemed to refuse to work with him. "Alright, where did we land old girl?" the Doctor asked.

After somehow managing to push the right buttons, the monitor blinked on. That was a good sign, the TARDIS still had some energy and working parts. After several seconds, the monitor displayed a location and time.

"You're kidding," the Doctor said, dumbfounded. "I flew into a temporal storm with a badly damaged ship, I could have landed anywhere in the universe or not landed at all. And where do I land? Earth. 21st century." He lowered himself off the console, shutting his eyes tightly a few times and slowly adjusting them to light again. At last, he opened his eyes wide, for now ignoring the bits of metal and scrap everywhere from a good portion of the ship falling apart. "Let's take a look at where I landed."

The Doctor pushed the TARDIS doors open, greeted by a sunny day. A light breeze created a perfect temperature, soothing his stressed mind. He found himself in a grassy field. A dirt path was a few hundred feet away, leading to what looked like a small town that connected to several other towns in the distance. Perhaps it was one big city, but to the Doctor's surprise he had no idea where he was. He returned his examination to the area near him. Ponies ran about in the field, playing and relaxing under the few trees that were around.

"Wait, what?"

Ponies. Bright, multicolored ponies. The Doctor knew Horse, and they weren't speaking it. They were speaking English.

"What?"

Everywhere the Doctor looked, a pony with a different colored coat, mane and tail. All of them had strange images on their rear hips, adding to the confusion the Doctor was experiencing.

"But this is Earth, 21st century," the Doctor said to himself. "What happened to all the people? And hold on-" he looked at the TARDIS door, or rather, looked up at it. "Since when is the TARDIS so tall? I wasn't imagining it at the console earlier. Did I shrink? Or…"

The Doctor's eyes bulged, and he slammed the TARDIS door shut, running as fast as he could. He bolted in to a different room of the TARDIS, one that had a full body mirror. When he reached the room he stopped abruptly, unable to stop staring. He slowly approached the mirror, in denial of what he saw.

Where his reflection should be stood a pony. The body was white, and the mane and tail were both yellow. The tail hung down straight, with no real style to it, and the mane rested on the left side of his neck, with the top forming bangs that hung just above the eyes. The Doctor looked down, seeing the same hooves that he saw in the reflection, proving that this mirror hadn't transformed into a window.

"What."