Chapter 5
The Doctor dropped everypony off at Iron Pony Company's primary office building. He informed them that they should emphasize that there was a Cyberpony and a Cyber Conversion Unit in the building when Dah Bomb blew it up, which the Doctor knew would be under investigation. Once he had a bit more free time, he would ensure that Dah Bomb would be completely safe from the law, by finding the remaining pieces of evidence in Dah Bomb's favor. Of course, the testimony of all the other surviving employees certainly didn't hurt, and Dah Bomb being the CEO's son was also in his favor.
He was very worried by the Silence's appearance, especially in a locked room with 4 other ponies in it. How could it have entered without tearing apart the room, or not have been noticed for nearly 20 minutes? The Silence was very powerful, the Doctor realized. They must be everywhere across the universe to be able to follow him like this, or in possession of machine like the TARDIS. He threw away this idea, knowing that the secrets of growing a TARDIS were lost during the Time War.
"Unless there are still seeds in Gallopfrey…" the Doctor muttered to himself, cataloging the information for a time when he had a better opportunity to use it. He'd been honing this skill for several years, beginning when the computer in the TARDIS started to act up. The computer still worked, but he'd trained himself to hold this information for, potentially, years. That reminded him of his next mission, this one having been waiting since he cast away the Time Ponies, following their attempted destruction of the universe.
An old enemy awaited him in Ponyville, an enemy he'd dealt with many times before, but it had never been easy.
Before he could deal with that, he had to pick up Derpy, because he knew that his nemesis would go after her if she wasn't protected. Then again, his nemesis would likely come after her, even if she was in the Doctor's protection.
He landed the TARDIS in Ponyville, a few days after when he dropped Derpy off, a few days from her perspective, at least.
He galloped out of the TARDIS, a bag of muffins in his mouth, hiding the crazed smile on his face. The one major advantage of time travel is, of course, the immense capacity he had for procrastination. So what if his arch enemy was coming to wreak havoc in his friend's home town? That might just be a few centuries away for the Doctor! Or, if he wanted, only moments awaited their epic battle.
The Doctor had no intention of immediately dealing with this immediate issue; he wanted to have fun. Fun was something that the Doctor valued immensely; it was almost a currency in his mind. It wasn't always that way for him, in fact, quite recently it was an expense he simply couldn't make much time for. Now, however, every moment he lived, every experience he had, every single breath he took, he awaited the next adventure that ended in laughs. Before, he would've made everything tense in the situation he was just in, locked in that room with those 4 ponies, but now, he was erupting with casualness, almost ignoring the immediate danger. It was a skill he'd never had before, the ability to switch off the seriousness of the situation, and ignore all the parts of life he disliked. Before, he'd still make jokes and have fun, but never as powerfully as he did earlier that day.
While he was locked in that room, discussing horror stories from the Ponynet, he remembered an old broadcast he'd heard, about a slightly mad pony that defeated Space Vikings on a faraway planet. At first, the Doctor couldn't imagine that was him, knowing that he was completely mad, not only slightly. Then, he realized that there was only one pony even slightly mad enough to fight against Space Vikings. And that, of course, was he.
He knocked on Derpy's door, formulating the beginnings of how he'd explain their next adventure to her.
There was no sound on the other side of her door, which worried the Doctor, knowing that he eventually paid for every happy ending he would ever have, and he wasn't keeping track of how many life credited him for in advance.
Then, right before he was about to sonic his way into Derpy's house, she appeared at the door, in what appeared to be her work clothes. The Doctor wasn't sure if he caught her right before or right after her shift, so he was about to ask, but Derpy looked far too happy about his appearance to allow him to.
"Doctor! You got me at the best time! I just finished delivering the mail for today, although there isn't much mail to deliver these days," Derpy said, her tone of voice revealing no intention to even take the time to change out of her work outfit.
"Don't worry, it's only a matter of time until the Ponynet makes delivery one of the biggest things Equestria has ever known, although, I'm not sure if that's a good thing for you personally, or a bad thing," the Doctor said, wondering midway through his statement if he should have told her about the future.
"It'll give me something to do while you're away, at least! So, what's on today's schedule?"
"I was thinking, just maybe, some muffins in space, and afterwards, we can go pay a visit to a faraway planet, maybe with some Space Vikings."
"Space Vikings?"
"Yes, Space Vikings. It sounds exactly like the right amount of cheesy to be just what I needed right now."
"What happened while you were away, Doctor?" Derpy asked, as she reached over to the Doctor's bag of muffins, trying to begin their space muffin fun a bit early.
"Something terrible…Anyway," the Doctor said, not wanting to discuss his journey to Clop, "Wait until we're in the TARDIS before you start devouring the muffins!"
Derpy recoiled from her attack on the muffins, dipping her head low apologetically, and said, "Sorry Doctor…"
"Its okay, Derpy, I understand what you're going through, I mean, these are really amazing muffins."
Derpy knew all about how amazing those muffins were. Although the Doctor didn't know it, she was known as much for her affinity towards muffins as she was for her eye condition, and the combination of which made it appear that she was rather…Well, derpy, actually.
The Doctor and Derpy walked together to the TARDIS, Derpy flying ahead about half of the way, looking forward to the muffins much too much to stay behind. The Doctor had a good feeling about the Space Vikings, a feeling he couldn't shake. His feelings had been wrong before, however.
Tune in Saturday for the next exciting episode of Whooves, Ragnarok in Space!
