Chapter 3: Explanations
With The Doctor and Colgate in another TARDIS , Derpy and Applejack gathered the Mane Six at Twilight's library for some confusing explanations from the Wall-Eyed Mare.
"Is everyone here, Applejack?" Derpy asked. "Everyone is here and accounted for, Derpy! Now could ya please explain why Time Turner is actually called The Doctor, and what the hay is a TARDIS?". "Before I explain anything, know this: The Doctor has protected this entire planet several hundred times from every evil thing you can possibly imagine, but he does not want his identity to go public or else things much worse will try to conquer or destroy this world." Twilight Sparkle scoffed at this statement. "How can one pony save the world more than anypony I've ever read about? This just doesn't make sense!" Derpy began to look at the purple mare with both eyes, looking directly at her. It's as if this remark made her so angry that she straightened her eyes to make her point. "The Doctor saved you from Daleks, Cyberponies, Weeping Pegasi, and he even helped Starswirl the Bearded with a spell he was working on!"." I highly doubt that Derpy! No pony is that powerful!" Derpy responded "I have that same spell right here." Derpy pulled an old notebook out of her saddle bag and turned the pages. "Here we are! How to make a rainbow out of thin air" Twilight became intrigued by this and wanted to know the spell, despite what she said to the wall-eyed mare. "It is definitely Starswirl's handwriting." Twilight said, "But that would make The Doctor hundreds of years old! How is that possible?!" Derpy showed a smile on her face. "That's easy! He isn't a real pony, he's a Time Lord; and he is 963 years old!" All the ponies' faces dawned a shocked expression, indicating that what she had said sounded impossible.
Meanwhile in the TARDIS, The Doctor begins explaining to Colgate how to get rid of the maniacal Time Lord's consciousness and memories out of her head
"What you need to know about our race is they are trapped in time itself, waging an endless war all the while dying over and over again." The Doctor tried to contain his sorrow. "The reason this is that near the end of the Time War, as it was to be known as, the Time Lords came up with a solution. This solution was the genocide of the whole universe in order to 'obtain a form of life free from time itself'. I had to stop them in order to save all of creation. Not even Princesses Luna and Celestia would be safe." Colgate was beginning to understand his pain while the Time Lord inside her grew more aggressive and began attacking her mind, trying to get through and take over her body. "Agh! I think The Dentist is trying to get through again, except the pain is worsening! Doctor, can you save me?" The Doctor looked at the suffering pony, trying to figure out how to save both the Time Lord's life as well as the innocent mare's.
"I'm so sorry, but in order to save your life as well as The Dentist's, I will have to sew your minds together." Colgate didn't care what needed to be done, so she went along with the plan. "This procedure is called 'Memory Mending'. Its how Time Lords repair their minds during a Meta-Crisis. You will have the knowledge and wisdom of my people, but still keep your memories and personality." Colgate nodded and said "And what of the Time Lord's consciousness? Will it be spared too? I want to save it, but I also want to keep my personality too." The Doctor nodded back at this reply to show that he agreed. "The Dentist will exist, but only partially. This procedure will keep a small portion of the Time Lord's memories, but the insanity will no longer exist. You will be in complete control of your body and many of the choices you make. The other choices will be the logic of The Dentist at work, choosing the better choice for you, in a sense.". "Do it." The blue mare said.
The Doctor began meditating, gathering enough energy to harness a part of the power from the heart of the TARDIS in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres. As soon as his body and mind were prepared, The Doctor opened the heart and gathered enough energy to perform the procedure. "Quickly, sit in front of me, before all the energy is depleted!" Colgate did not hesitate and immediately kneeled before the Time Lord. "Now, look at your Cutie Mark. I know what I said earlier, just trust me; I'm a Doctor." The mare did as told and began unleashing the Time Lord buried deep inside of her, patiently waiting. As The Dentist was being released, The Doctor shot rays of light at the transforming pony, beginning the first step of the Memory Mend. Colgate slowly faded into nothing but a consciousness as The Dentist was becoming free. "AAAAAHHHH!" Colgate screamed and collapsed to the floor. A few moments later, the mare stood up, but with different eyes and a malicious smile on her face. "OOOOOHHHH, YEAH! So this is how it feels to be a pony! It feels strange… OH WELL!" The Dentist began laughing maniacally. "Now that I am free, I have some questions for you, DOCTOR!"
The scene changes back to the ponies listening to the adventures a young Derpy Hooves had with the doctor
"So, you mean to tell me you travelled all over the universe, all in the same day? That has got to be the awesomest thing, EVER!" Rainbow Dash said. The other ponies gathered in the living room of Twilight's Library looked in awe at the stories told by the wall-eyed mare. "Yep, and not just every place, but every time period too! I've been to Manehattan when it was just a settlement, I showed caveponies how to make fire with their magic, and I've even been to Ponyville back during Celestia's 350th year of ruling!" "Wow! That's so cool!" all the ponies said. Twilight, on the other hand, was still highly doubtful on what the mare said. "So, where is this 'TARDIS'? I want to see if it is for real." Derpy looked a little sad at this remark. "Well, see, that's the thing! I don't know!" Twilight's doubts seemed to be proven correct, until an all too familiar whooshing of a TARDIS engine was heard by Derpy and the ponies clueless to the sound. The TARDIS began materializing in the middle of the room, flashing into existence. "THAT, Twilight Sparkle, is the TARDIS!"
All the ponies stared at the blue box in the middle of the room for a few moments, and then Derpy pulled a key out of her saddle bag and put it in the lock. She turned the key and the door opened and revealed the familiar large room with a console in the center. She entered and the door shut behind her. Derpy walked up to the console and noticed a flashing button, one that doesn't normally flash. The mare pressed the button out of curiosity and a hologram appeared that looked like The Doctor. It said "Emergency Systems activated. Companion granted flight privileges. Recording attached to Emergency Systems. Would you like to hear it, Companion?" Derpy nodded at the hologram and it began to play the recording. "Derpy, if you are hearing this, it means I have found another of my species, and when that happened, my TARDIS locked on to your coordinates to keep you safe. The door will be deadlocked unless you want other ponies to travel with you. Most of the systems will not be able to be accessed, especially the heart of this TARDIS to you still. Everything else will be available to you. And Derpy," The hologram turned to face her and continued speaking; "We had a great run!" She almost burst to tears at this sorrowful message to her. Derpy opened the door to the other six ponies and began to tell them what just happened.
The scene goes back to The Doctor and The Dentist in a different TARDIS. The Dentist began to ask what happened to their race and the outcome of the Time War, becoming angrier and deadlier with each reply The Doctor gave her.
"You must understand; I had no choice, Dentist!" The Time Lord still showed resentment in her eyes as she began to become increasingly unstable. "Before I become any angrier at what you did to our people, I have one more question: Are there others that escaped?" The Doctor looked down and sighed. "There were a few that escaped. Some of them met their fate and were killed and others converted themselves to humans before they were discovered. One of these Time Lords was The Master. He was sent into the Un-Tempered Schism once he started hearing drumbeats in his head, which was a symptom of insanity. When he was found, he was no older than 136.". " And what of his TARDIS? Every Time Lord sent into exile is sent with one!" The Doctor looked saddened again at this question. "See, that's just it; he was never sent with one. That was the first day The President started to break the Council's Code. It wasn't until he was Head Lord when I realized he was corrupt."
The Dentist now began to realize why Rasillon and the rest of the Time Lords were trapped in a Time Lock by The Doctor. "So, we are the only ones left? There are no others?" The Doctor simply nodded as he saw there was no more explanation required. "Well, if we are the only two left in existence, I guess it's time I have a Doctor look at my head *chuckles*. Would you like to take a look at my head, Doctor?" The Doctor started to cry. "I would love to, Dentist." The procedure was finished a few hours later and when Colgate woke, she remembered everything The Doctor said to The Dentist, now lying in her subconscious perfectly sane. "Thank you, Doctor! You saved my life! Doctor, what's wrong?" The Doctor was grunting in pain a bit as his body began the regeneration process. "It's nothing, Colgate. When I absorbed the energy from this TARDIS' heart to begin your procedure, it began to wither my body. I'm sorry, but I will not be the same after this. When you exit the TARDIS, don't tell Derpy I am alive. She won't understand how or why I look like this, but you will. It must be this way, but I don't want to be different! I could've seen so much more, do much more!" The Doctor began sobbing. "THIS IS NOT FAIR! Agh! It's beginning! Leave now, Colgate! GO!" The blue mare nodded and sprinted as fast as she could out of the TARDIS and went to Ponyville. As soon as Colgate was out of the TARDIS, The Doctor screamed in pain and started to regenerate, his coat changing from a dark brown to a silky hazelnut. His mane changed from a dark brown to black. When he was done, The Doctor examined his new body and began talking. "Oh, new coat, I feel skinnier and what are these at my side? *gasps* I'VE GOT WINGS?! Brilliant! New body, new adventures! LET'S FLY, BABY!
The End….. Or is it?
Author's Note: Oh dang! A new regeneration?! And what about Derpy? She has access to the TARDIS now! What's going to happen in the next story? Find out in "A tale of two TARDISes"!