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"Today!" Rassilon bellowed.  "The Time Lords return!  Today, Gallifrey rises AGAIN!"

He failed.  On this day, no amount of cleverness, or courage, or determination could save them.  Standing in front of all the Time Lords amongst the ruins of London's Piccadilly Circus, The Doctor had failed the Human Race.  Signs were fallen, and the statue of Eros was split in half.  In the sky, an orange sphere was drawing ever closer, but nobody was around to notice it anymore.

"Do you understand what you've done?!  Six billion innocent people, lost forever!"  The Doctor was furious, but he could do nothing, except hope for his escape route.  He signaled for it.

"Why is it so difficult, Doctor?  You destroyed us, your own race, without a second thought.  I had thought you held the same contempt for all races!"

"I had to destroy you!  You were going to end all of Time!"

"You are a TRAITOR to the Time Lords!  And the punishment for treason is DEATH!"  Rassilon hurled energy at the helpless Doctor, but was interrupted by the materialization of The Doctor's TARDIS.  "What?"  This hesitation allowed The Doctor just enough time to dash towards the door.  Rassilon got one final blow on him before he was able to lock the door, but he was still in danger.

"Anytime, anywhere!"  The Doctor frantically fiddled with the controls as he felt the shockwaves of the vengeful Time Lord President's attacks on the TARDIS.  He could overload it with enough energy to cause it's destruction if he didn't escape now.  The TARDIS started to dematerialize, and soon... stillness.  "YES!  Ha HA!"  He had escaped.  He could go back and fix things now, except the danger alarms started going off.  "What?!  No!  No, no, no, no, no!"  The systems were going haywire.  The TARDIS had been compromised.  Rassilon had done enough damage to the dimensional stabilizers, and now it was out of control.  Worse yet, The Doctor felt a sharp pain in his chest and noticed his hands starting to glow.  "No... not like this!  I need to fix--GAH!"  Another sting.  The process was underway, and it could not be helped.  "I just... need... more... time..."  The Doctor fainted.  And while he was unconscious, he took a new form, unlike any he'd ever taken in nearly 1,000 years of traveling.

The Worst of Times

by

Maverick Vox

It was a normal day in Ponyville, or as normal as it can be when there's a Pinkie Pie party involved.  It wasn't even a special occasion, it was just a party for the sake of a party, which most ponies agreed were the best ones.  Things looked to be going smoothly inside Sugarcube Corner, when unbeknownst to everypony inside, a blue box began materializing somewhere in the sky.  As it drew closer to the ground, there was a noise that seemed to grow louder and louder.  Twilight Sparkle was the first to notice it.

"... a spell to go back in time, but it's just..."  Her ears perked up as the noise faded in.

"Just what?" another pony asked.

"Quiet, everypony," Twilight said.  "Something isn't right..."

As the noise grew louder, the party came to a standstill.  Except for Pinkie, who didn't notice anything.

"Wooo!  Come on, everypony!  Let's boogie!"  Pinkie continued dancing by herself until...

CRASH

"Yah!"  Pinkie suddenly fell down before rushing outside with the partygoers.  A strange blue box continued to float and crash along the main road like a rock skipping across a pond, until it finally came to a stop, somehow managing to stay upright.  At this point, even the mayor was out as a crowd began to gather around the strange contraption.  Murmurs of everything from alien activity to an attack by the Griffons started to flow.

"But why would the Griffons attack?" asked Bon Bon.

"Well, that Gilda was a big jerk, it may be just her," Lyra replied.

"Remain calm, everypony," said the mayor as she walked over to Twilight.  "Notify Princess Celestia immediately.  She should be informed of this."

"I will, but what should we do in the meantime?"

"I'm not quite sure.  It would be a bad idea to leave it alone.  We should all take turns watching over it until we get an official response or something happens.  Agreed?"

There seemed to be no other option.  The ponies took one-hour shifts standing watch around the mysterious object that fell out of the sky.  Most of them sniffed around it.  A few tried to open it, but couldn't.  Later that night, it was Rarity's turn, taking over for Applejack.

"You sure you wanna do this, sugarcube?"  Applejack thought highly of Rarity, but she didn't know if she could stay with such a boring task.  "I could stay out here another hour."

"Nonsense," Rarity replied.  "We all agreed to take a turn, and now it's mine.  Run along, get some rest, I'll be fine."

"Well, all right.  Don't fall asleep, now."

"Oh, Applejack, would I do something like that?"

Approximately half an hour later, Rarity was fast asleep.  It hadn't mattered, there had been no activity with the odd blue box.  Rarity awoke when she heard a cough, but it was just a pegasus after clearing a cloud, who then exclaimed, "Stupid allergies!" before flying off.

Rarity was about to close her eyes again, when she heard a thunk from inside the blue box.  Startled, she circled the box, and one side of it opened to reveal a golden glow, and the shadowed figure of a colt on his hind legs, leaning against the door.  The colt tried to step forward, but immediately tripped over himself.

"This is bad," the colt muttered.

"Excuse me," Rarity asked, "are you all right?"

"Oh, good!  Someone's there!"  The colt let out a sigh of relief.  "I'm fine, really.  No I'm not.  Something feels different... I feel weird, I feel strange, I feel positively... equine."

"... and?"  Rarity was standing in front of the strange colt.  Brown coat, scruffy mane, very unkempt, looked like he'd been through a war recently.

"'And?'  What do you mean, 'and?'  Do you think it's normal to wake up feeling like a--"  He froze mid-sentence as he looked up at Rarity.  He paused for a moment.  "Pardon me, but... you're a unicorn."

"Yes, I am."  Rarity was a little bit annoyed at the obvious statement.

"You're a unicorn, and you TALK."

"And you are a talking Earth Pony.  What is your point?"

"Earth Pony?  I'm not an Earth Pony.  I'm not a Pony at all.  I'm a Time Lord."

"Time Lord?"

"Long story."  The strange colt once again tried to walk on his hind legs, but this time Rarity caught him as he tripped.

"I hope you appreciate that I'm getting my hooves dirty to catch you."

"Thank you for that, but I'm a bit confused by all of this... the weight distribution is too top-heavy.  And I can't feel my toes..." the colt tried to scratch his chin, but something felt weird about the way his hand felt, so he took a look at it.  "AAAH!"  He leapt back a bit.  "My fingers!"

"Fingers?"  Now Rarity was more confused than the colt.

"My beautiful fingers!  I had so many of them!  They were so good to me!"  He was yelling madly at his hooves.  "I actually AM a horse!"

"Pony," Rarity insisted.

"Fine, Pony, but... still!  This will take some getting used to..."  Suddenly, another noise came from the blue box.  The door had closed.  "What?  No, no, NO!"  The colt turned to the door, but it was locked.  "This has NOT been a good day!"  He suddenly turned to Rarity.  "You, um, unicorn... lady... pony..."

"Rarity."

"Rarity?  Oh, I like that name.  That's a cool name.  Rarity.  Any idea if there is a place I could wash up or some--GAH!"  He suddenly felt another sharp pain, but then coughed up a bit of gold smoke.  "Ah, that's better.  So, any idea where I can rest until my box repairs itself?"

"Um... I could go get some help, but..."

"'But?'  But is never good.  I hate buts."

"How can I trust you won't run off on your own?"

"Look, I am not used to this form yet.  I can barely walk, much less run.  But if it is what it takes to get you to trust me, then I will look you in the eye and swear to you, I am not going anywhere."

Rarity looked in the colt's eyes, and it was good enough for her.  But where to go?  Sugarcube Corner was the closest, but there was no way she'd introduce him to Pinkie Pie yet.  Sweet Apple Acres was too far away, she couldn't fly up to Rainbow Dash, and she didn't want to wake up Fluttershy... but the library was nearby, and Twilight had a tendency for late-night study sessions.  Rarity glanced at the town clock.  10:36, plenty of time.

"Stay here," she ordered before dashing off.

"Stay here," the colt muttered to himself.  As if he could've gone anywhere.  Still, might as well try and get acclimated to his new form.  He gently tried to stand, but on all four legs this time.  "Okay, this works..."  He put one hoof forward, then another.  "Okay, I might get the hang of this after all!"  He slowly circled his blue box and managed not to fall.  But now what?  He had time to think, about his new form, his surroundings, but one thing rushed back to his mind -- the loss he suffered.  No more humans... no more Earth.  Yet he was described here as an Earth Pony, so what did that mean?  "I hope you repair yourself soon, old girl," he said as he nuzzled his beloved blue box.

Meanwhile, Rarity had reached the library and was knocking frantically.  "Twilight!  Open up, please!"  The door opened, to a very cross-looking Twilight, but Rarity hadn't noticed.  "Oh, thank goodness.  I need you to come with me right away--"

"Rarity, you're supposed to be guarding the box!"

"Yes, but--"

"How could you abandon your responsibility like that?"

"But I--"

"And you disturb me while I'm trying to research what the box is?"

"IT OPENED!"  This had done it.  This silenced Twilight.

"Opened?"  Twilight became very worried.  "What was in it?"

"A colt!  A brown colt!"

"And you left him alone?  Are you CRAZY?!"

"Look, he's not going anywhere.  Just come with me.  No time to lose."

That was it.  They rushed back to the crash site, and true to his word, the figure of the mysterious colt was leaning against the blue box.  "Hello!" Rarity called out.  The colt turned around.

"Rarity!  And you brought a friend!"  The colt very slowly staggered towards the two unicorns.  He was very shaky and his knees were buckling, but he was moving.  "Sorry, still getting used to this."

"Is he okay?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know," Rarity replied.

"You're a unicorn too?" the colt asked Twilight.  "Have I landed in a town of unicorns?"

"Oh, no, there are plenty of Earth Ponies and Pegasi too," Rarity explained.

"Pegasi?  I'd love to meet a Pegasus one day."

"Hold on a second."  Twilight stopped the conversation.  "Who, or what are you?"

"Oh, yes, how rude of me," the colt replied.  "I haven't properly introduced myself.  I'm The Doctor."

"Doctor who?" Twilight asked.

"Just... The Doctor."

"That's a weird name," Twilight said as she shook her head.

"No it's not, it's a cool name, like Rarity.  So what are you called, miss purple?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle."

There were a few moments of silence.

"BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!  And you say The Doctor's a funny name!  Ooh, how rude of me.  I don't like that."  The Doctor talked to himself for a bit.

"Is he always this way?" Twilight whispered to Rarity.

"How would I know?  I've only known him for five minutes," Rarity answered.  "But he needs a place to rest."

"Let me go get the mayor," Twilight said before teleporting away.

"The Mare?  Is everything a horse pun here?"  The Doctor turned to see only Rarity.  "How'd the other one leave?"

"Teleportation."

"Really?  That's brilliant.  Can all unicorns do that?"

"It's a very advanced kind of magic.  Only Twilight has been able to master it like that as far as I know."

"Hmmm, that might prove useful.  So where are we?  Trottingham?  Marechester?  Newstable upon Tyne?"

"Ponyville."

"Ponyville?  I must say, I find that a little disappointing.  I was expecting something a little more punny, like, oh, I don't know... Fillydelphia, or something."

"That's a much bigger city out East."

The Doctor's mouth hung open for a bit.  "You mean to tell me that there is an actual city called Fillydelphia?!"

"Trottingham and Marechester, too.  Never heard of Newstable upon Tyne, though."

At that point, Twilight teleported back with a slightly singed mayor.

"Honestly, Twilight," said the mayor, "we could have walked."  She then took notice of The Doctor.  "Oh, hello, um... 'Doctor', is it?"

"Yes.  I assume you're the mayor?"

"Indeed.  I must say, we've got quite the predicament.  I understand you need a place to stay, but we can't leave you unguarded."

"Why not?" Rarity asked.

"What she said," The Doctor concurred.

"Well, we don't know why you're here.  As far as we know, you could be a dangerous criminal of some kind," Twilight answered.  "We can't risk you going anywhere for a while."

"I like you," The Doctor told Twilight.  "You're smart.  Never, ever, leave an unfamiliar who drops out of the sky in a blue box unguarded!  Well done, Twilight Sparkle... that's still kind of a silly name to say out loud, I'll have to get used to that.  Do most ponies have names like that?  I know most cities here do, but... Look at me, I'm rambling, where were we?"

The Mayor spoke up.  "You're a strange pony.  Where can we keep you?"

"I have a spare room."  Eyes darted towards Rarity.

"You?"  Twilight was befuddled.  "No offense, Rarity, but I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Why not?  I found him.  I should get to keep him!"

"Um, hello?"  The Doctor got their attention.  "I'd appreciate if you didn't talk about me like a pet when I'm right here."

"Sorry," said Rarity sheepishly.

"Anyway, I'd love to stay with you.  I promise not to be too much trouble," The Doctor said as he smiled.

The Mayor seemed tired.  "Okay, it's settled.  Now I'm going back to bed."

"Shall I teleport you back?" Twilight asked.

"NO!" the Mayor replied before dashing off.

"... well, that was odd," said Twilight.  "You sure you'll be able to handle him?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine."  Rarity smiled and turned to The Doctor.  "Come on.  You'll like the place I have."

After a short while, The Doctor was trotting along at a leisurely pace, keeping up with Rarity.  "Hey!  It's not so hard!  I should be able to go at full gallop by morning!"

Rarity was quite amused by her new friend.  He was full of intrigue, the self-proclaimed "Time Lord".  What was the blue box?  Where did he come from?  What was he before?  Why an hourglass cutie mark?

"Hello?  Why are you staring at my bum?"

"WHAT?!"  Rarity quickly got a hold of herself.  "Oh, sorry, I was just admiring your cutie mark."

"My what?"  The Doctor let out a sigh.  "This terminology will take some getting used to..."

"I'll explain in the morning.  Here we are!"  They had arrived at the Carousel Boutique.

"You live here?!"  The Doctor stared at the enormous building.  The moonlight was particularly kind to it's features, reflecting perfecly off of the windows and various decorations.  The carousel horses were particularly shining.

"Live and work, yes.  Do you like it?"

"LIKE it?!  It's brilliant!  What do you do here?"

"I make clothes and decorations.  Some ponies like to dress up for special occasions, some need costumes for plays, others just like the feel of clothes."

"Hmmm..."  The Doctor thought to himself, "I might need a suit later... I miss pockets."

They entered the boutique, which was kind of creepy at night, what with the dressform mannequins strewn about.  The same moonlight that made the exterior shine so beautifully was now coming in through the windows, giving the mirrors and dressforms an eerie glow.  The Doctor happened past a mirror and begun to examine himself.

"Oh, come on!  Even as a Pony, I'm not ginger!"  Still, after the initial frustration of being not-ginger for the third straight form, he thought he looked okay as a Pony.  His mane reminded him of his hairdo two incarnations ago; about the same brown color, slightly spiky, but no sideburns, and he had the image of an hourglass on his rear.  "That must be my 'cutie mark.'  Ugh," he thought to himself, "that still sounds so cheesy, even in my head."

"Done admiring yourself, Doctor?"  Rarity was standing on the staircase.

"Oh, yes.  New form, new look, had to see for myself.  Not bad, actually."  He followed up the staircase as Rarity led him to his temporary living quarters.

"You'll be sleeping here," she said, opening the door to a rather small room.  The bed was an adequate size, though, and that's what mattered.  "Usually, my little sister sleeps here when she's over.  I hope it's enough."

"It's lovely, I assure you it'll be fine.  Thank you for your generosity and hospitality."

"Good night, Doctor."

***

There had been no warning... no sense of it at all.  Suddenly, out of the sky, Gallifrey was coming, but how... of course!  How had he been so stupid!  He re-started the Universe, that somehow included a memory of Gallifrey as he last knew it... corrupted in the Time War.  They were free to attack, and they came with no warning... but how?  The Master was supposed to be the link, but he was nowhere to be found.

It mattered not.  Nothing did, now, as he held his last friend in his arms.  All was lost.  If only he could... if only he could...

***

"AAAH!"

The Doctor awoke with a scream.  It was a dream, no, a nightmare.  He was still a Pony.  He began to wonder if there actually was a Night Mare who was responsible for putting bad dreams in Pony's heads when Rarity entered.  She didn't go through her usual beauty sleep routine because somehow, she expected something like this.

"Doctor?  Are you all right?"

The Doctor sighed.  "Yes, I'm fine... just... a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No..."

Rarity went over and plopped herself on the bed next to The Doctor.  "It's okay."

The Doctor smiled.  "Well, I must say you've adapted rather well to me, so it couldn't hurt to tell you more... remember how I said I was Time Lord?"

"Yes."

"It's a species.  I'm a Time Traveller.  I am 914 years old, and I've been everywhere and everywhen... except here.  For the first time, I don't have a clue what I'm doing.  I don't know whether this is another dimension or another universe, and that's not the worst part."

"What's the worst part?"

"The worst part is that the last two worlds I loved were destroyed.  And I was responsible for them both."  Rarity let out a slight gasp.  "Rarity, trouble follows me everywhere I go.  As soon as my blue box fixes itself, I am going to go inside it and run, because I don't want this world to suffer the same fate."

"What if you can go back and prevent it?"

"I can't.  I don't even know how to get out of this dimension.  I don't even know where I am."

"What if we can help?  Twilight knows just about everything, we can figure something out."

The dawn was breaking and light began to shine through the window.  The Doctor went over to look at it and he was kind of awestruck.  He crossed his front hooves on the windowsill.

"You know, in over 900 years of travels, it's amazing how a sunrise never gets old."

"Oh, yes.  Princess Celestia raises and sets the sun every day."

"It's mechanical?"

"It's magic.  Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Magic," The Doctor thought to himself.  "Of course."  He stared out the window, where a few ponies were out and about.  He noticed a blue unicorn snooping around his blue box.  He looked closely and saw her cutie mark -- an hourglass, like his.  "Rarity," he called, pointing at the unicorn, "who is that?"

Rarity went closer to the window.  "That's Colgate, the town dentist."

"What are cutie marks?"

Rarity was a little confused at the sudden change in mood and questioning.  "A cutie mark signifies what your special talent is, it's what you're good at."

"What does yours mean?"

"Well, I use gems a lot in my designs, and my horn has a knack for finding gemstone deposits."

"Okay, and your friend, Twilight Sparkle, what's her mark and what does it mean?"

"Well, she's particularly adept at all kinds of magic and she loves astronomy, so it's stars, and the formation represents the Elements of Harmony."

"Elements of Harmony?  Never mind, not important right now.  So answer me this."  The Doctor looked at Colgate.  "Why would a dentist have an hourglass as a cutie mark?"

A sudden realization came over Rarity's face.  She had never questioned Colgate's job and the relation to her cutie mark before.  Could there have been another "Time Lord" in Ponyville all along?

"One last question."  Rarity looked up at The Doctor, who was now grinning.  He asked, "Could you make me a suit?"

Rarity smiled.  "It would be my pleasure."

TO BE CONTINUED...

After an awkward experience with his first shower as a Pony ("How the devil am I supposed to hold the soap?"), The Doctor had managed to put on the suit Rarity designed for him.  A blue suit, dark shade of royal, with pinstripes and a bright red tie.  He was amazed at how it worked.  The tie in particular was a marvel in that he was able to slip it on without a problem.

"Do you like it?" Rarity asked, eager with anticipation as she helped Twilight Sparkle pull in a cart of books.

"I think it's brilliant!" The Doctor replied, looking himself over.  "Although, could I get a hat?  Maybe something like a fez?  Do Ponies have fezzes?"

"Honestly, darling, a fez?  That would be so garish, and completely ruin that wonderful look."

The Doctor looked a bit disappointed before he turned to the book cart.  "So what have we got here?"

"Everything you asked for," Twilight answered.  "History of Equestria, Geography of the world, Cosmology, Magic, although I have no idea how you're going to read all of this."

The Doctor picked up a geography book and flipped through the whole thing before setting it aside.  "Odd, some of the countries are the same."  Within minutes, he had analyzed and memorized all of the books, as Twilight's jaw hung open.  The Doctor explained, "It's just something Time Lords can do.  Okay, so, what do you say we go to the dentist?"

The Best of Times

by

Maverick Vox

Colgate had one appointment, rather early in the day.  She was constantly surprised that even though most diets consisted of almost nothing but sweets, there was very little tooth decay in Ponyville.  Still, that made her job a lot easier, and today, she welcomed it.  It would give her another opportunity to sniff around that blue box.  She used her horn to grab a box and put it in her patient's saddlebag.

"Well, Mr. Davenport, this should take care of your weakening enamel.  Brush with this toothpaste twice a day, and cut down on the sodas."

"Thanks, Colgate.  I got a shipment of quills that I need to bring in, so I better head out," her patient replied.

"And that sofa I ordered?"

"It'll be delivered on Thursday, ma'am!"  Davenport smiled and left the innocuous office.  "Oh, hello," he said as he passed Rarity, Twilight, and The Doctor.  When he was out of earshot, The Doctor turned to Rarity.

"A Quill and a Sofa?  That's oddly specific."

"Don't get him started on that story," said Twilight.  They shared a quick laugh before heading into Colgate's building.  The Doctor glanced at his blue box to make sure it was alright, and as they entered, Rarity called out.

"Colgate, darling?  Are you in?"

The blue unicorn with the two-tone mane poked her head out from behind the door.  "Rarity, Twilight, I wasn't expecting you!"  She suddenly spotted the brown colt, and something immediately clicked in her head.  But she wasn't about to let anyone in on her thoughts.  "So, who is your friend?"

"Oh," Rarity gestured to The Doctor.  "This is..." Rarity was struggling, but The Doctor was a quick thinker.

"I'm Rolex," he said.  "Distant cousin of Rarity's, several times removed.  Got in from Northoofton last night, and I realized it's time for my dental check-up, and Rarity told me you're the local dentist, and Twilight was kind enough to help me along, so... here we are."

Rarity was staring at The Doctor, somewhat shocked, before shaking herself to her senses.  "Yes.  Would you please be a dear and take a look at him?"

"Of course," Colgate said with a smile.  "I'm free the rest of the day.  Come on back."  The Doctor followed Colgate to the check-up room which left Twilight and Rarity alone.  After a bit of a pause, Twilight spoke.

"You know... I don't get you sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked.

"I really didn't expect you to be so... receptive.  I mean, a blue box falls from the sky and a colt walks out, and you just accept it, no questions asked."

"Well... I saw it.  I saw him step out of the blue box.  There are just some things you know.  It's strange, it's unbelievable, but you should have seen him when I started to explain magic.  He didn't understand it, but he was accepting."

"So why did he need to know about magic if he's an Earth Pony?

"I don't know."

As Rarity and Twilight spoke in the lobby, Colgate closed the door to her office with The Doctor inside.  "A blue box."

"... yes?" The Doctor said quizzically.

"There's only one man I know who travels in a blue box.  Tell me... is it really you, Doctor?"

"It's me."

"I haven't seen another Time Lord in so long," Colgate said as she turned to the Doctor, almost teary-eyed.

"It's okay... you call yourself Colgate now?"

"Well, I found it more fitting now... but you can call me by my old name if you like."

"Hmm," The Doctor chuckled.  "I remembered you being made of sterner stuff, Romana."

Romana/Colgate wiped a tear from her eye.  "What, I'm not allowed to get emotional at seeing an old friend?"

"I guess you are... I think I'll call you Colgate.  I've probably confused poor Rarity enough already."

Colgate laughed.  "You're probably right.  So how did you end up here?"

"Rassilon.  Overloaded the TARDIS with power and corrupted the dimensional stabilizers.  You?"

"When... he took over, I convinced him to banish me instead of destroying me.  I wasn't technically guilty of treason, so he opened a portal, induced regeneration, and I ended up here."

"Completely at random?"

"Completely at random."

The Doctor smirked a bit.  Then something clicked.  "No... no, it wasn't random!  It wasn't random at all!  That's brilliant!"

"Sorry?" Colgate commented, confused.

"Don't you see?  Indeed, it could very well be a coincidence, but I've got an odd feeling that this dimension and our home dimension are linked, and that's why we can make it back, and I can save that world, I can save the Humans, I can save myself, I can save it al--GAH!"

The Doctor felt a burning sensation in his chest, but realized it was just his pocket.  He reached in and pulled out a key.

"Oh, this is Brilliant!  It's ready!  Colgate, how skilled are you with magic?"

"Enough."

"Good!  Tell Twilight to get her magic books and Rarity to get a pegasus capable of producing lightning, and I will be right back!"

The Doctor grabbed the key with his teeth and started a mad gallop out of Colgate's office.  Rarity and Twilight were quite shocked as he rushed past, and they, along with Colgate, followed him outside.  Key in teeth, The Doctor rushed to his box, unlocked it, and stepped inside before anyone could catch him.  Closing the door behind him, he finally took a look around and smiled.

"Oh, you sexy thing, you've done it again!"  Sure enough, the Desktop Theme was the same, but the controls had changed so that they were better suited to hooves.  He quickly pulled some levers, pushed some buttons, turned some dials until his favorite sound began.  "Yes!"

Outside, the three Unicorns managed to approach the blue box, but it was already starting to fade away.

"We're too late!" Twilight cried.

"Just like he said!  He ran!"  Rarity stamped her foot on the ground.

"No, not yet," Colgate said.  She then relayed his instructions, and soon, Twilight had her saddlebags with books, and Rarity had brought in Rainbow Dash.

"So, what is he a Doctor of, anyway?" Dash asked.

"I dunno," Twilight replied.  "That's just his name, I guess."

"Well, when's he gonna show up?" Dash asked impatiently.  "It's getting pretty boring around here--"

vworp... vworp... vworp... VWORP!

Dash's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the blue box rematerializing before their eyes.  The door opened, and The Doctor stepped out, with a new piece of "equipment" on his head.

"Hello!  Oh, good, you've got a Pegasus!  I'm The Doctor, please excuse me, but I must truncate the pleasantries, we've got to get going.  Come along!"  The Doctor re-entered the box and waited for a short while before popping back out.  "Excuse me, I said come along!"  It was then that he noticed Rarity staring, not at him, but at the new accessory atop his mane.

"What.  Is.  THAT?!"  Rarity pointed her hoof at the cylindrical red hat with the black tassel.

"It's a fez!  I popped over to Egypt and picked it up off a dromedary!  You like it?"

Rarity's face had switched to a look of pure rage as her horn began to glow, and the fez slowly began to rise off of The Doctor's head and into the air.

"Hey, what's going on?"  The Doctor stared at his lovely hat floating above him, when without warning, it was obliterated into a billion tiny red particles.  After a moment of shocked silence, The Doctor spoke.  "What was that for?!"

"NO FEZ!"

"But--"

"NO."

The Doctor suddenly became sad and hung his head.  Twilight tried as hard as she could not to laugh, but Rainbow Dash was not nearly as composed as she fell to the ground in hysterics.  After laughing for a good while, The Doctor yelled, "Are you quite finished?!"

"Heh, yeah, sorry," Dash replied.  "So you need lightning?"

"Yes," The Doctor said, "but first, Rarity, Twilight, Colgate, into the TARDIS, come on!"

Colgate ran in without hesitation, but Twilight and Rarity just looked puzzled.  "'TARDIS'?" Twilight asked.

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space.  Well, Dimensions, in this case, look, it's all a bit complicated, I'll explain later, but for now, please, into the TARDIS!  Dash, I'll be with you in a moment, but if you could please get a storm cloud above the TARDIS, that would be incredibly helpful!"

Rarity and Twilight shrugged at each other, wondering how they would all fit, but upon entering, discovered something incredible.

"It's... it's..." Rarity was at a loss for words for a moment, but she found them.  "It's smaller on the outside!"

The Doctor, who was mouthing "bigger on the inside," was honestly shocked by this response.  "Huh, never heard that one before.  Okay, my little ponies and Colgate, I have input the temporal and spatial coordinates, so you might want to brace yourselves."  The Doctor poked his head outside to Rainbow Dash.  "Hello, Rainbow Dash?"

"I'm up here!"  Dash already had the cloud in position.

"Ah, perfect!  Now, you remember that noise you heard when the TARDIS appeared?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Well, it's going to start again, and when it does, I want you to strike the TARDIS with lightning as many times as you can!"

"WHAT?!" two voices cried out from inside the TARDIS.

"Are you insane?!" asked Twilight.

"He's a Time Lord, it's part of the job description," said Colgate, deadpan.

"We all set, Rainbow Dash?!"

"Yep!" the pegasus called.  "But you better bring these girls back!"

"I promise I will," The Doctor said without a shred of doubt before locking the door.  "So, the three of you, hang on to something.  Twilight, I have marked a page in one of those books for a spell that might be useful once we are in Earth's orbit.  Any questions?"

"Yes!" Rarity shrieked.  "Why do you need me?  And why the lightning?"

"Answer the second question first," Twilight added.

"Right," The Doctor started, "the Lightning will cause enough turbulence to mess up the Dimensional stabilizers.  If I'm right, and our dimensions are inherently linked, we can go through the rift and save that Universe.  If I'm wrong, Twilight can teleport you all back to Ponyville and i will die with the TARDIS in a terribly fiery explosion, but we can't keep our minds on the negative!  And as for you, dear Rarity..."

The Doctor put a hoof to Rarity's cheek, brushing away a bit of her mane.

"You are a strong, beautiful, generous, and brave young pony.  You took me in, you believed in me, you've already helped me so much, that I just don't know if I could do this without you."

Rarity smiled and blushed a little at The Doctor's kind words.

"Also, consider it payback for the fez.  Right!"  The Doctor left a stunned Rarity as he darted around the TARDIS control panel.  "Everybody stable?"

Twilight looked at a confident Colgate and a still stunned Rarity, and answered.  "Ready as we'll ever be, I guess."

"Good enough for me!"  The Doctor pushed the main lever and the noise began.  At first, it was easy, but as Dash began the lightning strikes, Twilight and Rarity nearly fell over as the TARDIS shook.  But Colgate remained cool and The Doctor began laughing.  "Come on, come on!  Avanti!"

The TARDIS shook, it's constant rattling causing even Colgate to get off-balance.  Suddenly, the noise and the shaking stopped.

"What's happened, Doctor?" Rarity asked.

The Doctor checked his scanners, and smiled.  "We made it."  The Doctor headed towards the door.  "Would you like to see?"

Colgate stifled a giggle.  "Show off," she thought to herself.

The Doctor opened the door, and there they were.  Space.  Orbiting around Earth, which looked remarkably similar to the Equestrian planet, but with one big difference: the giant, orange sphere, over twice the size of the pale blue dot, hanging just over the Earth.  Gallifrey.  Twilight and Rarity thought about how beautiful the scene looked, but the two ponies with Hourglass marks knew better.

"Oh my word," Colgate said.  "What have they done?"

"You don't know how bad it got," The Doctor said as he shut the door.  "Twilight, find that spell I marked while I scan for my past self's position.  All three of you, study that spell."

Twilight flipped through her books and the three unicorns looked at the marked page when she came to it.

"Oh," Twilight said.  "That looks complicated."

"You sure you can pull it off, even with your skill?" Rarity questioned.

"We'll have to try," Colgate responded.

"Yes, it'll take the three of us to do it properly.  Just concentrate, Rarity, and we'll be fine," Twilight reassured the marshmallow-colored unicorn.  Rarity and Colgate nodded as Twilight shut the book.  "We're ready, Doctor," Twilight finally said.

"Okay, girls," The Doctor said with utmost confidence.  "It's showtime."

***

"Today!" Rassilon bellowed.  "The Time Lords return!  Today, Gallifrey rises AGAIN!"

He failed.  On this day, no amount of cleverness, or courage, or determination could save them.  Standing in front of all the Time Lords amongst the ruins of London's Piccadilly Circus, The Doctor had failed the Human Race.  Signs were fallen, and the statue of Eros was split in half.  In the sky, an orange sphere was drawing ever closer, but nobody was around to notice it anymore.

"Do you understand what you've done?!  Six billion innocent people, lost forever!"  The Doctor was furious, but he could do nothing, except hope for his escape route.  He signaled for it.

"Why is it so difficult, Doctor?  You destroyed us, your own race, without a second thought.  I had thought you held the same contempt for al--"

vworp... vworp... vworp... VWORP!

The sound of The Doctor's TARDIS interrupted Rassilon's thoughts.  The Doctor himself was confused, as he had not called for the TARDIS yet.  The Time Lords looked on as, a few feet away, the blue Police Box came into view.  They were even more surprised when the door opened, and out walked, no, out trotted a brown horse.  Closer to tan, actually, but it had a spiky brown mane, and it looked more like a cartoon representation than the actual creature.  More puzzling was the branding of an hourglass on his hindquarters.  Even more puzzling was the fact that the horse appeared to be wearing a blue suit with a red tie.  Then, the most puzzling thing of all happened: it spoke.

"Now, you all stay in there for now!" the horse said to the inside of the TARDIS.  He then turned and looked at the other Time Lords, who were confused, The Doctor, who was even more confused, and Rassilon, who was utterly perplexed by this development.  Then the horse spoke again with a perfectly chipper attitude.

"Oh, hello!"  The horse grinned.  "Am I interrupting something?"

TO BE CONTINUED...