Traveler Chapter 1

Traveler




Fluttershy sat in her house looking out into the garden. Small woodland  creatures frolicked about as usual around a myriad of colorful flowers. It was the end of spring, and all the blooms were having their final hurrah. She sighed, she enjoyed these quiet moments in her house more than almost anything else.  A cool breeze wafted in, it smelled pleasantly of spring. She inhaled deeply.
A large boom shattered the calm. Animals scattered in all directions to get away from it's source. Fluttershy looked around wildly in the confusion. Out of the sky a large blue something hurtled downwards.
She stared up in bewilderment before she realised where it was plummeting.
"Eeep!" she skidded backwards seconds before the thing crashed into the window, splintering the wood and sending various objects flying inwards. It was a blue box, above it the words "Police Public Call Box" sat in glowing letters. The double doors swung open. A brown stallion poked his head out.
"What time is it!?" he yelled.
Fluttershy stood there in shock for a moment.
"Well?! It's very important! Hurry up!" He urged.
"Um..well..I-I-I'ts one in the afternoon..Um..sir." she paused. "Oh, m-my house...Um, sir, if you don't mind my aski-"
"Drat! Too early!" he interrupted. His head vanished back inside the box.
"Oh, but,but sir...um...my windows, um...Sir.." Fluttershy tried again.
The box began to make one of the strangest sounds she'd ever heard. Yet it was oddly familiar. A light at the top began to glow, and a strange wind ruffled her mane. She yelped and dived behind a chair, peeking out to look at the strange thing.
It slowly became less and less visible as she looked on. Then it was gone.
She stared at the gaping hole in her wall where the window used to be. A few small animals peeked in to check on her.
"Oh my....."



*Theme music*  



Twilight sparkle walked through the town square, since spring was ending there was a small festival to celebrate the last of the blooms before the weather ponies ushered in summer. Every building was adorned with colorful flowers and decorations. The smell of various Ponyville delicacies wafted through the air, fresh sunflowers on sticks, candied dandelions, oat and hay cake, along with a variety of of other dishes sat in colorful displays to attract customers.
"Howdy Twi!" called a familiar voice.
"Applejack!" Twilight greeted the orange earth pony with a smile. "Sure is a lovely day for the Bloom Festival isn't it?"
"Darn tootin!" Applejack said happily. "I'm making a killin with my lavender apple cakes! Wana try one?" She pushed a small cake over.
"Oh, I'd love too, I've never been one to turn down your cooking.  Could you give me one for Spike? I'm sure he's around here somewhere."
"Sure thing, Sugarcube!" she placed the cakes in a small bag, which floated into Twilight's saddlebag. "You tell that'ol dragon not to go eatin both though, ya hear?"
The purple unicorn chuckled warmly. "I sure will! Thanks again!"
"Y'all take care now!" Applejack waved.
As Twilight walked away she inhaled deeply. "Ahhh." she sighed. "Those cakes do smell
good." she looked back at her saddlebag. "I suppose Spike wouldn't mind if I had just one bite without him.." One of the cakes floated from the bag until it was in front of Twilight's nose. She inhaled again. "Mmmhhh, this smells delicious!"
Fluttershy barreled into her at full speed. Both ponies went tumbling into some nearby hay bales.
Fluttershy was on her feet first. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Twilight Sparkle, are you alright?" she asked quietly.
Twilight spit out some hay. "I'm alright, Fluttershy." she looked down to see her cake squished on the ground. "Well....mostly. What's got you in such a hurry anyway?"
"Oh!" Fluttershy remembered. "Well it's my house...it's um..."
"What?"
"Well, I was sitting by the window, watching the animals enjoy the last day of spring. They do love today you know."
"Yes, yes?" Twilight urged.
"Well...um...I was sitting there, when suddenly I heard a large boom, and this blue box crashed into my home."
Twilight's eyes widened. "A blue box!? Did it have any writing on it?"
Fluttershy looked down. "Um....I don't know..something about police...you do believe me, don't you?"
Twilight's face darkened. "Oh yes, I believe you. Where is it now?"
"The box? I-it disappeared." the yellow Pegasus replied sheepishly. "I know it sounds crazy, but I think I've seen it once bef-."
"Not at all." Twilight said. "Wait right here, I need to have a word with someone." she raced off in the direction of the library.
"O-okay then..." Fluttershy was left standing in the square.



"Okay, now press that knobby thing." said the Doctor, ordering Spike around the TARDIS controls. "No, no, no, that's the levery bit. The knobby thing is over there!"
"Okay, okay! Have you ever thought of different names for these things?" the small dragon complained.
The Doctor stared blankly. "Why would I?"
The TARDIS doors swung open as Twilight barged in. She paused for moment, she never ceased to be a bit awed by the small box with the large inside, but she quickly regained her composure.
"You've got some explaining to do." she marched up to the Doctor.
"I do?" He asked bemusedly. "Well that's good, I can explain a great many things, except perhaps how they get the filling in the cakes in this world....you all have hooves.."
"What?" Twilight shook her  head. "Never mind! What I want to know is what in the world were you doing crashing into Fluttershy's house?! Is that how you say 'hello' or something!?"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "My dear Twilight, I have no idea who this 'Flutterby' is but I'll have you know I haven't done any crashing lately"
"What do you mean? Fluttershy told me a few minutes ago that a large blue box fell out of the sky and smashed into her house. There's only one thing in ponyville that fits that description, and that function."
"That function?!" The Doctor said aghast. "I'll have you know that this is the single most advanced piece of technology in the universe! It's functions extend far beyond simply 'smashing into things'"
"Well, I've yet to see them!" Twilight said crossly. "This thing's been down here doing nothing since you arrived."
"She's resting." The Doctor said mildly. "That fall through the Abstract Plane took a lot out of her."
"Her?"
"He's been calling it that all day," Spike said flatly  "He dragged me down here to help, and even though it's been oodles of fun, can I go back up to the festival now? "
"Sure," said the Doctor. "If you'd rather go out to some silly festival than work on the most astoundi-"
The door closed.
"Well, that was rude."
Twilight chuckled slightly. "Looks like you lost out." her smile faded. "Wait, he said you've been here all day...Then what happened to Fluttershy's house?"
"Hmm?" the Doctor went back to fiddling with the various instruments of the control panel for a while.  "Oh, I don't know, has she been feeling well lately? I'm sure she can sort it out." he paused as he felt Twilight staring daggers at him. "Oh! Fine! I suppose there's no harm in checking it out." he hopped down to the door. "Come along, Ms.Sparkle."


The  festivities were still  in full swing when the two got back to the town square, a dance had begun, and various ponies swung and bopped along to the music. The Doctor and Twilight looked around.
"So, what does, Flutterby look like?" The Doctor asked.
"That's Fluttershy, Doctor, what is it with you and names anyway?" Twilight said, exasperated. "Well, she's a yellow Pegasus pony with pink hair."
"Really, I must say the genetics of this world must be quite something, Twilight." The Doctor mused. "A Yellow and Pink equine, how strange." He looked Twilight over
"Purple one's notwithstanding that is. Though I suppose, looking over this crowd it's not it's not all that uncommon in this world" A pallet of ponies in every color imaginable danced around them, greens, blues, pinks, and everything in between seemed to be out and about, eating, dancing and laughing. The Doctor chuckled. "I guess parties are the same in every universe. I used to do a bit of dancing myself you know."
"You? Really?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, don't look so shocked, you learn a lot in nine hundred years. Though I wonder how well they translate to four legs."
"Wait, what?"
"Four legs, I'm not sure how one does the Charleston with four legs. It seems maybe if I kicked just so-"
"No,  nine hundred years, what did you mean by that?" Twilight interrupted.
"Oh, that! Just my age is all."
"What?"
"My age, I'm nine hundred."
"What!?"
The Doctor looked hurt. "Do I look older? I really thought I was taking care of myself, I'm really nine hundred and three, or four....maybe twenty it's so hard to keep count. Perhaps I should try some lotion, I like lotion."
Twilight stared for a moment. "You're almost as old as Celestia! How is that possible!?"
"Oh, I'm not huma-" he paused. "Sorry, Equine. Starting over is always so strange. Anyhoof, you know that."
"Well, yes, but I didn't know you were nine-hundred! Anything else you want to tell me?"
"Who's that anyway?"
"What? Who?"
"Celestia."
Twilight looked at him like he was a child. "You don't know who Celestia is?"
"What!? I've only been here a little while, remember?"
"Sorry, it's just not often I get the upper-hoof on you, I'm just surprised to be honest."
"Well, go ahead, bestow your knowledge upon me." The Doctor said with a deep bow.
"Well, Celestia is the princess, she rules all of Equestria, you se-"
"Wait, doesn't that make her the queen?" Said the Doctor.
"What?"
"You said that Celestia rules all of Equestria, yeah?"
"Yes." Said Twilight carefully.
"And yet you call her the princess."
"Well she is the princess."
"So there's a king then?"
".....No"
"A queen?"
"No."
"Then doesn't that make her the queen? Why do you call her the princess?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "Oh it doesn't matter!" she shook her head. "She rules Equestria in anycase."
"And she's older than me?"
"Well, if you really are nine-hundred, she turned a thousand just a while back."
"Oh, how exciting!" the Doctor did a little jump. "I've haven't met someone who's my elder
in the longest, we shall have to trade stories!"
"Aren't you trying to keep a low profile?"
"Well, I suppose, but that's never really worked well for me." He put a hoof to his chin. "I tried to keep a low profile in San Fransisco once, some time around 1906, it didn't turn out well."
"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, baffled.
"Oh, I suppose that one didn't happen here. It's so hard to keep track. In anycase, I suppose keeping a low profile is important. I shall try to stay as inconspicuous as possib-
There was a loud boom, followed by the sound of smashing wood. Twilight and the Doctor turned their heads to the direction of the noise.
There was a lot of smoke spilling out of a nearby storefront, the owner, a white and orange stallion, stood outside looking on in shock.
"Well that's interesting." The Doctor remarked. He dashed over to the owner. "Sir, it's very important you tell me what just happened."
"What?" He said, still in shock.
"I'm....The crash inspector, I inspect crashes."
Twilight walked up. "Doctor, I don't thi-"
"And this is Twilight, my plucky young assistant."
"Plucky!"
"Now now, Ms.Sparkle, you'll never make head crash inspector with that attitude." he turned back to the owner. "So, Mr....."
"Tinker." The owner finished
"Really?"
"Um...yes?"
"Alright then, Mr.Tinker, what exactly happened here, tell me in exact detail."
Mr.Tinker looked at the gaping whole in his shop.
"Isn't it obvious? Something crashed into my store!"
"Well yes, I know that! I'm a crash inspector remember? Tell him Twilight."
"Oh yes...number one crash inspector in the country." she said.
"So, I know, something crashed into your house-"
"Shop." Twilight corrected.
"Your shop. Just look at this wood!" he poked a jagged edge with a hoof. "It reeks of crashery! What I want to know is what crashed into your shop."
"Oh, well, um," Mr.Tinker began, flustered. "I don't know, I was making toys, same as always, trying to get the new summer line completed for the kids, when boom! I'm knocked off my hooves and my shop is totaled!"
"Hmm...Totaled yes, it certainly looks totaled. Completely totaled, completely and utterly totaled. Come along, Twilight!" The Doctor hopped over the remains of the window."
"Where are you going?" Asked Mr.Tinker.
"To see what did the Totaling of course."
Mr.Tinker stood there as he walked into the dark.
"Sorry about that....it's a crash inspector thing, been in one too many crashes I should think." Twilight said. "Sorry about your shop too!" she hopped off after the Doctor.



The dust was still settling after the crash. Toys lay in disarray, small wooden horses, and small flying streamers lay in tatters.
"There are few things more creepy than a destroyed toy shop." The Doctor remarked.
Twilight waked gingerly after him. "I'll say..." she said, eyeing a small pony figure who's hair was on fire. When she looked up the Doctor was gone.
"Doctor!?" She called. "Doctor!?"
The Doctor came barreling out of the darkness. He pushed his nose right up against hers. "What time is it?!" he yelled.
"What?" Twilight asked, bewildered.
"It's very important, what time is it!!" he asked again.
"I don't know, a quarter to seven?" Twilight answered, backing up slightly.
"Darn, to early." He dashed off, back into the darkness of the shop.
"Wait!! What's going on!?" Twilight ran after him, jumping over toys and debris. "Doctor!!"
"What?" said a voice behind her.
She tried to stop, but she tripped over a small windup toy, and flew headlong into some boxes.
"You know, it's really not a good idea to go running around in a dark toy shop." The Doctor remarked.
"Then why were you!?" Twilight yelled, attempting to disentangle herself from the pile.
"Me?"
"Yes, you, you came up screaming about the time, then dashed off, what was that all about!?"
"I've done no such thing! I've been walking thank you very much. I save the running for later. I like the running."
"Well, explain what just happened, then,are there two brown ponies with an hourglass mark running around?"
Suddenly a blue light lit up the shop.
The Doctor threw up a hoof, momentarily blinded. "No...I don't think there's two."
The TARDIS stood at the far end of the shop. Slowly vanishing.




"Doctor!" Twilight exclaimed, running to where the phonebox had once been. "That was the TARDIS!?"
"Yes, yes it was, that makes things a whole lot more interesting."
"But, how could it be the TARDIS? You're here, and it still hasn't moved since you
arrived!"
"Well, yes," the Doctor said, "but it is a time machine."
"What!?"
The Doctor looked at Twilight in his usual way, like she was several steps behind. "A time machine, I thought I'd explained this?"
"You never said anything about a time machine! How is that even possible!?"
"Says the girl with the magical forehead."
"But even some of the strongest magics can't traverse time!" Twilight protested.
"Mine can."
"And what's yours?"
"Science, try to keep up, I'm getting Déjà vu."
"Sorry, it's just it's starting to seem like every time I get used to you, you've got something
else up your sleeve."
"You'll find I'm full of surprises, Ms.Sparkle." He strode forwards and surveyed the area.
"In anycase, that's one of the problems of time travel, things don't always happen in the right order. But!" he paused to lick the tip of his hoof and stick it in the air. "We do know this, at some point, I am going to crash into both Flutterby's house, and this toy shop."
"But why?"
"Now, that's the fun bit, the bit we need to find out, the mysterious fun bit."  He dashed over to a table. "And it starts, with the pony hiding under this table." he turned around and kicked it over.
There was a squeak.
"Hello there, Flutterby." Said the Doctor.



Fluttershy lay on the ground with her hooves above her head, shaking slightly. She peeked out at the Doctor, and jumped back with a yelp.
"It's perfectly alright." the Doctor said reassuringly, "I'm friendly, I promise!" he took a step closer. "Now, I'm going to need you to tell me what happened this morning, and just now."
"I-it's you! You're the one who crashed into my house this morning...oh....w-what do you want?"
"I don't know, could you tell me?"
"W-what?" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Well, I haven't crashed into your house, or this shop yet, so I don't know what it is that I hope to gain from doing so. But I do know, it has something to do with you."
"M-me! Why?"
"That, my dear, is the question. Now, tell me, in the last few days, has anything strange happened?"
Fluttershy looked at the ground.
"Besides me that is."
Fluttershy shrank back a bit. "N-no, nothing I'm sure..."
Twilight walked over to the yellow Pegasus. "Don't worry Fluttershy, just tell him anything you've noticed, anything at all."
Fluttershy looked up at her friend. "Well, a few days ago, some bunies did missing from their burrows." Fluttershy frowned. "I've looked for them everywhere, and they're nowhere to be found!" she looked at the Doctor and deflated slightly. "B-but, that's not all that strange...I...I don't know."
The Doctor put a hoof to his chin. "How do you know they didn't just run off?"
"Oh, they wouldn't do that, I keep careful track of their movements, they've been in those burrows since their great great grandbunnies dug it. They'd never just up and leave."
"Mmhmm," the Doctor nodded. "so, they haven't abandoned their borrow, are you sure they haven't been eate-"
"Doctor!" Twilight exclaimed.
"What!? Circle of life and all that, it's bound to happen to some bunnies isn't it?"
"Oh, no, no, no, my Bunny habitat is fenced in, I checked for holes, no predators got in, I make sure of it." She looked at the two ponies questioning her. "B-but I could be wrong."
"No, quite the opposite I Suspect." the Doctor turned around and started walking out of the shop. The two ponies followed close behind. "If no predators got in, and no bunnies got out that leaves only one distinct possibility!"
"Which is?"
"The predator is already in the Bunny habitat."


"W-w-what!?" Fluttershy Squeaked.
"It's quite simple really." said the Doctor. "But if you like I can do a small diagram, I've got these little stickers that would be just perfect to represent the bunies an-"
"No! She means where would something like that hide? Twilight quickly interrupted.
"Oh, now that, my dear Twilight, is the question!"
"And how do you intend to answer it?"
"Right now?"
"Yes, right now!" Twillight yelled.
"Oh, well I'm not going to answer anything at all."
"What? But Doctor, what about Fluttershy's bunnies?"
"I'm dealing with it as we speak." Said the Doctor, jumping over some debris.
"What?"
"Well, I'm crashing around ponyville for some reason, correct?"
"Correct."
"That means I must already know what's happening and am currantly trying to remedy it."
Twilight paused. "If you know what's going on, then why don't you just fix it so you don't have to go destroying perfectly innocent buildings!"
"Well I wish I could do that Twilight, but there's a lot more to it than that."
"Like?"
"Well," the Doctor put a hoof to his chin. "look at it this way. I've just found out about our little Flutterby delima, but I haven't figured out everything yet. All I do know, is that for some reason it is gravely important that I stop it. Folllowing?"
"Yes."
"The only reason I know that in the first place, is because of today's ealier crash into your friend's abode. Still Following?"
"Yes!"
"Okay. So let's say that right this second, I go over to the bunny habbitat, and using my brillant skills of deduction-"
Twilight's coughed. The Doctor shot her a look.
"Using my brilliant skills of deduction, I figure out the problem, and everything is jiminy christmas."
Twilight stopped herself from asked what jiminy christmas meant. "Yes, that sounds perfect!"
The Doctor sighed. "You weren't following."
"Huh?"
"Okay, so, to put it in plain terms, if I solve the problem right this second, because of knowledge I have only because of my future self's intervention. Then the problem would be solved already, and my future self would have no reason to travel into the past."
"Thus saving Fluttershy's house, and this toyshop from your special brand of destruction!" She tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong with that.?"
"Oh my..."
Both the Doctor and Twilight turned, they had forgotten Fluttershy was still there. She was staring at something.
"Fluttershy, what's wrong?"
"B-behind you."
The Doctor and Twilight turned, to see a swirling red hole floating inches from where they were standing.
"What's wrong, my Dear Twilight," said the Doctor. "Is that, that, would cause a paradox."


"What in Equestria is that!?!" Twilight yelled.
"That, I'm afraid, is the least of our problems. The way I see it, we have about two minutes."
"Till!?"
"Till the thing on the other side of that hole comes out and sees  it's lunch."  he whirled around. "Flutterby, I need you to run to your house and stay there, understand?"
The yellow Pegasus let out a frightened squeak, and nodded, running towards the shop's exit.
"Doctor!?" Twilight yelled. "What's going on? Tell me, what is that thing!?"
The Doctor looked around wildly. "It's a door, a very old door to let something very nasty from point A to point B, the problem is, when it gets from point A to point B, there won't be a B for very long!!"
"What do you mean!?"
"Reaper's, Twilight, they're like the antibodies of time, they come to 'infected areas' to disinfect 'wounds', like paradoxes. The main problem is, they see me as a very nasty virus."
"I thought you were trying to avoid causing a paradox!?"
"I was!! But it seems the fact that I now have information that I discovered, because of my own actions, in the timestream is enough! In my world such a small infraction would be ignored. But here it seems this universe needs to be worn around."
"Worn around!?" Twilight yelled over the swirling vortex as it whipped wind throughout the shop.
"Ever worn a new pair of shoes?  If you go running in them the same day, you get blisters Same thing." he noticed Twilight's bewildered face. "Horse shoes." he said resignedly.
"Oh." said Twilight.
"Anyhoof! The rules have been broken so few times, it seems to draws a lot of attention!" The Doctor yelled over the din of noise as the wind grew stronger.
"What's it going to do!?"
"Well, the way I see it, it will devour every sentient being in the  immediate area in an attempt to sterilize the 'infection'. After that it will probably move on to inanimate, dessert if you will. It might not stop till the whole planet ceases to exist."
"What!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"You've been saying that a lot lately."
"Doctor!" Twilight yelled. "On task! What do we do!?"
"Right, sorry." he turned to face Twilight head on. "I'm going to do something really quickly, you have to trust me for a moment."
"Doctor I-"
"Just for a moment, don't worry, I'm the Doctor, what could possibly go wrong?"
Twilight opened her mouth.
"Don't answer that." the Doctor interrupted. He ran around the shop, picking up toys in a seemingly random order, setting them in front of the vortex, until he had a fairly large stack of dolls and plushies. "I need you to animate them!" he yelled
"What!?"
"There's that word again."
"Doctor, that's advanced magic! I can't do that!" Twilight cried.
"Yes you can! You've got the power! Just use it! The wind grew yet stronger, a table next to them went flying. "I'll help you!"  the doctor galloped over, and pressed his forehead against Twilight's. "Concentrate!"
"Doctor, what are you doin-" suddenly, in her minds eye she saw what to do. Her horn glowed purple. The toys began to stir.
"A little bit more!" The Doctor urged.
She focused her power. There was a large boom as slowly the tip of something brown emerged from the vortex.
"Hurry!"
Suddenly the toys began lifting themselves from the pile, shaking and moving their newly animate limbs.
"Oh you are magnificent, Twilight Sparkle!" The Doctor cried happily. He attempted to pull away from the purple unicorn. ".....Twilight?"
Twilight's horn still glowed brilliantly, casting the whole shop in a harsh purple light. She opened her eyes, they glowed like burning coals.
"I can see....so much...." She said dreamily.
"Twilight!" the Doctor tried frantically to separate from her, but found he was stuck fast. "Twilight! If you've ever listened to me, I need you to listen to me right now." he grunted with exertion. "You're seeing the inside of my mind, and I know that it's very tempting, but I'm telling you it's like the sun, look too long, get too close, and it will destroy you. I need you to let go, right now! Look away!"
"I-i can't" Twilight said softly. "There's more....more than I..."
The brown tip emerging from the vortex slowly revealed itself to be a long, scythe like claw. It sliced through the air eagerly .
"Twilight!" the Doctor yelled.
The unicorn was silent.
"Ohhh..." the Doctor looked back and forth between Twilight and the emerging creature.  "She'll never forgive me for this." he pushed forwards, and kissed Twilight dead on the lips.


The resulting wave of magic knocked the Doctor several feet into the air. Every toy and trinket in the shop suddenly sprang to life, dancing and wandering aimlessly. The worktable at the far end, unsure what to do with it's new found life, set about chasing after the small objects, acting very much like a large dog. In the corner, the wind up toys, who had no other means of locomotion, set about trying to wind one another before quickly chattering away. The sound was deafening as every music box, talking doll, and singing robot gained a will of their own, blaring their respective voices as loudly as possible.
Twilight stood dazed for a moment.
"Wha....what happened?.."
The Doctor struggled from the grip of a large stuffed dog, running over to the purple unicorn. "Twilight! Are you alright?" he asked, looking her over.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm alright, I just feel a bit faint is all." she replied drowsily. "Wait a second...." her eyes shot open wide. "Y-you kissed me!"
Behind them something roared.
"This is really not the time Twilight!" he said giving her a shove. "We need to be somewhere that's not here, very quickly! Just follow me, don't look back!"
Twilight looked back.
A head had separated itself from the vortex, it  was brown and scaly in appearance. She was confused for a moment as to where the roar had come from, as the creature appeared to have no mouth. That is, until she noticed the small opening in the area the could be called the beast's chest, it let out another roar, which showed that it was filled with very many, very sharp teeth. She screamed.
"I told you!" The Doctor gave her another shove. "Now come on!"  
The two ran towards the shop's exit trying to avoid trampling over the small army of toys that walked and bounced around their legs.
The creature shook itself violently, it's bulk shaking the whole shop as toys darted away in fear.A beam from the ceiling came crashing down in front of the two fleeing ponies.
"Doctor!" Twilight yelled.
"This way!"
The two dashed off deeper into the darkness of the shop. The Reaper gave a mighty heave, and wrenched itself from the vortex.
"Quickly! Behind the counter." the Doctor whispered urgently.
Twilight dashed over, and lowered her head. Peeking ever so slightly over to gaze at the thing floating around the shop.
"It's like a seahorse.." she whispered under her breath.
It levitated a few feet off the ground, waving two long appendages that ended in cruel looking scythes. Behind it waved a long tail, to which another scythe was attached. On it's side was what appeared to be a broken fob watch cutie mark.
"Really?" the Doctor whispered aloud. "Even the Reapers in this universe. Really??"  
"Doctor!" Twilight hushed. "What are we going to do?"
"Oh, yes. Well the toys you brought to life should keep it busy for a while. I thought the small bunch I rounded up would occupy it for a few minutes, but I never imagined you'd bring the whole shop to life. That gives us at least an hour."
"What are the toys going to do?"
"Make a tasty appetizer." said the Doctor.
Twilight looked horrified.
"Oh, don't worry, they have animation, but not sentience, feeling bad for them, is a bit like feeling sorry for a bit of lettuce that'll one day be a salad. Anyhoof," he said crouching down "when you brought them to life they were infused with a bit of this worlds power, or 'magic' making them prime targets for the Reaper. It'll finish them all before moving on as long as nothing more interesting shows up."
"Interesting?"
"Like a pony shaped Timelord, or a unicorn with a very large store of magic."
"Oh." said Twilight.
"So we have to make sure we're not seen, and make it back to the TARDIS, as quickly as possible."
"How do we do that? Our exit is blocked, and that....thing, is sure to see us before we can find another way out."
"Hmmm....that's a very good question, Twilight." as the Doctor spoke the Reaper descended upon a small rabbit plushie. A scythe swept downwards, as the small toy tried to run away. The blade met it's target, ringing through the air, and with a sudden burst of light, the rabbit was lost, with no trace it had ever been there to begin with.
Twilight gulped.  "A very good question, which needs a very good answer, very quickly!"
"Alright alright. I'm thinking!" The Doctor whispered.
The beast roared again, the sound resonating everywhere, once again shaking the shop to it's foundations.
"Doctor." said Twilight quietly.
"Not now, Twilight, I'm thinking."
"But, Doctor, lo-"
"Shhhh!" The Doctor rubbed his forehead with a hoof. "I need quiet to figure a way out of here."
"Doctor are you coming?" Twilight asked. The wall behind the counter had fallen, she stood several feet outside looking back at the brown earth pony.
The Doctor looked surprised for a moment. "....Just as I planned!" he said. hurrying to join the purple unicorn.
"Sure...."
"No time for your pluckiness, Twilight, we have to get to the TARDIS, now."  He raced off in the direction of the library.
"Right!" Twilight started to follow, but she paused. "Wait, I am not, plucky!!" she yelled after him, then raced to catch up.

As they hurried to the library, Twilight noticed a small crowd had collected around the Toyshop. The ponies looked on fearfully, wondering what could produce the sounds resonating from within the building. She stopped short,  planting her hooves in the dirt and skidding to a stop.
The Doctor noticed this, and stopped as well. "What is it, Twilight?" he asked.
"What about those ponies? What if they go inside?"
"Oh yes! Right!"  The Doctor ran past Twilight towards the growing crowd.
"Wait! Doctor!" Twilight yelled.
The Doctor stepped into the middle of the crowd, holding up a hoof. "Attention, ladies and gentlemen!"
There was some confused muttering from the collection of ponies.
The Doctor sighed. "Fillies, and Gentlecolts...." he corrected.
Everyone gave him their full attention.
"Really?" He said under his breath. "Anyhoof, nothing to be worried about! Just a test of the.......new summer toy line!"
"New summer toy line!?" said a voice from the crowd.There was a roar from inside the shop. The ponies backed up several feet. "I've never heard a toy that sounded like that!"
"Who are you anyway?" said a blue Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. She flew up and pressed her nose against the Doctor's. "What's going on in there?"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled, catching up with the Doctor in the crowd.
"Twilight?" Rainbow turned around to see the purple unicorn panting and out of breath in the crowd. "You know this weirdo?"
"Yes, she does, thank you very much." Said the Doctor. "I am the Do-"
"Clockwork!" Twilight interjected. "His name is Clockwork, and yes, I know him."
"Clockwork? What kind of name is that?" Rainbow landed next to the purple unicorn, still eyeing the Doctor warily.
"He's....um....from Hoofiny, you know, they love clocks over there!" Twilight said hurriedly.
"I thought he was from Hoofdale?" Rarity walked through the crowd.
Twilight faltered slightly. "Rarity! Um...yes...he's from-"
"Both! The Doctor interjected. "My family hails from....Hoofiny," he cringed slightly. "but I emigrated to Hoofdale a while back. Changed my name in everything."
"Really! You never told me that!" Rarity's eyes lit up. "A foreigner, how exotic!" her eyelashes fluttered slightly.
"Um...yes....quite." The Doctor took a step back.
"What did your name used to be?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"John Smith."
The two ponies paused.
"Wow, Hoofin names are strange."
A roar from inside the toyshop ended the conversation. The crowd back further away as building as it rattled in shook.
"Okay, I don't care where he's from, that is not a 'New toy line.'" Rainbow flew towards the shop. "I'm going to check it out."
"No!" Twilight hopped in front of the Pegasus.
"Move, Twilight, I have to know what's going on in there!"
"It's the summer line of toys, really!" Twilight groaned as the Pegasus tried to push past her. "Nothing at all to worry about."
"Are you hiding something, Twilight?"
"What! No! It's just that toy making is dangerous, you could get hurt!"  
"It's true you know." said Pinkie
Everypony turned to find Pinkie pie sitting in the crowd She looked over at the Doctor and shot him a wink.
"What do you mean, Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash drifted over
"The new toy line, silly!" Pinkie did a little jump. "Mr. Tinker is making Screaming Mimi's." There was silence.  "He put in too much scream, not enough Mimi. Duh."
There was a mummer of agreement from the crowd, they began to disperse. The Doctor
walked over to the pink earth pony.
"Pinkie my dear you are wonderful!"
"I know."
Rainbow Dash and Rarity stood, looking in wonderment at the leaving ponies.
"Fine, whatever Twilight. We'll catch you later" Said Rainbow.  They quickly got back to dancing and singing around festival.
"Pinkie, can you make sure that no one enters this place?" Twilight whispered. "The Doctor and I have to take care of something right now."
"Okey dokey lemon smoky!" Pinkie yelled happily.
"Does that mean yes?" Asked the Doctor.
"Yes, that means yes."
"Good, then come on, we've wasted enough time here!"  The Doctor raced off. "There's no time to lose!"
"Coming!" Twilight turned to Pinkie. "Now, no one must enter this building, it is of the up most importance. But, if something comes out, I want you to run, run fast, warn everyone. Got it?"
"You can count on me!" Pinkie did a salute.
"Good" Twilight hugged the pink earth pony. "Thank you."
Then she was off the catch up with the Doctor.



She raced down the steps into the library basement, she could hear the sounds of the Doctor mumbling to himself as she descended.
"I can get you working, I'm sure of it." He said. "Well, technically I already have done, but how did I do it?"
She walked in to find the Doctor twisting knobs, and pressing buttons all over the TARDIS. Trying to get the machine to do whatever it was he was planning.
"Doctor, any luck?" she asked.
"Not a lick." he said crossly. "Not even a nibble, not even nugget."
"What are you trying to do anyway?"
"Well, the way I see it is, until I've solved Fluttershy's problem, whatever it may be," he grunted as he pulled a stubborn lever. "we remain at a point in time at which I am a small paradox, this universe doesn't like even the smallest wrinkles in the fabric of reality, so it is tying to remedy the situation." The Doctor disappeared down a hatch in the floor.
"Yes, I know that, what do you plan to do about it?"
    "I have to figure out what's wrong, while staying relative to the causal nexus." he popped back up with a cord in his mouth. "Mould mou mhelh meh wihp mish?"
"Um...sure." Twilight went over and helped drag the lengthy cord out to the control panel. Where the Doctor connected it into one of the many jacks. "But what do you mean?"
"I mean, I have to be very careful to accomplish things in the order in which I did them. I have to preserve that moment in time where I found it necessary to go back in time, crash into various things, and alert myself to my own problem."
"Won't that still be a paradox?"
"No, not exactly, that's just highly unlikely. It's only a paradox if I make it so the trip back in time, that alerted me to the fact I needed to go back in time, doesn't occur." He flipped a few more switches. "Are you following?"  
"Hardly."
"Don't worry, you're doing well for your second time out."  he ran over to a monitor in front of the control panel. "Basically, if I accomplish that, the vortex will snap shut on itself, taking the reaper with it." he beat a hoof against the side of the screen. "But none of that will happen, if I can't get her to fly!"
Suddenly, in the very back of her head, Twilight had an idea.
"Doctor......have you checked that thing over there?" she pointed to a grate in the floor.
"What!?" the Doctor spun around. "Why?"
"I'm not sure, it just seems like you should have."
The Doctor hopped down from the main controls. "I have not checked over there. I have been flying this machine for several life times, and in that time, it has broken down more times than there are planets in this sector of the universe. There has never once, been a problem, 'Over there'"
"And you can't fix this problem?" Asked Twilight raising an eyebrow.
"Well...not right now bu-"
"Then you haven't seen this issue before?"
"Well..no bu-."
"Then wouldn't make sense to check the one place there's never been a problem before now?"
The Doctor was silent for a minute. "Fine." he picked up his sonic screwdriver and had the grate off in a few seconds. His head disappeared into the hole. There was a little click, and suddenly the TARDIS began to hum. The Doctor's head slowly came out of the grate, he stared at Twilight for a long time, with eyes that looked extremely old. "How did you know that, Twilight?" he said slowly.
"I don't know....just a lucky guess I suppose..."
He stared at her for a while longer.
"Yeah...just a lucky guess." He clopped a hoof against the floor. "Well, in any case, wer'e in business!" he hopped back up to the controls. "Now, all we have to do is go somewhere, and let history play out as it's supposed to.  Then we're in the clear! Easy!"
The TARDIS lurched to the left, tossing Twilight and the Doctor against the opposite wall.
"What are you doing!?" Twilight yelled as the noise from the console grew louder.
"I'm not doing anything!" The Doctor dragged himself up, shakily making his way to the monitor. "It started all on it's own!" Numbers and symbols flashed wildly across the screen in a jumbled mess. "We're heading into the future!"
"The future?!"
""Yes, ten.....thirty...fourty...what!?" The Doctor yelled out loud.
Suddenly the shaking stopped.
"Where are we?" Asked Twilight softly, rubbing her head.
"According to this....fifty years  in your future, Twilight Sparkle."
"My....future?" Twilight said slowly.
"Yes, right out that door."
The two were silent for a moment.
"Do you have any idea what we'll find out there?"
"New universe, no idea."
"So it might be dangerous?"
"Might not."
"We don't know."
"Do you want to stay in here?"
Twilight paused. "No."
The Doctor smiled. "Good." he walked over to the door. "Onwards and upwards, Ms.Sparkle."
The doors swung open.





To be Continued in Way From Home.