It was a quiet night in Ponyville; the stars shined brightly, the moon was full, and the gentlest of breezes caressed the hills. All the Ponies were asleep in their houses, dreaming happily in their beds. All that is, but one. Stargazer was walking through the streets of Ponyville on the way to the park, and her favorite hill.

"The stars are bright tonight," she said "I wonder If I'll see that light again." As she walked, she thought about that night years ago, when she first got her cutie mark as a little filly.

"But mom! They were making fun of my blank flank!" She moaned. "I don't care!" her mother yelled "You had no right to use you magic to cause trouble for them! I will not be swayed. You are grounded. One week!" Stargazer could tell that she had lost and wen't upstairs to her room to mope.

"It's not fair!," she cried "They had it coming!" She was getting ready to throw her best tantrum when something caught her eye out of the window. There was a strange light rocketing towards Ponyville park through the night sky! Stargazer didn't know what it was, but she did know that she was meant to find out, she could feel it deep inside!

Carefully she sneaked her way down the stairs and out the door while her mother was distracted, and dashed towards the park. There it was. she was so surprised she stopped dead in her tracks. There was a giant...THING... sitting right there in the grass. It was surrounded by a ring of smoke and steam, making it hard to really see clearly, but she could hear voices. She couldn't properly hear what they were saying though, it was like they were speaking a different language. Despite he fear she decided to get a closer look. Slowly and silently, she trotted through the grass to where the object stood. "It looks like a big box" she thought "but how did it get here?" Just then she saw a light that looked like an open door. As she ran towards it, she saw strange shadowy figures retreat through the door, the door suddenly closed and the box began to rumble. The air around Stargazer grew hot.

Terrified, she galloped away at full speed, and when she stopped and looked around the mysterious object had risen high in the sky and soon could not be seen at all. She realized that there was a lot more to the stars than she ever knew before. She had always liked looking out at the night sky, but now the stars glittered for her more than ever and the moon was twice as bright. As she looked up in amazement, she felt a small tingling sensation near her rump, more specifically, on her flank! Excited, she looked around to see her very own cutie mark! A trio of three brilliant stars had just appeared and she couldn't be more happy!

Stargazer returned from her daydream when she realized she was at the top of her favorite hill. The cool breeze sent ripples through grass and her navy colored coat, and her yellow mane flew out behind her. From the top of the hill Stargazer had a clear view of the night sky. The flap of her saddle bag glowed with yellow magic and it opened to reveal a collapsible telescope which set itself up magically in front of her. Withdrawing her notepad from the other side of her saddlebag she began to draw. She loved drawing sketches of the night sky, the movement of the moon and the stars, and the constellations. She was always borrowing books from Twilight on the subject. Tonight was a very special night though. The anniversary of the night she got her cutie mark years ago. She could feel something special was going to happen in the stars tonight. Almost like pinkie-sense.

After what seemed like hours she was getting ready to pack up, when a loud bang came from the Everfree forest. She ran full gallop to investigate, her instincts leading her deeper and deeper into the trees. She could smell smoke and she ran even faster. when she arrived at the place where the sound came from she hid in the bushed carefully, not wanting to be seen A large blue box had crashed into the Everfree forest, and a brown stallion with a raggedy mane was trying to fix whatever problem had caused it to crash. He was running around frantically diving into the box and popping out again, tightening things, and loosening things. Sometimes he pointed at the box with a strange stick that made an odd high-pitched noise. As dangerous as she knew it was she had to get a closer look. She carefully stepped closer, one hoof at a time, trying not to make a sound. But she was never known as the most graceful of ponies and she promptly stepped on a sharp rock, causing her to gasp in pain. She planted both front hooves over her muzzle but the stallion had already heard the noise. He spun around and she shied back into the bushes hoping he hadn’t seen her. “You can come out” he said “I know this looks a bit strange, but I’m no harm to you.” warily she stepped out of the bushes afraid he would be angry with her for eaves dropping. Rather than be angry at her however, he smiled and said:

"Oy! Hello! What's your name miss? I'm the Doctor! I don't suppose you know where I am?"

“um, you’re in the Everfree forest, just outside Ponyville. Doctor who?”

“Whooves actually, Doctor Whooves.”

“yeah. ok. Well, I’m Stargazer, nice to meet you. Is that your box?”

“Why, yes! You want to have a peek inside?”

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Authors note:
Hope you liked It! I'll be working on the next chapter soon!

Chapter 2

"Um.. well, I...I...I suppose so, but It's a bit small even for one pony, don't you think?" Stargazer stammered. She wasn't sure what to think herself, who was this strange pony really?

The Doctor chuckled and said "I had a feeling you would say that! Even after nine hundred years it never gets old! Trust me Stargazer, It's a lot bigger than you think!" Although Stargazer was still unsure she stepped into the strange box. Stargazer was at a loss for words, the box was indeed a lot bigger than she expected. She stood with her mouth open for a minute trying to take it all in, her eyes acting like sponges and absorbing every detail. As she stood something he said earlier resurfaced in the back of her mind.

"Did you say 'after nine hundred years' ?" she asked skeptically "That's an incredibly old age for a pony."

"I'm not exactly a pony," he replied " Well, I am, but not really, well technically, sort of, yes I am a pony. But not from anywhere around here, not the kind form Equestria I mean. You see, I'm from up there." he explained and he pointed a hoof at the starry sky.

"You mean to say that you're an alien pony? That there are other planets with ponies on them?" Stargazer was shocked, all here life she had suspected that there were other planets. That maybe these other planets had ponies on them, or at least those humans Lyra was raving about all the time. But nopony ever believed her, they said she needed to get her head out of the stars and into something useful that you can prove.

"That is EXACTLY what I mean to say." he beamed "and THIS is my space ship! Slash time machine, slash library, slash swimming pool et cetera. Known as the TARDIS for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space!"

“But how did you get it bigger on the inside than the outside? Can it really travel in time? “You certainly don’t look very alien. Where’s your antenna and laser guns?” Stargazer didn’t mean to ask so may questions at once but it’s not every day you meet an actual alien pony.

“Hold on a minute there!” he chuckled, “I’m not that kind of alien!” then he said, seriously now “And I don’t do guns! I am actually very strictly against violence, that’s why I have one of these instead.” He pulled out the weird stick from before out of his tool belt. “You see instead of harming the opponent with projectiles or lasers or the like, it emits a sonic pulse. Hence the sound. I can non-lethally use it to neutralize a threat or I can use it for opening locks and fixing things! It’s my sonic screwdriver!”

Stargazer could only stare in total awe at the amazing gadget in his hoof. She was loving the situation more and more. “This is wonderful!” she exclaimed. “You are so lucky, getting to go where ever you want; I would give anything to escape from this boring old town.”

The Doctor thought a moment, then he was struck with a wonderful idea, “Well, you know,” he said slyly “you could come with me.” Stargazer’s eyes lit up with joy at the very possibility of adventure out in the stars “Could I really! That would be so cool! I can’t believe this is really happening! I have been waiting all my life for this, ever since I got my cutie mark! When do we start?”

“Right now!” The Doctor grinned wildly, placed both front hooves on a large lever and pulled down hard. The TARDIS shook and a loud whirring filled the air. The mechanism in the center of the TARDIS pumped up and down and the buttons surrounding it flashed rapidly. It was all Stargazer could to stay upright, even holding on to the railing for dear life. The TARDIS rumbled and spun through the air, it felt to Stargazer that it would never end, she was anxious and terrified and excited all at the same time! All at once it stopped, the whirring ended, the mechanism slowed and the buttons on the control board became stable. Her head was spinning, and her legs shook. “Is that all you got?” she asked shakily. The Doctor kept grinning his goofy grin, he was just as excited as she was.

“Did it work then? Are we someplace else?” she inquired. “You’ll find that were not in equestrian anymore!” he chuckled, pleased she was taking it so well.

“Where are we now then?”

“Another place, another time. I set the TARDIS tracking system for a random place so not even I know just yet. Why don’t you step outside and find out.”

Stargazer cautiously stepped towards the door, and pushed it open with her hoof. Instead of the everfree forest, they were surrounded by a bustling city, there were ponies everywhere. The buildings where not quite as colorful as ponyville, but they were a lot taller and seemed to be made out of metal instead of hollowed out trees. The Wide streets were bustling with activity, the streets intersected at exact right angles, and at every intersection there was a tall pole with speaker cones on the top. “What is this place? Is this were you come from?” she whispered. “No, i'm afraid I can't show you that place, it's not exactly there anymore. This is on a planet called New Canterlot! Inspired by the city from thousands of years ago!” he said giddily.

“Thousands of years? But I just visited there last winter for the Hearths warming pageant!” she gasped, louder than she meant to. “Well yes, YOU did, but this is quite a long time in the future. After Discord escaped for the tenth time, the spell stopped working on him, the ponies in equestria gave up and decided to find a new home. This is what they found, they called it New Canterlot in memory of the home they lost.”

Stargazer could not believe what she was hearing. Could this really be true? She felt like she could wake up on top of the hill back home at any moment. A loud screech filled the air and a voice carried over the entire city “We interrupt your productive work day to make an important announcement!” the voice shouted, every pony in the street stopped all at once and simultaneously turned their heads towards the loud speakers at every street corner “Prince Thundermane would like to remind you that today is inspection day! All citizens who do not pass inspection will be immediately drafted! Remember without war…” “There is no peace” droned the ponies. "Quite right!" Blared the voice "Now back to work!"

“War? Ponies have always been peaceful and kind! There are no wars! What’s going on here?” Stargazer whispered to The Doctor. The Doctor’s face had hardened in thought and anger “We will have to find out.” He said and stepped out from the alleyway into the busy streets.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

Author's notes:
wow! Second chapter is out already! The next few chapters will take quite a bit longer to publish though, due to my next few weeks being busy with other things. Please leave me a comment if you notice any proofreading errors, or if you just feel like giving some feed back! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 3

"Doctor! Doctor wait up!" Stargazer dashed out into the streets to catch up with The Doctor. They walked together in silence, they were both to shocked to speak right away. She took this as an opportunity to examine the mysterious pony closer, as she had been to excited to take notice earlier. His brown mane and tail were cut short, and they looked as if they were not groomed often causing them to appear messy and unkempt. His coat was a light tan that made his expressive blue eyes stand out brilliantly. Unlike when she met him, his eyes were not happy and excited, they were cold and hard, staring off into the distance in deep thought.

"Something just isn't right here." he mused. "What changed? It has only been a few generations since I was here last, it's so different."

Unsure what to say, Stargazer took in her surroundings. The buildings were very tall and square. Everything was varying shades of beige and grey. Even the sky was grayer than usual. All they males wore suits and ties and the females wore long dresses that nearly touched the ground, and they were shades of grey too. The whole place reeked of sadness and depression.

"Doctor, there must be something we can do! They were talking about war!"

"I'm well aware of that, but there are certain fixed points in time Ms. Star, that leave us rather limited in what we can do. We must not under any circumstances change those fixed points."

"Is this a fixed point then?"

"No, but I can sense that what caused this change of events is. Meaning we can not prevent this from happening." He paused to look Stargazer in the eyes, "But we might be able to fix it though."

They had begun to draw attention from the citizens around them. Most were too busy going on about their daily agendas to even notice the newcomers, but a few had taken to watching them suspiciously. It dawned on stargazer that neither of them was wearing clothes, and they contrasted sharply with their surroundings. The Doctor had noticed this as well.

"It might be in our best interests Ms. Star to find a way to blend in. I'm sure you've noticed the unwanted attention." They quickly found a clothing shop and purchased some fitting clothes. Luckily they still used the same bits after all this time.

“But what do we do now?” Stargazer asked “This is all so strange to me.”

“The next step is to gather some information. We can’t stop what’s going on if we don’t know what it is. AHA! That looks like a good place!” A large building loomed in front of them. There were two revolving doors on the front, at the top of some steps. Ponies were coming out one door and going in the other. “Capital City Information Center” was spelled out in large chrome letters on the front. As they trotted inside they found that it was just as bland as the rest of the city, several of the walls had shelves full of grayscale books. Just inside the door was a helpdesk, where a pony was assisting visitors in finding what they came for.

“Next!” he droned, and the line moved forward a bit. The Doctor quickly got in line. Just behind the helpdesk was a sort of message board, covered in posters with a variety of slogans on them. “Conformity prevents calamities!” blared one. Another read “Who need fun when there’s work to be done?” Soon it was their turn at the front of the line.

“What do you want?” The Stallion groaned irritably.

“We need some information” The Doctor replied

“Obviously” He sneered

“Um, uh, we are doing a report and we require some historical information” Stargazer said

“Well you came to the right place, what specifically do you need the history for?” He turned to his card catalogue expectantly.

Stargazer replied a bit more confident this time, “We need information on recent changes in government.” If they could find what significant change was made since The Doctor last came here, that might give them some clues on where to start.

The Help pony didn’t answer right away; he just glared at her angrily. “THAT type of information is HIGHLY classified!” he whispered through gritted teeth.

The Doctor did not take lightly to anypony threatening his friends. “Then it’s a good thing we are on the list of exceptions!” he said accusingly, as he handed the angry pony a blank pad of paper from his saddlebag. As the stallion glanced at it his eyes grew wide with shock.

“Oh, I…I .. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend, o.. of course I can show you. You know what they say, ‘Meeting expectations requires perspiration!’ I must not have been thinking straight, since I’ve been working so hard! Right this way sir.” Stargazer was shocked, the paper was quite obviously blank.

The Doctor chuckled softly, “psychic paper,” he explained “I can make it say what ever I want to the pony who reads it. He thinks I’m and inspection officer here to monitor his behavior”

“Genius!” she grinned.

The help pony led them to an isolated room. Everything was covered in dust like it hadn’t been used in a long time, and the air was musty and stale. There were several shelves lined with boxes and boxes of city records.

“I’ll leave you to your work” The help pony bowed respectfully “Let me know when you leave so I can lock it back up. Oh, if that’s ok, that is.”

“That will do fine.” the Doctor said dismissively, and the stallion left.

“Well better get started” stargazer moaned.

---

“I’ve got it!” stargazer exclaimed, the doctor came over immediately, “It says here that when Prince Thundermane came into power, he turned Celestia and Luna to stone. When the Ponies loyal to the sisters resisted his rule, he turned the entire planet into a dictatorship. The once happy ponies were forced to work in offices and factories, and the unicorns and pegasi required licenses to use their magic and wings for anything that wasn’t required for work. The government took over control of the weather, and the movement of the sun and moon. One hundred years later Prince Thundermane grew restless, he wanted to expand his control. As his civilization spread across the face of the globe they discovered that there were other inhabitants on the planet, and the prince’s thoughts turned to war.” When she finished reading the doctor was deep in thought. “Looks like we need to get a word with this prince then.” He muttered.

A sudden blast of noise echoed through their room causing them to jump. The Doctor peeked through the partially open door.

“SO YOU JUST LET THEM IN?” a voice rang out.

“Sir you’ve got to believe me, they had a license and everything. I swear I thought it was legit!” whimpered the help pony.

“THAT’S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!! Take him away!”

“NO! NO! YOU’VE GOT TO BELIEVE ME! I WAS TRICKED! IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN!”

“Darn right it won’t! Congratulations! You’ve just failed you inspection and have been drafted into the New Canterlot army, Capital City division!”

The helppony was dragged from the building, kicking and screaming, by two abnormally large earth ponies. The inspection officer turned his attention to the backroom his eyes filled with hate and malice.

Stargazer was trying desperately to teleport them both away. Her horn glowed with magic but when she tried to use the spell her horn sparked and pain shot trough her whole body.

“This room must be spell locked.” She said to the doctor.

“That’s ok,” he said “There’s still time, maybe we can sneak out.” But just as his hoof reached the door handle, the door swung open revealing the officer flanked to the sides by two burly earth ponies.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” he grinned maliciously “Looks to me like an earth pony and an unregistered unicorn, impersonating an inspection officer. That’s a serious felony my friend.” The two burly ponies hit the unfortunate adventurers hard over the head and they immediately passed out.

“Welcome to the army!” he chuckled.

END OF CHAPTER

Author's note:

uh, oh! Doctor Whooves in the army? How are they going to escape this one? If you have any feedback or suggestions please leave a comment. I want to make sure I use proper grammar and spelling, but sometimes I miss something. Also I just like hearing from people who read my story!

Chapter 4

The first thing Stargazer was aware of was a dull pain resonating from the back of her skull. She tried to move but every attempt at movement shot pain through her whole body.

“Do you think she’ll wake up soon Gunnar?” whispered a small voice to her right. It couldn’t have been much older that a filly.

“Well, I’m not sure I can answer that. She was hit hard, judging by the size of that bruise.” That must be Gunnar, “What surprises me, Radar, is that supposedly she’s an unregistered unicorn. I thought they almost all worked for the ministry nowadays.” His voice was deep and rough, like it belonged to somepony very old.

This was all she heard before be fell back into unconsciousness.

When she awoke again most of the pain had subsided. Her mind felt groggy and slow, the effects of the concussion made it had for her to focus. “Ok, let’s try this way,” she thought “I am… um... Stargazer. I’m a….a unicorn. I have a navy blue coat... my mane is... gree.. no yellow... and I have... lavender eyes. I am in pain because… something…hit me.” Slightly reassured of her mental stability, she slowly attempted to open her eyes. She could see several vague shadows in her current field of vision. One leg at a time she attempted to stand up. Bad idea, once again a fresh bout of sharp pain shot through her body, though not as bad as before, that caused her to fall directly back down on the ground.

“Hey Blitz! She’s up!” It was the filly again, but this time a different voice answered. “About time too, I’m sick of sitting here all day.”

She felt two pairs of hooves attempt to help her up as she hissed through her teeth in pain. Strangely, she felt better once she was off the cold stone floor. She was in a small cabin, the walls were composed of stacked wooden logs and the floor was made of roughly cut stone. There were four sets of bunk beds pushed against the side walls and eight lockers stood along the back. In front of her stood two ponies, one was indeed a unicorn filly, and the other was a pegasus but fully grown. The filly had a beep brown coat and a blond mane, and the mare had a blue coat and a grey mane. Their coats were so heavily coated with grease stains that it was hard to tell the exact color of their coats or even if they had cutie marks.

“Good morning sleepy head, you’ve been out for a while. Name’s Blitz” said the Mare.

“Oh! And I’m Radar!” chirped the filly, “Gunnar and the others are around here somewhere.”

“Where am I?” Stargazer moaned her head still foggy from the concussion.

“Wow she’s a fast one!” the pony called Blitz laughed sarcastically, “You mean you really don’t remember? You must’ve got hit harder than I thought. You’ve been drafted lady! Welcome to Camp! You are now a member of the New Canterlot army, Capital city division!”

“I’m here with a friend of mine. He’s an earth pony stallion with a tan coat and a brown mane. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him?” Stargazer groaned.”

“Not many earth ponies are kept here.” Radar replied, “They stay in a separate side of camp. The camps are segregated you see, first by the severity of the crime, then by race.”

“You get placed based on who you are and what you did.” Blitz said, “Ponies who repeatedly didn’t reach their quotas, are ranked as one of the crimes on the lowest tier, level 3. Ponies who fail inspections are ranked in the middle tier, Level 2. And you’re with us in tier 1, for crimes against the government. Then the earth ponies are put in area one and the others are put in area 2. And then of course there are the individual cabins. These military hotheads sure do like their protocols and systems. So, what'd you do?”

She thought it would be best in this case to answer honestly. “My friend and I were caught impersonating inspection officers and trespassing in the restricted section of the information center.” She said simply.

The two ponies’ eyes widened in surprise, “Well no wonder you have such a nasty lump! The officer who caught you must have been hopping mad! Nopony impersonates an officer, you’re lucky he decided not to kill you right there! And in the restricted section too!” Blitz shouted.

“Well what did you guys do?” Stargazer said

“I said that I wished the Princesses would come back and make Thundermane go away, at school” said the filly.

“And I refused to submit to inspections by telling the officer that I didn’t care what Thundermane ordered and that Thundermane should crawl back to the stinking pit he crawled out of. Needless to say, he didn’t take it well,” Blitz explained, "By the way, all the other bunks are taken so you're using the bottom bunk over there and you can use locker 8."

A loud klaxon alarm went off, "sounds like it's the end of the work day, we got to stay in here because we were babysitting, the others should be back soon." Sure enough five Ponies came staggering through the door. They all looked beaten down and tired. There were three pegasi and two unicorns.

"She's awake eh?" muttered a weathered old unicorn. He looked like he had been here a long time; his hair had turned grey with age, and his hooves showed heavy wear and tear. “How you feeling missy?”

“I..I think I’ll be fine”

“Pleased you’re feeling better. I see you have already met Radar and Blitz, I am Gunnar.” He said “The Pegasi here are Archer, Maverick, and Wingman. The unicorn here is Chip.”

“Well my name is Starg-“Stargazer started, but she was interrupted by the startled shouts of the ponies in front of her.

“Oh no you don’t!” Blitz yelped, “We go by code names here! We ARE at war here, if we lose anyone, it's still hard, but it's easier if you don't know their real name.”

"Plus, code names are fun!" said the filly

“Well, what should I call myself then?”

“Let’s see…You can be..." Blitz seemed to have trouble coming up with a suggestion.

"How about you're Navy! For the color of your coat! I'm Radar because I'm good with finding extra rations to smuggle back to the tent, and she's Blitz because she always gets really fast times on the obstacle courses when were training.” chimed Radar. “Oh and Archer has killer accuracy, Maverick has amazing agility in the air, and Wingman, the filly right there, is always following Maverick around. Chip is called that because he came in with a chipped horn. Gunnar is an expert with weapons.”

"I've been at it long enough kid, it doesn't take the sixty years I've been here to learn to use a gun."

“Navy… I like it! As long as I’m in this place, call me Navy!” Stargazer smiled, “I just hope my friend is okay.”

---

The Doctor woke up in a jail cell. His hind legs were chained to the wall behind him. “Is someone out there?” he called “Where am I?” His saddlebag had been removed and was probably locked up somewhere. A guard trotted over to the door and peered through the bars.

“Yelling won’t help you, you know.” He said “You’re in here for good. Just be glad you aren’t out in the field like your friend.”

“But why am I in a cell?”

“The great prince Thundermane ordered that any especially suspicious ponies be locked up here. He was very interested in what we found in your bag. He seems to think that you are an alien from another planet. You’re stuck in here until he sees fit to send you off to war instead.” The guard laughed to himself “Like that’ll ever happen!”

When the sound of the guard’s hoof steps faded away down the hall The Doctor quickly reached up into his mane with one hoof and withdrew his sonic screwdriver. “For as smart as they think they are they missed the one thing that can get me out!” he thought. He expertly adjusted the settings and pointed the gadget at his bindings. The thick metal cuffs slid off as if they were never locked in the first place, and the door opened just as easily. No time to find his saddlebag, the Doctor sped as quickly yet quietly as he could towards the doorway. “This is too easy” he thought “Where are all the guards? There's something suspicious going on here.” Just as he got near the exit, a dark figure suddenly formed in his way, seeping from the shadows. A tall figure with both a horn and a set of wings looked down on him and smiled.

“I knew you had it in you spaceman."

"I should have known. IT WAS A TRAP!

"Obviously." He sneered "My name is Prince Thundermane, pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

“What’s going on here? You have no right to rule! You stole that from the Princesses!”

“Maybe so, but all you need to know right now is that you need to watch your step from now on. This is my kingdom, and I have my eye on you.” The room went dark; The Doctor could not even see the floor he stood on, or his own hoof right in front of his face.

“Where is my friend?! The one thing you do NOT do is mess with those that I hold dear!”

“She is safe, for now. You were separated because you are obviously dangerously stupid when combined.” The voice, laughed and came from every direction at once, “However now is not the time for details, now is the time to WAKE. UP.” As the prince spoke the last two words, the doctor felt himself falling as if from a great height. After a long time, finally his fall stopped abruptly, his eyes snapped open, and he woke up.

He was laying in a hospital bed, his saddlebag was sitting on a chair next to him, and he had been dreaming the whole time.

End of Chapter 4

Author's note:
I did make several deliberate references in this chapter to things in other movies, TV shows and stories. Bet you can't find them all!