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!

Next Chapter: New Canterlot Army, Capital city division Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes