Hey, have you heard of The Doctor?

They say that he’ll rewrite the past for you, but only one time.

“W-Would I be better off d-dead?”

It came out of nowhere. Directed towards me, for some reason. I looked in the direction of where the voice came from. It was the filly who sat next to me, Fluttershy, asked me that. We were in the same class at Summer Flight Camp, but have never really spoken much. She didn’t speak at all really.

Fluttershy had light tulip pink hair that hung down close to her knees, the color of butter for a coat, and 3 pink butterflies for a cutiemark. She also had these light teal eyes that always looked slightly sad. She was ever so shy and a weak flier too. A prime target for bullying. I’ve seen quite a few of those scenes featuring her, myself. I didn’t really feel any pity for her though. For life is life and we must continue on our own path and in our own roles. For in my life, she was simply a classmate. That was her role.

But...Fluttershy came to me with that question.

That night, Fluttershy died.

I didn’t even know if it was a suicide, homicide, or accident. It was never revealed.

Fluttershy had passed away.

The truth of the incident had vanished into darkness.

That was all the teacher would tell me.

“I...don’t really care. I don’t really care that the filly who sat next to me died.”, I thought while gazing at the seat across from me where Fluttershy used to reside. "Even though she had disappeared…it’s not like we were related in any way. I don’t feel anything at all. I’m not even sad. I don’t have a single connection to her. She was just the filly who coincidentally sat next to me. Everything would be the same even without her. The same everyday routine. We would have our classes, go to breaks...Even Billy and the rest of his gang would find somepony new to pick. Just the same daily school routine. She was gone, but my life would go on. The same continuous cycle.”

“Hahaha! Morning Thunderlane!”, yelled a raspy voice from high up above. I gazed upwards to the sky and all I could see was this rainbow colored blur rushing straight towards me.

I jumped away, scared it would hit me, but at the last second the blur pulled up from its plummet and came to a screeching stop at my feet.

“Hey hey! What’s up….”, her voice died as she scanned me from top to bottom. “You don’t look like your usual stuff today Thunder.”

I was too stunned to speak when I saw her rush towards me. It wouldn’t have be the first time she collided with somepony, because she timed it wrong. So, I just stood there gaping at the stunt she just pulled and how close we both came to getting injuries.

“Uh, hey! Equestria to Thunderlane! Do you read me?"

I quickly regained my awareness and put all my confidence in those next three words.

“Loud and clear!”

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

The pony who was talking to me was a filly named Rainbow Dash. She had, as you would expect a Rainbow colored mane and tail which was in wild, uncontrollable style. Along side that, was a cyan coat and a lightning bolt for a cutiemark. She also had these dark pink colored eyes that always shone with confidence. Rainbow Dash was always the fastest and best flier out of all of us. She was also daring, quite rowdy, and brash too. She's a pretty good filly though. She helped protect others in need, when they need it. Some ponies saw her as a role model, to me though, she’s just another classmate, like Fluttershy. She too, also rarely spoke to me.

Apparently, she was Fluttershy’s best friend. Which I thought was quite humorous, due to each other's personalities.

“Hey Thunderlane, is there something bothering you?”

I just stood there trying to think of how to put it as gently as possible when she read my mind and put it out there right on the spot.

“Oh I get it! Duh! You must be pretty annoyed and confused huh? Seeing that I don’t normally talk you you, and then here I am! All of the sudden talking right to you. Buuut, I came to talk to you today ‘cause I have a favor to ask.”

When she said that. Her seemingly natural bravado faded in place of an expression somber and serious.

“Can you guess what it is?”, she said with a grin. Her bravado suddenly returned to her as if it never left.

“I don’t know.”, I said. Tell me.”

“Well… I was thinkin’, I wanna help out Flutters. And you’re the only one who can do that! She spoke to you yesterday right? I was watching y’ know!”

Suddenly Rainbow Dash’s gave off an expression of annoyedness, or even anger.

“...she went to you you to ask for help instead of me. Her best friend.”

I was a bit confused with the statement of how she asked me for help. She didn’t speak that word to me.

“She didn’t ask for help.”, I said. Trying not to have Rainbow get angry at me.

After what I said Rainbow’s face relaxed back into her more easy going expression and she gave out a sad chuckle.

“Heheheh. Flutter was the kind of filly who wouldn’t ask for help really. Even if she really, really wanted it. What a cute little pony she was.”

“And how are you planning on helping Fluttershy?”, I asked. Being a bit baffled at the statement, because the dead can’t come back. Right?

Rainbow once again put on a serious face.

“Oh, is that what you’re worried about? Well, you don’t have to worry about that Thunderlane...Hey have you heard of The Repeat? They say he’ll rewrite the past for you, but only one time.”

I laughed out loud of what she said just then. It was so utterly ridiculous of what she was suggesting.

“Hah! The Doctor is just an old pony tale.”

“Wrong…He really exists. I know. I’ve even met him…You’ve met him too Thunderlane.”

After saying that Rainbow pulled out some sort of loop in the shape of an infinite sign out of her saddle bag.

“Okay here.”, she said holding it towards me. “It’s a time strip. I made it myself! I made it out of construction paper in arts and crafts. You close your eyes, put both your arms through it and say the magic words. You have to say Doctor I beg of you eight times.”

It just got even more ridiculous after she said that. I didn’t even know Rainbow believed in this kind of folklore. But I decided to play along.

“Hah! I’ll prove to you it’s just a myth.”

I pulled it out of Rainbow’s hooves and put the loop through my own, took a deep breath, and said the so called “magic” words.

“Doctor, I beg of you. Doctor, I beg of you. Doctor, I beg of you. Doctor, I beg of you. Doctor, I beg of you . Doctor, I beg of you. Doctor, I beg of you! Doctor, I beg of you!!”

Suddenly. The strip began to glow with light.

“See ya later later Thunderlane.”, Rainbow said. “Heh heh heh heh heh.”

Then the glow shrouded me in blinding light…and everything went dark...

In the darkness, I was confused and panicking. Surprised that the legend was true, but was unsure of what to do now.

“Fluttershy can be saved?, I thought. “...By me? Why? How?”

I had all these questions spinning through my mind. It was too overwhelming. I began to black out. But...In that moment...as my consciousness began to drift away I heard someone’s voice calling out to me.

“How many times has it been now? What is it you desire? Do you still not understand? No matter how much you twist that ring of fate you’ll always arrive at the same result. If you still don’t understand this after going through it several times...then continue struggling within this endlessly repeating time period.”

2001/04/15

The next instant I was there. I felt a calming night breeze brush up against the back of my neck. When I looked up I saw the moon, gently shining above. Illuminating the night sky. I looked in front of me and saw I was at the front door of this house made from pillars and fluffy cumulus clouds...was this Fluttershy’s house?

“Well…”, I thought. “Here goes nothing.”

I moved my hoof to the door and found it unlocked. Then I slowly opened it and stepped inside.

Author's Notes:

Fun Fact 1: The night on which Fluttershy is died (April 4th 2001) is chosen, specifically exactly 10 years before the episode "The Cutiemark Chronicles", because that is when they actually talk about themselves as fillies and to have them put in a better age area of when this event happened (Summer Flight Camp)

Fun Fact 2: This story is based of the Charon game, "Makoto Mobius"

Fun Fact 3: First story ever.