Author's Notes:

Latest Update: THIS CHAPTER WILL HAVE TWO PARTS, so please bear with me.
Update1: Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updating. I had a very strong case of writers block, with a side of laziness. Halfway through this chapter was when I took my break for writers block. So if any of you notice the change in writing style, then that is when I finally started working on this again. I have also been back to school with my final year of Highschool, so that's exciting. But, this doesn't mean that chapters will bee coming out like spitfire. I'm taking time with this story.

Smarty had been sitting at a restaurant for 20 minutes straight, calling Chilled’s cell phone. He didn’t ever answer. Smarty wasn’t always the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he had the sneaking suspicion that something had gone wrong. So naturally, he tried to call one of the other members of the crew; GaLm.

The static voice ended with an audible beep. Now he knew something was up. Smarty and the others were supposed to have a gaming session that day, and on these types of days, GaLm always answered the phone.

“That is really weird.” He stated. “How could his phone not be found? Either something really bad is happening, or there’s something going on, and I don’t know about it.” He put his phone on the table, and pondered over the situation. It can’t be good whatever it is. I’m going to have to investigate after I get done eating.

At that moment, the waitress came to his table with his order. Grilled chicken fajita with green peppers, onions, tomatoes, black olives, in a soft tortilla shell,and sour cream on the side so he could put that on himself. It looked absolutely fantastic, his mouth was watering from the sight of it.

“Thank you ma’me!” He told the waitress.

“You’re welcome, love!” She replied. “I’ll be back with your chips!” She then took off for the kitchen, fetching his chips.

He found it very amusing that a girl with a cockney accent was working at a Spanish restaurant. She actually looked quite familiar to him: Spiked hair, freckles, slim figure, amazing hazel eyes, and a great smile. But he decided to dismiss those features, and spotted the emblem on her shoulder.

He had definitely seen it before, but it might have just been a fan of the series, but with all that was happening, you could never know. Modern times were changing. Flying cars would be a thing by the next year, people would be able to be fully fledged cyborgs pretty soon, and time travel had almost been cracked, but could inter-dimensional travel be possible from fictional places and stories? As he was thinking, the waitress returned with his “chips”.

“Here’s your chips!” She started. “I completely forgot to ask you the most important question! Would you like a drink?” She looked at him apologetically and it was adorable.

“No, I’m fine,” He had replied, “but If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you a question?” He started to get nervous, like the world was spinning in circles around him. He would only usually get like this if he was pressured during one of the sessions with his friends, and this would lead to him ‘Pulling a Smarty’. Still, he kept his composure.

“I don’t mind at all, love!” She cheerfully replied while grabbing a chair from the table. “Ask me anything!”

Smarty had to choose his words carefully as to not creep her out, but he managed to ask the question he wanted to ask.

“What is your name?” He asked.

Such a simple question, yet one of the most powerful. ‘What is your name’ was an invitation to a world of trouble for some people. Some would say it would cost their lives, but not this waitress. She had full confidence that this was just a normal conversation. She would only be half right.

“My name?” She asked. With a nod in reply, she said “My name is Lena. Lena Oxton.”

His eyes went wide as he recognized that name in particular. It was the name of a pop culture icon in gaming: Tracer. She had the hair, the accent, the sigil, the bod.... *cough* *cough*... Yeah. She had to be Tracer! But what if it’s not the actual tracer? He thought, What if it’s just a cosplayer that works here, and she just decided to put on an Overwatch sigil and slap on a Tracer wig for the day?

As he was thinking, Lena was staring at him with intent. She was wondering what he was thinking in that head of his. Maybe he knows. She thought. Maybe he’s smart enough to put the pieces together. She was staring at his outfit. He wore a red beanie hat, with a white T-shirt, and black pants. Not much to say about that. She then looked at his face, and saw that he was young. Maybe in his twenties. He had big brown eyes, black hair, and an IMPRESSIVE set of eyebrows with one eyebrow raised as he thought.

“Why did you ask for my name, dear?” Lena asked. Her mind was going at a thousand miles per hour in worry of being found out by a random civilian, although it didn’t show on her face.

Smarty was almost about to tell her that he knew exactly who she was, but decided against it. If he were to do so, and it wasn’t her, he would be seen as either crazy, or rude. If he was right, he would reveal who she was to the whole restaurant.

“No reason, I just wanted to know the name of my great waitress!” He said with an upbeat tone. “I always like to know the names of my favorite waiters and waitresses!” He was lying of course, but he made it sound believable.

Lena let out a mental sigh of relief. Whether he was lying or not, she was grateful that he didn’t spill the beans in front of everyone. If he did that, then I wouldn’t be able to work here anymore, and no-one in this place pays for hero work yet... She beamed at him, now curious as to what his name was. “Well, now that you know my name, what’s yours?”

“My name is John. John ‘Smarty’ Aprigliano.” He had no problem with revealing his name of course, but he was glad that she shifted the conversation to him.

’Smarty’? She thought, That has got to be a self given name. I mean who names their child ‘Smarty’? Granted, he does seem smart, but still. As she thought this, Smarty told her another thing.

“Smarty is my online name, if you were wondering. More specifically ‘tehSmarty’” He added. “I like it because it’s irony. Mainly because when I play with friends online I appear to be dumb, but don’t worry! It’s all an act.” With this, Lena understood perfectly.

“Ohhh,” She said in revelation. She then went into a whisper, “...so you’re a YouTuber?” He nodded. “Now it makes sense! I knew it wasn’t your real name, but I didn’t want to be rude soo...” She looked down at her hands in her own disapproval. “I’m soo sorry, love!”

He then realized that she was basically having the same thoughts that he was having, and put his hands up to calm her down. “It’s okay, I have those problems too sometimes when I know who someone is. I usually stay quiet, unless I am very close to the person.” He shot her a smile and offered her to sit down. “Why don’t you relax a bit?”

“Weeellll.....” Lena contemplated on whether or not she could spare some time off work, but then she looked at the clock and saw that it was twenty past three PM. “Well isn’t that convenient, my shift just ended. Let me clock out and I’ll see you in 5 minutes, alright?”

“Sounds good!”

She beamed back at him as she walked towards the kitchen. He imagined that they used punch cards to clock in and out, like the pilot episode of the old ‘Get Smart’ TV series. As he was waiting patiently, something was going on down the street.

The orb of light that was Twilight and Celestia was searching for the next member of the Derp Crew; Smarty. They had been told that his favorite restaurant would generally be found around 9th avenue with the name of ‘Fonda’

Who’s next Twilight? Celestia asked, looking at her prized pupil.

From what I’ve been told, Twilight started, the one that hangs out around this block is nicknamed ‘Smarty’, another member of the Derp Crew.

Celestia looked at her in amusement ’Smarty’?

I’ll explain everything later. Twilight sheepishly said as she stifled a giggle.

The orb of light had drawn a little too much attention while searching, that people in the streets thought that another alien invasion was upon them. One lady even said she saw a demon in a ball of light. Twilight noticed this while peering through her crystal ball, in which she was controlling said orb of light.

“Heh heh... Oops...” She squeaked as she disabled the crystal in the center of the room. The room had a very regal look to it, as crystal torches lined the walls. Ascending from the floor at the corners of the room, were crystal columns which helped hold the ceiling off the ground. On the far wall opposite of Twilight, there were lines of bookshelves. They reached all the way to the ceiling, with perhaps thousands of books filling the spaces in between. In the center of the room was a thin crystal table which held Twilight’s crystal ball. This ball allowed her the peer into any world she wanted, at any time and interact with the inhabitants.

“I think I blew it...” Twilight said, with a sorry look. “I got too carried away in searching, that I completely forgot about the other inhabitants...” She sighed a sigh of regret, and looked to her mentor, and oldest friend.

“It’s alright, Twilight,” said the solar princess, “Everyone has those moments at least once in their lives.” The princess was taller than Twilight by about two feet, and had majestic flowing multi-colored hair, that would reach down to the floor if it were to be let down. Her fur was the lightest of pinks, and her cutie mark was that of a sun. She had a gentle smile upon her face as she looked at Twilight, “Besides, we can always try later.”

“Oooor....” started an unknown voice, “you could let me have a go?” This new voice had frightened them both at how sudden it came in. It sounded of a Trottingham accent, yet, it was also a mixed with Mareland.

The princesses turned to look at the unknown voice that came from the doorway. It was a brown stallion with blue eyes, wearing a brown trench coat, with a blue suit underneath. His dark brown mane was spiked up and back, and he had a strange device wedged between his left ear. His cutie mark was barely visible due to his trench coat, but they could see that it was a vertical hourglass, with over half of the remaining sand on top. He looked at them with the biggest of smiles.

“You know, I have had my fair share of universe jumping, and believe me when I say, I can get this done in no time at all.” He then trotted over to the central table with the crystal ball, all the while taking in his surroundings. “I mean, you could continue to use your spell and risk the chance of accidentally causing a catastrophic tear that could rip the universes apart, or....” He trailed off and looked between the princesses, with the same big grin on his face and winking his eyebrows.

Twilight was first to break out of her stupor and looked at the stallion in question, “Who are you again?”

His smile turned into a smirk as he introduced himself. “I’m the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?”

With a chuckle he responded, “No, just Doctor, please.”

The princesses were just as, if not, more confused than they were before. “Doctor?” they said in unison.

“Eyup! Correctamundo!” the Doctor exclaimed as he jumped to his hind legs, pointing his fore-hooves towards the princesses. He then got back on all fours. “Anyway! You need someone to get that man to this universe?”

“Yes, we do.” Celestia said, “Twilight and I have raised too much attention to ourselves.” She looked to her pupil and saw that she had her head down in a sorrowful fashion. She looked back at the Doctor, who had one of his fore-hooves to his chin. “How are you supposed to help us with this problem? You can’t perform spells, so how?”

“Well, Celly,” He started, “I’m not like most earth-ponies, and most of them don’t live as long as me either. I’m one of the only beings in this universe to reach a thousand years old, besides you of course. I’ve traveled all over the universe, and universes, so this will be as easy as ‘1, 2, 3’!” His smile had deepened as he said that, but then he paused, “Mind you, I’ve ran into problems, but I myself have created a way to stop my vessel from ripping the whole of creation apart.”

Twilight took notice that he said ‘vessel’ and decided to press him on this matter. “Vessel? What do you mean by vessel, Doctor?”

“Oh hoh ho! Now that’s the question I was hoping for!” He exclaimed. “Come on!” He headed out into the hallway, leaving the princesses behind. He was so excited that he almost didn’t notice that they weren’t following him. He poked his head back through the door and looked at them with excitement, “Well? Come on! Allons-y!” He left once again, and this time, the princesses followed him. To their confusion, he had led them to the nearest broom closet.

How could his vessel be inside a closet? Twilight thought. The Doctor was now standing right outside of that closet, and waited for them to catch up. “Uhm, Doctor?”

“Hmmm?”

“Why have you taken us to a broom closet?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts Twilight!” He replied with earnest excitement. “Go on, take a look inside.” Twilight stepped up to the closet door and pressed the against door. With a push, she opened the door and peered inside. What she found was a big blue box with what looked like a lamp on top. There was writing on the top of the box that read ’POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX’. There were windows on all sides, but they did not allow a look inside. On the front was a door with a handle and a keyhole. The box gave her the chills, as if it were alive and watching her. There was no distinctive features that indicated that it was any type of vessel.

“What is it?” Celestia finally asked.

“Well,” the Doctor said, clearing his throat, and walking into the closet next to his vessel. “It’s called ‘The TARDIS’. That’s T - A - R - D - I - S, it stands for ‘Time and Relative Dimensions In Space’. It can travel anywhere, including through the universal barrier into our man’s universe. I’ve been through there plenty of times, to and back again.” He finished while stroking the side of his ship with his hoof.

Celestia and Twilight were in awe and confusion. Twilight being the one with her jaw to the ground, and Celestia having a raised eyebrow. Twilight picked her jaw up off the ground and looked at the Doctor. “So you say that you can travel through space?! How is this possible?! Our civilization hasn’t advanced that far yet, and we can’t use spells for this! The only thing close to space travel is that spell I was using to gather the 5 Guardians from that world!”

“The 5 Guardians?” asked the Doctor.

“Yes! Chilled Chaos, GaLm, Smarty, Ze the Royal Viking, and Tom Fawkes!” Twilight answered. Her hooves were nervousitedly tapping on the floor as she had so many questions to ask.

But it was the Doctor’s turn to ask questions.

“Wait, hold on,” He started, “How do you know about these Humans, and why do you need them exactly?”

“There’s a new type of threat to Equestria,” Twilight started, “and we needed a way to stop it, so I went and did some research. The threat is an evil darkness we believe crossed over from the human realm to Equestria. We think that this darkness is Erebus, the embodiment of darkness.”

“We believe he intends to envelope this world in eternal darkness,” Celestia chimed in, “not in which my sister intended, but the intention to destroy this world with his power.”

“Ah, I see...” The Doctor said. “Erebus was one of the many Gods of ancient Greek mythology on Earth that represented Tartarus itself, and to my belief, he never existed. Of course, that could just be me. I don’t believe in any god, let alone Greek ones....” he trailed off from his sentence and looked down with his hoof to his chin. “...but I’ve been wrong before.”