Trixie and the pony who called himself 'the Doctor' ran at top speed through the snowy streets, jumping over snow drifts and trying anything to stay ahead of the strange thing following close behind them. Trixie risked a glance back at the thing that continued to hound them.

It was a tall creature, easily standing twice as tall as either of them with long arms and three-fingered hands that were raised forward, trying to grab them. It ran on two legs making the ground shake beneath its large footsteps making Trixie briefly wonder how nopony was hearing this. But the strangest thing was that the thing didn't have a head. Instead, it had a large red dot on its chest.

"What in Celestia's name is that thing?!" Trixie shouted as they barreled over another snowdrift only for the thing to smash straight through it, not even flinching.

"Not sure!" The Doctor shouted back. "But I would really like to find out!"

The Doctor stopped and whipped around to face the thing, both of them coming to a stop in the middle of the street. Grinning wildly, the Doctor charged at the monster, excitement in his eyes and high pitched shouting in his voice.

The monster took one look at the screaming pony charging at it, raised its arm and swatted the Doctor away, the force of the monster's attack sending him flying into a mound of snow next to them with a 'wumph'.

Trixie stopped and was watching the scene unfold; she glared at the earth pony half buried in the snow. "What an idiot."

The monster turned back to her, its red dot focusing on the blue unicorn before it. In shorter time then it took for Trixie to react, the monster ran forward, covering the short distance between them and brought its massive fist upward to smash her. Trixie quickly dived out of the way just in time for it to slam into the ground, shaking the street as well as the snow off the buildings.

Unharmed and ignoring the clumps of frozen water that tried to bury it, the monster stood up again and moved towards Trixie once more, the force of its weight creating cracks in the pavement and the movement of its limbs creating a horrible screeching sound.

Trixie desperately searched for an escape route from the hulking monstrosity that stood before her. To her despair, she came to realize that the monster had chased them all the way to the end of the street and it ended in a dead end. There were no ways out; this was the old part of Manehatten, the buildings were slim and crowded together in packs allowing no alleyways or exits.

Trixie crouched defensively as the monster drew near. After her rather unfortunate encounter with an Ursa Minor, she knew she probably wouldn't be able to defeat it, but she still had a spark or two in her.

"Come on already!" She shouted at the monster as it stood before her. "Try and see if you can take on the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

The monster stepped forward after a moment, the beast's fist raised again to smash the unicorn in front of it.

"Yah!"

Out of nowhere, The Doctor, none the worse for wear despite having been swatted into a building, jumped onto the monster and latching onto it's back. The Doctor held something in his mouth that he pointed at the beast. As soon as he pointed it at the beast, it began to emit a high-pitched buzzing noise that hurt Trixie's ears.

The monster was apparently hurt as well; its body began trembling and went rigid. To Trixie's surprise, the monster started to emit sparks, little white sparks that shot out of it like it had been struck by lightning. The supposed force of the Doctor's attack caused the monster to seize up, its red dot going black and fall slowly to the snow-covered ground face first with a 'wumph'. It lay still and unmoving.

"Whew!" The Doctor jumped off the finally dead monster on to the snow. "That was intense!" He stopped and stretched his back; the sounds of vertebre popping reached Trixie's ears. "I suppose it could have gone more according to plan but it all worked out in the end."

He crouched down and started inspecting the monster, the strange thing in his mouth buzzing again as he waved it over the monster. Trixie watched the pony work in shock, a simple Earth Pony had taken down a monster as if he did it on a daily basis and was now joking about it.

Trixie hesitantly crept towards the dead monster and The Doctor, both nervous about the whole ordeal and furious at the unknown pony.

"Alright, that's it!" She screamed at the earth pony. "I want to know who you are this instant!"

"I'm the Doctor." He calmly replied, not even looking up from the monster as he spoke.

"Doctor who?!" She shouted again. "What kind of a doctor hunts monsters?!"

He looked up at her, pointed at himself and grinned. "This kind of Doctor and this isn't a monster." He looked back down at the thing. "It's a machine."

A confused Trixie looked at the monster more closely and to her surprise and shock the monster's skin was made of metal, she didn't notice it before because of the falling snow but the not-monster was colored a dull chrome and covered in nuts and bolts. The entire thing had visible joints on its arms and legs like a pose able doll.

Trixie prodded the machine more nervously then before. "You mean we were attacked by a walking suit of armor?"

"That's one way of putting it." He nodded. "This is a robot, a mechanical being and should not be on this planet."

"But then why is it here? How is it here?"

He stood up and pocketed the strange thing in his mouth; it looked like a small metal stick with a light on one end. "It's a scout, sent here to search the area for some reason and as for where it came from..." He shrugged. "I have no idea."

Trixie glared at the Doctor and stepped over the robot. "Alright, Doctor whatever, Trixie demands that you explain and that you explain now!"

He opened his mouth to explain but froze in surprise and looked back at the robot. He planted his ear to the robot's body and gulped his eyes wide and pupils shrunk.

"No time!" He shouted, grabbing Trixie and pulling her away from the robot. "We have to go!"

"What?! Let go of me!" Trixie pulled against the earth pony.

The Doctor persisted. "We should probably try and get away from here as fast as possible."

Trixie planted her hooves in the ground and held firm against the Doctor. "Give Trixie one good reason why Trixie should go with you!"

His expression suddenly got very serious. "Because in a moment or two this street is going to be lit up like a Christmas tree."

"Christ-mas?"

He stopped. "What." He said in a high-pitched manner, his previous serious expression disappearing completely. "You ponies don't have Christmas?" He shook his head. "Wait, not important again, we need to go!"

He resumed dragging the unicorn until they were behind a building a few feet away. The Doctor pressed himself against the building and closed his eyes.

"You might want to hold on to something."

"Hmph!" Trixie stepped away from the pony that was hugging the wall for some reason and towards the street again. "Trixie thanks you for helping her defeat that monster, insane earth pony but Trixie really must be going-"

Her voice was cut off when an explosion racked the street, knocking Trixie to the ground and gave off enough light to briefly light up the street as if it were the daytime. As fast as it had happened the light receded and night overtook the street once more.

Trixie shakily rose to her hooves and rubbed her eyes, temporarily blinded by the lights. The Doctor released himself from the wall he had clung to and walked over to the street.

"There, see? Or rather, I guess you can't, sorry."

"Wha-?" Trixie strained to focus on the earth pony. "What happened?"

"The evidence is gone." The Doctor stated, leading Trixie out to the street, the area where the robot had fallen now a crater in the ground. A few building around the crater had been demolished but luckily nopony had been inside.

"Huh, more sound less force." The Doctor muttered, walking up to the crater. "And not a rivet left."

As her vision returned, Trixie stared mouth agape at the scene.

"What are you?!" She shouted at the pony after a moment of silence. "How did you take the monster out and why are you so nonchalant about it?!"

He turned back to her, thought for a second and shrugged.

"Don't know, must be because I've done this kind of thing for so long, though to be honest I was trying to take a vacation here, get away from it all when this little problem arose."

The sounds of thundering hooves and clanking of armor alerted the two to the coming arrival of the royal guards.

The Doctor walked away at a brisk pace. "Well, that was fun but I should probably go before the guards get here and demand an explanation...

He trailed off as he noticed Trixie; she sat in the middle of the street, looking at one of the demolished buildings sadly.

"Um..." He walked up to her cautiously. "Are you alright?"

She pointed a weak hoof at the rubble.

"That's my house." She said quietly. "Or it was."

The time lord went silent in realization. "Oh, but all of those building were dilapidated and...old." He should know he was there on the day they had been built; he had been fighting intergalactic termites.

"The rent was cheap." She shrugged tiredly. "And it was the only place I could afford after I lost my last home."

"Oh?" The Doctor sat down next to her. "What happened to your last home?" He gasped. "It wasn't termites was it?"

"What? No!" She stood up and smashed the ground angrily. "It was that blasted Twilight Sparkle in that blasted Ponyville! She made a fool of me when an Ursa Minor attacked the town and destroyed my wagon!"

"Twilight Sparkle..." He murmured quietly for a second before gasping loudly. "That means that you're the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"You've...heard of me?" She asked, cheering up just a little.

"Oh this is brilliant!" He grinned. "The pointy hat, the swishing cape with the stars and the tomato paste..."

He stopped when he fully realized what he was looking at; a sad, stained, soggy unicorn sitting in front of her home that he had inadvertently destroyed. He noticed tears welling up in her purple eyes.

The sounds of guards got louder by the second, they would be here at any moment.

"Come on." He grabbed her shoulder. "You can come to my place, get all cleaned up."

She stared at him warily.

"It's either come with me or stay here and be charged with arson."

Trixie rose weakly to her hooves, she shook off any assistance from the Doctor and the two started trudging through the snow.

***

"...not that there's anything wrong with tomatoes but celery is clearly the more decorative vegetable." The Doctor concluded. The two of them stepped into the newer side of Manehatten, The buildings around them were much more elaborate and spaced apart.

"Uh huh." Trixie mumbled, he may have lifted her spirits somewhat before but the eccentric pony was beginning to become a nuisance. "Are we there yet? My hooves are getting sore."

He pointed in straight away from them. "It's right there."

She followed his pointed hoof and gasped in shock. "It's amazing!" She said, actually astounded.

"I know." He proudly responded. "She's beautiful isn't she?"

"You live in a mansion?!" She ran forward excitedly.

"Yep, the TARDIS is the most amazing-wait what?"

He watched as the magician completely ignored and ran past the big blue box that sat on the corner despite not having been there yesterday and looked up at the elegant mansion that took up and entire block, making the Doctor's box seem very insignificant.

"Oi!"

Trixie stopped looking at the amazing house and looked back at the Doctor, who was fuming with anger.

"That's not my place!" He shouted angrily.

"Oh, do you have a bigger place?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." He walked over to the blue police box that sat on the corner and patted its side. "This is the TARDIS."

Trixie walked over towards the Doctor and inspected the box; it was a strange wooden box colored blue with windows and a light on top, the sign above the door to the box read, Police public call box. It barely looked like one pony could fit inside.

The Doctor ginned. "What do you think?"

Trixie dryly replied. "Trixie thinks that you're poorer then her."

"Hey! I'll have you know that the TARDIS is even bigger then that house over there."

"Maybe in your insane fantasies." Trixie muttered. "Listen Professor..."

"Doctor!" He rebutted. "I'm not going through that again."

"...whatever, listen, Trixie really appreciates that you're a fan of the Great and Powerful Trixie but Trixie thinks that you're insane and Trixie really must be going...."

She froze up, not from the cold but because the Doctor had pushed the door to the TARDIS open with a hoof, revealing the... rather spacious interior.

She stepped silently towards the opening, light pouring out from within and illuminating the dark street, and stuck her head in the doorway, peering nervously inside the box.

The room was circular like a dome; the walls were covered in what looked like bronze plates held in by massive rivets, the walls themselves were held up by strange looking pillars that circled the room. The room itself was fairly well lit, lights hung all around the room but the biggest light was the one in the middle.

A strange machine squatted in the middle of the room, it was covered in a multitude of sometimes literal bells and whistles and a pillar rose from the middle of the machine, rising to the ceiling. A green light poured softly out of it, painting everything around it in a green tint.

"Well?" The Doctor asked as he walked up beside her and into the TARDIS closing the doors behind him, his grin going from ear to ear. "Aren't you going to say that it's bigger on the inside?"

Trixie spoke slowly, the composure in her voice that she usually had gone.

"Isn't it obvious?"

He glanced around the room for a moment.

"I suppose so but I just love it when they say that."

She walked slowly into the room, pausing to look down at the glass floor that made up the floor farther in. The Doctor sat at the console, frantically working the levers and switches.

"Now despite having among other things, a race course, a home theater, and a swimming pool, I do not in fact have a washing machine."

Trixie wasn't sure how to respond to that and settled for a confused look.

"But..." He continued. "I do know the perfect dryer for those wet clothes."

He reached for a lever and slammed it down. Soon after he did the room was overtaken by a trembling that shook Trixie to her core, the trembling accompanied by the strangest noise.

Vworpp....Vworpp....Vworpp....Vworpp...

The noise soon stopped along with the trembling and the TARDIS was still again.

"There, that should do it." The Doctor said, standing up from the controls.

This was enough for Trixie. "That's it! First Trixie thought that you were fairly nice, now, Trixie thinks that you are quite mad!"

With a swish of her soaked cape, Trixie made for the doors.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not care for your special effects, she can make just as much noise and light."

She stopped at the doors and looked back at the pony who watched her. She pointed a hoof at him. "You are just a second rate special effects Pony with too much time on their hooves." She snorted derisively at him. "And Trixie bids you adieu."

With that, she turned around and pulled open the doors.

The sun was there to greet her.

Next Chapter: Carnival Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes