What has he gotten himself into this time?

The Doctor didn't know where here was, nor did he know how he arrived here. All he knew was that today was the beginning of his discovering an entirely new, alien world. Unique to any of the ones he'd ever seen before. Saying he was ecstatic would be an understatement. It would also leave out the matters of him feeling overwhelmed by the infinite horizon opening in front of him, as well as his state of anxiousness. Just as infinite as his glee, was the sheer amount of irritation that he felt. He'd decided to rush through the introduction as quickly as possible, hoping to get a general view and perspective sooner rather than later.

There was magic here. There was living, breathing mythos. And, of course, there was the rather curious air looming above everything. It was all just... explicitly brighter and cheerier than was normal. All warm and fuzzy… like a cartoon or something.

He seemed to have not been physically transformed without purpose. He fit in among the inhabitants here without any trouble… barring his non-existent knowledge of the world and its workings.

As he exited Ditzy’s home, a fine, humble, apparently thatched up one story home, the Doctor took in the town, whilst uncomfortably pulling his oversized sleeves up his legs. He’d need to do something about that.

He studied every corner of the little town. Surely enough, there were talking horses everywhere, minding their business. Adults working, children playing. Ponyland. Feelings of wonder and joy flooded over the Time Lord upon seeing these simple people living their simple lives. Casting tomorrow’s unknown away with their smiles and sense of community. Simply enjoying the now.

He did not see a ridiculous world filled with talking horses. What he saw was a society, and a very happy one at that... which just happened to be made up of equine creatures.

As he trotted along, he noticed a look of mild bemusement on his new friend’s face, trotting aside from him.

“You seem to be fit for someone who fell out of the sky.”

“I’ve had worse falls."

"Sure,” Ditzy humoured with a chuckle. Then her carefree attitude gave way to concern. “You look a little nervous. Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine," the Time Lord answered simply. "I'm just thinking a few things through. Considering a few possibilities, that’s all. You’ve never heard of a little blue planet called Earth before, have you?”

“Earth? You mean like the soil?”

“Well, that’s the wording of it, yes.”

"And... what's a planet?”

He staggered upon the question. "Never mind, then."

Ditzy didn’t know what to make of his retort, however she decided to try to make conversation. “So... is that where you’re from?”

She wasn’t supposed to know anything about Earth being a planet that was far too similar to this one. If the Doctor never heard of her planet, then it was highly unlikely that it even existed on the same plane of existence as Earth. They were separated in one way or another. However, the possibility of being in a different dimension presented its own issues. The power costs alone... let alone the technology to locate him across the planes of reality, hack his Tardis' technology and pull him through the borders so precisely.

Just another bit of nonsense to add to the pile. Hopefully the Time Lord will be able to get a decent perspective of the matter soon, because he’s honestly starting to feel quite upset.

The vast majority of the multicolored denizens of this place were regular ponies. No wings, no horns. He supposed that meant that the latter were implements that would only happen to emerge by a random chance upon birth, as an addition. Of course, he'd later learn that that wasn't really the case at all.

The Doctor ignored her question. Ditzy decided to try instigating conversation again. “How is Earth, then? Is it some earth pony only community?”

Apparently she was still trying to make sense of him, place him in a box that she could understand. Either way, it didn't matter. If he had his way, he’d find his Tardis and leave this world within the day’s end, then they were never going to see each other again.

A few children ran past them, having fun in a little game of tag. It looked so serene. So normal. So boring.

“Earth Ponies is what you call regular ponies, right?”

“Yeah,” she affirmed.

“Earth doesn’t have talking ponies. It has some things called humans. Does that term ring a bell?”

“…Nope. What are those?”

“Long story, you wouldn’t believe me anyway. Suffice to say, they’re really a nice and charming people. Very ingenious, too. Don’t suppose you know what a car is, either.”

Ditzy sighed, then immediately found something catch her eye. She didn’t answer, instead waving at someone else. A red-haired mare tending a shop a few feet ahead, in the town square. She waved back shortly, as she busily got back to talking to a customer.

“Friend of yours?” Doctor asked.

“Yeah. And my sister’s boss.”

“Hey Carrot Top. How's business?”

The shopkeeper appeared happy enough to see her. “Good, thanks for asking. If you're wondering about your sister, I’ve sent her out on an errand. I’m tending the stand till she’s back.”

“An errand?" asked Ditzy half-mindedly.

“…Yes, an errand. She’s off on a delivery.” The red-haired mare looked rather suspicious of her. Eventually, Ditzy's guilt got the better of her.

She smiled sheepishly and dropped her head, covering her wayward eye. “Maybe I am a little worried about her holding her job.”

“I understand. After all, she is trying out something that has nothing to do with her special talent.”

“Petals blowing in the wind don't really offer much in the way of talent. She tried everything she could think of, but she still couldn't find anything she likes. I'm just thankful that you're willing to put up with her.”

"Don't worry about her. She's doing just fine." The vendor looked less than eager to say anything else. Ditzy noticed this, and decided to press forward.

She sighed. "If there's something you want to say, please say it and get it over with."

"Blunt as always." She rolled her eyes with a nervous smile. “Okay, I’m not in any position to criticize, but I just thought you might want to trust your sister a little bit more. Whenever you’d have doubts about a family member is when it's a good time to have a talk, otherwise bad things are bound to happen. There’s nothing worse than to have doubts about somepony you trust.”

"Ouch. Beaten at my own game."

Her friend laughed. "Remember there's more where that came from, so you two better have that talk. Anyway..."

She looked passed her, towards a certain stallion staring at the clouds in the sky for whatever reason, saying something to himself about some thing called a “coriolis”.

“Who’s your starstruck friend?”

As soon as she realized what kind of look was being directed at her by her friend, Ditzy gradually worked out a subtle blush and shifted away. “He’s just a friend…”

“Oh.” Carrot sounded indulgently. “Well if that’s the case, then I don’t suppose you mind introducing me?”

Her blush was a bit less subtle, for an instant before she converted her feelings of awkwardness into annoyance. “Well alright. Doctor?”

“Huh? Oh, ugh… sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m the Doctor, pleasure to meet you, miss…”

“Harvest. Golden Harvest, but all my friends just tend to call me Carrot Top. Pleasure to meet you too.”

“He’s new around here, and I just offered to help him find his way around town. Isn’t that right, Doctor?”

“Yep, that pretty much sums it up. I’m afraid I was caught at a bit more of a loss than I’d expected. I was lucky to come across Miss Doo when I did.”

“I see…”

“Well then, I think we might as well be on our way. Say hi to Dotes for me, won’t you?”

“Sure. You two have fun now…”

"We wil... hey!"

They walked for a few more blocks without talking about anything else, before they finally arrived at the library.

“We’re here.”

“Uhmm… It’s a tree,” the time pony retorted in confusion.

“Yeah.” Ditzy said, as she rang the doorbell.

“A pretty big tree. With windows… and a doorbell.”

“Yep.”

The door opened, revealing a purple little scaled creature, with jade eyes and spikes.

“Hi, Spike!” Ditzy went first, greeting the small reptilian resident.

“Oh, hey Ditzy! Who’s your friend?”

“Yeah, well, 'Who' is right…” She rolled her eyes, which appeared quite comical, before landing on the madman who had decided to act strangely again.

The Time Lord jumped a few centimeters short of the dragon's face, shifting his view and studying his every nook and cranny intently. “Hello! I’m the Doctor. Ditzy, I don’t think you told me about your little friend here, have you?”

She answered slowly, confusion and worry taxing her comm speed and vision focus. “Yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you. This is Spike, Twilight’s dragon assistant. You're kind of breathing his air...”

“Marvelous! Dragon, you say?" He took the liberty of poking one of the little guy's scales. "A little, purple, spikey dragon? Can he spit fire?”

Unnerved by the apparently crazy stranger, Spike took a couple steps back. "There's a thing called personal space, guy. Ever heard of it?" He looked at Ditzy, searching for some sort of explanation. 'Who in Tartarus is this guy?' he'd ask her, and she was sympathetic to his plight.

“Yes, Doctor, he can," the mare said as she held a hoof on the Doctor's shoulder to drag him away. "Mind going a little easier on him? You're creeping him out, and me, for that matter."

“I am?"

She rolled her eyes, which looked odd again. “Sorry about him. He's just... ugh... starstruck?" she said, more asking than actually explaining.

“Yeah... got struck by a falling star last night, now I can't use my hooves to pick anything up. Really nasty business. I might be a little nervous, as you could imagine. Wouldn't wish this kind of plight on anyone else myself. Anyway, we were wondering if we could search through your library's books for anything that might be of any help..." the Doctor explained, as he ever-so-casually walked past the dragon whelp inside, looking around the place. He seemed to be admiring the architecture.

It wasn't even cut. It seemed the chamber's walls were grown that way. Color the Time Lord a slightly impressed tint of chestnut.
Anything else? It was a library. There were a few seats and reading tables, and about a couple odd dozen book cases on the walls. A stairway on another wall, a couple doorways leading to other rooms.

Behind him, the mare coughed tentatively. The meaning behind which he decided to fail to notice.

After a few more moments, he eventually figured he spent enough time taking in the surroundings and possibilities that associated them, and decided to speak up. "Nice place you have here."

"Thanks..." answered the dragon, noticeably peeved. Noticeable to anyone but the Doctor.

"So, then. About those books I just mentioned. Is it alright if we took a look?"

Spike decided he didn't like this stranger very much. It's not that he's antisocial or anything, it's just the first impression that was given to him wasn't a very good one. The story the Doctor offered didn't reassure him much either. Starstruck? Really?

"...Well, Twilight said that the library is opened to everyone. So yes, you're welcome to check in. Though I doubt we have a book on remedies for being starstruck. Do you even know what you're looking for?"

"No, not really. I think I'll just look everything over real quick." the Doctor spoke as he went over to a nearby bookshelf.

The dragon only managed a confused "Huh?", the mailmare beside him sharing the dumbfounded look on his face.

"I said, I think I'll just look everything over real quick.” he repeated, looking over the titles casually.

"Look what over? The whole medical section?" the mare cut in.

He trotted over to another bookshelf and picked out a volume... "No, the whole library. It couldn't take me too long..." He reached out for a particular volume, brushed his hoof against the tome, realized he still had no idea how to use his hooves, then glared at his appendage disapprovingly.

The sad display seemed to have only driven home for Spike once Ditzy explained to him that, "He really can't use his hooves."

The diminutive dragon scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. "If you want to talk to Twilight about this, sorry, but you just missed her. She left to get some things she forgot in Canterlot, so she won’t be back until tomorrow.”

"Oh... huh. This could certainly prove problematic then. Do you know about anyone else with extensive knowledge of how hooves work?"

"Ugh...You could try at the hospital? Aren't doctors supposed to know all the bones in the body?"

The chestnut-colored nutter went stiff at the suggestion. "I..."

"He doesn't really like hospitals either," filled Ditzy in.

A moment of awkward silence, no one could figure anything out. Ditzy looked at the clock on the wall and sighed.

“Do you think you can handle things on your own? I have other places to go today.”

“By all means, go right ahead. You've already done more than enough. I can handle it from here on out.”

“All right then.. Good luck. Bye Spike. I trust you two will get along.”

"Yeah. Bye..." the dragon's tone was borderline impudent. Luckily, it wasn't loud enough for the mare to distinguish that fact.
He closed the door behind her and gave his new client a brief look. The Doctor was still looking towards the doorway where Ditzy was.

”So, Doc. What will it be?”

“Mind not shortening my name like that?"

"Okay, fine. What shall I look for you, Doctor?" Imagine his retort as slow and annoyed as you will.

"Well, could you get me something regarding… anatomy? Maybe there's something useful there.”

"Something regarding anatomy? As in... what? Anything?"

"Just a general encyclopedia. Anything with regards to basic and not-as-basic functions of the equine body."

“Alright," the dragon retorted with a shrug as he went to look through the respective section. "Count to think of it, I’m pretty interested too. How do ponies pick anything up?”

“What, you mean you’ve never been curious about it? Never asked anyone until now?”

Spike seemed to have picked out a book, and dragged a ladder to pick it out. The Doctor was just standing around, somehow giving off the impression that he owned the place.

“Actually, I did, when I was a lot younger. Twilight told me it’s an unconventional type of magic that all ponies can use, and she just left it at that before continuing on on the previous lecture she was running on about.”

“Unconventional magic? What’s that supposed to mean? Since when is there conventional magic?”

Spike climbed down the ladder and went over to a table, book in claw. He shifted through the pages until he found the desired part.

“Look, it says here, how unconventional magic can be con… conjer…”

“Conjured" the Doctor takes the handle, as he pulls his glasses out of his coat and puts them on, "up by the pony in question through only a bare minimum requirement in willpower. This way, any pony can hold or pick up certain objects without the need of a unicorn horn… What?”

“Yeah, just like you did when you put your glasses on.”

“What!?” Doc repeated, louder. He hadn't particularly noticed when he did what he did. It was just a reflex. He stared at his limb again. "Did I?"

“You did.” Spike chimed in, no particular amount of sympathy. He gave up on trying to figure him out.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.” Spike insisted.

“…Okay, I did.” Doc relented.

“You’re really weird, you know that?”

“Stop changing the subject. How does that even work! It doesn't make sense! How did I do it?“

“Just like that. You grabbed them from your coat and put them on. Now, if you're done, could you please leave?”

The Doctor ignored him, as he was too caught up in his own little discovery. Common sense was being put on the line, there was obviously something he was missing.

“It was habitual. But, I did it without fingers… But what about the times I tried it anyway? What am I missing?... Maybe there’s some way this body can cope with the difference? I wonder if…”

He tried picking up his glasses up again, slowly, but this time with his eyes closed, imagining how he’d normally pick them up. The first time around, they fell off. The second time he did it slower, more carefully, and it worked.

“Would ya look at that?! Heh heh… heh... I mean, not really, since for you it’s…" He only now noticed the expression of suppressed exasperation on the dragon's face. He coughed in his hoof. "Could you please bring me a few books on astronomy? And what time do you close?”

"Astronomy?! Why do you even..."

This conversation was not going to go well, the Doctor quickly asserted. He decided instead on a different approach. "On second thought, why don't you go ahead and make yourself a sandwich? I can handle myself now that I got the working of my new appendages."

Spike only stared at him warily until his stomach growled. He just sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine. Go ahead and do whatever." The little guy waddled off towards another room, presumably the kitchen.

The Doctor looked up at the clock on the wall, then took in all the book titles presented neatly to him from their places on the shelves. Time Lords have pretty darn good eyes.

With a wide smile spread on his face, he got to reading.

Another noteworthy thing about Time Lords, not only can they see really, really well, they can also read incredibly fast. They have eidetic memory, which offers them the ability to essentially memorize the sight of the entire open book's passage. Like a scanner introducing a picture into the computer. The Doctor only needed to let the pages fly by in front of him in order to know what was written on them, then to focus on what he read afterwards in order to just sort the newly acquired knowledge in his head. Which only took him about three seconds because there's already so much knowledge in that big head of his. So much knowledge, in fact, that because of his failure to periodically sort his memories, he misplaces those memories.

Our processing speed pales in comparison to theirs, without taking into consideration adrenaline as a factor. (With adrenaline, however? Well, the Ninth did step through that one really fast, really big rotating propeller of dubious purpose that one time. As for strength, we'll cross that bridge when we reach it.).

That being established, it should (yes, it should) come to some measure of surprise that he took more than just three seconds to sort the new knowledge in his head after reading. The reason for that, was that he simply refused to believe what he was reading.

'What the bloody blue moons of Sartonis have I just read?'

Magic. That's what he read. Magical theory. And for him, it was all kinds of hogwash. He just decided to leave those things for later, see if he could make sense of them at any eventual point in the future. There were enough things here that he needed to learn besides... whatever 'magic' really was.

He was used to being pretty all-knowing until a few hours ago. Reading so much about this new world gave him a sense of closure.
Geographically, Equestria was a relatively small kingdom. Nothing compared to the noticeably larger landmass to the east. Though there were no borders marked, probably because there didn't seem to be any other kingdoms to offer territorial pressure. Only a few towns here and a few cities there, the biggest one being Manehattan...

That just then, that tired sigh he just released, was the sound of some of his happiness disappearing forever. Now he was actually, seriously hoping someone was pulling his leg, but unfortunately, he knew better.

The west was beset by a large ocean. Supposedly it was called the Sky's Mirror in old Maneish. Caeldwel? Ceildveil? Caledwell? He had no idea how it was pronounced. Sort of seemed of latin orientation though. (Surprisingly, he could read Equish as well, but that was only slightly less surprising than his ability to speak the language in the first place, let alone register and speak it as if it were actually English.)

The northern border stretched along frosted mountains. Its respective territories being called simply enough the Frozen North. To the south, the map showed deserts and rocky wastelands, noted as Badlands.

To the east, there was a great forest of varying shades of green and brown, pushing into the country's territory, with the word Everfree sprawled across. It stretched from well into the kingdom's territory, far away for a few hundred miles, all the way to the shores of yet another ocean.

Ponyville was in the central part of the kingdom, slightly to the east, right at the edge of said forest, along with the capital. That said a few things about. The capital was so close to the forested area, yet they didn't try to cut it down and build anything there. Considering that most of the small landmass had settlements here and there, some even being placed in a far-away desert rather than just a couple miles off to the right, one was left to assume that these ponies thought it best to ignore invading that forest, for either one reason or another. The fact that any potential invading armies would be practically invited to use the forest as a means of achieving direct access to the capital, supported the idea that such an attempt would be a bad one. (Because the Everfree is extremely dangerous, and Celestia can melt an entire army with but a thought with her demigod powers.)

Then again, the capital was still well within the mainland, built into a mountain. Maybe the threat of magical monsters was more pressing than that of, say, some carnivorous nation wanting to annex their kingdom? Maybe the rulers here were confident enough in their relationships with potential rival countries?

And according to what he had learned immediately afterwards, Equestria was indeed in good terms with all the other nations. United Griphonia, Diamond Dog Tribes, Zebraconian Isles... just to name the nearest ones. Beyond the eastern ocean, there were many other countries. Maredrid, with bulls and equines apparently sharing territories. Saddle Arabia, Prance, Coltland, Bleathuania , Trotsylvania, the Capricious Range, Stalliongrad, Sibearia,... and a bunch of other caricatures that referred to Earthen countries. It seemed there was even a place called Pachidermia. Some kingdoms, however, were actually original. Fortune Holds, Sunfall Glade, Dagon Fel... Certainly interesting.

There were mentions of other lands, but so far no one cataloged most of them. The few that were cataloged, however, were all done so by some famous adventurer called Polo Pony, which mapped most of the Zebraconian Isles somewhere far to the South-East and part of the Great Thicket beyond the Badlands.

Brave new world the Doctor stranded himself on. New faces to greet, new places to see, new adventures to be had! He was simply giddy at the prospect. Everything he knew about technology, history, even people, didn’t count for anything anymore, something which in itself he only found as a challenge to enjoy. Still, he couldn't be too hasty... well, relatively speaking. He would have a lot to learn before he could do anything. Then again, it wouldn't have been too much for him to handle anyway. He was not one to shy away from risking to make a few mistakes here and there.

Still, his inner savant was desperate to soak in as much knowledge as he could, to find logical explanations to all of the questions that were now plaguing him. Or rather, his inner child was too anxious to go to sleep and wanted to wait for Santa.
He wouldn't find him, though. These books offered a lot of insight, but nothing quite sufficient. He only managed a general idea regarding everything.

The astronomy books wrote that the constellations here were unlike any he'd ever seen. The Prancing Pony? The Manticore? Starswirl's Sigil? Why was the pony prancing?

Meh. He would delay a final judgment until the evening. See the stars for himself, maybe he could get a read on his location.

Concerning history, he gorged himself with all the books he could get his hooves on. All three of them.

“You're kidding me, right?”

"Huh?" the dragon asked confusedly as he poked his head out of the kitchen.

"I... skimmed through your history books."

"The way you skimmed through everything so far?"

Spike wold sometimes peek through to check on the visitor. Make sure he wasn't setting the place on fire. Doc noticed, but didn't say anything.

“I’m a fast reader. Tell me, aren’t you supposed to have an archive listing all the books in the library? Why were there only three history books here?”

“Well, Twilight did point out how everything we know gets fuzzy before a few centuries ago. Something about politics or something. Give me a sec till I find the catalog.” Spike explained as he went upstairs, chomping the remaining half of his sandwich on his way.

“Were those really all the books you have on history?” the Doctor asked again, his gaze following the Dragon up the stairs.

“If they're not enough, you could ask Twilight to take an order from the library in Canterlot, or maybe even a copy from the Royal Archives. When she returns.”

“Okay,” Doc placated, walking over to the bottom of the stairway.

“Here it is,” the dragon announced as he climbed down the stairs, carefully, with just one huge scroll, only motions away from unraveling.

“That’s a long list,” the bodily-impaired Time Lord pointed out as Spike tripped on the unraveled parchment and started tumbling down the remaining steps, much to the Doctor's horror. He caught the dragon near the end of the fall.

“Tell me about it…” Spike gave dizzily, begrudgingly.

The Doctor did not seem very amused. "Are you alright?" he asked harshly, pulling his instruments out of his coat.

“Yeah, yeah... Don't worry. I'm a dragon, remember?”

Dragon. Right...

The Doctor sighed as he recalled what he read about dragons. Which wasn't a lot, mind you. All that was there was that the buggers are resilient. Still, this was just a kid. You'd think he'd act the part.

He moved away to give the little guy some space, looking him over critically, then he went and checked his emerald eyes with his screwdriver's light pen function.

"Well, you seem to be alright..." the Doc calmed down, getting up. "Just... do me a favor and be more careful, will you? You almost gave me a heart attack there." 'On at least one of his hearts.'

Finally, Spike seemed to stop looking at him suspiciously and more sympathetically. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he realized that he had really worried the strange stallion there for a moment. It wasn't enough to completely absolve him, but it did bring the Time Lord back from the red area down into the yellow.

"Okay, sorry. Here, I brought your list..." Spike trailed off as he inspected the papery mess stretching all over the floor.

They eventually found the beginning of the long parchment, and rolled it up. You'd think they could afford making it a normal bound catalog.

The Doctor gave the scroll a look over. There were lot of travel journals, a lot of short stories, a few larger novels... and something interesting.
At the end of the list was a title scratched out thoroughly. The title wasn't even classified. It was the only book that wasn't removed from storage.

"Any idea about the missing title?”

“Not really. Twilight and I looked for what it might've been, but there wasn't anything besides what was listed. We assumed it was a mistake that the former owners of the library had made."

"Huh. I suppose you're right," the temporal trickster relented. After all, he had plenty of other things to worry about right now. This probably wasn't anything important anyway.

He couldn't find Santa, Dad wouldn't let him. Still, there were some things he'd found out today.

All things considered, however, this was just his first day in a new world. He needed to figure out how to use his limbs, for crying out loud. Of course he couldn't make any major breakthroughs. Then again, he was still stranded, and he could feel his Tardis wasn't entirely safe where she was. She was the single entity he could always count on being by his side, and he didn't know what was happening to her.

This entire world was completely disorienting. He had no idea what he'd gotten himself into and his only attempt at getting a proper feel for his surroundings only succeeded in rising more questions and giving him reason for outrage. Not only was the library jarringly lacking, it was also flimsy! That wasn't the founding of Equestria he read, as much as a pamphlet, or scrypt for a school play! How all of this came to pass was beyond him! And don't even let him get STARTED on their magic!

"Nothing makes any sense!" the Doctor burst out, drawing the attention of nearby pedestrians. He had half a mind to start yelling at them, questioning them how they could possibly be so dense!

'Calm down... Let's just take a deep breath, assess the situation and find the best course of action. Just... breathe. Breathe in, and breathe out... it's not working. Let's take a walk! Yes, that should help us feel better!'

It wasn't every day the Doctor would lose his temper. Even when yelling at others, he'd only do it to make other loudmouths shut up. Even when his friends would be in danger, he wouldn't lose his composure. He would turn very attentive, very cold and very cruel, but he wouldn't panic. He wouldn't lash out, he wouldn't get angry, he would get even. It was just that, he wasn't angry now. Just tired, and confused, and scared for his Tardis. And now, he was also disappointed.

The town wasn't very big. He figured out its layout pretty easily, passing by Ditzy's home once already. He stopped by the train station. The place was packed. He just stood there, considering if he'd want to jump a train. He did it before, he could do it again. But the problem was, where would he go?

...He recalled Spike's words. '...you could ask Twilight to take an order from the library in Canterlot, or even a copy from the Royal Archives.'

Since it was in the capital, the library there was bound to have a more substantial collection. And even if it didn't, the librarian there was bound to know where he could go instead. And if even that failed, he had plenty of tricks up his sleeve that would get him in and out of the Royal Archives. So was there any reason he had to not go and try that place out?

'...Not in particular,' He said to himself, looking back to the town oddly. 'I don't have any reason to stay here... There's nothing for me here, is there?'

Just then, a train was stopping by. He just stood there, not really knowing what he was waiting for.

"All aboard for Canterlot!" a mare voiced out.

This was it. He needed to start now if he was going to run off ahead to be able to catch the train. Once he was in Canterlot, he was certain he'd find what he needed. Then again...

'Why do I have this nagging feeling I would be making a mistake? It's...'

The train's whistle started blowing before he knew it. His eyes widened. When did he space out like that?

All he could do was watch the train roll off. Before long, the station was deserted again, and he still hadn't moved.

'...Maybe I can stick around a little longer.'

He had a lot of things to think over. All that happened to him just now, it was the sort of thing that people would go insane over. The shock of being flung into a whole different world, a whole different society, a whole different species... He was doing pretty well, considering.

There was also the matter of magic. A blatant, indifferent discrepancy, trampling every part of him which ever cherished science and logic. A spit in the eyes of technological advancement... And none of that even compared to the baffling lack of historical data available to the public. Either it was censored, or they only managed this much... But how could they only manage this much? They were clearly so advanced already! They had the steam engine! By all means, this was supposed to be the beginning of their own Industrial Age, at the latest!

How could they not have any major conflicts to decide their political standings? How could they be so painfully few? Why were there pegasi controlling the weather?

He was beginning to become increasingly tired. He was coming to realize that, all of this? It was far too much for him to take in all at once! He needed to figure things out on his own, then decide his next move. His first thought would be to meet those supposedly immortal rulers of the land and ask them a few questions, but he wasn't very confident he'd want to charge in half-cocked like that. Not because of the unreasonably many unknowns brought forward by magic, but by the thought of a single person being left with complete control of an entire race, for a thousand years, before which there was a rebellion that failed?...

He didn't have a deathwish.

He looked around. It was getting late. The stall owners were packing their things, the children were going back inside. He assumed it would look rather bad if he was caught out like this. A complete stranger, walking around late at night. He decided it'd be best to go find an inn, or something.

His plan was to locate his Tardis. In order to be able to do that, he would need to find shelter for a few days, integrate into the local populace and avoid detection. During this time, he would fashion a radar to pinpoint where his ship was. No issue, he'd done it before. The hardest part would be finding a satisfactory place to stay. After all, there's no place that refuses double the pay. He had a bag of gold coins he kept just for such an occasion... as well as other shiny things for places where gold wasn't considered of any value. He was bound to have something they'd like.

On his way, however, something happened. Something beyond words. It was just... wrong.

The sun had not set, but dove past the horizon, way too quickly. On the other side of the sky, exactly in the middle of the horizon, the moon just sprung up.

Soon afterwards, stars appeared. A vast array of constellations which he'd never seen before. At least, that was what he had initially assumed they were. But upon more careful inspection, he realized... that those weren't stars.

Author's Notes:

Dinky confirmed. Also, I added a third part of the family that ISN'T Sparkler. Come at me, bro.

In the next chapter, there's a bit of exposition throughout the beginning half. I don't usually make a point in explaining anything that doesn't have at least some level of importance. However, these explanations do offer not only context regarding why the Doctor had encountered some initial trouble, but a bit of insight into pony society as well. I urge you to read the asterisks when encountered.