An amber-coated stallion woke up. His body felt cold against the smooth, linoleum floor. Opening his eyes, he found himself in a spacious room. White walls, with the dim lights refracting from them directly into his eyes.

“Hello? Is anypony here?” he asked, rising to his hooves. “Where am I?” He continued to look around, there were desks, boarded up doors, and in the center of the room, what appeared to be some sort of console. He slowly walked towards it, reading the red text that appeared on its display.

You're awake, that's good. I thought I was going to be trapped here for much longer.

“What is this?” the doctor asked himself, not expecting an answer. To his surprise, the text changed in accordance with his question.

This is a console. Right now, you're what I call the “TARDIS”. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's a time machine, you see.

Doctor Whooves raised an eyebrow upon reading the new text. “I don't believe that,” he said. “Where are you? Who are you?”

I'm would believe I'm right here. Not really though. I can see and hear you, but not much else. As for who I am, I'm Dr. David Tennant Whooves.

The doctor shook his head. “No, that can't be true. I am that pony you're talking about. I'll ask again, who are you?” He eagerly leaned against the console.

Alright, perhaps I'm not you, but I'm quite close. I'm your “Time Lord” mentality, if you'd call it that. Tell me, what's the date today?

He scratched his head. “Uh... Hearthfall the 6th, CR-986?”

Wrong, leave through the door to your right. Take a look around, and come back in.

“Umm... Alright, then,” Doctor Whooves trotted to the door, head full of confusion, mouth full of questions. As he left the “time machine”, he looked outside. The weather didn't seem to be the same way he last saw it. He was in an alleyway. After cantering around for a while, he found out that he was in Ponyville. That was a relief.

He looked back, and didn't see a building. Just a box. It was much smaller than the room he'd just been in though. How was that possible? The doctor hesitantly approached it, opening the door, only to find out it led exactly to that same room. He hastily galloped towards the console, stumbling on the way there.

Yes, I know you have a lot of questions. Well, what I'm thinking is that you've lost your memory, or at least your memory as a Time Lord, something like that. Time-traveling's some pretty heavy stuff.

The text disappeared, new text replacing it. This one was a slightly darker shade of red. The light's in the room dimmed. “Was was that?” the doctor asked.

This thing doesn't have much energy left. Needs repairs and all that. Anyway, it's UR-3, Hooftember the 17th. At least it was before I got trapped in here.

The stallion put a hoof to his head, as if it were to help him understand what was going on. It didn't. A new line of text appeared, breaking him out of his trance.

BTW, UR-3 stands for the third year of “United Reign”. BTW, Nightmare Moon came back and was banished to the moon once again, Princess Luna's sane again. BTW, BTW stands for, “By the way”.

“So you're telling me that Equestria uses a different calender, I'm in the future, and Princess Luna's returned after a thousand years?” the doctor asked, failing to comprehend all of these changes.

Precisely. It's cool though, she came to Ponyville last year. Very entertaining. Back on topic though, it's going to be your job to fix this machine. Last I know, we've sold our home to live here. It's got a lot of rooms you know, but the TARDIS can't contain them in this state. Not right now.”

“No deal. There's no way I'm going to dive into something more confusing than this,” he shook his head.

Now now, don't say that. I'm going to be trapped here forever, I think. Doesn't sound pretty. You'll be homeless, memorylesslessless for like, the past 17 years. Seriously, we've done some pretty cool things with the TARDIS.

The doctor rose to his hind legs, placing both hooves against his head. “I-I don't want to. What am I going to do?”

Well, I would believe actually doing something about it would be a good course of action. If you don't, I suffer, you suffer, and three young mares who came with me, are probably going to be lost for eternity and the like. Surely you wouldn't want that weighing on your conscience?

“Nopony should be subject to that fate...” Doctor Whooves sighed.

Great, that's what I wanted to hear. After you moved into this place, you've kept all your possessions in that desk, should be right behind you against the wall. There's a lamp for when this thing inevitably runs out of power, some other stuff, and most importantly, a manual. It's around 247 pages, but I'm sure there's a page related to this situation. You only need to read that. Once you get our memories back, I assure you that everything's going to be fine.

“Sounds like a lot of hard work,” he said. “I-I'll do it though. I have to, don't I?”

You do. Don't be afraid to look to others for help, just try not to attract too much attention, alright? I'm not sure about the state of time right now, but things could have gotten really messed up.

“If I can travel through time... Couldn't another incarnation of myself from the future arrive in this period of time to help me?” He watched as the lights dulled, squinting to read the text.

Face it, if you from the future wanted to come back to help you out, or was able to do so at all, he would have done so by now. The only doctor I'm seeing right now is you, so either I hate myself, or time's just in a really bad mood right now. Anyway, I don't have much time left. Not enough power. Start hunting for those memories. Good luck, doctor.

The lights in the room dimmed once more, it was much harder to see. The text faded, and the display on the console completely shut off. “I guess it's just me, then...” Doctor Whooves sighed. He slowly walked towards the desk and used his mouth to turn the lamp on. Pulling open the desk drawer, the stallion found a red book entitled, “TIME-TRAVEL FOR FOALS”

---

Was Applejack alive? By the way she was feeling, she really couldn't tell. She opened her eyes, and found that she was already standing, but on a cloud. Looking around, she found herself surrounded by other pegasi, almost all of them being foals.

“Look, Fluttershy, you're bein' all weird,” she could hear a squeaky, but raspy voice. She turned around, now facing a small cyan filly. “Why don't you hang out with somepony else? You're acting like I'm your only friend or something.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack called out. “What's goin' on?” she didn't receive a response. The filly didn't even look at her.

“I-I'm sorry Rainbow Dash.” Applejack turned to see what appeared to be Fluttershy as a filly. “You see, I've been meani-”

“Why don't you go hang out with Derpy or somepony else?”

“I don't... I don't know...” Fluttershy shrunk into a ball.

“Fluttershy?” Applejack sighed. “Please, somepony tell me what's happenin'...”

The rainbow-maned filly shook her head and sighed. “Fluttershy, I don't want to deal with any of your issues, okay?”

“I'm sorry.”

“Just give me some time to myself,” she glared, before taking to her wings.

“Rainbow! Why you actin' that way?” Applejack called out. Once again, she received no acknowledgement. “Fluttershy?”

The filly laid on the cloud, hiding behind her mane. Applejack brought herself closer to Fluttershy, and further inspection revealed that she was tearing up. “Ah, come on now Fluttershy. You're stronger than that!” the mare looked down, bringing a hoof to the pegasus. There was no contact, her hoof phased right through her.

“Am I... dead?” she sat herself onto a cloud, looking up towards the sun, which she was now closer to than ever before. “Doctor Whooves, Fluttershy, Twi'... are they dead too?” She could recall the images of Celestia laying battered across the palace floor, the odd but incredibly handy personality of that amber stallion, and the two friends she'd ventured into the Everfree Forest with. Did they die because of that mistake? Should they have listened to Zecora's warnings? The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the big blue box shaking, everything seeming to warp around them, time and space being played by the click of a few buttons, and then... nothing.

“Is something wrong, Fluttershy?”

“No, Ditzy. I-I'm fine,” she choked out.

A gray pegasus filly walked up to her. She already had her cutie mark, a few bubbles, whatever that was supposed to mean. “What's wrong?”

Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane. “I don't think Rainbow Dash wants to be my friend.”

“Maybe not right now, I'm sure she still wants to be your buddy.” Ditzy offered. “And if she doesn't, than maybe it's just her loss.” Applejack could have sworn she'd never seen the mailmare she knew offer advice like that.

“B-But, who else is going to be my friend?”

“I can be your friend...”

“Check it out guys, Klutzershy and Derpy Hooves!” A dark-brown pegasus said, followed by two other colts.

“Yeah! Cat uh... Klutzershy!” another colt shouted, eyes covered by his brown mane.

“Leave us alone,” Ditsy protested.

“Yeah sure,” one of them said. “Why doesn't Derpy stop leaving her eyes... uh... leaving her eyes alone?”

“Good stuff, Quarterback!” The dark-brown colt brohoofed him.

Applejack trotted in front of the three colts, angrily glaring at them all. “Think you boys should stop this, say this stuff to some colt your own size.” Once again, she received no response.

“D-Don't call her Derpy. That's not her... name,” Fluttershy barely squeaked out that last word, now shaking with fear.

“Woah, woah. You're real tough, you know that?” Dumb-Bell joked. “Somepony save me, this klutz is gonna' break me!” The two colts next to him laughed.

“Tell you what Fluttershy,” he continued. “I bring my hoof to your face once, and I'll have you crawling. How's that sound?”

“Fluttershy could beat you, any day!” Ditzy Doo barked.

Applejack turned to her side, noticing that one of the cloud buildings seemed to be... bending. She knew Cloudsdale wasn't the place she'd be accustomed to, but that was just weird. Nopony else seemed to pay attention the warping of somepony's house.

“Jeez, you're annoying. Alright, you first.” Dumb-Bell charged in Ditzy's direction, being intercepted by a lightning-fast tackle, followed by a rainbow trail.

“Hey, let's do this!” Hoops grinned as he and Quarterback rushed into the swirling ball of foal-violence Rainbow Dash had created. It kind of resembled the cloud of dust that always appeared when ponies would fight in the comics she was supposed to read as a kid. She remembered stumbling upon this one “comic book” that Big Macintosh kept under his bed. All she understood at that age was that those “pretty lookin'” mares seemed quite comfortable with their rumps being held so far out.

The ghostly mare couldn't do anything to break the fight up, she had no wings. She didn't want to do anything about it anyway, as long as Rainbow Dash was going to win. Fluttershy and Ditzy watched in suspense as Rainbow took on three of their most feared bullies.

An amber pegasus flew by, observing the fight. He looked similar, so much like... so much like somepony she knew. She glanced at his cutie mark, and she understood who this was in an instant. “Doctor!” she shouted. Much to Applejack's surprise he turned around, fading away as she drew closer.

Applejack found herself falling. Had she galloped off a cloud, or did she simply phase through it? Either way, the blur of clouds and ponies whirred past her as she made her descent towards the ground.

---

“Alicorn blood. No... No! How am I supposed to get that?” the doctor screamed aloud. Rushing towards the console in the center of the room, he struggled to control his breathing. “Turn on, please. Please, please, please,” he pressed the buttons in no particular order. “I don't want to be homeless, help me. Help me!”

“Is everything alright?”

“Hmm?” Doctor Whooves turned around to face a gray pegasus standing in front of the doorway, now casually slouching against the console. “Oh, y-yes. Everything's fine. Nothing to see here. No rampant clopping to ethically questionable material here. Nope, not at all.”

“I heard screaming,” she entered, taking a look at her surroundings.

The doctor nervously scratched his head. “That? That was uh... It's nothing. I just got a little confused.”

“Woah.” The mare ignored his words. “This place is really cool! What do you do here?”

“From what I've been told, it's some sort of time machine.” He shrugged. “A “TARDIS”, I think. Pretty easy to believe when you're in a room larger on the inside than the outside.”

“A time machine? What does that do?”

“What do you think?” The doctor raised an eyebrow, not receiving a response. “It travels through time. Time and space, or so I've been told.”

The gray mare lit up. “Wow, that's really nice! Can you show me?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I've got to fix this thing.”

“Do you know what you're doing?”

“No, I really don't know, okay?” Doctor Whooves sighed. “I don't want to explain a lot, and there's much work to be done.”

“Well, maybe you should try and figure it out,” she offered.

“Yeah, maybe I should. Now you, what should you be doing right now?”

The pegasus took a moment to think, and then lowered her head. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Yes, please.” The doctor nodded. He could see the mare turn around, heading for the door in a slow walk. He glanced back at the console, he couldn't ignore his own advice, could he? Besides, the look on her face was becoming too much to handle. “On second thought, why don't you stay here?” he sighed. Before she opened the door, he spoke again. “You could help me! I wouldn't mind, not at all.” The mare turned around, giving him another look. “Please?”

---

Fluttershy trotted amongst the trees, searching for any clue as to what was going on. “Is anypony here?” Sighing from the lack of a response, she continued to explore the area. The redwood trees basked in the bright rays of the sun, complemented by a carpet of lush grass. “What happened?” she asked herself. The box shook, and the world around everypony twisted uncontrollably. What was to come after that?

Minutes passed as Fluttershy aimlessly wandered the forest. There was searching, and then searching, and more searching. The scene seemed the same for the most part, perhaps it actually was the same. The pegasus was sure she that she would have found some sort of landmark by now, but the expanse of trees was the only gift she received. Nopony in sight, no cute animals, and not even a sense of direction.

One redwood tree to Fluttershy's side sank slightly into the ground. Fluttershy questioned how sane she was after the events she'd been through today. Hopefully, she was just dreaming. Hopefully. The sky seemed to burn red, clouds jutting out like knives. She wouldn't be flying that high anytime soon. Picking up her pace, she continued onwards in the direction she'd chosen. She'd find a way back home, and she'd find her friends too. What if she didn't though?

To get the best of her fear, Fluttershy had laid herself on the soft ground against a hued tree. It towered over her, blocking the harsh sun from her view. Resting her head against the aged bark, she closed her eyes and let her concerns drift away. Blackness overtook her mind, replaced by a fresh sea of the sentiments hidden in the deepest corners of her mind.

She didn't know how much time had passed in her sleep, but the pegasus slowly rose back to her hooves to continue her search. She could get back home, yet Fluttershy still held doubt for her the safety of her friends. Placing one hoof in front of the other, she took notice that this place was one of comfort. She'd certainly come back if there were some animals here, which there should have been, considering the area was perfect for the wildlife.

The sound of a hoof knocking against wood alerted Fluttershy. The pegasus turned around, bursting with joy at the sight. “A white-tailed deer!” she softly exclaimed. The deer sharply motioned with its head, turning around. As Fluttershy started to speak again, it darted out into the depth of trees. “Wait, come back!” she pleaded, taking to her wings to chase after it.

The deer was fast, all deers were, but pegasi were also supposed to be fast. Fluttershy wasn't the most fit of pegasi, nor was she the most agile. Navigating amongst the tall trees and the maze of branches and leaves, the pegasus struggled not to crash into anything. “Please, please stop!” she panted, as her wings quickly beat to keep up. The animal was still in her sights, and while Fluttershy didn't exactly want to disturb it, this deer was probably the only help Fluttershy would get, provided it was willing to communicate with her.

Her heart flared like she'd flown a hundred miles as she attempted to regain some control over her breathing. “I-I need you to help me,” she barely choked out, now opening her eyes as she saw what appeared to be a branch shooting outwards from a cypress tree. Fluttershy attempted to bring herself to a halt, but she was far too late for that. It broke easily under her weight, but Fluttershy quickly lost control of her flight, flying into a few more rough branches, flipping and twirling in the air before another tree halted her flight.

Crashing down against the earth, pain seared through her body. She'd lost control at flight school plenty of times, but those were always in controlled environments. Soft obstacles, and even softer clouds to fall on. The only real pain she'd fought was embarrassment, and the constant disappointment brought to her close friend, Rainbow Dash. This pain, was purely on a physical level. She didn't feel like moving her legs, even then, she wasn't even sure if they were broken. She curled on the ground being greeted by a surge of pain in her back from when she crashed into the large redwood tree.

Looking up, she saw the white-tailed deer staring straight back at her. “I-I'm sorry,” Fluttershy said. The deer turned around, leaving the pegasus to herself. As it walked, she noticed something different on it's rump. A cutie mark of some sort, an hourglass?

---

Taking heed to her surroundings, Twilight found herself in Ponyville. She rolled around, only to hit the pavement. Groaning, she put one hoof to her head, using the other to strike the bench she just fell from. Picking herself up, she searched around. Ponies of all sorts roamed around the streets, but she barely knew any of them. A small filly briefly reminded Twilight of that mare who grew vegetables in her backyard.

Twilight Sparkle walked aimlessly, hoping that everything was fine. She hoped that the box had sent them back home, and that whatever it was that the doctor did, it didn't break the universe.

“Hello there, friend of my mind. Goes the day for you nicely?” a young amber stallion approached Twilight, who yelped as she turned around.

“Oh...” she scratched the back of her neck. “Hi?”

“Yes, greetings!” he smiled, offering his hoof. “Greetings to you softly!”

Twilight reluctantly shook it, blushing as she did. “Yes, hello... Who are you?”

“Back from the light and into the lands of the insane, I believe! Have you no sense?” he impatiently glared.

“I-I'm sorry. I just didn't know who you we- wait,” Twilight said. “You, Doctor! What are you doing here?”

“A doctor, am I?” he brought a hoof to his chin. “Last heard of I, not a doctor to be.”

Twilight circled around him, now finding that his flank lacked the hourglass that the doctor had. Oddly enough, he didn't have a cutie mark at all. “Oh, I'm sorry. You just looked a lot like... somepony I know.”

“Great blight, speak not of the only way to rip from sight but a misunderstanding!” he chuckled. “Seeing you now, I know fully of what you speak! Apologies made and sent, you have no need to do so to I.”

Twilight looked down at the ground, trying to comprehend whatever it was he was saying. She gave him a look of confusion, and he simply stared back with a playful grin on his face. “I-I...” He continued to stare at Twilight, not breaking his gaze for the longest seconds Twilight ever lasted through. Running a hoof against the ground, a bead of sweat ran down her neck.

The doctor burst out into a fit of laughter, “That was pretty cool, actually! Anyway, I'm here to help.” He put a hoof to his chin. “Wow, I my voice must have been so much higher at this time.”

“Doctor?” Twilight gasped.

“Yes, that's me!” he motioned with his hoof. “Now, I don't have much time, because things are just messed up like that. I could lose access to this place any second now.”

“Who are all these ponies?” Twilight asked. “What are you talking about?”

“You must be somewhere back in time, CR-986. I talked to myself about it for a while.”

“Wait, what?”

The doctor sighed. “Things are really messed up, in case you didn't know. I've got myself in the present trying to fix things, but I honestly doubt he'd be worth anything without the experience I've accumulated over the years. Hope he actually took my advice.”

Twilight glared at him. “Doctor, help me. Tell me what to do, I'll fix whatever it is you've messed up!”

“Wow, good job pointing the blame at me,” the doctor recoiled. “Take my feelings into consideration and all.” He received another angry look from Twilight, clearing his throat. “Of course, my apologies. I believe that right now, we're in another plane of existence. Lots of things are changing, and reality's being warped. All I know is, I'm going to be really confused when I find out that I need alicorn blood to fix the machine.”

“Alicorn blood? What are you talking about?” Twilight tilted her head.

Doctor Whooves shrugged. “It's a really odd machine. Not even sure how it got built in the first place. All I can say is, try and alert the princess in someway, that's what you can do. If you happen to find the TARDIS somewhere here, then please don't be afraid to enter and solve this problem from there. You certainly can't break the universe when it's already broken.”

“Ugh, fine. I'll see through to that.” Twilight bit her lip. “One question though. Where are my friends?”

“I really don't know. You'll find them though, I'm sure of it. The machine works in odd ways, you see,” the doctor trotted around. “Anyway, be sure to act with haste, we don't want any permanent effects to befall the real Equestria.”

“Well, that's just great.” Twilight huffed. Equestria could quite possibly in total chaos from what the doctor described. “Doctor, what else can you tell me?”

“Tell you not what should be known to nopony,” he replied. “Speak to you, I may! What asks from the lavender lips hold not a reference of which is known to me.”

Twilight sighed. “Please doctor, stop this.”

“Does not what holds not the seeds appreciative for this. I halt by the request.”

Fortunately, yet surprisingly, he stopped talking after that. “Good riddance,” Twilight thought to herself, walking away.

“A farewell to that of you!” Doctor Whooves waved.

“Yeah, bye,” Twilight quickly galloped in the direction of the library. She had a princess to alert, and some friends to gather. She nearly fell over when she looked up to see a few clouds disappearing from her view. Whatever was to be done, she'd have to do it quickly, lest an unsuspecting pegasus falls to the ground in their sleep and breaks something.

The speed in her gallop increased along with the length of her stride. Running wasn't something that Twilight took much pride in. It was a miracle that her wobbly “nerd legs” actually got her 6th place in the Running of the Leaves, only with the help of good pacing. Wobbly nerd legs aside, she was determined to put things back where they were supposed to be. It could be seen as her fault in the first, place, going into the Everfree Forest for that doll, so she would work even harder to make things right.

The library was in her sight now, and the unicorn grinned as she readied herself to write another letter to the princess. It'd all be fine, wouldn't it?