Confessions of an Immortal Time Lord

One Thousand Years of Solitude (Part 4)

***

I didn't remember exactly how I had found the TARDIS. I only remembered walking mindlessly, roaming about the forest, stumbling upon trees and rising again, eager to move, no matter what. I guess I had been in some kind of a drunken state. How had I been able to press all the needed controls was a big question to me.

Yet, here I was, standing on an unfamiliar surface, wondering how I had got here. It was strange that I'd never been to the Moon before. But nevertheless, the Moon welcomed me with deadly cold. It wasn't any beautiful, watching from this perspective. Apart from countless rocks and dust, I couldn't fins anything.

As I gained the last bits of my conscience, I realised it was foolish of me to call on Luna at such a time. Still, I couldn't do anything, fro my Time Lord sense told me it was the right thing to do.

Yes, we Time Lords have our kind of "Pinkie sense" too, by the way.

I resolved to come to terms with my inner self and decided to stay in the TARDIS overnight to talk to Luna in the morning.

If there were mornings on the Moon.

***

I opened my eyes. My head didn't ache; still, there was a heavy feeling inside. I reminded myself that Equestrian Moon had a very rarefied atmosphere. I found myself lying on a rock - I had been too tired to reach the TARDIS the day before. If it had been the day before. I couldn't tell - no sunlight fell onto the cold and unwelcoming surface.

So, without further hesitation, I set off on my quest to find Luna.

Which wasn't a long one, by the way.

In a matter of half an hour of exploring the planet (I know the Moon's not a planet but honestly, who cares? - Your Wise and Sagacious Time Lord) I heard quiet sobs coming from the distance. I rushed towards the source of the sound to see a blue filly curled up, sobbing to herself. I let out a sigh of relief as I saw that it was Luna's usual self. Celestia kept to her word: the Nightmare faded away.

Hearing me sigh, Luna raised her head and looked at me with fear in her eyes.

"Are you... Are you here to torture me?" she yelped. backing off.

"What?" I asked in a surprised tone. "I'm the Doctor, Luna. Don't you remember me?"

"You're an illusion, aren't you?" the blue alicorn whimpered. "A hallucination! Am I getting insane already?" she began to sob again.

I silently approached the filly and hugged her. She instinctively returned the embrace, still sobbing.

"Do I feel like an illusion?" I asked with a smile and planted a small kiss on her forehead, right below the horn.

Luna didn't smile back.

"You're real..." she whispered. "Did Tia send you?" she demanded with anger in her voice. Anger and... hope?

"No, I'm here by my own device," I replied as Luna broke the hug.

"Why are you here?" she asked a little sternly, yet not angrily. After all, I never played a part in her banishment. "What do you want?" she wondered partly demandingly, partly with childish - no, adolescent already - interest.

"Chess," I said plainly.

"What?" the filly asked. "What do you mean?"

"I still owe you that chess game," I explained with a smile and levitated a chessboard from my saddlebag. Never leave home without it!

The blue mare - only now I noticed that she turned into a fine mare from the filly she had been - chuckled and shook her head.

"Doctor, you never change," she whispered.

"Why should I?" I replied, grinning widely. "At least you have some company to keep you cheerful and all."

A single tear crawled down Luna's face as I placed the board on a large boulder.

She looked at me.

"Thank you, Doctor," she whispered. "Thank you for not abandoning me."

I felt a knot in my throat but fought the sudden urge to cry.

"You're welcome, Luna," I said and smiled. "You're welcome."

***

"That's not fair! I saw you move the King!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Now you may think low of me but I always stand up to a challenge. And if that filly was going to argue with me over my moving (or not moving) the King, I sure as hay wasn't going to back down!

"Did not with a cherry on top!" I yelled proudly and crossed my hooves.

Luna huffed.

"You are acting like a foal, Doctor," she pointed out.

"Whatever." I shrugged. "Still, I win," I said proudly.

"Well, that makes it... sixty-three losses and one victory for you," Luna counted with a smile. "Waaaay to go."

"I gave you a handicap," I said apologetically.

"Sixty-three times?" the mare wondered with an innocent, yet rather sly, grin.

I groaned and lay on back, crossing my hooves.

"All right, I lost," I admitted. "You happy?" I wondered, hoping that she would say 'yes'. I really wanted to make it up for the little alicorn.

"I'm sleepy," Luna replied simply. "You can't get enough sleep on these stones!" she whined.

"Would you prefer a bed or a sofa?" I enquired causally.

"Beg your pardon?" Luna asked as she moved closer to me.

"I have both in my TARDIS. It's kind of a telephone box, only a spaceship. You're welcome," I replied.

Luna's eyes widened and became teary.

"Really?" she whispered.

"Come on before I change my mind," I chuckled.

"Yay!" Luna hopped up and down, reminding me of the foal she had been.

"Only..." she stopped. "How are we going to fit in a small telephone box?" she wondered.

I smiled.

"It's bigger than it seems," I said proudly.

Luna snickered and muttered something.

"What was it?" I enquired, moving closer. "I haven't heard."

"That's-" Luna chuckled. "That's totally what she said," she managed to let out before bursting into laughter.

I facehoofed. At least Luna's sense of humour was better than that of her sister's.

***

As I opened the door of my blue telephone box, letting Luna in, the blue filly gasped in awe, looking over all the buttons and knobs and screens and everything I had.

"Told you it was bigger on the inside," I smirked but the alicorn paid no attention.

"Wow! So many buttons!" she yelped as she trotted across the TARDIS. "Mind if I-"

"I'd rather you didn't," I stopped the excited [strike]filly[/strike] mare with a hoof gesture. "It's all very fragile, you know?" I lied.

No, it wasn't fragile. Titanium isn't fragile, just for your information. I just don't like anypony messing with my stuff, simple as that.

"Oh, what's in this box?" Luna wondered, taking a small box. "nrop tfos... Hmm..."

"That's ancient gallopefreyan, okay?" I shouted, grabbing the box and hiding it somewhere Luna wouldn't find it.

Luna cocked her eyebrow.

"Oh, really? It sounds more like reversed so-"

"ANCIENT GALLOPFREYAN, 'KAY?!"

"Okay," the mare snickered. "Well, I didn't know you Time Lords had such awesome spaceships... timeships... what do you call them anyway?

"You could call it a time-spaceship," I suggested. "Wait a minute... How do you know I'm a Time Lord?!" I exclaimed, looking into her eyes.

"Overheard your talk with Celestia," Luna replied casually.

"All of it?" I asked hopelessly and blushed after a nod from the blue pony.

"Come on, Doctor!" she nudged me playfully. "I'm not a foal! I'm two hundred years old and I know about sex and stuff!" she said with a wink, making me blush even deeper and facehoof.

"Besides, my room is next to yours so I know much about sex and stuff!" Luna cheerfully exclaimed.

Now if only the earth... the Moon could swallow me...

"My room..." Luna suddenly whispered solemnly,

I placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't let it bug you," I said with a smile. "As for now, let's go to sleep. Bed or sofa?"

"Bed, please," the blue mare said, the corners of her mouth twisting upwards ever so slightly.

"That's great! 'Cause I love sleeping on the sofa!" I said vigorously and showed Luna her bed, placing myself on the adjacent sofa.

"Good night, Luna."

"Good night, Doctor."

***

Next on the Confessions!

~~~

"You're stepping on a dangerous and slippery ground, Luna."

"Isn't that what I've always been good at?"

~~~

"Will you be there for me, Doctor?"

"I will. I will stand right by your side."