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Description
“And down that hall you’ll find the kitchen,” said the Doctor as he pointed down a corridor. He was giving a tour of his ship to the seven new residents. The five elemental mares and Derpy’s two daughters still had a hard time processing how large the TARDIS interior was. The Doctor pointed down another hall. “And down that way is the library.” Octavia chuckled. “There is no way you have all of those things in here,” she said. The Doctor gave a look as if he’d just accepted a challenge.

“Oh, really?” he said. He led the group down the corridor. Large roundels lined the walls, their luminescence lighting up the halls. They halted at a large door, which the Doctor opened with a smirk. “Take a look,” he said. The mares stepped in, and their jaws dropped. The library was enormous. The ceiling was at least six stories high. Rows of bookshelves lined the decorated walls. “You’ve must have every book in history in here!” said Bon Bon.

“Well,” said the Doctor. “Four percent of all the books in history. It would take a whole planet to hold them all.” The Doctor thought back to his adventure in the Library, many centuries ago. “Right then,” he continued. “Shall we continue?” His friends nodded in agreement. They left the library and continued onward.

They climbed a flight of stairs and walked through a sliding door. They found themselves in another, much longer corridor that branched out at multiple points. “Bedrooms,” said the Doctor. “I’ll install some for all of you later, but first, I’d like to ask if you have any preferences.”

“I’d like one by the pool,” said Derpy jokingly. The Doctor smiled. “I can arrange that,” he said. The mares gave him looks. “Wait. You actually have a pool in this place?” asked Lyra. The Doctor nodded. Dinky seemed to get excited. “We can go swimming on a spaceship!” she said. “Awesome!” Derpy and Amethyst smiled at her. The Doctor waved a hoof around the hall. “Go ahead,” he said the group. “Take a look around.” The group split up and looked around the different bedrooms, most of which still had property that was left behind by former occupants.

The Doctor walked into the room that Vinyl had entered. This room, like the others, was enormous and nicely decorated. Vinyl was holding something with her magic. “Did you have some fillies with you before, Doc?” she asked. The Doctor looked confused. He walked towards her. “What do you mean?” he asked. Vinyl turned to reveal what she was holding. She had two dolls. She couldn’t tell what they were, but she could tell that one seemed younger. It had long red-orange hair and a blue dress. The other seemed older. It was tall and skinny. It had black hair, a brown tie, and a raggedy white shirt. The Doctor’s hearts sank, though he didn’t show it on his face.

“What’s with the weird dolls?” asked Vinyl.

“Oh, those belonged to an old friend,” said the Doctor. “She made a few dolls when she was young, and held on to them ever since.” He paused. “She gave those to me as a gift.” Vinyl nodded. Though he hid his pain, she could still sense his discomfort. She decided not to push the subject, and she placed the dolls down. “Come on,” she said. “I have a pretty good idea of what I want. Let’s go check on the others.” The Doctor nodded in agreement. The two walked towards the door. Vinyl left, but the Doctor lingered for a second. He glanced at a framed picture on the wall. The two figures that the dolls represented stood together in the picture. Except the red-head was taller and the raggedy figure wasn’t so raggedy. The Doctor sighed. “I’m sorry, Amy,” he mumbled, and then left the room. This was always the hardest part of the tour for him. He never liked reliving bad memories.

He caught up with Vinyl and they eventually found five of their friends. “Where’s Amethyst?” asked the Doctor. “Right here,” said Amethyst as she walked into view. She was dripping wet and was obviously annoyed. “I found the pool,” she said. Dinky couldn’t help but snicker at her sister. Amethyst responded by playfully flicking some water at the filly, who giggled in response. The Doctor led Amethyst toward what looked like a vent. He reached up and tinkered with some small switches. “Here. Stand under this,” he said. She did as he asked.

The Doctor pushed a small button on the wall. The vent hummed and a rush of hot air poured over Amethyst. The Doctor pressed the button again, and the air stopped. Amethyst smoothed out her now puffy mane and tail. “Thanks, Doctor,” she said.

“No problem,” he replied. The two walked back over to the group. “So,” said the Doctor. “Do you all have an idea of what you want you’re rooms to be like?” The mares nodded, and the Doctor smiled. “Excellent! We’ll work it out after the tour. There’s still one more thing I want to show you.”

The group walked into a new corridor and climbed a few more stairs. They came to a large, mechanical door. The Doctor pressed a button, and it slid open. “Behold. My three-story wardrobe.” The mares stared at the Doctor’s many bizarre outfits. Some looked beautiful and others just seemed hideous. “Take whatever you like,” said the Doctor. “I don’t wear must of this stuff anyway.” The group proceeded to wander around the enormous chamber. Lyra stumbled upon a wall that was lined with specific outfits. She counted fourteen in total. Each one had a light above them. Like the other outfits, some looked nice, and others were eyesores.

One of the outfits consisted of a tight-looking, pinstripe suit and a long, light-brown trench coat. Another one consisted of clothing that had horribly clashing colors. The coat had different shades of pink, grey, green, blue, and yellow, and each piece of fabric had a different pattern. “Wow. That is not a pleasing thing to look at,” said Lyra.

“Oi!” said the Doctor, who was standing nearby. “Don’t knock my coat!” Lyra gave a look. “You used to wear this?” she said.

“Yes, and I like to think I pulled it off pretty well,” said the Doctor.

“You really liked the cosmic clown look didn’t you?” asked Amethyst, who was looking at another of the Doctor’s outfits. It consisted of a tweed jacket, a blue bowtie, and a fez. The Doctor gave a look. “It seemed cool at the time,” he said.

“Hey! Check this out!” said Dinky. She was pulling an extremely long, striped scarf off of another outfit. She struggled to get it unsnagged, and fell backwards when it came loose. She quickly stood back up, and wrapped the scarf around herself. She was almost completely buried in the wool. The Doctor gave a nervous look. “Dinky, please be careful. That’s a prized possession of mine,” he said.

“Oh. Sorry,” she said.

“That’s alright. Just put it back.” Dinky nodded and threw the scarf back in its place. Something fell out of the folds in the scarf. It hit Octavia in the back of her head. She picked it up. It was a gold-colored ticket. “What’s this?” she asked. The Doctor walked over to her. He looked at what was written on the ticket. “Oh. That’s an old ticket to the Grand Galaxy Gala,” he said.

“Grand Galaxy Gala? Is that anything like the Grand Galloping Gala?” asked Octavia. The Doctor looked confused. “The what?” he said.

“The Grand Galloping Gala. It’s one of the biggest parties in Canterlot. I’ve performed a few shows there.” The Doctor smiled. “Well, maybe we should attend sometime,” he said.

“You’d need tickets.”

“Oh, I’m sure we could get some from Princess Luna. We did save the solar system after all.” Octavia nodded. “I can’t wait,” she said with a smile. The Doctor turned to the rest of his friends. “How’s that sound, guys? Feel like a trip to the Gala?” he asked. The mares’ faces lit up. “The Grand Galloping Gala?” asked Derpy. The Doctor nodded. His friends gave each other joyous looks. The Doctor smiled. “Right then,” he said. “I’ll head back to the control room and get us some tickets. You guys can stay and get used to the place if you like. I’ll put up some temporary rooms for you all while I’m up there.” His friends nodded, and he left the room.

Bon Bon looked at the outfit with the fez. “The Doctor has some weird stuff,” she said. Vinyl looked at the outfit. “He sure does,” she said. “Did he really think that bowties looked cool?” Octavia cleared her throat. Vinyl blushed as she looked at her friend, who still had her pink bowtie on. “Oh. Um. It looks good on you, Tavi.” She gave an awkward smile. Octavia smirked. “Uh huh. Sure,” she said. Vinyl blushed.

------------

The Doctor reached the control room. He pressed a series of buttons on the control panel, and then yanked on a lever. The room shook, the central column began to move, and the engines made their noises. After a few seconds, the Doctor yanked the lever back into place. The ship went still and quiet once again. He walked over to the door, and exited the blue box. Princess Luna was standing right in front of him. “You could’ve just used the front door,” she said.

The Doctor closed the door behind him and shrugged. “Not my style,” he said. He looked around the room. It was relatively large and nicely decorated. He seemed to be in the castle. “How long has it been?” he asked.

“Where are you now?” asked Luna.

“We just left Celestia’s return party.”

“A day.”

The Doctor nodded. “I assume there’s a reason for your visit,” said Luna.

“Ah, yes,” said the Doctor, suddenly remembering why he came. “My friends and I were wondering if you would be able to get us tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.” Luna seemed to consider this for a second. “That seems like something I could do,” she said. The Doctor smiled. “Thank you, your highness. We really appreci…”

“But there’s one thing I would like you to do first.” The Doctor looked at the princess. “Very well,” he said. “What do you need?” Luna motioned for him to follow her. The two left the room and walked down the castle’s hallways. They eventually came to a large metal door. Luna placed her hoof on a button and the door slid open. They entered the large room beyond.

The Doctor looked around. There were many bizarre looking artifacts on the shelves that lined the walls. Several ponies in lab coats were examining other objects on desks. “What’s all this, then?” asked the Doctor.

“We call this the Archive. Here, we study the many strange objects that have fallen into our land, and we determine if they are harmless, or should be locked away forever.” The Doctor nodded. “So what do you need me for?” he asked as they walked across the room. Luna looked at him. “We managed to recover a few fragments of Black Hole Sun’s armor. We found strange engravings on the inside. Our researchers came to the conclusion that they were some form of writing.”

“And you need my help to translate it?” asked the Doctor. “Precisely,” said Luna. The Doctor smiled as he thought how easy this task would be. He spoke every language in existence, and besides, the TARDIS would translate anything automatically. “Alright then,” he said. “Let’s check it out.”

The two reached the part of the room where the armor was being researched. “Your highness,” said one of the researchers. “We’re sorry about the slow progress. This language is extremely intricate. It’s a tough egg to crack.” Luna smiled at the mare. “That’s quite alright. I’ve brought someone who can solve this problem.” She pointed to the Doctor, who shook the researcher’s hoof. After introducing each other, the mare led him over to the golden shard of armor. The Doctor took it in his hooves. He flipped it over to reveal the engravings. His expression became suddenly somber. His hearts sank.

The engravings were made up of a series of circles and lines. Each circle was perfectly round and each line was perfectly straight. Luna noticed the Doctor’s expression. “What is it?” she asked. “Gallifreyan,” said the Doctor, his voice cracking. “It’s Gallifreyan, the language of my people.” The others were silent. “What does it say?” asked Luna, breaking the silence. The Doctor stared for a second, and then cleared his throat. “It’s a poem of some sort,” he said. “It says:

She will return, that friend of yours.

An enemy now, she’ll be back for more.”

The others were silent again. The researcher broke the silence this time. “What does it mean? Who is she?”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “I know a lot of shes, and a lot of them are enemies of mine.” He put down the armor and pondered for second. “Perhaps there’s more to the poem.” He turned to the researcher. “Did you find any other engravings?” he asked. The researcher shook her head. “That was the only thing we could find,” she said. The Doctor put his hoof on his chin.

“If someone is writing in Gallifreyan, it means they’re trying to contact me,” he said. “And with how much I travel, they’d have to spread their message across time and space. So that means that these messages will pop up eventually. We just have to wait.” Luna and the researcher nodded. “Thank you for your help, Doctor,” said Luna. “We really appreciate it.” The Doctor nodded. His expression was beginning to lighten up a small bit.

“Now,” she continued. “Let’s see about your Gala tickets.” The Doctor gave a small smile. “Indeed. Let’s get to that,” he said. Luna then led him out of the Archive.

------------

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor took the eight tickets from Luna and stuffed them into his collar. He thanked the princess and they said their goodbyes. He entered the blue box and closed the door behind him. Luna heard the roar of the engines and watched as the blue box began to slowly fade out of reality. Within seconds, she was alone once again.

------------

“I can’t believe we’re actually going to the Gala!” said Bon Bon. The group happily stared at their tickets. Dinky yawned. “Can we get to bed first?” she asked. The other mares realized that they were tired as well. The Doctor chuckled. “Well, you have your rooms set up,” he said. “Perhaps you should test the beds.” The mares looked at each other in agreement. They said goodnight to each other, and then walked towards their rooms.

The Doctor stayed behind in the control room. He sat down in a chair and thought about the poem. Who sent it? What did they want? The questions raced through his head. His mind was taken off of the subject when a light flashed on the TARDIS console. The Doctor pulled a monitor to his face. Words appeared on the screen: Temporal Disturbance Detected. Under that, a set of coordinates formed. The Doctor sighed. “It looks like the Gala will have to wait,” he said. He set the coordinates and pulled the dematerialization lever.

The room shook, the central column began its rise and fall, and the engines gave off a roar. After a few seconds, the Doctor pulled the lever back in place. He walked towards the door. He looked back over his shoulder. “No point in keeping the others from sleeping. I’ll investigate alone and leave them be.” With that, he opened the doors. “Andiamo,” he said, and then left. He closed the doors behind him. The only sound in the room was the hum of the machine.

Description
“And down that hall you’ll find the kitchen,” said the Doctor as he pointed down a corridor. He was giving a tour of his ship to the seven new residents. The five elemental mares and Derpy’s two daughters still had a hard time processing how large the TARDIS interior was. The Doctor pointed down another hall. “And down that way is the library.” Octavia chuckled. “There is no way you have all of those things in here,” she said. The Doctor gave a look as if he’d just accepted a challenge.

“Oh, really?” he said. He led the group down the corridor. Large roundels lined the walls, their luminescence lighting up the halls. They halted at a large door, which the Doctor opened with a smirk. “Take a look,” he said. The mares stepped in, and their jaws dropped. The library was enormous. The ceiling was at least six stories high. Rows of bookshelves lined the decorated walls. “You’ve must have every book in history in here!” said Bon Bon.

“Well,” said the Doctor. “Four percent of all the books in history. It would take a whole planet to hold them all.” The Doctor thought back to his adventure in the Library, many centuries ago. “Right then,” he continued. “Shall we continue?” His friends nodded in agreement. They left the library and continued onward.

They climbed a flight of stairs and walked through a sliding door. They found themselves in another, much longer corridor that branched out at multiple points. “Bedrooms,” said the Doctor. “I’ll install some for all of you later, but first, I’d like to ask if you have any preferences.”

“I’d like one by the pool,” said Derpy jokingly. The Doctor smiled. “I can arrange that,” he said. The mares gave him looks. “Wait. You actually have a pool in this place?” asked Lyra. The Doctor nodded. Dinky seemed to get excited. “We can go swimming on a spaceship!” she said. “Awesome!” Derpy and Amethyst smiled at her. The Doctor waved a hoof around the hall. “Go ahead,” he said the group. “Take a look around.” The group split up and looked around the different bedrooms, most of which still had property that was left behind by former occupants.

The Doctor walked into the room that Vinyl had entered. This room, like the others, was enormous and nicely decorated. Vinyl was holding something with her magic. “Did you have some fillies with you before, Doc?” she asked. The Doctor looked confused. He walked towards her. “What do you mean?” he asked. Vinyl turned to reveal what she was holding. She had two dolls. She couldn’t tell what they were, but she could tell that one seemed younger. It had long red-orange hair and a blue dress. The other seemed older. It was tall and skinny. It had black hair, a brown tie, and a raggedy white shirt. The Doctor’s hearts sank, though he didn’t show it on his face.

“What’s with the weird dolls?” asked Vinyl.

“Oh, those belonged to an old friend,” said the Doctor. “She made a few dolls when she was young, and held on to them ever since.” He paused. “She gave those to me as a gift.” Vinyl nodded. Though he hid his pain, she could still sense his discomfort. She decided not to push the subject, and she placed the dolls down. “Come on,” she said. “I have a pretty good idea of what I want. Let’s go check on the others.” The Doctor nodded in agreement. The two walked towards the door. Vinyl left, but the Doctor lingered for a second. He glanced at a framed picture on the wall. The two figures that the dolls represented stood together in the picture. Except the red-head was taller and the raggedy figure wasn’t so raggedy. The Doctor sighed. “I’m sorry, Amy,” he mumbled, and then left the room. This was always the hardest part of the tour for him. He never liked reliving bad memories.

He caught up with Vinyl and they eventually found five of their friends. “Where’s Amethyst?” asked the Doctor. “Right here,” said Amethyst as she walked into view. She was dripping wet and was obviously annoyed. “I found the pool,” she said. Dinky couldn’t help but snicker at her sister. Amethyst responded by playfully flicking some water at the filly, who giggled in response. The Doctor led Amethyst toward what looked like a vent. He reached up and tinkered with some small switches. “Here. Stand under this,” he said. She did as he asked.

The Doctor pushed a small button on the wall. The vent hummed and a rush of hot air poured over Amethyst. The Doctor pressed the button again, and the air stopped. Amethyst smoothed out her now puffy mane and tail. “Thanks, Doctor,” she said.

“No problem,” he replied. The two walked back over to the group. “So,” said the Doctor. “Do you all have an idea of what you want you’re rooms to be like?” The mares nodded, and the Doctor smiled. “Excellent! We’ll work it out after the tour. There’s still one more thing I want to show you.”

The group walked into a new corridor and climbed a few more stairs. They came to a large, mechanical door. The Doctor pressed a button, and it slid open. “Behold. My three-story wardrobe.” The mares stared at the Doctor’s many bizarre outfits. Some looked beautiful and others just seemed hideous. “Take whatever you like,” said the Doctor. “I don’t wear must of this stuff anyway.” The group proceeded to wander around the enormous chamber. Lyra stumbled upon a wall that was lined with specific outfits. She counted fourteen in total. Each one had a light above them. Like the other outfits, some looked nice, and others were eyesores.

One of the outfits consisted of a tight-looking, pinstripe suit and a long, light-brown trench coat. Another one consisted of clothing that had horribly clashing colors. The coat had different shades of pink, grey, green, blue, and yellow, and each piece of fabric had a different pattern. “Wow. That is not a pleasing thing to look at,” said Lyra.

“Oi!” said the Doctor, who was standing nearby. “Don’t knock my coat!” Lyra gave a look. “You used to wear this?” she said.

“Yes, and I like to think I pulled it off pretty well,” said the Doctor.

“You really liked the cosmic clown look didn’t you?” asked Amethyst, who was looking at another of the Doctor’s outfits. It consisted of a tweed jacket, a blue bowtie, and a fez. The Doctor gave a look. “It seemed cool at the time,” he said.

“Hey! Check this out!” said Dinky. She was pulling an extremely long, striped scarf off of another outfit. She struggled to get it unsnagged, and fell backwards when it came loose. She quickly stood back up, and wrapped the scarf around herself. She was almost completely buried in the wool. The Doctor gave a nervous look. “Dinky, please be careful. That’s a prized possession of mine,” he said.

“Oh. Sorry,” she said.

“That’s alright. Just put it back.” Dinky nodded and threw the scarf back in its place. Something fell out of the folds in the scarf. It hit Octavia in the back of her head. She picked it up. It was a gold-colored ticket. “What’s this?” she asked. The Doctor walked over to her. He looked at what was written on the ticket. “Oh. That’s an old ticket to the Grand Galaxy Gala,” he said.

“Grand Galaxy Gala? Is that anything like the Grand Galloping Gala?” asked Octavia. The Doctor looked confused. “The what?” he said.

“The Grand Galloping Gala. It’s one of the biggest parties in Canterlot. I’ve performed a few shows there.” The Doctor smiled. “Well, maybe we should attend sometime,” he said.

“You’d need tickets.”

“Oh, I’m sure we could get some from Princess Luna. We did save the solar system after all.” Octavia nodded. “I can’t wait,” she said with a smile. The Doctor turned to the rest of his friends. “How’s that sound, guys? Feel like a trip to the Gala?” he asked. The mares’ faces lit up. “The Grand Galloping Gala?” asked Derpy. The Doctor nodded. His friends gave each other joyous looks. The Doctor smiled. “Right then,” he said. “I’ll head back to the control room and get us some tickets. You guys can stay and get used to the place if you like. I’ll put up some temporary rooms for you all while I’m up there.” His friends nodded, and he left the room.

Bon Bon looked at the outfit with the fez. “The Doctor has some weird stuff,” she said. Vinyl looked at the outfit. “He sure does,” she said. “Did he really think that bowties looked cool?” Octavia cleared her throat. Vinyl blushed as she looked at her friend, who still had her pink bowtie on. “Oh. Um. It looks good on you, Tavi.” She gave an awkward smile. Octavia smirked. “Uh huh. Sure,” she said. Vinyl blushed.

------------

The Doctor reached the control room. He pressed a series of buttons on the control panel, and then yanked on a lever. The room shook, the central column began to move, and the engines made their noises. After a few seconds, the Doctor yanked the lever back into place. The ship went still and quiet once again. He walked over to the door, and exited the blue box. Princess Luna was standing right in front of him. “You could’ve just used the front door,” she said.

The Doctor closed the door behind him and shrugged. “Not my style,” he said. He looked around the room. It was relatively large and nicely decorated. He seemed to be in the castle. “How long has it been?” he asked.

“Where are you now?” asked Luna.

“We just left Celestia’s return party.”

“A day.”

The Doctor nodded. “I assume there’s a reason for your visit,” said Luna.

“Ah, yes,” said the Doctor, suddenly remembering why he came. “My friends and I were wondering if you would be able to get us tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.” Luna seemed to consider this for a second. “That seems like something I could do,” she said. The Doctor smiled. “Thank you, your highness. We really appreci…”

“But there’s one thing I would like you to do first.” The Doctor looked at the princess. “Very well,” he said. “What do you need?” Luna motioned for him to follow her. The two left the room and walked down the castle’s hallways. They eventually came to a large metal door. Luna placed her hoof on a button and the door slid open. They entered the large room beyond.

The Doctor looked around. There were many bizarre looking artifacts on the shelves that lined the walls. Several ponies in lab coats were examining other objects on desks. “What’s all this, then?” asked the Doctor.

“We call this the Archive. Here, we study the many strange objects that have fallen into our land, and we determine if they are harmless, or should be locked away forever.” The Doctor nodded. “So what do you need me for?” he asked as they walked across the room. Luna looked at him. “We managed to recover a few fragments of Black Hole Sun’s armor. We found strange engravings on the inside. Our researchers came to the conclusion that they were some form of writing.”

“And you need my help to translate it?” asked the Doctor. “Precisely,” said Luna. The Doctor smiled as he thought how easy this task would be. He spoke every language in existence, and besides, the TARDIS would translate anything automatically. “Alright then,” he said. “Let’s check it out.”

The two reached the part of the room where the armor was being researched. “Your highness,” said one of the researchers. “We’re sorry about the slow progress. This language is extremely intricate. It’s a tough egg to crack.” Luna smiled at the mare. “That’s quite alright. I’ve brought someone who can solve this problem.” She pointed to the Doctor, who shook the researcher’s hoof. After introducing each other, the mare led him over to the golden shard of armor. The Doctor took it in his hooves. He flipped it over to reveal the engravings. His expression became suddenly somber. His hearts sank.

The engravings were made up of a series of circles and lines. Each circle was perfectly round and each line was perfectly straight. Luna noticed the Doctor’s expression. “What is it?” she asked. “Gallifreyan,” said the Doctor, his voice cracking. “It’s Gallifreyan, the language of my people.” The others were silent. “What does it say?” asked Luna, breaking the silence. The Doctor stared for a second, and then cleared his throat. “It’s a poem of some sort,” he said. “It says:

She will return, that friend of yours.

An enemy now, she’ll be back for more.”

The others were silent again. The researcher broke the silence this time. “What does it mean? Who is she?”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “I know a lot of shes, and a lot of them are enemies of mine.” He put down the armor and pondered for second. “Perhaps there’s more to the poem.” He turned to the researcher. “Did you find any other engravings?” he asked. The researcher shook her head. “That was the only thing we could find,” she said. The Doctor put his hoof on his chin.

“If someone is writing in Gallifreyan, it means they’re trying to contact me,” he said. “And with how much I travel, they’d have to spread their message across time and space. So that means that these messages will pop up eventually. We just have to wait.” Luna and the researcher nodded. “Thank you for your help, Doctor,” said Luna. “We really appreciate it.” The Doctor nodded. His expression was beginning to lighten up a small bit.

“Now,” she continued. “Let’s see about your Gala tickets.” The Doctor gave a small smile. “Indeed. Let’s get to that,” he said. Luna then led him out of the Archive.

------------

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor took the eight tickets from Luna and stuffed them into his collar. He thanked the princess and they said their goodbyes. He entered the blue box and closed the door behind him. Luna heard the roar of the engines and watched as the blue box began to slowly fade out of reality. Within seconds, she was alone once again.

------------

“I can’t believe we’re actually going to the Gala!” said Bon Bon. The group happily stared at their tickets. Dinky yawned. “Can we get to bed first?” she asked. The other mares realized that they were tired as well. The Doctor chuckled. “Well, you have your rooms set up,” he said. “Perhaps you should test the beds.” The mares looked at each other in agreement. They said goodnight to each other, and then walked towards their rooms.

The Doctor stayed behind in the control room. He sat down in a chair and thought about the poem. Who sent it? What did they want? The questions raced through his head. His mind was taken off of the subject when a light flashed on the TARDIS console. The Doctor pulled a monitor to his face. Words appeared on the screen: Temporal Disturbance Detected. Under that, a set of coordinates formed. The Doctor sighed. “It looks like the Gala will have to wait,” he said. He set the coordinates and pulled the dematerialization lever.

The room shook, the central column began its rise and fall, and the engines gave off a roar. After a few seconds, the Doctor pulled the lever back in place. He walked towards the door. He looked back over his shoulder. “No point in keeping the others from sleeping. I’ll investigate alone and leave them be.” With that, he opened the doors. “Andiamo,” he said, and then left. He closed the doors behind him. The only sound in the room was the hum of the machine.