Freeze Up Ch. 1

Freeze Up
Written By Closer-To-The-Sun (Joseph Noblit)
Chapter 1: Cold As Ice

As soon as the Doctor slammed his hoof on the TARDIS console, the machine came to life. The ship made sounds that were new to his pegasus companion as it began to soar through the stars.

"Now, Derpy," the Doctor began, "this TARDIS here can travel anywhere in the universe as well as any time! With a bit of technological know how, I can take you anywhere you wish!"

The grey mare's eyes lit up, fixed on the stallion, "Anywhere? Someplace cold! Where it's winter! I really like the snow!" Derpy was as giddy as a little schoolfilly.

"I know just the place, my dear!" The Doctor boldly proclaimed while his hoof violently pulled a leaver downwards. Almost immediately, however, the entire console room of the TARDIS shook fiercely. The Doctor kept his stance at the console, while Derpy grabbed onto the railings.

"What was that?" the mare worriedly asked.

"Just a speed bump in time travel. It's very wibbly-wobbly," the brown pony calmly stated as he furiously stared at his console to address the situation. He began to talk to himself, almost making no sense to anypony who could hear while his hooves were jumping from one instrument to another.

Derpy asked another question, still clinging to the railing, "Doctor?"

Amidst his rushing around the console and piloting the TARDIS, the Doctor replied, "Hang on to something sturdy, it's going to be a bit of a bumpy landing."

The TARDIS shook violently yet again. Derpy let out a small yelp at the impact while the Doctor, who braced himself against his console, let out a grunt. The ship seemed to have landed.

"Doctor, are you okay?" the pegasus glided over to the time stallion with a worried expression.

With a smile, he replied, "I'm always alright."

Derpy smiled back as one of her eyes drifted slightly away. This caused the Doctor to laugh lightheartedly and patted her head with his hoof.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's see where our ship as taken us," the Doctor seemed to be excited for his first adventure with a new companion.

Derpy was quick to go to the door. Upon opening, however, her happy appearance turned to one of confusion. The Doctor trotted up behind her and peered out of the door as well. His face was also puzzled.

"Well, seems I made quite a large mistake. So sorry," the Doctor commented, "Shall we try again?"

The yellow-eyed pegasus turned her head to the Doctor and smiled warmly, "It's okay, I would like to visit this planet."

The Doctor gave an uneasy look, "This is a planet I rather not stay on, to be honest. But seeing that we landed quite early in the planet's history, I think we won't have to worry about any Cybermen."

Now with approval, Derpy trotted out of the TARDIS door and on to the alien planet. She looked around the plain, dull and rough landscape of the planet. The atmosphere was icy enough for snow, yet had no evidence of water or moisture. While the cold surface seemed to have nothing of interest to most beings, the pegasus seemed to be just happy to be on another world.

Moments later, the Doctor exited the TARDIS and was wearing something that Derpy immediately recognized. Around his neck, the Doctor was wearing his new scarf.

"You're wearing my scarf?" the mare seemed very ecstatic.

"Of course! It's quite cold out here. You might catch the flu if you're not careful!"

"Is it warm?"

The Doctor smiled, "It brings back many memories and I'm sure it will give me many more."

Derpy gave the stallion a small hug before she continued her exploring. While she looked around the barren land, the Doctor began to speak.

"Ah, I forgot about this small planet. It's a unique little planet called Telos. Native home to the Cryons and colonized by the Cybermen much later on. And during those colonization era, the Cybermen built tombs to house their army, waiting for any poor creature unfortunate to find them. But, I already took care of that quite some time ago," the Doctor seemed to be impressing himself with his own anecdote while Derpy was looking around the rocky area.

"I think I found something!" the mare's voice called out. The Doctor hurried over to see that the pegasus was holding a large, metallic item in her hooves, "What is this?"

"Goodness, it's a cyber-gun! But what in blazes is it doing here and during this time? I mean, we should be the first life-forms to ever stand on this planet," the Doctor began to think.

"What does it do?" Derpy's curiosity was getting the best of her.

"It's a very dangerous energy-based weapon used by a gang of ruffians that I don't like to cross very often. Be very careful with it, we don't know if it's activ-" the Doctor was cut shore by a discharge from the weapon. Somehow, being in contact with Derpy caused the weapon to go off. Instantly, Derpy dropped the gun and another bolt of energy fired off and seemed to hit the TARDIS.

"Derpy, are you alright?" the Doctor was quick to ask.

A little shaken, the mare nodded, "Uh-huh….I'm sorry."

"No need to be. As long as you are okay. Come now, let's get off his icy rock, shall we?"

The two ponies crossed the landscape back to the blue phone box in the middle of the barren ground. However, the doors to the spaceship were sealed shut.

"What's all this then?" the Doctor commented as he rustled the wooden doors in an attempt to enter.

Derpy, with one eye trailing off to the side, pointed her hoof at the lock on the TARDIS, "That?"

Observing the lock, the Doctor noticed it was freshly welded shut.

"It was that cyber-gun blast. Oh, of all the lousy places that burst of energy could it, it would be the lock!"

Meekly, Derpy apologized, "I'm sorry, Doctor…."

Quickly, the Doctor changed his tone, "Now, now, it's a simple mistake with a simple solution." Out of seemingly nowhere, the Doctor pulled out a small object, his sonic screwdriver.

However, the sonic screwdriver failed to work.

"Oh come on, not now…." the Doctor talked to his device.

After a few minutes of using his screwdriver to no avail, the Doctor leaned his back against the TARDIS and sat down and came to a conclusion, "Good news, we can still get inside, the sonic just needs to charge itself for a bit. The bad news is that it will take a few hours. We're stuck outside until morning."

"Can't you just break the door?" Derpy asked as she sat down her flank next to the stallion, tilting her head.

The Doctor smiled, "Oh, how I wish it were that easy." The stallion raised a hoof and knocked on the door, "These doors can hold back the entire army of Genghis Khan, and it has. If the most vicious army in the universe can't get in, I certainly can't."

Derpy frowned, "I'm sorry for messing up."

"Now who said that you messed up? By all accounts, I say you made this a very memorable first trip as a companion! You're certainly taking this better than Donna or Rose did! Just don't tell them, I'll never hear the end of it!" The Doctor's joking nature seemed to relax Derpy. The brown pony handed an end of the scarf to her, "Here you are, don't want you to get catch a cold. It's bad luck to get sick on the first adventure."

Derpy giggled as she thanked the time stallion and moved closer for them to keep warm. After a bit of silence, the grey pony spoke, "You know what?"

"What?"

"Even if we didn't have the scarf, I'd still be warm because I have you beside me," Derpy leaned on to the Doctor and closed her eyes.

The Doctor smiled and even blushed slightly at her comment. With a soft laugh, the Doctor joked, "Good to know I'm good for something."

Derpy didn't reply. He found that the pegasus had fallen asleep on him. With a soft chuckle, he gave a light kiss to Derpy's forehead before he also drifted to sleep.