//------------------------------// // Letter of the Law // Story: Doctor Whooves: The Eternals' Prison // by LightOfTriumph //------------------------------// "If I were to hazard a guess," the Doctor smiled and extended a hoof to the new mare. "I take it you're Blade?" The mare was a little surprised. "Yes, actually," Blade said. "Blade Runner, how did you know that?" "Blade Runner? the Doctor said, amused. "Really? Have you seen things we ponies wouldn't believe? Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion? Did you watch C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate?" Blade looked confused. "I'm sorry?" "Forgive me," the Doctor laughed. "Not your dimension. I am the Doctor, this is VInyl Scratch, and Octavia Melody. And yes, we are acquaintances of Blue's." "How do you know him?" Blade asked. "That's...," the Doctor thought about how to explain the scenario. "Complicated. May I ask first... How did you get here? More importantly, why are you here? I don't understand what you could have done to warrant the attention of Eternals..." "I don't know," Blade said quietly. "One day we were sitting on a hill having a picnic, the same place we had our first date... He said he had something he wanted to show me and then... Then nothing. I blacked out and that's when the nightmares started. I don't know why this happened or why they want me... Or even why they've been ignoring me." "Ignoring you?" the Doctor asked. "Yeah," Blade nodded. "I got out of my cell a month ago. I've just been wandering around since then... Listening in on a few conversations... I tried to ask for answers, but no matter what I did, they didn't seem to care." "Indeed," the Doctor said quietly. "Typical of these creatures... Tell me, why haven't you left yet? I'm sure one of the first things I'd do was look for a way out, and with the lax security of this place, one would think you'd find it..." "I did, in a way," Blade sighed. "This whole place is one giant ship. There's a control room. If I could get in there, I could release everyone here... Maybe even send them home. The problem is that I can't. It can only be entered by somepony with a key. To my knowledge there's only five of them. And even if I got their attention... They're cranky." "I would presume," the Doctor sighed. "How did you wake up? No one else here can..." "I don't know," Blade shrugged. "I was assuming it was just dumb luck." "Quite," the Doctor frowned. "One last thing. Why haven't you tried to break out Blue? Surely you don't need to destroy the whole ship, you just need to get your lover and get out of here." "I tried," Blade said quickly. "But I can't, and I'm not leaving without him. The big idiot would do the same thing for me..." "I see," the Doctor said, staring right through blade. "He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king..." "Where you had your first date," Octavia was beginning to tear up. "Something he wanted to... Oh my goodness... He was going to--!" "Surprise her with something," Vinyl interrupted quickly. "And it isn't our place to spoil that surprise, is it Octy?" "No, of course not," Octavia said, sniffing sharply and composing herself. "Quite right. Not the time or place." "What are they talking about?" Blade asked the Doctor. "Yes," the Doctor said quietly. "Right. I must speak with the people in charge. If you could lead me to them, dear girl." A door swung open at the end of the hallway. Two ponies with powdered wigs walked in bickering with each other. "Here comes two of them now," Blade sighed. "There is no call for the prisoner's case to go back to trial!" one shouted. "The conviction was settled millennia ago. I have no reason to believe that conviction was faulty, Counselor!" "Of course you wouldn't!" the other argued. "You were the one that sent my client up the river on these trumped up charges! My client was injured and unable to properly defend himself or face his accusers! Might I add that the one who injured him so gravely was the real culprit. And now he is prepared to make a statement." "I have no wish to hear your client's statement," the first argued back. "Who are they?" Vinyl asked as the bickering continued. "Lawyers," Blade said bitterly. "Indeed!" the Doctor said excited. "If I am not mistaken, and I am surely not, the one on the left is the Crown Prosecutor, whilst the one on the right is a Barrister! Astounding! A trial system not dissimilar to that of Great Britain. I assume that there are at least two more men like this? Significant players?" "Three that I can count," Blade frowned. "There's the warden... He argues with the Barrister a lot. He's i charge of the day to day operations of the prison. He creeps me out... It's almost like he... Never mind. Then there's a guy in a suit. He seems to talk with the Barrister a lot. The he goes and talks to the client." "Ah! That should be the Solicitor," the Doctor smiled. "While the Barrister argues the case for the court, it is the Solicitor's duty to personally handle the client. And the last one?" "The Judge," Blade said shakily. "He's loud, obnoxious and constantly pissed off. You want to avoid him if you can, and whatever you do, don't get on his bad side." "Oh, dear lady," the Doctor sighed. "I'm quite afraid I shall have to... First things first however. I must speak to these gentlemen." "How are you going to attract their attention?" Octavia asked quietly. "They don't even consider us sentient life..." "Miss Melody, fear not," the Doctor smiled. "Before I do that however, I must ask... Do you know who their client is, Ms. Runner?" "The guy in solitary," Blade replied. "The only guy in solitary. Why do you ask?" "Because I think I do know who it is," the Doctor smiled. "And the exact nature of the problem, and this prison. Octavia?" The Doctor removed a small metal rod with a blinking red light on the top and handed it to Octavia. "That will get you through Blue's cell door. Wake him and take him back to the TARDIS as soon as possible." "What if I can't wake him?" Octavia asked. "You can," the Doctor said frankly. "You might want to wait until we've left the room so as not to get caught... Not that I'm sure they'd care." "You're not making any sense," Octavia said. "Good, that means you're still sane," the Doctor smiled. "Now, time to cause a stir." The Doctor knew four words that brought panic and dismay to any species. If that species had ever traveled among the stars and seen what space had to offer, these words had meaning. That meaning was worry. Because whether they saw these four words as good news or bad news, it meant things were much worse than they originally thought. The Doctor stepped up and spoke them loud and clear... "Hello! I'm the Doctor!" The Barrister and the Crown Prosecutor snapped their heads in the Doctor's direction. Alarms went off. Red lights flashed throughout the prison. Thousands of guards poured into the hall and surrounded the four ponies. All of them pointing dome kind of weapon at the Doctor. Ready to strike if he so much as blinked. "I daresay I have attracted their attention!" the Doctor laughed. The Barrister slowly stepped forward. "Doctor who?" "Oh, come now chaps," the Doctor grinned smugly. "You know."