The Doctor's eyes snapped open the moment he regained consciousness. They darted around the room, which was dark because of the purple shades covering the windows, but light could be seen behind the veil. He was lying in a large bed, complete with big white pillows and purple sheets. The room was rather large and had no furniture other than the bed, but simple enough to deem it cozy and give it a 'homey' kind of feeling. He tried to move, but found his wrists attached to the bedpost by thick silk ropes.
This could only mean one thing.
"River?" he called out.
He received no answer, which puzzled him greatly. He proceeded to look at the ceiling, which was high above him and as white as snow, while thinking about who or what had the idea of using silk ropes. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened to him: the maelstrom, the fall though space, the crash. What was that maelstrom, and what did it do to the TARDIS? He gave a little chuckle.
That made falling from a spaceship seem like tripping on a shoelace.
Then he remembered the most peculiar detail about his incident: the horses. Was he delirious after the crash, making his mind play tricks on him? It had done that before, after all. Or was it real? And if so, what had happened afterwards to have him tied up to a bed?
All right; that takes River out of the equation, surprisingly enough.
But if River wasn't involved, who or what had taken him here? And that made the Doctor even more curious as to finding out what situation he had gotten himself into. He also remembered the pain he had gone through, which made him look at his left hand.
It was immaculate, maybe even cleaner than before his predicament had even started. Then he noticed that his arm was bare and as pristine as his hand, which made him look to his right, only to find that his other arm was the same as its twin. With dread crawling into his mind, he slowly looked down to see that his fears were confirmed: no shirt, no jacket, no bow-tie, no nothing; only a bare chest, and the only thing that hid his lower half from view was the thin purple bed sheet.
Well, nevermind.
"RIVER!" cried the Doctor while struggling to free himself, "Where are you?!"
"QUIET!"
The booming voice made the Doctor stop moving, not from fear but from curiosity: where had the voice come from?
He only had to look at the foot of his bed to see a large crystal sphere, placed on a golden pedestal, which gave a soft blue glow. After looking at the sphere, he gave another look around the room to see if he could find something else before the voice came back. To his left he saw a small night stand, with a little white marble lamp and a red alarm clock. He then noticed some bookcases, and a desk that had some paper and a bottle of ink with a quill in it.
Suddenly the voice came back, but it wasn't as loud as before.
"Do you know why you are here?"
The Doctor took a few seconds to realize that the voice was actually coming from the sphere, and that the glow seemed to grow stronger when the voice manifested itself. He took a moment to think, then answered.
"I actually don't, which doesn't happen very often, but I'll try and guess."
"No you-"
"Hush now, I'm trying to give a witty answer," snapped the Doctor with a smirk. The sphere's glow softened.
"That's better. Now at first glance I'm in a very nice room, tied to a bed and only half naked, I hope. You are talking to me through a sphere, which suggests that you are a sentient being and not just a...very smart ball. Also I'm still alive, and I can see that I look pretty good which leads me to believe that you have healed me after my accident, for some reason."
The Doctor paused to let his explanation sink in, before the sphere replied.
"Continue..."
"You're really listening, that's good; you'd be surprised how often people don't listen. Anyway, I can think of some reasons as to why I'm still alive: you want to study me, you've made me your prisoner, or you want to eat me."
"...What?"
"Well yes: you healed and cleaned me, and put me in a nice room instead of just opening me up, while leaving a crystal ball or something to talk to me, and I guess observe me. It makes me think 'maybe they want to eat me?'. But you could have done that while I was unconscious; so maybe you only feed on thoughts and emotions, or maybe being in a conscious state makes me tastier, or both."
"And if that's the case," said the Doctor, while finding a straighter position in his bed and leaning forward as far as he could, "I should warn you now: you might find my thoughts hard to digest and I taste like broccoli; I know this for a fact."
The ball remained silent for a moment, then replied with what could be described as bewilderment.
"...How...what?"
"It's a long story about a crazy night. Please don't ask."
"We don't want to eat you!"
"Aha!" exclaimed the Doctor, "You said 'we' which means that you're not alone, wherever you are. You don't want to eat me, so maybe you want to study me. Unless..."
The Doctor's voice got less enthusiastic, and he seemed to be slightly annoyed.
"You need my help with something."
"Hey, you were in a sorry state when we got you in here so quit being cocky!"
Another noise seemed to come from the ball, and a faint 'sorry' could be heard.
"Then tell me why I'm here," said the Doctor in a neutral tone.
"We want to help you!"
The Doctor's eyes widened, and it took him a moment to reply.
"Really?"
"Yes, and- you know what, hold on."
"Wait, wait, wai-!"
The glow from the sphere died, and the Doctor was left alone with a lot of unanswered questions. For a moment nothing happened, then the sound of a door opening came from the Doctor's right. Suddenly his ropes started glowing blue, until they untied themselves and fell to the floor. The Doctor was so surprised that he let his arms drop to his side, and the reflex of rubbing his wrists only kicked in after a few seconds.
"Feeling better?" asked a familiar voice.
The Doctor recognised it as the voice behind the sphere.
"Yes, thank you very much," he said before turning around, "you are-"
The Doctor faced the origin of the voice, and went absolutely still.
Standing before him was a large...cartoon unicorn. It wore a Thracian helmet, with a fur of several shades of blues showing at the top. Its back and neck were covered with a gold and purple armour, and it wore a plate on its chest with a pink, six-pointed star engraved on it. The creature was white, had blue eyes, and the top of its head would reach the middle of the Doctor's chest if he were to face him; and judging by its appearance, the Doctor identified him as a male, until he could learn more about it.
"You don't need to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you. I am-"
"Adorable..." muttered the Doctor.
The two looked at each other for a moment, until the unicorn spoke up.
"...What did you say?"
"You're adorable! Look at you!" exclaimed the Doctor, while pointing at the creature with a huge smile. "And you can talk! And you have a gorgeous armour! And you're a unicorn! And you...you...talk! Oh, this is hysterical!"
The unicorn stared at the Doctor, with his right eye twitching slightly.
"Anyway...my name is Shining Armor, and-"
"Shining Armor?! Are you serious?!" exclaimed the Doctor, with tears of laughter starting to show in his eyes.
"...Yes, I am. And if you don't want me to put those ropes back on you, I strongly suggest you stop laughing," said the unicorn with a very annoyed expression.
"Oh my God, you're getting mad. That makes you even cuter! Ahahaha-"
Before the Doctor could finish his sentence, the unicorn's horn started to glow as blue as the ball's light, and the ropes floated up to reattach the Doctor to the bedposts. He was so surprised by this that he immediately stopped laughing, and stared at the ropes.
"How did you do that?"
"Magic, of course," snorted the unicorn.
"All right I'm sorry, there's no need to be sarcastic," muttered the Doctor.
"Actually, it is magic. To be more precise, psychokinesis," said a new voice.
The Doctor looked around to see that another unicorn had walked in, except that this one was much different. Its fur was light blue, it had yellow eyes and black hair. It wore a pair of round glasses and a white lab coat, with a stethoscope hanging from its neck. The Doctor had the urge to start laughing again, but restrained himself in order to have a better start with this horse.
"That kind of spell is taught to us at a very young age, it's nothing major. And you're right, he is adorable," chuckled the unicorn.
"Hey, come on now," grumbled Shining Armor.
"Don't worry Armor, I'm just teasing you. And you can leave now, I'll deal with our patient."
"Sorry doctor, but I can't. For your security, I have to stay in here to protect you in case it tries anything funny," said Shining Armor, while narrowing his eyes at the Doctor.
"See, you are adorable," giggled the unicorn, "Fine, just stand aside and let me work."
Shining Armor gave a grunt, then turned to the Doctor.
"All right...you. This is doctor Life Support, and she's been treating you ever since you got here, so show some respect. Now, as I was saying: I'm Shining Armor, and-"
"Thank you, mister Armor, you may stand aside," said the doctor.
Shining Armor looked like he was about to yell, but instead chose to take a deep breath, untie the ropes with his magic, and stand aside. The other unicorn nodded, then approached the bed where the Doctor had put his back against the headboard.
"All right here's the deal: normally I would have to go through a whole bunch of medical stuff, and I would be talking to you through the ball. However, you've shown us that you're a smart creature and you don't look too dangerous, so I took a few liberties and we're going to skip some things but before we start, I'll let you ask a question or two."
The Doctor thought about it for a few seconds, then asked her.
"Where are my clothes?"
The doctor stared at the Doctor for a second, then started to laugh loudly.
"Oh, I like you already! But to answer your question, your clothes, as well as your other possessions, are being examined by several specialists. Don't worry though, you're not naked, we left the last piece of clothing on."
"My socks?"
"Ha! Good one, but no. I don't know what they're called, but they cover your hips. Anything else?"
"Yes, I do have another small question: why am I tied to a bed?"
Life Support took a few seconds to answer.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure. All I can tell you is that it's an order from above."
"Okay, one last question: where's my box?"
" That's classified." said Shining Armor.
"...Fine." muttered the Doctor.
"We'll talk about all that later though, because I need to talk to you about some things first," interrupted the medical pony, " So let's begin: I am a pony. What species are you?"
He was going to tell the truth, but paused just before doing so. He had no idea where he was, or what these 'ponies' wanted from him. He was cautious, and said what seemed like a good idea.
"...I can't remember, I'm sorry."
She gave a nod and scribbled some notes on the parchment.
"That's all right, I was expecting some memory loss. Next question: do you remember your name?"
The Doctor smirked, then replied.
"Yes I do. I'm the Doctor."
The doctor looked at him, then snorted.
"No you're not; I am, you're the patient."
"Well actually I am the Doctor, but I'm not a doctor. Actually I have some doctorates, but I'm not a doctor of medicine and all that. So I'm the Doctor, not an official doctor, and I'm also a patient. So there you go, doctor."
Life Support sighed, then smiled.
"All right then...Doctor," he nodded, and she continued, "Next up: this is the land of Equestria. Do you know where that is?"
The Doctor blinked twice, then replied.
"I don't."
"Okay. Now I could go on, but I want to progress slowly with you. I do have one last very important question: how do you feel?"
"Well...I feel great," started the Doctor, then started to frown,"...but my legs are a little numb. Actually, can you tell me how long I was asleep?"
"...A week."
"Oh. Well that explains it."
Life Support raised an eyebrow.
"How so?"
"Well if I don't use a part of my body for a while it starts to get...sleepy, to put it simply."
She looked at him for a bit, then continued.
"Actually, we need to talk about that. While you were asleep, we healed you - as you've seen - sliced you open and looked at your insides."
The Doctor's eyes widened, but Life Support smirked.
"Just kidding. We actually used magic to observe your body, both inside and out. Again, I'll elaborate later; but I want you to look at something."
Her horn started to glow a pale yellow, and some sheets of paper floated out of her pocket and towards the Doctor. He caught them in mid-air, and unfolded them. He was looking at an x-ray of his entire body.
"Oh...this is new and interesting," he mumbled.
"Not really. Now I can't tell what is supposed to be there and what isn't, but I do recognise an injury when I see one. Specifically, right here," said Life Support, pointing at one part of the sheet.
The Doctor looked at his skeleton from top to bottom and couldn't see what she was referring to, until he looked at the base of the spine, above the coccyx. The spinal cord was bent at an abnormal angle, and some cracks could be seen on the vertebrae. The Doctor had suspected this, but he was hoping it wasn't true.
"Do you know what this means?" she said, neutrally.
"...Yes, I do. This shows that my spine is damaged. I'm paralysed from the waist down."
"That's right. Now, we're going to try and repair it, but I can't promise you anything. Magic is a powerful thing, but it can't make miracles happen."
"A miracle..." said the Doctor, looking at his hand. He didn't say anything for a moment, then looked away from the ponies.
"Could I...have a moment alone, please?"
"Of course. Let's go, Captain Armor."
He nodded and followed her out, giving one last look at the Doctor before closing the door. The Doctor put the sheet on the night stand next to him, put his face in his hands, and shook as he cried.
Or at least that's what the crystal ball was showing to the ponies in the office. The Doctor was putting on a show, making it seem like he was broken and weak. But not the Doctor, never. If need be, he could be the greatest actor who ever lived. And so he sat there, pondering on his situation, and started planning his escape.
************
"Oh gosh, look at the poor thing..." muttered Life Support, putting a hoof on the crystal ball that was in her office. Standing next to her were Shining Armor and the princesses, who were observing the Doctor with interest.
"What do you expect? This thing falls into our world, looses some of its memories and finds out it can't walk anymore. How would you react?" said Shining Armor.
"Hey, respect the thing, captain Armor," she snapped.
Meanwhile, the celestial sisters were having their own private discussion. Unlike the other ponies, Celestia and Luna could communicate on a different level: through telepathy.
So what do you think about all of this, Celestia? asked Luna.
Celestia stood there, observing the Doctor with a stoic expression, then answered.
I don't know yet, but I can tell that this creature doesn't want to harm us. All we can do for now is observe.
Should we reveal ourselves?
Not yet. He has to get accustomed to our subjects before meeting us.
I see...wait, 'him' ?
From what we've seen, yes: I think this creature is a male.
Luna just looked at her sister for a moment, then shrugged.
I suppose...
"I think it would be best if we gave the Doctor some privacy," said Celestia, ending her private discussion.
"Thank you, your majesty," said Life Support with a smile.
"I was talking about our 'guest', doctor Life Support," giggled Celestia.
"Oh right, yes. I can tell this is going to be annoying."
"I'm sure it will."
Giving a short bow, they all left the room. But just before she left, Celestia looked at the orb and smiled.
"You were right, Doctor: you really can act when you want to," she chuckled. And with that, she left the office. Outside of the room, Luna was waiting.
"What were you doing in there?" she asked, somewhat suspicious.
"Oh, nothing bad. It's just that he's so...unique."
"I see...well, I have to start planning for tonight. I will see you later, sister."
Celestia smiled and gave a nod, and watched her sister leave for her quarters. When she was out of sight, Celestia's horn glowed, and she vanished in a bright white light. She reappeared in her chambers, and looked around to find that she was alone. Using her magic she levitated a large wooden flute, which had the symbol of the Sun engraved on it, out of a chest that she kept next to a large wooden closet. She sat on the large purple carpet that lay in her room, and started to play a simple melody.
Once she had finished, she wrote instructions on a parchment, and waited. A few seconds later, a large phoenix entered the room, cawing happily. She extended her foreleg, and gave the parchment to the phoenix.
"Could you go to the Research department and give them this? It's important," she asked the bird, who nodded once. "Thank you Philomena. Off you go," she said with a smile.
The phoenix spread its wings, and flew out the window. The alicorn gave a little sigh of relief, then levitated a notebook from the same chest. It was worn and slightly torn, but it was one of her most prized possessions. She opened it and went through the first few pages, then read its contents carefully.
"Ah, here we are: he's arrived, he's met them, and now...oh."
Celestia read a few pages, closed the book, and stared at it. It was somewhat small, with brown leather panels and thin yellow pages. On the front cover, the symbol of an hourglass had been stamped. She sighed, and set it aside.
"Nothing left to do but watch the events unfold," she muttered, levitating the book back into the wooden chest.
************
Another week later...
While healing magic did wonders in Equestria it could only go so far, which is why the Doctor was stuck in his bed for another week on the foreign planet. The medical team charged with working on him, along with doctor Life Support, were the only ponies that the Doctor had any contact with, and she was the only one he managed to have a conversation with.
He had learned that progress had been made, but his spine was still as damaged as before. He had also learned a few other things about his hosts, but not much. When he tried to talk to them, namely to find out what had become of the TARDIS, excuses such as 'sorry, can't say' and 'that's classified' were common, and it was driving the Doctor mad.
Although they had taken away the ropes he was still confined to his room, left alone practically all the time except for a few visits from the staff, and he had become bored to tears. Seeing as how his future in Equestria was uncertain, the ponies had agreed to give him access to books while still keeping some information from him. After combing through many shelves of them, he was given around thirty books, which contained information that wasn't too confidential to reveal. He really tried reading them normally, but by the end of the second day he had read every single page. However some relief came in the form of sleep, which he needed more than ever after all the treatments and to fight off boredom.
But after a week, he had a plan. It was to be short lived, risky, and could fall apart at any moment, but it was a plan.
It started to come together when his clothes had been returned to him, on the third day. Apparently, orders from above had been given and the research on his possessions had been cancelled. He was allowed to have his clothes back, good as new, as well as his Sonic Screwdriver. They were deemed safe, even though they couldn't figure out how his screwdriver worked or how to get in the box. Ideas started floating around in the Doctor's head, and he began plotting.
On the fifth, he was told that after the past few days, he was considered intelligent and friendly enough to be taken out of his room but not outside. He was to be taken out of his room in the next two days, after some verifications and more medical examinations. That helped put the final pieces of his plan together.
And so, on the seventh day, the Doctor was ready to act.
************
The stretcher arrived in the Doctor's room, carried by two nurses. One was a unicorn, a dark blue stallion with a white mane, and the other was a pegasus, a pale yellow mare with a turquoise mane. It must be said that at this point, and thanks to the books, the Doctor knew a few things about these ponies and their vocabulary, and that there were three types of them: Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns. He was to be carried to a better room, and have a bit more freedom. The mare helped him get his trousers on, as well as his shoes, and he was placed on the stretcher.
"Wait, wait, wait, I remembered just one little thing," he told the nurses. They were about to leave the room, but decided to help him first.
"Yes, what is it?" asked the unicorn.
"Well, my species has a sort of ritual, you see, which we have to do every seven days. It's very important, and I would rather do it now before anything else changes."
"Very well then, proceed."
The Doctor started to wriggle his hands together, and gave the pegasus an apologetic look.
"Um...actually...I would rather not do this in front of...the mare. You know, this is...male stuff," he mumbled.
"All right...what is it?"
"Err...can I whisper it to you?"
"I suppose."
"Thank you. So, come closer."
The unicorn leaned forward, and so did the Doctor. When they were close enough, the Doctor spoke.
"I'm sorry about this."
"Wha-"
Before the stallion could reply, the Doctor quickly grabbed him around the neck, pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his interior pocket, and pointed it at the pony's horn. He then turned to the mare, and growled at her like a wild animal.
"Steady Hoof!" she cried.
"It's all right, I'm ok! Go get the guards!" he replied with a strained voice.
"Yeah, that's right, go get the guards! RUN, BEFORE I GOBBLE HIM UP!" yelled the Doctor.
She stood there for a few seconds, shaking and whimpering, before she ran out of the room to get help. The unicorn and the Doctor stayed on the stretcher, with the pony sitting on the Time Lord's lap while trying to break the chokehold.
"Uh-uh-uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you~" said the Doctor with a eerily happy voice. He tightened the hold slightly, and the stallion stopped struggling.
"What do you want from us?"
"Oh, you'll know soon enough. Yes indeed, you will. So your name is Steady Hoof, yeah?"
"...That's right."
"Steady Hoof...yes...there's a pretty little pony name..." whispered the Doctor, stroking the stallion's mane, "there's a pretty pony..."
While the stallion was mortified, the doors of their room burst open with Shining Armor and several other guards following him, all of them carrying pears or lowering their horns towards the two.
"Ah-ta-ta-ta! That's close enough, Shiny Helmet! Back off! Back off I say!" yelled the Doctor, waving his sonic around wildly.
"Let him go, Doctor! There's no need for this!"
"Yes there is! And I'm not 'the Doctor', my real name is...is...uh..." for a moment, the Doctor went completely still, until he went back to pointing his sonic to Steady Hoof's horn, "...Despair."
"...Despair?"
"THAT'S WHAT I SAID! Despair, the incarnation of loss and defeat!" yelled the Doctor, baring his teeth.
"...Very well, Despair. What do you want?"
"What do I want? Let's see...first of all I want you to tell me where my big blue box is. I want a safe escort to my box, and your riches, and a fez. All of it in that order."
"What are you-"
"Out of our way!"
Before the captain of the guard could finish his sentence, Princess Luna flew in the room. Great gusts of wind followed in her wake, and her eyes were glowing white. Outside, the sky grew darker around the castle. She stood there, with flared wings and a glowing horn.
"We demand that thou release the stallion, thou treacherous beast!" she boomed, her voice echoing throughout the room.
The Doctor was frozen, but still held his captive tight. He wasn't afraid, but he was curious. This pony stood a foot taller than any other pony he had seen, and she spoke in an older version of their dialect. Most likely a leader, based on her horn and wings, and yet he hadn't seen any other pony like her around. And that's when he remembered.
"It's you...yes, it's you! I saw you in the TARDIS, when I crashed! You're...Moona!"
The room went silent, and it took a lot of self-restraint for most of the guards - including their captain - to keep themselves from laughing, despite the hostage situation. That need quickly disappeared as the princess rose in the air, and the sound of thunder rumbled in the sky.
"Our name is princess Luna, and we order thee to unhoof him at once!"
"Oh please," chuckled the Doctor, "I've faced greater foes than you ponies, what makes you think you can do anything to me?"
"We will obliterate thee before we let thou hurt our subjects!"
"Ooh, you'll obliterate me, I'm so scared. Speaking of which, you might want to see this."
Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor aimed it at the lamp located on his night-stand. He pushed a button, and the tip of the device opened, with claw-like tips, to reveal a very small diode, which glowed green.
"Is everybody watching?" he asked, turning to the ponies, "because this is what's going to happen to Steady Hoof."
~BZZZZZ~
At first, nothing happened. Then, the lamp started shaking slightly, and cracks appeared in the marble font. As the buzzing noise grew louder, the lamp shook more and more, and the cracks grew wider. Suddenly, the lamp imploded and fell apart, with bits of marble falling to the floor. Everything went silent, as the ponies stared in awe and horror, until the Doctor pointed the Screwdriver back to Steady Hoof's horn.
"Right then. Your turn."
"STOP IT! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"
The sky outside went dark, and bolts of lightning flew across dark clouds that had gathered. All the guards raised their weapons or powered their horns, and Princess Luna's horn crackled with raw magic, which looked like small dark blue lightning bolts.
"Fine! You win, Despair! We'll get you what you want but just leave him alone!" shouted Shining Armor, who was getting nervous. He didn't show it however, for the hostage's sake.
"Good. But I don't think you understand," grinned the Doctor, who pressed the same button on his tool. The tip opened again, and the diode glowed green once more, "I need to live up to my name."
"You don't need to kill him!"
"Well, it's not like you're going to stop me!"
At this point Shining Armor was sweating. Murder was a rare threat in Equestria, and the authorities did not deal with it very often. This was actually his first time dealing with a threat of murder, and he felt lost.
"Please...save me..." whispered Steady Hoof, who was shaking from head to hoof.
"They're not going to save you, they're cowards," snickered the Doctor,"and they're going to give me what I want, then...they will despair."
~BZZZZZ~
"Help me!"
"DESPAIR!"
"ENOUGH!"
After concentrating and harnessing her magic, Princess Luna shot a bolt of raw, lethal magic at the Doctor, which hit him square in the chest. He was flung back, landing on the floor, and the Sonic Screwdriver landed on the floor before it could do any magic. Steady Hoof scrambled out of his grip, and ran towards the guards. Meanwhile, Princess Luna soared through the air and landed in front of the Doctor, smashing his Sonic Screwdriver with a foreleg. Using her magic, she blasted the Doctor again, and he writhed in pain for a full minute before going still. Everything stood still, with Luna panting and the guards surrounding the Doctor. Steady Hoof had been taken away, and the sky outside returned to normal. Luna looked down at the fallen enemy, then turned away.
"Take him away. We'll dispose of the body later."
The guards nodded, then started to pick up the Doctor. And then, something amazing happened: he started glowing. It was slow, but surely enough a bright yellow light shone on his face and hands. The guards just looked at him, until he opened his eyes.
"I'd step away if I were you."
They scrambled back and the rest pointed their spears at him, inches from his chest. A thin yellow mist started emanating from his body, swirling around in the air like floating sand, the same way blue mist came out of the princess' head. She quickly turned around, ready to hit him again, until he raised his hands.
"Sorry, sorry, it's okay. I just needed to provoke you into kick-starting the process. I'm not actually going to hurt anybody. Still, you really should stand back, and that goes for you too Luna."
They all stood still, amazed and confused, until they turned to Luna for orders. She just stared at the Doctor, wondering how he could have survived her attack, then lifted a foreleg.
"Do as he says."
They all backed up, giving the Doctor some space. The glow was getting stronger, and his breathing got heavier. Then, against all odds, he stood up.
"How...? Your spine..." asked Shining Armor.
"Was broken, yes," replied the Doctor, who was straightening his clothes out, "but nothing a little regeneration can't handle. You see, my body can fix itself if it sustains too much damage. It should have already happened, but my injury wasn't bad enough and you healed me, so I needed to trigger the process. And don't worry, I'm not Despair, that was just a quick trick to make myself look bad. I'm so sorry, I really am, but desperate times-"
He gave a sudden jolt, which made everypony ready to strike, until he lifted an index.
"It's fine, just going into the last stage. Oh blimey it's getting hot. It's gonna be a big one. Okay, okay, here it comes..."
He started hopping up and down a bit, flexing his fingers and breathing quickly. He gave a sniff, and the glow became a bright light, with the mist flowing faster out of his hands and from his face. He turned to the guards, and put his hand on his chest.
"I'll look different, but it'll still be me. While I might be leaving, I'll come back as a new person, and I hope we can start being friends. I'll redeem myself, and I look forward to the things we can do together."
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia stood hidden, next to the room's door, looking at the scene undetected thanks to an invisibility spell. She stood there, watching the Doctor and her sister with a warm smile.
"But...what is your real name?" asked Luna, who was looking at the Time Lord in awe.
He turned to her, shrouded in golden light, and smirked.
"I am, and always will be, the Doctor."
The light coming from his body exploded outwards, and the mist became a beam of pure gold energy that shot out into the air. The shock made him throw his head back and stretch his limbs out. The ponies stepped back, blinded and anxious, but Luna stood rooted to the ground, amazed by the miracle that was happening in front of her. The burst of energy made the furniture in the room shake and the floor crack; and the stretcher, the bed, and the desk were thrown against the walls, where they smashed into several pieces.
Then, something went wrong: the Doctor started glowing red. The red colour was joined by dark orange and black, and small bolts of green lightning shot out of his fingertips. The Doctor panicked, and looked at his hands in fear. The bolts shot out, smashing the remaining furniture and hitting the walls, shattering several windows as well. Luna stared in horror at the Time Lord, unable to accept what she was seeing. Suddenly, Shining Armor stood in front of her and dragged her away.
"Princess! We have to get you out of here now!"
They stepped back towards the entrance, and the Doctor could only watch in horror as his entire regeneration process spiralled out of control. He realized that the colours were the same as the ones he had seen in the maelstrom, and he felt powerless. Suddenly, a surge of pain ran through his entire body and he yelled out, falling to his knees. He felt his insides twist, turn and churn; he felt his bones ache and stretch, and he thought of one last thing before darkness took over his mind.
It can't end, not like this!
The red light suddenly turned into a sphere, which swallowed the Doctor whole, and a blast of energy made the ponies fall to the ground. The remaining windows shattered, the furniture exploded, cracks ran through the floor and walls, and one last shout of pain echoed through the room before everything stopped. Slowly, the guards and their captain stood up, anxious and weary. The princess rose as well, nervous but ready to deal with the Doctor if she had to. They walked cautiously towards the remaining cloud of smoke, and gazed in shock and awe at what they saw.
On the cracked floor, with small bolts of green lightning coursing through his body, a brown stallion lay unconscious.
After taking a deep breath, Princess Celestia cancelled her spell. She took a distraught expression, breathed rapidly, and ran into the room.
"What happened here? Is Luna safe?"
Still staring at the stallion on the floor, she muttered her reply.
"I'm fine..."
Celestia gave a sigh of relief, placed a wing on her sister's back, then turned to Shining Armor.
"Take that thing away."
He nodded, put shackles on the unconscious pony and dragged him away.