INTERLUDE: Luna on the Moon
The Moon: Day 38, Year 27 of Celestia's Reign
Luna was bored.
Inside her head, Nightmare Moon seethed and howled and cajoled and ranted and raved, trying to get the young alicorn to push at the walls of her prison, but Luna was having none of it. She'd been trying for the last twenty-someodd years, to no avail.
Or perhaps she was inside Nightmare Moon's head. She honestly wasn't sure anymore... all she knew was, she had been banished here just for the oh-so-horrible crime of wanting to be praised for her work by someone other than her uppity, control-freak sister.
Of course SHE'D say it's good. Not like she has anyone else to take care of the night sky properly. I mean, look at that! She's got Orion's belt up so high it's like he's trying to choke himself with it!
She was hurt, she was still furious with the ponies of Equestria for shunning her night, but more than anything else right now, she was bored. She didn't even have an abacus with her to distract her with calculations. There was nothing to do but sit here, psychically and physically locked to the Moon, and stare out at the sky. It was the same tonight as it had been for the previous 9,527 nights, and she'd counted every one of them. She expected no different.
Which was why she was entirely surprised on both sides of her mind to find a blue box standing in the middle of one of the larger craters. “Police Box,” she wondered, No way 'Tia got a space program going that fast – we hadn't even discussed it! It certainly looks like one of her inelegant designs, though... totally not aerodynamic enough, and no means of propulsion unless you're using one hell of a telekinesis spell.
Curious, she let her awareness drift closer to the box, inspecting it from all sides, and was surprised again when the dust around it suddenly pushed outward, and a chestnut brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark, wearing a blue suit jacket, white collared shirt, and red tie stepped out. He pulled a set of eyeglasses out of a pocket and slipped them over his nose, turning his head as if looking for something. Good thing I haven't made myself visible. I want to watch this fellow before I--
He was looking straight at her. “Oh, hello! You must be Luna. I'm the Doctor, and it's my understanding that you're in need of a checkup, so I thought I'd drop in, make a bit of a house call. I must say though, it's rather rude to be standing there behind a perception filter when someone comes to visit you.”
Dropping the cloak around herself, Luna opened her mouth to speak just before she felt herself shoved aside by Nightmare Moon, starfield mane and tail shimmering to life as the invisibility spell collapsed. The Doctor regarded her calmly as she fixed him with a slit-pupiled glare, growling, “Who dares?!”
“Ah, I think we've already covered that. I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to visit Luna, so it would be quite nice if you would let her speak to me for a moment.”
Smirking, the Nightmare circled the Doctor and his box slowly. “I'm sorry, Doctor, but I'm afraid little Luna isn't here to talk to you right now. Besides, I don't think she even wants to. You know how I know that? Because I'm her.”
Shaking his head, his cheerful demeanor slipping a bit, “No, you're not. You see, I know exactly what you are, and I'm not here to speak to a collection of parasites. I'm here to speak to the poor mare you've possessed. Now, let me speak to Luna, or else.”
Nightmare Moon was stunned. “You're kidding. You're kidding, right?” She stepped closer, getting right up in the earth pony's face. “All right, medicine pony, I'll call your bluff. 'Or else' what?”
A slow smile spread across the Doctor's features as he said in a low, level tone, “Or else I will be very cross, because I won't be able to tell her how much her sister loves and misses her.”
LET ME SPEAK TO HIM! The command rang in Nightmare Moon's mind loud enough to make her wince visibly.
“No. We don't need Celestia or her pity,” the last word was laced with almost palpable disdain, “She wants to banish us, fine. We'll be back. It's only a matter of time before the stars are right, Doctor.”
Pacing back and forth, the Doctor nodded, “Oh, yes... you're probably right about that. After all, the standing harmonic wave that's keeping you here is unstable, and it's got to run out sometime, but I did take a few minutes to study it on my way here, and it's going to take longer than you think.”
“Nonsense! I could break out of here right now if I wanted to.”
Turning his head over his shoulder to look at her, the Doctor clucked his tongue reproachfully. “Oh, see, now you're lying to me. I hate it when people lie to me, Nightmare Moon. It makes me very cross, and when I get cross, it just ruins my entire day, and I go 'round making other people cross, and the next thing you know I'm getting myself involved in all sorts of events that I really ought to leave alone, and then it's just a bunch of screaming and running before I finally get it all sorted out, and I can't stand the screaming,” he gave her a wink, “I do rather like the running, though. Keeps one fit as a fiddle!”
Nightmare Moon was at a loss for words. She could not for the life of her figure out if this colt was messing with her, had a death-wish, or was just plain mad. Was he actually threatening her? And how did he know to call her bluff? Meanwhile, the little pony in her head was cheering him on, sensing the Nightmare's unease, and that was just annoying.
“You're mad, you know that?”
The chestnut stallion grinned at her wide enough to almost make his jaw fall off. “As a March hare, milady. All the same, you really should consider letting Luna go her own way, or as I said, it's all going to end in screaming. Well, for you, at least. The same harmonic wave that's keeping me tied to this area is dampening your powers, so unless you plan to just beat me senseless with your hooves, I'm just going to keep talking until I get to talk to her. I mean, really, it's not like you can't listen in.” He lifted a forehoof, gesturing around the stark lunar landscape, “And it's like there's anybody – I mean, anypony else to listen in and accuse of you of being a sensitive and merciful tyrant, so what can it hurt?”
Please... let me hear what he has to say, said the little pony in the Nightmare's skull. What can it hurt? I'm still mad at 'Tia, but if she's come to her senses, I need to know – and with just each other to talk to, we're both going to go crazy, Nightmare Moon... if we haven't already, considering that I'm basically talking to myself, here.
The Mare in the Moon considered for a moment, then nodded, “Very well, Doctor. Say your piece, then leave, and do not return.” She withdrew, and as her starfield mane and pitch-black coat faded to Luna's midnight blue, the Doctor smiled.
“Hello, Luna.”
“Hello, Doctor. You said my sister had something to say to me?”
Pulling an envelope out of his pocket, he offered it to her. “Yes. In fact, she was very concerned that you should get the words straight from her, so she wrote them down.”
Horn lighting, she took the envelope in her telekinetic grip and opened it, pulling out the parchment and reading it.
My dearest Luna,
It's feels like it's only been one day since our fight. You know the one I'm talking about. At first, I despaired over what I had done, and I feared being the only one of our family to survive the madness that has taken the rest of them away from us, pony by pony. A curious thing happened, though – I met a stallion with a box, and though I suspect he's quite mad, I also feel he has our best interests at heart. I ask you to listen to him, to fight the sickness in your mind that is Nightmare Moon, and to give me another chance to prove that I can be the sister you deserve.
We've both lost so much over the millenia, I don't want to lose you too. I can't let you come back, however I might wish to do so – the Doctor says that even trying would cause so great a catastrophe that you likely wouldn't have a home to return to, and all we've tried and worked so hard to build would be lost in an instant. You're my baby sister and I love you, but I cannot allow that to happen – not even for you.
I know you're hurting. I am, too. I wish we could have talked more, before you felt pushed to do the unthinkable. I wish that we had never come to this.
I wish I had my sister back.
I cannot ever forgive Nightmare Moon for what she tried to do. Too many of our little ponies died from exposure, accident, and misguided actions. I can, however, do my best to forgive you, Lulu.
I miss you. I love you. Come back to me when you are ready. The Doctor will help us.
Your sister,
Celestia
PS: Auntie Nova rose out of her crypt and tried to eat me. You would have loved it – it was just like those ghost stories from Zebrica we used to tell each other on our camp-outs. I'm not surprised, though; Mother always said she was a biter when she was a filly.
Luna re-read the letter twice more, before looking up at the Doctor in bewilderment and awe. “She... forgives me?”
Nodding slowly, he replied, “Yes, Luna. She does. It's my hope we can find some way to return you home, but it's going to take time, and that's as it should be, perhaps.” At an oddly insistent chiming from inside the box, he murmured, “Look at the time... Huh. Funny phrase, that. I look at time all the time, and there's never enough of it, no matter how much there is. I have to go.”
Luna could already feel the Nightmare's awareness stirring within her, eager to take over and crush this little insect before her. “Will you be back? Even after what I – what she said?”
Favoring the midnight-blue alicorn with a smile, the Doctor replied, “Oh yes. I was never really one for following the rules.” With that, he opened the door to the box and slipped inside, closing it behind him. With a quiet thump and a low grinding, wheezing sound, the light atop the box began to blink on and off with the seconds as the box faded from view, leaving only a mark in the dust to show it was ever there.
Luna read the letter again, quietly ignoring the annoyed muttering from Nightmare Moon inside her mind just long enough to finish reading, close her eyes, and bury it under a rock for safe-keeping. As she let the Mare in the Moon take over again though, she noticed one thing and felt another:
She noticed that the Mare in the Moon was not feeling as coldly confident as she once had, and she felt something she hadn't felt in over twenty-five years...
...She felt hope.
Canterlot, Equestria: Day 38, Year 27 of Celestia's Reign
At the first telltale rush of wind in her throne room, Celestia ordered her guards and attendants to leave her and seal the doors behind them. By the time they had exited, a familiar sound echoed through the great hall of the royal palace at Canterlot, and she trotted over to where the TARDIS was materializing.
The door opened, and the Doctor stepped out, brushing a bit of moon dust off his jacket. She looked at him with hopeful eyes, and he nodded. “It's done. The seed has been planted.” He gave her a mildly reproachful look. “You'd best have meant everything you said in that letter. The way her eyes lit up when she read it, if anything in it turns out to be false, she's going to relapse – possibly beyond recovery, if we can't purge the empathivores from her before she does.”
Smiling sadly, the princess replied, “Oh yes, Doctor. I meant every word. Do you think they took the bait?”
“We can hope. Now, what was this about a cult and some dangerous artifacts?”