//------------------------------//
// Awakening - part 1 
// Story: Doctor Whooves and the Sea of Dreams 
// by Sir Clopsolot 
//------------------------------//


Doctor Whooves and the Sea of Dreams


Awakening - part 1

"No! Stop! You can't give it what it wants!" The Doctor called out. He was in a room dimly lit by flickering torches on the walls. The preserved wrapped bodies of ponies could be seen in slots in the walls. The air had an old murky aura about it. In the middle of the room was some kind of alter with a unicorn skull on top of a pile of pony bones, including the bones of a pegasus. This was some kind of ancient burial site similar to a catacomb but the architecture was like nothing that could be found in Equestria. Wherever this was it was in a far away place and time.
The Doctor sprinted out to a pair of ponies on the other side of the room, leaving his companion and TARDIS behind. The other pair of ponies where dressed in a black armor that was a combination of leather and ceramic plates. They both had some kind of tank on their sides and a strange looking device wrapping the base of their hooves. Their faces where covered by what appeared to be a glass gas mask. A colt and a filly, both looked like earth ponies, but the colt had the shattered remains of what was once a horn. They both looked very surprised to see another pony down here.
"Who are you!?" The former unicorn shouted at The Doctor, taking a defensive stance. He hovered his hoof over what The Doctor presumed to be a weapon holstered on his back.
"That doesn't matter. I know you have something that could doom your world if you give it to that thing," The Doctor said, pointing a hoof at the skull on the altar.
"What, you mean this?" The former unicorn reached into his saddlebag with a hoof. Metallic talons protracted from the device around his wrist which he used as a hand to pull out another device from his saddlebag. It was some kind of metallic cone that was embedded with exposed circuitry. It looked like it was meant to be placed over a unicorn's horn but it was too big for the average unicorn.
"Yes that!" The Doctor exclaimed and snatched the device from the other pony's grasp.
"Hey! You know what we went through to get that?" The filly objected.
"Yes I do actually. I need to get this to the TARDIS before it kills you all," The Doctor said, running back to the TARDIS. As he crossed the alter the eye sockets of the unicorn skull alit with a magical green flame. Both The Doctor and the skull's horn glowed with a grass green aura. The Doctor was violently thrown back into a wall, the impact forcing him to spit out the device from his mouth. He felt an ancient consciousness touch his mind and speak to him using his own inner voice.
You cannot silence the anthem of life 'he who heals the universe' The entity "spoke"
"Ditzy! Run! The TARDIS will protect you!" The Doctor called out to his companion. The impact with the wall had done a lot of damage, possibly dislocated his shoulder. He was desperately trying to get up and limp close enough to the TARDIS himself. The cone-shaped device was wrapped in the green aura slowly levitating off the ground. Once it was at the same height as the alter it shot towards the skull like a bullet and encased the large horn. It was a perfect fit. The device had several piston-shaped parts that pushed inwards and let out a hiss.
The flickering green flames of its eyes where immediately replaced with solid green light that radiated outwards. All the bones of the altar where swept away in a vortex of magical energies now radiating from the skull. The room could be felt shaking with a light tremor as the different bones swirled within the magical vortex and began assembling themselves. The unicorn colt drew his weapon interfacing it with the devices his front hooves. He stood up on his hind legs in an attempt to use it but the light tremors where enough to prevent him from keeping his balance long enough to fire.
The bones where large, very large. Much larger than the size of an average pony. The vortex died out by blasting outwards into a gale which put out all of the torches. All around them every free surface of the room now had vegetation growing. Vines now grew from cracks in the walls and hung from the ceiling like shandelires. From the cracks in the floors grew tall blades of grass and large shrubs grew in the corners of the room. It would have been very dark if not for the figure now posed on top of the altar within a bed of roses. In front of them stood the majestic form of an alicorn skeleton held together by a body of green pure magical energies. Its wings were flared out, magic flowing off of them like hair in the wind.
Suddenly a blur of white light came from the direction of the other two ponies and right at the undead alicorn. The ball of magical energy dispersed against an invisible barrier like a water balloon against a wall. The dispersed magical energy flowed around the invisible barrier and peppered the opposite wall with glowing red impact spots of superheated rock. 
"Gloria! Get behind me!" The unicorn shouted at his companion. The undead alicorn turned its attention towards the pony that shot at it. It simply stared at him, it appeared to be exchanging psychic words with him. 
The Doctor took this opportunity to inch closer towards the safety of the TARDIS. A moment later the undead alicorn turned its attention back to the Time Lord. He felt its consciousness touch his mind for a second time as it began to "speak."
We offer you a choice 'he who heals.' Leave us be and we will revel in your continuing anthem. Oppose us and we will weep for your once glorious song.
There was no way of deceiving this creature. It was in his mind and there was no trick he could use to beat it. There was no way he would ever allow this corrupted creature run unchecked. He had to stop it no matter the cost.The undead alicorn must have already known this, known what his choice would be even before he did. But it waiting for him to willingly give his answer.
"I choose to oppose." The Doctor said. Physically speaking the words was unnecessary as it had no way of physically receiving the words. But speaking them aloud was a way of confirming the answer to the creature in his mind.
Then we weep for the universe's loss. It answered.
The alicorn's entire body glowed with a blinding radiance. The Doctor looked over to where the two other ponies where and saw that they where gone. Even in the face of his own death he was still more concerned for the lives of smaller creatures than himself. The light got brighter and brighter and The Doctor lifted his hoof to block it from his eyes. The alicorn had conjured a fireball in front of it but it glowed with the heat and intensity of a miniature sun. The vegetation around them rapidly withered and ignited into a blaze.
Forgive us Doctor.
The Doctor could feel the shifting of magic as it flung the miniature sun at him. The heat grew more and more intense as it grew closer. All he could do was scream.

"AHH!" Dr Whooves screamed out. He awoke in his bed, beads of cold sweat matting his forehead. He was taking in quick deep breaths gasping for air. It had all been a dream. But it was more vivid and lucid than a dream had any right to be. It felt more like reliving a memory. An impossible memory that he never had. He saw light filter into his room from under his door and the clopping of hoofsteps outside. The door opened and in walked Rose Tiller concerned for her mentor.
"I heard you screaming." Rose said. "Is it those dreams again?"
"Yes." Dr Whooves answered, his breathing returning to normal. "And it was a bad one."
"Yeah I could tell from the way you screamed." Rose replied.
"They're not always so bad you know. Sometimes I dream the most brilliant things you could ever imagine. But it seems to me these dreams are as much a curse as they are a gift. One can't have the good without the bad it seems. All the bad dreams make the good ones seem all that more wonderful."
"I never should have let that hairless monkey touch you." Rose said growing angry. Not at the alien that visited them but at herself. "Who knows what he did to your head." It had been nearly two months since the visit from The Doctor. Two months since Dr Whooves began having these strange dreams. There was no indication that the dreams would stop anytime soon. If anything they have been getting progressively worse. Not worse like becoming more and more disturbing. Worse as in becoming more and more realistic. As in becoming more and more difficult to distinguish fiction from reality. It was effecting Dr Whooves both mentally and physically and that was what concerned Rose the most. Dr Whooves eventually managed to get back to sleep and the next morning he and Rose had a talk over tea.
"Rose I haven't been entirely honest with you. There's something about me I think you should know." Dr Whooves said while nervously fiddling with the cup of tea.
"What is it?" Rose asked. Her mentor hasn't been himself ever since the visit from The Doctor. He's had a notable change in personality. For better or for worse Dr Whooves was a changed pony. She had no idea what to expect from him, what he'd reveal to her. She was secretly hoping he'd proclaim his love for her. Deep down she truly cared for him and sometimes saw him as more than just a mentor.
"I...I was married once." Dr Whooves admitted. "I even have a daughter...little Dinky should be eight next month. You might have seen me with my ex around Ponyville once in a while. We still go out on our anniversary and on Hearts and Hooves day. It's a way for us to remember the good times we had. Her name's Derpy Hooves." Rose was in absolute shock. He was married? And he has a kid? The name Derpy sounded familiar to her though.
"Derpy? Isn't that the mailmare with the...?"
"Wall-eye," Dr Whooves finished with a single disheartened chuckle. "Yes. Seems like that's all anypony knows her for." Rose felt a little bad about herself now. They spent a moment in silence when a question came to her mind.
"Why are you telling me this?" Please say it's because I love you.
"Because she's always there with me in my dreams." Dr Whooves answered. This was a low blow for Rose. "In every single dream she's there with me as my companion. But in those dreams I always called her Ditzy. Ditzy Doo. I'm not sure what it all means. I need somepony else's perspective if I want any hope of interpreting any of this." Rose felt shot down but at least she had a chance to learn more about a side she never even knew Dr Whooves had.
"Well...maybe deep down you're still in love with her. Maybe that's why you're projecting her into your dreams?" Rose offered.
"Love?" Dr Whooves replied with a slight smile. " You're right, I still love her, but that love is for her being the mother of my daughter. But I'm not in love with her anymore. No I crossed that bridge long ago."
Rose felt bad for her mentor. She imagines it can't be easy talking about this with anypony. She wanted to change the subject before she accidentally reopened an emotional wound. Then a spark of inspiration came to her.
"Hey, you know I have an idea." Rose said. "Derpy is somepony you know that consistently appears in these dreams. Maybe if we find anything else in your life that appears in your dreams then maybe you can get a better grasp on them. Is there anything else you can remember?"
"Well I can think of only one other thing." Dr Whooves answered. "He doesn't show up in all of them but in a few of my dreams Yana was with me. He liked to nest in my mane and would sometimes run off to fetch things for me. As clever as the little guy is I doubt he'd be able to communicate anything useful to us if we asked him anything. But still it wouldn't hurt to pay attention to anything strange around him."
Dr Whooves and Rose headed downstairs into the workshop where Yana made his home. The subject of Derpy and Dr Whooves' love life where now behind them but Rose felt that she'd have to bring it up again with him eventually. They made their way into the basement where all the actual work was done. The pair waked over to a workbench where a little door in the wall could be seen level with the bench. Dr Whooves knocked on the wall above the door four times.
"Good morning Yana." Dr Whooves spoke at the little door. While waiting for the astral mouse to come out his eyes wandered around the workbench and it came to a stop on a silver fob watch engraved with circular geometrical patterns.
"Wait..." He placed his hoof on top of the watch and slid it across the bench and closer to himself. "Now that I think about it...I remember seeing my lucky fob watch in one of my dreams."
"Oh? That's good!" Rose exclaimed. "Maybe it can help make a connection witch them. What exactly happened in the dream you remember seeing it in?"
"Well in the dream I remember at one point focusing all my attention on it and I heard voices whispering out from it. I felt strongly compelled to believe that it was just an unremarkable old watch despite evidence to the contrary staring me right in the face."
Yana opened his door and peeked his head out at Dr Whooves. He saw the doctor's eyes locked on the silver fob watch and was snapped into an alarmed state. He desperately skittered towards the watch in a panic.
"I felt compelled to just put it down but my curious nature eventually won out. I opened it and-hey!" Dr Whooves was interrupted by Yana snatching it in his mouth and dragging it away from him
"Yana stop that! What are you doing?" The astral mouse was attempting to force the watch through his much smaller mouse hole. Dr Whooves put his hoof down on the watch and slid it back to him, dragging Yana along who was still desprately get the watch away from him.
"Yana what's wrong with you? You don't just up snatch things away from ponies like that." Dr Whooves scolded the little astral mouse.
"Hey wait. What happened when you opened it in your dream?" Rose spoke up.
"Forget it." Dr Whooves answered. "It doesn't matter. If it did it would have come to mind earlier."
"You sure?" Rose replied.
"Yes I'm sure. And if you don't mind that's enough dream chasing for now. You know how busy Mondays are for both of us. I have three days worth of orders that I need to get done by tonight. And don't forget that you are behind in your studies, you're here as a student after all." 
Rose was disappointed with the sudden killjoy from her mentor but he had a point. They both had a lot on their plates today and neither of them had much time to spare to run around investigating dreams. For now they both had responsibilities to attend to. Everything else could wait for another day.


more A/N: Rest assured that Dr Whooves' relationship with Derpy isn't just an offhand comment like "Leeroy Hoofkins" (or wingkins, w/e)