Don't Blink
“C'mon girl, open up!” The Doctor yelled, trying his hardest to pull on the rope that was wrapped around the handle and his midsection, however the TARDIS refused to budge it's doors. “What's the matter?”
“Maybe she doesn't like me?” Ditzy asked from on top of the blue box, having decided to see if it had a chimney.
“I'm sure that's not the case, Ditzy, but she might appreciate it if you didn't sit on her.” She blinked, before flapping her wings and landing next to the box. When she touched down, she noticed a fizzing sound and glanced at the rope on the door. “Um...Doctor?”
“Just a moment, Ditzy, I think I'm making progress...” He interrupted, felling himself gain a centimetre or two.
“But the rope is...” Before she could finish her sentence, a loud snap could be heard as the rope was cut loose from the door and the Doctor flew forward and ran smack into a tree in front of him.
“OW!” He yelled, peeling his face off the bark, spitting a part of it out of his mouth. “Well, that didn't work.” He mumbled, approaching his machine.
“Are you okay?” Ditzy asked, concerned for the stallion's well being. The Doctor faced her as he walked over to the TARDIS, smiling.
“I'm always okay...” He replied, before he walked into the door and fell backwards. “Ow!” He yelped again, rubbing his nose with his hoof. He looked up at the handle of the door, eyes narrowed.
“Um...How do...'humans' use a handle like that?” She asked, looking at her own hoof. “If we tried, we'd fall flat on our faces everytime we opened the door...”
“...Human...Pony. Hooves...Hands...That's it! The TARDIS is reconstructing itself so I can fly her in this form!” The Doctor cheered. “Brilliant, that should only take twenty four hours!”
“Um...Only?”
“Oh yes...” The Doctor replied, rubbing the back of his neck, sheepishly. “Um...I'm going to have to find lodging for the night...”
“Oh you can stay round my place if you like.” Ditzy offered, smiling at his look of shock. “I have a spare room and Dinky loves having company.”
“Oh right...Spare room, phew.” The Doctor sighed in relief, to the Pegasus's confusion.
“What did you think I meant?” She asked innocently. The Doctor paled a bit, looking left and right, hoping to find a way out of having to explain the facts of life to the mare.
“How could she not know, though? She has a daughter!” He thought to himself curiously. Unless, in this reality, ponies reproduce in a different manner. Asexual perhaps?
He was thankfully taken away from his thoughts and his conversation with Derpy when the pink pony from earlier bounced into the clearing, much to the Doctor's astonishment. “H-how is she doing that?”
“Doing what?” His companion asked, not sure what he was on about.
“How is she lifting up four feet in the air by hopping?! Her calf muscles must be HUGE!” Ditzy rolled her eyes at him.
“Oh you may not want to think too much about that. She's Pinkie Pie, barely anything makes sense about her.”
“B-but...There must be SOME explaination to this!” He exclaimed as Pinkie found herself in front of the two, hopping in place in her usual bubbly mood.
“I should have left you in the library for a little longer, you and Twilight would have REALLY hit it off.” The Doctor shrugged, before turning towards the pink pony.
“So...Pinkie was it? What do you need from us?” The Doctor asked, tilting his head to the side. Pinkie stopped half bounce, having seemed to be floating for a couple of seconds, much to the Doctor's shock, before she giggled and landed on her feet.
“Well, you are a new pony here in Ponyville, are you not?” Ditzy's eyes widened in excitement and stood next to the pair, while the Doctor's were more confused.
“Um...Yes, I suppose I am...”
“Then you know what that means...” Pinkie started, Ditzy giggling and raising her hooves with Pinkie.
“A PARTY!!” They then both grabbed the Doctor and pulled him through the forest towards Ponyville.
As they left, they never noticed a Pegasus standing their, their hooves covering their face.
“HOW CAN YOU TALK TO EACHOTHER LIKE THIS?!!!” The Doctor yelled towards the pony he found to look like he'd have an interesting conversation with.
“JUS' KEEP YELLIN' AT THA TOP O' YA LUNGS!!!” Big Macintosh replied, his deep voice being able to be heard quite well over the blaring music.
“ALRIGHT! THANK YOU BIG MAC...SO ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF?!”
“NOT REALLY...” Big Mac replied, truthfully. “THIS IS THA FIRS' TIME AH'VE BEEN TA ONE O' THESE 'ERE SHINDIGS, BUT ALL THA YELLIN' IS STRAININ' MA THROAT A BIT!!”
“MAYBE WE SHOULD GO AND ASK HE TO TURN IT DOWN?!”
“NAH, THIS HERE IS HER PARTY, CANNOT GO AN' RUIN IT FOR HER!!” Suddenly the music was turned down a touch and Pinkie bounced up to them.
“If you wanted to turn the music down, you should have said so, silly.” Pinkie said, smiling widely. “I don't want anypony not enjoying themselves, because there'd be no point of a party otherwise.” She finished, bouncing away from the two.
“Well...Now that we can hear each other, do you mind telling me a bit about yourself? Ditzy suggested I go talk to some ponies and make some friends.” He explained.
“Ah guess it couldn' hurt. Ah'm an apple farmer that runs Sweet Apple Acres wit' ma sister Applejack...”
“Ah! I met her when I accompanied Ditzy in picking up little Dinky! Very friendly.”
“Eeyup, that sounds like her. Ah tend ta plough tha fields, buck apple trees an' carry carts ta tha barns.” He explained, looking around fanning himself with a large hoof. “It's a little warm an' claustrophobic in here, Ah'm goin' ta get some air.”
“Oh good, I'll accompany you.” The Doctor replied, getting up from his seat. “There are a lot of ponies here, aren't there.”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac agreed, as the two made their way outside.
Once they were, they realised that the party had gone on longer than they thought. “Consarnit, It's already night time! It were noon when we arrived!”
“True.” The Doctor replied, looking forward before noticing a statue of a Pegasus standing tall in the centre of town, facing away from them. “That's a lovely statue there. Who made it?” He asked, turning to Macintosh, who faced him and blinked in confusion.
“What statue?” Those were probably the two worst words he could have said, just behind 'Look Dalek!'
The Doctor immediately looked back at the statue and saw that it was now looking over at them, over it's shoulder, smiling. “Macintosh...Keep looking at that statue...And for the love of all things good...Don't blink...”
Mac nodded, confused, before turning to the new statue that he has never seen before. “Thank you...I'm going to go inside and get Ditzy and the...Elements of Harmony as Twilight had called themselves.” He explained, before going inside.
“PINKIE!!” Quick as a flash, the pink party pony was in front of the brown Timelord.
“Hi! What do you need? Cake? Cupcake? Pie? Chips? Punch? A dance? Balloons? Confetti? Which one? Huh, huh!” She asked, putting her face right up to his, causing him to take a step back.
“I need you to get Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Ditzy and Fluttery-shy and meet me outside.” Pinkie saluted and turned to go do as she was asked.
“Okie, dokie, loki! But her name's Fluttershy.” She replied, before rushing off.
The Doctor immediately turned and left Sugarcube Corner and went outside to join Big Macintosh...
...but he wasn't there.
“Mac!” The Doctor yelled, hoping that he had just turned to go somewhere to hide from the statue.
“What's that about ma brother?” Applejack asked as the seven requested mares left the party. “Ah haven't seen him since we got here...Weren't ya out here wit' him?”
“Just a second ago...” The Doctor said, before turning to see the statue standing there, looking at them with something that resembled a smirk on it's face.
The brown stallion growled at the seemingly harmless statue, approaching it with purpose. “Where is he?!” He yelled at it, much to the other's confusion. “What have you done with him?!”
“...” The statue responded, muted. The other seven approached, questioning the new pony's sanity.
“Um...Time Turner...It's just a statue...” Rainbow asked, knocking a hoof against the stone being for emphasis. “See, nothing but rock.”
“That's only an illusion. This is not just a harmless statue, it's one of the most dangerous species known to all of the universe, everytime someone lays their eyes on them, they turn to solid stone to match the surrounding area. This means they're very fast...So don't any of you take your eyes off of it...”
“...You are smart...Pony...” They heard a harsh voice whisper in their heads, chilling them to their bones as they turned to look at the statue.
“The Weeping Angels...”
“...Actually we go by Weeping Pegasi...” The whisper said again.
“What have you done with Macintosh?!” The Doctor growled, looking anywhere but the Pegasus's eyes.
“...He is to be a fuel...A prey to our never ending hunt...”
“Y'all better gimme ma brother back right now or Ah'll buck ya right back ta whatever backwards World y'all came from!” Applejack roared, getting right into the statue's eyes.
“APPLEJACK! DON'T LOOK INTO IT'S EYES!!” She turned in confusion, but it was too late for a warning.
The others looked at her in worry, forgetting to look at the statue, which once they turned back had disappeared. “Blast it!” The Doctor swore, grabbing a long, cylindrical device from behind his ear, and gripped it in his hoof, pressing a button on it's side.
The device lit up green as it scanned the area the Weeping Pegasi was moments ago before he flicked it up and looked at it for a second. “Macintosh was standing right here, but there have been no time jumps, thankfully...Just a teleport so to speak...”
“Um...A-are you really from Trottingham?” Fluttershy asked as he ran towards an area, pointing towards the Carousel Boutique.
“I'm not, no...I'm not even from this dimension.”
“Then y'all lied ta us? Ten!” Applejack yelped as the last word left, wondering where the heck that came from.
“I'm the one who lied to you...I'm sure he would have told you if he felt the need.” Ditzy explained, flying, while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“Then who are you?” Rarity asked, opening the door to her shop before they ended up crashing through a window.
The Doctor noticed a pile of unused clothes in the corner and started to move them around, noticing that Rarity has started a clothes range for the male populace.
“I'm known as the Doctor...” He said, wrapping himself in a white, collared shirt.
“...I'm from a different universe to this one...” He continued, opening up the collar, wrapping a red bow-tie and tying it up at the front, lowing the collar again.
“...I'm a Timelord from the planet Gallifrey...” He then found a brown blazer with a few pockets and swung it on.
“...I'm 1214 years old...” He then noticed a fez and popped it on his head.
“...And I promise I'll save your brother and stop them like I've done so many times before!”
The whole lot stared at him, wondering if what he said was true, before Applejack stated. “Nine! Ya really goin' for tha fez?”
“Of course! Fezes are cool!” He defended, tapping it fondly before realising something. “Oh yes, I'm terribly sorry, how much for these?”
“Tell you what dear, you save Macintosh, they're yours.” Rarity replied, causing him to smile, slipping his sonic screwdriver into the front pocket.
“Sounds easy enough. But first, there's another pony we have to save...” He mentioned, turning to Applejack.
“What are y'all lookin' at me for? Eight!”
“I thought you hated math?” Pinkie asked, confused as to why Applejack was yelling out random numbers.
“She very much may do...But it's not her saying it voluntarily...” The Doctor said, looking straight into the orange mare's eyes, as did the others, more in curiousity, before gasping.
“The Pegasus!” Fluttershy yelped, burring herself in the pile of clothes that the Doctor was rummaging through.
“It's in your eyes, Applejack. Weeping Pegasi can plant an image of themselves into a person's mind by looking straight into their eyes, or someone looking straight into theirs.” He said, causing Applejack to step back, slightly worried.
“S-so...What's goin' ta happen ta me? Seven!” The Doctor looked at her, assuring her that he knew how to deal with this.
People that are infected in this manner start involuntarily verbally counting down, which usually indicates how long you have until the Weeper...” He lost trail at the end, but Applejack glared at him.
“Ah'm a big pony! Ah can handle it, tell me! Six!”
“Until the Weeping Pegasi breaches your optical nerves...your eyes...Th-the Weeper will kill you from the inside and rip out of your eyes...”
The others gasped and Applejack could just stand there, shaking like a leaf, a small tear rolling down her cheek. “Horseapples...Five!”
“C-can you stop it?!” Ditzy exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth, before he stopped her.
“No, but she can!” He faced her. “All you have to do is close your eyes!”
“Ah-Ah dunno if Ah can...Ah've been tryin' ta blink but Ah can't seem to...Four!...do it...” Applejack trembled, trying to force them shut.
“Of course you can! Just think of your motivation! Somepony you care about! Somepony to live for!”
“Applebloom...” She whispered, before her eyes slid closed and she relaxed a bit. “Ah can't feel it...”
“Why would closing her eyes solve anything? I thought we were suppose to keep an eye ON them.”
“As I said, Rainbow, these creatures are tricky...There's a few rules you need to remember with them and they are 'Don't Blink' and 'that which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel'. Her eyes held the image, but since her eyes are closed, the Weeper is stuck in darkness, it's image shrouded.” He explained, before pulling his device out again. “Now Applejack, just keep your eyes closed for now and we'll find a way to get rid of it.”
“I could try a spell?”
“There's a spell for this?” The Doctor retorted, to which Twilight kicked some dust up with her hoof. “Didn't think so.”
“I'm sure Fluttershy will be more than happy of stay here with AJ.” Rainbow answered, gesturing to the hiding Pegasus.
“Yes, and I had to clean that mess of clothes anyway...” Rarity also said, standing next to Applejack, dragging Fluttershy out of the pile of clothes. “We'll stay here and guard Applejack while you find Big Macintosh.”
“Adventure awaits!” Pinkie yelled out happily bouncing up and down.
“Alright, time to kick some alien butt!...No offence there Doc.”
“Please don't call me Doc, just the Doctor.” The Doctor said, heading towards the door, the four mares in tow. “Remember, don't let her open her eyes for even a second!”
“I just sent Spike a letter to bring the Crusaders and Dinky round Rarity, I hope you don't mind.” Twilight added as they left.