Dr Whooves and the Classical Moon

by Paganbrony

Part Two: A Wooden Performance.

Part Two: A Wooden Performance.

Terror, not fear not anxiety, but sheer terror was what the beast inspired in Octavia’s heart as she rounded another corner into yet another bland uninspired corridor deep in the bowels of the newly built Canterlot opera house.

The beast was the size of one of those huge stallions that worked the farm land around Canterlot, Octavia’s father owned numerous acres of land and she had seen them during vacations when she was a filly.

Memories of happy summer days in her youth and the peace that came with it ran through her mind as it struggled to make sense of what she was seeing.

The thing before her seemed to be made up of pieces of wood of all shapes and sizes, all haphazardly arranged into forming what looked to her at least like a giant wolf…

Eyes, never mind the size of the body, the legs made of long shards of wood ending with large chunks that made up the paws or the snapping jaws with rusty nails for teeth or even the ears stood to attention, it was the eyes that bore into her soul, the deep black pits surrounding a red pupil that took in all around them.

As the creature stomped towards her she tried to move but was rooted to the spot, she could feel her body tense up stricken with fear as it approached her, its jaws only inches away when they opened with a scraping sound as the rusty metal parted.

Octavia shut her eyes tight as she waited for the attack but instead slammed her hooves against her ears as the world around her was torn asunder by the most horrific high pitched sound she’d ever heard.

The beast reared back as the sound assailed its ears, the pitch was so high that it felt pain, a feeling it was unused to and unable to ignore, forced backwards away from the new prey it turned and fled into one of the many identical corridors lit dimly with lamps.

The Doctor waited for as long as he dared before he stopped the noise being emitted from his sonic screwdriver; luckily he’d stuffed two handkerchiefs into his ears so when he removed them he only had a slight ringing in them.

Unfortunately Octavia wasn’t so lucky and as she ventured to open her eyes she saw that the danger had passed but as she removed her hooves from her ears the deafening buzzing sound remained.

Tapping her ears didn’t work and neither did shaking her head vigorously, staring at the Doctor open mouthed she began to panic since her greatest nightmare was being deaf; a lifetime unable to hear music would be the death of her.

Seeing her start to hyperventilate the Doctor tried in vain to communicate with her that the effect would be only temporary but despite knowing thousands of different dialects and sign languages he failed miserably to impress this upon her.

Eventually he left her to her misery as she sat crying on the hard oak floor and so he trotted over to where the beast had been stood when they stumbled upon it.

As the Doctor inspected the grisly remains of what looked like it had once been a pony he wished he was anywhere else at that moment, the horror was by no means the worst he’d witnessed but the small frame and long mane denoted a youngish mare probably no older than the mare behind him.

With eyes that had looked upon countless wonders and endless destruction he studied the details as impassively as he could manage before turning to Octavia who had gotten to her hooves and drawn level with him still shaking her head and tapping her ear with a hoof.

Octavia looked down at the scene and then to the Doctor who tried gently to lead her away as the scene proved too much and she fainted clear away.

It was at this point a pair of royal guards followed by a very old and unhealthy looking stallion dressed in an evening jacket with a big grey mustache and gold edged monocle emerged from yet another one of the seemingly endless corridors only a dozen hooves away from the pair.

It didn’t take a genius to see that the Doctor with Octavia unconscious in his hooves and the mutilated remains a short distance away had some serious explaining to do, so the guards sprang onto action and after forcing the protesting Doctor to the floor kept him pinned as the older stallion caught up with them.

“Dear goddess! What have you done? Oh my poor dear…”

The older stallion gasped at the pitiful sight of the corpse and upon turning to Octavia who had been dropped to the floor by the scuffle immediately bent down to revive her.

“Guards keep that demon restrained, Miss Melody… Oh… Miss Melody… Can you hear me?”

Since the loss of her hearing she most definitely couldn’t but as she was shaken awake by the older stallion her immediate reaction was to strike out and the result was to catch the older stallion clean on the jaw pole axing him backwards into his own unconsciousness.

Her vision blurry and her head still buzzing from the deafness she struggled to her hooves finally focusing on the Doctor buried beneath the two guards.

Octavia tried to regain a measure of composure and attempted to calmly ask them to release him although why eluded her since she still had no reason to trust him.

“WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO RELEASE THAT STALLION BEFORE YOU SUFFOCATE HIM?”

Even the Doctor winced at the volume and tone of the young mare as her voice drastically over compensated for the loss of hearing, the guards ingrained in their very psyche to respond to the correct tone of voice associated with one of clearly higher social standing jumped up automatically snapping to attention.

“THANK YOU!”

Octavia bellowed with a voice that would shame a Valkyrie.

The Doctor slowly made it to his hooves and after brushing down his crumpled suit jacket grinned from ear to ear at Octavia who just sniffed her nose in the air as befit her social standing, followed by a dismissive sound meant to be light and ladylike but her volume control made it deep and gruff which caused the assembled stallions to wince.

As the quiet hallway echoed with her voice the only sounds to be heard after was the ragged breathing of the guards who had obviously been running flat out prior to their appearance.

Octavia summed up the situation around her and after casting a nervous glance at the remains of the mare she pointed a hoof first at the guards then at the older stallion still unconscious on the floor.

“PICK HIM UP AND THEN LET US FIND SOMEWHERE WE CAN REVIVE HIM AND SORT THIS ALL OUT…”

When one of the guards motioned towards the corpse and then the Doctor, Octavia answered with her booming voice filled with command.

“SOME PONY WILL HAVE TO RETURN LATER FOR… …THE BODY… AS FOR YOU…”

The mare turned to the Doctor who tried to say something but was immediately drowned out as she closed the gap and almost nose to nose gave him in no uncertain terms her next words.

“YOU WILL ACCOMPANY US AND UNDO WHAT EVER YOU DID TO ME! NOT TO MENTION EXPLAIN HOW YOU DROVE OFF THAT… THING…”

As the guards retrieved the fallen stallion Octavia began to head in the general direction she believed the stage to be with them in tow, the Doctor shrugged as he followed them muttering only to himself about what had just occurred…

Eventually it seemed clear that Octavia had lost her bearings during the rush as the group turned yet another corner into yet another familiar looking corridor.

“WHAT THE IN THE NAME OF THE SUN…”

Octavia exclaimed loudly as she stomped a hoof on the floor the guards looking equally lost as the older stallion draped between the pair groaned softly stirring slightly.

One of the guards caught Octavia’s attention and motioned at the now reviving stallion, realizing they were well and truly lost Octavia cast her eyes up and down the corridor finally deciding to open one of the doors that dotted the walls on every corridor they had traveled.

The first was a store room filled to the rafters with boxes the next a bare and empty room with no furnishings, after opening several such doors leading to equally sparse options Octavia finally found what looked like dressing room of sorts with lamps that were fixed to the walls and strangest of all were already lit…

Beckoning the rest to follow her in Octavia pointed the guards to the other end of the room where a small sofa sat against the wall, a large vanity table and dresser adorned the left wall and the right had a small bed next to a large double wardrobe.

The Doctor calmly sat on the end of the bed as the guards lightly placed the stallion down on the sofa and proceeded to sit on their haunches as Octavia closed the door and made her way to the sofa.

As she reached it however a loud scraping sound came from outside in the hallway, at first it sounded far away as if the other end of the corridor but as it grew closer the doctor frantically waved his hooves to the others to remain silent.

Catching on the guards stayed quiet but after cocking her head and giving a questioning look at the Doctor the still deaf Octavia eventually grasped his meaning, confused and frightened watched the door oblivious to the horrifying sound coming from outside.

Even the Doctor was alarmed by the sound and together the four were lost in their own fears as the sound reached level with the door, the two guards and Octavia were visibly shaking as a shadow appeared under the door…