Last of the Time Chargers
Part 24
Last of the Time Chargers
The Doctor watched impassively as Borusa's horn glowed brighter. Just before the alicorn could release his spell, Derpy, flying at full speed, rammed into his face, causing the spell to disperse and the Doctor to drop. Borusa grabbed instead the aggravating pegasus and pulled her to him. "Stop that!" he shouted in her face. "That's the third time you've bucked me in the face, despite knowledge of how dangerous I am. What is wrong with you!?"
"Nuthin'," Derpy said with a smile, before planting a quick kiss on the end of his snout, causing him to drop her in confusion.
The Doctor laughed even as he charged his foe. "That's right," he crowed as he delivered a vicious buck to Borusa's ribcage. "And don't you dare let anyone tell you otherwise."
With an inarticulate howl of anger, Borusa turned to the Doctor, his horn lighting up again, but Derpy pegged him in the back of the head, dispersing the spell again. As he turned his attention to the wildly flying irritation, he received a kick to the flank, this time courtesy of the Master, who had cottoned on to the other two's simple but effective battle strategy--the idea being to keep Borusa's attention splintered. After all, even the best spell casters needed a certain amount of concentration to work their magic. And Borusa was hardly the universe's best spell caster.
"So what's the plan here?" the Master asked as he delivered yet another buck to Borusa's backside. "Are we just going to beat him unconscious? Hardly seems fitting for stallions of our caliber."
The Doctor landed another buck to Borusa's side, which did succeed in causing the larger pony to stumble, but only barely, and the force of it sent a jolt from this back legs down to his forelegs. "Probably not possible in any event," the Doctor answered. "But it should keep us alive long enough for me to form a plan."
"Oh, well, that's just wonderful then, isn't it?" the Master groused. "I'm so glad I chose your side in all this."
Derpy, who at the moment was riding atop Borusa's shoulders and had her hooves clapped over his eyes, snapped, "If you've got any better ideas we'd love to hear 'em!"
"You know, I've changed my mind," the Master groused. "I've decided I don't much like you." Derpy simply stuck her tongue out at him in response.
"That. Is. ENOUGH!" Borusa shouted as he slashed the air with his wings, scattering the Doctor and the Master. In that brief moment of respite, he magically pried Derpy off his back and, after a brief contemptuous glare, threw her hard into a far wall, where she crumpled to the ground.
"Derpy!" the Doctor cried as he almost made a dash for her.
"Distracted," Borusa muttered, and the Doctor barely saw the flash of light out of the corner of his eye before being blasted by a searing bolt of unicorn magic.
The Doctor cried out in a rather new kind of pain as the blast sent him flying. He bounced off the ground once before skidding to a stop, smoke rising from his trench coat. He groaned and tried to stand, but it was as though every nerve in his body was agitated, making it a futile gesture. He really did hate magic some days.
The Doctor barely heard the "look out!' before being violently slammed into again, this time physically. As he slid along the floor again, the Doctor could only watch in horror as his old friend-slash-enemy the Master was gored by a several hoof long unicorn horn in his place.
"Tch," Borusa huffed as he tossed the limp figure in the Doctor's direction. "That was most unpleasant."
The Doctor, still not recovered from the attack, crawled the few hooves separating him from his old foe. The Master was still alive, but was breathing shallowly, a mask of pain clouding his features. "Why did you do that?" the Doctor asked.
The Master opened one eye to look at his old enemy's concerned face. "Why indeed?" he grunted through clenched teeth. "Didn't think. Just did." He coughed blood here, and when he opened his eye again, he saw tears pooling in the Doctor's.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" the Doctor asked desperately. "Regenerate!"
The Master gave a brief chuckle, that devolved into another painful cough. "Trying," he managed. "Not working." He turned his head a little so he could look at the Doctor with both eyes, a small smile playing on his lips. "My best enemy..." he muttered, as the Doctor watched his eyes go dull. With one last shuddering breath, the Master was gone.
"You blocked his regeneration," the Doctor said simply to Borusa, who was wiping the blood off his horn with a hoofkerchief.
"Of course," Borusa responded, equally simply.
The Doctor didn't ask how. That would have simply insulted both their intelligences. There were ways, and this was a Dalek ship taken from the midst of the Time War, after all. Instead he asked. "And what of not wishing to kill fellow Time Chargers?"
"I honestly did not wish to, and I would still rather not, but I'm no fool. I knew the odds of you two continuing to oppose me, so I took necessary precautions." Here, Borusa saw the Doctor's tear streaked glare. "Oh. You're actually angry, aren't you?" Borusa sighed. "I honestly don't understand the two of you. One minute you're trying to tear each others' hearts out--literally in his case, at times--the next... Have you forgotten the death and destruction he's willingly caused over the centuries? During this very 'adventure,' even?"
"No. I haven't," the Doctor responded, that ever-so-dangerous calm entering into his voice, even as he straightened himself up to a proper sitting position and slid his sonic screwdriver into his hoof from within his sleeve. "And you're right. I am angry. Livid, even." He cast a glance over to Derpy, who had stumbled to her hooves, spread her wings, and gave him a nod. "Funny thing about anger. Sometimes it can blind you, cause you to make mistakes. Other times? It makes everything very, very clear."
His piece said, the Doctor pointed his screwdriver upwards and, a brief buzz later, a panel popped open in the ceiling, and a gray blur snapped him up and disappeared into the opening. Borusa laughed. "After all that bluster, and you're running and hiding?" he mocked.
"Didn't you know?" the Doctor's voice rang out from seemingly all directions at once. "Some of the best predators in the universe are the ones that hide and wait."
"Oh, so I'm your prey then, am I?" Borusa asked with a smirk.
"Something like that," the Doctor responded. "Best part is, I'm going to defeat you the same way as I did last time."
Here Borusa laughed. "Last time? You didn't defeat me last time. I had you beaten, all five of you. The only thing that defeated me was that Rasstallion lied about his prize."
This time it was the Doctor's turn to laugh. "Is that really how you remember it? D'you really think I wouldn't have been able to beat you myself? As you say, there were five of me at the time, three of whom had already beaten Omega himself. I had simply deduced the true meaning behind Rasstallion's little riddle, and, since you wanted it so badly, I decided to let you destroy yourself."
Borusa's expression was one of wry amusement. "Even if I were to believe that version of events, what is there for me to 'destroy myself' on this time?"
"Well, for one thing," the Doctor's voice responded, amusement apparent its tone, "don't you think it's strange that Discord has been so... quiet?"
"Wait, what?"
"Oh, surely you must know. Discord's got a gob that makes me look silent in comparison. Given the oh-so-interesting climactic battle taking place before his very eyes, don't you find it odd that he hasn't been keeping a running commentary going of some sort? Just saying."
Borusa paled as he turned to look at the field where he kept the Chaos Bringer. It was empty. "No," he muttered before rushing to the control console. He was a moment away from shutting the field down before he stopped himself. Rushing into this could have disastrous consequences, after all. Better to take some readings first and...
"Thanks for showing me the right console. Saved me some time."
Borusa turned to see the Doctor standing behind him, a grim purpose in his expression, his sonic pointed in his direction, the emitter bright and blinking. "No!" Borusa cried even as the console began to smoke, and the field turned off. Instantly Borusa was caught up in a raging windstorm of magic. He cried out in surprise and pain as a lion's paw closed around his throat. Borusa could only watch in horror as Discord himself faded into view before him. Borusa's eyes widened even further. The creature who had him in his grip was not the jovial, self centered trickster he'd had imprisoned for all these weeks. He was instead the malevolent creature that had caused pain and despair for generations of his world's local populous. Discord's lip curled upward as his mismatched eyes met with Borusa's own terrified ones. His voice was low and deep and threatening as he spoke but one word.
"Surprise."
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To quote Discord:
"Game on."
i had to re-read the last part because it was that awesome. Go Doctor!
edit: i suppose go discord too, but hey, this scene fits Dr Who more than Fim
3048955
Actually, the Cybermen predate the Borg by some time. They even had a similar catch phrase before the Borg came along and kinda stole it.
I've been following this one since before I had an account on this site. Would you believe I never favorited it?
And you've been UPDATING!
What is the back-story behind this Doctor?
3049241
Different interpretation. He also has a fob watch cutie mark.
3049132
Simply put, he's the Doctor of the Ponyverse. His back story is something like 95% the same as the canon Doctor's, making certain allowances for the plain and simple fact that Equestria and the planet it's on is not Earth. It diverges here and there--he is a long time friend of Princess Celestia, for example--but the classic series events happened more-or-less the same, complete with pony companions who stand in for the canon ones (Wordsmith being Sarah Jane, for example). The one real big diversion is the story of nine and ten, he met Derpy instead of Rose (and Derpy is NOT actually Rose. She's just Derpy). The adventures Derpy and the Doctor have shared are rough analogues to the ones the 9th and 10th had with Rose, Martha, and even Donna Noble, but they obviously don't quite match up. There's no blatantly romantic relationship here, though Derpy is quite obviously special to the Doctor, even as companions are concerned, as he's (rather temporarily) given up his nomadic ways so he can travel with her while she still maintains her life in Ponyville. Somewhere along the line, he will regenerate into 11 who will synch back up more or less, with canon, but I'll not really delve too much into that.
3049306 Cool. Wait, so does this mean Celestia is the MLP version of Madame Pompadour?
...I had totally forgotten about Discord. Good job with that! (Although I must say I would have enjoyed his "commentary".)
3050596
More or less. With just a touch of River Song thrown in. Details can be found over here.
Have to say I really love your take on the Whooves canon. Definitely a bit out of the usual Doctor-turned-pony, and with some amazing callbacks to the classic Who. I just found your "Of Princesses and Time Chargers" story a couple of hours ago, read through that, and then through this one. Really very enjoyable stuff. You've got a great feel for the Who-verse, and the ponyfied story feels very true to both Whoverse and MLP:FIM. And I have to give great props for not just re-writing Who episodes with ponies, you started with the same broad strokes, but the story is very much its own thing. If I had to pick a nit, while I love the Derpy you've got here, the casual physical violence of her hitting the Doctor seems just a tad too slap-stick. Or just off, I suppose, if you consider reversing the roles (or genders) for a moment.
Looking forward to more!
3063757
Thanks for the good comment! And I'm glad you're enjoying my work.
As for your nitpick, I will admit to falling into that same double standard a lot of fiction writers fall into, but don't apologize too much for it--and not just because I find the image of Derpy smacking the Doctor upside the head funny (which I do). Rather... have you ever seen NCIS? If you have, you should be familiar with the "Gibbs slap," where the leader of the team would smack the other members upside the head to let them know they've messed up or get them focused back on task, and, as time's gone on, has become a (n admittedly warped) show of affection. That's what I see this as. Smacking the Doctor upside the head has become shorthand for "Language, Doctor" and "You're rambling get on with it." But make no mistake. The Doctor lets Derpy and Derpy alone get away with it. If anypony else (and I do mean ANY pony) were to try it, he'd grab their hoof before contact and make it very clear they are not to try that again. It's just this thing between the two of them.
3065803
Hah, NCIS is a bit of a guilty pleasure... I am a sucker for characters I like interacting, and can forgive a fair bit so long as those interactions themselves entertain me. Even if the show tends to go the Computers are Magic route all too often. I definitely get what you're using it as, and don't get me wrong, it is amusing.
Actually likening it to a Gibbs slap works quite well, but they do use that pretty sparingly, so it might be the frequency that's standing out to me as much as anything else. Still as I said, very enjoyable, and I do like your take on Derpy. Sure she's a fuzzy grey force of unintended destruction at times, but there's a decent head behind those mismatched eyes, and she can focus if the situation calls for it.
3049003 They didn't steal it; they assimilated it.
I'm looking at the sub- plot and isee bring on the drums. THE MASTER!!
right before discord said surprise i imagined an evil grin and malicious laughter
http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/doakes-surprise-mutha.jpg
Oh Dissy, dat's hawt bby >w>
Will the Master return one day? I mean he usually does stay dead too long