Part of the Wibblyverse Continuity.
Part eleven of Doctor Whooves: Friendship is Wibbly Series 1
Previous Story: The Legion of Bronze
Next Story: Ruler of Everything
Sweetie Belle is the last Crusader without a mark. Feeling abandoned and lonely, she asks the Doctor to take her to the Crystal Empire, where her parents are vacationing. However, a glitch in the TARDIS means they arrive a little early; specifically, right at the end of Sombra's reign. However, there may be more to this empire than meets the eye. The king is a puppet, and the walls themselves are full of negative energy. The travelers find themselves in a fight for their very minds against the empire itself.
Violence tag for armed guards, references to torture, and open rebellion.
Also warning for mind control, detailed descriptions of despair, unsettling metaphors, and taking a chisel to the fourth wall once or twice.
Delicious, but very high in sodium and bad fats.
I see Discord studied prestidigitation at Wossamotta U.
And in saying that, he has guaranteed that they will not have it wrapped up by then.
Oh! Or we're actually coming in at the end of the story. Hadn't considered that. Silly of me, given this universe.
Note that practicing doesn't guarantee improvement.
Well, the Master Sword, actually.
This should be good. Looking forward to seeing what unfolds.
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Fair point. I think Shining would have disciplined her a little more firmly if it wasn't for the dark magic secret passage evil king stuff getting in the way, but I confess, I just didn't think of it that way.
Grace and poise are good, but attitude and plain ol' cuteness work wonders as well.
Ah, the classic Scrooge Denial. Though at first I thought the Doctor was criticizing the Valeyard for his choice in aliases. Doesn't exactly scream "the Oncoming Storm let loose," does it?
Yeah, that'd be... bad. Very bad. As is the whole "enormous negative emotional refractor" thing in general. This will certainly be interesting...
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He doesn't look all that impressive either
internationalhero.co.uk/v/valeyard1.jpg
He's less of the Oncoming Storm and more the cold, calculating, and cruel type, a glacier rather than a tempest.
Well, that's not omnious.
I like to call that "necrosenility." Getting disembodied and sealed in ice for a millennium doesn't do your mind any favors.
Insidious setup for prying anything Sombra wants out of visitors. It won't be easy keeping a constant eye on one's own emotional state while also being aware of external threats. At least Jade's eager for an exposition audience. Let's see how she portrays the king's rise.
"An illness that had absolutely nothing to do with poison in any way, shape, or form."
Interesting touch with the reddening rubies...
Heh. Very little whiles, those.
Oh. Well. This is certainly an unexpected turn. I have a hunch about the history here, but I'll wait to get more information.
A common message when discussing the Empire.
Very interesting development here. Definitely looking forward to more.
More right than she knows...
Fascinating stuff on all fronts, from seeds of future trouble to what's already laid significant early groundwork. I don't know what Sombra has planned, but he understands the real foe better than anyone else. Hopefully he's proven able to share some of that knowledge.
Huh. Catharsis therapy. Sort of like primal scream, but with a wider variety of emotions. And something positive managed to come out of it and feed back into the crystal. Most fascinating...
Well, that's ominous.
There's a dangerous line of thinking. "I don't know what this means. I'll just point one end at my enemies and hope it hurts them more than me." Though even that implies more willingness to acknowledge one's own vulnerability than the monologuer likely possesses.
And... yeah, the thing about your shadow archetype is that he really knows how to hit you where it hurts. There are many battles in many wars going concurrently here. I can only imagine what a mess the collision will make.
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I keep wanting to reply to your comments, but I hardly know what to say that won't give away the game. Suffice to say, they've brought me no shortage of delight and the occasional maniacal chuckle, so thank you for that!
Time Lords. Don't even try to figure out all the features they have under the biological hood. I doubt even they know all of them.
Tyrants work so hard to snuff out hope because they know it's one of the strongest weapons against them.
It was a hobbit hole, and that meant comfort.
Wait, sorry, got my notes mixed up.
I was wondering about the lack of quotation marks. Lovely touch.
Which is a lot more dramatic on a world full of magical creatures than, say, the Discworld, where most folks outside of the Unseen University campus can't really appreciate the effect.
The sad thing is that he means it.
With the spotlight on the Doctor, Sweetie's free to muck about backstage. Definitely looking forward to seeing what both do, especially now that the Doctor's noticed the cleansed crystal.
Seriously. There was a comic where the third Doctor taught himself to fly, and other Time Lords have been shown doing it or referring to it throughout the series, but it just never comes up in plots.
Thanks!
Oh, I just realized that I'm all caught up now and will have to wait for the rest of it.
Ah. Crystal through and through. It's just that what's wearing who has turned on its head for more than just the king.
That was two stories ago! Someone's been preoccupied.
And yeah, a visit from the dream warden is going to eat up a lot of negative charge. That plus Sweetie's investigations should bear some very interesting fruit.
Fantastic self-demonstrating description of the execution square.
Given Gallifreyan anatomy, that's far from guaranteed.
He seems like a good fella.
Ohhhh dear. Rage bombs everywhere, and the splash damage is farther than anyone could have guessed. This will be messy indeed. But hey, at least it wasn't as King Sombra planned it.
And one more for Jenny and the wimp.
Oh dear. Happy fun boot time is over. Now we have a few gods gone mad to worry about. Forget burning juice, Sweetie may have managed to melt an empire...
As we've seen earlier in this series.
And we've definitely hit the climax. The question is, can Sweetie inspire positive emotions in Sombra of all ponies? Worn down as his soul is... but on the other hand, they're in the crystal-less corridors. This should be very interesting indeed. (And that's saying nothing of the damage being done to Luna.
)
I have several questions.
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Yeah, they're going to have to act fast or the Empire will burst like an infected boil full of bad vibes. That won't end well for anyone who happens to be on this planet, and that apparently includes the narration. (Obviously, they manage it, but the question is how.)
I can hardly blame Eleven for being impatient, but that's just rude.
Hmm. On the one hand, bringing in Sombra made have made the crystal work harder to find a common denominator of fear. On the other... Well, him getting brainjacked again is the last thing they need.
And that "infected boil" comment from the previous chapter is looking ever more frighteningly accurate...
Really not sure how this is going to shake out. Definitely looking forward to the next installment.
Can't say I was expecting to read that first phrase today. Or, you know, ever.
Ah. Sombra channeling Lapis Lazuli. Very nice.
Yeah, G1 got nasty at times.
Hey now. Remember who's writing those absolute walnuts.
This is going to come down to the wire. I can't wait to see how they pull it out.
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I never claimed to be any smarter.
I'll admit that I'm not too familiar with the character (Steven Universe, right?) but she seems pretty neat. I'll take your word for it.
Well, there's a story for another day...
Oh boy. Journey to the center of the zeitgeist. If this isn't Sweetie's time to shine, I don't know what is.
"Also jumping off of buildings into haycarts."
"The philosopher? What did he do to deserve that kind of treatment?"
Ah. A twist foreshadowed by the show, but one can never be entirely certain what does or doesn't apply to the Wibblyverse.
Button nodded at this faultless logic. "Three hits brings down the boss. Unless this is a Souls-like."
"Bite your tongue."
This is going to be very interesting. Sweetie's affirmed herself as a philosophical nemesis of the entity in charge... but said entity still has a very powerful piece under its thrall. Gallifreyan doldrums are as overblown as every other part of their psyche. Looking forward to the next confrontation. It will likely be a lot more epic than just about anyone involved expects.
If Luna were in her right mind, I'm sure she'd give a low but passing grade. Poor technique, but showing potential.
Oh, right, that nasty. I somehow hadn't made the connection until now.
Well, this is obligatory:
media.giphy.com/media/a9xhxAxaqOfQs/source.gif
The thing about entities of obsessive, oppressive order is that it's so easy to take them by surprise when things don't go exactly according to their plans. This one has some backups, yes, but those rogue elements are initiating quite the reaction. Still, Luna's battle frenzy and simmering resentment make for quite the potent force...
Eagerly looking forward to more.
Ah, the classic Snoke blunder. By which I mean failing to specify a target, not introducing a big bad without any context and then unceremoniously killing him off. After all, this one has context and isn't dead yet!
Order cannot comprehend chaos. Especially not emotional chaos, not when said order's end goal is the extinction of all life.
Beautiful moment for Sweetie Belle, and another for all our heroes, Sombra included. Now all that's left is the clean-up... and planting the recorder and that note in the secret chamber that started all this.
I'm sure that was a story in and of itself.
Well now...
Because that's not at all suspicious.
In any case, a fantastic twist on the usual tale of the Empire's fall. Thank you for it. Here's to the next installment. It's sure to be a doozy.
You know, now you've just reminded me of the time it was claimed that Earth is the only planet with an abundant supply of quartz, and it's considably rarer everywhere else. Although, to be fair, that same serial had the Doctor implying that diamonds would always be valuable, so I'm just going to assume that Douglas Adams wasn't up on his mineralogy.
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To be entirely fair, considering the Doctor was, at the time, running around wearing... well, the Sixth Doctor's outift, the cold colorless look works rather well as contrast.
Something about the Doctor being jealous of his third incarnation's ability to look good in a cape is just perfect to me. (He's not wrong though)
Looks like the Valeyard is getting serious. That is, if it is the Valeyard. Something about this still feels off to me... (also, I can't help but wonder if "get Grandfathered" is a reference to Grandfather Paradox, founder of the Faction Paradox and so called "Ghost of Christmas Cancelled")
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Third Doctor: Learns how to fly
Fourth Doctor: Fell to his death
And people wonder why Doctor Who fans gave up on the concept of continuity. Pretty much every single aspect of the franchise will have at least one other thing that contradicts it or otherwise creates some kind of continuty error. And that's not even counting the things that are confusing on purpose. (I dare anyone to show me another series who did a plotline about a war without ever actually saying who one of the sides were)
Does he? The Eleventh Doctor was the end of his cycle, and I was under the impression that Ten V2 did regenerate into Pony Ten. Unless that didn't cost one, but in that case how did he escape from the deadly radiation?
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Er... wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey... hoof-wavy... stuff.
Idk, I think my vague idea was that all the radiation got shunted into the Smith regeneration and left this half of the timeline free to spin off.
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Yeah, I gave up on continuity around the time I realized that the first three Doctors visited Atlantis three times, all of them contradicting one another utterly. Now I just look for pieces of story that appeal to my magpie brain.
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That really is the only way to go. I'm sure it's possible to give Doctor Who a definitive continuity, by purging contradictory aspects until everything makes sense, but that isn't nearly as fun to pull something crazy and obscure out and say things like "Hey, did you know the Doctor once attended an auction for his own corpse?", and also it would eliminate half of all Doctor Who media. At least.
There's a sort of beautiful irony in Eleven complaining about Ten's constant cheating of death, considering the BS he's pulled. Or... will pull? Would have pulled? Simultaneously is pulling? You know what I mean.
Props on you for finding an organic way to intergrate the Tennant Era's greatest running joke.
Also, I'm gonna be honest, I'm still not entirely convinced that it's actually the Valeyard. Things don't seem to entirely match up, unless this is based on his audio drama appearances or something. Either way, whatever this thing is, it's bad news.
I know a timeskip was implied, but a couple of years since Scoots got her mark? That's enough time for a whole season of adventures!
And this chapter's special guest character, the Doctor's Ego, was played by: The Doctor's Ego
That was supposed to be "Blackbird" right? IF not, apologies, I was listening to "Fall Of An Empire" while reading this and couldn't hear a melody in my head through it.
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Nope, it's Mull of Kintyre.
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See, this is why I'll never play Name That Tune. Still, thanks for that.
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Technically speaking there is only one canonical source in Doctor Who. Anne it isn't even the Tv Series.
Strictly speaking the only source ever defined as 'Canon' by the BBC, are the adventure games.r
Personally I view anything on the Tv as Canon. Big Finish as secondary Canon, and the rest as "Not really Canon but still fun." With the 8th Doctor Books all having been overwritten by the Time War.
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In a way
It really is The Sword of Time.