Doctor Who and the Voice of the Shadow

by spartiecat

Chapter 2

Twilight Sparkle frantically searched her shelves. She had scheduled herself to complete her research before she went to visit Rarity, but she was well behind schedule.

“Where is it, Spike?” she called out. Twilight was doing some research for on the behaviour of small animals when they are lost or scared. Fluttershy was having trouble with a stoat that refused to leave the Everfree Forest, and asked Twilight for help on the subject.

Spike dug through stacks of books that had yet to be reshelved. He knew he had seen the library’s copy of ‘Ways of the Wayward Woodland’ recently, but he could not place it. He sat down on a book, as he pondered where he would have seen it.

“Spike," Twilight said, with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. “What’s that you’re sitting on?” He looked down, and blushed as he saw the book he’d been searching for.

“Oh," he laughed nervously. “I told you it was in the unshelved section." Twilight took the book and was about to launch into a lecture about the importance of observation, when she looked at the time.

“I have to hurry up or else I’ll be behind schedule all day!” She dashed to her desk to continue her work. Twilight frantically wrote, trying to make up for lost time.

As Twilight sifted through her stacks of research material, trying to finalize her paper on time, Spike began tidying the heap that had been made of the reshelving stacks.

He had lost track of time while organizing the books. Spike was lost in a daydream of what he would do if he were the boss. He smiled to himself as he resolved that he would wear a top hat at all times, but wondered if wearing a monacle would be too much.

“Finished!” Twilight called out, snapping Spike out of his daydreams of grandeur. “Come on Spike, or we’re going to be late." Twilight magically tugged at Spike’s tail, prompting the dragon to hurry.

Spike quickly grabbed a quill and Twilight’s scroll schedule and chased after her as she head out the door.

She was looking forward to enjoying the walk to Rarity’s. The sun warmed her face as she looked at the clear, nearly cloudless sky. The Pegasi had just wrapped up a few days of non-stop drizzle, and a lot of ponies were sure to be enjoying the day in town.

Twilight and Spike were on their way to Rarity’s boutique. Rarity wanted the pair to try on some new matching outfits she had designed especially for them.

Spike, as the servile party in this arrangement, was torn by the dilemma. On the one hand, he was enthusiastic to be in the company of Rarity. On the other hand, he did not appreciate the notion that Rarity thought of him as little more than Twilight’s accessory. But dutifully, he kept up with Twilight as they made their way to their appointment.

Spike held a scroll and quill at the ready, jogging to keep up with the purple unicorn. “Where to after we’re done at Rarity’s?” he asked, carefully hiding his annoyance.

“Well” Twilight said, head turning slightly behind to face her apprentice. “I thought we-”

Her thought was interrupted by a strong and sudden wind that seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. A strong gust of wind knocked the two of them down. Twilight raised a hoof to shield her eyes, and Spike tumbled backwards into a bush, tightly clutching his parchment A strange mechanical wheezing noise began to surround them.

From nowhere, a blue box began to appear right in front of them. It was transparent at first and gradually became more solid. When the box had become completely whole, the wheezing stopped with a thud. The box was tall, with a flashing light on top. Twilight sat in the grass, in front of this contraption. She peered from behind her outstretched hoof as a door on this box flew open.

A creature stepped out of the machine. He walked on two legs, looked vaguely ape-like, and was dressed in a very odd way. His face was saggy. He had unkempt black hair, baggy checkered trousers, a light blue shirt, and a crooked bow tie. He adjusted a large black frock coat that, even Twilight with her limited fashion sense could tell, was at least two sizes two large for him.

Twilight watched the creature carefully. She was not sure what to make of it. His front legs hung from his shoulders like a bag would hang from a hook. She was too frightened to move, so she just sat in the grass with one hoof outstretched, shielding her eyes.

Twilight knew that some sort of powerful magic must have been involved in order to create an object of that size. It walked a circle around the box, and stopped back at its door. It looked up at the sky, down on the ground, and then called into the box’s open door. “Zoe! Jamie!” the strange creature called into the box, “It’s perfectly alright here."

Another similar creature then stepped out of the box. The second one is also two-legged, and a little bit shorter than the first. She had slighter features, and a much smaller nose. She was much younger, and dressed in a dramatically different manner. She had a short dress, which stopped just above the mid of her thigh. It was white except for a broad orange stripe running horizontal across the center. The dress had a high collar and short sleeves. A larger young creature followed closely behind. He was the tallest of the three. He had a mop of dark hair, similar to the first one, but it was kept much neater. He wore a gray turtleneck and a knee length red, green, and black plaid kilt. He was broad shouldered and looked strong, but had a face that seemed too young to be genuinely intimidating.

The large one shut the door to the box behind him. He turned and said to the older one “After th’ landing ya gave us, there’s no telling where we’re at now." He spoke with rolling Rs in a heavy Scottish accent. Twilight was not sure what exactly he said.

The eldest creature turned to the two younger ones, and had a look of pride on his face. “Green grass, yellow sun," he said, gesturing to the sky and the ground. He jumped up and down. “Gravity appears to be Earth normal. I’m fairly certain we are on Earth." He clasped his hands and nodded to himself, smiling at his own conclusion.

“Doctor?” the young female one said in a calm but inquisitive tone. She gestured a hand toward Twilight and Spike, who were still watching in stunned silence.

“Oh!” exclaimed the old one. He jumped in surprise, as he noticed his audience for the first time. “Then again,” he muttered, grinning sheepishly at the other two, “maybe this isn’t Earth after all."

He straightened his coat, took a deep breath, put on his broadest and friendliest smile and immediately and briskly walked up to Twilight. He reached out grabbed her outstretched hoof with both hands, and shook it vigorously.

“Good day” he said as he dropped Twilight’s hoof and simultaneously grabbed Spike’s claw. “I’m The Doctor, and these are my companions, Zoe and Jamie." He let go of Spike’s claw, took a step back and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He rocked on his feet, excitedly and expectantly waiting for a response.

Twilight and Spike stared at him in confused silence. They were still trying to interpret what had just happened. A few moments of awkward silence pass. The Doctor leaned forward, hoping to elicit a response “and who might you be, then?”

The two remained silent. Jamie walked over to The Doctor, and peered over at Spike and Twilight. “Maybe they ne’y can talk. They surely dinna look like anything we seen before. They might jus‘ be wee beasties”

“Nonsense!” The Doctor exclaimed with a chuckle as he turned around to address Jamie. “Intelligent life comes in all sorts of forms in the Universe.”

Zoe laughed “That’s what you said when you tried to get directions from a vacuum cleaner." The Doctor furrowed his brow and adjusted his coat, “Never you mind that” he said gruffly.

“Tw-Twilight Sparkle” responded the pony in a shivering voice that she tried to force into a confident tone.
She was curious as to what these creatures were, and what they were looking for in Equestria. ‘They seem friendly enough’, she thought. The three creatures did not seem to be all that threatening, ‘but then again’, Twilight thought ‘neither were the parasprites’.

Twilight knew she had to be careful, but her innate curiosity was starting to overcome her apprehension and confusion. Zoe and Jamie look surprised as she spoke. The Doctor smiled and turned back to Twilight.

“Excellent! Glad to see you are unharmed. Sorry by our little entrance there. You see our navigational matrix was on the blink. No matter then, always nice to relax for a spell. Now who’s your friend there?”

The Doctor turned his attention to Spike, who was still sitting in stunned silence. “Spike” responded Twilight. She picked up the dragon and set him on his feet. She strained to keep a pleasant grin on her face. She did not want her new guests to think that she thought they were dangerous, just in case she was right.

The dragon’smouth hung open in surprise, and he clutched the parchment tighter as the odd creatures‘ attention focused on him.

“Spike, this is… The Doctor did you say?” As Twilight turned to Spike, she spotted at the parchment still in Spike’s clutches. “Oh no! Rarity! I’m going to be late!”

She grabbed Spike by the arm with her mouth and with a quick flick of the neck tossed him onto her back before turning her attention back to the mysterious trio. Her suspicions of them was quickly forgotten. She was about to be tardy for an appointment, and that would ruin her entire schedule for the day. That, in her mind, could not stand.

“I have to go meet with a friend right now. Would you like to come along? I’d love to learn more about
what you are, and how you and your friends got here”

“Splendid idea!” exclaimed The Doctor, clapping his hands together. “Come along you two. We’re off to find out where we are.” The Doctor immediately set off, beside Twilight Sparkle. The two began talking as they made their way through the meadow.

Zoe and Jamie looked at each other knowingly. They had become accustomed to The Doctor entertaining himself with the task of trying to figure out where he had landed them. The five set out down the road toward Rarity’s Boutique.

Comments

[that decepticon pony]

I don't know why I didn't read this yesterday; it's super cute and makes me want to finally check out the second doctor.

I eagerly await the next chapter.

[SilverShield73]

As a huge Patrick Troughton Doctor Who fan, you portrayed him marvelously, kudos!