Doctor Whooves and the Sea of Dreams
"No! Stop! You can't give it what it wants!" The Doctor called out. He was in a room dimly lit by flickering torches on the walls. The preserved wrapped bodies of ponies could be seen in slots in the walls. The air had an old murky aura about it. In the middle of the room was some kind of alter with a unicorn skull on top of a pile of pony bones, including the bones of a pegasus. This was some kind of ancient burial site similar to a catacomb but the architecture was like nothing that could be found in Equestria. Wherever this was it was in a far away place and time.
The Doctor sprinted out to a pair of ponies on the other side of the room, leaving his companion and TARDIS behind. The other pair of ponies where dressed in a black armor that was a combination of leather and ceramic plates. They both had some kind of tank on their sides and a strange looking device wrapping the base of their hooves. Their faces where covered by what appeared to be a glass gas mask. A colt and a filly, both looked like earth ponies, but the colt had the shattered remains of what was once a horn. They both looked very surprised to see another pony down here.
"Who are you!?" The former unicorn shouted at The Doctor, taking a defensive stance. He hovered his hoof over what The Doctor presumed to be a weapon holstered on his back.
"That doesn't matter. I know you have something that could doom your world if you give it to that thing," The Doctor said, pointing a hoof at the skull on the altar.
"What, you mean this?" The former unicorn reached into his saddlebag with a hoof. Metallic talons protracted from the device around his wrist which he used as a hand to pull out another device from his saddlebag. It was some kind of metallic cone that was embedded with exposed circuitry. It looked like it was meant to be placed over a unicorn's horn but it was too big for the average unicorn.
"Yes that!" The Doctor exclaimed and snatched the device from the other pony's grasp.
"Hey! You know what we went through to get that?" The filly objected.
"Yes I do actually. I need to get this to the TARDIS before it kills you all," The Doctor said, running back to the TARDIS. As he crossed the alter the eye sockets of the unicorn skull alit with a magical green flame. Both The Doctor and the skull's horn glowed with a grass green aura. The Doctor was violently thrown back into a wall, the impact forcing him to spit out the device from his mouth. He felt an ancient consciousness touch his mind and speak to him using his own inner voice.
You cannot silence the anthem of life 'he who heals the universe' The entity "spoke"
"Ditzy! Run! The TARDIS will protect you!" The Doctor called out to his companion. The impact with the wall had done a lot of damage, possibly dislocated his shoulder. He was desperately trying to get up and limp close enough to the TARDIS himself. The cone-shaped device was wrapped in the green aura slowly levitating off the ground. Once it was at the same height as the alter it shot towards the skull like a bullet and encased the large horn. It was a perfect fit. The device had several piston-shaped parts that pushed inwards and let out a hiss.
The flickering green flames of its eyes where immediately replaced with solid green light that radiated outwards. All the bones of the altar where swept away in a vortex of magical energies now radiating from the skull. The room could be felt shaking with a light tremor as the different bones swirled within the magical vortex and began assembling themselves. The unicorn colt drew his weapon interfacing it with the devices his front hooves. He stood up on his hind legs in an attempt to use it but the light tremors where enough to prevent him from keeping his balance long enough to fire.
The bones where large, very large. Much larger than the size of an average pony. The vortex died out by blasting outwards into a gale which put out all of the torches. All around them every free surface of the room now had vegetation growing. Vines now grew from cracks in the walls and hung from the ceiling like shandelires. From the cracks in the floors grew tall blades of grass and large shrubs grew in the corners of the room. It would have been very dark if not for the figure now posed on top of the altar within a bed of roses. In front of them stood the majestic form of an alicorn skeleton held together by a body of green pure magical energies. Its wings were flared out, magic flowing off of them like hair in the wind.
Suddenly a blur of white light came from the direction of the other two ponies and right at the undead alicorn. The ball of magical energy dispersed against an invisible barrier like a water balloon against a wall. The dispersed magical energy flowed around the invisible barrier and peppered the opposite wall with glowing red impact spots of superheated rock.
"Gloria! Get behind me!" The unicorn shouted at his companion. The undead alicorn turned its attention towards the pony that shot at it. It simply stared at him, it appeared to be exchanging psychic words with him.
The Doctor took this opportunity to inch closer towards the safety of the TARDIS. A moment later the undead alicorn turned its attention back to the Time Lord. He felt its consciousness touch his mind for a second time as it began to "speak."
We offer you a choice 'he who heals.' Leave us be and we will revel in your continuing anthem. Oppose us and we will weep for your once glorious song.
There was no way of deceiving this creature. It was in his mind and there was no trick he could use to beat it. There was no way he would ever allow this corrupted creature run unchecked. He had to stop it no matter the cost.The undead alicorn must have already known this, known what his choice would be even before he did. But it waiting for him to willingly give his answer.
"I choose to oppose." The Doctor said. Physically speaking the words was unnecessary as it had no way of physically receiving the words. But speaking them aloud was a way of confirming the answer to the creature in his mind.
Then we weep for the universe's loss. It answered.
The alicorn's entire body glowed with a blinding radiance. The Doctor looked over to where the two other ponies where and saw that they where gone. Even in the face of his own death he was still more concerned for the lives of smaller creatures than himself. The light got brighter and brighter and The Doctor lifted his hoof to block it from his eyes. The alicorn had conjured a fireball in front of it but it glowed with the heat and intensity of a miniature sun. The vegetation around them rapidly withered and ignited into a blaze.
Forgive us Doctor.
The Doctor could feel the shifting of magic as it flung the miniature sun at him. The heat grew more and more intense as it grew closer. All he could do was scream.
"AHH!" Dr Whooves screamed out. He awoke in his bed, beads of cold sweat matting his forehead. He was taking in quick deep breaths gasping for air. It had all been a dream. But it was more vivid and lucid than a dream had any right to be. It felt more like reliving a memory. An impossible memory that he never had. He saw light filter into his room from under his door and the clopping of hoofsteps outside. The door opened and in walked Rose Tiller concerned for her mentor.
"I heard you screaming." Rose said. "Is it those dreams again?"
"Yes." Dr Whooves answered, his breathing returning to normal. "And it was a bad one."
"Yeah I could tell from the way you screamed." Rose replied.
"They're not always so bad you know. Sometimes I dream the most brilliant things you could ever imagine. But it seems to me these dreams are as much a curse as they are a gift. One can't have the good without the bad it seems. All the bad dreams make the good ones seem all that more wonderful."
"I never should have let that hairless monkey touch you." Rose said growing angry. Not at the alien that visited them but at herself. "Who knows what he did to your head." It had been nearly two months since the visit from The Doctor. Two months since Dr Whooves began having these strange dreams. There was no indication that the dreams would stop anytime soon. If anything they have been getting progressively worse. Not worse like becoming more and more disturbing. Worse as in becoming more and more realistic. As in becoming more and more difficult to distinguish fiction from reality. It was effecting Dr Whooves both mentally and physically and that was what concerned Rose the most. Dr Whooves eventually managed to get back to sleep and the next morning he and Rose had a talk over tea.
"Rose I haven't been entirely honest with you. There's something about me I think you should know." Dr Whooves said while nervously fiddling with the cup of tea.
"What is it?" Rose asked. Her mentor hasn't been himself ever since the visit from The Doctor. He's had a notable change in personality. For better or for worse Dr Whooves was a changed pony. She had no idea what to expect from him, what he'd reveal to her. She was secretly hoping he'd proclaim his love for her. Deep down she truly cared for him and sometimes saw him as more than just a mentor.
"I...I was married once." Dr Whooves admitted. "I even have a daughter...little Dinky should be eight next month. You might have seen me with my ex around Ponyville once in a while. We still go out on our anniversary and on Hearts and Hooves day. It's a way for us to remember the good times we had. Her name's Derpy Hooves." Rose was in absolute shock. He was married? And he has a kid? The name Derpy sounded familiar to her though.
"Derpy? Isn't that the mailmare with the...?"
"Wall-eye," Dr Whooves finished with a single disheartened chuckle. "Yes. Seems like that's all anypony knows her for." Rose felt a little bad about herself now. They spent a moment in silence when a question came to her mind.
"Why are you telling me this?" Please say it's because I love you.
"Because she's always there with me in my dreams." Dr Whooves answered. This was a low blow for Rose. "In every single dream she's there with me as my companion. But in those dreams I always called her Ditzy. Ditzy Doo. I'm not sure what it all means. I need somepony else's perspective if I want any hope of interpreting any of this." Rose felt shot down but at least she had a chance to learn more about a side she never even knew Dr Whooves had.
"Well...maybe deep down you're still in love with her. Maybe that's why you're projecting her into your dreams?" Rose offered.
"Love?" Dr Whooves replied with a slight smile. " You're right, I still love her, but that love is for her being the mother of my daughter. But I'm not in love with her anymore. No I crossed that bridge long ago."
Rose felt bad for her mentor. She imagines it can't be easy talking about this with anypony. She wanted to change the subject before she accidentally reopened an emotional wound. Then a spark of inspiration came to her.
"Hey, you know I have an idea." Rose said. "Derpy is somepony you know that consistently appears in these dreams. Maybe if we find anything else in your life that appears in your dreams then maybe you can get a better grasp on them. Is there anything else you can remember?"
"Well I can think of only one other thing." Dr Whooves answered. "He doesn't show up in all of them but in a few of my dreams Yana was with me. He liked to nest in my mane and would sometimes run off to fetch things for me. As clever as the little guy is I doubt he'd be able to communicate anything useful to us if we asked him anything. But still it wouldn't hurt to pay attention to anything strange around him."
Dr Whooves and Rose headed downstairs into the workshop where Yana made his home. The subject of Derpy and Dr Whooves' love life where now behind them but Rose felt that she'd have to bring it up again with him eventually. They made their way into the basement where all the actual work was done. The pair waked over to a workbench where a little door in the wall could be seen level with the bench. Dr Whooves knocked on the wall above the door four times.
"Good morning Yana." Dr Whooves spoke at the little door. While waiting for the astral mouse to come out his eyes wandered around the workbench and it came to a stop on a silver fob watch engraved with circular geometrical patterns.
"Wait..." He placed his hoof on top of the watch and slid it across the bench and closer to himself. "Now that I think about it...I remember seeing my lucky fob watch in one of my dreams."
"Oh? That's good!" Rose exclaimed. "Maybe it can help make a connection witch them. What exactly happened in the dream you remember seeing it in?"
"Well in the dream I remember at one point focusing all my attention on it and I heard voices whispering out from it. I felt strongly compelled to believe that it was just an unremarkable old watch despite evidence to the contrary staring me right in the face."
Yana opened his door and peeked his head out at Dr Whooves. He saw the doctor's eyes locked on the silver fob watch and was snapped into an alarmed state. He desperately skittered towards the watch in a panic.
"I felt compelled to just put it down but my curious nature eventually won out. I opened it and-hey!" Dr Whooves was interrupted by Yana snatching it in his mouth and dragging it away from him
"Yana stop that! What are you doing?" The astral mouse was attempting to force the watch through his much smaller mouse hole. Dr Whooves put his hoof down on the watch and slid it back to him, dragging Yana along who was still desprately get the watch away from him.
"Yana what's wrong with you? You don't just up snatch things away from ponies like that." Dr Whooves scolded the little astral mouse.
"Hey wait. What happened when you opened it in your dream?" Rose spoke up.
"Forget it." Dr Whooves answered. "It doesn't matter. If it did it would have come to mind earlier."
"You sure?" Rose replied.
"Yes I'm sure. And if you don't mind that's enough dream chasing for now. You know how busy Mondays are for both of us. I have three days worth of orders that I need to get done by tonight. And don't forget that you are behind in your studies, you're here as a student after all."
Rose was disappointed with the sudden killjoy from her mentor but he had a point. They both had a lot on their plates today and neither of them had much time to spare to run around investigating dreams. For now they both had responsibilities to attend to. Everything else could wait for another day.
more A/N: Rest assured that Dr Whooves' relationship with Derpy isn't just an offhand comment like "Leeroy Hoofkins" (or wingkins, w/e)
Doctor Whooves and the Sea of Dreams
A/N I realized that in part 1 the Rose's random romantic interest in The Doctor is actually staying true to the source material (i.e. Amy Pond x 11th Doctor in season 5)
A cold wind blew through the mountains. On a frozen ancient pass a familiar grinding could be heard echoing through the peaks. A small blue box phased into existence and the winds immediately died down in its presence. A moment later a brown stallion emerged with a gray pegasus wearing a scarf.
"Ah smell that crisp mountain air," The Doctor said taking in a deep breath.
"I wanted to see history in the making." His companion said. "What are we doing out here?"
"We're doing just that Ditzy. Seeing history in the making. This is the year 3010 Equestrian Era, exactly one thousand years in your future. Look over there, we can already see them coming."
The Doctor pointed into the distance where some kind of caravan could be seen coming towards them. As they got closer they saw several covered wagons being pulled through the snow being led by a slender unicorn. He saw the pair and waved out to them.
"Hey!" He called out and galloped ahead of the group to meet them. "Hi, I didn't think we'd see anypony past Stalliongrad. It's good to see a friendly face out here. What brings you two out here so far away from civilization if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh, we're um," The Doctor stumbled over his words looking for a clever lie. "We're hermits, that's right. See that blue box behind us? That's our shack. We live in there because...because we're hermits! And that's what hermits do. Live in shacks...in the mountains."
"Here." The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his psychic paper. "See? Here's our license. Says right there, Clockwise and Ditzy registered hermits."
"Huh." The unicorn responded examining the license. "I didn't know they had paperwork for these kinds of things."
"Oh yes," The Doctor said retrieving his psychic paper. "It's a popular tax dodge you know. You need a license for everything nowadays."
"So it would seem." The unicorn responded. By now the rest of the caravan had reached them and was waiting on the unicorn. "Sorry but I really must return to them. I wish you good luck in your hermiting.
"Yes, goodbye then." The Doctor waved at the unicorn waiting for him to get out of earshot. "Ah that was fun. See that pony at the very back of the caravan? That's the legendary Glorious Dawn. In the summer of 3010 Professor Rockhoof funded an expedition into the forgotten homeland that ponies lived in before founding Equestria. The expedition was never heard from again but several years later the journal of one of the expedition members somehow found its way back into Equestria. It was filled with tales of marvelous adventures and horrors beyond the scope of imagination. The Dawn family decided to publish the journal as a novel and it eventually became the greatest and single most influential work of fiction in Equestria's history."
"Fiction?" Ditzy asked. "But that pony's real. Is any of the stuff in her journal true?"
"Well of course it was all true but nopony in Equestria could accept it as such. Fact is stranger than fiction you know. Hey you want to go see some of her adventures first hoof?"
"Yeah!" Ditzy exclaimed. "Sounds like fun!"
"Allons-y then," The Doctor said as he ran towards the TARDIS in a gallop. Ditzy followed behind trying to keep up with this sudden maneuver. In the TARDIS he snatched his copy of "The Journal of Glorious Dawn" which he kept in the glove compartment in case of emergencies. He found a slot in the TARDIS' control console to stick the book into and honked a horn next to it to begin some kind of scanning process.
"There we go." The Doctor said. "The TARDIS should should be able to calculate the point in time with the most relevance between us and that book." They then heard a ding and the sound of the the book popping out like toast from a toaster. The Doctor made his way to the other side of the console to turn a small handle you'd normally find attached to a bathtub. The TARDIS tremored as the cylinders in the middle went up and down with the beautiful sounds of the TARDIS grinding away at its parking break.
"And we're off!" The TARDIS landed and The Doctor waved Ditzy over to a monitor which gave some basic information about where they where.
"Oh boy this one's a doozy. Says here we're in the monastery of the Soul Society, some kind of religious order that believed that the soul is the center of the universe. Oh and before I tell you anything else I should mention that Glorious Dawn isn't famous for her book. Why should she be? All of Equestria believed her to be a fictional character. She's famous because it was here that she set into motion the events that would save pony kind from itself and eventually inspire them to reach for the stars."
"Doctor you contradicted yourself." Ditzy stated. "You said all of Equestria thought she was a fictional character. Then you said she's legendary for doing that other stuff. How can she be both?"
"You know what? I'll let you in on a little secret." The Doctor answered. "It's very rare but on some planets there exist unique natural formations that channel the planet's energies and can link one planet to another. Going through them would be like taking a stroll from one planet onto another one. Such a portal actually exists in Equestria, we where just on it when we saw that caravan. The homeland that ponies came from and Equestria are actually two entirely different planets!"
"Oh wow!" Ditzy responded. A lot of it flew right over her head so she just accepted that what The Doctor said was true.
"Thousands of years ago," The Doctor continued, "when ponies migrated into what is now Equestria some stayed behind and found ways to survive the cold. Thousands of years of limited resources and conflict created and refined of a completely unique society. A society which has created some of the most advanced technologies in the universe. Eventually when they make it into the stars these ponies will forever have their place in the galaxy as the axis from which all technological advancement is made. Glorious Dawn is the one that makes all of that possible. She'll eventually unite everypony and set them down the path to greatness. And it all started right here in this monastery. So what do you think? Want to take a look?"
"Yeah lets do it!" Ditzy cheered.
The two exited from the TARDIS and found themselves in some kind of closet filled with rows of identical carmen red robes. "Huh, I guess even monks need wardrobes. Here lets put one on, we'll probably draw less attention to ourselves. Less chance of interfering with events that way."
The Doctor skillfully grabbed a robe and draped it over himself in one fluid motion. The robe included a hood that could cover the head but still left much of the face uncovered. "There we go. Unless I strike up a conversation, nopony should notice we're not one of them."
The Doctor looked back and saw that Ditzy was having some problems getting a robe on. He decided to go on ahead by himself, she'll get it on right can catch up eventually. The Doctor opened the door perhaps a bit too quickly than he should have and as a result of bad timing he heard the sound of the door impacting another pony.
"Ow my nose!" He heard a mare call out. He snaked his head around the edge of the open door to apologize to the pony that got hurt as a result of his quick motions.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." The Doctor apologized to a pair of ponies, a unicorn colt with a broken horn and an earth pony mare with soft features.
"Hey freaky monk man, be more careful next time eh?" The unicorn said with a certain conviction as he roughly shoved The Doctor. The motion caused him to stumble a step backwards and a small book fell from under his robes without his notice.
"Wait a sec," The unicorn said with a hint of recognition to his companion. "Hey Gloria I think I've seen this guy before. Yeah definitely, I saw him talking to Elizabeth right before I killed her and rescued you." He had taken a more aggressive stance and looked about ready to tackle The Doctor. He ran back into the wardrobe and locked the door with his sonic screwdriver before he gave that unicorn the chance to pounce him.
"Um...oops." The Doctor guiltily said to himself. Ditzy had given up trying to put the robe on the proper way and instead was in the process of wrapping herself up like a mummy. "Oops?"
"Ditzy I think I just made a massive oversight. In Glorious Dawn's journal she made several references to an eccentric robed doctor. It never even occurred to my thick head that she might have been talking about me."
"So?" Ditzy simply asked.
"So?! So, events are now going to be different because I just realized I have foreknowledge. So, the events described in her journal are fixed points in time. So, if the end result of those events deviate in any way time will collapse on itself!"
"Well we're still here. Maybe that was supposed to happen." Ditzy responded.
"Hmm that's possible but unlikely. Small paradoxes can become part of a normal time stream but you'd have to get very clever to sustain one within a fixed point in time. Fixed events are linear, everything that happens has to have a logical beginning within that event and anything that would cause a paradox would cause that event to deviate and destroy time. It just can't happen unless someone knew how to do it. Only the Time Lords had that kind of knowledge and they're all gone. But you just gave me an idea. Maybe if I go and do all the things that's supposed to happen in the journal we just might be able to salvage this. Come on we don't have a second to lose!"
With that The Doctor and Ditzy Doo rushed back into the TARDIS to do what had to be done to stop time from collapsing in on itself. The light of the police call box resonated with the grinding noise as it faded away into nothingness. In its place a tear opened up in the fabric of reality and gave birth to a reaper. It let out a screech that would have competed with the horrors of the frozen homeland of anypony where around to hear it. It clawed away at the ancient stone walls of the monastery. They would keep the creature caged for a time.
Dr Whooves awoke from yet another lucid dream. He hadn't woken up screaming or with any other sign of nightmares since the one with that undead alicorn. He felt it was a good sign that at least he wasn't constantly having nightmares, yet every night he grew increasingly disturbed. He had to wonder if his imagination was just inventing these things to give itself a taste of what he always desired. Or if these where the memories that The Doctor left behind for him and he was playing the role. Or if these dreams where because of something entirely different.
One thing was for certain: The Doctor had done something to change him. One cannot live as an entirely different pony within their dreams without losing their grip on reality. He needed somepony to talk to, he had to confirm that he was still Doctor Clockwise Hooves. He needed Rose.
Luckily he knew just the way to wake her up and simultaneously summon her. He went down to the kitchen to prepare a breakfast for two. The sweet aroma of his expert cooking eventually made it to Rose's room and as expected woke her up. The clopping of hoofsteps could be heard from the hallway and Rose entered the kitchen.
"'Morning Clockwise." Rose greeted. Ever since his confession last week Rose felt she knew her mentor personally well enough that she didn't have to be so formal with him anymore and could call him by his first name. He apparently didn't mind, or if he did it didn't show.. Rose took in a good whiff of the food. "Ah, something smells good."
"Ah Rose, happy to see you." Dr Whooves said. "I desperately need somepony to share my thoughts with."
"Is it about...you know?" Rose asked. She's been getting perhaps a bit too familiar with Dr Whooves lately and could have meant any number of things from this question.
"The dreams? Yes. I haven't been myself ever since they started, especially since that last bad one. I feel like I might be losing myself. In the dreams I'm not just playing The Doctor, I'm not just simply filling the role, I am The Doctor. His memories are my memories, his ambitions are my ambitions. When I'm dreaming I feel as if that's the real me as much as right now I feel I am Clockwise Hooves. You could not even begin to understand what that feels like and how much I struggle to keep the lines from blurring."
Rose didn't know what to say. Should she even say anything? No her mentor just needed somepony to listen and try to understand. So Rose just simply closed her eyes and nodded.
"When I'm working," Dr Whooves continued," when I have something focus my mind on I can forget and I feel normal. But every other time I can't keep my thoughts from drifting. I can't stop myself from questioning everything I accept for granted. I feel like I'm behaving more like The Doctor and less like myself every passing day. He's an incredibly complex character yet everything about him is so simple. He can accept the most impossible things as truth yet questions seemingly insignificant details. I think he understands that even the within most intricate and complex machinery it's the tiny individual parts that make it all possible. That just one gear out of place, one misaligned detail, can destroy the whole. That if you want to fix something that's broken you have to look at it in the simplest way possible and at the smallest pieces, for its the smallest things that are the most significant. In a way he looks at the universe in much the same way as I look at a broken watch..."
At that moment his thought's couldn't help but drift to his lucky watch. A fob watch that he knows for a fact is broken and yet has never even opened. A broken heirloom inherited from his parents. A broken watch owned by a family of watchmakers just didn't feel right. He's had that watch in his possession for ten years yet he never thought to question it. How could I own a broken watch for so long and never think anything of it? He asked himself. Something about this felt far too familiar to Dr Whooves.
He had a strong urge to take his mind off that watch, an urge he could only fulfill the only way he knew how: by keeping himself busy. Today was Saturday though, which meant he couldn't force himself to do any work, it was a matter of principle. For the second time he felt like he needed Rose.
"It sounds to me like you think you're a lot like The Doctor in you dreams." Rose commented on the last thing that was said.
"No, not similar, I think we're exactly the same...Rose? May I ask you a question?"
"Anything." She answered.
"Would you....would you like to out with me today?" Dr Whooves asked. "Go for a walk, have some fun, have dinner, stuff like that? I really need it."
Was he asking me out on a date? Rose asked herself. He said he needed it, but..."Why?"
"Why not?" Was his answer."I need to keep my mind off The Doctor now, the only way I'm staying sane is by pacing my thoughts. I need to do something to keep my mind from wandering to any unpleasant places. You're available right? So why not?"
So he just wants to use me as an outlet. Rose thought. Somepony to keep nearby so he doesn't loose himself. Well if he needs me I'm not going to argue. "Sure, why not." Rose answered with a smile.
Dr Whooves spent that whole day with Rose, from dawn until dusk, and on that night he would dream his last of The Doctor.
