//------------------------------// // Seeing Ghosts // Story: Doctor Whooves: Mark Of The Mara // by LightOfTriumph //------------------------------// The next half hour was oddly somber. The Watch shop had fallen into a state of disrepair since Time Turner left. Cobwebs had grown on much of the merchandise, and the storeroom door had been blown out by an invading Dalek. That seemed like ages ago now. It seemed so long ago that he was a normal pony called Time Turner. Orphaned at a young age, spending most of his time alone. He liked to tinker with things. So he learned how to fix watches. Then all of a sudden, a big blue box appeared in his attic. Then everything changed. The Doctor wondered if this regeneration erased anything left of the pony called Time Turner. He wondered that for a bit until he looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He remembered the day they came in with a watch they thought he couldn't fix. But he could fix anything. He remembered dying to keep them safe. And then... And then he remembered the Doctor. Finding his resolve again, the Doctor got to work in a flash. Sweeping, storing, tinkering. Moving through the work like a pony possessed. Within twenty minutes the shop was spotless, and every single piece of merchandise was wound and ticking. And then the door chimes rang. For the first time in months, the shop had a customer. "Excuse me?" the excited young mare asked. "You're open? I mean... Are you really open?" "Oh, um," the Doctor was at a bit of a loss as to what to do in this scenario. "Not necessarily... Um... I'm a friend of the owners. He's... He's moved away and has asked me to sell off the shop for him. Why, my dear? Is there a particular piece that piques your interest?" "Are you kidding?!" The ice-blue mare was hurrying around the room, taking in each clock with awe. "All of it! I've never met Time Turner, but I want to shake his hoof! His craftsmanship is breathtaking! I have been making watches all my life, and I don't think I can even compare with this!" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You're a watchmaker, eh?" he smiled. "I wonder, Miss...?" "Minuette," the Mare replied. "Minuette," the Doctor replied. "Might I be shown an example of your work?" "Uh..." Minuette was caught off guard by the question. "I... I suppose... I made the watch I'm wearing now..." "If I may?" Minuette removed her watch and handed it to the Doctor. "Hmm... It certainly runs quite well. A bit simplistic, but there's nothing wrong with that... Shows the calendar day... Tell me, have you any desire to ply your trade in return for monetary reward?" Minuette looked slack-jawed at the Doctor. "I think he means 'Do you want to sell your watches for money?'" Vinyl clarified. "Oh, yes!" Minuette said happily. "All my life! I've been saving up ever since I left university. I'm almost halfway there now." "How much have you saved thus far?" the Doctor asked. "About 3,400 bits," Minuette replied. "Keep it," the Doctor smiled. "You'll need it when business gets slow. And that is all too often, I assure you." "I'm... I'm sorry?" Minuette asked. "I would think my implication was quite clear, dear girl." The Doctor turned to face her. "I- Er- Time Turner, wanted me to make sure this shop fell into the right hooves. And I do believe I have found them." It took Minuette a moment to catch on. When she did haer jaw dropped. "Me? But... But I can't afford-" "You certainly can,' the Doctor replied, as he slipped on Minuette's wristwatch. "If you don't mind dear, I will be keeping this exquisite watch. That will do for payment, I'm sure Turner won't mind. As a matter of fact I'm quite positive. I would think that he would trust a watchmakers judgement." "You're a watchmaker too?" Minuette asked. "Oh yes," the Doctor smiled, turning to face the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "I may not be anything special, but the one thing I know how to do is mend a watch." The fillies smiled. That phrase sounded all too familiar. "I... I don't know what to say," Minuette said, as she started to tear up. "Thank you." "Thank you, dear girl," the Doctor said, as he, Vinyl, and the Crusaders left the store. "You've laid to rest a few ghosts." As they were walking out, Apple Bloom wrapped the Doctor in a tight hug. "Oh? What's this for?" the Doctor asked. "You weren't lyin'," Apple Bloom said tearfully. "You look and sound completely different, but it's still you. You're still our Doctor." The Doctor gave the fillies a soft smile. "Where did you think I was going?" he asked. "This is just a new coat of paint on the same model. Now... I think it's time the three of you went home." "But Doctor-" Scootaloo began to protest. "You have your own lives to lead," the Doctor said quietly. "No time for a silly old man and his magic box. But before you go, let me thank you." "For what?" asked Sweetie Belle. The Doctor looked at his hourglass cutie mark. "I was lost before I met you three," he explained. "I had no idea what this mark on my flank meant or why it was here... Now I know. I discovered who I really was thanks to you three. A different kind of crusade, you might say..." The three fillies smiled, but they were starting to tear up. "Do you really want us to go?" Apple Bloom asked. "No," the Doctor answered. "But you need to." There was one final hug, and the fillies turned to leave. There walk started almost like a funeral procession, but it picked up a little after Scootaloo began to sing aloud. "He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king..." "And to his praises, we shall always sing!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "Look what he has done for us, he's filled us up with cheer!" Apple Bloom continued the chorus. "Lord bless Charlie Mopps, the man who invented beer, beer, beer, tiddly, beer..." The three fillies kept singing "The Man Who Invented Beer" until they were out of sight. "That was hard for you," Vinyl asked. "Wasn't it?" "It reminded me a little too much of the first time I had to let someone go," the Doctor smiled. "She wasn't really much older than they are... She was much wiser than me, as well." Vinyl put her hoof on the Doctor's shoulder, but the Doctor pulled away quickly. "No time for sentiment now!" the Doctor said loudly. "Much work to be done! Important issues to address." "Stopping horrible ghost snake thing?" Vinyl asked hopefully. "Of course, but first..." The Doctor smiled rather wide this time. "I do think I shall need a new coat." Applejack had made up her mind. She had to tell the Doctor she was staying behind. She knew the Doctor needed somepony to look after him, but after what happened to Sweet Apple Acres, it couldn't be her. Not anymore. This was a heavy burden to lay on him after the hell regeneration must take on a Time Lord, but she had no choice. This was all she could think about... And then she opened the door to Club PON-3. Octavia and Blue were standing on opposite ends of the room. Octavia was holding a lamp getting ready to swing it. Blue was breathing heavily and rubbing his neck. "It's the Mara!" they both said in unison. "It didn't leave him after all!" Octavia shouted. "Octy, for Celestia's sake fight it!" Blue shouted back. "What the hoof is going on here?!" Applejack tried to cut into the confusion. "Applejack," Blue said calmly. "I know you have no reason to trust me... But I swear. I woke up with Octavia's hooves wrapped around my throat. She's not in control of herself right now, I've been where she is and it is a scary place." "Come off it!" Octavia said. "The minute you woke up you leaped across the room and started swinging at me with this bloody thing! It's only with luck that I managed to wrench it away from you!" "Look at my forelegs!" Blue held up both of his front legs. "No tattoo. It's gone!" Applejack nodded. "It ain't on her, either." "Yes, but you trust her," Blue said. "The mark is like a... It's like a natural defense mechanism that our brains use to track it! The Mara doesn't mark its hosts skin. You're eyes do that because you sense danger! If you don't find someone a threat, if you trust them, and you don't know where it is you won't see the tattoo!" "Or, the much simpler solution," Octavia snarled. "The Mara can hide it's mark if it wants to!" "Applejack, please," Blue said. Applejack stopped cold. The Mara was still here. It was in one of these two ponies. But which one? It looks like she, and perhaps the Doctor, still had work to do.