//------------------------------// // What Do You Want? // Story: Doctor Whooves: Mark Of The Mara // by LightOfTriumph //------------------------------// Applejack had never heard the Mara laugh before this moment. She hoped never to hear it again. The awful hissing laughter filled the whole room. It crawled up her skin. She felt it could peel the paint off the walls. Looking at the grin on Octavia's face, Applejack was afraid it would. Then the Mara began to talk, but not like it had talked before. It's overbearing lordly demeanor was replaced by a fairly normal sounding voice. "Thank you," it hissed. "Thank you for coming back to talk. These people... There idea of evil is so... Elitist. Evil can only belong to the dictators. The Dark Lords. That's just not true, and it's a little unfair. "No, evil is leaving someone bleeding on the street because you're late for work. Evil is taking a dollar out of the donation plate because you'll put it to better use than they will. Evil is making your excuses as to why you didn't help that old lady up the stairs when you could. Evil is that voice in everybody's head that says 'Screw your family, and your friends. Screw what's right and wrong. What do you want?" " I don't represent the despot, I represent the guy who's job it is to keep accurate count of the despot's atrocities, and then report it to him every morning. And he does it with a smile. "Evil isn't showing off," the Mara hissed. "Evil is passive. Evil is commonplace. Evil is mundane. And you know that Doctor. That means I can finally be myself around you. Thank you..." The Mara dropped the Doctor and walked around in Octavia's body. Seemingly breaking it in. "Christ had twelve apostles," it sang mockingly. "Three he led away... You know? This body has a nice set of legs omn her... Just like the last Made who took me in." Blue growled. "Have I stuck a nerve?" the Mara asked. "All right, I'll start with you. What do you want? No... No I've been inside your head. I know what you want. I've seen it. You hate the fact that I don't have a body yet... You want me to succeed... All because you just want to take a swing at me... I'm right here. Go for it. What are you worrying about? Hurting a pony you only met a few weeks ago? Hell, in her head you haven't met yet. So what exactly are you waiting for?' "Don't do it," Applejack said calmly. "You, on the other hand," the Mara turned on Applejack "Are much harder to pin down... The country girl, raised on the farm... But you've travelled through time, I can smell it on you... And you're...." The Mara looked Applejack up and down, as if sizing up a meal. "Tired. You went with him because you thought he needed someone to talk to... But you never wanted to go... Oh, that's cold... So what about you? What do you want? If it's something as mundane as just staying here, that's easily given... Just finish what I started and strangle the Doctor. That way you won't have to worry about him being lonely." "Applejack," Blue said cautiously. "Don't-" "Wasn't gonna," Applejack said immediately. "This one, the one I'm in right now," the Mara hissed. "She wants to be famous. She wants to make her sainted mother proud. I can, and will, give that to her. Because I owe her. She let me use this... Really very decent body. I always like brains more than body, but I could have done worse." "Tegan Jovenka," the Doctor coughed, slowly rising to his feet. "What?" the Mara hissed. "I was going to say that you're first mistake was not killing me when you had the chance," the Doctor answered, regaining his composure very quickly. "Then I remembered that you didn't die when I forced you out hours ago. However, entering that brave young man's mind was also a mistake, because he knew exactly what you were and struggled to keep you contained. Then I realized that before that you had to have done something to upset the boy. But none of that was your first mistake... Would you like to know what that was?" "Answer my question first," the Mara used Octavia's lips to smile. "What do you want?" "Don't you ever get tired of saying that?" the Doctor sighed. "I get tired of not getting an answer," the Mara snapped back. "But I don't think I need one from you... Because a while ago you got something. You got hope... Something you thought was lost turned out to be only misplaced. You've been looking and searching for so long... But it's here, Doctor. It's been here the whole time... So say it... Tell me what you want?" "Your first mistake was entering the mind of a young human named Tegan Jovenka," said the Doctor, growing obviously furious. "A remarkable young lady that left me in the most heartbreaking way possible. I have had friends be forced to forget me. I watched my granddaughter grow up. I have even seen far too many of them die. But never have I been told that traveling with me 'stopped being fun...'" "I can give it to you," the Mara hissed. "It's so close now..." "That was you," the Doctor said. "She was never the same after you slithered into her mind. You sucked the joy of the universe out of her. We departed on bad terms, and I was only able to make it up to her at the end of her life. You made the journey sad, and for that I am going to make you pay quite dearly." "I'm getting tired of asking you over and over again Doctor," the Mara hissed violently. "What do you want?" "I want..." The Doctor seemed to be filled with a righteous fury... that completely dissipated when he checked his wristwatch. "Vinyl to arrive. Honestly girl, how long does it take to fetch a Cello?" At that moment, the doors swung open, revealing a panting, exhausted, Vinyl Scratch levitating a cello case. "I'm here," she panted. "Damn this thing is heavy." "Excellent!" the Doctor smiled. "I assume that the bow is inside, and her sheet music is that stack of pages on the turntables?" "Yeah," said Vinyl, handing the case over to the Doctor and staring at Octavia. "Is my BFF possessed by a killer snake monster now?" "I'm afraid so," the Doctor said, dragging the Cello case over to the turntables. "We're fixing that right?" Vinyl asked. "In just a moment," the Doctor smiled as he set up the sheet music in a way that he could read without using his hands. "Mara, could you do me the favor of leaping upon me, clutching my throat, and telling me everything I love is doomed?" The Mara seemed to try, but fail. As Octavia's legs were unwilling to move at the Mara's command. "What?" it hissed. "This can't be... Why can't I...?" "Dude," Blue laughed. "How many times is this gonna happen before you learn that he is always thinking." "Doctor," Applejack smiled. "How long has this been in the works?" "Since the Mara stared at Octavia whilst exiting Blue," the Doctor smiled. "I knew the poor dear would be possessed then, so I had Vinyl fetch a few things for me." The Mara shot the Doctor a horrified look. "Oh dear," the Doctor said sadly. "Did you think I didn't have a plan?"