He didn't want to go through the door.
He knew it would be waiting for him there. He knew it would talk. It wasn't supposed to talk. Gems weren't supposed to talk. Gems weren't supposed to sing. This gem did both. It looked like a ruby, but it couldn't have been a ruby. Rubies were darker. Also, rubies couldn't sing. This gem could. It sang.
It scared him. What was even scarier was that it was starting to make sense.
He spent two horrible days of his life being tortured by a madman. Enduring unimaginable pain. But he never gave them up. Not once. He stood firm. No matter what that psycho did to him, he was strong.
At the end of the day, what was his tanks for all that he went through? Nothing. Just your normal pat on the back and then he was sent to play with his toys like and infant. All that pain, all that hurt, he walked through hell on Equis and he got... nothing.
This was ridiculous. He was proud. He was strong. He was a warrior. It didn't matter if he was small, he was an adult. There were cities that built statues in his honor! He was part of a race of monsters. He was...
He was scared. He didn't want to open the door. He didn't want to hear it sing. He wanted to throw it away.
He rarely got what he wanted.
He opened the door to see it laying on his desk. It looked like the still beating heart of one of its victims. It had no eyes, but he could feel it looking straight through him. Seeing what he didn't want it to do... And then doing it.
"God walked down in the cool of the day,
Called Adam by his name,
And he refused to answer because
He was naked, and ashamed."
"Shut up!" he screamed at it. "Just... Just shut up!! I know what you are, and I know what you're doing! I-I want you out! Gone! If you don't stop I'm going to tell P-"
"Then go," it hissed smugly. "Please. Go tell your Princess. I'm sure the reward for stopping me will be twice as extravagant a your normal fare. Maybe mistress will give you two biscuits for being such a good by!"
"Stop that!" he shouted at it. "That's not how she thinks of me."
"I don't give a damn how she thinks of you," it spat at him. "I care what you are. And what you are is a lapdog. Cute. Puny. Loyal. And stupid. You jump through all of these hoops to please Mistress, and all Mistress will ever do is pat you on the head and give you the occasional treat. You never get what you really were after. Which is that day when you get to hold the leash.
"Now," it hissed. "You can keep doing everything you do to please Mistress. Occasionally getting the occasional goodie balanced on your nose... Or you can answer my question, and I can give you that leash for far more than a day."
His eyes widened.
"Once more," it hissed. "What do you want?"
"We need to ask him about the Death-Killing Salt Shakers of Doom," Vinyl said. "Ever since they attacked Ponyvill-
"We've only got three questions!" Octavia whispered. "We need to be careful what we ask about. Only things that are pertinent to the moment!"
"Why is he making us do this again?" Vinyl asked.
"Because," answered the Doctor, who had heard every word. "There will come a time where you will need certain information from me in a very limited amount of time. You must learn to zero in on the important information, and leave behind all of the other flotsam and jetsam. Three questions. And, of course, follow up questions when confused by my answers. Begin."
Vinyl looked around the control room. "Alright," she said. Taking off her shades and looking straight at the Doctor. "What's with the box? Last box I got in that said 'Police' on it, Octy had to bail me out of jail."
"The last three times, if I recall correctly," Octavia corrected.
"Now who's not focusing on information pertinent to the moment?" Vinyl asked mockingly.
The Doctor smiled. "It's called a TARDIS," he said. "That's 'Time And Relative Dimension In Space.' The normal means of transport for my people, the Time Lords. Bigger on the inside than it is on the out, thanks to a scientific principle called 'Dimensional Transcendentalism.' Very complex. It looks the way it does because of something called a 'Chameleon Circuit.' This allows it to seamlessly blend in with it's surroundings. It's also been broken for centuries, and I don't feel like fixing it. This is a Type 40. While not exactly a top-of-the-line model, even if it was brand new, she's never let me down. She's a tough old bird."
"What about your people?" said Octavia, asking question two. "Where are they? Why aren't you with them?"
"They're...," the Doctor hesitated. "They're elsewhere. Far beyond my reach... Which is good. It's miles better from where I thought they were a while ago... I thought... It doesn't matter what I thought. They're alright... They will be alright..."
The room grew silent. Everyone sensing the emotion of the room. In want of someone to break the awkward silence.
Vinyl answered that call. "Alright, Crazy Eyes," she spoke up. "Where are we headed."
"I don't think I like this new nickname you have for me," the Doctor straightened up. "My eyes are merely weary with the heavy burden of my memories. And I already told you where we're going."
"No, you have the Crazy Eyes," Vinyl insisted.
"You shouted 'Next stop, everywhere!' and then this barmy thing took off!" Octavia retorted. "That's all you told us about 'where we're going!'"
"Exactly," the Doctor smiled. "We're going Everywhere. The center of the Mutiversal Nexus! Where all universes run together on the only fixed spacial point in all of reality. The Center of Everything."
"Sounds cool," Vinyl said. "What's there?"
"All logic would say," the Doctor sighed. "The single largest Quantum Singularity ever to exist... A black hole one billion trillion times the power of the Great Attractor."
Vinyl stared at the Doctor open mouthed. Desperately searching for the words to respond to that information. Luckily, Octavia found them for her.
"Why are we going to such a horrible sounding dangerously unsafe place?!"
"Because the terribly important bit of paper told us to," the Doctor smiled. "Anyway, I honestly don't think we shall meet our immediate demise upon arrival!"
"Why did you emphasize the word 'immediate'?" Vinyl asked weakly.
"Besides," the Doctor looked around at a few monitors. "I think logic might be wrong... We've landed."
"Wait, landed?" Octavia asked. "Landed where?"
"I'm not sure," the Doctor smiled. "The sensors aren't picking up anything... Nothing they could make out, in any case... Hmm... I would suppose there is only one way to find out." The Doctor marched over to the door.
"Wait!" Vinyl said, slightly panicking now. "Didn't you say there was a freakin' black hole out there?! How do you know its safe?!"
"Oh, it isn't, I'm sure!" the Doctor smiled. "Not in the slightest. But there's no black hole out there! I've landed on a thing. Instead of... Well dying, I suppose."
"Comforting," Octavia said dryly.
"Doctor, we don't know what's out there!" Vinyl protested.
"Well then," the Doctor smiled. "I think it's time we found out, eh what?"
The Doctor walked out the TARDIS door.
There were many things that Octavia expected to see when she stepped out into the Multiversal Nexus. A grey concrete floor wasn't any of them.
The grey concrete floor was connected to grey concrete walls. Along the grey concrete walls were dotted many sets of steel bars. Behind each set of steel bars was a bed. In each bed was a figure tossing and turning. Watching each figure that was tossing and turning were ponies. On each of these ponies was a blue uniform with several official looking patches.
"This," Octavia said quietly. "This looks..."
"Familiar," Vinyl finished for her. "Doc, are you sure we're in space?"
"Oh yes," the Doctor said. "We are, in fact, so far beyond normal physical understanding, that pur brains have had to simplify it so that we don't go mad. Very interesting."
"Where are we?" Octavia asked.
"Where does it look like we are?" the Doctor smiled. "The very last place you'd want to end up. Vinyl Scratch, Octavia melody...
"Welcome to prison."