//------------------------------// // Danger and Narcolepsy // Story: Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last // by MaxKodan //------------------------------// Doctor Whooves: The First and the Last Chapter 2: Danger and Narcolepsy Max Kodan “Wh-what just happened? Did you say you’re a...Doctor? A doctor of what?” Rainbow Dash stammered out. She wasn’t much of a magic scholar, but she knew for sure that that hadn’t been any ordinary spell. And now this John Smith was calling himself a Doctor. But he just built and repaired clocks, didn’t he? “Just what the buck is going on here?” “Language, Miss Dash! All will be explained in time.” The Doctor’s voice sounded much more confident and vibrant than John’s had. It really was like he was an entirely different pony. “Just call me The Doctor. Or Doctor. Either one will do. Now, there’s something very, very important that is slipping my mind. Something...something hasn’t settled back into place yet.” He started pacing and shifting his jaw around, and apparently moved his tongue around inside of his mouth. “Right, still a pony. Bit weird, but ok. Ah, so THAT must be what happened. Oh...Oh dear.” He paused and looked up at the stunned mare beside him. “What’s wrong? What are you talking about? What happened!? You’re not making any sense!” She stood and stomped her hoof on the ground agitatedly. This was becoming less confusing and more annoying. This might just be the most elaborate prank ever pulled, and however much respect she had for whoever was pulling it, it was starting to get old. “See, I came here by accident.” He started as he rolled his shoulders and moved his legs restlessly. “I was being chased, see. My ship was under attack. So I was planning on hiding myself away somewhere to wait until they passed over me, but on the way I crashed and...Oh. Oh my. I do remember what I’d forgotten now.” He slowed his movement and gravely looked up at his visitor. “You might want to stand back. I was in the middle of something when I became a pony. And I think I’m about to finish it.” Without thinking about it at all, Dash took several steps away, in fact moving over to the other side of the table. She tilted her head to the side and watched him. He was still glowing faintly, but the glow was getting brighter. As she looked on, The Doctor raised himself onto his back legs. The glowing increased more and more, and his face scrunched up. “Aah...hurts a bit this time...” He bit his lip. “Guess that’s what I get for putting it off.” He took in a shuddering breath, then spread his arms. The glowing lit the room now, and golden particles began to escape his neck and arms. He opened one eye and looked down at the watching pegasus. “Be right back, Miss Dash.” With that, an explosion of energy rocked the room. For a moment, the light was so bright that the pegasus had to shield her eyes. When she looked back up, the same golden energy as before was being emitted from both of his front legs and his head. It was beautiful, but terrifying at the same time. Several of the faces of the clocks burst, showering glass onto the floor. The Doctor let out a yell of agony, and as he did, he began to change. The change was subtle. His mane stayed relatively the same style and color, and his coat remained chestnut. It was only after the light faded and he collapsed that Dash could see what had changed. His legs were just a bit longer, his face a bit shorter than it had been. Other than that, he looked almost the same. It took her just a moment to realize that he might be hurt. “Hey, hey!” She ran around the table and up to him, leaning down to look him over. “Hey, don’t you go dying on me. What was all that? Doc, get up, come on!” She shook him gently. Nothing seemed broken, anyway. He muttered something. She couldn’t quite hear what, but he definitely muttered a word. “What? I couldn’t hear you.” She leaned in closer to him, and he groaned, then repeated his message. “Doc-tor.” She blinked. “Y-you need a doctor?” “No.” He shook his head a little and opened his eyes. “You called me...Doc. It’s...Doctor.” This pony had just exploded, changed his face, and fainted, and he was correcting her on the pronunciation of his name. She pulled back as he rolled over and sat up. “Aah. Ow. So, how do I look?” He pulled his shoulders back and tried to look as regal as possible. Dash simply stared at him. “You’re...a little taller, I guess? And your nose is smaller. Oh!” She squinted and looked closer at him. “Your eyes changed color too. They’re green now.” She tilted her head. “I think they were blue before, weren’t they?” The Doctor appeared to ponder on that for a short time. “Hm...odd. Must be a side effect of the whole...pony thing. Time was I’d get a whole new face, new hair, new body, new teeth, new stomach. The stomach was weird.” He chuckled to himself. “Now then, where were we?” The moment the last word left his lips, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell over unconscious once again. The rainbow-maned pegasus let out a sharp cry of surprise and moved back over to him. “Hey, woah! Cut that out, wouldja?” She prodded at him some more. “This isn’t funny!” No response this time. “Hey, Doctor. Doc! Wake up!” She gave him a solid clock upside the head with her hoof. He still didn’t move. She grumbled to herself and set to work hauling him towards his bedroom. Of course, it was one the second floor. Considering everything he’d put her through so far, she figured he could use a few bruises, so she none-too-carefully pulled him up the stairs. Unsurprisingly, another room entirely filled with clocks. “Kind of a one note pony, ain’tcha?” She grumbled as she finally managed to push him up onto the bed. She lazily tossed a blanket over him, and sat down to take a break. Not a moment after she took her first breath of relaxation, The Doctor sat up. “Crabapples.” Oh, sure. NOW he wakes up. She groaned to herself. It would be an easier job babysitting the Cakes. At least they couldn’t talk yet. “What now?” “Crabapples. Hate ‘em.” He stuck his tongue out and shook his head. “Now, how did I get up here?” He looked around in confusion, closing one eye, then opening it and closing the other, then alternating between them in rapid succession. “What are you...You passed out! I had to drag you up here by hoof! And you’re heavier than you look!” She panted a little. Every second she spent around this pony was more irritating than the last. “Ah! I fainted, did I? Well, that’s to be expected. See, I had my Chameleon Arc make me fit in with the area, I crossed the border into this universe, and I died all at the same time. I was halfway through regeneration. Body changed to a pony, but I couldn’t get the energy out because the arc made me blend in. Had all this regeneration energy caught up in my body. Still got a bunch of it and-” He stopped talking, finally, for a moment. He breathed out, and more of that golden energy dissipated into the air. “There goes some of it now!” And again, he passed out. If the wall were any closer, Dash would have bashed her head into it. “Aargh, why am I still here!?” She called to the room in general. Celestia knew the Doctor wouldn’t pay any attention. He’d said a lot of things, but none of it made any sense. Her mind went back to the letter. It had said that he needed her, but had she done her part? It also said that she needed him. What did THAT mean? That she needed him to ruin her day? To annoy her wings off? To hurt her brain just by his very presence? He obviously wasn’t going to get any rest unless she left. Surely, she thought, nothing she would need his help with would be so dire that she would waste her entire day just watching him go all narcoleptic on her. That wouldn’t get anything accomplished at all. So she left him laying there, snoring peacefully. When she glanced back at him, she saw another puff of golden energy float off above the bed and disappear. Maybe she’d...check in with him later. Just in case. It was just past noon now. She’d been there a lot longer than she’d thought. For now, she resolved to just soar through the air, getting all her daily practice in at once. Maybe a Sonic Rainboom or two outside of town for good measure. It was a nice day for it, and the town could always use a good show. She veered into a few loops as she circled the town, trying to imagine her path and keep a consistent rotation. The more circular the loop, the more impressive it was. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Rarity’s boutique. Something looked different about it. She slowed herself down and changed her course, landing directly in front of the shop window. It didn’t look like the seamstress was in, but the model in the window drew her attention nonetheless. Most of the time, the mannequins used were plain white and nondescript, but the one she saw here was somehow different. More detailed, colorful. And it had eyes. It looked incredibly fake, but still, it was an oddity. She wondered why Rarity had chosen to go with such a creepy design. It didn’t fit her style at all. ----- Back at John Smith’s, or rather The Doctor’s, house, the chestnut pony sat bolt upright. “Miss Dash! I should warn you. Whatever was chasing me, it may be here, now...” He looked around. The room was empty. “Oh dear. Now where did she get off to?” ----- She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she could have sworn that it had changed positions. She let out a light yelp and stepped backwards. It was definitely looking at her now. The eyes were trained straight onto her. What was this thing, motion sensored? She shook her head. She was losing her mind. This Doctor thing had her freaked out. When her mane fell back into place, she looked up. A bit of that golden energy the Doctor had excreted seemed to have shaken loose, and now floated up away from her. She watched it for a moment, then looked back at the model. It had moved. This time for sure. It was looking up, in the direction the energy disappeared into. And now, even as she watched, any doubt disappeared. The head of the mannequin turned, slowly and deliberately, to aim its lifeless, painted eyes directly at her. “Oh, man. This is a nightmare, right? A total nightmare!” She shuddered and closed her eyes tightly. Maybe it would go away if she just concentrated on waking up. Her illusion shattered with the window. Her eyes snapped open and she saw the mannequin, frilly dress and all, marching right at her. She yelped again and flapped her wings, getting several feet off the ground and hovering. Somepony else walked by and laughed. “Well, wouldja look at that? What kinda marketing scheme has that Rarity thought up here...” He grinned and looked over the mannequin. “So realistic! But it can’t be good for business, breaking the window like that.” “Noooo, get away from it!” Dash heard herself call. The dummy turned towards the pony and regarded him for a moment. Then, it opened its mouth. “Ooh, what’s this, an advertisement function? That’s pretty ingenious!” The hapless pony guffawed. His laughter quickly turned to a shriek of fear, however, as a jet of flame shot from the mannequin’s mouth. He managed to just duck under it, then without a word turned and bolted out of there. Several other ponies saw this particular occurrence, and soon enough the whole area was in a panic. From her vantage point, RD could hear and see other similar mannequins breaking out of their respective windows. She had nearly forgotten the one she was floating above, until she heard a *click*. She looked down and yanked herself to the side just quickly enough to avoid the fiery breath that was coming her way. With nothing left to do, she flew up and fled, heading back to the only pony who was just as weird as this was scary. “Doctor!” She called, beelining back towards his house. She weaved through the buildings, and in the distance she spotted his building. She haphazardly landed without slowing down and crashed through the door, staggering for a moment before she regained her balance and slammed it shut behind her. “Oh, good morning! Something the matter?” The Doctor was sitting at his table. He’d cleared a spot and had a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. Suddenly, the mare wondered why she hadn’t gone to see Twilight. Already, her migraine was starting back up again. “Y-you! What did you do? What’s going on here?” She rounded on the rather casual looking pony and glared. “What ARE those things? Living mannequins? That breath FIRE?” She narrowed her eyes and flapped her wings, closing the distance between them in an instant. “You have got a LOT of explaining to do, mister!” The Doctor sat there, looking at her with wide-eyed innocence. He then looked down at his plate of half-finished eggs, then back up at her. “But...I’m eating breakfast.” There were several seconds of silence, but rage seemed to fill the air. “Erm...most important meal of the day?” “Just DO something! I don’t know how, I don’t know why I know, but I know. I just KNOW that you have something to do with this. Besides, it’s 1 in the afternoon! You’re basically eating lunch!” “Well, how was I supposed to know that? Just woke up, you know.” He lifted the fork to his mouth and took another large bite of egg. Dash stumbled over several words, coming out with little more than frustrated expressions of ‘gah’s and ‘buh’s. Finally, she started motioning everywhere in the room, waving her front legs wildly at just about everything. “Y-you. You’re in a room. FULL of clocks. Clocks EVERYWHERE. How do you NOT know what time it is!?” The Doctor seemed to take this in for a moment. “Oh, right.” He grinned and looked around. “Hee, that’s brilliant, isn’t it? Room full of clocks. Must be a nightmare if you’re a bit squiffy, though. Tik, tok, tik, tok.” He chuckled to himself and took another bite. “Are you listening?” Fluttering down and breathing deeply, Dash tried to get her anger under control. Maybe she wasn’t being clear enough. “Doctor, ponies are being attacked. By weird, plastic mannequins. I don’t know why, but I just know you can help. Or at least tell me something. What they are, how to stop them. Come on, Doctor! This is not the time for breakfast!” She fidgeted. In about 5 seconds, she was going to go flying out the door whether he was coming or not. She’d fight these things hoof to hoof if she needed to. The Doctor’s smile faded, and he sighed. He took the last bite of his eggs and pushed his chair away from the table. “They found me, then. They tracked me all the way here. Wonder how they managed that.” He stood and brushed himself off. “Alright, Miss Dash. I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But first, let’s go put a stop to this...” He trailed off. For a moment, the pegasus thought he’d seen something behind her. A quick look disproved that idea. “Doctor? What’s up?” She tentatively stepped forward, looking closer at him. “Doctor?” A light sound issued from the Doctor’s throat. When she tweaked her ear a bit, it became clearer. The sound of snoring. “Oh COME ON!”