Twilight Sparkle didn’t know what she wanted to do to the Doctor. She was stuck between the choices of giving him credit where due, or bucking his face in. He was so deserving of both that it was hard to choose. Perhaps both were the best option. She’d have to get to that later.
The two ponies were rather quiet as they descended the long and winding staircase. Nothing to Twilight seemed very strange or ‘alien’ about the tunnel itself. The walls and stairs were mostly metal; the walls eventually became rock as they made their way further down. Nothing seemed too strange. Maybe the Doctor was wrong? Maybe it was an elaborate cover.
“So, Doctor… where do you think we’re going?” Twilight asked.
The Doctor looked at her like she had just dribbled on herself. “Down a hidden flight of stairs in a pharmacy, of course.”
Twilight mentally facehoofed. She walked right into that one. “…of course. And at the end of the stairs?”
“Oh. Probably the real production facility.” He said calmly.
“Real production- So now you’re saying that the entire huge building up there is entirely pointless?”
“No, not pointless. It’s a façade, remember?” He was beginning to wonder if she was paying attention to anything at all. “If you want to make people think you made drugs and medicine, you’d need them to think it was in a large place. That way you can hide the real production of it down here.”
Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “And all those labs and rooms... all for a cover up!?”
The Doctor nodded. Now she was getting it. “Whoever did all this really wanted to keep it hidden. It’s a very good effort. Really. Could fool almost anyone. But they didn’t account for one thing.”
Twilight didn’t know how much more of this she could take, but she asked anyway, “What’s that?”
The Doctor smiled. “Me.”
As they walked, Twilight thought about all she knew up to this point. If this was supposed to be the end, she wanted to be sure she was ready and knew everything. She didn’t know what would be important to know. She liked to be prepared. The drug, the missing cutie marks, the mind control, the aspirin, the strange energy… She made some connections and realized that quite a few things still didn’t make sense to her. Like, how did they use a mind control spell? Why didn’t her magic work against the yellow energy when it was present? And where did the parasprite come from anyway? As much as she tried to think about it, she couldn’t come up with any reasonable solution.
She knew what the Doctor would say about her questions: ‘Aliens’ this and ‘wibbley-wobbley ’ that. Besides, she could figure it out herself later. Probably. So she tried to avoid that sort of nonsense and simply asked him what he had been up to today. She wanted to know if there was anything important she missed. So they passed the time by telling what had happened to them that day. After sharing surprisingly similar stories about angry ponies yellow glowing eyes and strange energy, the Doctor had some of his own questions for Twilight.
“Why does your bathroom have such a thick door and lock anyway?”
Twilight blushed at the memory that required her to install such a heavy door. “Well… let’s just say that no matter what Rainbow Dash says, her flight skills do not improve when there’s alcohol involved. Nor does her knowledge of the word ‘privacy’.” She didn’t really want to get into detail.
The Doctor stifled a laugh. “And this happens often?”
“Enough for me to get that door in place.” Twilight said disgruntled. She awaited another snappy comeback from the tan pony, but she heard nothing. In fact, she didn’t even hear hoof steps anymore. The Doctor had stopped. They were here.
A large metal door at the end of a hallway stood between the two ponies and the truth behind this whole thing. The Doctor pressed his ear against it, listening for something. It appeared locked shut, but Twilight knew firsthand that wouldn’t be a problem for the Doctor and his sonic screwdriver. If he wanted to get into a place somewhere, he darn well got in there. Even as he worked on said door, Twilight still could not tell exactly where he took the device out from. It seemed to appear out of thin air. Maybe he’d been conversing with Pinkie at some point…
“Well, Twilight.” The Doctor said, having finished with the door. “Are you ready to see the real deal? Actual alien laboratories! Most earth ponies don’t get this privilege!” He seemed just as excited as Pinkie would.
Twilight nodded so he would open it already. “Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be great. By the way, I'm a unicorn, not an earth pony.”
He looked back at her. "I know. I meant...ponies...from earth." he said sheepishly.
She just wanted him to get on with it. The Doctor was unsatisfied with Twilight’s attitude. The whole time she was being a party pooper. But, having no choice but to go forward, he opened the doors.
The atmosphere of the place was dark. Literally. The walls and ceiling were completely blackened. Despite the green lights and blinky switches scattered about, it was rather difficult to see. As her eyes adjusted, Twilight could make out some things on the walls. Machines and strange decorations littered the walls. Cables and wires hung from the ceiling in disarray, as if it had been hastily put together. If Twilight didn’t know any better, she’d say they were in……an alien spaceship.
The Doctor kept his sunny deposition. “Oh. Lovely home they have here. It’s very…” he paused to find the right word, but all he could say was, “…dark.”
“No kidding.” Twilight scoffed. She tried to see if there was anything at all to look at, but all she saw was hallway after hallway, all intertwined like a maze. That, coupled with the darkness made the place very desolate and lonesome. She didn’t like it.
“Twilight, this way.” The Doctor said, heading down one specific corridor.
“Why? What is it?”
“I’m feeling… a magic power.” He tried to explain what he felt, but it wasn’t easy to say.
Twilight scoffed at this. “Yeah. No duh. I bet this place is teeming with that weird yellow magic. Who knows what creepy stuff has gone on in here?” She imagined all the cruel experiments and ideas that must have happened to produce a working version of ‘Salvation’. She shuddered.
The Doctor shook his head, “It’s not that kind of magic. It’s normal pony magic.”
…
A large tube. That was the most basic shape Twilight could make of it. A big tube with a door. Some type of chamber. It was grey and blue with many other tubes and cables hooked up to it. Beside that chamber stood another chamber. And another. And another. Rows of odd looking tube shaped chambers stood against the wall. To the left of the farthest one stood a computer looking terminal. All of the chambers were linked to it, like a master control panel.
“What are those things?” asked Twilight, “They look like big batteries.”
“They’re holding the magic…” The Doctor said, “These things have pony magic in them.”
Twilight walked up to one of the pods. Only this close did she noticed there was a rather thick layer of dust on them. They hadn’t been touched in a long time. She wiped off the front of one of the chambers and peered inside the glass window. She took a step back and gasped. “Doctor… Doctor come see this!”
The Doctor looked inside a pod as well. His reaction, however, was slightly different than Twilight’s. “Oh… Aren’t you all just so cute asleep. So harmless and peaceful.” He said, smiling. “Long time no see, guys.”
Inside the pods, sitting curled up, lay a red pony. It lay dormant and looked asleep. It looked not much different than Twilight herself, or any other pony, except that his mane and his coat were a bright fiery red. In fact, all of the pods held these strange red ponies. All looked exactly the same. Twilight was both frightened and confused. “Doctor… who, or what, are they?”
The Doctor kept smiling while he held a hoof up to the pods. “Twilight, meet the Asht’k!”
“What!? What are… Kash tic?” Twilight asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“Asht’k.’ he corrected her. “They’re an alien race, of course. I’ll try to summarize what I know.”
He took a breath. “The Asht’k live far off in the Leeson 0 galaxy. They are very similar to you ponies in more ways than one; however their one main difference is how they run. Not literally, mind you, but rather where their energy and life comes from: Magic! See, their sun doesn’t burn like your sun. It burns magic, sending magical energy down on their planet for all the little Asht’k people to enjoy. It’s their life energy. Without it, they would starve and die.” He said the last part with a bit too much enthusiasm.
Twilight tried not to listen to this drabble but found she had nothing else to do. Maybe once he got it off his chest, he’d shut up. But the more Twilight listened, the more it seemed to make sense and explain what was going on. Ponies that feed from magic? That seemed… like a plausible reason to steal magic.
"Also, they're red. Really red." he added. He turned back to the pods. “This technology is old. Very old. Last time I saw them, they had much more advanced stuff, that’s why I didn’t recognize this!”
Twilight still didn’t know what was going on. And yet… she did. She shook her head, “Doctor… if what you’re saying is true, then why did they come to earth? Why all this way? Why take ponies’ magic when they have a sun of their own?”
The Doctor closed his eyes in thought. “The last questions. Once those are answered, we can act.”
Twilight didn't know what to think anymore. Her talk with Spike had her believing that there was something else amiss about this whole thing, but she still didn’t want to believe it was aliens. And yet… The evidence was piling up and she was running out of explanations. The empty building, the hidden stairwell, the strange labs, the pods with ‘aliens’ in them… More and more she wished it was all some elaborate prank, but more and more she felt that it was true...
Aliens. She wanted so much to deny they existed, and here she was looking right at one. Throughout this whole thing, Twilight wanted to think that the Doctor was being silly for believing in aliens. But as things happened, as things were revealed, she began to change. Slowly, she began to feel as though it was her who was being silly.
“Come here.” The Doctor had already skedaddled off and was examining something. It was the terminal on the far left. He motioned over for Twilight to see.
Twilight gave in and checked out what had captured the Doctor’s attentions this time. He was looking at a computer monitor that was atop the terminal. She bent down to get a better look. From what Twilight could see, it showed a bunch of garbled nonsense and random symbols. Wait… She recognized some of those symbols. Upon closer inspection, she discovered they were similar to the symbols that were on the paper the Doctor had shown her when they first met. The strange energy readings…
The Doctor typed away at the keyboard underneath the screen. His hooves moved lightning fast and his brain worked even faster. He mumbled under his breath. “So… you’re harvesting the magic from the ponies… but where are you storing it all?”
Finally, she had to ask. “Doctor, what’s going on?”
Without taking his eyes off the screen, he explained. “All the magic that’s being stolen... it’s being taken down here. It’s in here… but not all of it. There are records of magic being harvested, and then some is split off into these stasis pods. But only some of it. The rest… is gone.”
Just then, Twilight had a stroke of realization. “Wait! You said they feed off of magic, right? What if that magic is going towards the Asht’k themselves? To feed them?”
The Doctor smiled. She took the bait. “Clever. You’re catching on.” He stood back up straight. “So the Asht’k have created a drug that steals magic from ponies for them to feed on. The magic being drained keeps their cutie mark and special talent in them. No magic, no cutie marks.”
“And no talent.”
Twilight’s ears fell back against her head and her face turned into one of worry when she saw somepony standing there beyond the open door they came through. He was a fiery red all over and was rather tall. He had a very stiff smile spread across his pony face. He wore a white lab coat and stood firm, making him rather intimidating.
Twilight wanted to run or fight back or do something. But the Doctor did not move. He stood his ground.
“We’ve been expecting you Doctor.” The pony said. His voice was deep and serious. Twilight thought he looked like some kind of leader, given his important looking and large stature. Normally, Twilight was not known for passing early judgements or making hasty assumptions, but she instantly did not like this guy. Not one bit.
The Doctor flashed them a toothy grin. “Oh good. You know my name. That’ll save us time. As for her, this is Twilight Sparkle.” The Doctor motioned towards the mare behind him.
“We know who you are. And we know why you’re here.”
The Doctor just continued to smile. “Well, aren’t you just on the ball today! We’ll be going ahead of schedule at this rate.”
The red pony showed he did not like to be patronized and frowned at the Doctor. With this guy, something as simple as frowning looked scary. “Come with me. You are now our prisoners. Any resistance will be met with swift and painful discipline.”
“Right! Let’s get going.” He began walking towards the red pony leader. He turned back to Twilight, who stood in place, frozen with both fear and confusion. “Come on, Twilight. Didn’t you hear? We’re prisoners, now.” He smiled, making Twilight all the more uneasy.
“No! Doctor, I’m not going with him!” Twilight kicked her front hoof on the ground and got in a fighting stance, not unlike Rainbow Dash earlier. Her horn began to glow.
The Doctor saw this and immediately tried to stop her. “Ah, no Twilight. Don’t do that.”
Twilight was going to fight anyways. “Doctor, get back!” He was still standing between her and her target.
“No, really. You can’t do that!” The Doctor warned her.
“Just watch me!” Twilight thrust her horn forward, trying to fire a blast of magic at the pony behind them. But all that happened was a pitiful little spark and a short circuit of magic. Her horn fizzled out until her glow disappeared completely.
“Huh?”
The tall red pony smiled again. “Nice try.”
The Doctor just looked on with remorse as the red pony stood walked up beside Twilight and locked her in place with his yellow magic. She couldn’t move on her own. Just as he promised, Twilight was dealt a punishment. Sharp pains rocketed through her body as he electrocuted her for a moment. It was only an instant, but enough to get Twilight to cooperate. With the red pony leading the group, they walked out of the room.
…
Twilight could hardly tell what was going on anymore. Her day started out so nicely. Just a quick run to the store to pick up some drugs. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Then she ran into Pinkie Pie… And that’s when things turned sour. Fluttershy’s cabin, the whole Applejack ordeal… the failed drug tests, the sneaking around… and now… she was a prisoner? Her magic didn’t work. Just like the parasprite. And Applejack… What was going on?
The group of ponies and aliens walked through the lonely hallways at a steady pace. Twilight took the time to ask the Doctor about these strange occurrences regarding her magic.
“Doctor, what is going on? Why doesn’t my magic work?”
The Doctor hesitated to give his response. ”Yeah. I guess have some explaining to do. Twilight, remember how I said they were similar to regular ponies? That means they can use magic too… in a sense. It’s not the same as yours, however. I mean, it’s not more powerful, but it does cancel it out.”
“How? How does it cancel it out? I have the strongest magic of anypony I know, save for the Alicorns.” she said, giving herself an undauntedly amount of credit, even though even Celestia herself thought it to be true.
The Doctor thought for a moment and came up with the best explanation. “It’s like rock paper scissors.”
Despite his perfect analogy of Equestrian magic to Asht’k magic, this only succeeded in confusing Twilight. “What? That makes no sense.”
He looked down at her hooves. “Oh right. I Forgot. No fingers.” He smiled at his own ignorance. “Anyway, the point is you can’t use your magic when theirs is nearby. It cancels out at varying levels, but it’s still technically more powerful.”
“That’s why it didn’t work on Applejack…?” Twilight thought. If she couldn’t rely on her magic to help her out here, then what good was she? The Doctor seemed to be up to date on everything. Her intellect and knowledge was useless. She began to feel queasy again.
The group entered into another room. It was a rectangular shape with the farthest wall covered in monitors and computers. The side walls looked similar in that they had large machines and cables running along them. It was well lit compared to the rest of the place, but everything in it was still black. Not that there was much to see anyways, because at the moment, the place as mostly empty. For a second, Twilight didn’t recognize the room. Then, she had a feeling that she had been in a similar place…
In the center stood another red pony. An Asht’k, Twilight presumed. He also wore a lab coat, identical to the taller red one. Unlike his companion however, his mane was a mess of spikes. It reminded her of the Doctor’s spiky hair… only crazier. He was also noticeably shorter.
Tall red saluted his apparent superior. “Here are the intruders, sir. As you requested.”
The crazy haired pony smiled stiffly. “Good. Dismissed.”
But the other pony did not move from his spot. He just stood there with a straight face. The two Asht’k just stared at each other. There was a strange tension in the air as nopony said anything. Twilight, still locked by the yellow magic, looked between the two red ponies. The Doctor said nothing as well. Eventually, their serious faces cracked into smiles and their smiles broke into wide grin. So enough, they couldn’t hold it anymore and broke out into laughter. They laughed and laughed and laughed. Twilight was now more confused than when they were silent. She just looked at them with shock and disbelief.
Finally, the pony in the middle of the room spoke. “I’m sorry… I can’t keep this up! The-the look on your faces…!” he said, trying to breathe.
“Haw Haw Haw! Hoo… That’s good.” The other said, holding his stomach.
After a few more chuckles, the Doctor decided to cut in. “Well, I know laughter is supposedly the best medicine,” he said with an amused smile, “but if you two are finished…”
Messy hair guy nodded and waved a hoof in the air. “Yes yes, you’re right. We have so much to discuss, good Doctor.” His voice was just as cheery as a certain pink party pony.
Twilight couldn't take it anymore. This was just becoming more an more confusing and she wanted answers. Pushing the thoughts about aliens aside, she spoke up, “Hey! Why try to be all serious if you weren’t going to be like that the whole time? What was the point?” It did seem rather pointless and more of a hassle to her.
Crazy mane, as Twilight now called him, explained it to her. “Think of it this way: I don’t think you would go along with someone that looks like me if I just asked, now would you? You wouldn’t be intimidated to go with us, would you?” He added an eye twitch to go with the creepy smile.
Twilight paused. “Well… no, but.”
“She wasn’t intimidated anyways. Had to hold her down.” Tall red explained.
“Ah. I see. Well, it worked for the Doctor at least! Oh, you can let her go now, by the way.”
The pony holding Twilight with his magic nodded and released her. She shook her head and stretched her legs in relief of being able to move freely.
“You’ll have to excuse my friend.” The Doctor said looking like he suddenly was on their side. “She’s not as... quick to catch on. Not like someone I know who’s just skipping all the unnecessary introductions.”
Crazy mane smiled. “Yes, I suppose so. Well, if it makes her happy, I’ll spell everything out for her. Starting from the beginning…”
“It worked.” the Doctor thought. Being friendly and on their level got them to explain their plans and intentions much easier and quicker. Maybe Pinkie was right. Maybe they could finish in only ten chapters.
“Please, sit. Be comfy. We heard how much you like our chairs.” Crazy mane motioned to a set of chairs that had appeared out of the floor. A table and another chair came up as well. Once everypony had been seated and was comfortable, he began his tale.
“Many years ago, we lived on our home planet that circled our magical sun. It was a happy and peaceful time. Our sun burned magic for all of us Asht’k to enjoy. Then, one day, our brightest scientists predicted that our sun was going to burn itself out. Well if that didn’t just rustle all of our jimmies! Mass panic and chaos filled the people of our world and everything went to hell.”
“Isn’t that just a shame.” The Doctor said.
“That’s what I said!” Crazy mane agreed, “Then, we had an idea. We would send out our bravest and smartest scientists to go on an expedition to find a new source of magic. We still had time. We still might evacuate to a new place. We could still make it.” He dropped his voice low in sorrow. “but…”
“You never found any.”
“Right-o! We looked and looked and looked. But there was nothing. We couldn’t just use any magic, you know. It has to be compatible. Our reserve magic was getting low and we all were very tired. So tired… We put ourselves in stasis pods to reserves magic and set our course the most magical source we could detect. Did you know that compatible magic REALLY hard to find? We drifted for such a long time.”
“And that’s how you found earth…?”
“Yup. Not the best place I would have chosen, in my opinion. Little too weird around here. But beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose.”
“Oy! This planet’s lovely. It’s your taste that’s weird.” The Doctor stood up for the little blue rock that was third from the normal fiery sun. He happened to like it very much.
Crazy mane shrugged. “Sure. Anyways, we found that this planet was rich with magically energy! It was perfect. Not quite the same as ours, but compatible nonetheless. But… it was not in the sun, nor the planet itself.”
“It was in the ponies that inhabited it.” the Doctor said.
Crazy mane rest his chin on his hoof and his elbow on the table. “The trouble was… how do we get the magic out of them? We couldn’t take it out, just like that. Doing it physically didn’t work. All we got was a big mess.”
Twilight cringed at the thought. She listened to the story as well as she could, but the thoughts of all the horrible things they did crept up on her. It took all she had not to buck the two aliens right then and there.
“Well, we were the brightest and bravest scientist, were we not? Surely we could find a way to harvest the magic!”
“So you invented ‘Salvation’.”
Crazy mane smiled just as crazily as his mane. “The rest is history as they say!”
Twilight interrupted to voice her opinion. “But… what about the mind control? Where does that come in? And the parasprite?” She felt she was still missing a bit of this story.
Crazy mane chuckled. “Oh yeah. Those. Remember how I said it wasn’t quite the same magic? Well, the special talent and cutie marks were the difference. When we took the magic, we gained the talents! Ahahaha!” he began laughing for no reason. “A talent in cooking, a specialty in flying, uniqueness in apples, they were all given to us to use! So naturally we experimented with new techniques. Did you know that mixing certain spells can take little fuzzy balls and turn them into monsters? Funny stuff.”
"And then you had to try out that old teleportation spell you found..." Tall red said sarcastically.
“Wait! Doctor, you said it was all sciencey stuff! You said that’s why my magic didn’t-“ Her words drifted off, never to be completed through her mouth as they were completed in her head. He lied. It wasn’t sciencey-wiencey. It was alien magic all along!
“I’m sorry, Twilight.” He said honestly. “I lied because I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
Crazy mane ignored them and continued. “As for the mind control… er, Twilit, was it?”
“Twilight Sparkle.” She corrected him. The more she talked to him, the less she liked him.
“Yes, Twilight... Let me put it this way. When you dig, other than dirt, what do you get from it?”
Was it a trick question? What was he talking about now? Digging? Well, when you dig, you have…
“A hole?” she said slowly.
“Yes. And what can you put into that hole?”
Ignoring the dirty implications of how that sentence was worded, Twilight thought for a moment. “Well. Pretty much anything you wanted?”
“Including our own mind control dirt!” Crazy mane smiled at his perfect analogy.
Twilight had no idea what to say to that. She just sat there with a blank expression. She blinked.
The Doctor leaned forward towards Crazy mane. “Yeah… analogies don’t really work…” he whispered to him.
Crazy mane sighed, seeing that he would have to explain further. “Well, after we took out the magic, we found we could out our own brand of magic in their as a token of thanks! Who knew it would happen to control their minds? So, I controlled the one in the library and had some fun.”
Tall red spoke up from behind Crazy mane. “And I controlled the one in the bedroom!”
Again, ignoring the dirty implications of how that sentence was worded, Twilight realized what this meant. When she was dealing with Applejack, it was the Asht’k that were inside her and trying to kill her.
“So… I connected with your mind?” Twilight shuddered. She felt like she had to take a shower to wash away the unsavory feeling of having bridged minds with the likes of him. Pass the brain bleach…
“Let me just say… trying to get me outta there by using the power of love…?” Tall red said nothing for a second then broke down laughing like he had done earlier. He laughed uncontrollably as he fell to the floor. It was then that Twilight recognized something: his laugh was the same as Applejack’s when she was under the mind control! The sight of this pony disgusted her.
“So, let me get this straight.” The Doctor spoke up. He stood up and began to walk around the table. “Your people were starving without magic. Terrible tragedy. What are you to do? You look around for a little bit for more magic. Become heroes for your world. Great idea. I can respect that much.”
Crazy mane smiled at his flattery.
Then, the Doctor’s face became serious. “Then, you find a planet with ponies that have magic. And you decide to take their magic from them. But, did you ever stop to think about how the ponies of this world felt about that? Stealing their essential life energy, cause let me tell you, it is not a pleasant experience. You may literally live off of magic, but to these ponies, magic is a part of life. I will not stand by idly while you essentially kill innocent ponies just to feed!” His voice rose in a frightening manner. At this, Tall red stopped laughing. Even Twilight was shaken by it.
The Doctor noticed this and calmed down. He became very solemn when he spoke again. “Listen. I know this will be hard for you, but what you said, about your planet in danger… I know about that. That was thousands of years ago. Your sun has already burnt out. They’re already gone. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Both Asht’k went silent. Their previous attitudes of light heartedness were gone. The reality of the situation set in. “I see. I know you are telling the truth, Doctor. We were going to stock up on all the magic and take it home. We were going to save the world…” the Doctor could hear the sadness in his voice.
“I know. You were just trying to help your people, but your people are gone. There’s nothing you can do for them…but I can still help you. I can find you a new planet to get magic. I can find you a place to live as the last of the Asht’k in peace. Let me help you.”
Neither Asht’k said anything for a while. They looked at each other. Then, Crazy mane spoke. “The last of the Asht’k. The last of our people. The last of our kind. You know that feeling all too well. Don’t you, Doctor?”
The Doctor said nothing.
Crazy mane leaned in closer and smiled. “Yes. We know about you, Doctor. We may have been cut off from our planet, but we knew about you long before then…” The two ponies were inches apart when crazy mane whispered, “…the last of the timelords.”
Finally, the Doctor “It’s not easy. Being the last of your kind. I know. But it is possible to get through. You just have to be strong and move on.”
Crazy mane smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, Doctor. You might be strong enough to, but we’re obviously not. No, I think we’ll just stay here and take all the magic we want. They can’t stop us. They can’t even use their magic against us, isn’t that right, Twilight?”
Twilight said nothing. She just glared at them with a hate filled expression. Tall red smiled even more. The Doctor walked back around to Twilight’s side of the table.
Crazy mane turned his attention to her tan pony friend as he walked. “And then there’s you, Doctor. As fantastic as you are, there’s nothing you can do either.”
He smiled at this. “Oh? Can’t I?” he retorted, confidence brimming in his voice. “Of course, knowing so much about me, you must know about my trusty sonic screwdriver?”
Both Asht’k smiled. “Ha! Nice try. The only reason that worked in the library was because my connection had been weakened by the physical abuse! It won’t work on me directly!”
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “Oh, believe me I know. But you know what’s cool? Even though it’s a ‘sonic’ screwdriver, it has a ‘silent’ setting.”
As ‘crazy’ Crazy mane seemed to live up to his given nickname, if there was something he was not, it was stupid. At the Doctor’s words of confidence, his eyes widened. He knew that something was going to happen, and whatever it was, he was not going to like it.
Now that the final questions had been answered, the Doctor decided to act. When he had finished his sentence, he quickly got down and grabbed hold of the newly unscrewed table and pushed up with all his might. Because the bolts had now been removed, the table moved easily an was subsequently flipped on top of the two Asht’k.
CRASH!
“Run!”
Twilight didn’t need to be told twice and high tailed it out of there, followed post haste by the Doctor. Both Asht’k scrambled to get the table off of them. “Stop! Get them!”
…
Twilight and the Doctor didn’t stop running until Twilight thought her heart was going to explode. She followed closely behind the Doctor as he made many twists and turns throughout the underground labs. Finally, they stopped inside what Twilight thought looked like a broom closet. A rather large broom closet, but a broom closet nonetheless. While Twilight caught her breath, the Doctor listened at the door for their pursuers. When he couldn’t hear anything, he turned back to Twilight.
“What are we gonna do? They’re gonna steal the magic from everypony in town unless we stop them!”
“I know, I know, I know!” The Doctor said, pacing around. They both tried to think of what to do before the Asht'k found them. Who knew what they would do with them? "We've got to be careful. As normal of ponies as they might seem, they're are extremely insane. The lack of real Asht'k sun magic has messed with their minds and I don't think the pony magic helped any."
"Yeah. one minute they'e polite and charming, next they're trying to kill you in cold blood."
"They have no real concept of appropriate responses anymore; everything is criss-crossed and that makes them very dangerous."
"You can say that again."
“Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll use a Hyper Sonic Disrupter to scramble the frequencies of their harvester and reverse the polarity, effectively destroying it. Meanwhile, I need you to catch those Asht’k in a clever and cunning magical trap.” He said, trying to sound like he knew what he was doing. “Only three flaws, far as I can see: 1, I don’t know where their harvester is, 2, you can’t use magic and 3, Hyper Sonic Disruptor is something I just made up.”
Twilight just shook her head and paced in a small circle. “Uggh…” she groaned. She might have been able to do something if she had her magic, but at the moment, she was useless.
“Well, we’ll have to go with plan B.” said the Doctor.
Twilight stopped to look at him. “Oh? And what’s that, then?”
He put a hoof to his head. “Working on it.”
…
Both Crazy mane and Tall red pounded their hooves against the metal floor as they ran down the hallways. Tall red lead the two, galloping quickly throughout the underground labs. There may have only been two Asht’k awake at the moment, but there were only two ponies to deal with.
“This way!” called Tall red as he bounded around another corner. In his cache of assorted stolen magics and talents, Tall red had picked up a certain ability that let him… find things. He didn’t understand it, nor did he want to. He knew where they had gone, and that’s all he knew about his ability. That was also how he found the Doctor and Twilight earlier. They could run for as long as they wanted, but they could not hide. He would find them.
The two Asht’k stopped in front of the same door Twilight and the Doctor had entered only a few minutes ago. Crazy mane turned around and bucked in the door with one swift kick. Tall red tried to tell him it was unlocked, but Crazy mane ignored him. His attention was focused on his prey: a lone Twilight Sparkle.
“Ha! Gotcha!” Crazy mane smiled so wickedly it almost looked like a snarl. He really did look insane.
Twilight gasped and tried to escape, but there was nowhere to run. Before she took three steps, Crazy mane had already restrained her with that all too familiar yellow magic. Twilight tried to put up a struggle, but it was in vain. She was caught.
“Doctor! Help!” she screamed. But nopony else was there. The Doctor was gone.
Crazy mane noticed this and searched for the elusive Doctor. After seeing that only one half of their prey was in their clutches, he levitated Twilight over to his friend. “Here. Take her back to the harvester room. I’m going after the Doctor.”
“Shouldn’t I? I can probably find him easier.” Tall red objected.
“I know you can, but I don’t care! He’s my prey. Just do as you’re told!” said a very cross Crazy mane. “Besides. She’s all we need. Once she’s in the harvester, there’s nothing he can do to stop us.”
Reluctantly, Tall red nodded. His own horn glowed and he took Twilight in his own yellow energy. Crazy mane then left to find the Doctor while the other two went back to the harvesting room. Twilight kicked and screamed as she was dragged away.
“NO!! Doctor! Heeeeelp! Doctor!”