//------------------------------//
// Take the World by Storm 
// Story: Fall of the Doctor 
// by Sixes_And_Sevens 
//------------------------------//

The Intelligence had closed the hole in the clouds as soon as the Doctor had fallen through, sighing in relief. “At last,” it said to no one in particular, “I am rid of that meddlesome Time Lord once and for all!”
It giggled to itself for a moment, then caught itself and stopped. Giggling to oneself was a sure sign of madness if ever there was one, and the Intelligence was NOT insane. It was cool, and calm and—
“WHAT do you want?” he snarled at the servant that had quietly appeared behind him as he was thinking.
The blue-eyes stared at him, unblinking. The Intelligence breathed in sharply. “Intruders…” he mused. His eyes glinted with a sort of feral madness. “Fetch them here.”


***

“Right,” the Doctor muttered, flipping a few switches on a side panel. “That should do just fine, if… Ditzy, could I have my sonic back, please?”
“Hm? Oh!” The pegasus pulled the device out of her mane, where she’d absentmindedly stuck it with several pens and pencils.
“Thank you,” the Doctor said, inserting the screwdriver into a hole in the console.
“What is this?” Ditzy asked, gesturing to the screen and array of instruments on the panel.
“Sonic field generator,” the Doctor explained. “The TARDIS has a sort of force field surrounding it, helps to keep air in, basically keeps it from harm. If I can alter the frequency, I can turn it into a sort of battering ram, smashing apart the clouds.”
Ditzy frowned. “Won’t that interfere with how useful it is as an actual force field?”
“Well… yes,” the Doctor admitted, turning to face the pegasus. “It won’t do much against anything that isn’t cloudstuff. On the other hoof, the old girl’s pretty tough all on her own— the entire Minotaur army couldn’t get through those doors, and believe me, they’ve tried. We should be fine.”
Ditzy looked at him, dubious. “I don’t know,” she said hesitantly.
“It’s the only way we’ve got to get through those clouds,” the Doctor said.
“I know…”
“Ready?” Button called.
The Doctor flipped one final switch. “Sweetie Belle?”
The unicorn nodded, and raised the altitude control switch. As they rose, the cloud above them dissipated into nothingness. They were in.


***

Dinky was running as fast as her hooves would carry her. She could hear no signs of pursuit, but that didn’t mean anything— the blue-eyes made no noise, and the cloud floor didn’t make any sound under either her hoofbeats or those of her pursuer. She glanced over her shoulder. No one was there. She lessened her gallop to a quick trot, then a full stop, pressing herself into a doorway. She peered out into the hallway. Nothing. She allowed herself to slump against the wall for a moment, her breaths coming in short, labored gasps as thunder rumbled in the distance.
Never again, she swore, would she goof off in PE, especially not on a running day. Once she had rested herself sufficiently, she poked her head out of her hiding place once more. Still no sign of her pursuer. She took a few hesitant steps out into the hall. Had she lost him? There was the sudden flash of a lightning bolt and Dinky jumped, heart pounding. 	
She let out a long, slow breath. Nothing wrong with a little lightning— her mother had worked with thunderheads for years back in college, and she’d been fine. She’d been… more or less fine, apart from a couple of hospital visits and some vision problems. Dinky shook herself. Hold on. Wasn’t there meant to be a clap of thunder after a lightning bolt? She paused for a moment, but that was all it took. The gazelle had already teleported in behind her. For the second time that day, she was dragged into the air, tail-first, screaming loudly.


***

Button struggled to maneuver the TARDIS through the halls, always staying far enough away from the walls to keep them from dissolving and revealing the box to anyone- or anything- that might be on the other side. The Doctor was carefully monitoring what he called “fluctuations in the resonance patterns of surrounding materials” which, the colt guessed, meant checking his screwdriver every three seconds to see if it needed adjusting. Ditzy was checking for any signs of life, and Sweetie was holding the altitude steady. Scootaloo, meanwhile, had recovered enough from the electric shock to sit up and keep an eye on Rumble, who was fidgeting in his sleep. The filly patted his head awkwardly as the colt twitched and rolled over, an expression of fear on his face. “There… there?” she said, without much conviction.
The grey colt’s response was to wrap his forehooves tightly around the filly’s chest, whimpering slightly in his sleep. Scootaloo coughed. “Well, this isn’t at all weird,” she muttered.
Suddenly, Ditzy leaned closer to her monitor. “I’ve got something!”
Button looked up. “Where?”
“Whatever it is, it’s coming down the— no, wait. I’ve got two signals. The second one’s a lot fainter…”
“A blue-eyes?” Sweetie guessed.
“Must be,” Ditzy agreed. “But that must mean it’s chasing one of the girls!”
“Right,” the Doctor said, peering over his wife’s shoulder. “Looks like they’re coming straight for us, Button, when I give the word, push up on that purple switch on the far left, that’s the door control.”
The colt glanced toward where the Doctor was pointing. “This one?”
“That’s the pause control.”
“This one?”
“NO! Not that one, that’s the H.A.D.S., don’t touch it. The other purple switch, hurry!”
Sweetie Belle sighed. “I’ll get it,” she said, magically swinging the doors open once more. Apple Bloom could now be seen barrelling down the hallway, a minotaur on her tail and catching up fast.
“She’s not going to make it,” the Doctor gasped. “The minotaur will catch her first!”
Button frowned, then suddenly pushed his joystick forwards. The TARDIS rocketed toward the filly and the minotaur. “Bloom! Jump!” Button shouted.
The earth pony nodded once, then leapt forwards, ready to meet the ship.
“Sweetie! As soon as she’s in, dive,” Button said.
“Got it.”
With a thump, a thoroughly winded Apple Bloom landed, rolling across the floor of the control room. Sweetie smashed down on the altitude control, sending the blue box down through the clouds, the minotaur’s hoof snatching at nothing but empty air as the TARDIS soared to freedom.
Immediately, Sweetie rushed to her friend’s side. “Apple Bloom! Are you okay?”
The farmpony looked up, eyes distant. “That,” she said, “Was. Th’ coolest. Thing. Ever.” She looked over at Button. “Thanks fer th’ lift,” she said, grinning weakly.
The colt smiled back. “Anytime,” he said.
The Doctor stomped over to the console. “That one!” he said, pointing firmly at an instrument. “That’s the door switch!”
“Kids? Not to interrupt, but we still need to get my daughter back,” Ditzy said.
“Right,” Sweetie said, trotting back to the console.
Button swiftly maneuvered them along the bottom of the cloud, away from the minotaur. He looked over at Sweetie. “Think this looks like a good place?” he asked.
She stared at him, one eyebrow raised. “It all looks the same.”
“Well, yeah, but-- forget it. Just take us up, please.”
The TARDIS rose, and the clouds parted once more. This time, though, the clouds reformed back under them as they passed through the cloud layer. “Uh-oh,” the Doctor said, looking worriedly at his screwdriver.
“Pocket? What’s uh-oh? I don’t like uh-ohs. Especially not when Dinky is in danger.”
He looked up, fear in his eyes. “The structure of the cloud has been changed so that this frequency doesn’t affect it. We’re trapped.”