Black and Blue and Bloodied

by Sixes_And_Sevens


Blackest Night

Blueblood peered down from the window to watch the cracks spread up the face of the building. “It’s quite extreme already,” he said, his voice shaky, “and it’s only getting worse. I don’t think the front entrance is a viable option.” He glanced back. “I don’t suppose your little screwdriver can do much?”
The Doctor shook his head. “Not really, no.”
Blueblood looked around the room wildly. “Well, what other options do we have? Is there somewhere safe to stand? Some kind of parachute?”
The Doctor started to shake his head, then stopped, a curious expression crossing his face. “‘Ang on,” he muttered. “I wonder— that might just work!” He turned tail and leapt over the filing cabinet out the door, Blueblood hot on his hooves. He hardly even realized where they were going until the Doctor threw open the doors to the stairwell.
Blueblood skidded to a stop. “What are you doing?” he asked, horrified. “We can’t go that way, we’ll plummet like— like—”
“Stones,” the Doctor finished. “Yeah, the pun wasn’t lost on me, either. But it should ‘old our weight for long enough. Come on!”
He galloped through the door and toward the stairs. Much to the unicorn’s astonishment, however, he didn’t go down them. Rather, he went up. “What in the world are you doing? There’s nothing up there but the roof!”
“Exactly! Shift yourself!” the Doctor bellowed.
Blueblood twisted up his face but then, with a sigh, untensed. As quickly as he could, he raced up the steps, leaping over four at a time, and he could almost swear he felt them crumbling away beneath him. The Doctor slammed through the door at the top of the stairwell, and Blueblood skidded through just after him. “Well?” the unicorn asked, panting. “Now what?”
The Doctor didn’t answer, scouring the dark, starry horizon intently. Finally, he trotted over to the edge of the building, peering over the wall that was all that stood between him and a forty-story drop. Blueblood clutched his chest. “Don’t stand there!” he yelped. “Do you have some kind of urgent fantasy about becoming a pancake? You’ll go over!”
The Doctor glanced up and smirked. “That's the idea, yeah,” he said.
Blueblood turned a few shades paler. “I— you— come again?” he asked, his voice a register higher.
“I figure, we can make it to one of th’ buildings if we jump right,” the Doctor said. “It can’t be too short, mind, else we’ll still splat, and it can’t be too tall, or we might miss it.”
Blueblood’s breaths came in short, shallow gasps, his pupils dilating. “You’re mad,” he said, stepping back. “Absolutely mad.”
“Better mad than dead,” the Doctor replied casually.
Blueblood blanched at that, but said nothing more. Underneath him, he could feel the building starting to tilt ever so slightly.
“Whenever you’re ready, Doctor,” the unicorn said, a faint hint of fear infused into his apparent testiness.
The earth pony regarded the building to the east once more, then nodded once. “This one ought to do. I’ll go first.”
Blueblood watched with trepidation as the Doctor climbed up onto the wall. “Are you certain—” he began.
“No.” Then, the green pony launched himself off the edge. Blueblood let out a gasp, instinctively falling back. Then, gathering himself, he hurried forward and peered over the edge, just in time to see the Doctor coming out of a roll on the other rooftop. The Time Lord pulled himself to his hooves and brushed the dust off his sides.
“Are you alright?” Blueblood called.
The Doctor glanced up. “Peachy. Now hurry up!”
Blueblood stared. It was a good few meters from one building to the other, and about a story down. At the very least, there was no ledge on the lower building that would get in the way, but still…
“Come on!” the Doctor shouted, and Blueblood noticed, rather detachedly, he sounded rather concerned. He stepped back from the edge. Vast fissures were beginning to form in the rooftop. “Blueblood!” the Doctor shouted. “Get down here!”
The unicorn took a long breath in through his nostrils and let it all out in a brief sigh. Then, he turned and faced the edge and galloped and leapt—
“Ow!” Blueblood cried, stumbling. “Ruddy Tartarus!”
The Doctor chuckled drily. “Never stick th’ landing, Blue. Wrecks your legs. You’ve got to roll.”
“And get dust on my suit?” the unicorn asked indignantly. “Never!”
In accordance with the known laws of the universe (which, around here, were unusually pink and giggly), RocRoll Industries chose this moment to finally give up the ghost, crumbling like a sand castle in a wind tunnel and spraying dust everywhere. For a long moment, the two stallions stood stock still, looking for all the world like a pair of statues. Then, dust swirling off of his coat, the Doctor broke down peals of laughter. Blueblood’s lips twitched briefly, trying to resist, but soon gave in. The two of them laughed like loons for several minutes, kicking up clouds of dust.
Cackles turned to chuckles turned to snickers turned to weak giggles as the two composed themselves once more, inasmuch as a pair of dust-covered stallions giggling and lying on their backs could. The stars twinkled, as though Luna was smiling down at them. Blueblood sobered first. “Gertrude,” he said slowly. “Her body was still in there. Do you suppose that anypony will…”
The Doctor’s face darkened. “She was dead,” he said simply. “I don’t know if she’d care. I don’t know if there’s anyone who will care.”
Blueblood hesitated. “There’s us,” he said cautiously.
The Doctor nodded. “Yeah.” he picked up a hoofful of rock dust and chucked it at the collapsed building. “Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust,” he intoned.
“I thought you didn’t like her?”
“No. She was a crook, no mistake. No thought for life. No thought for anyone but herself.”
“Then why?”
The Doctor considered this for a moment. “Ev’ryone needs a bit o’ kindness,” he said simply.
Blueblood regarded his new travelling companion for a long moment. “You, Doctor, are a very peculiar individual,” he said after a long moment.
The grim, green face broke into a smile. “Ta much. Now, come on. There’s a good bit left t’ do before this little adventure’s at an end.” He trotted toward the stairwell and, shaking his head but smiling nonetheless, Blueblood trotted after him.