//------------------------------// // To Save A Princess // Story: Doctor Whooves- Through The Cracks // by LemonDrizzle //------------------------------// To Save A Princess “So, that was the last train to...Canterlot?” “Yes.” “And the next one is?” “Nine in the morning tomorrow.” “And the walk there takes?” “About seven days.” “They're not making this easy for me.” “Who are 'they'?” “I don't know, who are they?” “But...what-I just...” “C'mon Twilight, no time to babble, we have a Princess to save!” The group of seven ponies, Rarity now fully awake if somewhat shaken by the recent turn of events, were wandering through the shadowed, night-fallen town of Ponyville, six brightly coloured mares trotting behind one brown colt who seemed to be very confused about his whereabouts. Rarity had been awoken rather forcefully by a loud pop of confetti and batter from a contraption that Pinkie had called her “Pocket Party Cannon”, yet anther form of the destruction of physics that The Doctor had noted down for later remembrance. Her usual marshmallow white skin had turned even paler when the full facts of the evening had been explained to her but, in a sign of strength, the mare had swiftly put on her “game” face and had adapted rather quickly to the idea that the whole of Equestria was in the hooves of a brown coated alien with a baffling personality. The idea that The Doctor was confused by his surroundings was only increased when he turned around, a large grin on his face and blue eyes sparkling, warm voice calling out to the rather large, rather conspicuous group of ponies that had been following him. “So, where are going?” The synchronised sound of six hooves colliding with the faces of their owners could probably be heard in Canterlot, maybe in Fillydelphia as loud sighs of annoyance blitzed through the air, forcing The Doctor to adopt a sheepish smile. Of course, it was Twilight who spoke up in a clipped, annoyed voice that easily suggested her irritation towards The Doctor. “We were following you!” The Doctor frowned somewhat in a confused sort of way, voice rising up to create a condescending tone. “Now why were you doing that. I'm new here aren't I?” “Well yes but-” “I have been in this town for a day now, right?” “Yes b-” “And you still thought that following me, the confused alien stallion, was a good idea?” At this Twilight bowed her head and meekly nodded, the five other mares looking on with confused but pitiful expressions as they watched their friends guilt and embarrassment create a red blush on her purple cheeks. As such, expecting a rebuttal from the colt, they were entirely unprepared for what was said next. “Well that was a clever move on your behalf Twilight Sparkle.” At this Twilight raised her head, tilting it to the side slightly as her now quiet voice broke out in a hushed tone. “What?” “Oh come now, rooting through the woods, finding an alien, letting said alien sleep in your house and then following the alien wherever he may choose to go... ...well that was the best decision you have ever made.” The Doctor beamed loudly at the six mares who were looking at him with a mixture of confusion and humour, Twilight gazing up at him with relief filled eyes as the protest and insults she had thought would bite her were scattered to the wind. The Doctor wheeled around once more to turn away from the mares, his expression morphing from hilarity and happiness to one of deep thought and contemplation, his brow furrowing, his eyebrows creating a dark v shape and his eyes twinkling with unrestrained knowledge as he desperately sought a means to get to Canterlot. No TARDIS to help him get there. There was no train, not for many, many hours and by that time the Princess may be dead and the assassin may be on their way back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could maybe fly two of them to Canterlot at a time but that would surely take too much time and would dwindle their numbers. There were no auto-mobiles or really any vehicles on the hefty group of seven. Twilight's balloon, of which she had talked about consistently for minutes during their trip back from Fluttershy's, was currently docked and would take precious time to prepare and, even then, it would take far too long to reach the capital city. The six mares, one bouncing, one hovering, one pawing the ground, one meekly discussing events with her friend and one keenly watching The Doctor all noticed his sudden, spasmodic movements as he paced back and forth before them, their journey grinding unexpectedly to a halt as The Doctor continued his heavy pacing, wearing furrows into the dirt ground. Six ears pricked up as The Doctor began to mutter to himself, bouncing half-hearted plans off of himself in a vain attempt to configure a reasonable idea. The six mares each cast each other wary glances as The Doctor continued his reckless mumbling and pacing, whirling around on the spot after four hoof-steps and then trotting off in the other direction. This continued for another thirty seconds, the time ticking by as the girls grew more and more anxious towards the brown stallion who refused to stand still or be silent. The change was sudden, the sounds of pacing, four beat hooves ending instantly and the decrepit mumbling and bumbling finishing immediately, silence reigning supreme for a few, slow, painfully thin seconds before The Doctor's voice spoke up once more in a hushed whisper, the girls leaning forward to catch what he had said. “There's always a way out and there's always a way in.” The Doctor spun around to face group of startled mares, one bright yellow pegasus yelping and flailing at the sudden movement of the colt as he raked his gaze across the group. First those blue eyes, smothered with hidden knowledge, gazed into Rarity's eyes with a level of passion that spoke of great wonders and hidden secrets. The poor, bedraggled, exhausted mare had been through simply enough today to be able to handle the depth behind the gaze and so mere seconds into the stare she turned her eyes away, somewhat stunned by the force of the gaze. Next came Fluttershy who lasted about two seconds before she eeped, shrieked, yelped and gasped all in one as those blue eyes drew level with hers, turning her head sharply and hiding her face with her gentle pink mane, covering her features in an obvious sign of discomfort. Then the time came for Applejack to meet the cold, yet calculating stare of The Doctor, emerald eyes blazing with strength and colliding with blue eyes that blazed with something hidden, something secret. At first Applejack looked into those eyes, peered into the disguised secrets and she wanted to know of them, of why they were secret and what he kept hidden from them. It took only a matter of seconds though for her view to diminish as the full, bombarding force of those eyes fell upon her, The Doctor recognizing her curious, privacy invading stare and returning a hard one that forced her to turn away. Rainbow Dash was next, having already seen the numerous stare-downs that had been going on she launched herself towards The Doctor, attempting to make him break his gaze first. Her face smacked his one but neither moved, both staring into each other, The Doctor peering at Dash with a searching look whilst Rainbow stared at The Doctor with a look that spoke of her refusal to back down. Seconds ticked by before Rainbow Dash was yanked backwards, her tail clasped firmly in the teeth of a certain orange mare who exclaimed that 'this ain't a battle ya'll can win'. His eyes rested on the face of the pink mare who had, shockingly, remained completely still during the display of fruitless searching that The Doctor had gone through, twin pairs of blue eyes interlocking as the party pony and the Timepony set their eyes on each other. In those eyes The Doctor saw a spark, a single burning flame of wisdom that was cleverly disguised by the pink pony and in his eyes, Pinkie saw such sadness and hate and anger, emotions that chilled her to the core. The duo kept up the stare for another few seconds before Pinkie cast her gaze away, not down, not up, nor behind her. Instead those blue eyes of the bouncing, wild party pony rested upon Twilight as if she were signalling something, something The Doctor had missed. Slowly, the brown coated, black maned, blue eyed colt swerved his gaze towards the purple mare. Eventually, those bright blue eyes reached Twilight's purple ones, intent on her and her alone, a deep feeling of privacy being invaded and secrets being discovered overcoming the lavender mare as those eyes continued to stare into her with a burning intensity. She resisted the outstanding urge to avert her gaze from those eyes, instead opting to allow the little stare-off to continue for a few more seconds, blue and purple locked together for seconds upon seconds. Just as Twilight's eyes began to water from the overexertion The Doctor let out a low whistle, eyes widening and breaking their lingering glance from Twilight's as a small smile began to creep along his features, slowly at first but then with more force. “Oh I'm so stupid! The answer was staring me straight in the face the whole time.” Though the statement The Doctor had made sounded like one which would surely have been said in a dejected voice, the tone of the brown colt spoke only of excitement and an eagerness to enact whatever little scheme his brain had thought up. Twilight spoke up in a quiet but carrying voice, tone filled with curiosity. “What is it Doctor? What did you miss?” The Doctor merely allowed his smile to widen at Twilight's question before his voice rung heavily through the night air, splintering the night with thick layers of warmth but, most importantly, relief. “You Twilight. Its you.” At this, Twilight took a hasty step backwards as six pairs of eyes fell on her with sparkling questions, forcing the purple mare to shiver slightly under the weight of those watching. “You're our answer Twilight, our solution!” [.] Every bump, every twitch, every knock sent a dull throb of pain through its soft, weak, green body, sending shivers of aches coursing through its form. The train itself was a poorly constructed thing, peeling pink paint and rusted metal poles coating its interior with a drab, broken look. The floor was hopelessly dirty, fizzy drinks and lost sweets decorating the floor with a sticky mess that reminded it of the ground of its old planet. The planet that he had destroyed. The windows of the train were incredibly dirty, filth smothering the night-time view of the whizzing, streaming countryside with a faint brown blur. On the outside the train had appeared almost regal, great rolling coats of thick pink paint and yellow striped poles dotting its surface, creating a clever illusion that disguised the decrepit interior perfectly. The torn red cushions of the seats spilled their insides out across the floor, the soft padding laying scattered on the sticky ground, allowing every single small movement of the train bumping on the tracks to spread the discomfort to the passengers. Perhaps the same was not said for the rest of the train however. It had chosen the carriage at the end for its den, intent on not being noticed by any ponies, attempting to keep out of the way until it reached the capital. Until it reached its victim. The sound of the sliding carriage door snapped it out of its fevered daydream, green stallion head whipping upwards to stare at the newcomers. The two stallions who entered looked haggard and gaunt but in their eyes flickered a fire that the disguised plasmavore knew all to well. The first of the stallions was a cold, stone grey colt with a thick, bushy brand of silver hair that seemed tousled and windswept, grimy and desecrated. Amber eyes glared rat-like behind the thick shroud of greasy silver hair, anger and an urge, a lust to claim what wasn't his glittered behind those eyes. His mouth was set in a grim, slanted, pale white line, the sign of a creature down on its luck. Dirt clotted its coat and mane, brown smears intermingling with silver and grey. The dirt however, did not quite manage to smuggle and hide the owners cutie-mark, a curious picture of a single chiselled, grey cinder block resting almost gently upon his flank. The second stallion was a bright, sunflower yellow coated colt with a styled, pure red mane that remained in a pristine, perfect condition upon his head. Bright, blue teal eyes stared from bagged, stretched sockets, filled with the same hungry, criminal look as the other stallion except these eyes gleamed with intelligence as well. His mouth was, to the exact opposite of the other colt, set in a jaunty, condescending smile as if he had done this time and time again. Unlike the other colt, this stallions coat was immaculate, shining in the dim light of the train carriage. This ones cutie-mark was a what appeared to be a silver tongue with a pair of gleaming blue eyes. The jaunty, smiling pony stepped towards the sitting plasmavore, his mindless, dead looking companion following close behind as he opened his mouth to speak in a purr of a voice, in a silver tongued tone. “Hello friend, my name is Silver Tongue and this lovely fellow is my dear friend Cinder Block. Now, I am dreadfully sorry but you see we are running awfully low on money and supplies so if you would be a dear and hand over all your belongings we can just get back to our carriage.” The plasmavore merely observed the two with an amused yet disturbing expression on its face, as if it looked forward to what was about to occur. When no answer or even any movement came, Silver Tongue spoke up once more, drawing closer and closer with his companion, his voice dipping slightly in anger. “Come now, just give us what we want and my pal Cinder Block won't have to resort to hurting you.” And then the plasmavore did something that made the pair of thieves freeze in their walk. It laughed, deep, billowing, malicious, dark laughter that rung along the carriage like a funeral bell, causing the duo to stop in astonishment and trepidation at the sight of the single green stallion chuckling so heartily at them. Silver Tongue spoke up in a much higher voice this time, tone filled with anger and, much to the plasmavore's pleasure, traces of fear. “And what exactly is so funny?” The plasmavore continued to giggle malevolently before it calmed down enough to hiss out its answer in a deep, twisted voice. “You two honestly think that you could do anything to me? To me!?” The hostility, the anger, the madness behind that voice made both Silver Tongue and Cinder Block seize up as if made of iron, both casting fearful glances at each other as the curious but sinister green stallion began to laugh again in a deep, insane chuckle. Their fears were quickly swallowed however by a rising tide of anger at the laughter they had received, both more welcome to terrified screams and muffled sobs then condescending laughter. A flush of ugly, crimson red coated their twin cheeks as the strange, peculiar stallion continued to laugh without a care in the world, oblivious to the world and disarming the petty threat of the duo of robbers with ease. Still, the twin ponies were not going to be sent away by mere laughter, the pair instead opting to move slowly but menacingly towards the chuckling green stallion who had calmed down enough to watch their approach with amused, cold eyes. “You've done it now you overgrown lump of moss. Me and Cinder Block are going to have to teach you a lesson in manners.” The once seductive, feline purr had left Silver Tongue, replaced by a deathly hiss that reflected the mood of an enraged, dangerous snake. Cinder Block remained silent, moving steadily forward with anger in his eyes and a deep, fat, horrendous scowl across his face. The plasmavore merely watched their approach, speaking up in a jaunty, happy voice that bounced around the carriage. “Oh, this journey just got a whole lot more interesting. C'mon and have a go then, I do need to warm up before my grand finale.” The slinking, scuttling pair of robbers halted momentarily in their steps, eyes flashing with a hint of fear and doubt before they settled back into a harsh, hard, angry expression that made the plasmavore chuckle lightly as it stood up, rising from the painfully rugged bench to face its attackers. Cinder Block drew close and, almost lightning fast, swung his body around, his hind-legs facing the plasmavore as he let loose a ferocious kick that would have made trees splinter and groan and yet, to the surprise of the robbers, the strange, green stallion merely stumbled backwards slightly and shrugged off the hit as if it were nothing. Silver Tongue swung in next, rocketing a sleek, meticulously groomed hoof straight into the gut of the plasmavore, who merely expelled a breath of stinking breath, strained teeth showing behind green skin. Once more, both robbers retreated somewhat, looking on at the iron-hard green stallion with partial horror and curiosity as the plasmavore licked its equine lips, looking on hungrily at the confused pair before it spoke up in a cool, liquid voice. “I do believe it is my turn.” The horrified, horrendous, bile-inducing screams of pain from the last carriage were muffled by the heavy sound of the train, shrieks of agony hidden behind a veil of clunks and chugs and whistles. In three days time, a pony by the name of Blossomforth would discover the broken forms of two stallions beside the railway to Canterlot, an expression of terror and horror on their faces and dried blood caking the surrounding grounds. [.] Twilight blinked slowly, shaking her head ever so slightly before she spoke up in a mellow, if partially confused voice. “Me? What can I do that can get us to Canterlot?” The Doctor smiled his overly large, overly happy grin, beaming teeth on full display as he once more began to pace, this time with a type of feverish, childish energy as if he were bathing in riches a plenty. “Why Twilight my dear, you can teleport! Just do your thing, zippity-zap and poof, we're in Canterlot saving a princess.” The Doctor seemed quite pleased with his little plan, and little it was, lacking no real “Doctor flair” but oh well, it would most certainly do the job. Twilight, on the other hand, was wearing a very guilty look, as if she had done something wrong and combining with that downcast look was one of a deep shame, casting shadows of doubt across her purple face, her eyes lowering and her confused expression flopping. “I...I can't teleport us to Canterlot Doctor.” The Doctors beaming smile wavered somewhat at the frail looking unicorns statement, eyes flickering with doubt for a second before his usual cocky, fun loving voice spoke up. “Why ever not Twilight?” The five mares turned to look at the sunken Twilight with pitiful gazes as the lavender mare seemed to sink into herself, her voice whispering from her as if she feared anger and detest from her lack of ability. “It's...it's too far a journey for me. It would take an exponential amount of power to get all seven of us to Canterlot and that distance...” The Doctor dropped his smile but replacing it was not a look of anger, nor a look of disappointment. Instead it was a deep look of contemplation that managed to draw Twilight out of her feared state, the five other mares surrounding her and whispering comfort to her, knowing that she never liked to admit when there was something she couldn't do. C'mon you old man, think. Twilight couldn't reach the distance, not with her magic and most probably not combined with Rarity's magic, guessing from the lack of any suggestion from the white coated mare. She didn't have the power but could that be changed? Maybe hook her up to a giant battery and loop the- no -that probably wouldn't work. She spoke about distance. Distance, distance, distance. There has to be something there, something I'm missing again! What is it, what could it possibly be? Alright, teleportation works on the matter of molecular destruction and then reconfiguration somewhere new via transportation through space. So if I were to...yes, yes! The six girls watched the feverish twitches of the Timelord, seeing the roaming gaze of his eyes dart around them as if sensing a pattern, as if seeing a plan. Rarity turned to gaze curiously at Twilight, who in turn turned to stare worriedly at Fluttershy, who in turn viewed Rainbow with nervous eyes, who in turn cast a glance of excitement at Applejack, who then glanced at Pinkie Pie with traces of fear twinkling in emerald eyes. Pinkie, of course, just kept her blue eyes rooted on The Doctor, smiling quite happily as if she knew entirely what he was doing. Five mares jumped quite suddenly at the loud, excited outburst of a whoop of excitement from The Doctor whilst one pink earth pony merely giggled like a school-filly, blue eyes twinkling with mirth. The Doctor opened his mouth, white teeth flashing, eyes glazed over with a thoughtful but also hopeful look that sparked the first tingles of belief in Twilight, belief that perhaps not all hope was lost. “I am going to need everyponies rubbish.” And the belief fled. Twilight frowned, disappointment etched on her face as she spoke up in a quizzical but crestfallen voice, speaking aloud what all the other mares were merely thinking, each of the six ponies looking at The Doctor with disbelief. “...How will our rubbish help exactly?” At this The Doctor smiled, forcing a similar beam onto the face of the pink party pony who couldn't resist replying to a grin. “Ah, it's not so much the rubbish as what I can do with the rubbish!” Twilight's frown deepened, along with the escaping murmurs of confusion that emanated from the mares behind her as she spoke up once more in a befuddled tone. “And what, pray tell, can you do with our rubbish?” The Doctor's smile widened even further, Pinkie following the stretched expression with childish glee as his cocky, playful, almost childish voice burst into the cold night air. “Why I can solve our little problem of a ravenous, murderous, form-taking monster of course. Now, hop to it!” When nopony moved, instead opting to stare at The Doctor with mixed levels of confusion, ranging from Pinkie's somewhat baffled look to Applejack's complete look of absolute and utter befuddlement, The Doctor let out a cough and spoke up again in what he hoped was a victorious, powerful, inspiring voice but was instead a voice that sounded perhaps a bit whiny. “C'mon now, give me something to work with! I can't work my magic if everypony refuses to give me their old rubbish. Without your help, without your assistance this day, at this hour, then your princess is sure to meet a rather sticky end. For the fate of your princess and all of Equestria, will you please just give me all your useless, broken garbage?” Silence seemed to last for hours on end and yet it could be only a few moments before Applejack stepped forward, eyes still partially glazed with confusion but blazing with a level of intensity that both surprised and excited The Doctor, such emotional range on an equine was truly marvellous! “What do ya need specifically from our rubbish?” The Doctor smiled warmly at the mare before he rattled off a small list. “Hmm, an umbrella, tin cans, electronic junk, fancy structural stuff, luminous green jelly, a whisk, elastic bands and...what ever else you can find really.” Rarity stepped forward now, brow furrowed and eyes swimming as her regal, upper-class tones punctured the sky. “I can sort of understand why one might find electronic equipment useful but why the green jelly?” The Doctor appeared wounded for a second, speaking up in a hurt voice. “Jelly is always useful. Plus I'm feeling a bit peckish, I never did get to finish my pie. I wonder if that nice stallion would lend me some from his face.” The Doctor appeared to contemplate the idea of going to find the angry, confectionery wearing stallion for a few seconds before he shook his head and turned back to the six mares before him, confusion evident in his face. “What are you all still doing here? If we're going to save a princess we're going to need to get to this Cankerloop quickly!” Twilight sighed softly, closing her eyes before she opened them again swiftly, purple eyes glittering with determination. “One, it's called Canterlot, not Cankerloop. Two, where are you going to meet us when we have all these...objects? And three, your bow-tie is crooked.” The Doctor yelped at the last statement, swiftly fiddling with his crimson tie to sort out the partially twisted fashionable item, sighing with relief as he successfully managed to revert it back to its original, pristine condition just as he spoke up again. “Canterlot, Cankerloop, they're basically the same thing. As for your question regarding where to meet me, I first need to know where the most impossibly tall building in Ponyville is.” It was, much to The Doctor's surprise, Rainbow Dash who stepped forward to answer his question in a cracking voice. “That'd be the town hall, big building right in the middle of town. You can't miss it.” The confusing yet astounding brown colt tipped his head to the hovering cyan mare in response before he started to speak in a quiet, if somehow even more demanding voice. “Alright, I need everypony to meet me at the top of this 'town hall' in roughly, oh, lets say fifteen minutes.” Fluttershy now stepped forward, rather quietly and with a small squeak as, first, The Doctor's ears and then his eyes turned to meet her, making the mare blush as she began to murmur a question. “A-and...what happens then?” The Doctor spoke and now there was a burning fire in his eyes, a powerful ember that sparked and burnt deep into the soul of everypony present, a look of such power, of such determination, of such anger and desolation and yet hope that it simultaneously warmed their hearts and froze their minds. “Then, my dear Fluttershy, the fun truly begins.” [.] The girls had bustled and burst away rather quickly after that, rushing home to dig and root their way through old rubbish, broken nicknack’s and forgotten gifts of old, drawing up on all their useless reserves, claiming dusty objects as their own, scratching at the surface of a mountain of rubbish and litter that threatened to spill from their homes after being discovered. Meanwhile, The Doctor paraded around the small, quaint and silent town of Ponyville, blue eyes peeled and alert, searching through the gloom for the mysterious and elusive massively constructed building known simply as 'town hall'. He stumbled through the dark, old, ancient eyes roaming the depths of darkness, casually knocking into tin metal bins and squashing the flowers outside the houses of particularly green mares, shuffling through darkened streets and malicious feeling alleys. It was here, stumbling and moaning through many a dark corridor and alley that The Doctor carelessly and accidentally wandered into the sunken, shrivelled, vile body of the green stallion from which the plasmavore had fed from, one caramel hoof nearly tripping over the deceased form as The Doctor peered into the gloom to determine what it was that had halted his movement. And then he saw the broken, corrupted body of the stallion. Such anger and hatred flowed through The Doctor's body at that point, so much rage and fire that it burnt his soul, that it licked the bricked sides of the alley with intense heat. Death was a natural process, a pure and unfiltered procedure that would spare no creature and yet nothing, no creature big or little deserved to go like this. No creature deserved to be drained and left to rot in an alley on a far distance planet merely for the pleasure of a monster and the need to satisfy a thirst for violence. With a heavy, sad sigh that, for a single moment, overwhelmed The Doctor's immeasurable anger, the caramel stallion leaned down and shut the open, terrified and wild eyes of the green husk of fur on the floor, murmuring a silent apology to the body and wishing him well wherever he may be know before he stood up to his full height, body pulsing with an inhumane, unbelievable energy. Previously he had been fighting this beast from his universe merely to prove that he could, merely to make his arrival spectacular and to impress those around him with his skills. He had chosen to fight this demon from another world just on the plain basis that he could fight it, that he was the only one who would hope to really stand a chance against it but now, now things had changed. Now he fought out of anger, now he fought because monsters, ghosts and ghouls, beasts of terrible wrath and unquenchable evil should not live or reside upon this world, not a land filled with a species that had merely heard of murder and violence, never seen it. The Doctor was angry, angry that such a disgrace had been made of a beautiful, wonderful creature. Angry that this beast had wandered into a new civilization and killed one of the alpha species like it was nothing. Angry that he didn't stop it. Angry that he, most certainly, brought it here. And now the plasmavore had a very real reason to fear him. With dark eyes and a burning fire in his heart, The Doctor set out to find the town hall, leaving the body of the stallion in his resting place. [.] The six mares clambered to the top of the town hall, panting, sweating and heaving their heavy load of junk behind them, each one carrying their rubbish in a certain manner. Rarity was heaving a meticulously cleaned and pristine conditioned white sack full of countless, useless goodies, the silk bag bulging with the sheer number of items she had acquired from her rather cluttered basement, ranging from bottle openers to banana guards. Sweat lined the brow of the alabaster unicorn, her throat making most unladylike whining and whimpering noises as she dragged the large sack up the seemingly never-ending stairs of the town hall. Applejack was busy hauling what appeared to be a wooden cart up the stairs, making considerably less noise then Rarity but still struggling all the same, muscles tensed and aching, back arched and pained and head set forward, a grim determination set in her face. A single sheet of musty, dusty brown fabric rested over the top of the wooden cart, hiding its contents from view. Fluttershy was, with the assistance of a lot of birds, flying a bumper basket to the top of the town hall, a rather large, rather carefully crafted basket of weaved wood nestled in her hooves, numerous small birds flapping underneath it to keep both it and Fluttershy afloat, tweeting and chirping occasionally but otherwise remaining quiet. The basket looked suspiciously like an overgrown picnic holder, as if the food source of some sort of giant. Rainbow Dash had opted to merely pick up one or two little things and attach put them in her saddlebags, simply refusing to having to do real manual labour, hoping that her friends had provided more then enough rubbish and garbage to see The Doctor through on his plan and, knowing Twilight's tendency to go above and beyond the borderline of what needed to be done, Rainbow had no true threat from a lack of random junk. Pinkie Pie had packed a single saddlebag full of random toys and useless broken things that would serve even her no real purpose. Of course, being the astounding, baffling and unpredictable mare that she was, Pinkie had managed to fit into one saddlebag what Rarity had managed to fit into a sack that even Father Christmas would be proud of. She was currently bouncing quite happily up the steps, stopping to talk rapidly to each of her friends, constantly pestering them to hurry up. Twilight was the last mare on the stairs, puffing and panting as she levitated a monstrous amount of spare equipment and twisted electronics in the air, a faint purple aura surrounding the objects, leaving them dangling almost precariously in the wind. Looking back at it now, Twilight wished she had had the good idea to store her items somewhere instead of just using her magic, already feeling the beginnings of a strain induced headache coming along as she trudged up more steps. It took the group little over fifteen minutes to gather the gear and reach the top of the stairs, wheezing unnaturally under the intense pressure as they finally reached the pinnacle and peak of the town hall, all six mares immediately locking onto the moon light illuminated Doctor who was staring out of the window at the sparkling city of Canterlot, muttering to himself whilst twiddling his hooves. With a polite cough, Twilight drew his attention, his old blue eyes sparking with anger and rage at first, making Twilight draw back somewhat before the emotions were replaced by relief and a cocky grin that she remembered so well, washing away Twilight's misgivings easily as he spoke up in a quick and happy voice. “Ah here we are. Looks like you mares got enough waste for me to build my own robotic dog with!” The Doctor allowed himself a chuckle before it was awkwardly cut off by the silence of the six mares who merely looked at him with confusion and, in Pinkie's case, hilarity that simply oozed from glistening blue eyes. The Doctor frowned, his voice higher and more disbelieving then it ever seemed to be. “Seriously? I mention a robot dog and not one of you giggles, not even a question of 'oh, you had a robot dog Doctor?'. Instead I get...I get this?” “This” just so happened to be a selection of even further befuddled expressions that made The Doctor sigh softly to himself before his voice peaked up again, this time oddly flat as though he were disappointed. “Alright, lets see what you brought me then.” Rarity's most elegant and fashionable snowy white bag of bulging items came first, spilling its contents on the floor like a drunkard in a bar, the tinkling of metal hitting wood ringing around the top of the hall to echo downwards to the seating area below. The most distinguishable features, past the odd banana skin or bottle caps, was a nice selection of silver tins with residue bean and tomato juice crusting the insides, The Doctor discovering the food item that would have slumbered within the tins by experimentally licking the insides of each tin, earning many gagging sounds from some of the mares. The next item on the list was a raggedy, torn umbrella that appeared rusted around the handle but still opened fluently and fluidly, The Doctor allowing himself to perform a little jig with it before he chucked it into the 'useful' pile. The final interesting item was a rather luscious looking plate of green jelly, such an elegant cuisine making The Doctor's mouth water as he took a hasty bite of it, smiling in glee before he put both it and the plate it rested on in the useful pile. Applejack's cart was depleted next, The Doctor tearing off the cover with childish excitement to peer into the depths of the wooden vehicle, eyes twinkling with barely restrained merriment. Once more, he lobbed and threw the useless items away, broken chair-legs, toilet seats and, for some peculiar reason, an issue of Mare Magazine dated roughly three months ago. The first item of irregularity and interest was a small battery that seemed capable of supplying a similarly small device and with one long lick and a mild electric shock that made him yelp, The Doctor managed to deduct that it was still active. The next piece of useful 'equipment' was a rather large, rather funny looking motor for a tractor of sorts except this had no power, merely a rather large fan attached to the front which The Doctor tore off with gusto. The final item was a large, red rubber band that would easily fit around The Doctor's leg, his blue eyes immediately noting the slight fray along the edge and the fact that it had, most probably, been used to type up one Miss Applejack's hair. Fluttershy moved forward next, nudging her basket to The Doctor who thanked her with a little nod before he rather daintily flipped open the weaved lid with his teeth to gaze into the interior of the blatantly oversized basket. This time, only a few bottles, bottle-caps and empty toothpaste containers were seen as utterly useless. Miss Fluttershy had, quite cleverly, taken a whisk with her, metal loops slightly jagged with a few snapped in the middle to point out rather jaggedly and yet it was still useful. The next goody to be pulled out of the basket was a bulb from a lamp along with numerous red, green and blue wires that snaked from said bulb, causing The Doctor to fiddle around as the metal wires looped around his hooves, making him struggle and fidget to get them off for over a minute. Rainbow Dash brought a bent spoon. That was the only useful item she had taken, the three other pieces of junk being nothing more than rusted pipes. Pinkie Pie bounced forward giddily after the shame-faced Rainbow Dash had floated away with blushing cheeks at the look of disbelief and slight disappointment on The Doctor's face, physically lobbing her saddlebags straight into The Doctor's face, making him yelp in fear. With one cautious, edgy hoof, The Doctor reached into the brown bags with the balloon patterns on the outside, caramel appendage drawing out old balloons, empty sweet wrappers and used party poppers before he came across the more advantageous junk. A similar whisk to Applejack's sat in her bag, this one nearly fully functional were it not for the rusted edges and single, bent wire poking and protruding from the side. Along with the food-esque item, Pinkie brought with her a curious selection of partially electronic, partially revolutionary era based pieces of equipment that closely resembled those that a cannon may contain or, even possibly, be made of. Finally, Pinkie had brought with her what appeared to be flat boards of bendy, splintery wood along with some old but relatively sticky sellotape, The Doctor hastily waving his hoof through the air trying to get the tape off after he, quite foolishly, poked it to see if it was still gummy. Finally, Twilight dropped her stash of goods onto the floor, the gloom of the town hall smothering her junk in darkness so that it was not visible to The Doctor at first, illuminated by moonlight and a light purple glow. Much to The Doctor's disappointment and the scepticism of the other mares, Twilight had merely brought with her a vast selection of books, telling the group that 'they were all bad, rubbish books!' and 'I throw all of my rubbish out straight away'. Now The Doctor didn't really know what this 'New Moon' book was all about but judging by the fact that it appeared to be scratched and torn with anger along with the fact that it seemed wrinkled and coated in the faint residue of an upturned drink, he could safely guess that it wasn't that brilliant a read. The Doctor looked on at the favourable pile, before he nudged his head to the worthless, and much larger, pile of junk that sat directly to the rest of him, voice speaking up in a detached manner as if he were concentrating on something else. “You can take all that expendable rubbish away now.” The six mares blinked once, looked over to the noticeably tiny pile that The Doctor was inspecting, blinked a second time, looked over to the much larger pile that The Doctor had deemed incompetent, blinked a third time before they all spoke up simultaneously. “Y'all honestly expect me ta haul all that back down them stairs!?” “Come now darling, you asked for all of our rubbish!” “Umm...why did you ask us to get stuff if...if we weren't going to use it?” “Jeez colt, you have no idea how heavy that spoon was and now you want me to help haul back the bumper pack of useless items!?” “Silly billy, all that stuff is like soooooo useful!” “Doctor, you did ask for all this stuff. You can't just expect us to take it all back!” The Doctor glanced up from his inspection of the items for a second, eyes flashing quizzically as he spoke. “Honestly, what do you think I can do with a banana peel, a magazine, a toilet seat, bottle caps and a chair leg?” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth next, words laced with uncertainty pouring forth. “Uh...something awesome?” The Doctor frowned. “...Probably, but nothing that can help us in this situation. Now if you could just- Ah, no, ditch that idea, just stand over there and be quiet.” Now it was Rarity who stepped forward, wounded by the most ungentlecoltly acting of the brown stallion. “My, Doctor, where have your manners gone!? You can't seriously be suggesting that six beautiful mares such as us should be pushed into a tiny corner, right?” The Doctor sighed in resignation before he turned to face Rarity. “No of course not, at least not a tiny corner. That corner over there though, that corner is pretty large. Why don't you all go over there for a while whilst I, ah, work.” Rarity huffed indignantly, noting the rather rude, rather obnoxious brown colt's movements, turning his back on them as if he were washing his hooves of them, as if he were clearing his mind of them. With a barely restrained shriek of rage, Rarity spoke up once more, strained voice high and pitched in a wobbly tone. “You can't just abandon us to sit in a corner whilst you twiddle away at our rubbish!” The Doctor turned to Rarity slowly, almost painstakingly slowly and when those blue eyes fell upon her, when those chips of ice turned to her she saw The Doctor in his true glory and terribleness. In those eyes, for the briefest of seconds, she could see his triumphs, his losses, his happiness, his sadness, the blood caking his hooves, the tears sliding down his face, the cracking, worn and old armour that he wore to hide himself from the outside world, the armour used to contain the blistering force of the heart of a sun. And, with a simple blink, that look was gone, replaced by a detached, almost blank look as The Doctor spoke up in a cold, whispered voice, barely contained anger bubbling beneath the almost calm exterior. “Do you want to save your princess?” Rarity gulped loudly before nodding, the five other mares looking at her expectantly. “Good, now into the corner!” With that The Doctor's happy, bubbly voice returned as Rarity and the five other mares hastily made their way over to the dark corner, Twilight barely hearing what escaped The Doctor's throat next in a whisper. “Time to work my magic.” “Uh, Doctor, you're an earth pony, you don't have any magic.” “...That, Twilight, just quite superbly ruined the moment.” [.] “And voilà!” Ten minutes had gone by, ten long minutes in which the group of six girls had had to put up with standing or sitting in a dusty, musty corner of the town hall that had obviously not been cleaned in many years, the unsettling grime making many a pony sneeze aloud. A deep silt layer of dirt smothered the wooden floor of the town hall, making the white fashionista let out a slight wail of terror every time a single smidgeon of dust settled upon her pristine coat. Ten minutes had gone past, ten arduous minutes in which Twilight and Twilight alone had been called over by the crazed, muttering and rapidly moving brown colt, his back turned to the rest of the group to hide whatever mystery he was creating until he would rotate his head back and call for the lavender mare. Twilight would arrive and, without a moments hesitation, The Doctor would stand straight up and gaze furiously at her horn before sending her away again, muttering equations and smiling goofily every once in a while. And now finally, finally, after ten minutes of non-stop staring contests, in which Pinkie and Applejack would usually win, Fluttershy being simply too timid to deploy her Stare and multiple games of rock, paper, scissors which, believe it or not, was a very tough game to play with only hooves, finally after ten minutes which felt like ten hours, the six mares trotted out of the dark corner, anger blazing in Rarity's eyes as she gazed upon the cocky, unapologetic colt before her. Now he stood before them, one hoof behind his back, obviously holding something rather large and bulky, if judging by the hefty shadowed object laying upon his coat as he spoke up in a jubilant voice. “I know it took a while, what with me being screwdriver-less but I did manage to get it all done, quite a feat if you ask me.” Rarity stepped forward, ego still bruised from having to wait in a dark corner whilst a colt she had only recently met tinkered away at some unknown object, the fashionista's voice piping up shrilly. “And what exactly is 'it'?” The Doctor smiled as he moved his hoof held item into the light bouncing from one large window. “This, is the key to your princess's salvation.” Salvation came in the form of a rather crude, bizarre and strangely enticing looking object that had a most peculiar smell whilst making frequent beeping noises. The body of the mysterious device was made up of the wooden boards, brought quite cleverly by Pinkie with sellotape and Applejack's red hair band keeping the whole thing packed tightly together, strange lights flickering beneath the wood. Many tin cans lay on the complexion of the wood, each one beeping quite furiously, odd wires poking out of the metal tops. A strange button like object sat on the side, drilled quite ruggedly into the metal by force of hoof and umbrella handle, the small red button being a piece of the recently scrapped tractor motor. The fan of the tractor was seated on the back of the device, spinning frantically with a bright, strobing light bulb seated directly above it, occasionally beeping. A single spoon jutted from the top of the wooden box, pointing towards the heavens and rotating slowly but surely. The umbrella lay at the front of the machine, tattered fabric top laying exposed to form a dome of sorts pointing inwards, not outwards so that it made an almost crater-like look. A simple whisk lay on the side, attached via its rotating handle to the wooden box, The Doctor's hoof resting on the top of the device, clenching it firmly. “What in tha blue blazes is that thing?” The Doctor frowned. “I know it isn't the most handsome of devices Miss Applejack but it'll do the job.” Twilight trotted forward until she stood nearly nose to nose with The Doctor, eyes blazing curiously but in an almost suspicious manner also as she spoke up. “And what is the job then? What exactly is this machine going to do?” The Doctor smiled disjointedly at her rather close appearance, speaking up in a somewhat spooked voice. “You told me that your teleportation magic would not work long distances for you didn't have the energy. This device here, this wonderful piece of work, is going to literally shoot your magical energy straight into the mountain city of yours using particle distribution ejection, thereby getting us to Canterlot in a matter of, oh, let's say seconds.” Five mares looked on, perplexed at the use of, to put it in an Applejack fashion 'fancy wordplay' whilst Twilight blinked in surprise, before she peered closely at the still beeping, still blinking box of junk. “This...this thing can send us to Canterlot? How? I mean, Equestria has never heard of this type of technology, let alone seen it!” The Doctor allowed himself a more warm, more natural smile as he began his explanation. “Well, I managed to guess from the teleportation spell you showed me earlier that what happens when one teleports is a complete de-configuration of atoms and particles and then reconfiguration at a certain area, one which the spell, or scientifically, the atomic mass has been directed in... ...Now, I thought to myself, how could I possibly speed up the process of Twilight teleporting us to Canterlot? And, ah, I was going to hook you up to a giant battery at first but that probably wouldn't work.” Twilight piped up. “Because magical energy doesn't run on electricity?” “No, because you'd be killed instantly. Anyway, I then thought that perhaps I could create an ejection device, capable of capturing the atomic mass and send it flinging past normal distances through the use of a relay dome, hence the umbrella... ...This device will gather our atoms, our physical and mental forms and send them whizzing away at incredible speeds and over long distances to get us into Canterlot in a relatively fast manner. And from there on out it's just a manner of us finding the plasmavore and stopping it.” Twilight blinked, the five mares behind her now even more bamboozled by the big words, the lavender mare suddenly voicing a question that had been sitting in her mind for a while now. “And why did you keep calling me over only to take one look at me and send me away again?” The Doctor opened his mouth to reply before he was silenced by the confused but still regal voice of Rarity. “And what in Equestria did you do with my jelly?” “Well number one, I kept calling you over Twilight so I could get a look at that horn of yours, it is quite big really, thereby allowing me to judge how much magic you could physically store in one burst, letting me set the highest and lowest points for the device to stop it from, eh, blowing up.” Twilight blushed at the pointing out of her rather large horn before she blanched a little at the exploding comment, The Doctor continuing onwards like he had said nothing out of the ordinary. “And about the jelly, well, half of it is resting quite snugly in my stomach and the other half is powering the machine.” A chorus of voices rose up from the six mares, ranging from Twilight's begging, pleading insights into the mysterious devices technology to Rainbow Dash's constant begging into why he hadn't saved some of the jelly for her. “Look.” “So, if I just relayed the red wire I could make a...a cooking device?” “Look!” “Aw man, I love Rarity's green jelly, why didn't ya save me some?” “Look!” This silenced the group as The Doctor trotted away to head to a nearby window, gazing out of it at Canterlot with a feverish energy. “Look, we don't have long. The train has probably arrived by now and I'd rather stop a royal murder then catch a royal murderer so lets just get down to business. Now Twilight, get that bulky horn of yours over here.” Twilight trotted over, joined cautiously by five other mares, each one shooting each other furiously nervous looks as The Doctor started cranking up the whisk, creating an odd whirring noise from the machine followed by a much faster selection of blinking lights. “Now Twilight I'm going to want you to-Ah, wait a minute.” Before the girls could ask what he was doing, what he was planning The Doctor had already raised one hoof up and slammed it into one of the many glass panels of the window, shattering it and causing some nearby lights to turn on in the village, followed by hoarse shouting. “Why did ya do that!?” “Particle ejection from this particular machine Applejack needs to have a free range to the destination, if we were to pass through a solid object, even one as thin as glass then we'd end up halfway inside of it.” This caused six mares to pale and slowly start to back away from The Doctor, who turned around to shoot them an apologetic but also confident grin that helped to alleviate their fears as more and more lights began to flicker on around the town. “Don't worry, I've cleared the way to Canterlot. We'll be fine.” “A-and what...what about t-the mountain?” “Oh trust me, I have perfect aim and coordination at this sort of thing.” With that The Doctor turned around swiftly, slamming the box into the wall with a loud thud that caused even more lights to pop up around Ponyville as the jingling of metal hitting wood sounded again, The Doctor cringing as he gazed down to inspect the damage he had done to his precious box. Laying on the floor was a single tin can. The Doctor gazed at the can almost hazardously, six mares gazing at The Doctor worriedly before he turned his head back to them wearing a false smile. “Meh, that part was just for display anyway. C'mon, I think I may have woken the town up with that one.” Now that he mentioned it, they could hear the distance shouting of citizens and the heavy thump of somepony racing up the stairs with gusto. Twilight was jolted out of her listening by the loud and slightly stress-strained voice of The Doctor. “Twilight, get the others and get over here quickly please. I'd rather not stay here for any longer.” Twilight nodded before she rounded up the rest of her five friends and pushed and shoved them forward until they all were standing, or in Fluttershy's case shivering, before The Doctor who was tweaking the machine and gazing at Canterlot. He turned around quite suddenly, making everypony jump as his voice spoke up with barely contained excitement. “Everypony ready?” “Oh, I-I don't know. W-w-what happens to us if...if we h-hit the moutain. Oh, I don't want to-to be a m-mountain, that would b-be terri-” Fluttershy was silenced by a soft, delicate brown hoof to her mouth, making her blush as The Doctor leaned in closer to look deep into her eyes, blue and teal orbs sparking as his voice rose up with such warmth, such compassion, confidence and care that it made Fluttershy's worries melt away like butter, as she came to realize that around him, around this mysterious colt from the stars there would be nothing, nothing that would ever hurt her or her friends. “Trust me, I'm The Doctor.” Fluttershy nodded drunkly as The Doctor wheeled around, planting the box in between the panel of glass he had shattered, cranking the whisk ferociously, making the bulb blink quicker and quicker, making the beeping faster and faster, nearly drowning out the noise of the approaching pony on the stairs. His voice broke through, high and forced through the cacophony of mechanical sounds. “Twilight, aim your teleportation for the spinning fan!” Twilight nodded before her horn lit up a brilliant purple colour, dousing the room in lavender hues as she pictured her friends and her, along with The Doctor, vanishing and appearing at the fan and the fan alone, disallowing the beeping or the whirring to sink into her thoughts. A bolt of purple light spewed from her horn and slammed into the fan, causing it to spin swiftly and powerfully, creaking and becoming a blur in seconds, colouring it a faint purple that seemed to expand until it encompassed the whole group like a massive lavender bubble, the Doctor still pumping the whisk but now grinning loudly, laughing and whooping as the bubble began to retract before he ushered one word from his mouth, louder then any other noise. “Geronimo!” With a flash of bright purple light and the click of a button, the group of seven, along with the machine vanished, fizzing and fading out of existence just as the door to the town hall top floor opened, revealing a bedraggled and angry looking Mayor Mare. [.] The first thing The Doctor noticed was the crisp, burnt feel of his fur plastered to his body and the faint but present scent of something smouldering and singed lacing the air. The second thing The Doctor noticed was that his hoof, which was once gripping the particle ejection device, or P.E.D if you want, now held on to a certain purple hoof with an incredibly firm grip. The third thing he noticed was that he was on a mountain side and that his hoof grip was an extremely, extremely strenuous hold to keep up. The final thing he noticed, with a sharp intake of breath and a straining of muscles, was that six mares were dangling off the lip of the mountain, swinging and swaying high above the city of Canterlot with only his single brown hoof anchoring them from falling into a dark abyss. I may have misjudged the direction. And then, of course, the screaming started. It started off with the fluffy, wide eyed and bushy tailed Rarity who was dangling right at the bottom of the endangered group, two white hooves clutched firmly onto Fluttershy whilst she opened her mouth to belt out a powerful shriek. This in turn caused Fluttershy to jolt in fright, making the group of dangling ponies start to sway disjointedly and forcing a similar scream of terror out of the butter yellow mouth. Applejack, who was being clutched by Fluttershy and was, in turn, clutching Pinkie Pie merely shivered in fright, not voicing her horror but instead opting to stare upwards with wide, twitching eyes, breath panting outwards as she refused, simply refused to look downwards. Pinkie was holding Rainbow Dash and even the bubbly pink mare looked frightened and nervous at their predicament, bouncy hair deflating slightly as she held back a few prickly tears, instead staring upwards at the swaying rainbow tail before her. Rainbow Dash, much to The Doctor's surprise, was desperately trying to fly with the weight of the others, teeth gripping Twilight's tail as she fruitlessly but vigorously flapped her wings, sweat racing off of her from the effort. Twilight was merely looking at The Doctor, hoof around his own in a vice like feel, purple eyes staring into The Doctor's with two brutal emotions. Fear and betrayal. Fear of dying here and now, fear of never seeing Spike, never getting married, never having foals. Fear of failing Equestria, fear of letting her princess die, fear of letting that monster win. And then betrayal, such a deep rooted betrayal. She had trusted him, she had believed him and followed his every word like it was a religion and now he had failed them, he had led them to their deaths like lambs to slaughter. The Doctor glanced down at those eyes and he saw those emotions, he felt them tear into him like claws, he felt the betrayal drill him to the core before he broke his gaze, desperately searching around for something that could help, straining under the weight, hooves dragging along the rocky mountain ledge. His hawk-like gaze locked onto the battered but still strobing and beeping particle ejection device, laying a short but seemingly long distance behind him, wood panels cracked, bulb broken but fan still spinning. With a great heave and a deep, drawn-out sigh of pain and frustration, The Doctor pulled feverishly on Twilight's hoof, Timelord strength coming into play as he managed to yank her closer and closer to the edge, allowing her to get a hoof grip on the rocky side before his strength gave out and he stumbled forward, knocking Twilight off her perch with a yelp yet still stubbornly refusing to let go of the mares. The Doctor glanced back severely at the cracked wooden box that lay a mere few hoof steps behind him, taunting him with its closest and yet so far out of his reach. The Doctor let out a strangled gasp as he felt himself sliding towards the edge, hearing the screams heighten in pitch before, with a struggled grunt, he managed to pull backwards until he rested in his original position, panting heavily, dust and dirt clotting his coat disturbingly like he had just dug his way out of his own grave. The Doctor risked another glare backwards, noting how close the box seemed to be before he saw a swift, flicking movement behind him that made him groan, not in fear or in pain but in a deep sense of idiocy. Here he was, an equine, and yet he had managed to completely forget one of the basic biological signs of an equine. The flicky-wicky tail. The Doctor slid forward partially, making Twilight's eyes bug once more before he righted himself, sweat trickling down his face, eyes scrunched up in agony as his hoof screamed at him to let go, to allow this horrid weight to depart. The Doctor closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, feeling his tail swish and flick, willing it to smash into the box, to whip underneath it and send it spinning into his grasp. He felt his tail spin and smack into the box, he felt the P.E.D give slightly, he felt it move an inch before he yelled out in pain as he was yanked forward once more, pulling back with all his force to make sure he didn't fall, to make sure he didn't fail them. He squeezed his eyes shut again, allowing his mind to focus entirely on his tails every flick and movement, feeling it bump into the particle ejection device again, feeling it once more give before the strained weight forced his mind to return to the land of the living as he dug his hooves in to stop himself and the others falling. The Doctor tried to back up, to return to his position but he couldn't, the weight was too much, the strain too heavy on his limbs that he could only watch in horror as he started to slowly, slowly slide forward, feeling the dip of the mares, hearing the pounding of his hearts and the swish of his tail and, strangely enough, his swaying brown tail still rested over the box, still tickled the wooden frame. The Doctor grunted as he shunted forward another inch, giving up precious ground and causing the mares below him to scream, every single one of them, including Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The Doctor closed his eyes once more and allowed all other thoughts to flee, all other trickling ideas in his mind to cease as he put all of his focus and hope, strength and determination into the gentle lapping of his tail upon the box. This was his last chance, his last hope before he fell to far out of its reach, before he failed them. His tail slammed into the P.E.D with the ferocity of a stampeding Krafayis, with the force of a great typhoon, sending the wooden box spinning and rocketing towards him and, much to The Doctor's horror, sending it bolting past him until it rested carelessly and rivetingly on the edge of the lip of the mountain, swaying back and forth between safety and the long plummet. With horror filled eyes, The Doctor watched the P.E.D tilt, stutter and then fall off the edge of the cliff. With horror filled eyes, Twilight Sparkle watched The Doctor grunt and then race forward, allowing the weight to overtake him as he leapt off the edge of the cliff and towards whatever object had recently sailed past her head. Six mares and one alien toppled off the cliff and towards the ground, six colourful ponies screaming in absolute, astonished and terrified fear, one brown furred alien whooping loudly, tears springing into his eyes at the velocity of his descent as slowly but surely he began to catch up to the dizzying, rotating box. Rainbow Dash tried to fly, to spread her wings and catch her friends but the strain of trying to do so earlier, the pressure of attempting to lift up four of her friends along with herself had left her wings a quivering mess of aches and pains. The Doctor roared in triumph, the sound quickly swallowed up by the punching wind that thocked him hard in the face as his hooves enveloped the P.E.D, six mares falling behind him mistaking the sound of victory for one of terror and thus increased their screams. The Doctor whistled and whirled around in the air so that his back pointed towards the floor, looking at the still shrieking Twilight before he yelled up to her in a wind-torn voice. “Twilight, get the girls together!” If Twilight heard him she made no sign, instead opting to scream even louder as the city rushed up to meet them, The Doctor now roaring in fear and a fierce determination to live. “Twilight, girls, together, now!” Now she heard him, purple fizzing from her horn and drawing her friends forth into a tight huddle, tears streaming from everyponies eyes, whether it be from fear or velocity The Doctor couldn't tell. “Alright, now aim your teleport at the fan again!” Twilight screamed down at him, tension and fear making her voice high. “Are you crazy!? Look where that got us last time!” The Doctor couldn't suppress a humoured grin from breaking across his face as he yelled up to her once again. “I haven't let you down yet, not unless we splat against this floor so just trust me!” Twilight shrieked in terror but, much to The Doctor's shock, started to charge up her spell, knowing that at this velocity she would be lucky to be able to teleport inches through the air resistance and fear. The Doctor furiously cranked the whisk, making the bulb flash faster and faster, making the beeping louder and louder, pained hoof groaning under the movement. With a cry of fear and pain, Twilight's horn exploded in a powerful purple light, a blast of raw power spiralling into the fan and causing it to tremble and squeak with force, spinning faster than the eye could see. The Doctor moved the P.E.D so the umbrella was facing the castle, feeling how close the ground was to him, seeing large pillared homes fly past him, feeling the cold air whip him, seeing the faint purple shield surround them, the floor rushing up closer and closer to them, the faint sound of a pop and a fizz, an explosion of light and then. Nothing but darkness. [.] It had been all too easy. First those two bumbling, moronic colts had dared to stand up against it, had dared to fight it and now they lay broken and dead beside the tracks far from civilization. Then it had been a mere task of following its nose, chasing the scent of the powerful, all present and yet hidden victim. It had, quite unfortunately, bumped into a pony on its journey and to spare any awkward questions being asked, it had resorted to merely breaking her neck. There would be no feeding yet, no point spoiling the meal after all. It had taken fifteen minutes to locate the source of the intoxicating, powerful and vibrant smell and now it stood on the outside of a pair of heavy golden gleaming gates with two equally golden gleaming guards beside it, each casting occasional glances at it as it breathed in deeply, tasting the scent with satisfaction, eyes gleaming hungrily and mouth upturned in a vicious smile. Quite casually, it stalked up to the gates and raised a single green hoof to push the great metal bars open before it was halted by the sudden movement of the two guards, each coming up on separate sides of it, the grey stallion on its right speaking up in a deep but commanding voice. “What do you think you are doing?” Speed, that was key here. It needed to be quick, to get rid of them with a swift movement before they could raise any sort of alarm, before they could alert its presence to any other pony nearby. With stunning speed, twin green hooves rocketed out from its side and grabbed the guards behind their gold domed heads, blue plumes of battle armour whistling in the wind as the plasmavore brought its hooves together, smashing the guards faces against each other and causing both of them to crumple and faint, the small sounds of metal striking metal swinging through the air as the plasmavore stepped over the unconscious bodies, opening the golden gates with a creak as it stepped into the beautiful gardens leading up to the castle. With a cracked, brutal smile the plasmavore trotted calmly into the darkness of the gardens, working its way off of the worn path leading up towards a massive castle structure, glancing back at the twin bodies with disgust. I suppose I can't go killing them, not yet at least. It'd raise too many questions. The plasmavore turned back to its journey, smirking evilly once more as it trotted quietly but swiftly over bushels of roses and great mounds of beautiful white flowers, crushing them beneath its hooves like they were ants. It wormed its way up the less beaten path until it rested in the shadows beside a pair of large red doors, each one at least quadruple its size and blazing a deep blood crimson. A similar pair of guards stood stoically and impassively outside of the doors making the plasmavore grin in excitement as it stalked silently out of the shadows towards the first guard who had his eyes set solidly on the area in front of him, not beside him. The guard didn't know what hit him with the force of a train but what he did know as he passed out into the black void was that he was going to feel it tomorrow. Immediately the second guard turned to the disguised plasmavore, eyes wide as he opened his mouth to shout a warning, the sound rather swiftly muffled as the plasmavore tore the helmet off the unconscious guard at its hooves and threw it full force at the other guards head, making a deep bonging noise that echoed around the garden, both guards now laying in furry heaps on the floor. With a dark chuckle the plasmavore turned back to the double set of doors, cracked its neck and moved forward, twin hooves pushing and straining against the metal door, making it open with a loud groan of protest. The plasmavore allowed itself a dark laugh and a tightening of lips that vaguely resembled a happy smile as it turned to face the now open chamber, the single door it had opened leaning back as fully as possible. Almost immediately, it felt a drawing to something in the room as the scent grew heavier then ever, as its stolen eyes rotated to peer at the figure that sat on a throne of deep red and sparkling gold, as those stolen eyes widened in sadistic joy and immeasurable evil intentions at the sight that greeted it. There was a pony, if that could be what it was classified as. It easily resembled a horse form the human world, most certainly standing taller than the plasmavore in its sickly form, it could quite clearly gather that even if the pony was sitting down. It seemed to gleam a marble white like the walls of the chamber, twinkling magenta eyes widening slightly as it took in the strange visitor and the plasmavore couldn't help but notice how tired those eyes looked. A flowing pastel mane danced and spun around her, disobeying gravity with a middle finger, twirling and looping elegantly so that it almost enraptured the attention of the plasmavore. A beautiful pair of wings lay on its side along with a single, large and deadly looking white horn that extended from its head. It seemed to be regarding the concealed plasmavore with curious yet suspicious eyes that still didn't manage to mask the deep layer of motherly care and love that this creature had developed, a look that made the plasmavore want to vomit. So caught up by the sight of its prey, the plasmavore didn't notice the four guards that had surrounded it went it had entered, only coming back into the land of the living after one of the guards spoke up in a cold voice. “Do you have an appointment with the princess?” Princess, eh? I can work with that sort of power. The plasmavore cleared its throat obnoxiously and began to speak in a refined voice that dripped with malice. “Why no I don't, you see I came here to kill her so I didn't really think I needed, or would get an appointment for that sort of business.” It had to hand it to them, the guards were fast. As soon as it had finished its little speech, the four of them had thrown themselves at it, trying to grapple and contain the plasmavore to little avail. The plasmavore laughed in childish glee as it threw a fist at the first guard that came close, making the poor stallion reel backwards in shock, clutching a bleeding and broken nose. The second stallion was far more unlucky, the plasmavore brining both hooves down on either side of its head to burst the poor colt's eardrums and send him spinning into unconsciousness. The third and fourth came together, quickly followed by the wounded but growling first stallion, throwing themselves on top of the plasmavore. The four of them appeared to wrestle on the floor for what felt like hours and yet must only have been seconds before one stallion suddenly staggered away, clutching a broken foreleg and cursing, followed by another stallion that was sent toppling to the floor by a blow to the back of the head and then, finally, the third and final stallion who was sent careening out of the pile to land with a sickening thud and crack on the marble floor. The plasmavore immediately bursting forward and ramming into the last standing stallion, driving itself into his injured leg and rocketing a hoof into his armoured face, causing the colt to stumble and fall to the floor. The fight, if you could call it that, had lasted a mere thirty seconds. The plasmavore spat on the face of one of the floored guards as it trotted past, smirking as it twisted its gaze up to meet that of its victim who was staring at him with blazing fury, eyes twinkling angrily, wind whipping around her as she stood up from her massive throne, making the plasmavore gulp nervously as she levelled her long and rather pointy horn at it, voice rising from her throat like a tidal wave laced with rage. “Nopony hurts my ponies!” The plasmavore blinked in pain as a ball of bright, burning yellow light formed at the edge of her horn, crackling and shrieking with energy, making the unfortunate alien take a step back out of fear, eyes widening as it realized it may have underestimated its opponent. Before it could run and flee, before it could leave and form a better plan, the ball of burning, scorching light screamed and exploded from the horn of the white pony, chasing towards it at the speed of a bullet. The plasmavore closed its eyes in fear as the ball grew closer and closer until. Nothing. Hesitantly, the plasmavore opened its eyes, almost immediately noticing the look of confusion and fear on the face of its victim before it looked down at itself, noting how unscathed its body seemed, containing a sigh of relief as it looked up at the baffled princess with a cocky smile that suggested it knew what would happen all along. “You can't hurt me with your useless magic, I am a far greater being than you or any of these pathetic little ponies!” That seemed to draw the princess out, the rage and anger that had once spewed from her now rekindling at the abusive tone of the disturbingly maddening colt before her, her voice speaking up regally but coldly, laced with hatred. “What do you want?” “Revenge. And you will help me get it.” Celestia frowned darkly. “I will do no such thing.” The plasmavore allowed itself a chuckle, moving forward on shaking legs, the adrenaline of the near death experience fleeing its body. “Perhaps you won't but your body certainly will.” Celestia blinked in confusion, noting the movements of the stallion and yet enriely focused on his every word. “What...what do you mean?” “What I mean, princess, is that I am going to come over there, I am going to kill you, take your body as my own, kill my age old nemesis with it and then, just to top it all off, I think I will drive this weak, fragile little country into the ground.” Celestia growled deep in her throat, anger bubbling beneath her regal form as she stood stone still before the stallion, lightning like rage sparking off of her as she spoke up in a whisper of a voice. “I will stop you.” The plasmavore snorted in mirth as it trotted forward until it rested before Celestia, a great stained window to its left, sparkling and dazzling with colours. “There is only one that could hope to stop me and he is far, far away.” And then, quite swiftly, another sound filtered into the room, the plasmavore suddenly freezing in place as an eerily familiar shout tore through the chamber, followed by the tinkling sound of shattering glass originating from the left of its taken body. The plasmavore turned just in time to see a brown blur rocket into its side. [.] Moments earlier Darkness. And then life. “Ugh, Doctor?” The Doctor groaned loudly as he yanked himself to his hooves, eyes closed tightly as he shook his head from side to side, trying to clear his mind of the dizzying stars that swirled and laughed around him. He merely offered a low groan to whoever had called his name, content that they would get the message that right now he wasn't feeling like the full ship-shape Timelord. Sadly, his unsaid and yet clear expression of 'please leave me alone for a few seconds' was ignored. “Doctor!” With a muffled, sleepy snort The Doctor reared his head at the noise, eyes squinting as he made out the form of a slightly staggering Twilight Sparkle, along with five other mares who were laying in separate, contrasting positions of dizziness, Rainbow Dash with her head in her hooves, Applejack queasily standing, Rarity hunched over, head down but legs straight, Fluttershy merely laying spread eagled on the floor and Pinkie Pie remaining standing, stock still and silent. “WasaTwilight?” Twilight frowned at the confusing medley of words before The Doctor shook his head, letting out a little sigh before turning to face her fully, eyes swimming but now shining with the old flame of determination. “Ah, that's better. Sorry about that everypony, motion sickness from a descent like that coupled with a rather, ah, interesting teleport can make the best of travellers sick.” Somewhere from behind Twilight, the sound of a pony getting rid of their dinner in a most overzealous way could be heard. The Doctor turned around to inspect the area of landing properly before he flinched and flailed backwards at the sight of the ground looming beneath him. With a startled yelp, he thrust himself away from the railing-less edge that was smothered in darkness, bumping his flank into something cold and hard. The Doctor turned around to inspect the strange structure and yet, in the pitch blackness of night, it was growing increasingly difficult to distinguish anything, his viewing of the girls merely being because each one of them stood out so brightly in the night, along with the fact that nearly every one of them was moving in some form. The Doctor wheeled around to face Twilight, question bursting from his throat. “Ah, where exactly are we Twilight? You did grow up here, right?” Twilight nodded, speaking up in a confident, if somewhat irritated voice. “We appear to be on one of the bird rests on the outside of one of the Canterlot Castle towers, which means tha-” “Wait, a bird rest?” “Yes, a bird rest. Birds have to have a place to bunker down every once in a while so the princess made sure there was a circle around the tower that would let them merely cling to and relax, the exact area we are standing on is a bird's rest, hence why there are no railings.” The Doctor nodded sagely, as if that made any sense to him at all. “Anyway, carry on Twilight.” “Well, if we are on one of the tower ledges then that means that directly below us should be the-” The Doctor butted in rather rudely. “Throne room?” Twilight blinked in bafflement before she nodded slowly, followed by an equally slow voice. “How did you know?” The Doctor smiled before indicating with a tilt of his head to the right, piping up in a happy voice. “Well, I'm guessing that massive stain glass windows aren't for every room in this castle and I also guessed that that rather large, rather royal looking silhouette in that window just there must be your princess.” Twilight blinked once more before she tilted her head gradually towards the stained window, a small smile blooming across her face as she saw the figure of her mentor illuminated from the inside. “Yes, that's her. Who's the other figure though?” Now it was The Doctor's turn to blink in confusion. “Other figure?” Twilight nodded, still looking at the stained glass window below and across from her, brow furrowing. “Yeah. Whoever it is, they're getting pretty close to the princess.” The Doctor frowned before a look of worry came across his face, his eyes casting their sight down towards the figure of Celestia and the other, mysterious figure before The Doctor's voice shattered the silent viewing of the two. “Well, it looks like I'm needed down there.” The Doctor began to back up from his perch, eyes narrowed and blazing at the stained glass, Twilight turning around to stare at him without comprehension, speaking up quietly. “What are you doing?” The Doctor smiled as he stopped moving backwards, flashing a white toothed grin at Twilight. “Something stupid and dangerous. I'll meet you down there in a minute Twilight, do not leave me waiting.” Before Twilight could say anything, before she could rebuke him, refute him or simply recite what he had said The Doctor had lowered his head to the marble ground, snorted air out of his nostrils and then charged towards the edge of the ledge, head rising up to cry out a battle call as he launched himself off of the tower and towards the relatively close but relatively distanced window, the cry of a warrior soon turning into the shrieking of a mare who recently discovered a spider. The Doctor's eyes widened as he soared through the air, tears ripped from his blue orbs and mouth open in a scream of fright as he flew quickly towards the window, his mind frantically berating him at his miss judgement of the distance. Still, the scientific, serious part of his mind couldn't quite hold back the joy The Doctor felt as the wind whipped through his hair, as the scenery whizzed past, as the feeling of complete and utter weightlessness took him over. No, perhaps the rational side of his mind couldn't make him agree that this was a bad idea but the collision with a six foot tall, four foot wide stained glass window certainly could. The glass, that had once appeared fat and hard, shattered almost instantly beneath his hooves as he rammed into it, gravity making his movements forced and powerful, The Doctor falling through the window, still yelling out hoarsely as shards of glass rained down around him. He had the briefest moment to consider how beautiful the glass looked, sparkling in the faint torch light of the chamber before he impacted hard with something soft, furry and green. The breath left the old Timelord's body as he slammed into the plasmavore with all the ferocity of gravity on his side, sending both stallions spinning across the slippery marble floor, the plasmavore hitting the wall of the throne room with a light thud whilst The Doctor merely slid to a halt halfway across the room, his progress mostly halted by his collision with the stallion disguised alien. The plasmavore groaned from its fallen position as The Doctor climbed to his hooves, one brown appendage clutched tightly to his head as he began to mutter some rather rude things about himself. The Doctor moaned a little bit more as he clutched his head before the faint fizz and burst of bright white light tingled his vision, making him let out a chuckle as the familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle called to him angrily and worriedly from somewhere behind him. “What were you thinking!?” The Doctor laughed and then winced as the pain in his head trebled, turning to face Twilight with apologetic yet mirth filled eyes. “I have no idea.” Twilight looked positively distraught, her mane had, in a couple of seconds, turned into a curly mess of tangled locks and puffy fluff, her eyes had taken on a manic, angry and yet frightened look, her mouth set in a grim line and her brow furrowed with frustration and irritation. She seemed about to give The Doctor a good tongue lashing before something behind the brown alien stallion made her pause, eyes widening and her body forming into a bow of sorts. The Doctor turned around to face the stalking Celestia, who was currently eyeing the near unconscious plasmavore who was groaning in the corner, blood oozing from its taken body as the alicorn continued to trot closer to Twilight and The Doctor. Once more the sound of shattering glass filled the air as Rainbow Dash tore through a window, Applejack and Pinkie Pie clutched tightly in her hooves, the cyan mare visibly straining under the weight as the trio of ponies collapsed onto the floor, puffing and panting, Rainbow Dash red faced as Applejack turned to her to yell loudly, her southern accent becoming more prominent. “What did ya think ya was doin'? Thar was ah perfectly fine open window right thar!” Rainbow managed to pant out a sentence. “Wanted...to...make...an...entrance.” Pinkie Pie burst into giggles at the answer before the sound of heavy breathing once more filled the air, a tumbling Fluttershy clasping onto a frightened looking Rarity bursting through one of the shattered windows, sweat streaming down the butter yellow pegasus as she stumbled to the ground with a moan of pain, her wings twitching with the effort of hauling another pony. The squabble of ponies turned to face Twilight and The Doctor, beaming happily as they took notice that their two friends were relatively unscathed apart from a small nick lacing The Doctor's foreleg where one of the shards of glass had sliced into him. The happy glazed looks left the five faces however when they turned to face the baffled and stiff still figure of their daytime ruler, all five ponies immediately breaking into a bow much like Twilight had done, causing The Doctor to hastily try his own, the end result being him slapping his face into the marble, rearing up on his legs and clutching his bruised nose with a brown hoof, moaning louder at the cruelty of life. The sound of a highly regal and powerful voice, commanding yet caring echoed around the hall, laced with heavy tinges of confusion. “Twilight, would you mind telling me what is going on?” With that, the small lavender unicorn raced forward and physically leapt into the startled embrace of the white alicorn, gushing out her story like it was a waterfall, a bursting dam. “Ohmygoshprincess, IsawthisweirdobjecthittheEverfreeForestandthenTheDoctorcamealongandhe'sanalienandnowIdon'tknowhwhattodobecause-” Twilight was silenced by Celestia quite suddenly, the old voice rising up from the alicorn's throat swiftly. “Twilight please slow down!” Twilight took in a deep breath before she exhaled shakily, rubbing her cheek into the soft fur of her rulers chest, breathing in the scent that she had attached to her own protection, purple eyes opening to gaze lovingly at magenta ones as Celestia spoke up. “Good, now if you would, please repe-” “Fools!” The royal, mighty voice of the princess was swiftly and efficiently drowned out by the shrieking, mad voice of the rising plasmavore who was shaking and quivering on green hooves, eyeing the ponies with such hatred, such malice and rage that it made all but The Doctor and Celestia take a step back in fear. “You think this is over!? You think that you can just forget about me!? I'll kill you all tonight!” Spittle flew from the mouth of the plasmavore, the taking and protecting of its deliciously powerful meal being the last shove that sent it spinning over the edge into utter insanity as it barked at them like a dog. Before Celestia could voice her opinion with flame filled words, The Doctor stepped forward to speak in a calm voice. “You are outmatched, plasmavore and, if you hadn't noticed, we have three ponies here capable of magic.” The plasmavore laughed crazily, small froth trickling from its mouth. “I am immune to your silly little magic!” The Doctor blinked in surprise and confusion for a second before a look of realization spread across his face, swiftly dampened by the same serene look he had worn earlier, attempting to make the alien before him calm down. “It doesn't matter, you are hurt and we are many. I can't rid you of your punishment but I can make sure you aren't hurt in being captured so please, do the smart thing and come peacefully.” The plasmavore scoffed in anger and malice. “You think I would come peacefully? I'll kill you first, followed by these cutesy little sacks of fur!” The Doctor growled in anger, eyes flashing dangerously for a second as his voice rose up, cold and as unmoving as stone. “These are my friends and you will never, ever hurt them.” The plasmavore laughed monstrously, trotting slowly and quaveringly around the throne room, followed closely by The Doctor as it spoke up again. “Friends? Friends!? Have you even told them of yourself, of what you have done, of who you really are!?” The plasmavore continued moving until it rested near the throne of Celestia, eyes flashing quickly towards a wooden door that lay on the right side of the throne as The Doctor spoke up. “They know me, I have told them of myself and therefore, yes, I would call them friends. And I promise you, you make a run for that door and we will be on you in seconds. So, once more, why don't you just come in peacefully?” The plasmavore panicked slightly, voice rising higher and higher as the seven ponies and one confused by angered alicorn began to close in on its position. “Have you even told them how you got here!?” The Doctor paused in his approach almost hesitantly, eyes flicking around the room yet nopony seemed to notice his stutter of a stop, Rainbow Dash suddenly speaking up from somewhere to the left of him. “Yeah, he told us. He came into Equestria flying with that big box thingy!” The Doctor winced as the plasmavore turned its eyes on him, filled with perverse pleasure and a newly formulated plan, its voice hissing around the room as it spoke up in little more then a whisper that still managed to halt the approach of the ponies. “Flying with that big box thingy, hmm? Honestly Doctor, how could you lie to them?” Fluttershy was the first to defend him unjustly, speaking up in a surprisingly hard voice for the timid mare. “He would never lie to us, would you Doctor?” The Doctor's guilty look and reluctance to speak made Fluttershy stare at him with bewilderment, Applejack's voice following the pair. “Doctah?” The Doctor gulped audibly and began to speak in a cracked voice. “I...I-” “Tell them Doctor, tell them how you really got here.” The Doctor flashed the plasmavore a furious look before he turned to face the mares, eyes cast downwards as he spoke up in a monotonous voice. “I...I haven't been entirely truthful with you girls.” The plasmavore took one step towards the door, unnoticed by the others, Celestia herself gazing curiously at the colt. “I told you I came attached to the box. I...I lied to you.” Another step without notice. “I told you the box was a prison named The Pandorica but I never told you the prisoners name.” A third and then fourth step and still nopony made a move to stop the plasmavore. “The destroyer of worlds, the devourer of lives, the burning mass of anger and hatred that the box contained.” Fifth, sixth. “The creature who had the rage inside of him, the hatred and the vengeance to destroy his own species to end a war that would span all of creation.” Nopony noticed the plasmavore silently, quietly slip out of the wooden door, smirking with pleasure and triumph, disappearing into the night, so enraptured were they by the story that they would not have moved if a cannonball were to whiz over their heads. “The monster in the box, the last of its self murdered species. It's...” The mares leaned forward, followed by the long neck of Celestia bending down to hear the words she hoped, she prayed, she pleaded she wouldn't hear, to no avail. The Doctor whispered the last words raggedly and brokenly, sadness, guilt and such a deep, unsettling depression laying over his voice. “It's...it's me.” A/N: Took me long enough, eh? Sorry for the lack of updates, I've just been really, really busy lately what with the popularity of my new story and my trip to Berlin. I have another two chapters I reckon left of this story, the conclusion and then the teaser of the next story. Ah yes, first a Krafayis is the invisible monster first seen in the episode known as Vincent And The Doctor. Second, Celestia was on the throne at night for a reason so I'll explain that next chapter. I will also explain why the plasmavore isn't affected by magic but the good Doc is. Thirdly, I just worked for the past four hours to finish this so I really hope you all enjoy it and, of course, constructive criticism is welcome. Finally, I'd just like to say a big thank you for being patient with me and for supporting this story. I *sob* I love you guys.