The Changeling Wars

by Alkonium


Escape from Ponyville

[youtube=_5lPqP62uxM]

Dodge Junction, Tavern

"Twilight! Derpy! You're alive!" Fluttershy exclaimed, her elation almost palpable as she embraced her friends in a group hug.

"It's good to see you too, Fluttershy," Derpy replied, trying to break free of Fluttershy's embrace.

"What are you doing out here?" Twilight asked. "What's happened in Ponyville?"

Glancing around for a moment, Fluttershy said, "It's a long story. We should find a table and talk about it." Fluttershy answered, getting up from her seat at the bar.

Ponyville, Two Weeks Earlier

Fluttershy flew as fast as she could to try to reach Rainbow Dash and her attack force, but stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a larger Changeling divebomb straight through Town Hall.

"No! Twilight!" She called out, and listened in horror as the voice of Queen Chrysalis came on over the town's PA system:

"I really must commend you all for your valiant efforts. I never thought ponies were capable of such violence. A shame it was all for nothing. Drop your shields, lay down your weapons, and welcome to Changelingville."

Fluttershy started to panic. She made her descent to ground level, but had little idea of how she could help now. Town Hall was lost, the town's defences were compromised, and the town itself would soon be overrun with Changelings.

Time Turner rushed out of the collapsing Town Hall, carefully avoiding the falling debris. With Derpy gone, his only thought was to get to the TARDIS, and get his stepdaughter out of the doomed town. We should have just sent her to Canterlot. Cheerilee would have taken good care of her. Once outside, he darted for the nearest back alley that looked like it would lead to the TARDIS.

Once he made it out into the open, the TARDIS was in sight, but as he approached, a Changeling landed in front of him, and as he tried to flee, two more landed on either side, and cornered him against a wall. All three Changelings then took the form of Derpy, their eyes glowing a malevolent green, and they began to feed.

Fluttershy's panic almost immediately gained focus when she heard a nearby stallion scream out in pain. When the sight of Time Turner being fed upon by three Changelings came into view, her training with Iron Will suddenly kicked in.

"You hurt my friend, you meet your end!" Fluttershy shouted, and in a fit of rage, snapped the neck of the middle changeling, bucked the right one in the face as hard as she could, and gave the left one the most intense Stare she had ever managed. Once that Changeling had flown away, and the other two lay dead at her hooves, she called out, "Time Turner!"

"Get me to the TARDIS. Call me Doctor." He said, sounding as though the feeding had taken a lot out of him.

"The what?" Fluttershy asked. None of the other feeding victims we found acted like this. She thought to herself.

"That!" The Doctor answered, pointing to a blue box across the square.

"Okay, Doctor." Fluttershy then flew him over to the blue box, but found herself unable to open it until he placed his left hoof on the door. Inside was a large orange-lit room, with six sided console in the middle of it. A little unicorn filly peeked out from behind the console, and fearfully asked, "Daddy?"

"Everything's going to be fine, Dinky." The Doctor said, getting free of Fluttershy, hobbling over to the console, and starting to operate it. The console started to make unnerving wheezing sound in response.

"Doctor, you're hurt. Let me help you." Fluttershy offered.

"No, I'm alright." The Doctor said, though it looked like he was struggling to stay on his hooves. "I knew this would happen eventually, and I was a coward not to face it sooner. Everything I've seen, everypony I've met, all the adventures, have made this one of the best lives I've ever lived." As he spoke, Fluttershy and Dinky could see a golden energy emanating from him, gradually building in intensity. "So this is how it ends. Fancy that. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything." Fluttershy replied, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Don't forget me." The Doctor said, and with that, he stood on his hind legs, stretched out his front legs, and let the energy explode out of him. Fluttershy instinctively shielded Dinky from the spectacle. Thankfully, he managed to avoid hitting the console, or any other important-looking piece of equipment. When the energy had dissipated, the Doctor, or at least the brown and chestnut stallion Fluttershy knew as Time Turner, was gone, and in his place was a wide-eyed black and grey Earth pony. The only thing to suggest he wasn't somepony else was that his cutie mark matched that of Time Turner, and he was wearing Time Turner's collar and green necktie.

"Okay, first things first. Mane: black and wavy. I like it. Coat: grey. Bit dull, but it works. Cutie mark: still an hourglass; why'd I think that would change? It's always been an hourglass." The Doctor said in a frantic tone, before running his hooves over his forehead.

"No! I'm still not a unicorn!" He added, sounding much more disappointed.

Then, recomposing himself, he asked, "Well, Dinky, Fluttershy, what do you think?"

"You look great, daddy!" Dinky replied, her excitement, and her relief that her stepfather was alright evident in her tone.

"Um, what just happened?" Fluttershy asked, still confused by the whole spectacle.

"Come on Fluttershy, you're acting like you've never seen a Time Pony regenerate before." The Doctor said

"Well, I haven't." Fluttershy said in response.

"Right. You're not Derpy. Now I remember why I explained all of this to her and the fillies in advance." The Doctor muttered under his breath. "I'm not a normal pony like you, I'm a Time Pony."

"You look like an Earth Pony." Fluttershy pointed out.

"And I could look like a Unicorn or a Pegasus, but I'd still be a Time Pony. When we're about to die, we can heal ourselves, but in doing so, every part of us changes, like you just saw." The Doctor explained. "I'd be dead if you hadn't intervened. Thank you."

Instead of responding as the Doctor had expected, Fluttershy finally realized what she had done to save him, and started to hyperventilate. "I killed them, with my own hooves." She said quietly, starting to cry.

"I don't like killing any more than you do, Fluttershy, but I owe you my life. We wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't." The Doctor said, trying to reassure her.

"Made it out?" Fluttershy asked, confused by the statement.

"Just before I regenerated, I set the TARDIS to leave Ponyville." The Doctor explained.

"You can't just leave everypony down there!" Fluttershy shouted.

"I'm not abandoning them; they can't win this fight without help, and they need more help that I alone can offer them." The Doctor retorted.

"Alright. Where are we going? Canterlot?" Fluttershy asked.

"No. By the time we get there, they'll already know what's happened to Ponyville." The Doctor replied.

"Then where are we going?" Fluttershy then asked.

"East. If Twilight and Derpy are alive, that's where they'll be." The Doctor answered.

"And ... if they're not?" Fluttershy asked, not wanting to consider the possibility.

"I don't know. It's a gamble, but it's the best plan I can come up with on short notice, especially just after regenerating." The Doctor said.

Dodge Junction
Present

"We've been looking for you two ever since." Fluttershy explained, leading Twilight and Derpy out of the tavern. Waiting outside for them was something Derpy feared she would never see again: The TARDIS. Next to it was the stallion Fluttershy claimed Time Turner had regenerated into, but he was wearing a light blue bow tie instead of Time Turner's necktie, along with a black top hat. The Doctor had told her, and her daughters, all about regeneration, and Fluttershy told her it had happened, but seeing his new form for the first time was difficult, especially since she did not see him regenerate.

"Doctor? Is it really you?" She asked, feeling that the name Time Turner no longer suited him.

"It's good to see again, Derpy, even if it is through a new pair of eyes." The Doctor answered.

"I should have been there." Derpy said, tearing up at thought of what the experience must have been like for Dinky. For most of the little filly's life, Time Turner had been closest thing she had to a father.

"You're here now, that's what matters." The Doctor replied, embracing his wife closely.

"How is Dinky handling it?" Derpy asked.

"Pretty well, actually." The Doctor replied. The TARDIS door then opened via unicorn magic, and Dinky ran out, shouted, "Mommy!", and embraced her mother and stepfather in a big hug. Twilight and Fluttershy decided to give them all a moment, but still smiled at the happy reunion.

Maybe there is hope in this war after all. Twilight thought to herself.