//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Doctor Whooves: Luna's Republic // by masorin //------------------------------// Twilight and Pinkie arrived at a tower of new Canterlot castle. From the highest point in the Lunar Republic, the view was positively stunning. Not only could Twilight see all of the city, but beyond it with every star in the sky. The sun, so close to edge of what looked like a gray mountain range, and so much more. If Twilight had ever had a fear of heights she would have been terrified, but she was simply lost in the majestic view. “What’s up here?” “This spot contains the activation panel for the Sparkle Teleportation System.” Twilight looked around. The room was barren, with no furniture or decorations to be seen. It was completely empty, aside from the four ponies standing in it. The ground was a cold marble stone with a unique spiral pattern that seemed to start at the staircase and come to the center point of the room. “Okay… where are the controls?” The two bat winged pegasi looked at one another with a confused look. “We don’t actually know. No one has ever tried to activate priority one before. We were just told that it’s controls are here.” “But there’s nothing here!” Twilight said getting frustrated. There didn’t seem like there was anything around them. “Oh Twilight don’t be silly, of course there is something here. We're here!” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced around the room. “Wait… what?” Twilight said turning to Pinkie. “Well, there’s not nothing in the room because we're in the room. If nothing was here, then we wouldn’t be, so the rooms not empty. Of course, we aren’t the controls or what ever, but we aren't nothing either.” “Pinkie that’s… Brilliant.” Twilight said, looking around the room. There was nothing else to be seen. “Excuse me, but what is your pink friend going on about?” The bat winged guards looked at each other, even more confused than before. “There's nothing else here but us, and you said the controls were kept here. Well, the simple fact is that a spell can’t be used by technology. There are no controls. What we do have is us, or rather me.” Twilight blinked while looking down at the city. Suddenly, she did have that feeling of vertigo that was hidden until recently. “Meaning that I'm what’s going to cast this spell.” ** The air locks. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had found them at last. Panting as they ran up to it, they found Apple Wash staring vacantly into an open chamber. Applejack was the first to arrive, and the first to call out. “Don’t do it!” “Why not? Ah betrayed everyone, ah knew what the Vashta were, ah brought em here.” Apple Wash turned to face the two ponies, her eyes were red from having cried far too much. “Why would you bring them here if you knew what they were? What made you buy those oak trees?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused. “Cause she had too. It’s the Apple family way. We can’t refuse to help those in need.” Applejack said, looking to Apple Wash. “They asked yah to help em get here, and ah want to know why.” Apple Wash looked to the ground. “They were suffering. Ah thought they could have a better life up here on my orchard. For a while they seemed content just killing one or two trees a month or devouring small items, but then one day they all just disappeared. After that the mechanical problems started, and it’s not hard to figure out that ah've doomed us all.” “Yah haven’t doomed us, there's still a chance. We can save everyone if yah help us. We can still save the city!” Applejack stepped forward, but Apple Wash backed up. Apple Wash looked to the ground while continuing to back up. She was already past the open door now. Looking Applejack in the eyes, she tried desperately to hold back some tears. “This was my home. Ah was born here, ah work here, and now ah have destroyed it.” “Yah can still help save the people!” Applejack insisted, stepping forward and taking a huge risk. She was now standing inside the air lock with Apple Wash. Apple Wash looked around, first to Applejack and then to Rainbow. “What can we do?” ** The Doctor and Luna were hard at work. Luna’s horn was glowing as the wires from the generators quickly disconnected and reconnected somewhere else. The Doctor, on the other hoof, was busily working at a computer screen. He tapped away at it with his hooves, not stopping for anything. “Luna, once we gather the power are you sure Twilight will know what to do?” Luna smiled, giving a small laugh. “We are quite confident that Sparkle shall know what to do.” “You don’t know that, Luna.” The Doctor said grimly. “This is a lot of power. It will, if used correctly, boost up a unicorns power by thousands. I know how powerful Twilight is, but I don’t know if she can handle it.” “We have put faith into Celestia’s student. Thou should do the same with thy friends.” Luna said bluntly. “Not trying to be very subtle are we, Luna.” “We do not do subtle.” Luna said as the last wires were connected. “That shall do it, the power is hers now. There is but one problem.” “The spell only transports ponies...” The Doctor said reading out what was on the screen. “...and we aren't ponies. Hay, that’s okay… we can take my ride.” “Does thou speak of the TARDIS? That is out of our range.” Luna said looking up. “We shall need to gallop.” “Traveling with me, Luna, you always need to gallop. But before I go, I have one last question for the Vashta Nerada.” The Doctor turned to the pony covered in the shadows. “I am going to ask you this once, and once only. It is very important you answer this question, because you have sparked my personal curiosity. Something changed your diet, and I know that isn't easy. When did it happen? When did your forests die?” ** Twilight stood still on the tower, trying to figure out what she would have to do. She knew the basics and had teleported other ponies before, but this scale was unimaginable. How was this supposed to work? She breathed deep, trying to calm herself. Pinkie Pie was not helping Twilight's nerves. She continued to bounce around the room, trying to calm down, but she was just as nervous as everypony else. The two guards kept glancing to each other, not sure about what would be coming next. As the power was transferred to the tower, the tension in the tower only seemed to rise. The lights of the city grew dark, and all was illuminated by a large spiral design, which glowed purple. The spiral encompassed the entire city, climbing up the long tower, and finally came to a stop at the center. Twilight blinked at the amazing sight before her. “Its not very subtle is it?” “If it was subtle, the people might not understand why they were suddenly back in Equestria. That, and Luna doesn’t really do subtle.” One of the two guards said. “Oooh, pretty lights!” Pinkie Pie said, her eyes going wide. “Twilight, we don’t have much time. The sun’s final rays are beginning leaving us.” As the guard spoke, the fading light became more apparent. Shadows began to fall across the city. “Right then, this will be difficult… I need everypony to be quiet.” “Oh sure Twilight we can be quiet, I mean we will be so quiet that you won’t even know we are here, and when I say quiet I mean quiet not another peep out of me, nope, not another word-” “Pinkie! Stop talking!” Pinkie blinked and nodded her head in understanding. She started making a motion with her hooves to show that her mouth was now zipped closed, locked, she buried the key, and then she built a house on top of it and moved inside. “All that to just not talk.” One of the guards commented to the other. “Quiet! That goes for everypony!” Twilight turned, giving the guards a glare. Some of her hair was coming out of place as she turned, making her appears more frantic and menacing. ** Fluttershy and the others sat against the walls of the heavily illuminated corridor. The lights had flickered a moment ago, but were quickly restored by Fluttershy and the sonic screwdriver. They sat and waited for something, anything, to happen. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. Luna and the Doctor, along with the Vashta pony, stood in the center of the hallway. The sudden change provoked a scream from Fluttershy as she jumped behind Rarity. “Right then, that settles our end of the agreement. Now, give that pony back and allow us to go free.” “Doctor. We thank you. We have suffered for a long time, and because of you we have reached an end.” The Vashta spoke one last time before fleeing the body that they were using, revealing a yellow on yellow pony with a thundercloud for a cutie mark. “Sparks!” Coal ran up to the pony and hugged him. Sparks was alive but injured, carrying all of the Vashta had exhausted him. The creatures forcing him to move had bruised him in several places, but true to their words he was alive. “Doctor, what is going on?” Rarity spoke with a confused look across her face. “Oh, far to much to explain right now, but here's what you need to know. Any moment now, Twilight will teleport every single pony off of this station coinciding with the setting of the sun. Spike you need to come with us.” “What? Why?” Spike stammered. “I said why. Twilight will teleport every pony off the station, and you don't look like a pony to me.” “No, I am a dragon!” Spike said, proudly pointing his thumb to his chest. “Oh… right.” “Exactly! Thou art in the same boat as us. We require another way off the city.” “So, we're heading to the TARDIS?” Spike asked. “That’s my plan.” The Doctor said quickly. “The rest of you can wait for the transport, but we have to go… now.” Spike, the Doctor and Luna all tore off down the halls. The Vashta had retreated from the corridor, leaving the ponies alone in the underground. Coal helped Sparks stand. “Right. We should get above ground.” ** The streets weren’t in panic, but more a state of confusion. Ponies of all kinds had stopped the usual games and festivities when the lights had died out. Everypony wanted answers that the guards didn’t have. Fear of some magnitude could be seen in everypony's eyes until Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Apple Wash began to explain what was going on. Rainbow Dash had, at some point, found a group of Luna’s guards. They had understood what priority one meant, and what the glowing purple light truly was, but they were having a hard time explaining to ponies what was going on. The answers that they were able to provide gave the guards the information they needed to calm nerves and stop the panic. Apple Wash however addressed the crowed once everything was calm. “Ah am truly sorry. Ah know this has been our home for longer then any of us can remember, but today we need to leave. This city can’t support us once the sun sets, and soon we won’t be able to survive here anymore. Ah know a lot of us, including myself, don’t really like the Solar Empire, but with Luna’s help we will adapt to living with them.” The ponies all looked to each other. Some held each other for comfort, while others just looked around in shock. All were confused, but no one protested. They could all understand what staying would mean. Apple Wash turned to Applejack. “We're running out of daylight. Are ya sure your friend is going to make this work?” “Twilight ain't ever let me down before. Ah don’t think she'll fail us now.” Rainbow nodded. “Relax. By the looks of things, we still got a few minutes. I'm sure that Twilight is doing everything in her power to make this work.” ** “How the heck do I make this work?!” Twilight Sparkle was practically beating her head against the ground. Her eye was twitching in frustration, her mane was a mess, and she still hadn’t figured out how to make this spell work. “Everyone’s depending on me, but sure enough I can’t figure out what I am supposed to do!” Pinkie Pie blinked, walking up to her friend. “Twilight… you’re scaring me.” “Oh I'm scaring you, am I? Well, you want to know what’s scaring me Pinkie?!” Twilight grabbed Pinkie's head between her hooves and turned her to face the sun. Suddenly, it moved another inch behind the moon. “It’s ticking, Pinkie! Why does it tick?! Why, in all of Equestria, does Celestia move the sun like that?! It’s nerve-wrecking, Pinkie! Nerve-wrecking!” “Twilight, you don’t handle pressures all that well, do you.” Pinkie stated, worried for her friend. “Pressure? What pressure?! I only need to save an entire city by using a spell I don’t even know! There is no pressure, Pinkie, there is only expectation! And what if I fail? Then everypony on this moon will die! But no, they won’t just die, they will suffer! I will be humiliated, all of my training will have been for nothing! Then in a hundred or a thousand years, when they come to investigate, they will find us all frozen with me at the very center! Oh, they will laugh!” Twilight’s eye continued to twitch. “They will laugh, and laugh, and-” Pinkie cut her off by slapping her with a backhoof. “Sorry Twilight. I'm really sorry, but you were starting… to sound a little like me, and not in a good way. I mean, I can go off the deep end on a rant once and a while, but you were starting to sound really crazy. Not just Pinkie crazy, but really going to do something to destroy a town again crazy.” “No… I needed that.” Twilight said, calming herself through long breaths. She watched as the sun ticked again, but began to relax slightly. She laid down on the floor, pointing her horn to the center of the room. “I think I understand what I'm supposed to do.” As Twilight's horn glowed she focused it on the ground, the spiral glowing with her. The floor grew even brighter, and slowly engulfed the entire city in a purple light. Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened, looking out upon the moon. “Twilight, this is amazing! I mean, of course it’s amazing, but you should take a look at this. It's beautiful.” The Lunar Republic was wrapped in the warm, glowing light of magic. The sparkling enveloped everypony in its comforting light, making ready for the grand finally of the largest light show the universe had ever seen. ** From the Solar Empire, Princess Celestia sat on her throne. Eternally bored, she looked towards the sky. Her eyes widened, watching as a bright light shone from her sister's city. Celestia shot upwards, staying focused on the sight above her. “Guards, make ready. We're about to have a lot of guests.” She called out as she recognized the light. She knew what it meant, but never expected to see it in use. Part of her felt joy. Her sister would finally return after their argument so many years ago. The two had refused to speak to one another since that day, and she could finally correct that wrong. She could stop being angry at both herself and her sister. Another part told her that the ponies of the Lunar Republic were in peril, and that for them to be using such a powerful spell would be insane. She wished more then ever that she had a way to speak to her sister. ** The city was wrapped in light, everypony enveloped in bright purple magic. Everypony, that is, except for three figures. One was a Moon Goddess. An alicorn who did not fit the definition of pony in both age and form. The other was a dragon, young and full of life. The final one was a Time Lord. The last of his kind, an alien from another world and time. These three figures ran through the city. “Shield your eyes!” The Doctor called out. The two following him took the advice. The light surrounding the ponies, surrounding the city, glowed even brighter until there was a loud pop. The city fell silent. The Doctor opened his eyes again, blinking. The city was now as dead as it would ever be, the sun setting down the last rays of light with a final tick. The three were left behind. Alone, inside the tomb the Vashta had created. “She did it.” The doctor said, his breath clearly being seen against the cold of the night. ** Celestia was quickly reminded of the old saying 'careful what you wish for', as her courtroom was suddenly filled with the brightest light she had ever seen. She quickly avert her eyes. It was as if a star had descended from the sky to fill the room, but as suddenly as it had started it ended. The courtroom was immediately filled with the murmurs of hundreds of ponies. Celestia blinked, almost unable to comprehend the situation. “What in Equestria just happened?” Twilight stood for a moment. She was exhausted and breathing heavily, but standing on all hooves. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words. “Hello...Celestia.” Was all Twilight could manage to stammer out as she fell over. ** Hours later, all ponies had been escorted out of the ball room except for Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Coal, Sparks, and Apple Wash. In time, the group managed to explain all that had happened in the last few hours. Twilight had recovered and was back to sitting down, listening as Rarity gave her last bit of the report. “...and that was the last time any of us saw your sister, the Doctor, or Spike.” “I am so sorry. Had I known that was what I was doing, I would have tried and extended my parameters.” “Ah don’t think that would have been a good idea, sugar cube. Yah almost hurt yah self something bad just using that spell. Changing it could have caused something to go wrong.” Celestia nodded and touched her horn to her students. “You did wonderfully, Twilight. It has been such a long time since I have seen you and I'm just happy you managed what you did. I'm sorry to hear about The Doctor, Luna, and Spike, but they were valiant.” All the ponies stared at the ground until they heard a sound, like a dying blender, fill the room. The next thing they knew, the TARDIS was materializing in the air. It crashed into a pillar, causing some considerable damage. The doors swung open and Spike practically fell out, sickened by the motion of it. Not known for having a strong stomach, the baby dragon quickly lost his lunch. The other two, on the other hoof, were arguing very loudly. “Stop being a backseat driver, Luna! I know where I am going!” “Thou most certainly does not! We shall refuse to be escorted by such a death trap as the one thou hast. If thou refuses to drive carefully, then we do not wish to stay any longer!” “It’s the time vortex, there is no speed limit! And its not a death trap, it’s a type-forty mark-three TARDIS!” “Which was out of date when we were born!” “Oh, don’t even go there with me! You want out so badly, then go! We're parked! A few hours late, no thanks to one back seat driver!” ** A while after the incident in the ball room, the Doctor sat down with Twilight. They were on a balcony, overlooking Equestria and the Solar Empire. “Doctor, what happened to the Vashta Nerada?” The question had been in the back of her mind ever since they arrived. “They told me that they came from Ponyville, and a thousand years ago something big happened. A unicorn, trying to save her home from destruction, cast a spell towards a swarm of Parasprites. She was trying to get to get the insect-like swarm to stop eating food. Sadly, what she didn’t know is that a second swarm was caught in the mix. A second, much smaller swarm, that had always been there. They lost the ability to eat the food that they needed, and over time that second swarm grew into the one that we saw today.” Twilight’s eyes widened, a look of sorrow taking hold “So everything that happened here today, all the homes that were destroyed, it was all… my fault?” “Yes, but on the other hand you also saved every pony in the city. Every pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony has you to thank for their lives today. It's like I told you last time, Twilight. Magic is a force for great and powerful things.” “I thought you said that about friendship.” The Doctor got to his hooves. “Did I? Oh well. Come on Twilight, everyone’s waiting and I have got such a good idea for a vacation for you. How would you like to see the universe's youngest museum?” Twilight blinked while getting to her hooves. “That… actually sounds really fun.” ** Credits: Written by: Masorin Edited by: D1SEL, Skwoogle (Adam), and Mikfail, Special Thanks to: Skwoogle for getting chapter 3 back to me on time, and Izzy for her continued support in my life, and giving me the idea to start this. My little pony is property of Hasbro, And Doctor Who is property of the BBC. Doctor Whooves will return in: Earth and Sky on December 25th (if possible If not it will return at its usually scheduled time of Monday December 26th)