//------------------------------// // A strange Doctor // Story: Doctor Whooves: Invasion of Manehattan // by Guillermo //------------------------------// The sun had begun to set, the shadows stretching thanks to the tall buildings of Manehattan. Roseluck, after a quick dinner in the cafeteria, was walking back to her room. She had spent the day exploring the garden and admiring the flower displays, the most impressive as always being those of the veterans, exchanging shifts with her friends to control the flowers, her turn in the last hours of the afternoon. All day, she hadn't stopped thinking about the sick ponies or about that strange pony who had assured her that he would take care of everything. Had he told her the truth? Would he be able to do it? And more pressing still, what was he supposed to stop? Roseluck sighed to herself, getting used to the fact that she would most likely never find out, once again, she would watch the action from afar, although this time, she might not even see it. She finally made it to her room, entering only to find Daisy lying on her bed reading one of her romance books. "And Lilly?" she asked her as she closed the door. Daisy looked up and nodded at her in greeting before answering. "When we were going back to the room, we found a service mare who fell to the floor. After seeing that she was okay, Lily offered to help her carry the dirty blankets and sheets to the laundry room, you know how she is, always willing to help others." "And when was that?" Roseluck asked with a raised eyebrow, she had a bad feeling. "Uh... an hour ago, more or less." "And it hasn't bothered you that it's taking so long?" Roseluck grunted as she headed for the door. "The laundry is in the basement of the hotel, I think it's obviously going to take a while" Daisy replied with a shrug. "You're exaggerating a lot." Roseluck didn't reply, instead she left the room and walked briskly to the elevator in the building. She had a very bad feeling that grew stronger with each passing second, and she prayed that she was wrong. The doors opened in the hall, since it was not able to reach the basement, being outside the areas allowed for clients. The mare walked through the corridors, trying to appear calm for the few ponies that still wandered around, arriving after a few minutes at the service stairs. Roseluck looked around her, making sure nopony was near her before she started down, a part of her berating herself for doing such a crazy thing. If it turned out that she was wrong and they caught her, they could kick her and her friends out of the Equestria Flower Show. But, in case something was going on and her friend was in danger, she couldn't sit idly by. She finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, a door at the end indicating an employee-only area. Roseluck took a deep breath before carefully opening it, poking her head out and trying to find somepony, and failing to do so, she walked all the way inside. She was in a well-lit corridor, with several intersections that led to other areas, fortunately, there were indications of where everything was. Going with that, the mare walked towards the laundry, at first at a brisk pace, then at a brisk trot, finally running, her concern growing higher than ever. Turning a corner, she found, at the end of the corridor, a few double doors ajar, and nearby, a cart with the hotel's dirty blankets and sheets. More worried now, Roseluck approached cautiously, afraid of making too much noise, in case there was something dangerous. Arriving at the doors, she opened them as quietly as she could and glanced inside, noticing that it was plunged into darkness. Roseluck walked all the way in, squinting to try to see something, debating with herself if she should turn on the lights or it would be too risky. Her ears twitched as she heard something she couldn't quite make out, but as she concentrated better, it sounded... slimy. With a frown, she tried to get used to the prevailing darkness, and little by little, she began to distinguish the faint outlines of the objects, cars with dirty and clean blankets, washing machines anchored to the wall, but what most caught her attention, and it sent a shiver up her spine, it was the silhouette of a pony crouched on the ground, or rather, two. After a few moments of thought, she headed for the light switch, praying it was just her friend having an affair. It was extremely unlikely due to Lily's personality, but it was preferable to the idea that she was forming in her mind. Reaching for the switch and flipping it on, light flooded the room, sending a jolt of worry and fear through Roseluck's body as her worst fears came true. On the ground was Lily, her closed eyes flickering frantically under her lids and her body twitched every few seconds, and directly above her was a pegasus mare, which Roseluck dimly recognized as the one that had accompanied the pony that fainted earlier that morning. The chilling thing was that her eyes were not bloodshot, no, they were completely black, and from her mouth, monstrously open, several tendrils of the same color came out that flooded her eyeballs, being the source of the viscous sound, and connected with her friend's, entering her body. The mare, or whatever that thing was, looked up from her, never breaking the connection with her victim, and stared at Roseluck, who froze at the horrific sight. "Wh-what...?" she said, trying to get out of her surprise, but seeing her friend closer, she gulped and steeled herself. "Wh-at a-re you do-doing to Li-Lily?!" The thing stood up completely, and strangely she didn't wobble at all, the tendrils elongating before breaking in half, one part going back to its owner and another part going into Lily, who froze. The pegasus closed her mouth at last, and after a few moments, she began to speak in a hissing, otherworldly voice, making all of Roseluck's fur stand on end, a shiver running through her. "We're upgrading her. She'll join us in the hive and she'll be stronger." As she said this, Lily stood up, trembling at first, and opening her eyes, Roseluck could see that black tendrils were spreading, quickly covering her entire eye. "Wh-what's go-going on?" Lily said with a trembling voice full of terror, looking at her friend. "Ro-Rose...he-help me...I...I..." As soon as her eyes turned pitch black, she immediately stopped trembling, her posture firming, and her friend's sweet voice became as unearthly as the pegasus's. "Join us, Roseluck, join the hive." Lily... The thing that had possessed Lily began to walk towards Roseluck, who backed away, shaking her head as tears welled up in her eyes. Quickly, she spun around and tried to get away from her, but she didn't get very far before the thing lunged at her, knocking her to the ground and spinning her around, facing her. "You don't have to worry, Roseluck, you won't feel pain anymore, you'll just obey the hive" the Not-Lily said before opening her mouth, several black tendrils coming out and twisting. Roseluck, her face flooded with tears, closed her mouth tightly, clenching her teeth to prevent any of those foul abominations from entering. The tendrils met her lips and skirted around them, sliding inside with force and beginning to exert pressure to open her snout. The mare sobbed as she felt that she was losing the battle, wondering if she would die or become a willless puppet. A loud knock on the doors leading to the laundry interrupted her train of thought and drawing attention to those things, and thankfully, that meant the Not-Lily retracted her tendrils back into her own mouth. "Hello, I finally found you." Roseluck moved her head and, with her limited ability to move, she managed to see the same pony that told her he would take care of everything, smiling at things. "I've been trying to locate your queen for days, and I thought maybe you could tell me something. One sample from you would be enough." "You'll get whatever you want if you join the hive" the things said at once, the pegasus advancing towards the earth pony. "Join us." "Okay, I see I won't be able to get a sample," the pony said with a shrug, before tucking his right hoof into his jacket and pulling out what looked like a short rod. "In that case, I'm going to save that pony and we'll both leave." "You will not leave, you will both join the hive" said the pegasus before jumping. The pony didn't move, but at the tip of the rod, what looked like a light bulb lit up blue and made a shrill noise that filled the room. The pegasus who had jumped fell to the ground with a shudder, screaming in sheer pain as she brought her hooves to her head. The Not-Lily did the same, throwing herself to the ground and freeing Roseluck, who got up slowly as she watched the things writhe in pain. "Get out of here!" yelled the pony, still holding that rod alight. Roseluck looked at him for a few seconds before focusing on her friend, unsure of leaving her there. "But Lily..." "I can save her, but not now. We have to get out of here, now." Roseluck took one more look at the pony before looking back at Lily, who was still writhing in pain. "I'm sorry..." Roseluck ran for the exit, brushing past the pony and out into the hall, then turning to look at him. The stallion began backing out of the laundromat, turning off the machine and closed the doors. Once this was done, he pointed it towards the doors, turning it on, being watched curiously by the mare. "What's that?" "A sonic screwdriver" said the pony, turning off the device and putting it in its corresponding pocket. "I don't know what I'd do without it, and now, let's go before they break the door down." And with that, the pony began to run, being followed shortly after by Roseluck. "Can you save my friend?" Roseluck said as she ran alongside the pony. "If I find the one behind all this, yes." "But what are those things?" "Do you really think this is the right time for explanations?" the pony said as he watched her. "Let's get to a safe place and later I'll tell you everything you want to know." Roseluck bit her lip as she ran through the basement halls with that pony, thinking. "Can I at least know your name?" "I'm the Doctor" said the pony as he came to an abrupt stop next to some stairs, causing Rose to almost fall to the ground, turning in time to see him start to climb. "Doctor who?" Rose asked as she followed the pony up the stairs. "Only the Doctor," the pony said, looking over her shoulder with amusement. "What's yours?" "Roseluck…" the mare replied as she looked at the so-called Doctor in confusion. "Nice to meet you, now let's get out of this hotel." Roseluck blinked, processing his words. "Wait!" she told him when they reached the hotel corridors. "My other friend is here! We can't leave her behind!" The Doctor began to run towards the hall, closely followed by Roseluck. "I'd love to help your friend, but they're in a hive mind, so they're probably already..." The Doctor paused as they reached the hall, full of black-eyed ponies ready to pounce on them. "...waiting for us." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it into the air, activating it as a few ponies approached, falling to the ground in spasms of pain, but not everypony was affected. "Move next to me, the sonic waves only cover a radius of 10 meters around us" said the Doctor as he moved forward, Roseluck close to him, and his sonic screwdriver activated. "You won't be able to escape us forever" said the ponies that were out of reach of the screwdriver at the same time, speaking with one voice. "Most of the inhabitants of this city have fallen to the hive, and our influence is spreading further." "Who says I want to run away?" said the Doctor, standing with his back to the exit doors, while Roseluck went out into the street. "I will find your queen and end this." The Doctor left the hotel, closing the doors and using his sonic screwdriver to lock them, then turning to Roseluck. "Where are we going? If they were telling the truth, all of Manehattan is full of those things" Roseluck said worriedly. "Luckily, I have the perfect place to shelter us." The Doctor started running down the street, crossing to the other side. Roseluck watched him for a few seconds, then focusing on the door, which was already being pounded on by the possessed ponies. "I'm sorry Lily, I'm sorry Daisy, we'll stop this madness" she whispered to herself as she ran after the Doctor. In a short time they reached the end of the street, where was that telephone box that Roseluck had seen that morning, and now that she was closer to it, she could see that it was a box for the police. The Doctor stopped in front of the door, taking out a key and opening it. "Come in, we'll be safe here" he told Roseluck with a smile before entering. "In a cabin?" Rose said with a frown, turning to look at the hotel. "We haven't even gone that far!" Receiving no response, Roseluck looked back into the booth, and after a few moments, she grunted to herself and stepped inside, only to widen her eyes in shock. Immediately after, she went out to look at the blue box, surrounding it. "Th-this is not po-possible" she murmured as she touched the wood, giving little taps. Several screaming monsters drew her attention, and turning around she saw that, coming out of the hotel, those monsters were running towards her. Looking back at the box, she walked in uncertainly and closed the door behind her. "Th-they're getting closer…" she said, trying to recover from the shock she was going through. The apparent police telephone box had a gigantic room inside it. The golden walls had hexagonal plates that shone with their own light, there were columns that resembled the branches of a tree around the room, a walkway connected to the center, where there was a circular control panel full of buttons, levers and other devices that she didn't understand, a glass column emerged and rose to the ceiling, connecting with a grayish pillar, and inside it, what looked like transparent pipes. The Doctor was sitting opposite Roseluck, watching her carefully. "Don't worry about them, they won't be able to get through." "Are you sure?" Roseluck said as she turned around to observe everything. Behind her she could see the cabin doors, apparently made of ordinary wood. She found it hard to believe that they could resist. "Not even the entire army of Guldus III could get through those gates, and trust me, they tried." Roseluck nodded weakly, still looking around. "Are you okay?" "Yes... it's just... it's bigger on the inside." "I know" said the Doctor with a smile. "Welcome to the TARDIS, Rose."