//------------------------------// // Ch. 1 // Story: Doctor Whooves - The Return of DisHarmony // by Slam-Manian //------------------------------// It was a wonderful day in Equestria. The birds were chirping. Pegasi were working to keep the clouds to a minimum. And other earth bound ponies going about their everyday lives. But elsewhere, outside of Canterlot Castle, in the wide outstretched garden that enveloped a majority of the landscape stood an array of statue, some depicting the most wonderful pieces of sculpturing, while one did not. The statue of the former ruler of Equestria, the Draconequus, Discord. While to normal ponies, it would be a mere statue, too few others, it was much more. It was an enemy, living an imprisonment in stone for all eternity. And since the Draconequus was essentially immortal and not going anywhere anytime soon, it left him with nothing to do but ponder and think. “Argh Pegasus feathers.” He cursed to himself. “I had it all. I won. Harmony was dead. Those six ponies were beaten. How could they have broken my spell, it was perfect?” Discord continued to ponder the thought, until it finally dawned on him. “Celestia,” He hissed in his mind. “She’s the only one who could’ve done it. I guess I should’ve dealt with her after I hid the Elements. It seems getting rid of the Elements isn’t enough. I thought it would since Celestia and Luna weren’t connected anymore, but I was wrong. Celestia still has her influence over that snooty, bookworm student of hers, Twilight Sparkle.” He continued to ponder and plot his revenge, but it would all be pointless unless he could escape again and who knows how long it would be until he could again. Even for an immortal being, being stone and not being able to move can be boring. “Rrrrg, if only I could change all this.” He cursed again. “If only I knew back in the beginning what I knew now. I know exactly what I’d do. I would make it so no one, not even Celestia or the Elements could stop me. I could rule again and spread sweet, glorious chaos all over Equestria.” He the sighed, “It would be magnificent.” “What if you could?” Asked an mysterious female voice. “Hm?” Discord seemed a bit befuddled, then interested. “What’s this? A visitor?” “What if you could?” The voice repeated. “What would you do if you could go back in time? Do you think you can change things?” “Of course, changing things is my specialty, as well as shifting, melding, altering, etc, etc…” He answered in his usual vein and confident tone. “But enough about me . . . well, who could get enough of me? Who might you be? Not just anyone can talk to me telepathically, you must be very powerful.” “Yes, we are.” The voice answered. “We?” “Yes, we are …friends of yours.” “Please, don’t use the word friends or magic around me.” “Very well.” The voice complied. “We have a proposal for you.” “Since I’m not going anywhere, I’m listening.” Discord said in an intrigued tone. “That is just that. We will send you somewhere. Back in time, to when you were ruler of Equestria.” “What?” “Yes, we have the power to send you back to before you were defeated, so you may change your fate.” “Really now?” Discord said, very interested, but also not so easily fooled. “And why exactly would you do this for me? What do you get out of it?” “Simple, we are hungry, and while what we feed off of is very potent in this world, there are two sources of much more pure and limitless supply. You referred to them as Celestia and Luna.” “Them? You want to feed off of them?” Discord asked in a freaked out tone. “That sounds perfectly dandy to me!” He said ecstatically. “Good.” The voice answered, sounding very pleased. “We have a plan where we all get what we want. You get Equestrian and we get our food supply.” “Okay, so what’s the plan?” The voice answered Discord’s question with intricate detail and even though he couldn’t physically, he was grinning ear to ear. “Perfect! Just perfect! I love this plan! After this, no will be able to stop us!” Discord shouted happily. “Actually, there is one.” The voice said. “Who?” “Precisely.” The voice responded, sounding somewhat upset. “Excuse you?” “Nothing.” The voice answered. “Once you’ve done what you needed, he will come and then we will have another source of food once we’ve dealt with him.” “If you say so.” Discord said carelessly. “So, how does this work?” “Like-” The voice was then cut off. All of a sudden, Discord then found himself in a wide open field. He looked around the landscape and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The grass earth was covered in plaid patters. The dirt roads were all slipper soap. Buildings of all shapes and sizes were floating everywhere and lightning and thunder clashed as it began to rain chocolate milk from cotton candy clouds. And best of all, the ponies; they were all miserable. Pegasi were flying out of control and flying into each other, buildings, or the ground; Unicorns discharging magic and conjuring random objects above their heads, causing them to fall atop of them; And Earth ponies slipping over the soapy roads tripping left and right. In that instance, Discord then realized, he could move. He looked himself over quickly. His dragon shaped body, his right lion arm, left eagle claw, right lizard leg, left goat leg, his right deer antler and left goat horn. He then snapped his fingers and conjured a mirror to look at his pony head, his different sized pupils, long protruding and goat beard. He was living flesh and blood again. “I’m free!” He laughed victoriously. “My new colleagues really came through. Now I wonder where I am, exactly.” A huge explosion ensued behind him. He turned around to see himself cornered by a young Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and around them floated five multicolored gems. “Ah, they put me right before my imprisonment.” He muttered to himself. “Okay, time to reshape history.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elsewhere, out in space. Floating among the stars, planets and other celestial bodies of the cosmos drifted a blue police box, known as The TARDIS. However on the inside it was much bigger than it appeared on the outside and inside on a hexagonal platform sat a young purple unicorn with a moderately sapphire blue mane with a violet and rose pink through it and a big bright rose pink star surrounded by smaller white stars Cutie Mark on her flank. The studious young unicorn was none other than Princess Celestia’s faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle was surrounded by a stack of books, but underneath her was a journal she had been keeping on her travels. Floating next to her head was a quill feather she used to write with. Dear Princess Celestia, I know I haven’t sent you any letters in sometime and I’m trying not to let it get to me as I did before, which I might like to point out is rather frustrating, but I’m keeping it under control. Sorry, I digress. Anyway, I’m writing this letter to inform you of them many things I’ve encountered with my new friend. He’s a unique character named “The Doctor”. Just The Doctor. I’ve tried to ask for his real name countless times, but he refuses to tell me. He’s very energetic, lively, and eccentric, he even reminds me a little of Pinkie Pie. We’ve been to many places and seen many things I couldn’t even think possible. But The Doctor has also taught me a thing or two about friendship. The things he does seem impossible, but for me or the others we’ve met, he’s shown that he’ll do anything for his friends, which to me is his most admirable quality. But whenever I praise him, he may smile, but sometimes he seems like I’m slapping him. He even went as far as to say, he’s not a good pony. I don’t think that’s true. Anyway, I wrote this letter to simply check in and assure you I’m okay and that I will send this message to you when The Doctor and I return to Equestria. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle All of a sudden, the Police box began to shake startling Twilight Sparkle out of her calm mood. “Easy, Old Girl, easy, no need to get into a hissy fit.” Said a British voice that echoed through the room. The unicorn looked over to the center of the hexagonal platform to the strange control console in the center. The Console consisted of a multitude of instruments that nopony could possibly conceive as operational controls such as a typewriter, a telegraph, a gramophone, a set of hot and cold taps and a view screen. Twilight knew little to nothing of how to operate this machine, mainly because she didn’t really know what a number of these contraptions were. All she knew was that each side of the console had a different function. Helm, navigation, diagnostic, communications, fabrications, and mechanical; There were few roundels around the room and an area underneath the console where the Doctor sat sometimes, making adjustments when he saw fit. The console also possessed something the Doctor called “a phone” which let him communicate with other ponies except whereas I use magic, it ran on electricity or whatever was powering the TARDIS. “Doctor, is everything okay?” Twilight asked. “Sure thing,” Replied the Doctor. He popped his out from behind the opposite side of the console. A brown earth pony walked over to Twilight’s side of the console continuing to work. He had long, dark mane parted to one side of his head. He wore a plain brown tweed jacket with elbow patches, a dress shirt underneath and his favorite accessory, a red bow tie and an hourglass Cutie Mark on his flank. “Sorry ‘bout the bumpiness. The TARDIS is a little . . . out of sorts.” He said without facing her. “No problem,” Twilight assured him. Twilight put her journal away and then pulled a big green book from the stack next to her titled, “Ancient Races”. The Doctor looked at Twilight in the corner of his eye, then back to the console. “Still writing letters, I see.” “Of course, Princess Celestia would be disappointed in me if I didn’t record any of my findings to send to her when we return to Equestria.” “You say that, but I think you just like burying your nose in your work. It’s always study, study, study with you. I give you all of time and space and you’re looking at dusty old books. I knew I should’ve brought that pink pony. What was her name, Cotton Pie?” “Pinkie Pie and how could you get her name wrong?” Twilight said with a raised eyebrow. “Can’t help it, when I think about her, all I see is pink cotton candy.” The Doctor said a confused look on his face. He shook his head and went back to the console. Twilight shook her head lightly with a smirk on her face, and then went back to her book. Her horn lit up in a violet aura as her magic enveloped the book in front of her in the same violet energy. The book flipped open and pages flew by to the page she left off on. The pages stopped at a chapter titled, “The Weeping Angels”. The Weeping Angels A species practically as old as time itself, they are a humanoid species with angelic feathered wings with bodies comprised of stone. Because of their bodies, they appear to look like stone statues with their hands covering their faces. While they may seem harmless, they are in fact one of the most dangerous creatures in existence, for while attacking, they grow fangs and claws, but neither are the reason they are so fearsome. The Weeping Angels are revered as the greatest assassins because of their killing method, which is also their feeding method. The Weeping Angels have the ability to send creatures back through time and space with a simple touch. By doing so, they feed off potential energy, the energy of the lives their victims would have lived. They also feed off other forms of energy like electricity or radiation. Through evolution they have developed the nearly perfect defense mechanism, known as Quantum-Locking, which is what turns them to stone. Quantum-locking only works when the Weeping Angels are being observed, but it could also be instinct when they think they’re being watched. When not being watched, they can move in the blink of a eye, but appear to move slow the closer they get to their prey. Quantum-locking is also the reason Weeping angels cover their eyes, for if a pair of Weeping Angels look at each other, their Quantum-lock activates and will freeze them in place forever. Twilight was in awe with interest and fear. She turned the page to see if there was a picture, but there wasn’t, just further information. “Hey, Doctor, are there any books with pictures of a Weeping Angel?” Twilight asked. “Keep reading.” He answered simply. Twilight looked back at the book and continued to read. Another factor that makes them so dangerous is this; anything that holds the image of an Angel will then eventually become itself an Angel. Looking an Angel in the eyes also means death for the Angel will infect the victim’s visual centre creating a mental image of an Angel. The victim could then be influenced by the infecting Angel until it became fully grown and escaped, tearing the victim apart. The only possible way to stop or at the least slow down the process would be to cut the visual centre, meaning closing the victims eyes. Weeping Angels have also been known to take the consciousness of someone dead and speak through them as a means of communication since they themselves have no voices. Weeping Angels are very deadly and very ruthless. You’re only true hope of survival. Don’t turn your backs. Don’t look away. And whatever you do, Do. Not. Blink. Twilight felt like she had just read a horror novel and was speechless for a moment. When she finally found her voice, she looked at the Doctor. “Doctor, have you ever met a Weeping Angel?” “Oh yeah,” He said nonchalantly. “Nasty creatures; The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely.” “Kill you nicely? Is that really the right way to put it?” Twilight said completely skeptical. “Yeah, pretty much. I mean The Weeping Angel doesn’t kill you exactly. They simply send you back in time and let you live the rest of your life to death in a different time. Nicest way I could ever think of, very clean, subtle, merciful; A bit problematic though when you’re facing an armies worth of ‘em.” “So, how did you escape them?” “Let’s just say it’s always nice to have a crack in the universe handy and leave it at that.” He answered. Twilight raised an eyebrow at him, which was her usual reaction when he gave her half-answers. “Besides, be thankful you’ve never met one and be even more thankful Equestria doesn’t have any big bad monsters like them.” “Excuse me?” Twilight said as she stood up and walked up next to him. “I’ll have you know Equestria is full of dangerous creatures. I bet you’ve never faced a Night Mare or a Changeling Queen or a Draconequus before.” The Doctor’s ears twitched a bit. “A Draconequus, you mean Discord, right?” He asked. “Yeah, you try fighting a creature that can warp reality.” She said, sounding somewhat proud. “Actually, I wouldn’t want to, I’d just like to meet him.” The Doctor admitted. “What!?” Twilight said in sheer surprise. “Yeah, I’ve read up on him. Sounds like a real fun guy, you know besides the whole . . . chaos thing.” He said sounding a little off put with the idea. “Yeah, other than that, he’s a really nice guy.” Twilight said with harsh sarcasm. “See, you’re getting it.” The Doctor said with a wide smile, but Twilight met his smile with a stern look. “Oh, wait that was sarcasm. Sorry, been a while since someone hit me with that.” Twilight shook her head a little, and then a thought popped into her head, which drew a few giggles out of her. “What’s so funny, if you don’t mind my asking?” “Nothing,” Twilight said, trying to stifle her laughter, “it’s just from the description of the Weeping Angels, it reminds me of a few statues I saw that kind of looked like that.” The Doctor quickly stopped what he was doing in shock. “What do you mean?” “Well, they’re not “humanoid”, whatever that is, but rather a couple of Pegasus pony statues that have their eyes covered with their front hooves.” Twilight answered. “And where exactly did you see these statues?” “In the garden where Discord is imprisoned outside of Canterlot Castle; Talking about Discord made me remem-ah!” Twilight was cut off when a sharp pain struck her hard. Twilight staggered back and dropped to her knees, with the Doctor next to her instantly. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” The Doctor asked in a concerned and bewildered tone. “I don’t know,” She answered as the Doctor helped her up, but before she could continue Twilight’s eyes and horn began to glow extremely brightly and she slowly levitated into the air. The Doctor pulled out his trusty Sonic Screwdriver, from his coat pocket with his mouth but before he activated it, a powerful beam of magic shot from Twilight’s horn and hit the Control console. The Doctor then pointed the Screwdriver at the console and activated it. The Screwdriver made it usual high-pitched sound, then the TARDIS began to shake violently. As the TARDIS flew, so did the Doctor inside. The TARDIS was moving so erratically, the Doctor was rolling and swaying everywhere. He eventually fell over the edge of the control console and wound up underneath it. He was caught in a multitude of wires, but it wasn’t before long until the TARDIS came to crashing halt. Twilight’s magic released the TARDIS and she fell on the console platform, flat on her stomach. “Urgh, what was that?” She asked as she rubbed her head and stood up. “That’s what I’d like to know.” the Doctor called. Twilight leaned over the edge of the platform and saw the Doctor tangled in a bunch of wires underneath her. “Doctor, are you alright?” She asked, quickly using her magic to envelope the wires around him and lowering the Doctor to the ground. “Oh I’m just dandy,” He said as he hurried up to the control console, “Other than my companion releasing a huge about of unstable power, then using said power to control my beloved TARDIS sending it hurdling through the Time Vortex to who knows where,” He rambled as he looked over the controls, “Other than that, just dandy.” He repeated. Twilight closed her eyes and gently rubbed her head. When she opened her eyes she found herself eye to eye with the Doctor. She shrieked a little in retreat, then quickly realizing he was worried about her. “I’m fine, Doctor.” She told him. “Shut up, cause you’re not fine.” He said sternly as he pointed the screwdriver at her. He then pulled it away and analyzed the reading. “Hm,” He said silently as he turned then aimed the screwdriver at the console and tried to get a reading, “Hm.” He repeated. He then turned back to Twilight and started looking over her physically. He pulled her eyelids open, then her mouth, her ears and before he could go any further, Twilight pushed him back and told him, “I told you I’m fine, Doctor. Just tell me where we are?” The Doctor took a moment to look at her, then moved back over to the console. He moved to the viewing screen and starting working the console. “Hm,” “Enough with the “hms”, where are we?” She asked. “It means you brought us back to Equestria.” He told us. “Hm . . . oh great, now I’m doing it,” Twilight said as she shook her head, “Why Equestria?” “You tell me, you brought us here?” The Doctor said as he put his screwdriver back in his pocket. “I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine,” Twilight assured him, as she rubbed her head, “It’s just . . .when my magic was acting up, it was . . . like something was calling me back . . .I think.” “Then let’s go see what called you back.” The Doctor said as he made a break for the door. Twilight followed and made it behind him just as he opened the two. When walked outside, both were completely speechless, but both for difference reasons. The Doctor was speechless in awe and amazement. Twilight was speechless in fear and worry. They stood in the Canterlot gardens but instead of a luscious green canvas of plants and artistic statues instead were patches of grass each growing one tree in each patch, but trees were growing things that trees shouldn’t be able to grow like caramel apples, popcorn, one even had multi-colored jello leaves. They stood on a cracked and crumbling stone path with a few statues, each of all three different kinds of ponies with weird faces standing and they were all squirting different colored substances from different parts o their body. The Earth pony was spewing something from its mouth and ears, the Unicorn was spewing something from its horn and the Pegasi was spewing something from under its wings. Twilight dropped to her knees in horror. When she was about to her open her mouth, the Doctor interrupted enthusiastically as he said, “This is fantastic!” He ran over to the fountains with his Screwdriver in his mouth. “I can’t believe it,” He said moving all over the fountains, analyzing them with the Screwdriver. “I mean I really can’t believe it. Each fountain is literally spitting out its own source of different sodas. No pipes, no source, it’s just making it on its own!” He said frantically as he moved it to the Earth pony statue. He went over to it under its mouth and opened his wide to taste the soda. “Mmm, Orange soda!” He then moved to the Unicorn statue and opened his mouth under the horn and tasted it. “Mmmm, Grape soda!” He then moved to the Pegasus statue and moved under its right wing with his mouth agape once more, but when he tasted this one, he seemed displeased as he said, “Hm? Limeade? Not bad, but’s not lemonade. Lemonade goes great with fish fingers and custard.” Mmm, Fish fingers and custard. He thought. He quickly shook his head as he came out of his distracting thoughts, then went over to the trees and started analyzing them. “This is just incredible,” He said with a wide smile on his face. “These trees have been completely altered. They’re not going through photosynthesis at all, they’re feeding off just ambient energy and running thought these are all the necessary ingredients needed to create the substances they’re making!” He then aimed the Screwdriver to the sky and the noise it made was louder than usual. “Amazing,” He practically shouted, “And then energy in the air is simply off the charts!” “This can’t be happening,” Twilight said as she put her front hooves on the sides of her face, “this can’t possibly be happening. This makes no sense. He can’t possibly be loose again. We beat him. He should’ve been locked away for good.” “Apparently not,” the Doctor answered as he trotted over to Twilight, “this is just like before, right? Discord has escaped his prison.” “Yes, but . . .,” Twilight hesitated to speak as her mind was flood with questions. “It makes no sense. Discord couldn’t possibly been able to escape on his own.” “True, but who says he got out on his own?” The Doctor said staring at his Screwdriver. “What? What do you mean,” Twilight asked as she stood to face him, “Are you saying someone helped him?” “Possibly, most likely, definitely,” He rambled, still reading the Screwdriver’s data. “There’s a lot of energy in the air, but it’s not pure. It’s . . . mixy-whixy.” “Mixy-whixy?” Twilight said completely confused. “There’s more than one energy signature I’m picking up,” He answered, “but one of them is faint, but its residual.” “Meaning, this other energy source is abnormal, weak and it’s leaving a trail?” Twilight deduced. “Exactly, but I’m losing it,” He said as he put his Screwdriver away. “I need more data.” “We have to find Princess Celestia.” Twilight told him. “I don’t think Celestia’s gonna be much help.” The Doctor said walking back to the TARDIS. “Why?” “Look behind you.” The Doctor said as he closed the TARDIS door. Twilight turned around and her eyes widened and strained so much it hurt. She saw Canterlot Castle was completely upside down. Twilight heard a click and by the time she turned to look at the Doctor, she saw him standing right next to her. “Something has happened here, and I don’t think Discord is the only problem we need to worry about.” The Doctor muttered as he looked at the Castle. He started a steady trot toward the staircase that lead to back into the Castle and Twilight quickly caught up to him, remembering the Doctor’s seventh rule, don’t get separated. They reached the stairs and to their surprise, the stairs twisted until they were upside down like the rest of the Castle. As the continued up their stairs, their bodies began to turn upside down as the rest of the Castle and when they made it inside it was as if the Castle was right side up. “It seems Discord has made himself right at home.” The Doctor said as they looked through down the hallway. The hallway, to their surprise seemed rather normal until the red carpet that lined the hallway suddenly rippled. The carpet then pulled itself up from underneath them. Twilight let out a gasp as the carpet arranged itself like a couch and then pulled them in deeper into the Castle. The carpet sent hem flying deeper and deeper into the castle; all the while Twilight was screaming at the top of her lungs, while the Doctor was laughing with his hooves in the air. The carpet finally reached a large pair of doors and before they slammed into them, the doors opened wide. The moment they passed through the doors, the carpet made an abrupt halt causing the two to go flying until they hit the ground and rolled to a stop. Twilight groaned as she got up and rubbed her head. “That was horrible. I thought I was gonna be sick.” She said as she sat up. “Whoa! That was fun, wasn’t it?” the Doctor said as he quickly got back up and adjusted his bow tie. “What do you know, someone that enjoys my Roller Carpet,” Said a very familiar voice. Twilight and the Doctor looked ahead of them and saw Discord sitting on Princess Celestia’s throne. Next to the throne at the right, stood another throne made purely out of cotton candy and to the left floated a cotton candy cloud over a bowl sitting on a small pillar. “Hello, Twilight,” Discord greeted her as he dipped his left eagle claw into the bowl of chocolate, but when he pulled it out, it was a solid square of chocolate. “I was wondering when I’d see you again, chocolate?” “I don’t want chocolate,” She snapped as she stood up, “I want to know what in the wide world of Equestria have you done? Where’s Princess Celestia?” “Oh Twilight,” Discord said in disappointment as he took a bite of his chocolate, “For someone who’s supposed be an egghead bookworm, you don’t know much about your Equestrian History.” “I know everything about my Equestrian History.” She said proudly. “For instance, I know that you used to be the former ruler of Equestria, then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stopped you with the Elements of Harmony and turned you into stone. Then when you escaped, my friends and I stopped you and sealed you away again.” Twilight explained. “Really? Are you sure that’s what happened,” He said as he finished the rest of his chocolate in one bite. “I think you may need a refresher course.” Twilight practically growled when saddened the Doctor intervened and said, “So you’re the distrustful, disastrous Draconequus, Discord.” “The one and only,” Discord said as he as he stroked his goat beard. “Of course, who else could it be,” The Doctor said as he walked up closer to their host, “The completely illogical flora, the animated immovable objects and the total non-sensible defy of basic physics. Who else but the creature whose very being is formed from such . . . chaos could possibly cause all of this.” “Finally, someone else who understands and appreciates my work,” Discord said as he clapped joyously, “And by the way, nice bow tie.” He commented. “Finally, someone else who gets bow ties.” The Doctor said as he fiddled with his. “Doctor!” Twilight snapped in pure disbelief of his actions in their current situation. “What? Bow ties are cool.” He said proudly. “I hear that.” Discord agreed and with a wave of his hand, a multicolored polka dotted bow tie appeared on his neck. “See? Told you they’re cool?” The Doctor said. Twilight was getting even more frustrated, but she wasn’t sure if it was from Discord or the Doctor. “Oh and by the way, Discord, I don’t really appreciate your work, so much as I find it . . . interesting.” The Doctor explained. “Furthermore-” “Enough,” Twilight interrupted in an open outburst. “Discord, you answer me right now,” Twilight demanded as she ran up next to the Doctor. “What did you do with the Princess?” “Oh come now, Twilight, don’t be so boring with all this talk of Celestia,” Discord said as he shifted and laid sideways in his throne, “Especially since if I were you, I’d be more concerned about my friends than anything else.” Twilight’s eyes widened as her heart squeezed tightly. Tears began to teeter out and her rage began to surface. “If you hurt any of my friends . . .” Twilight trailed off as her horn began to glow. “Hurt them, hahaha, where’s the fun in that?” Discord laughed hysterically. Twilight growled as her horn glowed even brighter and just when she was ready to attack, the Doctor stepped in front of her. “Calm down, Twilight Sparkle, now’s not the time to lose it.” He told her in a calm, but stern tone. Twilight seemed a bit taken aback but calmed down and stifled her magic. She knew when the Doctor used her full name like that, it meant she should listen. “So, what are you saying exactly, Discord,” The Doctor asked with a raised eyebrow, “Are you saying you haven’t done anything to Twilight’s friends?” “Can’t say I have, at least not directly.” He said slyly. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked. “If you don’t believe me, why not play a little game?” He said as he stood up. “I’m not playing one of your little games, Discord. Not after the last time.” She told him. “Oh, c’mon, it’s not that bad, it’s pretty simple actually,” He said fiddling with his bow tie. “You see, one of your ‘friends’ is here in the Castle with me.” “What!? Who? Where?” Twilight snapped. “Calm down, I can assure you they’re in no danger. I’ve done nothing to harm them and like I said, the game is simple. All you have to do is find your friend and “friend” them,” Discord explained distastefully, “If you can, I’ll tell you where Celestia is.” “If not,” She asked distrustfully. “What if I can’t? You’re games are never that simple.” “If not, then the game is over and you will be escorted from my home.” He answered simply. “How’s that?” “Sounds a little too civil for you.” Twilight said with a raised eyebrow. “Too civil? Now, Twilight, I’m hurt.” Discord said as he put his right paw on his chest and plopped down on his throne. “I’m chaotic, not uncivilized,” He said proudly, “Now, if I were you, I’d get going, oh, and a bit of a hint, you might wanna try some place with a lot of sweets.” The gears in Twilight’s mind quickly clicked and she quickly turned to the door and started running. “Now that that little problem is out of the way,” Discord said as he looked down toward the Doctor, “The grown-ups can talk. So, you’re called Doctor, Doctor who, exactly?” “Exactly,” the Doctor answered as a matter-of-factly, “But just call me Doctor. So, Discord, how’d you do it?” “Do what?” “How’d you go back in time?” The Doctor asked with a sly smile. “Hm?” Discord said with a sly smile and raised eyebrow. “How do you figure I went through time?” “That’s what I want to know.” The Doctor said as he pulled out his Screwdriver. “You see this,” He said holding up his Screwdriver, “This is my Sonic Screwdriver, weird name consider it does screw anything but never mind that. I’ve been using it to pick up a lot of energy readings since we arrived and one of those readings is temporal energy from the Time Vortex, but that’s not the only reason I suspect time travel.” “What else is it?” Discord asked in an intrigued tone. “That when we arrived and I checked out the destination on my ship, it said we were in Equestria June 5th, four o’ clock p.m.” “How does that indicate time travel?” “Because that’s five minutes on the day I took Twilight away with me and more importantly, long after you had been imprisoned again. So that means five minutes after we had left, something happened to you. But that doesn’t make sense,” The Doctor said as he started pacing around, “You have the ability to bend reality and physics, not time, so you shouldn’t have been able to alter time, especially since you were imprisoned.” “But then there were the other energy readings I was picking up on, mainly a huge mass of energy. Magical energy and it wasn’t yours, even you couldn’t be that powerful. Then there was . . . that energy,” The Doctor said as he stopped his rambling, “The energy that faded. You had help.” He said looking up at Discord. Discord simply widened his smile, and then the Doctor heard a strange flapping noise. He looked around, but saw nothing. “I’m guessing besides Twilight's friend, you’re not alone in this Castle.” The Doctor said with a smirk as he turned toward Discord. “True, quite true,” Discord assure him, “See Doctor, you’re right. I don’t have the power to manipulate time, but my new friends do. They told me a little something-something about you and I have to say I‘m impressed.” “Friends?” the Doctor let out a chuckle, “I thought you didn’t believe in such things?” “I don’t, I guess ‘friends’ is too strong of a word, I guess I'm just still grateful for their help; I guess they're more like business partners” Discord clarified as he stood up. “If anything they’re old “friends” of yours.” The Doctor heard the flapping noise again, but it was quite louder and closer. The Doctor turned around and a flash of surprise hit him before a smile crept across his face. The TARDIS was standing least ten feet from him. “Of course, there’s only one creature fast enough and that can move through time,” The Doctor said as he turned around to face Discord. At Discord’s sides stood four Pegasus statues standing on their rear forelegs with their front hooves covering their eyes. “Weeping Angels. Brilliant!” The Doctor said with an open smile. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight kept running through the hallways frantically trying to find the kitchen. Her mind was so erratic; she even forgot where she was. Her hooves simply moved to where she wanted to go, but her mind could only think about her friend. She continued through the ever winding hallways. Eventually she came to a doorway and burst right through it. It appeared to be the kitchen. Twilight took a quick look, but it didn’t take her long to find who she thought she was looking for. Across the room was a pink mare with a three balloon Cutie Mark on her flank. “Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted as she practically jumped across the room and hugged her friend from behind. “What did you call me?” The Pink pony asked in a not so happy tone “What? What do you-” Twilight stopped midsentence as she pulled away and got a good look at her “friend”. The pink earth pony turned to face her and Twilight knew it was Pinkie Pie, she’d know those big blue eyes anywhere. But to Twilight’s surprise, instead of having a big, puffy, fluffy pink mane, Pinkie’s was now long, flat and lifeless. Twilight met Pinkie’s gaze and instead of happiness and joy, she saw resentment and something else, she couldn’t quite put her hoof on. “Pinkie, . . . are you okay?” Twilight asked, somewhat hesitantly. “Pinkie,” The Pink pony asked with a raised eyebrow, “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie and who are you?” “Pinkie, it’s me, Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, your friend.” “I have no idea who you are. I’ve never seen you before a day in my life.” Pinkamena answered in her still cold tone. “What,” Twilight said in shock, but quickly figured what was wrong, “Discord; he must have erased your memory of me. Guess I’ll just have to jog your memory with a little memory spell.” Twilight grabbed Pinkamena by her shoulders and held her still. “Hey, what’re you doing!?” Pinkamena said as she tried to break free. “Just hold still,” Twilight told her as her horn started to glow. “It’ll be over soon.” Twilight leaned in and placed the tip of horn atop Pinkamena’s head, but they second she touched Pinkamena, the magic suddenly dispersed. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock as she felt her magic fade, then back to Pinkamena. “What was that?” Pinkamena asked as she rubbed her head. “Because of Discord my magic must be out of sorts again,” Twilight deduced, “Come on.” Twilight bit down on Pinkamena’s tail and pulled her along as she started running. “Hey, let go of me!” Pinkamena shouted. Twilight stopped after a while and let go of Pinkamena, allowing her to stand with her back to Twilight. “Sorry, Pinkie, but we’re in a hurry, we have to find the Doctor.” Twilight said as she looked down the hallway. “Oooh, you want to play “Doctor”? Why didn’t you just say so?” “Pinkie, I’m talking about a gah-!!!!” Twilight shrieked as she felt a sharp pain in her left rear leg and collapsed to the floor. Twilight turned on her side and looked to see a cutting knife stabbed into her. Twilight quickly used her magic to grab the knife and pull it out of her. The knife slid across the floor to Pinkamena’s feet, matted in Twilight’s blood. “Pinkie, what are you doing!?” Twilight snapped as she tried to stand, but to no avail. “What? You said you wanted to play “Doctor”,” Pinkamena said as she grabbed the knife with her mouth, “This is how we play; me and Sir Stabsalot.” She said with the knife dripping blood. “Isn’t that right, Sir Stabsalot?” “Aye, Lady Pinkamena, let us run Miss Twilight through so that thou can giveths her medical attention.” Pinkamena said in an olden medieval voice as her eyes slowly part away from the center of her face. Twilight’s eyes widened in utter fear, now she knew what she saw in Pinkamena’s eyes that she never saw in Pinkie Pie’s; Pure murderous, homicidal intent.