//------------------------------// // CHAPTER THIRTY: A Modest Proposal // Story: The What and Whatiful Who // by cosby7 //------------------------------// For a while, nopony made a move. Doctor Hooves looked mortified at the single word he had allowed himself to speak. The draconequus, the one the Doctor had called “Master,” looked more pleased than it seemed possible to show on one strange face, yet his eyes still betrayed that same wicked glint that never left. Trixie was simply confused. She knew the word only as a title for one who had perfected a skill, such as a “master magician” or a “master milliner.” That lack of a specific occupation, Trixie thought, was intentional. If he were master of no one thing, then that implied he was either master of nothing, which did not bear mentioning, or master of everything, which did not bear stomaching. “It's sad, in a way,” the Master finally announced to his attentive audience. “Did you ever really think it would last? Your quaint exile here?” The Doctor let out a maudlin chuckle. “Maybe I did.” “Why?” He sounded angry, but it was more like the anger that comes from frustration with a stubborn child, who refuses to learn a lesson. “You can't run from your nature anymore than you can run from those who would see you broken and beaten. Even if it hadn't been me, and, believe me, Doctor, it will always be me, something else would have come for you.” The Master settled himself back slightly, taking on his own lecturing tone. “The universe will always need its Doctor to fight the monsters.” “What does that make you, then?” he asked with growing impatience. “A cancer?” The Master smirked. “A very cunning cancer.” “Is that why you did all this? To this planet? Just to get at me? You destroy an entire planet, an entire species, just to what? Punish me?” His voice was strained and incredulous, asking unbearable questions of which he already knew the intolerable answers. “Of course not, 'just,'” he laughed. “You are, as ever, my muse, Doctor. Even from within the Hell you cast me into, I sought you out. And you did not disappoint. A world full of actual magic. Not even the Time Lords could have guessed such a world existed. You gave me every resource I needed. Besides,” he continued smugly, choosing that moment to acknowledge Trixie by striding over and knocking her hat off her head, swaggering like a common bully, “these creatures were asking for it. Even more than your precious humans. All that power and they do nothing with it. There was more potential here than even you could have fathomed.” His grin was disquieting and cold. “So I put it to use. And now I have power to wipe out civilizations with ease and teach the galaxy the glory of serving its Master. Destroying a world right under your big snouty nose was gravy.” He was actually holding a gravy boat. It would have been silly if he had not somehow made the slurping sounds menacing. Doctor Hooves was silent as he walked across the floor to where Trixie's hat had fallen. With his teeth, he gingerly plucked it off the ground and carried it back to her, planting it on her head. He moved his hooves to straighten the star-spangled brim. Does that feel heavier? Trixie wondered silently to herself, deigning only to watch the Doctor at work. “They may know more of their potential than you think.” What was that look? she wondered further. Was he motioning to move? She looked again and, strange though it seemed, he was indeed blinking his eyes, cryptically motioning towards the back of the room. Apparently content that she had noticed the message, he gave one final pointed look at her hat, and then walked off in the other direction. “You do realize what you're doing with all that power? The abilities of this world's inhabitants, the biology of a draconequus? All this temporal manipulation with an untested, untempered energy source? I thought it was just what you tried to do with the Elements at first, but you're playing with something far more dangerous. The epicenter, the time we came from is literally coming apart at the seams, being ripped to shreds by paradox upon paradox. It's spreading, even now. Sooner or later, it's going to catch up to you.” “Not with your TARDIS.” There was a malevolent glint in his eye. “We both know what I can do with that. Don't we?” “You think so?” Much as the Doctor tried to hide it, the tone could not completely conceal a hint of curiosity. “You sound just like the creature you're wearing. They had ambition to go with all that power and look where it got them. This is exactly what happened to Dracon. Too much unstable energy and the planet exploded, killing everyone, save for the lucky few. Like your puppet there.” He indicated the Master himself. Rather, the body he chose to inhabit. “Should it come to that, I'll simply have destroyed another planet you care about and with you on it. Sounds like a very fair deal to me. Besides,” he said patting at his torso, “I'm sure the old boy can go two for two.” “Do you really want to risk it? Can you? Do you truly think you can control all this and the TARDIS? One mistake, one tiny mistake, and those gaps in reality don't just consume the planet. It will spread. You could erase the entire universe from existence.” The Doctor cringed, as if trying to push back an unwanted memory. “Believe me, I've been there. Not something I'd like to experience twice. No, I have a hard time believing even you could come up with something this universally apocalyptic. You say that you took control, but how do you know Discord wasn't the one with the plan, letting you think you took over, just so you'd dance on his strings. A quest for universal power that will destroy the universe? You can't deny that sounds like the insane contradiction of a draconequus.” “Well, that's just the thing,” Master of Equestria began nonchalantly, “perhaps you haven't heard: I AM insane. And a genius, so there's that too.” “That right?” “Certified by my Doctor and everything.” “So then,” he announced, drawing the Master's focus, “what do you intend to do with me? Kill me? Imprison me? We both know how well that worked last time.” “Quite well, by my recollection,” the Master responded, as if the thought had only just occurred to him. “You were a midget in a cage, I had your TARDIS, and complete mastery of the Earth. Let's take stock, shall we?” His claw was on his chin while he began pointing out items like they were on a list. “TARDIS? Check. You? Stuck as a horse. Me? Sovereign of all this world has to offer for far longer than a year. And whether your faithful dog is black or blue,” Trixie couldn't help but cringe slightly when he grimaced her way, “there is no worldwide energy source that you can turn against me.” A ball of swirling electricity appeared in his hand. It was on fire. “I have all the power here.” Over nearer the front of the room, the Doctor and the Master, one a pony and the other a draconequus, continued trading verbal barbs. Slowly, it was dawning on Trixie that the Doctor was not just arguing with his adversary; he was distracting him. Anytime the Master started to look away, the Doctor found a new method of garnering his attention, keeping the Master's focus on him. And Trixie's hat definitely felt heavier. As subtle as she was able, the unicorn started to back away from the clash of the titans. When it seemed like a safe enough distance, she turned slightly, and bowed her head to reach beneath her hat. It took her a moment to recognize the item that Doctor Hooves had smuggled inside her insanely sweet headgear, but only a moment. What had he called it? Psychic paper! Except that last time she saw it, the paper had appeared to be blank. This time, she saw two words, bold as if they had been written with the finest quill: “FREE THEM.” She looked at the Princesses. Oh, is that all?