//------------------------------//
// 6: of Princesses and Doctors 
// Story: One Way 
// by jroddie 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 6

Othello strode off into the Nether, his long, powerful legs leaving me galloping to catch up. Once I caught up to him, He was silent for what seemed like hours, striding with his powerful crimson legs through the alabaster halls that would not permit food nor sleep. I marvelled at his sheer size, towering well over me, which earned him the title of stallion. The muscles under his blood-red coat could betray no weakness, and contracted and flexed with each stride. The only thing that betrayed his age was the ink-black one inscribed on his flank.
“Edwin, there are some things that I must tell you.” Othello spoke softly, his voice echoing down the halls. I looked up at his face, straining my neck.
“We Numbereds are rare in this world, for there are only five of us to date. We have all the powers of the magical realm. We Numbereds have no wings, yet can soar to the highest peaks. We Numbereds have no horns, yet can weave the most complex spell. But, this is not even our most formidable gift, being able to cast any spell and fly to any height.” Othello stopped walking. He craned his massive head down to my eye level.
“We Numbered also have the power over a specific ability, one that is not our choice. I was given fire. Marcus, plants. Evangeline, light. Gespard, water. You, Edwin Shell, have been granted control of God’s might, Lightning. This is a magic unusually rare in alicorns, and rarer still in unicorns. I myself have only seen an alicorn summon lightning once, and that was in the middle of a rainstorm. You summoned a gigantic bolt of lightning in broad daylight, and made it do as you please.” I could see the look of amazement in Othello’s eyes.
“In addition to this, which in and of itself is a miraculous achievement, you unleashed lightning inside of your own body. This is deadly, not only in the fact that it is a formidable offensive ability, but also could easily go awry. In theory, if you direct lightning in a path that crosses your heart, you could die.” Othello said gravely.
“Edwin, I have asked the Doctor to join us in the Observatory, where we Numbereds oversee the whole of Equestria. It is there we will decide where your powers are most needed.” said Othello, starting to walk off again in giant strides. Deciding that there was no use in arguing, I followed the enormous stallion through the white halls.

“Oh! good seeing you lot, then.” said the Doctor as Othello and I entered the Observatory. The Observatory was not really much of a room, no windows or fixtures except for a pillar in the middle of the floor next to a large, blue box. Walking past the pillar, I marvelled at the box.
“What an odd place for such a thing...” I wondered out loud, admiring the blue thing. The Doctor laughed at my comment.
“It wont be there for much longer. Othello, you know what to do.” said the pale brown pony as he walked into the box. Othello walked over to the pillar, looking at the blue box in awe.
“No matter how many times i see the box...” said the crimson stallion, his eyes wide. He turned to look at me.
“Can you not feel its power?” said Othello, staring at me with the eyes of a younger colt.
I shook my head, unsure of what he was talking about
“It is to be understood. You have never been a passenger” said Othello offhandedly. Othello touched the pillar with a massive red hoof, inhaling deeply. I stood there awkwardly, waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly, Othello exhaled and took his hoof away from the pillar. When he looked at me, the fire in his eyes was never brighter.
“You must tell the Doctor this: Celestia’s chambers, three days ago. Go, Edwin, face your destiny.” the stallion declaimed, his voice strong in the confines of the room. when I was slow to move, he gestured at the box.
“Go inside.” He said with authority. I looked at the box doubtfully, and nudged open a blue door with my hoof.

It was so big... My human/pony brain with its geometric concepts of area and space simply refused to comprehend. Othello was right, there was a power to it, something that made your hair stand on end, made you want to look over your shoulder. While my brain took its sweet time in deciphering this spatial anomaly, the Doctor was fiddling around with a console in the middle of the large room. Every now and then he pointed what seemed to be a pen in the air that made a high pitched buzzing sound. By the time he finally noticed me, I was curled into a ball in the entryway.
“And to think that you are the only hope for Equestria.” the Doctor remarked as he walked up to drag me by the hair, drag me deeper into his machine.
“Roo free, Fedwuun,” the doctor tried to explain through a mouthful of hair “Deh turrdus esh bigguh un deh enshud.” The Doctor continued as he dragged me over some cabling. “Eht es bugguh un deh enshud bechuh whun eht whus grod” he tripped over a loose panel, pulling some of my hair. The pain seemed to bring me back to consciousness and reality, because I tried to stand up. The Doctor noticed this and let me go. I struggled to get to my hooves as i tried to evacuate myself from a large pile of electrical wire.
“What is this place, Doctor?” I asked haltingly, trying to fight an extension cord and losing.
“This is the TARDIS.” replied the doctor eagerly, his eyes alight with joy.
“The what?” I asked, still wrapped up in an cord.
“Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, ergo, TARDIS.” He rattled off, his eyes showing youthful vigor. I stopped struggling with the cables and looked at the pale brown pony.
“What does it do?” I asked in an innocent tone. The Doctor just looked at me as if I just asked him why the sky was blue, or grass was green.
The doctor slammed down onto a threadbare yellow sofa, sighing deeply.
“I guess you could say that it moves.” said the Doctor in a puzzled tone. I thought about this some, and said
“So it’s like a car or wagon or something like that?”
“Good God, Ed! This is much, much, MUCH more than just a car!” said the Doctor, His eyes brimming with passion. He jumped up and started pulling levers and pushing buttons, his body filled with energy. He paused his hand over one lever, looking at me
“What did Othello tell you after he touched the pillar?” The Doctor asked in a sly tone.
“Um... Celestia’s chambers, three days ago.” I said while wrapped around a particularly strong cable
“Then Edwin, let me be the first to welcome you into the Royal Estate.” the doctor said in a playful tone as he slammed down a lever. There was a deafening, beautiful noise as the tardis shook violently, throwing me all over the cabin. The noise and the shaking continued for minutes, when finally, it stopped. The Doctor pranced over to the door, jumping over my struggling form, still entwined in the cables. I was getting tired of the cables. I simply thought that I was tired of the cables and they fell off of me. Perturbed by this, I followed the Doctor to the door, where he was waiting for me. When i was close enough, He pushed the door open.
The scene was amazing. There we were in the most sumptuous hallway imaginable, with velvet draped from the windows and gold adorning nearly every surface.
“We...” I gulped
“Are no longer in the Nether, yes. And actually, we should probably be moving, Royal guards are not the biggest fans of trespassers.” I looked back to the tardis
“Is it going to be alright if we leave it here?” I asked with a concerned inflection, looking back at the tardis.
“It’s old enough to take care of itself, Edwin, now let’s get a move on.” the doctor replied with a bored tone, trotting down the halls. I followed him, admiring tapestries and golden objects, which seemed fitting in a place such as this.
“Doctor....”
“Yes, Edwin? What is it?” He asked impatiently, his pace growing quicker through the ornate halls
“Sometimes, like back when I fought in the Nether... I envisioned something in my mind and it became reality.” I said tentatively.
“Yes, and?”
“Well... I really have no idea how that happened.” I said embarrassed.
“Edwin, you see-”
“INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS IN THE CASTLE!” a distant voice shouted. The doctor looked at me, and said
“Run.” He said bluntly
We galloped through the hallways, running for a while
“Doctor, why are we running away? I could easily kill those guards.” I said proudly. The Doctor contemplated this for a moment, and then said
“Princess Celestia wouldn't take too kindly to that, would she? And it’s a bit rude to electrocute the living hell out of somepony when they are just trying to do their job.” The Doctor’s logic was irrefutable, even if it was odd.

We rounded a corner at full speed as we ran into a group of armored unicorns.
“GO ED!” The Doctor shouted at me as he leaped over the group. I felt the power swelling within me as lightning shot out of my mouth, striking the nearest guard. The electricity bounded from guard to guard, making them fall unconscious or paralyzed at our feet. The Doctor and I leaped over the guards, and sprinted towards a door at the end of the hallway.
“Is that it?” I asked the Doctor.
“The throne room? Yes, yes it is.” replied the Doctor. His coat was glistening with sweat, his lungs panting with exertion.
“Then let’s go in.” I said, pushing open the door with a hoof.

The Throne room was even more decadent than the hallways were. There were tapestries and ornaments as far as the eye could see, which was quite far. The room had no ceiling, but the walls stretched up as if they could grab the stars. I really had very little time to enjoy this before the horns of several pale, angry unicorns were pointed at me.
“Princess Celestia! how good to see you!” exclaimed the Doctor, talking to somepony who was out of view.
“Would you mind calling them off?” The Doctor asked politely, gesturing at the guards.
“Doctor! I must say that I am glad to see you again, but under the circumstances I think the guard is quite necessary. Why in Equestria would you want to barge into my castle and attack my guards?” Said a soft, feminine voice.
“Well, long story, that. I’d be a lot easier If I just showed you.” The ancient brown pony replied. During their whole exchange I was curled in a ball, with about 5 Unicorns pointing their horns at me.
“Ed, get up, you.” the Doctor said nudging me with a hoof. I looked at him untrustingly, but the look in his eyes compelled me to get up. The unicorn nearest me grunted and poked me with his horn as I got up. I looked it in the eyes and growled.
“Princess Celestia, I would like to introduce you to the Fifth.” the Doctor proclaimed as I stood. I could see the pony that was talking to the doctor, She was an alicorn with long, flowing hair. She was adorned with a crown of gold and matching collar. Both were inset with a large purple gem. She had longer legs than most Ponies, she was tall enough that she could nearly look Othello in the eyes. Her legs were skinny and fragile. She had a very long horn, and eyes so piercing that i felt like i was being gored by her intent.
“Doctor, you indeed bring good tidings.” she said, pronouncing each syllable perfectly. 
“But, your good tiding follows is following swiftly on the heels of bad news. My spellcasters and myself have detected evil magics brewing in-”
“Ah, i believe that would be this little bugger right here.” the Doctor cut off Celestia, pointing his hoof at me as he spoke. “I have brought him back through time before he actually appears in Equestria. He has already visited the Nether, where he has discovered his ghost and Numbered powers sufficiently.” the Doctor seemed assured in his speech. Celestia relaxed on her throne, visibly assured with what the doctor said.
“Then, what ever will you do with him in the next few days?” said Celestia, wonderingly.
“Ah, my dearest princess, it is what YOU will do with him the next few days. I have made up my mind to leave as soon as I can to rendezvous with him in the future, where I will take him back to where i originally displaced him on the timeline, when he first encountered the angelic.” at this, the Doctor began to stride back to the hallway where I stunned all of the guards. The guards closest to the Doctor began to shuffle and growl, pointing their horns at him whenever he moved.
“Oh, give it a rest! I own furniture older than the continent you live on!” the Doctor remarked at a unicorn who came too close. The unicorns backed off at that, more in confusion than in actual fear. Each one of us watched the Doctor walk out of the door, His mane rippling in the wind of an open window. I heard the buzzing from the pen the doctor used in the tardis as the door closed slowly shut behind him.

The guards shuffled as they wondered what to do next, and then remembered why they were there. All of them pointed their horns back at me.
“State your intent!” shouted one of them at me.
“Um... It actually just walked out of the door.” I explained shamefacedly.
“State your intent!” shouted the same unicorn. One of the unicorns behind me poked me with his horn that singed my flank. I looked back to stare at him, incredulous. He stared at me with dark brown eyes, filled with rage. My body filled with anger, flowing through me. I heard the boom of thunder in the distance. I heard the faint crackle under my hooves, with the knowledge that it would do as i willed it. The crackling grew louder, with small tendrils of electricity arcing off of me onto anything nearby. I felt satisfaction as I saw the brown eyes of the pony water in fear.
“EDWIN! CONTROL YOURSELF!” Princess Celestia shouted, her hair waving faster than before. I was shocked that someone so fragile could even make such a sound, it faintly reminded me of Othello. In my surprise, the anger died inside of me.
“I will simply not permit such insolence in my castle!” declared Celestia. “The Doctor may behave in a foolish manner around royalty, but you are beholden to me, as long as you claim Equestria as your sole residence.” she said.
“I, for one, have no use for a Numbered at the current time, so I will see if Luna would require your assistance.” She turned away from me as she finished her sentence.
As she said this, two of the guards gestured for me to follow them, looking apologetic. As the guards and I walked out of the door, I tilted my head to glance at Celestia.
“It was good to meet you, m’lady.” I spoke softly. She smiled a crooked smile, one that didnt quite reach her eyes.
“I wish could say the same, Edwin. May we meet again, under happier circumstances.” She replied, her voice layered with unintelligible emotion. This made me sad, but left me no time to contemplate. The guards whisked me out of the room, and the door shut behind me with a grim finality.

The guards stopped me in front of an elaborate door, not unlike the one outside of the Throne room. One of the guards looked at me, and said
“Well, this is it.” I looked at him, realizing that he was the same unicorn that singed me. I shrugged it off, not knowing or caring to inquire of his name. I knocked on the door, and heard a sweet voice say
“Come in...”The voice said smoothly. I nudged open the door with my muzzle, peering my eyes inside, when I saw a dark blue mare lying on a pale blue rug in the middle of the floor.

I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life.