Chapter 2
Unaware of the chaos that was hanging right over everypony's head, the prize pupil of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, sat in her library home enjoying a book. This was to change, suddenly and terribly, as the strangest stallion she would ever meet burst through the door, disturbing her time of ordered calm.
Doctor Whoof, displaying his typical lack of regard for mortal tact, burst through the door and instantly began ruffling through the purple unicorn's things. "Alright, I'm going to need a squad of royal guards on standby, complete maps of the Everfree forest and a..." The Doctor trailed off when he read the title of a book that had been knocked to the floor in his haste. "13 Easy Spells to Better Manage Your Time?" He paused for a moment. "Well, good to see my book is still in circulation."
Twilight, who had been staring at the strange intruder with a blank stare until now, finally managed to summon words once her book expert instincts kicked in. "Your book? This was written over a hundred years ago." She stated while pulling the tome away with her magic. "And what are you doing in my house? Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor!" Whoof responded perkily. "I already know you, Twilight Sparkle, but I don't think you've meet me yet." His expression then became grim and serious. "There has been a terrible murder, Twilight, the first of many. And I'll need you and your friends to help stop it."
Not too long after the Doctor's grave announcement, the holders of the Elements of Harmony had assembled inside Twilight's home. "Now, as you all know, Princess Luna was transformed into Nightmare Moon by loneliness and jealousy." The Doctor explained, pacing back and forth before the six. "But there's more to the story then that. Luna's own feelings were altered, amplified by a psychic parasite, one that I am familiar with."
Rainbow Dash was not going to put up with this though. "Alright, listen up weird guy, I've had just about enough of your rambling! How do we know any of this is even true?"
"Ease up Dash. He's show me some papers indicating he's a representative of the Princess. Plus, he knows details about Nightmare Moon only the Princess or us could know." Twilight replied calmingly. "Please, continue Doctor."
"Thank you Twilight." The Doctor stated. "After his last encounter with me, this parasite sought a weapon he could defeat me with. What he found were The Elements of Discord." He explained omminously.
"What, how is that meanie beanie fo-fiene Discord involved in this?" Asked Pinkie Pie with an inquisitive look on her face.
"After Discord's first defeat, remenants of his magic were collected and forged into tools of evil, by Ponies that sought to obtain power at any cost." The Doctor continued. "After his last defeat, my foe collected the Elements, and, using his mental powers, forcefully combined them with Nightmare Moon. It was his intent to use her as his champion. It backfired, though, and he became a prisoner within Nightmare's mind. When you destroyed her, the innocent Luna was freed, but his evil was left within the remains of the Nightmare, hopefully to dust forever in the Everfree forest. But now I fear someone intends to free him..."
"Then why we all lazing around here?" Applejack spoke up abruptly. "Giddy up everypony! We need to get to Everfree Castle, pronto!"
As the Element bearers and The Doctor left Ponyville, their foe was already half way to the castle. Arriving far ahead of her adversaries, the unicorn who killed Derpy survayed the room where Nightmare Moon had been transformed back into Princess Luna. Fragments of the evil mare's armor still lay upon the floor. Leaving the shadows and stepping into the torch light to reveal her identity as...
"Now Trixie, begin the ritual! Once I am reborn, I shall make you as great and powerful as you wish." The voice in the washed up magican's head commanded. Slightly overwhelmed by how deep in she was getting, Trixie nodded her head and got to work, dropping the saddlebags that had weighed down her flank upon the floor.
She began by gathering the armor fragments and duct tapping them together in a vagely tower-ish shape. Then, complex figures were precisly drawn on the floor in an multi-layered pattern around the hastily made statue. Elixers of life (which required some careful theft to produce) were poured about, and used to moisten the crude monument with a rag. Four drums were scattered about the room. Special candels were burned, and mystic runes were carved.
Finally, after a great deal of preparation, the ritual was ready.
A chill briefly seized Trixie, who paused fora moment, wondering if she could still back out. When the voice appeared in her head two months ago, Trixie had begun wondering if her poverty induced hunger was driving her crazy. The voice had eventually persuaded her she was not insane by informing of things she could never have known on her own, convincing Trixie the voice was not part of her damaged psyche.
In response to the cold and doubt, Trixie wrapped her torn cape around herself. The rough edges, worn down and dirty by the extended period of poverty she endured as a result of her show's failure following Ponyville, caused a surge of emotion to shoot through the showmare as it brushed her skin. The blue unicorn's hatred and loathing for Twilight Sparkle erupted like a volcano: It's all Twilight's fault that Trixie's career was ruined, that no one would pay one bit to see her perform, that she'd been forced to obey strange voices in her head! Who else could the blame rest with?
Firmly looked in this mindset, Trixie touched her horn to the runes etched in the floor, releasing a spark of magic into the complex. Just one little drop would be enough. Then the ritual would take over.
The chalk scripplings began to glow and steam began to rise from the elixers. Trixie, drawing on her occasional use of music in her stage shows, then used her magic to beat out a simple tune upon the drums. It began slowly, but picked up speed as the lights grew brighter, the steam became thicker, and an unearthly green glow enveloped the armor fragments.
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP. TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.
The glowing around the fragments intensified as they gradually began to meld together, slowly taking the form of a decript Grandfather clock. Once the clock was fully formed, a ghostly visage appeared, levitating in front of the numbers and hands.
The image was the translucent head of a stallion, wearing a raggedy, almost burnt hood. His face matched the cloak, for it was seemingly that of a charred, petrified corpse. The eye sockets, greatly expanded in the absence of most other facial features, housed two huge, yellow eyes, filled to the brim with hate and contempt. No eyelids could shield the world from this gaze, for the face was too burnt and crispy for them to move properly. In addition, his mouth seemed to be stuck in a crispy scowl. Had the phantom had functioning facial muscles, however, the wicked, arrogent laughter echoing throughout the castle halls indicated it would be wearing a triumphent grin.
At the apex of the ritual, the mane six and the Doctor burst into the room, the girls sporting the Elements of Harmony. The Doctor had brought them, claiming Princess Celestia instructed him to deliver them as part of his mission. In reality, he had used his TARDIS to avoid Celestia's barriers and "borrow" the Elements.
"Quickly! Use the Elements to disrupt the ritual!" The Doctor ordered frantically, fearing the return of his nemesis.
"Alright ladies, let's do it!" Twilight proclaimed, and each piece of magic jewelry began to glow as the six friends drew upon the magic of friendship. A rainbow beam was quickly summoned, and launched directly into the sickly green vortex surrounding the clock.
Instead of being destroyed by the blast, the clock began to glow, white light consuming it. The phantom's face also seemed to shift, but before the extent of the change could be seen, the whole thing exploded in a flash of light.
Not expecting this result, everypony was momentarily blinded by the light. Once vision had returned to all present, they beheld a horrific sight before them.
A pony (male, to be exact) stood before the grandfather clock. His coat was a darker shade of brown then The Doctor, and his mane was jet black. Interestlingly, his mane also extended onto his face, growing into thin strait mustache and beard. His cutie mark was a shattered pocket watch, glass cased cracked and gold chain shattered. A triumphent grin was spread across his face.
"Well Doctor, it seems that despite your best efforts, I have returned!" The new Time Pony exclaimed triumphantly. "Oh don't look so shocked, the whole universe knows I'm indestructible."
"D-D-Doctor? Who is that pony?" Fluttershy asked, intimidated by the Time Pony's intimidating resurrection.
"The Master."
*Cue Doctor Who end theme*