//------------------------------//
// 11: of Regolith and Frogs 
// Story: One Way 
// by jroddie 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11


The Doctor got up, rubbing his jaw. I shook my head, trying to get the pain out of it. I forgot how rough it was, riding in the tardis. I looked around to see pipes and tubes and wrenches everywhere. There was a whole couch wedged in one of the odd Y shaped pillars surrounding the console. I got to my hooves. The Doctor did the same, looking about. He picked up his pen, which was wedged in a small cup holder in the console. The Doctor snatched it from it’s pocket, and bounded over to the door. He looked back at me his mouth full of pen.
“Edwin, outside of this door is a Princess, cursed by fate. She is dignified and sophisticated, and frankly, emotionally scarred by loneliness. I’m the only other pony she has seen for the past ten years.” The Doctor said cautiously. I made a move to the door.
“Edwin... Keep in your mind that she is a formidable magician. She could kill you in a million different gruesome ways without even batting an eyelash.” The Doctor warned additionally. I looked at him undeterred.
“Are you sure you still want to see her?” The Doctor inquired, his hoof reaching to the door.
“Yes, I am.” I said determinedly. The Doctor sighed.
“Okay, Edwin. I won’t say that I didn’t warn you.” The Doctor pushed open the door as he spoke.
The Landscape was barren. Insanely so. There was so much... Grey. Small peaks and craters dotted the landscape. The tardis was on the edge of a gigantic crater. On the inside, there was a small blue speck.
“Is that her?” I asked.
“Yes. Let me go ahead, Edwin. She is a delicate creature.” The Doctor said, bounding out of the tardis. He seemed to fly out of the blue box, landing well inside the crater. He walked for a few minutes over to Luna. I was extremely nervous. This would be the first time I met Luna in her timeline. I had absolutely no idea what I was about to do, but the Luna that I met would know exactly what. I walked back into the tardis, thinking it would be a while. I walked around the gigantic machine. It not only was bigger on the inside, but completely airtight as well. I wasn’t suffocating right now, something I was grateful for. I looked at the couch in the Y beam. It was small and Victorian, not to mention pink. It was extremely worn. I looked away, trying to find what else made the tardis so amazing. I looked to the Console. There was a magnificent assortment of buttons and knobs and levers and switches. One thing that stuck out was a small picture frame, duct taped to one of the screens. It was distinctive because the picture was not that of a pony. A blonde woman, a human. She was smiling. I looked, not knowing how the Doctor could have a picture of a human. It was a puzzling conundrum indeed. I was interrupted by a harsh, painful buzzing. I looked around, trying to acertain the cause. There was nothing. I heard the Doctor’s voice echo inside of the tardis
“You can come out now, Ed. She wants to see you...” His voice faded near the end. I never heard him speak in such a caring tone. I trotted out of the tardis.
There was a grace, an art to walking on the moon. It was definitely not a rigidly defined science. I stumbled and fumbled and fell up more times than I could count. I quickly grew aggravated. Moon dust wasn’t like regular dust, either. It was pointy. You could seriously mess yourself up falling on moon dust. I fell on my face. Extremely mad, I decided that flying would be a better choice. I hovered over to the center of the crater, where Luna and the Doctor were facing away from me, looking at something on the ground. I hovered to a halt, touching down on the regolith.
“Luna, If I may introduce you to Edwin Shell.” The Doctor said. Luna glanced over her shoulder.
"Hi.” she said, and looked back to her front. I was intrigued by what elicited this response. I hovered closer, looking over her shoulder. I saw a small plastic tank. It had a small rock in it, upon which sat a small, green frog. I looked at the thing, so small, so fragile.  It made me smile to see such a thing surviving so far from it's home. The Doctor reached a hoof down into the tank. He held out his light brown hoof to the frog. It looked at him, cocking it’s head. It wiggled its legs and jumped onto the Doctor. The Doctor smiled, looking at the small creature. He held out his hoof to Luna. Luna squealed softly, holding up a single deep blue hoof. The frog looked at it, and jumped again. Luna looked so extremely happy. She was crying with happiness as the frog wiggled. She looked up to the Doctor, her face streaked with tears.
"Thank you, Doctor. They always were my favorite.” Luna whispered as she placed the frog back in its tank. I stood behind them, trying to hold back tears of my own as Luna turned to me.
“Hello Edwin, My name is Luna.” The blue mare said. I smiled.
“Yes, I know you very well, Luna.” I said, drawing an odd look from the goddess. I took this chance to ask her what I came to ask.
“Do you miss Equestria, Luna?” I asked, knowing the awnser. She looked down, pawing the regolith. There was true sorrow in her voice as she replied.
“More than anything else in the whole of Creation. I would do anything to go back...” she trailed off. I looked at the Doctor.
“What if, Luna... What if I could take you back?” I asked the pony. She laughed at me mockingly.
“It has been ten long, cold years on this rock. Every time that I see the Doctor here, I beg and plead with him to take me back. He has sworn an oath never to interfere with the native populace, except in time of great duress. I only wish that he would make an exception...” Luna trailed off again, sadly contemplating her wrongs. I grinned, and looked her straight in the eyes.
“The Doctor may do things his own way, Luna. But, he has never told me, not a single time, that taking souvenirs is not allowed. And I have happened to have found myself the prettiest little moon rock.” I said knowingly. Luna looked up at me, her eyes wide.
“Would you... Could you... Really?!” Luna said, flabbergasted. I looked at her, smiling.
“Yes. Come with me, Luna. Come home.” I whispered. She looked up at me, her eyes alight. She was begging with me. Pleading with her eyes. I looked to the Doctor, with the threat of death in my eyes. He cringed slightly under my gaze.
“Um... Well, I don’t know if I...” I looked at the Doctor again with powerful loathing. He looked awkwardly at a rock. He rolled his eyes as he looked back up at me.
“Oh, bloody hell, Edwin! Why must you always do this to me?!” The Doctor exclaimed. I grinned wildly at Luna, and she looked at me with happy eyes. She squealed.

“I have no bloody idea what you wretched ponies did to make me do this.” The Doctor said sullenly. Luna was staring at the couch stuck in the Y beam, fascinated. I turned to the Doctor, grinning like a madpony.
“Cheer up, Doctor! You did a good deed, helping a poor, elderly mare!” I reasoned sarcastically.
“Wank off, Edwin! She may be horrifyingly ancient, but she is not elderly!” The Doctor exclaimed, truly frustrated. He hopped up to a chair next to the console, and curled into a ball.
“Where and when are we taking her, anyways?” The Doctor asked, hiding his face with a hoof.
“Wait... The Summer Sun Celebration, right? The thousandth one.” I wondered aloud, looking at the Doctor for confirmation. The Doctor raised the hoof covering his face, looking at me with a wide smile.
“What a sly devil you are, Ed!” The Doctor leaped from his chair, and flew to the controls. HE was flipping all of the levers and knobs when I turned to look at Luna. She was sitting on the couch, levitating popcorn into her mouth.
“How did you even get up there?!” I asked, not even wanting to go near the popcorn. She flared out one of her wings in explanation. I looked at her. I flew up to her couch, and landed. I eyed her popcorn, which was in a red stripey box.
“Can I have one?” I asked, pretty hungry. Luna answered by floating a chunk of popcorn my way. I bit into it.
“Muh... Butter...” I moaned. Luna giggled at me. The Doctor was busy with his levers and switches as Luna and I enjoyed popcorn in a small victorian sofa wedged in a tardis.
A simple pleasure, that. The Doctor swore as he bumped into a small table. Luna looked at me, a coy smile on her face.
“I... I can never repay you for what you have done, Edwin.” Luna said quietly.
“Good, because you won’t need to. I actually wanted to do this, Luna. Because I know you from the future. And-” I was cut off by a loud thump. I looked down to the Doctor. He had a large mallet in his mouth and was hitting the console with it. He hit it once more and seemed satisfied. I turned to Luna, who was looking at me with wide blue eyes. I felt a surge of emotion.
“Luna, I-” I began. The words halted in my throat. Luna looked at me, puzzled.
“What is it, Ed?”
"ALLONS-Y!” shouted the Doctor as Luna and I were flung from our couch.

I got up from the corner of the tardis I was flung to, brushing off dust and nicknacks and wrenches. The couch was sitting on the far edge of the tardis, near the rim. I looked around groggily. I could see the Doctor, who had rolled onto his back in transit. I turned around, looking for Luna.
“Doctor!” I heard her shout in a strained voice. I couldn’t see her at all, but the Doctor must have.  He was holding his hooves together in front of him. A look of sad shock hit his face.
“Oh no, Luna...” He said in a soft voice. I looked at him, trying to figure out what he saw. I got to my hooves and walked over to him. I saw it.
“Oh God, Doctor.” I exclaimed. The Doctor looked to Luna, and then to me. His eyes showed his agelessness.
“There isn’t anything we can do.” The Doctor said saidly. I couldn’t look away, it was too gruesome. She had half of her face sheared away, and blood was streaming down in runny rivulets. She was missing one of her hooves, and a bloody stump was all that was left of one leg. Blood spurted from the broken Princess. She moaned in pain, trying to move. I couldn’t bear the sight of it. I looked away, feeling nauseous. The Doctor met me horrified gaze.
“What even happened?!” I asked, completely mortified. The Doctor didn’t break his stare.
“She Spliced.” The Doctor remarked offhandedly, like he was commenting on the weather.
“What?!” I screamed. The Doctor lied there, reclining on a pile of tubing
“She Spliced. Sometimes, the tardis can’t move everything through time. When that happens, the tardis Splices out what it can’t hold. One of the reasons why I do not often take passengers.” The Doctor explained. I felt unbidden rage well inside of me.
“What are you going to do about it?” I asked him, shaking with anger.
“Nothing. She can only heal herself, but... It is a dangerous, risky thing. You have to convince her she has something worth living for, or she won’t. She has grown suicidal tendencies on her trip to the moon. She may not want to come back.” The Doctor spoke softly as his eyes welled with tears. His emotion did nothing to quell my fury.
“Go to her, Edwin. Give her a reason.” The Doctor said, slowly rolling onto his hooves. I looked over at Luna, the puddle of blood she was lying in growing quicker by the second. I rushed over to her, getting low to the ground. Her skinless face looked up to me. I nearly choked.
“I can’t take my pretty moon rock home all smashed up.” I tried to say, my voice breaking mid-sentence. Luna coughed, blood spurting out of her mouth. The muscles articulating on the skinless side of her face was horrifying.
“Fix yourself, Luna. Please.” I begged.
“Why should I?” The blue mare asked, blood leaking out of her mouth. I looked down at her, crying.
“Because I love you, Luna. I love you, and I would do anything for you. Please, Luna. Do It for me, for you, for anyone. Because if you die here, I’ll never be the same again. Please, Luna... I-” My voice broke off in a sob as I looked at her broken, mangled body. Luna looked at me with her one remaining eye. It’s deep blue iris seemed to probe my very soul. I could see the eyelid slowly reach down across the eye. I watched her die. The breath left her in a gust.
“No...” I whispered. I saw the broken form of the pony beneath me, so strong in life. Yet so fragile in death. I looked upon the blue mare. She was nothing now but memories. I felt nothing but emptiness. The Doctor slowly walked over to me, his hooves clopping on the metal floor.
“Edwin... Come away... It isn’t doing any good.” The Doctor replied. I was lying on the ground by now with my forelegs covered in blood. I sat up. I looked at my hooves, painted crimson with Luna. The Doctor nudged me with a hoof.
“Come along, Edwin. We-” The Doctor was cut off by me leaping to my hooves.
“I don’t know what the hell you have ever loved, Doctor, But what I love is right there.” I said, jabbing a hoof at the pile of blue flesh. The Doctor tried to say something, but I cut him off again.
“And frankly, Doctor, I don’t give a damn about you. Or your tardis! Or your human! Because everything I ever cared about just died right in front of me. Don’t try to say that you know what it is like, either. Because you are just a lonely pony with nothing. Absolutely nothing but a fancy ride.” I spat, seething.
“Now, Edwin, I don-” The Doctor was cut off again.
“LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT IT!” I screamed, pointing to Luna. The Doctor cringed at my anger. This made me even madder. The air began to crackle.
“Edwin, let’s not be too-” The Doctor was cut off again as I shouted at him with a primal rage. I felt the power course though me. I pointed a hoof at the Doctor.
“EDWIN NO!” The Doctor tried to shout over me. I laughed grimly as I hurled a bolt at him. The thunder ripped apart everything inside the tardis, with tubing and papers and shoes and wrenches flying absolutely everywhere. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen in the maelstrom, but I was not surprised by this because the bolt would have vaporized any normal pony. I waited a few seconds for the storm of debris to subside. The Doctor was standing in front of me, with a gigantic hole through the middle of him. The blood spurted and gurgled through arteries, splashing on the cold metal floor.  I looked at him, surprised. For a creature so ancient and long-lived, he was so strong. He didn’t fall to the ground. He stood. I lowered my hoof, confused. He gasped. His body clenched as he flew up to his hind legs. He spread his forelegs wide, like he was trying to hug somepony. I looked at him, truly frightened.
“Edwin Shell.” The Doctor spoke, his voice layered. He burst into flame. He screamed, his body convulsing as it was engulfed by a hideous fire. I averted my gaze. I looked at Luna’s lifeless form, drenched in blood. The scene saddened me, drove me to madness. Luna, dead. Doctor, dying. I crawled away from the conflagration and hid. Hid from everything. From Luna’s corpse, from the Doctor, and from the picture of the smiling human. I shut myself off from the world
And I cried myself to sleep.