//------------------------------// // The Impossible Choice // Story: Doctor Whooves: A Journey // by Saacsa //------------------------------// Tombstone's orange mane whipped around in the wind. Gotta get back! Have to escape! Must get home to Ditzy and Dinky! These thoughts raced through his head as the sickly black trees' streaked past his rusty coat. Can't let them down! Can't! His mind roared with deafening static as the monstrosity closed in. Then his hoof caught on a root and he came crashing down. He heard an ear piercing crack and then the unbearably agonizing pain rushed through him. He cried out in tortured misery for only a second. He was silenced as he slowly strained his head around to see a majestic Alicorn stallion. Its onyx horn glistened in the moonlight and its white coat shone a pearl color. Static radiated from its form as he tried to cry out, but its wings flew out from its body and the sound of pure terror flowed from them. Tombstone's eyes widened as the tentacles expanding from the creatures back enclosed him. He awoke in a dark and dampened cave that was filled with the bones of other ponies. He even spotted a few filly skulls, which sickened him even more. That thing that had attacked him was nowhere to be seen. He looked to his left and saw shackles there. They contained a stinking half decayed pony, decomposers eating away at the grey coat. He groaned and leaned over involuntarily, vomiting all over the carcass then blacked out. The Doctor stepped out into the murky area. "I have come to a conclusion!" The Doctor announced as one hoof sunk into the bog. "We are in a swamp!" "Probably Everfree Swamp..." Ditzy said with a hint of fear creeping into her voice. She stepped out and looked around. "Where is Tombstone?" "I don't know. Lets ask the locals." He said with a wink. "And by the way, why are there bubbles on your flank?" He asked curiously. Derpy went from a light grey to a crimson red on her face. "W-were y-y-you looking at m-my flank?!" She stuttered out in embarrassment. "What?! No! Well I mean yes, but no!" The Doctor stammered out with a blush across his face. "I just want to know what the image on everyponies flank means!" He got out, then giggled slightly. "I said everypony, hehe!" "Oh..." Ditzy said, slightly crestfallen that her crush wasn't paying that kind of attention to her. The crimson faded from each of their faces. "It's called a cutie mark, you have one too." She said as the Doctor spun around, trying to find it. She giggled at him. "It tells a pony his/her special talent." She added brightly, being cheered up by his behavior. "Mines an hourglass!" He said excitedly. "Seems appropriate!" He smiled a goofy grin. "But what does yours mean? Are you good at making bubbles?" He asked jokingly. "N-no... Not exactly... I really don't like reliving that story..." She said depressingly as a small tear ran down her face. The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion, but found it in the best interest to leave this one alone. He turned towards the swamp. "Hey! You! Big baaad Slenderpony!" He yelled into the empty bog. A drum beat began. Ditzy froze in shock. "What do you thing you are doing?!" She screamed at him. "Asking the locals." He said simply. "Well... STOP!" She yelled at him. "It will be fine," He said, turning to her and putting on his warm and comforting smile that could calm and Ursa-major. "I hope..." He added in a mutter as he turned back around to the swamp. A faint static attacked their ears. It sent chills down Ditzy's spine, along with the cold night air. "Come and get us! Ripe, fresh ponies!" He said, trying to taunt and lure the massive Alicorn to him. The static grew more and more intense as the Slenderpony sped towards them. The static echoed throughout the swamp as the Doctor kept throwing insults and taunting it. Ditzy nervously shuffled her hooves, barely able to think. With a roar, the tall, majestic Alicorn screeched to a halt in front of Ditzy. "My preciouss losst preeey..." The deep tone growled with tease. "You have found your way baaaack." Ditzy whimpered in fear, pure terror radiating from her shaking form. "NO!" The Doctor yelled. The Slenderpony turned sharply to him. "I am the one you want! I'm the one that was insulting you and-" The Doctor was cut off as a pitch black tentacle wrapped around his neck and picked him up out of the muck. Ditzy shrieked as they dematerialized into thin air, leaving her alone and frozen in shock in the middle of The Everfree Swamp. "D-Doctor?" She called and received the same answer she predicted, silence. She ran to the TARDIS, determination in her face. "Doctor, Tombstone, don't worry, I'm coming!" She galloped up to the center console and spoke confidently to it. "I hope you can hear me! Help! Locate The Doctor!" Much to her surprise, a small screen came out from under the console and displayed a picture of a damp cave filled with bones of multiple ponies. On a far wall, the Doctor was shackled next to a rust colored, orange maned stallion. Her heart exploded in joy. "He is alive!" He exclaimed happily and used her wings to perform a back-flip. A small compass like thing slid out from a compartment on the console. She took it and it beeped twice and pointed an arrow to the exit of the TARDIS. "Thank you TARDIS!" She said and bolted out of the door, kicking it shut on the way out. In no time she had reached the damp cave. She heard voices from inside. "How long have you been here?" A voice that she knew well asked. "It's becoming harder to tell, but I believe three days." Said a weaker, but recognizable Trottingham accent. "Wow... Have any family?" The Doctor asked. There was a slight pause. "Yea-yeah. A wife and filly... Might never see them again..." Tombstones voice said sadly. "I would cry, if I could find anymore tears..." Ditzy looked through the opening and saw Tombstone, as weak as he looked, he looked nonetheless. "Tombstone!" Ditzy shouted and flew to them in a flash. She hugged the Doctor quickly and then rushed over and embraced Tombstone for much longer. A tear of joy crept into her eye. "I thought that I would never see you again!" She said, weeping and nuzzling her husbands tangled mane. "D-Ditzy?" He asked in shock, as if he were hallucinating. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes with so much happiness it could have melted the shackles from him. "Yes, its me!" She said joyfully. "Ditzy? How did you find us?" The Doctor asked. She looked over to him and smiled. "Your TARDIS loves you more than you think." She said with a wink. The Doctor smiled. "Check my top left pocket and get the device that is inside. Set it to 2000 metal." He said quickly. "There should be a button on the side for that and then point it towards the shackles and press the little button on the other side." Ditzy nodded and nudged her cute little muzzle into his coats pocket. She grabbed the Sonic Screwdriver in her mouth and spat it into her hoof. She used the other hoof to adjust the settings. She pointed it at the shackles containing Tombstone and pressed the button on the other side. The screwdriver emitted a small wub sound and glowed a dark blue at the tip. Tombstone winced as he fell free from his clanking chains. His arms fell to his side. He yelped as his dislocated hoof hit the ground. A distant drum beat was heard. This only spiked Ditzy's adrenaline farther as she did the same thing to the Doctors shackles, he was up instantly, but Tombstone stayed on the ground. "Right, yes. Well... Run!" He said with a smile. "I-I can't!" Tombstone said urgently. "What? Why not?" The Doctor and Ditzy asked at the same time, The Doctor slightly disappointed and whiny while Ditzy had sounded worried. "I-I tripped in the woods when that thing was chasing me. I dislocated my hoof when I fell." He said sheepishly. "You know how to pick em', don't you Ditzy." The Doctor said. "Oi! Who the hell are you anyways?" He asked with annoyance. "Both of you stop it!" Ditzy yelled, the static began to assault their eardrums. She walked over and looked Tombstone in the eyes, knelling down next to him. "On three, I'm going to make it better." She said with a warm and gentle smile. "One-" And without more of a warning, she snapped his hoof back up into its socket. There was a fresh wave of agony and then sweet relief. "Thank you." He said and flung himself forward, hugging Ditzy tightly. "I missed you so much." He said. The static increased even more. "I missed you too, Tombstone... But now is the time for running!" She said. "Right!" He said and straightened up. "Run!" The Doctor shouted. The Doctor and Tombstone galloped ahead as Ditzy took to the air and flew above them. The static was almost deafening. "It's gaining on us, Doctor!" Ditzy yelled down at him urgently. "I know! Just keep trucking!" He yelled at her. Brief confusion flashed across her face, but she didn't have time to think about what a trucking was. A tentacle shot forth to grab Ditzy's hoof, but missed and hit a rock above, making it hang precariously ahead of the Doctor. The tentacle swept back released a stalactite, sending it falling towards Tombstone. "TOMBSTONE!" Ditzy screamed at him in warning. He looked up with alarm and saw the stalactite. He jumped to the side and dodged it just in time, but was left with a nasty cut on his flank. The rock above the Doctor fell and Ditzy once more called out in warning. The Doctor evaded the rock very nicely. They blew out of the back of the cave and galloped in the direction of the TARDIS. "Book it guys!" Tombstone shouted, who was ahead of both the other ponies, despite the sore leg. "How is he ahead of us?!" The Doctor shouted at Ditzy. "Adrenaline does amazing things!" Tombstone answered for her. Then tried to laugh, but was cut off as he tripped. A deafening crack echoed through the muck. The Doctor tried to stop and help, but his momentum drug him farther than he wanted, slamming him into a tree that knocked him out. Ditzy screeched to a halt, an even distance between both the Doctor and Tombstone. The Slenderpony roared to a stop of The Doctor. Its horn then glowed a bloody red, levitating the stalactite over Tombstone's head and pointing a black tentacle towards the Doctors chest. "You took my foood." The menacing tone rang out. "Now, I do love gamesssss" It said tauntingly. "Here are the rulesss. You must choose between your best friend and your loverrrr. The one that you choosssse shall be ssssspared. The other shall be killlled!" It said evilly. "What?!" Tombstone cried. The Slenderpony lowered the stalactite closer to him. "No, you are not allowed to talk to herrr." It said tauntingly. A tear of anger crept down Ditzy's face. "Why?" She asked in cold fury. There was a pause. "WHY!?" She screamed up at it. "Because, it's fuunnnn." It said with an evil tease. "You're a monster!" She yelled at it. "Why, yessss, I believe that I am." It replied. She lowered her head, sobbing at the decision that she must make. "Tiiic Toooock." It said malevolently. "Ditzy! Choose Tombstone!" Was all the Doctor, who had awoken a few seconds earlier, got to say before the Slenderpony knocked him back out. Ditzy then looked up, a fiery confidence in her eyes. "I choose..."