//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Doctor Whooves Classic: The Five Doctors // by Tragicom //------------------------------// The First Doctor was suitably grumpy, as was his default emotion. One moment, he was going to decode an ancient riddle of a lost civilization, next thing he knew he was in some sort of neo-technological maze. He was curious to find out what had happened, sure, but he would have liked some warning! As he made his way through the labyrinth a voice rang out, "Hello? Is anypony there?" The Doctor could recognize that voice in a heartbeat. "Susan?!" A light purple filly walked out from behind the next wall. Her mane was a slightly darker shade of purple, done up in a bun. Her cutie mark was that of a wristwatch, pointing toward noon. "Grandpa!" she exclaimed. She ran toward the elderly stallion, who nuzzled his granddaughter affectionately. "What's going on? How'd we get here?" "I wish I knew, my dear." The greying stallion replied. "I was hoping you could tell me." The two then heard a sort of metal buzzing down the corridor. They tilted their heads slightly, and saw an ever-familiar dark shadow cast on the maze wall. "We must be on Skaro." Susan deduced. "Maybe not. We were brought here against our wills, perhaps this Dalek was as well." The Doctor replied. The Dalek continued on down the corridor. A single Dalek was far from the greatest problem these two Time Lords had faced. But with no TARDIS, no allies, and no idea where they were, there was only one logical response. "RUN!" The Doctor shouted. As the Time Lords ran, the Dalek caught a glimpse of the two through it's eyepiece. "ANA-LYZ-ING." The image of the it's greatest enemy also brought a single response to the Dalek. "YOU ARE THE DOC-TOR. YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DA-LEKS. YOU WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" Meanwhile in the High Council's Conference Hall... The table at the center of the room projected the image of a large open area, filled with mountains and forests. At the center was a foreboding black tower with flags all around the summit. "Behold The Death Zone." Borusa proclaimed. "Charming." The Master replied in earnest. "Nothing quite like a dark secret in the midst of a so-called paradise." "Somepony was able to reactivate the Zone, and is draining energy directly from The Eye of Harmony." The Castellan informed him. "With the Eye's power drained, the damage to the Time Vortex caused by the manipulation of The Doctor's time stream could be irreparable." Flavia said. "We need somepony to go down there and find out what's going on." Borusa finished. "Did it ever occur to you to go there yourselves?" The Master challenged. "We did send two members of the High Council," Borusa replied, "neither survived." "Well named." The Master chuckled. "So your next logical choice was The Doctor?" "Indeed." The Castellan said. "However, we could not find him in any of his incarnations." "The Doctor has been removed from time near completely." Borusa explained. "Near?" The Master repeated. The image of The Death Zone disappated, and was replaced by one of The Fourth Doctor and Colgate floating unconscious in a dark void. "Due to the interference of his chronomancer ally, The Doctor's fourth self was able to escape capture." The Castellan clarified. "We are trying to free them, but due the energy drain, we can't stabilize a removal procedure. For now they are caught in a Time Eddy." "Good to know." The Master replied. Due to his new false body, he was a technical chronomancer, but his knowledge of magic was limited. Any new information about them was much appreciated. "How are you sure the other four are in The Death Zone?" "Their time traces converge there." Borusa answered. "How do you intend to get me into the Zone?" The Master inquired. "We have a power-boosted, open-ended Transmat Beam available." The Castellan informed him. "One last question." The Master said. "Why me?" "In order to rescue The Doctor," Borusa began, "we require somepony who is intelligent, determined-" "And expendable?" The Master cut in. "Not at all." The Castellan corrected him. "After all, you would be useless to us dead." "Now will you go or not?" Flavia asked. The Master couldn't help but laugh. Borusa and the other councilponies exchanged disappointed looks, it had seemed their last hope had failed. "Of course I will." he said, to the shock of the High Council. "Without The Doctor, what would be the point?" Meanwhile in the TARDIS... The Doctor struggled to get himself back up. Bon Bon and Caramel ran over to assist. "Feeling better?" Caramel asked. "A bit." he replied. "What's happening to you?" Bon Bon asked. "I'm being removed from time." The Doctor said, futzing with a few more TARDIS controls. "Part of me is there already. It's pulling the rest right behind it. I need to send a signal. And hopefully, I'll be whole again." The Doctor turned to the scanner. Rendered on the display was a foreboding tower in the distance. Meanwhile with The First Doctor... In spite of the two Time Lord's efforts, they still had physical limits, and were beginning to grow tired. The Dalek, on the other hand, was inside a mechanical shell and could likely keep chasing them forever. "YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DA-LEKS! HALT, DOC-TOR! YOU WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!" it shouted. Unfortunately, the two had chosen to run down the wrong corridor. "It's a dead end!" Susan yelled. The Doctor pondered this. "That may be precisely what we need." He figured. "My dear, when the Dalek catches up to us, when I say so, drop to the floor." "I don't understand." Susan replied. "Just do it!" The Dalek rolled it's way down the corridor. It's body then rotated so that it's gun pointed at the Time Lords. "EX-TER-MI-NATE!" "Now!" The Doctor and his granddaughter dropped to the ground as the Dalek fired it's gun. The blast hit the wall behind the two, but the material the wall was made from caused the blast to ricochet back at the Dalek, causing it to explode. "And that, my dear, is why you never fire an energy weapon unless you know exactly what you're surrounded by." The Doctor boasted. "Did you really know that would work, Grandpa?" Susan asked. "Hmm? Er, yes, of course I did." Susan rolled her eyes, which in turn caused her to notice a door next to her. "Grandpa, I think I've found the exit." "Excellent work." The Doctor opened the door and the two walked out into the mysterious terrain. A familiar smell filled the air. "It's Gallopfrey." The Doctor said. "We're on Gallopfrey." Meanwhile with The Second Doctor... "We're where?!" Shining Armor asked. The Second Doctor and Captain Armor were in a strange rock quarry. Shining would've simply assumed they had been teleported just outside the Empire, but the blackened skies gave away they had been sent to another location completely. "Don't yell at me Captain Armor. Some ponies would kill to spend their birthday on vacation." The Doctor replied. "I'm not exactly the average pony, Doctor. Now where are we?" "I'm fairly certain we're on Gallopfrey. But I'm not entirely sure what part of Gallopfrey." The Doctor explained, he tilted his head so as to look out into the distance. "Captain, what is that?" Shining turned around to look. Squinting to get a better view, he could barely make out a silver-colored figure out on the plains. "I can't tell from here." "Perhaps we should get moving." The Doctor suggested. Shining nodded and the two starting moving in the other direction. Meanwhile with Twilight Sparkle... Twilight had only just materialized after being captured by the sphere. She was used to teleportation, yes, but it was usually under her own power, and not to this extended distance. Worst of all, she had materialized in mid-air. She began to plummet downward. Her attempts to concentrate and use her magic to save her life had failed thanks to her natural reaction to such a situation: fear. As she screamed in terror, her life flashed before her eyes. "Oh, Spike," she thought, "Why didn't I listen to you?" Suddenly a voice rang out. "Grab on!" She opened her eyes, and saw a rope in front of her face, and instinctively grabbed in with her teeth. She held on for dear life, and the rope tugged her up onto the side of a cliff, allowing her to climb to safety. She spat out the rope. "Thank you." she panted, not turning her head up as she tried to gather herself after the umpteenth time gravity had tried to kill her. "Not a problem." She turned her head up, and was greeted by a familiar face. "Hello again, Miss Sparkle." It was The Third Doctor! He had attached a grappling hook to Bessie, and had used the automagic chariot to pull Twilight to safety. "It's you." she said. "But this isn't scientifically possible! I mean, even more impossible than things usually get around you. I saw you change, you turned all... all..." She began to gesture to her mouth and her mane, spinning her hoof around. "Teeth and curls?" he presumed. "Yes." she replied, stopping the game of charades. "Well, I haven't yet." Twilight couldn't exactly argue with his logic. She wouldn't really know how to. "Fair enough. Thanks for saving my life." she began, "Now could you tell me why I needed saving?" "I'm not certain. I'm not here of my own volition, either." The Doctor explained. "Well then, we'd better start investigating." she asserted. The Doctor smiled. "That's what I like to hear." Meanwhile in the TARDIS... The Doctor began pacing about the room, muttering under his breath. "I've got to-What is it I've got to do?" Bon Bon just stared incredulously. "You said something about a signal." she reminded him. "You also mentioned being whole." Caramel pointed out. "Ah yes, of course. A recall signal." The Doctor remembered. "Who's this signal for, anyway?" Bon Bon asked. "It's-it's..." The Doctor started. He fainted dead away yet again. Bon Bon could only groan in response. "I'm getting really, really sick of that." she told Caramel. "I just wish he'd send that signal." he replied. Suddenly, there was a knock at the TARDIS door. This caught the two off-guard, as it had never happened before. Bon Bon put her ear to the door. "Who is it?" she said, with exactly the sing-song quality you'd expect such a question to have. "We could ask you the same question." a distinctly female voice replied. "We're friends of The Doctor." Caramel projected. "Is he in there?" the voice asked. Caramel and Bon Bon exchanged glances. They needed help, yes, but they were well-aware that The Doctor had a lot of powerful enemies, and the idea of one knocking on the door was more than a little frightening. "Yes." Bon Bon responded hesitantly. "We're his friends, too. Can you let us in?" she asked. The two looked at one another carefully. Caramel nodded. Bon Bon walked over to the console, and banged her hoof on it. The door swung open. And as luck would have it, it was two of the only ponies The Doctor trusted implicitly. "So The Doctor's friends with some old guy and a little girl?" Caramel asked to no one in particular. "Young colt, I am The Doctor." the graying stallion replied. "Now, ahem, where is your Doctor?" Bon Bon, familiar with The Doctor changing his face at this point, pointed to the unconscious blonde. The First Doctor trotted over to the young stallion. He shook Five's prone form with his front hoof. Five woke up. "You're here." he said, somewhat starry-eyed, "I knew you'd come." "Steady on, my boy." One replied, assisting his new self in rising to his hooves. "Now, what number are you?" "Five." he replied. "Good grief!" he exclaimed. "I've died four times already?! I see that I'm rather clumsy in my old age." Five looked rather cross. "Please, I don't look a day past 600." Susan walked over to the two. "Grandpa, stop arguing with yourself. It's weird." She turned to The Fifth Doctor. "Is that really you?" "Yes." he replied, smiling brightly. "I've missed you dearly, my little Susan." "I hate to interrupt this touching reunion," Caramel interjected, "but what's going on?" "Oh, where are my manners?" Five asked. "Caramel, Bon Bon, this is my granddaughter Susan, and me in my younger days." Caramel stared increduously. The First Doctor was several hundred years younger, of course, but he appeared to be a senior citizen, and The Fifth was clearly a 'strapping young stallion' so to speak. "And this is Caramel and Bon Bon, my newest traveling companions." he indicated to Susan and his younger self. "Doctor, should you two be here at the same time?" Bon Bon asked. "Definitely not." Five replied. "This sort of thing can be very dangerous for the time stream." "Now, my dear filly, from your cutie mark, I presume you like to make sweets, eh?" One asked Bon Bon. "Umm, yes?" she responded. "Now, while he and I try to sort things out, why don't you go make us something nice, hmm?" "Excuse me?!" she replied indignantly. "Bon Bon, calm yourself please." Five requested. "Do you realize how sexist that sounds?" she shouted. "Yes, yes, yes, yes I know." Five said, attempting to run damage control. "I was young and foolish back then. It's no different than if I said you had cooties or something." Susan walked up next to her. "Don't blame Grandpa. He doesn't always think before he talks." Bon Bon wanted to stay angry, but Susan, being a young filly, had been trained to weaponize the power of cute. Furthermore, Bon Bon had more motherly instincts than she would care to admit. "Fine. Would you like to help?" she asked the miniature Time Lady. "Ooh, can I, Grandpa, can I?" "Of course, my dear." One and Five said simultaneously. Bon Bon and Susan walked deeper into the TARDIS corridors. Caramel shrugged and, realizing he didn't really have anything else to do, followed. "So young colt," One began, "what do we know so far, hmm?"