//------------------------------//
// The Medusa Bots 
// Story: The Stallion Lost in Time 
// by InsignificantGryffindor 
//------------------------------//

	The last thing he remembered was a large crash.
Something had gone wrong, the regeneration was going badly. Something was ripping him, splitting his body in half, tearing his very soul apart. This was wrong. This never happened before.
All he could see was gold essence streaming from every orifice of his body. His screams ripped the tense, hot air. The TARDIS  was making revving sounds as it traveled through the space vortex.
Then something crashed, and he didn't know if it was the TARDIS or his mind. All he knew that ground beneath him was comfortable and spongy; a perfect place to pass out. He thought that perhaps it would be better to make sure his resting place was safe. Oh, pish posh, he thought. Why would I ever need to get up? If I truly was in danger, I would be dead by now. Finally, he decided it was better to pass out on the delightfully comfortable earth. And so he did.


A high-pitched scream awoke him from his cheerful dream of pretty pink ponies. 
"Dinky?" their voice came again in a scream, laden with grief and worry. Grief and worry, he thought warily. Never a good combination.
"Dinky!" they screamed again. The voice was female, he deduced as much. But why would they scream such an absurd word? Maybe it was a name...? "Dinky?"
He got up from his leafy nest, carefully making his away across the fern covered forest. His vision was blurry, as if his body wasn't fully there yet. He shook his head in hopes of his vision returning fully, hoping that this regeneration wasn't bloody blind. Realizing that he would probably have to get used to it, he picked his way across the small clearing, spotting a small hole in the fronds. He moved towards it, body aching, and peeked through it, expecting to see some humans calling out their strange names. Shocked, he realized he was looking at brightly colored ponies instead of the familiar humans. Their manes were strange colors, a bright blonde and ginger. Their coats were no less bright than the manes, one was a pale gray, the other a light yellow. He looked at them scrutinizingly as he also noticed markings on their rump. As he witnessed this, one thought had reached his mind. What on Earth is going on here...? 
He continued to stare at the ponies, watching how they moved and how they acted. Their screams filled the grassy hollow, scaring some birds. The yellow one had stopped yelling and turned to her pale gray friend. "Ditzy... I don't think Dinky is here. We... we've been through the Everfree Forest at least three times. If she was here-"
"She has to be here! She can't be gone. I'm supposed to care for her. I'm supposed to look after her. My sister trusted me, and I failed her!" the gray mare cried. "I failed her, Carrot Top..."
He looked at the ponies, intrigued. They clearly had human like aspects. His eyes swiveled to the yellow mare, apparently called Carrot Top. She was looking at her friend with deep sympathy. "This could've happened to anyone, Ditzy. Just because it happened to you, doesn't mean you're to blame. We will find Dinky. Not today, though, Ditzy. You're exhausted. Let's go home."
These ponies were looking for someone. A niece, quite obviously. The gray mare was the aunt of said lost filly, quite distressed about the fact she had lost her sister's daughter. He easily guessed that "Dinky" was the daughter of the gray mare's, Ditzy's, sister. A mother would be much older, this pony looked young. But what disturbed him most about this situation was that the ponies spoke fluent English. The TARDIS couldn't translate their dialect; it had never learned the language of ponies.
"You go on ahead. I'm going to keep looking." Ditzy spoke again, snapping him out of his thoughts. He watched as the yellow one turned tail and trotted away. "Be careful!" she called back, as she disappeared into the ferns. 
He looked at Ditzy, expecting her to go and search for her lost niece. She looked around the dense field of grass hopelessly. The gray mare collapsed on the wet earth and began to sob. He frowned, feeling a well of sympathy rise up in his throat. He had begun to like these ponies, they reminded him of humans. He had expected less of these strange beings, but he was delightfully surprised.
Then, quite suddenly, his vision returned. He could see things clearly now! The light green leaves around him were large and tall, quite unlike the ones on Earth. The tall oaks bore many knots and roots that entangled themselves below the ground. The springy grass held home to many brightly colored insects. He had never quite appreciated his vision before. The gray pony now had something different, too. On her slim back sprouted two feathery wings.
Wait, what?
In his astonishment, he fell clumsily onto the ferns that sheltered him from the strange ponies. He fell face first quite crudely on the harder rock, feeling around his mouth, he noticed some teeth were missing, then blood began to trickle steadily out of his mouth. He groaned loudly. By now, the mare would have noticed him. And plus, he rather liked his teeth.
He heard the clack of hooves and looked up to see a blurry gray figure. They had wide amber eyes stretched in worry and two wings that fluttered nervously. Okay, he was obviously dreaming. "Are you okay, mister?" a worried voice broke his foggy thoughts.
No. I am most definitely not okay. He opened his mouth to speak, but a high-pitched whinny escaped his lips instead.
That's new, he thought briefly, before passing out for the second time that day.


_______________________________________


His head throbbed painfully. His mouth was drier than wrinkled prune. Not to mention, his nose was covered in dried up blood. Sure, he had had worse. But he still didn't care for it at all.
Where am I? He opened his eyes, still slightly blurry from hitting that rock. Realizing that he was sitting on a fluffy sofa instead of the hard rock, he became suspicious. He looked around. It was a living room, obviously, and a blanket covered him. In front of him was a coffee table with a large stack of muffins. His eyes shimmered as he began to eat the chewy pieces of heaven. Then, with a sudden shock, he spat them out onto the platter. Pears? Who on earth likes pears? He began to scrape off the pieces of demon vomit off of his tongue.
Then he realized with horror he had no fingers. Instead of the thin appendages he used to grasp things, he had two smooth, brown hooves. He instinctively felt his face, searching for his familiar lips and nose, and found instead of a stout muzzle. He touched his ears, now large and horse-like that could swivel around. His hair was at least not that different. It still had it's smooth luminousness that spiked up in a most springy manner. Though, he supposed it should be called a mane, now.
"Who are you?" came a hostile voice from his left. In the doorway stood a gray pegasus mare with a mistrustful amber glare. He stopped inspecting himself and looked at the mare with wide eyes. 
"You're a pegasus." he stated.
The gaze suddenly turned from hostile to surprised in a matter of seconds. "Huh?"
"You're a pegasus. And I'm a pony." he blankly said, shock buzzing through his mind.
She scrunched her eyebrows, her eyes crossing. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm a pegasus. And you're a pony. What's the big deal?"
Eventually the initial shock faded, and panic clouded his mind.  "I can't be a pony! I need my fingers to use my sonic screwdriver! I need my fingers to guide the TARDIS! I need my fingers to bloody write! I can't be a bloody pony with a mane and tail- is that an hourglass on my bum!?"
Suddenly he was driven up against the wall, a gray hoof leaning on his neck. His eyes met angry yellow ones, and he felt fear rising up in his throat. "Can you please let go of my pony throat?" he asked nicely.
She didn't respond, and instead growled, "I'm not going to ask again. Who are you?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Hello! I'm the Doctor." he said weakly.
Ditzy frowned and stared at him with a fierce expression. "Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor!"
Her eyes widened as she let him go. She clutched her forehead and fell on a chair, rocking back and forth. "But you're... he's... that's impossible!" Her eyes flashed and she turned back to him. "You're impossible!"
"Hey, I'm not the one with the wings!" he said indignantly.
She frowned. "But you're a story book character!"
He smiled. "Really? I don't think I have ever been a story book character before! Well, maybe once. Well, maybe a couple of times. Well, at least fifteen times."
She remained still, gaping at him.
"Don't do that. I hate it when people do that." he grimaced.
"You... you were in my dream..." she stuttered. He looked at her with interest. "You had this... room. F-filled with lights! And... and you were pressing buttons. A- a lot of buttons. You were saying a bunch of nonsense, I- I couldn't understand you at all! Why were you in my dream?"
He shrugged, eyebrows knitting. "I don't know. I guess it could've been something that came from the TARDIS and landed in your brain. It sometimes does that. Or it could've been from the storybook you have probably read. The stories we read often end up as dreams. Or it could be these dastardly pear muffins." He flicked his tail contemptuously at the fluffy demons.
Ditzy continued to gape at him.
"Please stop doing that."
"Sorry." she hastily apologized. They stood in silence, the Doctor glaring daggers at the muffins and Ditzy thinking deeply. The clock ticked. Finally, Ditzy broke the silence. "Why are you in Equestria?" she asked, eyes flickering up to the Doctor, who was still eyeing the muffins viciously. 
He turned in surprise to the mare. "I honestly don't know. I think the TARDIS crashed here. Must've crossed dimensions somehow..." he looked off into the distance.
Ditzy fluttered her wings irritably. "Okay... what's this TARDIS you speak oh so fondly about?"
The Doctor smiled. "Glad you asked! She's my ship, helps me travel across time and space."
The Pegasus looked thoughtful. "That must be the machine you travel through time with. It's in the storybook."
He smiled fondly. "Yeah... she's..." a look of sudden clarity dawned on his face. "In the forest! I've got to go back and see how she's doing." He suddenly stood up, and stumbled, putting his hoof to his head.
Ditzy fluttered over to him, resting her hooves on his shoulders as she forced him to sit on the couch. The Doctor began to cough heavily, gold dust flittering from his mouth. Ditzy stepped back, scared. "What's going on? Why are you coughing up... that... stuff?"
The Doctor stood up again, this time with a determined look on his face. "It's nothing. Just going through a regeneration. No big deal." He flinched as one of his two hearts clenched.
She gave him a worried look. "Are you okay, Doctor?"
He stood for a moment, blue eyes squinting, before saying, "Fine. Ditzy, I need that storybook. Could you get it for me? I need to go to the TARDIS. Make sure she's alright. I'll get rid of this vermin for you." He threw a disgusted glance at the plate of half-chewed muffins.
Ditzy nodded, slightly confused as to why she was obeying his orders, and left the room to get the book. The Doctor quickly picked the plate of garbage up and threw it into the nearest trash can. His thoughts were muddled with the condition of the TARDIS and the storybook. He wondered if what was written in his past or his future. He clutched his pockets for his sonic screwdriver but didn't find it. He remembered vaguely that his jacket, with the sonic screwdriver, was in the TARDIS. 
As Ditzy came down the stairs, she heard loud curses coming from downstairs. She sighed, handling the book she carried with care. It was the only copy, after all. She went downstairs with a quick pace.  When she saw the Doctor, he was pacing fiercely in the kitchen. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Left my sonic screwdriver in the TARDIS." he said. "I need to go. Will you come with me?" he looked briefly at her, blue eyes spreading wider than a puppy's.
"Oh... uh... sure." She didn't quite know why she said yes, but she knew somehow this stallion, this strange stallion, would help her find Dinky. 
He grinned broadly. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed, shooting out the door. Ditzy quickly followed on wing, not sure whether this man was sane enough to travel through time. She saw the brown stallion rush ahead, streaking towards the Everfree Forest. A single poster fell from the fence it was on as he tore past. His eye were wild as he yelled, "I've never galloped before. This is fun!" Ditzy gave him a strange look, but continued to fly alongside him.
Together the traveled thought the dense forest until the Doctor stopped. "I have no idea where I am!" he exclaimed, obviously frustrated.
She balanced the book on her back as she responded, "Oh well... I picked you up around that side of the forest. Could your TARDIS be...?" she was unabled to finish her sentence as the excited stallion made his way through the forest rubbish, blue eyes sparkling with joy as he made his across the forage. He shifted past the heavy branches that hung low from the trees and finally stopped at a clearing. She quickly followed him, picking up the book with her mouth.
"Well, here we are. I recognize this place. I watched you and your friend here. By the way, where is she?" he asked with some interest, trotting happily across the field.
"Oh fee's wif her colfriend, Wi-en Scwi- fif wou fust say wou were waffing uf?" she asked, half angry, a book muffling her voice.
"That's not important." he muttered silently, moving into the fronds. Inside the shady the leaf shelter was a single blue box. Ditzy looked at in wonder, feeling something tugging in her heart. Something was familiar about this box, but she didn't know exactly what. She watched the Doctor approach the blue box, eyes shimmering with anticipation. "What have you got for me this time...?" he whispered, before opening the door.
Ditzy watched in apprehension as he walked inside the small thing. She flinched when she heard a shout of frustration come through the entrance. She followed him inside anxiously. She blinked as bright lights filtered into her eyes, she was used to the dark lighting of the Everfree. When her eyes focused, she gasped, her pupils dilating. Inside the small box was a gigantic room with brilliant, colorful lighting. In the center was a control pad covered in blinking buttons, a large bright blue tube sticking out of it. The area surrounding it was made of a brown metal, white lights protruding from the panels. Wires hung from the ceiling, nearly hitting her head as she flew in. "It's exactly like the last one!" cried the stallion, hooves raking across the control board. Then he stared at his ship, misty-eyed. "Well, I did rather like this version."
She set the book down on the control pad, hovering onto the ground. "But... how is this...?" she looked in confusion at the Doctor. His eyes were glimmering in amusement, and he bit his lips to stifle his laughter. Her eyes crossed in confusion. "It's..."
"Yyyyeessss?" he asked, eyes laughing.
"It's..."
"Yyyyyyyyyeeeeeesssssss?"
"It's impossible," she remarked, focusing her attention on the inside of the TARDIS. The Doctor frowned, expecting a more humorous response. "Utterly impossible. How could a small box be bigger on the inside?" she gasped in wonder, eyes blinking under the lights. 
He grinned, but said nothing. He snatched the book off the controls. "Now," he opened the cover, eyebrows scrunching. "About this book of yours. When was it made and by whom? I don't see any author on here." he flicked through the dusty pages.
"I don't know when it was made. But I sort of know who it was made by." she tried to remember the author's name, but it was blurry. "It... it was an old friend. My mother's friend made it for her when I was born. I can't... I can't remember the name, though."
The Doctor gave the book a thoughtful glance, turning through the pages, eyes quickly jumping from word to word. This was indeed new. He had had stories written about him, but never put into a collection. He felt as if he were excluded, a wonderer looking upon a strange man's adventures. This must be my future, he thought.
His eyes stopped on one particular story. 



THE MEDUSA BOTS


The Doctor had found a new companion, and a new book. He could glimpse, but he could never read the book. He could never decipher it's hidden message. No, not until the very end. All he could do is wait and see what would happen to him and his new companion.
But that has no importance as of now. A new thing had arrived. It was a strange thing. It had sharp, bat-like wings and a swirled mane and tail. It could grasp a pony in a mere second and carry it off into a land unknown. Its violet eyes foretold of it's madness, swirling in a dangerous manner. A Medusa Bot. But it could only act if its master tells it to. But who was this master?
The Doctor pondered this. His ancient mind swirling with all the possible answers. Who was this strange deviant, who took ponies from their bed at night? Who made his minions do his very bidding? Who could strike a young mare and a child at any moment?
There was only one possible answer. 

He stopped reading there. The Doctor slowly turned to Ditzy, who was looking at the flashing buttons with interest. "Ditzy, when was your niece taken?"
The mare looked surprised at the question, then remembered the Doctor had spied on her with an annoyed pang. Sadness clouded her gaze as she responded in a despondent tone, "Two weeks ago."
The Doctor nodded, pursing his lips. "Could you take me to the place from which she was taken?"
The gray mare nodded, wondering if possibly the stallion from her dreams could get Dinky back.
He hopped from he was standing, and quickly trotted to the entrance of the TARDIS, opening the door. It was then he had met the violet, mad eyes with his own. In an instant, he was snatched up, crying out in shock. Ditzy screamed after him, eyes wide with fear. It wasn't a second later when a pale purple hoof snatched her up out of the TARDIS, carrying her away. Nothing was left inside the TARDIS, just an old blue book.

He must be taken by the Medusa Bots.