Doctor Who: The Devouring Light

by Thait


Fights and...Friends?

Chapter 2


A flicker of light shone through the foliage as Trixie watched the glowing eyes of the timber wolves as they moved among the shadows. One had seemed to finally decide to make a move when a loud howl echoed from the deeper in the woods to the east. She could see the glowing eyes shift as the wolves looked to each other before a second howl sounded and the surrounding wolves vanished back into the forest at the call of their pack leader. Trixie blinked in surprise staring at the trees around her in confusion at the sudden reprieve from death.

"Apparently Trixie is not even able to die right." She shook her head and felt her spirits rise slightly as she took in the now empty forest around her. "Maybe it's a sign? Maybe Trixie is not meant to die?" Death though was exactly what she had been seeking, though she supposed that she had taken the more cowardly way out. Instead of killing herself where others might find her she had decided to do so in a place where nopony would ever know. Not that it would really matter, after all she already didn't exist as far as most ponies were concerned. It wasn't as if she had ever been well known, not a truly famous pony like the great Hoofdini. Now there was a pony who didn't need to travel to make a living. He had run a show in Los Pegasus for years until his death due to a magical mishap that nopony could have anticipated. She on the other hoof was nothing more than a simple traveling performer with eventual dreams of becoming well known enough to be able to settle down to a steady show in one of the larger cities. Though that had all died out after Ponyville, and oh how she hated that town! It hadn't been enough for them to simply learn that she couldn't defeat an Ursa Major, or Minor, no they had to spread the word of such. Calling her a fraud, a fake, and generally destroying her name in every town they could get to within one days flight distance, and from there it had spread even faster, the seeds of the destruction of her reputation sown before she had even made it to the next town.

After Ponyville everything had gone wrong. The loss of her wagon had hit her hard at first as there had been a great number of things in there she never wanted to lose, pictures, items and clothing that she had accrued over her years of travel that had sentimental value to them, and that wasn't even mentioning her books, pans, and general items for everyday living. But she had held to the belief that she could replace it all as soon as she got to the next town and started performing. Of course she learned quickly enough that no plan was going to end well for her after Ponyville. That first town had been bad enough, the mocking laughter and insults had shocked her as she certainly wasn't ready for them and her confusion at said insults only seemed to make the other ponies laugh all the harder. It hadn't taken long to abandon that town and move on in the hopes of trying somewhere else. The problem was that the news had spread everywhere, and it had grown only more wild and speculative with each telling. For months she had been completely unable to perform in any town or city, and as her reserve of bits had gotten dangerously low so she had struck out for the one town she was sure would give her a second chance. Appleloosa.

She had gone to the frontier town in the end because she was known there for saving a young filly during a heavy storm that almost drowned her. The residents had been extra kind to Trixie after that and she believed they wouldn't have forgotten her. She should have known better, it was a disaster from day one. She had found that the ponies there were no different than anywhere else. Oh there were some who remembered her, the filly she had rescued being one, and who tried to stand up for her but all it did was get them in trouble as well. And in the end, for the first time in a long time Trixie let her anger get the better of her. A young stallion decided to add injury to insult and threw something at her, she still wasn't exactly sure what it had been but her already foul mood, added to by what she saw as the betrayal of some of the last ponies she been willing to trust not to judge her over rumors and stories, had finally driven her to the desire to make a point. Said young stallion had found himself smashed into a building by her telekinesis with enough to force to break one of his legs. That hadn't helped her in any way and she soon found herself fleeing that last haven. Another few weeks and she had ended up working on a rock farm, a rock farm of all places!

It hadn't taken long working there before she had simply had enough. All she had ever wanted to do her entire life was to perform magic for others, it was what she had done as a young filly, and what she had done when she fled home for a life on the road. It was her special talent, the one thing in life that she truly enjoyed doing. And no pony would give her the chance to even attempt it anymore. And so her anger had festered until she could stand it no longer, and she had left the rock farm to on a quest for an ancient item she had read about in one of her old mentors books. Her plan had been simple, defeat Twilight in a magic duel which would force everypony to recognize that she was the stronger unicorn. After which, the word of said defeat would spread as fast as the stories that had destroyed her reputation and it would lead to no pony making fun of her as she would have defeated a pony who could subdue an ursa minor. She should have known better really, as horrible as her life had been going at that point she should have known it was all too good to be true when she found it.

The amulet was corrupted. She hadn't even known how far she had fallen until nearly a minute after the amulet was removed and the last of the corrupted power filtered out. She had truly felt terrible about what she had done, she had only wanted to restart her career by defeating Twilight in a duel and then moving on. Of course none of this would have happened in the first place if the ponies of Ponyville had just left her alone! Had they never spread those stories she would have simply got on with her life but apparently just mocking her wasn't enough for them, they had to destroy her life while they were at it! And if her reputation had been bad before the Alicorn amulet catastrophe it had only been worse afterwards. The ponies had been willing to just chase her out of town with insults and laughter before, they used rocks and fire afterwards. So a first, and last, trip into the Everfree forest had simply seemed the better option.

Trixie twitched slightly as the howls intensified farther away followed by what sounded like a pain filled cry from a timber wolf making her wonder what could possibly be out there hurting them? Curiosity is an impressive motivational force, known to make everyone from the most courageous to the most cowardly do things they normally wouldn't. And Trixie found herself motivated enough to move towards the sounds that seemed to be coming closer. Creeping through the trees she had just reached a large trunk that was split in half when a pony launched itself over the tree and, with a startled shout, slammed into her sending them both tumbling into another tree and to the ground. Trixie winced at the pain that shot up her left back leg even as she heard a loud roar followed by claws tearing at wood from the tree the unknown pony had jumped past. Looking up she stared in surprise at the timber wolf that was trapped in the split trunk as it let out another roar and struggled to get free. With a splintering crack wood shattered as branches broke and another wolf skidded around the tree and dashed towards the two ponies. A shout from the other pony drew the wolfs attention and it leapt forward only to hit empty air as the pony dodged to the side planting his front hooves on the ground and twisting in a way that allowed him to hit the wolf with both back hooves in a buck that sent it flying into another tree shattering the wolf into pieces.

Where had this pony come from?

00000000

SLIGHTLY EARLIER

Ranma was holding up fairly well, somewhat surprising after watching his world die and having the image of thousands of similar worlds deaths shoved into his head on top of being turned into an equine. Few would know that it was the neko-ken itself that protected his mind from going into full mental shock and breakdown. The damage, and mental alterations, suffered by learning that technique had forced his mind to be far more flexible and accepting than most. things that would cause a normal mind to crack merely caused his to shudder and then plow through with rationalizations and acceptance. After all, he had gotten through a technique that had the ability to drive him temporarily insane and survived to be completely fine, though it was likely that others would dispute his assertion of being fine...or sane. But even he would likely have been forced to admit that the vision of so many deaths across the multiverse had been nearly enough to cause even his mind to retreat to a protective state, of course the instant it had thought about that it had also thought about what was back there looking to take over if he did retreat. And now he was here in this new world in search of someone he had never seen in the hopes that this person could stop whatever bastard had killed so many. And though there was part of him that was saying it was futile to believe so he was still holding to the hope that this Doctor could restore his world and every other world destroyed.

He had taken a minute to stare at the mark that seemed to adorn his flank on both sides of his body and was still trying to figure out what the hell it was supposed to mean. A large red cat paw print crossed by two silver bo staves overlaying it in an X was both confusing and weird. It reminded him far too much of brands put on animals owned by farmers and others but since he couldn't do anything about it he decided to worry about it later. He had then decided that maybe it would be good to try and familiarize himself with his new body since who knew how long he'd look like this and with the way his life usually seemed to go he was going to have to do quite a bit of fighting. Which of course lead to the next realization, that his entire form of martial arts was probably useless in this form and he'd have to try and devise and entire new form of fighting if he planned on doing any. That outlook had changed slightly when he had found out how flexible and unlike an actual equine his body was. His forelegs had a range of motion that no real life pony could ever match and he had found that through effort he could stand up, though his unfamiliarity with his new body meant he usually fell down seconds after doing it. But it meant that he would, possibly, be able to use some moves and ideas from normal human fighting, which of course lead to a few tests.

The hoof snapped past the rock, missing it completely, sending Ranma to the ground once again to a mouthful of dirt and snarled curses. He had found out quickly that bucking things with both back hooves was going to take some work. It wasn't as simple as just spinning around and lashing out with ones hooves, it required aiming and precision so you didn't miss, or hit your target at an angle that would send the hoof, or hooves, skidding to the side instead of slamming dead on into the target. And while a pony who had grown up their entire life as a pony probably knew exactly the distance they needed to plant their front hooves to turn and kick Ranma wasn't nearly so lucky and thus was still trying to estimate exactly where he needed to be. Thankfully this body had seemed to come with a bit of motor control as he had mastered walking and even trotting fairly quickly. The first attempt at a gallop had sent him tumbling through the grass and almost into the pond before he had slid to a stop. But what had truly held a good portion of his minds attention while practicing was the sheer amount of life around him. He was by no means a master of Ki manipulation but he was okay at sensing it and had even gotten to the point he could read peoples auras, though not well, but no one would have needed a strong sense to feel what was around him.

This world was literally overflowing with life energy, it practically poured out of every plant and animal around and made moving around like walking through a sea of life energy. He couldn't really see it but he could certainly feel it, hell this much energy in one area would possibly even affect weather patterns due to the sheer amount of power flooding the air, the ground, plants and everything. It was more power than he had ever felt anywhere on earth and he was confused as to why it was here. The trees seemed normal if more vibrantly colored than he was used to and he was sure he had seen a few birds he could recognize in the trees, several of which had given him the creeps by the almost...intelligent way they focused on him. Even the water of the pond had seemed strange to his senses as well as tasting cleaner than anything but the mountain streams pops and him had drunk from at times.

He swung a foreleg around and tried to memorize the exact movement path and reach so he would know exactly how far it would strike once he began training for this new form. He was still swinging said leg around when he heard a loud snap coming from the trees to his left. Stopping all movement he looked to the trees watching the darkness between them for any movement. It was at that moment that he realized that all the small animals, some of which had hung around at the edges of the trees, had vanished completely. Ranma had to admit that his danger sense wasn't fully developed and that at the moment it wasn't giving much in the way of warning. Frowning he moved towards the trees where the sound had come from while keeping his body tense and ready to move at a moment's notice if it became necessary. He was still a short distance away when a loud howl filled the air from somewhere close by causing him to jump in surprise. It also exposed a bit more about his new form that he hadn't known about, that he had instincts that were new and built into the body and which were now shouting at him to run. Shaking off the desire to flee he took another step towards the trees when something shifted causing him to jump back in surprise again as several greenish yellow glows sprang to life in the trees and moved forward slowly until they entered the light.

To say he was surprised would have been an understatement. Ranma had faced wolves before, as one of his father's prized training methods was to drape the trainee with fresh meat, strap a several hundred pound rock to their back and then drop them into the middle of a wolf pack. It was good speed and tactical thinking training, especially when you weren't allowed to take to the trees to get away. As the trainee got better you simply put heavier rocks on them until they could outrun a wolf pack carrying several ton, after that it became a wasted exercise as the trainee was simply too tough for the wolves to damage anymore and so you moved on to a different method. But he'd already found out his new body was not nearly as tough as his old one yet, and these were not normal wolves. Wood, leaves, vines and other forest material had somehow been woven together to create the bastardized version of wolves that were now stalking out of the trees and growling as they moved forward. Instincts that had shouted to run from just hearing the howl pushed their way forward once more and his entire body shook from the desire to get the hell out of there as more and more wolves exited the forest. They had slowed their advance to a slow creep as they continued towards him though that was likely because unlike normal prey he hadn't run yet. Running was an option to be held until he could truly get away, so he did the one thing they wouldn't expect, the one thing only a Saotome would do...he charged.

The lead wolf jerked back in surprise and Ranma launched himself upwards and over the creatures head. While he didn't have a fighting style in this body yet there were several basic things he knew he could perform easily, and as he landed on the creatures back he kicked viciously at what should be its spine. The wooden wolf gave a pained cry as a loud splintering sound was heard and it dropped to the ground thrashing as Ranma was flung to the side. The martial artist had barely skidded to a stop when the second wolf was on him sending them both tumbling as it tried to get it's jaws around his body. Ranma reacted with all the panicked fury a trained martial artist could, even in an unfamiliar form, and the remains of the wolfs body flipped up to slam down to his left shattering into pieces as the remains of its head clattered off of trees to his right. Not that that was going to stop the other twelve wolves as they began their own charge and another loud howl sounded in the trees to his left followed by the crashes of something truly huge heading his way. Ranma considered every option and then did the only remaining thing he could do...ran like hell.

He managed to impress himself by tripping only twice within the first ten minutes and then none after, thankfully he managed to dodge around enough rocks and trees to keep from getting caught when he did trip. The sounds of the wolves behind him was close enough that he knew if he didn't find some way to ditch them he was going to get caught eventually. It wasn't just that the body was still unfamiliar to him but that he had almost no idea of how to shift his Ki into the right places to keep his stamina from collapsing faster than he was used to. Breaking free of the trees he was on open ground for a moment before being forced to skid to a stop staring off a cliff edge into the trees below. It wasn't a huge drop but more than the wolves would be able to make with how low their durability seemed to be, though he was sure there was something else coming as the huge crashes were coming more often and getting closer. Turning to look back at the trees he watched as the wolves skidded to a stop as they exited the trees even as the loudest crash yet sounded and a small tree was knocked out of the way allowing the largest wolf he had ever seen stalk out into the open. The other wolves were small compared to the giant as it strode up next to them, its eyes focused on what it was planning on making its next meal. It barely managed another step forward before its prey spun and with a short charge towards the cliff edge launched itself off and plummeted down into the trees below. Even as he fell Ranma could hear an enraged howl from above and managed to snag a look back to see several of the smaller wolves looking over the edge of the rock. Twisting around he had just enough time to think that this was a really, really bad idea. And then he hit the tree.

"STUPID!"

Branches snapped with loud cracks punctuated with cries of pain.

"FREAKING!"

A loud thud followed by more cracks from within the tree as the pony smashing through it hit the trunk and bounced off into more branches on his way down.

"TREE!"

A final few cracks and followed by a loud thump as the martial artist impacted the ground, followed by another pained cry as broken branches rained down on top of him.

With a pained groan Ranma pushed himself somewhat unsteadily to his feet and stumbled a little away from the big tree till he found a large enough opening to look up where he could see the wolves still looking down, though he saw them pull back a second later and figured they would probably try and find a way down. He winced at a pain that shot up his right foreleg and slowly swung it around to try and get the pained twinge in it out. He was still doing so when a duel set of growls echoed from the trees and a new pair of wooden wolves slipped out into the few shafts of light that pierced the foliage to his left. Golden eyes narrowed in irritation as he backed slowly away from the advancing predators. "Oh come on!" Pushing his irritation with the encounter back he spun and dashed into the forest hoping to lose the two irritants before the other wolves managed to get down from above and cause him even more problems. It hadn't taken much running to see a tree ahead with a split trunk and with the hope that at least one of the wolves behind him was stupid enough to try and follow he leapt up and through the gap. What he hadn't expected was the pony on the other side of said tree who looked quite shocked to see him. With no way to change direction he simply managed a surprised shout before he slammed into the other pony and they both went flying into another tree. Ranma managed to push himself up as his first hope was answered by the sound, and sight, of a wolf trapped within split trunk of the tree he had leapt through. But he was forced to focus on the second wolf as it skidded around the tree and oriented on the pony he had run into. A plan flashed through his mind and he got ready to move. "HEY!" The shout got the wolfs attention and it lunged at him even as he swung to the side to dodge its jaws and planted his front hooves allowing him to lash out with a double kick that sent the wolf flying into a tree where it shattered into pieces. Spinning to face the other wolf Ranma could see that it was starting to work its way free of the tree it was trapped in. Moving to just out of range of its jaws he waited till it tried to snap at him then reared up and lashed out with a strike that shattered much of the creatures head making the rest of the body fall into pieces. Even as the remains of the wolf fell a howl in the distance sounded.

Ranma wasn't sure how much time there was before the other wolves would catch up and while these weren't like normal wolves they reacted somewhat the same though they seemed to be quite a bit smarter than normal wolves. He finally got a good look at who he had slammed into after his jump and blinked in surprise at the horn that adorned the other equines head causing several questions to jump to mind. Was it a unicorn? Where unicorns even real? Compared to his more muted grey coat and black mane and tail colors this pony was a bright azure blue with a mane and tail that seemed to be pale blue and a paler blue so light it looked almost white. She had a mark on her flank just as he did, though it seemed to be a wand and maybe a crescent moon though he wasn't sure and wasn't going to spend time looking. He shook off the question of the unicorn horn and focused on the faint, but growing louder, howl from deep in the forest.

"You alright?" He stepped forward "There's more of them out there and I don't think I lost them for long."

"Trixie is fine." Trixie was proud of the fact she got the words out without stammering, after all it wasn't every day you saw a pony deal so quickly with two Timber wolves without any kind of magic backing them up, or at least not in direct hoof to hoof fighting. Then again this was one of the Night Guard, which was surprising in and of itself. She had never heard of members of the Night Guard being so far from the palace on their own, in fact she had never really heard of them being too far from Princess Luna. If they did leave the palace they usually traveled in small groups and kept to themselves to the point of even avoiding some of the Sun Guards and that was usually for small short trips into Canterlot and then back to the palace. Trixie wasn't sure she bought into the rumors told by some that the Night Guard had simply appeared several weeks after the return of Princess Luna, as if her return had signaled to them that it was time to come return to serving the princesses. Those rumors also had vague statements about historic alliances with Nightmare Moon, curses, and talk about some ancient war as well as speculation on the home where the odd ponies that made up the Night Guard originated from. Any more thought was cut off by the sound of a howl deep in the forest, followed closely by a loud roar.

"Okay we need to get the heck out of here." Ranma looked around frowning "I don't suppose you know the way out of this place?"

"Trixie doesn't know the way out." Not really a lie as she had never been planning on leaving the forest so she hadn't even tried to follow any kind of path. Looking at the unicorn Ranma could easily see the beginnings of malnutrition, he had suffered from it plenty of times himself so knew what it looked like, as well as picking up a very strange reading with his senses. He could make out auras better when the person, or in this case pony, was feeling something very strongly, and Trixie was practically bleeding the heavy Ki of depression into the air around her. That wasn't good. While He had suffered from depression himself at times he usually pushed through it as quickly as he did everything else. But he had certainly heard of, and seen, those who couldn't. She would slow him down, hold him up and possibly get him killed before he could even find the Doctor. And after having so much death shown to him he was as likely to leave her behind as he was to give up practicing martial arts. Another roar, much closer this time, made him settle on a course of action.

"They're wolves, they'll either try and surround us to cut off escape or try and herd us towards a place they know we can't get away from." He looked at Trixie and pointed behind her "We'll run that way, should keep us away from them and it's the way I was heading anyway." A howl getting closer.

"Go. Trixie will slow them down and give you time to get away." She was proud she had thought to say something so impressive sounding when she felt like her legs were going to give out in terror. Maybe a few tales of the Great and Brave Trixie would get spread by the pony if he made it out of the forest.

"The hell you will!" Before Trixie could make statement saying otherwise the young stallion dashed forward, ducked his head down underneath her and then jerked up throwing Trixie onto his back before leaping forward into a run. The showpony gave a startled scream as she clamped her forelegs around the stallions neck holding on for dear life as the scenery began to speed by faster and faster. It was common knowledge that earth ponies were stronger than Pegasi or Unicorns but she had never heard of a earth pony running as fast as the one who was now carrying her was moving. For his part Ranma was ecstatic that he had finally seemed to get the hang of his legs and body, not a truly insane surprise considering how fast a learner he was but it was still something to be happy about. He was still certain that he was making huge mistakes on Ki manipulation in this form, as he was hemorrhaging Ki at a massive rate into the environment which was something that shouldn't be happening. This body was simply...wrong, was the only word he could come up with in relation to the techniques he knew for Ki control and manipulation. His speed was going to start to suffer soon if he didn't find some way to ditch the creatures behind him. Trixie merely did her best not to fall off the back of the pony she was still trying to figure out. He had to know that he couldn't outrun timber wolves while carrying her across such uneven ground. A roar behind made her look back and she stared in shock at the massive timber wolf that rushed through the trees, actually smashing some of the smaller ones out of its way. Her legs tightened around the stallions neck and she didn't even try and keep the fear out of her voice. "They are catching up!" Ranma glanced back and barely held in a curse as the big wolf from earlier knocked aside a small tree on its charge towards them. "We just need some thicker trees and we can lose them t- " His hoof came down on what looked to be a normal section of ground only to hear a loud cracking and his hoof punched straight through the grass and dirt and the ground caved out from underneath the two of them. "SHIT!" Ranma tried to lunge forward but the ground under his back hooves gave way next plummeting them down into darkness. Trixie managed a terrified scream before they vanished into the now exposed blackness below.

00000

CANTERLOT

"The Griffon kingdoms are requesting several negotiators to settle a dispute along their frontier. It appears that the Diamond Dogs have begun to expand into one of their hunting areas and they wish to settle the dispute without starting a war." The official looked up from the papers she was levitating in front of her and stopped speaking as she noticed Princess Celestia staring out a southern window with a look of worry on her face. "Princess, Is something wrong?"

It was thousands of years of training that kept Celestia from jumping in surprise at the interruption. She had felt...something, to the south. A power entering the world, a whisper of voices on the wind speaking in languages unknown but filled with an ancient sorrow. Shaking her head she returned to the business at hoof. With the attack of the changelings and the return of the Crystal Empire so new in the minds of the ponies of Equestria she couldn't cause any kind of panic right now, it could easily spiral out of control and cause problems that they couldn't handle at this moment. But she knew that this was something both she and Luna would need to look into, and just maybe the Intelligence Service would need to be sent to investigate as well.

"It is nothing. Tell High King Krag that we will send representatives to speak to the diamond dogs and try to broker some kind of peace between them." She knew that such was not going to be easy, the diamond dogs were notoriously hard headed when it came to territory and while the they would not litter the surface of the griffons hunting ground with buildings, as they were a mostly subterranean race, they would compete with the griffons for food. From the corner of her eye she could see the Night Guard beginning to filter into the edges of the court and knew it would soon be time for the Lunar Court to begin. She would have to speak to Luna about what she had felt, it was likely that her sister would have felt it as well. She just hoped it wasn't even more danger for Equestria and its citizens.

00000000

PONYVILLE

Moonlight fell through the open window of the living quarters above the Ponyville post office, the light illuminating two forms in the large bed set near the window. One, a brown stallion, tossed and turned as the breeze that wafted through the window seemed to carry whispering voices on the wind. Ancient, sorrowful, and yet calling to him all the same, a golden hourglass in his dreams swaying before him with voices whispering faintly from it. 'The enemy rises, the universe burns. Doctor! Doctor, you must wake!'

Even as the words whispered through his mind the mare next to him snuggled closer and dreams of strange blue boxes and strange worlds faded once again, lost under dreams of his life in Ponyville.