//------------------------------//
// The Roman in the Cellar 
// Story: The Angels Take Manehattan 
// by Steve Stevenson 
//------------------------------//

The monitor on the TARDIS rang, and the Doctor jumped to his hoofs, looking at the screen. Amy followed, seeing the long anticipated 'Yowzah.'
"Landing lights! We have a signal, locking on." the Doctor exclaimed excitedly. He flipped a switch, and pulled down a lever, causing the TARDIS to throw them about. With one hoof the Doctor grabbed the council, and the other he grabbed Amy.
"HOLD ON!!" he shouted to her, and ran to the blue stabilizers. It bounced about for a moment, and then landed with a loud boom.
Amy headed for the door, but the Doctor remand on the other side of the TARDIS.
"Come on!" she called.
"Just a moment. Final checks." he replied.
Amy scoffed. "Since when?"
He ignored her question and fixed his bowtie. He licked his hooves and set his mane in the right position. They walked out and Amy immediately took to the stairs. The Doctor walked over to a limp, stallion body. He looked into the room next to him, and was filled with delight. His wife was standing there, as if waiting for him.
"Sorry I’m late honey. Traffic was hell." he joked. She laughed and looked at him with longing eyes. He reached down and touched the stallion on the neck, seeing if he was still alive.
"Shock." he stated, "he'll be fine."
"Not if I can get loose." she steamed back. He walked over, fixing his bowtie and his mane once more, and assessed the situation.
"So where are we now, Dr. Song?" he asked, "How's prison?"
"Oh I was pardoned ages ago. And its Professor Song to you." she replied. The Doctor got a grim look on his face. Their time together was running out, and fast.
"Turns out the pony I killed never existed in the first place." she continued, "Apparently there’s no record of him. It's almost as if somepony has gone around deleting himself from every database in the universe."
"Mmm, you said I got too big." he muttered, tapping her nose with the tip of his hoof.
"And now no ponies ever heard of you. Didn’t you used to be somepony?"
“well, aren't you the mare who killed the Doctor?" he questioned.
"Doctor who?" she joked. He laughed and scanned the Pegasus statue with his sonic.
"She’s holding you very tight." he stated.
"At least she didn't send me back in time." she responded.
"I doubt she's strong enough."
"Well I need a hoof back!" River replied aggregately. Amy appeared in the doorway just in time to hear River say: “so which is it going to be? Are you going to break my wrist, or hers?" The Doctor frowned.
"Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?" she moaned.
"Because Amy read it in a book. And now I have no choice." The Doctor looked back at Amy. "You see?"
"Well what book?" River asked. The Doctor pulled the book out of his coat pocket.
"Your book, which you haven't written yet, so we can't read." he showed her the cover.
"I see. I don't like the cover much." she responded.
Amy chimed in: "But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?"
"Well, I’ll certainly try." she replied, "but we can't read ahead, it's too dangerous."
"I know," Amy started, "but there must be something we can look at."
The Doctor dropped the book on his lap, and replied aggregately "What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler free?"
Amy contemplated this for a second, and then responded confidently, "Chapter titles."
The Doctor perked up, and flipped through the book. he read the titles: 'chapter 1 The Dying detective, chapter 2 The angels take Manehattan, chapter 3 missing in new York, chapter 4 taking the case, chapter 5 night in the statutes park, chapter 6 the gargoyle, chapter 7 the skinny guy, chapter 8 Julius Grayle, chapter 9 calling the Doctor, chapter 10 the roman in the cellar.' he slammed the book shut and looked up
"He’s in the cellar." he stated.
"Gimme." Amy demanded, and the Doctor threw her his sonic. She rushed off, and the Doctor got out of his seat and kissed his wife on the cheek. He was almost out the door, before he stopped.
"Doctor? Doctor what's wrong. Tell me." River asked, but he didn't answer. He should have never read chapter titles. His eyes landed on chapter 12: Amelia's last farewell. He balanced himself on a chair with his hoof, and started breathing harder.
"Okay, I know that face. Calm down. Talk to me. DOCTOR!!" she shouted, but he wasn't listening. He threw the book and yelled, angry now. He grabbed his mane with his hoof.
"NO!! NO!!" he exclaimed, beating the furniture. He walked close, and whispered, "You get your wrist out. You get your wrist out without breaking it!"
"How?"
"I DON'T KNOW! JUST DO IT!! CHANGE THE FUTURE!!" he yelled, and stormed out of the room. He made it to the cellar, just in time to see Amy approaching three colt statues. He ran up behind her.
"No!! There Pegasus!" he warned her.
"Did they get Rory? Where is he? Did they take him?" she asked frantically.
"Yes, I think so. Yes." he replied sadly. Suddenly, a strange giggling started, and the two slowly backed out, making sure not to let their eyes off of the statues. They made their way back to the steps, Doctors hoof on Amy shoulder. She sat down, devastated. The Doctor paced the floor in anger.
"So is this how it’s going to happen? We just keep chasing him back in time and they keep pulling him further back?" she asked. The Doctor was about to respond, but River took his moment. "He isn't back in time. I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He’s been moved in space, but not in time. And it's not too far from here by the look of it."
A wide smile came across the Doctors face.
"You got out." he muttered.
"So, where is he?" Amy asked. River tapped her scanner, and began looking.
The Doctor grew impatient. "Come on come on come on!! Where is he!?”
"If it was that easy, I would get you to do it!" she replied.
"But how did you get your hoof out without breaking it?"
"You asked, I did. Problem?" she asked. He laughed
"You just changed the future!!"
"Yes, it's called marriage, honey. Now hush, I’m working." she replied.
He sat down next to Amy like a four year old who was just told he was going to Disney for the first time.
"AH! Where ever it is, it's within a few blocks. There’s a car out front, should we steal it?" she told asked.
The Doctor chuckled. "Show me!" he exclaimed, and grabbed her hoof. She let out a yelp of pain, and stepped back. The Doctor looked at her hoof. It was turned the wrong way. It was broken.