The Shattered Sonic Screwdriver
The snow was deep, coming up close to their knees. They were chilled to the bone, but they pushed on. Fluttershy pressed into the Doctor’s side, seeking warmth from him as well as strength. The butter-yellow pegasus shuttered and whimpered, and the larger stallion took notice. With one hoof, he took his scarf from around his neck. Then he stopped her and carefully wrapped the scarf around her neck, it still warm from his body.
“Th-thanks, D-D-Doctor…” she whispered.
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
Shining Armor glanced back at them noticing that they were starting to fall behind. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there,” the white unicorn called back to the ponies following him.
He was right, the Doctor had to admit. In the distance he could see the sea-green glow of what appeared to be a dome that covered the Empire. It wasn’t too far away – he could just make out the outlines of some of the closer buildings inside the dome through the snow whipping through the air.
For a second, he allowed himself to marvel how his top-hat managed to stay on his head with this wind. Somehow, it was staying on, just like Applejack’s cowpony hat was. Magic, maybe?
Suddenly, a feral growl tore through the air, causing their little procession to grind to a halt. The Doctor’s eyes widened.
~~~~
He could feel it. Dread. That usually meant something bad was happening. He looked up ahead at the castle before realizing how strangely quiet it was. Why couldn’t he hear the lively chatter of the Crystal Ponies? There was something wrong, very, very wrong. What could have happened? He had been gone for only a week!
He trotted into the Empire, his saddlebags bouncing off his sides only slightly. As he made his way between the buildings and the shops, he noticed that everything was starting to lose its luster. It was like the happiness of the Crystal Ponies was slowly fading away. “This is bad,” he voiced gravely. “This is bad, bad, bad.” And with that, he went to his home, and dropped off his saddlebags. He stopped on his doorstep and looked up at the castle, which seemed to become less and less…crystal-ly…by the second, and frowned.
Deep within his hearts, the Doctor figured that someone or something had made the Crystal Ponies sad and cold, but he had no idea who or what.
He took off in a gallop towards the castle, demanding answers from the Prince of the Crystal Empire. He needed to know if Sombra knew this was happening. If he did, and wasn’t doing anything to stop it, the Doctor was going to be very, very, angry. And an angry Doctor was not a good Doctor.
The slate-grey pony was almost to the castle when something tripped him and he fell. He hit the ground face-first and let out a little grunt. But then his ears perked at the sound of a wind. Now that wasn’t unusual since the Crystal Empire was in the north, but there had been a lack of wind that day. He opened his eyes and got slowly to his feet.
A hissing noise came to his ears as black mist seemed to slowly seep up from under the cobblestones. His eyes widened and took a few steps back, but stopped when he felt something tickle at his back ankles. He glanced back and yelped when he saw that it was seeping up behind him as well. He could sense it. He could sense the magic. It was dark, oh so dark.
More and more of the mist came and gathered around him. His mind was working overtime, and he couldn’t figure a way out. The entire courtyard he was standing in was enshrouded in mist. He had enough experience with things similar to this mist in order to know that if he risked trotting out into it, something might really bad happen to him.
The mist slowly crawled up his legs, clinging to them, enveloping them. He quickly found out that he couldn’t move, so all he could do was watch. It crawled up his chest, up his flank, covering his cutie mark. It covered his back, and covered his bowtie. It slithered up his neck, up his jaw, up his cheeks…
He screamed as the darkness entered his being, through his eyes. It entered through his mouth, tainting his innards. It reached for his soul, reaching – reaching…
He forced it back, fought against it. It was a struggle, since it seemed to be just as strong as he was, but he kept fighting. He kept fighting until, suddenly, it stopped. It retreated. The mist slowly ran off of him like water, allowing him to breathe. By the time the last of the mist had dripped off of him, he began to tremble out of sudden exhaustion before falling to his knees under the new weight of a metal collar that suddenly found its way around his neck. His lungs were suddenly starving for oxygen, and he struggled to breathe.
Someone chuckled. The chuckle was dark and deep, menacing and tainted with evil. He didn’t recognise it, but turned to look at its owner.
The air seemed to leave his poor, starved lungs when he took in the sight of his friend. Prince Sombra didn’t…look like Prince Sombra anymore. “S…Sombra? W-what?” he said shakily.
Sombra didn’t possess the soft look he should have pointed at his friend in this state. He was wearing a wicked grin and his eyes held a triumphant gleam. The Doctor stared up into the eyes of his friend, and shuttered when he saw that his irises were no longer green. They were red, and the whites of his eyes were a poison green. Out of the corners of his eyes floated wisps of purple smoke.
The Doctor knew all too well what had happened. And he knew who was responsible for the mist. “S-Sombra…what have you done?”
~~~~
Snapping out of the flashback, he screamed, “RUN!”
This caused everyone to unfreeze, and they all rushed forward. The snow was deep, making it hard to get any traction. It didn’t pose much of a problem for the Doctor or Shining Armor, but the others, the Elements of Harmony, were struggling. The wind was too harsh for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to fly in, and the others were having a hard time plowing through the drifts because of how much shorter they were compared to the stallions.
The Doctor glanced back at the sound of a loud whoosh. His eyes widened as something similar to the mist in his flashback rose up out of the snow. It formed something akin to a mountain before two large eyes with red irises, and green whites opened, familiar purple smoke flowing from their corners. Both of his hearts seemed to stop beating for a few moments. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no,” he muttered shakily. He looked ahead and at the dome, and breathed shakily when he saw it so close.
But then a plan came to mind.
He broke off from the group and turned to face the monster behind them. He slid to a stop, to assess the situation, before taking out his sonic screwdriver. He galloped towards the beast of mist. Shining Armor noticed this and left the group as well, following the doctor at full speed. The slightly larger stallion came up alongside the Doctor, who clenched his unearthly tool between his teeth with his head held high. The prince noted that he looked a lot like one of the Royal Guards that went into battle back when there were still conflicts.
As they approached the shadow beast, Shining Armor lowered his head and pointed his horn at it. A magenta aura surrounded it. The screwdriver in the Doctor’s mouth began to whine and its tip glowed a bright green.
When they were close enough, the white unicorn prince shot a beam of light at the shadow. It shot harmlessly through the shadow, and ironically, it watched, for only a second, as went by before turning its attention on the Doctor. The whining of the slate-grey stallion’s tool was extremely loud now, as if it was doing something.
“DOCTOR! MINE!”
The Doctor’s eyes widened at the sound of the monster’s voice. And they widened even more as the shadow descended upon them, swallowing them whole.
~~~~
Twilight, Spike, and the others cleared the barrier that separated the Crystal Empire from the winter weather outside with a sigh of relief. “Good, we’re safe,” the lavender unicorn stated, sitting down in order to give her hooves a rest.
“Twi, what do ya think that was back there?” Applejack asked.
The Element of magic shrugged with a blink. “No idea.”
“Oh no!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed. Everyone present looked over at her and saw that she was staring wide-eyed at the barrier, a dainty hoof held up to her mouth. “Where are Shining Armor and the Doctor?!”
Twilight gasped in realization. How could she have misplaced her brother? Yes, they had been terrified out of their minds when that monster had been chasing them, but how could she have forgotten about her brother?
Suddenly, Shining came hurtling through the barrier and landed next to his sister. “Shining!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over to him. She looked him over, and stopped when she saw the black crystals that had appeared on his white horn. “What…what happened? Y-your horn!”
The prince sat up and rubbed the side of his head. He tested his horn in order to see if his magic still worked, but somehow the crystals blocked it.
With a blast of cold artic air, the Doctor promptly joined them. He landed on the side of Shining Armor opposite to Twilight, and merely groaned. He didn’t open his eyes. They clustered around him; and slowly, the half-frozen stallion opened his eyes.
His eyes widened to the point that it looked like they were going to fall out of his head. They darted left and right, up and down. When he seemed to realize that he was surrounded by friends, he visibly relaxed, and the ice crystals imbedded in his fur and mane began to melt. “Blimey,” he whimpered under his breath before trembling once. Slowly, and with great effort, he got to his hooves.
That’s when he noticed something. He looked down, and between his front hooves lay his sonic screwdriver – shattered.
His face scrunched up in a offended look. “Oh, look at that. That’s so, so not cool!” he grumbled.
“What’s the matter, Doctor?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
A fire blazed in the Doctor’s ancient eyes. “Oh, Sombra’s been a naughty boy. I think he’s overdue for some discipline.”