Through out the realms of time and space, twisting in between parallel dimensional planes and rolling through the stars was a funny blue box.
Inside, the good Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor, rested on with his legs out and his arms crossed over the back of his chair. He was looking forward to a vacation retreat with his female counterpart, whom he would be meeting at their destination. As old and patient as he was, even the Doctor required a little rest and relaxation every now and then.
The box made a very distinct noise that sounded somewhat like a dry-heaving mechanical elephant with a breathing problem.
"Eh?" The Doctor questioned. It sounded like his TARDIS was changing course. He hadn't programmed it to do that. Snapping to attention, the Doctor spun his chair around and started pushing buttons and pulling levers. "Oi! That's not supposed to happen...stop that. Stop that this instant!"
The Doctor slammed a button, and got an obnoxious klaxon sound in response. The Doctor slacked against his chair in defeat. When that button gave a klaxon, it meant the TARDIS was going off on its own path, in spite of whatever The Doctor wanted it to do instead.
He knew his TARDIS. He knew it very, very well. He knew it wouldn't go off and defy him like this unless it had a good reason.
But it was still damn frustrating.
The Doctor got out of his seat and started rummaging through his cupboards and start just messing about with his things to pass the time while he waited for the TARDIS to finish its trip. Highlights included juggling bowling pins, wearing his fez- which WAS cool, by the way, no matter what anybody thinks- and holding an electric razor in his hand for a really long time. Why? Because he spent that long time wondering what he was doing with a razor in his cabinet. His chin didn't exactly sprout a squirrel's nest.
The Doctor stumbled when the TARDIS stopped moving, having reached its destination...wherever that was supposed to be.
Patting his jacket against his chest to make sure he looked pressed, he opened the TARDIS' doors, where he was greeted by an absolutely gorgeous ray of sunshine. Raising his arm to block the light, he stepped out to meet a most unusual sight.
He was on some sort of raised pavilion. In front of him were a gaggle of white unicorn stallions in gold armor, with a rather large mare of the same color standing in their center. Their leader, perhaps?
Having been (almost) everywhere, and having seen (almost) everything, The Doctor didn't find anything wrong about being greeted by unicorns. Or giant robots. But giant robots and unicorns together was a first, and there were two giant robots- one bulky and light green, the other swift-looking and silver- standing on the pavilion behind the gathered equines. They all shared in staring at him in surprised bewilderment.
"Huh." The Doctor remarked, putting his hands in pockets.
"Well, this is new."
Well, I was sittin' 'round the table
What else had I to do?
That was when I
looked up into the sky
And they called him Doctor Who!
Doctor Who is gonna fix it,
Doctor Who will make it right
A painted phone booth
of unsuspecting blue
But when inside the doors,
A vast internal complex
Defies dimensional laws
Friendship Is Magic: Prime
Bonus Story
THUNDERWING!
ACT I: Breakaway
The Doctor marched forward with his usual bravado, having on reason to be afraid of neither equine nor automaton, despite the fact that they both could trample him to death at a whim.
"'Ello." The Doctor greeted, waving his hand. "I'm the Doctor. You are...?"
One of the horses stepped forward. She was a big one, too. He had to look way up just to glimpse portions of her face. Or was it a he? Long lashes and curves like the ones in her face were generally feminine, but they certainly wouldn't be the first species he encountered where the guys were feminine and the girls were masculine.
The large majestic equine cleared her throat. "I am Princess Celestia of Equestria."
"Equestria." The Doctor repeated, clapping his hands and having a look around from the pavilion he was on. "Would that be this place?"
Celestia blinked. "What do you mean?"
"This place. This planet is Equestria?" The Doctor asked for classification.
Celestia nodded. "Yes. This planet is Equestria, and this is the city of Canterlot. I consider it the planet's capital."
"Ah! Wonderful. Planet's capital of a planet full of talking horses. Not that I mind. I speak horse, ya know. But then the horse speaks perfect English, it kinda takes the fun out of it for me. Say, maybe I do mind."
Celestia raised an eyebrow at the Doctor's rambling. Her muzzle curled into a bemused smirk, and she giggled. "I can tell you will be a most...amusing pony, Doctor."
"Pony? I'm not a pony, I'm a Time Lord." The Doctor replied. "Or is that a language thing?"
"It is, actually."
"Okay. Shouldn't take it personally, then." The Doctor muttered. He paced back and forth before stopping and pointing at the robots. "Say, what are those robots there?"
"Those are the Autobots Boulder and Smokescreen. They're here helping us set up a Space Bridge terminal for the use of pony civilians." Celestia put her hoof to her chin. "I'm sorry, do I need to explain Space Bridges to you, Doctor?"
"Nah, don't worry 'bout it." The Doctor waved a dismissive hand. "Space bridge. Bridge through space. What's there to explain, eh? Eh...wait." The Doctor's airy pacing suddenly turned brisk and rushed. "Did you say those two were...Autobots?"
"Yes...why, is that a problem?"
"No, no." The Doctor assured her. "At least, not with those two...don't think they recognize me." He muttered quietly.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"If you insist. Say, we never discussed what you were the doctor of." Celestia said with a intrigued eye.
The Doctor seemed taken aback by this. "Pardon? You're not going to say it?"
"...Say what?"
"You're not going to ask "Doctor Who?"
"Nnno...I thought you said you were just, 'The Doctor'."
"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean I don't like hearing it."
"Hearing what!?"
"Doctor Who!"
Celestia lowered her eyelids, steadily growing tired of The Doctor's and her's little word game. It was amusing, for a moment, but it had since ceased to be so. She wasn't a fan of the 'third base' antics.
"Answer my question, Doctor, before I send you on the tour with Smokescreen." She craned her neck towards the swift-looking Autobot.
"Mmm, fair enough." The Doctor nodded his head. "Doctor of, doctor of, what I am...the doctor of?" The Doctor curled his fist against his chin, then, in another moment displaying his eccentric eccentricity, moved his fist away from his chin, breathed on his palm, licked his palm, then dabbed his palm over his cheeks. "Hmmm. That's funny. Yesterday, my saliva felt like beeswax. Now, it's more like syrup. Anyways, let's say I'm The Doctor of...life, the universe, and everything."
Smokescreen winced, his hands arching back. "I'm not sure I want him to give him a ride with hands like that."
"Hmm? Oh, sorry." The Doctor reached his clean hand into his pocket and pulled out a hankie. "I've got some hand sanitizer in here somewhere..." He threw the hankie to the ground, then proceeded to pull out a variety of thing from his pocket in search of the sanitizer. Amongst them were a dog whistle, a rubber ducky, a rubber ducky with metal rings on it, a kazoo, and a blindbag pony figure of Celestia, of all things.
Celestia and a guard ducked their heads low to look it at the blindbag figurine after it fell on the ground. They exchanged confused glances.
"Here it is." The Doctor said at last, pulling some a generic 'germ blaster' and proceeding to wash his hand with it. "Hmm." After a moment's hesitance, The Doctor reached into his pocket again and pulled a short metal stick aligned with two rims at its tips.
Celestia wandered and leaned her head to inspect the curious device. "What do you have there, my good Doctor?"
"Sonic Screwdriver." The Doctor answered. "Helps me sonic things. Wanna see?" His question had a hint of pride in his tone. Celestia's curious expression was all the answer he needed. He pointed the Sonic Screwdriver at Celestia's horn, and it opened it at one tip to reveal a crystal inside. A high-pitched hum escaped from the crystal.
Celestia' dropped to her knees, grasping her horn in pain. The Doctor's eyes widened. Two guards rushed over the Princess' aid, one of which pointed a spear at him.
"What did you do to the Princess!?"
The Doctor raised his arms up in surrender. "I just...soniced her, is all."
"Well..." Celestia muttered, mustering up the strength to get back on her feet. "I must recommend you refrain from 'sonicing' anypony else on their horn...or wings. Or- actually, just to be safe, don't sonic anypony, at all."
The Guards helped Celestia walk away, off the pavilion and stepping onto the stairs that led down.
Smokescreen approached and crouched down before the Doctor. "Well, how about that tour?"
The Doctor paused for a moment and thought about it. "Sounds all right, then. Oh! Don't suppose there's any chance we could stop for muffins along the way? Feelin' a bit peckish."
Smokescreen blinked, confused, not having introduced to the concept of a muffin just yet. The rookie Autobot turned towards the Princess.
Celestia noticed over her shoulder. She nodded.
"I guess so!" Smokescreen said to the Doctor with a confused shrug. Pinching the scruff of the Doctor's coat with the tips of his fingers, Smokescreen jumped off the platform onto the grassy Canterlot grounds below, landing with a rather loud and hard thump.
"Smokescreen!" A medium-pitched voice exclaimed, somehow having the frame of mind to be scolding and not panicked. "Be more careful! You almost turned me into a pancake!"
The Doctor crossed his arms, swinging to and fro in Smokescreen's hands, unable to see who was talking to him.
"Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry, Twilight."
"It's fine...just don't let it happen again..." Twilight muttered.
Smokescreen converted into his swingin' ailen race-car vehicular mode, his hand lowering and dropping the Doctor gently as his arm folded into his body. The door to the passenger side shot open. "Hop in!"
"Yeah, just a mo'." The Doctor assured him, wobbling on the ground and attempting to gather his bearings. Twirling around, he came face-to-face with a lavender unicorn with purple hair. Despite not being allowed to use his Sonic Screwdriver on her, the Doctor got the distinct feeling something about this mare was...wrong, somehow.
The mare snorted at the sight of him and turned to leave.
The Doctor, unnerved by her curt dismissal walked to Smokescreen's side and brush his hand over the Autobot's hood. He pointed at the pony, wagging a finger at her. "Who is she, and why does she not seem to like me?"
"Hmm? Oh, that's Twilight Sparkle."
The Doctor stifled a chortle at the ridiculous naming of the ponies here. Celestia, Celestia he got. Celestia was a very old name, very...very powerful. But Twilight Sparkle? Sparkle!? Really?
"She doesn't like humans."
The Doctor made a derisive scoff. "Whaat? Rubbish! Pish-posh! Not like humans? What's not to like?"
"Well, they're kinda soft and tiny and squishy-"
The Doctor flexed his hand before giving Smokescreen a slap across the hood to keep him quiet, causing an echo of metal to ring out. "Ahhh, shaddup! I'm going to go set that pony straight. Ah! Oh!" The Doctor walked briskly forward, coolly adjusting his jacket, before shaking his hand to relieve of pain. "Slapping an Autobot with the hand...not my greatest idea, no. Although, it's not quite as bad this one time where I tried to cross a toaster with a screwdriver..." The Doctor shook his head. He had to get to that pony. He flagged his hand out as he dashed towards her. "Excuse me! Excuse me, miss! Oi! Twilight Sparkle!"
Twilight stopped at the sound of her name. She turned her neck around, but was displeased to see the Doctor chasing after her.
The Doctor raced to her side and stood tall. "Right then, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes. What of it, human?" Twilight snapped at him rudely.
The Doctor flinched, taken aback by the absolutely staggering rudeness of the pony. He'd never met an unicorn so...ill-mannered before.
"First things first," The Doctor drawled in his light British accent. "First, I am not a human, I am a Time Lord. You hear me? Time Lord! Second, why so much hate for the human race, eh?"
Twilight sighed tiredly. "For one thing, all the humans I liked have betrayed my trust in one way or another, and second, one of their military commanders appears to have a personal grudge against me! Do you need anything more?"
"More would be nice." The Doctor absently answered, rocking his head. "Details are good."
"How about at least two of them have actively tried to kill me? On top of that, one accidentally succeeded at killing me! I got better, though."
The Doctor pursed his lips. "Eh, yeah, okay. I can see how that might put a rain on your parade. But still! you can't hold the actions of three against an entire species!"
"Technically speaking, I can...since I do."
The Doctor squinted, mentally knocked about from Twilight's verbal uppercut. "Well, still..."
A car horn honked obnoxiously behind them. They turned to see Smokescreen's headlights serving as eyes staring at them. "You comin', Doc?"
The Doctor altered glances between Twilight and Smokescreen, in9decisive as to whether he wanted his tour, or wanted to slug it at with Twilight 'til she came 'round to her senses.
"Doc?...Oh my gosh, how could I be so stupid?" Twilight smacked herself in the side of the head. "Doc, Time Lord...I'm going to guess you also have a TARDIS?"
The Doctor was more than a little confused, and partially intrigued that Twilight knew about the TARDIS. "Yes. Why? What about it? What's wrong with having a TARDIS?"
"Okay." Twilight's breath shortened a little, like she was starting to panic, but also trying to keep calm. "This is going to sound crazy, but I was possessed by Unicron, A Cybertronian God of Chaos."
The Doctor nodded his head, motioning for her to continue.
"He could see inside my head and control my body, and I couldn't control his body, but I could see inside his head."
The Doctor nodded again.
"Naturally, with him being an omnipotent god and all, there was a lot to see. One of things I saw was the Doctor, who I'm guessing is you, who had a tendency to appear just before a cataclysm."
The Doctor stared stoically for a moment. "You're right."
Twilight got on a beaming smile at being correct.
"That does sound crazy."
Twilight's smile sagged. How was she to know the Doctor disapproved of the notion of living, breathing gods?
Twilight turned around to leave, but Doctor held his hand out. "Twilight, wait." Twilight stopped and gave him an impatient glare.
"I can..." The Doctor paced back and forth in front of her. "Sense something...off about you. What is it, if you don't mind me asking?"
Twilight heaved her head and sighed. "Hold out your Sonic Screwdriver."
"Oh. Oh." The Doctor shied away at Twilight's request. "The Princess said I couldn't use the Sonic on anypony..."
"You don't need to."
The Doctor was confused by this, but obliged, reaching into this pocket and pulling out his trademark screwdriver. Twilight raised a hoof and tenderly, tentatively, gingerly touch it to the screwdriver. A thin tendril of smoke waved out, and the Doctor could hear her flesh sizzling.
Twilight removed her hoof. "Are you sure you want to know?"
The Doctor nodded, putting his Screwdriver back in his pocket. Then Twilight said something that really caught him with his guard down.
"Do you believe, Doctor?"
He practically jumped backward as a violet and pink flames began to appear around Twilight's hooves. The flames flared up and began to enveloped her whole body. The fire flashed brightly before dissipating. When it was gone, violet crystal were poking out from various portions of Twilight's body, and a large set of bony, clay-like wings much larger than they needed to be lift her off the ground.
"I fly..." Twilight flexed her wing outward, showing how huge they were. They were bigger than Celestia's own! Although that was counter-balanced by a lack of substance between them, as they were quite bony. "On the wings of Unicron."
Twilight turned around and this time, there was nothing the Doctor could say to make her stay. Another whirl of purple fire encircled, and her mutations disappeared. She walked with her head low, clearly upset at having to show her not-so-secret to somepony whom she only just met.
"So, we still on for that tour, Doc?" Smokescreen asked.
"Yeah..." The Doctor muttered quietly, sobered by Twilight's dejection. "Be right along..." Never taking his eye off Twilight's direction, he walked back to Smokescreen, opened the car door and climbed in. Smokescreen backed in reverse before doing a U-turn.
Twilight trotted dejectedly on the streets, feeling saddened by the revelation of her 'secret'. She sighed again.
"I wish there was somepony else I could achieve symbiosis with...Shining Armor only does it when he has to, and while the Tracers are nice, they're not exactly great company."
Twilight stopped to think. "Hmm. Maybe I should give the Tracers stingers..." Tracers, though useful for teleporting organics, weren't much good in a fight against Cybertronians. They were distracting at worst, and a best, a swarm of them flying incessantly would make a bot panic...before they realized the Tracers had no bite or sting to go with them.
Suddenly, Twilight felt a pulse in her horn, feeling it light up, resonating with a signal of Dark Energon that was not hers...
Twilight looked around left and right, trying to find the source of the mystery symbiosis. Not that she was complaining, but in a way, it felt like she was exposing herself to a stranger. She noticed a pony in a traveling cloak that obscured their features, but she knew it was them.
They also knew it was her, as the instant Twilight saw her, the cloaked pony took off running.
"Wait!" Twilight shouted, holding her hoof. "Stop! I want to talk to you!"
Twilight gave chase, intent on not letting this potential symbiosis partner get away. She swerved around a sidewalk corner, and could see the tail end of their billowing cloak shortly before it slipped the next corner. Twilight continued her chase, and eventually found the cloaked stranger in an alleyway, resting. Probably thinking she had lost her pursuer.
"There you are!" Twilight declared, startling the stranger. As Twilight approached and cornered her, the stranger backed away, only to herself pressed against a wall.
Twilight put her hooves on the stranger's withers to pin her, then bit the hood and pulled if off, revealing...
"Trixie!?"
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie spat, unhappy to see her 'frenemy' in this state. "W-what brings you here in this dark alleyway?"
"I...followed you?"
"And Trixie was attempting to escape you. Funny, that." Trixie worked her sarcasm with a raised eyebrow.
"Why were you running away? I thought we were friends now!"
Trixie turned her head away. "Trixie... has a developed a problem. Trixie may or may not have thrown herself in with somepony she shouldn't have and been infected with an evil substance unrelated to the Alicorn Amulet. She also may have pleaded guilty for a reduced sentence."
Trixie pushed Twilight off and turned her head away. "Please, just leave Trixie alone to wallow in her misery."
Twilight chuckled. "Eh-heh...hehhehhehheh."
"What are you laughing about?" Trixie demanded harshly. She was in no mood for foalish games!
Twilight cupped Trixie's cheek and pulled the azure unicorn's head towards her.
"Please don't call it an infection. It hurts my feelings. It's really more of a condition."
Dark Energon surging through both their veins, Twilight touched her now glowing horn to Trixie's. Both unicorns' eyes flashed with the Dark color as an indescribable pleasant feelings of just being connected swelled in both of them.
"Y...you have Dark Energon in your system?" Trixie stammered. "You? Straight and narrow Twilight Sparkle?"
"It's a long story." Twilight said with a smile. "Say, I'm supposed to go visit my brother in the Crystal Empire later today, and he knows how much I love my friends. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me bringing a plus one."
Trixie's eyes got big and dewy. "What- not only are you inviting me to go meet your brother, who I'm sure is a very attractive stallion-"
"He's married."
"Oh. Hrmph. Oooh, never mind that! Not only are you inviting me to meet your family, but you're taking me to the Crystal Em-pire!?" The high note in her voice emphasized well Trixie's surprise and disbelief.
Twilight thought about this for a minute, stroking her own chin.
"Well, yeah! It's not that often you find a...symbiosis partner around here." Twilight said, blushing and shyly lifting her hoof.
Trixie returned the embarrassed, but pleasantly surprised smile.
The Doctor had his eyebrows furrowed and his fist pressed firmly into his hand as Smokescreen lazily rolled through town. The Time Lord was deep in thought, concerned over Twilight. How she, while thinking he was a human, so quickly dismissed him. How hurt she seemed when she had to reveal herself to him. Smokescreen eventually noticed.
"You okay, Doc?"
"Hmm? Yeah, yeah, just thinking, is all..." The Doctor assured him.
"Oookay then."
The Doctor continued thinking until he saw two white unicorns – one with blue hair, the other with pink- reaching over a counter to give what he had to assume was pony currency to a stall merchant, who gave them some fried doughnuts.
"Oi. What's this then? Stop right here." The Doctor instructed Smokescreen, intrigued by what he saw. "I'm interested now..." The Doctor made his way out of the Autobot and marched over to the stall.
"Howdy! What can I do fer ya?" The merchant manning the stall greeted. "Here for of Doughnut Joe's trademark doughnuts?"
"Eh, possibly." The Doctor shrugged. He was more interested in just observing the unicorns enjoying such filling jelly-filled pastries.
"Hm. Well, you've met Joe. I'm Fancypants, and this is my partner, Fleur-de-lise." The blue-maned unicorn introduced themselves. "Who might you be, my fine fellow?"
"The Doctor. I'm a Time Lord visiting from space."
Fancypants and Fleur-de-lise stared blankly at him.
"Right then." Fancypants shrugged the alarming revelation like shaking off a bug on his shoulder. "Are you finding Equestria to your liking, Doctor?"
"For the most part. I'm..." The Doctor paused, afraid what he was about to say would be construed as offensive. "I'm curious to see unicorns eating doughnuts. It's not all that common where I come from." He felt at ease around this Fancypants fellow, presumably because he had an accent not dissimilar to the Doctor's own.
Fancypants and Fleur chuckled at the Doctor's eagerness to see new and strange (to him) things. They bemusedly obliged his request and started to munch happily on their doughnuts, keeping the food in the air with their magic. The Doctor wasn't at all perturbed at this disruption of physics.
"Say, are those doughnuts any good?"
Fancypants' eyes widened. He cleared his throat and composed himself. "Er...yes. Pardon my suprise, Doctor. But these are the work of Doughnut Joe!" Fancypants gestured to Joe, who blushed at the compliment. "Of course they're good! Here." Fancypants used his magic to tear off a bit of the doughnut and levitated the bit towards the Doctor. "Try a bit before you 'ave a go."
The Doctor appreciatively took the doughnut-bit with a smile and observed it for a moment before putting it in his mouth. "Mmh! Say, these are good."
Fancypants grinned and chuckled. He pulled out a hoofful of bits from his pocket. "Joe, my good colt, a a half-dozen package for our friend the Doctor here."
"Comin' right up!" Joe announced proudly before ducking under the cover of his stall. There was a few pops from the counter, followed by a ding, and Joe resurfaced with a bag hanging from his teeth. "'Ere ya go!" Fancypants levitated the bag to the Doctor.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that!" The Doctor decried as the bag dropped into his hands.
"Perhaps not. However, consider this a polite gesture on my part." Fancypants bowed his neck. "To welcome you to Equestria." Fancypants and his companion took their leave. The Doctor turned and headed back to his ride.
"Got a treat for yourself? Where's mine?" Smokescreen joked.
"It was a gift." The Doctor responded, cleverly defeating Smokescreen's jab.
There was a beep-beep from Smokescreen's dashboard.
"'Ey, Smokescreen!" A sweet-sounding Southern voice came from Smokescreen's dashboard. "Got sumthun of a situation 'ere back at the farm. Think y'all can head on over and help out a little?"
"Of course! Oh, but I have this, uh, sort of passenger?"
"Eh, bring 'im along. Could always use more hooves."
"All right! Consider me there!" The commlink beeped off.
"Oi now. What's this then?" The Doctor demanded at the strange conversation to which he had absolutely no context.
"I guess I should explain. I kinda...have this thing going with these ponies called the Apple Family. They kinda take priority over you, so we're gonna head over to Ponyville."
"Oi now." The Doctor objected. "Celestia said you were supposed to be giving me a tour of Canterlot."
"Well, that's true." Smokescreen admitted.
The Doctor gave Smokescreen's dashboard a good solid thwack. "Oi! Just 'aving a bit of fun wit' ya. Let's go meet this Apple Family of yours, I'm sure the Princess won't mind! More, the merrier, I always say! Hahaha!"
"Well...if you say so!" Smokescreen, being young and inexperienced, took little to motivate him and even less to convincing. He revved his wheels (despite the fact he yet to get an Earth vehicle mode and hovered off the ground) and took off at blazing speeds, his motor running at its maximum. The Doctor dropped his doughnut bag and clenched his hands against the back of the chair, holding on for dear life as the insane speeds made his lips flap around wildly enough to reveal his gums.
After winding through more than a few suspended bridges and through a few forests, Smokescreen stopped at the outskirts of Ponyville, where a little-known entrance straight into Sweet Apple Orchards was placed that he traveled right through. He came to an abrupt stop, shaking the Doctor in his chair even more, and the unfortunate passenger was all too eager to get out of his ride. While Smokescreen converted to robot mode behind, the Doctor wobbled and clutched at his stomach.
The Doctor groaned in pain.
What was even worse was, in the high-speed ride that ensued, his doughnut bag was shaken and stirred until the doughnuts inside were nothing but paste adhering to the cardboard walls. However, it evened out, as he was going through too much motion sickness to even think about eating right now.
Smokescreen flexed his shoulders and twisted at his waist. "Ah! Feels good to exercise my hydraulics after being in vehicle mode for so long!"
"There y'all are!" The same sweet sounding voice from earlier called out. "Ah thought Ah heard the hum of a overripe engine!" A very orange pony with a cowboy hat trotted into view, followed by a group of other mares.
"Applejack!" Smokescreen shouted as a form of greeting.
"So, Smokescreen, y'all ready to get to work?" Applejack questioned.
"I'm always ready!" Smokescreen declared, punching his fists through the air to demonstrate his readiness. Applejack noticed the wobbling Doctor and got a concerned look on her face.
"Say, is yer buddy all right there?"
"Eh, he'll be fine."
"No!" The Doctor objected, raising his hand and barely keeping himself from throwing up. "I am most certainly not fine!"
"Hmm." Applejack pursed her lips. "Well, Ah can clearly see y'all are in no state to help buck apples...although..." Applejack turned silent, but it was clear from her expression she didn't think The Doctor had the muscle to help with the apples trees even if he was feeling well. She trotted towards him and lifted him up onto her strong back. "Here ya go. Sit there for a spell 'til you can stand up straight. Say, who are you, anyhoo?"
"I'm...the Doctor." The Doctor groaned out, lying on her back to gather his strength. Applejack ignored the weight on her back and proceeded on her work, walking up to an apple tree and bucking it untl the apples all fell off it onto the ground. As she worked, the Doctor noticed her friends and decided to strike conversation with them.
"So...who might you...all be?" The Doctor groaned on, rolling around on Applejack's back. He rather enjoyed and appreciated the feeling under his back. It was kinda like lying on a moving rock with a bed comforter on it. Though he didn't like the bump that rolled through Applejack's back -and by extension, his back- when she bucked the trees around.
"I'm Rainbow Dash, and these are our friends Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy!"
The Doctor raised his head up to see the three of them. He guessed the one with rainbow hair was Rainbow Dash, and the pink one was Pinkie Pie, so by process of elimination, that made the mutant one with swirling bronze patterns on green armor plating Fluttershy.
"Now hang on a sec, 'ere. What's with the cyborg pony?" The Doctor shook his head. "I don't believe this, a cyborg pegasus."
"Um..." Fluttershy mumbled. "Actually, I'm a techno-organic...there's a difference."
"Techno-organic, eh?" The Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, I want to Sonic you so badly..."
Fluttershy took a few steps backwards uncomfortably. "Um...that sounds inappropriate, Mister Doctor."
"Mister Doctor? Mister Doctor? You know, I rather like the sound of that!" The Doctor clapped his fists together. "Right then." He leaped off Applejack's back and climbed her down her side to the ground. He gave her a pat on the rump to show his thanks. "Thanks for being a bed for me, mate."
"No problem, sugercube." Applejack told him before continuing on her work.
"So..."The Doctor said, turning around. "Explain the, uh, explain the cyborg pegasus to me."
"Techno-organic." Fluttershy repeated quietly, though listening closely enough would detect a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Well, she, uh...kinda got converted. But it's okay. She likes it. Don't you, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash playfully banged a hoof against Fluttershy's armor. Fluttershy lived up to her name and nervously shied away from the attention.
"Well...a little." Fluttershy admitted. "I would never want to hurt somepony, but it's nice to know I don't have to worry about somepony beating me up."
Fluttershy was understating her own strength, as being part-Insection gave the parts of the Insecticons' incredible power.
"Fascinating!" The Doctor announced with a jerk of his head. He was familiar with the idea of an organic being cyber-converted...although this was a bit different from anything he was used to. "You know what would be great? If you could tell me more, eh!? Doesn't that sound grand?" The Doctor, trying to be friendly, cupped Fluttershy's cheeks. However, this startled her and made her convert into her ladybug mode involuntarily.
"Wha...she's not just a cyborg, but she's part Cybertronian!? Well, that is just- just- cool!"
"Yeah. She's still our Fluttershy, though." Rainbow Dash said, resting her knee on Fluttershy's beast-mode shell.
The group of ponies heard a the clop of two more ponies approach behind them, and they turned around to see Twilight and Trixie approaching.
"Trixie!?" All three mares exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Trixie has discovered she has...more in common with Twilight Sparkle than she initially thought." Trixie answered.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the Doctor and sneered. "Doctor, Doctor, why do I keep running into you?"
The Doctor shrugged cockily and walked towards them his usual irritating swagger. "I don't know. Why do you keep running into me?"
"I don't know, but I wish I'd stop." Twilight then ignored him for the rest of the conversation. "Anyways, Trixie and I are heading to the Crystal Empire to pay a visit to Shining Armor. We just wanted to inform everypony."
"All right then." Pinkie drawled.
"Have a nice time with Trixie and Shining Armor." Fluttershy said quietly.
"You sure it's a good idea to introduce her to your B.B.B.F.F?" Rainbow Dash asked with a suspicious eye towards Trixie.
Twilight glanced at Trixie worriedly, and Trixie glanced back sadly. Twilight hadn't at all thought about it like that...
"No, but...friendship is magic." Twilight answered, building her up confidence as she spoke. "Have a nice day, everypony!"
Twilight and Trixie turned to leave as everypony waved them off. The Doctor, meanwhile, rubbed his chin.
"I think I might like to see this...'Crystal Empire." The Doctor muttered. The gears in his head began grinding mischievously, and he rubbed his hands together. "So, Fluttershy the Cyborg, would you be up to help me hitch a ride?"
Fluttershy's beast-mode optic twitched. The Doctor, sensing an unforeseen volatility from the Insect/Pony, started backing away.
"TECH-NO-OR-GAN-IC!"
Twilight and Trixie boarded the Friendship Express, the train that would take them from Ponyville to the freezing cold Crystal Empire.
Behind them, Fluttershy skittered along the ground, the Doctor on her back, a little nervous about the Doctor's plan.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Mister Doctor? It seems like we're stealing a free ride off the train..."
"Oh, fine." The Doctor sighed. "We'll pay them before going up. What do you ponies even use to pay for things, anyway?"
"Bits. Little gold coins." Fluttershy skittered up the train's cab and gave the conductor some bits from her insect leg. The conductor was nervous to take money from an over-sized metal ladybug, but upon taking them and seeing the coins were genuine, nodded them his permission for them to board.
Of course, when Fluttershy turned away from the train and flew up onto the top of a section, the conductor was a little baffled.
Fluttershy sunk the pointed tips of her bug legs into the cab, attaching herself into the cab.
Inside the cab, Twilight noticed six pointy things poking down from the ceiling of the cab she and Trixie were in. She looked to Trixie, who shrugged. Twilight turned and poked her head out of the window and was gobsmacked by the sight of the Doctor resting on top of Fluttershy, her wings held out to form a chair for him.
"For the love of pete..." Twilight muttered. "Fluttershy! What are you doing up there!?"
The train started moving. The churn and hum of engine forced Fluttershy to speak louder than she was comfortable, and Twilight to raise her shouting.
"The Doctor wanted to see the Crystal Empire!" Fluttershy shouted back. "He thought it sounded interesting!"
Twilight made a frustrated groan. "Quit following me, Doctor!...Why are you on the roof!?"
"Personal preference!" The Doctor shouted back.
"You prefer to be on the roof!?"
"Yeah! What's so wrong about that!?"
"It's just...strange." Twilight closed the window and sat back in her chair.
Nothing noticeably really happened on the way. When the grass turned to desert, and the desert then turned to snow, ice, and frosted over grass, The Doctor presumed they had to be getting close. He shivered and hugged himself.
"Are you cold?" Fluttershy asked.
"Am I cold? Yeah, I'm cold! Is the Crystal Empire this cold?"
"No."
"Whew! Well, that's a relief."
"It's colder."
"Bloody!"
The Doctor was starting to bitterly regret not going into the actual train. He was sure there was a heater, and maybe some hot chocolate there.
"Would you like huddle underneath me?" Fluttershy offered. "I'm sure my internal machinery will keep you warmer than just sitting there."
"Probably have a point." The Doctor admitted. He crawled off Fluttershy's back and wormed his way under her shell, where Fluttershy took her front two legs out of the cab and hugged him. Like she said, the heat from her machine parts was warmer than sitting on her back. Not by much, but it was something.
The Doctor noticed a pink flying thing off in the distance. "What's that?"
"What?"
"That pink flying there. Off in the distance." The Doctor pointed.
"Oh! I think that's Princess Cadence. She manages the Crystal Empire for Celestia...I wonder what she's doing out..."
Cadence flew along the Crystal skies, a basket hanging from her mouth. In the basket were some grapes, bananas and other fruits, as she was intending for a good day with Shining Armor.
As she was flying along on her way, she noticed a glacier. It was a humongous chuck of ice, but it was actually rather small for a glacier. She didn't think much of it, so she continued on her way, but her horn suddenly lit up and started dragging her towards the ice mountain. She tried to fight it and pull back on her way, but her horn dragged her down.
She sighed. She should have known better. When a unicorn's horn locks onto something and wants to investigate something, the unicorn had no hope of fighting.
Once she stopped resisting, she had a much smoother flight towards the glacier and she perched on top of a jagged ice chunk and scanned the area of the glacier. She really didn't see anything noticeable...
Until she swept her gaze over at the center of the glacier, and saw a humongous sword the size of Optimus Prime trapped inside the ice. It was beautiful, elegantly crafted and wonderfully sculpted. It was almost mesmerizing in its beauty.
"This must be one of the Iacon Artifacts Twilight's always trying to help Optimus find! I've got to tell her and Shining Armor about this!" Cadence realized. She flapped her wings and took off towards her original destination with a new sense of urgency. The existence of this sword had to be shared as soon as possible!
The Friendship Express pulled up into the Crystal Empire's train station. Everypony got off the train, Twilight and Trixie amongst them. Fluttershy bucked her legs out of the cab and hugged the Doctor to fly him off the train and onto the station. Hearing Fluttershy's wings, Twilight looked over her shoulder and glared at the Doctor. She humphed before continuing on her way.
"Oi. She does not like me, does she?" The Doctor remarked at Twilight's behavior.
"No...please forgive her. She has trust issues with humans."
"I'm not a human! I am a Time Lord!"
"Oh!" Fluttershy exclaimed, putting her legs over her mandibles in alarm. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know!...you still look like a human, though."
"No. No." The Doctor firmly insisted. "Humans look like Time Lords, not the other way around!"
"But you understand since you look like a human, Twilight's going to..." Fluttershy muttered. "Don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah. I guess. Hey..."
The Doctor noticed Twilight and Trixie trot up to a white stallion who had clearly been waiting for her.
"Twiley!"
"B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight exclaimed, running up to Shining Armor and engaging him in a hug. They wrapped their necks around each and nuzzled for awhile.
"It's good to see you again, kiddo!" Shining said, patting Twilight's shoulder and noticing Trixie. "Who's this?"
Twilight cleared her throat. "Sorry. This is my friend, Trixie."
Trixie's jaw dropped. "Trixie...I'm your friend, Twilight?"
"Well...yeah!"
Trixie's eyes wavered and blubbered. "Oh!" Overwhelmed with emotion, Trixie ran up to Twilight and gave her a hug.
"Okay, okay. That's enough. I'm getting too many hugs and Shining's not getting enough." Twilight said jokingly, lifting Trixie's leg off herself.
"Right..."
"So you're one of Twiley's friends, huh? A friend of hers is a friend of mine!" Shining welcomed Trixie with open arms, er, front legs, inviting her in for a hug.
Trixie approached, but when she stepped away from Twilight and towards Shining, putting herself in between them, all their horns suddenly burst into purple energy.
"Aaah!" Shining screamed, clutching at his horn in pain. "Twiley! What's...going on?"
"Uh, uh...symbiosis!" Twilight sputtered out. "Shining, I'm so sorry! Trixie has Dark Energon in her systems! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize-"
"That's why you wanted to Trixie to meet me!?" Shining demanded sharply, sounding enraged. "So we could all achieve symbiosis together!? As another partner for your damn addiction!"
Twilight made a sound like a sick duck quacking.
"I'm disappointed in you, Twiley." Shining said, turning around to leave.
Fluttershy and the Doctor stared with wide eyes. Twilight just dropped onto her haunches, unable to believe what she just heard.
Shining stopped. "Why don't you take some time and think about what you did?"
"Excuse you!?"
All eyes turned to Trixie, who was speaking now in the middle of this family confrontation.
"You think Twilight brought my here just to achieve symbiosis with you!? Don't flatter yourself!" Trixie snorted, puffing air out of her nose. "The Grrreat and Powerful Trixie would never want to achieve symbiosis with a such a quick-to-judge stuck-up unicorn like you!"
The hypocrisy was so thick it could've cut with a knife. And malleable enough a flat, not very sharp butter knife would do it, at that.
Now it was Shining's turn to have his jaw drop.
"Twilight brought Trixie here to introduce so we could all hang out together like good friends. You think she likes the fact that she has to cope with this stuff?"
"Well, I..." Shining muttered at a half-attempt to salvage his pride.
"You think Twilight likes the fact she to go out and spread this infection of hers with other ponies just so that it doesn't kill her? You think she likes being undead?"
"Well, that's actually come in useful at times..." Twilight mumbled, turning her violet eyes away.
"Why don't you take some time and think about what you did?" Trixie snarled. She wrapped her leg around Twilight's back and began to steer her away from the station like she was a protective boyfriend.
Shining just stood there, jaw agape, having to process so many emotions at once he couldn't even think of what he was supposed to do next- fairly obvious, "Apologize to Twilight" but in his current state, even so much as singing his A-B-C's was an impossible task.
"Well...I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that could've gone better." The Doctor silently quipped.
Cadence descended from the sky, making a bee-line for her husband. "Shining Armor! Where's Twilight? I've got something I need to share with both of you!"
"Don't bother." Shining bitterly spit before trotting off in the direction of the Crystal Castle.
Cadence raised an eyebrow, then noticed Fluttershy and the Doctor. "Hello! Uh, Fluttershy? Could you explain what's going on to me?"
"Well, basically, Twilight's broke up with Shining Armor to be with Trixie." The Doctor answered. "Does that help?"
Cadence stared.
"N...n-no, not really." Cadence's eyes started rolling around doing loop-de-loops in their sockets. "In matter of fact, I'm actually now even more confused."
Outside the city, Twilight sat on her haunches on the ledge of a bumpy part of the road, Trixie's leg wrapped around Twilight's neck. Twilight's had her hooves on her cheeks, wondering what she did wrong.
"I don't understand..." Twilight muttered. "I didn't mean for us to undergo symbiosis...why can't he see that?"
"Who knows?" Trixie said indignantly.
"...Trixie? T...th...t-thank you for standing up for me." Twilight stuttered.
"O-of course!" Trixie stuttered back, still getting the hang of this whole 'emotion' thing. "That is what friends are for, isn't it?"
Twilight gave a look of surprise. She smiled and gave Trixie a hug.
"I don't believe this." Twilight said. "I mean, doesn't he realize if I didn't use the Dark Energon on him, he'd still be dead!?"
Trixie patted Twilight on the back, content to let her rival just...vent and get everything out in the open.
"You don't need him." Trixie assured her.
"But I do. He's my brother!" Twilight countered.
Trixie frowned, unsure of how to proceed. "Well, uh...Trixie is sure he'll come around?"
Twilight pulled away from Trixie and sniffled. She wiped a tear from her eye. "You know what, Trixie?"
"Trixie does not know what. What?"
"You're right. Shining just has acceptance issues and he's taking it out on me. He'll apologize once he's had some time to think."
Twilight got up and began to trot out into the fields of ice and snow, standing tall and proud with the conviction this was just an unfortunate mishap, and not Shining's last words to her. Then, as if rob her of her victory, her horn suddenly giving off an intense light glare that made Trixie avert her eyes.
"Ooh...wow. Trixie, I'm getting an incredible feeling of symbiosis from somewhere! Come on, let's investigate it!" Twilight dashed out towards the fields, and her eyes turned the blank pink of a pony or 'bot deep in the thrall of Dark Energon. Trixie reluctantly followed, and almost immediately fell under the same spell.
The Doctor followed Fluttershy and Cadence as they attempted to track down Shining. Cadence had been fairly confident he was heading towards the castle.
"So, Fluttershy, can you explain this to me better than your doctor friend?"
"Well..." Fluttershy drawled. "Twilight was trying to introduce Shining to a new friend of hers named Trixie, and they all started to achieve symbiosis, so Shining got upset and snapped at Twilight, but then Trixie snapped back at Shining, and then all went they're separate ways."
"I see." Cadence said.
"I thought I heard Twilight say she didn't mean to and was sorry, too..." Fluttershy mumbled.
"Well, Shining's going to the castle to clear his head. We need to get there and talk to him so he knows what to do." Cadence explained.
Fluttershy came to a stop, and it took Cadence a moment to realize Fluttershy had stopped. "Problem, Fluttershy?"
"Yes...where's the Doctor?"
Fluttershy and Cadence looked left and right, as well as up and down, and Cadence saw the Doctor a few alleyways back, observing two Crystal ponies drinking from coconuts.
"Doctor?" Cadence spoke up. "Are you coming with us?"
"Hmm? Oh, right!" The Doctor turned and rushed forward to re-join them. "Sorry 'bout that. There's just so many unusual things around here. You know how it is."
"I'm not sure I do." Cadence muttered. "But to each their own."
The Doctor kept looking around, trying to find more new and interesting things. He was the Doctor! It was what he did, trying to see new...new...stuff.
They arrived at the castle, and the sight of Cadence made the Crystal serf ponies scramble to serve their princess, but Cadence held her hoof out for them to stop. She may have been a princess, but that didn't mean she liked being pampered. Not that she didn't, but she had more important things to do.
The Doctor was absolutely flabbergasted at the castle. "What is this place?"
"The Crystal Castle, the shining jewel of the Crystal Empire...pun not intended." Cadence answered. "It's been here for while. As long as the Crystal Empire has stood, so has it."
"Fascinating." The Doctor oohed. Every corner and staircase seemed to make him turn his head, every decoration seemed to enchant him, forcing Fluttershy to stop, turn around and poke him. There were so many things here! How was he supposed to take in it all?
"Shining Armor?" Cadence gently beckoned after they passed the fourth staircase. "Shining Armor, can you come out?"
Shining did so, though from the way he brutally flung the door open, it was clear he didn't want and wasn't in the mood to talk. "What?"
"I heard about Twilight and Trixie. What's going on?"
"What's going on, is that Twilight has a problem with Dark Energon and she expects me to be a part of it!" Shining flailed his legs about in his rage.
"Are you sure that's what happened?" Cadence softly asked. "It sounds to me like this is one big misunderstanding."
Shining frowned and looked away. "Maybe."
"There we go." Cadence said at Shining's admittance. "Maybe you should apologize?"
"Maybe..." Shining muttered, resting his head against the door frame. "...Yes."
"There we go, mate. Now buck up and go get on your knees and beg for forgiveness." The Doctor threw in his two cents, paying more attention to the surroundings than the conversation.
"Doctor, that's not helpful."
"Right. Sorry. I'll go over there." The Doctor pointed to a corner of the room. Cadence nodded, and he walked towards it. Cadence, however, didn't realize where the corner led.
The Doctor rounded the corner and saw something just as amazing as the sword Cadence saw earlier.
A huge crystal, beautifully and expertly carved into the shape of a heart, suspended between two icy pillars, floating and defying gravity, was visible through a window in the wall. It must've taken an artisan several hours to get this thing just right.
"Wow." The Doctor whispered, putting his hands on the guard rail. "You are a beauty. What's your name?"
"That's the Crystal Heart."
The Doctor looked over his shoulder to see Cadence, Shining and Fluttershy approaching.
"It keeps the Crystal Empire safe, and tells Shining Armor and I how the ponies of the Empire are feeling."
"So like a mood ring, then." The Doctor joked.
Cadence chuckled at this idea. "Somewhat, yes."
The Doctor took in the serenity of the Heart. A serenity which was cut short by an urgent yell.
"Prince Shining Armor! Princess Cadence!" A Crystal Pony yelled, galloping up the stairs as if her life depended on it.
"What? What is it?"
The pony shuddered.
"King Sombra...is returning."
Cadence's, Shining Armor's and Fluttershy's jaws dropped.
"How?"
"That's impossible! The Crystal Heart destroyed him! Didn't it?"
"Apparently not!"
Meanwhile...several miles away from the castle. Several miles away from the Crystal Heart, and a very, very long trek away from any pony sensitive to Sombra's magic...
There was crater. A crater that had only just recently been made, as it was not there when Sombra made the Empire disappear. Nopony questioned much about, as they all thought the crater amidst the crystals and cliffs where it landed made for a beautiful scene. The towering white cliffs overlooking it gave an excellent perch to peer inside, but the crater was so dark and too deep for anypony to notice if there was anything inside.
There was a very large stack of crystals around the crater, completely covered in snow, obscuring their true appearance from anypony in viewing distance. They was something off about them, though. They were really quite pointed and jagged compare to the usual smooth round crystals of the Empire.
Two Crystal Ponies- one male, one female- were lying together and relaxing on the edge of one of the cliffs.
They were on each other, and there was no doubt they at least had some affectionate feelings for each other.
"Mmm, hmm." The male moaned, enjoying the female's touch.
"So, ready to take things a little further?" The girl questioned.
"Oh yeah!...Wait."
The female pouted at being told to wait. She had been waiting plenty enough already.
"Look." The male pointed at a cliff diametrically opposed to the one they were on. "Isn't that Twilight Sparkle?"
The female bolted upright, and saw that, yes, Twilight Sparkle, and Trixie, were overlooking the edge of the other cliff.
"It is!"
From the unnerving, vulture-like posture of the two unicorns, the Crystal mare knew. "Something's wrong."
Twilight quit staring at the gap and turned towards Trixie. "The horn, my faithful sssstudent." She hissed, clearly deep in the Dark Energon's thrall.
Trixie produced from her star-printed cloak...King Sombra's disembodied horn! Twilight took it into her hoof, then chucked over it over the edge where it fell into the pit.
The Crystal Ponies hugged each other, afraid of what was about to happen. They didn't know what it was, or what it was going to be, but they knew it couldn't have been good.
Seemingly, a pair of glowing green eyes with red, vertical snake-like slits with green mists flowing off them appeared in the crater. It was like the hellish eyes King Sombra himself had opened.
Then they closed, and a terrifying roar echoed out from the crater. With the roar came a flash of purple light that shone up. A ring of purple energy rose up from the crater and tore through the snow around, revealing the crystals present to be, in fact, Dark Energon.
A gigantic claw reached from the crater, and grabbed the crystals for support. With a deep groan of effort, wings appeared from the crater, and the demonic beast dragging its way out of Pony Hell appeared burst forth in a display of power, its wings beating proudly and irritably.
It was a huge monster, somewhere between Bruticus and Trypticon in size. It looked like someone had taken a Decepticon, and a demon from human myth, and smashed the two together until they merged into one. Then they put a the coat of a Crystal Pony on the result. The wings were large, and oddly-soft looking, with a pattern like a computer grid running through them.
The beast flexed its barn-sized wings.
"Is...is this some reincarnated form of King Sombra?" The mare squeaked out, noticing the demon had Sombra's eyes and thinking this may have been a long-reaching plan of Sombra's in the event of his demise.
The two stood there and huddled against each other, not expecting an answer.
"No." The demon roared. His voice carried all the destructive intent of a Decepticons's, but without the passion and pleasure Decepticons had for it. Like destruction wasn't a passion for him, but a required programmed motion he was predetermined to engage in.
He slammed his bus-sized fist into the edge of the cliff they were on, making it shake and rattle beneath their hooves.
"I am Thunderwing."