//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Election Day // by Fedora //------------------------------// Derpy and Lyra sat outside Carrot Top’s cottage. The sun was starting to lower, and they had finished saying their goodbyes by now. The Doctor was painting over the words “Bad Wolf” with blue paint that matched the shade of the TARDIS. “Doctor,” Derpy asked, “Earlier you did this thing, when you cornered the Mayor...” “Changeling King,” he corrected, “But go on.” “Well... you had a red button.” “Oh, this thing?” he said with a chuckle. He reached into his pocket and took the red button out, placing it on the grass at his side and pressed it down. Lyra and Derpy both jumped, expecting something bad to happen but instead a group of tinny recorded voices began shouting. “PANIC! PANIC! RED ALERT! RED ALERT!” The Doctor laughed, tossing the button up to Derpy. “It’s a panic button,” he said, “Found it in a novelty shop. Pretty cool, huh?” Lyra clapped a hoof to her face, and Derpy went cross-eyed. She pressed the button herself, and it repeated it’s ridiculous phrase. “You stopped a changeling attack with a toy you picked up from the party shop?!” “My bluffs don’t always work,” he said, picking the paint brush back up and covering the graffiti with a second coat, “But you’d be surprised what items I’ve been able to save the world with before.” “Where do you keep all this random junk?” Lyra asked, “are your pockets bigger on the inside like the TARDIS?” The Doctor only smiled back. The paint job was now finished, and so he placed the bucket next to Carrot Top’s garden shed and returned to unlock the door. He wasn’t concerned about the fallout from this morning’s events- Celestia was now in town and he was sure that they would take extra measures to protect against future changeling attacks. Besides, he didn’t like to stick around for cleanup. “Right, first things first,” he said, unlocking the TARDIS and escorting both Lyra and Derpy inside. He went over to the console, and produced a pair of small keys on lengths of string tied together in a loop. He placed one over Derpy’s head first, and then over Lyra’s. The keys hung loosely around their necks like necklaces. “TARDIS keys,” he said, leaning against the console “If you want to come with me, then I should warn you- you’re gonna see all sorts of things. It won’t be quiet, it won’t be safe, and it won’t be calm. But I’ll tell you what it will be: the trip of a lifetime. And it’ll be totally fantastic. Are you in?” Lyra nodded. “I’m in.” The Doctor smiled, and set to work on the TARDIS controls. He typed with his hooves on a beat-up looking keyboard, and punched a few buttons quickly. He jumped over around the other side and pumped a lever, and the TARDIS engines began to groan once more. **** In the distant lands of the Changeling Kingdom, Metamorphosis regarded his reflection in a shallow pool with disgust. He had held that disguise for four years, secretly working to make the little town of Ponyville open to such an incursion. When he had, it hadn't lasted more than a week's time. He growled to himself, splashing the reflection angrily and turning away. A craggy peak marked the entrance to his home; the seat of the Changeling monarchy. Once inside, he called up to his daughter. "Princess! We have much to discuss!" Down the stairs glided a slender changeling mare, meeting her father at the base and following him into a side chamber, where cocoon upon cocoon lined the ceiling and walls. The room was cast in a dim greenish glow by occasional stirring and bursts of magic from the hibernating brood. "Daughter, my conquest of Equestria's heartland has been a failure," Metamorphosis said plainly, "It was at the hooves of one stallion... a pony by the name of The Doctor." "I've heard as much," Chrysalis replied, "but I think you'll be pleased to know that I've gained us an ally, one who vows that he will be able to help us strike back at this 'Doctor'. He seems to know him." The King smiled for the first time that day. Retribution was an idea he could get behind, the Doctor hadn't seen the last of him! "This stallion you speak of... is he here? What's his name?" Chrysalis smiled, her fangs jutting out in front of her bottom lip and lower set of teeth. "He's on his way now," she said, "And he calls himself the Bad Wolf."