Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria

by sgamer82

Part One

At a farm in a faraway village, a pony slept. A pony dreamed. Out in the fields, a pony complained.

“Where is that lazy old coot?!” the mare exclaimed as she pulled her plow. Her husband had spent all night out in the town and come back in the morning. Now he was hiding out somewhere napping the day away while she did all the work.

“Not today he ain’t!” the earth pony mare said. She unhooked her plow and went looking for the useless stallion. She went to the barn, his usual napping place.

“Wheat Grass, are you in here?” she yelled. She muttered complaints to herself as she looked around. Her search ended when a wail of terror erupted from the rafters. An earth pony stallion fell onto the floor from above. The mare recognized her husband on sight, but that was all she recognized.

The stallion Wheat Grass lay on the hay covered floor, screaming and convulsing as an aura black as the darkest night surrounded him.

“Get away!” he yelled. “Somepony save me!”

At a farm in a faraway village, a pony slept. A pony dreamed terrible dreams. Dreams he was not allowed to wake up from.

The guards of Whinnychester Castle were the best of the best, chosen from the most elite of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Day and night they guarded the castle from any who would threaten it, making sure that not just anypony was allowed in to see the Princesses of Equestria. Nothing, not even a mouse, could get through its gate or pass its walls while they were on the job.

It was their bad luck that this particular pony didn’t bother with pesky things like gates, walls, or doors. He simply transported the tall blue box he traveled in from outside the palace to inside the palace. From there it was simply a matter of looking like he belonged there.

This was a very impressive feat given that, while most ponies in the palace either wore the armor of the guard or finery of the nobility, he opted for a pullover sweater adorned with question marks. Over that the off-white colored earth pony wore a simple brown jacket, a scarf hanging out from under the lapels. Tucked into one of the suit's pockets was the handle of an umbrella. The umbrella's handle was also in the shape of a question mark. As he strode through the palace he politely tipped his hat to everypony he met, greeting them as old friends despite not a single one of them having ever seen him before in their lives.

With this attitude, he strode confidently to his destination. In the castle's throne room he saw a small number of ponies gathered in audience to a white pony in royal regalia. The white pony was noticeably larger than the rest, with a mane that shone in pastel colors of the rainbow. She bore the wings of a pegasus, and the horn of a unicorn.

“Our Lords and Ladies,” this pony said. “It is nearly time to adjourn Court, so that Our sister may raise the moon and bring about the night. Hath anypony any petitions to bring Us before the Princess of the Night opens her Court?”

“There is,” said the pony with the umbrella as he strode into the audience chamber. Many of the others in the room looked at the newcomer with expressions of scandal and offense as this unknown pony simply strode up to the Princess and tipped his hat off his head. He paid them no attention whatsoever. The Princess, for her part, simply looked at the guest with a raised eyebrow.

“I wonder if I might petition you to give an old frrrriend a few moments of your time, Your Highness.”

“A friend who has come a long way simply to visit with Us, no doubt,” said the Princess. The two ponies stood in silence for a moment before the Princess spoke again.

“The Day Court is now adjourned,” Celestia called out in the traditional Voice. “All ponies are dismissed until the morrow!”

The nobleponies began to file out of the audience chamber. There were some grumbles regarding the strange pony who had waltzed in, but most seemed content that he had been properly ignored by Princess Celestia. It wasn’t until later that any of them noticed that as they all filed out, the strangely dressed pony never actually left the room.

The guards noticed. They did not act because they had been through this before. The face and coat were often different, but a strange pony who could get in past their best security, dressed in odd clothing every so often adorned with question marks, the Cutie Mark of an hourglass, and even now the Captain of the Day Guard was getting the first reports about the tall box labeled “Police Barn.” They knew the drill. A nod from their ruler was all the confirmation they needed. The guards filed out and, in what would be an otherwise unthinkable act, left Princess Celestia alone with the stranger.

The Princess stepped forward and looked down at the stallion.

“It's been a long time since this particular face graced the castle,” the Princess said.

“Odd,” the pony replied in a Scoltish accent. “For me it feels like it was just yesterday since I saw yours.”

The Princess raised an eyebrow at this statement.

“Week and a half,” he admitted. “I just couldn’t keep away.”

The Princess of Equestria's day, the alicorn Celestia of Equestria, smiled down at her guest.

“It's good to see you again, 'Professor.'”

The Doctor smiled right back.

“It's good to see you, too.”

With the sun lowered, Celestia allowed herself the treat of an early evening teatime with the Doctor. She watched him as he drank his own cup and felt a sense of nostalgia.

“I've always known you rrrreigned well,” the Doctor said, trilling his R as he did so. “Though it's quite another to see it after our time together.”

“You certainly put enough work into me, Professor,” Celestia replied. “In fact, there's a question I've always wanted to ask you regarding that.”

“Oh?”

“How far into our journey together did you realize who I was?”

Celestia had traveled with the Doctor in her youth. The Doctor’s transport, the blue box he called the TARDIS, was capable of going anywhere in all of both time and space. It had been an incredible adventure for the teenage Princess. Celestia had attempted to hide her identity as an Equestrian Princess at the time, taking the name “Ace” from her initials. Years later, looking back, she realized he had known exactly who she was. Known exactly who she was and, she was certain, arranged some of their trips to help her understand what kind of challenges she may face when her own time to rule came.

“It's obvious in hindsight,” Celestia continued. “I always assumed I never fooled you for a moment, even if you never did let on until I told you myself. Nonetheless I've always wondered. When did you figure me out?”

The Doctor quietly thought for a few moments before he answered.

“To answer your question, it wasn’t quite immediately. But you didn’t fool me for very long, either. I had figured it out by the time I offered you a trrrip on the TARDIS. So you're corrrrect that I knew who you were when you boarded the TARDIS. You clearly also realize that I understood you weren’t yet the Princess you would become. You needed time and tempering. Most importantly, given the circumstances of our meeting, you had to want to claim your throne. Claim it fully aware of what doing so meant. And you have. You've done me proud, Celestia.”

Celestia felt a blush rise to her face. No amount of royal dignity could prevent a student from feeling joy at her mentor's praise.

And mentor the Doctor had been. So very many years ago, Celestia had been a very angry adolescent. She and Luna, as extremely rare natural born alicorns, were being raised almost as soon as they could speak to take their places as Equestria’s leaders. Luna, always the more dutiful of the two, had always been attentive and obedient regarding their lessons. Celestia, in contrast, resented having everypony deciding her fate for her. She ignored her teachers, spoke out of turn frequently, and dismissed the nobility she was being taught to emulate as prissy idiots. In her mind, even her Cutie Mark had been against her. Somewhere along the way, it had become too much and Celestia had simply up and left, swearing never to return. That was when she had met him.

The Doctor had sympathized with her plight, having left his own people for reasons not very different from her own. The Doctor had offered her a place aboard his ship. As he showed her so many other worlds and visited both the past and future, he had been a far more effective teacher than any of the matrons who had supervised her formal education. Just as he had predicted, she eventually realized her place was as Equestria’s ruler. By that time, thanks to the Doctor, she had been able to embrace the fact instead of flee from it.
The pair's visit was interrupted by the sound of the doors opening. Celestia initially glared at the door, upset her orders to be left undisturbed appeared to be being disobeyed. Her expression softened immediately once she saw who had opened them.

“Luna, dear sister, has the Night Court concluded already?”

“It has,” Celestia's younger sister replied with some bitterness. “It seems few petitioners were inclined to seek Our favor after a long day of thine own court.”

“I had gone through more than my usual share today,” Celestia admitted. “I was hoping if I did so you would have more time to-”

“We are not a child to be coddled, Sister!” Luna suddenly said, the Canterlot Voice creeping into her speech. “We shall pursue Our inquiries and perform our royal duties.”

“Of course, dear sister,” Celestia said. “I apologize for any offense. Shall I assume, then, that you came to inform me that you will be pursuing those inquiries now?”

“Indeed,” Princess Luna replied. “and on the subject of royal obligations, sister, do remember to raise the sun at its proper time. Raising it as soon as you have been can throw apart everypony's schedules.”

With a nod she left, closing the door behind her. Soon after the sound of a pony flying could be heard outside.

“My word,” the Doctor said. He had remained silent during that exchange, simply sipping his tea. Celestia sighed.

“You know what she reminded me of, just then?” the Doctor asked.

“You're not going to say me, are you?”

“Yes, actually, I am. Only with fewer explosions and more brrrooding. Temper quick to flare, behaving as if the universe were against you. You have to admit it sounds not unlike yourself.”

“When I was young and immature, yes.” Celestia admitted unhappily. “Luna's never really had problems like that. She's such a staunch traditionalist she's always been the more mature of us.”

“Or at least appeared so,” the Doctor replied. “What's changed?”

Celestia paused a moment before answering.

“Two things. The first was the Crystal Empire.”

The Doctor nodded. While he did not know the specifics, he was fully aware of the Princesses' battle with King Sombra. A battle that left the dark king trapped in a form of pure shadow and the empire itself vanished into the ether for a millenia.

“Luna was injured during that battle,” Celestia said. “More than that, the whole thing... it was quite hard on her. Ever since her injury she's been pushing herself, afraid of being seen as weak or ineffectual.”

“I see. And the second change?”

“Is more recent. Something has been attacking ponies. Attacking them in their sleep. Their dreams.”

“And, as Prrrincess of the Night, Luna feels obligated to resolve the crisis,” the Doctor finished. Celestia nodded.

“She rebuffs my every attempt to help her or take some of the workload off of her so she can focus on her investigation. That remark about my raising the sun early... I had done so to try to prompt her to get her sleep a bit earlier than usual.”

“Would you like me to have a word with her?” the Doctor asked. Celestia considered this.

“Yes. Perhaps a chat with you could make a difference,” Celestia said. “Of course, she will assume you are there on my behalf.”

“Which I am.”

“Which you are,” Celestia agreed. “Regardless, she may listen to you and accept your help where she would refuse mine. If only because she knows once your interest is piqued you won’t let go of a mystery.”

“Very well. I shall see Luna and offer what aid she'll accept.”

From there, Celestia knew all too well, the Doctor would give all the help he could, whether Luna accepted it or not.

Luna, Princess of Equestria's Night, pored over the reports brought to her by her agents. She read the notes about what each individual pony had found and analyzed them, seeking a pattern. The Princess knew one existed, beyond the obvious, and she was determined to find it. Luna turned to the armored unicorn that had brought her the reports.

“Dispatch messages to all pegasi in the outlying villages, Captain. Instruct them that they are to determine the exact times and dates of each attack to the best of their ability. We must determine a pattern to the individual assaults.”

“I agrrree,” a new voice said. Both Princess and soldier turned their heads to see a stallion looking over Princess Luna's notes. “Even a casual glance suggests the timing of these attacks is indeed very rrrelevant.”

“Who?” Princess Luna began until she saw the pony who spoke. She simply stared at him, then turned her back to him with a snort.

“As We said, get those instructions to every pegasus questioning the victims' families.”

The captain bowed but hesitated to leave the room. He didn’t know who this pony thought he was, adopting such a casual attitude around the princess, but he was not going to leave them alone.

“That will be all, Captain,” the Princess said to him. “This pony is unwelcome, but no threat to Us. Return as soon as you have completed Our task.”

The soldier left with the Princess's orders. The stallion tipped his hat to him as he left.

“Did Our sister ask thou to assist Us? Or art thou simply being a, We believe the term is, ‘busybody’?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “So, I'm told these attacks are occurring in ponies' dreams?”

“That is none of thy concern!” Luna said hotly. “This matter is already being investigated.”

“Yes, and while stubborn hot headedness has its time and place in detective work, Princess, this is not it.”

Luna's eyes went wide with shock. Nopony, even Celestia, spoke to her so bluntly. As the Doctor stood there, leaning on his absurd umbrella, Luna regained her composure and replied with the full fury of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“What dost thou believe gives thou the right to speak to Us that way! Do not think that because thou tamed Our sister that merits any special treatment!”

“I think no such thing. I'm merely looking at what's in front of me,” the Doctor said. “Think back to that display in the tea room. You chastised your sister for doing nothing more than helping you lighten your workload and focus on this task. Looking more closely at you, I can also see you clearly haven’t been sleeping, have you?”

The royal guardspony who had left to relay Luna's instructions ran into the room at the sound of his lady's Voice, only to be bombarded with it again.

“These attacks occur within the Realm of Dreams!” Luna shouted. “The realm We are charged to protect! You sit there and say I should rest when a single moment of inattention could spell doom for one or more of Our little ponies?!”

“When that exhaustion could compromise your ability to deal with that threat once identified, yes.”

For a moment, Captain Edge Glimmer of the Night Guard thought he was about to witness his Princess vaporize a pony on the spot. He had surely never seen anypony have the gall to speak to either Princess so plainly. He watched the fury build in his lady's eyes, then she noticed her captain had entered.

“Captain Edge Glimmer!” she bellowed. “We must have words with Our sister. Make sure this miscreant touches nothing in this study!”

With that, the Princess stormed from the room. The Doctor tipped his hat to her as she left. Then found himself face to face with the soldier.

“So...” he began. “You waltz in here, tell my Lady to her face that she's overworking herself and needs some sleep. You also seem to have pretty much provoked an argument between the two Princesses. A lot of ponies would call that treason.”

“What do you call it?” the Doctor asked. The guard stared a moment longer before grinning.

“A relief,” Edge Glimmer replied. “The whole of the Night Guard has been worrying about her. Unfortunately there's only so much a simple guardspony can do to tell his Liege Lady she's overdoing it.”

“I understand,” the Doctor said. “Celestia's rrrelationship with her sister seems too strained for Luna to listen to her.”

“And nopony else would dare say anything,” Edge Glimmer finished. “I don’t know if your telling her off will make her acknowledge a need for sleep or make her more stubborn. Nonetheless, I do appreciate the effort.”

“You're quite welcome,” the Doctor replied. “Now then, while it's just the two of us, what can you tell me of these attacks?”

“You're right that the times are relevant. We haven’t gotten specifics yet, but every report to date suggests that the attacks occurred during the daylight hours.”

The Doctor was quiet for a moment.

“You're telling me? Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“That’s a pleasant surprise. May I ask why? I honestly expected a bit of bantering about trying to convince or trick you.”

“I've heard the stories, Doctor. Princess Luna had it exactly correct, you are a busybody. If I refuse to cooperate, you will only go on ahead and investigate yourself, regardless. That will result only in our getting in one another's way and delaying any resolution that may come. My Lady wants this concluded as quickly as possible, so better to just bring you in now and perhaps learn whatever you do in the process.”

“Will Princess Luna agrrree with that assessment?”

“If she does not she is free to countermand my decision,” Edge Glimmer said calmly.

The Doctor smiled. He was starting to like this pony. He made towards one of the scrolls Luna had been reading when it was suddenly levitated out of away from him before he could unfurl it with his hoof.

“If you will recall,” Edge Glimmer told him, “my Lady specifically ordered you were to touch nothing. So I'm afraid if you need anything in particular I will need to retrieve it for you.”

The Doctor had to grin. He definitely liked this pony. Just the right mix of loyalty, initiative, and willingness to be a pain on his Princess' behalf. It was then that the Doctor noticed the guard's cutie mark. A sword placed in front of a crescent moon.

“Very well. From what I saw when I came in, the attacks all seemed to happen during the daylight hours.”

“This is correct.”

“But it also only affected those who were asleep at the time, as Luna said the attacks were occurring in dreams.”

“Yes. We believe that this suggests an intelligence behind the actions. The attacks were timed for periods when Princess Luna would be unable to watch over everypony's dreams.”

“It also affects ponies who either laze about during the day or, for one rrreason or another, stay awake during the night. How frequently have the attacks occurred?”

“Once or twice a day. They stopped approximately three days ago, as the investigation began to intensify.”

“When Luna began forgoing her sleep,” the Doctor observed.

“Another reason we suspect an intelligent creature.”

“Timing its attacks to avoid its biggest threat and stopping when that same threat began to focus more intently on its actions,” the Doctor said in summary. Edge Glimmer nodded.

“Have the victims had anything in common?”

“Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, all of them have fallen victim. Of note, however, is that only adult ponies have been affected. The youngest victim was on the far side of adolescent. There have been no reports of colts or fillies being attacked.”

With Edge Glimmer retrieving the documents for him, the Doctor looked at the general locations and timing of each incident. The extra details Luna had ordered would not come in for another day or so, depending on travel time. A great deal of shouting could be heard for a solid hour. Two hours more went by before either the Doctor or Edge Glimmer realized that Luna had not yet returned.

“What do you think we see what's holding our Princess up?” the Doctor asked.

When Doctor and soldier were admitted they came upon a very annoyed Princess Celestia.

“So, Professor,” the Princess began, “I ask you to offer your help to my sister and you proceed to tell her off and get her so livid she comes charging in here demanding I get you under control. It took me nearly an hour to calm her down.”

“Where is Luna now?” the Doctor asked. “She never came back to her study.”

“I convinced her to retire to her chambers for deep meditation.”

“Translation: She's sleeping,” Edge Glimmer whispered.

“While I gather you wanted Luna out of your way so you could learn what you could about this crisis, for future reference, Doctor, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t use me arguing with her to do so.”

“Of course,” the Doctor said with a tip of his hat.

“So the Princess is resting then?” Edge Glimmer asked.

“She is, Captain,” Celestia told him. “The Night Guard should have one less worry for a while.”

Before the conversation could continue a scroll appeared in the air before them. The Doctor reacted with curiosity, but the Princess and guard captain looked at the scroll with far greater concern.

“Oh no...” Celestia muttered. “Not now, of all times.”

“What's wrong?” the Doctor asked.

“If this is what I think it is,” Edge Glimmer said as Celestia lifted the scroll and began reading it, “then we'll never get the Princess to rest.”

“News of another attack,” the Doctor said.

“That's exactly what it is,” Celestia replied. “According to this note it happened within the last two hours.”

“This is the first attack to occur at night?”

“It is,” Edge Glimmer said.

“Just when Luna went to sleep,” the Doctor muttered. He then yelled.

“We need to get to Luna's chambers! Now!”

The Doctor bolted out of the chamber, Princess Celestia hot on his heels. Edge Glimmer, caught off guard by the sudden declaration, hesitated for only a second before charging out behind them. Celestia took the lead, ensuring that nopony would get in their way. As they approached the chambers Edge Glimmer ordered the guards ahead to open the door. With their captain and princess bearing down on them they quickly obeyed and opened the way.

Once inside, they saw Luna sound asleep. Sound asleep and surrounded by an aura as black as the darkest night. Edge Glimmer stared in horror. The Doctor stayed impassive. Celestia began to channel magic through her horn.

“Celestia! Stop!” the Doctor cried once he realized what she was about to do.

“Nocturne Portalis!”

A golden aura surrounded Princess Celestia and the two stallions on either side of her. The three ponies fell to the ground, sound asleep.