Doctor Whooves: Nightmare in Old Equestria

by sgamer82

Part Two

“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, then louder. “We need to get to Luna's chambers! Now!”

The Doctor bolted out of the chamber, Princess Celestia hot on the earth pony’s 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!”

“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.

Edge Glimmer was the first to wake up. As he picked himself up off the ground he looked at his surroundings and saw he was no longer inside the castle. Around him was a desolate field of nothing but dirt and stone. He saw the Doctor standing up next. The earth pony propped himself up with his umbrella as he got to his hooves.

“Doctor!” Edge Glimmer called out. “What is going on? Where are we?”

“Not Whinnychester, that's for certain,” the Doctor replied. “Going by what Celestia said before we lost consciousness, I'd say we're in somepony's dreamscape.”

“We're in a dream? How can you be sure?”

“Well for starters, your armor wasn't quite so elaborate a few moments ago.”

Edge Glimmer looked down and realized the Doctor was right. He was dressed differently. Instead of his standard Night Guard armor he wore an elaborate silver breastplate and helmet. It had far fancier trim along the shoulder blades and chestplate than even his best dress uniform. It almost reminded him of...

“And here I thought I'd outgrown foalish fantasy,” Edge Glimmer muttered.

“I take it you recognize this outfit?”

“I've wanted to be in the Princess's Night Guard since I was a colt. I used to have all kinds of fantasies about being the gallant knight defending my Lady.”

“Definitely a dreamscape then,” the Doctor replied. Edge Glimmer noticed he didn't look different at all. The only thing that seemed to concern the Doctor was a pair of spoons taken out of his pocket. Once satisfied they were present he put them back.

“Speaking of Princesses,” the Doctor continued. “Do you see Celestia anywhere?”

“Over here, Professor,” a voice called out. Edge Glimmer recognized Princess Celestia's voice, but something about it sounded... off. He headed for the source of the voice to see to the Princess. What he saw was very different from what he expected.

Instead of the tall, regal princess he was accustomed to, what he saw as a pony not much older than a filly. The adolescent had a long pink mane, and wore a dark jacket so adorned with numerous patches it looked like a piece of well traveled luggage. If the pony was an alicorn, Edge Glimmer couldn't tell, as the jacket covered her wings. Draped over her back was a large grey saddlebag. The pony was looking over herself, as surprised as Edge Glimmer at her appearance.

“Princess Celestia?” Edge Glimmer asked.

“Yes, it's me…” the pony said. “I think.”

“It's a dream-self,” the voice of the Doctor said. “A reflection of your subconscious image of yourself.”

“You don't look any different,” Edge Glimmer said.

“I change appearance enough as it is,” the Doctor replied.

“I was just thinking that this must be what it feels like for you,” Celestia noted as she still looked over her own body.

“Fairly close, yes,” the Doctor said. “You seem more surprised than I would expect, Ace. Given it was your spell that brought us here.”

“Ace?” Edge Glimmer asked.

“I'm familiar with dream-selves,” Celestia said. “I'm nowhere near as proficient as Luna, but I've done some dream walking in my time. This is the first time, however, my physical shape has changed like this.”

“There could be a rrreasonable explanation I'm sure.”

“I'm blaming you,” Celestia said.

“Such as that. May I ask why?”

“You being here brought back all the memories of the old days. So, naturally, my dream-self is reflecting... oh... I wonder...”

With that non-sequitur, the Princess threw off her saddlebag and began rummaging through it. Her head came up, and in the Princess's mouth was a thin metal tube. On the Princess's face was an expression Edge Glimmer could not recall seeing on either of his Ladies. Unrestrained glee.

“Nitrous Nova!” Celestia cried out. “I haven't used any in forever!”

“Oh dear…” the Doctor muttered, looking far less thrilled.

“What is Nitrous Nova?” Edge Glimmer asked warily.

“One of Celestia's favorite spells back in her youth. Within that tube is but a mere speck of raw, unadulterated sunlight. It is perhaps the single most powerful explosive known to ponykind.”

Edge Glimmer decided to change the subject rather than dwell on the idea of the Princess of the Sun being happier than he'd ever seen her while armed with explosives.

“Fascinating as this all is, where exactly are we, and where do we go from here? You said we're in a dreamscape, but whose?”

“Well, that should be obvious, Captain,” the Doctor chided him. “There was only one pony in the room asleep when Celestia cast her Nocturnal Gate.”

“We're in Luna's dreamscape, Captain,” Celestia said, confirming Edge Glimmer's own thoughts. As she spoke, she appeared to be concentrating. Behind the shoulders of her black coat two slits appeared, through which the Princess's wings emerged.

“In fact,” the Doctor went on. “If you take a good look around and above you'll see we can be no place else.”

Edge Glimmer did as instructed and looked into the night sky. He gasped when he saw neither sun nor moon, but a bright blue orb spotted with white and green.

“Is that...?”

“Equestria,” Celestia confirmed. “Which means...”

“We're on the moon?!”

Edge Glimmer looked around a second time and saw what he initially took to be a desolate wasteland or, perhaps, a quarry was in fact the pockmarked and cratered surface of the moon.

“Where else would Luna's dreams begin?” Celestia asked.

“Indeed. Now we just need to answer the question of how we get from here to there,” the Doctor said while pointing his umbrella at the ground then the sky.

“Well, that should be obvious, Professor,” Celestia said. She was smiling, while the Doctor looked at her just a bit annoyed. From all he had heard of the stallion, Edge Glimmer suspected it was rare to put one over on him. Then the Doctor began to smile himself.

“Of course! The only way to travel when we need to go from one place to another!”

Edge Glimmer wondered what they were talking about when a strange groaning, wheezing noise began to sound through the air. He looked around trying to find the source of the noise and saw the famous blue box began to appear out of thin air.

“How?!”

“The same way you can wear your fantasy armor, Celestia is several centuries younger, and we can breathe on the airless surface of the moon.”

“It's a dream, Captain,” Celestia said to clarify. “Anypony with sufficient will can control their dreams. It's more difficult in someone else's dreams than your own, but not impossible. In fact, the further into Luna's dreamscape we go the more difficult it will become. Here in the antechamber, for lack of a better word, it's not very difficult at all.”

“For now, at least, we have transportation,” the Doctor said as he cheerfully unlocked the doors with a key extracted from his pocket and stepped into the box. Celestia trotted in behind him. Edge Glimmer followed into the box, hoping he wouldn't be too cramped. He realized as soon as he stepped in that he had nothing to worry about.

He stared at the room around him. A mostly bare white room save a large pedestal covered in lights and buttons was before him. The Doctor and Celestia looked at him, almost expectantly.

“It's... really roomy.”

“That it is,” the Doctor said with a nod as the Princess chuckled. “Welcome to the TARDIS, Captain Edge Glimmer. With this ship, I, and for a time Princess Celestia here, have travelled the vast rrreaches of time and space. With this ship we can go anywhere and at any time!”

“Even dreams,” Celestia interjected with a grin. That was the end of the levity, as all three ponies immediately grew more serious.

“The time for fun is over now, Doctor,” Celestia said, once more becoming the leader Edge Glimmer knew.

“Quite right,” the Doctor agreed, growing serious as well. He bent over the center stand and began moving about it hitting various switches and buttons.

“Celestia, will Luna be aware of our presence?”

“Almost certainly,” Edge Glimmer answered in the Princess's place. “Traveling through dreams is part of Princess Luna's special talents. Very little escapes her notice when traveling through other ponies' dreams. I can't imagine she'd be blind to her own.”

“She's the one who taught me to cast the Nocturnal Gate,” Celestia continued. “Luna, however, is far more proficient. Even on our best days, Luna has described my own use of the spell as more brute force than skill. I agree with Edge Glimmer, she will have sensed our entry almost immediately.”

“So now comes our chance to determine whether Luna is thrrreat or victim.”

It suddenly became very quiet in the TARDIS.

“Doctor…” Celestia said very quietly. “I'm going to ignore that you just suggested Luna could be the one doing all this.”

Edge Glimmer nodded his agreement.

“So long as you don't ignore the possibility,” the Doctor said seriously. “We do not know what's happening, Ace. Not yet.”

While the Doctor went back to his instruments, Edge Glimmer noticed the Princess appeared skeptical at that statement.

“Do you believe he knows more than he's letting on, Your Highness?” he whispered to her.

“He always knows more than he's letting on,” Celestia told him, her joy from moments ago had vanishing. The ponies were jarred by a sudden shaking.

“We've landed,” the Doctor announced.

“Can't even land well in your dreams, Professor?” Celestia quipped.

“Nonsense. This isn't my dream at all.”

The Doctor flipped a switch and the door behind him opened. Edge Glimmer turned and saw outside a cobblestone road like what one would find in any city or large town under a night sky. Just as in such a town, shops and pubs lined both sides of the road. Along the road was a fog colored in the same deep blue as Princess Luna's mane. In the sky the moon they had just left shone full in the sky.

“Do you recognize this place?” Celestia asked Edge Glimmer. Edge Glimmer shook his head.

“It may not be rrrepresentative of any one place,” the Doctor said. “It may yet be significant, so keep your eyes open. For now, we travel through Luna’s dreams. Our ultimate objective, however, is her mind. Specifically, her memories. We need to find out just where this all began, and the secret will be hidden there.”

The trio of ponies exited the TARDIS and stepped into the town. The streets themselves were deserted with nopony in sight. The buildings on either side of them were another story. Especially around the pubs the lights were on and they could see silhouettes of the ponies inside having a good time. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and partying going on behind those windows. Nothing seemed immediately amiss that anypony could see, otherwise.

“I don't recall Equestria having quite so active a night life in this era,” the Doctor commented.

“It doesn't, normally,” Edge Glimmer said. “Some drinks with friends in a pub is usually the extent of it.”

The Doctor suddenly stopped walking. He looked at one of the windows with the silhouette intently for a few moments before walking over to the building and opening the door.

“Well, now,” the Doctor said. Celestia and Edge Glimmer followed.

On the other side of the door was nothing. Just blackness. The two ponies looked behind them and saw the windows, but where they had anticipated seeing the ponies making the shadows on the windows, they saw only the shadows themselves. The trio stepped back out onto the street. Celestia looked in and out a few times to be sure of what she was seeing.

“It's just shadows on the windows,” she said.

“What does that mean?” Edge Glimmer asked.

“I'm not sure yet,” the Doctor answered. “Other than Luna likely wants us continuing on this path. However, how safe that might be is a whole other conundrum.”

Both Princess and soldier glared at the Doctor for once again suggesting Luna would endanger them. Celestia stopped walking.

“What do you know, Professor?” Celestia asked. “That's twice you've suggested Luna's central to the attacks.”

The Doctor was silent for a few moments before he answered.

“Know? Nothing for certain, yet. That is why I want to go deeper into Luna’s mind. I have a suspicion that, for your sakes as much as mine, I hope is very wrong.”

“And that is?” Celestia asked. “Don't try putting this question off, Doctor. Despite what I look like right now, I'm not the teenager that would accept what you said without question.”

“I'm not saying anything until I'm sure. Also Ace, for the record, you've never accepted anything I said without question,” the Doctor replied.

“Doctor!”

“Celestia, you asked me before if I took you to places specifically because you were a princess. The answer is yes; but did you ever wonder about the corollary that goes with that?”

With that the Doctor continued down the road. Celestia began to follow, with Edge Glimmer close behind. The trio continued on in silence as the road seemed to continue unchanging. Eventually they came a plaza. The buildings around them still had the same lit up windows with cavorting shadow ponies. In the center stood a statue.

“Luna?” Celestia asked as she saw the statue.

“Look closer,” the Doctor replied.

Celestia and Edge Glimmer did so and realized what the Doctor meant. The statue was of an alicorn with a moon cutie mark who, on the surface, looked like Princess Luna. On closer inspection it became clear that, despite the resemblance, it was very much not Luna. She was dressed in armor and helmet not unlike those her royal guard wore. Something else was off that Edge Glimmer needed a moment to place.

“The eyes,” Edge Glimmer said. Celestia looked and saw, like Edge Glimmer, that the eyes were definitely not her sister's.

“Who is this pony?” Celestia asked. She looked to the Doctor, who had a grim expression on his face as he looked at the statue.

“It isn't Luna. Yet, at the same time, it is,” the Doctor answered.

“I take it, then, that you're now sure of what we face?” Celestia said.

“Very nearly, yes,” the Doctor replied.

Before the Doctor could explain further, Edge Glimmer heard a noise in one of the buildings and turned to look. He realized the windows were rattling.

“The windows!” Edge Glimmer shouted. Everypony looked around and saw that the silhouette ponies, who had previously been celebrating and partying, had stopped moving and now all seemed to be looking out of the windows. While the shadows had no eyes, it was clear what they were looking at.

They were looking at the Doctor, Celestia, and Edge Glimmer.

The windows burst open and the shadows poured out of the buildings. A flood of darkness rushed toward the three ponies.

“Princess! Behind me!” Edge Glimmer ordered. The guard's horn shone bright. A midnight blue barrier formed a perimeter around the three ponies. Edge Glimmer winced as the shadows impacted on the shield but held firm.

“Good work, Captain!” Princess Celestia said. Her own horn glowed a golden color. One of the metal tubes from her saddlebag levitated out of it.

“Captain, when I give the word, make a hole for just a second.”

“Understood.”

The Princess prepared her spell, her tube glowed with a golden aura.

“Now!”

Edge Glimmer allowed a small gap in the shield to appear. The shadows immediately pounced on the opening, only for the Princess's tube to shoot through it and force the shadows along with it. Edge Glimmer immediately re-sealed the barrier.

“Avert your eyes and keep that barrier up no matter what!” Princess Celestia commanded. As Edge Glimmer and the Doctor did as instructed they heard Celestia cast an incantation.

“Nitrous... Nova!”

Edge Glimmer heard a loud explosion from outside the barrier, followed by a light so bright Edge Glimmer felt it would blind him despite having closed his eyes beforehand.

“It's safe to open your eyes now,” he heard Celestia say.

“Overdid it a bit, didn't you?” he heard the Doctor say.

“I know it's not normally that powerful,” Celestia said hesitantly. “But then, this is a dream, so I realized I could increase its power a tad.”

“A tad?” the Doctor remarked. “That's easily double the most I've ever seen from you.”

Edge Glimmer looked to the Princess and saw she appeared to be blushing. Once again, Edge Glimmer opted not to dwell on Princess Celestia's proficiency with explosions and instead looked around them.

The shadows were gone, as were the buildings that had surrounded the plaza. The cobblestone they stood on had been torn apart outside of Edge Glimmer's own shield. Even the night sky was gone, as it was now a bright blue as a summer day, though still lit by the full moon. The only feature of the dreamscape that remained was the midnight blue fog at their hooves and the statue that the Doctor claimed was and was not Princess Luna. Otherwise the plaza they stood on was bare.

“The most powerful explosive known to ponykind…” Edge Glimmer said weakly as he dropped his barrier.

“So, sister, intruding on Our prerogatives in reality isn't enough for you? You must force your daylight into Our dreams as well?”

The ponies looked to the source of the voice. The alicorn statue before them.

“Luna?!” Celestia asked.

“And Captain Edge Glimmer, I believed thou my most loyal of servants. Yet you side with Our sister over Us?”

“Princess, that's not it at all,” Edge Glimmer stammered.

“And thou, Doctor, thine ability to interfere is legendary in Equestria. We will remove thou from this realm tonight.”

“How do you intend to do that, may I ask?” the Doctor asked calmly.

As if in response to the Doctor's question the shadows once again rose up. Edge Glimmer instinctively brought up his shield. Princess Luna's voice mocked him.

“Do you forget who We are, Edge Glimmer? What We are? We are the Princess of the Night. Dreams are Our domain!”

Edge Glimmer heard a scream from behind him. He turned to see Princess Celestia being attacked by the blue fog that had been at their hooves this whole time. She was sinking into it as if it were quicksand. The Doctor was struggling to pull her away while being attacked himself. Another sound, a crash, made Edge Glimmer realize that this time his shield was doing very little to hold back the attacking shadows.

The shadows broke through the barrier and surrounded him. They wrapped around him from hoof to horn. The last thing he saw before all went black was Princess Celestia's horn sinking down into the blue fog, and fog and shadows both consuming the Doctor, as if competing over him.