//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: My Little Doctor Whooves: Horsing Around // by comicfan616 //------------------------------// My Little Doctor Whooves Horsing Around Twilight Sparkle and her friends walked up to the large front doors of Canterlot Castle. After the guards let them in, they made their way to the throne room. Twilight had received an urgent summons from Princess Celestia just this morning, requesting the presence of all six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. All six ponies got on the earliest train they could; the last time Celestia had summoned them like this, Discord had broken free from his stony prison. They could only guess what had happened this time. The doors to the throne room also had a couple of guards stationed on either side. Sometimes, Twilight wondered if the castle really needed such high security, but she knew better than to question the princess’ authority. “The princess is expecting you,” one of the guards said. “You may enter.” They stepped aside and one of the guards, a white unicorn, opened the door with his magic. The six ponies cantered inside. Celestia was waiting on her throne at the end of the long room. When they approached the throne, they stopped and bowed. “Welcome, my little ponies,” Celestia said. Her voice was kind and calm, yet still had a sense of unease, no doubt due to the situation at hoof. The ponies stood up straight again and Twilight said, “We came as soon as we could, Princess. Is something happening?” “I sincerely hope not,” Celestia said. She stood up and walked down the steps of the throne. “Come with me.” Celestia led them out of the throne room and into what Twilight recognized as the council chamber. Usually, the princesses met with important political figures here. Right now, two members of the Royal Guard and another white unicorn stallion Twilight didn’t recognize were at the table. “Ah,” the stallion started, “you must be the Element Bearers.” His voice indicated a sense of command. “That’s us!” Rainbow Dash said. “This is Captain Watch Tower,” Celestia introduced. “He’s in charge of internal protection, keeping the city and its inhabitants safe. Captain, if you would.” “Thank you,” Watch Tower said with a salute. He turned to the ponies. “At around 0800 hours this morning, the internal protection department received a strange report.” “How strange?” Applejack asked. “The report indicated an unidentified object appearing along Mane Street. Eyewitness accounts say it fell from the sky and haphazardly crashed into some of the buildings before landing in an alleyway. No casualties were reported. Since then, nothing has happened around that area or the object. I’ve already placed it under constant watch.” “Hold up a minute,” Rainbow said. “When you say ‘unidentified object’ that ‘fell from the sky,’ do you mean like an ‘unidentified flying object?’” “Rainbow, I can already tell where this is going,” Rarity said, her tone of voice rather stern, “and I’m going to tell you right now to stop right there.” “Ah don’t know, Rarity,” Applejack said. “We’ve seen some pretty weird stuff. Best be keepin’ an open mind about things like this.” “What did it look like?” Twilight said, steering the conversation back on topic. “The object.” “I had some photographs taken of the crash site,” Watch Tower said. He pushed an envelope on the table toward the ponies. Twilight opened it with her magic and pulled out some of the pictures. She quickly found what she was looking for. The object looked like a large, blue box. It had two doors on one side and windows around the top. A black band above those windows had the words “Police Public Call Box.” “So, um, what is it?” Fluttershy asked. “Unfortunately, we can’t really describe it, let alone name it, beyond what you see,” Watch Tower said. “We even tried getting the doors open, but so far, all our efforts have been in vain.” “So, why are we here, then?” Twilight asked. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Celestia answered. “For all we know, this box, whatever it is, could be harmless. Or there may be something inside that could cause harm to all of Equestria. Either way, we’ll need to be prepared for anything. And that could mean the use of these.” Her horn glowed and a blue and gold chest appeared out of nowhere. The ponies recognized this chest as one containing the Elements of Harmony. Celestia must have been inwardly scared if she thought the Elements would be needed. Suddenly, the doors slammed open. Everyone turned to find a dark grey pegasus, dressed in Royal Guard attire, in the open doorway. “Captain Watch Tower!” he said with a salute. “This had better be good, Private,” Watch Tower said. “We’re in the middle of briefing the Element Bearers.” “Sir, the team watching the site claims to have heard noises from inside the box,” the pegasus said. There was a small pause. “What sort of noises?” Watch Tower asked. “From their description, mostly grunts and groans, like somepony waking up.” “Right then. Fly back to the site and inform the guards that we’re on our way.” The pegasus saluted again and flew out of the castle at speeds that impressed even Rainbow. “You’d better go with them,” Celstia said to the six ponies. “This could mean big things for Equestria.” She used her magic to open the chest, revealing the Elements. “Let’s just hope that these will only be used as a last resort.”