//------------------------------// // Epilogue - A League Unlike any Other // Story: Doctor Who: Equestria needs a Doctor // by Infinite Carnage //------------------------------// Amelia Pond was bored. She normally got like this during the periods of transitioning through time and space inside the TARDIS. The Doctor would calibrate the TARDIS and tinker with it on the way, and Amelia Pond would sit by the railing and ask questions in a vain attempt to prevent her inevitable boredom. Even when she received an answer she could understand, she very rarely remembered any of it. They had ventured off shortly after meeting Winston Churchill, and despite encountering an old enemy, the Doctor was in high spirits. He defeated the Daleks, gave a cyborg a chance to live, and paid an old friend a visit. All in all, a good days work. He knew his current companion deserved more though, she was already bored again and that simply wouldn’t do. Amelia Pond had waited long enough for an adventure. The Doctor had finished his calibrations and was checking everything over to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Then he realised that something important was missing. His brown bowtie, the same bowtie he had worn every day since regenerating was not around his neck. He assumed it must of fallen off, but when he looked downwards, it was nowhere in sight. He then realised it must have fallen off somewhere else and asked Amy to help him look. “Amy, I seem to have misplaced my bowtie, could you help me find it?” “You mean this bowtie?” The Doctor’s head snapped towards Amelia Pond who was twirling the item of clothing on her finger. The Doctor visibly cringed when she began to stretch it slightly. He cautiously took a step towards her with a look of fear on his face. “I don’t know why you wear this thing? Bowties aren’t…” She was then taken aback by the look of panic on the Doctor’s face. That look was normally reserved when something bad had just happened. “Amy, please,” he pleaded, “hand me the bowtie.” Amy gave him the requested item with no argument. The Doctor wasted no time and quickly put it back on. He sighed in relief as Amy began to walk towards the TARDIS corridor. “I’ll leave you and your… bowtie alone for a while.” The Doctor didn’t try to stop her, but made a mental note that he should explain later. With a swift click, the TARDIS mirror shot out and the Doctor walked over to gaze at his reflection. He carefully made sure the tie was in the right position and once he was happy, he began to reminisce. A strange alien world filled with equine like creatures. Two old foes in new and terrifying forms. A lover he would not see again. He missed that place, he truly did, but he was content with his memories. Denial, grief, acceptance. That is what his last three forms represented after losing his world. In his ninth form, he tried to deny the death of his home world. In his tenth, he grieved for his home world. Now, he was at peace with it. And just like that, he had accepted the fact he would never see Equestria again, but he was content, what more could he ask for? For a brief moment though, he swore he could see someone, or rather, somepony staring back at him through the mirror. Her small grey form gazed back at him with a loving smile that he was all too familiar with. A small smile graced his lips as the figured blurred into nothingness. He had only one thing to say to sum it all up. “Bowties are cool.” It had been two months since the Doctor left Octavia Philharmonica, but for the Doctor, it had been twenty years. Twenty long years of exploring, meeting new friends, facing off against new and old foes alike, and generally doing what he did best. Running. The Time Lord had just landed in an alleyway in the middle of Canterlot. This had been the furthest he had gotten to meeting Octavia again, because he would always chicken out at the last second. The amount of times he was meant to come back but chose not too was far more numerous than you would expect, and far more numerous than the Doctor would want to acknowledge. In one word, he felt shame. Despite the fact it had only been two months for the cello player, it had been far longer for the Doctor. He had spent twenty years running away from her. It hadn’t started like that, but when he discovered what he had feared was true, it was almost impossible to return. The Time Lord was still immortal. He would live on, while Octavia would turn to dust before his eyes, and he didn’t know if he could take that. However, Octavia would not leave his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to rid himself of her. That’s what kept drawing him back. He felt love, and friendship. And he knew now that he would inevitably find himself in front of Tavi’s front door eventually, so he might as well face up to it now. What was he going to say? Honestly, he was going to wing it. Like he did most things in life and hopefully it would all turn out fine. But what was he really expecting? Two months wasn’t that long in reality, he was actually meant to have materialised closer to Octavia moving in, but a simple slip up with the controls forced him to land at this point in time. Could have been worse, could have been a whole year, he remembered from adventures past. Then it occurred to him, he had no idea where she had moved too. She had only told him she was in Canterlot and neglected to give him a specific address. He concluded it was heat of the moment thing that she totally forgot, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to locate her he finalised in his head. There would be nothing to stop him now. No more distractions. No more running. He took a step back from the console and turned to the TARDIS door. The ramp that led to the exit seemed suspiciously longer than usual, but never the less, the Doctor slowly ventured forward. Each step caused more doubts to enter his highly intelligent mind, but nothing would stop the Time Lord this time. He would venture into Canterlot, discover where Vinyl and Octavia lived, and finally confront what he feared, going domestic. No, that wasn’t it, it was… it was hard to put in all honesty. He feared losing somepony he loved, but at the same time, he was willing to lock ponies out of his life. It was beginning to seem ludicrous to even him, but by that point, he had reached the door. Without thinking, he turned the door handle and stepped on through to the outside world, only to be greeted by an unexpected sight. In front of him was a mare, but not the mare he was hoping to see. She was wearing a tight white suit and a long, flowing, dark brown mane. Behind her were two stallions, also in white uniforms, and they were blocking the alleyway exit. Suddenly, he felt two more ponies behind him blocking the TARDIS door. Somehow they knew he was coming, and had prepared to trap him in place. The Doctor had never been a practically violent stallion, but he was feeling very anxious in the current situation he was in. before he could act, the mare placed a small circular device by his forehooves, and outshone a cone of blue light from the centre. It was a hologram. Only now did the Doctor notice the symbol these ponies wore on their chests. It wasn’t familiar to him, but he was more concerned about the fact that these ponies possessed technology that they shouldn’t be close to having yet. The image was a stallion sitting in a revolving chair. In one hoof was a cigarette and the other was tapping the arm of his chair. Judging by the way the pony was looking at the Doctor, the Time Lord was certain that this was a live feed. Then the pony spoke. “Doctor, it’s a pleasure to meet the pony himself, or rather, Time Lord. Allow me to introduce myself; my name is the Illusive Pony.” The Doctor instinctively knew he was about to drawn into a long adventure. Moments after the return of Princess Luna to the throne… Daring Do lived for moments like these. Months of searching and exploring had led her to the final battleground of Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Many rumours surrounded this place. Some ponies said that both princesses had been consumed by evil entities; others say that Celestia wept for a hundred years after her sister’s banishment, but Daring Do preferred the facts. Then again, she was known for chasing legends and stories, or rather, her character was. This particular legend was one that fascinated the explorer greatly. A fellow writer of her’s, Gambit Write, had written many theories on the Luna/Celstia war. He had even written a piece that looked at Luna’s side more sympathetically which was met with universal praise. Unlike her though, he lacked any adventuring abilities so he usually stayed at home A couple of days before visiting her mother, Gambit had suggested she visit the untamed jungles in the Bad Lands. He theorised that the reason that the jungle existed in the middle of the desert was because it was hiding something, he believed that something was the final battleground. She had to give him credit, he was spot on. Very few ever came to this place, like the Everfree, the weather decided itself and this entire area had its own rules. She had discovered the ancient ruins of old, the destroyed pillars and crumbling buildings. But despite all of this, she could not take her eyes off the silver object before her. What had started as a small excavation had escalated when she had found what looked like a metal coffin buried under the rubble. With a quickly made pully system, she was able to pull it up for further study. She honestly didn’t know what to make of it. It didn’t make any sense to her, because it seemed advanced, impossibly advanced. Not only would this sort of thing have never existed a thousand years ago, but it looked like some sort of life preservation device. She observed the panels at the side which was measuring stats like heartbeats, pulse, mana, etc. It was clear to her that there some pony inside this infernal device. Her hoof gently brushed against it, but it was too late when she realised she had made a mistake. A mass of steam exited the sides of the coffin, and a loud click reached her ears as the coffin door began to slide open. Daring looked at the spot she had touched, and in that spot was a small red button that said ‘open.’ Suddenly, a blue figure fell face first to the ground. The body had fallen out of the coffin and hit the ground hard, but Daring saw some movement as it began to stir. He was a Pegasus, his coat was an electric blue and he had a pitch black mane. Daring stared blankly at the figure, wondering to herself how long he had been in there. His head slowly rose in confusion till his eyes met the other pegasus. Daring managed to shake off her shock for a moment and asked a question. “Who are you?” Then she saw his face. His teeth were razor sharp, like they had belonged to a shark, while his eyes were similar to a lizard or a crocodile, she wasn’t sure which. They were a cold blue and they unnerved her greatly. “Scratch that, what are you?” The bizarre creature’s confusion melted away, and in it’s place was rage, anger, fury. He launched up and grabbed Daring’s throat before she had a chance to yelp in surprise. Daring did her best to scramble away, but she felt herself gaze into those unreal eyes. Finally he spoke, his voice sounded like he had a Trottingham accent. “My name is Mr Carnage! Now where is my mother!?” The League of Extraordinary Ponies!