//------------------------------//
// Doctor Off Balance 
// Story: The Fall of Gallophrey 
// by FleetlordAvatar 
//------------------------------//

Derpy protectively held her daughter while she struggled to contain her own rising panic. Floating above her was a creature that could only exist in the deepest parts of a deranged pony’s nightmare.
 
Like the statue on the clock it had a serpentine body and mismatched horns, one resembled an antler while the other was closer to a unicorn’s horn.  Its forelegs ended in both an eagle’s claw and lions paw and while one back leg resembled a dragon the other was clearly a pony’s hoof.  A serpentine tail snaked behind and a set of mismatched wings, which looked too small to be doing so, held it aloft.
 
 It looked like someone had taken the leftovers from creation and cobbled together...something.
 
The creature, which the Doctor had called Discord, was currently staring at him from beyond the protective bubble that encompassed the house and garden.
 
‘’That's it?’’ said an incredulous Discord ‘’no, ‘how have you been?’ or ‘it’s been a while?’, honestly Doctor I remember when you could talk the hind leg off a donkey, and I know a thing about talking legs off...well just about anything.’’
 
Snaking his serpentine form down the bubble Discord settled at the garden gate where a table and chairs had sprouted like flowers.
 
‘’That’s better, we can have a civilised conversation now.’’ He snapped his clawed fingers and a tea set materialised on the table top, then started to pour itself.
 
Sitting down Discord shifted his back a few times, rubbing his neck in discomfort.
 
‘’Hold on for just a second.’’
 
Derpy's eyes boggled as he lifted his head clean off his neck and span it like a top.  
 
‘’Oh YEAH that felt good’’ he said, reattaching it. ‘’I guess it’s true what they say: two thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!’’
 
The Doctor remained silent.
 
‘’You know I thought your kind had all died Doctor, but then again it makes sense that in the only spot that defies my chaos I would find you. I thought that I was the only one that could do things normal ponies perceive as ‘impossible’’. He finished making a literal set of air quotations that promptly exploded into confetti.
 
‘’But enough about that’’ he continued, drinking his cup and casually throwing away the tea, ‘’I see your doing well for yourself even have a new companion.’’
 
Derpy froze as his gaze settled on her and Dinky.
 
‘’Oh I’m sorry companions...word of advice my dear!’’ he yelled ‘’I’d get away from him as soon as you can, unless you want the filly to end up as an orphan!’’
 
Derpy gave The Doctor a fearful look.
 
‘’You did tell her about the others didn’t you?’’ said Discord with an evil smirk. ‘’About the foals you orphaned and the mothers you left childless? How about the friends you betrayed or the times you didn’t run quite fast enough?’’
 
‘’What do you want?’’ snapped the Doctor, Discord had struck a nerve.
 
‘’He speaks, and straight to the point as ever, you're never any fun when you have your serious face on Doctor. As for what I want don’t you remember?
 
He swept a claw dramatically over the warped landscape behind him.
 
‘’Chaos! Glorious, unrestricted, uninhibited, absolute CHAOS!’’
 
‘’I remember... ‘’ replied The Doctor coldly ‘’I also remember that I stopped you.’’
 
‘’Ah, but last time you had two Alicorns and The Elements of Harmony to help, and I’m already dealing with one of those.’’
 
The stallion tensed.
 
‘’What have you done?’’
 
‘’Nothing you won’t find out about in your own indubitable manner, now if you’ll excuse me’’ he pulled out an oversized pocket watch. ‘’ I have chaos to spread and a friendship to destroy.’’
 
Casually tossing the watch over his shoulder he made to leave before pausing.
 
‘’By the way Doctor I’ve left some old friends to make sure you stay inside your overgrown snowglobe, Ta tah.’’
 
With a wave and a flash of light he was gone.
 
Silence reigned as Derpy collected her thoughts, once she had regained the ability of coherent thought she led her daughter over to The Doctor.
 
‘’Doctor...what was that thing?’’
 
The stallion sighed heavily and hung his head.
 
‘’It was my past finally catching up to me.’’
 
Derpy cocked her head in confusion as he turned to face her.
 
‘’His name is Discord and he’s a draconequus, a living embodiment of chaos and disharmony, he and I have a very long and complicated history.’’
 
‘’So he’s one of those things you fought...back then?’’ she asked
 
‘’Yes I’m afraid so. We met a more than once as he had his claw in just about anything that could cause chaos and suffering to others. In fact it’s because of him that I made so many foes.’’
 
‘’So...when he said old friends?’’
 
‘’He could have pulled literally any one of thousands of monsters, demons, aliens, robots and just about anything in between and plonked them out there.’’ He finished by indicating the forest, if it could even still be called that.
 
While the pair were talking Dinky kept a hoof wrapped around her mother’s foreleg. She had felt her tense when that monster had talked to them and then calm down after it left, but she didn’t truly believe it was gone. In his stories The Doctor had always told her how the bad guy was never really far away from the scene of the crime and while she didn’t doubt his word that they were safe inside the shield, that didn’t make her any less nervous about the madness going on beyond it.
 
She stopped and blinked, had she just seen something moving out there?
 
Dinky stared out into the forest; she could have sworn there was something there a moment ago.
 
She blinked.
 
There it was just a bit to the right this time.
 
She blinked again.
 
There it was again, this time it was a bit closer.
 
In fact whenever she took her eyes off it for a second the thing moved.
 
‘’Mummy’’ She tugged urgently at Derpy’s leg. ‘’I think there’s somepony out there.’’
 
Looking up, Derpy and The Doctor were met by a strange sight.
 
Sitting just outside the bubble, apparently unaffected by the chaos, was a statue of an Alicorn. It was nothing remarkable and appeared to be carved from plain stone. It wore a long sweeping dress, almost like a funeral gown, and stood with its head hung low in its hooves.
 
Like it was weeping
 
‘’Get in the house!’’ barked The Doctor.
 
When he didn’t hear hooves he turned to see them paralysed at his outburst.
 
‘’NOW!’’ he yelled, and they bolted for the door.
 
Snapping his head back to the statue he saw it was now right up against the shield, but it was no longer weeping. It had recoiled from the shield and cradled one hoof protectively, almost like it had been injured. Its face was also exposed, a howl of anguish was frozen on its features.
 
Galloping inside The Doctor slammed the door and locked it before sliding in a deadbolt and securing it with a padlock. He then produced his Sonic Screwdriver and ran it down the height of the door, creating a cacophony of clicks as yet more locks slid into place.
 
Satisfied they were secure for the moment he moved to one of the broken windows and peered out at the statue.
 
It was still there only now it was scowling in their direction. Worse two more had appeared at its side and he was sure that there were even more in the trees just waiting to emerge. But at least they couldn’t penetrate the anti-magic shield
 
They were safe, but they were also trapped.
 
Of all the creatures in Tartarus why did Discord have to use them?
 
He was brought back to reality by a gentle hoof on his shoulder. Turning he saw Derpy  looking at him with a worried expression.
 
‘’Doctor, what are we going to do?’’ she said
 
For once he didn’t have answer.
 
Xxxxxx

It was nightfall, or at least this was the third nightfall in about twenty minutes. Ever since Discord had left his chaos had apparently managed to spread to both the sun and moon, which worried all three ponies no end as it meant something could have happened to the Princesses.
 
Ever since The Doctor had ordered them inside he had secluded himself in the basement, stating that he ‘’needed time to think’’. This left both Derpy and Dinky confused beyond measure, The Doctor was a stallion of action and he rarely stopped to think or plan, apparently choosing to improvise as he went.
 
That wasn’t to say he was incapable of planning, when he did stop to plan what he came up with was nothing short of genius (he had once figured out how to organise Pinkie Pies surprise birthday party without her finding out) but this time he seemed genuinely unsure, like his conversation with Discord had set him off balance.
 
Right now though Derpy couldn’t dwell on that, given the stallion’s reaction to that statue she had decided on taking extra precautions. After a search of the house she had managed to find some wooden boards and a toolbox in one of the bedrooms and had nailed them down over every window she could find.
 
The Pegasus mare was currently finishing a final sweep of the house. In addition to securing the windows she and Dinky had pushed the sofa in front of the front door and boarded up the back door. 
 
Finally satisfied they were safe she slumped exhausted to the floor.
 
Dinky snuggled up against her.
 
‘’Mummy, I’m scared.’’
 
‘’Don’t worry muffin’’ she said, wrapping her hooves around her ‘’ we’re safe in here.’’
 
Dinky shivered a little in her mother’s embrace, she was clearly unconvinced, so Derpy decided she would need some extra reassurance.
 
‘’Sweetie’’ she said, giving Dinky and affectionate squeeze ‘’don’t be scared, you remember those stories The Doctor likes to tell you?’’
 
Her daughter nodded
 
‘’What does he do in those stories?’’
 
‘’He fights evil monsters.’’
 
‘’And did he always beat those monsters?’’
 
‘’Yes...yes he did.’’
 
Dinky was sounding a little less scared; she now just had to bring home the message.
 
Gently extracting herself from her daughters embrace she got up.
  
‘’How about we see if we can help.’’
 
Descending the basement stairs the pair found the stallion in question slumped face first onto his work bench. What they didn’t know was once he was out of sight of the two ponies The Doctor had something of a mental breakdown managing to trash everything that wasn’t nailed down, as well as a few things that were. Thankfully he had soundproofed the basement after Zecora had complained his experiments made too much noise, so the pair were oblivious that the mess was even more severe than usual.
 
Mother and daughter shared a mischievous look as they came up alongside him. Derpy took a few seconds to look the sleeping stallion over before inhaling a lungful of air.
 
‘’BOO!’’
 
The Doctor awoke with a yelp, causing his stool to tip over backwards in a mass of flailing hooves.
 
Landing in a pile of discarded technology he groaned as Dinky’s laughter echoed off the walls.
 
 Looking up he saw Derpy smiling down at him.
 
‘’You know I will get you both back for this eventually.’’ He moaned as she helped him up.
 
‘’Sorry Doctor but Dinky was just wondering what your plan was for saving the day.’’ She replied, indicating the still giggling unicorn filly.
 
The stallion caught the hidden meaning behind her words.
 
‘’Ah...yes saving the day.’’ He said, clearing his throat.
 
‘’Well first things first, we need to get past those statues out there. Now I’ve dealt with them before so I know what to do.’’
 
He trotted confidently over to his workbench and lifted a colourful ray gun from the tabletop.
‘’As you may have guessed’’ he said turning to Dinky ‘’they are not natural, but they are still made of stone. I am modifying this gun to make a high pitched sound that will literally shake them apart, a bit like before when you shattered all my windows.’’
 
Dinky scuffed her hoof in embarrassment.
 
‘’Once we get past them we make a beeline for Ponyville. From there we’re going to have to wing it, after all I do all my best work on the fly.’’ He finished with a cheeky grin towards the pair.
 
Derpy gave a snort of laughter while Dinky trotted up to The Doctor and gave him a hug, which he returned in kind.
 
‘’See muffin, you have no reason to be scared.’’ Said Derpy
 
The Doctor ran an affectionate hoof through Dinky’s mane.
 
‘’Don’t worry my dear, I have everything in hoof. We shall be out of here in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.’’
 
He gave a warm smile, which Dinky returned before it morphed into a small yawn.
 
‘’Why don’t you have a nap while I finish here. I’ll let you use my bed in the TARDIS, it’s the most comfortable bed in the universe, made from the first clouds of the very first sunrise.’’

‘’Then you'll save the day?’’ Dinky asked

‘’Of course my dear, after all I’m The Doctor.’’
 
As they talked The Doctor led Dinky into the TARDIS, Derpy waited a few moments before the stallion re-emerged.
 
‘’She dropped off as soon as he head hit the pillow.’’ He said latching the door.
 
‘’She’s had an exciting day.’’ Replied Derpy
 
‘’No arguments from me.’’
 
There were a few moments of awkward silence.
 
‘’Are you okay?’’ she finally asked
 
The Doctor looked at her, and for the first time she saw just how tired he looked. It was like every one of his thousand or so years of life now weighed him down.
 
‘’No...no I’m not okay.’’ he sighed ‘’I have been caught off guard by one of, if not THE worst creature that existence ever spawned! I have no TARDIS, no backup and worst of all no plan! This isn’t even a real ray gun it’s a hair dryer!’’
 
He finished by throwing the aforementioned object across the room into one of the piles of junk before slumping down by the TARDIS door.
 
Derpy cautiously sat down by his side and laid a comforting hoof over his shoulders. She had never seen The Doctor like this before; he always had an infectious grin on his face and wherever he went there was an air of confidence that made those around him feel like they could touch the stars. But now that air was gone, Discord had popped it like a balloon.
 
She had to restore it.
 
‘’You said you beat him once...’’ she began.
 
‘’Yes, but you heard Discord’’ he moaned, cutting her off‘’ I had the Elements of Harmony and Two Alicorns on my side, without them I don’t stand a...’’
 
She stuffed a hoof into his mouth, silencing him.
 
‘’But you BEAT him didn’t you?’’ she pressed
 
He nodded, Derpy removed her hoof.
 
‘’How did you beat him?’’ she asked ‘’it might help you think if you can remember the way you did it before.’’
 
‘’I told you without...’’
 
‘’It doesn’t matter!’’ it was her turn to cut him off ‘’you are The Doctor! You are the pony that single hoofedly stopped legions of Cybercolts from turning Equestrian into a silver nightmare, you are the stallion that saved an entire civilisation of Sea Ponies from be devoured by the Smooze, you are the colt that defeated a rogue cult of Nightmare worshippers with nothing but a toothbrush, duct tape and a banana peel!’’
 
She was muzzle to muzzle with him now, and she thought he looked a little intimidated by her sudden outburst.
 
‘’You are the stallion that gave a filly help when nightmares stopped her from sleeping, who kept her in the home that she needed when others tried to take her away, who helped a mother find that despite all the heartache she’s had, she can still love somepony!’’
 
She blushed at the last statement, but she couldn’t stop now. Taking a deep breath she brought it home.
 
‘’You are the impossible colt and whatever is out there you can and will beat it because YOU. ARE. THE DOCTOR!’’
 
Derpy took a few deep breaths; her little pep talk had been a bit more intense than she had thought. The Doctor was staring at her in awe, his mouth moving silently as he tried to articulate a sentence.
 
‘’You're cute when you’re mad.’’
 
That was it, that simple stupid phrase broke the silence and caused her to giggle, then they both began to chuckle, until finally the two ponies just couldn’t help it and broke down into fits of laughter.
 
When the laughter had subsided The Doctor took a deep breath and sat back against the TARDIS with a sigh, Derpy's head resting on his shoulder.
 
‘’Your right. I am the impossible colt, and I will beat Discord no matter what.’’
 
She smiled, he sounded more like his old self.
 
‘’But I just can’t think HOW to do it, it’s like my brain has seized up.’’
 
She looked at him again.
 
‘’Like I said, how did you beat him before? Maybe if you talk about it you might get some ideas.’’
 
The Doctor met her gaze, and she saw a little sadness in his eyes.
 
‘’If I tell you how I did it last time, it’s not just a tale of me beating the bad guy. This is my most painful memory and I don’t think I can re-live what I had to do to beat him.’’
 
‘’Doctor...I understand if this is painful for you, but I keep telling you that you don’t have to face your problems alone.’’
 
She took his hoof in her own and gave it an affectionate squeeze.
 
Steeling himself The Doctor took a deep breath.
 
‘’Very well then, let me tell you a tale then Derpy. Let me tell of about the fall of Gallopfrey.’’