//------------------------------// // Part 2 // Story: Little Luna and Cynical Celestia, A Doctor Whooves Tale // by SubCinemaProductions //------------------------------// The sky, a deep shade of purple. The kind of purple that you get just before the sunrise. The faint light of the stars were barely visible in comparison to the great, shining moon. The constellations had barely been mapped the few, small civilizations and tribes below. The sky was young for the word; and yet, it was unmoving. The moon didn't move, the stars didn't rotate, and the sun didn't rise. Something was gravely wrong, and the only ones who could fix this had other things to keep them busy: dragons. The Doctor ran back to the hut as the beast began its flight toward the town, taking Luna along with him. Once again, he ignored conventional methods of getting into buildings, and jumped through the glassless window. He tumbled inside and rolled into a standing position. Luna tried to do the same, but being so small, even with wings, she had to climb up through the window. She made it through, but landed promptly on her flank with a thud. The Doctor met with Thumping Heart and Celestia, both of whom were infuriated, not least of which being Celestia. "What in the world is wrong with you!?! You crash here, force us to come here to THIS guy's home, jump up, babble, and run outside taking my sister with you only to come bounding back in again. WHO ARE YOU?!?!?!?!" She panted, seething with a terrified and terrifying rage. The Doctor ignored her outburst and turned to Thumping. "You," he began quickly, pointing to him, "You are an important figure in this town, yes?" Thumping gave him a puzzled look. "Yes, I suppose-" "Great," the Doctor interrupted, "Then I need you to promptly begin to move the peo- I mean ponies out of here to somewhere safe; somewhere where you can hide." The tribal doctor gave him an incredulous look, his eyebrows raised. "And why am I supposed to believe you? You're mad; probably has something to do with you having an irregular heartbeat. How am I supposed to believe you?" There was a brief pause in which the Doctor and Thumping Heart Starred at each other. Their eyes locked. Suddenly, a great roar sounded outside followed by a breath of fire that descended on the square, which could be easily seen by Thumping and everypony else in the room. They all ran to the window to see what was happening, save the Doctor. Their eyes widened and Celestia gasped. The dragon, a nasty red lizard with young, strong wings, swooped down on the town, hovering just above the square. His pointed head looked about the small village. His fire breath and roar had awakened the townsponies below. He noticed how thee left their homes slowly, and re-entered entered quickly at the sight of him, while others ran about the streets below in a panic. It amused him. The four ponies whom were looking out of Thumping Heart's window gaped in awe as the dragon, out of boredom, shot a jet of flame out at a small hut. They were paralyzed in both because of the miraculous grace of the being and in total fear of what it could do. The Doctor, still standing behind the others, began to speak. “This is what I mean", he began. The others turned to him. “This is why you need to listen to me. This is why you must trust me. I am the only one here who has the knowledge and capability to defeat this monster, but it can only be done with extreme caution and precision. In order to survive, to must obey my every word, or else you'll perish. “Thumping looked down and let his words sink in. After a moment of thought, he faced the Doctor. "What do you need?" he asked. The Doctor let his shoulders relax and he smiled. He looked at each of them in the room; at his companions. He had a glimmer of hope in his eyes that made even Celestia believe that they had a chance. Another roar sounded this one more ferocious. The Doctor huddled them together. “Okay, here's the plan..." ~ The dragon, known as Czwell-nor to those who knew him, smiled cruelly as he flew. Although he had just joined the dracon military, here he was, on his first solo mission; and he loved it. He recited one of the laws of dominance in his head, Enjoy the fear and suffering of those beneath you. That's just was he was doing. Czwell-nor had let one of his claws drop down into one of the buildings below, tearing the top completely off and leaving the roof crashed into splinters. The family inside the home cowered in terror. Though the tormentor was having a great deal of fun doing this, he decided to move on to his objective. He began to fly about in search for the Doctor, as he was known, in the various buildings, when he noticed an old looking and heavily cloaked mare in the middle of the street ahead of him. It was odd that she was just standing there calmly, though all of the destruction about her was anything but calm. Burning buildings and what used to be homes were on either side of her going up and down the street. The dragon became irritated. He had gone to all this work to destroy this town and she didn't even give him sliver of terror. His hot-headed temperament quickly made him infuriated. He flew toward her in a rage. His claws grasped her swiftly and tightly. The old mare felt bulky in his grip, but he paid it no attention. He flew higher and higher into the sky and flung her violently into the air. He saw her rise into the air. When she had reached the peak of her flight she began to descend, and as she fell, her heavy cloak flew off revealing her. It wasn't really a "her", more of a "them", for underneath the cloak were three small boulders, each with a small, glass bottle attached to them, though Czwell-nor didn't see the glass. What he did see were three rocks, the size of pebbles in comparison, fall towards him. A puzzled look came on his face. He let them fall to him while he tried to figure out what had happened. Just before the boulders hit, he saw a small glimmer of glass on them; and then was one of he biggest bangs he had ever heard in his life. An explosion erupted from the bottles, one at a time, each of them hitting his face. The first one knocked his head back, the second one knocked the breath out of him, and the third, it being the largest, knocked him right out of the sky. He fell quickly, concussed, to the ground. To those who were watching, it was like a great, fiery rock fell from the sky. When he hit the ground, it shook the earth beneath him and all of the townponies below. The dragon was down. ~ The Doctor's plan had worked well so far. While the beast was occupied with his "little surprise", Thumping Heart was evacuating the ponies from the village. There were just a few more left to go, and he town would be empty. As he stood amongst some houses, he waited for Luna, who was supposed to keep an eye on the dragon with her sister. He looked about. For a dragon attack, the town was in pretty good shape. Only a small handful of buildings would need any serious repair. There were many, though, that had sustained burns from the dragonfire. As he turned his head, he saw Luna running towards him down the street. She wore a large smile on her face, as she was enjoying this. The Doctor figured she either didn't really understand the level of danger, or she knew, but didn't let it affect her. She finally reached him and reported excitedly, "It looks like he is going to be down for a while. How did you know that he would throw them into the air like that?" He shrugged nonchalantly as he turned about to prepare the next step. "Eh, dragon eating habits. I took a course on it at the U of Gallifrey." He went into one of the houses, one which he had claimed as a base of operations. Luna followed him inside. The house looked like the one that belonged to Thumping Heart, but it was much less roomy. There was a straw bed with a window beside it, a small table, on which the Doctor had placed several odd items, and a few chairs. Luna had learned all of these new terms from Thumping earlier. Luna walked over to the table which the Doctor was standing at. There were various plants, pieces of wood, a few valuables from the village, and a little silver stick with a blue tip. He was in concentration as he was gathering the different components which he needed. She looked up to him and asked, "What is that?" She pointed to the silver stick, which had especially piqued her interest. She would have picked it up to look at it, but after having tried that with the first set of potions that the Doctor had brewed up, she had learned better. He glanced at her and followed her gesture. He turned back to his work and replied simply, "That, my little Luna, is my sonic screwdriver." Seeing that she didn't understand what he meant, he reached over and picked up one of the treasures that he "borrowed" from one of the villagers. It was a silver necklace with a little amethyst dangling from it. "Here" he said gently. He took the sonic screwdriver and placed the tip up against the gem. He pressed the little button it and the tip lit up. Luna was fascinated as she heard the whirring noise that it made. Suddenly, it stopped. He handed the necklace to her. Luna examined the gem. She was surprised to find that the amethyst began to glow brighter and brighter until it shone a brilliant purple. It pulsed the beautiful light slowly; it was enough to light up the dark room. There was also another glow, one that shone more bright and filled anyone who saw it with simplistic joy. It was Luna's eyes. They were lit up with wonderment that could only be experienced by a foal. Her eyes were glowing like the moon in response to the light of the gem, which gave the same. The Doctor saw this and smiled. It reminded him of earth children on Christmas day; not that any of his Christmas' were anything short of chaos. He would've liked to stay there forever with her, but he knew their time was short. He placed a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to him, looking into his eyes. She knew it was time, but she didn't want it to be. She wanted to see more, to be surrounded by them like rain; but she knew that there was no protesting. He took the necklace from her and placed it around her neck. The amethyst dimmed slightly. "Come on," he spoke softly. The Doctor led her from the house. ~ Celestia never quite knew why she agreed to this. She didn't even like the madpony, so why should she be doing his dirty work? Thoughts like this ran through her head constantly. She was sent by the Doctor on sentry duty; to keep an eye on the dragon. As long as he didn't wake up, she wouldn't have to do anything; but if he began to awaken, she would have to alert him. Luckily for her, though, he remained quite still. Celestia wanted nothing more than to leave and return to their home, to keep her little sister safe from the obvious dangers that this place provided. Nothing bad had happened until she listened to Luna and came to this place. Nothing, until he showed up. She could hear Thumping leading people to safety. She thought about all of the others and how they felt about this. Maybe there was another pony out there with a little sister to protect. Maybe there was a whole family that was terrified. Maybe there was life that had just been destroyed because of this. Was it inevitable? Could be. Something might've brought her to this town anyways. Luna had always wanted to come to the village. Maybe it wasn't the Doctor's fault. She was still upset with him though. She had no idea why she would ever want to follow him or listen to him or do what he said, and yet she did. She couldn't explain it. It was like he had this charisma that somehow got other ponies to do his bidding. He was handsome after all... "No," she spoke aloud, angry with herself for thinking such thoughts. "He is not handsome. And he certainly isn't as clever as he thinks he is." Suddenly she heard the cheerful cries of her sister. "Tia! Tia! Look what I can do!" She turned her head and saw a large cart filled with various objects float by. It had a dark purple aura around it. She looked a little further and saw Luna, the same aura around her horn, skipping playfully and smiling. "Look at what the Doctor has me doing!" Celestia fainted. ~ Thumping lead the last families out of the town and into the forest. At this point, he had practically become these ponies leader. There were about sixty villagers there, and about twenty families. Thumping had no family; nopony to turn to. So, as a result of that, he had always lived alone. His job was irritating at times, but he enjoyed it, though he was usually a grouch. The others in the town had unknowingly and unanimously elected him as their leader. It was informal, but that didn't matter. He led them all the same; now more than ever before. Everypony in the crowd was panicking. There was mass confusion. Luckily, nopony was seriously hurt, thought there were a few burns. Thumping would have to treat them later. Right now, he needed to enact his own version of the Doctor's plan. He found a tree stump and began to speak. "Settle down everypony! Settle do- Settle- HEY!" The talking ceased. They all looked to the pony in charge. "Okay everypony. Now we all know that we're scared. Some of our homes have been damaged. It may seem hopeless now, but I have a plan. There is one who stayed behind in the village. He has a way to stop this terror. He is, dare I say it, smarter than me. Everything he needs to solve this, we can provide; but he can't do it alone. He needs our help. Those of you with the strongest backs and the most skilled hooves, we need to aid him in fighting this monster an send it back to where it came. So, Who's with me!?!" The crowd erupted into cheers of triumph. Thumping held up his hooves. The crowd slowly returned to their previously quiet state. He began again. "Stallions, say goodbye to your families. Grab your tools. Get prepared. In one hour, we charge! And we WILL return victorious!" There was another yell from the crowd. Thumping knew that the Doctor would need all the help that he could get. These ponies could provide that for them. Nopony, not even the Doctor could do this just with himself and two little fillies. They were all brain. He would need some muscles. Thumping could provide that. ~ So the plans were together. The Doctor now had everything he needed. He stood by the crater where the dragon lay. Inside of the cart which Luna had levitated over, a phenomenon that he would have to study later, had all of what he needed. There were some plants and potions that he had gathered at act a paralyzers and anesthetics. There were mostly gems, though. He knew that he would need to catch his attention and/or bribe him. Negotiations would be difficult, but he knew about the dragon's one true weakness: their ears. They were incredibly sensitive so that they could hunt their prey, but were weak to high-pitched noises. Celestia and Luna stood behind him as he pulled out a few bottles of potion and several jewels. Celestia inquired to Luna about her new necklace. She relayed the story to her, seemingly expecting to get yelled at by her sister, but Tia just sighed deeply and muttered something about "that figures." He paid her no mind, though. Once he had finished, he turned to the two sisters. He looked at them and said cheerfully, "Okay. Let's get going!" Tia, boggled, replied, "Wait. We're coming with you?" He nodded. "Why?" The Doctor shrugged. "Well, I figured that you could use your-" He paused, trying to think of a better word for it. "-magic, to lift a few boulders in case things get hairy; but," he turned away from them, "as I can see, you can't. I guess I'll just ask Luna to..." "Wait!" she interrupted. The Doctor smiled inwardly. He turned back to her, his eyebrows raised in a disinterested way. Tia looked back to Luna and to the Doctor again. "I-if," she began nervously, "Luna c-can do it, then so can I." The Doctor flashed a big smile. "Great! Let's get this show on the road!" They began walking down the crater, Tia shaking with every step. The Doctor, seeing that, lagged back to Luna, who brought up the rear, and whispered, "Keep an eye on her." She hurriedly nodded in mock-seriousness. They finally reached the dragon, out cold thanks to the Doctor's trick. He called them his "bubbling surprise." The concoction wasn't too difficult to make, although he did have trouble finding the ingredients in the chaos. He hadn't realized that dandelion flowers would be so hard to pull up when somepony trips over you and there is screaming everywhere. He stopped right at where the shoulders met the rest of the torso. Even lying flat, this dragon was twice his height. He turned to the sisters and directed them to the two pieces of rubble that were a result of the crash. Tia, for reasons unspoken, took the smaller of the two. Her magic wasn't nearly as strong as her younger sister's. It was simply a matter of practice that she didn't ever get. The Doctor peered down at his eyelids, waiting for the dragon to awake. He got close to his face, and then turned to Luna and nodded. She nodded back and then lightly tapped the beast on her head with her boulder. There was a flutter of his eyes, and then the dragon woke up. He saw the Doctor staring down at him. It was apparent that he was paralyzed, for his activity suggested that he wanted to eat him. He was snapping at him, but the Doctor, at a safe distance away, didn't move. He didn't even flinch. Seeing this, the dragon stopped. The Doctor smiled. "Good," he said, "Now we can talk like adults." The dragon growled at him. His voice was deep and intimidating. I almost caused the elder of the sisters to faint. "I will never negotiate with you," he bellowed angrily, "I will not let you escape alive! Release me, and I might spare you and your village. My conflict isn't with you." The Doctor raised his eyebrows, unsurprised. "Oh is it?" He leaned his head closer the dragon. He let him stare into his eyes. His old eyes and familiar eyes. Had he seen them before? The dragon lit up like a match. He spat flame and snapped at the pony. None of it succeeded, though; he was simply out of his reach. Once the flames had subsided, and the Dragon had stopped his fruitless attacks, the Doctor stepped back into his view. He spoke again. "If you want to return to your people and have any chance at getting out of here alive, then you'll listen to my proposal." The Dragon snorted. "Or what? You'll defeat the entire Dracon army?" He narrowed his eyes. "What is your name, soldier?" The noble soldier huffed. "I am Czwell-nor, scout-leiutennt of the third battlion." "Tell me, Czwell-nor, are you feeling well? You seem to be in pain." With that, he pulled out the sonic. He held it up and pressed the button. A small whirring noise emanated from it; it's effect were felt immediately. There was a loud roar. The dragon's screams of pain surprised Luna and Celestia, causing them to almost drop the boulders that they held. Even the Doctor was surprised. It was enough for him to drop his tool. It fell into the dragon's throat, causing him to gag and shoot up another pillar of flame, destroying the sonic and the noise with it. The Doctor, unsure of what to do with the sudden change in events, was thrown off balance. He tried regaining it, only to realize something horrible. Czwell-nor was regaining his ability to move. "Of all the times..." He shouted to the sisters to "initiate the backup plan." They dropped the boulders on his head, but this only made him angrier. He turned back over, which threw the Doctor of and sending him flying, conveniently enough, a few yards away from Luna and Celestia. They ran over to him. He stood up in pain and put a hoof on Tia's back to support himself. The dragon, meanwhile, was beginning to take flight. He flapped out his wings, the last of the paralysis wearing off, and took off into the sky. His eyes searched the ground and found the three ponies in the crater beneath him. The Doctor, by now was standing on his own four hooves, looked up and saw Czwell-nor staring at him. Luna and Celestia followed his gaze and they gasped. A rush of panic swept over the sisters, the Doctor could tell. Luna turned to him. "Doctor, what do we do now?" she asked in a panicked voice. He sighed deeply, hoping that it wouldn't have to come to it this time. His eyes went once back and forth between the sisters, before resting them on Luna. "We run."