//------------------------------// // Well look who died now, jesus // Story: The Doctor and the Pegasus // by RandomHamster33 //------------------------------// The ponies were flung around the TARDIS, which was was falling. Rainbow Dash clung to the Doctor, who had fallen back into his coma-like state. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, dodging bits and pieces of the spacecraft and just other random bits of junk the Doctor had left laying around. The shifting stopped, allowing the ponies to get their breath back. "This is just like when Discord turned my house upside down!" Fluttershy squeaked in terror, her eyes watering. "Oh goodness! He was here! He was here when the Queen took over!" Her hooves went straight to her face in horrific realization. "She probably did something to him! We have to save him!" Fluttershy waved her arms in the air frantically. Her eyes then rolled back in her head and she fell out of the air. Rainbow Dash, balancing the Doctor in one arm, reached forward to catch the unconscious pegasus as she went limp. "Well, just great. We have two knocked out ponies on our hooves, but this time one's an alien and in a coma." The pegasus rolled her eyes. She moved to the right as a wire came loose, ending up slamming into Rarity. "Ooh! This is simply horrid!" the unicorn complained as she rubbed her side. Rarity suddenly fell forward, landing on Applejack. The earth pony gave a cry of surprise as the TARDIS flipped upside down and shook. Pinkie Pie was sent flying over the three ponies on the ground, a springing sound coming from where she landed. The lights in the TARDIS flickered, the room being pitched into darkness for a few moments. "I agree!" Twilight Sparkle shrieked, hanging onto the railing of the ship as her eyes went in all directions, the shaking increasing. She curled up in a ball when a hammer pounded her in the flank. "Somepony do something!" She lost her grip and fell into a pile of junk. The TARDIS gave a final screeching sound, a violent jerk, and then all was calm. "Okay, Ah think it's over," Applejack breathed, standing shakily up. The earth pony helped a slightly bloody Rarity get to her hooves by holding her friend under the arms with one of her own wrapped around her waist. "Everypony okay?" Twilight called from where she poked her purple head out of a life saver. "I'm okay!" Pinkie announced. Everypony's eyes went to where the pony was hanging, wires tangled around her back legs and up to her midsection. She let her arms dangle as her fluffy mane fell into her face. "Ah'm good!" AJ answered. "We're all fine. . . I think. Rares, you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the white unicorn leaning on Applejack's back. Rarity tried giving a weak smile, but ended up cringing instead. "I, well, mostly. A cut, really," Rarity coughed. "Here, let me look," Twilight said. She pulled her head from the life saver and smoothed her indigo mane before trotting over to Rarity. The purple unicorn inspected the injury, which was on Rarity's flank. A long, shallow cut stretched from the lower diamonds on her cutie mark to the bottom of her flank. "Not too bad. . but not good. AJ, can you see if there's a first aid kit anywhere in here? He must have something." She glanced at the earth pony, who nodded and went off to search the console and the assorted junk. "And Rainbow Dash, will you please get Pinkie down?" "I'm on it!" Dash shouted. She carefully set the two passed out ponies in her arms down on the chair next to the railing. Then the blue pegasus flew up and started helping Pinkie Pie get untangled. Turning to Rarity once again, Twilight asked, "does it hurt?" "Seeing as how there's a gash on my leg, YES!" Rarity shouted, shoving her face in the other unicorn's. Twilight crinkled her nose before pulling away. ". . Right." Twilight looked at Applejack. "Any luck?" "Ah can't seem to find anythin'. Ah'll keep lookin' though! Just give me a minute. ." the earth pony trailed off, bending over to rummage through a chest. She kept one hoof on the edge of it as her upper body and head disappeared. "This thing's huge! It's so much. . ." "Bigger on the inside?" Pinkie Pie decided to finish for her, still hanging upside down from the wires constricting her. "Yeah. Exactly." AJ brought herself back to her full height. "Nothin' in there, though." "How about around the controls or something?" Rainbow Dash suggested, taking a wire in her mouth and tugging at it. "Ah'll take a look." Applejack trotted over to the console and looked under it. "Oh hey, there's stuff under here!" AJ looked down under the paneling. She looked up at Twilight. "Would ya do me the honors?" Twilight smirked. "Of course. It'd be my pleasure." She lit her horn, lifting the panel up so Applejack could get under it. The earth pony reached her head in and reemerged with a first aid kit held in between her teeth. Twilight took it and started cleaning Rarity's injury. "Ow! That burns!" the unicorn complained as Twilight dabbed at it with some alcohol on a fabric pad. She rolled her violet eyes as Rarity huffed dramatically. She yanked her leg out of the way, holding it close to her body. The purple mare fell forward, as she had been leaning in and Rarity pulling away had caused her concentration to fail. Twilight's head popped up, first aid kit on her head. She pointed a hoof at Rarity accusingly. "You need to hold still! I can't have you wiggling all over!" "I am not 'wiggling'! I simply, how may I put it, repositioned my leg to a more comfortable pose." Rarity watched as her fellow unicorn got to her hooves. "Just don't, will you?" Twilight shook the kit off her head. "Fine. Just be more careful." Rarity turned away. "But, but-" "No point, Twi," Dash intervened, fiddling with a dark blue wire wrapped around Pinkie's hind leg, not even turning to look at the unicorns. Sighing, Twilight continued to clean and dress the wound. A bandage was wrapped neatly around Rarity's flank and leg. "Thanks, Twilight. Feels much better," Rarity said, carefully putting weight on her leg. "Almost done up there?" Applejack asked, turning her face up to look at the hanging pink pony and the blue pegasus. Rainbow Dash grunted, a different black wire in her mouth. She dropped it once she had gotten Pinkie unraveled. "Almost." She yanked a silver wire from around her friend's rump and the party pony slipped loose of the other remaining wires, dropping to the floor like a ton of bricks. Dash dusted herself off, a cocky smile on her face. "All done." She hovered to the floor and folded her wings. "Okay, now what?" Rarity asked. She raised a hoof in question. "I say we go see what's going on. There was just this, like, giant earthquake! Something happened," Twilight said. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Rainbow put in sarcastically, snorting. Applejack shot a glare at her, which the pegasus promptly ignored. "I can't say I'm excited about this," Pinkie Pie told them after standing up. "Let's check out the thing again," Rarity suggested. "The little screen." She pointed at the console, where the screen was attached, broken images of Gallifreyan spread across it. "Good idea," Twilight agreed. The ponies gathered around as Twilight tried to get it working again. The screen flickered momentarily before switching to the camera. "W-what was that?!" Celestia demanded, struggling in the slimy green goo. Dust from the ceiling rained down on them, making the Princesses cough. Cracks ran through the walls and floor, making the whole room seem like a valley. The throne had been dislodged, laying on its side, destroyed. The stained glass windows were shattered, shards of the brightly colored glass laying scattered over the throne room. In all, it seemed like the whole castle had fallen. "We demand thou tell us!" Luna added, wings pumping. Chrysalis smirked, flitting across the absolutely ruined throne room. She came up to Celestia and stroked her face, to which the alicorn drew back from, her face contorted into one of extreme anger and fear. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" The Queen laughed. "Well, you'll see. And I think you'll be surprised." Chrysalis stepped away from Celestia. "You see," she started, "we've been planning this for a while. Discretely feeding on love, plotting. Ever since we were first defeated. "But even though we've taken over Equestria, I'm afraid it still isn't enough to satisfy our massive army's needs." "What do you mean 'we'?" Celestia demanded, half angry and half confused. "Hold on, hold on, I'm getting to that part," Chrysalis said, waving her hoof. She leaned in close to the Sun Princess's ear. "It's the best part." "Anyways, our army has grown. We are stronger, yes, but not strong enough. We need more love. Millions of changelings is too much for even Equestria. "So I devised a plan. "And now, with the help of them, we will conquer the whole world!" Chrysalis threw her arms in the air, hovering a few inches off the cracked floor. She then called out. "You can come out now, my sweets." The Princesses held their breaths. The ponies inside the TARDIS held theirs, too. It seemed like the entire world just stopped, waiting. Three figures emerged. They were the same size of the Queen, but were not her. They were obviously female. The first one, white, with a shiny purple carapace that faded into pink, was a unicorn. Or what looked like a unicorn, at least. It might be a bit generous to call it even unicorn-like. Her large, crooked horn was surrounded by curly light pink and purple hair, filled with holes, and so was her swirly tail. Large green, slitted eyes shone in the darkness. The second, an earth-like pony, was pale yellow. Her carapace was red that faded into sunset pink. Her mane was dark pinkish red, and flopped over her head. Her tail curled around, and like her mane, was filled with holes. Sunset pink and orange eyes, like a cat's, stared at the Princesses, unblinking. The last, pegasus-like, was orange. Her carapace was purple that faded into blue. Her large, translucent wings were positioned upright on her back, much like an insect's, and were shaped as such. A slightly curly purple mane with a Mohawk going down her neck, and a matching tail, were adorned with holes. Lavender slitted eyes peered out at the others in the room. They all had sharp fangs, along with the hole filled, lanky, twisted legs. They were also all the same height. The three blinked at the same time, slowly. "What. . is this? What have you done to them? I recognize those fillies! They were at the Royal Wedding! I've seen them several times!" Celestia shouted in horror. "Is that. .?" Rainbow Dash started, her words lost in her throat as she lifted a hoof up to the screen. The colors and features of the three changelings made it easy to identify them. "Ah-Ah can't believe this. . That stupid bitch murdered my sister and made her into a changeling!" Applejack screamed, tears already forming in her emerald green eyes. "Applejack, wait!" Twilight shouted, reaching out a hoof to stop the orange mare from running out the TARDIS doors. "Ah'm gonna buckin' kill her!" Before the earth pony could get out, Dash had shot up and tackled her, holding her to the floor, kicking and screaming. "AJ! Calm down!" the pegasus ordered, putting one hoof on Applejack's neck and another in the center of her back. "Sweetie Belle! Oh my precious sister!" Rarity bawled, dropping to the floor, tears streaming out of her sapphire blue eyes. "Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" Pinkie Pie patted the sobbing unicorn on the back, trying desperately to console her. "Oh calm down, all of you! They're not dead!" All eyes went to the Doctor, who was laying on his back on the small chair, with Fluttershy on top of him. "They're-they're not?" Applejack stopped struggling and hopefully perked an ear. Rarity lifted her head up and Rainbow glanced over her shoulder. "No, of course not! And-" "Why was I asleep on top of the Doctor? Oh no, we didn't do anything did we? I'm-" Fluttershy didn't get to finish her sentence as the Time Lord shoved his hoof in her mouth. "No, we didn't. Now, if you'd please. .?" Fluttershy gave a flap of her wings and managed to lift herself off the stallion. She hid behind her hair, blushing slightly. "Anyways," the Doctor started, "as I said, they're not dead. Just, well, different. I think we'll be able to change them back afterwards. But right now, we have to stop Chrysalis. Any objections?" Six head shakes, along with one blue pegasus snarling, punching a hoof into her other one. "Alright then! Allons-y!" The seven rushed forward, only to crash into each other in a domino effect as the Doctor stopped in his tracks. "Um, actually, you six wait here. I need to do something." "Um, can I ask you something real quick while we're stopped?" Fluttershy asked quietly. Every head turned to look at the timid pegasus. "I-I. ." She looked down, scraping a hoof along the floor. "We should find Discord. He, um, is the God of Chaos. He could help us, plus, I couldn't stand to think about if he was hurt!" Fluttershy started crying, large blue-green eyes filling with tears. She put a hoof over her mouth to stifle the sobs, but everypony could still hear them loud and clear. Pinkie Pie let the pegasus cry into her shoulder. "Right! Doctor, Discord could definitely help us. His magic defies every law of physic and science there is. He's the most powerful being in the land, only outmatched by the Elements of Harmony," Twilight added. She suddenly stopped. She reached up felt her head. "My Element! And yours! They're gone!" The other five mares looked at their chests. The Elements were, as Twilight said, no where to be seen. "Where could they have gone?!" Applejack exclaimed, eyes wide. "We must have lost them when the earthquake thing happened. I'm sure they're here somewhere," Rainbow Dash added. "We have to find them!" Twilight shouted. "I'm sorry girls, but we don't have to look for those. They're not going to work," the Doctor said. "Yes they will! The Elements of Harmony are the strongest magic known to ponydom!" "They won't." "And how do you know that? You've never even seen the Elements working." Twilight glared at the Time Lord. "I read up on them. Trust me, I know. I can't explain now, lives are in danger." The Doctor looked at Fluttershy. "Where would Discord be, do you think?" "Well. . I don't really know. He just usually goes where he wants to. All I know is that he was at the castle when Chrysalis's drones started attacking," Fluttershy told him. Her eyes were big and watery. "Okay, hmm. . Guess we'll just have to start looking. Let's move this box!" The Doctor grinned foolishly and sprang up to the controls, slamming a hoof down on a button. A showering of sparks rained down upon the ponies, making Fluttershy squeak and hide behind Dash's legs for cover as she cowered. ". . I guess not then. We'll have to get out of here somehow, and just simply walking out like, 'hey, Chryssi, what's up? Oh nothing, just going searching for the God of Chaos'." "I could. . . teleport us out?" Twilight squeaked, her voice raising an octave. "Well, why didn't you say that earlier! Come on! We don't have much time!" the Doctor shouted, putting his hooves on Twilight's chest. "Get off!" She shoved the Time Lord away angrily, huffing. She then swallowed nervously. "O-okay, here I go. I'm not sure if this will work. . ." Her horn lit up, magenta magic spreading across the room. It gripped at the ponies, and suddenly her horn flashed. Pain seared through the bodies of the ponies as they were teleported out of the TARDIS and into an abandoned room of the wrecked castle. Twilight wobbled uncertainly on her hooves, barely managing to stay upright. The others coughed, the odd sensation of being moved from place to another freaking weird. "Okay, man, that was. . . intense. Right! Let's go!" the Doctor cheered, and set off. A crippling pain shot through his chest before he could get the door open. He cried out as his hearts pulled at each other. They were trying to merge into one. "Gah! No! Lefty, stay with me!" He pounded on his chest, trying to stop the heart from failing. "What's happening? Is it doing it again?" Pinkie Pie asked. She looked around at the other mares. "One of my hearts isn't working!" the Time Lord choked out, falling to the floor. "Wait, one?! You have more than one heart?!" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. "Yes! Now, someone help me!" "A-alright!" Rainbow Dash flew over and stood in front of the Doctor. "Hit my chest!" Dash pulled her hoof back. "Left side!" the Doctor cried out before she could pound him. A blue hoof struck him on the left side of his chest, causing the Time Lord to grunt in pain. "Again!" Another punch in the chest. "Wait, wait! I got it!" Twilight shouted. Her horn started burning, a blinding light filling the room. "It's a spell I learned! It can start somepony's heart!" The unicorn squinted from the sheer brightness of the spell, and her friends shielded their eyes with their arms. "Whoa, Twilight, that-" A bright beam shot out, right into the Doctor's chest. Rainbow Dash sprang out of the way before it could hit her too. The breath was knocked out of the Time Lord as it pinned him against the marble doors behind him. As fast as it had come, the beam winked out, leaving Twilight's horn sizzling. She carefully dabbed at it with her hoof, looking up at the burning bone. "Doctor? Are you alright?" Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of the Time Lord's eyes as he stared off into space. He jolted from his trance, seemingly surprised at the pegasus's presence. "Wow! What a spell! Enough time wasted already. Allons-y!" They were off again. The seven searched through rooms, fighting off whatever changelings they found and kicking the flanks off them. "Um, have any of you guys looked out the windows, well, what's left of the windows yet?" Pinkie Pie asked, her worried voice coming from a spare room across the hall. Six other ponies arrived in the room and looked out the broken windows. Equestria was in total destruction. Houses were burning, giant splits in the earth running across the country. The bodies of ponies lay scattered along the streets. From what they could see, nothing was good. Ponyville in the distance, along with other towns and cities, fared no better than Canterlot. "Have you looked down?" Applejack asked, dry mouthed. The Canterlot Castle was demolished, bottom floors crushed beneath the top floors. The gardens were no more, just trampled bushes and powdered statues. "Oh my," Rarity breathed, the carnage horrible to behold. "The sky is so. . black," Fluttershy whispered, cowering beneath Rainbow's belly. "This is horrible," Twilight murmured. Millions of changeling drones buzzed through the skies, searching for more victims and patrolling the Canterlot Castle, in case any moron decided to stand up to the Queen. "We need to find Discord," the Doctor announced solemnly, face dark. He turned away from the window and went into the halls again to look through more rooms. The search continued, all the way to the bottom floors. Eventually, they found what they were looking for. Applejack pushed the broken door open further, its hinges so loose that once she did move it, the door clattered to the floor. The earth pony winced, folding an ear back, and stepped over the fallen door. Her green eyes glanced around the room warily. They eventually stopped on the still figure laying on the carpet in the center of the room, back to her. AJ froze, her breathing shallow. "F-Fluttershy! Ah think Ah found 'em," Applejack called softly. The timid pegasus stopped in her search and poked her head around the doorway. Her eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, Discord! I-" She stopped, pupils growing tiny. The limp figure on the ground didn't move at all. Not even once. "D-Discord?" Fluttershy took a small, almost nonexistent step forward. "Ah'll go get the others," Applejack said, the words barely heard by the pegasus's ears. Fluttershy stood frozen in the doorway, heart pounding. She began moving forward, inch by inch, and she soon found herself by the spirit's side. Her breathing labored, Fluttershy put a hoof on Discord's shoulder. Ice cold. Fluttershy's eyes teared up immediately, her heart skipping a beat. Fear made her remove her hoof from his body and set it back down at her side. "Discord, please. . please get up," Fluttershy pleaded quietly, dropping to the floor. She gasped as her belly fur was soaked at once. She looked at the carpet, which was red. She hadn't noticed all the blood, as the carpet was the same color. "Fluttershy! We heard that Discord was-" Twilight stopped as she saw the heart broken pegasus stooped by the spirit's still form, her stomach covered in a red substance. Fluttershy kept her eyes locked on Discord for a few more moments before slowly turning to look at the five ponies in the doorway. Tears ran down her face, eyes screaming 'why'. Her face was frozen in a looks of absolute horror and disbelief. "Fluttershy?" "Is he. .?" Pinkie Pie asked, voice high. Rarity locked eyes with the party pony, nodding slowly. Pinkie gaped in disbelief as she let Rarity hold her, tears falling down their faces. "Ah'm sorry, sugarcube," Applejack whispered, hat held to her chest. As the group fell into a lapse of silence, the Doctor finally got to the room they were at. He walked in, and knowing immediately what had happened, went up to the silently crying pegasus in the center of the room. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said, standing right beside her. "But-but. . he had just realized that having friends is good. He finally had a friend, and I let him down. I wasn't there for him," Fluttershy whispered, her voice no more than a breath. Tears rolled down her face in copious amounts, the true horror of the situation taking hold of the little pegasus. "T-Twilight, can't you do that spell, the one that starts somepony's heart?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovering above the group with her arms crossed. "It only works if the pony was in fairly good health when they died, and it would've had to be right afterwards. It only works for about three minutes after death, at the most. And besides, it takes too much energy to do it twice in one day," Twilight responded sadly, blinking slowly as she watched their friend cry in front of Discord's limp body. The Doctor watched this all go on. His face was dark, yet devoid of emotion. But he was in inner turmoil. What should he do? Yet, he knew what he should do. Even if it wasn't the wisest thing to do. The Doctor closed his eyes, and opened his mouth. A steady stream of regeneration energy poured out of his body and into the still God of Chaos. The ponies watched, eyes filled with tears, as the energy dissolved into Discord. Fluttershy was about to ask about it when Discord's back suddenly arched, and his eyes snapped open. He drew in a long, deep breath before falling back onto the bloody carpet. "DISCORD!" Fluttershy screamed, voice pitched up an octave, as she stood before the spirit. "Quick, I only gave him life, he'll die again if his injuries aren't tended to," the Doctor intervened before she could get too carried away. The next hour was filled with cries of agony and happy sobbing, (mostly from Fluttershy), as Discord's wounds were cleaned and bandaged. As the sprit was partially awake the whole time this was going on, it wasn't a very pleasant time for him. Discord, all in all, was in pretty bad shape. One of his wings was broken, and a few ribs were, too. Something sharp had obviously tried to cut him in half, as the three hundred stitches to seal the wound showed. That was the worst injury, the one that had made him bleed out on the carpet in the end. His deer antler was snapped off also. Cuts and bruises were scattered all over him, plus a black eye was an addition to the collection. "What. . what happened?" Discord mumbled, still half asleep. Fluttershy stroked his nose gently, a sad smile on her face. "Sshh. . . you need to rest. You're in pretty bad shape, sweetie," Fluttershy said softly. She sat next to him, content as he passed out. "What did you do? You. . saved him," Rainbow Dash said, voicing their thoughts. "Well, I just might've used the teeniest bit of regeneration energy to save him. I've seen too many people, and, um, ponies. . . or even weird dragon-pony things die today to let him just lay there in a pool of blood," the Doctor said, giving them a small smile. "Thank you. Thank you so much," Fluttershy said as she snuggled against Discord further. "You're welcome. Now, we better get back to the TARDIS. We still haven't figured out our problem about what to do with this whole changeling situation." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, my sweets, you feed on the Princesses while I go and take a nap. All this destruction sure makes one tired," Chrysalis told the changelings, yawning with a hole-filled hoof up to her mouth to stifle it. "Yes-" Sweetie Belle agreed, voice monotonous. "We will-" Apple Bloom added. "Feed on the Princesses," Scootaloo finished. Chrysalis purred in delight. "Good. Now, I'll be off." She exited the room, door closing behind her. "Stop this at once! I know you might be confused but you are not changelings! You are three, sweet little fillies who would never hurt a fly!" Celestia shouted as the transformed mares walked in sync towards the bound Princess. "Stop, we commandeth thou!" Luna snarled, wings once again flapping. "We-" "Will not-" "Stop," they said, talking in the same monotonous voices and order every time. "We were-" "Born-" "To kill." "No! You were not!" Celestia argued, trying to get the once-fillies to remember who they were. "She's right, you know," the Doctor said, voice plain. Five heads turned to look at him; three full of hate, and two full of shock and hope. "You weren't born to kill. You were born to live." He raised an eyebrow as the changelings hissed together. "And who-" "Just exactly-" "Are you?" The Time Lord gasped, feigning shock as he put a hoof to his hearts. "You really don't remember me? The mad man with a blue box? How strange. . " The Doctor jumped up on a cracked windowsill, kicking a clump of fallen marble. "We demand-" "To have-" "An answer!" "Oh, do you now?" he asked, looking up. He shrugged. "Nah, I don't think I'll tell you. And you know what? You remind me a lot of the Daleks. They're a lot like you; monotonous voice, demanding nature, no emotions-but hate-and you take your orders from another. You are soldiers; designed to receive orders." He clicked his tongue, his eyebrows raised. The changelings stayed still. "You wanna know what they called me in the ancient homeland of the Daleks?" A pause. "The Oncoming Storm." The Doctor grinned evilly. "And, oh, one more thing- "I read up a little on changelings while at the library. And I know they have really sensitive ears~" The Time Lord pulled his sonic screwdriver from his collar when he said that, and the ponies inside the police box flipped a switch, sending sound frequencies so high at the changelings that they toppled to the ground, shrieking and clawing at their ears in desperate attempts to block the sound. The Doctor cringed slightly and saw the Princesses do the same. He ran over and took a squirt bottle form his collar, spraying a liquid onto the goo restraining Celestia. She broke free as the goop dissolved almost at once. "How did you do that?" the Sun Princess asked, astonished. "You really think I would've left without getting a sample of what I'm dealing with?" The Doctor snorted and raced over to Luna, doing the same to her. She gave a hard flap of her wings and soared over the two ponies. "Okay, follow me!" The TARDIS became visible and he threw open the doors. "We're getting inside a box?!" Celestia exclaimed. "Now, with all due respect, GET IN THE BOX!" Luna shrugged and then pulled her sister into the spacecraft, with the Doctor entering behind them, doors slamming shut.