//------------------------------// // The Shadows // Story: Doctor Whooves: Shadow Of A Ghost // by Scyphi //------------------------------// Rainbow found Flitter back in the library’s lobby, wings clenched tightly to her sides, her forehooves wrapped around herself, shivering, and nervously rubbing her shoulders in something of a panic. Worried, Rainbow approached her. “Flitter, are you all right?” she asked. “No!” Flitter declared, her eyes wide and her pupils small. “No, I’m not all right! How can I possibly be all right after hearing…hearing…that?!” “Well, you asked!” Rainbow pointed out. “You’re the one that wanted to know more about him!” “Yes, but I didn’t think…” Flitter began rapidly, but quickly trailed off again. “I mean…I had thought…really, I just…I…I don’t think I can…” She shuddered and gave up trying to say it. It was clear she wasn’t taking it well. “How are you staying so calm?” Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t know, I just am,” she replied. “But how?” Flitter asked again. “Rainbow, that stallion pretty much just claimed he’s an alien!” “Yeah,” Rainbow confirmed, and then shrugged again. “So?” “So? YOU JUST DON’T MEET ALIENS IN NORMAL LIFE, RAINBOW!” “I know.” “And you’re just okay with that?” “Well…” Rainbow thought about it for a moment. “…yeah.” Flitter just stared incredulously at the other pegasus. “Well, looking back, it’s not like it wasn’t already obvious!” Rainbow argued. “I mean, think about it! A weird box we’ve never seen the likes of before comes flying in and drops right out of the sky, and then the Doc climbs out and makes all of these claims about things like regeneration and planets and extractor fans and voids and talking to trees, to say nothing about his total lack of knowledge about pony society! When you think about it, how does all of that not spell alien? Because who the hay else would all of that even apply to?” Flitter just stared harder at Rainbow. So Rainbow stared back. “I think we all suspected it from the beginning,” she concluded. “We just didn’t want to admit it.” Flitter frowned. “Maybe,” she confessed. “But there might be a good reason for that, don’t you think?” “Well, at least he seems to be one of the good kind of aliens,” Rainbow pointed out. “Really, he seems like he’s safe to be around. I mean, other than messing up Twilight’s library, he hasn’t really done anything wrong, right? And he hasn’t harmed anypony either, so…” she shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I am okay with him being around.” She folded her hooves and looked sternly at Flitter. “You got a problem with that?” Flitter narrowed her own eyes back at Rainbow. “Like hay I do!” she snapped, but then turned away and walked off. “But I can see you aren’t going to listen to me, so I’ll just leave you to it, whatever the consequences of that might be.” “And where are you going?” Rainbow asked. “Rainbow, it’s late, I’m tired, and I just can’t handle any more of this…this…craziness tonight!” Flitter replied, stopping at the library’s front door. “I just want to go home, crawl into bed, and forget any of this happened.” Her face turned a little distressed. “I’m just…not prepared for this.” Rainbow’s expression softened a little. “Okay,” she said, nodding in understanding. “Go on and go then. Me and Spike will handle it from here, I guess.” Flitter nodded. “Okay,” she said, and proceeded to jerk on the door a few times to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. Finally, remembering it had been locked for the night, she unlocked it, opened it, and after giving Rainbow one parting glance, quietly left. Once outside, she stared at the door for a few moments then glanced up at the library’s green canopy where she knew the mysterious box still lay. The smoke having all faded away finally, though, it was hard to see it from here. Thinking that for the better, though, Flitter turned away from the library, took in a deep breath to clear her mind, and then started off, suddenly anxious to be home again. She trotted off for a few feet then started flapping her wings, taking to the air, hovering low in the air. She did not look back. If she had, she would’ve undeniably noticed the shadowy shape hanging nearby, watching her… Rainbow returned to the kitchen to find Spike gleefully pressing his ear to the Doctor’s chest, who calmly watched the little dragon with amusement. “Uh…” Rainbow began, unsure what to make of this sight. “That is unreal!” Spike exclaimed suddenly, pulling away excited and grinning broadly. He noticed Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, check this out! He’s literally got two hearts, just like he said!” Rainbow looked at the Doctor in surprise. “For real?” she asked. “Would you care to listen too, Miss Dash?” the Doctor offered, looking like he was just amused by it all. Rainbow hesitated a second but then nodded, and gingerly approached the Doctor. Gently she put her ear to his chest, listening. Sure enough, she could make out not one, but two heartbeats. Awestruck, she looked up at the Doctor, who was watching her with a bit of a smug look on his face. Rainbow felt a grin tugging on her cheeks again. “Oh sweet Celestia,” she breathed, pulling away and putting her hooves to her temples, just barely containing her excitement. “You have two hearts!” “Yep,” the Doctor replied with a grin of his own. “Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigooooosh!” Rainbow squealed in excitement. “I know, right?!” Spike declared, just as excited. “I mean, I always wondered if aliens existed, read plenty of books discussing the possibility of them, heard Twilight speculate for hours over their existence, but to actually meet one…!” The Doctor laughed. “You two are certainly among the more…enthusiastic…of acquaintances I’ve met,” he noted, nibbling on some of the remaining food he hadn’t eaten yet. “Oh, how can we not be a little excited?” Rainbow declared. “You’re from another world!” “Better than that, I’m from whole other universe, as I mentioned earlier,” the Doctor stated calmly, chewing on a hay fry. “A bit unlike yours as it seems to favor a different form of species shape than ponies, but…good all the same.” Now Rainbow had a big grin like Spike’s on her face as well. “You were serious about that? Ha! Oh! And that box thing! Is that like…your spaceship?” “Yep.” “And you go about traveling from planet to planet?” “Usually.” “What sort of planets?” “Oh, all sorts! We’d be here for days if I tried to tell you all there is out there to see!” “Are they all absolutely amazing?” “Every last one of them.” Rainbow let out barely contained girly scream. “That is so awesome!” The Doctor grinned as he finished off the last of the food. “I knew there was a reason I liked you, Miss Dash,” he commented. “Always like to meet someone with an eye for the amazing.” “Oh, I’d love to see some of those amazing things!” Rainbow agreed immediately. The Doctor paused for a moment, looking like he was struck by a thought. His grin faded. “Yeah,” he said softly. “I’d bet. Hmm.” He went quiet for a moment, and, a little puzzled by his sudden change in attitude, Spike and Rainbow went quiet too as they turned to look at him. This was interrupted suddenly when there was a sudden rumble from somewhere far off, causing them to all turn in the direction of the sound. Whatever it was, it made the library rattle slightly for the smallest of moments. They exchanged glances. “What was that?” Spike asked, suddenly looking worried. “I heard something like that just before I saw your box fall from the sky, Doc,” Rainbow said, looking at the Doctor. “It wasn’t the TARDIS,” he stated immediately. “Then…what was it?” Spike asked, also looking to the Doctor. The Doctor frowned, tapping his chin with one hoof. “That’s what I’d like to know,” he said, and reached one hoof into his jacket. He shuffled around with something inside it for a few moments, looking like he was trying to grab something. “C’mon,” he murmured, frown increasing as he struggled. “Would you get out of there already?” Finally, he managed to pull a metal rod-like device from his jacket, his fetlock curled around it in an attempt to hold it in place as he tried to work it with his other hoof. He only succeeded in dropping it on the floor. “RRR!” he growled. “How do you ponies hold things with these flipping hooves?” “Here, I’ll get it,” Spike offered, bending down and grabbing the rod with his claws. He held it out for the Doctor to take. Grateful, the Doctor at first attempted again to take it with his hooves, but after tentatively trying to work out an arrangement that would work for his purposes and failing, he got a different idea and grabbed it with his mouth. “Ha!” he cried as he gripped the rod with his teeth. “That thouldth fthork!” “What?” Rainbow repeated, not understanding what he was saying through the rod. The Doctor didn’t respond, and instead worked the rod with his mouth for a moment. After a couple tries, he finally managed to get its end to light up and make a buzzing noise. “AH HA!” he cried around the rod, and proceeded to wave it around the room for a few moments, to the mystification of Spike and Rainbow. That done, he then shifted his teeth so to prop up the end of the device into his line of sight so to stare, cross-eyed, at it. “Yeth, thith wthill fthork nithly!” Holding the buzzing rod in his mouth, he then marched on out of the kitchen, waving it around as he went. Rainbow and Spike exchanged glances, and then followed. “So…what are you doing now, Doc?” Rainbow asked as they watched the stallion begin to maneuver around the library’s lobby, waving the rod at things while periodically stopping to examine the device. “I’mfh thanning thor lifthformth, Mifhth Dathh,” the Doctor attempted to respond casually. Rainbow rolled her eyes in frustration. “Can’t understand you when you have that metal rod thing in your mouth, Doc,” she stated, exasperated. The Doctor stopped what he was doing so to spit the rod into his hoof for a moment. “Sonic screwdriver,” he corrected then added, “and I said I’m scanning for lifeforms.” “Lifeforms?” Spike repeated as the Doctor resumed using the device. “What are lifeforms?” The Doctor sighed and spat out the device again so he could talk. “Organisms, animals, basically anything living. But I’ve got the sonic attuned to look for lifeforms on a specific range of existence.” He resumed scanning. “Why?” Rainbow asked. The Doctor hung his head in frustration then spat out the screwdriver for a third time. “Call it a hunch,” he replied. “Now, not to be rude, but do you two have anything else to ask before I put the screwdriver back in my mouth so I can continue with this scan?” “Do you have to use your mouth?” Rainbow asked. “Well, I can’t very well use my newfound hooves, now can I? We wouldn’t have this problem in my universe, because back there, I actually had fingers.” Rainbow attempted to picture the stallion with fingers instead of hooves, and had to fight the urge to giggle at the result. “Hey, maybe I can do it for you!” Spike suddenly offered, holding up his hands. “See, I have claws—I mean fingers! Just tell me what to do!” The Doctor considered the idea for a moment then nodded. “Better than the mouth arrangement, I suppose,” he confessed as he handed the rod to the little dragon. “Probably more sanitary anyway. Now, I’ve already got the sonic on the right settings, so all you need to do is press that little button and point the little light at things. I’ll tell you what.” Spike fiddled with the device for a moment, and soon got it working. After striking a dramatic pose with it briefly, he started waving it around where the Doctor indicated, slowly working around the lobby. They stopped periodically so the Doctor could examine device, presumably to check whatever it was reading somehow, but apparently he wasn’t finding what he was looking for, because the search continued on. “So what happens if we find one of these lifeforms anyway?” Rainbow asked, still not sure how this connected with anything. “Depends on what I find, Miss Dash,” the Doctor responded. He was quiet a moment, and then turned to her suddenly. “Miss Dash, may I ask you a few questions?” Rainbow was momentarily taken aback, but she nodded. “Uh, sure. What do you want to ask?” “Well…what’s your life like up until now?” The Doctor seemed genuinely curious. Rainbow thought for a moment. “Uh, well,” she began, “I like to fly, been trying to get into the Wonderbolts—they’re a team of Equestria’s best performer pegasi, uh, and I work on Ponyville’s weather team.” “Ponyville…is that where I am?” “Yeah, the town you’re in is called Ponyville, why?” “Oh, nothing, just not as creative a name as I would’ve expected…but continue, Miss Dash.” “Well…the only other thing I can think of is that when I’m not doing all of that, I’m usually hanging out with my friends.” “Are these them?” The Doctor pointed to a picture that hung on a shelf. Rainbow came over to look, and nodded. “Yep,” she said, and pointed at the ponies with her hoof. “There’s me, then there’s Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and that’s Twilight Sparkle.” “Twilight…she’s the one who owns this library, right?” “Right, and she’s out visiting Fluttershy right now.” “And you’re content with your life? So if you kept on living the way you’ve been…you’d probably be satisfied with that?” “Probably, I guess…never really thought about it.” Rainbow frowned. “Why are you asking me all of this?” The Doctor didn’t answer. “Find anything yet, Mister Spike?” he asked, turning his attention to the dragon. “Uh, you tell me,” Spike answered, holding up the sonic screwdriver so the stallion could see. The Doctor glanced at it then frowned. “Let’s point it over there for a little bit,” he said, pointing with one hoof. As he watched Spike obey, he sighed. “If I’m going to be stuck as a pony for a while, I’m just going to have to come up with a better way to do this.” He shook his head. “Anyway, what about Miss Futter Miss Dash? She your friend too?” “Flitter?” Rainbow repeated. “Well, sorta. I mean, we’re both on the weather team, and she’s my neighbor, so we see each other fairly often I guess, but other than that…” The Doctor glanced around, noticing for the first time that Flitter wasn’t around anymore. “Where did Miss Fleeter go anyway?” “Oh, well, she decided to go home,” Rainbow explained a little apologetically. “She…couldn’t handle all of this.” “Ah,” the Doctor replied, like he expected this. “I thought as much. In my line of work, Miss Dash, Mister Spike, you come to see pretty quickly who can handle your presence, and who can’t. I tend to prefer to not associate with those who can’t. I don't mean to be rude, of course, but it saves time, basically. Fortunately, you and Spike are not that kind of people.” He shot a grin in their directions, which they happily returned, taking it as a compliment. “Now, about Ponyville…you happy here?” “Well, I’m still relatively new around here,” Spike admitted as he continued to wave the screwdriver around the lobby, getting closer to the front door as he went. “But yeah, I like Ponyville.” “Ponyville’s a very friendly place,” Rainbow explained. “Lots of ponies to make friends with. Sometimes things get a little…” Rainbow stopped to look for the right word. “…intense around here, but usually things are quiet and peaceful.” “So basically, you both like it here.” “Yeah.” The Doctor winced a little at this, gazing off into the distance as he thought. “Good,” he muttered, but the way he said it implied there was an unspoken reason why this was so. Rainbow frowned, and as going to ask what he meant by that, but never got the chance to, as the sonic screwdriver started to make a trilling noise in Spike’s claws, like it was trying to get their attention. “Uh, Doctor?” Spike called out, holding up the screwdriver. The Doctor hurried over and glanced at it. He grimaced. “Uh-oh,” he muttered. “I was afraid of that.” Rainbow came over to look at the screwdriver, but she wasn’t sure what it was the Doctor was looking at on it. “Afraid of what?” she asked. “Miss Dash, where was Miss Flitter heading off to again?” “Back to her place, why?” The answer came from a sudden scream that was heard outside. They all turned to look in the direction of the sound in alarm. Spike turned pale. “That was Flitter, wasn’t it?” he gasped. “C’mon you two, let’s get a move on,” the Doctor announced determinedly, opening the door and hurrying out into the dark street beyond. Spike and Rainbow hurried after him. “What’s going on, Doctor?” Rainbow asked. “I’m afraid Ponyville just got a little less peaceful,” the Doctor responded.