“I don’t want to go.” Just as the Time Lord found himself saying the words, his body was wracked with pain, and his body burst forth with the golden energies of the time vortex. The energy began tearing apart the earth pony’s body, simultaneously destroying his old cells as well as creating new ones. He let forth a scream as his body was wracked with seizures; this was the death of a Time Lord.
The once brown earth pony began to change under the golden light, and the TARDIS clearly did not appreciate the explosive energy poring forth from the Time Lord’s body. Sparks flew from the console as the inside walls took the brunt of the damage. One of the larger supports gave a shudder and fell over as the TARDIS heaved to one side.
As the seizures finally stopped the golden light faded from the now tan pony’s body. Leaving him breathless, and his mane a mess. His blue eyes wide from the recent pain he looked around his broken and burning TARDIS, taking in quickly what his eyes could see. “Right okay legs still got four good legs, and hooves can’t forget those, and teeth yes I still have all of those, and I’m a unicorn!” he reached up with his front hooves to feel his head not coming across a horn of any description, and he shook his head. “Okay not so much, but” Feeling a new set of appendages on his sides he stretched them out. “Okay Pegasus that’s new going to have to learn to fly then at some point, but there is something else something I am forgetting come on now what is it.”
Just then the TARDIS, which was still on fire let loose another round of sparks and gave a violent shudder. “That’s right, I'm crashing!” He yelled, rushing to the console and stomping on the controls. He took in a deep breath before screaming “Geronimo!”
**
Dr Whooves
Starring:
The Doctor
Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash
Pinkamena Diane Pie
Applejack
Fluttershy
Rarity
Spike
In
The Hour of Twilight
**
It was the hour of midnight, and all of Ponyville was asleep save for the nocturnal animals of the forest. Soon however the silence of the night was ended suddenly by a large metallic screech, as a ball of smoke and fire descended rapidly from the sky. A moment later the ball of fire crashed shaking the ground of Equestria. The dirt and smoke smothered the majority of the fire, leaving the twisted wreckage of a large metal ship; alien against the green of an unfamiliar forest.
**
In Ponyvile, it was a quiet night. The tranquil library where Twilight Sparkle had made her home was always quiet at this late hour. Spike had finished his chores and gone to sleep with the setting sun, and now Twilight was the only person left awake. She stood at a window, reading a book by moonlight, she sighed. At this time of night there should have only been the sounds of crickets, and Twilight yawned listening for the familiar chirps of the insects. She had gotten used to life out in the small area of Ponyville. Coming from the larger city of Canterlot she had never actually had the opportunity to grow up with such sounds.
Twilight rested her book and walked away from the table. Tomorrow she would be meeting up with Rainbow Dash who apparently had some new trick that she wanted to show off. It was bound to be impressive and Twilight had to admit that she was curious. She yawned and stretched slightly as she walked into her room, ready to catch some much needed shut eye. Twilight smiled seeing Spike curled up into his bed, and then got into her bed closing her eyes and drifting off.
Twilight had slept for maybe three hours before an ear splitting roar woke her and Spike up. “What was that!” Spike yelled jumping up from his bed, only to be thrown straight out of it when the entire earth shook with a thunderous crash.
Twilight was sent scrambling from her bed moving out of her room, and sighed taking a quick note of the fact that the library was now a mess with books scattered everywhere. What ever had caused that crash had been big, there was no doubt, and as she walked outside, her eyes drifted to the Everfree Forest. A large plume of smoke was rising from the forest, which Twilight could gather was the obvious crash site.
Spike looked at Twilight. “What happened?” he asked absently mindedly.
“It’s a Meteorite, Spike. I have read of them, but I never actually thought I would see one fall in Equestria and so close.” Twilight’s eyes were burning with curiosity. She wanted to check it out.
“Spike, send a letter telling the princess about this. She will defiantly want to know about it.” Twilight said with a commanding voice, never taking her eyes off the plume of smoke, curiosity eating away at her. She had only ever read about such an event happening in Equestria; to take a look at the meteorite would be a once in a life time opportunity.
“Right.” Spike said, giving his affirmative and then he was off, back into the library to find a quill and paper.
**
“Twilight!” The cry came out from above, diverting the purple unicorn’s attention from the smoking forest, to the blue pegasus with a rainbow mane that was now quickly approaching the library.
“Rainbow, I’m glad to see you--I was just thinking that we should gather the girls.” Twilight said as her friend landed on the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
“I thought so! That’s why I came here to find you, did you by any chance actually see what that was?” Rainbow was excited as she spoke.
Twilight shook her head “No, I didn’t. I woke up during the event, and wasn’t fast enough getting outside, did you?”
Rainbow Dash nodded her head “Almost hit my house! It was huge, Twilight! Like nothing I'd ever seen before, giant and burning. I was going to head straight to Fluttershy’s, considering how scared she would probably be right now, but then I thought that you would have a better understanding of what’s going on.”
Twilight nodded, suddenly thinking of the shy and scared Fluttershy, probably cowering in a corner of her house. “Right, well I think it was a meteorite, and I am having Spike send a letter to Celestia. As soon as he’s done, I'll head straight to Fluttershy’s. Can you gather the girls for me? I want to get a look at what ever fell; if it is a meteorite, this is a once in a life time opportunity to study it!”
Rainbow dash gave a quick salute. “Can do.” and then she went off flying at break neck speed towards the other pony’s houses.
**
In a back alley of Ponyville, a small blue police Box faded slowly into existence with a sound that was best described as a blender gasping for breath. It faded in three times, each time staying for a few seconds longer, and the screeching noise matching the length before finally staying fixed in its spot, but unfortunately it was on its side. The doors swung open as a tan Pegasus pony, soaked to the bone climbed from the box. “I have got to move that pool.” He said, giving himself a shake down trying to get the wetness off his body.
The Doctor turned to his TARDIS. For the moment he could set it to self repair, but it was still on its side, and as much as he wanted to move it, the TARDIS had taken the brunt of the burns from his regeneration: It’s engines would shut down if no one was in the Control Room, and it could take that time to charge up and repair itself “Rest easy for a moment old girl.” He said, gathering his thoughts and then heading out to check the surroundings.
It was nighttime but it seemed like the whole town was awake. Many of them were looking off to the distance. A rather large plume of smoke was coming from the nearby forest, and many of the people nearby were looking around speechless. The Doctor walked up to one of the locals. He could already gather that she had clearly seen what was going on. “Whoa, did you see that? What was it?”
The local was a white unicorn mare with a purple mane, she was wearing a pink bathrobe and slippers. Her hair was kept orderly, but it was clear that she had just been woken up. She turned to the Pegasus, her eyes still wide. “I have no idea. But it was quite the spectacle. It was like a giant ball of fire just crashed into the Everfree Forest.”
The Doctor nodded his head. That explained the local’s current state, and also the giant pillar of smoke, but what was it that had crashed? And why did it crash? The Doctor didn’t want to rule out the chance that it was just a meteorite, but he was never one too just go with the simplest solution--he would have to investigate this.
“Rarity!” A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane flew in, hovering over the two other ponies.
“Rainbow! What brings you here at this unnatural hour?” Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and pointed to the pillar of smoke. Rarity followed the reply with. “Oh, right.”
Rainbow Dash continued to float in place as her wings fluttered impatiently. “Listen up, Rarity, we have got to go. Twilight wants us all to meet up at Fluttershy’s so we can go and investigate the crash, she’s calling it a once in a life time opportunity.”
Rarity’s face turned to a look of dejected disgust “She wants me to get covered in mud going through that dreadful forest?”
Rainbow shot Rarity a look before Rarity rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going. Just that I am not happy about it.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. Rarity was never happy about something that could end up getting her hooves dirty, but she was a good friend. “Great. I still have to go tell the others so I'll let you go get ready.”
The Doctor gave a cough. He had remained quiet, listening to the ponies as they had talked about going to the crash site. “I was actually just thinking of checking out the crash site myself, do you think I could tag along?”
Rainbow Dash was suddenly a lot closer, glaring into the eyes of the tan pegasus colt. “And who are you?! As weather manager I know every Pegasus in Ponyvile and I’ve never… wait I have seen you before. You were one of the Pegasus in the young fliers competition in Cloudsdale.”
The Doctor backed up, slightly unsure why he would have ever participated in such an event. The simple answer to that was that it probably hadn’t happened for him yet. “Sorry, just a traveler passing through, saw your meteorite, thought I'd stick around. Call me the Doctor.”
“What kind of name is that? And a traveler from where exactly?” Rainbow said staring at the tan colt, her eyes narrow and accusing.
“Well personally I think it’s a rather good name, and I can’t really blame my parents for giving it to me you know, and I am from up north.” The Doctor shrugged defensively
Rainbow snorted, “What ever. I need to gather the others.” She said, turning away and flying off. Leaving the Doctor alone with Rarity.
The Doctor turned to Rarity. “Right then take me to your leader.”
As the Doctor cracked the joke, Rarity flicked her tail “I need to get ready if I’m to be going into that forest.”
**
Twilight approached Fluttershy’s home in time to see the door swing open and several animals run out of the home, a frazzled Fluttershy running out into the door way. “No wait, please come back!”
On examination Fluttershy seemed frazzled; her mane was messy and her body was shaking. “Oh no.” she said in a panicked tone.
Twilight ran up to the yellow pegasus “Fluttershy are you okay?”
Fluttershy looked at Twilight, relieved to see a friendly face. “Oh Twilight, its so good to see you right now. With that noise and then that awful crash I was so scared, and then the animals--I’ve just never seen anything like it. It’s like they all just wanted to leave. And no matter what I tried I just couldn’t stop them.”
Twilight looked at her friend and did her best to console her, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s okay Fluttershy. They are probably just scared, the crash was probably a little too much for them to handle. I am sure they will come back.”
Fluttershy nodded but she seemed offended, the animals were her friends and they had all deserted her.
“Can I come in Fluttershy? Er... You look like you could use a cup of tea.”
Fluttershy nodded and the two headed into the small now silent cottage. A few moments later, they were sitting with a cup of tea each. Fluttershy was still shaking, but for the most part, everything was quiet.
“Listen, Fluttershy, I need your help.” Twilight said at last.
Fluttershy gave a slight nod. “W-what f-for?”
“The crash that shook your house and scared away your animals, it was a meteorite and I want to investigate it, but it fell into the Everfree Forest, and I can’t go alone, I asked Rainbow Dash to gather the others, and I`ll need you too.”
“Y-you w-want to go now?” Fluttershy said very timidly. “Y-you can’t wait till morning when its light out?” Fluttershy felt a new shiver crawl up her spine. She lived close to the forest, and found the animals comforting, but to actually go into the forest during the night was something else entirely.
“This is a rare, once in a life time opportunity. I can’t sleep without knowing what it is, and what it looks like.” Twilight spoke, her eyes wide with excitement. Already her scientific mind was taking over, wanting to drag the rock back to her labs so it could be studied for weeks on end.
Fluttershy gave a nod, feeling her fear but also her need to be kind to her friend and help her in this endeavor. “Of course Twilight. I`ll come with you.”
The two ponies had enough time to finish their tea before they heard a knock on the door. Twilight went to open it, and when she did she found herself face to face with Pinkie Pie, who practically bounced around the room. “Oh my gosh Twilight have you seen what’s going on outside? Well of course you have or I wouldn’t be here! But half the town is up arms trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Spike put his hand over the Pink Pony’s mouth. “Easy Pinkie we know.” the dragon said before turning back to the others at the door.
Rainbow Dash hovered around the room. “I got Pinkie Pie and Applejack, but Rarity wanted to get ready.” She said, giving a quick salute.
Twilight smiled “Okay that’s good. That she means she won’t be much longer.”
Twilight’s prediction was proven correct as Rarity approached the cottage. Her mane was now clean and styled; she wore boots and an exploration vest as well as a camouflage green hat.
What Twilight didn’t predict was that Rarity was being followed. A tan pegasus colt trotted along side the white unicorn. Twilight didn’t recognize the male pony and wanted to ask who he was and why he followed Rarity, but before she could the pegasus spoke.
“Hello everyone. I’m the Doctor.”
**
It was now the starting hour of twilight, those precious moments where it was still night, but the sun’s light was starting to cast out the stars. The team of now seven ponies and one small dragon now stood on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Twilight had tried to convince the Doctor to leave the group alone, and that this was a job for the team of six ponies that she was used to, but the Doctor had insisted on coming with them for the expedition. Twilight cleared her throat before she spoke to address everypony in the group. “Okay everyone stay together. This forest is an unnatural place and I don’t want anypony getting lost.”
Everypony nodded as they started heading into the forest. Not so long ago, the six ponies had traveled into the ancient forest to claim the elements of harmony. That day Twilight had learned how valuable each of her friends were, and together they had banished Nightmare Moon, but this time Twilight hoped that things would be so much simpler then that. All she wanted was to study the meteorite that had crashed down into the forest, and then go back home; taking some samples with her of course.
Walking into the forest the Doctor stopped, suddenly turning away from the rest of the group as he found something on the ground. A hoof print buried deep into the forest ground, and inside the hoof print a small shard of metal, probably broken off from a larger object. Lifting up one wing he reveled a small metal cylinder with a leather strap around it and a light bulb at the top. Gripping it in his mouth and, giving it a flick, the cylinder extended by a couple of centimeters before the light bulb came on, giving out a small whistling sound. “Well now that’s interesting.” The Doctor said as he looked at the results of his scan.
“What in tarnation are you doing back there? Twilight said not to get separated.” Applejack called back to the lagging Doctor, turning in time to see the small device get put back under the Pegasus pony’s wing. “And what was that there device you just had?”
The Doctor smiled. Clearly caught, he revealed the small metal device. “It’s a Sonic Screwdriver.”
Applejack blinked blankly. “Sonic-what’s-it? What ever; when you’re done with all the whistling, get back with the group.” She said before turning and trotting to catch up with the others.
The Doctor nodded as he watched Applejack leave. Turning back to the hoof print he had found; the scrap of metal had told him all he needed to know when he scanned it, and it told him that there was trouble around the bend. The ponies were not alone in this forest.
**
Twilight turned back to count heads. She still counted six ponies and one dragon, but something just didn’t feel right. “Okay, everypony, listen up. We are not that far from the crash site, but I want to check up on Zecora before we actually go to the site. She’s a good friend and her home isn’t too far from where we are now.”
Everypony in the group gave a short affirmative nod after listening to the idea, and Twilight turned onto the dirt road that lead towards the zebra’s home. Something about the Everfree Forest felt wrong, but it was Fluttershy who had truly noticed why. “Where are all the animals? Even in the Everfree Forest you should be able to hear birds but… it’s just so silent.”
Twilight hadn’t given it any thought, but now that she did, she knew that Fluttershy was right. It told her that her feeling of unease was well founded, but it was Pinky Pie who spoke up in an answer that put Twilight`s mind at rest. “Well duh they were scared off by the loud bang! I mean who wouldn’t be? We all heard how loud the crash was, silly.”
Twilight nodded. That seemed logical; the large noise must have forced them all away. Twilight gave her vote of confidence to the idea. “Yeah that’s probably it, and they are probably waiting `till all that smoke clears before they come back.”
The Doctor was the only pony not reassured by the idea. Instead he kept his focus on the area around him, his eyes hard locked onto the soil trying to find any more evidence of what he had found on the previous trail. “It could be that, or they could just know that it’s not safe here anymore.” He muttered in a low voice.
When the group arrived at Zecora’s home, what they found was not what they expected. The door had been torn off its hinges, and the house looked ransacked. The windows were shattered and as they entered the home, the inside was no better then the outside. Twilight called out to her friend. “Zecora? Are you in here?”
There was no answer from the abandoned home and the group of ponies entered cautiously. It was Spike who spoke this time, keeping his tone low. “What do you think did this?”
Twilight had no idea, and they looked around the ruined home. The many herbs that Zecora kept in her possession were scattered about, and the masks from her homeland; precious though they were to her, were broken on the ground. “It looks like there was a fight.” Twilight said at last.
“But who won?” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the destroyed hut. She went to check one of the back rooms and that was when something moved.
The pony that walked out from the back room was clad in steel from head to hoof, and the armor that it wore even covered its face. At least, that’s what it looked like to Twilight. Its eyes were black holes in the armor that seemed to have only the purpose of sight. It looked like an earth pony if an earth pony was made from metal. “New life detected. You will all be upgraded.”