Pinkie Who

by sparkypchu


Chapter 5: Nightmare Moon

Did this plasma really refer to itself as Nightmare Moon? This can't be right. Nightmare Moon was just Princess Luna driven mad, right? Right?

"That's impossible" said the Doctor "Princess Luna is safe in Canterlot."

"Yeah, plus we destroyed Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony." added the Baker.

Nightmare Moon laughed.

"Fools. Do you honestly think that Nightmare Moon was just Luna going mad?"

Well, yes actually.

The lights dimmed and a panel opened on Nightmare Moon's platform to reveal a projector. An image was displayed on the far wall. This image was of a rather sad looking pony in a dark room.

"I am the one that lives in the edges of a pony's mind. Causing terrible nightmares based on their own self doubt. I feed on this lack of self confidence. It's what lets me in."

Behind the pony in the image appeared a pair of cat-like cyan eyes. The image was gone and was replaced by a picture of a younger Celestia and Luna on a balcony. Celestia was at the center of the balcony and looked generally pleased. Luna was in the shadows and had a look of sadness.

"And who better to feed on than dear Princess Luna? Luna, who was ignored by her subjects in favor of Celestia's Sun. Luna, who was ignored by her own sister. Luna-"

"Who felt she would never be loved as much as her sister." said The Baker.

"Precisely." Replied Nightmare Moon. "I began by just simply feeding on her self doubt. Cause a bad dream here, a sleepless day there. It was quite the feast, but it simply wasn't enough. I wanted more. I wanted power!"

The image changed to one of Luna yelling with all her might at Celestia. Luna had tears streaming down her face, Celestia seemed completely shocked.

"So I messed with Luna's emotions. Made her angry at Celestia. Planted the thought of overthrowing her sister in her broken mind. Unfortunately, Luna was too loyal to act on these thoughts. She still loved her sister too greatly. I couldn't stand it anymore. At this point I had been in Luna's head long enough that I knew my way around."

The projector turned off and the lights brightened.

"But why tell you, when I can show you."

Suddenly the Doctor felt light headed and unable to focus. It felt like someone was forcing his conscience self away from his senses. He tried as hard as he could to fight it but it was a losing battle. His field of vision went dark as he was sucked into nothingness.

***

When the Doctor awoke he was in what looked like the throne room of a castle. He stood up slowly expecting some sort of pain or stiffness from being passed out on a stone floor. He was met with nothing. He seemed to have no sense of feeling, yet it wasn't weird or awkward to move. In fact his only senses working were sight and sound. What was this?

He heard a groan from behind him. The Baker was on the ground, looking quite confused at her surroundings. The Doctor helped her on her hooves.

"That felt weird." said the Baker "Where are we? Why can't I feel the floor?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we can find someone to help us."

The Baker just stared in surprise.

"What?" asked the Doctor

The Doctor followed her gaze past him and found-

"Princess Luna!" The Doctor gasped.

The Doctor bowed in respect, the Baker followed his example.

"Princess," the Doctor began, still bowing. "We didn't mean to intrude. We were just lost and-"

"Not another step!" interrupted Luna.

The Doctor picked up his head and looked at Luna.

"Beg your pardon, your highness?" asked the Doctor.

The Doctor noticed that Luna wasn't addressing him. He turned to look behind himself and saw Princess Celestia across the room. She seemed displeased.

"Princess Celestia? Is there something wrong?" asked the Doctor.

"Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?" Luna asked Celestia.

"Precious light?" asked the Baker, more to herself than Luna.

Princess Luna walked up to a balcony.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria!" she shouted "And that princess...will be me!"

With that she smashed the front railing of the balcony which caused a crack to form on the wall behind her. This crack traveled up and destroyed a stained glass window when it reached it. Through the window the sun was clearly visible, but the moon seemed to rise quickly as it covered the sun. The resulting eclipse darkened the skies.

Luna was enveloped in a plasma similar to what was in the glass dome. Suddenly the Princess was inside a sphere of magical energy that seemed to spin insanely fast. When it was gone a different alicorn stood when Luna did. This was Nightmare Moon as the Doctor remembered her.

Nightmare Moon's laughter filled the room. She shot a blast of magic energy at a random place on the ceiling. Debris fell in front of the Doctor and Baker causing them to back closer to Celestia. Celestia looked down at the rubble and back to Nightmare Moon as she took a few steps out of the dust cloud the debris had caused. Celestia flew up towards the ceiling. Nightmare Moon took quick aim and fired a second magical blast at Celestia. The white alicorn quickly dodged the magic bolt as it blew a hole in the ceiling and she landed.

"No..." The Doctor said under his breath "This can't be right...unless...Ooooh."

The Baker stepped past the Doctor to try and address the Princess.

"Princess! It's me, Pinkie Pie! Stop this or we'll have to send you back to the moon for another thousand years! Princess! Please!"

At this point the Doctor walked up to the Baker and put a hoof on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him through tear-filled eyes. The Doctor just shook his head.

"Luna, I will not fight you!" shouted Celestia "You must lower the moon! It is your duty!"

"Luna? I am... Nightmare Moon!" shouted the former moon princess "I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!"

With that Nightmare Moon shot a blast of magical energy at Celestia who immediately took to the skies, flying through the hole in the ceiling.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked Nightmare Moon, following Celestia into the sky.

The Baker was still crying. She sat, facing where Celestia had stood but turned to face the Doctor.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked, clearly shaken by recent events. "How could Luna do this again?"

"If I had to guess," began the Doctor "This is probably the first time Luna became Nightmare Moon. I mean, think about it. Dalek-mare Moon back there said she was going to show us what happened. Next thing we know, we wake up and can't feel our legs. We are obviously looking at a scene from the past which is why no one has noticed us. We aren't actually here. Either that or they're extremely rude."

"So...Luna isn't becoming Nightmare Moon again?"

"No. Well, at least not now."

The Baker wiped her eyes and cleared her throat.

"I mean, I knew that. I was just testing you." The Baker obviously lied.

There were flashes of light as Nightmare Moon continued trying to attack Celestia.

"I don't know what we're supposed to do now. Neither of us have wings and the rest of the memory seems to be happening out there in the sky. It's times like these that I wish I had wings...or a horn....or ginger hair."

The Doctor was snapped out of his external thought process by a scream. It was Celestia. She fell through the hole in the roof, leaving a trail of smoke from the magical blast that hit her. She landed on the ground with a thud. Nightmare Moon's laughing could be heard from above.

"Princess Celestia!" screamed the Baker as she ran to the alicorn's side.

The Baker was looking over Celestia's body for wounds. The Doctor sat to the Baker's right.

"This can't be right." The Doctor said, "I've read the history. Celestia is supposed to win this battle with Nightmare Moon and banish her to the moon. This isn't where Celestia dies...it can't be."

Celestia stirred. Both the Doctor and Baker backed up as she got to her hooves.

"Oh, dear sister." Celestia said, "I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these."

Celestia used her magic to activate a floor panel which opened revealing a hole. Out of the hole came what resembled a model of the solar system made from stone. On the five "planet" pedestals stood gems that stood perfectly balanced on their end point. The gems were of varying colors but were the exact same shape. In the center stood the stone "Sun". Out of the sun came a purple gem surrounded in Celestia's magical aura. This gem was shaped like a six pointed star, like a sparkle. Something was familiar about those colors.

The Doctor then had a sudden flash of memory. The night when he had arrived and had gone to that castle with Derpy to help Nightmare Moon. There were already six ponies there. Each pony had a necklace with a colored gem. The history book he had read had called them the "Elements of Harmony." Was it possible that these gems were the Elements in a past time?

The gems began to vertically orbit Celestia as she flew off the ground. This spinning increased in speeds and became horizontal. The speeds had increased to an impossible degree as a burst of power came from Celestia. The Princess began to radiate rainbow light.

Celestia flew through the hole in the ceiling once more. The Doctor and Baker looked up through the hole at Celestia. She had stopped a short distance from Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon had stopped laughing and started to form an attack. The Elements of Harmony stopped spinning and formed a five pointed star in front of Celestia. The purple gem was in the center and was a bit further forward. The outside gems focused colored light on the purple gem. Nightmare Moon shot a beam of magical energy as Celestia shot a rainbow beam from the purple gem. The two beams met and fought. The rainbow beam overpowered Nightmare Moon's beam and eventually hit her.

"Nooooooo!" shouted Nightmare Moon as the rainbow beam sent her shooting towards the moon. As Nightmare Moon hit the moon a shadow formed in the shape of a unicorn on its surface.

***

The Doctor was thrust back into his senses so quickly he felt he might fall out of his eyes. They were back in the Dalek base, in Nightmare Moon's chamber. Besides a slight dizziness, the room and Doctor were perfectly the same as before.

"Whoa..." The Baker said, her eyes derping a bit.

She stumbled around before deciding sitting might be a better option. She knocked the side of her head a few times. Each time her eyes picked two random and opposite directions to point. After the fourth or fifth time she finally got them right.

"Enjoyed your little trip?" asked Nightmare Moon, seeming amused.

"How did you do that?" The Doctor asked, worried but curious.

"I make nightmares. You don't need to be asleep to have a dream. What makes a nightmare any different?"

"So you put us in a day dream and made us dream the memory?"

"Precisely."

"I must say, I didn't see that coming." The Doctor said, "That's pretty clever."

"Are you really complementing the Queen of the Daleks?" The Baker said, annoyed.

"Ahem." Nightmare Moon interrupted. "If I could continue my story."

The Doctor and Baker turned to face Nightmare Moon, but not before the Baker could roll her eyes.

"Good. Now I waited my thousand years on that rock. Planning my revenge while in exile. Celestia couldn't keep me there forever. Upon my return, I was banished from Princess Luna entirely by the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

The Baker just glared at Nightmare Moon.

"Without a powerful vessel to occupy I returned to the moon. I began trying to look for somepony else who I could use to try again. That's when I came upon the greatest mind in the universe. You, Doctor."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. The Baker had stopped her glaring and instead gave a puzzled look towards the Doctor.

"There's no way in the universe I would have let you get my mind." The Doctor said.

"I didn't take your mind." Nightmare Moon said "But I did cause some nightmares. And in these nightmares I saw something interesting. Daleks. Something that scares the great and powerful mind of the Doctor, that was something I needed."

"Wait," the Doctor said, "YOU created the Daleks in this dimension?"

"Well, more recreated them. All the original Daleks were lost in The Time War, but I think the Dalek Empire is due to rise again. I hope you don't mind if I changed their design a bit. I found it...funny...Pony Doctor fighting Pony Daleks."

Wait, did she know that he wasn't from this dimension?

"But enough about me. Let's hear you introduce yourself."

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time-"

"Oh hush Doctor." Nightmare Moon said "I was talking about her."

The Baker looked suddenly surprised as Nightmare Moon had addressed her specifically. The Doctor turned to look at her. He, too, had been curious as to her identity.

"I-I'm the Baker." She stuttered.

"You're a very bad liar." said Nightmare Moon. "Tell us the truth, Dinky Doo."

The Baker was utterly shocked. She had turned a few shades of pink lighter and her pupils shrank.

"That's right, Dinky. I know who you are. I cause your nightmares, I know your secrets and fears. So either you can tell the Doctor who you are or I'll tell him. Your choice."

The Doctor was staring with a raised eyebrow at the pony formally known as the Baker. Was the fact that she's Dinky important? He had never meet a Dinky. Granted he really hadn't been traveling in this dimension that long so it is possible he COULD meet a Dinky. He had met an Alonzo so anything was possible. The weird thing was that the name sounded extremely familiar but he couldn't figure out why.

"Fine," said the Baker, "My name is actually Dinky."

There was an extended pause.

"Continue," said Nightmare Moon.

"What more do you want from me!" shouted Dinky.

"There's more mystery to you than your name. Enlighten us. Surely you know your species or age."

Nightmare Moon seemed to be pushing Dinky to spill something.

Dinky sighed before speaking."Fine. I'm Dinky Doo. I'm a Time Lord. I'm not from the planet Gallopfrey and was born in a TARDIS. I'm 203 years and I'm a mare that just wants to see the home planet of her race. Happy?"

"Oh, Gallopfrey." said Nightmare Moon "The same planet destroyed by the Doctor. Yet you traveled with him and in fact sit calmly by his side."

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Dinky.

"This Doctor didn't destroy Gallopfrey. This Doctor is from a completely different dimension. Gallopfrey was destroyed by my Doctor...the Doctor of this dimension."

Her Doctor?

"And what is that Doctor to you?"

"He's...well I guess it doesn't matter anymore but he's my father. We traveled as a family long ago. Just him, my mom, and me. Until I found out he destroyed Gallopfrey. I couldn't believe it. How could he have been such a traitor to his own people? How could he have murdered everyone? I begged my mother to leave him but she didn't want to leave my father and kept asking me to calm down and talk. I couldn't stand to see him. I left and grew my own TARDIS from a piece of his."

What....what? So his dimensional counterpart had a child that left him after she learned of Gallopfrey. What are the odds that he would meet his dimensional doppelganger's daughter...or the odds he could say that five times fast?

"But," The Doctor spoke up "Why did you use the chameleon arch on yourself?"

"Well," Dinky began "I won't go into details but I kinda crashed my TARDIS outside of Ponyville while regenerating."

"Regenerating?" The Doctor asked "What were you before Pinkie?"

"I was a unicorn, even though neither of my parents were magic users. Something to do with the Artron energy and the magic of this universe affecting my mother while pregnant caused me to have a horn."

The Doctor looked really focused in thought for a moment or two and then shrugged. What did he know about how this dimension works?

"Anyway," Dinky said continuing her story, "My TARDIS was really broken something nasty. I set it to start repairing itself as I became a baker in Ponyville. I set my TARDIS's chameleon circuit to be a small toothless alligator so that I could keep an eye on it and always have it close. After a while I began to have mental breakdowns. I missed my mother terribly and even began to miss my father. Even if part of me hated him, he was still my dad. On top of that, I was grounded from all time and space until my TARDIS repaired itself. It all became too much. So I used the chameleon arch I stole from my dad's TARDIS. I became Pinkie Pie."

"What a heart wrenching story," Nightmare Moon said, her words dipped in sarcasm, "It's too bad that the other Doctor isn't in this dimension anymore."

Dinky let out a small "...what?"

"According to my Dalek researchers, when this Doctor came into this dimension it was too much for the dimension's stability. Like two Doctor's trying to squeeze into a space that can only fit one. This Doctor won and knocked the other Doctor into another dimension."

"So my dad is...is..."

Dinky's eyes began to fill with tears. The Doctor put his hooves around her, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he said.

"Too bad you left before talking to your father." Nightmare Moon said, evil joy hanging on every syllable. "You could have said goodbye by spitting at him."

Dinky was filled with an emotional fire. She broke from the Doctor's hug and began to gallop towards the Dalek queen. The Doctor reacted quickly, grabbing Dinky's tail in his mouth. Dinky was halted to a stop, shaking slightly from internal rage.

"Or he could have told you that he never destroyed Gallopfrey." Nightmare Moon said, pausing slightly before continuing. "He wasn't even in this dimension at the time."

Everything froze. The only movement was the plasma in the glass dome. It was as if the whole room had stopped to take this in. The Doctor dropped Dinky's tail.

"...what?" The Doctor and Dinky said in unison.

The Doctor and Dinky look at each other.

"What?" said the two.

The both looked at Nightmare Moon and utter a final "What?"

The lights switched to that of emergency lighting as an alarm began to go off. The Doctor got into an aggressive stance, eyes darting around. Dinky had followed his lead but kept her eyes locked on Nightmare Moon. A speaker system seemed to come to life with the voice of a Dalek.

"DALEK SHIP PREPARATIONS COMPLETE. EVACUATING ALL DALEKS. BASE SELF DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE INITIATED. DESTRUCTION IN FIVE MINUTES."

"Ah," said Nightmare Moon, "My work would seem to be done here."

"What do you mean?!" shouted Dinky "What work?!"

"She's been distracting us," said the Doctor, standing up straight. "Keep us busy while the Daleks get ready then kill us with the self destruct."

"Clever colt," said Nightmare Moon. "Can't have you stopping the New Dalek Empire, can we? I really must be off, but before I go, one last thing. You might want to ask your father how he destroyed Gallifrey with the time you have left."

With that, the entire structure that was Nightmare Moon dissolved into blue light and was gone.

"Gallifrey?" Dinky said turning to the Doctor.

"My Gallopfrey." The Doctor replied closing his eyes.

"And you destroyed it?"

"Look." The Doctor said, turning to look directly into Dinky's eyes. "To answer your question, yes. But we have far more pressing matters right now. You can yell at me for the four minutes we have left or you can drop it and we can get out of here."

Dinky saw raw determination in those eyes. She nodded and they both ran to the door. The Doctor took out his Sonic Screwdriver and began to use it on the door.

"No use!" shouted the Doctor, still sonicing. "My Sonic isn't powerful enough."

Dinky took out a Sonic Screwdriver of her own and began to sonic the door. Her Screwdriver seemed more arcane in base, having a pink gem at the tip. The tip glowed with a pink aura. The Doctor glanced over and smirked.

'Atta Girl,' he thought.

The door opened and the two galloped down the halls at full speed. They reached the room where they had landed the TARDIS. The alarms were more concentrated in this room. On the screens showed a counter that showed they had less then three minutes remaining. The Doctor ran to the console and begun to sonic it.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Dinky

"Getting Derpy out of that cell!" The Doctor shouted in reply.

Suddenly Dinky's face was filled with fear. She quickly ran to the cell itself and began to sonic the electronic lock. After a few seconds, the lock beeped and the door swung open. The Doctor ran over to the cell and picked up Derpy on his back.

The two made a bee line for the TARDIS. Dinky got there first and opened the doors. The Doctor followed and closed the doors behind them. Dinky pulled a lever on the console and sent the TARDIS into motion. The sound of alarms was replaced with the sounds of the TARDIS traveling through the vortex.

The Doctor sighed in relief and walked down one of the TARDIS corridors with Derpy still on his back . Dinky continued to work on the console.

***

Dinky opened the door the Doctor had entered with Derpy. It was a bedroom, and on the bed was Derpy. She looked pale, her breaths seemed weak. The Doctor sat next to the bed watching Derpy.

"We've landed." Dinky said approaching the bed. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know." The Doctor said quietly. "I'm having the TARDIS scan her."

There was a pause. The Doctor just watched Derpy as if his staring might wake her up. Dinky stared at the floor and finally looked up at the Doctor.

"So..." Dinky said, "Something I never got to ask my father...you...is why?"

The Doctor turned his head towards Dinky. His eyes seemed empty and cold.

"Why what?" he asked.

"Why did you destroy Gallop- I mean Gallifrey?"

The Doctor looked forward and then slowly lowered his head.

"There was a war between the Time Lords and Daleks called-"

"The Time War." Dinky interrupted. "I read about it in a database."

The Doctor nodded ever so slightly.

"At one point I fought in it. I threw off the title of Doctor and became a warrior. Billions died. Whole races were wiped out in the crossfire." The Doctor paused for a moment before continuing. "The Time Lords wanted to use a weapon called the 'Ultimate Sanction' that would destroy the entire universe, leaving the Time Lords on a higher plane of consciousness."

The Doctor had turned his head to Dinky once more. His eyes were open and filled with tears.

"I couldn't let them." He continued. "The universe was filled with so many beautifully fantastic people of every species, gender, and intelligence. I had spent most of my lives seeing it and I loved it so."

The Doctor closed his eyes tight. Some tears managed to escape and fell down his face.

"I had to use a device called 'The Moment' to destroy both Gallifrey and the Daleks. To save the universe I had to kill all of Gallifrey. Every man, woman, and child gone. My family..."

With that the Doctor fell silent, head hung in deep sadness. Dinky hugged the Doctor from the side, putting her head on top of his.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm so sorry."

A moment had passed just like this. The Doctor broke the hug and exited the room. Dinky followed.

***

The Doctor stood at the console reading a wall of fast moving text. Dinky watched him from across the console, deciding it would be best to not interrupt the Doctor. The Doctor's eyes stopped and his pupils shrank.

"...no." he mumbled. "NO!"

The Doctor galloped as fast as he could back to Derpy's room. Dinky followed as best as she could, unable to really keep up.

She stopped as she entered the open door. The Doctor was checking her pulse yet it seemed Derpy was still breathing.

"Doctor!" shouted Dinky. "What's wrong?"

"She's been poisoned. The Daleks didn't just give her a sedative. They used a rare poison that has no antidote."

The Doctor lowered his hooves to the ground, finished taking Derpy's pulse.

"She's going to die." The Doctor said softly.

Dinky had joined the Doctor by his side.

"Why Derpy?" The Doctor asked no one in particular. " Why kind, brilliant Derpy?"

The Doctor put his head down on the bed next to Derpy's arm, closing his eyes.

A few seconds later there was a blinding light and the smell of-

"Regeneration energy?" the Doctor asked.

The Doctor opened his eyes and expected to see Derpy regenerating. What he saw was the same Derpy as before and regeneration energy coming from-

"Dinky!" shouted the Doctor. "What are you doing?!"

Dinky was standing on her hind legs, glowing with regeneration energy.

"Making a sacrifice for those I love." Dinky replied. "Just like my father."

With that Dinky pointed her fore hooves and head at Derpy. The golden light shot from Dinky and was absorbed by Derpy. The Doctor just stared, mouth hung open. All the lights in the room flickered brighter.

After a few moments, if was over. Dinky fell onto her front hooves and shook excess energy from her mane. Derpy seemed to have an immediate reaction. Her breathing had stabilized and become peaceful, as if she were only sleeping.

"What did you do?" asked the Doctor, finding his voice.

"I used up my future regenerations to cure her."

"How did you know how to do that? You never took Time Lord Biology."

"You used to read me an old Time Lord fairy tale."

Dinky got closer to Derpy, addressing her directly in a soft voice.

"A Time Lord noble was walking through a forest to a high-class party. He enjoyed the walk as he could view nature in it's beautiful harmony. Fitting together like clockwork. He had walked this way many times, but this time was different. There was a girl. This girl was not a Time Lord, she was of the poorer classes. This girl was sick, she was poisoned by a rare species that could disable regeneration. She was so weak that she could hardly speak, but she still could utter a few words to the noble. 'Help me.' she begged, looking into his eyes. The noble waited a moment, gazing into her eyes. The noble then focused all his remaining regenerations into her, restoring her health. After he was done he offered to help her up and said-"

"'Come. I want my friends to meet the one I plan to marry.'" The Doctor finished.

The Doctor looked at Dinky. His eyes were warm and happy.

"Thank you. I can never repay you."

"Trust me, you will."

The Doctor gave Dinky a questioning look but dropped it as Derpy began to stir. She yawned and opened her eyes, looking from the Doctor then to Dinky.

"Doctor...Baker..." she said half awake.

"Hello, Ms. Hooves." The Doctor said, smiling wide.

"I had the most *yawn* beautiful dream." Derpy said, closing her eyes. "I dreamt I was a mother of the most beautiful little filly."

"What was her name?" asked the Doctor, wanting to hear Derpy's voice more than the actual answer.

"...Her name was..." Derpy's voice was becoming slurred with sleep. "Dinky...Doo...."

With that Derpy began snoring lightly. The Doctor's face went from happy to surprise in 10 seconds flat. He looked up at Dinky who just smirked.

***

The Doctor and Dinky left Derpy to sleep. They now stood in the control room.

"What are you going to do now?" asked the Doctor. "Track down future me and rejoin the family?"

"Not quite now." said Dinky. "I have a destiny as the Element of Laughter. I think Equestria might need me."

The Doctor nodded sadly.

"So I guess you've got to become Pinkie again." he said, hints of sadness in his voice.

"Well not always!" said Dinky. "You could wake me up and visit every now and again! Go take a vacation and drop me off 10 minutes later! And Hearth's Warming! We have to spend Hearth's Warming together! Just you, me, and Mom! At least for Hearth's Warming Dinner!"

Dinky's eyes pleaded with the Doctor, begged him. The Doctor smiled.

"Of course," he said.

"Oh. One other thing. If you ever have foals, and one of them, when she's eight years old, accidentally sets fire to the living room rug... go easy on her."

"Gotcha."

Dinky caught the Doctor off guard with a hug.

"I love you, Dad."

"...I love you too."