//------------------------------// // A New Ally. The Doctor. // Story: A Lost Soul Returns: The King of Monsters // by Dark Star the Crazed //------------------------------// A sad soul can kill you quicker – far quicker – than a germ. ~ John Steinbeck. Twilight was in Rarity's boutique being fitted for her wedding dress. It was a traditional white gown and veil, but the gown itself was lined with small diamonds so that whenever light shone on them they would give of light sparkles. Also embroidered into the dress were six pointed stars that were made with violet thread. The collar of the dress had sapphires, rubies, and emeralds stitched to it as if they were a necklace. She looked at herself in a mirror and gave a gasp, some tears even came to her eyes. Rarity blanched at the sound. "What is it? What's wrong? Too many diamonds? I put to many diamonds on it didn't I? Don't worry Twilight I'll start over right away! You're a princess and one of my best friends. If I'm designing and making your gown then it has to be perfect!" Rarity let her horn light up and was beginning to take the dress off of her friend when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Opening her eyes she saw Twilight smiling at her. "Rarity... There is nothing wrong... I gasped because... It's perfect, flawless, and beautiful... I love it, and I'm sure Fang will too." Rarity smiled at her friends words of approval and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Let's get this thing off of me. I don't want to risk Fang seeing me in it before the wedding." After they had taken the dress off they heard a shout from outside. Curious, the two mares ran outside and growled at what they saw. Suri Polomare was standing there shaking in her skin and clothes. Across from her was Coco Pommel who was glaring at Suri. "What are you doing here!? Trying to steal Rarity's designs for Princess Twilight's wedding dress? You're going to steal it and sell the dress to Twilight aren't you!?" Suri was shaking out of fear. She ran past Coco and bowed down in front of Twilight and Rarity. "I am very sorry that I stole your designs at the competition! Please forgive me!” She looked up with hopeful eyes and blanched. Slowly her eyes began to go wide. She stood up and began to shake violently. "No... No... You said I wouldn't die if I apologized!" They watched as the mare tried to walk away backwards, tripped on a loose cobblestone, and fell on her haunches. She began to wave her front legs in front of her as if trying to keep something away from her. "What's going on here?" Twilight and Rarity jumped at the sound of Fang's voice. Turning around they saw the monster king and future groom of Twilight. He had a muffin held in his magic. He looked down at the mares who were glaring at him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you I was just wondering what was going on." "We don't know. That mare who is freaking out over there is Suri Polomare. She stole Rarity's designs for a contest in Manehatten a year ago. We heard Coco shouting about how she was here to steal the designs of my…" Twilight caught herself. She didn’t want Fang to sneak into the boutique and find the dress. "The dress I was modeling for Rarity. Then she ran up, bowed, said she was sorry and began to freak out. Fang? Fang? Are you listening?" Fang was not. He was staring at Suri. Looking closely at the mare, who had stopped screaming and struggling, Twilight could see that there was a shadow on the ground that did not belong to Suri, or any other pony. She heard the sound of air being cut and saw what looked like the head of a giant mantis covered in blood. She then realized how the blood had appeared on its head all of a sudden, Suri's head had been cut off and her neck was spraying the red liquid. Slowly the blood began to pour down its body revealing it to actually be a giant mantis. It turned around and walked towards Coco. It raised one of its jagged scythe like arms and brought it down at Coco's head. Coco closed her eyes and braced for the impact but opened them when she only felt a tap. It was just placing the tip of its arm on her forehead. "Your grievance has been avenged." Its tone was deep and calm, saddened, yet joyful, and not frightening at all. It turned and jumped away, using its blade like arms to scale houses and disappeared before Fang or Twilight could follow. While everypony was staring at Suri's beheaded corpse Fang and Twilight noticed that Ditzy and a brown stallion known as Time Turner were slowly trying to sneak away. "Just as I thought Ditzy. It is the same being that appeared in Equestria during The War of Chaos and Darkness ten thousand years ago and began to slaughter ponies, shades, and demons alike. Not to mention almost killing me, you, and Dinky. Quickly we must get to the- Is that black alicorn growling at me?" Fang snorted and ran at Ditzy and the brown stallion with Twilight following close behind trying to stop him. The stallion went wide eyed and looked at the grey pegasus. "We should run, now! Allons-y!" The two ponies quickly galloped away and down an alley quickly followed by Twilight and Fang. The two alicorns stopped when they saw the two ponies run into a blue box. Fang just growled, lowered his head and charged. Inside the box Ditzy and Time Turner were pressing buttons and pulling levers when they heard a filly scream. They turned and saw Dinky shaking as the black alicorn that had chased them stood over her. "Fang! Calm down!" They turned to see Twilight enter through the large hole Fang had made in the wall with his body. She went over to him and gave a disapproving look. "You're scaring them Fang." The anger seemed to melt away from Fang as he took a deep breath. "Sorry... I didn't mean to scare you... It's just... Him!" He pointed towards Time Turner who blanched. Fang began to trot towards the stallion. "You, I have seen you seven times in my life... Each time was in a different millenium. So explain to me how you have lived for over seven thousand years! You're an earth pony!" Fang glared at Time Turner as the brown stallion took a step back. "Oi! I'm a lot older than seven thousand mind you! I'm older than Celestia, you, and probably older than this world!" Fang blinked a few times. "Who are you anyway?" 'Time Turner' looked at Twilight and gave her a sheepish smile. "I get the feeling that 'Time Turner' isn't your real name. Heck I'm not even sure you’re a pony! I mean look at this stuff!!! I mean no offense Derpy, but I don’t think you could have made something like this… You’re very clumsy.” The brown stallion and grey mare sighed. "No offense taken Princess Twilight... And it's Ditzy Doo, not Derpy Hooves. That was a name that bullies at flight camp called me because of my eyes." Ditzy suddenly gasped and bowed. "Your majesty I am so sorry for my lack of respect! Please forgive me!" Dinky ran over to her mother and bowed the same way. 'Time Turner' just sighed and bowed along with them. "Please rise. I don't like it when ponies bow to me. I see everypony as equals... Well almost everypony..." Twilight smiled and walked over to Fang before laying her head against his shoulder. Fang smiled and nuzzled his fiancé's cheek before giving her a small nip on the ear causing her to blush. "Now... I know Ditzy and Dinky they are some of my best friends. But I don't know anything about you 'Time Turner'... If that is really your name... You’re obviously not a pony since Fang saw you seven thousand years ago... So what are you?" After they had risen from their bowing positions 'Time Turner' looked at Ditzy and Dinky. "Honey... You should tell her the truth... She is a princess and is going to be a queen soon..." Dinky hopped up and bounced over to 'Time Turner'. "Mommy's right Daddy! We can trust Princess Twilight... Not sure about the stallion though... I don't even know his name..." Dinky sat on her haunches and turned so she could look at Fang and smiled. "What's your name?" Fang just stood there and blinked, that is when he saw she was shaking slightly. He then crouched down so that he was at eyelevel with the little purple filly. She immediately stopped shaking proving it was out of fear that she was doing so in the first place. Fang smiled at the filly and showed her his fangs. Surprisingly she didn't scream, try to run away, or start shaking. "Hello little one, my name is Fang. I am Twilight's fiancé and soon to be husband..." Fang blinked. "By the way how are you doing? I know that the monster at your window disappeared." "How did you know that?" Twilight walked up to Fang and Dinky and lowered herself just as Fang. She gave the filly a smile and then looked at Fang. "Because Fang killed the pony that the monster actually was. According to what he told me Nurse Coldheart was a Grundle. A creature that asks good little fillies and colts to 'come out and play' but if they do then the good little filly or colt turns bad." Twilight sighed. "He also told me why your classmate Diamond turned into one. See if a filly is bad or violent enough before they reach the age of eighteen then they will transform into a Grundle." "Coldheart? You mean the mean nurse that would always poke me with needles even if I didn't need one?" Twilight nodded. "She wasn't a pony?" She shook her head and Dinky shot one of her hooves up into the air. "I knew it! I knew she was evil!" Twilight giggled and Fang chuckled before standing up. Twilight then looked at 'Time Turner'. "Now... Who are you?" "I am The Doctor. I am a time lord and this." He motioned with his leg around the entire room. "Is The T.A.R.D.I.S." He looked at the strange looks he was getting from everypony, including his wife and daughter and sighed. "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space..." He just kept getting the same strange looks. He then turned around and slammed his face against the wall hitting a button in the process. "It's a time machine, spaceship, computer hybrid!" A female voice rang throughout the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Data retrieved. Showing data now." A screen lowered from the ceiling and the form of the giant mantis appeared. "Name: Kamakiri. Species: Hantā Konchū. Current location: Unknown. No other data available." The screen raised back to the roof and The Doctor turned to the alicorns. Suddenly his eyes went wide. "Heads up!" Twilight and Fang ducked to the sound of air being cut. Looking up again they saw that the mantis from before. This time however it was visible and was a deep dark black in color. It raised one of its arms and brought it down towards Twilight, who was pushed out of the way by Fang. The blade of the arm cut off the tip of his tail. "Oi! Black alicorn! Do you think you can knock the thing down?" Fang raised an eyebrow at The Doctor. "Yes... Yes I can..." He then turned to the giant mantis. "Listen up you bug! This is going to be a two hit fight." He ran at the creature and jumped before punching its head. "I hit you!" He jumped back and landed next to Twilight before looking away from the creature. The four remaining ponies watched as the mantis just stood there. "You hit the ground..." Sure enough the mantis obeyed and fell over. The Doctor turned to Fang and raised an eyebrow. "If you want to be cool then wear a bowtie." He then pulled out a silver stick with what looked like an emerald attached to the end. He pointed the stick at the mantis, the tip began to glow, a whirring noise was heard, and the five ponies watched as the mantis disintegrated. "What did you just do?" The Doctor turned to Fang and smiled. "I asked the universe to make it disappear. How you ask?" He held up the stick. "Sonic Screwdriver... Now if you'll excuse us... We need to go back to 472 B.S.R. to find thousands of missing ponies... Thank you for your help with the bug... I owe you one." He then pushed the two alicorns out of the T.A.R.D.I.S., closed the door, another whirring noise was heard, and the box disappeared. "Fang... What just happened?" Fang looked at his bride and shrugged. "I have no idea... And I quite frankly do not want to know. Let's just chalk it up to... Unexplainable and you will go insane trying to figure it out." Twilight just sighed and nodded in agreement. "Shall we?" Twilight smiled as Fang wrapped a wing around her and they walked off towards the Everfree. We cross our bridges when we come to them, and burn them behind us with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke and a presumption that once our eyes watered. ~ Tom Stoppard.