The Doctor gulped as one of the blades appeared to glow red, the fire of One-Winged Angel practically searing the edge of his fur. Twi stared at him, rage filled eyes that looked ready to end him right then. The Doctor gulped again, “Twi, listen to me, I didn’t mean what I said. I just wanted to test a theory I had and it seems I was correct. Please take that blade away from my throat.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, her emotions driving her mind but her will being the only thing keeping her from roasting him alive.
“If you let me live, I can tell you why I said the things that I did and maybe give you some reason to the way you look now.” Twi’s blade went down a few degrees but she did not lower her blade. She felt a hoof on her back.
She turned to see Twilight standing behind her, “Please Twi, I know he can seem like a jerk at times, but please hear him out.” Twilight then quickly lifted her hoof off of Twi, shaking it as steamed seemed to roll off of it. Twilight began blowing on it. “Ouch, she’s hot!”
Doctor grinned, “Yes she is.”
The Doctor gulped again as Twi’s blade got closer to his throat. “Sorry, sorry. Too soon. I got it!” Twilight drew back her blade but just a few inches.
Twilight stepped over and stood within Twi’s line of sight, “Twi, you need to calm down. That Shadow… Thingy, is still out there and I think its best we take care of that now.”
Twi locked eyes with the Doctor, "You will tell me everything, correct?"
"Of course, after you take care of that annoying Heartless."
Twi glanced over at the hole in Twilight’s library before glancing back at the Doctor. “Fine, but one more snarky comment from you and you’ll become the first Pegasus turned Earth Pony. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Twi...” The Doctor squeaked.
Twi lowered her Keyblade, “Fine, let’s go take care of that Shadow.”
Twilight quickly ran to the edge of the hole. From her vantage point, she could see that the Shadow was only just now getting up, having probably been dazed earlier. “Hurry, we need to move before it gets away.”
Twi nodded and ran through the hole with Twilight and the Doctor trailing behind her. Twi took off and flew towards the Shadow at high speeds. The Shadow went wide eyed upon seeing Twilight and barely managed to dodge Twi as she swung her Keyblade at his neck. Had it been standing where it was, it could have been decapitated on the spot. Twi spun around, not even caring that she had missed and began to launch fireballs in the Shadow’s direction. The Shadow seemed to grow more wide eyed and jumped high into the air.
The fireballs zoomed past underneath and slammed into some of the houses behind it. The balls blew up on impact, lighting fires and heavily damaging the houses. Twilight flinched, “Careful Twi, this isn’t exactly the place to be launching powerful spells.”
Twi glanced at the ruined houses and growled, “Fine, guess I will have to stick to melee attacks then.”
Twi rushed forward towards the Shadow as it landed back onto the ground. Twilight gave a small battle cry as she swung her Keyblade sideways at the creature just as its feet touched the ground. Unable to move its legs in time, the creature instead quickly shot out its fingers and wrapped them around a nearby tree. The Shadow was quickly propelled towards it, just barely missing getting struck by Twi yet again.
Twi’s swing went wide as it swung at nothing. The energy released in the swing sent a blast of air sweeping in a wide arc. Twilight and the Doctor fell onto their bellies with their hooves over their heads as the blast of air went flying overhead. The houses behind them groaned as the energy hit them. Windows broke and shingles fell as the blast made a clean sweep through the houses. Twilight glanced back at the houses in shock. “Twi,” she said in a warning tone, “Can you do us all a favor and quit wrecking houses?!”
Twi felt her ears flatten as she turned to Twilight, “I’m doing the best I can.”
“Well, don’t you have any control whatsoever?”
“Control? It's taking all my will power, not to want to set everything on fire, just to take out this one Shadow!”
With that, Twi turned back to her opponent as rage seemed to seethe throughout her body. Gritting her teeth, Twilight took off towards the Shadow who was recovering from the near miss right next to the tree. It seemed to jump in surprise as Twi barreled towards it yet again. The Shadow extended it claws out, ready to fight back. But deep down, it knew that it had no chance.
Quickly taking in its surroundings, it knew what it needed to take her out: more power. In other words, more hearts. But no other pony was here aside from the one barreling towards her and the other two. The creature launched itself into the air just as Twi was about to swing her Keyblade. While in the air, it quickly took stock into its options. The grey one looked interesting and seemed to have a spark within burning like no other, but more power would be needed to successfully steal it.
Its heart seemed battered and broken. The Shadow could tell just by looking at it. Both ponies were broken but the purple one’s heart was far more fragile. A much easier steal. The creature nodded its head and prepared to change its objective from dodging, back to stealing.
Twi waited until the creature fell back to the ground, hoping that being much closer would finally give her a hit. But just as the creature was about to land, its body twitched as the Shadow turned its body in midair. Extending its hand, the fingers extended outwards and impeded themselves in the dirt right in front of Twilight. Twilight jumped back at bit in shock as the creature rocketed towards her, landing just a few inches away.
The Doctor flinched as well. Too shocked to move. Twilight didn’t even have a chance to react before the Shadow reached it other hand and clutched her throat. It then retracted its other hand. An orb of pure dark energy appeared in its hand.
“Twilight!” Twi realized what it was about to do and shot forward, trying to stop it. But it was too late. The Shadow brought its hand forward and plunged it into Twilight’s body. Twilight’s eyes dimmed as a black hole appeared in front of her. The creature seemed to shake with joy as it quickly jumped inside. Twi gritted her teeth, “I won’t let you get away with this.”
She flew straight into the hole right after the creature jumped in. The hole then closed behind the two leaving the Doctor standing there looking bewildered. Twilight’s eyes turned gray. The Doctor quickly wrapped his hooves around her as she began to go limp. The Doctor felt his mouth go dry as Twilight lay in his arms, unmoving. Her eyes half lidded and her pupil’s dark grey. The Doctor hugged Twilight close. Finally finding the words, the Doctor coughed before his spoke, “Twilight... I..." He felt tears begin to run down his face as he held her there. Her faint beating heart being the only sign of life left in her. "I'm so sorry."
*
Twi opened her eyes, and immediately noticed she was no longer in Ponyville. Darkness surrounded her and yet there was still light. Looking down at her hooves, Twi realized she was standing on a stain glass floor. The image showing Twilight apparently falling as dark vines surrounded her. Images of her friends seemed to be trapped within the vines as well. But what really drew Twilight was a small glimmer of light just above Twilight. It looked like Twilight was shedding a tear and light was shining down upon it.
Twi glanced up and noticed something else, the Shadow she was fighting earlier was here too. It was much larger than earlier. It had its eyes closed and its feet planted into the glass. Just above it was a shining ball of light. The creature seemed deep in concentration as the light began to fall towards it. Twi didn’t really understand what was happening but she knew she had to stop it.
Twi galloped towards the Shadow, Keyblade raised. As soon as she was close, she slashed at the legs of the shadow, before spinning around and delivering another hit with the other. Twi then quickly jumped back and looked back up at the Shadow. It did not seem fazed at all. Twilight growled and tried again. This time, she took flight and aimed for its chest. She let loose a flurry of fire balls and each and every one of them stuck and exploded on contact.
Twi felt her jaw drop a bit as the Shadow still remained unfazed. So she tried a different tactic. She flew around the Shadow as fast as she could. While doing so, she let loose a barrage of fire. She flew faster and faster around the Shadow and soon a tornado of fire engulfed the entire Shadow. Twi landed back down after she was finished and watched as the fire raged around the Shadow. But the Shadow took no notice whatsoever. Even though darkness was pouring from certain spots around it. The fire soon died out around the Shadow and the Shadow was none the wiser.
Damage certainty had been done but either it didn’t care or it didn’t feel the pain. “Ok, this isn’t working.” Twi glanced up at the shining ball. Form what Twilight could see, it appeared that a heart shape was within the ball. Twi flew up and wondered if this was Twilight’s heart. Twi glanced back down at the Shadow and then at the heart. “Well, can’t allow this thing to have this. I hope Twilight isn’t a softy.”
Taking her Keyblade Aigam, she leveled the flat end against the heart with the grip pointing straight up. The position appearing to almost look like a golf club ready to hit the ball. “Fore!” Twi brought her Keyblade back and then swung it just like she had seen those sports ponies do it. The flat ended smacked the heart and sent it flying into the Darkness.
That finally got the Shadows attention. The Shadow glanced up and seemed to glare at Twi; its prize having been taken out of its reach. Twi grinned back in determination and shot forward, bringing her Keyblade down intending to attack its head. But the Shadow pointed its hand upwards and Twi found herself having to dodge multiple fingers shoot up at her like spikes. Twi barrel rolled out to the side and began launching fire balls at the Shadows head.
This went on for a awhile. Twi would dodge as much as she could while taking pot shots at the Shadow. But this seemed to do little against it. It seemed almost stronger than it was when they were outside. Twi realized this wasn’t going to work. So, flexing her wings a bit in midair, she dive bombed out of the sky aiming right for the Shadow’s head. But the Shadow quickly rose up its hand and smacked Twi out of the sky. Twi went tumbling down and hit the glass floor hard. After sliding back a few feet, Twi lay there, dazed.
The Shadow then extended its hand and its fingers shot outwards. They wrapped themselves around Twi and began to squeeze. Twi felt some precious air leave her lungs as the fingers tightened around her. The Shadow moved closer as Twi struggled against her attacker. She swung her Keyblades down at the figures but she was afraid of cutting herself in the process so she held back a bit with each swing. Her blades managed to only bounce off of it.
Twi then tried launching a huge wave of fire at the creatures head. The Shadow shook its head and put out its other hand to block the inferno. Twi felt her mind going hazy due to lack of oxygen. “Is it just me, or are this Shadows getting stronger every time I fight them?”
Twi finally felt her magic start to give as she struggled to stay conscious. Twi glanced up at the Shadow, her vision going blurry as her mind raced for answers on what to do. Her panic was making it hard to focus and her depleting oxygen was making it hard to think. Twi heard a clang as her Keyblades fell to the floor. “Is… Is this it?” Twilight blinked. “I can’t lose. I have to… Find… Friends…” Twi's head felt heavy.
Just off into the distance, Twi could just make out a light. It was bright. Twilight could barely register what was going on around her but she could have sworn she heard someone call her name. The fingers seemed to loosen and Twi barely felt her body hit the floor. Twi tried to lift her head but it only made her vision spin. There was a strong feeling of being tugged in a general direction, and then everything went black.
*
The Doctor held Twilight close to him, cradling her head in his hooves. “Not again,” the Doctor whispered, “I can’t lose you again.” The Doctor felt tears roll down his face. “You are everything to me Twilight. You’re the only one who can make me happy in this crazy universe anymore. I just can’t let you die.” The Doctor went silent.
He then stared up at the sky. “You don’t think I’ve realized that?! Yes, of course it is my fault. Yes, doing nothing may have brought about this… Just shut up!” The Doctor glared at the sky. But in his heart, he knew they were right.
“Twilight, I’m so sorry.”
The Doctor gritted his teeth. His eyes began to change. “No… I can’t let this happen. I may have let those I care about down… But that doesn’t mean I can just give up.” The Doctor took a deep breath, “It’s time for me to get off my lazy plot and do something to help her.”
The Doctor stood up. “I have lost too many lives to give up now. If I can’t protect those I care about... If I can’t save those who are precious to me, then what does that make me? Some kind of monster right? So let me say this, I am not a monster. I am the Doctor!”
The Doctor felt a fire burn within him like never before as his fur began to change from grey to brown. “And it looks like I have a pony to save.” The Doctor quickly lifted up Twilight and set her across his back. The Doctor then sprinted back towards his TARDIS like there was no tomorrow. Once inside, he carefully set Twilight down and ran back into the storage room of his TARDIS.
Inside were shelves upon shelves of gadgets and trinkets from the past but he was looking for one thing in particular. After rummaging through the room, throwing stuff out his way, he finally came across an odd looking contraption. It appeared to be some kind of claw like device with a lighting trapped ball attached to it. “I hope this thing still works,” he muttered as he grabbed it. The Doctor quickly stopped at some of the shelves, grabbed a few more things and threw them into a pack, before he made his way back to Twilight was. He quickly opened his doors leading out of the TARDIS before running back to her.
Checking her vital signs and finding that she was still alive, he then pointed the device at her. He flipped open the other end of the device. Thinking for a moment, he flipped the device over. “Wrong side,” he muttered. Hitting a button of the side of the machine, the contraption began to glow. Sparks flew off of it as energy began to build up within it. Then with a loud crack, it shot outwards and opened up a hole right in front of Twilight. The Doctor staggered a bit due to the recoil but managed to keep from falling over.
The Doctor then then flipped another switch and wind began to flow from the hole. The Doctor gritted his teeth as he waited. “Come on,” he urged the machine as the wind blew hard at his face. Then the machine went ding. “Got em.”
He smiled and flipped a switch on the side of the contraption. Lightning shot from the contraption and into the hole. There was strange buzzing noise but soon two balls of light shot out of the hole and into the machine. The balls bounced around in the lighting cylinder before bouncing back into the machine. Then the claw on the back extended outwards as two beings shot out from it and out the door.
Twi tumbled end over end out into the grass followed by the Shadow. The Doctor grinned, “Seems I have made the best catch of the day.”
Twi shook her head, having reverted back and feeling weak. She glanced up at the brown pony standing in the doorway, “Doctor?”
The Doctor nodded his head. “You alright?”
“Yeah… I think so.”
The Doctor nodded his head again, “Glad to hear it." He put his hoof to his chin, then frowned, “Sorry… about earlier.”
Twi smiled warily but gave a small smile, “Just glad you willing to help is all Doctor.”
The Doctor quickly nodded and glanced back at the Shadow. Pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor pointed it at the creature. “Sorry, Mr. Heartless, but you have messed with the wrong Doctor. Now, you’re going back to the Darkness of which you came.” The Doctor stared at it in complete focus as the Shadow stared back in what could only be assumed as anger. The Doctor grinned, “Let’s see what you’ve got.”