//------------------------------// // 13th // Story: The Adventures of Doctor Whooves: Series 1 // by Time Pony Victorious //------------------------------// The TARDIS, ??? ??? Twilight Sparkle helped Applejack and Pinkie up while Ditzy attended to Trixie. The duo shook their heads trying to get rid of their disorientation but looking at Twilight they found to be only more confused. Applejack couldn’t keep her mouth shut as she stared at Twilight’s new wings. She has WINGS! “Wow, Twi, your wings are really pretty can I touch them?” Pinkie asked, smiling broadly as she poked Twilight’s wings and giggled to herself from the sensation. Twilight chuckled in spite of the situation. “That’s funny, you actually said that to me when I first got my wings.” “The device is damaged!” reported Trixie. “We can make repairs but… it’ll take too long.” Applejack finally turned away from Twilight and looked around at the TARDIS. Whoa. The console room was twice as big as her Doctor’s TARDIS and it went for a more regal and stately appearance. The entire place was composed out of crystal, gleaming precious stones that glowed a deep blue against the light of the TARDIS. There were staircases spiraling up and down into a multitude of different directions and the console itself… whew. The console was pretty big now so that you had to line up about 10 ponies around the circumference of the panel to fully encase it. The controls were about the same and were probably the only thing that remained untouched from this redesign. Applejack gaped at the new TARDIS and wondered how her reaction would be when she sees it again for the “first” time. “Do you know what happened?” Ditzy asked. “Not sure,” admitted Trixie. “Nightmare Moon attacked then poof, all of a sudden they’re on top of me!” “Well, it was more like a poof, boooom!” suggested Pinkie. “But you’ve got the gist.” “I couldn’t hold her off on my own,” said Twilight sadly. “She would’ve gotten me if I hadn’t backed off. I’m sorry—“ “No need t’ apologize, Twi,” Applejack said, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Ya did amazingly, it’s Nightmare Moon that’s gotta apologize now.” “Sure, but how are we going to send you back?” Trixie asked. “We’re in a time machine,” suggested Pinkie. “The Doctor isn’t here to fly it,” reported Ditzy. “She went to talk to your Doctor.” “She?” repeated Applejack. Ditzy covered her mouth sheepishly but they had already heard it. Pinkie laughed. “You silly goose, the Doctor is a boy… Unless…” “No, Pinkie,” Twilight interrupted. “Our Doctor is a mare now. He regenerated a while back and, well, became her.” “Regenerated?” Pinkie asked. Applejack nodded. “It’s what Time Lords do t’ cheat death. Ah didn’t know he could regenerate as a mare though.” “She was a bit surprised too,” admitted Twilight. “But the point is, she isn’t here now and none of us can fly the TARDIS.” The girls remained quiet and the only sound that filled the room was the subsonic thrum from the TARDIS’s engines. Applejack closed her eyes in frustration, wishing there was something she could do or a button she could press to fix this, like a fast-return switch. Applejack’s eyes widened and glowed gold. “Applejack..?” Trixie asked. Twilight, Ditzy and Pinkie backed off as she approached the controls, regarding them as if she had known them her whole life. “Lower the shields and the dimensional dams and we could break through the Doctor’s TARDIS,” Applejack said in a trance, no longer speaking in her Southern accent. “The TARDISes won’t be able to compensate for the quantum superposition and the feedback will release Nightmare Moon’s control!” “What? Applejack what’re you—“ “Allons-y!” Applejack cried as she threw two levers and the TARDIS lurched. The mares, save Applejack, fell forward and tumbled into a screaming pile of ponies. Applejack held on to the console and threw more buttons but the TARDIS resisted, sparks exploding and the engines stalling. “She’s fighting,” Applejack said with a smile. “Doesn’t like what I’m about to do. However, if we can reverse the polarity….” Applejack ran over to a pulley and yanked at it, she then twisted a dial and the TARDIS careened into the time vortex still as bumpy as ever. “Oh, don’t be like that!” She turned to Twilight, her eyes still glowing. “Susan! Hold down the orbital transistors!” “My name isn’t—“ “Just do it!” complained Trixie. Twilight groaned and threw down the switch Applejack ordered. The TARDIS ride became smoother but it was still pretty hectic. Applejack chuckled as she glanced at the readings. “Nearly there. Hold on!” She threw another lever and the TARDIS slowed for a moment. “GERONIMO!” It raced off into space, pushing the mares to the ground from the G-force. ~==~  “I like her,” Nine said with a grin, regarding her leather jacket appraisingly. Some of the other Doctors agreed with Nine's assessment save Seven, Three, Eleven and Twelve. Especially Twelve. He finally regained his composure and approached the mare, glaring darkly at her but she met his glare with a frosty expression. “So, you’re my future?” he asked, barely containing his anger. Thirteen narrowed her eyes and looked past him, at the Eleventh Doctor. “If we’re done with show-and-tell, perhaps we should move on to what’s important. This guy“— She waved a hoof at Twelve with distaste—“Is too dangerous to leave alone, yes, even more than our forgotten incarnation.” At the mention of him, every Doctor shuffled nervously except Nine whose expression suddenly darkened. Naturally, he’s the closest one to the Time War than everyone else. None of them seemed very eager to talk about the War Doctor, but Twelve had a few questions. “Dangerous?” he repeated incredulously, staring wide-eyed at the mare. “How am I dangerous? I haven’t done anything—“ “But you will,” she insisted. “Maybe not now, but soon.” “Still can’t be more dangerous than this bloke,” Eleven muttered, pointing at Ten. “Time Lord Victorious, here.” Ten’s expression darkened and he looked like he was ready to sonic Eleven into a coma or something but refrained from doing so. "You know as well as I do that was a mistake," Ten grumbled. "So, watch it." The other Doctors well merely chuckled amongst themselves. “Is that what our future has come to?” asked Six with raised eyebrows. “Time Lord what?” “You can never fault them for being that way, however,” Four responded, giving a mischievous wink to Eleven. “It’s not entirely on them.” “Despite whatever danger number Twelve may pose,” the First said quietly yet firmly. “It may not be necessary to call us all here.” “Maybe,” agreed Thirteen. “But it’s worth a shot.” “So, what’s your plan then?” Twelve asked frowning. “A plan that involves all of us?” He shared a look with Eleven, silently remembering the last day of the Time War. The Thirteenth Doctor nodded firmly and smiled slightly, Twelve was already wary of such a smile. “Of course I’ve got a plan…” ~==~ The TARDIS came right out of the time vortex spinning out of control. Applejack tried to maintain the flight pattern but then suddenly the gold glow from her eyes dissipated and she staggered back from the console dizzily. She shook her head, “W-what?” Her eyes rolled up and she fell over passed out. Applejack would’ve cracked her head on the floor but Trixie ran up and caught the farmpony before she could. Unfortunately, that meant using her body as a cushion for Applejack to land on. She groaned under the weight of Applejack but everpony was too busy being thrown everywhere to do anything. Finally, Twilight regained her balance. She bounced off the floor and spread her wings, floating above the console. “Guys, get closer together!” she told them. Pinkie and Ditzy understood and jumped on top of Applejack and Trixie. Despite how crazy the situation was, Pinkie couldn’t help but giggle as she cried, “Dogpile!” Twilight’s horn burst with magic and a purple spherical force field surrounded her and the other girls. Warily, they stood up, suddenly unaffected by the TARDIS’s erratic movements. “Antigrav bubble,” Twilight told them. “Pretty useful.” “You could’ve started with that,” Trixie grumbled, getting Applejack off her but careful not to jostle her head too much. Twilight blushed slightly but looked at her unconscious friend. “Anypony know what that was?” The girls shook their heads. “I’ve never seen her eyes do that! Although, I have seen them go from pretty sky-blue to mysterious sea-green before!” Pinkie said. “You’ve been with the Doctor longest,” Ditzy said, looking at Twilight. “You haven’t seen anything like that?” Twilight’s face paled and in the purple light from her shield, she looked like a ghost. “Not really, no. The light seemed like regeneration but I’ve never seen it on a regular pony… Well, actually—“ The TARDIS rumbled again and more sparks exploded. The girls yelped as they watched in horror at the TARDIS beginning to break down. “We’ve got to do something!” cried Ditzy. “Trixie isn’t sure the Doctor would appreciate us breaking his TARDIS,” Trixie muttered. Twilight floated down from her spherical protection and worked her magic on the console controls. She strained herself and beads of sweat came down her face, concentrating until her cheeks with red. Like magic, the TARDIS controls activated through her telekinesis working with the speed of 6 Time Lords, Twilight utilized the Doctor’s lessons and the TARDIS’s psychic connection to at least make the ride bearable for them. The TARDIS slowed down along with the temporal turbulence but Twilight looked absolutely exhausted from her piloting. “Look!” Trixie popped Twilight’s spell and approached the scanner, pointing at Equis. The 12th Doctor’s TARDIS remained in orbit of the planet, when the TARDIS shut down due to Nightmare Moon she probably went back home to protect them but couldn’t make it. The scanner’s image broke apart slightly and static was displayed. Twilight cursed as the TARDIS rumbled again. “She really doesn’t want to be here,” Twilight muttered as she pressed at the keyboard to override the TARDIS’s controls. “Well, she’s about to crash into her past self,” Ditzy said, propping up Applejack with Pinkie. “I don’t think anypony would like that.” “Uh, guys,” Pinkie said, pointing at the screen. “What’s… that?” A black mass was now pouring out of the TARDIS doors and windows and completely surrounding it. The goop was smoky yet at the same time had the same consistency as gelatin. Twilight swallowed nervously. “Nightmare Moon,” she answered. “It looks like she trying to move the TARIDS closer to Equis,” Trixie noted. “But why?” “She also wants to take over Equis! Probably to get revenge on the past versions of us for defeating her,” Twilight answered. “We have to stop her.” “But, how? The TARDIS won’t move,” Ditzy asked. “Like this.” Twilight’s horn glowed so brightly the girls had to shut their eyes to avoid being blinded. They weren’t able to see what she was doing, but Twilight’s magical aura wrapped around the entire TARDIS and with all of her concentration and willpower, she telekinetically threw the TARDIS toward Nightmare Moon. ~==~ “That’s a stupid plan,” said Nine. “It’s insane!” noted Five. “I quite like it,” disagreed Four. “Of course you would,” snapped Three. “It just may work,” muttered Seven. “If it is to work it requires all of us,” agreed Six. “There must be a better solution,” asked Three. “Why don’t you think of one?” grumbled Two. “Blimey, who knew us all meeting up would end up like this?” Ten asked, looking at Eleven. Eleven shrugged, smiling slightly at his past selves bickering once more. “Well… all of us knew. Still that never stopped us, in fact it encouraged us to keep going.” “Sentimental aren’t you?” Ten raised his eyebrows as he studied Eleven as if seeing him for the first time. Eleven absentmindedly touched his coat pocket where he kept Amy’s glasses and flushed. “Well, not exactly.” “It won’t work,” Twelve insisted, still glaring at Thirteen. “It’s too dangerous, if something goes wrong—“ “Then make sure nothing goes wrong,” Thirteen countered calmly, returning his glare with a smile. “The fact that I’m here already indicates that it works.” The Eleventh Doctor scoffed. “Time can be rewritten.” “Not all the time,” Ten snapped impatiently. “Regardless, she’s got a point, Doctor.” Doctors Two through Seven answered, “Yes?” The Doctor sighed, placing his hoof to his forehead, rubbing it as he felt the onset of a headache coming on. This plan of hers was insane and way too dangerous to even attempt. As much as he hated to admit it, however, she was right. This was the only choice he had. “There’s got to be another way,” Twelve asked. “Then, pray tell, what do you suggest?” asked the First. The Doctor remained silent, painfully aware that he had nothing to offer to Thirteen’s insane plan, but he still wanted to protest. Judging from the looks on the other Doctors’ faces, they wanted to as well but they all begrudgingly agreed silently. Figures the one thing that every Doctor could agree on was a stupid idea. “If this doesn’t work,” Twelve muttered. “It’ll be the end of all of us. You wouldn’t be here”—Twelve looked at Thirteen – “And Nightmare Moon will have won.” “Wait, that’s the force that wants to possess you?” Nine asked incredulously. “Blimey, the names they will come up with.” “It is not my name you should fear, Number Nine,” Nightmare Moon’s voice spoke over the entire world. The Doctors all cupped their ears as the landscape changed from alabaster white to nightmarish black, a huge pair of purple eyes materialized above the group. “But instead me, Nightmare Moon, Darkness Divine!” A mouth appeared under her eyes and it opened up, showing off her sharpened fangs and threatening to eat the Time Lords. “Break the connection!” Twelve warned. “Not until you go along with the plan!” yelled Thirteen. “FINE! I’ll do it! You want me, Nightmare Moon?” Her eyes turned to the Twelve Doctor, glaring defiantly at her. “THEN COME AND GET ME!” ~==~ The TARDIS smashed through the inert TARDIS’s walls. Time fluctuated and the whole of reality warped around the two TARDISes. Both TARDISes were struggling to maintain the paradox for as long as physically possible but it may prove difficult as the recently hijacked ship left the other one completely damaged. It was strange to look at. Within the TARDIS, right by the console, as a solitary wall with an empty space large enough for a bonfire. The future TARDIS broke through that wall and lodged itself within the hole it had created, doors first. Somepony looking at a TARDIS within a TARIDS would experience a severe sense of vertigo and disorientation, as if the mere sight of it was biologically programmed to indicate something was terribly wrong. The doors creaked open and sparks exploded on the now concave walls. Applejack, now having recovered from her siesta, stepped out wearily with Pinkie, Ditzy, Trixie and Twilight right behind her. They had arrived just in time to see Nightmare Moon completely overwhelming the Doctor. Her form was more solid at this point, now materializing as viscous black goo that covered the Doctor from head to hoof. Applejack didn’t know what was going on but she knew she was too late. She ran to the Time Lord but the goo had covered his face and solidified. Applejack was halfway to the console when the Doctor sat up. Everypony gasped as the Time Lord glanced at them. His eyes were ink-black, glowing with power, his formerly brown coat was the color of mud, as if all of the joy in his personality was ripped away. Even his mane deflated over his head and around his unicorn’s horn. Applejack noticed that he was an alicorn, much like Twilight. A pair of black wings were folded on his back, tearing through his purple overcoat and his unicorn horn was sharp and longer than the average unicorn’s. The Doctor smiled wickedly. “Such despondent expressions,” he said, Nightmare Moon’s own voice overlapping with his. “Smile! Come on, everpony, smile, for the end of your world is nigh.” Trixie was the first to recover. She blasted the Doctor with a fireball but he easily deflected it with his magic. While the Time Lord was distracted, Applejack sprinted to him and leapt to tackle him. The Doctor merely shifted his eyes to look at her and she came crashing on the ground, an invisible force pinning her down. “Applejack!” Pinkie cried, trying to run to her but a forcefield materialized around the girls. The bubble was the color of the night sky. The Doctor regarded the trapped mares coldly. “Twilight Sparkle?” he mused with a smile. “The mare responsible for banishing me to the moon? My, my, where did you acquire your wings?” Twilight cursed and blasted the bubble but nothing happened and no sound traveled from the forcefield. It was soundproof! The Doctor-Nightmare Moon chuckled and turned to face Applejack. “Now then, how shall I destroy you?” “Let… th’ Doctor… go!” Applejack said in-between gasps as the crushing force made it difficult for her to breath. “I don’t think so,” he answered smugly. “You see it took years for me to acquire Princess Luna. Every night I would prod the back of her mind and try to break her but with the Doctor? Hmph, all I had to do was threaten you and Pinkie and he gave up. Pathetic.” Applejack’s mind raced. The Doctor was insanely protective of his friends, that much she was sure of, it went to the extent of allowing himself to be captured by her. So… “Doctor!” she cried, glaring straight at him. “Ah’m right ‘ere! Ah know you don’t want t’ do this.” “The Doctor isn’t in right now,” he said with an evil smile. “Please leave a message after the tone.” “Ah know you’re in there!” she continued. “You can fight this! Don’t give up!” The Doctor rolled his eyes. “I told you, there’s nothing you can—“ He doubled over in pain and groaned. Stepping back a bit, the Doctor’s expression was contorted into absolute agony. He gripped his head and cried out in pain. The force that pinned Applejack was gone and the forcefield that encased the girls disappeared. “N-NO! DON’T—AHH!!” he was screaming so loudly, so painfully that Applejack needed to force herself not to cry. “AJ! Now!” Twilight cried. Applejack understood. She leapt to her hooves and ran around the Doctor, heading to the lever that controlled the ventilation. She threw it and the TARDIS hummed, the sounds of a giant fan turning on filled the room. It was on… but the Doctor remained the same. He was still writhing in pain but Nightmare Moon hadn’t left yet. Then it happened. Nightmare Moon’s “skin” appeared. It looked like another layer to the Doctor’s actual body that when it peeled off, his real face was revealed. It was grotesque and gruesome, seeing a second layer of skin peel off from the Doctor as he writhed in agony. The skin, Nightmare Moon’s aura, was alive, Applejack decided. It desperately tried to cling on to the Doctor but kept recoiling back, almost in fear. “I… WILL… HAVE YOU!” Nightmare Moon screeched in the Doctor’s voice. “No.” Applejack straightened and glared at Nightmare Moon. “YA WON’T!” Applejack sprinted toward Nightmare Moon and almost regretted what she was about to do. She heard Twilight yelling in the background but didn’t register her voice until she had already leapt and tackled Nightmare Moon. Her skin tingled and glowed gold upon contact with Nightmare Moon. They burst into a brilliant light completely concealing the pair, though the sound of Nightmare Moon roaring in perpetual pain echoed throughout the whole TARDIS. When the light died, the girls ran up to the Doctor. He was back to normal, it seemed, there wasn’t any trace of Nightmare Moon left. “Look!” Ditzy pointed up at the purple aura that floated to the ceiling, it was weak and slow-moving, the remains of Nightmare Moon’s consciousness. Suddenly, the aura was dragged upward and passed through the vents and properly ejected out of the TARDIS. Twilight sighed in relief as she tended to Applejack who was lying beside the Doctor. She felt her forehead, absolutely freezing but she began to warm up. The TARDIS turned on completely, the engines running idly, lighting up the room. “What happened?” Trixie asked. “There was a light from Applejack…” Twilight shook her head. Of course she knew, she was from the future she knew pretty much everything at this point but she couldn’t bear to mention it. The things she saw and did. Twilight caressed Applejack’s cheek and the farmpony sighed contently, tilting her head closer to her hoof. “Spoilers,” she said in a ragged voice and to Pinkie, Twilight looked much older than she was at that moment. “We have to get out of here,” Trixie suggested, looking at Twilight and Ditzy who were both concerned with Applejack and the Doctor respectively. “He cannot meet us now, especially not Twilight.” Ditzy hesitated, looking at the Doctor’s sleeping face as if she were trying to memorize every detail. She touched his face tentatively but then stood up and nodded. “We should leave before the Doctor wakes up.” Twilight looked conflicted, her eyes flitting back and forward from Trixie to Applejack but finally she sighed and stood as well. “Alright… let’s go.” “Wait, what’ll I do?” asked Pinkie. “They’ll be fine,” promised Twilight. “Nightmare Moon is gone now, all you need to do is be there when they wake up and explain everything. But remember—“ “Nothing about us,” chimed in Trixie. “Especially about Twilight and the future Doctor.” “Or me and Trixie,” Ditzy said. “He hasn’t met us yet.” “That’s a lot of things not to say,” Pinkie complained, holding her head. “They’ll think it was a dream,” Twilight explained. “Just say that you and AJ saved the Doctor, just not the how.” “But—“ “We must go,” Trixie complained, taking Ditzy by the hoof and running back to the other TARDIS. Twilight looked pained but she hugged Pinkie Pie so tightly, like she was afraid she wouldn’t see her again. Pinkie enjoyed the hug and giggled as Twilight breathed on her neck. “Everything will be alright, I promise,” she said, her voice cracking. “Just… Just keep being you, Pinkie. Past me and your Doctor will need you more than we realize.” She broke the hug, giving Pinkie a sad smile. “Give past me a hug like this, okay?” Pinkie nodded, crossing her heart with her hoof and gently poking her eye. “I Pinkie Promise.” Twilight thanked Pinkie, hugged her again, and ran off to the TARDIS. A moment later, the TARDIS engines ran and the machine disappeared out of sight. The hole in the wall led out to the deepest part of space was still there but the TARDIS instantly repaired it like it was new, Pinkie couldn’t tell where the hole was anymore. She looked at her sleeping friends and resisted the urge to cry. Instead, she wiped her eyes and ran down the basement part of the console and grabbed two pony-sized wagons. “If you’re going to sleep,” she said quietly. “Sleep in a nice, warm bed.” Ten minutes later, the Doctor and Applejack were set up in beds in a large room within the TARDIS interior. Pinkie had found the room at random but it worked out since there were about a dozen beds set up. At first she thought this must’ve been an infirmary or something given the multitude of beds and the sterile scent of antibiotics, but then she saw the pictures. There were hundreds of various pictures on the walls of creatures Pinkie didn’t comprehend. A majority of them had big, flat faces with small noses and lips and stood up on their hind legs so they looked like bipedal apes. But then Pinkie remembered a conversation she had with the Doctor once. It was about a week after he visited and she had asked him where he came from. The Doctor wasn’t keen to answering that. “A place very far from here,” he said cryptically. “Were there ponies there as well?” she had asked. The Doctor frowned and shook his head. “Yes, but they weren’t like you. None of them spoke the same language as the native folks.” Pinkie felt a little sad, not because there weren’t talking ponies back where he was from but he looked so sad when he brought up the natives, so she asked, “What were they like?” He hesitated for a moment, pulling off his glasses and staring off into the distance somewhere like remembering a long, lost memory. “They were marvelous. So curious and inventive, so insane at some moments and so… human!” “Human?” she repeated. He said that word before but she never knew what it meant. “Is that a type of fruit?” The Doctor laughed and shook his head. “They were creatures that populated one of my favorite planets. You know, you lot remind me so much of them it’s uncanny…” Those must be the humans he was talking about. Pinkie was looking at the humans he was friends with back home.  They didn’t all look the same, there were some that Pinkie wasn’t even sure was human. But they all looked happy, smiling at the camera or making silly expressions, a joyous moment captured forever in time. “My friends.” Pinkie wasn’t surprised when she heard the Doctor speak. She calmly looked at him, he was wide-awake, lying in his bedsheets with a sad look in his eyes. “The best of me.” He looked at the pictures wistfully, like he could remember when they were taken. “They look happy,” Pinkie remarked, following the Doctor’s eyesight to a picture of a blonde woman with a wide grin on her face and an expression that said, Well, take the picture! “They were,” he answered bitterly. “What happened?” The Doctor turned and tried to get out of bed but he winced and stiffened up, still unable to move properly. Pinkie ran to his side and helped him up and he accepted reluctantly. “Doctor—“ “We should get going,” he said weakly. “Even if Nightmare Moon is gone, we need to leave this place and get home. Applejack needs to get back home, she needs—“ “Doctor, stop.” Pinkie stood in front of the Doctor, stopping him in his tracks. Her bright blue eyes were fixed with determination. “You need to get to bed.” “What I need is to get back to the console,” the Doctor snapped. His face was beaded with sweat and his cheeks were flushed but his tone was steely. “And get home. There you’ll be safe and won’t end up as a photograph on a wall!” He tried to push past Pinkie but either his reluctance to do so or his already weakened state didn’t allow him to do it. The Doctor weakly tried to shove Pinkie on the shoulder but couldn’t muster it. His eyes were so sad, so filled with anger that Pinkie stepped aside and allowed the Doctor to walk past her. Pinkie followed as he left the room and headed for the control room. “Doctor, wait,” she called. “What happened to your friends? There were so many of them! You’ve got so many friends it’s unbelievable! What—“ “They’re gone!” the Doctor finally snapped, turning on his heels and glaring at Pinkie. His golden eyes were so sad and old and rimmed with tears. “Gone! Either too far from me or dead. Turned into dust because that’s all you lot do. You live and die and I go buggering on.” The pain in his voice tore at Pinkie’s heart, how could somepony with so many friends be so lonely? “They move on with their lives, like they’re supposed to but in the end it’s all the same,” he continued, maintaining his cold glare. “Every time, they break my hearts. I try to be different every time, every time I promise myself to be different but… it happens one way or another. That’s why, for your sake, you need to get away. Live your life peacefully and forget me, Pinkie. I don’t need another ghost following me.” The two stood in silence for a few moments. Twilight’s words echoed in Pinkie’s head, Past me and your Doctor will need you more than we realize. She stepped forward and gave the Doctor a tight, warm hug. The Time Pony was surprised at the comforting act but didn’t push away and hugged her back. “That’s the point,” Pinkie said, tears falling from her eyes. “That’s why we make friends, for a brief moment of happiness but the sad parts don’t overshadow the good ones. You’ve got so many friends, including us, and that isn’t going to change, Doctor.” She broke the hug and smiled tearfully at the Time Lord. “I know for a fact that none of your friends would agree with what you said.” The Doctor chuckled under his breath as numerous past companions went through his mind. All of them would unanimously agree with Pinkie. With perhaps a few exceptions, none of them would think their time spent with that eccentric Time Lord wasn’t worth the pain. “How did you stop Nightmare Moon?” Pinkie asked. The Doctor paled slightly as he shook his head, but Pinkie continued. “She had already possessed you and was, well, really scary. So how? She looked terrified of something and tried to run away…” The Doctor stared at Pinkie for a few seconds, his eyes so heavy with grief. “Nightmare Moon focuses on the bad dreams, that’s her shtick. She makes you relive bad memories to break your mind. So, that’s what I did. I gave her every bad memory of mine, every single black day.” Pinkie remembered how horrified Nightmare Moon was. Something so bad that it scared that monster away like that? Pinkie shuddered to think about that but couldn’t help but recall the collective dream they shared. “I remember,” Pinkie admitted, frowning slightly as the memories of Gallopfrey came back to her mind. The memories of that Time Lord dying in Arcadia filled her heart with ice. “I remember Gallopfrey, Doctor. You were… happy.” The Doctor grimaced and looked away, suddenly interested in his hooves. Of course she remembered, as if things weren’t awkward enough. “I remember the Daleks,” she continued. “Nightmare Moon gave me a dream where I was one of the Time Lords in Arcadia and…” Her voice faltered and panic swelled in her chest. The Doctor placed a hoof on her shoulder and calmed her down considerably. “It’s best you forget that, Pinkie. It’s just a bad dream.” Pinkie shook her head. “I can’t, it’s your home, Doctor. Or… was…” She swallowed nervously. “What.. what happened to Gallop—er, Gallifrey?” The Doctor sighed as he sat down, his hind legs becoming stiff and sore from standing up so long. Pinkie sat as well, watching the Time Lord’s expression become pained and sad. How on earth could he explain everything to Pinkie so easily? “There was a war,” the Doctor began. “Against my people, the Time Lords, and a race called the Daleks. You’ve seen them in your nightmare but they’re more horrible than you can imagine…” For close to a few hours, the Doctor calmly explained everything to Pinkie Pie. The events of the Last Great Time War and his involvement in it and everything that proceeded. The two spoke for hours on end and although the Doctor was initially hesitant he was happy to have opened up once again.