//------------------------------// // Under the Veil // Story: The Adventures of Doctor Whooves: Series 1 // by Time Pony Victorious //------------------------------// The Garden, Perciwing, Ceres Galaxy 89th of Summer, 8:00am, 4000 L.R. (The Republic of Princess Luna) Fluttershy gasped as a whole new world opened up before her. Green grass stretched from her hooves to seemingly forever, a bright sun shined its rays down on them, covering the landscape in a beautiful spectrum of colors, large wispy trees reached the skies, a massive mountain range peered over the horizon and to the east was a river so clear she could see the bottom. And the animals, oh, the animals. There were dozens upon hundreds of animals of all sorts. Fluttershy recognized flying squirrels, bunnies, bears, giraffe, dogs, everything living harmoniously together. Tears welled up in her eyes as the idyllic scenery was too much for her to bear. She hugged the Doctor suddenly and the Time Lord chuckled as he hugged her back. “Welcome to the Garden,” he said breaking the hug and extending his foreleg across the landscape. “The biggest sanctuary in the universe!” “It’s wonderful,” Fluttershy said, unable to keep her excitement contained. She wondered if this is how Pinkie Pie felt all the time, just ready to explode and burst out in a smile that was a mile long. The Doctor grinned alongside her, he held out his foreleg for the shy pegasus and she took it tentatively and together the duo stepped out and entered the Garden. It was the most wonderful place Fluttershy had ever seen. Honestly, she thought Canterlot gardens was beautiful but this beat it by light-years. There were so many animals and plants that Fluttershy nearly got dizzy trying to count them all. Despite the large number of animals, there was a sweet scent that seemed to travel with the duo. It reminded Fluttershy of home, not her home in Ponyville, but her fillyhood home. It was a sweet scent of ozone mixed with jasmine that her mother adored and spread throughout the house making Fluttershy feel warm and cozy. She could practically feel her mother’s hoof against her forehead for when she got sick… The Doctor held her by the shoulders and straightened her as the pegasus nearly fell over, dazed from her unusually powerful memory. He chuckled, his golden eyes twinkling playfully. “Whoa there, don’t want you dozing off.” “I…” Fluttershy blinked, slightly confused and yawned so loudly and widely that a nearby bear mimicked the action. “Oh my, I’m sorry, that was rude.” “Not as rude as this,” the Doctor reached over to Fluttershy’s mane and she winced, thinking he was going to pluck one of her hairs but instead pulled back and showed her a shiny purple orb, like a seed. “It looks like a variation of psychic pollen.” The Doctor brandished his sonic and began scanning it. “It appears designed to induce sleep through powerful memories produced by sensory overload via psychokinetic connection…” Fluttershy tilted her head quizzically. The Time Lord sighed. “It puts you to sleep, it isn’t particularly harmful, though I’ve come across a stronger variant a long time ago, but just in case let’s just make sure you don’t have any on you.” He ran his sonic over Fluttershy and her skin buzzed slightly from the sensation. “You said you’ve seen that before,” Fluttershy said as the Doctor ordered her to stick her tongue out. “A very long time ago,” he answered cryptically. “Let’s just say it was a bit of a nightmare.” “How do you get rid of it?” The Doctor pocketed his sonic and smiled but it was a very sad smile. Fluttershy saw pain in his eyes, he tried to mask it with his cheerful demeanor but it was just a fake. “Through extreme measures,” he answered. “But for these, we just do this.” He tossed the pollen into the air where it was carried away by the breeze. “Now then,” he said with a smile that seemed more genuine. “Talley-ho.” They walked down a beaten and weathered path enjoying the sights. Whenever an animal approached, Fluttershy would cheerfully greet them and they would always respond back. A flock of bluebirds had appeared, fluttering around her head, and weaved flowers into her mane. They attempted to do the same to the Doctor, but the Time Lord waved them off. “Sorry, no touchy,” he told them. Fluttershy stopped to have a friendly conversation with a few mice and a grizzly bear. They asked her how she arrived here. “Oh, my friend the Doctor”—she gestured at the Time Lord—“Brought me here in his ship.” The Doctor was smiling at her with an amused expression, Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her mane, suddenly self-conscious. While the Doctor rarely hung out with Fluttershy, he was more than aware of her ability to communicate with animals, but Fluttershy barely had the chance to display that ability to him. Suddenly, it felt like Fluttershy was on display, vulnerable and raw to the Doctor’s scrutiny. “You’re the only one who can speak to animals like that?” the Doctor asked. Fluttershy timidly nodded. “I’m not certain why I’m so different but yes.” The Time Pony leaned back, taking in the information and Fluttershy thought she had ruined her chance at appearing normal to him. He probably was about to call her a freak or something, a pegasus who can barely fly and loves animals and nature? Weirdo! “Impressive,” he remarked, grinning. “You lot always manage to surprise me every day.” Fluttershy let out the breath she was holding and blinked in confusion at the Doctor. A smile appeared on her face as the realization of his acceptance dawned on her. It was such a relief not to be thought of as a freak, all of her other friends agreed with the Doctor’s sentiment but he seemed more… accommodating. As if he were used to being the weird one to everyone he knows. “Back in your universe, was an ability like mine common?” Fluttershy asked. The Doctor shook his head. “Sometimes. Some animals were psychically gifted but it was mostly the humans that stifled that process. As brilliant as they were, they were a thick lot, they thought they were the centers of the universe.” “Oh, so you can speak to animals too?” “Over here it’s a bit harder,” the Doctor admitted. “I gather the general gist but it’s muddled, I wonder if it’s my pony body, because when I was back home I could speak to loads of animals. Mostly though, it was horsesssss—“ The Doctor stared wide-eyed at Fluttershy as he elongated the S sound of that word awkwardly for a few moments. After he was done, he sheepishly cleared his throat. “Sorry about that…” Fluttershy shook her head, her expression puzzled. “No, you’re fine. What is so offensive about the word horse?” The Doctor blinked and tilted his head. “Twilight informed me that the word was offensive, like a slur, in the olden days. It was one of the worst insults you could call somepony.” Fluttershy smiled and the Doctor stared at her quizzically. “What?” “Now you’re finally getting it,” Fluttershy remarked, still smiling. The Doctor broke out in a broad grin and laughed victoriously. “Only took me a few life-or-death situations but I’ve got it, ha!” The pegasus giggled at the Doctor’s triumphant roars which the nearby weasels attempted to emulated. “As to your concern, yes, the term was offensive but it’s an archaic insult.” “Like scullion,” the Doctor offered. Fluttershy nodded. “It was used to insult somepony’s heritage, like mixed races between pegasi, unicorns or earth ponies or even zebras and donkeys. The elites never considered them to be as good as them, to them they were uncultured swine.” The Doctor frowned. “So, some things never change… What about you, what were your parents like?” “My mom is an earth pony, my dad a pegasus,” Fluttershy answered. “Mom’s a doctor and dad’s a military general.” “Can’t say you take after your father then,” the Doctor remarked. Fluttershy laughed. “Surprisingly enough, I do. Mom was always sort of scary and difficult to approach whereas dad is quieter and soft-spoken. Apparently, I’m as stubborn as mom.” The Doctor tried to imagine Fluttershy dressed in military apparel, it was surprisingly difficult. Fluttershy’s affinity toward earth-ponies must have been due to her mother, but what about her fear of heights? Fluttershy’s stare broke the Doctor’s concentration. She was looking at him with those big sad eyes, her lips slightly pursed in concentration, the Doctor figured that was Fluttershy’s thinking face. “Yes? Is there something on my face?” The pegasus blanched, her eyes widened in surprise and she shyly averted her eyes. “Sorry,” she mumbled, “It’s just… I’ve been meaning to ask, Doctor. What did Applejack mean about drums in her head? When she mentioned it, you looked scared… like you had seen a ghost.” The Doctor grimaced and Fluttershy would’ve began whimpering under his scrutiny but thank goodness he stared out into the horizon, glaring at the sun. “She’s ill,” he answered. “It isn’t something she won’t be able to recover from. But the drums… Reminded me of a darker time.” Fluttershy waited for the Doctor to elaborate but he remained quiet which she took as a cue to continue petting the animals. Although it was merely a question, Fluttershy felt like she narrowly avoided danger. She never knew how dangerous a simple question was. The Time Pony continued glaring at the sun until he raised his hoof cautiously, pointing it out in front of him. “What… do you think that is?” At first Fluttershy thought it was a tornado. Harsh winds whipped around cyclonically, the cobalt skies were colored blood-red and thunder rumbled through the valley. The animals began to panic as they ran away from the storm system then Fluttershy noticed something odd. It was way too perfect to be a tornado, if that makes sense. The rotation was pristine and tight, much too perfect too be a regular tornado. “I’m… not sure,” Fluttershy admitted. The “tornado” was so tall it touched the skies and so wide that it could probably take out Ponyville in one go, but it was perfectly crimson. Then she finally noticed. “Is that…” “Yep,” the Doctor said grimly. “So much for peaceful. Come on!” Fluttershy really didn’t want to fly into the tornado but the Doctor insisted. “At the rate it’ll take us to run to it, we’ll be too late!” the Time Pony reasoned. “If you fly into it, however…” “I’m not a weather pony though!” Fluttershy had to yell over the deafening winds. “My—my wings aren’t strong enough to—“ “Of course they are!” the Doctor interrupted. “With enough motivation and drive, you can do anything! If we can’t stop this tornado then what of the animals?” Fluttershy looked to her left and right as the animals continued to stampede away from the tornado. There were so many of them, if they got caught in the tornado… The pegasus shook her head, getting rid of those horrible thoughts and fixed a look of determination on her face. “Okay,” she said, barely above a whisper and ten times as inaudible in the wake of this storm but the Doctor got the gist. “But, Doctor… This tornado, it’s…” “I know,” the Doctor said, glumly staring out at the tornado. It wasn’t a typical column of air and was strange even to the Doctor’s standards. The entire structure was rust-red and whipped around violently, blowing up dust to obscure what was hidden inside. Hundreds upon thousands of birds were flying in a perfect rotation producing the violent storm. The Doctor grimaced, as far as he knew avian species in this universe weren’t nearly strong enough to produce a violent tornado like this, and judging from Fluttershy’s reaction he was horribly correct in his assumption. Fluttershy all but whimpered when she saw the tornado of birds, she was reminded of the day the Ponyville pegasi were tasked to produce a tornado of their own to send water up to Cloudsdale but this was different. The pony-made tornado was controlled (in a manner of speaking) and regulated, this was wild and untamed and violent. “See if you can communicate with them!” the Doctor yelled. “I’m going to try something.” “What?” “Something stupid,” he grumbled, sprinting toward the tornado. The Carousel Boutique, Ponyville, Equestria 47th of Summer, 12pm, 1002 C.R. Sweetie Belle peeked a glance down the stairs and into the main room where Rarity was. She was walking up and down the length of the room, scrutinizing half a dozen ponikins with her latest designs draped over their bodies. Her work glasses was sideways on her face and the length of measuring tape haphazardly reached her hooves but she didn’t appear to care or notice. The filly tilted her head sideways as she paid more attention to the actual clothes. They weren’t part of a particular line, as far as she could guess, it certainly wasn’t for summer either. It looked more like a personal commission and probably designed for a stallion. For one thing, they were stout and designed for a bulkier figure, and secondly they looked completely different from one another. One of them was a shimmering silver spandex outfit with a black mask over the face, another was a tuxedo with a tiny black bowtie, another was a bright red and blue ensemble with an Hourglass design on the lapel. They were completely random! Sweetie Belle’s knowledge of fashion was about as tenuous as her abilities in magic and as tangible as her cutie mark acquisition but even she knew that those outfits were hardly fashionable. Rarity’s ears perked up and like a snake nearing its target she whipped around to the stairs to find… nothing there. “Strange,” Rarity murmured. “Felt like somepony was watching me.” Sweetie Belle had ducked behind the wall just moments before Rarity spotted her, no doubt if her sister caught her she’d task the Crusader with arduous jobs. She loved her sister and all but Rarity perfectionist nature wasn’t always appreciated. Like a ninja in the dark, Sweetie Belle quietly walked up the stairs then swiftly into the nearby wall and swore about her aching horn. She rolled into her room earning a few strange looks from Scootaloo and Applebloom the latter of which was still dressed in her impromptu doctor’s uniform. “She didn’t notice me,” Sweetie Belle relayed in a hushed tone. “Good, wait, why are we whispering?” Scootaloo asked in a similarly quiet voice. “Ah really think Ah should get back t’ Applejack,” Applebloom whispered as well. “She didn’t look so good…” “That’s why we’re here,” Sweetie Belle insisted. “To figure out what’s wrong with her.” “Wouldn’t it be, like, easier if we were with the patient?” Scootaloo asked. “We aren’t exactly Dr. House.” “There’s something fishy going on or my name is Clarabelle,” Sweetie said. “And it’s not.” “What’dya mean?” Applebloom asked. “You said AJ went off chasing Time Turner and Pinkie Pie after they pranked her.” Applebloom nodded. “Then she’s gone for a few days and comes back sick as a dog?” Scootaloo tilted her head and placed a hoof to her chin. “But I thought she went to the Crystal Empire, maybe she caught something there.” “It’s just weird,” Sweetie Belle continued. “AJ never leaves without notice, not since last time when she couldn’t win first place at that rodeo.” “Oh, don’t remind me…” Applebloom muttered glumly. “I think there’s something going on, something to do with Mr. Time Turner,” Sweetie Belle summed up. The two fillies waited, breaths held at the prospect of this no-doubt life-changing, concise and amazing conclusion to Sweetie Belle’s paranoid ranting. “He’s an alien,” she declared proudly. Sweetie Belle’s expression flared up in a proud, confident smile as her friends proportionally deflated at the unimpressive declaration. Scootaloo sat on her rump while Applebloom rubbed her head, confused as to why she’s over here rather than helping out her sister. “Really? That’s the best you’ve got?” Scootaloo deadpanned. “He definitely is an alien!” Sweetie Belle all but shrieked. “Just look at his bowtie.” “Mr. Turner is weird,” agreed Applebloom, now seriously mulling the idea over to Scootaloo’s surprise. “See!” “But not alien weird,” the farmpony amended. “Grown-ups are always weird, like Pinkie Pie.” “Yeah, and even she didn’t appreciate when we tried to find out if she was an alien,” mumbled Scootaloo. “He’s definitely an alien,” Sweetie Belle insisted with the stubbornness that could rival Applejack. “There’s something off about him. I know it!” “What do you suggest?” Scootaloo asked. Applebloom shook her head, scrunching up her expression in absolute shock. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna go along with this?!” “There is something weird with him,” Scootaloo said. “Whether or not it’s alien weird we can decide later.” “Exactly!” smiled Sweetie Belle, draping her foreleg over Scootaloo’s shoulders and the duo practically had glowing halos over their heads. “What do ya say, ‘Bloom? Cutie Mark Crusader Alien Hunters?” Applebloom frowned, conflicted over her sisterly affection and worry toward Applejack and yet enraptured by the prospect of finding and capturing a real-life alien! She rubbed her chin in consideration and her two best friends strained their smiles to the limit. “Alright, fine, Ah guess we can—“ “YAY!” Scootaloo and Sweetie roared causing Applebloom’s ears to ring slightly for a few seconds. The farmpony briefly wondered if that’s what it felt like to be on the receiving end of the Crusaders’ enthusiasm. “But…” she hissed, keeping her voice down. “We’ve got to be all quiet like. Rarity can’t catch us.” “She’s busy,” Sweetie Belle relayed. “She won’t notice.” “But,” chimed Scootaloo in with a smile. “Just in case… Stealth mode activate.” With the practiced vision of a scientist, Rarity scrutinized her latest works and frowned as she spotted a microscopic mistake on the outfit to the far right. Adjusting her glasses, Rarity stormed up to the ponikin, angry that it had the nerve to mar her immaculate technique perfected with time and practice. Rarity fixed the little mistake with the elegance and grace one would expect from the fashionista and stepped back to observe her work. There wasn’t any evidence that Rarity did anything to “fix” it but she smiled as if it were now perfect; artists were weird that way. While the outfit wasn’t the most subtle thing in the world and a product of Rarity’s overactive imagination fueled by a sugar frenzy from Sugarcube Corner, she quite liked it. It was Mercury silver and so shiny and reflective that Rarity had to squint when she looked at it, she should probably consider a warning label like, “Warning: May Cause Blindness and Fabulousness”. It was form-fitting and tight over the pony’s barrel, even considering the Doctor’s lithe figure, and emblazoned with tiny silver Hourglass designs that could only be observed with a magnifying glass. It didn’t cover the flank well considering Rarity ran out of cloth halfway through. The cloth was fashioned from a dangerous material: Lethean fabric. It was created from superheated water from the Lethe River, it was so dangerous that ponies couldn’t touch it directly or they would lose their memories. Only dragons could touch the water and not be affected by its magic (thank you Spike!) and once it was boiled in a volcano only then could it be manipulated by ponies. It took ages but Rarity was able to produce a fabric from it, it took a lot of magic, dragon fire, and rubber chickens (don’t ask) but she was able to do it. The fabric was absurdly durable, water-proof, fire-proof and as thick as a dragon’s scale. Unfortunately, it also meant it was near impossible to change the color. Perhaps Twilight had a spell powerful enough to manipulate the fabric, but if not, the Doctor would have to settle for sticking out like a black-eye, or silver-eye, if you will. Rarity giggled to herself at her little joke, completely captivated in her work that she didn’t notice the three worst ninjas in the world sneaking around behind her. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle awkwardly scuttled around, trying not to trip over their own hooves, while remaining as quiet as possible which wasn’t easy considering how often they bumped into each other and swore under their breaths. “Ugh, how are you supposed to see out of this?!” Scootaloo grumbled, tugging at her Balaclava mask which, unfortunately, covered her eyes and wasn’t designed for stealth. It was the color of Scootaloo’s fur, bright orange, which matched her form-fitting “stealth” outfit that was neon-orange and sky-blue. “Ah don’t think yer supposed to,” mumbled Applebloom as she knocked her hoof into the wall, swearing up and down from the pain but managing to keep quiet. Her mask was apple-red and, again, covered Applebloom’s eyes as if it were designed for someone with a head theoretically three-times the size of the farmpony. Her outfit was honey-yellow and had crudely drawn apples stitched into it. “Oh shush,” Sweetie Belle hissed, hoping her alabaster mask concealed her embarrassed blush. Her own outfit was bright purple and designed perfectly fine… if she had an extra leg sprouting from her neck. “It was the best I had in such short notice.” “It isn’t exactly stealthy,” Scootaloo remarked. “And plus, Ah’ve seen you workin’ on this for weeks—“ “Just, shh,” Sweetie Belle shushed her friends and pushed them by the flanks out the front door of the boutique. Once her friends were out the door, Sweetie Belle tried to follow with but her hypothetically fifth leg tripped her up and she fell to the ground like a sack of apples. With bated breath and trepidation, Sweetie Belle cowered and waiting for her sister’s inevitable frothing-at-the-mouth rage and punishment of no dessert for a week… but nothing happened. She looked over her shoulder and noticed that Rarity was still examining her strange outfits. Sweetie Belle frowned, through her mask her expression of perfect confusion was apparent. Grown-ups are weird, she decided. She jumped to her hooves and ran after her friends. “So, where are we checking first?” Scootaloo asked, pulling off her mask and frowning distastefully at it. Applebloom pulled off her mask and fixed her already untamed mane. “Ah’m not sure, where does he even live?” Sweetie Belle removed her mask and fixed her mane with magic. It was the most basic spell she could muster without blowing something up, Rarity herself taught her the spell. “We go ‘round town and investigate.” “Yeah, investigate!” Scootaloo agreed, jumping in the air and fluttering around on her tiny wings. “Wait, that sounds hard.” “No it ain’t,” Applebloom said. “It’s like Fetlock Holmes an’ Dr. Trotson, private detectives. We go ‘round and search for clues.” Sweetie Belle gave Applebloom a strange look. “How do you know about them?” Applebloom blushed. “Ah like to read. Rarity gave Applejack th’ entire Fetlock Holmes collection. She reads them t’ me before bed.” Sweetie Belle nodded as if she understood. “I read them as well. Have you reached The Valley of Fear?” “No, but Ah hear that Fetlock—“ “If we can stop this egghead convention for a few seconds,” Scootaloo interrupted with a deadpan expression. “Perhaps we can get to the problem at hoof with this first clue.” They looked over at Scootaloo, finally noticing that she was holding up a flier of sorts. It had a cartoonish drawing of Time Turner with big words in bold that read, TIME TURNER: CLOCKWORK EMPORIUM. “I’m not sure about you,” Scootaloo continued. “But I’m willing to guess he’s here.” ~==~ The Garden, Perciwing, Ceres Galaxy 89th of Summer, 10:00am, 4000 L.R. (The Republic of Princess Luna) If there was an award for Stupidest Ideas, the Doctor would be the King of them. That probably wasn’t how it worked, but the Time Pony hardly cared at the moment. He got Fluttershy to pick him up and fly toward the tornado, to her dismay and reluctance. He was rather surprised at her flying ability. The Doctor thought Fluttershy was so docile a pegasus that she would be a poor flier but she exceeded his expectations by a mile. Not only did Fluttershy maintain herself while flying at such close proximity to a wild tornado they were in spitting-distance of it, she overtook the funnel and plopped the Doctor a few meters in front of it. “Talk to it!” the Doctor told Fluttershy. “I don’t think they’ll listen…” Fluttershy mumbled. “There are too many…” “Make them listen!” the Doctor insisted. “You can do it, Fluttershy! We can’t let this storm get out of hand!” “You mean out of hoof?” “Seriously, now, you want to do that?!” “I’m just saying, Doctor. That’s the expression, if you want to sound like a normal pony then you should—“ “Just, TALK TO IT! I’ve got an idea!” “What is it?” “Okay, I’ll admit, it isn’t an idea, per se. It’s more like a concept of an idea.” “That isn’t very encouraging…” “Fluttershy!” “Oh fine!” Fluttershy turned from the Doctor and faced the tornado for the first time. She tried to ignore the burning fear that gripped her heart and the harsh, knife-like winds that whipped on her face. She tried to channel the bravery of her best friend, Rainbow Dash, imagining what she would do in this situation. She’d probably try to fight the tornado with her bare-hooves. The thought was almost enough to comfort her, but then she remembered that she was too close to this tornado to allow herself a moment of respite. “Um, hello birds.” Good start, always nice to be polite. But the tornado didn’t even hesitate from Fluttershy’s greeting and continued its path, it would soon overwhelm her in mere moments. “I don’t know if you guys noticed, but you’re a tornado.” A few hundred birds shuddered and stopped their rotation, staring at Fluttershy like, What is she doing? But it wasn’t enough to stop the tornado entirely. “You’re causing a lot of damage,” Fluttershy continued, her voice rising in volume with each word. “And you might hurt someone. You need to stop before something bad happens.” Metallic hissing erupted from the tornado and Fluttershy reared back, instinctively covering her ears. It sounded like a knife against a sheet of metal. The rotation slowed enough that Fluttershy could actually make out the birds’ features. They were tiny, the size of ravens, but had red feathers that when they flew around it looked like a streak of blood in the sky. Their eyes were glowing red and gleamed with intelligence, for some reason their beaks and talons were bronze-colored. A few thousand birds, stopped and fixed their laser-like eyes on Fluttershy, the hissing noise continued and with a start Fluttershy realized they were laughing at her. That should’ve scared her that these birds were intelligent enough to grasp the concept of laughter and embarrassment but instead it made her angry. Pick on her, fine, she won’t like it or whatever but she can deal with it. Endanger the lives of other ponies and animals? That was crossing a line. These birds, whatever they were, were smart enough to know what they were doing and didn’t care. Anger bubbled in Fluttershy’s chest and her demure expression changed to an expression of fierce determination. “It’s one thing to want to cause havoc and mayhem everywhere, but you’re putting innocent animals at risk and you don’t care?!” Fluttershy began yelling, a sound so foreign coming from the meek and timid pegasus it was almost unnatural. “What have THEY ever done to you?” she continued, raising her volume more and more causing the birds to slow down and by a pegasus. “What make YOU so special?! So, when I said you have to stop, I mean you have to STOP!” That’s when the birds finally stopped. They jostled slightly midair, confused, and the rotation finally stopped but now Fluttershy had a few thousand, angry birds ready to attack her. They turned their red eyes to her and Fluttershy swore they were seething. “Fluttershy, DOWN!” Fluttershy didn’t even think about it too hard. She curled up in a ball and dove downward, away from the birds just in time for the Doctor to do, well, whatever it is he was doing. A loud, high-pitch screeching noise broke through the cacophony from the birds. It reminded Fluttershy of Sweetie Belle when she hit a particularly high-note except amplified a hundred times. Instantly, the birds screeched in a thousand-part harmony, shuddering in the air violently. They jerked around so sporadically it made Fluttershy’s heart ache to see them in pain, no matter how mean they were being. For some reason, sparks exploded off their tiny bodies and smoke steamed from their mouths and within a few seconds, the birds dropped to the ground completely inert. The high-pitched screeching ceased as well and Fluttershy turned around to see the Doctor holding a metallic box with a broad grin on his face. Anger bubbled in Fluttershy’s throat, not the sort of anger she felt toward the birds; the blind sort of fury that made her feel scared of herself, this anger was one of sadness, like she would easily burst into tears if she started yelling. Still that didn’t stop her. “Doctor!” Fluttershy scolded as loudly as she could. She timidly flapped down to the Time Pony as he was placing his box down and observing his sonic screwdriver, a deep frown set in his features but Fluttershy didn’t register that. “How could you do that to those birds?” The Doctor looked up, distracted then glanced back down at his box. “I’m busy, Fluttershy.” “No!” Fluttershy said, stopping in front of him and trying to be brave though her legs shook. “I don’t know how things work in your universe, but we don’t kill birds no matter how mean they’re being!” “Fluttershy—“ “I thought you were a nice pony, at least from what the girls told me. Bu-but, you’re just a big—“ “Fluttershy,” the Doctor interrupted as firmly and gently as possible. “They weren’t birds, well, not anymore.” The Doctor gestured at the carcasses of the birds behind Fluttershy. She turned and observed them from the first time. A gasp escaped her lips. They weren’t birds exactly, they were but at the same time they were also… metallic and weird-looking. They reminded Fluttershy of the box the Doctor just used to disable them, cold, metallic, and potentially very dangerous. They were part-flesh, part-machine it seemed. Their more fleshy components were contained on the outside, like a shell, while on the inside there was a whole mess of complex machinery and copper wiring. “Whatever remained of their original bodies is long gone now,” the Doctor continued grimly. “They’re no more birds than you are a griffin.” At his last comment, the Doctor scrutinized Fluttershy for a moment as if seriously entertaining the idea that she wasn’t a pegasus but she didn’t pay him any attention, her eyes remained on the birds. She calmly and slowly approached them, the Doctor voiced his concerns but she didn’t hear them. Kneeling by one bird, she held it up in her hoof, the tiny avian was barely bigger than her hoof. It creaked and squeaked weakly. “What happened to them?” she asked quietly. The Doctor exhaled and examined his sonic screwdriver. The readings were incomplete but he already had a few ideas cooking in his mind. “Cybernetics are highly advanced, light-years beyond the capabilities I’ve witnessed in this universe. Instead of fully assimilating the creatures’ minds, it augments it, using it as a foundation of sorts. Like a Cyberman but much weaker, Cyberbird 1.0, perhaps?” Fluttershy didn’t even try to translate the more confusing part of the Doctor’s ramble but one thing was sure, at least. It was alien and it took away the lives of these poor birds. “We need to find the pony responsible for this,” she decided. Normally, the Doctor would be more than excited whenever his companions are so moved by tragedy they set aside their inhibitions to help those in needs but he felt nervous this time around Absentmindedly, he fixed his bowtie and gave Fluttershy a nervous look. “Of course, but there’s no need for you to do anything,” he said softly. “It won’t be safe, I could take you to the TARDIS and you’ll be safe.” “No.” Fluttershy poured all of her determination and emotion in that one word, even managing to impress the ancient Time Pony with a wary smile. She put the bird down and stood up, wiping a tear from her eye. “It was my decision to go with you. If there is something I can do… anything, I want to help, Doctor. Especially if there is somepony out there hurting these poor animals.” She turned around and saw the Doctor smiling broadly at her. “Um, w-what?” “Nothing,” he said, not even trying to wipe that grin off his face. “It’s just I should never forget how… brilliant you lot are.” “Oh. Thank you.” The Doctor laughed as he ruffled up Fluttershy’s mane, earning an uncharacteristic frown and quiet complaint from the pegasus. “You’re right, we need to do something about this because it isn’t the Cyberbird that concerns me, not really. That’s just part one of my concerns.” “What’s part two?” Spinning around suddenly, his jovial expression became grim and serious, his grumpy-face, Fluttershy decided. He pointed to his box which Fluttershy noticed for the first time. “That is part two.” “What is it?” she asked, experimentally poking the box hoping to elicit a response but it just stood there immobile. It was a box, after all. “In simple terms, it’s an amplifier. It’s designed to make my sonic screwdriver louder than normal, which can be really helpful when you’re trying to disable a flock of Cyberbirds with a weak threshold against an amplified sonic frequency.” “Why is it a concern?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head. “It worked right?” “Well, remember when you asked about my plan? It wasn’t really a plan, not really. I only had a sneaking suspicion of what they were and if I was wrong, we wouldn’t be standing here right now.” Fluttershy frowned, trying to follow the Doctor’s erratic and vague train of thought. “So, the fact that you were right and saved us… isn’t a good thing?” “Exactly. Because the only reason I was able to stop them was because I used a certain sonic frequency. Now, it would normally take ages for me to calculate the billion billion combinations to get the right frequency, but… I didn’t have to.” “Doctor,” Fluttershy said, rubbing her head from an impending headache. “Just get to the point, please.” “I only have one other sonic frequency on here that I used at the beginning of this life, when I first met Twilight. It was against the Krynoids.”