Doctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sisters
By: Gandalf158
Chapter 1: Veni
The Princess’s tent was large, almost as big as the TARDIS’s control room. Inside were a dozen guards, two groups of three wandering around, keeping an eye on the multitude of other ponies dashing to and from the tent to the battlefield, the others flanking the makeshift throne set up at the dead center of the southern wall. Sitting upon the throne was a large, regal looking white alicorn with a long, trailing rosy pink mane that flowed around as if in a breeze, but there wasn’t a draft to be found in the tent. She smiled down at the Doctor, as if greeting an old friend for the first time after a long absence.
“Doctor, you’ve finally arrived. Though, I suspect you won’t remember the promise you made to me all those years ago, you did say it wouldn’t have happened for you yet..” the Doctor should’ve been used to meetings like this, but they still freaked him out.
“I don’t know what I’ve told you, or what I will tell you in the future, but I can’t get involved with this.” the Doctor said.
“You told me that you would be very resistant at first, that you would tell me that you can’t intervene in this war because it is a set point in time, but you also said that it is a set point in time, and you must make sure everything happens as it was meant to.”
The Doctor thought about it for a moment, what could he have promised her? What could be happening that he would have to intervene to keep the set point in motion? What could be so important that he would get involved in another war? He didn’t like this situation, not one bit.
“What do you mean by that? Why do I have to make sure everything happens as it was meant to be?” he asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
She chuckled, “Because, Doctor, we are facing a threat from beyond the stars, and you are somewhat of an expert in these matters.”
“Somewhat of an expert? Somewhat an expert? Your Majesty, I can tell you that I am, beyond any inkling of a shadow of a doubt, that I am the unequivocal king of facing threats from beyond the stars. I am the Doctor, and how can I help?” he asked, smiling broadly.
“But you just said we couldn’t get involved!” Vinyl said, confusion and irritation evident on her finally recovered face.
“Yes, but things have just become much more complicated. How may I be of service to you, Princess?”
The white alicorn smiled and chuckled. She nodded her head towards one of the ponies in the room, a purple unicorn stallion with a long beard and a strange, bell-covered hat. The bearded mage trotted over to the Doctor and took a knee.
“This is my court wizard, Starswirl the Bearded. He will tell you everything you’ll need to know, as well as providing any assistance you may need.” the Princess said, gesturing at the kneeling stallion.
He rose up, looked the Doctor in the eye, and spoke, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Doctor. If you’ll come with me, there is something that you need to see.” he began to walk away, gesturing for the Doctor and company to follow.
He lead them out of the tent through a side flap and out into the field. He kept walking towards the mountains to the east. He walked silently, periodically checking to make sure the three ponies were still following him. He wouldn’t answer when the Doctor asked him where they were going. Eventually, the Doctor gave up and turned to his companions.
“So, no concert, but this certainly is exciting! What do you think Beardy is dragging us out here to see?” he asked them, an eager grin on his face.
They both shrugged, “Aren’t you the alien expert out of the three of us?” Octavia asked, nudging him in the shoulder.
“I don’t know! New universe, new species. This should be very interesting…”
“It’s through there, Doctor.” they had stopped near the entrance to a hidden valley, which Starwswirl was gesturing towards, “Be cautious, it has a tendency to drive people insane.”
The Doctor trotted forward, totally ignoring Starswirl’s warning. Octavia and Vinyl hesitated, but followed him into the valley after a moment. Upon further inspection, the valley was more of a crater, with a large, black, stone in the center. The Doctor walked up to it, being careful not to touch it. Vinyl and Octavia looked on in trepidation behind him.
“What is it, Doctor?” Octavia said, looking at her reflection in the glassy stone.
“It’s a meteorite, it probably landed here a few hundred years ago.” he began scanning it, “Hmm...my screwdriver’s having trouble telling what it’s made of, maybe some element we don’t have back home?” he was thinking out loud by that point, and Starswirl the Bearded had joined them, looking at the rock in fear.
The Doctor looked over to the robed wizard, “Starswirl, you said this rock has a tendency to drive people mad, what did you mean by that?”
“I meant exactly what I said, the last pony to touch that rock went insane. Then she started a war with her big sister.” he said, his face twisted momentarily in grief.
“Ah, well then. Girls, take a few steps back, best not to take any chances with the strange rock from space with a tendency to drive you insane.” they did as he asked, and he turned back towards the stone, “But how, I wonder?”
He took a step further and squinted at his reflection in the stone, “Well, who’s that supposed to be then?”
“That’s you, Doctor.”
“Really?” he gave his reflection the once-over, “That’s what I look like?”
“You mean you don’t know?” Starswirl asked, confused by the pony Time Lord.
“It’s been a long few hours.” he turned to Starswirl, “Do you know anything else about this stone?”
“No. After what happened to Princess Luna, we haven’t let anypony into the valley. It was just too dangerous.”
The Doctor stepped closer to the stone, squinting at it, trying to pry some detail from it to give him a clue as to what exactly it was. He could tell it was no mere stone, it was too perfectly formed for that. But neither were there any tool marks, nor markings of any kind.
“Remarkable,” the Doctor said, raising a forehoof and reaching out towards the stone, “it’s almost like-” his hoof came into contact with the stone, and everything went black.
When he came to his senses, he looked around at his surroundings. He was sitting in what seemed to be a control room. There were what looked like pilot’s chairs spread out around him, each one with a screen covered in rapidly changing symbols.
He stepped over to one of the consoles, and began to read the swirling symbols, “Oh, that isn’t good. Not very good at all…”