Sometimes, we all have to make impossible choices. Choices with almost no good outcomes, no correct solutions. Choices that won’t make everypony happy. Even as an element of magic, and as a princess, I have to make them. Unfortunately, we won’t always get it right and maybe it’s just not possible to get it right. And when we don’t the results can be devastating… and we regret them. We forget that it was necessary, that there was no right answer, and we blame ourselves for what we couldn't do. We blame ourselves for the lives that we ruined upon making that choice. But sometimes… sometimes we do get it right...
...and that’s when miracles can happen.
~~~
Twilight hesitantly made her way over to the controls, the Doctor silently egging her on. Nodding, Twilight tried her best to savor the moment. For so long The Doctor refused to let her study the TARDIS' inner workings. Not only that, but it seemed that the machine itself refused to cooperate with her.
But today was the day, the shields were down, and the irritable time machine had finally allowed Twilight a chance to prove herself. Twilight tentatively touched the closest lever. Just as she touched it, a sudden explosion rocked the interior, the force of which sent Twilight stumbling back over towards the stairs. Instinctively, she tried to spread her wings to stabilize herself. “I told you that the TARDIS doesn't like me!” Twilight screamed, desperately holding on to the railing.
The Doctor ducked as a series of sparks exploded from the top of the console. “That’s not it!” he cried. “It’s a magnetic hover field, and we’ve flown right into it.” Panicking, he ran towards the console and started trying to figure out what to do. “Twilight, stay close to me!”
Twilight tried to move closer, but the constant shaking continued to throw off her balance and her stomach. Putting a hoof to her muzzle she groaned. “Please tell me that there’s a button that you can press to fix this…”
The Doctor continued to hover his hooves over the controls, every so often flipping one to see if it fixed something. “Ohh yeah, big friendly button! I always have one on hoof for situations like this!” he smirked.
Twilight dry heaved and flinched as another set of sparks rained down from above. “Please tell me that you’re telling the truth.”
The Doctor bravely flipped a large switch and waited. An explosion, larger than the previous ones rocked the ship. “Are you panicking?”
“Of course I’m panicking!”
“Then of course I’m going to tell you that I’m telling the truth! Stop panicking first.”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond when a third scream echoed through the console room. She turned just in time to see a large glowing crack form in the side of the room. Soon after forming a familiarly dressed stallion tore his way through. The Doctor, more beat up and injured then the one behind her, locked eyes momentarily before he turned to face himself.
“Doctor! Doctor!” he called out, his screaming mixed with grunts and hisses of pain. “I’m from your future! Aggghh-We haven't got long!” Twilight noticed that whatever that light was that he had traveled through, it was hurting him badly. She deeply wished that she could help him somehow.
The Doctor, the current one, turned to face whoever was calling him. His own face contorted in horror at the sight of himself disintegrating in the light of time. The Doctor in the crack quickly tossed something into the air before disappearing entirely.
“He tossed something.” Holding out her hooves Twilight quickly leaned over the rail to catch it.
“Twilight! Wait!” It was too late, whatever Twilight had caught, it was searing hot and had burned the bottom of her hoof. She dropped it almost immediately, allowing the Doctor himself to pick it up.
Upon seeing what it was, his face erupted into a rather jovial grin. He turned it to face Twilight, who was nursing her hoof. It appeared like a large metal egg with a large grey button at the tip. Someone had written three important words on the side. “Big Friendly Button,” the Doctor giggled. Slamming his hoof on the button, the entire console room lit up in a bright white light and the time machine's engines roared to life.
Eventually, the light faded and Twilight sound herself lying on the cold panel floor of the TARDIS. Sitting up she groaned softly as she sat a hoof to her head. “Why am I so exhausted…?
The Doctor cantered around the TARDIS console with a never-ending grin. Every so often, he would lean over and rub down the glass chamber with a towel. “Well we’ve just had two days crammed into the space of one. I’d be shocked if you weren't.”
Twilight got up and shook off her drowsiness. “What do you mean by that?”
The Doctor playfully sat the cloth he used to wipe the chamber off on her horn. “Ahh I don’t know. I just like to say cool stuff like that. Pay it no mind.” The Doctor turned back to the console and dropped his smile. He hovered his hoof over a button for a few seconds before calling over his shoulder. “...Twilight?”
Twilight frowned and removed the semi-dirty towel from her horn. “Yeah?”
“Do you feel safe?” he asked, not turning to look at her. "Traveling with me, I mean."
She gave him a curious look. “Oh course I--”
The Doctor spun around a interrupted her. “Give me a number! Eleven being… I don’t know, woohoo, and one being arghh, or something funny like that.”
“Doctor,” she chided. She smiled and trotted up to him. “You’re acting weird again.”
The Doctor, however, didn’t smile, not this time. He stared into her eyes with deep concern and care. “I just… I need to know if you feel safe with me.”
Twilight’s own smile fell as she felt the full weight of his questions. No jokes, no weirdness, he was seriously asking her. “Doctor… I-aaghhh!” Once again she fell backwards as the TARDIS tipped to its side. “Oh what’s happening now!”
The Doctor ran back to the central tube to see it starting up. It wasn't like before. There were no explosions or cracks this time. This was time travel shaking. “Well for one thing, I know that you don’t feel safe with me,” he chuckled, his face erupting back into an excited grin. “But otherwise, nothing. Something started the engines!”
Twilight’s magic flared up, and much like the TARDIS, without her permission. “Wait, I feel something,” she announced. She shut her eyes and concentrated on the magic that had anchored itself to her. “This magic... It belongs to Celestia and Luna!”
The Doctor grinned even harder at that information. He quickly ran to the other side of the console and flipped an array of switches. “Then it looks like the adventure’s not over yet, Twilight. You’re going home!”
Suddenly, the entire room tipped completely upside down, sending Twilight flying into the air. The Doctor, however, just laughed and screamed, “Geronimo!”
~~~
“Celestia!” Bursting into the throne room, Luna ran up to her sister who was staring out the window with horror fueled trepidation. She watched as her little ponies ran around rampantly, enemies were resurfacing, buildings were being rebuilt and destroyed over and over again, and everything else outside was nothing but chaos. But the worst part was that there wasn’t anything that she could do.
“I know sister…” Celestia sighed. “But I cannot explain it. I can only guess that this is something beyond our capability.” She turned to her sister with a face full of conviction. “But one thing’s for certain… It’s time to call the Doctor back to Equestria.”
Luna beamed happily for a few seconds, but it soon devolved into a frown. “D-do you think he’ll still be the same as when we last saw him?”
Celestia gave her a soft smile and trotted over to her. Setting a hoof on Luna’s shoulder they locked eyes. “I am sure he will be. But please remember, this is not personal visit. Whatever face he wears, and whatever is happening, I can feel that Equis isn’t the only world that’s in danger. Do you still remember the spell the general taught us?”
Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Once she reopened then, her eyes were full of the same kind of conviction her sister had. “I do.”
Celestia nodded and closed her eyes to focus her magic at the base of her horn. Luna did the same. Both of them continued to suppress their magic while still building it up. “Remember sister. Calling the TARDIS is no easy feat. You must concentrate.”
“I am no child, Tia. I’m well aware that it’ll be a small miracle if he’s even within 500 years of our current timeline. Are you ready?”
Celestia nodded. Both alicorns opened their eyes to reveal that they were pure white. Touching their horns, the duo released an enormous burst of magic. The forces of which were enough to burst the windows and shake the foundations themselves as the sisters filled with a pure translucent light.
“First we need to locate them,” Celestia yelled over the roaring winds. “Try to hone in on Twilight’s magical signature, that’s the Eleventh, the version of him we want.”
"I'd rather have the younger one." Luna grinned despite the immense amount of magic she was channeling. “I found them! 423 years in the future. 20 light years left of the scorpio constellation.”
Celestia mentally locked onto the coordinates and a small ball of light began forming between their horns. “Good, now we have to convince the TARDIS to bring them here. We cannot force her.”
“Done,” Luna’s grin turned into a smirk. “She always did like me more than you.”
“Luna, focus!" ordered Celestia. Slowly, the two sisters distanced themselves from one another, allowing the ball of light to grow in size until it was nearly 6 hooves in diameter and hovering in the air. Lowering their heads they sat the ball on the ground. Soon enough they heard the tell tale sounds of the TARDIS’ wheezing engine.
The mares released their magic and further backed off from the light. They watched in amazement as the legendary machine appeared before them. Fully materialized, the light exploded outwards, fracturing like glass.
Celestia and Luna waited with baited breath for the pony they hoped to see exit the box. Luna especially hoped that it was the one that she fancied. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the door opened and Twilight came sprawling out, dizzy and confused.
Behind her exited the Doctor, seemingly unaffected except for a slightly askew bowtie. Both he, and Luna, seemed slightly upset. “Oi!" he called. "As I’m sure the Brigadier must have told you when he taught you that spell; I don’t like being summoned against my will.” His frown turned back into a smile almost immediately. “Though I must admit that that was a rather smooth journey, considering.”
Twilight took a second to compose herself before glaring back at the Doctor. “Considering what? That I didn’t throw up all over the floor?”
Celestia however, chuckled good naturedly. “Well did you know that Brigadier Leftbridge had an entire squadron of unicorns on his payroll whose specific job was solely to summon you, Doctor?”
“Yeahh that makes sense. Explains the bumpy ride each time.” The Doctor turned his attention to Luna, who was frowning in disappointment. He trotted up to her and threw a leg around her neck. “Oh what’s wrong, Luna? Not happy to see the old boxboy?”
“I wanted the one with the sideburns,” she sulked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and took his leg back to adjust his tie. “Oh please. Sideburns? Everypony likes the sideburns. Well let me tell you, bow ties are much cooler than sideburns.” Luna gave him a small smile.
Having accomplished his job, the Doctor spun around on his hoof to face the centre of the throne room. “Anyway, since you two called me here with what I’m fairly sure is an extremely uncomfortable, and might I say, rather unstable spell that could easily get me thrown into the depths of the time vortex, I can only assume…” he spun back to face them with a manic grin. “that you have something fun for me.”
Celestia shook her head with a disapproving look. “Doctor, I’m glad to see you but this is not a game. Something very wrong is occurring within Equestria and i have a sinking feeling that it is spreading across the cosmos.”
The Doctor gave her a disgusted look. “Oh no, no don’t say “cosmos”. That sounds so… so...” he trailed off as he suddenly began to feel light headed. Almost as though he was about to lose consciousness. Then, all at once, his faculties returned, bringing with them scathes of pain and headache the likes of which he hadn’t felt in a long time. He immediately fell to the ground and clutched his head.
“Aggghh!” he screamed. All of the mares in the room quickly called his name and ran to his side.
“Doctor!” called Twilight cradling his head. “What’s wrong! Tell us?”
“Are you alright, Doctor!” asked Celestia setting a wing over him.
“No… No something is wrong! Something is very, very, very wrong!” The Doctors head began to burn. It felt as if something were squeezing the sides of his head together, squishing his brain.
Hazy visions began to flash in front of his eyes. A pony, a stallion. He was standing in front of a large machine... and he was laughing. A crazed, insane laugh that bore into the Doctor’s mind and even threatened the very safety of reality itself. The Doctor couldn’t tell what hurt his head more, the pony or the machine.
The pony seemed to realize that he was being watched because he suddenly stopped laughing and turned to the Doctor. He even waved. Though he could still not make out his face, he could still tell that he was smiling. “I’m he~re, Doctor! Haaahaaa, I’m right… here!” His voice… it was dark, unhinged. It that was the only way the Doctor could describe it.
“Do you want to see what’s going to happen? I’ll give you a hint.”
The image changed to one of the universe as a whole. In an instant the entirety of it collapsed in on itself. But that was it. There was no explosion, no expansion, nothing. No time, no space. A pure and endless darkness that could put the Vashta Nerada, creatures of pure shadow, to shame. Nothing could survive, but what could possibly produce something so horrible.
The Doctor woke up with a large intake of breath. He gasped for air as he frantically tried to gauge where he was. He found that he was still between the three princesses, all of whom were gazing at him with intense looks of concern and worry.
“Doctor,” began Celestia, “are you alright?”
“Yes Doctor, you’re worrying us greatly,” added Luna.
The Doctor glanced around before finally seeming to calm down. “I’m… I’m alright.” He quickly got up and began pacing back and forth. “This isn’t good this is not good. I don’t know what’s happening, but whatever it is it goes much further than Equestria, further than this universe even. The whole of reality is in danger. But from what?” he hissed.
As the Doctor continued to mutter to himself. Luna’s eyes widened and she found her head almost guided towards one of the blown out windows. It just so happened to be the one of her banishment. She called over her back. “Doctor?”
The Doctor ignored her in favour of further grumbling while Celestia and Twilight followed Luna’s path to see what she was seeing.
The three of them watched as the moon rose into the sky of its own accord and blocked out the sun. Twilight nervously called over her back. “Doctor?!”
“Busy!” he called back.
However, this moon was different, as it still bore the symbol of the mare in the moon. Her own face was etched into its surface for all of ten seconds before four stars gathered around it. In a flash her face disappeared, and a loud laugh echoed through the newfound night. All three of them called behind them. “Doctor?!”
“Tirek?!”
The trio turned around to see the Doctor staring at none other than Tirek himself, buffed out and sitting on the throne. Before any of them could react a pillar of green fire erupted next to him. Out came Chrysalis, laughing maniacally. Almost immediately afterward a large swirling mass of darkness descended from the sky and touched down in front of the him.
The diabolical demi god opened her eyes and leered at the Doctor. “Did you think I would stay banished forever, you fool?!”
The Doctor looked between the three of them. “Oh now this is bad…”