Doctor Whooves: A Tale of Two Sisters

by Gandalf158

Veni

“Identify yourself!” the soldier said again.
The Doctor thought to himself how much he missed pockets and the psychic paper he kept in said pockets. The soldiers took a step forward, spears at the ready, as the Doctor cleared his throat.
Without a better option, he decided to go all in, “I’m the Doctor, those two are Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch, the blue box over there is the TARDIS, and all three of us are visitors from the future who got a little lost on our way to a Beethoven concert in Canterlot.”
“Beethooven.” Octavia corrected, unsure of what the plan was.
“What she said.” the Doctor said.
The guards turned and spoke to one another before turning back to look at the Doctor and company. They regarded them warily, as if discerning whether or not they were a threat. The leader of the soldiers finally broke the silence a few seconds later.
“Come with us, her Majesty, Princess Celestia is expecting you, Doctor.” he and turned and ordered his soldiers back to camp.
“Expecting you? How could she be expecting you?” Vinyl asked, looking very confused at the new turn of events.
“Well, there are a few different explanations,” he started as they followed the soldiers, “The most likely is that sometime in my future, I go back further into the past and meet Princess Celestia and for some reason tell her about us being here now, in her future, but my past. Another possibility is that Princess Celestia is also a time-traveller, in which case she goes further into my future, meets me, I tell her that I’ve met her before and she comes back here to meet me again. It could also be-”
“Okay, my head’s starting to hurt. Why does time travel have to be so confusing?” Vinyl said, cutting off the Doctor.
“Well, if it were simple, everyone would do it.” he replied.
They had arrived at what looked to the two mares like a large, communal campground, but the Doctor knew exactly what this place was, with it’s large, long tents, armored soldiers, and hastily thrown up watchtowers. This was a military outpost.
“Just when I’d thought I might have seen an end to war.”
“We have arrived. The Princess is inside, she’d like to speak to you and your companions.” he gestured to the large, regal tent they had arrived at.

Inside the tent were more guards, along with a few unicorns in fancier, more ornate looking armor surrounding a large white wingy-unicorn (or was it horned-pegasus, the Doctor asked himself) in a set of golden armor inlaid with what looked like mother-of-pearl with the same sun motif as the rest of the soldiers sitting on a portable throne. Princess Celestia smiled when she saw the Doctor, as if he were a long-lost friend.
Octavia and Vinyl both bowed in the presence of their princess, but the Doctor remained standing, waiting expectantly for her to say something. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Rise, my little ponies.” the two mares stood up, “Doctor, I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am to see you again.”
“And it’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness.” he said, doing his best to bow, but ending up flat on his face.
“If I might ask, how did you know to expect me?” he asked when he got back to his hooves.
“You told me you’d be here. Or, you will tell me you’d be here sometime in your future.”
“I was right! It was the first option! Now, what can I help you with, your Highness?” he asked.
“Well, I suppose that I should explain the current situation. First off, to tell you where, and more importantly, when you are. This is approximately one thousand years before you meet Octavia and Vinyl in Canterlot. As for where, the castle you saw on your way here will come to be known as the ‘Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, on the edge of the Everfree Forest .”
Octavia gasped slightly, “And you’re here to banish Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony!”
“Yes, the final battle between my sister and I is fast approaching.” she said, dropping her eyes in sadness.
“I beg your pardon, Princess, but what does this have to do with us?”
The Princess smiled and laughed, “Doctor, there’s something you need to see. My court wizard will take you to the site of the crash.”
“Crash?” the Doctor asked as a robed purple unicorn stepped out of the shadows.
“If you’ll follow me, Doctor, all your questions will be answered.” the young unicorn said.
“Well, I doubt you could answer all my questions, but the more pressing ones, I suppose.” the Doctor said.
The wizard walked out of the tent, the trio of time travellers following him. He set to walking a path back towards the forest. While they were walking, the Doctor turned to look at his two companions.
“So, can one of you two give me a little history lesson about this place?”
Octavia cleared her throat, “Well, a thousand years ago, Princess Celestia’s younger sister, Princess Luna started a rebellion as ‘Nightmare Moon’. Princess Celestia was forced to fight back, or lose the nation to darkness. The army back there is probably on their way to reclaim the castle from her and banish her to the moon.”
“They’re going to banish her to the moon?!” the Doctor exclaimed, “Isn’t that a little dangerous to her health?”
“Maybe if she were a normal pony, but Princess Luna is the goddess of the moon.” the Doctor decided that if she wasn’t worried about it, it couldn’t end too badly.
He turned his attention to the purple unicorn that was leading them...somewhere.
“And who, praytell, might you be?” he asked him.
“I am Starswirl, court wizard to Her Majesty, Princess Celestia.” he replied gruffly.
“And your duties as court wizard, what are they?”
“To advise Her Majesty in all matters arcane. We have arrived.” he said as he stopped on the edge of a large crater.
“It’s beautiful…” Octavia said.
“What is it?” Vinyl asked.
In the center of the crater was a large, black crystalline rock, halfway embedded in the ground. The four ponies carefully made their way down into the crater to get a closer look, and the closer they got, the more they could feel a pulsing energy coming off of it.
“This, Doctor, is the ‘Obelisk of the Night’.” Starswirl said, gesturing to the object...