//------------------------------//
// A box 
// Story: Siphoned 
// by mindboggled 
//------------------------------//

	It was a nice morning in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Derpy was derping. It seemed to be an average day.
Derpy Hooves grabbed her mail bag and a warm, delicious, mouthwatering, perfectly golden brown muffin and head out her front door. She immediately tripped and fell flat on her face. Though fortunately, being a pegasus, Derpy’s house was on a cloud, and falling face-first into a cloud isn’t exactly painful.
“Whoops,” she chuckled. “Funny how I always miss that stair.”

As beautiful a day as it was, it was surprisingly quiet.
Too quiet, the mail-mare thought to herself. It seems like there’s always something going on, or at least Pinkie Pie is bouncing around talking to everypony.
She shrugged, dismissing the thought, and got back up to head towards the library, the first stop on her normal route.
Arriving at the library, she knocked on the front door. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer.
“ Twilight! Spike! Anyone home? I have the 17 books on magic theory you ordered!” And I don’t really enjoy just standing here holding them...
Upon getting no indication that either the purple dragon or the purple unicorn were home, Derpy went around to the library’s back door and dumped the seventeen books, and a hoof-full of scrolls, through the book return slot. Twilight was a smart pony; she would figure it out. Still, something just felt a little off.
Twilight had ordered those books month ago, and usually when Twilight ordered books, she would eagerly start asking about them about a week before they arrived. But with this order, Twilight hadn’t said anything.
In fact, Derpy thought, I haven’t seen Twilight for about five days. And the last time I did see her, she seemed really preoccupied with something. Eh, she’s probably just on vacation and was worried about reservations... Maybe I should go on vacation sometime... Well first I should finish my route... She shook herself and headed for Sweet Apple Acres.

“Wooah! Scoots! That’s a bit too fast!” Sweetie Belle hollered from the wagon attached to the orange pegasus’ scooter.
“Too fast?” Scootaloo slowed down a little bit. “How is this too fast? You said we had to get to Apple Bloom, and that it was important!”
“Well I think getting to her without crashing would also be important!”
Scootaloo ground the scooter (and thus, the wagon) to a halt. “Do you think I’d let us crash? And what is the big important thing you aren’t telling me about?”
Sweetie Belle lowered her head a little. “I wasn’t saying you’re a bad driver, it’s just... We have to get to Apple Bloom first. So can we go please?”
“Fine,” Scootaloo huffed before turning to resume rocketing down the street.

Quickly arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo sped right up to the big barn doors and brought the scooter/wagon duo to a screeching stop. Dropping the scooter, she immediately pushed her way into the newly refurbished barn, followed by a slightly queasy-looking Sweetie Belle.
“Hello! Anyone here?” the tiny pegasus called.
“Eeeeyup. Are you two looking for Apple Bloom?”
“Oh, hi there, Big Macintosh,” Sweetie Belle said. “Do you know where she is?”
“Eeeeyup. Strange filly; she’s over in the East orchard trying to move apples with her mind... You two wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that, would you?”
“Ha! She’s trying to move apples with her mind? How would trying to levitate apples help an earth pony, or ANYPONY, to find their special talent? I mean, we’ve been crusading for our cutie marks for a while, but that’s just ridiculous!” laughed Scootaloo as Sweetie Belle suddenly became very interested in the dirt at her hoof.
“Come on Sweetie Belle, let’s go find Apple Bloom before she does something really pointless,” Scootaloo giggled.
“Heh! Um... yeah, we should go find her,” the little unicorn chuckled nervously.
“Happy to be of help, kids,” Big Mac smiled. “You three have fun.”
“Thank you, bye!” the young fillies chorused and trotted off.
“Girls, you’re going west.”
“Yep, totally knew that,” Scootaloo called over her shoulder as she did an about-face and walked right into Sweetie Belle. There followed a brief squabble then they corrected themselves and trotted towards the East Orchard. Big Mac smiled and chuckled to himself as he watched the fillies walk away.

“Hey Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo called to the yellow filly wearing a comically large bow.
“Aw, hey guys! Ah wuz just...” Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder at a very stationary apple. “Well ‘ta make a long story shorter; Sweetie Belle, ah don’t think it’s possible for me ‘ta move an apple with mah mind.”
Scootaloo cracked up and turned to Sweetie Belle. “That was your idea?!”
“I was kidding!” Sweetie Belle whined. “Really. Make one five legged outfit and you’re marked for life...”
“Whatever, it’s okay,” chuckled Scootaloo. “Oh yeah, what did you want to tell Apple Bloom? The important thing?”
“Oh yea!” Sweetie Belle remembered. “Well, I was wonderin’ if you’d seen Rarity at all. I haven’t seen her since yesterday. I’ve looked all over Ponyville, but I think she left, because she said she had “business to attend to.” But I thought she’d only be gone a couple hours...”
“Do you know what business she was attending to?” Scootaloo asked as her tiny eyebrows scrunched together.
“Nope, she didn’t say...”
“Well that’s odd,” Apple Bloom piped up. “Cuz ah haven’t seen her either. An’ Apple Jack’s gone too. She said she had to help Twa’light wi’ sumthin. And she’s been gone for... fahv days!”
“Five days?” squeaked Sweetie Belle. “And you aren’t worried?”
“Well o’ course ahm worried! But when ah asked mah sister what she would be helpin’ Twa’light with, she said it wuz a matter for big ponies, an’ that ah shouldn’t worry.”
“Well I think you two are both over-reacting,” Scootaloo sighed. “If they said not to worry, you shouldn’t worry!”
One of Sweetie Belle’s tiny ears suddenly twitched as she began to hear a sound. She looked up into the sky behind the other two fillies to see what it was.
“Why is there a big blue box flying through the sky really fast towards us?”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glanced questioningly at Sweetie Belle, but then turned as the noise reached their ears too. A moment later, a resounding crash echoed throughput the orchard. The Cutie Mark Crusaders slowly turned to see a giant, smoking blue box balanced precariously atop the trunks of two downed trees less than a yard away.

The door of the box swung open and a cloud of smoke billowed out. In the midst of it, a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark came stumbling out on his hind legs before falling flat on his face. 
“Ouch.” He shifted into a sitting position and began examining himself.
“Legs? Still got legs, although now... funny! I’m a quadruped! That’s new... Interesting... No hands, no fingers, instead hooves, a mane,” here he flicked his head back and forth.  “I’ve just never been so... equine before!” One hoof shot to the top of his head, then his neck. “No, fez, no bow tie... this is troubling... No matter. Time for location.” He stood up slowly.
“Two dimensional animated world, bright blue sky, sweet scent in the air... orchard...” He turned to the CMC, their mouths all hanging wide open.
“Three tiny horses—No! Ponies!—Three tiny ponies in unnatural colors, one with a horn, one with wings, and one with a giant bow?... Where the hell-“
He was cut off by two more ponies falling out of the blue box in a coughing heap.
“Ugh, my head...” groaned a purple maned petite mare of a light pink hue.
“Your head? I feel like I’ve been repeatedly stabbed in the stomach...” muttered another mare; slightly larger, a royal blue coat and a messy white mane.
The two looked up at each other and gasped.
“Omigosh, you’re a pony!” squealed the blue mare.
“Omigosh, you’re a unicorn!” squeaked the other.
They looked around, taking in the scenery for the first time.
“OMIGOSH, WE’RE IN PONYVILLE!” they exploded, grabbing each other’s fore-hooves.
“Or, we’re totally just tripping balls,” smirked the pink one. 	
Scootaloo, who had recovered first, approached the strange ponies.
“Um, we’re taught to not talk to ponies we don’t know, but who the heck are you guys?”
“Kiwi!” exclaimed the blue unicorn.
“Pistachio!” yelled the pink Earth pony, almost simultaneously.
They looked at each other and burst out laughing. They went on for a while, and finally calmed down. They looked each other in the eyes and immediately lost it again. They were on the verge of tears by the time they were capable of speech. A concerned look from the brown earth pony prompted them to explain.
“Whew, sorry ‘bout that,” the self-proclaimed “Kiwi” apologized.
“Yea, I know you asked for our names, but I was just suddenly soooo hungry, “Pistachio” kinda slipped out. Weird thing to be hungry for though...” said the pink pony.
“I know, me too!” The unicorn said excitedly. “I’ve never even had a kiwi before...” she acknowledged her friend. “But pistachios are delicious!”
“Oh I know! And they...”
The two realized the other four ponies present were staring at them.
“Okaaaaaay,” said a recovered Apple Bloom. She turned to the brown stallion. “Ah hope ah don’t regret askin’ mister, but what’s your name?”
The stallion blinked.
“Oh! Sorry, right. Hello, I’m the Doctor.”
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “Doctor wh—“
“Ha, sorry no. It’s just the Doctor.” 
“Okay ‘Doctor,’ so why are you here and how did you even get here?” Scootaloo challenged.
“That’s actually a good question... I’m not even sure where here is... You see, my friends and I...” he turned to look at them, but his eyes flew past them to the box.
“Oh, no, no, no!” He rushed over to the blue box and began walking around, looking closely at it. “Oh, you poor thing.” He rubbed his head against the side. “I promise I’ll get you fixed up. I just need to get my sonic screwdriver and I’ll...” He looked around him, and went racing back around to the door and bolted back into the thinning smoke.
“I can fix you,” his voice echoed form inside. “I just need to find my... Oh no. Oh dear...” He walked slowly back out to the five ponies outside. He sighed and let a mangled piece of metal fall from his mouth. A chipped green crystal at one end glowed feebly.
“Your sonic,” breathed Kiwi. “I know I was playing with it, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t make that happen.” 
“Where was it?” asked Pistachio. “It might have fallen below the platform and rolled into the electro-thermal carbon manipulator. There is an extensive warning about not putting stuff in it, and the sonic screwdriver seems small enough to fit in perfectly.”
“Um, yes, that’s exactly where I found it. How did you...?” The Doctor asked, obviously surprised.
“I- I have no idea. I don’t even know what I just said. Why don’t I know what I’m talking about?” The pink pony asked nervously. “Is it bad that I…”
Pistachio fell silent as the broken screwdriver on the ground emitted a long, high pitched whistle. Everyone slammed their hooves to their ears. All except Kiwi, who began staring curiously at the mangled tool. The sound stopped suddenly and the weak green glow went out altogether. All six ponies leaned closer to see if anything would happen, when there was a tremendous BANG and a white ring of light shot out in all directions. Everyone screamed in surprise, but the noise and light were gone right away. As was the sonic; which had disappeared completely.
“No! Ow, no! Aaargh! What’s going on?! What’s happening?!”
Everypony turned to see Kiwi rear up on her hind legs, trip, fall on her back, and start writhing around on the ground, her face twisted in unimaginable agony.
“Miss Kiwi!” shouted Sweetie Belle. “What’s happening to you? Are you hurt?”
“Of course she’s hurt!” yelled Pistachio. “Doctor! Do something! What’s wrong with her? HELP MY FRIEND!!!”
“I CAN’T! I’m thinking. Think, think, think, think, think. And having my sonic WOULD BE HELPFUL!” shouted the Doctor as he rushed to the fallen unicorn, who had stopped writhing, but was trembling uncontrollably.
“It hurts,” she whimpered. “Help me.”
He looked at the shaking pony with pity in his eyes. “Shhhh, you’ll be fine in a few minutes,” he soothed. “Well, I think. Considering you went from writhing to trembling rather quickly, you should be back to normal in a minute or so. See? You’re already getting better!”
It was true; the unicorn was no longer trembling, just shivering occasionally. She slowly, with the help of Pistachio, stood up and turned around. Her horn began to glow bright green, as well as some streaks in her mane and tail. But that’s not what drew gasps from the three very confused fillies.
“You gotcher cutie mark!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“I got my cutie mark?! YES!” the blue unicorn celebrated.
“I wish it were that easy to get our cutie marks...” Sweetie Belle muttered.
“Yea, just go through brief and excruciating pain. Easy,” Kiwi snorted.
“Really.” Said Scootaloo. “I’ll just stick with zip-lining.”
The Doctor, who was still trying to make sense of the uproar, suddenly noticed Kiwi’s cutie mark; a very familiar-looking tool.
“My sonic! What’s it doing on your—Sonic! Now! Gimme!” 
“Woah! Uh-uh. You’re getting in my personal space!” Kiwi shouted as she uncomfortably scooted away from the Doctor. “But really, my cutie mark is the sonic? Didn’t see that coming.”
“Kiwi! I get it!” exclaimed Pistachio. “That means your ass is the new sonic screwdriver! Ha... kidding... I guess it really means that-”
“Wait,” said a very confused Doctor. “So my sonic screwdriver has been... reincarnated if you will... into her-“
“Nope,” teased Pistachio. “Think on a larger scale!”
“So her large-“    
“NO!” a thoroughly embarrassed Kiwi yelled. “She means, I assume, that I now have the functions of the sonic... Right? ... And everyone quit staring at my ass!”
The Doctor coughed awkwardly. “Ah. I suppose that makes sense, considering your horn was glowing like the end of the sonic. It isn’t now; maybe it’s only when you... use it...”
“Uh, ah hate ‘ta interrupt sir,” said Apple Bloom. “But what is this “sonic whatsit” you all keep talkin’ about? What does it do?”
“Oh, well it does loads of stuff,” the Doctor grinned. “really anything; it’s great for checking vital signs, disabling weapons, picking locks, screwing in screws, you name it, the sonic could probably do it. That’s a tremendous exaggeration of course; it doesn’t really do wood.”
“That’s still really cool,” whispered Scootaloo.
“Yea, I suppose it is,” the Doctor smiled sadly. “But it doesn’t much matter since it’s gone...” He kicked at the dirt some with his hoof.
“Wait,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah thought Kiwi was the new... screwdriver...”
“True,” sighed the Doctor, “but we don’t know the extent of what she’s able to do, or for that matter, we don’t even know how to work her...”
“Well the sonic had buttons, right?” asked Pistachio with a malicious grin. “So maybe...”
“No way,” chuckled Kiwi.
“Aww.”
“So no sonic for the time being,” said the Doctor. “I hope you work sooner or later, so I can fix the TARDIS unless...” He looked around himself then looked up. “I need a pocket.”
“I’m so confused,” muttered Sweetie Belle.
“Me too,” chimed Scootaloo.
“Me three!” chuckled Apple Bloom.
“Me four,” came a tiny voice from behind them.
“Fluttershy?” the Cutie Mark Crusaders chorused.
Kiwi and Pistachio’s heads whipped around.
“FLUTTERSHY!!!”