//------------------------------// // Rock Farm Shadows // Story: An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away // by kaidanXD //------------------------------// Prologue Applejack was the first to arrive at the house “Yee har!” she cheered as she made it through the front door “Ah beat you three fillies! How do you like them apples?” she said and turned to see Sweetiebelle enter, gasping for breath “No..fair…you…have…longer…legs!” she managed as she made it further into the hallway, before collapsing. Applejack laughed, and turned to see Applebloom and Scootaloo enter through the door at the same time “Aw ah didn’t win, but at least I beat you!” said Applebloom, Scootaloo was shocked and said “What? No way! I was totally ahead of you!” Applejack rolled her eyes as the two fillies argued, until a very tempting smell wafted from the kitchen. “Mmm, smeels like Granny Smith has baked one of her famous apple pies, go on you three, go get yerself a slice!” The three fillies looked at each other and licked their lips and cried in unisome “Yay! Apple Pie!” and ran off into the kitchen. Applejack chuckled again and was about to join them when heard Pinkie Pie greet her from the Living Room “Hay AJ!” Applejack went into the room and gave Pinkie a quick hug, smiled and said “Well howdy Pinkie, great to see ya, what brings you up this way?” Pinkie beamed a wide smile and said “Well my Pinkie Sense told me that ponies were feeling glum, so I brought cupcakes!” and she bounced merrily “How’s your day been Applejack?” Applejack noticed the big box of cupcakes on the living room table; she could almost smell the frosting and her stomach growled instantly. “Those smell darn good Pinkie! Thank ya kindly” Applejack said “Mah days been pretty interesting, kinda got side tacked though when I met this fella who called himself The Doctor” at the mention of ‘The Doctor’ Pinkie Pie leapt in the air and gasped dramatically, gaining a very confused look from Applejack. “You met the Doctor?! No way! I’m super jealous, isn’t he just like the best pony ever?!” Pinkie babbled and bounced even more energetically than before. Applejack got a hold of Pinkie and said “Whoa there nelly! Hold on Pinke, ya sayin yah know The Doctor fella?” Pinkie blank several times and was silent for a while, and then said “Well duh! I mean he is the most amazing, most terrific, most craziest pony in a box!” and Pinkie began to bounce around even more than before, then stopping instantly “Aw! But I don’t have time to tell you how I met him; I got to get back to Sugar Cube Corner, I got a big party planned and I am baking my hoofs off, you will have to remind me to tell you the story, but just don’t be mad at me okay?” Applejack blank “huh, why would ah be mad at you?” she asked confused, and Pinkie Pie said “Well I know how you are Element of Honesty, and I may have told a teeny tiny lie…remember when I sang Giggle at the Ghostie? Well it wasn’t actually Granny Pie who told me to laugh away my fears, but the song would have sounded a bit odd if I said The Doctor instead right?” ############################################################################################### The Doctor stared blankly at the console, watching the central pendulum move up and down with a slow rhythmic noise, he pressed various buttons and pulled a leaver that gave a ‘ding’ noise. He went back to watching the pendulum move up and down, creating the only noise in the TARDIS. Until an alarm bell rang. “What?” he said suddenly focusing, he brought a monitor around to see what was causing it. He raised an eyebrow in surprise as he saw a little pink filly quietly sobbing alone in a old bed in what looked like a very dark and dusty attic room, the Doctor turned the volume up and heard the little filly whisper between sobs “Oh please, oh please, make it stop…some pony, any pony, help…” she began to cry again, and The Doctor didn’t understand, did the TARDIS just pick up the cries of a small filly? What he heard next though, filled him with dread “No pony believes me, but I’ve seen the shadows move…”the pink filly sobbed again, hiding under her blankets. “I believe you” The Doctor said to himself, despite knowing the pink filly couldn’t hear him, he was suddenly an animated blur of motion, hitting various buttons and switches in quick succession before pausing in front of a leaver and said “Geronimo!” before pulling it, flinging the TARDIS towards where the pink filly lived. It was a dark night at the Rock Farm and dust was blown up quickly as a blue light flashed eerily, just before a Blue box appeared. The Doctor opened the door, putting on his jacket as he left and looked around him. For a moment, he thought he was on a lunar landscape, the great rocky landscape spread before him, only broken by a small farm house in the middle of nowhere. He slowly made his way up, and saw light from one of the windows and peeked in, he saw two simple earth ponies, one male, one female, and both glumly watching the fire burn in a dull simple living room that doubled as a dining room. The Doctor overheard the two ponies conversation “Well I don’t know, I’m just worried about her dear! Why can’t she just be like her sisters?” said the female pony with concern, putting a hoof on the shoulder of the male who was sitting in his armchair with a hard stern look on his face “Her and her fancy stories, shadows moving…” he said glumly shaking his head “All those things going on in her head, what we need, is a Doctor.” Doctor Whooves beamed. That’s my cue! he thought, and quickly trotted to the door of the farm house and knocked. hard. The male pony opened the door “Can I help you sir?” he said with a bored tone as he looked blankly at the smiling stallion at the door “Hello! I’m The Doctor! And I think I can help you, or rather maybe some filly who is afraid of the shadows?” The earth pony raised an eyebrow and hummed before saying “You’re too happy for my liking, I don’t know who you are and I don’t know how you know that, but we have no problems here and I’ll like you to leave my farm. Now.” Before the Doctor could reply, the door was slammed in his face. “Well, that was rude.” The Doctor muttered, he took out his sonic screwdriver and took a quick reading “Oh now that is interesting! Now looks like I’ll have to take a more direct approach, now I just have to speak to that filly.” He said as he ran back to the TARDIS. _________________________________________________________________ Pinkie Pie physically shook with fear as she hid under her covers. Despite it being pitched black in the attic room, she could see movement she was sure of it, shadows moving in the darkness. She could feel them drawing closer, around the bed, she felt like screaming as something gripped the blankets, ready to yank them off, yet no sound came. Except a tiny, little, squeak. Whatever it was that gripped her blankets suddenly retreated as a great wheezing noise filled the attic room, and a great blue light filled the darkness. Pinkie saw the shadows then, they moved very fast but she still saw them, and she clamped her eyes shut, terrified at what she saw. The blue light stopped flashing, but continued to dimly light the room. Pinkie kept her eyes shut, she heard a door creak open. Watch out for the shadows! She thought, and wanted to yell with all her might, but only whimpered as she heard hoof fall across the wooden floor. The strange blue light showed a pony outline move across the room, and stood by the side of the bed. “You are going to have to trust me.” Said a calm male voice that Pinkie Pie didn’t recognise, making her flinch. “Shh it’s okay, I promise nothing will hurt you not whilst I’m here, now can you move?” There was silence and Pinkie didn’t know what to do, she felt like she could trust whoever it was in her room, but he was a complete stranger, she quickly poked her head out from under the covers and saw the brown earth pony smiling at her. “Hello, I’m the Doctor!” he said. The shadows began moving again, and the dim blue light began to darken, causing the Doctor to look around the room as the blackness crept over the room. Pinkie instantly hid under the covers and shook in terror. She buried her face in her bed and squeaked, keeping her eyes tightly shut. She then felt her bed move and opened an eye, suddenly it was getting brighter and she could make out the silhouette of the Doctor pushing the bed What is he doing? She thought. A door creaked shut, and Pinkie heard hoof fall on metal Metal? My room doesn’t have a metal floor… Pinkie thought, and peaked through the covers again. Her eyes widened at what she saw. “This isn’t my room” she peeped, looking from her bed she took in the sight before her, she was now in a great domed room, with wires and pipes running everywhere, the walls had multiple circular lights in, illuminating all of it, and in the centre was a great tube with a suspended pendulum surrounded by screens of moving images, around it’s base there were slanted tables with, what Pinkie could see, a range of various leavers and flashing lights. “Aha, yes had to get you out of there, now, what’s your name miss?” said the Doctor. “Pinkamania” She managed, still terrified and confused. “But mom calls me Pinkie” The Doctor smiled “Pleased to meet you Pinkie, welcome to the TARDIS, don’t mind me but I need to use the console” he said as he went up to the central pendulum and used buttons and levers on the tables set around it, creating a great variety of different noises “Now, lets see this shouldn’t…” the Doctor was interrupted by a great bang! And the whole place shook violently; the Doctor looked worried at this “No no no no no! What are they doing out there?” he said as he swung screen that now showed Pinkies room, Pinkie gasped as her room disappeared from view as it was now a great shadowy black hand. It made the TARDIS shake violently again. “Make it stop! Please make it stop!” Pinkie cried, clinging to her bed as the place continued to shake. The Doctor carried on working around the console and growled in frustration “That’s what I’m doing, but I can’t seem to shake it off!” he said, now working faster than before, he looked up at the screen and yanked a leaver “Take that!” he shouted and a bright blue flash filled the screen and the shadows shrank back “Gotcha, now lets get out of here!” he said and used the console to set the pendulum moving which gave rhythmic huff every time it descended, the Doctor looked pleased as he pushed the screen way which no longer showed Pinkies room, only odd circles. “And there we go, onwards and upwards!” The Doctor said smiling; he looked to Pinkie who was still on her bed “You know you can come up here and join me? I’ll even let you push a button or two, if you like.” he said, Pinkie didn’t move. “But, what about the shadows?” she asked, hugging her pillow tight. The Doctor walked down to her bed and said “Don’t be scared of the shadows Pinkie, they can’t hurt you.” This made Pinkie frown and she asked him “But Doctor, what about my family?” The Doctors smile instantly faded. “Doctor?” she said, as he instantly turned and went back to the console. “Doctor?” she asked again, causing the Doctor to sigh heavily “How often does your father smile?” he asked, catching Pinkie off guard, she thought before saying “He used to, but then the shadows came, and he smiled less and less until not at all.” The Doctor hummed and worked the console, bringing the screen round again. “I thought as much, Pinkie, I’m so sorry, but your family is being controlled by that shadow in your room.” Pinkie didn’t understand what the Doctor was saying, tears filled her eyes as she said “But, you have to do something! You saved me, can’t you save them?” all she got was silence as the Doctor worked. Pinkie got off from her bed and went to the Doctor’s side and watched him work, She looked at the concentration on his face, and the concern in his eyes. It’s like I’m not here, I wonder how long I can pull a face before he notices… Pinkie thought, and crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. The Doctor tapped away on the console, and became aware of Pinkie standing next to him; he took a quick glance down at the boss-eyed filly, he attempted to turn his attention back to what he was doing, but completely broke down into tears of laughter. Pinkie laughed too, happy she got him to smile again; he wiped a tear a way with one hoof and messed up her mane with the other. “A fillies giggle will brighten any ponies day Pinkie, remember that.” He said with a smile “Now, would you like to know how to get rid of those nasty shadows?” Pinkie gasped and beamed “Can you do it?” and he nodded enthusiastically, pointing with his hoof to one of the screens “See that? That is your home.” The farm looked uninviting, all dark and hardly a welcoming sight “Now, I have calculated if I send a pulse, that bright flash that got it to let go, should get it out of the house and away from your family.” Pinkie began bouncing around the consoles “Yay and I get my family back!” she said, the doctor smiled briefly and was suddenly before saying “Ah well, the thing is it’ll be drawn to our position when the pulse is used, meaning you are going to have to be brave. Very brave.” Pinkie stopped bouncing, seeing how serious the Doctor had become. “Okay Dokie Loki. I’ll be brave, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” she said smiling. The Doctor nodded and looked up at the screen again and said “We are in position, stay here I’m going to get the shadows to come out, don’t worry you’ll see everything on the screens up here.” he gestured, Pinkie noticed all the screens showed the farm house, she turned to see the Doctor make his way to the door, before the Doctor went out, Pinkie said “Doctor? Be careful.” He simply nodded and went outside. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, and with a serious look on his face as he stared at the farm house shouted “Alright, funs over! You have terrified this family for too long, go on grab your coat and get outta here!” A great rumble made the Doctors eyes go wide as a great shadow rose out from the farm house. It swelled in size, filling the landscape in long shadows, spreading its hold on the landscape. The Doctor froze mouth agape. He dropped his sonic screwdriver. “Oh no, quick do something Doctor!” Cried Pinkie at the screen, seeing the shadows fill the screen, she saw him drop something “I’ve got to do something, I bet whatever he was holding would set that pulse thing he was talking about, but I can’t go out there the shadows will get me!” she said to herself, watching the shadows move closer and closer to the Doctor. “No! I said I would be brave, Doctor look out!” she cried running for the door. The Doctor couldn’t move, he saw the looming shadows come closer and still couldn’t do anything. Fear gripped him, if only he could get his sonic screw driver that now only lay a short distance away on the ground. The TARDIS door was flung open and the Doctor could only move his eyes to see a pink blur fly out and land beside him Pinkie?! He thought, unable to say anything as she picked up his sonic screwdriver “How the hay do you work this thing? Aha!” she said holding it between her hoofs and pushing a button on the side. Suddenly a mass of confetti was thrown out of the TARDIS along with balloons and streamers, followed shortly by cupcakes, muffins and other baked treats. A custard pie hit the Doctor with an audible splat! Causing Pinkie to laugh out loud, louder than she had ever done before. The shadows instantly shrank back, and the Doctor could move again. “Pinkie! You did it you released its hold on me, now can I have my sonic screwdriver back please?” he asked as Pinkie continued to laugh “Ssure!” she managed before falling to the floor in continued fits of laughter. The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver “Now that you have been weakened, and I know for a fact that you are only interested in harming ponies, you leave me no choice.” He held up the sonic screwdriver and pressed a different button, causing the TARDIS to emit a blinding white light and made the shadows fade out entirely. The Doctor wiped his face with a hanky, and noticed Pinkie had calmed down form her laughing fit “Is it gone now?” she asked, and the Doctor nodded “Oh thank you thank you thank you!” she said hugging him tight, and she looked around at all the stuff on that had come out of the TARDIS “Hay, there is enough stuff here to throw a party! I can throw one in the old silo, we can celebrate getting rid of that mean shadow, and I’ll invite my family and you of course!” she said happily. The Doctor smiled “I’d like that, but wouldn’t you first like me to put your bed back in your room?” he said, Pinkie was too busy picking balloons up to fully hear him “Huh? Oh yeah, meet me in the old silo after!” she said and sped off, Leaving the Doctor coughing from the dust she kicked up. The Doctor went back into the TARDIS and went straight to the console and moved the screen around and flipped a switch that displayed a count down timer. “Okay, got to get this right, otherwise she won’t see it…” he said moving leavers and pressing buttons on the console. Pinkie had managed to set everything in place in the old silo, ready for the party, she then ran back out side, and saw she had picked everything up; she went to where the TARDIS was, and found it was no longer there. She then noticed a small piece of paper, opening it she found a note written inside:- Dear Pinkie Pie So sorry I had to leave on short notice, however a major event is about to occur, I leave this as a thank you for your help, and if I ever get the pleasure of meeting you again, you are a warmly welcome assistant anytime aboard the TARDIS. Keep smiling Doctor P.S Look up! Pinkie smiled at the note, but the end confused her, so she looked up to the sky. BOOM! A magnificent rainbow exploded across the sky, blowing the note away from Pinkie and completely messing up her hair. She began to smile and watched the rainbow tear across the sky. In that moment she felt happy, and she wanted to share that happiness with every pony she could meet.