//------------------------------// // Chapter II - Twists and Turns // Story: Doctor Whooves: The First Act // by Doctor Disco //------------------------------// -Chapter 2- TWISTS AND TURNS What she saw in front of her was not what she had expected to see the moment she stepped outside. What she saw was Pinkie and the Doctor both sticking their muzzles down onto the ground, as if they were dogs searching for a scent. Everypony in the vicinity was panicking, shouting in fear and running around. Some were just clutching their tails and everypony was trying to come to terms with… whatever it was that they saw. All the while these two ponies were the odd ones out, looking incredibly out of place in the setting they were in. “Uh… guys? What’s happening?!” Twilight asked, desperately wanting to know why everypony was in a general state of panic. “We still have yet to find out Twilight!” Exclaimed the Doctor, and he came up from inspecting/ sniffing the ground. He then pointed at the small gouges in the ground and laughed. They were very shallow, barely indents in the ground but the ground was disturbed enough that one could very obviously see where it led to. However, the trail led to the Everfree Forest, and nothing good ever came out of that place. Well, nothing except Zecora. “Ha! Would you look at that! Trail marks! Makes our job a whole lot easier. Let’s go!” The tattered magician said, then he shouted and fell to the ground hugging his chest, gasping and wheezing in some sort of pain. He then hit his own chest multiple times as if trying to jump start an organ. Pinkie looked up from her own investigations to see what all the commotion was and saw the Doctor spasming in pain. “Ow ow owy! Owwww!” He complained. After a moment, he coughed out some more of that odd golden mist and then shakily got to his hooves. He then looked at Pinkie, thanked her for her efforts in helping the Doctor inspect the ground, and staggered a bit before collapsing on the ground again. Both Twilight and Pinkie rushed to his side to see if he was okay. “Are you okay?” Pinkie asked, poking and prodding at the Doctor. “You still haven’t fixed my library!” Twilight nagged, and the Doctor finally groaned. “Yes, yes I’m fine. Just… not quite done yet. One of my hearts just had a fright, is all. It’s alright don’t worry about me.” The Doctor said, and then got to his four feet once again. He then saw one mint green pony hiding behind a flower pot, which wasn’t a very effective cover. He then shambled toward her, gaining enough momentum to put him at a jogging pace, and he jumped onto the mint green pony. “Gah!” The green pony exclaimed before the Doctor tackled her. She tried to run away but it was already too late. She had the image of a lyre on her flank. Twilight and Pinkie came trotting after the Doctor, wondering why he would tackle a dear friend of theirs. “Hi Lyra.” Twilight said. “Hiya Lyra!” Pinkie greeted, and began to spring up and down. “Ungh… Next time you guys say hi can you not tackle me?” Lyra grunted, and picked herself up from the ground. The Doctor got up and then pushed Lyra up against a wall. After doing so, he suddenly spasmed again but maintained his hold on Lyra. “Agh!... You… why did you stay around while everyone was running and hiding?” The Doctor asked, huffing from his last bout of pain and clutching one hoof to his chest while keeping the other pinned on Lyra. “I… No! I demand an apology and that you release before I answer any of your questions.” Lyra demanded and the Doctor obliged, rolling his eyes and snorting. “Alright, spill.” “Well, I wasn’t staying, I was hiding!” “A likely story. Why would you pick a place where anyone can see you?” The Doctor quizzed, but Lyra looked slightly confused. The Doctor then noticed his mistake and sighed. “Anypony. Do you all really have to have ponified expressions for everything? Next thing you know I’ll find out you have ponified cities, too.” The Doctor shook his head, and Lyra nodded finally in understanding, and then in more confusion than before. “Uhm… I dunno. It was the closest cover to me! And if you saw what I saw, you would’ve done the same!” Lyra shouted, and then shivered. “Why? What is it, what did you see?” “There were these red creatures, horrible disgusting creatures! They just took two ponies! Mr. and Mrs. Cake! Just… gone…” Lyra started loudly and ended with a whisper barely audible. Then she too, having just fully taken in what she saw went into a fetal position, went into a full on panic mode and just darted her eyes around frantically before dashing off. “Please, just run! Run for your lives! They- they will come back!” With those ominous words, the Doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hoof. He looked in the direction of where Lyra was running and saw it was filled with many other different coloured ponies who were panicking and finding places to hide. Too many things were happening right now in his head. There was something he was missing. He knew it! It was something obvious, something that had been bothering him since he came here, he just couldn’t place the thought. He turned to the two mares that were beside him and pointed in the general direction of which Lyra ran. “Is she always like this? Your friend?” The Doctor asked his two companions. “More or less. She’s very dramatic.” Pinkie said and giggled and began bouncing towards the way the trail lead. “Although,” Twilight began, following Pinkie, “She did seem to have genuine fear and panic present this time around.” “In all my travels, I can’t believe I’ve never met rainbow coloured ponies with over dramatic personalities. Seriously. And your names! Your names are… interesting to say the least.” The Doctor thought out loud, and followed the two mares. The trail they followed had lots of disturbances on the side and the Doctor deduced that it was due to the resistance that the Cake’s would’ve put up. He hoped that whatever it was that took them, they would be fine, although he now had an inkling to who or what may be causing trouble in the sweet little town of Ponyville. He overheard Pinkie talking about the Cake’s and how nice they were. Her whole mood changed drastically and her poofy hair went limp however, when she mentioned that she already missed them and hoped they would be okay. Her coat darkened considerably, and her mane and tail went straight after going limp. He noticed a change in her bright demeanor as well. “Pinkamena Diane Pie, don’t you worry.” The Doctor said, putting a comforting hoof on her and Pinkie stopped to look into the Doctor’s eyes. She calmed down considerably to the Doctor’s touch. He could now see some of the pony that this bright pink mare hid behind her gleeful facade. What he saw was a little bit of himself, and understood now some of the reason why and how Pinkie saw his own darkness. Twilight came up to Pinkie as well and put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Hey, Pinkie.” Twilight said, hugging her. “The Doctor will help us save them. It will be alright.” The Doctor certainly hoped so. If he could only find out what he was dealing with, he could- He saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He craned his neck to look and saw a yellow pegasus flying near the treeline, watching them. He broke into a run, now even more determined to help these ponies. Whatever the cost. The pegasus with a pink mane gasped and began flying away, towards where the trail led. He was catching up (he really did love the running) and the yellow pegasus poured more speed than she could normally muster. The pegasus flew a circle, and then dove straight down. Just as he rounded the edge of the forest, he saw where the pegasus could have very well landed. A cottage near the edge of the Everfree Forest. While all this occurred, Twilight was still comforting Pinkie. She let go of the hug when she saw the Doctor running, and gasped when she saw who he was running after. Pinkie also gasped and her pink poofy hair returned, accentuating their shock. “Fluttershy!?” Twilight could barely manage, not wanting to believe that it could possibly be the yellow coated mare. But it all made sense to her now. The muffled scream, that could’ve been a pony she had foalnapped. The odd behaviour must’ve been so no one could see her guilt. It all made so much sense, but it broke Twilight’s heart. How could the Element of Kindness do anything like this?! How?! She shook her head, eyes wide and pupils dilated. She could feel tears, tears of anger, of sadness and of betrayal coming. Tears that marked the end of a friendship. “How could you, Fluttershy? HOW COULD YOU?!” She whispered behind gritted teeth, and she ran after the Doctor. Pinkie could only look at Twilight with concern and shock, because she too saw the damage Fluttershy had done. But she always thought that friendships could be mended, and healed. Instead of springing, she ran after Twilight. The two mares rounded the treeline and Fluttershy’s Cottage came into view. The trail led straight to the door, which was now wide open. Twilight, seeing this and wanting to confront her best-friend-turned-monster, ran after her. Pinkie could only follow and hope for the best. Reaching the door, Twilight was about to barge in but the Doctor peeked his head out and went “Shhh!”, putting a hoof up to his muzzle. Twilight could only blink back tears and shake her head before nodding and silently followed the Doctor in, followed by Pinkie. The general state of Fluttershy’s home was the same as always, neat and tidy. But several things were out of place, no animals were present, and there was an eerie sense of foreboding. Rounding the wall to the living room, Twilight and Pinkie gasped while the Doctor silently ran towards the tied up bunny on the couch. In the center of the room. “Angel?!” Twilight whispered sharply, and the Doctor looked back at them, putting a hoof up to his muzzle once more in the ‘Shh” kind of way, and he untied the stark white bunny. Angel looked at the Doctor with horror, then denial, then relief, and then horror once more. Once fully untied, Angel began chittering at the Doctor, and the Doctor nodded. “Can’t do that little fella. Gotta find out what’s happening here.” The Doctor said, much to the surprise of Twilight and the glee of Pinkie. Angel chittered once again, pointing to one specific door down the hall: the basement door, and then looked at the Doctor with pleading eyes. The Doctor responded by sitting down and then putting two hooves on the white bunny’s head, one on each temple, and closed his eyes. Angel then sighed and hugged the Doctor much to his surprise, and hugged back. “Don’t worry little one, I will save your friend.” The Doctor said, and turned his attention to the two ponies standing behind him, and stood up. Twilight was looking at him with bewilderment and astonishment, while Pinkie clapped two hooves together in generous applause. “As I feared…” The Doctor began, and saw that Twilight had something else on her mind. Something was bothering her, and he had noticed it more fully when they came to the cottage’s door. “Twilight, why’re you like that, what’s wrong?” He inquired, and Twilight looked away. “Someone who I thought was a friend was behind all this.” Twilight grudgingly said, a dark look passing over her. Even though she had literally only known about this problem for a grand total of around 42 minutes, it still made her incredibly angry and sad that such a thing could be caused by someone so kind, so generous, so- “Twilight, you need to stop thinking that.” The Doctor simply said, and Twilight looked at him with confusion and her own righteous anger for what seemed like the nth time that day. “I know what you’re thinking, and it is not what you think.” “How do you know what I’m thinking? How could you know?” Twilight spat back, getting angry at him too for saying that Fluttershy couldn’t possibly be the culpr- “She isn’t the culprit.” The Doctor told Twilight, and Twilight looked at him with astonishment. “And I can show you with this…” The Doctor said, and put two hooves on Twilight’s head, one on each side, and Twilight slipped away into a world of dreams. What she saw next was very odd. She was low to the ground, and seemed to be hopping around impatiently. She then realized that she was viewing this from the memory of Angel, Fluttershy’s bunny. She could feel the impatience growing inside of the bunny’s self until finally, the door to Fluttershy’s cottage opened, and she could see Fluttershy walk in. Angel ran up to hug his best friend and grabbed Fluttershy by the neck, giving her a neck hug. What came next was a surprise to Angel. Fluttershy grabbed Angel and threw him down, stunning him. As he lay on the ground,he could see Fluttershy give him a sinister grin, and walked in. She was followed by two red creatures with suckers present everywhere on their body. They were bipedal, meaning they could walk on two feet, and Angel caught a glimpse of something they were carrying. It was a pod. A pod with a small window that was very hard to see through but it looked like the shape of those odd creatures’ heads. Angel, backing away from them and seeing through the window, he gasped. Twilight also gasped herself, seeing who was inside, for somepony was present in the pod, trapped and in a state of unconsciousness. Inside, was the limp form of Fluttershy. The real Fluttershy. The one that could never do any of these acts of violence. They then saw dozens more red creatures file through the door, and one of them grabbed Angel. Angel struggled and squirmed in their grasp, and the monster growled at it, but the fake Fluttershy stopped them from doing whatever it was they were going to do. “Stop!” The fake Fluttershy said, in what Fluttershy would call a shout. “Angel stays and is not to be harmed. Got that?” She said, and the monster growled before grabbing some sort of string and tying up Angel. Angel was then placed on the couch and the fake Fluttershy walked over and sat beside him. It laughed. A sinister and cold laugh, one that did not sound like it should come from such a kind mare’s mouth, but it did. She then looked Angel in the eyes and produced a evil smirk which looked very out of place on Fluttershy’s face. Closing her eyes, she inhaled in concentration, and then opened her eyes once more with an intensified gaze which petrified Angel. This monster, this thing had used Fluttershy’s ‘Stare’ and frozen Angel in place, filling him with terror. This creature that was masquerading as Fluttershy now had near full control over Angel and she laughed that terrible, cold laugh once more. “You see little one, I have taken your friends’ place in this world. We will now conquer this puny little settlement you call a village and eventually gain control of this world! Now, what you will do is stay here and be a good rabbit, okay?” The fake Fluttershy laughed once more, and Angel could only widen his eyes and begin to cry as he saw that his friend may never ever return. The next few memories were sped up, with ponies being dragged in gagged and squirming, only to come back up out of the basement with a smirk and looking completely fine. More and more this started to happen, and finally, it caught up to just earlier that afternoon. He could hear the thunderous noises, and the two sonic booms. An hour later, Angel could hear the four knocks at the door, and fake Fluttershy rushed out of the kitchen, apparently having fixed itself a meal. It scowled at the door, and walked over to Angel. She whispered to him to be quiet lest somethung bad happen to Fluttershy, and then she closed her eyes, went into some sort of meditation, and then went into acting-as-Fluttershy mode. Angel could then hear the voices of Fluttershy and Twilight speaking, and the sudden muffled scream which sounded very much like Fluttershy, the real Fluttershy, and it came from within the basement. He could then hear Fluttershy slam the door and saw fake Fluttershy walk over to him, eyes narrowed in anger, when a muffled scream was heard once again. Her head craned towards the basement door, and grunted in anger. Finally, it caught up to the Cakes. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cake were unconscious when those red creatures dragged them down the basement. All of a sudden, Fluttershy, the fake Fluttershy, flew in from the top and landed with a thud. She then looked at the two creatures who held each of the Cake’s captive and began to scold them. “Idiot’s! Bumbling, fumbling reckless idiots! Even Fluttershy’s- I mean my animal’s could have handled the situation better than you did! You’ve been seen! You know what this will-?!” But she was caught off guard by the sound of a high pitched whir and the sound of ding’s just outside the door. “Quick, down the stairs!” She whispered angrily, which was very easy to do in the form of Fluttershy, and they silently creaked the door closed just before the Doctor barged in, followed by Twilight and Pinkie. All this had happened in a matter of seconds real-time, but it felt like forever to Twilight, who looked towards the Doctor with confusion and relief. “Doctor… what’s the meaning of all that? What are the red creatures? How can you do that?” Twilight asked, and the Doctor shook his head, before showing everything to Pinkie as well. Pinkie clapped, closed her eyes, then nodded in understanding once the Doctor was done. “They’re called Zygons, and they’ve replaced your friend and countless others. By the looks of it, a dozen or so have come and taken some of the ponies in your village, replacing them with themselves. “So Fluttershy didn’t actually do all of this?” Twilight asked hopefully. “No, she did not. And that muffled scream you heard after you met up with Fluttershy? That was Fluttershy waking up and calling for attention. She’s a strong one, your friend. Not anyone can just break free of a Zygon’s psychic link.” Twilight sighed and felt tears well up once more. These were not tears of anger this time around. These were tears, of relief, joy, and happiness. “But don’t celebrate just yet…” The Doctor said, and the two mares looked at him. “We still need to save the world.” The brown stallion said with a grin. “Can we celebrate with jelly babies after though?” Pinkie asked, and the Doctor once again looked at Pinkie with surprise. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, then he shook his head, muttered something, and they made their way into the basement of Fluttershy’s Cottage. A stench could be smelt from halfway down the stairs and it made Twilight and Pinkie’s noses crinkle in disgust. “Don’t worry about the smell, you get used to it.” The Doctor told them, and they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Fluttershy’s basement wasn’t much of a basement anymore. It looked 20 times bigger than it was before, feeling like a scene straight from a horror movie. Pods were lined up everywhere, some on the walls, some on the ceiling, and most on the ground. Several Zygons were unmorphed and were in their true forms while some took the shape of the ponies they had taken. “So they’re kind of like changelings, yeah?” Twilight asked the Doctor. “Uh, I don’t know what those are but I’m guessing yes! Yes they are.” The Doctor said, and then he stopped, holding a hoof out to indicate the same to his companions, and they did so accordingly. They saw one pod that was broken open, and a trail that lead up a platform and to a slimy and stringy piece of wall with a pony shaped outdent covered in some sort of weird ropy substance. Then, out of nowhere, the Zygon Fluttershy walked in, and gave them an evil smirk. “Hello friends!” Fluttershy-Z said, waving a hoof at them. “You have no right to call us friends and you have no place in this town!” Twilight scowled. Fluttershy-Z could only laugh and motioned the unmorphed Zygons to attack them. Just then, The Doctor put up a hoof. “Wait!” He shouted, and then he pointed his hoof at Fluttershy-Z. “I want to know, before I die, how did you manage to get into this universe?” Fluttershy-Z grinned an evil grin that could only make Twilight and Pinkie take a step back due to how scary and utterly terrifying it was to see such an expression on their friends’ face. “The same as you. That crack in the sky… Another one appeared just like it near our village in the northern continent of Zygor.” Fluttershy-Z began to explain, and they then heard the muffled crying of the real Fluttershy on the wall with the pony-shaped outdent. “Quiet! I will not be interrupted while I provide expository backstory!” Fluttershy-Z said, and sent one of the pony Zygons to go check on real Fluttershy. “As I was saying, one of those cracks appeared near our village just before the war between the Daleks and the Time Lords destroyed our planet. We were able to escape through this crack but we were sent here. Conveniently, little old Fluttershy here-” and Fluttershy-Z motioned to the quivering indent in the wall, “Was near us when we came through, and so I zapped her and took her form. My oh my, kind hearted Fluttershy! Saving Equestria multiple times with her friends Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Oh the memories! Naturally, I had to begin to colonize this world, because that war between the Daleks and those blasted Time Lords destroyed Zygor!” At this, she ripped off what was covering the wall near Fluttershy-Z and they saw the real Fluttershy gagged and crying. She looked toward them with pleading, terrified eyes and began to cry even more, shaking her head as if to say “Go and leave without me!” The Doctor, seeing this, sighed and looked toward Fluttershy-Z. “Release her.” The Doctor said, and Fluttershy-Z looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “And what would that do? It would make no difference as to whether you die or not. She is weak, and I know this because I am her.” “You’re not her!” Twilight yelled back and Fluttershy-Z glared at Twilight. The Doctor just put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, telling her to let him handle the situation. “Just do it.” The Doctor said, and Fluttershy-Z shrugged and commanded the pony nearest Fluttershy to release her restraints and to ungag her. “Wow, you’re one grumpy alien.” Pinkie thought out loud, and Fluttershy-Z looked at Pinkie with squinted eyes and a scowl. Once free, Fluttershy began crying out loud and ran very weakly towards Pinkie and Twilight, who embraced her in a comforting and crushing hug. “I- I thought I would never see you again… I’m so sorry Twilight, Pinkie. I’m so sorry I caused all this!” And with that, Fluttershy, the real Fluttershy, broke down sobbing and crying into the arms of two of her best friends. “Doctor? I thought you said she didn’t do any of this? I thought you said that monster of a pony was the culprit! Why’s she saying things like that?” Twilight asked while she was comforting the frail and broken figure that was Fluttershy. “Because Zygons must establish a psychic link before they take on the form of whomever it is they are taking the form of. This means that Fluttershy would have and could have felt and experienced everything Fluttershy-Z would have experienced.” The Doctor explained, and then turned his attention to Fluttershy-Z once more. “So you don’t know, eh?” The Doctor said, and Fluttershy-Z raised an eyebrow. Wow, there’s a lot of eyebrow raising going on. “Don’t know what?” Fluttershy-Z asked in a sarcastic tone. “About the truce between Zygons and Humans on Earth.” The Doctor told Fluttershy-Z, and let her process the words. Once she had done so, her face showed surprise, then anger, then a scowl. “A truce?! How could we ever truce with humans on Earth?” Zygon Fluttershy said, and she took a few steps toward the Doctor. “Who are you, that you would know things like that? There’s no planet Earth here in this universe. This planet is in the spot where planet Earth should be. You wouldn’t know that unless you travelled here from the other universe, so who are you, really?” Doppelganger Fluttershy asked and the Doctor straightened his tattered and ruined cuffs. “You really want to know eh?” The Doctor said, with a small smile. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the room grew cold causing a shiver to go down everyone’s back, even the Zygons. Twilight and Pinkie turned their attention to the Doctor as the real Fluttershy clung tightly to Twilight, slipping in and out of consciousness. The ponies present noticed that all the mirth and happiness in the Doctor had gone. They then saw Fluttershy-Z take a step back involuntarily and the Doctor began slowly walking towards her, with his eyes narrowing at her. “I’m the Doctor. I’m sure you’ve heard of me. Told of in legends from Dalek lore and known all across time and space in our universe. I’m the Doctor, newly regenerated. Oh! And since I am in the first 15 hours of my regeneration cycle, I have more than enough residual regeneration energy to do… this!” The Doctor shouted, stood on both hind legs, hugging his chest and began to glow gold. The effervescent light filled every inch of the room and looked magnificent, but just then the Doctor craned his neck around to face the three mares. Whilst all the Zygons were distracted by the Doctor’s regeneration energy filling the room, he told them one thing. One, simple thing: “Run.” Twilight, hearing the urgency in the Doctor’s voice told Pinkie to go ahead of her, and lifted Fluttershy with her magic. They then began to run. As they reached the stairs they heard the Doctor yell something and then they heard an explosion just as they began climbing the stairs. Before they got halfway up, they saw golden light start to trickle up the stairs when all of a sudden golden energy whooshed past them, pushing them against the walls. After a few seconds, they heard several ponies coming up the stairs and began running for their lives, all the while Fluttershy was in a fetal position and now unconscious due to her malnutrition and the state of shock she was in. They soon found the door to the basement, tore it open and they ran straight outside finding that it was getting incredulously stormy, with dark clouds hovering over and covering the sun making it incredibly dark. Just then, the Doctor ran out the door followed by dozens of confused and panicking ponies. The Doctor then told them to stay put but to follow him around, and frantically searched for where Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy were. Seeing them, he ran towards them. All his clothes were gone now except for his jacket and vest which now had many holes in it. Now finally being able to get a clear view of his cutie mark, they saw that it was in the form of an hourglass. Why it was shaped like that, Twilight didn’t know but she was intrigued by it nonetheless. Realizing she was basically looking straight at the Doctor’s flank, she blushed and turned her head to look at the Doctor who looked at her with a quizzical expression. He then saw his own cutie mark, and laughed. “Would you look at that! I have one too. Brilliant! An hourglass eh? Not bad. I guess it makes sense too.” The Doctor said. The sound of a door slamming could be heard, and some of his blood drained from his face. “Oh yeah, that only momentarily knocked them out. That’s why I was searching for you… to tell you to keep running! You three need to get out of here right now with all these people- er- ponies! It’s not safe!” “We’re not leaving here without you Doctor!” Pinkie exclaimed, and Twilight nodded. A crackle of thunder could be heard and rain began to pour all around. The pitter patter of rain could be felt and heard as the smell of petrichor began to reach the noses of the ponies present. Just then, Fluttershy-Z stepped into the door frame of Fluttershy’s Cottage. Her mane was a mess and her coat was frazzled, which only served to add to the super-villain thing she had going on. “And rightfully so Twilight.” Fluttershy-Z said, walking out and revealing the 6 or 7 Zygons behind her. “It’ll make it that much easier to kill you!” “NO!” The Doctor yelled, and everyone recoiled at his tone. “You will not be killing anyone. Not today, not on my watch. You know what I can do, you’ve read the stories. I can do whatever the hell you can think of! And if you so much as touch anypony here, you will know what’s coming for you.” The Doctor growled, and Fluttershy-Z and the Zygons narrowed their eyes. Pinkie then noticed Mr. and Mrs. Cake as two of the one and a half dozen ponies that were saved by the Doctor and ran towards them, crushing them both in a hug. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake! You’re both alright!” Pinkie exclaimed, and then giggled happily. “Don’t you see? This is a peaceful world! It seems everything here is solved with a nice cup of tea and you lot come barging in threatening to take over their world? What? You have no right to do that, and I won’t let you!” The Doctor hollered, pointing at Pinkie hugging the Cake’s and then at them. “Why should we listen to you Doctor? You of all people. Hypocrite! You tell us not to kill, but what happened to all those other species that stood in your path during the war? What happened to them? You can’t expect us to follow you when you yourself-” Fluttershy-Z was saying, until the Doctor stopped her. “Stop it. Stop it right there. Don’t you dare talk about that. Not here, not now, not ever. You’re calling me a hypocrite? All those many lives. You think I didn’t try to save them? You think I didn’t try to tell them to get out of the way, to help them in their time of need? I tried so hard, yet they all still died. Do you wanna know what I hear every single damned day in my head? Do you really want to?” The Doctor cried, tears at the edge of his eyes and he pointed his hoof at the Zygon who was in the form of Fluttershy. Fluttershy-Z was taken aback by this outburst of emotion from the Doctor, but accepted it and nodded her head. “Yes, Doctor. Show me! Tell me what you see everyday. I want to know!” She yelled, and took a few steps toward the Doctor. She told her Zygon guards to stay put, and took a few more steps toward the Doctor, until they were only a few feet away from each other “I’ll tell you what I see, what I hear everyday. I hear the laughter of children and the singing of families in happiness and joy. I see the children playing and the parents watching over them. I see and hear their cries of terror and anguish as they see the fiery terror and their screams and shouts, trying to run away as their world is burned by my doing. I’ll show you everything!” The tattered clothed stallion said as he stared her in the eyes. He then reared back, and put his two forehooves on Fluttershy-Z startling her. She looked at the Doctor with surprise, confusion and anger. She was about to swat away his hooves when the Doctor began flooding her head with 400 years worth of memories from the war. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the terrible. Everypony present watched in mixed emotions as they saw Zygon Fluttershy begin looking at the Doctor with terror and the same incredible sadness he felt. By this time, she had experienced all the terrible moments in the Time War that the Doctor had experienced, but he couldn’t fill her head with everything. He knew that. It would burn her up alive and so, Fluttershy’s doppelganger began to cry. Crying in the very pain and anguish that only made up some of what the Doctor experienced, but it was enough. “NO MORE!” She yelled as she tore the two hooves attached to her head off of her. The Doctor looked at her with his own sadness, sorry that he was forced to show her his own terrible deeds and how it had affected him. The Zygon Fluttershy fell to her knees on the ground, and looked up at the Doctor with wide eyes. Wide, because of what she saw the Doctor experienced. She was sobbing, holding her head in her hooves and she finally fully fell to the ground, broken down inside and out. She could now only look at the Doctor with regret, sorrow, sympathy, and understanding. “I’m so sorry Doctor, I didn’t know. I-I didn’t know you felt this much. I thought I was right, I thought I could justify our actions-” She was saying, but the Doctor interrupted her. “Don’t. Please.” The Doctor whispered, and he looked toward the two Zygon guards who now looked at the Doctor with scowls, who were wondering how the Doctor could have reduced their great and powerful leader to a pitiful and broken pegasus pony “What did you do to her?” One of them said, it’s voice gravelly, scratchy and deep. “Nothing.” The Doctor simply replied, and he stood over Fluttershy’s Doppelganger protectively. “All I did was give her a push. You know who’s mind she’s using right now? That’s right, Fluttershy. If any of what your Zygon leader said about Fluttershy is true, then she was already affected by it even before I got here. All that was left to do was give her a shove in the right direction, and that’s exactly what I did.” He explained to them, and they growled at him. They began advancing toward the Doctor but were utterly surprised when their leader, Fluttershy-Z got up. Although she was in shambles and was physically weakened by the Doctor’s attempt at showing her the truth, she had enough strength for this. “Stand down.” She told them, and they hissed at her but remained silent. She then turned around to look at the Doctor, tears still present in her eyes, and addressed him. “Tell me more about that truce. The truce between Humans and Zygons.” “Ah. So you want to have a truce here too eh?” The Doctor questioned, and he proceeded to give the details of what occurred on that fateful day in time when the were in the Black Archive of London and discussing a ceasefire-treaty between the two sentient races. “Basically, Zygons bonded with a human counterpart and humans promised not to notice or attack Zygons if they did likewise.” The Doctor finished in a remarkable time of 2.4 minutes. “Then that’s just what we’ll do then. Take a pony counterpart and blend in with the country.” Fluttershy’s Zygon equivalent said, and the Doctor nodded in agreement and relief. All the while this was happening, the ponies who were captured were watching the events transpire and Twilight was taking care of Fluttershy. As the Doctor showed Fluttershy’s Zygon equivalent some of his memories, the crowd of ponies watched on in awe and sadness, having heard the words of the Doctor. Twilight was listening as well, but was also very concerned about the wellbeing of her best friend, the Element of Kindness. She sat and watched as Zygon Fluttershy broke down into tears and hugged the real Fluttershy tighter when she felt and heard her begin to cry in her comatose rest. She could hear her say some of the same words that the Fluttershy the Doctor was facing said. “...no more… so sorry Doctor… so sorry…” But Twilight couldn’t understand why she was saying things like that. After having heard the negotiations occur between the Doctor and the Zygons, Twilight looked up to see the Doctor studying her with a face she couldn’t decipher. A face with so many mixed emotions, it did make him look old. So very, very old. She looked into his eyes and saw what Pinkie must have seen. Eyes that have seen too much. Eyes that told of unspeakable tragedy and indescribable joy. Eyes that betrayed how young he really was. At that moment, she wondered how old the Doctor truly was. “How’s she doing?” The Doctor asked, nudging his head in the direction of Fluttershy. Fluttershy lay peacefully and at rest, her breath coming and going at an even pace. The serene calm that was present on Fluttershy made her look breathtakingly graceful and beautiful. “She’s going to recover, I hope. I heard her muttering things Doctor. Things that the other one of her said. Why did she do that? And is she going to be okay? She hasn’t woken up since we got her out of her house.” Twilight said, and looked down at her friend once again who was still in a peaceful state of sleep. The Doctor could only look at Fluttershy with some sadness. “Yes… I’m afraid so…” The Doctor mumbled. “Afraid? About what?” Twilight inquired, now slightly fearful for her friend, and the Doctor looked back at Twilight. “She was psychically linked to her Zygon counterpart, remember? That means she can experience whatever her counterpart experiences. And this means she now has some of the memories that I gave to her counterpart. It’s burning her fragile mind up. Especially with Fluttershy’s mind. She may be strong mentally, but people -or in this case- ponies, have their limits” The Doctor sadly stated, and he moved towards Fluttershy, putting two hooves to her head. “I’ve used this power too much already, even in these few hours and in just one story. But I’ll be able to use them for one last time right now to help heal your friend here. I’m going to remove her memories of the past few hours, and in doing so I will save her the trouble of bearing the burden that I carry with me.” The Doctor said, and began to establish his psychic mental link with Fluttershy. She could see Fluttershy grimace in some sort of pain, but went back to her original state of quiet rest. The Doctor let go of Fluttershy’s head, and sighed in an exhausted manner. “This day has taken too much out of me, and I’ve only just regenerated.” The Doctor whispered quietly, and he looked tiredly at Twilight. He could see the questions beginning to formulate and that were swimming in Twilight’s head. He put up a hoof to stop Twilight, and shook his head. “Not now Twilight, not now.” All the ponies that were captured were beginning to warm up to the idea of having an equal yet opposite other that was identical to them. Fluttershy-Z (Seriously though, there’s no other name to call her by), had told some of her guards to inform those that were still in the village about the truce and to come meet her to talk about, and to reconcile with the ponies they were impersonating. The Doctor knew it would take a while before all the Zygons would accept this truce, but it was well worth it. He could see Fluttershy’s counterpart ordering the Zygons she had command over around. He wondered at the turn of events, the twist of fate. How very conveniently, the leader of this patch of Zygons had taken the form of Fluttershy. Strong, yet meek. Fearful, yet kind and trusting. And those cracks... those splits in reality... Pinkie Pie came bounding in after having reconnected with the Cake’s and having made sure they were all okay, breaking the Doctor's train of thoughts. She was grinning gleefully from ear to ear but she calmed down a little when she saw Fluttershy stirring awake and the Doctor’s tired form. “Doctor? Is Fluttershy going to be OK? Are you going to be okay?” She asked, and the Doctor looked at her exhausted, with a small smile on his face. “Yes, my dear Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy is going to be fine. I however, think I’m going to need another nap.” At these words, the Doctor gave a toothy grin. His eyes then rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed in an exhausted heap beside Fluttershy and Twilight. “Well that was a doozy!” Pinkie exclaimed with a smile, and winked.