Eight

by ThunderChaserCreate

Taking Flight *Roseluck*

I held onto the console again, trying to hold down my lunch as it spun through the air erratically. The stallion apparently 'wasn't used to hooves,' and therefore had trouble operating the finer points of his machine. Twilight and Lyra helped as much as they could, but who could blame them if they didn't know what a conceptual geometer was, or where to find the linear calculator.

There was lots of shouting and distress involved in piloting a TARDIS, although the Doctor insisted we had more than enough 'hands' to use it properly. Lyra swiftly reminded him that we had hooves, and he told us all to step back and 'just let him do it.'

Finally, after what felt like hours of being jostled around and yelled at, the TARDIS landed with a bump, and a sick-sounding noise. Most of us were on the floor by this time, groaning and checking for bruises. The Doctor sauntered to the door, opening it and scanning the landscape.

"Hmm... this'd probably be easier in the daylight..." he muttered, closing the door.

"Wait a minute!" Rainbow yelled, running to the door. "I wanna see! I haven't seen it work, so far!" She threw open the door, dashing outside. She was quickly followed by the Doctor, then Soarin, Twilight, and Pinkie. Lyra looked over at me and shrugged, and we followed as well.

It was dark, but we were definitely in the Everfree. The trees twisted unnaturally, scraping the very sky, and a surreal, thick fog blanketed the landscape. I could barely make out the colors of Rainbow Dash as she ran back and forth across the area, yelling excitedly.

"Alright, yes, great. Now, can we please go?" The Doctor tried to usher Rainbow back towards the TARDIS.

"Oh, Celestia, THIS IS SO COOL!" Rainbow shouted, "Do you realize how cool this is? We can travel in TIME!"

"Yes, yes, well, back to the TARDIS, then?" The Doctor suggested with no enthusiasm.

Rainbow continued to marvel in hushed tones.

"Rainbow Dash..." The Doctor said, more firm.

Suddenly, there was a slam. We all whirled around to see the doors on the TARDIS shut tight, and watched helplessly as some form of engines started up.

"No, no, NO!" The Doctor screamed, running up to the form and passing right through it. The TARDIS went through its last phases of takeoff, and disappeared into the night sky.

"Whoops." Rainbow grinned sheepishly.

The Doctor turned to her, his face contorted into grimace."Fantastic. Now, I don't have a TARDIS. I have... nothing." He sat on the ground, staring at Rainbow.

"Ummm... but, we're here, right?" Rainbow reminded him, perking up a bit.

"Yeah, sure we're here. But I would've preferred to do this in the daylight... also, I live in my TARDIS, and it was our only way out." He stood. "Okay.... o-okay, oh...kay." He stuttered.

"Well, don't you have some sort of... emergency recall on you?" Twilight suggested.

"No!" He whined, as though this was obvious.

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Alright... this wasn't meant to happen, but look! Here we are. So, I suggest just... starting." Lyra announced. A look of confusion crossed her face, however. "What is it we're doing, anyway?"

The Doctor sighed dramatically. "Well, I was hoping to put this off a bit longer, but... we are hunting a monster."

"A monster? Do you wanna be more specific?" I prompted.

"It's called... Slendermane. It used to be just a legend, until about a week ago when local DJ Vinyl Scratch disappeared. Several residents reported seeing her enter the Everfree forest on a dare. That was the last anyone saw of her."

"So... what makes you think it was this... Skendermanne?" I asked, still confused with the details.

"The notes. They're in her handwriting. Hoofwriting? Anyway, I've seen photos of them, but I need to see them in person. I've got to hold them. There's something... off about them. And, whatever it is, it must be bad, because I can even sense it in the photograph." The Doctor rubbed his forehead with his hoof, them massaged his temples. I could tell he was stressed, for I had seen that face on Daisy many times before. His was accompanied by a deep scowl, as he contemplated what exactly should be done with Rainbow Dash.

To my surprise, he put his hooves together in a determined gesture. "Alright! We shouldn't let that get us down, eh? Time to get down to business!" His mouth contorted, like he was tasting something bad. "Ooh. I hate it when people say-- er, ponies say that. It sounds so... serious. But! This is serious. Okay. We have..." He squinted at the sky, muttering to himself. "Ooph, eight hours, maximum."

"Eight hou--?!" Twilight choked.

"Well, then, allons-y! Oh, haven't said that in ages..." He looked moderately excited.

"So-- wait. You're telling us that we're looking for notes (which, by the way, you still haven't fully explained) that may or may not still be here. They could be anywhere in the Everfree, which spans for several thousand acres, and we have eight hours to scour the entire forest for them?" I summed up, in utter disbelief.

"Eight hours, eight notes, eight ponies in the scary dark forest," the Doctor agreed.

"Eight ponies? There's seven here," Lyra reminded him after a quick head count.

"Not if you count the Slendermane."

Comments

[SOARINDASHLOVER2665]

Yay new chapter!

[GoldenFlower]

* counted 3 days later * 300!

[HarmonyRapids]

Dang, Slenderman parody?