Howl
A thick metallic door slid upwards into the ceiling, and let loose a burst of sparks. When the hot bits had scattered, the Sixth Doctor bounded into the futuristic-looking corridor through the smoke, followed by two ponies coughing from all the smoke.
Medley looked around, bleary-eyed and still sputtering. They had gone from underground tunnels into something more metallic and space-punk. The corridor had neutral-colored panels and a grate at the top and bottom, and was clothed in red lighting. Another monitor farther down exploded, sending bits of flaming broken hardware spewing out.
“I recognize this place!” Lyra said, “This is the Poet. At least, it’s a ship sort of like it.”
“Equestrian Starship,” The Doctor said, “By the look of it, crashing or under attack.”
Medley backed up, half considering leaving this part for the tunnels once more. If the creatures they encountered had the ability to kill them even in a created scenario, who was to say they weren’t in the same danger trying to navigate through a crashing starship?
The door they had entered through slammed shut with a loud sound, startling Medley and causing her to jump.
The Doctor made his way over to it, tapping the side with a hoof and listening for sound.
“The internal mechanisms have been fused together, we can’t go back this way.” he said, “We’ve got to keep moving.”
The Doctor took off down the corridor at a fast gallop, leaving Medley and Lyra having to play catch-up. Around the nearest bend was a branched path, with one path leading to engineering and the other to the command center of the ship. The Timelord skidded to a halt at the sign, and almost immediately took off once more in the direction of the command center.
“Doctor, where are you going?!” Medley cried after him, having to stop to catch her breath. Lyra turned to look back to her, and then back to the Doctor. She couldn’t call him back, so turned to run after the Doctor once more.
Sighing, Medley took flight to try to make up for lost distance. The gap between them closed, just as the Doctor came to a sudden stop once again. Medley nearly crashed into the wall, catching herself with a hoof to come to a stop.
“Doctor, will you please tell me what’s going-”
“Do you hear that?!” he said suddenly, in a very shouty voice.
Medley fell silent. Around her, the ship grumbled and parts groaned. A series of distant explosions crackled, but perhaps the loudest noise was a deep, chugging groan coming from somewhere below.
“That chugging sound is the engines,” the Doctor elaborated, “and they’re not supposed to make that sort of noise. That means that they’re failing, we’re in a decaying orbit somewhere within the atmosphere. I don’t have time to sit around explaining things, you’re going to have to just trust me on- DUCK!”
He tackled Medley to the ground, just as the panel near her head rocketed out of place. Lyra dove down to avoid the shrapnel, her face smashing into the floor grate. Wires crackled and fizzled down, and a column of smoke began pouring from the scorched spot the panel had just occupied.
“We haven’t much time, this place is coming apart by the seams.” The Doctor muttered, bouncing back onto all four hooves and offering an arm out to help Medley back up.
Upon reaching the bridge the three time travelers found set of deserted consoles, broken fixtures, and wailing sirens. Not a crewmember was in sight.
The Doctor jumped over the broken captain’s chair, landing next to the science console. Cracks ran along the glass surface of the screen like a web, making the screen impossible to read. The Doctor tapped at the buttons in frustration, trying to get a readout to appear on one of the other screens.
“Where did everypony go?” asked Lyra, “Nobody’s flying the ship!”
“I’m trying to get an equinoid lifeform count on here right now,” the Doctor replied, “Medley, make yourself useful and find out which console was the navigator’s. It should have a yoke on it.”
“Aye, Captain.” she retorted.
The Doctor paused in his work to look back at her, wanting to make a remark about taking things seriously, but decided that it was probably not worth the effort.
Medley found that part of the navigator’s chair had been strewn up onto the console itself, and the plastic had melted around the edges and re-solidified to parts of the paneling around the bottom edge of the console. Lyra had to help her tug on the sides, breaking the chair off in order to gain access.
The desktop screen was intact, and showed a diagram of the the ship falling around the planet with a countdown to impact. Currently, the countdown was at just over five minutes.
“Doctor, this thing says we’ve got five minutes until it crashes!” she shouted over. The Doctor looked up from somewhere beneath the jutting desk on the opposite side. He had wedged himself into a section with blown-apart paneling and exposed connections to try to re-route the display on the science monitor onto another.
Something seemed to have worked, as the results of the search he had just tried to run showed up on the very screen Medley had been looking at for the countdown. The new display showed that there was a total of five equinoids onboard, and two non-equinoids.
“That’s great, now I’ve lost the clock.” Medley said.
“Never mind about that, we know what we need to know.”
“Which is…?” trailed Medley.
The Doctor cut through another wire, and the wailing sirens stopped. The sounds of the chugging engine far below stopped, and the three ponies were shrouded in darkness. The Doctor stood up, tightening the lapels of his overcoat and raising a single eyebrow. Neither Lyra nor Medley said a thing. Their ears rang from the sudden drop in noise. Silence fell over the bridge.
“I didn’t do that.” The Doctor said, “I just cut the connection to the science console. That shouldn’t have made all of the… wait a moment…”
He jumped up and down in place, feeling the ground move and listening to the impact of his hooves against the grated floor.
“We’re not on a spaceship.” he said.
“I know that,” Lyra replied, “You said all of this was created to give us a hard time.”
“No, but even a created spaceship feels like a spaceship, my dear Lyra.” he continued, “This place is wrong. The gravity feels like natural gravity, not artificial. A simulator, I’m guessing.”
The room was silent for a moment. Medley felt something strange happen, but she couldn’t place it at first. Lyra sensed the shift. Something cold filled the room, and she felt the shift. The Doctor’s eyes widened.
The main viewscreen flickered, and settled onto an image of the Ninth Doctor and Derpy entering some kind of darkened laboratory. Flickering overhead lights illuminated desktops laden with machinery and papers and parts of the stone floor, but no light was present in one particular corner of the room. Something resided in the shadows, kept down by thick chains and attached to a long length of electric cable attached to a running generator. The entire room was laid out like a scene from a Frankenstein remake, but with the monster out of sight.
****
“There’s something alive over there,” Derpy said, motioning to the corner.
The Ninth Doctor walked slowly around the tables, looking at the equipment. Shock prods, drill bits, and an industrial strength portable drill. Somepony was torturing the creature in the corner.
“I’m not sure what to make of all this,” the Doctor admitted, “Whoever’s been doing research in an abandoned castle- if you can call this sort of thing ‘research’- left it all on display and left the door unbolted. I know it’s a trick, but I wonder why it’s this simple.”
Something sparked by the electric generator, but it continued to whir. Upon inspection, the Doctor could see that the switch used to run current along the wires and into the body of whatever was chained up in the corner was currently set to off. It wasn’t being shocked.
A thought occurred to him. Was it possible that the creature, whatever it was, could communicate?
“Derpy, would you mind going outside?” the Doctor asked, “I don’t know if this is dangerous or not, it’s better to play it safe.”
Derpy nodded, and went around the corner toward the exit.
Now alone in the room with the unknown creature, the Doctor spoke to it directly.
“Can you understand me?” he asked. There was silence. No sound other than the whirring generator.
“You don’t have to be afraid of answering me, I’m not going to shock you.” he said, “I don’t know who had done all of this to you, but I’m going to try to put a stop to it if I can. Are you able to respond?”
****
The Sixth Doctor made a motion to Medley, who came to his side. He leaned in closer to whisper into her ear.
“I don’t like this.” he whispered, “Think you can break a metal door?”
“Maybe”, Medley whispered back. The Doctor slid something into her hooves on a chain; an average-looking key. Medley straightened up, eyes widening. The Doctor’s eyes widened too, and for a brief moment they stood still, silently staring at each other with wide eyes.
Then, like coming out of a trance, she snapped out of it. She wrapped the key around her neck, and bowed out of the room. Lyra waited until Medley had left, then posed her question.
“Doctor… why did you have to whisper?” she asked, “Is somepony listening in on us?”
The Doctor was silent. The only sound in the room came from the audio of the Ninth Doctor on the viewscreen, to which his eyes were glued.
****
“Look, I’m not sure what I can do to gain your trust, but I promise you, I’m here to help.” the Doctor said to the shadow. There was no response. He decided to try a different approach.
“I’m the Doctor.” he stated, “it means ‘healer’. I can fix you, probably. Maybe.”
This time, he did receive a response. A mechanical voice responded slowly, laboriously. A small circle of blue light shimmered into existence, and with each word a pair of lights just above the blue one flashed.
“DOC...TOR?”
The Doctor’s reassuring smile faltered, and his lower jaw seemed to sag for a brief moment.
“Impossible.”
“THE DOC-TOR?”
The Doctor stumbled backwards, his hind end crashing into a desk and knocking a desk lamp over. The light fell to the ground, but was not extinguished. Instead it illuminated the dark corner of the room to reveal the occupant; a chained, disabled tank lined with round bumps and armor. This tank was equipped with a beam emitter and a plunger-like grabbing device around its midsection, while its head was shaped like a dome with only an eyestalk and a couple of lights protruding from it.
“YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DA-LEKS. YOU MUST BE DES-TROYED.” the creature screamed, “EX-TER-MINATE! EX-TER-MINATE! EX-TER-MINATE!!!”
The room was silent. The Doctor had taken a dive underneath the table to avoid a death ray that never came.
Regaining his composure, the Doctor began walking toward the lone Dalek.
“It’s not working!” he said. The Doctor rolled his head back, and laughed.
“Oh! This is fantastic! Powerless, you are! How does it feel to be powerless?”
On his last sentence, he rushed forward, standing right in front of the Dalek. The Dalek recoiled, pulling against the chains to try to distance itself from the Doctor.
“KEEP BACK!”
“Why? What for?” the Doctor taunted, “What’re you gonna do to me?”
He began circling the Dalek, nearly eye-to-eyestalk. He stared into the blue light with his own piercing eyes, and his words came through a snarling face.
“If you can’t kill… then just what are you good for Dalek?” he taunted the broken enemy, “What’s the point of you?”
He changed direction this time, and the glowing eyestalk followed his motion. The Doctor paused, taking a step away from the Dalek and leaning against one of the tables.
“What are you even here for?” he asked.
“I AM WAIT-ING FOR ORDERS.”
The Doctor said nothing.
“I AM A SOLDIER. I WAS BRED TO RECEIVE ORDERS.”
The corners of the Doctor’s lips curled upwards, and he bared his teeth when he next spoke to the Dalek.
“Well, you’re never gonna get any,” he said, “not ever.”
“I DEM-AND ORDERS!” The Dalek insisted angrily.
“They’re never gonna come!” shouted the Doctor, matching the Dalek in terms of tense anger. He sprang up from his leaning position and came close to the eyestalk again, as if trying to stare down the wretched mutant within.
“Your race is dead!” he continued, “You all burn. All of you! Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second.”
“YOU LIE!” The Dalek screamed back.
“I watched it happen.” The Doctor said, raising his eyebrows. As soon as he did so, his face contorted and he leaned in as close as he could, teeth bared and brow furrowed.
“I made it happen!”
“YOU… DES-TROYED US?”
Silence fell over the room once more. Somewhere outside, Derpy listened in with a heavy heart. The Doctor had told her of the evils committed by the Daleks. He had explained the many innocent lives lost to their armies, and that their entire purpose was one of racial cleansing. They existed purely to eliminate all other forms of life from existence. He had impressed on her that they were creatures of absolute hate.
So why was it she felt a small part of her pitying the creature?
The Doctor turned away from the Dalek, unable to look at it in the eyestalk any longer. Taking a few steps away, his rageful expression subsided into something else. He closed his eyes.
“I had no choice.” he stated.
“AND WHAT OF THE TIME-LORDS?” asked the Dalek.
“Dead.” the Doctor said simply, “They burned with you.”
****
The Sixth Doctor was left speechless. He took a few steps backwards, away from the viewing screen, but was totally silent. Lyra couldn’t see what his expression looked like, and she couldn’t begin to imagine.
“Why?”
****
“The end of the Great Time War.” the Ninth Doctor continued, “Everyone lost.”
“...AND THE COW-ARD SURVIVED.” The Dalek slowly said.
“Oh, and I found you, didn’t I?” the Doctor said, “Trapped in the Matrix.. in a pocket universe with no more access. The last Dalek in existence, trapped in the last aspect of Gallifrey.”
“I AM… ALONE IN THE UNI-VERSE.” said the Dalek again, in an even slower, more subdued voice.
“Yep.”
“SO… ARE YOU.” it continued, “WE ARE THE SAME.”
Something seemed to snap inside the Doctor. His remorseful gaze away from the Dalek, his demeanour of regret and his inability to look at the creature all vanished to be replaced by a loud, shouting Timelord with throbbing veins in his neck.
“No!” he shouted, leaping toward the Dalek about to restart the stare-down once more, “We’re not the same! I’m not…”
His voice trailed off, and a tooth-filled grin came over his face. He took a few steps back, eyebrows raising and voice becoming much lighter.
“Wait…” he seemed to consider, “Maybe we are… ok, yeah. You’ve got a point.”
He continued to back away, now approaching the whirring generator.
“‘Cause I know what to do.” he continued, “I know what should happen. I know what you deserve.”
He glanced back at the lone Dalek, meeting it’s gaze once more and grinning from ear to ear.”
“Exterminate.”
The Doctor slammed on the switch connected to the electric generator. Massive amounts of power surged through each of the wires, ending with a set of coils positioned in a way that surrounded the Dalek. Bolts of light jumped from the coils to the metal shell of the Dalek. The sounds of electronic screams uttered from the vocals of the doomed alien joined with the crackling electricity in a sick chorus. Light from the bolts illuminated the entire chamber, save for the shadow cast against the wall by the motionless Doctor.
“HAVE… PITY!” the Dalek cried with effort.
“Why should I?” the Doctor yelled back at it, “You never did!”
He went on to flip another switch, increasing the amperage flowing through the creature.
Having heard the chaos from outside the door, Derpy made up her mind. Something about the Dalek had triggered this violent streak in the Doctor, and he wasn’t talking like his usual self, the one she looked up to. After all his talk of nonviolent solutions and being the better pony, of second chances and an unwillingness to command wrongdoers to death, he was willing to torture and kill this Dalek?
Something was wrong, and she had to talk him down from it.
Derpy threw open the door to the chamber within, and the Doctor’s head snapped up. Derpy’s slightly off-center gaze met the Doctor’s, and she noticed something different in his eyes. It was hard to describe, but his irises seemed drained of color completely.
“Derpy, stand back!” he commanded in a loud voice.
Derpy shook her head.
“First it was the last group of Cyberponies,” she said, trying very hard to keep her voice from wavering, “Now the last Dalek.”
“I’ve got to, Derpy!” he shot back, “It’s my duty to rid the universe of their filth!”
“No!” she yelled.
That was strange. She was yelling at the Doctor now.
Now she was… running towards him and shoving him away from the switch.
What happened?
Derpy was able to flip the switch and shut the electricity flow to the Dalek off, moments before the Doctor kicked her in the side. She fell and slammed into the stone floor, winded and hurt.
The Doctor went to turn the switch back on, but noticed that the Dalek was silent. The eyestalk was no longer glowing, and a wispy column of smoke seeped out through the grille on the Dalek’s neck. It was dead at this point, completely roasted.
The room was silent save for somepony lying on the floor, crying.
“The deed is done.” The Doctor said, “I did what I had to do.”
He reached over to help Derpy to her hooves, but she recoiled from him.
“Come on, stand up,” he said, trying to say his words softly. He offered a hoof out again but Derpy slid herself farther away, refusing his help.
“I thought you were a stallion of second chances,” Derpy muttered, just loud enough for Nine to hear, “Somepony who valued life, even the lives of his enemies. You go out there and save the universe, only killing as a last resort.”
“I do what I have to do,” the Doctor said, “If these things are out there making the universe so dangerous… it’s my job to stop them.”
Derpy noticed that strange thing that seemed to have happened earlier to the Doctor’s irises happening again. This time however, his entire body seemed to be draining of color. His blue coat of fur was fading to a sickly gray.
“You know…” he said struggling to find the right words, “I’ve got to cleanse the galaxy of-”
“Do you know who you sound like?” she interrupted. The Doctor was silent. Derpy was silent. A small breeze started to blow outside, and the outer door slammed itself shut.
Derpy stood herself up, dusting her legs off. The Doctor just stood and watch, teetering between being very hurt and being very angry. She couldn’t begin to know what had come over him. Had he snapped? Was he being mind controlled? She almost wished that that was the case.
Derpy made her way toward the door. As she walked closer to it, a familiar groaning noise was heard outside.
“I’m leaving.” she said, breaking the quiet, “If this is what you’ve become, I don’t want to be involved.”
That really set the Doctor off. He gave a terrible shout, and slammed his hoof into the nearest table, smashing the wood. He swiped at the equipment on the table, knocking it off and breaking most of it.Derpy threw open the door and raced out, but the Doctor was right behind her on hoof.
As he came out into the sunlight, he was stopped by another stallion clad in a garish looking coat and standing between him and the older version of the TARDIS, which Derpy had entered.
“Let her go.” the Sixth Doctor said.
“Out of my way, pincushion.” the future version snarled.
“I don’t think you realize just how foolish you’re acting.” The Sixth Doctor said, backing himself up, “In fact, you’re not behaving rationally or reasonably, two of the qualities I pride in myself. Yes, you’re acting in a most un-Doctorly manner. In fact, you make me wonder if you’re even the Doctor at all.”
“What would you call me then?”
“The Not-Doctor,” Six replied in an instant, “The Angry Boor, Stupid Big-Eared Git, and possibly the Valeyard. That’s who I’m speaking to now, isn’t it? That’s seems like the kind of thing you’d do: create an emotionally charging scenario where I have to choose between right and wrong, and if I choose wrong it leaves me susceptible to… to…”
The Not-Doctor swiped at Six, grappling his former self in an attempt to choke him. This was met with the Sixth Doctor throwing his weight against him and causing the pair to crash onto the rock threshold. The Not-Doctor received the brunt of the impact, and loosened up just enough for the Sixth to get a quick jab to the stomach in, and bounce away. He quickly made for the TARDIS, throwing open the door and bounding inside.
Now completely grayscaled, Nine could only watch as his past TARDIS dematerialized, leaving him alone in the Matrix.
With a TARDIS of his own. He waved a hoof, and the landscape vanished around him, leaving only himself, blankness, and a TARDIS.
Approaching his TARDIS, he tried sifting through the memories of this body. He kept his key in a pocket of the leather jacket.
He sighed. The leather jacket would have to go. Perhaps an overcoat would suit him better?
Yes, that would be excellent. A nice, flowing black overcoat. There had to be one somewhere in the TARDIS.
Another thought struck the Wolf. Curiously, he rubbed a gray hoof against the blue panels. A bit of blue paint came off. Why had The Doctor painted the TARDIS, what was he trying to hide?
****
Medley, Lyra, and Derpy sat in the white console room of the older TARDIS. The Sixth Doctor watched the center of the console bob up and down in rhythm with the groaning of the engines as the ship flied through the vortex, and out of the realm of the Matrix.
Derpy had her face buried in her hooves. Quietly, Lyra made her way over and tried to wrap a front leg around her friend’s shoulder.
“What I don’t get,” Medley said, breaking the profound silence engulfing the console room, “Is what exactly happened to your Doctor. It sounds like he went crazy.”
“Partially,” the Sixth Doctor said somberly, “My theory is that he was possessed at his moment of weakness. When he felt like he was the lowest of the low. He sort of… gave up on life, and that left room for that... thing to swoop in and seize control of me.”
“He, me,” repeated Medley, “I’m so confused. Who is this "thing"?”
The Doctor opened his mouth to explain, but Derpy spoke up.
“He’s you, isn’t he?” Derpy said.
Everyone was silent. Lyra sort of let go, and Derpy got back to her hooves, wiping her eyes dry.
“He’s the worst part of you, Doctor,” she continued, “Cut off from the rest of you… the good in you.”
The Doctor nodded.
“Gallifrey destroyed, or so my future self claims. I’m surprised the Matrix survived.” he said, “That’s what all that was, you know. A Timelord Supercomputer, that created a pocket universe. If a malevolent being was in the Matrix when it was destroyed, then he might have survived the blast. It might explain why he needed a body so desperately. That’s what he had been reduced to… just life force floating about.”
“That’s what you think happened?” Lyra asked.
“Who knows?” the Sixth Doctor replied. He went to the console again, and flicked at the switches. The TARDIS’ engine noises returned, and they were on their way to a new destination.
The ship groaned, and rematerialized. The Doctor made his way to the door first, and swung it open.
“Go on,” he said, “out you go.”
He was talking to Derpy.
“I...I...I…”
“That’s three I’s in one sentence… oh nevermind,” the Sixth Doctor said, “I thought you said you wanted to leave. So I took you here, Ponyville. Somewhere around 1999, 2000.”
“2003,” Medley read, looking at the console’s clock.
The Sixth Doctor looked around urgently, slamming the door shut.
“That can’t be the case,” he said, double checking, “It must be malfunctioning.”
“If it’s all the same,” Derpy spoke up, “I don’t think I’ll be leaving.”
Everyone looked at her.
“I’m serious,” she said, “I… I don’t know. I feel like it’s my fault.”
Lyra took a step forward, opening her mouth. This time the Sixth Doctor was the first to interrupt, leaping over the side of the console to approach Derpy. She held her hoof up, stopping his approach.
“He changed the most after I said I was going to go,” she explained her voice strong and unwavering, “I think that’s what did it. Made him feel the worst, that is.”
The Sixth Doctor shook his head.
“Are you seriously-”
Lyra got her chance to interrupt him, holding a hoof to his mouth before he made the situation any worse.
“Derpy, you can’t take the blame for any of this.” she said, “It’s not anypony’s fault. It just… happened, y’know?”
Nobody knew quite what to say next. Medley sat herself down, and Lyra stood still, looking at Derpy for awhile. The Doctor was the only one moving, going back to the TARDIS console and setting to work. At first it was calm, calculated movements, but soon his gestures became more heightened. He started jumping about the different sides of the console quickly, bobbing up and down in order to reach the buttons farther in.
Seeing the ridiculous sight of the bouncing rainbow of a Doctor really detracted from the somber mood. Lyra found herself trying really hard, and failing in the end, to suppress a giggle. The corner of Derpy’s mouth curled up. Medley didn’t seem too affected as both she and the Doctor stopped to stare at the two ponies from 1999, wondering what was funny.
“What are you even supposed to be doing?” Lyra asked.
“Setting us in motion, of course, what does it look like I’m doing?” he replied, “We’re going after him.”
“But how?” asked Derpy, “How do you plan on finding him?”
“No idea!”
“What about getting the Wolf out of your future self?” Medley asked, “Is that what you’re gonna do?”
“Going to do, my dear Medley,” the Sixth Doctor replied, “If all goes according to plan.”
“But you just said you don’t even have a plan!”
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i had a feeling that the scene with the dalek felt a bit familiar. a bit too familiar. looks like i was right in my assumption. i liked the concept of your valeyard too and your thinking of how good ol' ninth would have turned out if he wasn't stopped from killing that dalek.
That was excellent. I very nice twist and a lovingly crafted story. It does lack some passion, but all the same, very enjoyable for fans old and new. The Sixth Doctor has always been a favourite.
8/10
- Infinite
I love this series. Great fic!
...also, great name