Ch. 3: All Roads Lead to Thunder Drum
Chapter 3: All Roads Lead to Thunder Drum
Outside Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
Ponyville, Everfree Province of Equestria
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R. (Celestia’s Reign), 6:10 p.m.
“You don’t think something happened to her in the forest, do you?” Sweetie Belle called out in a frantic voice over the buzzing sound of her pegasus friend’s wings as they tore down the road leading to Pranceton Plainsboro.
“I don’t think so,” Scootaloo replied, maneuvering her prized blue scooter, red wagon in tow, to avoid a small pothole as the white building came into view. “No way Big Macintosh would still be working on the farm if Apple Bloom was really hurt.”
“Sometimes I just wish he had a bigger vocabulary.” Sweetie shook her head, still frustrated by the lack of information they had gotten from the brief interrogation of the eldest Apple Family sibling when their friend had failed to meet them at Sugarcube Corner. “He could have at least told us why she was at the hospital.”
“Are you kidding?” Scoot shrugged, not even sparing a glance back at her unicorn friend. “We’re lucky we got more than an ‘Eeeyup’ or a ‘Nnnope’ out of him.”
“Whoa…” Sweetie’s response was soft, and while Scootaloo was quite used to other ponies being in awe of her amazing daredevil maneuvers, she had hardly done anything on this ride that was "whoa" worthy. Sparing a glance back towards the off-white unicorn, Scoot realized that her friend’s eyes were turned up towards the sky.
Turning back to check her path for hazards for a moment, the orange pegasus filly spared a glance upward to try and figure out what it was that had stolen her friend’s attention away.
Her eyes went wide as she echoed Sweetie’s comment. “Whoa…”
The scooter skidded to a halt as Scootaloo applied the brakes and brought their momentum to zero just short of the sign that marked the turn-in entrance for the hospital. Removing their helmets, both fillies kept their unblinking eyes on the sky as they both observed the large bird that was circling overhead.
“What is that?” Sweetie sounded worried, clearly unnerved by the size of the creature that was lazily flying above them.
“I don’t know… You don't see birds like that in Ponyville, that’s for sure,” Scootaloo responded, stowing her helmet in the wagon.
“It looks kinda like a vulture, don'tcha think?”
“Oh, come on. That’s ridiculous.” Scoot shook her head, injecting a tone of objection to her voice as she took her eyes off the enormous creature. “What would a vulture be doing…” Her tone dropped suddenly. “...at a… hospital...?”
The two fillies shared a nervous, fearful glance, Sweetie Belle gulping slightly as they nodded in a mute agreement and started walking towards Pranceton Plainsboro, their eyes firmly and totally locked on the doors, and very pointedly not on the skies.
————————
Semi-abandoned Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 11:28 a.m.
“Hush, now… quiet, now… I won’t let anything happen to you. Everything is okay…” Fluttershy muttered quietly to the filly’s ear, feeling her heart calm as she cradled the comfortingly familiar pony for a moment. More than anything, that was what she needed: something to take care of. And in doing so, adding some semblance of normalcy to her troubling situation.
This particular zebra, however, hardly seemed content to play the part.
“No, it is incredibly creepy and uncomfortable,” the little zebra objected, having to shrug her shoulders to get her front legs up between the two of them, roughly pushing away from the yellow-coated equine with her hooves. “Get off!”
Fluttershy was taken aback as the filly reeled back and away from her, eying the pegasus suspiciously.
“Now, who are you and how do you know my name!?” the filly zebra demanded, stomping a hoof.
“Zecora… It’s me…” The pony smiled softly, looking to her with a pleading expression. “Fluttershy. You know me.”
“...Nooooooo… I think I would remember someone so…” The filly tilted her head, eyes narrowed suspiciously as her tone displayed her disbelief. “…colorful.”
“But, you--” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in realization as the bit dropped. This wasn’t the Zecora she knew; the one that lived in the Everfree Forest and visited Ponyville every month. Not yet, anyway.
This was her younger self, back in Zebrica. Fluttershy hesitated a moment as the ramifications came crashing down on her.
They had come back in time, specifically to the zebras' homeland, to find Zecora’s father. Fluttershy didn’t know how she hadn’t considered that, while trying to find him, they ran the possibility of encountering a younger version of Zecora herself.
“Wait… you’re a pegacorn, aren’t you!? From across the sea!” Zecora suddenly pulled back, her expression a mix of horror and wonder.
“Um… That’s pegasus. And I am from Ponyville, but--”
“Aha! So the ponies are invading!” the young zebra exclaimed loudly before she lowered her head aggressively with a snort, to which Fluttershy backed up, pressing into the wall under the windowsill.
“Invading… What? No! Of course not!” Fluttershy reeled, her tone still shocked as she shook her head violently (relatively speaking), trying to get a grasp on the situation. “What in the world would give you that idea?”
“The Anasi,” the filly stated simply.
“Anasi? What is--” Fluttershy started before a sudden and deep pounding of hooves sounding from the other side of the hut’s interior wall brought back a sense of urgency to her situation.
————————
Two zebra soldiers went into the small half-room that was separated from the rest of the hut, neither announcing their presence or requesting access as they moved across the door’s threshold and each scanned a side of the small resting room before their combined gazes fell upon the zebra filly that stood in its center. Both adult zebra shared a quick glance before motioning to the filly.
“What are you doing here, little one?” one of them asked, pulling forward and moving to her right.
“You should not have left home. After all…” the other remarked, his voice eerily similar as he moved around to the small zebra’s left side.
“...it is dangerous at the village edge,” the first started again, picking up on the thought of the second.
Zecora huffed as she stood there, clearly unconcerned and showing a complete disinterest. “I needed some space,” she said, not intimidated by the larger, aggressive-looking zebras as she continued with a flat, unimpressed tone. “And it is not as if this hut’s taken. One of the Rocs cleared out the owner weeks ago.”
“Your father will be worried, Ash-Stripe,” the first stallion began again in a patronizing fashion, the pair circling around her in opposite directions.
“If he even notices I am gone…” Zecora shrugged her shoulders with disdain. “But you are not here about me squatting in a hut, so what do you want?”
One of the stallions, apparently agitated at the lack of effect that he was having on the small zebra, nudged the filly with a hoof, pushing her a step forward. But although her eyes narrowed, she did not turn towards him.
“A stripeless beast…” the second of the pair stated. “A deviant, wicked creature that would deny us our right...”
“...as Masters of the Plains… The Strongest of the Herds…”
“The creature bears the wings of a bird, and stands out from the herd with a sickly yellow coat and a mane of light red…”
As both zebra warriors stood behind her, glaring metaphorical spears she could almost feel boring into the back of her head, Zecora chanced a look upward, her eyes moving to the ceiling. There, in the upper corner, thus far unnoticed by the two zebra stallions that were so focused on her, was the yellow-coated, pink-maned pony, her wings beating quietly as she pressed herself as tight as she could against the ceiling wall, keeping as silent as a field mouse.
“...Pink,” Zecora stated flatly, closing her eyes, causing Fluttershy’s heart to all but freeze.
“What?” the first zebra stallion asked, coming around to glare down at the filly again.
“Pink is the word for light red,” the filly clarified, “And yes, I saw this creature…”
Fluttershy shook her head in horror, her eyes pleading even if she knew the young zebra couldn’t see her the way she was staring straight ahead.
“Where?” The stallion leaned in, towering over the filly.
Zecora smirked. “Lift your tail, and perhaps you will--”
*CRACK*
“Ungh!”
Fluttershy turned away, wincing as she suppressed a horrified cry at witnessing a moment of cruelty she had never before seen inflicted on so young a foal. Too in shock to even react, she turned back seconds later to see the filly forced to her knees.
“Little ones should show their betters respect.” The second zebra, still standing behind her, glared as he spoke.
“...Do something worth respect and maybe I will start showing it.” Zecora looked up defiantly, the sneer on her lips contradicting the tears welling up in her eyes.
The yellow and pink pony cringed again as the first zebra stallion leaned towards Zecora, a war raging in the pegasus’ mind as to whether or not to dive down and Stare the two bullies into submission… or try and remain out of reach of those very sharp and dangerous-looking spears.
“You… are very a lucky filly,” the stallion practically hissed. “Any other member of the herd would be given to the Pit for less.”
“I am not part of your herd, Zulu.” Zecora glared back. “And I never will be.”
The two held their stares for a long moment, tension thick enough to cut with a knife, before the second zebra stallion looked up, his expression blank. “The Ash-Stripe is of no concern. We have more important matters to attend to.”
“Indeed. This distraction is beneath us.” The lead stallion turned away, moving out the door from whence they came. His compatriot followed without another look back.
“Go back to your sire, Zecora,” the stallion huffed, his tone shifting, taking on a bit more emotion. But it was masked well enough that the pegasus keeping out of sight just above him couldn't tell if it was concern or spite. “Perhaps then you will remember your place.”
Zecora’s head drooped as the hoofsteps of the two zebra stallions moved away, past the threshold and out of the hut completely, several seconds passing in silence before the pegasus came to ground, gliding to the filly’s side.
“Are you alright, Zecora? Did they hurt you? I’m so sorry. I didn’t think they would… I didn’t think anypony could... Those… big… mean… bullies! Picking on a sweet little…” Fluttershy was beside herself, trembling half with fear and half with an uncharacteristic anger. There were very few things in the world that could get her ire up… but what she had just witnessed...
“I am fine!” Zecora looked up, her left forehoof quickly running over her eyes to wipe them clear as she barked forcefully, her other hoof shoving Fluttershy away. “And I do not need your sympathy, stripeless! I am not some whiny, weak little foal that needs nurturing and protection. And I certainly do not need it from some trembling yellow pony.”
“I… never said that…” Fluttershy withdrew, stunned by the filly’s direct and aggressive tone. “I just wanted to…”
“Do not thank me,” Zecora huffed in annoyance, looking away and rolling her eyes at the pegasus’ timid tone. “I did not do it for you.”
Fluttershy was at a complete loss for words as she looked over the mohawk-wearing zebra, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. This couldn’t be the Zecora she knew; the kind and sagely mare that made salves for injured ponies, and potions to restore a rooster’s crow.
“Wait... You can fly...” The aggression in the filly’s voice was gone, replaced with an almost shocked realization, as if what she had witnessed were only now making an impact.
“What?”
“You can actually fly!” Zecora looked the pegasus up and down, her eyes lingering on Fluttershy’s delicate wings, the wheels clearly turning in her mind.
A notion that for some reason filled Fluttershy with dread.
“Y-yes…?” she answered hesitantly as the young zebra moved up beside her and set a hoof to the wing folded to her side.
“Could you carry me?”
“Huh? Oh...” Fluttershy perked up, a soft smile spreading across her face as the realization dawned on her. “Yes, I can do that. I can fly you out of the village and try to find somewhere safe for us to hide until Twilight and the Doctor find us. That’s a terrific idea!”
Zecora looked to the smiling pony for a moment, her expression flat. “...That is not what I had in mind.”
“Huh?”
“Must I spell it out? You are taking me to Thunder Drum!”
“What…? Y-you mean the mountain? B-but…” Fluttershy stammered a bit, confused as to why Zecora would want to go to the looming, scary peak that sat in the middle of the desolate plains.
“You owe me, stripeless.” Zecora grew animate in an instant, jabbing a hoof at the pony. “So, let us keep this simple. You… take me... to Thunder Drum.”
“But--”
“Or…” Zecora stomped a hoof down, glaring with an angry, remorseless gaze that seemed determined to impress her sincerity on the pegasus. “I yell at the top of my lungs, and we see how fast you can fly with spears coming at you from every direction.”
Fluttershy’s jaw dropped at the sudden and blatant threat, her shoulders drooping as she tried to wrap her head around how things had gotten so completely and utterly out of control.
With only a few moments to consider her position, Fluttershy swallowed, trying very hard not to cringe as she uttered a carefully selected response. “…Okay…”
————————
Intensive Care Ward
Pranceton Plainsboro Memorial Hospital
29th of Summer, 1001 C.R., 6:21 p.m.
“Apple Bloom!”
The duet-like cry surprised the small Apple filly, forcing her to shift quickly to keep the large tray precariously balanced on her head from toppling over. The large water pitcher on top sloshed a little as she did, while her fellow Crusaders came up to flank her.
“There you are! We were so worried!” Sweetie stated, only just barely restraining from throwing her forelegs over her friend’s shoulders, taking note of the tray. “When Big Mac said you were down here, we thought you'd gotten hurt.”
“What happened? We were waiting for you down at Sugarcube Corner, and when you never showed up-- Wait, where’s your bow?” Scootaloo asked, interrupting her own story when she noticed her friend's unadorned mane.
The yellow-coated, red-maned filly’s eyes darted from side to side between her friends for a moment as a knot formed in her chest, expressing as a sudden flush to her cheeks. “Girls!” she shouted, a bit more harshly than she intended. “Just... be careful and gimme some room... Ah need ta get this water ta Zecora.”
“Zecora?” Sweetie asked. “Why would she be here? What’s going on?”
“Well, she’s sick. Like, really sick,” Apple Bloom explained, trying to keep her temper down. “Ah’m tryin’ ta keep 'er comfortable while Twilight and Fluttershy 're gone.”
“Oh! Well, why didn’t you just say so?” The white unicorn perked up a bit, smiling as she looked to Scootaloo with a slight wink. “We can help! We can be..."
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER NURSES!"
The sudden rise in her friends’ volume jostled the Apple filly as she suddenly jerked back, some of the water from the pitcher splashing down into the tray on her head when she tried to regain her balance.
For some reason, the usually enthusiastic trademark shout that the three fillies used to emphasize their favored pastime of crusading for their cutie marks had a very adverse effect on Apple Bloom’s already somewhat-frayed nerves.
“Goshdarnit, Sweetie! This ain't the time to be worried 'bout our cutie marks!” she snapped, glaring at the young unicorn, her harsh tone deflating the enthusiasm injected into the conversation in an instant. “This is serious!”
Sweetie Belle took a step back, stunned by Apple Bloom’s reaction. “I… I’m sorry, I just thought that…”
“Whoa, hold on, AB, that was uncalled for.” Scootaloo stepped between them, trying to keep her own temper in check after witnessing the normally happy yellow filly shout like that. “What happened? What’s the matter with you?”
“What’s the matter!? Ah went runnin’ after Zecora ta find out what was wrong, we got attacked by some big bird monster, then Ah had ta drag 'er all the way ta Fluttershy’s by mahself cuz she'd done passed out! Where the hay were you two!? Ah coulda used yer help!” Apple Bloom’s tone did not relent, a sudden need to vent causing her to shift and the water that had spilled before to drip around the edge of the tray she carried.
“We were waiting for you at Sugarcube Corner… We thought…” Sweetie tried to speak up, but clearly growing more reserved as she cringed, doing what Scootaloo considered to be a spot-on impression of Fluttershy when she was faced with danger.
“Sugarcube Corner...? Y'all were busy eatin’ sweets while Ah was... Humph! Some friends, you are!” Apple Bloom slumped, disappointment clear in her voice.
“But… but you said…” Sweetie sounded close to tears as she withered under the farm filly’s glare.
A sight that caused the pegasus of the trio to step up. “Hey, that's not fair! You told us it was fine! That you go in there all the time! You asked us not to tell anypony!” Scootaloo stomped a hoof, interposing herself between the earth pony and unicorn as she went on the offensive, causing Apple Bloom to pause for a moment.
“What in tarnation? Hold on, now! Ah may not be no Element of Honesty, but Ah know fer a fact that Ah didn’t say nuthin’ like that! Ah didn't even stop ta talk ta y'all! Ah thought y'all were right behind me!”
“But... no... you stopped at the edge... You said to wait for you... at....” Sweetie bobbed out from behind Scootaloo for just a moment, cringing back when Apple Bloom glared at her again.
“Ah know Ah didn’t and so do you!”
“Oh, so now we're the liars!?” Scootaloo clearly took offense, again. “That’s a pretty bold claim from the filly who once faked her own cutie mark and lied to the entire town!”
“Oh, don’t you start talkin’ ‘bout that now!” Apple Bloom’s cheeks flushed, her own outrage rising, surging forward suddenly as she put herself nose to nose with Scootaloo.
“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo! Stop it!” Sweetie looked around, her voice falling on deaf ears as she scanned the hallways for an adult who could intervene... with none in sight.
“Ah ain’t got time fer little foal stuff right now! Ah got a friend that needs me!” Apple Bloom declared, her eyes unwavering as she waited for Scootaloo to blink.
“Oh? So what are we, then?” Scootaloo glared right back, refusing to yield.
“Well, ya ain’t lyin' in a hospital bed wit' Celestia knows what makin’ ya sick, Ah can tall ya that much.”
“So, what? We’re just ‘fun time’ friends, not 'real' friends you can depend on like Zecora is!? Do you really think we wouldn’t have come right behind you unless you told us not to!?” Scootaloo threw right back at her, her wings starting to buzz as their argument grew more pitched.
“Right now the only thing y'all are is in mah way! Move!” Apple Bloom stepped forward, setting her shoulder against Scootaloo’s in a sudden and aggressive show of dominance... one that the orange pegasus did not give way to.
“Make me!” Scootaloo refused to move and pushed back.
The sudden jostle finally proved to be too much to the Apple filly, both foals forgetting in their heated back and forth that Apple Bloom still had a tray with a water pitcher perched on her head.
*SPLASH*
And all of a sudden, she had just a tray, as the pitcher fell forward, the water deflecting and drenching the orange filly with a torrent of cold liquid.
After a moment of shocked realization, Apple Bloom reached up and pulled the tray off her head, baring her teeth in aggravation. “AGH! Now look what you did!”
“What I did!? You're the one who just dumped water all over me!” Scootaloo shouted back, all but ready to dive-tackle the earth pony.
“Scootaloo, that’s enough!” Sweetie piped up suddenly, rushing in front of her friend while Apple Bloom stepped back and reached for the fallen pitcher, grateful it hadn’t broken when it fell.
“What, you’re taking her side!?”
“I’m not taking anypony’s side, but this isn’t helping!” Sweetie pleaded before Apple Bloom turned to both of them again.
“Ah don’t have time fer this! You two jus' get on outta here and play somewheres else, why don’tcha!?” she snapped dismissively, sounding more than a bit like her elder sister as she spoke.
“'Play'? Since when is crusading just ‘play’ to you!? Nothing's more important to you than getting your cutie mark!” Scootaloo shot back. While still angry, being suddenly doused had taken some of the fight out of her.
“Right now, Ah’d stay a blank-flank forever if it'd help Zecora! And anypony that wouldn’t is no friend a' mine!” Apple Bloom stated with a tone of finality, her expression accusing.
“Hey! Don’t go twisting my--” Scootaloo started again, only to be blocked by the still dry white filly.
“Scootaloo… we should go.”
“But, she--”
“Scootaloo… please,” Sweetie pleaded, clearly upset by the fighting.
Without another word, Scootaloo turned and started away, her tail and wings flicking water all about as she took several steps with Sweetie Belle right behind her. The unicorn looked over her shoulder sadly as Apple Bloom ignored the pair of them.
Stalking past the doors leading out of the Intensive Care Ward, Scootaloo bowed her head, attempting to shake herself dry for a moment and keeping her face turned away from Sweetie.
“So much for the Cutie Mark Crusaders…” she grumbled, trying her hardest to believe the water streaming down her face was just that... and not something else.
————————
Medicine Hut
Stone-Water Village
70th of Spring, 975 C.R., 12:08 p.m.
“You promised instant incapacitation!” a deep, angry voice suddenly surged forward, a beacon in the endless darkness of the Time Lord’s slumber. “One drop and nothing could stay on its legs, that is what you said!”
“No. I said no zebra could stay on its legs. I cannot be expected to account for the reaction of a creature I have never encountered before.”
The Doctor’s brown ears twitched slightly as the voices registered, his blue eyes snapping open as his mind leaped from a serene dreamless oblivion to a frantic, fully alert state in an instant. As memories of what transpired before he was rendered unconscious came gushing back to the front of his thoughts in microseconds, he managed to suppress his immediate instinct to bolt upward, realizing that he was, in all likelihood, a prisoner. His eyes darting about, the chestnut-colored pony took in his surroundings, subtly shifting his weight to get a full accounting of his current situation.
He had apparently been set into an alcove in the hut atop what felt like a coarse blanket. Judging by the awkward feeling of his fur coat catching on the cloth and how light his head felt, he determined that his vest and goggles had been stripped off of him while he was unconscious. A spare thought meant to ping his sonic screwdriver’s psychic interface went unanswered, indicating that it too had been taken away and was now well out of range.
His respect for the zebra warriors was growing. Their approach was to disarm and study rather than simply destroy outright, which proved foresight and efficiency; a plan behind their aggressive xenophobia. Unfortunately, it also limited his options and left him feeling, quite literally, naked.
Without turning his head, the Doctor came to fully appreciate the wider range of vision that his latest regeneration’s enormous eyes offered for the first time, taking in much of the room he was in with a single scan.
Unsurprisingly, he had been moved. And judging by the concave nature of the ceiling overhead, he guessed he was indoors… probably inside one of the huts that he had glimpsed from a distance as he and his friends had approached the village at the base of Mount Thunder Drum. Light from an open window, devoid of any glass or other barrier to the outside, indicated that he had not been asleep for very long… Unless, of course, it had been more than twenty-four hours, and the sun had come back around to a midday angle, but he dismissed that notion as he gauged his thirst and hunger; neither of which were of an overwhelming intensity.
The area around him was filled with jars, pitchers, and pots of all shapes and sizes, some lined up on shelves, others hanging from the ceiling by a small cord, many colored with stylized designs that could have had any number of meanings. In spite of an obvious water shortage from the Parching, there was an enormous cauldron near him, set in a shallow pit that sounded like it was quite full and bubbling, with a distinct lack of flames or smoke coming from underneath it.
And most predominantly in the room was a pair of zebras standing on the other side of said cauldron. Like most of the striped equines the Doctor had encountered so far, they were taller than him or any other ponies he had met aside from royalty, but their stripe patterns were actually quite… varied. Well, in comparison to the more uniform style that adorned most of the zebra of the Towiki, or the warriors that had captured him.
“One drop, you say! And yet this ‘pony’ took five and even then struggled against it!” one of the zebras stated, this one shorter and apparently younger than his counterpart. He more than made up for it by having a muscular chest and legs that were far thicker than the other’s. His tail was bobbed like the warriors from outside the village and he wore a similar harness and spear-pouch across his chest and back, but his mane was styled differently. Instead of being cropped almost to the fur, his was pushed up into a mohawk and then apparently cut down to a clean edge around the height of his ears, one of which sported a small gold ring. His stripes were not black, but possessed an ashen quality and covered his body in symmetrically angled "slash" patterns, the most attention grabbing being a pair of stripes that ran down his face and over his eyes like blades.
Speaking of eyes, his were strange… for a pony, that is. His pupils were almost entirely black, lacking any colored iris and giving a stern, haunting impression of being distracted, occasionally darting away from the zebra in front of him.
“No, your warriors wasted three darts,” the opposite zebra replied, his voice slightly deeper, but calm and dismissive.
This one was the taller of the two, but also seemed older and more fragile. His legs were long, almost spindly compared to the heavier set warrior, and he wore his mane in a similar manner, though his own mohawk was far taller, adding even more to his impressive height. Like the younger zebra, the elder’s stripes had an ashen grey tone as opposed to the more common black, and shared the angled designs, including stripes that ran from his maneline, down over his eyes, and continued down the bridge of his snout to meet in a "V" shape at the tip of his nose.
Also, whereas the younger of the zebras had a single golden ring in his ear, the elder bore two in each, evenly spaced and clearly of some cultural significance. In terms of dress, he was also set apart, wearing an odd collar-like band around his neck that bore what was either a very large pendant… or a very small dinner plate. On the somewhat awkward neckpiece was a symbol that clearly had some importance: a counterclockwise swirling spiral surrounded by outward facing triangles along its outermost edge.
“The sting releases its venom upon impact, Zulu,” the taller zebra explained, his tone somewhat smug. “You said before: the pony was clothed, and by your description, your warriors struck him in both the shoulders and the chest… where he was covered. The darts may have stuck, but they released their drought before they pierced his skin. You struck him not five times… but twice.”
“That is still one too many…” The younger zebra, apparently named Zulu, narrowed his eyes, clearly taking offense at the older zebra’s sagely tone. “If we are to proceed as Anasi demands, then the first sting must be the last!”
“The stamina of the earth pony is legendary. It should be of no surprise that they prove more resilient, would you not say?”
There was a moment of silence as the Doctor observed Zulu suddenly look away, his eyes distant and distracted while the taller zebra looked over towards the captive pony. Too late to react or feign unconsciousness, the Time Lord’s eyes locked with the academic zebra’s, the latter of which widening in realization.
“She wants the stripeless interrogated,” Zulu spoke up suddenly, snapping the taller zebra’s eyes back to him. “Wake it.”
The Doctor tested his mobility subtly, making sure that he was not bound with a slight twitch of his hooves, wanting to ensure he could at least get up if the need to run arose. But as he suspected by the elder zebra’s initial response, such an action was not required.
“Absolutely not.” The pendant-wearing zebra shook his head.
“You do not choose which words of the Prophet to obey and ignore, Potion Maker!” Zulu stomped a hoof angrily, glaring without abandon.
“You brought the earth pony to me for a reason, Zulu,” the older zebra explained quickly. “We do not know enough about this enemy. The pegasus and the unicorn may be the more obvious threats to Anasi and her ‘Prophet’… but we have clearly underestimated the simplistic earth pony. Already, it proves resilient to our strongest debilitating brews. We have no idea as to what a restorative may do. What if I should give it the remedy and it gains the strength of ten zebras and energy enough to run the whole of the Plains in a night? I need time to study it first.”
Zulu seemed to consider this for a moment, looking away again as the two held an awkward silence.
“It goes against my better judgment… but the Prophet agrees,” Zulu stated, his displeasure at saying it obvious. “You are to do whatever is required short of giving it to the Rocs to garner information from the earth pony. When you have determined the best course of action to wake it up, we will take care of the rest.”
The elder zebra looked off to the side dejectedly. “As she wishes…” he replied with a tone completely devoid of enthusiasm.
Zulu pushed forward, nudging the taller zebra out of his path as he made for the doorway of the hut.
“I do so enjoy these talks, my son… You should visit more often.” The Potion Maker sighed deeply, his voice filled with regret and remorse as his head dipped sadly.
“Oh, and by the way…” The warrior paused, glaring over his shoulder. “You should keep better tabs on your ‘possessions.’”
The Doctor remained still, his eyes only cracked open as the warrior was now turned more in his direction, but he could still make out the sudden wide-eyed expression on the academic zebra’s face.
“I will not always be able to mitigate the punishment for her insolence,” Zulu continued, turning away from the elder zebra as he seemed certain he had the potion maker’s attention. “She is in an abandoned hut on the outskirts of the village. I suggest you take steps to reign her in before the Goddess loses patience.”
With nothing else to say, the warrior zebra moved out of the hut, leaving the potion maker alone with the brown stallion.
“Well…” The Doctor lifted his head, daring to speak as he tested his limbs, satisfied that there were no lingering side-effects. “That was rather informative.” The tall zebra looked up towards the pony with an expression of shock. “By the way, those darts; my vest didn’t even slow them down. I’m guessing they’re fashioned after insect stingers. Hypodermic, am I right? They didn’t release anything until they were already buried in the skin.”
“Forget being awake, pony,” the zebra uttered, his eyes still wide as if he couldn’t believe it. “How are you still alive? That much sleep drought would have put down a rampaging dragon for a full season!”
“Weeeeell…” The Doctor shrugged, pulling himself into an upright sitting position and kicking out his legs to make sure they were not about to cramp up. “I could go into a detailed anatomical lecture about xenobiology, pharmaco-toxicology, and metabolic rates, as well as the interactions of local enzymes on ponies of my rather unique make and model, but as I don’t have a chalkboard and neither of us have the time… allow me to just say that I’m the Doctor. I feel that’s explanation, enough.
“Doctor? What sort of a name is ‘Doctor’?” The zebra drew back slightly, still looking amazed as the Doctor hopped down from the bed, stretching his legs and looking quite fit in spite of what should have been a fatal overdose.
“It’s mine. And it’s really more of a title than a name, but that’s neither here nor there. More important things to worry about at the moment. I'm guessing that things are not going very well for you zebras at all, eh, Zilaka?”
The zebra took a step back. “H-how do you know my--”
“Mutual friend. Well… friend of a friend that actually wasn’t that friendly with me. But, hey, mares… what are you going to do?” the Doctor explained, which drew another questioning look. “Anyway, long story short, I’m the Doctor. Pleased to meet you. You’re Zilaka the potion maker, and you are exactly the zebra I needed to talk to. My friend has been captured. I need to know where they’ve taken her and what is going on with this ‘Anasi’ that everypony is going on about. Some history would also be helpful so that I can have a little context on what is happening… Oh, and by the way, we need your cure for the Bite.”
Zilaka’s head was spinning as this "Doctor" moved about the hut, looking over everything as he spoke at a mile a second, nosing through the potion maker’s supplies.
“Is this Camellia Sinensis? Oh, add this to the shopping list for sure. One thing I miss most about Earth: the tea.”
“H-hold on, Doctor…” Zilaka shook his head, clearly trying to get a grip on the situation, although his tone grew more upbeat. “Wait… your friends… How many of you ponies are there? Is your kind intervening?”
“Well, I wouldn't know about my kind, aside from the two I came here with...” The Doctor turned to the potion maker, his tone suddenly serious. “But two things, first…”
Zilaka watched the earth stallion for a moment, hanging on every word as he dared to have renewed hope.
“First, put some tea on. Then, tell me everything you know about the Parching, the Anasi, and the Bite.”
————————
“...This village used to be ours,” Zecora said suddenly, drawing Fluttershy’s attention as she rested her wings on the roof of a large hut.
They were the first words that had been spoken between the two since Zecora had "convinced" Fluttershy to covertly sneak them towards the mountain. A trip that had been slow as Fluttershy had required frequent breaks from the strain of carrying the filly over the rooftops, and pauses in hiding to avoid detection from the warriors that patrolled the worn dirt paths between huts.
“Stone-Water… the home of the Ash-Stripes… Herd of Sages,” the filly continued, looking out over the somewhat rundown huts and twisting paths that surrounded the base of the mountain. “A place where all herds were welcome to come and trade knowledge and tales of their wanderings... They tell me it used to be so... alive. Zebras from every herd walking the streets together.”
Fluttershy watched the filly Zecora for a moment, wondering where this had come from before she chanced a glance skyward, taking note of three large winged figures circling overhead.
Seeing the opportunity to try and reach out again to the filly, Fluttershy found her voice. “...What happened?”
Zecora turned to the pony, as if surprised to hear her speak and on the edge of making another snide remark. Something that she apparently managed to swallow before looking back out over the village.
“...The Parching happened.”
————————
“The Plains became dry and cracked… the golden fields withered and died… the beasts and creatures that called them home fled in a mass exodus to the south, toward the Jungle of the World,” Zilaka explained, setting an oddly shaped gourd with a cork in its stem into the cauldron, which continued to bubble as the Doctor watched, intrigued by the zebra’s method of brewing tea.
“It was gradual. In my youth, it was not even harsh enough to be a true problem. The Elders of my time said there was no cause for alarm. So, we continued on living, believing it merely part of the great natural cycle. But as the years passed… the water holes across the Plains grew lower and lower… the earth gave no bounty… and the herds began to grow harsh and reserved, fearing that there would not be water enough for all.”
“When was the last time it rained?” the Doctor asked.
————————
“Rain?” Zecora tilted her head curiously. “What is 'rain'?”
“You know, rain… Water that falls to the ground from clouds up in the sky. It’s how lakes are formed and plants get their water,” Fluttershy said, surprised by the filly’s question. “Back in Equestria, where I’m from, pegasi like me move the clouds around to where they are needed to make rain.”
Zecora huffed sourly. “What a surprise: lucky ponies have all the water they need,” she griped before shaking her head. “What you say is freakish. Unnatural. Water does not come from the sky! It comes from the ground!”
“Well, I guess that’s true, sometimes… with springs and reservoirs and things like that,” Fluttershy added.
“Not 'sometimes,' always! My father says that back before I was born, a zebra could get a drink just by digging with their hooves and breaking the surface of the soil!”
“Zilaka said that?”
Zecora’s eyes grew wide as she turned to Fluttershy in shock… then narrowed in agitation. “How did you…? Never mind, I do not care.” She waved a hoof dismissively. “Anyway, those days are long since gone... There are almost no Ash-Stripes left. The Time of the Sages is over… Stone-Water and Thunder Drum belong to the Anasi now...”
————————
“Who are the Anasi?” the Doctor asked, nudging a small cup under the spout that was cut into the now blackened gourd that Zilaka was using as a tea kettle. “Specifically, I mean.”
“Well, until a few years ago, they were considered lunatics. Made up of the castoffs and madzebras that had been driven off from their own herds. They claimed to hear… voices… from under the Plains,” Zilaka explained as he carefully held the gourd in his hooves, tipping a dark brown brew into the Doctor’s cup. “My kind are spiritual equines, Doctor, but our spirits do not speak to us directly. That is not a sign of devoutness… it is a symptom of madness. We take heed of the signs of nature and pay homage to the great cycles of the world. But the Anasi were fervent in their own beliefs. They believed their ‘Goddess’ lived under the Plains. The ‘Queen of Spiders’ that had grown angry with the stagnant ways of the herds and sought to forge us together to take our rightful place as the dominant creatures of this land and beyond.”
“And spiders are… bad in your culture, I take it?” The Doctor blew slightly on the piping hot tea as he held the zebra’s attention, concentrating very hard on keeping the cup balanced on his hoof to avoid a repeat of what had happened that time in Roan.
“Not particularly.” Zilaka shook his head. “Until recently, spiders were just creatures, like the birds and the hyenas. Some were dangerous, but no more so than any other living thing. They had their place in the cycle, as all things do.”
“I see…” The wheels in the Doctor’s head were clearly turning as he took a sip of his tea, the bitter brew still a bit too hot for his tongue. “Ouch... Go on.”
“They preached a single doctrine; a single order. A unification of all the herds into a force that would take command of the Plains, march on the Humpbacks to the north, and eventually travel across the sea to topple the false Sun Goddess of the stripeless ponies,” Zilaka said, although he seemed hesitant, watching the Doctor for any sign that he may have offended the stallion. When no objection was raised, he continued. “It was utter madness, of course, and the herd chiefs knew it. Our people were going thirsty and hungry as the Parching grew worse. The idea of marching to war for the sake of some foalish campaign was outrageous! No herd was ever meant to survive alone, and no single species can dominate the entire globe. And even if we did, to what end?”
“But… something changed,” the Doctor reasoned.
————————
“Tagati... ” Zecora lowered her head, not meeting Fluttershy’s eyes as she opened up.
They had moved to a new roof, but were held up as a pair of guards seemed to be inspecting the hut across the street, a bony-looking zebra cast back and aside as he fearfully declared having done nothing wrong.
“...Who is that?”
“They call her the Prophet now… The voice of Anasi,” Zecora whispered, shaking her head. “She was once a shamaness, one of our spiritual leaders. A very… well-respected… well-loved shamaness. But, one night, she disappeared… and something happened to her.”
Fluttershy recognized the slight, sad crack in Zecora’s voice, a pain that she was desperately holding back, and the way she was keeping her head turned away from the pony as she kept talking, even if she wasn’t sure why Zecora had felt the sudden need to fill the silence. She kept this to herself, however, fearing that if confronted about it, Zecora would withdraw and respond with another harsh rebuttal.
When Fluttershy said nothing, Zecora continued, watching from the roof as the pair of warriors moved out of the hut across the path and moved on without a word to its owner, clearly having torn the hut’s interior apart and found nothing of value.
“She claimed she had seen Anasi herself; had been brought into the presence of greatness, and that all of Zebrica was rightfully hers. She had also gained… powers… like no zebra had ever seen before. In a day, she had ensorcelled the Ash-Stripes’ finest warrior and made him her Warlord. Then he gained some sort of magical power from the Spider Goddess, too… and the warriors sworn to him became almost unstoppable.”
Zecora paused as another crash could be heard, a colt and smaller stallion thrown from their home as the pair of warriors proceeded to ransack the hut they had wandered into apparently at random.
“Within two days… any zebra in Stone-Water that objected to the authority of the Anasi were made to meet their Roc. And with one exception, every Ash-Stripe objected… vocally.”
————————
“The Warlord…” the Doctor ruminated, taking another sip of his tea as it cooled. “Zulu? The zebra that was in here before?”
“He took an interest in you.” Zilaka sighed. “Zulu has always been a skilled warrior, but his real prowess has been in planning and strategy; in organizational… discipline. He makes it a point to know his enemy’s ways before any move is made. Your resilience to my toxin, and whatever magic you performed when you faced his warriors… it has put him off-balance. He wants me to find a way to counter you.”
“And you clearly don’t want him to have that,” the Doctor reasoned.
“Of course not! The Anasi’s path will bring nothing but ruin to my kind,” Zilaka spoke up, his voice taking a outraged tone. “I do not know if this Spider Queen of theirs is real or simply a figurehead given meaning by some mass delusion, but whatever it is, it is a savage and malevolent abomination, nonetheless.”
The Doctor was quiet for a moment. “So, why don’t you do something about it?” he asked, his expression flat.
Zilaka was at a loss for words, his outrage doused in an instant.
————————
“My father?” Zecora grunted in disdain. “He is a coward who thinks that boiling herbs all day is more important than standing up for himself.”
Fluttershy grimaced a bit at the description, as well as the venomous tone that Zecora had taken the moment that she had been asked about Zilaka. It certainly wasn’t the reverence that Zecora had shown him back in the hospital.
“I’m sure he has his reasons...”
“Yes, yes, of course… ‘Preserving knowledge is more important than fighting back.’ Or, ‘A wise zebra bides his time until the opportune moment.’ I have heard them all before. And it is all a great big pile of hyena dung!” The filly shook her head, making her distaste obvious. “The truth is, my father does not have a warrior’s bone in his body. Our entire way of life was given a hard kick in the backside and what did he do? He rolled right over! At least the other Ash-Stripes went down fighting... and now, he makes weapons and poisons for those monsters.”
Fluttershy's mood dampened even further, amazed at the animosity that the filly was projecting not just towards her, but at every pony and zebra she spoke of… Towards the Anasi, the poor, groveling zebras that were being terrorized, and even her own sire, whom Fluttershy was now wondering if she actually wanted to meet.
“But… he’s a medicine maker as well, isn’t he? I mean… he has a cure for the Bite… that’s something.”
“What?” Zecora tilted her head, skepticism deep in her voice. “What mushy-brained, drooling foal of a hyena told you that?”
————————
“I am sorry to disappoint, Doctor, but I have no cure for the Bite… Not for lack of trying, mind you,” Zilaka admitted, motioning a hoof over the jars and gourds that were all about the hut. “The Anasi keep me around because of my ability with brews and alchemical pursuits. They push for me to develop empowering tonics and debilitating poisons, but that only takes up a tiny fragment of my time. I have spent most of it trying to find a way to ease my kind’s suffering: tonics to sate thirst, something to nourish the body in the absence of food… and of course, a cure for the Bite. I do what I can, but I am only one potion maker. And there is only one other zebra in Stone-Water who has the skill and the knowledge to even understand what I truly do with my mixtures… even if she has grown… distant from me.”
There was a moment of silence as the Doctor set his now empty cup down, trying not to congratulate himself for the minor victory of not spilling it all over himself. “Zecora… your daughter.” Zilaka did not look up, nor did he question how the Time Pony knew of this. “That is what Zulu was referring to. That’s what the Anasi have on you, isn’t it? Your cooperation spares her from their wrath.”
“She is only a filly… she does not understand. The things she does, her attitude... she has become increasingly resentful. Combative… And if she continues on that path, there will come a point where it will matter not what I do… It will be the Pit for her.”
“The Pit?” the Doctor inquired.
“It is how the Anasi make examples of dissenters and ‘deviants.’ It is a great hollow inside Thunder Drum. They claim those that are given to the Pit feed the Spider Queen. Aside from the Prophet… nothing that goes into the Pit ever comes back out again. And believe me, the Anasi are… keen… to remind me almost daily how close they have come to... to throwing my Zecora…” Zilaka broke off, unable to continue as he gave the Doctor a pleading look. “I doubt you can understand what that is like.”
“Of course I can,” the Doctor assured his new striped friend, setting a hoof to the zebra’s shoulder. “I was a father once, myself… a long time ago… You’re doing everything you can to protect her, and that’s only human… Err, equine.”
“...The ponies are not coming, are they?” Zilaka asked suddenly. “Your Sun Goddess does not even know of our plight, does she? No liberating army or altruistic crusade… No, you being here is mere coincidence, is it not? We are on our own.”
The Doctor’s eyes narrowed, taking note of the sudden, sullen tone that Zilaka had taken on. A sad desperation that struck a deep, resonant chord in the Doctor’s very being.
“Yes, ‘we’ are…” he confirmed. Zilaka looked up, hearing something… very different about the pony’s tone as a harsh expression came across the brown stallion’s face. “But now ‘we’ happens to include me,” he continued. “But first, I need your help in finding my friends.”
————————
“Are both of your pony friends as whiny as you are?” Zecora shook her head in some disgust at the yellow pegasus, who was cringing back in the shadow of Thunder Drum as the pair landed on a rocky outcropping, finally having flown clear of the huts that made up Stone-Water and landing in the solid stone crags that started the sudden ascent up the mountain.
“...No.” Fluttershy felt a rush of assertiveness at the insult, although the fact it was directed at those she cared about rather than herself managed to keep her ire up for a few moments longer than normal before she recoiled. “I mean… not really. And I don’t mean to whine, I just… haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday.”
“And I have not had anything in three, but you do not hear me complaining.”
“Flying takes a lot out of a pony,” Fluttershy tried to explain, although her lack of conviction failed to impress the zebra filly. “I could eat anything right now... I wouldn't even care what it tasted like, as long as it was green...”
Zecora rolled her eyes again as she looked over the edge of the crag they had landed in, trying to get sight of the opening that led into Thunder Drum itself.
“Or something grey… I guess I could settle for that…” Fluttershy’s voice seemed to perk slightly, sending another wave of annoyance up the zebra filly’s spine.
“Would you be quiet, stripeless? I am trying to think…” Zecora’s eyes suddenly widened. “Grey?”
She turned about to see the yellow winged pony leaning over what looked like a soft, ashy pit, her mouth open as she leaned towards a curled grey prong that had sprouted from a corner of the crag.
“Stop!” Zecora bolted forward faster than she realized she could move, darting under the pony and shoving a hoof into her jaw, causing the pegasus to bite her tongue as her teeth were suddenly forced close with a snap. “Are you mad!?”
“Owwwwwwhhhhh!” Tears welled up in Fluttershy’s eyes as she brought her hooves up to her mouth, pain obvious in her speech. “Ow ow ow ow… Why would you do thaaaat?”
“What I just did was save your life, Fluttershy!” Zecora’s eyes narrowed sternly. “What were you thinking!? That is Ashmed! Deadly! Put even a single tiny bit in your mouth and you will be meeting your Roc in seconds!”
The pegasus didn’t move for a moment, her eyes darting to the grey, rolled-up prong-leaf, which looked an awful lot like the edible forest prong that was sometimes served in dishes back in Equestria, as realization of what had just transpired hit her.
“You... saved me… and you called me Fluttershy.” She smiled in spite of the pain from biting her tongue, her eyes shining with a more happy kind of tears.
“Ugh! Do not get sappy on me, pony… Just… try not to eat the poisonous weeds. You are of no use to me dead.” Zecora looked away, sounding like she was already regretting it as she moved back to the edge of the crag.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Fluttershy spoke again. “Ashmed? This is Ashmed?”
“Yes. It grows in the ground-up dust that gathers in the crevices of Thunder Drum,” Zecora explained absently, watching the patrolling zebra stallions below as she tried to determine at which point they would be best able to fly higher up the mountain without being noticed. “And even day-old foals know better than to make a meal out of it.”
There was quiet again as the young zebra filly’s words stung like the lash of a whip, Zecora appreciating the lack of distraction as she watched, waiting for anything that looked like a gap in the guard zebras’ vigilance.
One random upward glance would set the entire mountain on alert and tip off the last zebra in the world she would want to know about her new ‘acquaintance’.
“Zecora… Why do you want to go in there, anyway?” Fluttershy asked suddenly, moving up besides the filly.
“Would you get down!?” Zecora hissed quietly as she reached over to the top of Fluttershy’s head and pushed, making the pony bow. “Your colored mane does not exactly blend in with the rocks!”
“I'm sorry. I don’t usually do this sort of sneaking around… I’m just wondering... You know…”
“I have my reasons… and no, I do not wish to talk about it. I think we have talked quite enough,” Zecora snapped, keeping her own head down. “...Ugh, why can they not slack off every now and then? You would think they would lose interest and stop to chat with some… Wait… What in the name of the Plains is that?”
Taking note of the sudden confusion in her voice, Fluttershy chanced a peek again, trying to get a look at what it was that Zecora was talking about. Her eyes went wide as she recognized a chestnut-colored stallion walking quite calmly into the open, a grin apparent on his face even from their distance as the mid-afternoon sun glimmered off the gold of his cutie mark.
“...Doctor?”
“What is a ‘Doctor’?” Zecora asked, squinting her eyes. “Wait… that is a pony, is it not? Another stripeless. What is he doing?”
“Yes, he’s an earth pony, and a friend of mine… He’s really, really smart.”
The pair watched a moment more as the zebra guards caught sight of the brown stallion and moved to surround him, which he reacted to by waving and chatting away happily, although he was too far away for Fluttershy or Zecora to make out what he was saying.
“And… he just surrendered to the Anasi. Some smart pony he is. Your friend is as good as in the Pit now.” A moment passed before a look of realization dawned over Zecora’s face. “They are distracted. Now is our chance!” She pushed away from the edge of the crag and pointed up the mountain. “There! Do you see it?”
Fluttershy looked up and squinted. “That little gap in the rock near the top? Yes, I see--”
“Take me up there! And be quick about it!”
————————
“Oh, this is lovely!” the Doctor prattled a bit, walking in the center of a ring of warriors, each one a good deal larger than himself as he crossed the threshold of a large cavern, entering the mountain itself. “Nice and dark. Perfect place to get out of the sun. Really, how do you deal with that sun? Do you have zebra stripe UV protection or do you just duck in here for a while? I could see that.”
His escorts said nothing, which seemed to be all the excuse the earth pony needed to keep talking.
“And now it starts with the creepy atmosphere... I see off-shooting tunnels, ragged edges that denote natural weathering rather than any hoofwork, and it’s just not smooth enough for gorgons. Oh, you really must meet the gorgons. Now, those colts and fillies are something else, and they would just love what you’ve done with this place.”
As he continued, the Doctor’s eyes scanned his surroundings. It was sparsely decorated, but the cavern did have a feeling of age that was given credence by the stalactites hanging overhead from the vaulted ceiling.
Equestria, as he had discovered over the past month, was an amazingly accurate analogue of Earth in terms of its physical formation, but this place had no terrestrial analogue that he could imagine. Unlike the many cavern systems that he had once been in, he saw no evidence of geological upheaval. Nothing here screamed "volcano," extinct or otherwise, and he saw no evidence of pumice, igneous rock, or other forms of magma-related leftovers that would be expected. But at the same time, he saw no evidence of artificial tunneling or external influence.
A delightful puzzle that he certainly wished he had time to further study, but as it was, his very brief moment of academic exploration was cut short as the nearly identical zebra warriors stopped short and moved aside, showing the imposing figure of Zulu approaching him.
“What is the meaning of this!?” the zebra stallion demanded, glaring at the brown pony that, to his understanding, should have still been comatose.
“This? Oh, that’s an easy one.” The Doctor cleared his throat for a moment. “‘This’: Simultaneously an adjective, pronoun, and an adverb. A grammatical word used to indicate somepony or something already mentioned or identified, or something understood by both the speaker and listener--”
“SILENCE!”
“Oh, did you want the meaning of that, too? I can do that, I’m a regular dictionary over here.”
The stallion glowered at the Doctor before stomping one hoof, wordlessly giving an order it seemed, as the zebra turned on him in unison, each reaching back with a fluid motion to retrieve a spear that they held long-ways in their teeth.
“I do not play games, stripeless,” Zulu growled deep in his throat.
“Oh, but why not? I mean, you’re doing so well with your toy soldiers, here.”
“Where is the potion maker!?” the Anasi Warlord demanded, glaring all the while. “What have you done with him!?”
“Who?” The Doctor’s tone was curious, then dawned in realization. “Ohhh, the spindly zebra with the tall headpiece... Yeah, stuck him with one of those darts of yours and left him sprawled out in the hut. Really, 'A' for effort, but, one equine to another, probably not the best idea to leave an academic all alone with an elite military envoy.”
The Doctor suppressed a smile as Zulu’s brow raised, clearly catching his interest. “Envoy?”
“What? You didn’t think that you Anasi were just going on, doing your zebra thing, oppressing your fellow hoofed brethren without somepony noticing, did you? The Princess doesn’t much care for challenges to her authority. I mean, really, we come out here to ascertain whether or not this little regime you set up was a passing fad or if you were an actual threat, and here you just come right out and attack a unicorn diplomat, a military envoy, and their pegasus guard. Not the wisest decision with our legions waiting to hear from us at the northern borders. Especially since, if they don’t hear from us in the next couple of days, well… boom goes the mountain.”
A slight sneer came to Zulu’s lip as the Doctor continued.
“What? You didn’t know that? Yeah, Princess Celestia wanted us to let you know but you kind of attacked before we had the chance. Oh, well, I guess you have been busy keeping your own kind oppressed. Shame, really. No counter intelligence. No view of anything happening outside of your own little region of the world... Of course, if we were to have simply been ‘held up,’ I’m sure that something could be worked out. After all, maintaining such a large force is troublesome if it can be avoided. So, perhaps we can discuss this like rational beings.”
Zulu glared at the stallion, who kept an easy, calm front. “You are bluffing,” he said.
“Maybe I am… but you have no way of knowing for sure, now, do you?” The Doctor nodded, remaining quite lucid. “After all, it's not like you can read minds.”
Zulu glared a bit harder at the bold pony, his sneer curling enough to show teeth for a moment before the zebra warriors on either side of the Doctor took a sudden step back, in unison replacing their spears into the holsters on their flanks.
“I didn’t think so,” the Doctor added confidently, having felt nothing.
In spite of the interloper’s misplaced confidence, it was Zulu’s turn to smirk as the zebras moved back into a formation, two of them setting their shoulders to either side of the Doctor’s in a fashion that he had seen before, in Roan, when Astrolia’s Rainbow Sentries were "escorting" Graphis away.
“Such arrogance… I think it is time that the earth pony came face to face with real power.”
“I don’t suppose that ‘real power’ has a sandwich, does it? Because I could really go for a daisy and daffodil on rye right about now,” the Doctor quipped, which drew another stern glare and growl from Zulu.
“Take him to the Prophet!” he barked, the zebras on either side moving and pressing their shoulders into the Doctor’s at once.
As they did so, the Doctor came to realize that this was actually a pretty effective method, the pressing of the muscles shoulder to shoulder cajoling his own legs to motion even if he tried to resist or keep them still, coercing cooperation.
“Just so we’re clear… you say it out loud for my benefit, am I right?” the Doctor commented as the two zebras walked along, pulling the stallion along with them as the others kept behind, following in a line and watching for any signs of resistance.
Zulu said nothing as he watched them pass, the Doctor smirking slightly as he thought to himself, So far… so good.
————————
Fluttershy'd had bad days before, but today was definitely one that her diary would be hearing about when... if she ever got back home.
Tired, hungry, and more than a little dehydrated, the yellow pegasus pony had been attacked, scared almost to death, shouted at, bit her tongue, and now was scraping up her coat and sides as she wriggled through the small passage that she had carried Zecora up to in the side of the mountain.
“Is it much farther?” she asked quietly, not wanting to cause any sort of echoing as she tried to press her wings as tightly to her body as she could, keeping the delicate feathers from being rubbed into the rough rock.
“How should I know? I have never actually been in here before,” Zecora answered back, having far fewer issues due both to her size and the fact that she didn’t have wings to be concerned about. “You saw the entrance, it is not like any zebra can just walk up here and use this tunnel.”
"Entrance" would have been a generous word for the small hole in the side of the mountain they had climbed into. Fluttershy saw little choice except to trust that the filly had a very, very good reason for what she was doing, and followed her in.
“Well... how did you know about it?”
“My brother told me…” Zecora paused, sighing slightly with her shoulders drooping as she seemed to remember something. “...Back when I actually had a brother.”
“You have a brother? You never said anything about that.”
“Really? I cannot believe I forgot to mention it in the two hours that I have known you.” Zecora rolled her eyes sarcastically, glad for the slight glimmering light that seemed to radiate from the stony walls, just barely enough to see by.
“Oh... I meant during one of my visits.”
Zecora paused, turning back towards the pony with a puzzled look. “…What visits?”
“You know, the ones at your…” Fluttershy paused a moment before shaking her head. “Never mind... Wow, this is… really a lot more confusing than I thought it would be.”
“You are confused? I am not the one who seems to know everything about you, am I?” Zecora huffed again. “You know, you do not have to follow me. You brought me where I needed to go… you can leave now.”
“No, I don’t think I should.”
“Why not?” Zecora started forging ahead again, “All you have wanted to do since we met is run away and hide.”
“Because as scary as all of this is… and as mean as you’ve been...” Fluttershy sighed. “You’re still my friend.”
Zecora grunted as she pulled herself over a rocky outcropping in the floor. “For the last time, we are not friends, stripeless!” the filly asserted.
“...Not yet,” Fluttershy answered before she could stop herself.
Zecora let out an exaggerated moan, having to shift her weight as she slid on a slight downward slope. There was now enough room in the tunnel for Fluttershy to finally spread her wings and float down the short drop. As she landed, the zebra started to scramble to her hooves, glaring at her while the pegasus’ ears twitched slightly.
“Enough! I have had it with you! Who are you, and why do you keep claiming to know me!?”
“Zecora, shh...!”
“No! I have had it with the cryptic comments and the randomness spouting from your lips, stripeless! I want to know exactly-- MMPH!”
“Hush now...” Fluttershy put a hoof to Zecora’s mouth, closing her eyes as she tried to focus. “Do you hear that?”
————————
“Hmm... Tied up, no clothes, awkward position, dark room... Wow, that’s a rather nostalgic feeling. All I need now is River, a bowl of jelly babies and a set of handcuffs, and it’ll be just like my last honeymoon.” The Doctor smiled bemusedly at the memory while he considered his rather precarious situation.
Upon being walked into the dark chamber, the zebra stallions had immediately knocked his hind legs out from under him, and with a practiced, choreographed unison, tied his forelegs to a set of posts with what he guessed were some sort of dried out reed twines. They were incredibly tough, and he quickly found himself held firmly in an upright position with his forehooves stretched out to either side before he was raised to stand on his hind legs, held so that his center of gravity was not allowed to shift and let him fall over in his now-familiar four-legged stance. After that, without a word, the zebras had left, rolling what sounded like a heavy stone barrier over the entrance and sending the room into a pitch black darkness.
When he had first come to Equestria, the Doctor had actually adapted to his body's four-legged gait quite easily, and now that he was used to it, being held at this position was actually quite uncomfortable, he realized.
“Alright, so… The Prophet.” The Doctor scanned the area that stretched out before him, quite incensed to find that the darkness answered him with silence. “You know, I’ve met several quote-unquote ‘prophets’ in my time. They tend to fall into two categories: the reluctant and the theatrical. So, which might you be?”
Nothing.
“Ah, the silent type, eh? My favorite,” the Doctor quipped. “You know, if this is a bad time, I could come back later.”
For another long moment, the Doctor listened, trying to gauge some sort of reaction before his ears finally flicked around, detecting a soft clip-clop against the stone and the sound of rustling fabric in the otherwise mute chamber.
“Interesting…” came a sudden voice from in front of the Doctor, female, but scratchy, with an odd rasp to her tone.
With a hiss, a patch of light suddenly shone down from the ceiling, the spotlight focused over a dozen feet in front of him as a cloud of smoke came billowing into view, refracting the light into an eerie aura around the chamber.
With a crisp set of clops, a dark equine figure emerged gracefully into view, cloaked in a wispy black outfit that fluttered in a non-existent breeze. But rather than the face of a pony or a zebra, a wooden idol could be seen where the head should be. A mask, carved into the vestige of a fearsome arachnid, with two large ovals cut in the front to reveal a pair of eyes; wide, white, and bloodshot, with pinpricks for pupils. Glittering gemstones cut into the shape of smaller eyes were set into the sides around the eye-holes, completing the set of eight, and the wood was edged with metal fangs that hung down like mandibles from the base of the mask.
Lifting a foreleg with a flourish, the Doctor could see a blackened, burnt look to the figure's hoof, with cracks running up and down it as if she had run repeatedly over hot coals.
“Oh, wonderful. The theatrical sort. And here I was worried the performance had been canceled tonight,” the Doctor noted flatly, taking in every detail he could.
“It speaks and speaks… and yet, it says nothing.” The figure moved forward, the light following it along the floor as a rush of cold air washed over the Doctor and made his legs shiver involuntarily as he licked his lips. “The creature is not what it seems… No... Like the other one, the hoofed beast conceals its true nature.”
“And there’s the speaking in riddles, right on cue. Do all of you prophets read from the same script? Is there a how-to book? Really, can we skip this part, Tagati? I’m bored already,” the Doctor sighed, although her previous statement brought questions to his mind that he felt needed to be kept on the back-burner for now. He needed to keep on the verbal offensive. “By the way, is that CO2 in that fog? That’s a nice twist. Dry ice; more elaborate than I would have thought for a low-budget production.”
The mask tilted, the zebra mare’s entire body seeming to lean with the motion, clearly considering something as those pinpoint eyes continued to glare at the Time Pony; an expression that would have likely unnerved most in the Doctor’s position.
“It attempts to play mind games, does it? Probe us and drop hints of knowledge it should not have… to make us ask questions. It seeks to catch the Prophet of Anasi off-guard. Spar and parry, learn what it can from Tagati’s reactions... This is promising.”
“Third-person references? I get that you're trying to be mysterious and all, but you're going to have to try harder than that if you want to impress the Doctor... See what I did, there?"
“Must we?” The sadistic grin didn’t have to be seen under the mask; it was apparent in her voice. “No… It is fortified and ready to spar with mind and tongue. A field of battle that is usually ours... Perhaps... another field of conflict is required.”
The Doctor narrowed his gaze, honestly surprised as the so-called "Prophet" took a step back. She was evasive… and that mask made it difficult to get a good read on her. And those eyes… They were disturbing, even to him. Having grown accustomed to larger, more expressive pony eyes over the past month, it was very disconcerting to see them when they belonged to someone so obviously off her rocker.
“Shall we try a more… personal approach, Doctor of the Ponies?”
Another patch of light suddenly opened behind the spot where Tagati had first appeared, drawing the Doctor’s gaze past her.
There, floating in place, clearly unconscious with her mane and tail blowing and falling against gravity as if held in an updraft, was the familiar lavender figure of the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. But to the Time Lord’s shock, her solid purple coat had been marred by large, sweeping black lines that formed various designs across the whole of her body, covering her almost from horn to hoof in strange glyphs and symbols.
Whatever calm detachment the Doctor was holding must have cracked as the sadistic smile returned to the masked zebra mare’s voice. “We assume we have its full attention now?”
The Doctor’s eyes left the unicorn and drove a harsh, dangerous glare to the zebra hiding behind the spider facade. “Lady... you don’t even want to know what you’ve got now...”
Stats
Page generated in 0.111 seconds
Total duration
999 users online
348,134 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I love this idea.
Yay, Updated! Great story.
I've been looking forward to this update for a long time.
Huzzah! Danger lurks ahead!
*Reads Meaning of 'this' gag*
...Loyal if i didn't know better I would swear that you are somehow stealing all my good Doctor lines...
any way I am willing to bet you have been watching the 7th Doctor lately.
750660
Actually, this time I have to say no, Dangerous. I've never actually seen a Sylvester McCoy episode.. or the Eight Doctor TV Movie.. I know OF them, but mostly from wiki references and random Youtube Clips. If that joke is similar to another Doctor's scene, it was pure coincidence. I kinda added it on the fly after typing in Zulu shouting out the hook phrase.
750685
The only way that line is similar to anything is because I wrote almost exactly the same thing down as a future Doctor-Discord interaction for my own story.
Also I could have sworn the Doctor was acting like McCoy in this chapter. Whelp an internet to you as per agreement.
also as a safety precaution don't mention the 8th doctor movie to Old Whovians...they kinda rage about it...alot.
I have to admit, once Fluttershy and the Doctor were both active again I was wondering about Twilight Sparkle... are you telling me the Anasi just took her and tossed her in the Pit first thing once they had her unconscious? Weren't they interested in keeping her alive before?
Calling it now- the Anasi do totally hear something underground. Something about their hooves, maybe. The Spider Queen is real, and the spiders may or may not be crawling up every so often to bite zebras. But why? If the Bite and the Roc come from two different places... what benefit does the provider of the Bite take from it?
She has the worse thing ever to have in her trap. Angry Doctor.
Whoopsie, Tagati just made a huge mistake! Ticking off the Doctor by messing with his companion is never good.
aaaaaa new chapter......................
[1/2 hr later] well that was an awesome & informative chapter.... oh god why it had to end?
lets see, last time someone tried to get to the doctor by harming his companion, well, good men dont need rules
incoming 'god-skayer' title imminent for the oncoming storm
750899 Oh that is so true.
There are 2 things one should NEVER do if they wish to have a good day.
1: Hurt the Doctor's friends.
2: Put the Doctor in a trap.
And these Anasi twits have done both.
The Anasi are a plague upon this land.
A plague that must be cured.
Bad news for them.
The Doctor is IN!
This story is so awesome! /)
(\
“Lady... you don’t even want to KNOW what you’ve got now...”
Understatement of the century
"mane of light red…”
/struggles not to make Red vs. Blue reference...
751885
It's PINK! Her mane is freaking PINK! 
750755
I actually liked the 8th Doctor... The movie, not so much, but I honestly believe Paul McGann had potential.
751891But Donut's is lightish-red!!!! IT'S SO CONFUSING!!!
As always, that was awesome. And stuff's clearly gonna get real next chapter after that ending.
Oh thumbs up button, why do you only let me click you once?
static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Shit+Just+Got+Real_220e4f_3466783.jpg
You are so well in tune with how the Doctor acts. I can't even describe how realistic his lines are, as well as the story. I can't wait to read and find out more! Please tell me that since it's getting closer to summer you can update more!
“Lady... you don’t even want to KNOW what you’ve got now...”
Oh man they are about to find out why the Doctor has rules.
750807
She didn't have any real screen time this chapter though... part of being KOed. What is with the glyphs and what was done in the Doctor's absence... weeeeelll gonna haveta wait to see.
Didn't catch what you were saying there the first time. And actually, the Doctor doesn't know what has happened to her... and neither do you.
750706
*STUDY MODE*
Ooooh shiny shiny link. That was BRILLIANT! Yeah, Twilight will be reading up and studying that when she gets back so she can shove it in the Doctor's face...
"Question my faith will you."
752729
Unfortunately unlike most jobs, mine stays pretty constant all year, so really, seasons don't vary much for me. I'm going to strive to keep a consistant update schedual, but as you've no doubt noticed, I sometimes bite off more than I can chew.
Oh how I wish.
752931
This shit just got real everypony! The Doctor is gonna kick some flank!
So excited
fark, the Doctor is angry...
shits gonna hit the fan real soon
And now the Doctor gets serious. Everyone, take cover.
Yeeees. YEEEEEEEES! Angry Doctor is best doctor! AND he's in a trap. This does not bode well for the prophet.
This is gonna be so good!
The Doctor just got angery. *puts on glasses*
SHITS.
ABOUT.
TO.
GET.
REAL.
-Epicpony
“Lady... you don’t even want to KNOW what you’ve got now...”
I keep flashing back to "A Good Man Goes To War":
"Run away." I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Runaway. I want children laughing outside your door, 'cause they've found the house of Colonel Runaway. And when people come to you and ask if trying to get to me through the people I love is in any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name. Look, I'm angry, that's new. I'm not really sure what's going to happen now."
images.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4878-d99.gif
750706 You spin me right round, Celly, right round, like a record Celly, right round, right round!
this brony needs more. Mam i do believe that you have tapped into a really great thing going here. Also
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Having read "Number 12", "Traveler" (already published chapters, I hope it hasn't been abandonned), "Pinkie Conundrum", "Game of Stones" and the 4 chapters of this story here (I look forward the next parts), I can say I found all of these fics georgeous, well-paced, nicely written characters, nice actions, awesome suspense,...). I also wanted to say these fics (from "Traveler" to this one here) led me to suspect, more and more through signs and chapters, who might be the one behind the events in "Game of Stones" and "Doctor Whooves- The Series: Episode Three- Along Came a Spider"...
Twilightwo.
Argh. Debating if I should read this one yet or not. Your other two Doctor whooves books were great and can't wait to read this one. But the waiting, the waiting is... something horrible. Wait, included mythology?
can I at least ask how many chapters or how long?
533457
Needs to have one with Ditzy/Derpy.
i'm really loving this
I have just one thing to say. And that thing is [img]data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBhQSERUUExQUFRUWFxgXGBgUFxcYFxoXGhcVFxYXGBcYHSYgGBkkGRcVHzAgJCcpLCwsFR4xNTAqNSYsLCkBCQoKDgwOGg8PGiwkHyQsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCksLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsKSwsLCwpLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLP/AABEIAOoA2AMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAcAAABBQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAADAgQFBgcBAAj/xABLEAACAQIDBgMFAwgGCAYDAAABAgMAEQQSIQUGEzFBUSJhcQcUMoGRI0KhFTNScpKx0fAkc4KyweEXVGJjdLPC8SVDZYOitDQ1U//EABoBAAMBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIDBAUBAAb/xAApEQACAgICAQQCAQUBAAAAAAAAAQIRAyESMQQTIkFRMnEUYYGRobFC/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwDHAa8XpMp1pN6HvY+6D5qJG9qbBqVmrjQSkOlbWjqdKYLJajLOaFxHRmvkO2oobJSuJXc1CrQTimCZjakFz/IozGhg0xMnnE4stu30FJeQka2+g/hSynWuGGiFUCAHYfMCiKy/or+yv8KG6V61eqzybXwOfD+in7I/hSTEhPwr9P4UIGlIDQ0OtfQs4dP0V/GknDLb4R+P8aIq0orQ3/ULin8DU4Re37/412PCJrcfiaPalAVyUqPRxqwH5PTsfrXBgF8/rTxFpYjoFNjnhi/gj2wKef1/yoJwi+dPpBrTdqapEs4JfA2OFHc0k4ej2rhFHZO0BGGr1O1NernI9xZyRMwpxu7ssYjFQwMSokkVCwtcX6gGgRPbSll2Rg6Eqym4ZSQQe4I1Br0XTHyja0aqPYjB/rM37KV7/QjB/rM37KVAezDbuIl2jGkk8zrkkuryOykhDbQm1Wf2w7Slhhw5ikkjJkYExuykjJyOU61eljcHPiZz9VTUORVNs+zyODH4XCiWRlxHNiFzLqRoBp060bfb2cR4HC8ZJpHPEVLMFAswbXT9WobczaUs208IZZJJCJAAZGZiBZjYFibCtp3l3cTHQcGRnVcyvdLXuoIHMEW1oYY45IyaX6DnkljlFN/sxrcPddcfM8byMgSPPdQCb5lW2vTxfhRt/N1F2e8SpI8mdGY5wBbKQLC3rWn7rbgw4CRpI3lYumQh8trZlbTKo1uoqme2z87hv6uT+8tDLAo4ra2Mh5DllqL0OZ/ZREuGabjy3EJktlS1xGXt6dKp26W7EmPlKIQqqAzuRcKCbAAdWNjYeR7VtWN//Xv/AMK3/INZj7Kd6IcNJJFMwRZchVzooZcwsx6AhufLTzrs8UFOK6QOPNklCT7ZPn2T4QMEbFSZzyXNErH0Qi55Gq7vl7PmwSCVH4sV7EkWZSfhvbQgnS4trbStB23uHhsZIMRmkSQ5bSROLHLbIbEEaWGotyqre0HAbRigcviePhjbOBHGjL4gQWCryzAag/IUWTFFRft/wBizScl7v3ZmuWkiK9cRqItZ90aiSYpIqOkNIR69NjAtKbk3SKYqEVbFS2GpNqi5McSdOVdytK/r+6lz4ULEG0uzEDvYXuf3fWmwgo9keXNy1HocQsGHnRhHUYpWwsSTTiOZh6edcnj+gseZL8h9FXmF6FE/eiCWp3Fpl0ZxktAnWhMKPJrQ8tMj0ImgBSktHRiKGy0xE7ijqCvVwaV6hcbZ5aArzpwp0puaKhozqRbvZXHbacfbJL/cNWn23H7DDf1r/wBys22ftKSBxJE7RuAQGW19RY8/KubZ3ixOJCrPM8gUkqGtoSLEiw7VRHKljcPkmyYX6qn8DvcAf+JYX+tH7mrVPaziXTZ90ZkPGjF0YqbWk0uDWJYHGPFIskbFHQ3VhzB7ipbH72YrEJw55nkS4bK1rXF7HQeZrsMqjBx+wZYXPIpFw9j20JZMVMJJJHAguA7swvxI9bE8697bj9rhv6uT+8tUvZO2JcOxaCRo2Iykra5W4NtR3A+lE2ptabElTPI0pUELmtoDqRoKH+QvT4sYvFl6vNdG6Y0/+Hv/AMK3/INZh7MN38FjFlTEIWmQhlGd1vGQAbBSL2bn+sKhpN78aUyHEyZCpQr4bZbZbcuVtKhoGaNg8bMjKbhlJUj0I5UyXkRlJOhUfFnCLV9mkbR9nmNgxJbZ0vChaxA4rLkNgCGU3zre566G1W7fraKw7Om4hBLxtEo5ZpHXLoPmW8gKylPaDtAAD3lj5lYyfqVuaiNpbUmxDBppXkI5Zze3kByUeld/kQinxXYK8bJKS5/BHolOAleVbUYWANQuRpRhQEEczoBp6mhYlSR2HPzPzrkbZjryFXrcz2de/Nx5XAgUlcgJzswAOvZde96OEXehE5X2Z6kbWuPrSJbnn0r6ZwO5mGRQojXL6dKgN7fY9hsQubCssMovo18jX7/OucpX7o0eeONakfPoNjTxcSLakirFtf2YY+EMxgZlS5LJY6D7wHMiq2YbLYjUd+dM5KQlwlENBNpfmKMi35VGxykGnEGJsaGULChOnsevHakmjMb696HSLovcflA7UmTlRTSZFolIBw0ANerkgtXqYTPQOiRUNRRFrjGLsOtCnTS9KvSyLiuIZKmhmtEUGkjnRVomKSFpTlKCBRA1gT5H91LkiqDosG0NzZocHBi2MZintbKxLLmBKhwQLXAPImq/w62bevBCLYQjYG8aQAeTB473/aNY8aTHJfQ1xtWwHDpQFGRe9c4dG5fBxYzypXMSLISO1EDWosBUh86sy5SBlOUhj8J15+lDFu7OyiqpEfgtlM0qI1grNqSbAAanX0FbXuJtWJYGjgV5bO7ngrdRmOgDEgWAtyJrHNiYU4rExo5ut7sBoMqi5HqdB86n9vQthiwaWVNdI4vCqi3UennVE8/CSS7IMfj+om30bbHtkc2jmW36UUn/AEg0k7SWS+Rw3cDmPkdR9KyDYW/WOw0gjbM2UXyTqyvl6WJsfnWxB4sTGGkRGBAIJFmHUWcWYc+9LfnSxusiDfhxavGxqZ3U+Em3UdD8jWQb57DInOVfiUmwFrspKt8yLGtRnARiIJhIR/5Mzrmt2STnfno1/Wq5t3DDEKSoKTRk5o3GVj38iLagjQ6U6OTDm90OwJY8uJVLoxiRRQ44rkCrFvdsUR5JV+Fx9G+8LfK9V7Dt4hR0S/JLRw6adKEy0uGXWkyPUj/I1FxcTgFJkNdVqSzUWzjarQJzXq40leo9kzaE5aUKQGpQevB2ggpa0i4pRe1eoKwUy2PrXUFLdLjSkIa72BVMNUtu1spsVioYEFy7rf8AUHikJ8gitUUprQ/YhgC+1M45RQyMf7WWNQfqx/s0IbdKy/8AtXcDZkwH3mT6cVKwY19WbZ2BDiojFOgdCQbXI1DBhqNeYFZT7SfZbHHGcVgUIVATLECzWXmZEuSRbqo6ajlS44+C2FjzxaUTKlNdWhFh0Nc4lc4NlHqJdh2Sj4CDOWW1wY3a3LNkGYKD01pmJRUlsOeP3hOI2VSHHbUowUfM6etq5Tij3KMmSvsl2ZnnkcjRAmvmSxt+APyFa1tjdjjjMFU3UhlIHiBtz7jyNUbcqD3WM5vDmbMx7WVRb5WNaJsnexZVAjRnA5uBZfqefyqLNkjKdj44p4sa4q+yB3g2C2LWISRrG0KlIzGLWWwAX00GlON5YnwuDj4YzSsAmUfpZdT6aVO7Kx6YmzxurKDfTy7+flTLa86zyhOeQ6f4kUmS5RuW/oODamoJUltmKJupjcSs+ISI3huzqWyS2sWzqp+IaHkb3HKm+zMVirIySE3Iys2rIb9zqVNgCL2N62DF4DExgrGzZTy8ZW3y5Gq7iN248PHmbQ87X0HMmqV5SSSUaoX/ABXJuTnaZnG8W3+PEFZQriQl1HIMAym3kSTpVfwy637V2di8hPck/Uk0eLDkVq3oxeFy0HjNeLV0JagyUlq2WfjEUzikSGkA0p6KhXIGTXK6RXqIUdK1zJRAK4RQ2No5elCuEV3LRI9VBENDcWNKU0uQXFcPPaLB7O93Ex2Piw8hYRkO75dGKot8oPS5sL9r19K7E3aw2ETJh4UiXS+UakjkWY+Jj6mvnH2X4h49oRsnMJJ9DlH77V9N3DKDYXtpfvblXuW6EzT7E4vaCRlFYgNIxVB+kwVnsPPKrH5VHTY0I1x4lkuP7XmPOsc9r5xKTRSFpI0DlkiaZHKSAk8SMILqlrWJPM20oexd9J1zjGNI6somEgXxAg2VwBYWDAXqbO5NXEq8fDFumSvtDjhGAeIQorQSR8JlQKVVmAIJA1BUsPUCswweyXluVAyrzdiFQeVzzPkLmtA3l3g/Ka4ZI43iaT7OQtaxVbO7C3MIEc386PiwuDiwk6wo7s0vARm0gyhJIJD2YkZmJ5h7UzCpcXyYfkuKaUVspGL3cK4dZkEsinMeJlVIrIyo2rNm0LqL21vpVcM5EqtoMrKRfUaEHUdaktqbQxBjSJ2AjJZ1AZcoaUq0huuoF1XwnQZeVd3S2J7xilRwcgWRmPTwoba/rmP61QurZC25Okatu7D7xhhxALyIGItpmbxEW9TUngNriG8eI8BvZZFX7JgRoCR+bPSx086jdysWJYEP3gqqw7Mosw+o/Gg7f297nMOLHnhlUBgRdTY66fSsNq8jR9HHeNJsDtjD4nDyPHhUWNJLNmJsoJFswAv2HSprc/GTMv26BWiAQMAwz9Wfxc+mtQUm0o8t8LiM8YuRBK18o/RR+Ytysae7L3mEqkZWQrpZgQf8x5ignaWkMcb7ZbdobZVR0rKfaJvOWGRTz0/7U927tosSAaqEWLiOKzSXKRXNl5lrG3p4ra0zxsblLlITnccUOMO2QsOHsATzOtHokkxJJPM6n+FNy1avfZlUoHiTQSDRC1IYUYuTs8tqW5oSnWiudK9R6PQFzXqS1ertCbDWrlrUVo6GaBNFLjQkmvBqURSTRgM9RAaSq0RVrxzZqPsPTDscQrJ/SAY3VyLjhXAKA/dObMSOtx2rZ8fh1kQxlUYMNQ17H6a/Osh9iGFAjxMhtcyIg72VCx/F/wAK1sXtfy0qecndHOHyQKez3ByIVfCwi9xdb3FxYkMTe/X1qBg3HeLirMQUijWOCawYPDYiSKWLQG4C3PcXBq4RwPckSt6FVt9edVnfTeWSJODCGmnchVRFJOtxrblQRd6oanJNuyoxInElih8aYXBcBCQQeNi5kj8JNyRYta5NsxF9Ke7w7LfGNLJBocNAsRstswDScMkD/Z0/sn0pluJsyWGEyOAZpMVxSrEW4eFRiS9uX28gsO9quG5OCzjFGxFyp7+K7tltyIB7jka0IxpJSJJy25IwKLYU0j2AW+bLqSATYkkXGqi3P0q+7q4GSOBVka5VWsoACqHYO2oF2YkLdjfRVA0FO9ubP4UgnBGXEmZLC1hJEwzkDoGFzbplPehYfa0aZY3dVdvhB6jkLVF5kpJcYlnh44cuUmRuD2wcDiCdTG2rDs3IN9NKltq7RhxoTOysq62F+dRO3IvEGtcHQ9uVV7EbNK6xuy+VzUUEppO6ZpTbxt6tFmxewcNCxdScpNwL6Dy50yx+8psFSwAFr/z5VVp5pTozkih5TYknQCnx8dt+92TvyqVRQ/xGOZ9Bz62voOrHyFR7xZCQefXrREjGTjQy5WGjITZwbcx+khFT+x90ve8MrYYlpwxEyPZVS5PDKNe2QgqpvyJHS9aKwKETLflOc7ZWs1cApUsLIxRlZWUlWVhYqwNiCOhBrqikselexBGtCkpxYUCQa11M9JaBjSluRakNSSKKhV0evXK5Xq7QolXpuUol70hmqZaNaWwdIK0u9ctTUyWUTytRApOgFyeQ7noPrSctXDcTZJlnVAgNsskrt0j58JFta5JUFj+ly0rsnStgq7pGybk7COBiTDupItfxKpPEYZnyuo1Ga9r1ZpXW3iBXTQmw/k1nu1MFjo2Y4KZo435xHLIi9sgkvk9FIFQv+k7aWGJjmWCYqeboyt6eAgH6VMskZBy8ea2aQ2HMg8JdF/SPM+gqBw2AEWJYgnK2ozX1ZdMrd7n+dKlsTvFiYoY3mhiJKqZlUuDET01BzAXtfyNDkwg2hgGy2WZlINvuyL2PYkXB7GrvHxxhK5EHkZJThxiRbsIzMiRkF4o4wGIKpfOzhOurG+vWxpG7CGPDTzXZH4lomI8LFEBI5aguHU+nlVQxG+HEyRSrkkKGOTPoOKpsRf7puv1NWfZG3zwoYVs6+GNkdSJFe4zjw2BJYsAb/eGlHmfDIc8e54kmt/IfbGyxisDinitmGJE8Jbw2kaOLMlzyuWdfVr1hG1oy88jG6m+gPNbclt0ty+VfSWyniiwhRmDq5kByqTqSy5cvxkgBFOnP8Mr373SYh8XAudQxjlAFzZUVxN6gNla/a/ekua/uPjHsA54uERx1VW+drN/jUK2q6053Yxd8OUP3WK+duY+VjTPEJlYjzrKUeM5I3IvnjiyJng8XlQ9o4J/djKB9mJFjY3GjMrOote+oU62tpT+WOgY2FThpcxIfPFkA+8Ptc5PoCP2qvxSt7M/yVxi6ILBwlmAFaR7ON+MPgZ5IpImkXE8ONiCoCspIS4cgEEvq1xa19apOEhKRluvQVcvZzuYsp96fIYoy6gFs0hnCAxnhWOZMxtY8yRoRVDlbM1RosXtf3RzMcZCpZo0jGJ5agg8OW99SoAVrdCp71lLV9WYPCpIhzxgSyKpmQnNqUy5GGoKc1ta2h0r579oG4r7OmFgTBJ+aYm5BCgtE9vvDWx6r5g0LjY/Flr2lV60J6LltQJXoBzetiGNDrtLy0zpE72ItXK6RXq5Z6g6Pal1wxVylPZZFOPZ2vGkmpjdLYnvmMgwxYoJWILAAlVVGdiL6cl696JAyl9kfhsOXNunU9hW27h7G4UJkYWeYhiLahFvkBB5HUn6VTNzthRzNkQZo4yGkc2GdrjKoHYjW3b1rW4FAqPysqS4IbhhfuYuZsoqtYbYkeIx0GYAtnMreYj8Sr+1l+QNTG0sTYVTRve8eInihBZlXDzaEi3Cmu66X0eNsn9sVJ4+8n6KclxxP7ejU9tYHi5ghGdo2Rr8rNmykj9YfiarmzJhh2TEooXDzWDjW8bMSrr/7ci28g7fo1P4XFhlixEY8GJWNieq5hnQ6dLEqfO3nTPGbKBgxsJuEdmkTX7zKHcKOg4oY/wBs1uc7VGIoozP2qboNGWxaWMckmWYW1SUeEN5q2UX7MR3qr7p7WbOuHKhizosZNw+csFVQ1+VyOfYVtew43nw8sOKjDcaK5FwQ5yhG16Erw38s/lWVbW3Dm2fjIGytIF/pCZAWZvd5I3dbKLhslteVCmpLZ2mno0LdnHmTCyAMhV+KZWkkIaKTNlBIINibZumtPTgZ7MEWxIzasDxUsuZTcWa+nQHxa1nW8u7c64jjYZGlgml94w7BfBmlIfhsSLZXHhsfvEcqmt3faTwmieUv7tKuVGbxGFwyrJFJ1tcDxc7Hl1pc/poZG+0MsFuYkWOlhFwkiCWG4tqpvJD+soc/JBTrE7iqxvY3FXHZuPw2NiUF1aaN0biRSK+WbxAMpFtCVZbWsQSKlJMPY2IFwAdORv1FR5o374l2DyOK4tGexbmRkEMvrzplj9hwxKzZBZIpOlzcjKOfXxEXrScRIoHLlVC3/wAVlg00GYBrafpP/wBIqVTlaVlsWsibaMs2zh3R0FtLAE9L5ipufIWrevZ3sT3dHw/xRG7i6gMWNswfvawt5Vju1yOCWbXMp5+hNbhu3AuEw63YKpjRlMrfACgOVrm5sTa160lPr/ZjTS2SceFdLD4prMBJoAyX04nK7A2vbqbjmaZbf2ImPwzROS8ViCAAZVlU2zA/poQdBzuRreogsXcYmOaSfLxJFUzGMHJcELEqWAAPJjdhrT/C4N1WUK5K4l5CW4rZYyZcgCAKGJJYX1B6dAapVk7VGAbzbrT4M/aC6G1nAsDmF1uOl6rjamvpLbG70U0LKcskRivljGVQguMyFibuCGfXnlNfPG09ntBNJC/xRuyH1UkX+YsfnXaCjJvsaNXc1eNey0ISOV6lZK9XrCVjtqEw70ZzQXakRL59CBVo3UiYCXg5jLKiwKRoBxDmmUdbhFAJ6AnvVarY9wNmZcLh8ygFOJILjW8uUMT52QfWvZJqCtiFjcnRPbvbHWCNUXkBz7nqamWNqSi6UGd9Kxpy5NtmlGPSIjbWMABubVjEe05nxTvE7B5c4FjqRbMinvqiaeVaRvpiMmHka/MBR6sQv7i30rMt3MUcPjIpekciuNDyF+1aHhQ9rbJfPm1UUbixii+yixE6MsLyRraIpmdIygVclivja9u5FT8JaIwAHjwTM4BACut4mkRr3sylVdeniZaqByzRwzKshKRQqDfwjIgZyot1Qd+YFXHYkoOBhIN+C0aXtbSORVP/AMLj50yErm7IpqoocQTKiRyKNRkDRto4FljJsRe4XLpy0505y3aKaQhChmWz2UlXayjn2VDUdtTC5ZnY5WSQorrJmYBjYRugHw3KlSBb7p53u+wOxRho2YEu/jYknmCxYKM1yAo0GtPjd0KdVY7xsRMeREvlKkX8IGRgy2uPIcqo825qyTTfYcMSuXlRwJY2ctmDqAbpmQsCRa5PlWjimWIGVwSLqbg+RNvw0+tHKL+wccqfRl27/s8HFliklyIHiYx8NhnR3ZlBzNdbPG4BuefnTxt35cF7xiYTw8sbymBWMsRWK3EjMj+JGI8SWGmoNxVm3hT+lR5WAMkEgW5t44JIZ4zfsBxL/wDepHHYP3iNyECy5XjdGt4gylShI6G4Ib/Og4pjObInFseXS19Dca9j1qob12fByE9GWS3lmCAedweXnU/hJm91iLFcwijU2bPmyAQs17Cxzrawqrb5TC8UQsLAuQOVh4UH1DH5VkTg1lo2cWRenyKRthSYWH6KNp55T/CtR322nxJsNGoDXgjnXlYs2dQ/P7qgkfrVm8iX078/n/lV53bxQmkwSkIRPs6GLO8eZo5IGmicq33dSwPc5a0obRlStSsntjbQhxcU8kojusaxO11RFCqx4uY/mwXZwCP/AOZoUW8QOHeaKWOUO8bkRkA2RhDPMgYjQ4hVN+osba1R/wDRtPPh2lfFazNdkDAKFR/sxMPg0zhrfdzU43W9iUUmuIxKk5bNEgySJIy6Bs2vhYqR0NVrrsl+S6bQ22YML4ioYZSDNJBGiG4IACElvEGBsD1rFvaJk/KOIaM5kkKSqdfvopI1ANgwYcuVq1UezDZ2YxwQuzMyHiM7MEC6sqkmysSLG4PPSsy9o2FiGMHB0TgQkasb3Um/iJPW3yobCS3oqddomQCu15scogwK7SwleoQ1Fh5FoaxA8zR2r0cJZgo1LEAepIA/fSEy+UUyZ3M3dGInu4vFHq3Zm+6np1PkPOtlw5A9arm7uyxh4ljHNfiPdz8R+v7qnY361n+Rl5MfhxrskeNTbES6GkB6a4rEaVGtlChRR/aLjQqwxn7zlmH+yosPxY/SqdiPsxdbZehIv3Bqe3tcTT6/cXKO2pzE+t7fSq3Fi14To55q1r9+n41u+PqCRieVO8jNT9ne8YbZnCY3kibMote6shAHyYW+lXDd7E2wjqGBJUuBysCozH1vrWR+yrFqmJQOSFkQ9TbOrBl5fOr7sX+i7TlwjH7NkLx6fFHJqoudSFYOp9KXki1MXCScKL1jcOJxLGHAdSvLUq1xNAxHk3TqDS93dsjGYchxlkF4pkPNZALOprsaRDFvr45YwpAPMJezEdCMxF/Oo3aWFfByNjI0LKQFxCLzcKLLOAPvgGzdwAemtEftCa/8/wCC0x8h6V6UAix1B0oWElDIrK11YAg+uo1+f4UVr9KbehPyVXbWGCyYaS3iTEKjgnRo5lfD3t18UifSnGAxcsUMM0mqGNVmB1aMgG7BgLsga4IOove/OhbzyGSCdALSIhdTf7ynOhHoyCj7Jx7JGxKh4TKxBW+ZUkPFUspHiUCQXIOg70pD3fyVfHYoJkXRUXHSRcTmoSce9QkgD4Mzot+Wn0pG8mPD4udh8Ifhj0jGQkeRYMfnV43z2NGuH2ikSj8zFMLi4VoXbOqnmBktpyFz0NZQ8DDTtpU2WCvkVY8nt4hpHvc/z5VOey2dvygUA8KMXvzsrm7KR5sABYczVZNxzqyeyCVvytIBYFoDzFx4ZMO3ca2zG9MxIXlerLpszDB8FiZEBLpPiASvhzoJQ6tKg+PwKAPIU59494zHgRszrC5dC6sryvwgULISOE0IYkG1nqS2IVjxWJhUDw5D4QRmLRylma33bi1uhbzqI3WxRSThEuchaC5fwLmu0ahD94tFILj066WY4p6ZHkbVtEjs3eQvFBnAjbiKGIta5QAswGgb7RSVPzrEN95C2JUN8SQoh+Re3ztWv7fhCvO9lFp8PJ4FIYq8YDNIeTXMbi410F+lY5vSL43EeUrJ3+E2/wAKXkXGQ/AuasgwtdyUtqQwvS7bK+KR4ivUjSvV2jlokvdDU9ujswGfOw+AEj9Y6L9NTUer1ZdzIs4dv94fooAH45qgcpUzUnGKLZh49KeK9hSLWFAMmtZ8x8FocvNULtXG2Bo+NxtgaqW8G0SEIHNtPl1o8cbkkDlnxi2QP5RVmYyG12uD2D3I08qru0VKyFew6db6j8LUTHT8z6D99MolJ1JvX0GKHE+Yyz5NkzseU5BY5SrXB7Ea1pjbc4j7MxlvFmmwx6jKCMl++of61luyY2Y5VV2J6IpY29AK0XC7JxQwcCGBkSPFRsjOUS7vJw8tma9rnt0NBkW9BY3qjU8PtJQ6TFgS9lIAF1sLa21Nzc6+VTeN2ggGjXIUyZRa7IPCdD5kfMVRMLs7EFZEM+FibjIRlzyst1VlUiwGuvW2vOnewtmCdHlGNzBimbJCEYe7uzBbOzWGcMSLa0mDlHWhk1F7LJu86RwOM68JZZApJsApe6rc9AWyj0FPYtpJnkTNcxlQ3dc/wA+vP51GJsGKZHjlaVkkbiFC2RTfK2mSx7aX53qPmwWBR3JkfKy8RpFxU1vs8q2dlluSLaX5WNNt0nYqk2yV2wFZgVZcy3VyeQW1mvb1t86r2ztoyjB4VcOmdpUgBDAlLCF1bxXGQ/Yczfny1oGAgjnw7yYb36LjWeImaS0hUg3zMWCkkEeLmAD1qQ2O4kVUUv4jMEzHxKIsSVsRfUhJSDc3IBoHvsZ1RFbQjkdTxYCje74uGXN+bLCMOkmYEhvgXna+a/SsqiYkAnsDr3tW5be2OXxGHBZUhKyRC2jKzwuhCjlcqOZvbLWFoDYX6afTQ/upc40NhKxeYU/9n7Fdr5hayxSkkkAKAieLXnY5dKjWXTSpb2aE/lOTl/8AjTc9BrwR/iKLCtg5fxNQ3dnzbSxEpHhleXDLy+LDNrp1vdv2ajptlZjiJlK5y0mJiLHThs0sV+RysA5ZW6GhYMEbSZ8zRRpjyChNoyXw0oklDG174gqvmGAOtNto7Vj4s4hcmJdntHH4Ws3DkgylSR4gzM4vVCdCXGxhvDttn44OcBhCPtHDklGMikZDlAA8OgF766isw2hijJLI7G7O7uxtbxMxY6epq17bxQyO4NyHC28irm/4D61S6XKXIqxQUNITai8IZPOkqtLb4aBj0NMmteowFeouYHCyVAq77jYe2EVv0mkPqOIwrPkxV+fOr/u/tVeAiKNFULp+P4kmostxjTL4tZJKieln1prPiLetDMpPOozaOOAFZ9WzRaUUJxuOv1qkbY2jmc9hoPXrTzaW0cqm3PkKg0cNpzPT1rU8XDvkzE87yKXFCMbsuUBWKkh0MgtY3VT4jYdrim0Ldqs20CYosG4YB1Wb4Tc2Lr8V9V0Nra3tUAcMAdNR+I8q1LVGKk2yV2M7pqGZb6GxI07aVbBP/RWOpIeN0PPKVdXvf1DfU1WMLBmAIPIVPbKLEMBroSFPW3O3nUWSrssgqLttLE8YQ4lWOaJkDjXK9rurHoxVjf50jefCyYRePFpDiSb2IvHKwNzpoVdQT5G/eme7W042iaJibMwFiNbny6dKkcdh2CBGuyhtdbgWGht06UhfTQ6vou2wdsDFwpJHYZQUaMEaMCvLyyhrfrVDz4jg7TWcoiQOjwOym4ZvDJE7C1hoHTr8IqCwuDkw6DF4ViEFlljXUMQ4XT1HMdKs2OEeLwMqxZQQnhA+4V8Q5ciD2p3ITxS/Qzx+Jk2eRwinu0z3QsrNwmkYuQqhh4Re9qVu4+WVkchz71ioyQCDZoYpjbXMhJF7Cm268iSwvhsVnZkGWzcwgNwyk6nmDfXkKRsZlixDIJDiAs8fMIjHi4SVSFBIu32YPME616L2cmtEzvFiCpwqohCpiYCS7EsA0mS9je48bC5NYjvHhmjxeIUclxE4HpxXI5eRFavvVjsRLC/CEMyWckKSksXCIYCRZDfNoegOnKqBv0o/KOKGhvIr6Cw8cMLfPnz6m5rsm0nYUSuQYq+nWrJ7J2LY3FsRyw+QnoC88Cj+4f2aqeOgy+NRa37qtXsjL58bKqjWOGPOTyd5rgW6ghSxPQJ50WOtyByP4LbiMSyYxRmN2xSswuQBfFAle3b6UjeHazCSc5iLYV4416hJJ0WLMOhcKX06AVE4DbKTYqGSTLGGxKSSa+EAMXvc/cuoNz0qK2/tJnOIxDm7SSFQf1TZbDsFy29KFPQfG3/YgdsYwO1tMxa5PkBYC1Qkcdr370aKdS5zc+nrXZ0Irz0Mg05ATSZDpXctq4a8qHPYMV6iBL16vOSBSY+kW3TWnmw9qCGTxfCfwNN3F6ZTDpUq9ypmnPW0aE234stw6/WqzjNqKxvmH1qtrEPOhtHzrkfGindi8vkya6PYrFcRydQOSjy7+tL2dBnkC3sTy9eg+v76CvlSSxU3H4VpQ1pGLl2m2WbaZaSDCllICxuL2+9xAWBPcefeovBx5mv0qc/KMGJ4Oc8JirIzLdlSS6lJcpNwrHNnUeo7Us4AxGSN1AYG90N0IIBVkPVSP4V66ROuwT7IyorofiIFvM1N7LxAiKMRybL6G4Bv/PSmOzMTkkTMNAcwuNL1aZNkJiFeSJxmyszxtpfmSyn0vp5VLJ3plkR7vPuiGiixEWUSlbuVsAxBzBiO9tCewpzsOV8UkZdMi+IOVGmZrjMR20/Gmfs9xr4iAh9VX7PzKMEtby1I+VWbZzjCy5Laf4G9j+NBJ/YSX0RuydoNgZzG4vC5zaA6aWJA68qscmx+HKZsM145NJIwQVvYgsPOxAtfoKa7T2MMWhQC0kVihB5hvi+dgPnUDFj5sGjq5ZDE6yOL84zJHdweRUgEG3LWu7SvtHGreuwG+WDMOJ4kWZfEobKbXQIlzc8iLinOwLHEWVEy/wBFfJbOSONiFu5YfnQZA1/IVKYrCe9NJcEo5zIw1tyBvboQAR5VFbL2SnvMWRZVJhZc0rgq08UuGxOVLalcofmALcutFHbtAN+2mSG3ttCQzBEOZVZJgLeOIAi4vqbZjqNbVmm82K4syt192wl7HrwFJ/vVe33V4sjPDNMXDT+FlzRDNK4jTiaMLnKebWBvoKpO9cLB8MW0PuUAK3By5GmjykgWv4T9DXvck2wlVqivSyHKfSrRuO6w7LJuQZp52uDYAQwCKNSe5d83yPaqtjZLIx7KasO1/wCiYSDDmwR0iYgg8QSKDMzk8uG7yOAb/wDl+tFH8WBL8lYXY8iIZW08EDIoFvzkjKqnyAVX187darO2cZe7H4Ev82JvTyAGV1WI2kkYIIwpyZejytyBvyA870ne7Z6gPHEQVw4jLno0jPbn1srXNdjHaCctOiuwhSBmFu5py2IVlst9NL+VMkgLczf52FFGmlx8tBRSoHG3yHA5UFq5n0rhPfT1paRc2qCxrXqu/sk2bn2hG0kRaPJJYupKCQBShuRa9g1q9TFCL3Jk883B1RUGk0ptKe1eY6Ch3qdRo1JOwkAua7iIKRHT2PlXW/kDjeiK4JFSG7+GSWdIZFDcUiNbmwDv4UN+niK/Wi2priTZkI0IZSCNDcMLGnQnuiDPh4RdMse1t20gzxLGqhXVVxDLITmJsYpWF1jbNdDfTS451M7NwCuqnKVS/AJJBZZrFgGI0sbG3Q1L77SEYfaQBNjNFcX0Pig596gNyZCcNjASbCPDsNeTDEqA3qB1pmV2jOw9jyXZgR1uLkEhh15afOlrAsOMRwxbCk2k5jVoycjHoCbWPnQt9pmEs1iRrfmey1BbqniTKsnjXJbK/iFgGsLHS3lUmOLmXypIve0Jl2ZKREyiDERMcOSR4JCQzxsetiVYX5hyOlSe1NtriiXhilaSKTIoiikdZITZG8SjKCshLan7h71ZN1dgYZcPC64eBWvmzCJA2a3O4F7+dON5sSyI+VmWyxWykjnMoPLuNKfLGo22T+p0ivYKLHlw0WGZUK8pmRCDfUWDE2sBzHWnW8OBnxAUYgYKJPH8cz5sjIRIvwgHQg6HSwNUqHa0zzzK80rAMQAzsQBxJBYAnloPpV23c2TC4DNDExDaFkUkdNCRpoAKDGk9R/6Mm2qbIPYyRYNXH5VwhjUBcuXOUzA5PEsozHLpy1tQsXjIxLFKMU2KiW8LphlWMo7QMsWQF75mRnBIJNgOVtdK/J8ahQI0AD3sFUC/i15c6qm+H5zDH/1GEfIxLcelNlj47E+pZAxRBMOQj4iKaLhNxnF0USR+L7SMWeM/7wVTd58SCMG51MmGYNbRc8eImDZR08TN17fO/wCwmLbIwxY3LQlWJ1JVZCFU35gAmw86oe95vBgr9Bjf/uH+A+lKpbGxbtMgo4AzKCLrcE+YGtvn+69Pts4iaa6LJNJEpUIniZUysQ7hVGq2ZgAdbE86Fg/hPkrkeRynlUZJiGWEFWZTxIxdSQevUV6Co9Jlj2jvZhsPGIcJ4sts0jAh3k0Jcg6qLjQdBaoPGKvBlKsDcZj5nMv8/Ki7WjDrmcBmsdWFz16mq3gmPDl1+6f7y0TjfusOD+CV2BsV8Qw6IDa/fyHc1sey93YoIxGiL1uxFy1+5POqzupGA0AAAGUaW8jV+FTzyttpFeLFGKTK5itzMK7XaGO/Wwt+6i4PdnCQ+JYIwRqNMx+Wa9S8/L600XlSp5ZR6KYwTIfau13jeN0B+yYSEa3IUglfmoI0716hba5n+elepMMskHLxoZNtH//Z
Sum of what is and is about to happen...
when I got to the honeymoon part,I lol'ed so hard
love the House,MD reference by the way. "PRANCEton Plainsboro 
sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/75261_531127923566335_1492720801_n.jpg
I dont know, adding a charector might throw the fic off... unless she died, but...
Don't. just don't.
Prophet...If I were you...I would start running!
2489516 i agree, you threaten the doctor's friends, and suddenly you realize AFTERWARDS that ya dun goofed. never threaten his friends. he will bring the planet down around you.
1347280 dude that is a long link that i assume you got my going on google images then right clicking it and pressing open in new tab before the picture fully loaded
Doctor, nopony needed to hear that.
This is exactly how I feel.
Really Doctor?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/5/17/898720.png
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/18/745607.png
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/1/733773.png