Doctor Whooves: Only My Will

by LightOfTriumph

The Last Lynchpin

Time.

Time was amorphous. Time was bendable. Time was wobbly. Time shifted. Constantly.

The Doctor dealt in time. Around his TARDIS console lay meters and scales and readouts. All telling him where he was and how things shifted in time. Time surrounded him, and he moved through it like a fish through water.

In his breast pocket was a gold pocketwatch. It really wasn't much use, but it was a gift. He had repaired it for an acquaintance of his back before he was the Doctor. He went by "Time Turner" back then. It took a visitor from another reality to make him finally realize who he was. He kept the watch to remind himself of who he was. Turner was a good stallion. The Doctor liked to think that Time Turner was the best part of the Doctor. The... other Doctor just gave him the necessary parts.

He stared at the watch. He gave a sad sigh. He'd have to give it back soon.

Rarity had given it to him. But whether she gave it to the Doctor or Time Turner.....

His time was coming to an end.

Applejack entered the TARDIS control room. She was nervous. Everypony was nervous. With the news they had just received how could they not be? The Master had their friends and one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe. The Cutie Mark Crusaders paced around the room, putting on a brave face.

It was the Doctor who finally broke the silence. "After this," the Doctor sighed. "You four are going home."

"What?!" asked Apple Bloom. "Why?"

"You don't like us anymore?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"We promise we won't get in the way...," Scootaloo said quietly.

"It's not that," the Doctor smiled. "Simply put, if Applejack was with the rest of her friends, I don't think the Master would have gotten this far. I've seen the evils you've stopped without me here and I'm sure you could have dealt with the Master on your own. Besides..." The Doctor closed his watch and put it back in his pocket. "At the end of this, I'm not sure you'll like me anymore. I'm not even sure they'll be a me to like."

"Waht're you talkin' about?" Apple Bloom asked.

The Doctor smiled. "Oh, my guess is that you'll see in good time."

There was an awkward silence that was broken by Applejack. "Why does this thing take us forever to get anywhere?" she asked. "This thing travels in time and space instantaneously. We should be there by now..."

The Doctor laid back. "Oh no one appreciates the long commute anymore," the Doctor laughed. "Everything has to be 'now now now.' No one ever takes their time with anything. I like long travel. It gives me time to think. Besides however long we take we'll still get their at the same time! Also..." The Doctor looked down at the ground. "There are some things I don't want to rush to."

Applejack seemed like she was about to protest for a moment, but decided not to. "What is it?"

"What's what?" the Doctor asked.

"That key thing the Black Guardian was talkin' about."

"Ah," the Doctor stood up. "The Key to Time is the thing that keeps the universe in balance. A perfect cube of cosmic energy that's split up into six segments and then usually scattered around the timestream. According to the White Guardian however, this key kept coming back together no matter how much he tried to separate them. So eventually he just gave up. Moved on. Kept the key together. The problem with that is that now it's all in one place for any disreputable character to come along and snatch it up. Hence the fix we're in now.

"What does it do?" Applejack asked.

"What question are you asking?" the Doctor asked. "What is it supposed to do? The answer to that is simple. Put the universe it's in back in order when it goes out of sync. Every once and a long while, the White Guardian must get her hands on it and use it to put the universe back together. Usually she sends a mortal to do it for her. That's how we first met by the way! She, well, alright, 'he' at the time, sent me across my other universe to collect the segments and put them back together. And oh my, did I run into some trouble along the way..."

"So it's kinda like the Elements of Harmony?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"In a way," the Doctor shrugged. "But again, that's only what it's supposed to do. What can it do?" The Doctor looked straight at Applejack. "Anything. The Key to Time does anything. In the wrong hands it can mean the destruction of this and indeed all universes. And the Master's hands... er.... hooves are certainly the wrong ones."

"And this 'Key to Time,'" Applejack started. "That's the last Lynchpin?"

The Doctor nodded. "I should have known the moment the Guardians got involved. They exist outside of all universes, you see. And it always comes back to the Key."

"Alright," Scootaloo seemed determined. "What are we looking for? What do these 'segments' look like?"

"Ah," the Doctor said. "That's the tricky bit. You see-"

WHOOM!

The TARDIS violently lurched to the side laying the Crusaders prone. The Doctor looked at the monitors and frowned. "Oh goody"

"Lemme guess," Applejack said dryly. "We're here?"

"Oh, not just us!" the Doctor said cheerfully. "Everyone. All of the enemies have arrived to welcome us home! Daleks, Cybermen, I think I even see a Nestine ship! How kind of them to welcome us home, don't you think? Their all scanning the planet, looking for something."

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"My guess? Us," the Doctor answered. "I'll try to find us a safe place to land and regroup. We need to figure out how things got this bad..."

"Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack said brightly. "If anyplace is safe..."

"Back to the farm it is!" The Doctor flipped a lever and they began to materialize.

Then he looked at the monitor. His jaw dropped.

"Oh no...," the Doctor started. "I... I can't..." The Doctor took a moment to compose himself. "We should go, maybe the Crystal Tree is safe..."

"Doctor?" Applejack asked.

"The controls are locked." The Doctor pounded the console. "Blast it, I can't move!"

"Doctor..."

The Doctor took out the Sonic Screwdriver. "I'm sure I can get something working if I just had the time. I need to bypass this-"

"DOCTOR!" Applejack shrieked. The Doctor looked in her eyes. Tears were welling up inside them. She new the answer to the question she was about to ask. "What's happened to the farm?"

The Doctor closed his eyes and moved away from the monitor to let Applejack see. She looked and her heart and mind instantly broke. How could they not? The Doctor had seen something like this before. This was worse though. This wasn't AJ's fault.

Every tree in the orchard, all three thousand of them on all 40 acres of land, was burning. The farmhouse had already turned to ashes.

There was a dark figure standing in front of the blaze. His burning red eyes glowed with a sick delight.

"Doctor!" the Master said cheerfully. "Come out! We have much to discuss!"

Author's Note:

Boom! First chapter and I set Sweet Apple Acres on FIRE! Who's raisin' some stakes NOW bitches?!

Ha ha... I've had no sleep...

Please rate and comment!

Comments

[AkemiTheSunbro]

I'll read this when it's finished.

[Inthretis]

Finale time!

[Danbrixton]

and now I can see the use of the key of time in the end to reset this universe to before the master and the guardians messed everything up. that's usually how a doctor who thing goes right?
and since you are going to continue this after the master and black guardian are defeated. I'm guessing the doctors either going to regenerate or something even bigger happens.
how short of a time has this doctor had so far?

[Sky Blue CMC]

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[Sky Blue CMC]

Also, where am I? You said I'd be in this story! I guess I'll have to wait to see myself...

[Sky Blue CMC]

Also, 15th like. The 1st like that couldn't have been a Doctor incarnation. (there were 14 if you count War and Metacrisis)

[Sky Blue CMC]

To the tune of "Count the Shadows" by Chameleon Circuit

The story's almost over and the TARDIS is going,
and the Cutie Mark Crusaders completey unknowing
that there's something lethal in the air that they can't see!

Now a Time Lord could save me just by turnin' on a light,
but I don't think that The Doctor's gonna show up tonight,
so I'm tryin' to remember what the Guardian said to me!

Gotta focus on all the Elements of Harmony,
'cause if the six get any closer then you're no use to me!

So...

Actually, I don't know how to continue this. I guess I'll have to wait until chapter II comes out. Au revoir! (I like that. Au revoir. I should say au revoir more often. Au revoir. Watch out, Sweetie Belle. Au revoir. And then, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Aurora, because then I could say, "Au revoir, Aurora," every time. You're staring at me.)

[SoarinSoren]

Whew, what a night and a time to catch up. Granted, you should work harder on your twists. Most of the wonderful confusion I recieve is from your Old Who lore (which I think is marvelous) but more often than not I was able to call bits and pieces. Knew Daedalus started the war, knew there had to be a crack (for what is the silence without one really?), I think we all knew the Doctor was a linchpin, and with AJ slammin into the crack? Great foreshadowing, but now the twist that the elements are the pieces of the Time Key is ruined! I love the work but you must play your cards closer to your chest. Take the latest episode for example. I never would have expected half of that. Never even guess at most of it. That's how you do a twist.

[SweetCaptain77]

1. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sweet Apple Acres!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
2. Okay, so the 5 Lynchpins are the Cybermen, the Daleks, The Doctor, the Key to Time, and The Master. Huh.

[Mister L]

I finally got the time to start reading this and NOOOOOOOOOO SWEET APPLE ACREEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!
Also, thhere're some grammar mistakes I wished I could point out but I can't right now 'cause I'm on my phone :P
Remind me to help you fix them

[Frantic Starz]

She new the answer to the question she was about to ask.

She knew the answer to the question she was about to ask.

[Hye]