• Published 27th Jun 2015
  • 624 Views, 15 Comments

I won't run anymore... - MidnightFMare



Running, it's all he's ever done. Running from his problems, enemies, memories... this is where The Doctor makes his final stand... oddly enough, it isn't the fields of Trenzalor.

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The Eleventh Stable

As the last tear hits the TARDIS's floor, I feel the explosion of energy course through my body, every cell transforming in a brilliant gold light, the TARDIS starts burn, impacting the edges of the time stream.

I grit my burning teeth and set her on auto-pilot before a surge of energy floors me D-damn....

The proximity alarm blares, and I crack one aching eye open to observe a surge of rainbow and white colored energy shoot towards the TARDIS, shattering it's shield with ease before blowing the doors open, and the energy slams into me, the feeling of regeneration intensifying as if fighting off the energy itself.

I try to remain conscious but I hear a snap in the back of my head and everything turns pitch black.


I slowly open up my eyes and I find myself held in a yoke staring up at a familiar face.

Rassilon.

"Doctor... welcome home..." he monotones, obviously holding his anger back.

"Rassilon... How are you here? You should be trapped on Gallifrey!"

"And yet here we are... tell me Doctor, what's it feel like to be on your last regeneration?"

I grit my teeth "I wouldn't know, why don't you know the answer already? You were dead."

"And so was I, yet here I am..." another voice says, a voice that turns my blood cold.

I strain to turn my head but standing in a suit and grinning is The Master.

"I saw you throw yourself into the portal! Even if you did survive, why are you the one who isn't imprisoned?!"

He grins and shrugs "I'm working for the winning side I guess. I'm not the one who imprisoned his whole species in a time lock."

Rassilon clears his throat "Doctor. You are here to be tried for crimes you have knowingly committed against not only your own kind, but others as well. In order to properly stand trial, you may choose anyone to act as defense council."

I groan under the weight of the yoke and one name comes to mind "Chancellor... Borusa..."

Rassilon blinks "You are certain of this?"

I nod "Yes, and could I get a chair? If I wasn't already dying this yoke would be killing me..."

The Master shrugs "Fine, get the old buzzard in here and get this... criminal... a chair... preferably electric." He grins and electricity crackles through his fingers.

Chancellor Borusa walks in, looking the same since I last saw him, unchanged and he gives me an empathic nod "Don't worry Doctor, We'll get you out of this like the last time he" he nods to The Master "Framed you, remember that?"

I grin weakly "How could I forget? He framed me for assassinating the Timelord President."

Rassilon once again clears his throat "The Trial of Gallifrey & other intelligent species vs. The Doctor. Prosecution, read off the charges."

The Master grins "Of course. Indefinite counts of mass colonial murder, evading arrest, interfering with galactic investigations, un-aggravated assault, destruction of fleets of other life forms, aiding known criminals, and violation of sacred vow to keep the secrets of time travel secret. Oh! And let's not forget imprisoning all other Timelords!"

"Grave charges Doctor. How do you plea?"

I turn to Borusa and he nods silently "Justified."

Rassilon nods "Defense, counter arguments if you will."

Borusa stands "Lord Rassilon, the charges presented are a result of what I'm sure is a result of the bitterness of the accusing at having been ousted for their crimes. The facts, as I understand them, are that my client is not a criminal, but a vigilante of sorts. He has broken few laws recognized by the Shadow proclamation, and as for the charge of divulging the secrets of time travel, I believe that would only be possible if he were you."

The Master scoffs "Allow me to elucidate on what was meant. The accused had allowed a human girl to absorb energy from the eye of harmony, his own regeneration energy, and allowed another number of humans to pilot his TARDIS. Lord Rassilon, these are crimes that could result in the spread of knowledge of our technology and then we would have thousands of civilizations attacking for more of our sciences."

I groan "The first was that a companion of mine, whom I had sent home alone broke into my TARDIS and ripped open the engine. The second was an accident when I was partially regenerating and used my preserved and severed hand to keep my form, the knowledge and energies from both were returned to me and my TARDIS, the third is the result of having several trusted allies help me guide several planets that had been stolen by the daleks back to their correct places. I also had the assistance of the shadow proclamation in that last instance."

"Your honor," Borusa says "The charges against my client are crumbling to dust, I suggest we acquit him to save us all time."

Rassilon stares down at me, and I meet his gaze, my joints struggling to support the yoke's weight.

"Your honor, there are still the charges of the killings he has committed!" The Master yells, electricity crackling around him.

"Those charges would crumble as well, just like the ones before them." Borusa states, nodding to Rassilon.

Rassilon sighs "The charges shall all be dropped..."

My hearts leap but he gives me an angry glance "... excluding the charge of imprisonment of all Timelords."

I nod in resignation "I cannot easily justify that. Allow me to try though?"

He nods and I inhale a shaky breath "The reason as to why I did that is that I knew that The Great Time War would spread throughout all of space and time, killing countless life forms in its wake. The charges that were on me were miniscule compared to what the war would do. So I contained it. I sealed it in a bubble of time and with a heavy heart, I watched the war die out... I may not be a saint or anything, but I could not watch as the beauty of existence be destroyed by war! I could not sit on my hands and watch everything in the universe be destroyed, I was putting the lives of the majority above my own innocence and the minority... if doing so makes me a killer or a monster, then I don't want to be a hero."

The Master wipes his eyes "Wow... if that wasn't so cheesy it might be touching." he turns to Rassilon "Your honor, Even if what he says is true, that still does not let him free without punishment. I suggest the previous punishment that was implemented the first time he was brought to trial. Termination of his current regeneration."

"I don't have any more!" I yell, trying to break free.

Rassilon nods "Yes. And while I must agree with The Master on the fact that you still committed a heinous crime, I believe that your reasons are just, but in the interests of Galifrey as a whole, you must be punished and I propose an exile, not only from Galifrey, but from all realms. You will have your TARDIS, but if you survive your punishment, you may never return. Do you understand?"

"I... I really do-"

Suddenly, everything fades to black again, the last thing to go is the smiling face of Borusa.


Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!

I slowly awaken to the sound of knocking, the vision still fresh in my mind "What did he... mean by 'All realms'? Ah well... still alive though."

Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!

Ugh... who on Earth is knocking on the TARDIS?

Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!

"All right! All right! I'm coming! Why is it that no one has any patience nowadays?" I mutter, pushing open the door "Hell- what in..."

Staring at me is a blonde, grey horse with saddlebags and a mail carrier's hat. "Mail for you!"

She turns her head and roots around for something and pulls out a blue envelope.

Okay, obviously a trained horse of some sort... we- HELLO! I stare at my hand but see that it's a hoof... a brown hoof connected to a brown shoulder...

The grey horse blinks, gold eyes drifting "What's the matter?"

"I... am I a horse?" I ask and she nods slowly "Yeah... what else would you be, a dragon?"

"A dra- no! I'd be... I mean I am a Timelord. Where am I?"

She cocks her head to the side "Outside Ponyville."

"I meant what planet?"

"Terra-Equina in Latin, Equis in Equish. Why?"

I rub my forehead and jerk my hoof away That felt VERY odd...

She steps closer, pressing her hoof to my forehead and another to her own "Are you oka- eep!" she falls onto her face, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

"Are you okay?!" I ask, helping her up.

She giggles and dusts off her hat "Yeah, I kinda forgot that I need three hooves to stand..."

I snort and cover my mouth "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing at you Ms...?"

"Doo, Ditzy Doo. though everypony calls me Derpy." she replies, a sad glint in her eyes for the briefest moment.

I bow, or as well as I can as a horse "I'm The Doctor."

She imitates me but trips on her hooves "Ow... Nice to meet you Doctor."

Huh, she didn't ask "Doctor who?" I kind of like it when they do that. Ah well.

Ditzy smiles and crouches "Bye Doctor!"

"Why are you crou- WHOA!!" she jumps and two large grey wings spread from above her saddlebags and she flies away...

Before hitting a tree shakes her head before moving towards some other destination.

"... Well, I suppose this world has talking pegasi, that's a first." I mutter before turning my attention to the letter still in my hoof... somehow.

"What the- how on earth am I holding this? Hooves don't grip! How is this-" an explosion behind me shatters my focus "Right, fix TARDIS first, then wonder about hooves... and the fact I'm a horse..."


I sift through the remains of my clothes and attempt to fold them but to no avail "Well this is rubbish! How can I hold a letter and not my own clothes! I can't leave my clothes lying around the TARDIS like I'm a slob! Ugh, I'll just put them in the chair..." I pick up my jacket with my teeth and toss it onto the piloting chair.

As I approach the console, a loud alarm rings "Ow! What?!"

I listen and a series of pictures flash in the back of my head, the TARDIS "Speaking" to me "... What do you mean you don't know where we are?"

Another flash and I groan "'Outside recognized space and time'? You mean we're at some point that hasn't been catalogued or not known? An alternate dimension, maybe. But not something as impossible as a different reality! Are you sure your circuits aren't damaged from travel?"

I give the console a flat look "The chameleon circuit doesn't count. That's been broken since we met. Well, except for a short bit of time at the beginning of my 3rd regeneration... that was interesting but also involved the Cybermen..."

"I am staying on topic! I didn't know that you could actually carry a conversation!" I pause "Since when?! You mean all this time you've been able to talk and never said much of anything?! I know that you take me where I'm needed, so please explain how you haven't an idea about where we are!"

The console beeps and I feel the color drain from my face "C-crippled? How can you be crippled?!"

A message scrolls across the overhead screen and I feel my blood freeze "That surge... was some kind of extra-dimensional tractor beam? It dragged you while I was regenerating? But it broke through the shield and hit me!" the message changes and a video of me regenerating and flailing around before the surge hit me and the screen fills with the rainbow and white energy for a split second and I see myself as a pony...

"That... that energy changed me... but how?"

A single word appears in the center of the screen.

Magic

I stare at that word for several seconds before giggling "M-magic?! You know as well as I that magic doesn't exist! What a silly notion!"

The lights dim, leaving me with minimal light "What's the matter? Come on, I wasn't making fun of you, just the suggestion!"

Dim letters appear on the screen before fading away "'Recharging? I... suppose that makes sense. I'll just sit here and... hooves. I have the mystery of my hooves to solve. Hooves..."


Several hours later I bang my head against the floor "This makes no sense! Hooves do not have the ability to pick up objects and yet I've built a radio!" I sigh and rub my head "I guess I'll just turn it on..."

Static crackles until the sound of party music flows from the speakers "Okay then! I suppose that means that they have radio! Beats the silence anyways..."

The music fades away and a happy, young woman comes on.

"That was 'Skittlez' by Feather Drop! This is, as if it could be anypony else, DJ PON3 on K-COLT, the Vinyl Scratch... Okay, today we have gotten the mailbag of questions and requests. Octi, you go first."

An older woman snorts "Okay, our first letter is from Silver Spanner of Ponyville. 'Dear Vinyl, I saw you digging in the back of 'Quills and Sofas' and you wheeled away two halves of a sofa. Are you a dumpster diver too?' Vinyl, I thought you said you were going out to buy me some replacement quills to replace the ones you used as darts!"

"I did! I also saw the sofa in the trash and hammered on some legs, now we have two reclining chairs! It was a steal!"

Octavia groans "Vinyl, that is stealing. You don't grab things from the street of trash cans, or anything! Davenport might've wanted to use the fabric or the wood for another one."

"I asked him" Vinyl replied "I asked and he said that it was junk and an eyesore in the store. It broke when somepony thought to use it to block the door from a herd of cows. He said I could have it and in exchange I gave him an autograph for his niece. And before you say it was for him, remember that purple Pegasus that kept following me around and getting up in my space?"

"Yes, I swear she was the closest thing to a servant I'd ever seen. She even made us breakfast everyday for a week before she left to go back to Cloudsdale. That was her?"

"Yup. I'm surprised she wasn't a stalker or something... next letter!" paper rustles "Oooh! Shiny! Lessee... 'Dear Octavia, how do you live with an obvious slob like Vinyl... Scratch...' Okay then, I'm going to scrape the glitter off this later. Onwards to the next one! 'Dear Vinyl and Octavia, I was wondering if you two ever collaborated. I keep asking my musical friends of any songs but they say that they've never heard of any. If you have one, would you play it? Signed, Velvet Hearts"

"Well, I know that Vinyl utilizes sound bytes from some of my practices to put in her own music but not in the sense of a joint result." Octavia replies.

"Well... remember those times I clipped a microphone to your cello and asked you to play those songs that kept on stopping abruptly?"

"Yes... what about it?"

Vinyl chuckles "Yeah... I was having you play your parts and then I played them on a delay with my own and recorded that... I haven't released the album yet cause I needed one more... ehehehe..."

"... I'm not sure whether to feel betrayed or flattered..."

"Flattered sounds good."

Octavia hums "I suppose I'll go with that. When where you planning on telling me?"

"Next Thursday."

"Oh, I suppose I can- wait, that's my birthday... Vinyl..."

Vinyl chuckles nervously "Uh... 'the best gifts are the ones made by hoof' right?"

"I... I... Vin-"

The Radio goes silent and I lean back from the speaker I don't remember moving...

Shrugging, I flip the power switch and stretch "Might as well get some sleep."

Nodding to the still dark console, I walk towards my bed "I hope I still fit in it."


One dreamless sleep later, familiar knocking rouses me from sleep "Wha- again?"

I walk towards the doors and standing there sans hat is Ditzy "Yes?" I ask, yawning.

She smiles "I was just coming by to see how you were feeling, you were acting kind of strange yesterday."

"To be perfectly honest, yesterday was kind of the norm for me."

She shrugs "That's Ponyville for you. So, I was wondering why you're hiding in a tiny blue box, it can't be all that comfortable."

"Oh it is, but I'm afraid I'm not able to receive visitors at the moment." I reply, moving to close the door when a saddlebag is thrusted to me "Here, I thought since I came early you might like some muffins."

I nod and take the bag "Thanks you Ms. Doo, I am quite famished."

Ditzy grins and turns to fly away but I stop her "Tell me... are you the only pegasus around here?"

She shakes her head "Of course not! Why, haven't you seen any others?"

"Before you, no."

She gasps "What? Were you borne on another planet or something?"

"Yes actually." I reply "Gallifrey, it's located in a binary star system within the constellation of Kasterborous, at galactic coordinates ten-zero-eleven-zero-zero by zero-two from galactic zero centre."

Ditzy stares at me for several seconds before grinning "Okay! Is it a world with spaceships that have laser guns and everypony has like really complicated names and ranks and stuff?"

"Uh... yes, no, and yes."

She flaps her wings excitedly "I can't believe I'm talking to an actual alien! Everypony said that there was nothing out in space except for rocks but I knew better!"

I blink for several seconds "So... you believe me? That fast?"

Ditzy nods "Of course! What could you possibly gain from lying to me?"

That gives me pause She's really that trusting? Either she has no common sense or has no idea what people are capable of.

"Is something the matter Doctor?"

I shake my head "No, I'm just amazed at your enthusiasm. Most people I've met are skeptical when I tell them what I am. Of course, that's usually changed when we start running from whatever monster or alien we've encountered..."

Ditzy smiles "So... why do you look like a pony?"

"I don't actually know to be honest..."

She shrugs "I know somepony who can help! Well, she's a princess, but I think she's been to the moon so..."

I shake my head "No thank you Ditzy. I'm fine I just need to fix my ship and figure out where I am."

"Can I help?"

"Do you know how to fix a time machine?"

"I fixed my toaster once."

I chuckle "I'm sure that the TARDIS is more complicated than a toaster."

Ditzy shrugs "At least I offered. Can I at least see it?"

"Why not? Just don't touch anything."

She grins and I lead her through the door into the darkened TARDIS.

"Whoa... It's compressed space!" she gasps, her eyes darting around.

"Uh... yes, actually. How do you know that? Usually people say 'It's bigger on the inside!'"

"Okay! 'It's bigger on the inside!' Does that help?"

I grin "Yes, yes it does... what are you-"

She picks up a compact retro-mirror "Oooo~ I can see myself eating breakfast!"

I scratch my head "Well... I guess it works now. Never did before..."

She grins and puts it down "Hey Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"What's this little wand thing?" she reaches to the floor and grabs something in her mouth.

My eyes widen "My sonic! I've been looking for it since I started!"

She drops it in front of me "Here you go! So... do you need me to do anything?"

I pick up my sonic and look it over "Okay... I can fix this but I need time. And as for what you can help me with, could you please gather up the refuse and scrap from around here?"

She salutes and pushes some burnt circuits towards me.

"Well, before I fix anything else, I need to fix you first." I say to my sonic with a grin.


"Doctor, what are you doing?"

I look up from the components of my sonic "Well that's simple my dear Ditzy. I am attempting to repair my sonic screwdriver and then I can attempt to fix the rest of my TARDIS."

She blinks "Why do you need a micro-compressor instead of a micro-capacitor?"

I pause and look closer at the piece "... Fancy that! Thank you Ditzy, who knows what would've happened if I had mixed up these pieces?"

She grins "Glad to help Doctor. So... why is your ship haunted?"

I snort "'Haunted'? I can assure you that ghosts and spectres don't exist. Of course, I was sure that pegasi were myths and yet here I am talking to one."

"If it isn't haunted, then who's speaking?"

I look up "What do you mean? There are only the two of us here."

Ditzy shrugs "Never mind. So... do you have any other alien technology? Like an instant food creator? Or a heat ray?"

I laugh "You read too much science fiction. No, I'm afraid I lack a 'Heat ray'. I have a microwave oven, but that's about it."

"Fine... robots? Do you have any robots that play cards?"

"Why on Earth would I need a robot that plays cards?" I ask, delicately setting the final piece in place "Done! Now let's see about fixing the old girl."

"Who's the old girl?"

"The TARDIS, of course!"

She shrugs and follows slowly, her eyes darting to every object.

"Nothing will attack you Ditzy. Trust me, I'm The Doctor."

Author's Note:

Dangerous words Doctor, Dangerous words.

Hiya! I know that I already have a Doctor Whooves fic but I thought, what the hay? Might as well try to explain in my own way how he got to equestrian. And as you could tell, my head canon is that when the 10th (After the song of the Ood) ricocheted through time and space, an equal duplicate was created except it ended up in a different dimension.

So that makes this his final regeneration... make it last doctor, make it last...