The Lonely Gods of Equestria

by The Diplomat

Time and Space

Silence reigned in the deep reaches of space.
Even though the universe never stopped changing, there were some parts of it where nothing seemed to happen. Those were the places where the Doctor went to meditate.

He sat there, on the threshold of his TARDIS, gazing down upon a galaxy while chewing on a banana. Under normal circumstances he would have laughed at the peculiar situation. But then again, normal circumstances varied according to an individual's life, and the Doctor was far from normal. And yet, when he would look at his reflection in the mirror, he would see a lean man with carefully combed hair, wearing a grey tweed jacket over a striped white shirt and dark grey trousers fitted with suspenders, walking around with black shoes and a blue bow-tie.

"Bow-ties are cool," he smirked, tugging at his prized possession.

His grey eyes, however, were his most distinctive trait. They were old eyes; eyes that had seen too much and burned with a powerful fire, eyes that could stare into one's very soul and leave them disturbed for some time. He was kind most of the time, but his eyes could drill a hole into someone's mind if he was angered.

Looking down upon the spiral of light, he basked in the magnificence of it all. In that galaxy, there were planets. In those planets, all sorts of events would unfold that could bring about the destruction of millions of life forms. In another one of those planets, at the same very time, hundreds of creatures would celebrate and be happy. Each and every one of these beings would live a different life, all of them unique in their own way, and the process would continue forever.

And there were billions of galaxies throughout the universe. While in one of them a sun imploded, a baby was born at the same time in another. But the Doctor did not ponder upon the details for too long. Right now, all he wanted to do was enjoy the pretty lights and his banana. Because bananas are delicious.

"Banana..." he said, as he stared at the fruit in great concentration and with much wisdom.

Inevitably, that thought alone brought him back to thinking about the universe. Bananas were from a planet called Earth, which was populated by beings known as humans. The Doctor was very fond of them. It was admittedly difficult for him not to be since they looked like him, and vice versa, but he liked them for more than just looks. They were both fascinating and repulsive, admirable and pitiful, brilliant and stupid. All of that, and so much more. They had managed to outgrow their planet and travel the universe, only to enslave other beings and exploit whatever resources they could get their hands on. And yet, he still thought highly of them. Plus they grew bananas, so that was always nice.

The Doctor then thought about himself, and how all the civilizations he had visited saw him. Some would run away as soon as they saw him while others would run towards him, begging for his good graces. Some hated him with a passion while others, such as humans, saw him as a god.

He was a one of the Time Lords: the oldest and mightiest race in the universe, who observed the cosmos and maintained Time's integrity. In fact, he was the only one of his kind left in the universe. A great war, which had raged across hundreds of galaxies, ended at the cost of his and the enemy's existence, leaving him alone with the burden to keep an eye on Time itself. He had acquired many names throughout his lives: The Oncoming Storm; The Destroyer Of Worlds; Raggedy Man; The Dark One; and many more. So many names, yet his real one was a mystery to all but himself.

Am I a god? he wondered.

There was a saying on Earth that claimed 'God was merciful'. While the Doctor was generally kind-hearted, he had proven there was darkness within him. He had created and destroyed, brought help to those who needed it and inflicted punishment upon those who deserved it. He didn't see himself as a god, but his existence alone proved otherwise. He had faced the impossible, went to Hell and back - sometimes quite literally - stared into the eyes of the Devil itself, and committed genocide on several occasions. All of that and so much more, thanks to a tool and a little blue box.

So there he was: an almighty being who could travel through space and time, gazing down upon worlds while savouring a fruit.

However, the main reason explaining why he didn't consider himself as a god was the immensity of the universe. He had seen everything, been to the end of the universe, witnessed the Big Bang - and even caused it at some point - and he still had so much left to discover. In a constantly changing universe and with a time-travelling space ship, each day was something new to experience. And that is why he lived, to see what tomorrow would bring.

He yawned, the low temperatures of space finally getting to him. Almighty being or not, he wasn't above fatigue and boredom. Plus he had finished his banana. He got up, looked down one last time at the galaxy, then at the scenery.

"Is there anybody like me out there?" he called out to the stars.

As expected, no one answered. But sometimes, it was nice to pretend that he wasn't the last of the Time Lords. With a sigh, he closed the door of his ship and made his way to the controls. The TARDIS was, on the outside, a phone box. On the inside, however, a whole ship was humming with activity, complete with stairs, corridors, and all sorts of rooms.

The relatively small entrance led to a staircase that would lead to a platform with a glass floor, showing another level underneath consisting mostly of wires, cables and circuits. Rising from the lower level to the ceiling, and standing in the middle of the glass platform, a large glass cylinder gave a soft blue glow. It was surrounded by metal panels covered with buttons, levers, switches, knobs, things, gizmos, stuff, and a scanner. Within the cylinder, a glass rod could be seen moving up and down, giving a soft rasping noise that the Doctor never got tired of hearing. This was only the control room, and it had doors that lead to other areas of the ship. This ship was so large that even the Doctor found new rooms from time to time.

He yawned again, but although his body was tired, his mind tried to fight the sleepiness. The Doctor had recently lost two of his travelling companions due to inevitable and tragic events; and he missed them dearly, just as he missed all his other companions. However sleep brought dreams and nightmares, reminding him of what he had lost and what he had gone through. Time Lords didn't need to rest very often, but the Doctor had stayed up for as long as he could, trying to avoid the dreams. He had stayed up for two months so far, but he was getting very tired, and it was time to sleep.

He gave a small sigh and went around the panels, pressing buttons and flipping switches until the humming noise coming from the TARDIS grew fainter and the ship went to sleep. He had been somewhat selfish by making the TARDIS stay active for the past two months. Ships didn't need to sleep, but the TARDIS was so much more than just a ship. He went up a staircase and walked towards him room. It was a spacious yet simple room, with a large desk covered with books and tools located to the right of a well kept bed, which was surrounded by bookshelves. Since he rarely went to his room, he never felt the need to clean it much. And so, he got into some pyjamas and crawled into bed.

"Goodnight sexy," he called out to the room.

A low woosh could be heard throughout the ship, which could be compared to a content sigh from the TARDIS. He smiled, and gazed at the ceiling. He though about his ship, his one true companion among so many others, and he found some joy knowing that through thick and thin, the TARDIS had remained his quiet yet faithful ally.

Still, it would be nice to have an actual conversation with someone like me. he thought wistfully.

Dismissing any other negative thoughts, the Doctor drifted off to sleep, soothed by the low hum of the TARDIS. He didn't dream that night.

************

The Doctor woke up, feeling surprisingly content. Today was another day, which meant another adventure. But first, a banana and getting dressed. Strolling down the stairs, he arrived to the control room and skipped over to the console, going through his routine in order to wake up the TARDIS.

"Good morning, honey. How did you sleep?" he called out.

The TARDIS answered with a blurry beep.

"Right, still sleeping. Sorry," he whispered.

It dawned on him that he was talking to his ship. While he would usually never pay attention to his ramblings, he realised just how alone he was and how weird he must have seemed to his companions.

"What to do today, what to do? Gazzotti is always fun, or I could go visit the Ood. And why am I talking to myself? I must be losing my mind...".

He stood perfectly still for a moment, slowly chewing his banana, then shrugged.

"Right, we'll see to that later. So, the Ood, stay focused."

He slowly walked over to the scanner and activated it. The screen displayed space coordinates, dates, energy levels, their current position and other readings. He stood there, staring at the screen the way humans stare into their fridge in the morning to get their brain working.

"Come on, universe. Give me a sign..."

...*GONG*...*GONG*...*GONG*...

The Doctor's eyes went wide at the sound of a bell, ringing throughout the room. That was the sound of the cloister bell: an alarm that rarely manifested itself. Then again, the only time when that alarm sounded was when a TARDIS and its crew were in danger, and there weren't many things that could endanger a TARDIS. Whatever the danger was, it was something big.

Suddenly, the whole place was shrouded in red light, snapping the Doctor out of his trance. He looked at the screen, several readings going wild and energy levels rising. A hologram of himself appeared next to him, called the voice interface. It was one of the many security features of the TARDIS, and it spoke with his voice, but bereft of any emotion.

WARNING.
UNKNOWN SPACE-TIME DISTURBANCE LOCATED IN THE AREA.
ENGAGE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES IMMEDIATELY.

The TARDIS buzzed with activity, the glass rod pumping up and down rapidly. The Doctor ran around the control panels, doing everything he could to stabilize the ship and engage the autopilot. When he was sure that the ship was ready, he ran over to the entrance and threw the doors open. Far below the TARDIS a large spiral had appeared, swirling with black, red and dark orange colours. Inside, blue smoke seemed to float around and small bolts of lightning flew across from time to time. It was as if a maelstrom had appeared in space, except nothing in the area could have created it, which meant it had literally appeared out of nowhere.

“Impossible...” he muttered.

The Doctor had encountered several space-time disturbances in his travels: black holes, wormholes, time fields, and all sorts of distortions and anomalies. He was nothing short of an expert, but this thing was foreign to him. In all of his adventures through time and space, he had never seen anything quite like this. And yet, it seemed familiar to him for some unknown reason.

How can I recognise this if I haven't-

The TARDIS lurched suddenly, almost sending the Doctor plummeting to his doom. Hanging on for dear life, he realised that his ship had been caught by an invisible force and was heading towards the maelstrom. While he didn't know what the maelstrom could do, it could lead to what the Time Lords called the Void, which was the emptiness between universes. It was a dead space: no time or space, light or sound, nothing whatsoever; and more importantly, no exit. It was known to some as the Howling, while others called it Hell. Or it could destroy him and the TARDIS as soon as they touched it.

“See, this is what I get for sleeping,” he groaned.

He slammed the doors shut and all but threw himself at the controls, desperately trying to fly away from the catastrophe that was raging below him. He ran around the panels pressing buttons, flipping switches, pulling levers and spinning wheels, doing anything and everything he could to survive. And that still didn't stop the TARDIS from being pulled into the swirling abyss.

“This is not good, this is very very bad!” he screamed, realising his efforts were futile.

The energy from the maelstrom was applying massive pressure on the TARDIS, and it groaned under the effort to remain whole. Sparks erupted from the control panel, the large glass cylinder was cracking, and flames erupted from various places as power cables snapped. On the screen, readings were going wild while machinery failed, and the TARDIS seemed to be screaming in pain.

In the midst of all the chaos, the Doctor was running around, his mind working at full speed. According to his calculations, he had minutes before reaching the event horizon: the surface of a black hole marking the point of no return. Once he reached that limit, he was doomed. That thing below didn't look like a black hole, but the Doctor supposed it behaved like one. He screamed in frustration.

“What good are you if you can’t even find the energy to-”

He was interrupted by another seizure, because of the TARDIS desperately trying to avoid the swirling mass of colours. That shock, however, was exactly what the Doctor needed to clear his mind and find the solution.

The TARDIS was powered by Vortex energy, which was energy found in the dimension through which all time travellers passed: the Time Vortex. It was the raw power of the universe, and could rival the power of billions of suns. It might even rival the power of the maelstrom. He could expel the energy from its container, and use it to create a power that would cancel out the maelstrom. However this was a life-threatening risk, as opposing the two massive powers could have devastating repercussions.

The Doctor had been through some rough situations with his TARDIS, but none of them had been like this one. By emptying the power from his TARDIS, assuming he managed to escape the maelstrom, it would leave his ship without any energy or defences. And even if he managed to make the maelstrom disappear, it would take a long time for the TARDlS to draw any energy possible from their surroundings, leaving him completely vulnerable to everything and anything. The whole ship would fail in an instant, and he would die. But between certain death and a very slim chance of survival, he chose the best option.

Alrighty then, let's take that thing down.

The Doctor ran around his control panel, preparing to stop the catastrophe that was going to unleash itself upon the universe. The TARDIS gave a low humming noise that grew louder and louder as the Doctor engaged the ultimate procedure. The voice interface reappeared.

WARNING. VORTEX ENERGY IS ESCAPING FROM THE CONTAINMENT CHAMBER. ATTEND TO THIS PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY.

All the Doctor had to do was press one final button, and the Vortex energy would be expelled from the TARDIS. He took a deep breath, then pressed the button. A hiss could be heard among the various noises caused by the imploding TARDIS. The Doctor was ready to continue his own rescue when the hissing stopped, and a message appeared on the scanner.

WARNING. A SYSTEM MALFUNCTION HAS INTERRUPTED THE VORTEX ENERGY RELEASE PROCEDURE. MANUAL ACTION IS REQUIRED.

"Oh, come on!" shouted the Doctor.

Frustrated by the fact that things kept getting worse, he ran over to one of his control panels and assessed the situation. Said panel had been rising from its frame before stopping abruptly, but the objective was still there. Underneath the panel, a heavenly light could be seen. It was of the purest white, and seemed to seep from the opening like mist. The Doctor averted his gaze, for the Vortex energy was fascinating, the way a moth found a light bulb hypnotizing.

"Right, so...manual action. Here we go."

He steadied himself, then grabbed the end of the panel and threw it open. The Vortex energy exploded out of its container and the Doctor was thrown onto his back by its power. It lingered in the air, like a cloud of glowing sand, then sped out towards the entrance. The ship's doors opened, letting the Vortex energy fly out into space, then slammed themselves shut. The Doctor got up, grabbed the large scanner connected to the hexagonal control panel and set the screen to show the area surrounding the TARDIS.

The maelstrom seemed to have grown bigger, and had "chewed" the surrounding area, getting closer and closer to the galaxy he was contemplating before. The Vortex energy materialised around the TARDIS like a golden cloud, wrapping the ship in a cocoon of pure energy. The Doctor watched as his TARDIS was sucked into the abyss.

The interior of the ship had stopped blowing up, either because the ship had managed to contain the damage or because everything was already damaged. The lights started fading out, and the air grew colder and colder until the Doctor could see the fog made by his breathing. For a moment, everything stood still.

Suddenly, the entire ship started to vibrate. The vibrations became stronger and stronger until they became full blown quakes, as the TARDIS had arrived to the event horizon. Outside, the Time Vortex fought against the might of the maelstrom. The ship shook as if having a seizure, and the area around it seemed to twist itself in bizarre shapes. The Doctor had calculated that the Vortex Energy and the maelstrom would act as opposing magnets and simply cancel each other out. However, the ship was still being pulled in. The Doctor had mixed feelings of apprehension, until he looked at the scanner and paled. The Vortex Energy was slowly fading, and the ball of energy that surrounded the TARDIS was getting thinner and smaller.

The Doctor realised this was the most violent ordeal he and his ship had ever faced, and that it might be the last. He ran over to the chair that was located on the platform and grabbed the nearby handrail, bracing himself for the fall. This wasn't what he lived for, but it was one of the risks that came with adventure.

"Hold on, sexy..." he called out to his ship, "it's going to be one hell of a ride!"

A few seconds later, the Vortex Energy dissipated and the TARDIS simply fell. It flew around inside the maelstrom a few times, as if it were a tree caught in a tornado, then dropped down into the darkness, spinning like a top at an impossible speed.

Comments

[Atropony]

This looks interesting, I'll be waiting to see where it goes.

[The Diplomat]

2617628 The editor caught by the one he edits. Touché

[Kris Overstreet]

Argh. I like the Doctor (even the Matt Smith Doctor, provided Moffatt isn't writing), but the science here just hits me upside the brain. The only black holes that appear spontaneously are microscopic, too weak to swallow up even a speck of dust, let alone an entire star system. Normal black holes are produced by giant stars going supernova and collapsing in on themselves under gravity. There's a giant black hole at the center of most major galaxies we can observe, including our own.

And then: "The black hole had swallowed the entire galaxy, and had "chewed" the surrounding area, leaving a gargantuan hole where an entire solar system once existed." A solar system is MUCH smaller than an entire galaxy, since galaxies contain BILLIONS of solar systems. (This leaves aside how long it would take a black hole to suck up even a single solar system.)

Whatever it is obviously isn't a black hole, and the Doctor would know this on sight. It might be a wormhole, or an interdimensional portal of some kind, or it might just be a mysterious swirly thing in space, but not a black hole.

[The Diplomat]

2619051 Yikes I better start editing.

[Higherbeach]

2618352 Yeah, now to read the other chapter!... eventually!

[Higherbeach]

", and how all the civilisations he had visited"
Civilizations
2619051 maybe you should you look at a more probable event, millions of black holes appearing simultaneously due to distortions on truly massive stars caused by an unknown source of power. and as for the super black hole, quantum physics say it is possible, just so unlikely it still shouldn't be used here.

[The Diplomat]

2619747 I'll think of something else then. And thanks for seeing that