The Fantastic Adventures of Dr. Whooves: The Planet Eaters

by The-Pony-Librarian

Chapter Four

Chapter four
In which Twilight meets her mini-self, and some difficulties arise, mostly involving attempts to not be eaten

Twilight looked up, wincing at the horrible profanities that were currently being thrown towards literature of all sorts my her friend.
"Well this is....problematic" She said.
"Yeahhhh...."
"Run while she's distracted?"
"My thoughts exactly!"
The pair quickly moved into the forest away from Rainbow Dash, trying to put as much distance between her and them as possible. Twilight had the book levitated above her face, and was attempting to both read it and dodge around obstacles.
"I'll need some spell ingredients" Twilight said "This is a big one....I'll need some chalk, salt and...." She growled "Mugweed? Where am I going to find mugweed! Oh...forest...right"
She glanced about the leaf litter on the floor as they ran and plucked a single, ugly plant.
"That was easy"
"Can't you just do the spell?" The Doctor asked.
Twilight harrumphed "Just because I'm good at magic doesn't mean I'm an alicorn! Without the elements of harmony, this spell is extremely challenging!"
"Alright alright! No need to get touchy about it, where can you get these ingredients?"
"I don't kno-oohhhhsweetCelestia that is not a parisprite"
Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, causing the Doctor to bump into her and fall to the ground. She looked the disgusting bug-like creature emerging a tangle of bushes in front of her. It was at least as big as Owloysius in size, and, as she watched, it ate the brier it had just clambered out of, doubled in size, and vomited out a replica of itself. More emerged from the nearby foliage, hissing angrily as they spotted the Doctor, and gnashing their mouth-parts sickeningly.
"Doctor...."
"Yes?" The Doctor picked himself up, shaking his head "...oh. Those. We should probably run. Again."
Twilight wondered exactly how many calories she burned everyday just in the simple activity of constantly running away from things. Hay, she could probably beat Applejack in a hoofrace by now. As they emerged from the forest only minutes after they entered it, she took a moment to thank her lucky stars for the incredible length of Dash's temper tantrums.
"Go to the house behind us" Twilight barked "Get inside and see if they have the ingredients. I have an idea"
She stopped running and turned around, facing the bug horde as the Doctor galloped off behind her, sidestepping smartly in an attempt to keep him out of their vision. Then she used her magic to draw a detailed, painstakingly sewn plush out of her saddlebags. Even though it was a life or death situation, she still felt a little guilty over what she what was going to happen to it.
"Who wants the Doctor?" She cooed, wagging the plush back and forth in front of the scarisprites.
The group of creatures had come to almost a complete stop, all gazing at the small stuffed doll in Twilight's magic. They turned their large bulbous bodies back and forth, tracking it as she slowly moved it left and right, backing up.
"Gogeddit!"
She used her magic to chuck the Doctor replica as far as she could behind them, putting a simple animation spell on it, as soon as the plush hit the ground it took off running as fast as it's stuffed legs could carry it.
Twilight held her breath as the entire pack of scarisprites wavered, then a heartbeat passed, and they gave chase to the thrown plush.
A giggle forced it's way into Twilight's throat "I can't believe that actually worked"
It hit her that the Doctor must feel like that all the time, the rush of a half baked plan actually succeeding, she laughed again, then galloped off in the same direction as the Doctor had.
Meanwhile, the Doctor knocked furiously on the door of a quaint cottage, hopping up and down in place as he waited for someone to answer.
A purple filly with a yellow mane opened the door to the cottage
"Momma isn't home right now but I can take a message for..."
She trailed off, eyes focusing behind the Doctor to small lavender unicorn facing off with a gigantic horde of bugs a little ways away.
"Woah."
"Look. There isn't any time" The Doctor said "Twilight over there is distracting them for the moment, but it won't last long, in the meantime, do you have any salt or chalk?"
"Why?"
"Well...I...I don't really know actually...I'm not the one with all the magic-ey knowledge...But that's not important right now!"
There was a galloping of hooves and Twilight came to a stop beside him
"Inside" She said "I need to put a shield spell over this house as soon as possible"
Twilight shut the door and lowered her head to it, concentrating fiercely. Contrary to the hopes of almost every single student in magic kindergarten, shield spells were deceptively difficult. It had taken Twilight months of practice to be able to effectively block magical attacks, and nearly a year's more after that before she could block physical assaults with one. The universe was notoriously adverse to being divided by any sort of magical barrier, quickly wearing it down to nothing if a unicorn didn't have the focus or the power to maintain it. However, magical barriers were considerably easier to sustain and strengthen if performed on a wall, or especially the entryway to a home. These things already carried the strong idea of division and separation, and worked with the magic rather than against it. Twilight hoped it would be enough.
She backed up, mentally surveying her hoofwork and probing for any weak spots.
"Alright!" She said, her voice carrying the strained cheerfulness of a pony trying to remain optimistic in an emergency "Would you happen to have any dried lavender?"
She took a moment to properly look at the pony she was addressing
"Oh.....My....I was expecting you to be a bit older"
The filly smirked "Just because I'm youthful doesn't mean I'm not perfectly capable of comprehending everything you just said....From the ingredients you asked for are only used is a couple of castings, so you're probably performing a turn-to-stone spell, am I correct?....I suppose you could be performing a storm summoning spell, but considering the gigantic insects, the former seems more probable"
The Doctor and Twilight exchanged glances.
"Stars of Castoberus..." The Doctor murmured to Twilight "She's like a tiny you"
The tiny unicorn swelled with pride "I'm studying to enter Celestia's school for gifted unicorns! Last week I was able to levitate a book for the first time, but I'm already studying more spells to learn"
Twilight gave a soft smile "I'd say you're on track. What was you name again?"
"Dinky Doo!" Dinky chirped "You're Twilight Sparkle right?"
Twilight nodded as Dinky lead them to the kitchen, pointing out the ingredients they had asked for as well as a couple of other common items needed for larger spells.
"There are muffins on the counter if you want them....my mom makes tons" she looked to the Doctor, who was already shoving one in his mouth "What's your name, Mister knows-nothing-about-magic?"
"Oi! I'm new here.....We don't have this stuff where I come from, Miss Snooty"
Twilight chuckled "I think we're going to be friends, Dinky"
She looked out the window "Looks like my shield spell is holding up well...there are a few sniffing about the edges, and holy Celestia are they big, but they haven't broken in yet. If I can just get this spell set up, I might be able to perform it from here and- They're leaving"
The Doctor craned his neck "I have a feeling that's very bad"
"It looks like they're heading west, towards....."
"The Library."
"My friends!" Twilight said in horror.
"Oh, no" The Doctor said "You're friend will come later, after they've gotten what they really want. They have their eyes set on a bigger prize"
"The TARDIS" Twilight said, a cold chill spreading down her spine. Parisprites took the energy from whatever they ate, and converted it into magic used to spawn copies. If scarisprites worked the same way, and they were able to get to the TARDIS...
"Sweet mother of Celestia."
"We need to get there before they do." The Doctor had already taken off running, and Twilight followed after unraveling the shield spell, and collecting the magic energy inside rather than letting it dissipate, figuring she would need it.
They darted out of the house, leaving a rather confused filly behind them, and headed towards the library. As Twilight ran, she spotted a small brown object lying on the road, half torn apart.
She picked the rent plush up in her magic, wincing at the damage. She decided she should take it with her, Celestia knows what would happen if Rarity found her precious doll in that horrible state.
"Is that the plushie of me?" The Doctor said, noticing the item "What happened to it?"
"You don't want to know" the unicorn shoved it in her saddlebags.
Twilight spotted the bug horde in front of them and slowed, unsure how they would get past it without getting eaten or maimed. Then it hit her, and she rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. Closing her eyes, she focused on a teleportation spell to the library back alley.
A moment later, Twilight was stumbling headfirst into the side of a large blue box, the Doctor close behind her.
Twilight shook her head, wishing momentum wasn't conserved by teleportation spells. She made a mental note not to do that spell while running ever again.... considering how hard the Doctor had faceplanted into the TARDIS, he must have been at a full gallop.
As Twilight helped him up, her ears flicked, picking up a screech from nearby. It was hard to hear over the thrumming music from the party in the library, but it made Twilight jump all the same.
"Inside the TARDIS. We have to get her out of here" the Doctor said, as the first bug rounded the corner. It was gigantic, dwarfing the two ponies as they scrambled inside the blue box.
The Doctor rushed over to the console and started to move knobs and switches at a frantic pace as Twilight watched helplessly, unable to do anything to help and disliking it greatly. She bounced on her hooves, shooting nervous looks at the door.
The TARDIS shuddered slightly, causing both ponies to look up. Twilight's features brightened hopefully.
"D-Did you get it?" She said, trying to keep the shake out of her voice "were you able to move the TARDIS?"
Her question was answered by the TARDIS tilting, jolting, turning over, and finally settling down in a semi-upright position....Twilight sincerely hoped that hadn't been what she suspected it was....
She from where she had braced herself in a corner, rubbing new bruises, and looked over to the Doctor. He had already pulled himself up and was back at the console, working furiously. He threw a lever. Nothing happened.
"Did...Is...Is the TARDIS...?"
"Yes Twilight. The TARDIS, and therefore both of us, are currently stuck inside of a gigantic bug"
The Doctor's tone was flat, his expression unreadable. That face was dangerous on the Doctor. Even though she knew that she wasn't his enemy, it still made her want to back up, to get as far away from that stony face as possible. Twilight felt herself shrinking back slightly.
"How long do we have before...." She trailed off, the subject of being digested alive was never a pleasant one, and she was reluctant to put that thought into words and make the possibility that much more real.
"I don't know!" the Doctor snapped "I don't bloody know! And if we don't get out of here, then these creatures, these things that I brought here, will destroy everything. Absolutely everything. This whole world, this whole lovely, bright world, full of hundreds of millions of innocent people will be gone because of me!"
Twilight could feel his blue eyes, those deep, clear, sad eyes, pierce into her sharply. They carried so much melancholy and self-hatred in them.
Twilight wasn't stupid. She had known about the sadness there, seen glimpses through the Doctor's valiant attempts to hide it. She had wondered about it of course, but though curious, Twilight was never a pony to pry. She just accepted it, and tried her best to ward that sorrow away, if only by being a friend.
"Doctor, it'll be alright-"
"Will it? Will it? Because I've tangled with these things hundreds of times and they are merciless. I was barely able to save Earth, and there were many more places I couldn't save. Not entirely. People died, and they all died scared and frightened and confused....all those people with families and friends and homes and lives. Lives that will never be completed! Knowing that maybe you could have saved them if you'd just done something differently, but now you'll never know and they will never come back. Now this is happening to your world, and I am stuck inside of one of these disgusting creatures and I can't do anything to stop it! So you tell me, is it going to be alright?"
Twilight's mouth pressed together in a thin line as she stood taking in those words. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to have the power to change the very fabric of time, what it would be like to feel responsible for keeping everyone, everywhere safe, how much it would hurt to believe deaths of everypony she couldn't save were her fault, and to feel all those deaths as keenly as if they were her family, and as freshly as if they had happened yesterday.
It would break her, that amount of pain.....and that, the worst pain she could imagine, was only a fraction of what she saw in those blue eyes. Twilight knew that if she had to carry that with her, it would tear her apart piece by piece from the inside until she couldn't do anything but lay on the ground in a heap, paralyzed by the guilt from both her past failures, as well as the ever growing guilt of knowing that as she lay on the floor, there would be ponies that she could have helped, dying....
But there were ponies that needed them now, that needed him now. Ponies that were her friends and needed one pony more that anypony else, and that pony was the Doctor. It was time for some tough love.
"Doctor.... Shut up." Twilight snapped "If there is anypony can do this, it's you. And do you know why? Because, you don't stop fighting. Ever. Throughout every single adventure you've taken me on, you have never given up, and by Celestia's mane you sure as hay aren't going to now! This is going to be okay, and we are going to fix this, so stop feeling sorry for yourself and give me an estimate on exactly how long we have before we get dissolved in digestive juices, okay?"
A small smirk spread slowly across the Doctor's face despite his best efforts, and soon he had bursted into a fit of chuckles.
"This is serious, Doctor!"
The Doctor continued to chortle "Oh no, of course it serious-" a suppressed laugh escaped with a snort "Twilight Narkle"
Twilight bristled, partially because of the terrible pun and partially because she had been called a nark just for telling the Doctor off "I am not narking you! I-"
Then she stopped, seeing the Doctor shoot her a wink. It was quick, so quick she almost missed it, but the message was clear. He meant no offense, he was just doing what he did best, covering the sadness with laughter, and maybe, just maybe, there was a thank you in there too.
The purple unicorn let herself laugh, because sometimes the only thing you could is laugh. Look at the shadow hanging over you and laugh in it's face, just to show it that it hasn't won. Though she felt foalish for doing so, she hoped that the scarisprite could hear them laughing. She hoped that somehow their laughter would reach that evil creature and scare it. She knew it was silly, but the thought made her feel a little better.
As their snickers slowly died down the Doctor said "In all honesty though, I don't have any idea how this might play out. The TARDIS is resilient...but then again she's never been swallowed before. That one's new actually, not often I get to say something is new for me" He looked at his hooves "These few weeks have been full of surprises....unfortunately this isn't quite as pleasant as being dropped into a world of colorful ponies"
"So you have no idea what might happen"
"No clue."
"Lovely" Twilight stood up straighter and looked around the TARDIS control room with a critical eye scanning for anything that might be useful "Let's get this party started"

Author's Note:

One quick thing.
The term nark is being used as in "Bossy or scolding" not as in "Undercover narcotics agent"
Just figured I would clear that up.
Hope this chapter is alright, I'm not quite fully happy with it, but it's the best I think I can currently get at the moment, so hopefully you enjoyed it.

Comments

[Platnium]

I enjoyed it!

[prench derpy hooves]

Smiles