Doctor Whooves Adventures

by IHasApple

The Missing Cutie Marks: Chapter 10

“So, Twilight. Are you comfortable?”

Silence.

“Oh come on, you don’t have to treat me like that. I’m trying to keep you comfy. I made your straps slightly less tight than usual!”

No response. After a few minutes, he spoke again.

“I know they say that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything, but…”

Again, Twilight said nothing.

“That’s just cold.”

Twilight just blinked and stared at her captor with a clearly not amused face. She struggled against the leather straps that bound her four hooves, but to no avail. Even though they were apparently not as tight as usual, they were tight enough to keep her restrained. Tall red was glad he wouldn’t have to worry about her magic. He took care to make sure she wouldn’t escape from the harvesting table while they waited for Crazy mane to return. To pass the time, he tried making small talk with Twilight. Needless to say, it wasn’t going over smoothly.

“Well, that doesn’t matter I suppose.’ He said with a hop in his step. “Once we have what we want there’ll be no need for you to talk at all!” He laughed at himself in a manner that reminded Twilight of Pinkie Pie. “All according to his plan…”

Red noticed Twilight wasn’t laughing and tried to lighten the mood. “Hey, I know my brother can be a bit… crazy sometimes. But he’s just trying to help us out. To keep us alive.” he spoke softly. “He’s just looking out for us Asht’k…”

He suddenly picked his head up and walked over to Twilight. He leaned in close. Twilight tried not to breathe with him so close. “Hey, I’m gonna let you in a little secret.” he whispered. “Promise not to tell anybody?”

Twilight made no notion that she wanted in on his little ‘secret’. In fact, she still didn’t do anything. Her mouth was not covered, so she could talk should she wish to, she just decided to keep it shut. He took her silence as a yes.

“Good. Anyway, we told you our plans to take all the magic in Ponyville, ya? Well, that’s not all we’re gonna do….’ He said in singy-songy tone. “See, we just finished upgrading the harvester. Now we can harvest even more ponies at once! And you know what we’re gonna do with it?”

Twilight had a feeling where this was going.

Tall red looked like a little colt on Christmas. “We’re gonna take all of Ponyville’s magic… at the same time! Yes! All of it, all at once! I’ve been awaiting this day…” His said with an air of nostalgia. “Oh, it’s going to be so grand…”

He walked back towards Twilight, who was now hanging on every word he said. “But, once we have all of the magic Ponyville, that’s not the end. Oh no, not by a long shot!” he grinned, showing his teeth.

“No no, the Grand finale is this: With our newly upgraded harvester, we’ll be able to take magic from anybody we want! Even without salvation!” he drifted of as he thought about all the different ponies they could take talents from. “We’ll be able to take it from any pony! Scientists, adventurers, superheroes…” A sly smile spread across his face.

“…even princesses.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. Surely they weren’t planning on going after magic such as the princesses’? Well, in the time she learned about them, twilight deduced they certainly were insane enough to try. Of course, Celestia would be able to stop them if they did, right? But… what if they succeeded? Twilight knew first hoof how awful and painful it was to get your magic sucked out of your system. Could Celestia survive that? Not to mention that most if not all of Ponyville would probably be dead by the time Celestia even found out about it. No, she had to stop them here and now!

If only she could free herself…

Twilight’s inner monologue was cut off a loud bang that was heard across the room. She craned her neck to look at the door. There, looking sweaty and dishevelled, was Crazy mane. He leaned against the doorframe, catching his breath. Both Twilight and Tall red watched in confusion as he made his way to the center of the room.

“Hey. What happened to the Doctor? Where is he?” wondered the taller Asht’k.

Crazy mane took a second to speak. “He… I took care of him. He won’t be a problem anymore.”

Tall red grinned widely. “Alright! Yeah, that’s the stuff. Hey! I was just telling her all about our plans for Ponyville and the princesses!”

“Right. Plans…” Crazy mane said with an evil tone. His voice sounded strange. Sort of… hoarse, no pun intended.

“Hey, you alright?” asked the other Asht’k.

Crazy mane gave a crazy smile. “Yes, I’m fine. The Doctor just put up a bit of a struggle and kicked my throat.” He explained in a raspy voice. “Well? What are you standing there for? Get on with the plans!”

Tall red nodded and went to work on the computer that had risen from the floor. That floor held a lot of secrets, Twilight thought. Red typed way furiously as Crazy mane just eyed him. He then turned his attention to Twilight. He stared right into her eyes. She tried not to show any fear, not to show any weakness. But right now, she was honestly frightened.

RRUUUUUUMMMBLE!!!!!

Suddenly, the whole room began to shake. Crazy mane nearly fell over from the violent shakings. Tall red held onto the computer terminal for dear life. Twilight was fine. The entirety of the underground lab, and the pharmacy above, shook tremendously. Tremors similar to an earthquake tore throughout the entire building. Loud rumbles sounded in the background to the sharp cracks that tore through the air. It sounded like the entire place was splitting in two.

Outside the pharmacy, ponies took notice. A house stood across the street from the trembling building. The home belonged to a Ponyville local, Berry Punch. The cacophonous sounds had awoken the sleepy mare. Looking out of her window, she saw the noises came from the pharmacy. The noises continued, despite her shouting at the building to be the quiet. Her yells were drowned out as the rumbles got louder. Eventually, her shouts died down as she witnessed something incredible. Instead of falling down like she thought it would, ending the noisy noise, it did the exact opposite.

At first, berry thought she was seeing things. But as she looked, she could swear the building was getting taller! Soon she could see the building’s foundations! The foundation, which included the secret labs, began to rise out of the ground as well. It was like some mysterious force as pushing it up. It continued to rise until it reached the end of the ground. Surely it would stop now, right?

Defying all logic, the building continued to rise, even after there was nothing touching the ground. Berry Punch rubbed her eyes. She could not believe it. Right before her very eyes, the building was flying! Hovering in the air with nothing attached to it. It flew, up and up and up, until Berry could not see it anymore. She continued to stare out the window for a few seconds. She looked down at the bottle between her hooves before throwing it in the trash. She shook her head.

“That’s it for me.”

...

“We’ve successfully ascended into the air. In about three minutes we’ll be at the optimal altitude and relative distance to syphon all the magic at maximum capacity.” Tall red blinked. “Whoa. That was cool.” He smiled goofily. Another example of their twisted up brains.

“Good. Go entertain our guest for a bit, will you?” Crazy mane went towards the computer himself and began to type away. Tall red stepped aside and went back to bugging Twilight. He bent over and rested his chin in his hooves.

“You know, we’ve been watching you for a while, now.” He said in a very creepy way. “Ever since you walked into our store this morning, we kept an eye on you. Yeah.”

Twilight felt increasingly uncomfortable. She still didn’t know what was going on outside, but right now, that wasn’t the most pressing issue. Right now, she had to find a way out of these straps.

“We noticed how… strong you were.” He smiled, showing his teeth. “When I was in that farmer pony’s head, you put up quite a fight. Oh yeah, sorry for trying to kill you earlier. At first we didn’t want you getting in the way, but then… Well you know how plans change.”

She rolled her eyes and wished they’d hurry up and off her like they had the Doctor. Tall red ignored this and continued to stare at her with his eerie smile.

“You’re pretty.”

Twilight awaited the rest of his sentence. Pretty… what? Pretty strong? Pretty brave? Pretty stupid? After a few moments with no response, she looked at him with a confused look. Then it dawned on Twilight what he really meant. She scrunched her face up in disgust. Red himself was not particularly bad looking. But the things he had done, coupled with the fact he was an extra-terrestrial, did not help Twilight find him appealing.

…

The large square hovered silently over Ponyville. The pharmaceutical building stayed at a few dozen feet in the air, casting shadows over Sugar cube corner and the library as it passed overhead. Its destination seemed uncertain as it travelled its straight and narrow path, not wavering a bit. But if one was to calculate its current position relative to Ponyville, its course could be found to be heading straight for the center of town.

Nopony noticed as the grey building flew through the crisp night air. Most were busy with their own problems of missing cutie marks and illness. They were all very concerned and confused. They wished the nightmare would end. Little did they know, their problems were about to get worse.

Inside the floating building, three ponies were the only ones the wiser to the impending doom of the town. The only earthling pony watched as the two Asht’ks got ready to take all of the magic in Ponyville, salvation or not. Crazy mane still typed away at the computer. Red stared into space as he leaned next to Twilight. And Twilight hated both of their guts.

“You know,” Redfinally said, “It’ll be a shame to take all your magic, but it’s just sooo good!” He licked his lips and drooled a little. Twilight could not have hated him any more if she tried.

“We’re here.” said Crazy mane, looking back at the two love birds. His voice was still sore from being kicked. “In a few minutes, all of Ponyville’s magic will be ours.”

Red perked up and bounded over. “Good. The harvester is ready for mass…. um, harvesting.” He turned around and yelled to Twilight. “Ya hear that? Only a few more minutes! I’m so excited I can’t hardly wait.”

“Once I pull this lever, the harvester will activate. Are you ready?”

Red nodded his head excitedly. Smiling, Crazy Mane lifted his hoof. In a dramatic fashion, he slowly guided it over to the large yellow lever that would effectively doom all of Ponyville’s citizens to a life of blank flanks and dreadful illness. If they survived, that is.

Twilight struggled and thrashed at the straps that tied her down. She felt so useless. Here she was, the only pony in the whole world that could possibly save it and she couldn’t do anything. This was it. It was all over once he pulled that switch. Wrapping his hoof around the lever, Crazy got ready to pull.

But he never did.

Because in the moment that he was about to pull the switch, Crazy’s hoof was engulfed in a yellow aura. He struggled against it, but to no avail. He couldn’t move his hoof, and could not pull the lever. Both Red and Crazy were confused by this. Red wasn’t using his magic, and Crazy certainly wasn’t. Then who…?

“Not so fast!”

Crazy and Red looked to see who had spoken. Twilight tried to look as well. If she wasn’t to die yet, might as well see who it was that inadvertently saved her. There, once again standing in the doorway, stood Crazy mane…

What?

…

Tall red was confused. “Hey! What are you doing over there? You’re supposed to be over here pulling the switch.”

“What am I doing here? What am I doing over there!?”

The other Crazy mane spoke up, “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to pull the switch to activate the harvester! You must be an impostor!”

“No! It is you who is the impostor!”

Both Red and Twilight’s heads kept jumping back and forth between the two Crazy manes. Tall red looked back between the two supposed Asht’k ponies and made a closer observation. The busted gears in his head struggled to start turning and after a moment of thought, he grabbed the Crazy mane next to him. Pulling back his titular crazy mane, Red revealed which one was the real Crazy mane.

“You’re right it’s me. I’m the impostor.” He said in the clutches of the surprisingly strong Asht'k.

The other, real, Crazy mane marched up to his faker. Wiping a hoof on the other’s cheek, he noticed a smudge of red wipe off. “It’s paint?”

“You know the cool thing about you all looking alike is? Easy to replicate. Of course, having hair like yours doesn’t hurt, either.” He smiled in his charming way, no longer looking as creepy as Crazy himself.

It was then Twilight realized who it really was. Of course it would be him, who else could it be? Dropping the act of being kicked by the Doctor, his voice became clear and easy to identify. There was only one pony she knew who could sound like that: the Doctor himself!

Angry at the revelation of who it was impersonating him, Crazy mane restrained the Doctor completely in his magic. In a flash of rage, he threw the Doctor clear across the room and into the wall. He continued to throw him around a bit and scuff him up before finally just tying him to the wall with his own brain of magic locks. His back was against the wall and his hooves were spread out in an X shape, similar to Twilight’s predicament. From this position, he was not able to use his screwdriver, and Crazy mane was perfectly fine with that.

“And take off that paint. You aren’t worthy to wear the colours of the Asht’k!” Crazy mane shot another blast of magic at the Doctor, who winced in pain as the paint was forcefully ripped off from his body and hair, revealing his tan and brown colours. “Yeah. How do you like that, now?”

“Doctor? Are you okay?” a concerned Twilight asked.

The Doctor shook his head and made a few queasy ‘bleh’ noises. “Yeah, I’m fine. I can take a lot more than that.”

Relieved that he was alive, Twilight asked, “What happened to you?”

“Well… to make a long story short, he should be taking a long nap, alongside the rest of the Asht’k. How did he escape?”

Twilight sighed. “It doesn’t matter now. He’s gonna pull that switch and everything will be done for! It’s all over!” There was no way that anypony could help now. They were both trapped and neither one could escape. It was hopeless.

“Oh, I think not. At least not yet…” the Doctor said rather smugly. This time he actually was being smug.

Crazy mane refigured himself and calmed down enough to act rationally. As rational as he could be, at least. “Now that I’m back, we can continue on with our little demonstration.” He turned around to the Doctor. “I applaud you on your efforts to stop us, but it’s too late, dear Doctor. Besides, I wanted to be the one to pull his switch.”

“I’m sure you do.” the Doctor said quietly to himself.

Facing the machine once again, Crazy mane was ready to start it for real this time. He was ready to finish what he started and begin something entirely new. With nothing left holding him back, and nopony to stop him, he threw the switch.

…

The silence of the Ponyville night was cut by a soft hum. It started out quietly, at first. Many people didn’t hear. But, as it continued, the hum grew louder. It sounded like a large vacuum cleaner. Inside the homes of Ponyville’s residents, thing were not well, every pony that had taken ‘Salvation’, suddenly felt extremely tired and pained. Like something was sucking the life out of them. Their screams of agony, which were very similar to Applejack’s, drowned out the hum. The lucky ponies that had not taken the drug watched in horror as their friends and family had their magic forcefully and painfully torn from them.

Inside the library, Spike was awoken to the screams of Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie was already awakened and frightened by the time he got there. Before Spike could even say anything, Pinkie began to scream as well. The second setting of the harvester had kicked in and was now harvesting all of the pony magic in Ponyville. That included the ones who had not taken the drug. Now Spike was stuck with two screaming mares with no cutie marks. What a night.

Back at the now above-ground underground labs, things were just as hectic. Both Asht’k visibly shook as all the power from every pony in Ponyville was taken from their equestrian owners and given to the Asht’k. Their movements were similar to Applejack’s when her magic was taken, but this was a completely different feeling. They moaned in pure bliss as they feasted upon his endless smorgasbord of magic and talent. So many different abilities and talents, all theirs to command. And the power!

But then, all of a sudden, the machine stopped giving them magic. In fact, it stopped altogether. The lights and monitors all shut down and fizzled out, but not before sparking and making loud snapping noises like it had exploded on the inside, but not the inside.

…

Down in Ponyville, all the ponies had suddenly stopped screaming. Their cries of pain died down as they no longer felt the horrid feeling anymore. They did not feel their life force being sucked out of them. Many had fallen unconscious, but were very much alive.

“No no no no no!!!” Crazy mane was exasperated. “What did you do?!”

The Doctor grinned. “I did a number of things actually. I found I couldn't destroy the harvester directly so I did a little something else in its programming that did the trick, and let me tell you I’ve forgotten how good the Asht’k were at coding. Now that you have a certain amount of magic, you can’t have any more. You greedy buggers.”

Tall red screamed in anger. He threw himself against the wall in a tantrum. He was acting like a child. Crazy mane managed to keep his cool, but one glance and the Doctor could tell he was extremely angry as well. “Fool! Even without all the magic, we are still powerful enough to wipe out everything in our path! Anything is we want ours! We can build! And…” He stopped to turn his head dramatically. “We still have one more ace up our sleeve.”

The Doctor looked down at the red Asht’k hooves. “But you’re not wearing sleeves.” he retorted, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pony wear sleeves. Twilight, you ever seen a pony wear sleeves?”

Twilight simply shrugged.

Crazy mane scoffed at their ramblings and just looked at Twilight. “We still have you. That table you’re on can double as a back-up harvester. We still have your magic. Your power… is so raw. Your ability and talents… your power could help us fix our harvester. Our plan can still work! The world is ours!” Tall red stopped throwing himself against the wall at this point.

Twilight gulped. They were right. If they had her power over magic, there was no telling what they could do. They lacked the experience she had to do such spells, but they looked like the type to try anything until they got it right.

“OH!” he continued, “But you know what? I have a better idea. You have more experience in magic spells than we do. You yourself can probably fix it faster than we can.”

“And what makes you think I’ll help you?”

Crazy mane smiled and began to pace around the table. “You see, as proficient as we are in magic, there is no pony on earth that is as skilled as you. The three of us are the most powerful magical practitioners on earth, save the Alicorns, but they aren’t to help, are they? We could fight by ourselves, but we all know who would win.”

Twilight eyed him, trying to see what he was getting at. In a way, she already knew what it was.

“But, if we joined together. If you were to become like us… Why, we’d be the most powerful creatures on the planet. No one could stop us! Not even the princesses.”

“Don’t listen to him, Twilight!” called the Doctor, but there was no response either had heard him.

“If you lead us… You’re clever. I’m sure you could outsmart dumb ol’ Celestia. She would be powerless to stop us. And afterwards, we could take even her magic. Just think. You could be the new ruler of Equestria….” He stared directly into her eyes.

“…Princess Twilight.”

Twilight said nothing. Her mind took a moment to think about what that meant. It was completely possible. In fact, Twilight was already thinking about how it might work. Becoming Princess. Having unlimited power. Being ruler. Possibly living forever. Not having to write anymore tedious friendship letters. Not having to learn about friendship… Not having anymore… friends.
Twilight simply gave him an evil eye and said, “I’d rather die than help you kill everypony I love.”

Crazy mane smiled evilly. “Easily arranged.” He put simply. With a nod of his head, the taller red pony was back on his feet and right at the controls of the harvester. With a flick of the wrist, he set the backup harvester and began the process of taking Twilight’s magic.

“No!” the Doctor called out. He hated this; somepony in trouble and him not being able to do anything. He felt so helpless. When He knew that Twilight was going to get herself involved in all this, he knew it would be dangerous. That’s when he swore to himself he would protect her and keep her safe. Now she was doomed and he could do nothing. He didn’t count on Crazy awakening. He let her down…

“I’m sorry.”

“AAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHH! RRRRGGGGGGAAAAAHH!!” Twilight screamed in agony as the process began. It was just as painful and terrifying as she remembered it. Only a hundred times worse. The Doctor could only look on helplessly and imagine how torturous it must have felt. Then again, her life was being drained, so he could bet it was not pleasant one bit. Even if she survived, her special talent would be gone. Magic. It would ruin her life forever.

“Look at this! Her body is regenerating the magic at incredible rate!” Red called out from amongst the pleasure of having such awesome magic overflow in his body.

Crazy mane looked at the monitors. Sure enough, Twilight’s body could replace the stolen magic at an alarming rate. He smiled. “If we kept her alive long enough, she could keep making us magic!”

“We could use her to stay alive until we find a new sun.” The magic was beginning to affect their minds even more. Their bodies were not designed to handle this much magic, let alone this kind of pony magic. They were crazier than ever.

“I think we already found one!” Both Asht’k looked at the terrified and pained Twilight. “Just think our own personal magic sun!”

“Ha! More like a cow!” They both began laughing hysterically.

It was at these words Twilight’s eyes snapped open. But they were not filled with yellow energy. Oh no, they were filled with something else: pure equestrian magic. Her eyes were milky white and glowing, just like when she used the elements of harmony. Only this time, harmony was not was she was going to reign down upon her foes.

Her horn began to glow white and her restraints burned away. The two Asht’k stopped laughing and looked surprised. How was she using her own magic? Then their faces changed to pure horror. Twilight rose from the table and began to hover in the air. Her face was one of pure hate. Not anger or rage. Just resent of these two pitiful creatures.

“You want magic? Let’s see if you can handle this!”

From her horn shot out two streams of energy. They went straight to the Asht’k’s horns. The two screamed like she had when their bodies became overloaded with power. At first, it felt wonderful. Such delicious magic was so good, like Red had said. They were walking on air.

Then, they fell. The pleasure turned into pain as their bodies could not handle this much power. Twilight’s magic was strong, alright. Too strong for the Asht’k to handle. Their bodies violently shook as they fell to the floor in agony. Such a burning pain held them. All over they felt nothing but sheer torture and pure pain.

The Doctor wished he could cover his ears from their screams. If only he wasn’t tied to the wall. Then, just like that, he wasn’t. He fell from the wall as the magic locks disappeared.

He watched as Twilight continued to give them more and more of her magic power. They wanted to treat her like a slave, like a cow!? They deserved it. Then, she cranked it too 11. The Asht’k screamed as their bodies burst into flames, the magic power taking over their systems. It was all just too much. They burned with a magical fire that could not be extinguished.

They cried out for help. The Doctor looked on. Then, he noticed exactly who they were saying it to. Their cries for help, their pleas of aid, they were directed to the Doctor. It was then the Doctor decided it was enough.

“Twilight stop! Twilight!”

Twilight snapped her head in the Doctor’s direction. He looked dead into her bright white eyes.

“Please! You’re killing them, stop!”

Twilight looked back at her two nearly dead preys. She stared at them for a second, before releasing a final wave of pent up energy. She burst with bright light and energy at the release. Along with the wave, Twilight’s horn stopped glowing. The beams stopped. Everything stopped. Twilight fell out of the air, and into the Doctor’s hooves. He held her as she went limp.

“Twilight!” He feared the worst at first, but her chest began to rise and fall, signifying she was still alive; unconscious, but alive. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The moment was cut short however, when a loud ring, followed by a crash and shower of sparks alerted the Doctor to a more pressing matter. He looked to see the harvester’s computer, which also controlled the building’s flight, was sparking and sputtering. If the computer was falling, that meant something else was going to fall as well. Laying Twilight on the floor, the Doctor went to save what Twilight had left him to save.

“Building is falling? Building is falling!” he said, taking the controls into his hooves. “Okay. Engines failing… Reserve power offline… Controls are only slightly responsive… Oh, this is going to be tricky.”

…

Hay Bacon.

That’s what that smell was. Twilight knew it smelled familiar. She didn’t recognize it at first because Spike didn’t cook bacon that often; only on special occasions. Plus, it was more than a little difficult to get real meat bacon in a place where the consumption of meat was typically frowned upon, so they usually settled for hay-based substitute..

Rolling over to the other side of the bed, Twilight pulled the sheets closer to her. They restrained back. Like something was holding them back from her…

“Hey. Leeme some blankets.”

Twilight cracked an eye open to see who it was that was hogging all the covers. She closed it again when she saw it was only Pinkie Pie. That’s okay; she’s a friend, Twilight thought.

…wait.

Twilight shot up in bed. She looked round wildly before shaking her head and getting dizzy. She held her head in her hooves. When she looked back up, the room stopped spinning long enough for her to get a good look at it. It was her room. How did she get back here? What happened last night? Last thing she remembered was sending Rainbow dash and Pinkie to rest in here before she went to go help-

She gasped.

Twilight jumped out of the bed, getting tangled in the sheets as she did. With her hooves wrapped in the blankets, she fell to the floor with a thud. She winced in pain as her head hit the floor. A similar pain she had felt when-

Twilight struggled to try and get out of the blanket cocoon. She had to know what happened. Once she was out, she quickly got up and galloped down the stairs. Pinkie simply picked the sheets off of the floor and went back to sleep.

In the library’s kitchen, Spike whistled a happy tune to himself as he prepared the bacon. He hadn’t had it in forever. He felt that he deserved it. The nightmare was over and everything would be back to normal. At least until the next disaster, he jokingly thought.

His jokes were interrupted as he heard Twilight’s hooves on the stairs. She tumbled into the kitchen and skidded to a stop. Spike waved her good morning. He didn’t exactly get the same reply.

“Spike! What’s going on? What happened last night? And are you cooking hay bacon?”

“Well, you were brought here early yesterday morning and have been in bed since then. And you tell me I sleep too much” he said the last part under his breath. “I’m not sure what you did, but I think things got worse before they got better. And yes. Yes I am.” He held up a greasy piece of the uncooked meat. “Want some?”

Twilight looked around the kitchen. “What happened to the Doctor?”

“Oh, he dropped you off here yesterday and left. He’s probably long gone by now.”

Twilight looked devastated. He left? After all that happened… he would just leave her all alone. She could barely even remember what happened. Everything was still coming back to her. The pharmacy, the secret doors, the dark rooms, the Asht’k… Once everything was done and finished… He was gone. Just like that. Without even saying goodbye?

Then, Twilight heard something. She didn’t know what it was at first, but she knew it was important. It was quiet, but it grew louder, not unlike the harvester. But unlike the harvester, Twilight did not feel dread from hearing it. No, instead she felt something wonderful. She couldn’t describe it. But if tried her best. She would have called it ‘the most wondrous sound in the world’. And in that moment of feelings, she somehow knew what it was.

…

Rushing outside, she didn’t know what she thought would be there. But she felt as though it would be the Doctor. Somehow, she just knew. It was unexplainable. Just like how most of the past few days had been. When she got out there, she saw exactly the last thing that she thought she would see.

A box.

It was a big blue box. Rather tall with large white windows on each side. Across the top of the box read ‘PONY PUBLIC CALL BOX’. Twilight could not explain what those words meant, nor could she explain what the box was doing there in the first place. Was this the source of the sound? Upon closer inspection, she noticed the side facing her looked like it had a door of some sort. Just when she was about to try it, the door opened. Standing there with a big smile on his mug was just the tan, hourglass cutie marked pony she was looking for.

Twilight took a step back. So many things were rushing in her head. She felt joyous and angry and excited and relived and so many other emotions, all at the same time. And she had so many questions for him! Where did he go? What was this box? Why was he in it? What happened last night?

“Hello, Twilight. Hope you slept well.” he said stepping out of the box and closing the door.

Twilight could barely speak. “Doctor…” She collected herself and calmed down. The Doctor simply smiled as he waited for her to speak. Twilight breathed. “What happened? Like, I mean, did we win? Where are the Asht’k?”

“At the bottom of Froggy Bottom Bog.” explained the Doctor, “After you went all… ‘look at me I’ve got super magic powers’, you blacked out and the ship began to crash. Luckily I was able to steer it into the swamp where it wouldn’t land on anypony. Unfortunately, I was only able to get us out in time before it sank completely.”

Twilight had calmed enough to think rationally. She took a moment as she realized what that meant. “So they’re…” She trailed off. All the memories of her and the Doctor’s adventure came flooding back. The pods, the two Asht’ks, the harvesting… her attack of magic.

“I remember now…” Twilight put a hoof to her mouth at the realization. “Oh Celestia… I was killing them.”

“You were. Their bodies couldn’t take your magic and began to destroy themselves. Killed by their own greed. But I stopped you.”

“I killed them.” Twilight said solemnly.

He Doctor saw she was obviously distraught from this and tried to comfort her. “In a way, they were already dead.” Twilight looked up in confusion.

“See, I’ve known Asht’k people. They are very kind and intelligent and not anything like those two beings we met that night. The Asht’k that were sent on the expedition to find magic… they died a long time before they came here.”

Twilight closed her eyes for moment. She took a deep breath and sighed. “So the Asht’k are gone. It’s all over. There’s no more missing cutie marks or magic or mind control. Everything’s back to normal, right?”

“Well, eventually, yeah. I mean, a lot of ponies suffered and will probably need time to rest, but they’ll recover. Bon-Bon, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, they'll all be fine. Oh yeah. Because if there’s one thing that you ponies are good at, it’s surviving.”

Twilight smiled. She couldn’t help but laugh. This whole thing had been such a trial on her an now it was all over. “Thank you, Doctor. For everything.”

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle."

“Doctor. There’s been one thing that’s been bugging me since the beginning.” She said with a puzzled look on her face, “Just who exactly are you? It’s clear you’re not of this world. And I remember the Asht’k saying that you were the last of something. What did he mean by that? What are you?”

The Doctor sighed and asked, “You really want to know the truth?”

Twilight nodded.

The Doctor took her hoof. Gently guiding it over to himself, he placed her hoof over his chest, right where his heart should be. She felt his heartbeat. Twilight was confused. What was this supposed to mean? He moved her hoof to the other side of his chest, where a normal pony’s heart wouldn’t be.

Bum-bum.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You’ve got two hearts…” she whispered.

The Doctor nodded. “I’m the Doctor. I’m a time lord; the last one in the universe. I’m 903 years old. I’m a traveller of sorts, going around the universe, planet to planet, having fun and saving lives. And I’ve got two hearts.” He smiled.

Twilight put her hoof down. It was amazing. She knew he was an alien, but she never expected this. She smiled. It was all so amazing. “Doctor. This whole adventure has been so incredible. I’ve seen things I never would have dreamed could exist.”

“Well if you like that, just wait until you see the rest of the universe!”

Twilight paused. “What?”

“Twilight. I told you I’m a traveller. I’ve crossed entire galaxies and saved the universe countless times. But, I’ve been travelling alone for so long now. All by myself. It’s not always easy to save the world by yourself, you know, let alone the universe.” Twilight knew that all too well.

“I’d like you to come with me.”

“Come with you? Where?”

“Anywhere you want! Any planet, any galaxy, any point in the universe! I can take you anywhere you ever wanted to see or experience.” He was excited to get going. But when Twilight had no response, he continued.

“Twilight, you showed me that you are incredibly brave and clever. Even though you were always a few steps behind, you never gave up and pushed through to uncover the truth. Throughout this whole thing you kept your wits about you and helped me out in a big way. I’d love to have more adventures with you.”

She took a step back and slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Doctor. I can’t. I’m sure you could take me to places and see the universe, and I’m sure I’d be amazing… but I’m needed here. I have responsibilities and a job. I’m sorry.”

The Doctor just laughed. “Oh, but that’s the beauty of it. You see, not only do I travel through space, I also travel through time.”

Twilight didn’t need proof that he was a time traveller. She had had her fair share of experiences and troubles involving time travel. Plus the sciencey part of her always thought that one day time machines would exist and they could come back to do… timey stuff.

“Oh, so now you’re a time traveller, too? What else can you do, walk on water?”

“I can take you wherever and whenever you want, and be right back here like nothing ever happened. In the blink of an eye. You won’t even miss the bacon.” He smiled, able to smell it from there.

Twilight thought about it for a moment. It would be nice to get away from routine and have more excitement more than once a week. And if they were going to time travel, there would be nothing to lose. No important schedules, lists or friendship reports to miss. Of course, Twilight had a feeling that this kind of thing happened a lot. A lot of close calls and danger. She could guess that it wouldn’t be quiet, it wouldn’t be safe and it wouldn’t be calm. But the thrill of adventure…

“I just don’t know…” she said finally, unsure what to do. In all honesty, she would really like to, but would it be worth it?

The Doctor saw she was hesitant to go with him and decided to show her one more surprise to help her make up her mind. He stepped aside and motioned his hoof towards the big blue box. “Here. Take a look inside this box. Then you can decide.”

Twilight looked at the door of the box herself, and began to get curious. “I was wondering what that was about. Why? What’s in there?”

He simply pointed to it again. “See for yourself.”

Twilight walked cautiously towards the box. She didn’t know she expected, but whatever was in there, it must have been really something. She opened the wooden door with a creak. When she looked inside her jaw dropped. She just stared. She pulled her head out and looked at the outer side of the box, then looked back inside. She couldn’t believe it.

“……” She couldn’t speak. It had to be a trick. But after everything that happened, Twilight knew it was the truth. The Doctor walked up beside her and smiled.

She managed to squeak out, “That’s…”

“I know.” The Doctor whispered.

In a daze, Twilight stepped inside the wondrous magical blue box. In all her years of studying magic, she had never learned of any spell that came close to what she saw. It was simply impossible. The Doctor followed closely behind. Taking her shocked silence as a ‘yes’, he shut the door.

The light on top of the box began to blink. At the same time, that amazing sound was heard again. Like the universe was calling. It faded in and out as it sounded, and so did the light above the box. As well as the box itself. The box’s existence in this point of space and time was fading, and soon it would be gone.

Inside the library, Spike had heard the noise again. The first time he heard it, he was busy with cooking the bacon, but the second time he got curious. Unfortunately for Spike, by the time that he had stepped out to see what it was that could produce such a wonderful noise, it was already gone. No Twilight, no Doctor and no box. They were already off, probably on some grand adventure, fighting aliens and saving the universe. They were possibly already doing it as he stood there. Maybe they had yet to do it. And maybe they already had done it. Because anything was possible with the Doctor. And everything was magical.

The End.

Comments

[Sarpedan]

927527
your assuming Spike was cooing it for someone else

[IHasApple]

927527
Never said that ponies ate it, only Spike. In retrospect, I should have learned my lesson after the Dexter story had the same problem.

[Bookworm24]

927636 you couldn't make it Hay Bacon?

[IHasApple]

960691
Huh. Didn't even think of that. Thanks!

[dracoantares]

make another story!¡!¡!

[dracoantares]

Okay. I really liked this story, but I can't stand it when anyone leaves something even close to a cliff hanger ending. Please make another story!!!

[Princess Twilicorndog]

By the time I read the words 'THE END' I was making a squee that could've rivaled Fluttershy.

[Hekate Sketch]

aww, that was short! can you please make another one? this rivals the episodes themselves! it would be awsome to see another story like this, mabe with weeping angel type ponies! that would be intersting! anyway, thumbs up for a good story, fav'd, and here, have a muffin

[SoulboundAlchemist]

2806160
I agree, the idea of weeping angel-like ponies would be great. In fact, that idea is so great that I will now direct you to the PonyInABox production of Doctor Whooves Adventures, where the first two episodes have the weeping angels, or in this case, the weeping pegasi

[Hekate Sketch]

2841252 woo! lead the way, that sounds interesting.

[Wolfinsheepsclothing]

I would love to see a sequel

[Slash]

SEQUEL!!!... please?

[fluttershyfan3030]

Awesome ending I like the responses that everyone or in this case everypony got when they realized the TARDIS was bigger on the inside than on the outside. I really want you to make a sequel to this story I actually want to read a series of stories where Twilight is the Doctor's companion instead of Ditzy Doo/Derpy Hooves. I really want to see another story where Twilight and the Doctor go on an adventure together